Amateur sleuth Dewayne Barrentine discovered Tausha Fields lured ex-husband to death
'I wanted to know who was living in my house': How amateur sleuth discovered his cheating girlfriend was temptress who had lured ex-husband to his death
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When Dewayne Barrentine discovered his girlfriend had been cheating on him, he did what any spurned lover would do - he turned to Google.
But he never expected to find himself in a Missouri court two years later, testifying against his ex-girlfriend at her murder trial.
It turned out Tausha Fields was more than just unfaithful. Married five times, she was a temptress who had lured one of her ex-husbands to his death - by telling her new man he had raped her.
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Web of lies: Dewayne Barrentine discovered his ex-girlfriend, Tausha Field, had lured one of her ex-husbands to his death - by telling another husband he had raped her. Two years later, she was convicted of murder
The gripping story of how Mr Barrentine's simple internet search led to a murder conviction has now been revealed in a CBS News special.
Mr Barrentine met Fields in 2007, when the beautiful blonde 31-year-old started working at his son's daycare centre.
A single father, Mr Barrentine said he was charmed by Fields because she got on so well with his son. The couple soon moved in together, and Mr Barrentine said he became like a father to Fields's daughter, Lexie.
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ShareBut from the beginning, she was reluctant to answer questions about her past, and she told him increasingly strange stories.
Eventually, he turned to the internet. He told CBS: 'I wanted to know who I had living in my house with me and my son.'
He found an old marriage licence between Fields and a man called Mitchell Wayne Kemp. When Mr Barrentine confronted her, she told she had been married not just once before - but five times.
Seduced: Tausha Fields with her daughter, Lexie. She started dating Dewayne Barrentine soon after she moved to Marianna, Florida
He kept digging, and his searches led him to Keith Jones, another of Fields's ex-boyfriends.
Mr Jones shared a disturbing story Fields had once told him. He told CBS: 'She had a few drinks in her... she said this guy had raped her and her daughter.
'And she apparently... went to where he was and lured him back to her house... and he walked in the front door. And that's when Greg [Morton, Fields's ex-husband] shot him in the chest.'
Mr Jones said he thought the story was just too far-fetched to be true, and Mr Barrentine agreed.
But a few months later, in January 2008, he found out Fields was cheating on him. He threw her out of the house, and once again started investigating her past on the internet.
Desperate to find out the truth about Fields, he logged on to her MySpace account - and discovered a series of desperate messages from relatives of her ex-husband, Mitchell Kemp.
Murder: Greg Morton, right, pleaded guilty to shooting Mitchell Kemp, left, then burying his body on his farm
Deceit: Tausha Fields during one of her police interviews. She changed her story several times, but eventually showed them where Mr Kemp's body was buried
He said: 'I read one of the messages that said, "We are very concerned. How is Mitch? We haven't heard from him in over four years".'
Suddenly, Mr Jones's murder story didn't seem so far-fetched. He said: 'It just fell in on top of me.'
He immediately rang Florida police, who started investigating Mr Kemp's disappearance.
They spoke to his family in Missouri, who said they hadn't seen him since 2004, shortly after he broke up with Fields.
The family told him at first they loved Mr Kemp's new girlfriend, but over time they began to see less and less of him, and Fields began to change him for the worse.
His brother, Tracy, told CBS: 'There were just things that Mitch and I would do together that would start to take a back seat to things that she wanted to do. She was very manipulative in that whatever she wants she got.'
Happy beginnings: Dewayne Barrentine said at first he was head over heels in love with Tausha Fields
Soon after the couple split up, Fields began dating Greg Morton. After six months, they married and moved in together - along with Mr Kemp's daughter, Lexie.
Police then interviewed Fields, in the first of a series of conversations in which she changed her story again and again.
She claimed Mr Morton had confessed to her he had shot Mr Kemp, after he found out Fields had still been sleeping with him.
But she insisted: 'I wasn't there! I didn't have anything to do with it!'
Fields agreed to travel back to Missouri and help find Mr Kemp's body. She told them she remembered a patch of fresh earth Mr Morton had dug by the farm where they lived at the time of Mr Kemp's death.
After just half-an-hour of digging, investigators found Mr Kemp's body. He had been shot six times in the chest.
Burial: Tausha Fields travelled from Florida to Missouri to help find Mr Kemp's body, on Morton's old farm
Testimony: Greg Morton admitted in court to killing Mr Kemp and then burying his body on his farm, right
They immediately arrested Morton, and hoped he would tell them about Fields's role in the murder. But he stayed silent for three-and-half months, and police decided to arrest Fields before she fled.
This time, she told police a new version of the story. She admitted to bringing Mr Kemp back to the farm, but said it was to show him photographs of Lexie.
She said when they arrived, Morton was at the door - with a gun.
Life sentence: Tausha Fields was convicted of first-degree murder last year. She is appealing against the verdict
She told police: 'He shot him. I saw him take his last breath, and there wasn't anything I could do for him.'
They asked Fields why she hadn't called 911. She replied: 'Probably would have been the thing to do, but when you watch somebody be gunned down, maybe your thoughts aren't rational.'
When asked why she had stayed married to Mr Morton for another year-and-a-half, she had only one answer: 'fear'.
Then at last, Morton agreed to talk. He admitted to shooting Mr Kemp - but said he did it because Fields came to him crying hysterically, saying he had raped her.
Morton claimed she gave him the gun and told him she would bring Mr Kemp back to the house.
He said when they arrived: 'I raised it, pointed it at him. ...And then she started yelling for me to shoot him.'
During her trial last year, prosecutors described Fields as a 'master manipulator' who used Morton because she wanted Mr Kemp dead so she could have sole custody of Lexie.
She protested her innocence throughout, and claimed Morton had manipulated her.
But the jury disagreed, and in June last year she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in jail.
Mr Morton pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to a 19-year prison sentence as part of his plea agreement.
Both Mr Barrentine and Mr Jones testified at her trial, and said they were pleased with the verdict.
But Fields continues to claim she is innocent. In a tearful interview with CBS, she said: 'Mitch is gone. He's not coming back. But is not my fault that he's dead. I'm not the mastermind of a crime.'
Her daughter now lives with Mr Kemp's family. Fields is appealing against her conviction.
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