On October 9, 2020, American Airways supervisor James "Jamie" Religion was shot seven occasions by a masked particular person throughout a morning stroll along with his spouse, Jennifer, and their canine, Maggie, in Dallas, Texas. He was pronounced useless on the scene. Inside a number of months, authorities found a homicide plot orchestrated by the sufferer's spouse with the help of her former highschool lover, Darrin Lopez. The previous lovebirds had reconnected at first of the pandemic in March 2020, and Jennifer admitted to a good friend they had been having an "emotional affair."
Following her husband's homicide, authorities say Jennifer Religion spoiled Lopez with presents utilizing funds from a group fundraising platform. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant investigates the loss of life of the Texas man and the twisted story behind his homicide in "The Plot to Kill Jamie Religion," airing Saturday, April 9 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Months earlier than Jennifer Religion pleaded responsible for her function within the homicide of her husband, members from her group joined forces to offer emotional and monetary assist to the Religion household throughout its time of want. One of many methods this was performed was by way of a GoFundMe, a crowdsourcing platform, which was organized by fellow group member Jennifer Svelan.
"As soon as the GoFundMe was arrange … these contributions had been coming in from, I think about, throughout," Svelan mentioned. "… it was stunning to see how a lot individuals had been contributing and donated." By means of GoFundMe, over $60,000 was raised.
In keeping with court docket paperwork, Jennifer Religion used the donations to buy a Samsung QLED massive display tv for Lopez and paid for airline tickets for him and his daughters. Over a span of two months, Jennifer Religion withdrew $58,000 from the GoFundMe account. Authorities famous that she left an unpaid funeral invoice for $6,500.
Authorities imagine Jennifer Religion additionally used the GoFundMe funds to pay for purchases made on her two bank cards. In an e mail to Lopez, she gave him entry to these bank cards, writing, "This is each of my main CC's. AMEX has no restrict and I believe the Visa has like $35,000 ... PLEASE do not hesitate to make use of them for no matter you want, particularly when it is stuff for the women."
Jennifer Religion additionally despatched Lopez tons of of dollars through Venmo transactions.
"I take a look at it extra as not stealing from GoFundMe however stealing from her household, her buddies, her group … individuals who cherished Jamie. That is who she was stealing from," Svelan mentioned.
Prison protection lawyer Christy Jack, who "48 Hours" requested to assessment the case, says Jennifer Religion's actions went overboard. "There are at all times individuals in life who will benefit from somebody's generosity. However I believe her actions took this to an entire new stage," Jack mentioned.
Jennifer Religion's former neighbors and buddies, Melisa Gonzales and Shamona Jackson, say they felt fooled and betrayed by Jennifer's actions. "You do not wanna let your self imagine that somebody you care about might do one thing like that. So, for me, yeah, it took some time to get to the purpose of believing," Gonzales mentioned.
In keeping with Jennifer Svelan, GoFundMe has reimbursed those that donated cash to assist Jennifer Religion.
"I'm grateful that GoFundMe has a coverage of not permitting fraud," Svelan mentioned. "And after they change into conscious of conditions like this, as they did on this case, they supplied full refunds to anybody who had donated to this explicit GoFundMe account. All they needed to do was ask and fill out a kind they usually bought their a reimbursement."
Darrin Lopez was arrested and charged with Jamie Religion's homicide. He pleaded not responsible, and claims he was manipulated into killing Jamie as a part of an elaborate plot.