"I was a broken shell. I started off with this idea that I would help her fix her little broken wing, and I ended up far more broken than I ever thought possible."
Eventually, Beau ended things, leaving Melissa and taking their two girls. But Melissa didn't take long to move on, starting a relationship with wealthy Gold Coast businessman Sam Dhody and also continuing her affair with bodybuilder Adam Gooley through 2013.
Melissa and Beau on their wedding day. Photo / Channel 7
After months of deception and coaxing from Melissa, Adam snuck into their home and bashed him with a crowbar.
Police body-worn camera vision from the night Sam was bashed showed Melissa's peculiar behaviour.
"You're the girlfriend? Can I just have a chat to you?" a police officer asked.
Michelle yearned for a better life and was unhappy with her husband Darren.
When she met Carolyn's husband Kevin Matthews, Darren's boss, the pair were smitten.
Michelle told Kevin they could be happy — but the only way they could be is if their spouses were out of the picture.
She organised for the both of them to draw up murder contracts.
The pieces of paper had pictures of their respective targets and then details of where they worked, their movements during the day, their phone numbers.
Derek Pedley, a crime novelist and journalist at The Advertiser, told Sunday Night the details of the murder were "chilling".
"Michelle made some notes, and she said, essentially, that she wanted both of the murders done that week, and that she wanted one of them done by Friday," Mr Pedley told the program.
"That was her demand, yeah, which is just chilling."
Michelle Burgess. Photo / News Ltd
Michelle had recruited David Key and he was under her spell, so much so he agreed to kill Carolyn.
"Michelle just handed me the knife and goes, 'Alright, now kill her,'" David told police.