Christene Kemmerlin murdered her third husband.
Biography[]
Before meeting Wayne, Christene had been married twice before. She spent her youth with lovers and drugs and wanted to become a dealer herself.
In Reidsville, Rockingham County, North Carolina, Christene and Wayne Kimmerlin lived in a community where people felt safe enough to leave their doors unlocked.
On March 24, 1999, Wayne was fatally shot by a man claiming to have car trouble. Wayne's truck was also reported stolen. She told police the shooter was a 5 foot black man dressed in a coat and blue jeans. But Detective Dean Venable didn't understand why someone would come into a house just to steal a truck.
Shortly before the murder, she was doing drugs, spending money and having an affair with her drug dealer. She paid her lover to kill Wayne. However, he was arrested for drug possession before he could do it.
She claimed he'd get drunk and abuse her. She tried to stab him to death one night, but lost the nerve to do so.
She seduced Antone Johnson and convinced Antone to kill him with her body and the promise of $3,000. They plotted it with detail, promising to pay after the murder was committed.
After sending her 12 year old daughter to California to see her grandmother, she and Antone initiated their plan. Playing the role of someone with a broken down car, Antone shot Wayne seven times then left in Wayne's truck.
After several hours of police interrogation, both Christene and Antone confess. They were both convicted of first-degree murder. In January 2001, Antone Johnson was sentenced to life in prison while Christene Kemmerlin received a death sentence in October 2000 but it was commuted to life without parole.