Accomplice to Murder S02E07 The Winn Dixie Murder
When Sherri Malarik was found dead in a Winn Dixie parking lot, suspicion fell on her husband Greg. 20 years later, a former lover's confession may finally bring him to justice for murder.
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00:00She had a big, bright smile on her face all the time, she was very full of life.
00:11Six o'clock in the morning, phone rings and it's Greg saying that she never came home.
00:15She had been, in my opinion, stuffed into the forward in a very unnatural position.
00:22He's not really crying, he doesn't seem emotional at all, he's just like a stone.
00:28It was Miss Jennifer.
00:30And then you get the bombshell, there's a girlfriend in the mix.
00:34Well, already the red flags start going up.
00:38All these years, all I've ever wanted was justice for what happened to my mom.
00:43I hope that all of them can find some peace, and I really am sorry that it happened the way it did.
00:57We're here today in Cantonment, Florida, a small town just outside of Pensacola.
01:06Over 20 years ago, Sherry Malarik was found shot to death inside her minivan in this Winn-Dixie parking lot.
01:13The search to find and bring her killer to justice would take decades,
01:18and would come down to the testimony of an accomplice who decided to finally set the record straight.
01:26Baby!
01:29Growing up, I always remember music in the house.
01:32I always remember her cooking and kind of dancing and smiling.
01:36She had a big, like, bright smile on her face all the time.
01:39She was very full of life.
01:41She was silly, happy, silly, silly, silly.
01:44And you could, she could make anything, twist anything in to make you smile or laugh.
01:50She would never come to my house empty-handed.
01:52Sherry would always be there if I was struggling.
01:54She'd be there to help me, you know, help me with my kids.
01:57She was the most generous, kind, giving person.
02:02It was just me and my mom for a while, and then shortly after, Greg came into the picture.
02:11Greg is the first, like, male figure that I can remember coming into our lives.
02:18He'd come and get me from daycare, and we'd go fishing.
02:20There was this little dock kind of on the side of the base, and we'd go fishing out there.
02:26Greg had a previous marriage where he had two children.
02:30So that goes from just me and my mom, to me and my mom, Jamie, Greg, Ashley, and big Greg.
02:38I have a lot of, like, fond memories of him being a fun guy.
02:43And, like, taking me to do stuff and, and caring for me.
02:47But Jacob says things changed when Sherry deployed to Greece for a year.
02:53Mom leaves for Greece, and things drastically change.
03:00And we start seeing some real physical abuse for the first time.
03:05Like, he'll grab you by the throat, put you up against the wall, and he wouldn't punch me in the face,
03:10but he'll punch a hole right next to your head, so there's holes in the drywall right next to us.
03:15It was a rough life for a year.
03:18But when Sherry came back from Greece, life appeared to return to normal.
03:24We felt love again. Our home didn't feel like an empty shell of a house,
03:29but it felt like a home again, like there was a life in our house.
03:33But tragically, that life would soon flicker out of the Malarik household,
03:37as one fall evening, Sherry vanished from her own home.
03:42Sherry Malarik was last seen here at her home at around 6.30 in the evening on September 21st, 2001.
03:50Her children remember her saying she was going to go out back to speak with their father, Greg.
03:55When he got back in the house, he said that she went to go pick up some milk.
03:59Sherry never returned home.
04:03As the hours passed, and Sherry still hadn't returned from the store,
04:07Jacob remembers Greg coming back into the house from their backyard.
04:13Greg comes inside, and he starts rushing us to kind of get ready for bed.
04:20At this point, I don't remember anybody freaking out about mom or anything.
04:27When Sherry still hadn't returned by the morning, Greg started calling the authorities.
04:32Good morning. My name is Greg Malarik. I'm calling to see if maybe you guys have an accident report.
04:37I'm calling my wife.
04:39She's very late getting back.
04:41Oh, okay. How long ago?
04:437.30 to 8 o'clock last night.
04:46You stopped vehicles to drive.
04:48I'm ready to dodge a caravan, okay?
04:51We went to sleep, and the next morning, roughly around 6 o'clock in the morning,
04:55the phone rings, and it's Greg saying that she never came home.
04:59I tell Tina I'm going to look, and I get in our van.
05:03I take off, just start driving back roads, because we're new to the area.
05:08And I start heading south, and I don't know, eight miles later,
05:13I'm at the Winn-Dixie Park line, and I look over, and I see a van.
05:16I said, oh, that could be it.
05:18I pull up behind it, and it's her tag number.
05:22I park my van. I walk up to the windows.
05:25I was walking up.
05:26I start seeing a little blood, and I look down, and there's Sherry.
05:30I'm beating on the window, calling her name, Sherry, Sherry,
05:33trying to open up the door.
05:35Reach in. I grabbed her, and at that moment, I knew she was dead.
05:42Sherry's on the number one. What is your emergency?
05:45There's an arsonist in our van.
05:47She's been, I thought she'd been shot or...
05:51Okay, have you, you have not, you've been shot?
05:55You have not, you can't tell if she's alive or not?
05:59We drive down to the parking lot.
06:01My husband's arms are stretched out.
06:03He's crying, shaking his head, and he's crying, walking towards the vehicle.
06:07I remember sitting in Aunt Tina's living room,
06:10and she said, Mom's in, in heaven.
06:16I just laid on the trampoline, like, staring at the sky for hours.
06:20I just laid there all day.
06:21Buddy Nesmith was one of the homicide investigators called to the scene.
06:26Grabbed my briefcase, and off I go to the Winn-Dixie.
06:31He arrived armed with a camcorder.
06:34We were using the VHS camera. That was something new for us.
06:38Something new, and we were all learning what we needed,
06:41how to focus, how not to be too fast.
06:45I ruled out robbery once I seen the body.
06:50She had been, in my opinion, stuffed into the forward in a very unnatural position.
06:59I did see blood splatter evidence on the door jamb, the passenger seat.
07:06The blood splatter itself appeared to be the high-velocity type blood splatter,
07:11which indicated some type of gunshot wound.
07:13The fragments that were found were similar to a .25.
07:19Very small caliber, probably fits in your hand.
07:24And we know from a defect in the headliner of the vehicle
07:27that the shots were fired from inside the vehicle,
07:30coming from the left to the right.
07:32The shot was likely fired by somebody on the driver's side of the vehicle.
07:37Not long after I got there, they went to the house and brought me a gun.
07:41Not long after I got there, they went to the house and brought Greg back to the scene.
07:46He never approached the van.
07:49He never asked me about her.
07:52And I was like, Greg, who could do this?
07:54You have any idea why did she leave the house?
07:57I mean, I'm just question after question, and he never responded.
08:01Police initially spoke with Greg here in front of the minivan where Sherry was murdered.
08:07I learned early, early working cases.
08:11People grieve different.
08:13You can't put a whole lot into it.
08:16He was weird, standoffish.
08:19You can't rule anybody out.
08:21At that point, Greg was the last person to see her alive.
08:25So there's the first point of interest.
08:29I had Jeff Leak, who found the body, who was also a known person to the victim.
08:35I then asked Greg and Jeff that if I could test them for gunshot residue.
08:42After Sherry's death, Greg's behavior struck many as odd.
08:47Greg went to the Winn-Dixie.
08:49They took fingerprints and whatnot there.
08:52Again, Greg didn't show any emotion.
08:56He didn't cry. He didn't ask any questions.
09:00A few days after her body was found, Sherry's family and friends gathered to say goodbye.
09:07When we were at my mom's funeral, it was another one of those moments where things just didn't seem right.
09:16Hey!
09:18Hey!
09:21Hey!
09:27We're at the funeral. I'm sobbing.
09:32And Greg, the whole time, he's just sitting in the front row, very cold and very still.
09:38He's not really crying. He doesn't seem emotional at all. He's just like a stone.
09:46To piece together the final hours of Sherry's life, police interviewed those who had last seen her alive, her children.
09:55Can you tell us your name?
09:57This is Jacob.
09:59Okay, what's your last name?
10:00Mallory.
10:01I remember us having to go sit down and talk with the Sheriff's Department, and they asked us questions and got statements.
10:08I'm trying to find out what happened to your mother, okay?
10:12When did you last see your mom before your aunt told you that something had happened to your mother?
10:17After we got home from soccer practice.
10:20Okay.
10:21I saw her walk out the back door, and that was the last time I saw her.
10:25As she stood by the doorway, the last thing Jacob remembers hearing his mother say was that,
10:30I'm going out back to speak with your dad.
10:35Investigators also spoke with Jacob's brother, Greg Jr.
10:39Did you ever look outside when your dad was outside?
10:42I looked out the window.
10:44What did you see going on outside?
10:46Nothing.
10:47By then, night had fallen, and Greg said he saw his dad by the burn pit in the middle of their backyard, where he was burning something.
10:56Did your dad usually burn the fire at night, or did he burn it at other times of the day?
11:01He burns it normally at other times of the day.
11:03Okay.
11:04And then Greg comes inside, and kind of in passing, I don't remember who it was, looked up and was like, hey, where's mom?
11:11And he said something to the effect of, she's going to get some milk.
11:14Quick response, on his way to his room.
11:16Tell me about what he did when he came back.
11:19He went into the bathroom and he took a shower, and then he went to his desk and started doing paperwork.
11:27And that's where I hear Jennifer is at our house.
11:30So we have not seen Jennifer in the three or four months since mom's been home.
11:33We haven't seen her once.
11:35My brother Greg went outside to help her unload a lawnmower and take the lawnmower to the back shed.
11:44That night, was there somebody that came over to the house?
11:48Yes.
11:49Miss Jennifer.
11:50Who is Miss Jennifer?
11:52The lady that my dad works with.
11:55Did you meet her?
11:57The lady that my dad works with.
11:59Did you meet Miss Jennifer before or after your mom left for Greece?
12:05After.
12:07She was introduced to us as our babysitter.
12:09So I knew that she was in the Navy.
12:11I knew it was somebody that our parents worked with.
12:14Do you remember the night when Miss Jen came over and had wine bottles?
12:19Yes, sir.
12:20Tell me about that night.
12:22When she came over, she had a bag and it had wine in it.
12:28After Greg sent them to bed, Jacob and his brother Greg Jr. saw their dad and Jennifer lying on the floor,
12:35crawled up next to each other and drinking a bottle of wine.
12:39And then the next morning when we woke up, we got up, we were looking around,
12:44and then we saw some of Miss Jennifer's stuff.
12:47Her purse and her shoes and her glasses.
12:52From that day on, my brother Greg and I knew something was going on with them.
12:58At that point, I got a wife that's been murdered.
13:02I got a husband that's the last person to see her life.
13:05And then you get the bombshell information.
13:08There's a girlfriend in the mix.
13:10Well, already the red flags start going up.
13:15Coming up, investigators target Jennifer Spohn in an effort to get the person
13:19they believed is the mastermind behind Sherry Malarik's death, her husband Greg.
13:26He got out of the car, went to the back of the house,
13:29won't tell me to wait a few minutes, and then come back out the door.
13:34Mark Smeester and I reach across the table and give each other a little fist bump.
13:38We know that we're on a very good track here.
13:41When he did it, if I had said something right then,
13:45who knows how it happened but the person who did it.
13:48And I knew right then he had me.
13:51And I didn't know what else to do.
13:57After Sherry Malarik had been found brutally murdered in a Winn-Dixie parking lot,
14:02suspicion fell on her husband Greg when it was revealed that he'd been having an affair with Jennifer Spohn,
14:09who just happened to show up at the Malarik's house the night Sherry disappeared.
14:15But initially, all police had was suspicion.
14:19That suspicion deepened when the sheriff's office found out the results of their gun residue test.
14:25After the kit was analyzed and the report came back,
14:30we got a positive on Greg Malarik and a negative on Jeff Leak.
14:37So Nez Smith called Malarik in for an interview.
14:40He said he would speak to me but would not be recorded.
14:44Greg gave little information, saying that he saw Sherry around 7.30 to 8 p.m. at their house
14:50and that her last words to him were that she would be right back
14:55and that he had assumed she was shopping.
14:59In response, Nez Smith was blunt.
15:02I just told him, you harm your wife, there's no if, ands, or buts about it.
15:08Well, never spoke to him again.
15:12Nez Smith next spoke with Jennifer Spohn, who was somewhat more forthcoming.
15:17Sherry and Greg Malarik both worked at the Naval Air Station just over the bridge behind me.
15:22And when Sherry was deployed to Greece for a year, this is also where Greg met Jennifer Spohn.
15:30She admits that she knows him. She admits that she's had an affair with him.
15:34She admits that it's still going on.
15:36And she admits that she was there that night taking Longmore back.
15:40She's involved. There ain't no way around it. She's involved.
15:43Now, to what extent, I don't know, because we've got to treat them with kit and gloves.
15:47Because we don't know. We're still fishing.
15:50And Jennifer is key, because while the evidence points towards Greg,
15:54the police lack a smoking gun, tying him to Sherry's murder.
15:59Tons of very incriminating circumstances, but we're lacking that one little nail.
16:07Just one.
16:09With the pressure on to indict Greg, getting Jennifer to talk was more urgent than ever.
16:15They brought in a commander or somebody and pretty much said,
16:20if you cooperate, you're able to re-enlist and pick your duty station,
16:25and you can have a career in the Navy.
16:28She'd ask to go outside and think about it, have a cigarette.
16:32She just bolted, and that's the last I've ever seen of her.
16:36Without the cooperation of the person they believe to be Greg's accomplice to murder,
16:41prosecutors are faced with a difficult reality.
16:45All the evidence is certainly pointing toward one person, but we have no direct evidence.
16:50I mean, this is purely circumstantial.
16:54Sherry's loved ones try to keep up the pressure,
16:57posting a reward for information about her death,
17:00and speaking with the press whenever they could.
17:03Meanwhile, Jacob and his brothers are still living with Greg,
17:07certain he is the one who killed their mother.
17:10I don't have a doubt in my mind, right?
17:14Growing up in that house, there are moments I'm terrified, right?
17:18As a kid, I'm sleeping with a knife under my bed.
17:20I don't say that lightly. I'm terrified.
17:22Months passed, then years,
17:25and Sherry's death becomes just one of many unsolved murders in the area.
17:30But then in 2020, a new sheriff comes to town.
17:34State Attorney's Investigator named Wayne Wright and NNCIS Investigator Mark Smeester
17:40start investigating the case again, taking a new look at it.
17:44It was a cold case, but in any major crime, in any of our homicides,
17:48it's constantly being reviewed.
17:51He basically told me, you know, this has gone on for too long,
17:55and he kind of apologized.
17:58The key, as usual, was Jennifer Spohn.
18:01She was going to be the biggest question mark that we had to answer.
18:05For once, the passage of time worked in the prosecution's favor,
18:09and when contacted, Jennifer was much more open to talking.
18:14They're going to fall out of love sooner or later.
18:16God, did I not think it'd take 20-something years to happen, but it happened.
18:21Everything really changed when they interviewed Jennifer Spohn again.
18:26Jennifer had split up with Greg Malarik and had moved to Illinois.
18:32She knows more, but she's never told us.
18:35We know she knows more.
18:37We just have to find a way to get her to tell us that.
18:39It's time to go talk to Jennifer.
18:41March 6th was the first two interviews that they did with Jennifer.
18:44Jennifer doesn't say much.
18:48Is there anything that you can share with us
18:52that will help us understand what happened that night?
18:57Nothing.
19:00She was sticking to her guns,
19:02and she wasn't giving us anything groundbreaking information.
19:07I didn't say much.
19:09I didn't give them anything, I guess, that they could use.
19:12And the sheriff there in my town was standing outside.
19:18He says, I've read the case.
19:20I've read what they have.
19:23And it seems cut and dry.
19:26And you need to make a decision as to what side you're going to be on on this.
19:31He says, but you're only going to get this one opportunity.
19:35And I said, okay, thank you.
19:37And then I drove home.
19:39They called me a little bit later,
19:41and they said, do you think you can come back in?
19:44That's when it went through my head.
19:45I said, this is it.
19:46This has got to end.
19:47And I continued doing this.
19:48My youngest son was in junior year,
19:52so I had a talk with him,
19:54and I let him know where the car keys were.
19:58I let him know that this was all coming to a head
20:01and there's a good chance that I would be arrested
20:04and I wouldn't be able to talk to him.
20:07The other thing that we decided to do was go ahead and arrest Greg Malarik.
20:13Greg was arrested last night.
20:16Okay, so we're a lot farther in the investigation.
20:21We're not playing.
20:23Greg is in custody.
20:24This is going forward.
20:26They have assured me that they are not interested in charging you.
20:31Here's full use immunity.
20:34We will not charge you, but you have to tell us the truth.
20:38They said I had immunity.
20:40I didn't believe them.
20:42People come in, you've got to make signatures.
20:44There was none of that.
20:48Can I use the restroom?
20:49Can I drink water?
20:50Mark Smeester and I reach across the table
20:53and give each other a little fist bump,
20:55and that's about all the emotion we're going to display at that point in time.
20:59But, yeah, we know that we're on a very good track here.
21:06Jennifer comes back in the room,
21:08and she tells us that when she had been with Greg in the past
21:12that he had talked about killing his wife.
21:15She said she didn't think he was serious about it.
21:17She tells us that it had been arranged
21:20that she would meet him in the Winn-Dixie Park lot.
21:24So when I did go over to Winn-Dixie,
21:29the whole way I'm thinking, there's no way he did it.
21:32Surely he would have backed out at the last minute
21:34and realized he couldn't do that.
21:37And I was wrong.
21:40Did you know what was inside the van?
21:42I was suspicious.
21:44When I got to Winn-Dixie and he got in the car, I knew.
21:50Greg gets in her vehicle, tells her to drive him home,
21:54to obey all the speed limits, don't attract any attention,
21:56just drive home normally.
21:58I saw him get in the car, and I drove to his house,
22:02and the whole way I'm thinking, why did I let it happen?
22:07Why did I get this far? What am I going to do now?
22:11And she says that they pull out on Highway 29
22:14and that Greg throws a wig out the window of her car
22:19onto the shoulder of the road.
22:21And he threw something out?
22:23Do you think it's a wig? Why do you think it's a wig?
22:25Because it was fuzzy.
22:27It was dark, but it was fuzzy.
22:31Once she said it, I could then further picture in my mind
22:35how this was likely to have gone down.
22:38It would make sense if he would put on a long black wig
22:40so if a neighbor takes a quick glance,
22:42oh, there's Sherry going to the store.
22:45He got out of the car, went to the back of the house,
22:48and told me to wait a few minutes,
22:50and then come back on the road.
22:53I thought we got the vast majority of what she knew.
22:57I mean, she admitted, she put Greg at the scene.
23:00You know, she admitted to driving him back to the house.
23:03I said just enough that they were like,
23:08okay, we've got something.
23:10I was very surprised that they didn't arrest me,
23:14and they said that the immunity was real,
23:18which I was like, really?
23:21It was almost better than a smoking gun.
23:23It was someone actively involved in the homicide.
23:26The case suddenly had legs,
23:28and that's when the case of Gregory Malarik began.
23:33Coming up, over 20 years after Sherry Malarik
23:36was found brutally murdered,
23:38her husband Greg goes on trial for her murder.
23:42All these years, all I've ever wanted was justice
23:47for what happened to my mom.
23:49I want the person who did this to be held responsible.
23:54It had taken over two decades,
23:57but after prosecutors convinced Jennifer Spohn to talk,
24:00Greg Malarik was arrested for the murder of his wife Sherry.
24:05I got a phone call from our aunt Tina
24:08that they had just arrested our dad.
24:11I was just in a state of disbelief.
24:13I never thought in a million years
24:15an arrest was going to be made or that anything was going to happen.
24:18Greg Malarik's trial for the murder of his wife Sherry
24:21was held in 2022 at the Escambia County Courthouse behind me.
24:26All these years, all I've ever wanted
24:29was justice for what happened to my mom,
24:33where I feel like she'd just been forgotten.
24:37But justice for Sherry would have to wait,
24:40at least temporarily.
24:42I don't remember there being any big problems.
24:45Everyone came, they contributed their little segment
24:50of what this case was,
24:52and then the jury wasn't out very long for the first trial.
24:56And they'd only been out for a couple hours
24:58before they came back and said that they were deadlocked.
25:01It was almost a conviction.
25:04There were two jurors that couldn't say guilty.
25:08After a mistrial, we could offer a plea deal to the defendant,
25:13we could drop the case completely,
25:15or we can go back for a whole other trial.
25:19And in this case, we decided to take it to trial again
25:22and see what happens with the second jury.
25:24Greg Malarik's first trial for the murder of his wife Sherry
25:27resulted in a hung jury.
25:29In October of 2023, his retrial was held in Room 405
25:34of the Escambia County Courthouse in Pensacola, Florida.
25:38Amy Shea was the lead prosecutor on this case.
25:41He doesn't want to be married anymore.
25:43He wants to be divorced.
25:46The prosecution's focus was on Greg Malarik
25:50and the affair that he had with Jennifer Spohn.
25:54He suggests it would be easier to kill her than to divorce her.
25:59The motive was that there was this affair.
26:02He wanted an easy way out.
26:05The prosecution's theory was simple.
26:08He killed his wife in the backyard in the family minivan
26:12with a .25-caliber firearm
26:15and then had an elaborate plan to dispose of her body
26:19all while using the children who were in the house
26:23playing games and eating pizza as his alibi.
26:26It was all circumstantial,
26:28so it was piecing together where everybody had been
26:31and who had talked to the defendant
26:33and what the children remembered
26:35and what the other people remembered.
26:37In Greg's statement to police,
26:39he said Sherry's final words to him
26:41were that she was going to the store.
26:43Shea called Jacob to the stand to contradict that narrative.
27:02Another oddity was where Sherry supposedly went to shop.
27:13She would go to Walmart two weeks of the month.
27:15She would go to the commissary on the Navy base.
27:20Not that I know of, no.
27:26I do not ever recall going into that Winn-Dixie, no ma'am.
27:30Jacob's testimony also helped to link the murder weapon,
27:34believed to be a small .25-caliber pistol, to Greg.
27:39Growing up, do you remember your dad having guns?
27:42I remember he had a large revolver.
27:46I remember two 9mm.
27:49And then I remember a small handgun.
27:53What do you remember about this very small handgun?
27:56We were told that he got it for our mom from a gun show.
28:02And it was small enough that it would take up the size of my hand.
28:07We found a spent casing to a .25.
28:10The fragments were small.
28:12The round collected in the van was small.
28:17I'm no expert, but we were looking for a .25.
28:21Prosecutors next called Jacob's brother, Greg Jr., to the stand.
28:27At some point, were you asked to come outside?
28:30Yes.
28:31Why?
28:33To help get a lawnmower out of the vehicle.
28:36Out of whose vehicle?
28:37Jennifer's car, her vehicle.
28:39The same night that Sherry goes missing,
28:41Jennifer shows up mysteriously to return a lawnmower.
28:46Yeah, that's normal.
28:48If there is a neighbor or a surveillance camera or something
28:51that catches her car in the neighborhood,
28:53she has to have a reason to be there.
28:55That lawnmower was that excuse.
28:59She had a lawnmower in the back.
29:02Where did you take the lawnmower?
29:03I took it to the shed.
29:06And he gets the kids to participate in this alibi, too.
29:09Well, Greg, go get the lawnmower and put it in the back.
29:13Shea next called Sherry's niece, Lisa.
29:17Lisa was so important to the case because she was not only an eyewitness
29:21to seeing Sherry that night that she was murdered,
29:25but she also heard something immediately after Sherry had left the house.
29:30Do you remember what your activities were that evening?
29:34Me and Tara played Barbies.
29:36At some point, Aunt Sherry goes outside to the backyard.
29:39Do you remember that?
29:40Yes, ma'am.
29:41Could you see her go outside the house from where you were?
29:44Yes.
29:46What happened after that?
29:48She never came back in.
29:51Now, while you're playing Barbies, do you remember anything else happening?
29:54Yes, I heard a pop noise.
29:56What kind of pop?
29:58It sounded like a bottle rocket exploding.
30:05How many pops did you hear?
30:07I heard one.
30:10Finally, Sherry's sister, Tina, took the stand
30:14and described Greg's behavior after Sherry's death.
30:18Were you there when the sheriff's office was there to notify him that she died?
30:24Yes, we kind of went together.
30:26Okay.
30:27Were you paying attention to that interaction?
30:30A little bit.
30:31And I'm worried about the kids, but he had, like, virtually no reaction.
30:36Now, did he participate in the funeral planning?
30:39He turned the funeral arrangements over to me.
30:41In the week around the funeral,
30:43what, if anything, did the defendant do with Sherry's property and personal items?
30:50The Tuesday night before the viewing and everything,
30:54he was disposing of her clothes, her shoes, her jewelry.
30:58He just eliminated all of her belongings.
31:02When we return, Jennifer Spohn takes the stand.
31:07If they forgive me, they forgive me, but if they don't, I can understand.
31:13It's hard to forgive myself for this.
31:19The jury in the Sherry Malarik murder trial heard damning evidence against her husband Greg,
31:25but now they were about to hear from his accomplice and former lover, Jennifer Spohn.
31:32The strongest part of Amy Shea's case was Jennifer Spohn.
31:36Amy knew that Jennifer Spohn had all of the evidence that she needed to put Greg Malarik away,
31:44and that was him telling her that he killed Sherry Malarik.
31:49Will you raise your right hand for me?
31:51I solemnly swear and affirm the testimony you give is the truth.
31:53Did I help you, God?
31:54I did.
31:55All right, if you'll have a seat in the chair.
31:57Everyone had been waiting for Jennifer to testify.
32:00She's going to be the last witness because she's the one that's going to validate
32:05that all of these other things are the way they are because he killed his wife.
32:11Do you know the defendant Greg Malarik?
32:14Yes, I do.
32:15Were you involved in a relationship with him?
32:17Yes, I was.
32:18Did you guys try to keep this secret?
32:20Yes.
32:21After Sherry came back from Greece, where did you go to have private time with the defendant?
32:27We met at a hotel a couple of times, and then other times we would just drive around.
32:34Did he ever tell you that he didn't want to be married anymore?
32:38Yes.
32:40He talked about him not having any relations with his wife,
32:44and he brought up not wanting to get a divorce, and it'd be easier to kill her.
32:51What was your response?
32:53I thought he was joking.
32:55Why would you think he was joking?
32:57Because I didn't think he could do it.
32:59The day of, I thought about it, and I was like, there's no way he's going to do this.
33:06When he told you to come to Winn-Dixie on that day, did you know why you would need to go to Winn-Dixie?
33:14He said that he would kill her.
33:16When you pulled into the Winn-Dixie, what did you see?
33:20I saw the van.
33:22I pulled up next to the van.
33:24He got out of the van and got into the car.
33:27He told me to go, and he said, don't speed, just go normal.
33:33Went back to 29, drove down 29 until I hit Kingsfield, and then I drove to his house.
33:40It's a weird feeling.
33:43It's like you're in a void, and you don't know where to go.
33:51You don't know what to do.
33:52You don't know what to say, and you just kind of go through a motion.
33:59When you got to the house on Riddle Road, where did you park?
34:03Parked underneath the tree where the darkest area was.
34:08The Winn-Dixie is so close to the house that that whole trip, round trip, could have been in less than 10 minutes.
34:16Jennifer's description of events corroborated what the prosecution and Sherry's family had theorized.
34:23The state's theory was that he shot her in the passenger seat of the van while the van was in the backyard.
34:29We found that out in the trial through Jennifer, the mistress, that she was not dead after the first shot,
34:36so he shot her a second time in the head.
34:38At this point is when I imagine he's wiping off the blood off the passenger window,
34:44goes to the bedroom to take a shower, but turns on the water and climbs out the window.
34:50Puts her down on the floorboard, puts on his wig and drives up to the Winn-Dixie at the appointed time,
34:57and then Jennifer picked him up.
34:59And after I waited a few minutes, then I got out of the car and I went up to the front door and knocked.
35:04He climbs back in the window, turns off the shower, comes back in, Jennifer knocks.
35:09They return the lawnmower, and off she goes with the evidence.
35:15Why did you participate in this?
35:17Why did you participate in this?
35:19It's what he told me to do, and I basically was doing whatever he told me to do.
35:25Did you always do what he told you to do?
35:27Pretty much.
35:28Why?
35:29That's the relationship we had.
35:32Somehow he just sucked me all the way in until the point where I really didn't think I could get out of it.
35:39One reason Jennifer agreed to an interview was so she could give a message to Sherry's family.
35:46I hope that all of them can find some peace.
35:51And I really am sorry that it happened the way it did.
35:54I really am.
35:56If they forgive me, they forgive me, but if they don't, I can understand.
36:02It's hard to even forgive myself for this.
36:09When we return, Greg Malarik's defense attorney goes on the attack.
36:14But that was the fifth time that she gave a story.
36:19And each story would change and change and change.
36:26While the prosecution had put on a strong case against Greg Malarik for the murder of his wife Sherry,
36:31his first trial ended with a hung jury.
36:34This gave his lawyer a year to prepare for the retrial.
36:38That preparation showed as he confronted the evidence head on.
36:43All these stories that have changed so many times, the actual things that happened that night is the most important.
36:51And when you look at it, the state cannot rule out all the reasonable doubt that you're going to see.
36:56They can't rule out all the things that we put up there.
36:59Chris Crawford was the defense attorney on this case.
37:02He is more of a showman than Amy Shea.
37:05In order to sow reasonable doubt in the jury's mind, Crawford presents an alternative suspect.
37:12Jennifer Spohn, in 2001, is pregnant with someone else's kid.
37:17She's broke, desperate, and has no idea what to do.
37:22And then she kindles up this relationship with Mr. Malarik.
37:27Truthfully, it wasn't until the end of the week, we're talking the last day or two,
37:33that I kind of switch and say, all right, we're going to say Jennifer did it.
37:37She's the one that, by the evidence, had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to do this.
37:46Crawford also sought to poke holes in the stories of key prosecution witnesses.
37:51All these kids, they all said, even from the beginning, Greg's at the house.
37:56When mom goes out, he comes in, he takes a shower, he doesn't leave.
38:02You said that you didn't see Greg get out of the shower.
38:07Right?
38:08That's correct. The shower is in the bedroom.
38:11When he came in and we're talking about him looking dirty, you didn't see a bunch of blood on him, right?
38:16I did not look closely enough, but no, I did not notice any blood.
38:20This second time going around, it felt like me and my family, or my mom's side of the family, was on trial more than Greg was on trial.
38:32Crawford also planted seeds of doubt about the actual importance of forensic evidence the prosecution had presented.
38:39Let's talk about secondary transfers, right? You know what a secondary transfer is, correct?
38:46That's correct.
38:47And you can't tell us that this minimum amount didn't come from somebody who already had gunshot residue on his own hands,
38:54because he was handling his gun, buying cigarettes and handling it to Mr. Mallard, right?
38:59That's correct. I have no information on where his hands were and what he was in contact with at the scene.
39:08The prosecution had spent three and a half days presenting their case against Greg Mallard for the murder of his wife, Sherry.
39:15The defense spent just four hours presenting theirs, and they saved their strongest witness for last.
39:22Chris Dayton testified via Zoom from an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana.
39:27He'd been an employee at Winn-Dixie the night of Sherry's murder and had overheard an argument in the parking lot.
39:51What do you remember next?
39:58He was already walking back to his car.
40:03What about the gentleman? Did you have a chance to see him straight on, or were you looking at the rear of him?
40:12He said short hair, is that correct?
40:20Coming up, the jury returns with the verdict.
40:28Over the course of four days, the jury had heard evidence of Greg Mallard's guilt from his family, from forensic experts, and his accomplice, Jennifer Spohn.
40:39But as the jury began to deliberate, those closest to the case felt uneasy.
40:45Wednesday, when I left the courtroom, I didn't have a good feeling.
40:49I think I told my brother that. I was like, I don't have a good feeling. This isn't going to go well.
40:55Well.
40:56But the defense was feeling the same way.
40:59When the jury was out.
41:00As the hours went on, I started getting more and more nervous.
41:04We could easily lose. Easily, easily lose.
41:08After eight and a half hours of deliberations, the jury finally came back with a verdict.
41:14We the jury find as follows as to the count charged in the indictment.
41:17Not guilty, so say we all, this 13th day of October, 2023, juror Byrd.
41:26I felt shock, relief. It was almost like this massive weight is pulled from the center of you. I was shocked. It was wild.
41:38I think that maybe 20 years after the fact, it was just too much for them to digest that someone waited 20 years basically to come forward and say, this is what really happened.
41:53Justice was not served and nobody's been held responsible and I'm losing faith in the system.
42:00We spoke with Kerry Walker, one of the 12 members of the jury, about their decision.
42:07A lot of the jurors wanted that smoking gun. They wanted the physical evidence to be there.
42:14Testimony wasn't enough for them and especially with Jennifer Spohn having immunity, a lot of them didn't find her credible because of that.
42:23Eventually, she and another juror were the only holdouts for a guilty verdict.
42:28I fully believe he's guilty. Unfortunately, after five days and eight and a half hours of deliberation, I just said, you know what, fine. I'm ready to go. Your doubt is my doubt. How about that?
42:45Greg Mallory cannot be brought back into a courtroom and charged again for the murder of his wife, Sherry. But that doesn't mean her loved ones are ready to forgive or forget.
42:57Just because you were found not guilty does not make you innocent. You've had the world forget about my mom for the amazing person that she was.
43:04I'm not going to let the world forget about her. She was a super mom. She just was. She loved us unconditionally.
43:15I miss her and I love her and our life was cold and I just miss the warmth of having her.