Narrator

A Wild west performer lies dead on his kitchen floor.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

911, what is your emergency?

Detective Ed Reynolds

I need an ambulance real fast. There's blood all over. There were eight entrance wounds. Four in the head, three in the upper chest. He was dressed as a cowboy. Dressed all in black from his boots to his hat, he was known by Black Bart.

Narrator

His grieving widow has a colorful past.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

She was one of Hugh Hefner's first Playboy Bunnies.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

She taught Catholic school by day and Playboy Bunny by night. She had a double life.

Narrator

The investigation into her husband's murder reveals they had plenty of enemies.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

They would do gunfight shows on property on the weekends.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

I did ask him if he ever had his ass kicked and I offered to do it.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Her husband didn't know about it and she didn't want him to know.

Narrator

The question is, which of their foes killed Black Bart?

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

His attitude. I have said, someday somebody is going to shoot him.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

It just eventually led into, yeah, we'd like to see him dead.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

There's nothing worse than being betrayed by a loved one. And that's what it was.

Narrator

Desert nights outside Phoenix, Arizona are normally quiet and peaceful. But at 10:30pm on October 20, 1992, a resident in an upscale neighborhood comes home to violence. 911, what is your merchant?

Detective Ed Reynolds

Hi, yeah, my name is Carol Gold. I need an ambulance real fast. My husband found a kitchen floor. There's blood all over.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

I think he's dead. Officers get to the scene and the woman who called Carol Gold, she leads them inside the house and they find her husband on the ground.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He was dressed as a cowboy, all in black from his boots to his hat. It kind of jumped out at you. And he had a western style belt with a big buckle on it that said Black Bard on it. The victim was identified by his wife Carol. He was known by either Chuck or Black Bart.

Narrator

After securing the crime scene, Phoenix police officers notify the homicide division. The first detective on the scene is Joseph Petrosino.

Detective Ed Reynolds

When I got there, there really wasn't a lot of blood. There were eight entrance wounds, four in the head, three in the upper chest and one which was through the wrist. One of the wounds is behind the ear. I suspect that that would have been one where he was down on the floor. And it's just. We're just going to make sure that he doesn't get up off the floor execution style.

Narrator

As Detective Petrosino moves into the living room, he notices a strange detail.

Detective Ed Reynolds

I had a chair in the living room and I can see that the chair has been moved and I can see that something had been behind the chair which appeared to be shoe prints. And it's right close to the entrance to the kitchen. So that when, if you came around that corner, you would have immediately been able to see who's in the kitchen. I suspect that once he went into the room, he was confronted almost immediately and the shooting began.

Unidentified friend or associate

It seemed it could have been the robbery gone wrong. The robber broke in and that Chuck scared him.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He died the way a lot of Old west criminals died. You know, gunned down. He's ambushed.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

They're looking at the crime scene, trying to figure out footprints, fingerprints, anything that was left behind. So you're left with all these questions. Was this somebody that broke in? Was this a targeted attack on Chuck Gold's life?

Narrator

Chuck Gold was born in March 1941 and grew up in Illinois as one of four boys in a close knit family.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

He grew up in an area of Chicago called Rogers park and with very loving and doting parents. They were very good close brothers. They were raised in a kosher home in a nice Jewish neighborhood.

Unidentified friend or associate

Growing up he was very much interested in the west and the cowboys. He rode horses a lot every chance he had and worked pretty close with them.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

What kid of the 40s and 50s wasn't drawn to gunfights and cowboys?

Narrator

As a teenager, Chuck traded his western wear for an army uniform. Serving several years in Germany, he joined

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

before he graduated high school. I've been told he did cross paths with Elvis around the time that Elvis actually was leaving the army. My dad was out in 61, I believe. My parents met shortly after.

Narrator

Chuck met his first wife in 1961. The two married soon after and had one daughter, Stephanie.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

My mom was young, they separated when I was nine months old and they were divorced by the time I was two. After that my father was married five times. My mother was his first wife, so I didn't know two and three at all. Four I knew because she was the mother of my half sister, but no relationships whatsoever with any of them.

Narrator

Though Chuck's marriages didn't last, his love of the Wild west stayed true. He turned that passion into a career managing horse stables near Chicago and putting on gunslinger exhibitions with staged battles fashioning himself after the famous outlaw Black Bart.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

They got a stagecoach and they got horses and they would do gunfight shows on property on the weekends.

Narrator

In 1977, after 16 years working the Western show circuit, 36 year old Chuck met the woman who would become his fifth wife, Carol Cattini.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

Carol was always in the horses where dad and Carol met was at a horse show.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

She actually worked in the Playboy gift shop in Lake Geneva.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

And then she went and worked in

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

the stables in Lake Geneva Club.

Narrator

Carol had a 20 year history with the Playboy organization, starting with its first club in Chicago.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

They opened the first club, 1960, and they needed bunnies. And Carol was one of the first

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

rounds of Girls Hired.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

She was an original bunny.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

Carol was trying to get a teaching degree. She wound up teaching at a Catholic school. Her joke was she taught Catholic school by day and play by bunny by night. So she had a.

Narrator

By the time she met Chuck at a horse show, Carol had traded in her bunny ears for motherhood. She had two children from a previous marriage, including a son named Ashton. After a whirlwind romance, she and Chuck tied the knot and decided to open horse stables of their own.

Unidentified friend or associate

They were doing very well. Lake Geneva in the summer months. Lake Geneva, my lord. It was a very busy, busy town. And they did a big business.

Narrator

Carol also supported Chuck in reuniting with his estranged daughter.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

My dad was not part of my life when I was a child growing up. When I first re established my relationship with my father, they were running the stables at the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva. Carol was very open, very loving, very, very accepting, very sweet. I also met Ashton. He wasn't quite ten yet, so he was this nine year old little kid. I said, do you mind having an older sister? So they became my other family.

Narrator

The Playboy club closed in 1983, which put an end to Chuck and Carol's business as well. So they started over again in Phoenix, leasing stables at the upscale Hilton resort.

Unidentified friend or associate

The stable did tremendously well financially. And they were the single most financially successful stable of any of the valley. Back then.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

I was 21 years old. My vacations were all in Arizona. I wound up working at the stables and I did all of that with Carol. So my relationship was. She was my other mother. I called her mom. The dynamic between my father and Carol was amazing. Carol ran the stables, kept the books, and my father did the gunfight shows. He would go play and be blecbird and try the stagecoach. Whenever he was at the stables, he was always dressed as Blackbird. He was very happy.

Narrator

Now the man who spent years staging fake gunfights seems to have become the victim of a real one in his own kitchen.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Carol Gold is the one that made the 911 call. And immediately officers and detectives need to ask her questions about Chuck. Did he have enemies? Was somebody possibly out to get him? Based on everything they learned. They start thinking, well, maybe we do need to look more into the family. Maybe there was a little more there than people were letting on.

Narrator

Coming up, evidence suggests the crime scene isn't what it appears to be.

Detective Ed Reynolds

The scene didn't look like a robbery.

Narrator

And an old grudge lends the investigation a suspect.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

We had words, argument, kinda. And trying to explain my side. He didn't want to hear about it.

Narrator

Detectives are less than two hours into the investigation of the death of Chuck Gold. Before questioning his widow. Police collect evidence at the crime scene.

Detective Ed Reynolds

We recovered eight spent.22 caliber shell casings scattered about the kitchen.

Narrator

There are two guns found in the kitchen. A.32 caliber pistol in a bag on the countertop and a.22 attached to Chuck's belt buckle. The weapons don't appear to have been fired, suggesting to police the shooter had caught Chuck by surprise with their own.22 caliber weapon.

Detective Ed Reynolds

We also found the back door was not locked. That meant either somebody went out the door before I got there and unlocked the door and left it, or the door hadn't been locked in the first place.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

How could this be a robbery when it seems so personal?

Narrator

With no signs of a break in, a botched robbery seems unlikely.

Detective Ed Reynolds

We never found a wallet. But as you go from room to room and look at stuff, there's nothing disturbed. Nobody's pulled out drawers and thrown stuff around. So somebody that's in there isn't looking for anything. The scene didn't look like a robbery.

Narrator

With no evidence of a burglary, detectives surmise this was likely a targeted execution. While Detective Petrosino continues searching for clues, his partner, Ed Reynolds, questions Carol Gold.

Detective Ed Reynolds

She basically says they fight like normal people do, but in general, it's just a real good relationship. They had been married for 14 years.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Carol tells police that she had been working at the stables all day, Started early in the morning, got off later, and then decided to go have dinner with her daughter from a previous marriage. It's at 10:30 that she arrives back at home, and that's when she tells detectives she found Chuck.

Narrator

Carol's alibi should be easy enough to check out, But Detective Reynolds is also interested to know if she has any possible motive.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He asks about life insurance. In this particular case, Carol says that there is no big policy, to her knowledge. Another area that gets touched on during that initial interview is fidelity. I know. Is there any possibility that Chuck's got a girlfriend?

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Carol tells officers that, yes, Chuck had had girlfriends in the past while they were married. She knew about it, but said it had been years since that had happened.

Narrator

According to Carol, Chuck only had one enemy she knows of.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

She tells police that they did have a former employee who did not get along with Chuck. His name was James Long Jr. And he went by Jimbo.

Detective Ed Reynolds

It's the guy that shoes the horses. And at some point after he's there, some materials get stolen from Chuck, a saddle, some guns.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Jimbo was fired because of this. But there had been some rumors among the employees at the horse stables that Jimbo wanted to get back at Chuck.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He'd made some threats and the debate is were they threats or where he just, you know, shooting his mouth off.

Narrator

Before they follow up on the lead, they want to speak with Carol's 20 year old son, Ashton, who also lives in the house.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He'd been paged that something happened to Chuck. He immediately came home and met up with the family, his sister, his mother. Ed talks to Ashton about, you know, what's the deal between you and Chuck, you know, how do you get along?

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Ashton tells investigators that his dad had passed away years earlier when he was 4. So most of his life it was Chuck Gold that had raised him. He'd refer to him as his dad, not his stepdad.

Narrator

Ashton admits he hasn't always been the ideal stepson.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Ashton admits to the fact that he was on probation for a drug issue. But since he had been on probation, he had really gotten his life together and he was working and there hadn't been any issues since.

Narrator

Ashton says he's been working as a driver at the stables and he agrees with his mother. If anyone wanted to hurt Chuck, it was Jimbo.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Ashton goes into a little more on Jimbo's criminal history, that he'd made some statements about he was going to take care of Chuck. So we now know Jimbo was a possible suspect. You're gonna have to track down Jimbo.

Narrator

Carol Gold and her son Ashton Cattini have just given detectives a possible lead. Chuck Gold's blacksmith, Jimbo. But before detectives move on to Jimbo, Ashton offers one last insight into Carol and Chuck's relationship.

Detective Ed Reynolds

They asked Ashton, Chuck got a girlfriend? And he goes, yeah, her name's Jermaine. She's married. He's seen him together at the stable. But when there are other people around, they don't act like boyfriend and girlfriend, but everybody knew about it. Ashton mentions the fact that his mother doesn't seem to be upset by the girlfriend.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

But Carol is telling detectives that Chuck hasn't had any girlfriends for at least a year. So that's definitely a Break in what Carol knew to be true.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Now we have to talk to Jimbo and we have to find Jermaine and see what she's got to say.

Narrator

Investigators track down Jimbo the next day and question him about the allegations that he stole two of Chuck's pistols.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

Chuck did try to accuse me of taking the guns. I told him that I didn't take them. It could have been a variety of people, but there was only two people with keys to that room. It was Chuck and Carol and Ashton had access to either one of the sets of keys. I think I got arrested and I was in jail for three days and got out and there was no charges brought against me after that. They have no evidence that I did it.

Unidentified friend or associate

Jimbo had a temper too. I know a couple times I talked to him, he was not happy at all that Chuck fired him.

Narrator

Jimbo admits he was angry at Chuck, but says he would never seek revenge.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

When I met with Chuck, we had words, argument, kind of, and trying to explain my side. He didn't want to hear. Chuck didn't want to hear my side. There was never no threats. I did ask him if he ever had his ass kicked and I offered to do it. After all the squabble over all of that, me and Chuck ended up getting along again. It just. What would you call it? Let bygones be bygones.

Narrator

But according to Jimbo, there were any number of other people who didn't feel the same way.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

Chuck's attitude, the way he went around people, just the lifestyle he lived of being a gunslinger. Black bar. I have said someday somebody is going to shoot him. Chuck didn't have a problem with telling people off, not saying wished it up on him or nothing. But there's a lot of people dislike Chuck.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Other things that the Jimbo responds to. He's able to verify that Jermaine and Chuck have some type of a relationship because he's seen Chuck kiss her at the stable.

Narrator

Detectives also confirm that Jimbo was miles away at the time they believe the shooting took place.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

I couldn't have done it. I was at Dynamite arena from like 5 o' clock that evening until about 11 o' clock that night. Never left the premises.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He was in a public place. He's really got a good alibi. Following the interview, we go down the list. All the things that Carol and Ashton told us that we have been able to verify were untrue to some extent or another. So at this point in time, you have to go back and look at Ashton and Carol as being primarily Suspects the other investigative lead would be Jermaine. We have to track down Jermaine and find, find out what her situation is.

Narrator

Coming up, investigators discover the cracks in a seemingly happy marriage.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

She says that at one point Carol told Chuck she didn't want to have sex with him anymore.

Narrator

And a son's secret comes to light.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Apparently he'd owed some drug dealers some money.

Narrator

Following the interview with Chuck's former enemy, Jimbo, detectives tracked down Chuck's alleged girlfriend Jermaine to confirm there was an ongoing affair.

Detective Ed Reynolds

On 27 October, they had an interview similar to the one they had with Jimbo. She eventually verifies the fact that she and Chuck did have a sexual relationship, that her husband didn't know about it and she didn't want him to know about it. They'd known each other since her son had taken riding lessons. They socialized, the four of them, she and her husband, Chuck and Carol.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Jermaine tells police the main issue she knows about between Carol and and Chuck is their sexual relationship. She says that at one point Carol told Chuck she didn't want to have sex with him anymore and so that became almost platonic.

Narrator

According to Jermaine, she and her husband were together the night of the murder. Detectives follow up on her alibi and are able to rule her out as a suspect. Investigators ask her when she last spoke to Chuck. Her answer seems to shockingly cast suspicion on his stepson, Ashton.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Chuck had called her just prior to the day of the incident and was angry, complaining about Ashton. The fact that Ashton is not carrying his part of the load, he's not working, he's a financial drain.

Narrator

Jermaine says she doesn't have the details but knows someone who might.

Detective Ed Reynolds

She told Ed that he needed to get with Richard Feingold, who is Chuck's right hand man at the stable. He would know the ins and outs the day to day of the stable and he would be able to answer questions, reference their relationships between Chuck and Carol and Ashton, that kind of information. They head back out to the stables at the point and meet up with Richard Feingold.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

He describes himself as this kind of best friend, confidant of Chuck Gold.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Richard says that Ashton is costing Chuck a lot of money for school, that he's not going to, that he's got a criminal history that Chuck's trying to deal with.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

I was at the stables quite often when Ashton would smoke pot at the stables, Chuck would catch him and they didn't get along very well at all. Ashton smoking pot on the premises of the Reserve is against the law for Juan. They could have lost everything. They had just the wrong person walking in at the wrong time. The resort would have canceled the contract.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Richard also tells police that at this time, Ashton had this long term drug problem.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Apparently he'd owed some drug dealers some money and Carol and Chuck, quote, bailed him out.

Narrator

Richard says the name of Ashton's main drug dealer is Bob.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Richard says Ashton's not a reformed drug user. He's still doing drugs. His stepfather has a problem with him and they aren't working through it. They are at odds.

Unidentified friend or associate

Carol would act as a mediator as best she could between the two. And if push comes to shove, she would always stand up for her son pretty much all the time.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Chuck had basically reached the end of his rope and wanted him out of the house. Richard says Chuck had given Carol an ultimatum. Ashton either goes or the both of you go. He told her that he had to be gone by October 31st. They could both go because he was going to divorce her.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

This information comes as a shock to detectives because this is the first time they're hearing this. When they interviewed Carol and when they interviewed Ashton, none of this came up. And they both made it seem like things were pretty good between Chuck and Ashton.

Narrator

Investigators discover Carol was also withholding information about something else.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

There's an $150,000 life insurance company policy on Chuck Gold, and Carol Gold is the main beneficiary, which goes back to

Detective Ed Reynolds

why is she telling the detective, I don't know anything about that insurance policy. That forces the needle from next to kin grieving widow to somebody that's lying to me, and I want to know why.

Narrator

Coming up, will the true culprits face justice?

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

There was hope that my dad would get justice, that we would all be able to close that door.

Narrator

And Ashton's dealer offers another side of the story.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

I kept saying, I'm not the shooter. I'm not the shooter.

Narrator

The revelations about Carol Gold and her son Ashton have put them in detectives crosshairs to find out why they've been lying. Investigators bring Ashton in for another round of questioning and confront him about what they know.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Sometimes we lie to suspects. The story is, is that we have an anonymous informant that said that you stole the guns and gave them to Bob. And Ashton was dumbfounded that we had the name Bob.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Ashton came off very concerned about his probation to detectives and admitted he had been using drugs up until Chuck's.

Narrator

Ashton still denies knowing anything about Chuck's murder. But he tells investigators if they're looking For Bob, they'll find him at the fitness center where he works.

Detective Ed Reynolds

We reach out to the Drug Enforcement Unit and they know who Bob is. His last name's Prior. He's a known distributor of synthetic heroin.

Narrator

Detectives learn Bob Pryor is out on bail after agents raided his home during a recent drug sting.

Detective Ed Reynolds

When they served the search warrant, they found a box of.22 stingers, which is the brand of shell casings that we recovered from the crime scene. And he was known to be in possession or the owner of a Ruger.22 semi automatic pistol. So at this point, we now have a lot of circumstantial evidence that ties Pryor to Ashton.

Narrator

Because Bob Pryor was in possession of the same type of ammunition used to murder Chuck, police consider the possibility he was the one who pulled the trigger.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Bob could be the weak link. If we can get enough on Bob, he can flip on who paid him or who hired him or who can best seem to do it.

Narrator

The drug unit involved in the raid informs detectives about an associate of Pryor's named Dan Goddard, a career criminal who is currently working for them as an informant. If Pryor was involved in Chuck's shooting, Goddard might know.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Goddard comes down for an interview. Because of his relationship with the police department, he's trying not to go back to prison. That's why he's working as an informant. And so they ask him about, you know, what does he know about Pryor?

Narrator

Investigators get far more out of Goddard than they hoped for. He claims Pryor hired him to be his driver the night of the murder.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He outlines the fact that he got a call from Pryor who offered him $50 to drive him around, and he takes the money and Pryor directs him as to where he wants to go. They do a drive by on the house and Pryor tells him to stop and let him out. Tells him that he'll page him when he needs him to pick him up and where to pick him up at. Goddard's belief is that Pryor's probably going to go and collect money that's owed to him. Goddard drives around waiting for the page, and he gets the page. He picks Pryor up, and then they drive to a location where there's a canal and Pryor gets out.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

The real aha moment is when Dan Goddard actually drives detectives to where he went that night and it's Chuck Gold's house.

Detective Ed Reynolds

After the fact. He put together that prior most likely killed Chuck Gold and got rid of the gun by throwing it in the canal.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

And immediately after that, Interview. Ashton jumps to the top of the list. Could this murder have have been a motive of Ashton being angry at his stepdad for wanting to kick him out of the house? And was Carol covering for her son? Detectives are now putting these puzzle pieces together that the two hired a hitman for the job.

Narrator

Goddard's statement gives detectives probable cause to arrest Bob Pryor, Ashton Catini and Carol Gold.

Detective Ed Reynolds

There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that, that showed that Carol was involved. Now it's, you gotta prove it.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

When Carol and Anson were first arrested, I was crushed. I mean, I had already lost my father, now I've lost my family. I've been betrayed.

Narrator

Unfortunately, the DA doesn't think they have enough to charge Carol.

Detective Ed Reynolds

They booked Ashton for first degree murder along with Pryor, but they let Carol go. The prosecutor said, all we have is the word of a, of a known drug dealer criminal and we don't have enough to tie her to it.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Carol gets with an attorney and she's able to get the charges dropped. After spending just a short amount of time in jail because she's released, she's able to cash in on that life insurance policy.

Narrator

Carol ends up spending most of the six figure payout on defense attorneys for her son.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

It's December of 1994. Ashton and Bob are both on trial for first degree murder and conspiracy.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

When Ashton and I went to trial, they called Dan Goddard because he's the one that snitched. But he was also under snitch agreement and was supposed to have done, you know, told on all this stuff before it had happened.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Dan Goddard was given immunity because he agreed to testify against them.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

They kept coming to me wanting me to confess to Bill being the shooter and they would give me a deal to testify. And I kept saying, I'm not the shooter, I'm not the shooter.

Detective Ed Reynolds

The defense that is put up is that Chuck was sick and was dying and he hired a hitman. So that would be assisted suicide. Eleven out of the 12 jurors rejected that and felt that they had actually committed murder for hire. But one juror hung the jury, so a mistrial was declared.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

I was numb. I mean, there's no other word to describe it. The thing that I took in stride was the fact that the state still planned on pursuing further charges and would try them again. So there was hope that my dad would get justice, that we would all be able to close that door.

Narrator

Prosecutors are gearing up to retry Bob Pryor and Ashton Katini for the murder of Chuck Gold. But Detective Ed Reynolds still believes Carol Gold also needs to be charged.

Detective Ed Reynolds

He obtained the original documentation from the insurance company on the insurance policy.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

They actually bring in a handwriting expert to say, hey, does this signature look like Chuck's signature? Because they thought maybe it was forged or maybe there was some fraud there.

Unidentified friend or associate

The insurance policy was drawn up and taken out by Carol, and she signed his name to it.

Narrator

But investigators need more for the D. A to charge her out on bond awaiting his new trial. Bob Pryor is the one who delivers it.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Shortly after being released, Pryor got arrested again for selling drugs. And he made a deal with the prosecutor to testify against Carol and Ashton for a reduced sentence.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

They asked me if I would take a plea, and I said, what are we getting in return? And he gave us Carol. I said, done.

Narrator

One year after the shooting death of Black Bart, Bob Pryor sits down with investigators to give his version of events.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

Ashton started telling me about how much he did not like his stepfather, Chuck. I just figured it was a rich kid complaining about a stepfather. But it just eventually led into, yeah, we'd like to see him dead. You know, he's been cheating on Carol. She wasn't young anymore. I guess she was one of Hugh Hefner's first Playboy bunnies, and she didn't have that to fall back on.

Detective Ed Reynolds

Did Ashton ever tell you anything to lead you to believe that his mom was a wellness too?

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

Yes, all kind of stuff.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

Rejobing.

Detective Ed Reynolds

It was her idea.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

She wanted, and she paid for it.

Detective Ed Reynolds

They offered me 20 grand.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

Ashton was young during this time. I just assumed that Carol was the one running everything. Carol had the ultimate plan. There was an event that Chuck was going to and when it was over, and then he could come home, all we had to do is be waiting and shoot Chuck.

Narrator

But Bob alleges that it was actually Dan Goddard who played the role of trigger man.

Detective Ed Reynolds

What happened on the night of the murder?

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

Down over there and came back. And then how many times did he shoot him?

Detective Ed Reynolds

He didn't say he didn't. He said he couldn't do that. He just said he just could.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

When they told me what Dan Goddard said, what Dan did was he told the story and just switched the roles of me and him. And so I was like, oh, oh, hell no. This isn't. This isn't the way it went.

Narrator

Regardless of which man actually pulled the trigger, Bob's statement finally gives investigators enough evidence to arrest Carol. They charge her with first degree murder and conspiracy. But she maintains her innocence.

Detective Ed Reynolds

I'm not talking to you.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

Can you take the heat off of your son.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

I can't.

Jimbo (former employee/blacksmith)

You can't even do that?

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

No, I won't do that right now.

Narrator

Both mother and son are tried together on August 5, 1997, nearly five years after Chuck's death.

Bob Pryor (drug dealer and witness)

When I was brought in to testify at their trial, that's when Ashton realized he hasn't got a prayer.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Mid trial, Ashton decides he wants to take a plea deal and gets 18 years in prison.

Narrator

Carol, however, proceeds to trial.

Richard Feingold (Chuck's right-hand man)

Carol is eventually found guilty of first degree murder and conspiracy in the death of her husband, Chuck Gold.

Detective Ed Reynolds

She was sentenced to 25 years to life with the possibility of parole after 25.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

I think that Carol and Ashton got exactly what they deserved. Carol is the worst kind of mother there is. Evil lying. Carol didn't pull the trigger, but she is just as responsible. There's nothing worse than being betrayed by a loved one.

Detective Ed Reynolds

I think that Chuck should be remembered as as having fulfilled his dream. He died a cowboy.

Stephanie Gold (Chuck's daughter)

His headstone says Charles Black Bart Gold. His parents approved that. I can't imagine anything else explaining more who he was. Sa.