This week on ID’s A Time To Kill, the team heads to Wilmington, Delaware, to investigate a horrendous double homicide of newlyweds Joe and Olga Connell, who were gunned down outside their home on September 22, 2013.
In 2016, a jury decided that Joe Connell’s former business partner, Christopher Rivers, was guilty of masterminding the murder-for-hire plot that killed the couple.
Connell and Rivers were business partners who ran a seemingly thriving auto-repair shop in Talleyville, DE. However, their relationship had become beset with problems, and Rivers wanted out of the partnership.
Rivers was angered by what he saw as Connell’s lazy work ethic and lavish lifestyle. He complained about Connell showering his wife with expensive gifts and wining and dining in fancy restaurants in Philadelphia.
Prosecutors would later argue that Rivers was suffering from drug addiction and that he wanted to collect on a $1 million insurance policy that had been put on the business.
Rivers approached his drug dealer, Joshua Bey, asking him to put a hit out on the couple. Bey, a felon and former FBI informant, then hired two men, Aaron Thompson and Dominique Benson, to carry out the murders.
The Connells were gunned down outside their condominium
Joseph and Olga Connell were gunned down in front of their Paladin Club condominium as they returned home from a night out celebrating Olga’s birthday on the Wilmington Riverfront.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelHowever, the whole plan fell apart for Rivers when Bey admitted to cops that he was the middleman and agreed to testify against the other participants in the scheme.
Rivers was given a life sentence for plotting the murder. Meanwhile, Benson was convicted of first-degree conspiracy and sentenced to five years, and Thompson was convicted of two counts first-degree murder, two counts possession of a firearm, and he was sentenced to two life terms plus 45 years.
Bey pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy and a probation violation and was sentenced to five years.
More from Investigation Discovery
Follow the links to read about more true life crimes profiled on ID.
This month on ID, the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of reality TV star Lyric McHenry were investigated. The EJNYC star had last been seen celebrating her 26th birthday at a fancy rooftop soiree in Manhattan. The next morning her body was discovered on an overpass in the Bronx.
Raymond White brutally murdered Mary Lou Barnes and her 12-year-old son Larry William Mills Jr. in their trailer in News Brunswick, Canada. He managed to avoid justice for 15 years before DNA evidence, and a determined investigator finally caught up to him.
A Time To Kill airs Thursdays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.