Prosecutors say Valerie McDaniel had taken out a $1.2 million loan to buy out her ex-husband’s share of the veterinarian clinic as part of their divorce settlement so money was tight for her at the time. Police tipped off Mack McDaniel about the alleged hit.
When prominent Houston veterinarian Valerie McDaniel started dating Leon Jacob, she thought she had met the man of her dreams. The two were newly single, and Jacob helped take Valerie’s mind off the difficult divorce and custody battle with her former husband and business partner, Marion “Mack” McDaniel III.
D ateline NBC investigates the twisted murder-for-hire plot involving Meghan Verikas, Leon Jacob, Valerie McDaniel and Marion “Mack” McDaniel. Valerie McDaniel died by suicide in March of 2017. At the time of her death, McDaniel was out on bond after being charged with solicitation of capital murder.
Leon Jacob: I'm innocent and as a human being and as a physician, that thought of killing somebody else is, just goes against everything in my nature. Leon has hired one of the top defense attorneys in Texas, George Parnham, who says Valerie McDaniel was the one calling all the shots.
Valerie McDaniel & Leon Jacob Photo: Houston Police Department. Valerie was released on bail, and two weeks later, she died by suicide after jumping off the balcony of her seventh-floor apartment. She was to appear in court the following morning, according to KTRK.
Valerie was initially put off by Jacob, who was eight years her junior. In audio recordings she gave to KPRC, she called him, “The cockiest [expletive] I had ever met in my life … I was turned off immediately.” Despite her first impression, they became friends and then lovers. In the recordings, she called their first sexual encounter “the most passionate, romantic moment in my life.”
On her recordings for KPRC, Valerie said she and Jacob talked with an acquaintance of his who could help make her ex-husband “leave [her] alone.”. Talk of intimidation soon turned to threats of violence: “It just progressed,” she said.
Before her death, Valerie made recordings on an iPad, telling her version of events. They were left for a friend in the building who worked at KPRC. The station later shared excerpts of the recordings, during which Valerie claimed police entrapped her and that she never wanted to hurt her daughter’s father.
Valerie was released on bail, and two weeks later, she died by suicide after jumping off the balcony of her seventh-floor apartment. She was to appear in court the following morning, according to KTRK. Before her death, Valerie made recordings on an iPad, telling her version of events. They were left for a friend in the building who worked at KPRC. The station later shared excerpts of the recordings, during which Valerie claimed police entrapped her and that she never wanted to hurt her daughter’s father.
After he got paid, Azzeh started avoiding Jacob. Unable to locate Azzeh, Jacob went to see Michael Kubosh, a Houston city councilman and bail bondsman who had posted bail for both Jacob and Azzeh in the past. At a press conference covered by KPRC, Kubosh said Jacob wanted help finding Azzeh.
On March 10, 2017, Valerie McDaniel and her live-in boyfriend, Leon Jacob, get a wake-up call from Sergeant Frank Quinn that will soon lead to an Oscar-winning performance.
Between Mack's alleged cheating and Valerie's new love interest, both wanted out of the marriage. Their divorce was finalized in August 2016. Valerie and her daughter moved into a building in the upscale River Oaks area of Houston. Not long after, Leon joined them there.
Houston veterinarian, Valerie Busick McDaniel,accused of hitring a hitman to kill her ex,… https://t.co/V4kpPwhYAg pic.twitter.com/B33MnLAS2L
Houston couple, Valerie McDaniel and and Leon Jacob, ‘paid undercover cop posing as a hit… https://t.co/Rd2cS7SNRN pic.twitter.com/BsD01jo5HX
Valerie McDaniel and Leon Jacobs had been charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot. He has pleaded not guilty. McDaniel was a veterinarian living in a two-bedroom condo at a luxury high-rise in the wealthy Houston neighborhood of River Oaks. When she wasn’t treating animals at the veterinary clinic she owned, ...
Three days after she was arrested, Valerie McDaniel was released on $50,000 bond. She visited some friends but mostly confined herself to her apartment, recording her final thoughts on her iPad.
After 11 years of marriage, Annie Jacob filed for divorce in 2013 and later pressed charges against him for aggravated stalking and intimidation. Court documents obtained by ABC News say he made calls, sent texts and emails, threatening to inflict bodily harm. But Jacob said it was blown out of proportion.
Valerie McDaniel revealed a dark secret in an audio diary before she died.
What happened in bizarre murder-for-hire plot that led to veterinarian's suicide, her boyfriend in prison. Leon Jacob was convicted on two counts of solicitation of capital murder. Valerie McDaniel and Leon Jacobs had been charged in an alleged murder-for-hire plot. He has pleaded not guilty. Valerie McDaniel knew she had been found out.
Valerie McDaniel knew she had been found out. Detectives had arrested the prominent Houston veterinarian and her boyfriend, Leon Jacob, after accusing them of trying to hire a hit man to kill both of their exes, and now they were facing the possibility of time behind bars.
This past week, a jury convicted Jacob of two counts of solicitation of capital murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
After 11 years of marriage, Annie Jacob filed for divorce in 2013 and later pressed charges against him for aggravated stalking and intimidation. Court documents obtained by ABC News say he made calls, sent texts and emails, threatening to inflict bodily harm. But Jacob said it was blown out of proportion.
Jacob moved into her condo and the two began living together in early 2017. In an interview with “20/20” last year before his trial began, Jacob said they cooked together, shared bank accounts and even told people they were getting married. But on March 27, McDaniel chose to take her own life.
But on March 27, McDaniel chose to take her own life. “It was just as much of a shock to me as it was to everybody else around her,” Jacob said. “There was nothing wrong.”. McDaniel's friends said they had a bad feeling about Jacob.
But eventually, Jacob won her over. McDaniel shared that their first sexual encounter “was like a movie moment… It was the most passionate, romantic moment in my life.”
Prosecutors say Valerie Busick McDaniel and Leon Phillip Jacob paid the hit man $20,000 for carrying out the killings of her ex-husband and his ex-girlfriend.
McDaniel jumped from the seventh floor of the condominium complex at 2200 Willowick Road, into a van Monday, March 27, 2017 , in Houston. The case against her boyfriend and co-defendant, Leon Phillip Jacob, remains pending.
Valerie Busick McDaniel jumped from the seventh floor of the 15-story condominium complex at 2200 Willowick Road Monday, March 27, 2017, in Houston.
McDaniel's parents were both doctors, but both gave up their licenses after running into legal trouble. And court records show Valerie McDaniel had debts and an expensive divorce settlement hanging over her.
2 of 3 Valerie McDaniel's friends and family left expressions of their love for the veterinarian at a candlelight vigil on March 31, four days after she leaped to her death from the seventh floor of her River Oaks condominium. Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle/Vet doctor vigil Show More Show Less
That avoidance ultimately included her sister, who did not know what to make of it. There had been times over the years when McDaniel was traveling or so exceptionally busy that the contact would tail off. But not for long.
While that secrecy in itself was unusual, Hudson and other friends said there were other troubling hints that something was not right. Those who happened across McDaniel said she did not look particularly healthy or vibrant. Usually she was in the company of Jacob, and when they bumped into friends he would rush to leave. Calls and text messages to her went unreturned, birthday flowers unacknowledged. She took time off from work, a rarity unless she was sick.
McDaniel's friends and her sister remain skeptical. What makes no sense to them is that she abhorred violence and didn't like her friends to even criticize her ex. That was her daughter's father, she always said, and she loved him very much. Whatever her grievances during almost two decades of a trying marriage, she rarely lost her temper and typically played the role of peacemaker.
Hudson remembers those days and confirmed that her sister tried to avoid him.
Had she finally had enough and snapped? The charges against her say yes. Angela Hudson, McDaniel's younger sister, defiantly claims no.
While she did complain that contact with her ex remained an ongoing problem, none of her friends who spoke to the Chronicle said McDaniel appeared unduly burdened by it. As she herself said in her lengthy iPad summary, she mostly just wanted him to be nicer to her.
Valerie McDaniel died by suicide in March of 2017. At the time of her death, McDaniel was out on bond after being charged with solicitation of capital murder. She was a prominent Houston veterinarian who was in a relationship with Jacob at the time.
On March 10, 2017, police knocked on McDaniel’s door to inform her that her husband had been found murdered, and when she and Jacob allegedly pretended to be shocked, police arrested them and charged them with solicitation of capital murder.
Both Jacob and McDaniel were arrested and charged with solicitation of capital murder, according to ABC News.
From the time she was released on bond to the time she died, McDaniel recorded two hours of audio on her iPad, which, according to Click 2 Houston, she left with a handwritten note with a friend who lived in her building. The audio reportedly starts with McDaniel stating, “Hey, it’s Valerie McDaniel, and it’s March 15, 2017.
McDaniel Was Allegedly Involved in Hiring a Hitman to Murder Her Ex-Husband. It turned from a love story, to a crime story…. According to Oxygen and 48 Hours, when McDaniel believed she was going to lose custody of her daughter, Jacob came up with the idea to hire a hitman to murder her ex and his ex.
McDaniel also kept an audio diary where she recorded thoughts and feelings. She often spoke of her relationship with Jacob in the weeks leading up to their arrest, speaking of “how beautiful he was,” according to CBS News.