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[Music] people perceive me as being a billionaire s and this entitled spoiled rich
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girl this wild crazy party girl that's hanging from Rafters that's not it at all
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I'm a business woman I'm a mother I'm a friend I'm a wife there are a few that think that I'm
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a murderer surely the crime of the young decade a respected senior officer dead he was hoping to be promoted to senior
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superintendent but the Lord Our God wanted to promote him to become an angel my brother he was playful
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hey he was a very happy person Henry jamot from everything we know was a very jovial guy he loved his family he loved
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Sports he loved music he go all the way for his friend Henry was my friend that was an accident terrible
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accident I it will haunt me for the rest of my life the shooting took place where
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at that dark these two people wind up on a lonely peir in the dark together why are
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they there I I remember saying you really need your gun just we're going right here to the
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pier and he's like I always have my gun and so he brought it with him the moon was beautiful so we just wanted to come
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sit by the pier put our feet in the water was there anyone else on that Pier besides the two of you no did you have a
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finger around the truck not that I thought I just remember trying to see next thing I know the gun
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went off he fell on top of me and all I could feel was warmth and I later then realized he was bleeding on me she feels
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this warmth you know when we talk about warmth we think about warm cookies or a blanket we don't think about the warmth
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of death didn't know if he was dead there's not a night that goes by don't dream about that incident
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and relive it people are wondering was this an accident was this murder Jasmine Harden was arraigned in
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the San Pedro magistrates court on a single charge of manslaughter by negligence my brother was shot behind
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the air execution style she should be charge for murder murder murder I'm not a murderer that's
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ridiculous miss Aron do you have anything to say my freedom is at stake my relationship with my children is at
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stake why won't you let me see the kids Andrew she gave so many stories so who knows when she's telling
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the truth [Music] [Music] I think a lot of people misjudge me her name is Jasmine Harton seen by
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many as one of the most wealthy and controversial people they don't seem my wholesome side in one of the most
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alluring places on Earth when I decided to come to bise I thought that I was moving from the cold
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North into to a paradise B is a tiny Central American Tourist Mecca that's also a Haven for the super rich where
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jet Setters and Beach comers rub elbows every day and it's where Jasmine 32 was Raising twins with her partner Andrew
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Ashcraft a real estate developer and Son of a British billionaire a woman with one of the most prominent names on the
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island is at the police station I've never had a story like this before Sharice how saw is a news reporter and
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anchor at Channel 7 in b and a CBS News consultant she has been covering the case since it broke on May 28th 2021
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reports tonight are that Harton was flattered in the officer's blood authorities detain Jasmine Harton after
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finding her dazed and drenched in blood on a deserted pier near her exclusive beachfront Resort home it's a mystery
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for which the Intrigue is escalating in the water was police super intendant Henry jamat with a fatal gunshot wound
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behind his right ear a man beloved by his five children and says his sister Cherry by the
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country he'd spent his life serving he had done a great job for the country of B we will purchase Shoes for some of the
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needy kids within the villages alone with a respected police officer dead and a wealthy powerful woman in a
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concrete jail cell there were rampant rumors about Jasmine Harton and Henry jamat were drugs or infidelity
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involved the speculation was fueled by reports that Jasmine's account of that night had changed according to channel 7
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the first account she told was the Fatal shot may have come from a passing boat why would she have ever told such a
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wild story about a boat after a jailhouse visit with a lawyer Harton admitted she fired the Fatal shot
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accidentally Harton was charged with manslaughter by negligence and eventually released on
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bail the things that are at stake right now is my relationship with my children my freedom my business my money my my
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character my reputation and my my life is is at [Music] sake tonight you will hear Jasmine
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Harton tell her side of the story it's a story that begins in her childhood she insists she was never a spoiled rich kid
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I think because I grew up the way I did all of that has prepared me for what I've just endured she says she grew up
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poor in Canada as one of nine siblings in a small farming Community do you remember being hungry as a child of
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course yeah many times Jasmine's mother Candice cleone says food was in such short supply she' trick a local dnut
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shop to give her stale pastries to feed her kids I went in and told them I was a
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pig farmer I needed the donnuts for my pigs the kids thought it was awesome she went to high school in A
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Hard Scrabble neighborhood of Kingston Ontario and set her sights on a career in dentistry hoping to help the
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needy I started to do dental missions and B I saw an opportunity to come down and do a mission here for
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Dentistry she arrived in bise in 2014 she set up shop on an exclusive island called amberr key and made a splash on
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the social scene acquiring a reputation as a party girl and in 2015 she met met someone who
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would change her life by then she was working as a realtor and he was a potential client there was something
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intriguing about his level of confidence it was Andrew Ashcroft I thought he was very clever
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very funny very witty Andrew is a son of Lord Michael Ashcroft a well-known conservative political figure in his
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native Great Britain who' built a billion dooll business Empire with extensive holding and B they reportedly
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have included ownership stakes in the phone company two of the biggest banks a TV station even the main
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Port once you learned that Andrew Ashcraft is the son of a billionaire how did that impact you in your relationship
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so I was curious about it were you in any way attracted to his wallet no but the potential I wanted to build
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something together I wanted us to be partners they got engaged in 2016 and the next year had twins Charlie and Ella
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it was just months earlier at a brunch that Jasmine had met the other man who' become a central figure in her future a
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high ranking police official on the island Henry jamat Henry is a lot of fun and we would get together often um with
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groups Jasmine says he was on the island for about another year before being transferred and they got to know each
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other well he loved his food loved my cooking often came to the house for dinner she says Andrew ashro already
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knew Henry so jamaat's name was on the invite list in May 2021 when the couple cut the ribbon on their professional
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dream thank you a Marriott branded Resort worth millions it was just weeks before the shooting for Jasmine and I it
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marks the Fulfillment of a dream dream to create the eliar resort Jasmine Harton seemed to have it all opulent
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lifestyle lovely family and links to a powerful Dynasty her life may have looked perfect but she says by then
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behind the curtains of the five bedroom beachfront condo she shared with Andrew and the children there was trouble
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Andrew and I have had a very Rocky Road they tried to make it work says Jasmine though they never officially married
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forel we weren't even sleeping in the same rooms and she says they were essentially leading separate lives so on
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a dark night in May 2021 when Jasmine Harton suddenly found herself in trouble at a party she called for her friend
00:11:17
Henry jamat I said please come pick me up this is bad [Music] [Music] set the scene for us this is a very
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special place for you yeah it used to be a very special place but now brings back
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a lot of very sad sad memories this is Grand Colony so that building in the back is
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where I I lived at the glittering Center of Jasmine Harton's world was a fantasy the luxurious beachfront hotels
00:12:11
of the Ashcraft Empire in San Pedro on ambergis key believ San Pedro is where all that money comes in rolls in and
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rolls out here accommodations can go for upwards of $1,000 a night it is just a few footsteps across the sand but a
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world away from everyday life in this Central American Nation where the average salary is around $800 a month
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there's an element of race in that expats do not tend to socialize within the black community I'm standing in but
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reporter Sharice housea says Jasmine Haron and Henry jamaat's life Journeys cut a path that straddled Both Worlds
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Henry jamat is friends with a wide range of bisan society as at ease with the ashcs and
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their enormous wealth as he was with the workingclass people he grew up with you
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called him King yes he's the king yes he's the king my parents name him King because
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he's one and only boy in the family a king who followed in the footsteps of his sister ch
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yes we are both police officers and was your brother a good cop a very good cop very
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strict we're trying to bridge the gap between the community and the police Henry jamat is an upstanding officer and
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I believe that by us a senior police official and a family man dedicated father to four girls and a
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boy son brother friend to many like Jean Lopez he was a big fell but he was friendly
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but Stern tell me about the Henry that you knew he would assist anybody if they need assistance he's a very good man
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loved by many he have extended his love beyond the family limits did you become good friends well
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yes the more I got to know him we had a lot in common there has been a lot of talk around bise
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that you and Henry jamat were more than friends that you may have been lovers that's not true that's not true at all
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you guys never had a sexual relationship no still the nature of their relationship would become the heart of
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this story and the question is what was such a prominent man prominent yes but working class middle class doing a on a
00:14:59
pair with someone who's from the 0.01% of wealthy experts it just seemed like a mashup and a friendship that
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almost shouldn't exist whatever their relationship it was Jasmine's Reliance on the Man known as
00:15:18
king that set in motion the final days of Henry jamaat's life it was May 22nd 2021 Jasmine says she was at a party 70
00:15:29
M from home a man followed me into the room and was quite aggressive with me verbally physically physically um in a
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sexual manner so in that moment I fought him off me I called jamut right away the
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man Jasmine calls her protector didn't hesitate he drove an hour to come pick me up and he kept saying we need to
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really work on getting your firearms license she says Henry jamont wanted her to have a gun for protection and you
00:16:01
agreed to that yes and when he had that conversation did he show you his Glock pistol yes he wanted me to handle it to
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get a feel for it this is what a Glock 17 looks like when you got home did you share what happened to you with Andrew
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no we weren't really sharing a lot with each other at all and Henry jamat posted
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on Facebook that he was now single he posted something about being single like after 14
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years and so some 3 days later it was Jasmine's turn to help her friend the next thing I know I get a text message
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from Henry saying hey can you hook me up at Grand Colony I need to come out there
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for a couple days and just blow off some steam he checked in on Wednesday May 26th correct the next day Henry went
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fishing with his best friend Francisco Penny Aro he was happy as happy I said so what's up
00:17:01
tonight he said will I have a date I said who he said that one I'm taking it to my grave but he was smiling when he
00:17:07
tell me that were you that date that's hard to say if he called me a date he may have just been pulling their leg or
00:17:15
exaggerating truth I'm not sure but I'm I'm definitely not a date she says Andrew was supposed to join them but as
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a full moon settled over the tropical Caribbean night Jasmine met Henry alone I had a police report that
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superintendent jamot had been killed on a pier in San Pedro just offshore from this pier
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floating in the dark Caribbean Sea Henry jamat shot dead next thing I know the police are there she had called the
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police herself they took her into custody where Jasmine reportedly spun her first version of how Henry jamat
00:17:54
Died her story is that a passing boat shot jamat and that story is from Jasmine herself from Jasmine herself I
00:18:03
don't remember saying that like it was such a blur um you know and I think I was in
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shock were you intentionally trying to mislead police at that moment to protect yourself no not at
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all later on the day of the shooting Henry jamaat's body was brought across the shimmering Waters and home by his
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best friend panny in this boat they'd been fishing in just a day before I said can't be cannot be I'm
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Still Still Hur still bother still very hurt you were crying yeah of course is the King was dead the woman with
00:18:44
connections to a wealthy powerful family sat in a Cell at the police station and
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then reportedly that story she told about the bullet fired from the boat began to change it's past midnight right
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now at the end of the pier what [Music] happens there are only two people who know what happened on that Pier on
00:19:22
ambergris key one is forever silenced allegedly shot with his own gun a Glock 17 like this one 42-year-old
00:19:33
superintendent of police Henry jamut is dead more than 2 days after being taken into police custody the other person in
00:19:41
this Twisted drama Jasmine Harton made a startling admission you have admitted shooting and killing Henry jamat yes so
00:19:51
but let me just finish my question was it an accident or was it murder it was absolutely not murder
00:19:59
Henry was my friend that day changed everyone's lives documents from the cops courts and
00:20:06
forensic experts in Jasmine Harton's case have not been made public so much of her account of that night cannot be
00:20:14
independently corroborated she told her story in detail for the first time on TV to 48
00:20:22
Hours how did you and Henry jamat end up on that Pier well we were sitting on the
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balcony of unit one which is ocean front she says they were drinking cinnamon whiskey yeah he took
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his like a shot you know I was sipping on mine then we went it was a full moon the
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stars were gorgeous so we decided let's go down and sit on the pier we were sitting on the edge our legs kind of
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dangling just talking as he done after rescuing her from that party Jasmine says Henry jamat
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again pulled out his 9mm Glock 17 and handed it to her I am not an expert with 9mm by any means so Jasmine says Henry
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began teaching her how to eject and reload the magazine clip and bullets he said let's see if you can do you know
00:21:15
unload the clip reload it so helped me get the clip out I was unloading it then he took the bullets and put them beside
00:21:22
him I was under the impression that the gun was completely empty at the time it doesn't make sense to people why are
00:21:30
you doing this in the darkness it just kind of happened in that moment Jasmine claims Henry was a little
00:21:39
inebriated but says she wasn't I had had a few drinks yeah I wasn't drunk it's past midnight now we're approaching
00:21:48
12:45 a.m. mhm what happens what unfolds we're sitting on the end of the pier together he makes a comment about how
00:21:56
his shoulder's really stiff and he's like just rub my shoulder so I kind of scooched back behind him Jasmine says
00:22:03
she agreed to give Henry jamat a shoulder massage and then let's head inside he said so I said okay so he has
00:22:12
the bullets to his left he asked me to hand him the clip from the gun and that's when I picked it up I'm still
00:22:19
kind of behind him a little bit like he's sitting like this I'm kind of sitting like this who's holding the
00:22:26
gun at that point me so I reached for the gun to take the magazine or the clip out cuz he was going to reload it he had
00:22:34
the bullets there and all of a sudden it went off and yeah he it's it's hard to talk about
00:22:44
this still take me through that moment by moment so I lean over I pick up the gun
00:22:52
and I'm trying to click out the magazine and it's not working so I'm holding it like this and I'm trying to use the
00:22:57
moonlight or whatever to see if I'm clicking the right button Jasmine says the barrel of the
00:23:04
gun was pointed to the left where Henry was sitting next thing I know the gun went off and did you have a finger
00:23:13
around the trigger not that I thought somehow you must have pulled the trigger I I I don't
00:23:21
know I I I mean it was an accident or the gun misfired but consciously did I pull the trigger no
00:23:29
she says Henry jamat never made a sound so the shot went off and he fell on top of
00:23:38
me and all I could feel was warmth and I later then realized he was bleeding on me Jasmine says after the shot she
00:23:51
struggled to get out from under Henry I was shaking him I didn't know what to do
00:23:56
I as I'm trying to wiggle my way free to render Aid his body was slipping into the water
00:24:03
from the dog I didn't know what to do I didn't know if he was dead she says it took time to make sense of what had
00:24:11
happened it was a horrible accident taking Jasmine into custody authorities discovered she was carrying
00:24:20
a small amount of cocaine they didn't charge her with possession that night because it hadn't been tested yet had
00:24:27
you used cocaine that evening no do you use cocaine do you have a drug problem I definitely do
00:24:34
not have a drug problem at all and I will say that the substance that they found was not mine whose was it
00:24:44
then I don't think I can say that she said it wasn't hers it's in her purse Cherry jamat the police officer who
00:24:52
inspired her younger brother King to get his badge isn't buying any of it do you
00:24:58
believe that your brother on a darken night at the end of a pier at 12:45 in the morning was actually showing her how
00:25:06
to use his Glock 9mm pistol my brother would never do a thing like that when it comes to firearm he is so skillful and
00:25:17
he is so careful you don't believe in any possible way this could have been an accident I cannot believe
00:25:24
that cherry is hopeful that when the ballistics report is revealed it will lead prosecutors to upgrade the
00:25:33
charge Jasmine Harden should be charged for murder and not manslaughter either way Jasmine Harton
00:25:43
was about to run into a world of trouble a lot closer to home this is absolutely war war with the
00:25:50
billionaire family she once called her own tonight we continue with The Saga of Jasmine Harton versus Andre as
00:25:59
Coss Andrew is inside hiding my kids inside why won't you let me see the kids Andrew why won't you let me see the
00:26:08
[Music] [Music] children from the swaying Palms to the silent roads journalist Sharice Hol and I went looking for Henry
00:26:33
jamaat's Hometown routes Peter this is the hummingbird Highway in Biz and it's the road to the
00:26:41
culture Capital which is dangriga that's where Henry jamat grew up and where his
00:26:45
family still lives we followed the dusty colorful streets of Dan griga let's stop
00:26:51
at that Greenhouse there I'm looking for where Henry gemot used to live and we led to Henry Cham 's nephew eel this is
00:27:01
it he is clear on how his uncle died murder and the whole family feels that way everybody feels that way but
00:27:10
authorities charge Jasmine Harton with manslaughter not murder and publicly investigators have never suggested any
00:27:18
motive for her to have intentionally killed Henry I had no motive to do that to my friend but Henry's family believes
00:27:26
the truth is revealed in how and where he was shot my brother was shot behind the air execution
00:27:36
style that shot echoed through a town famous for its music and drums the beat Henry jamat loved the Heritage he was
00:27:45
passing on to his children we're getting close to the church where Henry Jam funeral was held
00:27:54
as he had in life the 42-year-old public servant United the people of Biz wherever he
00:28:02
goes wherever he did he shared that love with all of us but how to comfort sisters who lost the brother they
00:28:10
lovingly called King and how to answer six-year-old Henry III's question how comes my dad haven't called
00:28:23
me while Henry jamat was mourned by a nation J man Harton was getting a different kind of
00:28:31
attention and according to a prison official the 32-year-old who will be dealt with like any other untried
00:28:38
prisoner will become the only Caucasian among 1,041 inmates still the people of B couldn't help but wonder if Jasmine's
00:28:48
race stature and wealth might benefit her then she was locked up for 13 days myself was
00:28:58
infested with cockroaches Miss do you have anything to say when she finally made bail roughly
00:29:06
$15,000 it was paid for by an employee of the ashcs but Jasmine was already getting the feeling that her partner
00:29:14
Andrew wanted her out of sight the day that I got out I was expecting to be reunited with my children at home but
00:29:23
instead I was sent to a house in the middle of nowhere by by myself without my children without a phone Andrew
00:29:32
arranged for the house and for the twins to visit but Jazmin claims he only allowed them to see her one time Andrew
00:29:40
claims Jasmine left the house before he could arrange another visit and being apart from your children what has that
00:29:48
been like for you that's one that will get me to cry um two weeks after making bail Jasmine tried to visit the twins
00:29:56
herself my son and my daughter at the Grand colony where she had lived with Andrew
00:30:04
Ashcroft it was then that chaos broke out so this is me recording this is part of the video Jasmine shot Andrew's
00:30:13
running so I can't see my children security is literally stopping me from seeing my children right
00:30:20
now in a statement Andrew later wrote that Jasmine was shouting and cursing and behaving aggressively board the
00:30:28
hotel staff you've been instructed by Andrew to stop me from seeing my children that's correct he's inside
00:30:34
hiding why won't you let me see the children she is startled 2 days later when she's arrested again this time for
00:30:42
assaulting a hotel staff member that day all I did was try to collect my personal
00:30:47
belongings and see my children and authorities at a charge for cocaine possession from the night of the Henry
00:30:55
jamat shooting this is absolutely ridiculous her bail is then revoked and she's locked up again but not for long
00:31:03
tonight after four more nights Behind Bars Jasmine was out again her bail restrictions mandated she check in with
00:31:11
police every day a 4-Hour round trip drive across Biz from where she is staying and so when you go in what do
00:31:19
you say um they ask me a series of questions where I'm staying uh my date of birth but this day's check-in just 2
00:31:29
weeks after the confrontation at the hotel why are you keeping my children from me Andrew would prove anything but
00:31:37
routine authorities hand her an order to appear at a custody hearing reciting Andrew's allegations for a reason that
00:31:46
the mother of the children hardly spends any time with the children first of all I was in jail
00:31:54
Andrew Ashcraft seeks full custody of his children because Jasmine is charged with causing the death of a police
00:32:01
officer by negligence as well as the assault of that hotel employ and claims she is addicted to
00:32:09
nonprescription and illegal drugs and a habitual drunkard it's a vividly different description of the woman
00:32:17
Andrew once welcomed into his rarified world in my opinion this is absolutely War this is absolutely gloves are off
00:32:27
the war would be about the custody of the children a powerful family and a building International
00:32:36
Scandal money power image and reputation mean absolutely everything to that family next up in the war of the ashcs
00:32:46
money according to Jasmine she's been cut off financially you didn't have a bank
00:32:53
account a trust fund nothing that you could draw upon not at all Mr as mother Andrew Ashcraft declined to speak with
00:33:02
48 hours and his attorney says with legal proceedings under way it would be quite ill advised to Grant an
00:33:11
interview the wheels had come off Jasmine Harton's Life in Paradise and she was running
00:33:20
scared I've been through what I would consider hell on Earth but the jamat family says there the ones going through
00:33:28
hell as they continue to mourn the kind conscientious man they believe Jasmine murdered she gave so many stories so who
00:33:38
knows when she's telling the truth Central to Jasmine's story is that she knew very little about handguns and that
00:33:46
Henry wanted to teach her but recently images have appeared of jasmine in B with a
00:33:55
shotgun what does that video tell you that video tell me that Jasmine is well-versed have wide knowledge of
00:34:06
bigger Firearms this is you with a semi-automatic rifle yes it has a magazine a clip so I'm guessing you know
00:34:15
how to take out a magazine and reinsert it into a weapon that picture was from 2012 when I was at a Las Vegas shooting
00:34:25
range they don't let you load your Firearms what the video doesn't show is that it really was probably my 10th
00:34:34
attempt at the watermelon I'm not very good with Firearms Jasmine says she knew next to
00:34:41
nothing about handguns I do not know how to handle a 9mm properly at all as we can tell it would come down to this was
00:34:52
the gun used to kill Henry jamont fired by accident we asked an expert is it easy to
00:35:02
accidentally fire this [Music] weapon there's a lot writing on Jasmine Harton's account of Henry jamaat's
00:35:30
shooting so we wanted an expert opinion about whether her story lines up what are you holding in your hand
00:35:42
this is a Glock 17 9mm pistol it's the same type of weapon that was used in the shooting incident that occurred in bise
00:35:49
David Katz is a former DEA agent and a veteran Firearms instructor who taught at the FBI DEA Academy in
00:36:05
Quantico if used properly how safe is a Glock 17 these are an extremely safe cat
00:36:12
says Glock handguns are designed to withstand almost any amount of jostling without accidentally firing I could bang
00:36:20
it I could drop it it's not going to go off but cat says there's one notable exception
00:36:29
a potential key to understanding what happened on that Pier we showed him portions of my
00:36:37
interview with Jasmine I'm trying to get the magazine out as you can see from Jasmine's gestures she says she was
00:36:46
fumbling around to release the Guns Magazine if her finger was on the trigger and the trigger moved to the
00:36:52
rear with 5 lbs of pressure the gun's going to go bang pulling the trigger on Glock
00:36:58
pistols can be easier than on some other handguns says Catz this is a for and accidental trigger pulls could
00:37:10
happen to anyone even to Veterans like this DEA agent who accidentally shot himself let me get a sense of how much
00:37:24
force it'll take to to fire this weapon that feels pretty light to me yeah it's 5.5 lb consciously did I pull the
00:37:34
trigger no even though Jasmine says she doesn't remember she had to have pulled the trigger there's no doubt about it
00:37:41
she pulled the trigger cat says trigger accidents can result from something called sympathetic
00:37:48
contraction in which Contracting one hand muscle triggers others too let's assume you put your finger on the
00:37:55
trigger in this position you squeeze the bottom fingers your trigger finger is going to similarly squeeze as well
00:38:01
another possible Factor alcohol Jasmine says Bui and Henry jamat had been drinking that
00:38:09
night there is no better way to get yourself hurt and by messing with Firearms when you are impaired I was
00:38:17
under the impression that the gun was completely empty at the time one or both of them could have unloaded the magazine
00:38:24
says Catz forgetting there was a bullet ready to fire in the chamber based on what you've heard her
00:38:31
say and what you know about the Glock 17 could this have been an accidental shooting yeah it could have been it's a
00:38:38
troubling story from so many aspects starting with why why you know why she's practicing in the dark but then when she
00:38:44
talks about where her hand was when the round went off could it have been an accidental discharge absolutely yes we
00:38:50
don't know what forensics ballistics or other tests authorities have conducted prosecutors aren't safe
00:38:58
I have no idea what evidence they have against me because they haven't released any of it
00:39:02
[Music] yet but Jasmine says Henry's sister Cherry confronted her when the two women
00:39:09
met by chance in July of 2021 I said Jasmine why did you kill my brother her response
00:39:22
was I'm sorry it was an accident I told her Jasmine you don't know what you have done to my
00:39:30
family do you believe you deserve any sort of legal punishment for what happened on that Pier I believe that
00:39:40
it's an it's it was an accident and I do accept any punishment that comes my way
00:39:48
under basian law she could get as much as 5 years for negligent manslaughter but also as little as a fine without any
00:39:56
more jail time time it would be an injustice to the family ever since his funeral Henry
00:40:06
jamat has watched over his family from a portrait on the wall the children would
00:40:13
sit in the sofa and they play with him up there Jasmine lost custody of her children in
00:40:22
2022 and is not allowed to visit them anymore [Music] and giving the enduring mystery of
00:40:31
exactly what happened that night Jasmine Harton May forever live under a cloud of
00:40:36
Suspicion It's haunting me I think about how his poor kids must feel being without their dad and I wish
00:40:44
I could take it back [Music] 48 Hours don't miss an episode [Music] it was somewhat unusual for someone to
00:41:49
just vanish out of thin air especially on the east side of Milwaukee Kelly DWI she is a young woman that is
00:42:02
out trying to discover herself you see this brigh eyed smiling beautiful girl who really seemed to have a lot of life
00:42:12
and vitality we got to spend quite a bit of time together in the yoga room it was
00:42:19
rare not to see her and I had just assumed she was on an adventure of some sort [Music]
00:42:27
October 12th 2013 she did not show up for work her co-workers were absolutely the
00:42:35
first to respond Kelly was very tied to her cell phone always posting on social media always
00:42:44
texting when they called Kelly's cell phone it went straight to voicemail Kelly dwire is missing Flyers
00:42:53
started going out all of the sudden in the community it was Boom everybody knew that she was
00:43:01
[Music] missing there's a sense of urgency here absolute sense of urgency for certain
00:43:09
today authorities and volunteers hunted for clues in her disappearance I think that people saw
00:43:15
those images and realized you know this could be my daughter this could be my best friend Kelly DWI was an
00:43:24
acquaintance of mine we would meet up at aliam a local bar and we would touch face frequently throughout the
00:43:31
week we learned that she was on a number of websites where one would meet men she
00:43:38
was bright sweet just kind-hearted good person she was on websites that could expose you to people very quickly that
00:43:48
are strangers some of her friends made comments that she might be with one of those people right now M DWI was meeting
00:43:56
people that could have put her In Harm's Way [Music] [Music] [Music] it's like she
00:44:53
vanishes her social media goes dead her debit card goes dead the phone is dead like the rest of Milwaukee
00:45:05
assistant district attorney Sarah Hill found Kelly dwi's sudden Disappearance in
00:45:10
2013 baffling in an age of an electronic footprint if you will it's not there it's like she just isn't
00:45:23
anymore the night of October 10th started out like any other for Kelly she'd been on a date with a man named
00:45:30
Chris Sako Kelly came to Chris's apartment building they go to get a few drinks and have a nice night out at a
00:45:38
place called alium a cute little uh bar that was uh kind of across the street from the apartment building I remember
00:45:47
her and I having a small conversation of so what do you have to do tomorrow and she goes I actually have off Chanel
00:45:54
Royston was at the bar that night Kelly told her what she planned to do the next
00:45:59
day I want to wake up in the morning I want to do yoga I want to do laundry and just have an easy
00:46:06
day they picked up a pizza from Ian's a little pizza place that's like a block away brought it to the bar we were all
00:46:13
sitting outside on this very long communal picnic bench we were all nibbling on the pizza you know they're
00:46:19
sharing it with us Kelly and Chris decide to call it a night a little after 2: in the morning they head back to uh
00:46:28
Mr zaco's apartment building across the [Music] street Kelly and Chris had been dating
00:46:36
for about a year after being introduced through a mutual friend Kelly had moved to Milwaukee in 2008 and gone to college
00:46:45
when we're in our early 20s that's definitely a time of exploration when you're trying to find your own footing
00:46:51
as an adult that's it biceps behind the ears lower your chin she always greeted me
00:46:58
with a hug Kelly's Journey of self-discovery had led to yoga class an instructor Ryan hater she was always
00:47:07
excited to see me and excited to get her butt kicked in my class keep your upper
00:47:12
back strong and her energy was just infectious Kelly worked part-time as a nanny and as a salesperson for an
00:47:20
athletic apparel store where her tight-knit co-workers were the first to sound the alarm when she met missed a
00:47:27
shift they worked together and they played together it's like she found her tribe when was the
00:47:35
last time that you saw Kelly dwire it was just before her birthday she was like something big is going to happen I
00:47:43
can feel it this feels really important to me Kelly had just turned 27 and her relationship with 38-year-old Chris Sako
00:47:54
seemed to be taking on greater me meaning for her based on what her friend said it certainly appeared to me that
00:48:01
she was extremely interested in him maybe even in love with him Chris's mother Joyce fry he was always into
00:48:10
sports he always had a lot of friends he was a very good golfer my dad took him uh out to the driving ranges I think he
00:48:18
put a golf club in Chris's hand when he was about three Chris graduated from Boston University with a degree in
00:48:24
international business but his love of sports led him to his dream job he was a major Yankee fan and they
00:48:34
did hire him in their IT staff and he just thought that was there could never be anything better and where was his
00:48:42
office it was at the Ballpark that's where at Yankee Stadium mhm that's where his office was so he was in heaven yeah
00:48:50
he really was but Joyce says Chris left New York in search of new opportunities eventually Landing in Milwaukee in 2009
00:49:00
and winding up at the relocation management company where she worked he was the CIO the Chief Information
00:49:08
officer I became involved in Kelly dwi's missing person investigation Katherine Spano then a detective with the
00:49:15
Milwaukee Police Department would learn about Kelly and Chris's relationship she
00:49:20
says Kelly's reasons for dating Chris were obvious he was educated he was bright he was smart
00:49:27
he had a job that paid him well he had a nice car a beautiful condo down on the east side while some friends thought
00:49:33
Kelly might have been in love with Chris it seems zako might not have been on the
00:49:39
same page Chris zako described his relationship with Kelly DWI as friends with benefits but it did seem Kelly was
00:49:47
keeping her options open Mr zigo didn't make promises to her that he was being exclusive with her and she also dated
00:49:55
some other people Royston recalls another time not long before Kelly went missing it was a very
00:50:04
easy night here at the bar Chanel was out at the aliam bar when Chris and Kelly invited her back to Chris's
00:50:12
apartment at closing time I went across the street with them for a night cap walked out to the balcony to smoke a
00:50:18
cigarette Chris then joined me he was smoking marijuana Kelly was inside I don't know exactly what Kelly was doing
00:50:27
Chanel says she got a bad feeling I just had this urge that I needed to leave though she just arrived she told Chris
00:50:35
and Kelly she suddenly realized how late it was and that she had to work in the morning I looked at Kelly I said I need
00:50:41
to leave and she looked up and said are you sure I said yep it's okay it's just late later than I thought I need to go
00:50:49
home and I walked out what was it what was your six cents telling you I don't know it just you weren't supposed to be
00:50:57
there bad space bad juju you don't need to be here Chanel wasn't the only one to
00:51:05
get the sense that all might not have been right in Kelly's World Kelly like many women her age had
00:51:12
been active on several dating websites even though she was seeing Chris and I'm thinking that that was the
00:51:19
main person she was seeing she was dating other people there were other people other men involved and her
00:51:26
friends were concerned she made a few statements they were usually prompted by the friends observing bruising on her
00:51:33
wrists or her neck and wondering why she has those bruises she told one friend uh she kind
00:51:42
of laughed about these bruises on her neck and wrists and laughed it off as a as a crazy night right and changed the
00:51:49
subject yes as police face the daunting task of finding Kelly what her life provide
00:51:58
their first clue there are some evil people out there [Music] [Music] 9129 I'm 23 so on Monday October 14th I started
00:52:34
my shift at 400 p.m. I learned that Kelly DWI a young woman had been reported missing and had not been seen
00:52:44
or heard from since the previous Friday as Kelly dwi's family and friends continue to search for her Milwaukee
00:52:58
detective Tammy TRL mlan arrived at the scene of Kelly's last known whereabouts 3 days earlier Chris sako's apartment
00:53:08
building they come right through this door and he actually holds the door open for
00:53:12
[Music] her you can see that on the video yes you see two people that are chatting
00:53:22
walk past that camera then there's another camera that catches them turning the corner corner to the elevator and
00:53:28
you can see Kelly in her typical I think outgoing fashion she's gesturing with her hands a little they bend the corner
00:53:35
and then that's the last time that she is ever seen Alive by anyone now it was time to talk to the
00:53:47
other person in that video TRL mlan sat down with zako in his 18th floor apartment he came off as a pretty nice
00:53:55
guy he said she would hang out with him a couple times a week he used the word party they party
00:54:02
together somewhat shockingly zako didn't hold back telling police exactly what he
00:54:09
meant by party as he described how he and Kelly had ended their evening they walk back and they do lines of cocaine
00:54:19
they have a couple more drinks he says there was sex and they both passed out on opposite ends of his
00:54:29
couch zako said Kelly left around 9:00 the next morning adding that he heard the front door click shut behind her
00:54:38
there was only one problem with that while I'm speaking with him I get a text message from one of the other
00:54:45
investigators who had been watching video downstairs with the manager and he simply just says in the text she doesn't
00:54:55
come out as treml mlan focused on how Kelly could have slipped out of this high security building
00:55:02
undetected zakos seem more interested in shifting Focus away from himself well you know she's messing around with a lot
00:55:10
of other guys there's some other guy you know kind of trying to take the attention away from himself that may
00:55:17
have been zaku's intention but that's not what happened in your bones in your gut based on your instinct and your
00:55:25
training and experience you felt like you were looking at a suspect yes police needed a way to search sako's
00:55:33
apartment for evidence because he had told TRL mlan he'd use drugs there they were able to get a search
00:55:41
warrant what'd you find lines of cocaine on top of a magazine uh some canisters of marijuana in the refrigerator
00:55:50
painkillers uh pills and marijuana pipes smoking pipes they should tell you how cold it is in
00:55:58
this place before they zako was arrested for drug possession during his interview
00:56:03
he seemed flip even when asked routine questions about his medical history anxiety nothing like that I have anxiety
00:56:12
they brought me in okay but no uh not taking anything for it okay no problem but no bipolar
00:56:20
schizophrenia I suppose that's all open to interpretation by somebody Zak's interrogation finishes
00:56:28
abruptly let's call my lawyer but while they had zako in custody police get a warrant to search his cell phone hoping
00:56:36
to find clues in Kelly's disappearance they were stunned to find a video of zako and Kelly DWI engaged in
00:56:45
a sex act where Kelly appears to be in distress she can't breathe she's straining for breath when was this video
00:56:54
taken that video was taken in approximately 3 weeks before she went missing and there was more incriminating
00:57:04
evidence disturbing pictures of Kelly on zaco's phone still photographs that are
00:57:10
very concerning as well because she appears to be unconscious on his bed but police could not link those images to
00:57:20
Kelly's disappearance and despite zako being a person of interest they could only charge him with drug possession but
00:57:28
that search of his apartment LED police to a bizarre Discovery in his bathroom during that first search warrant the
00:57:35
police observe the shower curtain hooks with the torn fragments of shower curtain not knowing what a torn down
00:57:44
shower curtain could mean and concern that Kelly is never seen exiting the building that they then bring in a
00:57:52
canine to conduct a sniff for the odor of decomposing human remains and that police cadav dog Molly would deliver
00:58:01
some stunning results there's an indication at the outside of the apartment door in the
00:58:08
parking garage on the level he parked his car on the dumpster door on the 18th floor Molly alerted on the
00:58:19
hallway guest bedroom guest bathroom she went on to the master bedroom got up onto Chris
00:58:28
zaco's bed she seemed to be sniffing vigorously on top of his bed and gives her final formal trained alert for
00:58:37
police that moment changed this case forever they now believed Kelly was dead and her final moments had been in Chris
00:58:46
sako's apartment and if Kelly died on that bed where did the body go that's what we needed to find
00:58:54
out and Chris Z had those answers and at that point it was turning into a homicide
00:59:02
investigation not having enough to charge zako and not knowing where Kelly's Body could be police search
00:59:09
Zak's home electronics for more clues they examined an external hard drive and some discs that were found in his spare
00:59:19
bedroom what's on that hard drive that hard drive has a number of Hardcore child pornography
00:59:26
videos very extremely extremely disturbing zako disavowed any knowledge of the child pornography police found if
00:59:37
you're an IT guy you collect stuff so you collect old hard drives you collect discs you collect you know you just
00:59:44
collect it equipment and that particular hard drive was from his former uh place
00:59:51
of work in Boston he didn't know it was there and you believe him I do believe him
00:59:58
yeah it had been 2 weeks since Kelly disappeared zako was arrested again this time for possession of child
01:00:07
pornography by early November 2013 he was out on bail and awaiting trial on the drug and child porn charges
01:00:17
girlfriend uh no I mean I dat multiple people but before zako had lawyered up in that first interrogation it would
01:00:25
turn out he'd said something that would come back to haunt him okay so nobody you consider your girlfriend right now
01:00:33
no there's a couple girls that I would like to be my girlfriend but it hasn't moved that seriously yet I
01:00:39
guess he began dating a young woman in 2009 he was living two different lives towards the end there was more
01:01:04
touching more of the smiling towards each other there was more affection there than there had been towards the
01:01:14
beginning according to Chanel Royston before Kelly DWI disappeared it seemed her relationship with Chris Sako was
01:01:22
evolving did Kelly ever tell you that she was falling in love with Chris she never told me but you could tell you
01:01:31
know how she would look at him that she was looking for something more and I think that she did love him at that
01:01:39
point it turns out zako may have been in love as well with someone else he was in
01:01:46
a very serious relationship with a woman who he was dating at the time that he was seeing Kelly and this young woman
01:01:53
knew nothing about the relationship with Kelly and did Kelly have any idea about
01:01:58
this other woman absolutely not and neither did investigators until this other woman's brotheris Z after seeing
01:02:07
zako arrested on the news reported to police that his sister Megan had been dating zako for more than three years
01:02:16
when I went to interview the long-term girlfriend Megan I had a lot of photographs from the search warrants
01:02:21
with me and I was able to have her identify different objects Within in the apartment they learned that a number of
01:02:30
things were missing she described that guest bathroom there should have been a shower curtain there should have been a
01:02:38
little rug and some matching decorative towels all of those things were gone and
01:02:44
she was surprised to see that she identified the shower curtain hooks that were bent and torn identified the fact
01:02:51
that they were not like that when she had last been in there and it's in that very bathroom where the sniff dog had
01:02:57
alerted detecting human remains exactly Megan also identified one more missing item there had been a large
01:03:06
travel golf bag lying in front of the TV that had been there for weeks and weeks
01:03:11
that they literally would have to step over to get into the bathroom and that was
01:03:16
missing a travel golf bag possibly like this one is commonly used by golfers to protect their clubs it's all padded very
01:03:26
large very large it was padded it was silver and uh she thought it was maybe 2 2 and 1/2 ft wide detectives wondered if
01:03:33
zako had a more Sinister use for the bag could Kelly's Body have fit inside that
01:03:39
travel bag yes absolutely absolutely but how did zako get that bag out of his apartment there is no video
01:03:47
of zako leaving on any of the 28 surveillance cameras in the building there's no camera on the elevator so he
01:03:56
could take her body in the travel golf bag um out of his apartment into the elevator down to the first floor and out
01:04:06
that door to the garage without being captured on any cameras but there are cameras inside the garage and yet no
01:04:14
image of zako with that bag the garage is the only area where the cameras would be motion activated some of the
01:04:25
investigators think hey he just got lucky with it it took months of painstaking work
01:04:31
for Milwaukee PD investigators to piece together Chris sako's movements on the days after his date with Kelly dwire
01:04:40
Lieutenant Eric goldbranson worked the case as both a homicide and Cold Case detective at 10:06 a.m. we have Chris
01:04:53
zako standing by the driver side door when he leaves that building at 10:08 a.m. Kelly dwi's
01:05:01
phone it goes dead what do you think happened to the phone at that moment broken powered down thrown in the water
01:05:09
the river is very close by zako is next seen back in his garage 16 minutes later standing by the trunk
01:05:20
of his car if you look closely in that image there's a grayer silver object lying in the vehicle above the
01:05:29
trunk level I think that's consistent with the travel golf Bay so you believe Kelly dwire is in the trunk of his
01:05:36
vehicle I do investigators believe that because the cadaver dog Molly told them so the
01:05:44
cab dog not only hits on all those things in the apartment but the dog hits on the car also in the trunk and on the
01:05:51
door handle and inside the vehicle over the next eight hours video shows zako coming and going several more times
01:06:01
loading items into his car before finally leaving for the day at 6:16 p.m. he said he decided to take his summer
01:06:12
sports equipment to his mother's house on a Friday night around 6:30 sure yes he came over to drop off some golf clubs
01:06:22
and his baseball equipment and so there's nothing Nothing in Your Mind unusual when he showed up with this
01:06:29
sporting equipment at your place not at all there's a golf bag that investigators say went missing a bag
01:06:38
that they claim Kelly dwi's body was in did you ever see this golf bag never 7:30 p.m. and zako is now du at
01:06:50
his girlfriend's house for a Friday night dinner but investigators learn he didn't
01:06:56
arrive until about 8:45 there's time that's unaccounted for we believe he was possibly looking for
01:07:04
areas to dispose of the body during that time unfortunately detectives weren't able to trace Zak's movements from his
01:07:13
phone records was his cell phone on or off it was off when zako did finally arrive for
01:07:21
dinner his girlfriend told investigators he wasn't quite himself he was quite late and he seemed a little bit ruffled
01:07:30
a little bit nervous he's fiddling with his phone claiming it doesn't work when they went to bed she described them as
01:07:38
being Restless she described them as sweating profusely to the point where she actually had to change the sheets
01:07:45
she found that very unusual and zako may have had a very good reason to sweat that night his car is parked near his
01:07:54
girlfriend's house house overnight we believe that body is absolutely in that trunk locked inside that golf bag he
01:08:01
could not have left that body in his apartment because that's the first place everybody went to look for Kelly the
01:08:07
following morning investigators say zako rose with the sun still faced with a nightmare he was desperate by Saturday
01:08:17
he had to get that body out of that vehicle [Music] [Music] one day after Kelly DWI disappeared
01:08:40
Chris Sako left his girlfriend's apartment and hit the road where he went that morning would be the first in a
01:08:47
series of Clues as to what may have happened to Kelly dwire Chris zako had gone to a place called the Mouse House
01:08:56
what's the mouse house it's a cheese place this is The Mouse House 80 mi from Milwaukee near Madison Wisconsin one
01:09:09
cheese shop in a state full of cheese shops why would he drive up toward Madison to buy cheese it's a very good
01:09:18
question a very good question zako says he drove 160 Mi round trip to buy a half
01:09:25
pound wedge of cheese for his girlfriend's parents but the investigators say that he did it to
01:09:32
finally dispose of Kelly's body somewhere in the rural Wisconsin Farmland between Madison and Milwaukee
01:09:41
in case he was spotted do you believe zako actually went to The Mouse House to create an alibi of sorts I do I
01:09:48
certainly do police believe that after dumping Kelly's Body zako made his way to this
01:09:58
shopping center on his drive back to Milwaukee investigators say that he walked into a Sports Authority and used
01:10:05
his credit card to buy a brand new pair of sneakers why is he buying new sneakers he may have purchased those
01:10:12
sneakers to replace ones that he used in in dumping the body like he might have been concerned that evidence got on
01:10:20
those sneakers so he had to have new ones to put on here's the slip up I don't know if May maybe he just had a
01:10:26
momentary lapse of judgment but that created a paper trail for him okay that paper trail was a single credit card
01:10:33
receipt which gave detectives a critical piece of the timeline we know through the investigation that he purchased the
01:10:41
chees at 9:55 a.m. and we know that he purchased the shoes at 1211 p.m. the distance between the mouse
01:10:49
house and Sports Authority is 54 miles and it should take 4 37 minutes to get there but yet we have 90 minutes
01:10:58
unaccounted for at that time 90 minutes certainly enough time detectives believed for zako to locate a secluded
01:11:07
spot off the highway but for them to find that spot would be like finding a needle in a hay stack and without
01:11:15
Kelly's Body there was no physical evidence of a crime to charge zako with only circumstance and suspicion did you
01:11:24
want to take it to trial then it was tough what was missing what was missing was her body eventually Chris Sako did
01:11:34
go on trial in November 2014 not for murder but for the child pornography possession uncovered with
01:11:42
the initial investigation search warrants what's the result of that trial he's convicted of all but one count one
01:11:49
month later zako pleaded guilty to additional drug charges and was sentenced to a total of 19
01:11:58
years so are you done with Chris zako is that it or is the potential murder investigation still hanging over his
01:12:06
head it's still there well we still wanted to be able to find out what actually happened with
01:12:15
Kelly authorities have just identified the remains of 27-year-old Kelly DWI detective where are we we are on a
01:12:25
dead end Country Road and we are about 45 mil west of Milwaukee um and it's quite overgrown here but this is the
01:12:33
specific area where Kelly dwi's body was found for a year and a half Kelly DWI had been
01:12:42
here hidden under these trees just 6 miles from busy I94 before her remains were discovered
01:12:53
by a local man out for a walk he catches a glint of light Hitting off of something that's whitish in color
01:13:03
and when he takes a closer look he sees what appears to be a human skull 6 days later using dental records
01:13:12
those remains were confirmed to be Kelly dwire what could not be confirmed though
01:13:18
was just how she died there was nothing on that skeleton to tell us what the cause of death was there was no no
01:13:25
physical evidence found at the scene either no shower curtain no cloth no towel no clothing and no travel golf bag
01:13:35
but detectives say there was one clue Left Behind the position of Kelly's skeleton her feet and legs were more
01:13:44
over in this area um with one of her legs completely turned very contorted same thing with her left arm it was
01:13:51
behind her back as if she had been scrunched into some kind of a container like a golf travel bag like a golf
01:13:57
travel bag exactly exactly it would appear that police now had enough evidence to bring Chris Sako back to
01:14:05
court for the death of Kelly dwire it is just too much of a coincidence that her body is found
01:14:15
somewhat near where he was shopping on the day after she goes missing but assistant district attorney Hill wanted
01:14:22
more than coincidence to build an airtight case we wanted to make sure that we had uncovered all of the
01:14:30
evidence we would be able to uncover when you have a case that's going to be largely circumstantial it's absolutely
01:14:36
essential you do that and with Sako already in prison there was no rush it took another two years of investigative
01:14:45
work before the state of Wisconsin charged Chris Sako in the death of Kelly dwire and another year and a half to
01:14:55
bring the case to [Music] trial good morning ladies and gentlemen this case is about a young woman named
01:15:09
Kelly DWI almost 5 years after Kelly dwire went missing Chris Sako goes on trial for her
01:15:17
death but surprising to some not for murder Chris zacho was charged with first to be Reckless h side hiding a
01:15:26
corpse and strangulation Suffocation with the media restricted behind courtroom security glass prosecutor
01:15:33
Sarah Hill presents the state's theory of how they believe Kelly died you will hear evidence that the defendant Mr zako
01:15:42
was basically having sex with Kelly DWI and he winds up killing her I think Chris zako enjoyed taking
01:15:52
women to the brink of death for for his own sexual gratification in fact investigators interviewed several women
01:16:00
who said that zako engaged in this type of behavior as far back as high school and that it was that Reckless conduct
01:16:09
that wound up killing Kelly dwire and then the staco had to do something about it Chris uses that shower curtain and
01:16:22
wraps her up puts her into the golf bag and goes down to his parking garage the police have no evidence to believe that
01:16:31
Miss DWI exited the apartment in either a shower curtain or a golf travel bag Chris sako's defense attorneys Craig
01:16:40
mastantuno and Rebecca coffee say the state has it all wrong someone did Kill Kelly DWI but it wasn't Chris zacho this
01:16:50
case is more about the state wanting Mr zacho to be guilty than having the evidence to prove it is there any
01:16:58
eyewitness to this alleged crime there was no eyewitness no is there a CSI moment some definitive piece of DNA
01:17:06
there was no DNA evidence the prosecution contends that while the security camera video clearly
01:17:14
shows Kelly walking into zaco's building she is never seen walking out she very well could have left the building in a
01:17:23
way that wasn't r viewed the defense argues there is video from several cameras they never had a
01:17:31
chance to examine because it was not preserved as evidence when the defense went to review all of the video evidence
01:17:39
that video was missing and what about that missing travel golf bag police insist is in the
01:17:47
back of Zak's car we've looked at that picture there is no silver bag in his trunk there is no video of him carrying
01:17:55
a bag that would have been a very large bag to fit a woman who is 5' 7 there was
01:18:00
no video of that because that didn't happen the cadaver dog evidence seems significant K9 Molly alerts on the bed
01:18:09
in the master bedroom and she also alerts in the garage there's no way whatsoever to verify what the officer
01:18:19
says this dog alerted to it wasn't even filmed and so it's entirely dependent on
01:18:26
a police officer describing what she believes her dog was alerting to and the defense also has an
01:18:34
explanation for that video on zaco's phone where Kelly appears to be in distress the government found a video
01:18:42
that Kelly DWI and Chris zacho made together they are calling it strangulation or Suffocation a
01:18:47
consensual sexual act is what it depicts that type of sex is depicted in mainstream MO in pictures like 50 Shades
01:18:56
of Gray as being engaged in with two consensual adults if Chris zako did not kill Kelly dwire who did I don't know I
01:19:06
don't think that we know I think that we know that it could have been a number of
01:19:12
other people the defense says that's because Kelly dated men she had met online and
01:19:20
is the suggestion that she met up with one of these individuals and that that could be the cause of her
01:19:27
disappearance yes yes yes to support that theory the defense presented a witness who says that he saw Kelly after
01:19:37
she was reported missing someone who credibly said I saw her that weekend in the car of another individual his
01:19:45
observation of this individual was very brief at a stoplight I was sure that it was her it looked exactly like her he
01:19:55
went to the district station and said I saw the woman that is being looked for that's on the posters that's on TV did
01:20:02
anyone ever follow up with you about that information no you think he's just mistaken I think he's mistaken I I I
01:20:10
don't think he was trying to mislead anybody I just truly believe he's mistaken after nine days of argument and
01:20:19
testimony the case seemed to rest on one thing the quality of the evidence ladies
01:20:26
and gentlemen the defendant killed Kelly DWI every piece of circumstantial evidence supports that despite the
01:20:31
tragedy of Miss dwi's demise it's not Justice to find Chris zako guilty based on conjecture it's Justice to find him
01:20:38
not guilty all of the factors pointed to him there's no other person that could have done
01:20:45
it it took the jury only three and a half hours to reach the same conclusion we the jury find the defendant Chris
01:20:53
zako guilty of degree Reckless homicide is charged and count one of the information finally after 5 years of
01:21:00
waiting and wondering there is Justice for Kelly DWI as for Chris Sako he did look at me
01:21:10
when he was being removed what did you see he was devastated and what was Chris's sentence
01:21:18
31 years is that on top of the 19 years yes what was that chisako is a person who's demonstrated
01:21:28
that he poses a danger to society particularly to women and someone is dead as a
01:21:36
result that someone was a vibrant and trusting young woman just beginning to find her way in the world she was a
01:21:45
loving person who truly cared about people and loved so much that she didn't really find much fault than
01:21:55
[Music] anyone there's this sense of profound loss loss for her family her friends you
01:22:05
see a loss of a light because of one person's selfishness and that's a tragedy tragedy is the best word for it
01:22:32
[Music] one why is your emergency I need the police [Applause] my sry please I think you're still alive
01:23:22
he's making noises oh [Music] God got a telephone call from the Ellis County Sheriff's Office saying hey we've
01:23:33
had a shooting in your city her husband's been shot by an unknown male I believe that had broken into the house
01:23:43
police when I got there I met a deputy from Ellis County where you at the [Applause]
01:23:50
bedroom and we see the body on the floor his name is John John what gner EXC me man back up he's still
01:23:59
warm see no ma'am come on sweet come on you're going to get him you're going to get him
01:24:09
please did you see who did this man yes who I don't know who he came in here he came in the house
01:24:20
yes are we sure he's not here anymore Chief yeah may still be here huh don't know
01:24:36
[Music] yet did you find it no ma'am nobody's here they have me sitting on the couch
01:24:44
in the living room ma'am how you doing I'm Sergeant Carr I'm with M Pro Police Department I've
01:24:51
never dealt with police at all so I didn't know that even had video cameras on them let me get your name Sandra were
01:24:58
you able to see them I kept going over and over and over everything I saw about him trying to remember everything he was
01:25:06
white it was a white meal everything he had on he had blue jeans on the blue hoodie and a mask just still trying to
01:25:16
keep that memory going and I I looked at his face once but I was afraid if I looked
01:25:22
again he was going to K kill me could I get you stand right there I have to pull
01:25:27
my phone out get a real closeup here if you don't mind and I started snapping pictures I'm
01:25:36
going to get some pictures back here Ro crime scene starting around these trees we started going ahead and
01:25:44
securing the scene most small cities like Mur if they have a major crime I'm going to call
01:25:51
Shane and let him know they will call in sorry to wake y a resource like Ellis County Sheriff's
01:25:59
Office it was a little after 2:00 a.m. when I drive hey how you doing sir after I was brief immediately I knew that
01:26:09
Sandra needed to be talked to she was the last one to see him alive get out right there we decided to take Sandra to
01:26:17
the Sheriff's Office she was very key our only witness it made me think that I was was going to help him find the
01:26:25
person that did this [Music] [Music] you can bet this could be the last place Sandra Garner expected to find herself
01:27:23
yet here she was was early in the morning of January 2nd 2018 at the Ellis County Sheriff's
01:27:30
Office in waah hatchee Texas not far from her home in May Pearl turn around just hours earlier she and her
01:27:41
husband John had celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary and now after a night of
01:27:48
unimaginable violence she was answering questions about his murder I didn't mind doing it at all cuz I
01:27:56
wanted to help him as much as I could May Pearl's chief of police at the time Boyd Norton was in charge assisted by
01:28:03
Lieutenant Shane Thompson of the Sheriff's Office him first please it was all routine Sandra's hands were swabbed for
01:28:13
gunshot residue her clothes were collected and then the questioning began and I knew I had to
01:28:21
stay kind of calm to be able able to tell them everything that happened did you wake up any before the incident
01:28:29
happened cuz I felt like if I just let my emotions go that I would lose it all and I couldn't lose it I woke
01:28:38
up and then I had heard gunshot you heard a gunshot I heard two gunshots and then somehow I ended up in
01:28:47
the floor beside the bed she says she saw a man holding a flashlight and a gun I started screaming you know hoping
01:28:58
somebody would hear me he said shut up I said please don't kill me and he says what I came here to do is done I didn't
01:29:07
come here to shoot you you were having this conversation with a guy who just shot your husband well I said that and
01:29:12
he said it back to me yes she says he seemed to know both her and John who he blamed for destroying his life years
01:29:22
earlier work my ass off and then he fart he says I lost my house I lost my wife I lost my kid he
01:29:31
apparently didn't come just to kill John he also wanted money he said your husband had always talked about how he
01:29:40
keeps money in the house and I need that money I think I earned that money she went into the closet and she got the
01:29:47
lock box that closet has a light that comes on when the door opens and Sandra says that's how she got a glimpse of the
01:29:56
killer he had a mask on all I could see was his eyes was he tall was he short he was taller than me you
01:30:04
recognize the voice no she handed him a pile of cash exactly how much remains a mystery I think it was $188,000 that's
01:30:14
how much was in there the last time I counted it $18,000 yes Sandra says when he left the killer gave her instructions
01:30:21
that were frightening and a little peculiar he told her to sit down and count to 100 if he heard sirene he was
01:30:30
going to come back and kill her so I can't do 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 n that's how fast you
01:30:35
count 100 yes 911 then she made that call to 911 there was a man in here him please help me investigators
01:30:46
now had Sandra story about Jon's death but they needed to learn the story of the couple's life together Sandra was a
01:30:55
twice divorced mother of two when she met John they worked as managers at the same packaging company in Paris Texas
01:31:03
she was 13 years older than he was he was just a very sweet man but he was known as a tough boss he loved firing
01:31:13
people cuz if they weren't doing their job right they didn't need to be working for him the fact that he had fired a lot
01:31:19
of people we knew that there were going to be people out there who didn't care for John
01:31:25
John was kind of a wild crazy guy he was prescribed anti-depressant he took those frequently
01:31:34
drank heavily very outgoing very blunt I mean he's he's out there none of that mattered to Sandra
01:31:45
two years after they met they got married on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas we had an awesome relationship
01:31:54
we loved each other so much we were Partners we just did everything together John became a second father to Sandra's
01:32:05
son Wes but her daughter Andrea was not very fond of him until 2014 when Sandra was diagnosed with
01:32:15
multiple sclerosis I saw how much he loved her that's all that mattered he took care of
01:32:22
her he was her Rock the medicine made me sick a lot it also made her depressed she says she thought about
01:32:31
suicide and Googled how to do it how do I kill myself in my sleep how do I take pills to kill myself or something like
01:32:39
that Sandra says she didn't want to become a burden to John well I told John one day you know I'm just you don't
01:32:46
deserve this I'm just going to kill myself and he said well if you do that I'm going to kill myself too that's when
01:32:52
I knew I couldn't do it as Sandra got sicker John became the sole bread winner and caretaker how reliant on him were
01:33:01
you I was very relying on him he was all I had it was just me and him in 2016 they moved to May
01:33:11
Pearl population just about 1,000 to be closer to their families John's father and stepmother
01:33:19
bought the house across the street and John and and's backyard became the Gathering Place we were over
01:33:28
there all the time I mean our family is just you don't knock on the door you walk in Jessica Garner
01:33:35
married John's cousin and she became close to Sandra I loved her she was family that was John's wife I mean you
01:33:44
love them they were super happy so the news that John had been killed came out of the blue and I just started screaming
01:33:53
and I'm like no no he's not it was a nightmare was just a nightmare several hours after she arrived Sandra left the
01:34:03
Sheriff's Office to be with the extended Garner family which had gathered to comfort her police body cams captured
01:34:11
the scene I'm like what happened what what's going on and she told us the story did you believe her I did did
01:34:18
everybody in the room believe her no [Music] if you want come with me I'll you back
01:34:31
to put it mildly Sandra Garner had had a bad night by the time she left the Ellis
01:34:37
County Sheriff's Office and things were about to get worse her son Wes showed up
01:34:43
at the Sheriff's Office looking for her Wes is somebody that we wanted to speak with because he was the last person John
01:34:50
spoke to besides Sandra he agreed to talk to Lieutenant Shane Thompson so you were with John last
01:35:00
night that was just hours before the shooting Wes says he went home and didn't know anything was wrong until
01:35:07
John's family including Jessica Garner showed up at his apartment to give him the news John's been killed and he was
01:35:16
like what happened we're like we don't know and he was like how's my mom where's my mom Wes hadn't seen his
01:35:21
mother but what he had to say about her sure caught Lieutenant Thompson's attention Wes very early on had
01:35:30
suspicions about his mother being involved he seemed to be wondering if his own mother could be a killer
01:35:39
she what your thoughts M [Music] man meanwhile at the crime scene investigators were busy collecting
01:35:53
evidence and taking photos we searched the entire house we searched all the cars and all of the out
01:36:01
buildings Sandra's Mustang was parked inside of a detached garage there was nothing there it took hours but the
01:36:11
police finally left and when they did Sandra went home to live in the house Sheriff's Office where less than 24
01:36:20
hours earlier her husband had been shot to death it was a little weird yes but I
01:36:29
knew I needed to be there why I just felt like that's where John would want me to be and I was really hoping that
01:36:36
the guy would come back you were so I could kill him investigators already had one
01:36:44
killing on their hands and they were going through all the evidence they took out of the Garner's home they were
01:36:51
particularly interested in the Garner's Electronics you can learn a lot about a person from their
01:36:59
electronics and what they learned from Sandra's iPad and cell phone seemed especially interesting few days before
01:37:08
the the murder she's searching um how to kill somebody in their sleep she had clicked on a link uh
01:37:15
16 ways to kill somebody and not get caught what was your reaction our reaction that sander just became more
01:37:21
and more of a suspect you you have a gift for understatement but it would be hard to
01:37:28
understate how well the Garner house was protected John had guns lots of guns even for Texas 49 pistols I'm sorry how
01:37:40
many 49 and there was probably 12 rifles he had them stashed everywhere cuz he wanted there be a gun if he needed it we
01:37:50
were able to account for all of the weapons except for one what kind of gun was that a 38 JN was killed with a 38
01:37:58
and what's more Norton says the missing pistol belonged to Sandra John had given
01:38:05
it to Sandra but investigators couldn't find the gun on January 5th 3 days after
01:38:13
JN was murdered investigators returned to the Garner house to search again they wanted that gun and they looked
01:38:21
everywhere we searched all the vehicles again and they wanted to look inside Sandra's
01:38:27
Mustang but this time they couldn't the Mustang was still inside of the detached
01:38:33
garage but it was locked what did you make of that well we wanted to know why it was
01:38:39
locked Wes went across the street where the family was gathered to get Sandra's Keys Wes walked in and said hey Mom they
01:38:48
want the keys to your Mustang she threw down the fork that was in her hand and said know you can tell him to off and I
01:38:56
just remember looking at her like I was pissed because I knew they were looking at me for it she says she
01:39:05
learned police were looking at her as a suspect just that morning from West I told him no he said yes they are
01:39:14
you scared no cuz I didn't do it she was not going to let us in that Mustang when
01:39:20
she knew that we were getting in that vehicle one way or another can you step back out there for me please I got to
01:39:26
get some pictures she ended up producing the key when police opened the car they
01:39:31
found a plastic bag under the front seat and inside wrapped in wet towels was a rusty gun a 38 caliber pistol with no
01:39:43
fingerprints or DNA it's awfully odd that it wasn't there one day and then 3 days later
01:39:49
there it was very odd yes got any ideas how that happened [Music] Sandra put it there Jessica remembers
01:39:58
Wes coming back across the street he said um they found the gun in her car I just looked at him and I mean like
01:40:06
I'm getting Goosebumps now you just you're like what what did that mean to you at
01:40:11
that point just everything changes at that point she killed John how could she kill
01:40:19
John why did she kill John Sandra was brought back to to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and this time Thompson
01:40:27
was assisted by Texas Ranger Adam Sweeney need you to be honest I try I swear I'm trying to be honest with you I
01:40:37
don't you don't think I'm being honest and this was not a friendly conversation it was more confrontational
01:40:45
something happened what I did not kill my husband that's when they started sayy we know
01:40:52
you did this we know you did this no I didn't yeah we know you did we want you to tell us that's what we're here for to
01:40:59
tell you what you only ex Sayed that I did it when I didn't we want you to tell us the truth that's it I told you the
01:41:06
truth you're not telling us the truth and they questioned her about her gun when did you put that gun in your car
01:41:14
you not a gun in my car are you serious I didn't put a gun in my car y'all I swear where was there a gun in my car
01:41:22
she stuck to her story she claimed she had no idea how the gun got there no you're trying to get me to admit
01:41:29
something I didn't do yes yes and I'm done talking to you I was upset cuz they didn't believe what I was telling them
01:41:39
you know why would they not believe it that might be because 5 days later when the
01:41:45
ballistics test came back they showed the gun in the Mustang was the one used to kill John
01:41:54
and with that just a few hours later when Sandra pulled into her driveway police were waiting I just got out of
01:42:03
the car and I said we're arresting you it was horrible the Garner family was watching from across the street as the
01:42:10
woman who had been so close to all of them okay let's get her out of here was hauled off in
01:42:18
handcuffs I'll be completely honest we cheered you cheered we he cheered and I know that's horrible to
01:42:26
say but it was just a little piece of Justice at that moment for [Music] John after police arrested Sandra Garner
01:42:46
her bond was set at $2 million there was no way she could pay that they made her
01:42:51
sit in jail for a year and half and that should have never happened Sandra's attorney Tom papis she's not the kind of
01:42:59
person that would do that to John in September of 2019 Sandra Garner aged by prison got to tell her story to
01:43:10
a new audience good morning everyone in front of a jury when she went on trial in waah hatchee Texas are the attorneys
01:43:20
ready for the jury to come in for murdering her husband hband John were you prepared for what that was going to
01:43:26
be like no I didn't know what all was going to be said I was hopeful they didn't have anything to
01:43:32
prove absolutely that I did it mhm so I was confident but prosecutors Lindy batty and Ricky cypes believed they had
01:43:42
a strong case against her the murder weapon was Sandra Garner's gun anybody you tell this story to says who comes to
01:43:50
commit a murder and doesn't bring their own weapon batty ridiculed Sandra's story about a killer coming in but using
01:43:58
Sandra's gun damn it I forgot the gun at times she acted out the role of the killer I wore my trusty mask so no one
01:44:09
would know who I was but I'm going to have a 10-minute conversation with Sandra about who I am and why I'm doing
01:44:17
this and there were those ghoulish searches on Sandra's iPad about killing someone and not getting caught big deal
01:44:26
and we did make a big deal about these prosecutors could well have considered this case a slam dunk sounds good for us
01:44:33
right we sometimes we don't get that much but this was a hard case we knew we had a mountain of hurdles to overcome in
01:44:40
this trial make no mistake she didn't shoot John the prosecution's biggest hurdles may have been the result of poor
01:44:47
police work Sheriff's Office especially May Pearl police chief Boyd Norton lack of experience leading an
01:44:56
investigation obviously I had been to many murder scenes but as far as being the investigator on the scene this was
01:45:04
my first he had enough experience to know he had to look into all those people John had fired over the years we
01:45:11
interviewed probably a couple of dozen people who had been terminated and we were not coming up with any suspects but
01:45:19
Norton is more open and more honest than most people would be about the mistakes
01:45:24
he made at various stages of the investigation was the crime scene secured in your view quickly enough to
01:45:32
preserve the all the evidence no I probably should have taken her out of the house and put her in a car I
01:45:39
probably should have bagged her hands and I should have done some other things police might have made a huge mistake by
01:45:46
not bagging Sandra's hands gunshot residue was discovered on her but it was only a t tiny amount that could have an
01:45:55
innocent explanation says the defense sander was lying right next to John when he was shot she pulled the body off the
01:46:02
bed and she did chest compression the fact that there are only three specs on her left arm uh wasn't consistent with
01:46:09
her firing the weapon investigators believe if Sandra's hands had been bagged they might have found a lot more
01:46:16
gunshot residue enough to prove she did fire that gun he's in the bedroom right there police might also have failed to
01:46:24
preserve the crime scene well enough First Responders came in and out a lot rain in the bedroom when I was still
01:46:32
there which I thought was strange because that's where it happened so why run and mess up everything that could be
01:46:39
evidence and important evidence was lost by the police themselves body cam footage shows Chief Norton taking photos
01:46:48
of the scene right when he arrived a lot of them and they all inexplicably disappeared from his cell
01:46:57
phone how did you feel when you realized that these photos were missing well I felt bad I had evidence that should have
01:47:07
been with the case and it wasn't there so yeah I was embarrassed problem for the case yes sir instead the prosecution
01:47:14
had to use photos taken by the Ellis County Sheriff's crime scene investigator 8 hours after the murder
01:47:22
investigation was messed up mishap with the photos seemed like a gift to defense
01:47:27
attorney Tom papis what did you think when you heard that these photos had been lost I think we're going to win do
01:47:35
you regret not handing this whole thing over to Ellis County right away I do I do when did you realize that that was a
01:47:46
mistake probably about a week into it law enforcement poured their heart and their soul into this investigation it
01:47:52
may not have been perfect and prosecutors knew the chief's inexperience would not play well in
01:47:58
front of the jury did Chief Boyd Norton fill you with confidence no no prosecutors found
01:48:08
themselves having to explain among other things why the police didn't fingerprint
01:48:13
the door handle of the Mustang where the gun was found papa says police might well have found a fingerprint that
01:48:20
belonged to another suspect as prosecutors we want them to do everything possible that they could do I
01:48:28
believe that it should have been done you know I told you up front that we'd made some mistakes in this case should
01:48:35
we have taken the car and impounded in process it maybe but we didn't papus attacked every phase of the
01:48:43
investigation the police searched that house and they screwed a lot of stuff up where you at the bedroom he wanted to
01:48:49
know why it took police so long to get to the crime seen in the first place mess you get a 911 call from a lady
01:48:58
who's hysterical that says there was an intruder and my husband's been shot and it takes him 30 40 minutes to get to the
01:49:04
scene well Chief Norton says that he was there in 15 minutes even 15 minutes is crazy prosecutors had one other huge
01:49:12
problem proving a motive why would Sandra want to kill her husband who was her caretaker we did not have one set
01:49:23
motive here is the motive this is the reason why she killed him in Texas prosecutors don't have to prove motive
01:49:30
but as a human being everybody wants to know why but papa says there was one person who was close to John and may
01:49:37
well have had a motive to kill him and what's more at every turn in the case he was
01:49:47
there Sandra's son Wes we knew Wes was going to be a problem from get-go what I say to you are you going to play it back
01:49:54
to my mom West does look [Music] bad Wes should have been a suspect defense attorney Tom papis says the
01:50:14
police made one of their biggest mistakes when they ruled out one suspect so let's talk about Wes Sandra's own son
01:50:23
Wes his conduct when you really look at it objectively and look at Sandra objectively is more suspicious than
01:50:30
hers everything Wes did was kind of suspicious prosecutor Lindy batty I did have a lot of heartburn over it when we
01:50:37
were going through case preparation and we knew Wes was going to be an absolute train wreck and he
01:50:43
was Wes was involved in this case early on just hours after Jon was killed Wes was the one who pointed the finger at
01:50:53
his mother what your thoughts mom and he kept at it questioning details of her story dog big
01:51:06
dog the dogs how the so and so knew how to get him and for somebody to sneak up on him
01:51:15
like that one of the hardest things about the case was the magnitude of Wes's disloyalty to her and the things he was
01:51:27
doing to try to get her blamed for this she has never acted like this before just jumped out
01:51:34
at Sandra now says she has come to believe the worst thing a mother could believe about her child who do you think
01:51:42
killed John I think it was Wesley papa says those chilling Google searches on Sandra's iPad and iPhone
01:51:56
could have been done by Wes he says Wes had access to the devices that did not require a password there's one thing
01:52:05
everybody said about Sandra and John it's they went to bed at 9:30 those web searches were done between 11: and
01:52:11
midnight just 4 days before the murder and papis says on that same night Wes was at their house he's the one that did
01:52:21
the website not not her when searching for 16 ways 16 ways to kill you don't know that for sure but go ahead he he's
01:52:28
well we I don't know who else it could have been I don't think it was John Wes wouldn't answer our questions but he
01:52:33
always seemed willing to answer investigators questions especially about his mother and her gun think of a
01:52:42
revolver she used to keep it in her purse that I understand underne her car that's where the last time she kept
01:52:50
it he's being a little a little bit too helpful with the police saying hey you know look here after the police searched
01:52:57
and failed to find the gun Lieutenant Shane Thompson talked to Wes again somebody said that your mom owned a 38
01:53:06
revolver she does have a revolver but I thought it was in her Mustang and she said she never put in
01:53:14
her Mustang and if she did it'll be underneath the seat underneath the seat the next day police searched for
01:53:23
the gun one more time where do they find it they find it under the sea those things really did cause some
01:53:32
concern Wes does look bad it began to look like someone was setting her up and I don't know the Wes did that but it
01:53:40
sure looks suspicious and and his conduct was just unexplainable papis believes Wes might have more of a motive
01:53:48
to kill John than Sandra did he says Wes needed money money and mistakenly believed he was in John's will was he
01:53:57
ever a suspect in this no he wasn't my suspect after all Wes told Chief Boyd Norton he had an alibi for the time JN
01:54:06
was murdered I went back home Dr six pack of beer and watch Netflix and Netflix and phone records seem to help
01:54:15
corroborate his story at least for a while there was a record that he'd been on Netflix until about 12 12:30 there
01:54:22
was some phone calls that were made oh my God it's perfect like he's got an alibi this is fantastic until we look at
01:54:28
the records and we're like no know that that's not the right time prosecutors discovered investigators had made a
01:54:35
mistake the times on those records weren't recorded in Central Standard Time the local time which means there
01:54:43
was actually no evidence that Wes was watching Netflix or on the phone at the time John was killed didn't look good
01:54:51
that the s didn't know which time zone they were dealing with no it did not I would imagine it did not help your case
01:54:59
no they didn't look at Wes they didn't understand that he didn't have an alibi and that's an example of where they just
01:55:05
gloss over stuff they thought they had a rock solid Alibi for West and in fact that was not the case how's flored
01:55:13
that the prosecutors insist even though they say Wes looks suspicious at times and he has no alibi they are confident
01:55:23
he is not the killer once you meet Wes it's over if you just talk to him for any length of time you know he is just
01:55:31
not capable of committing this type of crime he's just not smart enough honestly and she says his stomach isn't
01:55:38
strong enough there's no way that guy can go put a bullet in some guy's head that he loves sees some blood and
01:55:45
they're not be a vomit Trail you know all the way back home and if Wes did break into the house that night and have
01:55:51
a convers with Sandra batty wonders how could Sandra not recognize him my God people if it was Wes Miller she would
01:56:01
know her own son there's no way she doesn't know if it's him there's no way wouldn't recognize
01:56:12
his voice I would think I would recognize his voice but after hearing shots just all the
01:56:19
drama I can see why I didn't recogn has it your own son yes pardon me for saying
01:56:27
this but it it it's hard to believe I don't know I just I didn't recognize it there are a lot of questions for
01:56:37
Sandra and unlike most defendants in murder cases she decided to take the stand cameras were not allowed in the
01:56:45
courtroom for her testimony I felt like if it went wrong for me if I didn't testify what if I could have saved it
01:56:51
were you comfortable putting her up no of course not you're never comfortable when your client takes a witness stand
01:56:56
Sandra had trouble on the stand she struggled to aners some of the questions during a lengthy
01:57:03
cross-examination I think there were some questions about the website searches and the searches surrounding
01:57:09
that that were that were difficult and she simply didn't remember stuff and they were able to make some points I
01:57:16
thought that we were able to show that she was a liar as the case goes to the jury Sandra
01:57:25
should know soon if taking the stand was the smart move whatever happened I had to deal with
01:57:32
[Applause] it it took 1 month 27 Witnesses and more more than 400 pieces of evidence for the
01:57:55
case against Sandra Garner to finally go to the jury and when it did neither side
01:58:01
was very confident I think I was probably 50/50 at the end of it I felt like we ended well so I was hopeful I
01:58:10
was extremely confident one minute and just distraught the next the jurors however seemed very clear about their
01:58:17
views they came back with a verdict in just 3 hours hours God I was nervous cuz it all comes down to this you're
01:58:26
thinking God please I've done the right thing please found Justice for this family Sandra's daughter Andrea was
01:58:34
holding her breath the longest 3 hours of my life what did the quick verdict mean it
01:58:44
was anyone's guess I did not think it was good for us yes I didn't feel that they had gone through all of the
01:58:51
evidence again oh my heart must have stopped this is bad it's not good at all trying to say that so Sandra wouldn't
01:58:58
hear please be in front of a packed courtroom get on the record the judge read the decision if the defendant will
01:59:05
please stand the last thing I remember is the juror handing the paper to the BFF and I look down I could not look I
01:59:18
wasn't ready for a guilty verdict we the jury finded defendant Sandra Louise Garner not
01:59:25
[Music] guilty not guilty and just like that Sandra Garner was a free woman after 21
01:59:35
months in jail I felt wonderful I turned to Tom and was say yay yay and we hugged each other I get to go
01:59:45
home think those are the sweetest words I've ever heard in my life it was like a weight had been lifted off of my
01:59:55
shoulders they had been carrying for nearly 2 years I gave her the biggest hug I could
02:00:00
I was so happy for her I I tear up just thinking about it I mean she's she's got
02:00:06
a chance to try to get some of her life back of course like every verdict this one was not universally popular I just
02:00:16
remember thinking they got that wrong what there's no way there's no no way I don't want to watch this there's no
02:00:26
happy ending to this this isn't happy at all unless of course you are Sandra [Music]
02:00:39
Garner we caught up with her the moment she was released from jail feels wonderful feels
02:00:47
wonderful I was just praying to God my husband and my daddy just to help them say not guilty
02:00:55
please Sandra was eager to get back home to the same house where her husband was
02:01:01
murdered and I love my house and I know it's hard and I know people think I'm crazy for one to be
02:01:08
here but I just want to be as close to him as I can living here will mean living across
02:01:18
the street from John's parents who still are convinced Ed Sandra is a murderess who killed their son and whose family is
02:01:27
still grieving John should still be alive we should still be a family that was taken from us there should be
02:01:33
Justice for his killer there's not there never will be none of us have talked to her none of us
02:01:40
want to talk to her Andrea Miller is worried about her mother one of the most important pieces
02:01:49
of her life isn't here and she has to live with that on a daily basis [ __ ] come here I'm scared that something's
02:01:57
going to happen to her baby I give you copy Sandra's attorney Tom papis is also worried about her
02:02:06
safety there's a murderer that hasn't been arrested that's still out there she s part of Sandra's U I'm tearing up now
02:02:14
part of Sandra's well let me ask why you tearing up tell me about her because I care about her I care what happens to
02:02:21
her I care what happens to the people around her whatever happens to Sandra it likely will happen without her son Wes
02:02:29
prosecutors and police believe they tried the right person and don't consider Wes a suspect but Sandra and
02:02:37
Andrea are no longer speaking to him he does not deserve to be part of my mother's life anymore as far as I'm
02:02:44
concerned I don't have a brother anymore this is a tough question do you still love your son
02:02:53
not like I used to now I I have not spoke to him at all he did me really wrong and what toll is that taking on
02:03:02
you it's very hurtful but he chose that I didn't Sandra Garner is now free to spend time with what remains of her
02:03:13
family she knows others still see her as a killer who got away with it in the eyes of the law she is not guilty
02:03:22
and the case against her is forever closed under the law you cannot be charged with this crime
02:03:30
again um even if you say you did it so let me ask you did you kill your husband no man was a ling my life could told you
02:03:44
he was all I had he was going to take care of me for the rest of my life without him I have nobody
02:03:53
no I didn't kill my [Music] husband 48 hours to miss it would be a crime were you at all prepared for what
02:04:08
happened in this case [Music]