Georgia Woman Hires Brother To Kill Army Husband for Life Insurance Payout: 'They Saw Him as an ATM'

A woman hired her brother to beat her husband to death so that she could claim his insurance benefits, police said.

John Eubank was found beaten and unconscious on November 30, 2014, near Holbrook Pond, on the grounds of Fort Stewart Army Base in Hinesville, Georgia by his colleagues, Oxygen reported. 

John Eubank had been deployed several times in Iraq as a heavy vehicle driver. The man had been so badly beaten that brain matter was coming out of his skull, Oxygen reported. The victim was immediately taken to the hospital but lost his fight against the injuries.

Police began an investigation, and Lillie Eubank, John Eubank's wife, quickly became a person of interest, Oxygen reported.

“Lillie Eubank was incredibly cold and calculating throughout this murder plot, all the while pretending to be John Eubank’s loving wife,” said Jennifer Solari, the prosecutor in the case, according to the outlet.

During questioning, Lillie Eubank's reaction and answers raised suspicions. “Lillie Eubank’s response was puzzling and very suspicious in that she never asked what happened,” Solari said. “Because nobody had informed her of the cause or manner of death.”

Lillie Eubank changed her statement to police multiple times, Oxygen reported. At first, she claimed that her last meeting with her husband was when she and her daughter dropped him off at a pond to go animal tracking. Initially, she did not mention her brother, Carl Swain, or the fact he was visiting the family for Thanksgiving. 

After police probed for further details, Lillie Eubank changed her story and said that she dropped both her husband and brother at a pond with a baseball bat so they could protect themselves from animals, Oxygen reported. When she and her daughter came back to pick them up, she said she saw Carl drenched in blood.

“As they pull around, they see Carl up in the wood line with the baseball bat, hitting something repeatedly,” Nicole Dolan, former U.S. Army CID Agent said, Oxygen reported. “Shortly thereafter, Carl comes down from the wood line and gets in the vehicle with them. He is exasperated, has blood on him, and the baseball bat had blood on it.”

At first, Lillie Eubank said that the blood was of the boar her brother had beaten up, but she later admitted that she saw him swinging the bat at John Eubank, Oxygen reported.

“Lillie told us that she didn’t want to come to the reality of it,” Deanna Williams, FBI Special Agent said, Oxygen reported. “And when she saw Carl coming from the woods with a broken bat in his hand and blood on him, she feared for her and her daughter Angel’s life.”

Angel Wells confirmed her mother's story, Oxygen reported. “I saw Uncle Carl swinging the bat toward the ground,” Wells said. “Then he stopped and he came out of the woods. He got in the truck. He had blood splattered on his face. As you would if you took spaghetti sauce on a spoon and splattered it on the wall.” 

Swain had an extensive criminal record, Oxygen reported. Investigators tracked him down and he was taken into custody. John Eubank's military bag was found in Swain's residence, and both his and the victim's DNA was found on evidence.

Lillie Eubank and John Eubank met each other on a dating app when the latter was deployed in Iraq, Oxygen reported. After John Eubank returned, they got married and he became a stepfather to Lillie Eubank's children. 

After their marriage, Lillie Eubank was in charge of the couple's money, and she made several questionable decisions, Oxygen reported.

“Lillie took over his finances when they got together and he never really knew how much was in the account or what was going on,” Tymesia Durant, John’s friend, shared with the outlet. “There were a lot of times that she would write out checks that were bad.”

Around the time of his death, John Eubank had decided against separating from his wife, Oxygen reported. “He was bound and determined to get a divorce when he came back home because he had had enough,” said Bonnie Bailey, John Eubank’s friend.

Lillie Eubank was likely aware of her husband's decision, Oxygen reported, and she shared with her daughters in 2013 that he wanted to leave the family.

Police looked into Lillie Eubank's online search history and found phrases like “how to drown somebody in a bathtub”  as well as “poisons that will not be identified on an autopsy."

Detectives tracked the conversations between Lillie Eubank and her brother, which led them to conclude that past attempts had been made on John Eubank's life. 

Swain provided officials with Lillie Eubank's motive when he discussed his case with his fellow inmates, Oxygen reported.

"Swain had confided in them he had done this at the behest of his sister, Lillie Eubank, because she was going to get $500,000 after the murder as the grieving widow and that he was going to be owed $160,000 for his part in the murder," Solari said.

Police determined that Swain was likely discussing the payout Lillie Eubank was set to receive as the beneficiary of John’s Servicemen’s Group Life Insurance Policy, Oxygen reported.

Lillie Eubank was arrested and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder for hire, Oxygen reported. She pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Swain went on trial and was found guilty. He was also sentenced to life in prison.

During her statement to the jury, Solari shared that John Eubank, in his last days, was betrayed by his family, The Florida-Times Union reported. She added that he had Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of people who "did not love him" and "they saw him as an ATM."