Pod Insights Park Predators The Women About this episode When visitors discover a man shot dead at a campground along the Idaho-Oregon border, law enforcement swiftly zeros in on not one, but two suspects who are close to home.
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0:30 Speaker 01 Hi, park enthusiasts. It's Delia. If you listen to Park Predators, you already know that sometimes the most beautiful places can hide the darkest secrets. But what happens when the danger isn't miles from civilization? It's in your community, and sometimes even in your own backyard. On Crime Junkie, hosts Ashley and Britt dive into real cases every week, from missing persons to unsolved murders, breaking down what we know, what we don't, and the details that still don't sit right. If you care about the stories behind the headlines and the victims at the center of them, you'll want to check out Crime Junkie. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
1:10 Speaker 01 Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambrano, and the case I'm going to share with you takes place at the Martin Landing Campground in Idaho. This area is home to 60 acres of recreation space that is co-managed by Canyon County Parks and the state's fishing game department. The campground closes for the winter, but during the summer months, lots of people go there to hike, picnic, fish, boat, and birdwatch, essentially all the things that make for a good time in the great outdoors. The campground is situated at the junction of the Boise and Snake Rivers and is super close to Idaho's border with Oregon, so you could say there's a lot going on there. And in the summer of 2024, the area experienced even more activity when law enforcement responded
1:54 Speaker 01 to a call about a man's body being discovered at the campground. The homicide investigation that ensued revealed a confluence of complicated relationships which culminated in an act of betrayal and murder that fractured multiple families forever.
2:10 Speaker 01 This is Park Predators.
2:54 Speaker 01 Shortly after 9:00 PM on Friday, July 12, 2024, a family camping at Martin Landing Campground near Parma, Idaho, was walking through the property when they noticed something disturbing at Camping Area A13. A white male who appeared to be about 40 years old was lying face down on the ground with his feet toward the river and what looked like blood near the left side of his body. The discovery was so alarming that the family realized they needed to contact law enforcement right away to report the situation. So around 9:30 PM, they and staff at the campground got in touch with the Canyon County Sheriff's Office. And when deputies and detectives arrived on scene, they saw precisely what the witnesses had reported: A man who was fatally injured, lying face down on the ground.
3:40 Speaker 01 When authorities took a closer look at the victim, they realized his injury was actually a bullet wound to the upper-left side of his chest. Lying about five feet away from him was a spent shell casing for a .38 caliber round. On the ground closer to the man's body was a baseball hat that held a set of keys for a Dodge brand vehicle, a wallet, and a pocket knife. Inside the wallet, investigators found an Idaho driver's license that indicated it belonged to 37-year-old Idaho resident Travis Columpin.
4:10 Speaker 01 And investigators didn't have to go very far to locate the vehicle that the car keys found near Travis's body went to. According to police reports, parked near the entrance of the campground, about a quarter of a mile away from the crime scene, was a white Dodge pickup truck that was registered to a couple with a different last name than Travis. After speaking with those folks, authorities learned that they were in the process of selling the truck to Travis, which was why he'd been driving it, but it wasn't actually registered to him. Witnesses at the campground informed investigators that the Dodge had been parked in the same parking spot for at least a few hours before Travis's body was discovered. The campground's host told Idaho News 6 that she'd personally seen Travis driving to the campground a few hours before his body was found, and apparently, there hadn't been many
4:55 Speaker 01 cars or visitors coming to campsites that particular day, so that was why his arrival had stood out to her. Anyway, when law enforcement looked in his vehicle, they saw a 9mm pistol sitting on the backseat, behind the driver's seat, and that gun was later confirmed to be associated with Travis. But they knew that gun wasn't the weapon that had been used to kill him, since it was too large of a caliber firearm. So over the course of the next few hours, investigators scoured the brush, shoreline, and river near camping area A13 to try and locate the murder weapon. But it wasn't there. They subsequently closed the campground for several days to keep as much of the crime scene contained as possible. While investigators searched for clues, and I presume wrote search warrants to be able
5:40 Speaker 01 to get into Travis's truck, news of the murder spread fast to his family members. At the time, his stepfather Norman and his late mother Mary had a house in Parma, and Travis's biological dad Darwin also had property in the city. According to Travis's sister Anna, at the time of the murder, Travis was living at Darwin's place, but there was a good portion of time that Darwin wasn't physically residing there because he was in and out of prison. Travis had agreed to look over his father's home for him after recently separating from his wife, 35-year-old Melissa Columbit. In April 2024, just a few months before Travis was killed, she'd left Idaho and taken their three kids to live with her family in Nevada.
6:22 Speaker 01 Around 7:45 the following day, Saturday the 13th, Travis's sister Anna was at home about to go run errands with her husband when her stepdad Norman called and told them Travis was dead. Anna explained to me in her interview that she had a physical response to the news of her brother's murder. She said she screamed, felt her feet buckle beneath her, and then essentially fell apart emotionally. By 5 o'clock that night, Norman called again and let her know that law enforcement would be reaching out about the case and wanted to ask her some questions. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Around 5:30 PM, Anna agreed to speak with investigators at the sheriff's office, and the first words out of her mouth were,
7:04 Speaker 01 "I think it's Melissa. I think Melissa's the one that did this." Which was kind of a bold statement to make so early on in the investigation, but you see, it wasn't unfounded. At least not with the background knowledge that Anna had regarding her brother's tumultuous relationship with her sister-in-law.
7:24 Speaker 01 Anna told me that for as long as she can remember, she had a strong sibling bond with Travis. Their closeness was cemented during her battle with childhood cancer. She'd been bullied and teased after losing her hair from treatments, and Travis always made it a point to stick up for her. She said he'd regularly get suspended from school for fighting with kids who called her names. And they stayed close as they got older and were raised by their mom and stepdad Norman. As a teenager, though, Travis had reconnected with his bio-dad Darwin and even went to live with him in California for a period of time. Eventually, he returned to Idaho and got married to his first wife when he was 18. That marriage didn't last long, though, and the couple eventually divorced. A few years later, around 2008-2009 timeframe,
8:09 Speaker 01 Travis met Melissa online, and they began dating. Anna told me that right after their first date, the couple was immediately head over heels for one another, and in June 2010, they got married. Coming into their marriage, Melissa had an infant son from a prior relationship, and Travis raised the boy as if he was his own. Melissa was also pregnant with a second child when they got married, and she actually gave birth to that daughter a few days after their wedding. But according to Anna, a few months into their marriage, Melissa informed Travis that she wasn't sure if their daughter was actually his. When she shared this revelation, Travis's mother, Mary, was in the house, and the news that someone else other than her son was the girl's father
8:51 Speaker 01 reportedly sent Mary into such a rage that she physically attacked Melissa. Eventually, though, the dust settled from that incident, and Travis carried on with his life as normal. Anna said that despite what Melissa had disclosed to him about their daughter, he refused to do a paternity test because he was convinced the girl was his. End of story. Melissa eventually got pregnant again and had a son, who completed their blended family of five. By mid-August 2017, the couple's marriage, though, had deteriorated significantly, and they separated at that time. In February 2018, it seemed they were done for good when Melissa filed for divorce and expressed she wanted sole custody of their kids. In her court filing seeking the divorce,
9:36 Speaker 01 Melissa claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse. Now, I know domestic violence claims can turn into a bit of a she-said-he-said situation without some kind of pattern or documentation to prove what was really going on, which is why I probed further into this allegation. According to court records, Travis had been charged with domestic battery on two separate occasions for allegations of domestic violence, and he'd pleaded guilty in those cases, and no contact orders for other incidents were dropped. His sister Anna told me that he did take medication for what his family suspected was bipolar disorder, but she doesn't know if he was ever formally diagnosed with that condition. All she could tell me was that he sometimes took medication,
10:20 Speaker 01 but other times he wouldn't because he complained it gave him seizures. She has no idea if any of his suspected mental health conditions played a role in the domestic violence cases between him and Melissa. Eventually, though, the couple's divorce was finalized in late July 2018, and Melissa was awarded custody of the two youngest children and several hundred dollars a month in child support. A no-contact order had been put into effect from one of their prior domestic violence cases, so Travis had to be really careful not to violate that. However, when I interviewed his sister Anna, she told me that throughout the couple's divorce proceedings and even after it was finalized, Melissa would regularly text or call Travis,
11:03 Speaker 01 asking him to meet up with her and promising not to call the police. But then, when they would get together, she'd secretly alert the authorities and they'd take him into custody for violating the no-contact order. Anna described these repeated incidents to me as confusing to her brother. And that was one of the big reasons why, when her brother and Melissa were separated in 2017 and going through their divorce, that Anna had stopped talking to Travis. As his little sister, she didn't approve of his relationship with his wife because to her, it had all the hallmarks of a toxic one. Anna said that no matter how many times she or other family members pleaded with Travis to leave Melissa, he always went back to her.
11:45 Speaker 01 Court records show that in October 2018, following the couple's divorce, Melissa asked the court to hold Travis in contempt at least once. But then, a few months later, in early 2019, she took it back and asked the court to dismiss the request. For most of that year, Anna said that Travis kept his distance from his ex-wife and focused on work and his friends more. Prior to his death, he'd been a mechanic and truck driver. He had a real knack for that line of work and seemed to enjoy what he did. His family described him as jovial and a bit of a jokester, who liked to spend a lot of time outdoors, fishing, camping, and hunting. By 2020, though, he and Melissa had drifted back into one another's lives, and, according to Anna, they ended up getting remarried unbeknownst to anyone on Travis's side of
12:30 Speaker 01 the family. After that, the couple and their kids moved into a fifth-wheel camper next to his mother Mary's house in Parma. During that time, Mary was very sick with kidney failure, so Travis helped care for her while she underwent dialysis. But that living arrangement soured quickly, because, according to Anna, Travis and Melissa ended up fighting a lot with Norman and Mary about how their kids were being raised. Anna said that her mom and stepdad Norman were of the mindset that the kids should pick up after themselves more and do chores around the house. But apparently, that was not something Travis or Melissa were instilling in them. Anna told me that her brother tried to set firmer boundaries with the kids, but Melissa tended to baby them. So eventually, it was decided that it would just be better for everyone if Travis,
13:15 Speaker 01 Melissa, and the children moved off the property. And it wasn't too long after that Travis and Melissa's relationship once again grew strained. They separated for the second time, and he went to live at his father Darwin's home in Parma, and Melissa left with their children to live in Nevada. Anna told me that her brother was under the impression that the family being apart was only temporary. She said Travis always talked about how much he still loved Melissa and wanted her back, despite his own family trying to convince him that the relationship needed to end. In the months that Travis and Melissa were apart in the spring of 2024, things had been very up and down between them. Travis was really active on Facebook, and some of the posts he made in early July 2024
14:00 Speaker 01 indicated he was not in a great place at that time. For example, a post he reshared just days before his murder read, quote, "I'm in a mood to delete everything and go missing for a long time, maybe forever," end quote. That same day, he also reshared a picture of a poem that read, "I loved what we had too. The only difference was that I saw it as forever, and you saw it as just for now." Above the picture, he wrote, "Missy Columpet," as if he was tagging her, but he didn't actually link to her account. In one of his last Facebook posts, which was dated July 9th, so three days before
14:42 Speaker 01 his murder, he typed in part, quote, "Missy Columpet, you didn't care if I was in your life or not, you just needed some excuses and lies to leave because you didn't love me. You only came back because you were afraid that I would have tried to get the kids." He later continued, "To everyone, I'm a bad guy, and you're this some kind of damsel in distress. And you know what? I still love you, and would try as hard as I could to move mountains for you," end quote. Posts like this caught Anna's attention, so much so that about two weeks prior to Travis's murder, she'd reached out to him to check on him. It was a conversation through Facebook Messenger that ended up being the last time the two of them ever interacted.
15:24 Speaker 01 Now, even though Anna had shared a lot of this background information about Travis and Melissa's relationship issues with homicide investigators, Canyon County Sheriff told the public that, as far as his office was concerned, all signs pointed to Travis's murder being an isolated incident. He said that deputies didn't have a suspect in custody, and requested that people stay alert for anything unusual in the community. However, according to an investigative affidavit I found in the court records, there were at least some detectives who very quickly focused their attention to Melissa.
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18:00 Speaker 01 According to a detective sergeant with the sheriff's office, not long after Travis was found murdered, investigators spoke with his stepdad Norman, who told them that earlier in the day on July 12, Travis had shared with him that he was planning to meet up with his estranged wife Melissa for a weekend camping trip. And he was going to try and reconcile things between them. Another person who was at Norman's place when Travis made these statements told investigators that as Travis was sitting in his truck, she overheard him on the phone with a woman who said, quote, "Just be there, don't be late. It's all or nothing," end quote. This witness explained that after Travis hung up the phone, he'd said he was going straight over to Martin Landing Campground to meet up with Melissa.
18:44 Speaker 01 Now, when authorities got in touch with Melissa, she was about five or so hours south of the campground in Battle Mountain, Nevada. That's where she'd been living with her mom and stepdad. According to the investigative affidavit in this case, she spoke with detectives over the phone and told them about her marital history with Travis. She claimed the reason she'd moved away from Idaho in April 2024 was to get away from him and his abusive behavior toward their kids. During her interview, she said that she and her mother, Rosalie Morris, who Travis's sister Anna repeatedly referred to by the nickname Rose, which is what I'm gonna go with too, had driven to the Martin Landing Campground on July 12th to inform Travis that Melissa wanted another divorce.
19:27 Speaker 01 According to the verbal timeline Melissa provided investigators, she and Rose had left Battle Mountain shortly after 7:00 a.m. But around noon, they ran into a road closure from a wildfire near the city of Marsing, Idaho, which is about 30 miles southeast of the campground. That specific detail of her story checked out because authorities were able to confirm the road closure had occurred due to a legit fire in the area. But the rest of Melissa's timeline wasn't as easy to corroborate. The investigative affidavit doesn't say what Melissa said she and Rose did after encountering the road closure. All it explains is that she claimed she'd gotten a text message from Travis at 4:07 p.m. And within a half hour or so of that,
20:12 Speaker 01 she and Rose arrived back in Battle Mountain. Then they ate dinner and shopped at a Walmart in a city an hour or so northeast of there. But there was no mention of seeing Travis, going to the campground, or anything related to his death.
20:27 Speaker 01 Investigators did note in their affidavit, though, that several statements Melissa made while being questioned over the phone were inconsistent with the evidence they'd collected and were downright incriminating. For example, the detective sergeant who drafted the affidavit explained that, "In totality, some of the comments and information Melissa provided caused them to suspect she had intimate knowledge of the murder because she'd referenced details that had not been made known to the public." What exactly those details were, though, is unclear, but apparently whatever Melissa said was sus enough for investigators to doubt her version of events. But authorities didn't have enough to make an arrest. So for the next few days, July 13th, 14th, and 15th,
21:12 Speaker 01 Travis's family members and friends wrestled with a lot of unanswered questions. Anna told me no one agreed with her suspicions that Melissa could be involved. Even her own husband wondered if maybe Travis had made an enemy with someone else in his life, and it was just a coincidence that he and Melissa also had their own beef going on. But Anna would not let up in her belief that Melissa had killed her brother. She told me in our interview that she could just feel it in her bones that her sister-in-law was somehow involved in the crime. Anna explained that because of this gut feeling, she did everything in her power to exclude Melissa from being a part of preparations for Travis's funeral.
21:53 Speaker 01 Melissa and Rose both took to Facebook after the crime to express how they felt about Travis's death. In a post Melissa made on July 14th, she wrote in part, quote, "I want to thank my mama and daddy and all my brothers and sisters for knowing that this is real and this is me and I will miss my husband every day for the rest of my life. Yes, I was planning on filing divorce because I could not live with him. I couldn't live with his abuse on me or the kids. That does not mean I did not want him. It just means I couldn't live with him. My heart is aching and I just want to believe this is one big bad dream."
22:33 Speaker 01 Around that same time, Rose made two posts of her own, one of which read, quote, "So we really could use some prayers." Her other post stated in part, quote, "So this is the deal. I love my son-in-law and my daughter and my grandkids very, very much. It is very hard for me to grasp this thing and then to have the family turn on her the way they have and on the grandkids. They had nothing to do with this. The rest of us stood by and watched this whole thing happen and yet it is their fault." She later continued, "I am so sorry that God has blessed me with so much by my family and my friends. I just hope and pray everybody can forgive me because I'm having a hard time figuring
23:16 Speaker 01 out what I am so sorry about, but I am. I'm sorry, I am me."
23:23 Speaker 01 The next day, July 15th, Melissa tagged Travis's Facebook profile in a post that read, quote, "So I lost the love of my life this last weekend, and I don't know what to do. Yes, we were separated. Yes, I was going to file for divorce, but he was the love of my life. I will always love him. I just can't be with him. I miss him so much. I miss knowing that he's still out there. My kids and I are all very devastated about the loss, but we are leaning on my family and loved ones in our time of grief from this. I love you and I will miss you forever. Travis Columbit." End quote. The day after that post, Melissa shared a video of what appeared to be Travis playing
24:06 Speaker 01 with their kids. However, that same afternoon, July 16th, which would have been four days after the murder, homicide detectives were busy looking at much more interesting video that had recently been discovered.
24:22 Speaker 01 Turns out, the truck Travis was in the process of buying from his friend had a dash camera installed in it. So when authorities got permission to finally search it and reviewed the most recent footage on the camera's memory card, they saw something unbelievable.
24:40 Speaker 01 The video showed that on the afternoon of July 12th, Travis had driven into the parking lot of Martin Landing Campground and parked next to a blue Toyota Highlander, which was the same color and model vehicle that Melissa's mother Rose owned. And low and behold, in the footage, investigators could see Melissa standing by herself next to the Toyota, which was all they needed to prove without a doubt that she'd met up with Travis shortly before his death. So on July 18th, with this crucial piece of evidence in their back pocket, detectives asked Melissa and her mother Rose to come to Canyon County for an in-person interview. Rose told authorities that she and her daughter had driven to Parma in her car to meet with
25:22 Speaker 01 Travis, but on the way, they were stopped by the road closure and decided to turn around and return home to Nevada. She denied meeting up with Travis and claimed she and Melissa spent Friday afternoon and evening going to various places in Nevada. However, when investigators confronted Rose with the dash cam footage from Travis's truck, which contradicted her story, she quickly changed her tune.
25:46 Speaker 01 Her new version of events was that the day before the murder, she, her husband Frank, her son Tommy, and Melissa had held a family meeting at their home in Nevada and discussed a plan for how to get rid of Travis. Rose admitted that she'd personally planned to kill her son-in-law on July 12, and had even gone as far as searching for an unregistered gun to use in the crime. She said that the original plan was for her to go alone, but then that plan evolved into Melissa insisting on coming. And then actually being the one to commit the murder so that Rose wouldn't be the one to take the fall if they got caught. Rose said that after she and Melissa parked at the campground, she went and hid in the restroom building while Melissa and Travis walked toward the river.
26:30 Speaker 01 After about an hour, she heard Travis yell and then Melissa holler before hearing a gunshot ring out. Shortly after that, she returned to her car and got a call from Melissa, and then Melissa came back to the parking lot out of breath and told her that Travis was dead. The version of the story that Melissa gave to her about what occurred at the river was that Travis had bent down to grab his cellphone, and that's when she'd struck him with a rock and quote "knocked him silly." After that, Melissa claimed Travis came toward her, and that's when she shot him. Rose said that right after the crime, she drove them to another campground about two hours southeast of the crime scene where Melissa tossed the murder weapon and Travis's cellphone in a reservoir. During her interview with investigators,
27:13 Speaker 01 Melissa corroborated a lot of Rose's story. She said that she'd been aware of the plan to kill Travis since the day before and had gone along with it. She admitted to bringing her own Ruger .38 caliber firearm to the campsite and coordinating over the phone with Travis throughout the day about where to meet up and when. According to the investigative affidavit in this case, Melissa stated she'd specifically instructed Travis to come by himself and not tell anyone they were going to meet. Throughout her interview, though, Melissa reportedly changed details of her story a few different times. For example, in one version, she claimed Travis had sexually assaulted her at the campsite, but then she also stated that she'd always had the gun in her pocket
27:56 Speaker 01 and only chose to shoot him after he charged at her after she hit him in the head with a rock. Another version of the story was that Travis had taken the gun from her and racked a bullet in the chamber, but didn't threaten her with it. A noteworthy detail in her confession, though, was that after shooting Travis, she'd heard him ask, "Why?", to which she'd replied, "I'm sorry, I love you." Then she admitted to running away. She said that during her and her mother's drive to the reservoir, she'd tossed the SIM card for Travis's phone out the car window, and then thrown the phone and gun into the reservoir itself. Investigators later sent divers to the spot in the body of water where Melissa said she'd
28:38 Speaker 01 thrown the gun and phone, and sure enough, those search teams found the items sunk beneath the water. Travis's SIM card, though, was never located. Something particularly chilling that I read in the investigative affidavit that chronicled Rose's confession was that she expressed her decision to play a role in Travis's murder could be compared to, quote, "putting a dog down to save livestock," end quote. In other words, she saw him as someone with so many problems and issues that she felt he had to be killed, to, I guess, make everyone else's life safer or better. It's a remarkably cruel statement, and wrong on so many levels. I mean, look, I'm not saying Travis didn't have problems, or that he was a squeaky-clean
29:23 Speaker 01 husband. There are court records that detail allegations of his past arrests for domestic battery. But for Rose to decide she had the right to kill him simply because she thought it's what was best is not okay. The day after law enforcement got the two women's confessions, the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed felony charges against Melissa for first-degree murder and destruction, alteration, concealment of evidence. Rose was specifically charged with aiding and abetting Melissa in murder and destroying evidence. At their arraignment, the judge set their bond at $2 million each, and they remained behind bars pending trial. And I know what you're probably all wondering: Wait, what about Rose's husband Frank and
30:07 Speaker 01 her son Tommy? Did they get brought into this at all? You know, since they'd been at the alleged family meeting to plan Travis's murder? Well, here's the interesting thing: The answer is no. Tommy and Frank were never charged in relation to this case. Anna, Travis's sister, told me that she was told that during the supposed family meeting, Tommy left because apparently when it started, his mom and Melissa had asked him to kill Travis for them, and he said, "No." Later on, though, Anna said she learned from hearing clips of Tommy and Frank's interviews with authorities that they supposedly just didn't think Rose and Melissa were that serious about killing Travis. The men reportedly thought it was all just a big joke.
30:52 Speaker 01 But news flash: it wasn't. According to Anna, for at least a little bit, prosecutors considered charging Tommy and Frank with conspiracy, but then, that never happened, and ultimately, the state just focused on prosecuting Rose and Melissa for the crime. Anyway, a few weeks after the women were arrested, Travis's loved ones held his funeral service at a chapel in Caldwell, Idaho. Obviously, neither Rose nor Melissa attended that ceremony because they were in jail. But unfortunately, neither did Travis and Melissa's three kids. Per what Anna told me, after Melissa's arrest, they went to live with her sister in Nevada, and apparently, she'd been unable to get access to a car to drive the kids to Idaho for the funeral.
31:35 Speaker 01 So all three children ended up missing Travis's funeral, which I imagine was just another layer of hurt for them. At the time, the two oldest were teenagers, but the youngest was just a kid. They're the ones who really lost everything in this situation. Their dad was murdered, and then their mom and grandma were quickly arrested for the crime. I'd imagine this has all been a lot to process for them. In early October 2024, the judge presiding over the women's cases determined there was enough evidence to merit a jury trial. However, just a few months later, at the end of February 2025, Rose decided to take a plea deal. According to court records, the 59-year-old agreed to plead guilty to aiding and abetting
32:18 Speaker 01 in second-degree murder, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. In exchange, prosecutors decided to drop the destruction of evidence charge against her. Rose's defense lawyers planned to ask the court to sentence her to 30 years with 10 years fixed, meaning she had to at least serve a decade in prison before she would be eligible for parole. However, she was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison with at least 18 years fixed, so nearly a decade more than her lawyers had wanted. She was also ordered to pay Travis's family about $5,000 in restitution. According to coverage by KTVB 7 News, Rose spoke at her sentencing hearing and told
33:00 Speaker 01 the court, quote, "I do regret that fateful day. I've learned a lot during my time here, including how to turn everything over to God and knowing somehow he will make something beautiful of our lives," end quote. In late May 2025, just like her mother, Melissa agreed to plead guilty too. Court records show that she admitted to first-degree murder and in exchange, the state dropped the destruction of evidence charge. I submitted a records request to the Canyon County Clerk of Court's office for the audio recording of Melissa's guilty plea hearing. Because just from reading the court minutes about the nearly hour-long proceeding, I could tell it was anything but typical.
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34:18 Speaker 03 One day last year, detectives knocked on the door of a multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles County. Inside, they found a strange scene. A dining area converted into classrooms with children and toddlers seated at rows of desks.
34:35 Speaker 01 The couple that lived there had 21 kids.
34:38 Speaker 04 It's a house that looks like a castle, but it's under investigation for being a possible factory, a baby factory.
34:46 Speaker 01 Where had these children come from? Almost all of them were born through surrogates. But those surrogates had been deceived.
34:54 Speaker 05 Me and my coworker, we named her the surrogate pimp.
34:56 Speaker 06 That's the one time that we called the cops because she was screaming. And then he pulled out a gun.
35:01 Speaker 07 I started crying. I was like, what the heck did I just get myself into?
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35:23 Speaker 01 When Melissa Columpit pleaded guilty on May 28, 2025, she admitted to her role in Travis's murder. But it was a bit of a frustrating hearing for the judge and Melissa's defense lawyer. Here are a few clips of her and her defense lawyer's exchanges with the judge, because I felt it was important for you all to hear this for yourselves.
35:45 Speaker 02 Can you tell me in your own words what you did that makes you guilty of count one murder in the first degree?
35:53 Speaker 06 Yes, so I made a stupid decision and decisions have consequences. I decided to come to Idaho with my mother. And now I don't have my husband because I accidentally shot him. And accident or not, I'm the one who killed my husband. And so I do believe that I deserve to be punished for what I did.
36:19 Speaker 02 All right, well, tell me about why you came to Idaho.
36:22 Speaker 06 I came to talk to my husband about our divorce that I was going to file the following Monday.
36:28 Speaker 02 So you were about to divorce your husband?
36:30 Speaker 06 For the second time, yes.
36:33 Speaker 02 Did you arrange to meet him somewhere?
36:35 Speaker 06 Yes, I did.
36:36 Speaker 02 Was that your decision, the location, was that your decision?
36:39 Speaker 06 Yes, it was, because I needed water and it was by, it was at Martin's Landing by the Snake River. Okay. The campground.
36:50 Speaker 02 Is that an isolated area?
36:52 Speaker 06 Yes and no.
36:55 Speaker 02 What time of year was it?
36:57 Speaker 06 It was summer, in July.
37:02 Speaker 02 You mentioned that your mother came with you, from where did you travel?
37:05 Speaker 06 Battle Mountain, Nevada.
37:07 Speaker 02 It sounds like perhaps you brought a firearm with you?
37:11 Speaker 06 I had always carried mine in my purse, especially on long trips.
37:15 Speaker 02 So you brought it with you?
37:17 Speaker 06 Yes, and my husband also had his on him, well, one of mine on him. He kept all my firearms, except for my little .380.
37:28 Speaker 02 You know you had the gun on you when you traveled to Idaho?
37:30 Speaker 06 Yes.
37:31 Speaker 02 Okay, why did you choose the campground instead of a more public area?
37:35 Speaker 06 The river.
37:37 Speaker 02 Oh, you wanted to be by the river?
37:38 Speaker 06 Yes.
37:40 Speaker 02 How long was it, your intent to stay at the campground with your husband?
37:44 Speaker 06 Just a few minutes.
37:46 Speaker 02 What was the purpose of meeting with him?
37:48 Speaker 06 To talk to him about our divorce.
37:50 Speaker 02 At the campground?
37:51 Speaker 06 Yes.
37:52 Speaker 02 Why was your mother there?
37:54 Speaker 06 Because she drove me, and she had ulterior motives.
38:00 Speaker 02 And I can get some facts at the foreponts.
38:05 Speaker 02 So, ma'am, what I'm struggling with right now is that you haven't yet described facts that would constitute first degree murder.
38:14 Speaker 02 There's some facts surrounding what happened, but we haven't gotten to it yet, okay? So, what time of day or night did you meet with your husband?
38:26 Speaker 06 I met with him a little after. Two o'clock in the afternoon.
38:31 Speaker 02 Two o'clock in the afternoon. Did you bring a tent or camping supplies?
38:36 Speaker 06 No, I did not.
38:39 Speaker 02 How did you arrange to meet with him? Did you text message with him?
38:42 Speaker 06 Yes, I texted him and called him on the phone.
38:45 Speaker 02 What did you tell him in order to get him to meet you at that location?
38:48 Speaker 06 That's where I was at.
38:50 Speaker 02 Did you tell him the purpose of the meeting?
38:52 Speaker 06 He knew what the purpose was because when I had talked to him the night before, I told him he knew exactly what the phone call and our meeting was about.
39:02 Speaker 02 Who arrived first?
39:03 Speaker 06 I did.
39:05 Speaker 02 After you arrived, did you remain in your car or did you step out of your vehicle?
39:08 Speaker 06 I was out of the vehicle.
39:10 Speaker 02 Where was the gun when you stepped out of your vehicle?
39:12 Speaker 06 On the passenger seat.
39:15 Speaker 02 Passenger seat?
39:15 Speaker 06 Yes.
39:16 Speaker 02 You removed it from your purse and placed it on the passenger seat?
39:19 Speaker 06 Yes.
39:20 Speaker 02 How long were you there before your husband arrived?
39:23 Speaker 06 Hmm, twenty minutes.
39:25 Speaker 02 Did he arrive when you, um, anticipated he would be there?
39:30 Speaker 06 A few minutes after, but yes.
39:32 Speaker 02 Where was your mother when he arrived?
39:34 Speaker 06 In the outhouse.
39:37 Speaker 02 In the outhouse, what was she doing there?
39:40 Speaker 06 Well, she told me she had to go to the bathroom.
39:43 Speaker 01 The judge then asked Melissa what interactions she and Travis had right after he arrived and got out of his truck. She said she gave him a hug and they spoke friendly to one another for a few minutes next to their cars before they took a walk. She said right before leaving the parking lot, she reached into her mom's car to get a sip of coffee, and Travis saw her grab her gun and put it in her pocket. Then she said Travis showed her the back window of his truck, which he'd recently broken with a drill, and shortly after that, they walked to a campsite together. Melissa claimed that for two or three minutes, they talked about their children and the status of their marriage, and then things took a turn.
40:20 Speaker 02 What happened just prior to the shooting?
40:23 Speaker 06 I was assaulted. I hit him in the back of the head with a rock and went to pay for my life.
40:29 Speaker 02 So you were, he assaulted you out of the blue?
40:32 Speaker 06 Yes.
40:33 Speaker 02 And by assaulted, what do you mean? Did he punch you or what happened?
40:36 Speaker 06 He sexually assaulted me.
40:38 Speaker 02 Okay. So Judge, a couple of options. I think she's willing to say the part you want her to. I, there's a lot more facts in there. Yeah. And I'm willing to put it on the record or the state can, it's whatever you feel comfortable with. Well, yeah, I'm gonna have the attorneys add to the factual basis.
40:57 Speaker 06 So ma'am, what happened just before the shooting?
41:02 Speaker 06 We had gotten in an argument because I had hit him in the back of the head with a rock.
41:07 Speaker 06 Why did you hit him in the back of the head with a rock? To get away from him because he had domestically beat me for 15 years.
41:17 Speaker 01 Melissa went on to explain that she was about five to seven feet away from Travis when she shot him in the chest. She claimed he was being aggressive towards her, which is why the shooting occurred. After killing him, she admitted to fleeing the scene and telling her mom that they needed to go home. Her defense lawyer went over the facts of the case regarding why, if his client had gone to trial, prosecutors would have had a strong case against her for premeditated murder. He said it was mostly because it was undisputed Melissa and her mother had taken part in a meeting prior to the crime to discuss ways to murder Travis. And they'd taken steps after the fact to conceal evidence. When questioned by a prosecutor, Melissa didn't deny being at the family meeting, but she
42:02 Speaker 01 did claim she hadn't stayed long. Even her own lawyer told the court that she'd given varying stories of what the plan had been and what had really happened between her and Travis at the campground. Her lawyer explained that it was unclear if she'd feared for her life or if the shooting was an accident. You can hear in the audio from court what sounds like a tinge of exhaustion coming from her defense attorney, who repeatedly emphasized it had been difficult for anyone to make firm conclusions from wildly different statements Melissa had made since the crime.
42:35 Speaker 02 It's hard to say in terms of the language she's used, but there have been different stories. She obviously admits she was there. She was the one who pulled the trigger. There's no question about that.
42:46 Speaker 01 Ultimately, the judge decided to accept Melissa's guilty plea as voluntary. She was sentenced in November of 2025 to life in prison with a mandatory 27 years behind bars before she would become eligible for parole. She was also ordered to pay nearly $5,000 in restitution to her husband's family. According to reporting by KTVB7 News, Melissa told the court, quote, "I'd like to apologize to my kids for taking and killing their dad and taking both parents away from them," end quote. Anna, Travis’s sister, gave a victim impact statement which read in part, “I hope the look on his face when you killed him haunts you for the rest of your
43:29 Speaker 01 life. I wish I could hear his voice, or him give me one of his hugs, or to talk to him. I don’t want to hear your excuses. He loves you with his whole heart. You didn’t love him, because if you did, you wouldn’t have taken his life. I will never accept any apology from either of you. I just want my big brother back. Also, Your Honor, they don’t deserve to be back out in the community. Who says they won’t do it again? Why should they get to live their lives? My brother doesn’t get to, so why should they?” End quote. Currently, Melissa Columpet and Rosalie “Rose” Morris remain incarcerated in the Idaho Department of Corrections system.
44:14 Speaker 01 In the wake of the crime, one of Travis’s aunts launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his funeral expenses. The link for that campaign is no longer active, so not sure how much money was raised. But in addition to that GoFundMe, Melissa’s sister later launched another GoFundMe, which asked people to donate $6,000 to help pay for basic supplies and necessities for the Columpet’s three children. That campaign successfully reached its goal. One detail I kept coming back to, though, in this case, that I couldn’t stop thinking about, was that 9mm handgun that Travis left in the backseat of his truck, right before meeting up with Melissa. Anna told me that her brother always carried a firearm with
44:56 Speaker 01 him for protection in case he needed it. But she thinks that the reason he didn’t take it out of his truck on July 12th when he met Melissa was because he trusted her. He likely thought, “This is my wife. We’re gonna work things out. Why do I need my gun? He let his guard down.” And isn’t that what most of us might do if we thought the person we loved most in this world genuinely wanted to spend time with us? We wouldn’t feel the need to arm ourselves to go on a walk next to a river. Perhaps just for a moment, you can see a bit of yourself in Travis. The piece of him that was blindly optimistic, the part of his heart that wanted his family to be whole. In my interview with his sister Anna, she told me that there's one takeaway for
45:40 Speaker 01 people listening to this episode, it's this: If you're married, or have a longtime partner, or any length of time partner, communicate with them and respect them. And if you're in what feels like a toxic relationship, and it's taking you down, don't keep following that path.
46:02 Speaker 01 Park Predators is an AudioChuck production. You can view a list of all the source material for this episode on our website, parkpredators.com. And you can also follow Park Predators on Instagram, @parkpredators.
46:21 Speaker 01 I think Chuck would approve.
46:27 Speaker 01 In the dark, even the most familiar trail can feel like it leads somewhere else. Every rustle becomes a warning, every shadow, a doorway. In Full Body Chills, those doorways open into worlds pulled straight from your nightmares. This spooky season classic returns with chillingly tales, immersive sound, and no promise that you'll find your way back. So step off the familiar path if you dare. Listen to new episodes of Full Body Chills every week, wherever you get your podcasts.
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