Marriage Secrets
In December of 2007, Jocelyn Earnest was found dead from a gunshot wound in her Virginia home. Beside her was a revolver and a suicide note. But investigators believed that the scene was staged and found fingerprints on the note that matched her estranged husband, Wesley Earnest. Amidst a divorce, it was the lake house they fought over: Jocelyn wanted it sold and Earnest didn’t want to let it go. Investigators charged Wesley for murder, and then fifteen months after the death, another bizarre twist: the lake house burned down while Wesley was out on bond awaiting trial. “48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/2/2012. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.
- Duration
- 41m
- Broadcast on
- 19 Dec 2024
- Audio Format
- other
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[MUSIC PLAYING] Bedford County is very rural in places. If you were driving through, you would thank us in this very beautiful place. I arrived on the scene on December the 20th. Immediately when I went in the door, I noticed to my right was a female laying on her back. And there's a weapon laying beside her. And at that time, I looked down. I saw a sheet of paper lying on the floor. There was typing on it that appeared to be a suicide note. It was not signed, Jocelyn. It was typed Jocelyn. When you lose a child, it changes who you are. It leaves a gaping hole in your soul. We found out that she was married and was separated at time. She was married to Wesley Ernest. Most athletic person I've ever met. You can do anything she wanted, successful. Master's degree, great job, working for a great company. They had built a lake house that was worth a lot of money. We're talking multi-million dollar homes all over the lake. Was there romance? Very little. She kept telling me I needed to go sleep with other women and come home to her. He seemed to adore me. The way he would look at me, it would always just make me get those butterflies. We asked Mr. Ernest if we thought his wife could be suicidal. And he told us, yes, I was there for the autopsy. I thought the bullet wound was to the left temple. And it turned out being that the bullet wound was the back of the head back here. I received a phone call from the guy in fingerprints in the lab, and he stated that he had found prints on the note. They were Wesley Ernest's fingerprints. What did the note say? Please forgive me. Wes has put us in such financial bind that I can't recover. I'm a public school administrator. I'm that guy who's making it safe for kids to go to school. And I'm in this situation. That's pretty scary. Do you think Wesley's capable of murder? No. He wanted that lake house. He wanted that millionaire image. And there was one thing standing between him and that image. Oh, my word.
Transcription truncated.
In December of 2007, Jocelyn Earnest was found dead from a gunshot wound in her Virginia home. Beside her was a revolver and a suicide note. But investigators believed that the scene was staged and found fingerprints on the note that matched her estranged husband, Wesley Earnest. Amidst a divorce, it was the lake house they fought over: Jocelyn wanted it sold and Earnest didn’t want to let it go. Investigators charged Wesley for murder, and then fifteen months after the death, another bizarre twist: the lake house burned down while Wesley was out on bond awaiting trial. “48 Hours" correspondent Tracy Smith reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/2/2012. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.