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[Music] this has been a Hampton County story this has been a Hampton County Scandal a jury found the disgraced South
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Carolina attorney guilty of murdering his wife and his youngest son this has been the downfall of a family Dynasty
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today is not the end it's the next step in a long road to justice for every person who has been victimized by Alex
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Murdock Jus for St Smith Alex Steven Smith was another body in this orbit of the Muro family Steven was a gay young
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man in the low country of South Carolina that is courageous and and of itself I can't
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imagine the terror he was in that night in the early morning hours of July 8th 2015 19-year-old Steven Smith was found
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dead in the middle of a rural road there was an autopsy that basically said is a hit and run there was no vehicle
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debris no broken headlight paint scrapes or or anything you never believed it no
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not at all they never would have been walking in that road not voluntarily do you
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believe Steven was murdered I do an investigation of some sort took place that led
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nowhere and then it went cold I wanted a second opinion Sandy Smith is unique in this
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whole story she doesn't know who killed her son she doesn't know why people in town really believed that it was
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connected to the Murdo in some way the name Buster Murdoch kept coming up I never had anything to do with his murder
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and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of of any regard the
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rumors also suggest uh a cover up we are aware of no evidence evidence today that
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would suggest that any mdll played any role in Steven Smith's death or played any role in trying to cover up the
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investigation into his death all I want is peace and knowing what happened to my
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son he's my world and I'm a fight to the end this is a woman that has fought this
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battle alone since 2015 screaming as loud as she could with not a lot of people listening CBS News confirming that the
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South Carolina law enforcement division is now investigating Steven Smith's death as a
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homicide the Murdoch case for all Steven's Cold Case to life somehow some way in the murder murder investigation a
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new thread was opened up into Steven Smith our primary function right now is to have that body exhumed have a true
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independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for all what really happened to Steven Smith the gash was
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from part of this eyebrow across here the the injuries can tell us so much about what
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happened and in this case they did they did set the scene for me on July 8th 2015 here Steven
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was somewhat right here in the road how confident are you that you know what happened to Steven Smith that night
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I'm as close to a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever felt [Music] [Music]
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like his mother Sandy Steven Smith was born a fighter he was a preey he weighed 2 lb 12 O a twin yeah twin born at 27
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weeks with his sister Stephanie Sandy says Steven couldn't breathe on his own after several months she was told he
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might not make it and she was finally allowed to hold her baby for the first time how was that moment oh my gosh it
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was amazing it was supposed to be my goodbye but he started breathing on his own cuz he felt you yeah that's why he
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was my heart Sandy never dreamed she'd one day be fighting for answers in her son's
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death how would you describe the journey that you've been been on for justice it's been a hard journey just living day
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by day and fighting day by day on July 8th 2015 Steven was found dead on a country road in Hampton County the same
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county where three generations of mydal men had held the top prosecutor job for nearly a century the myall still loomed
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large over small town life Alec murdog coached Steven's baseball team at one point when they were little I think
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Steven was like seven or eight Steven and Stephanie were also classmates of Mall's older son Buster before Steven
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went to nursing school with dreams of one day becoming a doctor he wanted to be a doctor but it was more expensive so
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he just started with nursing school he loved dealing with medicine and I he just loved it you must been so proud oh
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I was but instead Sandy says those dreams were buried with her son you decided to bury him and his scrubs
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scrubs Dr Steven Smith he had everything he needed in his pockets he had his stethoscope and everything he needed
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Steven had just completed a semester of school and was taking summer classes shuttling back and forth between his
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parents who lived apart he had visited Sandy a week before he was killed a storm started Brewing I told him that he
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needed to hurry up and get back to his dad's house so when he made it he texts me and says I made it safe Mom Mom I
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love you Sandy say say those were Steven's last words to her days later she would hear the news that would alter
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the course of her life July 8 I was on my way to work and I was listening to a local radio station and I heard that
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they had found a body Sandy called her daughter Stephanie right away she said Mama did Steven's day with you last
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night cuz he didn't come home last night then my stomach dropped and I knew it was
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him Sandy says Steven's father Joel went to the Sheriff's Office for confirmation
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that it was Steven that's when she says they received a call I was on the phone with Joel the whole time while we were
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waiting for the sheriff to come out and that's when Joel asked me to hold on because Randy murd was calling Randy
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murall is Alec mural's older brother and had been representing Joel Smith in a workers's comp case but now he was
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calling about Steven when Joel got back on the phone he said Randy asked if that
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was our Steven and that he wanted to help pro bono did you think it was strange that Randy offered to help pro
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bono well I did but Joel thought it was a nice gesture later that morning Sandy says she was
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surprised again as she drove past the scene where Steven's body had reportedly been found there was Alex and Randy
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standing on the opposite side of the road Murdoch Murdoch a few minutes later Sandy says Randy
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Myrle called again and asked if that was me that passed by he said I wish You' to
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stopped so I could have met you Randy myall declined our request for an interview but through his attorney he
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provided a written statement to 48 hours in which he said quote I was not aware of Steven's death until Joel told me
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they wanted my involvement and I contacted law enforcement on their behalf myall said he went to the scene
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with a private investigator after meeting with Joel and Stephanie adding quote claims that I visited the scene of
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Steven's death with my brother Alec are false Joel Smith passed away three months after
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Steven but Stephanie and Sandy told us they never asked the mdll for help and there were other things about Steven's
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case that didn't sit well with Sandy from the moment the sheriff confirmed the body was Steven's at first he told
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them Steven had been shot what were you thinking who would shoot him it made no sense I lost it then I left my job and
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just drove back to Hampton and we just mourned together we just couldn't understand why or who it was
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just a biggest shock of our life within hours Steven's cause of death was suddenly changed to a hit and
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run toward the evening time we were contacted by the Sheriff's Office and after his autopsy there was not any type
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of bullet or bullet fragment found in his head because his body was in the roadway it was being ruled to hit and
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run retired South Carolina Highway Patrol lieutenant Thomas Moore was the on scene supervisor I was told that the
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medical exam made that ruling when I reached out to her it became a little bit heated give me an answer medically
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that would lead you to believe he was hit by a car there was no medical reason did you see any signs of of a hit and
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run no ma'am none any type of debris any kind of glass car parts piece of plastic
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anything that looks like it may be related to a vehicle also unusual for a hit and run Steven's clothing was intact
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and his shoes which were Loosely tied were still on generally clothes are torn or unraveled and shoes have come off and
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Steven's car keys and cell phone were in his front pocket unharmed and mo says Steven's body appeared St aged his body
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was laying like it had been placed in a certain position not what you would typically see and it looked like
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somebody had hit him in the head with some kind of object meanwhile Steven's wallet was still in his car which
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investigators found three miles away with the doors locked and the gas cap hanging open in all the years I've
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worked a car sitting on the side of the road a gas cap off is not normal I thought it was staged like his body was
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staged in the roadway Sandy says she wondered if Steven might have been the victim of a hate crime did you think
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that it was possibly because of his sexuality I did think that I know he was teased a lot at school but he still held
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his head high but Sandy says in the days leading up to his death Steven was worried about his safety he' called his
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sister Stephanie for help the day before he was killed Stephanie said the battery
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cable was loosen on his car so she had met him and and she tightened the battery cable and she asked him to get
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out the car and help her and he said no I'm not getting out like he was scared right but he never said
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why despite what Lieutenant Moore felt were suspicious circumstances he says once Steven's death was ruled a hit and
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run it became the highway Patrol's job to solve the case instead of the Hampton County Sheriff's office or sled the
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South Carolina law enforcement Division I felt like the case for lack of better word was being pwned off on us didn't
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matter what we said we were going to be the ones investigating that case as we were getting started certain names
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started coming up which names [Music] murall soon after Steven Smith was killed Hampton County Guardian managing
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editor Michael dwit says he began hearing persistent rumors all over town what are the rumors that at least one
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Murdoch child was in a vehicle with other boys and allegedly somebody in the vehicle struck the young man with the
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baseball bat and killed him Sandy says those same rumors hit her doorstep as soon as Steven's body was
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taken for an autopsy it made no sense to me at any point did you think that someone in the murdoff family was
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involved well the longer it went on the more I was at asking myself questions but I just couldn't find a
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connection powerful family and then you got stepen who was just Steven Sandy couldn't help but think back to her last
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conversation with Steven a week before he was killed somebody was messaging him a lot he told me that he was going deep
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sea fishing and he said key W and I said well who are you going with he said well
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I can't tell you that make you pause yeah he said you be surprise just kind of like a prominent person and then all
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I could say was well I hope you have fun Sandy says Steven had become more secretive the last couple weeks but it
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never crossed her mind he might be talking about a myll the original rumor was that Steven was planning to go away
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with Buster Murdoch and his family that they were together romantically Liz Ferell is the writer and co-host of the
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murall murders podcast there's no evidence of that that we know of and 48 hours found no evidence to support the
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rumors retired Highway Patrol lieutenant Thomas Moore says the mere mention of the mylls made it difficult to get help
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from local agencies we tried to hand that case File over to the Sheriff's Office and they physically would not
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take it from our hand the mot name was still very powerful very well connected in law enforcement and the Rumor
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suggested well the local cops aren't going to dig into it instead the case was hand handled solely by the highway
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Patrol's multi-disciplinary accident investigation team called mate which specializes in complex vehicle crashes
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to make team was from out of town and we wanted outside eyes involved in this the myall name appears dozens of
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times in mate's 2015 case File which we obtained through a freedom of information request in his audio notes
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Corporal Michael Duncan makes it clear he does doesn't think Steven's death is a hit and run there is no body trauma
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other than to the Head area does not appear to be in my opinion struck by a vehicle another investigator Todd
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Proctor goes further typically you don't see the highway patrol working a murder
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and that's what this is he hints at a conflict of interest for the local sheriff's department there's a reason
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why Hampton County Sheriff's Department is not handling this and I'll leave it at that in this interview with with
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Proctor local teen Taylor Dobson shares a detailed version of that story about several young men in a truck I heard
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that these two maybe three young men were in a vehicle they were riding down 601 saw the car on the side of the road
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I guess saw the boy walking um they turned back around then stuck something out the window he offers a name
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reluctantly he goes by Buster murder Dobson says he grew up with Buster kind of out of C character to who I knew it
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was just strictly heay from all I know Proctor reassures him the mylls are already aware authorities want to speak
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with Buster they know that he's on our radar matter of fact I talked to one of their guys yesterday and and told him
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you know I'm I'm going to talk to Buster here soon you know and they said okay that's fine but according to the case
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File a call to Buster murall in October 2015 was never returned and in December following front page story in the
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Hampton County Guardian mate received a tip called in at the direction of Randy myrdle Buster Uncle a man named Daryl
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Williams called a Hampton police officer to report the tip which involved two teens Shan Connelly and Patrick Wilson
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in a recorded phone call the officer relays to Corporal Duncan what Williams told him Daryl called me and he said
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Patrick come over here to the house he said he that Sean Connelly was drunk and hit something he went back the
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next day to see what it was he had hit and he seen a lot of police out there Patrick was crying telling him and after
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he got finished telling the story he walked outside his house and threw up did he go into any detail about how it
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happened supposedly he had fixed his mirror wanted the mirrors up on the truck the side mirror story matched
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Steven's original death certificate for reasons that are unclear there is no record of Duncan or Proctor ever
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speaking to Connell or Wilson Wilson had no comment to 48 Hours messages to the Hampton County Sheriff's Office Williams
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and Connelly have not been answered Sandy Smith says she asked Sean Connelly Point Blank if he killed Steven and he
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said he said no ma'am I did not I give you my word I promise you I never killed your son do you believe him yeah if he
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lied to you if that turns out to be the case it won't be the first time I'm lied
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to but you know if you did it you need to pay in September 2016 fed up with what
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she calls the lack of an investigation Sandy began a letter writing campaign that included the FBI what did your
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letter say I was just letting them know that my son was murdered and there's no progress being done and I think it had
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something to do with the Muro family and please help just please help me Sandy also told the FBI she believed
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someone was deliberately trying to derail the investigation did you ever get a response from the FBI I did and I
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had two agents come to my house she asked them to unlock Steven's phone and they did do you know if anyone actually
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was able to read Steven's text messages or see where he might have been based on
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cell phone evidence what I heard from the FBI agent there was a a lot of interesting information in the phone
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that needed to be looked at but she says that didn't prompt a local or state authorities to pursue the case further
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there's something in that phone that nobody wants out there by late 2016 the investigation
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into Steven Smith's death went cold what do you think it took for Steven's case to finally get the attention it deserves
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that you wanted somebody else had to die what information do you think was found on Steven's phone chat now with
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the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X the murders of Paul and Maggie myall in June of 2021 caused a seismic shift
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in smalltown Hampton and gave Sandy Smith a lifeline she desperately needed now it took this to get Steven's name
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back out there so somebody would start paying attention in a strange twist of fate
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while investigating the murders of Paula Maggie murall sled announced it had stumbled on a new lead in Steven's death
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and would be taking over the case they did not say what that evidence was it seems like all roads lead to the murof
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family around here yes is that coincidence or is there a reason for that around here it's
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natural it would be another two years while authorities focused on getting a conviction against Alec myall but Sandy
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now has a high octane legal team in her Corner after eight years of waiting for your turn Sandy Smith finally just had
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enough Ronnie and I are like arsonists we started to fire Ronnie RoR and Eric Bland are representing Sandy pro bono
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our sole goal was to wreak Kindle the interest in Steven's death and they turned up the heat on
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sled in March of 2023 sled publicly acknowledged it was treating Steven's case as a
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homicide the same week Buster murall released a statement through his father's attorney saying quote these
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baseless rumors of my involvement with stepen and his death are false I unequivocally deny any involvement in
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his death and my heart goes out to the Smith family those words are now in cement I take him in his word that he
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had nothing at all to do with Steven's death rather than old rumors Bland and RoR say they're focusing on a new
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investigation made possible by $130,000 in GoFundMe donations from Sandy supporters the resources were made
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available for us to do some private investigative work that's going to start with hiring a pathology
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team they were also able to have Steven body exuded something Sandy had wanted for years our primary function right now
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is to have a true independent set of eyes look at it and tell us once and for all what really happened to Steven Smith
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in April of 2023 Dr Michelle Dupri a former investigator and forensic pathologist who's performed more than
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3,000 autopsies oversaw the examination of Steven's body the injuries can tell us so much about what happened and in
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this case they did they did Dupri says the a Psy confirmed Steven died from a single blow to his forehead severely
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fracturing his skull that's a big gash that's 7 and 1/2 Ines almost there would be another
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gash in this posterior area from hitting the pavement so hard literally split his
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skull it split his skull they were also able to put to rest some rumors including the one that
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Steven had been beaten with a baseball bat it wasn't a baseball bat know those type of injuries would cause something
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that we call pattern injuries and we don't see that here this is a linear fracture um as well as this is here just
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as important is what they found U PRI says is what they didn't find we didn't find fractures of any part of the body
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except for the head there was a little road rash which you would expect any signs of a struggle no any signs of a
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beating no any injuries below his head other than the road Rush none whatsoever she says that eliminates the
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possibility Steven was hit by a car headon Dupri says the findings also refute early theories that Steven's body
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might have been staged were you able to determine whether Steven was struck and fell or he might have been struck and
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then placed there we don't believe that he was placed there we believe that whatever happened happened right there
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Dr Kenny Kinsey agrees you think he was killed right here right right there a crime scene expert and star prosecution
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witness in the mydal murder trial Kinsey worked with Dupri to analyze Steven's case he says the evidence at the scene
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is clear that's a massive amount of blood and if he had that kind of injury somewhere else it wouldn't be that
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uniform due to their sensitive nature we created versions of the crime scene photos in which the blood and body are
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shown as Graphics the quantity of blood the direction of the flow in the road and then the direction of all the the
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blood on his person led me to the only conclusion Kinsey is convinced an object attached to a vehicle traveling at high
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speed caused the single fatal blow to Steven's head but whatever hit him was fast and it was large so a hit and run
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but an atypical hit and run yeah very atypical a hit and run with no vehicle debris at the scene it's a conclusion no
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one was expecting how come confident are you that you know what happened to Steven Smith that night I'm as close to
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a degree of scientific certainty as I've ever felt what no one can say with certainty
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is whether Steven's death was accidental or not but still RoR points out he was left there to die someone left him in
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that condition in the roadway and that is a very serious felony Steven's body was found about 3
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miles from his car Kinsey tried to to retrace his steps I wanted to walk every possible path that Mr Smith may have
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taken Steven's family has always insisted if Steven had car trouble he would have felt safer walking through
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the woods so where was Steven's car Steven's car was located if you look at this gate here it was not grown up then
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you could access that gate but in this area really close to the woods but to cut through the woods Steven would have
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had to scale a fence that was 8 ft tall and from what I understand from interviewing neighbors it's been there
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for well over a decade Kinsey theorizes Steven was walking along the road trying
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to flag someone down for help he is walking this direction in the in the lane facing
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traffic whatever was attached to the vehicle or hanging off of the vehicle whenever it struck Steven he went down
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in in this area somewhat on this line here the vehicle that struck Steven was coming toward him
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just like that vehicle in the photograph like this yes going that direction Kinsey says the evidence suggests the
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driver saw something in the road and change lanes and sometime before it struck Steven I believe it changed into
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the oncoming Lane that's when he says an object from the passenger side struck Steven event
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what kind of object could it be it could be anything it could be a ladder hanging
00:27:03
off the back of a work truck it could be a extended side mirror the metal type that you see on some Farm vehicles or
00:27:12
some larger vehicles that scenario matches up with the tip from 2015 involving Patrick Wilson and Shan
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Connelly which Kinsey calls plausible that certainly would be possible that would be one of the places I would start
00:27:28
sled has kept its investigation close to the vest but bland and RoR say a grand jury was impanel and is issuing
00:27:34
subpoenas they're honing in on specific individuals and I think there's about five or less that sled believes has
00:27:43
information regarding Steven's death we don't know who those individuals are in an interview on Fox
00:27:50
Nation in August of 2023 Buster murall again denied the rumors of his involvement never had anything to do
00:27:58
with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of of
00:28:03
any regard he also provided an alibi the night Steven was killed I was at our ediso beach house with your family with
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my mom and my brother sy's team says it's turned over all of its findings to sled but Kinsey
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says it's still going to take someone coming forward somebody knows oh they know yes ma'am
00:28:30
do you think Steven's death was an accident or intentional see a timeline of the case at 48
00:28:43
hours.com as a grand jury zeros in on potential suspects in Steven Smith's death the legal wrangling hasn't slowed
00:28:51
down for Alec murall you've got local charges you got State charges the legal civil cases are going to go on for years
00:28:59
on November 17th 2023 I am guilty and yes sir murall agreed to a plead deal encompassing all of the State financial
00:29:08
charges he faced for defrauding and stealing Millions from clients and law partners he had previously pleaded
00:29:15
guilty to 22 Federal conspiracy wire fraud and money laundering charges Alex prayed on the vulnerable whom he also
00:29:24
thought would never figure out his schemes correct it's people that are at the worst times of their lives where you
00:29:30
need a lawyer to be the best for you not the worst for you perhaps none more so than Elena and
00:29:38
Hannah pler who are now represented by Blandon RoR who were the plowers they were two young girls from
00:29:47
uh Colombia they were just 12 and eight when they survived a deadly crash due to
00:29:52
a faulty Tire they killed their mother and 14-year-old brother in 20 2005 and became the youngest of the financial
00:30:00
victims to whom myrdle admitted he lied and stole from when questioned at his murder trial what loss did they suffer
00:30:07
who died uh their mother their mother did he only mentioned your mom yeah that bothered me because you
00:30:16
don't remember that a 14-year-old was killed in that wreck Alec you got a very good paycheck off of my brother's
00:30:24
death both women are now mothers and Ena is a detective with the Lexington County
00:30:29
Sheriff's Office since all of this has come out there's a lot of pain that's still there Alina was old enough to
00:30:37
remember the details of the last road trip she and her sister would ever take with their mom and brother my brother
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and I had gotten into an argument I wanted to start sitting in the front seat we fought about it and fought about
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it and finally mom was like you know what Justin's going to ride on the way to Columbia and on the the way back home
00:30:58
Elena gets to ride up front and I was so happy Elena and Hannah who were still sitting in the back seat survive the
00:31:05
crash so you must think about that all the time I do actually had a lot of guilt for several
00:31:11
years that guilt is something she says she's learned to let go as she recounts her and her little sister's harrowing
00:31:19
survival we hadn't been on the road too long Hanah was sleeping and I was listening to usher and I remember mom
00:31:27
saying Lany you awake and so I remember pulling my headphones down and said yeah
00:31:31
Mom within seconds I heard this loud pop and then I immediately heard my mom scream I looked out the window and my
00:31:40
Usher CD was spinning on a tree limb their mother Angela and brother Justin died instantly Elena realized she
00:31:51
was trapped and couldn't move and had to send Hannah for help I said I need you to get out of the car car and I need you
00:31:59
to go to the top of the hill to the interstate you're only 12 I'm 12 right so many things could have went worse
00:32:07
8-year-old Hannah climbed up to the interstate there was an 18-wheeler and I was able to flag him down and I think by
00:32:16
that point an ambulance had came in and they had taken me to the hospital Elena waited alone until a fire
00:32:25
rescue team arrived and cut her out of the wreckage she watched as they removed her mother and brother and so I watched
00:32:33
them put them in a black body bag she was then airlifted to a hospital and would need numerous surgeries what was
00:32:40
the moment like when you were able to see each other again after that I remember it I remember hugging
00:32:48
her and thanking her for not dying for not leaving me and then from there I was just in the hospital bed with you you
00:32:57
you couldn't keep this apart the sisters say they were passed around to live with
00:33:01
family members we didn't have a bedroom we just had each other just each other yeah we lived at a little plastic
00:33:08
Bend when a family friend referred the plers to Alec myall he promised to change all of that do you remember the
00:33:16
first time you met Alec murdle yeah I remember when he walked in he seemed really arrogant like a bulldog just tall
00:33:24
almost intimidating in a sense he told us they took your family from you and we're going to make this right they're
00:33:30
going to pay to two young girls who had lost everything myall seemed Larger than
00:33:36
Life I always felt at peace when I got to talk to Alec people listened to him you could tell there was a lot of
00:33:44
control there how did he earn your trust really with his words he was a smooth talker and he made you feel
00:33:53
special but once the case settled the special treatment stopped he pretty much checked out he had explained that the
00:34:01
case had settled we won big money well Lan's case settled for $4.7 million you know Hannah for right at $3 million uh
00:34:10
that money was then entrusted to Russell LEF lefit was the CEO of pal Meadow State Bank in Hampton and a close friend
00:34:17
of myall who'd handpicked lefit to manage the funds as conservator until the girls turned
00:34:24
18 so these two very wealthy prominent men basically helped themselves to these kids piggy bank any money they needed
00:34:32
had to be approved by lefit and a judge even if it was a dollar we had to have a
00:34:39
receipt for it when you and Eric took on their case what did you discover Russell
00:34:44
was making loans to Alex Alex would be overdrawing 50,000$ 100,000 $300,000 in his personal account and he needed money
00:34:53
to cover those shorts RoR says that at myrdal's Direction lefit transferred nearly $1.5 million from the pilers
00:35:02
money to Alec murall and himself when it came time for these young ladies to turn 18 the money was
00:35:08
supposed to be there so Alex had to go out and steal new money from different clients and put that money back murall
00:35:17
was never charged for Hannah and Alina's case but lefit was convicted on federal
00:35:22
charges for his role but still there's that toll of how do you trust going forward people
00:35:30
were put in a position of Trust on their behalfs when they were just children and
00:35:35
then to learn as an adult that the entire time they saw you as nothing more than a
00:35:40
checkbook while the plyers can begin to heal Sandy Smith still waits for her Day
00:35:46
of Reckoning all this sweeping drama there's answers and there's closure for everybody else but not for Sandy Smith
00:35:55
it's time to put the spotlight on Steven Smith months after his Blockbuster trial
00:36:11
Alex ver verdict guilty convicted double murderer Alec murall and the crime of the century are still Hampton's biggest
00:36:20
attractions almost every day somebody's coming by taking a picture of the law firm or riding out to Mosel taking
00:36:26
pictures they just can't get enough The myall Craze was on full display at an auction for the family's
00:36:34
personal items from their Moselle property the infamous leather couch set where Alec testified he took a cat nap
00:36:41
while his wife and son were murdered sold for $30,000 and Maggie's dog Bubba who
00:36:48
helped prosecutors prove Alec was actually at the crime scene has become a local folk hero at that rambunctious
00:36:55
yellow lab had to B been doing what labs like to do Chase Birds we might not have
00:37:01
solved this case and we might not have gotten a conviction Bubba Alex voice calling
00:37:07
Bubba was caught in the background of phone video Paul took minutes before he was
00:37:13
killed Bubba and the other dogs at the kennels they were witnesses to a very horrific event Bubba now lives a quiet
00:37:22
life with the mall's housekeeper meanwhile Alec murall is serving two life terms in a Maximum Security Prison
00:37:31
do you think Alec murall still thinks he can try to play the system 100% now M's
00:37:37
attorneys are hoping their latest motion will be a get out of jail free card work
00:37:42
focused on getting him a new trial in September 2023 dick harlean and Jim Griffin announced their motion for a new
00:37:50
trial based on allegations of jury tampering by the colon County Clerk of Court Becky Hill
00:37:57
what we had filed today supported by sworn testimony of jurors is that the clerk of court had improper private
00:38:05
Communications with the jurors the state versus Richard Alexander Murdoch defended they argued that Hill violated
00:38:11
mural's right to a fair trial when she allegedly told jurors not to be fooled by his testimony and to watch his body
00:38:19
language as Alec was about to take the stand I'm Alec murck in a signed affidavit Hill denies
00:38:26
all of the defense allegations and voluntary statements from a majority of the jury support Hill's account Rick
00:38:34
Duran Bland say even a new trial can save Alec myall if the motor convictions overturned then you have the financial
00:38:44
crimes according to the plea deal with prosecutors on the state crimes murall could be sentenced to nearly 30 years
00:38:51
for those charges alone so yes there's a theoretical universe and and which Alex
00:38:57
murd could see the sun again but it's theoretical only it's like rearranging the the deck chairs on the Titanic it's
00:39:09
F if you would a ride a made for TV Southern legal drama you you couldn't have done a better job than this DT
00:39:16
writes about it in his book The Fall of the House of murall which he ends with Steven Smith it's kind of interesting
00:39:24
and tragic that the oldest story remains unsolved solving his murder I think this
00:39:32
will be the end of this sweeping Saga as sled continues its investigation of the Smith case behind closed doors
00:39:42
what investigators found after the myall murders Remains the subject of intense speculation do you have any idea what
00:39:50
the new evidence that may be presented to the grand jury is no uh I do know that sled has Steven's phone I know that
00:40:00
they have Steven's tablet could Steven's phone reveal the identity of the prominent person with whom he told Sandy
00:40:08
he'd planned to go deep sea fishing that'll be interesting what sled has found out and what the grand jury is
00:40:15
going to determine whether the person that he was going to go away with deep sea fishing um had anything to do with
00:40:22
his death or as knowledge of his death how has this fight for justice been oh it has been a long road but it's
00:40:32
worth it Sandy is Keeping the Faith and keeping Steven's memory alive she recently established a college
00:40:40
scholarship in his name we are starting this scholarship fund so other children won't have it as hard as Stephen did and
00:40:49
she's offering a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and now as it's your turn that if you know
00:40:58
something that you say something what do you miss most about Stephen just I miss everything about
00:41:07
him what do you think step would think of your fight where we are today in his case he said oh mama you would do that
00:41:17
for me yep yep I would over and over [Music] a couple's financial hardship becomes a
00:41:38
Prelude to murder someone trying to break into my house but only one of them pays the price the last thing that most
00:41:44
burglars want to encounter are people secrets and deadly deception you could just tell there's information that's
00:41:49
missing we're not getting the full story 48 hours Saturday on CBS streaming on Paramount Plus
00:41:56
[Music] real people real crimes real life drama it was a Savage murder that was probably one of the most
00:42:19
brutal that I've [Music] seen the brutality of this was what what stunned us all but to cut a woman's
00:42:29
throat it's Revenge it's anger somebody hated her take a look at this she gorgeous
00:42:40
isn't she full of life just a little sweetheart and once you knew her you loved her forever can
00:42:49
you give me her whole name her maiden name Eva K Smith Eva k Jed Eva K Wilson Eva K Gilbert Eva k
00:43:02
wnn each time did she think okay this guy this is going to be the one I guess she was the wife of Hal wnel and
00:43:15
Hal was a real estate developer he was very wealthy successful businessman he was a jet setter he ran
00:43:26
in a fast crowd of big [Music] money he liked very pretty women and he liked the glitter of life I'm Ned
00:43:34
Timmons and my team was hired by hell WN to investigate the death of his wife how would you all describe this
00:43:44
case puzzling uh frustrating you want to write the wrong somebody is out there that took this lady's life and it's our
00:43:54
job to try and find them this incident happened on uh May 1st 2008 K wano was at home she hadn't been
00:44:04
feeling well I think was right over in this area is where the first encounter happened the attack at the front
00:44:15
door was brutal and then I think he just like hits her like this somebody hit her with a prize
00:44:24
fighter type punch and just smashed her face in I think she recovered and ran for the
00:44:31
kitchen she was running for her life and I think this is where the perpetrator the assent got her caught her from
00:44:40
behind forced her to the ground and then and then cut her [Music] neck I believe hell came home around
00:44:52
6:30 or 7:00 at night and found k [Music] what's the hardest part about losing your sister this way she's my best
00:45:05
[Music] friend How could somebody do that to somebody like her we have found people have free lives
00:45:20
they have a public life a private life and a secret life do you believe K wnel had a secret
00:45:27
life I I believe she did yes and that's where I believe the answer [Music] lies I'm Aon Mori tonight on 48
00:45:43
Hours who killed k [Music] weno 48 hours we'll be back in 90 seconds [Music] why are you talking to
00:46:35
me I'm talking to you because I want to find out who murdered my [Music] sister at the time of her murder Kay was
00:46:46
married to real estate developer Hal wenel her fourth husband he was smitten from the moment he first set eyes on Kay
00:46:55
in Arena no airport she said she bent over to get luggage off the rack and that's when Hal noticed
00:47:02
her how could you not Pam sleeper says her sister was striking and vivacious Hal was proud of
00:47:10
her he used to love to walk in her restaurants she was arm candy oh look at that woman wow and at the age of 60 Kay
00:47:18
was still turning heads and everyone seemed to love her which made her murder in May 2008
00:47:28
all the more shocking and difficult to solve what's more there is little physical evidence
00:47:37
crime scene investigators took this video which reveals no fingerprints Footprints defense of wounds hairs or
00:47:47
fibers and all the blood tested was K's so three weeks after his wife's death how wnel offered a reward Ward that
00:47:56
would grow to a quarter of a million dollars he wanted to try to find out who murdered Kay and he was willing to pay
00:48:04
dearly to do it but when months went by without a real leave the frustrated multi-millionaire hired his own team of
00:48:15
private investigators led by Ned Timmons we want this guy we want this salt Timmons a retired FBI agent recruited
00:48:24
former colleague his own ex-wife Kathleen and John and Sonia you know when you get involved in
00:48:31
this kind of work you want to have closure you want to bring them to an end we brought them together with retired
00:48:38
Gwynette County Police Lieutenant Charlie Bishop who also worked on this case to reexamine a murder that
00:48:44
continues to haunt them all so can this be solt oh I think it can we need that lucky break normally we
00:48:54
follow a murder case after an arrest has been made but not tonight tonight's report is a true who
00:49:01
done it so listen closely maybe you know something that can solve this case may first 2008 wasn't a typical day
00:49:14
for Kay wenel she woke up that morning with all the intentions of going to work usually she was out finding tenants to
00:49:22
fill her husband's shopping centers and she changed mind say I don't feel well so whoever did this knew that she was
00:49:32
home there are no signs of forced entry this is where you believe the as salent came in is that correct that's correct
00:49:41
so John and Sonia believes Kate let her Killer Inside and was immediately assaulted the proof says Ned Timmons is
00:49:51
all that blood and you can see by the way the blood blood drop was hit her back had to
00:49:57
be there and he had to hit her with a very very powerful blow there that stunned her and sent her glasses flying
00:50:04
across the room she realized I'm in trouble and then try to escape she flees to the kitchen perhaps to get the phone
00:50:13
there he gets her and that's where he takes control of her and kills her by slashing her
00:50:20
throat what happened next shocked even these veteran investigators then he decided to do what we call an
00:50:27
insurance cut a second cut to make sure that she was going to die I mean that's a cold blood exactly right yeah it
00:50:35
really is and Kay's killer appeared to have carefully planned his attack nobody saw him coming in nobody saw him leave
00:50:44
which makes what the killer left behind so puzzling there's the bloody towel up in the upstairs
00:50:52
[Music] bedroom a towel with smudges of Kay's blood was found in her closet off the master
00:51:02
bathroom why is he in there it's her closet maybe takes one final trophy what are you looking for in that room it's a
00:51:09
big question this is what investigators do know the weapon I think it might have been a
00:51:19
scalpel or something like that could have been a hunting or fishing knife whatever it was it was extremely sharp
00:51:25
it did not cause any Jagged lacerations it was like the asent you all use he you believe a man
00:51:38
did this because of the strength that it took I don't see a woman cutting another
00:51:42
woman's throat like that you know are there women that could do this sure I don't think it's likely I think this was
00:51:48
a man a man that John and Sonia believes is right-handed because I think he hit her with with his right and I think the
00:51:56
way the the cuts were on her neck it started from here to here if he was left-handed I think he would start here
00:52:04
and go this way and he was probably wearing gloves pieces of a latex glove were found inside the house and on the
00:52:12
back deck that didn't match ones used by First Responders that also is confirmation
00:52:19
that whoever did this came prepared I mean who walks around with rubber gloves in there pocket the
00:52:26
motive everyone agrees this was not a robbery she had plenty of rings on case wallet and credit cards were out in the
00:52:35
open jewelry worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was locked in a safe upstairs
00:52:42
if this was some guy that came to rob her wouldn't he take the Rings wouldn't he take something The Impressions that I
00:52:48
got were that someone was very comfortable in that home knew their way around that home and this person has no
00:52:56
concern that anyone is going to walk in and catch him and then walks out the back door and
00:53:03
departs investigators believe the killer made his Escape through the woods behind
00:53:09
the wnel home he clearly knew where he was going to when he left and that takes an awful lot of Prior planning but did
00:53:18
he make a mistake who is this don't know but I sure wished I did I Lincoln is this the
00:53:26
guy that murdered my [Music] sister six days after Kwo was murdered her family and friends gathered to say
00:54:00
goodbye it was packed lots of people there was a lot of policemen there Ginette County Police took this
00:54:09
surveillance footage they were searching the faces for suspects Pam sleeper was searching for
00:54:18
answers did Kay have enemies I didn't think she did but apparently she did did she ever talk about having any fears no
00:54:29
anybody threatening her no you had to wonder about how didn't you no it just never crossed my mind
00:54:37
ever but it certainly occurred to police to look at Kay's husband Hal was a suspect from day one Hal however
00:54:46
appeared eager to cooperate agreeing to this police interview in 2008 without his lawyer present to the best of my
00:54:55
knowledge I will tell you everything I know and as investigators discovered Hal had an ironclad Alibi we knew how
00:55:06
physically wasn't there we have video of him leaving his office we have video of
00:55:14
him going to a fast food restaurant all within the time we believe the murder took place there was also no evidence
00:55:22
Hal had hired anyone what's more he seemed grief stricken by Kay's death there are nights I wake up crying in my
00:55:30
heart out middle of the night like a child it's horrible it's it's it's really horrible and especially if you
00:55:39
don't know why if she was hit by a car Hal wasn't a part of this in my opinion so you don't believe
00:55:47
he was involved no but I think Hal was protecting the memory of Kay the secret stuff the secret stuff and he didn't
00:55:56
want to debul that because it would reflect poorly on on K Secrets K didn't even share with her sister Pam there was
00:56:06
a whole lot apparently she didn't talk to me about and you think somewhere in there is the clue to her killer mhm I
00:56:13
sure do Kay had a colorful past as investigators discovered she not only married a lot she also had air
00:56:25
she needed to be loved and she needed to feel that she could attract any man she
00:56:31
she was obsessed with this in fact Ned Timmons theorizes she may have been seeing someone at the time of her death
00:56:41
Hal knew her Secret Life Hal was involved in the secret life in my opinion do you think he put up with her
00:56:47
than having Affairs just to keep her on his arm absolutely yeah in a murder investigation nothing
00:56:55
is private so the wnel house was searched and according to John and Sonia more possible evidence of Kay's secret
00:57:04
life was uncovered material we found in the house right this would would not be normal in
00:57:11
what way what do you mean it was unusual uh almost perverted kinky kinky yes Kink
00:57:19
is a good word outfit's detectives described as fetish wear and when we talked to Hal about it first he said no
00:57:27
I don't know anything about that stuff oh then the next time oh yeah we went to a uh a masquerade party and she dressed
00:57:35
like a French maid but this Halloween costume is tame compared to what else was found in Kay's closet the list in
00:57:43
police reports is x-rated these outfits were not something a frenchmaid would wear and if she's not wearing them for
00:57:51
how then who's she wearing them for K is a beautiful woman mhm if you came out and I'd line up 30 guys I know they'd
00:57:59
all tell you the same thing anybody any guy would fall in love with Kay in a minute do you believe she knew her
00:58:06
killer I think she probably did and cops do have one possible clue to his identity a stranger seen in this
00:58:17
neighborhood the very afternoon Kay was killed this sketch was made with help from one of the w neighbors who told
00:58:26
police he actually saw the same man twice on the day of the murder and the day before and he had a a flyer for a house
00:58:37
that was for sale in the subdivision and the neighbor said oh it's way on the other side and he just turned around he
00:58:44
walked away out of sight the first encounter stood out to the neighbor because the stranger didn't seem to have
00:58:51
a car now this is an area you just don't walk around in a neighborhood you you have to drive nobody nobody walks police
00:58:59
later discovered that the house for sail flyer was only given to people who had been inside that house and there had
00:59:07
been no showings on the day the stranger first appeared the following day the same neighbor was looking out his
00:59:14
bathroom window and he sees the same guy walking toward W's house right about the
00:59:23
time they believ that the homicide occurred I mean do you think this person could be the killer I think it's a
00:59:31
strong possibility obviously we can't say for 100% until we identify that person he saw and for more than 8 years
00:59:38
that's exactly what wet County Police have been trying to do Sergeant John rter took over the investigation in 2011
00:59:47
Lieutenant Steven Shaw is his supervisor it's a standard you know white male with
00:59:52
wire rim glasses that's aging and starting to bald and there are probably hundreds and hundreds of males walking
00:59:58
around that look something like this and and we've you know obviously explored Kay's Inner Circle and and Hal Circle
01:00:05
and and all of their friends and acquaintances they checked out everyone from Kay's doctor to a restaurant
01:00:13
manager even a clerk at the local Hobby Lobby store who had a crush on Kay she said that's the strangest thing he calls
01:00:21
me and wants me to go for a drink with him and investigators have cleared and eliminated all three men but they're
01:00:29
still trying to find this man pictured with Kay in a photo taken years earlier in Las Vegas who seemed to resemble the
01:00:39
sketch do you think that person is this person well I think it's a possibility that that
01:00:46
person has seated next to Kay and with another female it it it for sure could be him you don't know whether he's a
01:00:53
suspect or not you just I I never could identify him nobody seemed to know who he was as investigators were searching
01:01:00
for the man in the sketch Hal suggested they should also look at a man in Kay's past no I have something back my mind I
01:01:11
don't even want to say it yet that that was years and years ago yeah uh that the
01:01:16
weirdest thing was um and I I really don't even like saying it is her ex-husband her third husband
01:01:25
Jeff Gilbert was she still married to him when when you two met when we met absolutely yes she was he was running
01:01:32
B's Casino where Kay was modeling when Hal swept in and stole her away he threatened her when she was trying to
01:01:41
leave uh I know that uh but that's what she told me so you don't think that would make Jeff angry enough
01:01:50
to want to kill her no no no never ever but just a few months before Kay was killed Jeff called he was traveling to
01:02:00
Atlanta and wanted to see her and how I said well what are you going to do H she
01:02:06
said I tell him we're not going she said he's living about we looked at him because an ex-husband is is of course on
01:02:13
our suspect list but no indication that he was involved we don't have any evidence through Airlines or phone
01:02:19
records and we looked into it to indicate that he was in the Atlanta area then nearly three months after Kay was
01:02:26
killed out of the blue the most tantalizing and perplexing clue of all I was in shock I I didn't know what
01:02:38
to [Music] think 48 Hours the 30th season From Russia With Murder I was hired to hunt down Victoria
01:03:03
nasirova she allegedly killed Nadja Ford's mother from the streets of Russia you need to speak Russian too
01:03:12
Victoria CBS News to the streets of New York there are allegations that Victoria
01:03:18
has left a trail of victims she was going to continue drugging and poisoning people to get what wanted tracking her
01:03:26
mother's killer I fear for my own life she's Pure Evil the Widow 911 help me help me my husband's
01:03:37
hurt himself was it a homicide or was it a suicide there were three shots this is
01:03:42
not a comfortable way to kill yourself it's not what do you believe happened to David Le Rell Le killed him anyone see
01:03:49
her pick up the gun no fingerprints no that's a problem isn't it what about her first husband he was
01:03:57
trampled by his own cattle she' been charged with the murder of two husbands they called her the
01:04:04
Black Widow were you at all prepared for what happened in this case shock is the
01:04:09
word that comes to mind Grapes of Wrath he calls 911 and he's yelling into the phone help me help me he shot me the
01:04:22
shooter is in the truck shooting out the window who are these guys greetings from
01:04:27
doll Vineyards Robert was almost too good to be true IM Golden Boy at Cisco who was Star Struck about getting into
01:04:35
to the Napa Valley Wine business and imad's dream cross paths with rubbert doll stream over money $800,000 in a gym
01:04:43
bag yeah this is what $800,000 in cash looks like did you ever imagine that this is how it was going to
01:04:53
end a new season 48 hours I stand on that bridge on on the second floor I look down at that front
01:05:15
[Music] door I say k what happened here what what really happened whoever did this did this because one of
01:05:27
two reasons they're very angry with her or they're very angry with you I've been
01:05:32
in this game for 40 years who the hell kills your wife not even the mafia does that despite what Hal weno believed Cold
01:05:42
Case investigators Lieutenant Steven Shaw and Sergeant John RoR wonder if the killer could be connected in some way to
01:05:50
W's business we have to look at every option and every possibility we figure out who
01:05:56
did it back in 2008 how was the picture of wealth and success at the time of K's death what
01:06:05
kind of shape was his business in it's hard to tell in the face it looks like they had a lot of money however after
01:06:10
digging into the case it appears that it was maybe smoking mirrors we find out that maybe there was some fraud or some
01:06:17
stuff that wasn't always on the up and UPS how weno made his fortune buying land Building shopping centers
01:06:24
and then selling the malls fully leased for a profit but according to Marie lanquist
01:06:31
Hal would sometimes cook the books he wasn't the most honest person in the [Music]
01:06:40
world Marie began working for Hal in 2007 as his Administrative Assistant we sold a shopping center in Lawrenceville
01:06:49
and the whole deal was bad he was paying tenants rent so what the new owners bought it the books looked like they
01:06:58
were paying rent every month when in fact how was paying their rent some of them I can say to you it without
01:07:05
reservation I can't even think of anybody we have tenants at Cas who fall out but they don't blame me yet we found
01:07:14
six lawsuits filed against Halal and his various companies some of them from people who did blame
01:07:21
him claiming fraud but Hal brushed it off if you don't make any money you never get sued for anything the minute
01:07:30
you make a buck people come after you do you think there's any possibility that the Kay's death might have something to
01:07:37
do with someone angry with hell yeah because apparently he owed a lot of people many and he didn't make a lot of
01:07:44
friends could be a Revenge [Music] thing K's sister Pam wonders if an investor was angry enough to hire a
01:07:54
professional killer which could explain the lack of evidence at the crime scene there was a lot of blood there and how
01:08:02
this guy got away without a footprint a handmark on the wall or anything I it's just
01:08:10
[Music] amazing but the idea of a professional hit doesn't make sense to the investigators who've examined the case
01:08:19
over the years I think if it was hired killer would have been a yeah gun with a gun no physical contct to the back of
01:08:29
the head boom boom bye out the door see you later that's it I'm done and what makes the Hitman even more unlikely they
01:08:37
say is what happened nearly 3 months after Kay was [Music] murdered A peculiar letter arrived at
01:08:46
the gwet county offices of the Atlanta Journal Constitution the letter wasn't published
01:08:52
back then but it was given to the police the police department wanted to meet with us they showed us this
01:09:00
[Music] letter cut out in little bitty individual different Letters Out of different
01:09:08
magazines all glued in to this page and it was shocking the envelope postmark July 21st
01:09:19
2008 had been mailed from Augusta Georgia someone4 40 m away from where Kay was murdered
01:09:28
wow it it I mean it was bizarre odd the letter and envelope were taken apart and carefully examined by
01:09:37
the crime lab but no DNA or other useful forensics were found whoever did this did it with with gloves on I mean they
01:09:46
cut each individual letters out and then glued them so it was very time consuming
01:09:52
to do that you know how hard that would be to stick these things on on there with it's incredible I mean this is
01:09:58
really a long I mean just to go through the magazine the letter is shocking filled
01:10:05
with expletives I bet kwel never told anyone what she really was it turns out she was
01:10:14
just a money grubbing I loved her and she said we could be together she told me she hated her house in that fat
01:10:21
miserable lying mother husband she said she loved me but that was a lie too I told her this would happen if she didn't
01:10:30
keep her damn promises to me family screwed everything up those white trash ass his money was more important than
01:10:42
our love we could have been so happy together but they everything up on its face it sounds like the words of a
01:10:49
jolted lover if you look at the letter yeah if if we're going to go with the the jilted lover Theory uh that this
01:10:58
person uh she finally told him no I'm staying with Hal in other words did did the family talk her into staying with
01:11:06
Hal that irritated the actual perpetrator but Pam sleeper says Kay never mentioned any plans to leave
01:11:15
Hal although she admits parts of the letter have a ring of truth especially about the house they were renting I know
01:11:23
that she didn't like her house I mean that was the first thing that stood out to me was wow I know she was kind of
01:11:29
unhappy with Hal about that so it was someone who knew her oh yeah apparently who would go to such trouble
01:11:38
is the letter really what it appears to be how many of you believe this was actually written by a spurn lover do you
01:11:49
based on the reading of it yes Kathleen I don't I do because of the reference to
01:11:56
the family the house and things things that wouldn't be known to everybody but those are exactly why it wouldn't be a
01:12:03
spurned lover a spurned lover doesn't give a care about her house a spurned lover doesn't give a care about her
01:12:09
family I believe at this point it's not a jilled lover that's a red [Music] herring review the clues help solve this
01:12:19
case join us now on Facebook at 48 hours a special 48 Hours podcast series on radio.com the Widow six episodes
01:12:33
starting Tuesday one woman two dead husbands could she be that unlucky the investigation into K wno's
01:12:49
death got new life when this letter arrived in July of 2008 it felt like something dreamed up by a Hollywood
01:12:59
screenwriter it's what the author thinks threat letter should look like this is almost scripted so you have to say
01:13:06
what's the purpose former FBI profiler marelen ool agreed to examine the letter for us she
01:13:15
now heads the forensic science program at George Mason University this is someone I think
01:13:21
that's pretending to be the killer to to create this Boogeyman suspect and to push the police away from the actual
01:13:29
motive in the case the writer may not be a jolted lover at all from working cases like
01:13:37
this if this was a spurned lover then this would not be the first note a spurned lover is going to have notes
01:13:44
preceding this one where K is the most wonderful thing in the world I love you we're perfect together even if it's a
01:13:51
delusional stalker initially they love their victims they're beautiful they're going to spend their life together it's
01:13:57
only after a few letters that you see that transition to you are now this horrible human being I hate you what's
01:14:06
more the investigation hasn't revealed any other men in Kay's life exactly what Hal told detectives back in 2008 as God
01:14:16
is my judge I don't think K was having an affair as she had to be the best damn actress in the world it's turns out that
01:14:24
while Kay was sexy and flirtatious investigators may have been looking in the wrong direction they
01:14:30
didn't find any evidence of an affair at the time of her murder and Kathleen timman says neither did the medical
01:14:38
examiner and this letter that implies that she's got yet a very active current lover and yet when they they did the
01:14:45
autopsy examination she had no indication that that there had been recent sexual activity no indication
01:14:54
that she's involved with anybody including her husband do you believe that the person who sent this letter is
01:15:00
actually the person who went into the home and killed her not necessarily oh tul suspects the killer may have had
01:15:07
help I think it's possible that there are um two people that could be involved you could have somebody that wrote the
01:15:13
letter and then someone that came into the home Mary eleno tul says writers of cut and paste notes tend to have one
01:15:20
thing in common they are women I can tell you that that's my experience I've seen them written by
01:15:28
teenage girls I've seen them written by middleaged women but the behavior at the
01:15:33
scene just that kind of violence certainly suggests to me a male offender if the profiler is right that means a
01:15:41
man and a woman could be involved in Kay's death with the woman creating the note to throw police of the trail
01:15:48
someone may have been interviewed and they felt like they could would have been considered a suspect didn't want
01:15:55
that and produce this note isn't this a very risky thing a terribly risky thing to do oh tools suggest taking another
01:16:02
look at the people interviewed by police back in 2008 one of those people was this woman a friend of Cav's and Hal's
01:16:12
Karen Scott Karen worked for Hal and she promoted herself as Hal's right-hand man
01:16:20
and Karen was an obvious suspect of ours because she was close with Hal and K in
01:16:25
any investigation you're going to start with who's closest to them so close that when Karen remarried
01:16:32
it was Kay who gave the wedding shower and was matron of honor Marie lanquist was there oh my gosh it was a gorgeous
01:16:40
wedding Hal walked her down the aisle and the day Kay was killed investigators discovered how in a colleague had
01:16:47
brought breakfast to Karen who was home recovering from surgery and later when he discovered Kay's body Karen was his
01:16:56
first call she was destroyed because she and Kay were like very very I mean extremely close that's Karen Scott on
01:17:05
police surveillance tape at Kay's funeral you know things Chang back then we thought she was a good source she
01:17:12
would email me wanting to be kept up on what was going on all seemingly innocent
01:17:18
that may not be documents show Karen had ongoing financial problems but Hal was a
01:17:24
generous boss the money was great I don't think she could have made that kind of money elsewhere and she was
01:17:31
ambitious we looked into Karen we looked into every other person at work who was
01:17:35
closest to Kay Hal what they would gain if Kay was out of the picture according to this police report Karen admitted to
01:17:43
detectives that with Kay's death she possibly gained the opportunity to operate the company but she also denied
01:17:50
that she would have had any motivation to bring harm to Kay over those facts and she described herself as Kay's best
01:17:59
friend and when I heard that I was like really I mean that surprised me Kay's sister and best friend Pam
01:18:09
sleeper you know I know a best friend and their relationship was not like my best friends some work colleagues also
01:18:17
question how close they really were they were not best friends maybe to her faith
01:18:23
but that's not what she was saying behind K's back we reached out to Karen Scott and she sent us this letter
01:18:30
stating I lost my best friend to a brutal attack but she declined our request for an
01:18:37
interview Karen has been questioned by investigators about K wenn's death and according to police reports she
01:18:45
adamantly denied any and all involvement what's more police say cell phone records back car Ken's Alibi that she
01:18:54
was home around the time of the murder and RoR says he's unable to connect her to the letter we investigated that
01:19:02
thoroughly and and quite frankly we're still investigating it but we can't find anything to suggest that Karen was
01:19:08
responsible for the letter or that anybody in particular is responsible for that
01:19:14
letter with an unknown as salant still on the loose Pam sleeper says her determination to find her sister's
01:19:22
killer comes with RIS I do walk around kind of scared sometimes I wonder if he's going
01:19:27
to be after me next cuz I don't give it up you think because you keep her name alive and you keep this case alive that
01:19:34
somebody might come after you MH [Music] yeah that was the last picture taking a Kay
01:20:01
on her 60th birthday Pam sleeper says that after Kay's murder how WN was never the same he called me every day he was
01:20:11
just lost he missed her so much he would say who why I was like I I don't know how it's what we're trying to find out I
01:20:21
try to stay busy Morning Noon night I hate the mornings going to work cuz I know I'm coming home to that house at
01:20:28
night weekends I despise how may have hated being in the house but he refused to leave it if your wife or significant
01:20:36
other was murdered in that house wouldn't you want to get out of that house private investigator Ned Timmons
01:20:42
you want to walk in the kitchen every day and have this vision of all this blood and her lying there with their
01:20:47
throat cut you know it just didn't make sense still more perplexing to investigators how kept the house exactly
01:20:54
as it was the day Kay was killed her sneakers next to the living room couch her book opened to the page she
01:21:02
was reading drops of her blood on the staircase it was never cleaned up even when our team showed up months and
01:21:12
months later yeah the house was exactly strange very strange they exactly the way it was you'd think you'd have a
01:21:18
cleaning crew come in and cleanse that place but there was still the blood splatters I want nothing more on God's
01:21:26
Earth than to find the guy who did this and I give everything I have to get Case
01:21:31
Killer even if it meant spending his fortune to do it the goette County Police Department
01:21:39
was having their financial difficulties so it was really a bad time for law enforcement is that part of the problem
01:21:45
here that it's a problem everywhere there was just no money there again another reason how contact these folks
01:21:53
cuz they had so much more resources available to him than we did Ned timman says it was Hal who paid
01:22:00
for much needed lab work to be done I was dealing with private laboratory weekly and we sent a lot of fibers we
01:22:08
sent a lot of fluids for DNA sampling and Hal would have to approve every every time samplings are 5 6,000 a hit
01:22:17
and we had people in Las Vegas we had PE leads in California we had leads all over the country it was costing a lot of
01:22:23
money how's Quest came to an abrupt end in 2010 after he died of a heart attack his
01:22:31
estate cut off the $250,000 reward money and fired his private investigators you know there are
01:22:38
things that we wanted to do other leads that we wanted to follow up on and then all of a
01:22:43
sudden you know the the executive says you guys are all finished we weren't happy about it I'll tell you that as FBI
01:22:50
agents we don't ever want to quit and we never wanted to stop but we couldn't afford to finance it ourselves the
01:22:57
current Cold Case detectives seem to have made no Headway and their investigation appears stalled this case
01:23:05
on the face of it looks like it would be solvable why is it still open from the amount of time put into it and different
01:23:11
investigators involved I really don't have an answer for that and that's the most frustrating part and I think that's
01:23:16
probably why we're here today is that we'll get someone's attention and someone who knows something will call us
01:23:21
I know there's some body out there that knows and I think they just need to come
01:23:26
forward and let us know you know it would just help so much we'd be so grateful as they've done so many times
01:23:36
Pam sleeper her mother and their husbands made an emotional visit to Kay's grave if it was me Kay would not
01:23:45
give up and I'm not going to give up tonight investigators are asking for your help
01:23:55
to solve kennel's murder once again here is what we know she was at home in lawrencville Georgia on May 1st 2008
01:24:05
when she was viciously attacked investigators believe her as salent was a right-handed man wearing
01:24:13
gloves who used a very sharp weapon this unidentified man seen near the W home the day of the murder may
01:24:21
have been in involved and then there's the cut and pce letter sent nearly 3 months later people who think they get
01:24:30
away with murder sigh a big sigh of relief when years go by but this program is going to make them very
01:24:40
[Music] nervous anyone with information is asked to contact Gwynette County criminal
01:24:50
investigation division anonymous tipline Line 1 77513 539 Crimestoppers Atlanta 144 577
01:25:03
[Music] tips I basically have spent a conflict free life he divided us not of murder as
01:25:23
Sin he defined us the system balanced in favor of a black man and still we can't
01:25:30
get past that now what OJ would never lay low Saturday at [Music] [Applause] 9: it's been more than 2 weeks now since
01:25:48
24-year-old Jennifer kessie disappeared Jennifer has vanished what could have happened where could Jennifer be as the
01:25:55
days pass by there's been few answers and even fewer leads someone out there knows something how could someone just
01:26:04
vanish but she did oh my God oh my God this can't be happening detective it's been 14 years
01:26:17
where is Jennifer kessie We Miss Jen every single day hello I'm Jennifer KY it's her laughter
01:26:27
it's her wit it's just her loving nature I think of her all the time we were inseparable
01:26:35
our friendship never wavered just the greatest friend I've ever had in January 2006 Jen was on top of
01:26:47
the world she was in love I remember Jennifer giving me a phone number she's like I don't ever do this I could spend
01:26:53
hours on the phone talking to her couldn't have been happier she had a great job had just gotten promoted she
01:26:59
had just brought her first condo with her own money life couldn't have been any better for
01:27:06
her on the morning of January 24th 2006 we got a phone call was Jennifer okay she didn't show up for work
01:27:15
today totally out of character for Jennifer so out of character something's wrong something was wrong
01:27:23
wrong was there any evidence of a forced entry no there was no blood on the ground mm- the Orlando Police Department
01:27:33
they worked it very hard thanks for joining us tonight I'm leis Balden Joyce and Drew kessie organized searches they
01:27:39
were standing on street corners holding signs begging pleading for anyone to please help them find their
01:27:51
daughter nothing panned out nothing absolutely nothing she's been missing for more than
01:27:58
2 years 10 years ago 12 long years 13 years later 14 years now it's our turn so not only am I looking at
01:28:09
Jennifer kesse's parents I'm looking at the two lead detectives right now on this case yes yes us and our
01:28:18
team I'm a private investigator and I'm working for the kessie family we have to
01:28:23
find her oh my God we've got to find her there are people out there who know exactly what happened to Jennifer
01:28:37
[Music] kessie [Music] [Music] if you have any tips about the Jennifer kessy case you can contact the cessie
01:29:30
family tip line we don't have her we need her where is she you know aliens didn't abduct her please help us to meet
01:29:39
the kessis is to love the cesses they're just good people Lewis Balden is an investigative reporter for
01:29:48
wkmg in Orlando he's covered the case since Jennifer for kessie went missing in 2006 Joyce and Drew kessie were very
01:29:57
vulnerable it's just really hard and you could sense that you could feel that we're a desperate family and people just
01:30:04
wanted to help them I'll have the story all new at six if you had told me then in 14 years we would still be looking
01:30:13
for Jennifer kessie I would not have believed it um can I just have a second Lauren
01:30:23
McCarthy and Jennifer were best friends since childhood she was extremely safety
01:30:30
conscious she was very aware of her surroundings she carried pepper spray with her all the time the reasons that
01:30:37
she bought the place that she did was because it was a gated community with a guard on Sunday January 22nd 2006
01:30:50
Jennifer returned from a vacation to St Croy with her boyfriend Rob Allen my best friend said to me after the trip
01:30:58
he's like oh you're in love and you just don't want to admit it they had been dating a year you've got the bug you're
01:31:04
all in even though Rob lived in Fort Lauderdale about 3 hours from Jennifer's condo in Orlando we did the long
01:31:11
distance but after the initial day we started spending virtually every weekend together on Monday January 23rd on her
01:31:19
way into work as a project manager for a time share company Jennifer called her mom Jen shared every detail about the
01:31:28
trip she was just really happy she was on a cloud but that evening Jennifer spoke
01:31:35
with Rob and their conversation didn't end well we had a disagreement long distance was taking a toll on their
01:31:43
relationship she was a little emotional saying oh you know you don't love me I'm
01:31:47
not with you and a little insecurity they spoke around 1 p.m. Rob had no idea that it would be
01:31:57
the last time he would ever hear her voice that's just not something that even came in my mind unfortunately take
01:32:04
things for granted the next morning was when Jennifer didn't show up for work and
01:32:11
didn't answer her phone she was always on the radar with everybody it was so out of character for Jennifer to not
01:32:19
respond her friends and family rushed to her condo we were probably on the road within five minutes we were very frantic
01:32:27
okay call the hospitals again okay call the police again when they arrived at the condo in
01:32:34
the early afternoon a building manager opened Jennifer's locked apartment what did you see the first time you walked in
01:32:42
her travel bag it was like she walked in the night before and just dropped her suitcase right where it was the rest of
01:32:49
the home looked like a maid had been there except for Jennifer's bathroom God Lov Jennifer but she's a little bit of a
01:32:58
bathroom pig in the morning so makeup curling iron all that stuff all over the vanity wet shower wet tow back in 2008
01:33:07
the cessie told 48 hours that while the condo appeared to be in order they did notice that Jennifer's purse keys and
01:33:14
cell phone were missing what do you believe happened she slept for sure and I think she got up for work at she
01:33:22
normally would okay I'm going to work I have a meeting it's busy locks the door of her
01:33:28
condo that's where the mystery started it's your sister it's your family it's your blood I love her that
01:33:36
afternoon Jennifer's brother Logan began to question some of the construction workers at the complex he said they were
01:33:44
uncooperative it didn't feel right did you sense somebody knew something yeah 100%
01:33:52
at first the Cassis say police infuriated them by not taking their daughter's disappearance seriously I'm
01:34:00
like come on start to work get to work police say they did not believe Jennifer's case met the criteria for
01:34:07
declaring her missing they kept suggesting that she must have had a fight with her boyfriend and would be
01:34:13
back Joyce used to complain to me she's like call them I don't hear helicopters in the air but by early evening when
01:34:20
there was still no sign of Jennifer police officially declared her missing and despite evidence that she was at her
01:34:28
condo that morning police pursued a theory that Jennifer may have been abducted the night before cell toow data
01:34:35
was analyzed and it indicated Jennifer was out of her apartment and not at home police kept insisting that Jennifer went
01:34:43
out in the middle of the night and we're like you don't understand that's not how
01:34:48
our daughter's brain works but upon further investigation police realized the cell tower data was misinterpreted
01:34:56
and she actually wasn't out that night she was the type of person who would call her mom or her dad or me when she
01:35:03
was simply walking from Target in the parking lot and it was dark out we all along have felt that she was abducted in
01:35:11
the morning but police were very quick to shut us down on certain things as the hours went by the cessy's
01:35:20
panic became unbearable they feared that time was running out we have to find her
01:35:28
as quickly as possible because the more time that passes the less chance we have and the worse it's going to
01:35:38
be using Jennifer's apartment as their headquarters they began their own media blitz you could go to any part of town
01:35:49
and everyone knew Jennifer Kess name and they knew her face because there were posters there were Billboards her face
01:35:57
was everywhere the searches were massive there were hundreds of people that came
01:36:03
out the community just rallied I had never seen anything of this magnitude but still no one knew where
01:36:16
Jennifer was as you can imagine we were basket cases oh we were flipping out then 2 days after her disappearance I
01:36:25
think that my heart stopped police found Jennifer's car Panic sheer [Music] panic
01:37:03
the most frustrating thing is not knowing where Jennifer's at not knowing where to look next 1 can you send me the
01:37:10
call please we can sit around and discuss different ideas and different theories but not having a concrete solid
01:37:16
Avenue to go down to bring resolution to the family uh is the most frustrating part of this case right
01:37:24
now as the Desperate Hours went by Sergeant Roger Brennan and his team of investigators searched the streets of
01:37:31
Orlando looking for Jennifer kessie we were going through canvases of areas that she would traveler that she might
01:37:38
be at 48 Hours interviewed him in 2008 as we were driving around the area around her complex we were trying to
01:37:46
identify different areas that her vehicle may have been [Music] seen Jennifer's car had been seen the morning
01:37:56
she disappeared a couple said they saw it swerving out of her apartment complex at around 7:40 it appeared that somebody
01:38:04
was fighting over control of the car detective Joel Wright was one of the original investigators unfortunately the
01:38:11
witnesses couldn't say which way the car went once it got out onto the surface road then two days after Jennifer
01:38:20
vanished Norge County Sheriff's Office received a call about Jennifer's vehicle being in the Huntington on the green
01:38:26
Condominiums approximately 1.1 miles away from her condominium what was concerning about
01:38:32
this was the area was located is not an area frequented by Jennifer it's actually a complex that's been known
01:38:37
where stolen cars were would be recovered from you have that initial hope you're like okay we found the car
01:38:44
it's only going to be a matter of time before we find Jennifer in an unexpected move detective summoned boyfriend Rob
01:38:51
Allen to meet them at Jennifer's car when the police officer asked me to follow with him and to look at the
01:38:57
inside of the car and the inside of the trunk my stomach was churning as far as what could you find You know despite
01:39:03
being more than 200 miles away when Jennifer disappeared Rob was suddenly a person of interest I think they wanted
01:39:11
to open the trunk in front of him to see his reaction if in case Jennifer was in
01:39:19
there when police open the trunk Jennifer wasn't there there were no signs of a struggle in fact everywhere they looked
01:39:29
everything seemed normal this is the interior of Jennifer's car as we found it in 2008 Sergeant Brennan shared
01:39:36
evidence photos several items were located inside the vehicle her cell phone charger sandals and shoes nothing
01:39:44
appears to be disturbed in the vehicle at all it didn't appear that it was a robbery it didn't appear that it was a
01:39:49
car theft uh it didn't appear that uh it was car jacking when that car was found
01:39:56
we jumped all over it we immediately started asking everybody walking around if they had seen anything the canvasing
01:40:01
started then and then it got more intense as the days went on and we eventually had horses and and uh
01:40:08
helicopters and everything else up in the air looking around we didn't come up with any solid leads of anybody who saw
01:40:14
Jennifer saw anybody Park her vehicle here but when police checked security cameras it looked like they f finally
01:40:21
caught a big break we have a film of the car being dropped off around noon on the day Jennifer
01:40:29
disappeared one of the cameras captured a person driving Jennifer's car he pulls into a parking spot next to
01:40:40
the pool area backs out to even straighten himself in there sits in there for 32
01:40:49
seconds gets out walks away never looks back the Phantom figure walked away in the direction of Jennifer's complex it
01:41:03
was beyond frightening in my mind it was that person took my door and how fast can we find that person this is the
01:41:12
camera that that caught the person that parked Jennifer's vehicle here but to the cessy's frustration the person
01:41:18
caught on that camera could not be identified apparently this video when it films captures every two to 3 seconds as
01:41:24
it's filming so that's why you only see the subject on one side of the gate and then the opposite side of the gate and
01:41:30
he's blocked by the post on other side of the gate technology then was not what technology is now what are the chances
01:41:39
of that happening but it did seeing that tape of Jennifer's car that was probably the worst moment
01:41:51
moment I was like being hit with a ton of bricks and then also anger just anger because the the person was so
01:42:02
casual something really bad obviously happened and they were just so casually dropping this car off like they were you
01:42:11
know getting home from work we printed out pictures and we brought them out here we were hopeful that somebody would
01:42:20
would recognize just the gate or just the general appearance or the stature or maybe the hairstyle or some aspect of
01:42:28
this individual but that didn't happen what does that image tell you of that individual in front of the gate it's
01:42:36
difficult to tell it looks like a man by the wall by the gate uh and someone with
01:42:41
pretty big feet for his height is what we're the information we've been getting in 2008 detective Wright and Sergeant
01:42:48
Brennan analyzed the surveillance t with 48 Hours what do you know about this person's height we've done uh quite a
01:42:56
bit of measuring and work with the camera angles and also had people of different heights walk by we've uh come
01:43:04
up with a height of between 5'3 and 5 foot5 and uh this has been backed up by the FBI who also came down and checked
01:43:12
out the figures the clothing looks to be maybe someone who is a painter or some type of worker what do we know was going
01:43:22
on around Jennifer's condominium at that time we know there was quite a bit of a
01:43:26
renovation going on inside her complex the workers made her feel uncomfortable she just said you know there's a lot of
01:43:34
workers here and they tend to like just stop when I'm walking by or going to my car and they just
01:43:41
look complicating the investigation many of the workers disappeared before police
01:43:48
could talk to them some of the people people who were working on the property left uh a lot of your day laborers are
01:43:56
um not here uh legally so I think they were scared investigators then went to check
01:44:05
the security cameras at Jennifer's condo complex but there weren't any just a security guard who is supposed to log
01:44:13
the names and license numbers of visitors however the logs that we went through uh didn't appear to be complete
01:44:23
they also couldn't count on getting any reliable forensic evidence from Jennifer's condo it was never secured by
01:44:31
Orlando Police by the time they took it seriously we had 14 people in the condo and they said well you ruined the crime
01:44:39
scene and I said are you kidding me they had no better luck with the forensics inside Jennifer's car we didn't find any
01:44:46
fingerprints on the steering wheel do you think the car was cleaned by by someone possibly wiped it the
01:44:53
surveillance video does tell us that there was about 30 seconds of time when the person was inside the car that
01:44:59
person could have taken that time to wipe down the steering wheel and the rearview mirror or what have you and
01:45:05
what about DNA there was some vacuuming samples taken from each section of the vehicle that were subsequently sent off
01:45:11
to a lab for evaluation but the samples were inconclusive so to me they don't have
01:45:17
DNA we'll just meet at every turn the detectives kept coming up empty and the case was going
01:45:26
cold but the cesses refused to give up on Jennifer I refused to let her be forgotten until she
01:45:33
[Applause] s see more photos from the case on Facebook at 48 hours there's just no other place I could be
01:46:01
today my heart is here in 2008 on the second anniversary of Jennifer's disappearance family and
01:46:09
friends gathered on a street corner in Orlando it's just Difficult about having her you know she's like my other half
01:46:19
so I just miss talking to [Music] her they held up signs just as they had done the day Jennifer went missing with
01:46:34
the desperate hope that someone passing by knew something a wrong has been done and a person has been taken against her
01:46:42
will and that's that's my daughter and she needs to come home to her family maybe the right person will see us
01:46:48
detective Joel Wright was still trying to solve this confounding mystery there were an unbelievable amount of manh
01:46:56
hours went into this case in 2009 detective Wright decided to take a fresh look at the case one of the people he
01:47:05
interviewed on audio tape was a former housekeeper at Jennifer's complex the woman had not been questioned back in
01:47:13
2006 do you remember uh a uh person by the name of Jennifer kessie that uh turned up
01:47:21
missing yes she case when he showed her that security camera photo of the unidentified suspect she gave him a
01:47:31
possible new lead she did look at the photo and said that looks like Chino the housekeeper
01:47:40
said the Phantom figures walk clothing and hairstyle resembled a man she knew from the complex named Chino but she
01:47:48
could not be sure it was him Chino was a named detective Wright had not heard before but he learned Chino used to live
01:47:56
in another building at Jennifer's condo complex and was a former maintenance worker there in fact Chino had done work
01:48:04
in Jennifer's condo just one week before she disappeared and that's not all he learned I put just the name Chino into a
01:48:13
lead's tracking system and one tip did come up a Crim line tip had been received received in the first week of
01:48:22
the investigation the tip was Anonymous and suggested Chino may have been involved in Jennifer's disappearance but
01:48:30
it's unclear if police had looked into it or talked to Chino at all at that point I thought the investigation was
01:48:38
kicking into gear it wasn't hard to find Chino he was serving time in a Florida prison for
01:48:46
statutory rape of a teenage girl a crime he committed 2 years years after Jennifer disappeared I knew that Chino
01:48:55
uh had been arrested for a sex crime and that was part of the development of him as a person of
01:49:05
interest you go by Chino is that right yes detective Wright interviewed him in prison and asked him about working in
01:49:12
Jennifer's condo when you did the work in her unit uh was was she present while you were doing it she how did you get
01:49:20
into the condo she us is everything normal everything was normal got ready for work Tina was then asked about these
01:49:28
pictures the one that the housekeeper said may have looked like him you know the photos you look at earlier the guy
01:49:36
walking by the gate right is there any reason why somebody would would say that was you not really an Chino is 5'9
01:49:47
taller than the figure's height estimated by police Gino was very Cooperative uh he was
01:49:53
familiar with the case and he denied any kind of uh wrongdoing Chino agreed to take a lie detector test he passed and
01:50:04
what did that tell you it told me that he passed the polygraph but I would never rule someone out just because they
01:50:11
passed the polygraph Wright also re interviewed another maintenance worker who had done repairs with Chino in
01:50:18
Jennifer's condo nobody mad about anything getting along fine everybody getting along fine regular conversation
01:50:25
just letting us know what she wanted to be done in her unit detective Wright then interviewed the building manager at
01:50:31
Jennifer's condo to find out if there were any issues between Jennifer and Chino or anyone else are you aware of
01:50:39
anybody that might have had a problem with Jennifer that worked there or lived there no again the case
01:50:47
stalled then in 2010 detective right was moved off the case as time went by the cesses felt abandoned by the Orlando
01:50:57
Police dep Department we asked them for several years to make her case cold because there's more resources available
01:51:05
for cold cases and they kept saying nope her case is extremely active do you believe that anyone realistically has
01:51:13
been working this case in recent years no no in 2016 it had been 10 years since Jennifer went missing she was declared
01:51:25
dead by the state of Florida that was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life I stood
01:51:31
in a courtroom alone while a judge declared her deceased Fed Up the kessie made a
01:51:40
dramatic move they sued the Orlando Police Department to get Jennifer's Case Files at the time we thought they want
01:51:49
what they want want the police department's files I had never heard of that happening in 2018 Orlando rone
01:51:57
became the Orlando Police Chief although he wasn't in charge during the initial investigation he sympathizes with the
01:52:05
Cassies I can understand why they're frustrated I can understand why they would feel that maybe an agency like
01:52:12
ours has not delivered on what they would expect for an agency to do chief rone gave his investigators 6 months to
01:52:21
work the case and when they came up with no new leads he made the unprecedented decision to finally release the files to
01:52:29
the cesses after the number of years that we have spent uh trying to solve Jennifer's disappearance I think it was
01:52:36
time to also honor the wishes of the family the family wants closure we want closure we want to find the person
01:52:45
responsible for her disappearance I think it's a win-win for all so these are just some of your daughter's
01:52:53
case files yes I mean we probably have at least three times more in boxes of this in all the Orlando Police
01:53:00
Department handed over more than 16,000 pages of documents and 67 hours of video
01:53:07
and audio to the Cassies but under the agreement the Orlando PD would no longer lead the investigation so at this point
01:53:16
in time the only people that are truly investigating what happened to Jennifer is us and our team when you talk about
01:53:26
challenging investigations this is the one Michael tetta is the kessie private investigator I'm looking through these
01:53:36
16,000 documents for something that might have been missed by the Orlando PD the FDLE maybe even the FBI who have had
01:53:48
Parts in this investigation ation he says when he reviewed the files he was amazed at what police didn't do there's
01:53:57
never been one quarterback on this case and who they didn't speak with there's a
01:54:03
lot of information that could have been developed that I believe wasn't in the most critical hours of this
01:54:11
[Music] investigation [Music] we all have kids that this could have happened to and as parents we need to
01:54:38
help out each other and that's what I'm doing private investigator Michael tetta
01:54:44
says he has gone through the more than 16,000 page case File at least three times he's hoping to find new Clues as
01:54:54
to who could have abducted Jennifer kessie I always told the cesses what I like to do with this investigation is
01:55:01
put a puzzle together one piece at a time one of the first things he did was go back to the scene of the crime and
01:55:09
speak to people who lived at Jennifer's complex you were there at the same time as Jennifer kessie did you ever meet her
01:55:18
I don't recall while formally meeting her she did look familiar Colleen who asked to only use her first name moved
01:55:26
into the complex 2 years before Jennifer disappeared believing it was a safe place to live we were a gated community
01:55:34
we had a guardhouse I would say 75% of the time somebody was there but she says once workers started Living in empty
01:55:43
apartments around the complex she felt uneasy when I would come home from work there would be a large group of men
01:55:51
outside drinking and whenever I would have to walk past them you know there would be a little bit of comments or
01:55:58
just a lot of uncomfortable stairs it it wasn't a great feeling I didn't like it Colleen says she
01:56:05
complained to the leasing office manager he was apologetic but he told me there was really nothing that he personally
01:56:12
could do from the very beginning there were some uneasy things that I kind of brushed off that were red flags when
01:56:21
Tammy who also asked to only use her first name moved into the complex years later she believed workers often entered
01:56:29
her apartment when she wasn't home there was creepy things like my underwear drawer was tossed one time the shower
01:56:37
was wet there was Footprints in my closet and then Tammy says she caught a Peeping Tom a man she believes was a
01:56:44
worker at the complex he was pleasuring s in the corner of my patio you opened the door and saw that busted
01:56:52
him caught him but she says he fled in a white van Tammy filed a police report and to this day she says they have never
01:57:01
found the Peeping Tom or the white van he was driving then tetta spoke to a woman who
01:57:09
did not want to appear on camera and the name Chino came up again that maintenance worker at Jennifer's complex
01:57:17
the woman claimed that Chino off approached her in the parking lot late at night when she returned from work and
01:57:24
made her feel uncomfortable how often would you socialize with him few times a week but
01:57:31
this woman who wants to be called Ashley had a different opinion of Chino I remember him being fun and friendly
01:57:39
talkative she moved into the complex just weeks after Jennifer disappeared he came over to my condo quite a bit she
01:57:48
says they never talk talked about Jennifer's disappearance I always wanted to ask him you have keyed all the
01:57:54
apartments what do you think happened that's a really hard question to ask somebody that's sitting on your couch
01:58:00
next to you Ashley says she never was suspicious of Chino until one day 9 months after Jennifer vanished when
01:58:08
Chino suddenly disappeared and moved out of the complex in the middle of the night he had the opportunity to tell me
01:58:16
and he didn't Ashley says At first she didn't reach out to police I sat on it for a little bit and it just ate away at
01:58:24
me so I did I called the crime line back then and told them and they took my statement but she says no one ever
01:58:32
followed up with her why is what the women at the Mosaic told you important I think it's important because it paints a
01:58:41
picture that I don't believe I would have gotten from the 16,000 documents there's nothing in
01:58:50
there that indicates that there were problems at the Mosaic after Chino's name came up
01:58:56
multiple times the kessie team was anxious to talk to him Chino should expect to hear from us Chino needs to be
01:59:04
spoken to again and despite telling detective Wright years ago he knew nothing about Jennifer's disappearance
01:59:12
the kessis wondered if Chino was being truthful did he know more than he had admitted well last time police
01:59:20
officially questioned Chino was back in 2009 now we have some of our own questions we'd like to ask so I'm
01:59:28
heading now to his last known address where I'm hoping we can find him hey how are you Chino I'm Peter
01:59:38
vanent with CBS News we agreed not to use his full name when we asked about Jennifer kessie Chino quickly reiterated
01:59:46
that he was innocent I even did Li detector test I mean everybody knows for a fact that I had nothing to do with
01:59:53
Jennifer kessie you had nothing to do with her disappearance not at all where were you the morning of January 24th
02:00:01
2006 I don't have to answer any questions but that's for sure and what about that photo taken by security
02:00:08
cameras is this you no it's not do you know who this is and no actually I don't you don't I do not now you were the
02:00:16
maintenance man there you saw the workers at that you don't recognize this figure M it's
02:00:23
okay I have nothing to hide okay I do not recognize that person do you know of anyone who might have been involved in
02:00:32
Jennifer kesse's disappearance anyone and believe me if I did know anyone that was involved in that the kessie family
02:00:39
would be knowing as well I met Jennifer kessie she was a beautiful person she had no problem with me before
02:00:47
we left Cho even agreed to talk with the kessie team and in fact weeks later he did but there were no big headlines
02:00:56
toretta presses on I want to do my best and bring Jennifer kessie home to them one
02:01:05
day after all the interviews and reviewing the case File tetta says he now has a new Theory as to what could
02:01:13
have happened to Jennifer kessie she's locking the door and never sees it [Music]
02:01:27
[Music] Comon 15 years have passed since Jennifer kessie vanished years of Anguish for her family
02:01:47
and friends but they are determined to keep Jennifer's story alive Jennifer is a super funny super witty person very
02:01:59
strong willed and very assure of herself she knew what track she was going to take and she knew how to get there
02:02:07
Jennifer is definitely the most loyal person I've ever been friends with or probably ever
02:02:14
known after years of working for the Cassies private detective Michael tetta says he has a new Theory as to what he
02:02:22
thinks could have happened to Jennifer based on interviews with people who lived at the complex he believes that up
02:02:29
to 10 construction workers were living in an empty apartment just across from Jennifer's he thinks it was one or more
02:02:38
of these workers who abducted her on January 24th 2006 what I'm thinking is Jennifer comes out she locks the door of
02:02:48
course she she has her back to the apartment behind her and then is abducted by those individuals across the
02:02:57
way across the hallway yes she's locking the door and never sees it coming she probably was attacked immediately upon
02:03:05
exiting she's dragged into that other apartment and that's the end but tetta struck out when he tried
02:03:16
to find those workers who he believes live in the vacant apartment across from Jennifer and he says there is nothing in
02:03:24
the files indicating that police ever spoke to them it's impossible to find those
02:03:32
individuals there's no lease there's no list of names of who was staying in which apartment absolutely not that was
02:03:40
one of the most shocking parts of this investigation as he continued his investigation tetta learned that 10
02:03:51
months after Jennifer disappeared a person was seen dumping a rolled up piece of carpet into a lake not far from
02:03:58
her condo and what's intriguing based on your investigation is the men that were
02:04:04
in the apartment across from Jennifer's were putting down carpet that day that's
02:04:10
why it's very interesting to me based on your experience is there a possibility what this person threw in that pond was
02:04:18
her body possibly for the past 2 days dive Crews have been out on the water in 2019 local police came out with a dive
02:04:28
team it was a good enough tip that you see the actions of I don't know how many divers but no carpet was found this is
02:04:36
something that is haunting me we need to see what's inside that carpet the cesses have dedicated their
02:04:46
lives and weathered enormous Financial hardship to finding the truth of what happened to their beautiful 24-year-old
02:04:54
daughter on that January morning in 2006 it's very very hard to move forward the hole in our heart is forever there
02:05:06
until we have an answer we just want an answer Jennifer's loved ones hope this report will convince someone to take the
02:05:16
courageous step of coming forward with information that could solve this heartbreaking mystery because someone
02:05:23
must have seen something I just think of Gennifer all the time who knows what would have happened if this heinous
02:05:30
crime hadn't been committed for me every Milestone that I've had without her has
02:05:35
been like a tug of war with my emotions you know getting married and having children and becoming a grownup and just
02:05:46
living life just having her life you know she deserved that and we just wish that one person that knows something in
02:05:54
Orlando would just finally say it it's about Jennifer it's not about us and just please think of
02:06:01
[Music] Jennifer the kessis are offering a $155,000 reward for information leading
02:06:10
to Jennifer's whereabouts if you have any information about Jennifer kesse's disappearance please visit the fine
02:06:17
Jennifer kessie Facebook page a rising young music producer I said what's prob kab said I feel like
02:06:27
something's going to happen 10 to 17 shots how much do you have to kill him who killed Kevin Harris
02:06:34
the clues are absolutely out there 48 hours Saturday at 109 Central on [Music] CBS