Inside The Brutal Murders Of Rick And Suzanna Wamsley

Texas couple Rick and Suzanna Wamsley seemed to be living the American dream — until their world came crashing down and they were murdered in cold blood.

On the evening of Dec. 11, 2003, 911 dispatchers received a hang-up call from the couple’s home in Mansfield, a town 20 miles outside Fort Worth.

According to the Dallas Observer, responding officers found 45-year-old Suzanna’s body on a couch in the living room. She was shot in the head and stabbed at least 18 times. Her husband, Rick, 46, reportedly suffered over 21 stab wounds and was shot multiple times. He died in the home’s entryway.

Investigators could find no signs of a forced entry or any missing items that would point to a possible burglary.

Almost three months after the victims’ deaths, authorities announced the arrest of Susana Toledano, 19. A short time later, police also took into custody the murdered couple’s son, Andrew Wamsley, 19, and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Chelsea Richardson.

According to authorities, DNA results connected hair found in Rick Wamsley’s fist to Toledano and, subsequently, the dead couple’s son and his girlfriend. “Had [Rick] not had that hair in his hand, I don't think we would have ever got there,” then-Mansfield Detective Ralph Standefer told the Dallas Observer in 2004.

Police later accused Andrew Wamsley of killing his parents so he could inherit their assets and collect on a $1 million life insurance policy.

“I think he had a really skewed concept of how that happened, like your parents are deceased, and the next week you get a check,” Standefer noted.

In 2005, Toledano admitted to shooting and stabbing the victims and took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. She is now serving a life prison term.

At his trial the following year, Andrew Wamsley was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison after Toledano testified he and his girlfriend, Richardson, pressured her into committing the crime.

Richardson was sent to death row for her part in the murder conspiracy. In 2012, however, her attorneys successfully argued prosecutors had withheld evidence in her first trial, KXAS-TV reported. During resentencing, she agreed to plead guilty to the crimes and received life in prison.

For more on this heartbreaking story, watch the “Red Christmas” episode of People Magazine Investigates now streaming on discovery+.