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In the autumn of 2011, a haunting sequence of events unfolded as Angelina O’Mara took the lives of two men—her estranged husband, James O’Mara, and her lover, Michael Pies—by shooting them in the head just days apart. These execution-style murders left a grim imprint across Wisconsin and Minnesota, sparking questions about the motives behind such chilling actions.
Fourteen years have passed since this tragic double homicide, and now, from the confines of her prison cell, O’Mara has broken her silence. Serving a life sentence, she granted an exclusive interview to Oxygen‘s Snapped: Behind Bars, which is set to air on Sunday, November 30, at 6 p.m. ET.
During her first televised interview, recorded on April 9, 2025, at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, Minnesota, O’Mara opened up about her mental state during the time of the murders. She expressed a desire to “bring healing” to those affected by her actions, acknowledging the devastation she caused.
“I took both James’ and Mike’s lives,” she stated in a preview for the upcoming episode of Snapped: Behind Bars. “I’m taking accountability for that.”
In her first televised interview, taped April 9, 2025, at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, Minnesota, O’Mara discussed her state of mind at the time of her crimes, saying she wanted to “bring healing” to the people she affected.
“I took both James’ and Mike’s life,” she said in a preview for the new episode of Snapped: Behind Bars. “I’m taking accountability for that.”
O’Mara addressed the question that people have asked since the she pulled the trigger back in 2011: Why did she kill—and kill again?
“This wasn’t something that I woke up one day and said, ‘I’m going to harm the father of my children,’” she said. “There was no motive. I was in a psychosis, and events happened. But I did not plan to harm anybody. I did not plan to do that.”
For now-retired Ashland, Wisconsin, Police Lt. Greg BeBeau, O’Mara’s statement was hollow.
“For her to still to this day say that both of these homicides were not planned, not thought out, she’s still not being truthful,” he said in the preview. “And until that day comes, it’s pretty difficult for the people that were affected to find closure. She stole a piece of the family’s heart.”
Who did Angelina O’Mara murder?
On Nov. 1, 2011, the body of James O’Mara, 43, was found with a pillow over his head in his home in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.
He was discovered by an apartment complex superintendent checking on a strange smell coming the residence.
Police confirmed that James, who’d been shot in the head, was deceased. Based on the degree of decomposition, he’d been dead for at least two days.
The following day, the body of Michael Pies, 36, was found inside an Ashland, Wisconsin, motel. He died from a single gunshot to the head.
After her arrest on Nov. 3, Angelina changed her account of what happened. Though she initially blamed Pies’ murder on Hell’s Angels, she then claimed there was a struggle for a gun, according to news reports.
Angelina eventually pleaded guilty to the murders. She was sentenced to two life terms, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported in 2013.
Learn more about case when Snapped: Behind Bars airs Sunday, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. ET on Oxygen.
