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[music] On Sunday, August 22nd, 2004, 2 days after my wife Susan Sutton's birthday, we were having a family get
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together. our son Christopher and his girlfriend Juliet, my law partner Teddy Monto. We had a birthday cake.
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>> John and Susan lived in a very fancy neighborhood, Carl Gables. John was a local attorney. The firm had had a very
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successful week. The firm got a settlement over a million dollars. After dinner was over, we were watching
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the Olympics in swimming and diving. Everything was fine that evening. Everybody was relaxed.
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>> John and Susan's son Christopher [music] and his girlfriend Julia Driscoll had
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plans to go to the movies, so they left. >> Shortly thereafter, my law partner Teddy
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Monto left. Approximately 10:00, I decided to go in to bed. Susan retired to one bedroom, [music]
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Jon to the other. Susan oftentimes slept in the second room because her husband John snored.
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Settling into the evening, unaware that at that time, about four blocks away, there was a man who had driven up
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Glock 9mm semi-automatic [music] pistol in his waistband with one intention. He was there on a mission.
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A mission to murder John and Susan. >> Next thing you know, I saw someone come in.
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>> He took out his Glock. >> I heard a bang. A big bang. I was being shot >> and the bullets even broke [music] the
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headboard, shattered the glass, the mirror. John Sutton flipped out of the bed, landed on the floor, and then the
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gunman turned towards Susan, and shot her six times. Gunman then turned back [music] to the
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master bedroom, fired more times at John, emptying the gun. >> I knew that I had been shot in the head.
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I needed assistance, and I went for a telephone. >> Call was 911. >> Somebody came in and shot me. I need
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police and I need an ambulance. >> 2240 6186. >> Susan Sutton was assassinated in her
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bed. Didn't have a chance. And John Sutton should have died [music] for all intents and purposes, but did not. My
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name is Karen Kagan. I was the prosecutor on homicide duty. And I went into that house. I was able to see the
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bullet holes, the blood on the floor, and the blood in the bathroom. Most remarkably, nothing else [music] in that
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house was disturbed. There was beautiful jewelry on the vanity. Undisturbed. It was [music] clear this was no burglary.
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It was a premeditated effort [music] to make sure that they were dead. >> I could not imagine that anyone would
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want to [music] kill us. >> The question was, who done it? >> [music] [music] >> Everybody says it was somewhat of a
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miracle that I survived. [music] I lost a tremendous amount of blood. >> Just hours after someone broke into John
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Sutton's home, murdered his wife, and tried to kill him, doctors weren't sure he would live.
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>> They apparently gave me last rights. They thought that I was gone. >> When you got to the hospital to see your
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father, tell me what you saw. >> Almost [music] unrecognizable person. Melissa Sutton was 18, a
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freshman in college. Her mother was dead. [music] Her father had been shot multiple times, twice in the head.
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[music] >> The fact that I knew his hands and I knew his ears and his skin tone. [music]
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I could tell that this kind of disfigured person was my dad. >> She knew him, but he had a harder time
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recognizing her. >> You cannot see [music] me now. You don't even see a shadow. No.
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>> John Sutton woke [music] up in intensive care blind. >> The magnitude of my injury, [music] the
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facial pain and the loss of the eyesight was just so huge. [music] >> You must have been racking your brain
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thinking, who could have possibly have done this? >> I certainly was. And I thought people were trying to kill
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me when I was in the hospital. I felt that I wasn't safe. I wanted to get out of there.
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It was just one big [music] mess. >> And John still hadn't heard what happened to his wife.
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>> I remember asking Melissa, [music] "How's mom doing?" She had been told by the police not to tell me about Susan.
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[music] Later on, I was told that she passed away. Melissa, >> what kind of woman who's your mom?
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>> Intelligent, confident. >> Some you got mommy. It's >> the kind of person who's in their 40s
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but wants to take [music] violin classes and calculus classes because she just wants to be better.
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>> And more than anything, [music] she wanted to be a great mother. Once the head nurse of a surgical intensive care
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unit, she gave her career up in the late 70s when she and John adopted their first child, Christopher.
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>> That was the happiest day of her [music] life. It was absolutely the happiest day
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of her life. >> Susan's sister, Mary Marier. >> I heard her on the telephone. I could
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hear her screaming from Florida, you [laughter] know, how happy she was and how thrilled she was.
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>> Almost 7 years later, they adopted Melissa. >> She loved those children. >> Hi, Christopher. and she loved them
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unconditionally. >> Now, those children [music] were planning their mother's funeral while
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police scoured the crime scene, seeing Susan Sutton's jewelry and John Sutton's wallet [music] untouched on a dresser.
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>> Take the wallet. Easy cash at least. But nothing was taken. This person had a
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mission. >> Miami date detective Rosanna Cordderero hoped John, even with a serious head
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injury, could help her. >> He remembered bits and pieces. He thought he remembered a figure at the
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door. He might be a black man or wearing all black clothing. He was not [music] sure.
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>> So with that kind of spotty memory, the information he provided wasn't very helpful.
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>> No, it wasn't. >> She thought she'd have more luck with Teddy Monto, John's law partner.
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Teddy told her he was on the phone with John's wife, Susan, and heard gunfire. So he raced to the scene, arriving just
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after police. I was the one who told him that Susan had died and he was very emotional about it.
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>> And then Teddy said something surprising. >> He was a marksman >> and he'd been shooting a gun earlier
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that day. >> He's a competitive shooter. That's something that he did as a hobby. That
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raised our eyebrows. >> Detective Cordderero immediately sent Teddy's gun in for testing and she
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pushed him for more information about his late night phone call with Susan. He was not forthcoming with me.
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>> She suspected Teddy was hiding something. >> He's asked to submit to a polygraph,
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which he does, and he fails. Especially in regards to his relationship with Susan.
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[music] >> The interrogation continued until Teddy finally revealed his secret. >> He did, in fact, confess to having a
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sexual relationship with Susan. >> Did that make him a suspect in your mind? >> It [music] did. Obviously,
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he has a motive. A motive at least to kill John. Maybe not necessarily Susan, but love triangles [music]
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can drive people to do very extreme behavior. >> But Teddy's gun didn't match the murder
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weapon, [music] and police were able to confirm he wasn't in the Sutton home during the shooting. As for the
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polygraph, police say he failed because he was covering up the affair, hoping to
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keep it from John. >> That was a pretty big surprise. How did you [music] deal with that
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betrayal? >> I wasn't very happy with it. Very, very upset. >> Up until that point, John and Teddy had
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a strong working relationship, and their law firm had just gotten one of their biggest settlements ever, more than a
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million dollars. >> They had been very successful in their civil litigation, and along the way had
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made some enemies. In fact, John had had death threats against him. Police investigated every one of them, but they
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all had alibis. >> It was that point that I started interviewing some of John's closest
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friends. >> Lee Detective Larry Bellow says there was one name that kept coming up.
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>> And they said, "You [music] need to look at Christopher Sutton." I said, "Christopher Sutton, the son?"
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Absolutely. [music] >> Belleu thought it odd that fingers were being pointed at John and Susan's son,
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Christopher, then 25 years old. For months since [music] the shooting, Christopher had been right by his
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father's side. And when John finally left the hospital, he moved in with his son. But police were hearing alarming
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stories about Christopher. >> That he would like to have his parents [music] dead.
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>> He actually choked his mother one time, saying that he could kill her. >> The son, who once seemed so devoted, was
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now their prime suspect. >> I didn't do it. I never had anything to do with it. the Polynesian islands of Samoa in the
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South Pacific Ocean, nearly 7,000 m from the Miami home where Susan and John Sutton were viciously attacked.
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What happened here more than 15 years ago, police say, may hold the clue to solving the case.
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>> We learned that Christopher Sutton had been sent away to a uh a behavioral school by his parents.
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>> When he was just 16, John and Susan sent their son here. Christopher, they say,
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have been getting into lots of trouble. We were [music] told that there was oppositional defiant disorder or conduct
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defiant disorder, those sort of things. >> He was in and out of more than half a
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dozen schools. >> I was routinely driving him to school, dropping him off at the front door, and
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he was routinely going out the back door and doing other things. [music] >> Skipping school, though, was the least
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of their problems. Susan's sister, Mary. He and some other kids broke into a teacher's house and trashed the inside
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of the house and spray painted the inside of the house. >> He was arrested. >> We were sued.
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>> $50,000 in damage. >> Perhaps more. >> Were you an out of control teenager? >> Out of control? I mean, like I
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definitely wanted to do my own thing. I was definitely into body piercings and tattoos, you know, things my parents
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absolutely hated. I really wasn't doing anything that was horribly wrong. But Mary says if Christopher didn't get
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his way, he could get extremely angry. >> Christopher had a rifle. It was not loaded. He pointed it at Susan and
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Melissa. He told him that it was loaded and he was going to shoot them. >> You threatened your mother at gunpoint.
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You threatened to kill her. >> No. >> No. >> No. >> His parents to me always seemed
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a little bit harsh on him. Christopher's friend Eric Pulk says the Sutton tended
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to overreact >> and it was rough on him >> perhaps. But when Christopher was 16,
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things really escalated. >> Susan called me and said, "We've got a problem." >> In Christopher's room, Susan found a
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note. >> It was a plan to kill his parents for the inheritance. >> I saw it. I read it. It was there. How
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did he react when this happened? >> It wasn't his fault. He was just kidding. He wasn't serious.
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>> But the Sutton were. They were frightened and they wanted Christopher out of the house.
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>> You got a restraining order against your 16-year-old son. >> Correct. >> He was a valued member of our household.
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>> Eric invited Christopher to live with his family. The judge agreed. He went to
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school when he was supposed to go to school and he didn't cause any problems living with us.
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>> And then 3 weeks later, >> it was a Friday night, I believe. >> Two men came to get him.
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>> They were trying to wrestle him across my lawn. >> Christopher was shipped off to Somala, a
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place called Paradise Cove. But this was no [music] vacation. It was a hardcore behavior modification program for
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troubled boys. Randy Rogers parents sent him here when he was 17. >> If he didn't follow every rule, he says
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punishments were severe. >> You would go to like the box for a day. >> The box? >> Yeah, like the isolation box.
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>> In 1998, 48 hours investigating a story of abuse here filmed the isolation box.
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But Randy says even worse things went on at Paradise Cove in the early days of the program when Christopher first got
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there. [music] >> They would tie them with with duct tape. They took them to some compound that was
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in the mountains, left them hog tied there. A year into Paradise Cove, Christopher
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sent a video message home to his parents. >> All right, Mommy. I wouldn't tell you.
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I don't feel like you guys love me. I feel that like I'm just I've just been I've been stuck here. Just get me out of
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your hair. You guys still dislike me for some reason. Cuz even though my wishes are to be here, I don't care. They don't
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come true. >> John, Susan, and Melissa traveled to Samoa to see for themselves what it was
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like. >> Was he happy to see you? >> Absolutely. Christopher said he tried telling them
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about abuse. >> Did I believe it? No. >> You didn't believe it? >> I didn't believe it. Can't imagine that
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that's what was happening. >> Christopher was hoping to leave Paradise Cove forever on his 18th birthday, but
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his father got a court order to keep him there for another year. >> He was, shall we say, fighting the
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program. When you met Christopher, >> Randy says he could only imagine how angry that would have made Christopher.
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>> When you learned about the shooting at the Sutton home, what were you thinking?
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>> I was thinking that Chris might have been behind it. >> You can understand how he may have
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wanted to exact revenge >> against his parents for his time at Paradise Cove. >> Uhhuh.
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>> To the point of murder. In 2000, Paradise Cove with a dwindling enrollment and accusations of abuse shut
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down. But whatever happened to Christopher there was a long time ago. Christopher was now 25. And as far as
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John was concerned, a loving son who after the shooting wanted to take care of him.
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>> I said, "Don't live with Christopher. I think Christopher had something to do
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with this." He was very angry with me about that. >> I didn't suspect him. And of course, I
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wouldn't have wanted it to be Christopher. I mean, that's the worst thing. >> But Mary is sure Christopher was behind
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the shooting of his father and the murder of his mother. >> Christopher isn't like you and me.
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Christopher is not like other people. There's something missing. The night before the funeral is when I was
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convinced that Christopher had had something to do with it. >> She says Christopher talked about what
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happened. He sat there and he said, "Oh, Susan was shot more than one time." He was describing how the person came in to
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the house and went down the hallway. >> So, Christopher was familiar with [music] details about this shooting that
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had not yet been released. >> Yes. The blood drained from my body. I looked at Christopher and I thought,
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"You killed her. You did it." But Christopher was nowhere near his parents' house when they were attacked.
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He and his girlfriend were at the movies seen here on the theat's security cameras. If Christopher didn't shoot his
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parents, who did I cried. [music] I couldn't believe it. You know, I was in shock. It doesn't
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even seem real that it could have even happened. >> Christopher Sutton says he was horrified
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when he found out about his mother and father. >> He started balling his eyes out. [music]
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He seemed like he was devastated. >> Christopher's then fiance, Juliet [music] Driscoll, says she was reeling
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herself. >> I was in shock at that point. Your entire world just blew up. >> Juliet met Christopher when she was just
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17. He was 19 and just back from Samoa. The Sutton, she says, treated her like a
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daughter. >> Susan kind of taught me about like makeup and clothes and all that sort of
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stuff. You know, John was always just like really supportive of me. >> John even gave Juliet a job in his law
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office. And for the [music] most part, John and Susan financially supported her and Christopher.
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>> They only wanted what was best for us. Who could have done this? Was it random?
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Wasn't it random? >> Who did you think had done it? >> I had no idea. >> I said, "Christopher, can I speak to you
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for a moment?" I He said, "Absolutely." >> Detective Rosanna Cordderero met Christopher at the crime scene shortly
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after he'd been told about the shooting. I remember he had a couple of tears come
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down his face. >> But before she could even offer condolences, he said something to her
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that just didn't seem right. >> He said to me, "We had dinner here at the house, but we left around 9:00 and
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we went to the movies. [music] Do you want my ticket stubs?" >> So, he was offering you an alibi?
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>> Yes. That's really weird. It's unusual. [music] >> You offered up an alibi before she even
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asked for one. >> Absolutely. >> Why? because of Teddy's [music] interrogation. >> Teddy Monto, the man who was secretly
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having an affair with Susan, had already told Christopher about his police interrogation. Christopher says he
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assumed he was next. So, he told Cordiero where he was during the shooting. >> And I recovered the surveillance tape of
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Christopher walking out of the movie theater. >> Here he is with Juliet leaving the
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theater a little before midnight. But something caught Cordderero's eye. The first thing he does as he's walking out,
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he's not even out of the theater, is he gets on his cell phone. >> Lee Detective Larry Bellow ordered
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Christopher's phone records. We saw a particular number that came up several times.
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>> 331 times to be exact. In the weeks leading up to and right [music] after the murder,
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>> we identified that number as belonging to a individual by the name of Garrett
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Cobb. A man named Garrett Cobb had been arrested less than 24 hours after the shooting for assaulting someone with a
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gun in another part of Miami. He was now out on bail. Detective Belleu immediately called the arresting
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officer. >> Now, please tell me you still have that gun. >> He did, >> and it turned out to be a match.
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>> It was the same gun used in the Sutton shooting. 21-year-old Garrett Cobb was brought in
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for questioning. >> I had to get something out of him. Denial. Denial, denial. >> It was a tense interrogation.
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>> He continued to deny. Deny. >> After 6 hours of questioning, >> he finally broke.
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>> Garrett Cobb confessed. >> What was the plan? >> Go in that room. >> He said, "Look, you're going to have to
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protect me. I did it, but I did it because Christopher threatened to kill me and my
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son." >> Who did he want you to shoot? Garrett? Garrett told police the plan to kill the
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Sutton was all Christopher's idea. >> Who got you the gun to use? >> Yes. >> He actually drew a sketch as to how he
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got in the house. >> Spying glass door on the back patio. >> Was that door unlocked when you got
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there? >> Yep. >> Did Chris tell you he left it unlocked? >> Yep. >> Garrett went straight to the bedrooms
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where he said Christopher told him he'd find the Sutton. >> Shot John Sutton. shot Susan [music]
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Sutton. >> Do you recall how many times you shot her? >> No, sir. >> Garrett says Susan was under the covers
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when he fired. >> There was actually bullet [music] holes through the comforter. So, what he told
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me matched. I knew he had had done this. >> Garrett Cobb was arrested. >> I did not have enough for a warrant for
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Christopher. >> Police needed more than Garrett's word that Christopher put him up to it. The
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next person I knew that probably had direct knowledge of all this was his fiance.
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>> Juliet Driscoll was brought in for questioning. >> I knew nothing. I knew absolutely
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nothing. >> She denied knowledge of anything. >> The fact that people could even think
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that I would know something like that. >> And she continued to deny for hours, 13
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hours, none of which was taped by police. >> Like that I would let something like
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that happen to John and Susan. She says police yelled and threatened her with arrest.
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>> No, she was never under arrest. I I never threatened her with that. [music] >> But Juliet says she felt pressured and
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told them what she did know, that Christopher had a deep seat of resentment towards his parents for
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sending him to Samoa. >> He believed that he was entitled to have whatever he wanted. If he wanted this
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car, he should be able to have this car. if he wanted the condo, he should be able to have the condo because I deserve
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this. They sent me to Samoa. They deserve to pay for what they did. >> And for the most part, the Sutton did
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pay. >> They paid rent. They [music] paid car payments. They paid bills. They took us
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on vacations. >> But he wanted more. >> But he wanted more. He said he could find somebody to kill
00:24:02
his parents. >> That he could find a hitman to take out his parents >> and it would be easy. I listened to it
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for six years. He said it for years and years and years. >> Did he talk to you about what your lives
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would be like after his parents were gone when he would inherit the estate? >> Mhm.
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>> What did he say? >> Things would be good cuz we wouldn't have to worry about money.
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>> Juliet says she never told anyone because she didn't believe Christopher was serious.
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>> It was like the boy who cried wolf. You know, you hear something so [music] many
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times and you just you you don't think about it. >> And then shortly before the murder,
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>> there was a fight. >> Over what? >> It was over a bill not being paid. >> Susan Sutton refused to pay
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Christopher's car insurance bill. >> The only times he would really like get like really angry would be when they
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wouldn't give him what he wanted. >> Juliet told police Christopher was furious. He knew his father had just
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received a million dollar plus legal settlement. >> And with that information, I had enough
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at that point to get a warrant for Christopher's son. >> But Christopher was nowhere to be found.
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>> I got a call from one of the detectives. >> I'd like to come by and talk to you.
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>> She said, "Don't let anybody in the house. >> Don't answer the door till I get there.
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>> Don't pick up the phone." >> He must have been like, "What the heck? >> I'm coming over to see you. Stay where
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you are." Did I think Christopher would come back to try to finish it off? Yeah.
00:25:46
Detective Cordderero was dreading what she was about to do. Tell John Sutton his son was behind the shooting.
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>> I know. I told him that [music] what I'm about to say is going to be hard for you
00:25:58
to accept, but trust me, every road leads back to Christopher. >> I was just at that point so shell
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shocked. >> For almost 2 weeks, Christopher was on the run before police found him.
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>> Cops arrested 25-year-old Christopher Sutton. >> John Sutton didn't want to believe it,
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but what he was hearing was starting to make sense. when I was told that Garrett
00:26:25
was the shooter. And of course, I put that together. Garrett and Christopher were like twins.
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>> But I don't know if you could actually prove this case to a jury without having
00:26:37
Garrett cop. >> But if prosecutors Kathleen Hog and Karen Kagan wanted Garrett to testify,
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it was going to cost them. The death penalty was taken off the table. Garrett would get a deal. Just 30 years for
00:26:50
shooting John and Susan. Garrett Cop is a a drug addict, a little thug. >> Christopher's attorney, Bruce Flecher.
00:26:59
>> He needed a way out to help himself and he told the detectives about Chris Sutton. He basically uh kept his ass out
00:27:07
of the electric chair. >> Garrett is now saying that Christopher promised him $100,000 to kill the
00:27:14
Sutton. >> Did you ask Garrick Cop to kill your parents? >> Absolutely not. So Garrick Cop is a
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liar. >> Absolutely. >> I believe we can win this case. >> He's about to get his opportunity.
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>> All right. >> As the trial begins, John Sutton sits far from his son. >> Miss Kagan, opening statement. You may
00:27:38
proceed. >> Prosecutors immediately tell the jury how close Christopher was to admitted
00:27:43
hitman Garrick Cobb. >> They were friends for years. Over the years, they were dope smoking buddies.
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>> Christopher did nothing but sell drugs the whole time he got back from Samoa all the time, taking money from his
00:27:55
father. >> The plan was for Garrett Cop to go in the Sutton's home and do the shooting
00:28:02
and then he would get paid when the defendant got his money. >> Uh yeah, you can bring Mr. Cop back out.
00:28:08
>> In Shackles, Garrett Cobb takes the stand. >> Where was Mr. Sutton when you shot at
00:28:15
him initially? on the bed. >> Who was the person with whom you were in a plan to shoot John and Susan Sutton?
00:28:22
>> Chris. Chris Sutton. >> Christopher's defense needs to prove Garrett is lying. They zero in on the
00:28:32
tough interrogation by police. >> They got aggressive with you, didn't they? >> Somewhat. Got pushy a little bit. Leaned
00:28:39
up against me. >> Yeah, like this. >> Yeah, >> that's what they're saying. Garrett.
00:28:44
Garrett. Something like that. >> You need to tell us something, Garrett, cuz they're going to fry your ass in the
00:28:49
electric chair. >> Excuse me. >> Garrett would have said Mother Teresa did it to get himself a deal. To get
00:28:54
himself out of the death penalty, to get him out get himself out of that situation.
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>> Sir, you can come forward, please. >> But incredibly, it wasn't the first time
00:29:03
prosecutors say Christopher had tried to execute such a plan. >> Would you tell the members of the jury
00:29:09
uh your first and last name? >> Jose Pon. P O N. Jose Pion is an ex-con with a murder conviction on his juvenile
00:29:16
rap sheet. Pion met Christopher in 1999 about a year after he returned from Samoa.
00:29:23
>> He asked me if I knew of any hitman that would uh kill his parents. >> Was he joking or did he seem serious?
00:29:31
>> He seemed serious. Uh he said that his parents were um worth about $500,000 to
00:29:37
a million dollars and they had some property and um life insurance. I mean like I don't know where I mean like I
00:29:42
don't know where he came up with that stuff. >> He's a liar too. >> Yeah. About the about that. Absolutely.
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>> Then Detective Bellow tells the jury about what he believes is a defining moment in the case. After arresting
00:29:55
Christopher, he showed him Juliet's statement [music] incriminating him. >> Well, I showed him the comments about
00:30:01
we're going to be better off after they're gone. At that point, he almost immediately dropped his head to the
00:30:08
table, started crying, and said, "I'm >> to the detective." Christopher's reaction appeared to be an admission of
00:30:15
guilt. But Christopher says he only cried because he believed police were setting him up.
00:30:20
>> You know, they forced somebody to lie. It's it's it's it's hard to swallow. >> Mr. Driscoll, if you'll come forward,
00:30:26
stand in front of >> But would the woman who once planned to marry Christopher now offer testimony
00:30:31
that could put him away for life? And what did he express to you was his opinion about his mother?
00:30:37
>> She was a [ __ ] because he felt that she wouldn't give him what he wanted and
00:30:43
what he deserved >> and that being money. >> Yes. >> And she tells the jury how angry he was
00:30:49
about Samoa. >> He would say they deserve to die. >> Good afternoon, Mr. Driscoll. But on
00:30:56
cross-examination, Juliet says she only told the police incriminating information about Christopher after they
00:31:03
threatened her with arrest. >> She was threatened with a death penalty. She was threatened with going down. But
00:31:07
she's a liar, too. In in part, yeah. >> But Juliet says everything she told the police was in the end true. She insists
00:31:18
though that she never knew Christopher would actually try and kill his parents. I did not know at all that he was behind
00:31:27
this. No, >> you didn't believe he was going to do it, did you? >> And then in a moment, the defense team
00:31:33
was hoping for Juliet, a prosecution witness, raised doubt about Christopher's guilt before the jury.
00:31:39
>> I'm still confused about the whole matter. I don't know if he did it or not. Nobody knows what really happened
00:31:44
except for him and Garrett. >> But by now, John Sutton has a pretty good idea. After hearing the evidence,
00:31:53
he's convinced his son is responsible and he takes the stand. >> That I had two bullets go in here and
00:32:02
two which went out over here. >> Prosecutors asked John about his troubled relationship with his son after
00:32:09
Samoa. >> Did your son ever complain to you about money? >> Yeah. >> And the complaints continued after the
00:32:17
shooting, too. Coming home from the hospital, John says Christopher wanted control over the finances.
00:32:23
>> I didn't want him in the bank account. >> A father helping prosecutors convict his
00:32:27
own son, the boy he had raised for 25 years. >> Do you still love [music] Christopher?
00:32:39
I would have to say that I do not. And it's hard. I can't connect the dots between what he
00:32:48
was doing [music] at age five and what happened after age 13. >> Your father told me that he no longer
00:32:57
loves you. I can't control how he feels. >> How does it make you feel? >> It hurts. I mean, it definitely hurts
00:33:04
that he no longer loves me. I I've always considered him my father and you know, like, you know, and that and I
00:33:08
always will. Now it's up to Christopher to convince the jury of that love and [music] his
00:33:15
innocence. >> Do you swear for me that the evidence you're about to give will be the truth,
00:33:28
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> I do. >> It's the moment Christopher Sutton has
00:33:33
been waiting for. >> I think anyone who is innocent or wrongfully accused would would want to
00:33:37
get up there and and speak their mind. It's my word against Garrett's word. It's what it all boils down to.
00:33:43
>> He paints Garrick Cop as an insatiable drug fiend. >> Constant constant drug habit. I mean, I did drugs
00:33:50
all day. >> Christopher claims Garrett broke into his parents' home in a desperate bid to
00:33:58
steal marijuana. All day long, a hopped up Garrett [music] had been calling him for drugs.
00:34:03
>> I I kind of told him, "No, no, no, no." Christopher says he kept drugs boxed up
00:34:07
in the closet of his old bedroom where his mother often slept and Garrett knew it.
00:34:12
>> How much marijuana did you store in these boxes in in the top box? About 2 lb. And what was the value of that?
00:34:22
>> 7,000 bucks. >> Once inside, Christopher claims Garrett panicked when he saw John and Susan
00:34:28
awake and shot them. Is it possible that this was a robbery gone bad? >> No. No.
00:34:37
>> It was an assassination. >> But Christopher says he had no reason to want his parents dead. He got over his
00:34:47
anger about being sent to Samoa long ago. >> When I more matured and realized it
00:34:51
wasn't something they did to me maliciously, they did what they thought was in my best interest.
00:34:56
>> He even tells the jury Paradise Cove turned out to be good for him. You benefited from the program?
00:35:02
>> Yes. >> But then in an unexpected moment, he becomes highly emotional when discussing
00:35:08
his alleged mistreatment there. >> How were you feeling physically during that time?
00:35:17
>> I was what I was what they called in denial. >> You need a break? >> Yeah. Ladies [snorts] and gentlemen,
00:35:27
>> Christopher's surprising breakdown on the stand is evidence. Prosecutors say that he's still haunted by his
00:35:33
experience. [music] >> His only emotional reaction was about himself, was not about what had happened
00:35:39
to his parents. Hopefully that made an impact on the jury. >> Not a tear for his mother.
00:35:49
Not a tear. >> Every one of those bullets was Christopher saying to his parents, "I
00:35:55
hate you. I hate you. I hate you. You owe me. >> He's greedy and he's lazy and he
00:36:03
believes that he's entitled. >> Is there enough evidence in this case to convict my client of this crime? And the
00:36:12
answer is no. Because what is the evidence? Forced statements. Cop statement is a
00:36:19
total lie. He's the killer. >> It's now up to the jury. >> All right, everyone. Uh we understand
00:36:29
the jury has reached a verdict. >> After a day and a half of deliberations, >> we the jury find the defendant
00:36:35
Christopher Patrick Sutton guilty of first-degree murder is charged. >> You were stunned at the verdict.
00:36:49
>> Absolutely. I definitely thought I was going to be acquitted. >> Before sentencing, an emotional John
00:36:55
Sutton addresses the court. >> Regardless of the result, this is a bad case. I lost Susan.
00:37:05
I lost Christopher long before that. I lost my eyesight. >> He doesn't ask for leniency. A few feet
00:37:14
away, another father sat grieving his loss. Garrett's dad, Mitchell. And you question [music] yourself as to
00:37:23
you're a father of a murderer. [snorts] I thought I taught him right from wrong.
00:37:32
I'm just sorry it happened to the hands of my son. Christopher is sentenced to life in
00:37:39
prison with no possibility of parole. His sister Melissa says she'll never speak
00:37:48
to him again. You know, my parents were the best parents. And the fact that one child did something awful does not mean
00:37:55
that they didn't like love him unconditionally. They [music] did everything they could to give him
00:38:02
every opportunity that he deserved and and [music] he just didn't take advantage of it. But the whole trial
00:38:09
kind of [snorts] opened the wound back up. you know, the loss of my mom, the blindness of my dad, and the loss of my
00:38:16
brother. [snorts] >> Do you think about your family >> all the time? Absolutely. You know,
00:38:23
>> I remember all the good times. I remember all the bad times, too. I mean, like, it hurts me to to to hear them,
00:38:28
you know, think that I had anything to do with this. It's It's unfortunate. >> As for their father, John's focus right
00:38:36
now is getting his eyesight back. At Scapens's Eye Research Institute in Massachusetts, work on optic nerve
00:38:43
regeneration is promising. >> Put your chin down a little more. >> And at Massachusetts Eye and Ear
00:38:48
Infirmary. >> Here we go. And I'm looking right at your optic nerve. >> Dr. Joseph Rizzo is ready to start
00:38:53
discussing electronic technology [music] implanting a device around the back of the eye.
00:38:58
>> Our job is to try to make you as functional as you can be. While he waits for a breakthrough, John
00:39:04
Sutton remarkably continues to practice law. He memorizes his briefs ex >> and with the help of an aid, he's
00:39:13
winning cases much like he used to. And he has a new love interest. The world of darkness [music] he now
00:39:21
lives in is slowly brightening with each passing day. >> It's really almost like I'm another
00:39:27
[music] person. There's so many changes in my life. It would be completely understandable
00:39:34
if you felt sorry for yourself sometimes. Do you? >> Doesn't [music] do any good. I don't
00:39:41
believe in feeling sorry for myself because then you're just wallowing in disaster. I just decided that I wasn't
00:39:50
going to sit around for the rest of my life and get bored. So, I [music] have done everything that
00:39:57
I can possibly do without hesitation. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music]
00:40:37
[music] >> This is a murder case that began with a nightmare and a woman who had visions of
00:41:03
violence. To me, it was a dream. But I woke up and it just startled me. I usually have very strange dreams. When
00:41:14
I wake up in the morning, I remember bits and pieces and within half an hour it's completely gone.
00:41:20
I said, "I'm worried about Kelly. I think Kelly's hurt. >> Kelly Brennan was a nurse at one of the
00:41:25
local hospitals. Well thought of at the hospital. Kelly was beautiful. When she came in
00:41:33
the room, it was like glamorous. She was patient oriented, wasn't afraid to take charge. We called her the
00:41:41
sergeant. >> Tell me what happened. What did you dream about, Kelly? Everything was black
00:41:47
and she was arguing with somebody and I saw the sign for Mark's Landing. >> On February 15th, 2010, Kelly Brennan
00:41:56
went missing. >> She didn't show up for work. There was like a unsettling panic that we didn't
00:42:02
know what what happened to Kelly. >> Something was not right. It was not adding up. And that's why we called the
00:42:06
police. >> 911. What's the problem there? >> I think there's been a murder. We sent people down to start to look at
00:42:14
Mark's landing and in that area to see if they could find Kelly and actually put a aviation unit up in the air.
00:42:19
Helicopter had had spotted what they believed to be a a person laying in the wooded area. Shortly later, we were able
00:42:26
to uh identify that it was Kelly Brennan. >> If you follow me, Peter, right back in
00:42:32
here toward the scrub. >> Wow. Back in the bush. >> And this is where Kelly ended her life.
00:42:37
>> Right here. Most of the injuries are are directed direct at her head. So there's a frenzied attack with many
00:42:45
blows being struck. There's a lot of anger and rage in that once the body's found and it's where she says it is.
00:42:52
>> Mark's landing. I said, "I can see Mark's landing." >> Of course, then she becomes your prime
00:42:57
suspect. >> In the dream is just like I told them. She was arguing with somebody.
00:43:03
>> My name is Todd Deritany. I was a criminal defense lawyer. And one day, Sheila Trot came into my office and told
00:43:09
me that she was accused of murder. Sheila was trying to convey to me that she didn't commit any murder and that
00:43:15
she merely had a dream, a vision about this that came to her, like she was clairvoyant.
00:43:22
>> If it hadn't been for me, they wouldn't have gone to Mark's Landing looking for
00:43:25
her. I told the truth, and I'm continuing to tell the truth. I did not kill Kelly Brennan. You don't believe
00:43:31
that she has some supernatural ability that all these facts came to her in a dream?
00:43:37
>> No, I don't think she's clairvoyant. I think she's a killer. >> I'm Peter Vans. Tonight on 48 hours,
00:43:52
a vision of murder. It's hard to imagine this picturesque seashore marks landing on Florida's
00:44:28
space coast as a beachside grave. >> Is this the spot where Kelly Brennan was lying on the ground?
00:44:40
>> He noticed her legs sticking out from the bushes a little bit and kind of the
00:44:44
lower part of her torso. It was on the morning of February 16th, 2010 that chopper pilot John Copala of the Brevard
00:44:53
County Sheriff's Department spotted a body. >> We landed. I got out of the helicopter,
00:44:59
ran over to her. I saw a lot of trauma to her head. It's It's a very sad moment to see somebody dead like that.
00:45:11
It was 46-year-old Kelly Brennan who had vanished from her home in Indie Atlantic
00:45:16
less than 24 hours earlier. >> There was no saving Kelly Brennan. >> No, unfortunately, no. There was no
00:45:23
saving her. >> She was so alive. She was always, you know, running around doing things and
00:45:27
then to know that she was dead. It was just a total shock. >> Lou Ervy and Kelly were close friends
00:45:35
and nurses at a local hospital. They often kayaked together. >> When you think about Kelly Brennan, what
00:45:42
do you miss the most? >> Her friendship. Working with her was good because she is a good nurse. She
00:45:47
knew her stuff and but also just as a friend. >> Kelly was committed to her patients.
00:45:52
Even after she was diagnosed with an incurable disease, multiple sclerosis, >> it would flare up at times and she would
00:46:00
just keep working and and work right through it, which was another thing I admired about her. Sheila Trot, the
00:46:05
woman at the center of this murder, says Kelly Brennan was her friend as well. What is it about her that you liked?
00:46:12
>> We had the type of friendship where we wouldn't see each other for four or five
00:46:16
years and then something would bring us together. She hosted parties. She liked to be the center of attention. Kelly was
00:46:21
a great girl. There was nothing that she did to deserve that at all. >> So, how did it come to this? Sheila
00:46:28
Trot, suspected of brutally murdering her friend and dumping her body right here among these bushes. Well, it's a
00:46:35
complicated tale of secrets, lies, and intrigue. A story that begins with an eerie dream and ends like a
00:46:43
Shakespearean tragedy. >> Does this case have an affair? >> Yes. >> Sex? >> Sure.
00:46:50
>> Jealousy on both sides. Major Todd Goodyear is the lead investigator >> and a nightmare and visions
00:46:58
and who knows what. Clairvoyance. >> Of course, that's our our suspect saying that she's clairvoyant. For us, that's
00:47:04
somebody that's trying to live with what they've done. >> I woke up and it just startled me and I
00:47:09
said, "I'm worried about Kelly. I think Kelly's hurt." >> In this dream, was Kelly Brennan dead?
00:47:16
>> Did you see her bloodied? >> No. Mm-m. >> Did you see her body at Mark's Landing?
00:47:21
>> Uh-uh. No. >> You did not kill Kelly. >> No. [snorts] No. I would never have hurt
00:47:27
Kelly. No, I never would have hurt Kelly. >> But to truly understand just how strange
00:47:35
this story is, you have to go back in time 20 years. Kelly Brennan, a nursing student, and Sheila Trot were friends.
00:47:44
Sheila was working three jobs to put her husband Daniel through flight school. >> Dan was an upwardly mobile kind of guy.
00:47:52
Liked limelight a little bit. Some of the things we heard was he a little narcissistic. One of those people that
00:47:57
liked to believe he had a little more power than a little more status. >> She was head over heels.
00:48:03
>> Allison Bartlett remembers when her best friend Sheila fell for the tall, handsome, aspiring pilot. I never heard
00:48:11
or saw that spark in her that I did when she talked about Dan and sent photos of
00:48:18
Dan and I could see that they were going to be getting married. >> And what did she tell you about his
00:48:24
personality? >> Fun. Like the same things that she did. I think in a lot of ways she found a
00:48:31
soulmate. >> At least she thought she did. >> At least she thought she did. Sheila and Dan were married on August
00:48:38
26th, 1989. The couple had two sons, Kraton and Graham. Sheila became a real estate
00:48:46
agent, and Daniel Trot achieved his dream of becoming an airline pilot. In 2002, his political career also took off
00:48:56
when he was elected mayor of their small town in the Atlantic. Based on your investigation, were Dan and Sheila Trot
00:49:03
considered a power couple in Indantic? >> I think within town because of his status as being, you know, formerly in
00:49:10
the political circles there and her being a real estate agent and being fairly wellto-d do, I think they were in
00:49:15
that social circle to where they would be well known throughout the community. From the outside, Sheila and Dan seemed
00:49:24
to have the perfect life, but images can be deceiving. What did you see in his behavior? What
00:49:34
happened? >> He began having affairs. I would notice his ring was on the counter. He wasn't
00:49:39
wearing his ring. And then when I would say, "Look at we need to talk. What's going on?" He would swear and cuss at
00:49:43
me. >> That's Sheila's story. 48 hours reached out to Dan Trot about these allegations,
00:49:49
but he refused to comment. By January 2009, Sheila had had enough. >> So, you asked for the divorce. Oh,
00:49:59
absolutely. Yes. I said, "I'm done." >> While her marriage was crumbling, Sheila
00:50:04
and Kelly met for a girl's night out. And it wasn't long before Sheila realized that Kelly's six-year marriage
00:50:11
to restaurant manager Gino Row was on the rocks, too. >> She had made a point of saying that she
00:50:19
wouldn't care if Gino had an affair, which I thought was a really strange thing to say.
00:50:25
Dan Trot moved out and joined a cycling group where Kelly Brennan was a member. And soon they were going out on more
00:50:33
than long bike rides. >> Dan and Kelly were both lying to everybody, saying that they weren't
00:50:38
having an affair. And while this whole thing was going on, I was having my problems with Dan. He was just being
00:50:43
very belligerent. >> Sheila's mother repeated to investigators her daughter's claims of
00:50:48
other affairs. But Major Goodyear says it was Dan's admitted relationship with Kelly that led to murder.
00:50:56
>> She's going to lose Dan. [music] I'm going to kill the thing that he now loves. Or I'm going to take that away
00:51:01
and I'm going to hurt him as bad as he's hurt me. And then you get the third thing. If I can't have him, nobody's
00:51:06
going to have him. >> You've been portrayed as being obsessed with Dan. [laughter] You laugh. You you
00:51:12
that you're saying that's not true. >> Oh, no. He would I'm sure he wishes I was obsessed with him. No, absolutely
00:51:17
not. You couldn't bear the thought of losing him. You couldn't bear the thought of him with another woman.
00:51:21
>> Oh, no. Well, the fact that I set him up with Kelly would, you know, that would
00:51:27
be a little different, but uh >> with Kelly Brennan. >> Yes, absolutely. >> You set them up?
00:51:31
>> Yes, absolutely. >> Wait a second. >> Yeah, she was my ticket out of a bad marriage.
00:51:38
>> But police aren't buying one word of Sheila's story, and they want to question her about Kelly Brennan's
00:51:45
murder. God's honest truth. If I was going to kill anybody for any reason, it would have been him.
00:52:06
[music] That's the place. That's the place that she loves. That's where her heart is
00:52:12
right there. Sheila Trot had a lifelong love affair with the water. >> Yeah, I should have been born with
00:52:19
gills, I suppose. >> Long before she was accused of murder, she spent carefree summers on this
00:52:26
picturesque Canadian island. >> This is where she learned to swim, and this was her favorite place in the whole
00:52:32
world. >> Margaret Buyers says her daughter doesn't belong at the center of this
00:52:37
murder investigation. But back with her family in Canada, used to just love to run through these rocks. If she could
00:52:46
see this right now, she would just be in tears. This is where she belongs. >> It was Sheila's love of the water that
00:52:53
drew her to live on the Florida coast, where she was a diving instructor and went to college.
00:53:00
Now she swims in a sea of suspicion. >> I did not kill Kelly Brennan. She was the best thing that could have ever
00:53:07
happened to me. In fact, Sheila says she orchestrated the relationship between Dan and Kelly one night over dinner to
00:53:15
speed up her own divorce. >> So I said to her, I said, "You know something, Kelly?" I said, "You and Dan
00:53:20
would be great for each other." And she just perked up and she said, "Really?" And I said, "Yeah." I said, "But Kelly,
00:53:25
you're going to have to lose weight." >> But prosecutor Samantha Barrett says Sheila is making up the matchmaker
00:53:32
story. Barrett says that Sheila was simmering with anger and jealousy over the relationship. anger that finally
00:53:39
boiled over when she savagely killed Kelly on this lawn right behind me. >> It was horrific. She was lying in wait
00:53:48
for Kelly when Kelly came out of her house. I believe once she started the attack and she knew Kelly wasn't going
00:53:55
to be able to fight back, that that's when the the rage [music] came to the surface.
00:54:03
Authorities begin building a timeline that prosecutor Jim McMaster says started on the night of February 15th,
00:54:11
2010 when Kelly misses an appointment with her personal trainer >> and they couldn't find her or couldn't
00:54:17
contact her and couldn't find her. >> Kelly's roommate files a missing person's report two hours later.
00:54:24
>> They checked every police department, every hospital, fire, rescue, highway patrol. They went to her residence
00:54:30
[music] and were clueless as to where Kelly Brennan was. >> Meanwhile, according to her sons, Graham
00:54:37
andraton, Sheila arrives home after a 4-hour trip to Walmart. She was dizzy, shaking, and acting [music] strangely.
00:54:47
>> So, our rescue was addressing emergency. >> So, her son's girlfriend calls 911.
00:54:52
>> The paramedics arrived. They couldn't find anything physically wrong with her,
00:54:55
so they left. An hour later, another call to 911. >> My boyfriend's mom just had a seizure
00:55:02
about an hour ago and they said to call back if she's been acting weird or anything and she's acting very strange.
00:55:08
>> She was then transported to the hospital and they ran routine tests and nothing
00:55:13
of medical significance was identified. She was released from the hospital and came home. When they returned from the
00:55:20
hospital in the wee hours of the morning, Sheila begins talking about the dream.
00:55:26
>> She called her younger son Graham into the bedroom. She told him she had a bad
00:55:31
dream. She kept seeing Kelly's face in the dark and that she believed that she hurt Kelly.
00:55:39
>> Worried, Sheila's sons telephone their grandmother. >> Graham just said to me, "Margaret, we
00:55:46
need you. We need you." She drives from her Florida condo to Sheila's house where she finds her
00:55:53
daughter curled up in a fetal position on her bed. >> She was shaking from head to toe. And she said,
00:56:01
"Call the police." I said, "What happened?" She said, "Mom, everything's black. Everything's black and all I can
00:56:06
see is Kelly's face." It was Graham that said to me, "Margaret, I think mom's killed Kelly."
00:56:14
Fearing her daughter was having a nervous breakdown, Margaret Buyers makes yet another 911 call.
00:56:21
>> Um, we just need a policeman, please. >> What's the problem there, please? >> This call would change Sheila's life
00:56:27
forever. >> I think there's been a murder. My daughter I has had a nervous breakdown
00:56:32
and she's saying she's killed somebody. >> Your daughter's telling you she killed
00:56:36
somebody? >> Yes. >> All right. She Did she didn't tell you who she's saying she killed?
00:56:40
>> She's saying she I don't know. Kelly. >> Kelly? Do you did she tell you where
00:56:45
this happened? >> Well, she's it's down Mark's Landing. >> Mark's Landing. >> It's sort of the defendant's own words
00:56:55
through her mother and and through her sons. I mean, she's basically confessing to the crime in the 911 call.
00:57:03
>> After that explosive call, officers rush to Sheila Trot's home and she continues
00:57:09
rambling about the dream. >> She's making some statements. I believe I hurt someone. I keep seeing Kelly's
00:57:16
face to the point that the Indian Atlantic police believe we may have a homicide on our hands.
00:57:22
>> Then detectives put two and two together. >> Wait a minute. We had a missing person
00:57:27
report last night of Kelly Brennan. >> And when you make that connection, what are you thinking?
00:57:32
>> You're talking to the killer. >> That's when Kelly's body is spotted from the air and cops on the ground rush to
00:57:42
Mark's Landing. Detectives have been at this Indie Atlantic home for some time. All after the body of 46-year-old Kelly
00:57:48
Brennan was found 10 miles away in this sandune area. >> Kelly's body was found [music] exactly
00:57:53
where Sheila dreamt it would be. And so less than 2 days after Kelly Brennan disappeared, Sheila Trot is [music]
00:58:01
arrested for murder. >> I'm going to be in jail for a very long time. Okay. >> Sheil Trot calls her son Kraton. They're
00:58:10
charging me with first-degree murder, >> she says. But it's not true. I didn't do
00:58:17
it. >> Sheila hires defense attorney Todd Darateni. And even though that dream led
00:58:23
to Kelly's body, Deritany insists the prosecution's case isn't so ironclad. >> The police didn't have DNA. They didn't
00:58:33
have fingerprints, witnesses, and they didn't have any blood that matched the Sheila Trot. Looks like you've got at a
00:58:40
minimum a case of reasonable doubt. Absolutely reasonable doubt. It's a dream case.
00:58:44
>> So little physical evidence, prosecutors say because Sheila Trot planned it that
00:58:50
way. >> It's not like she all of a sudden found out that Kelly was having an affair with
00:58:55
Dan Trot and then confronted her immediately and beat her to death. She'd known this had been going on for months
00:59:01
and months and months and she planned it down to the last detail. She's a murderer.
00:59:21
My daughter I has had a nervous breakdown and she's saying she's killed somebody.
00:59:28
>> Did you kill Kelly Brennan? >> No, I didn't kill Kelly Brennan. Absolutely not. Sheila Trot remains
00:59:33
behind bars for 4 and a half years awaiting trial for the brutal murder of her friend Kelly Brennan.
00:59:40
>> She said, "All I want to do is hug my boys." And I understand that cuz all I want to do is hug my girl.
00:59:46
>> Today, you absolutely believe in your daughter's innocence. Correct. >> Absolutely, 110%.
00:59:52
>> As the trial finally begins in September of 2014, >> remain seated. Come to order, please.
00:59:58
For two seconds. Investigators believe they've built a strong but admittedly circumstantial case beginning with that
01:00:07
bizarre dream. >> The defendant began saying that she'd had a dream, that she may have hurt
01:00:13
Kelly and that it happened at Mark's Landing. >> Do you have an eyewitness to this
01:00:19
murder? >> No. >> Do you have a murder weapon? >> No. >> Do you have Sheila Trot's DNA on Kelly
01:00:25
Brennan? >> No. No, I don't believe so. But Major Todd Goodyear does have a theory of the
01:00:31
murder based on blood stains and divots in the grass in front of Kelly's home. >> Peter, this is the house where we
01:00:39
believe that Sheila Trot laid in wait, waited for Kelly Brennan to come out to her vehicle, snuck up behind her at
01:00:47
nightfall, hit her in the back of the head, and then continued to hit her in the head multiple multiple times with
01:00:53
some type of object. We believe a hammer. Goodyear believes Sheila then put Kelly's body inside Kelly's own SUV
01:01:00
where CSIs found her blood on the passenger side floor. He says Sheila then drove Kelly's SUV to Mark's Landing
01:01:09
where she dumped the body. Then she abandoned the SUV at a nearby condo. >> What kind of a murderer could I have
01:01:16
been that I didn't leave fingerprints? I didn't leave hair. I had no bruises. I had no broken nails, no cuts on me or
01:01:24
anything like this. Nothing connects me to this crime whatsoever. >> This was not a physical fight. [music]
01:01:33
This was an ambush where she bashed in this woman's brains with a hammer. Um, she probably didn't have to break a nail
01:01:40
to do that. What the lack of physical evidence means to me is how premeditated the crime actually was. Defense attorney
01:01:50
Todd Deritany couldn't wait to bring this case to trial. >> I was absolutely certain that this was
01:01:58
80% chance I could have won this case working at half speed. It was that good of a case.
01:02:05
>> But as the trial begins, Dariteni won't be able to show how good a case he thought he had.
01:02:13
He's nowhere near the courtroom. >> You're looking for 4x4 two wheel drive. He's selling used cars across town at a
01:02:20
dealership he now owns, Big Boy Motors. He has had his own legal troubles. Florida State Supreme Court has
01:02:30
permanently disbarred him for harming clients by taking their money and then failing to represent them. So, while
01:02:38
Darrett Teni is counting the cash from his car business, Sheila is fighting for her freedom. The prosecution plays that
01:02:45
damning 911 call from [music] Sheila's mother. >> All right. She did. She didn't tell you
01:02:51
who she's saying she killed. >> I don't know. >> Did she tell you where this happened?
01:02:56
>> Mark Landy. >> The man at the center of this alleged love triangle takes the stand.
01:03:03
>> My name is Daniel Trot. Last name is spelled T R O TT. >> It's Sheila's husband and Kelly's
01:03:08
boyfriend at the time of the murder. Clearly annoyed, Dan Trot wishes he could be anywhere but here.
01:03:16
>> Do you recall the date of February 15th of 2010? >> Yeah. >> You have specific memory about that,
01:03:24
Dave? >> I've been spending nearly the last 5 years trying to forget it, but yes, I
01:03:30
suppose I remember a few things. >> Prosecutors need to establish Dan's affair with Kelly as the motive which
01:03:36
pushed Sheila to kill. You're looking forward to seeing her that evening? Absolutely. Very much so.
01:03:43
>> Sheila's new attorneys, public defenders, see an opening. They use Dan Trot to point the finger at a man they
01:03:50
believe had the strongest motive to kill Kelly, her jealous husband, Gino Row, who reacted with violence when he
01:03:59
learned of the affair. >> He physically shows up at your house and confronts you. He physically broke
01:04:06
through the door and came up and essentially assaulted me. Yes. >> Did he have a weapon in his hand when he
01:04:12
barged through the door? >> Yes, he did. >> Describe that weapon. >> Uh, it was some sort of jack.
01:04:19
>> Dan suffered injuries to his [music] face and neck. He says moments later, Kelly followed Gino home where Gino
01:04:27
turned his rage on her. >> He uh attacked her in the garage, essentially was choking her. It was a
01:04:34
rather rather violent encounter. >> Less than two months later, Kelly was murdered.
01:04:41
>> State calls Gino Row. >> Gino Row testifies Sheila Trot was the master manipulator who taunted him into
01:04:49
attacking Dan. >> She would call me from time to time and say, "Hey, this is going on that they
01:04:54
were having an affair." >> How many times was the defendant calling you about this?
01:05:00
>> A lot. Did you believe it at the time? I did not. >> Prosecutors say Sheila used emails to
01:05:08
light Gino's fuse as well. But they also revealed her own deep-seated anger. In one email, she wrote, "He was sitting in
01:05:17
front of you lying to your face." Were you hoping that Gina was going to go over and attack his wife or attack your
01:05:25
husband, putting an end to this affair so you could have Dan back? >> Oh, no. Oh, no. I wasn't upset that Dan
01:05:31
was having an affair with Kelly. I was upset that he was spending the money that he was.
01:05:36
>> Still trying to prove no one was more upset than Gino. [music] Sheila's attorneys want the jury to hear
01:05:41
a voicemail that he left Dan 2 months before Kelly's murder. >> You mother come on. You want to up this
01:05:49
marriage, suck it. I'm going to catch your mother ass. >> But the judge refuses, declaring it
01:05:56
irrelevant. Gino's the only person who knew where Kelly specifically was that evening.
01:06:01
>> It sounds like you think Gino's the killer. >> I'm not going to say who I think it is.
01:06:04
Gino could absolutely do it and Kelly wanted out of that marriage. >> Prosecutors say Gino has a strong alibi.
01:06:11
They say this security video from a drugstore in another town proves Gino couldn't have been at the murder scene.
01:06:19
And Kelly's next door neighbor, Scott Vickers, testifies that he saw a blonde woman, not a man, on Kelly's lawn that
01:06:27
night. >> Um, it was a light colored a light colored outfit, which, you know, that's
01:06:33
or else I wouldn't have been able to to really see, but it was uh some type of light outfit.
01:06:38
>> That light colored outfit, detectives theorize, could be a reason why none of
01:06:43
Kelly's blood was found on Sheila. What do you think about their contention that
01:06:48
you were wearing some sort of hazmat? Like >> that's the most ridiculous thing I've
01:06:51
ever heard. We're next to Disney World. Why didn't they just put me in a Mickey Mouse suit?
01:06:56
>> Are you serious? >> Things are about to get very serious at Sheila Trot's trial. Her two sons are
01:07:04
about to take the stand against her, and what they have to say is another nightmare for their mother.
01:07:12
[music] In a tragedy that seems to know no bounds, Sheila Trot's two sons are about
01:07:27
to testify at her murder trial for the prosecution. >> How are you related to her?
01:07:33
>> She's my mother. >> And do you see her in the courtroom here today? >> Yes. >> Can you? With his mother watching and
01:07:38
listening just 15 ft away. Graham Trot first describes helping her when she seemed to be having a seizure the night
01:07:46
Kelly Brennan was killed. >> I picked her up and put her on the couch cuz she was hitting her head against the
01:07:52
wall. And >> prosecutor Samantha Barrett quickly cuts to the chase, asking him what happened
01:07:58
after his mother came home from the hospital a few hours later. >> She was telling me she was seeing
01:08:03
things. >> What did she say she saw? She saw Kelly's face and she said she thinks
01:08:09
she's hurt and a beach. >> Despite the prosecutor's efforts, >> did you ever hear her say, "I think I
01:08:17
hurt Kelly." >> No. >> Graham won't repeat what he initially told investigators in a recorded
01:08:24
interview. >> She says, "I think I hurt Kelly." And I keep seeing her face and then I hurt
01:08:28
her. And I was like, "Well, that's not good." But what he does reveal next is a bombshell. And it's something he did not
01:08:38
tell law enforcement until shortly before the trial. >> I said, "Do you want to drive down to
01:08:44
this beach that you're seeing and we can see there's nothing there and then we can call it a night and go to sleep."
01:08:52
>> Sheila agreed, taking her sons Graham and Kraton and Graham's girlfriend on a
01:08:57
Macob field trip to Mark's Landing. And there with Sheila leading the way, the boys 16 and 18 years old at the time saw
01:09:07
Kelly's bludgeon body. >> You could see I mean it was just a lifeless body just lying there.
01:09:19
>> Was your mother with you when you saw that? >> Yes. >> Um what did she say? >> I don't nothing really. She's just in
01:09:28
shock. Why would you take your two teenage sons out to [clears throat] Mark's Landing
01:09:36
and show them where the body was? [snorts] >> The kids took me. >> You led them to that place.
01:09:41
>> I didn't take them right to the body. We walked around and we were just on our
01:09:44
way out when we saw her feed. >> Why is it when your mother came over to the house, you didn't tell her? We just
01:09:50
got back from Mark's Landing where we saw a dead body. >> Uh, you'd have to ask the kids that. I
01:09:56
don't know. It just never really came up. When my mother first came in there, didn't come up, Sheila didn't come up.
01:10:02
>> You'd just been to see a dead body, a woman whose whose skull was crushed. >> Well, when my mom came in, I was in bed
01:10:09
and she woke me up. I don't remember the conversation very well. >> As inexplicable as that [music] seems,
01:10:15
the horror of the night didn't end there for Sheila's sons. She told them she also had visions of a nearby vacant lot.
01:10:23
And that's where Kraton Trot tells the court they made a second damning discovery.
01:10:30
A bag. >> Mom opened it up, went into the purse and saw opened up the wallet and we saw
01:10:38
Kelly's driver's license. >> What did you do next after you saw the bag with uh Kelly Brennan's driver's
01:10:46
license in the wallet? um told her that we didn't want to have anything to do with it, that me and Graham were going
01:10:52
to go to sleep and that she had to deal with it on her own. How important are these boys to your
01:11:00
case? >> Their testimony is absolutely critical. It seemed that they were determined to
01:11:06
do what was really the right thing and tell the truth. >> Sir, you're free to go. After her son's
01:11:12
scathing testimony, Sheila's defense team faces a huge uphill battle. They try to poke holes in the forensic
01:11:20
evidence gathered at Mark's Landing. >> Well, we know that Kelly's body comes out of the car and comes down this way.
01:11:27
And we know that because there's blood transfer found on this pole right here. >> Kelly's blood was on this very post.
01:11:32
>> Right. >> The defense says not so fast. the spots on the fence post. And did you forward
01:11:39
them for forensic testing? >> They were not. >> So, as to whether those items are blood
01:11:46
or a kid's red slurpee, we're left to guess. Right. >> If you would like to put it that way.
01:11:55
>> And the defense tries to tear apart the alleged motive that Sheila was jealous
01:12:00
and murderously angry over her husband's affair with Kelly. Elizabeth McHugh was
01:12:06
Sheila's divorce attorney. She says Sheila seemed fine with the affair. >> She really didn't have a problem with
01:12:13
Kelly because she knew her and so she knew she would be very good with the children and wouldn't really be a
01:12:18
problem in the divorce. >> Okay. >> Motive aside, Sheila's dream about Kelly lying hurt here at Mark's Landing and
01:12:26
that field trip with her two sons here are among the strongest evidence against her. But there is a new twist to this
01:12:33
tale. Sheila says that dream was actually a memory of witnessing Kelly being killed by a strange man.
01:12:43
>> She was arguing with him and I heard him say but Kelly and she said enough and
01:12:47
then she went and bent into the car to do something and I saw him hit her. >> While behind bars awaiting trial, Sheila
01:12:54
says that her memory has come back to her and she's written a detailed account of what happened.
01:13:03
Then you write he dragged her into the grass and kept hitting her. >> Mhm. >> Is that what you saw?
01:13:12
>> Yes. Yes. And I didn't do anything. >> You didn't call police. Why not? >> I don't know.
01:13:23
>> Sheila shared this memory in a letter to a friend. She claims that she had decided to stop at Kelly's house that
01:13:29
night to ask Kelly to stop driving by her house looking for Dan. And at the exact moment she arrived, Sheila saw a
01:13:38
strange man attack Kelly. >> How would you describe this man who was with Kelly?
01:13:44
>> It was too dark. It was too dark. >> This letter, prosecutors say this is a confession. [clears throat]
01:13:51
>> No, it's not a confession letter. That's my account of what happened that evening.
01:13:57
>> But Sheila's new account becomes even more bizarre. Instead of running for her
01:14:03
life or to the nearest police station, she followed the stranger's car all the way to Mark's Landing and watched him
01:14:11
dispose of Kelly's body and belongings. >> Do you understand as you sit across from
01:14:18
me right now that your story is a fantastic story? You follow the killer, >> which doesn't make a lot of sense to
01:14:24
anyone. >> And then you don't tell cops what happened, what unfolded. You don't even
01:14:29
tell your own mother. All these things are consciousness of guilt, are they not?
01:14:35
>> Well, if they're consciousness of guilt, why would we call the police? If I committed this crime and I had killed
01:14:40
her, I would have taken off. I'm not stupid enough to stick around. >> Come to order, please.
01:14:45
>> And Sheila believes this new memory could set her free. But the question is, will the jury get to hear Sheila's
01:14:54
version of what happened the night Kelly Brennan was killed? Is Sheila clairvoyant? Has she had
01:15:18
visions throughout her life? Dreams that have come true? >> I don't think so, Peter.
01:15:26
>> With her daughter's dream now being described as an eyewitness account of Kelly's murder, 48 hours has brought
01:15:33
Margaret [music] a copy of that document Sheila wrote. >> Do you recognize the handwriting on this
01:15:40
letter? >> Yes. >> Whose is it? >> Sheila's. She reads for the first time from its 22 pages.
01:15:48
>> He dragged her into the grass and kept hitting her. I felt the blood rush out
01:15:52
of my arms and legs and I started to shake. >> Are these the writings of an eyewitness
01:15:59
to a murder or the writings of a murderer describing what she has done? >> I think she must have seen it. She
01:16:09
couldn't have done it. Peter, >> I did not murder Kelly. I witnessed it. Now came the moment in court where
01:16:16
Sheila Trot could take the stand and persuade the jury her new story is true. But on the advice of her attorneys,
01:16:25
>> first of all, have you made a decision about whether you wish to testify in your case or not?
01:16:30
>> Yes, sir. >> What is your decision >> not to? Sir, >> that you've chosen not to testify?
01:16:36
>> Yes, sir. Sheila's first lawyer thinks he knows why Sheila didn't testify and
01:16:42
explain that letter. >> Obviously, this was just her confessing to the crime. She needed to get it off
01:16:46
her chest. >> Todd Deratani. [laughter] Todd Deritani is a liar. >> So, the case goes straight to closing
01:16:55
arguments with prosecutors zeroing in on what Sheila did say after Kelly disappeared.
01:17:03
The smoking gun in this case are the defendant's own words telling the police where the dead body
01:17:14
is. >> They play Margaret's damning 911 call one last time. >> And my daughter I has had a nervous
01:17:22
breakdown and she's saying she's killed somebody. >> Your daughter's telling you she killed
01:17:26
somebody? >> Yes. Defense attorneys make no mention of Sheila's new claim she saw Kelly's
01:17:34
killer. Instead, they try to pick apart the state's case. >> You're being asked to believe a 115 lb
01:17:41
person is going to be able to pick up a 146-lb person, probably deceased at this
01:17:48
point. And no pun intended, but there's dead weight. But she's going to pick her
01:17:53
up from the floor, lift her up, and place her in the seat of not of a Honda Civic,
01:18:03
but of an SUV. Place her in there with no neighbors hearing a thing. No neighbors hearing
01:18:12
blow after blow after blow. Does that make any logical sense? They end by pointing the finger at
01:18:24
Kelly's jealous husband. >> She had no ill will, no spite, no evil intent, no premeditation.
01:18:33
You saw the person. You heard from the person that had all those things and how he acted on those feelings. Ladies and
01:18:43
gentlemen, the decision that you need to speak is that Sheila Grand Trot is not guilty.
01:18:53
Thank you. >> Less than 3 hours after beginning their deliberations, jurors reach a verdict.
01:19:02
Margaret can't wait to hear the good news. >> I was dancing. I was dancing in the
01:19:08
elevator. I was so excited cuz I knew I knew and I kept saying we're going to bring our girl home.
01:19:14
>> Instead, >> the defendant, Sheila Graham Trot, is guilty of firstdegree premeditated
01:19:19
murder. >> Guilty of firstdegree murder. >> Sheila Trot was immediately sentenced.
01:19:28
>> It's the sentence of the court. You serve um life in prison as a minimum mandatory sentence.
01:19:34
For Margaret Buyers, who wishes she never made that 911 call, the embers of blame burned deep within her heart.
01:19:45
>> You are a loving mother and grandmother, and you love Sheila dearly. >> Yes. >> Does it tear you up at night to think
01:19:55
>> that I put my own daughter in jail? >> Yes, it sure does. It just tears me up
01:20:02
to think I put my kid in jail for the rest of her life. Absolutely. >> Isn't it time for you to stop telling
01:20:12
these stories and tell the truth? >> Don't let your loved ones suffer thinking that you're innocent when you
01:20:19
did this. >> I told the truth and I'm continuing to tell the truth and I'm going to keep
01:20:23
telling the truth. >> She killed Kelly Brennan. She's a murderer. She's finished
01:20:29
as well. She should be. For Kelly Brennan's mother, the taste of justice is bittersweet.
01:20:36
>> That's a tragedy for that family as well. >> Almost 5 years after her death, Kelly's
01:20:45
friend Lou says her kind spirit lives on. >> When she did come to work, she was always happy and she had her little
01:20:53
corner. It was called Kelly's Corner, a place in the hospital where Kelly gave extra care and attention to her
01:21:00
patients. >> And even after she died, that was a an area of reverence. If you went there,
01:21:06
um, it was it was comforting. >> Why shouldn't this audience believe you're just a clever sociopath, that you
01:21:19
are a killer? You know the difference between right and wrong. Yeah, >> but in the case of Kelly Brennan, you
01:21:24
don't care. >> I do care. I do care. When would her body have been discovered? You said yourself, who led
01:21:32
them to the body? It was us saying that it was at Mark's Landing. They would never have checked at Mark's Landing.
01:21:40
>> But despite leading her sons to Kelly's battered body and being found guilty by
01:21:45
a jury of six, Sheila Trot is unrepentant. The real killer, she insists, still walks free.
01:21:54
>> I have to live with a lot of guilt for not stopping the attack. Um, now I'm paying the price.
01:22:04
Kelly's family has closure, but they don't have justice cuz I didn't kill Kelly.
01:22:15
>> 48 hours. Don't miss an episode. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]
01:23:03
>> It is a case that has haunted the public for more than 13 years. And many feared
01:23:09
that the Gilgo Beach murders may never be solved. >> The officer located a body.
01:23:18
>> It seemed to be wrapped in burlap, which didn't make any sense. The crime scene gets expanded.
01:23:27
I'm called and chief, we found another set of remains. They find another one and another one. We were dealing with a
01:23:36
serial killer. Well, they're available. They're vulnerable and very petite. >> This killer has a type,
01:23:43
>> right? Does he want the petite uh body because he wants to feel more empowered
01:23:48
and more in control? >> I want the world to know like my sister [music] mattered. I want answers. I just
01:23:55
want answers. >> An arrest more than a decade in the making in a serial killer case that's
01:24:03
baffled law enforcement and the public. 59-year-old Rex Huerman plead not guilty. I dropped my phone. I couldn't
01:24:10
believe it. >> So, just who is Rex Herman? An architect who ran a company called RH Consultants
01:24:16
and Associates. >> Rex, hello. How you doing? >> Good to see you. >> When a job that should have been routine
01:24:24
suddenly becomes not routine. >> Yeah. >> I get the phone call. >> Rex Herman is a mystery man. Rex is
01:24:32
capable of presenting himself one way to one person, one way to another person. >> My first memory of Rex was that he was
01:24:41
very big, imposing, scary, angry. He was bullied. He was bigger than everyone else. The kids would gang up on
01:24:51
him. And Rex was very smart, too. >> He's a smart person. [music] Very smart. >> He liked to shock people. He was
01:25:00
interested in power games. Rex loved hunting [music] and he loved guns. >> Going out shooting, hunting. That was
01:25:09
his passion. >> All petite, all bound in burlap bags. >> The burlap on the bodies that points
01:25:16
right at a hunter. >> It was DNA collected from a pizza slice he tossed in a Manhattan trash can that
01:25:24
came back as a match with hair found on the victims. That's where we obtained, you know, his full profile from from the
01:25:30
pizza crust left in the box. >> In terms of speaking to my client, the only thing I [music] can tell you that
01:25:35
he did say as he was in tears was, "I didn't do this." >> Everyone's [music] just trying to put
01:25:41
the pieces together. I want to know what I missed. I think we all want to know what we missed.
01:26:13
Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Not far from this quiet stretch of Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York,
01:26:41
investigators uncovered the hidden remains of four young women. The mystery of who they were and how
01:26:49
they got here might have stayed a secret if not for a woman named Shannon Gilbert.
01:26:59
In the early morning hours of May 1st, 2010, 23-year-old Shannon working as an escort called 911.
01:27:08
>> State police. >> Yeah, there's somebody after me. The call came from a neighborhood not
01:27:15
far from Gilgo Beach. These >> people are trying to kill me. >> Shannon starts running,
01:27:24
knocking on doors. >> Where are you, Shannon? >> She screams and then nothing. Shannon was gone.
01:27:41
Hello. Hello. >> K9 searched the area exhaustively for Shawn and Gilbert. >> Dominic Veron was chief of detectives at
01:27:58
the Suffach County Police Department. Months passed without a sign of the missing woman. And then in December 2010
01:28:07
near Gilgo Beach, a police officer and his K-9 named Blue found human remains. >> Everyone assumed it was Shannon Gilbert.
01:28:19
>> But it wasn't Shannon. Stunned searchers would go on to discover the remains of
01:28:25
four other women. The women were identified as Moren Brainer Barnes, Melissa Bartholomew, Megan Waterman, and
01:28:33
Amber Costello. Like Shannon, all were in their 20s. All were online escorts, all petite. Three of [music] the four
01:28:42
were wrapped in burlap, the kind you can find in hunting stores. They became known as the Gilgo Four.
01:28:51
It's really, really hard cuz I miss her so much. >> 48 Hours has reported on this case since
01:28:59
2010. Over the years, we've secured exclusive interviews with the family and friends of the Gilgo 4. Missy K will
01:29:08
never forget the wintry day when she got the devastating news. The detectives, they came to my house and just said that
01:29:16
Moren has been positively identified as one of the victims on the Ocean Parkway.
01:29:23
Her sister, Maren Brainer Barnes, a mother of two, [music] was the first to disappear on July 9th, 2007.
01:29:32
>> She was very smart and very creative. >> She liked being a mom. >> She loved being a mom. But life as a
01:29:40
single mom living in Norwich, Connecticut was difficult. Missy didn't know it. But Moren had turned to escort
01:29:48
work and that July went to New York City for a weekend to make money. On her way home, she called Missy from
01:29:57
Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. >> Attention, please. >> I could hear the commotion from the
01:30:04
train station. From the time that she called me, it was poof. She was gone. She reported Moren missing. Eventually,
01:30:12
officers would tell Missy that after her sister's disappearance, someone had used
01:30:17
Moren's cell phone to make a call from Long Island. It wasn't known then, but those two
01:30:26
locations, Long Island and Midtown Manhattan, would become important clues in the hunt for a serial killer.
01:30:37
Nearly two years to the day that Meen vanished. 24y old Melissa Bartholomew went missing in July of 2009.
01:30:47
Also from Midtown Manhattan. Lyn Bartholomew is Melissa's mother. >> How often do you think about Melissa?
01:30:55
>> Every single minute of the day. It just didn't happen to the girls. I mean, it
01:30:59
destroyed all of our families. >> Melissa moved from Buffalo to New York City to work as a hairdresser. At some
01:31:06
point, she also began working as an escort and then disappeared. About a week after she went missing,
01:31:14
Melissa's then 15-year-old sister, Amanda, started getting calls from Melissa's phone. We agreed not to show
01:31:22
Amanda's face. >> She answers, you know, Melissa, where have you been? And this voice is saying, oh, this isn't
01:31:32
Melissa. Steven Cohen was the family's lawyer at the time. >> He was taunting Amanda and he said, "Do
01:31:40
you know what I did to your sister? I killed Melissa." >> All I can say is he's sick and he's
01:31:50
going to make a mistake and we're going to catch him. >> Those calls from Melissa's own phone may
01:31:56
very well have been that mistake. When police traced them, the calls placed the person they believed to be Melissa's
01:32:04
killer in Midtown Manhattan. The following year, Megan Waterman, the mother of a three-year-old girl,
01:32:14
disappeared from a hotel on Long Island. [music] >> Part of you is like missing or it's just like something's always
01:32:24
off. We spoke with Megan's daughter, Liliana, in 2020. >> I would do anything to bring her back,
01:32:32
but I can't, and it just like frustrates me so bad. >> Megan's family says the 22-year-old was
01:32:39
a creative but troubled young woman [music] who loved fashion and was devoted to her daughter.
01:32:45
>> What would you say to your mom if you could? >> I would just want to tell her that like
01:32:50
I love her. I just want her to know like she has a special place in my heart. No
01:32:54
one can ever replace her. >> Like the other two women, Megan disappeared in the summer on June 6th,
01:33:02
2010. She was working as an escort on Long Island. >> No matter what her job was, she was a
01:33:10
person and she needs justice. >> This haunting video from a Holiday in Express is the last time she was seen
01:33:19
alive moments before she went to meet a client. Cell phone records later placed her phone in a Long Island neighborhood
01:33:27
called Masipiqua Park. Amber Costella was the last of the Gilgo Ford to disappear. She lived here just 7
01:33:41
and 1 half miles from Masipiqua Park. >> She used to say she was 411, but she wasn't. She was like 49, you know? I
01:33:47
mean, she was small. Amber's [music] friend and former roommate Dave Showler spoke with us in 2011.
01:33:54
>> She was an amazing person. She really was. >> He says Amber was addicted to drugs and
01:34:00
used sex work to support her habit. >> But as amazing as she was was as tormented as she was
01:34:07
>> after Amber disappeared. Police say Shaller told them about her clients. He described one of them as looking like an
01:34:14
ogre and having a first generation Chevrolet avalanche. On the night she went missing. Shaller
01:34:22
says a client offered Amber $1,500 for the night, six times her hourly rate. >> This guy was so relentless. He called
01:34:33
several times. He was on the phone with her for quite a while each time. He says
01:34:37
the client got Amber, an experienced escort, to do something she never did, leave without her purse or cell phone
01:34:45
and meet him in his car. >> I walked out the front door with her. She She gave me a hug. She's like, "I
01:34:50
love you." And she left. >> It was nearly midnight. Shaller says that when Amber left this house, she
01:34:59
walked down the street and he never saw her again. Shaller told us that he didn't see the
01:35:05
client's face that night, but suspects he had seen him before. >> So, this is a guy you might have seen.
01:35:13
>> Yeah, this is somebody that I seen. I might be the one of the only people who
01:35:17
knows who he is. >> It would be more than a decade before Shaler's description would lead to a
01:35:24
break in the case and a prime suspect. To see a timeline of how the case unfolded, go to 48 hours.com.
01:35:47
>> The shocking developments in a murder case gone cold. >> My [snorts] coworker called me and she
01:35:53
said, "Did you hear what happened to Rex?" And I'm like, "No." A husband, a father, an architect stood before a
01:35:59
judge charged as a serial killer. >> She says, "It's Rex." I said, "No way." >> This house was a main focus and they
01:36:08
brought out a lot of evidence. >> I just didn't think it was real. >> A Long Island community is still a crime
01:36:14
scene tonight. >> I even thought to myself, it's crazy that there's two Rex Hermans out there.
01:36:23
Mary Shell and Muriel Henriquez worked with Rex Huerman and couldn't wrap their heads around the news.
01:36:31
>> We never thought he would be that kind of person. >> It's shocking. >> In July of 2023, nearly 13 years after
01:36:39
the Gilgo 4 were discovered, Suffach County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison made the announcement.
01:36:46
Authorities believe Rex Herman is the Long Island serial killer. >> Rex Herman is a demon that walks among
01:36:54
us, >> a predator that ruined families. >> The man he calls a demon, is a 6'4 architect. He's charged with killing
01:37:05
Melissa Bartholomew, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and is the prime suspect in the death of Moren Brainer Barnes.
01:37:14
>> What has my client told me? He told me he'd do this. >> Huerman was living about 20 minutes from
01:37:20
Gilgo Beach in Masipa Park, the very same town where Megan's phone last connected with the cell tower. And
01:37:28
Huerman worked here at his architectural firm in Midtown Manhattan, just blocks from where Moren disappeared, the same
01:37:37
area where several of the threatening calls to Melissa's little sister were made. The cause of death with regard to
01:37:44
the three victims is homicidal violence. >> A married man, Huerman, lived in this
01:37:53
rundown house and has a daughter and stepson with his second wife, Assa. [music]
01:37:58
Assa, who was born in Iceland, would take the children to see her family there in the summers. It was
01:38:07
during these trips and others police believe that Huerman killed the women. >> You never got any kind of hint of
01:38:15
another life. >> No. >> Totally. >> Uriel Henriquez worked at Huerman's company RH Consultants and Associates
01:38:23
and spoke exclusively to 48 hours. She says she saw nothing alarming about the Rex Huerman she saw daily.
01:38:31
>> A little bit of a nerd in a way. He liked to talk about himself, what he knew. I mean, not a narcissist, but a
01:38:38
little bit of a, you know, I know everything kind of guy. >> Pompus. >> Pompus. >> She remembers him running to and from
01:38:44
job sites, eating fast food on the run. >> Pizza. That was his number one thing.
01:38:51
>> Police say they found nearly 300 guns in a basement vault. When she heard that
01:38:56
police had recovered almost 300 firearms from a vault in Herman's basement, she was surprised only by the number. She
01:39:05
knew him as an avid hunter. Going out, shooting, hunting. That was his passion. >> What was it about hunting he liked?
01:39:13
>> I don't know. I guess he liked the idea of having a prize. >> Stalking prey. >> Stalking prey and winning.
01:39:21
He liked to win, you know. And while she says it never occurred to her that humor
01:39:26
could be dangerous, she does remember a time when his tracking skills unnerved her. It was her 40th birthday [music]
01:39:35
and she had booked a cruise vacation. >> Where are you going? I said, "I'm going,
01:39:39
you know, I'm going to be in the middle of the ocean. You're not going to find me in the middle of the ocean." He said,
01:39:44
"Oh, yes, I can." >> Muriel didn't think much of the comment until the second day of her trip. There
01:39:52
was a white envelope under my door. It was a note from him. The note said, "I told you I could find
01:39:58
you anywhere." >> He had photos from hunting trips. >> Mary Shell worked with Huerman in the
01:40:07
summer of 2010. It was the same summer that both Amber Costello and Megan Waterman vanished.
01:40:14
>> He would talk about, you know, the meat in particular that bear meat could keep
01:40:19
in the freezer for months. Hearing authorities now say that some of the victims were wrapped in a burlap that
01:40:26
hunters often use was chilling. >> The burlap really got to me. Since Humen's arrest, Mary has written about
01:40:35
her experience with him. She's also talked to other former female employees who said they weren't always treated
01:40:43
with respect. He would have one of them uh clean the toilet if he thought the cleaning person hadn't done a good
01:40:50
enough job. >> A woman in the office. >> Yes. He more than once commented on women's bodies if someone perhaps had
01:40:58
gained some weight. You know that kind of that kind of thing. John Perezy grew up with Herman. He says
01:41:09
Herman was bullied as a child. I remember meeting Rex when I was in first or second grade. He was a loner,
01:41:17
not many friends. The children were super mean to him, made fun of him and teased him.
01:41:25
>> But John says he never saw Human fight back. >> He was big enough that if he got upset
01:41:31
and started swinging, he would hurt somebody. But he never did. As Humeman got older, John points out
01:41:40
things didn't get much better. >> He was rejected by many girls. We all go through that awkward stage growing up,
01:41:48
and it seemed like that awkward stage stayed with him longer than usual. Still, he says many in the community
01:41:59
find it hard to believe that Huerman is the notorious serial killer, living a double life for more than a decade.
01:42:08
>> People were saying, "Oh my god, I can't believe we have a serial killer in our
01:42:12
town and we grew up with and we walked amongst the killer." Another classmate of humor men's, actor Billy Baldwin,
01:42:21
took to social media when the news broke, tweeting, "It was mind-boggling." Rex,
01:42:28
>> hello. How you doing? >> The awkward Long Island teenager grew up to be a confident and seemingly
01:42:34
successful architect. Antoine Amira met and interviewed him in 2022. >> Born and raised on Long Island.
01:42:43
>> Okay. been working in Manhattan since 1987. >> There's nothing in my interview that
01:42:51
made me think that this person in front of me uh is a dangerous person. >> Antoine is a hotel food and beverage
01:42:59
manager in New York who loves real estate. He has a YouTube interview show where he handpicks [music]
01:43:06
guests whom he thinks are interesting and accomplished. >> I'm an architect. I'm an architectural
01:43:12
consultant. I'm a troubleshooter. >> Antoine says Huerman was well known for his skill at helping companies and
01:43:19
individuals get building permits. >> When a job that should have been routine suddenly becomes not routine,
01:43:28
>> yeah, >> I get the phone call. >> Gotcha. >> Correct. >> What really stood out for me was he was
01:43:34
very, very, very smart >> and known, says Antoine, for his ability to find loopholes in the rules.
01:43:43
He was pleased when he was doing it >> that he could >> that he that he could outwit the the
01:43:50
system. >> That's it, folks. That was Rex. >> But Antoine says he remembers it was
01:43:55
hard to get Huerman to crack a smile. >> It's selfie time. >> Selfie time. >> Not even during the signature sunglasses
01:44:04
selfies he takes with every guest. >> Two. Three. >> Can you smile? THAT IS >> if police are right, Rex Herman was able
01:44:19
to hide a life as a serial killer. And if he did, his habit of eating pizza on the go would turn out to be his
01:44:29
undoing. For more than a decade after the discovery of the Gilgo 4, Rex Herman's
01:44:53
name never appeared on a suspect list until a new task force was formed with Suffach County Police Commissioner
01:45:01
Rodney Harrison and Suffach County DA Ray Tyranny. In February of 2022, we formed the task
01:45:12
force and then a mere 6 weeks later, Rex Herman was identified for the first time.
01:45:19
>> A suspect in six weeks. So, how did they do it? It turns out that buried in the
01:45:26
original case files were a number of critical clues that the new task force was finally able to connect. Remember
01:45:35
Amber's roommate, Dave Shaller? She's like, "I love you." You know, she gave me a hug and she left.
01:45:43
>> He had told police about one of Amber's clients and his vehicle, >> just a large built man and that he was
01:45:52
driving this this first generation Chevy Avalanche. >> A first generation Chevy Avalanche with
01:45:59
a description of an ogrel-like man and the make and model of his truck. Police took a closer look at Amber's phone
01:46:07
records from 2010. Shaller had told them that before Amber disappeared, there was one particular
01:46:15
client calling incessantly. >> He called several times. He was on the phone with her for quite a while each
01:46:20
time. >> Police back then knew the client was using a burner phone. That's a prepaid
01:46:26
phone that anyone can buy and use anonymously. and they knew that Moren, Melissa, and
01:46:33
Megan had all been in contact with burner numbers right before they disappeared.
01:46:40
In 2012, with the help of the FBI, they determined that most of those calls connected to cell towers inside a small
01:46:49
area of Masipiqua Park. They called it the box. So, how large an area is that box?
01:46:56
>> It's, you know, a couple of blocks within within Masipiqua Park. The new task force began the search for
01:47:03
a large built man who also lived in that small area and owned a Chevy Avalanche at the time of the disappearances.
01:47:12
Was there a aha moment when all of a sudden his name came up? >> Once we were able to attach the
01:47:20
avalanche inside of that massipa box which then attached to Rex Hume, that was a moment where we said, "Okay,
01:47:27
there's something here." The task force now had a prime suspect. And when they looked at Humeman's personal cell phone
01:47:34
records, they found that his phone was in the same area as those burner phones when they were used to contact [music] a
01:47:42
victim in Masipiqua Park or in Midtown Manhattan. >> It was always consistent. Tyranny says this was also true for
01:47:53
those awful calls Melissa's family got from that man using her phone [music] back in 2009.
01:48:00
>> He said, "Do you know what I did to your sister?" And he said, "Well, I killed
01:48:05
Melissa." >> The task force says that it confirmed that Huerman does in fact use burner
01:48:12
phones. Investigators say he had two different burner numbers in 2022. and they say they watched and put money on
01:48:21
one of those accounts here. And according [music] to court papers, the team also documented three email
01:48:28
accounts using fake names, including [music] John Springfield, Thomas Hawk, and Hunter 1903.
01:48:38
And all linked to those burner numbers. And prosecutors say that Humeman was using a burner phone to send these
01:48:46
selfies to solicit and arrange for sexual activity. One of those accounts linked to Huerman,
01:48:54
prosecutors wrote, was used to conduct quote thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic torture related
01:49:03
pornography, and child pornography. There was a lot of uh torture uh porn and depictions of women uh being abused
01:49:15
uh being raped and being killed. >> Investigators also say that while they were busy watching Hughmen, Huerman was
01:49:23
trying to watch them conducting searches on the task force and the Gilgo victims.
01:49:30
not only pictures of the victims, pictures of their relatives, their their their sisters, their children. Uh and he
01:49:37
was trying to locate those individuals. >> The circumstantial evidence was building, but investigators also had
01:49:45
physical evidence from the Gilgo 4, including one male hair that was found [music] in the burlap used to quote
01:49:53
restrain and transport Megan Waterman's body. and they wanted to see if they could link it to Huerman.
01:50:03
Police tailed Huerman and when he threw out this pizza box in this trash can here in Midtown Manhattan, they pounced
01:50:12
>> the pizza, which was, you know, obviously very significant. >> Tierney says that Huerman's [music]
01:50:18
DNA that was found on that pizza crust was consistent with the DNA profile from the hair found with Megan [music]
01:50:25
Waterman's body. And that DNA profile is only found in 0.04% of the population. >> That was a remarkable day. It was, you
01:50:37
know, the weekend and, you know, you read, you get the report and you read it and then you read it again and then you
01:50:42
read it a third time and then you read it a fourth time. Uh, and then you start making calls.
01:50:47
>> With the DNA, the search [music] histories, and the burner phone evidence, the team felt it was time.
01:50:54
When we decided to take down the case, we, you know, it was a sudden decision. We did see him contacting a number of
01:51:01
sex workers using a burner phone, which obviously is concerning. >> Playing clothes, officers arrested him
01:51:13
around the corner from his office. >> I don't think he had any clue. I don't think he had any clue that we
01:51:20
were on to him. Police spent 12 days looking through Herman's home, pulling those guns out of
01:51:28
the basement and digging in the backyard. They say it will take some time to comb through what they have now.
01:51:36
And they were tight lipped about what they found. >> Has the search been fruitful?
01:51:43
>> Great question. And answer is yes. >> Can you elaborate on fruitful? You said
01:51:47
yes, it's fruitful. There have been items that we have taken into our possession. That makes it
01:51:53
fruitful. >> And one more big piece of evidence taken into possession, a first generation
01:52:00
Chevy Avalanche. Huerman once used and it was sitting on property he owns in South Carolina when they recovered it.
01:52:09
>> We were able to seize that Chevy Avalanche pursuant to a search warrant and we're certainly going to analyze
01:52:14
that. But there were female hairs found on some of the victim's bodies that don't belong to the victims.
01:52:24
So who do they belong to? [music] What do you make of the evidence against Rex Herman? Join the conversation now on
01:52:36
social media. After Rex Herman's arrest, his quiet neighborhood in Masipeka Park was
01:52:57
overrun by investigators and media, focusing intense scrutiny on the ramshackle home and its remaining
01:53:05
residents. his stepson Christopher Sheridan, daughter Victoria Herman, and his wife of more than 25 years,
01:53:14
Assaerup. >> Their life going forward is always going to be the wife or the children of
01:53:21
suspected serial killer. That's what it's going to be from now on. >> Attorney Bob Macedonio represents Assa
01:53:27
Erup, who has since filed for divorce from Herman. He says she was as stunned as anyone by the accusations.
01:53:37
>> She had no idea any of this was going on. The allegations are shocking. Nobody
01:53:40
wants to think that they've been living with sleeping next to a serial killer for the past 25 years.
01:53:45
>> As it turns out, Assa may have inadvertently helped focus the investigation on her husband.
01:53:51
Investigators say they've identified strands of female hair that were found on two of the victims. One hair on
01:53:59
Waterman comes back to his wife or the DNA profiles are consistent and then the DNA profile from Costello is consistent
01:54:07
with the wife. >> Although prosecutors have evidence that Osa was out of town when those murders
01:54:13
occurred. They will have to explain how those hairs got on the victims. Suffach County DA Ray Tierney says it could be
01:54:22
as simple as transfer. You live at home with a spouse. Uh, a little bit of your hair falls on your shoulder as well as
01:54:29
as your spouse's. Then you go out and you interact with a third party and that hair gets on them.
01:54:35
>> Assaup has not been charged or named a suspect [music] in any of the murders.
01:54:41
You don't believe that Rex Humeman's wife was involved in this in any way? >> There's no evidence to indicate that.
01:54:47
No. Along with the public scrutiny of Assa, there's also been support from people that perhaps know all too well
01:54:55
what she's going through. Carrie Rosson, [music] the daughter of serial killer Dennis Raider, who named himself BTK,
01:55:04
tweeted, "Asa and her kids are also victims. >> I can tell that they are going through
01:55:11
hell." And from Melissa Moore, the daughter of Keith Jesperson, a serial killer known as the Happyface Killer,
01:55:20
for taunting authorities with letters signed with a happy face. >> She reached out immediately to myself
01:55:26
and we put her in contact with Assa. >> At a press conference, Macedonia announced Moore set up a GoFundMe page
01:55:33
for Assa, which raised over $50,000. Money he says will largely go to medical bills. Assa is battling breast and skin
01:55:43
cancer and because Rex Huerman was a sole provider for the family, Macedonia says she will soon lose her health
01:55:52
insurance. >> Assa would like me to express her thanks for the support she's received. Um she's
01:55:57
going through a very difficult time. >> Assa's children [music] have also paid a
01:56:02
heavy price. Her daughter Victoria, who worked for her father at the architectural consulting firm, and her
01:56:09
son Christopher are both now unemployed. Assa struggles to support them, says Macedonio, while she's also trying to
01:56:17
figure out how to start over. >> How is she getting through every day, >> honestly?
01:56:22
>> Yeah. >> Minute by minute. She has no one else to turn to at this time. Family and friends
01:56:28
have been hesitant to have her come over because they don't want the media attention. She gets followed wherever
01:56:34
she goes. >> For the moment, she and her children continue to live in the house in
01:56:39
Masipiqua Park, which the family says was excessively damaged during the police search, seen in these photos
01:56:47
provided by Assa's attorney. It's a daily reminder of the unimaginable crimes her estranged husband is charged
01:56:55
with and the investigation that continues into what else he may have done. Rex Huerman, awaiting trial, is locked
01:57:22
inside a Suffach County jail in a 60s square ft cell. He denies killing Melissa Bartholomew,
01:57:34
Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Their voices now silent as the sand where they have been ruthlessly
01:57:46
discarded. >> How sure are you, as you're sitting here now, that Rex Cerman is the Long Island
01:57:54
serial killer? So, we're just at the beginning stages of this case, but we would not have brought this indictment
01:58:00
if we weren't confident in our case. >> He took away somebody's mother, somebody's daughter, somebody's sister,
01:58:09
and not just one person, multiple individuals. >> Huerman is currently the prime suspect
01:58:17
for the murder of Moren Brainer Barnes. And for investigators, an obvious question still hangs heavy.
01:58:25
If Human is a killer, are there other victims? >> I mean, isn't there a real concern that
01:58:32
there may be other victims out there? >> Always. Who's to say that there's not more bodies out there that we need to
01:58:39
investigate? >> In 2011, police did find other bodies along Ocean Parkway. [music] After
01:58:48
finding the Gilgo 4, there is victim number five, Jessica Taylor. an escort who went missing in 2003.
01:58:58
Another [music] set of remains police called Jane Doe number six is now identified as Valerie Mack also working
01:59:07
as an escort. Number seven, to investigators surprise, they found a toddler girl.
01:59:16
Number eight, an Asian male dressed in women's clothing. Number nine, a female skull belonging to
01:59:25
Karen Vada, an escort who disappeared in 1996. Number 10, female remains from a victim
01:59:35
cops nicknamed Peaches because of a tattoo on her torso. [music] Although her remains were found six
01:59:42
miles away, police say DNA confirms Peaches is the mother of that toddler. None of those victims has been linked to
01:59:54
Huerman. Is it that you can't connect him yet or you believe he probably isn't the person who killed these other other
02:00:03
individuals? >> I don't know. >> Investigations also spread to Las Vegas in South Carolina where Huerman owns
02:00:11
property with detectives there taking a fresh look at cases of missing women. And then there's Nikki Brass.
02:00:23
>> I remembered him because one, he's massive and how many massive like 6'5 [music]
02:00:29
architects work in Manhattan, live in Master Pico. >> You're going from brown and blonde.
02:00:35
>> Now a hairdresser, Nikki claims she may be one that got away. She told us she
02:00:41
used to work as an escort. And while we cannot substantiate her story, Nikki [music] claims she can't shake her
02:00:49
memory of the night she says she was solicited for sex by Rex [music] and says she fled the restaurant where they
02:00:57
met. >> I had never gone anywhere and like felt fear. My gut was telling me I needed to
02:01:03
get away and I've never had that before. Nikki says what she found most disturbing is that Huerman himself
02:01:11
brought up those bodies bound in burlap by Gilgo Beach. >> He wanted to like really get into it.
02:01:17
Like he asked me how I thought they could get rid of the bodies without being caught in that area. And I said,
02:01:24
"I've never been over there. I've never even seen Gilgo Beach." And his response was, "Well, it's really
02:01:32
dark and desolate. I'm John Ray and I'm the lawyer. >> Nikki is now represented by John Ray, an
02:01:41
attorney who is also representing Shannon Gilbert's family. In December of 2011, investigators
02:01:55
finally found Shannon here in the marsh, not far from Gilgo Beach. But they don't
02:02:02
believe she was murdered. It's an unfortunate incident, but right now we believe that she just ran into the marsh
02:02:07
and unfortunately drowned. >> A former investigator told us that he believes Shannon was high on drugs that
02:02:13
night and says her death was an accident, something John Ray just can't believe. While he doesn't think Shannon
02:02:21
was a victim of Huerman, he does believe she was murdered and points to that 911
02:02:27
call. It absolutely makes no sense that she's found where she is except that someone
02:02:35
else put her there or killed her there. >> While questions remain about Shannon's
02:02:43
last hours, [music] there's no question she's the reason so many families may finally be getting answers they have
02:02:52
long waited for. We spoke to her sister Sheree in 2011. If my sister, you know, didn't make that
02:03:00
911 call, I don't think that these other women would have been recovered either.
02:03:05
>> Now, investigators hope that with an arrest, they can give the victim's families who stood with them a sense of
02:03:13
justice and of peace. I've gotten to know the families and I'm inspired by them and [music] I'm
02:03:25
impressed by their patience. A local legend has it that this place, Gilgo Beach, was named for a skilled
02:03:36
fisherman called Gil. These silver gray waters, once [music] his secret hunting ground.
02:03:45
Today, this beach area is better known for a relentless hunter of human prey. A serial killer whose chilling presence
02:03:55
can still be felt in the ocean air. [music] CBS next Saturday. 48 Hours brings you
02:04:27
[music] backtoback episodes all summer long. Next week, Secrets and Lies. >> He said, "If anybody talks to anybody
02:04:33
about this, I'll kill him." >> Did you want your stepfather dead? >> No. The >> plan was murder. 48 hours prime time
02:04:39
double feature next Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.