00:00:00
[Music] You go back to the first days after the murder. This might have been a dispute between
00:00:22
teenagers. It might have involved a girl. It might have involved drinking. Whoever knew about John's killing kept
00:00:30
this secret for over 40 years. >> That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
00:00:42
[Music] >> September 26th, 1969 is the day that changed the lives of Bill and Neville
00:00:54
and McCabe forever. [Music] I I don't think I've had a whole night's sleep since it's happened.
00:01:09
>> If it's not too painful, can you tell me about his last day? >> Went to a dance, his second dance.
00:01:16
>> 15-year-old John McCabe was looking forward to going to the Knights of Columbus dance that evening. took a
00:01:22
shower, scrubbed his hair, put his father's after shave on. He didn't shave, but put his father's after shave
00:01:29
on. Oh, yeah. He got all spruced up. 11:00 I started looking out the window. That's when the dance closes. He should
00:01:39
be home by midnight. So, I went down to the dance and checked the road, screaming out the window.
00:01:47
John. John. No. John, I started praying at that point. >> The day after John McCabe went missing,
00:02:00
three young kids were cutting through a vacant lot when they made a horrifying discovery, which was the body of John
00:02:08
McCabe. He had been bound and gagged and tied with rope. After John's body was found, Bill
00:02:16
McCabe, a pillar of strength, had to do the unspeakable. That was identify the body of his dead son.
00:02:24
>> Never forget it. People keep talking about closure. You can't shake it. >> He then had to go home and inform his
00:02:33
family of what had happened. >> Bill said, "Honey, our son's dead." Well, I was a senior in high school.
00:02:45
>> Were you fearful? >> Yes. They hadn't caught the people that killed my brother.
00:02:49
>> Did you think when you looked at kids in your classes, maybe it's him, maybe it's
00:02:54
him? >> Maybe it was them. Maybe they knew something. How could they not know anything?
00:02:59
>> Without physical evidence, without a witness, this case remained unsolved for
00:03:03
several years. And several years became decades. >> Ready? >> This is it. I pray every day justice
00:03:13
will be served. >> There was only one way this case was going to be solved. >> Do you solemnly swear?
00:03:20
>> And how old were you in 1969? >> 17. >> And that's if someone came forward and
00:03:26
talked. >> How do you know how John McCabe died? I was there. [Music] [Music] It took almost every ounce of strength
00:04:29
left in his 85year-old body to get to the witness stand, but Bill McCabe waited 43 years for this day and the
00:04:38
start of this trial in January 2013. >> Good morning, Mr. McCabe. Do you remember September 27th, 1969?
00:04:48
>> Yes, sir. >> How old was John at that day? >> He was 15 years, 6 months, and two weeks.
00:05:01
>> I always visualized him as being a big shot somewhere. John Joseph McCabe, my
00:05:08
son JJ, you know, but I never got to see any of those things. In the fall of 1969, two men had just
00:05:20
landed on the moon. >> Beautiful. Just beautiful. >> Thousands had just crashed at Woodstock.
00:05:28
And John McCabe, 15 years, 6 months, and 2 weeks old, was living with his family
00:05:35
in Tukesbury, Massachusetts. >> I think we have a right to be proud of them. Yeah. John's father, Bill, was an
00:05:42
engineer. His mother, Evelyn, worked at the school library. His sisters, Roberta, who was six, and Debbie, who
00:05:51
was 17, remember a brother who was always busy doing what brothers do. >> It was pretty interesting. You open the
00:05:59
closet door and your closet's filled with grasshoppers. >> I just remember his hands were always
00:06:04
dirty, like with oil or grease or a frog in his hand. >> So, you brought home a goose once, too.
00:06:09
>> Oh, yeah. Canadian goose. Big sucker. >> It's fun to watch you talk about this
00:06:14
because your eyes light up. I mean, you have very fond memories of those days. >> Yeah.
00:06:18
>> Evelyn holds on to any reminder of her son. >> I have John's money. >> I can't spend it.
00:06:26
>> And you've had it all these years. >> Yeah. 45 years. Every now and then I the
00:06:31
smell's gone off of it now. it. I almost put it in the casket with him and then I
00:06:38
thought, "No, I'll just keep it with me and when I see him again, I'll give it to him."
00:06:45
[Music] >> When she last saw John, Evelyn gave him permission to go to that dance at the
00:06:52
Knights of Columbus Hall. >> I let him go. I let him go out the door. I shouldn't have.
00:07:01
The next day, police came to the house and took Evelyn's husband to the basement to talk.
00:07:07
>> They didn't want me to know anything. >> But you heard. >> I heard them. >> Evelyn got on her knees and pressed her
00:07:16
ear to a vent in the bathroom. >> This is where I could hear everything that was going on down solo.
00:07:27
The police were telling her husband John's body was discovered in a vacant lot in the neighboring gritty city of
00:07:35
Lel. Well, what did you hear? >> I heard that he was tied up and there was tape on his eyes and his mouth.
00:07:45
I heard a lot. I cried. I laid there and cried. A huge investigation was launched by the
00:07:57
lol Tukesbury and Massachusetts state police. What evidence did they collect at the scene?
00:08:05
>> The rope that was used to tie John up. Uh tape that was used to tape his eyes
00:08:10
and his mouth. Um all of his clothing. Um his shoes. >> Jerry Leone was the local DA who years
00:08:18
later took on the case. Today he's a partner in the law firm Nixon Peabody. >> There was forensic evidence, but it
00:08:26
wasn't really meaningful because it you couldn't tie it to anyone in particular.
00:08:32
[Music] >> But the case looked promising at first. A witness had spotted a car near the
00:08:40
crime scene that night. I believe the way he had described it was a 1965 Chevy Impala colored uh plum or maroon.
00:08:52
>> Then another tip led police to a schoolmate of John's, 16-year-old Mike Ferrer, who says he barely knew John.
00:09:02
>> I probably seen him like a handful of times in my life. I don't, you know, I didn't really, he wasn't a friend.
00:09:08
Ferrer and his friend Nancy Williams were questioned because they had picked up John when he was hitchhiking on his
00:09:16
way to the dance. I picked him up and I gave him a ride to the corner and I never saw him again.
00:09:21
>> Ferrer told police that while the dance was underway, he left Nancy and met up
00:09:27
with his best friend, Walter Shel. >> Me, Walter, and Bob Ryan took a ride to LOL try to get some beer.
00:09:34
>> They were in Walter Shel's car. It was maroon and it was a 1965 Chevy Impala.
00:09:42
Police searched it but found no evidence. Still, Walter Shel was now a person of
00:09:49
interest. He was brought in for questioning and later polygraphed five times. The test showed he was lying in
00:09:58
all vital areas of the questioning. >> If you read the reports now, you start seeing Ferrer and Shelly, Shel and
00:10:05
Ferrer. Ferrer was questioned multiple times. >> I know where they were going. Not
00:10:13
totally stupid. >> But Ferrer wasn't helping himself. At one point, while joy riding with some
00:10:19
friends, he suddenly blurted out that he killed John. >> I was 16. We're drinking, joking, and I
00:10:29
said, "Yeah, I did it." They knew I was joking. I was a joker. Leone says police
00:10:34
were not amused, but there was no way to corroborate what Ferrer said. >> Without physical evidence, without a
00:10:41
witness statement putting him at the scene, the Ferrer lead kept drying up. >> There were dozens of other people police
00:10:50
investigated, other teens, local drug dealers, and pedophiles. Detectives worked this case hard for two years
00:11:00
while Bill McCabe worked on a record of his son's life. I wasn't trying to be an author or
00:11:10
anything like that. I I I was just looking ways to hold on to him, keep his keep his memory.
00:11:18
>> He also tried to make sure the police never forgot his son. >> I was always on the phone talking to the
00:11:25
police. I'd be up in the middle of the night. She'd be saying, "What the hell are you
00:11:29
doing up? Get back to bed." >> Despite Bill's persistence and the intense police effort, there were no
00:11:36
arrests. >> Shelley and Ferrer went into the service in 1970. So, the following year, the two
00:11:43
of them left the area. >> And the McCabe family was left without any answers for decades.
00:12:08
[Music] This is the little compass so he can find his way home. With each passing season, John McCabe's
00:12:24
case grew colder. But his mother kept asking the most painful questions about how he died.
00:12:35
I tried to strangle myself just to visualize what it felt like. I wondered, did he call for me?
00:12:48
What kind of a mother was I? I wasn't there for him. >> For a time, Evelyn set a place for John
00:12:56
at the dinner table. His absence was a constant presence in the house. You can't just do something
00:13:05
wrong and not have to pay for it. >> The case stalled for some 30 years until November 2000. Sean and I went just
00:13:15
about everywhere. You know, >> when Jack Ward, a childhood friend of John's, made good on a decades old
00:13:22
promise to Bill McCabe. >> He would say, "Jackie, you hear anything about John? You keep your eyes open. Let
00:13:28
me know." I says, "If I ever hear anything, Mr. McCabe, you know, I'm going to tell you."
00:13:33
>> Ward had been at a cookout at this house in Tukesbury where he ran into a kid
00:13:39
from the old neighborhood, Mike Ferrer. This photo was taken that day. >> We're all sitting around drinking and
00:13:48
that's when he just blurted out, "I know who killed John." And he said it to me again, "I know who killed John." And you
00:13:58
know, finally I said, "Who?" And he says, "Walter." I said, "Walter Shel." He says, "Yeah,
00:14:04
>> Walter Shelly." >> I said, "What would be Walter's motive to kill John?" He said, "Mala." because
00:14:11
of Mila. >> Mara Shiner. Ward said she was Walter Shel's girlfriend back then, but he said
00:14:19
the trouble was Mara also seemed to like John McCabe. And by all accounts, Walter
00:14:26
Shel was one very jealous young man. The footage you see was taken a few years after the murder. Ward admits he sat on
00:14:36
the information for a while, worried about how to tell Bill McCabe. You go knock on assembly's door and say,
00:14:46
"Hey, I know who killed your son. You better have it right." I was shocked when he told me. So, I scribbled it on a
00:14:54
piece of paper and I put it in the Bible on the page beginning the book of John so I wouldn't forget it. And I
00:15:00
immediately called the police. But it took many more calls from Bill McCabe and three more years for police
00:15:11
to show up at Ferrer's door. It was now 2003. Ferrer worked as a forklift operator, lived in Salem, New Hampshire,
00:15:20
and Nancy Williams, his friend back in the day, was now his wife. >> Mike wouldn't hurt a fly. No, I know he
00:15:30
wouldn't. Ferrer says he remembers the cookout conversation with Jack Ward very differently.
00:15:37
>> Jackie went and told them I said Walter Shel killed him. I never said that. And
00:15:41
at this cookout, you know, I already had a few drinks and he's running his mouth. Shel did it.
00:15:47
Shel did it. And this went on all afternoon. And finally, I got sick of hearing that. I says, he probably did
00:15:54
it. Next thing I know, three years, four years later, I had the cops down my house wanted to talk to me about John
00:16:00
McCabe. >> Ferrer also denies discussing the jealousy motive with Ward. >> That's his theory. I never said that.
00:16:09
>> But again, there was no corroborating evidence. So again, the case stalled. >> Well, what did they tell you about the
00:16:18
investigation? >> It's going fine. It was always going fine. >> And how long did they tell you that?
00:16:25
And you know what? It was sitting on a freaking shelf. >> But the police had not forgotten John
00:16:31
McCabe. >> All right. Thanks. >> In January of 2007, 37 years after the murder, Jerry Leone was sworn in as
00:16:41
Middle Sex County District Attorney. The lower police department took it upon themselves to visit me weeks after I'd
00:16:49
been elected to say, "We'd actually like you to focus on this one and and take a
00:16:53
hard look at it with us." >> Investigators had gone back over the files and a name jumped out at them in
00:17:02
Mike Ferrer's latest interview with police. In recounting the night of the murder, Ferrer said he was with Walter
00:17:10
Shel, but this time he added a name and said the other guy with them was Allan Brown.
00:17:19
>> Edward Allen Brown's name surfaces as someone who we're going to focus on. >> Edward Allen Brown was 17 and lived not
00:17:28
far from the McCabes when John was killed. He had long since moved away, but when
00:17:35
police tracked him down, he said he knew nothing about the murder. Never even heard of it. So, how likely is it that
00:17:43
he would never even heard of the murder of John McCabe in a town the size of Tukesbury?
00:17:48
>> I'd say curious at the time. >> And police got a call from Brown's wife that was even more curious.
00:17:56
>> His wife told police that she thought he was lying. his wife said that she thought he was lying.
00:18:02
>> Right. Carolyn Brown indicates to police that 20 to 25 years earlier, her husband
00:18:08
had told her about an evening um where he was involved in a young man being killed.
00:18:16
>> But even that wasn't enough. It was the same old story. There was no corroborating evidence and no real
00:18:25
movement in the case until 2011 when Detective Linda Coughlin was assigned to find the killers.
00:18:34
>> You think this case really took off when you met Detective Linda Coughlin? >> Yes, definitely.
00:18:40
>> Why did you feel that way? >> Because of her attitude. She She said, "I'm going to get them."
00:18:49
And she did. Detective Coughlin zeroed back in on Edward Allen Brown. He was retired from
00:18:56
the Air Force and living in New Hampshire. Coughlin interrogated Brown just twice. But when Brown learned he
00:19:04
failed a polygraph, he suddenly broke down. He confessed that he was there when Walter Shelley and Mike Ferrer killed
00:19:16
John McCabe. Why? >> Lowel police brought in the McCabes and told them Brown's story about John's
00:19:33
final hours. >> My dad started crying. He killed over on the table. [Music] On April 15th, 2011, nearly 42 years
00:19:49
after John McCabe's body was found in that vacant lot, his father's perseverance finally paid off.
00:19:58
>> Mr. McCabe held our feet to the fire. He never let us forget John McCabe's murder. The DA's office announced the
00:20:07
indictments of Edward Allen Brown for manslaughter and Michael Ferrer and Walter Shelley for firstdegree murder.
00:20:16
Two names known to police since day one. Two names also gathering dust here in John's Book of Mourners.
00:20:26
>> The murderers came to the wake and they came to the funeral. [Music] Why do you think Edward Allen Brown
00:20:39
confessed? Chat now on Facebook and X. [Music] It would take almost 2 years to bring
00:20:53
the men accused of killing John McCabe to trial. Two more years the McCabes would have to wait. Do you solemnly
00:21:01
swear the testimony? >> January 18th, 2013. >> Would you please be seated? >> Edward Allen Brown was called to testify
00:21:08
against his one-time friend, Mike Ferrer, the first defendant to go on trial. >> Do you see Michael Ferrara in the
00:21:17
courtroom today? >> Yes, over there. >> Mr. Brown, >> for the first time, Brown publicly
00:21:24
shared the details of the night John died. Brown says he was at home watching television when Mike Ferrer and Walter
00:21:33
Shelley pulled up to his house. >> They wanted me to go with them to help them. >> Help them do what?
00:21:40
>> I didn't know at the time until I got in the car and we left. >> Brown testified they were on their way
00:21:46
to the Knights of Columbus Hall when he learned of their plan. They said they wanted to go u find this kid that had
00:21:54
been uh you know messing around with Mara to teach him a lesson. >> And how did you know Mara Shiner?
00:22:00
>> That was Walter's girlfriend. >> Michael noticed John McCabe was thumbming and he said, "There he is."
00:22:10
And we pulled up next to John. Michael got out and grabbed him and uh pushed him in the back seat where I was.
00:22:18
Michael was facing back um at John trying to to to smack him and John had his arms up to try to to stop him from
00:22:28
doing that. We went under the spaghetti bridge. >> Brown says they drove up a dirt road to
00:22:35
the vacant lot and pulled over >> and we got him outside the car. >> Who pushed John out of the car?
00:22:41
>> I did. I thought they were just going to slap him around. >> What happened next? Then Michael and
00:22:48
Walter uh wrestled John, tripped him up and got him on the ground. >> Brown testified that he and Shel held
00:22:55
John McCabe down while Ferrer tied him up. >> Michael tied his ankles, then went
00:23:02
around and tied his his uh wrist together. Then he took another piece of rope around his ankles and attached it
00:23:08
up to his neck. They had put tape on his mouth. John's uh squirming, wiggling, trying to get out. He's lying on his
00:23:17
belly uh with his legs up in the air and his um his head turned sideways. Then they said um
00:23:25
that this will teach you to uh to mess with Miler anymore and we got in the car and left.
00:23:36
>> Brown says they drove around drinking beer for a while. >> Then um I I told him that we we should
00:23:44
go back and let him go. Brown says they eventually returned to the lot. >> Michael and Walter got out of the car
00:23:52
and went over to him. They were there for about 30 to 45 seconds and they came quickly back to
00:23:58
the car. We started to drive off and one of them said that he wasn't breathing. >> John McCabe had died of strangulation.
00:24:11
[Music] I wonder I wonder what he thought of that night. >> Then they uh they brought me home.
00:24:28
>> What did you do? >> I remember I think I cried. Brown says he kept the murder a secret
00:24:37
for 41 years because he was afraid of Michael Ferrer. >> Michael said if anybody talks to anybody
00:24:46
about this, I'll kill him. >> Ellen Brown's a freaking liar. And I mean, they know that. According to the
00:24:51
prosecutor, he's been a Iraq in Afghanistan five tours. Maybe he's got something wrong in his head.
00:24:57
>> They talk about these people that give false confessions. Either he did it with somebody else or by himself or he
00:25:07
is really a messed up human being. >> My sense of Edward Brown was he was easily led.
00:25:14
>> Eric Wilson, Michael Ferrer's attorney, believes that police pressured Edward
00:25:18
Allen Brown because he was someone they could force into confessing to a crime he did not commit. They also offered him
00:25:26
a deal, no jail time. Edward Brown did not walk into LOL Police Department headquarters and say, "Look, I got to
00:25:34
get this off my chest." After being interrogated by trained detectives over the course of many days, he was faced
00:25:40
with the threat of spending the rest of his life in jail. Uh, or he could tell the police what they wanted to hear.
00:25:46
>> Walter Shel and Mike Ferrer picked you up at your house at 10:30, right? >> Yes.
00:25:50
>> The question that I had to answer for the jury is why would he tell them that
00:25:56
if he didn't do it? >> Did you think you could do that? That's a tough cell. >> It was a tough cell. Um, but
00:26:04
Ed Brown gave me a lot to work with. >> You were fed information it was a dirt lot, right?
00:26:08
>> Yes. >> Over the course of two days, Ferrer's attorney grilled Brown relentlessly.
00:26:14
>> And in your four or five trial prep sessions >> until Brown admitted that the
00:26:19
prosecution had fed him parts of his story. >> You were fed information that it was
00:26:24
near a railroad tower, right? >> Yes. And you're being told that Shelley was jealous over Mara Shiner, right?
00:26:29
>> Yes. >> There are certain pieces of information that an investigator may provide to
00:26:34
someone who they're interviewing to see whether or not they know anything about that to see whether or not it jogs their
00:26:40
memory. >> Well, but couldn't that also be a way of telegraphing to the witness what you
00:26:46
want him to say? Well, in this case, that didn't have to happen because Brown was the one who talked about the rope,
00:26:52
the tape, the binding of John. However, Brown got his story, Wilson claims it cannot be true because it does not fit
00:27:02
the evidence. In fact, in the 1969 police reports, detectives noted that they were unable to find any evidence of
00:27:10
a scuffle. There was no suggestion anywhere around John McCabe's body or the scene that
00:27:16
that struggle described by Edward Brown ever took place. >> Why would Edward Allen Brown lie and
00:27:24
implicate himself so directly in what happened unless it was the truth? >> Your testimony has not always been
00:27:30
10:30, has it? >> Wilson thought it was not enough to try to discredit Brown. He also had to punch
00:27:36
holes in the alleged motive, jealousy over a girl. He'll do it by calling that girl.
00:27:44
>> My name is Mara Shiner >> to the witness stand. >> That you would have known each other
00:27:48
from being [Music] Mr. Brown. You've lied under oath when you're scared, right? >> Yes.
00:28:06
>> You've lied under oath when you're nervous, right? >> Yes. >> You've lied under oath when you're
00:28:10
frightened, right? >> Correct. >> Prosecutors had a problem with their star witness, Edward Allen Brown. He
00:28:16
seemed to wither under strong cross-examination from the defense. >> You still can't get your facts straight,
00:28:23
can you? >> No. So, prosecutor Tom O'Reilly called Detective Linda Coughlin to counter
00:28:29
accusations that she'd forced Edward Allen Brown to confess and fed him details.
00:28:35
>> At any point, did you feed him information as to the investigation? >> Never.
00:28:41
>> But Eric Wilson says Coughlin also had tunnel vision and ignored evidence of other suspects. There were a number of
00:28:49
investigative reports and material that you either overlooked or didn't even know about. True.
00:28:56
>> I don't know what you're referring to. >> How about Richard Santos? >> Richard Santos was flagged in this
00:29:02
Tukesberry police report as a suspect in the McCabe murder in 1974. Santos was arrested for committing a
00:29:12
crime eerily similar to John McCabe's murder. This young woman was abducted on Route 38. Her feet were bound, her hands
00:29:22
were tied behind her back, her mouth was duct taped, and her eyes were taped shut. All of the facts that surround
00:29:30
Santos as a possible subject lead you to be suspicious. But there was never anything tying him to mode of
00:29:39
opportunity, means information on Richard Santos. Still, the judge allowed the jury to hear about Santos and
00:29:46
another suspect >> with respect to Robert Mley. >> Robert Mley, a local 25year-old who
00:29:54
reportedly knew both Ferrer and Shelley and was suffering from mental illness. >> He was labeled long before you were
00:30:03
assigned this case as a strong suspect. Right. There is a report that uses the word for
00:30:13
him strong suspect and the very same report mentions Mr. Ferrer as a prime suspect.
00:30:19
>> But it's how Mory became a strong suspect that makes him so interesting. Police learned about him shortly after
00:30:27
the crime from his own brothers. Well, Morley's own brothers went in and said that they thought he might have been
00:30:34
involved in it. Yeah, they thought he might have. >> Former DA Jerry Leone says Morley's
00:30:40
brothers were mistaken. >> I think what happens in matters like this is people will say, um, sure, you
00:30:47
should take a look at X or Y because they have a profile of somebody who would do something like this and they
00:30:54
were around the area at the time. But then you have to look at the evidence and see whether or not the evidence
00:31:00
leads you to believe that they had anything to do with it. Do the brothers have any specific evidence that you're
00:31:06
aware of? >> They did not. >> He split to Florida the day after he was questioned by police.
00:31:12
>> Mr. Moly, years later, in my estimate, committed suicide. >> You learned of his death is suicide,
00:31:19
right? He jumped off a bridge, right? >> His brother says he fell off a bridge. >> The defense also tried to punch holes in
00:31:27
the alleged motive for the murder and called a surprising witness to do it. Yes, my name is Marla Shiner and my
00:31:34
spelling of my last name is S H I N E R. >> Thank you. >> Mara Shiner, the girl who Walter Shelley
00:31:42
and Mike Ferrer allegedly killed for. Edward Allen Brown had just testified that Mara was Shel's girlfriend in
00:31:50
September of ' 69 and Shelley was jealous because Jon was flirting with her. But Mara says John never flirted
00:32:00
with her. Did you ever go to a dance with John McCabe? >> Never. Did >> they ever convey to you that he had any
00:32:05
type of romantic interest in you in August or September of 1969? >> None. >> The McCabe say it doesn't matter if the
00:32:12
flirting was real or imagined. >> She could have been just stopped and said hello to John and Shelley could
00:32:21
have walked by and seen it >> and he's going to explode. >> Next, Mara threw the prosecution a
00:32:27
curveball. September 26th, 1969. Were you dating Walter Shelley? >> No, I was not dating Walter when when
00:32:37
John McCabe died. >> When did you start dating him then? >> I believe it was after that death.
00:32:42
>> How old were you? >> 13. >> You 13 September 69. >> I don't know. I can't do the math right
00:32:49
here. But according to police, Mara told them she was dating Shelley at the time
00:32:54
and was just 12 years old when they started seeing each other. >> You didn't tell the police that you were
00:33:00
dating Walter Shel >> in 1969 when John McCabe was killed. >> I No, I don't believe I did tell him
00:33:08
that. >> Why lie about dating someone unless it was because of her that John was
00:33:13
murdered? 48 Hours had questions for Mara Shiner, too, but she declined our request for an interview. Mara
00:33:22
eventually married Walter Shelley, but it didn't last. She said he was very violent.
00:33:29
>> Miss Sha, was Walter Shel a jealous man? >> Absolutely. >> It appears that we're ready to proceed
00:33:36
then. >> Judge, at this point in time, the defendant would rest. >> This was a hardfought trial till the
00:33:42
end. And then it was up to the jury to decide. Did Mike Ferrer help Walter Shelley kill John McCabe over a girl?
00:33:52
>> Or was Edward Allen Brown telling a story the prosecution wanted to hear. >> It only took jurors 5 hours to decide.
00:34:01
>> I told Michael that we had to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.
00:34:06
And uh he was ready for that. >> May I have the verdict slip, please? For the McCabe family, more than four
00:34:14
decades of waiting and working came down to this moment. What did you think the verdict was going
00:34:22
to be? >> Guilty. My god, he was guilty. If for no other reason, he was there. >> It's hard to understand how the jury
00:34:34
could, you know, anticipate otherwise. M >> Bill McCabe was too nervous and too sick
00:34:40
to sit in the courtroom that day. So he waited in another room while Evelyn and their daughters heard the verdict.
00:34:49
>> What say you to this indictment, ma'am? Is the defendant guilty or not guilty?
00:34:53
>> Not guilty. >> Not guilty. >> Finder. >> Everyone, including Mike Ferrer, was so
00:34:59
stunned. It took a while to sink in when the verdict came in. When you heard that
00:35:06
that Ferrer had been afraid, >> I had to go tell my husband that. >> Were you afraid to tell him?
00:35:10
>> Yes. >> Why? >> I was afraid he was going to die. >> Tragically, Evelyn was right.
00:35:21
Just 4 days after the verdict, Bill McCabe's heart gave out and he gave up. >> What do you think killed your husband?
00:35:32
>> Stress. the stress of the trial. >> While Evelyn McCabe laid her husband to rest next to their son, the DA's office
00:35:43
had a decision to make after losing the case against Mike Ferrer. Would it go ahead with the trial of Walter Shelley?
00:35:53
[Music] There goes Jack. There goes Jill. Down to love. >> All the girls are singing love songs.
00:36:11
All the boys are >> I still don't believe Bill's gone. >> I can still hear him snore in the night.
00:36:23
And then I I feel the bed. He's not there. Evelyn McCabe was determined to honor
00:36:31
her husband's dying wish. >> He laid in the hospital bed and I says, "I'll pick up and take over for you."
00:36:40
>> She'd see to it someone would pay for John's murder. >> The jurors find Michael Ferrer not
00:36:46
guilty. >> Watching Michael Ferrer go free was tough for some jurors, too. So, how hard
00:36:53
was it for you to acquit him? It was very difficult. >> One of the jurors, Michael Duket, says
00:36:58
the biggest problem was Edward Allen Brown. >> Plan was to teach him a lesson for
00:37:04
messing with Maron. >> Did the majority of the jurors believe him? >> No. >> Why not?
00:37:09
>> They just felt that he was not telling the truth. >> I thought they were just going to slap
00:37:14
him around. And >> they felt that he had been fed information. And that didn't make a ton
00:37:18
of sense to me. Maybe he wasn't the best witness, but I just can't see somebody saying I did it when they didn't do it.
00:37:27
>> Det came to believe Brown and wanted to find Michael Ferrer guilty of something,
00:37:33
but the only choices the jurors had were first and seconddegree murder. So, what
00:37:39
did you want to convict him of? >> Manslaughter, and it wasn't an option. We are extremely pleased with the jury's
00:37:46
verdict. >> Despite the Ferrer loss, prosecutors decided to try to convict the other
00:37:52
suspect in the murder, >> Walter Shel. >> The acquitt in the Ferrer case didn't do
00:37:57
anything to lessen our belief that we had the right people who were responsible for killing John McCabe.
00:38:02
>> All right. >> September 3rd, 2013, 7 months after Michael Ferrer's acquitt, >> this murder was about John McCabe. It
00:38:12
was Walter Shel's turn to stand trial. Shelley was 17 the night of John's murder. He's now 61, remarried, and has
00:38:22
lived quietly in Tukesbury ever since, just a few miles from Evelyn McCabe. >> Walter Shel is sitting on the small of
00:38:30
his back holding the hands. >> If convicted of first-degree murder, Shel could spend the rest of his life in
00:38:37
prison. >> They wrestled him to the ground. It was the same case prosecutors presented
00:38:43
against Michael Ferrer. The same motive, >> jealousy, >> and the same evidence. >> The ropes that came off the victim's
00:38:51
body >> presented by the same witnesses, Marla Shiner, Detective Linda Coughlin, and
00:38:58
once again, the state's star witness, >> Edward Allen Brown. >> I heard one of them say he's not
00:39:06
breathing. >> Was it any easier to sit through the second trial? No, I want to say it was
00:39:10
harder. Dad wasn't there for backup. >> You were called a liar repeatedly. >> Yes, I was.
00:39:16
>> Brown seemed less rattled this time, more confident, and the McCabes allowed themselves to hope.
00:39:24
>> I can keep my fingers, my toes, everything crossed. >> During closing arguments, the defense
00:39:30
called Brown a liar. >> He'll tell you whatever you want to hear. But the prosecution argued that
00:39:36
Brown would never implicate himself in a crime he did not commit. >> What did he confess for?
00:39:42
>> He was talked into it. >> The weekl long trial went to the jury. This would be the McCabe's last chance
00:39:50
to see someone held accountable for killing John. >> We had faith that the jury was going to
00:39:57
come with the right answer this time. >> Finally, two days later, a verdict. person. Has your jury agreed upon its
00:40:04
verdict? >> Yes, we have. >> Pass the verdict of solo, please. >> Walter Shel's wife and family waited
00:40:10
nervously. Evelyn McCabe couldn't bring herself to even sit in the courtroom and
00:40:16
had to wait outside. >> She couldn't hear another not guilty. >> Can the verdicts be reported? Your
00:40:23
honor, >> she was scared she was going to drop dead. >> Charging the defendant, Walter Shel,
00:40:28
with the offense of murder. What say was the defendant guilty or not guilty? Guilty murder.
00:40:35
>> Guilty of what? >> First degree. >> Guilty. And life behind bars for Walter Shelly. This jury believed Brown.
00:40:46
>> So when you heard guilty, do you remember the first thing you thought? >> I thought my father would be proud.
00:40:53
We got one of them. It was the final twist in a mystery filled with them. For the same crime and
00:41:05
on the same evidence, one man walked free, one man went to prison. [Music] >> Hey, John, guess what?
00:41:22
We got him. Billy, it turned out beautifully. >> He didn't live to write about it, but
00:41:32
Bill McCabe finally got the end he was looking for to the story he wrote about John's life and death. A story that took
00:41:42
four decades to play out. He was 15 years, 6 months, and two weeks. >> About his boy who will be 15 years, 6
00:41:54
months, and two weeks old forever. >> He's done. Please take good care of him till I get
00:42:03
there, please. And then I will [Music] [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] CBS Next. A stepdaughter's trust
00:42:47
betrayed. >> She found naked photos of herself on her stepdad's computer. >> Hundreds. Hundreds.
00:42:53
>> Then Tom Marman is found dead. Was it revenge? >> Did you want your stepfather dead?
00:42:58
>> 48 hours crime time double feature continues next on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus.
00:43:04
[Music] [Music] It's like ghosts. You just see the ghosts of them everywhere. [Music]
00:43:45
If you close your eyes, can you still see it? All of it. The focus of the case is Michelle Renee.
00:44:03
She was living with her uh her daughter Bria. They were living um in a kind of a
00:44:09
secluded house. >> Does it feel like 22 years? >> Sometimes it does. Sometimes it feels
00:44:15
like a lifetime ago. Sometimes it feels like it was last week. >> I asked the FBI to take Michelle back to
00:44:21
the house to help reconstruct probably the most traumatic night of her life. >> We came in the door. I put the groceries
00:44:32
away. went in the kitchen. >> Michelle was a single mom. She was a bank manager, somebody who worked hard
00:44:38
to gain a job of position of trust and respect. >> It had been such a long day and I was
00:44:44
just excited to be home with Bria. We were on the couch. It was just the two of us.
00:44:50
>> I was sitting here. She was right beside me and we were playing Game Boy. A group
00:44:55
of individuals put Michelle under surveillance knowing she was a bank manager and they devised
00:45:01
a plan >> and we just heard this huge the this sound just the biggest noise from behind
00:45:10
us and we I turned to look and just saw three people. They were all lined up one
00:45:16
right after the other just rushing in, running in the door at like SWAT style and they had their guns and they were
00:45:23
all in black and I just screamed super loud. My daughter screamed super loud at that point. My daughter took off this
00:45:33
way, but two of them came to me, put guns in my face. One guy grabbed me back of my head, forced me down in front of
00:45:43
the couch that was right here. They bind her up with duct tape. They put her a seven-year-old on the ground and bind
00:45:50
her up with duct tape. And uh they tell them that uh if they don't cooperate, they're going to be killed. They're
00:45:55
going to be shot. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. They let me turn around and see my daughter laying face
00:46:04
down on the floor right here by the door. Um face down with her hands tied and her feet tied.
00:46:14
Um, right there on the ground, I heard my daughter say, "Are you going to kill my
00:46:21
mommy and are you going to kill me?" And they said, "No, not if your mommy does everything that we tell her to do."
00:46:29
>> They said, "You're going to rob the bank for us or we will kill you and your daughter will be first.
00:46:36
[Music] [Music] The only monsters that had ever scared Michelle Rene's 7-year-old daughter,
00:47:31
Bria, were make believe. But on November 20th, 2000, just a day before three masked men broke in,
00:47:39
>> she calls me, "Mom, there's somebody outside the window." I looked out there.
00:47:43
I didn't see anything. I didn't see anybody. I just brushed it off. >> Michelle had chocked it up to her
00:47:50
child's imagination, but this time was different. >> She saw them looking through the window.
00:47:56
They were there the night before. The same men now held Michelle and Bria at gunpoint in the living room. The
00:48:04
gunman said they'd been following the 35-year-old bank manager for months. It was very much that mind control thing
00:48:14
that they were doing that we know everything about you. >> Michelle would recount the events inside
00:48:20
the house for investigators. and we're going to be here all night with you to make sure you know exactly what you're
00:48:26
going to do or you will die. >> Throughout the night, the ring leader gave specific instructions about how he
00:48:33
wanted Michelle to rob her own bank the next morning. >> We're going to go over this again. This
00:48:39
is what you're going to do. When Brinks gets there, you're going to get Brinks's
00:48:42
money. >> As she huddled with Bria on the couch, now duct taped, Michelle could hear him
00:48:47
talking to a woman on a two-way radio. Money one to Money Two were >> That's what they called each other.
00:48:53
>> Yeah. They called each other money one to Money Two. >> Money one was the ring leader. Around
00:48:59
11, the voice on the walkie-talkie got his attention. >> Car coming up the driveway. The
00:49:04
roommates there. It was their roommate Kimbra. >> And they put the gun right here in her
00:49:10
face right up her nose and said, "Don't make using use this." I pushed the guy's
00:49:15
hand out of her face and said, "Don't do this. don't hurt her. And he just pointed it right at me and said, "Don't
00:49:23
ever touch me again." >> Michelle realized this might be the last night she ever spent with her daughter.
00:49:31
>> It was almost morning. I just rubbed her hair so she could try to get some sleep.
00:49:37
>> Wondering if that was going to be the last time I was going to get to touch her hair and see her sleep was pretty
00:49:43
tough. In the morning, the nightmare would continue. It was like 6:00 a.m. He said, "Get up.
00:49:51
It's time to get ready for work." >> I got dressed and started doing my hair when he came in and stopped me
00:49:58
and said, "We need to put the dynamite on you now." >> Michelle, her roommate Kimbra, and Bria
00:50:04
would all be strapped with dynamite. Then, Money One showed Michelle what looked like a doorbell. This is a
00:50:11
detonation device. >> One false move. I push this button. >> You will disintegrate. Your daughter
00:50:16
will go first. and they sat me right here and said, "Now we're going to take your daughter."
00:50:22
>> The gunman put Bria in her bedroom closet. >> I'm just telling her I'd be right back.
00:50:29
That everything's going to be fine. >> Be brave, Mommy. That was the last thing she said when before I walked out to go
00:50:38
to the bank. >> Did you feel brave? >> No. As two of the gunmen stayed in the house, Money One handed Michelle a
00:50:45
briefcase stuffed with a duffel bag before he crouched in the back of her Jeep. With dynamite on her back and a
00:50:52
gun to her side, she drove to work. So, you pull up into your spot. What does he
00:50:57
tell you before you get out of the car? >> Don't Don't this up. And the Brinks truck came at 8:50. I believe right
00:51:05
around 8:50 was the drop right over here. That's when Michelle grabbed her briefcase and headed to the vault.
00:51:13
>> I brought my teller in the vault with me and said, "I'm getting ready to clear
00:51:19
out this vault or my daughter and I are going to die. This is what's happened all night."
00:51:23
>> And you whispered to her, "I have dynamite on my back." >> Yeah. I whisper. I pulled my shirt up.
00:51:28
>> And then you just opened up the duffel bag and started shoveling in money. >> I did. My heart was racing. My Am I fast
00:51:34
enough? Michelle's colleagues would alert the authorities, but not before she walked out with $360,000.
00:51:43
>> Just get to the Jeep, hurl it in the Jeep, >> and go. >> And just do what's next.
00:51:48
>> Money. One directed Michelle to get out a few blocks later. >> And that I would find my Jeep down the
00:51:55
street. She found her car and raced home. I don't know if Bria's going to be there. I don't know if she's going to be
00:52:02
alive when I get there. And I went to open the door and I was just screaming and hello, hello. It was eerily silent
00:52:11
[Music] >> and I just heard Bria and I remember screaming, "We're back here. We're back
00:52:18
here." >> Bria was still in the closet right where Michelle left her. >> What was that like to hear and see her?
00:52:25
>> Oh my gosh. She was alive. I did it. We did it. We didn't die. probably the happiest moment of my life. But then I
00:52:35
could still see the panic on her face. >> The dynamite's still on me. >> Before leaving, the gunman had ripped
00:52:41
the dynamite off of Kimbra and Bria, so they cut it off of Michelle's back before running to the nearest neighbor.
00:52:48
>> I opened the gates, went down the hill real fast, helped them up to the house.
00:52:53
>> Rick Brown lived up a steep hill. >> I called 911 right away. >> Sheriff, can I help you? Yes. Uh, some
00:53:01
neighbors of ours were held hostage. I need somebody out here right away. >> Soon the place was crawling with
00:53:07
investigators from the FBI, San Diego Sheriff's Department, and the bomb squad. >> This is the dynamite that was taken off
00:53:15
of um Michelle. >> San Diego prosecutor Tom Manning would lead the task force investigating the
00:53:22
case. They quickly figured out the dynamite was fake. They realize that it actually is two
00:53:29
painted dowels or broomstick candles. >> But as you can see from a distance in the lighting, plus it's on your back
00:53:35
with the stress of the situation, you're not going to take a chance that it isn't
00:53:39
real. >> But during the very real 14 hours they were held hostage. Michelle had held on
00:53:45
to any detail that might help identify the attackers. >> Remembering details is just sort of this
00:53:52
part of my DNA about people. That was kind of my superpower. >> Details like money one's eyes.
00:54:00
>> When I turned the light on to go to the bathroom and I saw his eyes in there, I
00:54:04
I said that those eyes were at my desk. Those eyes were at my desk today. Oh my god.
00:54:10
>> Michelle says it was a man with whom she'd had an odd encounter at the bank hours before being taken hostage. and he
00:54:18
sat at my desk for a really long time asking sort of the same questions over and over. And then a woman walked in and
00:54:26
said, "Chris, we need to get going." And they got up and left. The man had handed
00:54:32
Michelle his business card. And the name on the business card was Christopher Butler.
00:54:51
[Music] After hours of police questioning, Michelle and Bria were sent to a hotel.
00:55:00
Michelle called her brother Dave. >> It didn't sound like her. It was someone, you know, heavily traumatized.
00:55:08
>> Dave, who lived 3 hours away, rushed to his sister's aid. What I saw when I opened that door, it
00:55:16
scared the daylights out of me. Are you okay? And she would shake. >> How about Bria?
00:55:21
>> Same thing. >> In the days ahead, Michelle struggled to hold it together for her daughter.
00:55:30
>> She was the strongest person for me. >> While investigators wanted answers, they grilled her about that odd
00:55:40
encounter with Christopher Butler. Why was he in the bank? What was he saying he was there for?
00:55:45
>> He came in to say that he was a potential client and that he wanted to talk about investments.
00:55:55
>> Before Butler handed Michelle his business card, a woman he introduced as Lisa came in and whisked him away.
00:56:01
>> Hey Chris, we need to go. >> It was the same voice Michelle says she heard later that night on the
00:56:08
walkie-talkie. >> I kept saying it over and over. Check my desk. >> Check my desk. Get that card. I know
00:56:14
that it's them. >> Through that card, they started the investigation. >> The FBI soon discovered Butler was a
00:56:21
convicted felon with a history of robbing banks. >> They figured out where he was staying
00:56:27
and then uh the team that I work with set up surveillance. >> Butler and his fianceé, Lisa Ramirez,
00:56:34
lived in a house just a few miles from the bank. Some of the people in the house were telling the police who was
00:56:40
there when they planned it. >> Within days, detectives identified the two other men. Christopher Huggin.
00:56:48
>> There was a big guy maybe maybe 6'4. He's gang ties >> and the man who' held a gun to little
00:56:54
Bria, a gang member called Bones. Real name Robert Ortiz. >> Ortiz was a connection who got the guns.
00:57:03
On December 1st, they decided to arrest Butler and Ramirez during a traffic stop.
00:57:11
>> In the glove compartment was a uh weapon. It's a It's actually a BB gun. If you look at that in a stressful
00:57:17
situation that looks as real as it can get. >> What' they find when they pump the
00:57:21
trunk? >> Plethora of evidence. >> All this. >> All this. They found the uh the black
00:57:26
bag that Michelle described the money being carried in. Uh several pairs of black gloves. and um a homemade ski
00:57:36
mask. >> Oh yeah, look at the eye holes there. >> Yeah, >> that they clearly cut themselves.
00:57:41
>> Michelle's credit cards were all found in the uh trunk of the vehicle. And then
00:57:46
of course the money straps from the bank. >> Also in the trunk, that doorbell detonator.
00:57:53
And there was even more at the house. >> They found all the ingredients uh to make the fake bomb. There were broom
00:58:00
handles which were cut up into small dowels which actually were used in making the the fake dynamite. They also
00:58:07
recovered the the actual spray cans. Ramirez's uh fingerprint was on one of those cans. It was crazy. I've never
00:58:15
seen that much physical evidence left at a crime scene. >> They thought they'd gotten away with it.
00:58:20
>> One thing investigators didn't find on Butler and Ramirez, any of the bank's $360,000.
00:58:28
But after arresting Huggin that same day, they did recover 93,000 of the cash that he'd stashed away. Huggin confessed
00:58:37
and said that he'd already spent several grand on a trip to Vegas. The fourth suspect, Robert Ortiz,
00:58:45
was on the lamb. When authorities arrested him three months later in Wisconsin, Ortiz still had $32,000 of
00:58:53
the bank's money and gave a full confession. Did Huggin and Ortiz's confessions corroborate each other?
00:59:01
>> Yes, very much so. >> So, did Huggin and Ortiz's confessions corroborate what Michelle had told
00:59:07
investigators? >> Yes. Almost identical. >> Butler denied everything, even when confronted with direct evidence,
00:59:16
his thumbrint on the fake dynamite sticks. >> And we got fingerprints that are yours
00:59:23
that went you to the bank robber. find out because I wasn't involved with anybody.
00:59:30
>> He tried to protect Lisa. >> Lisa wouldn't have been involved with that. >> But Lisa was about to start talking. She
00:59:37
admitted she was the female voice on the walkie-talkie. >> She even took credit for the idea to use
00:59:46
fake dynamite and kidnap the bank manager. >> Let us know whose idea that was about
00:59:53
8 months ago. jokingly mine. >> Lisa said they'd split the money three ways, but that her and Butler's share,
01:00:00
more than $100,000, had been stolen. And to everyone's surprise, she said Michelle was in on the plot.
01:00:12
>> They had told me that Michelle Lady, that's how they >> walked out of that um thinking, okay,
01:00:19
Lisa's Lisa is the mastermind behind all this. And um is it possible Michelle's involved?
01:00:27
>> Manning says ultimately he knew Michelle was innocent. >> The first time I interviewed her, she
01:00:32
had Bria with her and I I I saw that bond and relationship and when she left, I went, "She's not involved in this."
01:00:39
>> But that wouldn't be enough in court. San Diego County Sheriff's detectives Rudy Zamora, Dale Martin, and Randy
01:00:46
Demurs would have to rule Michelle out as a suspect. Every time we pushed a button, she would
01:00:56
react in a way a true victim should. >> They recreated the dynamite packs and strapped them on Kimbra, Michelle, and
01:01:06
Bria. >> She was very upset. >> And Michelle was emotional when asked to revisit the horrific
01:01:15
details of the kidnapping. And then they I had to put her in there and they shut
01:01:20
the shut the closet. >> She was shaken up. I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown
01:01:30
>> when Michelle did those reenactments. Were her story, Kimbra's story, and Bria's story consistent?
01:01:37
>> Yes, completely consistent. >> In fact, investigators couldn't find any evidence Michelle was involved. Still,
01:01:44
they worried. >> She was not our normal victim. >> As they took a deep dive into Michelle's
01:01:51
life. What did they find out about Michelle's past? >> She didn't hide anything,
01:01:55
>> including the fact that for years she had worked as a stripper. I'm not embarrassed or ashamed by any of
01:02:03
that. >> Michelle says it was one of the choices she had to make for survival at a young
01:02:09
age. >> I ran away at 15. I worked really, really hard to get to where I was. >> With no high school diploma, she had
01:02:17
climbed the corporate ladder all the way to regional vice president before taking
01:02:21
the bank manager job to be home more with Bria. >> And while you were working at the bank,
01:02:27
you were still dancing, still stripping for a while. >> I was for a while. The money was really
01:02:32
great. >> But more worrisome were things that went directly to Michelle's credibility. She
01:02:39
falsified resumes, claimed she had various experience, various education, which she didn't have.
01:02:45
>> Bounced a check, filed for bankruptcy, >> right? >> That doesn't look good. >> It doesn't look good. And if you're a
01:02:50
defense attorney, you're licking your chops. >> Oh, the best verdict I ever got in my
01:02:55
life. By spring of 2001, the suspects were in custody, awaiting trial for kidnapping
01:03:12
and bank robbery charges. But Michelle and Bria were still reeling from that night of terror.
01:03:19
[Music] I could still hear them. I could still hear the the sounds. I couldn't get it
01:03:26
to turn off. >> I just wanted to hide. I thought they were going to find us. They were going
01:03:31
to kill us still. >> In June, Michelle decided to move Bria to Alaska to live with her grandmother.
01:03:42
I was going to fly her up there and get her to safety. I was going to figure out
01:03:46
what to do from there. After a few days, Michelle says she had an epiphany >> to go back to San Diego and get rid of
01:03:56
everything I could possibly get rid of and drive back to Alaska with a dog. >> Come here.
01:04:04
>> Some cash. >> Can do this on a budget. >> And a camcorder. >> Today is July the 6th.
01:04:10
>> She embarked on a 9-day drive. >> I'm on my way, baby doll. >> To the last frontier.
01:04:17
You had a deadline. >> I had a deadline. Bria's birthday was in 9 days, and I promised her I'd be back
01:04:23
before her birthday party. >> That's when Michelle and Bria say they began to heal.
01:04:32
>> Did you feel safe in Alaska? >> Safer. I could be a kid again. >> Happy birthday to you.
01:04:40
>> By the time they returned to San Diego a year later for the trial, Michelle says
01:04:45
she was ready. There was so much evidence. There was no way I thought that this trial was going
01:04:52
to be anything but slam dunk. >> Butler and Ramirez would be tried first. >> When her case came across your desk,
01:05:01
what did you think at first? >> She's guilty. >> You thought she's guilty? >> Well, yeah.
01:05:08
>> Herb Weston, who represented Lisa Ramirez, had a problem. His client had confessed on camera. There was a female
01:05:17
voice that came all at once a lot of times. >> If they play that tape, saying that she
01:05:24
wasn't involved would have been difficult. >> Weston proposed a plea deal, hoping to
01:05:28
save Ramirez from a potential life sentence, but the prosecution turned him down.
01:05:34
>> We thought we would definitely get state the key statements in that she was involved. But since Ramirez had also
01:05:42
implicated Butler, the judge ruled her entire statement inadmissible. >> We now can at least argue to the jury
01:05:52
that she wasn't involved. without her confession. The case against Ramirez relied almost entirely on Michelle.
01:06:03
A fact Manning was keenly aware of during his opening statement to the jury on June 3rd, 2002.
01:06:10
You told the jury that this case was about credibility. >> Right. Michelle's uh background was was
01:06:17
going to be an issue. I knew there were issues, but I believed her. >> And you thought the jury would believe
01:06:21
her, >> right? but not if the defense had its way. >> What was your strategy going into trial?
01:06:28
>> My strategy was to beat the hell out of the victim and show all these inconsistencies that the victim is
01:06:37
saying. >> It got very confrontational. >> I was really really off. >> That played right into Weston's hand.
01:06:45
>> Angry witnesses don't come across as credible. I was treated like I was the criminal.
01:06:52
>> During his cross-examination, Weston implied Michelle was lying about recognizing Lisa Ramirez's voice on the
01:06:59
walkie-talkie. >> Wait a minute, ma'am. I've looked at all this stuff. Isn't this the first time
01:07:03
you've said that? >> In fact, he pointed out it wasn't in any of the FBI reports.
01:07:10
But Michelle insists she told them. >> I did. I 100% did. And Manning says she identified Lisa's voice to him before
01:07:19
taking the stand. >> Does it bother you that Lisa actually admitted that that was her voice on the
01:07:25
walkie-talkie? The fact is it was Lisa. >> But that's not the issue for me. It made
01:07:30
a great opening to attack her credibility. >> Weston then grilled Michelle about bait
01:07:37
money. The traceable bills banks keep in their vaults to trap bank robbers. You didn't take the bait money.
01:07:44
>> Did not take the debate money. >> Why not? >> They said no funny money. You say that's
01:07:49
suspicious that she must have been in on it. >> Correct. >> Maybe worst of all for Michelle Weston
01:07:55
question her maternal instincts. >> Would a mother run to a place where her daughter was? If she believes that I
01:08:05
have a bomb on my back? >> She wasn't sure whether her daughter was dead or alive. Don't you think it's
01:08:10
possible that she wasn't thinking straight? Sure. But also what could be true is she knew there wasn't a bomb and
01:08:17
so she didn't have to worry about it. >> Did you feel like you were on trial? I 100% felt like I was on trial.
01:08:25
>> I would be sitting in the front row and all I could think about was it's going
01:08:29
to take me maybe 6 seconds to get from this point to the offender. That is how I rape I was
01:08:36
>> day after day listening to this. >> Listening to this. >> Is it fair to beat up the victim?
01:08:40
>> Absolutely. While Weston hammered on every decision Michelle made that day, the attorney representing Butler went
01:08:48
after everything else. >> What was the worst thing they asked you about my sex life? They were trying to
01:08:54
paint me as somebody that was irresponsible, a selfish, terrible mother that would do anything for money.
01:09:04
>> And they picked apart Michelle's finances. She's in uh financial uh distress and that could be the motive.
01:09:12
>> Isn't it kind of odd that we're talking about motive when we're talking about a
01:09:15
victim? >> It is. The defense in the case was to uh make Michelle a uh uh a culprit here.
01:09:23
>> After Michelle's grueling three-day testimony, it was Christopher Butler's turn.
01:09:29
He protected Lisa on the stand, claiming Michelle was the mastermind and that they'd had an affair. I was shocked.
01:09:38
>> It's almost laughable. What was his story about how the two of you met? From what I understand, we met in a grocery
01:09:44
store and that I recruited him. Butler claimed that he'd gone to Michelle's house that night with Huggin and Ortiz.
01:09:52
He said that in the early morning hours while smoking pot, Michelle brought up the bank robbery idea again and decided
01:09:59
they should do it that morning. >> His evidence of this, his proof of this, >> zero. If any of this were true, he would
01:10:06
have thrown Michelle down in a heartbeat in his interview. >> The jury deliberated for five days
01:10:12
before finding Butler guilty of the bank robbery and Bria and Kimbra's kidnapping, but they hung 9 to3 on the
01:10:21
charges of kidnapping Michelle. >> When we talked to the jurors, you know, we discovered it was one juror who
01:10:26
completely believed Butler, and the other two jurors were unsure. And they found Lisa Ramirez not guilty on all
01:10:36
counts. >> Oh, the best verdict I ever got in my life. >> Mindboggling. The fact that it was her
01:10:41
idea to do this to a mother and a child and laughing and proud of it. How involved do you think she was in this?
01:10:49
>> Very involved. The investigators kept saying she she was the brains of the outfit.
01:10:53
>> So the brains of the outfit walked, >> right? The second trial would go very differently with Huggin and Ortiz easily
01:11:02
convicted. >> In so many of uh the stories that we tell, the ending is the conviction. But
01:11:10
in your case, in a lot of ways, that's just the beginning. All righty. Is it working?
01:11:30
>> Yes. >> If you close your eyes, can you still see it? >> Okay. >> All of it. I can still see all of it.
01:11:40
>> Even though the men who had terrorized them were now serving multiple life sentences,
01:11:46
Michelle and Bria would never be the same. There's aspects of that night that are
01:11:53
going to be with me for the rest of my life. >> They were treated for post-traumatic
01:11:58
stress disorder for over two years. >> They had their guns. >> Michelle says dealing with the breakin
01:12:04
led to a breakthrough. It was two choices. Call them monsters and stay angry and blame everything of
01:12:13
my life on them. Or I can take this other road. The best thing I could do for Bria is to be an example. Enjoy the
01:12:19
book. >> Michelle wrote a book >> action >> which was made into a TV movie >> and she and Bria went on speaking tours
01:12:27
to discuss their experience with trauma. >> A lot of people coming out of this would
01:12:33
want to just forget about it, put it behind them. But you and your mom talked openly about it.
01:12:38
>> Yes. And I think it was the best decision for us. >> We're speaking out about our experience.
01:12:44
I was showing people that it's not always the end all be all when something bad happens to you. You can come out of
01:12:51
it stronger. >> 2. >> And by 2011, >> she really turned the corner and started enjoying her life again.
01:13:00
>> The girl who had hidden from everything was a high school senior and competitive
01:13:05
cheerleader. She loved it. It was her absolute passion. >> Yeah. >> You're thriving. You're living the
01:13:13
dream. You said you dreamed of this. You were living the dream. >> I was. >> Then suddenly
01:13:20
>> senior year in December, I started feeling a little off. I was dropping things. Showed up at my work at
01:13:28
6:00 dragging her leg going, "Mommy, something's really wrong. Something's wrong. I don't know what's happening."
01:13:34
>> I said, "Mom, I'm really scared." >> They had no idea Bria was in for the fight of her life. And we rushed her to
01:13:43
the hospital and they started pricking her leg and she couldn't feel it and her heart rate
01:13:50
started going crazy. >> Oh my gosh. >> By 8:00 p.m. that night, I was paralyzed on my left side. Couldn't talk, couldn't
01:13:59
swallow, blind in my left eye. >> We found abnormalities in the brain is all they could tell me that night. It
01:14:06
almost sounds like there's that same feeling of helplessness that you had the night that you were held hostage
01:14:12
>> completely. >> The next morning, Bria was diagnosed with an acute onset of multiple
01:14:18
scerosis, an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own
01:14:23
tissues. >> Based on the scans, she has tumactive MS, which is not only rare in and of
01:14:29
itself, but people Bria's age at 18 rarely get MS. Bria says she was told she might never
01:14:37
walk or talk again. >> Just like that. >> Just like that. >> One, two, three, go.
01:14:43
>> My life just ended again. >> I was 18 trying to go off to college, do cheer in college, and that was never
01:14:53
going to happen for me. >> So much of your healing had been talking, and now you couldn't talk.
01:15:00
>> No, I couldn't talk. What's it push? >> I couldn't feed myself anymore. >> She had to relearn all of that.
01:15:08
>> Up good. >> But it was as if they'd been training for this for years. >> Do you think in some way what happened
01:15:16
to you when you were seven prepared you for battling MS? >> Yes. I think it made me strong enough to
01:15:24
go through what I went through with MS. >> It was here we go again. Here we go again.
01:15:32
Bria would spend six weeks in the hospital, >> two to three times a day of physical
01:15:36
therapy, occupational therapies, speech therapy. >> After she could talk again, she turned
01:15:45
to me and said, "Kidnapping was a piece of cake compared to this. >> Do it again."
01:15:52
>> And just as with the kidnapping, Bria wanted to inspire others. She wrote her
01:15:58
college essay from her hospital room, from her wheelchair. >> It is my hope that my college experience
01:16:04
>> and said, "I'm going to college. I am going to be the first person in my family to graduate college no matter
01:16:11
what. >> I now know that there is no time to waste. Life can change so suddenly."
01:16:17
>> She chronicled her journey on her Facebook page. >> Bria, what? >> I love you.
01:16:24
She fought tooth and nail every single day for every single step she took. She walked out of the hospital.
01:16:32
>> This time it was Michelle doing the cheerleading. >> Pray for you. >> The rehab started in the hospital, but
01:16:40
the real rehab was Michelle, constantly on her. We're going to do this. >> It's okay. Good job.
01:16:48
>> We were a total team. We just ended up going into full gear. We lived in a house with stairs.
01:16:54
>> Good. That was really good. >> She couldn't do stairs anymore. >> So, once again, you're out of a home
01:17:00
that you've been living in. >> Yeah. And I had to become her full-time caregiver for about a year and a half,
01:17:05
two years, and rebuilding our life again, >> despite the odds. >> Four, five. Oh, she made it to college.
01:17:16
>> She relapsed three times her first year in college and had to come home, but she
01:17:20
did it. She follows in her mom's footsteps, >> teaching her how to get her foot to stay
01:17:25
on the line >> with the tenacity and the never give up philosophy that they have.
01:17:30
>> Lift your knee up. Ready, go. >> Bria is walking talking proof. So they told you you would never walk again.
01:17:38
>> Yeah, I would never walk again, never see again, never anything like that. >> And
01:17:42
>> I would say I beat the odds >> yet again. >> Yes, exactly. But 20 years after their
01:17:50
world first came crashing down, they'd be faced with the unimaginable once again.
01:17:57
Christopher Butler could be released. [Music] It's been over 20 years. What stands out about this case in
01:18:20
hindsight? The victims. >> From the very beginning, the case hit close to home for prosecutor Tom
01:18:30
Manning. >> The fact that there was a a little girl. My daughter was the same age as Bria
01:18:35
when this happened. Nearly 20 years later, in June 2020, Christopher Butler was up for parole.
01:18:45
>> He's the one who lied about me. >> Manning made sure he was at the hearing. >> And you had a plan going in.
01:18:53
>> I did. >> He saw a chance to set the record straight by asking Butler about the
01:18:59
story he'd told on the stand. >> I told Michelle if I felt it was right, I was going to go for it. What' you
01:19:06
think about that? >> Go for it. Ask away. Even though that's risky. >> It's a little risky. This guy could go
01:19:13
to the grave with these lies. >> The risk paid off. Butler recanted his whole story, admitting he and Michelle
01:19:22
never had a relationship. >> How did that feel to hear that? >> It's about time. I wanted everybody who
01:19:32
ever doubted me to read this parole transcript. I want to blast it all over the internet that there was never ever a
01:19:41
chance that I would ever ever have been involved in anything like this ever. >> Bria says it's a bittersweet victory for
01:19:50
her mom. >> Feels good, but it's a little too late. You can search my mom's name and it can
01:19:56
come up on the internet. You can't take that back. Why has it take him so long to come
01:20:02
clean? And it's probably because he had an opportunity to be free. >> Even though Butler was unequivocal that
01:20:10
Michelle was not involved. >> He still hasn't really taken responsibility. He blamed his old flame
01:20:17
Lisa Ramirez. But Butler said he was sorry for what he put his victims through and even said
01:20:26
he'd read Michelle's book more than once. He said some of the passages in your book really got to him.
01:20:32
>> Yeah. On the road trip to Alaska, I really started to think about what it would be like to try to just understand.
01:20:42
Michelle says that's when she started to wonder about the people behind the masks.
01:20:50
This is someone's son. This is someone's brother. This is someone's grandson. What happened to them in their life that
01:20:57
got them to the point where they thought the only option was to attack a mother and her daughter? Do you accept
01:21:04
Christopher Butler's apology? >> I do. Yeah. A thousand%. I appreciate him finally being honest
01:21:12
after all this time. I hope he keeps digging deeper. >> Yeah. I forgave him a long time ago and
01:21:18
I accept his apology. But neither Bria nor Michelle want Butler released. He's already been
01:21:25
denied parole twice. The irony isn't lost on Dave. >> All he really did is free everybody
01:21:33
else. He's held hostage with his life. >> In a very weird way, I could breathe. I could exhale finally
01:21:44
after all this time. While they don't believe Butler has changed his ways, they feel very differently about the
01:21:52
other two men who held them hostage. >> They confessed. They take accountability
01:21:58
for what they did. And that's a big thing. >> Are you actually rooting for these guys
01:22:03
to succeed at this point? >> Yes. They were younger than what I am now. If they are doing the work, I want
01:22:12
nothing but the best for them. especially Robert Ortiz. >> Robert Ortiz >> at the sentencing. Robert Ortiz is the
01:22:20
only one that turned around and looked at me and said, "I'm sorry." He mouthed it.
01:22:25
>> They wrote to Ortiz back in 2011 and received a reply 9 years later. >> Out of respect for him, I'm not going to
01:22:36
say everything that's in the letter. I can say that it's beautiful. It's heartfelt. And I can't wait to see where
01:22:45
that leads. >> This is the young man who held a gun to your daughter's head. >> Yes. And she spoke at his parole hearing
01:22:55
in his favor. >> There's my puppy. We're road tripping. >> In the meantime, Michelle has written a
01:23:01
follow-up book. >> So, we're on our way >> about the road trip that changed her point of view.
01:23:08
>> Great morning. Really great morning. >> It is about healing. just called 9 days which is how long I
01:23:15
was on the road to Alaska. >> It is possible to forgive. >> I do believe that through this terrible
01:23:23
tragedy, >> it's possible to see beauty again >> that something beautiful was meant to
01:23:29
come about. >> It has built these people into these incredible human beings. And through it all, they say they
01:23:41
wouldn't change a thing, even the kidnapping. >> So, if you look back at the last 20
01:23:48
years, what is this journey been about? >> Raising a remarkable daughter, it's the
01:23:56
best thing I've ever done in my life is be her mom. >> It seems like both of you look at this
01:24:03
at least a tiny bit as a gift. >> Mhm. Yeah, I wouldn't change it. It gave us the chance to build the bond that we
01:24:15
have today and it's just gotten stronger. Yeah. [Music] [Music] I can only describe it as evil,
01:24:42
something horrible. >> From 48 hours, this is trained to kill, the dog trainer, the ays, and the
01:24:48
bodyguard. >> He couldn't control his obsession. >> Who was the hunter and who was the
01:24:53
hunted? Follow and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.
01:25:00
[Music] I've thought about a thousand times the whatifs and that's kind of nauseating
01:25:21
that we were that close. >> In my time as district attorney, we have had some odd cases. This one was a
01:25:31
complete roller coaster ride towards the end. As far as an emotional situation, this
01:25:38
was by far um the toughest one. Tracy Harris was a hardworking young mother that disappeared March 7th, 1990.
01:25:52
She was a very sweet friend, a very shy person, and people really liked her and respected her. Her her daughter was a
01:26:00
toddler, a four-year-old named Carolyn who she had with Carl Harris. She had been married for several years. They had
01:26:10
recently divorced, but had never really split. >> They still lived in the same home. They
01:26:15
slept in the same bed. I did hear that Tracy was missing and was very concerned something had happened to her.
01:26:24
>> Carl came by our house. She'd been missing for a couple days. He was genuinely concerned and he said, "You
01:26:32
know, I can see her leaving me, but she would never leave this baby." >> Her body was discovered about 150 yards
01:26:42
further downstream about 7 days after she went missing. Based on the autopsy, the manner of
01:26:49
death was homicide. >> Tracy was a kind and loving person who did not deserve what happened to her.
01:27:01
Most people did think that Carl Harris had murdered Tracy. >> Prior to her going missing, there had
01:27:08
been a confrontation or two concerning a girlfriend that Carl had. Carl Harris did have a reputation for being very
01:27:16
violent, in particular towards Tracy Harris. There was several instances where the witnesses would say it didn't
01:27:23
take anything for him to just go off on her. He was incredibly abusive to her. >> I never put my hands on Tracy. Never.
01:27:32
>> So, all those people were lying. >> Yes, ma'am. I love Tracy. She was the love of my life.
01:27:38
I think from the very get-go, there was only one suspect in this case, Carl Harris.
01:27:44
>> Everybody thought I killed him. Everywhere I turned, they they, you know, you can hear him whispering in the
01:27:49
background, there's the man that killed Tracy. >> A lot of people were were waiting for
01:27:55
him to be arrested and then surprised when he never was. Ozark Police Department had created a
01:28:04
cold case unit and in 2016 they picked up the Tracy Harris, Carl Harris case. >> They told me they was looking at me as
01:28:13
as a suspect again after 27 years. >> The evidence was circumstantially strong. The domestic violence, the
01:28:22
circumstance with the girlfriend, and comments he made that she wouldn't be back. Who else would want this sweet,
01:28:29
innocent young lady murdered? >> Jordan and her team had spent a lot of time building a case that I was about to
01:28:44
torpedo. I kept the secret for 30 years. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Tracy was alive when she came to this
01:29:44
location and traveled down this access road to the beachy area. >> 22-year-old Tracy Harris disappeared on
01:29:51
March 7th, 1990. A week later, her body was found in the Chattahatchee River, a few miles from
01:30:00
her home in Ozark, Alabama. The area around the river was a place Tracy and her friends would get
01:30:07
together. >> It was certainly one of the first places that investigators were looking for
01:30:11
Tracy. >> Dale County District Attorney Kirk Adams. Her body had come to rest upon a
01:30:17
log after the water started to recede a bit. >> The autopsy revealed that Tracy had
01:30:22
drowned, but also noted marks around her neck, likely indicating strangulation. The missing person case became a
01:30:31
homicide, and Ozark police started interviewing those close to Tracy and her ex-husband Carl, with whom she still
01:30:38
lived. >> Carl had let the police in his house a couple of times for them to look around.
01:30:44
Carl was believed to have been the last person to see Tracy, picking her up the night she disappeared from the
01:30:51
restaurant where she worked as a waitress. He then dropped Tracy off at their house and headed out to his job at
01:30:58
a supermarket. >> There were not any clues at home. It didn't appear that anybody had taken her
01:31:05
by force. >> Police thought that location by the river might provide more clues. They
01:31:12
learned that while Tracy might have enjoyed spending time by the river, she would never have gone in the river.
01:31:20
>> Every witness we spoke with, she could not swim. She was terrified of water. >> She was so scared of the water. When she
01:31:27
was baptized and she went under, she was hysterical. >> Selena Dodson and Tracy were about 11
01:31:36
years old when baptized. They were childhood friends spending a lot of time together at church. It was there she
01:31:43
first saw Tracy with Carl. >> Tracy and Carl started dating when we were probably 16, 17 years old. And I
01:31:51
was happy for her that she, you know, had a boyfriend and somebody that she really liked.
01:31:57
>> In her senior year of high school, Tracy became pregnant and she and Carl, who
01:32:03
was 3 years older, married. When she had Carolyn, she was adorable. Everybody just loved her and she was like Tracy.
01:32:10
She looked like her and she had a personality like her. Tracy's mother was taking care of
01:32:16
Carolyn. You know, young parents, you could tell that her and Carl, you know, struggled some.
01:32:24
>> Tell me about your your family as a young family. You and Tracy and Carolyn. >> We was all happy and everything. We
01:32:32
didn't have a problem with each other or nothing like that. The picture Carl painted of a happy home, though, was not
01:32:38
what police found when they started questioning friends and family. Assistant Dale County District Attorney
01:32:44
Jordan Davis, >> there was about 14 different people that had come forward that witnessed some
01:32:52
type of domestic violence between Tracy and Carl. >> One of those people was Dawn Beasley.
01:33:00
She and her soon-to-be husband Jeff, who worked construction with Carl, lived with the Harrises for about a month.
01:33:07
>> Tracy and I were a lot alike. >> Dawn, who was pregnant at the time, and Tracy, a young mother, quickly became
01:33:14
friends. >> I think that she appreciated having someone, you know, Carl was uh real
01:33:20
controlling and, you know, he didn't want her to have a lot of friends. >> What did you see going on between Carl
01:33:27
and Tracy? So, one time we were uh sitting at the table and she told uh Carl, "Hey, listen. I'm going to need
01:33:36
some money for the water bill." And he flew into a rage. He's got her bent over backwards with his hands around her
01:33:43
throat. >> Did he verbally threaten her? >> He threatened to kill her in front of
01:33:46
me. I intervene. I I'm telling him, "Let her go." >> Did she talk to you about it at all?
01:33:52
>> Yes. She just wanted to be a family. She felt like if she could just get through
01:33:57
the rough stuff, you know, that it would be okay. >> Dawn told police about those
01:34:05
altercations she said she saw and her feelings about Carl. >> Well, they asked me, "So, what do you
01:34:12
know about Carl Harris?" And I said, "Well, I know he's a rat bastard. He was not good to Tracy." He
01:34:19
asked me about fights I'd seen. And I made a statement and I signed it. And every word of my statement was true.
01:34:26
>> There are quite a few people who said that they saw you being abusive to Tracy. Were you abusive to Tracy?
01:34:34
>> No, ma'am. I was not. >> We all saw it. Everyone in town was talking about it. I did my grocery
01:34:41
shopping and I'm in the milk section and there's a couple standing there talking
01:34:46
about it. The husband says, "Well, looks like that boy done finally killed that girl."
01:34:52
Despite all the talk in town, Tracy never filed police reports about the alleged abuse.
01:34:59
>> Back then, the domestic violence law was much different. If the police arrived
01:35:02
and nobody wanted to make a report or there was just no reports done, >> it wasn't just stories about abuse that
01:35:09
made law enforcement take a hard look at Carl. There was that young girlfriend. >> He did have a 17-year-old girlfriend at
01:35:16
the time who several people said he had had conversations with about marrying her. um but that he couldn't leave Tracy
01:35:24
because he'd have to pay child support. >> He also made comments prior to her going
01:35:29
missing and after, including, "Come back whenever. Tracy won't be home." >> Carl admits to having a girlfriend.
01:35:36
>> Honestly, it wasn't their business. >> And talking to her about Tracy, but says
01:35:41
any comments he made were misunderstood. You didn't tell anybody that she wasn't
01:35:47
coming back. >> No, ma'am. I'd never said that. It was just so many things, most of all of
01:35:53
which were circumstantial, but they all pointed at Carl Harris. >> But no arrest was made and the case went
01:36:01
cold. Carl claims that through the years he occasionally called authorities to ask about the investigation, but they
01:36:10
say otherwise. Has there ever been a time that Carl Harris said, "I want you to find out who killed Tracy?"
01:36:16
>> Never. >> Does that strike you as odd? strikes me as very odd. [Music] [Music]
01:36:37
[Music] A lot of people, you know, just assumed Carl would be arrested, assumed that he
01:36:54
did it, and we're waiting for him to be arrested. >> For years, Selena Dodson wondered if
01:37:01
there would ever be justice for her friend Tracy Harris, who in 1990 was found murdered in Alabama's Chhatche
01:37:09
River. Selena's thoughts would often wander to Tracy and Carl's daughter. >> So, I would wonder, you know, I wonder
01:37:19
what happened to Carolyn. I wonder what she looks like. I wonder what she's doing.
01:37:25
>> I was 4 years old when my mom was murdered. When I was four or five, I would cry
01:37:32
nonstop if I would get in trouble and say, "I want my mom. I want my mom." Carolyn was immediately adopted by
01:37:41
Tracy's mother. They soon left Ozark hoping to start over and moved to Texas. >> What did you grow up thinking happened
01:37:50
to your mom? >> I knew my mom was murdered and then as the years went on, I found out that it
01:37:57
it had to do with my dad. >> What did people tell you about him? >> I've always heard that he was very
01:38:04
abusive towards my mom. that he was just a a bad individual. >> Carolyn had no interest in a
01:38:12
relationship with her father whom she did not see while growing up. Her grandmother provided a loving home and
01:38:20
Carolyn says that was more than enough. >> She she was like the best. Like she did
01:38:26
everything for me. [Music] When Carolyn was about 21, she says Carl did reach out and they met, but did not
01:38:37
talk about Tracy. >> Did you want to ask him about her? >> Yeah, I've always wanted to ask
01:38:42
questions, but the way that everybody portrays him to be, I didn't think that he would tell me the truth.
01:38:48
>> Still, Carolyn wondered about her mother, wanting to know what really happened.
01:38:54
>> I have tried to piece it together. That's what I do. I try to I try to piece everything together and make it
01:39:01
all make sense. >> This was definitely something Carolyn was passionate about. She wanted some
01:39:07
type of justice for her mom. When her grandmother died in 2015, Carolyn returned to Ozark to bury her next to
01:39:16
her mother. She started asking people in town what they knew about Tracy and the
01:39:21
investigation. And there was one lady, she said that her son happened to be best friends with the sheriff.
01:39:29
>> Carolyn spoke with the sheriff who put her in touch with the Ozark Police Department. At the same time, the cold
01:39:35
case unit was starting to reopen the investigation. As it turned out, their number one suspect had not changed.
01:39:44
>> There was nobody whose name had ever come up that had any reason to kill Tracy Harris. And I think when they
01:39:52
reopened the case, they were just trying to prove Carl did it, not look for anybody else.
01:39:59
>> And so they went back through all the witnesses that had given statements in 1990. All the ones that they could find,
01:40:06
they got back in touch with. >> Among those who police went back and interviewed, an acquaintance of Tracy
01:40:12
and Carls, >> he said, "The police are so dumb. I could kill somebody and get away with
01:40:17
it." Tracy's aunt >> because it kind of shocked me because I mean he was saying that it was like
01:40:22
Katie is smart police you know >> I was a young naive teenager. >> Investigators also track down that
01:40:29
girlfriend of Carl's who was 17 when Tracy was murdered. >> Did Carl at any time tell you that you
01:40:37
didn't have to worry about Tracy showing up into the house? >> He could have. >> When do you think you said that?
01:40:43
>> I don't know. Although she recalled little about her time with Carl, she did remember learning Tracy was dead.
01:40:51
>> I I just couldn't believe that she was dead. >> And her realization that perhaps her
01:40:57
boyfriend was a murderer. >> I just remember thinking that, you know, people were talking and
01:41:05
it it even took me being questioned to even think that maybe he could have done it. that
01:41:14
after it all happened, we just stopped seeing each other. >> And there was also several people that
01:41:20
they found since then that he had made statements to that were incriminating. >> While police were reinvestigating the
01:41:28
case, Carl was trying to get on with his life. Several years after Tracy's murder, he had left Ozark, feeling like
01:41:36
the cloud of suspicion had destroyed his life. I had to go out of town to get jobs where people don't know me. He
01:41:45
worked as a bouncer in construction, had a girlfriend and another daughter. By 2016, he had moved to South Carolina
01:41:55
where investigators gave him a call. >> I thought it was good news. I thought they found somebody they was looking at.
01:42:02
And when they told me they was looking at me as suspect again, they come up two weeks later arresting me.
01:42:10
More than 26 years after Tracy Harris's body was found, Carl Harris was arrested
01:42:16
on September 13th, 2016 for her murder. >> There's absolutely no evidence at all
01:42:24
that connects Carl Harris to this murder. None whatsoever. >> David Harrison is Carl's defense
01:42:30
attorney. He says Carl's arrest was motivated by politics and nothing more. In 2016 in this area, they were unsolved
01:42:38
murders. They had a lot of political pressure to to charge somebody. The environment of Ozark, Alabama was we
01:42:45
need to do something. >> Were you worried that there was some new piece of evidence that they had?
01:42:51
>> No, I was never worried. Never. Cuz I was innocent. >> Well, Carl may not have been worried.
01:42:59
There was someone who for years was Dawn Beasley, that friend of Tracy's who with
01:43:06
her then fiance briefly lived with the Harrises. >> Every time I would have a police officer
01:43:12
get behind me, I would wonder, is this where we're all of a sudden they know what's happening? This is the moment.
01:43:20
[Music] I've always wondered what happened to my mom since I can remember. For decades,
01:43:43
Carolyn wanted to know more about the 1990 murder of her mother, Tracy Harris. And in 2016, with the arrest of her
01:43:53
aranged father, Carl, Carolyn thought finally she would get some answers. How do you react when the thing you want is
01:44:03
justice for your mom, but it's your dad who's been charged with her murder? It's
01:44:08
a relief that we found somebody, but then in the back of my mind, I'm like, was it really him? Could he have really
01:44:16
done this? Why? >> Motive was also a question prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis thought
01:44:23
about as they prepared their case against Carl. >> I don't think there was one particular
01:44:29
motive. I think that the domestic violence was definitely in the back of our heads, but also this 17-year-old
01:44:36
girlfriend that he had. Based mostly on statements from the interviews originally done back in 1990, an
01:44:44
investigator from the Ozark police put together this scenario of what he thought happened the night Tracy went
01:44:51
missing. Quote, "It was determined that Carl Harris left his job at Superfood sometime around 900 p.m. and went to his
01:44:59
home. Carl Harris jumped on top of Tracy Harris and began choking her. Carl Harris then placed her seemingly dead
01:45:07
body into his vehicle and subsequently drove her to the Chuckahhatchee River and placed her body into the water."
01:45:15
Police say Carl then picked up her friend reportedly at 9:30. making all those stops, Carl would have traveled
01:45:23
about 20 miles. >> You can take all the statements of anybody you want to put together in this
01:45:29
investigation here. There is no evidence whatsoever that is true. When you put the timeline to this case, Marine,
01:45:35
unless he was on a le jet, that was impossible. >> Defense attorney David Harrison says the
01:45:41
entire investigation is not just flawed, but that the police narrative is fabricated.
01:45:48
This officer made this up to make this arrest. >> The defense also offered up an alternate
01:45:56
suspect, that friend police say Carl picked up the night Tracy disappeared, named Bobby Herring.
01:46:03
>> Bobby Herring was convicted of raping a woman in a sister county. >> But prosecutors say Herring had an alibi
01:46:10
for the time Tracy was murdered, and they remained confident that Carl was their man. What's different in 2016 that
01:46:19
wasn't there or obvious in 1990? >> I think the major thing was getting these witnesses together, which is what
01:46:26
we did for the grand jury presentation. And once you heard those people, it was very clear that Carl was violent. He had
01:46:35
threatened Tracy. He had said, "One of these days, I'm gonna kill you." Those things just add up. As they prepared for
01:46:43
trial, Kirk and Jordan sifted through statements looking for more potential witnesses to testify. I was actually
01:46:50
three when this happened. So, from 1990 and we're trying to track down witnesses. We were dealing with people
01:46:56
that had moved all over the country. Several had passed away. There was a lot to go through. So, we just kind of
01:47:02
started with a long list and we just started trying to narrow it down. The prosecutors also visited the area
01:47:09
around the river where Tracy's body was found. >> Part of our job is to paint that picture
01:47:14
for a jury. And I just think it's always important to try to get a feel for the area.
01:47:18
>> They spent time on the bridge where police believed Carl threw Tracy into the river.
01:47:24
>> This location is approximately 7 miles from where Carl and Tracy Harris lived.
01:47:31
It's very quiet and very rural. They also went to the area under the bridge where people would sometimes
01:47:38
gather. >> There's a lot of graffiti under this bridge, a lot of names as well. >> Putting the case together was an arduous
01:47:46
process, one filled with continuences and delays. Carl was out on bail having spent two and a half weeks in jail after
01:47:55
his arrest. As confident as the prosecution was, so was the defense. I've tried 140 criminal jury trials. I
01:48:04
know a bad one from a good one. They never had a shot with this case. >> But they maintain that the case was
01:48:11
specifically built on the statements of all the people who said that they saw Carl being abusive to his wife, his
01:48:19
strange behavior afterwards. Was that a concern for you as you were preparing a defense?
01:48:25
>> Never. Never. because the credibility of the people that were going to testify,
01:48:30
they had no credibility. None whatsoever. >> But Carolyn, who traveled to Ozark for
01:48:35
every single hearing, was convinced of her father's guilt. >> I was I was ready to put him behind
01:48:41
bars, ready to see it happen. >> Finally, more than 3 years after Carl's arrest, the trial was scheduled for
01:48:49
January 13th, 2020. The week before trial, Jordan continued to scour over old witness reports, deciding who should
01:48:58
testify. That's when one statement from 1990, not followed up on, caught her attention. The one in particular that we
01:49:08
found that they hadn't talked to in 2016, was this Don Halbert, now Beasley, and she had witnessed domestic violence
01:49:16
while living in their home. What we thought was interesting was that she had witnessed it in the same manner as how
01:49:22
Tracy was actually killed. >> It took Jordan several calls to wrong phone numbers to find Dawn Beasley.
01:49:29
>> And she says, "My name is Jordan Davis. I'm with Dale County DA." This is about
01:49:35
Carl and Tracy Harris. >> Dawn, who had moved away from Ozark and was now divorced, says she didn't even
01:49:42
know there was an arrest for the murder of her friend Tracy until that call. They asked me, "We need you to testify."
01:49:49
And I said, "No, I uh I can't possibly do that. My job is uh very stressful." >> I texted her the next morning and said,
01:50:00
"We really would like for you to come." She texted me back and said that she was
01:50:05
going to decline our invitation, that she couldn't help us. >> So Jordan, for you, this wasn't an
01:50:10
invitation. This is a murder trial. >> I was aggravated. I simply got a subpoena ready and we gave it to our
01:50:17
investigators the next day. She made a scene. It was very dramatic. >> I was very unhappy. I said, "You're
01:50:26
ruining my life and you don't understand why. You guys don't want me to testify.
01:50:37
[Music] [Music] It was unbelievable to me that I should end up with this incredible secret.
01:51:00
>> Dawn Beasley's secret weighed on her when she was asked to testify in the 2020 murder trial of Carl Harris. Dawn
01:51:09
refused to come, saying she was too busy. Then after being subpoenaed, she called prosecutor Jordan Davis again. I
01:51:19
told Jordan, "I have given you completely honest reasons why I don't want to testify. But the most important
01:51:27
reason I can't testify is because you have an innocent man on trial." >> I thought, "Wow, she's coming up with
01:51:35
crazy story as to why she can't get here." And she said, "Well, how do you know he's innocent?" I know he's
01:51:41
innocent because the man that did commit the crime confessed it to me the night he did it. That's my ex-husband, Jeff
01:51:49
Beasley. Dawn told Jordan about the night of March 7th, 1990, when Tracy went missing. Dawn, about to celebrate her
01:52:00
21st birthday the next day, was pregnant with her first child. Her fianceé Jeff came home waking her in the middle of
01:52:08
the night. >> He said, "I I accidentally heard her and now she's dead." "Who?" Tracy, what happened? I went over to
01:52:19
Carl's to talk to Carl. Carl wasn't there. I talked to Tracy. I tried to talk her into leaving him. She got mad
01:52:26
at me. We had a fight. We tussled and I accidentally hurt her and now she's dead.
01:52:32
He said he took her down to the river because he didn't want them to come home and find her body.
01:52:37
>> Dawn says she told Jeff they needed to go to the police, but he insisted they
01:52:44
keep quiet. >> I had an impossible choice to make and I really struggled. Tracy deserves
01:52:52
justice, but the cost was going to be so high. What was the cost going to be if you went to the police?
01:53:01
>> I was going to have to throw my entire life away. I'm about to get married. I'm
01:53:06
pregnant. This baby deserves a chance at a life with a loving family and a mom and a dad.
01:53:14
>> And so Dawn made her decision. She would stay quiet, she says, out of her desire
01:53:20
to keep her life intact and also out of fear that police might not believe her. They're going to ask him some questions.
01:53:28
He's going to deny it. Then what happens to me? >> Dawn says she was honest when police
01:53:35
questioned her after Tracy's body was found and described the abuse. Seeing Carl grabbed Tracy by the throat and
01:53:42
threatened to kill her. >> And every word of my statement was true. They just never asked me, "Who do you
01:53:49
think did it?" I walked out and I do remember the sense of relief because I hadn't actually had to lie.
01:53:58
>> Did it feel like you were lying though by not telling them? >> Sure. I've gone back, Moren, and
01:54:05
questioned that decision over and over and over and over and over again. >> Did you feel badly at all that he was
01:54:13
under such scrutiny and suspicion? I would like to say that I did, but I didn't. Carl made Tracy miserable.
01:54:24
>> While Ozark police questioned Dawn, they never got a statement from Jeff. Even
01:54:29
though they both spent time together living with the Harrises, >> they had a statement from Dawn. And that
01:54:36
was things that they had witnessed while living in the home together. I'm sure they thought that Jeff's statement would
01:54:42
be very similar to Dawn's. But Jeff Beasley should have raised some red flags for police. He had a criminal
01:54:48
record. Dawn met Jeff shortly after he was released from prison, having served four years for burglary and escape
01:54:56
attempts. But Dawn was willing to overlook his criminal past and the information about killing Tracy. They
01:55:05
married and started their own family, keeping the secret to themselves. I never talked about it ever to another
01:55:14
living soul. Not even Jeff. >> You and Jeff never talked about it ever again. >> Never.
01:55:19
>> Never once. >> You just pulled the dark curtain over and that was it. It was done.
01:55:23
>> We just pretended it never happened. >> Were you ever concerned that you might
01:55:28
get into trouble having not gone to the police right from the beginning? >> Sure. Yeah, of course. Dawn says she
01:55:37
worried. Yet, life proceeded mostly as if nothing had happened. Dawn and Jeff would have another child. Her growing
01:55:45
family eventually made her think of Tracy's daughter, Carolyn. I should have been sorry for Carolyn and I was sorry
01:55:52
for me. >> Even after Jeff was arrested again in 1991 for burglary and spent 5 years in
01:56:03
prison, Dawn kept the secret. wanting her family life to be normal when he got out.
01:56:10
>> Jeff comes home from prison, but very quickly I realized that this is not going to be what I anticipated it was
01:56:18
going to be. >> Dawn claims Jeff became abusive. After 13 years of marriage and four children,
01:56:26
she and Jeff divorced. As time went on, she did think about ways to tell authorities what she knew.
01:56:34
Maybe I do it on my deathbed. Maybe I make an anonymous phone call. Maybe I write a letter.
01:56:40
>> But she says the fear of upending her own children's lives always stopped her.
01:56:46
That however changed with Jordan's insistence that she testify at Carl's murder trial. She dreaded what she now
01:56:54
had to do. tell her adult children that their father killed someone and that she
01:57:01
kept it quiet for 30 years. >> The only thing I was ever afraid of was how they were going to respond.
01:57:08
And they responded with support and love and understanding. >> Meanwhile, the prosecutors on the Friday
01:57:16
before the start of the trial were also processing what Dawn had just told them.
01:57:22
I knew we couldn't have a trial Monday because we had to figure out what's going on here.
01:57:28
>> Jeff Beasley's name until they spoke to Dawn was unfamiliar, but they did remember something from that trip to the
01:57:35
river where Tracy's body was found. >> While we were here, we were looking under the bridge and in big huge spray
01:57:43
painted letters was the last name Beasley. But he doesn't mean anything at that time because on the statement, Dawn's
01:57:51
name was Dawn Hbert. It didn't even say Beasley. >> Prosecutors do not know why or who spray
01:57:58
painted the name Beasley under the bridge. Carl Harris's trial was put on hold. Police tracked down his old friend
01:58:06
Jeff Beasley, who was living in Ozark, working as a trucker, and brought him in for questioning. I'm being accused of of
01:58:14
of murder, of of taking someone's life. I couldn't I wouldn't. [Music] Can we really do this? Can we really
01:58:39
solve this for Carolyn? Can we really give her the peace? >> Prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis
01:58:48
spent more than three delayedfilled years putting together their case seeking justice for Tracy Harris. Now
01:58:56
with Dawn Beasley's revelation that her ex-husband Jeff told her that he killed Tracy.
01:59:02
>> I appreciate you coming in. >> They hope to learn the truth. Did you uh hurt Tracy in any way? No.
01:59:11
>> Did you? >> Jeff Beasley not only agreed to talk to investigators. >> Yeah. Just have a seat for me.
01:59:17
>> But also to take a lie detector test. >> Are you the person that caused the death
01:59:22
of Tracy Harris that night? >> He maintained his innocence even after being told
01:59:27
>> you did not pass. >> He failed the polygraph. >> I I didn't do this. I I did I didn't do
01:59:33
this. This was not me. For more than four hours, Beasley insisted he had nothing to do with Tracy's death.
01:59:41
>> Seems like you guys are wanting me to say I did something when I didn't. I'm not put I'm not going to put a word in
01:59:48
your mouth. Only you know, >> and that's what I need. >> I don't know. [Music] >> And then
01:59:58
>> I want it done. >> He confessed. We went down to the river >> claiming he and Tracy were having an
02:00:05
affair. >> She said she was leaving call. They wanted me to leave. Dawn said she was telling Dawn.
02:00:20
>> Jeff said he and Tracy had been waiting in the river. >> And we got into an argument.
02:00:27
Was in the river. >> Don't tell me what happened. She went down >> and didn't come back up.
02:00:36
>> But some things in Beasley's story were not adding up. Dawn said Jeff had told
02:00:42
her that Tracy and he fought at the Harris's home. And those who knew Tracy did not believe she was having an
02:00:49
affair. Not one witness we had ever mentioned that she was possibly seeing someone else because it was clear
02:00:58
from the witnesses that Carl wouldn't allow that. >> I cannot imagine that she was cheating
02:01:06
with with Jeff or anyone else. He told me it was an accident. You know, now sitting here, I think that maybe he hit
02:01:15
on her. Maybe she rebuffed his advances. Maybe she said, "I'm going to tell her."
02:01:23
And maybe he freaked out. And made sure she wasn't going to ruin his family. And there was the issue of why Tracy,
02:01:35
known to be terrified of water, would voluntarily go in the river. >> Everybody in the case of knew Tracy said
02:01:42
she was scared of water. >> We went to the river a couple times. >> They also wanted Jeff to explain those
02:01:48
bruises the autopsy noted on Tracy's neck. Mark's authorities felt were consistent with strangulation.
02:01:56
One of the uh pathologist reports uh said that she was possibly strangled. I didn't strangle her. I remember
02:02:08
taking her pushing her underwater. I mean, all tops she says it I guess. >> Was it an accident?
02:02:17
>> Yeah, I would hope. Yeah. >> But police and prosecutors did not believe it was an accident.
02:02:25
And Jeff Beasley was charged with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> He confessed in a way that matches the
02:02:31
evidence. I don't know how many times that happens when you get a confession from the real killer technically 17 18
02:02:38
hours before trial. >> The DA's broke the news to Carolyn. >> Jordan called me to come to the police
02:02:44
station that they had to tell me something and I broke. We finally did it. Like we finally found out who killed
02:02:53
my mom. You could just see so many emotions going through her. She'd been told all
02:02:59
her life, "Your dad did this." But to find out he didn't do it, you could tell not only was she relieved, but you could
02:03:09
tell she was so grateful that somebody had solved this case. On January 13th, 2020, the day prosecutors had planned to
02:03:19
be in court starting Carl Harris's trial. Instead, they held a press conference.
02:03:24
>> I have dismissed the murder case against Carl Harris. An arrest has been made of
02:03:29
54year-old Jeff Beasley of Ozark with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> It hurt our pride that we had the wrong
02:03:36
person. You've got to, you know, check your ego at the door because what's important is the right person got
02:03:42
charged. Carl Harris heard the news that he was a free man from his attorney. >> It just blew my mind. I was happy that I
02:03:52
was standing my ground and I was telling the truth the whole time and they finally caught the boy that did it.
02:03:58
>> Beasley pleaded guilty and received a 30-year sentence. >> Did you ever consider filing charges
02:04:05
against Dawn? >> No. >> There are a lot of people who are going to say maybe she should be charged with
02:04:11
something. I think it was extremely difficult for her to come forward, but the fact is she could have kept that
02:04:18
secret for forever. She could have come up here. She could have lied on the stand.
02:04:21
>> The goal was to find the truth and to seek justice for Tracy Harris. And ultimately, Dawn did that.
02:04:29
>> Was there any relief for you after all this time? >> It was extraordinary relief.
02:04:35
>> For Carl Harris, his relief is mixed with anger. along with his attorney, David Harrison. They held their own
02:04:43
press conference. >> I think it's negligent. I think it's incompetence. We're talking about an
02:04:48
innocent man. >> Alleging that police fabricated information like that investigator's
02:04:55
report describing how Carl killed Tracy. Carl filed notice that he plans to sue the city of Ozark for $6 million for
02:05:04
damages, including false imprisonment and pain and suffering. We wanted to ask Ozark police about the
02:05:12
investigation, but they declined, citing the pending claim. >> We're mortified that we were that close
02:05:19
to putting the wrong man on trial. And we were very confident that we would be able to get a conviction in this case. I
02:05:26
do think about that all the time and that's kind of nauseating to be honest um that we were that close and I think
02:05:32
we we definitely learned a lesson with this case. Tracy Harris's murder more than 30 years ago has left many
02:05:40
wondering what might have been, especially Carolyn. She still has no relationship with Carl.
02:05:47
>> Carl has not come forward and actually been truthful to me about the abuse. And I can't forgive him if he can't be
02:05:57
men enough to look at me and tell me what he did and that he's sorry for it. Caroline's focus remains on the mother
02:06:08
she never had a chance to get to know. >> Everybody I've talked to said that she
02:06:13
was so quiet. She was so modest. She was the sweetest person that they've ever met.
02:06:20
>> Do you wonder what your mom would be like today? >> Every day. Every day. [Music]
02:06:41
48 hours. To miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what happened in this case?
02:06:51
[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]