Steamy Texts, A Shotgun, & 2 Mistrials: Who Killed Lisa Techel?

True Crime with Kendall Rae

This episode details the tragic 2012 murder of pregnant Lisa Techel in rural Iowa and the subsequent investigation that uncovered a web of deceit surrounding her husband, Seth Teckel. Initially suspected due

Key takeaways

• Lisa Techel was shot to death in her Iowa trailer on May 26, 2012, while 17 weeks pregnant with her first child.
• Husband Seth Teckel initially claimed an intruder committed the crime but was caught lying about a secret affair and omitting a missing shotgun during interrogation.

Main topics

• Murder investigation & forensic evidence
• Marital infidelity & sexting scandal

Notable quotes

"I'm no longer your sister and I no longer love you."

Conclusion

The episode highlights the devastating human cost of marital betrayal and violence, while honoring

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Speaker 7 (0:11) Turning dreams into direction. Speaker 7 (0:17) Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 7 (0:23) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 4 (0:38) Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much, as always, for joining me today. I'm so happy to have you here, and I hope you are having a great day. If you are new to my show, make sure that you click subscribe or follow or whatever it is on the podcast apps so that you never miss an episode of mine. Also, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the great feedback on my new set. I absolutely love it. I am going to be making a couple little changes. Just a couple little things. First of all, so many of you commented with a fantastic idea to put a framed picture of Lily on one of the shelves so that she's kind of always with me. I love that. I love that. Thank you to all of you who came up with that idea. And I'm going to be getting on that as soon as possible. So that will be here soon. But yes, thank you. I Speaker 6 (1:29) really appreciate the positive feedback. And I'm so excited about this set. You guys have no idea. Just it. I have so Speaker 4 (1:37) much more space in this room. I have a place to record without distractions of my nine pets. Speaker 6 (1:45) Obviously, I did like having my cat and my dog with me in the room. And oftentimes, my dog Bernie is in here. I have a bed for him off to the side that you can't see. But I do have two massive dogs at home that are very loud. And my daughter, for a little four-year-old, she can create Speaker 1 (1:59) quite a lot of noise. I can hear her what I call heffalumping upstairs, just running back and forth. If you know, that's a Pooh Bear reference. I'm pretty sure they were called heffalumps. Speaker 6 (2:10) But yeah, that's what I always refer to it as. And it gets loud. It gets distracting. So I'm just in this nice, quiet, professional space. I feel so much more locked in. So thank you guys for all of your support. And I, you Speaker 4 (2:22) know, it is not lost on me that. I wouldn't be able to have the equipment I have and the studio I have and the studios we have built for all of our Mile Higher media shows, which if you haven't checked them out, Speaker 6 (2:32) I'll put some overlay of our other studios here if you want to check out any of our other new Speaker 4 (2:37) sets or shows if you've never checked them out as well. But yeah, we know that we would not be able to do any of this without the amazing audience we have and the support that you've all given us over the years. So big thank you. Now, the case that I am going to be telling you about today made me especially angry because today we're going to be talking about the murder of a pregnant woman who not only was pregnant, but just seemed like a fantastic Speaker 6 (3:04) person with a wonderful family. And it has just broken my heart researching for this case. Now, this is one that I had first discovered, first heard about when I was pregnant, and Speaker 1 (3:17) I just knew I couldn't. mentally handle talking about it at that time. There's only so much I can mentally take on right now. For instance, I know there are some very, very highly requested cases right now, specifically the Lindsay Clancy case that I know you guys want me to cover, but I am five months postpartum, and that case from the day I heard about it years ago just absolutely wrecked me following it. to some degree, because I can only mentally handle so much, has been extremely upsetting. It is such, such a difficult case. And so I just can't mentally take it on. But I feel like I'm in a good place now where I can at least talk about Lisa Teckel's case, because her case absolutely needs more awareness. Her story needs more awareness. And I just really want to highlight how amazing I think her family is. Now, Lisa Teckel was about halfway through her pregnancy, very far along, when her life was taken from her. And I assure you, when you learn the reason why her killer took her life, you will be just as pissed off as I am. And don't even get me started. on how many attempts it took to bring her killer to justice. Speaker 4 (4:41) Before getting into this episode, I just wanted to thank you all for listening to and supporting my show and also any of the Mile Higher Media shows. Your support makes Speaker 6 (4:49) it possible for us to continue funding grants through my foundation, Higher Hope, which supports victims of violent crimes, their families, and like-minded Speaker 4 (4:57) nonprofits. Let's go ahead and get into this episode. And I want to start out by, of course, talking about Lisa and telling you how... awesome she was. So Lisa Marie Caldwell was born on May 7th, 1989 in Ottumwa, Iowa, as the oldest daughter Speaker 6 (5:12) to her parents, Todd and Tracy, who, despite not staying together, were equally Speaker 1 (5:17) committed to loving her. And her family says that she was just an absolute joy to be around from the time that she was little. And she was always really the life of the party. Speaker 6 (5:27) And for any Elvis fans out there, she was named Lisa Marie after Elvis's daughter, of course, Lisa Marie. And that was a name that her dad says Speaker 1 (5:34) she really lived up to. And it's been said that once she started talking, she didn't stop, which I can relate to that. I'm a big yapper myself. But yeah, she always wanted to do. everything to the best of her ability, according to her loved ones. And Speaker 6 (5:48) one area that Lisa truly put her entire heart into was her family. I mean, you can just tell from interviews what a strong bond this family Speaker 4 (5:59) had. And still has, of course, but you know what I mean. From a very early age, for example, even after her parents split up when she was a teen, her dad got remarried to a woman named Amy and ended up having twins with her. And even though Of course, there was quite a big age difference there that did not stop Lisa from getting close to them. In fact, Todd and Amy Speaker 6 (6:19) said that she was almost like a second mom to the twins with how much she helped take care of them. And in addition to her siblings, she also spent a lot of time getting close to Amy. And I love this, but she said that one of their favorite things to do together was watch old episodes of Golden Girls, which is something that I used to do with my grandma. And that show just holds a very special place in my heart. And I know like anyone who's a Golden Girls fan understands how special of a show it was and just like what a, you know, iconic era. of television. And I guess Lisa would always joke with Speaker 4 (6:50) Amy that she was like Dorothy because she was super grumpy. But from what I can tell, it sounds like Amy was both Speaker 1 (6:57) like a mom and a friend to Lisa. And one thing that I loved hearing about is how she would always pry into Lisa's personal life. Like Speaker 4 (7:07) she wanted to be in the know, fully involved when it came to everything. Like, for example, who she was dating. And actually, everyone was quite thrilled when Lisa told Speaker 1 (7:17) them that she was dating a local boy named Seth Teckel. Now, some background here, okay? So growing up, Lisa got really into bowling. And like Speaker 6 (7:27) everything that she set her mind to, from what I understand, she was really good at it. And I'm not just saying she got a couple strikes here and there. No, she was like state champion level good. And during this time, she decided to get a job at the bowling alley, of course. And Seth happened to work there as well. And his dad was actually Lisa's bowling coach and owned this bowling alley. So the Teckel family was no stranger to the Caldwells. And both families really had a good reputation. Seth's grandfather was actually the mayor and his mom was a social worker. And then... As for Lisa's dad, he was a sheriff's deputy. And something that was really interesting to learn was how close Lisa Speaker 1 (8:07) and Seth got with the other person's family and friends. They really became intermingled. And all of Seth's friends really, really liked Lisa because she was into things like hunting and fishing and shooting guns. Speaker 6 (8:19) And when it came to his family, they could not have liked her more. They really viewed her like a daughter. They really... brought her into their family, treated her as such, and it was the same way that the Caldwells felt about Speaker 1 (8:32) Seth. One of Lisa's sisters, Presley, who was also obviously named after Elvis, even described him as being one of Speaker 6 (8:40) her best friends. So, as you can imagine, everyone was just thrilled when the two of them announced that they were going to get married. Todd said that Seth was very traditional, and he even asked permission before proposing, which Todd, of course, said yes to. I mean, he loved Seth. He thought he was a great fit for his daughter. His only request was that Seth promise to love and protect his daughter, and he said he would. So after seven years of dating, they tied the knot in October of 2011, when Lisa was 22 years Speaker 4 (9:07) old and Seth was 21. Now, when it comes to their ages, I know there are always a lot of mixed opinions on people who get married young. in my audience, and just the internet in general. And listen, Speaker 1 (9:19) there Speaker 6 (9:20) are plenty of people that get married young and go on to have very successful marriages. I was, I think, 23, maybe 24 when I got married back. My husband and I were definitely on the younger side, Speaker 1 (9:30) and we have a great marriage. I mean, our marriage is literally better than it ever has been, and I have no regrets Speaker 6 (9:37) about getting married that young. But, you know, it doesn't always go that way, of course. But in this specific case, you know, given their history, their relatively young Speaker 1 (9:47) ages didn't seem to be a concern at all to them or to their families. And honestly, I don't think I can really explain enough just how tight-knit all of them were. For example, Seth and Todd were so close that Todd was even helping him get a job at the sheriff's department. Speaker 6 (10:05) Seth had always been drawn to careers in service. He had been a volunteer firefighter, and then at the time, he was a security guard, so getting a job at the sheriff's office was sort of the next step up for him. And actually, Lisa was pursuing a career in the same field. After earning her degree in criminal justice, she worked as a reserve deputy and then as a jailer at the Washington County Jail. And I know her dad was really proud to see her follow in his footsteps, but I think like any father, he had his concerns when she first expressed wanting to work in law enforcement, mainly because there, of course, are inherent dangers when it comes to that kind of job. He wanted her to be exceptionally good at it so that he didn't have to worry about her safety. But she certainly did. I mean, I don't think she ever gave him any reason to be worried about her. She was smart. She was driven. She was incredibly hardworking. In my opinion, she was a total badass. So whatever she put her effort into was something that she was going to be great Speaker 1 (11:05) at, basically. Speaker 6 (11:06) And that was supposed to apply to motherhood as well. And if she was given a chance to be a mother, I have no doubt that she would Speaker 1 (11:14) have been a fantastic one. And that child would have been born into a wonderful family. Speaker 2 (11:27) When you run a small business, you don't just do the job. You're also the hiring manager, the payroll department, the benefits team, and usually that's all before lunch. Gusto can take a few of those things off of your plate quickly and seamlessly. Gusto is the online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use so that you can just pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. I can speak from experience. They offer automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers comp, 401k, you name it. Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget. They even offer unlimited payroll runs for just one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises, and you can save time with built-in automated tools, offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. And it's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll. It's ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 500,000 small businesses. At Mile Higher Media, we have been using Gusto for years and it has been such a nice experience for us. We've literally never had issues and there's been so many times where we have just looked at each other like, wow. The amount of time that we are saving by using Gusto, the headaches we have saved ourselves, is honestly crazy. So try Gusto today at gusto.com slash tckr and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months free of free payroll at gusto.com slash tckr. One more time, gusto.com slash tckr. Speaker 6 (13:16) By May of 2012, Lisa was halfway through her first pregnancy, and she was having a little girl who they planned on naming Zoe Maria. But in the early morning hours of May 26th, Lisa was shot in the bedroom of her trailer that she lived in with Seth, which ended both her life and the life of her unborn baby. Now, the gunshot that killed Speaker 1 (13:37) them rang out around 5.05 a Speaker 6 (13:40) .m., and according to Seth, He was in the shower when he first heard the commotion, and he said it took him a minute to process it, understandably, but once he registered what was going on, he immediately jumped out of the shower and ran to her, and he said he could tell right away that she had been shot in her side. Speaker 1 (13:57) Now, his first response was to grab one of his guns and run outside because he thought maybe the killer was out there and he wanted to try and catch them, and then... He didn't end up seeing anyone, so he ran back inside, and at that point, he called 911. That call came in at 5.23 a.m., which notably is 18 minutes after he said he heard the gunshot. Speaker 5 (14:26) He's not president. Speaker 7 (14:33) I'm sorry. Speaker 7 (14:37) I'm so nervous. Speaker 6 (14:42) And coincidentally, the responding deputy was Speaker 1 (14:45) someone he knew, which honestly doesn't surprise me because they lived in a really remote area in Agency, Iowa. I mean, this is the kind of place where everyone just seems to know everyone. But anyway, when the deputy and the paramedics got there, it was sadly too late. Lisa was gone, and there was no way they would have been able to save her or her baby Zoe. And Speaker 6 (15:07) I should also mention that this was actually the first murder. in their town in over Speaker 4 (15:12) 15 years. So it was definitely not something that anyone was particularly used to handling, Speaker 1 (15:20) right? And I say that because in hindsight, the responding deputy says he regretted his decision to call Lisa's dad soon after what happened. And Todd was one of the first people who got called to the scene. And as I'm sure you can imagine, he rushed over there as fast as he could. He and Amy were both asleep when the call came in, but they both got in their cars and just sped to Lisa's trailer. And I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but Amy is actually a nurse, so she thought if she could just get there fast enough that maybe there was something that she could do to save her. But... Both she and Todd knew as soon as they got there that that wouldn't be possible, leaving the two of them just absolutely beside themselves with grief. At the scene, the two of them