Transcript

Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo

From Annie Elise · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 59 min · 10,720 words · 92 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo", an episode of Annie Elise published January 23, 2026 (59 min, about 10,720 words). It mentions 8 people, works and ideas, including Laura Gillow, John Mis, James Vala, Jesus Trevino, Heather Neighbor Grace.

What this episode is about

The content addresses the pervasive issue of debt, likening it to a silent killer that can quietly complicate financial situations through compounding interest and fees. It emphasizes the importance of seeking help, specifically through a personalized debt relief service like PDS Debt, which has a strong reputation for assisting individuals in managing their financial burdens effectively.

Key takeaways

  • Debt is the ninja of finances—silent but deadly, striking before you even realize it's there.
  • PBS Debt: your financial superhero, swooping in to save thousands from the clutches of mounting debt.
  • Every month spent in debt costs you—waiting isn't just inconvenient, it's actively diminishing your savings.
  • Laura Gillow: a reminder that life can flip in an instant—one moment you're planning a wedding, the next, you're gone.
  • Beneath the surface of a quiet suburb, chaos brews; sometimes the mundane conceals the most shocking truths.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Laura Gillow, Rollet, Texas, Better Business Bureau
  2. – 10:00: John Mis, Laura Gillow
  3. – 25:00: Michaela Shirley, Laura Gillow
  4. – 30:00: Heather Neighbor Grace
  5. – 35:00: James Vala, Jesus Trevino
  6. – 45:00: James Vala
  7. – 55:00: Heather Neighbor Grace

Notable quotes from "Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo"

  • They're there to help start putting money back where it belongs, in your pocket, your account. PDS Debt is also A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau.
    about Better Business Bureau · at
  • And it turns out that she was one of their own, a volunteer police officer.
    about Laura Gillow · at
  • And had her whole life ahead of her, she did have a pretty rough go of it in her 20s and her 30s. She lived in Rollet, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. And even though the…
    about Rollet, Texas · at
  • They had a daughter together. Her name was Maria and she was now Laura's third child. So then in July of 2015, John proposed and of course Laura said yes.
    about John Mis · at
  • Thought was that Jon needed to know what was going on and know more specifically what was going on with his mother. So she called him and she told him to get home immediately, that his mom was hurt.
    about Michaela Shirley · at
  • That on the day that Laura was killed, John spent the morning with his mom and with his two co-workers. His co-workers Jesus Trevino and James Vala. Now these guys weren't just…
    about Jesus Trevino · at
  • Be doing himself any favors if he tried to play innocent or play dumb. So instead, he told them everything. He admitted that he had been an accomplice in Laura's murder. Specifically, that he was Jesus's getaway driver.
    about James Vala · at
  • Two went to live with their biological fathers, and Laura's best friend, Heather, stepped in to take care of the youngest daughter, which weirdly enough, John personally asked…
    about Heather Neighbor Grace · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Laura Gillow — Person · Victim / central figure of the case · 4 mentions · first at
    Her murder (eight days before her wedding) is the core narrative; her relationships and timeline drive the investigation.
  • John Mis — Person · Fiancé; later identified as murder-for-hire organizer/defendant · 3 mentions · first at
    Initially appears as grieving fiancé with an alibi; later becomes the alleged/convicted hirer who arranged Laura's murder via his employees.
  • James Vala — Person · Employee/accomplice; cooperating witness (getaway driver) · 2 mentions · first at
    Confesses to being the getaway driver, provides key details (planning, codes, car, route) and testifies against John and Jesus.
  • Jesus Trevino — Person · Employee/friend; alleged/convicted hired killer · 1 mention · first at
    John’s employee and close associate (best man) who is placed near the home during the murder window and later convicted for capital murder.
  • Heather Neighbor Grace — Person · Key witness; Laura’s best friend; later caregiver/guardian figure · 2 mentions · first at
    Provides pivotal information reframing John as controlling/jealous; later takes care of Laura’s youngest child and fights for custody.
  • Michaela Shirley — Person · Neighbor / attempted welfare-check contact · 2 mentions · first at
    Asked by John to check on Laura after the school called; her observations (van in driveway, open door) and call help the timeline and discovery unfold.

Companies & orgs

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

I'm in my bathroom getting ready for the day and there's something that I just really want to talk with you about and it's debt. I feel like it's a new year, so it's great. It's a fresh start, but it's still the same threat because debt is kind of like a silent killer in that way. It doesn't announce itself. It doesn't really like make noise and creep up on you. It just quietly multiplies. you know, interest starts compounding, fees stack up, and before you even realize it, you're just like drowning and suffocating because of these finances and what's going on. But don't worry, the case isn't closed yet because PBS has already helped hundreds of thousands of people escape debt, reducing what they owe, and really taking back control of their finances.

And your way out can start right now. Whether you're dealing with personal loans, credit cards, medical bills, whatever it is, PDS Debt doesn't just look at the number. They actually take the time to understand your unique situation and then they create a personalized plan that is designed to specifically help you. There's no minimum credit score required and they're there to help start putting money back where it belongs, in your pocket, your account. PDS Debt is also A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau. They have thousands of five-star Google reviews and they have a five-star rating on Trustpilot. And honestly, that speaks volumes and speaks for itself. Every month that you wait, it's costing you more in interest and in fees. So, the best time to start was yesterday, but the second best time is right now. This is absolutely the service to be using.

So, don't wait for debt to strike again. Break free in under 30 seconds. Get your free personalized assessment by going to pdsdebt.com/10tolife. That's pds debt.com/10tolife. On November 13th, 2015, a phone call came into 911 in the suburb of Dallas. The caller was a man and from the sound of his voice, he was clearly upset. He told this operator that he needed an ambulance because his grandmother was actually lying on the floor not moving. Now, besides that, the things that he was saying on this call were pretty confusing. When the operator asked him what his phone number was in case, you know, the call dropped, he said he didn't know it. He said that he was calling from a neighbor's phone, yet he was able to give his address. So naturally, first responders took over and they took him at his word as well.

They figured that they were walking into this medical emergency with this elderly woman, an elderly woman who had fallen or collapsed.

The head of blood, stay on me, Jira, clear. got blood in the kitchen, blood down this hall.

Well, when they got to the house and into the kitchen, they stopped dead in their tracks because someone was, yes, lying on the floor and they weren't moving, but it wasn't someone's grandma. It was a young woman face down, lying in a pool of blood. And she had one gunshot wound right above her eye.

We got one down, shellcasing on the floor. And then right there next to her body, there was a single shell casing from a gun. So right away, officers searched the entire house, making sure that nobody else was hurt or there, and also confirming that whoever did this wasn't still inside the home. Upstairs in the master bedroom, they found jewelry boxes scattered on the floor and somebody had also opened a small safe. But sure enough, aside from that, the home was empty. I mean, other than the woman who was on the kitchen floor. But really quickly, speaking of the woman, police found an ID card in her pocket.

And it turns out that she was one of their own, a volunteer police officer. And more than that, it was only 8 days until her wedding day. So, what happened here? Who was this woman? And why did somebody want her dead? And why did somebody seemingly lie about it? Well, there's a lot to unpack today. I'm Annie Eliss. This is Tent to Life. And let's jump right in. In 2015, when this all went down, Laura Gillow was just 37 years old. She was thin. She had striking blue eyes, blonde hair, and in every picture that I've seen of her, she has this huge, huge smile, which I have to say is kind of surprising because for a lot of her life, she didn't really have a whole lot to smile about. See, in 2015, it was the first time in her life where things actually felt very secure, very stable, and very well normal. Even though she was still relatively young and had her whole life ahead of her, she did have a pretty rough go of it in her

20s and her 30s. She lived in Rollet, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas. And even though the Dallas area is busy and packed with people, this area feels a little bit more relaxed, a bit more laid-back. And Laura lived in a really nice home in a pretty quiet community. She lived there with her fiance, John Mis, also with her three children and her younger brother, Brian. Now, Brian and Laura were very close. Brian was also on the autism spectrum. So, Laura was just incredibly protective of him. But Brian was actually very capable. I mean, he could handle a lot on his own.

Yet, Laura still saw him as her baby brother, even though they were both adults by this point. She just loved him and wanted to protect him. And honestly, that had kind of been Laura's whole life, looking out for Brian, making sure that everybody else, including Brian, everyone aside from herself, was always being taken care of. It didn't even really leave her much time or energy for herself or much else. But still, from the get-go, something that was always very important to her was looking for love, somebody that she could build a life with. Now, unfortunately, instead of finding the one, she ended up in a string of bad relationships. Short ones that just didn't work out for one reason or another. And her two oldest children had different dads, which I don't know the specifics of why things didn't work out with either one of those guys.

Whether it was just a bad fit or whether there were more serious issues, I'm not sure. But the important thing is that for a while, Laura was a single mother of two. And even though she still wanted to settle down, she knew that she had to put her kids first. She had to make sure that whoever came into their lives would be good for the whole family, not just good for her. So still, she never lost hope. She believed that her person was out there and that she eventually would meet the man who was right for her and her family, which you've probably heard that thing where people tell you, you know, not to look for love because the second that you stop looking, somebody will come and you'll find it. And that's pretty much how it happened for Laura.

She got to a point where she kind of just knew she didn't need a man to feel complete. That if she met the right guy, great. But if it didn't happen for a while or for a few more years even, okay, fine. That's okay, too. And she was also a very committed and loyal and great mom. That was her focus. She took care of her kids and she always made sure that they had everything and anything that they could possibly want or need. So she didn't need anybody to come in and save her or make her life better. It would have just been a bonus.

So in her spare time through all of this, Laura was very big on gaming. It's how she would unwind at the end of the day and let herself relax a little bit. It was just a way to clear her mind. And she didn't think of it as a way to meet men. was just a hobby of hers. But that's exactly what ended up happening. Now, the exact dates were a little spotty, but from what I could tell, Laura and John might have met while playing video games online sometime around 2009 or 2010. And I will be honest, I don't know a whole lot about how they went from playing video games to dating to being in a serious relationship. But I do know that sometime between that first meeting and then 2015, they moved in together and they had a daughter together. Her name was Maria and she was now Laura's third child. So then in July of 2015, John proposed and of course Laura said yes.

She felt like she had finally found her other half, the person who belonged with her family. They had tons in common. They were both gamers. They both believed in giving back. They both volunteered for the police department in the past. And so overall, they just seemed to share the same values and the same goals. John also seemed like he had what it took to be a really good father. He owned a home remodeling business. He believed that it had something special, that it had the capability of becoming something great, like it might take off and, you know, business would be booming and he'd be making some real money and be able to support Laura and her family and make sure that none of them ever wanted for anything. Now, what's interesting is that John was also already a dad. He too had two kids from a previous relationship, but he wasn't involved with them. They had moved to Atlanta with their mother, and Jon was

now out of the picture. But in spite of all of that, Laura thought that she and Jon were meant to be and that he would be a great father. So, she threw herself into wedding planning, making sure that it felt like a true dream come true, making sure that they could celebrate their love, that their friends and family would be there, that everybody would have a great time. And after some back and forth, the two of them settled on an official date. And the wedding was going to be on November 21st, 2015. And then once that was locked in, Laura really got to focus on the fun parts of planning. She picked out her dress. She and John asked their best friends to be bridesmaids and groomsmen. They were putting money into their savings account so that they could have this huge fancy honeymoon. And it was great. Now, all the while the big day was getting closer and closer. But like I said, just eight

days before she was supposed to finally walk down the aisle a little more than a week out, a nightmare struck because remember that 911 call that I played in the beginning, the one about grandma being on the kitchen floor? Well, that caller was Laura's younger brother, Brian. And don't worry, I will get into the grandma part here in a bit. But right away, one theory just from the jump was that Laura had been killed during a home robbery. I mean, after all, she didn't have any enemies, so it made sense that maybe somebody broke in to steal something in the home, jewelry, something like that. We know the jewelry boxes were on the floor, and that Laura just walked in at the wrong time, startled this intruder, and from there things escalated. And the theory was again based on what they saw at the scene because Laura, she was wearing jeans, a hoodie, and both of her shoes were off. Her keys and her purse were

also underneath her body, almost like they had been in her hands when she went down. So, the assumption was that she had just walked in, kicked off her shoes like most people do when they come home, and then she was shot right there in the kitchen before she could even set her belongings down. Then there was also the master bedroom, right? It was completely torn up. Papers were scattered across the floor, scattered across the bed. It was like somebody had been ransacking the room and digging through Laura's things looking for things, whether they were looking for valuables, jewelry, whatever it was. But her jewelry boxes, as I said, were on the floor. And it certainly looked like somebody had like picked through them as well, deciding what might be worth taking, what might be worth reselling, what's costume jewelry, and just kind of like rifling through it. Someone also had opened that small safe in the bedroom. And at first,

the police didn't even know what was usually kept in that safe, so they couldn't tell right away if anything was missing. But it was bad enough that it was open, right? And when they eventually spoke with Laura's fianceé, John, he told them that they had been keeping all of their honeymoon savings inside that safe. The safe was supposed to have somewhere between 8 and $9,000 in cash in it. However, the money was not in there anymore. So, the police believed that this killer obviously had taken it. But here's the weird thing, though. The safe was open and yes, empty, but there was no sign that it had been forced open. It looked more like somebody had entered the code and then the safe opened in a normal way. So, this had police wondering if the killer wasn't some random intruder after all, but someone who knew Laura, someone that she trusted enough to share that safe code with. It's also worth noting that

there were no signs of forced entry at all. Nothing anywhere in the house. Another sign that whoever did this may have known Laura and John. Maybe they had a spare key or knew how to get around their security systems possibly and so they didn't have to force entry at all. So, I mean, at this point, it was worth raising another possibility, right? That this wasn't just some acquaintance or friend who knew them well, but someone who actually lived there, who knew how to gain access. Now, remember, Laura's brother, Brian, lived in this house, too, right? So, police also knew that Brian had called from a neighbor's phone. And as soon as first responders got to the scene, the neighbor was outside waving them down.

So, of course, the police were a little bit suspicious. I mean, why use someone else's phone instead of your own? Why say grandma? And they wondered if Brian was maybe intentionally trying to throw them off. But the truth was much more innocent when they really broke it down because like I said before, Brian was on the spectrum. And the reality was that a lot of his call it odd or suspicious behavior, it really came down to the fact that he genuinely didn't know what to do in that situation. He was scared, overwhelmed, and confused. And that panic, it made him act in ways that, yes, set off red flags for police, but really was innocent behavior. Still, when the investigators interrogated Brian, they went in hard. They basically treated him like a top suspect. almost as if they had decided already that he was guilty. But Brian explained that yeah, he had been at the home, but he was asleep in his bedroom all morning.

But unfortunately, nobody could confirm his alibi. No one could verify that he truly had been asleep. Now, Brian apparently wasn't a morning person. So, he told the police that he woke up around 11:50 a.m. and apparently that was normal for him. He said that he went down to the kitchen to go get coffee and to get something to eat and that that's when he turned the corner and saw Laura on the floor. He saw the blood and he knew that he needed help. Now, as for why he went to the neighbor's house to make that phone call to 911, Brian says it's because he didn't have a cell phone and the house didn't have a landline.

Which also, I mean, fair, let's be real, a lot of people didn't have landlines in 2015. Most people even today don't have landlines. So, the neighbor's house was simply the closest place where he thought that he could use a phone. Yet still, the police struggled with his story, and they didn't buy it at first. I mean, for one thing, gunshots are loud, not the kind of thing that people would really sleep through. And if Laura had yelled or screamed or made any sort of noise before she was shot, wouldn't Brian have heard that as well? And under normal circumstances, yeah, you would think so. But Brian was completely deaf in one ear. And he also had significant hearing loss in the other. So it was hard for him to hear much of anything even on a good day. So if he was asleep with his bedroom door shut, I mean, it wasn't hard to believe that he could have slept through all of this. Now, as for the call itself, when he said that

the victim was his grandma, the explanation for that was fairly simple. It was a mixup, which you'll remember that when the police arrived, Laura was lying face down. Nobody could see her face. And the same thing was true when Brian found her. He didn't recognize her as his sister right away. On top of that, Jon's mom was in town for the wedding. So when Brian saw a woman lying there on the floor and couldn't immediately identify her, Brian just assumed that the person on the floor was Jon's mom. So after digging into Brian's timeline and the circumstances, investigators ultimately crossed him off the suspect list. But this meant that their attention needed to shift to another adult who lived in the home, Laura's fiance, John. And to be clear, this wasn't personal. It was more procedure. If you live in the house, you know the safe code, you know the security code, you have a key, and your

partner is murdered inside that home, you're going to be looked into, right? Just follow with the police officers and detectives at the scene. I'm sorry for your loss. I want you to know that we're going to find out what happened.

What would be the motive for someone to come in the house, attack Laura? No idea. Somebody chose to come in that house. But why? That's what we're going to find out. Did Laura receive any bad news? Not to my knowledge.

Okay. Everything was good. I understand you know a wedding coming up. Yes. In a week in a week she was a lot happier because of the she was willing to expose to me.

But almost immediately investigators realized something very important. John had a really solid alibi. Like I mentioned earlier, John's mom was in town for the wedding. So that day, which was a Friday, Jon still had errands to run and work to get done. And his mom went around town with him while he was handling everything. meaning that early that morning, everyone except for Brian had left the house. Laura left to drop off the youngest daughter at school and John's phone records showed that at 8:39 a.m. he was already in Dallas, nowhere even near the home where they lived, which remember where they lived was a very sub like suburb area. So, it was about a solid like 30 minute drive into the city. Then 10 minutes later at 8:49 a.m. John called Laura, but she didn't answer.

About an hour after that, at 9:50 a.m., John, his mom, and two of his employees were all at a Home Depot store. And this was confirmed by security camera footage. In the footage, and according to the store records, they bought some doors at this Home Depot. And then they headed to another Home Depot in Dallas to buy a microwave, which that second stop was also confirmed by surveillance footage as well. After that, John's phone records show that he drove to his work site, also in Dallas, and that's where he was until he heard that Laura had been murdered, which I have to say, I've seen a lot of conflicting reports about how Jon reacted when he got the news. Some people said that he seemed confused and devastated. Others said that he appeared almost emotionless. But either way, there was no possible way that Jon could have been at the scene of the crime. The cell phone data and the surveillance footage made that

completely clear. So, police were able to rule him out as a suspect as well. He even allowed detectives to perform a gunshot residue test on his hands, which it came back negative. So, as if that weren't all enough, police also spoke with Jon's neighbors, and they all said the same thing, that on the day of the murder, Jon seemed genuinely worried about Laura. He didn't act like someone who was emotionless or wanted his fianceé dead. All morning, he had been trying to call her, and when she didn't answer the phone call, it made him very nervous. So then at 11:30 a.m., the school called John. Apparently, Laura had never arrived to pick up their youngest daughter. So that alone was alarming because Laura was a really good mom. She wouldn't just forget her child and leave her at school. So that made Jon even more concerned. So he asked one of the neighbors to go check on Laura and make sure that she was okay. That

neighbor was a woman named Michaela Shirley. And John told her, "You know, it probably isn't even a big deal, but if you could just run over, talk to Laura, I'd appreciate it. Just make sure everything's okay." Except Michaela never got the chance to check on Laura. Because around the same time that John was speaking with her, Brian, Laura's brother, was already at that different neighbor's house calling 911. Police were also already on their way. Michaela just didn't know it yet. So, as Michaela walked toward the house, she noticed that Laura's van was in the driveway.

She also saw that the front door was open. But before she could go inside, Brian and that other neighbor came running out. They told Michaela what they had seen or what they thought that they had seen. See, Brian and this other neighbor still thought that that woman on the floor was John's mom. And even though Michaela knew that no one had been able to reach Laura all morning, she didn't quite put those pieces together right away. Instead of putting it together right away, her immediate thought was that Jon needed to know what was going on and know more specifically what was going on with his mother. So she called him and she told him to get home immediately, that his mom was hurt.

But John was confused because remember his mom was sitting right next to him completely fine. So that was the moment that everything clicked for everybody. That was when they realized that the woman on the kitchen floor wasn't John's mom. It was Laura. And the reason she hadn't been answering her phone all morning was because unfortunately she was already dead. Now, frankly, I don't blame them for not realizing it sooner. I think that it was chaotic. It was emotional. There were a lot of moving pieces. But once the police were able to step back and piece it all together, the timeline became much clearer. See, Laura was extremely consistent. She stuck to the same routine every single day. The kind of person where you usually know exactly where she's supposed to be. And even when you didn't, police could track her movements through her phone records.

So, they knew that Laura had left the house sometime before 8:00 a.m. to drop off their youngest daughter at school. They also knew that Jon tried calling her at 8:49 a.m. and that she didn't answer. So based on that alone, police believed that she was killed sometime within that 49minute window. But the investigators narrowed it down even further. They believed that Laura returned home around 8:10 a.m. at the very earliest and that she was killed sometime between then and 8:22 a.m. Now, I don't know exactly how the investigators determined that precise window, but they were very confident in it. So now the police had a clear timeline, a tight window of opportunity, a ransacked house, missing cash, no forced entry, but still no clear suspect. And despite all of the work that the police had done, they still didn't know who killed Laura. And six long months passed without any answers.

In the meantime, Laura and John's neighbors were terrified. I mean, all they knew was that someone had been murdered on their street and that that person was still out there free. Police also had publicly floated the idea that this was a robbery gone wrong, which that of course only made people more nervous if it really was a random break-in. Who's to say another neighbor might not be next? And the scariest part with a lot of this was how random it all seemed. Everyone who knew Laura told the police the exact same thing. She didn't have any enemies. She was extremely likable. People loved her. She minded her business. She was completely devoted to her kids and to her fiance. So, no one could think of a reason why anybody would ever want to hurt her. That is, of course, with one exception. See, at one point while police were speaking with her brother Brian, he mentioned Laura's ex, the father of her oldest child.

According to Brian, this guy terrified Laura. And I don't know if things ever turned physical, but let's be real, we also know you don't have to hit someone to make them afraid of you. And according to Brian, Laura was so scared of this ex that even after she left him, she never wanted to be home alone, not even alone with her kids. That fear was also one of the reasons that Brian moved in with her in the first place. She wanted another adult in the house, someone to help her feel safe. Now, I do want to be clear. Most of this information came directly from Brian and I wasn't able to independently confirm all of it. But so because of that, it's like you know the drill. Do your own research. Don't take my word for everything. Everything is alleged. All the things. But here's what police were able to figure out. That ex-boyfriend had moved out of state several years before the murder. So he didn't appear

to even be in the picture anymore. Yet still, given the history that Brian described, the police felt like it was worth tracking him down. And sure enough, they found him, interviewed him, and they got quite a bit of background on his relationship with Laura. He admitted that things hadn't ended well, and that they weren't exactly on good terms. But once again, in what was becoming now a familiar pattern, he had an alibi, and police confirmed it. So, just like that, another potential suspect was ruled out. Then Laura's best friend came forward and this friend came forward with another tip. Her name was Heather Neighbor Grace and she knew Laura better than almost anyone. Now Heather told the detectives something that changed the entire direction of the case. She said that Laura had a long history of dating [ __ ] dating jerks, which, okay, it wasn't that shocking considering what we had already

heard about her ex and how scared he apparently made her. But then Heather started to clarify things a little bit more. Up until the day that Laura died, apparently she was still dating a jerk. Meaning Heather did not think very highly of Jon. She knew that Laura loved him. She knew that Laura had committed to marrying Jon. So because of that, Heather, you know, played nice and wanted to support her friend. But privately, she was deeply concerned. In Heather's mind, Jon was extremely possessive, jealous, insecure, and he constantly accused Laura of flirting with other guys. And according to Heather, this was something that they fought about all the time. If Laura even looked at another guy in a certain kind of way, Jon just didn't like it and he would start picking a fight with her. He would start making accusations. Laura would be stuck defending herself and it was just very toxic. And apparently when

Laura found out that she was pregnant with her third child, John's daughter, Jon didn't even believe that the baby was his. He made her do a DNA test. So according to Heather, Laura was miserable with him. Which this also of course then raises the question, okay, if she was that unhappy, why would she go through with the wedding? Why commit to spending the rest of your life with somebody like that? Well, according to Heather, Laura tried to leave more than once, but she could never quite get away from him. So now, with all of this new information, the investigators really needed to take a step back and re-evaluate everything. Maybe Laura and Jon weren't the happy, stable couple that they appeared to be. Maybe there was this whole other dynamic behind closed doors that nobody had seen. Now, of course, Jon's alibi and his negative gunpowder residue test were still there.

They were still important factors. Those weren't going to be easy to explain away. But Heather's tip wasn't the only thing that made the investigators kind of want to take a little bit closer of a look at Jon. There were some other red flags, too. things that in hindsight didn't sit right now. Let's go back to right after the murder. Police had the house completely locked down as a crime scene. Nobody could get in or out unless they were a crime scene investigator. They needed to, of course, document every single little detail. They needed to collect evidence and do all of that before anybody could come in and potentially contaminate it. Except John was weirdly persistent about getting back inside. He kept trying to hurry the police along like he was in this huge rush. And it was a strange attitude almost like he didn't care as much about getting justice for Laura as much as he cared about getting his home back and

returning to life as usual. Then there was also the funeral. You'll remember Laura was killed just 8 days before their wedding day. Well, John kind of leaned heavily into reusing a lot of the wedding plans for the funeral, the food, the arrangements. And look, I can play devil's advocate and play it off as like maybe he didn't want to go have things go to waste. You want to reuse it. Sure, maybe he saw it even as honoring Laura. But according to Heather, that is not how it felt. It felt cheap, calculated. John had always been obsessive about money, too. It was something that he and Laura apparently fought about often. So watching him recycle a wedding into a funeral, I mean, for Heather, it felt horrifying.

Then there was also the added element of Laura's belongings because Jon wasted no time in selling Laura's stuff. Now, in fairness, everyone grieavves differently. Some people aren't sentimental and just prefer to move forward. But to those people around him, it felt cold, like he didn't care to keep anything of Laura's. And it was one of the first things he did, too. So, I mean, yeah, the red flags, they were starting to stack up. Now, all of this, Heather's statements, J's behavior, the timing, it was enough for the police to obtain a search warrant for Jon's phone.

And what they found raised even more questions. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything on the phone that definitively tied him to the murder, but they were able to confirm what Heather had said, that Jon and Laura's relationship had been more than rocky. They even found an email that Laura had written to Jon while he was away on a work trip back in June of 2015. And in that email, Laura said to him that she was extremely unhappy, that she thought that maybe they should end their relationship. So clearly there is a lot of toxicity here and there's an indication months earlier that she actively was thinking about leaving Jon.

And I also think that it's worth mentioning the fact that she tried to apparently leave him through email while he was away rather than in person. Could that say something about their relationship or her being scared of him and what his reaction would be? Because what we do know is that the very next month John proposed. So obviously the breakup didn't happen and I think that he could have proposed in a way to like move things in the complete opposite direction and secure her to make sure that she wouldn't leave. But like I said before, John had an alibi. But at this point, the investigators were trying to figure out if there was any way to make the pieces fit regardless of that alibi.

Because we've all seen cases where someone, you know, hires other people to do their dirty work. So maybe that's what was going on. So now the police were starting to ask a new question. What if John found somebody else to kill Laura on his behalf? You'll remember that on the day that Laura was killed, John spent the morning with his mom and with his two co-workers. His co-workers Jesus Trevino and James Vala. Now these guys weren't just employees either. They were friends of John's. Jesus was supposed to be Jon's best man, as a matter of fact. So I mean clearly they were very close.

Now, during the first round of interrogations, both men confirmed that Jon was with them that morning. They insisted that he was with them the entire time that they were at Home Depot. And surveillance cameras backed all of that up.

And he text me, "Don't be late." Whatever. Don't be late to We were going to meet up at Home Depot.

Which one? Um in Dallas. What happened? Just started closing doors. Okay. He pulled up and um

he me and John John showed up and everything start working. Yeah. But as time went on, the police didn't ask Jesus and James about John. Instead, they asked each man more about themselves. And the reason that the investigators were suddenly now treating them as suspects was because they had learned something very important. Both men had criminal histories and not minor ones. both were actually convicted on the registry. On top of that, Jesus, who also went by Manuel, wasn't in the country legally. He had been deported at some point in the past, but he was able to make his way back to Dallas somewhere along the way. And those past convictions mattered because to investigators it showed that both men were capable of harming people in the right circumstance or under the right circumstances I should say and that if they were willing to hurt someone in a sexual way who's to say that they weren't willing to hurt someone in a

physical way or for some money maybe there were no boundaries. So that became the working theory that Jon might have hired them to kill Laura. Then on the day of the murder John could run errands. He could show up on security cameras all over town. He could build himself an airtight alibi. All while he knew his employees, his friends were handling the dirty work. John could give them the keys, the garage code, the code to the safe, full access to make it look like a robbery. Then after Laura was already dead, they could meet back up with him and show up on some of those cameras, too. And the timeline, I mean, it made it at least seem possible Laura died sometime before 8:30 a.m. at the very latest. And neither man joined Jon at Home Depot until around 9:45 a.m. So, that was more than enough time to kill her, still drive over into Dallas afterward, and show up on footage. Now, long story short, at least on paper,

they didn't have much in the way of alibis, just their word. And of course, when the police interrogated them, they both swore up and down that they were completely innocent, that they had nothing to do with this.

You said this twice that you that Manuel went to your house about 8:30, 8:45, but I've got information that puts Manuel somewhere else.

Just be honest. That time frame, not at your place. He was at my place. I have proof that he was not at your place at all. That's what time he was at my place.

I'm telling you, I've analyzed everything. He was not there. James even gave police permission to search where he was living, which was not a house and not an apartment, but rather a hotel room. Now, during that search, investigators found multiple cell phones, a pair of tennis shoes, and a backpack. Now, inside the backpack was a Ziploc bag full of latex gloves. So, not exactly the most innocent looking discovery, right? And honestly, it was surprising that he hadn't tried to get rid of all of that before, considering that he consented to this search, right?

It also didn't look good when police searched their phones because on the day of Laura's murder, Jesus got a phone call from John at 7:45 a.m. And this call lasted only one minute. So, it wasn't a very long conversation. And then right after that call, Jesus went to their town, their suburb town. And not just anywhere in the town, but he was in the vicinity of Laura and John's home during the exact window when Laura got home from school and was murdered. He was there around 8:15 to 8:20 in the morning. So, I mean, what were the odds of that? Now, keep in mind, John was long gone by then. His own phone data showed that he left the house at around 7:30 a.m. So, it wasn't like Jesus was meeting his boss or going over to his friend's house to pick something up or grabbing something for work. He was right near Laura at the time that she was killed. But even with all of that, police still didn't have enough. All

they could prove was that Jesus was in the area. And on its own, that wasn't proof of murder. Not enough to arrest, not enough to charge, and definitely not enough to convict. They knew they needed more, which meant that the next step would be trying to get someone to talk. And the investigators believed that they could get Jesus to confess or at least scare him enough into slipping up. And that they could do that by using the leverage that they already had. Which you all remember how I mentioned both James and Jesus had past convictions for crimes of a sexual nature. Well, Jesus was supposed to register on the, you know, official registry and notify all the neighbors, the whole nine yards, and he never did that. So, even though the police couldn't arrest him for murder or for anything tied to Laura, they could arrest him for failing to register. And that's what they planned to do on December 17th, 2015.

The thinking was bring him in on those charges, get him into an interrogation room, apply some pressure, and just like work him until he cracks. They had the warrant, everything was ready, the plan was rock solid. The only problem was they didn't know where Jesus was. He wasn't in that hotel room anymore, and he hadn't told anyone where to find him. He had actually skipped town completely. At one point, the investigators even tried to pressure Jon with what they had learned so far to try to get some more information to try to get him to crack, but it didn't work. So, unsure of what else to do, the police put out a public notice. They asked the public for any information on Jesus's whereabouts, anything that could lead to his arrest.

And not too long after that, a solid tip did come in from Rockwell, Texas. According to the tip, Jesus used to date a woman named Lena Rodriguez. And according to the tipster, who was also apparently one of Lena's family members, Jesus had told her how to get in touch with him. So when the police brought in Lena into this interrogation, she basically said like, "Why'd you take so long to reach out to me?" Apparently, she had even tried going to the police before about Jesus specifically to file a report against him. So Lena claimed that Jesus had told her that his boss did in fact hire him to kill his wife.

and he said that he was going to make about 15 grand for the job. But here's the part that is really difficult to sit sit with. Lena had known about Laura's murder before it happened. Jesus had mentioned it to her like it was nothing, but it did freak her out enough that she did go straight to the authorities and she told them what she knew. But for whatever reason, nobody took it seriously at the time. Nobody acted. Not until it was too late and Laura was already dead, which it's honestly so frustrating and upsetting to think about because had they acted, Laura never needed to die. Now, the one thing I will say in the police's defense in all of this is that Lena didn't know a whole lot. She didn't know the name of Jesus's boss. She didn't know the wife's name.

She believed the boss wanted his wife killed, but Jon didn't have a wife, so she couldn't even connect the dots. At the time, Jon and Laura weren't even engaged yet when she got that tip. Apparently, Laura was just his girlfriend. So, Loreno went in with very vague information. You know, someone somewhere out there wanted his wife killed and that was completely it. And that wasn't even completely accurate when you really break it down. So, in light of that, I can understand a little bit about how a report didn't go anywhere. They didn't really have full information. So, it's not like Lena was able to stop this murder, but she did break up with Jesus, which of course isn't shocking. I mean, I can't imagine any decent person staying with somebody who's capable of murder for hire or any murder, period. So, it was a good call for her safety, but it also was bad news for investigators because by the time

the police finally now talked to her, she had been out of touch with Jesus for months. His phone number had changed. She had no idea where he might have gone. So, it was a lead, but it was a lead that went nowhere. And unfortunately, most of the public tips went nowhere, too. Which meant that investigators, they had to keep digging. Luckily, when police got a warrant to search Jesus's Google Drive, they found a photo saved in it. A woman who was wearing a bandana over her face and holding a 45 caliber handgun. Now, her name was Janet Baron. and she was another ex, another woman who used to date Jesus. She now lived in Denver, Colorado. When the police spoke with Janet, she said she didn't know anything about Jesus being a hitman. None of that. However, she did have his phone number. And she also gave the police the names of several close friends of Jesus, people that investigators could reach

out to and speak to to see if anyone had heard from Jesus or knew where he went. And that did help some. But the real breakthrough came from something else that was found on the drive for reasons I still can't wrap my head around. Jesus had taken a photo of one of his friends IDs and he had saved that as well. That friend was named Ramon Feno and he lived in Meski, Texas, which is about 20 minutes from the suburb that Laura lived in. So investigators went out to speak with him and before they even could get fully in the doorway and introduce themselves, Ramon basically just said, "I know why you're here. It's because Jesus killed that boss's wife." So the cops were kind of like, "Well, yeah, actually that is why we're here." And as it turned out, Ramon used to work for John 2. And he had told the police that back in January of 2015, Jesus told him everything. the same kind of story that

Lena had described, specifically that he had accepted 15 grand in exchange for killing Laura. And honestly, it started to sound like Jesus was kind of telling everyone. Ramon also told the police about a former roommate, and he connected investigators to that roommate as well. Apparently, Jesus had even tried to hire the roommate as a getaway driver, but the roommate wanted no part in it. And I'm just going to pause here for a moment and say it was a lot, right? I mean, there were tips, searches, tracking people down, going from Ramon, Lena to Ramon to the roommate to um the other girlfriend. I mean, it took time, but it was good information, but it took some time. And police weren't able to track Jesus's new working phone number and locate him until November 1st, 2016, about 4 months after Laura was found. At that point, Jesus was squatting in a supposedly vacant house in Clearwater, Florida. So,

police tracked it in there, arrested him, and then brought him back to Dallas. Which you might be thinking, okay, great. At this point, with multiple people saying he bragged about it, that has to be enough to charge him, right? Not so much. They still didn't have hard evidence, just hearsay. So, when the authorities arrested Jesus, they only charged him with the failing to register charge. They knew that they could bring murder charges later on, but in the meantime, they needed to keep building the case. They needed to still gather more evidence. So, that meant they needed to track down his accomplice, James, because yes, he very much still mattered in all of this. A little over a month later on May 9th, James was also arrested, but again, it wasn't for murder. It was also for failing to register. And the moment that the police caught James, he kind of knew that he was screwed. He knew he wouldn't

be doing himself any favors if he tried to play innocent or play dumb. So instead, he told them everything. He admitted that he had been an accomplice in Laura's murder. Specifically, that he was Jesus's getaway driver.

So, how's it kick off? All right. When um Jesus first mentioned anything about this, I disregarded it.

I thought he was just non-stop. He shows up in the morning and we get in a car and we go the whole time. I'm like I'm still thinking he's been

even when he gets there. Mhm. Now he does his thing. I heard nothing. Mhm. And when he gets back in the car, what does he say to you?

Let's go. That's what I said. Yeah. You say how I did it or You just shot her, right? But it's pretty obvious that John ordered it.

Yeah. You never say how much uh John paid him for it. He was um boasting about something about 15 grand.

Now, here's how it all went down. According to James, he claimed that John had been planning Laura's murder for quite some time. And we already know that Jesus had struggled to find a getaway driver once his roommate told him no. So apparently that was a big part of the holdup in all of this. It took them a really long time to find the right combination of people who were willing to actually go through with it. And as dark as this story was, that part almost feels like the silver lining that most people were not willing to kill.

Most people were decent. even if in this case, Jesus, James, and John ended up being complete monsters in all of it. But James also told investigators that John had thought it through, that he was planning this. It was methodical. And keep in mind, Jon volunteered with the police department just like Laura did. He wasn't a professional officer. No. But he understood enough to know what mattered. timelines, alibis, details, and of course, how evidence gets tracked. So, he and Jesus worked hard to make sure that Jon had a rockolid alibi.

And according to James, Jon is the one who provided them with the security code to get into the house along with the codes to the safe. All of it. All in an effort to make it look like a robbery. And they planned everything down to specifics. what car James would drive, what route they would take, how they could avoid as many security cameras as possible, and John even came up with a secret signal that he could use to tell Jesus and James that Laura was home alone and that it was, you know, time to strike. Now, like I mentioned before, multiple witnesses agreed that Jesus was doing this for 15 grand. And that part was technically true. That's what Jon paid him. But James also got a cut and his share came out of Jesus's payment.

And the money that James accepted, the amount that he decided was fair to help commit a murder, $1,000. That was the going rate, which can you even imagine? You're accepting to help out with a murder for $1,000. I mean, obviously there's no amount of money that would ever justify killing someone, but a grand, it seemed like such a minuscule amount for Laura's life. James also claimed that Jon bought a silver Kia specifically for the crime and that after the murder, one of the three men ditched the Kia at a body shop so that nobody would recognize it from the neighborhood or connect it to the murder scene or anything like that.

So, based on James confession, police knew the route that he used to get to Laura's house that day. And even though the route was meant to avoid most security cameras, there was no way to avoid all of them. He still passed a few cameras. And those cameras, they clocked him. They captured that Kia. And remember that one minute phone call between John and Jesus? Well, according to James, that was the signal. By that time, Jon was already out running errands with his mom. He was establishing his alibi. And the call was Jon telling Jesus that it was safe to go to the house. Safe to get into the house, get into the safe, and take the money. Then Jesus was supposed to wait for Laura to get home and kill her the moment that she walked in. After the murder, James and Jesus tried to get rid of the evidence as they drove, getting rid of, you know, whatever they could.

They stripped off their clothing in the car, threw them out around the window at a random point along the way and just tried to cover everything. Which it kind of makes you wonder a little bit. You know when you're driving down the highway and there's like a random shoe or pants on the side of the road and you're kind of like, how did that even end up there? How did a single shoe end up right there? How did a baby blanket end up there? Which is like so grim to think about, but like could you be driving past evidence in a grizzly murder case? like I need one more thing to worry about, but possibly. And the clothes weren't the only thing that they threw away. They also tossed out the murder weapon in a random dumpster in Dallas. The police were able to verify all of these details, and at that point, they had a very solid case. So, they announced that they had arrested James and Jesus, but they weren't ready to

publicly say who had hired them yet. Most of the public still had no idea that Jon was involved. And of course, like a total freak narcissist, John decided that he just needed to comment publicly on the arrests of the two men who had been working for him. And in this statement, he totally played the victim, saying, "What runs in my mind all the time is why. Now, a name comes up that I know, and the why is even bigger. Why? Why?" Which it's like, uh, give me a freaking break. So Jesus and James charges were upgraded to capital murder. And in June of 2016, John was arrested. And he was also charged with capital murder in a murder for hire plot. Now, I still don't know how he thought investigators could be closing in on the men that he hired without also suspecting him. Maybe he really did know and just wanted to keep playing dumb until he couldn't any longer. But I don't know. It shocks me.

Let me cut to the chase a little bit. Jesus is a dumbass. All right. Sometimes he's

No, he he really is a dumbass. Okay. At the end of the day, you shouldn't hire a dumbass to do a job because he's going to screw it up. All right. And if he doesn't screw it up, he's going to talk about it. He screwed you over. You go to hire this dumbass and he tells seven different people that you want him to kill your wife because you want custody of the children. He tells seven different people that how much money you're offering.

But I didn't hire the damas. That's my problem. Do what? I did not hire the I did not pay him any money. That's that's my problem. I mean, you're telling me that, you know, you're telling me that uh basically admitting that I hired him to do the murder. That's what you're telling me.

Am I telling you to admit that? No. I already know that you did that. Let me cut to the chase a little bit. Jesus is a dumbass. All right. At the end of the day, you shouldn't hire a dumbass to do a job because he's going to screw it up. All right? And if he doesn't screw it up, he's going to talk about it. But I didn't hire the dumbass. That's my problem.

Do what? I did not hire the dumb ass. I did not pay him any money. That's that's my problem.

I do not want a lot of killed. I tried to get married with her for at least 3 years.

I loved her. I still love her. I said this. I'm sorry. Oh, I am sorry that my wife was killed. I cried so many times. I mean, you're telling me that, you know, you're telling me that uh basically admitting that I hired him to do the murder. That's what you're telling me.

Am I telling you to admit that? No, I already know that you did that. I'm giving you an opportunity to tell the truth.

I need to talk to attorney. Now with their mother dead and their father in jail, all three of Laura's kids were sent in different directions, which is so heartbreaking. Her oldest two went to live with their biological fathers, and Laura's best friend, Heather, stepped in to take care of the youngest daughter, which weirdly enough, John personally asked Heather to take in his daughter. I mean, maybe there was some teeny tiny shred of human decency somewhere deep down. I don't know. Or maybe he just trusted Heather because she had always been there for Laura. But either way, I mean, thank God for Heather because from the moment that Jon was put in jail, she fought for full custody of that little girl. She didn't want there to be even a shred of a possibility that Jon could stay in her life, either from behind bars or if he somehow managed to get acquitted.

Heather even told the media about sitting down with the little girl not long after her fifth birthday. And that's when she had to explain what was happening, why she was never going to see her mom again, and why she probably wouldn't see her dad again either. And Heather said she seemed really hurt. She's a fresh five. She just turned five and she's really resilient, but there's going to have to be some serious counseling here. Now, even though Jon asked Heather to care for his daughter, he apparently was not willing to give up his parental rights entirely. He and Heather fought for a long time in court for years over custody. And this was all before his trial was even over, which fortunately he lost. But I think that the legal battle itself is pretty telling because it's hard to understand Jon's motive in all of this. Why even have Laura killed? Especially when we already know that she wanted to leave

him. she wanted out and he convinced her to stay and to marry him instead. So if he didn't love her and he didn't want to be with her, he had other options besides murder. So I also kind of wonder if custody played a role in all of this. If maybe he feared that Laura would take their daughter and take her with her if she left him. Maybe he believed that the only way for him to keep his little girl was if Laura was out of the picture. which if that was his thinking, I mean, the irony in all of that is brutal because now he's in jail and he will never raise her at all. And I always get stuck and hung up on like when there's spouse murder and they and like the root of it is because they want to be with the child. Well, now the child has no parent right now. As for James, he accepted a plea deal and he agreed to testify against both John and Jesus. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

John's trial took place in September of 2018. And when James took the stand, he explained how he had known Jesus since high school, how they weren't really that close of friends, mostly because according to James, Jesus was constantly involved in some kind of criminal scheme, but and trying to kind of like drag him along into trouble. But James testified that in September of 2015, he was desperate. He was living in a motel. He had no job, no money. And that's when he heard someone was looking for a driver and that the pay, according to him, was good. At first, James assumed that it was just a robbery. He didn't want anything to do with that either, and he told Jesus no. But they stayed in contact. And eventually, Jesus told him that there was construction work that was available through his boss as well.

So, that's how James justified it to himself until it was too late. The court also heard testimony from the neighbor who let Brian, Laura's brother, use the phone, and she described something that stuck with her from when Jon arrived that day after everything was, you know, discovered. When a family friend approached John and asked what had happened, John ran his finger across his neck, mimicking like a throat slitting gesture. Kind of like, which that's a pretty chilling and callous way to tell somebody that his future bride, the woman he claimed to love, was dead. Needless to say, the jury didn't take very long to deliberate, and Jon was found guilty.

and ultimately he ended up being sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Jesus's trial was the following year in 2019 and he was also found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. So, good on that. But this whole case was frustrating from start to finish. Laura spent her whole life looking for love, taking care of other people. She went from one bad relationship to another. And then finally when she finally thought that she met the man of her dreams, the man she was going to marry, he did everything in his power to keep her in his life and you know keep her there even when she wanted out just to turn around and have her killed one week before their wedding. It's so heartbreaking and so pointless. And now Laura's kids have to grow up without their mom because why? Some loser fell out of love with her. He wanted the rights to their daughter. I'll never

understand it. I will never understand how instead of just get a divorce or don't get married in the first place, people think I'm going to murder and that's how I'm going to solve my problem. Make it make sense. But it is again a cautionary tale. So, thank you so much for hearing Laura's story today and allowing her voice to continue on. Let's hope that her children are all thriving and doing well and let's all just like give a standing ovation for her friend Heather because without her who knows what if they would have started looking into John and what would have come and where Laura's daughter would be. So amen to you Heather. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for listening. I will be back with you very soon. Don't forget, hit that subscribe button on your way out and the like button. And let me know in the comments, what do you think the motive was here?

What do you think his motive was? Why didn't he just let her leave him? Why did he want to marry her? Was it custody? Was it because he still wanted money? Who? What was it? What was the motive? Let me know in the comments. All right, until the next case, stay safe. Bye.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo"?

Annie Elise (Host), Laura Grillo (Guest), John Mis (Guest), Brian Grillo (Guest), James (Guest), Jesus (Guest), Michaela Shirley (Guest), Heather (Guest).

What is "Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo" about?

The content addresses the pervasive issue of debt, likening it to a silent killer that can quietly complicate financial situations through compounding interest and fees. It emphasizes the importance of seeking help, specifically through a personalized debt relief service like PDS Debt, which has a strong reputation for assisting individuals in managing their financial burdens effectively.

What is mentioned in this Annie Elise episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Laura Gillow, John Mis, James Vala, Jesus Trevino, Heather Neighbor Grace, Michaela Shirley. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Murdered 8 Days Before Her Wedding Day | Laura Grillo"?

The episode runs 59 min; the transcript is about 10,720 words in 92 timestamped sections.

More from Annie Elise

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.