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Tonica Jenkins had a gift for manipulating people.

She used that gift to scam her way into getting into Yale.

This serial con artist would end up facing federal drug trafficking charges,

which led to her darkest scheme yet,

roping her family into faking her own death by killing another woman.

The only problem?

The victim survived.

I'm Vinny Politan and welcome to the Court TV podcast.

This week we have an audio edition of our original series,

Accomplice to Murder, which untangles this shocking web of deception.

Have a listen.

This is the Court TV Podcast

with Vinny Polytan.

The story of Tonica Jenkins, an ambitious, confident cold-blooded would-be killer, is one that's probably better suited for a Stephen King novel rather than a true crime documentary.

And it all started here in this neighborhood in East Cleveland.

East Cleveland, it's working-class neighborhood with beautiful houses, so people do take pride in being citizens of East Cleveland, but it's seen, it's better days. It's struggling economically.

Tonica Jenkins was born in 1975 to her mother, Tanika.

They are spelled the same way, but they are not pronounced the same way.

Marra and Taz are co-hosts of the podcast, Sisters Who Kill.

And growing up, people would say that Tottica was a go-getter.

She did well in school and she really was driven to reach her goals

...