What happened to Marissa DeVault?
Panicked, Marissa DeVault called 911 one night in January 2009 to report an assault on her husband Dale Harrell. A complicated investigation including accusations of abuse, financial motivation and confessions from several people then took place.
Marissa’s case is explored in depth in the second half of Investigation Discovery’s “Deadly Sins: No Forgiveness: A Love Triangle Tangle,” which explores how authorities ultimately managed to convict her.
Marissa DeVault
Marissa DeVault: who is she?
Marissa DeVault was born and raised in Arizona, and the series portrays her childhood as less than ideal. At the time, her stepfather sexually assaulted her. Marissa started working as a stripper after graduating from high school, but soon lost her job. Later she met and married Dale Harrell. At the time of the event, the couple lived in Gilbert, Arizona, and they had three children together. On January 14, 2009, at around 2:45 a.m., Marissa called 911 to report that Dale had been attacked.
At first, Marissa insisted that Dale choke her until she passed out. She added that when she woke up she was under Dale and saw their roommate Stanley Cook Jr. hit Dale in the head with a hammer. Stanley initially admitted to the assault but later claimed he suffered from memory loss following a motorcycle accident in 1998. Aged 34, Dale died within weeks after the incident.
The police did not take Marissa’s claim that Stanley assaulted Dale seriously. According to the official investigation, Dale was alone in bed, lying on his left side when he was attacked, and Marissa could not get under him. This was corroborated by the traces of blood found at the site. She finally admitted hitting her husband with a hammer and said it was because she had been physically and sexually abused for years.
Later, detectives discovered Allen Flores, whom Marissa had met online through a “sugar daddies” website. She had borrowed over $300,000 from him at the time and had to pay it back. Even Allen had contributed Stanley’s confession letter. He later gave a statement in support of the charge in which he said Marissa discussed killing Dale or having him killed. According to the testimony of another ex-boyfriend of Marissa, she asked him to “take care” of her spouse but he refused.
Today, where is Marissa DeVault?
Ultimately, the prosecution came to the conclusion that Marissa DeVault murdered Dale to get the insurance money. The jury ultimately refused to believe Marissa’s claim that she killed Dale in self-defense due to testimonies, bloodstains, and her conflicting comments. However, despite claims from friends and family that Dale never abused Marissa, their daughters said her father frequently beat her mother. Marissa was convicted of first degree murder in April 2014.
Marissa, who was 36 at the time, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole the same month. Before receiving her punishment, she expressed her regret and said, “I can’t do anything more than say I’m sorry. I can’t press a back button, I can’t bring it back, I can’t fix everything that was wrong, and I wouldn’t even know where to go back if I had that button. I wish I could undo what happened because I sincerely regret it. She is still being held at the Arizona State Penitentiary Complex – Perryville in Goodyear, Maricopa County, according to prison records.
