00:00:00
[Music] 911 what is the address of your it's a day I don't think I'll ever forget is she still is she alive is she
00:00:17
she breathing no no okay a sheriff's vehicle pulled up and she informed us that Alex
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was dead I don't remember what I did other than fall to my knees what's her name
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Alex Alex loved people she was very caring she loved animals she'd bring home a story she'd bring home all kinds
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of things but she worked a lot of years to get her degree in nursing cuz she truly wanted to become a nurse thank you
00:00:55
to my family for never once giving up on me when many times I'm sure You' wanted
00:01:01
to I talked to her at 6 o00 that evening via text she was doing great and that was that was kind of the last thing is
00:01:10
this your apartment or her apartment is it Matthew and what's your last name Matthew eer was a nurse
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practitioner he was well educated good-look guy we have a lot of nurses in my family and he
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is one of the best nurses I know he was a friend that she had met through this part-time job she had she called me she
00:01:38
had called him that she needed his help that she was in trouble she had been in a domestic dispute with her then
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boyfriend and Matthew eer thought she was being assaulted and so he came down he was on his way to work and detoured
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and came right to her apartment he had brought a gun he brought it with him everywhere he went he had a permit to
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carry we were briefed by the responding officers as we're entering the apartment
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and they're telling us their observations and what Matthew Ecker had told them were you guys arguing or
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something no no she just scmed put to her head Alex is laying on her back she has a
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gunshot wound to her head the handgun was facing this way it was on her left shoulder like this it just didn't look
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right the scene didn't look right how did she get in that position but just didn't make sense they're thinking
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they're not getting the whole story from Mr eer he's the only one that can tell us what happened he was the only one
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that was there the only evidence is that she touched the gun there was gunshot residue on her left hand just as a mom
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and knowing your kid I didn't it didn't fit he didn't have any motive to kill her I mean he was coming down to protect
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protector there's no way he did this I would bet my entire life on the fact that he is innocent the first thing he
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said to me is Mom I did not do this what happened [Music] [Music] [Music] the overnight hours it's December 16th
00:04:10
2022 what time do you get that call on that night the call came in around 250 it was a week before Christmas in
00:04:21
2022 when St Paul police officer Ching bang and his partner officer Justina sir set off on their regular Patrol of this
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City dispatcher stated that a female was shot in the head my par and I we went LIC and Sirens
00:04:40
heading towards that call and is it all units in the vicinity called in at that time yes pretty much
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every unit hop on that call to come and assist within minutes bang sir and several other officers body cameras
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rolling arriv red at the location a residential apartment building Matthew Ecker the man who had
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placed the 911 call let them in and directed them to an apartment on the second floor officer Vang was the first to
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enter the apartment I remember walking in the bathroom was to the right the very first
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door 32-year-old Alex penig was lying face up with a single gunshot wound to her left temple I noticed a lot of blood
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around her head officer Vang had immediately spotted the gun laying on Alex's left
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shoulder her hand resting on top a team of officers looked around the small studio apartment and question neighbors
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no one had heard anything it's fine you sit in the hallway officer sir was talking to Matthew eer you got keep
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breathing you got to keep breathing he was on the floor by himself so I went and approached him just start talking to
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him oh God were you concerned about him I was because that at the time we didn't
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know what was going on I know shocked I know it's hard I just told him to just slow down take your time we're not in a
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rush whenever you're ready I'm I'm ready to listen Matthew did eventually calm down and he started talking were you
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guys argu or something telling officers he lived almost 3 hours away but drove to Alex after she placed a frantic call
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to him earlier so I came Matthew told police Alex had gotten into a fight with her current boyfriend
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his name was Shane Anderson that things had gone physical and she was scared of what he might do so Matthew took his gun
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and brought it with him to Alex's apartment because I was worried that her boyfriend would come so he was going
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there he said to protect her yes Matthew arrived at Alex's around 2 p.m. Shane wasn't
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there that evening he said they went out to local bars when they walked into a place called Camp bar Shane was inside
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he came to her they were arguing and I came across and I stood in between him and then he punched me Shane hit him he
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says and then was kicked out of the bar and heard I sat there and talked with other people for 45 minutes
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we came back here and I thought everything was fine and then she just grab the gun did she make any of the threat
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before that that she was going to kill herself herself she just crammed it and put it into her
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head and with the gun in her hand she backed into the bathroom he says and locked the
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door moments later a single shot rang out Matthew says he quickly broke the door
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open and saw Alex on the floor he told the officers he tried using his nursing skills to stop the bleeding by putting
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pressure on the wound I tried to do what I could okay and then I washed my hands and then you
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wash your hands correct that's why I don't have anything on my hands and then you then you call the police
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[Music] the news that Alex had fired a gun taking her own life was unfathomable to
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Alex's parents Mary Joe and Jim that just was completely out of character for Alex she had never shot a gun she didn't
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like guns so it didn't make any sense and Alex's mom Mary Joe had just texted with her daughter a few hours earlier
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and she didn't seem depressed at all she's doing well you know that's what's hard
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yeah did you see this see that part detectives Abby Danto and Jennifer odonnell were called to the scene you
00:09:07
get a call in the middle of the night so you know it's not good inside the apartment there was alcohol and six
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bottles of prescription medications including anti-depressants and amphetamines all prescribed to Alex but
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if that suggested maybe Alex had been depressed and took her own life there were other things that didn't seem to
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add up in Matthew's account the first was the position of Alex's body says the investigators shown here
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in the CBS News animation the door to the bathroom was a jar and you immediately see Alex's feet on either
00:09:44
side of the door if Matthew had broken down the bathroom door after hearing The Gunshot as he told officers he had we
00:09:52
think that if that had been the case her legs would have been swept behind the door and even though Matthew had said he
00:09:58
washed his hands before calling 911 when responding officers arrived the sink was
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dry and if he had said you know he called the police right away and that sink probably would have been still
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wet the detectives decided to take a deeper look at Matthew's story he had told police his only mission that day
00:10:19
was to protect Alex from Shane Anderson the boyfriend he claimed was violent and in fact there were these
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holes in the closet door across from the bathroom kind of like punch marks hes Matthew said Shane was responsible
00:10:36
for St Paul police the detectives were now eager to speak with shame [Music] it's the most devastating knock on my
00:11:02
door I've ever had in my life hey it's St Paul police hours after Alex penig was found dead police were at her
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boyfriend Shane Anderson's front door did you hear what happened two police officers they asked me who Alex was and
00:11:18
I said that's my girlfriend is she okay just passed away no Alex penic you're kidding me and I I
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don't know blacked out after that pretty much my God Shane says he was desperate for
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answers and willingly went to the police station to speak with detectives Abby Danto and Dan zebro I want to know what
00:11:50
happened to her okay that's what I'm trying to figure out okay so Shane told the detectives he had been dating Alex
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for around 4 months and painted a Rosy picture [Music] she was sweet like she was fun
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everything that you'd want in a [Music] woman according to Shane they spent nearly every day together and loved to
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lounge around with her two cats I'm not a cat person I'm more of a dog person to
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be honest but uh she kind of made me a cat person he told the detectives that although it was early in their
00:12:23
relationship they were planning a future together literally yesterday we were talking about like me breaking my lease
00:12:31
and moving into her place we both wanted families do you imagined yourself with her
00:12:42
100% Shane's description was in stark contrast to what Matthew eer had told police Matthew said Alex told him she
00:12:49
was fighting with Shane and scared of him but when the detectives asked Shane denied it so did the argument that you
00:12:57
guys had in that morning get physical no no not at all God no it was about basically why I haven't moved in yet and
00:13:07
like why that was taking so long but what about those punch marks in Alex's apartment that was from a few weeks back
00:13:14
that was me yes I was drunk I didn't put my hands on her though we argued like a
00:13:19
married couple like it wasn't anything like crazy or like violent or like weird but remember Matthew told detectives
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Shane was arguing with Alex just hours before her death at campar and Shane even punched Matthew and I came across
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and I stood in between him and then he punched me Shane didn't deny hitting Matthew he says seeing Alex with another
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man upset him Alex showed up with like a guy he doesn't look familiar I have no idea who this guy is
00:13:52
I was wondering why this guy is hanging out with my girlfriend and I decided Ed to throw a punch which I is
00:14:01
not in my character but it just felt like the thing to do at the time so Camp bar is the last bar that Alex and
00:14:11
Matthew went to detectives D Santo and odonnell reviewed security footage from inside Camp bar so as Alex and Matt
00:14:19
walked in Shane was sitting right across from the bar they took us through the altercation and we zoomed in for a
00:14:25
closer look Matt was sitting here when they walked in and then really oddly Alex walked around the bar and sat
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across the bar over there Shane walked over to her first and then she is talking to Shane and then Matt comes
00:14:40
over and it appears that he's introducing himself because he holds out his hand to shake hands with Shane then
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there's a confrontation Shane ended up assaulting [Applause] Matt no we're not doing that
00:14:59
[Applause] Shane then is asked to leave yes I had no idea that that was going to
00:15:08
be the last time that I ever saw her after Shane left the footage showed Alex hanging at the bar with Matthew for
00:15:19
about another hour drinking and chatting detectives were no closer to understanding why why just a little
00:15:30
while later she would as Matthew told them take her own life and the medical examiner ruled that
00:15:39
Alex's manner of death could not be determined so detectives dug into her past looking for anything that could
00:15:47
explain what happened she's been every hair color brunette and then blonde and then black hair put a little red in
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there and it was like she would just be every color Jillian KUB and Sarah Hansen
00:16:00
have known Alex since grade school tell me about Alex as you knew her back then spunky a little child full of energy
00:16:09
always up to something Jillian played ice hockey with Alex and together they won a state championship what was she
00:16:16
like Fire on Ice luckily I was always on her team so I never had to play against
00:16:20
her but she was feisty she was so fun I don't really remember anything other than happiness
00:16:32
really in the especially in the younger years but detectives learned that as a young adult Alex struggled her parents
00:16:42
Mary Joe and Jim said that in college Alex would get depressed and she got hooked on prescription pills it was very
00:16:50
difficult one day in 2016 she went up to her room and took a handful of meds and
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then had told her mom that she was attempting suicide by meds and then promptly threw it up stuck her finger in
00:17:07
her throat and threw it up I felt like it was a cry for help and they got Alex that
00:17:14
help inspired by the nurses who helped her recover in 2019 she got her licensed practical nursing degree and was chosen
00:17:24
to speak at graduation I have climbed out of the darkness with permanent scars but a heart of gold and the promise that
00:17:31
as a nurse I will try my best for people like me to not feel alone and help them
00:17:37
like those nurses had helped me Alex didn't make that choice to get well and she did her life was back on track her
00:17:45
life was on track right and we watched the campar video right that's detectives also learned all
00:17:53
about Alex's history with Matthew eer she met him in 2020 when she got a job at a Walkin Clinic her parents say their
00:18:00
daughter described Matthew as someone she worked with but according to Matthew's parents bla Necker and Terry
00:18:07
Randall there was a lot more than just friendship Alex and Matthew they say were having an affair back then even
00:18:15
though Matthew was married with four kids she knew he was married she knew he had four children Terry says the romance
00:18:23
didn't last in the summer of 2022 they had ended the physical part their relationship and we just friends
00:18:32
still she says her son was a source of support for Alex she says Matthew told her Alex was drinking heavily and as a
00:18:40
result lost several jobs she wouldn't show up she'd go on a bench without a job Matthew's family says Alex struggled
00:18:48
to pay her bills so unbeknownst to her parents Matthew stepped in he gave Alex money and helped her pay her rent
00:18:57
Matthew's sister's Molly and Amy aren't surprised their brother wanted to help he cared for her and he has a big heart
00:19:05
and he didn't want to just walk away he he couldn't walk away and just three days before Alex
00:19:14
died Alex sent Matthew these text messages I shut myself out to the world I needed a mental health break and I'm
00:19:24
not very hopeful at the moment about life even with with those texts though and Alex's past attempt years earlier
00:19:33
detectives still weren't convinced she took her own life just because you say I need a
00:19:39
mental health day or it's not a good day doesn't mean you're suicidal detectiv suspected Matthew was
00:19:50
lying to them and here's why remember the gun was found on Alex's chest with her left hand on it turn out Alex was
00:20:20
right-handed when detectives Abby Des Santo and Jennifer O'Donnell reviewed security footage from Alex's apartment
00:20:27
building and she opens the door they were able to see what happened after Matthew and Alex left Camp bar so that's
00:20:36
Alex and Matt they're just in the vesu of Alex's apartment walking in about 2:00 in the morning or so yes time frame
00:20:45
mm you can see Matthew and Alex walk out of view as they go up to her apartment but a short while later they walk back
00:20:53
through the lobby and out the door Matthew would say it was to get his headphones from his
00:20:59
car Alex returns to the lobby and waits for the detectives what happens next is key she seems impatient just looking at
00:21:10
her body language they note how when Matthew returns Alex doesn't hold the door for
00:21:18
him and how he shrugs his shoulders as he follows behind her the detectives wonder if Matthew and Alex had gotten
00:21:25
into a fight something was going on with that's huge cuz that's the last time we
00:21:31
see Alex alive 20 minutes later at 2:50 a.m. Matthew placed that call to 911 a girl who shot herself the
00:21:45
head the lobby security footage had no audio so there was no way to know for sure if the two had gotten into a fight
00:21:53
but when Alex's family and friends saw it you could tell that she was mad you could tell the way she ripped open that
00:21:59
door you could tell Alex stomping stomping in whenever she was mad she'd like stop and she I was visible in this
00:22:08
video so they were definitely in a fight but when detectives questioned Matthew he denied any
00:22:16
problems we were laughing on the way home everything was fine you guys weren't arguing or anything there's a
00:22:24
little f with you two not between and Matthew's family believes there could be a different reason for the change in
00:22:30
Alex's demeanor in the footage Alex is on her phone they wonder if she was messaging Shane and arguing with him
00:22:39
about the altercation that had just happened at campar I truly believe there's a lot of
00:22:46
information a lot of texting and we think having gotten those interactions would have given us a lot more insight
00:22:55
into her state of mind but the detective couldn't get into Alex's phone because no one knew the passcode and Shane said
00:23:03
he had lost his phone the night before so they couldn't search his either it seemed there was some kind of exchange
00:23:09
happening was she talking to you at all I didn't have a phone so Facebook message or anything like that uh no
00:23:19
unable to know for sure what was really happening in the lobby when detective Danto and her colleague Dan zebro
00:23:25
interviewed Matthew they focused on what he said happened in the apartment how was she holding the gun when she was
00:23:32
backing up to the bathroom she was she had down here first and then she cocked it left hand cocked it but she ended up
00:23:43
holding it to her left tle what I remember okay she left she's not not so it was
00:23:53
weird he said she did all this with her left hand but then he told us she was right-handed
00:23:59
you don't use a weapon with your non-dominant hand it just another inconsistency or another part of the
00:24:07
puzzle that doesn't match there was also the nagging question about the sink being dry Matthew had told First
00:24:15
Responders he washed his hands after trying to help Alex which is why his hands were clean but the sink was dry
00:24:22
when police arrived Danto asked if he did in fact call police right away okay and then you call the police right away
00:24:30
yeah I'm call the police yeah so you know when you get blood all of your hands and then you go under the sink and
00:24:37
you yeah or the handle to the sink right there should be blood on there's no there's no blood in the hand on the sink
00:24:44
and there's no nothing in the sink and the sink is sink rinse my hand the sink's dry there's no water or
00:24:52
anything no I washed my hands in the sink I but Danto thought Matthew was lying either he hadn't helped Alex and
00:25:02
didn't wash his hands or he had not called 911 right away right now all this evidence is not add up I can't I just
00:25:12
want you to just think I just want you to think about this and what what you're you're asking me to confess to something
00:25:18
I didn't do no I'm not I'm asking you just to think I mean we're just going to give you some time here just to think we
00:25:23
got to grab that stuff anyway think about everything that we discussed with you but soon Matthew called them back in it
00:25:39
was more than 2 hours into his interview and he wanted to change his story so the
00:25:45
change that I have I did take the gun and I put it in my suitcase I put it in the suitcase went
00:25:54
back looked to her and said yep went back to the suitcase grabbed a gun and put it back
00:26:06
there was there why would you move that gun did he explain why he moved the gun he was scared when Matthew put the gun
00:26:17
back he said he put it on Alex the way First Responders found it with their hand on top I mean why would you lay her
00:26:24
hand back down front I was moving I was moving her I was looking at her that's all I know at that point we're like What
00:26:31
innocent person would s do this yet Matthew continued to insist he was innocent that gun went off behind the
00:26:39
Clos I did not shoot her I didn't kill her and he kept saying the door to the bathroom was shut I don't know what
00:26:45
happened but you didn't buy it m no and neither did detective zebro no but the detectives didn't know how they could
00:26:54
prove it and then they discovered a new piece of evidence this is a big piece of
00:27:00
the puzzle for you yes what do you think of Alex and Matthew's body language in the lobby see
00:27:09
a timeline of the case at 48 hours.com okay I didn't kill I didn't shoot I I just for hours Matthew eer insisted he
00:27:29
did not kill Alex that she locked herself in the bathroom and fired the shot he said he
00:27:38
had broken open the door only after the gun went off I I heard the gun go off and that's when I open the but then
00:27:45
detective odonnell got a call from the forensic unit processing the scene once Alex was moved they found underneath
00:27:53
where Alex had been laying was a round metal piece which is this piece right here yes odonnell says it's a piece of
00:28:03
the bathroom door lock and because it was discovered on the floor under Alex's head as seen in the CBS News animation
00:28:11
it had to have gotten there while Alex was still alive for us it meant that the door was forced open before she was shot
00:28:20
the detective suspected Alex had locked the door to get away from Matthew I believe that Alex and Matthew got an
00:28:28
argument I believe that she went into the bathroom to be alone not wanting to be with him but when he broke open the
00:28:35
door they say that small piece of metal from the lock landed on the bathroom floor he forced his way in and shot her
00:28:44
shot they say Alex fell on top of the metal piece to the detectives it was the only way the piece could have ended up
00:28:52
under her Matthew eer was charged with second degree murder his family was stunned it's like no there's there's got
00:29:03
to be a mistake it's just not his character he's not going to harm somebody on purpose they hired criminal defense
00:29:16
attorney Bruce Rivers there's Reasonable Doubt all over the place that this was a
00:29:22
homicide River says there's another explanation for how that metal piece got under Al he said it could have ended up
00:29:30
under her head when Matthew eer attempted to help her cuz he did lift her head up but detectives point of the
00:29:37
way Alex was found with her legs straddling the door if Matthew eer had broken open the door after hearing The
00:29:44
Gunshot detectives say Alex's legs would have been pushed to the side but ecker's
00:29:50
defense attorney says there was enough space in the bathroom that when the door was broken open it went in between her
00:29:57
legs that is consistent in my opinion with uh her laying there and having shot herself and importantly claims Rivers if
00:30:05
his client had shot Alex there would have been blood splatter on him and that's not the case there was not one
00:30:14
Speck of blood on his shirt on his pants on his face anywhere whatsoever the detectives say that's because eer most
00:30:24
likely had reached around the door while he was trying to force his way in and fired the shot I believe the door
00:30:31
shielded him from the initial blood splatter but River says it makes much more sense that Alex took her own life
00:30:40
and he says forensic testing proves eer wasn't the one who fired the gun it was Alex there was gunshot residue on her
00:30:49
left hand and was her DNA found on the gun it was there was also no gunshot residue on
00:30:57
eer and his DNA was not found on the gun detectives suspect that's because he wiped it clean before putting it on Alex
00:31:07
there should be his DNA it's your gun you told us in an interview that you grabbed the gun your hands were over
00:31:13
that gun but it was very clean he admitted to having held the gun and moving the gun after
00:31:21
the fact yet none of his DNA was found on the gun how do you explain that that's not uncommon just because you
00:31:28
touch something doesn't mean that DNA is going to be there at the time of her death Alex had
00:31:33
almost three times the legal limit of alcohol and four different prescription medications in her system including
00:31:41
proac and Valium although it wasn't the cause of her death to Rivers it showed she was struggling as did those texts
00:31:50
she had sent Ecker just a few days before her death she was depressed because of her
00:31:57
finan cial conditions depressed because of her job situation all these things compounded themselves but detectives
00:32:04
would discover something unusual about those prescription medications found in Alex's body it turns out Matthew Ecker
00:32:12
had prescribed them he didn't tell us that he was prescribing your medication during the investigation you found that
00:32:18
out yeah as a licensed nurse practitioner eer had the authority to write prescriptions though normally that
00:32:25
Authority is used for a patient Alex was not you would think you would send her to a doctor and have her see someone
00:32:32
else was his prescribing medication considered illegal though no it's unethical but it was not illegal
00:32:41
according to ecker's family Matthew had good reason she was prescribed those medications originally by a medical
00:32:48
doctor so she had asked Matt if he could refill them she would Badger him and they point to multiple text Alex
00:32:56
sent him days before her death asking him to refill medications including I need you to send in my immediate release
00:33:04
Aderall script make sure I have refills for my Trazodone and metap too please I have like three bottles of Prozac so I'm
00:33:12
good with that still Alex's family and friends say there is no excuse I can't get over that as a nurse practitioner he
00:33:22
should have known him better so his feeling sorry for your daughter or feeling like he was doing this the best
00:33:28
way to try to help her you don't believe that's the case I don't believe it at all especially for someone that has a
00:33:35
history of addiction you don't prescribe it as a nurse practitioner you say no in February 2024 Matthew ecker's
00:33:47
trial began the detectives were confident they had an idea of why Matthew eer would have wanted Alex dead
00:33:56
and it centered around their path romance maybe she said that she was going to call his wife and tell his wife
00:34:02
everything and as far as a motive what what would be the motive keep her quiet so the wife doesn't find out sure it
00:34:09
would be nice if there was some evidence of that I mean it was just sheer speculation there's nothing not one
00:34:15
cintilla of evidence that they were in any kind of dispute whatsoever instead River says he sure that night everything
00:34:23
came to a head for Alex and she couldn't take it anymore so when when it boils down to it this is a case about what the
00:34:30
jury's going to believe whether it's suicide or homicide and because the medical examiner had ruled Alex's manner
00:34:36
of death could not be determined Rivers brought in a second one who came to the same conclusion
00:34:44
undetermined if they can't determine it was a homicide neither can you but what would the jury think when it was time
00:34:53
for deliberations everyone was nervous it was obvious is to me Matt was concerned selfishly as a parent of Alex
00:35:04
we wanted to believe that he was guilty but believing it and proving it are two different
00:35:11
[Music] things we got a call at their head been a a verdict you just take this huge deep
00:35:33
breath and like oh my gosh in February 2024 after 9 hours of deliberation the jury came to a decision
00:35:43
about Matthew AER Matthew was guilty guilty of second deegree murder once we heard that we were we
00:35:53
were very we were very happy we were sad because didn't bring Alex back but at least there was some justice
00:35:59
served but for Matthew ecker's family it was like a knife in the heart I I couldn't even
00:36:09
function what did you see in your brother in that moment when the jury read the verdict
00:36:15
just absolute tragedy it was awful yeah 2 months later on April 3rd 2024 Matthew Ecker was back in court for
00:36:28
sentencing All Rise session The Honorable D is presiding call I understand there are
00:36:39
people who wish to make statements today so how this will Alex's friend Jillian addresses the
00:36:45
court countless times I picked up the phone to call Al only to realize I won't ever hear her voice again and strive to
00:36:52
Sarah Echoes their loss Alex really was a once in a-lifetime kind of friend and I remember Sarah you were giving
00:36:59
your statement and unfortunately that meant I was at the level of where Matt was he was sitting and I was standing
00:37:06
and I just kept looking over at him just focus trying to feel something you know
00:37:12
try to figure out what you're feeling and there was just nothing nothing Alex's parents Mary Joe and Jim
00:37:20
implored the judge to impose a stiff sentence our hearts have been broken Beyond repair and the future trajectory
00:37:28
of Our Lives has been changed forever and the world lost a special soul and we lost our
00:37:41
baby come on up but Matthew ecker's family appealed for leniency Matt is one of the kindest and
00:37:49
most compassionate people we know he has spent most of his adult life helping people and caring in for
00:37:58
people I truly believe that Matt has so much more to offer to this world in the end it is the sentence of
00:38:08
the law in the Judgment of the court that you serve 360 months with the Department of Corrections the judge
00:38:15
sentenced Matthew eer to 30 years for killing Alex you are remanded to the custody of
00:38:22
the Department of Corrections mean him sitting in prison for 30 years is just it's just not
00:38:33
acceptable he's not a murderer he didn't do this we will fight until it's made right and we will not give up on
00:38:46
him eer and his wife are now divorced and she has full custody of their four children his family says they have not
00:38:54
been allowed any contact with the kids that has to be very hard as Grandparents not having that connection yeah
00:39:03
absolutely terrible and I miss them so much is there something you you would want them to know about their
00:39:13
dad he loves them and cares for them and misses them and we love them as for Alex's family there are
00:39:24
questions they'd still like eer to answer why' you do it why questions with answers that may
00:39:33
never come what they do know is how they choose to honor Alex one way is through
00:39:39
her love for animals including a serendipitous encounter somebody had dumped off a
00:39:45
little baby rooster and somehow it just migrated to our house so we built a chicken CP and we
00:39:53
now have 12 chickens at at home in properly named Alex's Co yes I have a feeling Alex maybe had a hand in
00:40:03
bringing you that Roost right yeah well that's good and every month the penig get together with Sarah and Jillian then
00:40:10
we just sit there and talk and cry and tell stories that oh Al would not want us to be telling Mary Joe but we tell
00:40:17
them because we're like we have to relive some of these stories yes get yourself
00:40:24
some Alex's boyfriend Shane also struggles it's heartbreaking cuz I I love that girl and she deserves to be
00:40:38
here she absolutely deserves to be here the cemetery where Alex is buried is a short drive from where her parents
00:40:48
live and they visit her as often as they can he I miss you kid oh yeah this is tough love you
00:41:04
honey and at peace we miss you [Music] sweetheart CBS next Saturday two innocent people on their first date had
00:41:27
their lives destroyed a fatal first date Sheriff's Office I got one alive and one
00:41:32
bed and the only eyewitness is fighting for his life what did you think who who would have done that 48 hours is all new
00:41:39
CBS next Saturday 109 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] welcome back to another episode of post
00:42:03
morm I'm your host and Marie green and today we're discussing the death of Alex penig she was last seen Alive by her
00:42:11
former cooworker Matthew eer with whom she also had a one-time Affair now he called 911 after he said she shot
00:42:20
herself with his gun but investigators would unravel a different story so me now to discuss this mysterious case the
00:42:29
CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales and 48 Hours producer Betsy Schuler thank you so much for joining us guys of
00:42:36
course thanks for having us good to be with you again amarie if you have not listened to the 48 Hours episode that
00:42:42
we're about to talk about yet you can find the full audio version just below this episode in your podcast feed so go
00:42:49
take a listen and then come on back for this conversation all right so the title of
00:42:55
uh this episode is the strange shooting of Alex penig it's a great title because
00:43:00
it was a strange one and this was one hour where I found myself completely convinced of a different scenario every
00:43:07
5 Seconds one of the things that I was watching is Matthew ecker's reaction he was certainly incredibly distraught he
00:43:16
was breaking down but I I couldn't tell if I thought it was too much or not you interviewed the First Responders what
00:43:23
was their impression of Eker when they spoke to him you know I think that's what was so fascinating is that we had
00:43:30
so much of that body cam footage First Responders were with him for about an hour and that's what everybody was
00:43:37
looking at and analyzing and it's not just the amount of footage but it's also that it's minutes right after Alex was
00:43:45
shot I think people enter a situation and look at things and say okay does it seem genuine does it not seem genuine
00:43:52
and I think First Responders analyzed all the evidence in front of them as he was very distraught and grieving and
00:43:58
trying to process the trauma in that moment it was interesting when we questioned them about what they thought
00:44:05
they thought he was not producing real tears and they questioned how he was responding to what they perceive as real
00:44:16
grief versus you know not grieving and I think you know throughout the course of
00:44:23
our reporting we looked back at that footage so much right Betsy and we just analyzed and overanalyzed and we thought
00:44:29
of all the different scenarios and it was it's really hard to decipher how somebody processes grief is what we've
00:44:36
come down to yeah yeah for sure I mean I think our impression of the footage is one thing but the way the people
00:44:43
involved with the case sort of saw the footage is a different thing detectives noticed eer talking to First Responders
00:44:51
in the hallway he seemed really emotional but they didn't see him crying any actual tears and I think that stood
00:44:59
out to them all of this was what ended up in trial being questioned his behavior whether or not he produced real
00:45:07
tears and also for Alex's family right they're looking at this footage and they see a guy who's disingenuous who's
00:45:15
overacting who looked rehearsed to them Matthew's family sees you know their their son their brother breaking down
00:45:24
his mom is a nurse and had worked as a hospice nurse for a while so she said she had some experience dealing with
00:45:33
people going through trauma and she said that in her experience that people don't
00:45:39
always produce tears and also that sometimes when you're crying for that long you might not produce tears the
00:45:47
whole time if you're dehydrated you may not produce tears you know in that scenario Matthew had been drinking for
00:45:55
hours with Alex so there was a lot of things that play there you know and for our viewers who just watched this
00:46:02
episode they might remember that we also show someone else responding to grief we
00:46:09
show the moment where Shane Anderson learns that his girlfriend Alex had just died and he doesn't produce tears either
00:46:19
um you know so I found that really interesting yeah and that did stand out to me you know early on as the hours
00:46:27
unfolding I started to wonder well I don't know I what is the right way to respond to this terrible shocking news
00:46:34
um so yeah like I said I went back and forth about a million times during the hour so speaking of conflicting evidence
00:46:40
First Responders found Alex dead in her bathroom with the gun laying on her shoulder her left hand was sort of
00:46:49
resting on top the detectives later learned that she was right-handed did detectives think that
00:46:56
this was a slam dunk in in terms of evidence that she could not have been the one to shoot herself because why
00:47:04
would you use your non-dominant hand I mean I definitely think they thought it was a piece of the puzzle um I'm not
00:47:12
sure it was a slam dunk at that point um for us this one was really hard um I think we go back and forth on what this
00:47:21
means you know initially you think oh well if she's right-handed how could she use her left hand one of the editors on
00:47:29
this interestingly enough is in the military and she had an interesting perspective if you picture a pistol when
00:47:37
you go to rack the chamber you pull back this sliding mechanism to load it and apparently that's really heavy and not
00:47:48
so easy to move if you don't know what you're doing so it could make sense that you would make that motion with your
00:47:56
dominant hand which means the gun would be in your non-dominant hand and according to Alex's family Alex did not
00:48:05
have any experience with shooting guns and remember according to eer this all happened so quickly he says she ran
00:48:15
into the bathroom locked the door and then he heard a gunshot and then when he broke down the door what he saw was her
00:48:22
on the floor that's according to eer so I think that's like a split second thing
00:48:28
that you have to consider timing time to switch hands Also let's say she has her
00:48:33
hand on the door and is locking the door wouldn't you do that with your dominant
00:48:37
hand I mean it's hard to say what somebody does with the left and the right but obviously if you're in the
00:48:44
moment and in a frenzy I think it could be seen differently right Matthew eer also
00:48:50
didn't give detectives the whole story about the gun at first it was more than 2 hours actually into his interview that
00:48:58
he admitted to moving it first putting it in his suitcase and then he placed it back on Alex's body that's what he
00:49:06
says did detectives think you know this was suspicious that this perhaps showed a bit of guilt yeah that's exactly what
00:49:15
they thought one of the detectives was like what innocent person would do this I mean I think that was a really big
00:49:21
moment for them if you didn't fire the gun why would you pick it up and move it so that one didn't look good for him and
00:49:29
the explanation that uh ecker's attorney gives was you know in that moment realized oh my gosh that's my gun and so
00:49:36
maybe there was a panic or something and he picked up the gun and went to put it
00:49:41
away but then realized well I've got to explain what happened here I better put it back so you know that's how Bruce
00:49:47
Rivers who is ecker's attorney explained that at trial so you can look at it this
00:49:52
from two different sides again and be very conflicted as we all but as a viewer of True Crime you know
00:49:59
when someone starts changing their story your spidey sense goes up that's your tell yeah especially after two hours
00:50:07
because you know he's been questioned about the positioning of the gun probably a couple of times it it comes
00:50:12
off like he's thinking I better have a better answer than the one I had an hour ago also The Gunshot residue uh was
00:50:20
actually on Alex's left hand but eer didn't have any gunshot residue at all on him and keep in mind
00:50:30
he had no blood on him his entire shirt outfit everything was clean you know he doesn't have anything to indicate that
00:50:39
he was near her body at the time no which is really interesting and so you know Natalie laid out the one side of it
00:50:45
the detectives would say that you know that would be because the door would have shielded him
00:50:53
that they believe there was a struggle at the bathroom door and she was trying to push the door closed and he was
00:50:59
trying to reach around so he would have been shielded from some of that you know
00:51:03
I think that's what's so interesting about this case is you try to add up all the pieces and the position of her body
00:51:09
in the bathroom was a big one that was a big tell yeah I think that was one of the first things for the detectives that
00:51:15
sort of made them a little suspicious about the scene just seeing the position of her legs they were like how could she
00:51:22
have gotten in this position when First Responders arrived her legs were straddled around the door and that
00:51:31
according to the scenarios that were presented by detectives they were like well that shows that there had to have
00:51:37
been some sort of struggle you know that she was sort of caught in the middle of
00:51:41
the door when this happened whereas ecker's attorney explains that as he was trying to help her he went in broke the
00:51:52
door there was enough room in the bathroom that her legs could have shifted and moved with the door being
00:51:58
pushed back and opened so again one more thing that makes us very conflicted welcome back Matthew eer
00:52:16
claims that he went to Alex's apartment that day because she told him that she was scared of her boyfriend
00:52:24
Shane Shane was never considered a suspect though you interviewed him uh in that hour what was your impression of
00:52:32
him well I have to tell you first of all he was very reluctant uh to do the interview with us and he was hesitant he
00:52:41
was very unsure about what to expect I think many of his reasons for deciding to do it was he wanted to honor Alex who
00:52:49
he loved very much but also he was I think still processing a lot of what he had heard I mean a lot of what he was
00:52:57
first hearing happened to come out of the trial and the first time he was hearing for example that Matthew eer and
00:53:05
Alex had had a previous romance Affair uh was at that trial so I think talking to us gave him some sort of sense of you
00:53:13
know closure but also wanting to be able to process his emotions to me it appears
00:53:21
as if he you know truly loved Alex but it also seemed like you know it wasn't the best relationship or I should say it
00:53:28
wasn't perfect he was accused of doing some stuff to Alex that she was scared enough to call this other guy eer so you
00:53:38
know he was brought into this through that he wasn't a suspect but I think he also wanted the chance to respond to
00:53:45
some of that and tell his side of the story yeah he says I mean Alex was the love of his life and they were planning
00:53:52
a future together in fact it was right before the holidays when Alex died died and he was planning to go with her to
00:53:59
meet her parents for the first time so he was looking forward to that yeah it did seem like he really cared about her
00:54:07
even all these months later we could feel it when we were with him you do certainly get that in the hour and I
00:54:12
just want to stress to everyone even though it's clear in the hour he was never considered a suspect at all after
00:54:19
that altercation at the bar uh he was told to get out and go home and that's what he did yeah there were only two
00:54:26
people in that apartment it was eer and it was Alex yeah speaking of eer and Alex pretty unusual relationship that
00:54:35
day he made a 3our drive from his home to help Alex get out of what he says is you know a bad situation with her
00:54:44
current boyfriend when I heard it in the hour I go wait a minute there's no one else that's closer to you I mean in
00:54:51
three hours an argument flares up and then it's over it just seemed a little a little off was the affair truly over
00:54:59
according to his family the affair had ended and they were just friends seemed like a bit of an interesting friendship
00:55:06
because he was giving her money as we see in the trial and court record showed he was financially helping support Alex
00:55:15
paying her rent and pay some of her expenses about $28,000 that he ended up um giving Alex
00:55:24
or loaning Alex he was also also uh according to the text messages that we see between the two of them prescribing
00:55:32
her with drugs eer is a licensed nurse practitioner so with that he is able to prescribe medications Alex course was
00:55:42
not his patient and while detectives and even ecker's own family who are also nurses all agree it is unethical they
00:55:54
all point out it is not illegal e really did seem to to care about Alex and so the big question of course is what could
00:56:02
the motive have been here yes I mean certainly when you talk about motive I mean what could have been the motive for
00:56:09
murdering Alex I think that's probably the most mysterious part of this case and something that is still not very
00:56:16
clear I mean one thing that detectives thought it could be was that perhaps maybe Alex was threatening to go public
00:56:23
and to tell his wife even about their Affair but then there's that question of why would she do that to the guy who was
00:56:31
providing for her at that time what about the phone what about the text messages it was clear in the lobby of
00:56:38
the apartment building that she was looking at her phone yeah you know we saw that surveillance footage and that's
00:56:43
the last time you see Alex alive it looked like she was texting with somebody but we don't really know if
00:56:51
there were text messages or not because police were never able to get into her phone detectives did tell us that
00:56:57
multiple forensic examiners did try to get into Alex's phone but they were unsuccessful the defense also try it as
00:57:04
well it would have been um really revealing to be able to see some of her text messages um you know we have the
00:57:13
messages between her and eer from ecker's phone um we go through some of those in the hour and I think they're
00:57:20
very telling but we don't know who else she may have been messaging and what she
00:57:25
may have been saying to them some people wonder if she was messaging with Shane you know this fight at campar had just
00:57:32
happened but Shane had lost his phone so they weren't able to get the messages from his side either so yeah there's a
00:57:40
lot that we don't know that maybe could have come out if they would have been able to get in the phone when I talked
00:57:47
to Shane I asked him like did you ever I mean if you sign on to a computer you can see your messages or you know if you
00:57:54
you know can you check Facebook messages and and he said there was nothing yeah he told us he was not messaging with
00:58:01
Alex at all ultimately eer is found guilty he's sentenced to 30 years it's a hefty
00:58:10
sentence is he appealing his conviction yes he is appealing his conviction his family was not happy with with how the
00:58:18
trial um was presented and how it went on what was it that they were unhappy about so there were a couple things
00:58:25
obvious viously the outcome um you know their son their brother is in prison for
00:58:30
30 years but they would have liked to hear eer on the stand they would have liked him to tell his story his defense
00:58:38
attorney Bruce Rivers said that you know through all the footage um in the hallway in the interrogation room that
00:58:46
he did get to tell his story so Rivers told us that he didn't feel like it was necessary for eer to testify um you know
00:58:54
I think the family also felt that his you know his character wasn't brought into it the way he helps people his past
00:59:04
some more sides of his personality like that I think they really hoped that that
00:59:08
would have been a part of it I sort of wondered about that because I thought the way they describe him there are some
00:59:15
things at odds with that you know he he runs to the aid of of this young woman but it's still sort of questionable I
00:59:22
think that's why ultimately his attorney decided you know is the risk worth taking putting the defendant on the
00:59:28
stand I think that's always the analysis you do here's a guy who has a wife with
00:59:34
four children and knowingly he cheated on her granted an affair does not make a murderer as we've talked about so many
00:59:43
times in our 48 Hours shows we know that's not the case right I was kind of curious about how Alex's family felt
00:59:51
about how she had been depicted her parents knew she had had some struggles she had some things in
00:59:58
her past and they really didn't shy away from it they certainly didn't shy away from it in our interview and I respected
01:00:06
that I mean it's it's who she was and they're wonderful people uh the pen IGS and um still dealing with so much grief
01:00:14
and losing Alex Alex was a beautiful person and they wanted to make sure that her memory was honored E's family
01:00:22
totally convinced that he's innocent uh Alex's family and friends totally convinced that he's guilty you have to
01:00:30
present this hour how challenging was it to strike a balance I think it's always
01:00:35
a challenge but sort of also always a part of our job um and part of what we do as journalists is to present both
01:00:43
sides I mean it doesn't change a fact that a jury found him guilty but I think that is a part of our responsibility
01:00:51
that we take really seriously yeah and we walk away from this one seeing two families that are destroyed one lost
01:01:00
their daughter who they adored and had been through so much with her and the other family is grieving the son
01:01:09
sentenced to 30 years in prison I think you see both sides here of two families that are grieving a loss and I think
01:01:16
that's what our reporting shows is it's never easy to tell these stories but we do our jobs and present all the evidence
01:01:24
and ultimately you know it's it's what the jury came back with and we'll have to see what happens next yeah well thank
01:01:33
you guys for another really fascinating episode I'm sure viewers are still debating about how they feel about the
01:01:39
outcome of this case um Natalie Betsy just want to thank you of course thank you thank you Natalie you have a brand
01:01:48
new podcast that's dropping I'm hosting a new six episode podcast it's called 48
01:01:53
Hours NCIS it takes listeners inside the case of Aaron Corwin um this is a a tough one she was a 19-year-old Marine
01:02:01
wife found dead in an abandoned M shaft in Joshua Tree National Park we go behind the scenes with the real life
01:02:09
NCIS agents as they worked through the case and their tireless efforts to try to locate the body then finally
01:02:18
ultimately reaching the conclusion of that case and the verdict so be sure to pull up your podcast app where you're
01:02:24
listening type in 48 Hours NCIS and tap follow to check out our new episode new episodes come out by the way every
01:02:32
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