Transcript

The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode

From 48 Hours · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 42 min · 6,357 words · 194 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode", an episode of 48 Hours published December 30, 2025 (42 min, about 6,357 words). It mentions 31 people, works and ideas, including Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Trisha Whitaker, Sugar Land, Texas, Whitaker family, Adam Hip.

What this episode is about

The Sugar Land Conspiracy chronicles the tragic events surrounding the Whitaker family, known for their warmth and community spirit, as they become victims of a shocking attack on December 10, 2003. The narrative unfolds through the perspectives of friends and a detective, revealing the harrowing moments of the shooting that claimed Trisha Whitaker's life and left Kevin and Bart gravely injured, ultimately exposing deeper issues within the seemingly idyllic family background.

Key takeaways

  • The ‘perfect family’ facade: Bullet holes reveal more than dinner table smiles.
  • Even manicured suburbs hide jagged truths: Neat burglary? Neater cover-up.
  • Ski masks don't hide family drama—gun safes aren't as loyal as relatives.
  • In Sugarland, 'upper-class' meets 'outclassed by secretive intrigue.'
  • When the gun’s in your safe, the burglar knew you better than you knew yourself.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Whitaker family, Kevin Whitaker, Britney Barnhill
  2. – 10:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Barbie Harrington, Cliff Stanley, Peggy Mlan
  3. – 15:00: Adam Hip, Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Chris Brashier, Kevin Whitaker
  4. – 20:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Chris Brashier, Steven Champagne, Cindy Lucelenus
  5. – 25:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Fred Felchman, Rudy Rios, Jeff Strange
  6. – 30:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Scott D. Anthony, Andy McDonald, Chris Brashier
  7. – 35:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Adam Hip, Fred Felchman, Jennifer Jaffet
  8. – 40:00: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Fred Felchman
  9. – 42:13: Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker)

Notable quotes from "The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode"

  • The Whitaker family was a very welcoming, godly family. Christ was a very important part of what they did.
    about Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker) · at
  • My name is Britney Barnhill and I was Kevin Whitaker's best friend. He was just a great guy, the life of the party. Bart was the older brother.
    about Kevin Whitaker · at
  • For John Flores and his best friend, Kevin Whitaker, life was sweet in Sugarland Texas.
    about John Flores · at
  • That stranger Marshall Slaugh had met in the police parking lot turned out to be an old friend of Bart's named Adam Hip.
    about Adam Hip · at
  • Slaugh felt otherwise. He decided to check out two of Bart Whitaker's closest friends. Chris Basher and Steven Champagne.
    about Steven Champagne · at
  • Well, I know him as Rudy. Gabriella Gutierrez remembers her American friend named Rudy Rios. How would you describe him?
    about Rudy Rios · at
  • Also waiting for Bart were Fort Ben County prosecutors Jeff Strange and Fred Felchman with an indictment for the murders of his mother and brother.
    about Fred Felchman · at
  • In December 2000, Bart approached his college roommates Will Anthony and Justin Peters.
    about Scott D. Anthony · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker) — Person · 38 mentions · first at
  • Trisha Whitaker — Person · 22 mentions
  • Adam Hip — Person · 6 mentions · first at
  • Fred Felchman — Person · 5 mentions · first at
  • Kevin Whitaker — Person · 4 mentions · first at
  • Steven Champagne — Person · 4 mentions · first at
  • Chris Brashier — Person · 4 mentions · first at
    Chris Brashier and Steven Champagne worked with Bart at this country club just months before the murders. Slaugh asked them to provide what police call scent samples using blood hounds. He.
  • Rudy Rios — Person · 3 mentions · first at
  • Sir Rudy — Person · 3 mentions
  • Jeff Strange — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    Also waiting for Bart were Fort Ben County prosecutors Jeff Strange and Fred Felchman with an indictment for the murders of his mother and brother.
  • Scott D. Anthony — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Justin Peters — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    In December 2000, Bart approached his college roommates Will Anthony and Justin Peters.
  • Marshall Slott — Person · 1 mention · first at
    The Whitaker family just seemed like the model typical wellto-do Sugarland family. My name is Marshall Slott and I'm a detective with the Sugarland Police Department.
  • Britney Barnhill — Person · 1 mention · first at
    My name is Britney Barnhill and I was Kevin Whitaker's best friend. He was just a great guy, the life of the party. Bart was the older brother.
  • John Flores — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Barbie Harrington — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Barbie Harrington and Peggy Mlan.
  • Peggy Mlan — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Barbie Harrington and Peggy Mlan.
  • Cliff Stanley — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Neighbor Cliff Stanley, the first person on the [clears throat] scene, then went to check on Trisha.
  • Gabriella Gutierrez — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Well, I know him as Rudy. Gabriella Gutierrez remembers her American friend named Rudy Rios. How would you describe him?
  • Cindy Lucelenus — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Cindy Lucelenus first saw Bart in church of all places.
  • Ubaldo — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Cindy Lou's brother, Ubaldo, befriended Bart and was impressed with his stories of adventure, like the one explaining his bullet wound.
  • Andy McDonald — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Defense attorney Randy McDonald can do little except attack champagne for agreeing to kill for money. And it really didn't bother you that three other human beings would be killed so.
  • Jennifer Jaffet — Person · 1 mention · first at
    This time the plan unraveled after Jennifer Jaffet, a college acquaintance of Bart's, found out about it.
  • Omero — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

Concepts & topics

  • Whitaker family — Concept · 6 mentions · first at
    The Whitaker family was a very welcoming, godly family. Christ was a very important part of what they did.
  • National Merit Scholar — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Justin Peters had been a National Merit Scholar. I just could not see how this happened.

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

The Whitaker family was a very welcoming, godly family. Christ was a very important part of what they did.

All right. The Whitaker home was the place to hang out. Did you find one? It was the cool house to be at. Very safe, very nurturing, godly, loving home.

Every time we went over there, you felt loved. They were a family who had fun and they traveled and they laughed and, you know, they joked around with each other.

And everyone loved Trisha and Kent. They were the second parents to so many people. The Whitaker family just seemed like the model typical wellto-do Sugarland family. My name is Marshall Slott and I'm a detective with the Sugarland Police Department.

My name is Britney Barnhill and I was Kevin Whitaker's best friend. He was just a great guy, the life of the party. Bart was the older brother. Kevin and his friends looked up to Bart. People thought that Bart Whitaker was cool.

On December 10th, 2003, I was working out with my best friend Kevin Whitaker. He left to go have dinner with his family.

We went out to dinner to a restaurant we all enjoyed. We're all in one car. So, we drive back, pull into the driveway. Kevin walks up to the front door and Trisha is right behind him. Kevin opens the door. There's this huge loud noise. Bang.

Kevin was shot center mass right in his sternum. Trisha says, "Oh no." And I hear another noise. Bang. Trisha had made it into the house behind Kevin and was shot and then fell in the doorway.

I look inside and there is a figure with a ski mask on. I probably did not look at him for more than a second or two. Bang.

I feel something hit my shoulder. The first three shots were in rapid succession. Bart then chased the guy into the house. As he approached that figure, he was shot.

I think, "Oh my god, he shot all four of us." Kitten Bart recovered from their wounds. Trisha was transported by air ambulance. She was pronounced dead at the hospital. Kevin died at the scene.

It didn't seem real. These types of things happened, but not to me, not to my family, not to my friends.

On the scene, one of the officers had mentioned to me, "I think I've been to this house before, and I think it was about threats on the family from somebody.

I think Kevin knew something." and whatever he knew, I knew he was concerned about it.

The Whitaker family wasn't the all-American family that everybody believed them to be. It became clear that it was a conspiracy. It was not a random act of violence. These people were assassinated.

The Sugarland Conspiracy Sugarlane is very middle class, upper class, white collar. It's a nice place. Everything's new.

You hang out with your neighbors. You hang out with your neighbor's kids. For John Flores and his best friend, Kevin Whitaker, life was sweet in Sugarland Texas.

Almost anything's at your fingertips. You can do whatever you want. A lot of fun.

But that all changed on the night of December 10th, 2003, when Kevin and his family were gunned down in their home. That night, we just got home from church and got the call of a quadruple shooting. That just doesn't happen out here in Sugarland.

Marshall Slaugh was the lead detective assigned to the case. It looks as if it's a burglary gone wrong. The family's coming home from dinner. It's plausible that they could have surprised a burglar.

But as Slot combed through the Whitaker home, he realized things weren't adding up. In the master bedroom, the dressers and armwire all had drawers open on them, but they were all open equal distance. It was very neat and orderly.

Normally, a burglar would throw everything out of the drawers to see if there's any valuables in there.

Yes, sir. Detective Slaugh began to suspect the burglary had been staged. None of the items of value inside the house had been moved around. The electronics, laptops, jewelry, none of those items that are typically taken in burglaries.

And then there was the murder weapon. It was the Whitaker's own gun. The gun safe had been pried open and it was in a very isolated portion of the household. This is looking more and more like this person knew this gun was here and obtained it for a specific reason.

Detective Slaugh turned his attention to the Whitaker family's history, hoping it might provide some answers. He started with Kent Whitaker's relationship to his wife Trisha. We met on a blind date, walked in her house and I didn't know what I was expecting, but she came down and I thought, I've never had a blind date like this before. And uh we hit it off very well right from the start.

How long after you first met Trisha did you realize to yourself, I'm in love with this woman?

Couple of months, maybe. Really? Yeah. And did she feel the same way about you?

Yes, she did. All right. And then came their two boys, Bart and Kevin. I'm so proud of both of them.

The Whitakers were doing well. Kent was a successful accountant. Trisha an elementary school teacher.

Trisha had a great rapport with children. Parents adored her. The staff adored her. She was just fun.

Barbie Harrington and Peggy Mlan. Trisha's close friends and co-workers knew her true love was being a mom.

They were everything. That's all she talked about. She loved those boys. Bart, the eldest, did well in school and had a quirky sense of humor.

Close your eyes. Close your eyes real quick. Okay. And make it work. He was fun. He was witty. He was respectful.

A good son. A good son. A son who shared a passion for biking with his dad. He and I would spend hours and hours on training rides and on organized rides.

What would you talk about on those trips? Everything. Kevin, I'm very proud of you. Kevin was the sensitive one.

Kevin was a man at a young age. He would not back down from injustice, but he would be so quick to forgive.

This was as healthy and vibrant and loving a family as you'd find, wasn't it? I thought so. I was very happy with my family. I loved them.

Then came December 10th, 2003. How did that day begin? Bart was supposed to be graduating from college. He called and said he was through with his finals and he wanted to go out to eat and celebrate.

Trisha was so proud. She was telling Bart she was going to jump up and down and scream, "Thank you, Jesus."

We all celebrated. We laughed. We told some jokes. We We teased each other and took some pictures and gave Bart his graduation gift, which was an expensive watch.

What kind of watch was it? It was a Rolex. It was what he'd always wanted. It was just a happy night. After dinner, the Whiters headed home,

then unimaginable horror, four shots fired. I start praying and I say, "Father, you know, if it's my time to die, I'm ready. It's okay, but protect my family." And uh it just was awful.

I saw Kent lying down. I went up to him and he was shot and he says, "I'm bleeding very badly."

Neighbor Cliff Stanley, the first person on the [clears throat] scene, then went to check on Trisha.

She was still alive. Was kind of moaning. I said, "What happened?" And Trisha said, "He shot us."

Did she say who he was? No. Bart was lying in the living room wounded. As for Kevin,

I could see Kevin clearly and Kevin was finished. Kent, Trisha, and Bart were rushed to the hospital, but Trisha didn't survive. It was horrible. I lost a friend that taught me how to be a better teacher and a better [snorts and music] mother. She was just a really good person and I miss her so much. And I remember I walked over to my friend's mom and I just said, "Was it Kevin?" And I felt her I felt her nod on my on my head. Just kind of shook my head and said, "Okay."

Detectives spent the day searching. By the next day, searching for any turn to anger.

Kent in no unclear terms told me he wanted us to catch whoever did this. He was upset. He was hurt. and Bart seemed to share that anger.

He didn't say much, but he pulled my friend Matt and I to him and he said, "We're going to find who did it."

Detective Slot continued his routine questioning of the survivors. Bart told Slaugh he was about to graduate from Sam Houston State University. But the next day, stunning news.

The information had come into the Sugarland Police Department from Sam Houston State University that Bart was not enrolled as a student.

Wait a second. He was not a student. He was a freshman on academic probation. A freshman?

Yes, sir. Wasn't even a senior. Correct. So, what do you do with this information?

Bells and whistles start going off that why is this kid lying to us? What's he got to hide?

What were you thinking? You lied to us about being in school. You weren't even near graduating. How could you have done that?

Did you ask Bart why he had lied to you? Why he had said he was a student at Sam Houston State?

Yes, sir. He just didn't want to disappoint his family. He had needed a break. Stressors of school had gotten on him. Then just 5 days after the shooting, another bombshell.

It was about 11, 11:30 at night. The sergeant on duty paged me, said, "Hey, there's somebody here. Want to talk to you."

Slaugh met the stranger in the darkened parking lot behind the police station. He explained to me that he felt he had information that was crucial to the investigation.

The man said that Bart Whitaker wanted him to help kill his family. 6 days after Trisha and Kevin Whitaker were gunned down at their home, more than 1,000 friends and family gathered to celebrate their lives. so many people.

It was incredible. It was a time to share fond memories. Almost every conversation with Trisha included something about Kent, Bart, and Kevin.

Kevin was a faithful, loyal friend. He never compromised anything. I loved Kevin so much. I cried with him. I went to senior prom with him. Amid the sadness,

Bart, [snorts] I cannot tell you how much Kevin looked up to you. You were his hero.

There was also anger. This murderer is still out there. The police need our help. For your own families, for everybody's sake, let's catch him.

But what no one here knew among the mourners was a man police were closely watching. Your suspicions are focusing on which person?

Bart. Definitely. That stranger Marshall Slaugh had met in the police parking lot turned out to be an old friend of Bart's named Adam Hip. And he told the detective an extraordinary story that Bart had approached him several years earlier with a detailed plan to kill his family. This is a diagram that Adam Hip uh drew for me during our three-hour long conversation. It called for Adam Hip being the shooter, shooting the family members as they came in the residence.

According to Adam Hip, the plan even included a twist to fool police. Bart wanted Hip to shoot him in the shoulder so he'd look like a victim, not a suspect. It was unbelievable.

So, what Adam Hip was telling you was essentially the blueprint for what happened in 2003, the real shooting,

the exact blueprint. But Bart appeared to have nothing to hide. He agreed to help detectives by reenacting what happened the night of the shootings.

That's when I heard the bang and I don't remember it. I probably would have run up this morning. But Bart's behavior only heightens Slot's suspicions.

Everything is very vague. It could have been this, but it could have been this.

So that's about the distance you were from him when you got shot. Yeah, I guess.

Okay. It might have been closer. I don't really remember. The fact that he wasn't able to give me a lot of detail about it just was unusual to me.

Police had indicated to you that he was a suspect in this case. Yes. Were you wondering at all maybe he had something to do with this?

I considered it but but didn't consider it uh seriously. He promised me that there was nothing to it, that he did not have anything to do with it, that he loved Trisha and Kevin and me. It was inconceivable. But after Adam Hip's story, Detective Slaugh felt otherwise. He decided to check out two of Bart Whitaker's closest friends. Chris Basher and Steven Champagne.

Let's see if he approached any of his current friends to do this. Chris Brashier and Steven Champagne worked with Bart at this country club just months before the murders. Slaugh asked them to provide what police call scent samples using blood hounds. He compared those samples to evidence collected at the crime scene. Slaugh's hunch paid off

when he got a match. The dogs indicated that Chris Brashier's scent was found on the drawers that had been moved that night.

More importantly, Brashier's scent was found on the gun used in the homicides. Bingo. We've got our next prime suspect.

When Detective grilled Brashier, he denied any involvement in the shootings. We told him we had a definitive link between him and the murder weapon on the night of the shooting.

What are you seeing on Brashier's face? Horror, panic. We We struck a nerve with this kid.

Slaugh was now closing in on Bart Whitaker. Then one night, 7 months after the shootings, Bart told his dad he was heading out to a club. Bart told me he would see me the next day.

And what happened? Well, that was the last I saw him. He disappeared. Just fell off the face of the earth.

Mhm. I was angry. We had kind of let him get away. That's what I felt like. Bart's disappearance was a setback, but Detective Slaugh pressed on, focusing on the suspects still in Sugarland, especially Steven Champagne. We stayed on him and stayed on him and stayed on him.

Eventually, Champagne cracked. He informed me that he participated in the crime, that Chris Brasher had killed the family.

Champagne confessed that he was the getaway driver, Chris Brasher was the shooter, and that Bart Whitaker was the mastermind behind the plan. This was the floodgates opening.

Champagne led slot to a treasure trove of physical evidence. He led me to the to the place on the bridge over Lake Conroe uh where he and Chris Sheer had thrown items of evidence.

A chisel that Chris Sheer had used to break into the gun safe. Ammunition which happened to be the ammunition that was in the gun.

Two cell phones. Bart Whitaker had provided those to them to use during the course of carrying out the plot.

And in September 2005, Sugarland police arrested both Steven Champagne and Chris Brashier for the murders of Trisha and Kevin Whitaker. But they still didn't know where to find Bart Whitaker. When Bart Whitaker fled Sugarland, Texas, 7 months after the shootings, he left behind a community and a father in disbelief. As a general rule, people don't run. They're innocent.

No, they don't. Oh, it was horrible. It was awful. I just sat down and I just cried. Like many a desperado before him, Bart headed south into Mexico. He ended up in this tiny village called Seralvo, about 40 miles from the Texas border. Bart started his new life here in Salvo with about $7,000 in cash, money he had stolen from his father's house. He could speak a little Spanish, and soon he had a small apartment in town and a job at a local furniture store. He also had something else, a new identity. Who is this man?

Well, I know him as Rudy. Gabriella Gutierrez remembers her American friend named Rudy Rios. How would you describe him?

Well, he was a friendly person. He liked to drink. He liked beer. He liked to go with girls. He was very charming. He had away with the ladies. I saw him and I said, "Wow,

wow, he's gorgeous." Cindy Lucelenus first saw Bart in church of all places. I don't know.

I found him very interesting. The guys that I've known, I don't know. He just had something nobody had.

After Bart and Cindy Lou began dating, her father, Omero, gave Bart a job at the family's furniture store. What kind of a worker was he?

Very good, very obedient. I really liked him and held him in high esteem. Cindy Lou's brother, Ubaldo, befriended Bart and was impressed with his stories of adventure, like the one explaining his bullet wound. He said he got the scar in the Afghanistan war. He said there was a surprise attack on his group by the Afghanis.

Most of those in his group were killed. He shot at one with his rifle, but there was another one who got him in the shoulder. The entire Selena's family took Bart in as one of their own. And Bart told them they were the family he never had.

He used to tell me that he was an only child, that he never loved his mother because his mother never loved him either. And that his mother was a prostitute. He used to say that his family never gave him the love he wanted. They only gave him money. They ignored him. For 14 months, Bart Whitaker lived a carefree new life as Rudy Rios

is Marshall. But it was all about to come to an end. To me, he seems like a cool guy, but if he did that, then he needed to pay for it. You know what I mean?

I agree. Back in Sugarland, Detective Slaugh got a phone call from the real Rudy Rios. He called me an anonymously and said, "I know where Bart Whitaker is. I helped him get there."

Rudy Rios and Bart had worked together at a Houston restaurant. Bart explained to him that there was pressure on him from law enforcement. Rudy said, "Well, if you ever need any help, let me know. I've got family in Mexico that can help you out."

According to Rudy Rios, Bart paid him $3,000 to escort him to Seralvo. But when word spread of a reward for Bart's capture, the real Rudy looked to get paid again.

If there's a reward, you know, I don't care. I turn his head in. How much? $10,000.

$10,000 bucks. So Rudy had dollar signs in his eyes when he came forward. Yes, sir.

Marshall Slaugh was there waiting when Mexican authorities dumped Bart back across the border. He glanced at me and then just down to the floor. I don't know if it was a you got me look, but it was very satisfying to walk in that jail. The first time I saw him when they took him back from Mexico, I walk in and we're separated by the bulletproof glass. Said, "Well, you look like you're okay." And he says, "Yes, I am." And he says, "Dad, I'm just so sorry. I'm so sorry for all of it. It's all my fault."

And what is the it in that sentence that he was referring? The murders. He's responsible for the murders.

Also waiting for Bart were Fort Ben County prosecutors Jeff Strange and Fred Felchman with an indictment for the murders of his mother and brother.

It is just the ultimate act of betrayal. It doesn't get any worse than this. Why did he have to kill them?

One, because that was the way he was going to inherit $1.5 million. I think also to some extent, deep down, Bart thinks he's smarter than everybody else and he just wanted to see if he could get away with the perfect crime.

Call number 42969, state of Texas versus Thomas Barter. In Fred Felchman, Bart had an adversary who is one of the toughest nononsense prosecutors in Texas. How would you describe Bart Whitaker? There is a term they use in psych psycholingo psycho bababble of sociopath. In other words, a person who knows he's doing something wrong but really doesn't care. The old time Texas thing was that he's just a mean son of a Okay,

defending will please rise while the state will present the indictment. Because this was a multiple murder, prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Bart Whitaker.

Four shots fired, four hits. It's a good, strong case. In fact, it's an overwhelming case. So much so that Bart's defense attorney decides on a unique strategy. He will all but concede that Bart is guilty and use the trial to try and convince jurors that Bart's life should be spared. and he has a man of unshakable religious faith in his corner.

Even knowing that he'd been guilty and responsible for this, I just can't understand why it's so necessary to put him to death.

Did you have any inkling whatsoever, Mr. Whitaker, that your son had been lying to you?

Uh, no, I didn't. Incredibly, Kent Whitaker has forgiven Bart. The first night in the hospital, I forgave everyone who is involved in this.

Martin, how do you feel today? It is a gift of God that allows me to do this. I think he gave me that gift so that when I found out that it was my son that it would be a legitimate forgiveness.

The question now is, will a jury be as forgiving? Sugarland, Texas has never seen a trial like this.

This crime affected all of Sugarland. A case of multiple murder. Do you deserve to die?

Where the accused is being passionately defended by one of the people he tried to kill. If the state pursues the death penalty and receives it, then they will kill the last surviving member of my family.

Kent Whitaker believes his son's eternal soul is at stake. I believe as a Christian that God can and does forgive and change people's hearts. If they are sorry, if they repent, if they ask his forgiveness for real, he will forgive them.

Excuse [snorts] me, please. But Jeff Strange and Fred Felchman say their duty is to uphold Texas law, not God's law.

Clint Whitaker's religious faith is genuine. Forgiveness is a big tenant of what he believes and I respect that and I totally understand that. That's not my job though.

Does Bart Whitaker deserve the death penalty? Yes. He meets a criteria we have in the state of Texas. He is a continuing threat. He intentionally caused these people's death and there is nothing mitigating about him. He wasn't abused. He wasn't surrounded by crime. I find it hard to believe anybody wouldn't think he deserved it.

All rise. 3 years after Trisha and Kevin's murders, Bart Whitaker's trial gets underway. Prosecutors present crime scene analysis, forensic evidence, and eyewitness accounts. But it's the testimony of Steven Champagne, one of Bart's alleged accompllices

that everyone in the courtroom is waiting to hear. What are you charged with? Capital murder.

Champagne says two months before the shootings, Bart offered both him and Chris Brashier a cut of a million dollar insurance policy to help kill the Whitaker family. The conversation was about when the family came back from eating dinner that Chris would be in the house and shoot him.

On the night of the attack, Champagne was waiting in the getaway car when Chris Basher quickly got inside.

I asked him what happened. He told me that he had shot all of them. Defense attorney Randy McDonald can do little except attack champagne for agreeing to kill for money. And it really didn't bother you that three other human beings would be killed so you could have a better lifestyle. The way that I looked at it was they weren't human.

As prosecutors build their case, more shocking details emerge. Investigators learn the 2003 attack wasn't the first time Bart had tried to kill his family. He had made at least three other attempts using other friends as recruits.

Was it just a general conversation? I want to kill my family. I want you to help me.

Yes, sir. In December 2000, Bart approached his college roommates Will Anthony and Justin Peters.

I was supposed to as they entered the home uh shoot the family, sir. Will, who was supposed to actually go into the house, was he going to be given anything to hide his identity?

Yes, he was given uh black pants and black shirt and a ski mask. By who? Bart. Peters and Anthony actually made it to the Whitaker home. As planned, Will Anthony went to open a back window.

Uh, as soon as I touched it, sir, to try to open it, an alarm went off. The two men fled. But Bart Whitaker wasn't scared off. Two months later, he approached another friend with another plan. Remember Adam Hip? Bart's old friend turned police informant.

Under oath, Hip publicly admits that he too once agreed to help kill the Whitaker family.

Why' you say yes? You know, I don't I don't know. I'm not proud of it, but for the simple fact, I was kind of interested to see how far he would take it.

We're going, "Huh? These were kind of people you would think this is what you want your son to be, goes to college, gets a banking job, stuff like this."

All American boys. All American boys. Like Bart, all three young men came from wellto-do families.

Clean cut kind of all-American kids. Justin Peters had been a National Merit Scholar. I just could not see how this happened.

Besides money, prosecutor Fred Felchman believes Bart Whitaker is a gifted liar and manipulator.

He would actually seek out people. Okay. He would seek out the ones that a little maybe a little weaker that he got to know a little bit better that had some investment in him. Bart's second plan to murder his family with the aid of Adam Hip never went beyond talk. But by April 2001, Bart had hatched yet a third plot.

So Bart Whitaker was a determined young man. Absolutely. This time the plan unraveled after Jennifer Jaffet, a college acquaintance of Bart's, found out about it.

I asked Bart if he was seriously going to let this happen. And how did he react to that? He came up to me and he gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that everything was going to be okay.

Call the police. I did call the police. Police in turn notified Kent and Trisha.

It was just the far outest thing that you can conceive of. And we immediately said there's no way.

Bart told his parents it was all a misunderstanding. In retrospect, you say, "What a idiot. How could you possibly have not seen this?" But the truth is, uh, we didn't know they were lies.

Even after his wife and youngest son were murdered two years later, Kent still refused to believe that Bart was capable of such evil.

Aren't you putting two and two together here and saying maybe Bart's responsible for this? Perhaps I should have, but I didn't.

Do you believe this crime could have been prevented if people had paid attention to these warning signs?

Look at the actions of Bart Whitaker. You're already caught. All right. But you still proceed to it and you still go through it. Now, you tell me where along this line with Bart Whitaker do you think it's going to stop?

You were excused. Bart Whitaker's trial lasted 7 days, but the jury deliberates just two hours.

64.9. We have a verdict in 400. Returning with a verdict everyone was expecting.

We the jury do hereby find the defendant Thomas Bartlett Whitaker guilty of the offense of capital murder as charged in indictment. But the real drama of this case, the punishment phase. Now for the first time, Bart Whitaker will speak openly about his obsession with killing his family.

I feel horrible about myself, what I've done. This is daunting. My son's life is hanging in the balance.

The punishment phase of Bart Whitaker's trial is underway. Just follow me. And his father, Kent, hopes he can persuade the jury to forgive Bart as he has.

Ladies and gentlemen, the jury may not have the same faith. They may not have the same beliefs about what should happen to somebody. But is it your desire that they assess a life sentence in this case?

It has been from the start and it still is. Would uh Trisha feel the same way? I promise you. Yes. She would have been appalled that this this um that um the state chose to pursue the death penalty in this case.

But it will take more than the wishes of Cantor Trisha to spare their son's life.

Call your next witness. Bart Whitaker, he needs to be sworn. Y, please stand before the clerk to be sworn.

To everyone's surprise, Bart decides to put his fate in his own hands and speak directly to the jury.

I am 100% guilty for this. I put the plan in motion. If I had not done so, it would not have happened.

And do you realize that you robbed your mother of a full life? Yes. You robbed Kevin of a full life? Yes.

You actually even robbed your father of a full life. Do you feel any remorse for this?

Yes. Yes, sir. I do. Who's who do you feel remorse for? I feel remorse for everyone involved, starting with my dad, my mom, and my brother and my wife. [snorts] Everyone I've ever met in my life, I feel sorry for having come in contact with me.

[snorts] Bart is finally asked the question on everyone's mind. Can you answer the question why?

No, sir. I've come up with a lot of the reasons for how I how I got to where I was going, but they do not explain it. I always felt that whatever love they sent me was conditional on on a standard that I just never felt I could reach. Bart Whitaker claims that he felt unloved, felt he couldn't live up to his parents' expectations.

I heard all that crap, too. There's no evidence whatsoever this family ever did anything to him. They loved him unconditionally.

I think he came to the decision that, you know, I hate myself. I hate this life I'm in. If there's just some way I can get out of it, maybe if my family was gone, I could be free of this and live a real life. For Bart's life to be spared, he must convince the jury he is no longer a threat to anyone in or out of prison. Do

you have any designs on any conduct that would in any way, shape, or form hurt another individual?

No. The only people I've ever hated, and I know it was not for the right reasons, but the only people I ever hated were my parents and my brother. Fact, the irony of it all is that your dad is actually the one that's come to your rescue and put you back on trial.

He's become my best friend the last year. Past witness. Mr. Gman, I assume you're going to be a while.

It's a good chance. Fred Felchman has waited nearly 2 years for this moment. Your mother loved you. Her whole life was you and Kevin. But then you tell me you never felt loved by your parents.

Yes, sir. Do you find anything scary about this? I find something tragic about it and

tragic that I've got a defendant who's that out of touch with reality. Felchman wants to convince the jury that Bart Whitaker's disconnect with reality makes him dangerous. If somebody interacts with Bart Whitaker, he can be on a totally innocent basis and you decide to perceive it different. You could kill that person.

No, I could not. You killed your mother and brother on totally false circumstances.

I was a different person then. Felchman reminds the jury of the lives Bart took. Did

you see your brother when you ran? Yes, I did. He was gurgling in his own blood. You know, I watched [clears throat] this whole trial. You've never cried until now? I

I did earlier. Why are you crying now? It's a horrible memory. Bart tries one last time to convince Felchman and the jury that he has changed.

Do you believe a person can't be sorry for the things they did? No, I think they can be, Mr. Whitaker, but I don't think you are. I think you're sorry you got caught and now you're trying to figure out how to get out of the death bound.

It's now up to the jury to decide. I was holding out for a life sentence. I thought that he wanted his parents dead. He had done what he set out to do, so I didn't feel he was a threat.

We gathered five members of the jury to tell us about their deliberation. His goal this time was his family, but who knows what his next goal would have been, and that scared me. the picture of him and his mom and his brother sitting there eating and he's sitting there smiling knowing that they're going to be killed in a few minutes.

What did that tell you about Bart? That told me that the probability of him doing it again was great.

I just knew that u he would do this again. It took jurors only 10 hours to reach a verdict.

The court does at this time upon those verdicts determine that you be sentenced to death. Bart Whitaker is to die.

What did that do to you inside? The feeling was a great deal of disappointment.

My heart breaks for Kent Whitaker, but I wondered what kind of relationship he had with his son.

I fell for the man. I really did. But but we had to follow the law. Someday Bart Whitaker is going to die.

It's not our fault. No, he Whitaker's fault. Without Bart Whitaker, none of this would have happened. has taken it upon himself to teach Kevin how to ride the bicycle.

Despite all that he now knows Kent Whitaker says he will never abandon his son.

Trish and Kevin, I miss them. But they're in heaven and I'm going to heaven. And I have no doubts about that. I want Bart up there too.

Someday in the future, you're going to get a phone call from somebody to tell you that Bart Whitaker has been put to death.

Yeah. What will that de be like for you do you think? Um been through that before. There will be a certain sadness but it won't be for Bard Whitaker. It will be for the father. It will also be a sense of satisfaction too though. Justice has been done on this case.

Hey, hey, hey.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode"?

Marshall Slott (Marshall Slaugh) (Guest), Kent Whitaker (Guest), Britney Barnhill (Guest), John Flores (Guest), Barbie Harrington (Guest), Peggy Mlan (name unclear) (Guest), Cliff Stanley (Guest), Adam Hip (Guest).

What is "The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode" about?

The Sugar Land Conspiracy chronicles the tragic events surrounding the Whitaker family, known for their warmth and community spirit, as they become victims of a shocking attack on December 10, 2003. The narrative unfolds through the perspectives of friends and a detective, revealing the harrowing moments of the shooting that claimed Trisha Whitaker's life and left Kevin and Bart gravely injured,…

What is mentioned in this 48 Hours episode?

31 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Bart Whitaker (Thomas Bartlett Whitaker), Trisha Whitaker, Sugar Land, Texas, Whitaker family, Adam Hip, Fred Felchman. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Sugar Land Conspiracy | Full Episode"?

The episode runs 42 min; the transcript is about 6,357 words in 194 timestamped sections.

More from 48 Hours

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.