[chris]

Deborah L. Frazier pleaded guilty on March 18, 2024, to murdering Thomas Waddell at their Zanesville, Ohio, home and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 23 years.

Frazier, then about 35 or 36, and Waddell, 66, had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship for years after meeting while working at Kroger, where Waddell had recently retired. They lived together for months at 3231 Sandhurst Drive in Zanesville, Muskingum County, and the home contained shared items including Valentine's Day cards and cookbooks. Frazier was also involved on and off for about 10 years with John Anderson. She told Anderson she was Waddell's live-in nurse caring for a dementia or Alzheimer's patient and manipulated him into leaving a voicemail posing as a PNC Bank fraud investigator.

The motive was financial. Frazier and Waddell shared a PNC bank account that had been drawn down to about $2,000. Frazier created a fake email account, pncfraudulentclaims at gmail.com, to send herself messages simulating fraud claims involving Waddell, and searched for PNC logos and bank-fraud information.

After days of planning, at around 9 p.m. on August 9, 2023, Frazier stood behind Waddell as he sat in his living-room recliner. She raised his .22-caliber revolver, which he had purchased in 1990, aimed at the back of his head and shot him once, killing him. She wrapped his body in trash bags, duct tape and a comforter, then used Velcro straps to drag it to a back bedroom. At approximately 1:26 p.m. on August 10, she called 911 and claimed she had just arrived, found the door ajar and the apartment ransacked, and encountered two masked white male burglars who shot her in the leg as they fled. A quiet gunshot was heard during the call, and a .22 revolver was found near her. Nothing of value, including multiple firearms, was missing, and the "ransacking" appeared superficial.

An autopsy by Licking County Forensic Pathologist Dr. Jeff Lee determined Waddell had been dead more than 12 hours before the 911 call and was murdered within about 4 hours of 9 p.m. on August 9. No security, Ring, business or SEAT bus video showed intruders fleeing, and there were no witnesses. A neighborhood canvass found none, and the apartment lacked typical home-invasion indicators such as drugs, forced entry or missing valuables.

A warrant search of Frazier's phone recovered deleted searches for "How to load a gun" on August 5; "How to load a revolver pistol" and ammunition questions on August 6; "How to uncock the hammer on a revolver," "what does 22 ammo look like" and "worst place to get hit in the head" on August 9; and "How long does GSR stay on skin" on the morning of August 10. She initially denied handling the gun that wounded her, then changed her story when told she would be tested for GSR.

Only Frazier's and Waddell's DNA was found on the trash bags and duct tape, while Frazier's DNA and hair were on the duct tape and straps. A single glove in a nearby bookbag had Frazier's DNA and GSR consistent with the murder, not the later self-shooting. The revolver contained two fired cartridges matching both wounds. Cell-phone location data placed Frazier at the scene at the relevant times and corroborated Anderson's account of driving her around afterward, while Waddell's phone went offline. A latent print matched a deceased man, David Eugene Grantham, whose death Frazier had previously reported and which was ruled an accidental overdose. Investigators concluded she acted alone and had a history of fabricating attacks, including a June 2023 Dillon State Park claim involving a fabricated counselor. More than 20 warrants or orders were issued for phones, emails, financial records and other evidence.

Frazier was initially charged with counts including murder, felonious assault, tampering and domestic violence. In Muskingum County Common Pleas Court, before Judge Mark C. Fleegle, she pleaded guilty to murder with a firearm specification, tampering with evidence, and gross abuse of a corpse in case CR2023-0589. The plea was supported by the detailed Statement of Facts. Her first possible parole eligibility was reported around August 2046. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle said she "deserves and will serve a life sentence."

The video is a police interview-room recording running about 61 minutes. It shows the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.