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From the beginning, this was strange. It happened in Dundee. It's a classic [music] neighborhood, the
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heart of Omaha. Violent crime does not happen in Dundee. the mundane world of after school and
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then it's just shattered by a monster. I remember walking in their front door into this very nice home.
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There's a little boy lying face down in a very large pool of blood. You know, you think of Tommy Hunter and
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you can't imagine what the last few seconds of his life were like. >> Smart kid, loves science, math,
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every parent's son. >> And then as you walk through the house and you get to [music] the back door,
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you see this large pool of blood. This lady who had very evidently been pushed down to the ground and attacked. [music]
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Shirley Sherman. grandma. Gentle soul, hardworking. >> To have anybody murdered is a shock to
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the community, but to have an 11-year-old boy and a housekeeper killed in a manner they were, I think, is a
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whole another level. >> There didn't appear to be anything missing in the house.
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>> No robbery. >> No, there was no [music] readily explainable reason behind what
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you see. On that day, one of the neighbors happened to notice a car that she wasn't familiar with.
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It >> was a fleeting glance at him and his vehicle. Silver Honda CRV. Things went cold after the first couple
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months. >> How frustrated were you getting? >> Incredibly. I don't even know if I can
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put it into words. Beautiful Mother's Day. Tragedy strikes again. >> Dr. Roger Brumach and his wife Mary.
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>> Yeah. >> Murdered. >> Detective, do you remember the first time [snorts] you walked into this
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house? >> I do. >> What it look like? >> The aftermath of an incredibly brutal murder.
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Roger Brunck [music] devoted portions of his medical career to childhood disease
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and then to Alzheimer's. Mary Brunck could not have had an enemy in the [music] world. You walk through that
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first door. Scott and I had a real definitive moment after we walked [music] through that
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house where we're like, you know, I've seen these things before, specifically [music] with the wounds to the right
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side of the neck. You don't see a lot of knifings that are or stabbings that are
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that are like that. >> When had the last time been that you had seen stabbings like that [music]
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>> was 2008 >> with Thomas and Shirley. >> The mindset at that point was there's a
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connection here. >> Light bulb must have gone off very brightly. >> It's incredible on so many levels. You
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can't help but be touched by the innocence of all of these victims. And then it's in peaceful neighborhoods on
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beautiful days. This is a once in a-lifetime type story. Omaha, Nebraska, a proud beacon of
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America's Midwest. Spreading out from the majestic banks of the Missouri River, home of the College World Series,
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>> GO TO [screaming] HOMER >> and Warren Buffett, rich enough to live anywhere he chooses.
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>> My take on OMA overall is it's a terrific place to live. >> According to Todd Cooper, court reporter
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for the Omaha World Herald, the secret heartbeat of this town is Kraton Medical Center.
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>> It resonates throughout the community. You can't go anywhere without running into someone who is Kraton born and
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bred. >> How long was your career atraton? >> 40 years. >> Doctors Shondaanda and Aange Butra loved
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and respected their Kraton colleagues. >> You both knew Dr. Hunter. >> Yes. His office is right next to my
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office. >> The Butras were close friends with doctors Bill and Claire Hunter, the
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parents of 11-year-old Thomas. What were they like? >> Nice people. >> Dedicated to their hospital.
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>> He was very well loved by residents and students. >> The Hunters and their four children
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lived here, a handsome home in that upscale, close-knit neighborhood known as Dundee.
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>> It's a classic neighborhood. Neighbors in each other's business, common areas
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where kids play. March 13th, 2008, Dr. Claire Hunter was attending a conference in Hawaii and
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Bill was busy at the pathology [music] lab. The school bus camera captures Tom arriving home.
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>> Smart kid, loved to play Xbox, drink pepper, eat potato chips. >> Tom Hunter, a very bright, very normal
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sixth grader. His three older brothers already out of the house waiting for Tom, the hunter's part-time housekeeper,
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Shirley Sherman. >> When you think of your mom, what are some of the words that come into mind?
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>> Mother, caregiver, grandmother, nurturer. >> For her son Jeff and her younger brother
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Brad, Shirley was the rockolid, hardworking centerpiece of their extended family. Anytime you'd go over
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there, first thing she'd always want to do is make sure she had coffee. And you want something to eat, I'll fix you
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something. Tom grabbed a snack and settled [music] into this basement playroom with his
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chips, soda, and his Xbox. 5:00, Dr. Hunter left his pathology lab at Kraton and began the 10-minute ride
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home. >> He came home from work immediately walking in the back door and he encountered Shirley.
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>> And just a few feet away lay his son Tom. The doctor knew immediately it was too
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late for an ambulance. >> He called 911. They told him to get out of the house and wait for first
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responders to come. Detective Derek Moyes, 19 years with the Omaha PD, and his partner, Sergeant
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Scott Warner, describe a crime scene that would consume and haunt them. >> Incredibly
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sad scenario. >> Just the manner and the brutality of it. >> And in the basement, cops found that
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still life of Tom's world [music] interrupted by madness. His Xbox was online and you could see [music] his bag
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of chips and his Dr. Pepper. >> Not surprisingly, it was evident Shirley had been hard at work.
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>> You see her bucket of cleaning supplies just kind of dropped halfhazardly right
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where Thomas was. >> Tom Hunter and Shirley Sherman had been stabbed to death. And as if sending some
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dark, raging homicidal message, knives had been left in the victims and around the house.
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But what was the motive for murder? >> Something's just not adding up here. My mom had uh $833
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in cash in her purse. It wasn't even touched. >> The hunters have a lot of valuables
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there. None of that appeared to have been touched. I imagine the community must have been
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unglued. >> I think a city as a whole, an 11-year-old boy doesn't get killed in his home. It just doesn't happen. For
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detectives Moyes, Warner, and the other investigators, the horror of these gut-wrenching murders would soon be
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paired with a deep frustration. The crime scene left them little to go on. No DNA, no motive, no apparent suspects.
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One of the neighbors happened to notice a car that she wasn't familiar with. >> That was the first clue, and it would
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one day prove critical, the neighbors sighting of a silver Honda SUV with out of state plates prowling the streets of
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Dundee. It caught her attention not only because of the car, but watching an individual that had exited the car take
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a satchel and then walk northbound on this street. Moyes Warner played out one scenario
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after the next >> and it occupied our lives every day. And when I say every day, I mean all day.
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Was surely the target? Might Tom have attracted an online predator to his basement playroom.
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>> Was there something that had occurred online over his gaming over a computer?
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>> And there was Kraton itself. Were the murders a gruesome act of vengeance by a
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disgruntled former employee targeting Tom's parents, the Hunters? Detectives briefly considered this man,
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Dr. Anthony Garcia, a former resident in the pathology program. Bill Hunter had fired Garcia back in 2001,
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but >> Bill Hunter dismissed Anthony Garcia when they brought up his name um in an
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interview. Now, yeah, he got fired, but he left quietly. >> Every lead seemed like a dead end,
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leaving nothing but shattered families. [snorts] >> You just can't put it out of your mind.
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We did not want it to just go away, disappear. They want answers and the only people
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they can really turn to is us. >> Was there ever a point for either of you where you thought, "We're just never
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going to find out who did this?" >> Sure. Yes. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah, there was.
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It was clear to us that Thomas had been attacked first. The horrific crime scene
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in the Hunter House in Dundee gave investigators plenty to puzzle over and think through.
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>> We just didn't see anything that would have precipitated the murders. Even after a couple of weeks into the
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investigation, we didn't know if Thomas was the intended victim, if it was Shirley, if it was the hunter house, the
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hunters themselves, or if it was a completely random act. >> Moyes and Warner kept grinding and
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getting nowhere. >> It was a mystery for years. >> Let's talk about Mother's Day 2013. We
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took a couple and we took them out for Mother's Day brunch and they're older people and he was with a walker that
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Mother's Day fate brushed the butras and it all started after that brunch with their slowmoving elderly guest.
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>> He took forever to get to his car and Dr. Butra's husband ribbed him at the time and said, "You are killing us
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here." like you are taking forever. >> The irony being he actually may have been saving their lives.
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>> Yeah. >> The Butras, both doctors atraton, finally began their short drive home
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when they got a call. Their burglar alarm was going off. >> So I went to the basement.
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This door was open about an inch. Pushed it back in. >> The door was a jar, but nothing was out
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of place. They had no idea how lucky they were. Cops say the intruder moved on just a few miles down the road to the
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home of Dr. Roger Brumach and his wife Mary. >> Roger Brumach was in his old clothes
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painting the entryway of his house, getting it ready to to sell. >> They were moving away. They were going
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to retire. >> They were on the cusp of what we all work for. And they had talked to their
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daughter via FaceTime. His daughter cracked a joke. She screenshot it. >> It was shortly after that FaceTime chat
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that Kraton Dr. Roger Brumach answered a knock at the door >> and boom, just immediately shot.
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>> It would be 2 days before anyone knew the extent and the nature of the carnage
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inside the Brumach's home. >> We showed up to move a piano here and nobody answered the door. Jason
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Peterson, a piano mover, showed up as scheduled. >> And I opened up the front glass door to
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yell inside, "Hello." And that's when I seen a gun clip on the floor. >> Like a magazine.
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>> A magazine on the floor. >> The piano mover, >> called the cops. >> There's a gun clip and some bullets on
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the floor. I just think there's something going on in this house. >> That day, detectives Derek Moyes and
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Scott Warner just happened to be on call. You walk through that front door, there was the loaded magazine that the
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movers had spotted. You also found a a spent shell casing stuck between the double doors. And just beyond that in
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the entryway was Roger Brumback where you could see he had gunshot wounds. We would also see very evident stab marks
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on the right side of his neck just below his right ear. in inside the main living room area of
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that main floor and that's where we would find Mary Brumach. She had very clear defensive wounds on her hands
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which were indicative of her trying to put up a defense and we had knives that were left in that crime scene.
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>> The carnage just inside the front door of the Brumach's house was shocking even
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for longtime homicide detectives. But there was something else about the crime scene that hit them almost instantly. a
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sickening familiarity >> specifically with the wounds to the right side of the neck. And when I saw
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those both on the male victim and on the female victim, you don't see a lot of knifings that are or stabbings that are
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that are like that. >> The wounds were a mirror image to those suffered by Tom Hunter and Shirley
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Sherman in 2008. >> And then you find out the victim worked as a doctor at Kraton's medical school.
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>> Mhm. Yep. >> Then you two must look at each other and say, "We we can't ignore this. We got
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something here." >> Oh, no. >> Roger Brumach was not only a doctor at Kraton, but he worked out of the same
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office as Tom Hunter's father, Bill, the pathology department. Roger Brumach was
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chairman, and Bill Hunter was in charge of the residence. >> We knew we had these similarities in the
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crime scenes and the weapons that were used in and this connection to the pathology department. The cold case that
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had mystified Omaha for five frustrating years was heating up. >> Your mind's going a million miles an
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hour. You consciously have to make yourself slow down. >> The next day, cops got a call from the
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Butras telling detectives about that alarm that went off at their home on Mother's Day, the same day the Brumachs
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were believed to have been murdered. >> We have Dr. Hunter, >> whose son Tom had been murdered in 2008.
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>> We have Dr. Brumach, >> who had just been gunned down in his doorway. >> And now Dr. Betra,
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>> a colleague of Drs. Hunter and Brumach in Kraton's pathology department. >> Who are they in a position to of affect
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the most? And the obvious answer was of course the the residents at that pathology training program.
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>> And from that point on, that's what we looked at. We went to Kraton University
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and we pulled the files from every resident within that program starting I think in 2000.
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>> And one of the files you got belonged to Anthony Garcia. >> Mhm. >> Anthony Garcia. Omaha police had heard
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his name before. That Kraton pathology resident the cops had barely considered back in 2008.
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He had been fired. And Garcia's professor in the pathology department, Dr. Shanda Butra,
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>> what kind of student was he? >> Bad guy and a bad student. >> And Dr. Butra didn't hold back on her
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feelings. In several performance reviews, she prepared for Bill Hunter. >> I was trying very hard to
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convince Bill to get rid of him. Yes. >> And that's exactly what happened. Hunter
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and Brumach fired Garcia. His letter of termination began to look like a smoking
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gun. And the signatures are Dr. William Hunter and Dr. Roger Brumach. >> Mhm. >> Correct.
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>> So in his mind, if he's trying to figure out who's responsible for his termination,
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>> he's thinking of three people. Brumach, Hunter, and Butra. >> Yes. Every time Anthony Garcia is looking for
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a job, this letter signed by Brumach and Hunter kind of seemingly was coming back
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to haunt him. [music] >> Where does this case where is it in terms of your your frontal lobe? It's
00:19:04
everpresent. It's at the forefront for sure. >> It's been a constant since 2008.
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>> Two sets of murders 5 years apart with a common thread. Kraton University. >> I always felt there something to do with
00:19:20
Kraton. >> Meanwhile, Detective Derek Moyes was learning as much as he could about
00:19:26
former Kraton resident Anthony Garcia. And after I got the Garcia book, every time I I I turned a page, I was learning
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something new that I felt was relevant, that I felt was going to carry me on to the next step.
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>> For Moyes, Garcia was looking more and more like his number one suspect, but an
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unlikely one, >> Anthony Garcia. Who is he? >> You know, a decidedly middle class kid.
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Uh, played football, grew up in Walnut, California. >> Walnut, California is a place where
00:20:04
dreams really do come true. A pristine suburb in a golden valley about an hour east of Los Angeles.
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>> It was a loving home. We're encouraged to, you know, do the right thing. >> Fernando Garcia is Anony's younger
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brother, keenly aware of what his family has accomplished. My mom was born in Mexico and came here and you know my dad
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was born here. You know, my dad fought in Vietnam. They didn't have a lot. They were able to achieve, you know, the
00:20:35
American dream. >> For Fred, who worked for the post office and Estella, a registered nurse, a
00:20:41
cornerstone of their dream, was their firstborn child, Anthony. >> He was healthy, playful.
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He played uh football. What kind of student was Anthony? >> He was good. He was a good student. He
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was an alter boy >> who wanted to get along with people. Not confrontational. >> There was college in California and then
00:21:05
med school in Utah. >> He wanted to be a brain surgeon. >> You must have been enormously proud.
00:21:11
>> Of course. >> Oh yes. >> Yes. >> Then in 1999 came a journey most parents only dream of. His dad described packing
00:21:22
all of Anony's belongings into a van and driving cross country. Father and son. Dad couldn't have been prouder.
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[music] >> Father and son were headed here, Basset St. Elizabeth's in Udica, New York. It
00:21:39
would be Anthony Garcia's first residency, and it didn't go well. >> I did not know he was having trouble.
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Garcia's professors accused him of behaving unprofessionally, including yelling at a radiology
00:21:55
technician. Under pressure, Garcia resigned and the firstborn son headed back home.
00:22:02
>> When he came back, he was not the same. He looked very tired, almost exhausted.
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>> But he wasn't giving up. And in July of 2000, Anthony Garcia got what few residents [music] ever do, a second
00:22:19
chance. >> I was happy he was getting a job. >> That's when Garcia began his residency
00:22:25
in the pathology department at Kraton. >> Academically, he was very poor. >> But there was much more than poor
00:22:33
academics. >> Pranking a chief resident, rolling a body onto its face so it becomes
00:22:40
disfigured. He would write emails to Dr. Hunter complaining about Dr. Butra. I mean, this guy was a child uh cloaked
00:22:50
cloaked with a medical degree. Then in 2001, after multiple incidents and those bad performance reviews by Dr. Butra,
00:22:59
Kraton had its fill of Anthony Garcia. What does it mean for a resident to be terminated?
00:23:08
>> Pretty serious. It pretty much ends your medical career. >> Anthony Garcia headed home once again.
00:23:18
>> He said [music] it didn't work out. >> Did he complain about the people? >> He did not complain about the people. He
00:23:25
never complained about anybody. Those who knew and still love him believe Anony's struggled with depression and
00:23:32
migraine headaches and was overwhelmed by the rigorous work required to fulfill his American dream of becoming a doctor.
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>> I can see that taking a toll on somebody uh psychologically, emotionally and >> did you get the sense at all that
00:23:47
Anthony felt he had failed? >> Not at all. I think he was adamant about continuing with that career.
00:23:58
>> And miraculously in 2003, Anthony Garcia got a third chance working as a resident
00:24:04
at the University of Illinois Hospital. He somehow managed to get a medical license to practice in the state of
00:24:11
Illinois. >> But for the state of Illinois, this guy does not have a medical license
00:24:17
anywhere. For the next few years, Anthony Garcia bounced around the country working where he could, clinics,
00:24:25
even a prison hospital. With every new state he moved to, Garcia had to apply for a medical license
00:24:32
there. And those who had the authority to grant that license would learn of his dismissal from Kraton. And each time he
00:24:41
would pay a price for his past. to get lure in another state. They would be sending Kraton University very specific
00:24:50
requests about doc or Anthony Garcia's time at Kraton University. And those responses were not positive. They were
00:24:58
not positive. It doesn't take a detective or even a physician to read those as a lay person and say that's not
00:25:05
going to help him get get lure or a job. Investigators discovered that in February 2008, Garcia was living in
00:25:13
Louisiana. The state denied his application for a medical license due in part to his termination from Kraton.
00:25:21
Less than 3 weeks later, Tom Hunter and Shirley Sherman were brutally murdered. The pieces of Anthony Garcia's past were
00:25:35
coming together in front of Moyes and Warner. But could they place him in Dundee in 2008 on the day of Tom and
00:25:43
Shirley's murder? Moyes wondered what kind of car Garcia was driving back then. So, he checked his reports. And I
00:25:51
remember it was on page 11 of that report that between July of 2007 and July of 2009,
00:26:01
Anthony Garcia had a Honda CRV registered to him at a Shereport, Louisiana address.
00:26:11
>> After discovering the make and model, Moyes ran the VIN number to get the color
00:26:16
>> and it came back as a silver Honda CRV. It was 2013. The slaughter of four innocent people over the course of
00:26:34
[music] 5 years had left Omaha staggered and searching for answers. >> This is something that really had upset
00:26:43
the community, the city, the the region. It evolved into something so much bigger
00:26:48
than any of us were were used to. >> But its origin was right here. >> The pathology department at Kraton
00:26:57
University Medical Center where Dr. Brumach was the head of the department and Dr. Hunter was in charge of the
00:27:03
residence. It was also here investigators allege that Anthony Garcia developed his twisted motive for murder.
00:27:13
>> It's unfathomable. A grudge that fers for seven years before the first killings and 12 years before the second
00:27:20
set of killings. That's unheard of. >> A grudge that wouldn't quit. Revenge for being fired was the motive. The theory
00:27:29
of the case Moyes and Warner began to build. But Fernando Garcia, Anony's younger brother, wasn't buying it.
00:27:37
>> There's been millions of people fired who don't come back and kill somebody. And by 2013, Garcia was long gone from
00:27:44
Omaha. Living 500 miles away in Terode, Indiana, he had been fired again, this time from that job as a medical worker
00:27:54
in a prison. Still, he had a Ferrari in his driveway and appeared to be living the high life. But that wasn't the
00:28:03
information cops craved. >> I needed to find out where he was on May 12th, 2013. The day Roger and Mary
00:28:11
Brumach were murdered, Garcia's electronic records lit up the trail. >> We have this phone call accessing a cell
00:28:19
tower in Atlantic, Iowa, which is only an hour away from Omaha. He had made a purchase at a Wingstop restaurant in
00:28:26
Omaha. >> And Anthony Garcia was caught on camera just outside Omaha buying a case of Bud
00:28:34
Light that very same day. At this point, do you have a suspect you want to arrest?
00:28:41
>> Yes. >> Detectives headed for Garcia's Terraote home, but when they got there, he was
00:28:47
nowhere to be found. >> Our concern was that he was leaving Teroot and he was headed south towards
00:28:54
Louisiana >> where there were other people that you felt he perceived had wronged him.
00:29:00
>> Yes. >> Cops feared Garcia was out to kill again. Omaha detectives were now working
00:29:06
with nearby law enforcement agencies and the FBI. And at 8:30 a.m., Illinois State Police
00:29:14
spotted Garcia's car. He was pulled over drunk and on his knees in the middle of
00:29:21
the road. Anthony Garcia was arrested. In his car, a crowbar, a sledgehammer, and a gun.
00:29:34
We got a call that he was in custody. >> And what did that sound like? >> Relief.
00:29:40
>> Yeah. >> With Garcia under arrest, cops entered his house in Teroot. >> It was barren. It didn't look like
00:29:48
somebody planned on on really coming back. >> Omaha Detective Ryan Davis got the first
00:29:53
look into a dark and conflicted world through Garcia's chilling words. We live. We die. We live. We die.
00:30:04
>> On top of the dining room table are all these documents. I would call them documents of success. A medical degree,
00:30:12
a deed to his house, and then he's got this bag, this trash bag in his kitchen sink.
00:30:18
>> Inside the trash bag were more documents submerged in a liquid. It looked to detectives like someone was trying to
00:30:26
destroy them. [music] >> These documents um really give you chills. He's talking about going to the
00:30:32
store, buying broccoli, butter, shrimp. >> Anthony Garcia's shopping list from the
00:30:40
ordinary to the ominous. >> As you can see here, it says invade rich house, torture, murder. Over here, it
00:30:49
says rich children, gun, invade, kill, knife, kidnap family, SUV, torture, kill.
00:30:56
>> And there was also something familiar soaking in the sink. Those negative performance reviews written by Dr.
00:31:03
Shondaanda Butra and Garcia's termination letter signed by doctors Hunter and Brumach.
00:31:11
>> The motivation for these murders was all right there in that sink. That sink full of evidence wasn't all
00:31:18
detectives found. Their investigation led them to a key witness at Garcia's favorite haunt, Club
00:31:27
Coyote. >> Who's Cecilia Hoffman? Um, at the time she was a stripper um at a strip club in
00:31:35
Terode, Indiana. Mr. Garcia was a a regular customer. >> A roadside strip joint, the one place
00:31:43
Anthony Garcia's childhood dreams still had life. >> When he came in the door, they would
00:31:49
announce that uh Dr. Tony was in the house and he had all this money. And >> Cecilia told Detective Davis that Garcia
00:31:56
wanted more than just a dance. He wanted a girlfriend. That wasn't what she wanted.
00:32:03
>> So, she stated to us that she started to try to distance herself from him. Omaha
00:32:09
cops recorded Cecilia's haunting story. >> I'm putting out my little voice and saying, "Well, Dr. Tony, I only like bad
00:32:17
boys. I'm a bad girl. You couldn't, you know, you couldn't handle a girl like me." And then that's when he told me. He
00:32:22
told me I wasn't as good as he thought he was. He said, "I killed you before." He said, "I killed a young boy and an
00:32:29
old woman." >> Anthony Garcia confesses to the murders of Thomas Hunter and Shirley Sherman as
00:32:37
a way to try to impress a stripper. >> Right. The police fugitive unit would extradite Garcia back here to Omaha. And
00:32:44
on July 23rd, 2013, right here at the Douglas County Courthouse, Dr. Anthony Garcia was formally charged with four
00:32:52
counts of firstdegree murder. There wasn't anything in this case, I don't think, that was like our big piece
00:33:00
of evidence. I think there were a lot of pieces. And when you put them together,
00:33:04
that's what makes it overwhelming. >> And it all points to Anthony Garcia. >> Lead prosecutor Don Klene and his deputy
00:33:11
Brenda Beetle would lay out Nebraska's capital murder case against Anthony Garcia.
00:33:17
>> They're trying to put my client to death, and I was going to do whatever I had to do to get him a fair trial if if
00:33:24
at all possible. and Bob Ma Jr., his father, and their legal associates with the Chicago based powerhouse defense
00:33:31
team. Anthony Garcia's parents spent their entire life savings to hire. >> Did your son kill Tommy Hunter, Shirley
00:33:40
Sherman, Roger, and Mary Brumck? I don't know if if it did. It's a totally different
00:33:52
person that they're talking about. [snorts] Omaha. September 26th, 2016. 15 years after he was fired from Kraton,
00:34:10
the quadruple murder trial of a very differentl looking Anthony Garcia finally began.
00:34:21
Just the innocence in this. Every one of those people were just going about their
00:34:25
days, their lives. And then Anthony [music] Garcia comes knocking, >> knocking with his grudge. Garcia's
00:34:33
motive summed up by the prosecution in a single word, revenge. >> He googled it. He searched for it. He
00:34:42
searched for that term, >> including a quote in his phone. Shakespeare quote. >> Merchant of Venice. If you harm us,
00:34:49
shall I not revenge. >> Their theory is revenge. Revenge. If you take out that element, that leaves them
00:34:59
with absolutely a giant gaping hole in their tapestry where the entire thing becomes unwoven.
00:35:08
>> No cameras were allowed in court. The Madas of Chicago went at the prosecution
00:35:14
like heavyweights. >> They brought a lot of fire. >> Revenge suggested the Madas was just a
00:35:21
fancy theory. And in fact, the MAS produced this letter of recommendation for Anthony Garcia written by Dr. Hunter
00:35:28
just a few days after Garcia was fired from Kraton. >> We terminated him, but we don't want him
00:35:35
to be jobless, destitute. We want him to rehabilitate and find some other job. And the MA's take on the star witness
00:35:45
Cecilia Hoffman who Garcia had allegedly confessed to a strung out stripper at the time.
00:35:52
>> I think she's a liar. >> The time that she gives the interview, she's intoxicated. She's popping script
00:35:58
pills every day. She has no credibility. >> Well, I thought she was extremely credible and she had nothing to gain by
00:36:05
coming forward. She was subjected to [music] a very long and extensively vigorous cross-examination
00:36:13
and she didn't waver and the jury saw that >> and the jury saw this. [music] >> The other piece of the gun was found off
00:36:24
the highway on an exit ramp right by Terraout, Indiana. >> The gun cops believe Garcia used to kill
00:36:32
Roger Brumach. That's an unbelievable coincidence. It's amazing. >> The serial number matches the one on
00:36:39
this gun box found in his Terraote apartment. But at the Butress home, on this door
00:36:45
knob, there was DNA. [music] >> There was DNA evidence that pointed to Anthony Garcia.
00:36:53
>> But the mods insisted cops could not place [music] Garcia in Omaha for the first set of murders. And they argued
00:37:00
this. Anthony Garcia was not the only disgruntled employee atraton. That buying chicken wings and beer on the day
00:37:08
of the Brumach's murder didn't make their client a killer. And that he was simply looking for a job again in the
00:37:15
Omaha area. If Nebraska puts Anthony Garcia to death, is an innocent man dying? >> I believe so.
00:37:24
>> I believe so. After more than 50 witnesses and 15 days of emotional testimony, the case went to
00:37:33
the jury. It took just seven hours and then the jury spoke as one. >> Anthony Garcia guilty of murder in the
00:37:43
deaths of Thomas Hunter, Shirley Sherman, and Roger and Mary Brumach. >> Anthony Garcia, who didn't testify,
00:37:53
guilty on all counts. didn't have, [sighs and gasps] >> you know, the the breath just kind of
00:37:58
comes out of you and it brings a lot of emotions back because you think about >> I can see
00:38:07
>> about Thomas and and Shirley and Roger and Mary. >> For two cops, it was the answer to
00:38:18
nearly a decade of relentless work. >> You have been called the hero of this story.
00:38:24
>> Not at all. You can't shake that off fast enough. >> Oh, yeah. No, not at all.
00:38:28
>> You're describing to me a tireless investigation >> by a lot of detectives in our department
00:38:35
and other agencies. >> But Omaha, that proud Midwestern city, wasn't buying Derek Moyes and Scott
00:38:43
Warner's modest ways. And when they approached a room full of the victim's loved ones,
00:38:49
>> tell me what happened. You walked in. [laughter] >> I don't even want to say it.
00:38:54
Why not? >> I don't know. >> I can see it in your face. This was the most emotional moment, wasn't it?
00:39:03
>> One of them. Yes, for sure. >> The victim's families stood and applauded. >> It's very gratifying. That's that's I
00:39:17
think why we do what we do. [music] And just finally after seven years, you can kind of let it go a little bit. Say,
00:39:26
"Okay, these families have [music] got their answer." >> Three families shattered. Three plus
00:39:35
one. >> They got the wrong person. >> I still don't believe it. Will you be at the sentencing?
00:39:43
>> Uh, yes. >> The firstborn son of hardworking people. He grew up in a healthy environment.
00:39:51
[music] What changed him? I don't know. >> The boy who followed his dream now up
00:39:59
for the death penalty. >> But I have to be there. I don't know if I ever see him again.
00:40:08
[snorts] I'm sorry. >> Case. If there is room for irony in a murder story, it belongs to the Butras.
00:40:18
Police believe that the Butras, not the Brumachs, would be dead if the Butrris had not been at that Mother's Day brunch
00:40:26
with their slowmoving elderly friend. >> If you had been home 20 minutes earlier,
00:40:32
what would have happened? >> We would be both dead. We would be having this conversation.
00:40:37
>> It was either them or us. [music] Outside Kraton Medical Center, where every single day countless doctors
00:40:47
bind wounds, help and heal, there sits in the cool stillness a statue. It is Tom Hunter forever an 11-year-old
00:41:01
child at play for eternity. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Right now we're in Pitcher Canyon. It's
00:42:01
about 4 miles south of Wanachi. It's a place that there's really no reason to be [music] this time of year and this
00:42:07
time of night unless you live here. When we think of Pitcher [music] Canyon, anybody who was here in 2010, they're
00:42:14
always going to think of the Mackenzie Cow case. >> McKenzie was a senior in high school.
00:42:18
She was on the verge of being grown up. [music] >> This wasn't your normal missing person's
00:42:23
case. February 9th of 2010. And I last saw her as she packed up her bundles of books and left between 7:00 and 7:30 in
00:42:35
the morning. Had made a quick little date. See you tonight for teriyak burgers. Okay, Dad.
00:42:41
Love you. [music] So, I was expecting her home. Called about 5:40. That's when the phone went straight to
00:42:51
her voicemail. It wasn't It didn't [music] even ring. Of course, you go through different waves
00:42:57
of messages. One message will be, "Call me. I'm concerned." One message will be,
00:43:01
"Now I'm getting irritated. You haven't called me back." And then the next message might be, "I'm sorry I was
00:43:07
irritated. Call me when you can. [music] Maybe something's wrong." Something a little unusual happened here
00:43:15
that night. A rancher came down uh found a red car here that didn't belong here and he
00:43:22
called it in. The deputy came up here. He ran the license plate. They contacted the registered owner, Reed Cowl.
00:43:35
>> The phone rang and it was a deputy who was asking if I was missing my car. And
00:43:42
I told him, "Yeah, I'm missing my car and the girl that drives it." I said, "Where's the car?" And he told
00:43:53
me it was up Pitcher Canyon. So, I hopped in the car and headed straight that direction.
00:44:00
Here we are driving. It's dark. It's cold. When I pulled around the corner, all I
00:44:09
saw was the red car with flashing police lights. It was a pretty ominous thing to
00:44:16
see. >> Deputies checked the car and they [music] found that Mackenzie's purse was
00:44:20
inside. >> Well, that's really not right. McKenzie doesn't go anywhere without her purse.
00:44:27
This is not good. Somebody's messed with her. >> There was a lot of [music] concern right
00:44:31
away that something had happened to McKenzie. That was just a long, dark, evil, strange night.
00:44:41
>> McKenzie [music] went missing shortly after 3:00 p.m. on February 9th. Her body was discovered around 1:00
00:44:48
February 13th [music] on the banks of the Columbia River. >> I mean, it just made me cold stone numb.
00:44:56
It was just blank. The day that we found McKenzie and we saw how brutally she'd been
00:45:03
murdered, we knew we were in for one tough investigation. The list went on and on.
00:45:08
>> Hold it right there. >> So many different suspects that we didn't know what to think.
00:45:19
I'm Peter Vans. Tonight on 48 hours, Secrets of the River. >> [music] >> With the miracle of another spring, the
00:45:54
small town of Wan that Washington [music] nest nestled in a landscape of endless apple orchards turns out to
00:46:00
celebrate the annual Apple Blossom Parade. But in 2011, one graceful [music] dancer
00:46:11
is missing from the festivities. McKenzie Cowl. >> She loved to dance, dance, dance
00:46:20
anywhere we went. She danced grocery stores, gas stations, anywhere if a song came on, she would just break out in a
00:46:27
boogie. >> McKenzie's father, Reed Cowell, and his fiance, Sandy Francis, cheer on
00:46:33
McKenzie's old high school dance team, the Appalletes. >> And was she good at it?
00:46:40
>> Oh, she loved it. She loved it. >> Beautiful. >> McKenzie, [music] 17 years old, was 5'8,
00:46:47
strong, and beautiful. A young woman with a future at the heart of a family unit that couldn't get enough of each
00:46:54
other. >> We used to call each other on our cell phones. That's how bad it was. Rooms
00:47:00
were >> upstairs to downstairs to argue over whose turn it was to make floats. >> Yeah.
00:47:05
>> Just to make like Coke floats, root beer floats. Floats her root beer floats,
00:47:09
orange floats. >> The family is as authentic as the American West. Starting with Reed.
00:47:17
He's at home among the soaring Cascade Mountains, rich blue skies, and of course, the orchards of apples.
00:47:25
>> And you felt safe having your family here. >> We did feel safe. >> And McKenzie, [music] a senior in high
00:47:31
school, was thriving. >> She was working to achieve dreams that she created on her own. So, her day
00:47:38
started at 6:15 in the morning. She had to be out of the door by 7:15. There was also her dance, modeling, and
00:47:47
efforts to learn a trade. For that, she came here, the Academy of Hair Design, smack in the middle of downtown Wanache.
00:47:56
What drew her to that, do you think? >> I think her modeling and her love of clothes and, you know, the makeup and
00:48:03
just pimping and being a girl. >> Being a girl was something McKenzie loved. Her boyfriend Waqen Villisano was
00:48:13
smitten. >> Did you love her? >> Yeah, I loved her a lot. >> Did she love him? >> Absolutely.
00:48:19
>> It was February 9th, 2010. Reed and McKenzie had planned a father-daughter dinner date at home. The orchards were
00:48:29
barren and the cold Colombia rolled through town. beauty school got out at 5:00. So I
00:48:36
called her about 5:40 to see how close she was and her cell phone went right to the voicemail, which was pretty weird.
00:48:45
>> 2 hours later came that call from police [music] and Reed's desperate ride into
00:48:52
darkness and fear. The next morning, Detective John Cruz of the Wanachi Police Department joined the
00:49:02
search for McKenzie. >> It got serious pretty quick. >> Police would trace McKenzie's last known
00:49:09
steps on the day she disappeared. >> We're at the Academy of Hair Design. Mackenzie Cowl is a student here. It's
00:49:17
3:00. She's just finished asking one of her co- students, "Hey, do I have to sign out if I'm just leaving for 15
00:49:25
minutes?" Right after that, she leaves out this door right here. >> This one right here.
00:49:30
>> Right here. She comes up these stairs and she's recorded on these cameras here. These security cameras on the side
00:49:38
of this wall. That's correct. This video taken by those security cameras captured
00:49:44
the last images of McKenzie alive. When she got to her car, she sent a text to her boyfriend. She said, "Hey." Hey.
00:49:54
That was the way she greeted you. >> Yeah. >> Then McKenzie Cowell disappeared. Like she drives off the face of the
00:50:04
earth. >> That's a good way to put it. I'd lay at wake at night and where are you?
00:50:13
>> Everyone, even strangers, was searching for that answer. >> We just started canvasing any
00:50:20
neighborhood. After several days, that was our strength and our hope. >> Then 4 days into it, Reed Cowell got a
00:50:29
call from the FBI. But she told me she was so very very sorry to have to tell me this over the
00:50:36
phone, [snorts] but that they had found a body. >> I didn't know what to say to him. What
00:50:48
do you say? >> In a bend of the mighty Columbia River called Crescent Bar, McKenzie Cowell lay
00:50:57
in the shallow water. And right here in this location, uh, about 15 ft out from here, is where
00:51:04
Mackenzie's body was located. >> Douglas County's Chief Deputy, Robin Wag, was struck by the brutality of the
00:51:11
murder. A >> combination of strangulation, a blunt force trauma to the head, a deep
00:51:16
laceration into the neck. >> And horribly, McKenzie's killer had attempted to saw off her arm.
00:51:24
>> You could see a knife still stuck into the the tissue. Uh, [snorts] >> a knife was still in her body,
00:51:29
>> still stuck in into her shoulder, into the tissue. >> What did you guys do at that moment?
00:51:35
>> Just stood there and held each other. >> The police went to work and after meeting with McKenzie's boyfriend, they
00:51:44
decided to give him a lie detector test. Do you know who killed McKenzie? And they kept saying that I failed that
00:51:51
question. >> Do you know who killed McKenzie? >> No, I didn't. Detectives kept Waqen in
00:51:58
their sights, but the investigation took a dramatic turn when a surprise witness
00:52:03
came forward. Liz Reed swore she knew who killed McKenzie Cowl and that the video of McKenzie leaving the beauty
00:52:12
school was not the last recorded image of her alive. Liz swears she saw the murder itself unfold in a chilling
00:52:21
videotape. >> I saw it with my own eyes. Recorded by the killers. The Colombia River held a silent secret
00:52:41
[music] about how McKenzie Cowl, so full of life, had come to rest along the bank
00:52:48
at [music] Crescent Bar, some 48 m from home. It was a violent violent way to meet your end and then
00:52:56
the attempted dismemberment afterwards. That was probably the most shocking thing.
00:53:02
>> Detective Cruz and Chief Wag sense the challenge that lay ahead. >> No stone would go unturned,
00:53:09
no matter how long it took. >> But first, a town took time to grieve. >> We are here today because somebody stole
00:53:17
her life. >> McKenzie's stunned [music] classmates gathered in the local arena. They did something that only God is
00:53:23
allowed to do. >> The Appalletes danced for their friend and Reverend Sandy Brown tried to
00:53:31
somehow make sense of it all. >> But we are here today also because no one can steal our memories of her.
00:53:40
>> Mackenzie, we love you. >> McKenzie's mother, Wendy Cowell, went on local news and begged for answers. It's
00:53:49
important to my family and I for you to bring that person forward. >> As the hunt for a murderer began, an
00:53:59
unprecedented statewide [music] task force of top investigators from around the region joined forces.
00:54:06
>> I think this was probably the biggest investigation the Washi Valley has ever
00:54:10
seen. >> First to be questioned were those who loved McKenzie most. We interviewed
00:54:17
Wendy, Reed, family members. >> I would never describe Reed or the mother Wendy as a person of interest in
00:54:24
in this case, but we certainly did look at them. [music] >> But it's got to be somebody that she
00:54:30
knew and trusted. I knew that for a fact. >> I really think I was like the number one
00:54:37
suspect. McKenzie's boyfriend, who had failed that one question on a lie detector
00:54:44
test, came directly under the police spotlight. >> So then he asked me like three times if
00:54:49
I was a gangster. Then I was like, "No." >> And soon police concluded Waqen with an
00:54:56
airtight alibi had lost as much as anyone. >> Yeah, I loved her a lot. But that was [music] not the case with
00:55:07
this man, Joey Fiser, with whom McKenzie had her problems. >> Joe Fischer was the boyfriend of Wendy
00:55:16
Kell, McKenzie's mother. >> Is this potentially the guy? >> We know that they have this relationship
00:55:24
that sometimes involved arguments. >> She told her mom, "It's either him or me."
00:55:30
>> That was the day before she went missing that they had had a huge fight. They had
00:55:35
had a huge >> the day before. >> Yes. >> Because the next day after this volatile
00:55:39
confrontation, >> she disappears. >> She's gone. >> He remained uh very high interest with
00:55:46
the for the task force. In the end, we could find no physical linkage. >> There was no evidence to tie Joey Fiser
00:55:53
to McKenzie's murder, and he was completely exonerated by police. The investigation into the murder of
00:56:02
McKenzie Cowell was stalled. Two months would pass and then from the shadowy side of Wan that an [music]
00:56:12
unexpected witness emerged. A walking [music] contradiction named Liz Reed. >> I am in college full-time. I have a
00:56:26
straight A GPA. If the cops were here, they'd say, "Not bad for a drugdeing liar."
00:56:32
>> I'm sure they would say that. >> When McKenzie Cowell was doing everything [music] to build an honest
00:56:40
life, Liz Reed was doing anything to stay high on Oxycontton. >> I was selling drugs. I was writing bad
00:56:49
prescriptions, doctor shopping >> to get access to Oxycontton. >> Correct. Liz was also working with the police.
00:57:00
You were an informant, >> correct? >> The information Liz Reed gave police sent the investigation of McKenzie
00:57:07
Cowell's murder into overdrive. >> She began providing us information about two individuals in this area.
00:57:17
She named names Sam Quavvis and [music] Emmanuel SOS nicknamed Buddha, streetwise convicted criminals, drug
00:57:27
dealers, people Liz Reed hung out with. >> And she tells a very compelling story
00:57:33
that Sam Quavvis and Emanuel SOS abduct and kill McKenzie Cal on a bluff near Crescent Bar. Liz Reed told police that
00:57:44
McKenzie died because of a horrible case of mistaken identity. That Quavvis and Buddha murdered McKenzie because they
00:57:53
wrongly thought she was in the drug world too and a police informant. >> We choked that [ __ ] to shut her up. And
00:58:01
that's what he said. >> At that moment, Sam Quavvis had basically told you he had murdered
00:58:07
McKenzie Cal. >> Yes. He said they had to choke her two times because they choked her once. They
00:58:16
thought she was dead. >> It was compelling [music] and that's why we invested so much time and so much
00:58:27
resources cuz we were excited. >> Liz Reed claims she provided more details to the cops, [music] including a
00:58:34
description of the knife allegedly used during the attack. So essentially, you had described the murder weapon prior to
00:58:40
it being made public by anyone. >> Yes. >> And come spring, [music] as the orchards came to life
00:58:47
again, the task force thought they'd found the killers. >> That was the belief of a number of task
00:58:53
force members at the time based on what Miss Reed was telling us. >> Liz Reed swears she was actually shown a
00:59:01
snuff film of McKenzie Cowell's death. You say the killers told you and they showed you. They showed you a video.
00:59:11
>> Yes. To have to watch somebody be tortured like they did to her and kill her and
00:59:19
laugh about it, it never goes away. But as cops investigated Liz's disturbing story, a totally new tip came
00:59:29
in about yet another suspect. someone [music] McKenzie saw every day, a classmate at her beauty school.
00:59:39
>> I think he was fascinated with serial killers. [music] He certainly was uh fascinated with death.
00:59:46
>> He's a dangerous man. [music] >> [music] >> The investigation into the murder of
01:00:01
McKenzie Cowell had dragged on for 7 months. >> We later found out that that information
01:00:06
was not true. >> Police task force investigators had come to distrust their star informant, Liz
01:00:14
Reed. >> I'm sensing that she's not being truthful. >> And what of that gruesome murder video?
01:00:21
Cops spent months looking for it. >> We found nothing. We found nothing that was a video of this murder.
01:00:28
>> Under pressure, Liz then threw the entire investigation upside down. She retracted her story of [music] seeing a
01:00:36
snuff film of Quavvis and Buddha murdering McKenzie. >> You completely changed your story.
01:00:42
>> I did. >> Liz says she felt threatened by police >> that they were going to charge me with
01:00:48
murder. >> You were frightened. You were terrified? >> I was terrified. I'm like, my god,
01:00:52
you're going to get taken over there and charged with something to do with killing this girl.
01:00:59
>> But cops say Liz was never a suspect, just a desperate informant with a madeup
01:01:05
story. >> Can Liz Reed be trusted? >> No, I think we've proven that. >> Investigators were frustrated. Months
01:01:14
passed. I think you have faith that they'll find them. They will eventually. It may take
01:01:21
a while. >> Spring slowly ripened into summer when police got that intriguing new lead.
01:01:29
He's walking northbound in the alley. >> Northbound toward Yakim Street. >> You know, we didn't even know Chris
01:01:36
Wilson. >> Christopher Wilson was a classmate of McKenzie's at the Academy of Hair
01:01:41
Design. >> There she is walking right across the parking lot. Police speculate Chris and
01:01:46
McKenzie had decided to meet. That the brutal killing occurred only minutes after McKenzie left their beauty school
01:01:54
after her classmate Chris came out that same back door. >> We show them leaving 72 seconds apart.
01:02:03
>> You know, we're less than three blocks from there. Three short blocks to his apartment from here.
01:02:08
>> Just who is Chris Wilson? That question would end up on the front page. artist,
01:02:14
musician, had done some artwork and photography that might strike some as dark. >> CBS News consultant Jefferson Robbins is
01:02:23
an investigative reporter for the local paper, the Wanachi World. He'd come to know everything about Chris Wilson.
01:02:30
>> He has a tattoo of Hannibal Lectar on his arm. Hannibal Lectar being in the Silence of the Lambs, the serial killer.
01:02:38
Correct. >> He didn't fit into the Wachi norm. If he would have been in a big city in
01:02:44
Seattle, New York or Portland, he would have been a non-event. >> Kathleen Zorns, Chris's mother, contends
01:02:51
[music] her son isn't dark or evil. He's just different. >> What's a Hannibal Electric tattoo?
01:02:58
>> It's not a an insight into his soul. >> I don't believe so. No. >> I mean, Chris isn't so bizarre. It's
01:03:05
just that it's such a normal little town where everyone looks just the same. Amelia Savage is Chris's best friend.
01:03:14
She agrees he's guilty of being an eccentric, artsy kid in a small town. >> He's not a perfect person, but he's a
01:03:24
good person. >> So, it was seemingly out of the blue that friends and family were told Chris
01:03:31
wasn't just different, he was potentially dangerous. [music] Was he fascinated with with the dead,
01:03:39
with serial killers? >> No. [laughter] >> You laugh. >> It's it's it's ridiculous.
01:03:47
[music] >> And compounding their disbelief was the source of the letter to investigators
01:03:52
[music] suggesting Chris Wilson might be a killer. Theo Keys is yet another [music] troubled police informant. a man
01:04:00
who served jail time, had been [music] a friend of Chris Wilson, and had a reported history of mental illness.
01:04:08
>> He wrote the letter while he was in jail for exposing himself to a barista. >> In that jail house letter, Theo wrote
01:04:15
that Chris Wilson had an interest in dead bodies and serial killers. >> We don't pick people that provide
01:04:22
information to us. We take information as it comes in. Theo Keys, we treat it exactly the same as Liz Reed.
01:04:27
Investigators came to see Chris Wilson as a deeply troubled misfit whose obsessive fascination with death, they
01:04:35
claimed, led him to work in a funeral home. >> There are thousands of people working in
01:04:40
funeral homes across the country. That's a profession. >> But it wouldn't be Chris's tattoo or
01:04:47
work in a funeral parlor that made him the prime suspect in McKenzie's murder. It would be forensic evidence discovered
01:04:55
by investigators along the muddy river bank at Crescent Bar. What led us to Chris Wilson was DNA
01:05:04
evidence. His YSTR DNA was on a piece of duct tape that also had Mackenzie's blood that was by Mackenzie's body. It
01:05:12
wasn't that he was different. It was his DNA. >> Chris had given police a swab of his DNA
01:05:18
on August 11th. Although not totally conclusive, the crime lab determined the DNA on the duct tape could belong to
01:05:27
Chris Wilson. That's when Chris [music] got the grilling of a lifetime. >> Chris, have you been to Crescent Bar?
01:05:34
No, I haven't been to Crescent Bar. Well, you know, your DNA was. And at that point, he goes ahead and says, I
01:05:41
don't see how that could be, and I want a lawyer. I tell him, Chris, you're under arrest for the murder of Mackenzie
01:05:46
Kell. No emotion. Absolute flat light. No reaction at all. >> Zero. [music] >> Eight months after McKenzie Cowell's car
01:05:56
was found abandoned. >> Chris Wilson appeared in court. And there he is standing at the table in
01:06:07
front of the judge and I just went, "That's him? No, that can't be. How could that guy have killed McKenzie?"
01:06:16
crime. >> Chris Wilson was charged with the murder of McKenzie Cowell. >> Charge here, sir, is murder in the
01:06:24
second degree. How do you blame not? >> And when you made eye contact with him, >> Chris Wilson does not make eye contact
01:06:32
with anyone. >> Kathleen, you are passionate in your belief in Chris's innocence. Correct.
01:06:39
>> That is correct. In fact, Kathleen says that at the time police believe McKenzie was being
01:06:46
murdered, [music] Chris was with her picking up a plate of cupcakes. >> He was perfectly normal, fine, happy.
01:06:54
>> He was the Chris as you would have seen on any other day. >> Any other day. any other day.
01:07:13
All the promise, all the grace that defined 17-year-old [music] McKenzie Cowell's life had been stolen. Yet, her
01:07:20
spirit still inspired a community. >> Mackenzie, we love you. >> She was full of life.
01:07:28
She was [music] just going a mile a minute and and taking life full blast. A task force. [music]
01:07:35
>> We collected swab samples of >> a town. No one can steal our memories of furry.
01:07:41
>> A father kept McKenzie's memory alive. >> I think of all the things that we did
01:07:47
down here, swimming and running and sometimes just sitting. But now was the time for justice and hopefully answers
01:07:56
to unbearable questions. >> I would like to talk to this guy. You know, why'd you take McKenzie?
01:08:03
>> Chris Wilson declaring his innocence was headed to trial. Is this a winnable case
01:08:09
in your opinion? >> It's a very winnable case because investigators say the DNA on that duct
01:08:15
tape was just the start of the case. This is uh what we determined was the residence for Chris Wilson.
01:08:22
>> Let's head inside. >> Okay. >> Chief Wag's task force combed over every inch of it.
01:08:30
>> When they started spraying the luminol, they found what turned out to be a fairly substantial stain that they were
01:08:35
sure was blood, and it was right in this area right in here. >> The cops cut the stained carpet.
01:08:41
Then a small bloody patch was tested for DNA. It came back exclusively as Mackenzie Cal's blood and it was a
01:08:49
substantial stain. >> So, Chief, what do you believe happened in this apartment?
01:08:56
>> Uh, this is where Mackenzie Cal was murdered by Chris Wilson. >> Then there was this
01:09:02
>> pretty plain >> a controversial video of Chris Wilson. >> Video of me just get away. Is it clean?
01:09:09
>> Taken by his friend Tessa Skylamon. In the video [music] shot as Chris moved out of apartment 28, the two friends
01:09:17
seem concerned that it's neat and clean [music] so Chris could get his security deposit
01:09:22
back. Chris would later explain the carpet was damaged [music] during a party. >> Does it look clean?
01:09:30
>> Clean for for what happening? Clean [music] considering. >> Yeah, it's clean considering. But police
01:09:41
allege Wilson was checking for blood. >> She zooms right on the carpet where that
01:09:48
[music] blood is. >> The police task force is now certain that McKenzie Cowell's blood was here,
01:09:57
soaked deep into the carpet in apartment 28, where Chris Wilson lived at the time
01:10:02
of the murder. The question that now defines this case is how did her blood get here? We have a whole list of things
01:10:10
that make this look very suspicious. >> Washington state's own John Henry Brown,
01:10:15
hired by Chris's mother, is among the most high-powered lawyers anywhere. His clients have ranged from [music] Robert
01:10:22
Bales, the American soldier who plead guilty to mass murder in Afghanistan [music]
01:10:28
to serial killer Ted Bundy to the barefoot bandit Colton Harris Moore. Now add Chris Wilson. Chris is clearly
01:10:38
kind of the classic underdog and that always is attractive to us. >> Together with co-consel Emma Scandlin,
01:10:46
he is crafting a strategy that it's not Chris Wilson who is guilty. It's law enforcement of unspeakable corruption.
01:10:55
>> I'm saying to avoid professional embarrassment, they did whatever it took, >> including alleged these two lawyers
01:11:01
somehow planting McKenzie's blood in Chris's apartment. This is Wachi. They do things like that.
01:11:09
>> John Henry Brown's attitude about Wan that goes way back. >> Allegations about sexual abuse of
01:11:16
children. >> It was the mid90s. Dozens of people were charged [music] with child sexual abuse.
01:11:22
Most were convicted wrongfully, it turned out, until a young John Henry Brown succeeded in [music] having some
01:11:29
of the cases dropped or overturned. >> It was completely false, made up. uh what's become known as the Wachi witch
01:11:38
hunt. >> You don't like that when your investigators are accused of things that seem [music] to be baseless.
01:11:43
>> Gary Rezen was the prosecutor then going up against John Henry Brown in the child
01:11:49
sex abuse scandal and he is the prosecutor now against Chris Wilson. >> Mr. Brown uh likes cases that are high
01:11:57
visibility. He likes publicity in his cases. >> What bothers law enforcement most isn't
01:12:03
Brown's dramatic flare. There's no evidence that the blood was planted. The blood was left there by McKenzie Cal
01:12:11
when Chris Wilson murdered her. >> Remember, McKenzie's jugular vein had [music] been cut. And Brown argues there
01:12:19
should have been blood discovered all over Chris's apartment. How do you explain that?
01:12:24
>> He was interested and infatuated with the serial killer Dexter. The serious Dexter.
01:12:31
Dexter is the hit Showtime series where the killer often brings his victim into a room draped [music] in plastic
01:12:40
to keep the crime scene clean. You >> know, he very well could had plastic down on the floor. We just don't know.
01:12:46
>> But why was McKenzie in Chris's apartment? Police believe they'd become friends. [music]
01:12:52
>> No way. Swears Chris's mother. >> They weren't friends on Facebook, on MySpace. In your opinion, is there a
01:13:00
campaign against your son? >> I believe there is a conspiracy to frame him. Yes.
01:13:05
>> And I'll tell you this, that's nuts. DNA evidence led us to Chris Wilson. And the
01:13:11
DNA evidence tied him to Mackenzie Cal. >> If Chris Wilson did not murder [clears throat] Mackenzie Cowell, who
01:13:19
did? >> Sam Quas and Emanuel Sos. >> Sam Quas and Emanuel Buddha Seros. Those two smalltime drug dealers Liz Reed once
01:13:29
swore confessed to her. Liz changed her story yet again and now told Chris Wilson's lawyers her tale about seeing
01:13:38
that videotape of McKenzie's murder. And she was prepared to testify under oath that it was all true.
01:13:46
>> You're certain what you saw was the death of Mackenzie Cow? >> Yes. >> On video?
01:13:52
>> Yes. Liz Reed was now slated to be the star defense lawyer's star witness. But
01:13:59
Chris Wilson still had one big problem. McKenzie Cowell's blood is in Chris Wilson's apartment [music]
01:14:08
and you can't explain how it got there. >> Well, yeah, it's very difficult to convince a jury that evidence has been
01:14:16
planted, but we are going to attempt to do that. McKenzie Cowell's bedroom hasn't changed
01:14:34
much [music] since she last slept peacefully. Time frozen in teenage photos. Her Appallet's outfit ready
01:14:42
[music] for the next dance. >> The life she was full of life and joy and happiness and kindness. Um, her and
01:14:51
her dad had so much fun together. She loved her dad dearly. >> But here in Wan that there were two
01:14:57
families waiting for answers to the mysterious murder. Each with very different versions of justice for Chris
01:15:04
Wilson. >> He is anxious for trial. He wants to tell his side of the story. >> The famous lawyer and the longtime DA
01:15:14
were primed. Then in a stunning development, Gary Rees made Wilson the offer of a lifetime, plead guilty to
01:15:23
manslaughter and serve only 6 and 1/2 years in prison. >> I indicated, yeah, if he'd plead to
01:15:30
that, um, I would recommend that we do that, take that offer. >> Were you in any way intimidated by the
01:15:35
fact that Brown was on this case? >> Well, I I don't think so. But if Wilson was a killer, a very sweet deal now lay
01:15:44
on the table. If I was innocent, I'd take that deal. >> He said it wouldn't matter if they
01:15:49
offered him six months, six years, six days. He is not going to plead something he did not do.
01:15:55
>> Chris Wilson turned down the DA's offer. The trial was on and Liz Reed's story
01:16:02
now had a new twist [music] that threatened the prosecutor's claim that McKenzie was killed in Chris Wilson's
01:16:09
apartment. We're heading to the overlook. >> Liz claims McKenzie was actually murdered on this secluded bluff and that
01:16:20
she can prove it. >> Is there any doubt in your mind that where we stand right now is where
01:16:27
McKenzie died? >> None. >> Liz says that Buddha Seros demanded she come here to find a ring ripped from
01:16:35
McKenzie's hand during the killing. >> It was smashed. It was bent a little, but it was a ring.
01:16:41
>> This is the ring Liz says she found on the bluff. Attorney John Henry Brown says it matches the ring seen in this
01:16:48
picture of McKenzie. If true, Brown says Chris Wilson is an innocent man. >> I personally took that ring that she
01:16:57
found. I showed it to Reed Cal. I showed it to Wendy Cal. I showed it to Mackenzie's boyfriend. None of them
01:17:03
recognized that ring at all. >> Where is Mackenzie's ring? If that's not Mackenzie's ring, you bring her ring
01:17:09
into court. They don't have it because that is her ring. >> Police concluded it wasn't McKenzie's
01:17:15
ring and that Sam Quavvis and Emmanuel Buddha Seros had zero to do with the disappearance or death of McKenzie Cow.
01:17:24
>> I don't know Mackenzie Cow. Never met her, never seen her. >> This is Emmanuel Buddha Seros.
01:17:31
>> Want to throw a rock? After we tried for a year and a half to meet him, he finally surfaced.
01:17:38
>> Well, Liz Reese is a liar, so I know she she just likes to take innocent people
01:17:43
down for for no reason. >> At the time, Buddha was working an honest job and said Liz Reed's
01:17:49
accusations damaged him badly. >> I go to grocery store, they look at me like like, you know, like I'm a killer
01:17:56
or something. They just stare at me. And Buddhist swears the cops got it right. There was never any video of McKenzie
01:18:05
being murdered. >> No, I don't have nothing to do with Mackenzie Cow's murder. >> It was Chris Wilson alone who would be
01:18:12
tried for murder. >> It's too late to take a plea. That's correct. >> Chris Wilson, are you there?
01:18:18
>> Yes. >> I spoke with Chris Wilson about the extraordinary moments that were about to
01:18:23
unfold in a Wanachi courtroom. What was your relationship with Mackenzie Cow? >> There was absolutely no relationship at
01:18:31
all. >> You never had coffee with her? Never took her out on a date? >> Nothing. And we've never had a
01:18:36
conversation ever. >> Chris, did you kill McKenzie Cow? >> No, I did not kill Mackenzie Cow.
01:18:45
>> But a jury would decide that. And the members of that jury were now being selected.
01:18:51
That's when all hell broke loose. Hey Reed, when we got the jury questionnaires back, I believe it was 80
01:19:00
to 85% of them said, uh, no, he's absolutely guilty. >> There is no way in hell he will get a
01:19:07
fair trial here. >> It was the 11th hour and 59 [music] minutes. Suddenly, Chris Wilson was
01:19:14
getting cold feet. The veteran DA [music] and the star defense lawyer once again talked plea bargain.
01:19:22
>> So, is this a done deal? No, because they have to talk to the family. >> Reed Cowell and Sandy Francis, who had
01:19:28
lived every day for McKenzie, made their way through a courthouse in chaos. >> So, uh, what's going on?
01:19:35
>> Plea bargain. [sighs] But it also includes a written statement that I did this, I kidnapped her, and I
01:19:46
murdered [snorts] her. So it's it's >> please try. >> In Judge John Bridg's packed courtroom,
01:19:56
a community gathered. >> You may be seated. Thank you. >> Chris Wilson accepted a sentence far
01:20:02
longer than the first deal, 14 years in prison in exchange for agreeing to these
01:20:09
words. >> Mr. Wilson, it reads, "This is my statement. I also did recklessly cause
01:20:16
the death of McKenzie Cal by strangulation and by stabbing her with a knife. Uh, Mr. Wilson, is that your
01:20:25
statement? >> Yes. >> And are are those the things that you did? >> Yes. >> You have any question?
01:20:34
>> But Wilson would tell 48 hours. He pauses at this moment in the courtroom. >> Are those the things that you did?
01:20:43
Yes. >> Because the deal was based on a lie and that he took it only to avoid a longer
01:20:51
sentence. >> Did you almost say no? >> Absolutely. >> Do you believe you were framed?
01:20:58
>> Framed by law enforcement? Yes. >> Am I happy that Chris Wilson's jail for 14 years? Absolutely. Do I wish it was
01:21:05
40? Absolutely. >> But just why did the DA offer a deal? >> I had no evidence to prove Mr. Wilson
01:21:12
was in there with Miss Cal when that blood was deposited. The judicial dance was over.
01:21:20
>> Our job is to keep our community safe and we know that we are sending the killer to prison today.
01:21:25
>> The anguish and questions were not. In open court, Chris just pled guilty on three counts. Do you believe him?
01:21:34
>> No, I'm his mom. I do not believe him. Then two proud women who had lost what
01:21:41
they valued most shared the humanity they had left. >> Sorry. I'm sorry. >> Jefferson Robbins told the tale on the
01:21:53
front [music] page. Reed and Sandy headed home past the gentle [music] orchards as the Columbia River rolled on
01:22:04
whispering the name McKenzie. I have a really nice windchime out in the [snorts] front yard. And when that
01:22:14
windchime goes off, I think it's her talking to me. And I don't always think about her as
01:22:21
being gone. I still think about her as though she's still around. Less than a [music] year after accepting
01:22:33
the plea deal, Chris Wilson filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. >> Are those the things that you did?
01:22:40
>> He contends his plea was not voluntary. Wilson claims he entered into the plea
01:22:46
bargain without fully understanding the consequences, how much time he would ultimately serve in prison.
01:22:55
[music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> I hate seeing people get away with stuff and I like figuring stuff [music] out.
01:24:08
My name is Ian Iavello and I was the lead detective in the Sarah Harris case. Sarah Harris, [music] she was incredibly
01:24:17
bright. >> Um, one should always pursue knowledge no matter the topic, >> very energetic, very fun.
01:24:24
Did Sarah have any idea how beautiful she was? Honestly, I don't think she did. [music]
01:24:30
>> Sarah Jane Harris. >> Sarah hopes to become an anesthesiologist. >> She [music] was shocked
01:24:38
>> that she won the Miss Maryland Petite Pageant. She had thought from a very young age that she would want to be a
01:24:44
doctor. She wanted to help people. In 2020, Sarah needed wisdom teeth pulled. >> She initially met James Ryan as a
01:24:56
patient at his oral surgery practice. >> I'm James Ryan. I mean, it's not just that we say that [music] we care, but we
01:25:02
really do. We take pride. >> Dr. James Ryan was a wellrespected [music] oral surgeon. A lot of people
01:25:09
knew him and thought very highly of him. >> So, she gets [music] the teeth done. She
01:25:16
starts getting all these text messages and they're from Dr. Ryan. And he says, "By the way, I'm looking to hire someone
01:25:23
as a surgical assistant." "Do you know anyone?" She says something like, "Well, what about me, mom?" And he offered her
01:25:31
the job. She then became an employee and then his girlfriend and his living girlfriend.
01:25:39
>> Sarah's life appeared glamorous on the outside, but behind closed doors, I mean, that wasn't necessarily the case.
01:25:46
I would [music] have never ever thought that her life would end the way it did. >> Montgomery County 911.
01:25:55
>> My girlfriend, I think, overdose. I'm trying to resuscitate her right now. >> And what is your first and last name?
01:26:02
>> James Ryan. I'm doing confessions. >> And is she responded? >> Is she breathing?
01:26:07
>> She's not breathing. >> When the two responding officers got to the house, they saw Sarah. She's laying
01:26:14
on the floor. >> What did authorities think had happened to Sarah [music] that day?
01:26:20
>> She overdosed >> and we don't know if it's an accident, if it's [music] suicide, or if it's a
01:26:27
homicide. >> The decision was made to charge him with depraved heart murder. >> I think most of our audience will have
01:26:34
never heard of depraved heart murder. >> I have never seen it before. >> You have to show an extreme indifference
01:26:40
to human life. [music] James Ryan provided those drugs that caused her death. >> That doesn't mean he's guilty of murder.
01:26:49
Another way of presenting this case would be he never intended to hurt her. >> I knew this was not just some simple
01:26:56
accidental overdose. This was much more. >> [music] >> Was she uh sleeping on the couch last night
01:27:50
or >> Yeah, she would do that sometimes. >> It's the morning of January 26, 2022.
01:27:58
>> Sarah Harris lies unresponsive [music] on the floor of the room in disarray. Her boyfriend, Dr. James Ryan, tearfully
01:28:06
talks with police at the scene. The conversation is recorded on a body camera as they ask him about the night
01:28:12
before. >> We're watching TV and then she said, "You should probably go to bed because
01:28:18
you're tired and you have to work tomorrow." So, I did. >> Uh-huh. >> What time did you go to bed?
01:28:22
>> Probably about 10 or 11. >> Ryan has already told authorities he's a doctor and that he thinks it's an
01:28:29
overdose. And he says it's happened before. >> And I did CPR her back. This time Sarah
01:28:37
doesn't survive. Dr. Ryan has suggested where she got at least one of her drugs of choice, a powerful anesthetic.
01:28:46
>> She used to take propal too. She used to steal that from my office. >> How they got into her body.
01:28:52
>> I've caught her before with um like injecting herself with things >> and why.
01:28:59
>> She was bipolar also, so she could be really angry or could be really happy. Ryan had called Sarah's family with the
01:29:07
awful news that morning, but her mother, Tina, just didn't believe anything he said. She immediately suspected James
01:29:16
Ryan was responsible for Sarah's death. She arrived at the scene about 20 minutes later.
01:29:29
Let me [laughter] go. Let me do my baby. I started kicking and hitting him >> and screaming at him.
01:29:44
>> Here, let's What's the nail? >> What did he say happened? He said he went to bed and left her
01:29:53
alone and came down and she was unresponsive in the morning. Authorities say they found wrappers from syringes,
01:29:59
[music] tourniquets, and saline bags next to the kitchen sink, and drug vials in Sarah's purse. Tina thinks Ryan
01:30:07
arranged it that way. He wanted to look like it was a suicide. >> Tina had long held suspicions about Dr.
01:30:14
Ryan. He had encountered Sarah Harris more than a year earlier, not as a girlfriend, but as a patient to get her
01:30:21
wisdom teeth out. >> Dr. Ryan is somebody who's practiced for over 20 years. He has incredible
01:30:26
credentials. >> Mary Fuljaniti is a former prosecutor and defense attorney and a CBS news
01:30:33
consultant. We asked her to use her decades of courtroom experience to help analyze this case. He's esteemed and
01:30:40
regarded in his community as one of the best at what he does. >> Tina Harris says the first time her
01:30:47
daughter met Dr. Ryan for her teeth in the summer of 2020. The doctor was professional, but she does remember at
01:30:53
the time feeling [music] it was curious when his interest in Sarah seemed to change. She starts getting all these
01:30:59
text messages. He asks her, "How are you doing?" And she [music] says, "I'm fine." And he starts sending little
01:31:06
emojis. What are you thinking as her mom? >> I thought it was a little bizarre that
01:31:11
he added a little [music] happy face. And I thought, "Well, maybe he just likes using emojis." She says that's
01:31:16
when Ryan had mentioned he was looking to hire someone as a surgical assistant. >> I thought, well, you know, maybe he just
01:31:23
thinks that she'd really be [music] a good addition. >> Dr. Ryan hardly seemed like a threat. He
01:31:29
was divorced with three grown children and was involved with a woman with whom he already had a baby. At 47, he was
01:31:36
more than twice Sarah's age. >> He says, "No, I don't need your resume. Just come on in for a working
01:31:42
interview." I said, "Well, I'm proud of you, honey. That's pretty incredible that he's going to teach you all this
01:31:48
stuff. >> At the beginning, Sarah seemed to love the job, but Tina says as the holidays
01:31:54
approached, an extravagant gift re-triggered her suspicion that Dr. Ryan's [music] interest in Sarah was
01:32:01
more than professional. What was it? >> A diamond necklace. That's quite a gift.
01:32:07
>> I said, "Okay, he's after you." I said, "You got to put your [music] foot down."
01:32:12
Instead, in early 2021, she says Sarah announced she had agreed to go out for a meal with Ryan, who was ending his other
01:32:19
relationship. He seemed to win over Sarah. And Tina admits in their early days as a couple, even she found him
01:32:27
impressive. [music] As a mother, was a part of you excited she was dating a doctor?
01:32:31
>> Well, I was excited. I was excited because he had a wonderful reputation. >> And she says Ryan was generous. He would
01:32:40
lease Sarah a new car and take her and her family on trips, all expenses paid. Tina says in a way he spent time
01:32:47
courting her too. You know, he would say, "I would love to have you as my mom. Sarah's so blessed to have you."
01:32:55
Tina says she and Sarah always had a special bond. We were very, very close. She says Sarah
01:33:03
was close to her three siblings, too, especially older sister Rachel. Rachel took it upon herself that she was going
01:33:11
to be the protector. But there had been a rough period during Sarah's youth in suburban Maryland. Like many young
01:33:18
people, she experimented with drugs and had problems moderating her mood. She suffered from anxiety. When did she
01:33:26
first struggle with depression? I noticed depression coming about when she was about 14, 15 years old. She would
01:33:35
start feeling down. But Tina says Sarah still excelled in high school, craving knowledge and the skills that came with
01:33:43
it. >> Um, it's currently hanging in the Lou in Paris. She learned German, Spanish,
01:33:48
Russian, and sign language. >> Happy birthday [singing] to you. >> She put a lot of pressure on herself,
01:33:55
especially with her grades. >> Before long, Sarah got her social bearings. >> She fell into a great group of kids.
01:34:04
They would sit out in the living room and play the guitar, play the piano, sing.
01:34:08
>> She was at a music festival in 2018 [music] when 21-year-old Sarah caught the eye of
01:34:17
Henry Peterson, 7 years older. >> I feel like it was like stars colliding and uh meeting someone like you're
01:34:24
supposed to meet. [music] >> They lived 7 hours apart, but he says they quickly became emotionally
01:34:30
inseparable. We talked about everything you could think of in terms of a future marriage and children and family.
01:34:38
>> He says the distance eventually made them drift. Peterson broke it off, though he says he still imagined they
01:34:44
would end up together. >> She and I never stopped talking. The love was always there.
01:34:51
>> By her mid20s, Sarah had gotten into modeling and competing in beauty pageantss. And in 2020, she'd won that
01:34:58
Miss Marilyn petite pageant. The next year is when she started quietly seeing Dr. Ryan. And by that summer, they had
01:35:06
[music] decided to live together. >> And that's when everything goes downhill. >> [music]
01:35:29
>> By the end of the summer of 2021, Tina Harris says James Ryan was dominating Sarah's life. Boss, boyfriend, even
01:35:39
letting her live rentree in his house. But instead of flourishing, Sarah seemed anxious and depressed. She saw a
01:35:47
psychiatrist who gave her that bipolar diagnosis. >> Her complexion starts to change. She
01:35:54
starts to lose weight. On a family trip to [music] Key West that September, Tina says Sarah had been
01:36:01
asleep when a drunk Dr. Ryan revealed something unsettling. [music] He had first noticed Sarah in the park
01:36:09
when she was just 14. >> I used to see [music] Sarah walking the neighborhood and playing at the park
01:36:14
with her friends. And he [music] says, "Then I found out she worked in the toy store, so I would
01:36:22
take my kids there so I could see her. And I remember when she dressed up [music] as Elsa from Frozen, and she
01:36:28
looked just like Elsa." And [music] then he said, "Yeah." And then I found out she worked at one of
01:36:35
these restaurants, and so I would go in there for dinner so I could get her [music] as my server.
01:36:41
>> It sounds like Dr. Ryan was obsessed with Sarah. He was he was very much so. >> By their next trip to Florida a month
01:36:51
later, she says Sarah was acting strangely. She wore a bulky long sleeve sweatshirt despite [music] the heat. And
01:36:58
it seemed like she and Ryan were always fighting. And she goes, "I hate him. I don't want to be here. I want to go
01:37:05
home." >> And when they returned to Maryland, Tina saw the full horrifying picture of what
01:37:11
Sarah's life had become. She says she called Sarah on October 28th, 2021. Phone rang, rang, rang. She finally
01:37:22
picked up. She could barely talk. Her words were extremely slurred. So I said, "Sarah, what's going on? What's wrong
01:37:30
with you?" She goes, "Oh, I'm just really tired, Mom." >> You knew something was wrong.
01:37:34
>> Yeah. Well, I knew she was slurring. Tina says she and Rachel left for Sarah's house minutes later
01:37:40
>> and we walked into hell. >> What did you see? >> Well, Sarah answers the door. She
01:37:48
smells. It looks like she hadn't bathed in a week or more. She looked horrible. >> She'd weighed 120 when she'd had oral
01:37:55
surgery with Ryan, Tina says, but Sarah was skin and bones now. And Tina says there was more. [music] the IV bags,
01:38:05
needles laying all over the floor, syringes, tourniquets, bloody footprints, bloody paper towels, and
01:38:13
there were drugs, bottles and vials everywhere. Rachel gathered them up and photographed them.
01:38:19
>> I never looked at the drugs, and I wish I had. >> I do think some people watching would
01:38:24
think, "How did you not look at what the drugs were?" >> Of course, I just wanted to get her out.
01:38:29
She says Sarah had offered an innocent, if unconvincing, explanation. >> She goes, "I've just been dehydrated.
01:38:36
Mom, he's just hydrating me." I said, "I'm turning him in." And Sarah starts crying. "Mom, you can't do that. Please
01:38:43
don't do that." She's begging me. I grabbed her arms and I pulled her sleeves up and she had needle marks from
01:38:49
here to here, all over her arms, bruises. I became hysterical. Against her better judgment, Tina agreed to hold
01:38:56
off on calling authorities. But she says she insisted Sarah move back home. [music] Just days later, Tina says Ryan
01:39:06
convinced Sarah to come back to him. In the following weeks, Tina says Sarah seemed to be getting better. She started
01:39:13
[music] cooking, eating, even going to church. But on December 3rd, 2021, Tina says her
01:39:24
daughter answered the [music] phone slurring again. Rachel Harris jumped into action.
01:39:31
Rachel said, "I'm going to go and check on her." When Rachel got there, it was [music]
01:39:37
worse than the first time. Poking around the ground floor, Rachel once again pulled out her camera,
01:39:45
finding drug bottles and vials, as well as a saline bag, an IV pole, IV needles, and bloody footprints on a
01:39:56
kitchen mat. She was so distraught she left without talking to her sister. A few days later, Tina confronted Dr.
01:40:06
James Ryan. She was in no mood for another explanation. And I just reach across and smack the living crap out of
01:40:12
him. >> You hit him? >> Yeah. Oh, I hit him. And I said, "What are you doing?" "Are you trying to kill
01:40:19
my daughter?" >> Tina says Ryan still insisted he'd only been hydrating her. >> And you still believed it?
01:40:27
>> I believed he was giving her something. I didn't know what it was. I did not look at the vase. All I could see was my
01:40:32
daughter and what kind of trouble she was in. But the next day, she says Ryan admitted he'd been doing more than
01:40:39
hydrating her. He'd been giving Sarah drugs, though, only to keep her from getting them someplace else.
01:40:46
>> So, I told him, I said, "Look, you can break it off with my daughter, or I'm calling the police." And he said, "Well,
01:40:54
I'll break it off with her." But days turned into weeks, and Dr. Ryan never did. After months of tension, Tina says
01:41:02
she couldn't keep arguing with her daughter anymore. What was I going to do? Lock her up?
01:41:08
>> You probably wanted to. >> I threatened it. And she said, "If you do that, Mom,
01:41:14
when I get out, you'll never hear from me again." And that scared me to death. Within weeks, there was a new tragedy
01:41:26
for the Harris family. Sarah's brother, Christopher, just 38, [music] died after a heart attack in Montana.
01:41:36
I had to sign the papers to take him off life support which [music] um no mother should have to do.
01:41:51
His [music] death was devastating to the whole family. Sarah posted this tribute
01:41:55
message to her brother. [music] Never goodbye. I'll see you soon, big bro. And only 18 days after Christopher's
01:42:10
death, at about 8:30 a.m. on January 26, 2022, Tina says she and Rachel were together when Rachel got James Ryan's
01:42:19
call. Rachel [music] started screaming. She's holding the phone. And James has it on FaceTime
01:42:34
and he's got the camera pointed at my baby. I had Sarah on the ground saying, "She's gone. She's gone."
01:42:52
[music] At the time of her death, Sarah Harris weighed just 83 lb. Authorities would list her manner of
01:42:59
death as undetermined. Dr. Ryan was not arrested. They seemed to accept [music] his story that Sarah,
01:43:07
struggling with mental health issues, had overdosed, but there would be help from a most
01:43:14
unlikely investigator. [music] Rachel started trying to get into Sarah's iCloud.
01:43:35
I just hope that you're happy that I'm with someone who truly truly loves me. >> 3 months before she died, Sarah left a
01:43:45
voicemail for her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson. I've never [music] trusted anybody as much as I've trusted
01:43:54
the man that I'm with right now professionally, emotionally. You never let me in that way.
01:44:04
>> They'd stayed in touch after breaking up. So, when she didn't answer her phone
01:44:08
after January of 2022, [music] Peterson says he had a strange feeling and decided to go online. I googled her
01:44:17
name and uh uh there's an obituary. Yeah. >> He says when Tina gave him [music] details, he joined her in the belief
01:44:26
that James Ryan, the man Sarah said she had trusted more than anybody else, was responsible for her death.
01:44:35
>> But first responders didn't think so. >> They didn't shut it down as a crime scene.
01:44:41
Police seized [music] some drug vials, but left the house unguarded. Tina says that's because they believed what Dr.
01:44:48
Ryan had told them about where she'd gotten the drugs and how she'd taken them. >> It was an overdose.
01:44:56
>> But she says she knew there was more to it than that, though she didn't know how
01:45:00
to prove it. Turns out there was someone very close to her who did. Rachel told me she would find the evidence.
01:45:11
>> Rachel Harris decided to examine Sarah's laptop to see if it might contain clues
01:45:17
authorities hadn't seen. She didn't know the password, but she knew her sister well. It took her about
01:45:25
a couple of days to figure out Sarah's password. Combing through Sarah's computer and iCloud, Rachel hit per,
01:45:32
[music] a trove of text between her sister and James Ryan. The messages were full of
01:45:39
references to drugs, including a tranquilizer named Dasipam, and two fast acting surgical anesthetics, the type
01:45:47
Rachel had seen in the home Dr. Ryan and Sarah shared, propall ketamine, which is
01:45:52
sometimes also used for depression. Rachel created a binder adding the photos she'd taken there.
01:45:59
>> Rachel compiled 200 pages of evidence. The medical examiner would release Sarah's autopsy report, which showed
01:46:08
those same three drugs in Sarah's system. Research suggests they can all be habit forming and they can suppress
01:46:15
breathing. Taking them in combination can be lethal. All the while Rachel's building a case. Yes. Yes.
01:46:25
In February 2022, Rachel gave her binder to Montgomery County police. It eventually landed on the desk of
01:46:32
Detective Ian Iicavello, an expert [music] in pharmaceutical investigations. After more than 33 years
01:46:39
as a cop, Ikelo was nearing retirement. [music] He decided to come in alone on a Sunday.
01:46:45
>> It was my birthday and nothing was going on. You don't get parties when you're
01:46:50
this age. I'm like, I'm just going to go in the office and look through this binder and just see
01:46:55
>> what I Cabello saw in Rachel's binder suggested cops at the scene had been wrong about Sarah's death. He says
01:47:02
reading the text between Sarah and James Ryan was like watching a murder in slow
01:47:07
motion. >> You could see Sarah die. >> Sarah is suffering within the first month of their relationship.
01:47:15
>> She had anxiety. She was having trouble sleeping. Ryan offers a quick fix. I can give you
01:47:21
an injection. The anxiety will be completely gone in 6 seconds. He writes, "It will work. Let's try it." He had
01:47:30
already made the decision. Illoo says the text suggests that over the months Sarah developed a drug habit
01:47:37
and a habit of asking her boyfriend, the doctor, to feed it. In October 2021, do
01:47:43
we have ketamine here? In November, we need syringes. I feel like in December, [music]
01:47:50
I just really need sleep. She writes, "Can you bring propall?" >> She's actively [music] asking for drugs.
01:47:59
At no point does he say no. Illoo says the text suggests Dr. Ryan often brought Sarah the dangerous drugs
01:48:07
and that he actually administered at least one about a month before her death. It was December 20th, 2021. If
01:48:15
you wake up, I just went to change after I gave you ketamine just now. He writes
01:48:21
>> he's injecting her while she's asleep. No monitoring, no anything. >> An IVL points to this exchange from the
01:48:29
day before Sarah died. Is it possible to bring home ketamine when you come? She asks. Yes, I will bring some home. I
01:48:37
love you, baby. Ryan replies. The texts tell a story. >> They do. So do Rachel's photos from Sarah's
01:48:45
house, says I Cabello. Though his colleagues lacking experience in pharmaceutical investigations might not
01:48:51
have understood that >> they had no idea what they were really looking at. >> He says patrol cops and paramedics often
01:49:00
deal with overdoses of street drugs like heroin and fentanyl, but the deadly drugs in Sarah Harris's house were
01:49:07
masquerading as something else. >> There's a difference between drugs and medication.
01:49:15
>> Illoo says to the untrained eye, the drugs at Sarah's look like medication. The paraphernalia around the house might
01:49:22
have been confusing, too. >> Usually what we see is burnt spoons, tin foil, some hypodermic needles, maybe a
01:49:32
shoelace or some other string. That kind of drug paraphernalia. But to I Cavllo,
01:49:37
the syringes and the saline, the professional tourniquets and the plastic [music] wrappers at Sarah's made it
01:49:42
resemble an operating room. >> That's what a lot of it looked like. >> Whatever questions responding
01:49:49
authorities may have had. He says Dr. Ryan offered answers. >> And [music] you've got James saying she
01:49:57
did all of this [music] without any other information. Okay. Well, we're just kind of going to
01:50:03
go with what he says. He's a doctor. [music] >> He's a doctor. >> But I Cavllo says after reading through
01:50:09
the family's binder, any credibility Dr. Ryan may have had that day vanished. And on March 22nd, 2022, [music]
01:50:18
nearly 2 months after Sarah's death, >> James Ryan was arrested for the murder of Sarah Harris. But prosecutors would
01:50:27
have to make the case to a jury. >> Sometimes it's hard to convince them. Maybe especially so in this case [music]
01:50:35
because James Ryan's defense is suggesting he was only trying to save Sarah's life and that she had other
01:50:41
ideas. [music] I knew the case was solid. >> Detective Ian Iavello was sure Dr. James
01:51:12
Ryan was responsible for Sarah Harris's [music] death and he had no problem convincing prosecutors on Montgomery
01:51:19
County's overdose task force. Jennifer Harrison, [music] >> it's his fault. James Dietrich.
01:51:26
>> He was the one who was providing those drugs. >> And Kimberly Sisle, he knew [music] how
01:51:31
dangerous these drugs were. >> Ryan was a doctor after all. But as certain as prosecutors were that he knew
01:51:39
he was risking Sarah's life. They had no conclusive evidence he intended to kill
01:51:44
her. >> We never suggested that. You can accept that James Ryan loved Sarah Harris, but
01:51:52
it does not excuse all the other actions that he took that led to Sarah's Sarah's
01:51:58
death. >> So, they charge Ryan with a subcategory of secondderee murder, unfamiliar to
01:52:03
many people. It's known as depraved heart murder. Prosecutors say the charge doesn't require proving the killer
01:52:09
actually wanted anyone dead, only that they knew their actions would likely kill someone and didn't care. We have to
01:52:17
prove that he did it with reckless disregard for the value of her life. Dietrich gave us an example.
01:52:23
>> If I take a gun and just randomly shoot it into a crowd, I may not necessarily
01:52:28
want or care that anybody dies, but that is such a grossly reckless act that someone's likely to die. Prosecutors
01:52:37
also charge Ryan with a slightly lesser charge, involuntary manslaughter, plus two counts of drug distribution and one
01:52:44
count of possession with intent to distribute. >> Ladies and gentlemen, meet Dr. James
01:52:54
Bry. >> Opening statements begin on August 16th, 2023. There are no cameras in court, but there
01:53:02
is an audio recording. But behind closed doors, he was conducting a deadly medical experiment on his 25year-old
01:53:12
patient turned employee turned living girlfriend. >> The prosecution portrays Ryan as a
01:53:19
controlling older man who got his glamorous young girlfriend hooked on drugs. He was stealing dangerous
01:53:28
sedation drugs from his business and administering them to his girlfriend Sarah Harris.
01:53:37
>> Prosecutors say the proof of Ryan's guilt is largely in those text messages. [music]
01:53:42
Ryan offering to get rid of Sarah's anxiety in 6 seconds, telling her he gave her ketamine while she was
01:53:50
sleeping. And on the night before her body was found, apparently agreeing to bring ketamine home to her.
01:54:02
>> Can you tell us about >> I don't know where to start. >> I was the first to testify.
01:54:09
>> She was my baby. >> Tina Harris is emotional as she relives Sarah's [music] downward spiral just
01:54:16
months before dying. I asked to see her arms and she said, "No, mama." But I grabbed
01:54:25
her arms and I pulled up the sleeves and her little arms were covered in needle marks and bruises.
01:54:34
>> And the medical examiner tells the jury about the dangerous drug cocktail that
01:54:38
brought her life to a tragic end. When people use all three together, those just cause profound strong sedation.
01:54:49
>> The drugs can be so dangerous, in fact, the prosecution tells jurors that doctors who use these drugs have
01:54:56
equipment and protocols in place to revive patients if needed. >> Even though Dr. Ryan would follow all of
01:55:03
those safety protocols in his own office, he would never follow those at home. >> She was chemically dependent. She was
01:55:10
chemically dependent on him. >> Prosecutors also call social worker Janice Miller, who says that kind of
01:55:17
power imbalance is a hallmark of abusive relationships. >> The drugs were the way that he
01:55:22
controlled her and really ensured that she wouldn't leave the relationship. >> He's created an addict.
01:55:28
>> Dr. Ryan and his attorneys did not agree to be interviewed by 48 Hours. But at
01:55:33
trial, they argue Sarah Harris may have played an important role in her own demise, suggesting that after wrestling
01:55:40
with mental illness, she was now losing her battle with anxiety, depression, and
01:55:45
drugs. >> Their focus on Sarah Harris is obviously her mental illness. >> The defense suggests Sarah may have
01:55:51
begun stealing the drugs herself. They want the jury to know about her Facebook post about seeing her deceased brother
01:55:59
soon, but the judge won't allow it. But they are allowed to tell jurors about a text Sarah sent Ryan months
01:56:07
before her death. >> She said, "I've lost my will to live." >> I've lost my will to live.
01:56:19
Do you [music] think there's any chance Sarah was suicidal? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
01:56:26
>> Where's the indication of a suicide on the [music] scene? There is none. >> Detective Illoo says the drug bottles
01:56:34
found in Sarah's purse were too far from her body for her to have given them to herself.
01:56:40
>> These drugs are fast acting. She's going to be out in seconds. How? She didn't
01:56:44
put all the medication in her purse, [music] then went and laid down. Not possible. she wouldn't have cleaned up.
01:56:52
Somebody else had [music] to have done it. >> But according to CBS News consultant
01:56:59
Mary Fuljaniti, the defense argues that detectives mishandled the scene, that there's no way to know exactly what
01:57:07
happened, including who administered the fatal dose. >> They didn't test to see if his DNA or
01:57:14
fingerprints were on those syringes. >> Dr. Ryan chooses not to testify. The defense argues he was a loving partner
01:57:21
who was just trying to help Sarah. >> This is a case about caring for somebody and and possibly loving them to death.
01:57:28
>> His lawyers call a friend who saw Sarah using drugs before she began dating Ryan
01:57:33
and a relative who saw them as a happy couple. In closings, prosecutors remind the jury
01:57:40
that to convict Ryan of depraved heart murder. It doesn't matter whether or not he actually put the drugs in Sarah's
01:57:47
body or even whether or not he wanted her to die. >> The act of giving her the drugs is him
01:57:54
handing her a loaded gun. But would the jury agree? >> [music] [snorts] >> I try to believe the best in [music]
01:58:20
people. And >> for as long as Kyle Stevens can remember, his friend Dr. James Ryan has
01:58:26
done right by people. >> He was pretty straightlaced, cleancut guy. When he talked [music] about Sarah,
01:58:32
how did he sound? >> In the beginning, he seemed enthusiastic [music] and excited.
01:58:37
>> But Steven says at a certain point, Ryan did reach out with a concern. >> He had asked about how to best be
01:58:46
helpful and supportive to someone in that place of depression and possibly addiction.
01:58:53
>> Did it make you wonder if he was actually asking about Sarah? >> Yeah, but I didn't press. So Steven says
01:59:00
he had no idea what was really going on between the two. Then he discovered his friend was arrested and headed to trial.
01:59:08
When you heard [music] the verdict, what did you think? >> I was taken back. >> After a nearly [music] twoe trial, it
01:59:17
takes jurors less than 3 hours to reach their decision. We >> up to count one murder in second degree.
01:59:26
>> Guilty. On August 25th, [music] 2023, they find James Ryan guilty of the secondderee
01:59:35
depraved heart murder of Sarah Harris. >> Release. Yeah. Relief. >> They also convict Ryan [music] on the
01:59:45
manslaughter and drug charges. >> My heart just felt satisfied. >> Sarah's voice was heard through this.
01:59:56
Tina and Rachel speak at a press conference after the verdict. >> She was this beautiful beauty queen and
02:00:02
she wasted away at the hands of Dr. James Ryan. >> And again at sentencing months later.
02:00:09
>> He is a predator. He's a wolf and she's floating. Please. But James Ryan's lawyers had submitted
02:00:27
supportive letters from his friends and a legal filing which detailed [music] that James Ryan had his own struggles
02:00:34
with drugs and mental health. Ryan addresses the court and insists he didn't administer the lethal dose, but
02:00:41
takes [music] responsibility for not preventing Sarah's access to the drugs that killed her.
02:00:49
>> The words do not exist to convey and express the level of remorse I feel. Though the guidelines suggest [music] a
02:00:56
sentence of 15 to 25 years for this case of depraved heart murder, the [music] judge has something else in mind.
02:01:04
>> It is the sentence of this court that you be committed to the Maryland Division of Corrections for a period of
02:01:09
40 years. >> With more time for the other counts, it's a total of 45 years in prison. A
02:01:18
45ear sentence puts James Ryan in a category with some violent murderers. You know, 45 years for James Ryan is
02:01:25
basically life. Patients rely on doctors and their expertise and their advice. And I think she's sending a very loud
02:01:34
message to the medical community. And state's attorney John McCarthy wants to send a message to lawmakers. The
02:01:42
depraved heart murder charge may have worked in this trial, but it's a difficult crime to prove in other
02:01:48
overdose cases. >> We need tougher laws. As early as 2015, McCarthy began pushing to streamline
02:01:56
Maryland law so state prosecutors can more easily convict dealers and distributors who supply the drugs that
02:02:04
lead to overdose deaths. But it hasn't been easy. >> We're not at a place in Maryland right
02:02:10
now that the legislature seems very interested in creating new crimes and new penalties.
02:02:18
Ian Iavello, who read Murder Between the lines of this case and retired after the
02:02:23
trial, says he still thinks of Sarah often. >> I did everything I could um for her.
02:02:32
>> So does her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson, who looks back at their breakup with
02:02:37
regret. >> I guess I always thought she was going to be there. >> A regret Sarah seemed [music] to share.
02:02:45
He showed us a letter she wrote him years earlier when their relationship ended.
02:02:50
>> "You made me feel alive. Now that you're gone, I feel so many pieces [music] and
02:02:55
parts have died with you." >> As if to preserve his connection to Sarah, Peterson still [music] practices
02:03:02
a concerto he played at her grave. where today a mother who faced great loss with even greater courage struggles
02:03:16
to face the future without Sarah and her brother so close in life and death [music] that she actually buried their
02:03:23
ashes in the same casket. I hear Sarah telling me, "Mama, it's okay." What do you want your daughter's legacy
02:03:38
to be? I want people to remember my Sarah as a light, [music] a brilliant young woman
02:03:50
who cared about others and loved life, loved it. 48 hours. Don't miss an episode.
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