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They find the car in a locked garage, the hose
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feeding exhaust into the window, and two bodies posed like
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a final embrace. Castle Rock calls it a suicide pact
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and moves on. But the story doesn't end in nineteen
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ninety one because nearly twenty years later, a respected dentist
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walks into a church meeting and confesses.
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What you are about to tet you is burved to
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be based on witness accounts, testimonies and public record. This
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is terrifying and treat.
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Tonight. We have a case from Northern Ireland where a
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quiet seaside village woke to a scene that looked like
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heartbreak and was filed away as tragedy. In the early
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morning hours of May nineteenth, nineteen ninety one, behind a
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holiday cottage in castle Rock, a garage door is opened
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and a car is found sitting in the dim light
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inside or two bodies Leslie Howell, a young mother, and
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Trevor Buchanan, a police constable. A length of hose runs
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from the exhaust pipe toward a cracked window, feeding the
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cabin with fumes. Two investigators it appears to be a
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suicide pact. A grim private decision made by two people
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whose lives had been shaken by betrayal. For nearly two decades,
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that garage in Castle Rock keeps its secret until in
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two thousand and nine, Colin Howells steps forward and makes
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a confession that tears the case wide open. Suddenly, what
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looked like a tragic double death becomes something far more deliberate,
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a stage tableau built to mislead investigators and bury the
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truth in plain sight. We're telling that story tonight. A
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damp dawn broke over the seaside village of Castle Rock
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in northern Ireland on May nineteenth, nineteen ninety one. The
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salty breeze carried an acrid smell that morning, the telltale
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odor of exhaust fumes seeping from a non descript garage
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behind a quiet holiday cottage. Inside that small outbuilding, a
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passerby made a horrific discovery. In a parked car, the
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bodies of two people were locked in a final embrace
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with death. Thirty one year old Leslie Howell lay sprawled
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in the back seat, her fingers still clutching photographs of
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her young children. In the front seat, slumped thirty two
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year old Trevor Buchanan, a police constable A length of
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rubber hose snaked from the car's exhaust pipe into a
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slightly open window, making the scene look at first glance
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painfully straightforward. It looked like a mutual death pact, a
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tragic double suicide. The position of the bodies and that
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hose feeding poisonous gas in the car told a story
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of despair. Leslie and Trevor were both married, but not
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to each other. Rumors had quietly circulated about an affair
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between Leslie's husband and Trevor's wife, and now here were
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the apparent consequences. To the first officers on the scene,
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the tableau suggested two betrayed spouses who had lost all
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hope and made a fatal decision together. By all appearances,
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this was a sorrowful but straightforward case. Two innocent people
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driven by heartbreak had met in secret to end their pain.
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In the immediate aftermath, investigators treated the scene as a
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double suicide because the staging fit a car in a
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locked exhaust fumes and two bodies positioned to suggest a pact.
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That early conclusion matters because it shaped what was and
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wasn't questioned at the time. Years later, when the case
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was revisited after new information surfaced. Detectives re examined the
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same details through a different lens. Not why would they
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do this? But who benefits if everyone believes that they did.
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The community mourned the loss. Leslie Howell was known as
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a devoted mother of four, and Trevor Buchanan, a steadfast
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policeman and father. Their funerals were packed with grieving family,
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friends and fellow church members offering condolences and prayers. Everyone
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believed they understood what had happened in that fume filled
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car by the coast. But as the village grieved what
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they thought was a shared tragedy, a far more sinister
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truth lay hidden beneath that neat narrative. What the community
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believed was a suicide pact would later be revealed as
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something carefully orchestrated, an elaborate lie that held for almost
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two decades. On the surface, Colin Howell and Hazel Buchanan
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later Hazel Stuart, looked like two people with everything to lose.
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Colin was a local dentist and lay preacher. Hazel was
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married to a police constable and active in church life.
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In public, both families projected stability, faith, and respectability, the
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kind of image that made a community assume nothing truly
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dark could be happening behind their smiles, but closed doors
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helped to project a seemingly wholesome world. In reality, temptation
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was taking hold. Colin and Hazel's paths crossed frequently at
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services on Sunday, at prayer meetings, even during their children's
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weekday swimming lessons. A flirtation sparked and then flared into
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a full blown secret romance. They stole kisses in dark
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parking lots after Bible study, and exchanged longing glances across
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crowded church halls. Every illicit rendezvous was cloaked in lies
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told to their unsuspecting spouses. To the outside world. Colin
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remained the attentive husband to Leslie and Hazel the devoted
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wife to Trevor, but in stolen moments, they only had
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eyes for each other. It didn't take long for cracks
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to appear in the facade. Leslie Howell began to sense
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that something was wrong in her marriage. Colin's late nights
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at the clinic or sudden urgency to assist parishioners seemed
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increasingly suspicious. One day, Leslie discovered a trace of the affair,
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a misplaced note, a whisper in the congregation, or perhaps
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just Colin's guilt manifesting in cold distance. Whatever the trigger,
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the revelation hit her hard. Leslie confronted her husband, and
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although Colin brushed off or minimized the infidelity, she was
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left devastated. The once VIVATIONI his young mother fell into despair.
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Friends later recalled how Leslie, normally outgoing, grew quiet and withdrawn.
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In those months, she began self medicating her heartbreak with
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wine and prescription pills. Photographs from that period show her
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smile had faded. The hurt was plain in her eyes,
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even if she tried to keep up appearances. Trevor too
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may have sensed that his wife, Hazel, was growing distant,
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though he never openly voiced suspicions. As a police officer,
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Trevor knew how to notice details, but Hazel was careful.
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If he asked about her occasional absences or the late
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night phone calls she dismissed as wrong numbers, Hazel soothed
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him with practiced reassurances. Inside, however, her nerves afraid the
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dual life she led, loving wife and mother by day
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adulterous lover by night weighed heavily. Each Sunday, Hazel taught
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Bible stories about honesty and fidelity to the children at church,
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then spent weekday afternoons sneaking away to Colin's arms. Guilt
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and fear of exposure loomed over them both. By early
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nineteen ninety one, the situation was precarious. Leslie's depression had deepened,
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and talk of the Howl Buchanan affair quietly swirled among
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a few church gossips. Colin felt cornered his wife's misery
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threatened to spill their secret into the open. Hazel, likewise,
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feared losing everything if the truth came out, the respect
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of her community, even the custody of her children. Divorce
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was anathema in their devout circle and would mean public disgrace.
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Colin began to contemplate a darker way out. In his mind,
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an unthinkable idea took shape. If Leslie and Trevor were
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gone permanently, all of his problems would be solved, the
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affair could continue unfettered, and their religious reputations could remain intact.
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All he needed was for his lover to agree to
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an audacious and deadly plan. According to later accounts, Colin
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Howell's proposition to Hazel was as cold blooded as it
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was audacious. They would kill Leslie and Trevor and make
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it look like a joint suicide. At first, Hazel balked
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the thought of murdering her husband, of murdering anyone sent
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her reeling. But Colin was methodical and persuasive. He painted
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a picture of a life where they could finally be together,
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free from lies and guilt. Divorce, he argued, would ruin
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them in their tight knit community, but if their spouses
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died tragically, they could eventually comfort each other openly without scandal.
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When Hazel hesitated, Colin pressed harder. He hinted at dire
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consequences if she betrayed him or refused to go along.
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Isolated by their secret, and under Colin's tightening grip, Hazel
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finally quiesced. In that moment, their illicit love story warped
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into a deadly conspiracy. From here on, try to keep
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two lanes in mind. What can be proven, what was said,
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what was found, what was admitted, and what's being interpreted.
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Why someone did it, what someone felt, what someone must
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have intended. Prosecutors can argue, motive confessions can describe intent,
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and here we stay honest about the difference. They spent
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weeks refining the plan in whispered discussions and clandestine notes.
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Colin decided they would strike on a night when both
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households were quiet and unsuspecting. He obtained a supply of sedatives,
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intending to dose Leslie and Trevor to ensure they'd be
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subdued or asleep when the time came. So committed was
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he to this plan that Colin even conducted a disturbing
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experiment under the guise of dental work. He sedated Hazel
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in his clinic chair to test the potency of the drugs.
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Hazel awoke, groggy and violated. Colin had allegedly assaulted her
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while she was unconscious, but she said nothing. Whatever the intent,
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the message to Hazel was clear he had total control
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and the plan had to proceed. For the murders, Colin
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chose a method meant to be quiet and hard to
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detect in the moment, one that relied on exhaust fumes
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and a sealed space rather than a weapon that would
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leave a loud, obvious signature. The goal, according to later accounts,
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was to keep the victims incapacitated and avoid any struggle,
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then arrange the scene so it read as a tragic
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decision rather than a crime. Colin selected the location for
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that final tableau with terr. He chose the garage at
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an empty property owned by Leslie's late father, a secluded
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spot where a car could be left running without drawing attention.
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After murdering his wife at the howl Home, Colin would
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drive Leslie's body, and later Trevor's, to this garage in
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Castle Rock. There, he and Hazel would position the two
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victims in a single vehicle. Trevor would be in the
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driver's seat and Leslie in the back. Colin even planned
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to tuck those family photographs into Leslie's lifeless hands a
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point bant touch to reinforce the illusion of a grief
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stricken mother taking her own life. They would insert the
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hose from the exhaust into the car window and let
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the engine run, ensuring the scene looked convincingly like a
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double suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Every detail was anticipated.
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Hazel and Colin rehearsed their alibis. They would each pretend
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to discover their spouse missing in the early morning hours
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feigning confusion and concern. If anyone asked, they would express
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shock that Leslie and Trevor might have met up. They
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agreed on how to act grief stricken but not suspicious.
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Hazel would dutifully play the distraught widow, Colin the heartbroken widower,
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and so with chilling calmness, the lovers said their murderous
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plot into motion, waiting for the right night to execute it.
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The night of the plan arrived, moonless and still. Hazel
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later described an eerie sense of detachment as she went
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through her evening routine, tucking her children into bed as
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if it were any ordinary night. Trevor dozed off on
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the living room sofa, unaware that it would be his
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last sleep. Miles away in the whole house, Leslie had
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turned in for the night after checking on her own
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young children. She had no idea her husband was slipping
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lethal ingredients into the cup of hot cocoa, which he
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insisted on making her to help her relax. By one
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a m both target victims were unconscious or in a
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heavy star stupor, and Colin Howell was ready to act.
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Colin stood over his sleeping wife in the darkened bedroom,
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his face lit only by a sliver of street light
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through the window. Leslie lay on her side, breathing deeply
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from the sedatives in her system. In one hand, Colin
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carried the end of a length of hose fitted with
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the rubber nipple from a baby's bottle. Outside. His car
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was already running in the driveway, a long coil of
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hose snaking from the exhaust. Through a window into the bedroom,
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Colin gently pressed the improvised gas mask over Leslie's mouth
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and nose. For a few moments, nothing changed. She continued
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to breathe slowly, a oblivious Then her body gave a
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jolt as the first toxic fumes hid her lungs. She
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coughed and stirred, but Colin held the mask firmly in place.
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Leslie's eyes fluttered open in confusion. Half conscious and sensing
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mortal danger, she tried to pull away, feebly, kicking at
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the bedcovers. A faint whimper escaped her. In her final moments,
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she gasped out the name of her eldest child, a
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plea or a prayer, but there was no saving her.
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Colin's hand did not relent. After a minute or two
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of struggle, Leslie Howel fell, still overcome by the exhaust
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fumes flooding her bloodstream, remained there a moment, watching the
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life drain from his wife's body. The quiet ticking of
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the clock resumed its dominance in the room. He finally
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removed the hose and shut off the car engine. Outside.
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A sickly chemical odor hung in the air as he
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worked quickly. Now knowing he had limited time before dawn.
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He wrapped Leslie's lifeless body in a blanket and hoisted
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her over his shoulder. Colin carried Leslie out to his car.
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The night was silent except for his labored breaths and
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the chirp of distant crickets. He placed her body in
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the trunk and carefully shut it. With Leslie secured, Colin
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slipped into the driver's seat and drove into the darkness
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toward Hazel's house. He had to move swiftly and silently.
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Street lights cast intermittent pools of pale gold on the
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empty road as he covered the few miles to the
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Buchanan home. Hazel was waiting, her heart pounding in her chest.
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She had left a back door unlocked and a window
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slightly ajar for Colin's entry. Her two children were fast
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asleep upstairs, innocent to the horror about to unfold under
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their roof. Colin killed his headlights and rolled to a
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quiet stop in Hazel's driveway. He retrieved the same hose
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apparatus from his trunk, now reeking of exhaust fumes, and