00:00:03
[Music] Harris County 911. What's
the location of your emergency? I just killed my sister. Oh my God. Tell
me what your name is. Benjamin Elliott.
00:00:19
OK, tell me exactly what happened. I thought it
was a dream. I I took my knife and I stabbed her.
00:00:30
Please, I don't want her to die. Sorry. How
old is she? 17, we're twins. Is she awake? Yes,
00:00:41
she's like barely alive. Is there anyone else
there in the house with you? There is. It's my
00:00:46
parents, but they're asleep. Okay, I need you
to go wake them up. Mom...Dad? We're going to
00:00:52
have to start CPR right now. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 1,
2 ... Keep tapping her chest just like that,
00:00:59
OK? Where's your son? Where's your
son? OK. OK. We got ... EMS is coming. OK, slow down a little bit. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 1, 2,
3, 4 ... Can we take over? Can you step out? Thank you. What happened? It was
00:01:18
a dream. He said it was a dream, honey. What
the f---. I don't know. I don't know what I'll
00:01:27
do if she dies. It was just a dream and then it wasn't. I'm
going to do a search of you real quick and then
00:01:33
I'm going to put you in the back seat out of this
rain, OK? What was your first reaction when you
00:01:39
heard about the case? I was skeptical. Why does
he have a knife next to his bed at night? This
00:01:45
is the first study that we did on Ben. I'm Dr. Jerald Simmons. I'm a neurologist, sleep disorder
00:01:50
specialist. See, these are rapid eye movements. I
was asked to review the case of Benjamin Elliott.
00:01:57
The claim was that he was sleepwalking and stabbed
his sister. We have a video of him right here. Oh,
00:02:04
there he is. Yeah. OK. You are convinced
this was a sleepwalking incident? Yes. Are
00:02:10
you saying then that he did kill his sister,
but he didn't intend to kill his sister?
00:02:18
I wouldn't say that it's impossible
for someone to commit a crime while sleepwalking. I just don't think that was
the case with Benjamin Elliott. Were you
00:02:26
able to find any evidence that there
was a problem with these twins? No, we definitely looked into it and tried. The
biggest thing that they're hanging their hat
00:02:37
on is the lack of motive. My name is Megan
Long. I'm one of the prosecutors on the case.
00:02:47
[Music] So, this is really hard, isn't it,
Mike? I hate this. I hate that she's gone.
00:02:57
This was not Benjamin's fault. I've never
thought of him as somebody responsible
00:03:01
for this. What makes you so sure that
you stabbed your sister while you were sleepwalking? I would never have done that. I
loved her. She was my best and closest friend.
00:03:37
[Music] [Music] [Music] On the morning of September 29,
2021, 17-year-old Benjamin Elliott
00:04:10
was in a Harris County Sheriff's interrogation
room in Houston, Texas. So, what happened,
00:04:17
Benjamin? You ever have like a really realistic
nightmare or like just everything feels real,
00:04:28
but also off at the same time. Benjamin told
detective Freder Muñoz that he stabbed his
00:04:36
twin sister once with this knife, but had
little memory of what had happened. So,
00:04:42
you go to sleep. What's the next thing you
remember? The next thing I remember is like
00:04:52
the feeling of stabbing something. I was in
her room and I turned on the light and I was
00:05:00
panicking and I tried to stop bleeding with
the the the pillow. So I run in my room and
00:05:07
I unplugged my phone and I dialed 911. No more.
What's the location of your emergency? I stabbed
00:05:13
my sister. How many times did you stab her? Just
once. I heard the 911 call and I screamed. What's
00:05:21
going on? You what? And I went to go move into the
bedroom. As I moved, I I saw Meghan and she was uh
00:05:34
really She was uh gray. You know, Michael
Elliott remembers calling out to his wife,
00:05:42
Kathy. I I heard Michael yell, "Oh my
God." I was trying to figure out what's going on and Michael said, "The police are
here. Where's the brother at?" And I just ...
00:05:55
Arriving paramedics took over CPR. They took
Benjamin out of the house. He was shocked.
00:06:02
He said it was a dream. What the What did you
make of that? I don't I mean I just I couldn't
00:06:07
believe it. I mean, I couldn't. Not that Ben
you knew. So, it would have to been that he
00:06:11
was ... Something would have had to happen. Benjamin,
his parents say, sat handcuffed in a police car
00:06:17
for three hours while police confronted with
an apparent homicide took control of the crime
00:06:24
scene. I just want to see her. We can't. No, we
can't see her. Nobody would tell us if Meghan was
00:06:30
OK. What was going on? Take a picture for me.
Let me see something. Can we see something? No,
00:06:35
sir. The Elliotts say they felt isolated by the
police and eventually called a longtime friend
00:06:41
who is also an attorney. He went and got some
information and he told us that Meghan had died.
00:06:51
It was news police didn't share with Benjamin. Is
she OK? Benjamin asked Detective Muñoz several
00:06:58
times if his sister was all right. She is okay.
But the detective withheld the truth. Yeah. Last
00:07:05
time I I know about she was uh being checked out
by the EMS. Authorities say this is a textbook
00:07:10
police technique to keep a suspect talking and
they wanted Benjamin talking about his feelings
00:07:17
for his sister. So, how's your relationship with
Meghan? Good. She's my twin sister. I'd do anything
00:07:24
for her. No rivalry there? No. You guys having
any recent fights or anything like that? No,
00:07:30
we're pretty close for siblings. Benjamin,
who spoke to police without a lawyer,
00:07:35
said he loved his sister and described what
he says he remembered before the stabbing.
00:07:41
Phone records show he was scrolling the
web. And Benjamin says he thinks he fell
00:07:46
asleep somewhere around 2:30 or 3:30 in the
morning. Where would that phone be at right
00:07:52
now? Somewhere at the crime scene. Benjamin
provided Munoz with his iPhone password and
00:08:00
permission to search his phone. Have you ever
been diagnosed with any mental illnesses? No.
00:08:06
Benjamin said there were no problems at home and
said that he was looking forward to college. I'm
00:08:13
thinking about mechanical engineering. I'm
taking the SAT I think Friday. No, Saturday.
00:08:21
And let me ask you, the knife that you had in
your hands, where'd you get it from? From my
00:08:26
dad. He had given it to me that day. It was like
an Air Force survival knife. I was really enamored
00:08:34
with it. Benjamin and Meghan's parents had a big
collection of knives and gear. The family is big
00:08:41
into camping. Kathy is senior manager with the
Girl Scouts of America. Michael is a stay-at-home
00:08:48
dad. I know that if I had not given him that
knife, this would not have happened. And um
00:09:04
after 2 hours in that interrogation room,
at 11 a.m., Munoz finally revealed that
00:09:11
Meghan was dead. I deserve that.
Meghan did not make it. [Music] He and Meghan are so close, you could never picture
anything bad happening between them. Longtime
00:09:28
friend Drue Whittecar was stunned to learn Benjamin
was in police custody. He was very protective of
00:09:34
her. She says her family and the Elliotts have
been closed since 2005. Ben was very engineering
00:09:42
focused. Whitaker, herself an engineer, described
Benjamin as soft-spoken, smart, funny, and a bit
00:09:50
nerdy. While Megan was sensitive, wrote poetry,
and loved to draw. As a teenager, Meghan had been
00:09:57
diagnosed with autism. And how did she feel about
Ben? She loved him. She looked up to him. You
00:10:05
would see her walk up next to him when she would
feel uncomfortable and just kind of stand by him.
00:10:11
Did he ever get tired of having to take care
of Megan? I think he was proud of it. Like he
00:10:15
liked he liked being a protector. The Elliotts
say the twins seemed happy in the weeks before
00:10:20
the stabbing. With their eldest child, Elizabeth,
already off at college. The twins toured separate
00:10:28
universities. Meghan at this point had started
coming out of her shell as well. She was finding
00:10:33
her voice and she had found friends online and
she had a YouTube channel where she was doing art.
00:10:39
The night before Megan's death, father and son
spent hours playing popular video games such as
00:10:46
Survive the Nights. It was in that video game that
Benjamin noticed a military-style knife that his
00:10:54
father said resembled one that he owned. Michael
offered to give it to Benjamin. Unfortunately,
00:11:01
I went and got the knife out. The Elliotts
remember heading off to bed. Was there any,
00:11:07
you know, any problem at all between the twins?
The Elliotts, like police, couldn't make sense
00:11:16
of why Benjamin stabbed Meghan, but police had the
teenager's confession, the bloody knife he used,
00:11:24
along with a disturbing detail discovered at
autopsy. Megan hadn't been stabbed just once.
00:11:32
She had two stab wounds. Benjamin Elliott was
charged with the murder of his twin sister.
00:11:57
[Music] After several days on suicide watch, 17-year-old
Benjamin Elliott was released on bail.
00:12:09
His parents were there waiting for him. I saw
them put him out and he just kind of stood there
00:12:15
on the sidewalk and I - sorry, it's OK. I went
up to him and and he seemed I told him I said,
00:12:22
"Hey, Ben." You know, and and he seemed like
like he didn't see me. He's surprised to see
00:12:26
me. [Music] We started driving and we we were
asking him if he was OK and we were getting
00:12:36
very, very quiet ... quiet like, you know, single
word answers. So Michael pulls the car over
00:12:46
um and stops and and gets up comes around and
takes his face in his hands and he says he's
00:12:52
like, "Hi, we love you. Hi." And he just, yeah.
And I saw him kind of I was sort of awake.
00:13:05
[Music] And then he just hugged us. Yeah. The
Elliotts knew they could never sleep in their
00:13:15
home again and had already moved in with Kathy's
mother. Ben was worried that he might walk around.
00:13:22
He was worried that he might do something and
he wanted to make sure everybody was safe. The
00:13:25
Elliotts were worried, too. The first two nights I
slept in a chair. Yeah. In front of the door. The
00:13:31
couple even installed an alarm on Benjamin's door.
Because his attorneys had asked them not to speak
00:13:38
with their son about the night Meghan was killed.
They couldn't ask him the burning question,
00:13:44
why? There's never been anything wrong with him
at all. My bandwidth was a mental health
00:13:50
something. Kathy's father was schizophrenic. She
now feared her son might be. So did Benjamin's
00:13:57
lawyers, Wes Rucker and Cary Hart. So we had a
psychiatrist sit down with him. I fully expected
00:14:04
her to come back and say he's got schizophrenia
or he's severely bipolar. When she calls me up,
00:14:10
she said, "Wes, he's fine." It blew my mind.
They came to suspect that Benjamin experienced
00:14:17
something else entirely. He was actually
sleepwalking when he killed his sister.
00:14:23
Had either one of you ever had a case quite like
this? Never. No. You have a twin um causing the
00:14:31
death of the other and the last thing you think of
is this a sleepwalking case. But Benjamin had told
00:14:38
police that I stabbed his sister, it felt like
a dream. And his lawyers say that sleepwalking
00:14:44
defenses have been used successfully in the past.
In 1987, Canadian Kenneth Parks drove his car 14
00:14:54
miles to his mother-in-law's home, beat her
to death with a tire iron, and stabbed her.
00:15:01
He claimed he was asleep the whole time, and a
jury believed him. And in North Carolina in 2010,
00:15:10
Joseph Mitchell strangled his 4-year-old
son and attacked two of his other children,
00:15:16
all while sleepwalking. A jury also found
him not guilty. The big question here is
00:15:23
just whether Ben Elliott in fact killed his
sister while he was sleepwalking. Correct.
00:15:31
Just here. So Benjamin's lawyers reach out to
Dr. Jerald Simmons, a neurologist and a sleep
00:15:39
disorder expert. When I first was approached,
I was very skeptical. The next question is,
00:15:45
did I even want to deal with this? My
first reaction to this is, you know, well,
00:15:52
who else are they going to go to? I mean, within
the field of sleep medicine, this is what I do.
00:15:57
Simmons wanted to do a sleep study with Benjamin
to test if it's possible Benjamin could experience
00:16:04
something called a parasomnia. In general,
think of a parasomnia as an abnormal behavior
00:16:10
that occurs during sleep, like sleepwalking.
Sleepwalking would be a parasomnia. Simmons
00:16:17
asks if Benjamin had a history of sleepwalking,
and his lawyers say he did. When he was about
00:16:23
10 years old, Benjamin's older sister, Elizabeth,
found him sleepwalking by her bedroom door. There
00:16:31
was also a sleepover with childhood friends
the night this photo was taken. When Benjamin
00:16:37
was found asleep on a couch eating a donut when
they woke him, he seemed surprised and confused.
00:16:45
Simmons also learned that there were other
members of the Elliott family who sleepwalked.
00:16:51
the likelihood genetically is higher to have uh
parisomnia, specifically non-run parisomnas if
00:16:57
there are other family members that have had that.
My uncle apparently used to sleepwalk when he was
00:17:03
a teenager. He would go out into the garage and
you know with the tools and apparently he walked
00:17:08
in on my mom one time when she was in the shower.
Kathy also had an aunt who once walked out of her
00:17:13
house while she was asleep, r an out into the woods
in the middle of the night and waking up in the
00:17:19
middle of a thunderstorm outside. Yeah. And here's
a video of him right here. Simmons conducted two
00:17:24
sleep studies with Benjamin in his sleep lab 6
weeks apart. In each, Benjamin was hooked up to
00:17:31
machines that monitor just about everything his
body did as he slept. This is brain wave activity
00:17:39
here. So, we did the sleep study. I saw that he
had obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep
00:17:45
apnea says Simmons is where the airway becomes
partially blocked creating a disturbance in the
00:17:52
sleep pattern. So he's sleeping struggling
a bit to get breath and that could be the
00:17:59
trigger. Yes. A trigger that Simmons says could
cause a sleepwalking episode. Particularly when
00:18:06
Benjamin's brain waves enter what is known as
a non-REM slow-wave sleep. Now he's in slow-wave
00:18:13
sleep. This is slow-wave sleep. Sleepwalking will
typically occur in non-REM slow-wave sleep. During
00:18:21
the sleep studies, Benjamin did not sleepwalk, but
Simmons observed how quickly Benjamin entered that
00:18:28
non-REM slow-wave sleep. So it was 11 minutes
from the time we turned off the lights until
00:18:33
he was in slow-wave sleep. This is important
because on the night Benjamin stabbed Megan,
00:18:40
his phone activity stopped at 4:17 a.m. It was
just 24 minutes later that he was on his phone
00:18:49
calling 911. I just found my sister. What you
looking at? Simmons says the fact that Benjamin
00:18:56
is able to reach slow-wave sleep so quickly means
it's possible Benjamin was sleepwalking during
00:19:04
that period of time his phone was inactive. Our
father was becoming [Music] Do you believe Ben
00:19:15
killed his sister without even realizing he was
doing it in his sleep? Yes, Ben definitely killed
00:19:23
his sister. He did it. There's no question. He's
the one that had the knife and he stabbed her.
00:19:29
But I believe it was part of a parasomnia.
He didn't do this voluntarily. There was no
00:19:35
motivation. Dr. Simmons' findings took Benjamin's
parents by surprise. It's scary as hell. If that
00:19:44
can happen to us, then that could happen to
anybody with with the sleep problem. [Music]
00:20:04
He realized he was sinking the knife into
something or someone and then woke up and
00:20:11
realized it was his sister. After sleep expert
Dr. Jerald Simmons made his assessment that
00:20:18
Benjamin was sleepwalking when he killed his twin
sister, the Elliotts were hopeful prosecutors
00:20:24
might drop the case. At that point, we thought
it might not go to trial. But in April 2023,
00:20:33
a year and a half after Meghan's death, a grand
jury indicted Benjamin Elliott, then 19 years of
00:20:40
age, of first-degree murder. We just didn't think
that what we saw was sleepwalking. Megan Long and
00:20:49
Maroun Koutani would handle the prosecution. It
wasn't Long's first sleepwalking case. In 2019,
00:20:57
she successfully convicted a man who claimed
he was sleepwalking when he shot and killed
00:21:03
his wife. And Long told us she herself was a
sleepwalker as were her children. Still, Long
00:21:11
disputes the Elliotts' claim of a family history
since she says neither of Benjamin's parents have
00:21:18
been sleepwalkers. From our conversations
with our sleep expert, family history of
00:21:24
sleepwalking is a factor. It's more prevalent
when it's um like first-degree family members,
00:21:30
so your parents. The prosecutors hired their own
sleep consultant, psychologist Dr. Mark Pressman,
00:21:37
who concluded Benjamin was not sleepwalking when
he stabbed Meghan. He says sleepwalkers become
00:21:44
aggressive only when someone physically interferes
with them and they respond by hitting or kicking
00:21:51
or throwing furniture, but that's that's that's
like a reflex, you know, an instinctive reflex
00:21:58
to protect themselves. And he points out that
Benjamin would have had to have unchath the
00:22:04
knife before he used it in the stabbing, which
Pressman believes is a complex conscious action,
00:22:12
not an unconscious one. The next thing I remember
is the feeling of stabbing something. He also
00:22:20
says it's unusual for a sleepwalker to recall
details the way Benjamin did to authorities
00:22:27
after he stabbed Meghan. He remembered the feeling
of the knife going into the neck. OK, so that's
00:22:34
a memory. OK. Shouldn't be able to have that
memory. Aren't there sometimes pockets of memory?
00:22:40
Not in these cases. No. Dr. Simmons disagrees. He
says Benjamin told police what he could recall. If
00:22:49
he was trying to fabricate this or just use this
as an alibi, it would have been just as easy for
00:22:53
him to say, "I don't remember anything." Instead,
he's I interpret it as he's trying to be as
00:22:59
honest as he can. But Pressman felt he had enough
information to make his determination. You didn't
00:23:05
think you needed to talk to Ben? No. Prosecutor
Long knew she needed more than an expert's
00:23:12
assessment to convict Benjamin, especially
because she couldn't identify a motive for
00:23:18
murder. No one had witnessed any problems between
the twins. Is there no motive because he was
00:23:26
sleepwalking or is there no motive just because
no one's willing to come forward and tell us?
00:23:30
and they think they could convince a jury that
Benjamin's actions were intentional that night,
00:23:36
stabbing Meghan twice. One wound was 4 inches deep and
severed her carotid artery and jugular vein. So,
00:23:45
he's saying that he stabbed her in the neck,
removed the knife with where she was stabbed,
00:23:51
blood would be coming out of her neck, you should
see some sort of blood spatter on the walls, and
00:23:56
there isn't any of that. Benjamin had told police
he used a pillow to stop the bleeding. And I tried
00:24:03
to stop bleeding with the pillow that was behind
her. I like to did that. Long doesn't believe
00:24:10
that. I think he wanted to cover her face. I think
maybe even muff if she were to scream or anything
00:24:17
like that. The only way for there not to be that
blood spatter is it had to be there when he took
00:24:21
the knife out. It wasn't there for life-saving
measures. But he's calling 911, so he's not trying
00:24:27
to hide what he had done, right? I think at that
point when he's making that 911 call, he realizes,
00:24:34
I can't hide what I've just done. What's your
name? I just killed my sister. Koutani claims
00:24:43
Benjamin is whispering on the 911 call. [Music]
And is suspicious why he's not yelling to his
00:24:52
parents for help. Please, I don't want you to die.
I think he's whispering because he doesn't want
00:25:01
his parents to come to the same reality that
he's now living in that he took his sister's
00:25:05
life. I think that that's why he doesn't awake
them before calling 911. I think that's why he
00:25:11
doesn't scream in the house when he realizes what
he's done. And they argue Meghan was already dead
00:25:18
by the time Benjamin called 911. Okay, sir. Can we
can we take over? By the time EMS got there, she
00:25:26
wasn't breathing on her own. She had no heartbeat.
Our medical examiner said that with the wound that
00:25:33
she suffered from, she would have been dead within
minutes. Benjamin's interrogation raised even more
00:25:41
questions, they say, especially when Benjamin
described his house as a crime scene. Benjamin
00:25:48
Elliott is asked by Deputy Muñoz, "Where's your
phone?" Benjamin Elliott responds with, "It's at
00:25:53
the crime scene." And to us, that was significant.
Not many 17 year olds would respond with, "At the
00:26:00
crime scene." Most people would say, "At my house,
in my room." And there is more, says Koutani. His
00:26:07
demeanor and his behavior is very calm. Certainly
not the type of behavior you would expect from
00:26:13
somebody who comes to with a knife in their hand
and their sister uh dead in the sleep of the of
00:26:19
her own bedroom. Could he be in shock? I mean,
realizing what he had done. Isn't that possible?
00:26:27
I think based on his response to Deputy
Muñoz in a couple portions of the interview,
00:26:32
we can tell that he's not necessarily in shock
with what the consequences of his actions were.
00:26:37
During the interview, Benjamin told police that
his sister had struggled with her mental health.
00:26:44
My sister had um a pretty severe depression for a while, Meghan. To prosecutors that suggested maybe
00:26:54
everything wasn't so perfect in the Elliott
family. A contention that Benjamin's lawyers
00:27:01
find ridiculous. They say investigators made
virtually no effort to learn about the Elliotts
00:27:09
or Benjamin. They don't have a clue about this
kid. They weren't even curious. He would know
00:27:16
what was going to happen to him if he killed his
sister. There was nothing for him to gain. There
00:27:20
was everything for him to lose. There's just no
reason why he would have done that. Before trial,
00:27:28
prosecutors offered Benjamin a 30-year plea
deal. He turned it down. The tragedy is now
00:27:36
the family lost their daughter, but they're now
losing their son. He's on trial for his life.
00:27:51
[Music] All right. He's a victim. He went to sleep.
He woke up and he he found out he had killed
00:28:00
his sister. After struggling with Meghan's loss,
maybe. The Elliotts now face the possibility they
00:28:07
could lose Benjamin, too. It's a nightmare that
happened to all of us. All right, for the jury.
00:28:13
Benjamin's first-degree murder trial began on
February 18, 2025. You tell your colleagues,
00:28:20
"I have a client who killed his twin sister and
we believe he was sleepwalking." And they think
00:28:25
you're crazy. But with no evidence of any problems
between the twins, Benjamin's lawyers hope they
00:28:31
could convince a jury that sleepwalking is the
only explanation. Even prosecutors knew the lack
00:28:38
of motive could be a problem. I think our biggest
hurdle going into this trial was the why. So,
00:28:44
you made sure you had jurors who at least
be open to the idea they may never know
00:28:49
why Meghan Elliott was stabbed, right? In his
opening remarks, Maroun Koutani made it clear
00:28:58
that while there was no motive, they had their
murderer. He calls 911 at 4:41. Hello. Hello.
00:29:10
I just killed my sister. I stabbed her with a
knife. Oh my God. He's whispering. Prosecutors
00:29:17
told jurors about Benjamin's behavior during
that interrogation. And you'll see his demeanor
00:29:23
in the interview, pointing to Benjamin's reaction
when the detective tells him Meghan is dead. Sorry
00:29:30
to tell you this, but Meghan has succumbed
to her injuries. And the defendant says,
00:29:40
Witnesses offer details about her
wounds, the lack of blood spatter, and the prosecution's theory that Benjamin covered
Meghan's head with a pillow while he stabbed her.
00:29:52
And Benjamin's father was surprised to
learn that prosecutors would ask him to identify Meghan's body for the record.
This is a photo taken from an autopsy.
00:30:10
Yeah, that's Meghan. No question drama. After the
prosecution rested, defense attorneys Cary Hart
00:30:19
and Wes Rucker took over. Good morning. Making
their case about sleepwalking. And this is not
00:30:25
a ruse. This is not some defense to get Ben
off of a tragic tragic set of circumstances.
00:30:33
This is a real phenomenon. And that call Benjamin
made to 911, the defense says that's evidence he
00:30:41
was desperate to save Megan. He's saying things
like, "Oh my God, I thought it was a dream. I
00:30:46
thought it was a dream. I don't want her to die.
I don't want her to die. He's trying to do CPR.
00:30:55
Family friend Drue Whittecar told the jury about
Benjamin's devotion to Meghan. Ever noticed that
00:31:02
if the sweet kid or the tender kid change into
somebody else? Absolutely not. Appearing by Zoom,
00:31:09
childhood friend Anand Singh told the jury about
that sleepover when he found Benjamin asleep
00:31:15
and eating a donut. Just the sheer confusion
on his face like he genuinely seemed baffled
00:31:22
as to how that happened. Benjamin's great
aunt, Martha Knight-Oakley, a psychologist,
00:31:28
told the jury about her own sleepwalking history,
including finding herself in the woods one night.
00:31:34
All I know is I came to in the bushes clutching
my dog. But the defense team's star witness
00:31:44
was Dr. Jerald Simmons. He testified for four
hours detailing the science and sleep studies
00:31:52
that convinced him of Benjamin's innocence.
It totally fits in line with a process we
00:31:59
call sleepwalking violent behaviors. On rebuttal,
prosecutors called their own sleepwalking expert,
00:32:06
Dr. Mark Pressman. I concluded uh he was not
in a sleepwalking state. How did you come to
00:32:12
that conclusion? He had memory. He is said to
have come out of the state much faster than any
00:32:19
sleepwalker could ever do. In closing arguments,
prosecutors described a deliberate murder.
00:32:27
Benjamin Elliott walked into his sister's room
with this very knife and he stabbed her in the
00:32:32
neck twice. There's no blood spraying in the
room. You know why? The only thing soaked in
00:32:37
blood is the pillow that he muffled her screams
with. Benjamin's defense attorneys push back.
00:32:44
you if you're trying to cover something up, you're
not calling 911. You're not begging for someone to
00:32:49
help your sister. And they appealed for justice.
You do not convict a young man, a 17-year-old,
00:32:55
because of how he looks or because how he answers
interrogation questions. But prosecutor Megan Long
00:33:02
had the final word, and she suggested the family
was involved in a cover up that began with calling
00:33:09
the friend who is a lawyer. And look, I'm a
mother. I understand wanting to protect your
00:33:16
children. I get it. But you can't let them get
away with it. They have been protecting him from
00:33:22
the get-go. Long didn't leave it there. They
want to say that this family life was perfect,
00:33:29
but we don't necessarily know what happens
behind closed doors. And what she said next
00:33:34
stunned the courtroom filled with the Elliott
family and friends. I want you to look in
00:33:40
this courtroom. There are so many people here for
Benjamin. There is not one person here for Meghan.
00:33:50
The judge let the prosecution continue.
You have to be her hero. He knew exactly
00:33:57
what he was doing. There's been no remorse
shown here in this courtroom by him. After
00:34:04
four days of testimony, the case went to
the jury. We took a vote immediately. Jurors were divided. It was split seven
to five. Could they reach a verdict?
00:34:31
I was a sleepwalker and one of my own children
used to sleepwalk too as a young. Several of
00:34:35
the jurors who decided Benjamin's fate knew
a lot about sleepwalking. You know someone
00:34:40
who was a sleepwalker? Absolutely. Yes. Had
a had a family member. Yes. On my mom's side,
00:34:46
my grandfather. But even with their experience,
they were deeply conflicted about Benjamin. We
00:34:52
spent a lot of time with the interview by the
detective. I'm taking the SAT I think Friday.
00:35:00
He talked about how he was going to go take
the SAT. He just seemed to not have a lot of
00:35:07
remorse. It didn't take them long to come to
a unanimous decision. All right. For the jury,
00:35:18
my understanding is that y'all have a verdict.
Is that correct? After four hours of deliberations,
00:35:24
we the jury find the defendant Benjamin
David Elliott guilty of murder is charged
00:35:27
in the indictment signed by the foreman of
the jury, printed by the foreman of the jury.
00:35:33
I remember hearing guilty and I was completely
shocked. Benjamin Elliott, who did not testify at
00:35:43
trial, later spoke to "48 Hours" inside the county
jail. I feel like this has been a I don't know,
00:35:53
a miscarriage of justice. Like it's I am not
guilty of murder for my sister Meghan Elliott.
00:36:02
Benjamin, now 21 years old, said he and his
family were appalled by the way prosecutor
00:36:08
Megan Long ended her closing argument. There are
so many people here for Benjamin. There is not
00:36:16
one person here for Meghan. That was crazy to me.
What do you mean? Everyone in that courtroom was
00:36:27
there for Meghan. I understand wanting to protect
your children. And his parents were outraged by
00:36:33
the statements made by prosecutors, hinting to
problems within the family. We don't necessarily
00:36:40
know what happens behind closed doors. They were
lying. Yeah. It was horrible. They waited until
00:36:45
the closing when they knew that nothing could be
said afterwards to to pull out these outlandish
00:36:51
implications about you don't know what happens
behind closing. Yeah, she knows damn well there's
00:36:55
not a shred of evidence that anything unourred
was happening in our house, in our family.
00:37:08
Benjamin and his parents had little time to let
the guilty verdict sink in. Does he have to say
00:37:14
hug? Yes. They were back in court for sentencing
the following day. and he is the one that went
00:37:23
into her room that night and snuffed the life
out of her. Prosecutors asked for 40 years,
00:37:30
but a member of the jury asked the judge for
leniency because he worried about Benjamin's
00:37:35
family. Stand up, Mr. Elliott. Judge Danilo Lacayo
told the court he wanted a sentence that he could
00:37:42
live with. I sentence you to 15 years in prison.
This time you will go with the the request for
00:37:48
leniency says Benjamin makes him wonder if a few
jurors had more doubts than they wanted to admit.
00:37:56
If you believe that I crept into my sister's
bedroom and murdered her while she was asleep, why
00:38:04
would you possibly want leniency for that person?
That person is horrible. Are you that person? No,
00:38:14
I'm not. I'm not that person. I mean, I'm I I
try to be genuine. I try to be honest. I'm I'd
00:38:24
like to think of myself as a good person. Benjamin
says authorities misconstrued everything he did.
00:38:34
Started with that 911 call. The prosecutors say
you were whispering on the phone. Were you? No.
00:38:41
That's ridiculous. I wasn't whispering. inside.
I don't want to get by. I'm so sorry. I was
00:38:46
panicked. I wasn't screaming into the phone cuz
I'm just not a I don't really yell. And Benjamin
00:38:54
insists that as soon as he realized what he
had done, he was trying to help Meghan using
00:38:59
the pillow to try to stop the bleeding. The
state says that you didn't use the pillow to
00:39:05
try to stop the bleeding. You did it to keep her
from screaming. What do you say to that? That's
00:39:13
crazy to me. And there's absolutely absolutely
zero forensic evidence for that at all. And what
00:39:22
about his seemingly calm demeanor throughout
the police interview? The plan is I'm taking
00:39:28
the SAT. You're talking to a deputy and you're
talking about SATs and colleges. I'm trying to
00:39:37
get my mind off of things. I've had some issues
with school stuff sometimes where I think you
00:39:42
can see it in the conversation. I keep pretty much
steering the conversation away from what happened.
00:39:49
I don't want to think about it. As for learning
Meghan had died, Benjamin says he just shut down
00:39:56
and that he was desperately hoping she'd be
okay. Do you feel you're guilty of anything? No,
00:40:03
you don't. No. No. I I don't think this is my
fault at all. I used to blame myself for it
00:40:11
because it's like I mean I I was the one holding
the knife, right? But I mean I've come to realize
00:40:19
that I'm not, you know, I couldn't have done
anything any different than what I had done.
00:40:30
And Benjamin says he misses his twin. It's really hard that she's not
here. Isn't it hard to know that ...
00:40:45
it's because of you she's not here?
Yeah. Yeah. It's really hard. We did everything together. Like we
we were we were very very close.
00:41:00
And she was a wonderful person. She was an
artist. The way she looked at the world. She
00:41:07
looked at it with like a creative mind. So she
would just see just beautiful things everywhere.