Murder in the Thirst (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Who Killed Atlanta's Playboy? - full transcript

And the people who would do
anything to get there.

These are the tales
of the desperate thirsts

that drive people to murder.

Viewer discretion advised?
You better know it.

Lance Herndon
was the black Gatsby.

They were both rich.

They both loved
lavish parties and women,

and they both loved
living on the edge.

It's the mid-'90s in Atlanta,

and here you have Lance, this
super-successful businessman,

running his computer
consulting business



making money using his skill
and expertise.

A self-made millionaire
who worked hard

and played even harder.

He had great style
and he was known for that.

He was a dapper millionaire.

Lance Herndon wanted it all
and got it.

He was over the top.
He wasn't just an average person

who had things and had money.

He was putting it out there
for everybody to see.

He had a beautiful home, a car.

He spent lavishly.

There were so many women
in Atlanta pulling after him.

Everybody wanted a taste
of his luxurious lifestyle,

and somebody was thirsty enough
to kill him for it.



The scene was just gory.

Blood spatter across the wall.

It was shocking,
vicious, and personal.

Whoever had done it knew him,

couldn't stand the sight
of their work,

and so they covered him.

Is this a deadly
sexual encounter?

This is a real whodunit.

Was it one of his three women
or a secret gay lover?

No one is off limits.

It's a tale of mansions,
mistresses,

and murder in the thirst.

When millionaire Lance Herndon
was found beaten to death
in his Atlanta mansion,

he was one of ATL's richest men.

But his life didn't
start out that way,

and he sure as hell
didn't grow up

with a silver spoon
in his mouth.

Lance Herndon was
born in Harlem, New York.

He came from humble beginnings.

He spent a lot of time
at home alone

because his mother worked a lot
outside the home.

Lance as a child
was very driven,

and his mother would leave
detailed notes for him.

So from the time Lance got home,
he knew what to do.

And he followed those notes.

That discipline carried over
into his adult life,

and that's why he was
so regimented.

After college,
Lance ended up in Atlanta

with a lot of drive
and ambition and charisma,

and started a computer
consulting company
called Access Inc.

He ran his business from home.

They did applications,
they fixed computers,

they installed software.

He got a lot of attention
as a businessman.

Atlanta during those times was
very much the black Mecca.

My father was trying
to be revolutionary, trying
to be on the cutting edge.

His company became
one of the fastest growing

minority businesses
in the country.

My dad exceeded
$5 million in revenue.

To start a business
and be successful

as an African-American
in Georgia at that time,

to be frank,
he set the bar very high.

All that hard work paid off.

Honey, before long,
that cash was rolling in

and Lance loved showing it off.

He was always dressed
in the finest clothes

and drove
the most expensive cars.

He learned how to dress
for success.

He learned how to speak
the language of millionaires,

and that's how he got them
as clients.

And when he mingled
with Atlanta's elite,

Lance always had beautiful women
by his side.

The women loved him.

I mean,
even the men noticed him.

They noticed how suave he was.

But the women,
there were so many women
in Atlanta pulling after him.

He was addicted to sex
and power.

This is a man who is quite
meticulous, very controlling.

Lance was really kind of
regimented and strange
as a business person.

Image was very important to him.

Let's say you had to write
a letter and you put
a stamp on it.

The stamp had to be absolutely
perfectly placed.

And if he saw that it wasn't,

he might make a note
in your personnel file

that you were not careful in how
you addressed the envelope.

Lance was
a notoriously early riser.

He had multiple alarm clocks.

There were three, if I recall,
to back each other up.

In case one didn't go off,
the next one went off.

Every morning, he would tape
elaborate instructions

to his employees

telling you
what your day needed to be.

They'd always start
out, "Hi, this is Lance."

And then he would go through

what he wanted you
to do that day.

His habits made Lance
exceptional in his business.

Lance kind of landed
into a new, more brazenly

materialistic Atlanta.

And Lance plugged into that
and became sort of a prince

because he could do it
bigger and better.

Big parties, women,
hot foreign cars.

The one thing he loved
more than money

was spending it
on beautiful women.

Yeah. Lance was such a player,

he was divorced twice
by the time he was 35.

And that's when he met wife
number three.

Lance Herndon
met Jeannine Price in Brazil.

He was vacationing there

and she was a flight attendant.

And she was alone.

She wound up under
the statue of Jesus

with the outstretched arms.

And it was at that moment
she looks over

and there is Lance.

And she just felt
like that was destiny

that she would meet this brother

right there under the statue
of Jesus in Brazil.

Didn't get much better
than that.

Now I'm sure
Jeannine loved Lance.

He was quite the catch.

Charming, successful, handsome,

but it must be pretty easy
to get swept off your feet

when you're getting swept into
a 6,000 square foot mansion.

He set up house with Jeannine,

they had a baby named Harrison,

and life was going good.

By 1990, Lance had his wife,

he had his mansion,
and he had his millions.

When I was born
and my mother had me,

as she was walking out
of the hospital,

my dad surprised her
with a gift.

A Porsche 911.

My mom goes, "This is great,
but there's no space
to put the baby."

And I think that story really
encompasses the love

that my father had for me,

but also the fact that he was
a larger than life character.

My mom would always tell me

that dad was so happy
to have a son.

He would spend time
with his son.

Every day, he would bring him
down in the office.

My father really loved me.

Even though he was
a legendary ladies man,

Lance actually loved
being a husband and a dad.

But he just couldn't keep
his credit card in his pants.

When he met a beauty
named Kathi Collins...

...trouble.

Family life started to bore him,

and he starts dating Kathi.

Now Kathi was tall, statuesque.

She had long, dark, wavy hair,

and she would throw it
when she walked into a room.

She was very, very dramatic
in her expressions and gestures.

And she was very snobby.

That's how everybody described
her, as very snobby.

She ran a women's
clothing boutique,

and she was equally
materialistic.

Kathi and Lance
met in California

when they were both married.

And leaves her husband
and goes to Atlanta

with the hope that she and Lance

would make the relationship
more permanent.

And Jeannine found out about it,

and Jeannine was livid.

She confronted him.

She was not the type of woman

who was going to put up
with having a cheating husband

just because she wanted
to stay rich.

She was willing to walk away
from it all.

For her, it was all or nothing.

Before you could
say "community property,"

Jeannine was out...

...and Kathi was in.

Kathi started
keeping clothes in the closet.

She kept a photo of herself
on his nightstand.

So she was definitely the woman
of the house at one time.

When Lance hit the public scene

and he wanted to sort of,
like, impress folk,

he was gonna be with Kathi.

That was gonna be
the woman on his arm.

She was kind of the currency
that he would use socially.

But Kathi was just one
of the women in the house.

There was always more,

like his assistant
Talana Carroway,

Who was working
out of his home office

and licking more
than just stamps.

Hello.

Talana was very well-endowed,

beautiful body.

She was the friend
with benefits,

Lance's confidante.

She made Lance feel comfortable.

Comfortable enough for him
to confide in her about things

that he had not
confided even in, you know,
with his wife.

There were women
that were jealous of Talana

because she was always there
and he trusted her.

Lance wanted excitement.

He wanted crazy sex.

He wanted a lot of it.

And Talana understood that.

She was willing to
do anything for Lance.

But she was never
the main girlfriend.

She was always
on the backburner.

So by the time Lance decided

to throw himself a lavish
41st birthday party,

he was juggling
at least two women,

and he was about
to make it three.

It's Lance's 41st birthday,

and he's planning on having
a big to-do for himself.

The ticket to Lance's party
was kind of a hot ticket.

Everyone knew.

On the night of Lance's party,
it is a beautiful night.

People arrive in their diamonds.

The women sported
stiletto shoes.

The men were dressed in tuxedos.

An extravagant bash.

He sees a very pretty,
fair-skinned young lady.

It's Dionne Baugh.

Dionne was sultry.

She was sexy.

Dionne was exotic.

He didn't even
know Dionne Baugh.

He knew Dionne Baugh's boss.

When he sent an invitation
to Dionne's boss,

Dionne actually intercepted one
of those tickets for herself

and just showed up.

She was thin, petite.

She had long, fine hair,

and she spoke with
a Jamaican accent.

Anything that's exotic,
Lance likes it.

So he was immediately
interested in her.

Not only that,
but she was funny.

She had personality.

She was very, very charming.

He ended up dancing with her.

He took her number,
not recognizing

that he was the kind of guy

she wanted to sink
her hooks into.

He's talking
to Dionne in front of Talana,

in front of Kathi.

So it's like,
"Uh-oh, what is this?"

The birthday party kept
Atlanta buzzing for weeks.

But the city had barely
slept off the hangover

when Lance Herndon
was found killed

in his own bed.

Lance Herndon was now sleeping
with three different women...

Elegant Kathi, wild Talana,

and young and sexy Dionne.

It had been four months since
his infamous birthday party

when Holly Steuber showed up
for work at his home office

and sensed something was wrong.

Holly is the first one
to show up.

She comes in,
and to her surprise,
she doesn't see Lance.

She calls him. He isn't there.

It was very strange because
there was no pile of work

and no tape recorder on my desk

and no one else's desk either,

and Lance did that
every morning.

He has a certain method
for doing things,

and when things are done
out of order,

it's a definite red flag
and it's a definite clue

that something is wrong here.

So I went in to his office

and I looked at his calendar.

This is a man
who's very scheduled.

And she didn't see anything
on his calendar,

which appeared to be out of
Lance's nature and character.

She looks around and notices
that the laptop is missing.

But the laptop case is there,

which is very, very strange,

because Lance
never separates the case

from the computer. Never.

If he was gonna loan it out, he
would tell me the night before

that he was gonna loan it out
and I needed to put it
in its case.

Lance's business was located on
the basement level of his home,

but the employees
never went upstairs.

That was his residence.
That was his private space.

Lance's mom also works there
part-time as the bookkeeper.

She's running a little bit
late that day.

So Holly calls his mom and tells
her she can't find Lance.

So she's coming in.

She goes upstairs
to check on him.

And within a few minutes...

...she just starts crying
a gut-wrenching cry.

It scared me.

The way she was screaming,
it scared me.

Like, something bad
had happened.

It wasn't like she got hurt
or something.

It was a horrible scream.

It was... you know, it was a
mother who found her son dead.

The police arrive to find
Lance bludgeoned to death.

The scene was so gory,

that even veteran cops got sick
to their stomach.

His face was caved in

and there was blood spatter
across the walls.

He was unrecognizable.

Lance was a heavy sleeper.

He had, like, three alarm clocks

and all of those alarm clocks
were unplugged strangely.

Someone knew the alarm clocks

were gonna go off
at a certain hour,

that the employees
worked downstairs,

so they unplugged those alarm
clocks because they knew.

There was a woman's photo
turned down on the nightstand.

The fact that Lance's
number one girl's picture

had been put face down,
told me one of two things.

It was either the person
who was in the picture

is the one that did it.

"How would you
have my picture here

when all you're doing is
cheating on me all the time?"

Or that the person was jealous.

Jealousy is more than enough
to make someone kill.

As they search the house,

the cops try to piece together
the attackstep by step.

They're thinking,
did someone come over,

have sex with him,
and something went wrong?

Is this a deadly
sexual encounter?

This is a real whodunit.

Who was motivated enough
to kill him?

Was it a jealous lover,
a jealous ex-lover,

someone in business with him
with an axe to grind?

Whoever killed Lance grabbed
the crescent wrench,

straddled him, and came down,

like, a dozen times
with that wrench.

Just caved his skull in.

There was blood
all over the wall.

They had entertained the thought

that it could've
been a gay lover,

because Lance was hit
with such force

it was possible a man did it.

Investigators deduced that
the attack was so personal.

The attack to the face
was personal.

This person must've known him,

because he was also sort of
covered up with a blanket.

So they figure, like,
whoever had done it knew him,

couldn't stand the sight
of their work,

and so they covered him

so they could move
about the bedroom.

However, investigators
could not find any kind
of recognizable prints.

Whoever did this,
did a meticulous job

covering their tracks
and cleaning themselves up

because there was no blood trail
leading out of the house.

Police found a pillow stuffed
inside of the bathroom toilet.

They could tell that the killer
had taken a shower.

On the sheet
there is a bloody imprint

of what looks like a large
crescent wrench.

That night, Lance had been
in the process

of assembling
an exercise machine.

So they believe
that that was the weapon,

but they don't know where it is.

They talked to Lance's mom,

and she tells them right away
it was one of these women.

You heard what she said.

One of these women killed Lance.

But who was she talking about?

Who was so thirsty
for his luxury and love

they killed for it?

Was it one of his girlfriends?

Kathi, Talana, or Dionne?

Oh, and let's not forget
about his ex-wife Jeannine.

As the cops try
to piece together

the death of millionaire
playboy Lance Herndon,

his ex-wife Jeannine
was in the hot seat.

Investigators look at Jeannine,

and they realize
she's still a beneficiary

on one of his
life insurance policies,

and if he dies, she stands
to gain about a million dollars.

And that's a great motive.

But when the police
talked to her,

they realized that Lance
was giving her a lot of money,

thousands of dollars per month.

So he was taking very good care
of her and Harrison.

They ruled her out eventually,
because it just didn't seem

like she had the personality
to do that.

Plus, her alibi checked out.

With Jeannine in the clear,

the cops put the focus
on Lance's girlfriends.

Just how much did they know

about his latest fling
with Dionne?

Knowing how close Dionne
and Lance became

in such a short period of time,

that told me that at least one
if not both of them

was very motivated to be
in each other's lives quickly.

He was taken with her
and everybody knew it.

He started
to lavish her with gifts.

I mean, high-end clothing,
money, trips.

And then the cream
was this Mercedes.

That was a big deal.
I think she knew right then

the relationship had taken on
another level of seriousness.

This newcomer is the only woman

who got a Mercedes-Benz.

He hadn't even done that
for Kathi, his main woman.

He said to his friends

that Dionne Baugh was a freak
in the bedroom.

She drove him absolutely wild.

She was very aggressive in bed.
She was aggressive in life.

Pretty.
Exactly what he liked
in a woman.

So their relationship,
of course,

was gonna take off immediately,
and that was her goal.

Her goal was
to get close to him.

She was very, very beautiful
and she was very classy.

So she was sort of a combination

of Kathi and Talana
rolled into one.

Now all of his girls
know about each other,

but Dionne definitely
wanted to be the only one.

However, Dionne is married
at the time.

But she doesn't care.

Dionne was married
to a fellow named Shawn Nelson

who was an Air Jamaica pilot.

And he was essentially living
in Jamaica with their daughter

while she was living here in
Atlanta pursuing her education

and working for MARTA.

Shawn was offering
her a pretty good life.

You know, a modest home
and a modest car.

But she didn't want modest.

Dionne wanted sinful riches.

Lance can give her the life
that Shawn can't.

Remember, Shawn is a pilot.

When Shawn is away,
Dionne starts to play.

Things came to a head

when Shawn came back and saw
Dionne with a Mercedes.

He knows he didn't buy it.

He wants to know,
"Who gave you this car?"

And she makes up a story.

She tells him from her mentor.

And her husband's like,
"He gave you a Mercedes?"

So Shawn knows in his heart

that Dionne is probably having
an affair with someone,

but he didn't with whom.

So all of a sudden,

he's clued in on the fact
that she's having an affair.

That in and of itself
is volatile,

but then apparently
there's a phone call

that comes to the house
while he's there.

At four in the morning.

And the man on the other line
is Lance Herndon.

But a man answers
Dionne's phone,

so Lance is confused.

Lance claims he didn't know
that Dionne had a husband,

and he demands
to speak to Dionne.

Shawn told Dionne
to make up her mind

about which one of them
she wanted.

Of course, she chose Lance.

At the time of the murder,

Lance and Dionne had been hot
and heavy for about four months.

So were Kathi and Talana going
sour on their sugar daddy?

I felt kind of sorry for Talana.

She never really got
to get in the batter's box.

It seems like
she was always on the bench,

and he went from woman to woman
to woman to woman

and Talana was still there
waiting for her big shot

that just didn't seem like
it was ever gonna come.

One of the people
they look at is Talana.

Was she so jealous?
Did her jealousy rise

to a degree where she would be
motivated to kill Lance

to keep him away
from other women?

So Talana shows up
at the station.

She isn't happy about it.

She felt that the police
were sort of harassing her.

They wanted to know
about Talana's relationship
with Lance.

And she told them
that they were friends,

but that their relationship
was mostly sexual.

Talana is known
to have turned down

the photo of Kathi
on the bedside.

And the fact that
Talana had a history
of turning the photo down,

it's certainly possible
that she could have been

the person who killed him.

She denied killing Lance.

There was an alibi,
and she was able to prove
her whereabouts.

They look at phone records
and they see

that there are these phone calls
to Talana's house at the time.

And they use that evidence
as a way to clear Talana.

So she was eliminated
as a suspect.

Talana actually told the cops

she was in Lance's house
the night he got killed.

But she also pointed the finger

at his other girlfriend Kathi.

Talana is there working,

and then around 10:00 PM,
she goes upstairs

to say goodnight to Lance.

When she gets to the top
of the stairs,

she says that she saw Lance

taking clothes out
of the closet.

The clothes were Kathi's.

He was getting ready
to kick Kathi out.

So, the police, they're starting
to take a look at Kathi.

Does she have a motive?

Is she angry?
Is she a scorned lover?

The detectives call Kathi.

She's not showing any sadness.

And that's strange,

because this is someone
she was with for a long time.

I mean, she was basically
living with Lance.

But the only thing
she's concerned about

are her fancy clothes.

She wants to know
why she has not been allowed

to go inside of the crime scene

to get her expensive clothing.

They told her to come down
to the station

and she waltzes in
as if she's on a runway.

She throws her hair
behind her shoulder

and she tells them
she doesn't know

what happened to Lance.

Looking further,

they find that the timeframe
when Lance was killed,

Kathi could not have been there.

She actually had an alibi.

She apparently had another
millionaire boyfriend

outside of Lance.

She had dinner that night
at a restaurant,

but at the time
Lance was killed,

she was in the other
millionaire's bed.

That's one way
to clear your name.

"I was sleeping with my other
millionaire that night."

But Kathi's biggest bombshell
was yet to come.

In the months leading up
to his death,

millionaire Lance Herndon

spoiled his
third girlfriend Dionne

with shopping trips
and credit cards.

But the more they messed around,
the more he started to worry.

So Lance has been having sex
with Dionne many times,

but now a different side of her
personality starts to emerge.

Dionne didn't seemed
to be wrapped too tight.

They hadn't even
been dating that long

and it just seemed to be
extremely aggressive

and jealous,
and those are definite clues

that this person has a potential

to take things to the next level

and become violent.

And he had not anticipated
that she was this kind of woman

because when he first met her,
she was charming, she was funny.

She seemed like
a very laid-back person.

But when he starts to see
how jealous she is,

and how possessive she is,
and how angry she gets

when he doesn't call her back,
it startles him.

I think she started to feel
like his little sex toy

and someone who was not
important to him.

And I don't think her ego
could take that,

and so she started
to resent him.

She's calling his office

and being a little bit
disrespectful to his secretary.

Because when they tell her
that he isn't in,

it's like she doesn't
believe them.

She's too pushy.

She's pushing herself
on him too much,

and so he starts
to weigh the options.

"Okay, the sex is the best
I've ever had,

but look at what else
is coming with this."

My impression of Dionne Baugh

was that she could
be really charming

and warm and engaging,

and then she could also
just cut you.

He wants her to go away,

but he doesn't want her
to go away mad.

He just wants her to go away.

Lance's girlfriend Kathi
told the cops

his Dionne problem
came to a head

about a month before his death.

Dionne didn't know about Kathi
until one night.

Dionne used to go over and
borrow Lance's laptop and study.

And one day she went over
unannounced

and Lance didn't answer
the door.

She looked in there,

and she thought she saw a woman
through the window.

And she started ringing
the doorbell

and kind of getting
really aggressive with it.

And Lance played it off
to Kathi like,

"I don't know
who this is on my porch."

And Kathi's like,
"You don't know who it is?

Well, who is this crazy woman?"

And he said, "I don't know,"

and he kept going with the story

and he called the cops.

The cops show up, and Dionne
has an attitude like,

"That's my man in there
and he won't answer the door."

And they said,
"Ma'am, you gotta leave."

And so she fights with the cops

and they take her in.

Showing up uninvited,

banging on the door,

and getting hauled off
by the cops.

Dionne, that's not
a good look, honey.

This throws their relationship
into more chaos

because now Dionne is livid.
"You had me arrested."

You know, she's embarrassed,
she's hurt.

He explained to Dionne
that it was a friend
who came over

who needed to take a shower.

And then he made up
a story to Kathi.

So he's still cheating
on both of them,

but all of this is going
to catch up with him.

A few days
before Lance was killed,

Dionne had left a message.

I was so surprised by
this very angry

and detailed message

and I felt uncomfortable putting
that on the message pad.

So I just wrote
that he should call her,

she seemed very upset.

Dionne has a temper.
Dionne was jealous.

Another one of the reasons
Lance called the police.

Now they want to
look at her further

because knowing that she has
these personality traits,

is she the one that bludgeoned
Lance to death?

Next thing you know, the cops
were at Dionne's door.

But she said she never
went to Lance's house

the night he got killed.

From Dionne's perspective,

the first that she knew
of his death

was when law enforcement
showed up at her door

and informed her of such.

She has no knowledge
of the killing.

She's always maintained
that she never went to his home,

that she saw him earlier
that evening

when he came by her house
to drop off a laptop

that she had asked to borrow.

So here we find Dionne in
possession of Lance's laptop,

but the laptop
doesn't have the case.

The case is still
at Lance's home.

And that just struck
the office workers

as really odd,
because Lance was a stickler,

not only about loaning
the laptop out,

which he did now
and then to Dionne,

but never without
the protective case.

So the fact that it was there
without the case,

it just seemed like,
"Okay, what is this?

We need to look into it."

All right, you're sitting there

thinking you got it
all figured out.

Well, let me tell you this.

Lance had one more
huge secret left,

a secret that would leave
all of his women in shock.

Despite their suspicions about
Lance Herndon's mistress Dionne,

the cops didn't
have enough evidence

to tie her to the scene
of the crime.

All they could do was wait
for her to slip up.

It's a year and a half.

They're still
investigating this case.

They suspect Dionne,
but they don't have enough
to charge her

until Dionne's mother-in-law
comes forward

and tells police she actually
overheard Dionne say

that she was in Lance's home
the night of the murder.

So that's a big moment for them.

That's the moment
they've been waiting for.

Now they have enough
to move forward.

So they arrest Dionne and charge
her with first-degree murder.

When the case went to trial,

prosecutors pointed to
the night Dionne showed up

at Lance's house unannounced

and had to be dragged away
by the cops.

The trespassing charge was
a key point for prosecutors

when they laid out their case,

because it was
one of the reasons

they wanted to show
the motive for Dionne's anger,

the motive for Dionne's rage
in killing Lance.

It was the night before Dionne
has to appear in court

for the trespassing charge.

Lance promised her that
he was going to go to court

to get rid of the charge,

and she needs to find out
if he's really going.

So, she goes to his house

in the middle of the night

and seduces him.

They have sex.

When he fell asleep,

she goes downstairs
to the office

and she sees that there is
nothing that indicates

that Lance is planning to go
to court tomorrow with her.

And she knows that if Lance
was planning to go,

he would've told
his secretaries,

they would've written it in.

Now she knows he was ending
the relationship that night.

She knew the money train
had stopped.

No more credit cards for her,
no more Mercedes,

no more expensive jewelry.

She would not have the life
that she desired,

and she was greedy.

All of the passion
that Lance liked before,

well, all of it comes
rushing back to Dionne.

And she finds herself
in a full-blown rage.

She goes back into the bedroom,

grabs a heavy object,

and she climbs on top of him.

And she hits Lance with it

with great force

over and over again.

When she's finished,
she snatches the pillow

and she wipes the blood
off of her body

and she pulls back the cover.

Kathi's photo gets turned down
on the nightstand.

Then she goes into the bathroom

and she stuffs the pillow
in the toilet.

And then she takes a shower.

She spends quite a bit of time
in the mansion.

She's unplugging the clocks.

She grabs the laptop
and a credit card.

And then she escapes
into the night.

Next morning,
Lance's body is found.

Dionne took Lance's credit card

and went on a shopping spree
for furniture

the next morning
after he was discovered dead.

She was just trying to pretend
like it was business as usual

so she could say,
"Why would I do that?

That's not smart."

As a way to try
and throw off the police

or throw off
potential jurors as to,

you know, why would she do that?
That doesn't make any sense.

Because she's very pragmatic
and very calculated.

She was completely
unbothered hours later

and able to go shopping.

That was significant for them
to show the jurors.

After deliberating
for less than a day,

the jury found Dionne guilty
of murder in the first-degree.

She was sentenced
to life in prison.

Dionne's conviction
was overturned on appeal

because the court found
that there had been
improper testimony

from a key investigator
in the case.

During the trial,
the lead investigator
was allowed to testify

about what five different
witnesses had told him

outside of court.

So when the court
looked at that, they said,

"Well, was this hearsay?

Was it really a big error
by the court

or can we overlook this?"

They found that it was critical,

and that it was a critical error

and it was completely
unnecessary

for this investigator to come in

and give this hearsay testimony

when the witnesses were there
themselves to testify.

That's why the case
was overturned.

The defense now
knew the prosecution's angles,

so they knew
how to counter that.

They created more doubt
in the second trial

that Lance might've been gay,

that Lance might've
been bisexual

because he had threesomes
and foursomes.

And they found
so many hairs in his bed

that did not match Dionne's

and didn't match
any of the women

and it didn't match Lance.

Whose hairs are in the bedroom?

That alone, we always argued,

was really the very definition
of reasonable doubt.

It puts individuals in his bed
that we can't identify.

And that was always a very, very
big part of the defense case.

They came back with a hung jury.

One person was not convinced
that Dionne did it,

so they had a mistrial.

By the time they got
to trial number three,

Dionne took a plea deal.

She doesn't want
to take her chances

and she decides to take a plea

to a lesser charge
of voluntary manslaughter.

For a case like this,

you bludgeoned a manto death,

she gets ten years?

It's like a slap on the wrist.

She goes to prison, and she
actually gets out in 2011.

So you can imagine how Lance's
family feels about this.

Dionne's not in prison.

How do you expect a family
to have closure

when the person who committed
the crime is not punished?

I think it speaks to a failure
in the court system.

And I realistically think that,

excuse my language,
it's a [ bleep ] joke.

Dionne killed my father
and got ten years in jail,

and you expect me
to be happy about that?

Yeah, that's a joke.

I don't think most people
would feel

that ten years is equal
to taking a life.

I could have spent
the last 30 years of my life

sitting in a dark basement,
cutting a knife,

getting ready
to see Dionne, right?

"I'm gonna finish this person."

But you don't.
You don't do that.

The only way you live
is if you move forward,

even if you're unhappy.

Are you ready
for one last surprise?

With all those women acting
so thirsty for his money,

and Dionne even killing him
because he was taking it away,

truth is, Lance Herndon
had a dirty secret.

At the time of his death,

he was in dire
financial trouble.

He had over $50,000
in credit card debt.

$150,000 in tax liabilities.

These are things
that even his own employees

didn't know about
until after his death.

When you look at it
in hindsight,

it would've been logical

that there were
financial difficulties.

Because we had less people
on billing,

so you would've been
bringing in less money.

But he was spending
like he always had,

if not more so.

He was not paying as much
attention to his business

as he should have.

He was spending more
than he was making.

He was covering up a failing
business enterprise.

Whatever demons my dad
was or wasn't fighting,

don't take back from the fact

that he was an amazing person.

That's the final irony.

After all those parties,
after all those women,

it turns out Atlanta's emperor
had no clothes.

Maybe if Dionne had known
the well was dry,

Lance Herndon might've lived
to see another day.

He went from humble handyman
to lotto millionaire overnight.

This guy was a day laborer.

Now here he is
a multimillionaire.

He stepped up to another level.

Everybody wanted a piece
of Abraham Shakespeare.

Everybody had a thirst
for Shakespeare's money.

He was a little fish
with a bunch of sharks.

One day he disappeared.

Is this really
a missing persons case or...

Something that ended in murder.

It's a mystery laced
with luxury and lies

that add up to murder
in the thirst.