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Tabitha Messina reports on the murder of Father Richard

On Sunday, July 29, 2007, police discovered an Ohio father and his girlfriend horrifically butchered by a crowbar and ax in the bedroom of their home.

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Richard Messina Sr., 50, and Sandra Cover, 43, were in bed in their South Euclid home when they were attacked. Richard Messina's 18-year-old daughter Tabitha was missing, but a small hatchet-style ax was found on her bed.

“That was brutal. Brutal,” said David Volek, retired South Euclid police detective Caught: Behind barsAirs Sundays at 7/6c oxygen. “This wasn't someone who just wanted Richard dead. Because that would have been: break into the house, shoot him and leave. No, no, no, that was personal. Too personal.”

Tabitha Messina was eventually found guilty of both murders, along with her boyfriend and lover, 19-year-old Carlos Christopher. Now Tabitha Messina is speaking publicly for the first time about what happened behind bars at the Dayton Correctional Institute. Her story first aired in the first season of Snapshot: Killer couples in August 2013.

“This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t brought him into the house,” Tabitha Messina continued Caught: Behind bars. “And that’s 100 percent my fault. What I'm saying is that I may not have committed the murder, but I was definitely guilty of what happened. When I was young, my choice of friends was terrible.”

Tabitha Messina said after 18 years behind bars, she is filled with regret for what she did just a month after graduating high school.

“It was just a party day and it turned out to be a nightmare,” Tabitha Messina said. “And it's just something I can't wake up from. Never. Never. I see this day every day.”

Carlos Christopher's account of the night Richard Messina was murdered

Carlos Christopher, his girlfriend Tammy Tabak, Tabitha Messina and her boyfriend Jason Gaylord had all attended a local festival and hung out at a playground the night Tabitha Messina's father was murdered. Police said Christopher's father was a gang leader in Brazil and was killed. His mother was in prison. He had been adopted by a family in Ohio.

“When I met him, he had this kind of darkness about him,” Tabitha Messina said. “He was quick-tempered. He always tried to be tough. He was always the macho guy.”

Although Tabak was dating Christopher, she told police after the murder that Christopher and Tabitha Messina had their own relationship.

“I don't know exactly when. “I don't know exactly what happened, but Carlos and Tabitha themselves told me that they were sexually involved with each other,” Tammy Tabak previously said Snapshot: Killer couples.

Although the four had been together the night of the murder, Tabak and Gaylord both went home and police determined they were not involved. Christopher and Tabitha Messina were later arrested in their father's vehicle in North Carolina. The police questioned Christopher and he began to confess why he killed Richard Messina and Sandra Cover, claiming that Tabitha Messina had told him that she had been abused by her father.

Tabitha Messina's addiction struggles in prison

“She starts telling Carlos what a terrible childhood she had,” Volek continued Snapshot: Killer couples. “How she was repeatedly raped by Richard. How he had beaten her.”

Christopher stated that he and Tabitha Messina returned to the Messina home that night to “scare” their father. He admitted to retrieving an axe, hatchet and crowbar from the garage with Tabitha Messina. He then claimed that Tabitha Messina first attacked Cover with the crowbar and asked him to hit her too after he hit her father, setting off the violent chain of events that ended in both murders.

“Carlos was 19. I don’t understand that. I won't say he was completely remorseful and remorseful. He knew what he was doing. He knew it was wrong,” Volek said. “But he believes he did it for the right reasons because at that point he still believed that Tabitha was abused by her father… and that the poor child was manipulated like that by Tabitha.”

RELATED: Brother of Woman Convicted of Murdering Ex Takes Blame for Crime: 'Couldn't Take It Anymore'

According to Tabitha Messina, what happened the night her father was murdered?

Tabitha Messina's story about the night of the murder differs from that of her co-defendant Carlos Christopher. She claims she was not given the opportunity to explain herself by either the police or the judiciary.

“I was speechless. Like I've never been in trouble before. And you didn't even give me the opportunity to say anything – nothing,” said Tabitha Messina. “I didn’t even have a chance and a chance in life right now. My life was taken from me at a young age.”

Tabitha Messina said her father called her at the playground that night while she was borrowing Cover's cellphone, and the two got into an argument because she missed curfew.

“When I look back on the fight, I said some terrible things to my dad,” Tabitha Messina said. “And even though he was an angry person that day, I now understand that he was just scared. He knew something bad would happen if I continued down the same path I was on… I just told him I hated him… I think I broke his heart that night.”

Richard Messina called the police and reported the phone stolen. When police caught up with Tabitha Messina and her friends at the playground, she said she sent Christopher to bring the phone back to her house.

“I was afraid to take it back because I knew he would lock me in the house,” Tabitha Messina said. “Shortly afterwards he came back and said that he and my father had had this argument. He tried to be on equal terms with my father. And he was angry and told me that my father didn't respect him. So he hit him.”

After Richard Messina reported the attack to police, he also asked police to tell his daughter that she was no longer welcome at home, according to Tabitha Messina. She then explained that she had a plan for revenge – but not murder.

“I didn't have that [any] Money. And my dad had all the money,” Tabitha Messina said. “I’ll take his money. I'll take a few things with me. And he will be sorry for what he did to me. It was a revenge thing.”

Tabitha Messina claimed Christopher told her he just wanted to “scare” her father while she was downstairs grabbing things. She claimed that when she went upstairs, Christopher hit her father. She added that she was the one who hit Cover with a crowbar to keep her away when she woke up during the attack, but claimed Christopher was the one who killed her.

“I remember he hit her with the hatchet and that was it. Like she’s done,” Messina said. “And I still have to forgive myself… because if Carlos had never been there, they would still be alive. I’m responsible for that.”

Tabitha Messina said she went along with everything because she was afraid of Christopher.

“I was scared to death,” she said. “I just saw someone get killed right in front of my eyes.”

Tabitha Messina also said Christopher's story that she told him about abuse was a lie.

“Carlos was so far from the truth. There was never any sexual abuse in my household,” Tabitha Messina said. “My father would have chopped off his arms before he ever did something like that. So that means – I don’t even know where that came from.”

Christopher was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Tabitha Messina accepted a plea deal of 65 years to life in prison. In 2067, she will be eligible for parole at the age of 78.

“I just hope that one day I can walk out of here and put this all behind me. Never forget it. But to try and maybe start a life. “Have a second chance,” she said.

Watch brand new episodes of Caught: Behind bars Sundays at 7/6 p.m oxygen.

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