Here's Why Multi-Millionaire CrossFit Co-Founder Says Her Once Homeless Fiance' is Not Guilty of Murder

It's what some might say is an unlikely story.

And an even unlikelier relationship.

Multi-million dollar CrossFit founder Lauren Jenai and her high school sweetheart sharing their first kiss ever after he was freed from jail on a $2 million bond — just before the couple was to be married in the Monroe County jail.

Franklin Tyrone "Ty" Tucker had been held in jail for two years after allegedly confessing to what is now known as the Tree House Murder, and was awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges for the fatal stabbing of 59-year-old Matthew Bonnet on November 17, 2017.

The two first met as teenagers in Philadelphia more than 30 years ago.

"She was gorgeous," Tucker said in a recent interview with Inside Edition.

But their lives went in drastically different directions.

The CrossFit brand was valued at $4 billion by Forbes in 2015.

Tucker ran into hard times financially and, at one point, he was homeless.

Three years ago, the pair reconnected on Facebook.

But before they could reconnect in person, Tucker was arrested for allegedly killing Bonnet in what investigators say was a crack deal gone wrong.

"I didn't do it," Tucker recalled.

Jenai emphatically agreed.

"He's not a murderer. I know him. He's not somebody who would do that kind of thing."

Investigators allege co-defendants Rory Hank Wilson, John Travis Johnson, and Tucker planned to rob Paula Belmonte inside of the treehouse after hearing about a large amount of cash inside.

Tyrone and Rory were allegedly wearing gloves and masks, according to the Blue Paper. 

After hearing a commotion in the treehouse, Bonnet, left his home to investigate when he was stabbed multiple times.

A female victim, who luckily survived, was left with a cut throat.

Johnson, the alleged getaway driver, was waiting outside in his truck.

The official police version alleges Tucker and Rory were wearing gloves and masks.

One had a knife; one had a billy club.

Police allege that when Bonnet came down the stairs, he surprised them.

They say that's when Tyrone chased him down the stairs and fatally stabbed him.

Later, his accomplices ratted him out, and he was arrested.

And while he jail, prosecutors say he bragged without remorse about his crime to another inmate, Naeem Jackson, who reported it to sheriff's detective Matthew Pitcher.

Captain Penny Phelps and Pitcher were investigating the crime that became known as the Tree House Murder.

At least, that's the story told by Monroe County prosecutor Colleen Dunne.

As it stood then, Tyrone Tucker, also known as "Ty," a 48-year-old homeless man, would soon be sent to prison with a life sentence.

Then the unexpected happened.

While hopeless and awaiting trial in jail, Ty's high school crush got a message on Facebook saying that Tucker had been arrested.

She began researching details of the crime from her Portland, Oregon home, then decided to contact Tucker.

"We spoke on the phone a couple of times," she recalled in an interview with it Page Six.

"To visit an inmate in Key West, you have to do it through a video service. I set up video visitations. We hadn't seen each other for 30 years," she added.

"I did a lot of research and thought something's not right here. I took the role of becoming his advocate."

Now the story is gaining national attention with its November 10 airing on the national television show Inside Edition.

Cameras were rolling as Jenai came to Tucker's rescue this week, marching into court with her four children and posting his $2 million bail.

A problem arose after sheriff's detectives at Tucker's bond hearing that Naeem Jackson had no incentive to lie about Tucker's confession to the prosecution.

Prosecutors claimed Jackson was an independent witness, shocked by the coldblooded remorselessness of Tucker's alleged confessed crime.

Jackson was the sole witness prosecutors presented against Tucker.

No physical evidence exists.

But recently, prosecutors were compelled to finally release a vital detail they had about Naeem Jackson: a confidential informant file.

During a deposition by Tucker's defense attorney Cara Higgins, Jackson admitted he previously worked at least 30 cases as a professional, confidential informant.

Some of them included work for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Jackson offered to provide testimony against Tucker in exchange for an early release, which was later secured by Tucker's prosecutor Colleen Dunne.

A judge ruled Dunne had 90 days to share information she obtained while working on the case and was then barred from any involvement with the Tree House Murder case.

On Tuesday, the main issue was the prosecution's failure to produce files for two other witnesses, who the defense says were also acting as confidential informants.

Lieutenant Spencer Bryan, who oversees all files for confidential informants for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, testified those confidential informant files didn't exist.

But detectives used too much discretion about whether or not to document interactions with confidential "sources of information," so it was ultimately unclear whether two persons in question were not actual informants or if there was simply no record of them being informants.

Tucker has claimed for two years that he was being framed by MCSO Captain Penney Phelps, who has since been removed from the case for interrogations she conducted in the Tree House Murder case.

Those interrogations are now the subject of an internal affairs investigation into missing and edited videos.

One question nagging some familiar with the case has been whether the MSCO narcotics unit might have been somehow involved with Bonnet's murder.

Defense attorneys argued before the judge, saying they want to know why sheriff's detectives and prosecutors are hiding witnesses and protecting suspects.

"Things have changed," Judge Mark Jones agreed with the defense, referring to the prosecution's misrepresentations of a professional witness, Naeem Jackson, since the initial bond hearing.

Lauren Jenai and Tyrone "Ty" Tucker

The judge agreed to grant Tucker bail, which was set at $2 million.

He will be required to wear an electronic device while living with Jenai at her home in Oregon.

Tucker was living on a boat and staying overnight at a Key West homeless shelter after he left Arizona on foot in 2015, Jenai told the Miami Herald.

She says Tucker went to Key West to work on boats and do other manual labor before his arrest.