How haunting poem was vital clue to catch baby-faced killer who shot couple after CD row in ‘worst injuries’ ever seen
FORCING the front door open, police officers took in the horrifying and bloody ‘slaughterhouse’ crime scene in front of them.
Two badly injured, lifeless women’s bodies – including one with a grisly gunshot wound through the left eye – were sprawled out across the living room floor.
Blood spatters covered the carpet and sofa, and in the words of local news reporter Christen Drew: “The scene was a slaughterhouse.”
There were multiple gunshot wounds to both women’s heads and torso, who police would discover were couple Kandis Majors, 28, and Terri Seibeck, 32.
Speaking about the case Phillip Butler, a former attorney who worked on the investigation, went as far as to say: “I’ve worked multiple homicide cases but the injuries to Kandis and Terri are the worst I’ve ever seen.”
It wasn’t only the injuries that proved shocking in the case either, and it was a handwritten poem that helped bring the killers Afton Ferris and Michael Schallert to justice after a row over some missing CDs and a tank top…
‘A beautiful smile that lit up the room’
To friends and family, it was clear Kandis and Terri were meant for each other.
Both single mothers, the pair had met through mutual friends before falling for each other, and had planned to marry one day.
Despite both having past drug addiction issues which meant they didn’t have custody of their kids, they were both in a good place.
Terri had got a job as a painter and Kandis was training to be a radiologist.
Appearing in Hayu documentary, Snapped: Killer Couples, Kandis Majors’ mum Cindy Marlow says: “Kandis was a ball of life.
“She was a very bright, intelligent girl. She had a beautiful smile that lit up the room.
“She had so many positive things going for her but she got into meth really bad for a while… [and would] go on binges for three or four days.
“Together they were able to make each other stronger.”
Kandis’ and Terri’s friend Jessi Hurley says: “I think they needed each other just because they had issues with past drug addiction and trauma.
“They both wanted to get on a better path and do good for their kids and get that love back that they’d lost.”
‘Blood on the door’
Just before their untimely deaths, the couple had been happily living in Terri’s aunt’s house in West Frankfort, Illinois.
However she became worried when, on October 19 2009, she’d been unable to reach her niece.
When she approached the house she noticed there was blood on the storm door”
Police Chief Jeff Tharp
West Frankfort Police Chief Jeff Tharp says: “Terri’s aunt called to report that she had spoken to Kerri on the evening of the 18th and was unable to get in contact with her on the 19th.
“She had learned from Terri’s employer that she did not show up for work that day.
“When she approached the house she noticed there was blood on the storm door.”
Describing the scene that befell him, the police chief says: “As I pushed the door open, about five or six inches, toes came beneath the door and you could see the blood on them.
“I was able to push the door open a little further… I could see a full body laid out perpendicular to the front door.”
What happened? A timeline
- 2007: Couple Kandis Majors and Terri Seibeck move in together.
- 2008: Michael Schallert and Afton Ferris, then 18 and homeless, meet and begin dating.
- 2009: Ferris and Schallert move in with Kandis and Terri, as Schallert has been friends with Terri for years.
- October 18, 2009: However around a month later the couple accuse Ferris and Schallert of stealing from them, and kick them out.
- October 19, 2009: Less than 24 hours later the women are both shot several times and killed in their home.
- October 21, 2009: Ferris and Schallert are taken into custody.
- July 2011: A jury finds Ferris guilty on two counts each of murder, home invasion, and armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison.
- August 2011: Schallert pleads guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree and is also sentenced to life in prison.
The scene was a slaughterhouse
With no gun on the property, police quickly ruled out the possibility of a murder suicide.
However, while the car and credit cards were missing – suggesting robbery could have been a motivation – the house wasn’t ransacked and there was a stack of cash and expensive jewellery left untouched.
There was also no sign of forced entry – which led investigators to believe they were likely to have known their killer.
Many presumed maybe it was their past catching up with them.
The couple’s friend Jessi Hurley says: “Maybe someone was getting revenge for something that happened a long time ago… and it was finally coming back to them.
“Unfortunately that’s the first thing I thought had happened.”
‘A kind and caring person’
However, police soon discovered the pair had a couple living with them, who friends identified as couple 19-year-old Afton Ferris and 29-year-old Michael Schallert.
Michael met Afton, who’d grown up in foster care, a year earlier, and the pair quickly fell in love, and when they moved into the area Terri and Kandis welcomed them into their home.
However at the time of the murder their belongings were gone, after they’d moved out of the house following an argument over some missing items.
It turned out Michael had been friends with Terri for years though, and no one thought for one second he’d be capable of violence.
Michael’s sister Shauna Schallert says: “Michael has always been a kind and caring person. He has always been the type to give the shirt of his back for somebody else.”
Reporter Christen says: “His friends describe him as kind hearted and compassionate and a good guy – who just happens to fall in love really easily.”
The couple were eventually traced in Colorado, and bloody clothing was found, along with credit cards and ID, and a semi-automatic pistol.
Christen says: “In the car they found a handwritten poem by Afton, seemingly [describing] the crime and their life on the run as criminals.”
THE POEM: 'Bullets and Weed'
I got a handful of bullets,
And a pocketful of weed,
That’s all it would take,
That’s all we would need,
To get us away from this place,
From these two-faced b*****s,
And too much f*****g greed,
What we gotta do to keep in check,
Live our life the right way,
Please god show us the way,
Cos all we got is this gun,
Seems like we got no where to run,
And no way to go back,
Guess the only way to go,
Is to take this handful of bullets,
And pocketful of weed,
And live our life on the edge and never look back.
‘We didn’t have any other choice’
Two further handwritten letters were also found which appear to be suicide notes, saying: “One wish I want granted is that I want to be buried with Michael…
“God knows how much we truly love each other and will let us live after death.”
After she was arrested Afton immediately broke down, and revealed everything, telling police the couple had asked them to leave.
On the night of the murders, they’d gone to a friends house, drank and played cards, before taking the pistol and ammo and left, planning to rob the women and then flee.
“We didn’t have any other choice” she tells officers. “It’s the only option we had.”
“We asked if we could come inside to apologise… They were telling us how we were stealing their stuff and how they went through our room.
“Michael went to the room … to see if there was anything else… and he came back out and Kandis was bitching and he’s like ‘you know what m**********r? And he shot her.”
‘Give me the gun’
West Frankfort Police Chief Jeff Tharp says: “Afton stated she noticed Kandis was at the door using her cell phone to call the Sheriff’s department.
“Afton says she grabbed a hold of Candice and dragged her back into the residence and Michael shot her some more.”
In a police interview she said: “Terri, she was moaning and groaning. I said ‘give me the gun’ and then I shot her in her left eye.
“The reason why I did this is my life has been f**ked up. There’s nothing for me to live [for]. I’ve got no f**king family. I got nothing to live for, you know.”
‘I just pulled the trigger’
Tragically, it seems the whole horrific scenario could have been avoided, as the straw that broke the camel’s back was a row over a couple of missing CDs and a tank top.
Speaking to police, Michael explained: “We just walked in and she started blaming Afton for stealing some CDs and me for a tank top shirt and I just couldn’t take it no more and I had that gun.
“I just pulled the trigger. I don’t even know how many times. It got jammed and Afton asked me to reload it. I reloaded it and she shot a couple of times.
“We just didn’t want to lose each other so we were going to do whatever it took.”
‘Like something you see on TV’
The pair were both charged with two counts of first degree murder, and initially both plead not guilty, hoping a trial would save them from a possible death sentence.
In 2011 however, just before their trial, the death penalty became illegal so Michael changed his plea guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Michael’s sister Shauna says: “It was surreal. It’s something that you see on TV. You don’t think that would ever happen in real life.”
In July 2011, a jury found Afton guilty of both murders, home robbery and home invasion and she was also sentenced to life.
Kandis Majors’ mum Cindy Marlow adds: “I was relieved, but I was sad because these two young people’s lives basically thrown away for what?
“Nothing. Four people basically died that day.”
Episodes of Snapped: Killer Couples are available to stream on Hayu in the UK.