A man faces a minimum of 35 years in jail thanks to the extraordinary efforts of federal and state investigators.

The facts of the case are complex but thanks to a $100,000 life insurance policy, federal prosecutors were able to do what state prosecutors could not – get a jury to find Ronald Epps guilty of murder. Sort of.

A federal court recently found Epps guilty of fraud, arson and weapons charges related to two separate events. The first involved Epps shooting his girlfriend, Angela Moss, in the back of the head in order to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy. The second involved setting his apartment on fire to collect on his renters’ insurance policy.

During the trial, federal prosecutors were able to prove that Epps conspired to and ultimately did murder his girlfriend in order to collect on the life insurance policy.

While federal prosecutors were more than happy to put Epps behind bars, state prosecutors felt the evidence did not support a murder charge. Despite the damning evidence presented during the trial, a murder charge was never filed.

Much like the prosecution of Al Capone for tax evasion in the 1930s, investigators took the evidence of fraud and used it to find another way to put Epps in jail.

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