The Murder Tapes on ID: What happened to Army sergeant Tyrone Hassel III?

On New Year’s Eve 2018, Army sergeant Tyrone Hassel III was riddled with bullets while holidaying at his father's house in St. Joseph Township, Michigan, with his wife and two-year-old son. The wife Kemia Hassel, who was also an active-duty soldier, then called 911. Officers who responded to the incident found Hassel shot multiple times and rushed him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A subsequent investigation and crucial tip led investigators to believe that Hassel's death was a consequence of a love triangle given that his wife was having an extra-marital affair with another soldier, Jeremy Cuellar. The two lovers orchestrated the murder plot, with Cuellar pulling the trigger to be together and also to collect Army’s $400,000 life insurance benefit.

An upcoming episode of ID's The Murder Tapes is slated to revisit Tyrone Hassel's shocking murder case. The episode, titled Sergeant Hassel, airs on the channel this Tuesday, April 4, at 11:00 pm ET.

The synopsis states:

"Officers find Tyrone Hassel III shot to death outside his father's home while on holiday leave from the Army; investigators must unravel a real whodunit, and when the killer finally comes out, the detectives can't hide their shock."

---

Tyrone Hassel III was gunned down in the driveway of his father's Michigan home after returning from a gathering

Around eleven o'clock on New Year's Eve 2018, an officer responded to a 911 call about a shooting on Colfax Avenue in St. Joseph Township, Michigan. They reportedly arrived at the scene and found Fort Stewart Army Sergeant Tyrone Hassel III, 23, lying in the driveway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot in the neck, chest, and head and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

While investigating Hassel's shooting death, law enforcement involved received an anonymous tip that urged investigators to focus on the victim's 22-year-old wife, Kemia Hassel, who was also an on-duty soldier with the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The tip alleged that she was having an affair with another Fort Stewart soldier named Jeremy Cuellar.

According to reports, Cuellar and Kemia Hassel started dating while they were stationed at Camp Casey in South Korea during the 3rd Infantry Division, 1st Combat Brigade deployment the year before.

---

Investigators learned that Tyrone Hassel's wife and her lover orchestrated the shooting incident

Jeremy Cuellar allegedly confessed to killing Tyrone Hassel to a soldier friend. Cuellar claimed that after shooting Hassel in the head, he noticed that the victim was still breathing. The shooter allegedly shot the sergeant again to ensure the death. The suspect also admitted to another soldier that he and Hassel's wife wanted to be together and planned to execute the murder while he was on leave.

Kemia, who was then brought in for questioning, failed a polygraph test and eventually confessed to planning the murder, the lovers allegedly used Snapchat to orchestrate the plan and claimed that Cuellar had already made four different trips to Benton Harbor the day before the shooting.

According to Kemia's confessions, on New Year's Eve, Tyrone Hassel was returning home from a nearby family gathering when he was shot and killed in the driveway of his father’s home. The wife reportedly told authorities she did not go outside immediately after hearing the gunshots. Jeremy Cuellar was arrested on January 11.

The killer couple confessed to murdering the army sergeant to be together and also claimed $400,000 in special benefits from the army. Cuellar eventually accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 65 to 90 years in prison. Kemia was found guilty of conspiracy and first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

---

The Murder Tapes on ID will shed further light on Tyrone Hassel III's killing this Tuesday.