Evil Exists This American documentary television series debuted on Investigation Discovery on January 17, 2016. This 60-minute true crime show features an interview with a family member involved in the case in each episode.
There are several different cases covered in the documentary. But the murder of Aleta Diane Ray is among the most horrifying incidents.
In September 1999, Ray’s body was found inside her Twin Falls County, Idaho, home. Initially, the death was declared natural, but the investigators soon found insulin and methamphetamine residues in her body, which strongly implied that it was a murder.
To exacerbate the situation, her young daughter Jade Scotton saw her murdered. All we know about it is as follows.
Background of the case
As previously stated, Ray was killed by a methamphetamine and insulin injection administered with force. Vicki, the ex-wife of her partner Verne Jesen, killed her.
However, some background information is needed before delving into Ray’s murder case.
Jensen met a registered nurse at the hospital where he worked while he was twenty years old and pursuing a degree in respiratory therapy. While married, Jensen and his first wife were no longer together.
Before Jensen decided to take Vicki out on a few casual dates, the two had worked together for a while. Vicki is a divorced mother of a four-year-old kid.
He acknowledged that she was “very friendly” and that he thought she was hilarious.
“She handed me a note asking if I wanted to meet up for drinks and talk,” he stated, expressing his dismay at being apart from his spouse. We spent time together. But she immediately developed a strong possessiveness. She was obviously looking for something much more.
Jensen, though, didn’t believe their union was serious. That’s why he was shocked when Vicki was able to call his mother after spending the long weekend with pals.
Later, she admitted, she had called all the Jensens in the phone book until she located the right house. Not long later, she made her relationship with Jensen public.
Uncertain of how to react to the situation, Jensen became engrossed in his work. It took him more than two hours to get a full-time job in Twin Falls, where he now resides.
He mentioned that Vicki had said she would go with him. Vicki also said that after his first marriage dissolved in 1991, the two would be married, which they did.
Vicki began abusing him soon after, verbally and physically. She even attempted to murder Jensen’s first spouse.
“It was only after she brought insulin home to try to kill my first wife, my kids’ mother, who had raised my child support a few years after she discovered I had changed jobs, that I really realized there was something wrong with her,” Jensen said.
Jensen did not take Vicki’s threat to “kill that witch” seriously. This was due to his perception that it was merely a phrase and not a significant assertion.
But he asked Vicki a question after seeing the insulin one day. She promised to take care of the situation.
Before long, Jensen became concerned, retrieved the syringes and insulin, and tossed them into a nearby dumpster. He made an effort to persuade himself that she was exaggerating.
“I believed that I could manage and exert control over this. I warned her not to mess about and that I would contact the police if she tried this again. I considered calling the police in any case, but I reasoned, ‘What could they really do?'”
However, Vicki hadn’t done anything wrong at the moment. But she mistreated Jensen verbally and physically, and Jensen was terrified of her.
He said she would hit him, strike him, and fling objects at me. Jensen never struck back, and things quickly became worse.
Despite not calling the police, he eventually moved out and began taking on extra jobs to help pay for a divorce attorney. He began dating Ray, a nurse’s aide, about that time.
He was enamored with Ray’s compassion and kindness toward her patients. “She never got short with anyone or impatient, even if someone was being really ugly towards her,” Jensen raved about her. Her smile never left her face. Her grin made me fall deeply in love. Her voice was incredibly calming. She ranked other people before herself. It was really a welcome change of pace.
They clicked instantly, and Jensen fell in love with her right away. As their love blossomed, Ray and Jensen moved into an apartment together in 1999, along with Ray’s daughter.
Vicki quickly found out the truth. Jensen claimed that when Vicki began trailing them, he and Ray had plans to relocate and start over somewhere far away.
Before long, they noticed Vicki trailing them everywhere. In order for Ray to feel safe, Jensen intended to send her “somewhere 200 miles away.”
Sadly, he arrived too late to catch it.
The murder of Aleta Diane Ray
On September 9, 1999, after Jensen departed for work, Vicki and her two disguise-wearing accomplices conned Ray into letting them into her house. There, Vicki put a revolver to the 33-year-old’s head and fatally injected her with insulin and methamphetamine.
Vicki, according to the prosecution, ignored Ray’s pleas for forgiveness and then watched her suffer for more than an hour. Ray’s 3-year-old daughter witnessed the crime as she was left alone with her dying mother.
According to reports, Vicki recruited her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend Matthew W. Pearson and her 14-year-old niece Autumn Pauls to help her carry out the murder.
At first, it was claimed that Ray’s death was natural. Given her prior behavior, Vicki was obviously a prime suspect in the murder, which is why the police focused their investigation on her.
Even though Jensen had no proof to present to the authorities, he was positive that his divorced wife was participating. However, Pauls provided a school friend with the knowledge that they could provide care for people covertly, which provided the authorities with a valuable lead.
Pauls sobbed and told everything when she was questioned about Ray’s passing. All of this was eventually revealed in February 2000 when Vicki was arrested for her role in the killing.
Afterwards, the police reported that Ray was at home alone herself on September 9, 1999, when Vicki approached her and asked to use her phone. Pearson and Pauls were there too, albeit they were hidden.
Judges and prosecutors have referred to Ray’s 1999 murder—which Vicki, then 39, admitted to—as one of the most horrific deaths in Twin Falls County. She was given a life term in prison.
During the sentence hearing, the judge referred to Vicki as the devilish mastermind behind a horrible and corrupt crime. In addition, Pauls and Pearson faced adult trials for Ray’s murder.
Pauls was released from jail in 2015 and has been living in Idaho Falls ever since, according to latest prison records. Nevertheless, Pearson is still incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution in Ada County, Idaho, and Vicki is being held at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Centre in Pocatello, Idaho.
The case discussed on Investigation Discovery
Two episodes of Evil Lives Here have shown Ray’s murder and demise: “Divorce? Never” from Season 11. Murder? Maybe.” and “They Killed My Mom” from Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death, Season 3.
Evil Exists The idea of this story describes the experiences of people who had a parent, brother, member of the extended family, or even a young child who would grow up to be a killer. They see the killer through a combination of police footage, family photos, videos, interviews, and reenactments.
The majority of episodes are conducted alone, with only a single close friend or relative of the suspect who committed terrible acts recounting the story—a few involve two people. Every episode features the subject looking at pictures of themselves or the suspect to recall particular joyful and unpleasant memories from their history.
This episode featured Jenson, who discussed his fear of his ex-wife, Vicki, and how scared he was of her.
“It’s been 23 years since everything happened,” Jensen stated on the broadcast, as he spoke to Fox News Digital. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I could come back to this. Still, I felt compelled to offer my perspective. Over the years, various things have been said. I simply wanted everyone to fully comprehend what transpired and how things came to pass.
Instead of featuring an individual being interviewed about a family member who is a murderer and how the situation has affected them, Evil Lives Here: Shadows of Death primarily consists of interviews with the victims’ relatives and law enforcement personnel about how they were impacted by the perpetrator(s), if there were multiple culprits.
Scotton, Ray’s daughter, was interviewed for “They Killed My Mom” and discussed how seeing the murder play out affected her. Since the two had not seen one another since she was three years old, she also made a new connection with Jensen at the conclusion.
