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[Music] this wasn't just a crime scene was it no it was not this one was bad two innocent people that were on
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their first date had their lives destroyed for what reason how well did Leslie Reeves know
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chrismith first date Chris was in a band and a singer and they had connected and he
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asked her rout the night before Thanksgiving they decided just to meet up go to the
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bar he lived 65 miles away in a really small farming Community the bar that night was very
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busy the place was packed wall to wall Chris and Leslie were talking a lot laughing getting along with everyone
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around them she texted me around 10 and she said everything's going okay she did
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then text a second text that said I feel like something's a little bit off or something I'm not sure what she meant
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was that text the last time you heard from Leslie Reeves mhm yes it was [Music] did you try texting her in the morning
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mhm and did she respond no I just started driving towards Farmersville CU I had the address and
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called the police department in that area Montgomery County Sheriff's Office this is Jeff hi I'm greatly concerned
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about my friend can someone do a welfare check what are you feeling at this point
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Nana a lot of anxiety because I don't know what I'm going to walk into uh going up there to this
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house I pulled up in front of the address and then who came while you're sitting there while I'm sitting there uh
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who's this uh woman parked I said well maybe I'll roll my window down and talk to her I asked her
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if she was checking on Chris and she said she was checking on her friend and that's when I went up to the
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door I saw the back door was broken and then I saw Chris laying there and then I ran back to my car and
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called 911 nobody's answering the door and and the back window's shattered and there's a body and there's a foot I saw
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on the floor I'm only 16 I can't deal with this I was in shock I think Sheriff's Office Jeff Jeff give me
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some help I got one alive and one dead I just remember them bring bringing Chris
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out on the stretcher to the ambulance I remember there being a sheet over him so
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it made me panic a little bit I got a call from our Command Center in Springfield so you are the lead crime
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scene investigator yes were you really prepared for what you fac when you walked into that house I was
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not why would somebody do this to him why would they try to hurt my baby that's all I kept thinking he's my baby
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someone heard him going on a first date and they both end up getting shot is insane
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[Music] [Music] on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day 2021 Nanette Styer sat in her car and
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watched anxiously as EMTs and Montgomery County sheriff's deputies descended on a
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house in the Tiny Village of Farmersville Illinois I was quite upset and kind of going crazy in the car
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Nanette had been unable to reach her good friend Leslie Reeves Nanette knew Leslie had gone to
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that house the night before to go on a first date with Chris Smith a man she had met online she was very excited she
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thought oh this would this might be um a really good connection but now Nanette was worried
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she'd seen Chris get taken away in an ambulance but there was no sign of Leslie I kept hoping you know okay bring
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Leslie out please finally a detective approached and asked Nanette for a photo of Leslie
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she showed him her phone and he gave her the horrible news I'm so sorry to have to tell you
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this your friend has um been murdered you know shot he said he didn't tell me where but he did
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say I want you to know that she went very [Music] quickly EMTs have found Chris barely
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conscious and unable to say anything about the shooting they rushed him to the hospital and deputies searched the
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house later that day crime scene investigator Josh Easton of the Illinois State Police was called to the scene and
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he began cataloging the Mayhem inside what do you see when you first approached the door I noticed the side
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door of the house the glass in the door has been broken out the refrigerator was
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pulled away from the wall the kitchen table was pushed the the chairs were knocked over no weapon was found leading
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investigators to suspect that a third person was involved een took note of every detail including the burnt pizza
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in the oven I assumed that maybe they were cooking a pizza for the night and the suspect shows up at the door
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they both tried to fight him off and when Chris was shot Leslie went to the living room to try to hide how many
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times was she shot she was only shot one time in the head in the head Leslie's body was in the living room while Chris
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had been found in the kitchen e said of the 1,800 crime scenes he had been to this
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was one of the most horrific there was blood everywhere the cabinets the refrigerator the countertop there was
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blood from corner to corner in the Kitchen East spotted two silver colored bullet casings from a 9mm gun one in the
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kitchen and the other near lesli's body as Easton processed the scene detectives
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began learning about the victims Chris Smith was a 48-year-old divorced father who worked for a pool
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contractor Chris was a nice guy he would hang out here frequently was friends with most people in town everybody knew
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him bartender Dena lran says Chris was well known in town as the guy who grew banana trees and giant pumpkins I
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remember one Halloween he donated hundreds of pumpkins for decorations for any of the kids to
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paint he gave back to his community did either one of you ever worry about Chris no
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no Sharon castanza is Chris's mother Ashley hul his sister Chris is a stayhome person that literally would
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just work in his backyard Chris lived with a dog named Tiki and an EMT told the family that tii
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may have helped Chris make it through the night by huddling with him for the roughly 12 hours that Chris was bleeding
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before being rescued I think Tiki protected Chris I think she probably laid right right next to
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him Chris's close-nit family could not imagine anyone wanting to kill him it was like no way how why like who yeah
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who would have done that investigators had the same questions about Leslie and learned that
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she was a divorced mother of two children who lived in Troy about an hour south of
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Farmersville although Leslie had a master's degree in engineering she chose instead to teach Pilates and to promote
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self-defense classes for women hi I'm Leslie from all studio and Leslie posted this video to her YouTube channel to
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advertise one of her classes Empower yourself against aggression and assault as we teach you easy to learn
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self-defense techniques power up Leslie tried to help women in abusive relationships but friends say she had
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her own TR Tres Nanette told deputies she was worried about a former boyfriend a contractor by the name of Robert tar
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known as Bobby she said I am going to completely block Bobby from email texts phone calls I I have to go no
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contact later that evening news of Leslie's murder began circulating and reached another close friend Amy
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steinhauer she had met tar a divorced father of three and did not have a good impression of
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him but you never see someone and think that they can kill my friend Amy called the Sheriff's Office
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that night to give them T's name by then detectives had already set out to find Bobby tar while 85 miles to
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the north surgeons were fighting to try to save the life of Chris Smith a bullet
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St still lodged in his [Music] brain I just want to get there I just want to get there as fast as I could
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after learning that Chris had been shot in the head his family rushed to the hospital in Springfield Illinois 2 hours
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from their home I was on the phone to everyone I could think of cuz I just needed prayers from
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everybody doctors removed part of Chris's skull and some bullet fragments in his brain before putting him in a
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medically induced coma his family struggling to piece together what had happened learned that he had been out
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with a woman named Leslie Reeves had you ever heard the name Leslie Reeves before
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no I looked her up and then I triy to reach out to her friends and I found her best friend Nanette Nanette told them
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the same thing she had told investigators she suspected Leslie's ex-boyfriend Bobby
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tar that night sheriff's deputies went to tars home in Collinsville an hour south of the crime scene authorities say
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he never asked why they wanted to talk to him and he agreed to go to the police station without a lawyer
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t m although her friends said the couple had broken up tar told investigators that he and Leslie were still together
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you Leslie have a lot of problems I wouldn't say no worse than any average couple it was Leslie the
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detectives wanted to talk about I want you to to dig down deep here and be as honest with me as you can
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okay um Leslie is dead what can you help me shed some light on this how did she die she was murdered what
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happened that's why we're here with you you help me believe that you're not involved in this I'm not involved in
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anything investigators asked tar about Farmersville the scene of the crime you know where Farmersville is
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Farmersville no I can't say that never been there I've never heard of it and they asked tar where he had been the
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night before Thanksgiving I went to a buddy of mine's house he left and left me some money out
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of his shop and go pick it up the friend lived a short distance from T's home remember time he came
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back yeah it wasn't that long um maybe 630 something like that investigators believe the shooting took
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place sometime early on Thanksgiving morning after 1:00 a.m. tar said after he got back he was home all night you
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can talk to my daughter about me being home that's exactly what they did detectives brought T's 17-year-old
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daughter Shelby to a different room at the police station and she told them that her father actually left home twice
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that night so the first time he left was roughly 6:30 right and then he he came home about a half hour later and I said
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he had to go back right and then it was 9:1 15ish when he got back home Shelby said he had been gone for more than 2
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hours and when he got home he was upset he gets home he was crying he was soing he said he missed lesle Shelby said she
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went to sleep around 9:30 and was awakened by her father around 2:45 a.m. he started laundry he was pacing walking
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around and he was like I can't sleep detectives went back to Tar and told him Shelby's story did not match his tar
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then changed his story and said he had gone to his friend's house twice but still insisted he was home by 8 as tar
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sat at the police station detectives searched his house and found his phone and a Glock pistol Shelby had told them
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her father had a different gun but they didn't find it it's little it's like this big I look at my cre the Army cleen
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Shelby told investigators she had seen it the day before Thanksgiving in her father's sock drawer yesterday morning
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actually I went to get S it was there and no it's not there was there yesterday and gone today okay Bobby tar
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sat at the police station overnight while authorities continued to investigate they had already learned
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that his car had been captured by License Plate Reader cameras just after midnight the night of the shooting the
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cameras were near a gas station and investigators discovered the tar had bought gas there just after midnight
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back at the police station they confronted him with the gas station receipt see your Al cuz I don't remember
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doing that you don't remember being out after midnight when you have told us you are 100%
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positive the gas station is here in Troy yes and the murder occurred here in Farmersville
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correct the gas station was near tars home an hour from the crime scene Andrew AR frony is the Montgomery County
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State's Attorney he has distonia a condition that causes muscle ticks and tremors so why is it significant cuz it
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so he went out and got some gas it was significant to us cuz why would he lie about it so I got fuel what does I Pro
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investigators believed it was proofed tar was lying about his whereabouts that night they placed him under arrest
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you're under arrest Forder a frzy says they arrested tar immediately because they feared Chris's
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life was in danger and they hadn't found the murder weapon if he was out of custody could he
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take further steps to dispose of the evidence just one day after Leslie Reeves was killed and Chris Smith was
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left fighting for his life investigators believed they had the man responsible in
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custody I'm Aaron Mori Bobby but in his only media interview Bobby tar tells 48 hours they got the wrong guy there is so
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many things Untold that will prove my innocence Bobby tar charged with the murder of Leslie Reeves and the
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attempted murder of Chris Smith is nothing if not unflappable did you kill Leslie reefs no
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did you shoot Chris Smith no he kept his cool even when confronted with a Litany
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of Lies he told investigators you told the police you only left the house once that wasn't true correct you told
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the police you had no idea where Farmersville is MH that was a lie mhm you lied about getting gas in your car
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that night mhm when he spoke with us tar admitted he was at Christmas house the night before Thanksgiving placing
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himself at the scene of the crime he says the night began when he met Leslie at her part-time job at this Loft store
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she had said she was going to go meet some friends because one of their friends was playing in a band she asked
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me if I wanted to go and I said well you know I would go but I have my youngest daughter staying with me for a week tar
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says that when he declined the invitation Leslie asked if if he would follow her to Farmersville because her
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van was unreliable and so he did that makes no sense to Leslie's friend Amy steinhauer she was terrified of
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him rightfully so just a few weeks earlier Amy Says Leslie told her that tar had shown up
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while she was on a first date with a different guy after that incident Leslie told Amy she was frightened by tar and
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texted Amy I could be killed by him someday if I don't cut all contact so you're telling me now that this woman
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who was scared of you who had actually texted a friend that she thought you might kill her asked you to follow her
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to another man's house does that make any sense no I understand U so I don't understand that
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text in general why did she think you might kill her I don't know I've got no clue
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tar says Leslie lied to her friends about their relationship he insists she asked him to follow her North to
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Farmersville so I went with her up there I think we arrived there around 7:30 I parked in front of her van in
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front of his house as as far as I went I left I never went back to Farmersville again if he had an innocent explanation
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for why he was in Farmersville why did he lie to to detectives my daughter her and Leslie there was a little bit of
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tension between both them I did not want her to know that I was going to meet Leslie that night tar claims that after
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he lied to his daughter Shelby about seeing Leslie he stuck to that lie at the police station because he was afraid
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they would tell her and he never corrected those lies even when detectives arrested him why not just say
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look between you and me I lied to my daughter so let me tell you the truth but let's just not share that with her
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why wouldn't you do that I should have done that he's quick to point out the lack of physical evidence connecting him
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to the bloody crime scene investigators searched his white Jetta but did not find any shards of glass or blood stains
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two tests by the state police were done on my car zero blood found in my car there's zero DNA of mine at the crime
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scene anything from the crime scene in my car or on me or any of my clothing or my
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shoes zero prosecutor of frany has to concede that point was any of Ty's DNA found
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inside the house no were any of his fingerprints found inside the house and authorities still had not
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found the murder M weapon but a week after the shooting they got a phone call from T's friend Billy Adams Adams said
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tar called him from jail that call was recorded what's your day look like today cuz I need 10 minutes of your time tar
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ask Adams to go to his house and look for some deck brackets I got some special aluminum
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brackets and that I need you to get because there for another job that I didn't tell that about yet so don't say
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nothing to him instead Adams contacted the Sheriff's Office deputies suspected tar knew the phone call was being
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recorded and was speaking to his friend in code about something other than deck brackets yeah get them and get rid of
00:23:18
them they thought that was suspicious which was why they went over and searched investigators were on their
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hands and knees in T's yard looking for a gun Dan folz is T's defense attorney they searched that area thoroughly no
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gun you know what they did find deck brackets a few days later they got another phone call this time from tarr's
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Brother asking them to come back to the house tarr's family gave deputies a zip looc bag they said they had found in the
00:23:54
same yard that had been searched just days earlier inside a Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol
00:24:04
and silver colored ammunition the Illinois State Police determined the gun was the murder weapon and the ammunition
00:24:12
matched the casings found at the crime scene we still to this day don't know how that ended up there specifically in
00:24:21
the spot that they searched are you saying you were set up someone was framing you yes
00:24:28
but if someone was framing tar he or she would have to be pretty detail oriented
00:24:35
the state police say T's fingerprint was on the Ziploc bag he is adamant that he
00:24:41
would not have been dumb enough that he would have carried it all the way back to his home and said hm where would I
00:24:49
put this gun on my 1 acre lot I think I'll put it next to the front door and tar points out neither his Prince nor
00:24:58
DNA were found on the gun itself nothing on the firearm no DNA no Prince of mine
00:25:04
on the firearm what I think what happened is that the gun was cleaned and then Mr tar just missed a spot that spot
00:25:12
was Leslie's DNA say police found on the guide rod of the gun T's explanation the
00:25:20
gun wasn't his it belonged to Leslie I purchased the Hellcat and Leslie purchased it from me
00:25:29
as investigators continued to build a case against Bobby tar they say he was hatching a plan to silence the only
00:25:37
eyewitness did you ask a inmate to shoot chrismith what do you make of Bobby T's story chat
00:25:49
now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook andex [Music] Lesly accompanied me here on several
00:26:08
occasions if there's anyone who knew what guns Leslie Reeves owned it's Howard Bolton her close friend and
00:26:16
firearm instructor when I would hold classes she would actually shoot with us Leslie was becoming a very good shot
00:26:25
Bolton says Leslie had organized a class called girls with guns not long before she was murdered we put the girls
00:26:33
through their Paces they would move and fire they would go forward and fire they
00:26:38
would come back and fire and Leslie did very very well at that Bobby tar insisted to us that Leslie owned the
00:26:46
Hellcat that was used to kill her but Howard says he never saw her use it Leslie never brought a Springfield let
00:26:55
alone a Hellcat to class so then how did Leslie's DNA get on the guide rod of the
00:27:01
murder weapon Howard believes that Leslie's DNA could only be on that guide rod if the gun was fired at her at close
00:27:10
range so when he shot her wherever it was he shot her would have contaminated that part of the gun in fact Howard says
00:27:20
Leslie owned a different gun her friends say they wish she had taken it with her
00:27:25
the night she was killed had Leslie Tak the gun with her I assure you the outcome would have been
00:27:33
different tar declared his innocence but the case against him could hinge on what
00:27:39
Chris Smith the only Survivor remembers would he be able to identify him that was the question as Chris remained in a
00:27:49
coma we were talking to him singing to him and I was always holding this [Music]
00:27:56
handu well Chris Smith Lay helpless authorities say tar was plotting to silence him
00:28:04
forever a grand jury indicted tar on two counts of solicitation of murder those charges are based on allegations by an
00:28:14
inmate who says tar paid him $10,000 to shoot and kill the lead detective and Chris did you ask a inmate
00:28:26
to shoot Chris Smith no ma'am and to kill detective roach no ma'am tar says the alleged plot was a
00:28:36
lie concocted by a former cellmate tar says he loaned that cellmate $10,000 for his bond and that it had nothing to do
00:28:46
with Chris Smith were you worried he was going to testify and point to you as the
00:28:51
shooter no I was not worried one iota the truth was that no one knew what Chris Smith remembered the first time he
00:29:01
regained Consciousness was in early January 2022 about two months after the shooting like egg fu young egg fu young
00:29:12
Chris's voice was so weak in those early days it's already over there that his old friend Mark Reen a talk show host in
00:29:20
St Louis 522 971 FM talk barely recognized Chris on the phone I could not believe that I was hearing from this
00:29:29
guy and I cried he cried just talking about that moment really brings me chills because I just thought he was
00:29:38
never going to be someone that was in my life ever again what did Chris tell you
00:29:42
well when Chris came out of this I was pretty sensitive to ask him about what had happened that night because I think
00:29:48
I was a little afraid of even having those conversations so most of the conversations that we had were really
00:29:53
focused on hey how are you are you going to be okay after intense Physical Therapy he's made incredible strides
00:30:01
he's much stronger than when he awoke from a coma but he discovered there are gaps in his
00:30:09
memory what does he remember from that terrible night I wish to God I could remember something I mean even just a
00:30:17
smidgen of something but I remember nothing he remembers nothing of the shooting or Leslie Reeves I said who
00:30:27
heex Leslie I don't know Lesley you had no idea no nothing nothing nothing is Chris the same person who used to come
00:30:35
on your show before he was shot yeah I think at the core he's still the same guy that I knew he's still the smartass
00:30:43
he's still the guy that's going to talk about how good he is and how good he was
00:30:47
and how much he could lift weights Chris works out at the gym most mornings trying to regain muscle so that
00:30:54
someday he'll be able to walk without assistance straight them he's even back to being the lead
00:31:04
singer in his rock and roll band I don't know how he did make it I don't understand how he did he's a
00:31:12
miracle but Chris is aware his life is very different from what it once was so I'm half the man I used to be but I'm
00:31:21
trying to get it back as hard as I can and then my left leg is uh partially paralyzed my hip to my knee then from my
00:31:27
knee to my toes completely paralyzed so if there's any neurosur out there any researchers out there please get a hold
00:31:34
of me I'll be your guinea pig just make me normal and give me my life back please it's tough isn't it
00:31:40
Chris it tough doesn't even describe it doesn't describe it Chris is resigned to
00:31:47
living with part of that hollow point bullet in his brain doctors say it's in a spot that makes it too dangerous to
00:31:56
remove so that's where you got shot yep right here there's a y you still feel it
00:32:00
on my skull right there after decades on his own Chris had to move back into his
00:32:06
mother's house I thank my blessings daily that he's here with us I just wish that this guy didn't take everything
00:32:15
away from him Chris visits with his loyal dog Tiki but no longer lives with her and he'd love to see his 12-year-old
00:32:23
daughter more often but he can't drive and he's living in St Louis almost 2 hours away from his daughter and ex-wife
00:32:32
I miss her she was my little pee in the pot I mean we did everything together the trial of Robert tar was set
00:32:39
for April 2024 but Chris would not be there he told the prosecutor he was too angry to attend you didn't think you'd
00:32:48
be able to just sit there oh no no way I I know myself I doesn't know why know but Chris's alleged shooter Bobby tar
00:32:56
will be there and he said he was eager to tell the jury that he's not a violent man but on this one night early morning
00:33:07
did you snap no that's not my nature I don't lose it [Music] snap follow along with Chris's
00:33:17
remarkable story at 48 hours.com [Music] when Bobby tar went on trial in April 2024 prosecutors told the jury that he
00:33:36
killed Leslie Reeves rather than allow her to live the life she wanted a life without him Mr tar couldn't deal with
00:33:45
the fact that Leslie was seeing somebody else and he had to go and take care of it Andrew a fronti says tar secretly
00:33:54
followed Leslie to Farmersville early that evening and shortly afterwards his phone began showing some interesting
00:34:03
activity he had actually searched Chris Smith on his phone had tried to find his
00:34:08
Facebook profile tar headed home and texted his friend Billy Adams I don't feel like she would drive that far for a
00:34:17
party or go out with a girlfriend I think it's for a dude he also searched whether police could track his phone if
00:34:26
he was using a VP n a virtual private Network he was researching to determine whether or not that would Mas where his
00:34:36
location was while he was using the phone authorities say around midnight tar left home stopping at that gas
00:34:44
station and then according to a fronti surveillance videos and cell tower records show that tar drove back to
00:34:52
Farmersville you believe he intended to kill both Chris and Leslie I 100% believe that he went up there with the
00:35:03
intent to do serious harm to both with one victim dead and the other with no memory it's difficult to say with
00:35:12
certainty what happened but the prosecution argued that sometime after 1:00 a.m. Bobby tar tried to enter
00:35:20
through the back door of Christmas house Leslie and Chris tried to keep him out there was some kind of altercation or
00:35:31
struggle and that's when the glass was broken crime scene investigator Josh East told the jury what he had observed
00:35:40
inside the kitchen the refrigerator was pulled away from the wall where it appeared it normally was prosecutors
00:35:47
believe Leslie was trying to use the refrigerator to block the door and based on where Chris was shot in his head they
00:35:56
think he was crouching down down to help Leslie I think that while Chris was crouched down trying to hold the door
00:36:05
shut Bobby shot through the door and shuck Chris with Chris incapacitated Arron says Leslie hid in the living room
00:36:14
tar tracked her down shot and killed her I strongly believe that he walked in an
00:36:21
Executor defense attorney Dan folz disputes all of that there is simply no evidence that that's what happened
00:36:29
there's no evidence that Leslie pushed the refrigerator there's no fingerprints and blood on the refrigerator of
00:36:34
Leslie's F says evidence of a fight in the kitchen tells a different story the amount of blood in that kitchen was
00:36:44
astonishing from looking at that crime scene do you believe that Christopher Smith had to fight his his as salent in
00:36:53
the kitchen it would appear to me that there was some sign ific struggle in that
00:36:58
kitchen between him and someone else and he says the as salent could not have been Bobby tar because he would have
00:37:05
been covered in blood they did not identify a single piece of DNA in his car they didn't identify a bloody
00:37:15
fingerprint they did not identify anything tying him to that crime scene but prosecutors argued the house wasn't
00:37:23
bloody when tar left they said Chris bled heavily in the 12 hours it took for help to arrive and while the prosecution
00:37:32
did not have a lot of forensic evidence linking [ __ ] of the crime scene affronti
00:37:37
says his phone activity his lies to investigators and the evidence found on the Hellcat all prove his guilt when you
00:37:47
put all of that together that's when you get the clear picture of what happened when it was the defense's turn tar says
00:37:54
he wanted to tell his story to the jury but he chose not to testify why didn't you just decide you
00:38:02
were going to talk to the jury and tell this story if in fact you have a story to tell I should have I very well should
00:38:10
have we made a strategic decision because it may have opened the door for a whole lot of other more damaging
00:38:17
evidence to be used uh to cross-examine him the defense didn't put on any Witnesses and counted on the jury to
00:38:25
find Reasonable Doubt in the lack of physical evidence after 3 hours the jury found
00:38:35
Bobby tar guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder everyone clapped and Bobby just sat there shaking his
00:38:44
head two months later tar was back in court for sentencing and this time so was Chris to tell the judge how the
00:38:53
shooting impacted him and his family C were not allowed in the courtroom lost my house lost my truck
00:39:03
I've literally lost my life about being killed tar also spoke and denied shooting Leslie and Chris the judge
00:39:11
sentenced him to 85 years I hope the rest of his time on this Earth is Hell Leslie Reeves friends are focused
00:39:24
on keeping her memory alive she was a light of a lot of people's lives she was always smiling she was a very good
00:39:34
mother lived for her kids and was an advocate and champion of women women's rights and especially women that were
00:39:45
abused if it can happen to her it could happen to anyone so we all need to be careful Chris Smith says he never
00:39:54
expected he'd be a victim of domestic violence and cautions other men to take a hard
00:40:00
look at their behavior if guys you feel like that you want you want to hurt a woman get
00:40:08
help while Chris Mourns his old life he's writing a book about his experiences and says he's working to
00:40:16
make what he calls Poor Man's Margaritas out of the lemons and limes he's been handed I've got a doover good Lord give
00:40:26
me a do over and how many people will get a second chance life Chris has found love with Michelle
00:40:33
albre she's an angel loving me and accepting me the way that I am he proposed to her on stage I just ask she
00:40:40
married me guys what's the most important lesson out of all of this don't ever give up on
00:40:48
anything ever no matter how bad things are don't ever give up [Music] as a kid growing up in Chicago there was
00:41:07
one horror movie I was too scared to watch it was called Candyman but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly
00:41:14
inspired by an actual murder listen to Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder wherever you get
00:41:19
your podcasts I'm Erin morard of 48 hours and of all the cases I've covered this is the one that troubles me most
00:41:29
listen to murder in the Orange Grove the trouble case against Crosley green wherever you get your
00:41:37
[Music] podcast welcome back to postmortem I'm 48 Hours correspondent Aaron morard and
00:41:51
I'm filling in today for Amry green who's out in the field reporting on another story for 48 hours joining me
00:41:58
today is producer extraordinaire Paula Roa uh we're going to discuss our report on the shooting of Leslie Reeves and
00:42:06
Chris Smith on the night before Thanksgiving in 2021 Leslie and Chris went on their very first date together
00:42:13
but by the end one was dead and the other struggling to survive Paul and I have been talking about this on naum for
00:42:22
months so we're going to share some of that with you this was a tough one wasn't it Paul thanks for being here
00:42:27
uh yes it was it was it's it's a tough story given what happened but you know on the other hand there is a Survivor so
00:42:35
that's positive for once for 48 hours it's it's very unusual now before we get into it remember if you haven't listen
00:42:43
to the 48 Hours episode yet you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast feed go take a listen
00:42:51
and then come back here for our scintillating conversation okay this was an incredibly sad case as Paul had said
00:42:59
where two people were just enjoying a first date together they were getting to know each other they went to a bar they
00:43:06
were having fun but unfortunately sometime in the early morning of Thanksgiving day they got caught in the
00:43:13
crosshairs of a jealous ex-lover investigators almost immediately zeroed in on Leslie's former boyfriend a man by
00:43:21
the name of Bobby tar and they soon charged him with murder and attempted murder you have been I didn't realize
00:43:28
You' had been at CBS for 32 years I know you've you've interviewed your share of
00:43:33
killers but Bobby wasn't quite what we're used to was he right I mean for one thing it was not hard to talk him
00:43:41
into doing an interview he wanted to talk normally you have to go through uh defendants lawyers you have to you
00:43:49
convince them and it's not always easy to do it's like trying to really make them understand why it would be good for
00:43:56
them to talk Bobby tar was completely different like I mean he would text me all the time he would call me all the
00:44:03
time we had video chats I mean he really really wanted to talk he felt he had a tale to tell and he wanted to tell it
00:44:11
now just to point out so listeners realize he's in jail when he's reaching out to you and you're having video
00:44:18
conversations I mean I think people would be surprised to know that I think they are and you know it did surprise me
00:44:25
at first I think people like myself even find that astounding that they have so much access to the outside world Bobby
00:44:34
was no exception he could text me whenever he wanted to more or less he could video chat with me we just had to
00:44:39
set that up and he would call me collect and you know I set up my phone so that I
00:44:44
was able to accept his calls the funny thing is a couple of times I didn't accept the call because I thought it was
00:44:49
spam and then I was kicking myself realizing it was him who was calling but he always called back that was no
00:44:56
problem he always called back now you had the first contact with Bobby tar and then I had to go into at this point
00:45:05
prison to interview him I had never talked to him my job was to just listen to his story tell me what happened Bobby
00:45:13
and not to challenge him at all because I didn't want to you know scare him into
00:45:17
not talking to you so that's a producer's role sometimes that the audience might want to know I never
00:45:23
asked him a really hard question I let eron ask him the hard question and I was worried about that also
00:45:29
because I wondered if when he got erron he was going to think you know he's been
00:45:32
double crossed or something I was really worried that when I went in and all of the sudden I was asking him tough
00:45:39
questions that he'd be angry but he wasn't this was very unusual for me this was a man no matter what even when I
00:45:47
questioned his story his affect never changed he was always that affable guy you know we call him in the hour
00:45:54
unflappable and he calls himself an easygoing guy now all that said he shot two people in the head and that's not an
00:46:04
easygoing guy you asked him in the interview if he had snapped that night and he said I don't snap I think though
00:46:11
that was the benefit of of interviewing him because he comes across like a Charming guy and we don't want to give a
00:46:21
convicted killer a platform but when you really push him and talk to him you you
00:46:27
realize that there is a very dark side I don't think anybody listening or watching our show would think that this
00:46:37
was an innocent man yes because uh the evidence was against him well one of the poignant details in this case I think is
00:46:46
that the victim Leslie Reeves taught self-defense courses she actually wanted to help women Escape abusive
00:46:53
relationships and as we reported apparent she was taking steps to get out of her own what her friends say was a
00:47:02
toxic relationship but the more we looked into it it's complicated isn't it it's complicated she claimed that Bobby
00:47:10
uh owed her $10,000 that she had left it in a safe in his house and he had used it to buy a motorcycle so she ordinarily
00:47:19
would have just cut all ties with him but she wanted to get her money back and so he would tease her with it he would
00:47:26
give her $1,000 and then he'd say come over my house tonight I'll give you another
00:47:31
$1,000 and of course he always wanted her to spend the night and um Leslie's friend said one week before the shooting
00:47:38
he said come over to my house again I'll give you $1,000 the usual story she did
00:47:44
and then she wanted to leave and he wouldn't let her he blocked the door and she because she is a selfdefense expert
00:47:51
managed to get by him she was very strong by the way I mean she ran a pilates studio Leslie and in the
00:47:57
pictures you can see the muscles in her arms she was no pushover um she grabbed her car keys and went out into the yard
00:48:05
and kept hitting the alarm button on her keychain so that it would go off she knew that his parents live nearby other
00:48:12
people live nearby and they'd come out and say why is this car alarm going off over and over again and um eventually he
00:48:20
gave it up he brought out her purse everything else she had with her the money and then she took off well and I
00:48:27
should point out that we only know this from Leslie's friends right because Leslie did not survive to really tell
00:48:34
what happened and so we've had to rely a lot on what her friend said she had a close n circle of friends um she was
00:48:41
divorced she had two children but she lived with one of her closest friends so um she was not alone and she told people
00:48:49
these stories and then we have to take what Bobby tar says with a grain of salt because he denied what her friends say
00:48:57
one of the reasons um Leslie was terrified of Bobby is that he was stalking her or so she thought that's
00:49:05
what she told her friends a month before the shooting it was around Halloween she
00:49:10
had another first date with a different guy and they were getting along and they
00:49:14
were in a church parking lot when uh Leslie says Bobby showed up in his car out of the blue there was no reason he
00:49:22
would know she was there she wasn't in her hometown how was he tracking her that's never been fully established the
00:49:29
the authorities say they don't know how he was stalking her and he wasn't convicted of that Bobby always has an
00:49:37
explanation for everything and that was one of the problems that both you and I uh encountered with Bobby tar is that
00:49:46
both of us felt that because he talked to me after this trial that he had taken the evidence and fashioned a story
00:49:55
around it to make him look innocent and so he admitted he he said yes I did stop and see her when she was
00:50:03
on this first date but he said that he wasn't tracking her he just happened to come across her now we know that there
00:50:10
is in fact a text that Leslie sent one of her friends where she said I'm paraphrasing I have to cut off all
00:50:18
contact with this guy or he could wind up killing me and um that's a pretty serious text to send to somebody and you
00:50:26
asked him about that I did and he said I just don't understand that text I don't
00:50:31
know why she sent it so now let's go a little bit to the investigation into Bobby tar you know as we had mentioned
00:50:39
investigators had arrested Bobby tar right away and well if you consider the shooting happened Thanksgiving morning
00:50:46
around 1:00 amm uh Bobby tar was picked up I that Thanksgiving evening right so it was hours later after the shooting
00:50:56
and I remember when I first saw that they had arrested him which was basically cuz he lied to them that it
00:51:02
felt so um premature but as the prosecutor told us and now this really makes sense to me you know they had one
00:51:11
victim still alive and they were so worried that if Bobby tar was the killer he could finish off that victim if they
00:51:19
let him go but the problem was um they arrested him before they had any results yet on any of their crime scene give me
00:51:29
your thoughts about the investigation that was a problem for prosecution yeah it seemed it was a very bloody scene the
00:51:37
investigator said that Chris Smith was shot in the kitchen and he said the amount of blood in the kitchen was just
00:51:42
astonishing it was everywhere in that kitchen so you start to wonder well if there's blood everywhere and the glass
00:51:50
door was shattered how come there was nothing in Bobby tar car no sign of blood no sign of glass
00:52:00
that he stepped on in with his shoes um he did wash his clothes afterwards but they found no blood on his clothes I
00:52:09
mean how did that happen and there is an explanation the prosecutors claim that it was not a bloody scene when Bobby tar
00:52:18
was there he shot Chris once in the head he stepped to the Next Room shot lesli once in the head and then he left after
00:52:25
he left that that's when Chris was still alive and sort of wandering around the kitchen bleeding from a head wound which
00:52:32
bleeds a lot and he had bled for 12 hours before being rescued the kitchen was covered in blood but it wasn't like
00:52:39
that prosecutors say when Bobby tar was there but not mentioned in the hour the defense said investigators did not
00:52:48
extensively test the evidence found there was blood on Leslie's pajamas and another Speck of Blood on the kitchen
00:52:54
counter they didn't take that either I mean it was tough for the prosecution I think at trial because they did have to
00:53:03
deal with that but what they had was of course incredible number of lies from Bobby tar he lied about going to the gas
00:53:11
station for God's sakes and they had enough phone records that indicated that he did not stay at home all evening like
00:53:19
he had said and they knew he was lying also because they had picked up his car on license plate readers which they got
00:53:26
immediately there's so many digital Trails out there welcome back to postmortem where
00:53:40
we tell all those details we didn't get to put into 48 hours probably among the most damaging pieces of evidence was the
00:53:49
fact that Bobby's own family testified against him his dad his son and his own daughter that was the big thing that he
00:54:00
told the police a story and then he said you could ask my daughter she was home the whole night with me so of course
00:54:06
they did they went and got his daughter and her name was Shelby Shelby we have her interrogation also in the show and
00:54:14
her mother who's a paralal told her tell the police the truth that's all you got
00:54:19
to do so she did she told the police the truth that her father had left three times that evening and it contradicted
00:54:27
Bobby's story and what he had told the cops here's something that we didn't have time to put in the hour so right
00:54:34
before Bobby T's daughter was about to testify he texts her and so if you talk to the prosecution they think he was
00:54:42
trying to intimidate her or make her think twice about testifying against her dear old dad he said to me he knew it
00:54:51
was hard for her to testify and he was just you know hoping she was okay um I don't know which one I believe but it
00:54:59
was an interesting detail well it's possible in that case he was telling the truth because it was sort of a nice in
00:55:07
quotes a text it was like I know this is hard for you I I hope uh you know you're
00:55:12
doing okay paraphrasing that's what it was our producer at the trial Mark goldbam was having lunch with Shelby and
00:55:20
her mother when her father Bobby tar sent that text and they were like oh my God and they immediately told the
00:55:26
prosecutor and when they went came back from lunch you know they told the judge and it was a point against him so Bobby
00:55:34
if he had this story he had to tell you would have thought maybe he would tell the jury he did not he chose not to but
00:55:42
then he did speak at his sentencing and now I didn't attend that tell me what you thought about that Paul well he went
00:55:51
on and on before the judge for about a half hour or so so telling his story I believe that he figured out a way to
00:56:00
tailor his story to fit the evidence and he tried to sell that to the judge and the judge at some point cut him off and
00:56:08
said enough already because you had your opportunity to testify you chose not to
00:56:15
and I don't want to hear any more of it and uh sentenced him to 85 years so in this case the other victim is a man by
00:56:23
the name of Chris Smith who was unbel shot in the head and really truly miraculously survived Paul you actually
00:56:32
talked to him way before I got to meet him so tell me your thoughts Chris is a great guy and he has a a piece of a
00:56:40
hollow point bullet in his brain it's too dangerous for doctors to operate in that section so they left it there um he
00:56:47
is paralyzed on his left side he has to use a cane and a wheelchair a lot of the
00:56:52
time but otherwise he's the Chris who was uh there before the shooting and the first time he ever texted me he said hey
00:57:01
it's me Bullet boy referring to the bullet in his brain so he has a sense of humor that he never lost he was in the
00:57:08
hospital for almost two months and when he came to he could barely speak he didn't know what happened to him he
00:57:14
remembers nothing at all of the shooting or lesli Reeves which is really interesting when you consider that
00:57:22
Leslie and he had been speaking on the phone texting with each other for two weeks before um the date and it's
00:57:30
interesting how the brain works it just excised the shooting and Lesly completely out of his brain now because
00:57:37
he couldn't remember anything not only could he not testify I'm sure that was a big disappointment for the state but he
00:57:43
didn't even go to the trial because he thought he'd be so angry but he did give an amazing impact statement as
00:57:51
sentencing uh we weren't allowed to bring cameras into the courtroom but he did speak outside and I want to share
00:57:58
that with you here now it might be a little hard to understand simply because he's outside the court but listen it's
00:58:05
really worth listening to I want to live my life normal go back to work just be normal again that's all I want to get my
00:58:14
life back and basically that's what my inex him was this time and what happened I've had six brain surgeries I've had
00:58:20
two plates in my head um I'm on the second one pray to God it's the last one and just everything I lost lost my house
00:58:29
lost my truck lost my dog I mean I really lost my life about being killed that is so hard to hear he's
00:58:39
right when he says he lost everything he's not kidding he had three Strokes in the hospital he was placed into a
00:58:45
medically induced coma he had to relearn how to walk relearn how to stand how to
00:58:50
talk um it wasn't easy looters came in when nobody was watching the house and they everything in his house including
00:58:57
his above ground pool um he had to move back in when he was 50 with his mother and her new husband and by the way we
00:59:06
should mention Tiki the dog Tiki was home when the shooting took place and the first EMT who came through the door
00:59:15
happened to be a friend of Chris's and he told Chris that Tiki was huddling with him and he thinks kept him alive
00:59:22
during the 12 hours that Chris lay on the kitchen floor the glass door was shattered so the cold from the November
00:59:30
wind was getting into the house but because Tiki stayed right next to Chris probably helped save his life and he now
00:59:38
cannot live with Tiki he couldn't really take care of her and when he moved in with his mother they were two big male
00:59:43
dogs there so he had to give Tiki to a neighbor but he still sees Tiki I mean that to all of us would be a serious
00:59:50
loss that's hard for him to me what I think though is the most important part part of this hour is that we take a look
00:59:57
at what Chris is doing now I mean how would you describe where he is in his journey for
01:00:06
getting back to his life Chris showed me a picture of himself just before this happened he was absolutely ripped I mean
01:00:13
he he had abs of steel and um you know he's trying to get back there he goes to the gym every morning now to try to
01:00:20
regain muscle you know he was in a rock band Chris he's back singing in the rock
01:00:25
band but he used to play guitar he can't play guitar now um he's a remarkable person and uh the fact that he still has
01:00:32
a sense of humor says something he is determined to get as as close back to the Chris that he was and he even turned
01:00:41
to the camera and he said if there's any doctor there who has new treatments I'm
01:00:46
ready to try him I hope he does hear from somebody that would be really great and he wants to be a motivational
01:00:52
speaker that's what he he's launching a business as a motivational speaker because he feels he has a story to tell
01:01:00
and he can inspire people that's another thing he says in our hour never give up
01:01:05
just never give up and I think we're both going to take that with us but before I let you go Paul I want to ask
01:01:11
you about the new 48 Hours NCIS podcast that just came out on the case of Aaron corwood you originally reported on this
01:01:20
case for 48 hours and you are prominently featured in this podcast so tell me about this work on the original
01:01:27
story and why this case mattered to you well it's one of my favorite stories Aaron Corin was a young Marine's wife
01:01:36
and she was out in in a town called 29 Palms which is near Joshua Tree National Park it's an absolutely beautiful desert
01:01:44
likee area and aarin wound up being killed there are a lot of abandoned mines out in the wild around Joshua tree
01:01:53
and they found her one of those mines after a two- Monon search and I met Erin's mother I spent some time with
01:01:59
Erin's mother and we brought her with us when we went back to the mine she wanted
01:02:04
to come she asked us if she could come and we went out to the mine with her and she said her goodbyes and I'm still in
01:02:10
touch with her see I love the fact that we can do podcasts about these stories that you know because we never can put
01:02:17
enough in to 48 hours but you can talk about those kind of things in this podcast postmortem and in this new NCI
01:02:26
podcast Paul thanks for joining me today thank you for having me so if you like this series postmortem
01:02:35
please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast and you can also
01:02:42
listen adree on Amazon music wry Plus in the wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast thank you
01:02:52
really all of you for listening