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[Music] on July 14th 2019 I woke up picked up my phone and noticed that my group chat was
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buzzing about something and I looked at it and it it was a photo of my friend and it looked like she was
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dead so I was reading all the messages and they're saying guys like in the Discord someone posted that Bianca is
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like dead or something and I was like what some people on the Discord actually had to call the police you the police uh
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good morning I uh believe someone may have been murdered okay where okay so I'm on an online group and somebody
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posted a picture of uh uh someone getting murder and I believe it to be a Miss Bianca Michelle
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s before I knew it the photo was being circulated around my community and then beyond
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[Music] it so tell me what did you see that day I was on Twitter uh as I usually do just
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to gauge what stories are trending that day and I saw that Bianca's name was trending I didn't know very much at that
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point just that images had been posted and were going viral on social media and I just knew that I wanted to find out
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more I think we were all just very confused someone saw something on the Internet where they thought you know
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Bianca may have been hurt I am Kim devans and I'm Bianca's mother yanaa is a talented artist aspiring model I knew
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she had an online presence but I found that uh granddaughters do not share their online presence with their
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grandfathers so uh I I wasn't aware of the depth of it social media was a huge part of Bianca's life and online she
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could be whoever she wanted to be she was definitely a social media chameleon she had multiple Instagram accounts
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which is not uncommon for kids her age but you one of them was you clearly reserved for her online friends you know
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was fairly edgy she was obviously very you know popular on Discord it was common for some people in
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the community to try and Escape or maybe to get attention to fake their yes as this photo is circulating on
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Discord and then to other social media platforms the authenticity of the photo is being debated a lot of people are
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unsure whether or not it's [Music] real people were making memes out of the images they were turning them into
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jokes they were sent to me they were sent to um various family members so this is a collection of different uh
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Communications received by Bianca's mom and obviously every one of them meant to
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be incredibly cruel incredibly hurtful this is a form of psychological terrorism I just don't understand the
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cruelty and The Emptiness in someone's heart where they would get some kind of a thrill out of sending these pictures
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to a family I remember just standing up and saying no it's not her I stamped up my stairs saying it's not her it can't
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be it's not her it's not my baby [Music] [Music] July 14th 2019 uh it was a a beautiful day in UDA
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uh was our boiler maker Road Race which is a a well-known 15K Road Race uh where
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participants from across the world um come to run as the first Runners crossed the
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Finish Line Udo police detectives Brian corado and Michael Curley heard alarming
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reports of a possible murder certainly nothing prepared us for a homicide on that day the horrific photo spreading on
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the social media platform Discord at prompted calls from around the country okay what's what's the female's
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name Michelle devans you know I'm hoping the girl is just bleeding badly and maybe
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still alive people didn't know if it was real or not we needed to find her to make sure to see if she was all
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right police body cameras were rolling as officers arrived at 17-year-old Bianca Devon's home to perform a Weare
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check when did you first learn that your daughter was missing there was an back at our
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door is there a Bianca Devin that lives here yeah why my daughter Olivia answered the door she came up to me and
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said Mom the police are here there's something going on with Bianca the police didn't show Bianca's mother Kim
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the photo but said they feared her daughter might be in danger can you try to get a hold of your
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daughter and what were you thinking at that moment I was so confused I didn't know
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where biano was W ra waste now Kim told police she last Saw Bianca the day before as she headed
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with friends to this concert in New York City how was her mood when she left I remember Bianca being so excited I left
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her alone for most of the night um just giving her her space and this was her first real adult concert Bianca texted
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her mother after the concert to say she was heading home Bianca was enjoying her Newfound Freedom
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Kim says after graduating high school two weeks [Music] earlier but her journey to get there
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hadn't been easy at what point did you realize she needed help BCA first saw a therapist at 9 years old she was having
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some separation anxiety didn't want to go to school just wanted to stay home with me
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and then around 13 Bianca started showing signs of depression as Bianca isolated herself from others she started
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to spend more time on social media she really could just Escape her own mental struggles what was going on
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in her head and Escape Into You Know A Different World online hi it's like 6:00 in the morning and I'm
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currently editing this but I just wanted to let you know oh that I'm so funny how prevalent was Bianca on social
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media she was extremely prevalent on social media she had a large presence on many platforms reporter EJ Dixon covered
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Bianca's story for Rolling Stone magazine and says the internet has a name for the type of character Bianca
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portrayed online what's an eirl an eirl is it's basically a term used to describe a
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certain type of aesthetic is it's like a very edgy dark aesthetic different colored
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hair but Bianca's Behavior was growing increasingly erratic at age 16 she was diagnosed with borderline personality
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disorder an illness which Kim believes led to Bianca's varying mood swings and affected her
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self-image Bianca was very smart she was very intuitive and self-aware so she always knew something
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was wrong and she knew she needed help and there she is with B right on the couch in the living room
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Bianca sought treatment says her grandfather Frank and eventually returned to her role as a devoted big
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sister to Olivia and Maddie we all said that uh Bianca's back that's our girl and and there was this
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glow in her eyes that when she talked about going to college and what she was going to do with her
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life Bianca immersed herself in her art was even getting noticed as a promising young model she would you know
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get lots of compliments from model and agents and she really felt good about herself when she was modeling though she
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had turned a corner Bianca maintained her edgy online Persona and by age 17 had created multiple identities she also
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had an active presence on forchan um which is sort of on the darker side of the web I go on the record saying
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forchan is a dangerous place and it's also just an incredibly incredibly misogynistic space as Bianca's
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popularity grew online so did the number of some of her male followers called orbiters says online friend Elizabeth
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the reason why they're called orbiters is because they will follow like a girl they think is attractive online and you
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know just like orbit them never become close to them Bianca was exceptionally patient and accessible to
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her orbiters um to a fault at times one Orbiter who captured Bianca's attention was a 21-year-old lift driver named
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Brandon Clark whom she met on Instagram in May of 2019 what was he like honestly
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nothing notable he was just kind of like a normal one of these weird people you know one of these weird guys in the
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community after communicating on social media they eventually took their relationship offline and briefly dated
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but were never exclusive Bianca had made it clear to Brandon that she was not interested in a committed monogamous
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relationship at this point and brandan had seemed to accept that when Brandon came around and he came around pretty
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often um he just looked like a goofy nerdy boy next door Kim says there were no glaring red flags about Clark so when
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Bianca told her mother he was taking her to that concert in New York City Kim thought nothing of it I took a little
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comfort in knowing that she would be with Brandon cuz I trusted [Music] him W stay here
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47 called as the search continued 47 47 Bianca's friends suspected the photo circulating on
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Discord might be a hoax after learning it was Clark who posted the image we all just assumed that he was making a joke
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or trying to scare us or something on Discord it's fairly common for people to post Gore um and disturbing images just
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to sort of get a rise out of people so it was certainly with within the realm of possibility that this could have been
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faked thisp the all unit but things turned very real very fast we have him on the line now when it was Clark who
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called 911 uh my name is Brandon um the victim is Bianca Michelle devans [Music]
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it was like an outof body experience but I was shaking I just kept thinking no no
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she's fine we're we just have to find her and we're going to get her help she's going to be okay as Bianca's
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family awaited news of her safety police dispatch received a call 911 what is youry uh my name is Brandon um the
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victim is Bianca sh devans I'm going to kill myself the officers at the Devin home
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could hear what was unfolding on their radios he was going to kill himself Brandon is that her ex or boyfriend or
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apparently he's suicidal he's made statements saying that he hurt your daughter it didn't make sense to me I
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remember just being very confused that they were saying that Brandon may have hurt
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her it just didn't make sense that he would have hurt her investigators turned their attention
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to Brandon Clark who by then had posted more disturbing pictures of Bianca including one with this message I'm
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sorry Bianca we were fighting against time some we needed to find her and we needed to find her
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fast and he's not telling us where he is they're basically pinging his phone the
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dispatcher tried to keep Clark talking until police could pinpoint his location it's just stay Aline with me okay no I'm
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not going to stand Aline with you I'm going to be dead on the ground but before hanging up Clark told
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them exactly where to find him a dead end Road not far from Bianca's home describe for me where was Brandon and
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what was he doing Brandon's vehicle was parked up ahead of here an officer pulled up and he observes Brandon hi
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what are you doing man Brandon's armed with a knife he has his gun pointed at him yeah he engages him Put The Knife
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Down man Put The Knife Down there's a conversation back and forth where's the girl where is she as the officer moved
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into position Clark slashed himself with a knife he then took a selfie and posted
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it to social media with the caption ashes to ashes ultimately backup arrives they engage him in front of his vehicle
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after a brief struggle Clark was disarmed and placed under arrest when I arrived on scene Brandon was actually
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just being wheeled out um to the ambulance as paramedics raced to save Clark's life investigators made a grim
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Discovery the body of a young woman hidden beneath a tarp detective corado knew they had found Bianca
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[Music] the news has got this so you better send somebody to the mom's house to give her
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heads off before but before police could make that call Kim says she had already
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learned the painful truth and Olivia was in the kitchen with her friend and we heard the
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most excruciating scream that you have ever heard come out of a teenager someone had texted
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Bianca's family the horrific photo I just kept screaming it's not her it's not her it's not my
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baby I knew it was her and I said to myself I'm going to be strong get my family through this
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this wasn't who done it we know who did it we had to work backwards to figure out why this happened investigators
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started at the crime scene as we were learning about Brandon every single thing he did at the crime scene meant
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something to him prosecutors Sarah deiler and Michael Nolan would lead the investigation for the Onida County
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District Attorney's office and began with a cryptic message Clark spray painted at the scene as this case was
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going one of the things we saw was that may you never forget me the first thing we did and I think everybody does now as
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a prosecutor something you don't know you Google it investigators learned that message was taken from a series of
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Japanese comic books called punpun that Clark and Bianca had often read together
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the books are dark they're violent and it's almost a Japanese dark version of of Romeo and Juliet does he have some
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very skewed picture that his relationship with Bianca is a starcross lover scenario and there was something else
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investigators found unusual about the scene the other thing that I think we found particularly Eerie was the music
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at the crime [Music] scene using a Bluetooth speaker Clark had programmed his cell phone to play a
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particular song on repeat and that song was we later learned test drive by Joi about a person
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who um is more invested in the relationship than somebody else to understand exactly what was happening
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between Bianca and Clark that night investigators began reviewing their social media accounts and soon learned
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the two weren't alone at the concert it wasn't just Bianca and Brandon in fact they were accompanied by another person
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um another guy direct messages from Bianca's Discord account reveal she had invited a new friend named Alex and was
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concerned Brandon might get jealous prosecutors tracked him down he was very helpful in explaining the last moments
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that he spent with Bianca that Brandon really seemed to not want Alex there investigators learned that after Brandon
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and Bianca left the concert she texted Alex to say I think he saw me kiss you when we do learn that there is a kiss at
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the concert we need to explore was it a crime of of passion if you will was it a
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snap Just Before Dawn as they headed back to udica Clark made this ominous post on social media Brandon has posted
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a photograph of what appears to be the New York State throughway and in that post he says here comes hell it's
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Redemption right super even as investigators questioned what had happened after that and where nothing
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could have prepared them for what they would soon uncover and we found out that there was a video of the
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murder this is a horror film playing out in real [Music] life it's early in the morning when I go
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into the office and we get a call from the police department they tell us you know there's
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something that you have to see here the day after the murder of Bianca Devin prosecutor Sarah deiler and Michael
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Nolan went down to the Udo Police Department overnight investigators had conducted a forensic analysis of Brandon
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Clark's cell phone and found something terrifying they set us up with a computer some speakers and some
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headphones and push play and that's when we see that there is a video made by Brandon of him killing
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Bianca I think it wasn't until that very moment that we realized this was probably the most horrible terrible
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thing that either of us have ever seen in our life and as a prosecutor many of the details are too
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gruesome to describe Bianca appears to be sleeping and uh the back seat is folded out so that it's
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flat he then takes his camera and he Clips it to almost uh one of those vents that would be on the the
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front dash what we see from there is the beginning of the homicide where Brandon
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reaches into the back he collects from the back seat a knife indicating to us that something he came prepar with um
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and he hides it at the right hand side of uh of the car we see that he he wakes Bianca up
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and he goes about having a conversation with her then demilia says Brandon asked
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Bianca about that kiss she had with Alex the other young man at the concert the night before he tells her you know you
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know I saw you kiss him right and she says yeah and I'm sorry and he says well I'm sorry he's not good
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enough it's just not good enough for him deiler says it's then that banca reminded Clark they were not
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exclusive and she basically says are you ready to take me home yet and at this point with Brandon realizing this might
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be the end of the time that the two of them are going to spend together we see him grab the
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knife she does not see it coming demilia says Clark then killed Bianca and then he blames her he screams
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dramatically into the camera you know Bianca why did you make me do this like it's her fault and it's not it was after
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he finished filming the video that Clark took those graphic photos of Bianca and
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posted them on social media and I know that if she had gotten out of that car she would have called me Bianca's mother
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and grandfather father have never seen the video but heard of its contents early on in the
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investigation I was 10 minutes away she had just been able to get out of that car but he caught her completely
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off guard does that haunt you today it does I was so close and she fought him she fought back
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that impressed me most was she fought for her life but the sickening murder video wasn't the only important piece of
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evidence investigators found on Clark's cell phone they learned that he was intent on killing banca long before the
00:23:38
events of that night we learn that Brandon is meticulous in his categorization itemization of things
00:23:45
that he wants to do two days before killing Bianca Clark utilized the notes app on his smartphone and typed a
00:23:53
Sinister checklist I would just describe this list as the to-do list the things that
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he needs to do to carry out his his plan and to Stage his crime scene setup speaker and last song question
00:24:08
[Music] mark and that's not all Clark did multiple internet searches some the day
00:24:17
before the murder researching ways to kill researched how to choke someone out uh how to hit the crowded artery to kill
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someone more evidence investigators say that this was not a crime of passion Brandon had this planned he had the
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video staged he had the phone staged he knew exactly what he was doing we believe that when this
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relationship came to an end was when he was going to kill her Brandon wanted to be with her she did not want to be with
00:24:48
him and he wasn't going to let anybody else have her so no matter what she said she was
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going to wind up dead that night two week weeks after the murder Bianca's family and friends packed the courtroom
00:25:02
wearing pink her favorite color as they waited for Brandon Clark to make his first public
00:25:09
appearance Brandon walked into the courtroom today wearing an orange jumpsuit and a black protective vet I
00:25:15
was uh in court when they brought him in and I said he just looks pathetic Clark was officially charged
00:25:24
with second degree murder and pleaded not guilty the defense was considering an extreme
00:25:31
emotional disturbance defense but authorities and Bianca's family were not buying it investigators and the
00:25:39
prosecutors describe him as just an evil person that wanted to murder someone and
00:25:46
that's who Brandon is he is a murderer he is evil and as prosecutors prepared to go to trial they had only one goal in
00:25:56
mind we need Justice for Bianca we need to make sure Brandon can never hurt anybody else again that's what our job
00:26:02
is but there was nothing they could do to stop what was going on online the horrific images of Bianca's murder that
00:26:11
Clark had posted continued to spread on the internet and a vile campaign of hate
00:26:17
was brewing on social media Bianca's family members were also being targeted as a result of Bianca's death um it was
00:26:25
just non-stop harassment this is a form of psychological [Applause] terrorism in the days following Bianca's
00:26:47
murder downtown udica was lit up in pink in her honor and a candlelight vigil was
00:26:53
held to celebrate her life Magic supporters gathered to sing Puff the Magic Dragon a song her grandfather
00:27:06
Frank sang to Bianca as a [Music] child a tradition she continued with her baby sister Maddie Puff the Magic
00:27:19
[Music] Dragon that's the special song but as Bianca's family grieved the images of
00:27:31
her dead body had spilled from the fringes of the internet into mainstream social
00:27:37
media I just can't understand why people would want to see it this is real Frank
00:27:45
believes those who shared the photos didn't see Bianca as a loving daughter or a cherished granddaughter they didn't
00:27:52
see her as a person at all these pictures aren't fictitious pictures taken from a movie
00:27:58
they of a lovely beautiful girl whose life was taken from her in a cruel way Bean's death photos spread on the social
00:28:08
media platforms Facebook Instagram and Twitter when you found out that your daughter's images were on Twitter it's
00:28:18
heartbreaking it's so exploitive of my daughter I just thought of how embarrassed she would be how
00:28:26
heartbroken she would be Kim pleaded with social media companies to remove the images but it took time
00:28:34
they stayed on Instagram and Facebook for at least a couple of weeks every time the photo was removed another one
00:28:43
would appear in its place says reporter EJ Dixon unfortunately extremely violent
00:28:48
and disturbing images can circulate wildly on social media and a lot of social media platforms don't have the in
00:28:55
infrastructure in place to prevent that from happening in response some social media users led a Grassroots effort to
00:29:03
replace the death photos with messages of hope so Bianca's supporters tried to combat people trolling the hashtag by
00:29:10
posting beautiful images of clouds bunnies ribbons um or fan art of Bianca like we
00:29:18
see here to what end they did it to push the death photos down in the search results but amid the battle to preserve
00:29:24
Bianca's memory Kim says her family became Vic of vicious online trolls who relentlessly sent them the horrific
00:29:33
photos they were sent to me they were sent to um various family members that were close to Bianca Olivia's had to
00:29:42
take a break from social media because there's always the risk of having to see her sister's death photo along with the
00:29:50
photos were hateful messages blaming Bianca for what happened to her many of which are too graphic to show it's
00:29:58
horrifying it's traumatizing um to see people saying that your daughter your you know this is
00:30:06
my baby that she deserved such a cruel end to her life they in you know direct messaging
00:30:15
and text messages to the family a very Twisted need is being met by continuing to share these and trying to get these
00:30:23
to Bianca's family it actually furthers the physical crime behavioral scientist Steven crando
00:30:32
believes the individuals most likely responsible for the attacks on Bianca's family belong to a community of online
00:30:40
men called incels incel is short for involuntary celibate incels or individuals men 21 or older who have
00:30:49
gone 6 months or longer without any sort of sexual activity not by their own volition incels see themselves as
00:30:57
victims says Commando in a never-ending struggle to win the affection of attractive women whom they refer to as
00:31:05
Stacy's incels believe that they don't have any chance with Stacy at all was Bianca
00:31:11
considered a Stacy Bianca would be considered a Stacy though Clark did not identify as an incel he was celebrated
00:31:20
by this dark Community for what he did to Bianca the incel feels bad ly cheated to
00:31:29
the point where it becomes just an obsessive thought that I need to strike back for the
00:31:38
unfairness in fact this violent rhetoric has led to murder in 2014 a 22-year-old
00:31:45
self-identified incel went on a deadly Rampage in IA Vista California killing six people since then the intelligence
00:31:55
Community believes there have been more than a dozen mass killings in North America resulting in 50 deaths
00:32:03
attributed to incel ideology and as there's been more incel killings has become more clear to us
00:32:13
that there is on the spectrum of incels those at the extreme end who are certainly capable of murder and because
00:32:22
of that it's recognized now as a terrorist threat we all knew that we were in the line of
00:32:30
fire and I was honestly afraid to like leave my house the response to Bianca's Murder By
00:32:38
the incel community served as a wakeup call for friends like Elizabeth and other young women in their online world
00:32:46
who realize they too could be targets you know those same Insel communities that were praising Brandon's actions um
00:32:55
were saying oh I wonder who's going to be next I can't wait for the next victim or you know or the next girl to be
00:33:03
killed as Clark's case headed to trial emotions ran high for Bianca's family who feared her murder video would be
00:33:11
played in court my last memory of Bianca is her full of life so excited so to have to see her in her last
00:33:24
moments how she was brutally murdered is absolutely traumatizing and something no
00:33:29
one should ever see but shortly before his trial began in February 2020 Clark pleaded guilty to Bianca's murder I know
00:33:39
that Sorry's not enough I know that I won't take back what I did he said he wanted to spare us
00:33:46
from having to see the details of Bianca's murder did you believe him I don't believe him Kim may have been
00:33:52
right to be suspicious before sentencing Clark changed his mind yet again and wanted to go to trial we know that he
00:34:03
he's playing a game with [Music] [Music] everybody just 5 months after pleading guilty to murdering Bianca devans
00:34:24
Brandon Clark was back in court to try and change change his plea back to not guilty this request infuriated the Devin
00:34:33
family who had already been through so much don't play games take your punishment give this family some peace
00:34:43
Bianca's mom said she knew why Clark now wanted to go to trial he found out that
00:34:49
there were media and production companies interested in Bianca's story and he wanted to be able to tell his
00:34:54
side Clark wouldn't admit to that months later he took the stand to plead his case do you soundly swear the testimony
00:35:03
you're about to give is a truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help
00:35:07
die he blamed his former attorney Luke nebus a well-respected local public defender for not visiting him enough in
00:35:16
prison and pressuring him into pleading guilty oh he knew that was a first time offender and had no knowledge of the
00:35:23
legal system knowledge about court proceedings you state your name lbsh on the stand nebus said Clark's
00:35:32
claims were not true I went to the United County Jail 15 times prior to his plea I there were moments where I spent
00:35:41
four or five hours with him there are moments where I spent two maybe an average of three he said in fact he was
00:35:47
the one who encouraged his former client to plead not guilty and go to trial but
00:35:53
it was Clark who refused again whose idea was was it to plead guilty to these charges Mr clerks
00:36:00
and it was your intention to take this matter to trial yes and during cross-examination prosecutor Mike Nolan
00:36:08
demolished Clark's argument about his supposed legal knowledge you're making claims that Mr Nish didn't do his job
00:36:15
but you don't know that correct with the resources I was provided it looks like he did not do his job and again what law
00:36:23
school did you go to Mr Clark I did not go to law school right so you don't know
00:36:26
that correct correct thank you the judge denied Brandon Clark's request to withdraw his guilty plea and on March
00:36:36
16th 2021 nearly 2 years after Bianca was murdered he was finally brought into be
00:36:43
sentenced are there any family members that would like to address the court yes your honor Bianca's mother and
00:36:50
grandfather had been waiting a long time to face Bianca's killer with the death of your child comes the most UN ible
00:36:58
Indescribable pain a pain that time cannot heal and only seems to worsen but Brandon for the cruel manner in which
00:37:06
you took my granddaughter's life for the total disregard you had for a human life
00:37:13
for the callous act in which you posted pictures of her murdered body on social media to gratify your own selfish
00:37:20
purposes you Brandon deserve to spend the rest of your life in prison before the judge read his sentence Clark gave a
00:37:31
statement I hate myself for what I did I'm so sorry that I put everyone through this I'm so sorry that I put Bianca
00:37:37
through this I I wish I could apologize to her and just apologize and apologize and just take it back
00:37:46
but did you all believe his apology did you think it was sincere at all no not sincere that's part of his story is to
00:37:56
play Old poor me it's not about what he did to Bianca it's all about him the judge also appeared unmoved by Clark's
00:38:06
apology and gave him the maximum sentence for murdering Bianca 25 years to life our deepest thoughts now are with
00:38:17
Bianca our Angel who has given so much love to this family but despite their belief Bianca's
00:38:29
family knows their fight may not be over after Clark serves 25 years in prison he
00:38:35
could be eligible for parole he will be in his late 40s did Bianca receive Justice no justice would be Bianca being
00:38:48
alive but the justice for Bianca now takes a different form Bianca's family is trying to turn
00:38:55
their grief into action they have worked with local politicians like then Congressman Anthony brendisi to try and
00:39:03
get Bianca's law passed and today we are putting social media companies on notice
00:39:10
we are taking substantive action on the federal level to bring the devans family
00:39:14
peace and ensure this never happens to another family again Bianca's law is a bill that would hold social media
00:39:23
companies accountable for violent and graphic content that they allow on their platforms so we look at that as a start
00:39:31
for a series of laws and policies that would prevent death photos like Biancas from being put up on social
00:39:40
media they also have established a scholarship in Bianca's name and that will go to a student who was going to
00:39:48
follow Bianca's Ambitions of helping helping adolesence with mental health struggles like Bianca
00:40:05
had how do you want Bianca to be remembered I want Bianca to be remembered for her smile for her bright
00:40:15
spirit for her huge Caring Heart Bianca always wanted to help someone even in her worst struggles when
00:40:24
she couldn't help herself she helped others and she will never ever be [Music] [Music]
00:40:48
forgotten 48 Hours don't miss an episode [Music] Aaron this is Florida nothing strange
00:41:39
[Music] here the house was beautiful it was 4,000 square ft it had a pool a garage apartment it was a great
00:41:55
house the only problem was upstairs some of the rooms were too small and just the
00:42:00
functionality did not work for some families I could understand why they'd want to renovate
00:42:06
it when did you first meet Shanti and David Dave just called me on the phone and asked if I'd come by and take a look
00:42:13
at the project he said that they had done some work I wasn't at all prepared for what I saw when I got
00:42:20
there they had fully disassembled this house to a degree that I'd never seen seen before it was rather
00:42:29
astonishing it was largely wide open like you're inside of a giant shoe box this house became more than just a
00:42:37
project to David tronis it was his life he obsessed on it this house is the center point to the story and ultimately
00:42:48
led to shanti's demise this case all started with a call to 911 placed it approximately 3:51 p.m.
00:42:58
on April 24th 2018 by Dave tronis hello and David says that he came home and found Shanti floating in the
00:43:13
bathtub she's not feing did that story make sense absolutely not Shati was extensively
00:43:23
beaten it makes me emotional I feel bad for her family and for her son it's subsetting that she won't get
00:43:36
that life with him clearly Dave tronis from the very beginning is a suspect absolutely Dave was asked to go to the
00:43:49
station thank you and voluntarily remain there for hours just have a seat there it'll be a little bit he did not request
00:43:58
counsel he consented to swabs to clippings to a search of his person Dave went into that interview
00:44:08
with an agenda he never been more in love was so happy and he just started getting confronted and confronted and
00:44:15
confronted I told you she was murdered murdered someone took her life from her and there's nothing you can't even fake
00:44:24
it that's how much you could give it and it became a war of Wills in that room I don't have any explanation for
00:44:32
her the severity of her injuries and didn't David win that war of Wills he was not broken well Dave didn't
00:44:43
confess are we boring you it seems pretty clear these two detectives they went into this room decided that David
00:44:51
was a murderer and then went the extra mile to try to put a file together to prove such did you guys get into an
00:44:57
argument was she about the house is it possible that without this house Shanti might still be alive I
00:45:09
think that's completely true [Music] [Music] Delaney Park is a well-established neighborhood it's been around for over
00:46:05
100 years Tara Stevens knows Delaney park inside and out she's a realtor who buys and sells homes
00:46:13
there it's a great place to live to raise a family a lot of outside activity great school system it's a it's a great
00:46:23
neighborhood so Delaney Park is a mile or so from from downtown Orlando Ryan vesio a former prosecutor with the
00:46:32
Orlando State Attorney's office got to know the area well when he led the investigation into the death of Shanti
00:46:39
Cooper in April 2018 did Shanti ever indicate to any friends or family that she was afraid of
00:46:48
anyone no so you guys knew each other approximately 5 years this month vesio and investigators dug into
00:46:56
learn all they could about Shanti and her husband David trones the couple had been married for
00:47:03
more than a year everybody we spoke to about Dave and Dave's background said that he was highly intelligent it's what
00:47:11
made him successful when he worked in business how would you describe Shanti Shanti Cooper was a hardworking
00:47:20
dedicated mom who cared deeply deeply about her son her son was her world shanti's son Jackson was then 8 years
00:47:31
old she shared custody with his father Jim Cooper whom Shanti had divorced in 2013 she launched a lucrative Financial
00:47:40
software business and worked out of her home office how did she meet Dave tronis
00:47:46
Dave was outside of Minneapolis Minnesota at the time they met over the internet and started exchanging messages
00:47:54
and profiles and that turned into email emils investigators later found this document on shanti's computer that shows
00:48:03
just how smitten she was Dave I will have to say I think this will be a delicious detour amazing magnificent
00:48:13
lifechanging detour I've had a pep in my step since we started this little email
00:48:20
Affair in Minnesota David just ended a long marriage but within months of meeting Shanti online he moved to
00:48:30
Orlando Dave fell in love with Delaney Park and the house at 28 East Copeland Drive a house that came complete with
00:48:38
its own gargoyles we sold it to him for 67500 which was a really really good deal how did he pay for it cash Dave put
00:48:48
the house in trust for himself and his mother and soon introduced Shanti to Tara they seemed very happy she was a
00:48:55
beautiful very nice person I enjoyed meeting her Tara did not feel quite the same about Dave Dave's personality
00:49:04
changed a little bit after the contract was signed I just saw a very different side of him he was like a a guy or a
00:49:13
child who wants to get their way and they don't stop until they do you were glad when the deal was over absolutely I
00:49:19
was very glad I didn't get a good feeling from him Cindy and and Dan da are shanti's
00:49:28
relatives by marriage they didn't like Dave at first but it wasn't long before Cindy had a change of heart I love her
00:49:37
so I grew to love him we absolutely adored him the first time we had lunch he walked in and he said how lucky am I
00:49:46
I get to have lunch with two of the most beautiful women that I know I mean that's
00:49:53
Charming in 2015 David Shanti moved into their new home and attempted to remodel
00:50:00
it with Shanti footing the bill what did Dave do all day it's a great question if
00:50:07
you ask Dave he says that he worked on the house and worked on the renovations and took care of the property and clean
00:50:14
the pool contractors came and went demolition went on and on but the renovation was an expensive failure by
00:50:26
2008 the main part of the house was unlivable Shanti was reduced to working and sleeping above the garage in a small
00:50:36
apartment where did Dave sleep I think he slept downstairs with the dogs maybe not all the time but I'm pretty sure he
00:50:46
was down there desperate to resolve the housing situation Dave turned to Keith ory a
00:50:54
local house renovator who also appeared on a reality TV show called Zombie house
00:51:01
flipping neighborhoods are under attack from zombie houses what is zombie house flipping
00:51:09
zombie house flipping is a house flipping TV show where we take houses that are the worst of the
00:51:15
[Music] worst is anything broken I think we have a termite problem and what we do is
00:51:23
bring them back to life I looked at the house I realized that the structure was suspect and uh politely stepped outside
00:51:33
an engineer discovered the only thing holding up the house was 2 in of Stucco it was rather astonishing they took away
00:51:42
all the interior Dividing Walls and basically what was left was a twostory shell weren't you tempted to just run
00:51:49
for the hills yeah but at the same time you rarely come across a challenge that's
00:51:57
that uh that bold Keith was up for the challenge and began cheing up the interior and then he got the go-ahead to
00:52:07
use the house in the next season of zombie house flipping this it's zombie house
00:52:15
flipping it was mid April 2018 and filming was set to begin in early may but there was a problem
00:52:25
getting Dave and Shanti together to talk in FA in person was proving to be really
00:52:33
difficult Keith went to the house to meet with the couple one last time to be sure they were on board and they both
00:52:40
said yes we understand and then she took off immediately just and left I got a sense that she was ped off at him fesio
00:52:50
said Shanti had been trying for years to get her name on the trust that owned the
00:52:54
house but Dave never followed through and it seemed like things just sort of culminated to a boiling
00:53:01
point it was only days before Shan's murder she desperately wanted stability in her life but was living in a house
00:53:10
that was anything but her name was not on the deed and she had already spent a lot of money on what was essentially
00:53:19
Dave's house shti was the bankroll the sole bankroll to almost A4 million doll renovation
00:53:27
what did she get for her $250,000 well a lot of headaches and [Music] heartaches thank you shortly after
00:53:54
Shanti was pronounced dead Dave tronis went to Orlando Police Headquarters go get here as soon as I
00:54:03
can where he remained without a lawyer for 14 hours we got to figure this out together okay of course he didn't
00:54:12
attempt to conceal anything Richard seski is Dave's attorney he gave the law enforcement access to everything that
00:54:19
they needed everything that they wanted and he laid himself out there for examination by all we want to say how
00:54:25
sorry we are for your loss at the start detectives Teresa sprag and Barb sharp seem
00:54:35
sympathetic take a minute okay I know this is super tough they're very good at building Rapport and have a tremendous
00:54:43
amount of experience if you have a suspect who's willing to talk you just hit play and sit back and let them go on
00:54:51
and on and on and that's what Dave does Dave sticks with his story he took the dogs to a park in the afternoon and
00:54:59
after he returned he found Shanti still wearing her pajamas floating in the tub so I
00:55:09
could hear the water is running I see her laying one of her legs is kind of sticking up and out a little bit and
00:55:17
it's just extremely awful can you tell me what your address is he tell tells the detectives that he
00:55:27
tried to perform CPR but couldn't get Shanti to breathe she was dead when First Responders arrived Dave has a lot
00:55:36
to say and a lot to say to try to convince the detectives that he wasn't involved in his wife's death I think
00:55:45
something went wrong either she slipt or she fell or she blacked out why did he agree to sit down and talk to these
00:55:56
detectives without an attorney because he had nothing to hide and he didn't think that it would hurt him but the
00:56:03
veteran detectives began to pick at his story and question how shanti's Bloody cheek and bruised eye came from a slip
00:56:11
in the tub I don't have any explanations what I found somebody who slips and Falls doesn't receive the amount of
00:56:21
blunt force trauma to focused areas in the head detectives also had spotted blood on shanti's
00:56:28
bed and suspected that's where she had been killed but Dave says the blood likely was from shanti's period it did
00:56:38
get on the bed spread and it did get almost through the bed there was a lot of other evidence that would be
00:56:43
inconsistent with this being blood associated with a menstrual cycle detectives also suspected and shanti's
00:56:52
autopsy later confirmed that she was strangled but celeski says as frustrating as it
00:57:00
may have been to authorities Dave can't explain shanti's injuries not because he's lying but
00:57:10
because he simply doesn't know he took his best guess based upon what he come to find he doesn't know
00:57:17
what happened is the point the detectives press on for hours taking turns and peppering Dave with tougher
00:57:25
and tougher question questions did you two argue no absolutely not did you fight absolutely not did you harm Shanti
00:57:36
in any way absolutely not sharp and sprag also question his timeline Dave says that he called 911 about 5 minutes
00:57:46
after he found Shanti you've got to help us understand but detectives insist that
00:57:52
doesn't match what they found at the house there's no flashing of water anywhere in the bathroom the inside of
00:57:59
the tub is dry completely dry and she's damp she's not even wet so you got to help us can you do that I'm told you
00:58:09
everything they're drawing conclusions based upon observations and they're moving forth based upon these
00:58:16
assumptions they try to zero in on a possible motive did she catch you with another woman did she have a boyfriend
00:58:25
did was she about the house no but given the sorry state of the house detectives
00:58:32
begin to wonder if that had something to do with shanti's murder I can't imagine
00:58:38
how stressful it must have been you know not living in the home you want to live
00:58:42
in and it's taken two plus years three years um I'm I'm sick to death about what happened but nothing happened today
00:58:50
because of there was no animosity between us whatsoever and he says Shanti wasn't
00:58:58
upset that her name wasn't on the trust that owned the house so we had kind of talked about it and debated it and we
00:59:06
finally just said it doesn't really matter let's just move forward Teresa and Barb are tenacious they don't stop
00:59:14
they're well-versed in interrogation techniques you know we saw the good cop bad cop we saw manipulation Barb sharp
00:59:21
even moves her hand to Dave's knee and adopts a more subtle Tong it will be okay we can't help you until you help us
00:59:32
before Teresa sprag begins another attack she treats you like a landscaper like the pool boy probably because she's
00:59:39
bringing in the money as the hours tick by what do you want your mom to think about you they try anything they can to
00:59:48
get him to confess are you religious PR this almost became a game of psychological Warfare in that
00:59:57
interview room Dave began the interview by saying how happy he had been with Shanti but almost 8 hours into the
01:00:05
interrogation the detectives aren't buying it you claim to love that woman I would be under the table in a
01:00:15
ball if I was in love with that woman and she was dead I I would be inconsolable do you think that he was
01:00:22
penalized because he didn't act the way detectives wanted him to act oh time time and time again you know you fake
01:00:30
cried for about seven or8 hours today not one tear came out of your eyes not one there's a lot of conclusions
01:00:37
being drawn off of what they consider to be an odd affect of Mr Tron and I think
01:00:42
that that's a dangerous thing to do because we all react to stress differently we all grieve differently
01:00:49
Dave even agrees to take a polygraph but by then it was the middle of the night and investigators couldn't find anyone
01:00:58
to administer [Music] it they had to let him go at the end of the interview how did they feel about
01:01:07
that you always want to make the arrest right up front you do with Dave tronis free police would have to keep digging
01:01:15
for Clues but even they were surprised by what they found is it fair to say that
01:01:23
Dave tronis was living a double life at least two lives she didn't slip and fall it's not
01:01:41
a possibility even though detectives were outright accusing Dave trones of murdering Shanti you strangled her some
01:01:50
of her relatives like Cindy da believed him are you kidding my bet my last dollar that it wasn't him
01:02:00
I thought he was innocent you honestly did Cindy why I think it was just the growth of our relationship and how she
01:02:08
adored him absolutely adored him and it looked very mutual to everyone did she ever express any concern or fear of Dave
01:02:21
never never after being questioned by detectives Dave headed straight to his home in Delaney Park and that's where
01:02:32
Cindy found him I stood him up and turned him around and looked at his arms and there was not a scratch on him there
01:02:42
was nothing Cindy did you ever ask him Point Blank did you have something to do with the death of Shanti I did what did
01:02:50
he say no I would not kill the love of my life defense attorney Richard zeleski says
01:02:59
the problem with this case is that detectives and prosecutors were convinced from the start that Dave
01:03:05
trones was shanti's killer zeleski says the bias of the investigators is clear from the police report they've already
01:03:14
suggested that they have it figured out like bull in the china shop trying to just make this work at all cost because
01:03:20
they've done nothing to develop other suspects but vesio denies that he he says detectives checked out every
01:03:27
possible suspect and got lucky when an important lead fell into their laps a worker from Club Orlando called and
01:03:37
shared that they knew of Dave tronis because he was a patron at the club what is Club Orlando Club Orlando is a
01:03:47
same-sex bath house did Dave have a membership at Club Orlando several memberships every 6 months Dave renewed
01:03:54
his membership detectives headed to the club to investigate and found a longtime Club
01:04:02
employee who in this police recorded interview says he witnessed Dave having sex at the club I was just walking
01:04:10
through and I saw David uh he was giving oral sex to this guy from what everybody
01:04:17
who knew Shanti has said she would absolutely have not tolerated it put up with it endorse it it just just wouldn't
01:04:26
have happened there's a significant possibility that Shanti knew all about it and why do you believe that because
01:04:33
none of her family members seemed to know anything about it and and her family members seem to indicate that if
01:04:40
Shanti did know she'd be upset and and I appreciate that but uh what you tell your mom and dad about your sex life and
01:04:47
what you do uh behind closed doors you know people are people adults are adults and life is
01:04:53
messy but vesio wonders if Shanti ultimately did discover Dave's duplicity on the night she was murdered had that
01:05:02
Revelation made Shanti threaten to turn off the money spigot once and for all but she would be killed because of a
01:05:11
house well what would somebody do when they were about to lose the most important thing in their
01:05:19
life because in April of 2018 the most important thing in Dave's life was that house
01:05:27
[Music] Dave told Cindy and others that he beli Shanti may have been murdered by a
01:05:35
burglar and the defense claimed that $5,000 in cash was missing from the house also missing shanti's diamond
01:05:45
engagement ring valued at approximately $115,000 that was highly highly suspicious the detectives wanted to get
01:05:54
to the bottom of it why couldn't it have been exactly as Dave said that he leaves
01:06:00
and someone breaks into the house beats her leaves are there and Dave comes home
01:06:07
why doesn't that fit well the lack of forced entry this scene did not have any sort of evidence of a struggle there's
01:06:15
thousands of dollars of valuables that are left in plain sight a private investigator hired by
01:06:24
defense lawyers can neighbors asking them about a particular homeless man who reportedly had been seen around Delaney
01:06:32
park it was said he resembled the actor Woody harelson what about the transient that everyone describes who looks a lot
01:06:41
like Woody harelson I mean when you got nothing better you throw everything against the
01:06:46
wall and see if something sticks this home is at 218 East Copeland Drive detective Teresa sprag tracks
01:06:55
Woody down and recorded this interview and you see there's a large Blue dumpster in the driveway have you ever
01:07:02
been there no nothing placed Woody inside Dave and shanti's home but vesio says his interview shows police chase
01:07:13
down every lead including checking out her ex-husband Shanti had had a bad divorce this was not an easy end of the
01:07:23
marriage did you look look at Jim Cooper yes Mr Cooper was interviewed and Jim Cooper was eliminated as a suspect very
01:07:35
early on he had an alibi on August 29th 2018 4 months after shanti's murder Dave
01:07:44
tronis was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder and held without bail and how did the two of you react
01:07:52
when you heard that I wasn't believing it what's oever I thought they were just trying to solve a murder
01:07:59
easily I always had the suspicion Dave's arrest gave prosecutors another piece of
01:08:06
the puzzle shanti's missing engagement ring the ring is probably one of the most powerful and damning pieces of
01:08:14
evidence in this case as long as that expensive ring was missing Dave tronis could argue that a burglar had murdered
01:08:21
Shanti but the day he was arrested police found found it among his possessions we searched the room at his
01:08:29
mother's house where he was living and lo and behold we found the Rings in his suitcase in his
01:08:35
bedroom still Dave's arrest was not the end of the investigation it led to a cascading
01:08:44
series of New Revelations that surprised even a veteran prosecutor like Ryan vesio this was a case that had so many
01:08:52
twists and turns I would no longer make assumptions of anything you don't learn this stuff in law
01:09:13
[Music] school after the arrest of Dave trones invest instigators received a tip that
01:09:27
took them completely by surprise it led them to Minnesota and back in time to win a much younger Dave was married to a
01:09:37
woman named Carol former close friends of Carol told detectives that they believed Dave may have been poisoning
01:09:45
her as soon as Carol got married to Dave she started suffering a bunch of unknown
01:09:51
health issues that made prosecutor Ryan vesio wonder if Shanti could have been poisoned in shanti's case she had
01:10:01
appendicitis and had to have an appendectomy Shanti had had that emergency appendectomy 8 weeks before
01:10:08
her death appendicitis and poisoning have similar symptoms and Dave told detectives that Shanti had digestion
01:10:16
problems right up to the day she died she hasn't found since the abony a diet that she can beat
01:10:26
regularly and feel good vesio needed more information so he and detective Teresa sprag went to
01:10:35
Minnesota in November of 2018 to meet Carol face to face and recorded this interview I have issues
01:10:44
with chronic pain and immune system issues that are not necessarily definitive Carol told vesio she also
01:10:55
struggled with gut issues and that Dave cooked most of their meals has it ever come into your frame of
01:11:03
thought that your marriage to David tronis or him cooking or making you drinks was making you sick no have you
01:11:11
ever thought that any of your issues related to your health problems was him poisoning you
01:11:18
no Carol said her health issues continued even after her divorce from Dave yet V says he remains suspicious it
01:11:28
very well could have been a scenario to where Dave was providing both of them with items that caused them to be ill we
01:11:36
just could never have real concrete proof of it fesio wondered if there was another
01:11:46
reason Carol seemed to be protecting her former husband and whether it had anything to do with Dave's finances we
01:11:54
saw thousand pages of bank records belonging to Dave tronis one thing that we noticed
01:12:00
was that Dave and Carroll still had a joint bank account together that account at times contained
01:12:08
hundreds of thousands of dollars but Carol said she simply had forgotten to take her name off that account people
01:12:15
who are divorcing each other don't leave assets on the table and they sure as heck don't leave them
01:12:21
together it's unclear where that money came from V IO believes that Carol who was not charged with any crime could be
01:12:29
helping Dave manage his money while he's in jail I think that Carol is involved in David's finances and has some level
01:12:37
of control the surprises in the case kept coming soon after shanti's death detectives have placed a surveillance
01:12:47
camera pointed toward the outside of Dave's house detective sprag was interested to see who was coming and
01:12:54
going out of that house and that camera ended up actually turning into a pretty valuable piece of evidence that camera
01:13:01
captured images of private investigators hired by Dave's original Law Firm coming
01:13:07
and going detectives believe that when one of those lawyers Robert Mandel realized that the pis were on camera he
01:13:16
placed a called de vesio I never ever expected that he was going to tell me that he in fact had an him of physical
01:13:26
evidence that he had been holding on to for 11 months never would have expected it in a thousand years and what was that
01:13:33
evidence they were a set of purported bloody sheets and it literally literally took
01:13:42
my breath away that defense attorney Robert mandelle told vesio that the defense team had acquired the bloody
01:13:50
sheets from the garage apartment where Shanti was found dead but had never never turned them over to the
01:13:58
prosecution but Ryan as shocking as that is that wasn't the only evidence that later turned out was it no I ended that
01:14:07
call with the defense attorney and said listen if you have anything else now is the time to tell
01:14:18
me and about 10 12 hours later the next morning I got another call from him and that's when he said I have one other
01:14:29
item that I think we have to turn over that item turned out to be a green cord Mandel told vesio that a private
01:14:39
investigator removed it from the house and preserved it in an Evidence bag because Dave was threatening to kill
01:14:46
himself does that make sense to you no makes zero sense to me why go get the item and then treat it
01:14:57
as if it were a piece of evidence remember the autopsy revealed that Shanti had been strangled and vesio
01:15:06
believed there was a real possibility that the green cord could be the murder weapon with the prosecution now in
01:15:24
possession of that green cord tests were conducted to see if indeed it was the murder weapon used to strangle Shanti is
01:15:32
there any evidence to indicate that in fact that cord was used to kill Shanti no that cord did not have any DNA on
01:15:42
[Music] it but the cord wasn't picked up until weeks after shanti's death and authorities believed Dave had plenty of
01:15:51
time to clean it investigators had spent months examining all the evidence leading vesio to craft his own theory
01:16:00
about when Shanti was killed we found one single earring was placed on the nightstand the other
01:16:07
earring was in shanti's ear and what does that say to you that tells me that Shanti was most likely sitting on the
01:16:14
side of her bed preparing for bed taking those earrings out and that's when the attack happened the sheets and and bed
01:16:25
frame did have shanti's blood on them and Shanti didn't use her phone after 11:30 p.m. the scene was consistent with
01:16:34
this attack happening somewhere in the midnight to 23 a.m. time period but David called 911 late in the afternoon
01:16:43
saying he had just found Shanti floating in the tub ceski says investigators are
01:16:49
jumping to unfair conclusions a few hours of time off the r doesn't allow them to shift the
01:16:58
timeline prosecutors continued to build their case even as Dave sat behind bars listening to anyone who had information
01:17:06
about shanti's death no matter how surprising the source I met David Chis in three
01:17:14
whiskey three whiskey is a housing unit in the Orlando jail where Edward gizi shared a cell with Dave tronz he slept
01:17:23
next to me and I slept next to him after getting out of jail gizi met with vesio
01:17:29
and sprag he says that he and Dave began talking and bonded over a shared interest in obscure
01:17:36
hallucinogenics including sapo a poison derived from a South American frog he said that you could use sapo to
01:17:44
put in people's salsa and kill them quietly killer salsa might sound ridiculous but not so far-fetched when
01:17:54
you can consider that authorities suspected that Dave had poisoned both his wives gizi supplied even more
01:18:01
information that if true was truly damning he says Dave admitted that he and chanti had a fight before she died
01:18:11
he just said there there was an app on his phone that there was messages on that she had found apparently that
01:18:16
suggested he was having sex with men and she was going to show everybody and what
01:18:22
did Dave say he did he snapped he said he freaked out and did what he didn't specifically say that what he did but
01:18:30
that he had killed his wife investigators were unable to corroborate giz mandi's story about the
01:18:38
app we didn't have any purchase records of apps and we did not see it on Dave's phone I've read your statement and at no
01:18:49
point do I see anywhere where you had told them that David actually said I killed my wife but sitting here now you
01:18:58
said Dave told you I killed my wife yes ma'am in jail he said I killed my wife word for word is what he told me but why
01:19:07
wouldn't you tell the State's Attorney's office that I did I told him that he had
01:19:11
snapped that's the word that I used I don't remember if she had asked me did he admit to murdering her like word for
01:19:18
word like that one of the few things both the prosecution and the defense do agree on
01:19:26
is that neither is sure they can believe gizi he pled guilty to one count of lud
01:19:32
or lavious behavior and is now a registered sex offender and still on probation this individual certainly has
01:19:40
credibility issues zeleski took over Dave's defense in early 2020 after the original attorneys
01:19:50
withdrew from the case raising doubt isn't going to be difficult here but shanti's family has no doubt
01:20:01
about what should happen to Da he has to be found guilty he is guilty Cindy da who once found Dave so
01:20:12
Charming feels very differently about him now he should be sentenced to death I want him to remember when he
01:20:23
looks at me I want him to remember every lie Every Lie when Cindy remembers Shanti her
01:20:35
heart still breaks she was happy giving kind fun loving person who had a mission in
01:20:49
this life and she didn't get to fulfill it [Music] hi this is conad Rook and I'm going to talk to you about
01:21:56
social anxiety social anxiety depression it's controlling me there's people that love me I have a
01:22:04
great mom great dad but I'm still depressed we spent the day walking the beach and we had a conversation and I
01:22:16
asked him about school and he's like um I'm not sure what I'm going to do and I said you know don't worry about it
01:22:23
everything is going to be okay okay it was a nice day out with the family nothing to give any hint of what
01:22:30
was to come later in the day there was no indication anything was going on I've created a monster out of
01:22:37
myself the past few years because of my depression racing thoughts Suicidal Thoughts do you remember when is the
01:22:51
last time you saw your brother he was like going at the door I thought he was just going to his friend's house you got
01:22:58
up in the morning and how did you know he hadn't come home he wasn't there and we just like couldn't find him this is
01:23:06
not like Conrad not to come home then they found his body and around 5:30 in the
01:23:17
afternoon and he died in his truck cabon monoxide poisoning I will live with this forever
01:23:25
um the pain right away we heard from investigators that medical examiner found that it was a suicide it wasn't
01:23:35
until they started looking at his phone that they realized that there was something else going on here because on
01:23:40
that phone wor hundreds and hundreds of texts from Michelle Carter to Conrad Roy
01:23:45
urging him to end his life you can't think about it you just have to do it you said you were going to do it like I
01:23:53
don't get why you aren't and Michelle Carter admittedly said do it she was kind of making fun of him for
01:24:02
for not taking his own life I thought you really wanted to die but apparently you don't I feel played and just stupid
01:24:10
you're going to have to prove me wrong because I just don't think you really want this and she kept pressuring him to
01:24:16
do it you're ready and prepared all you have to do is turn the generator on and you be free happy no more pushing it off
01:24:27
no more waiting there was one point where he actually got out of the truck mhm and
01:24:33
changed his mind yeah he was scared and she told him to go back in the truck yes Carter charged with involuntary
01:24:43
manslaughter she faces up to 20 years in prison this is totally out of left field
01:24:48
I coached Michelle I know her as a good kid I don't believe that she has a conscience
01:24:55
she knew exactly what she was doing and what she said hang yourself jump off a building
01:25:03
stab yourself I don't know there's a lot of ways and it's the texts that become the weapon how could she cause a death
01:25:13
when she was 35 mil away in these circumstances this is almost a kin to loading the gun and handing it over who
01:25:19
knows who knows when you have your hand on the trigger when you're sending a text
01:25:29
[Music] [Music] [Music] it's not realistic what what's going in my head that keeps on piling and piling and
01:26:31
piling one month before 18-year-old Conrad Roy took his own life when the minds of many teens wandered a Carefree
01:26:39
summer days Conrad's thoughts were more serious introspective I need to be comfortable
01:26:47
with my skin sitting at his computer in his home in Fair Haven Massachusetts Conrad recorded his thoughts on coping
01:26:55
with his depression I need to relax I really do he want to excel he was just wanted to to be this like great
01:27:07
person but in my eyes Conrad's mother Lynn explains that her son could be his own toughest critic it was rough on
01:27:16
himself he really really struggle with um just disappointing I think myself and his dad
01:27:24
the sooner I like myself the better I'm going to be linroy thought her son was getting better I I
01:27:33
do have a lot going for me he was getting professional help and on an anti-depressant selaa he had been
01:27:40
licensed to be a tugboat captain like his dad that's a huge accomplishment to be a captain had just
01:27:50
graduated high school and college with a scholarship was on the horizon and he was doing everything that was positive
01:27:58
that was you know looking towards his future but on July 12th 2014 Conrad drove to a parking lot and
01:28:07
using a gasoline powered water pump sat in his pickup truck as it filled with carbon monoxide knowingly inhaling the
01:28:16
deadly fumes killing himself all the while his friend Michelle Carter then 17 was encouraging Conrad from more than 30
01:28:27
mil away on her phone to take his own life I don't want understand why you would want someone that was so beautiful
01:28:35
inside and out that had so much that was such a kind person to die how do you describe what
01:28:44
this young woman did I cannot only only she she can the intersection of the lives of Michelle
01:28:54
Carter and Conrad Roy has left a trail of heartbreak and questions about the circumstances that led to such a tragic
01:29:03
death he's one of the kindest persons he grew up very sensitive very humble and kind happy
01:29:12
child very happy many pictures of him smiling laughing until he became a teenager and I don't know if it was the
01:29:23
hormon he just you know became anxious Conrad was the oldest child in the family with
01:29:30
two sisters Morgan and Camden Lynn and Conrad's father separated when Conrad was 16 and their divorce hit him
01:29:40
especially hard I think he was just more worried about me that's what boys do they worry about their moms um a lot
01:29:47
Conrad would confide in his friend Ariana Taylor as they spent hours walking along the water he didn't really
01:29:55
wasn't able to explain it to me in a way that I could understand so he kind of just described it as a darkness and how
01:30:01
there would be times where he just kind of wanted to isolate himself from everybody Conrad's anxiety and
01:30:07
self-doubt had troubled Lynn since he was 16 he started uh having trouble sleeping and we got him treated and then
01:30:17
he had his first uh suicide attempt a year after the age of 17 Conrad had overdosed on a cedam minen I worked in a
01:30:28
psychiatric hospital and I never imagine that one of my children would um have those feelings do you think he really
01:30:37
intended to kill himself at that point he did contact a friend that friend was Ariana he told me that he was really
01:30:44
sick and that his mom had just left and that he wanted her to come back Ariana immediately got in touch with Conrad's
01:30:51
parents who brought him to the hospital he told me Mom I will never do that again he were
01:31:00
sorry and I was sorry as well that he felt that way the fact that he wanted you to call his mother what is
01:31:09
that say to you it just says that he was calling out for help that he didn't actually mean what he was doing but he
01:31:16
really needed help and that this was the only way he kind of thought that he would really get help and that help
01:31:23
seemed seemed to be working he actually was getting a lot better he told me about how he was going out and he was
01:31:29
going to like you know the high school parties and just hanging out with everybody I was like that's amazing
01:31:34
Michelle Carter was another friend of Conrad's they met in 2012 while both were vacationing in
01:31:42
Florida Conrad and his sisters were visiting relatives who happened to know Michelle how would you describe Michelle
01:31:50
friendly yeah she's really friendly she always made conad laugh as it turned out Michelle lived just a
01:31:57
few towns over from the Roy in Massachusetts and the relationship continued after the vacation but while
01:32:04
Michelle called Conrad her boyfriend his family says that she rarely saw each other and like so many teens their
01:32:13
interactions were mostly over text messages had your son ever mentioned Michelle Carter yes after they met in
01:32:23
Florida I met her 2013 at his baseball game and that was the only time I ever met her second time was at his week
01:32:30
Michelle and Conrad shared something in common that Lynn did not know Michelle had her own struggles including an
01:32:38
eating disorder and both teens at times took anti-depressants you know probably the
01:32:44
attraction was they both had their issues softball coach Ed McFarland has known Michelle Carter and her family for
01:32:50
a decade the Michelle he knows is is an ideal teammate I've never seen her do a mean thing I've never seen her be mean
01:32:59
Michelle's High School yearbook paints a picture of an active well-liked student
01:33:04
one voted Class Clown and most likely to brighten your day but that would not be
01:33:12
how her actions would be described on the last day of Conrad's life that day started out seemingly
01:33:22
happy for Conrad spend spending time with his family that morning on the 12th what was his mood like it was fine
01:33:30
he wanted to you know go to the beach with the girls while there Camden at one point noticed her brother sitting alone
01:33:38
texting did you know who he was texting with no now you think he was texting with Michelle Carter yeah but you didn't
01:33:45
know that at the time and what was his demeanor I know he I don't know he kind of seemed like anxious like when he was
01:33:52
like texting Conrad then took his sisters out for ice cream where his mood seemed to lift and
01:34:00
when you think back on that would you have ever guessed there was anything wrong that
01:34:06
afternoon no after going home Conrad left at about 6:00 p.m. telling his mother he was going to see a friend and
01:34:16
I asked him if he was going to be back for dinner and he said he didn't think so and that was the last words that he
01:34:21
spoke to me it was July 12th 2014 The Heart Of Summer in New England Conrad Roy had
01:34:35
headed out in his pickup truck around 6:00 p.m. as the evening passed Lynn checked to see when he'd be home and I
01:34:43
texted him I don't know before I went to bed maybe around 10:30 11 and then I texted him again in the middle of the
01:34:50
night Conrad didn't respond still Lynn figured everything was okay she believed he had beaten back much of his
01:34:59
anxieties that night Conrad's sister Camden unexpectedly heard from Michelle Carter that 17-year-old who had battled
01:35:08
her own mental health issues and lived about an hour away how surprised were you that you suddenly got a text from
01:35:16
Michelle and I thought she was just like just like his friend but in the text she said like we're boyfriend and
01:35:23
girlfriend now and I was just like I looked at my mom I was like they are whether Teenage Love or something else
01:35:32
Michelle was sending out the word had anyone heard from Conrad Roy and what did she text you exactly she was like um
01:35:40
hey Camden like do you know where your brother is was that unusual for him not to come home oh yeah absolutely that was
01:35:48
not like him at all it was sunrise and still not a word so in the morning I went to by Ariana's house and he wasn't
01:35:58
there and so that's when I began to search where is he what happened we went by Dad's house there's no sign of him
01:36:09
maybe an hour later I felt like like this um Rush go through my body that I've never felt in my life and I felt at
01:36:17
that point that he wasn't with me on the afternoon of July 13th police found him inside his pickup truck parked
01:36:27
at the local Kmart his cell phone right next to him and he died in his truck cbon monoxide poisoning like got in the
01:36:36
car and my mom was just like crying like the most I ever seen her Kai and she was
01:36:44
like he's gone and like she was just like your brother's gone it still hurts just as much as it did then doesn't it
01:36:54
I will live with this forever um the pain I don't get why it happened why did it happen why it happened to him and
01:37:05
Michelle seemed to take Conrad's death as hard as anyone once again a text was her choice of
01:37:13
communication this time to Lynn I am so very sorry Conrad meant so much to me no
01:37:21
one questioned the suicide died until cops got a hold of Conrad Roy's phone it would prove to be an investigation like
01:37:31
no other no gun no knife no crucial DNA in this case only this a trail of words starting with those on the cell phone
01:37:44
messages with Michelle Carter and once investigators found this dialogue they knew that there was
01:37:51
something else up and they wanted to get to the bottom of it former Boston Herald legal columnist
01:37:58
and 48 Hours consultant Bob McGovern and so this thing turned from a suicide investigation into a homicide
01:38:06
investigation Michelle seemed to be encouraging Conrad not to live but to die texts flew between the two of them
01:38:15
for more than a week right up to the moment he took his own life I'm determined I'm happy to hear that when
01:38:23
you get back from the beach you got to do it no more thinking yes no more thinking you need to just do
01:38:32
it but now with Conrad Roy dead Michelle seemed devastated acting as if his death
01:38:39
was a total surprise when it came to the funeral she sat up close to kind of where the family area was I always
01:38:46
described her seen as The Grieving widow she was just um constantly like sobbing and two
01:38:54
months later Michelle even held a fundraiser to honor Conrad in her town of planville that fall investigators
01:39:01
interviewed Michelle Carter at her high school did you do you think you had contact with him that day I think so but
01:39:08
Michelle's story was riddled with holes and police weren't buying it they poured
01:39:14
through her cell phone her text ranged from urgent to ominous like one sent to her friend Samantha Borman on July 12th
01:39:23
at 8:02 p.m. just minutes after police believe Conrad killed himself he just called me I heard moaning like someone
01:39:32
was in pain and he wouldn't answer when I said his name that text was followed by another I think he just killed
01:39:42
himself Michelle was texting her friend but what she wasn't doing was calling for help and there was at least one more
01:39:51
text found on Conrad's phone that now seems telling only moments before he died Michelle asked him this
01:40:01
did you delete the messages police would extract more than a thousand deleted text messages between Conrad and
01:40:08
Michelle some showed his fear and reluctance to take his life on the very day he died I don't know I'm freaking
01:40:16
out again I do want to but like I'm freaking out for my family but even as Conrad panicked and
01:40:25
considered abandoning his plan to die Michelle egged him on she described it to her friend Samantha that September in
01:40:33
this text Sam his death is my fault like honestly I could have stopped him I was
01:40:40
on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I effing told him to get
01:40:47
back in the road to Justice would be complicated massach etts has no law against encouraging or assisting suicide
01:40:58
and Michelle was miles away when Conrad died people don't realize in our generation texting does a lot it's like
01:41:06
having the person right there in front of you when you're texting somebody and the Supreme Court of Massachusetts seems
01:41:11
to agree in the summer of 2016 the Court ruled that even though Michelle was an hour away when Conrad Roy died she had a
01:41:20
virtual presence that night in that pickup truck it's a controversial legal Theory born out of a digital world and
01:41:28
so nearly 3 years later Michelle Carter will stay on trial in this courtroom for
01:41:34
involuntary manslaughter Michelle's attorneys fearing how the text would play advised
01:41:42
her to wave her right to a jury trial she put her fate in the hands a veteran judge Lawrence monz are you doing that
01:41:50
of your own free will knowingly and voluntarily yes see more of Michelle Carter's texts
01:41:59
to Conrad Roy on Facebook at 48 [Music] [Music] Hours she assisted and devised and
01:42:21
advised and planned his suicide inside this Massachusetts courtroom Michelle Carter now 20 years old looks
01:42:29
more like a prep school student than a criminal defendant and on July 12th 2014 as his truck was filling with
01:42:40
carbon monoxide he was scared he got out it was the defendant on the other end of
01:42:47
the phone who ordered him back in then listened for 20 minutes as he cried in pain took his last breath and died the
01:42:57
alleged weapon in this case Michelle Carter's own words what she did in theory according
01:43:04
to the prosecutors is she recklessly caused Conrad Roy's death the states case revolves around Michelle's chilling
01:43:13
text messages to Conrad as he was apparently having second thoughts the day he took his life the defendant
01:43:20
texted Conrad you can't think about it you just have to do it you said you were going to do it I don't get why you
01:43:25
aren't and then there was this 10 days before he died Michelle sent him this text message assuring him not to worry
01:43:34
about his family's feelings yeah they'll probably blame themselves for a while but they will get over it and learn to
01:43:41
accept it a notion that baffles and upsets Conrad's mother I think she needs to be uh held responsible for actions
01:43:50
cuz she knew exactly what she was doing ly Roy testified that on the last day of
01:43:55
his life Conrad was in a good frame of mind he was eating tortilla chips in guacamole on the way to the beach in um
01:44:05
July of 2014 did you ever mention he wanted to harm himself no I knew he was a little depressed but I thought he was
01:44:12
he was doing great but prosecutors contend that Michelle and her incessant texting had
01:44:21
immense influence over Conrad even though Michelle was more than 30 miles away from him when he took his life that
01:44:28
her virtual presence caused him to do it she helped him devise a plan to kill himself using a combustion engine to
01:44:35
poison himself with carbon monoxide gas Michelle sent Conrad this text message I'm not going to sleep until you are in
01:44:43
the car with a generator on yna this case is a suicide case it is not a homicide but defense attorney Joseph
01:44:52
catalo painted a very different picture the evidence of the texting is overwhelming that Conrad Roy was on this
01:45:00
path to take his own life for Years Michelle Kata was not present Michelle K had been texting with him she did not
01:45:10
physically see this individual for over one year the defense brings up Conrad's acetam menen overdose when he was 17 and
01:45:19
claims he had been suicidal for years in part because of his parents divorce and
01:45:24
he had a contentious relationship with his father and if the judge is considering Michelle's text messages he
01:45:32
should look at all the messages between the teenagers even up to a month before Conrad's Death Michelle seemed like a
01:45:40
concerned friend trying to help a socially awkward and emotionally fragile Conrad on June 19th Michelle texts
01:45:48
Conrad are you 100% positive you're never going to commit suicide be honest with me do you think about doing it no
01:45:57
I'm not in other messages she talks about wanting to take him to a therapist or a mental health hospital but on July
01:46:06
1st 11 days before his suicide text between Michelle and Conrad took a Sinister turn prosecutors let the words
01:46:15
tell the story she talked him out of his doubts Point by Point she assured him that his family would understand why he
01:46:22
did it she researched Logistics Michelle had been sending Conrad suggestions on how to kill himself for weeks hanging is
01:46:31
painless and takes like a second if you do it right but what would drive anyone to
01:46:36
send a text like that prosecutors say Michelle was desperate for friends and attention and she got it when she talked
01:46:44
about her suicidal boyfriend just days before he died she sent texts to girls she wanted to be close with in an effort
01:46:53
to get their attention and sympathy Lexi please pretending Conrad was missing do
01:46:59
you remember getting a message about Conrad being missing yes he's missing like they don't know where he is
01:47:06
prosecutors say Conrad still being alive presented a problem for Michelle she could be exposed as a liar so it was
01:47:14
important he kill himself on July 12th the night he did take his life Conrad drove to a Kmart
01:47:22
par parking lot and texted Michelle leaving now okay you can do this okay I'm almost
01:47:31
there that was the last text Conrad ever sent to anyone but there was also a 46-minute
01:47:39
phone call Michelle called him she was the last person to speak with him after that call ended Michelle
01:47:48
texted her friend Samantha I'm going to ask you to read that text message please
01:47:52
I'll loud Sam he just called me and there was a loud noise like a motor and I heard moaning like someone was in pain
01:48:00
and he wouldn't answer when I said his name I stayed on the phone for like 20 minutes and that's all I heard then 27
01:48:07
minutes later Michelle sent Samantha another text message I think he just killed
01:48:13
himself prosecutors say Michelle within hours began building a virtual Alibi knowing that he was likely dead she
01:48:22
began acting like a concerned friend sending Conrad this text message I'm scared are you okay I love you please
01:48:31
answer Michelle showed little emotion at the trial her defense relies on this psychiatrist Peter Brean to explain her
01:48:41
behavior even though he was not treating Michelle at the time he testifies that she was involuntarily Intoxicated by an
01:48:50
anti-depressant drug she started taking 3 months earlier Celexa she was IM mesed
01:48:56
in a delusion where she's thinking that it's a good thing to help him die but prosecutors completely dismiss that
01:49:05
theory she does not tell the Roy family about being on the phone with Conrad the
01:49:11
night before does she his dead body is in a car 24 hours and she withholds that information inexplicably Michelle sent
01:49:21
more than 80 texts to Conrad after he died in some she even apologizes for not saving him but it wasn't just Conrad she
01:49:30
texted the prosecution is hoping the judge pays particular attention to this text that she sent to her friend
01:49:38
Samantha a week after Conrad's body was discovered they have to go through his phone and see if anyone encouraged him
01:49:47
to do it on text and stuff they read my messages with him I'm done his family will hate me and I could go to
01:50:03
[Music] jail her actions your honor on July 12th 2014 caused the death of Conrad
01:50:18
Roy they were Reckless and she knew it a according to the prosecution Michelle Carter helped put Conrad Roy in his
01:50:27
grave it was a felony and she caused serious bily harm according to the defense she didn't know what she was
01:50:35
doing good morning she was psychotic delusional involuntarily intoxicated from taking the anti-depressant
01:50:44
Celexa Michelle K underwent an involuntary intoxication in June and July to prominent Child and Adolescent
01:50:52
Psy psychiatrist Dr Harold koplowitz that makes no sense at all though not a witness in this case he says those drugs
01:51:01
called ssris are remarkably safe they don't make you delusional they don't make you psychotic and they don't make
01:51:10
you intoxicated they don't make you drunk Dr koplowitz believes the act of texting was more mind altering than any
01:51:19
drug and the problem with texts is that it separates you it makes you feel less responsible but no amount of distance
01:51:27
can explain her behavior especially the prosecution's contention that Michelle ordered Conrad back into the truck says
01:51:35
the doctor it's very hard to understand where the man says to a friend listen I'm feeling pain I don't want to do this
01:51:45
I'm going to get out of the car there's no way to seem to make sense of the fact
01:51:51
that someone then says a friend says get back in the car and kill yourself this really has a vicious and a very very
01:51:58
malicious quality to it no matter how malicious Dr kopt says Michelle really couldn't have convinced Conrad to kill
01:52:06
himself if he hadn't already been suicidal so while Michelle could not force Conrad to kill himself she could
01:52:19
enhance his risk of killing himself she could encourage him to complete the act because he was already on his way and
01:52:26
simultaneously she could have screamed out for help which might have prevented this deadly outcome I want to recover
01:52:34
from this and I feel like I haven't recovered it from it yet I feel like I still have a long way to go clearly
01:52:42
these heartbreaking videos now posted on YouTube show a young man looking for that different outcome says Dr kopitz
01:52:51
you expose yourself like this it says please help me I've created a monster out of
01:52:58
myself past few years because of my depression sadly Conrad Roy is not alone according to the Centers for Disease
01:53:10
Control and prevention we lose approximately 4600 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 to Suicide each
01:53:20
year one reason is that teenagers are simply more prone to depression another reason they're more susceptible to peer
01:53:30
pressure which is why the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why has caused such an uproar in the show a teenage girl dies by
01:53:40
Suicide and leaves 13 recordings to other teens whom she blames I think it's one of the most dangerous programs on
01:53:48
the air right now for the simple reason that it glamorizes suicide unfortunately suicide very contagious we
01:53:56
know that teenagers who watch these kind of TV programs are more likely to think
01:54:00
about suicide or more likely to attempt suicide or more likely to commit suicide it appears that Michelle Carter
01:54:08
may have been one of those teens influenced by what she saw on TV not 13 reasons why but perhaps an episode of
01:54:16
Glee when an actor on Glee died of an overdose in real life the show wrote his death into the script listen to the
01:54:25
similarities between what the character Rachel says about the loss of her boyfriend and what Michelle later says
01:54:32
about losing Conrad I had it all planned out we would live happily ever after it's a good
01:54:43
plan did you tell him I didn't have to he knew Michelle's text to a friend after Conrad's death is almost word for
01:54:53
word I had it all planned out he knew too I didn't have to tell him he was my person Michelle writes the exact same
01:55:04
line he was my person pour her her boyfriend died they were going to get married one day and now she's The
01:55:13
Grieving girlfriend according to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it all boiled down to
01:55:20
that starring role as the grieving girlfriend the comm's position your honor is that she wanted
01:55:27
attention after 6 days of testimony closing arguments begin the defense is up first the
01:55:37
evidence actually establishes that Conrad Roy caused his own death Joe catalo reminds the judge that
01:55:45
Conrad had attempted suicide before and points to a text Conrad wrote to Michelle
01:55:54
there's nothing anyone can do for me that's going to make me want to live it's very bad to hear but I want to let
01:56:02
you know that truthfully the decision to die was Conrad's not Michelle's says catalo he
01:56:10
created this situation youan most importantly Michelle was nowhere near Conrad when he killed himself there's no
01:56:18
evidence that Michelle K has any physical actions what ever in this case with Conrad Roy's decision it was all of
01:56:27
his physical activity but prosecutor Katie Raburn gets the last word although she wasn't physically
01:56:36
present she was in his ear she was in his mind she was on the phone and she was telling to him to get back in the
01:56:43
car even though she knew he was going to die she absolutely knew it was wrong and
01:56:50
she absolutely caused the death of this 18-year-old boy and I ask you to find her
01:57:07
[Music] guilty 3 days after judge monz began his deliberations two families prepare
01:57:17
themselves for his verdict Mr Roy for the Carter family freedom is at stake for the Roy it's about Justice for their
01:57:27
son she instruct Mr Roy to get back into the truck well knowing of all of the feelings that he has exchanged with her
01:57:37
his ambiguities his fears his concerns the judge said Carter caused a dangerous environment and under
01:57:46
Massachusetts law she had a duty to save him she called no one she did not issue
01:57:53
a simple additional instruction get out of the truck Miss K please stand this court having reviewed the evidence and
01:58:07
applied the law thereto now finds you guilty on the indictment charging you with the
01:58:15
involuntary manslaughter of the person Conrad Roy III guilty this court Comm has proved a verdict that is
01:58:23
groundbreaking in terms of recognizing the deadly Power of Words but one that leaves no winners just
01:58:31
heartbreak I know we all wish that he had the opportunity to grow up into adulthood to become a tugbo captain and
01:58:38
to enjoy his future nearly 7 weeks after being convicted Michelle Carter who is out on
01:58:47
bail arrives for sentencing tell yourself where hot hostile words greet her she could face 20 years in prison
01:58:58
please remain standing for one moment while you are sworn first Conrad's father and sister recall a life cut
01:59:06
short not to take go by with without him being my first thought waking up and my
01:59:12
last thought going to bed Michelle Carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn in her
01:59:19
own well-being she has not shown any remorse where was her Humanity the prosecutor reads a
01:59:28
statement from Conrad's mother Lynn who found it too difficult to speak I do not
01:59:34
know where to begin I pray that his death will save lives someday Lynn wants to make it a crime to encourage suicide
01:59:43
I pray that a law comes so forth so that another mother does not have to endure what I
01:59:50
am I do not believe that other can go on to encourage someone to take their life
01:59:56
and it can be okay the prosecution asked that Carter serves 7 to 12 years behind
02:00:02
bars she has shown No Remorse and in fact after Conrad's death she sought attention and sympathy for herself all
02:00:10
she had to do was say get out of the car Michelle Carter does not speak at sentencing but her attorney does and
02:00:19
asks for probation m does regret what happened she also sent a letter to the probation department where she accepts
02:00:29
uh responsibility this is a terrible terrible tragedy and uh she very much regrets this and praise your honor
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Judgment of leniency then Michelle Carter learns her fate Miss Carter please stand he sentences Michelle
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Carter to 15 months behind bars a sentence that does not please the defense who appealed the conviction
02:00:54
we're asking you urana to stay the jail sentence until we can have that day in court the judge takes the request
02:01:03
seriously recognizing the significance of this case the conviction may be reversible but the time spent in prison
02:01:11
is not and then makes a stunning announcement that a grant of a stay through the Massachusetts court system
02:01:21
only is warranted a stay meaning Michelle Carter would be out on probation not in
02:01:28
jail while her appeal made its way through the Massachusetts courts it was a decision that disappointed linroy and
02:01:36
her daughters which just going to honor his life um and do it in the most best way we can we want him to be proud of us
02:01:44
all right in February of 2019 Michelle Carter's conviction was upheld Miss Carter will now be taken into custody
02:01:53
and she began serving her 15mon sentence her lawyers appealed to the US Supreme Court the court declined to hear that
02:02:01
appeal in response her lawyers issued the following statement we are deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court has
02:02:09
decided not to review Michelle Carter's wrongful conviction Lyn Roy's Focus now is on
02:02:17
changing laws what would you like there to be what kind of law I would love one in honor of him uh his name Conrad's
02:02:27
law there's people that love me I have a great mom my son mattered he matters will always matter
02:02:41
someone that had a family and future and Mom and Dad I will never get over him [Music]
02:03:11
a beautiful ballerina a troubled marriage a deadly confrontation she tells the neighbor I shot Doug in
02:03:17
self-defense was she genuinely afraid or just trying to get her away underneath those white feathers she's an evil woman
02:03:24
she's the Black Swan 48 hours Saturday at 109 Central on CBS