Texas pastor paid son $3k to kill wife after dad-son duo got involved with same woman in twisted love triangle
May 18, 2010 saw a frantic 911 call made by Texas pastor Tracy Burleson to report that his wife Paulette Burleson was shot dead outside their home. The body of Paulette, 56, was found in the driveway of the couple's Houston home with a .38 caliber shell casing lying next to her. Oxygen's series 'Killer Couples' delves into the murder case and a twisted love triangle that led to Paulette's murder.
The pastor had claimed that he had found his wife lying dead after he returned from a convenience store and couldn't get a look at the assailant. However, he soon found himself at the center of a murder for hire plot and a love triangle involving his own son. When Tracy went on trial in September 2011, prosecutors described him as the mastermind who had manipulated his own son into killing Paulette so that he could be with his son's caretaker Tyonne Palmer.
Tracy's son from another relationship, William Fuller, had actually filed accusations against his stepmother a few years prior to the murder. Paulette ended up avoiding jail time. Fuller suffered from sickle cell anemia and lived near his father's home with a caretaker looking after him. Palmer tried to claim that she was with Fuller on the night of the murder.
An anonymous caller tipped off the police saying that Fuller had confessed to killing Paulette and admitted he shot her in the back of the head. After Fuller was arrested, he was brought to interrogation and he confessed that his father Tracy and Palmer had convinced him to shoot Paulette. He also revealed how his father and Palmer got romantically involved after he introduced Palmer to Tracy at the church. The two had fallen in love so much so that Tracy even proposed to her despite being married to Paulette.
It was then that Tracy and Palmer decided it would be easier to kill Paulette rather than getting a divorce. According to Fuller, Tracy was concerned about how his congregation would disapprove of him remarrying so soon after divorcing his wife. He agreed to pay Fuller around $3,000 in order to commit the murder once Paulette's life insurance paid out. Fuller revealed he took a gun obtained by Palmer and went to Paulette's house.
Former Harris County Sheriff's detective sergeant Ron Hunter said in the documentary: "The plan was that Tracy was going to engage in an argument with Paulette, and he wanted William to shoot Paulette from behind so that she wouldn’t see who did the murder." After the murder, Fuller fled the crime scene and called Palmer to pick him up. They went to his cousin's house where he cleaned himself up. They also discarded the murder weapon over a bridge.
Authorities arrested Tracy and Palmer after which Tracy admitted to having an affair but denied having any involvement in the murder of Paulette. Palmer claimed that she had only learned of the murder plot after Paulette was killed. However, call records show that Tracy and his son Fuller had been at Tracy's home when Paulette was murdered. The convenience store Tracy claimed to have gone to was also shut on that day.
All three — Tracy, Fuller, and Palmer were charged with capital murder. When Fuller testified against his father, he revealed that he himself had sexual relations with Palmer after he killed Paulette. Hunter said, "William expressed that he was in love with her and was willing to do whatever it took. I think Tyonne took it upon herself to have sex with William as a peacekeeping just because of the whole situation of him having killed Paulette. And it’s to keep him drawn in, keep him close, and to keep him quiet."
'Killer Couples' airs on Thursdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.