American Monster is in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to investigate the attempted murder of Robert Whedbee by his wife, Lisa Whedbee, and her lover Michael Frazier.
Michael Frazier was a reporter for a local newspaper, and he knew the Whedbee’s through their local church. But he first got to know the couple intimately after he wrote an award-winning article about the Whedbees’ struggle to raise a daughter with Down’s Syndrome.
However, Frazier also entered into a romantic relationship with Lisa. Unbeknownst to Robert, the pair were having an affair behind his back, and they also started plotting his murder.
Lisa persuaded Frazier to murder her husband by claiming he was abusive and violent towards her.
On June 8, 1994, Robert was asleep in his room when Frazier emerged from the cupboard, wearing a phantom of the opera shirt and brandishing a butcher’s knife.
Robert woke up to find Frazier standing over him with the knife. It appears that Frazier decided to back out at the last minute, but the pair still got into a violent struggle in which Robert suffered minor injuries.
Lisa Whedbee encouraged Michael Frazier to kill
Meanwhile, Lisa was standing nearby, holding a baseball and egging on her lover. At one point, she said, “You’ve got to do it. Just do it now.”
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelFrazier eventually fled the scene and retreated to his apartment in Knoxville. Having recognized his attacker, Robert told the police who to arrest. Frazier initially fled from the cops but then decided the jig was up and turned himself in.
Robert immediately filed for divorce from Lisa.
In June 1996, Lisa confessed to soliciting Frazier to murder her husband. She initially faced a prison sentence of up to 25 years, but after negotiations between attorneys and her former husband, she was sentenced to just one year behind bars.
Michael Frazier was sentenced to four years in prison.
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American Monster airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.