March 9, 2026

Terrifying & True | Castlerock Double Murder (1991): Staged as a Suicide Pact

Terrifying & True | Castlerock Double Murder (1991): Staged as a Suicide Pact
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A locked garage behind a quiet holiday cottage. A car filling with exhaust. And two bodies posed to tell a simple story: a suicide pact between two “betrayed” spouses.

On May 19, 1991, in Castlerock, Northern Ireland, Lesley Howell (31) and Trevor Buchanan (32) are found dead inside a vehicle with a hose running from the exhaust into the car—an apparent double suicide that the community quickly accepts. Lesley is a mother of four. Trevor is a police constable and father. Both are mourned as victims of heartbreak and scandal.

But the truth is darker—and it doesn’t surface for nearly two decades.

Behind the public grief, investigators will later learn, a secret affair and a ruthless plan were allegedly shaping events from the shadows. Colin Howell, a respected dentist and lay preacher, and Hazel Buchanan (later Hazel Stewart) are accused of plotting to remove their spouses and stage the scene to look like a tragic decision. The story moves from a “straightforward” death scene to something far more chilling: sedation, exhaust fumes, meticulous staging, and a lie that holds until January 2009, when Colin Howell finally breaks and confesses—first to church elders, then to police.

The confession reopens everything. Hazel is arrested. In court, the case becomes a battle over what was done, what was admitted, and whether Hazel’s role was coerced or fully complicit. The old garage scene is re-examined with a new question: not why would they do this? but who benefits if everyone believes they did?

Inside this episode

  • The discovery in Castlerock and why police initially believed it was a double suicide
  • The secret relationship hiding in plain sight inside a tight religious community
  • The alleged method: sedatives + exhaust fumes and the “suicide pact” staging
  • How the case stayed buried—until a confession detonated it in 2009
  • The interrogation dispute: coercion vs. participation
  • The courtroom reckoning and the verdict that finally rewrote the official story

This is a true crime nightmare about image, faith, control, and deception—and how a staged scene can trap the truth for years. We’re telling that story tonight. 


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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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00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:19.920
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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00:21:57.319 --> 00:22:02.359
apparatus from his trunk, now reeking of exhaust fumes, and

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00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:07.519
crept toward the house. Hazel met him just inside the

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back door, her face ghost pale and drawn. Without a word,

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she led him into the living room, where Trevor lay

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slumped on the couch, a half empty glass of beer

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on the side table next to him. Trevor Buchanan was oblivious,

245
00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:33.359
snoring lightly still in his day clothes. Colin had left

246
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:38.200
his car idling outside. Now he guided the hose in

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through the open window behind the couch. In one swift motion,

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he slipped the rubber mask over Trevor's nose and mouth,

249
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:53.440
and signaled Hazel to shut the door. For a moment.

250
00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:58.640
She turned away, unable to watch, but the effect was

251
00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.559
not as quick as with Leslie. The first gush of

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fumes jolted Trevor awake in confusion and terror. His eyes

253
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:12.079
snapped wide at the sight of a figure looming over

254
00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:17.400
him with a hose Trevor's survival instincts kicked in and

255
00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:23.160
he thrashed, violently, knocking the mask aside. A desperate struggle

256
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:30.440
exploded in the darkness. Trevor was strong, a trained RUC officer,

257
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and for an instant he had the upper hand, grappling

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Colin's wrist and forcing the mask away. Hazel stifled a

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00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.079
scream as the two men wrestled in her living room,

260
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knocking over furniture. Colin, fueled by adrenaline and panic, managed

261
00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:54.839
to drive a knee hard into Trevor's stomach and wrench free.

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He lunged again, this time managing to clamp the mask

263
00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:06.160
back over Trevor's face with all his weight behind it. Hazel, shaking,

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00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:11.039
moved in to help pin down Trevor's flailing arms. It

265
00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:15.880
took endless seconds of grim effort, but at last Trevor's

266
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:22.759
fight began to ebb. His thrashing limbs slowed, then went limp.

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The only sounds now were Hazel's ragged breaths and the

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low chug of the car outside, pumping in poison. In

269
00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:38.960
the aftermath of the fight, the living room was in shambles,

270
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an overturned chair, a shattered glass and Trevor Buchanan's body

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00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:49.920
sprawled at an unnatural angle on the couch. Hazel stood

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00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:54.839
in the corner, pressed against the wall with wide vacant eyes.

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She had just assisted in killing her husband, and the

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shot was sinking in. Colin, ever cold minded, sprang into

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00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:10.000
action once more. He removed the hose and closed up

276
00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:14.960
the window, erasing the most obvious evidence of their method.

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00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:20.319
Then he gestured for Hazel to grab Trevor's feet. Together,

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00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:24.440
they heaved his corpse off the sofa and through the

279
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:30.000
back door into the cool night outside. The dawn was

280
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:34.319
still an hour away. They lifted Trevor into the car,

281
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:40.960
propping his lifeless form from behind the wheel. Leslie's blanketed

282
00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.880
corpse lay in the back seat just as planned. Hazel

283
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.039
caught a glimpse of Leslie's pale hand slipping out from

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00:25:50.119 --> 00:25:54.960
under the covering and quickly looked away, swallowing down a

285
00:25:55.079 --> 00:26:00.480
rising feeling of nausea. Colin worked fast and efficiently. He

286
00:26:00.680 --> 00:26:04.319
arranged Trevor as if he were the driver, and gently

287
00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:08.839
opened Leslie's limp hand to curl her fingers around the

288
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:13.839
cherished photographs of her children. With Hazel's help, he inserted

289
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:19.000
the hose one final time through the window and restarted

290
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:24.319
the engine. They stood back as the car's interior once

291
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:30.200
again filled with lethal fumes, enveloping the two bodies in

292
00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:36.000
an atmosphere of death. Bathed in the dim glow of

293
00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:40.599
a single bare bulb, Colin and Hazel surveyed the scene

294
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:47.079
they had created. Leslie Howel and Trevor Buchanan sat motionless

295
00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:52.039
inside the vehicle, pallid and inert, looking for all the

296
00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:56.720
world like a pair of broken souls who had chosen

297
00:26:57.319 --> 00:27:02.880
to die together. The smell of exhaust and death was thick.

298
00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:09.799
Hazel was shaking uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. Colin

299
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:14.640
placed a hand on her shoulder. Stern and steady. It

300
00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:18.559
was time to leave. He shut off the engine for

301
00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:23.920
the last time and carefully removed the hose, leaving it

302
00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:29.440
coiled conspicuously from the tailpipe into the car. As planned,

303
00:27:30.359 --> 00:27:35.079
the stage was finally set just before four a m.

304
00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:39.839
With the eastern sky beginning to brighten, Colin Howell and

305
00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:44.640
Hazel buchanans slipped away from the garage. They pulled the

306
00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:49.359
door closed on the fume saturated tomb and parted ways

307
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:54.160
into what was left of the night, Colin driving back

308
00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:59.480
to his house where his children slept motherless, and Hazel

309
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:03.920
returned to her own home to await mourning with her

310
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:09.759
fatherless children. By the time the sun rose over Castle

311
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:14.279
Rock on May nineteenth, nineteen ninety one, the murderous pair

312
00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.720
had done everything in their power to ensure that the

313
00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:23.480
awaited discovery looked like nothing more than a tragic suicide

314
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:31.160
pact between two devastated spouses. By the next morning, Colin

315
00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:36.079
and Hazel's deadly plan appeared to have achieved exactly what

316
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:40.559
they intended. The scene in the garage spoke for itself,

317
00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:46.720
and investigators found nothing obviously amiss. When police delivered the

318
00:28:46.759 --> 00:28:52.039
grim news, Colin and Hazel played their roles shocked spouses,

319
00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:57.160
reluctant confessors to an affair, and grieving survivors of what

320
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:02.599
seemed like a scandal driven tragedy. With that context in place,

321
00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:08.240
authorities quickly concluded that Leslie Howell and Trevor Buchanan had

322
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:14.319
taken their own lives in anguish. There was no homicide investigation,

323
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:20.200
and the case was closed as a double suicide. The community,

324
00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:24.839
though stunned by the revelation of an affair, accepted the

325
00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:29.559
sorrowful narrative. At the funeral services held for Trevor and

326
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:34.039
Leslie on the same day, Hazel wept as a bereaved wife,

327
00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:40.000
and Colin stood trembling as the grieving husband. Friends and

328
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:45.559
church members consoled them both, never imagining the story itself

329
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:50.880
was false. In public, Hazel and Colin expressed remorse over

330
00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:57.960
the affair and sorrow over their spouses suicides, reinforcing what

331
00:29:58.119 --> 00:30:03.920
everyone around them had swallowed whole. In the months that followed,

332
00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:09.440
life moved on, as it tends to do. Hazel Buchanan

333
00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:13.440
did her best to fade into the background. She continued

334
00:30:13.480 --> 00:30:17.559
to live in the same community, raising her two children

335
00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:22.000
who had lost their father. She returned to church and

336
00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:27.279
carried herself as a woman chastened by tragedy, devoting herself

337
00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:32.240
to family and faith, while speaking only in perfunctory terms

338
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:39.039
about Trevor's death. Colin Howell also outwardly resumed a normal

339
00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:42.559
life after a period of mourning. He went back to

340
00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.440
practicing dentistry and caring for the four children Leslie had

341
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:52.599
left behind. He collected a substantial life insurance payout from

342
00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:57.799
Leslie's death, remarried within a few years, and gradually saw

343
00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:04.240
his reputation recover. It appeared that both conspirators had gotten

344
00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:09.000
away with their crime, and for almost two decades no

345
00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:15.640
one seriously questioned the garage suicide scene. Colin Howell and

346
00:31:15.720 --> 00:31:21.400
Hazel Buchanan were free, but they were living under the

347
00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:25.680
shadow of a secret only the two of them shared.

348
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.119
For many years, Colin Howell managed to bury his guilt

349
00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:42.400
under a veneer of normalcy, but deep down, his conscience

350
00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:47.240
never quite went silent. The secret that he and Hazel

351
00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:53.759
shared festered like a hidden rot. Colin's once unwavering confidence

352
00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:59.400
began to crack. In private, he battled nightmares and bouts

353
00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:03.079
of depression. He might have carried that burden to his

354
00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:09.960
grave had fate not intervened with a series of crushing blows.

355
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:15.759
In two thousand and seven, unspeakable tragedy struck Colin's life again.

356
00:32:16.720 --> 00:32:21.880
His eldest son, Matthew, died in a freak accident while abroad.

357
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:27.680
The loss of his child devastated Colin. He searched for

358
00:32:27.799 --> 00:32:31.559
meaning in the senseless death and began to feel the

359
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:38.480
weight of divine judgment. Not long after, he became entangled

360
00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:42.920
in a fraudulent get rich Quick investment scheme. By two

361
00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:46.240
thousand eight, Colin had been swindled out of hundreds of

362
00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:51.480
thousands of dollars, leaving him on the brink of financial ruin.

363
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:57.359
He was crushed and desperate, convinced that these calamities were

364
00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:01.960
no coincidence. To Colin's mind, it seemed as if God

365
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.240
himself was punishing him for the blood on his hands.

366
00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:12.839
Nearly eighteen years had passed since the murders when Colin

367
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:18.240
reached his breaking point. The dam of guilt finally burst.

368
00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:23.079
On a cold day in January of two thousand and nine,

369
00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:26.759
Colin Howell walked into a meeting of church elders in

370
00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:34.480
Coleraine and confessed everything. Voice trembling yet relieved, he recounted

371
00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:38.319
how he and Hazel had plotted and carried out the

372
00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:43.240
killings all those years ago. He said that God had

373
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:46.960
told him it was time to come clean. The church

374
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:52.400
elders sat in stunned silence as Colin, tears in his eyes,

375
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:58.440
described in detail the staged car suicide, the hose and

376
00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:05.759
exhaust dreadful step. After a moment, one of the elders

377
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:11.119
simply said, you must go to the police. Later that

378
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:15.960
same day, Colin entered the police station in Coleraine. In

379
00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:20.880
a calm, matter of fact manner, he told detectives the

380
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:26.440
unthinkable truth. The supposed double suicide of nineteen ninety one

381
00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:32.519
was in fact a double murder. Investigators, who had long

382
00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:38.119
since closed the case listened in astonishment as this respected

383
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:43.760
dentist turned penitent killer laid out the real story. He

384
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:50.719
held back nothing. Colin Howell's voluntary confession was exhaustive and chilling.

385
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:55.960
He implicated himself fully, and he did not protect his

386
00:34:56.119 --> 00:35:00.719
former lover. He made it clear that Hazel Buchanan now

387
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:06.840
Hazel Stuart, had been his willing accomplice. The police wasted

388
00:35:06.920 --> 00:35:12.199
little time. Almost two decades after Leslie and Trevor's deaths,

389
00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:18.480
officers arrived at Hazel's door to arrest her for murder. Hazel,

390
00:35:18.519 --> 00:35:21.880
who had since remarried and was living a quiet life,

391
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:27.000
was incredulous. At first. She had believed the past was

392
00:35:27.079 --> 00:35:31.920
buried forever, but now, in two thousand nine, her darkest

393
00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:36.559
secret was out in the open. Colin's confession meant she

394
00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:40.800
would finally have to answer for her role in the crime.

395
00:35:41.639 --> 00:35:46.280
Hazel Stuart was brought into the interrogation room, trembling, but

396
00:35:46.440 --> 00:35:51.880
determined to save herself. She immediately denied being a murderer.

397
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:58.599
Confronted with Colin's detailed confession implicating her, Hazel's initial response

398
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:03.360
was to shake her head and insist, quote, he made

399
00:36:03.440 --> 00:36:08.639
me do it. I never wanted anyone to die. Thus

400
00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:13.000
began a series of tense police interviews in which Hazel

401
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:18.159
spun a very different narrative of the nineteen ninety one events,

402
00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:22.880
one where she was not a cold blooded killer, but

403
00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:29.119
a woman under extreme duress. Hazel's version of events centered

404
00:36:29.159 --> 00:36:34.239
on coercion and fear that she was being controlled, threatened,

405
00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:39.920
and trapped. The prosecution's position was that her actions crossed

406
00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:45.639
the line from fear to participation. We'll flag those as

407
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:49.880
competing narratives and focus on what the record can corroborate.

408
00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:56.199
Then let you feel the weight of the claims. Over

409
00:36:56.360 --> 00:37:01.079
hours of questioning, Hazel gradually opened up about her version

410
00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:05.719
of the truth. In a recorded interview, her voice wavered

411
00:37:05.760 --> 00:37:11.519
as she described Colin's domineering influence over her life. Quote

412
00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:17.119
he was very controlling, Hazel told detectives, I was scared

413
00:37:17.559 --> 00:37:21.800
if I said something against him, he'd kill me. Her

414
00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:26.199
words came in a desperate rush. She insisted that everything

415
00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:29.400
she did the night of the murders was driven by

416
00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:34.519
fear and the belief that she had no choice. Hazel

417
00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:39.280
painted herself as another one of Colin's victims. She recounted

418
00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:43.800
how he had once secretly drugged her during a supposed

419
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:48.079
dental procedure, an episode she offered as proof of how

420
00:37:48.199 --> 00:37:53.480
far he would go to control her. She told investigators

421
00:37:53.480 --> 00:37:56.719
that he threatened her and that she only helped dispose

422
00:37:56.760 --> 00:38:01.320
of evidence, including the length of hose, because she feared

423
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:04.880
for her own life as well as for her children.

424
00:38:06.159 --> 00:38:10.960
Throughout multiple interview sessions, Hazel clung to that story of coercion.

425
00:38:11.719 --> 00:38:15.719
When detectives pressed her with the obvious question why not

426
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:19.519
run or call for help, she repeated that she had

427
00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:25.000
been too frightened and too trapped to dare. She maintained

428
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:29.519
that Colin Howell was the mastermind and monster, and that

429
00:38:29.559 --> 00:38:34.199
she had never been a willing participant. By the end

430
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:39.199
of the interrogation phase, Hazel's defense was crystal clear. She

431
00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:42.760
would claim she acted under duress out of fear for

432
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:48.360
her own safety. Detectives listened, but the question now belonged

433
00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:54.000
to the courts. Was Hazel's stewart? A terrified pawn or

434
00:38:54.679 --> 00:39:05.519
an equal partner in a heinous crime. The wheels of

435
00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:10.840
justice began to turn swiftly after the arrests. Colin Howell,

436
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.880
having confessed, pleaded guilty to the murders. In late twenty ten.

437
00:39:15.960 --> 00:39:19.519
He accepted his fate and was sentenced to life in prison,

438
00:39:20.199 --> 00:39:24.119
a punishment that carried a minimum term of twenty one

439
00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:30.199
years before any possibility of release. His days of living

440
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:35.679
a lie were over, but for Hazel, who maintained her innocence.

441
00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:42.400
A public trial awaited. In February of twenty eleven, nearly

442
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:47.280
twenty years after the deaths of Trevor Buchanan and Leslie Howell,

443
00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:52.119
Hazel Stewart stood in the dock at Coleraine Crown Court.

444
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:57.199
She faced charges of double murder, and the prosecution painted

445
00:39:57.239 --> 00:40:00.320
her as an equal partner in what they could called

446
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:07.079
a gruesome extermination of two innocent people. Reporters and crowds

447
00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:10.280
packed the courtroom, eager to see the woman who had

448
00:40:10.360 --> 00:40:14.599
hidden in plain sight for so long. During the trial,

449
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:18.960
Colin Howell himself took the stand as the star witness

450
00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:24.559
against his former lover. In painstaking detail, he recounted their

451
00:40:24.599 --> 00:40:29.519
affair and the murderous pact that followed. He spared no

452
00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:34.559
sordid detail, even divulging how Hazel had become pregnant with

453
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.880
his child during the affair and had gotten a secret abortion.

454
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:45.880
A dark blood packed between them. Jurors watched Hazel intently

455
00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:50.519
as Colin described her role in the killings. Hazel sat

456
00:40:50.679 --> 00:40:55.480
stonefaced through much of his damning testimony, but at times

457
00:40:55.599 --> 00:40:59.599
dabbed her eyes with a tissue. When the gruesome particulars

458
00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:04.280
filled the air, it was a surreal reunion of the conspirators,

459
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.920
one unflinchingly telling the truth of their crimes, the other

460
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:16.840
desperately maintaining her facade. Hazel's defense team pressed her narrative

461
00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:20.440
of coercion. They argued that she had been under Colin's

462
00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:25.599
thrall and too frightened to resist his deadly scheme. Hazel

463
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:30.440
did not testify in her own defense, perhaps fearing cross examination,

464
00:41:31.239 --> 00:41:35.519
but her taped police interviews were played for the court.

465
00:41:36.000 --> 00:41:40.840
The jurors heard her wavering voice describing how terrified she

466
00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:44.519
was of Colin. They listened to her claims of being

467
00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:49.320
helpless and upon forced to assist in covering up a

468
00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:53.920
crime she had never wanted. It was Hazel's one chance

469
00:41:54.000 --> 00:41:57.519
to convince the jury that she did not act of

470
00:41:57.599 --> 00:42:02.559
her own free will. After weeks of testimony, the case

471
00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:07.719
went to the jury. Deliberations did not take long. On

472
00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:13.519
March second, twenty eleven, the verdict was announced. Hazel Stewart

473
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:18.960
was found guilty on two counts of murder. She closed

474
00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:22.000
her eyes as the foreman spoke the words, and a

475
00:42:22.039 --> 00:42:26.400
faint cry came from the gallery where her family sat.

476
00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:30.119
The judge, in sentencing her to life in prison with

477
00:42:30.159 --> 00:42:35.239
a minimum term of eighteen years, addressed Hazel sternly. He

478
00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:41.559
acknowledged Colin Howell's manipulative influence, but ultimately condemned Hazel for

479
00:42:41.679 --> 00:42:45.800
her choices. The judge noted that there had been several

480
00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:50.079
opportunities over the years when Hazel could have prevented the

481
00:42:50.199 --> 00:42:55.559
violence or come forward with the truth, yet she never did.

482
00:42:56.639 --> 00:43:00.840
Fear was no excuse for participation in s such a

483
00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:05.400
heinous act, he intoned. Hazel was led out of the

484
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:10.119
courtroom in handcuffs, her face drained of color as the

485
00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:16.079
weight of two decades of deceit finally crashed down upon her.

486
00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:21.559
The revelations of the trial sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland

487
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:25.880
and beyond. No one felt the impact more than the

488
00:43:25.960 --> 00:43:29.880
families of Leslie and Trevor, who had lived for years

489
00:43:30.320 --> 00:43:34.159
believing a lie. They had mourned under the assumption that

490
00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:38.679
their loved ones died by their own hands. Now they

491
00:43:38.760 --> 00:43:43.320
learned it was cold blooded murder all along, a truth

492
00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:48.920
that was both horrifying and oddly vindicating, proving that neither

493
00:43:49.039 --> 00:43:54.280
Leslie nor Trevor had chosen to abandon their families after all.

494
00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:58.880
The tale of the suicide pact that wasn't of a

495
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:02.199
devout dentist in a church going mother who conspired to

496
00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:06.679
murder became one of the most infamous crime stories in

497
00:44:06.760 --> 00:44:11.480
the country's history. It was almost too fantastical to believe,

498
00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:16.440
a real life saga of betrayal, faith, lust and murder

499
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:22.000
that played out behind closed doors for years before exploding

500
00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:27.800
into the light. Today, Colin Howell sits in prison, a

501
00:44:27.960 --> 00:44:32.679
convicted double murderer who found religion, only to have it

502
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:38.320
compel him to confess. Hazel Stewart, now identified by a

503
00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:42.679
prison inmate number instead of as a Sunday school teacher,

504
00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:47.519
resides in a separate prison facility, serving out her own

505
00:44:48.199 --> 00:44:53.119
long sentence. Both will be well into old age before

506
00:44:53.159 --> 00:44:57.679
they have any hope of walking free. They pay the

507
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:01.239
price each day for the lives they took and the

508
00:45:01.360 --> 00:45:07.360
lies they told. In retrospect, the deaths of Leslie Howell

509
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:12.360
and Trevor Buchanan stand as a chilling reminder that evil

510
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:17.800
can hide in plain sight. For eighteen years, the facade

511
00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:22.639
of a tragic suicide pact masked a calculated double murder.

512
00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:28.760
The Confessions, trial and Convictions finally stripped away that mask

513
00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:34.800
and ensured that justice, though delayed, was served. And as

514
00:45:34.880 --> 00:45:41.719
the final echoes of this story fade, one truth remains. Secrets.

515
00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:49.280
This dark do not stay buried forever. Terrifying and True

516
00:45:49.360 --> 00:45:53.440
is narrated by Enrique Kuto, Its executive produced by Robfields

517
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:57.159
and bobble Topia dot com, and produced by Dan Wilder,

518
00:45:57.320 --> 00:46:00.440
with original theme music by Ray Mattis. You have a

519
00:46:00.519 --> 00:46:03.400
story you think we should cover on Terrifying and True,

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send us an email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com,

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Kert and Craig Cohen. Thank you all so much, and

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thank you for listening. We'll see you all right here

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next time on Terrifying and True