in December of 1998 17-year-old Joseph Albert oberhansley stormed into his grandmother's home in West Valley City Utah to confront his girlfriend Sabrina Elder she had just given birth to their son 5 days earlier but Joseph was in no mood to celebrate high on substances and without any warning Joseph pointed a pistol at Sabrina and shot the mother of his baby to death he then pointed the gun at his own mother and shot twice as his sister attempted to flee with the baby he fired around towards her as well finally he aimed at himself but managed to survive Joseph was arrested and charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder bail was set at $1 million reflecting the severity of the case but here's the twist despite the cold-blooded nature of the crime the eyewitness is able to take the stand and plenty of direct evidence Joseph walked away with a maximum 15-year sentence and here's the kicker he was back on the street before his son reached his teens years later Joseph oberhansley would resurface in a courtroom tied to new charges in a whole different case charges and allegations against me are false that's why they won't let me talk to you people what do you about they're holding back they're holding back all my mail I'm haven't been able to what do you say about the penalty any phone calls letters anything so for all my family and friends out there you know why I'll be get death probably [Music] Joseph obrah Hansley was born on March 29th 1981 and grew up in West Valley City a quiet suburb in Salt Lake County Utah by his own account his childhood wasn't just good it was better than most his family backed this up remembering him as a kind-hearted boy with no real history of trouble or violence but in 1997 tragedy struck hard within a matter of weeks Joseph lost both his older brother and his father emotionally shattered he spiraled into substance abuse and developed a short fuse his schoolwork took a hit as well and he dropped out of Hunter high school at just 17 not long after police records linked him to gang activity around the same time his 16-year-old girlfriend Sabrina Elder became pregnant but their relationship quickly fell apart despite their breakup SA Reina moved into Joseph's grandmother's house for support living with his grandmother mother and 13-year-old sister Joseph wasn't happy with this Arrangement and doubted the baby was even his still on December 4th 1998 Sabrina gave birth to Joseph obah Hansley Jr but the brief Joy of their son's arrival would soon be overshadowed by violence 5 days later on December 9th Joseph showed up at his grandmother's house glassy eyed and high on methamphetamine in a blind rage Joseph suddenly pulled a gun out of a bag and shot Sabrina five times she was pronounced dead at the scene by the Utah State medical examiner at the time of the shooting Joseph's mother was holding the baby after laying him down to tend to Sabrina she was shot twice in the back and arm in a desperate bid to escape Joseph's 13-year-old sister grabbed the baby and tried to flee Joseph turned and fired a shot at her from close range but missed she wasn't the only lucky one Joseph survived a self-inflicted wound albe it with a bullet lodged in his frontal lobe the baby was unharmed and quickly placed in state custody Joseph and his mother Brenda self were airlifted to a nearby hospital in critical condition Mrs self was released after 2 days but Joseph remained for 3 weeks once discharged he was arrested and charge with first-degree murder and attempted murder held on $1 million bail the case seemed open and shut yet prosecutors later struck a deal reducing the charge to manslaughter a second-degree felony the maximum sentence 15 years with parole eligibility after just one year how did Joseph walk away with such a light sentence and why was this allowed to happen let's dive in prosecutors initially charged Joseph with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder but the case weakened when his family refused to testify the defense raised mitigating factors including claiming that his head wound was actually a beneficial injury that could result in him becoming a calmer less aggressive person they also argued diminish responsibility due to drug use and stress from his family's deaths given these factors the state accepted a plea deal reducing the charge to manslaughter a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine in June 1999 a judge relying on a psychologists report deemed Joseph no longer a danger and lifted his million dooll bail on July 1st 2004 Joseph attended a parole hearing with both the victim's relatives and his own family present the audio offers a compelling glimpse into how these hearings unfold it starts with the parole board recounting the tragic events of December 9th 1998 the day Sabrina Elder was murdered the shot missed her she grabbed the your five day old son and ran from the room you then shot yourself in the head reported in case a bullet went in your chin and lodged in the front of your brain uh when police responded to the scene they noted that you were alive semi responsive however Sabrina was dead uh your mother was unconscious but alive she and you were LIF flighted to the hospital she was treated for a shattered arm and some internal damage uh to her kidney and liver you were chomos for a time but uh underwent surgery to remove the bullet or I guess at least some bone fragments I don't know how much was removed uh you were hospitalized for another uh 2 and a half almost 3 weeks your uh your new girlfriend at the time Mandy said you were furious with Sabrina said you'd call her an effing [ __ ] um [ __ ] things like that you talk about how you could kill her but I would I would say all that is unaccurate Mandy she was never my girlfriend it was just more of a friend and also she she gave numerous false reports to the police on other things situation I'm sure this in there she said the night before this you said you were going to quote shoot the [ __ ] you think he said that I would disagree with that next the board gave Joseph's mother the chance to testify even though Joseph had committed violent acts against her she may have felt conflicted but still wanted to support her son in hopes that he had changed or rehabilitated during his time in prison family members often attend these hearings to show support offer testimony about the defendant's character or provide insight into their behavior since the crime you are Brenda self the mother of Mr over Hansley correct correct please go ahead um I just want to I don't know how to really go about this I think you got a pretty good idea of how I feel towards this um but I do believe that Joseph did not intentionally have this planned I think the drugs had a lot to do with it and I'm here to support him I know Sabrina to me is alive in spirit and I believe that Sabrina would forgive Joseph truly I do next up one of Sabrina's relatives spoke his voice steady but laced with raw emotion determined to sway the parole board every word was a plea for justice A desperate attempt to keep the man who shattered their family from being released back into the world um my name is Sabrina's Uncle thank you we didn't get to say much during we didn't to say nothing the hearings or nothing but uh I want you guys to know before you make your decision on this Paro what uh effect it's had on our lives my dad myself everybody who loved her has torn his family apart the happiness is always shrouded by well you remember when she you remember this and we love to see where old Serina is and she come on with us and uh present a crime and intense as it was um we feel that a 5 to 15 years sentences it wasn't enough to begin with but even to consider parole at 5 years is just uh I know asine I'm not trying to DARE stay apart but we just uh we're not ready and there's a lot of anger a lot of hurt we feel violated still and she never had a chance to be a mother i s too soon appreciate you taking the time to come down here today thank you very much the hearing concluded with a Q&A session between Joseph and the board some of Joseph's responses raised concerns with one of the members all right Mr over Hansley you've had a chance to hear the testimony that's just been offered I'd like to give you a chance to respond however you think is appropriate I mean there's no no nothing no way I would never try to endanger him or or risk him you know never be a threat to him I want nothing but the best for him he's he's my little boy and I understand you know what I've done or whatever and that I I'm not I couldn't be the best father to him or whatever and I understand that I accept that and therefore they have adopted him or whatever I wouldn't try to interfere or nothing whatsoever you know but I would like to if I got out and established myself and had my life on the right track you know and became s successful starting my own business and got my own place or whatever maybe when he's old enough to let him make the decision on his own if he if he would want to meet me and one one other thing I would like to mention is I I received a letter today from I guess that you guys just recently received yourself from my cousin uh right I was going to ask you about that and when she states for me to be truthfully totally honest you guys have the phone records or whatever you guys could pull up and see I've never had a spoken with her on the phone a conversation with her since I've been incarcerated to tell you the truth I don't even really know her that well and then she refers to I have some tattoo I have no such tattoo either and then just where she stays okay well let's let's let's put it on the record if I can find it here and give you a chance she says uh she talks about how she doesn't think you ought to get out she says uh the reason I feel this way besides the obvious fact that he killed Sabrina is because he is not sorry for what he has done I know this because of several incidents the first is the tattoo that he got while in prison it reads evil thoughts murderous Deeds now you're saying you don't you have no such I have no such tattoo sir uh another incident happened one day when I was visiting my grandmother Joseph called my grandmother on the phone and she handed the phone to me and said here talk to him I started asking him I started talking to him asking questions like what have you been doing he answered lifting weights I'm getting really big so I said well what are you doing going to do with yourself when you get out his answer I don't know I then decided it was time to find out if he was sorry I asked Joseph are you sorry for what you did his answer was no I did what I had to do did that conversation ever take place no no sir it never did and I believe you guys have the phone records or whatever if you really wanted to go to pull it up you're more than welcome to to prove what I'm what I'm saying is true well I mean it's are you saying the phone records would show no you never had a you never had a call to your grandmother well no no I've called my grandmother but in no such call have I ever spoken to uh April I have not spoken to her since before this crime has ever taken place and that's that's the honest truth did you ever tell anybody that you had a tattoo that read anything like that no I have no such tattoo the tattoo that I have I have a tattoo like my mother was saying a big portrait of Sabrina that says in Lely M and um just a few other ones but I have no no such tattoo that that states states that okay uh I think we've touched on all the points that I wanted to ask you about what else would you like to say here today I would just like to say you know I'm sure you guys already know from the letters you've receive from me but just I'd like to stress the fact on how remorseful and regretful I really am for this crime like I've said me being in here in prison is punishment but it doesn't hold the candle to what I feel inside my heart emotionally and I go through every day not one day goes by I do not think of Sabrina I did really love her just you want to mean pretty much I ruined I caused a lot of heartache and pain on everybody's life on her family's lives as well as my own as you see most everybody that's came forward to Stats or whatever just me been pretty much my home family I do have uh reports from the prison indicating you're uh you're good worker you've been involved in numerous programs yes uh Bible study anger management Victim Impact substance abuse Alcoholics Anonymous you've now graduated high school graduated high school I'm enrolled in on my first semester of a el Salt Lake Community College Electronics trade program and all that's very commendable uh no uh no anger problems no no no anger problems I've never had any um conditions of any dirty uas nor uh fighting ride UPS wish to report that b no a Cole she did a psychological report on me I'm told that there is a in fact a tattoo on your back that says murderous Deeds true or false on my that that that this that is true but not the rest rest of what whatever that says now why when I asked you just a minute ago about the tattoo you said your your answer if I can call was no I don't have anything like that well this this evil evil thoughts murderous Deeds I don't I have I have no tattoo like that okay I guess well you probably differ on what constitutes a similarity but you've done a lot of good things since you've come in here most of Mr over Conley I I I I will just I don't know what the board decision is going to be that we make our decisions by a majority vote of five board memb so I'm going to have to take your file back and share it with the others and uh we'll notify you of that by mail in a few weeks um I I guess one thing that concerns me and I I don't know how accurate I am in reading this I I mean I think you're sorry and yet I it's almost as if you're sorry you it's like you'd hit somebody's dog or something you know no sir no in no way am I trying to minimize this this crime or nothing I mean I I am very truly sorry coming from my heart the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole set Joseph free on July 10th 2012 after he had served 12 years of a 15-year sentence he then applied and was approved for is known as an interstate compact parole agreement that allowed him to relocate to Indiana to live with his mother it would be up to local authorities in Indiana to report any police interactions to the Utah parole board until his 2-year parole term ended during his time in Indiana Joseph's mental health issues and legal troubles only deepened he held a job at a car dealership for a while but by by March 2013 just 9 months after arriving in Indiana things took a darker turn according to court records Joseph met a woman at a bar in Jeffersonville and agreed to go home with her under the impression that they were going to get it on instead a fight broke out and neighbors called police when officers arrived and knocked on the door a woman answered screaming he's killing my boyfriend it turned out Joseph was being set up to be robbed he was arrested and char with strangulation and resisting law enforcement but was released on a $1,000 bond in the following months Joseph faced minor legal issues including speeding convictions and a charge of driving with a suspended license then in July 2014 he was charged with criminal recklessness involving a deadly weapon and resisting law enforcement again following this incident officers appealed directly to Clark County chief Deputy prosecutor Jeremy Mull and urged him to do everything he could to ensure Joseph stayed behind bars police came to mole and asked him to personally make sure that over handsley stayed behind bars mole had his bond set at $25,000 cash but he didn't stay locked up for long unknown to me uh sometime after he was arrested on that warrant and kept in jail on that Bond uh that Bond was reduced without my knowledge or my approval and he was released from jail M says another prosecutor cut a deal with defense attorneys reducing over hansley's Bond dramatically making it possible for him to get out I will tell you that I'm devastated uh that he was released from jail uh it was my opinion from the beginning that he needed to stay in jail it's why I asked for this High cash Bond and when I go in and say this guy's dangerous he needs to be in jail and he's put in jail and then I move on to another case and somebody lets him go uh it's uh very dangerous things can happen prosecutor mul's claim holds up the attorney who approved joose reduced Bond left office weeks later to move into private practice before leaving the bond was significantly cut from $25,000 cash only to $5,000 cash or shity an amount small enough for Joseph to scrape together the $500 needed for bail Indiana was supposed to notify Utah of any police encounters but there were conflicting claims regarding whether these reports were sent Utah authorities stated they were unaware of any incidents while while Indiana officials maintained they had reported everything in any event Joseph was now free and through his mother he would eventually cross paths with his next victim Tammy Joe Blanton was a true hooer an Indiana native born on January 7th 1968 she graduated from Jefferson High School in 1986 and worked in medical billing and coding for healthcare technology company it was was Joseph over hansley's mother who first introduced Tammy Joe to her son and according to her Tammy Joe knew about Joseph's troubled past even picking him up from prison once their relationship started fast with the couple seeming happy at first Joseph moved into Tammy Joe's house but that's when Tammy Joe began to notice disturbing signs he would fly into a rage over trivial things which frightened her her friends had been suspicious of Joseph from the start they Googled his name men discovered the chilling details of Sabrina Elder's murder alarmed they immediately warned Tammy Joe she took their concerns seriously acknowledging that she knew he had a past but explaining that Joseph had been vague about the specifics simply telling her he did something wrong as a teenager it seemed like ancient history to Tammy Joe she planned to confront him about it that upcoming weekend but she had no idea of the horror that would unfold on Monday September 8th 2014 Tammy Joe revealed to co-workers that Joseph had kept her tied up and assaulted her all weekend only letting her go when she warned them that her absence would raise suspicions afraid to return home she arranged to stay with a friend two days later Tammy Joe texted Joseph firmly ending their relationship I just wanted you to know I won't be home no one and I I mean no one gets to terrify me like you did on Sunday I will never forget it as long as I live Joseph replied trying to downplay the incident baby we had a great dinner Saturday don't let the negative enter your mind you are my soulmate come to me please come home talk to me baby Tammy Joe stood her ground you can choose to be in denial about what happened Saturday into Sunday I won't be in denial she threatened to press charges if he didn't leave Eve that evening Tammy Joe returned home with her father and a male friend they changed the locks and barricaded the doors with Furniture knowing Joseph she felt uneasy before bed she texted her friends at the end of the day I'm taking my life back no one will take me down sadly Tammy Joe and Joseph would meet one last time hi this is the police and fire department did you call 911 on September 11th at 2:52 a.m. Tammy Joe called The Jefferson police from her home to report that Joseph was trying to break in and was refusing to leave three officers arrived and spoke with Tammy Joe and Joseph who claimed he lived there but that his key was not working Tammy Joe confirmed she had changed the locks and ended the relationship the officers then instructed Joseph to leave and to resolve their differences in Civil Court he did leave but not before yelling at officers you always take the woman's side however concern arose among Tammy Joe's co-workers when she failed to show up for work at 9:00 a.m. one of them called her cell phone and A man answered claiming to be her brother he said Tammy Joe was at their father's house caring for him the cooworker didn't buy it and contacted the police who conducted a welfare check an officer discovered signs of forced entry at the rear door while two others approached Joseph at the front Joseph claimed Tammy Joe wasn't home and that he had no idea where she was after detaining him officers found the bloody folding knife in his back pocket as officers searched inside the house they followed a trail of blood leading to the bathroom there police discovered Tammy Joe's lifeless body in the bathtub it appeared that a section of her skull had been removed and a portion of her brain tissue was missing officers transported Joseph to the police station for questioning he initially denied everything but eventually confessed to breaking in stabbing Tammy Joe more than 25 times and eating part of her brain he later also admitted to consuming her heart and a part of her lung he was booked into the Clark County jail and denied B in the months that followed Tammy Joe's mother somber and heartbroken spoke out about the devastating loss of her daughter she was a daughter she was a sister she was an aunt she was a friend she was loved by many contagious laughs she had she was a happy person and she tried to help this fool and U this is what happened just is it right that this person this evil evil evil monster did the things that he did to prosecutors questioned if he might be trying to lay the groundwork for an insanity defense there's nothing insane about him he's just evil Linda Harbin met over Hansley when he was dating her daughter she says she knew something was wrong with him but couldn't pinpoint it we was just getting close again and uh I didn't want to say nothing she was 47 years old She'll always be my little girl but she was grown you know what could you say Harbin wants a say going forward she says friends and family are united in one thing over Hansley should get death he doesn't deserve to be breathing air right now Joseph Ober hansley's case took numerous legal twists and turns in the Years following his arrest shortly after being taken into custody he revoked his initial confession attempting to backtrack on his admission of guilt in a bizarre move he also claimed that he wasn't Joseph over Hansley after all my name is Zeus Brown I don't know who is Zeus Brown me I'm Ze Brown did you commit these crimes I love you brown in 2017 Joseph oberhansley was declared unfit for trial and sent to a psychiatric hospital by November 2018 he was deemed competent before the trial began prosecutors withdrew their request for the death penalty citing the high likelihood that Joseph's alleged mental health issues could result in a reversal of a guilty verdict the trial began in 2019 but after presenting their evidence the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a mistrial the prosecutor chose to retry the case and after further legal delays a jury finally convicted Joseph in September 2020 of first-degree murder and burglary he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and is currently serving his sentence at the Newcastle psychiatric unit afterward the prosecution and defense reflected on the long challenging case in interviews with local media Joe's very distraught obviously uh throughout the trial Joe thought things were going well as did we Joe thought he'd be acquitted and he wasn't so at this time he's taking it very hard and I think that's understanding anable now just moments after speaking with BAU Clark County prosecutor Jeremy mole left the courthouse outside a close friend of the victim waiting on him to embrace him and say thank you telling WLKY they faced many obstacles together over the past 6 years but praising Maul for never giving up that is something she says she will always be grateful for now mul said he was determined to get Justice not only for the victim Tammy Blandon but for those friends and family this was something that I intended to see through and to make sure that this man was held accountable for his actions he was brought to Justice and he was removed from the streets and so uh today that happened [Music]