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The Hunt with John Walsh

Deceived to Death. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 30, 2015 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:00] JOHN WALSH, CNN ANCHOR: Back in 1981, I had the American dream the beautiful wife, a house in the suburbs and a beautiful six- year-old son. And one day I went to work, kissed my son goodbye and never saw him again.

In two weeks I became the parent of a murdered child. And I'll always be the parent of a murdered child. I still have the heartache. I still have the rage. I waited years for justice. I know what it's like to be there waiting for some answers. And over the years I learned how to do one thing really well, and that's how to catch these bastards and bring them back to justice. I've become a man hunter. I'm out there looking for bad guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life is priceless. No one deserves to die for no reason, especially over differences of the way of life. Anything can be worked out, made better. Instead of running away from the problem. Somebody has to pay the price. Somebody has to serve the punishment for the life taken of another man. If Marlin Rain Smith is here right now, I would -- I probably would ask her why. Why me?

SCARLET SEANS, DAUGHTER: My parents are not the traditional type of parents. They were very quirky and fun and they raised us in a very different lifestyle than most children. We are raised in a 10 acre ranch at the beach. We had all the animals and the waves we could handle.

BING COSBY, SMITH FAMILY FRIEND, SURFSIDE BEACH, TX: They're very close. They did everything together. Every time you saw George, usually you would see Lorrain, Lorrain with the kids.

WALSH: If you talked to that knows them, they would say the same thing. They were old hippies. They were different. A little bit off the grid, but they were happy.

COSBY: Me and George grew up together, surfed together. And eventually George opened a place down the place called, Burger Smith.

SCARLET SEANS: My father built it from the ground up.

COSBY: It was always a work in progress. George was always adding on without permits. Most of our encounters were related to me being mayor and people complaining about what he was up to and me having to intervene in the middle. I drove by one day exit was closed. I guess he just made the decision he was tired of fighting city hall. [19:05:00] SCARLET SEANS: In '94 after our shop was closed down, we

moved to the country. It was definitely a change for all of us. And in '95, my little sister Sapphire was born. In '96 my little brother Sequoia was born. My dad worked a lot of odd and end jobs. He did his best for his family but money was a lot tighter than it was before we had our restaurant closed down.

My dad's property at the beach was worth about $3-4 million. She wanted him to sell more properties to make some money but he didn't want to sell it. He kept the property because he wanted to pass it down to his, you know, kids.

COSBY: Lorrain was Lorrain, George was George. Two different people. You she wanted to do it her way and he wanted to do it his way. It was like two rocks in the tumbler and knock each other's hedges on. There was friction and where there's friction there's fire sometimes and somebody gets burned and that was them. It was like a love hate relationship, you know?

SCARLET SEANS: I met my husband. We got married in 2003. So I didn't see a lot of the stuff that happened. I think 2004 my mom met the man that lived down the road from her. They kind of started I guess, dating per say but at that time, we didn't know how involved they were.

COSBY: George, he was freaking out going what are you doing? I'm leaving -- leaving him. I guess she got another boyfriend.

SCARLET SEANS: She kind of really changed her personality. Started dressing herself probably not clothes that were completely appropriate for a mother at her age.

SEQUOIA SEANS, SON: She got to a point where my parents were actually going to get a divorce. She moved out of the house and I was devastated.

SCARLET SEANS: When my mom tried to file for a divorce, my dad, he did everything he could to try to prevent that.

WALSH: George was willing to forgive Lorrain for everything that she had done. He wanted his life partner back and he was willing to forgive every transgression.

SCARLET SEANS: In 2005 he wrote a will that stated when he died my mom got everything.

COSBY: I mean, sometimes love is blind. And other people have to see for you. He said I don't know what to do with it. I love her so much. You know, and I said George, I think she's a little crazy myself. You need to get rid of her before she kills you.

SEQUOIA SEANS: She got into some bad stuff and changed who she was. She was tired of being a mom. She didn't want the burden of having kids.

[19:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSBY: Lorrain had definitely changed.

SEQUOIA SEANS: I feel like she kind of lost herself mentally. She went off the deep end and changed who she was. She was tired of being a mom. She didn't want the burden of having kids.

WALSH: I certainly think that the crowd that she started to hang around with was part of that process. She flipped that switch that said I am going to become the party girl. The promiscuous, the worst mother of the year.

SCARLET SEANS: My dad just kind of seemed a little bit more depressed. As much as he cared, he didn't get involved in it too much. My dad started trying to fix up the beach house. He would stay there sometimes.

My mother was getting neglectful, letting my little sister, Sapphire and little brother, Sequoia stay with me more often or taking them to my dad's. He would be doing his own thing and they pretty much took care of themselves a lot.

SEQUIOA SEANS: My mom told people that we were being home schooled but she didn't home school us at all. I taught myself how to read and write and Sapphire, my sister, had trouble with it. When my sister Scarlet found out about that she was very upset.

SCARLET SEANS: I actually started home schooling them.

SEQUIOA SEANS: My mom got into some bad stuff.

SCARLET SEANS: I really think my mom's boyfriend was pushing her to get the beach property sold.

COSBY: George let me personally hunt the 13 acres that he had and then one day he said well, you can't hunt no more, she sold it. She signed my name and took the money and spent it. And I went, "What?" "Oh yes" he said. I said, "Oh man."

They had a big fight. He went next door and had his friends made up a will and he changed his will and left everything to the kids and got her out of it. Had them sign it and said here. If something happens to me, give it to them.

WALSH: It may or may not have been the trigger. I think in her deluded mind, that she would figure out a way to get that property back and that she's the mom and those kids, even though she didn't give one damn about those kids, somehow she would get back on to that will.

KYLE SEITZINGER, DEPUTY US MARSHAL: On the night of August 6, 2007, Lorrain made contact with George. Lorrain indicated that she wanted to talk with George, possibly get back with a relationship.

Lorrain met him at their favorite Mexican restaurant. They ate supper. He had several drinks, margaritas. He loved her and he wanted to get back with Lorrain. He would do anything for her. STEPHEN BUCHANAN, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR: On August 7, 2007, I

received a phone call from Missouri County Dispatch notifying me of a death investigation. I was dispatched to Fellas Beach, in Surfside. I observed a deceased male. It was hard to recognize him due to severe trauma to his face. We checked the pockets and found the wallet. We were able to identify the deceased as George Smith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She asked if I could make someone disappear.

BUCHANAN: He knew how George was killed and what he was killed with.

[19:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BUCHANAN: On August 7, 2007, I was contacted by the Missouri county dispatch. I was called out to the county beach. The scene was real horrid. The deceased had a raincoat laid out to the side of him. With the blood in the sand and the water coming up and down, it makes it very difficult.

[19:20:00] SEITZINGER: His head was bashed in. There was blood spatter for many feet from the place where his body was laying. His face was unrecognizable.

BUCHANAN: With the trauma to his face, we were unsure if he was hit by a vehicle or not. But we were able to identify the deceased as George Smith by his driver's license. We had learned that he had a residence at Surfside. Went to the residence. Margaret Lorrain Smith was at the house. I notified her that her husband had passed away.

SCARLET SEANS: At 9:00 in the morning my mom phone called me and said let me talk to your husband. And I was like, no, I said I know my dad is dead. Just tell me he's dead. She was like no, I need to talk to your husband. I knew he was dead. I told her just tell me he's dead. Just tell me that he's not alive because I know he's not. She was like yes, he died, you know? They found him dead, kind of, you know, the whole time I'm talking to her on the phone, you know, and she sounds like she's crying and I later found out from the investigator that not one tear was shed from her eyes when she was telling me that my father had died.

BUCHANAN: No tears. She just went off into how everything had happened. It was almost as though she was wanting to tell me her side. She said George had drank a lot of margaritas. He was too intoxicated to drive home. She would drive him home to Surfside. Lorrain stated that she stopped at a local convenience store and got him some more beer to drink and then driving on the way home, George became very upset. Screaming and yelling. And kicked her out of the vehicle.

A couple of days later, Lorrain called me back at the office and stated that she wanted to revise her statement. That everything she told me wasn't true.

WALSH: When she voluntarily came to the police department and said oh, excuse me, by the way, I know I'm a person of interest but I got to tell you a different version of the story because you're not buying the first one. Really dumb. Really dumb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was walking me through pretty much her statement. Then she became quiet. She made a statement, I didn't mean to do it. It was an accident. And asking her what it was, she never explained. Later she told her kids that she was on the beach with their father. We have Lorrain out there on the beach with George.

BUCHANAN: She said she was not there during the time of the murder. That she left prior to anything happening to George.

SEITZINGER: We still didn't know the whole story. What helped piece it all together. I received some information that there was an inmate at the Missouri county jail. He pretty much said he knew how George was killed and what he was killed with. He also stated that he knew who killed George, Dylan Lowery.

BUCHANAN: Lorrain met Dylan through a group of young adults that lived in apartments behind where Lorrain's boyfriend lived at the time.

[19:25:00] DYLAN LOWERY: First time I met her, she asked if I could make someone disappear. I asked what do you mean disappear? I mean, you want someone dead or you want someone to take somebody and take them on a trip? What do you want? She said I just want him to disappear.

SCARLET SEANS: She knew what she was doing. She planned it out for God knows how long.

WALSH: Didn't anybody think she was going to run?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SEITZINGER: Margaret Lorrain Smith is very manipulating. What we know is Lorrain contacted Dylan Lowery.

LOWERY: She said she needed somebody to disappear.

[19:30:01] She then proceed to tell me the person in question was her sister's husband who was abusing her sister and her sister's children for years now. She said that she wanted something done about it and her sister was too afraid to do anything so she was taking it into her own hands trying to find a solution. She had counted out money and handed it to me. I told her, well I didn't want anything to do with whatever it was she had going on and I tried to give her the money back. She refused to take the money. Told me just to hold on to it.

BUCHANAN: The inmate that contacted me told me that another friend of his was approached by Dylan. And asked if he had a weapon. He then basically said we don't have anything but a leaf spring. A leaf spring is a flat piece of metal, heavy. It's a long bar. A flat bar. Probably a quarter of an inch thick. They set up their plan. Lorrain spent a lot of money letting George drunk on margaritas.

He was too intoxicated to drive home. She would drive him home. Lorrain stated that she stopped at the local convenience store. We went there and pulled the video. You could see her talking on the phone, looking out the windows. Pulling the cell phone records, we found out that the phone number that she had received a call from belonged to a female. I identified the female, took a statement from her and later she stated that Dylan Lowery used her cell phone.

Lorrain drove George up to the beach. No houses around. No lights. It would be dark. They would get out to the beach and they would be together and that's what I figured the raincoat was for, for Lorrain. And she would make a reason that she needed to go back to the vehicle. She forgot something. And that's when Dylan would come up and kill George. The medical examiner's office was able to prove a leaf spring is what was used to kill George Smith.

SCARLET SEANS: Yes, I mean she knew what she was doing. She planned it out for God knows how long because the profit she started selling off, we found out that she used that money to pay that man to kill my dad.

BUCHANAN: Lorrain were both charged with the murder of George Smith. I drove to the apartment complex, arrested Dylan and put him in the county jail. Me and a partner drove to Boyd where Margaret was staying with her daughter and arrested her for capital murder.

SCARLET SEANS: Her bail was set at 100,000 and they lowered it immediately. The judge said she wasn't the one that was the actual murder, that her bail shouldn't have been set so high. The bail bonds company needed collateral so she signed the deed to the surfside property away.

WALSH: I will never get it. She was the instigator, the perpetrator, up to the point and was the brains behind the whole deal. Didn't anybody think she was going to run?

SEITZINGER: Dylan Lowery maintained his innocence in trial and pleaded not guilty.

[19:35:00] LOWERY: It sounds to me as if she did it herself. Margaret Lorrain planned everything and followed through with the plan and executed and killed her husband George Smith at the beach because it was just all too sloppy for somebody who supposedly was a hit man.

SEITZINGER: Dylan Lowery was convicted and is serving life with no parole. A year and a half, almost two years later, Lorrain is called to go to court where she does not show up.

Weeks before her trial was to start in 2009, Lorrain cut her ankle monitor off, told her probation officer that she would be at a doctor's appointment. Lorrain got a ride to Houston.

We collected video where it does show that Lorrain was dropped off at the hospital and then she's just walking straight out of the hospital and she has some large baggage with her.

BUCHANAN: Several days later that she was scene for the last time picking up money at Western Union in San Antonio and she's been on the run ever since.

BING COSBY, SMITH FAMILY FRIEND: The land she used so she could get out of jail on bond, she ended up losing it when she ran.

SCARLET SEANS: Unfortunately, there's nothing left of the property. The bail bonds company sold it for a very small amount of what it was worth. We couldn't fight for it. We couldn't afford to fight for it.

WALSH: After all of her horrible planning, after arranging George's brutal murder, she lost it because she skipped her bond. It went to nobody in that family. The main purpose of killing George so she would get a windfall of money, she blew it all.

COSBY: I miss him. I miss that quirky laugh and the crazy kid. George is up in heaven doing the Holy Ghost shuffle. He's dancing and looking at the sea of glass thinking man, I can surf this. God give me a board.

WALSH: Margaret Lorrain Smith has a mole on her bottom right eyelid. She often dyes her curly hair or wears wigs. She has a thyroid condition that requires medication. She may be moving back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. If you have any information regarding her where about, call us at 1-866-the-hunt or go to our website, cnn.com/thehunt. You can remain anonymous, we'll pass it to proper authorities and if requested will not reveal your name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have nightmares, he is lying next to me, standing over me and forcing me to go somewhere. And then I wake up for a day.

[19:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALSH: I said it for years. Pedophilia is a compulsion. So many pedophiles aren't violent. They're the groomers. Paul Winklebleck, on the other hand, if the opportunity presents itself, he's going to strike. He's the predator.

MEGAN: So it had been the weekend and I got the OK from my grandmother to spend the night at my best friend's. Her mom had a new boyfriend and so we went to go visit him at a house he was working on. I got kind of a weird feeling when I met him.

We went back to the house. We did normal girl stuff. What 11-year- olds did. Played make-up, dress up, you know, and then went to bed. I recall being asleep for hours and then waking up to an older man next to me. It was her mom's new boyfriend. He was cuddled around me and he was awake. He got up and grabbed my hand and forced me to walk with him and go into the sunroom with him.

I remember it just being a small room. He proceed asking me questions about my family. Your address, your name, your phone number, your mom's name. Then he said that he knew my mother. That she would be the first to be killed if I said anything. And then it would be me being tortured then killed. He put lotion all over his hands. I was so terrified. It just seemed like it was forever. He fell asleep. I didn't do much sleeping. About 7:30, he told me that I could go. When I got home I ran straight to the bathroom. My grandma initially knew something was wrong right away.

WALSH: This is what is so darn brave is that she went right away and told her grandmother and her grandmother did the right thing.

MEGAN: She immediately took me to the E.R. They did a rape kit. I told the story and you know, when it happened. Call I could stare at is that alarm clock. I knew minute by minute what he had done to me.

MAXINE BERNSTEIN: Wincklebleck was convicted of first degree sodomy. He was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison and given 20 years of post-prison supervision which is what is known as parole. When he got out he was ordered not to have any contact with minors because of that 98 offense.

MALCOLM MALCOMB: But his nature is such that that opportunity presented itself and he took advantage of it and he harmed someone again.

BERNSTEIN: When he got out of prison, he was dating several other women at the time. One of these was a woman who was a single mom in her mid-40s and she had a teen aged daughter.

JEFF GREEN: On February 26 of 2010, a mother and daughter came in to our police office and wanted to report that an individual had touched her. The mother was awakened by her daughter's screams. Paul Winklebleck leaves the residence.

WALSH: He doesn't think what are the consequences. A guy like him is willing to roll all the dice.

[19:45:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's looking at going back to prison for this. That puts a person like Winklebleck on the run.

BERNSTEIN: The incident that I was investigating, Ashley and Jessica go to the Snoop Dogg concert and make their way back to their car. This man walks up to them, introduces himself as Paul and says that he is working with the Portland police, that he is a spotter for the Portland police on a DUI mission. He said the whole mission is to make it where people don't drive drunk. He said how about I drive you home. There are plenty of us out. You said you didn't live far? And they think you know, OK. He gets in the car. And they leave. And the girls think this is wonderful. They are so excited that they have a police officer in their car.

[19:50:00] And as they are driving along Paul Winklebleck looks at Jessica in the back. Can I borrow your phone? I want to call my friend so that I can get a ride when I get to your place. Jessica says sure. He sort of acts for a second like he's trying to do something and then he puts it under his leg. He says it's not working. Then he says to Ashley, hey, can I borrow yours, same thing. I want to call my friend but Ashley is noticing they are getting close to where they need to turn. She gives him the cell phone and he just puts it under his leg. He goes through the light and heads down on the highway. She now starts yelling at him. Give me my phone back, and Jessica is in the back saying, yes, give her phone back. He pulls out the knife and puts it right into Ashley's stomach. WALSH: Way better to fight, fight, fight, yell, scream than be

complaint because the last several hours of her life will be horrible.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERNSTEIN: Paul Winklebleck pulls out the knife on Ashley and moved it up to her chest, even up to her neck at one point and back down. Whenever he would get heightened, they weren't doing what he said, he would press in a little bit more, just pressing the point of what he was willing to do to her.

WALSH: This is probably the fifth pedophile that I've been involved with who has waited outside of concerts and said I will drive you home or I will get in your car. I'm a parking lot security guard. I'm an off-duty cop, and you're tipsy, you're going to get a DUI. It's become a standard with these kidnapping predators.

BERNSTEIN: Out on the highway and on I-5 headed south. Ashley starts trying to bargain with him. We'll give you money. I have $50. Pulling $50 out of her boot. They start telling him about their family and that they need to be at work the next way. He's like don't worry about it, you're not going to be at work. As he's holding the knife to Ashley in the car. Jessica has started in the back I have to pee. I have to pee. He pulls off into a dark area and he tells them, OK, get out and go pee. And he watches them like a hawk. Jessica starts yelling and look away, look away. I can't do this when you're looking at me. Look away. She rushes him and dives into the car. No keys. She runs. Ends up seeing a house and pounds on it so how is that the cumin side felt like it was an earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got a gal at our door saying that someone is about to kill her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she at your door?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: In the meantime, Ashley is now fighting with Paul Winklebleck. Another car comes down the highway. Ashley runs towards the car. Paul Winklebleck thought this guy was going to help so he took off in their car. Well, the guy in the car, you know, he thinks something is fixing to happen to him and he takes off so she starts running in the same direction that Jessica went. They find each other again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And does he have a gun?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. He only had a knife.

WALSH: Years ago a cop told me, he said tell your daughter, it's way better to fight, fight, yell, scream than to be complaint because the last several hours of her life will be horrible so take that shot. These guys are cowards. If they try to drag you in the car, scream and yell but I've got to say they were lucky because it easily could have gone the other way.

BERNSTEIN: The next day we found the car about ten miles away from where the incident happened where the girls gotten free. Paul Winklebleck fancies himself a survivalist. He liked to go out in the area where the car had been found.

MEGAN: Having this happen to me, being traumatized has forced me to switch states and move far away from somewhere, some place I once loved because I don't feel fully safe exposing my identity. I just want him captured and put away forever.

WALSH: I've been hunting bad guys for over three decades, and I'm always glad and greatly relieved to share the news that their reign of terror is over. This is one of those times. Human remains found by hunters near the Oregon town of Turner last December are believed to be those of Paul Winklebleck. Investigators are awaiting DNA tests to confirm the identity.

It's a very tough thing to talk to your kids when they are 13 or 14 years old. Tweens and teens are very vulnerable because they are not adolescent. The world is their oyster. I wish young people were a little more cynical, a little bit more aware. The idea is not to create paranoia. It's not to ruin the wonder of the world. It's just to be a little bit more street smart.

[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)