A woman who posed as an innocent victim following her husband’s kidnapping and murder was later revealed to be his killer after she said something a bit suspicious during a police interview. Samantha Wohlford was later convicted of killing her husband Ernie Ibarra and is behind bars. However, the story of how she got convicted is a wild one!
- Wohlford called her mom in a panic on February 20, 2015. According to the Titus County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, she told her mom that Ibarra had been kidnapped after being attacked and that she’d been left bound and gagged by the masked intruders.
- Police thought they knew the men who might have been involved. Johnathan Sanford, Octavious Rhymes, and Jose Ponse were immediately under suspicion and authorities believed this may have been an open and shut case. Then Samantha Wohlford made a mistake.
- Samantha Wohlford gave birth to twins at 19 and met Ernie Ibarra back in 2008 at a tattoo shop. They began dating and had another set of twins in 2011 and one more child in 2013. Being a mom of five was a struggle, not least of which because Wohlford claimed Ibarra was abusive (a claim that his family vehemently denies). She documented her struggles and her hopes of becoming a famous actress on YouTube. Clearly, her home life was holding her back.
- Wohlford pointed the finger directly at Johnathan Sanford during a police interview. She told police she’d met him at the hospital and when she opened up about Ibarra being abusive, Sanford was incensed and decided to get together with his brother, Jose Antonio Ponse, to kidnap Ibarra. The men were charged with aggravated kidnapping but told police a few things that implied Wohlford and another man (Rhymes) were involved.
- One nagging detail just didn’t make sense to authorities. The slip-up Wohlford made was by claiming her husband’s killers had left her bound and gagged. Detectives wanted to know how she managed to call her mom when she’d been bound and gagged and why she didn’t call 911 instead. Wohlford said she had to dial with her face and just put in the first number that came to mind. Obviously, that’s not just ridiculous, it’s impossible. How would she have been able to speak if she was gagged?
- Samantha Wohlford initially planned to frame Ernie Ibarra for meth possession. However, they eventually decided they would just kill him, and Wohlford let the men borrow a car to do just that. Ibarra’s body was later found in the woods of Sand Crossing in Camp County. He’d been shot to death.
- All four people involved in Ibarra’s murder are now behind bars. Ponse and Sanford will be in jail for 50 years, while Rhymes got 93 years and Samantha Wohlford herself was sentenced to 99 years.
