Buddy, I think you're still going to hell:
LOS ANGELES
A Texas man who got away with murder was moved to confess his crime after seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
Dan Leach II, a 21-year-old man from the Houston area, killed his girlfriend Ashley Nicole Wilson, 19, in January and then covered it up to make it look like a suicide, reports the Houston Chronicle. Police investigators say evidence proved that she had hanged herself, despite her parents' belief to the contrary.
Wilson's mother, Renee Wilson Coulter, found her daughter's body on Jan. 19. The body was fully clothed with a pillowcase over her head. A cord was wrapped around her neck and tied to the headboard.
"We found a letter that could be interpreted as a suicide note," says sheriff's Detective Mike Kubricht. "It didn't actually say that she was going to kill herself, but it did state that she was extremely depressed because she was pregnant and the person she was pregnant by was not going to be there for her to raise the child."
Over a month after Wilson's death, Leach watched "Passion" and then contacted police on Sunday, March 7. He led the detectives through his process of killing Wilson, which was inspired by watching CBS' crime drama "C.S.I." Leach convinced Wilson to participate in a "pseudo-therapy exercise" that involved her writing a letter to express her negative feelings and having her place a pillowcase over her head so she wouldn't rely on her sense of sight. Leach then strangled her with the cord from her graduation gown.
Leach admitted that he had planned the murder from the day he learned that his girlfriend was pregnant. An initial autopsy did not reveal any pregnancy, however. A final autopsy report has yet to be filed.
Wilson's parents feel somewhat vindicated now that they know their daughter didn't commit suicide, but are stunned by Leach's confession.
"[The detectives] apologized profusely," says Coulter. "However, if this boy had not come forward, we would have never known."
Leach was indicted on a murder charge Monday and arrested Tuesday. He is in the county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.