A "Jewel" of a Wife

Both Traylor and Arlene came off as belligerent and unconcerned about the effect of her cheating on her family.

I was grilled by defense counsel for three hours. The prosecutor and detective Grayson said that I did very well. They said that I came out as strong but cooperative, and very credible.

After my cross-examination the prosecution put on detective Grayson to explain that there was no way that I could have committed the theft. She said the DVD at Jen and Bill's house showed me entering there at 11:02 p.m., not leaving, and my car not leaving, yet the break-in occurred (as indicated by the alarm system being deactivated) at 11:05. In a dozen tests, the fastest that any patrolman had been able to get to my house from Jen and Bill's at that time of night was nine minutes and thirty two seconds.

Detective Grayson also testified that I did not have a key to the safe. The only two were the one Arlene had in her purse and the one in the safe deposit box. She testified that I had not even visited the safe deposit box for more than three months, before the first "team building" session.

An expert confirmed that Bill's DVD was recording the time accurately, as was my alarm system.

Once the case went to the jury Arlene and Traylor sensed that things were not going to go their way and tried to make a deal with the prosecutor for misdemeanors – just what I suggested to Arlene. Arlene even agreed to give me sole custody of the kids. The prosecutor asked for my opinion. I told her "You're in charge, but after she put us through the expense and trouble of a trial, if it were up to me I'd let the jury decide." That's what she did.

The jury came back with a verdict in less than two hours. They were found guilty on all counts, including theft and insurance fraud for Arlene, and theft and assault for Traylor.

Arlene was sentenced to three years in jail and probation for five years, and the bar association started disbarment proceedings against her since she had been convicted of a felony.

Since Traylor had two misdemeanor convictions in his background and since the assault against me was a "special circumstance" because it was in my home, he got four years in jail and probation for five years, and was ordered to pay restitution for my cell phone and suit jacket.

After the criminal trial the divorce was a slam dunk. All of Arlene's pleas – through her attorney since she was in jail – fell on deaf ears. The marriage was dissolved based upon adultery. I got full custody of the kids, paid up child support for three years and more when Arlene got out of prison, and the house. The rest of our assets (before Arlene's criminal defense costs) were split 50-50. She was ordered to pay my attorney's fees.

As my brother-in-law and best friend, Bill, and I walked out of the courtroom he had a big smile on his face.

"What's with the shit-eating grin?" I asked.

"How did you do it, Austen. You can tell me now!" he expectantly replied.

"Do what?" I laughed.

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What I wouldn't tell Bill, but will tell you, is that of course I set up the entire "theft" thing.

I was very suspicious of the "team building" lie the first time I heard it. I confirmed that it was a lie by having a co-worker call HR at Arlene's office; if HR never heard of it I concluded that it was bogus.

The first Friday night of the "team building" I had already hired a local high school senior as a babysitter. She came over as soon as Arlene left. I paid her $50 for sitting and $100 to never tell anyone that she did sit that night.

Arlene's cell phone gives out a signal that an app on my smartphone picks up, and I made sure that it was working before she left that Friday night. As soon as the sitter arrived I tracked Arlene down using that app. I found her and a guy I had never seen at a restaurant that I had never even heard of. I went in with a disguise on, cornered a bus boy, and gave him $100 to bring me a glass that Arlene's "date" had handled and drank from.

I waited until Arlene and her date exited the restaurant. I saw them kiss before she got in his car. Still in the disguise I walked in back of the car and photographed the license plate with my cell phone.

By Monday afternoon I knew that Arlene's date was Jack Traylor, and where he lived. I hired a private eye to follow Arlene the 2nd and 3rd Fridays, and it is then that he got the photos of them fucking by his pool. I told the P. I. that I did not want his report – so I could claim that I had no actual proof until then – until the day after her fourth Friday "team building" session.

I had a plan in place – including how to get custody of the kids if we divorced – by Sunday night.

The first Monday, before I left for work, I removed Arlene's distinctive emerald ring from her jewelry box. She never wore it to work, but did whenever she went out. I paid an actress who was the same size as Arlene, and who wore a wig with the same color and style of hair as Arlene and sported her emerald ring on her finger, to rent a storage facility cube in Arlene's name, paying three months cash in advance.

By Tuesday I had purchased some key impressioning clay. While Arlene was sleeping that night I snuck her keys out of her purse and got impressions of her house safe and house desk keys. The next day I got home from work early and using alloy slug, a cheap metal that melts and then solidifies quickly, made copihhes of those keys.

Wearing gloves, I laid out a new padlock that night and asked Arlene if she had ever seen it or the key for it. She picked them both up, looked at them, and said, no I don't think so. Why?"

"If you don't have another use for it I want to use it to lock my tool box, OK?" I replied.

"Sure," she responded and walked away. I put the lock in a plastic bag hoping that her fingerprints would remain on it and the key.

Two days before the theft with reflectors I marked obstacles in a path through the woods between my house and Jen's.

The day before the theft I opened up her desk drawer and put the storage facility envelope with the code for getting into the facility front door, and the key with her fingerprints on it [I had another made for me at a hardware store], into the drawer.

I had the same actress who rented the facility for me rent a van with a motorcycle rack on the back, and had her boyfriend rent me a dirt bike. I parked the dirt bike in a clump of trees in back of Jen and Bill's house.

I also got the password for Arlene's laptop from the list of passwords in her locked deck, set up a new email account, and left a draft email in the account allegedly for Jack Traylor. The email said that she couldn't wait to get together with him and if their plan worked they would be able to live off of my stolen property while she got a divorce.

I paid the actress and her boyfriend to be on call the 4th Friday night of the "team building" sessions to walk from the side of Traylor's house and using the extra key for Arlene's car drive it away. Before doing that I had the boyfriend ready to open up Traylor's car using a car "lockout tool," and drop my gold cufflinks between the passenger side door and seat. I had also placed a wrapped box with "Jack" on the tag for it and my Rolex watch inside in the trunk of Arlene's car.

Earlier that day I had parked the rented van in my garage and disabled the automatic garage door opener.

Two days earlier I had placed Traylor's fingerprints – from the glass at the restaurant – onto the basement window that would allow access. I found that to be much simpler than I imagined it would be. Instructions on the Internet (obtained via a library computer, not mine), cocoa powder, a shallow bowl, and a small paintbrush were all that I needed. Plus a little patience. I apparently did a good enough job to fool the cops.

Up until my talk with Arlene begging her not to go out the 4th Friday I had not decided to actually pull everything off. I honestly believe that if she had stayed home that night and pulled the plug on her relationship with Traylor that we had at least a 50-50 chance that we could have made it (although I would have gotten revenge on him, somehow). When she not only went but gave me the comment about her getting the kids if I tried to divorce her, my love for her instantly evaporated and I set the plan in motion.

The only assistance that Bill provided – unknowingly – was to, a few weeks before the theft, answer my questions about the only part of his house that the cameras did not pick up; namely, a particular basement window that had fake metal bars on it.

I had already received a communication from the actress that she and her boyfriend had left Traylor's house before 11:00 p.m. Traylor had left several windows in his car open since it was a hot night, so her boyfriend did not even have to break into the car to leave the cufflinks.

By the time that I had returned to Bill's house from my car at 11:02 I had already opened the hidden basement window. I quickly exited it, ran to the dirt bike, cut through the woods at over 40 mph knowing that the reflectors would warn me of obstacles, and got to the basement window of my house that I had earlier defeated the alarm for and planted Traylor's fingerprints on. Using gloves for everything I first pulled out the phone line, then detached the battery, then turned off the backup generator, then turned off the main power switch.

I used the key I had made from Arlene's to open the safe. Since I knew where everything was and the van was in the garage, despite working in the dark I cleaned everything out in less than an hour. I drove to the storage facility, loaded everything into the rented cube there, and put the lock with Arlene's fingerprints on it on the latch. That took only a little more than an hour.

I returned the van to the rental place and left it in the lot and put the keys in the drop box. I caught a cab and had it drop me off a block from my house. I rode the dirt bike back to Bill's house picking up reflectors as I went. I hid the dirt bike in the clump of trees, and climbed back into his house through the same window I had exited and reattached the fake metal bars.

Having Traylor come to my house and do what he did was an unexpected bonus.

I never did find out what motivated Arlene to have the affair with Traylor, nor anything else about it. I guess if I had ever listened to her or him when they were anxious to talk with me I would have found out. However, once she spurned me when I gave her the last clear chance I didn't really give a fuck. I got my revenge, now they can live with it.