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A special 48 hours mystery. Four young Americans accustomed to the good life were enjoying a taste of
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paradise. >> They were on vacation and they were partying. >> Lois McMillan, their friend and artist
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was also there spending the holidays with her family at their Caribbean retreat. Then one night she never came
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home. >> 12:30. wears locks. >> The unthinkable, Lois's body was found. >> Something happened and she was out of
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fear fleeing from an attacker. >> Even more shocking, the four friends are arrested,
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charged with murder. >> No witnesses have ever placed these four men with Lois McMillan that evening.
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>> Their family say they were framed. >> There is no concrete physical evidence to tie these guys to Lois's death. Susan
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Spencer investigates. Where will the evidence lead? >> You had apparently bloodstained
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clothing. There was scratch marks on their arms. >> William Labrador, the key defendant,
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speaks out. >> We do not convict innocent human beings. >> And a dramatic new twist that will turn
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this case upside down. A 48 hours mystery. Prisoners in paradise. [Music] Welcome to 48 Hours Mystery. I'm Leslie
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Stall. Prison is the last place four American friends expected to end up when they set off on a dream vacation. But
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then, this story is full of the unexpected. For one thing, it's a case of murder in a place where such a crime
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is almost unheard of. It's a case where the tide keeps shifting right to the very end. And it's all been unfolding in
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a land where the justice system might seem a little bit foreign, even though some of the world's most respected
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investigators from Scotland Yard are on the case. Susan Spencer reports on how some Americans who went looking for an
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escape became prisoners in paradise >> for the villa and yacht set. Tortola in the British Virgin Islands is
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simply paradise. >> A place where the well-healed can mix and mingle and sail and sun on private
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beaches and private yachts. [Music] >> It's been a place of joy. We go down with a suitcase of books. We
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go to the beach. We walk the beach. We snorkel. Totally relaxing. Nothing to fear. We're
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away from all the stress. >> For more than 20 years, Josephine and Russell McMillan and their daughter Lois
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fled the cold winters of Connecticut for their villa here on Torah. >> Lois liked it. She adored her. She grew
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up there. >> My Yes. And she was well known down there. Ever since she was a child, she's been going
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there. At the end of 1999, Russell McMillan fell seriously ill. So Lois planned a longer than usual holiday stay
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with her parents. >> She was concerned when she found out about the cancer that that Christmas
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would be our last. And in fact, it was. On the evening of January 14th, 2000, 34
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year old Lois McMillan told her parents she was going to a local hangout to listen to music.
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[Music] She never came home. And at what point did you begin to get worried? >> Oh, well, starting about 12:30, 1:00,
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we're up and, you know, looking at our watch and where's Lo. >> Early the next morning, frantic, they
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call the police. They had then showed up shortly thereafter. Three of the police
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said to us that a body had been found of a drowned young woman on the other side
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of the island. Had been found in the water. >> The body turned out to be that of Lois
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McMillan. Police believe she was attacked somewhere along this deserted stretch just a few miles from where she
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last was seen. Her car was found less than a mile away at the ferry dock. Handbag and money still inside.
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Police think that after a violent struggle, she broke away from her attacker and took off across the seaw
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wall down onto the rocks, leaving behind a trail of personal possessions. A gold
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necklace, a can of mace, a hair clip, one shoe. They found her body here in the shallow water, shirt and bra pulled
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up, her breasts exposed. But the medical examiner can't say whether her attacker
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followed her down there and held her under, or whether dazed, she simply fell, hit her head, and drowned.
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>> Us [Music] together. >> Crime of any kind is rare on Torto. News of this murder shocked the island. This
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is something which is so far away from the norm here, >> especially because this victim seemed
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not to have an enemy in the world. >> She liked people and she had friends around. She knew a lot of people on the
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island. >> A warm, gentle, very nice person. >> Lois was the McMillan's only child.
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Clearly, their pride and joy. >> Oh, these are sweet. Oh, look at this. Oh, what a great picture. Now, how old
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would she have been in that one? >> Maybe about three years old. As an adult, Lois had drifted through
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careers. Once an aspiring actress, then an artist and graduate of the Parson School of Design.
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>> It's a happy painting. >> She'd recently been living at home in Connecticut. >> This is Lois's bedroom. Oh, you've got
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to tell me about that. That looks like Salvador Dolly. It does to me, too. It's just a whimsical painting that she did.
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>> That artistic whimsy often showed up in outlandish costumes. >> Well, that's her freedom outfit. This is
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a very conservative community that we live in. She was quite flamboyant for Middbury, Connecticut, but they quite
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got used to Lovas. >> But her sometimes quirky behavior did not provide either a motive or any clues
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to her murder. So, the police started retracing Lois's steps the night before her body was
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found. Lois came in uh that evening somewhere around 8:00 and change. >> She was by herself.
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>> She was by herself. >> Lois Schwarz owns the Jolly Roger and except for her killer, maybe the last
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person to have seen Lois alive. >> Somewhere between maybe 8:45, 9:30, um I was looking downstairs and I saw her
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drive out by herself. No one followed her. No cars, no people, no nothing because I was there for about 5 to 10
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minutes. >> No one knows where or when Lois met up with her killer that night. >> Guys at bars always know what people are
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thinking. What are people here on Torilla thinking? >> They're thinking that the person who
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drove her car down to the ferry dock did it and split the island that morning on
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the first ferry. >> But that is not what the police are thinking. Just hours after Lois's body
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is found, they put four suspects behind bars for murder. Four vacationing Americans more used to country clubs
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than prison cells. They are Michael Spicer, a wellto-do neighbor of Lois's on Torah, and his 23-year-old friend
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Evan George, Alex Benadetto, the son of a wealthy publisher who had dated Lois a
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few years before, and William Labrador, his best friend and partner in a New York modeling agency.
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News of the arrest electrified the island. Spicer and Labrador are well known here and their friends and family
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insist they are innocent. >> They're keeping these guys with absolutely no evidence.
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>> But these four suspects are about to find out that on the island of Torah, different rules apply when we come back.
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>> How out of the clear blue sky are you falsely accusing not only one person but
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all four of us? William Labrador >> of murder >> on trial for murder speaks out.
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[Music] >> Exciting things happen on Torah, but murder usually isn't one of them.
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There is no evidence whatsoever that associates my son Alexander Benedeta to the death of this poor girl.
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>> For wealthy New York publisher Victor Benadetto's 37year-old son, Alex, Christmas 1999 ended here
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in Her Majesty's prison. He found himself charged with killing Lois McMillan. >> A year and a half with no evidence
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whatsoever. They're not animals. You don't keep people 23 hours a day locked in like a criminals before you prove
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that they're criminals. >> The one consolation, Alex is not alone. Also charged are friends Michael Spicer,
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39, a rich law school grad from Virginia, his companion, 23-year-old Evan George, and Alex's boyhood friend
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and business partner, William Labrador, 37. He starts every letter A B D I P which means another beautiful day in
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paradise. >> Labrador's mother Barbara echoes the outrage of all the families that the
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four have spent almost 16 months in prison. >> I mean they're come to one of nature's
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little secrets. Well the underbelly of this little secret down onto a tollah is it's
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rotten. You can wind up spending over a year of your life in prison when you are totally
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innocent and they cannot come up with any evidence to prove otherwise but they do not have the integrity to
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say we made a mistake and that is frightening. >> This is one of my favorite pictures of
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William checking out the waves. >> William Labrador and Alex Benadetto grew up together. Alex spent summers in Tony
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Southampton, the Long Island resort town where William lived. Barbara Labrador says that although William grew up
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around money, the family was not wealthy. >> The whole Hampton panache, >> right,
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>> colors our family. Meanwhile, William had a paper route when he was 10 years old. My kids always worked. I've always
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worked. We are not rich by a long shot. Still, William loved the New York social
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scene. He reveled in working for an agency representing top models. And when things didn't work out at the big
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agency, he and Alex, backed by Alex's dad, started an agency of their own. In late 1999, when business was slow,
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Christmas in Torah seemed like a great idea. Once there, they hooked up with pal Mike
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Spicer, the third defendant. All stayed at Spicer's family villa, Zebra House. >> Mike's kind of larger than life person.
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He's always the center of attention at a party, great conversationalist, well read, good-looking, uh, and very
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energetic. >> Justin Cohen is Spicer's best friend. In the press, he's been described as, I
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believe the phrase is trust fun baby. Is that true? Well, there's a lot of that going around in certain circles.
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>> Certainly here. >> Uh, yes. Certainly here in Torah. >> The last defendant was Spicer's other
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house guest, Evan George. Young and handsome. >> Mike really took an interest in Evan and
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kind of took him under his wing. >> All but Evan George knew the glamorous and eccentric Lois McMillan. She lived
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just down the hill and loved to go out. They all love to party, especially at places like the Bomba Shack.
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>> They have a full moon party, and they serve this famous bomb punch, which is rum and pineapple juice and
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hallucinogenic mushrooms. So, it's quite wild. >> I mean, it seems like pretty much they
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were partying. >> Yes, they were. They were on vacation and they were partying. >> On the two nights before her death, Lois
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McMillan did go out with the four defendants to several clubs. But the men say the night of the murder
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was different. >> They had dinner at their home. >> Former New York homicide detective Jay
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Saul Peter has been hired by Alex Benadetto's family. They left at approximately 11:00, 11:00 p.m. when a
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cab driver by the name of Salow picked him up. Salow drove him right over here to an ATM machine where Alex Benadettook
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out money at approximately 11:45. >> That's stamped right on the receipt form. >> The men's defense is simple. They saying
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they never even saw Lois McMillan on the night she died. [Music] For most of the night, three of the four
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were together in public places. Only William Labrador can't prove what he did that night. His friends had dropped him
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off some distance from Zebra House to walk home after he told them he was tired.
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>> After spending the whole day hiking since 7:30 in the morning, cooking, figured a 15-hour day of recreation, was
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more than ready to go home. Now, in an interview from Her Majesty's Prison, Labrador tells his version of what
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happened that night. >> Walked back home, got dropped off at Sebastian's 11:48. >> He says he watched TV and went to bed.
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>> ESPN Tonight, the NFL Tonight, and then Learning Channel, Area 51, and called it
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a night. And that was it. And here I am. No one on the island, no witnesses have
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ever placed these four men with Lois McMillan that evening. No one. >> No one except the police who routinely
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began interviewing Lois's friends. Their search for clues led the Torlen police here to Zebra House where that afternoon
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they turned up three pair of wet sandy sneakers and a shirt with a stain on it thought to be blood. The police also
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noticed a small fresh cut on William Labrador's nose. He said he got it the previous day while hiking, but the
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officers found their explanations very suspicious. And before the day was out, they had arrested all four.
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>> Talk about your soul hitting the floor because that was where you're sitting there, you're helping out, you're
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thinking to yourself, what are they doing? And then, okay, here we are accusing you of murder. Knock knock
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knock. They have wet sneakers and a scratch on the nose. >> J Saul Peter says it was not enough
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evidence to even think of an arrest. >> You and I could knock on 30 doors right now. If we enter 28 of those homes,
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we're going to find wet sandy sneakers. >> They find a stain on a shirt that they
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believe at that time is blood. I mean, you know, it's not like they went in there and and there was absolutely
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nothing here at all. >> What appears to be blood could have been source. It could have been ketchup.
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They put four boys in jail for no reason at all. >> The defendants and their families
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charged that the police rushed to judgment out of fear that an unsolved murder would hurt Torah's image.
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>> They wanted to wrap this up quickly. Arrest somebody, preferably not a local person, and then search for evidence.
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>> The charge of murder, that's a big charge. Do you realize that this charge can bring you for a life imprisonment
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without parole? Are these four apparently cleancut young men falsely accused, or is there more to
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this story? >> I asked him whether or not he in fact had anything to do with that
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killing of M. McMillan, and he said yes. >> That's next. >> Say goodbye. Why do you make me cry?
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[Music] >> More than a year after Lois McMillan's brutal death, her parents finally will
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see these four Americans tried for her murder. >> We feel there's guilt that has to be
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proven. The truth will come out. >> But Lois's parents aren't the only confident ones today. All the boys are
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looking forward to today so we finally can get the truth out in the courtroom. >> Barbara Labrador here with her daughter
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Honey. >> Convinced of your son's innocence? >> Absolutely. No question from day one.
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>> Hopes the judge simply will dismiss the charges against her son William and his
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three co-fendants, Evan George, Alex Benadetto, and Michael Spicer. >> They know that we have done everything,
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absolutely everything. everything, including hiring a team of high-priced lawyers. Six from the Caribbean and
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three more from the United States. >> I anticipate that these boys will be released. This case should never have
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been brought. >> Facing them, the prosecutor, 35-year-old Crown Counsel Terrence Williams.
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>> Must have been a terrible way to die. Terrible way to die for her. His case against the defendants is based on an
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investigation led by Deputy Police Commissioner Johnston, a Scottish homicide detective with 30
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years experience. >> The first thing that I found unusual was that there was a female who appeared to
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perhaps have drowned who was lying face upward, which is unusual because when a person drowns naturally, they would
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normally be face down. >> From evidence found near the scene, >> we found a shoe quite close to the body.
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We found another shoe further up the beach. >> Investigators pieced together the story
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of a fight that began in Lois McMillan's car. >> It seemed as if it started with a
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quarrel in the her jeep that she suddenly left the jeep because you know you found pieces of her necklace in the
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jeep and pieces on the street and pieces on the seaside. >> Under British law, cameras are forbidden
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in the courtroom. But as the case progresses, Williams takes the entire court, all nine jurors, the judge, even
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the defendants on a dramatic tour of the crime scene. >> Something happened that she was out of
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fear fleeing from an attacker. >> She obviously was running. Obviously, was a struggle. She has cuts on her
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hands, which are self-defense cuts, perhaps grabbing a knife, somebody coming from behind her. She obviously
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went to get her mace from her handbag because it was found on the rocks on the seaside, but she obviously was
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overpowered. >> Williams believes she was trying to make it to this police station less than 150
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yards away from where her body was found. >> She was close enough to a police station, but not close enough.
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>> The jury sees the precise spot where Lois McMillan's desperate struggle ended. She was pushed head down into the
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sand >> as does her father who keeps his distance. >> So she was both being drowned and being
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affixiated by the sand. >> Meanwhile, the men Russ McMillan believes murdered his daughter bask in a
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rare moment outside prison walls, possibly their last for many years to come. Authorities think they have a strong,
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although circumstantial, case. >> You had apparently bloodstained clothing, wet clothing, damp shoes.
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There was scratch marks on their arms. One of them had it cut somewhere around about the bridge of their nose.
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>> The police collected 85 items from the house, clothing, shoes, even nail clippings.
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>> Their nails are all cut quite low, apparently quite recently, and apparently in concert. I felt that we
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had the right people, that one or more or perhaps even all of them had been responsible for her death and that there
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was circumstantial evidence at that stage. >> And Scotland Yard was even brought in.
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Tests showed that the specks on Michael Spicer's shirt were indeed blood, not barbecue sauce. The prosecution says the
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blood did not come from the defendants, but it could have come from Lois McMillan. A Scotland Yard geologist also
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inspected Spicer's sandy shoes. >> 15% of the sand on the shoes matches the sand at West End where her body was
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found. >> Plus, the prosecution says the men's stories were inconsistent. >> The men claimed that she was not there
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in the house with them, but tampons are there. In fact, the deceased when she was found dead was wearing a tampon.
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>> Finally, there's that ATM receipt the defense is using as an alibi. Prosecutors say it actually puts the
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four men in the same area as Lois McMillan at a crucial time. >> All of these things built up to sort of
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give a picture that somehow or other she had come into contact with these four men and that one of them or all of them
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were responsible for the horrible death that she met. Ridiculous, says the defense, which calls all this so-called
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evidence, like sandy shoes on an island, inconclusive and meaningless. >> There is no concrete physical evidence
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to tie these guys to Lois's death. Not a shred. Nothing. >> But the prosecution's case is more than
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physical evidence. Its biggest weapon, testimony about an alleged confession by William Labrador.
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>> Mr. Labrador asked me did I think that God would forgive him if he had anything
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to do with killing the girl. >> Jeffrey Plant, a Texas businessman in jail awaiting trial for passing bad
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checks, says that Labrador unburdened himself when the two were cellmates. >> I asked him whether or not he had
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anything to do with killing of Miss McMillan and he said yes. that they were in an argument driving along and that
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she attempted to pull into a police station here on the island. And he prevented that and one thing led to
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another and that he had taken her and and uh drowned her by putting his foot on the back of her neck.
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>> An account that directly matched the autopsy report. The information that he provided was information which we term
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as someone having unique knowledge of a crime that could only have been known to
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the person who actually perpetrated the crime. >> For the authorities, Plant pulled the
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case all together. He fingered the killer and even provided a motive. >> And I I asked him why. And what he told
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me is that it was over money and and that she wasn't any good. He told you with absolute clarity that he had killed
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Lois McMillan. >> Absolute clarity. Says >> put her put his foot on her neck. >> Correct.
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>> Until she drowned. >> Yes. >> The prosecution rests after 3 weeks. But even before the defense starts its case,
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it takes a surprising turn. >> That's next. [Music] For more than a year, four American men
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had been held prisoner on the remote Caribbean island of Torah, accused of murdering their friend Lois McMillan.
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Since it's British territory, Torah's justice system does have a lot in common with our own, but there are some key
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differences. Keep in mind that a judge can give an opinion on the evidence when instructing the jury. The prosecution
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circumstantial murder case has the families of the four defendants in an uproar. They're convinced it's a frame
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up. Susan Spencer picks up the story with the defense preparing for its turn in court, hoping to keep one year in
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prison from becoming life. [Music] For 475 days, William Labrador and his three codefendants have watched beautiful
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Torlin sunsets from their prison cells. >> You're in an environment where you cannot do anything about it. And the
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anger that could be derived where there's no release point starts eating at you as a whole.
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>> But tomorrow could change that. Tomorrow could bring freedom. It took the prosecution three weeks to
00:26:25
wrap up its case. Now, the defense wants the judge to dismiss all the charges, claiming there just isn't enough
00:26:32
evidence implicating any of the four men in Lois McMillan's murder. But the parents of Lois McMillan firmly believe
00:26:40
Tortolan Justice has found the killers of their daughter. >> At least possibly two of them were
00:26:47
really responsible for beating her to death. >> The two being Mr. Labrador and Mr. Benadetto.
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I think the McMillans wanted someone as a scapegoat. I could understand their loss. I could understand their sorrow,
00:27:04
but you do not convict innocent human beings. >> Prosecutors may have a tough time
00:27:11
convicting anyone. Results from Scotland Yards labs, far from being the slam dunk they expected,
00:27:19
are inconclusive at best. The blood and the sand are extremely circumstantial evidence. I mean, they're
00:27:27
about as circumstantial as you can get and still be admissible. >> Defense lawyer Shawn Murphy, who also is
00:27:33
a personal friend of William Labrador, scoffs at the prosecution's evidence. >> A speck of blood was found on Michael
00:27:40
Spicer's shirt. Essentially, the prosecution said that a limited DNA profile came from this blood speck, and
00:27:48
it could have been Lois McMillan, but it also could have been one in four people
00:27:51
in the world. As for the grains of sand on Spicer's sneakers, sand traced to the
00:27:56
same side of the island where Lois's body was found. >> It puts Michael Spicer on the southshore
00:28:01
of the island sometime in the last decade. That has nothing to do with anything.
00:28:06
>> Not to say that anyone's out of the woods, especially not Murphy's friend, Labrador.
00:28:12
The other three were seen partying that night. No one saw Labrador, who says he went home early to go to sleep.
00:28:20
>> Unfortunately, he was home alone that night. That doesn't make him a murderer.
00:28:24
>> Now it's all up to the court to weigh a month of evidence, hours of argument over a speck of blood, a grain of sand,
00:28:32
that alleged confession that Labrador supposedly gave to a jail house snitch. The judge takes a full 24 hours to think
00:28:39
about it all and then issues a ruling that seems to surprise even the defendants.
00:28:44
>> The judge made a ruling, directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty. He dismisses the murder charges. Three
00:28:51
down, one to go. >> Against all except Labrador. >> Here come the guys. >> After a year and a half in prison,
00:29:00
>> I felt like crying right when I was told because it's been just so long. I thought it would never happen.
00:29:05
>> Evan George, Michael Spicer, >> after 14 months, it's quite a relief, huh? But I I will be home to America
00:29:12
tomorrow, I believe. >> And Alex Benadetto are free to go. >> Finally. My god. I want to jump in the
00:29:18
ocean. I want to jump in the beautiful Caribbean Sea and have the salt water wash the uh the circumstances of the
00:29:24
prison off me. >> Boy, that feels wonderful. That is wonderful. >> Evan George never even had been out of
00:29:35
the country until his dream vacation in Torah 15 months ago. 3 days after arriving, he was behind bars.
00:29:44
>> Yeah, it was very scary experience. But as pleasant as the ocean swim is, what all three want most is to get off
00:29:53
this island. >> While the Benadettos steal away to the airport, >> the check out from the hotel will be
00:30:04
very, very brisk. >> Spicer and George catch the first ferry to St. Thomas, the US Virgin Islands.
00:30:13
A forlorn William Labrador is left behind. Although his family now seems more certain than ever that he too soon
00:30:21
will be a free man. >> No case is no case. And the only reason that this has continued for William is
00:30:30
because of Jeff Plan. >> The damning testimony of fellow inmate Jeffrey Plan that in prison William
00:30:36
confessed to the murder. I haven't killed this woman and the only evidence or so-called evidence that they have
00:30:46
is a third time parole violator. It's pretty black and white to me. >> Williams mother says the defense will
00:30:54
prove beyond any doubt that Plant is lying about her son. >> A liar is a liar is a liar. Period. No
00:31:01
exception. >> That's next. I think with these scandals, I think he was more than framed.
00:31:17
>> William Labrador is sitting in a Tortolan prison largely because of the testimony of one man,
00:31:26
>> Jeffrey Plant. >> You're absolutely telling the truth about this guy. >> Yes, I am absolutely telling the truth
00:31:31
about this. a very convincing Texan who testified that when the two shared a prison cell, Labrador told him in no
00:31:39
uncertain terms that he killed Lois McMillan. Why would he choose to tell you this, do you think?
00:31:46
>> Maybe he just wanted to get it off his chest. I I don't know. Uh it was it was
00:31:51
he was bothered by something from day one. Labrador's lead attorney, Richard Hector, is about to show a different
00:32:00
side to Jeffrey Plant. >> I mean, the man told so many ridiculous lies. >> He will pull back the curtain on the
00:32:08
prosecution's star witness and reveal Plant's far from reputable past. More weddings than Elizabeth Taylor. Shannon
00:32:17
was wife number >> 10. >> 10. >> 10. >> You've been married 10 times. Well, I've
00:32:25
been married. Yes, I've been married 10 times. >> And a wrap sheet that stretches back to
00:32:30
the early 60s. >> I mean, we're we're talking about convictions for theft or bad checks. I
00:32:36
mean, looking at your record, people would say, "Why in the world would we believe this guy?"
00:32:40
>> Since there was absolutely no benefit to me whatsoever, none. Why would I not be believed? Well, the
00:32:50
contention is that there certainly was potential benefit to you that you've had charges reduced over this.
00:32:54
>> There was absolutely Susan, no deal whatsoever offered to me. >> Defense attorney Hector knows his entire
00:33:02
case could depend on discrediting Jeffrey Plant. And he has his own star witness, Tisha
00:33:09
Neville, all the way from Texas, Plant's former parole officer. I just would hate
00:33:16
to see an innocent man go to prison because of Mr. Plant's testimony. >> She will testify that he is both a con
00:33:22
man and a professional liar. >> He's a swindler and he's left lots of lawyers with unpaid bills and there's
00:33:31
creditors, a million of them out there after him. >> As the defense rests, >> the Labradors are convinced his
00:33:39
credibility has been destroyed. >> There are no forensics. There is no evidence. So all we had to do is
00:33:46
discredit Jeff Plant. And you know, Tisha Neville did that in spades yesterday. >> Yes. God gave us an angel in uh Tisha
00:33:53
Neville. >> I know. She's unbelievable. >> But the prosecution hopes jurors will
00:33:58
focus not on Plant's shady past, but on his specific account of the murder. It actually fitted in with the
00:34:07
pathologist's um interpretation which fitted in with her own interpretation of the events and
00:34:15
you know the fact that she was held out now that prisoner could not have known that there is no way that he could have
00:34:20
known it unless somebody came and physically told him >> as the exhausting 6 week trial ends.
00:34:27
>> I haven't felt like this in so long. >> The Labradors are upbeat. >> We're going back today. We're going to
00:34:33
start packing, getting our stuff together, positive affirmation to get off this island.
00:34:39
>> Now, the judge must instruct the jury. And under this system, he is allowed to
00:34:43
tell them his opinion of the evidence. He certainly does. He says he finds some of William Labrador's story implausible,
00:34:51
but that much of Jeffrey Plant's detailed testimony could be true. With that, he sends the jury off to make up
00:34:58
its own mind. Everybody's praying. Everything is in God's hands today. >> The jury is still sitting deliberating.
00:35:07
How much longer the people here in the courthouse have to wait? No one knows. >> Afternoon turns to evening. A large
00:35:15
crowd gathers outside the courtroom. I >> just want this whole nightmare to be over.
00:35:21
>> And finally, after almost 8 hours of deliberation, >> why you have guilty? >> The jury decides.
00:35:30
guilty. >> Labador collapsed. >> They kept saying over and over, "Where's the justice? Where's the justice?" Uh,
00:35:43
>> they immediately put handcuffs on him and whisked him out the door. >> William Labrador is found guilty of
00:35:49
murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. >> We've spent 482 days to get to this
00:35:57
point. I'm sitting there waiting for not guilty. And then Mr. Labrador, life in prison.
00:36:06
And they proceed to handcuff me. My mother screams that you squat me out of there.
00:36:12
>> The judge let the jury >> The judge did not let them allow the evidence that they had asked for. Make
00:36:17
note. >> Labrador's friends and family are furious, lashing out in court at Lois
00:36:23
McMillan's parents. >> I screamed. I screamed in the court. I said, "You have done your daughter a
00:36:30
terrible disservice because somebody is still walking around this island that did this to her."
00:36:36
>> They didn't say a word. They didn't say a word. >> They know. >> I looked him straight in the eye after
00:36:42
the conviction. I looked him straight in the eye and I said, "You know what you've done."
00:36:45
>> I go, "You know what you've done." >> The McMillans had little response that night. Mrs. McMillan simply saying, "My
00:36:55
heart has been lifted." Even after the verdict, the case against William Labrador was still far from
00:37:03
over. Stay with us. It's Mother's Day 2001, and it's not a happy one for Barbara
00:37:17
Labrador. >> I never expected that I'd be leaving without him on Mother's Day. [Music]
00:37:24
She's leaving Tortoah for home, but vowing to continue to fight for her son as he begins his life sentence.
00:37:33
>> I don't know anywhere in the free world that you can go to bed at 12:15 in the
00:37:39
morning and spend 16 months in prison and then be convicted of murder. At the time, that seemed the final
00:37:50
chapter in one of Tortoah's most notorious murder cases. The island was quiet again. William
00:37:58
Labrador sat in prison and he languished there for another 2 years after his conviction.
00:38:05
Through it all, his mother, Barbara, never lost hope. >> Never give up. Never give up when you
00:38:13
are innocent. Never, never give up. Labrador faced his final shot at freedom. He appealed to the island's
00:38:24
highest court based in London. The news could not have been better. The British court threw out Labrador's conviction
00:38:32
and ordered him released. >> It will be so nice to have him with me and not having to go into a prison to
00:38:42
see him. >> In its ruling, the judges labeled Jeffrey Plant. the prison informant who
00:38:47
claimed Labrador confessed to him a compulsive liar. >> When the only way you can convict an
00:38:53
innocent person is to get a career criminal to lie, there's something wrong and that must
00:39:02
change. On April 7th, 2003, after serving almost three and a half years for Lois McMillan's murder,
00:39:12
[Music] >> 39year-old William Labrador walked out of prison, a free man out of prison
00:39:20
today. How does it feel? >> Relieved. >> Very relieved. I'm very relieved. It's been a long journey.
00:39:25
>> What has it been like for you? >> Well, from the very outset, 1179 days ago, I mean, an innocent man has been
00:39:34
sitting in prison for that period of time. It's time to go live my life again, which thank God was not taken
00:39:40
away from me. >> As William Labrador returned to New York and a new life, Lois McMillan's parents and family just
00:39:50
tried to put the case behind them. >> It's been physically, emotionally exhausting.
00:40:02
bury >> while always keeping Lois's memory alive. >> We lost a beautiful, beautiful young
00:40:10
woman gone. [Music] The rest of it is after the fact. All of it. [Music]