Justice for John Eubank

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. A soldier's brutal murder shocks a Georgia military base. We had a deceased service member and the circumstances around his death were unknown. He'd been so badly beaten that he actually had brain matter exuding from his skull. Witness accounts to a suspect close to the victim. He wanted to go animal tracking. My uncle and my stepfather both went into the woods. Only one came out. She said he looked crazed in his eyes. But as the investigation unfolds, detectives sort through lies and misdirection to catch a ruthless killer driven by greed. Everything she said was a lie. Every emotion she displayed was fake. He went from fighting wars just to come home and die, like that makes absolutely no sense to me. November 30th, 2013. It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And soldiers at Georgia's Fort Stewart Army Base are enjoying a sunny afternoon with their families. Port Steward is is is quite large and it's home to about twenty thousand soldiers. But around five PM A shocking discovery at a park located on Fort Stewart's military base. interrupts the community's weekend plans. A nine one one call came into the Fort Stuart Nine One One dispatch center. porting a body, a male, found just about ten feet into the wood line. The victim was not conscious, but was alive and was struggling to breathe. The gentleman who called reported that he and other military members were rendering aid. He'd been so badly beaten that he actually had Brain matter exuding from his skull. There was no identification on this victim. had like army boots on. And so that led us to the thought that this was possibly a soldier. Police and paramedics arrive on scene and quickl the victim to nearby Wynn Army Hospital. The victim did not survive the attack very long. He was pronounced dead. His skull was badly fractured in a number of places. He had a number of lacerations. The injuries were indicative of a homicide and that's how we treated the case going forward. Because this was very apparently a purposeful assault. First responders notify the army's criminal investigative division. The C I D uh criminal investigation division. are what I would call the FBI of The military. They will investigate anything from felonies to misdemeanors. By the following morning, the entire base is working with investigators to identify the victim found in the woods. Every commander was instructed to perform a full accountability of his or her unit. The only soldier on the base that had not been accounted for was specialist John Ubank. Солдж фром спешили шбанкс уніт вентю армі хол. to attempt to identify the victim. able to identify John When they uh kick the sheep back. His injuries were they were very severe. You can still tell it was John. Last time I seen his man, he was healthy. Full of life. and to be reduced to laying on the steel slab. Be down like that. That's tough to deal with. Who would do this to him? John Eubank was born on December 15, 1983, in the remote Alaskan town of Mountain Village. John's family were Yupic, Alaskan natives, and his indigenous heritage was a central part of his identity. John was definitely big on his culture, being a Native American. He was always big on family. Taking care of this family and always looking up for them as best he could. John was never scared to show that he loved his family. He would talk about his family. And How They would do everything together. Growing up in a town of less than a thousand people made John eager to see the world. So a few weeks before his twentieth birthday, he enlisted in the army. Serve with John. Two deployments. He was a goofball. And no matter uh what kind of mood you were in, he would always put a smile on your face. After basic training, John was deployed Iraq in 2004, where he served as a heavy driver. We were part of the same team. We provide a chances of security. Thing that's uh to me the most about John on deployment is. I he he tried his best to keep it cool and calm. He dealt with pretty much everything that you can imagine being shot at with. because John was from Alaska. We gave him the nickname of the Alaskan Assassin. Between 2004 and 2008, John served two deployments in Iraq. As much as he loved the service, He began dreaming of having someone to come home to. John was looking for someone that loved him as much as he would love them. came to dating. Brave Soldier was in unfamiliar territory. He wasn't given really a lot of opportunities to date. And John wasn't The Biggest social butterfly. To help overcome his shyness, John tried online dating while deployed. He soon hit it off with 34-year-old single mother, Lily May Wells. After a string of bad relationships and moving around. Lily was looking for another chance at love. John explained to me that Lily's background from what she told him. She was abused. Lily would do a lot of pet rescue. She would nurse them back to health or get them back up to par and Find them good homes. And That was something that she was very passionate about. Over the duration of the deployment, they would write back and forth, talk on the phone together. Couldn't wait to meet her when he got back. In the winter of 2008, John and Lily finally met in person when he returned home to Fort Stewart. She had came from Florida. He had told me that he was extremely happy about it. Lily was just the way that she was online as in person. After months of a long distance relationship, couple couldn't wait to spend every moment together. He had moved into on post housing and It wasn't long before they got married. It was like it happened overnight. It was telling everybody this was his wife and you know, he was Aesthetic to have somebody. John was equally excited by the idea of becoming a stepfather to Lily's children. When I first met him I was not happy about it. I fought with him tooth and nail. But I g I warmed up to him pretty fast, I think. By the time John came into my life, I was already in my teens. About ten years younger than mom. He was young and he was still trying to learn what it meant to be a stepdad. I can understand now. When I look back at it. that he was just trying to figure out. You know, where he fit in the puzzle. Even make these really funny faces and there's no way you can not laugh. Over the next five years, John continued to work his way up the military ranks. but his hopes for the future centered on his family. John was hopeful to have his own children. But on the same hand, he he loved those children. Like they were his own children. But tragically, that future never came to be. After surviving multiple tours in combat zones, John has met an unimaginable fate near the military base he calls home. We had a Deceased. Service member. And the circumstances around his death were unknown. So it was our job to figure out. How? John Yu Bing. was killed. Army CID, initially process the scene. They found some brain matter, they found teeth. It became clear to the investigators that this was the site of the actual assault. Crime scene provides few leads, but when investigators canvass the area, They learn that the killer may have made one costly mistake. One of the persons who was helping the victim told investigators she had seen a white or a gray pickup truck. In that area. And that the pickup truck was rolling very slowly and occasionally stopping as if it was waiting for something or hesitant to leave. Very shortly before that pickup truck left the area. A man came out from the wood line. She had provided a physical description of a white male. With Longish maybe shoulder length hair. Average build. Who was wearing jeans and a a long sleeved top. be the last person who had seen him alive and we needed to find out who this person was. Coming up. A grieving widow and her daughter share a disturbing firsthand account. I told them everything that I knew I didn't hold back. Anything. And investigators zero in on a person of interest. He had a very extensive criminal history. He threatened to kill her, choked her, and held her against her will. He was a ticky time bomb. The day after finding Soldier John Eubank's body. Military police are investigating their first lead after a witness reported seeing suspicious activity moments before his body was found. She had actually witnessed a man come out from the wood line, walk around the back of the truck. Get in just before it departed. Unfortunately, the witness did not see a license plate number for the vehicle. So identifying the suspect will take more legwork. At that point, staff sergeants in specialist John Eubank's unit decided to call his dependent spouse, and that was Lily Eubank. Lily answered the phone and told them that she was actually about to call the MPs because she stated her husband's specialist Eubank had not come home that night and that she had not seen him since the previous afternoon. The sergeant asked whether she had filed a missing person's report, and she said she had not, because she believed she had to wait 24 hours before she could do that. Rather than deliver news of John's death over the phone, Military police send a car to bring Lily in. The casually assistance officer informed Lily that her husband specialist John Youbank was deceased. She simply said over and over again, who would do this to him? Who would do something like this to him? Lily Eubank's response was puzzling and very suspicious. In that she never asked what happened because nobody had informed her of the cause or manner of death. Bite her grief. Lily does her best to answer investigators' questions. Lily Mae Eubank reported that she had last seen her husband on November 30th around 430 at the Holbrook Pond recreation area. He wanted to go animal tracking. So she and her daughter Angel Wells had dropped him off to go off into the woods. He had told her to just go on a head home, that he would walk home himself. John's body was found at 5 p.m., just 30 minutes later. Lily described her marriage with John as a good marriage. She loved him very much. He provided for their family and he was the father figure to her two daughters. She was telling me about how She was texting back and forth with John and he was saying, you know, things like, Oh yeah, we're having a good time, which caused the suspicion of who's who's we. She explained that he was he was referring to him being with the deer. So these messages between her and John. really gave me interest in what was on her cell phone. When I asked Lily to be able to search her cell phone. She seemed really open to the idea and not reluctant to share that with me. While CID waits for the analysis, they let Lily go home and continue gathering information from friends and service members. We sent a team over to their neighborhood. to canvas their neighbors and ask them what they've seen. When officers pass the Eubank home. They notice something surprising their driveway. It was interesting for agents to see a silver pickup truck because eyewitnesses at Holbrook Pond had seen a white or a silver in color pickup truck. Slowly rolling past the location where John Eubank was found. When speaking with neighbors, they confirm that Lily drives the truck. And also share another piece of information Lily left out of her statement. Some neighbors reported that on the evening of John Eubank's murder, which was November 30th, They saw a person they knew to be uh Lily Eubanks brother, Carl Swain. Departing the residence. In her timeline, she never once mentioned that her brother had been in town visiting. My uncle Carl was a little off the wall. I asked her why my uncle Carl had even came here and she had told me that my uncle Carl wanted to try to rebuild their relationship. Nobody really had a relationship with him because he's l literally been out and out of prison my entire life. When investigators confront Lily, she says that Carl was in town for Thanksgiving, but she took him to the bus station that evening. He didn't live there, and so she took him um to the bus station to to send him back home. Agent Cicero demands to know why Lily Ubank wouldn't have mentioned that her brother has been in town. Lily responds that she was actually just trying to protect her brother Carl. She had purchased his ticket. to travel from Alabama to Savannah and back. And the explanation that Lily gave was he had some sort of criminal history that would prevent him from traveling outside of the state. Investigators ask Lily to give her full statement again. When asked to now tell a truthful statement. Lily said that she was not truthful when she said she dropped John Eubank off at Holbrook Pond to go animal tracking by himself. She said that in reality, she and her daughter Angel had driven John Eubank and Carl Swain to Holbrook Pond. and had dropped them both off that afternoon. to supposedly go animal tracking. that John Eubank had gotten out of the truck and departed with a slingshot, and that Carl Swain had a wooden baseball bat. Lily says the men took the weapons to fend off any wild hogs they might run into. So she didn't think anything of it at the time. She and her daughter ran some errands, then returned a few hours later to pick them up. Lily and Angel come back and as they pull around, they see Carl up in the wood line with the baseball bat. Hitting something. Repeatedly. Shortly thereafter, Carl comes down from the wood line and gets in the vehicle with them. He is exasperated. has blood on him and the baseball bat had blood on it. Lily inquired to Carl, hey, what happened? And Carl said that they were scared spooked by a hog and he was up there beating the hog and John ran off like a little bitch. My uncle and my stepfather both went into the woods. Only one came out. She said he looked crazed in his eyes and still a little amped up. Lily claims she took Carl's explanation at face value when it happened. But investigators are quick to challenge her story. As I continue to interview Lily. kind of lay out all the facts to her of okay, your husband went missing yesterday. You saw your brother beating Your husband is deceased. Common sense would tell you. That the likelihood that it was Carl who killed your husband is high. And she continued to Uh claim ignorance. She believes that she's simply a sort of victim in all of this and that she never knew that was going to happen. Investigators keep pressing. The agents didn't believe her. They pressed her on that story. And ultimately Lily admitted that she had seen Swain was beating something and it wasn't a hog. that it was actually the body of John Ubang. Lily May Eubank has just confessed to seeing her brother Carl Swain beat her husband to death. We knew she was involved, but we didn't know the extent of how she was involved at this point in the investigation. But now, Lily is willing to work with investigators to help build a case against John's killer. She agreed to make a surreptitious recorded phone call to Carl Swain that CID would listen in on. we ask her to ask Carl about what happened to the bat, to try to get Carl to make some sort of admission. So of course Carl's very suspicious when he gets a call from Lily. he puts together the fact that he's probably being overheard on the phone. He told her, I don't know what you're talking about, and that was about the extent of that conversation. Lily is not apprehended at this point, but was very clearly a person of interest. With Carl thwarting the attempt at self-incrimination, investigators work with the FBI to try a different route. Lily Eubank placed her daughter Angel Wells at the crime scene. We then had to interview Angel to verify not only her mom's story, but also try and put the pieces together of what actually happen that day. During her interview, Angel corroborates everything her mother told police. When we were coming back. Pick him up. I so call. Swingin' that Towards the ground. And he came out the woods. Think out of the truck. He had blood splattered on his face. As if you would if you took spaghetti sauce on a spoon and splattered it on a wall. He said that he had hit the wild boar in the head one hit and busted his head open. I did not believe Carl. I asked Carl to see the bat. He handed it to me. There was hair still in the bat, splintered in the wood. Angel says she felt like she knew what really happened. But like her mother, she was afraid Carl might kill her, too. I had no idea why my uncle would do that. My granny said that he was a ticking time bomb. And He had anger issues. When investigators check Carl's police records, It confirms Lily and Angel had good reason to fear him. He had a very extensive criminal history. The most blaring was an assault against a former wife. where he threatened to kill her, choked her, and held her against her will. They wanted to make sure they got him into custody as soon as possible. With Lily's help, authorities are able to track Carl to an address in Alabama on December 6th. They took Swain into custody really without any incident. The agents then went into the warehouse where Carl was living and they looked for any items interest that might tie him to the murder of John. in the furthest reaches of the crawl space. They found John Ubank's military sea bag. And when they opened it, they found a pair of blue jeans. and a pair of cowboy boots. That they submitted to the lab. Carl denies having anything to do with John's death. But results of the forensic tests show otherwise. Was determined that the genes contained the DNA of both Carl Swain. And John Ubank. Carl is charged with first degree murder and extradited to Georgia to face trial. Three weeks after the arrest, on December 27, John Eubank's loved ones gather for a memorial service. It was tough. and I had to hand his his mother that flag at the funeral. That was the toughest thing I ever did in my life. But when John's fellow service members learn how he died. They're immediately suspicious. Nobody had ever heard of him going hog hunting before. Kinda had a gut feeling that something just didn't seem right. After the funeral, John's comrades share their concerns with Army CID. They said that John was very good about managing his money. before he met and married. that after he married her. He always was needing to borrow money. We were concerned because of the financial struggle. Because of the way he was not associating with us the same way as he did before he got married. There's a culture in the military that you don't show weakness. One. Um You don't go around Airing your problems to everybody. John's friends say they were confused by the sudden change. until they discovered the reason for it. Lily took over his finances. when they got together. There were a lot of times where she would write out checks that were bad. She had no control when it came to money. Mama seem to Me. Really? I'll see. And If she didn't get a response back from him really quick, she seemed to get really upset. And his fellow soldiers say John finally decided to do something about it during his last deployment. He was bound and determined to get the divorce when he came back home. All John Eubank wanted was somebody to be nice to him and to care about him. And when he came to the realization that Lily Eubank was never gonna do that. And that all she wanted him for was his money and a roof over her head. He was bold enough finally to broach the topic of divorce. Once he did that He was worth more dead than alive. Coming up. Phone records reveal the details of a murder for hire. Each day involved a new type of plan to kill John Eubang. But can detectives prove who was behind it? She seemed relieved almost that she finally was done with hiding all the facts. Six days after John Eubank's body was discovered bludgeoned to death on Fort Stewart Army Base, investigators have arrested Carl Swain for his murder. But they suspect John's wife Lily was involved as well. There were too many red flags, such as Carl not being included in her story from the beginning. And we're starting to believe that Lily is a subject in this case versus a grieving widow. To help investigators prove Lily is responsible. John's friend Tamisa records several conversations with her, hoping she'll slip up. I didn't care if I needed to use my cell phone or wear a wire, wear a recording device. I was going to find out what had happened. When you win new That moment what he was doing. So we can stop it. I had to think strategically because I really Wanted to make sure that I didn't do anything to Alarm her. She tells Tamisa that she and her daughter live in fear of Carl, despite the fact that he's been arrested. Come after me an angel. Why would he go after you guys? The tapes are turned over to the FBI, but there's nothing incriminating enough to make an arrest. When agents confront Lily for the third time. She admits there's more to the story. but says it's not what they think. Lily's story is that she was experiencing marital difficulties. claiming that he had physic assaulted her and that he was verbally and emotionally abusive. Lily claims she turned to her brother for help. Lily Eubank told me that she asked her brother Carl to rough up her husband. to scare John. into acting appropriately to her. Swain was only supposed to beat John up with his fists and instead he went wild and out of control and murdered him with his baseball bat. But with all the lies leading up to this, investigators are no longer inclined to believe her. At this point, Lily Eubank has changed her story three times. We couldn't find that there was actually abuse happening. The investigators that I was working with and myself all found this very problematic. It's clear Lily isn't going to tell them the truth, and so far Carl has remained silent as well. While he's in jail awaiting trial, Carl makes a crucial mistake. He told two detainees in the Chatham County Jail what he had done, that he had beaten John Eubank to death. Swain had confided in them that he had done this at the behest of his sister, Lily Ubank. because she was going to get $500,000 after the murder as the grieving widow, and that he was gonna be owed and sixty thousand dollars for his part in the murder. Service members are covered by something called the Servicemans Group Life Insurance Policy, S G L I. Lily U Bank was the beneficiary of those life insurance benefits. Every emotion Lily Eubank displayed was fake. Lily Eubank cared about nothing other than Lily Eubank. When investigators receive the analysis for Lily's phone records, they find further evidence of a murder plot. Special Agent Fryman found a string of text messages between Lily Eubank and Carl Swain. From the text messages, investigators were able to discern that Lily Eubank had been planning to and attempting to kill John Eubank for much longer than was initially suspected. In April. of 2013. She had a conversation uh with one of her daughters about John wanting a divorce. We can tell from Lily Ubanks' internet search history that's when she started planning his murder. Lily's content for searches conducted on her phone included how to drown somebody in a bathtub. As well as poisons that will not be identified on an autopsy. In September of twenty thirteen, Lily texted I baked him a strawberry vanilla bean cake. Special Agent Fryman was able to uncover that vanilla bean was actually a sort of a code word for castor bean. which can be used to make ricin poison. She thought that by baking castor beans into a cake, she had created ricin and was going to effectively poison him to death. The attempt to poison John failed. Tech's show Lily kept looking for solutions. One of the things that uh came up in discussion was a trip to Tybee Island. There was mention of John not being a good swimmer. And then so potential Attempts at Maybe a drowning. That plan didn't work out. The next day was Thanksgiving, and the day after sitting at John Eubank's Thanksgiving table, Carl Swain then invited John Eubank out for that walk. John never once probably knew it was coming because he assumed This is something that John and Carl were doing to Maybe Barn to like get to know one another. After putting together the text messages, search history, and motive, we were able to have enough to charge Lily in the murder of John Eubank as well. On February 26, detectives confront Lily with the evidence. And this time, she has a different reaction. She seemed relieved almost that she finally was done with hiding all the facts. Lily Eubank confessed that in reality she had not asked Carl Swain to beat up John Ubank as retaliation for some sort of abuse. It was simply in expectation of a $500,000 death gratuity. Lily was arrested and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder for hire. I was like, what the do you mean she's been arrested for what? Like, it didn't click at first. We were fortunate in that we had an excellent investigation that had produced overwhelming evidence, but a prosecutor still never walks into a jury trial thinking it's a sure thing. The defendant really has nothing to lose. After a three-month investigation, Lily Mae Eubank and her brother Carl Swain have both been charged for the murder of John Eubank. But as prosecutors prepare the case for trial, Lily tries to lay the blame entirely on Carl. Lily Eubank maintained that Carl Swain head. Demanded the money from her and essentially had twisted Lily's arm. to participate in this plan. Her other claims, the evidence doesn't support it. Lily told us she purchased a bat a couple weeks prior to the murder with John for protection in their vehicle in the event it broke down. Investigators went to Walmart to pull surveillance footage and sure enough they found footage at the self-checkout. where John Eubank was actually purchasing the bat that was ultimately used in his murder. It just showed. How just heartless she was. Part of me wants to believe my mom. But There's just so much other evidence that says otherwise. Lily Eubank was incredibly cold and calculating. Throughout this murder plot. All the while pretending. to be John Eubanks loving wife. Lily manipulated Carl Swain's impoverished situation. to entice him to come to Hinesville and murder her husband. And living on the edge. Uh a hundred sixty thousand dollars would be a great Motivated to anyone in his situation. Not even jail stops Lily from continuing her manipulation tactics. Didn't like being in the local jail, so she would make herself Seriously ill, such that she would have to be transported to a hospital facility. behavior stopped working, Lily Eubank pretended to be absolutely catatonic. The defense attorney for Lily tried to bring a defense of mental capacity. Floy gets Lily what she wants, a psychiatric evaluation. But her plan backfires. Court found that she was stable enough to not only be charged but go to trial if she chose to. She chose not to and took a plea agreement to conspiracy to commit murder. Lily is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In March 2015, more than a year after John's murder, Lily's brother Carl goes on trial. The evidence was just so overwhelming. I don't think there was much the defense could do here. Carl was found guilty on all three charges. murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder for hire. Each of those charges brings a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. So Carl received three life sentences. and he will remain there without any opportunity to be released. Justice was served because they would never have The opportunity to be outside those walls again. Neither one of them. Deserve. to have a life outside of prison. John should be remembered. As a hero. Friend. And for just who he was. My dad did not deserve to die like that. He went from fighting wars just to come home and die, like