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[Music] [Music] Cass is a rare person she didn't care what you thought of her she didn't care
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if you liked her she didn't care if she was too loud or too in your face she just was she was your best friend right
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yeah yeah for years I got a pair of new shorts this t-shirt two ety nail polishes she got into these things
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called haul videos where you would go shopping I will show you what I got and then I'll tell you how much everything
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cost kind of spread the word about deals 99 $7.99 $8.99 $3.50 she never really left home I got
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this for my mom I got this for my mom to go with the slippers I also got this for
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her she was always there so we were really good friends on August 25th 2020 Cassandra's
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mom Marie Smith got up she left for work everything was fine when I came home it was clear that
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she had used the master bathroom to get ready to go all of her makeup was in there and then I didn't hear from
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her I knew she had a shopping day planned and her friend Alexandra was going to be meeting with her the next
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day I remember I was late by about 15 minutes I texted her hey where are you hey I'm sorry I'm late I got no response
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I left panicked messages until her voicemail box was full she never just went dark like that
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before the morning of the 27th I had text from Marie that said to Cass spend the night with you is she at your place
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are you with her she's not with you I thought she was with you and that's when I realized there was
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something wrong when did you call the police I called them later that day get started out like uh any other
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adult missing person case the majority of those calls are resolved with no nefarious
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activity maybe she's out there the world is so wired with cameras there is just no way
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that somebody didn't see something we're able to see the white car Cassandra's car Cassandra's car you
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can see a subject getting out of the vehicle and start walking away that's damning evidence that's incredibly
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valuable evidence for us you can see him walking across the street he's dressed in all black black shoes black pants
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black T-shirt blue surgical gloves and a black fedora he knew something he was involved
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but there was something going on there we didn't know about yeah she was Keeping a Secret she didn't want to tell
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[Music] me [Music] [Music] this is Ruby I called everybody anybody I could think of this is going to be a
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complete Pet haul only and nobody had heard from her this I got for $8 and change it was $9 and change
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$5.98 I was hoping that she might be alive somewhere for Marie Smith the realization that her daughter Cassandra
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Cantrell had been missing for more more than 2 days was almost more than she could take I never thought that I'd be
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the person sitting here talking about my [Music] daughter I wanted her found I don't even know how to explain
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how wrenching it is Marie's close friend Christy Sinclair says it was Agony this
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can't be happening this isn't real she lost her phone she lost her car she had no money I don't know anything
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but what you don't want to think about anything but that I'll show you this I made it this was only $5 as Cassandra's
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family and friends grappled with her disappearance police got to work Pierce County Sheriff's detective France helmy
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was assigned to the case his first step talk to those who knew Cassandra best how did Marie describe Cassandra normal
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I got her these pajamas they're to cute responsible yeah responsible she would you know call let her know you know
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where she was going detective helmy learned Cassandra was close with her family and good about staying in touch
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they're selling me for $15 she enjoyed making those YouTube shopping videos and love being on stage she'd even joined a
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local production of the rocky horror pictures show where people act alongside the
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movie Marie says it was a perfect fit for her daughter she was with a group of people who were a little wacky like her
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she was good and she was adorable Sher Mueller the show's producer recalls Cassandra's natural Talent she was
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playing a character by the name of Janet Weiss she also learned the character of
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Colombia by all accounts at the time of her disappearance Cassandra was a happy 33-year-old and not someone who would
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run off this wasn't the the typical missing person that was going to come home in a in a couple days detective
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helmy canvased the area around where Marie and Cassandra lived and found on a neighbor security camera a clip of
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Cassandra's white Mazda on the morning of August 25th it was seen leaving the neighborhood did you see any video of
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the car coming back no as the hours ticked by with no sign of Cassandra her family and friends
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tried to remain hopeful it was particularly difficult for Sandra's twin brother Rob growing up the two were
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inseparable and would stay up late at night to watch scary movies she was never scared of that stuff no wow we
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laughed at most of it okay she's tough girl then yeah as they got older their shared passion for movies evolved into
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collecting memorabilia they even dreamed of opening their own collectible shop Half Price $2 it was only five bucks but
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as close as they were Rob couldn't imagine where his sister went and he was filled with remorse about their last
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conversation we were having an argument she wanted to actually come over on the 25th but I ignored her the 25th of
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August 2020 the day Cassandra went missing that's a big regret I imagine still for you yeah cuz then she probably
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would have told me what she was doing that day and I would have at least known where she had
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gone Cassandra's family and friends organized searches I can't imagine what that must feel like like to be out there
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searching and and knowing what you could possibly be looking for you put it in the back you don't think about that it's
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just help me find a clue help me find a clue and then 3 days after Cassandra vanished police found her white Mazda
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unlocked with the keys still inside it was almost underneath Interstate 705 which goes into the heart of the
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downtown Tacoma it's an industrial area where groups of homeless people off in Camp her cars in the area did something
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happen down here strange place for a young woman to park a car and then go missing yeah our alarm Bells going off
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then yeah increasingly she had clearly gotten ready to go somewhere where did she go
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who did she go to see detective heli had ordered an emergency trace on Cassandra's cell phone to try and find
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her last known location and he discovered her phone last last pinged about 2 miles south of a tower on Bashon
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island in the Puget Sound one of the first things I did was just get on Google Earth and strike an arc from that
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Tower to see where it lands and it showed his landing around this Shoreline at Owen Beach or Point Defiance Park and
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when you're seeing this huge body of water you thinking we're just never going to be able to find this
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yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] investigators chasing that last ping from Cassandra's cell phone knew it was
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somewhere here in the vast Waters of the Puget Sound which is nearly 100 m long what's the next step about trying to
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recover that we debated about that because it's a needle and a hay stack it's a huge body of water this is the
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vicinity that it showed up as it being at but detective helmy had a starting point he knew someone likely had tossed
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the phone into the water from Owen Beach finding it was a long shot but Detective
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seant Brent van djk was up for the challenge he brought the Pierce County Metro dive team out to the beach on a
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summer day we got lucky with the tides that day the tide was extremely low so it made our search area a little less
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van djk had a plan to dramatically reduce the area where the phone might be first he asked members of his team to
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throw stones from the beach to simulate how far someone could throw a cell phone
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if you picture throwing something from here it limits the distance that I would have to search for what he threw the
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dive team then formed a line essentially creating an underwater draget we had a boat out in the water and a line of
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people on snorkel that day just looking down they were told that Cassandra's phone had a case decorated with glitter
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this is the actual underwater footage the dive team was in the water for little more than an hour when
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incredibly one of the guys on the line said hey I think I got it they saw a sparkle I think I got the phone and it
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was the phone the phone was sent to a specialist to determine if any information could be
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recovered the hunt to find Cassandra was intensifying as detectives learned more
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about her she felt like she could tell you pretty much everything about what was going on in her life right yes even
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her deepest darkest secrets she would tell you first yep and a month before she disappeared
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Cassandra confided a secret to her best friend she texted me a positive pregnancy test and said I think I might
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be prar and the day she was supposed to meet Alexandra but never showed up it was going to be her first
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ultrasound for detective France helmy learning Cassandra had been pregnant at the time of her disappearance changed
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everything this is what is now peing my my interest normally in a situation where a pregnant woman disappears you
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look at who the partner is first correct Cassandra had also told her mother she was pregnant but didn't provide details
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I asked Maria did she tell you who the father was and she says well was some guy she met online or through a dating
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app she told me it was not somebody that she was actually seeing and that he didn't even live in the area it was no
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secret Cassandra was actively dating using apps like Tinder and Marie told detectives about
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an old boyfriend Cassandra was still in touch with Colin Dudley the two had dated back in 2006 while in The Rocky
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Horror acting group the show's producer Sher Mueller Colin played a character called a
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criminologist on stage outside of the stage when he wasn't performing he was the head head of Tech and he kind of ran
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the cast but after dating for several months Colin and Cassandra broke up Colin started a relationship with
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another cast member Rebecca Fischer and the two eventually moved in together Steve Ammon hung out at their
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home regularly to play a game called Dungeons and Dragons explain what Dungeons and
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Dragons is it's not a board game right no not a traditional board game uh it's more of a theater of the Mind type
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gameplay doing things that you wouldn't normally do in real life role play a wizard a rogue a
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fighter the game always took place in Colin's basement Colin was kind of the dungeon master of it the one who ran the
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show and Steve liked being around him Colin was quick to help if someone needed money he says and he still
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remembers the meals Colin cooked for game nights he was a chef by profession so it was nice food in 2014 after
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Colin's father died he rekindled a friendship with Cassandra she assured me you know that she was just there to be a
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friend she's like he's got a girlfriend according to Marie Cassandra and Colin would sometimes watch movies
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or grab a bite to eat at some point Alexandra says even though Colin was living with Rebecca his
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relationship with Cassandra once again turned romantic and Cassandra told Alexandra
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that Colin was the father of her baby she was very excited she talked about you know names and games she wanted at
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the baby shower she had she had a Amazon registry already made Cassandra's only hesitation whether she should tell Colin
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he was with Rebecca and had mentioned he didn't want to have kids but but Alexandra says Cassandra did tell Colin
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she was pregnant and he was okay with it she called me and uh she said well I told him and it went better than
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expected he was calm and said not to worry about it and that they would talk detective helmy wondered if Colin
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knew where Cassandra was we're just trying to follow up with people who knew Cassandra you know places she likes to
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go that we could maybe look Colin sat and talked with Detective helmy on his front porch and the
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conversation was recorded this is a recorded statement we're going to be taking from Colin Patrick Dudley so you
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know we just kind of begin with just simple hey tell us about you and Cassandra how did you meet I met her at
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show we were in a relationship for a couple of months and then we broke up in 2006 I then
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started kind of running some of these things by him that that people were telling me talking to other people
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talking to to Cassandra's family and some other friends they reported that she was about 10 weeks pregnant and what
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we've been hearing is that she's been telling people that you are the father no way no hell no Colin was adamant he and
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Cassandra were not in a relationship and he was most definitely not the father of her child I asked him are you
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sure you know no one night stands no you know hookups after the fact or anything
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like that no absolutely not he says in fact Colin insisted he hadn't seen or spoken to Cassandra since they broke up
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back in 2006 except once when he ran into her at the mall you hav't any no contact with no messages or no Facebook
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or anything no helmy believed Colin was lying but could he prove it it turned out a clue
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to finding the answer was in Marie's [Music] paperwork detective helmy believed Colin
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Dudley was lying when he said he had not seen or spoken to Cassandra for years but it was Cassandra's mother
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Marie Who provided some proof she had been combing through Cassandra's old phone bills where she noticed a mystery
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number that kept reappearing we didn't know whose it was cuz it didn't have a name attached to it
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going back how far in the past oh we looked back months and months you know as far back as we could see this number
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kept popping up and the last time it popped up Marie told detective helmy was the morning
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Cassandra disappeared I said so okay so what what's that number and she tells me
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I immediately know it's colins humy wanted forensic investigators to take a closer look at
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Dudley's phone which detective helmy had taken when they had met on Dudley's front porch I told him you know I have a
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warrant to seize your phone I read him the warrant grabbed the phone and we left
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investigators later obtained the phone records for both Cassandra and colins's phones they were turned over to
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Detective Ryan salmon the cell phone forensics analyst for the sheriff's department salmon noticed something
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curious the name Cassandra never appeared in Colin's phone what name was he using right for Cassandra he had it
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under Velma why Velma we learned later through Cassandra's mother that she had gone as Velma from
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Scooby-Doo as a Halloween costume and it's likely sammon said that Colin Dudley did not want his living
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girlfriend to know he was still in touch with Cassandra even without the information from her water logged phone
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salmon was able to see when and where she and Colin interacted simply by having those phone records it's
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extremely helpful in determining where somebody was during a critical time frame people have a cell phone with them
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almost all day every day the phone records showed Cassandra's white Mazda driving to the spot where it
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was found but had Cassandra or someone else parked it there detective helmy knew the city's light rail system was
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nearby and asked their security people if they could find any footage of Cassandra's car what they found proved
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Cru crucial we have the video you want you need to get down here and look at it these videos have never been shown
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publicly in this video from a moving Light Rail train taken the late morning of August 25th helmy could see a man in
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a black hat walking away from where Cassandra's car was parked then a different camera shows that same man
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from a much closer angle he'll cross right in front of this camera so he comes walking across and you can see
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all black the blue gloves in the Fedora and he just sits down at the stop the time was 1150 a.m. the man sits for 4
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minutes and then keeps walking now he gets up and continues walking his face covered by some type of
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mask is hard to see but based on his build and gate helmy suspected that Colin Dudley was the man wearing that
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fedora the detective had been told that Colin often had asked demanded even that
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people call him hat or hatman was he always wearing a hat he would put it on and switch into his
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Persona of the hatman and preferred to be called the hatman Alexandra McCary had heard all about it from
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Cassandra the Persona was basically the main character from Clockwork Orange hi hi hi there little droogies
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very dark uh intentionally so morally dubious did you see the security video at all of the man in the Hat I did get
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to see it and did you look at it and say that's Colin well who else would it be in that video from the light rail
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system the man in the Hat keeps walking right into the Tacoma Dome station parking garage only blocks away from
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where Cassandra's car was found helkey asked security Personnel at the garage if they had any
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footage the answer was a resounding yes they find him walking into the parking garage to a truck you can see
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him using a remote control opener gets into the truck and then as he exits the parking garage you can see pretty
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clearly in the video the license plate which comes back to Mr Dudley that was Colin Chevy TR
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proving the detective said that the man in the video and Colin Dudley were one and the
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same detective helmy was convinced that Colin had done something to Cassandra and he wanted to get into Dudley's house
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immediately we don't have a body we don't have any true evidence that Cassandra is dead we're still hoping
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maybe she is tied up in the basement 6 days after Cassandra kentell vanished a SWAT team burst into Colin Dudley's
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house what do you think is the strongest piece of evidence connecting Colin Dudley to Cassandra's disappearance chat
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now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X authorities were out in force after
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they raided Colin Dudley's house house but they found no sign of Cassandra Cassandra was not found inside but Colin
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was detained temporarily for us to do the fingerprints and DNA investigators seized several items from the house
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including Colin's Chevy Colorado truck and a black fedora I don't know if it's the same one he's wearing in the video
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or not there were numerous areas that they identified in the basement where there was possible DNA blood evidence
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they said that the Cav Dogs showed particular interest in the basement specifically a brown sofa in the
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basement detective helmy believed something terrible had happened to Cassandra dadley had stopped talking to
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investigators but his living girlfriend Rebecca fiser a carpenter agreed to sit down for an interview do you think he
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would be capable of hurting Cassandra after a 13c pause physics would say yes he's got size and
00:25:00
strength on her MH I don't think he would no he would not and investigators could not prove
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otherwise Dudley was free to go why can't you arrest him well he's guilty of something but what is he
00:25:19
guilty of detective helmy wanted to know every move Dudley made on August 25th the day Cassandra went missing and he he
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said it became clear that Dudley had hatched a wellth thought out plot to get rid of Cassandra he had planned this and
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probably was pretty meticulous in his planning in his police interview Dudley said that early on the morning Cassandra
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disappeared he visited Costco so the first stop he makes is at a Costco gas station then he went to a second Costco
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to pick up supplies for what he had told detectives was a spring cleaning investigators subpoenaed receipts and
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the store provided video here surveillance cameras pick up Dudley in the store around 7 a.m. this is where he
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said he stopped cuz he needed supplies for his spring cleaning correct yes the video is so Crystal Clear we think that
00:26:18
probably the garbage sacks store records show that Dudley purchased a box of heavyduty trash bags goes back to his
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house right detectiv say then Dudley dropped off the supplies at home and drove to the Tacoma Dome station parking
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garage arriving at 887 a.m. we have surveillance video for that too which shows that truck again now in the back
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you'll see a bike and then you'll see him get out and put on a helmet and get on a bike and ride it
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away Dudley left his truck in the garage and began pedling home it's about a 20-minute ride investigators believe he
00:27:02
wanted to be home by 9:00 a.m. because as it turns out he and Cassandra had made plans at his house sure enough text
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records show that Cassandra was outside Colin's house at 8:49 a.m. she said I'm a bit early that okay and he says he
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says yep come on down and those two messages were both deleted out of his phone and so the two phones are then
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pinpointed in that same location at the house for a couple of hours right for a little more than two hours neither phone
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showed any movement and it was during this period of time investigators believe Colin Dudley likely killed
00:27:47
Cassandra Cantrell shows you the amount of premeditation that went into planning
00:27:53
this right it appears investigators say that around 11:48 a.m. Dudley turned off
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his cell phone as Cassandra's phone shows it moving away from the house detective salmon says that's because
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Dudley had her phone with him as he drove her car to the spot where he abandoned it near the Light Rail station
00:28:17
he turns his cell phone off mhm but doesn't turn her cell phone off and is driving around with it what was he
00:28:25
thinking apparently he wasn't he wasn't thinking well enough not as smart as he thought he was you'll see Cassandra's
00:28:32
car is that it right there yep that white one coming down and then you see Dudley in the Hat
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walking away from her car remember how he paused for a few moments and sat down detective salmon
00:28:48
believes he was gathering himself after murdering Cassandra I think he's just physically
00:28:56
tired because of probably how violent the incident was detectives say Dudley then retrieved his truck from the garage
00:29:04
where he had stashed it earlier that day drove to Owen Beach and tossed Cassandra's phone into the Puget
00:29:13
Sound and what time roughly was that last ping it was around 12:45 p.m. but while investigators had
00:29:23
discovered her phone in the water they still hadn't found Cassandra they had no idea what Dudley had done with her but
00:29:31
they did have his Chevy Colorado truck and helmy had an idea as an investigator been exposed to
00:29:39
different Technologies and we knew cars had electronic evidence contained in them
00:29:46
almost every car or truck has reams of data that can be extracted as Illustrated
00:29:53
here so this is where the major break in the case came through you can turn your cell phone off and not
00:30:01
necessarily be able to track but you can't turn your car's Black Box off exactly Hy got a warrant to remove the
00:30:09
truck's Black Box essentially a computer that tracks and Records nearly every move a vehicle makes he reviewed the
00:30:18
data which confirmed much of what they already knew from the phone records but there was something new that caught
00:30:25
everyone's attention the Black Box had a record of Colin Dudley's movements on August
00:30:33
26th the day after Cassandra visited his house and this is the next morning correct so now we're at 6 a.m. and then
00:30:43
of course we noticed where the vehicle stops that there's a large wooded Ravine on September 22nd 2020 detective
00:30:53
Sergeant Brent Van Dyk rushed to that Ravine which is 8 Miles from Dudley's house it was nearly a month since
00:31:01
Cassandra had gone missing I uh got there first and looked over the Hillside and uh you could
00:31:10
clearly see that there was a garbage can halfway down the hill you could see that the garbage can
00:31:17
had a a bag liner and uh some ropes around it he also spotted blood so you clearly at this point knew you had
00:31:26
remains oh absolutely helmy also at the scene wanted to make a quick identification and he knew that
00:31:37
Cassandra had a distinctive tattoo I asked them to take a picture of it so they took a picture and came walking up
00:31:43
the hill helmy recognized the tattoo immediately Cassandra Cantrell was dead Helm's heart sank when he thought about
00:31:53
calling Cassandra's mother so I called Marie and and uh told her that I had information uh that I
00:32:02
needed to share with her my first question was is she okay and he said you don't no I'm
00:32:15
sorry she's not Cassandra's twin brother Rob overheard that phone call the second I
00:32:23
heard her screaming I knew that they had found her Colin Dudley was arrested that night and
00:32:31
later charged with first-degree murder investigators felt they had built a strong case so strong that they
00:32:41
decided not to try and retrieve the information on Cassandra's waterlogged phone the case barreled toward trial for
00:32:51
2 years and then Cassandra's friends and family heard that prosecutors were considering ing making a plea deal with
00:33:00
Dudley they could not believe it it was premeditated it was literally coldblooded I have no
00:33:09
words a lot of anger though a lot see more evidence of how the case against Colin Dudley came together at 48
00:33:26
hours.com [Music] she was an optimist she never lost that even up until the end I believe
00:33:43
that she entered his house hopeful hopeful that Colin Dudley was getting comfortable with her pregnancy
00:33:50
instead investigators believe he brutally murdered her an autopsy revealed exactly how brutal the
00:33:58
were fractures major fractures to her skull so hit over the head yeah yeah cause of death was a blunt force
00:34:07
trauma investigators say they were never able to identify a murder weapon but they did find those traces of blood
00:34:14
likely Cassandra's in Dudley's basement basement floor walls a stainless steel table and the laundry room
00:34:25
sink police suspect Colin cleaned cleaned the basement multiple times after killing Cassandra and kept her
00:34:32
body there overnight before dumping her in that Ravine the next morning and they
00:34:37
believe Colin's living girlfriend Rebecca was home during some of that time and thinking about you know
00:34:44
Rebecca's there in the house too that was my next question yeah was there any thought that she had to have been
00:34:51
involved there was no I mean some people thought that investigators confronted Rebecca
00:34:58
did you have anything to do with The Disappearance of Cassandra on any level nope we did not find any information
00:35:07
that she knew that it went on that she had anything to do with it they kept separate areas of the house and so I
00:35:13
could see you know her doing her own thing and not going down the basement yeah but Rebecca did confirm to police
00:35:21
that Colin never wanted to be a father he does not want to be a dad Pierce County Deputy prosecutors
00:35:29
Brian won carry and Patrick Vincent went to work on proving Collins's guilt I thought this was a very strong case at
00:35:37
least circumstantially I mean oddly it's not one in which we had a great deal of
00:35:41
physical evidence it was a case that relied on essentially digital records like that video of Colin leaving
00:35:51
Cassandra's car those phone records placing Cassandra at colins's house the morning she disappeared
00:35:58
and the data showing Colin's truck where Cassandra's remains were eventually found for the prosecutors it seemed like
00:36:06
a lot but they were concerned about convincing a jury at trial we don't have an eyewitness we
00:36:17
don't have a murder weapon we don't have a confession so when the defense offered
00:36:22
to accept a plea deal the prosecutors negotiated eventually Colin Dudley agreed to plead guilty to murder in the
00:36:31
first degree for killing Cassandra the prosecutors brought the deal to Cassandra's family they were
00:36:41
Furious but on November 14th 2022 Colin Dudley formally entered his guilty plea with regard to the charge murdering the
00:36:51
[Music] first he was sentenced to 26 years in prison I I I have no words that would
00:37:01
even Encompass the frustration anger sadness heartache Cassandra's family and friends
00:37:08
had wanted a trial where the full story was told they're also obset that someone
00:37:14
guilty of murdering a pregnant woman would only get 26 years in prison you think the system is broken very broken
00:37:22
in this case how is it that somebody can do what he did and not have to spend his
00:37:30
life in prison it was a sentiment Steve Ammon shared he felt betrayed by his one-time friend and had even written a
00:37:38
letter to the judge saying he should not be out at all he won't learn from this Colin Dudley likely will get out
00:37:48
and with good behavior he could be free again as early as 2044 you should never see the light of
00:37:58
di again because when he gets out he could be in his early 60s yeah and he's still got all that time to
00:38:08
live Cassandra's family wants to make sure that no one else suffers the way they say they have they would like a law
00:38:16
in Washington state that if someone is guilty of knowingly killing a pregnant woman they would automatically get a
00:38:23
life sentence no possibility parole you die in jail until there's any sort of resemblance of Justice I'm not letting
00:38:31
this go and while the family wages that fight Cassandra's twin brother is trying to
00:38:37
honor his sister in other ways she would have loved you did though finally open that dream that you had together your
00:38:46
own store yes and I got a big M of her hanging in the window and then photos throughout the store of her it's a
00:38:53
living tribute to her the store is not far from Cassandra's grave where he and his mom
00:39:01
go to visit her you know say hi keep her headstone clean bring your flowers do you think what life could be
00:39:11
like with her now if she had had the chance to live her life and be a mom yeah I think about it a lot because she
00:39:21
had all of these plans you know she had all of these sweet plants Marie says her daughter lived
00:39:37
life to the fullest immortalized by that distinctive tattoo she had of her favorite quote we don't stop playing
00:39:46
because we grow old we grow old because we stop playing she always had something up her
00:39:55
sleeve she spring little surprises on me and that's what I miss most it's just a happy
00:40:10
[Music] presence a loving mother of two fatally shot in her home but how I knew something was wrong with this case from
00:40:33
the start there were so many things that were not done a father's Relentless pursuit of the truth he just led us for
00:40:39
9 years still leading us 48 Hours next on CVS streaming on Paramount [Music] Plus
00:41:06
[Music] you go back to the first days after the murder this might have been a dispute
00:41:21
between teenagers it might have involved a girl it might have involved drinking whoever knew about John's killing kept
00:41:30
this secret for over 40 years that's one small step for man one Le for [Music] man September 26th
00:41:51
1969 is the day that changed the lives of Bill and Neville and mccab forever [Music]
00:42:04
I I don't think I've had a whole night's sleep since it's happened if it's not too painful can you
00:42:11
tell me about his last day Winter Dance his second dance 15-year-old John mccab was looking forward to going to the
00:42:19
Nights of Columbus dance that evening took a shower scrubbed his hair put his father's After Shave on he didn't shave
00:42:27
but put his father have to shave on oh yeah he got all spruced up 11:00 I started looking out the
00:42:35
window that's when the dance closes he should be home by midnight so I went down to the dance and
00:42:44
checked the road screaming out the window John John no John I started praying at that
00:42:56
point the day after John mccab went missing three young kids were cutting through a
00:43:03
vacant lot when they made a horrifying discovery which was the body of John mccab he had been bound and gagged and
00:43:12
tied with rope after John's body was found Bill mccab a Pillar of Strength had to do the
00:43:19
Unspeakable that was identify the body of his dead son never forget it people keep talking about closure you can't
00:43:29
shake it he then had to go home and inform his family of what had happened Bill said honey my son's
00:43:42
dead well I was a senior in high school were you fearful yes they hadn't caught the people that killed my brother did
00:43:50
you think when you looked at kids in your classes maybe it's him maybe it's him maybe it was them maybe they knew
00:43:56
something how could they not know anything without physical evidence without a witness this
00:44:02
case remained unsolved for several years and several years became decades ready this is it I pray every
00:44:12
day Justice will be served there was only one way this case was going to be solved do you solemnly
00:44:20
swe the and how old were you in 1969 17 and that's if someone came forward and talked how do you know how
00:44:27
John mccab died I was there I'm Richard slesinger tonight on 48 Hours the [Music]
00:44:51
[Applause] pack [Music] it took almost every ounce of strength left in his 85-year-old body to get to
00:45:13
the witness stand but Bill mccab waited 43 years for this day and the start of this trial in January
00:45:23
2013 good morning Mr mcab do you remember September 27th 1969 yes sir how old was John at that
00:45:32
day he was 15 years 6 months and 2 [Music] weeks I always visualized him as being a
00:45:45
big shot somewhere John Joseph mccab my son JJ you know but I never got to see any of those
00:45:55
things in the fall of 1969 two men had just landed on the moon beautiful just beautiful thousands had just crashed at
00:46:09
Woodstock and John mccab 15 years 6 months and 2 weeks old was living with his family in tobery Massachusetts I
00:46:19
think we have a right to be proud of him yeah John's father bill was an engineer
00:46:25
his mother Evelyn worked at the school library his sisters Roberta who was six and Debbie who was 17 remember a brother
00:46:35
who was always busy doing what brothers do it was pretty interesting you open the closet door and your closet's filled
00:46:42
with grasshoppers I just remember his hands were always dirty like with oil or grease or a frog in his hand so he
00:46:49
brought home a goose once too oh yeah Canadian goose big sucker it's fun to watch you talk about this cuz your eyes
00:46:56
light up I mean you have very fond memories of those days yeah Evelyn holds on to any reminder of her son I have
00:47:04
John's money I can't spend it and you've had it all these years yeah 45 years every now
00:47:11
and then I the smell's gone off of it now it I almost put it in the casket with them and then I thought no I'll
00:47:21
just keep it with me and when I see him again I'll give it to him [Music] when she last saw John Evelyn gave him
00:47:30
permission to go to that dance at the kns of Columbus Hall I let him go I let him go out the door I shouldn't
00:47:41
have the next day police came to the house and took Evelyn's husband to the basement to talk they didn't want me to
00:47:49
know anything but you heard I heard them Evelyn got on her knees and impressed her ear to a vent in the
00:47:59
bathroom this is where I could hear everything that was going on down s the police were telling her husband
00:48:10
Jon's body was discovered in a vacant lot in the neighboring gritty city of LEL what did you hear I heard that he
00:48:21
was tied up and there was tape on his eyes and his mouth I heard a lot I cried I laid there and
00:48:35
cried a huge investigation was launched by the LOL tkes bery and Massachusetts State Police what evidence did they
00:48:44
collect at the scene the rope that was used to tie John up a tape that was used to tape his eyes and his mouth um all of
00:48:54
his clothing um his shoes Jerry Leone was the local da who years later took on the case today he's a partner in the law
00:49:04
firm Nixon Peabody there was forensic evidence but it wasn't really meaningful because it you couldn't tie it to anyone
00:49:12
in particular but the case looked promising at first a witness had spotted a car near
00:49:22
the crime scene that night I believe the way he had described it was was a 1965 Chevy Impala colored uh Plum or
00:49:33
maroon then another tip LED police to a schoolmate of John's 16-year-old Mike Ferrera who says he barely knew John I
00:49:44
probably seen him like a handful of times in my life I don't you know I didn't really he wasn't a friend ferera
00:49:51
and his friend Nancy Williams were questioned because they had picked up John when he was hitch hiking on his way
00:49:57
to the dance I picked him up and I gave him a ride to the corner and I never saw
00:50:02
him again Ferrera told police that while the dance was underway he left Nancy and
00:50:08
met up with his best friend Walter Shelly me Walter and Barb Ryan took a ride to LOL try to get some beer they
00:50:16
were in Walter Shelly's car it was maroon and it was a 1965 Chevy Impala police searched it but found no
00:50:27
evidence still Walter Shelly was now A Person of Interest he was brought in for questioning and later polygraphed five
00:50:35
times the test showed he was lying in all vital areas of the questioning if you read the reports now you start
00:50:44
seeing Ferrera and Shelly Shelly and Ferrera Ferrera was questioned multiple times I know where they were going not
00:50:54
totally stupid but Ferrera wasn't helping himself at one point while joy riding with some friends he suddenly
00:51:02
blurted out that he killed John I was 16 we're drinking joking and I said yeah I
00:51:11
did it they knew I was joking I was a joker Leone says police were not amused but there was no way to corroborate what
00:51:19
Ferrera said without physical evidence without a witness statement putting him at the scene the Ferrera lead kept
00:51:28
drying up there were dozens of other people police investigated other teens local drug dealers and pedophiles
00:51:38
detectives worked this case hard for two years while Bill mccab worked on a record of his son's
00:51:47
[Music] life I wasn't trying to be an author or anything like that I I I was just
00:51:54
looking a ways to hold on of them keep his keep his memory he also tried to make sure the
00:52:01
police never forgot his son I was always on the phone talking to the police I'd be up in the middle of the
00:52:08
night she'd be saying what the hell are you thr up get back to bed despite Bill's persistence and the intense
00:52:15
police effort there were no arrests Shelly and Ferrero went into the service in 1970 so the following year the two of
00:52:25
them left the area and the mcab family was left without any answers for [Music] [Music]
00:52:54
decades this is the little Compass so he can find his way home with each passing season John
00:53:02
McCabe's case grew colder but his mother kept asking the most painful questions about how he
00:53:12
died I tried to strangle myself just to visualize what it felt like I wondered did he call for
00:53:25
me what kind of a mother was I I wasn't there for him for a Time Evelyn set a place for
00:53:34
John at the dinner table his absence was a constant presence in the house you can't just do
00:53:43
something wrong and not have to pay for it the case stalled for some 30 years until November 2000 John and I went just
00:53:54
about everywhere you know when Jack w w a childhood friend of John's made good on a decades old promise to Bill
00:54:03
mccab he would say Jackie have you hear anything about John you keep your eyes out you let me know I says have I ever
00:54:09
hear anything you know I'm going to tell you ward had been at a cookout at this house in tuxbury where he ran into a kid
00:54:18
from the old neighborhood Mike Ferrera this photo was taken that day we're all sitting around drinking
00:54:26
and that's when he just bled out I know who killed John and he said it to me again I know who killed John and you
00:54:36
know finally I said who and he says Walter I said Walter Shelly he says yeah Walter
00:54:44
Shelly I said what would be Walter's motive kill John he said Mala because of Mala Mara Shiner Ward said she was
00:54:54
Walter Shell's girlfriend back then but he said the trouble was Mara also seemed
00:55:00
to like John McCabe and by all accounts Walter Shelly was one very jealous young
00:55:07
man the footage you see was taken a few years after the murder Ward admits he sat on the information for a while
00:55:17
worried about how to tell Bill mccab you go knock on somebody's door and say hey I know kill told your son
00:55:27
you better have it right I was shocked when he told me so I scribbled it on a piece of paper I put it in the Bible on
00:55:35
the page beginning the book of joint so it wouldn't forget it and I immediately called the
00:55:43
police but it took many more calls from Bill McCabe and three more years for police to show up at ferrera's door it
00:55:52
was now 2003 Ferrera worked as a for lift operator lived in Salem New Hampshire and Nancy Williams his friend
00:56:01
back in the day was now his wife Mike wouldn't hurt a fly no I know he wouldn't Ferrera says he remembers the
00:56:11
cookout conversation with Jack Ward very differently Jackie went and told them I
00:56:17
said Walter Shelly killed him I never said that and at this cookout you know I already had a few
00:56:24
drinks and he's running his mou shy it Shelly did it and this went on all afternoon and finally I got sick of
00:56:30
hearing it I just he probably did it next thing I know 3 years four years later I had the cops down my house
00:56:38
wanted to talk to me about John McCabe Ferrera also denies discussing the jealousy motive with Ward that's his
00:56:45
theory I never said that but again there was no corroborating evidence so again the case stalled well what did they tell
00:56:55
you about about the investigation it's going fine it was always going fine and how long did they tell you that for and
00:57:03
you know what it was sitting on a freaking shelf but the police had not forgotten
00:57:09
John mccab all right thanks in January of 2007 37 years after the murder Jerry Leone was sworn in as middle sex County
00:57:21
district attorney the Lowel Police Department took it upon themselves to visit me weeks after I'd been elected to
00:57:28
say we'd actually like you to focus on this one and and take a hard look at it with
00:57:35
us investigators had gone back over the files and a name jumped out at them in Mike ferrera's latest interview with
00:57:43
police in recounting the night of the murder Ferrera said he was with Walter Shelly but this time he added a name and
00:57:52
said the other guy with them was Alan Brown Edward Allen Brown's name surfaces as someone who we're going to focus
00:58:02
on Edward Allen Brown was 17 and lived not far from the macbes when John was killed he had long since moved away but
00:58:13
when police tracked him down he said he knew nothing about the murder never even
00:58:19
heard of it so How likely is it that he would never even heard of the murder of John mccab in a town the size of tubry
00:58:27
I'd say curious at the time and police got a call from Brown's wife that was even more Curious his wife told police
00:58:36
that she thought he was lying his wife said that she thought he was lying right Carolyn Brown indicates to police that
00:58:44
20 to 25 years earlier her husband had told her about an evening um where he was involved in a young man being
00:58:54
killed but even that wasn't enough it was the same old story there was no corroborating evidence and no real
00:59:03
movement in the case until 2011 when detective Linda Coughlin was assigned to find the killers you think
00:59:13
this case really took off when you met detective Linda Coughlin yes definitely why did you feel that way because of her
00:59:22
attitude she she said I'm going to get them and she did detective Coughlin zeroed back in on Edward Allen Brown he
00:59:34
was retired from the Air Force and living in New Hampshire Coughlin interrogated Brown just twice but when
00:59:41
Brown learned he failed a polygraph he suddenly broke down he confessed that he was there when
00:59:51
Walter Shelly and Mike Ferrera killed John McCabe why LEL police brought in the mccabes
01:00:08
and told them Brown's story about John's Final hours my dad started crying he killed
01:00:17
over on the [Music] table on April 15th 2011 nearly 42 years after John McCabe's body was found in
01:00:30
that vacant lot his father's perseverance finally paid off Mr mccab held our feet to the fire he never let
01:00:40
us forget John mccabes murder the DA's office announced the indictments of Edward Allen Brown for manslaughter and
01:00:49
Michael Ferrera and Walter Shelly for first deegree murder two names known to police since day one two names also
01:00:59
Gathering dust here in John's book of mourners the murderers came to the wake and they came to the
01:01:13
[Music] funeral it would take almost 2 years to bring the man accused of killing John
01:01:27
mccab to trial two more years the mccabes would have to wait do you solemnly swear the test January 18th
01:01:35
2013 would you please be seated Edward Allen Brown was called to testify against his onetime friend Mike Ferrera
01:01:44
the first defendant to go on trial do you see Michael Ferrara in the courtroom today yes over there Mr Brown for the
01:01:54
first time publicly shared the details of the night John died Brown says he was at home
01:02:02
watching television when Mike Ferrera and Walter Shelly pulled up to his house they wanted me to go with them to help
01:02:10
them help them do what I didn't know at the time until I got in the car and we left Brown testified they were on their
01:02:17
way to the Knights of Columbus Hall when he learned of their plan they said they
01:02:23
wanted to go um find this kid that had been uh you know messing around with Mara to teach him a lesson and how did
01:02:31
you know Mara Shiner that was Walter's girlfriend Michael noticed John mccab was thumbing and he said there he
01:02:41
is and we pulled up next to John Michael got out and grabbed him and uh pushed him in the back seat where I
01:02:49
was Michael was facing back um at John trying to to to smack him and John had his arms up to try to to stop him from
01:03:00
doing that we went under the spaghetti bill Bridge Brown says they drove up a dirt
01:03:06
road to the vacant lot and pulled over and we got him outside the car who pushed John out of the car I did I
01:03:15
thought they were just going to slap Mor what happened next then Michael and Walter uh wrestled John tripped him up
01:03:23
and got him on the ground Brown testified that he and Shelly held John mccab down while Ferrera tied him up
01:03:32
Michael tied his ankles then went around and tied his his uh wrist together then
01:03:37
he took another piece of rope around his ankles and attached it up to his neck they had put tape on his mouth John's uh
01:03:45
squirming wiggling trying to get out he's lying on his belly uh with his legs up in the air and his um his head turned
01:03:53
sideways then they said um that this this will teach you to uh to mess with maror
01:04:00
anymore and we got in the car and left Brown says they drove around drinking beer for a
01:04:12
while then um I I told him that we we should go back and let him go Brown says they eventually returned to the
01:04:21
lot Michael and Walter got out of the car and went over to him they were there for about 30 45 seconds
01:04:28
and they came quickly back to the car we started to drive off and one of them said that he wasn't
01:04:37
breathing John mccab had died of [Music] strangulation I wonder I wonder what he thought of that
01:04:54
night then they uh they brought me home what did you do I don't remember I think I
01:05:05
[Music] cried Brown says he kept the murder a secret for 41 years because he was
01:05:12
afraid of Michael Ferrera Michael said if anybody talks to anybody about this I'll kill him H Brown's a freaking liar
01:05:21
and I mean they know that according to the prosecutor he's been Iraq in Afghanistan five to us maybe he's got
01:05:28
something wrong in his head they talk about these people that give false confessions either he did
01:05:35
it with somebody else or by himself or he is really a messed up human being my sense of Edward Brown was he was easily
01:05:45
LED Eric Wilson Michael ferrera's attorney believes that police pressured Edward Allen Brown because he was
01:05:52
someone they could force into confessing to a crime CRI he did not commit they also offered him a deal no jail time
01:06:01
Edward Brown did not walk into L Police Department headquarters and say look I got to get this off my chest after being
01:06:08
interrogated by trained detectives over the course of many days he was faced with the threat of spending the rest of
01:06:14
his life in jail uh or he could tell the police what they wanted to hear Walter Shelly and Mike Ferrera picked you up at
01:06:20
your house at 10:30 right yes the question that I had to answer for the jury is why would he tell them that if
01:06:28
he didn't do it did you think you could do that that's a tough sell it was a tough
01:06:33
sell um but Ed Brown gave me a lot to work with you were fed information it was a dirt
01:06:39
lot right yes over the course of two days ferrera's attorney grilled Brown relentlessly and in your four or five
01:06:47
trial prep sessions until Brown admitted that the prosecution had fed him parts of his story you f that it was near a
01:06:56
railroad tower right yes and you're being told that shell was jealous over Marla Shiner right yes there are certain
01:07:02
pieces of information that an investigator May provide to someone who they're interviewing to see whether or
01:07:08
not they know anything about that to see whether or not it jugs their memory well
01:07:13
but couldn't that also be a way of telegraphing to the witness what you want them to say well in this case that
01:07:20
didn't have to happen because Brown was the one who talked about the Rope the tape The Binding of John however Brown
01:07:28
got his story Wilson claims it cannot be true because it does not fit the evidence in fact in the 1969 police
01:07:37
reports detectives noted that they were unable to find any evidence of a scuffle
01:07:43
there was no suggestion anywhere around John McCabe's body or the scene that that struggle described by Edward Brown
01:07:51
ever took place why would Edward Allen Brown lie and implicate himself so directly in what happened unless it was
01:08:00
the truth your testimony has not always been 10:30 has it Wilson thought it was not enough to try to discredit Brown he
01:08:07
also had to punch holes in the alleged motive jealousy over a girl he'll do it by calling that girl my name is Mara
01:08:17
Shiner to the witness stand that you would have known each other from being [Music]
01:08:33
Mr Brown you've lied under oath when you're scared right yes you've lied under oath when you're nervous right yes
01:08:38
you've lied under oath when you're frightened right correct prosecutors had a problem with their star witness Edward
01:08:45
Allen Brown he seemed to wither under strong cross examination from the defense you still can't get your fact
01:08:53
straight can you no so prosecutor Tom O'Reilly called detective Linda Coughlin to counter accusations that she'd forced
01:09:01
Edward Allen Brown to confess and fed him details at any point did you feed him information as to the investigation
01:09:10
never But Eric Wilson says Coughlin also had tunnel vision and ignored evidence of other suspects there were a number of
01:09:19
investigative reports and material that you either overlooked or didn't even know about true
01:09:26
I don't know what you're referring to how about Richard Santos Richard Santos was flagged in this Tukes bery police
01:09:33
report as a suspect in the macab murder in 1974 Santos was arrested for committing
01:09:42
a crime eerily similar to John McCabe's murder this young woman was abducted on Route 38 her feet were bound her hands
01:09:52
were tied behind her back her mouth was duct taped and her eyes were taped shut all of the
01:09:59
facts that surround Santos as a possible subject lead you to be suspicious but there was never anything tying him to
01:10:08
mode of opportunity means information on Richard Santos still the judge allowed the jury to hear about Santos and
01:10:17
another Suspect with respect to Robert Morley Robert Morley a local 25-year-old who reportedly knew both Ferrera and
01:10:26
Shelly and was suffering from mental illness he was labeled long before you were assign this
01:10:34
case as a strong suspect right there is a report that uses the word for him strong suspect in the very same report
01:10:46
mentions Mr Ferrera as a prime suspect but it's how Morley became a strong suspect that makes him so interesting
01:10:55
police learned about him shortly after the crime from his own Brothers Morley's own Brothers went in and said that they
01:11:03
thought he might have been involved in it yeah they thought he might have former da Jerry Leone says Morley's
01:11:10
brothers were mistaken I think what happens in matters like this is people will say um sure you should take a look
01:11:18
at X or why because they have a profile of somebody who would do something like this and they were around the area at
01:11:26
the time but then you have to look at the evidence and see whether or not the evidence lead you to believe that they
01:11:32
had anything to do with it did the brothers have any specific evidence that you're aware of they did not he split to
01:11:39
Florida the day after he was questioned by police Mr Morley years later in my estimate committed suicide you learned
01:11:46
of his death is suicide right he jumped off a bridge right his brother says he fell off a bridge the defense also tried
01:11:56
to punch holes in the alleged motive for the murder and called a surprising witness to do it my name is Mara Shiner
01:12:04
and my spelling of my last name is s sh i n e r thank you Mara Shiner the girl who Walter Shelly and
01:12:12
Mike Ferrera allegedly killed for Edward Allen Brown had just testified that Mara
01:12:18
was Shell's girlfriend in September of 69 and Shelly was jealous because John was flirting with her but Mara says John
01:12:29
never flirted with her did you ever go to a dance with John mccap never ever conveyed to you that he had any type of
01:12:35
romantic interest in you in August or September of 1969 none the mcab say it doesn't matter if
01:12:42
the flirting was real or imagined she could have been just stopped and said hello to
01:12:48
John and Shelly could have walked by and seen it and he's going to explode next Mara threw the prosecution
01:12:57
a curveball September 26 1969 were you dating Walter Shelly no I was not dating Walter when when John
01:13:07
mccab died when did you start dating him then I believe it was after that death how old were you 13 you 13 September 69
01:13:17
I don't know I can't do the math right here but according to police Mara told them she was dating Shelly at the time
01:13:24
and was just 12 years old when they started seeing each other you didn't tell the police that you were dating
01:13:30
Walter shell in 1969 when John mcab was killed I no I don't believe I did tell him that
01:13:39
why lie about dating someone unless it was because of her that John was murdered 48 Hours had questions for
01:13:46
Marlo Shiner too but she declined our request for an interview Mara eventually married Walter Shelly but it didn't let
01:13:55
asked she said he was very violent M sh was Walter shell a jealous man absolutely it appears that we're ready
01:14:06
to proceed then judge at this point in time the defendant would rest this was a hard fought trial till the end and then
01:14:14
it was up to the jury to decide did Mike Ferrera help Walter Shelly kill John mccab over a girl or was Edward Allen
01:14:23
Brown telling a story the prosecution wanted to hear it only took jurors 5 hours to decide I told Michael that we
01:14:33
had to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst and uh he was ready for that may I have the vertic slip please
01:14:42
for the mccab family more than four Decades of waiting and working came down to this
01:14:49
moment what did you think the verdict was going to be guilty my God he was guilty if for no other reason he was
01:15:02
there it's hard to understand how the jury could you know anticipate otherwise bill mccab was too nervous and too sick
01:15:10
to sit in the courtroom that day so he waited in another room while Evelyn and their daughters heard the
01:15:18
verdict what say you to this indictment ma'am is the defendant guilty or not guilty not guilty jur upon not
01:15:26
guilty everyone including Mike Ferrera was so stunned it took a while to sink in when the verdict came in when you
01:15:35
heard that that Ferrera had been I had to go tell my husband that were you afraid to tell him yes why I was afraid
01:15:43
he was going to die tragically Evelyn was right just 4 days after the verdict Bill
01:15:55
McCabe's heart gave out and he gave up what do you think killed your husband stress the stress of the
01:16:06
trial while Evelyn mccab laid her husband to rest next to their son the DA's office had a decision to make after
01:16:15
losing the case against Mike Ferrera would it go ahead with the trial of Walter Shelly
01:16:25
[Music] down to Lan all the girls are singing Love Songs All the Boys those Wedding Bells I I still don't
01:16:44
believe Bill's gone I can still hear him snore in the night and then I I feel the bed he's not
01:16:53
there Evelyn McCabe was determined to honor her husband's dying wish he laid in the
01:17:02
hospital bed I says I'll pick up and take over for you she'd see to it someone would pay for John's murder the
01:17:12
juror find Michael Ferrera not guilty watching Michael Ferrera Go free was tough for some jurors too so how hard
01:17:21
was it for you to acquit him it was very difficult one of the jurors Michael duette says the biggest problem was
01:17:28
Edward Allen Brown plan was to teach him a lesson for messing with Marlin did the
01:17:33
majority of the jurors believe him no why not they just felt that he was not telling the truth I thought they were
01:17:41
just going to slap around they felt that he had been fed information and that didn't make a ton of sense to me maybe
01:17:47
he wasn't the best witness but I just can't see somebody saying I did it when they didn't do it do Jette came to
01:17:55
believe Brown and wanted to find Michael Ferrera guilty of something but the only
01:18:01
choices the jurors had were first and second degree murder so what did you want to convict him of manslaughter and
01:18:11
it wasn't an option we are extremely pleased with the jury's verdict despite the Ferrera loss prosecutors decided to
01:18:18
try to convict the other suspect in the murder Walter Shelly the acquittal in the Ferrera cas didn't do anything to
01:18:25
lessen our belief that we had the right people who were responsible for killing John McCabe all right September 3rd
01:18:33
2013 7 months after Michael ferrera's acquit this murder was about John McCabe it was Walter Shell's turn to stand
01:18:42
trial Shelly was 17 the night of John's murder he's now 61 remarried and has lived quietly in tkes bery ever since
01:18:53
just a few miles from Evelyn mccab Walter shell is sitting on small of his back holding the hands down if convicted
01:19:01
of first-degree murder Shelly could spend the rest of his life in prison they wrestle him to the ground it was
01:19:09
the same case prosecutors presented against Michael Ferrera the same motive jealousy and the same evidence ropes
01:19:17
that came off the victim's body presented by the same Witnesses Mara Shiner detective Linda Coughlin and once
01:19:26
again the state star witness Edward Allen Brown I heard one of them say he's not breathing was it any easier to sit
01:19:35
through the second trial no I want to say it was harder Dad wasn't there for backup up you were called a liar
01:19:42
repeatedly yes I was brown seemed less rattled this time more confident and the maves allowed themselves to hope I can
01:19:52
keep my fingers my toes everything cross during closing arguments the defense called Brown a liar happened he'll tell
01:20:00
you whatever you want to hear but the prosecution argued that brown would never implicate himself in a crime he
01:20:07
did not commit what did he confess for he was talked into it a week-long trial went to the jury this would be the
01:20:16
mccabes last chance to see someone held accountable for killing John we had faith that the jury would is going to
01:20:25
come with the right answer this time finally 2 Days Later a verdict person has a jury agreed upon its verdict yes
01:20:33
we have pass the verdict of Sol please Walter Shell's wife and family waited nervously Evelyn mccab couldn't bring
01:20:41
herself to even sit in the courtroom and had to wait outside she couldn't hear another not
01:20:48
guilty and the verdicts be reported she was scared she was going to drop dead charging the defendant Walter shell with
01:20:56
the offense of murder what say was the defendant guilty or not guilty guilty murder guilty of what
01:21:04
first guilty and life behind bars for Walter Shelly this jury believed Brown so when you heard guilty do you
01:21:15
remember the first thing you thought I thought my father would be proud We got one of
01:21:23
them let just it was the final twist in a mystery filled with them for the same crime and
01:21:32
on the same evidence one man walked free one man went to [Music] prison hey John guess
01:21:48
what we got him Billy it turned out beautifully he didn't live to write about it but Bill McCabe finally got the
01:22:02
end he was looking for to the story he wrote about John's life and death a story that took four decades to play out
01:22:13
he was 15 years 6 months and 2 weeks about his boy who will be 15 years 6 months and 2 weeks old
01:22:25
forever please John please take great care of him until I get back please and then I
01:22:34
[Music] will [Music] [Music] there's so much wealth here you want to be a part of
01:23:39
it everybody wants to have fun everybody wants to be with somebody Linda was a very strong
01:23:44
personality she was always looking for someone to be with as most single women are she was very confident Linda fish
01:23:54
[Music] she would talk to everybody an elegant baby coming up to Palm Beach she got
01:24:00
address to the nines and she was doing that she was coming up to Palm Beach three nights a week I'm Michael Jamrock
01:24:05
and my aunt was Linda Fishman she knew what she wanted and she would go after it she like younger men we're in Palm
01:24:12
Beach try to find an older woman that doesn't have a younger man I don't always would have agreed with who she
01:24:17
picked up in made part of her life she kept her dating life separate from family she didn't think it was any of
01:24:23
our business and it probably was wasn't in this case I think she put her trust in someone that ultimately she shouldn't
01:24:27
have I'm detective Eric Keith of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office the fire department responded to
01:24:36
a an alarm and when they got there the firefighters went in once they made entry and cleared the
01:24:42
house they found Linda Fishman dead on the floor of her living room there were deep ligature marks around her neck
01:24:49
crime scene also found about a 6-in piece of brown twine that turned out to be the ligature the length of time it
01:24:54
takes to strangle somebody in that fashion this is something that took time and determination to do I cried for
01:25:02
weeks you know she was a very important person to me because most homicides are committed
01:25:09
by people known to the victim that's where we start okay who did Linda know who were her family
01:25:16
members who had opportunity while most of the family members kind of fell by the wayside as
01:25:22
far as being suspects we had some problems with Michael I was closer to my aunt at that time than I was my own
01:25:27
mother he seemed to have a few skeletons in his closet that didn't put him in the
01:25:31
best light I know she lent him money I know he asked her for more money you really never know what people
01:25:37
do murderers they don't walk around with a you know Scarlet Letter on them a lot
01:25:42
of times they're like werewolves it was frightening to think anyone that we had met socializing is this the person that
01:25:49
murdered Lindon secrets of Palm Beach [Music] [Music] this [Music] she was a great woman caring
01:26:28
compassionate giving funny she was Linda she was Linda she gave off this Aura you had to get to
01:26:39
know her to know her was to love her she was like the mother hubard Penny chamowitz was Linda Fishman's
01:26:45
hairdresser she was always taking care of everybody else and when she was going through a nasty divorce it was Linda who
01:26:52
came to her rescue emotionally and financially I was so grateful for what she did for me words can't can't I can't
01:27:00
can't describe it Linda had grown comfortable in the role of caregiver she never had children of her own but was
01:27:07
considered the matriarch of her extended family this is the four of us when we were little kids and here's Linda she
01:27:14
was the head of our family anybody in the family had a problem my nieces nephews my kids my mother my brother we
01:27:21
all went to Linda Linda took care of everything Bernice feny is Linda's older sister and Michael jrock's mother no
01:27:29
matter what it was we went to her you know cuz she understood everything even though she was the youngest here's my
01:27:35
sister Linda she used to take the nieces and do makeup parties she's really going
01:27:40
to be missed by everybody for years Linda had a successful career as the chief court
01:27:52
administrator in Hartford Connecticut it was there she met and married Superior Court Judge Milton Fishman a wealthy man
01:28:00
16 years her senior how was their marriage how was good it was good marriage yeah he was funny he was and he
01:28:07
always made her laugh but their happiness would be short-lived Milton died of heart failure just 8 years into
01:28:15
the marriage at 39 Linda was widowed and alone years later determined to make a fresh start she moved to Florida where
01:28:23
Linda became a picture on the charity circuit even attending events at Donald Trump's marago Mansion here in Palm
01:28:29
Beach she could work room like nobody I know worked at room she was almost like giddy with the
01:28:36
popularity um meeting so many people Barbara wolf and Linda maresi were part of Linda's Inner Circle of well-to-do
01:28:44
women who were often part of the Palm Beach Social Scene if you were a person close to her there wasn't there wasn't
01:28:52
anything she wouldn't do for you y 100 what's going on Miami it's Michael Jamrock hope you had a great weekend and
01:29:00
one of those closest to Linda was her nephew Michael Jamrock who had also moved to Florida and made a name for
01:29:06
himself as a radio disc jockey jro and I love when I come to work and I just start giving stuff away and off the air
01:29:13
Jamrock had a reputation as a bit of a wild man which sometimes got in the way of steady employment this is Jamrock did
01:29:22
I just get no D tickets you have no clue what the hell's going on do you I'm No Angel what do you mean by
01:29:29
that you're no angel I like to go out and party I drink a lot you know go out with a lot of girls you
01:29:35
know I'm just sort of like a party animal so I'm like sort of looked down upon as you know the lowlife radio guy
01:29:43
that may be putting it mildly Jamrock also had run-ins with the law including two arrests for drunk driving a jail
01:29:52
term and a restraining orders stemming from an old girlfriend who accused him of domestic
01:29:59
violence despite his setbacks that didn't stop Jamrock from borrowing $40,000 from Aunt Linda to open the now
01:30:07
defunct Jamrock Cafe he gets a lot of money and never once from the time that she gave me that money did she ever ask
01:30:14
me once are you going to pay me back when are you going to start paying me back you want to play with these this one and
01:30:23
this Swan and when he was embroiled in a bitter custody battle look once again it
01:30:29
was Linda who helped Jamrock out big squee this is a woman who since I was a baby has never said no to me about
01:30:40
anything for anything ever but did that generosity cost Linda her life you had a
01:30:47
lot of free time in your hands to get into trouble oh absolutely and you did get into trouble I did mhm you were
01:30:53
partying that the night that she was killed [Music] right at the time of the homicide of his
01:31:03
Alibi he's about a mile away at a bar um drinking heavily according to the people
01:31:12
[Music] there Eric Keith of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's apartment is the lead
01:31:19
detective on the fisherman case so Michael is at a bar his house is at the far end of Linda's home and her house is
01:31:27
right in the middle so he's passing by there give her take within 15 minutes of the murder and apparently detective
01:31:33
Keith wasn't the only one questioning jrock's possible involvement some of the family members had some concerns based
01:31:40
on the way he became isolated following the homicide he wasn't socializing with the rest of the family um so there was
01:31:46
some definite concerns in the periphery of his family um that he may have had some involvement doesn't sound like he
01:31:51
had too many Defenders no I mean these are my family members I mean people don't understand
01:31:57
that this my family that have known me since I've been born you know that's what the problem is to some degree they
01:32:04
all felt that he was using her for money in a tight position financially I'm I was in the tight position
01:32:11
financially you believed Michael Jamrock was capable of murder yes if she were to
01:32:18
tell Michael enough is enough you know the the purse is closed you know I've got my own problems
01:32:24
You' got him inebriated he's got the opportunity cuz he's passing by there about the right time circumstances don't
01:32:30
look good for Michael he's an obvious suspect at that point well in the very beginning I had
01:32:40
no idea I was a suspect not a clue every single time I went to the to the police
01:32:45
station I just assumed I I was doing my best to help them with the case Michael had motive he had opportunity and it
01:32:53
wasn't looking good so as a tool to try to clear him as a suspect we asked him to submit to a polygraph
01:33:00
examination and what were the results it showed deception how do you explain that I I
01:33:10
can't if you've never had a lie detector test done it's a very bizarre process they say okay is your is your name Troy
01:33:17
yes do you live at this address yes is this what you have do for an occupation yes did you kill your aunt
01:33:24
well of course you're going to jump it's sort of like you're on a carnival ride and holy
01:33:29
crap of course you're going to like freak out but I I don't I I don't have an explanation for that I really don't I
01:33:36
have no idea a shaky Alibi a failed lie detector test and a possible motive together it was shaping up to be a
01:33:45
powerful case against Michael Jamrock did you kill Linda Fishman of course not security putting out fire you have a
01:34:17
res come pulling down the street we could see smoke coming out of the garage heavy heavy smoke just after midnight on
01:34:26
February the 7th 2003 Lieutenant Tim mccab and chief Richard Lounsbury responded to a fire alarm at Linda
01:34:35
Fishman's house we're looking for victims if if there's you know that's our first
01:34:40
priority but even before the firemen entered the house something didn't seem right why is the garage door open no car
01:34:49
in the garage once inside their instincts were confirmed Med as we go to the left of that front door inside there
01:34:58
There She lays the Linda fish Linda Fishman it's it was a it was a shocker I could tell something is is you
01:35:07
know round her neck what struck me odd was the way her body was laid out perfectly flat on her back Arms by her
01:35:15
side with a blue cloth over her face it instantly becomes a crime scene firefighters found the body of Linda
01:35:26
Fishman while putting out a fire in her Western Boer Ron home we believe the perpetrator arrived at the house
01:35:32
sometime before 10:30 at night police learned Linda had been out that night for dinner and drinks with a friend in
01:35:38
Palm Beach we went into the case initially believing that she knew the person based on the way she was dressed
01:35:44
she was in her pajamas while there were no signs of force entry detective Keith did find other strange Clues there's a
01:35:51
broken plate of pancakes on the table Linda had just eaten before she came home who were those four I mean who's
01:35:58
that hungry is it her who just ate or is it the guy that's waiting for her to come home at some point things turned
01:36:04
ugly and the killer strangled Linda with that piece of twine it takes a long time
01:36:09
and a lot of effort to strangle somebody with a ligature um to continue to apply
01:36:13
that pressure the fire rescue people found a cloth over her face that could be some effort on the part of the
01:36:19
suspect to depersonification they don't want them staring at them when they're doing
01:36:25
whatever they're doing the killer stld jewelry paintings and attempted to set the house on
01:36:34
fire detective Kenneth bus why did the suspect start a fire do you think there was a an interest in some in some form
01:36:43
of cover up of the uh of the uh homicide it appeared that it was started by using rubbing alcohol I suppose
01:36:53
alcohol that was also found in the house why is rubbing alcohol significant what else can it be used for it can also
01:37:02
be used to to destroy the the evidence that that we were so much looking for w alcohol if you think about it uh Doctors
01:37:10
medical examiners they all use alcohol to clean instruments during the performance of their duties and uh it it
01:37:17
it destroys the DNA it can destroy the fingerprints anything left behind you you recovered no evidence nothing not
01:37:27
even a fingerprint that was valuable no in the early morning hours deputies tried to locate Linda's next of
01:37:36
Ken that's when nephew Michael Jamrock who lived less than a mile away first appeared on their radar screen he
01:37:43
doesn't answer the door at the first time the deputy goes there and the second time with some prodding he
01:37:49
answers the door the deputies noted that he did smell of alcohol cheers he basically was was shocked that
01:37:58
she was dead but didn't necessarily inquire as to the means of her death or how she died but was you know interested
01:38:05
in where the jewelry was taken where her cat was in fact you asked that question
01:38:11
where's her jewelry before inquiring how she was killed MH is that true I don't remember I could have I know what she
01:38:20
kept in her house but you you asked about the jewelry several times MH that's seem to be a priority for you
01:38:27
I wanted to make sure that everything was Secure in her house cuz I knew what she had in her home you know that that
01:38:33
line of questioning raised some eyebrows I'm sure it did I'm sure it did does that mean we thought he did it
01:38:41
not necessarily does it make us suspicious obviously detectives learned that Linda
01:38:47
was growing tired of financially supporting Jamrock and some other family members now they they had a theory well
01:38:54
in his inebriated state does he stopped by his aunt's house on the way home and she asked for money and she says no and
01:39:00
in a fit of rage he kills her sets the place on fire and drives home problem with that scenario is the vehicle where
01:39:08
do the vehicle go Linda's stolen car was found at this train station an 80m round trip from her
01:39:17
house it was a significant piece of evidence but just not against Michael Jamrock police couldn't figure figure
01:39:23
out how he could drop off his aunt's car here and make it back to Booker Raton before deputies came knocking at his
01:39:30
door it was a roadblock but cops continued to keep the heat on Jamrock I was walking out of the police station
01:39:38
and there there was a uniform police officer and he yells out Jamrock of course I turned around don't go far
01:39:45
you're going to jail that freaked me out despite their threats investigators weren't solely focused on Jamrock they
01:39:55
were also digging into Linda Fishman's private life just like some people's Hobbies get them killed maybe she was
01:40:03
looking for that part of her life some excitement or some Adventure dating Mr Wrong uh to spice her life up I mean
01:40:10
there's no telling I guess only Linda can tell us that she liked being in the center of
01:40:30
attention and the weight loss obviously was giving her the way back in there that gave her her
01:40:37
confidence she blossomed at 55 Linda Fishman was just hitting her stride after undergoing gastric bypass surgery
01:40:46
and losing 70 lbs 6 months before her murder and seeing her in Palm Beach in the weeks leading up to this she was
01:40:55
surrounded by people that she was meeting and coming over for me to meet all of her new friends and all these
01:41:02
gentlemen friends say it was a remarkable transformation in more ways than one so how did Linda change after
01:41:10
the surgery she was more outgoing um more positive more py um she felt better healthwise her hairdresser Penny
01:41:19
chamowitz helped Linda through her recovery her self-esteem te was better you know she just you know she had a
01:41:25
little pickme up but those close to her say the newly confident and improved Linda was still missing something she
01:41:34
was very happy the only thing she was very lonely she wish she had somebody in her
01:41:40
life for people that are not familiar with the dating scene here in Palm Beach how difficult is it it's difficult uh
01:41:48
most of the women I know are still single as you get older in my group of friends you're not dating
01:41:56
as much did she have good judgment when it came to men no she seemed to be a little she didn't
01:42:05
seem to be as what's the word I want to use Discerning when it came to me mhm detective Keith's investigation was
01:42:15
now shifting from Jamrock to Linda's love life some of the men that she dated um I mean from our perspective were
01:42:22
probably highis type uh man just days before she was murdered Linda had gone to the movies on her first date Linda
01:42:30
brought the popcorn bag back to her mom that night her mom still had it so we collected it for fingerprint processing
01:42:37
on the bag police found fingerprints belonging to this man Linda's date James Bell someone she had met days earlier at
01:42:47
a stoplight and she leans out of her window and what does she say to you she just said I was a handsome man she was
01:42:53
picking you up I guess in a way yes Barbara wolf was with Linda that night she met Belle she passed by in a truck I
01:43:02
tell you she was very outgoing and she was waving out the window you know he caught that up and I
01:43:09
think she threw out her number and he called her these are his arrest histories things that we focus in on battery DWI
01:43:17
improper exhibition of a firearm turns out James Bell had quite a passed did you tell Linda Fishman about your
01:43:25
criminal record I don't think I really knew her that long and that night at the movies he definitely didn't mention his
01:43:33
guilty play for attempted second-degree murder years earlier he shot somebody following an altercation up around a
01:43:40
pawn shop that he either ran or owned which showed a propensity of being a hotthead I mean same kind of scenario
01:43:46
did Lind to do something that upset him and he killed her in a fit of rage so you thought you had your guy at that
01:43:52
point when with his history we think he might be the guy would it surprise you to
01:43:59
learn that that man was charged with second deegree attempted murder really she was very forward she was very
01:44:09
forward how does that square with someone who had a legal background was married to a judge I think your
01:44:16
personality is your personality to me I looked at it as being outgoing um sometimes a little bit
01:44:22
Reckless I don't want to say she lived on the edge all the time but she was out there she was out
01:44:29
there detectives brought Bell in for questioning things weren't looking that good no they weren't for you no James
01:44:39
Bell was released when detectives realized he really had no motive and didn't even know where Linda lived I was
01:44:46
an up and down roller coaster ride from start to finish and there seemed to be no shortage of men from Linda's pass to
01:44:53
question and through investigation it led us to a person named Donnie Saxon um who the previous uh New Year's Eve had
01:45:00
actually spent the night over her house Donnie Saxon was a man Linda had met during a night out in Palm Beach several
01:45:06
months before her death you brought him in for questioning yes and what did he say as an aside basically oh this is uh
01:45:14
ironic that this happened to me in the past that uh happened to him in the past yes that he'd been brought in for
01:45:19
questioning regarding another girlfriend that had been murdered uh somewhere in the Las Vegas area I think that case was
01:45:26
unsolved but the fact that he'd been questioned about another girlfriend that had been murdered
01:45:31
ironic um again bad timing yeah now we have not one but two people um with circumstances of violence overshadowing
01:45:40
them in the past Saxon was never charged in the Las Vegas case and also denied any involvement in Linda Fishman's
01:45:49
murder what does her dating history say about her judgment that I think she was a lonely individual that in the
01:45:56
circumstances that we found uh while doing our investigation she she more often than not ran across men that that
01:46:06
weren't her type and that included men who were not always age appropriate she had a tendency to go for the younger
01:46:14
guys younger guys mhm would would it be unusual to see her in the company of a much younger man no no she like younger
01:46:24
men by the way we're in Palm Beach try to find an older woman that doesn't have a younger man in Linda's
01:46:32
case though there seemed to be several young suitors it seems like my sister went after somebody that needed her help
01:46:40
or her guidance if they asked for help she always helped them she trusted too much that was her problem she trusted I
01:46:49
think her hairdresser uh knew about some younger men she may have dated um but when it came time to tell her mom
01:46:55
to tell her family members the one's closest to her nobody could give us a name I just know he was a young guy
01:47:01
good-looking kid I know that my aunt helped pay for his schooling I think he's a chiropractor or a massage
01:47:07
therapist or something his name is Frederick gurnie a massage therapist 18 years younger than Linda Fishman they
01:47:16
dated and at one point lived together detectives could never find gurnie but 48 Hours TR him down in Texas he is now
01:47:25
unemployed and listed as a sex offender for indecency with a child Fred gurny wouldn't speak to us on camera but did
01:47:32
say Linda was always a generous person he claims he was living in Texas and nowhere near Florida at the time of her
01:47:40
murder and you're hitting some walls right a lot of dead ends until 4 months after the murder on June 18th 2003 when
01:47:49
detective Keith would receive a bombshell Anonymous letter that would turn the Linda Fishman case on its head
01:47:58
I do not have any proof I just want to point you the right direction I hope this information helps your
01:48:21
investigation [Music] we always believed that the the person that did this was known to Linda um
01:48:33
ultimately we didn't know that the person that did this wasn't known to the rest of her family or
01:48:41
friends you didn't know too too much from Linda you know like she kept things private Linda Fishman was a woman with
01:48:50
many Secrets especially when it came to some of the men in her life there was the financially strapped
01:49:00
nephew there was a former Lover now a registered sex offender and there were some men she met that could have used a
01:49:09
background check but then there was the biggest secret of all a man 27 years Linda Jr named Fred kretzmer she kept
01:49:19
Fred pretty much below the radar screen he never really surfaced as far as being
01:49:22
a name that some of someone that we knew that Linda dated or had a casual relationship with as a friend and Fred
01:49:29
kretzmer probably would have remained a secret if not for the anonymous letter written by a former girlfriend of his I
01:49:36
heard that night February 6 2003 a guy named frederck kretzmer was driving her car and had a few pieces of her jwy with
01:49:44
him I do not have any proof I just want to point you the right direction this is
01:49:49
the first time jel opina has spoken public about her difficult decision to tip off police you have that feeling
01:49:57
inside that it's the right thing to do is not something that you can cover you know so I wrote the letter the letter
01:50:05
was critical absolutely without her help case would be cold after 4 months of dead ends gazelle's letter finally gave
01:50:13
detectives a RedHot lead into who killed Linda Fishman uh basically we start peeling
01:50:21
back the onion on Fred kretzmer Fred had a troubled childhood had some possible molestation issues
01:50:30
when he was younger of some possible alcohol abuse in his family um as he Grew Older he had a substance
01:50:38
abuse issue with cough syrup and uh other drugs uh and at some point I think he came to Florida to try to distance
01:50:44
himself uh with that substance abuse problem he lived here for seven8 years Mario sagora became close to Fred
01:50:51
kretzmer when they they worked together after creser moved from New Jersey to Florida in the mid
01:50:57
1990s this was his house his IDs his bank everything and this was his only house to stay that as far as I know
01:51:05
because we were his family he quickly fit in with Mario's family and friends which is how he met Jazelle he was
01:51:12
always great always like a really nice boy you know the ones that mom's like that type of
01:51:19
boy creter made 's meet through various oddd jobs including working as a maintenance man at the Marriott Hotel
01:51:27
police learned it was here that Linda Fishman met him in 1999 when she and her sister Bernice stayed for a weekend Arts
01:51:35
Festival and see I went back up to the room um around 10 or 11 and she went back down to the ctail lounge you know
01:51:43
and I don't know maybe she met him down there later I don't know later that night Bernice woke up to kretzmer
01:51:49
Knocking on their door what did he say nothing he just says Linda there that's all and I said no she's sleeping Bernice
01:51:56
had never seen creser before nor did she know Linda would continue a relationship
01:52:01
with him he told me that she had a lot of money and she gave him a computer but he admitted to being intimate with this
01:52:08
older woman who gave him money yeah I think he was probably using her she was vulnerable because she was a lonely
01:52:14
person and you know open to that by 2001 Linda and keter's relationship had fizzled out
01:52:23
he was still working odd jobs when Mario urged him to leave Florida and join the
01:52:27
Navy you thought after he graduated from the training you thought he had his life
01:52:31
on track yeah of course but just 7 months into his service while stationed in California
01:52:38
Fred crr's life went off track when he was arrested after a high-speed chase with a police officer and charged with
01:52:45
being under the influence of a controlled substance resisting an officer drunk driving and petty theft
01:52:53
kretzmer was discharged from the Navy and served 8 months in a California State Prison to his friends back in
01:52:59
Florida kretzmer seemed to have just fallen off the map until the winter of 2003 when he made a surprise call from
01:53:06
New Jersey saying he was coming for a visit how did he look to you like a different human being you
01:53:18
know like that look when someone hasn't slept in days or taking shower or something like dirty like tired like
01:53:26
that look keser's personality had changed dramatically as well he was withdrawn and appeared troubled even
01:53:34
telling Jazelle he was hearing voices in his head and I know the mom told me that
01:53:40
she really really wanted him to go to the psychiatrist but he never made it there
01:53:47
was something that happened that week that I never knew until two three months later something happened with him and my
01:53:52
mother that week Mario's 70-year-old mother says kretzmer made a pass at her when they were alone he sits her at the
01:54:00
edge of the bed and proceeds to lift her blouse over her head to which point she
01:54:05
slaps the blouse down and uh said what are you doing kesar's odd behavior continued when a few nights later he was
01:54:13
staying with jelle's family in Miami the very horrible thing he said is like he wanted to have sex with me and my mother
01:54:21
and what was your reaction I told him he was sick and that was it next day I put
01:54:26
him in the train again and that was it that was the last time I saw him so progressively in the week that he
01:54:35
was here visiting doors kept shutting prosecutor Angela Miller says cr's Behavior then went from disturbing to
01:54:44
dangerous he was inport St Lucy looking for a girlfriend that he had had a relationship with
01:54:53
and when he didn't locate her he ended up committing a crime of violence on a convenience store
01:55:02
clerk who wouldn't give him a pair of sunglasses for free and then came his last night in
01:55:12
Florida when Fred cresmer decided to look up one more old friend I think that Linda Fishman was
01:55:22
the final stop it was just after 1:00 a.m. when Mario heard from ketzer the telephone
01:55:28
ring and it was uh Fred that uh wanted me to come and pick him up from the uh train station that's where the car was
01:55:36
found in the mangonia park Tri Rail station he saw me and then he opened the trunk and took some pictures like frames
01:55:44
or from the car and his small bag Mario said their Fred was holding a black bag with liquor bottles in it and an arm
01:55:52
full of paintings guess what stoen from the house and uh I told him yeah they are in
01:56:00
the garage I'll show them to you we tried to keep our composure in front of Mario saguro but we knew we
01:56:06
were we were getting close we knew Fred was our guy and it wasn't hard to track him down 4 months after Linda's murder
01:56:16
detectives found kretzmer in a Florida jail for the store clerk beating Fred kretzmer was charged with first-degree
01:56:23
murder of Linda Fishman but with no forensic evidence linking him to the crime could they get
01:56:31
a [Music] [Music] conviction it was an evil vicious crime Fred kretzmer is charged with
01:57:04
first-degree murder first deegree arson and robbery Mr kretzmer you've heard my ministering nect Fred kretzmer is an
01:57:13
evil man it took 4 years but in June 2007 Michael Jamrock was finally Vindicated
01:57:24
in the murder of his aunt Linda Fishman we have our day and it'll be today it's been very difficult for me for 4 Years
01:57:33
everybody thinking that my son did it and everything was awful I mean that was his godmother I mean she was like his
01:57:41
mother although the case against Fred kretzmer was mostly circumstantial prosecutor Angela Miller was confident
01:57:49
we didn't have a concern about winning this case at trial we knew that our work was cut out for us at the top of her
01:57:57
witness list former roommate Mario sagora whose account of the morning after the murder was
01:58:04
invaluable Mario walks into Fred's room and sees media coverage of the murder on
01:58:10
the TV and sees Fred holding a jewelry box Fred tries to cover up the jewelry and at that point Fred turns off the TV
01:58:17
and the wheels start spinning in Mario's mind did this guy just kill this woman what did you say to him what did
01:58:25
you ask him say what what is this or what what did you do or something and what did he say he don't say anything
01:58:32
what did your gut tell you it took me many many weeks and many months until until I kind of is this real is this
01:58:42
real it was affecting me my mother everything you know it's just something that I could take anymore you couldn't
01:58:52
take it anymore I don't know so when people are watching this and they're saying how
01:58:59
does this nice man remains silent for so long your answer is I was just SC of that
01:59:10
uh well you know I don't want someone to come and maybe burn my house or come and
01:59:16
er do something to my mother or myself too afraid to tell police Mario instead confided in Jazelle who
01:59:25
then bravely wrote that letter I had to do something you know I just I just couldn't leave with that that in you
01:59:33
know inside [Music] sorry it's been four years four years of of um having all that inside and uh it's
02:00:08
scared and you would do it again yeah definitely Mario and Jazelle stood ready to testify against their former friend
02:00:18
until an unexpected development would change everything we were approached by defense counsel and they said he wanted
02:00:28
to plead guilty and we were shocked we withdraw a prior pleas of not guilty and interent
02:00:33
ple guilty Mr cresmer are you at this time ask according to his public defender cresmer wanted to take
02:00:39
responsibility for his actions then agreed to a plea deal of second deegree murder and first-degree arson and to
02:00:46
give a full confession in open court what caused you to go go to Linda Fishman's home just a touch with an old
02:00:55
feeling that I had that I might catch her at the house and rekindle an old friendship okay so there was no sexual
02:01:03
contact in the context of the crimes that you committed no ma'am were you ever interested in money when you went
02:01:08
to Linda Fishman's home no ma'am my opinion I think he went there to try to use her to get money I think
02:01:15
when Linda didn't go with the program and didn't give him what he wanted he switched to plan B and took it by force
02:01:22
and um she came out of her bedroom and that's where I seen her for the first time and she was frightened to find you
02:01:30
in her kitchen she was frightened because she didn't have any recollection of me she didn't recognize me she didn't
02:01:36
recognize you at all no ma'am that's when Linda threatened to call police the walls were closing in on Fred kretzmer
02:01:44
after a week in which she alienated old friends and savagely beat that store clerk cresmer knew he could go back to
02:01:51
prison and panicked I was caught very very emotionally and I didn't know what to do
02:01:58
so I um I I went at her and and took her from behind I strangled her was there a struggle prior to you
02:02:12
strangling her with the cord there was no struggle um it was more she was turning to move away um still just in a
02:02:21
threatening way just loud yelling and um upset very upset okay and so what is the
02:02:28
next thing that you do I basically try to cover the scene and I and I uh did you pour alcohol on
02:02:39
her I did on her hands and on her neck because I had touched her I did try to close her eyes you tried to close her
02:02:47
eyes but they opened and I uh covered them with um the chair the arm chair cover cover why
02:02:55
did you do that I don't know do I believe some of what he said sure do I believe all of it no not a
02:03:04
chance and then just before sentencing Fred cresmer offers a surprising apology to Linda's family um I just like to
02:03:15
apologize I don't know where you are sitting on T sorry I find each of your too pleased
02:03:22
to be freely and voluntarily given you appear to me to understand the nature of con Michael Jamrock also received an
02:03:28
apology from detective Keith I did what I had to do um was I wrong yes did I apologize yes but no amount of apologies
02:03:38
will ever really be enough for Michael Jamrock who lost so much more than just his aunt that night he lost his family
02:03:47
because I'm a perfect example of family just throw you right in front of a bus of course what they did is just it's
02:03:56
unspeakable one person who's extremely grateful to you is Michael Jamrock mhm you even know he existed when you wrote
02:04:05
this letter she pretty much saved my life but she didn't even realize that she was just doing something that she
02:04:11
thought had to be done she had no idea about me do you consider yourself a hero a heroine
02:04:19
no no I have just come and said s that's it do you thank God that you're a free man I just always think of my aunt and
02:04:27
always think that how strong she was and how positive she was and you know what as bizarre as it may seem I don't think
02:04:34
she would have ever ever allowed it to happen she's taken care of me my whole life you know call Auntie Linda and
02:04:41
everything's going to be all right you [Music] know [Music]