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[Music] [Music] Cass is a rare person. She didn't care what you thought of her. She didn't care
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if you liked her. She didn't care if she was too loud or too in your face. She just was.
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>> She was your best friend, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. For years. >> I got a pair of loose shorts. this
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t-shirt, two Essie nail polishes. >> She got into these things called haul videos where you would go shopping.
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>> I will show you what I got and then I'll tell you how much everything cost. >> Kind of spread the word about deals.
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>> 99, $7.99, $8.99, $3.50. >> She never really left >> home. I got this for my mom. I got this
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for my mom to go with the slippers. I also got this for her. >> She was always there. So, we were really
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good friends. On August 25th, 2020, Cassandra's mom, Marie Smith, got up. She left for work.
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Everything was fine. When I came home, it was clear that she had used the master bathroom to get
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ready to go. All of her makeup was in there. And then I didn't hear from her. I knew she had a shopping day planned
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and her friend Alexandra was going to be meeting with her the next day. [Music] I remember I was late by about 15
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minutes. I texted her, "Hey, where are you? Hey, I'm sorry I'm late." I got no response. I left panicked messages until
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her voicemail box was full. She never just went dark like that before. The morning of the 27th, I had texts
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from Marie that said, "Do Cass spend the night with you? Is she at your place? Are you with her?"
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"She's not with you. I thought she was with you." And that's when I realized there was something wrong. When did you
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call the police? I called them later that day. It started out like uh any other adult
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missing person case. The majority of those calls are resolved with no nefarious activity.
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Maybe she's out there. The world is so wired with cameras. There is just no way that somebody didn't see something.
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>> We're able to see the white car, >> Cassandra's car. >> Cassandra's car. You can see a subject
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getting out of the vehicle and start walking away. >> That's damning evidence. That's
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incredibly valuable evidence for us. >> You can see him walking across the street. He's dressed in all black, black
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shoes, black pants, black t-shirt, blue surgical gloves, and a black fedora. He knew something. He was involved.
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But there was something going on there we didn't know about. >> Yeah. She was keeping a secret. She
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didn't want to tell me. [Music] [Music] This is Ruby. >> I called everybody. Anybody I could
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think of. >> This is going to be complete pet haul only. >> And nobody had heard from her.
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>> This I got for $8 and change. It was $9 and change. $5.98. I was hoping that she might be alive somewhere.
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>> For Marie Smith, the realization that her daughter, Cassandra Canrell, had been missing for more than 2 days was
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almost more than she could take. >> I never thought that I'd be the person sitting here talking about my daughter.
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I wanted her found. I don't even know how to explain how wrenching it is. >> Marie's close friend, Christy Sinclair,
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says it was agony. >> This can't be happening. This isn't real. She lost her phone. She lost her
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car. She had no money. I don't know. Anything but what you don't want to think about. Anything but that.
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>> I'll show you this. I made it. This was only $5. As Cassandra's family and friends grappled with her disappearance,
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police got to work. Pierce County Sheriff's Detective France Helm was assigned to the case. His first step,
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talk to those who knew Cassandra best. How did Marie describe Cassandra? >> Normal.
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>> I thought these pajamas, they're too cute. >> Responsible. >> Yeah, responsible. She would, you know,
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call let her know, you know, where she was going. Detective Helm learned Cassandra was close with her family and
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good about staying in touch. >> They're selling these for $15. >> She enjoyed making those YouTube
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shopping videos and love being on stage. She'd even joined a local production of
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the Rocky Horror Picture Show where people act alongside the movie. >> Marie says it was a perfect fit for her
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daughter. >> She was with a group of people who were a little wacky like her. She was good
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and she was adorable. >> Sher Mueller, the show's producer, recalls Cassandra's natural talent.
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>> She was playing a character by the name of Janet Weiss. She also learned the character of Colombia.
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>> By all accounts, at the time of her disappearance, Cassandra was a happy 33year-old and not someone who would run
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off. >> This wasn't the the typical missing person that was going to come home in a
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in a couple days. Detective Helm Key canvased the area around where Marie and Cassandra lived and found on a
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neighbor's security camera a clip of Cassandra's white Mazda on the morning of August 25th. It was seen leaving the
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neighborhood. Did you see any video of the car coming back? >> No. >> As the hours ticked by with no sign of
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Cassandra, her family and friends tried to remain hopeful. It was particularly difficult for Cassandra's twin brother,
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Rob. Growing up, the two were inseparable and would stay up late at night to watch scary movies. She was
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never scared of that stuff. No. >> Wow. >> We laughed at most of it. >> Okay. She's tough girl then.
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>> Yeah. >> As they got older, their shared passion for movies evolved into collecting
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memorabilia. They even dreamed of opening their own collectible shop. >> Half price, $2. It was only five bucks.
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>> But as close as they were, Rob couldn't imagine where his sister went. And he
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was filled with remorse about their last conversation. We were having an argument. She wanted to actually come
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over on the 25th, but I ignored her. >> The 25th of August, 2020, the day Cassandra went missing.
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>> That's a big regret, I imagine, still for you. >> Yeah, cuz then she probably would have
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told me what she was doing that day, and I would have at least known where she had gone.
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Cassandra's family and friends organized searches. >> I can't imagine what that must feel like
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to be out there searching and and knowing what you could possibly be looking for.
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>> You put it in the back. You don't think about that. Just help me find a clue.
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Help me find a clue. >> And then 3 days after Cassandra vanished, police found her white Mazda
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unlocked with the keys still inside. It was almost underneath Interstate 705 which goes into the heart of the
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downtown Tacoma. >> It's an industrial area where groups of homeless people often camp.
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>> There are cars in the area. It's something happened down here. >> Strange place for a young woman to park
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a car and then go missing. >> Yeah. >> Are bells going off then? >> Yeah. Increasingly,
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>> she had clearly gotten ready to go somewhere. Where did she go? Who did she go to see? Detective Helgi had ordered
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an emergency trace on Cassandra's cell phone to try and find her last known location and he discovered her phone
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last pinged about 2 miles south of a tower on Vashon Island in the Puet Sound. One of the first things I did was
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just get on Google Earth and strike an arc from that tower to see where it lands. And it showed us landing around
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this shoreline at Owen Beach or Point Defiance Park. >> And when you're seeing this huge body of
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water, you're thinking, "We're just never going to be able to find this." >> Yeah.
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[Music] [Music] [Music] Investigators chasing that last ping from Cassandra's cell phone knew it was
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somewhere here in the vast waters of the Puget Sound which is nearly 100 miles long.
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>> What's the next step about trying to recover that? >> We debated about that because it's a
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needle in a hay stack. It's a huge body of water. >> This is the vicinity that it showed up
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as being at. >> But Detective Helm had a starting point. He knew someone likely had tossed the
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phone into the water from Owen Beach. Finding it was a long shot, but Detective Sergeant Brent Van Djk was up
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for the challenge. He brought the Pierce County Metro Dive Team out to the beach
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on a summer day. >> We got lucky with the tides that day. The tide was extremely low, so it made
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our search area a little less. >> Van Djk had a plan to dramatically reduce the area where the phone might
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be. First, he asked members of his team to throw stones from the beach to simulate how far someone could throw a
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cell phone. >> If you picture throwing something from here, it limits the distance that I
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would have to search for what he threw. >> The dive team then formed a line, essentially creating an underwater drag
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net. >> We had a boat out in the water and a line of people on snorkel that day just
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looking down. >> They were told that Cassandra's phone had a case decorated with glitter.
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This is the actual underwater footage, the dive team was in the water for little more than an hour when,
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incredibly, one of the guys on the line said, "Hey, I think I got it." They saw a sparkle.
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I think I got the phone. And it was a phone. >> The phone was sent to a specialist to
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determine if any information could be recovered. The hunt to find Cassandra was intensifying as detectives learn more
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about her. >> She felt like she could tell you pretty much everything about what was going on
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in her life, right? >> Yes. >> Even her deepest, darkest secrets, she would tell you first.
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>> Yep. >> And a month before she disappeared, Cassandra confided a secret to her best
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friend. She texted me a positive pregnancy test and said, "I think I might be Pger's."
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>> And the day she was supposed to meet Alexandra, but never showed up, it was going to be her first ultrasound.
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For Detective Fron Helm, learning Cassandra had been pregnant at the time of her disappearance changed everything.
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>> This is what is now peing my my interest. Normally in a situation where a pregnant woman disappears, you look at
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who the partner is first. >> Correct. >> Cassandra had also told her mother she was pregnant, but didn't provide
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details. >> I asked Marie, "Did she tell you who the father was?" And she says, "Well, it was
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some guy she met online or through a dating app." >> She told me it was not somebody that she
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was actually seeing and that he didn't even live in the area. It was no secret Cassandra was actively
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dating using apps like Tinder. And Marie told detectives about an old boyfriend Cassandra was still in touch with, Colin
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Dudley. The two had dated back in 2006 while in the Rocky Horror acting group, the show's producer, Sher Mueller. Colin
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played a character called the criminologist on stage outside of the stage when he
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wasn't performing. He was the head of tech and he kind of ran the cast. But after dating for several months,
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Colin and Cassandra broke up. Colin started a relationship with another cast member, Rebecca Fiser, and
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the two eventually moved in together. Steve Ammon hung out at their home regularly to play a game called Dungeons
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and Dragons. >> Explain what Dungeons and Dragons is. It's not a board game, right?
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>> No, not a traditional board game. Uh, it's more of a theater of the mind type
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gameplay. Doing things that you wouldn't normally do in real life. A role play a
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wizard, a rogue, a fighter. The game always took place in Colin's basement. >> Colin was kind of the dungeon master of
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it, the one who ran the show. >> And Steve liked being around him. Colin was quick to help if someone needed
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money, he says. And he still remembers the meals Colin cooked for game nights. >> He was a chef by profession, so it was
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nice food. >> In 2014, after Colin's father died, he rekindled a friendship with Cassandra.
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She assured me, you know, that she was just there to be a friend. She's like, "He's got a girlfriend."
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>> According to Marie, Cassandra and Colin would sometimes watch movies or grab a
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bite to eat. At some point, Alexandra says even though Colin was living with Rebecca,
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his relationship with Cassandra once again turned romantic. And Cassandra told Alexandra that Colin
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was the father of her baby. >> She was very excited. She talked about, you know, names and games she wanted at
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the baby shower. She She had a Amazon registry already made. Cassandra's only hesitation whether she should tell
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Colin. He was with Rebecca and had mentioned he didn't want to have kids, but Alexandra says Cassandra did tell
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Colin she was pregnant and he was okay with it. She called me and uh she said, "Well, I told him and it went better
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than expected." He was calm and said not to worry about it and that they would talk.
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>> Detective Helm wondered if Colin knew where Cassandra was. >> We're just trying to follow up with
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people who knew Cassandra. You know, places she likes to go that we could maybe look.
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Colin sat and talked with Detective Helm on his front porch and the conversation
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was recorded. >> This is a recorded statement we're going to be taken from Colin Patrick Dudley.
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>> So, you know, we just kind of begin with just simple, hey, tell us about you and
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Cassandra. How did you meet? >> I met her at the Rocky Horror Picture Show. We were in a relationship for a
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couple of months and then we broke up in 2006. I then started kind of running some of these things by him that that
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people were telling me, >> talking to other people, talking to to Cassandra's family and some other
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friends, they reported that she was about 10 weeks pregnant. And what we've been hearing is that she's been telling
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people that you are the father. >> No way. No. Hell no. Colin was adamant he and Cassandra were
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not in a relationship and he was most definitely not the father of her child. >> Asked him, "Are you sure?" You know, no
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one night stands, no, you know, hookups after the fact or anything like that. No, absolutely not, he says.
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>> In fact, Colin insisted he hadn't seen or spoken to Cassandra since they broke
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up back in 2006, except once when he ran into her at the mall. Do you have any no contact with her? No
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messages or no Facebook or anything? >> No. >> Hel believed Colin was lying, but could
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he prove it? It turned out a clue to finding the answer was in Marie's paperwork.
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[Music] Detective Helm believed Colin Dudley was lying when he said he had not seen or
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spoken to Cassandra for years. But it was Cassandra's mother, Marie, who provided some proof. She had been
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combing through Cassandra's old phone bills where she noticed a mystery number that kept reappearing.
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>> We didn't know whose it was because it didn't have a name attached to it. going
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back how far in the past? >> Oh, we looked back months and months, you know, as far back as we could see.
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This number kept popping up. >> And the last time it popped up, Marie told Detective Helm, was the morning
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Cassandra disappeared. >> I said, "So, okay. So, what what's that number?" And she tells me, I immediately
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know it's Collins. Helmkkey wanted forensic investigators to take a closer look at Dudley's phone,
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which Detective Helm had taken when they had met on Dudley's front porch. >> I told him, you know, I have a warrant
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to seize your phone. I read him the warrant, grabbed the phone, and we left. >> Investigators later obtained the phone
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records for both Cassandra and Collins phones. They were turned over to Detective Ryan Sammon, the cell phone
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forensics analyst for the sheriff's department. Salmon noticed something curious. The
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name Cassandra never appeared in Colin's phone. >> What name was he using right >> for Cassandra?
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>> He had it under Velma. >> Why Velma? >> We learned later through Cassandra's mother that
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she had gone as Velma from Scooby-Doo as a Halloween costume. And it's likely Sammon said that Colin Dudley did not
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want his live-in girlfriend to know he was still in touch with Cassandra. Even without the information from her
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waterlogged phone, Salmon was able to see when and where she and Colin interacted simply by having those phone
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records. >> It's extremely helpful in determining where somebody was during a critical
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time frame. People have a cell phone with them almost all day, every day. The phone records showed Cassandra's
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white Mazda driving to the spot where it was found. But had Cassandra or someone
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else parked it there? Detective Heli knew the city's light rail system was nearby and asked their security people
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if they could find any footage of Cassandra's car. What they found proved crucial.
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>> We have the video you want. You need to get it down here and look at it. >> These videos have never been shown
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publicly. In this video from a moving light rail train taken the late morning of August 25th. Helm could see a man in
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a black hat walking away from where Cassandra's car was parked. Then a different camera shows that same man
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from a much closer angle. >> He'll cross right in front of this camera. So he comes walking across and
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you see >> all black, the blue gloves, the fedora, and he just sits down at the stop.
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>> The time was 11:50 a.m. The man sits for 4 minutes and then keeps walking. >> Now he gets up and continues walking.
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His face covered by some type of mask is hard to see, but based on his build and
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gate, Hel suspected that Colin Dudley was the man wearing that fedora. The detective had been told that Colin often
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had asked, demanded even that people call him hat or hatman. >> Was he always wearing a hat?
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He would put it on and switch into his persona of the hatman and preferred to be called the hatman.
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>> Alexandra McNary had heard all about it from Cassandra. >> The persona was basically the main
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character from Clockwork Orange. >> Hi. Hi. Hi there, my little drooies. >> Very
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dark. Uh, intentionally so morally dubious. >> Did you see the security video at all of
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the man in the hat? I did get to see it. And >> did you look at it and say, "That's
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Colin." >> Well, who else would it be? >> In that video from the light rail system, the man in the hat keeps walking
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right into the Tacoma Dome Station parking garage, only blocks away from where Cassandra's car was found. Heli
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asked security personnel at the garage if they had any footage. The answer was a resounding yes.
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>> They find him walking into the parking garage to a truck. >> You can see him using a remote control
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opener, gets into the truck, and then as he exits the parking garage, you can see
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pretty clearly in the video the license plate, which comes back to Mr. Dudley. That was Colin's Chevy truck, proving
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the detective said that the man in the video and Colin Dudley were one and the same.
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Detective Helmsy was convinced that Colin had done something to Cassandra and he wanted to get into Dudley's house
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immediately. >> We don't have a body. We don't have any true evidence that Cassandra is dead.
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We're still hoping maybe she is tied up in the basement. Six days after Cassandra Canrell vanished, a SWAT team
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burst into Colin Dudley's house. What do you think is the strongest piece of evidence connecting Colin Dudley to
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Cassandra's disappearance? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X. Authorities were out in force after they
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raided Colin Dudley's house, but they found no sign of Cassandra. >> Cassandra was not found inside, but
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Colin was detained temporarily for us to do the fingerprints and DNA. >> Investigators seized several items from
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the house, including Colin's Chevy Colorado truck and a black fedora. I don't know if it's the same one he's
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wearing in the video or not. There were numerous areas that they identified in the basement where there was possible
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DNA blood evidence. They said that the cadaavver dogs showed particular interest in the basement, specifically a
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brown sofa in the basement. >> Detective Helm believes something terrible had happened to Cassandra.
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Dudley had stopped talking to investigators, but his live-in girlfriend, Rebecca Fischer, a
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carpenter, agreed to sit down for an interview. Do you think he would be capable of hurting Cassandra?
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>> After a 13-second pause, >> physics would say, "Yes, he's got size and strength on her."
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>> Mhm. >> I don't think he would. No, he would not. >> And investigators could not prove
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otherwise. Dudley was free to go. >> Why can't you arrest him? >> Well, he's guilty of something, but what
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is he guilty of? >> Detective Hel wanted to know every move Dudley made on August 25th, the day
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Cassandra went missing. and he said it became clear that Dudley had hatched a wellthoughtout plot to get rid of
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Cassandra. >> He had planned this and probably was pretty meticulous in his planning.
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>> In his police interview, Dudley said that early on the morning Cassandra disappeared, he visited Costco.
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>> So, the first stop he makes is at a Costco gas station. Then he went to a second Costco to pick
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up supplies for what he had told detectives was a spring cleaning. Investigators subpoenaed receipts and
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the store provided video. Here, surveillance cameras pick up Dudley in the store around 7 a.m.
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>> This is where he said he stopped cuz he needed supplies for his spring cleaning.
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>> Correct. Yes. >> The video is so crystal clear. We think that probably the garbage sacks.
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>> Store records show that Dudley purchased a box of heavyduty trash bags. >> Goes back to his house.
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>> Right. >> Detectives say then Dudley dropped off the supplies at home and drove to the
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Tacoma Dome Station parking garage, arriving at 8:17 a.m. >> We have surveillance video for that,
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too, which shows that truck again. Now, in the back, you'll see a bike. And then
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you'll see him get out and put on a helmet and get on a bike and ride it away. >> Dudley left his truck in the garage and
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began pedaling home. It's about a 20inut ride. Investigators believe he wanted to
00:27:03
be home by 9:00 a.m. because, as it turns out, he and Cassandra had made plans at his house. Sure enough, text
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records show that Cassandra was outside Colin's house at 8:49 a.m. >> She said, "I'm a bit early. That okay?"
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>> And he says, >> he says, "Yep, come on down." And those two messages were both deleted out of
00:27:27
his phone. >> And so the two phones are then pinpointed in that same location at the
00:27:33
house for a couple of hours, >> right? For a little more than two hours, neither phone showed any movement. And
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it was during this period of time investigators believe Colin Dudley likely killed Cassandra Cantrell.
00:27:49
>> Shows you the amount of premeditation that went into planning this. >> Right.
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>> It appears investigators say that around 11:40 a.m. Dudley turned off his cell
00:28:01
phone as Cassandra's phone shows it moving away from the house. Detective Sammon says that's because Dudley had
00:28:09
her phone with him as he drove her car to the spot where he abandoned it near the light rail station. He turns his
00:28:18
cell phone off. >> Mhm. >> But doesn't turn her cell phone off and is driving around with it. What was he
00:28:25
thinking? >> Apparently he wasn't He wasn't thinking well enough. Not as smart as he thought
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he was. >> You'll see Cassandra's car. >> Is that it right there? that white wine
00:28:35
coming down. [Music] >> And then you see Dudley in the hat walking away from her car.
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Remember how he paused for a few moments and sat down? Detective Salmon believes
00:28:49
he was gathering himself after murdering Cassandra. >> I think he's just physically tired
00:28:57
because of probably how violent the incident was. Detectives say Dudley then retrieved his truck from the garage
00:29:04
where he had stashed it earlier that day, drove to Owen Beach, and tossed Cassandra's phone into the Puet Sound.
00:29:14
>> And what time roughly was that last ping? >> It was around 12:45 p.m. >> But while investigators had discovered
00:29:23
her phone in the water, they still hadn't found Cassandra. They had no idea what Dudley had done with her, but they
00:29:32
did have his Chevy Colorado truck and Heli had an idea. As an investigator, I've been exposed to different
00:29:40
technologies and we knew cars had electronic evidence contained in them. >> Almost every car or truck has reams of
00:29:49
data that can be extracted, as illustrated here. So, this is where the major break in the
00:29:56
case came through. >> You can turn your cell phone off and not necessarily be able to track, but you
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can't turn your car's black box off. >> Exactly. >> Heli got a warrant to remove the truck's
00:30:10
black box. Essentially, a computer that tracks and records nearly every move a vehicle makes. He reviewed the data,
00:30:19
which confirmed much of what they already knew from the phone records. But there was something new that caught
00:30:25
everyone's attention. The truck's black box had a record of Colin Dudley's movements on August 26th, the day after
00:30:35
Cassandra visited his house. >> And this is the next morning, >> correct? So, now we're at 6 a.m. And
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then, of course, we notice where the vehicle stops that there's a large wooded ravine.
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>> On September 22nd, 2020, Detective Sergeant Brent Van Dijk rushed to that ravine, which is 8 miles from Dudley's
00:30:58
house. It was nearly a month since Cassandra had gone missing. I uh got there first and looked over the
00:31:08
hillside and uh you could clearly see that there was a garbage can halfway down the hill.
00:31:15
You could see that the garbage can had a a bag liner and uh some ropes around it.
00:31:21
>> He also spotted blood. >> So you clearly at this point knew you had remains. >> Oh, absolutely.
00:31:32
Helm, also at the scene, wanted to make a quick identification and he knew that Cassandra had a distinctive tattoo.
00:31:40
>> I asked them to take a picture of it, so they took a picture and came walking up
00:31:43
the hill. >> Helm recognized the tattoo immediately. Cassandra Canrell was dead. Helmkey's
00:31:51
heart sank when he thought about calling Cassandra's mother. >> So, I called Marie and uh told her that
00:31:59
I had information uh that I needed to share with her. >> My first question was, "Is she okay?"
00:32:11
>> And he said, "You know, no, I'm sorry. She's not." >> Cassandra's twin brother, Rob, overheard
00:32:21
that phone call. >> The second I heard her screaming, I knew that they had found her.
00:32:28
Colin Dudley was arrested that night and later charged with firstdegree murder. Investigators felt they had built a
00:32:39
strong case. So strong that they decided not to try and retrieve the information
00:32:45
on Cassandra's waterlogged phone. The case barreled toward trial for 2 years. And then Cassandra's friends and
00:32:54
family heard that prosecutors were considering making a plea deal with Dudley. They could not believe it.
00:33:03
>> It was premeditated. It was literally coldblooded. I have no words. >> A lot of anger though.
00:33:12
>> A lot. See more evidence of how the case against Colin Dudley came together at 48
00:33:21
hours.com. [Music] [Music] She was an optimist. She never lost that even up until the end. I believe that
00:33:43
she entered his house hopeful. >> Hopeful that Colin Dudley was getting comfortable with her pregnancy. Instead,
00:33:50
investigators believe he brutally murdered her. An autopsy revealed exactly how brutal.
00:33:57
>> There were fractures, major fractures to her skull. >> So, hit over the head.
00:34:03
>> Yeah. Yeah. Many times cause of death was a blunt force trauma. Investigators say they were never able
00:34:09
to identify a murder weapon, but they did find those traces of blood, likely Cassandra's, in Dudley's basement,
00:34:17
>> basement floor, walls, a stainless steel table and the laundry room sink. >> Police suspect Colin cleaned the
00:34:28
basement multiple times after killing Cassandra and kept her body there overnight before dumping her in that
00:34:35
ravine the next morning. And they believe Colin's living girlfriend Rebecca was home during some of that
00:34:41
time. >> In thinking about, you know, Rebecca's there in the house, too. >> That was my next question.
00:34:47
>> Yeah. >> Was there any thought that she had to have been involved? >> There was no I mean, some people thought
00:34:54
that >> investigators confronted Rebecca. >> Did you have anything to do with the
00:35:00
disappearance of Cassandra on any level? >> Nope. We did not find any information
00:35:07
that she knew that it went on, that she had anything to do with it. They kept separate areas of the house. And so I
00:35:13
could see, you know, her doing her own thing and not going down the basement. >> Yeah.
00:35:20
>> But Rebecca did confirm to police that Colin never wanted to be a father. >> He does not want to be a dad.
00:35:28
Pierce County Deputy Prosecutors Brian Wasen Carerry and Patrick Vincent went to work on proving Collins guilt.
00:35:35
>> I thought this was a very strong case, at least circumstantially. I mean, oddly, it's not one in which we had a
00:35:41
great deal of physical evidence. It was a case that relied on essentially digital records,
00:35:49
>> like that video of Colin leaving Cassandra's car. Those phone records placing Cassandra at Collins house the
00:35:56
morning she disappeared and the data showing Collins truck where Cassandra's remains were eventually found. For the
00:36:05
prosecutors, it seemed like a lot, but they were concerned about convincing a jury at trial.
00:36:15
>> We don't have an eyewitness. We don't have a murder weapon. We don't have a confession.
00:36:21
So when the defense offered to accept a plea deal, the prosecutors negotiated. Eventually, Colin Dudley agreed to plead
00:36:29
guilty to murder in the first degree for killing Cassandra. The prosecutors brought the deal to Cassandra's family.
00:36:37
They were furious. >> But on November 14th, 2022, Colin Dudley formally entered his guilty plea. With
00:36:49
regard to the charge, murder in the first degree have guilty. >> Guilty. >> He was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
00:36:59
>> I I I have no words that would even encompass the frustration, anger, sadness, heartache.
00:37:07
>> Cassandra's family and friends had wanted a trial where the full story was told. They're also upset that someone
00:37:14
guilty of murdering a pregnant woman would only get 26 years in prison. >> You think the system is broken?
00:37:22
>> Very broken in this case. How is it that somebody can do what he did and not have
00:37:29
to spend his life in prison? >> It was a sentiment Steve Ammon shared. He felt betrayed by his one-time friend
00:37:37
and had even written a letter to the judge saying he should not be out at all. He won't learn from this.
00:37:45
Colin Dudley likely will get out and with good behavior, he could be free again as early as 2044.
00:37:56
>> He should never see the light of day again >> because when he gets out, he could be in
00:38:01
his early 60s. >> Yeah. And he's still got all that time to live. Cassandra's family wants to make sure
00:38:11
that no one else suffers the way they say they have. They would like a law in Washington state that if someone is
00:38:18
guilty of knowingly killing a pregnant woman, they would automatically get a life sentence.
00:38:25
>> No possibility of parole. You die in jail. Until there's any sort of resemblance of justice. I'm not letting
00:38:31
this go. And while the family wages that fight, Cassandra's twin brother is trying to
00:38:38
honor his sister in other ways she would have loved. >> You did though finally open that dream
00:38:44
that you had together. Your own store. >> Yes. And I got a big mural of her hanging in the window and then photos
00:38:52
throughout the store of her. It's a living tribute to her. The store is not far from Cassandra's
00:38:59
grave where he and his mom go to visit her. >> You know, say hi, keep her headstone
00:39:06
clean, bring her flowers. >> Do you think what life could be like with her now if she had had the chance
00:39:14
to live her life and be a mom? Yeah, I think about it a lot because she had all of these plans, you know,
00:39:25
she had all of these sweet plans. Marie says her daughter lived life to the fullest, immortalized by that
00:39:40
distinctive tattoo she had of her favorite quote. >> We don't stop playing because we grow
00:39:47
old. We grow old because we stop playing. She always had something up her sleeve.
00:39:57
She would spring little surprises on me. And that's what I miss most is just a happy presence.
00:40:10
[Music] A loving mother of two fatally shot in her home. But how? >> I knew something was wrong with this
00:40:32
case from the start. >> There were so many things that were not done. >> The father's relentless pursuit of the
00:40:37
truth. >> He just led us for 9 years. Still leading us. >> 48 hours next on CBS. Streaming on
00:40:44
Paramount Plus. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough is being
00:41:24
remembered as talented, creative, and kind. >> Sarah was an A student at the high
00:41:30
school. >> Whenever you saw Sarah, she always had a smile. >> This case is about a 16-year-old girl
00:41:39
who had the right to grow up. This case is about Sarah and everything that she should have been allowed to
00:41:48
become. It was Friday the 13th of December of 1991. Her parents were out of town for
00:41:59
her brother's soccer game. She stayed home. >> I was reluctant to leave Sarah. She
00:42:07
didn't want to come, of course, cuz she had her whole weekend planned out. So, she had a friend come over and stay with
00:42:14
her that weekend. We went to a basketball game, went and got junk food at the grocery store, a
00:42:22
little bit of fast food. You know, we're 16. We were carefree. There was absolutely nothing that would make any
00:42:30
of us think that the next morning everything would change. >> So, Saturday morning, Sarah woke up kind
00:42:40
of in a panic. >> She woke up and said, "I'm late for practice." She put on her drill team uniform and
00:42:48
ran out the door. >> She went to the school and discovered that she was early, so she parked in her
00:42:55
car and waited for the rest of her team to show up. >> Shortly after the phone call started,
00:43:06
where's Sarah? Do you know where she is? Sarah was found within an hour. >> Where was her body discovered?
00:43:19
>> So, her car was still in the parking lot. Her body was approximately 100 yards away, still on the school
00:43:25
property. Part of her clothing was removed. She had nylon stockings tied in a liature around her her neck.
00:43:36
[Music] I just remember just saying, "Not Sarah, not Sarah, not Sarah," over and over again.
00:43:46
>> The suspect is a white male, 6 feet tall, with a medium build. >> They had DNA evidence. They had
00:43:51
everything. They had witnesses. >> In that first week or so, it sounded like they had so much evidence. For at
00:43:58
least a short while, it felt like, "Of course, they're going to catch him." And then when they didn't and they
00:44:04
didn't, your expectations change. >> You don't know if it's your next door neighbor. You don't know if it's some
00:44:10
random stranger. There was that constant fear of is this going to happen again? >> We literally had a monster in the
00:44:20
community and we just we didn't know who it was. [Music] [Music] How often do you think about December
00:45:17
14th, 1991 and what happened on that day? quite a bit. It's a very traumatic thing
00:45:26
to go through. >> It's been over 30 years, but the details of that day have never faded for Drew
00:45:36
Miller. >> I had my friend spent the night at my house. We woke up that morning, watched
00:45:40
cartoons, ate cereal, left to go skateboarding. >> Drew, who was just 13 at the time, lived
00:45:46
down the street from Federal Way High School near Seattle, Washington. The school grounds have changed quite a bit,
00:45:52
right? >> Drastically, yes. The tennis court's the only thing that's still here.
00:45:56
>> Drew often took shortcuts through the school to go skateboarding, as he and his friend did that day.
00:46:01
>> We used to hop the fence right here and cut through here. It was freezing cold that day. I mean,
00:46:09
there was ice in all of the mud bubbles. We just, you know, started smashing them
00:46:14
cuz it's fun. You know, it sounds like breaking glass. That's when Drew says they noticed a man
00:46:19
in the bushes. >> Right where you see the edge of this dugout right here. That was all bushes
00:46:27
that were probably this tall. So, we couldn't see him until he stood up. He's just staring at us from the bushes.
00:46:36
That was pretty jarring. But then he just walked out of the bushes. So, then we just assumed he's just smoking weed
00:46:42
or something. The mysterious man kept to himself and walked ahead of the boys. Drew says they didn't think much of it
00:46:49
until they came across a horrendous scene. There in the bushes where the man had
00:46:57
just been was the body of a young woman. It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. The way that he left her body, she
00:47:10
clearly fought for her life. Drew says his shock turned to fear when he realized the man who was still just
00:47:18
feet in front of them was now staring directly back at him. >> Does that look still haunt you?
00:47:25
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. It's frozen in my mind. >> The boogeyman then. >> Legitimate boogeyman.
00:47:31
>> The boys raced to Drew's house and police were called to the scene. [Music] When we approached the victim on one of
00:47:40
the pieces of clothing, we saw the name Sarah. >> Detective Scott Strathy with the King
00:47:47
County Sheriff's Office was one of the first officers on the scene. >> And of course, later we found out that
00:47:54
that was Sarah Yarborough. [Music] Even for experienced investigators, [Music] this scene was really hard to deal with.
00:48:13
Just the innocent nature of this young woman in her school drill team uniform with her hot curlers still in her hair.
00:48:26
This was just pure unadulterated evil. [Music] Investigators believed this was a
00:48:36
sexually motivated murder. >> She was partially clothed. Her jacket, her undergarments, her bra had been
00:48:44
removed and placed next to her body. >> Police discovered that the car Sarah had
00:48:50
driven that morning was parked in the school parking lot about 300 ft from where her body was found. There didn't
00:48:57
really appear to be any sort of a struggle in the car itself. >> Detective John Free with the King County
00:49:02
Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit would later join the investigation. >> She had a container of orange juice that
00:49:09
she had made that morning. It was just sitting in the front seat. Nothing was tipped over. So, the question was, how
00:49:15
did she get from her car to this hill? What led her there? Sarah was one of these people that would
00:49:24
help anyone with anything at any time. And part of our working theory was, was she coaxed into following, you know, the
00:49:35
suspect? Did he say something like, "I'm looking for my lost dog," or, "I can't find my
00:49:42
car keys." Perhaps Sarah in an attempt to assist this person may have followed him to
00:49:51
that area. >> Tell me about this one. >> That was less than a week, I think, before she died. I said, "Could I take
00:50:00
your picture cuz your great grandma really wants a picture of you and your drill team?" And she goes, "Okay."
00:50:08
>> It was just too incredible to believe that it could even happen. Sarah's parents, Laura and Tom
00:50:14
Yarborough. >> I mean, who thinks that your daughter's going to be murdered? >> Tom and Laura had the excruciating task
00:50:22
of having to tell their two sons the tragic news. Sarah's youngest brother, Andrew, was just 11 years old at the
00:50:30
time. >> At that age, you probably never seen or heard your parents cry much, but that
00:50:35
that pain in the voice is very, very vivid. Sarah, who had just started her junior year in high school, had big
00:50:42
plans for her future, starting with college. >> She didn't want to go to a state school.
00:50:47
She wanted to go to a school far away. She loved to travel. >> I actually would hear her say, "I can't
00:50:54
decide if I want to be a museum curator or an engineer like my father." Yep. >> And I was always rooting for the museum
00:51:01
curator. Liberty Barnes, Christy Gutierrez, Amy Pero, and Mary Beth Tommy were some of
00:51:07
Sarah's closest friends. >> So, this was after the last day of 10th grade. And we're just kind of goofing
00:51:13
around afterwards. And that totally I mean, you can see there's Sarah right in the middle of it being goofy.
00:51:18
[Music] >> The fiery red hair. Was that her personality a little bit? >> Yes. Yeah.
00:51:26
>> She was artistic. She was creative. She was smart. She was feisty. imaginative,
00:51:32
>> all of those things. >> She would be the last one to wait for someone, always be there with a smile.
00:51:40
She would help with homework. It was her ultimate kindness. After Sarah was ripped from their lives,
00:51:49
they say their sense of safety was gone forever. You grow up getting all the safety
00:51:57
conversations with your parents and bad things can happen and it's all this sort
00:52:00
of like vague possibility out there and then all of a sudden it was like no no no no it can really happen. It really
00:52:08
did just happen. >> It was all hands on deck. The sheriff's office put everything they had into
00:52:20
solving this case as as soon as they could. >> And the killer left behind important
00:52:26
evidence. Sarah had not been raped, but the killer's DNA was found on pieces of her clothing.
00:52:34
>> There was semen found on her underwear and on her jacket. We had a full male DNA profile.
00:52:41
DNA technology was new back in 1991, but investigators hoped that DNA would someday lead them to Sarah's killer. In
00:52:50
the meantime, they had eyewitnesses. >> I thought for sure somebody would know him.
00:52:57
>> Drew and his friend, who was with him the morning they found Sarah's body, worked with police, and a sketch of the
00:53:03
man they saw in the bushes, was released to the public. Police would later release a more elaborate sketch. I very
00:53:10
vividly remember going through yearbooks going, "Okay, who looks like this sketch?" Everyone, it felt like at one
00:53:16
point was was a suspect. >> But as days went by and as leads dried up, police kept coming back to Drew and
00:53:25
his friend. >> They just made me feel like I was the only person that could help them solve
00:53:31
this. I know that wasn't the intent, like, you know, the officers are just doing their
00:53:37
best. How much pressure were you feeling? >> It's unimaginable pressure. >> And despite everyone's best efforts, it
00:53:46
would take years to find Sarah's killer. >> This case was never forgotten. [Music]
00:54:06
[Music] In early June of 1993, one and a half years after Sarah Yarro's murder, local media were there as
00:54:17
students gathered in the courtyard of Federal Way High School to honor her. >> Bill Fuller, a family friend who helped
00:54:23
spearhead the move for a memorial to remember Sarah, unveiled it with help from Sarah's younger brother, Andrew. It
00:54:29
was quite a day. A lot of tears as they looked at it and could could see Sarah in that bench.
00:54:37
>> Bill Fuller has known the Yar Bros for years and his daughter was in Sarah's class.
00:54:42
>> Sarah was fun to be around. That was probably what we missed the most is she was fun to be around.
00:54:52
The bench reads carpedium, sees the day, a mantra Sarah lived by. Encased in bronze are some of her favorite
00:55:00
possessions. Ballet shoes, a replica of Sarah's beloved dog, Gibby, and books. >> Nice that people cared about her so
00:55:09
much. >> Andrew Yarro, now an adult, admits that he struggled as a young teenager. It was
00:55:15
especially difficult to see those sketches around town of the man police believed murdered his sister.
00:55:22
>> You know, there was drawings of the person's face all over in businesses in town. You know, I do recall that quite a
00:55:28
bit. Just having that kind of a constant reminder. >> Looking back, I feel like we didn't do a
00:55:33
very good job with the boys. I think that we were so consumed by our own grief that we didn't take time to help
00:55:41
them. >> I think we didn't really know how to help them. I mean, it wasn't something
00:55:45
we had experience with. We didn't know anything about grieving ourselves or how to help them through it.
00:55:53
>> And they weren't alone in their grief. Shannon Grant, the last friend to see Sarah alive, says she lived with
00:56:02
constant regret. >> I wish we could go back and do it all over again. That I would have asked the
00:56:08
other dr members what time practice was, you know, maybe dropped her off. I mean,
00:56:13
there's a lot of the whatifs. >> The milestones were especially painful. >> There was survivor guilt.
00:56:22
>> Like, why am I filling out my college applications when Sarah wanted to go to
00:56:27
college? >> This isn't fair. >> Every joyful occasion had this >> Yes. >> sorrow that went with it.
00:56:34
>> That was There's one missing from the crowd here. Graduation Day, June 12th, 1993, was an
00:56:45
emotional day, but even more so since it fell on what would have been Sarah's 18th birthday. Laura Yarro came to
00:56:53
support her daughter's friends. >> I do not know where she found the strength to do that.
00:56:58
>> She loved that green dress, right? >> Yeah, she wore green quite a bit with her hair.
00:57:04
Lori Yarro says Sarah's friends helped ease her grief somewhat, and she thinks she filled the void for them as well.
00:57:12
>> Sometimes they would say, "Well, I'm going to date this person, and I just wanted to let you know cuz I wasn't sure
00:57:16
if Sarah would approve of this person." >> So, they would seek approval through you. You became sort of their surrogate.
00:57:23
>> Yes. >> As life slowly moved forward, investigators kept working the case. I describe it as like a relay race where
00:57:35
the baton was handed off from one detective to the next over the years and decades. I kind of refer to myself as
00:57:41
the fifth beetle in this investigation. >> By the early 2000s, investigators had
00:57:46
received over 3,000 leads, and advances in technology made them hopeful. They entered the DNA from the crime scene
00:57:54
into the recently established KODS system, a national DNA database that includes profiles of convicted
00:58:01
offenders. >> The strategy was to continually try to see if there would ever be a match while
00:58:08
also investigating leads. >> But over time, there appeared to be no match. >> For us to have DNA evidence from the
00:58:17
suspect, but not have that linked to anybody, it just didn't make sense. It it seemed hard to believe that the
00:58:25
suspect hadn't committed any other prior crimes where his DNA wouldn't be in the
00:58:29
system. >> That's when he says detectives realized they had to go in a different direction.
00:58:41
>> My name is Colleen Fitzpatrick and I'm one of the pioneers of forensic genetic
00:58:45
genealogy. In 2011, investigators reached out to Fitzpatrick to inquire about using
00:58:53
forensic genetic genealogy, the practice of using software to compare unknown DNA
00:58:58
profiles to information from public DNA databases and searching family trees to identify suspects. Genetic genealogy is
00:59:08
well known now and has been used to solve numerous cold cases, but at that time it was in its infancy. When I
00:59:16
started in this field, it didn't exist. >> Fitzpatrick says most police agencies
00:59:21
had been skeptical of this new investigative tool. >> The police thought I was crazy. You
00:59:27
know, this little old lady with a crazy idea, and I was actually almost laughed out the room,
00:59:32
>> but the King County Sheriff's Office took a chance on Fitzpatrick. >> It was for free. I just wanted to see if
00:59:38
it worked. What are you going to lose if you try something? >> The Yarros were encouraged.
00:59:44
I think it wasn't until we met Colleen Fitzpatrick that I really began to think, oh, you know, they're going to
00:59:51
find this person. >> And it didn't take long before Fitzpatrick came up with a name of a
00:59:57
possible suspect that surprised just about everyone. Everyone went, "No way. From the beginning, it was very
01:00:24
promising and the story took some really bizarre twists. In 2011, 20 years after Sarah's murder,
01:00:35
when forensic genetic genealogologist Colleen Fitzpatrick started working the Yarborough case, she traced Sarah's
01:00:42
killer's family tree back to a man named Robert Fuller, whose family had come to
01:00:47
America on the Mayflower. I found numerous matches to the name Fuller. When Fitzpatrick gave the name Fuller to
01:00:56
the King County Sheriff's Office, they immediately knew of one person with that last name. Bill Fuller, the Yarro's
01:01:05
close family friend who helped get that memorial bench built for Sarah. >> Naturally, that piqu our interest.
01:01:14
>> From the beginning, Sarah's family and friends believed Bill Fuller had nothing
01:01:18
to do with Sarah's murder. He didn't look at all like the suspect. The wrong hair color. He's short. He's not tall.
01:01:27
He just didn't fit the profile at all. Fuller's age didn't match the profile either. He's 79 years old now, but was
01:01:35
48 years old at the time of Sarah's murder, at least two decades older than the man Drew Miller described.
01:01:43
>> There was no way that I could be even remotely connected to the case. He fully cooperated with police and
01:01:52
voluntarily gave them a DNA sample. It didn't match the DNA found at Sarah's crime scene. Yet, Fitzpatrick remained
01:02:00
optimistic. >> The good news is that we came up with a possible last name to investigate, and
01:02:06
this was the first break in the case in 20 years. Fitzpatrick knew that Sarah's killer was
01:02:13
in the Fuller family tree somewhere. So, she and her team went back to work. And
01:02:18
as the years went by, she knew she was only getting closer, especially after 2018 when forensic genetic genealogy was
01:02:26
used to identify the Golden State Killer. Golden State Killer really started the big revolution. Things had
01:02:34
evolved that we had the data to work with. The technology was in place that we could go for it.
01:02:40
Then in September of 2019, Fitzpatrick's team made a breakthrough. They came up with two new possible suspects, brothers
01:02:49
Edward and Patrick Nicholas, who, as the DNA showed, were distant cousins of Bill
01:02:55
Fuller. You know, this is 8 years of on and off and looking at it, never giving up. This is it. This is exciting.
01:03:05
>> Edward Nicholas was a registered sex offender. His DNA was in the system, was
01:03:10
in Cotus. >> But Edward's DNA wasn't a match. So they zeroed in on his brother Patrick, who in
01:03:18
2019 was a divorced loner who lived a couple of towns away from Federal Way. >> We learned that he was working at a at a
01:03:25
auto parts store. Lived alone, uh, no children, no friends or acquaintances that would even visit him. Everything
01:03:33
that he did was mostly by bus. He wasn't driving. Detective Re says he discovered that
01:03:41
when Sarah was murdered, the bus route Nicholas often took happened to go past Federal Way High School. Back then,
01:03:49
Nicholas was just 27 years old and around that time looked very much like the description of the sketch.
01:03:57
>> It looked promising at that point, but we still needed to get a DNA sample from
01:04:01
him to match up to the DNA evidence that we had. So, in late September 2019, investigators came up with a plan.
01:04:13
>> We assigned a team of undercover detectives to start doing surveillance on Patrick Nicholas in the hopes of
01:04:21
obtaining a surreptitious DNA sample. >> Eventually, undercover detectives followed Nicholas to a laundromat.
01:04:28
>> They saw him go outside and smoke a cigarette. And Patrick Nicholas was seen throwing the cigarette butt on the
01:04:35
ground that was collected by our detectives. >> That's what you needed right there. That
01:04:39
cigarette butt. >> Yes. >> Actually, he dropped two cigarette butts and a napkin that fell out of his pocket
01:04:45
and all three items were collected. >> The DNA samples were rushed to the crime lab and within days, detectives received
01:04:54
the call they had been waiting for. >> The DNA matched. This was our suspect. >> Perfect match. Yes,
01:05:02
>> Patrick Nicholas was arrested. >> There were so many suspects over the years. Was Patrick Leon Nicholas ever
01:05:09
named as a suspect? >> Out of 4,000 tips, he was never named. >> I was I was pretty in shock.
01:05:20
>> The news was a relief for Sarah's family and friends, who had never given up hope
01:05:26
that they would get answers. One thing the detectives kept telling us was eventually technology is going to solve
01:05:33
this case. I trusted that and they turned out that they were right. And I remember going out to my car and
01:05:42
balling >> just balling. Finally, finally they got him. When Drew Miller, who had seen Sarah's
01:05:52
killer back in 1991, saw Patrick Nicholas's face, he says he knew they had the right person. What did
01:06:01
he look like? >> The same guy, just older. Just the same evil eyes. Those evil eyes stayed the
01:06:08
same >> all these years later. >> Yeah. >> But it was not over yet. >> Why do you think you're here?
01:06:17
>> I have no clue. During his interrogation, who am I being charged for? >> When detectives specifically asked him
01:06:25
about Sarah's murder, he gave an alarming response. >> What we're investigating is is the death
01:06:31
of a young girl named Sarah the young girl. >> Interestingly, he asked what year this
01:06:38
was. >> And that really sent up a flag. >> Why? >> Why would you ask that? He's being told
01:06:44
this is a murder case. We're wondering at this point, are there other victims? >> This is it. I'm not going to say
01:06:49
anything. >> After one and a half hours, Nicholas asked for an attorney and stopped
01:06:54
talking. But his criminal record would speak volumes. >> I am the one that got away.
01:07:20
On a quiet morning in June 1983, 8 years before Sarah's murder, 21-year-old Anne Crony was sitting by
01:07:28
her car along the Columbia River in Richland, Washington, when a man approached her.
01:07:34
>> He seemed normal, kind of friendly, actually. Just friendly. I had asked him if he'd done
01:07:41
any water skiing yet because he said he had just moved to town and he said he couldn't swim. And he said, "My name is
01:07:47
Pat Nicholas." >> After a few minutes of small talk, she became uncomfortable. >> I noticed his voice was getting shaky
01:07:56
and I told him I had to go. I went to close the door and he put a knife to my throat.
01:08:07
Everything kind of stopped at that moment. He told me to take my clothes off. >> Nicholas stuffed Anne's underwear into
01:08:17
her mouth to prevent her from screaming, forced her out of the car, and led her to the riverbank.
01:08:24
>> We got about halfway down the bank, and he told me to stop. I ran and dove in
01:08:29
the river cuz I was thinking he couldn't swim. Swam as hard as I could. >> Swam for your life. I swam for my life.
01:08:37
>> Passers by found Ann at a dock nearby and called police. As it turns out, 19-year-old Patrick Nicholas was no
01:08:45
stranger to law enforcement and had a record. He had raped two women and attempted to rape a third. He'd been
01:08:53
convicted of rape as a juvenile >> and had actually only just been out for a few months when he attacked me.
01:09:03
Days after Anne's attack, he was tracked down, arrested, and plead guilty to attempted rape. He told authorities, "I
01:09:12
realized that I have a problem concerning raping girls." At his sentencing hearing, Anne spoke
01:09:18
out. I was actually very angry and asked the judge for the maximum sentence and the judge did agree and sentenced him to
01:09:28
10 years. So I thought it was over. I thought that justice had been served. >> But Patrick Nicholas did not serve the
01:09:39
full 10 years in prison. He was released after just 3 and 1/2 years and was never
01:09:45
notified. She barely thought of him again until October 2019. >> The police knocked on my door and said
01:09:54
that there were detectives in Seattle that wanted to talk to me about a cold case.
01:09:58
>> They informed Anne that Patrick Nicholas had been arrested again, this time for
01:10:03
the murder of Sarah Yarro. >> They told me that there were similarities in the cases and
01:10:11
I was crushed. It had never occurred to me that what I escaped from was a murder.
01:10:23
>> What's more, if Nicholas had served his full prison sentence, he would have still been behind bars that December
01:10:29
morning in 1991, unable to murder Sarah Yarro. >> How angry are you to hear that he was
01:10:36
released that early? And very, it brought up a lot of the old anger and even more anger because the system
01:10:43
failed. King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Celia Lee and Mary Barbosa describe him
01:10:50
as a serial predator with a clear pattern. All of the women were approached at or near their car. He
01:10:58
would strike up conversation and then pull a knife and tell them that they needed to walk where he would order them
01:11:05
to take off their clothes and then rape them. Nicholas had also been convicted of
01:11:10
sexually assaulting a minor in 1994, three years after Sarah's murder. Five sexual assaults that investigators knew
01:11:20
of, none of which had required him to submit his DNA. So there was no record of him in the Cotus database. But in
01:11:28
pre-trial hearings, the judge ruled that Nicholas's criminal history could not be
01:11:34
entered in as evidence. She found that it would be unfairly prejuditial to the defendant.
01:11:40
>> But the prosecutors were hopeful their case was strong enough. >> All rise for the jury.
01:11:46
>> In early 2023, more than 30 years after Sarah Yarro's murder, her accused killer, now 59 years old, went on trial.
01:11:57
Sarah's childhood friends were there. >> I so clearly remember the morning before
01:12:01
the trial started just going, I don't know if I can do this. like, >> you know, I had so many different
01:12:06
emotions flowing through and it was like, "No, we need to be there." >> There was this absolute love for Sarah
01:12:13
and the Yar Bros that was so strong. >> Did you feel like they were a lifeline for you?
01:12:19
>> Yeah. Be seated. >> You weren't in it alone. You were all in it together. >> As the trial got underway, the focus was
01:12:27
on the DNA. >> What was your strategy then in trying this case? Well, we needed them to trust
01:12:33
the science. >> There was a field that was emerging called forensic genetic genealogy.
01:12:39
>> Patrick Nicholas's public defender, David Montes, challenged how forensic genetic genealogy was used to first
01:12:46
identify Nicholas. >> I want to dig into the science because >> the first time that kind of defense had
01:12:51
been used in Washington state. They used technology that is not only unproven, but just whack really. He's not the
01:12:59
person that killed Sarah. The police needed an answer more than they needed the right answer. And so they turned to
01:13:08
new, untested technology. >> Genetic genealogy is a new field. It really hasn't been tested out. Should we
01:13:17
be making important decisions based on something that is not well or deeply understood? But the prosecutors said
01:13:24
that argument was moot because Patrick Nicholas's DNA matched the DNA found at the Yarro crime scene. And Detective
01:13:32
Free says the numbers were astronomical. >> The odds were one in 120 quadrillion
01:13:38
that >> quadrillion. Yeah. >> Right. That it it was somebody else. If the numbers pointed to Nicholas's
01:13:47
guilt, law enforcement says so did evidence found at his house near the time of his arrest in 2019.
01:13:55
>> It was almost like a layer. There was no working electricity at this house. Stacks of pornography all throughout the
01:14:01
the place. We also found a newspaper from 1994 that had on his front page an article about the Sievo case. And going
01:14:11
through one of the kitchen drawers, we found a torn photograph taken from a magazine, a woman in a cheerleading
01:14:17
outfit. >> When the prosecutors showed that photo in the courtroom, the oxygen left the room.
01:14:28
>> Yeah. >> Montes downplayed their significance. >> I think both of those pieces of evidence
01:14:34
were not especially strange given the general state of his house. There were stacks and stacks of newspapers all over
01:14:41
his house. >> This is evidence tape. >> Patrick Nicholas didn't flinch as the evidence was shown, showing no emotion
01:14:49
throughout the trial. But Sarah Yarro's presence was felt, especially when now retired Captain Scott Strathy carefully
01:14:58
unpackaged and displayed Sarah's clothing that had been in storage for over 30 years. her drill team jacket,
01:15:07
shoes, sweater, even her nylon stockings. >> This was like opening a a time capsule.
01:15:14
>> All of a sudden, they were real things. They weren't even photographs. They were
01:15:19
the things she had on her body when she died. You just you sort of felt yourself
01:15:26
crumble. >> After nine long days of testimony, the case went to the jury. All eyes for the
01:15:34
jury. >> It took them just over a day to reach a verdict. >> I was shaking and like just that like
01:15:40
there was so much adrenaline and so much anticipation. >> We the jury find the defendant Patrick
01:15:46
Leon. >> Everything just dropped and it's like what? [Music] >> Why do you think it took law enforcement
01:15:54
so long to identify Patrick Nicholas as a suspect? Take a look at a timeline of the case at 48 hours.com.
01:16:07
This is the state of Washington versus Patrick Leon Nicholas. >> Sarah Yarro's loved ones had waited over
01:16:13
30 years for this moment. >> We the jury find the defendant not guilty of the crime of murder in the
01:16:21
first degree premeditated. >> Patrick Nicholas was found not guilty of the first charge premeditated
01:16:29
firstdegree murder. I remember dropping my head to my hands. I was angry. I was in disbelief
01:16:36
>> when that first one came in not guilty. I closed my eyes. >> But there were other charges and there
01:16:43
was still hope of a conviction. >> Guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. Guilty in the second
01:16:49
degree. >> Patrick Nicholas was found guilty of firstdegree murder and seconddegree
01:16:55
murder. The jury ruled both had been committed with a sexual motivation. I remember hearing the family behind me
01:17:02
cryur >> and I made eye contact with the jurors and nodded at them. You know, they got
01:17:08
it. They got it right. >> I feel so grateful for those detectives, >> for the boys, for the previous victims,
01:17:17
for every witness who took the stand. So grateful that all these people came together.
01:17:24
Two weeks after Nicholas's conviction, dozens of people who had been involved in every part of Sarah's case gathered
01:17:31
back at the courthouse for his sentencing hearing. Prosecutors asked the judge to impose extra time to take
01:17:37
into account all of Nicholas's crimes. >> The sentencing hearing was exhilarating
01:17:44
in a way that I never expected. M >> it was probably the most raw human courage I
01:17:54
have ever seen in my life. [Music] >> Sarah's death left our family broken and we've never been the same.
01:18:05
>> The pain in my father's voice over the phone telling me Sarah was dead. Person after person took to the
01:18:12
podium to say all that Patrick Nicholas had taken from them. >> Coming face to face with pure evil that
01:18:20
day has deeply impacted my entire life. >> He took her life and what was sure to be
01:18:25
a brilliant future from her. In taking Sarah, he took the innocence of every one of us
01:18:32
>> to face Patrick Nicholas and to say what they had been wanting to say to his face
01:18:37
for 30 years. Patrick Nicholas is pure evil. >> There was so much power in the room. It
01:18:45
was electric. >> And then Anne Crony, who wasn't allowed to testify at Sarah's trial, started
01:18:52
speaking. >> He just did like a double take and shuddered when Anne stood up. >> Like he saw a ghost.
01:18:58
>> Yes. >> I'm sure he didn't expect to ever see my face or hear my name ever again. We rely
01:19:04
on a system of justice that is designed to protect us from predators like Nicholas. And this system failed me. It
01:19:12
failed Sarah, her family, friends, and countless others. I asked the court to please not make the same mistake.
01:19:19
>> After everyone spoke, Judge Josephine Wigs addressed the court. And when I think about this poor child,
01:19:28
this poor child and what she experienced fighting for her life. >> Judge Wigs put her fist on the thing and
01:19:40
said, "This was a child." She kept saying that and all I could think was, >> "Oh my gosh,
01:19:46
>> that's right. >> We were children." >> Yep. Nicholas received a sentence of almost
01:19:53
46 years. For Sarah's family and friends, the sentence brought mixed emotions. I don't know that this is
01:20:01
justice. It is a verdict and it is putting someone away for something that they did. But he got 30 years that she
01:20:10
didn't get. >> It makes me mad that he was free for so many years. And who knows however many
01:20:17
other people were hurt during that time. I I don't know that we'll ever know and
01:20:21
that could have been avoided. >> Forensic genetic genealogy helped solve Sarah's case, but prosecutors say
01:20:28
similar technology could have identified Patrick Nicholas years earlier if only familial DNA searches were allowed in
01:20:37
Washington state. In a familial DNA search, an unknown DNA sample is compared against profiles already in
01:20:45
COTUS to search for possible family members. Remember, Patrick Nicholas's brother's DNA had been in COTUS for
01:20:54
years. >> The legislation just doesn't exist in this state to allow that search.
01:20:59
>> California uses it. the UK, as I understand, New York, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida.
01:21:08
>> Do you think it's time to get that law changed? >> We do. We do. >> The Yboro agree and hope that Sarah's
01:21:15
case can make a difference. >> I would like to know that other parents don't have to wait 30 years.
01:21:23
>> What do you hope her legacy is? I think her legacy is she was always someone who
01:21:30
brought people together. She's brought all the people together that attended the trial. That's the kind of person she
01:21:37
was. >> For Drew Miller, who at 13 found Sarah's body, the connections made at trial
01:21:44
finally brought him some peace. Knowing he's in prison is fantastic, but knowing
01:21:50
her family and friends is way more important to me cuz that's what's given me the actual healing that I needed.
01:21:59
>> This is probably the beginning of our junior year. >> Sarah's friends will always remain
01:22:04
bonded by the past and Sarah's stolen future. Not only was she beautiful, her soul was
01:22:11
beautiful. And the grace and the beauty that she carried and left with all of us, we won't forget her. We will never
01:22:19
forget her. [Music] >> New CBS Next. >> He's not breathing. A surgeon's girlfriend found dead.
01:22:39
>> Provided those drugs. >> Was this a case of a controlling doctor's depravity?
01:22:44
>> This was not just some simple accident. This was much more. >> A new 48 hours next on CBS and streaming
01:22:51
on Paramount Plus. [Music] What is your emergency? >> A shot fired. >> What is your name?
01:23:16
>> My name is Anor Spivey. Me and my wife in her army. I accidentally shot her. >> You accidentally shot her?
01:23:24
>> Yeah. >> Houston, please. >> Where you at, ma'am? [Music] Sir. >> Yeah. >> Back here.
01:23:35
>> All right. Where's the weapon? >> Right here. >> Stay away from it. I don't want to see
01:23:39
it in your hand. You understand? >> Where she at? >> On the floor. Yeah. >> Where you at?
01:23:44
>> His leg. >> All right. >> Show the leg. >> Okay. >> We was arguing, tussling with the gun,
01:23:50
and we had been arguing all day. >> Okay. Go ahead and put your hands behind your back. Okay. Mr.
01:23:57
>> Renard Spivey was a long time deputy sheriff and the deceased was his wife Pat or Patricia Spivey.
01:24:06
>> Spivey who also worked for a time as a TV judge show baleiff is now charged with his wife's murder.
01:24:13
>> There was a lot of publicity because he had been on a very popular reality TV
01:24:20
show Justice for All with Christina Perez. All rise. Court is now in session. >> He was the perfect person in front of
01:24:29
everybody else. I think he thought the camera was always on. >> When it comes to how your mom died, do
01:24:37
you think it was accidental? >> No. It just it didn't make sense. It didn't line up. The security cameras,
01:24:44
how important were the security cameras and the evidence? I think they were very
01:24:49
important. On the surveillance, you clearly hear the three gunshots. One, two, three. The prosecution's theory is that
01:25:01
he shot her and then shot himself to cover it up. You don't accidentally shoot someone more than once.
01:25:09
>> Was the autopsy consistent with an accidental shooting? >> Well, ultimately, I guess that's the
01:25:14
million-dollar question. >> Whose finger was on the trigger? Who was the aggressor?
01:25:20
>> She was threatening him with a gun. >> If he is the aggressor, then this is a
01:25:24
murder. If she is the aggressor, this was either self-defense or an accident. This is the 9 mm gun.
01:25:33
>> This is the actual gun. >> It's caught. Now, there is no external safety on this gun. And so any slight
01:25:43
pull of the trigger would cause it to go off. >> There was no single piece of physical
01:25:52
evidence that really conclusively pointed towards a particular verdict. >> Did you intentionally shoot your wife?
01:26:01
>> No, ma'am. I love my wife. [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] [Music]
01:26:52
It was just after 3:00 a.m. in the warm Houston summer of 2019 when first responders arrived at Renardo
01:27:02
Patricia Spivey's home and found 52-year-old Patricia dead in the closet from multiple gunshot wounds.
01:27:10
>> We can definitely see a wound in her abdomen right there. >> Okay. >> Will it be the entry point?
01:27:16
>> It it looks like it. >> We don't know if that's the only one, but that's definitely one there. There
01:27:21
signs of life. Her husband, Renard, had a bullet in his leg. He told officers the two had been arguing and fighting
01:27:28
over a gun when it fired. >> What' you shoot? >> We was tling in the chest. >> Renard Spivey, a sheriff's deputy with
01:27:38
Harris County, worked as a baiff in courts. >> You're a deputy sergeant. >> And played a baiff on TV.
01:27:47
>> All right. for justice for all with Judge Christina Perez. >> I'm giving you one more chance to tell
01:27:54
me the truth. >> Renard didn't say much more about what happened. Police detained him and had
01:28:04
him transported to a hospital. [Music] [Applause] >> Patricia's 83-year-old father, who
01:28:13
suffered from dementia, was also living with the Spy. He was sleeping when the gunshots erupted.
01:28:19
>> What? What happened? >> You didn't hear anything? >> I haven't did anything. >> I know. We just need your statement.
01:28:26
>> First responders on the scene wondered how a gun could go off multiple times by
01:28:32
accident. >> If you get shot once, you're not going to make the gun go off again.
01:28:36
>> That's what I'm saying. and why a man of Renard's size around 6'3 and weighing around 290 lbs would
01:28:45
need to struggle with his smaller wife to take control over a gun. >> Saying you're that big and you're
01:28:50
fighting for the gun. >> I don't know, but that was a big dude. That's a big dude. A big dude.
01:28:55
>> He's got a bunch of trophies inside. Bodybuilding trophies. >> Just got to call homicide. And it it
01:29:02
just doesn't it doesn't make sense, bro. It was more like what happened because like I said,
01:29:08
>> Patrina Marshall, Patricia's daughter from a previous relationship, arrived at
01:29:12
the scene. >> Did my mom do something? Did Renard do something? Like, what did somebody do
01:29:19
something to them? Like, I didn't know what to expect. >> Patrina says an officer told her mother
01:29:26
had died during a struggle with her husband. >> When he told you she didn't make it, had
01:29:31
to be very tough to hear that. was, >> but you held it together. >> I don't know. Something really weird
01:29:37
happened to me. I don't know. It's just like I just kind of shut down and everything just became really numb.
01:29:48
I still have not cried. >> Patrina says she regrets not seeing her mom for one last time.
01:29:58
>> I just didn't get that. And I'm like, man. So, she's just sitting in that closet just the whole time. So, oh my
01:30:05
god, I'm crying. >> Patrina never thought her mother's life would end this way. Her mother fell
01:30:12
quickly for Renard. >> It was like her first everything. That was her first house.
01:30:17
>> And it was Patricia's first marriage, Renard's third. >> When we met, I did like we kind of hit
01:30:24
it off and stuff like 5 years after Patricia's death, Renard shared with us his feelings for Patricia.
01:30:30
>> She was a fun person. >> She was spontaneous and she was just a beautiful person.
01:30:39
>> Renard had popped the question in 2013 after Patricia pointed at a ring she liked at a store.
01:30:45
>> Right there where the ring was said, "Come here. We'll show you." I proposed,
01:30:48
got on my knees and proposed to her. >> And if she said yes right away, >> she said yes. and we had fun. We
01:30:56
celebrated in Hawaii. >> And then they built their dream house, a 30,000 ft home with a threecar garage.
01:31:06
But within a few hours of Patricia's death, Renard found himself under suspicion for murder. At the hospital,
01:31:14
detectives wanted to interview Renard, but he refused. He would later tell us why.
01:31:20
>> At that point, had you already gotten an attorney? I had a union rep who was our
01:31:24
attorney and he came to the hospital. Union rep. We said, "Do not talk to him." >> While investigators tried to figure out
01:31:32
how exactly the shooting unfolded, the medical examiner was conducting an autopsy on Patricia. According to the
01:31:39
report, Patricia had multiple gunshot entry and exit wounds. The fatal shot piercing through her lungs and heart. 48
01:31:48
Hours consultant and former prosecutor Lisa Andrews reviewed the case for us. >> The multiple shots is definitely what
01:31:55
gives everyone a lot of pause as to why it's not an accident. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide, which is
01:32:03
an intentional killing. >> On July 29th, 2019, Renard Spivey was charged with his wife's murder. What was
01:32:13
that like for you now being behind bars for somebody who had been on the other side of the law for so long?
01:32:20
>> It was it was tough. It was real tough. What I've been through, I wouldn't wish
01:32:24
it on my worst enemy. >> Renard's twin sister, Renee Spivey Frasier, says she found out her brother
01:32:30
was arrested when she got a call from a relative. >> And I just couldn't believe what I was
01:32:36
hearing because I knew he loved her unconditionally. Renard's friend Gerald Graham, who
01:32:42
Renard has mentored over the years, couldn't believe it either. >> Like he's the big brother, the the
01:32:49
father, the uncle. >> I just want to thank y'all for all the the wellw wishes. And
01:32:55
>> I have never seen Spivey in any kind of altercation. I never seen him raise his
01:33:00
voice. Renard Spivey hired prominent criminal defense attorneys, brothers Dick and
01:33:07
Mike Darren and Mike's son Michael Darren. >> One of the things that we were able to
01:33:13
see in this case is they had a camera system in their home and I watched their relationship.
01:33:21
We wanted to see if there was anything there to provide a motive for wanting her to be harmed or dead or that there
01:33:30
was trouble in the relationship. >> It was very loving relationship as I could tell.
01:33:37
>> But yet we know on that night somebody went to bed angry. >> It looked like she went to bed angry.
01:33:44
He did not. [Music] 48 hours after he was charged with the murder of his wife, Harris County
01:34:04
Sheriff's Deputy Renard Spivey posted bond, $50,000. I was in jail probably a couple of days
01:34:13
>> and returned to the house he used to share with Patricia where investigators believed he intentionally shot her.
01:34:20
>> When you walk in that door, do the memories come flooding right back. >> Well, as soon as you go in the door and
01:34:27
then you go in the bedroom, bam, it hits you. >> Renard Spivey insists his wife's death
01:34:33
was an accident. >> I love my wife. You know, I did everything for anything. and anything
01:34:39
she wanted, I always treat her like my queen. >> But Renard never gave a statement to
01:34:45
police about how the events unfolded that night. And Patricia's family questioned the
01:34:52
circumstances around her death and why Renard was free on bond. Patricia's cousin, Cibil Shepard.
01:35:00
>> I don't think that his bond was high enough for murder. being a sheriff. I think he got a lot of uh privilege in
01:35:10
that instance. >> Patricia's loved ones call her the caregiver of the family. >> She was kind of like the glue. Her being
01:35:20
gone really is is you can you notice it that she's she's gone. >> She did anything that she could to help
01:35:28
people out. And you can see that just from taking care of her dad, you know, just taking on that responsibility.
01:35:35
Patricia worked as an executive assistant for the Methodist hospital in Houston.
01:35:40
>> She'd go visit people in the hospital. She would go take them food, send them
01:35:45
flowers. If nobody else was thinking of them, she was. >> She just was everywhere helping, taking
01:35:52
pictures, giving her time, just real social. >> She was very accomplished. >> Renard's attorney, Dick Darren, says the
01:36:01
Spibbees had a good life. >> Dude, they were very happy. They they went on cruises together. Every Friday
01:36:08
night they had a special dinner. >> How would you describe Renard Spivey? >> I mean, the idea of a general giant, his
01:36:16
size was you can't avoid seeing how big he is. >> Bernard has been a bodybuilder since his
01:36:24
20s. In the aftermath of his wife's death, he was placed under house arrest, but was allowed to continue with his
01:36:30
training. Actually during that period of time it was more therapeutic for me because I've been doing it for 40 years
01:36:37
cuz that's that's my love. >> He was also free to go to church and spend time with his family, but he
01:36:45
resigned from his career of more than 20 years with Harris County Sheriff's Department. His TV career also took a
01:36:52
hit. >> At the time of Patricia's death, I understand you were still taping. Yes.
01:36:56
>> The the Justice with Christina Perez show. But they miss say before that we were still taping. Then after that we
01:37:02
didn't do any more taping. >> Renard had portrayed the baiff for 9 years and taped more than 100 episodes.
01:37:11
>> He told us it was something his wife really liked about him. And what did Patricia think of your television
01:37:16
career? >> Oh, she loved it. She She was excited. And a matter of fact, I took her to the
01:37:22
couple of Emmys. Patricia's childhood friend, Ezra Washington, had a small part as an extra on that show and
01:37:30
remembered meeting Bernard when Patricia and Renard got together. >> You recognized him right away from from
01:37:36
his time. >> Renard and Ezra became close friends. But over time, even before Patricia
01:37:41
married Renard, Ezra says Renard was controlling with her. >> They were at Papados Friday night. You
01:37:49
know, she'd have a few and he told her, "Don't drink no more. and she said, "Why?" He was like, "Cuz I
01:37:56
said so." And she dumped him. >> The couple got back together, but their problems hardly went away, says Ezra,
01:38:06
and eventually impacted Patricia's relationship with her cousin, Cyibil. >> He didn't like Sil at all. He literally
01:38:13
just hated her. She allowed Pat to have freedom. They would go on this cruise every year and they party, have fun, and
01:38:23
they meet people from other parts of the country. >> She definitely felt, you know,
01:38:27
intimidated by the relationship, you know, that we had. Um, >> Cibil says after the couple got married,
01:38:33
Patricia distanced herself. >> It was more so trying to just put that wedge um between the two of us,
01:38:41
and it worked. I just backed off from it. I didn't want to come between somebody and their
01:38:49
marriage. >> It almost seemed like he was jealous of her relationships that he already knew
01:38:55
she had. I mean, >> he met her. >> Patrina says her mom and Renard had no business being married. She says their
01:39:02
relationship became strained once they moved into their new house. >> They argued quite a bit.
01:39:09
>> What did she complain about with him? >> Mainly it was libido. uh that he he didn't want to sleep with her and maybe
01:39:21
she thought he was taking steroids because his his whole demeanor changed and his attitude towards her changed
01:39:30
>> like mood swings, a lot of up and down. >> Yes. Patrina says her mom looked up some of
01:39:37
Renard's pills and told her she found proof Renard was using steroids. >> In the days leading up to the shooting,
01:39:46
did it seem like things had intensified? >> Yes. >> Renard says he was never controlling
01:39:52
with Patricia, but he doesn't deny there were issues in their marriage and says they began about a month before the
01:39:59
shooting. She thought I was on steroids and stuff and I trying to get her to understand that I my testosterone was
01:40:06
low and I was going to a doctor. >> Renard says a doctor had prescribed him testosterone shots. What about the
01:40:14
steroids? Were you taking steroids at that time? >> That's was the replacement. It's called
01:40:18
It's called replacement therapy. That's That's not steroids. >> Did you feel like you your moods were up
01:40:26
and down too during the time you were getting those shots? Does do the shots affect your mood?
01:40:30
>> No, never. >> Renard had already told police the two were arguing on that fatal night.
01:40:36
>> And she thought I probably was cheating on her or something because we wasn't
01:40:39
intimate anymore. >> And what' you say to her? >> I told her, "No, that's crazy."
01:40:44
>> Security footage in the Spivey's home recorded some of the couple's movements.
01:40:49
>> She is sitting at the table at one point. You walk over to her. What happened? I I when I walked over to her,
01:40:55
I was getting ready to go to bed and every time I walked over to her, she'd turn her phone down and then I was
01:41:00
trying to kiss her. I'm not kissing you. >> Renard says he was curious why Patricia
01:41:06
was hiding her phone from him. After they went to bed, thinking that his wife was asleep, he says he grabbed
01:41:13
her phone from her nightstand and brought it into the closet. >> I want to see what she was looking at.
01:41:19
And so when I grab the phone, I'm thinking she's sleep. I go in the master closet. It's dark. And it wasn't seconds
01:41:28
before, you know, pointing the gun at me. Give me my damn phone. >> Bernard says Patricia followed him into
01:41:36
the closet with a gun. >> And when I turned around and saw her finger on the trigger, I was scared for
01:41:42
my life. [Music] when I turned around, she had the gun pointed at me. >> Tension between Renard and his wife
01:42:04
Patricia turned frightening. He says, >> "I was really scared cuz, you know, put
01:42:09
your finger on the trigger unless you prepared to shoot." when Patricia threatened him with his gun.
01:42:16
>> Where do you keep your gun? >> Uh on the on the dresser. >> So it's on your side of the bed.
01:42:23
>> Yeah. >> And is it always loaded? >> It's always loaded. >> Don't you talk somebody down like as
01:42:29
your police training is to deescalate the situation? >> Well, I was afraid cuz I've never been
01:42:35
in a situation like that before. So, the best thing I knew in my training to try
01:42:39
to take the weapon away from him. >> Renard says he tried to do just that and things unfolded quickly.
01:42:48
>> When I grabbed her wrist, I grabbed the top of the weapon. She pulled back with
01:42:54
a finger on the trigger and it it went off and shot me in the leg. >> So, you got shot first.
01:42:59
>> I got shot first. >> Then what happened? I was in the process of falling down and when I tried to take
01:43:07
the weapon away from me, it went off a couple more times. >> Two more times, he says. Patricia was
01:43:15
hit in the chest and then hit by another bullet in her arm, as illustrated in the
01:43:20
CBS News animation based on defense theory. We're certain that the first shot that hit her went into her left
01:43:29
chest, through her lungs, and into her heart. We think that the second shot that hit her hit her in the right arm
01:43:38
and went basically in and out of the bicep and then into her upper right chest. >> But former prosecutor Lisa Andrews says
01:43:46
it is not certain that only two shots struck her. The medical examiner thought it was possible Patricia's wounds were
01:43:53
the result of three shots. One to the left chest, one to the right arm, and a third to her right chest.
01:44:01
>> There's a lot of controversy about how many times she was actually shot. >> One shot is an accident. Three shots.
01:44:10
>> Well, I mean, that's the question, right? >> Investigators poured over the home
01:44:15
surveillance. Three gunshots are heard clearly, >> but authorities suspected Renard
01:44:27
actually fired the gun four times. Three bullets fired at Patricia and then one Renard would have fired at himself.
01:44:36
>> Shot in the leg, >> wounding his leg to make it seem that Patricia shot him. >> Investigators identified one piece of
01:44:44
sound. You can hear it over the alarm ringing. >> Now, this next clip picks up the tap.
01:44:53
>> They say it's the gunshot recorded about a minute and a half after the three other shots.
01:45:01
>> Different sound. Different sound. >> There was a reason they say it sounds different than the others. Their theory
01:45:08
was that that that sound that fourth sound was a gunshot in a different part of the house and that was him shooting
01:45:16
himself. >> Renard Spivey denies there was a fourth gunshot. >> That wasn't you shooting the fourth shot
01:45:24
to then have >> cover up story. >> No ma'am. >> Renard's attorneys Dick and Michael
01:45:30
Darren also listened to that surveillance tape. >> It is not a gunshot. They say the sound
01:45:38
most likely is the click of another camera in the room being activated. >> And keep in mind, there were three empty
01:45:46
cartridges that were found. >> But Lisa Andrews says there were other things that could point to Renard's
01:45:53
guilt, like his call to 911. >> What is your emergency? >> Uh, shots fired. [Applause]
01:46:03
>> Okay, sir. Is there an actual patient there? Is someone miss shot? >> Yes, ma'am.
01:46:08
>> It's pretty calm. The demeanor does look pretty off to me. >> Okay. Where's the patient?
01:46:14
>> Uh they on the floor and I'm I'm shocked, too. >> They >> He doesn't say my wife or she. It's It's
01:46:22
an emotional step back from from what has happened. >> It took Renard two and a half minutes to
01:46:30
say he accidentally shot his wife. >> Yeah. My wife in the army. I accidentally shot her.
01:46:38
>> It's like he can't bring himself to say what he's done. For him not to reveal
01:46:44
that information with two decades of law enforcement training. To me, that was consciousness
01:46:52
of guilt. >> But Renard says he wasn't hiding anything. >> Well, when you traumatized and to see
01:46:57
your wife shot and you shot too at the same time, it's it's a lot. >> Mhm. Where's the gun? It's going to
01:47:07
>> you can hear the strain in his voice. So, you know he's in pain. He was confused and probably going into shock.
01:47:17
>> But there are other things on that tape that caught Andrew's attention. >> Since she is not awake and not breathing
01:47:23
normally, sir, we need to perform CPR on her. >> I said we need to perform CPR on her.
01:47:30
>> I felt this was also significant. I have no doubt he is trained in how to give
01:47:35
CPR, perform it. >> You can hear what sounds like Renard doing chest compressions.
01:47:40
>> 1 2 3 4 5. >> But a little while later, you can see on the home security cameras, Renard takes
01:47:47
a break without mentioning it to the 911 operator. >> Need to apply firm direct pressure to
01:47:52
your wounds and her wounds, but we still need to continue the CPR. >> Okay, ma'am.
01:48:00
He's on the phone with 911 holding the towel on his leg. Typically, when you're performing CPR,
01:48:09
you don't take breaks. >> Renard says he went to unlock the garage door to make sure medics could get to
01:48:16
his wife as soon as possible. >> I came right back and continue the chest compressions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
01:48:28
>> is then heard breaking down. >> Stand here, Mr. Spivey. Just keep going. You're doing great, sir. If you can
01:48:35
continue, please continue. 1 2 3 4 5 6. >> He loved her. >> Happy anniversary to you too, dear.
01:48:49
>> Happy anniversary to you. He really loved her. >> Renard's twin sister is not surprised
01:48:57
her brother was emotional. >> She lost her life and he still he was hurting. I feel something.
01:49:08
>> But Patricia's close friend, Ezra Washington, says just 2 days before Patricia died. She told him she was fed
01:49:14
up with Renard's controlling ways and his suspected steroid use, which she blamed for the lack of intimacy in their
01:49:21
relationship. >> She said, "You know what?" She said, "I'm done." She said, "I'm leaving."
01:49:31
Ezra says on the day of the shooting, he had multiple phone conversations with Renard and that Renard told him they
01:49:37
were getting a divorce. Ezra claims he confronted Renard about steroids. >> I know you're on them steroids. Okay.
01:49:45
Okay, man. I I I did I got some product from my boy cuz I wanted to get lean for
01:49:52
the cruise, but I ain't I ain't doing it no more. I said, stop lying. Ezra says he told Renard to just leave
01:50:03
the home, but Renard made a comment about Patricia not getting the house. >> I'm a sure. I'm a sure. I said, man,
01:50:11
don't be stupid. >> Ezra says he feels guilty for not reaching out to Patricia to warn her
01:50:17
that night. >> I didn't call. I regret that to this day. >> But he told authorities about his
01:50:22
conversations with Renard. I told him everything. >> As Patrina and Syibble waited for the
01:50:31
case to go to trial, they had arrived at the same conclusion with Ezra that Renard had intentionally shot and killed
01:50:40
Patricia. >> It was more or less his actions afterwards. I didn't see any remorse
01:50:45
from him. I don't think it was an accident. >> But Renard Spivey's loved ones were
01:50:50
convinced he would walk out a free man. He would never ever intentionally pull a
01:50:57
weapon to kill. I knew him. I knew he was going to get a not-uilty verdict. As Patricia Spivey's family waited for
01:51:20
their day in court, the Corona virus pandemic stalled the proceedings. 4 and a half years passed by.
01:51:28
>> That's not justice. >> Renard remained under house arrest, but after some time, his lawyer successfully
01:51:35
filed a motion to remove his ankle monitor. and Renard joined the world of dating apps.
01:51:43
>> I probably was on maybe one or two of them, but you know, you get along, you need, you know, you know, some friends
01:51:49
or something like that. >> On November 28th, 2023, Renard Spivey was back in court. This time, not as a
01:51:58
baiff, but as the accused, facing a life sentence if convicted. >> He looked totally different. you know,
01:52:05
he wasn't the the clean shaven. You know, he had the the gray beard. >> The state told the jury Renard shot
01:52:11
Patricia intentionally after she threatened to leave their marriage. >> The prosecution's theory is that almost
01:52:19
like he snapped. He was angry. They were arguing. He was being accused of things
01:52:26
by her. >> But according to Spivey's attorneys, this was simply a case of self-defense.
01:52:32
self-defense fits because she was threatening him with a gun and he grabbed her wrist and the gun in his own
01:52:40
defense. >> They say what happened next was an accident. >> It was an unintentional
01:52:47
discharge of the gun. Several discharges of the gun. when he told me what kind of gun it was.
01:52:58
I'd had experience with that particular model of a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic.
01:53:03
>> You have it right there. >> There is no external safety on this gun. So, if someone's finger is on that
01:53:11
trigger, all it takes is is a slight pressure >> slight pressure and it goes off.
01:53:17
with someone that's gripping and trying to wrestle with the gun. That's enough pressure to engage the trigger and to
01:53:25
fire the gun. >> Dick Darren says once fired, the semi-automatic reloads itself instantaneously.
01:53:33
>> It recharges in in split seconds. Each time it's fired, it's ready to fire again.
01:53:39
>> We went with Darren to the doorway of the closet in Spyy's house. >> It's a pretty sizable closet. It's like
01:53:44
a >> That's a big closet. >> Big closet. where he showed us what he says happened.
01:53:49
>> He saw that she had her finger on the trigger. With his left hand, he grabbed
01:53:55
her right wrist, >> okay? >> And put his right hand on the top of the gun to force it down. And she pulled
01:54:01
back. >> And so she >> got away from me. >> Okay. >> And when she did that, it it shot hit
01:54:07
him in the left thigh. >> And as it fell, he grabbed her again and grabbed the gun and tried to twist twist
01:54:14
it out of her hand. Uh, her left hand came off. >> Okay. Left hand comes off >> and and the gun went off again and shot
01:54:21
her in the chest. In the chest. >> Then Darren says the gun went off one more time and the third shot hit
01:54:29
Patricia in the arm. >> Her hand by that time was in relationship to her body, almost
01:54:36
vertical >> to her body. That's why when the bullet went in, it went in by her elbow, came
01:54:42
back out, went into her chest. Darren says the powder burn mark on Renard's right hand proves he grabbed the gun as
01:54:49
Patricia fired. >> When the gun fires, uh, this is where the gunpowder that's been fired comes out and that's what
01:54:58
burned his right hand. >> But there was something that puzzled the prosecutors and they raised it at trial.
01:55:04
>> Where she at? >> She's laying on the floor. In Renard's telling, he and Patricia were fighting
01:55:09
at the entrance of the closet, but Patricia's body was found deep inside the closet. Prosecutors believe it was
01:55:16
because he cornered her. >> Her body, as I understand, >> her body, >> where did it end up?
01:55:22
>> Well, it ended up uh over in about the area that you are, but then after >> And why how did it end up here?
01:55:29
>> Because that's where they fell. >> Where she fell. At trial, the defense team painted Patricia as the aggressor,
01:55:35
and they point to her internet activity that evening to demonstrate, they say, that her frustration with her husband
01:55:42
was building. At 2:49 a.m., Patricia posted this meme on Facebook. Characterize people by their actions,
01:55:50
and you will never be fooled by their words. At 2:59 a.m., Patricia is seen on camera for the last time.
01:56:01
At 3:01 a.m., prosecutors suspect Patricia had enough. And you can make out her saying the words, "It's the same
01:56:09
thing," over and over again. [Music] Maybe that's what she said. What did it mean? It's ambiguous. What is she
01:56:26
complaining about? Over and over again. >> At 3:03 a.m., Renard is seen in the kitchen. And then he goes into the
01:56:34
bedroom. 4 minutes later, at 3:07, you hear those three gunshots. along. >> They were in quick succession inside of
01:56:50
4 seconds. >> And at trial, Renard Spivey told the jury his wife Patricia was the one
01:56:56
firing. >> I didn't pull the trigger. >> No, your fingers weren't on the trigger.
01:57:02
>> No, ma'am. Not at all. >> Darren says there is no evidence to contradict that. He says that a crime
01:57:09
scene technician acknowledged at trial that the trigger was never separately swabbed for DNA.
01:57:15
>> She said, "Well, I was afraid that the gun would go off again." Now, that tells
01:57:19
you how dangerous that gun was. >> But Patrina says her mom was not the type of person who would pull a gun on
01:57:26
anyone. >> My mom is not violent like that. It didn't make sense to me. Instead, Patrina believes her mom was in
01:57:34
the closet that night because she was packing. >> I think she was trying to leave that
01:57:40
night. >> Prosecutors had Ezra Washington tell the jury about those phone conversations
01:57:48
with Renard, where Renard talked about his frustrations. >> I just want to give him the truth,
01:57:56
everything that came out of his mouth that I know. But the prosecutors ran into a problem. They say Ezra told them
01:58:04
he spoke to Renard using apps on his phone and they were unable to find records of those calls. Darren says he
01:58:12
doesn't believe those conversations ever took place. Are you saying Ezra Washington then when he testified
01:58:18
because he was a key witness for the prosecution, was he lying when he talked about those phone calls? I wouldn't call
01:58:25
him a key witness, particularly when we were able to show that there was no record of those calls.
01:58:31
>> He didn't talk to me. He lied. >> He didn't talk to me. >> I mean, why would he make that up?
01:58:36
>> I don't know why he would make that up. >> And Renard says he had no reason to kill
01:58:41
his wife. >> Had there been conversations about separation or divorce between you and
01:58:47
Patricia? >> No. >> She hadn't talked about leaving you? >> No. No. All that's lies.
01:58:56
As the case went to the jury, no one knew who the jurors were going to believe. It was tough. People pointing finger at
01:59:05
you. You did it. And I know deep inside that I didn't. >> If you were on the jury, what would be
01:59:16
the most important evidence in this case? Chat now with the 48 hours team on Facebook and X.
01:59:29
>> I've never stopped having hope and had faith. >> On December 6th, 2023, after 12 hours of
01:59:36
deliberations over two days, the jury and Renard Spivey's murder trial reached a verdict.
01:59:43
>> My heart is, you know, I'm emotional. I don't know what to expect. and found him
01:59:49
>> happy anniversary. >> Happy anniversary >> not guilty. [Music] >> I fall to the floor crying
02:00:03
boo crying. My attorneys help pick me up. My family, you know, >> very emotional.
02:00:11
>> Yeah. All >> Renard's sister Renee was relieved. >> I wanted it to be over with because I'm
02:00:21
concerned about him. I'm concerned about his well-being, his life, how he's handling this.
02:00:29
>> But she says there were no winners. >> She lost her life. And I was feeling for
02:00:36
her and his life would never be the same. On the other side of the aisle, Patricia's family and friends say they
02:00:46
couldn't believe the jury's decision. I'm >> I'm just I'm numb. I do not believe that
02:00:52
she received justice at all. I felt like I held my breath and then not guilty. I I'm I don't understand how
02:01:04
they got there. I didn't believe him. Renard's attorney says the jurors just weren't convinced beyond a reasonable
02:01:11
doubt that his client was the one who fired that gun. >> I think was very important to the jury
02:01:18
that the prosecution never proved whose finger was on the trigger. And it's very
02:01:24
important because the prosecution has a burden of proof. And the the gun was so important. the fact that it's such a
02:01:33
dangerous uh design of a gun that will go off so easily. There just wasn't uh enough evidence to
02:01:47
disprove his story. Since the trial, Patricia's family say they've had a hard time processing their
02:01:58
loss. felt like it was way too soon for me to be at her funeral. Facebook has this
02:02:08
these memories and just seems like every other day or pictures will come up and think about
02:02:15
the times that you know we share um the the good times. My mom was still important like she was
02:02:25
important to me. I just miss that unconditional love. I have no anchor. Like she's gone. So
02:02:37
she was my my anchor. Yeah. So yeah, >> I'm hurting. So I know how they feel. Actually, I would like to, you know,
02:02:48
come to their family, go to their family and say, "Hey, look, you know, I loved her, you know, and they knew that."
02:02:57
It's no doubt in my mind that they knew I love Patricia Marshall. >> Bernard says since his aqu quiddle, he
02:03:06
has been active in his community. >> I work for an organization and a volunteer for healing for hoodies and we
02:03:14
feed the homeless every Sunday. >> Leaning on his family and friends. >> A lot of the officers, a lot of other
02:03:22
people, we knew that you didn't do that. We knew that you would get, you know, found not guilty. We know you. We know
02:03:30
your character. We know what type of person you are. >> Appreciate it, man. I appreciate God is
02:03:36
good. God is good. >> But he says he still misses his wife. >> You remember stuff that she used to
02:03:44
like. You remember the music. [Music] >> You remember the food she like. you know what color dress certain things
02:03:56
she like you remember all that so every day it's it's a challenge it's it's still I'm still I can't sleep
02:04:06
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