Deadly Obsession: The Tragic Murder of Kendra Hatcher

Ever wonder how obsession and jealousy can lead to the unthinkable - a murder for hire scheme? We're unearthing the disturbing reality of how envy can turn deadly, as we unravel the haunting murder of Kendra Hatcher, a successful, much loved dentist. Through a web of manipulation and exploitation, mastermind Brenda Delgado orchestrated this chilling crime, fueled by her obsession with Hatcher, who was dating her ex-boyfriend.

We're peeling back the layers in the courtroom, revealing the glaring evidence that brought justice to Kendra Hatcher. From Delgado's sinister plot to recruit others, to the significant role of a borrowed Jeep, every macabre detail played its part in this deadly game of jealousy. Don't miss this shocking tale of a life cut short, and the horrifying lengths some will go to when obsession takes hold. Subscribe and follow us on social media to stay updated as we dissect more chilling true crime cases like this one.

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Chapters

• 1:13 Jealousy and Murder
• 14:20 Murder for Hire Scheme
• 23:27 Promoting Social Media Platforms and Subscriptions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:14

Welcome back to another episode of Dark Crossroads. Today's case we will be covering a true crime case that is solved, but it does teach us a lot of lessons. It shows how jealousy can not only ruin one life, but many lives. Kendra Hatcher was born on the 3rd of February in 1980 in Springfield, illinois. Her parents had multiple children. She had three sisters and one brother. At her local small high school, kendra was known for being athletic. She was the captain of her high school cheerleading squad and the girls volleyball team. At the age of 35, kendra Hatcher was doing what she loved the most, and she had somebody in her life that she thought she would spend the rest of her life with. Tragically, though, a jealous woman would put an end to her promising future.

Speaker 1: 2:45

Kendra was a devout Christian who grew up in Pleasant Plains, illinois. She studied dentistry in college. She helped build churches abroad, taught Bible study and performed free dental work for children in Ecuador. In 2015, kendra was living in Dallas and accepted a job at Smile Zone, which offered high-end dentistry to children from disadvantaged households. It truly seemed like the perfect fit for her. Kendra had a strong Christian faith and she wanted to use her skills as a dentist to help others around her. Kendra's professional life was going from strength to strength and her personal life was blossoming also. She also began dating Dr Ricardo Rickey. That same year, ricardo was completing a dermatology residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Kendra and Rickey met via the dating app Tinder and they went on their first date on the 24th of May, and from that very first date they were inseparable. They both had similar values and they both wanted the same things in life. After dating for only three months, kendra and Ricardo began talking about marriage. They planned a trip to Cancun for Labor Day of 2015.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Things were going exceedingly well for Kendra until the day of September 2nd 2015. That day in September, kendra drove into the parking garage to park her car after a full day of work at Gables Park 17, the luxury building that she lived in. She had gotten there around 7.40pm. This was something that she did every day, but she was excited, more excited than normal, because she was looking forward to the weekend ahead in Cancun with Ricky, but she would never make it to Mexico. Just minutes after she drove into the parking garage, two men walking through the parking garage heard the sound of screams and shots being fired. One of them is quoted as stating you heard screaming. It was pure fear. And then I heard pop pop. After the shots were heard, the witness stated that they noticed a Jeep Cherokee was seen speeding out of the garage. This person lived in the apartment complex and heard the screams and they called 911.

Speaker 1: 5:05

First responders rushed to the scene but were unable to save the victim, who subsequently was identified as Kendra Hatcher. Bullet shards and a handgun magazine were found on the ground near her body. Her purse was missing, but her cell phone had been left behind. Though the murder had the hallmarks of a robbery gone wrong, the manner of the shooting made people think that it might be an execution. The crime scene analysis that was at the scene stated the entry one came from the upper part of the head and exited through her chin, and gunshot residue suggested that her hands were up and behind her head at the time that she was shot.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Security cameras at Gables Park 17 showed that a black Jeep Grand Cherokee did arrive at 7.15pm before the murder. Dallas police detective at the time stated Somewhere around 7.42pm the victim, kendra, pulls into the parking garage. There was no doubt that that individual was waiting for her. As soon as she pulled in, he began to make his move. The shooter is then seen walking toward Kendra's car and returning to the Jeep which leaves the premises and footage obtained by the police department. The driver was a woman. Was car on camera. Images of the car and the driver were released to the media the following day in hopes of somebody calling in and identifying them. Two days later, jose Louis or T's contacted investigators saying that it was actually his car on the security camera footage. He insisted that he had nothing to do with this.

Speaker 1: 6:41

Jose told police on the morning of the 2nd of September. Two of his friends named Brenda Delgado and Crystal Cortez asked if they could borrow his Jeep. He said that they told him that Crystal's car was having mechanical issues and they left the car with Jose for him to work on it and he gave them his Jeep to use in the meantime. They were supposed to drop the Jeep back to him that evening after work, but instead Brenda asked him to meet him at a Chili's restaurant that evening and he agreed. Crystal wasn't at the restaurant and neither was his Jeep. Jose told police that he was with Brenda at the restaurant at the time of the shooting. The Jeep was returned to Jose's house later that night.

Speaker 1: 7:18

Jose had no idea that his Jeep would be used as a getaway car. He said that the first time he became aware of it was when he saw the appeal the police made and recognized his Jeep. He asked Brenda about it and she told him that it wasn't his Jeep, but then later said that Crystal used it to go there to get drugs for somebody and probably something might have went wrong. Jose told police that Brenda urged him not to say anything as it was his Jeep and that he could get in trouble with police and risk his citizenship. He felt that she was trying to manipulate him. According to Jose, brenda suggested that he paint the Jeep a different color and she would pay for it. After speaking to Brenda, jose reported the matter to the police.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Brenda Delgado was brought in for questioning and asked about the murder of Kendra Hatcher. I've never seen her. She responded in her videotaped interview, which was obtained by the show Snapped. When asked about her whereabouts on the night of the murder, brenda Delgado conveniently produced her dinner receipt from Chili's. As soon as I asked about the Jeep, her response was I gave it to my friend Crystal. They asked her if she was a woman seen on the footage driving the Jeep. She confirms that yes, she was.

Speaker 1: 8:29

She initially told police that an armed carjacker had gotten to the Jeep and forced her to drive to the parking garage that night. She told police her nine-year-old son was with her, but the footage showed that there was no child in the car. When police told her this, crystal changed her story. She told police that there was no carjacking and she drove the man to the garage willingly, but claimed that she thought it was just for a robbery. She insisted she knew nothing about the shooting. Police asked her why she agreed to drive there in the first place, even if she did believe it was for a robbery, and she told them that Brenda asked her to do it. Police asked her why Brenda would want to steal from Kendra and she told them that Kendra was dating Brenda's former boyfriend, cortez claimed that Brenda offered her $500 to steal Kendra's purse. On Cortez's phone, detectives found a photo taken on the day after the murder with $500 and bills folded in the sheet of a heart. She admitted that Brenda paid her to be the getaway driver, so we had enough to arrest her that night for murder. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough evidence to police Brenda in custody, so the only thing that I had to work with was the unpaid traffic ticket, and we did arrest her for the unpaid traffic ticket, stated police officers.

Speaker 1: 9:42

At this point, things are starting to click for detectives. They eventually learned that Brenda had dated Ricky on and off from 2012 until the beginning of 2015. They had lived together for a time and she had even gotten pregnant by him, though she later had an abortion. When Ricky began dating Kendra, it became clear that Brenda was not happy, but to Ricky he had no idea that she was not happy about this. He ended their relationship in February of 2015 and he had dated other women. When he met Kendra in May, he knew that it was serious, so he sent Brenda an email out of courtesy to let her know that he was in a serious relationship. He didn't tell her Kendra's name and Brenda seemed fine and told him that she hoped that they would remain friends.

Speaker 1: 10:27

Now, through their investigations, police had discovered that Brenda wasn't just unhappy that her relationship with Ricky was over. She had become completely obsessed and desperate to get him back. She pretended to Ricky that she was happy with just being friends, but her life had started to unravel. Her grades were dropping in school and she was starting to miss work. She set about making it her full-time job, almost to get Ricky back. She cyber-stocked both Kendra and Ricky and hacked Ricky's email and discovered plans they were making and trips that they were booking. She grew to resent Kendra. She believed that Kendra had taken her place.

Speaker 1: 11:08

According to Crystal, she made up her mind that she wanted to get rid of Kendra hatched, brenda asked Crystal if she knew anyone who could help and Crystal agreed to help. They began making a plan to kill Kendra. They met up numerous times and devised multiple plans. The initial plan was to inject Kendra with heroin or a sedative and then they started discussing shooting her. Brenda asked Crystal if she could find someone to do it or if she knew anyone, as she was from a rundown area. They drove around and asked a number of people if they could help. They later met a man named Christopher Love. He agreed to help and they discussed different ways that they could kill Kendra. They made a unanimous decision that the best way to kill her would be to shoot her, as it would be the fastest. Crystal told police that Brenda agreed to give her $500 and she agreed to give Christopher money and drugs.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Crystal told police that they chose to kill Kendra on the 2nd of September, as they were aware that Kendra and Ricky had plans for a Labor Day weekend and would be leaving Dallas on the 3rd of September to go to Mexico for vacation. Brenda believed they had to do it before then, as she became aware that they made plans to move to San Francisco when they got back. Brenda knew about all of their plans and everything that they did, as she had loaded Ricky's iPhone account onto another phone and was using that to track and stalk him. Brenda told Crystal that she wanted the killing to look like a robbery gone wrong. To decide where to carry out the killing, brenda and Crystal decided to follow Kendra to see what her movements were like on a regular, normal day. They followed her to work. They sat outside a Salvation Army and used binoculars to monitor all of her movements while she was at work. After work, they followed her back and discovered how best to gain access into the parking garage. They figured out that they could easily get inside if they parked in a visitor's spot first and then followed another car into the garage. They did that same routine for a few days to ensure that nothing changed. They were confident. They knew exactly what Kendra would do on the 2nd of September. The three of them Brenda, crystal and Christopher did one last run through the day before on the 1st of September and timed it. They stole gloves, syringes, disinfectant spray and wipes from Kendra's workplace.

Speaker 1: 13:44

The next day, the 2nd of September, the plan was for Crystal and Crystal to carry out the murder alone. Early that morning Brenda and Crystal collected the jeep from Jose and picked up Christopher at a jack in the box. Brenda was dropped off at a library in Carlton and Crystal and Christopher went to Kendra's apartment alone. When they got there, they waited across the street for 30 minutes or so and drove to Kendra's place of work. Crystal left to pick up her son and nephew from school and dropped them off with her grandmother. She drove back to Kendra's place of work and followed her when she left.

Speaker 1: 14:20

Crystal Cortez said that the shooter's name was Lamar and that he drove a blue Chrysler sabring and supplied his phone number. While the name was determined to be a fake, the number produced a Dallas address which had a blue sabring parked out front. The car belonged to a 31-year-old, christopher Love. On September 30th of 2015, love was arrested on an outstanding warrant from Memphis, tennessee. Inside of his car, authorities found a gun hidden in a side compartment. Ballistics tests revealed it was the weapon used to shoot Kendra Hatcher.

Speaker 2: 14:57

What we're doing is unflowing plastic back and you can see underneath where the nash tray is. There's a buddy of a gun. What did you do? Sell it right. I mean high fives. We were pretty static.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Christopher told detectives that Brenda Delgado said that she was connected to Mexico's infamous drug cartel. She promised to pay him in both drugs and money. Christopher was arrested and charged with capital murder In October of 2018, brenda Delgado made bail on September 5th of 2015. Then she boarded a bus and fled the country. She was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wondered List and a $100,000 reward was offered for any information leading to her arrest. She was later caught in April 2016 in Torreón Covila. Mexico stipulated that she wouldn't face the death penalty as part of her extradition agreement. Crystal Cortez pleaded guilty to murder and agreed to testify against love and Delgado in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence. Crystal Cortez testified at Brenda Delgado's murder trial that year and stated probably two weeks after I met Brenda, we started planning this murder.

Speaker 2: 16:19

We would follow her from her job to her house.

Speaker 3: 16:26

We pretty much just found out her date routine. She would find him on the find me app. That's how she knew her change of life. She was a very good friend of mine. She would follow her in case she was in a relationship with me. She would find him on the find me app. That's how she knew her change of life. She would follow her in case she was in a relationship with me.

Speaker 2: 16:57

When I heard the shots fired, I knew that he had killed Kendra Houser, and that's when I went ahead and hit the reverse.

Speaker 1: 17:03

You were just getting afraid and you were going to be possibly facing the next victim, brenda Delgado, guilty of capital murder on June 7th of 2018. Upon her conviction, she was automatically sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

Speaker 2: 17:21

I respond with an honest and respectful attitude.

Speaker 1: 17:24

The decision had been made to agree with what we needed to do with the outcome of the call, Sticking with the deal that Crystal had made to prosecutors, she would be the star witness for the prosecution. There would be two trials. Christopher and Brenda were charged with capital murder and their trials were heard separately. In exchange for her testimony and her guilty plea to a murder charge, Crystal was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Speaker 3: 17:49

That's my hand with money in it. That's my hand with money in it. What's the significance?

Speaker 2: 17:55

of this money.

Speaker 3: 17:58

That was my payment for completing the task of driving. Christopher loved co-conjuring.

Speaker 1: 18:03

Christopher was found guilty and was sentenced to death. Brenda's family and Ricky initially did not believe that Brenda could actually be involved in this. They knew her as a loving woman, wholesome and someone who had a good family and Christian values. Brenda pleaded not guilty and her defense argued that she wasn't even there when Kendra was shot and also had an alibi and receipts to prove that she was at the Chili's Restaurant at the time of the murder. But it was the prosecution's case that Kendra was killed as part of a murder for hire scheme orchestrated by Brenda herself. Brenda did not need to be there at the time of the shooting to be guilty of murder and could still be found guilty as she planned and orchestrated this entire thing and she was the person who hired Crystal and Christopher to carry out this murder.

Speaker 1: 18:54

The court heard that Brenda had a motive to want Kendra dead. She saw her as being an obstacle to getting what she wanted. It was her desire to be back with Ricky. The court heard that in the months leading up to Kendra's death Brenda had become increasingly obsessed with her and Ricky. The court heard testimony about that obsession from a number of people who knew Brenda. Her cousin testified that Brenda was depressed after her relationship with Ricky ended. He also testified that she offered to pay him if he hit Kendra with a baseball bat. He obviously declined to do so.

Speaker 2: 19:31

Thanks to any somebody that could hurt Pani Owa and Ms Hatcher and us at the stop. I don't want to hear anything else you have to say.

Speaker 1: 19:43

One of Brenda's friends also testified that Brenda was super obsessed with and angry towards Ricky when he ended their relationship. She told the court that Brenda would read through all of his emails and tracked his movements on her phone. She told the jury that Brenda had even kept a copy of his house key and had access to his bank accounts. Jennifer testified that Brenda asked her to eliminate Kendra Hatcher. She told the court that Brenda wanted her to either inject her with something fatal or use a bat and leave her in a coma. She told the court that Brenda offered to give her $2,000, a car and drugs if she would do this.

Speaker 3: 20:23

One of the pads were to inject her with a needle. Another pad was to shoot her directly. Another pad was to kidnap her. It would be easier just to kill her with the gun.

Speaker 2: 20:39

She just wanted to eliminate Kendra Hatcher, who was even both of them.

Speaker 1: 20:43

It was a prosecution's case that Brenda had asked a number of people to help her before she finally found somebody to agree. It was their case that she took advantage of Crystal. Crystal was struggling single mother who made $11 per hour and she also looked up to Brenda, a woman who had her own apartment and money and she wanted to be like her. The court heard that she gave Crystal $500 and police found the ATM withdrawal receipt for that amount in her belongings. She also paid Christopher. He was given a cash sum of $600 worth of marijuana and $300 worth of cocaine.

Speaker 1: 21:17

The jury were told that Brenda was at Achilles the night Kendra was shot and went straight home afterwards. But the jurors were shown footage from a surveillance video from Jose's neighbor's house of the night of the murder and the footage showed that Brenda was at Jose's house after Achilles and she was there with Crystal and they exchanged the jeep for the car. The court heard that cell phone data also placed her with Crystal and Christopher before the murder and that Brenda and Crystal contacted each other 99 times over a two-week period from the 22nd of August to the 4th of September. The jury deliberated for just 30 minutes and found Brenda guilty. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Speaker 2: 22:28

You can't even believe me. No matter how envious you were of any human being. It's not even the right to destroy lives, many lives, your own family's lives, our lives, kendra's lives, my children's lives. Who the hell do you think you are, Brenda? You, brenda, don't help me have earned your spot on this earth behind cold steel bars for the rest of your miserable, pathetic life.

Speaker 1: 23:04

My resources for this episode include oxygen chilling crimes, wikipedia, texas Monthly and, last but not least, dayline. This case has also been featured in a number of TV shows, including Sleeping with a Killer, snapped Killer Cases, a Time to Kill and Dayline. Alright guys. So thanks for hanging out again today. If you're new here, welcome and don't forget to like, share rate, review, subscribe wherever you can find us. We are on all platforms of social media. You can also check out the website wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom, and we do have a subscription page that has extra content and a lot of extra goodies, promo codes to the store and so much more. So check that out and I will see you guys again soon. And don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone. They are family-owned, fully licensed and are knowledgeable and dependable. To find out more about their services, simply visit their website at wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom. Wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom. Again, that is wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom, and their information will be included in our show notes wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom.