- Lillie Mae married soldier John, but he planned a divorce
- She plotted murder, and her brother beat John to death
- Financial motive exposed, both Lillie Mae and her brother were convicted and sentenced to life
Lillie Mae was looking for love when she met John Eubank on a dating website.
Stationed overseas in the army, in 2008, John, then 24, began exchanging messages with Lillie, who was 10 years older.
Their online chats soon turned into long conversations and plans for a future together.
When John returned home, Lillie picked him up from the bus station and the couple’s romance quickly moved forward.
Before long they were married. John stepped into the role of stepfather to Lillie’s two daughters, hoping to build a happy family life.
But behind the scenes, cracks were already forming. From the start of the marriage, Lillie Mae controlled their finances. John often had little idea how much money they had or what was being spent.
Friends later said John began to feel uneasy about the relationship.
Over time the marriage deteriorated and the couple argued more frequently.
‘ John stepped into the role of stepfather to Lillie’s two daughters, hoping to build a happy family life’
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By early 2013, during his final overseas deployment, John confided his concerns to colleagues.
‘He was bound and determined to get a divorce when he came back home,’ his friend Bonnie Bailey later said on the television show Snapped.
But when Lillie Mae learned about his plans, investigators believe she began thinking about a far more sinister solution.
Instead of preparing for a divorce, prosecutors say she started plotting murder.
When police later searched her computer, they discovered a chilling trail of internet searches. Among them were phrases such as, how to drown somebody in a bathtub and poisons that will not be identified on an autopsy.
In November 2013, Lillie’s older half-brother, Carl Evan ‘Cowboy’ Swain, was visiting the family.
On November 30, Carl invited his brother-in-law on what sounded like a harmless outdoor trip – hunting in the woods near Fort Stewart, Georgia, US, where they lived.
John agreed and, that morning, Lillie drove both men to the Holbrook Pond Recreation Area, a quiet military campground often frequented by hunters.
‘Instead of preparing for a divorce, prosecutors say she started plotting murder.’
John believed he was heading out for a day of tracking wild boar.
But once they were deep in the woods, Carl suddenly attacked. Armed with a baseball bat, he struck John from behind in a savage assault.
He repeatedly hit his brother-in-law with the bat, striking him at least nine times in the head and upper body, which left him with devastating injuries.
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John was still alive when he was discovered by other servicemen who were in the area with their families.
Quickly transported to the nearby Winn Army Community Hospital, John’s injuries were too severe and he died shortly after, aged 29.
Investigators began searching for answers. Witnesses reported seeing a white or grey ute parked near the area around the time of the attack.
They also recalled a man emerging from the trees before climbing into the vehicle and driving away.
The description quickly led police to John’s wife. Lillie Mae drove a silver truck and had been in the area that day.
When investigators interviewed her, they noticed that rather than being distraught over her husband’s death, Lillie Mae was distant.
‘Lillie was incredibly cold and calculating throughout… all the while pretending to be John Eubank’s loving wife,’ lawyer Jennifer Solari said on Snapped.
At first, Lillie told police she had dropped John off to go animal tracking about half an hour before he was discovered injured.
She claimed she had been running errands with her daughter Angel.
But investigators soon uncovered a crucial detail she had left out. Her half-brother Carl Swain had been visiting the family.
Under further questioning, Lillie admitted she’d bought her brother a ticket to travel to Georgia under an alias.
She claimed it was because he had a criminal record and was worried about travelling under his real name. The explanation deepened investigators’ suspicions.
‘They saw her brother in the woods swinging the bat and hitting something repeatedly’
Eventually, Lillie Mae changed her story again, admitting she had driven her husband and brother to the area with a baseball bat in the car – as protection against wild animals.
After running errands, she and her daughter returned to pick them up.
According to Lillie, they saw her brother in the woods swinging the bat and hitting something repeatedly. Lillie Mae claimed her brother had been attacking a wild boar and John had run away.
But investigators confronted her with a devastating piece of evidence. John’s body had been discovered in the exact same spot where she said the animal attack occurred.
Faced with the truth, Lillie finally admitted she had seen her brother beating her husband.
By then, Carl Swain had already fled the state.
Police tracked him down and arrested him on December 6, 2013. Inside his Alabama home they found the duffel bag containing clothing stained with blood and carrying DNA from both men.
The true motive behind the killing became clear.
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Lillie Mae stood to receive a huge payout after her husband’s death from a $400,000 life insurance policy, as well as a $100,000 military death gratuity.
In March 2014 Lillie Mae Eubank was charged with conspiring with her brother to murder her husband.
In court, prosecutors said Lillie had promised to pay her brother $160,000 for carrying out the murder.
In May 2015, Carl Evan ‘Cowboy’ Swain, 43, was convicted and sentenced to three life terms in prison for the brutal killing.
Just weeks later, in June 2015, at the US District Court in Georgia, Lillie Mae Eubank, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
During sentencing, Judge William T Moore Jr said, ‘You are a truly evil person, Ms Eubank.’
She was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
For the family, the betrayal still haunts them.
‘My uncle and my stepfather both went into the woods,’ Lillie Mae’s daughter Angel said on Snapped. ‘And only one came out.’
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