I-Team Investigation: Murder for Millions

Monday, July 23, 2018

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - It sounds like a plot out of a novel. Irish Travelers living in Texas murder a housekeeper. The housekeeper is an English traveler with millions of dollars in life insurance. Investigators began connecting the dots which lead them to an insurance salesman in North Augusta.

Chuck Mercier is now indicted for insurance fraud in connection with the murder-for-hire scheme. News 12's I-Team obtained tapes of investigators interviewing the former North Augusta insurance salesman.

Charles "Chuck" Mercier he describes the call he received from a customer in the recorded interview.

Mercier on tape: "He said is it true? I said what? He said she's gone, man. I said, 'gone'? What are you talking about? He says, Anita."

Memories of the very first Irish Travelers to come to America rest in an old Atlanta cemetery. Hundreds of miles away in a cemetery in Texas lies an English Traveler and heartache.

September 23, 2014, investigators find the body of a 69-year old woman inside a Texas home. The slaying turns more sinister when investigators uncover the sick scheme behind it.

Investigators with the Texas Department of Insurance (tape): "Did Anita Fox know that this policy was being sold to a perfect stranger?" The investigator questions Charles Mercier during an interview with authorities. Mercier and his family sold insurance, from an office in North Augusta, almost exclusively to Irish Travelers across the country, including locally.

Mercier (tape): "These people all over the country take polices out on their moms and dads."

Mercier tells the investigators he sold the life insurance polices on Anita Fox to her son-in-law and daughter, Mark and Virginia Buckland. Upon her mother's death, they would receive a share of more than five million dollars. But, the premiums became too much for the Bucklands.

Mercier (tape): "He called up...basically find someone for me to split this with or share something with."

Mercier knew just the family to make the investment. "There were four brothers sharing in the premium payments," Mathew McCarley told News 12. He represents the victim's youngest son.

Patrick Gorman never met Anita Fox but became a beneficiary and co-owner on a million dollars policy, taken out on Fox who earned far less, working as a housekeeper.

An affidavit shows Mercier lied to get him on the policy.

Investigator with District Attorney's Office in Texas (tape): "Was there a time when those conversations got intense on his part about her?"

Mercier (tape): "Yes."

Investiator with District Attorney's Office in Texas (tape): "When?"

Mercier (tape): "When he started to ask me where does she live?"

In the days surrounding Fox's murder, phone records show Mercier spoke to the Gorman brothers and Anita's son-in-law Mark Buckland. On the day of the murder, a witness spotted a man leaving the scene and gave investigators a description. They identified the killer as Gerard or "Joe" Gorman which was Patrick's brother. Chuck Mercier told News 12 that Joe Gorman previously purchased life insurance from his family's insurance firm on his father-in-law, Peter Daley. Daley was murdered outside of a hotel in Atlanta. The murder, in that case, remains unsolved.

Federal Investigator (tape): "They're investigating the murder that occurred outside of Fort Worth there is another murder that occurred in Gwinnett County. We believe there are additions murders occurred because of fraud."

Joe Gorman died from a heart attack before his arrest. Investigators did arrest his son "Little Joe" Gorman. He's now serving time for conspiracy to the murder of Anita Fox.

This month a federal grand jury indicted the insurance salesman from North Augusta. "I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't anything wrong," Mercier told our I-Team. Our Liz Owens caught up with him on the way to federal court.

Liz Owens: "I know he said he was going to pay her a "trick-or-treat." What was going through your mind when he said that? That was just a couple hours before the murder."

Charles Mercier: "I didn't stay on the phone. I was playing baseball."

Liz Owens: "So you didn't think..."

Charles Mercier: "I didn't have a clue. I did not."

The federal indictment came down about two months after a civil jury in Texas found Mark and Virginia Buckland liable of a conspiracy that led to the death of her mother.

The attorney, in that case, didn't name Mercier as a defendant but did present evidence of his part in the conspiracy. "Our evidence shows he got around 50-thousand dollars for converting these policies and we believe that his portion in the conspiracy. That was his payment in other words," Mathew McCarley said.

"My son will be 29 and my other son will be 27 if this goes the way that they see it," Mercier told Liz Owens as he walked into court.

A civil jury in Texas awarded Anita's Fox's youngest son and daughter their mother's insurance money and money for pain and suffering which is more than 160 million dollars.

"He misses his mother dearly. He was very close to her," McCarley said about his client which is Anita Fox's son. As an old Irish saying goes, "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal." No amount of money or time will bring Anita Fox back.

Mercier is pleading not guilty. He no longer sells life insurance. He now works as an actor and director of Christian films. His office is next door to his family's insurance business.