On December 31, 2018, Kemia Hassel made a distressing 911 call, claiming her husband Tyrone had been shot – but the truth behind the call revealed a deadly love affair and an even more sinister murder plot.
Sergeant Tyrone Hassel III’s murder– and the plot to kill him – are the subject of Love. Honor. Betray., an ABC 20/20 episode airing on Friday, February 16, 2024, available to stream the following day on Hulu.
Who is Kemia Hassel?
Kemia Hassel, born Kemia Martin, was a US Army Specialist.
She met her husband, Tyrone Hassell III, while they were both serving in the Army.
The duo met at Fort Carson in Colorado in 2015.
Shortly after, the couple got engaged, and eventually married in 2016.
By the end of 2018, all seemed to be going well for the young couple.
They had recently welcomed a son together, who by December 31, 2018, was nearly 2 years old.
They were also both on block leave from Fort Stewart in Georgia, where Kemia worked as a truck driver and Tyrone was a wheel mechanic.
The couple had been staying at Tyrone’s father’s house in St. Joseph Township, Michigan when everything changed.
On New Year’s Eve 2018, Tyrone was gunned down in his driveway.
Kemia, seemingly distraught, called 911 at around 11 pm.
“I need help. My husband was shot,” she said, adding: “I need help.”
But the grieving wife wasn’t as innocent as she seemed.
After being brought in for questioning, Kemia failed a polygraph test and eventually broke down and confessed to planning the murder.
Who is Jeremy Cuellar?
In a shocking twist, investigators discovered that Kemia Hassel had orchestrated her husband’s murder – with the help of her secret lover.
Just days after Tyrone was murdered, investigators received an anonymous tip that led them to another Fort Stewart soldier, Jeremy Cuellar.
Jeremy Cuellar had allegedly confessed his affair – and the murder – to one of his soldier friends, who came forward with the truth.
Cuellar claimed that he had shot Hassel multiple times, including in the head and abdomen, to ensure that he was dead.
The shots he described matched the bullet wounds on Tyrone’s body.
As for why the duo committed the plot in the first place?
Love – and money.
Cuellar and Kemia had orchestrated the entire event to keep their relationship going, and to secure a hefty life insurance policy from Tyrone.
The policy was reportedly worth nearly half-a-million dollars.
The Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) launched its own investigation, and found out that multiple soldiers knew about the affair between Cuellar and Kemia.
The CID uncovered that Cuellar had previously stated that “Kemia Hassel was his girl and that Sergeant Hassel had to go,” as reported by ABC News.
The CID also found that Sergeant Ta’Darius Gholston had sold Cuellar two guns prior to the shooting.
One of the guns matched the caliber used to kill Hassel.
Cuellar was arrested on January 11, 2019.
During his trial, he apologized to Tyrone’s father.
“I am truly sorry,” said Cuellar, adding: “I know that ain’t [worth] sh*t.”
“It took me at least six times,” he said, referring to the number of times he had tried to kill Tyrone.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that had Kemia never met Jeremy Cuellar, this never would’ve happened,” Kemia’s attorney, Chris Kessel, told the jury during the trial.
How did Kemia Hassel and Jeremy Cuellar meet?
Jeremy Cuellar was also in the US Army, which is when he met Kemia.
In fact, all three individuals – Tyrone, Kemia, and Jeremy – were assigned to 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
Jeremy and Kemia had actually met – and started their secret, romantic relationship – while they were stationed at Camp Casey.
They were both living and working in South Korea during the 3rd Infantry Division, 1st Combat Brigade Deployment in 2017.
Kemia was reportedly unsatisfied with her marriage, and claimed Tyrone didn’t pay enough attention to her.
She claimed the “workaholic” would spend more time on the Army base than at home with her or their son.
Kemia began to inform Cuellar of Tyrone’s whereabouts, often multiple times a week.
The duo communicated via Snapchat, because they thought the messages they sent each other – often with gruesome details about how they wanted to kill Tyrone – would disappear from the app, and couldn’t be traced back to them.
They were wrong.
Where are Kemia Hassel and Jeremy Cuellar now?
Jeremy Cuellar pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on July 30, 2019, and was sentenced to 65 to 90 years in prison.
Cuellar later requested to withdraw the guilty plea, but the Michigan Supreme Court denied to hear his case in 2021.
Kemia Hassel was found guilty of conspiracy and first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2019.
She is currently housed at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Pittsfield Charter Township, Michigan.
She has reportedly begun seeking a retrial, claiming that she was a victim of Battered Woman Syndrome.
Tyrone’s father, Tyrone Jr., denies that his son was ever capable of violence against anyone, let alone his wife.
Kamia and Tyrone Hassel’s son, Tyrone Hassel IV, lives with her mother.
Tyrone Jr. and his wife, Tyrone’s stepmother, Ashanti Hassel, communicate with their grandson via FaceTime.
“I would like him to know that his father was a good man and his father loved him very dearly,” Tyrone Jr. said.