The cheating wife who had her Naval officer husband killed for his $400,000 life insurance: NCIS investigators reveal how they uncovered murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by 'devastated' widow, her new boyfriend, and a hitman

  • Investigators spoke out in a new season of NCIS: The Cases They Can’t Forget
  • Naval officer Cory Allen Voss was killed in Newport News, Virginia in 2007
  • Wife Catherina Voss and her boyfriend Michael Draven hired hitman for the job
  • Killer David Anthony Runyon was arrested with a map leading to the crime scene
  • Now investigators reveal the trail of clues that unraveled the sickening plot
  • Catherina and Draven are serving life while hitman Runyon is on death row 

Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have come forward to reveal how they unraveled a cheating wife's murder-for-hire plot that left her Naval officer husband dead.

Ensign Cory Allen Voss, 30, was gunned down in Newport News, Virginia on April 30, 2007, a crime for which his wife Catherina 'Cat' Voss, her boyfriend Michael Draven and hitman David Runyon were ultimately convicted.

Now, Newport News police detectives and federal agents are revealing the details of the sicking contract kill, in a new episode of NCIS: The Cases They Can’t Forget, a true-crime spin-off of the fictional CBS series NCIS.

Cory was shot five times in his pickup truck after his wife sent him on an errand to withdraw money from an ATM. Investigators found that in fact it was money Cat was after - a $400,000 life insurance police, plus $100,000 military death benefit and widow benefits for life. 

Ensign Cory Allen Voss is seen with his wife Catherina 'Cat' Voss. Cory's 2007 murder is the subject of a new episode of NCIS: The Cases They Can’t Forget

Ensign Cory Allen Voss is seen with his wife Catherina 'Cat' Voss. Cory's 2007 murder is the subject of a new episode of NCIS: The Cases They Can’t Forget

Catherina 'Cat' Voss
Michael Draven
David Runyon

Catherina 'Cat' Voss, her boyfriend Michael Draven and hitman David Runyon were ultimately convicted of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire

Marriage filled with lies and deception

Cory joined the Navy at age 18, and after finishing college he received his officer's commission and was put in a fast-track program for command.

By all accounts, the navigation specialist was an excellent officer, and superiors believed he'd be running his own ship someday.   

Cory met Cat in a bar in Newport News in 1999, and the pair struck up a romance.

When Cat revealed that she was pregnant three months into their relationship, Cory was eager to propose marriage  

What Cory didn't realize is that Cat had a secret: she was already married to Steve Larson, a high school classmate in Newport News with whom she had a young daughter.

Cat met Cory while her husband, who was also in the military, was deployed overseas. When Larson returned, she told him bluntly that she was pregnant with another man's baby, and they divorced.

Cat and Cory married and went on to have a son and daughter together.

Cory joined the Navy at age 18, and after finishing college he received his officer's commission and was put in a fast-track program for command

Cory met Cat in a bar in Newport News in 1999, and they later married and had two children

Cory met Cat in a bar in Newport News in 1999, and they later married and had two children

Cory's family loved Cat, the life of the party with an exotic Russian accent. 

Cat claimed that she had immigrated from the Ukraine as a child - it was only later that they learned she was born and raised in Newport News, and the accent was fake.

As Cory worked hard on his military career, Cat was living the high life, splurging whenever possible.  

'She wanted to maintain a certain lifestyle, drove a BMW … she wanted to buy the clothes and buy the jewelry. And so, she would spend all this money and had an exorbitant amount of debt,' Special Agent Dana Shutt recalled in the new special episode, which aired on Wednesday.

'There were so many bills that were not being paid because of this lifestyle that she wanted to have,' Schutt said.

Wife's creepy boyfriend was obsessed with The Crow 

While married to Cory, Cat didn't let their two young children put a damper on her hard-partying lifestyle.

Investigators say that she met her new boyfriend Michael Draven on MySpace, the early social networking website, in the summer of 2006 while Cory was deployed aboard the USS Elrod.

Draven was a dark and exciting man, who sported a fedora and goatee and said he made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as a filmmaker and photographer.

Cat met her new boyfriend Michael Draven (with her above) on MySpace, where he claimed to be a filmmaker who made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year

Cat met her new boyfriend Michael Draven (with her above) on MySpace, where he claimed to be a filmmaker who made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year

Little did Cat realize that Draven's entire persona was a facade - he actually lived in a mobile home with his mother, and had a part-time job delivering newspapers.

As a side gig, Draven was a paid medical test subject for experiments conducted at a hospital in Baltimore. 

Michael Draven wasn't even his birth name. 

Investigators later discovered that he had legally changed his name from from Anthony Neff to Michael Anthony Eric Draven, in honor of the fictional character Eric Draven, the titular hero of the movie The Crow.

But when Cat discovered the deception, she was unfazed, and continued in her infatuation with Draven, according to her friend Ashley Doyle.

'I was immediately like, "Caterina, you're not going to continue talking to this guy? He lied to you,"' Doyle recalled. 

'She's like, well, "He was, you know, he was just embarrassed about his situation" -- and just immediately she was making excuses for him,' Doyle said.

'Once he took hold of her, she was a different person. 

Murder staged to look like ATM robbery gone wrong   

Cat had confided in her friend Doyle that she planned to divorce Cory to be with Draven - but Doyle pointed out that without Cory's military income, she'd have no way to support herself.  

'I woke up one morning, getting ready for work, turned on the news,' Doyle recalled. 'And I happen to hear something that caught my attention. And I turned and looked at the TV screen and I saw Cory's truck.' 

'They were saying that he was found dead in his truck. Immediately my mind started spinning and I thought, "Oh, my God … she's done it."'

On April 20, 2007, Cat had opened an account at a branch of the Langley Federal Credit Union in Newport News with a five dollar deposit, according to court documents. 

Shortly before midnight on April 29, 2007, Cat sent Cory to the ATM at the credit union to withdraw cash, the investigation found. 

Cory Voss is seen at the ATM moments before he was shot to death on April 30, 2007

Cory Voss is seen at the ATM moments before he was shot to death on April 30, 2007

Video surveillance showed that while Cory stood at the ATM, an unidentifiable intruder entered his pickup truck. Cory drove away from the ATM but returned a few minutes later and attempted another withdrawal, which was denied due to insufficient funds. 

The next morning, Cory was found dead in his truck in a parking lot near the credit union. He had been shot five times at close range. Four hollow-point bullets from a '.38 class' gun—which includes firearms capable of firing .357 magnum, .38 special, and 9 mm cartridges—were recovered from his body. The cause of death was three shots to the chest and abdomen. 

Shocked by the news of Cory's death, Doyle called police with an anonymous tip to focus their attention on her friend Cat, which they quickly did. 

'Devastated' widow lives large on death benefits 

Upon the death of an active duty member of the military, the next-of-kin is paid an automatic death benefit of $100,000.

After Cory's murder, the payment went to his wife Cat - who immediately began living large. 

'She's spending… almost $10,000 in the Outer Banks on a vacation with her boyfriend, his brother and girlfriend, and the kids,' recalled Detective Larry Rilee of the Newport News police.

'And we're only less than three weeks removed from Cory 's murder.'

Cat Voss blew through the $100,000 death benefit in a matter of weeks

Cat Voss blew through the $100,000 death benefit in a matter of weeks

Investigators say that Cat splurged on jewelry, hotels, restaurants, and even paid the rent for her boyfriend Draven to move into his own new apartment from his mother's trailer.

'And within three months, she had spent all but approximately $900 of it,' said Special Agent Shutt.

Investigators set up wiretaps on Cat and Draven's phones, hoping to catch them discussing a murder plot. 

'We didn't get a confession, but what we did get was an enormous amount of evidence of them creating alibis and what they needed and what they wanted the friends to tell the police if they were to come to them,' recalled Detective Rilee.

Cat became furious when she learned that Rilee had put a hold on her $400,000 life insurance payout for Cory, as well as military widow payments that would have continued monthly and indefinitely.

Cat demanded to be cleared, writing letters to the insurance company demanding payment and even contacting her U.S. congresswoman pleading for intervention.

Old prison phone calls lead cops to incriminating map

In the course of the inquiry, investigators discovered that Draven had been arrested and briefly jailed in Baltimore the month before the murder, after he was picked up on an outstanding warrant stemming from a domestic dispute.

Investigators contacted the Baltimore jail and were able to get recordings of all of Draven's phone calls from behind bars - hundreds of them over six days, nearly all to Cat.

In the recordings, they discovered cryptic references to a man named David.

'You said that you and David was talking?' Daven asked Cat in one of the calls, to which she replies 'uh-huh.' 

Michael Draven: 'You told him what's going on?'

Cat Voss: 'Yes, I did.'

Michael Draven: 'OK.'

Cat Voss: 'He said, "oh, my f**king god." … I'm just letting you know, I will take care of it from here on.'

Michael Draven: 'OK, just don't get yourself in trouble, OK?'

Cat Voss: 'I won't. Trust me.'

Investigators used phone records to search for any connection to someone named David, and hit upon David Runyon, who lived in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Runyon had met Draven in Baltimore, where they both participated in paid medical drug trials as human guinea pigs.  

NCIS investigators put Runyon under 24-hour surveillance while they got a warrant to search his home. 

Cooperating with local police, they had cops pull Runyon over in a seemingly routine traffic stop, and arrested and searched his car. 

Inside the center console, they found the mother of all evidence - a road map with a route marked directly to the scene of Cory's murder, with written notations describing his pickup truck, the credit union branch, and Cory's name.

Police found this map in the center console of Runyon's car. It shows a route to the murder scene, with notations describing the credit union branch and Cory's truck

Police found this map in the center console of Runyon's car. It shows a route to the murder scene, with notations describing the credit union branch and Cory's truck

With the map, they also found a photograph of Cat and Draven with their names, addresses, and a social security number written on the back.

'I thought, how dumb could this guy be to still have in his possession something of such significance that unequivocally links him to Cory Voss, Cat, and Michael Draven, still riding around with it in his vehicle after seven months?' recalled Special Agent Sandra Barrow. 'I think he just forgot about it.' 

In Runyon's home, cops found a box of .357 magnum bullets with five missing; papers mentioning the credit union and the travel time to Virginia; and a list of items including a taser, Spyderco knife, tarp, and trash bag, as well as boots, gloves, a black hoodie sweatshirt, and military-style pants. 

Investigators found that on the day of the killing, Runyon purchased a .357 magnum handgun and ammunition in West Virginia, where he lived, and that a friend of his pawned the gun several months later.  

All three suspects are successfully prosecuted 

After Runyon was arrested, Draven became suicidal and was reportedly wandering the streets of Newport News in the rain, looking for a bridge to jump off of.

He was picked up by cops before he could harm himself. When Cat came to the police station believing she was going to pick him up, police arrested her as well.

Draven admitted to the murder plot, but said that Cat was the mastermind, and he was merely an unwilling participant. 

Cat at first denied any involvement, but then tried to throw Draven under the bus, saying he had demanded Cory be killed.

Prosecutors believe that Cat may have convinced Draven and Runyon that Cory was molesting their young daughter - a claim there is no evidence to support.

The trio likely hoped to set up the murder to look like a carjacking and ATM robbery gone wrong, prosecutors say. 

During interrogation, Cat at first denied any involvement, but then tried to throw Draven under the bus, saying he had demanded Cory be killed

During interrogation, Cat at first denied any involvement, but then tried to throw Draven under the bus, saying he had demanded Cory be killed

Draven (left) and Cat Voss (center) were sentenced to life in prison. Runyon is on death row

Draven (left) and Cat Voss (center) were sentenced to life in prison. Runyon is on death row

Prosecutors believe that Runyon was offered $20,000 for the hit, and $500 in advance. The only payment they were able to document was $275 that Draven's brother wired Runyon by Western Union on June 1, 2007. 

Faced with the evidence against her, Cat pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Runyon and Draven decided to face trial. They were convicted, and Draven was sentenced to life in prison, while Runyon was sentenced to execution. 

Catherina Rose Voss, 43, is currently incarcerated at FCI Aliceville in Alabama on a life sentence.

Michael Anthony Draven, 38, is currently incarcerated at USP Allenwood in Pennsylvania on a life sentence.

David Anthony Runyon, 48, is on federal death row at USP Terre Haute in Indiana.

NCIS: The Cases They Can't Forget airs at 8pm ET Wednesday nights on CBS. 

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The cheating wife who had her Naval officer husband killed for his $400,000 life insurance

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