Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Lavasser.

Today we're diving into part four of the Michelle Lawless case. I think we should just get into it.

We only have one part left after this. We're wrapping that up before we head to CrimeCon.

I'm tying it up in a neat little bow. I hope. And hopefully we'll have a better understanding where we stand on this case once all the parts are out.

Exactly. Let's go with it. We're ready.

So in February of 1993, four inmates at the Cape Gerardo County jail all suddenly began telling the same story.

The story was that Josh Keyser had killed Michelle Lawless. These men were 17-year-old Sean Mangus 17-year-old Kelly Church 24-year-old Chuck Weisinger and 28-year-old Steven Grah.

Sean and Kelly had actually been charged together in an LSD deal gone wrong. Weisinger was facing charges of burglary and theft and Steven Grah was being held on a $50,000 bond.

After being charged with beating a homeless man, who would go on to die from his injuries?

Now, it seems the idea for the plan started with Sean Mangus. He figured that they could exchange information about Michelle's murder and exchange for deals on their sentences.

And I guess that the whole idea was nothing bad would come of it since they knew Josh wasn't responsible and he couldn't have done it.

And then the police would soon figure that out. So that was their justification, I suppose.

On March 1st, Highway Patrolman, Don Windom and Deputy Brenda Schfits interviewed 17-year-old Sean Mangus who told them that he had seen Josh in January of 1993 at the home of Stacey Reed in Cape Gerardo and he had heard Josh confess to killing a girl in Benton.

Mangus's written confession read QUOTE. He asked me if I knew anything about a girl getting killed at the Benton exit. I told him I didn't know anything about it. He said somebody had me kill her or shoot her or hurt her.

But I do remember him saying he shot her. He appeared to be crying but the room was dark and I couldn't tell.

Mangus claimed that he asked Josh few as serious and Josh said he was. So after providing this information, Don Windom, he spoke to the Cape Gerardo prosecutor and suddenly there was a deal on the table for Sean Mangus.

Having been originally charged with the Class A felony of first degree robbery, a crime committed while Mangus was in possession of a firearm, he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of stealing which was a Class C felony. And instead of facing a 10-year minimum sentence, Mangus was given a one-year sentence.

Next, Windom and Schfits talked to Chuck Weisinger on March 3rd and he seemed less eager to provide them with information at first. Initially he said he didn't know anything about Michelle's murder and when he finally did claim that he had heard Josh Keyser confess to shooting a girl, he gave the wrong location, naming Benton Illinois instead of Benton Missouri.

But by March 9th, when the police had gotten Weisinger to give them a handwritten statement, he had more details. He claimed he'd seen Josh in the first or second week of January 1993 at the home of Stacey Reed.

Chuck said he'd been at Stacey's all day when Sean and Josh arrived together in the early evening and then Chuck said that he heard Josh say to Sean that he'd shot a girl off the highway at Benton.

And Chuck said he thought that Josh was capable of murder because of the way he acted, the fact that he had the worst temper Chuck had ever seen and because he always carried a gun.

In fact, Chuck claimed to have seen Josh with all types of guns from 22s to 38s to 9mm.

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