Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield

A bitter engagement-ring fight aired on “The People’s Court,” and that same day, Michelle Parker vanished. Nearly 15 years later, her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith Jr., is charged with second-degree murder. Michelle Parker disappeared on November 17, 2011, after dropping off their 3-year-old twins at his Orlando home. Her Hummer was found abandoned with its business decals removed, her iPhone was recovered from a lake, and her body has never been found. What happened after Michelle dropped off her children, and what evidence finally moved this case forward? Smith has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent.
Note: This episode was recorded before the 46-page arrest affidavit for Dale Smith Jr. was unsealed. We’ll break down the newly released evidence in an upcoming episode.

Dirty cat litter dumped in their beds, dog poop on their belongings, and forced to run barefoot on a gravel driveway. That’s what three kids say they endured inside their West Virginia home, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. Erica Lynn Sayre, 45, and her husband, Clifford “Gale” Sayre, 46, are now facing a combined 12 felony charges after the children described years of alleged abuse. One child told investigators, “I can’t go back to that home.” Another said she “just wants a normal life.”

Matthew Farwell’s wife gave birth to their third child on February 2, 2021, the day after prosecutors say he killed 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore, and he was texting colleagues from the hospital asking what was happening at the police station. Sandra’s body hadn’t even been found. Now the former Stoughton police detective’s federal trial is exposing three other affairs, vile texts about sexual punishment, and sex games involving an alter ego named “Joey.” In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh is joined by WBZ-TV Trial Reporter Kristina Rex, who has been inside the courtroom hearing the testimony and watching Farwell as his secrets are read aloud. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing Sandra and her unborn child, and his lawyers maintain she took her own life.
Previous Episode: https://youtu.be/Kv-Cq3_tvi4

From beauty pageants and college cheerleading to a ten-year prison sentence for killing her newborn son, Laken Snelling is facing a VERY different future. The former University of Kentucky cheerleader pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter after her baby, McCoy Cade Hall, was found dead inside a trash bag in her bedroom closet. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Holli Coulman of Pink Lady Prison Consultants joins Ashleigh to explain what life behind bars could look like for a 22-year-old with no prior criminal record. 
Previous Episodes:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxEAbh-aNbMImS1SzzUl8aZo3V5xf2bsF

A married Massachusetts police detective is accused of killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby to conceal a secret that stretched back to when she was fifteen. Matthew Farwell allegedly told Sandra Birchmore she was “the worst person on the face of the earth” after she announced her pregnancy, and now a federal jury is reading the messages he wanted deleted. But his vile texts are only part of what makes this trial so outrageous, because jurors are also hearing how police handled her death before the FBI stepped in. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the Sandra Birchmore trial so far. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty, and his defense maintains Sandra took her own life.