Texas Confidential

0:11Texas is considered pretty colorful. People don't want to admit this, but everybody owns at least 10 or 15 guns, men and women. And we spend most of our time either getting born again, committing minor misdemeanors, or killing each other. That's just simply what we do. My name is Jim Skelton. I'm a criminal lawyer and I've been practicing law here in Texas for well over 30 years. I've seen a lot of cases and met a lot of strange people. But I've got to say this case involving the Angletons is one of the most bizarre cases I've ever worked on.

0:49This case involved the murder of a lady named Doris Angleton. He was married to a man by the name of Bob Angleton, who was quite well off, had quite a bit of money. And outwardly, she had what you would call a perfect life. They lived in a real nice area of Houston called River Oaks. It's where all the old money people lived, where all the young people wanted to move to. She was an attractive, pretty woman. She had two twin daughters, was a devoted mother. My mom was the most beautiful person you could ever imagine. She was just so much fun. well liked, had no enemies in the world that anybody knew of.

1:26Then one afternoon she goes home during a softball game. She went home to like change. In the third inning she wasn't there so we called and no one answered.

1:40And she shot something like 13 times in her own home in the heart of River Oaks in the heart of Houston.

1:50One of the crucial pieces of evidence uncovered in this particular case was an audio tape. On the audio tape were two men discussing the details of this murder and laying out what happened. You're waiting. She comes in. Right? Yes. You're here. Right. These were two people plotting the death of Doris Angleton. Roger and Bob Angleton. The first person arrested in this murder was Roger Angleton, who was Bob Angleton's older brother. After Roger was arrested, sometime later, Bob Angleton was arrested. He's not a killer.

2:32What's really strange about this case, what makes it so interesting, is both of them had evidence incriminating each other that they kept. Roger made sure that he had evidence incriminating Bob. And on the other side, Bob made sure he had evidence incriminating Roger. If you knew both of them had been around either one of them very long, none of that would surprise you. And they neither one trusted each other. What's ironic about this whole case is that both of them came up with a scheme to get out of this murder case. And to this day, nobody has served any time in the penitentiary for the murder of Doris Angleton.

3:13Texas Confidential.

3:19No, it's not hard to remember her.

3:26I remember really specific things. Like, every morning we would wake up to her laughing, and she had an incredible laugh, like, like, really, really loud, but really like vibrant. I don't know, it just made you want to get up and go downstairs and be like, what's going on, you know?

3:49Nikki and Allie Angleton were 12 when their mother Doris was murdered in 1997. We've gone through way more than most kids have gone through. I miss her. I remember how it was that she'd like to have that way back again. And then, four months after the twins lost one parent, they lost the other. On their 13th birthday, their father Bob was taken away from them too. Arrested for killing their 46-year-old mother. Did you understand what the charges were against your father? That it was first-degree murder? Nothing was ever really explained to us very well. Nikki and Allie say they have never believed the charges are true.

4:35Daddy! Well, I mean, if you knew my dad, then you would know. I guess I just know. I know him, and he didn't do it. That's just the bottom line. And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, really. Nikki and Allie Angleton were just 15 when we started interviewing them for this story. We've been checking in with them through the years, and now, almost 10 years after the murder, the twins are in their 20s and college-educated. But this story is still not over for them or their father. In the beginning, the question was, who killed Doris Angleton and why? Now it's not so much who did it as it is how to prove it.

5:18And how many times will Bob Angleton have to stand trial for it? You don't believe what's going to happen to you if you're not guilty. Bob Angleton has always maintained his innocence. He spent one full year in jail waiting for his trial. You imagine when your children come and visit you when you're in jail. You have to put out an air of everything being okay and that it'll work out because they're still counting on you. In July of 1998, more than a year after the murder, the trial finally got underway. This is of me and Allie. That's the day we testified. The girls told jurors their father was an innocent man.

6:04It was like a big deal because we were like the main, you know, witnesses to help him. By far the best piece of evidence against Bob was a garbled audio tape of two men planning Doris' murder. I still think he'll blow it away. You'll have to find the door and he'll blow it. Oh, shoot it right there. That's up to you. The prosecution claimed one of the voices was Bob's. So that means you kill her and go. But in the end, the jury thought the voices on the tape were too muffled to identify, and they could not be sure if one of them was Bob. That's the day he got acquitted. And the girls got their father back.

6:42We have to be like incredibly thankful for what we have right now. You know, we have this great house and this great dad, you know, who we can spend time with whenever we want. This is Alan. She doesn't throw it like that anymore. For the next few years, they settled into what you could call... This is my boyfriend. ...normal teenage life. It's not her boyfriend. I need your keys to the phone. I need money. When you heard not guilty, did you think it was over? Oh, absolutely. But it was far from over. I'd love to get him. Yeah, I'd love to have another shot at trying him again. Lynn McClellan is the prosecutor who lost the state's case against Bob in 1998.

7:21I'm totally shocked. This is totally contrary to what I thought the verdict was. But he's still convinced that Bob Angleton is a guilty man. I wonder why you just didn't say, we gave it our best shot, didn't work out, let's move on. Because I didn't think the verdict was correct. You shouldn't get away with murder.

7:44I thought this was done, you know. We all thought this was done. But it wasn't. Bob Angleton was arrested for Doris' murder again. Mr. Angleton was arrested outside his home this morning at approximately 10 a.m. Three and a half years after being acquitted of murder by the state of Texas, he was now facing a federal murder charge. This is exactly the same crime. Angleton's attorney, Mike Ramsey, said the new charges amounted to double jeopardy, trying someone twice for the same crime. That's unconstitutional. And we shouldn't have two trials just because there's an acquittal and some sort of DA's for getting beat.

8:27Isn't that double jeopardy? No, it's not double jeopardy when the feds try you for a state case. If they have a federal case that they can make, then they have the right to make that. Bob's only consolation this time was... How are you feeling? Pretty good. He got out on bail. What's next? I have to think about preparing myself and my family for the possibility that I will be in jail for the rest of my life. That's scary. As his second trial approached, Bob prepared for the worst. Okay, I know I got an A in 101, my acting class. He went to visit his daughters who had started college that fall to say what he feared could be his final goodbye.

9:18Your canvas is really pretty. I know. It is. You've said to them, what if I may ask? I may go away to jail for the rest of my life. That means when you need something, you can't call me for my advice.

9:38that means I don't exist some people might ask why you just don't get up and leave I'm not allowed to I'm not in a situation where I can make plans the only plans that I have to make right now are in case I am found guilty because the minute that I am found guilty I will have no time to make any plans. When Angleton told me that back in 2003, he was being somewhat less than honest. In fact, Bob did have a plan, one that he'd been working on for more than a year. And then just four days before the start of his second trial, Bob Angleton followed his plan and walked out of his Houston home for the very last time.

10:27We couldn't find Bob. He didn't answer his phone. And I started getting lots of calls from lawyers asking us if we knew anything. At first, his attorney feared the worst. You thought he might have killed himself. Well, it's happened to me. I've had clients that killed themselves in the face of trial. Angleton wrote about what he did next in a journal, which his daughters have read. Going to jail for life is a for sure dead end, so this is the only choice. But the choice Bob made did not involve leaving this world, just leaving the country. Armed with a fake passport, a fake driver's license, and a fake social security card, Bob Angleton had decided to become a fugitive.

11:12I'm sorry we couldn't talk in person. Angleton ended up far from home and had become very difficult for us to reach. But he was still eager to talk, even if it couldn't be face to face. When you walked out of your house that day, what were you feeling when you closed the door behind you? How did I feel? Scared? Very unsure. Am I going to make this? Is this the right thing to do? He says he decided to flee for the sake of his daughters. I figured their best peace of mind would occur if I was safe. And that was the only idea that I could come up with, was to flee. Imagine trying to prepare your life for the possibility that you'll never hold or hug your children, your friends, ever again.

11:59You brought money with you? Yeah, I had some in a suitcase that was checked and some in my carry-on. How much? To my recollection, it was like about$135 ,000. It's a good thing they didn't lose your baggage. That's correct. It's a good thing they didn't. Bob and his money bags landed safely at his first destination, Amsterdam. When you're walking down that hallway towards the airport exit... My mind was still constantly, constantly racing as to whether this was the right thing to do or not. Bob knew he had committed a crime by fleeing the country, but he didn't think he had a choice. Bob says he told federal prosecutors who'd killed his wife, but they were not listening.

12:44I was given the impression by my lawyers that they were never going to let up. They were going to get me one way or the other. If I was someone on the outside and heard about this guy who was supposed to take trial, and he ran and be like, wow, yeah, that's pretty guilty. You know, it looks really bad. But there is so much more to the story that nobody knows. Including a confession letter from the man who admitted he'd killed Doris Angleton as an act of revenge against Bob. It was a letter jurors were never allowed to see. At what point did you start suspecting your brother? Immediately.

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14:36Why did Bob Angleton decide to become a fugitive? He'd been acquitted of murder in one trial, and as he faced a second trial, he had a powerful alibi. He wasn't anywhere near the crime scene. And he had an entire girls softball team to prove it. The afternoon of April 16, 1997 started like any other. Doris Angleton dropped off her twin girls for an hour of softball practice before the start of the game. Bob was the team's coach. After the game, Bob drove the girls straight home. As I pulled up into my spot, I noticed the back door was open. Now I was concerned. I'm at my residence. Back door is ajar.

15:31My wife, to my best knowledge, was home. I'm getting no answer in the house. I have children with me in the car. I'll get someone out there. Police officers entered the home, then broke the news to Bob. He came out, walked up to me, looked me in the eyes. and said, was your wife wearing a white shirt? The message is clear. To me, it was clear. Doris Angleton's body was found lying in the hallway next to the kitchen. She'd been shot seven times in the face, five times in the chest.

16:14I remember he didn't say anything. I started bursting out crying because I knew by his face. that she was dead. You see where somebody left their purse, where somebody set their keys down, just like she was stopped in mid-step. Doris' brother, Steve McGowan, walked through the house the day after Doris was murdered. Nothing was disturbed. No glass was broken on the door. There was no forced entry. The only reason anybody was in there was simply to kill my sister. Why? Show me a good reason why. Everyone loved her. She was that person that everyone wished they were. Before he fled to Amsterdam to avoid a second trial, he couldn't stop talking about his late wife.

17:07I mean, she was a perfect wife, she was a perfect mother, she was a perfect lover, she was perfect in every way. Especially when I think my husband Bob is here. Every day we'd come home, we'd have perfect dinner set up for us. Always had everything we wanted. I mean, it was perfect. The girls say their father had no reason to destroy all that. The murder in Avalon Place remains the mystery. For Bob, there was no mystery. The night of the murder, he told police he knew who killed his wife, a man who'd been on the run since the day after Doris' murder. His name? Roger Angleton, Bob's brother. And Bob says his brother had a motive to hurt him and his family.

17:50Well, my brother and I had a little bit of a history. Bob says he and his brother had been rivals from the start. Bob was always the more successful son, and Roger was jealous. Roger said there was resentment that I was the favorite child. Looking back at it, I guess he was what you would consider a problem child. And frequently, Roger was just goofy. Do you remember him at all? Yeah. He was really funny. Funny? Yeah. I don't really remember that much about him, but I remember he always made us laugh. Roger was a clown. He really was a child that never grew up. Roger couldn't hold a steady job while Bob was supporting a family in style, earning around$1 million a year.

18:31I put it on the level of being a successful doctor or a successful lawyer. But Bob wasn't a successful doctor or lawyer. Far from it. There's no polite term for it? There really isn't. It was an unusual job. What term do you use to describe what you do? You know, generally you just call yourself a bookie or a bookmaker. That's right. Bob Angleton was a bookie. He took bets on sporting events, which is illegal in Texas, but his business was booming and he realized he needed help. At the time, his brother Roger needed a job, so despite their troubled past, Bob hired him. It turned out to be a big mistake.

19:13Less than a year later, in the summer of 1990, Bob fired his brother. And that's when things started getting nasty. He felt like I owed him some money. Roger believed Bob had cheated him out of a lot of money,$200 ,000. dollars. Months later, he showed up on Halloween just as a big bunny rabbit. Were you glad to see him? There was a method to his madness. What was that? To get him close with the family again. Little did I know that was his buildup to this extortion plot of his. It almost worked. After winning back his brother's trust, Roger convinced Bob he'd scheduled a closing for him on a real estate deal.

19:54He told Bob to bring along$200 ,000 in cash and to meet him beforehand in this parking lot. He's sitting in the back seat, eyes glazed, saying, I want the money. Bob, I want the money. Roger pointed a gun at her. Roger had a hard time keeping his mouth shut, and he told the whole story to his lawyer, Jim Skelton. He planned to kill Bob unless Bob paid him. He's telling me about it. Basically what he had done was just try to rob me. Bob was able to speed away without getting shot, and Roger did not get his money. Well, that's, I think, was the moment that I realized that he was truly off the edge.

20:42Roger wasn't about to give up. Bob says Roger knew another way to hurt him. Remember how he put it? Yeah, it put me out of business. There is one agency that scared Bob to death, and Roger knew it. It is every bookie's nightmare, the IRS. At first, I didn't take him seriously. Then he actually did make phone calls to customers posing as an IRS agent. And I quickly started losing customers. Bob realized Roger could actually shut down his bookie business, so he finally agreed to start paying off Roger. How much a month? $2 ,500. That worked for a while, but Bob says Roger demanded even more money.

21:26And in 1997, he made one more threat. Bob says he received a letter from Roger saying, if he didn't get the money, quote, I will hurt you in a way that will be with you for the rest of your life. Looking back at it, yeah, of course I should have taken it seriously. Bob says he ignored the letter, and six weeks later, Doris Angleton was dead. Whoever walked through that door was getting blown away. That's what I think. That's Bob's story. So why didn't police believe him? Because they started learning about him and his marriage. She was ready to move on. She filed for the divorce in February and two months later she was murdered.

22:22Although investigators had little to tie Bob Angleton to the murder of his wife, they never took their eyes off him. And the more they dug up, the more they believed Bob had a few reasons to want his wife dead. For starters, Doris had filed for divorce just two months before she was murdered. What was your reaction? Shock, surprise. Because to me, I thought things were pretty good. And to her, obviously, she was seeing another side of it. She wants a divorce and she wanted to have her fair share of the estate. According to Tom O 'Connor, Doris's divorce attorney, she was about to become a very rich woman.

23:05So altogether, I mean, he had millions to lose. I mean, are you comfortable saying that? Yeah. Were you in a mood to give her half your money? I hate to say that we were in a situation that was so comfortable it wouldn't have really made a difference. It irked me but didn't get me that angry. But there was more. When Doris thought her husband might not pay her what she wanted, just like Roger, she threatened to expose Bob's multi-million dollar strictly cash bookie business to the Internal Revenue Service. Is that a motive for murder? No. And there is no motive for murder. There's plenty of motives for murder.

23:46There's not enough motive for murder. For anybody. But police kept digging and found what they thought was one more potential motive. Their marriage towards the end was not good. She would stay on the internet most of the night in chat rooms and stuff. Doris told her close friend and hairdresser Larry West that she was having an affair with a man she met online. In fact, just a week before Doris' murder, she was in the salon and she was telling me about the boyfriend and she had been to see him that prior weekend. Bob says he never even knew about the affair. I did not know about any boyfriend until after she was dead.

24:33Go give mommy a hug. Even with all that information, there still wasn't enough to tie Bob to his wife's murder. And Bob was still insisting to police that his brother was the killer. It took two months to find Roger, but police finally arrested him in Las Vegas. And that's when they found that audio tape in Roger's briefcase. It was a conversation between two men planning Doris' murder.

25:09everyone thought the voice of the trigger man was Rogers but it was the other voice that intrigued prosecutor Lynn McClellan when you first heard that tape did you think gotcha gotcha Bob yeah yeah McClellan was convinced it was Bob Angleton the brains behind the operation and the man who'd pointed police toward Roger in the first place you're waiting she comes in right yes you're here right so that means you kill her and go for McClellan it wasn't just the speaker's voice that was convincing it was the words he used what are you going to do with the dog. What other hit man worries about what you do with the dog?