00:00:00
this week's 48 Hours investigates a deadly first date when First Responders got to the scene in November 2021 they
00:00:07
found fitness instructor Leslie Reeves dead and her date Chris Smith shot and seriously wounded the Illinois couple
00:00:13
had met online and decided to go on their first date the night before Thanksgiving 48 Hours correspondent
00:00:19
Aaron morard reports it was around 3:30 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day 2021 when
00:00:30
crime scene investigator joshh Easton of the Illinois State Police arrived at a house in the Tiny Village of
00:00:38
Farmersville what do you see when you first approach the door I noticed the side door of the house the glass in the
00:00:44
door has been broken out the refrigerator was pulled away from the wall the kitchen table was pushed the
00:00:51
the chairs were knocked over Chris Smith who lived in the house had been shot critically wounded and was rushed to a
00:00:58
hospital his day Leslie Reeves who taught self-defense classes for women I'm Leslie from all you Studio was lying
00:01:06
dead on the living room floor how many times was she shot she was only shot one time but no weapon was found and
00:01:13
investigators suspected an intruder had forced his way in little details told a story like the burnt pizza in the oven I
00:01:23
assumed that maybe they were cooking a pizza for the night and the suspect shows up at the door
00:01:29
door they both tried to fight him off and when Chris was shot Leslie went to the living room to try to hide e spotted
00:01:38
a silver-colored shell casing near Leslie's body another in the kitchen where Chris had been found barely
00:01:45
conscious no one knew if Chris would recover enough to identify the shooter we were talking to him singing to him
00:01:52
and I was always holding this [Music] hand open your eyes buddy at the hospital Chris's mother Sharon
00:02:02
and sister Ashley rarely left his side why would somebody do this to him why would they try to hurt my baby that's
00:02:10
all I kept thinking he's my baby someone hurt him going on a first date and they
00:02:16
both end up getting shot it's insane Aaron morard joins us now uh Aon so this was unusual for us if you think
00:02:27
about it because there was actually someone who survived right yeah and that is something that we rarely ever see uh
00:02:36
Christmas survive you got an exclusive interview with him I did and he is very inspiring because this is a man he
00:02:43
doesn't here's what's so sad he doesn't even remember Leslie he doesn't remember
00:02:48
meeting her at all his memory was erased and this started off with such a mystery
00:02:55
this is a small town these are two people who just met for the first time and joined themselves and then somebody
00:03:01
breaks in but this was also a great investigation and that is we focus on that and how Chris has made this amazing
00:03:10
recovery and how they got the killer so how they were able to get a suspect in the case W without a weapon well this is
00:03:17
interesting they needed to find a suspect because of that lack of weapon they knew that someone had survived and
00:03:24
here there was an armed killer still out there so they made an arrest within our
00:03:30
based on two friends of Leslie who had said she had been stocked but that was a very tough thing to do that quickly when
00:03:38
you don't even know the results of your the DNA testing in the crime scene and you go ahead was there hard evidence
00:03:46
tying this suspect to the crime scene that's what ended up being very difficult there wasn't any there was his
00:03:53
DNA was not in the crime scene he made a big point about that there was glass all
00:03:58
over it wasn't in it car there was no blood in his car this was a very tough investigation that this small town in
00:04:05
the Illinois State Police managed to solve W all right Aon morard thank you you can watch this incredible report
00:04:11
fatal first date on 48 hours tomorrow night at 109 Central right here on CBS we're streaming on Paramount Plus