She was your wife, mother of your children. Its awful. I wouldnt wish that on anybody. Her ex had been to visit the day she died. A trip with the kids. And just like that, he was suspect number one. They had no evidence. I was absolutely flabbergasted. How can anyone think this . Police said they were a key to the mystery, his own young children. She says she peeks through the mail slot. She looks in the mail slot, yes. Daddy was in the living room. Ideas were planted in their mind. Were going to prove that hes innocent. Two children on the stand. What did they see . That was the hardest thing. Because i love them so much. I didnt do this. I think youre good to go. All right. Thanks for sitting down with us. Youre welcome, thanks for having me. Did you take a butcher knife and plunge it into ciaras neck and kill her . No. While the kids were waiting outside . Absolutely not. That did not happen . No. Credibility. The reliability of yearsold memories. Theres a lot of that ahead, because this is the story of a murder. June 8th, 2012. Columbus, georgia. It was an apartment Maintenance Man who found her. Shed been stabbed to death upstairs in the bedroom. In the kitchen sink, a butcher knife. The victim was ciara ingram, a 28yearold nurse and mother. Her good friend kendra smith said she hadnt been answering her phone for days. At first i thought, you know, why didnt i go down there . Well, i knew something was wrong. Police would later estimate ciara had been dead in her apartment nearly a week. I think i think i was so distraught she was gone that i dont really think that at the time i put a lot of thought into like who did it or why. Apartment managers told the arriving officers that ciara had small children. So one of the detectives first questions was, where are the kidding now . That led to a bigger question, one all homicide inspectors asked. What is the backstory here . What was this victims life all about . They began piecing together the story of ciara and jarod. She was your wife, the mother of your children. What do you think about her end, the brutality of it . Its awful. I went wish that on anybody. She met jarod when they both enlisted in the army in the early 2000s. He and a friend cozied up to the pretty young recruit and tried to get her attention. We started talking about how none of the soldiers who got off the last bus looked like they were going to make it. And she stood up and she challenged me and she said, im going to be at the top of the class. I said, okay, and asked her if she wanted to go out that weekend. You had a momentous early date. Is that too nosey a question . You know what im referring to . I do. Our first date, we conceived a child . Yes. Were you okay with that . Yeah. I was okay, and i was excited. Id always wanted to be a father. My father wasnt in my life and my stepfather died when i was very young so that was something that i wanted to be. Ciara and jarod, intimate strangers, decided to make a go of it when the army forced them into a quick decision. Get married or be stationed apart. When we got in the cab to go get our marriage license, the cab driver mentioned to us that she was also a licensed pastor. So she drove to us her church, we got married on the steps. You got married by your cab driver . We got married by our cab driver. Onestop shopping. Yeah. The army, as the army does, moved them about. They tried to build a happy home, had another child. But jarod acknowledged they werent good at living together. Once we got married, we actually had our first argument that evening. On the ten scale, how active an argument was this . A good eight. That set the tone for the rest of the relationship. That was every night. Why dont you guys just shake hands and say, see ya later, its been nice . The kids, mainly. And there was always an ebb and flow where things would seem like they would get a little bit better and then it would go back. Now shes got three babies. Right. Is that where you feel like you have to knuckle down as a dad or make this impossible relationship really work . Exactly. How are you going to do it . I just said yes. No matter what it was, no matter what was going on, just yes dear was the response. And that went on for about eight or nine months and it just it still wasnt getting better. They decided coparenting was the arrangement that worked best for them. They divorced in 2009 and shared custody. By then theyd both left the military. Ciara had become a nurse. Her friend at coworker at the hospital, samela payne, says the main thing keeping ciara in georgia was being near her ex. She didnt want the children to be without their father. She tried her best to coparent. You understand she didnt have anybody here. She sacrificed her shortterm happiness right. For the kids . For her children. Thats the type of mother she was. Her friend kendra lived in tennessee, but they were as close as could be. When did you talk . End of the day . Start of the day, middle of the day . All day. We were single moms dealing with our exes. She was my support system, and hopefully she thought of me as hers. Tell me about her personality. Who was ciara . She was very positive. She was very energetic, she was a runner, she ran every day. She was definitely a compassionate person, very loving. She was a great mom. By june 2012, ciara decided it was time for a fresh start. She made a plan to move home to indiana to be near her family. Their kids, ages 6 and 7, would stay with jarod for the summer and join her later. Was she dating again . Yes, she was, absolutely. She was young. So of course, you know, she didnt want to be alone, you know. In fact, even before the move to indiana, shed already met a guy online who lived up there. He was going to help her move. He was going to come down to georgia. He had made plans. Bought a plane ticket. And that brings us back to ciaras apartment and the bloody bedroom. As ciaras moving day approached, kendra noticed her friends daily texts and phone calls had stopped completely. I didnt talk to her on the 2nd. So on the 3rd i messaged her and got nothing. So i was like, okay, shes busy. Called her. Then on the 4th, started getting worried some more. You wondered, is she ditching me here . I thought, okay, she dropped her phone in the toilet. But then you think about, okay, well, theres other phones in the world. Or send me an email, hey, im not ignoring you. Samela was worried too. Shed helped plan a Goodbye Party for ciara at the hospital, i remember sitting around the table, all the coworkers looking at each other. You fully expected she was going to walk in the door . I want her to, but i knew something was wrong. Samela was at work june 8th when ciaras brother called her with the news. I answered the phone. He told me, we just found ciara dead. I dont remember nothing else after that. Jarod says he got a call that afternoon as well. There was crime scene tape up at his exwifes apartment. The coroner was there too. He says he feared the worst and went to go talk to the children, just 6 and 7 years old. We said a prayer. I told them, no matter what happens, i love you very much. Didnt tell them any details. But i told them, you know, something might be going on with mommy, we dont know yet. Asked if they had any questions. Did they . Yes. My son asked me if he could have some candy. Did he know his mom was dead . He didnt know. I didnt know. We at this point only had assumptions and worries and fears. Assumptions. Worries. Fears. And that was just day one. Coming up i see an officer approaching me with his gun drawn and he raised it up and he said dont move. Police have some questions for jarod. Youre the last one that i know of to see her. There is something that you want to talk about . And for the man ciara had met online whats going on, officer . Oh my god. When what they saw continues. Honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. Stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On. With rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill. Can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some. Rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred. 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As i approach, i see out of my peripheral vision an officer approaching me with his gun drawn. He raised it up and he said, dont move. And so i put my hands up, he pressed me against the wall and put my hands behind my back and cuffed me. Before he could get his bearings, jarod said his kids were whisked off in an suv. Jarod okayed a search of his home and was taken to the Police Station for an interview. Im detective fairbairn. Im detective lyon. The conversation started amicably. Jarod said the last time hed seen ciara was six days before. He and the kids had stopped by to pick up some toys before her move to indiana. Kids went in, gave her a hug. They ran right upstairs and started playing with some of their toys and watching tv and stuff. How long were you there for . Um it seemed like a couple of hours. He said they hadnt talked since. That wasnt unusual. We didnt call each other a whole lot when the other one had the kids usually. Uh she wasnt like one of those who wanted to call every day. Detectives wanted to joe about the state of jarod and ciaras relationship. How had they been getting along . He said they hadnt had any issues lately, but admitted things between them were strained. Whats been the problem . No problem. Just once we broke up, i felt like, you know, there was no reason to have an argument with her anymore that after that. They also asked jarod how he felt about ciaras decision to move to indiana. I didnt feel any kind of way about it, really. Did she ask you . No. So she just said, im im leaving . Yeah. But i mean, that was her. After about an hour, the interview took a turn when detectives hit jarod with a revelation. As far as they could tell, no one had heard from ciara since jarods visit with the kids. Meaning jarod was quite possibly the last person known to have seen ciara alive. I feel like youre more than insinuating that im responsible for ciaras death. I dont know. Right now, i dont i i the only thing i know is youre the last one that i know of to see her, and so far youre the last one i know that was there. Now is there something you want to talk to me about . No. Are you sure about that . Im sure. The detective told jarod that as they were speaking, officers were spooling through the video cameras at ciaras apartment complex . What are you feeling right now . Im feeling like i cant wait until you get finished with the rest of that videotape. Mmhmm. And, im feeling scared [ bleep ] until you do. Thats what im feeling right now. Now, why would you be scared . Because if i was the last one that saw her alive, then youre going to put it on me. Well, im not going to put something on anybody. Im going to take the evidence for what its worth. And a look at some of the evidence made it seem unlikely that jarod could have done it. The murder was brutal. Bloody. And jarods two small children had been there with him the whole time. Though jarod did mention that as they readied to leave the apartment, the kids went outside first. They went outside to the car while i was talking to her. And i came outside and she came outside and that was it. It wasnt, like, a long period of time. Did detectives really think jarod had something to do with his exwifes murder, or were they just pressing him because he was the exhusband . They ended the interview on friendly terms. I appreciate you coming in. I appreciate you being cooperative. I appreciate you guys doing what youre doing. It had been a very long night. Jarod says he was just desperate to hug his kids whod lost their mother. You can see why you became a figure of interest here . When i sit back and put myself in the shoes of the Police Officers, absolutely. They show up at ciaras house, they find her body, they go, they pick me up. Back at the crime scene, investigators looked for clues to fill in the story. Could it have been a botched robbery . It was hard to tell if anything had been taken. The apartment was in such disarray with moving boxes. And there were no signs of a forced entry. But there was an attempt to clean up the scene with bleach. And they did find a mans watch tucked into the sheets of ciaras bed. Who could that belong to . What about this guy shed met online, the man flying in to help her move . This is sergeant deaton with the Police Department in columbus, georgia. Yes, sir. His name was ryan morgan. Detectives got him on the line. Were you supposed to come down, come here to help her move . Yes, i was, and then about a week before, i she quit texting me. Ryan thought hed been ghosted. Said that hed canceled his plane ticket. And i just text her back. I said hey, thanks a lot for the thoughtfulness and thanks for wasting my money. Detectives didnt tell him right away why they were calling. Whats going on, officer, if you dont mind me asking, because im freaking, im like, well [ bleep ], whats happened . She she was killed. The reason you didnt hear anything from her was she was murdered. Youve got to be [ bleep ] me. No. Holy [ bleep ]. Was that genuine surprise . Oh, my god. Of course, theyd have to check out ryans story and pick through every detail of the last day of ciaras life. That meant talking to her children. What did they see . What did they hear . Coming up daddy wasnt in the living room. He was still upstairs. That final family visit. What was happening inside their mothers apartment . What did you hear . Laughing, almost screaming. You heard screaming . Screaming noises or Something Else . Like laughing, screaming. When what they saw continues. Needles. Essential for sewing, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz. 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Every day, id get in my car, id cry all the way to work because i talked to her every day on my way to work. You know . Every day on my way home. I mean, id just be in tears all the way home. Samela payne felt hollowed out when she heard. Her good friend, fellow nurse, gone just like that. So you were going to be friends for life, no matter where absolutely. Each of you traveled to, huh . Absolutely. We were family. The day after she got the news, samela drove to ciaras home. She just had to see the place with her own eyes. You went to the scene . I went to the scene, because i i just still did not want to believe that she was gone. So everythings yellowtaped i was in denial and closed off. Right . I was in denial that my friend was gone. She spoke to an officer who was there guarding the crime scene. What did you talk to him about . Any and everything that i can remember that that she would tell me and what she was going through. And what samela said about her conversations with ciara caught the officers ear, because it certainly didnt match jarods story. This postdivorce relationship was more than just a little strained. Samela says ciara had long confided in her that it was tumultuous. She would tell me how he would break her computers, break tvs just, im mad at you. Bang. Heres one for your computer. Oh yeah. Yeah. The way the stories went, jarod would lash out if he couldnt get his way. Did he ever get physical with her, sam, as far as you knew . She told me that, yes. But you didnt see any bruising or scratches or anything like that, huh . No. If she did, she would hide it. Shes the type that want to be strong. She didnt want you to be upset or worried about her. As for jarod, he told us any stories about abuse in his relationship with ciara just werent true. Were there any handson altercations here . Her on you . You on her . Absolutely not. She threw some thing small things. Not like a remote control. Jared told us anyone who knew ciara well, knew that she wouldnt put up with abuse. She was a very fierce woman. She had her way. Shes not going to let you tell her any different and shes very determined. I couldnt see her being in an abusive relationship. Of course, he says, he and ciara had plenty of scorching disagreements during their marriage, but once they split, the drama ended, and, he says, they shared responsibility for the kids amicably. Coparenting, and very successfully. We didnt have any arguments while we were separated. We didnt have any arguments about the kids or their care. We pretty much come to all agreements on that sort of thing. I think the Biggest Issue we ever had was that she cut my sons hair, i didnt really like that. He had a big puffy afro and it was really cute on him and i liked it. But given what investigators had heard, they were now very focused on jarod. Did he have any opportunity to murder his ex, what with the kids in tow . Jarod said he put the kids in the car and went back inside ciaras place to get the last of their things. Two kids, sitting in the backseat of a car,