# Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Teresa Sievers’ Murder For Hire

An episode of [Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1477524410), 7 Jun 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/28/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b85867f1-c5ec-44e0-9f79-b34d0160000c/28012b8d-bb34-4992-a6b0-b4600187c28e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=59f37943-e628-4810-8c3b-ae2b00156477

When Dr. Teresa Sievers was murdered with a hammer in her home, her husband Marc seemed to have an air-tight alibi. But, when police were tipped off and told to look at Marc’s childhood best friend, who had the nickname “Hammer”, things started to fall into place. How did police finally realize that Marc orchestrated the whole thing? How did he act when police questioned him? Was he sentenced to death for his crimes?! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to an episode up Till Death Do
[0:05] Speaker 1: Us Part. Today we are going to be talking about
[0:08] Speaker 1: a case involving a husband and wife. What do you
[0:12] Speaker 1: think the husband kills the wife or the wife kills
[0:15] Speaker 1: the husband.
[0:17] Speaker 2: Well, the wives slowly kill the husband. Yeah, are you
[0:21] Speaker 2: talking about murder.
[0:22] Speaker 1: Though, yes, we're talking about murder.
[0:24] Speaker 2: Well, I think I know this one. He kills her? No,
[0:28] Speaker 2: you tell us.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Actually, I was wondering because we've done so many of
[0:31] Speaker 1: these cases until Death Do Us Part. Obviously we focus
[0:35] Speaker 1: on husbands who kill wives or wives who kill husbands.
[0:38] Speaker 1: But I haven't been keeping track of the score as
[0:41] Speaker 1: to whether it's well.
[0:42] Speaker 2: That's not a fair poll though. It's not like it's
[0:45] Speaker 2: a cross section of what's going on out there. It's
[0:47] Speaker 2: just the ones we pick, right, But you know, maybe
[0:50] Speaker 2: we should know that we should know which ones are
[0:52] Speaker 2: you picking.
[0:52] Speaker 1: I don't know, but I feel like I'm going to
[0:53] Speaker 1: do some little Google search and see the statistics as
[0:57] Speaker 1: to whether it's probably more husbands that kill wives wives
[1:00] Speaker 1: that kill a husbands. But we'll see. We'll get back
[1:02] Speaker 1: to you on that one.
[1:03] Speaker 2: I might look that up while you, uh, yeah, all right,
[1:06] Speaker 2: discuss some of the initials thoughts on this case.
[1:08] Speaker 1: All right, today we're going to be talking about doctor
[1:10] Speaker 1: Teresa Severs, who was a forty six year old doctor
[1:13] Speaker 1: in Benita Springs, Florida, who was found beaten to death
[1:16] Speaker 1: by a hammer in her home back in June of
[1:19] Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. Her husband, Mark Severs, and their two young
[1:23] Speaker 1: daughters were conveniently visiting family in Connecticut at the time
[1:27] Speaker 1: of the murder, leading investigators unclear as to who committed
[1:31] Speaker 1: the crime and why. But let's get into a little
[1:35] Speaker 1: bit of background on Teresa Severs. So from the time
[1:38] Speaker 1: Teresa was in the sixth grade, she knew that she
[1:41] Speaker 1: wanted to be a doctor. She was described by those
[1:44] Speaker 1: who knew her as driven, compassionate, and deeply dedicated to
[1:49] Speaker 1: her patients. How would you describe me?
[1:55] Speaker 2: Which day, what time of day?
[1:58] Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
[2:00] Speaker 2: Which personality do you want.
[2:01] Speaker 1: Me to help?
[2:01] Speaker 2: Oh?
[2:01] Speaker 1: My goodness. So if someone said, what's your wife like,
[2:04] Speaker 1: what would you say?
[2:06] Speaker 2: I would say, you just have to experience it.
[2:08] Speaker 1: Oh, it's just an experience, all right, Thank you for that.
[2:10] Speaker 1: Teresa had been previously married before meeting Mark Sievers, who
[2:14] Speaker 1: was the brother of one of her close friends. And
[2:16] Speaker 1: the two were married in two thousand and three. Together,
[2:19] Speaker 1: they had two daughters. In two thousand and six, the
[2:23] Speaker 1: family relocated to Benita Springs, Florida, where Teresa established her
[2:27] Speaker 1: own holistic medicine practice. It was called the Restorative Health
[2:31] Speaker 1: and Healing Center in a Stero. Mark Severs was a
[2:35] Speaker 1: licensed practical nurse who worked at the practice, but largely
[2:40] Speaker 1: in a supporting role. What do you think supporting role means.
[2:44] Speaker 2: In what in her holistic practices?
[2:47] Speaker 1: Yeah, he had a supporting role.
[2:48] Speaker 2: He just said, okay, dear, Yes, dear, that looks fine.
[2:53] Speaker 2: Glad that's working out.
[2:53] Speaker 1: He said, go make money, dear. Yes, keeping a doctor, dear, keeping.
[2:59] Speaker 2: The latting till. That was part. She had a catwalk
[3:02] Speaker 2: coaching business.
[3:05] Speaker 1: Yes, no, but she's a doctor, this woman.
[3:09] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not saying it. I'm not saying it's hookyer.
[3:11] Speaker 1: They know. The last one we did was the Miss
[3:14] Speaker 1: Switzerland who was perade by her husband.
[3:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, but she had a cat walk yes, coaching class.
[3:22] Speaker 1: That was a lot of alliteration. A catwalk coaching class, Yeah,
[3:26] Speaker 1: she did. By twenty thirteen, the marriage was showing serious cracks.
[3:33] Speaker 1: Text messages were covered by investigators revealed that there was
[3:36] Speaker 1: growing tension and mutual resentment. That same year, Teresa reportedly
[3:41] Speaker 1: suggested opening the relationship to other sexual partners. I feel
[3:45] Speaker 1: like that's really when you go to your husband and
[3:48] Speaker 1: you say you'd really just like to have an open marriage,
[3:52] Speaker 1: I feel like that's probably the end.
[3:54] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just dumb, Like.
[3:56] Speaker 1: Why don't you just get divorced at that point?
[3:58] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's called being roommates.
[4:00] Speaker 1: Right, So I'm just saying, why do people suggest things
[4:03] Speaker 1: like that? Why not just get divorced again? We know
[4:07] Speaker 1: how this is going to end, so we're going to
[4:08] Speaker 1: have to have the why don't you just get divorced
[4:10] Speaker 1: conversation again?
[4:12] Speaker 2: If one husband goes up to the wife says I
[4:14] Speaker 2: think it's marriage, I mean, what does that say.
[4:17] Speaker 1: I'm gonna if you said that to me, I either be.
[4:20] Speaker 2: The last words out of my mouth. Yeah, I'm saying,
[4:22] Speaker 2: what does that mean that? What does that say to me?
[4:25] Speaker 2: That means that's a that's a deal breaker. Well, yeah,
[4:29] Speaker 2: for normal marriages that would be a deal breaker.
[4:31] Speaker 1: But I feel like that says I'm too lazy to
[4:35] Speaker 1: actually go through with the process of a divorce. I
[4:39] Speaker 1: still want you to make me dinner so I still
[4:41] Speaker 1: want you to keep working as a doctor, and I'd
[4:43] Speaker 1: still like to live in this nice home we have,
[4:45] Speaker 1: but I'd like to have sex with other people. How
[4:47] Speaker 1: does that sound to you? That's what it sounds. Well.
[4:51] Speaker 1: She was the one, I guess that went to him
[4:52] Speaker 1: and suggested that they have more of an open relationship.
[4:56] Speaker 2: So she saw a divorce attorney realize, Hey, I'm gonna
[4:58] Speaker 2: have to pay him.
[4:59] Speaker 1: Right, it's right exactly.
[5:01] Speaker 2: I'll just pitch it, I'll twist it and give it,
[5:04] Speaker 2: deliver it as a open marriage.
[5:06] Speaker 1: Right. Financial stress compounded things even further, and by early
[5:10] Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, there's text messages between the couple had turned
[5:15] Speaker 1: cold and irritable. Oh, I'd hate for people to read
[5:17] Speaker 1: our text messages. What would people if they were investigating
[5:22] Speaker 1: and they read our text messages.
[5:24] Speaker 2: They'd be like, how many times does she get a
[5:25] Speaker 2: divorce out? That's what they would say.
[5:29] Speaker 1: Mark reportedly feared that Teresa was planning to leave him
[5:32] Speaker 1: and take their daughters. Given that Teresa was the breadwinner
[5:36] Speaker 1: of the family and the head of her practice, a
[5:38] Speaker 1: divorce would have been devastating for him financially. He felt
[5:42] Speaker 1: he couldn't afford a custody fight. Also, this is unbeknowns
[5:48] Speaker 1: to Teresa. What do you think Teresa doesn't know about.
[5:51] Speaker 2: About her night in shining Armor? Yeah?
[5:53] Speaker 1: What do you think he did? Because they're in financial distress?
[5:56] Speaker 1: Their finances are a problem. They're fighting over money. She's
[6:00] Speaker 1: the breadwinner.
[6:01] Speaker 2: Yeah, so what do you think he.
[6:04] Speaker 1: Decides to do that she doesn't know about?
[6:06] Speaker 2: Sleep around? Well, besides that, spend money. No, he takes
[6:09] Speaker 2: out life insurance policies.
[6:11] Speaker 1: D Yes, of.
[6:12] Speaker 2: Course he did.
[6:14] Speaker 1: He took out five life insurance policies on her, totaling
[6:18] Speaker 1: four point four million dollars.
[6:20] Speaker 2: How many would you have to take out a media
[6:22] Speaker 2: at four point four that you'd try to take out
[6:23] Speaker 2: like twenty or thirty? What are you talking about? That's
[6:26] Speaker 2: a lot of money. That means she's worth. She had
[6:28] Speaker 2: to get five policies in order to be worth four
[6:32] Speaker 2: and a half million dollars.
[6:34] Speaker 1: Well, maybe those other insurance companies do they all know
[6:37] Speaker 1: about each other?
[6:38] Speaker 2: I don't know, I should.
[6:39] Speaker 1: Isn't that kind of it sounds to me like it's
[6:41] Speaker 1: probably kind of fraudulent.
[6:43] Speaker 2: I don't think so. I don't think it is. It's
[6:45] Speaker 2: like I mean, no, I don't think I have.
[6:46] Speaker 1: A life insurance policy on you. How much is it for?
[6:49] Speaker 2: Not four point four million? You might need four or
[6:52] Speaker 2: five more to get there.
[6:54] Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
[6:55] Speaker 2: It's low enough that you don't kill me.
[6:58] Speaker 1: Oh, I say it was strategic.
[7:00] Speaker 2: Yes.
[7:02] Speaker 1: In spring of twenty fifteen, Mark Severs attends the wedding
[7:05] Speaker 1: of his longtime childhood friend Curtis Wayne Wright in Missouri. Now,
[7:10] Speaker 1: can we just talk about what Curtis Wayne Wright looks like.
[7:13] Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Wright is Mark Seavers's best friend, and they
[7:16] Speaker 1: look exactly the same.
[7:18] Speaker 2: They do. I saw a picture last night of them
[7:22] Speaker 2: facing each other, and I thought was a mirror it did?
[7:24] Speaker 1: It looked like it looked like they look identical to
[7:27] Speaker 1: each other.
[7:27] Speaker 2: A little creepy.
[7:28] Speaker 1: It is creepy. During the trip, Mark confided and his
[7:32] Speaker 1: friend Curtis Wayne Wright about his marital troubles. Wright's response,
[7:37] Speaker 1: according to prosecutors, was that the only way out is
[7:40] Speaker 1: for Teresa to die. Can you mention that conversation.
[7:43] Speaker 2: I've had many conversations with friends, yes, and they tell
[7:46] Speaker 2: me about like troubles. Yeah, no one has ever pitched murder.
[7:51] Speaker 2: I'm glad that's a solution.
[7:53] Speaker 1: I'm glad those are the type of friends that you
[7:54] Speaker 1: hang out with. I assume you've never pitched a murder
[7:56] Speaker 1: to them.
[7:57] Speaker 2: No, right, No, I'm not an advocate for no right.
[8:02] Speaker 1: This is Curtis Wayne Wright told Mark that he would
[8:06] Speaker 1: arrange in exchange for around one hundred thousand dollars a
[8:11] Speaker 1: plan to get rid of Teresa. However, without telling Mark
[8:15] Speaker 1: right then recruited a third man named Jimmy Ray Rogers
[8:20] Speaker 1: to assist him in the murder. So basically, Mark and
[8:24] Speaker 1: his friend Curtis come up with a plan together to
[8:27] Speaker 1: get rid of Teresa. Then the friend Curtis enlists another
[8:32] Speaker 1: friend who Mark doesn't know about to help you.
[8:35] Speaker 2: He subcontracted it out subcond yea, he subcontracted at keep.
[8:41] Speaker 2: Wait did they do? Is this for them to do
[8:42] Speaker 2: it together? Yeah?
[8:44] Speaker 1: So they end up like renting a car and traveling.
[8:47] Speaker 1: They drive from Missouri.
[8:49] Speaker 2: It'll be fun, like they go together, have a few laughs.
[8:54] Speaker 1: Right, And then I believe because I saw this, and
[8:57] Speaker 1: I've actually seen this story multiple times, you can it
[9:00] Speaker 1: pretty easily. I believe there's like a dateline or a
[9:02] Speaker 1: twenty twenty. I think there's a forty eight hours. There's
[9:04] Speaker 1: several episodes on this because it's pretty it's pretty interesting
[9:08] Speaker 1: with the doctor and the nurse dynamic and hired help
[9:11] Speaker 1: and yeah, and then he hires his best friend, and
[9:13] Speaker 1: then the best friend recruits somebody else and then and
[9:15] Speaker 1: they look alike and they look exactly the same. And
[9:19] Speaker 1: then he does give him, I believe, a check. I
[9:21] Speaker 1: can't remember if it's nine hundred dollars or six hundred
[9:24] Speaker 1: dollars out of like her.
[9:26] Speaker 2: Business and he gives them anything in the memo, No.
[9:28] Speaker 1: He gives him a business check for murder kit. Yeah.
[9:31] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[9:31] Speaker 1: And to pay for.
[9:33] Speaker 2: The expense for murder kits right for them.
[9:37] Speaker 1: To like rent a car and drive to Benita Springs
[9:39] Speaker 1: to kill her, that you have to give him some money.
[9:41] Speaker 1: They got to get snacks and gas and you know,
[9:43] Speaker 1: because they're going on a road trip.
[9:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, and cash is very traceable, so you want to
[9:46] Speaker 2: put it in the check.
[9:47] Speaker 1: For you definitely want to use a check. Yes, So
[9:56] Speaker 1: the actual murder takes place June twenty seventh to twenty
[9:59] Speaker 1: eighth of twenty fifteen. Mark orchestrated an alibi. He was
[10:04] Speaker 1: pretty good about orchestrating this alibi. He arranged for the
[10:07] Speaker 1: whole family, including himself, and both of their daughters, who
[10:10] Speaker 1: are aged eight and eleven at the time, to travel
[10:13] Speaker 1: to Connecticut to visit Teresa's family.
[10:16] Speaker 2: That's nice of him, well, to remove them from the
[10:19] Speaker 2: potential crime scene.
[10:20] Speaker 1: Well, he's removing everyone. But no, that's nice of him
[10:23] Speaker 1: to visit her family. He's like, Hey, that's how he
[10:24] Speaker 1: gets it. Ray, He's like, hey, let's go visit your family.
[10:27] Speaker 1: I would love to hang out with your.
[10:29] Speaker 2: Boh he went to Yeah, he went. He's creating an alibi.
[10:32] Speaker 2: That's what he's doing, right, that's how he sent the kids.
[10:34] Speaker 1: No, he and Teresa and the two kids go to
[10:37] Speaker 1: visit her family in Connecticut.
[10:39] Speaker 2: However, if there's a time to get out of the house,
[10:42] Speaker 2: it's doing It might be when your spouse is going
[10:44] Speaker 2: to get murdered.
[10:45] Speaker 1: But he does it because he knows Teresa would have
[10:47] Speaker 1: to return home to Florida a day early to get
[10:49] Speaker 1: back to her patients. So he plans for him and
[10:53] Speaker 1: the kids to stay longer.
[10:54] Speaker 2: Oh, Connecticut, so they have a nice family trip, right,
[10:58] Speaker 2: visiting her family. Right, he probably was more than pleasant
[11:02] Speaker 2: to her, right, and he probably made sure he created
[11:05] Speaker 2: lots of trails to show how loving they are to
[11:09] Speaker 2: each other, right, and then he sends her back home
[11:11] Speaker 2: and stays with the kids. Right.
[11:12] Speaker 1: He knows that she has to go home to work
[11:15] Speaker 1: because she's the breadwinner, and he stays in Connecticut longer
[11:19] Speaker 1: with the kids.
[11:20] Speaker 2: That's why I'm saying, probably it's evil.
[11:22] Speaker 1: He probably pitches it to her like, let's go see your.
[11:25] Speaker 2: Family, right right, I thought you're talking about the kids.
[11:28] Speaker 2: But yeah, you already told her is why would she
[11:30] Speaker 2: say no? Right?
[11:31] Speaker 1: So they all end up going to Connecticut. She comes
[11:33] Speaker 1: home a day early. He's not even in the state
[11:36] Speaker 1: when this murder takes twice.
[11:38] Speaker 2: And oh, I guess he'll stay because it's the kids
[11:40] Speaker 2: can stay longer. Right.
[11:41] Speaker 1: On the morning of June twenty seventh of twenty fifteen,
[11:44] Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Wright rents a car in Hillsboro, Missouri. He
[11:47] Speaker 1: picks up his friend Jimmy Ray Rogers, and the two
[11:50] Speaker 1: of them drive over one thousand miles south to Benita Springs, Florida.
[11:55] Speaker 1: Along the way, they stop at a Walmart. This is
[11:59] Speaker 1: what they need the money for.
[12:00] Speaker 2: Right. They don't ever go to a Walmart.
[12:02] Speaker 1: They always go to Walmart.
[12:05] Speaker 2: Well, I guess now it's Amazon, right now, A Coleburger.
[12:07] Speaker 2: Did he ordered his kit on Amazon?
[12:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, and so did David, that singer we talked about
[12:11] Speaker 1: that murdered the girl Celeste in the bathtub. Remember he ordered,
[12:15] Speaker 1: he ordered, well, he tried to use a different name.
[12:18] Speaker 1: He ordered chainsaws from Amazon Prime.
[12:22] Speaker 2: Right, got to do it right away.
[12:23] Speaker 1: So along the way, Curtis Wayne Wright and his buddy
[12:27] Speaker 1: Jimmy Ray Rogers stop at a Walmart and purchase Do
[12:30] Speaker 1: you want to guess what they purchase?
[12:32] Speaker 2: You want to just well, I don't know. Rope, doc tape,
[12:36] Speaker 2: body bag. Yes, they purchase rat poison. Well, they beat
[12:42] Speaker 2: her with a hammer.
[12:44] Speaker 1: They purchased trash bags, wet wipes, black towels, black shoes,
[12:49] Speaker 1: you know Walmart shoes.
[12:50] Speaker 2: Have an aisle with all these things. Kids, and then
[12:53] Speaker 2: everyone that goes there. At the end of the day,
[12:54] Speaker 2: they send the video to police officers the police station
[12:58] Speaker 2: and say, this is it tally of who walked down
[13:01] Speaker 2: his aisle?
[13:01] Speaker 1: Okay, they should just have a murder kit aisle. Yes, yeah,
[13:04] Speaker 1: and just with lots of security cameras on it.
[13:06] Speaker 2: No, no, pretend there's no security cameras. Say no cameras allowed, Oh,
[13:10] Speaker 2: no cameras, but really hide him in there.
[13:11] Speaker 1: Yeah, hidden cameras and the murder kit asle perfect. You
[13:15] Speaker 1: should pitch that.
[13:16] Speaker 2: So all the walmartd so it's genius, it's genius.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Okay. So they purchased trash bags, wet wipes, black towels,
[13:24] Speaker 1: black shoes, and a lock picking kit. Who sells a
[13:28] Speaker 1: lock picking Why don't they just get the key from him? No,
[13:31] Speaker 1: because he's not he doesn't want to be involved.
[13:33] Speaker 2: He's on vacation. Oh, he's like, I don't want to know.
[13:35] Speaker 1: He can't give him him a key.
[13:38] Speaker 2: He give him money in the form of a check.
[13:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, but I guess he was thinking that he he
[13:43] Speaker 1: what he was going to have some excuse for that,
[13:45] Speaker 1: like he owed him money. I don't know.
[13:47] Speaker 2: Did he teach him how to pick a lock?
[13:49] Speaker 1: They have a lock picking kit. I'm sure they can
[13:51] Speaker 1: figure it out. There's probably directions, there's.
[13:52] Speaker 2: Well, there's no there's different I followed the lock picking
[13:55] Speaker 2: lawyer okay on YouTube you doo, yes, and there's different
[13:59] Speaker 2: ways to pick a lot. You have to learn how
[14:00] Speaker 2: to pick a lot. It's fascinating.
[14:02] Speaker 1: Actually, I learned something new about you every day. Picking
[14:06] Speaker 1: voice is so bizarre.
[14:08] Speaker 2: He's awesome. He sells. He sells lock picking kits, and
[14:12] Speaker 2: I was planning on getting one.
[14:14] Speaker 1: Really, yeah, and whose luck are you going to pick?
[14:17] Speaker 2: Whoever? Whosever I want?
[14:19] Speaker 1: I don't know, Oh my goodness. In the early morning
[14:22] Speaker 1: hours of June twenty eighth, the two men enter the
[14:25] Speaker 1: Severs home. They're actually waiting for her, so they know
[14:28] Speaker 1: what time. They obviously know what time. Right, They've been
[14:30] Speaker 1: communicating with Mark Sievers. And I'll tell you how they communicate.
[14:34] Speaker 1: They have burner phones. And the police end up finding
[14:37] Speaker 1: this out later.
[14:38] Speaker 2: See, that could be in the Walmart isle too.
[14:40] Speaker 1: You are still in that Walmart issle, aren't you. You
[14:42] Speaker 1: are just stalking it in your head right now. You're
[14:44] Speaker 1: thinking of all the things you're gonna What are you
[14:46] Speaker 1: gonna have? Their bleach and black trash bags, definitely a
[14:50] Speaker 1: mini plastic pool.
[14:52] Speaker 2: Chainsaws, Yeah, what else is it?
[14:54] Speaker 1: Loves? Oh, you need zip ties in that aisle.
[14:58] Speaker 2: Cable ties, cable ties right.
[15:00] Speaker 1: Anyway, the way that they had been communicating was they
[15:02] Speaker 1: had burner phones. And the police never did find the
[15:06] Speaker 1: burner phones, but they knew they had burner phones because
[15:08] Speaker 1: every time they switched when they were regular texting, and
[15:11] Speaker 1: they switched to the burner phones. They would always use
[15:14] Speaker 1: the keyword other, and then that's when they would switch
[15:17] Speaker 1: and start communicating on the burner phones.
[15:19] Speaker 2: And they probably said other like five hundred times, probably
[15:21] Speaker 2: like stop talking other. They should have add something more subtle,
[15:27] Speaker 2: like I need to go now, I need to take
[15:29] Speaker 2: my nap yeah, or my medicine. I have to take
[15:32] Speaker 2: my medicine now, wink wink.
[15:34] Speaker 1: And no, they just did other. So obviously they know
[15:38] Speaker 1: what time her flight lands. They know that she's supposed
[15:41] Speaker 1: to arrive home around midnight, so they're waiting for her
[15:44] Speaker 1: in the house. She pulls in after she comes back
[15:46] Speaker 1: from this trip. She goes into the garage.
[15:48] Speaker 2: Oh wait, this is returning from the trip.
[15:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, she's returning from the trip.
[15:52] Speaker 2: Okay, remember she comes home. But I thought maybe she
[15:54] Speaker 2: went to work or something. So she's just coming home
[15:56] Speaker 2: from trip.
[15:57] Speaker 1: Like, she has her luggage with her. She just landed.
[15:59] Speaker 1: There's actually security footage of her, and they found security
[16:02] Speaker 1: footage of her landing in the airport and walking through
[16:05] Speaker 1: the airport alone with her luggage. She drives home, she
[16:09] Speaker 1: knows she's alone. She enters the house and right when
[16:12] Speaker 1: she comes into the kitchen, they attack her with a hammer.
[16:17] Speaker 1: In the early morning hours of June twenty eighth, the
[16:19] Speaker 1: two men enter the sever's home. They beat Teresa to
[16:21] Speaker 1: death with a hammer, striking her seventeen times. Then they
[16:25] Speaker 1: leave and drive back to Missouri. Mark received a call down.
[16:28] Speaker 2: I don't mean to be gruesome, but if you're going
[16:32] Speaker 2: to kind of murder, why would you do it in
[16:34] Speaker 2: the way that leads the most amount of DNA throughout
[16:36] Speaker 2: the entire room.
[16:37] Speaker 1: Well, I don't think these two are very intelligent. They went,
[16:39] Speaker 1: they went to they rented a car, probably in their
[16:42] Speaker 1: own name. They use burner phones, and then they took
[16:46] Speaker 1: then they went to Walmart and they have them on
[16:47] Speaker 1: security camera, and they know what they purchased. I mean,
[16:50] Speaker 1: these are not brilliant, you know hitmen.
[16:52] Speaker 2: Well I figured out how to pick a lock.
[16:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, they did. They picked the lock to get in. Actually,
[16:58] Speaker 1: it's actually when I watched the document on it, they
[17:00] Speaker 1: said that the door was left unlocked and so they
[17:03] Speaker 1: could just walk in. So I don't know if they
[17:05] Speaker 1: had to pick a I don't know if that was inaccurate,
[17:07] Speaker 1: or they had to pick the lock, or maybe they
[17:09] Speaker 1: thought they had to pick a lock, but it ended
[17:10] Speaker 1: up being that they just were able to walk into
[17:12] Speaker 1: the house like a side door.
[17:14] Speaker 2: It's terrible.
[17:15] Speaker 1: Mark received a call that morning telling him that his
[17:18] Speaker 1: wife had been found dead. He and the girls flew
[17:20] Speaker 1: home from Connecticut. Initially, investigators found no obvious suspect. Mark
[17:26] Speaker 1: had a seemingly airtight alibi, and when they questioned him,
[17:30] Speaker 1: he put on a show of emotions. Have you seen this.
[17:33] Speaker 2: I walked into the room when you were watching, Oh
[17:35] Speaker 2: my gosh, and and the way he was reacting. I
[17:38] Speaker 2: thought like it was his reaction because he got caught
[17:42] Speaker 2: or something. Oh, it's I can't he hold on. I
[17:45] Speaker 2: saw him. I walked in and he was in like
[17:47] Speaker 2: an interrogation.
[17:47] Speaker 1: Room, right, they bring him into it.
[17:48] Speaker 2: And he was physical. He was oh like slamming the table,
[17:53] Speaker 2: grazing his fist, he was, and hands on his head
[17:58] Speaker 2: and just like almost like he wanted to be eat
[18:00] Speaker 2: someone up. And I was like, I thought, didn't I
[18:02] Speaker 2: say something like oh, yeah, like you know, he's regretting
[18:05] Speaker 2: the murder, so he's like suffering, right, And then you're like,
[18:08] Speaker 2: you know it's an act. He's faking it. Yeah, he
[18:11] Speaker 2: didn't commit the murder. Well, he did, well, not at
[18:14] Speaker 2: his own with his own hands.
[18:15] Speaker 1: No, but he he no, he in this in this room.
[18:19] Speaker 1: They have him recorded and they show him when he
[18:21] Speaker 1: finds out that you know that his wife has a murder,
[18:23] Speaker 1: and they bring him in to question him. It's ridiculous.
[18:27] Speaker 2: I mean, well they leave him, right they do? They
[18:30] Speaker 2: leave him. See what he'll do?
[18:31] Speaker 1: Yeah, Well he's just like why, Theresa, why And he's like, oh,
[18:36] Speaker 1: he's so over the time.
[18:37] Speaker 2: I couldn't have come home the same been me.
[18:41] Speaker 1: He's so he's like pounding his fist and he's like,
[18:44] Speaker 1: god no, it's just so dramatic and the top. I
[18:47] Speaker 1: can't even I couldn't even think.
[18:49] Speaker 2: I went to the room to tell you to turn
[18:50] Speaker 2: it down because he was so obnoxious.
[18:52] Speaker 1: It was obnoxious. The breakthrough came with a phone tip
[19:03] Speaker 1: and GPS data. Police found an old GPS device and
[19:07] Speaker 1: the rental car connected to Wright, who someone suggested they
[19:11] Speaker 1: look into. So I guess someone suggests that they look
[19:13] Speaker 1: into his friend, Curtis Wright.
[19:14] Speaker 2: That's random though, because it's like, hey, she has a
[19:16] Speaker 2: friend one thousand miles away.
[19:18] Speaker 1: It looks just like him.
[19:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, you might want to look into him.
[19:21] Speaker 1: So then they find the rental car that was connected
[19:24] Speaker 1: to them that they rented, and then they find the
[19:26] Speaker 1: GPS data on the rental car. Forensic analysts recovered deleted
[19:31] Speaker 1: route data from the device, which showed a round trip
[19:34] Speaker 1: from Missouri directly to the sever's home in Benita Springs.
[19:38] Speaker 1: The GPS was linked to an email account connected to
[19:41] Speaker 1: Jimmy Ray Rogers.
[19:42] Speaker 2: These are not They also opted in the rental agreement
[19:45] Speaker 2: for a dash cam.
[19:47] Speaker 1: These are not bright murderers by any stretch of the imagination.
[19:53] Speaker 1: They did try to delete the GPS information though, well
[19:56] Speaker 1: I don't know. It said it was deleted, but it
[19:58] Speaker 1: said they found they found it, so.
[20:00] Speaker 2: They did delete it. It's just it wasn't Yeah, it's
[20:02] Speaker 2: still it's like.
[20:03] Speaker 1: It's like every time you have a case where people
[20:05] Speaker 1: go through their cell phone, they're trying to delete.
[20:06] Speaker 2: Remember we did a case even worse when you deleted
[20:08] Speaker 2: it because it's like, oh, you didn't want someone to
[20:10] Speaker 2: see this. I mean, when they hook up a phone
[20:12] Speaker 2: to look search it, I bet the first thing they
[20:15] Speaker 2: do is going to the deleted files.
[20:17] Speaker 1: Right like just bypass everything else, you go right to
[20:19] Speaker 1: the deleted files. It reminds me of when this was
[20:22] Speaker 1: until Death Do Us Part Episode where we did. It
[20:25] Speaker 1: wasn't the milkshake murder. It was the root beer murder.
[20:27] Speaker 1: I remember. It was the mom and the daughter and
[20:29] Speaker 1: they were plotting to poison because the.
[20:33] Speaker 2: Daughter already killed her husband, we think, right, So she's
[20:35] Speaker 2: telling them mom how to do it right, and they.
[20:37] Speaker 1: Were doing it with they were gonna make root beer floats,
[20:39] Speaker 1: and they were putting the poison and the root beer floats.
[20:41] Speaker 1: And remember when they she was deleting like while the
[20:44] Speaker 1: police were I believe they were questioning her in the
[20:46] Speaker 1: investigation room. She's like going through her phone and deleting
[20:49] Speaker 1: her text messages with the daughter. But we're just like,
[20:51] Speaker 1: you know, you can pull up deleted messaging, you.
[20:54] Speaker 2: Can smash the phone. It's probably recovera it's just more work.
[20:59] Speaker 1: Surveillance footage filled in more gaps. The two men were
[21:02] Speaker 1: captured on camera at a gas station and at the
[21:05] Speaker 1: walmart where they bought their supplies. The final nail in
[21:08] Speaker 1: the coffin came when the investigators spoke to Roger's girlfriend.
[21:12] Speaker 1: This is Jimmy Ray Rodgers. This was the This is
[21:14] Speaker 1: the second second hired person who revealed that he had
[21:19] Speaker 1: confessed to her that he had killed someone in Florida
[21:22] Speaker 1: with a hammer. He had also made her throw his
[21:25] Speaker 1: coveralls out of a moving car window. She actually remembered
[21:29] Speaker 1: exactly where it was on the side of the road,
[21:31] Speaker 1: and she took investigators to the exact spot and they
[21:35] Speaker 1: recovered the coveralls and there were fibers and fabrics coveralls.
[21:41] Speaker 1: They probably put those suits like.
[21:45] Speaker 2: Suit yeah and so, but then he took it off
[21:49] Speaker 2: after they murdered her.
[21:50] Speaker 1: Right, well, they murdered her with a hammer. Can you
[21:51] Speaker 1: imagine how much blood splash? Like?
[21:54] Speaker 2: Their choice of murder was not ideal.
[21:56] Speaker 1: No, they didn't even stabbing.
[21:59] Speaker 2: I feel like would be us strangling.
[22:02] Speaker 1: I don't know. But they chose a hammer. Can you imagine?
[22:04] Speaker 1: Just and they've hit her seventeen times. I mean they
[22:07] Speaker 1: had they were probably covered in blood. So they had
[22:09] Speaker 1: these cover all things on. So then he takes it
[22:12] Speaker 1: off and throws it on the side of the road.
[22:14] Speaker 1: The girlfriend remembers exactly where it was and takes investigators
[22:18] Speaker 1: to it. The fabric match material found on Teresa's body.
[22:22] Speaker 1: In August of twenty fifteen, both Wright and Rogers were
[22:26] Speaker 1: arrested in Missouri. All Right, Curtis Wayne Wright, this is
[22:30] Speaker 1: the friend of.
[22:30] Speaker 2: My so, but for that person saying look at Curtis,
[22:33] Speaker 2: it probably wouldn't have been traced back to them. I mean,
[22:38] Speaker 2: we don't maybe, but there was nothing else leading to
[22:40] Speaker 2: them though they witness name.
[22:41] Speaker 1: It right, right. So there was someone that came forward
[22:44] Speaker 1: that said look into Curtis. So that was the first tip.
[22:47] Speaker 1: Then when they look into Curtis, they find the rental car,
[22:51] Speaker 1: which obviously he rented in his own name. Then they
[22:54] Speaker 1: find the GPS evidence. They know they have the burner phones,
[22:57] Speaker 1: but they never recovered the actual burner phones Curtis. Wayne
[23:00] Speaker 1: Wright ends up flipping on his friend Mark and told
[23:04] Speaker 1: investigators that the entire murder had been orchestrated by his
[23:07] Speaker 1: childhood best friend, Mark Severs. He said Mark had approached
[23:11] Speaker 1: him at a wedding in Missouri and confided in him
[23:14] Speaker 1: to his marital problems and paid him to have Teresa killed.
[23:20] Speaker 1: I guess he claimed that he was going to pay
[23:21] Speaker 1: him one hundred thousand dollars, but I know the defense
[23:24] Speaker 1: uses this as an argument and trial and says, well,
[23:27] Speaker 1: if he was going to pay him a hundred thousand dollars,
[23:28] Speaker 1: there was fifty thousand dollars in cash in the house.
[23:31] Speaker 1: In a safe and he never told him to take
[23:34] Speaker 1: that fifty thousand dollars in cash. I think what he did.
[23:39] Speaker 1: I think what he did was say, once he got
[23:41] Speaker 1: the insurance money from her death.
[23:43] Speaker 2: I'll cut you, yeah, that he would get another check.
[23:46] Speaker 1: All right, you a check from our business account.
[23:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, so I can expense it, he said. So.
[23:52] Speaker 1: Wright's testimony became the backbone. This is Curtis Wayne Wright.
[23:55] Speaker 1: His testimony became the backbone of the case against Mark.
[23:59] Speaker 1: In December of two, twenty fifteen, Mark Severs was arrested
[24:02] Speaker 1: and charged with first degree murder as the mastermind behind
[24:06] Speaker 1: Teresa's Sever's death. A Curtis Wayne Wright cooperated with prosecutors
[24:12] Speaker 1: and pleaded guilty. He took a plea deal obviously obviously right, Yeah,
[24:16] Speaker 1: in exchange for his testimony against Rogers and Mark Severs.
[24:20] Speaker 1: He received a twenty five year prison sentence. If it's
[24:23] Speaker 1: twenty five years, that means he'll be eligible for pearl
[24:25] Speaker 1: probably in half that time.
[24:27] Speaker 2: No, in twenty five years. That's why it's twenty five
[24:30] Speaker 2: to life.
[24:31] Speaker 1: But he didn't get twenty five to life. He got
[24:33] Speaker 1: twenty five years. Oh, so I'm saying probability. So then
[24:39] Speaker 1: he's well, it's a felony, so then he's probably eligible
[24:41] Speaker 1: for parol when he's served eighty five percent of the
[24:43] Speaker 1: twenty five years. Jimmy Ray Rodgers went to trial in
[24:47] Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, maintaining his innocence. The jury convicted him of
[24:51] Speaker 1: first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.
[24:55] Speaker 1: He has since claimed innocence and sought a new trial.
[24:59] Speaker 1: Oh Jimmy, like, just give it up. Mark Sievers went
[25:04] Speaker 1: to trial on October of twenty nineteen. Curtis Wright, his
[25:08] Speaker 1: best friend, testified against him as the key cooperating witness.
[25:12] Speaker 1: On October twenty third of twenty nineteen, the jury found
[25:16] Speaker 1: Mark guilty of first degree murder and unanimously recommended the
[25:20] Speaker 1: death penalty. You know, he maintained his innocence through the
[25:23] Speaker 1: whole thing. He was even kind of cocky in court.
[25:25] Speaker 2: I felt like, so they recommend death penalty and then
[25:29] Speaker 2: it's the judge. Yeah, that then sends him death if
[25:33] Speaker 2: he hears she still chooses right.
[25:34] Speaker 1: So on January third of twenty twenty, Judge Bruce Kyle
[25:38] Speaker 1: formally sentenced Mark Sievers to death, so he's on death row.
[25:42] Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, Mark Severs appealed his conviction and
[25:45] Speaker 1: death sentence to the Florida Supreme Court. The court upheld
[25:49] Speaker 1: both the conviction and the sentence. Mark Sievers remains on
[25:53] Speaker 1: death row where he deserves to be well.
[25:58] Speaker 2: He to be six feet under.
[25:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, for coordinating the.
[26:02] Speaker 2: Death, because he did not do anything physically. He coordinated it,
[26:08] Speaker 2: clearly he wanted it, but he did not do anything
[26:12] Speaker 2: no to actually facilitate the actual physical murder.
[26:16] Speaker 1: Yeah. The thing is when you have a witness that
[26:18] Speaker 1: lied initially, then you have to convince the jury that
[26:21] Speaker 1: he's not lying now right.
[26:23] Speaker 2: Right, and he's not lying. Oh yeah, I know, we
[26:25] Speaker 2: gave him a lighter sentence, but he's not lying right exactly.
[26:28] Speaker 2: It's tough.
[26:28] Speaker 1: Also, the defense used they claimed that the best friend
[26:33] Speaker 1: Curtis Wayne Right, that he was in love with Mark
[26:36] Speaker 1: Severs and that there was some kind of sexual relationship
[26:40] Speaker 1: or of infatuation and that's why he wanted to get
[26:43] Speaker 1: rid of Teresa. That was a defense that they used
[26:45] Speaker 1: that it wasn't that Mark wasn't involved in that that
[26:47] Speaker 1: like Curtis Waynwright was like it.
[26:49] Speaker 2: Was having a long distance affair.
[26:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, so there was that argument as well. Obviously it
[26:54] Speaker 1: didn't fly. So Mark Severs is where he should be
[26:57] Speaker 1: on death row again. What is the moral of the story.
[27:02] Speaker 2: That you should file for divorce instead of killing each
[27:05] Speaker 2: other again?
[27:07] Speaker 1: The public service announcement that we would.
[27:09] Speaker 2: Like to make is divorce over death.
[27:12] Speaker 1: Divorce over death. I do know that getting divorced and
[27:15] Speaker 1: dividing assets and custody and all those things people just
[27:19] Speaker 1: want to avoid it.
[27:20] Speaker 2: I feel like it's messy, but not as messy as
[27:23] Speaker 2: blood everywhere.
[27:24] Speaker 1: All right, thank you guys for listening. As always, please
[27:26] Speaker 1: follow Legally Brunette wherever you listen to podcasts, and be
[27:30] Speaker 1: sure to tell your friends and family. And also, if
[27:32] Speaker 1: you get the opportunity, please leave us a review. We'd
[27:35] Speaker 1: love to read them. Thanks for listening.

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