00:00:07
I want people to know that Rhonda wasn't just beautiful. >> Bye, Daddy. >> People always are surprised when they
00:00:15
hear this. Like, no, you can't be super beautiful like her and be intelligent at
00:00:19
the same time. I'm like, actually, she was wicked smart. Very in love. We planned on getting
00:00:28
married in the summer. That was my timetable. >> They did look at wedding rings.
00:00:33
>> I think she she wanted one that was around 35,000 and uh I was thinking more 15,000 was my range.
00:00:42
>> And you and Rhonda, did you like to get outdoors >> all the time? We loved hiking. Uh we
00:00:47
played a lot of frisbee golf, so yeah, we were outdoors most of the time. We woke up early. She opened the drapes
00:00:55
and we saw a beautiful day. Okay. So, we are going to go hiking. One of the things she asked me on the drive over.
00:01:03
She said, "Uh, if anything ever happens to me, do you promise to watch our daughter and take care of her?"
00:01:10
And I go, "What are you talking about?" She goes, "I have dreams all the time that I am dead before 25."
00:01:19
>> Did Rhonda ever tell you that she was sensing something bad was going to happen to her?
00:01:25
She said that he's either going to propose to me or kill me. She wasn't happy. She just fell out of
00:01:34
love with him and they were fighting all the time. She had mentioned wanting to take the baby and and leave. Steve
00:01:44
>> started pouring down rain and thunder came and so she just started bolting down like at a full sprint running down
00:01:52
the trail. and what unfolded before your eyes. >> I don't know how far down it was, but
00:01:58
she went off the trail. >> A man hiking with Rhonda Castow says that she fell off a cliff last night.
00:02:07
>> Did she take a step and her feet went out in front of her? Did she tumble forward? What did you see?
00:02:14
>> Next question. I'm Steve Nichols and in February of 2015, I was charged and arrested for the
00:02:26
murder of Rhonda Casta, my fiance. We're in Hood River, Oregon. It's been 6 years, 1 month, and 26 days since Rhonda
00:02:35
fell off that trail to her death. And for the first time, Steven Nichols will enter a formal plea.
00:02:47
Accident or murder? >> Murder. Murder. >> And from a mother's heart and mind, you
00:02:54
are certain of that. >> I am 100% certain of that. He's evil. He's totally evil.
00:03:02
>> I think I've just left a path of destruction. I'm a hun basically going through women.
00:03:29
48 hours mystery at Eagle Creek. When you have a case where someone's falsely accused, you can't really
00:03:52
separate yourself from work and and home life. >> For defense attorney Mike Arnold,
00:03:58
>> Mr. Nichols is here with his lawyer. Representing Steven Nichols gives new meaning to the phrase full-time job.
00:04:07
>> You know, while I prefer to be coming home doing farm chores and listen to wildlife,
00:04:11
>> instead I'll be thinking about my closing argument or what the next step of the case is.
00:04:17
>> We are on the record in Hood River County, state of Oregon, versus Steven Wagner Nichols.
00:04:23
>> Nichols was arrested for murder in February 2015. accused of pushing his girlfriend Rhonda
00:04:30
Castow off this trail in Oregon 6 years earlier. >> To that charge, what's your plea?
00:04:38
>> Not guilty. >> Bail was set at $2 million. Nicholls would spend the next 14 months
00:04:46
in jail awaiting trial. >> I try to just take it one day at a time. I read a lot. I play chess, but really
00:04:55
when it comes down to it, I miss my daughter. So that's the hardest part. >> But in April 2016, with a trial date
00:05:03
nowhere in sight, Judge John Olsen reduced Nicholls bail to $250,000. Mike Arnold set out on a frantic mission
00:05:14
to gather the 10% needed in cash to free his client. So the farming defense attorney
00:05:22
10 >> becomes a personal banker. >> People have taken off work to be there to get him out. So, it sounds like a
00:05:30
small price to pay to be there when my client gets to see Freedom for the first time in a year. So, wish us luck.
00:05:36
>> But Arnold would need more than luck. >> We can't get the client build out until
00:05:40
tomorrow morning. >> He'd need an extra day to arrange for the ankle monitor required for Nicholls
00:05:45
release. >> So, going to hold on tight to this and go get some supper. The next day, it was a little unexpected
00:05:55
overnight trip in Hood River. I want recycled clothes. Looking forward to get home to my family. It's my son's first
00:06:01
birthday today. >> Presumption of innocence, ladies and gentlemen. >> Mike feeds the cash into the bail
00:06:08
machine. >> I'm very excited to to see Steve for the for the first time outside in the fresh
00:06:15
air. >> Two more hours. God. >> And Arnold gets his wish. >> I want to cry. Actually, I'm so happy.
00:06:27
But it's a bittersweet victory. We will continue to fight until I've proven my innocence.
00:06:34
>> Still a long fight ahead. But now I've got him out with me, so we can work on
00:06:37
this as a team. So, this is a big deal. >> But how exactly did Nicholls and his attorney end up at this moment?
00:06:46
It all started 11 years earlier when a stunning 20-year-old woman knocked on Nicholls bedroom door at his
00:06:55
home just outside Portland, Oregon. And I turn around and I look at her and my tongue pretty much hit the floor. Up
00:07:04
until that point, she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. And she's like, "Hi, my name is Rhonda."
00:07:12
In 2005, Nicholls, who is 10 years older than Rhonda and recently divorced, was working as a day trader.
00:07:20
>> I had a three-bedroom condo, and the other two rooms were just empty. >> So, he decided to get a roommate.
00:07:27
>> I first met Steven Nichols through the internet. I was looking for a place, a
00:07:32
room to rent, >> who turned out to be Rhonda's mother, Julia Simmons. He can be very charming
00:07:39
and, you know, somebody that's really nice. >> Rhonda's best friend, Jessica Coburn,
00:07:45
wasn't surprised Steven was instantly attracted to Rhonda, who was an aspiring model.
00:07:52
>> Tell me about this. >> That was part of her modeling portfolio. I just love it because she just looks
00:07:59
amazing in all of those pictures. >> Everything about her was impressive and I just immediately fell in love with
00:08:05
her. And what were you sensing from Rhonda? >> I felt she was into me, too. I could
00:08:10
tell that she valued intelligence, and I've always thought that that's one of my strongest assets.
00:08:16
>> I think she was attracted not so much to his looks, but to his his uh what he
00:08:21
had, his condo, his money, his, you know, his status. >> Soon, Rhonda joined her mother, Julia,
00:08:29
in the condo, not as a roommate, but as Steven's girlfriend. Rhonda's younger sister, Tessa, was just 9 years old at
00:08:37
the time. >> When I first met Steve, he was really fun because I was a little girl. He was
00:08:43
he was playful. You know, >> 3 years into their relationship, Rhonda and Nicholls, living together but not
00:08:50
married, became parents. >> You want daddy to help you a little? >> I got this for you.
00:08:56
>> Did you see her face? She's all >> When our daughter was born, >> it meant everything to her. She became
00:09:05
the focus and the center of her life. >> I loved having a niece. I was always over there and she loved playing with
00:09:13
jewelry just like Rhonda did. >> She's just like her mom. She loves jewelry. >> Rhonda loved being a mom but hoped to
00:09:21
restart her modeling career. She had gained quite a bit of weight from having our daughter. She was the heaviest she
00:09:29
had ever been and she felt really disgusting. >> So, Steven says the couple came up with
00:09:35
an adventurous plan to lose weight. >> We made it a pact that we would hike 20 or 25 of the top trails in Oregon. We'll
00:09:44
just start crossing them off the list. >> But Jessica says Rhonda told her about
00:09:49
only one planned hike. She was so happy that he was finally planning something. And all the years they had been
00:09:56
together, he had never put any effort into planning anything for her, >> including those plans to get married.
00:10:06
>> The proposal never happened. Things were tough after the baby was born. He wasn't
00:10:11
around as much. I think she held on for longer for the sake of the baby. >> Daddy going to open it for you. Jessica
00:10:20
says Rhonda had grown unhappy and that the relationship had taken a dangerous turn.
00:10:27
>> She told me that he had in the recent months been physically abusive to her. >> But Nicholls claims just the opposite
00:10:37
was true. >> We wouldn't argue at all. We were spending a lot of time together. So I
00:10:42
would think that would be the closest we ever were. So, when Steven is telling us
00:10:48
that they were planning their future together and everything was great and it was a loveydovey relationship,
00:10:54
is he lying to me? >> He's absolutely lying to you. I've I've witnessed their fights. I' I
00:11:01
was on the phone a couple of times when they were in a physical fight, actually.
00:11:08
>> And Julia claims Rhonda made a chilling statement to her just before the hike.
00:11:14
She said, "He's either going to give me a ring or he's going to throw me off a cliff."
00:11:23
>> On March 16th, 2009, Rhonda and Steven would set out on that fitness hike, and
00:11:30
Rhonda would not live to see the end of the day. >> There's a smile. Bye, Daddy.
00:11:57
This is probably the most hiked area in the Columbia River Gorge uh for several reasons.
00:12:05
One, the the sheer beauty of the hike. Three months after Steven Nichols arrest in 2015, his attorney, Mike Arnold, took
00:12:14
his own investigative team up the Eagle Creek Trail, where he believes Rhonda Castow, slipped
00:12:23
and fell to her death. Inclement weather hits and disaster happens. Between the physical evidence and the
00:12:32
science, there won't be much dispute about this being a tragic accident on a dangerous trail.
00:12:39
>> Steven Nichols says this is how the tragedy unfolded. They are heading down the trail. Rhonda was in a great mood
00:12:46
and jokingly she put a towel around her shoulders and was calling herself Supergirl. She broke into a run. And
00:12:53
according to Nicholls, at this very point, she slipped on the wet path and fell more than 150 ft to her death.
00:13:04
That was his story in 2015. >> I'm not going to comment on that. >> When Nicholls was forbidden by his
00:13:12
attorney from discussing details of Rhonda's deadly fall with 48 hours. Until now, his only account was the one
00:13:20
he gave to police the day of the tragedy. >> Again, something I'm not going to comment on.
00:13:25
>> But in 2017, Steven Nichols broke that silence. >> Either I pushed her, she jumped of her
00:13:33
own accord, or she slipped. >> He sat down and spoke to us about the day Rhonda Castow died. Let's get in
00:13:41
that time machine and go back to March 16th, 2009. We woke up early. >> Steven says Rhonda seemed focused on the
00:13:54
future as they drove to Eagle Creek Trail. >> She says, "I desperately need to lose
00:14:00
weight because they want to use me as the Maria Sherupova lookalike model." And I'm like, "Yeah, you really do look
00:14:07
like her." But then Nicholls claims Rhonda asked him a startling question completely out
00:14:14
of the blue. >> She said, "Uh, if anything ever happens to me, do you promise to watch our
00:14:19
daughter and take care of her?" And I said, "Of course." >> Steven says the question unnerved him,
00:14:26
especially since 3 months earlier, he claims Rhonda had demanded he buy life insurance.
00:14:32
>> She was adamant about it. I said, "Why do you want this life insurance?" and she goes, "Because I want to leave our
00:14:39
daughter something in case I die." >> So both Steven and Rhonda had each taken out a $1 million policy on the other.
00:14:48
>> He planned the whole thing was premeditated. The whole thing. >> Rhonda's mother doesn't believe a word
00:14:56
of Nicholls story, saying the insurance was all his idea and that Nicholls, the day trader, had an ulterior motive. He
00:15:04
had lost a bunch of money the year before. He lost like a quarter of a million dollars. He's like insurance and
00:15:10
then four months later she's dead. >> The couple got to the trail head where Rhonda snapped this photo of Steve later
00:15:19
found on her cell phone. >> The weather was excellent actually. >> But Steven says Rhonda was acting
00:15:26
strangely. I asked her, "Are you okay hiking on this trail?" And she goes, "I used to
00:15:33
come up here with a bottle of vodka and a bag of weed." She goes, "I'll be fine."
00:15:42
So I said, "Okay." >> They hiked up a few miles. >> Uh I remember we kissed for a little
00:15:49
bit. Um I remember she wanted to have sex and I said, "No, like I'm very prim and proper. I didn't want to do that."
00:15:59
Then Nicholls says Rhonda once again asked him that unsettling question. >> She asked me if anything ever happened
00:16:06
to her which would I promise to take care of her daughter. >> But Rhonda may have been thinking about
00:16:12
more than their daughter. >> What are you saying, Stephen? >> I mean I think anyone with an ounce of
00:16:20
intelligence can fill in the blanks. Um, you would have to look into how many times in her past she committed suicide.
00:16:29
>> Attempted suicide. >> Yeah, of course. Attempted. I mean, >> Nichols says Rhonda was depressed and
00:16:35
shockingly that she had tried to take her own life at least three times before he even met her.
00:16:42
>> She's never attempted suicide. Never. He's lying. I But you know what? People
00:16:48
that have to make up lies are, you know, you can obviously tell they're guilty. And there's more. Nicholls claims that
00:16:54
Rhonda had long struggled with a serious drug problem. >> She's never been off drugs since the age
00:17:00
of 12. >> What kind of What kind of drugs? >> Everything. Everything. >> Alcohol, cocaine,
00:17:06
>> all of them. >> Marijuana, >> crystal meth, >> all of them. Heroin. >> But Rhonda's autopsy would show that she
00:17:14
only had traces of marijuana as well as prescription drugs for anxiety and depression in her system. Jessica Coburn
00:17:22
says Rhonda did suffer from postpartum depression. >> She was in therapy and that's why she
00:17:30
was on the prescription medications. >> Nicholls says they didn't linger on the trail for long and who decides, hey,
00:17:38
let's head back. uh was decided by the weather started pouring down rain and thunder came and so she just started
00:17:47
bolting down like at a full sprint running down the trail. >> Now I've been on that trail. It's a
00:17:53
narrow trail. >> It is very narrow. >> Did you yell at her, "Hey, what are you doing? Stop. Walk. We're walking down."
00:18:00
>> Um I don't think I screamed anything at her. >> Nicholls says the steep trail became
00:18:06
slick. I hugged the right wall pretty much on the way down. This is cascading rain. Like you can actually just see the
00:18:15
water flowing down the trail. >> And so take me to the time of of the fall. What do you remember? M
00:18:27
that part I'm not going to take you through because she did fall off and I can say I had
00:18:41
absolutely nothing to do either directly or indirectly with her falling off. But what Nicholls seems to be suggesting
00:18:51
to 48 Hours is that Rhonda may have chosen to go off that cliff. >> Did she tumble forward?
00:19:00
What did you see? >> Next question. >> Was it a large skid mark on the uh on the path where she had slipped and went
00:19:10
off? >> No, it's just a footprint. >> Just a footprint. >> Mhm. >> Steve, look at me. What you're saying is
00:19:17
she jumped She was going down at almost a run pace. There's a single footprint, you're
00:19:24
telling me, at the edge of the cliff >> and she goes over. >> That's a jump. I've laid everything out there. People
00:19:40
can reach whatever conclusion they want. while not saying it in so many words. She did fall off and I can say I had
00:20:05
absolutely nothing to do either directly or indirectly with her falling off. Steven Nichols mind games.
00:20:16
>> There's definitely a lot more to the story, but I'm not going to say it. So, >> manage to drop a bombshell.
00:20:24
>> Well, you've led me down a path to believe this was a suicide. And I don't think you can look me in the eye and
00:20:30
say, "Well, Peter, you're wrong." Can you? >> No. suggesting that Rhonda Castow chose to
00:20:41
jump to her death from Eagle Creek Trail. >> What was her point in going up there?
00:20:48
How to say this? I She knew she wasn't living past the age of 25. She knew that for a reason. She just wasn't a happy
00:20:55
person. And she thought that having our daughter would bring her happiness, and it didn't. She had a nine-month old
00:21:03
baby at home that she loved dearly and she loved her family. So, that's just another one of his lies to take the heat
00:21:10
off of himself. >> After Rhonda went off the trail, Steven says he hiked down the deep ravine.
00:21:17
>> What did you do when you got to her? >> Well, I held her. That's the first thing I did when I got
00:21:22
there. With no cell service to call for help, Nicholls says he made his way back
00:21:28
to the trail head and dialed 911. >> The police never once asked me if it was a suicide. They never even brought up
00:21:36
suicide. I just answered the questions that they asked. >> Why didn't you tell them back in the day
00:21:41
that suicide was something she was contemplating? >> Would it have made a difference? Do you
00:21:46
really think >> Nicholls may have had a million reasons to keep suicide a secret?
00:21:53
>> If it's a suicide, life insurance doesn't pay out. So, our daughter would have gotten
00:22:03
nothing. >> Is Steven being self-sacrificing, having said nothing about suicide until now,
00:22:10
even as he stands charged with murder. you were willing to essentially take a bullet for that?
00:22:16
>> Or is he self-erving? >> I think Steve is just throwing all these ideas out to throw people off the fact
00:22:23
that he pushed her. Oh well, she killed herself because she wanted to make a better life for her daughter.
00:22:28
>> An investigation into Rhonda's death was immediately launched and a memorial was
00:22:34
held. Rhonda's family claims that you were not grieving, that you seemed unmoved by Rhonda's death.
00:22:43
>> The exact opposite. I was crying nonstop. When I'm really, really sad, I just I close down.
00:22:57
That's just the way I deal with pain. >> Shortly afterward, Steven moved across the state with his daughter to live with
00:23:03
family. For about 3 months after Rhonda died, I completely shut down. >> By 2013, four years had gone by and no
00:23:17
charges had been filed against Nicholls. He decided to start a new life in a new
00:23:22
land. >> So, how does a kid from Oregon end up in China? >> I had been there before and I liked
00:23:28
China. >> Steven packed up. I was telling my daughter, "This is our new life. Let's
00:23:34
make it work." >> And headed here to Wooi about 75 miles from Shanghai. I decided when I got to
00:23:42
China, this is a whole fresh start. And I was like, "America, all the past." >> Steven got a job teaching English to
00:23:50
Chinese businessmen. >> My daughter was absolutely thriving. A little over two months and she was
00:23:57
fluent in Mandarin. She had dance lessons. She was taking taekwond do. She was learning to play the piano.
00:24:05
>> And Steven began to thrive, too, falling in love with Landy Yinyan. >> She's beautiful, of course, but she's
00:24:14
the deepest, funniest person I've ever met. >> Steven says Landy became like a mother
00:24:19
to his daughter. >> And I can say this with being with so many American women. Chinese women, all
00:24:26
inclusive, are better partners. Sounds so insulting to American women, but they just they make better partners. They
00:24:32
make better wives. >> And so Steven decided to make Landy his wife after a year of dating.
00:24:39
>> I had actually proposed to her right before I came back to America. >> Steven flew back to the US with his
00:24:45
daughter in February 2015 to get married. Landy would follow a few days later. >> We were planning on getting married both
00:24:53
in America and China to make it official. What Steven didn't know is that the entire time he was out of the
00:25:01
country, investigators stayed on Rhonda's case and Julia stayed on theirs. >> I kept calling and asking why nothing
00:25:11
was happening. >> But something did happen. In April 2014, a secret grand jury heard evidence and
00:25:19
indicted Nicholls for the murder of Rhonda Castow. So 10 months later, when Steven and his daughter arrived in San
00:25:27
Francisco, >> they said something was wrong with my bags, and was like, "That's interesting."
00:25:32
>> Instead of catching his connecting flight to Oregon, Steven says authorities separated him from his
00:25:39
daughter. >> I'm like, "What is going on here? Something's fishy." And then, yeah,
00:25:43
that's when they arrested me. And I could hear my daughter in the other room crying and she goes, "I want to be back
00:25:48
with my dad." Steven would be extradited to Oregon and his daughter would be sent to live with
00:25:54
Rhonda's family. >> I was shocked. It's one of those things where you think you're in a dream and
00:25:58
you're going to wake up at any time. I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to wake up in China." You know, my daughter will be
00:26:03
nudging me. It'll be back to normal, but that never happens. >> Back in Oregon, it was like a dream.
00:26:10
40-year-old Steven Nichols was arrested last >> one that had come true for Rhonda's
00:26:15
loved ones. And I just I was busted out crying. It was amazing. I couldn't believe it. I was just like after all
00:26:21
this time finally. >> We are on the record in state of Oregon versus Steven Nichols.
00:26:43
>> For months following his February 2015 arrest for murder. >> When you're ready, Mr. Arnold. Steven
00:26:49
Nichols faced pre-trial hearings on a slew of issues from evidence to motive. >> The state is present represented by
00:26:57
Carrie Rasmus, >> including whether there should even be a trial. Since the defense considers Ronda
00:27:03
Castow's death an accident, both sides called witnesses. >> Was this immediately investigated as a
00:27:09
murder? >> No. >> And when did it become a homicide investigation as opposed to an
00:27:14
accidental fall? >> Pretty much the next morning. I can tell that uh based on the injuries
00:27:21
that she has, she she landed predominantly on her legs and her pelvis. >> Medical examiner and forensic
00:27:28
pathologist Dr. Christopher Young says Rhonda's injuries were mostly below the waist.
00:27:36
>> The pelvis was essentially shattered. The defense argues the location of her injuries indicate Rhonda left the trail
00:27:43
feet first, not tumbling head over heels from a push. It's a theory that could support
00:27:51
Nicholls new suggestion of suicide. When you look at the relationship that the defendant then had with Rhonda Castow
00:28:00
and >> notes from a therapist Rhonda had been seen reveal she was depressed but not
00:28:06
suicidal from her relationship with Steven which she described as loveless. >> Um what the state has to prove in this
00:28:14
case is that the defendant did a criminal act. Prosecutors hope the judge will allow them to tell jurors about
00:28:21
some bad acts in Steven Nichols troubled past at his upcoming murder trial. >> Is something that obviously is is
00:28:29
titillating and interesting. >> The first one a shocking love triangle involving another of Rhonda's younger
00:28:36
sisters, Melanie, that may have provided a motive for murder. >> Do you believe that Steven was in love
00:28:44
with Melanie? Yes, I do. >> Jessica says Rhonda learned that Steven was having sex with Melanie.
00:28:52
>> And did Rhonda ever tell you how young her sister was when she first had sex with Steven?
00:28:58
>> She was 15. >> 15 years old. >> Yes. In fact, just after his arrest for murder, Steven was indicted on two
00:29:06
counts of thirdderee rape and three counts of thirdderee sodomy for allegedly having sexual relations with
00:29:14
an underage Melanie back in 2005. >> He did rape my daughter and I didn't want to believe it. In October 2016,
00:29:24
while awaiting his murder trial, you agreed to plead guilty to two counts of sexual abuse with Melanie Castow.
00:29:33
>> Mhm. >> And you signed your name under this statement. I had sexual intercourse with
00:29:38
Melanie Castow twice. >> Steven insists his admission was false. >> Did you have sex with her?
00:29:46
>> No. I'm like, well, can I take a plea and then just say, obviously it never happened. And I was told later, "Nope."
00:29:52
Um, in order to pass the sex offender treatment, you have to admit that >> even though he'd be a registered sex
00:29:59
offender, the law would allow Steven to still fight and regain custody of his daughter, who is in the care of the
00:30:06
state. >> I became desperate. I wanted my daughter back. You'll be amazed at what you're
00:30:12
willing to sign to stay out of prison. >> But investigators believe there really
00:30:16
was a relationship between Steven and Melanie. one that continued on and off for four years, right up to that fateful
00:30:24
last hike. Just a few hours before her death, Rhonda, who had learned of the affair, sent this text to her sister. I
00:30:33
don't know what to say besides, "He's a piece of He used to hurt me. I won't let
00:30:39
him screw us up again. When you need me, I am waiting." This Rhonda sounds like somebody that doesn't care much at all
00:30:47
about you. She's angry with you. >> Does sound like she's angry. I have no idea why she sent those.
00:30:53
>> But Julia says she knows why >> she loved her sister and she knew that Steve was trying to drive a wedge
00:31:01
between them and she I guess she figured it all out and realized what he was doing.
00:31:07
>> On the night of Rhonda Casau's death, the defendant didn't run to where his daughter was, didn't run to his parents.
00:31:16
The first person to whom he went was Melanie. Melanie Castow. >> And it's not the only allegation Nichols
00:31:26
has faced involving a minor. Less than 6 months after Rhonda's death, he was charged with five counts of sex abuse
00:31:34
for allegedly touching a 13-year-old girl on the buttocks. He claims that didn't happen, but something else did.
00:31:43
You sent sexually suggestive texts to her and a selfie with your shirt off and you agreed to a plea deal in this case.
00:31:51
>> Yeah, that was definitely I was in the wrong on that one. Um, in terms of sending the photo,
00:31:59
that was >> No kidding. >> Yeah, >> that's terrible. It's disgusting. >> It is. >> Nicholls pleaded guilty to one count of
00:32:07
sexual harassment. I have been emotionally abusive at times to people, but I've never physically hurt anyone.
00:32:16
>> Prosecutors don't agree and want a jury to see this picture taken by Rhonda showing red marks left from an alleged
00:32:24
physical encounter with Nicholls. >> Right before they went on their hike, they had they had a little scuffle on
00:32:30
the stairs and he put some bruises on her back and she took pictures of them in the mirror. And there are allegations
00:32:37
of another physical assault of a woman with eerie similarities to what Nicholls stands accused of now. Allegations made
00:32:45
by his ex-wife. >> He did try to push his wife over a balcony in China. In November 2003,
00:32:53
Steven was still married to his ex, an American woman and living in China for the first time when his spouse accused
00:33:01
him of trying to suffocate her and throw her over the railing of their eighth floor apartment.
00:33:07
>> We were both holding on to each other's clothing and we were both yelling. Nicholls denies the claim and was not
00:33:15
charged with the crime in China. But Oregon court documents show a witness confirmed Nicholls ex-wife's account.
00:33:27
As Nicholls awaits trial in the death of Rhonda Castow, he has some pleasant distraction.
00:33:33
>> My Chinese fiance Landy is arriving here in about an hour. I'm nervous. I'm excited.
00:33:42
visits from his fiance. >> Hello. >> Today I had my first court appearance. The case was involving my daughter.
00:33:52
>> At our request, Steven Nichols has kept a video diary while out on bail. >> Blue sky, many, many trees,
00:34:01
>> including Landy hiking to that fateful spot on Eagle Creek Trail. >> Very beautiful, but a little dangerous.
00:34:11
And on the eve of his trial, >> we're at the top of Spencer but in Eugene. Love the hike. This is one of
00:34:17
the happiest days of my life. >> A defiant Nicholls is convinced there will be many more happy days ahead.
00:34:25
>> I had nothing to do with Ronda Casau's death. I had nothing to do with Rhonda Caso's
00:34:48
death. >> You didn't push her. >> No. >> What is it? What is it? What is it? >> So, you you're telling us you are
00:34:57
completely innocent of these charges? >> Yes. >> There's a smile. In May 2017, following several hearings
00:35:08
about what evidence could be used against Steven Nichols, which would include his plea to having sex with
00:35:14
Melanie, it looked like his true day in court, was finally on the horizon. >> And then I got a call from Carrie
00:35:22
Rasmmanson, the prosecutor, and she slowly told me the news about him taking a plea. To Julia's shock and horror,
00:35:33
there had been a settlement conference with the prosecution and the defense agreeing to allow Nicholls to plead
00:35:40
guilty to lesser charges. >> I started to cry. I got really upset. I just said, I was screaming on the phone
00:35:46
to Carrie, "No, no, you can't do this. Please don't don't plead out." >> But prosecutors knew their case against
00:35:52
Nicholls could fail. >> For years, the district attorney's office has believed that Mr. Nichols is
00:36:00
responsible for the death of Rhonda Castow. But this case is not about belief. It's about the facts that can be
00:36:07
presented to a jury at trial. >> What is your plea to the charge of criminally negligent homicide?
00:36:14
>> Guilty. >> And to the charge of coercion? >> Guilty. >> People take p for all sorts of reasons.
00:36:21
Most of the time, innocent people plead guilty in order to gain an advantage or meet a goal. In this case, um this is
00:36:28
Mr. Nichols purchasing um insurance. There's now a 0% chance that Steve goes to prison for murder, that a jury gets
00:36:36
it wrong. >> Nicholls was given credit for time served while awaiting trial. He remains
00:36:42
on parole for 3 years. His ankle monitor was removed and his days behind bars are
00:36:50
over. This plea deal, is it justice to you? >> No, it's not justice. I felt like it
00:36:57
happened out of nowhere. I'm still completely blown away by the the decision that was made in this.
00:37:04
>> You destroyed my whole family. >> Still firmly believing Nicholls is a murderer. Rhonda's mother, Julia, was
00:37:13
allowed to address the court. >> I don't see how you could do that. How you could take a mother away from their
00:37:18
child like that by killing her? That's just horrible. Steve, I'll just buy my time and wait until you screw up or when
00:37:24
you die because I know you're going to go to hell for what you did. >> Nicholls claims he took the deal for
00:37:30
just one reason. Time was running out to regain custody of his daughter. >> If I waited over a year to go to trial,
00:37:38
I probably had a 0% chance. >> There's um some problems with the juvenile uh court system that the longer
00:37:44
you wait, the harder it is to get a child returned to parent. But having now admitted to inappropriate behavior with
00:37:51
a 13-year-old girl, pleading to having sex with Rhonda's underage sister, and playing a role in Rhonda's death,
00:37:59
Nicholls chances of regaining custody of his daughter are in jeopardy. >> I think I've just left a path of
00:38:06
destruction. I'm a Tilla the Han basically going through women. Unable to leave Oregon until his parole expires in
00:38:14
2020, Steven broke up with his fiance, who had returned to China. >> I'm alone about 99% of the time. I never
00:38:23
go out. I have nobody. >> Then for the second time in our 48 hours interview, Nicholls brings up the topic
00:38:32
of suicide, but this time he's not speaking about Rhonda. If I don't have my daughter, then it's
00:38:40
pretty much game over for me. I'm I'm checking out. So, >> you're saying you'll take your own life?
00:38:45
>> Um, I hate all the suicide questions. Um, I'm not going to answer that, but like I
00:38:52
said, I if I don't get my daughter back, I'm done. I'll just say that. >> Yeah, right. I doubt that. He's too
00:39:01
narcissistic, egotistical, sociopath. There's no way he would take his own life. He's just said that to get
00:39:10
sympathy. >> And if your granddaughter were to be placed back into his custody, what do
00:39:16
you think would happen? >> She would not be a normal child. She would be emotionally and mentally abused
00:39:24
and possibly physical. And then just when we thought this story had come to an end, our interview with
00:39:34
Nicholls took a turn into the surreal. >> I'm trying to think of a way to think of
00:39:41
this. >> For the first time, he talks about what may have happened in Rhonda's last
00:39:46
moments of life that day in 2009, comparing her to a wounded soldier. Let's say you're in a war situation and
00:39:55
you're with your buddy and I don't know, he he takes a landmine or a grenade or something. You're 100% certain this
00:40:03
guy's going to die. >> Remember, Nicholls climbed down 150 ft to where Rhonda's broken body lay.
00:40:12
>> Was she alive when you got to her? >> Now we're And that's the part I'm not going into.
00:40:24
Is Steven Nichols about to admit something? >> Did you put Rhonda out of misery that
00:40:30
day? >> Let me ask you, if you shoot your war buddy because you see how much pain he's in,
00:40:38
is that murder? >> What do you say? >> I say no. Of course not. So to me that's a justified I don't want to say homicide
00:40:49
but I mean technically it is homicide but it's justified as of that point. You are putting someone out of their misery
00:40:56
that essentially has zero chance of survival. >> And is that what you did? >> That's of course that's not what I'm
00:41:03
saying. I'm just saying well you brought this up. You brought up this whole >> it seems a dangerous word game. Nicholls
00:41:12
stood on the cliff's edge, then took a step back. A final twist in a tragedy where only Nicholls knows the real
00:41:21
ending. >> It's all hypothetical cuz I'm telling people, you know, think think outside
00:41:31
the box. Like there's always other options there. The one thing that still really bothers
00:42:49
me and brings me back, I can't see on TV anybody getting their throat cut. When I
00:42:54
see that on television, it just almost paralyzes me. It was a bright sunny evening in a
00:43:06
suburb of Chicago. I was working at a shopping mall. I was 17 years old and I had just graduated from high school.
00:43:15
I was excited to go to a graduation party. So, I had asked my boss if I could get off of work early. And uh
00:43:22
where we had to park was a lot that was the employee lot across the street. And I had a CD in my hand as I'm singing
00:43:32
out loud. And as I'm walking, I almost felt like there was somebody behind me. And I stopped and I turned around and
00:43:42
about 10 or 15 feet there was somebody that was following me. And I glanced around and there was
00:43:53
nobody else in the parking lot. And a lot of my gut instinct told me to run, to get away, but I I didn't listen.
00:44:03
And I walked towards my car and I put my key into the lock and all of a sudden this shadow came up to my left and I was
00:44:14
grabbed from behind and there was a knife press at my throat. I offered him the money that was in my
00:44:22
purse and he said, "It's not your money that I want." And those words just made my stomach drop. I was so scared. And
00:44:31
his car was parked just a couple of steps away from mine. And with the knife still held at my throat, he threw me
00:44:38
into his car. And he had taken my wrists and used plastic zip ties and bow my hands behind
00:44:47
my back. And he had taken these band-aids and put them to conceal my eyes. And after he put the band-aids
00:44:55
over my eyes, he put sunglasses on my face. Everything happened so methodically.
00:45:02
And I knew in my gut that this was not his first crime. He started to drive slowly out of the
00:45:12
mall parking lot. And he didn't know this, but I was able to wrigle my hands free. and I kept them behind my back and
00:45:20
I surveyed the situation. He didn't know that I could see, but I could see down to either side, to the left and to the
00:45:26
right. I saw that my seatelt was on, the knife was put down at that point, and he's got both hands on the steering
00:45:32
wheel. And I thought to myself, if I could just get out of the car, even if I rolled out, if I broke a leg or broke my
00:45:38
arm, at least I'd be free. And so I can remember just taking a huge deep breath and trying to undo the seat belt and get
00:45:45
out of the car door, but he was too fast. And he grabbed me by my shirt with both
00:45:54
hands and he said, "You try that again and your face won't be so pretty anymore." That's when I realized that
00:46:01
this could potentially be the last day of my life. that this guy might kill me. How does somebody survive something like
00:46:13
this? In 25 years of being a reporter, that's probably one of the most consistent
00:46:23
questions. This young woman had the guts to try to jump out of a moving car to try to save herself. Would you do that?
00:46:32
I don't know if I could do that. You don't know until you're there. To this day, it still haunts me to think
00:47:09
that he had stalked me. It struck me as very odd that his car was parked so close to mine and there
00:47:19
was nobody else in the parking lot. After I tried to escape, he took my hands behind my back in a very forceful
00:47:28
way and tied them really tight behind my back with these zip ties. And I remember
00:47:33
saying to him, "You need to loosen these. I can't feel my fingers." And there was no emotion. He said,
00:47:39
"Nothing." And I remember getting this image of my mom getting a phone call that I had been murdered. And I remember
00:47:48
at that point I started to cry and the tears had loosened the band-aids and I was able to see even a little bit more.
00:47:59
And I made a vow to myself in that car. I said, "If I get out of this alive, he is not going to get away with it." And
00:48:05
it was a conscious decision to remember every detail that I could. And I noticed that there was a city
00:48:14
sticker on the windshield of his car. And I tried to remember the year and the city. The antenna was broken and taped.
00:48:23
There was a beaded seat cushion on his seat. Looking towards my left, I could see the
00:48:30
profile of his face. And he was in his, I would have guessed, late 40s, early 50s, but really thick glasses. His hair
00:48:41
was disheveled and his car was very messy. It was a Trans Am with bucket seats. And at this
00:48:50
point, we were on the expressway. So, we were driving, I would guess, for maybe 45 minutes to
00:49:00
an hour. I'm not exactly sure. on the expressway, I noticed that there was a sign for the town Wakanda trying to
00:49:09
catalog. And then as he pulled off the expressway, I noticed all these street names were presidential names. So in my
00:49:16
head, I'm cataloging all these presidential names. He had pulled off of the expressway
00:49:24
and into a forest preserve. And I glanced around and there's no one around. And as the car stopped,
00:49:36
my body just stiffened. He asked me what dress size I was and I could hear him rustling in the back and
00:49:44
I heard a styrofoam cooler and he pulled out this evening gown and he ordered me to disrobe in the car.
00:49:55
And at that moment he had untied my hands in order for me to get my jacket off. And I thought to myself, should I
00:50:02
run? And I didn't know where I was, but I I had this image of me running through
00:50:09
the woods and him catching me and cutting my throat. So, I just decided to do whatever I could to get out of the
00:50:16
situation alive. And I could feel my heart beating in my chest so fast. And he put this evening gown on me that he
00:50:26
had taken from the back seat. And when he zipped up the side zipper, it fit me like a glove. And I can remember feeling
00:50:37
just like that. You're part of someone's sick psychological fantasy. And then over this dress, he put on
00:50:51
another blue satin dress. and then another red silk jacket. And with every layer of clothes he put
00:51:03
on, I just felt farther and farther away from myself. After he dressed me in in this
00:51:17
ridiculous satin clothing, I was sexually assaulted in the car. And at that moment, I didn't know if if this
00:51:28
experience was over, if it's going to get worse, am I going to be killed? And through that entire experience, it
00:51:36
was the not knowing was the most terrifying. There was some tears that had fallen
00:51:46
down my cheeks. So he had taken this silk handkerchief and he said, "Your mascara is running." And he wiped the
00:51:53
tears from my face and it just gave me the chills, made me sick to my stomach. And he wound up driving again. And I
00:52:03
didn't know where we were going. And he was driving up this parking garage and he pulled over
00:52:11
up at the top floor. He opened the door to that stairwell of the parking garage and he threw me in
00:52:20
and he ordered me to count to 100. And I can remember walking down these steps and I found myself in an auto repair
00:52:29
shop and there was somebody, this man was looking down doing his paperwork and he looked up at me and his face just
00:52:38
fell and he said, "Oh my god, what happened to you?" And I couldn't even answer. I was just in shock and he said,
00:52:44
"I'm calling the police." >> Shberg 911. >> And I also had to speak to the 911 dispatcher.
00:52:50
>> Hello. >> Hello, ma'am. Yes. >> Can you tell me what your name is? >> Angela.
00:52:54
>> Are you okay? >> Yeah. >> Just real brief. Were you forced into your own vehicle or someone else's?
00:52:58
>> No. >> Okay. Can you tell me anything about the car? Did you get the license plate or
00:53:03
the color? >> The license plate. Um, it was looked like it was a Trans Am. It was looked
00:53:08
like it was brown. All I can tell you, he blindfolded me. >> Did he sexually assault you in any way?
00:53:13
>> Yes. >> Okay. Is that the officer there, ma'am? >> Yeah. >> Okay. He'll take care of you. Okay.
00:53:18
>> Okay. Bye-bye, Angela. After the 911 call, I had to make the scariest call I've ever had to make, and
00:53:26
that was to my dad. My dad has always tried to protect me. When I was young, I had the earliest
00:53:34
curfew out of any of my girlfriends. I had to be home way earlier than anybody else. And I said, "Dad, listen.
00:53:41
Something bad happened to me. We called the police and we're going to need to go
00:53:45
down to the police station. Angela was very lucky to be alive. We were talking about why he didn't kill
00:54:15
her. I mean, he drove her to an area where there was nobody around. He came very prepared, which made us
00:54:28
think that this guy has probably done this before. When this incident did take place in a large mall parking lot in the
00:54:37
daylight, we were concerned that the offender was not afraid to do this and that he would definitely repeat again if
00:54:45
he wasn't caught quickly. >> And at that point, he was still on the loose. So, there was also that fear of
00:54:52
did did he know where I lived? I sat down with the two detectives and they said to me, "Angela, we're going to
00:55:02
do everything we can to catch this guy. We have daughters of our own." So, they wanted me to recount everything that I
00:55:08
could remember. And I remember telling them about the car, that it was a brown Trans Am, an older model, the city
00:55:15
sticker that was on the windshield, the broken antenna, everything that I could remember.
00:55:22
She was able at the age of 17 to maintain composure to try and remember every detail of this offender, what he
00:55:32
looked like, his vehicle, um the route they were taking. In my 29 years of doing this job, Angela is by far the
00:55:41
best witness that I've ever dealt with. >> Then they said, "Is it okay if we take
00:55:45
you for a ride? We want to go back and drive that same route that he took you and also drive to the forest preserve
00:55:51
where you were sexually assaulted. Is that okay? And it was so eerie to to relive that
00:56:01
experience just a couple days later to see those same street signs, to go that same route, to try and find that exact
00:56:08
spot that he had parked in that forest preserve. And then when they got back to the
00:56:18
police station, they wanted to sit down and do a sketch of his face. >> Angela said that he had brown untidy
00:56:26
hair. He had thick lens glasses. He had a couple days stubble or growth and that
00:56:34
he's about 170 to 185. Once the composite sketch was completed, we put it out to the surrounding department and
00:56:42
we put it out to the media. I was scheduled to work the afternoon shift as a detective with the Wheeling
00:56:55
Police Department. Uh that morning, I was home. I was watching the 11:00 a.m. news and a story came on about a
00:57:01
kidnapping and sexual assault which occurred at the Woodfield Mall in Shamberg. Upon seeing the composite and hearing
00:57:15
the description of the vehicle, it was like, "Holy cow, there's no doubt in my mind who did this." This was the same
00:57:20
man that we have done surveillances on in the past. I then grabbed my stuff and headed into
00:57:27
work a few hours earlier. I contacted the Shamberg Police Department. The name of the man they
00:57:34
were looking for is Robert Copa and he was a convicted and parrolled killer. >> He had decades
00:57:44
of different crimes from sexual assault, rape, kidnap, and he had murdered a 15year-old girl. And to hear that word
00:57:53
murder, it just it it felt like all the breath had been sucked out of my chest. He was sentenced to 30 years and then
00:58:03
served half the time for good behavior. And he was on parole for only a year and
00:58:08
a half when he kidnapped me. Robert Copa is a convicted killer. But in all the time that he was in
00:58:16
prison, he never got any psychological help. He refused all counseling. And because of that, his own parole officer
00:58:24
was so concerned that this guy was going to be back out on the street. He called
00:58:29
the local police department to let them know. >> At the time, no one was very happy that
00:58:34
a convicted killer only served 15 years out of a 30-year sentence. My feeling was that this person needs to be put
00:58:39
away forever. >> We thought, now we know who you are. We got you identified. Now we just need to
00:58:43
grab you. And when we pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex, we saw the
00:58:57
vehicle, a brown Trans Am that matched the description of what Angela told us. This is the actual vehicle that Robert
00:59:10
Copa used to kidnap Angela with the broken antenna, with the duct tape, with the beaded seats in the driver's seat,
00:59:19
uh, with the village sticker in the windshield. When we searched Mr. Copa's vehicle, we found a knife with a black
00:59:26
handle. We also found flex cuffs in the vehicle that matched. We also found band-aids in there uh, that matched what
00:59:34
Angela was um, had on her eyes. Uh there was also a styrofoam container in the back seat. When we arrested Mr. Copa, he
00:59:43
was very quiet, very cooperative, no emotion whatsoever. He didn't even inquire as to why we were there.
00:59:55
When I walked in to pick him out of the lineup, it was really scary to see his face again.
01:00:02
All that was separating us was this glass. And even though there was four other men dressed in the exact same
01:00:09
outfit, I knew exactly which one he was, all of them were holding different numbers and I said number three without
01:00:16
question. >> Detectives went into his apartment and we recovered women's clothing, evening
01:00:25
gowns, dresses that matched what Angela had to wear during her attack. We knew that we had a very strong case against
01:00:35
Mr. Copa. >> Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. It took another four years before
01:00:43
Copa actually went to trial. And when he finally did get to trial, his public defenders had an interesting take on his
01:00:51
defense. They tried to convince the court that their client was insane. Statistically speaking, I shouldn't be
01:01:06
alive today. When someone gets into a perpetrator's car, they don't make it out. And you know, for my mom, she would
01:01:14
rather not talk about it. And I understand because it makes her think of the day that she potentially almost lost
01:01:18
her daughter. Knowing what evil exists in the world and knowing what people can be capable
01:01:26
of is something that I'm I'm going to have to deal with forever. The list of charges against Robert Copa are so ugly
01:01:34
and terrifying. Kidnapping, armed violence, sexual assault. Hearing all the details of what happened to Angela
01:01:42
that night, plus Copa's lifelong history of violence, his public defenders knew they would have a very difficult time
01:01:50
trying to seed a jury that would have any sympathy for this guy. So, they decided to gamble and they requested a
01:01:57
bench trial. A bench trial is when a judge decides the case instead of a jury. >> You do carry a burden. uh as a
01:02:10
prosecutor and it becomes your personal responsibility to make sure that this guy doesn't go out and hurt somebody
01:02:17
else. Robert Copa pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and the defense strategy was
01:02:29
to show that he had had over the years a series of head injuries including a motorcycle accident which had given him
01:02:37
uh traumatic brain damage and uh affected his impulse control. And so this was not a who done it. Everyone
01:02:45
knew who did it. Uh it was why he did it. It felt like a slap in the face to me.
01:02:53
Never once did I feel like he was not in control of himself because he controlled
01:02:58
the entire situation from the moment that he put that knife to my throat. >> If this was an impulse act, in my
01:03:04
opinion, it would have happened right there in the mall. It would have been quick, over, done, and gone. He's not
01:03:10
going to have the dresses there in the vehicle. He's not going to have all these tools of his trade, you know, for
01:03:16
lack of better words. He's not going to have all that. It doesn't make sense. >> Testifying was a really, really
01:03:27
difficult experience. and seeing him in court and he just stared at me and I remember having my hands kind of clasped
01:03:37
in front of me and just digging my nails into my hands because it was just such a
01:03:43
because it's not only the experience of you testifying but also being cross-examined by the defense attorney.
01:03:49
>> As a witness, Angela was strong. She uh stood right up in the witness box and
01:03:53
pointed directly to Mr. Copa and said, "That's him right over there." This incident had obviously been seared into
01:04:00
her mind and she remembered the details years later as if it had happened to her
01:04:05
the day before. >> It took the judge only 15 minutes to find Copa guilty of all the charges. But
01:04:13
convicting Copa of the violent crimes he'd been accused of was never really the problem. The problem was trying to
01:04:20
keep him off the street so he couldn't do it again. But this time around, it was life in prison with no parole. So
01:04:28
this time around, he went away for good. When the judge said that he was being sentenced to life with no possibility of
01:04:36
parole, this wave of relief just washed over me, feeling this this sort of peace
01:04:45
to know that he wasn't going to hurt anybody else again. In my opinion, this wasn't the police
01:05:01
that made this case. This was Angela. It doesn't happen often where everything aligns up this way. The stars align. So,
01:05:07
it was really nice that this one worked out the way it did. the fact that all those details that I had remembered that
01:05:14
they were able to use my testimony in court as they said to kind of seal the deal to put him away for life was a very
01:05:22
powerful feeling. And I knew that I couldn't just stop after the trial. I really made a promise to myself that I
01:05:29
was going to turn these negative feelings of anger into activism. And I chose to become public with my story and
01:05:36
to show my face and to not be the silent victim because I knew that this issue of
01:05:43
sexual assault was bigger than me and it was bigger than my story. >> Angela Rose
01:05:51
>> and I founded an organization called PAVE and it's promoting awareness victim
01:05:56
empowerment. I felt this calling to speak out about this experience that happened to me, but also help other
01:06:03
people use their voice. All along this journey, people would stop me and say, "Angela, thank you for your voice
01:06:10
because this happened to me." I was raped when I was 16 years old and that was the beginning of hell for the
01:06:21
next three years of my life. I heard about Delane's case and I knew after hearing her story that I had to
01:06:29
get in touch with her. And you know, I started crying because it was the first time that someone actually had taken it
01:06:35
upon themselves to go out of their way to try to help me. She was always so open with us that
01:07:26
I couldn't imagine there was any secrets. Delaney was always a happy, bubbly, bouncy kid. She played every sport and
01:07:38
every sport she played, she played well. Delaney had a lot of friends. Her birthday parties were always big events.
01:07:47
But in the summer of 2011, we noticed some started out as subtle changes that became major changes and we couldn't
01:07:56
figure out what it was. She was starting to have panic attacks and she would just
01:08:02
say, "Nothing's wrong, Mom. I'm just I'm just nervous about school starting. It was June 3rd, 2011. Uh it was the
01:08:25
last day of school, so everyone was really excited. We decided to go to the beach to
01:08:34
celebrate the last day. Um me and my two girlfriends went, hung out for a little while, and then we
01:08:42
came back to my house because my parents weren't home. My two friends invited boys over to my
01:08:49
house. We smoked marijuana. Um, I had never done it before, so I was really nervous,
01:08:55
but I figured why not? My parents aren't home, so I just decided to try it for once.
01:09:02
We were all sitting around the table, you know, just laughing, enjoying the night. Uh, I started to get really
01:09:07
laded, so I got up and walked to my bedroom and decided just lay down and kind of rest. And I closed the door.
01:09:14
And, uh, eventually I heard like whispering and footsteps. Then realized that it was the two boys. And at that
01:09:22
point, like I knew something was wrong and they came in and they raped me. I remember being like so scared and I
01:09:33
remember tears like streaming down my face, you know? I just remember feeling the guilt of like, you know, this is my
01:09:39
fault. I can't tell anyone. At the end of August in the summer of 2011, I got a call from one of Delin's
01:09:49
friends moms and she told me that her daughter had come to her out of concern because Delaney had divulged to her a
01:09:58
secret that she couldn't hold, that Delaney had been sexually assaulted by two boys in her school.
01:10:05
And at first, I told that mom, "No, you know, this is my kid. I would know if something like this happened because I'm
01:10:13
a good mom. So, we were in the car and we pulled in the driveway and I turned to her and I
01:10:19
said, "You need to look me in the eye and tell me whether this happened." And she started to cry and she just nodded
01:10:25
her head and she couldn't look me in the eye. And there's no there's no handbook
01:10:33
that says how to handle those moments, but I knew I had a major battle on my hands. I just didn't know
01:10:42
how big it was going to be. Her dad and I knew that it was important to report it to the police and she just
01:10:49
kept saying, "They're going to kill me, Mom. They're going to kill me. They're coming after me. They're going to kill
01:10:53
me. I'm not going to report. If you make me do it, I will lie. I will say it didn't happen." One of the two boys that
01:11:00
Delaney says raped her was only 16 years old, a minor in the eyes of the law, so
01:11:06
we're not going to use his name. But the other was 17 years old. Shane Vipondo. This is a kid who was very well known,
01:11:15
very well-liked at her high school. He was an athlete. Every single person on campus knew who Shane Vondo was. He was
01:11:22
the popular kid. He was the one who everyone looked up to and respected. He basically owned the school.
01:11:32
That entire summer, I never came out of the house. I never again slept in my bed. Uh, I slept on the couch and I can
01:11:40
honestly tell you the first day of school when I went back, it was probably the most terrifying day.
01:11:52
There were rumors about, you know, like what had happened over summer, what had gone down. There was definitely a lot
01:11:58
of, you know, whispering in the hallways and, you know, when I was at my locker,
01:12:02
I'd look across the hall and people would be staring at me talking. There'd be a group that would form and they
01:12:07
would all face in my direction and start talking like out loud about how I was a
01:12:11
[ __ ] and I was a [ __ ] Months go by and Delaney is still refusing to go to police. She's also still being taunted
01:12:19
daily at school and in her town and feels utterly alone until one day she realizes she's not alone. She's
01:12:29
absolutely devastated when she discovers that Shane has allegedly raped another girl. This girl is only 14 years old. I
01:12:40
can't even explain the amount of guilt that I felt because I hadn't reported it and because I hadn't gone through with
01:12:48
it and stopped him and because I felt like I was, you know, too afraid to be able to stand up against him that he had
01:12:56
gone and done it to another person. So I went and I found her and I remember sitting down next to her and looking at
01:13:04
her and putting my arm around her and I said, "We need to report this. So, what happened?
01:13:11
>> I did not know what was going on. I was kind of just like faded. I didn't really
01:13:15
like say anything. I kind of just said like, "I'm really tired. Can I just like go to sleep?" Like, "I'm really tired."
01:13:22
I said that over and over again. And it lasted for probably um 45 minutes or more. The two young men
01:13:30
are arrested. The 16-year-old is charged as a juvenile and his record is now sealed. But Shane Velando was charged as
01:13:38
an adult and now one of the most popular boys in high school was facing potential
01:13:44
jail time. After the boys were arrested, the tormenting got 10 times worse. She was getting threats on Facebook and in
01:13:56
texts, things like snitches need stitches and a lot of you just wanted to have sex with two guys. I
01:14:06
remember there was one post on Facebook that it was a conversation between two people and one of the comments was like
01:14:13
I just want to beat her up and then the next comment was another person saying how about I attack her, knock her out
01:14:18
and you can spit on her. There was another one that said, you know, um, I can't believe you haven't disappeared.
01:14:24
Um, we're going to make you disappear. But these people were all hiding behind a computer screen or be behind a phone.
01:14:32
I was terrified to the point I dropped out of school. I was homeschooled the last month. I couldn't even finish my
01:14:37
junior year of high school. It wasn't surprising that Delaney was experiencing this harassment after
01:14:48
reporting her sexual assault. A lot of young rape victims go through very similar things. The two boys that
01:15:01
raped Delaney were students at a private Catholic high school. They were not the
01:15:06
type of people that society sees as a rapist. So, it was easy to pass blame onto a young girl who was high on
01:15:17
marijuana and judge her and say she's lying about what happened to her. If I came to you and said, "My child has
01:15:27
cancer." Your first response would most likely be, "Oh my goodness, how can I help?
01:15:33
What can I do?" You know, but if I come to you and say my child was raped, what I get a lot of, including by good
01:15:43
friends of mine, was she drinking? What was she wearing? Who was she with? My daughter made one mistake
01:15:52
that thousands of kids make. >> The day I hit complete rock bottom. I got probably 50 text messages from
01:16:00
different people um all saying the same things. How could you do this? You are a
01:16:06
liar. She locked herself in the bathroom and I knew I knew. So we broke open the door.
01:16:22
She was laying on the bathroom floor. And I scooped her up in my arms and I said, "What did you do?" And I look up
01:16:31
in the mirror and she had written on the mirror, "I'm so sorry. friends that I talk to every day
01:17:05
wouldn't even look at me in the hallway. Um, and it was their parents that wouldn't look at me. They like, you
01:17:12
know, it would be my old softball coaches, my old, you know, second grade teacher.
01:17:17
people in our town that I was very, you know, familiar with wouldn't even look at me in the eye because they were so
01:17:22
disgusted of what I did. So, it was at that point that I I wanted my life to end. I didn't want to be
01:17:31
there anymore. I didn't want to live. I didn't want to go through this. I decided, you know, to take my own life.
01:17:41
I took a bottle of pills. I wanted my life to end. And I literally remember my parents
01:17:52
taking me to the hospital and thinking to myself, why didn't I take more? And she turned to me and said, "Go ahead,
01:18:07
mom. Go ahead. Yell yell at me." And she goes, "I've lost everything. I lost my school.
01:18:14
I've lost my friends. So these are moments that you think, God, if just one kid had stood up with her.
01:18:25
If one kid had just said, "I believe you." It would have changed so much. I think a lot of people would say,
01:18:34
"Get tougher skin. You reported the crime, so you're expected to follow through with the consequences.
01:18:44
For people like Delaney, it wasn't just words. It was very deep to her and it ate her up
01:18:54
alive. And Delaney didn't think that she could go through with it. She didn't think she
01:19:04
could go through with the entire process of prosecution because it's such a long and lengthy
01:19:10
process and it's so emotional and it's so draining and I shared with her how I was a sexual assault victim
01:19:19
and she realized that she's not alone and she doesn't have to go through it alone. The fact that she confided in me
01:19:26
gave me more strength to be able to testify. In the case of the 14-year-old girl,
01:19:32
Shane Velando was convicted by a jury of three counts of unlawful sex with the minor, also known as statutory rape. In
01:19:40
Delane's case, the prosecutor offered him a plea deal. He took it, pleading guilty to one more count.
01:19:47
>> Shane Vilipanda was sentenced to one year in county jail and five years probation, during which he must register
01:19:54
as a sex offender wherever he lives. Him registering as a sex offender was the biggest part of the plea that was
01:20:01
important to me. He's not going to be able to move anywhere without people knowing exactly who he is. Even though
01:20:06
the case is over and Shane was sentenced, it's not something that just goes away. Her entire identity for the
01:20:12
rest of her life will have this lingering. So I think that for a Delaney, the healing process has just started.
01:20:29
Even though I'm in college in another state, I do come home, you know, every so often to visit my family. Uh but it's
01:20:36
not the same. I still can't sleep in my old bedroom. They built another room inside the
01:20:42
garage for me. It's not my home anymore. It's more just a place I go to visit my
01:20:46
family. For Delaney, the ordeal was far from over. One night, she logged on to Facebook only to discover that a friend
01:20:55
of Shane's, a local rap artist named Anthony Marillo, had written a really nasty song about her. And he recorded
01:21:03
it. It not only disclosed her full name, but the 14year-olds as well. And it seemingly went on to threaten her.
01:21:25
About 2 o'clock in the morning, we get a call and her dad Chris answers the phone
01:21:30
and the only words he hears out of her sobbing is, "Daddy, I'm so scared. I'm so scared." She was terrified.
01:21:37
>> I knew that this had to immediately go to the police because I was scared for
01:21:40
my life. You know, I thought I was going to be killed. Wannabe rapper Anthony Mario is facing
01:21:46
two felony counts for threatening to kill two rape victims in a song he posted online.
01:21:57
>> Like when they started playing the song, I was I thought I was prepared, but I
01:22:02
wasn't. And as it like kept going, the worse it got, the worse I got. In the end, the judge dismissed the
01:22:12
felony charges against Anthony Marillo, saying although the lyrics were offensive, they were not genuinely a
01:22:18
threat to anyone, including Delaney. Marillo's attorney had argued that the lyrics were actually protected by the
01:22:26
constitutional right to free speech, and essentially the judge agreed. The prosecution, however, strongly disagreed
01:22:34
and plan to appeal. This isn't just words. This is a message to her. They wanted to torment her and that's what
01:22:41
they did. >> It is heart-wrenching to know what Delaney and what so many other survivors
01:22:46
of sexual assault go through, the bullying, the victim blaming. One of the reasons why I wanted to reach out to
01:22:53
Delaney was just to give her hope. I know your heart's broken's here. Music for me has always been an
01:23:07
escape. And I think for a lot of survivors of trauma, putting their feelings into music can be really
01:23:15
therapeutic. I remember her talking to me and pausing and saying, "Delie, do you realize that
01:23:23
you're not a victim? That you're a survivor. She is my guardian angel because she's
01:23:28
watching over me." >> I remember one day waking up and thinking, you know what? I want to make
01:23:39
a difference. I want to introduce to you a very good friend of mine, DELANEY HENDERSON.
01:23:46
I AM A survivor and I can tell people my story and let them know that you're like
01:23:50
you're not alone, that you're not on your own like I was and you never will be. Whatever I do in my life, I want to help
01:23:58
people. I was put in this situation for a reason and I came out of it for a reason.
01:24:10
I need someone. >> It's very important to move on. I am in love with my best friend and it's just
01:24:28
an incredible new chapter of my life. When you go through something like that, you do carry it for the rest of your
01:24:35
life. I mean, it changes a part of you. And so to hear that Delaney called me her guardian angel makes me feel
01:24:44
like I've lived my life for something. Hi, this is Con and I'm going to talk to you about social anxiety. Social
01:25:50
anxiety, depression, it's controlling me and there's people that love me. I have
01:25:56
a great mom, great dad, but I'm so depressed. >> We spent the day walking the beach and
01:26:07
we had a conversation and I asked him about school and he's like, um, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. And I said,
01:26:13
you know, don't worry about it. Everything is going to be okay. >> It was a nice day out with the family.
01:26:20
>> Nothing to give any hint of what was to come later in the day. There was no indication that anything was going on.
01:26:27
>> I've created a monster out of myself past few years because of my depression.
01:26:36
Racing thoughts, suicidal thoughts. >> Do you remember when is the last time you saw your brother?
01:26:46
>> He was like going out the door. I thought he was just going to his friend's house. You got up in the
01:26:51
morning and how did you know he hadn't come home? >> He wasn't there and we just like
01:26:57
couldn't find him. >> This is not like Conrad not to come home. Then they found his body and
01:27:05
around 5:30 in the afternoon and he died in his truck. Carbon monoxide poisoning.
01:27:16
I will live with this forever. Um the pain >> right away we heard from investigators
01:27:24
that medical examiner found that it was a suicide. It wasn't until they started looking at his phone that they realized
01:27:30
that there was something else going on here because on that phone were hundreds and hundreds of texts from Michelle
01:27:36
Carter to Conrad Roy urging him to end his life. >> You can't think about it. You just have
01:27:43
to do it. You said you were going to do it. Like I don't get why you aren't. And
01:27:47
Michelle Carter admittedly said, "Do it." She was kind of making fun of him for for not taking his own
01:27:56
life. >> I thought you really wanted to die, but apparently you don't. I feel played and
01:28:01
just stupid. You're going to have to prove me wrong because I just don't think you really want this.
01:28:08
>> And she kept pressuring him to do it. >> You're ready and prepared. All you have
01:28:13
to do is turn the generator on and you be free and happy. No more pushing it off. No more waiting.
01:28:22
There was one point where he actually got out of the truck. >> Mhm. >> And changed his mind.
01:28:27
>> Yeah. He was scared >> and she told him to go back in the truck. >> Yes. >> Carter charged with involuntary
01:28:35
manslaughter. >> She faces up to 20 years in prison. >> This is totally out of left field. I
01:28:41
coached Michelle. I know her as a good kid. >> I don't believe that she has a conscience. She knew exactly what she
01:28:49
was doing and what she said. >> Hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself. I don't know. There's a lot of
01:28:59
ways. >> And it's the texts that become the weapon. >> How could she cause a death when she was
01:29:06
35 m away? In these circumstances, this is almost akin to loading the gun and handing it over. Who knows? Who knows
01:29:13
when you have your hand in the trigger when you're sending a text? and it's not realistic
01:30:18
what what's going in my head that keeps on piling and piling and piling. One month before 18-year-old Conrad Roy
01:30:28
took his own life, when the minds of many teens wandered to carefree summer days, Conrad's thoughts were more
01:30:35
serious, introspective. >> I need to be comfortable in my skin. >> Sitting at his computer and his home in
01:30:42
Fair Haven, Massachusetts, Conrad recorded his thoughts on coping with his depression.
01:30:49
>> I need to relax. I really do. He wanted to excel. He was just wanted to be this like great
01:30:59
person. But in my eyes, >> Conrad's mother, Lynn, explains that her son could be his own toughest critic.
01:31:07
>> It was rough on himself. He really really struggled with um just disappointing
01:31:14
I think myself and his dad. >> The sooner I like myself, the better I'm going to be. Lroy thought her son was
01:31:23
getting better. >> I I do have a lot going for me. >> He was getting professional help and on
01:31:29
an anti-depressant Selex Alexa. He had been licensed to be a tugboat captain like his dad.
01:31:36
>> That's a huge accomplishment to be a captain. had just graduated high school and college with a scholarship
01:31:46
was on the horizon >> and he was doing everything that was positive that was, you know, looking
01:31:52
towards his future. But on July 12th, 2014, Conrad drove to a parking lot and using
01:32:00
a gasoline powered water pump, sat in his pickup truck as it filled with carbon monoxide, knowingly inhaling the
01:32:09
deadly fumes, killing himself. All the while, his friend Michelle Carter, then 17, was encouraging Conrad
01:32:18
from more than 30 miles away on her phone to take his own life. I don't understand why you would want someone
01:32:26
that was so beautiful inside and out that had so much that was such a kind person
01:32:34
to die. >> How do you describe what this young woman did? >> I cannot only only she she can. The intersection
01:32:45
of the lives of Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy has left a trail of heartbreak and questions about the
01:32:52
circumstances that led to such a tragic death. >> He's one of the kindest persons. He grew
01:33:00
up very sensitive, very humble and kind, >> happy child. >> Very happy. Many pictures of him
01:33:09
smiling, laughing until he became a teenager. And I don't know if it was the hormones. He just, you know, became
01:33:18
anxious. >> Conrad was the oldest child in the family with two sisters, Morgan and
01:33:24
Camden. Lynn and Conrad's father separated when Conrad was 16, and their divorce hit him especially hard. I
01:33:34
>> think he was just more worried about me. That's what boys do. They worry about
01:33:37
their moms um a lot. Conrad would confide in his friend Ariana Taylor as they spent hours
01:33:44
walking along the water. >> He didn't really wasn't able to explain it to me in a way that I could
01:33:50
understand. So, he kind of just described it as a darkness and how there would be times where he just kind of
01:33:56
wanted to isolate himself from everybody. >> Conrad's anxiety and self-doubt had
01:34:01
troubled Lynn since he was 16. He started uh having trouble sleeping and we got him treated and then he had his
01:34:10
first uh suicide attempt a year after the age of 17. >> Conrad had overdosed on acetaminophen.
01:34:20
>> I worked in a psychiatric hospital and I never imagined that one of my children
01:34:26
would um have those feelings. >> Do you think he really intended to kill himself at that point? He did contact a
01:34:33
friend. >> That friend was Ariana. >> He told me that he was really sick and that his mom had just left and that he
01:34:39
wanted her to come back. >> Ariana immediately got in touch with Conrad's parents who brought him to the
01:34:46
hospital. >> He told me, "Mom, I will never do that again." He was sorry. And I was sorry as well
01:34:56
that he felt that way. The fact that he wanted you to call his mother, what does
01:35:02
that say to you? >> It just says that he was calling out for help, >> that he didn't actually mean what he was
01:35:08
doing, but he really needed help and that this was the only way he kind of thought that he would really get help.
01:35:14
>> And that help seemed to be working. >> He actually was getting a lot better. He
01:35:20
told me about how he was going out and he was going to like, you know, the high school parties and just hanging out with
01:35:24
everybody. I was like, "That's amazing." Michelle Carter was another friend of Conrads. They met in 2012 while both
01:35:33
were vacationing in Florida. Conrad and his sisters were visiting relatives who happened to know Michelle.
01:35:41
>> How would you describe Michelle? Friendly. >> Yeah, she's really friendly. She always
01:35:45
made Conrad laugh. >> As it turned out, Michelle lived just a few towns over from the Roy in
01:35:51
Massachusetts. And the relationship continued after the vacation. But while Michelle called Conrad her
01:35:59
boyfriend, his family says the two rarely saw each other. And like so many teens, their interactions were mostly
01:36:07
over text messages. >> Had your son ever mentioned Michelle Carter? >> Yes. After they met in Florida? I met
01:36:16
her 2013 at his baseball game and that was the only time I ever met her. Second time was at his week. Michelle and
01:36:24
Conrad shared something in common that Lynn did not know. Michelle had her own struggles, including an eating disorder,
01:36:32
and both teens at times took anti-depressants. >> You know, probably the attraction was
01:36:37
they both had their issues. >> Softball coach Ed McFarland has known Michelle Carter and her family for a
01:36:43
decade. The Michelle he knows is an ideal teammate. >> I've never seen her do a mean thing.
01:36:49
I've never seen her be mean. Michelle's high school yearbook paints a picture of an active, well-liked
01:36:56
student. One voted class clown and most likely to brighten your day. But that would not be how her actions would be
01:37:05
described on the last day of Conrad's life. That day started out seemingly happy for
01:37:15
Conrad, spending time with his family. That morning on the 12th, what was his mood like?
01:37:22
>> He was fine. He wanted to, you know, go to the beach with the girls. >> While there, Camden at one point noticed
01:37:28
her brother sitting alone texting. Did you know who he was texting with? >> No. >> Now you think he was texting with
01:37:36
Michelle Carter? >> Yeah. >> But you didn't know that at the time >> and what was his demeanor?
01:37:41
>> I don't know. He I don't know. He kind of seemed like anxious like when he was
01:37:45
like texting. Conrad then took his sisters out for ice cream where his mood seemed to lift.
01:37:52
>> I mean, when you think back on that, would you have ever guessed there was anything wrong that afternoon?
01:38:00
>> After going home, Conrad left at about 6:00 p.m. telling his mother he was going to see a friend.
01:38:08
>> And I asked him if he was going to be back for dinner, and he said he didn't think so. And that was the last words
01:38:13
that he spoke to me. It was July 12th, 2014, the heart of summer in New England. Conrad Roy had
01:38:27
headed out in his pickup truck around 6:00 p.m. As the evening passed, Lynn checked to see when he'd be home.
01:38:35
>> And I texted him, I don't know, before I went to bed, maybe around 10:30, 11, and
01:38:40
then I texted him again in the middle of the night. Conrad didn't respond. Still, Lynn
01:38:46
figured everything was okay. She believed he had beaten back much of his anxieties.
01:38:53
That night, Conrad's sister, Camden, unexpectedly heard from Michelle Carter, that 17-year-old who had battled her own
01:39:01
mental health issues and lived about an hour away. How surprised were you that you suddenly got a text from Michelle?
01:39:09
And I thought she was just like just like his friend. And but in the text she said like we're boyfriend and
01:39:16
girlfriend now. And I was just like I looked at my mom I was like they are >> whether teenage love or something else.
01:39:24
Michelle was sending out the word. Had anyone heard from Conrad Roy? >> And what did she text you exactly?
01:39:32
>> She was like um hey Camden like do you know where your brother is? Was that unusual for him not to come home?
01:39:39
>> Oh yeah, absolutely. That was not like him at all. >> It was sunrise and still not a word.
01:39:46
>> So in the morning I went to by Ariana's house and he wasn't there. >> And so that's when I began to search
01:39:54
where is he? What happened? >> We went by dad's house. There's no sign of him. Maybe an hour later, I felt like
01:40:03
like this um rush go through my body that I've never felt in my life. And I felt at that point that he wasn't with
01:40:11
me. >> On the afternoon of July 13th, police found him inside his pickup truck parked
01:40:20
at the local Kmart, his cell phone right next to him. >> And he died in his truck. Carbon
01:40:27
monoxide poisoning. >> Like got in the car and my mom was just like crying like the most I ever seen her,
01:40:34
Kai. And she was like, "He's gone." And like she was just like, "Your brother's gone."
01:40:40
>> It still hurts just as much as it did then, doesn't it? >> I will live with this forever. Um the
01:40:49
pain. >> I don't get why it happened. Why did it happen? Why did it happen to him? And
01:40:57
Michelle seemed to take Conrad's death as hard as anyone. Once again, a text was her choice of communication. This
01:41:06
time to Lynn. I am so very sorry. Conrad meant so much to me. No one questioned the suicide until cops got a hold of
01:41:19
Conrad Royy's phone. It would prove to be an investigation like no other. No gun, no knife, no crucial DNA in this
01:41:29
case. Only this, a trail of words starting with those on the cell phone. Messages with Michelle Carter.
01:41:39
>> And once investigators found this dialogue, they knew that there was something else
01:41:44
up and they wanted to get to the bottom of it. >> Former Boston Herald legal columnist and
01:41:51
48 Hours consultant Bob McGovern. And so this thing turned from a suicide investigation into a homicide
01:41:58
investigation. >> Michelle seemed to be encouraging Conrad not to live, but to die. Text flew
01:42:06
between the two of them for more than a week. Right up to the moment he took his
01:42:11
own life. I'm determined. I'm happy to hear that. When you get back from the beach, you got to do it. No more
01:42:19
thinking. Yes. No more thinking. you need to just do it. But now with Conrad Roy dead, Michelle
01:42:29
seemed devastated, acting as if his death was a total surprise. When it came to the funeral, she sat up close to kind
01:42:37
of where the family area was. I always described her seen as the grieving widow. She was just
01:42:43
um constantly like sobbing. >> And two months later, Michelle even held a fundraiser to honor Conrad in her town
01:42:51
of Planeville. That fall, investigators interviewed Michelle Carter at her high school.
01:42:57
>> Did you do you think you had contact with him that day? >> I think so. >> But Michelle's story was riddled with
01:43:03
holes and police weren't buying it. They poured through her cell phone. Her texts
01:43:08
ranged from urgent to ominous. Like one sent to her friend Samantha Boardman on July 12th at 8:02 p.m. just minutes
01:43:18
after police believe Conrad killed himself. He just called me. I heard moaning like someone was in pain and he
01:43:26
wouldn't answer when I said his name. That text was followed by another. I think he just killed himself.
01:43:35
Michelle was texting her friend, but what she wasn't doing was calling for help. And there was at least one more
01:43:44
text found on Conrad's phone that now seems telling. Only moments before he died, Michelle asked him this. Did you
01:43:54
delete the messages? Police would extract more than a thousand deleted text messages between Conrad and
01:44:00
Michelle. Some showed his fear and reluctance to take his life on the very day he died. I don't know. I'm freaking
01:44:09
out again. I do want to, but like I'm freaking out for my family. But even as Conrad panicked and
01:44:17
considered abandoning his plan to die, Michelle egged him on. She described it to her friend Samantha that September in
01:44:26
this text. Sam, his death is my fault. Like honestly, I could have stopped him. I was on the phone with him and he got
01:44:34
out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I effing told him to get back in.
01:44:42
The road to justice would be complicated. Massachusetts has no law against encouraging or assisting
01:44:49
suicide. And Michelle was miles away when Conrad died. >> People don't realize in our generation
01:44:56
texting does a lot. It's like having the person right there in front of you when
01:45:00
you're texting somebody. >> And the Supreme Court of Massachusetts seems to agree. In the summer of 2016,
01:45:07
the court ruled that even though Michelle was an hour away when Conrad Roy died, she had a virtual presence
01:45:14
that night in that pickup truck. It's a controversial legal theory born out of a
01:45:19
digital world. And so nearly 3 years later, Michelle Carter will stay on trial in this courtroom for involuntary
01:45:28
manslaughter. Michelle's attorneys, fearing how the text would play, advised her to wave her
01:45:35
right to a jury trial. She put her fate in the hands of a veteran judge, Lawrence Mones.
01:45:42
>> Are you doing that of your own free will, knowingly and voluntarily? >> Yes. >> See more of Michelle Carter's texts to
01:45:51
Conrad Roy on Facebook at 48 hours. She assisted and devised and advised and planned his suicide.
01:46:16
>> Inside this Massachusetts courtroom, Michelle Carter, now 20 years old, looks
01:46:21
more like a prep school student than a criminal defendant. And on July 12th, 2014, as his truck was filling with
01:46:33
carbon monoxide, he was scared. He got out. It was the defendant on the other end of the phone who ordered him back
01:46:42
in, then listened for 20 minutes as he cried in pain, took his last breath, and died.
01:46:49
>> The alleged weapon in this case, Michelle Carter's own words. What she did in theory, according to the
01:46:57
prosecutors, is she recklessly caused Conrad Royy's death. >> The state's case revolves around
01:47:04
Michelle's chilling text messages to Conrad as he was apparently having second thoughts the day he took his
01:47:11
life. >> The defendant texted Conrad, "You can't think about it. You just have to do it.
01:47:16
You said you were going to do it. I don't get why you aren't." >> And then there was this. 10 days before
01:47:22
he died. Michelle sent him this text message assuring him not to worry about his family's feelings. Yeah, they'll
01:47:30
probably blame themselves for a while, but they will get over it and learn to accept it. A notion that baffles and
01:47:37
upsets Conrad's mother. >> I think she needs to be uh held responsible for her actions cuz she knew
01:47:43
exactly what she was doing. Lroy testified that on the last day of his life, Conrad was in a good frame of
01:47:50
mind. >> He was eating tortilla chips and guacamole on the way to the beach. >> In um July of 2014, did he ever mention
01:48:00
he wanted to harm himself? >> No. I knew he was a little depressed, but I thought it was he was doing
01:48:07
great. But prosecutors contend that Michelle and her incessant texting had immense influence over Conrad. Even
01:48:15
though Michelle was more than 30 miles away from him when he took his life, that her virtual presence caused him to
01:48:23
do it. >> She helped him devise a plan to kill himself using a combustion engine to
01:48:28
poison himself with carbon monoxide gas. >> Michelle sent Conrad this text message.
01:48:34
I'm not going to sleep until you are in the car with a generator on. Your honor,
01:48:39
this case is a suicide case. It is not a homicide. >> But defense attorney Joseph Cataldo
01:48:45
painted a very different picture. >> The evidence of the texting is overwhelming that Conrad Roy was on this
01:48:53
path to take his own life for years. Michelle Kata was not present. Michelle Kata had been texting with him. She did
01:49:02
not physically see this individual for over one year. The defense brings up Conrad's acetaminophen overdose when he
01:49:10
was 17 and claims he had been suicidal for years, in part because of his parents' divorce and he had a
01:49:17
contentious relationship with his father. And if the judge is considering Michelle's text messages, he should look
01:49:25
at all the messages between the teenagers. Even up to a month before Conrad's death, Michelle seemed like a
01:49:32
concerned friend, trying to help a socially awkward and emotionally fragile Conrad. On June 19th, Michelle texts
01:49:41
Conrad, "Are you 100% positive you're never going to commit suicide? Be honest with me. Do you think about doing it?"
01:49:49
"No, I'm not." In other messages, she talks about wanting to take him to a therapist or a mental health hospital.
01:49:57
But on July 1st, 11 days before his suicide, text between Michelle and Conrad took a sinister turn. Prosecutors
01:50:07
let the words tell the story. >> She talked him out of his doubts point by point. She assured him that his
01:50:13
family would understand why he did it. She researched logistics. Michelle had been sending Conrad suggestions on how
01:50:20
to kill himself for weeks. Hanging is painless and takes like a second if you do it right.
01:50:27
But what would drive anyone to send a text like that? Prosecutors say Michelle was desperate for friends and attention.
01:50:35
And she got it when she talked about her suicidal boyfriend. Just days before he
01:50:41
died, she sent texts to girls she wanted to be close with in an effort to get their attention and sympathy.
01:50:48
>> Lexi, please. >> Pretending Conrad was missing. >> Do you remember getting a message about
01:50:54
Conrad being missing? >> Yes, >> he's missing like they don't know where he is. >> Prosecutors say Conrad still being alive
01:51:01
presented a problem for Michelle. She could be exposed as a liar. So, it was important he kill himself.
01:51:10
On July 12th, the night he did take his life, Conrad drove to a Kmart parking lot and texted Michelle, "Leaving now.
01:51:19
Okay, you can do this. Okay, I'm almost there." That was the last text Conrad ever sent
01:51:27
to anyone. But there was also a 46-inute phone call. Michelle called him. She was the
01:51:35
last person to speak with him. After that call ended, Michelle texted her friend Samantha.
01:51:43
>> I'm going to ask you to read that text message, please, aloud. >> Sam, he just called me and there was a
01:51:48
loud noise, like a motor, and I heard moaning like some was in pain and he wouldn't answer when I said his name. I
01:51:55
stayed on the phone for like 20 minutes and that's all I heard. >> Then 27 minutes later, Michelle sent
01:52:02
Samantha another text message. >> I think he just killed himself. Prosecutors say Michelle within hours
01:52:09
began building a virtual alibi. Knowing that he was likely dead, she began acting like a concerned friend, sending
01:52:17
Conrad this text message. I'm scared. Are you okay? I love you. Please answer. Michelle showed little emotion at the
01:52:27
trial. Her defense relies on this psychiatrist, Peter Ban, to explain her behavior, even though he was not
01:52:35
treating Michelle at the time. He testifies that she was involuntarily intoxicated by an anti-depressant drug
01:52:44
she started taking 3 months earlier. Selea, >> she was imshed in a delusion where she's
01:52:50
thinking that it's a good thing to help him die. But prosecutors completely dismiss that theory.
01:52:59
>> She does not tell the Roy family about being on the phone with Conrad the night
01:53:04
before, does she? His dead body is in a car 24 hours, and she withholds that information.
01:53:12
>> Inexplicably, Michelle sent more than 80 texts to Conrad after he died. In some,
01:53:17
she even apologizes for not saving him. But it wasn't just Conrad she texted. The prosecution is hoping the judge pays
01:53:26
particular attention to this text that she sent to her friend Samantha a week after Conrad's body was discovered.
01:53:35
They have to go through his phone and see if anyone encouraged him to do it on texts and stuff. They read my messages
01:53:43
with him. I'm done. His family will hate me and I could go to jail. Her actions, your honor, on July 12th,
01:54:06
2014 caused the death of Conrad Roy. They were reckless, and she knew it. >> According to the prosecution, Michelle
01:54:17
Carter helped put Conrad Roy in his grave. It was a felony and she caused serious bodily harm.
01:54:24
>> According to the defense, she didn't know what she was doing. >> Good morning.
01:54:29
>> She was psychotic, delusional, involuntarily intoxicated from taking the anti-depressant Selexa.
01:54:37
>> Michelle Carta underwent an involuntary intoxication in June and July >> to prominent child and adolescent
01:54:44
psychiatrist Dr. Harold Coplowitz. That makes no sense at all. Though not a witness in this case, he says those
01:54:53
drugs called SSRI are remarkably safe. >> They don't make you delusional. They don't make you psychotic.
01:55:02
>> And they don't make you intoxicated. >> They don't make you drunk. >> Dr. Coplowitz believes the act of
01:55:08
texting was more mindaltering than any drug. >> And the problem with text is that it
01:55:15
separates you. It makes you feel less responsible. But no amount of distance can explain her behavior, especially the
01:55:23
prosecution's contention that Michelle ordered Conrad back into the truck, says the doctor.
01:55:29
>> It's very hard to understand where the man says to a friend, listen, I'm feeling pain. I don't want to do this.
01:55:38
I'm going to get out of the car. There there's no way to seem to make sense of the fact that someone then says a friend
01:55:45
says get back in the car and kill yourself. This really has a vicious and a very very malicious quality to it.
01:55:52
>> No matter how malicious, Dr. Coplowit says Michelle really couldn't have convinced Conrad to kill himself if he
01:56:00
hadn't already been suicidal. So while Michelle could not force Conrad to kill himself, she could enhance his
01:56:12
risk of killing himself. She could encourage him to complete the act because he was already on his way. And
01:56:18
simultaneously, she could have screamed out for help, which might have prevented
01:56:24
this deadly outcome. >> I want to recover from this. And I feel like I haven't recovered from it yet. I
01:56:30
feel like I still have A long way to go. >> Clearly, these heartbreaking videos now
01:56:37
posted on YouTube show a young man looking for that different outcome, says Dr. Coplowitz.
01:56:43
>> You expose yourself like this, it says, "Please help me. >> I've created a monster out of myself
01:56:52
past few years because of my depression." >> Sadly, Conrad Roy is not alone. According to the Centers for Disease
01:57:02
Control and Prevention, we lose approximately 4600 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 to suicide each
01:57:13
year. One reason is that teenagers are simply more prone to depression. Another reason, they're more susceptible to peer
01:57:22
pressure. which is why the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why has caused such an uproar. In the
01:57:31
show, a teenage girl dies by suicide and leaves 13 recordings to other teens whom
01:57:37
she blames. >> I think it's one of the most dangerous programs on the air right now for the
01:57:42
simple reason that it glamorizes suicide. Unfortunately, suicide's very contagious. We know that teenagers who
01:57:50
watch these kind of TV programs are more likely to think about suicide, are more
01:57:54
likely to attempt suicide, are more likely to commit suicide. >> It appears that Michelle Carter may have
01:58:00
been one of those teens influenced by what she saw on TV. Not 13 Reasons Why, but perhaps an episode of Glee. When an
01:58:10
actor on Glee died of an overdose in real life, the show wrote his death into the script. Listen to the similarities
01:58:19
between what the character Rachel says about the loss of her boyfriend and what Michelle later says about losing Conrad.
01:58:27
>> I had it all planned out and we would live happily ever after. >> It's a good plan.
01:58:37
>> Did you tell him? >> I didn't have to. He knew. >> Michelle's text to a friend after
01:58:43
Conrad's death is almost word for word. I had it all planned out. He knew, too. I didn't have to tell him.
01:58:52
>> He was my person. >> Michelle writes the exact same line. He was my person. Poor her. Her
01:59:01
boyfriend died. They were going to get married one day, and now she's the grieving girlfriend. According to the
01:59:09
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it all boiled down to that starring role as the grieving girlfriend.
01:59:16
>> The Commel's position, your honor, is that she wanted attention. >> After six days of testimony,
01:59:24
closing arguments begin. >> The defense is up first. >> The evidence actually establishes that
01:59:31
Conrad Roy caused his own death. Joe Cataldo reminds the judge that Conrad had attempted suicide before and
01:59:42
points to a text Conrad wrote to Michelle. >> There's nothing anyone can do for me
01:59:48
that's going to make me want to live. It's very bad to hear, but I want to let you know that truthfully.
01:59:57
>> The decision to die was Conrad's, not Michelle's, says Cataldo. He created this situation, your honor.
02:00:05
>> Most importantly, Michelle was nowhere near Conrad when he killed himself. >> There's no evidence that Michelle Carter
02:00:12
has any physical actions whatsoever in this case with Conrad Royy's decision. It was all of his physical activity.
02:00:22
>> But prosecutor Katie Rburn gets the last word. >> Although she wasn't physically present,
02:00:29
she was in his ear. She was in his mind. She was on the phone and she was telling
02:00:35
to him to get back in the car even though she knew he was going to die. She absolutely knew it was wrong. And she
02:00:43
absolutely caused the death of this 18-year-old boy. And I ask you to find her guilty.
02:01:05
Three days after Judge Monz began his deliberations, two families prepared themselves for his verdict.
02:01:12
>> Mr. Roy. >> For the Carter family, freedom is at stake. For the Roy, it's about justice
02:01:18
for their son. >> She instructs Mr. Roy to get back into the truck. well knowing of all of the
02:01:27
feelings that he has exchanged with her, his ambiguities, his fears, his concerns.
02:01:35
>> The judge said Carter caused a dangerous environment. And under Massachusetts
02:01:40
law, she had a duty to save him. >> She called no one. She did not issue a simple additional instruction. Get out
02:01:49
of the truck. Miss Carter, please stand. This court, having reviewed the evidence and applied
02:02:00
the law thereto now finds you guilty on the indictment charging you with the involuntary
02:02:08
manslaughter of the person Conrad Roy III. >> Guilty. >> This court has >> a verdict that is groundbreaking in
02:02:16
terms of recognizing the deadly power of words, but one that leaves no winners. just heartbreak.
02:02:24
>> I know we all wish that he had the opportunity to grow up into adulthood to become a tugboat captain and to enjoy
02:02:31
his future. >> Nearly 7 weeks after being convicted, >> Michelle Carter, who is out on bail,
02:02:41
arrives for sentencing yourself, >> where hostile words greet her. >> She could face 20 years in prison.
02:02:51
Please remain standing for one moment while you are sworn. >> First, Conrad's father and sister recall
02:02:56
a life cut short. >> Not a day goes by with without him being my first thought waking up and my last
02:03:05
thought going to bed. >> Michelle Carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn in her
02:03:12
own well-being. She has not shown any remorse. Where was her humanity? The prosecutor reads a
02:03:21
statement from Conrad's mother, Lynn, who found it too difficult to speak. >> I do not know where to begin. I pray
02:03:28
that his death will save lives someday. >> Lynn wants to make it a crime to encourage suicide.
02:03:35
>> I pray that a law comes so forth so that another mother does not have to endure
02:03:41
what I am. I do not believe that another can go on to encourage someone to take their life
02:03:48
and it can be okay. >> The prosecution asks that Carter served 7 to 12 years behind bars.
02:03:55
>> She has shown no remorse and in fact after Conrad's death she sought attention and sympathy for herself. All
02:04:02
she had to do was say get out of the car. Michelle Carter does not speak at sentencing, but her attorney does and
02:04:11
asks for probation. >> Miss Carter does regret what happened. She also sent a letter to the probation
02:04:19
department where she accepts uh responsibility. This is a terrible, terrible tragedy and uh she very much
02:04:28
regrets this and praise your honest judgment of leniency. >> Then Michelle Carter learns her fate.
02:04:35
Miss Carter, please stand. >> He sentences Michelle Carter to 15 months behind bars. A sentence that does
02:04:42
not please the defense who appealed the conviction. >> We're asking you, your honor, to stay
02:04:49
the jail sentence until we can have our day in court. >> The judge takes the request seriously,
02:04:56
recognizing the significance of this case. The conviction may be reversible, but the time spent in prison is not.
02:05:05
>> And then makes a stunning announcement. >> That a grant of a stay through the
02:05:11
Massachusetts court system only is warranted. >> A stay meaning Michelle Carter would be
02:05:19
out on probation, not in jail, while her appeal made its way through the Massachusetts courts. It was a decision
02:05:27
that disappointed Lyn Roy and her daughters. >> We're just going to honor his life um
02:05:32
and do it in the most best way we can. We want him to be proud of us. >> All right.
02:05:38
>> In February of 2019, Michelle Carter's conviction was upheld. >> Miss Carter will now be taken into
02:05:45
custody >> and she began serving her 15-month sentence. Her lawyers appealed to the US
02:05:50
Supreme Court. The court declined to hear that appeal. In response, her lawyers issued the following statement.
02:05:58
We are deeply disappointed that the Supreme Court has decided not to review Michelle Carter's wrongful conviction.
02:06:07
Lyn Royy's focus now is on changing laws. >> What would you like there to be? >> What kind of law?
02:06:15
>> I would love one in honor of him. Uh his name Conrad's Law. >> There's people that love me. I have a
02:06:22
great mom. My son mattered. He matters. Will always matter. Someone that had a family and future and
02:06:38
mom and dad. I will never get over him. a beautiful ballerina, a troubled marriage, a deadly confrontation.
02:07:08
>> She tells the neighbor, "I shot Doug in self-defense." >> Was she genuinely afraid or just trying
02:07:13
to get her way? >> Underneath those white feathers, she's an evil woman. She's the black swan.
02:07:18
>> 48 Hours, Saturday at 10:9 Central on CBS.