In 2025, a man called 911 to report he found his mother dead.

But with a changing story and questions about his mental state, the victim's daughter is left alone to pick up the pieces.

I'm Charlie and welcome to crime lines.

Hello and welcome to crime lines.

Just a little preface to this case.

Years ago, I had a podcast called Impact Statement.

I would let people come on to tell their stories and give their victim impact statements for

everything from unsolved cases to domestic violence to what it was like growing up after the murder of a sibling.

The point was to let people tell their stories and

give their impact statements, even if they never got to court, and especially if they never

got that moment. So when Jessica reached out to me to talk about her story of her mother's murder,

I knew the only way to really do this would be to bring back the

impact statement format for this episode. So I am going to still cover the true crime

side of things like I usually do, but I will let Jessica tell you herself her point of view on

what happened around it. You will also hear from Dr. Page Wilcoxson,

a forensic psychologist who previously worked within the criminal justice system. She is not currently

working in the field and she has not interviewed anyone related to this case, but she did have

some broad insights into the issues that came up that are

based on her education and experience. So this case starts for the public in January of 2025.

But for Jessica, it started far before that with her mother, Lita Files.

My mom was always like a pretty nurturing person.

She was just overall, she had a very happy personality, very empathetic, smiling, laughing,

...