Transcription
Tara McCaulay sits beside her 19-year-old daughter, Kiara. Unbeknownst to her, both of their lives are about to change forever.
"How's my housing crime?"
"There's a deceased person in your garage. That's why it's a crime scene. There's a body in there. Stand up for me."
Kiara is a deranged teenage killer. She just brutally killed her ex-girlfriend with a 3-ft long sword. The body lies in her mother's home just feet away. But this discovery of a body would be just the start. The investigation that followed would reveal a vile teenage couple whose actions left officers, family members, and detectives in utter shock as their horrifying crimes slowly began coming to light.
"You see like slashed on her knee. She's missing a year. And then there's a big ass sword. And then there's blood stains all over the bed."
"I walked into the garage. She goes, 'Oh, I just did it.'"
"Just walk this way. What the [Music]"
The day begins when 911 Dispatch receives a call from a distressed mother. She claims that her son, 22-year-old Isaac, has just witnessed his girlfriend, Kiara, decapitate a woman inside her own home. The call is unclear, and officers don't know whether the suspect is still on the scene or if they're planning to take more innocent lives. Within minutes, five officers arrive at the scene prepared for the worst.
"See someone on the back side in the alley? Somewhere down here. 5941."
"[Music] Huh? Walked in. Kick it in. Let's put on the door. Kick the door. I got you cover. Let me see your ass. Back up. Back up. What's going on? Who called? What? Someone was getting killed. We're being told that the girlfriend's in the garage. That's where she Where's the garage? Apparently killed the other 41."
Officers get intel that the body is inside the home's garage directly behind them. One team will clear the primary house while the other prepares to make entry into the garage. Without any detailed information, the officers have to proceed with extreme caution.
"Police department. Think it goes around. Maybe I think it goes around. How do people live like this?"
While the officers in the house find nothing of interest, the same can't be said for the team entering the garage.
"Who's in this garage? My [ __ ] door. Someone just called it. Someone just got Step over here. Step over here. Someone just got stabbed inside that garage. Is that here? Anybody here?"
"[Music] Yeah, we got one down. San, go back inside. Go back inside. I'm not going to tell you again. Go back inside. Detain him. Detain him. What are you talking about? Santa Fe police. Anyone inside? Watch. Yeah. I can't. Got one down. I can't. Where is he? He's right here by the door. Open that back door. The garage. Can you open the garage from that side? No. It's broken and it's been broken for 10 years."
Inside the garage, officers find 21-year-old Grace Jennings dead. She has a deep laceration across her neck and several slashes across her body. Tara McCaulay appears completely clueless about what's happening. However, the same can't be said for her daughter, Kiara. While officers continue searching the garage, body cam footage captures 19-year-old Kiara frantically explaining to her mother what happened.
"We have Isaac on the phone. Want to know if you guys need him. I guess he's the boyfriend. Invited her last night without him telling me. I got really pissed off. Of course, but what what would she would Why would she be here if he invited her last night? So, I was angry. She stayed the night. Yeah. In my house? Yeah. And I'm pissed about it. Grace is not allowed here. She knows that. Who's Isaac's girlfriend? She is. You're Isaac's girlfriend. Yes. Okay. What are you, to Isaac? Do you have one? Well, I'm kind of mother-in-law to be. This is your daughter? Yes, this is my daughter. Step out with me real quick. What's your name? Kiara."
Grace Jennings is the ex-girlfriend of Kiara. After a violent breakup years prior, she was banned from the property permanently. According to Kiara, her current boyfriend, 22-year-old Isaac, had invited Grace to sleep over the previous night, all without Kiara's permission. She claims this pissed her off, revealing a small glimpse as to what happened on this twisted Thursday morning.
"This is his girlfriend. Oh, can I get some shoes on or something? Not right now. We detained at this point. Okay. Did you guys have a fight or something? Anybody else? Can she sit down so I can put her shoes on her feet? Who else? Is there a female that lives in here? Her and Isaac went and Isaac went for a walk. Yeah, he was going for a walk shower. They were going to go on a walk."
Isaac, in fact, did not go for a walk. Instead, he frantically ran to a friend's workplace after finding Grace's decapitated body with Kiara reportedly giggling beside it. Clearly, something is very wrong. Worst of all, Kiara's mother, Tara, hasn't even realized there's a dead body in the garage or that her own daughter is responsible.
"I have cats. I have to Unfortunately, mom, but this is an active investigation, okay? So, nobody's going back somehow. No, this is a crime scene at this point. That was my house. [ __ ] crazy. There's a deceased person in your garage. That's why it's a crime scene. There's a body in there. Stand up for me. Walk this way. What the [ __ ] Come here with me now."
As officers clear the home and detain Kiara, it seems the chaos has finally settled. Or so they think. Because just seconds later, Grace's mother arrives on the scene completely unaware of what has just happened to her daughter.
"Hello, I'm Sergeant Rodriguez. Um, so we still have an active investigation here. I don't have a lot of the details. Is she okay? Who? Grace, is she breathing, living? Is she okay? I'm not sure of that. I don't have all the information. What happened? What happened? We're trying to gather all the information. So, like the sergeant said, if you could go back with us to the police department and then we can give you a little bit more information from there. Who's Gray? Do you have an idea of Gray or do you have a photo of Gray or anything? Grace. Of Grace. Grace, I'm sorry."
Officers continue to comfort Grace's mother. They refrain from revealing Grace was deceased, something they'd have to explain later on. Across town, another team of officers begin searching for Kiara's boyfriend, Isaac. The only witness to the murder and a key figure in solving the case. During the 911 call, Isaac's mother told dispatch where he was, a tech store close to Kiara's house. Using that information, officers quickly tracked him down.
"All right, stay stay right here. Let me uh look around real quick. For now, officers assume Isaac is simply an innocent bystander to Kiara's brutality. However, this will soon change. Yeah, there he is. He's coming out. Is it Isaac? Did you call us, bro? Yes, I Here. Come over here. You're good. Come here. You don't have any knives, any weapons on you? No. No. Just put it down for now. Just put it down. You're not in trouble, bro. Got to make sure you don't have any weapons. Okay. Put your hands up right here for now, bro. just because we're it looks like your girlfriend or whoever's in there is uh really injured. So, for now, we're going to put you under detention of Kent so we can figure this out. You're not under arrest. And who's in the garage? Who lives with you in the garage? Your girlfriend Kiara Maui. Okay. So, can you tell me how did this call transpire? How did you how did you call us? I walked into the garage and when I walked in the garage, she goes, 'Oh, I just did it.' And and I'm like, 'And who who was this?' Kiara McCulli. She told you that very calmly and everything, blood on her hands and Okay."
Officers have no reason to suspect Isaac of the murder. He remains cordial and provides them with a chilling account of Kiara's behavior after the murder, but his demeanor starts to take a drastic turn as he's placed in the back of a patrol vehicle.
"What was your name? Isaac Aquadaku. Isaac. Do you need to get checked out by Madsman? No. No. Okay. You want the air or anything? You want hot cold? Not this. We'll roll down the window and we'll give you a a minute. All right. I don't want to eat anything. No, no, no. I wanted to I was already planning on leaving today, too. I have all my stuff packed up and I wanted to go I wanted to go to my mom and dad just cuz I'm I'm not good in I'm not in a good mental space."
To the untrained eye, Isaac's emotions might seem like shock from what he just witnessed. This is simply not the case because Isaac was far more involved in the murder than he's letting on, and he knows it's only a matter of time before investigators start to catch on. Police end their conversation with Isaac, and both he and Kiara are transported to the Santa Fe County Police Station. With both suspects being successfully detained, detectives will begin their process of individually interrogating Isaac and Kiara. One detective will conduct both interrogations, yet they turn out completely different from one another. Kiara's especially takes a dark turn as she delivers answers with a chilling truthfulness. What follows is not simply an interrogation, but one of the most disturbing conversations we've ever covered.
"Have you ever thought about hurting her or killing her? I had a couple dreams like that. And how would you kill her? Dependent on the dream. So, there's so many dreams. Yes. But before the interrogations begin, the detective in charge will go to the crime scene looking to gather information from the primary officers. The detective assigned to this case is Javier Vigil of the Santa Fe Police Department. Javier is an experienced detective who as of 2025 has been promoted to SWAT commander for SFPD. His objective at the scene is clear to gather as much information as possible as quickly as possible. He's focused on identifying the primary suspects and determining any potential motives. Every detail will be critical in shaping the narrative he'll use during interrogation and ultimately in securing a confession. What he doesn't realize yet is that his investigation will prove far more revealing than anyone anticipated."
"You got here first. I got here first, but we all we all kind of walked in at the same time. I come here and from here they have a straight shot. So I see her blonde girl, black teacher running inside. So I call contact. I close the door, open it. No one's answering. So we break the door down and they're like, 'Oh [ __ ] the the suspect's boyfriend cuz the one that called in.' No, it's a 41 that called in. A third party 10:41 called in. The guy's mom. The mom's like, 'I have no idea what happened.' This one's acting a little like weird asking anything. So we find Tanner. Cool. They go inside the garage and find you see like slashed on her knee. She's missing a ear. Okay. And then there's a big ass sword right as you walk into the to the right on the dresser and it and then there's blood stains all over the bed. Okay. Did we knock at the the next door neighbor? See if anyone heard anything? Let's let's cross that off the list so that's done. See if we get anyone that heard anything and then we can take everyone back. We'll knock out our interviews, get our paper, come do our search, and then we can let go of the scene."
Detective Vigil and his team go on to get further information from neighbors. This, alongside the primary officer's account, gives him a solid report to go off of. Kiara, Isaac, and the victim, Grace, had all individually dated each other at different periods. Grace and Kiara had a toxic relationship and quickly turned into enemies after their breakup. Isaac had also previously dated Grace, but had a dramatic breakup after just days of being together. Isaac was 20 and Grace was just 16 during their relationship. During Isaac's ride to the station, he explained to officers that he had invited Grace to Kiara's house because she had no place to stay for the night. Lastly, Vigil was informed that just a day earlier, Isaac had been charged with domestic battery against Kiara. The specifics were unclear, but these suspicious details would leave Vigil on high alert going into his interrogations.
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With that said, let's get back to the investigation. Back at the station, Vigil begins his day with Isaac. This is no accident. By questioning him first, the detective hopes to build a foundation of incriminating details, ammunition for the real confrontation still to come.
"I have no reason to believe you to be a suspect right now or anything like that, we're going to take the handcuffs off. Is that okay with you? Yes. Okay. Well, just cuz every kind of new developing and like I said, we don't really know fully what's going on. Um, I do want to advise you of your constitutional rights before we talk at all."
Detective Vigil wastes no time in assuring Isaac he's not a suspect, but that statement is a calculated lie. As we know, Isaac had been charged with domestic battery against Kiara, a violent pattern that Vigil was already aware of. Combined with earlier details, they had every reason to view him as a suspect. Still, their strategy was clear. Avoid confrontation, keep Isaac at ease, and let him talk.
"So, the only thing I ask is for truthfulness. I'm going to be upfront with you. I'm going to be truthful with you. I just ask that you do the same to me in return. Okay. Just tell me the truth and tell me everything that happened. All right. Okay. Uh where does So, because it's Lonnie McCauy's house, um does she live there or does she live somewhere else? She lives there. Okay. In the main house. And when you say the main house, what do you mean by that? The main house? Um there's a garage in the backyard that's separated from the main house. It would be if I gave you a paper and a pen, would you kind of draw it out for me? Like kind of show me show me where Jaguar Drive is. Show me where the house is."
The house sits in a quiet neighborhood on Jaguar Drive. Kiara and Isaac live in a makeshift room in the home's outdoor garage, while Kiara's mother stays in the main house. After mapping out the layout and where everything happened, the conversation shifts to the murder itself. This is when Isaac describes the chilling moment he found Grace's lifeless body in the garage.
"Um, how long have you been living in the garage? A year ago and a half. Okay, let's bring ourselves to today and I want you to kind of tell me in your own memory what happened from that time all the way to getting here to this interview. So from the time it began would be yesterday we started we were all hanging out. Night time came around we started falling asleep. Holly did not fall asleep. I had told I was talking to Grace who was in the garage as well. I said I we have to go um she's she's telling us we need to leave. and I left the main house to go use the restroom for the last time. And then I walked in back into the garage. She walked up to me and goes, 'I did it.' With a smile on her face and I looked at the ground and I was like, 'So, I called my mom immediately to let her know that something happened.' My mom proceeded to call 911. really scared because I've witnessed Sorry, it's okay. I I've witnessed my friend getting shot. So my separately from this Yes. It was a while back and I was sitting in the back seat. got walked up, his brains out. He landed on me to testify in court. And I'm [Music] Anything like this gets me super traumatized. And it's a traumatic event. I can imagine. So when I went back in the garage, when I saw her in the ground on on the ground, I couldn't say anything cuz I was like, 'This is another one of my friends gone.' I keep losing friends left and right. I'm scared right now."
After recounting this morning, Isaac would go on to explain why Grace was sleeping at that house. He does not include the fact that the two females were in an ongoing feud, instead pretending they were all cordial friends. Kiara would provide a polar opposite recount in her interrogation. But before Detective Vigil gets to her, he has one final question for Isaac.
"How did you know that Kira didn't want you guys there anymore? She woke up. Well, she woke up from what she said. She slept, but she was awake the whole time. And she turned over, told me, 'You guys need to get out. I don't want you guys here.' It was really freaking me out. So, I was trying to get out. I was in and out of the room trying to contact my mom to pick me up to get me out of there. What time did you guys wake up at? What time did you wake up at? I woke up at about 7:50. At what time did Kiara tell you you guys had to leave? She told us we had to leave at about 8:30. Okay. In between 8:30 and to the time your mom called 911. Kind of what happened in there. But when I packed my stuff, I went inside the house, which was a stupid mistake for me to go in the house, use the bathroom, and then come back and see what I saw. After you peed, you went immediately back to the garage. Yes. So, what time would you say that was at? 11:47. Now, I think we got the call a little after 1:30. Yes. Kind of an hour and a half gap there. Was there a long period of time that you and Kiara were trying to figure out what was going to happen? There was a There was a long period of time. It was when I was standing on the side of the garage. Tell me about that. I was hyperventilating. Then I made the call to my mom. My mom made the call. I know. I should have been the one to call. I feel like I'm going to pass out. Let's take some deep breaths. I need a little break if that's okay with you. I'll use the restroom real quick. Um, sound good. Sounds good. All right. Hey, thanks for your time, Isaac. Back in a bit."
Throughout his interview, Isaac worked hard to portray himself as a victim, bringing up his past, the friends he's lost, and how deeply this event has traumatized him. He likely believes he's convincing that he's playing the role well. But what Isaac doesn't realize is how quickly things are about to turn against him. By the time officers come into Kiara's interrogation room to begin the interview, she's already been left alone for more than 3 hours. Plenty of time to think. In that silence, she began forming a plan, not to deny the murder outright, but to find a way to minimize her responsibility. Kiara knows there's no escaping the fact that a murder took place. The body has been found and all evidence points directly to her. But she's not planning to walk out innocent. She's planning to walk out with a story. If she can act as though she's mentally unstable, there's a chance she'll be deemed not guilty by reason of insanity. This, in her eyes, is a much less severe outcome, which will get her back to the real world in no time. This is a common misconception. Legal insanity isn't about acting strange after arrest. It's about your mental state at the moment of the crime. Detectives record everything. And criminal psychologists are trained to spot rehearsed behavior and malingering. Even if a judge believes you are genuinely insane, you don't go home. You go to a locked forensic hospital with no fixed release date. If you aren't genuinely crippled by mental illness, the constant observation, enforced medication, and clinical evaluations become their own punishment. Kiara doesn't realize this, so she'll begin the interrogation with confidence that she can outsmart the system.
"Paul, any idea why you're here today? I believe it's cuz somebody was found dead in my room. Where's your room at? In the garage. The garage? Yes. I was trying to make sure this wasn't a freaking injury again. Feels so weird. You believe someone was found dead in your room? Do you have any idea who that might be? Well, I'm really tired, but uh last night Isaac invited my ex-girlfriend Grace Jennings, who now has is going by Yamo. I don't know anymore. I always knew her as Grace or Rose."
Kiara takes no time to begin her act, alluding that she's had dreams of murder in the past. Unfortunately for her, Detective Vigil won't pick up on this, so she'll soon make another try.
"Was trying to sleep, but if you were blocking memories for me again. God damn it. Sorry. Who are you talking to? Um, my best guess is that I have DID, but I'm not 100% certain. What's DID? Dissociative identity disorder. Um, I haven't had it actually diagnosed, but that's my best guess for my research."
DID is a rare but serious mental illness affecting roughly 200,000 US citizens. Kiara is not a part of that 200,000 as her DID is completely self-diagnosed. Records show she had never visited a medical facility to treat this supposed illness, nor does her family recall her ever discussing it. She'll go on to explain her symptoms which only further prove her theatrics to the detective.
"Um there are different personalities that come out. Do you have names for them? Some of them. Yeah. What are their names? Um there's Abby and um then there's we call her Jinx because she hates people saying her real name. Jinx. You say her real name, she mad. [ __ ] Then there's one personality that I haven't seen in a long time. Like I haven't communicated with her with Wow. My name was Jess. Any other personalities? There's the little version of me which actually responds to my biological name. She She responds to Kiara. Yep. Yes. What do you mean by that door? It's like a little kid before bad [ __ ] started happening."
We reached out to a California-based psychiatric doctor to get his opinions on Kiara's illness. He explained that Kiara showed no evident changes in voice or personality switching during the interview, something that is extremely common with DID patients. Additionally, the descriptions of her different personalities were superficial and lacking in detail, mostly limited to generic labels rather than the rich and textured indistinctions that real DID patients involuntarily manifest. It makes sense why a professional would later deem her mentally fit to stand trial.
"What kind of bad stuff happened? Oh, I've had bad relationship with my mom. Reason why I never wanted to see Grace, but I pissed me off by bringing her to my house. Is she alive or dead? Grace? Yeah. You don't know? I'm not sure. What do you think? Well, I'm partially hopeful for her to be dead, but I'm also like confused. Like, was I'm like, why would you hope that she's dead? Uh, I'm just angry at her, but I also have hope that she'd be better, but it's like this frustrating motion that I can't seem to pinpoint. Tell me about last night. What did you do last night? So Isaac tells me that Grace is coming over [Music] without asking me if it's okay. Is it okay if she comes over? He's like, 'She's coming over.' They started talking about phones and Marvel and stuff that I don't really understand as much. Mhm. I started feeling frustrated cuz she wasn't listening to me at all. So she stayed in the garage. Yeah. And you slept in the garage and so did Isaac. Well, she and Isaac were sleeping. I was just staring at the ceiling and trying to find a comfortable spot where I could actually fall asleep. Yeah. I woke up well woke up and sat up around 9 or 10. Woke guys up. Next thing I remember is going to go take a shower. You remember chunk missing? I don't understand. [Music] I'm confused. Do you have a whole chunk of memory missing? Yeah. But you remember the whole night clearly? Yeah, I remember most of it is like a little foggy cuz I'm like obviously exhausted."
Kiara's conveniently timed memory lapse during the hours of Grace's murder strongly suggests she's the one responsible. It almost feels deliberate, as if she's subtly acknowledging her guilt while using the moment to reinforce the idea of her mental instability. She won't come right out and confess, but she'll make it obvious it was her as long as her supposed illness is in the same sentence. Detective Vigil knows this is nonsense, but instead of challenging her, he leans into it, encouraging her to elaborate and reveal even more inconsistencies. Unaware of this strategy, Kiara walks right into his trap.
"Tell me about these other personalities. What's Abby like? She's very protective. She takes control when I'm in a very dangerous situation and just says, 'Okay, I'm here now. I am going to face this for you.' Jinx is a troublemaker. Those are my people. So, how does it work? So, imagine you're in a house and there's this big TV with the PS4 or Xbox or whatever. So, whoever's playing the game is in charge. Sometimes you can peek over and kind of see what's going on. Sometimes this personality just decides, 'Oh, I'm going to go to this room that can't see the TV.' Sometimes it feels like it's getting shut."
While dissociative episodes are sometimes described using imagery of rooms or houses, her explanation sounds more like something taken from a movie than the words of someone truly experiencing psychological distress. Detective Visual recognizes this, but sticks to his plan, keeping her talking, gradually, letting Kiara back herself into a corner.
"So, who who was playing the game last night? Well, it I felt like I was in control for a little while and then it just kept getting really foggy. Like, I was being thrown in a god damn hurts. You in control, meaning froggy, right? That's who we're talking to now, Froggy. But before that, you remember everything? More or less. I'm just like I felt a lot of anger more so than Jinx has ever had or Aby's ever had. And I don't remember Jess being like that. But she was also the one who was out more when she was with Grace. Kiara says her personality Jess had been out while with Grace. However, just minutes ago, she stated she hadn't seen Jess come out in years. Then, there's one personality that I haven't seen in a long time, and it was Jess."
Unfortunately for Kiara, in the interrogation room, you can only lie for so long before things start to crumble.
"You said something interesting earlier. You said um you asked about Grace. You asked if she was okay and you said that part of you would be okay if she was dead, right? Yeah. Have you ever thought about hurting her or killing her? I had a couple dreams like that. You had a couple dreams like that? Yeah. How' those dreams go? They were mostly right after we found out that sometimes I would kill her, sometimes I would her. Sometimes it was just me screaming at her. And how would you kill her? Depended on the dream. So, there's several dreams. Yes. How many? I've had like a bunch of murder dreams, if you could call that. So, there's an organization that I think is in charge of. I probably shouldn't be saying this to a cop. Well, it's called Ghost. They're like an underground version of cops in a way, but a little more intense and deadly."
Kiara's explanation of her disturbing dreams shine light on a core variable in her and Isaac's crimes, their idolization of violence. We've had to cut the next small portion of the interrogation out because Kiara discusses detailed dreams so grim they unfortunately wouldn't be allowed on YouTube. This chilling theme can be seen across Kiara's various social media profiles, all of which are still public to this day. Her constant posts showcase a fascination for horror. Even just a day before Grace's murder, Kiara would post several demonic videos to her Tik Tok. These dark fascinations are things most teenagers outgrow. But for Kiara, they became reality. She speaks of an underground group called Ghost, offering few details beyond its obsession with deadly violence. Whether she mentions it to support her insanity claim or to impress the detective is unclear, but the information is useful to the police. Detective Vigil presses further, hoping to draw out anything she's willing to give.
"They get rid of people who are in words in charge of trafficking, in charge of anything that has to deal with hurting kids. He kept trying to tell me just do it and you're gonna just just kill her. Then you'll get ranked up. Yes. He had we join. And I'm like I don't know what the's going on. And I kept hesitating. It's like what's that thing there? It said very confused because he hasn't told me Jack [ __ ] Just gave this to me. I was like now you're a part of it. Like okay. Sounds like like an initiation tattoo kind of some ghost an underground society of people that kind of their own version of cops and justice. They kind of kill bad people and this is kind of me trying to piece together kind of like what you were saying like the messages I saw too was Isaac trying to push you to kill Grace. Yeah. M I had my dagger in my hand and I kept going and then just stopped like I felt a little kid's hand hold me back like it was Kiara telling me don't don't."
The moment Detective Vigil gives Kiara the opportunity to blame Isaac for the murder, she takes it, bringing up details about Isaac's underground organization, as well as his repeated pressure for her to kill Grace. And while Kiara has been caught in a web of lies up until this point, her remarks about Isaac would turn out to be nearly completely honest. Detective Vigil has achieved everything he could have wanted from this interrogation. So, he decides to end things, leaving Kiara to spend the night in jail. His focus now is on Isaac and trying to hone in on how implicated he actually was in this murder. So, before returning from his break, vigilant his partner would devise a plan. Police confiscated his phone while being detained earlier that day. Traditionally, to gain access to the phone involves a multi-month process involving warrants and various subpoenas. However, if they can get Isaac to sign a consent form, they can gain access to his phone immediately and observe his reaction in real time as they read his messages. With this plan in mind, Detective Vigil along with his partner would return back to Isaac's interrogation room.
"Hey, Isaac. So, I have your cell phone. I know our cell phones are very important to us cuz we have pretty much all our personal information on them and everything. Given that there were kind of messages and stuff um and this is still lacking investigation, there is reason to believe that there is potentially evidence on your phone. So, one way or another, we are going to have to look at the data on the phone. And um it's just a fancy form and a fancy way of saying that you're giving us permission to extract the data from your phone and only look at things uh pertaining to this case. Right. Yeah. sign right there, please. And the phone and password. There's no password. No password. It's just a quick swipe up and that's it. Okay."
The plan works surprisingly well. Isaac seems to be completely oblivious of what he just signed. Ironically, this very signature will most likely seal his fate in court, exposing countless deeply disturbing messages with Kiara.
"Um, okay. Messages. Did you have any messages between you and Grace? But then Instagram. Instagram. Okay. Okay. So, this is kind of when everything started. Hey, I got kicked out and she's telling everyone to leave her house. I'm going to head to my fam's place. First of all, who Second, my mom can only come get me at 3:30. Why is she kicking you out? And does she know I'm here? Wait a minute. I thought I thought you guys all hung out the night before. We did. Grace actually thought she was being snuck into the home without Kiara knowing. Clearly, the two were planning something that Grace was unaware of. Isaac completely freezes as his lies finally begin to catch up to him. You'll notice Isaac go into this panic state often in the next 25 minutes because this is the first of many more blatant lies detectives would find. So, how come she doesn't know she's there? I was very confused and I told her, 'She's kicking me out because you're here and she knows it.' Did she not know she was there? Cuz that's what it looks like. She knew she was there. Then why is it looking like in these messages? She She knew she was there and acting like she didn't know where she was. And that was the part that threw me off was like, 'She's kicking us out. Why is she kicking me out? And how does she know I'm here?' I'm like, 'We discussed it.' Yes. Okay. Where are your messages with Kiara? They're going to be in Messenger. Oh, okay. She says she is leaving at 3:30. What would you like me to do? Stab her. I don't know. I don't have the energy to do [ __ ] I am fake and thrown out. You're getting fake thrown out. Yes. That's usually how it happens. I get told to leave. Mhm. And 5 days later, she charged me to come back. Uh-huh. Unless I ask your mom to give me a ride to Target and you do what is needed. What do you mean you do what is needed? I have no clue. From this on from beyond here, I don't know what's going on. You don't know what's going on? But these are messages from you. Um I do have another cell phone didn't tell you guys about, but it's still over there at the house. So you did send these messages or you did on this from down on? No. Everything Is Isaac is saying is a terribly orchestrated act. Moments of clear incrimination like this are often considered the critical moments of an interrogation. It's the point in which every decision the detective makes can be the difference between a complete confession or a failed session with the suspect. Isaac's nervous behavior indicates he knows things are slipping out of control. So, Detective Visual makes the smart decision to give up the nice cop act and start pressing for answers."
"Isaac, this is getting really weird, man. I have a second phone. You have a second phone? Yes. Where is that phone? That's at the house. Okay. It is logged into the same Facebook account. I don't know, man. These these messages look a lot like there's some conspiring going on, some planning going on. From that point where I was telling you from even before then, it sounds like you guys are planning something. You're fake getting thrown out. And what I say fake getting thrown out like I said was do do you want to start over cuz I'm I'm really confused with everything that's going on. Like you're telling me you have two phones now and those other messages aren't you and it it's what you're telling me your statement isn't lining up with these messages. Isaac's demeanor has shifted drastically from just minutes prior. He knows how poorly things have just gotten for him. Now, I told you at the beginning of this talk that we need to be we need to be truthful with this, right? Yes, I am being truthful. I do have a secondary phone and I'm telling you the messages, not me. They're from Kiara to using my Facebook from me to Kiara, but I can't quite explain how it looks. Kiara to Kiara. Yes. Why would she do that? She's told me that she's wanting to ruin my life. dagger because it's blunt. What does that mean? She was ask she asked me a question in the room like what what is the difference between the dagger and the sword? Okay. And I message Dagger because it's why is blunt better? She says you say it cuts like butter. She says just going to stab the throat. Is that what she's trying to say? The thought. Just going to stab the thought. Yes. Instant or will it take long? What does she mean? Instant. What do we do about the mess? We burn it and I'll buy new blankets in bed. What's going on here, Isaac? She said stab was going to stab the thought and I thought thought like oh like she was poking the thought that was in her head about her dagger. Okay. What about the mess? What mess? A poop kind of mess. A poop kind of mess. Can you help this time? Yes. I am just waiting for you to make the first move. What does she mean? I'm waiting for you to make the first move. She will wait till sleep. Shall we wait till sleep? So, you guys slept in a bed full of poop? Yes. Remember when you told me don't be a when I kissed you? Yeah. Yeah. Brat, we will have to take care of the messy. I thought she already pooped herself. What mess are you guys taking care of? I don't know. I can't tell if she's falling asleep. It feels like it. Her feet are on my side. I wish you'd make the first move for once. Remember, you'll move up the ranks. Plus, you get perks in the black market since this is your first. Your first what? She Isaac, what the hell happened? I can see the messages. I'm not dumb. This isn't the first time I've done this. What is happening? She was planning on killing Grace. I just didn't want a part of it. It doesn't seem like you're trying to talk her out of it. I was only sending message back in agreeance as I turned my back towards. This isn't agreeance. Remember, you'll move up in ranks. Plus, you get perks in the black market since this is your first. This sounds like you're encouraging her, right? The messages are here, dude. I know. I I know. Did you help Kiara do this? No. No. But you knew it was going to happen. I knew it was it was going to happen. You knew it was going to happen. Kiara planned it out. Kiara planned it out. When? How long had this been a plan for? She had planned it out since 2020. Kiara planned to kill Grace since 2020. And then last night, Grace messages you looking for a place to stay. And that's the opportunity for this. I didn't see it as an opportunity. I saw it as an opportunity. More like let's squash everything. Then why are you saying you'll make it up the ranks plus your perks in the black market since this is your first? Cuz you're talking about killing her here, right? I was. What else could this mean? I was trying to talk about something else cuz I'm trying to get my mind off. Isaac, really? You're trying to talk about something else there? Yes. I don't know. How do I aim? How do I aim? Right. Just aim. Well, tell me what you're talking about there. That's Call of Duty. That's Call of Duty. Tell me when. Okay, I'll give a count. Six. Five. I can't yet, dude. Four. I'm shaking, dude. I know. I lose the nervous. Help me drive it through. Help me drive it through. She was asking me to do to stab her. Yes. Help me drive the dagger through. Grace, anger me. I'm going to pretend to sleep so it looks nonconspicuous. Tell me about all that. Those are not my messages. Cuz help me. Just do it. Be ready to grab her or a trash bag. She is your list. Don't tell me this isn't you messaging. I know this is you messaging. Be trans be transparent and tell me what's going on here. She had talked to me and said, um, so what now? And I was like, this this is going to be your first uh way out if you just leave this alone. You're edging her to do this. Come on, Isaac. Isaac, look at all these messages, man. You're going to sit here and tell me. You're going to look me in the eye and you're going to tell me that you were trying to talk her out of this. I can see right here you're telling her to do it. I wish you would just stop with all the what I feel like is you trying to figure out lies every message we go through. And things will be a lot better for you moving on. If you just come out and you cooperate and you tell us everything that happened, tell us the truth, tell us everything. It'll be better for you. Would I be able to talk to you privately? Yes. You want her to leave? Uh, yes."
Isaac would request to have a private conversation with Detective Vigil, which he would oblige to. Based on police reports, Isaac would go on to admit to sending all the text messages and confess he wanted Grace dead all along, although remaining stern that he was not directly involved in the actual killing. Later that week, detectives would go on to interview both Kiara's mother as well as Isaac's. This killing came as a complete shock to everyone who were completely unaware of the dark path their children had been going down. It sheds light on the importance of closely monitoring your children as you never know what's going on in their lives, at least not fully.
Both Kiara and Isaac were charged with first-degree murder. At first, it seemed as though Kiara's plan had worked as a judge found her incompetent to stand trial and sent her to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute. However, a month later, she was deemed competent by professionals and returned back to the Santa Fe County Jail. In February 2025, Kiara pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against Isaac. Prosecutors say the crime's brutality could still bring up to 30 years. Isaac initially took a plea, then in November 2024 fired his lawyers, voided the deal, and plead not guilty. Now, with a new legal team that needs to get up to speed, the start date for Isaac's trial has been pushed back once more. If found guilty, he'll likely be facing similar penalties as Kiara. They'll likely be behind bars until 2055.
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