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[Music] Auburn, California. Above the fog and below the snow. The perfect place.
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Rural steep cliffs, wooded areas, dirt roads. There are a lot of places to bury a body.
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[Music] What were you doing that brought you here in 2003? I was conditioning a horse
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to do endurance. Those Labor Day weekend Saturday that I came up on a my just my
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normal training ride right about here. Yeah. I saw a freshly dug hole in the brush. the rest of my ride. I kept
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trying to justify why it was there. It sort of haunted you. It sounds like it did.
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We had just come home from our summer house up in the Sierras. I barbecued. At dinner were Donna and Lynette
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Vanderhoot, their daughter Justine, and her boyfriend Danny. No one had any idea
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what nightmare was about to unfold after that meal. I gave her a kiss on forehead, said, "Good night. I love
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you." I spoke to her on the phone. I told her that I loved her. I was leaving for work at 5:00 5:30 in
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the morning. Lynette walks into Justine's room. Justine is not there. The dog is on the bed. The front door is
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open and her car is gone. [Music] 17 years old, disappears, leaves everything behind without trace. It felt
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sinister. We're going to find her. We searched and searched everywhere. There were searches at the Bander shoots
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organized and then there were searches that we did on our own with our search and rescue teams.
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We try to imagine what it was like and what it's going to be like when she comes back. Danny and his roommate
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Brandon were on the sheriff's radar quickly. Friends started to come forward about how jealous Danny was of Justine.
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They were interviewed that first day. They said, "Oh, no. We were home all night." There's a belief right away that
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they are concealing something about Justine's disappearance. Okay, have a seat. Have you ever seen anyone die?
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Brandon, tone changes, story changes. He confesses. Brandon claims that Danny killed Justine. She's laying down and
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he's over her and his hands were not released. He explained that Danny was choking her and that he helped bury her.
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Let's go. At the end of the interview, Brandon led the investigators to the location of Justine's body. Justine
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Vanderhoot's body discovered buried in a shallow grave. The Auburn Journal had a
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photo of just the brush where Justine had been buried, and I went, "Oh my gosh, I saw freshly dug hole 3 days
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prior to her disappearance." I immediately, you know, contacted the sheriff's department. That was a big
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piece of evidence. That's absolutely coldblooded, premeditated. The Vanderhoot family says they are
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relieved. The decision was made to accept pleas to murder from both defendants and give them a life
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sentence. Hopefully, we can all move on from here. No one would have ever imagined that 20 years later, we would
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still be fighting for justice for Justine and her family. In 2020, Brandon Fernandez filed a petition to get out of
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his murder conviction. If Brandon's petition is granted, one of Justine's killers will walk free. We're fighting
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for her. That's why we're here. She doesn't have a voice, so we're her voice. [Music]
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[Music] [Music] It's 21 years since we've lost Justine, but it's still very fresh in our mind.
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It was September 18th, 2003 when Justine Vanderhoot's remains were discovered in
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a remote location more than 2 weeks after she disappeared. But it's here in this
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garden outside her bedroom window that her parents, Don and Lynette, still come to find her.
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This is actually Justine's little little footprint footprint there. Momentos of their youngest child and condolence
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flowers that poured in after her death are now permanently rooted here. We call this Justine's garden. At the center, a
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towering dogwood tree, a reminder of her favorite trips to the Sierra Mountains and a sobering measure of how long she's
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been gone. When we celebrated the 17th anniversary, Christine said she's been gone as long as she was here on Earth.
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Justine's older sister, Christine, sums up what those years have been like for her in one word. Lonely. She was my best
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friend. We were only 18 months apart. We did pretty much everything together since day one. How would you describe
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Justine? What was her personality? Vibrant, charismatic, just life of the party. She made you laugh every time
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she'd say something. She was a spark in our household, that's for sure. a little
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firecracker, cheerleader, baseball, soccer. She was always on the go. At 17, Justine was on the verge of graduating
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high school and wanted to pursue a career in fashion and beauty. Did she know what she wanted to do in life after
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high school? She would sew and design her own shirts and shoes. She had to stand out, and that was what she wanted
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to do for other people was make them stand out and feel beautiful. Instead, her family is now forced to grapple with
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her murder and its aftermath. I don't ever want to forget about her, but I don't want to be reminded of what
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happened. But it's not so easy to just pack it up and put it away. Right. No, it's not. In fact, the Vanderhoots say
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it remains an open wound thanks to ongoing efforts by Justine's convicted murderers, Danny Bessmer and Brandon
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Fernandez, to get out of prison. retired Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner. Including parole hearings, I think the
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Vanders have been back to court seven times since the last seven years, always facing the possibility. It's hard to
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imagine that both men were once welcome in the family's home. First came Brandon. I believe it was probably
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seventh or eighth grade that I started to become friends with him. A few years later, he introduced the Vanderhoots to
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his friend Danny. It was actually at a birthday party for me. We had a pool party and Danny was actually coming to
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the house to meet me. But it was Danny and Justine who clicked and while she was only 15 and he was about 17, they
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quickly became serious. From that party on, they were always always together. They even talked about perhaps getting
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married. Is that right? Yeah, they were very serious. He became kind of like a fixture in our family. his dad wasn't
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really in the picture and he didn't really have a mom. So to come into our household and see how a real family was,
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I think that was something that he was attracted to as well. The Vanderhoots offered Dany the support and stability
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of a happy family life. I considered him like a brother almost. Dawn even got Dany his first real job working with him
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at an auto dealership and his own key to the house. But looking back, the Vanderhoots now see red flags they
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didn't recognize then. Controlling, telling her who she could see and who she couldn't, monitoring her texts and
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her cell phone calls. Her frustrations were really starting. He was so jealous and very possessive over her. She
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couldn't go out and hang out with friends without him freaking out and getting upset and pouting. Lindsay
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Morris was Brandon's girlfriend and says Justine confided in her about problems with Danny. She even said, "I don't know
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if I break up with him, if he'll ever really let me go." Towards the end, she was trying to pursue certain things that
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he was trying to hold her back from. He didn't want anything to change. And she was sort of growing up and maybe growing
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apart from him at that point. Yes, I think so. Retired Pler County Detective Angela
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Ford says Danny's fears of Justine leaving him reached a fever pitch in April of 2003 when Justine met someone
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during a spring break trip to Florida. Justine had developed a friendship with a Navy sailor there at Pensacola. Did
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she tell you about the man she met in Florida? She did. She liked him. I think it kind of opened her eyes. When Justine
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came back, she was definitely talking about this guy and telling all of her friends about how amazing he was and how
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attractive he was and how she wished she could spend more time with him. Danny had gotten wind of this. He thought he
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was losing her. And they say Dany became consumed with the idea that Justine was
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cheating on him. Danny had asked me, "Would I be willing to wear a wire so I can get her to confess this?" He wanted
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the proof. I told him absolutely not. And there was another troubling dynamic among Justine, Danny, and Brandon. Once
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Justine came into the relationship, their friendship wasn't the same as it was before. Justine believed Brandon was
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a serial cheater and a bad influence. So, she gave Dany an ultimatum, him or her. Danny and Brandon lost touch for
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about a year, but by late 2002, they reconnected and decided to become roommates. It was a triangle that was
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sort of toxic at that point. Exactly. Um, and it kind of really fueled when Danny and Brandon moved in together.
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Justine continued to be a thorn in Brandon's side. Brandon hated Justine with a passion. would constantly say
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that she was a [ __ ] and that she would manipulated Danny. In 2003, a few days before Labor Day, Justine attended a
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party at Danny and Brandon's apartment. We sat on the front porch just talking and we both agreed that we were going to
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get rid of these guys and that we wanted a fresh start and that we could do better.
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Justine was getting ready to go to the next stage. Danny was not going to allow it.
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[Music] [Music] In the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 2nd, 2003, Lynette Vanderhoot
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found her daughter's bedroom empty and her truck gone from their driveway. This was so uncharacteristic of their
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daughter, so different from any behaviors in the past. She has no money, no ATM, no credit card, no no
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identification on her at all. Justine's family frantically turned to the community for help.
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The Vanderhoots passionate and they got organized. This is my sister. She's been
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missing since Tuesday. We went through all of Auburn hanging the missing poster flyers, tying the pink ribbons around
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cuz pink was her favorite color. Justine, we love you. We're all out looking for you. Please call us and let
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us know you're okay. Pretty soon, everyone was looking for Justine. Was Danny assisting in any of these
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search efforts in the beginning? Danny showed up a number of times and he would wear the t-shirts. He seemed really
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concerned. She's been gone for 3 days now and concern is growing. The first break in the case came when Justine's
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truck was located at a parking ride about 5 miles from the Vandershoot home. It was parked right here in this parking
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space. And once we had that, then our belief was that, you know, she was not far. Matt Scribner was out riding his
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horse. When he saw searchers gathered at the park and ride like many in the area,
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he had seen reports of Justine's disappearance. I thought, well, they might be searching
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this area because at the time, there was a direct access from the park and ride to this area. A week earlier, he had
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seen a freshly dug hole along the trail, but as he rode through again, this time,
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did you notice anything different? The hole was not there anymore. There was debris over the top of it. But the
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significance of that would not become clear until later. I wasn't thinking like that. Nobody thinks like that.
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As the search continued, Pler County District Attorney Morgan Guyire says investigators considered the possibility
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that Justine had left the state. The park and ride is located on a very busy interstate, Interstate 80, that runs the
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the length of our country. We have a car that is locked and looks as if it was left intentionally. Did she meet someone
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there and jump on the freeway? Danny had told detectives early on about the Navy
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man Justine had met in Florida. Danny was actually one of the first people to say, "Well, maybe she's off in Florida
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because there's some guy she likes in Florida." You have to assume everything's possible. Our detectives
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made contact with the Naval Intelligence Service. They tracked him down right away. Boom. They did an extensive
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interview with him and it was determined that he didn't have anything to do with
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her disappearance. Danny, however, kept throwing that out there. Danny told the media about a strange call he had
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received. There's been an inquiry, to my credit, in Florida. Someone tried to get
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a credit card there, and I'm really hoping it's Justine. They called tonight's vigil the vigil of hope. Her
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loved ones clung to the hope that she was still alive and thought she was possibly being held against her will.
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It's you guys that keep us going, all the support. We're all going to bring her home. We're going to find her. She's
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going to get away. She's a She's a fighter. Meanwhile, Danny appeared to be the distraught boyfriend on the local
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news. 2 and a2 years of my life been devoted to that girl. And now that that part of my life is gone, holding a photo
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of Justine and an engagement ring appraisal, he made his own plea. She means more to me and her family than she
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does to you. And whoever it is needs to just let her go and let her come home. But
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suspicion was growing around Dany, and friends were coming forward about his toxic relationship with Justine.
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Danny's possessive. He's jealous. He's angry. He believes Justine is cheating on him. He's
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angrier. And all those things began to roll. Detectives also began looking deeper into his relationship with
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Brandon. As we interviewed more and more people find these guys were together. Generally what they did they did
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together. By most accounts Danny sort of looked up to Brandon. Brandon was known
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to be smart somewhat cunning. He sort of had an edge to him. They had some things
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in common like juvenile brushes with the law. Danny Bessmer had a history of thefts, burglaries, possession of stolen
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property. Brandon Fernandez had been prosecuted for essentially computer hacking. For somebody who was a total
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geek, he was very, very confident in himself. Danny was more of a follower. And detectives learned they shared a
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disturbing fixation with murder. They talked about killing people. They talked about disposing the bodies, meaning
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polygraphs well before the disappearance of Justine Vanderhoot. He had told me there's a couple spots where if I ever
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wanted to kill you, nobody would ever find you. This was something he had just said as a joke. Brandon had created a
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website ranking levels of violence. He had pictures of people dead, dying, things that give you chills up the back
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of your neck. One of the levels discussed thinking about committing some form of violence but not doing it.
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Another level talked about committing the violence contemplated on an animal. I mean, that's not normal behavior for a
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young man. It is not normal behavior, and it is certainly consistent with those who find value and thrill in
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killing other human beings. Investigators questioned Dany and Brandon throughout the investigation.
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Both of them said they had spent the evening alone together in their apartment. The fact that each boy was
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the other's alibi is a red flag. And that wasn't the only red flag. As detectives retraced Justine's last
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steps, they knew her cell phone shut off in the area where her truck was found. But then they found something very
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interesting. They got the last two incoming phone calls to her on the night she was murdered. They were both from
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Brandon Fernandez. [Music] [Music] As the search for Justine Vandershoot entered its third week, day 15 that
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Justine Vandershoot has been missing. There was no sign of the missing teen alive or dead. We had no body. We didn't
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have a lot. Sheriff's detectives decided to up the ante. They enlisted the help of the FBI to interview Danny and
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Brandon. Again, we needed separate them. number one, but to have one role on the
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other. On September 17th, 2003, detectives questioned Danny Bezimer at sheriff's headquarters. Tell me why you
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didn't do it. Cuz I was sleeping. The same afternoon, Detective Angela Ford and FBI agent Jeff Reinneck and his
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partner drove Brandon Fernandez from his job to the FBI building in Sacramento. Did he seem nervous? I mean, when the
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FBI shows up at your job and wants to talk to you, he he didn't seem nervous. He seemed like he had nothing to hide.
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Brandon told the agents he had jet skied all day with co-workers and after going
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home, he went out to run an errand because he wasn't feeling well. I went down to uh get a VA juice. I had the flu
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at this point. He said he got pulled over for running a stop sign and accidentally called Justine twice.
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Justine's cell phone is right next to my girlfriend's number. He said he returned
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home and went to bed. Brandon said Danny had also been home after having dinner with the Vanderhoots, but the agents
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were about to catch Brandon in a big lie. Danny and Brandon first said, "No, we were by ourselves." Well, no. It
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turns out that they weren't. Sheriff's detectives had received a tip from Brandon's cousin, Clayton Cole. He told
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them that he and a friend had stayed at Brandon and Danny's place the night Justine went missing and saw them leave.
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They knew that Danny and Brandon didn't come back until much later. We're going to play something to you.
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What is this? What Brandon didn't know is that the investigators had a recorded phone call. After receiving that tip,
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detectives had asked Clayton to call Brandon and recorded the conversation. I talked to my dad about the soul thing
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and I had to go to the cops today. On the call, Brandon repeatedly told Clayton to lie to police and to say that
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Clayton and his friend weren't there that night. You seriously like if you say anything
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different and at that point he knew we had a lot more information. With Brandon now rattled, Agent Reinneck
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asked a key question. Have you ever seen anyone die? Brandon. Yes. He went white. Brandon broke and
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admitted he knew where Justine was. But first, he said he needed protection from
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Danny. Can you take me somewhere safe? Can you bring my girlfriend somewhere safe? He wants to tell you a little bit
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more, but he's pointing it towards Danny. It's all towards Danny. I had nothing to do with it. He's scary,
00:22:03
intelligent. He has built everything in lies. He is a great actor. He's a monster. Let us help you. It's all
00:22:11
right. How long was it planned to hurt Justine? Long. Like he had planned it forever almost. Brandon
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told them he knew Danny had tapped Justine's phone to catch her cheating and confront her. I didn't know what was
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going to happen that night. But Brandon insisted he had no idea Danny would seek
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revenge that night. He says as far as he knew they were just going to meet up with Justine to steal marijuana plants
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from a farm. He now said those calls to Justine's phone were him trying to get hold of Danny to back out. And Danny
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said, "No, man. You need to come up here." Brandon said he met up with Danny and Justine at the parking ride around
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midnight and they got in his car with Dany giving directions. When he parked, he said Danny wanted to talk to Justine
00:23:03
alone. So, he walked away for a bit. I went down this hill and I was looking around and I figured, oh, he's still up
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there for a while. After a few minutes, he says he heard the car horn followed by a scream. He hurried back to find
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Dany had strangled Justine. his hands still around her neck and a taser next to her lifeless body. He looked at me
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and he just was psycho. His eyes were just bulging out and he was laughing. He was saying, "I win. I win." Brandon said
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those words were in reference to a song called The Game that Danny had playing on a loop in
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Brandon's car, a soundtrack to her murder. The lyrics detail a girlfriend's infidelity and her ultimate murder by
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her boyfriend and interspersed with that song are vignettes of Justine's own words as she's talking either to another
00:24:02
boy or about another boy and some of the lyrics just excruciating. You always wanted people to remember you. Don't you
00:24:08
know your wish is coming true today? Another victim dies tonight. The fear that she must have faced. I can only
00:24:16
imagine if you saw it in a movie, you probably wouldn't believe it. Even though Brandon had initially said
00:24:21
Justine was dead when he made it back up the hill, his story began to evolve. What he was doing was
00:24:32
slowly putting himself at the scene of the death. Did you hear her exhale? Yes. It it was like
00:24:41
it was like a a really screwed up breath. It it like kept happening. According to Brandon, she was still
00:24:48
alive at that point. And also, according to Brandon, she was already dead at that
00:24:52
point. His own statements internally are inconsistent and demonstrate where he's
00:24:57
trying to lie to get out of this. Brandon said Danny removed her clothing and put her in a grave they dug that
00:25:03
night and poured a liquid over her to decompose the body. He says he prayed for it to end. I said, "Please just go."
00:25:12
You wanted her to die so it'd be over. I thought she might have still been alive, but he was going to do something
00:25:18
more brutal than she was. He's watching her die. And he's not helping her. He's not helping her. No. But Brandon said he
00:25:26
was scared Danny would kill him, too. He made me bury her, and he made me promise
00:25:31
and say that I was his brother, that I would never say anything. and he said he would kill himself or others. And then
00:25:38
he had mentioned my girlfriend and Justine's family. He said he was going to take them out next. After a 4 and 1/2
00:25:45
hour interview, Brandon agreed to take them to the scene. It was about 9:30 at night. So dark walking through this. I
00:25:54
can only imagine. When we first pulled up to come here, there was something shiny on the ground. It was a piece of
00:26:00
her jewelry. It was two little cherries put together. A few yards away in a clearing among the
00:26:07
trees, her grave lay hidden under an old mattress. Danny, I'm Sergeant McDonald. I want to
00:26:17
show this to you. It wasn't long before detectives informed Danny, who said very
00:26:23
little during his six-hour interrogation, that they'd found the grave site. I just got back from there.
00:26:30
Guess who took us there? And guess who he's blaming for the whole thing. The next morning, a team of investigators
00:26:36
digging through the hard clay dirt unearthed Justine Vanderhoot's remains. There's a relief and then there's pain.
00:26:46
Danny and Brandon were both arrested and charged with Justine's murder. After 2 and 1/2 weeks, the search was finally
00:26:54
over. But justice would prove elusive. I drove home and I see the chaplain and I see detectives. My mom's
00:27:13
crying and my dad said, "Your sister's not coming home." I passed out, literally. And it's
00:27:21
still hard to relive that moment. Yeah. On September 18th, 2003, Justine's family shared their heartbreak with the
00:27:32
community. I almost sensed Lynette just crumbling and I put my hand on her shoulder. I just can't pro her up. And
00:27:42
we announced that uh this family's worst fears had come true. Danny Bezimemer and
00:27:50
his roommate Brandon Fernandez were arrested Wednesday. If the two gentlemen that are in custody now are responsible
00:27:58
for this, uh, they need to burn in hell. Detectives interviewed Danny Bessmer again and told him they needed
00:28:07
information about Brandon Fernandez's role in the murder. Just talk about Brandon. Don't talk about Danny.
00:28:12
Believing Brandon has a deal with the FBI, Danny tried to haggle. How can I say what Brandon said right now? I don't
00:28:20
have the authority to play. Let's make a deal. Okay. Ultimately, he broke down and started talking. I really want to
00:28:27
tell you everything I do. Danny admitted he had started to strangle Justine. But then she
00:28:38
said, four words that just changed my mind. Those words were Tammy, I love you. But he said Brandon was the one who
00:28:50
encouraged him to keep going. tells me it's too late now. It's already attempted murder.
00:28:56
Danny admitted he had poured drain cleaner over Justine's body, but said Brandon had poured it down her throat.
00:29:04
There was a black tar substance on top of her, and then after the autopsy, there was a black tar substance inside
00:29:12
of her lungs. Justine's official cause of death was listed as homicidal violence, but
00:29:19
further testing suggested she had also ingested dirt. There is no other way to be that far
00:29:26
down and into the bronchial canals means she inhaled it. She was alive. Taking into consideration the family's
00:29:36
wishes to avoid a painful prolonged trial, prosecutors at the time offered a plea deal. As a condition of his plea
00:29:44
agreement, Dany spoke with detectives again and gave new details about Brandon's role. What was the story he
00:29:52
started to tell? Danny tells a story ultimately that involves Brandon as the mastermind. Brandon is claiming he is
00:30:00
merely a victim of circumstance and he panicked and participated in the cleanup and the getaway. So, we know the truth
00:30:07
lies somewhere in the middle. It really does. And Brandon does a pretty good job
00:30:12
of incriminating Danny. And Danny does a pretty good job of incriminating Brandon.
00:30:18
In 2005, Danny Bessamemer pleaded guilty to firstdegree murder in exchange for a
00:30:24
sentence of 25 years to life. Brandon Fernandez pleaded to seconddegree murder and received 15
00:30:33
years to life. A piece of justice was served. At least we can put some of this behind us. Part of their plan was to
00:30:40
receive a life sentence that allowed them to at least become eligible for parole and maybe have a chance someday.
00:30:46
Justine's family made it their mission to ensure that would never happen. Brandon Fernandez came up for parole in
00:30:53
2017 and was denied. Every time they get denied, that's justice for her. The family breathed a sigh of relief, but
00:31:02
their lives would soon be upended once again. In 2018, California changed the law of murder. In 2020, Brandon
00:31:10
Fernandez filed a petition to get out of his murder conviction based on the new law.
00:31:16
The new law reduced the fault of defendants who didn't actually do the killing, like a getaway driver. Brandon
00:31:23
wanted to have his life sentence for seconddegree murder thrown out and to be re-sentenced as an accessory after the
00:31:30
fact. He still has not taken any responsibility. He's guilty just as much as Danny.
00:31:37
Brandon's defense attorney, Steve Dealippus, maintains his client was only guilty of being taken in by Danny's
00:31:44
schemes. Clearly, Brandon was in the wrong. He shouldn't have participated in the cover up of this. And that's what he
00:31:51
did. and absolutely he should be convicted of that but shouldn't be held responsible for a murder. A judge
00:31:58
presiding over the reentencing case in 2020 denied Brandon's motion but that ruling was reversed by the Court of
00:32:05
Appeals and sent back due to yet another shift in the legal standard. Both sides
00:32:12
would now have to fight it out in court in an evidentiary hearing. We had to call all of the witnesses and we had to
00:32:18
prove Mr. Fernandez is guilty. The district attorney has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and the judge
00:32:23
has to make findings beyond a reasonable doubt. In May 2024, it would be up to Deputy DA
00:32:31
Tim Wartz to prove that Brandon Fernandez helped plan and carry out Justine's murder. Once they started
00:32:39
kicking this idea around, they they built off each other. His key witness was Danny Bessemer, who over several
00:32:45
days testified how he and Brandon Fernandez were two pillars in the plot to lure Justine to her death.
00:32:56
Danny talks about how he doesn't want to let Brandon down when they're out there
00:32:59
digging the grave. And Brandon says, "This better not be for nothing." Danny described how he and Brandon assumed
00:33:05
different responsibilities. Danny was going to kill her and Brandon was going to be involved in the cover up
00:33:11
side of things, the forensics as he described it. Brandon purchased the chemicals that were poured over Justine.
00:33:17
According to Danny, he and Brandon pre-dug the grave over several days. The last time they go to the grave before
00:33:25
they bring Justine there is that Monday. It's during the day to check it out in the light and possibly do some digging.
00:33:31
And Danny says Brandon provided the tools used to dig, including a pickaxe he took from his parents house. After
00:33:39
they kill Justine and bury her, they throw them over the fence at Brandon's parents house, and the police go and
00:33:45
corroborate that. The prosecution says it found other evidence at Brandon's workplace that he never mentioned, like
00:33:51
pieces of the recording device used to tap Justine's phone, and in his shredder, a receipt for a brand new set
00:33:59
of tires. He was already covering his tracks the day after. What we call in the in the prosecution world
00:34:06
consciousness of guilt. Brandon's defense attorney insists Brandon was only trying to hide his role
00:34:13
in the cover up, not the murder. And he says that relying on Danny Bezamer's testimony is a sign of the prosecution's
00:34:21
desperation. They don't have a case. I often wonder, will I ever get 100% of the truth? I don't think we ever will.
00:34:40
You think he's still a danger? Yes, definitely. Brandon's defense attorney, Steve
00:34:45
DeFalipus, says Danny Bessemer is the real danger and points out it was Danny who broke bread with Justine's family,
00:34:54
knowing he was going to kill her that night. This a Ted Bundy in the making. Somebody who has no conscience, somebody
00:35:01
who has no empathy for other people, basically a psychopath. And he argues Danny will say anything in court to
00:35:08
improve his chances of being parrolled. He wants everything to look like Brandon
00:35:15
made him do this. He's at that point told either four or five different stories about what happened. In his
00:35:20
cross-examination, Dealipus picks apart inconsistencies in Danny's statements about Brandon's involvement. You can't
00:35:28
corroborate any of his story, and that's deliberately done by him because he knows that it can't be refuted. In fact,
00:35:35
he argues that the evidence contradicts Danny's story. For one thing, he says if
00:35:40
Brandon was really in charge of forensics, he wouldn't leave a trail of evidence. The guy who was in charge of
00:35:46
forensics is not going to do any of the things that Brandon did. Brandon takes the shovel and leaves it at his parents'
00:35:55
home. Why would you put something involved in the homicide at your parents' home? Why would you drive your
00:36:01
car up to the scene knowing that you're going to leave tire tracks on the dirt? You wouldn't do that. And another
00:36:07
discrepancy, Danny's claim that he and Brandon poured drain cleaner on Justine doesn't match the autopsy findings.
00:36:15
Instead, those results indicate she ingested methanol, a toxic chemical compound found in a variety of products,
00:36:23
but not drain cleaners. But Tim Wartz counters that Dany has no reason to lie about that. I don't know what theory
00:36:32
under which the parole board might look favorably upon Drano but unfavorably upon methanol being poured on her. The
00:36:38
only explanation is that he's honestly mistaken and the only way he'd be mistaken is if he wasn't the one that
00:36:43
bought it. And Philippis says Brandon has an alibi for that Monday afternoon before the murder when Danny claims they
00:36:51
went to the grave site. We know that Brandon was up at the lake that day. Wartz points out there was a 2-hour
00:36:58
window when Brandon left to pick up tools to fix a broken jet ski. It's just not an alibi. There's plenty of time for
00:37:05
it to have done what he said. D Philippus says the timing still doesn't match up with Danny's story. Danny also
00:37:12
said that the digging was later in the day. It was not in the morning time, which is when Brandon got the tools and
00:37:18
went back. But the prosecution argues that the defense can't get around Matt Scribner's testimony that he saw a
00:37:25
freshly dug hole 3 days prior to the murder, which is consistent with Dy's account of digging the grave over
00:37:33
several days. This wasn't a panicked dig that they did at the last minute where Brandon's terrified for his life. The
00:37:40
way it actually pans out, Brandon is given immense power. Brandon knows where the body is. After more than two weeks
00:37:47
of testimony, the judge gets the case. If Brandon's motion is granted, he will walk free. It's a familiar fear for the
00:37:56
Vanderhoots. The hand shaking and just trying to get ready just brings the emotions up all over again. You don't
00:38:02
know what to expect. On August 1st, 2024, before a courtroom packed with the Vanderhoots and their supporters, as
00:38:11
well as Brandon Fernandez, who appeared via video conference and his parents, the judge issued his ruling. Was there a
00:38:19
palpable concern for the Vanderhoots that one of their daughter's murders could go free? That fear, that concern,
00:38:27
you could cut it with a knife. Cameras were allowed in court, but we were not allowed to record audio. The
00:38:34
judge denied Brandon Fernandez's motion and upheld his conviction. So, I was very nervous. I let out a big
00:38:42
sigh as soon as he said it. So, it was just yay. Feels really good. Some justice. Justice for Justine. Again, he
00:38:51
did not get out. Very relieved. The judge said it was difficult to parse the truth from lies told by both Dany and
00:39:00
Brandon. But he says ultimately it was evident Brandon was in on the murder plot and easily led investigators to
00:39:09
Justine's body through rugged terrain in the dark. Brandon brought you here and pinpointed exactly. I mean, he knew
00:39:18
exactly where it was. He did. He gave us instructions and um even said you wouldn't find it on your own. The ruling
00:39:25
is a big win for the Vanderhoots, but only temporary relief. In two years, we've got two more parole hearings
00:39:32
coming up. We're not going away. We're never giving up. I'll be there with my cane. I think this one right here is my
00:39:38
favorite. They're critical of evolving laws that have allowed Brandon Fernandez to keep relitigating his role in
00:39:46
Justine's murder. I kind of like feel at times we've been on pause. We really haven't been able to move forward
00:39:52
because we have to relive it. In issuing his ruling, the judge acknowledged that
00:39:56
the legal system can seem unfair to the victim's families and to survivors. I wholeheartedly agree. Often times it
00:40:04
feels as if the only rights we are trying to respect are those of the convicted and the guilty and not
00:40:11
grieving family members. that underlies the problems with this law because it decreases people's faith in the system
00:40:17
that there is finality. It's something the Vanderhoots are trying to change by advocating for
00:40:24
victim's rights. We're trying to do everything we can to prevent this happening to somebody else's family.
00:40:31
They also partnered with the Pler County DA to sponsor new state legislation. Justine's law, as it's called, passed in
00:40:39
2023 and provides teen dating violence prevention education in high schools throughout
00:40:47
California. What do you want Justine's legacy to be now to help educate other boys and girls? Even if it saves one
00:40:56
life, it's worth everything. Matt Scrier says he can't ride through these trails without thinking of
00:41:04
Justine. In one aspect, it's quiet. They've cleaned the area up. It's beautiful. In some ways, it's almost
00:41:11
like Justine is shining here. I believe that [Music] we think of her as hummingbirds come to
00:41:19
us. A lot of times when we're back here working in the garden, I'll have a little hummingbird.
00:41:26
She'll come right up to my face and I'll I'll talk to her and I think of her as she's saying hi to me.
00:41:39
[Music] You've probably heard of the NCIS from the hit TV series, but we're about to
00:41:50
take you inside its real life work. Listen to 48 hours NCIS early and adfree on the 48 hours plus subscription on
00:41:59
Apple Podcasts. [Music] My dad passed away in 2013. His last words to me were, "Whatever it takes,
00:42:20
you protect your mom and you fight to keep Steve in prison." Katina Solano was only 18 years old when
00:42:30
she was shot in the head and killed by her boyfriend. With the flash of a gun, my
00:42:37
whole world just got turned upside down. Steven Burns was convicted of murdering
00:42:42
Kina Serno in 1979. He just looks dangerous. It's like a killer face. If you looked at his eyes, there is nothing
00:42:51
behind him. He has no soul. My name is Nina Solano and I am the sister of Kina. Steven Burns was
00:43:01
sentenced to 17 years to life. In 1990, after just 10 years, Steven Burns came up for parole. My
00:43:09
parents, my sister Regina, myself, and friends and family traveled to Vakavville State Prison to protest his
00:43:16
release. As a father, I closed her casket and buried my 18-year-old child who was murdered by
00:43:24
this animal. God damn it. This is a body bag of my daughter. This is what you did to her,
00:43:37
Steve. 46 years since Kina's death has not diminished one ounce of that pain. Where are we going? We are heading to
00:43:51
the Sanwalken County District Attorney's Office. I am shaky. Very shaky. You are right
00:43:59
now. How many parole hearings have you attended? Number 13. You've been at every single one of
00:44:07
these? Yes, every single one. As Steve Burns heads into his 13th parole hearing, what are you thinking?
00:44:16
I'm thinking that he's no longer a risk to commit the kind of crime he committed
00:44:21
coming into prison. I've known Steve Burns for over two decades. You don't think he's I don't think he's a serious
00:44:28
danger if he were to be released. If somebody looked at this and said, "It's been 45 years. Is this now
00:44:39
just about vengeance? No, it's not. Keeping Steve in jail is not about vengeance. For me, it's fear.
00:44:48
Fear for my family. I think he has a very good chance of being found suitable. Isn't it likely at one of
00:44:55
these hearings he's going to get out? That's my biggest fear is him getting out.
00:45:05
[Music] [Music] It shook the entire campus at the University of the Pacific. a freshman on her first day of college
00:45:56
in 1979, found unconscious, bleeding from her head in a remote area of the school. Her name was Kina
00:46:11
Solano. Harriet and Mike Solo were getting ready for bed when the phone rang at their San Francisco
00:46:18
home. Mike answered it. His tone signaled the news. And I said, "What? What's wrong?" He says, "Kina's been
00:46:27
shot and she's in the emergency room." The Solano's two younger daughters, Regina and Nina, rushed to their side.
00:46:38
Then the phone rang again and they said, "Your daughter passed away." I don't think it can be described in
00:46:48
words what it's like to watch your mom collapse crying. My dad, very, very strong man, but you could tell he was
00:46:55
shaken to the core and life just stopped. I literally life stopped. Completely stopped.
00:47:07
You got the keys to the car? Yeah. 48 Hours first met the Solo family in 1990. Harriet and Mike were making their
00:47:19
weekly visit to Kina's resting place. I think coming out here and being able to talk to Kina gives me a piece of mind
00:47:28
also that I can still communicate with my daughter that it isn't um the final end.
00:47:36
At the time, Katina had been gone for 10 years, and her family was just embarking
00:47:43
on a decadesl long journey to keep her killer behind bars. It's the first skirmish in a long, long battle that
00:47:51
this we started today. It was not a journey they had ever expected to make. Harriet, did you and
00:48:00
Michael really have kind of a the perfect life as parents, three kids? Yes. To answer you, yes. We were so
00:48:09
blessed. Both Mike and Harriet were juvenile commissioners assigned by the city of San Francisco to mentor boys and
00:48:17
girls. Their arms and home were always open, says Nenah, the youngest daughter. I think the best way to describe it is
00:48:26
it typified a middle-class American family that valued their faith, valued family,
00:48:34
valued community as well. They spent blissful summer days at the cabin in the mountains. Three carefree sisters with
00:48:47
Kina leading the pack, says Regina, younger by 18 months. She was the heart and soul of the family. She had such a
00:48:56
good heart. She loved being the older [Music] sister. I think the best way to describe
00:49:05
Kina is she is that person every person should meet in their life. She just brought an air
00:49:12
of kindness. When Kina was 14, a new family, the Burns, moved in across the street in San
00:49:22
Francisco. There were four children, a girl and three boys, all about the same age as the Solano sisters. And we were
00:49:32
spying on them. So, we all made a big batch of cookies, giggled all the way across the street, knocked on the door,
00:49:38
introduced ourselves, and gave them a batch of homemade cookies. Soon the friendship between the oldest Solano
00:49:44
sister and the second oldest Burns brother blossomed into a young love. Kina and Steven Burns started dating in
00:49:54
the 10th grade. How would you describe Steven Burns? Well, he was the big brother I
00:50:01
never had, you know, and for me it was like, God, I have a big brother and I was I just thought he was great because
00:50:09
we got to go to the football games. Steve, who went to an all boys Catholic school, was a star athlete and
00:50:17
captain of the football team. He and Nah, a basketball and volleyball player, bonded over their shared love of sports.
00:50:26
I love Steve. I idolized him. He was a great athlete. He coached my teams. he would help me with my shot and he took
00:50:31
the time to do that. Mike took Steve, who had a difficult relationship with his own dad, under his
00:50:39
wing. He not only mentored him, he gave him a job at his TV store delivering TVs. And my dad, who embraces everybody,
00:50:49
brought him in and treated him as a son. Mike trusted him completely, says Regina. They all did. Did you ever see
00:50:59
anything that between Steve and Kina that worried you? I have to tell you, I've given hours and hours of thought of
00:51:07
that. Why didn't I see this? What was it? You sometimes are close to people. You don't always see
00:51:15
little signs or you ignore them. But with hindsight, the sisters say there were signs. In her senior year, Kina, who had
00:51:25
been accepted to the University of the Pacific, wanted to break up with Steven, but he wasn't having it, says Regina. He
00:51:33
started threatening her. You said that Steve said that if I broke up with him, he would kill me. But at
00:51:41
the time, neither sister took him seriously. Neither one of you told your parents. We just figured he was just
00:51:49
saying it. And because of what our relationship was over the years, why would we believe that? He enjoyed being
00:51:57
part of their family, why would he destroy a family that he loved? Mike and Harriet never heard about that
00:52:05
incident. Never imagined that the life they knew would come to an end. We thought we were doing good and
00:52:15
everything would be fine and never thought the boy across the street would murder our daughter.
00:52:35
When Catina arrived at the University of the Pacific, UOP, in September of 1979, she thought she had left Steven
00:52:44
Burns behind for good. He said he was going to Santa Clara University and she was going to begin pursuing her longtime
00:52:55
goal. She knew she was going to become a dentist. She knew exactly what she was going to do. It was planned for her.
00:53:02
That was her goal, her dream. But Cina's excitement was cut short soon after the
00:53:08
Solaros got to campus. We were staying overnight and we went to the hotel lobby and then all of a sudden there's Steve
00:53:15
and his sister and family and we're what are you doing here? And he says, "Well,
00:53:19
I'm going EOP." That's really the first time I heard a lot of panic in her voice because that
00:53:27
just caught her off guard. For the first time, Kina turned to her father for help. My dad walked up to him and said,
00:53:37
"Okay, Steve, leave Kina alone. She has told you that. You guys move on to your own ways. Be friends and know that I
00:53:45
will always be here for you." The Solaros headed back to San Francisco, and Kina and Steve each moved
00:53:53
into their respective dorm rooms on opposite sides of the campus. Steven's new roommate, Les Serpa,
00:54:01
remembers walking in the room and seeing Kina's picture everywhere. He said his girlfriend uh was at Pacific as well.
00:54:10
There were pictures of her and him together. More pictures than I had ever seen before, but they were everywhere on
00:54:20
his desk. He didn't mention that she had wanted to break up. Not at all. It was all very positive. Everything was great.
00:54:28
Across campus, Kina was settling in with her new roommate, Joanne Marx. Then came
00:54:34
a knock on the door. It was Steve Burns. After he left, uh, Kina told me that he wanted to meet with her later in
00:54:44
the evening for the last time. She was not looking forward to meeting with him, but she was looking forward to it being
00:54:53
the last time. She believed that he would stop bothering her. Joanne says Steve came by to pick up Kina about 7:45
00:55:02
that evening. I said something like, you know, have a good evening. And he kind of just grunted. Kina told Joanne she
00:55:11
would see her later, but that later never came. I think it was probably close to here.
00:55:18
This a freshman out for a walk named Kevin Arland would be the one to discover why. It was around 9:45 at
00:55:26
night when he saw something on the sidewalk. And I kept walking and realized that's a person and
00:55:35
uh figured I I needed to go get some help. Kevin, unnerved by what he saw, rushed
00:55:43
back to his dorm and got a resident advisor. They both ran back to the scene and we got up to her and it was a a
00:55:54
young lady that uh was laying on the ground and she was still alive. She was unconscious, but there was a big pool of
00:56:02
blood around her head. Kevin would later find out it was 18-year-old Katina Rose
00:56:09
Solo. She had been shot in the back of the head. Her arms were twisted in a way that I never thought the human body
00:56:17
could twist. Do you remember her face? I I I just remember the blood. That had to be heartbreaking.
00:56:28
Yeah, I knew it was tragic. I I knew it was uh it was very serious a very serious injury. While the two men waited
00:56:36
for the ambulance to arrive, Steven Burns returned to his dorm room where his roommate Les was watching Monday
00:56:44
Night Football. He went and laid on the bed, propped up a pillow, and started watching the game.
00:56:50
Do you see nervous at all? He was not nervous at all. The ambulance arrived around 1000 p.m. and rushed Kina to St.
00:56:59
Joseph's Hospital. She was still alive, barely. Years later, her family would learn she
00:57:07
was not alone. Randy Hate, at the time a young patrol officer who was at the crime scene, met his partner at the
00:57:15
hospital. I said, "Where's the family?" And he says, "She's a student at UOP from out of town. They're not
00:57:22
here." I says, "Anybody with her?" He says, "Haven't seen anybody. It's just us."
00:57:29
Kina Rose was pronounced dead at 9 minutes after midnight. We made the decision to to sit with Kina
00:57:38
until the corners came. Even though she had passed, I just didn't feel right leaving
00:57:44
her alone. I prayed. I said a prayer for her. By then, homicide detectives were at Kina's dorm talking to Joanne.
00:57:54
I told the police that uh Kina had been picked up by Steve Burns and I told them
00:57:59
which dorm he was from. Less and Steven were in their room when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and
00:58:09
uh I you know there's like five guys out there in suits. So I stepped out a little bit say hello and I could see at
00:58:15
the end of each hall was full of police officers. And then they asked to search our room. They went through everything.
00:58:20
Every bag, every drawer, everything. What were they looking for? I didn't know at the time, but later I learned
00:58:27
they were looking for a weapon for a gun. Steven Burns was pulled from the room and taken to the Stockton Police Station
00:58:36
where he was fingerprinted and photographed. Officer Haye recalls seeing him there.
00:58:44
He did not appear to be upset in any way. Burns told the police he didn't meet Kina on campus that night and that
00:58:53
he spent the evening in his dorm room watching Monday Night Football. Without the gun, it was never
00:59:01
found. The police didn't have enough evidence to hold him. Steven Burns was released. His father took him back to
00:59:09
San Francisco. The police didn't publicly name a suspect, but Harriet Solano didn't need
00:59:19
a name. She already knew it. I just said to Mike, "It's Steve, Mike. It's Steve." I I don't know why. I
00:59:29
just had that feeling. After talking to the family, the police learned that Steven had threatened to
00:59:37
kill Cina if she broke up with him. Two days after the murder of Katina Rose Solano, Steven Burns was arrested at his
00:59:49
home just across the street from where Kina grew up. I remember sitting up in the window watching them walk him out in
00:59:58
handcuffs and putting him in the patrol car. My whole world got taken from me and really the flash of a gun. I mean,
01:00:06
everything was gone. [Music] Learning to live without their daughter has been a lifelong journey for Kina's
01:00:31
parents. One crippled by whatifs. Mike Solano never stopped blaming himself. He felt that as a father he let her down.
01:00:44
For decades, Catina's sisters have also grappled with regret, wishing they had told their parents about Steven Burns
01:00:51
threatening to kill Cina. What if I had said something? What if we told them about
01:00:58
the threat? You're living with guilt, too. And it doesn't change after 40 years.
01:01:07
This the hole in my heart for missing my sister and what we could have had together. In the wake of the murder,
01:01:18
each member of the family retreated into their own private grieve. I didn't even care if I even lived. I
01:01:28
wanted to join Kina. I didn't know what to do anymore. My whole plan, my whole world, my whole bubble blew up. I mean,
01:01:36
I'd never felt that kind of hurt. I lost my entire family because they fell apart. It was painful enough that my
01:01:43
sister had been murdered, but the person that I viewed as a brother and loved betrayed me by
01:01:53
taking her life. The Solaros would learn that the young man they had trusted had stolen a
01:02:00
gun from Mike's store weeks before Kina's murder. You believe he planned that murder? Oh, yes. The fact that he
01:02:09
stole the gun prior, there was no reason for the stealing of the gun otherwise. They came to believe Steven may have
01:02:15
been planning to use that gun to kill Cina, even before she left for college. The night before we took her to UP, I
01:02:25
heard this noise outside and it was Steve Burns pacing in front of the bedroom window.
01:02:34
He had a big white towel wrapped around his left hand. Regina says Burns tried to climb up the
01:02:43
side of their house and enter through the window of the bedroom the girls shared, but Kina told him to
01:02:50
leave. And she said, "No, I'm not opening the window. Go to bed, Steve. Go. You're I'm going to school tomorrow.
01:02:55
You know, stop. Just stop. Just stop." Then there was a sound like he fell and it was a very distinct sound of metal
01:03:04
hitting metal. What do you think now when you look back on that that sound of metal against metal? I think if I had
01:03:12
opened the window and he got in, there'd be three dead girls. You think he had a
01:03:15
gun with a metal? Absolutely. 6 months after Kina's death, 19-year-old Steven Burns went on trial
01:03:24
for her murder. It was a bitter awakening for the Solaros, who say there was more concern
01:03:31
for the defendant and his rights than there was for his victim. Neither of Kina's parents were
01:03:38
allowed in the courtroom, not even while Nenah, who was only 14 years old at the
01:03:44
time, took the stand. She had to testify at the trial on her own without a victim's advocate
01:03:52
to support her. What was that like on the sand? Gh. I think the best word was just awful. I
01:03:59
was in a courtroom. The only person I knew in the courtroom was the guy that had murdered my
01:04:06
sister. The prosecution argued that Burns met Kina that night carrying the stolen gun with the intention of killing
01:04:14
her if she wouldn't continue their relationship. Still, the jury did not convict him of
01:04:23
premeditated firstdegree murder. He was found guilty of secondderee murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life with
01:04:32
the possibility of parole. We all thought 17 years to life meant life, that they would never let him out. He
01:04:40
should be in prison the rest of his life. They would learn they were wrong. Just 10 years into his sentence, Steven
01:04:46
Burns came up for parole. The Solaros were outraged. I had no idea the parole system was so rotten. Here they are in
01:04:56
1990 talking to then 48 Hours correspondent Bernard Goldberg the night before the first parole hearing. Okay.
01:05:05
Steven Burns was handed down a 17 to life sentence. Here we are 10 years later. That's right. But you you don't
01:05:12
want him out after 17 years, after 20 years, after 25. Is that fair? Oh, that's a very fair question. Absolutely.
01:05:20
I don't want him out. But I don't even want to go up there before 17 years because that's what I was told. Going
01:05:27
into this hearing, they know there's a chance he could get out. On March 28th, 1990, the Solos and a bus full of
01:05:39
supporters headed to Steven Burns parole hearing. That bus ride was the longest ride in my life.
01:05:48
First hardest thing was when she died. This is the second. For the first time since Katina's
01:05:54
murder, the Solanos confronted the man they had once considered part of the family.
01:06:03
Steve sentenced my daughter to death forever. I ask for a fair trade. I ask you to sentence Steve to
01:06:13
life in prison. Then it was Burn's turn to speak. It's hard to say in words how difficult it is to live day to day about
01:06:24
the feelings I have inside about what I did. Regardless of what I do, I can't bring Kina back.
01:06:32
But I know this that I am deeply sorry for what I did and I will work each day of my life, whether it be in prison or
01:06:40
out on outside to make up. He apologized, but the Solaros noticed he never looked at them while he did it. If
01:06:50
you can't look at someone in the face and say you're sorry, then you know damn we're all going to be sorry. After an
01:06:55
excruciating weight, the board is deliberating right now. We don't know what those commissioners are thinking.
01:07:02
The parole board came back with a decision. Steven Burns was found unsuitable for
01:07:10
release, but he would get another chance at freedom in two years. Two years. We got two years. And I feel very very
01:07:20
drained and I know my family is so worn out. Two years. What about the Solano family? We'll be back. And back they
01:07:28
would come over and over again for the next 35 [Music] years. There is one thing you can count
01:07:49
on with the Solaros. Every week for almost 46 years, right? They've gone to the cemetery
01:07:56
where Kina now rests. I'm going to get the water out of the flowers. These days, there's another grave to tend.
01:08:04
Mike Solano died in 2013 of cancer. There's something else you could be sure of. Every time Steven Burns comes up for
01:08:14
parole, they will be there. Thank you for the strength that you impart on all of us. and has refaced this next parole
01:08:23
hearing. We all said we would be back and we've continued to be back 12 times, not just because he murdered Kina, but
01:08:31
because he is a dangerous murderer that will kill or harm again. And that's just
01:08:37
the bottom line. In January 2025, they were about to go to their 13th parole hearing. give this family the strength
01:08:46
to continue to fight. That fight for victim's rights has shaped all of their lives.
01:08:54
Was I going to be a nurse 40 years ago? No. And now I am. The reason why I did it is because I swore nobody would die
01:09:02
alone. Nah was so traumatized by the trial, she vowed she would become a prosecutor. And so she did. She became a
01:09:11
specialist in domestic violence cases. I believed like my sister, so many victims
01:09:18
are either not heard, afraid to be heard, or just don't understand the magnitude of what's happening to them.
01:09:29
She became the DA in Modoc County, cowboy country, about as far north in California as you can get.
01:09:40
Being able to be out in the mountains or work on a cattle ranch to ride my horses and to have that
01:09:48
time is just it's who I am. Harriet went on to start Crime Victims United, an organization that has changed hundreds
01:09:57
of laws. Before Harriet Solano, victims in California weren't allowed to give impact statements at sentencing. Now
01:10:07
they are. Parents, even if witnesses, can now attend the trial. And children, unlike Nina, must now be accompanied by
01:10:17
a support person when testifying. She's my hero. I mean, absolute hero. And it's
01:10:23
just so significant to see how she supports people and just really fights for what's right. I have a passion. For
01:10:33
Harriet, that has meant fighting to keep Steven Burns behind bars. Been doing it for 45 years, and I will
01:10:42
continue to do it as long as I'm alive and as long as he's in prison. Steven Burns has been in prison for 45
01:10:52
years, but the Solaros are convinced he hasn't changed. He still has yet to admit to the facts
01:11:00
of the crime. Steven Burn's story says Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmoblau has changed at least 12 times
01:11:08
over the years. He had said repeatedly that Kina pulled the gun, that Tina was the one who had
01:11:16
the revolver, ignoring the fact that we knew that he had stolen Kina's father's revolver.
01:11:24
Sometimes she shot him. Sometimes they struggled over the gun and it accidentally went off. In
01:11:31
2016, 37 years after the murder, Steven finally stopped lying about Kina's actions, says Nenah. He told the
01:11:40
commissioners, quote, "I became very, very angry and I pulled out a gun and shot Kina." But Steven continued to deny
01:11:50
that he stalked her to UOP to kill her. if she didn't get back together with him. The shooting of the gun murdered my
01:11:58
sister, but the behaviors and the need for his power and control and the obsessiveness is what makes him
01:12:06
dangerous. And according to a complaint brought up at the last parole hearing, he has shown those same obsessive
01:12:13
behaviors inside prison. A professor who taught incarcerated students reported that Burn's behavior towards her was
01:12:22
quote disturbing and manipulating. He was relentless towards her because she would not allow him into a class. He
01:12:31
focused on her and was not going to stop till he got what he wanted. Do you think
01:12:37
that if Steven Burns is released, he could hurt someone? Yes. The next woman he goes out with who says no. But there
01:12:45
are some who believe that Steven Burns deserves a second chance. Kevin Anderson, once a respected
01:12:53
pediatrician, got to know Burns when he was incarcerated, also for murder. After
01:13:00
24 years in prison, Kevin was released on parole in 2023. He started working as a counselor.
01:13:08
We first spoke to him the day before Steven's 2025 parole hearing. Do you think that Steven Burns is a danger to
01:13:18
society? I can't say 100%, but I do think that Steven Burns has done a lot of the work to get to that point where
01:13:26
you're no longer a danger to society. Steven has earned a college degree and has worked with hospice patients. He has
01:13:35
participated in numerous anger management and rehabilitation programs, some alongside Kevin. I think
01:13:44
that he has the tools now that he didn't have before. Kevin worked with Steve in
01:13:50
mock hearing sessions to help him prepare for the upcoming parole hearing. We had to push him. And once we got him
01:13:58
to get off of the denial on certain issues where the real honesty had to come out, now he's able to talk about it
01:14:05
in the honest terms that maybe he wasn't able to do 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Kevin says Steven told him he snapped
01:14:13
when Kina rejected him. She said, "I want you to stay away from me and my family." And he said, "At that
01:14:21
point, I just lost it." And as he was describing this, he was crying because now he realizes where he was going with
01:14:29
this and what this was leading to. And Kina saw it too, says Kevin. He described to me her body language,
01:14:38
what her eyes were doing, how they had just grown really big. I said, "What else?" And he said, "Her voice was
01:14:45
shaking." And I said, "And what did that mean to you?" And he would say, "It meant she was scared to death." But it
01:14:51
didn't stop him. Steven Burns shot the woman he claimed to love in the back of the head and walked away, leaving her to
01:15:01
slowly bleed to death. Did he say why he left and didn't get help for? He did say
01:15:07
that what he did afterwards was a very cowardly act. Steven Burns is about to get another
01:15:14
chance to convince commissioners that the same man who left Cina to die that night is a change man. And this time the
01:15:25
Solanos fear the odds are in his favor. It scares the living daylights out of me
01:15:32
having him come out. [Music] [Music] As Harriet Solo counts down the days to the 2025 hearing, she does what she's
01:15:58
done for the past four decades. She goes to work. At 92, Harriet still goes to the office
01:16:07
at Crime Victims United every day. We're going to use these at the parole hearing. Harriet and Nina are picking
01:16:15
out photos to show the commissioners at the parole hearing. Here's Kina. I think
01:16:20
that's her 16th. It's important that they understand that she was a beautiful human being. Her dog was very important
01:16:27
to her and her life was taken for no reason. Nina has been preparing for this hearing for months.
01:16:36
And in here, I keep everything from the trial to all those subsequent parole hearings. Nah, the prosecutor is leaving
01:16:46
nothing to chance. Like, here's transcripts from the 2010 hearing. But Nah, the protector is calling on
01:16:55
Kina and her dad to help the things she can't control. As a DA, Nah knows his chances of
01:17:04
getting out are better than ever. Keith Watley is founder of Uncommon Law, an organization that helps
01:17:13
incarcerated people navigate the parole process. From what I've seen so far on paper in terms of the time he's done,
01:17:21
the program that he's put together for himself, and how well he's performed there, he does seem like somebody who
01:17:27
under the law should be granted parole. Watley, who has never met Steven, but has reviewed his last two parole
01:17:34
transcripts, says Steven has two other important things going for him. His age, he was only 18 when he committed the
01:17:43
crime. California has passed laws to say that we have to consider someone's youth
01:17:48
at the time of the crime. None of us are fully developed in the brain by before we're age 25. and his age at the time of
01:17:56
the hearing, 63. Watley says he's eligible for special consideration under the elderly
01:18:05
parole program. He says people simply age out of crime, especially violent crime. But in Steven Burns case, isn't
01:18:16
there a possibility that if he gets out, he gets involved with someone and they leave him, he'll do the same thing? It's
01:18:23
a great question. It's an important question. The science and the statistics say no. They say that people who come
01:18:30
home from a life sentence are among the least likely to recidivate. That's just true. But sometimes statistics are no
01:18:40
match for the human spirit. two different things. When the family comes consistently to
01:18:47
these parole hearings, especially a family like the Solaros, doesn't that make it much more difficult
01:18:53
for someone like Steven Burns to get a chance at parole? I would say yes. Yes, it does have an impact on the process.
01:19:04
The Solaros are praying they'll make an impact again this time. Thank you for allowing us to be able to be a voice for
01:19:13
Kina. Harriet, Nenah, her daughter Lexi, and a group of loyal friends head to the
01:19:19
DA's office in Stockton, California, where they will attend the parole hearing via video, the postcoid new
01:19:28
normal. But won't hearing all this today make you relive everything? It does. It
01:19:36
really does. I am shaky. Very shaky. You are right now. Yes. I'm afraid of him being released. I
01:19:46
just afraid that he'll come after us. Harriet braces herself as she heads into the conference room, knowing she will
01:19:58
have to again see the man who put her daughter in a grave. Looking at Steve Burns when he walked
01:20:06
in, he just looks dangerous. He acts dangerous and what he says is dangerous. 48 hours was not allowed to record video
01:20:18
or audio during the hearing, but I was able to sit with the family and friends to observe.
01:20:25
Steven Burns, his affect flat, his voice monotone, once again denied he planned to kill Cina that night. This audio was
01:20:35
recorded by the parole board. But you didn't plan to kill her? No. And you deny that you threatened to kill her
01:20:44
previously, correct? Yes. Do you understand why previous panels have found that you minimize what you did and
01:20:52
and your intentions based on that? Yes. After almost 4 hours, the commissioners retreated to make their
01:21:04
decision. Is this the hardest part? Just waiting to see. This is the most difficult part.
01:21:11
20 minutes later, the family was called back into the conference room. The decision was in. Even after 45 years in
01:21:21
prison, we see very little change on those issues that led you to murder Kina that led you to do things in prison that
01:21:31
offended others. We see very little change. Steven Burns was found unsuitable for
01:21:40
parole. I don't know. Go home in circles. Really sweet tonight. This is the first real
01:21:52
smile I've seen on your face. Oh, you did a great job, Mom. I'm very proud of you.
01:22:00
When Kevin Anderson, Steven's friend from prison, read the transcript of the hearing, he was stunned. He sent 48
01:22:09
hours an email, some of which I read to him when we spoke again after the hearing. Reading this transcript is
01:22:17
hurting my head, heart and soul. This man is absolutely not ready to be released. No. The way he came across in
01:22:26
that hearing, he was absolutely not ready. All the work he has done, I didn't see it showing up there at all.
01:22:36
Four days after the hearing, Nah and Harriet went to deliver the news. We got a 5-year denial, Dad. So, I'm still
01:22:45
holding strong to my promise to you. It was Kina's 64th birthday. Kina, it's the best birthday present I
01:22:57
think we can give you. was that denial. So, thank you for watching over mom and watching over everyone.
01:23:06
Happy birthday, Kina. I love you both so much and miss you. Her former high school boyfriend
01:23:31
viciously attacked her. He is going to do this to another person. A survivor speaks out for the first time. He's more
01:23:39
like a monster. I need to make sure he is put away for murder. 48 hours is all new. CBS next Saturday, 10:9 central and
01:23:47
streaming on Paramount Plus. He was convicted of a monstrous act. Eric Smith has served 28 years for the
01:24:07
killing of 4-year-old Derek Roby in 1993. We never forget our boy cuz he was, you
01:24:16
know, a wonderful child and we miss him terribly. Dear, happy birthday to you. Yeah, a lot of people don't know the
01:24:29
full gamut of what we go through and nor should they, right? I I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It's the first time I've
01:24:39
ever let him go anywhere alone. And it was one block down the same side of the street.
01:24:46
When you have a family member that has been murdered, every time that inmate is up
01:24:55
for parole, you relive, I think, what happened. There are clearly people who make choices which reflect pure
01:25:09
evil. In my view, this heads the list. the events of that morning of August 2nd, 1993. Riding
01:25:19
through the woods, he gave me a kiss and I said, "I love you." He says, "I love you, ma'am." And he went hopping off the
01:25:24
sidewalk. At some point during the midday, I learned that a child was missing in the
01:25:32
village of Savona. And consequently, a search for Derek began. Late in the afternoon, the body of Derek Roby was
01:25:45
found. It was just a brutal, brutal killing. I've lost my boy. You know, we we've lost him. He's
01:25:56
gone. Our instinct was to believe the killer was some adult evil person. Love you,
01:26:06
Eric. Love you, Eric. Love you, honey. Love you. And it's another kid. What do you think is going to happen?
01:26:14
So, you find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree? Yes. Is that unanimous? Yes. Eric Smith was
01:26:23
sentenced to 9 years to life in prison. First time before the parole board. Denied. We knew the first one was coming
01:26:36
but then after that we got to do this every two years. For them every two years must have felt like every 10
01:26:43
minutes. Second time for the panel denied. It upsets me the fact that we have to
01:26:50
beg to keep this killer behind bars. And you foresee the day when you would say I
01:26:55
don't care whether they let any matter or not. No. We'll take this pain to our grave. That one daddy. 2006. Parole
01:27:03
denied. 2008, parole denied. You can label me a monster, a cold blooded killer, uh demon child, Satan incarnate.
01:27:13
2010, parole denied. 2012, denied. I don't care what the name you give me, doesn't mean that that's who I am. 2014,
01:27:23
2016, 2018, denied. Denied. Denied. I can live in society and function as any other normal individual.
01:27:35
Oo, that last sentence was a chilling one. Another normal individual. Boy, is that a reach.
01:27:45
Parole granted. Eric Smith, who gained national attention almost three decades ago for killing a four-year-old, has
01:27:52
been set free. In Savona, there's one small grocery store on the main street, and all I could imagine was Dorene Roby
01:28:04
standing in line at the checkout line and looking behind her and seeing the person who killed her son.
01:28:16
[Music] [Music] After being locked up for 28 years, Eric Smith, who at age 13 murdered a child, is now
01:29:11
free. He's out on parole here in Queens, New York. Smith insists he's a changed man, deserving of freedom, that he has a
01:29:21
plan for a fresh start, even a fiance. But others worry Eric Smith is still a flat out threat. Dale and Dorene Roi
01:29:31
feared this day would come. Our story begins with them. Dan Rather covered the case for 48 hours
01:29:39
when it first broke. Go. In the summer of 1993, Derek Roby and his family lived just down the
01:29:47
street from this park. It was and still is the social center of the small town of Sabona, New York.
01:29:56
You're looking at me. Watch the ball, hun. Dale Roby coached T-ball. It was his son Derek's favorite game.
01:30:05
He'd go, "This one's for you, Mommy." Good job, De. Derek was all boy all the time. You know, he was going to get me a
01:30:13
home run. Go. He usually did. He loved it. Derek also attended a recreation program
01:30:21
here at the park. And Dorene Roby always watched as her son made the short trip. But one August morning, Derek's
01:30:30
baby brother was crying and Dorin Roby had her hands full. Dalton was very fussy that morning. And Dererick says,
01:30:36
"It's okay, Mom. I'll I'll go by myself. You know, it's no problem. home. The kids are probably going down the street.
01:30:43
Derek was nearly five and knew the route very well, so Darin Roby allowed him to
01:30:49
walk by himself. She packed his lunch and off he went. He gave me a kiss and I said, "I love you." And he says, "I love
01:30:55
you, ma'am." So, he has a block, only a block to go. Mhm. No streets to cross. No, it was a
01:31:03
dead end street. It's the first time I've ever let him go anywhere alone. A short time later, as storm clouds
01:31:12
moved in, Dory felt something close to panic. I had awful feelings. It began to pour. And Dorin Roi had an overwhelming
01:31:24
sense that something was wrong. And I swear that that was the moment he died. You believed that? Mhm. Yeah. I I
01:31:34
I think that he was letting me know. Derek is very close to us. If there was any way he could tell us he was leaving,
01:31:42
he would have tried. Dorin raced to the park to pick up Derek. She was told that he had never
01:31:52
arrived. Nearly 5 hours later, searchers found Derek's body in a small patch of woods just a few yards from the park and
01:32:00
a few hundred yards from his own front door. Blow kisses. Derek had been choked and beaten to
01:32:07
death with rocks. Neighbors placed a cross at the scene. The biggest thing I remember
01:32:21
was Go ahead. When you told your dad that you wouldn't be able to do the things that he did with you. I got one.
01:32:28
I got one. D, come here. Keep reeling. I got him. Derek's first big fish. Yay. The streets of Savona were empty as
01:32:38
worried parents kept their children inside. The immediate assumption was that Derek Roy's killer was a stranger
01:32:46
from out of town. That's what Eric Smith's grandfather believed. This terrible thing was done. I think
01:32:53
everybody, including myself, thought it was an adult. And how could anybody do such a
01:32:59
terrible, terrible thing? Grandpa. Grandpa. Yeah. Yeah. Eric Smith grew up just across town. Okay. Eric,
01:33:09
let me see your stuff. And liked to spend time with his grandparents, Red and Edy Wilson. He always come in and
01:33:15
give us hugs and kisses. Hi. Hi. He loved being a clown. He liked clowning around. He definitely wanted to be paid
01:33:23
attention to. Yeah. But Eric's bright red hair and freckles made him a target at school for years. And as a teenager,
01:33:31
he was seen pedling around town for hours on end alone. [Music] Why did he do it? I don't know why he
01:33:41
did it. I asked him why he did it. His words almost from Beammore. I don't know. I just saw this kid, this blonde
01:33:49
kid, and I wanted to hurt him. [Music] [Music] It's hard to comprehend somebody doing
01:34:32
what Eric Smith did. On August 2nd, 1993, the body of Derek Roby was found in a small patch of woods, midway
01:34:44
between the park where he was headed and his home. He chose to end Derek Roy's life. And he
01:34:57
chose to do it in a way that was much more than just killing. Prosecutor John Tunny vividly remembers
01:35:06
the crime scene and the brutality of the murder. He could have simply killed Derek, but he chose not to simply kill
01:35:16
Derek. Directly behind us is the scene where the homicide occurred. Charles Wood was
01:35:23
lead investigator. The evidence showed that Derek was lured from the sidewalk and strangled. The killer's identity was
01:35:31
then still unknown. Then he discovered and dug up one very large rock and one smaller rock and he battered uh Derek
01:35:40
with those rocks. He went into Derek's lunch bag and he smashed a banana and took Derek's
01:35:49
Kool-Aid that Kool-Aid into the wounds that had been made by the large rocks and he sodomized Derek with a
01:35:57
small stick that he had found. Lastly, the killer arranged Derrick's body. The left sneaker had been removed
01:36:06
and was uh lying near Derek's right hand. And his uh right sneaker had been removed and was lying near Derek's left
01:36:14
hand. It almost looked like the body had been posed in that position. Eric continued to deal with Derek's body
01:36:25
because he wanted to, because he chose to, and most frighteningly because he enjoyed
01:36:34
it. The word enjoy, so disturbing in this context, would come up again and again in the course of the
01:36:41
investigation. The very first time was 4 days after the murder when Eric Smith walked into the
01:36:47
police command center to see if he could be of help in solving the crime. Totally
01:36:52
enjoyed it. Totally enjoyed it. Didn't want it to end. This is John Hips. He and other investigators repeatedly
01:37:00
talked with Eric Smith and had no idea the killer was sitting right in front of them. I mean, he's looking right at me.
01:37:06
He's, you know, he's kind of hunched over a little bit and he's very, very upbeat, very happy. He uh he likes the
01:37:12
fact that he's being talked to. At first, Eric denied seeing Derek Roby, but then he abruptly changed his story.
01:37:20
He was right across the street from the open field, and that's where I saw Derek. I mean, when he said that, he
01:37:25
about knocked me off the chair. He's putting him right on top of the crime scene. I mean, you just got to walk
01:37:32
across an open field and and you're at the scene where the murder [Music] was. So, we asked him, "What was he
01:37:39
wearing?" and he went on, he said he had a white t-shirt on and he had this lunch
01:37:42
bag in his hand. Oh, can you tell me about the lunch bag? And he said it was kind of cool, really. Investigators
01:37:48
pushed Eric to pinpoint where he last saw Derek and and that's when he got he started to get emotional. His his voice
01:37:55
started cracking. Um, he put his head down and he brings his fist up and his fists were vibrating
01:38:01
a little bit and he goes, "You think I killed him, don't you?" Myself and the other two investigators
01:38:06
are just like, "Wow." Eric asked to take a break and his father brought him a glass of Kool-Aid.
01:38:14
Just as we get back into it again about where he'd seen Derek again, he he grabs
01:38:18
the red Kool-Aid and just throws it on the ground. Now, we all knew that Derek, the boy that was killed, had red
01:38:25
Kool-Aid spilled all over him. You know, I'm thinking that, you know, this kid's
01:38:30
seen something that's very, very traumatic and and there's a block in there and and I can't get around it. The
01:38:36
next day, investigators asked Eric to get his bike and show them where he was when he saw Derek Roby. Okay, why don't
01:38:43
you go up here and you start? Investigator Wood was there. And as you can see from this police videotape, Eric
01:38:49
looks calm as can be. During the reenactment, I would have to say he enjoyed it. He was having a good time.
01:38:58
But it quickly became obvious that Eric could not have seen all that he described from the distance he claimed
01:39:04
to be. There was a discrepancy in Eric's story. Red Wilson, Grandpa. Eric's grandfather, Grandpa says the family
01:39:12
knew Eric was hiding something. In no way did we feel that he had done it. We felt that he knew something. Maybe
01:39:22
somebody had threatened him. That's why he wouldn't tell. 5 days after he was killed, Derek Roby
01:39:35
was buried in his baseball [Music] uniform. Just two days later, his killer confessed.
01:39:46
[Music] I was there. I was there when my grandson confessed. It was it was terrible. Family members sat
01:40:02
Eric down and begged him to tell what he knew. The truth was more terrible than they ever imagined. And he just said
01:40:10
what? I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry. I killed a little boy. Still hard to believe. Love you, Eric.
01:40:23
Love you, Larry. Love you, Eric. The question is, you know, to me, why? How? How
01:40:33
could take the life of a little boy? All rise. A year after Eric's confession, the question remains, what
01:40:42
could possibly compel this child to kill another? Does he know what he's done? Does he know what's wrong? A stricken
01:40:49
community is looking to this courtroom for an answer. The evidence that you're going to hear in this case is going to
01:40:53
be horrible. Will the trial of Eric Smith put an end to the mystery that began on August 2nd, 1993,
01:41:01
the last day of Derek Roy's short life. [Music] [Music] All rise. County court is now in
01:41:34
session. The honorable Donald G. Purple Jr. presiding. The trial of the people versus Eric Smith is finally
01:41:44
underway. He's about that tall. He weighed 40 lbs. Prosecuting attorney John Tunny. He lives four years and 10
01:41:56
months and that person killed him. Eric Smith choked and battered the young life
01:42:03
out of Derek Roby. Make a dad. In New York State, murder is the one crime for which a 13-year-old can be tried in
01:42:11
adult court. You're a father of five. That's correct. You must have thought about that. Must think about it in the
01:42:18
context of trying a 13-year-old son of another family. Yes. But you know where I first thought
01:42:26
of it was when I looked at four-year-old Derek Roby. The face of every one of my five
01:42:34
children was superimposed on that child's body. At the heart of this trial, the haunting
01:42:43
question, why did Eric kill? The fact is that Eric chose to do something horrible. Defense attorney Kevin Bradley
01:42:52
says there was no choice. Eric Smith suffers from a very serious mental disease. to pick this up and throw
01:43:02
this down on a little boy's head. Does that suggest calm, deliberate action, a plan? You're going to hear
01:43:13
testimony by people that say, "Eric just seemed like a normal child." And then the rage explodes. It does not diminish
01:43:20
the fact that he understood what he was doing. Tunny says it's murder, plain and
01:43:24
simple. something. Eric analyzed the situation and chose to do it. To help him with his case, Tony will be
01:43:33
calling on Derek's parents, Dale and Dorin Roby. She has to personalize the tragedy, the loss, the terror, to bring
01:43:42
Derek Roby, the person, into that courtroom. Describe Derek. Um, he was my cute little firecracker. But bringing Derek
01:43:53
Roby into the courtroom, come on, Derek. He was my little T-ball player. Very good athlete, is not going to be easy.
01:44:00
How did he get along with interact with people? Objection. Derek participated in
01:44:04
the in the recreation program. What was he participating in? I'm going to object
01:44:08
again at this point. The judge agrees and Dorene is not permitted to say much at all about Derek. Mommy kiss. I wish I
01:44:16
would have gotten a chance to talk about Derek a little more. You know, it really
01:44:20
wasn't fair that I didn't get to tell them what kind of kid he was. It's time for the defense to present its
01:44:29
case. Bradley begins by calling on two people who know more about Eric than anyone else. His mother, Tammy Smith,
01:44:38
and his stepfather, Ted Smith. County Court is now reconvened. The jury heard that as a toddler, Eric threw temper
01:44:45
tantrums and banged his head on the floor. He had speech problems. Leave me alone. Was held back in school and
01:44:53
relentlessly bullied. He would say things like, "I'm stupid. I'm nobody. I'm, you know, I'm never
01:45:00
going to be anybody." That kind of stuff. I remember him coming up to me in the kitchen. He was really upset and he
01:45:06
was crunching his fist and shaking and told me that he said, "Dad, I need help. I feel like I want to hurt somebody."
01:45:13
And he said, "Yes, I do. I want to hurt something." At one point he turned and told me that
01:45:18
he he did it. I asked him why and he just kept saying, "I don't know. I don't know." And he cried.
01:45:30
Defense psychiatrist Dr. Steven Herman diagnosed Eric with intermittent explosive disorder, uncontrollable rage.
01:45:38
People who have this disorder describe feeling as if they're about to explode. After the the episodic rage, the child
01:45:48
may appear to be quote normal. An expert for the prosecution disagreed with Dr. Herman's diagnosis. It's a rare disorder
01:45:57
uh rarely seen uh at the age that uh Eric is. What do you think is going to happen? and specialists from both sides
01:46:05
subjected Eric to extensive medical testing. Love you. They examined brain function, hormone levels, and found
01:46:12
nothing to explain his violent behavior. Because of the sexual nature of his crime, the question of whether
01:46:19
Eric was abused, was repeatedly raised at trial, but repeatedly denied. Did he indicate to you generally and
01:46:27
consistently that he had not been either physically or sexually abused? Yes, he has always indicated that. However,
01:46:34
there was testimony that Eric's older sister, Stacy Heavner, was sexually abused by their stepfather. He molested
01:46:43
me. I'd want to know if he was molested. There had been something bothering him.
01:46:48
Still, there was absolutely no evidence that Ted Smith or anyone else sexually abused Eric. Are there issues? Are there
01:46:56
problems? Sure. But it does not regularly produce killers. Did he know what he was doing?
01:47:06
Did he know when he was strangling Derek that he was strangling a child? And if he knew that what he was
01:47:13
doing was wrong, that he shouldn't have been doing it, then he can have every psychological psychiatric problem in the
01:47:20
world and he's still responsible for what he did under the law. Under the law. But what does the jury believe?
01:47:32
She thinks they have a verdict. All right. County court is now reconvened. So you find a defendant guilty of murder
01:47:51
in the second degree? Yes. Is that unanimous? Yes. Eric's parents, Ted and Tammy Smith, were devastated, convinced
01:48:00
their child was sick. Take the young man in custody. He would be sentenced to the
01:48:05
maximum, 9 years to life in prison. The murdered boy's parents, Dale and Darene Roby, cried with relief, not
01:48:15
knowing that they were being sentenced, too. The Robies, they're serving a life sentence. Mhm. Every time that inmate is
01:48:25
up for parole, they relive it. So, it's just a nightmare for them. It really felt like at, you know, at a certain
01:48:32
point, why do we have to? Wasn't the crime enough? [Music] Take the young man in custody.
01:48:59
When Eric Smith was sentenced, was there a sense now we can get on with our lives? You hear the nine years to life
01:49:10
and I think back then everybody was focusing on the life side of it. Dale and Darin Roby were relieved that the
01:49:18
boy who murdered their beloved son was locked away. We were still trying to get over our
01:49:27
loss. Then I think we almost got settled in for a year or two. Then it hit us. What hit them was the harsh reality that
01:49:36
Derek's killer would one day be eligible for release. Eric Smith's first parole hearing was in 2002. They could decide
01:49:46
that, well, now he's done his time and we're going to let him go. It scares the hell out of me. The
01:49:56
Robies weren't allowed inside the closed door hearing, so they wrote letters and
01:50:01
made home videos to remind the board about their Come on, Derek. Run. Devastating loss. It upsets me the fact
01:50:09
that we have to beg to keep this killer behind bars. Smith's parole was denied, but two years later, he was back before
01:50:18
the board. Hi, my name is Eric Smith. You first met me 11 years ago. In 2004, Smith was 24 years old.
01:50:28
This is a statement he read for our 48 hours cameras. I know my actions have caused a terrible loss to Nairobi family
01:50:34
and for that I'm truly sorry. I think that Eric Smith was incredibly troubled. Leave me alone. And I think that he was
01:50:44
a dangerous young man. Joanie Johnston is a clinical forensic psychologist. For more than 20 years, she's been
01:50:51
evaluating inmates who are up for parole. When we're looking at a very inexact science, if you will, trying to predict
01:51:00
whether somebody is dangerous, it's like balancing a scale. Are we willing to take a risk? Johnston has never met Eric
01:51:09
Smith, but we asked her to look at his case. I don't see Eric Smith at all as a kid who snapped. I see him as a kid who
01:51:18
escalated. What's your name? From hurting animals starting at around age 11 and who eventually progressed to
01:51:27
hurting a child. She also read transcripts of his parole hearings. 2004 was really the most frightening.
01:51:38
This is somebody who goes into a tremendous amount of detail in terms of what he did
01:51:46
back then. John Tunny shared some of what Smith told the parole board. Question. You convinced him to go to
01:51:52
this field. What did you do next? Answer. Put my hands around him and strangled him. All these years later,
01:52:00
Eric Smith's words are still chilling. When you were doing that, was that something that gave you a good feeling?
01:52:08
Answer at the moment it did. Yes. Probably the most significant and frightening thing is this is the kid
01:52:15
where the narrative seems to have been this kind of rage or this person's inability to control his anger. And yet
01:52:22
the emotion he expresses is pleasure or enjoyment. Question. Why do you think that was? answer because of instead of
01:52:32
me being hurt, I was hurting somebody else. Growing up, I was always picked on, disrespected, made fun of. Eric was
01:52:46
tired of being the victim in his mind, and he wanted to see what it felt like to be the victimizer.
01:52:55
There's a question, Mr. Smith. If you had not admitted to someone that you had done this, do you think it would have
01:53:00
been a fair statement to say that you probably would have done it again? Answer, yes. That confirmed Tunny's
01:53:09
belief that Smith at 13 was a budding serial killer. I was afraid then and frankly as I sit
01:53:18
here now, I think that Eric Smith may very well have done it again because it was such a positive experience for
01:53:27
him. It made him feel good. He got a lot out of it. Had he not been identified, he wouldn't have paid a
01:53:36
price. The parole board's decision in 2004 was no surprise. But for the Robies, there was always another hearing
01:53:46
looming. Must have felt like a weight hanging right over your head. Yes. There's all of these really happy times
01:53:54
that are supposed to happen throughout your life, but there's always that. We always got a letter about 3 or 4 months
01:54:01
prior to that. Ours always fell around Christmas. you know, here putting the Christmas
01:54:09
tree up and we're reading this letter that here we go again. It just made me angry.
01:54:16
It was understandable that, you know, they would never want me to be out in society. This is Eric Smith in 2009. Say
01:54:23
to him, just months before his fifth parole hearing. My anger wasn't directed at Derek at all. It was directed at all
01:54:30
the other guys who used to pick on me. And when I was torturing and killing Derek, that was what I saw in my head.
01:54:43
Smith, almost 30, was interviewed by WNY TV as he prepared to face the board. The
01:54:50
only thing that I can say to him is I'm not the same person. There's not a day that goes by in some way, shape,
01:54:57
or form that I'm like forced to remember what I did. I'm automatically thinking I
01:55:04
killed Derek and the pain that I caused day on the door memorial. The problem is how sincere is it versus
01:55:14
how contrived or calculated it is. I certainly can't tell as I sit here. You can't? No. For us to have any real hope,
01:55:22
he has to be accurate when he says, you know, I'm different. I'm self-aware and I have every reason in the
01:55:30
world to behave. It's not a question of does he believe it? Right. Is it true? Is it accurate? Exactly.
01:55:41
I did kill Eric and for that, you know, I am sorry and there's nothing I can do to bring him back. I mean, if I can
01:55:49
switch places with him and take the grave for him to live, I'd do it in a second. Remorse is important for sure.
01:55:54
Joanie Johnston also wants to know if it's the truth, but cautions that expressions of remorse at a parole
01:56:01
hearing can be difficult to judge. Is it genuine remorse? Let me tell you, there
01:56:07
is no psychological test. There is no face. There is no behavioral indicator of remorse. We don't really know if this
01:56:17
remorse is real. The parole board in 2010 turned him down again. But as the years passed, Johnston says Smith seemed
01:56:28
to be changing. You're starting to see some compassion from him for other people. So, I'm
01:56:34
seeing a little bit of hope from him. Is Eric Smith growing or is he simply refining his message? I think both.
01:56:46
Certainly parole boards have to always separate that out, which is why they're not just relying on what this inmate is
01:56:54
saying in the parole hearing. You know, thank the Lord. They're going to be looking at all this person's history.
01:57:01
What has this person done or or not done in the two years since he's been here? They're looking at the parole interview
01:57:09
as one piece of that puzzle. But for the Roies, decades of endless parole hearings have taken a toll. It's
01:57:17
not fair that we have to keep doing this. Did you ever lose the energy to keep going with this? I I can't anymore.
01:57:28
Yeah. That I mean, he would say, "But we're doing it for him in his memory." And I'm like,
01:57:35
"You're right." And I know that some people probably think, "Geez, you should just get over this." and and move on.
01:57:43
But any parent that has ever lost a child knows that you don't ever get over it.
01:57:52
On October 5th, 2021, 41-year-old Eric Smith went before the parole board for the 11th time.
01:58:01
You have somebody who's completed a ton of programs. He's got some more educational goals. his risk is low
01:58:09
according to risk assessment that have been done. Smith even told them he was engaged. He says his fiance was studying
01:58:16
to be a lawyer and wrote him asking about the juvenile justice system. Over time, he says they ended up falling in
01:58:25
love. Eric Smith at 13 is not the same person that he is at 31 or at 41. He has changed. We all change. You kind of go,
01:58:38
what else can he do to prove that he is no longer a danger to society? Now we're
01:58:45
at the point where it becomes, is this about punishment or about rehabilitation?
01:58:49
Breaking news. The Savona man who killed a 4-year-old boy in 1993 has been granted parole. Dale was at work when he
01:58:57
heard the news he'd been dreading for so many years and called Dorene. We found each other on the porch and gave each
01:59:04
other a hug. I have some sympathy for the people who are called upon to make that decision
01:59:15
and that's why I have such hope that they're right. At the end of the day, still a little bit of a gamble. Oh, no.
01:59:23
No. It's a huge gamble. This parole decision is a high-risk enterprise to be sure.
01:59:33
[Music] [Music] We are here as a community to stand together for justice for Derek Roby and
01:59:56
Dale and Dory Roby. Weeks after Eric Smith was granted parole, dozens gathered in Savona to
02:00:04
peacefully protest his release. They wanted to remember Derek because all the attention was now on Eric being
02:00:12
released, so they didn't want people to forget. It was very touching. Many in Savona feared Smith wanted to
02:00:22
move back to live with his mother. I wasn't so much worried about us as I was everybody else. I just knew where a lot
02:00:31
of the people in town, the village stood. You know, we don't want him here. We better not send him here. And the
02:00:38
parole board agreed. Smith's release was delayed for months until approved housing was found for him in Queens, New
02:00:45
York, more than 200 miles away from Savona. This is breaking news from News 8. Eric Smith, who's been behind bars
02:00:54
for nearly three decades, is no longer in prison. And then on February 1st, 2022 after being locked up for 28 years,
02:01:04
Eric Smith quietly slipped out of Woodburn Correctional Facility, out of view of cameras, a free man. I
02:01:12
understand why after so many years they decided to give him a chance. And that's fine, you know, for
02:01:21
him. him and his family. It would begin a new chapter for the Roies who had fought for so long to keep
02:01:29
Smith in prison. You know, he's been released, but in a way, so have we. No more parole. I can get on
02:01:40
with our lives. Now, the true healing can begin. Dorene says part of the healing process
02:01:51
has been letting go of her anger. I would rather laugh than cry any day of the week. If you let it, it's going to
02:01:58
eat you alive. The anger. Yes. The Robies say they choose not to think about Eric Smith, but instead focus on
02:02:06
friends and family, especially their son Dalton, now 30. You have to find the joy
02:02:12
in life. You have to enjoy each other because life is way too short and just [Music]
02:02:21
live. August 2nd, the day we lost him, we always try to go do something fun. White ice cream with
02:02:34
sprinkles. That's what Dererick called vanilla. So we try to do a wherever we are, we have to go have
02:02:44
Mhm. We have to go find ice cream. Even though it's sad, it's happy, you know. As for Eric Smith, since his release,
02:03:00
we've been unable to contact him. But in 2009, he told WNY TV he had big plans for his future. I want to, you know, get
02:03:10
married, raise a family, you know, hold down, you know, a job, pursue the American dream.
02:03:22
He also said he wanted to counsel kids who've been bullied just like he had been. The question is, will Eric Smith
02:03:29
be a success story or somebody that we're pointing to and saying system blew it with that one? That's that's exactly
02:03:38
right. I keep going back to my hope. Time will tell. Back in the summer of 1993, to honor
02:03:47
Derek Roby, volunteers, including Eric Smith's greatgrandfather, bulldozed the scene of
02:03:54
the crime and put in a new ball field in memory of the little te-ball player. Watch the ball, hun.
02:04:04
Today, up on the hill watching over the field is a statue of Derek. It was sculpted by Dorene's uncle and funded by
02:04:12
people from all over the country. Dedicated to be a gentle reminder of what childhood is meant to be. Derek J.
02:04:25
Roby. All right, here comes the little bear. I love that he's the only person in town
02:04:34
that has a statue. A lot of people called him the mayor of Savona because he was
02:04:41
busy on the corner. He's pretty well known at four years and 10 months. Yes. He just he was so much fun. He he
02:04:51
just was a great kid. [Music] 48 hours. Don't miss an episode. [Music]