Rick and Suzanna Wamsley.

Wamsley Family murder case

The 911 call was eerie: Whoever called police on the night of Dec. 11, 2003, from the luxurious Mansfield, Tx., home of Rick and Suzanna Wamsley, was silent on the other end.

But what investigators encountered upon entering the home was horrific.

Rick, 46, an accountant and a strapping former high school athlete, was dead, having been shot and stabbed repeatedly. His wife Suzy, 45, a homemaker, had also been shot and stabbed to death.

The Wamsleys were wealthy, beloved in their neighborhood and seemed like the perfect couple. Their deaths were as baffling as they were tragic, and the mystery of who would want them dead is explored in the upcoming episodePeople Magazine Investigates: Red Christmas,airing at 8 ET/7 CT on Investigation Discovery and streaming on discovery+. (An exclusive clip is shown below.)

Initially, police were stumped. Any notion that the motive might have been robbery was undermined when police found $15,000 in the couple’s dresser.

But the more investigators probed, the more the myth of the Wamsleys' seemingly perfect family life unraveled.

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They learned the couple had a $1 million life insurance policy and a $1.65 million estate — and that their wealth was a source of tension among their children. After the murders, their daughter, Sarah, would file court papers seeking to block her brother Andrew from inheriting family assets.

At the time, Andrew, then 19, was in a relationship with a woman named Chelsea Richardson, whose working-class background contrasted with Andrew’s privileged upbringing. Rick and Suzy Wamsley disapproved of the relationship.

The connection to the Arlington IHOP was significant: That’s where police learned that a conspiracy was hatched to kill Rick and Suzanna Wamsley. Shockingly, the night of their murders represented the third attempt that had been made on their lives.

More shocking still, police would learn, was the person behind the conspiracy.

People Magazine Investigates: Red Christmas, airs Monday, May 31, at 8 ET/7 CT on Investigation Discovery and streams on discovery+.

source: people.com