- School Principal Leslie Jenea Chance was happily married when she and her hubby Todd visited the CSI exhibit in Las Vegas.
- When Todd died in a suspected carjacking the family were devastated.
- But raunchy text messages on Todd’s phone led Police to suspect that the killer was much closer to home
Leslie Jenea Chance had always been fiercely determined in life.
After marrying her high-school sweetheart, Leslie – who went by her middle name Jenea – fell pregnant in her early 20s.
But during her pregnancy, she and her partner split, and she gave birth to her daughter Jessica, alone, aged 22.
As a single mum, Jenea worked three jobs, while studying to become a teacher. While at her job in a pharmacy, she met Todd Chance, a security guard.
Leslie wasn’t looking for love as she focused on her studies and her daughter, but over time her feelings for Todd grew.
He was genuine and caring, and incredibly kind to her daughter.
The pair started dating, and within a year they were married.
‘One highlight of their holiday was a visit to the CSI: The Experience exhibit’
Todd became like a father to Jessica.
‘While they were exchanging rings, he presented me with a pearl bracelet with my name on it. He was so amazing to me. I mean, he was in every aspect my dad and he never made me feel left out,’ Jessica later told Snapped.
The couple went on to welcome two daughters of their own – Samantha and Sarah.
Despite being a busy mum, Jenea completed her teaching degree and got a job at the local primary school. Within a few years she’d worked her way up to the job of principal.
Meanwhile, Todd, who had a passion for cars, motorcycles, and off-roading, worked long, hard hours as a truck driver.
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In mid-2013, the entire family took a trip to Las Vegas.
One highlight of their holiday was a visit to the CSI: The Experience exhibit, an interactive crime scene investigation attraction based on the popular TV show, which the family all loved.
But just a few months after returning from their dream family holiday, disaster struck.
On the morning of August 25, 2013, Todd, 45, was found dead in a local almond orchard. He’d been shot twice in the chest with a .38 revolver at close range.
His car was missing but his mobile phone and wallet were lying just a few metres away.
Police initially suspected a carjacking gone wrong. But Todd’s beloved black Ford Mustang was found, unlocked, a few kilometres away in a neighbourhood well known for drugs.
His gun and keys were on the floor.
‘Who would want to hurt the much-loved husband and father?’
To the authorities, it looked staged, like someone was begging for the car to be stolen…
Police broke the news to the family, who were devastated.
Jenea told cops she’d last seen her hubby that morning as he left the house to run errands and later attend a gun show.
Who would want to hurt the much-loved husband and father?
CCTV footage from near where Todd’s car was found showed a person disguised in a hat, glasses and bulky clothes walking around the neighbourhood.
Further surveillance captured the same person entering a local Starbucks cafe later that morning.
They were seen entering the bathroom, and emerging five minutes later in a different outfit.
It was clear now that the person was a woman, though her face remained obscured by a baseball cap.
After leaving the cafe, the woman was seen disposing of her first outfit behind stacked bags at a hardware shop across the road. The garbage had been collected before police could retrieve the belongings.
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Police began to wonder, could Jenea be the woman in question? But what could drive a seemingly happy wife to murder her husband? After all, they’d just had the time of their lives on a holiday.
Searching Todd’s phone, police found a potential motive. Todd had been in contact with his ex-fiancée, Carrie Williams.
The messages between the pair were flirtatious, with Carrie even sending nude photos of herself.
A search of Todd’s car also revealed a fingerprint on the driver’s side door which turned out to be Jenea’s, despite her claiming she’d never driven the Mustang.
If she was lying about that, what else had she not told the truth about?
‘Todd had been in contact with his ex-fiancée and the messages were flirtatious.’
Leslie Jenea Chance, 46, was arrested, accused of her husband’s murder.
But the charge was dropped five days later due to a lack of evidence.
Still, detectives never stopped digging.
Two years after her husband’s death, Jenea filed claims for Todd’s life insurance policy, worth more than $770,000.
After learning about Jenea’s interest in the CSI exhibit during their family trip, police wondered whether she had picked up tips there on how to cover up a crime.
And, despite her claiming she had been at home on the computer at the time of Todd’s murder, the FBI found no computer activity had taken place at the time.
In December 2016, Leslie Jenea Chance, then 49, was arrested again and charged with first-degree murder.
She pleaded not guilty at Kern County Superior Court, California.
‘You murdered your husband. It was intimate and it was in close proximity,’ Judge Charles Brehmer said.
During her murder trial, which began in December 2019, the prosecutor described Todd’s death as a calculated premeditated act, claiming his wife had killed him after discovering the flirty texts to his ex.
In January 2020, the jury found Leslie Jenea Chance, then 53, guilty of first-degree murder and of discharging a firearm, but not guilty of killing for financial gain.
‘You murdered your husband. It was intimate and it was in close proximity,’ Judge Charles Brehmer said.
‘This had to have been planned in advance.’
In September 2020, Leslie Jenea Chance was sentenced to 50 years to life behind bars.
Her lawyers appealed the conviction, however the District Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in January 2023.
