Kriti Mehrotra
When veteran firefighter Robert Poynter lost his life in September 2016, it shook the entire community to the very core as it soon came to light that his wife and her boyfriend were behind it all. They eventually tried to implicate one another, as explored on NBC’s ‘Dateline: Out of the Darkness,’ but the evidence ostensibly deemed the former — Chacey Poynter — as the mastermind. So now that it’s been a while since this matter officially came to a close, let’s find out more about her union with Robert, her affairs, her precise offense, and her current whereabouts, shall we?
Who is Chacey Poynter?
It was back around 2007 that Chacey Tyler Mormon first came across the already married father of two, Robert (18 years her senior), through a mutual friend, only to never really part ways again. The then 20-year-old nurse aide was reportedly under the impression he was “separated,” yet everyone close to the firefighter has asserted she relentlessly pursued him until he left his family. Whatever the case may be, they did officially begin dating in December 2007, she became pregnant in May 2009, and they happily tied the knot near their 2nd anniversary in December 2009.
However, their spark died down three years into their marriage, driving them to move into different bedrooms and essentially lead independent lives while still largely sharing a household. Chacey once stated, “nothing really set it off,” but her husband did later grow verbally, physically, and mentally abusive upon starting a testosterone treatment — there’s no evidence of said violence. Nevertheless, it’s imperative to note that there is proof of her infidelities — she had several sexual affairs by the time fall 2016 came around, and Robert was actually very well aware of them.
It has been reported that Robert genuinely wanted to save their marriage initially, yet following a failed vacation to Mexico in the hopes of reigniting their spark, he seemingly gave up for good. The day after they returned home, which was the day before he lost his life, on September 8, 2016, he’d reached out to a divorce attorney, expressing he was “thinking of a surprise attack.” Thus, once all these aspects got combined with Chacey’s odd statements immediately upon the homicide and the fact she was the primary beneficiary of his life insurance policy, she was apprehended.
Chacey Poynter is Still in Jail
Since Chacey had told officials her then-boyfriend, Michael Garza was the triggerman after she’d essentially lured Robert to the rural road within hours of the incident, both were arrested. While the latter was directly charged with murder, the count against her was upped from conspiracy to commit murder to capital murder once details regarding their marriage came to light. The fact she’d actually convinced her husband to make her the primary beneficiary of the $685,000 policy mere months prior and had texted several lovers she wanted him dead didn’t help her case either.
Therefore, despite her claims of innocence, Chacey’s two-week trial in June 2019 resulted in a guilty verdict following merely four hours of jury deliberations. She was subsequently sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, which means today, the 35-year-old is incarcerated at Christina Melton Crain Unit in Gatesville, Texas. According to the State Department of Corrections records, she will be eligible for parole on September 9, 2046. We should mention that Chacey had appealed her murder conviction, but it was upheld by a state appeals court in May 2021.
Read More: Where is Michael Garza Now?
