00:00:00
[Music] All rise. Court statements show that on March 13th, 2003, David Lee was killed by a single gunshot
00:00:15
wound to his forehead. North County 911. Help me. Help me. My husband's hurt himself. The report uh on the 911 call
00:00:24
was that he had shot himself. Gentleman's laying in a bed. guns laying beside him. Look, look right here.
00:00:32
Here's another hole. He's fired more than once. Look right over above his head there. There's also a shot into the
00:00:37
bed, which is a little suspicious in itself. There was more than one shot. And while that's not unheard of, well,
00:00:43
it didn't look like a suicide scene. And the state will show that the person who
00:00:47
delivered that fatal blow was the defendant Reel Lee. He was shot almost in the middle of his forehead, but right
00:00:55
above his his left eye. There were no signs of forced entry. There were no signs of a struggle. And there was no
00:01:01
one else at the residence but the defendant. Can you connect Rella to that weapon?
00:01:11
Fingerprints? Anyone see or pick up the gun? No. To any of the bullets that were
00:01:16
used in that gun? No. That's a problem, isn't it, in this case? [Music] Everything good about this woman was
00:01:28
twisted. Everything good about this woman was turned around to be evil. There's not any real evidence to suggest
00:01:39
a homicide. And if I were to pull the trigger in this direction, I could strike myself the left eyebrow. Am I
00:01:49
right? Yes, you could. There was only one person who who wanted to harm David and at that point it was David. He was
00:01:56
acting suicidal. And he makes his decision and he takes aim. He's a great lawyer. He's super
00:02:05
prepared. Fantastic lawyer. Fantastic. A bad actor. I just tried to focus on the evidence
00:02:14
and where that was leading me. It was hard for me to determine. You'll tell me if that's approximately 1 ft. Where we
00:02:22
were going with certain things and trying to piece those things together. Decide each line is an individual stain.
00:02:29
But you're not making a decision just by yourself. You're making a decision as a
00:02:32
group. This is a decision never to be taken lightly. And I assure you that this court takes this responsibility
00:02:40
very seriously. [Music] As a senior judge, most every case that I try is somewhat controversial. Now, in
00:02:50
this case, it's it's kind of simple. If it was a homicide, did the evidence show
00:02:58
that Rainella Leaf committed the homicide? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I really could not believe what he
00:03:05
was saying as he said it. You're not quite sure if this is really where this is going. I personally have studied
00:03:14
every shred of evidence or testimony just like you have. Oh, I got to breathe. No matter where we think we're going
00:03:24
here, that can't be how this ends. [Music] [Music] 48 hours. The widow on Sway Road
00:04:03
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
00:04:12
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Inside this courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee, let the record
00:04:21
reflect that all the jurors are in the box. And uh all parties are are are present.
00:04:29
A real life drama is taking place that rivals any southern gothic novel. I'm Josh Hedrickk. We haven't met before,
00:04:37
have we? No, we haven't. It's a pleasure. This is not a story that would happen in a sleepy New England town.
00:04:44
It's too southern. He would bring her a rose once a week and they would go out to dinner. There is the gentility.
00:04:54
With your permission, I'll remove my coat because I had some difficulty with it previously. And underneath that very
00:05:02
respectable surface, it seems like everything's rotting to the core. Unless you really know what's
00:05:10
inside somebody's mind. If I were to then place it here, you don't really know why they do what they do, do you?
00:05:22
Best-selling author Diane Fanning has written about this case and the players. This is something that a fiction writer
00:05:31
would write about. Give us your name, please, ma'am. Rainella Leaf. Rainella Leath, a 68-year-old
00:05:44
grandmother, is at the center of this extraordinary tale. Have you decided whether or not you wish to testify in
00:05:50
your trial? I do not wish to testify. Very well. You've got an unbelievable character. There were people she knew in
00:05:59
college who said, "Well, she was great. She was a lot of fun. as long as she didn't cross her.
00:06:06
[Music] And ever since 2003, the former nurse has been the prime suspect in the death
00:06:14
of her second husband, David Le. Help me. Help me. My My husband hurt himself. It was Rainella's 911 call on the
00:06:24
morning of March 13, 2003 that sent police rushing to the Leaf home. This is Detective Morris with the
00:06:34
sheriff's department. We're out on a uh possible suicide, gunshot wound. These are audio and video recordings made by
00:06:44
police at the scene. No sign of a nose or anything lying around anywhere. Listen to investigators
00:06:52
as they begin wondering about that death called in as a suicide. The guns laying next to his left hand
00:07:00
which is curled underneath him. We got three fired rounds. What I have a problem with is one is where the rounds
00:07:08
at and the way he's lay. I'm not saying it it stinks. I'm just saying it strikes. Detectives wanted to establish
00:07:15
where Rella had been all morning and she agreed to talk. the only time she's spoken on the record. She remembers
00:07:22
watching television with her husband David that morning before leaving his breakfast on the nightstand.
00:07:29
He kissed me goodbye and he said if I'm not here when you get back I'll be at the Y. I said okay. It
00:07:39
was close to 9:30 she says when she headed to the hospital to visit her mother-in-law. Just call fourth floor. I
00:07:47
can tell you. When she arrived home shortly after 11, she found her husband laying in a bloody
00:07:56
bed with a gunshot to his head. I could tell something was wrong when I looked at him. I mean, I've worked in
00:08:04
emergency. I know. Where'd he keep his gun at? I don't know where that gun is from. I've
00:08:11
never seen that gun in my whole life. The gum was believed to have belonged to David's parents.
00:08:20
David's sudden death left Reinella a grieving widow for the second time. Her first husband, Ed Dosset, had died 11
00:08:29
years earlier. Reinella and Ed met at East Tennessee State University where she was on the rifle team and studying
00:08:37
to be a nurse. He planned to go to law school. What drew those two together? Reella was such a confident woman. She
00:08:47
had presence and I think that Ed was really drawn to that. They married and moved to Ed's 165 acre family farm in
00:08:58
the tight-knit community of Sway just outside Knoxville where they raised cattle
00:09:05
and three children, Maggie, Eddie Jr., and Katie. Rainella was extremely protective of her children. They became
00:09:14
the power couple in town when Ed was elected Knox County District Attorney General. Reanella was director of
00:09:22
nursing at Park West Hospital. But their lives took a tragic turn when at the age of 43, Ed was diagnosed with
00:09:31
terminal cancer. 9 months later, he died not from his illness, but in a freak farming accident.
00:09:40
But Reinella wasn't a widow for long. Six months later, she shot friends and family when she remarried. David Leath
00:09:49
was a local barber. And Ed Dosit's best friend and neighbor. She fixed his food and start his car in the morning and she
00:09:58
just treated him like a king. David's daughter Cindy Wilkerson and his cousin Beth Roberts say the whirlwind romance
00:10:06
was all the talk in Sway. What do you think he saw in Rainella? She's charming. I said to my mother, I thought
00:10:14
he'd hit the jackpot with this girl because she was so pretty and so interesting. I just thought this is
00:10:22
going to be a great fit. But Reella's newfound happiness was short-lived. Less than 2 years after she remarried, her
00:10:30
11-year-old son was killed in a car crash. She was very sad and very, very heartbroken.
00:10:39
Cindy says she began seeing changes in Reinella and her father's relationship. They didn't seem as happy as they were
00:10:46
when they first got married. 5 years later, more heartbreak. David was hospitalized. He began seeing a
00:10:54
neurologist for signs of dementia and depression. In early 2003, Reella says David's
00:11:01
behavior became more erratic. Concerned, she began making notes in a private journal. On January 19th, she wrote,
00:11:09
"Dave hateful today. I cried and cried." 3 days later, things hadn't improved. "Dave hateful, controlling, his way or
00:11:20
no way. I cried." Seven weeks after writing those words, David was dead. What did you think had happened to your
00:11:29
dad? Somebody had shot him, but I knew that he didn't do it. [Music] Do you miss your dad
00:11:53
every day? Every haircut, every styling in the middle chair at this Knoxville barber
00:12:01
shop reminds Cindy Wilkerson of her father, David Le. It's the same chair he used for 39 years. My dad was fun,
00:12:12
loving, caring, and it's a joy to use the same chair he did. Cindy inherited the chair in 2000 when
00:12:23
her father suddenly retired at the age of 54. What he kept secret were all those
00:12:29
visits to the neurologist. If he was suicidal over dementia, Cindy never saw it. When Reinella said your dad
00:12:39
committed suicide, did you initially think, well, well, maybe he did, but it's just hard to believe. No, I never
00:12:46
did think that my dad was scared to death of guns, and I knew that he couldn't have done that. And Cindy
00:12:53
questioned why her right-handed father would have used his left hand to shoot himself above his left eye. He was
00:13:00
totally blind out of that eye. As her doubt soared, so did her suspicions about her stepmother's role. And she
00:13:09
wasn't alone. Within 24 hours, Dr. Darinka Malusnik, the Knox County Medical Examiner, discounted Reella's
00:13:18
claim of suicide and ruled David Lee's death a homicide. Reella became the focus of attention.
00:13:27
It was clear to David's family what should happen next. Investigation, indictment,
00:13:35
trial. But it doesn't. I know. Not even close. Remember Ranella was the widow of a district
00:13:43
attorney general. Crime writer and 48 hours consultant Diane Fanning says that was the problem. Almost everybody
00:13:52
working in that office either worked with Ed knew Ed or knew Reinella. There was a conflict of interest. Finding an
00:14:01
outside prosecutor to take the Leath case dragged on, making things more difficult. No one could figure out the
00:14:10
motive. Murder doesn't always make sense. Cindy was becoming more and more frustrated. She wanted something to be
00:14:21
done about her father's murder. With the criminal case stalled in March 2006, Cindy filed a civil suit against
00:14:30
Reinella to stop her from inheriting David's estate. Prosecutors took notice. Three and a half years after David Lee's
00:14:39
death, Reanella was charged with his murder. And that's when old suspicion surfaced about the death of her first
00:14:47
husband. Ed Dosset had been found in a field in July 1992, surrounded by his cattle. He had
00:14:57
apparently been trampled to death. Did anyone wonder about how Ed Doss died? Yes, the reports were an agricultural
00:15:12
accident, but some folks in the community had a problem with that scenario. Ed grew up
00:15:19
on a farm. For him to have been trampled by his own cattle, that just didn't make
00:15:24
sense. What's more, folks wondered how Ed, weak with cancer and heavily medicated, even
00:15:32
managed to get all the way from his house to the cattle. He died in a way that almost sounded like something you'd
00:15:41
hear on a soap opera. Diane Fanning says there had been a theory going around Sawway that Doss's
00:15:49
death was actually about insurance. Rainella and the kids would get a bigger payout if it was an accident instead of
00:15:57
cancer. It might have even been Ed Doss's idea himself. Couldn't it have been? It could have been Ed Dos's idea
00:16:04
and that's what stopped some of the other people from wanting to pursue it because if Ed knew he was about to die,
00:16:12
but he wanted his family to be more secure financially, he might have said, "Take me out there.
00:16:20
Let the cows trump on me. Nearly a year after Ray Nella was charged with David Lee's murder, the same medical examiner
00:16:29
who ruled that death a homicide reviewed Ed Doss file. Dr. Malucus determined it
00:16:36
wasn't cattle that killed him. It was a morphine overdose. It was a huge story. The widow of a
00:16:46
district attorney general was now charged with murdering two husbands. Reella was now being described as a
00:16:54
black widow even though she had never gone to trial on any death. No, it was just suspicions were gathering around
00:17:04
her. Which is why Diane Fanny called her book her deadly web. Is it possible that
00:17:11
Relo is just a very unlucky woman? Yeah, but coincidence makes me itchy. Prosecutors decided to try her for David
00:17:25
Lee's murder first. In 2009, 6 years after his death, Reanella finally went on trial. But it turns out that was only
00:17:35
the beginning. The jury deadlocked 11 to1 11 to1 to convict. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial. It was
00:17:46
here in Knox County, so it it wasn't shocking to me. A year later, Reella was back in court
00:17:54
for trial number two. The case was the same, but this time jurors were unanimous.
00:18:02
Reinella was convicted of firstdegree murder and sentenced to life in prison. I felt like justice had been served and
00:18:14
I was happy. So were prosecutors. With Reinella behind bars, they dropped the murder charges for the death of her
00:18:25
first husband, Ed Doset. Never expecting what came next. I would describe her as
00:18:32
lucky. Very lucky. After she served six years, Reella's conviction was tossed out. The reason,
00:18:43
the trial judge had been seriously impaired with a drug addiction and was kicked off the bench. What was your
00:18:50
reaction when you heard the verdict had been overturned? I was devastated. Couldn't believe it.
00:18:59
14 years after the death of David Le call the jury in please. It's now trial number three. Statements show that on
00:19:07
March and prosecutor Steve Crump's turn to try Rainella Le. Is there a way to describe this case? I'm snake bit
00:19:16
because what can go wrong will go wrong. [Music] It's May 2017. [Music] Everyone is ready.
00:19:41
The trial, one of the last of Senior Judge Paul Summer's career, is set to begin.
00:19:51
First to present, District Attorney General Steve Crump in what all sides hope will be the last trial in this
00:20:00
case. The person who delivered that fatal blow was the defendant, Rainella Leaf. He
00:20:08
argues Reella's murderous plan unraveled the moment she fired that first shot and
00:20:14
missed. Once she missed, it changed the whole dynamic. She ended his life with that second shot and then in an attempt
00:20:20
to cover up, she fired that third shot to get gunshot residue on him. You're describing a pretty coldblooded killer.
00:20:28
Yes, that's what I think she is. We'll show you what's been marked previously as exhibit 36 and ask if you can
00:20:35
identify that. For the prosecution, the gun, a Colt 38 police special revolver, reveals some of the most important
00:20:44
clues. May I step down? Don Carman is a former Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
00:20:50
agent. Like I say, it's a very old, simple firearm. However, very effective. This picture of the cylinder was taken
00:20:58
at the scene. The three fired rounds have small indentations or hammer strikes in the center of the casing. The
00:21:06
unfired rounds do not. For each particular shot, it goes to the next chamber. As you look at it right now, it's going
00:21:17
clockwise. Yes, your honor. Prosecutors say that clockwise rotation of the cylinder tells
00:21:25
the order of the shots. The first cartridge fired would be this one. The second would be this one,
00:21:35
and the third would be this one. The first two cartridges are from silver Remington bullets. Fragments of those
00:21:45
were found in the wall and David Lee's head. But the third is different. It's a gold Winchester found shot through the
00:21:53
mattress. If that gold bullet was fired last, as the prosecution believes, that means it came after David Leath was
00:22:01
already shot in the head, severing his brain stem. Knox County Medical Examiner Dr. Dinka Malusnik. Was David Lee
00:22:12
in any way capable of any sort of voluntary movement after that bullet transsected his brain? None whatsoever.
00:22:24
Next, prosecutors turn to the blood spatter. These round drops of blood on the wall tell investigators that David's
00:22:32
head had to be raised nearly a foot above the mattress when the bullet was fired. The only way that all of this
00:22:40
works together is that if Rel is standing at the side of the bed and she misses with that first shot, and we know
00:22:48
that the first shot was the one that went into the headboard, he raises up, the second shot occurs, and he falls
00:22:54
straight back down to where he was found. You cannot lay in this bed and face that direction and get that blood
00:23:00
spatter on the wall. Blood doesn't turn corners. But the defense insists that the same evidence
00:23:10
points to David Leath as the shooter. Multiple shot suicides are not impossible.
00:23:19
They happen. Reella's team consists of Knoxville criminal attorney Josh Hedrickk along
00:23:29
with Rebecca Lrand, a Washington DCbased lawyer with a background in science. She was taking care of a sick husband
00:23:40
who she loved. And for that to get twisted into what it did is is upsetting. She's got hope that the
00:23:46
justum system isn't so broken that it won't eventually realize the truth, which is that she's an innocent woman.
00:23:52
With no clear motive presented by the state, the defense starts with those three shots. Each and every one of these
00:24:00
shots could have been accomplished by David Leaf himself. and then raises doubts to Don Carman about the order of
00:24:09
those three shots. You don't know for certain whether the gun was opened or the cartridges manipulated prior to that
00:24:17
photo being taken? I do not. And as a result, you're unable to say with any degree of scientific certainty what
00:24:25
order the shots were fired in. That's correct. Because in my discipline, they would be not testable.
00:24:37
But even if the prosecution's order of shots is correct, Kentucky State Medical Examiner and defense consultant Dr. Greg
00:24:46
Davis says David Leath still could have been the shooter. I'll give it to you. It's unusual. But
00:24:54
to say because of that it has to be a homicide, I just can't go that far. There is a phenomenon called cataaric
00:25:02
spasm where a person can actually their hands can squeeze immediately upon death. What would you have ruled this? I
00:25:10
would have ruled this undetermined which is what he believes Dr. Malusnik should
00:25:15
have done in this case. Remember within 24 hours of David Lee's death, Dr. Malucus called it a homicide. She had
00:25:25
not yet seen records from his neurologist or received a complete medical history. Didn't have toxicology,
00:25:32
didn't have ballistics, didn't have medical records. It went from, "Can we figure out what happened?" to, "Can we
00:25:41
prove this was a homicide?" In a previous trial, Dr. Malusk testified that medications found in David's system
00:25:48
would have rendered him, and I quote, incapacitated. In other words, he would have been
00:25:54
unable to kill himself. But in trial number three, Dr. Musnik did not repeat that claim. I'm glad that she reassessed
00:26:05
and didn't try to make the same claims about toxicology at the third trial, but it's 6 years too late for my client. Dr.
00:26:13
Malusnik declined 48 hours request for an interview. But in Reinella's third trial, she stands firm that David Lee's
00:26:22
death was a homicide. I was very confident and um 14 years later, I'm even more so confident. Yes.
00:26:35
Dr. Davis, can you say unequivocally that she didn't kill her husband? No, I cannot. But there's not enough evidence
00:26:42
to say she did it. Right. As a forensic pathologist, at least on the evidence that I've been privy to, there's no way
00:26:49
on earth I think she's guilty. But there is information Dr. Davis was not privy to. If anybody has any doubts as to
00:26:59
whether David was murdered by Renella, maybe they need to talk to Steve Walker. Well, I see a killer cuz she tried to
00:27:05
kill me. [Music] In a final and dramatic attempt to convince a jury of suicide, the defense
00:27:27
brings the blood stained bed to the courtroom, still preserved. If the record could reflect, I'm pointing to
00:27:34
the hole in the middle of the headboard. Defense forensic expert Celia Hartnett.
00:27:39
I've marked the portion where shows jurors how David Leath could have fired all three shots.
00:27:46
If I were to lie in bed and I were to aim at my head and pull the trigger and miss high and create this. Yes. And then
00:27:57
frustrated that I've missed sat up and pulled the trigger. It would enter my head here. Yes. And then if I
00:28:07
fell and my hand squeezed again, it would be consistent with this direction. Uh not just with the
00:28:15
direction, but also with the distance. We're not saying we know exactly what happened. We're just saying we know
00:28:20
there are multiple ways that all of this makes sense that don't have anything to
00:28:24
do with the homicide. There was only one person who who wanted to harm David. And at that point, it was
00:28:31
David. He was acting with his physicians suicidal. He's becoming useless. And a proud man doesn't want to be
00:28:42
useless. But for the prosecution, the most incriminating evidence isn't at the crime scene.
00:28:52
It's at the barber shop where Reinella called Cindy Wilkerson on the morning of the shooting.
00:29:00
Reella had already left David at home. She made the call from Park West Hospital where she was visiting David's
00:29:07
mother. She asked me if I had seen my dad and that he had went to work out on an empty stomach. Was that normal? No.
00:29:18
She never called me at work. That was the first indication on March 13th, 2003 that anything was unusual about David
00:29:27
Lee. The prosecution says the call was part of Reinella's elaborate alibi to prove
00:29:35
she wasn't at home with David, but they say she miscalculated. Remember, Rainella told police she put
00:29:44
breakfast by the bed and left the house around 9:30. She made the call to Cindy just 20
00:29:51
minutes later. There would have been no reason to say, "Have you seen him?" There would have
00:29:57
been no reason to ask if he had worked out. And there certainly would have been no reason to say he didn't eat his
00:30:02
breakfast because there's no way she could have known that unless she had been there. And unless the only reason
00:30:07
she knew he hadn't eaten breakfast was because he was dead. Have you seen your father today? That's
00:30:14
the question the prosecution once burned into juror's minds as both sides make their final case. It's the only
00:30:23
explanation. Ranella Leaf is guilty of the first-degree premeditated homicide of David Lee.
00:30:30
We can't say that the facts exclude the theory that David Le shot himself as I demonstrated for you. Be as diligent as
00:30:37
you have been since we started and to return a verdict of not guilty. Murder David Le.
00:30:44
As all eyes turn to the jury, there are things about Reella Le they'll never hear. They don't know about Ed Dosset.
00:30:53
And they don't know about Steve Walker. I'm a crouton on a real big salad here. And this is a big salad in this town.
00:31:02
Steve Walker's ex-wife was Ed Dosset's secretary. Their relationship, as it turns out, was more than just
00:31:10
professional. In 1995, 3 years after Ed's death, Steve found out during divorce proceedings that the
00:31:19
son he raised was actually Ed Doss's biological child. It came as a terrible shock to Steve and Reella.
00:31:29
I mean, in some ways, you felt that you were on her side. Uh, Ray Ellis. Yes. I thought we was on the same team. He
00:31:36
could not have been more wrong. According to a police report filed by Rainella on the morning of May 26 of
00:31:44
that year, she found Steve quote acting psychotic near Ed's grave on the farm. Probably trying to piss on my husband's
00:31:54
grave. She told police she began firing warning shots into the ground to chase him away
00:32:03
and that Steve then took the weapon and fled on foot. But when Steve filed his own report, he told a very different
00:32:13
story. He says that same morning, Ranella picked him up at the auto shop where he
00:32:19
works and drove him to the farm to talk about the affair. Till I seen the gun, we was as friendly as me and you right
00:32:27
now. When they got to Rainella's barn, Steve says she suddenly pulled out a revolver.
00:32:36
In a police interview, Steve told investigators Rainella then said, "I'll kill you, son of a [ __ ] Then I'll
00:32:44
raise the sun." She had a tail around her hands and she comes up with it and starts shooting.
00:32:54
But the former marksman missed. Steve started running but tripped and fell. I'm defenseless. She said, "I used
00:33:03
to be a better shot there, but I can hit you from here." And she aimed that gun and I closed my
00:33:10
eyes. She pulled the trigger. I I knew I was gone. But the gun click was out of bullets.
00:33:17
There was no doubt in my mind. If she hadn't run out of bullets, I'd be dead. The police believed Steve Walker's
00:33:25
story. And Rainella was arrested and charged with attempted murder, but she took a deal and plead guilty to a lesser
00:33:33
charge of assault. After six years, her record was cleared. Why would she plead guilty? It's the same thing I would have
00:33:41
told her is this is a plea that will get expuned. There is no jail time. Take this deal and walk away. Reella Leaf did
00:33:51
walk away. And I thank you for your time and attention. and Miss Lee thanks you for your time and attention. 22 years
00:33:57
later, she's hoping to walk away again. But as the jurors are ready to have their voices heard as jurors, you are
00:34:09
the ones that will decide the case. Something happens that no one sees coming. If you can picture like a
00:34:18
cartoon, you know, of someone's jaw hitting the floor. [Music] I really really tried to pay attention
00:34:31
and and took notes. So, I was really looking forward to deliberating. With her daughter by her side, Rela Le
00:34:41
arrives at court for the final time. Let the record reflect that all parties are
00:34:45
present in the courtroom, including the defendant before the jurors can decide her fate.
00:34:52
There's just one more piece of business. If it please the court, it's a defense motion called a rule 29. Pursuant to
00:35:00
rule 29, a routine request made in nearly every trial to throw out the case for lack of evidence.
00:35:08
In most cases, the judge simply denies the motion and gives the jurors the case. Only two words are required.
00:35:15
Either motion granted or motion denied. But then, like so many times in the story of Rella Le, something completely
00:35:26
unexpected happens. In short, the state has failed to meet their burden. The defendant's motion for judgment of a
00:35:34
quiddle is granted. The defendant, Rainella Leaf, is not guilty. Case against Rainella Leaf is dismissed.
00:35:44
Not guilty. The judge on his own acquits Reel Le of murder after 14 years of suspicion,
00:35:56
six years behind bars, and three hardfought trials. Just like that, it's all over. As the defense celebrates,
00:36:07
she's free. She's done. The end. David Lee's daughter, Cindy, sits stunned. The prosecution does, too. I don't
00:36:16
understand it. I don't have an explanation. And under Tennessee law, there's no appeal either because the
00:36:23
judge made his extremely rare decision before the jury began deliberations. Put your money. These jurors, initially
00:36:32
shocked, become angry. We were just used. I mean, they just used us as set pieces pretty much. If Judge Summers was
00:36:41
so convinced that he was right about the evidence, why not let us deliberate it? And how do
00:36:48
you explain that? I can't. Only Judge Summers can. So, we asked Judge Summers, now retired,
00:36:57
to make his case to 48 hours. and he agreed strictly based on the evidence that I
00:37:04
heard on both sides, but particularly on the state side, if I'd have been the district attorney general, I would not
00:37:10
have brought the case to trial. Did you choose to do this? To end this case, to finally end this case? Yes, you did. I
00:37:17
did. When I realized the evidence was legally insufficient, I decided to end this case by doing my job and granting
00:37:24
the motion for judgment of a quiddle. Judge Summers believed that there was enough evidence for the jury to decide a
00:37:30
homicide may have occurred, but he was convinced the prosecution didn't meet its burden to prove that Reanella Le had
00:37:39
the time or the opportunity to commit it. There was no gunshot residue found on her clothes or around her. Uh she had
00:37:47
an alibi that the state could not prove the time of death. the evidence was clearly insufficient to show that she
00:37:56
was the perpetrator of the crime. And finally, the the there was no evidence to show that she was even the last
00:38:03
person ever to see David Le alive. If you were so sure that there wasn't enough evidence for the jury to convict
00:38:11
her beyond a reasonable doubt, wouldn't the jury have come to the same conclusion? I was simply doing my job,
00:38:18
not trying to pass the book to the jury. Judges sometimes make these extraordinary decisions when they fear
00:38:25
jurors might be swayed by emotion and not evidence. And that may have been a factor in this case. While we will never
00:38:34
know for sure what the whole jury would have done, we have a clue. If you had gotten to vote, how would you have
00:38:41
voted? Guilty. How would you have voted? Guilty. How would you have voted? Guilty. Do you feel Rayell Le got away
00:38:48
with murder? I absolutely feel she got away with murder. For William Mcichael, Jesse Caps, and Michael Persano, it was
00:38:56
the gun that pointed to Rainella as the killer. There's no way David Lee fired that third shot. And you don't believe
00:39:04
the defense witness who said, "Well, you can have this spasm after death that pulled the trigger the third time."
00:39:11
That's fantasy. What most convinced you, Jesse, that this wasn't just a murder, but that Rainella Leaf was the one who
00:39:18
killed her husband. When Joshua Hedrickk was sitting on that bed and he was twirling that cylinder on that gun,
00:39:27
a burden to my family, it was just so corny. A proud man doesn't want to be a burden. It was fake. He was trying so
00:39:34
hard. After that, I was like, "All right, this they're trying so hard that it's so obvious now." It wasn't just
00:39:41
these three. They say shortly after the judge's decision, a majority of jurors gathered near the courthouse and came to
00:39:50
the same conclusion. Admittedly, they did not deliberate, but they would have found her guilty.
00:39:58
Um, does that make it worse? Yeah, I guess so in some ways, but in another sense, it tells me I did the right
00:40:04
thing. And more importantly, our work as trial attorneys was spot on. For David Lee's family, it's little
00:40:14
consolation. He stole that verdict from the family, from the prosecution, from the jury. It
00:40:23
was a theft. Some in this town will always call her a black widow, but for Rainella Le, none
00:40:32
of that matters. How do you feel, Reella? How do you feel? Do you want to talk to us? Because as she leaves
00:40:37
courtroom number two, how are you doing, Rainella? You guys weren't worried about
00:40:42
her before, so leave her alone now. She walks away a free woman. Do you have any
00:40:47
Please leave my mom alone. Did it cross your mind you might be letting a killer go free? You know, there's a difference
00:40:54
between being not guilty and being innocent. If the state does not prove its case, they are found not guilty.
00:41:03
doesn't say that they're innocent. So, you're not saying that Reella Leaf is innocent. You're saying not guilty.
00:41:13
There are two entities of which I'm aware that know the answer to that question.
00:41:21
One is the good Lord above and the other one is the defendant Rayella Le. [Music]
00:42:11
My name is Reggie Reed. Salonia Reed is my mother and Regginal Reed Senior is my father. My mother, she
00:42:21
was the love of my life, my first love. And I was her everything. It was very rare I wasn't by her side.
00:42:33
Take me back and tell me what you remember about that day. That day we went to the mall. That's one of the
00:42:41
things to do in Hammond. Just go to the mall. Even though if you're not buying anything, window shop, if you will. Went
00:42:47
to the mall, came home, and my mom went out and she never came home. My beeper went off and it was Reginal
00:43:01
and he asked me had I seen Salonia and I said no not since yesterday. I was a patrol officer for the H police
00:43:10
department. I was dispatched to a missing person's call on Apple Street in Hammond, Louisiana. The complainant,
00:43:18
Reginald Reed, explained to me that his wife had left home the night before and had not returned and he was concerned
00:43:27
and wanted to file a missing person's report. I had received a description of the car from Reginald.
00:43:35
I started to drive a range road and I noticed the car, walked up to the car and noticed
00:43:46
Salonia's body inside the car. It was very, very, very obvious that she was deceased.
00:43:56
Salonia was 26 years old at the time. When I watched the crime scene video and saw Salon's body in that car,
00:44:04
immediately I was sad. I was mad. It was pretty apparent to me right away that whoever did this homicide hated this
00:44:12
woman. So I called Regina back. I says, "Regina, have you heard anything?" He told me, he said, "Yes." He said they
00:44:22
found her in her car. And he said that she was dead. And that was I was interviewed after she was murdered
00:44:39
as a six-year-old. Okay. Can you tell me your name? What's your name? When I watch that video over and over
00:44:47
again. Okay. The day before Sunday, what would you do? What I see is a a six-year-old boy that
00:44:59
that life has been ch changed. He doesn't understand the magnitude of it yet. [Music]
00:45:15
And you're asking me, you trying to find out who killed my mother. Do you remember seeing her?
00:45:23
You did. Anytime a young woman Salon's age is killed the way she's killed, I think most people right away would
00:45:30
assume the husband did it, right? And that's the easy way. That's the stereotypical way.
00:45:36
But it's also not out of the realm of possibility that this was some killing for another reason. From that day on, my
00:45:42
life changed forever. It just begs a question why [Music] [Music] After my mother was murdered, things
00:46:37
moved fast. couldn't really understand like why would somebody kill her? Like what did
00:46:47
she do? It's been decades since Reggie Reed Jr. last saw his mother Salonia. I feel like I missed out on a huge part
00:46:56
of life that I'll never get back. Reggie was only 6 years old on August 22nd, 1987.
00:47:04
One of the last things he remembers is his mother buying him a chocolate chip cookie here at the Hammond Square Mall
00:47:11
in Louisiana. He told police his mother kissed him when she left the house later that
00:47:16
night. But the rest, he says, is a blur. When you think about that, what does that feel like? When I think about how
00:47:27
my mother's life was shortened and how my experience was shortened, I feel empty. If somebody says to you, "Who is
00:47:35
Salonia?" What do you say? Someone asked me, "Who is Salonia?" I would say, "You looking at her.
00:47:53
Because based on the description, the memories and what things people have shared.
00:48:05
When I look in the mirror, I see my mother. Reggie's memories are at the heart of
00:48:10
the memoir he's written about his mother's murder. The day my mother never Came home. Within these pages, you will
00:48:17
find the memories of a six-year-old boy whose mother was murdered. a 15-year-old
00:48:22
young man searching for his place in the world without the guidance and encouragement of his mother. The night
00:48:30
my mother went out and never came home, life for me and my father was basically flipped
00:48:38
upside down. Charles Muse, now retired, was the police officer who found Salonia's body
00:48:49
after taking the initial missing person's report from her husband, Reginald Reed.
00:48:56
Salonia's body was in between the bucket seats of the car with her torso over into the back seat of the car.
00:49:08
She had 16 pinpoint like stab wounds in her upper torso, shoulder, and neck. Her
00:49:14
blouse had been torn off. Her pants had been removed from her. She had been sexually assaulted as well. Louisiana
00:49:21
State Police Lieutenant Barry Ward would eventually be assigned to the case years
00:49:25
later. He was only 16 years old when Salonia was murdered. In 1987, I was a sophomore in Marshall County High School
00:49:33
in Western Kentucky. When he eventually did pick up the case file, he took note of the lack of blood in the car. It
00:49:41
would suggest that she was murdered in another location and then transported to where her body was later discovered at
00:49:47
the John's Curb Market. That market was about 1 and a half miles from the Reed House on Apple Street.
00:49:55
At the scene, Officer Muse noticed something else about Salonia's naked body. I did see a substance uh that had
00:50:04
been placed on the body. It was a white liquid type substance on her torso and stomach area.
00:50:14
Police believe the white lotion may have spelled out a word, but if there was a message, it had become illeible in the
00:50:21
Louisiana heat. The windows were rolled up. It was August at the time. It was very hot out.
00:50:28
Detectives bagged any potential evidence, including the butt of a cigarette. A Winston cigarette.
00:50:38
Police canvased the area, but Ward says they didn't find any eyewitnesses or a murder weapon.
00:50:46
The following day, on Monday the 24th, a neighbor went to his mailbox and discovered a crucifix and a screwdriver.
00:50:55
Given the nature of Salonia's injuries, police at first believed the screwdriver
00:51:00
might be the murder weapon, even though it had no visible blood on it. It was early in the investigation, and
00:51:09
detectives looked at all the angles, including Salonia's job at Citizens National Bank. She was a teller in the
00:51:16
commercial section. She was described as being polite, kind, had a nice smile. Here
00:51:24
she is taking part in a community fashion show just one week before her murder. Salonia and Reginald, who was a Marine
00:51:37
and later a car salesman, met during their high school years. Salonia was known for being devoted to little
00:51:44
Reggie, as everyone called him. But the night she disappeared, she left the six-year-old at home with his father.
00:51:51
According to what Reginald told police, he and his son uh Reginald Jr. were going to stay and play video games while
00:51:57
she went out to a local bar with her girlfriend. Officer Muse interviewed that friend who denied she and Selonia
00:52:05
had plans that night. Reginald told police he suspected Salonia had a boyfriend and admitted he
00:52:12
and his wife had personal differences. But Ward says the police found no evidence of an affair. Based on the
00:52:20
research that I had conducted, her co-workers, the people that knew her, said that she just went to work and came
00:52:26
home, that she was always seen with her little boy. The day after her body was found, investigators searched the family
00:52:35
home on Apple Street. The chief of police said that when he went in, it smelled like bleach in the house.
00:52:40
Detectives looked for evidence that Salonia may have been killed there, but all they found was a freshly vacuumed
00:52:47
carpet and the gold clasp of a necklace. Regginal gave investigators permission to interview little Reggie, the only
00:52:56
other person in the home the night of the murder. In this police video, a detective questions Reggie as his father
00:53:03
fidgets with a bean bag intended for his son. Tell me what you remember about that knife. Reggie Jr. became his
00:53:10
father's alibi. The boy said he and his father played video games and then slept
00:53:15
together in the same sofa bed on that August night. Did anybody come over? Did anybody leave?
00:53:24
Everybody stay home that night. When little Reggie agrees that everybody stayed home, his father looks at him.
00:53:34
Everybody, everybody stay home that night. Don't be afraid. Just, you know, when
00:53:43
she talk, don't be don't don't be afraid. Just we just talking. I don't want to talk.
00:53:53
She just she ask just a few more questions. You What's the matter, baby? He said he want to talk no more. Oh, you
00:53:59
don't want to talk no more? Just the emotional Yeah. part of it. Okay, that's all right. Look, didn't I tell you
00:54:06
before that I'm I'm your friend? Oh, he's here, baby. [Music] Okay, darling. I won't talk no more. You
00:54:15
don't have to. I just can't imagine what it's like as a six-year-old to have to sit there and
00:54:23
looking at that. It's still hard to believe that that's me. Watching that video just brings back so
00:54:32
so many questions and and pain because I see me crying. In the aftermath of Salonia's murder,
00:54:44
her family came forward with more information. Some of it directed at one of Regginal's friends, Jimmy Ray Barnes.
00:54:52
Turns out Barnes smoked Winston cigarettes, the same brand found in Salonia's car. And Salonia's sister,
00:55:00
Gwen Smith, said that Salonia did not like Jimmy Ray. Apparently, she knew Jimmy Ray's voice cuz she started
00:55:07
screaming, "Come inside. I don't trust him." So, she was scared of him. In the days after Salonia's murder,
00:55:31
there was one name police kept hearing. Jimmy Ray Barnes, a friend of Regginal Senior. Jimmy Ray Barnes was an
00:55:38
acquaintance of Regginal Reed. He hung out with him. He worked with him. Lieutenant Ward learned about a
00:55:45
disturbing incident at a local beach where Salonia was swimming with little Reggie just days before the murder. They
00:55:51
were on inner tubes. Jimmy flipped Salonia over. She didn't feel that it was a playful thing. She
00:55:58
felt that it was uh deliberate and intentional. Uh she was not a good swimmer and uh she said she struggled to
00:56:06
make it to the bank. The next night, her sister Gwen said Salonia became frightened when a relative who was
00:56:13
visiting Salonia spotted Jimmy Ray Barnes near her home. And she said Salon went into hysterics like, "No, no, don't
00:56:23
go out there. Don't go out there." And within a few moments, Jimmy Ray Barnes walked around the corner of the house.
00:56:29
Jimmy told her that he was checking on Stonia and she ran him off. Ward would learn that Jimmy Ray along
00:56:38
with Reginald came under even more scrutiny 2 days after the murder. A witness came forward to say she had seen
00:56:45
two men around John's Curb Market on the night Selonia was murdered. She became suspicious and later wrote down on a
00:56:52
piece of scrap paper the license plate. As it turns out, that was the vehicle that Reginal Reed was known to um
00:56:59
operate in. That was his car. Some 2 weeks later, police assembled this photo array and showed it to the witness. The
00:57:07
witness identified the driver as Reginal Reed and the passenger as Jimmy Ray Barnes. Jimmy Ray was given a polygraph
00:57:16
test and police at the time said he passed. But it wasn't long before Jimmy Ray left Hammond.
00:57:24
Reginald denied having anything to do with Salonia's murder. But neighbors told police the marriage was trouble.
00:57:31
Family members say Salonia had accused her husband of physical abuse and there was talk of divorce.
00:57:39
The police continued investigating, but prosecutors never brought the case to a grand jury. There's a lot of
00:57:45
circumstantial evidence in 1987 that pointed to Reginal Reed and Jimmy Ray Barnes. Um, as far as a a smoking gun,
00:57:52
it it it was not there at that time. I started feeling like nothing was going to be done about her murder and we would
00:58:01
not get justice. Time passed and Reginal continued to live in Hammond. He even ran for mayor
00:58:10
in 1998. Ariel Reggie Reed, number eight. You can count on me. Thank you. He lost that race, but he and little
00:58:19
Reggie stayed in the family home, which today has fallen into disrepair. So, this is it. What's it like for you to
00:58:27
just come back here? I know you don't like to, but what does it feel like? I feel numb. Yeah, I feel numb. This is
00:58:36
where it all started. You know, this is the halls I used to run. This is the TV room. This was the TV room. When you
00:58:46
were playing Nintendo with your father the night that your mother was murdered, was that here? That was in this room.
00:58:54
Reggie went on to attend college and later got an MBA. He moved out of Hammond and began working for a
00:59:01
pharmaceutical company. There were no new developments on his mother's murder until 2011 when Lieutenant Barry Ward of
00:59:10
the Louisiana State Police got involved. After I started interacting with Selonia's family, her sisters, I
00:59:18
realized how important it was. Before Barry Ward came into the picture, I just felt like nobody cared about Salon's
00:59:26
case. This was just the last opportunity I felt before more witnesses passed away
00:59:32
that we would have a chance to find justice for this terrible crime that happened to Sloania.
00:59:38
As far as Ward could determine, the crucifix and screwdriver found within days of the murder led nowhere. But the
00:59:45
detective was drawn to several life insurance policies Reginal had taken out on Salonia that paid out more than
00:59:52
$700,000. Some of those policies were taken out the same month that Selonia was murdered.
01:00:02
Ward wanted to reinter Reggie Jr. in 2012. Reggie was 31 years old and living in Texas. Ward sent a Texas Ranger to
01:00:11
begin the questioning. He told me why he was here and it was to discuss my mother's murder. And the
01:00:19
ranger then told Reggie something. He said he'd never heard before. He was not aware that his father was a suspect in
01:00:29
the murder of his mother. I was like, "Where is this coming from?" Like, it's been over three decades. You talking
01:00:36
about my dad like killed my mom. Like, seriously. I remember asking, is there any new evidence that was surfaced? And
01:00:45
it was nothing new. It's true that the insurance policies had been discovered by the original detectives, but
01:00:52
Lieutenant Ward had organized them in a way that he felt was damning. The Texas Ranger asked Reggie about those
01:00:59
policies. He showed me a graph, a timeline that showed these insurance policies that were taken out close to
01:01:07
her death. Did you all of a sudden say, "I need to get to the bottom of this or what?" It was eye opening cuz I'm like,
01:01:16
"Well, that doesn't look good. I got to learn more like what's all this." Reggie struggled to make sense of it
01:01:24
all. I did talk to my dad about it over the phone and his response was, "He he took our policies on everyone." Reggie
01:01:34
said he finds it hard to square what the investigation revealed with the loving father who raised him. I look back, I'm
01:01:41
like, man, he really he really did do some great stuff for me. He was a great provider.
01:01:50
Ward took a deep dive into the case file and focused on that Winston cigarette butt found in Salonia's car. He sent it
01:01:57
out for DNA testing, something that was not widely available in 1987. There was a match in the National Crime
01:02:05
DNA database, COTUS, but not to Jimmy Ray. It came back to a man by the name of Billy Ray Barnes. Billy Ray was Jimmy
01:02:16
Ray's identical twin brother. And the DNA supervisor had another surprise. He let me know that identical twins share
01:02:25
identical DNA. Lieutenant Ward decided he had to interview Jimmy Ray. And it turned out
01:02:32
that Jimmy Ray had been holding on to some key information all these years. Jimmy Ray Barnes did tell me that Regin
01:02:41
offered him $50,000 to quote unquote knock off his wife. [Music] In July 2012, Lieutenant Barry Ward went
01:03:04
on the hunt for Jimmy Ray Barnes, who had become a prime suspect in the Salonia Reed murder case after his DNA
01:03:12
was linked to the crime scene. Ward found Barnes in the Atlanta area, where he said Barnes told him he'd fled
01:03:20
Hammond because he was afraid of Reginal Reed. Barnes said back then he'd been shot at three times and hit once in the
01:03:27
neck. Barnes suspected the shooter was Reginal, but had no proof. Jimmy said he was known to carry a gun, but you fast
01:03:36
forward 25 now 30 years, Reginald Reed was now an old man. We are. Okay. Barnes was ready to talk
01:03:45
about Reed without a lawyer. I ain't got nothing to Barnes told Ward that a few days before Selonia was killed, Reed
01:03:54
asked him if he would quote, "Knock off his wife. Reginald asked you if you would quote by
01:04:01
your term knock off his wife and that that mean you took that to mean to kill her to murder her right. What was your
01:04:07
response to that? Hell no. Did he discuss any money with you? Yeah, he had he discussed money. Ward pressed
01:04:15
Barnes to tell him how much money. More than 5,000? Yeah. More than 10,000? Yeah. More than 50,000. 50,000. He
01:04:23
offered you $50,000. Is is that is that a guess or is that the amount he offered? That was the amount he offered.
01:04:29
But Barnes told Ward that he would not repeat the story in court. I don't trust the law no more. Ward confronted Barnes
01:04:37
about that polygraph test from the original case file. Barnes allegedly had passed that polygraph, but Ward
01:04:44
suspected Jimmy Ray secretly had asked his identical twin, Billy Ray, to take that test.
01:04:51
I talked to Billy and he said he took that polygraph test and if Billy looked like you and was
01:04:59
questioned over a murder that you took part in and he doesn't know anything about it, he's probably going to pass
01:05:05
that polygraph test. Would that be fair to say? I don't know. I'm not going to answer
01:05:10
that cuz I know I'm the one who took the polygraph test. Ward believed he had a solid case to
01:05:17
finally bring charges. He had Jimmy Ray's DNA connected to the crime scene and his videotape statement about Reggie
01:05:25
offering him $50,000 to kill Selonia. But Ward said prosecutors always wanted more. I would get phone calls through
01:05:34
the years from prosecutors who had asked me to rein family members, find out additional information, test more
01:05:40
evidence. It was busy work. Then in 2018, a newly hired prosecutor, Taylor Anthony, got assigned the case.
01:05:52
Why reopen a 35year-old case? What was the trigger? Well, why reopen it? It's an interesting question. This was a case
01:06:00
to me right away when I looked at it that there was a story to be told. Anthony was impressed by all the
01:06:07
investigative work done by Lieutenant Ward. So, he reached out. But Ward told Anthony he was too busy and that he felt
01:06:15
he'd been let down by other prosecutors. My initial response was to just get this
01:06:20
guy off the phone. He said, "Look, I've already poured hundreds of man hours into that case and y'all didn't do
01:06:25
anything." And he said, "You're wasting your time, kid. Have a nice life, basically." But Anthony was undeterred
01:06:32
and promised war that this time things would be different. I think he saw what I saw. I think that made all the
01:06:40
difference in the world. Like Ward, Anthony was sure Jimmy Ray Barnes knew a lot more. So he and Ward
01:06:47
took a road trip to Atlanta. We're able to locate Jimmy. He was staying in a camper at his employer's place. We
01:06:54
pulled up early in the morning when the sun was coming up and he was coming out of this camper putting a belt in his
01:07:00
pants and he said, "Uh, hey, who y'all looking for?" I said, "You, Jimmy." And he goes, "Oh, you again." But this time,
01:07:08
the new prosecutor had with him an agreement approved by a judge giving Barnes complete immunity if he testified
01:07:16
to everything he knew about Salonia's murder. So to the lay person, you offered him a deal. So I offered him
01:07:23
what I would say would be the golden ticket. But Barnes rejected the offer. He did not trust me. He did not believe
01:07:29
me. He did not want to talk to us. Ward and Anthony were about to drive back to Louisiana when Barnes said
01:07:36
something that took them by surprise. As Barry and I were getting back at the car, Jim Ray Barnes came over to us and
01:07:42
he said, "I want you boys to know that I'm the key to it all." And he said, "If you think you can indict me for murder,
01:07:49
then do it." Anthony was quick to take him up on that challenge. A couple of weeks later, grand jury in Tensville
01:07:56
Parish returned seconddegree murder indictments for both Regginald Reed and Jimmy Ray Barnes.
01:08:03
Immediately, we went to Reginald's home. I knocked on the door, identified who I
01:08:08
was, and that I had an arrest warrant for him for the murder of his wife. He really had no emotion.
01:08:17
The date was June 21st, 2019, more than 30 years after Salonia's murder. When Reginal was arrested,
01:08:28
it was like it's like a burden just got my chest like a burden was lifted off. I got a call that my father was indicted
01:08:41
for seconddegree murder and conspiracy along with a codefendant for my mother's murder.
01:08:51
Reggie Jr. put up his father's $250,000 bail bond. My dad being my rock for so many years, I felt the need to try to
01:09:01
help him. Now that you are both adults, did you ever ask him those questions that you have that you're questioning
01:09:07
even now as we sit here? Yeah, I asked him. I asked him and he he he maintains his innocence.
01:09:15
Sitting in another Hammond jail cell was Jimmy Ray Barnes. He now had a lawyer and asked to speak with Detective Barry
01:09:22
Ward and Taylor Anthony. So Barry and I went and met with him again, and in exchange for him telling us everything
01:09:29
he knew, he was offered a deal to plead to accessory after the fact to murder and was given a 5-year prison sentence.
01:09:35
The homicide trial of Reginal Reed was scheduled for November 2022, and Jimmy Ray had agreed to testify. Reggie Jr.
01:09:43
hoped to hear never before revealed details of what had happened to his mother. I want to know what happened.
01:09:54
[Music] In November 2022, the murder trial of Regginal Reed began in Ameat, Louisiana.
01:10:14
Reed was represented by the mother and daughter defense team of Vanessa Williams and Latoya William Simon.
01:10:21
What makes you think that he did not murder Salonia? Their entire case is circumstantial. William Simon says the
01:10:28
state's case was weak. There was no murder weapon. No fingerprints or DNA tying Reed to Salonia's homicide. I was
01:10:37
confused as to how they were really going to prove their case. There's no direct evidence.
01:10:43
But prosecutor Taylor Anthony believed his prosecution would deliver justice to Salonia.
01:10:50
The reason I became a prosecutor is to fight for people like this. I see a woman whose body's been desecrated,
01:10:56
violated, mutilated, and nobody spoke up for her and fought for her. And there's
01:11:00
a quote that I love, and it goes, "The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so for
01:11:07
them. And that's my job." Anthony told jurors about the $700,000 from the insurance policies on Salonia's
01:11:16
life. So, what was your theory once you put all these pieces together? My theory was
01:11:21
that Salon and Regginald were in a marriage that was about to come to an end. There was a history of abuse and
01:11:28
that Selonia was tired of it and she was ready to leave Reginald. I think he was
01:11:34
angry and he saw an opportunity for some money. I think that's why he killed this
01:11:38
woman. the case that they're presenting, which is this man takes out all these life insurance policies on a young,
01:11:45
healthy 26-year-old woman. What is his rationale for having done that? But they're missing the biggest part of it.
01:11:51
It wasn't just on her. It was on himself. It was on the child. It was family policies. So, it's not like he
01:11:58
just went and took out policies on Salonia only. Prosecutor Anthony was frank with
01:12:03
jurors, telling them that the state would not produce a murder weapon or the exact location where Salonia was
01:12:09
stabbed. He focused on what the prosecution did have, including that white lotion found on Salonia's body.
01:12:16
Later, police were able to find a bottle of lotion in the Reed household that matched that type of lotion that was on
01:12:22
her body. The prosecutor also showed jurors a photograph of some scratches on Reed's neck taken on the day Salonia's
01:12:29
body was found. They wanted to take photographs of his neck, and he was very hesitant. Anthony said Reed told police
01:12:36
two different stories about how he got those scratches, but after forensic testing, it was determined that none of
01:12:43
Reed's DNA was found under Salonia's fingernails. They believe that the killer is Mr. Regginal Reed. Anything
01:12:50
that goes to contradict that, they're going to completely block out. William Simon pointed to Jimmy Ray's long
01:12:56
criminal record of arrests. It couldn't be introduced at trial. And the reason why his criminal rap sheet couldn't be
01:13:02
introduced at trial is because these aren't convictions. But William Simon says Jimmy Ray's arrests were for
01:13:08
violent crimes. False imprisonment and aggravated assault, aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon, murder. These
01:13:14
are things that the jury had a right to know, but because of the law, they didn't find out.
01:13:20
Jimmy Ray Barnes ultimately took the stand as part of his plea agreement. Jimmy, will you please tell me there
01:13:28
were no cameras in the courtroom. So, this recording is taken from Barnes's police interview conducted by Ward
01:13:35
before the trial. He told the same story when he testified. On the night of the murder, Barnes said
01:13:42
he promised to meet Reed in the parking area outside John's Curb Market where Salonia's body had been found. Oh, when
01:13:49
I got there, he was getting out the little blue car. The blue car was parked there. Barn said Reginald asked for his
01:13:56
help in moving Salonia's body. I said, "No, I I wasn't getting involved in that. He wanted me to move the body and
01:14:02
I didn't want to move and I didn't move the body." Barnes says that Salonia was fully clothed when he saw her and
01:14:08
sitting in the passenger seat. I did see the body in there and uh I panicked. My
01:14:14
understanding after the fact is that Jimmy Ray Barnes talked to Reggie and said, "Where's the money? You told me
01:14:19
$50,000." He says he never got a penny of it. Prosecutor Anthony contends that after
01:14:25
the men drove away, Reed returned and staged the crime scene, stripping off Salonia's clothes, covering her with
01:14:33
that white lotion, and leaving other evidence to make it appear as a sex crime. And what does your dad say to
01:14:41
that? He say it's completely BS. He say it's it's no way. We were at home playing Nintendo.
01:14:50
William Simon had her own theory of what happened that night. All of the information that we've received about
01:14:56
Jimmy Ray Barnes is that he was borderline obsessed with Salonia. I believe that maybe he encountered her,
01:15:01
tried to make a pass at her, that was rejected, and that's where you see that anger, that rage, that hatred.
01:15:09
Sitting through the trial, Reggie admitted that the relentless focus on his mother's murder was upsetting,
01:15:16
especially as he watched that crime scene video, which he had never seen before. And it really struck a card by
01:15:22
just seeing my mother there um lifeless and just alone and dead. Regginal Reed never took the stand and
01:15:39
after less than a week of testimony, the case went to the jury. Reggie Jr. braced for the verdict.
01:16:00
[Music] As a prosecutor, when the jury deliberates, it's painstaking. You're just waiting and waiting and waiting.
01:16:09
Some of Reginal Reed's brothers and sisters were waiting as well. Kennedy Reed, Belinda Reed Cox, and Claude Reed.
01:16:18
Claude, you don't believe your brother murdered Salonia? No, I don't. I don't believe Reggie did
01:16:25
that. My brother is not a murderer. He's not. But on this day, November 18th, 2022,
01:16:34
Reginal Reed was found guilty of seconddegree murder after the jury deliberated for just over 3 hours. When
01:16:41
he was found guilty, I feel like he died without dying. And I saw myself at that same
01:16:50
six-year-old crying out for my dad as I did in that video. [Music] And I just wanted to end. Reggie tried
01:17:04
to recapture the moment his father was found guilty in his book. My father grabbed me up into a big hug. I wanted
01:17:12
to stay there forever. He pulled back for a moment, looked me in the eyes, and kissed me on the forehead. We embraced
01:17:20
once more and then they took him away from me. I wanted to tell him, "I'm sorry for the
01:17:28
loss of your mother. I'm sorry for your father going to prison." I can't even imagine the grieving process that he's
01:17:33
got to gone through. Reggie says sitting through the trial was excruciating. But when it was over, he still wanted
01:17:42
answers. That's what I passed from. Lieutenant Ward has told you that one of his
01:17:51
theories is that your mother may have been killed in this room. In this room? I just go back thinking of the manner
01:17:59
and the way which she was killed. If she was killed here, how is it possible that they couldn't
01:18:07
find anything? I mean, it's Where was I? Did you leave the house after I fell asleep?
01:18:15
questions Reggie cannot answer because he simply cannot remember. On January 30th, 2023, everyone piled
01:18:27
back into the same courtroom where Reginal Reed was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of
01:18:34
parole. He did not offer any kind of explanation or statement and said nothing. You know, I want justice, but I didn't
01:18:43
think justice was going to come at the price of my dad going to prison for life.
01:18:51
So, my question is, do you believe that your father murdered your mother? I don't know.
01:19:02
Another question. Do I think my dad had some involvement? Maybe. I don't know though. I don't know. So
01:19:12
that's where I'm just It's like a tugof-war game. Just knowing the type of father he is. I
01:19:22
can't just turn a page and just look at my father as a complete monster. Salonia's sister, Gwen Smith, always
01:19:33
believe Reginal was Salonia's killer. Although she and Reggie Jr. are estranged. She still worries about him.
01:19:42
I just kind of feel bad for him, you know, because his mom was taken away from him when he was a little boy. What
01:19:51
do you want people to know about this case? If you could sum it up for me. I know one thing. My brother did not
01:20:00
commit this murder. For Barry Ward, who worked on the Salonia Reed case for a decade, the conviction was just, and he
01:20:09
appreciates that Jimmy Ray Barnes agreed to testify. Jimmy Ray Barnes was the key. Barnes served his sentence for
01:20:16
being an accessory after the fact to murder. He was freed from prison and shortly after on January 27th, 2024, he
01:20:25
was killed in a car accident. He was in Hammond to attend the funeral of his identical twin.
01:20:37
There are several cases throughout my career that stick out to me and this is probably the the main one.
01:20:47
Charles Muse, the Hammond police officer who found Salonia's body, is pleased he
01:20:52
got to see the outcome of the case. I mean, her death, you know, didn't just go and vain. I find some peace in that.
01:21:04
You say that you wish you would have gotten to know her better, but then you realize too, you must, that she's living
01:21:14
through you, that she's here because you're here. Absolutely. And I think about that she's in a place where
01:21:24
she's consistently watching over me. As for Reggie's father, he calls Reggie from a Louisiana state prison once or
01:21:35
twice a week. This call is not private. It will be recorded and may be monitored.
01:21:42
Hey Re. Hey. How you doing, man? Good. How you? A 48 hours producer was present during a recent call. Do you think you
01:21:51
got a fair trial? No, of course not. Of course not. Was no evidence. What you got to tell us about your son?
01:22:01
Oh, remarkable. I thank the Lord for him every day that he was able to understand
01:22:08
some something that was going on, but that I would never leave him. These days, Reggie has his own family.
01:22:18
His son, Lean, is nearly the age he was when Selonia was killed, and they often play games just as Reggie did with his
01:22:26
father. And in January 2024, Reggie and his wife Paula were blessed with a baby girl.
01:22:37
When our daughter was born, we both agreed there's no other name that we should name her
01:22:46
except Salonia. You know, give that name an opportunity to live life and be recognized
01:22:54
in a positive way. Wow. It's beautiful. [Music] Something happened at the house. We are
01:23:13
very worried about your dad. A daughter's forbidden love. There's blood everywhere. Turns deadly. We found
01:23:20
several murder plans. Who's the mastermind of all of this? Where were you? 48 hours is all new CBS next
01:23:27
Saturday, 10:9 central and streaming on Paramount Plus. [Music] This is a case about betrayal, murder,
01:23:44
and a cover up. On April 16th, 1960, Irene God went to Sacred Heart Church in Macallen seeking to save her soul.
01:23:56
Instead, she was suffocated. And you're going to find out that the man who did this is John Fe.
01:24:09
There may be people who don't understand why an old man is being prosecuted. He looks like everyone's grandfather. But
01:24:17
make no mistake, this is an evil man. He was a predator. He was a wolf in priest's clothing looking to attack.
01:24:29
She was not only beautiful physically, she had a beautiful soul. I think she just loved her faith. I
01:24:39
don't think she thought of it in terms of, oh, look how religious I am. It was like, this was my life.
01:24:47
Down here, it's a primarily Catholic community and and Easter is the high holiday.
01:24:55
Irene on Holy Saturday with the church packed with everybody trying to cleanse their soul in this
01:25:02
confessional about 7:00 walked in. She would never again be seen leaving that church. They'd later find her body
01:25:14
in an irrigation canal thrown like a piece of trash. Irene was found 5 days after she disappeared. And what had the
01:25:21
killer done to her? She was uh sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, and she died of
01:25:27
suffocation. Back then, the the church was very powerful. It was unheard of to be accusing a priest. You know, you just
01:25:34
didn't do that. My father that was a deputy sheriff at that time. He approached his superior and asked him
01:25:41
why is nothing being done and he was told to just step away from the case. Just step away. Let us take care of it.
01:25:50
Did the Catholic Church in those days have the power to prevent a suspect in a murder case from being arrested? Yes.
01:26:00
The case died. It was a cold case. [Music] Is this the man that you knew as John
01:26:16
Fe? Yes. He was perhaps the key witness in the case. He assaulted her, bound her, and gagged her. As he left, he
01:26:25
could hear her saying, "I can't breathe. I can't breathe." We got a word for that
01:26:30
in Texas. What's that? There isn't any forensic evidence that affirmatively linked John Fight to this
01:26:38
crime in any way. You will see her clothing. Is there any evidence of DNA? The evidence will show you no. You will
01:26:47
see her purse. Is there any evidence of fingerprints? The evidence will show you
01:26:51
no. You will see her shoes. There wasn't enough evidence then. There won't be enough evidence now. I
01:26:59
don't expect that there'd be another case like this ever come around in my lifetime. The institution who was in the
01:27:05
business of seeking salvation was complicit in covering up this murder. It was a case worth losing. It was worth
01:27:14
taking a risk. It's a story that needed to be told. [Music] [Music] 48 hours. Sins of the Father.
01:27:41
Assistant [Music] District Attorney Mike Garza is not part of Irene Garza's family, but Irene
01:28:01
Garza's story has been part of almost everyone's life in Macallen for generations. kind of grew to folklore,
01:28:09
kind of grew of legend about a girl that, you know, went to confession and, you know, never left.
01:28:16
The story of the priest accused of killing a parishioner is finally being heard in a courtroom after nearly 60
01:28:24
years. Does your Catholicism make it more difficult for you to go after this guy? The church seeks to do good. It's
01:28:31
the men in the church and the men at that time that did wrong. It became clear that on April 16th,
01:28:40
1960, John Fe murdered Irene Gasa. He did this with malice of forethought. At 85 years old, former priest John Fe
01:28:53
hardly looks like the heartless killer the state says he was. In 1960, it was a rainy Easter Sunday.
01:29:03
Sylvia Asdo Stern was then 18 when she received some news about her childhood friend Irene that she has difficulty
01:29:13
talking about still. We were all very scared and it was just this scary unknown that someone you knew and that you loved
01:29:28
had disappeared. 25-year-old Irene Garza had gone to confession at Sacred Heart Church the
01:29:37
night before and had failed to return to her parents' home where she still lived.
01:29:43
That was not like Irene. She checked in all the time. Parishioners had spotted Irene earlier
01:29:50
that night putting on a lace veil, kneeling in a pew, and in a confession line, but no one ever said they saw her
01:29:58
leaving the church grounds. Uh, people remembered her. Whether she was your neighbor, whether your wife was jealous
01:30:05
of her, people knew her. Irene had been crowned prom and homecoming queen at the local college
01:30:16
and Miss All South Texas sweetheart. No, Pon Seagler was part of Irene's extended
01:30:24
family. Do do you remember how you felt about her? I mean, what what she meant to you? She stood out. She was elegant.
01:30:33
But Irene was far more than just a pretty face. She was a trailblazer, says her cousin, Linda Deavvenia. She and her
01:30:42
sister Josie were the first uh Mexican-American twirlers in history of Macallen High School. And then
01:30:50
ultimately she became the drum majorette, the first Mexican-American drum majorette. Irene had been the first
01:30:56
in her family to go to college and graduate school. She became a second grade teacher and chose to work with
01:31:03
Macallen's poorest students. Often times she would use part of her salary to buy
01:31:09
buy them school supplies to buy them things that they needed. And Irene was generous with her own family. Linda was
01:31:16
just nine, but she still remembers their last conversation. She had Easter baskets for us and my brother and I were
01:31:26
excited and jumping up and down because we just knew that she would not have forgotten us. But before Easter Sunday,
01:31:32
Irene had to go to confession at Sacred Heart Church. Religion played a central role in her life. Every Sunday she'd go
01:31:40
to church. Every Sunday, every Saturday she'd go to confession. It was a little bit of a family thing.
01:31:48
Irene's going to confession whether she needs it or not. You know, when she disappeared, the search for Irene Garza
01:31:55
was huge. 70 members of the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Posi, many on horseback, fanned out looking for Irene, and one of
01:32:05
them was Noamy's father. That man wouldn't even sleep trying to find Irene. Sylvia remained at the Garza home for
01:32:15
days after Irene vanished. She says at first everyone tried to hold on to hope, but then Irene's purse was found near a
01:32:26
dirt road. Is this the purse that you recall that was brought to the house? Yes.
01:32:32
The news only got worse. Just up the road, they found Irene's shoe. Is that Irene's shoe? Yes, sir.
01:32:42
And the shoe was it was a killer. Then 5 days after she vanished, everyone's worst fear was confirmed when
01:32:55
Irene's body was found floating in an irrigation canal. And I just remember her mother just dissolving. I mean, I
01:33:06
just saw her just bending over in pain. Irene was still partially dressed, but her blouse was unbuttoned and her
01:33:16
underwear was missing. The autopsy showed she had been beaten and sexually assaulted. That was showed that she was
01:33:24
killed by exfixiation, probably suffocation. At first, there were few leads at the crime scene, just an
01:33:31
imprint of Irene's pett coat on the canal bank and a partial heel print from a man's shoe. But two weeks later,
01:33:40
police discovered a curious clue. They drained the canal and on the bottom, they found this, a photo slide viewer.
01:33:52
The police turned to the public for help in identifying the owner. Two days later, they received a note from Father
01:33:59
John Fe, a visiting priest from the missionary oblates of Mary Immaculate. John Fe writes a letter saying that
01:34:08
slide viewer belongs to me. Why in the world would he tell the police, "Yeah, that's that's my slide viewer." I think
01:34:14
it was taunting. Taunting the police. Taunting the police. Police only grew more suspicious of the 27year-old priest
01:34:21
when he gave them different stories about that night. At first, he said he had not heard her confession at all. He
01:34:29
changes it by saying later, "I took her confession in the rectory." And there were other peculiarities. Fight had been
01:34:37
staying temporarily at the rectory to help with the busy Easter holiday, but he kept going back to the pastoral house
01:34:46
where he lived just a few miles away. Six times in a 24-hour period. He used excuses like breaking his glasses,
01:34:54
needing to get clean clothes, u different things that became very suspicious. And father Joseph O'Brien, the assistant
01:35:03
pastor, told police that fight had some injuries the night Irene disappeared. He noticed some scratches on his hands,
01:35:11
some scratches that ran vertically down his hands and on the top of his arms. Father fight said he had been locked out
01:35:18
of the pastoral house and had scratched his hands climbing up to the second floor balcony. They were on the back of
01:35:26
his hands and I guess this gentleman climbs the wall like this. But he said he got them climbing a wall.
01:35:33
They had a pretty good case against him. Why wasn't he arrested? He was protected
01:35:39
by by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. [Music] It's always been very difficult.
01:36:08
In the days after Irene Garza's murder, Sylvia Asdo Stern was struggling not just with grief, but also with guilt. On
01:36:17
the Saturday she vanished, Irene called Sylvia's house, hoping she could accompany her to confession.
01:36:24
But Sylvia wasn't home. That day might have been different if I had been with her.
01:36:32
She might not have gone to the rectory. But why had Irene agreed to go to the rectory that night? Your honor, at this
01:36:41
time, the state secretary would call Anna Maria Hollingsworth. A new witness, Anna Maria Hollingsworth, testified that
01:36:47
Father Fight, had pulled Irene out of the confessional before. It's not the same, she says, going to confession
01:36:54
anymore because I don't get to stay in the confessional. He had pulled her out of the confessional, told her she was
01:37:01
too good to confess in a confessional, and took her to the rectory. Anna Maria says her friend Irene seemed confused by
01:37:09
Fight's insistence. If that's true, why would she have gone with him to the rectory on that Saturday evening?
01:37:17
Because he was a priest and you didn't fear priests back then. She had no reason to suspect he was going to do
01:37:25
something violent or sexual to her. What angers Mike Garza is that he says the church had warning signs about fight.
01:37:34
Just 3 weeks before Irene was killed, a woman named Maria America Gara had been attacked in a nearby church,
01:37:44
a man that she had seen came up behind her, tried to stuff a rag in her mouth, threw her to the ground, and at that
01:37:51
point she was able to bite his finger so hard that she tasted blood in her mouth
01:37:57
and get away. Although the church suspected fight, he was not turned in. Mike Garza says a source told him the
01:38:05
solution was to send fight a few miles away to Irene's family parish. What was the point of that? I guess to keep an
01:38:13
eye on him, I guess to protect him at the time. They certainly weren't going to turn to protect him. So, did he
01:38:19
behave himself up until the time that you believe he killed Irene Garza? No. Is that what you looked like when you
01:38:27
were about 20 years old? Yes. Garza found another new witness, Beatatric Garcia, who says in the weeks before
01:38:33
Irene Garza was murdered, she had a bizarre encounter with Father Fight. I was walking to work, a car approached me
01:38:43
and I said, "Can I help you, sir?" And he said, "I would love to take a picture of you dressed in black by the
01:38:52
cemetery." And that man in the car, who was it? He was um the priest. That's him
01:38:59
right there. He liked a certain look in a woman. You know, America, Beatatrice Garcia,
01:39:09
Irene Garza, they all looked the same. America was a violent attack and maybe he got a little taste of it then and was
01:39:20
looking for his next victim. And Garza says that victim ended up being Irene. Yet despite the evidence against fight
01:39:31
at the time, the case seemed to stall. No Pon Seagler recalls finding her father, one of the original
01:39:38
investigators, very upset. One day, I saw him sitting in a chair with a white handkerchief and
01:39:46
he was crying. No says her father had been told his superiors would take over the investigation.
01:39:54
Around that time, Irene's parents got a visit from Father O'Brien of Sacred Heart Church. The church tried to plate
01:40:03
them saying, you know, even if it is him, we're going to take care of him. He would find justice within the church if
01:40:09
it was him. Irene's family had long suspected that there had been a conspiracy between the authorities and
01:40:15
the church to protect fight. They could never prove it then. I'm showing you what's been marked as states exhibit
01:40:23
108. But the state says there is proof now. I was stunned. I felt like I had a smoking gun at that point. It's a letter
01:40:34
written in 1960 from one church official to another. Garza says this is proof that the church and the Catholic sheriff
01:40:42
at the time, EE Vickers, conspired to undermine the Irene Garza investigation. At some point, the sheriff would meet
01:40:50
with the DA and explain to them what a weak case uh they had against him in an effort to get it dropped. In the letter,
01:40:57
they were concerned about how the case might not only affect the church, but also the campaign of Catholic
01:41:03
presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. There are also political implications to
01:41:09
this that could make this a juicy scandal for the opposition to Kennedy. Father Thomas Doyle, a leading expert on
01:41:17
clergy abuse, analyzed the letter for the jury. And I believe I found in every paragraph some element that I found very
01:41:25
unusual, but pointed to an attempt to cover this up, to make it go away. But there was no getting away from Maria
01:41:33
America Gar's accusation because she had identified Fight. A year after Irene's death, he stood trial for attempting to
01:41:43
rape Gara, but the jury deadlocked. Rather than face a second trial, Fight pled no contest in 1962
01:41:52
to a lesser charge, aggravated assault. And what happened to him? He was fined $500.
01:41:59
$500. 500 bucks. The state calls Daryl Davis. And Daryl Davis says he knows how that happened. And who is that young man
01:42:08
standing there? That's Daryl Davis, Channel 5 News. Davis is now a local attorney. But back in 1962, he was a
01:42:18
young TV reporter who had covered the Maria America Gara plea in this very courtroom. that the clock that's on the
01:42:27
back of that wall there still there after 57 years. Davis says around that time he and several other reporters were
01:42:35
summoned to an off thereord meeting with Robert Latimore who was then the district attorney. He said, "We know the
01:42:45
verbatim. We know that father fight killed Irene Garza." And I remember he said and the church
01:42:54
knows that he killed Irene Garza. So we have made some arrangements. Davis says in exchange for that plea in
01:43:03
the Maria America Gara case fight would not be prosecuted in the Irene Garza case and the church would send him away.
01:43:14
He said the church is going to put him in a monastery for disturbed or troubled priests and he will be kept there for
01:43:23
the rest of his life. And so father fight disappeared from the area. The case was buried. Irene's
01:43:35
parents died without knowing that decades later it would be brought back to the surface.
01:43:43
by a former monk. I covered up the evidence. I'm sorry for what I did. [Music] Your honor, the state of Texas were
01:44:02
called Dale Tashnney. Dale Tashnney is 88 years old, a former monk from Oklahoma, and now the star witness at
01:44:12
John Fight's murder trial. Tashnney has waited years to be able to take the stand. Do you remember what you were
01:44:19
feeling at that moment? Relief. Relief. This was my chance to tell what I knew, what I remembered. In 2002, 42 years
01:44:30
after the murder of Irene Garza, Tashnney sent a letter to the San Antonio police saying he had information
01:44:38
about the death of an unnamed woman in the 1960s on Easter weekend. She went to confession to to the priest. After
01:44:48
hearing her confession, he assaulted her, bound her, and gagged her. The priest's name was John Fe.
01:44:57
The San Antonio police knew nothing about the case, but the Texas Rangers did. It just so happened the cold case had
01:45:06
been reopened that year and Ranger Rudy Harmo had been working on it without much luck. And then Dale Tashnney came
01:45:16
along. That's a huge break for you. Right. Harmo got in touch with Tashnney and was amazed by what he heard. Even
01:45:25
though Tashnney didn't know the name of the victim and had the incorrect date and city, Haramo was certain Tashnney
01:45:33
was talking about the murder of Irene Garza. Back in 1963, Tashnney was a monk at the
01:45:40
Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri. [Music] He says his superior ordered him to counsel a young priest named John Fe who
01:45:56
had just arrived at the monastery with an unusual story. I was told that he had killed a woman
01:46:05
and then asked if we could see if he would fit in in the monastery and possibly become a monk. And I said a
01:46:13
murderer become a monk as Did that seem odd to you? to me. Yes. Tashnney says over the course of many months, Father
01:46:23
fight told him about that attack. After confession, he took her blouse off. He fondled her breasts and then
01:46:32
after that he took her down in the basement and somehow she remained in the basement. I assumed that he that he tied
01:46:41
her up down there. Tashnney says fight told him he later moved her from the rectory to another location the next day
01:46:50
Easter Sunday I believe it was and he put her in the bathroom put her in the tub and he had put her in
01:46:58
a bag or something overhead some sort of a plastic bag I don't fully remember but
01:47:04
when he was leaving he heard her saying I can't breathe I can't breathe with Daddy, he shut the door and left.
01:47:15
When he came back, he opened the bathroom door and she was dead. And then with the body, he dumped the
01:47:22
body along the road by a canal. Despite hearing all this, Tashnney says he did not call police then because he
01:47:29
felt his only job was to counsel the priest. But it soon became clear that fight was not a good fit at the
01:47:37
Assumption Abbey. And he eventually was sent to another monastery in New Mexico.
01:47:44
Send him out the door. Yes. Knowing what you knew? Yes. Buried as much of it as I
01:47:51
could. Tashnney eventually left the priesthood, got married, and raised a family. But in the early 2000s, he says
01:47:59
he had a crisis of conscience and could no longer carry the burden of John Fight's story.
01:48:07
Did you know Irene Garza? No. As the jury listened, Tashnney shared his story and the pain he felt for denying answers
01:48:17
to Irene's family. Did you know her parents? No, but I knew she had parents. Can we move on to something else?
01:48:38
[Music] But it took 15 years from the time Tashnney first came forward to get him
01:48:45
in front of a jury. And this man, Renee Gara, is a big part of the reason why. But you don't believe fight ever
01:48:53
confessed to him? I don't believe so. Gar was the DA in 2002 when Tashnney came forward. He refused to charge
01:49:01
Fight. We spoke to him in 2013. I mean, why would he make up this conversation? I don't know. But why what makes you
01:49:10
think he did? The fact that he had no specifics. But Tashnney was not the only new
01:49:16
witness at the time. Ranger Harmo had also tracked down Father O'Brien who said fight had also admitted guilt to
01:49:24
him. Harmo recorded an interview with O'Brien in which he matched many of the details
01:49:31
in Tashney's account. Did he put her anywhere that to hide her to place her in, you know, anywhere where he might
01:49:38
have to bet some? Did he tell you how he killed her? She died from the gagging asphyxiation.
01:49:47
Garb did not believe Father O'Brien either. He says O'Brien had been diagnosed with a form of dementia. Is he
01:49:54
misunderstanding and fabricating in his mind a story that he might have heard about, might have read about? Paramo
01:50:03
felt O'Brien was clear-minded, but Renee Gar would not bend. Linda de Lavinha remembers he confronted her as she and
01:50:12
Noamy Pon Seagler tried to push him to prosecute. And I'll never forget, he put his finger
01:50:19
in my in my face and said, "You know, you'll never get an indictment. You'll get one when pigs fly." Linda and No.
01:50:28
Amy refused to back down. And in 2004, Gara finally seemed to give in to the public pressure, and his office took the
01:50:36
case to a grand jury. But jurors would only be given audio tapes and transcripts of what Father O'Brien and
01:50:44
Dale Tashny told investigators. They were never called to testify in person. The charge has been made that you could
01:50:53
have called them and that you didn't do it in this case cuz you didn't want to prosecute this case. Irene Gar's family
01:50:58
is saying that's what the police say. There's some there's some interested parties that are saying that
01:51:03
the grand jury did not charge John fight and he continued to live as a free man.
01:51:08
He had left the monastery and the priesthood by 1972. He married and became a father and a
01:51:15
grandfather and had worked for decades at a Catholic charity when we found him near his home in Scottsdale, Arizona in
01:51:23
2014. Um, well, let me just ask you straight out. Did you kill Irene Garza? No. Do
01:51:30
you know who did? Uh, no. Well, Dale Tashnney says that you told him that you did kill is full of I'm sorry. Damn is
01:51:37
full of fight. Could not have known it then, but his time was running out. Get lost, brother.
01:51:45
Shortly after our conversation with him, there was a big development in Macallen.
01:51:51
Renee Gara, who had been DA for 32 years, was defeated by Ricardo Rodriguez, who promised to look into the
01:52:01
case. And in February 2016, Fight was arrested and brought back to Texas to stand
01:52:10
trial. But after nearly 60 years, is it too late? After hearing her confession, he
01:52:26
assaulted her, bound. Dale Tashnney's testimony allowed the prosecution to piece together the last hours of Irene
01:52:34
Garza's life. He put the young lady downstairs in the basement of the rectory at that time. And this is the
01:52:43
rectory. Yes. Prosecutor Mike Garza says because of the recre's thick walls, nobody would hear sounds of a struggle
01:52:50
or any screams for help and left her there and left her there. And Garza says father fight went back to church to hear
01:52:59
confessions. After parishioners left that holy Saturday, Garza says fight moved Irene a few miles away to the
01:53:07
pastoral house. Tashan's story was that he had placed her in a bathtub and had kept left her there while he was going
01:53:15
to go back and say vigil mass. Uh and at that time she said, "I can't breathe. I
01:53:20
can't breathe." Garza says when fight returned from church, Irene was dead. At the point that he left, we believe she
01:53:28
was still alive, but we, you know, with every intent to kill her. Um, that's a depraved heart. That's a pretty cold
01:53:35
heart. That night, Easter night, Dale Tashny believes Irene was moved one last time. He put her in a car and put her
01:53:46
aside of the road near a canal. Tashnney's testimony has some details, but Mike Garza knows it
01:53:55
also has holes. Do you recognize that, sir? Yes, sir. In his letter to police in 2002, Tashnney
01:54:03
said the murder happened in 1962 or 1963 in San Antonio, several years after and
01:54:12
more than 200 miles from where Irene Garza's body was found. Why did you think it was in San Antonio? Father
01:54:20
fight was from San Antonio. He went to school there. Did you know what year this had happened? Since Father Fight
01:54:28
came to the monastery in 1963, I thought it happened in 1963. Did you later find that you were
01:54:35
mistaken? Yes, but I wasn't easily convinced. Defense attorney Renee Flores believes
01:54:43
Ranger Rudy Harmo fed facts to Tashy so he could close the case. Could you have done that? Did you do that? No, sir.
01:54:52
Harmo says he corrected Tashnney only because the former monk was racked by guilt, wanted to find Irene's family and
01:55:01
clear his conscience. I had to set him straight as to when it happened and where. But the defense says Tashnney
01:55:08
isn't simply mistaken. He assaulted her, bound her, and gagged her. Renee Flores
01:55:15
says Tashney is simply lying. Okay. Did you ever told my father fight that she had been bound and gagged?
01:55:22
That's correct. Tashnney admits he assumed that because Irene didn't escape from the rectory. After some time, he
01:55:31
placed her in a cellophane bag and put her into a bathtub. You also talked about a cellophane bag. We know that
01:55:38
didn't happen. Correct. No, we don't know that that didn't happen. We know that he didn't tell me it happened.
01:55:44
Well, if he didn't tell you all of these different things, Mr. Tashy, why would you come forward to law enforcement and
01:55:50
tell them that he did? There were reasonable assumptions. The prosecutors don't think the problems Tashnney has
01:55:56
with details make him unreliable. And they say much of his testimony is corroborated by what Father O'Brien, who
01:56:05
has since died, told the police. Did he tell you how he killed her? She died from the gagging.
01:56:14
But the defense says O'Brien, like Tashnney, got help with his story. I think Joseph O'Brien was fed, given or
01:56:25
confronted with what the investigators believed. May I have a moment? Renee Flores is arguing Fight was never
01:56:34
prosecuted because of a lack of evidence, not a conspiracy. And he questions Daryl Davis's testimony about
01:56:42
that off therecord meeting with the prosecutor at the time. We were talking to the defense attorney and he doubts
01:56:49
this meeting ever really took place. Really? Well, I'll look him straight in the eye
01:56:57
and tell him that I remember it parts of it as clear as a bell. But nobody is clear, according to
01:57:05
Flores, on exactly when Irene went missing. He says witnesses saw her on church grounds more than an hour after
01:57:13
the prosecutors say she was abducted. She had been seen at least an hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes later.
01:57:21
And if the jurors conclude a priest murdered Irene, Flores wants them to consider a different priest. Father
01:57:28
Richard Junius was also hearing confessions at Sacred Heart that day and knew Irene.
01:57:36
Is Father Junius a reasonable other suspect in your mind? Sure. Flores says Texas Rangers
01:57:45
interviewed Father Junius decades after the crime and he seemed nervous. If I recall correctly, Texas Ranger Hadamu
01:57:53
indicated that uh Richard Junius was not very happy about being interviewed. That
01:57:58
suggests something. And why law enforcement ignored it, I don't know. But Father Junius was never considered a
01:58:06
suspect in the case and he died in 2007. So he can't defend himself. But John Feight can if he decides to take the
01:58:17
stand at his trial. There are several things I'd like to speak to. [Music] Mr. fight. Would you raise your right
01:58:32
hand, sir? Do you swear from the testimony you're about to give in the case now before the court is the truth,
01:58:36
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? So, help me God. Very well, sir. For years, people have been trying to
01:58:42
get answers from John Fe about Irene Garza's murder. There are several things I'd like to speak to, and it looked like
01:58:49
Fight might be considering taking the stand at his trial. I'm kind of between a rock and a hard place here. During a
01:58:57
break, his attorneys consulted with Fight, who finally announced his decision. Well, it was a wrestling match
01:59:04
between my vanity and common sense, and common sense prevailed. Mr. F, do you wish to testify in your own behalf? No.
01:59:13
You think he would have been a good witness? I think he would have been a great witness, but I think that the
01:59:20
prosecutor would have done his very best to attack and eat him up. Please rise for the jury.
01:59:28
With that settled, closing arguments can begin. May I proceed? Yes, sir. May please the court. Prosecutor Mike Garzo
01:59:36
reminded the jury of the women he says Father Fight prayed upon. He was a wolf in priest clothing waiting
01:59:46
to attack. attacked once, tried to attack again, and finally he got his prey. Ask yourselves this, what evidence was
02:00:00
there that John Fine had any intent to kill? What evidence did you hear? You're here to find facts. And sometimes there
02:00:06
just aren't enough to convince beyond a reasonable doubt. Fight went through the trial alone
02:00:18
without his family. And on December 7th, 2017, after 6 days, the cold case against the former priest was in the
02:00:28
hands of the jury. The jury began their deliberations just this afternoon. And after I was confident. I felt we had the
02:00:35
right jury in the box. And that carried you through the first what, two hours of
02:00:40
the That carried me probably through the first two hours. And then what happened?
02:00:44
It started taking long. We received another note from the jury and I started losing faith.
02:00:57
After 6 and 1/2 hours, there was a verdict. Would the defendant please stand? We the jury find the defendant John
02:01:08
Bernard Fight guilty of the offense of murder with malice of forethought as charged. John fight once a cleric is now
02:01:18
a convict. Guilty. Tell me what you're feeling. Justice was served. Irene finally got her day in court and
02:01:43
that's all we ever wanted. [Music] This is what we've been waiting for. Brought a smile to an old Texas Ranger's
02:01:53
face. After 57 years, we have found justice for Irene. And for today, pigs are flying.
02:02:03
Mr. Fight, any words? No comment. When you heard that Father Feight had finally been convicted, what did that feel like
02:02:10
to you knowing the role you played? The debt is paid both to Irene and Father Fle. Justice has been done for the both
02:02:20
of them. The verdict against John Fight was one thing, but the jury still had to
02:02:25
decide on his sentence. Linda and Noy worried that Fight might be set free. The jury might decide because he is
02:02:35
older and he's frail that they would be somewhat lenient. The morning after the extraordinary
02:02:46
verdict, something else extraordinary happened. It snowed here along the border with Mexico
02:02:54
as the sentencing process began. It's snowing outside morning. And one last time, the lawyers addressed the jury. It
02:03:04
was a time where this man wasn't walking in a walker, where this man wasn't sitting here weak.
02:03:12
It was a time when this man was strong. Prosecutor Mike Garza pulled out the photo of Irene he carried close to his
02:03:19
heart throughout the entire trial. She was a person that was loved. We ask that you assess punishment at 57
02:03:28
years. every year that he was free, having a family, getting married, hiding behind the protection of the
02:03:38
church. Is it a just penalty to impose a sentence upon a man who is different 60 years later?
02:03:52
It's up to you to decide. But do you really think he's going to live 57 years? 4 hours later. The defendant please
02:04:02
stand. The jury announced its decision. We the jury assess punishment and imprisonment for a term of life.
02:04:13
It was a perfect plan. It was a perfect fight. Had the perfect result. Everybody
02:04:19
won except John fight. Well, he was the villain. The villain's not supposed to win.
02:04:26
[Music] I said, "Okay, Irene, I know what your message is. We must get back to respecting, caring, and loving each
02:04:51
other. That's what we have to do. That's the lesson she taught us. She was so good. She was and will be my hero.
02:05:00
[Music] For Mike Garza, this case tested his trust in the church, but in the end, he
02:05:09
kept his faith. I've probably crossed, no, I have crossed the emotional line in this case. This case was very important
02:05:17
to me from my heart. I truly believed that faith would win, and it did. [Music] [Music]