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Bart Whitaker, the 23-year-old man behind the cold-blooded execution of the family, is about to be on the screen with the Final Moments episode titled The Last Celebration.
The young adult from Houston, Texas, hired a man to kill his parents, and his brother was sentenced to death five years after the crime had taken place. Bart had relocated to Cerralvo, Mexico, with a new name, Rudy Rios, when he was arrested with a warrant for capital murder. The Final Moments season 2 episode 7 tells the story in brief with its synopsis, which reads,
"A night celebrating Bart Whitaker's college graduation ends in horror when a gunman attacks him and his family, killing his mother, Tricia, and brother Kevin; as police try to unravel the tragedy, they uncover family secrets and a surprising suspect."
The Last Celebration airs on November 19, 2023, at 7 pm EST on Oxygen.
Five chilling details about the Whitaker family
1) Bart had multiple murder plans in place over time
During the trial, the testimonies pointed to the fact that Bart Whitaker had tried to have his family killed on more than one occasion prior to the December 10, 2003 incident. The evidence suggested that he had a co-conspirator named Adam Hipp from his school who provided his testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
He mentioned that Bart had initially wished to set the Lake House owned by his grandmother on fire with his family and other relatives inside it.
Bart had hired Steve Champagne to drive Chris Brashear away from the scene on the unfortunate day. However, he testified to Bart having an identical plan for 2003, which did not pan out.
2) Staged burglary at the crime scene
Chris Brashear was tasked with the murder of the Whitaker family on December 10, 2003.
He wore a black ski mask and rummaged through the household to get hold of Kevin's gun and ammunition from a locked box in his room. He made sure to stage a burglary and then waited by the front door for the Whitakers to enter the house.
3) Bart was injured in the incident as a ploy
During the trial, Steve Champagne testified to the fact that Bart received the gunshot wound on his left arm as a ploy. He wanted to make it look like he had made an effort to fight the intruder.
As the local police arrived at the spot, Bart falsely described the alleged perpetrator as a black man to divert suspicion.
4) The main motivation was money
While the prosecution pushed for money as the motivation in the case of the murders, the evidence suggests that Bart was either after the $1.5 million he was to inherit in the absence of his parents and brother or he wanted to commit life insurance fraud for its million-dollar payout.
5) Bart's death sentence was commuted to life sentence forty minutes before execution
With the efforts of Kent Whitaker, the only surviving member of the family, the death sentence was commuted to a life sentence forty minutes prior to the execution. Kent and his legal team wrote a letter in the public forum of the Houston Chronicle asking the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare his son's life.
Bart was convicted of capital murder and is currently serving his sentence without parole in the McConnell Unit near Beeville, Texas.
