In August of 2011, Marc Despain, a beloved community member, was murdered at his home in Jonesboro, Arkansas. At first glance, it was an incident of a burglary that was not as it should be; however, upon further investigation, there was apparently more to the story. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Fatal Vows’: “The Ties That Bind” traces the gruesome plot to get Marc murdered that was devised by the people closest to Marc. So, if you wonder why Marc was killed, We’ve got the answers.
How Did Marc Despain Die?
Marc Evan Despain was a Jonesboro native who was employed by his father and mother, Jack and Tana, in their real estate company. Then, he went on to become an accomplished real estate appraiser and investor independently. The 34-year-old was married to Michelle, the girl who was the girl he was in high school with for more than 15 years. They had two sons and lived in a luxurious house with Michelle’s daughter, who was from a previous relationship. Initially, the whole thing seemed to be going well in favor of Michelle and the Despain family.
On August 24, 2011, Michelle went home to work, stumbling upon an awful crime scene. The devastated wife called 911 to inform her husband that he was who was in a pool with blood. Authorities rushed to discover that Marc was shot twice in the chest and another time between the eyes at close distance. The house was in disarray, with drawers open and items seeming oddly placed. But nothing significant was found, which led to the suspicion that the incident was staged.
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Who Killed Marc Despain?
Michelle said to the police she had lunch with Marc for lunch, before returning to work at 12:30 pm in the afternoon. Then, a couple of hours later, she went home to pay some bills only to discover Marc dead. At the moment, she seemed to point at Marc’s father as a possible suspect saying the two Jack and Marc had disagreed several years before. When Marc initially began to work for his parents’ company, however, they were not happy over money, leading to Marc making a move for himself.
Carl Kelley, Michelle Carl Kelley, Michelle’s father, also shared a similar statement, saying Jack might have been involved in the death of Marc. In addition, Marc and Michelle had at one time believed to have discovered inappropriate pictures of Michelle’s daughter’s phone. But it was later proven that the girl’s daughter was the one who clicked those photos herself. However, at that point, the gap in the relationship between Marc and his father had become too large to be mended.
When Jack was interrogated and questioned about his past, he said his belief that Carl and Michelle might be involved. According to Jack, Marc mistreated Carl, and the latter threatened both Marc and himself. There also appeared to be marital tensions between Marc with Michelle. During the investigation, Michelle acknowledged to police that she was involved in one romance with a younger colleague and paid him cash to pay rent and other expenses. Then, Tana said of the pictures on Jack’s phone, “We found out later that Michelle had just decided to put Brooke up to doing that so that it would draw a wedge between the family and us.”
Jack was exonerated of any wrongdoing by the investigation team, but not Michelle. Authorities also found out that she could earn lots of money from life insurance policies that were in Marc’s name. They also discovered that the business was in trouble financially. They believed that Marc confronted Michelle about the money since Michelle was a fraudster and stole the company out of the money.
In the next few days, authorities were able to make an enormous breakthrough into the case in the form of an anonymous caller. The caller claimed to have heard someone talking about killing Marc and that the person who shot him was Terrance Barker. There were eyewitness accounts and cellphone pings indicating that he was in the area then. Terrance was also observed in the blue Mercedes at the time of the murder. After a first denial, Terrance admitted to shooting Marc. However, he claimed that Carl gave the gun to him and had spoken to a person on the phone about the entire incident.
Johnny Hubbard, the car’s owner, was also one of Marc’s tenants. Johnny said that Carl came to him one day and asked about killing his son-in-law. At this moment, Johnny introduced Carl to Terrance, and the plan ultimately came to fruition. Telephone records indicated that Carl and Michelle were constantly in contact before and during the crime. In actual fact, Michelle texted her father the next morning, telling him that the murder had to be completed at that time. Carl replied, inquiring if Michelle could bring Marc out to lunch.
Where Are Carl Kelley and Michelle Despain Now?
Despite conversations between Carl and Michelle being deleted on August 24, 2011, authorities discovered them, which provided more evidence that they were the masterminds behind Marc’s murder, presumably to gain financial gain. Carl and Terrance confessed to first-degree murder and were sentenced to 35 years of prison. For Johnny, the defendant admitted to hindering an arrest and was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment and 40 years in prison for the parole infraction.
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On April 14, 2014, Michelle admitted guilt to three charges of hindering apprehending in the month after she was sentenced to 30 years in jail. Michelle was eligible to be paroled within five years. Based on what we’ve seen, she was released in September 2019 and has since maintained her profile low; nothing is publicly known regarding her location of residence. Concerning Carl, who was incarcerated, information about his arrest isn’t available.
