[ominous music]
Just after 11:00 PM on New Year's Eve,
we received a 911 call from a female subject.
She was screaming into the phone,
talking about her husband being shot.
And then all of a sudden, the phone went dead.
[sirens blaring]
When I arrived on scene there, medical and ambulance
was backing up in the driveway.
As I exited my patrol car and approached,
where I saw the victim laying by his truck
along with a female subject knelt down beside him.
Let me get in there, ma'am, OK?
She was pretty hysterical.
I actually had to pull the female away from him
so medics could actually get in to treat him.
NARRATOR: Officers learned that the gunshot
victim is 23-year-old Army Sergeant Tyrone Hassel III.
The woman is his wife, Kemia.
I got a call from Kemia.
I can barely understand what she was saying.
But she was screaming.
And then she was like, Ty's been shot.
And I'm like, what?
As I was driving home, the only thing I was thinking
is, I just hope he'll be OK.
When I got there, I could see where he was shot at.
And I could see a big hole in the back of his head.
I knew at that point when I saw my son.
I prayed for the best, but I knew.
I knew my son was dead.
NARRATOR: At the hospital, Sergeant
Hassel's stepmother is on duty when the ambulance
pulls up to the ER.
I see the paramedics come through the doors.
One of the paramedics was on top of him
doing chest compressions.
To me, it seemed a long time.
But it probably was a couple of minutes
before the doctor came out and told me it was nothing
else that they could do.
NARRATOR: Detectives start their homicide investigation
at the scene of the crime.
We found spent gun shells laying on the ground
right next to our Tyrone was laying.
The shell casings were examined.
And we determined it was from a 9-millimeter handgun.
Based on what we found on Tyrone III,
we saw that he had all of his money.
He had an expensive watch on.
So if robbery isn't the motive, then usually it's
some kind of personal vendetta.
The police was asking me, did he have any enemies?
I couldn't think of a soul, not one person.
NARRATOR: While in the Army, Tyrone
fell for a fellow recruit named Kemia.
We could tell that he really cared
about her because all he talked about
was Kemia this, Kemia that.
When I finally met Kemia, they were married,
and they came home for Thanksgiving.
She called me dad immediately.
She was my new daughter.
Tyrone called me one day.
And he just was like, you're about to be a grandma.
And I was excited.
TYRONE HASSEL JR: My son was so happy.
Then a week after their son's first birthday,
Ty and Kemia was deployed to Korea in February of 2018.
NARRATOR: After nine months in South Korea,
the young family returns and settles into their new life
in Hinesville, Georgia.
The following day, investigators continued
their work at the crime scene.
One neighbor indicated that they
had seen a vehicle backed into a residence
that was actually for sale.
He reported that the house was vacant.
He described the car as being in that driveway
and seeing somebody run from that car in the direction
of Hassel's house.
It looked like a male subject.
The neighbor advised that after he's seen the subject
run towards the house, he heard the gunshots,
saw him get in the car.
And that's when he saw the car speed away rapidly.
The witness described the car as a newer, dark-color sedan.
He described the headlights of being
special headlights, which were LED headlights
on that type of a car.
An autopsy on Tyrone determined that he had been shot
five times, four in the head area
and one in the shoulder, all at close range,
within three to five feet.
It wasn't, you know, a drive-by shooting.
Whoever did this wanted Tyrone to see who did it.
During this investigation, police left no stone unturned.
But then St. Joe Police get a tip that
completely opens up this case.
This caller says that police should look into the wife
because the wife had a boyfriend.
And because of that relationship,
Sergeant Hassel was killed.
NARRATOR: The anonymous caller says
their son served with both Tyrone and Kemia
and lives in the same town in Georgia
where the Hassels are stationed.
Two soldiers actually came forward at Fort Stewart
to the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
MIKE LANIER: We were informed that Kemia had been having
a romantic relationship with another soldier
in their unit, Jeremy Cuellar.
The relationship was witnessed by a soldier who basically was
a bunkmate of Jeremy Cuellar and spoke
of the-- you know, the infatuation he had with Kemia.
INVESTIGATOR: OK.
NARRATOR: According to the soldier,
the relationship began when Tyrone, Kemia, and Jeremy
were stationed in South Korea.
So when they got back to the States from Korea,
Kemia and Jeremy continued to have a lot of contact.
And they did it through Snapchat.
The soldier says they're communicating
over Snapchat because Snapchat basically deletes everything.
You don't have any record of the conversation.
He said Jeremy was obsessed with her, that he would have
done anything to be with Kemia, up to and
including killing for it.
NARRATOR: Later that day, Army investigators
receive even more disturbing information
about Jeremy Cuellar.
Another soldier from the same base
came forward and indicated that he had actually sold
Jeremy two different handguns.
OK.
One of the handguns was a Glock 9 millimeter, I believe.
And the other one was a Ruger 9 millimeter.
That was significant because the caliber
of the weapon used to kill Tyrone III
was a 9-millimeter weapon.
NARRATOR: The soldier also tells investigators
that Jeremy shared a disturbing story of what
he did on his Christmas break.
Jeremy gave him a play by play of what he's been doing over
vacation, including staying at his mom's house in Chicago,
driving to Benton Harbor, where Kemia's in-law lived,
staking the house out for three or four days.
He said he was there waiting for Tyrone to get home.
And when he walked back out of the house
is when he killed him in his driveway.
Jeremy Cuellar went on to tell this soldier
that I shot him multiple times.
I walked up to him and walked over him and shot him again.
So he really laid out the crime, how he committed it,
and just the gruesome, awful details about how
he executed Sergeant Hassel.
NARRATOR: On January 11, at 10:00 PM, deputies in Georgia
convene at Jeremy Cuellar's home to execute a search warrant
and take him into custody.
While searching his car in the back seat,
they find a 9-millimeter magazine
that fits into a Ruger pistol.
Looking through the bullets, it was
the same brand of ammunition that was
used the night of the murder.
NARRATOR: 11 days after Tyrone was killed, police in Georgia
charged Jeremy Cuellar with first-degree murder.
We were certain that Jeremy committed the murder.
The outstanding question was, what was Kemia's role in that?
Was she the mastermind or an innocent victim here?
NARRATOR: Kemia admits that on the days leading up to Tyrone's
murder, she and Jeremy had communicated
via Snapchat about their plans.
Kemia admitted to Detective Lieutenant Longuski
that she and Jeremy had both taken part in planning this.
NARRATOR: To investigators, Kemia's confession
is proof that she was a willing accomplice
in her husband's murder.
We did discover that as part of their military insurance,
when there is a death of a spouse,
that she does get a settlement from the insurance
company of about $400,000.
I brought up the money.
And she admitted that was part of it
and that money would help her and her son
get a better start with Jeremy.
NARRATOR: As the prosecution prepares for Kemia's trial,
they discover a surprise piece of evidence.
After the arrests were made, I'd
actually obtained audio recording of Kemia
Hassel speaking to her mother.
And the entirety of the phone call was another confession.
I knew we had strong evidence prior to that.
But when I heard that, this case was going to trial full steam
ahead.
There's not going to be any deals for you, Kemia.
NARRATOR: Six months after her arrest,
the trial of Kemia Hassel begins.
Over three days, the prosecution calls
23 witnesses to the stand.
We really focused on Kemia's confession
to Detective Longuski.
We focused on the evidence that was found
in her cell phone and that second confession
she made to her mom.
So those were three really important pieces.
When the jury went to deliberate,
everybody's nervous.
NARRATOR: Less than two hours later, the jury
returns with a verdict.
They find Kemia's guilty on all three counts,
first-degree premeditated murder,
conspiracy to commit murder, and using a gun to commit a crime.
Kemia was sentenced to spend the rest
of her natural life in prison with no opportunity for parole.
On July 29 of 2019, Jeremy Cuellar
pled guilty to second-degree murder for 65 years in prison.