Soldiers desperately tried to save the life of Spc. John Eubank when he was found beaten, unconscious and gasping for breath in the woods near Holbrook Pond on the grounds of Fort Stewart Army Base in Hinesville, Georgia on November 30, 2014.
“He had been beaten so badly and his skull was so badly fractured that brain matter was actually coming out of his skull,” said prosecutor Jennifer Solari at CaughtAirs Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.
Despite their efforts, their comrade, who had survived several missions in Iraq as a heavy truck driver, died in hospital. Suspicion immediately fell on his wife Lillie Mae when she was questioned by the police.
“Lillie Eubank was incredibly cold and calculating throughout the entire murder plot while pretending to be the loving wife of John Eubank,” Solari said.
Why was Lillie Mae Eubank the prime suspect in the death of her husband John?
When police spoke to witnesses immediately after John Eubanks was discovered, they received a key tip: A white or gray pickup truck had been idling in the area while troopers were rendering aid. At that point, a man had come out of the woods and climbed into the truck before it drove off.
When they spoke to John’s widow, they were immediately shocked by Lillie Mae’s reaction when she was told he had died.
“Lillie Eubanks’ answer was puzzling and very suspicious, as she never asked what had happened,” Solari said. “Because no one had informed her of the cause or manner of death.”
Lillie Mae – ten years older than John – had met the soldier on an online dating website while he was deployed in Iraq. She picked him up from the bus station when he returned home in the winter of 2008 and they married soon after. He became stepfather to Lillie Mae’s children.
More information about true crime:
Illinois father is shot while picking up daughter from his ex-wife’s “clansy” family
First clues uncovered in murder of 27-year-old singer who was found tied up in her house
The shocking murder of NBA star Lorenzen Wright: “The ultimate evil”
Lillie Mae told officers she last saw John about a half hour before he was found beaten, when she and her daughter, Angel Wells, dropped him off to go animal tracking. She left out the detail that her half-brother, Carl Swain, had visited the family for Thanksgiving. Lillie Mae also drove a silver pickup truck.
Upon further questioning, she admitted that she had bought her brother a ticket to Georgia for the holidays under an assumed name and was only trying to protect him.
“Lillie’s explanation was that he had some kind of criminal past that would prevent him from traveling out of state,” said Nicole Dolan, a former U.S. Army CID agent, on Caught.
Lillie Mae then changed her story again, saying she had dropped both her husband and her brother off at the pond with a baseball bat as a weapon in case they encountered wild hogs while tracking animals. After running errands, she and her daughter returned to pick up the men.
“As they rounded the corner, they saw Carl standing in the woods with the baseball bat, repeatedly hitting something,” Dolan said. “A short while later, Carl came down from the woods and got into the car with them. He was distraught, covered in blood, and the baseball bat was covered in blood.”
She claimed that her brother had struck a boar that had attacked them and that John had run away. But when she insisted that her husband had been beaten to death at the spot where her brother had allegedly struck a boar, Lillie Mae admitted to having seen Carl Swain strike John Eubank.
“Lillie told us she didn’t want to face reality,” said Deanna Williams, FBI special agent, on Caught“And when she saw Carl coming out of the woods with a broken bat in his hand and blood on him, she feared for her life and that of her daughter Angel.”
Angel Wells confirmed her mother’s version of events.
“I saw Uncle Carl swing the bat towards the ground,” Angel said on Caught“Then he stopped and came out of the woods. He got into the truck. His face was covered in blood. It was like someone poured spaghetti sauce on a spoon and splashed it on the wall.”
She said she feared for her life, adding: “I had no idea why my uncle would do this. My grandma said he was a ticking time bomb and had anger issues.”
Carl Swain had a long criminal history that included assault. He was tracked down at his Alabama home and arrested on December 6. After John Eubanks’ military bag of jeans containing both his and Swain’s DNA was discovered in Swain’s home, he was charged with first-degree murder.
What motive did Lillie Mae Eubank have to murder her husband John?
Although it seemed like a clear case, John Eubanks’ comrades suspected that Lillie Mae was somehow involved in the incident.
“Lillie took over his finances when they got together, and he never really knew how much was in the account or what was going on,” Tymesia Durant, John’s girlfriend, said on Caught“It was a common occurrence for her to write bad checks.”
John’s friends also knew that he was planning to divorce his wife during his last deployment.
“He was determined to get a divorce when he came home because he had had enough,” said Bonnie Bailey, John’s girlfriend, on Caught.
In April 2013, Lillie Mae Eubank confided to her daughters that John wanted a divorce.
“From Lillie Eubank’s search history, we can conclude that she began planning this murder at that time,” Solari said. “Lillie Eubank had planned and attempted to kill John Eubank, much longer than initially expected.”
Her search history included the terms “how to drown someone in a bathtub” and “poisons not identified during an autopsy,” according to law enforcement.
Based on text messages between Lillie Mae and her brother Carl, law enforcement determined that Lillie had attempted to poison John with castor beans baked into a cake and had even discussed taking a trip near water and drowning John since he was not a good swimmer.
But while Carl Swain was in prison awaiting trial, he gave police another motive for Lillie Mae to kill John. Swain confessed to his fellow inmates that he had beaten John Eubank to death for money.
“Swain had confided to them that he had done this at the behest of his sister, Lillie Eubank, because she, as a grieving widow, would receive $500,000 after the murder and he was entitled to $160,000 for his role in the murder,” Solari said.
Lillie Eubank was the beneficiary of John’s group life insurance policy for soldiers.
“Part of me wants to believe my mother, but there is so much evidence to the contrary,” said Bonnie Wells, Lillie’s daughter, on Caught.
Lillie Mae Eubank was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder for hire. She eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Every emotion Lillie Eubank showed was fake,” Solari said. “Lillie Eubank didn’t care about anything but Lillie Eubank.”
Carl Swain was tried in March 2015 and found guilty by a jury. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Watch brand new episodes of Caught Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen and the next day on Peacock.
