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[Music] [Music] I hate seeing people get away with stuff and I like figuring stuff out my
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name is Ian iavo and I was the lead detective in the Sarah Harris case Sarah Harris she was
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incredibly bright um one should always pursue knowledge no matter the topic very energetic very fun did Sarah have
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any idea how beautiful she was honestly I don't think she did Sarah Jane Harris Sarah hopes to become an
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anesthesiologist she was shocked that she won the Miss Marilyn petique pageant she had thought from a very young age
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that she would want to be a doctor she wanted to help people in 2020 Sarah needed wisdom teeth pulled
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she initially met James Ryan as a patient at his oral surgery practice I'm James Ryan I mean it's not just that we
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say that we care but we really do we take pride Dr James Ryan was a well-respected oral surgeon a lot of
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people knew him and thought very highly of him so she gets the teeth done she starts getting all these text messages
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and they're from Dr Ryan and he says by the way I'm looking to hire someone as a
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surgical assistant do you know anyone she says something like well what about me Mom and he offered her the
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job she then became an employee and then his girlfriend and his living girlfriend Sarah's life appeared
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glamorous on the outside but behind closed doors I mean that wasn't necessarily the case
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I would have never ever thought that her life would end the way it did Montgomery count
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911 my girlfriend I think overdosed I'm trying to resuscitate her right now and what is your first and last name j Ryan
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I'm doing so compression and is responsive is she breathing she's not breathing when the two responding
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officers um got to the house they saw Sarah she's laying on the floor what did authorities think had happened
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to Sarah that day she overdosed and we don't know if it's an accident if it's suicide or if it's a homicide the
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decision was made to charge him with depraved heart murder I think most of our audience will have never heard of
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depraved heart murder I have never seen it before you have to show an extreme indifference to human life James Ryan
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provided those drugs that caused her death that doesn't mean he's guilty of murder another way of presenting this
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case would be you never intended to hurt her I knew this was not just some simple
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accidental overdose this was much more [Music] [Music] was she sleeping on the couch last night
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yeah she would do that sometimes it's the morning of January 26 2022 Sarah Harris lies unresponsive on
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the floor of the room in disarray her boyfriend Dr James Ryan tearfully talks with police at the scene the
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conversation is recorded on a body camera as they ask him about the night before we're watching TV know that she
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said you should probably go to bed because you're tired and you have to work tomorrow so I did uhhuh what time
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did you go to bed probably about 10 or 11 Ryan has already told authorities he's a doctor and that he thinks it's an
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overdose and he says it's happened before and I did CPR and brought her back this time Sarah doesn't
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survive Dr Ryan has suggested where she got at least one of her drugs of choice a powerful anesthetic
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she used to take propol to she used to steal that from my office how they got into her body I've caught her before
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with um like injecting herself with things and why she was bipolar also so she would could be really angry or could
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be really happy Ryan had called Sarah's family with the awful news that morning but her
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mother Tina just didn't believe anything he said she immediately suspected James
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Ryan was responsible for Sarah's death she arrived at the scene about 20 minutes
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later I started kicking and hitting him and screaming up the mail let the mail let the mail what did he say
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happened he said he went to bed and left her alone and came down and she was unresponsive in the morning authorities
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say they found wrappers from syringes tourniquets and saline bags next to the kitchen sink and Drug vials in Sarah's
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purse Tina thinks Ryan arranged it that way he wanted to look like it was a suicide Tina had long held suspicions
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about Dr Ryan he had encountered Sarah Harris more than a year earlier not as a girlfriend but as a patient to get her
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wisdom teeth out Dr Ryan is somebody who's practiced for over 20 years he has incredible credentials Mary fulan is a
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former prosecutor and defense attorney and a CBS News consultant we asked her to use her Decades of courtroom
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experience to help analyze this case he's esteemed and regarded in his community as one of the best at what he
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does Tina haris says the first time her daughter met Dr Ryan for her teeth in the summer of 2020 the doctor was
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professional but she does remember at the time feeling it was curious when his interest in Sarah seemed to change she
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starts getting all these text messages he asks her how are you doing and she says I'm fine and he starts sending
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little emojis what are you thinking as her mom I thought it was a little bizarre that he added a little happy
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face and I thought well maybe he just likes using emojis she says that's when Ryan had mentioned
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he was looking to hire someone as a surgical assistant I thought well you know maybe he just thinks that she'd
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really be a good addition Dr Ryan hardly seemed like a threat he was divorced with three grown children and was
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involved with a woman with whom he already had a baby at 47 he was more than twice Sarah's age he said no I
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don't need your resume just come on in for a working interview I said well I'm proud of you honey that's
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pretty incredible he's going to teach you all this stuff at the beginning Sarah seemed to
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love the job but Tina says as the holidays approached an extravagant gift retriggered her suspicion that Dr Ryan's
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interest in Sarah was more than professional what was it a diamond necklace that's quite a gift I said okay
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he's after you I said you got to put your foot down instead in early 2021 she says Sarah and announced she had agreed
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to go out for a meal with Ryan who was ending his other relationship he seemed to win over Sarah and Tina admits in
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their early days as a couple even she found him impressive as a mother was a part of you excited she was dating a
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doctor well I was excited I was excited because he had a wonderful reputation and she says Ryan was generous he would
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Le Sarah a new car and take her and her family on trips all expenses paid Tina says in a way he spent time courting her
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too you know he would say I would love to have you as my mom Sarah's so blessed to have you Tina says she and Sarah
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always had a special bond we were very very close she says Sarah was close to her
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three siblings too especially older sister Rachel Rachel took it upon herself that she was going to be the
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protector but there had been a rough period during Sarah's youth in Suburban Maryland like many young people she
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experimented with drugs and had problems moderating her mood she suffered from anxiety when did she first struggle with
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depression I noticed depression coming about when she was about 14 15 years old she would start feeling down but Tina
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says Sarah is still excelled in high school craving knowledge and the skills that came with it um it's currently
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hanging in the in Paris she learned German Spanish Russian and sign language to she put a lot of pressure on herself
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especially with her grades before long Sarah got her social bearings she fell into a great group of
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kids they would sit out in the living room play the guitar play the piano sing she was at a music festival in
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2018 when 21 one-year-old Sarah caught the eye of Henry Peterson 7 years older I feel like it was like stars colliding
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and uh meeting someone like you're supposed to meet they lived 7 hours apart but he says they quickly became
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emotionally Inseparable we talked about everything you could think of in terms of a future um marriage and children and
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family he says the distance eventually made them drift Peterson broke it off though he says he still imagined they
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would end up together she and I never stopped talking the love was always there by her mid 20s Sarah had gotten
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into modeling and competing in beauty pageants and in 2020 she'd won that Miss Marilyn petite pageant the next year is
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when she started quietly seeing Dr Ryan and by that summer they had decided to live together and that's when everything
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goes downhill [Music] [Applause] by the end of the summer of 2021 Tina Harris says James Ryan was dominating
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Sarah's life boss boyfriend even letting her live rentree in his house but instead of flourishing Sarah seemed
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anxious and depressed she saw a psychiatrist who gave her that bipolar diagnosis her complexion starts to
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change she starts to lose weight on a family trip to Key West that September Tina says Sarah had been
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asleep when a drunk Dr Ryan revealed something unsettling he had first noticed Sarah in
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the park when she was just 14 I used to see Sarah walking the neighborhood and playing at the park with her
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friends and he says then I found out she worked in the toy store so I would take
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my kids there so I could see her and I remember when she dressed up as Elsa from Frozen and she looked just like
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Elsa and then he said yeah and then I found out she worked at one of these restaurants and so I would go in there
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for dinner so I could get her as my server it sounds like Dr Ryan was obsessed with he was he was very much
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so by their next trip to Florida a month later she says Sarah was acting strangely she wore a bulky longsleeve
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sweatshirt despite the Heat and it seemed like she and Ryan were always fighting and she goes I hate him I don't
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want to be here I want to go home and when they returned to Maryland Tina saw the full horrifying picture of what
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Sarah's life had become she says she called Sarah on October 28th 2021 phone rang rang rang she finally
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picked up she could barely talk her words were extremely slurred so I said Sarah what's going on what's wrong with
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you she goes oh I'm just really tired mom you knew something was wrong yeah well I knew she was slurring Tina says
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she and Rachel left for Sarah's house minutes later and we walked into hell what did you see well Sarah
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answers the door she smells it looks like she hadn't bathed in a week or more she looked horrible she'd weighed 120
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when she'd had oral surgery with Ryan Tina says but Sarah was Skin and Bones now and Tina says there was more The Ivy
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bags needles laying all over the floor syringes tourniquets bloody Footprints bloody paper towels and there were drugs
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but bottles and vials everywhere Rachel gathered them up and photographed them I
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never looked at the drugs and I wish I had I do think some people watching would think how did you
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not look at what the drugs were of course I just wanted to get her out she says Sarah had offered an innocent if
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unconvincing explanation she goes I've just been dehydrated mom he's just hydrating me I said I'm turning him in
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and Sarah starts crying mom you can't do that please don't do that she's begging
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me I grabbed her arms and I pulled her sleeves up and she had needle marks from here to here all over her arms bruises I
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became hysterical against her better judgment Tina agreed to hold off on calling authorities but she says she
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insisted Sarah move back home just Days Later Tina says Ryan convinced Sarah to come back to
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him in the following weeks Tina says Sarah seemed to be getting better she started cooking eating even going to
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church but on December 3rd 20121 Tina says her daughter answered the phone slurring again Rachel Harris jumped into
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action Rachel said I'm going to go and check on her when Rachel got there it was worse
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than the first time poking around the ground floor Rachel once again pulled out her camera
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finding drug bottles and vials as well as a saline bag an IV pole Ivy needles and bloody footprints on a
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kitchen mat she was so distraught she left without talking to her sister a few days later Tina confronted
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Dr James Ryan she was in no mood for another explanation I just reach across and smack the living crap out of him you
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hit him yeah oh I hit him and I said what are you doing are you trying to kill my daughter
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Tina says Ryan still insisted he'd only been hydrating her and you still believed it I believed he was giving her
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something I didn't know what it was I did not look at the vases all I could see was my daughter and what kind of
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trouble she was in but the next day she says Ryan admitted he'd been doing more than hydrating her he'd been giving
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Sarah drugs though only to keep her from them someplace else so I told him I said
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look you can break it off with my daughter or I'm calling the police and he said well I'll break it off with her
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but days turned into weeks and Dr Ryan never did after months of tension Tina says she couldn't keep arguing with her
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daughter anymore what was I going to do lock her up you probably wanted to I threatened it and she said if you do
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that Mom when I get out you'll never hear from me again and that scared me to [Music]
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death within weeks there was a new tragedy for the Harris family Sarah's brother Christopher just 38 died after a
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heart attack in Montana I had to sign the papers to take him off life support which um
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no mother should have to do his death was devastating to the whole family Sarah posted this tribute
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message to her brother never goodbye I'll see you soon big bro and only 18 days after Christopher's
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death at about 8:30 a.m. on January 26 2022 Tina says she and Rachel were together when Rachel got James Ryan's
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call Rachel started screaming she's holding the phone and James has it on FaceTime and he's got the camera pointed
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at my [Music] baby that's there on the ground saying she's gone she's [Music] gone at the time of her death Sarah
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Harris weighed just 83 lbs authorities would list her manner of death as undetermined Dr Ryan was not arrested
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they seemed to accept his story that Sarah struggling with mental health issues had
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overdosed but there would be help from a most UN likely investigator Rachel started trying to
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get into Sarah's [Music] eyecloud I just hope that you're happy that I'm with someone who truly truly
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loves me 3 months before before she died Sarah left a voicemail for her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson I've
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never trusted anybody as much as I've trusted the man that I'm with right now professionally
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emotionally you never let me in that way they' stayed in touch after breaking up so when she didn't answer her phone
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after January of 2022 Peterson says he had a strange feeling and decided to go online I Googled her
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name and uh uh there's an obituary yeah he says when Tina gave him details he joined her in the belief that James
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Ryan the man Sarah said she had trusted more than anybody else was responsible for her
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death but First Responders didn't think so they didn't shut it down as a crime scene police seized some drug violence
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but left the house unguarded Tina says that's because they believed what Dr Ryan had told them about where she'd
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gotten the drugs and how she'd taken them it was an overdose but she says she knew there was
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more to it than that though she didn't know how to prove it turns out there was someone very close to her who
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did Rachel told me she would find the evidence Rachel Harris decided to ex examine Sarah's laptop to see if it
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might contain Clues authorities hadn't seen she didn't know the password but she knew her sister well it took her
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about a couple of days to figure out Sarah's password coming through Sarah's computer and iCloud Rachel hit Pay Dirt
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a trove of texts between her sister and James Ryan the messages were full of references to drugs including a
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tranquilizer named Di Pam and two fast acting surgical anesthetics the type Rachel had seen in the home Dr Ryan and
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Sarah shared propop fall and ketamine which is sometimes also used for depression Rachel created a binder
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adding the photos she'd taken there Rachel compiled 200 pages of evidence the medical examiner would release
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Sarah's autopsy report which showed those same three drugs in Sarah's system research suggests they can all be habit
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forming and they can suppress breathing taking them in combination can be lethal
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all the while Rachel's building a case yes yes in February 2022 Rachel gave her binder to monomer County Police it
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eventually landed on the desk of detective Ian iello an expert in pharmaceutical investigations after more
00:22:53
than 33 years as a cop iello was nearing retirement he decided to come and alone
00:22:59
on a Sunday it was my birthday and nothing was going on you don't get parties when you're this age I'm like
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I'm just going to go in the office and look through this binder and just see what I cavello Saul in Rachel's
00:23:12
binder suggested cops at the scene had been wrong about Sarah's death he says reading the text between Sarah and James
00:23:19
Ryan was like watching a murder in slow motion you could see Sarah die Sarah is suffering within the first month of
00:23:28
their relationship she had anxiety she was having trouble sleeping Ryan offers a
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quick fix I can give you an injection the anxiety will be completely gone in 6 seconds he writes it will work let's try
00:23:43
it he had already made the decision I cavello says the text suggests that over the months Sarah
00:23:51
developed a drug habit and a habit of asking her boyfriend the doctor to feed it in October 2021 do we have ketamine
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here in November we need syringes I feel like in December I just really need sleep she writes can you bring
00:24:09
propol she's actively asking for drugs at no point does he say no iavo says the text suggests Dr Ryan
00:24:20
often brought Sarah the dangerous drugs and that he actually administered at least one about a month before her death
00:24:27
it was December 20th 2021 if you wake up I just went to change after I gave you ketamine just
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now he writes he's injecting her while she's asleep no monitoring no anything an
00:24:42
iello points to this exchange from the day before Sarah died is it possible to bring home ketamine when you come she
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asks yes I will bring some home I love you Baby Ryan replies the text tell a story they do
00:24:58
so do Rachel's photos from Sarah's house says I cavello though his colleagues lacking experience in pharmaceutical
00:25:05
investigations might not have understood that they had no idea what they were really looking at he says Patrol cops
00:25:13
and paramedics often deal with overdoses of street drugs like heroin and Fentanyl
00:25:19
but the deadly drugs in Sarah Harris's house were masquerading as something else there's a difference
00:25:27
between drugs and medication iello says to the untrained eye the drugs at Sarah look like
00:25:35
medication the paraphernalia around the house might have been confusing too usually what we see is burnt spoons tin
00:25:43
foil uh some hypodermic needles maybe a shoelace or some other string that kind of drug paraphernalia but to I cavello
00:25:52
the syringes and the saline the professional tourniquets and the plastic wrappers at Sarah made it resem an
00:25:58
operating room that's what a lot of it looked like whatever questions responding authorities may have had he
00:26:06
says Dr Ryan offered answers and you've got James saying she did all of this without any other information okay
00:26:17
well we're just kind of going to go with what he says he's a doctor he's a doctor
00:26:22
but I cavello says after reading through the family's binder any credibility Dr Ryan may have had at that day
00:26:29
vanished and on March 22nd 2022 nearly 2 months after Sarah's death James Ryan was arrested for the
00:26:39
murder of Sarah Harris but prosecutors would have to make the case to a jury sometimes it's hard to convince
00:26:47
them maybe especially so in this case because James Ryan's defense is suggesting he was only trying to save
00:26:54
Sarah's life and that she had other ideas [Music] what do you make of those text messages
00:27:05
between Sarah and Dr Ryan chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X [Music]
00:27:20
[Music] I knew the case was solid detective Ian I cavello was sure Dr James Ryan was responsible for Sarah
00:27:38
Harris's death and he had no problem convincing prosecutors on Montgomery County's overdose task force Jennifer
00:27:46
Harrison it's his fault James Dietrich he was the one who was providing those drugs and Kimberly sisle he knew how
00:27:55
dangerous these drugs were was a doctor after all but as certain as prosecutors were that he knew he was
00:28:03
risking Sarah's life they had no conclusive evidence he intended to kill her we never suggested that you can
00:28:11
accept that James Ryan loved Sarah Harris but it does not excuse all the other actions that he took that led to
00:28:20
Sarah's Sarah's death so they charge Ryan with a subcategory of second deegree murder unfamiliar to many people
00:28:27
it's known as has depraved heart murder prosecutors say the charge doesn't require proving the killer actually
00:28:33
wanted anyone dead only that they knew their actions would likely kill someone and didn't care we have to prove that he
00:28:41
did it with Reckless disregard for the value of her life diet gave us an example forance if I take a gun and just
00:28:48
randomly shoot it into a crowd I may not necessarily want or care that anybody dies but that is such a grossly Reckless
00:28:57
Act that someone's likely to die prosecutors also charge Ryan with a slightly lesser charge involuntary
00:29:04
manslaughter plus two counts of drug distribution and one count of possession with intent to
00:29:12
distribute ladies and gentlemen meet Dr James ran opening statements begin on August 16th
00:29:22
20123 there are no cameras in court but there is an audio recording but behind door he was conducting a deadly medical
00:29:32
experiment on his 25-year-old patient turned employees turned living girlfriend the prosecution
00:29:41
portrays Ryan as a controlling older man who got his glamorous young girlfriend hooked on drugs he was stealing
00:29:51
dangerous sedation drugs from his business and administering them to his girlfriend sah
00:30:00
prosecutors say the proof of Ryan's guilt is largely in those text messages Ryan offering to get rid of Sarah's
00:30:08
anxiety in six seconds telling her he gave her ketamine while she was sleeping and on the night before her body was
00:30:16
found apparently agreeing to bring ketamine home to her can you tell us not fa I don't know where to start I was the
00:30:30
first to testify she was my baby Tina Harris is emotional as she relives Sarah's downward spiral just months
00:30:40
before dying I asked to see her arms and she said no Mama but I grabbed her arms and I pulled up the sleeves and
00:30:51
her little arms were covered in Needle marks and bruises and the medical examiner tells
00:30:59
the jury about the Dangerous Drug cocktail that brought her life to a tragic end when people use all three
00:31:08
together those just cause profound strong sedation the drugs can be so dangerous in fact the prosecution tells
00:31:17
jurors that doctors who use these drugs have equipment and protocols in place to
00:31:22
revive patients if needed even though Dr Ryan would follow all of those safety protocol calls in his own office he
00:31:29
would never follow those at home she was chemically dependent on she was chemically dependent on him prosecutors
00:31:36
also call social worker Janice Miller who says that kind of power imbalance is a Hallmark of abusive relationships the
00:31:45
drugs were the way that he controlled her and really ensured that she wouldn't leave the relationship he's created an
00:31:51
addict Dr Ryan and his attorneys did not agree to be interviewed by 48 hours but
00:31:56
at trial they argue Sarah Harris may have played an important role in her own demise suggesting that after wrestling
00:32:04
with mental illness she was now losing her battle with anxiety depression and drugs their focus on Sarah Harris is
00:32:12
obviously her mental illness the defense suggests Sarah may have begun stealing the drugs herself they want the jury to
00:32:18
know about her Facebook post about seeing her deceased brother soon but the judge won't allow
00:32:25
it but they are allowed to tell jurors about a text Sarah sent Ryan months before her
00:32:33
death she said I've lost my will to live I've lost my will to live do you think there's any chance
00:32:45
Sarah was suicidal absolutely not absolutely not where's the indication of a suicide on the scene there is none
00:32:55
detective iello says the drug bottles found found in Sarah's purse were too far from her body for her to have given
00:33:02
them to herself these drugs are fast acting she's going to be out in seconds how she put all the medication in her
00:33:09
purse then went and laid down not possible she wouldn't have cleaned up somebody else had to have done
00:33:20
it but according to CBS News consultant Mary fulan the defense argues that detectives mishandled the seene that
00:33:28
there's no way to know exactly what happened including who administered the Fatal dose they didn't test to see if
00:33:37
his DNA or fingerprints were on those syringes Dr Ryan chooses not to testify the defense argues he was a loving
00:33:44
partner who was just trying to help Sarah this is a case about caring for somebody and possibly loving them to
00:33:50
death his lawyers call a friend who saw Sarah using drugs before she began dating Ryan and relative who saw them as
00:33:59
a happy couple in closings prosecutors remind the jury that to convict Ryan of depraved heart murder it doesn't matter
00:34:08
whether or not he actually put the drugs in Sarah's body or even whether or not he wanted her to Die the act of giving
00:34:16
her the drugs is him handing her a loaded gun but with the jury agree if you were a juror in this case
00:34:27
what would be your your verdict and why learn more about the case at 48 [Music] hours.com I try to believe the best in
00:34:49
people and my for as long as Kyle Stevens can remember his friend Dr James Ryan has done right by people he was
00:34:57
pretty straight lace clean cut guy when he talked about Sarah how did he sound in the beginning he seemed enthusiastic
00:35:04
and excited but Steven says at a certain point Ryan did reach out with a concern
00:35:11
he had asked about how to best be helpful and supportive to someone in that place of depression and possibly
00:35:21
addiction did it make you wonder if he was actually asking about Sarah yeah but I didn't press so Steven says he had no
00:35:29
idea what was really going on between the two then he discovered his friend was arrested and headed to trial when
00:35:37
you heard the verdict what did you think I was taken back after a nearly 2 we trial it takes
00:35:46
jurors Less Than 3 hours to reach their decision as to count one murder in second degree guilty
00:35:57
on August 25th 2023 they find James Ryan guilty of the second deegree depraved heart murder of Sarah
00:36:06
Harris relief yeah relief they also convict Ryan on the manslaughter and drug charges my heart
00:36:19
just felt satisfied Sarah's voice was heard through this Tina and Rachel speak at a press conference after the verdict
00:36:28
she was this beautiful beauty queen and she wasted away at the hands of Dr James
00:36:33
Ryan and again at sentencing months later he is a predator he is a wolf and she's
00:36:41
floating fling bar until his life is been but James Ryan's lawyers had submitted supportive letters from his
00:36:57
friends and a legal filing which detailed that James Ryan had his own struggles with drugs and mental health
00:37:04
Ryan addresses the court and insists he didn't administer the lethal dose but takes responsibility for not preventing
00:37:11
Sarah's access to the drugs that killed her the words do not exist to convey and
00:37:20
express the level of remorse I feel though the guidelines suggest a sentence of 15 to 25 years for this case of
00:37:28
depraved heart murder the judge has something else in mind it is the sentence of this court that you be
00:37:35
committed to the Maryland Division of Corrections for a period of 40 years with more time for the other
00:37:42
counts it's a total of 45 years in prison a 45e sentence puts James Ryan in a category with some violent murderers
00:37:51
you know 45 years for James Ryan is basically life patients rely on doctors and their expertise in their advice and
00:38:01
I think she's sending a very loud message to the medical community and State's Attorney John
00:38:07
McCarthy wants to send a message to lawmakers the depraved heart murder charge may have worked in this trial but
00:38:14
it's a difficult crime to prove in other overdose cases we need tougher laws as early as 2015 McCarthy began pushing to
00:38:24
streamline Maryland law so state prosecut leaders can more easily convict dealers and Distributors who Supply the
00:38:32
drugs that lead to overdose deaths but it hasn't been easy we're not at a place in Maryland right now that the
00:38:39
legislature seems very interested in creating new crimes and new penalties Ian I cavello who read murder
00:38:49
between the lines of this case and retired after the trial says he still thinks of Sarah often I did everything I
00:38:57
could um for her so does her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson who looks back at their breakup
00:39:05
with regret I guess I always thought she was going to be there a regret Sarah seemed
00:39:12
to share he showed us a letter she wrote him years earlier when their relationship ended you made me feel
00:39:20
alive now that you're gone I feel so many pieces and parts have died with you as if to preserve his connection to
00:39:28
Sarah Peterson still practices a kerto he played at her [Music] grave where today a mother who faced
00:39:41
great loss with even greater courage struggles to face the future without Sarah and her brother so close in life
00:39:49
and death that she actually buried their ashes in the same casket I hear Sarah tell me
00:40:00
Mama it's okay what do you want your daughter's legacy to be I want people to remember my Sarah
00:40:12
as a light a brilliant young woman who cared about others and loved life loved it
00:40:34
[Music] as a kid growing up in Chicago there was one horror movie I was too scared to
00:40:43
watch it was called Candyman but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly
00:40:48
inspired by an actual murder listen to Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder wherever you get
00:40:54
your podcasts I'm eron morard of 40 8 hours and of all the cases I've covered this is the one that troubles me most
00:41:03
listen to murder in the Orange Grove the trouble case against Crosley green wherever you get your
00:41:10
[Music] podcast there's definitely Mysteries involved in this case it was a cold Halloween morning
00:41:33
even had some snow on the ground the call came out at 5:37 in the morning my my wife
00:41:45
sh KOB trickle had called our Dispatch they met us on the porch exactly where's the house it's
00:41:56
right here it's this one with red and white did he seem upset I mean there were tears coming down and was hard to
00:42:05
understand was choked up we go up to the door start making announcements inside hey's Police
00:42:14
Department looking to my left is when I first see Kristen I kind of focused in on her jaw
00:42:21
moving I can see the movement of her jaw got a in a shirt she you yeah y so she was still alive we were hopeful
00:42:33
could she be saved no after you did your autopsy how did you rule on Kristen trickle's death
00:42:45
homicide or suicide suicide suicide y the victim's family in this right out of the gate was just adamant that this
00:42:55
was not a suicide the scene was kind of unusual we had a female with a large weapon laying in bed and it's not common
00:43:07
to see that you have a replica a very similar type of gun can you show it to me sure how large oh it's pretty hefty as
00:43:20
you can tell it's a hand I'm a little surprised yeah it's awkward to maneuver not something you'd easily turn on your
00:43:28
yourself we had evidence that led us to believe that kobby trickle had killed his wife I do not believe he did it I
00:43:37
was Colby trickles defense attorney when he called 911 she was still showing signs of Life had he intended to murder
00:43:45
her it just seems odd that he would call immediately I think it's very possible that Kristen trickle picked up a gun
00:43:55
that night in great anguish and Ed her life a professional came in and looked at the life of Kristen dug into
00:44:03
basically every aspect of her life got into who Kristen was prior to her death so basically this is a
00:44:13
psychological autopsy trying to figure out the State of Mind of a person who died that's difficult to do isn't it
00:44:22
yeah and had this ever been done in the state of cancer before never in a criminal case no
00:44:33
[Music] [Music] Sergeant Brandon halman of the Hayes Police Department vividly remembers the
00:45:23
dark cold Halloween morning as he arrived at Christen trickles home the bedroom she was in is actually
00:45:32
this window on the left oh the bedroom's right there yeah that's the bedroom right there and the moment he found the
00:45:38
26-year-old near death in bed I could see the firearm from what I could tell initially a larg caliber revolver and
00:45:46
laying across her abdomen about like this how was she dressed uh almost fully undressed she
00:45:53
was just wearing underwear after Kristen showed signs of life the sergeant quickly moved the revolver away from her
00:46:00
and carried Kristen into the living room for CPR the only injury that I could see at
00:46:07
that point was the the entrance wound and where was that entrance wound underneath her uh chin here there was
00:46:14
nothing the First Responders could do for Kristen I went out to Colby on the porch and told him that she had done
00:46:22
hello my name is Brandon Hopman I'm the sergeant working today how man's body camera was only recording audio that day
00:46:31
she died and I'm so sorry are Sergeant hman says he asked Chris's husband Kobe to go to the police station
00:46:46
so he could tell investigators what happened did he seem to be cooperative he was yep agreed to go up we got him
00:46:54
some shoes at the station Kobe said that hours earlier Kristen had come home from
00:46:59
Walmart where she worked in the gardening center and the couple had played video games he went to bed before
00:47:06
his wife he said and woke up to his ears ringing and then found Christen lying next to him with a gunshot wound to her
00:47:16
head [Music] up she was just looking at me I what did you I ran over to my phone and I called 911
00:47:34
Kobe told investigators that while he was on the phone with 911 he checked Kristen's pulse but felt nothing and
00:47:41
then picked the revolver off her body where was the gun at it was laying by her neck I pulled it
00:47:49
back what did you do with the again for a moment he says he thought about taking
00:47:55
his own life I started put in my head was on the phone they said they were sending
00:48:11
people thought maybe they can help her while Kobe trickle was still at the station Kristen's aunt delin and uncle
00:48:20
brt rice a local Pastor found out Kristen had died I got a call from my mom and worst phone call ever to get she
00:48:32
said Kristen's dead she's been shot and it was just awful I said Mom that can't be right that can't be right that
00:48:39
doesn't even make sense but more baffling was that Kobe had said Kristen's death was a
00:48:46
suicide what did you tell investigators initially we just don't think she would do this oh 100% I said there's no way of
00:48:54
all the people I know in this world the last person that I would ever think would take their own life would be
00:48:59
Kristen because of the joy she she has it's so out of character to Kristen and how she solves problems she's not a
00:49:06
runner from problems delin and brand wri say Kristen's family and her two dogs meant the world to her the thought of
00:49:14
her hurting herself in any way or anyone or anyone is so foreign she would never take her life and not tie up loose
00:49:25
ends with her family make sure her dogs had somewhere to go and they believe they knew her better than just about
00:49:34
anyone else they had watched her grow up it is hard to find a photograph she is not smiling just
00:49:43
fully she had had that smile even though delin and bran say Kristen had a tough childhood her mother left her and her
00:49:52
father when Kristen was 2 years old when she was 17 moved in with her aunt and uncle and
00:49:59
their three kids delin and bran say she thrived she love being with our family she loved the peace in our home Chloe is
00:50:08
brand and D's daughter Kristen was my older sister figure in my life and I really looked up to her and she was just
00:50:16
like always there to make me smile and feel important the family remembers when Kristen met Colby they were both 18
00:50:24
years old Colby attended our church Colby for a time was on the worship team at our church they are the band that
00:50:33
plays the worship music during our services he wowed her with his guitar playing abilities songs that he had
00:50:42
[Music] written but just 5 years later Kristen was dead and Colby was saying she took
00:50:53
her own life coroner Lyall Nord hook examined the scene and looking at the wound he
00:51:01
believed the revolver was in close range to her chin when it was fired and in Nord Hook's experience that was not
00:51:09
unusual for a self-inflicted gunshot wound how would you believe the revolver was being held close to the chin and
00:51:18
parallel to the body like this yeah but detective JB Burkholder had also been called to the house we respond on to
00:51:26
suicides they happen several times a year and to him this didn't seem like suicide having a female with a gunshot
00:51:35
wound especially to the Head uh was uh was unusual for us why why is that more unusual for women you think for women
00:51:42
they're a little bit more concerned about looks even after death and so they think about
00:51:48
that and there was something else when I got there I remember an alarm going off
00:51:56
Kristen's cell phone alarm is heard repeatedly on audio recorded by First Responders I think I actually silenced
00:52:04
it she had set an alarm to get up to get ready for work and had plans for that day a lot of times individuals who are
00:52:12
thinking about suicide they're not setting alarms it doesn't matter when they get
00:52:17
up there was candy set out in the kitchen area she and Colby had planned for Halloween to go on as it normally
00:52:25
would with trick-or-treat and nothing troubled him more than that weapon found at the scene detective
00:52:32
Burkholder wasn't sure Christen was the one who fired it the gun was a full-size
00:52:37
357 revolver a large caliber weapon approximately 11 to 12 Ines it can be hard to handle and so being able to
00:52:44
place that gun under your chin and discharge that firearm just didn't seem very likely for a smaller female in what
00:52:54
was described as a dark bedroom this wasn't an open and shut suicide case there was
00:53:16
questions after his wife Kristen died in the early morning hours on Halloween Kobe trickle spoke with investigators
00:53:24
for more than 11 hours hello what's your name Kobe Kobe yes ma'am I'm so sorry he was asked over and over again
00:53:35
to recount the events of the night before do you guys have any fights anything like that yesterday no Kobe
00:53:44
also told investigators about his job with the US military as part of human intellig there's some interesting places
00:53:53
they send you with being Intel but they sent me to Middle East and they sent me down into Central
00:54:00
America sounds like some movie stuff there first impressions of kobby trickle is that he was a guy who
00:54:08
was in the military he had a I guess a decorated past of overseas tours and then also kobby trickle was a guy who
00:54:17
loved his wife but detective JB Burkholder says he had questions about Kobe's account of the morning Kristen
00:54:25
died after after finding Kristen kobby says he called 911 and as he later told police he picked up the gun and thought
00:54:34
about ending his life what troubled Burkholder is where Kobe put the gun after he changed his mind back on
00:54:42
Kristen's stomach I put it back down and ran outside just very odd it doesn't seem as though if I'm calling 911 if my
00:54:51
wife's dying um on on the bed that I would place the gun back down on her body Kobe was asked if there was any
00:55:00
life insurance on Kristen I have some on me from military but that's it no insurance on Kristen he said and then
00:55:11
was asked if he had anything to do with Kristen's death uh did you in fact kill her
00:55:19
no Kobe left the police station that day but first responder sergeant helpman was
00:55:27
increasingly suspicious about Kobe's actions at the scene he wondered why Kobe didn't demand to be by Kristen's
00:55:35
side as they tried to save her life your wife's inside and here she is you know Bleeding Out dying and you're on the
00:55:44
porch while First Responders were administering CPR Colby was chatting with officers about video games that
00:55:53
conversation was recorded by a police body cam what kind of games do you guys like to play Counter Strike everything
00:56:00
from Call of Duty to Minecraft that day as investigators got a search warrant for Colby's cell phone
00:56:09
an autopsy for Christen trickle was underway at the scene coroner Lyall Nord hook who suspected suicide had looked
00:56:18
for any evidence that someone else was involved like signs of a struggle were there any signs of Def ensive wounds or
00:56:27
any signs that she had fought with anyone before she died no there coroner Nord hook says he also examined
00:56:34
Kristen's body for signs of past physical abuse typically if there's a series of progressive injuries over a
00:56:42
period of time so you can tell that they've been beating on each other in this case I wasn't really seeing that so
00:56:49
I'm going well I have to take the husband's statement at word value you that he was there and the gun went off
00:56:59
and she is dead Nordo says 3 days after Kristen's death based on the information he had at
00:57:09
the time he determined that the manner of death was a suicide but Kristen's Uncle brand and
00:57:16
aunt delin say the more they learned about the facts of the case the more questions they had when I heard that it
00:57:25
was a gun and there's no way we knew Kristen was scared of guns Kristen was also very very private in her body very
00:57:37
modest when I found out she was not dressed that was shocking to me reflecting on Kristen's relationship
00:57:46
with Colby Brandon delin told authorities that for years they were bothered by what they say was K's
00:57:53
controlling Behavior if she didn't immediately respond to a text or wasn't able to answer her phone he would get
00:58:00
very frustrated with her he wanted her at his becking call at the time the Rises say they told
00:58:09
Kristen they had serious concerns about kby we know that she was not happy with us I believe that he convinced her that
00:58:20
we were against her and therefore she separated herself somewhat Kristen decided to marry Colby
00:58:31
and eventually moved almost 300 miles away to Kansas City but life for the couple was
00:58:39
difficult says brand Kobe enlisted with the Army Reserve and did odd jobs Kristen worked at a vet clinic money was
00:58:49
tight in early 2019 the couple moved back to the Hayes area and the rice to say Kristen was coming to their church
00:58:58
again oh we were thrilled we were so thrilled to reconnect with Kristen and it was just
00:59:05
like it was when she lived in our home yeah and in the months before her death they say she was making plans to launch
00:59:13
her pet boarding business she had picked out a little house that's south of town
00:59:18
and has a little Barn behind it and she wanted to turn the little Barn into the the boarding area to the rice family
00:59:26
Kristen seemed happy and excited for her future but after her death brand and delim wondered about
00:59:34
Colby was kby capable of murder as investigators began digging into to Kobe's story they poured over
00:59:58
the data in his cell phone there's several I guess two big aha moment they discovered Kobe had been exchanging
01:00:07
flirtatious Snapchat messages with another woman he um had conversations with her which would be described as a
01:00:16
sex conversation also on that cell phone according to detective JB Burkholder was
01:00:22
evidence that contradicted what Kobe had first told invest instigators when asked
01:00:27
about life insurance on his wife I have some on me from military but that's it cell
01:00:36
phone data revealed that Not only was Kobe aware Kristen was covered by a life insurance policy called sgli for spouses
01:00:45
of military members in the days before her death they say he Googled the amount the policy would pay out detective
01:00:53
Ridgeway was able to find a well I believe it was a screenshot of a search that he had conducted uh 10 days prior
01:01:01
to Kristen's death um asking what his spouse's life insurance would be on November 4th
01:01:09
2019 investigators asked Kobe to return for more questioning 10 days ago you looked up a
01:01:19
life insurance issue when when I I never did you did I never did it if I if I would
01:01:32
die well if your stouse Colby who agreed to talk without a lawyer suggested that
01:01:38
Kristen might have done the search herself on his phone we always gave each other access to each other's phones and
01:01:46
stuff investigators also asked Colby about his online relationship Kobe admitted that it had started a few
01:01:54
months prior to his wife's death after he met the woman on a group chat while playing video games did Kristen find out
01:02:03
about that relationship that I know Kobe told them the relationship was a virtual one that
01:02:11
he had never actually met the woman but investigators discovered he had been texting with her just hours after
01:02:19
Kristen's death while he was still at the police station I guess to his credit he said that he was busy and couldn't
01:02:27
talk right now uh but then he said I wish I could Aaron Cunningham is assistant Ellis County attorney which is
01:02:36
probably the last thing that you should say to a woman you're having an online affair with when you're being
01:02:41
investigated about your wife's death when Kobe trickle left the police station after his second interview
01:02:49
detective Burkholder checked out his claim that Kristen had used his phone to research life of insurance policies we
01:02:58
were able to uh get video surveillance video from the Walmart store what they discovered was that Kristen was at work
01:03:05
at Walmart at the time the cell phone search was made we were able to see that she didn't have access to a phone the
01:03:14
inconsistencies in Kobe's statements kept piling up says Burk holder like this one she keeps the revolver on her
01:03:22
side I have Kobe had said Christen had kept the 3 57 Revolver by her side of the bed but that didn't seem to line up
01:03:31
with what Burk holders saw at the scene when we looked at the scene we saw multiple firearms on what was described
01:03:38
as col's side of the bed there were also photos of the couple's bedroom found on
01:03:43
K's phone so this picture was taken I believe um a month prior to Kristen's death um you see a large framed revolver
01:03:53
on the bed where Colby trickles uh described as being his and do you think that's the 357 that's the only 357 in
01:04:01
the house that we found that tells me that this was col's gun still the investigation
01:04:09
stalled you have all these investigators who are uncovering more and more evidence that there's something really
01:04:17
wrong with this case and you've got the coroner who calls this a suicide I mean that's a problem isn't it uh it it is
01:04:26
and it isn't and it was initially was it sure well certainly as far as their ability to investigate as efficiently as
01:04:34
they normally would Cunningham says that the Corner's determination that Christen
01:04:39
had died by Suicide limited the investigator's ability to obtain search warrants there was still elements of the
01:04:48
investigation law enforcement wanted to follow up on in the winter of 2020 kobby began
01:04:55
collecting payouts from two insurance policies 23,000 from Walmart and $100,000 from the US military meanwhile
01:05:07
investigators continued to learn more about his time in the military he was a Reserve officer in the military um that
01:05:15
was never deployed wait so wait a minute so he was never deployed to Central America he had no overseas deployments
01:05:23
that were told to us by by the United States military and he had no experience talking to informants as part of his job
01:05:32
as an intelligence analyst right but even with what looked like blatant lies and an apparent motive to kill his wife
01:05:40
police didn't arrest kobby so in the year after Kristen's death authorities watched as Kobe trickle went on with his
01:05:49
[Music] life it is very frustrating to me I would run into him in public playing music at a restaurant in
01:06:02
town made my skin crawl so whatever storm you're in keep pushing forward posting Facebook self-help videos get to
01:06:10
the outside where you're free and enjoy life but then nearly 2 years after Kristen's death a newly elected County
01:06:20
attorney decided to try something very new that he thought could put Kobe away for
01:06:27
Life go behind the scenes with the 48 Hours postmortem [Music] podcast County attorney Robert Anderson
01:06:47
was just days into his new job in January of 2021 when assistant County attorney
01:06:53
Aaron Cunningham and Detective JB Burkholder pulled him aside JB and I both cornered him and said this is
01:07:01
something that's clearly a homicide help us to get the nails put in this coffin after reviewing the file Anderson
01:07:09
believed that the coroner got it wrong and that this was a homicide on July 14th 2021 he charged Kobe trickle with
01:07:19
the murder of his wife Kristen certainly the insurance money provides motive in addition being in bed next to your
01:07:27
husband naked shooting oneself in the face after having set alarms uh to get up the next day for work after setting
01:07:36
out candy for Halloween these circumstances don't point to a woman who was planning a suicide hey uh you should
01:07:44
step out of the car and come to the back of the car with me when police arrested
01:07:48
Kobe he didn't seem surprised uh detectives I have some questions for you put you under arrest you turn around
01:07:55
your hands behind your back sure and deny killing Kristen I didn't do it and I know I know
01:08:02
many people don't believe that and I respect that I believe him you don't believe that he would shoot his wife I
01:08:11
do not Cassie Ziggler is one of Kobe trickle's defense attorneys he cares about his spiritual life he's a devoted
01:08:18
Christian I don't see that in him this ability to connive and plan all of this in in said she says Kristen had suffered
01:08:27
from depression since childhood I think that Kristen dealt with a lot more pain in her life than people acknowledged I
01:08:38
don't think there's any worse rejection in life than to be rejected by her biological mother at an early age that's
01:08:44
exactly what happened K's attorney felt confident going into the trial the coroner was standing by his assessment
01:08:52
that Kristen's death was a suicide you had the ability you had the power to change this determination if you wanted
01:09:01
to prior to trial yes you could have but you didn't if I've made a determination am I going to change it to
01:09:11
homicide based on an accusation before a court proceeding no so County attorney Anderson knew he
01:09:20
had to do something to convince a jury that Kristen didn't die by su side and that's when he pursued a different type
01:09:29
of autopsy a psychological one an autopsy of the mind and to conduct it Anderson hired a forensic psychologist
01:09:40
Dr Ashley Christensen her job to determine Kristen's state of mind leading up to her death being unable to
01:09:49
speak with them because they're of course no longer here they have to speak with their family their friends their
01:09:55
co-work workers they review any social media Diaries journals um anything that they can christenson's conclusions would
01:10:03
eventually take center stage at Kobe trickle's trial it was September 2023 of the jury and prosecutor
01:10:12
Cunningham began by telling the jury that Kristen trickle was murdered for the oldest reasons in the world this
01:10:19
case is as simple as a b c a and Affair b a breakdown control and C Cold Hard Cash Kobe's attorney disputed that you
01:10:37
may proceed whenever you're ready Z thank you your honor Cassie Ziggler says Kobe's alleged Affair was really just an
01:10:45
online flirtation I don't think there was a plan to have this long-term intimate
01:10:52
affair she also denies that Kobe plotted to kill Kristen for cash and about that
01:10:58
Google search into the life insurance payout zegler says Kobe doesn't remember doing that search but she acknowledges
01:11:07
he had been filling out paperwork around that time for his own military life insurance and if he did do it maybe
01:11:16
that's why it's just a coincidence that this is happening days before his wife unforunately so yeah bad timing
01:11:28
at trial the jury learned that Kobe trickle had not only collected more than $120,000 from two life insurance
01:11:36
policies on his wife he had already gone through it I think he had spent all of the money in approximately 8 months what
01:11:46
did he spend the money on when detective JB Burkholder took the stand he was asked to describe one EXP
01:11:55
expenditure in particular there's a $1,942 payment to true touch dolls were you able to determine what that was this
01:12:05
is a company that made and manufacturers and distributes life-size sex dolls col's attorney says Colby was
01:12:13
having trouble sleeping alone and was quite open about the purchase he went and talk to his mother about it if
01:12:20
you're going to buy a yeah if you're going to buy a sex toy a grown man's not going to go talk to his mother about
01:12:26
this sex doll he's going to buy what was your reaction to that disgusted just disgusted it was described at trial that
01:12:34
he needed this doll for comfort for comfort and warmth we have electric blankets that we use for that when
01:12:42
Brandt rice took the stand he told the jury that his niece had become more assertive in her relationship with her
01:12:48
husband in the months before her death I feel that she had really begun to stand
01:12:54
up for herself proud of her for that and there were texts says Cunningham that seemed to support that Kobe feared he
01:13:02
was losing control over Kristen on April 8th 2019 when Kobe texted that Kristen seemed different and pushy with things
01:13:11
she responded I'm just deciding to stick up for myself just like you I'm taking control of the
01:13:19
situation and then prosecutors called their star witness Dr Ashley Christian son around the time of her death there
01:13:29
was a lot of data suggesting that she had a lot of Hope Dr Christenson testified that Kristen talked to family
01:13:35
members about future plans and seemed optimistic she wanted to open her own either pet boarding or or dog grooming
01:13:44
business and had discussed his goal for opening her business but Christenson also testified that She interviewed
01:13:51
Colby for her report and he offered what sound Ed like a reason why Kristen might
01:13:57
have been stressed he told the doctor Kristen knew about his online relationship with that other woman he
01:14:04
reported that they had L discussed that relationship the week of her death but remember in his police interview Kobe
01:14:12
had told investigators that he didn't think Kristen knew did Kristen find out about that
01:14:19
relationship I know so which is it did she know or she didn't know I believe she
01:14:26
knew whether or not Kristen knew Dr Christensen told the jury she believed that at the time of her death Kristen
01:14:35
was at a low risk for suicide it is my opinion that it is relatively less likely that her death
01:14:43
was the result of suicide I love those words relatively less likely that doesn't tell me
01:14:50
anything we can't know the mind of someone who's going to end their life defense attorney Ziggler does not think
01:14:57
the report should have been allowed in his evidence she points out that Dr Christensen who never met Kristen
01:15:04
trickle did interviews and prepared her report nearly two years after Kristen's death and Zigler believes people's
01:15:13
memories change over time that is a long time to go back and talk to people about
01:15:20
Kristen but prosecutors thought there was another piece of evidence that could bring them a guilty
01:15:30
verdict what do you think is the most powerful evidence against kby trickle chat now with the 48 Hours team on
01:15:37
Facebook and X nearly 4 years of pass since Kristen trickle died from a gunshot wound to her
01:15:52
head how would you describe the last four years hellish on September 22nd 2023 it was Kobe trickle's last chance
01:16:09
to convince a jury that he had nothing to do with his wife's death he decided not to testify but his attorney Cassie
01:16:18
Ziggler called his mother Tina ker to the stand is it fair to say that Christian was pretty reserved
01:16:25
at first when you met her yeah very to herself kryer described her daughter-in-law as a woman who rarely
01:16:33
revealed her feelings couldn't read her very um emotionless it's a drastically different
01:16:41
Kristen says attorney Ziggler than the one her family describes by their explanation just the happiest most
01:16:49
joyful person never stops smiling she almost is walking on water I mean when the real it is we have no idea how she's
01:16:57
really feeling now you find out he's having an emotional relationship with someone else online I just I can imagine
01:17:04
that being the last straw but in his final argument to the jurors prosecutor Aaron Cunningham shows them the weapon
01:17:11
that killed Kristen and says she couldn't have fired it members of the jury this doesn't add out the state is
01:17:20
going to demonstrate it to you prosecutor Cunningham showed us with a similar gun if you look at the autopsy
01:17:28
photos you see a little divot at the 3:00 Mark which is believed by the coroner to be the sight imprint of the
01:17:35
gun that and I knew Kristen was right-handed the Natural Way a right-handed person would hold a gun to
01:17:42
their head for suicide would be something like this or maybe something like this putting the sight Mark
01:17:49
somewhere between 9:00 and 6:00 so for the site Mark to wound up over at the 3:00 angle would be very unnatural
01:17:59
Cunningham showed us how he believes kobby trickles shot his wife while she slept next to him it would be consistent
01:18:08
with the placement of the site Mark that he would have grabbed the gun from his nightstand rolled over in bed and placed
01:18:15
the gun just underneath her chin and pulled the trigger so if you keep it here then this then would explain
01:18:22
appears on her neck here as the case went to the jury Zigler had hoped that they would still have too
01:18:30
many doubts how significant is it the fact that the coroner went to trial still saying it was a suicide when the
01:18:40
the prosecutors are saying it's a homicide yeah it's huge we have to show doubt that's reasonable and I think
01:18:48
there's plenty of that do you that's what Kristen's family feared as well all they have to do is convince one of
01:18:57
those [Music] 12 that they have a reasonable doubt what are we going to do if he walks out
01:19:05
a free man they don't have to wait long less than two hours later there was a verdict count one we the jury find the
01:19:15
defendant guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree of chrisen trickle Colby trickle was found guilty for
01:19:22
first-degree premeditated murder an interference with law enforcement falsely reporting
01:19:31
information what do you remember of the verdict what did you hear just feeling like I could breathe yeah just feeling a
01:19:40
breath the relief for safety for our family I feel like we got our life back yeah after the verdict we spoke with
01:19:49
coroner Lyall Nord hook who said he planned to amend Kristen trickle's death certificate to Now read
01:19:58
homicide he admitted he had decided on suicide before talking to anyone in Kristen's family or seeing the weapon
01:20:07
used to kill her but I'm a little surprised when that have been important for you to make to know the size of the
01:20:14
weapon to be able to make your death investigation determination the police should have all that information and
01:20:20
it's usually correlated with the pathologist but it wasn't in this case the fact that he had done research on
01:20:26
insurance were you aware of that no were you aware that they found evidence that
01:20:32
he was having an online Affair no they didn't share that with me either if you had known that would you have left that
01:20:39
as suicide no investigators acknowledge they should have done a better job keeping him
01:20:46
informed on November 20th 2023 kobby trickle returned to court for sentencing admitting only that he could have been a
01:20:57
better husband something that I cannot apologize for is harming Chris that morning because I can not apologize for
01:21:06
what I didn't do regardless of that fact I still take partial blame for that morning I always wonder if she would
01:21:13
still be here I that her husband judge Glenn braa sentenced Kobe trickle the court will sentence you to life in
01:21:22
prison with no possibility of Ro for 50 years with Kobe trickle in prison the rers say their family is finally
01:21:32
beginning to grieve the young woman gone way too soon Kristen's Cousin Chloe who grew up
01:21:42
with Kristen wrote a song for [Music] her how often do you think about Kristen all the time every every day every day
01:21:56
you know we drive by that little house the house where Kristen one day hoped to start her dream
01:22:06
business you call it Kristen's house don't you yeah she had a future she had found her faith
01:22:16
again when you were with her you felt loved a beautiful heart a gentle gentle spirit
01:22:25
and she was just an amazing [Music] girl [Music] goodbye new CBS next a young girl found
01:22:54
dead in a swamp did this look like an accident or something else something entirely different a decades old mystery
01:23:00
with a surprising answer oh no oh no I never would have guessed how this ended 48 hours is all new CBS next in
01:23:09
streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] one of my friends mom had texted me cuz she lived pretty close to graine
01:23:34
Lake and she was like look what happened a developing story right now a body found in the banks of Grapevine
01:23:41
Lake nothing happens in Grapevine nothing except for what he did the victim was identified as
01:23:50
Jacqueline Vandergriff hello everyone my name is Jac Vander but friends call me Jackie Jackie vandagriff was 24 years of
01:23:59
age I am currently a junior here at Texas Women's University and my major is nutrition with an emphasis in wellness
01:24:08
and just beyond this area where the shade is pretty much hitting is where we had our crime
01:24:14
scene there are a lot of things that will shock you and this is by far the worst thing I have
01:24:21
seen my manager texts me Charles's just been arrested I felt like the world was spinning like everything was out of
01:24:33
control it's beli that last Tuesday Jacqueline Vandergriff met up with Charles Bryant at a bar in
01:24:39
Denton surveillance video also cell phone pings all put Vander Griff and Bryant together I remember him just being kind
01:24:49
of quiet I immediately said there's no way they have the wrong guy there's no way that he did this are you telling me
01:24:56
there's no evidence that Charles Bryant killed Jackie Vander not direct evidence this is kind of by calling
01:25:12
dealing with these really strange cases the serial killers the ritualistic killings hey how you doing today so good
01:25:20
Jim home with the rangers life good today or not this this is not a a normal homicide I
01:25:28
you know how they kill someone it all seemed to started with Caitlyn how screwed up are you from p
01:25:37
man in the early days it was good after that first month that's when I started to see these warning
01:25:45
signs that he was manipulative very controlling I just told him I can't do this anymore this isn't working this is
01:25:53
over he flipped out he showed up at your dorm room out of the blue you never gave him the
01:26:02
address no you know he trespass in his mind he was seeking Revenge the warrant that we got is for stalking on his
01:26:09
ex-girlfriend who had called the police on him how he was stalking me was completely
01:26:15
related to Jackie Vander Griff's death there's some similarities the way the vandagriff
01:26:23
looked and the way that Brian's ex-girlfriend looked do you think there's a chance a
01:26:32
possibility that he walked into this bar and saw somebody reminded him of you and
01:26:39
took his rage out on her most definitely I I think that he really wanted to kill
01:26:45
me I think that he wanted me dead [Music] [Music] when I first arrived on the scene I saw
01:27:37
a lot of police cars saw fire trucks there was a lot of activity it was September 14th 2016 Just
01:27:47
Before Dawn when John Luna a captain with the Grapevine Police Department responded to a call about a gruesome
01:27:55
Discovery here at Grapevine Lake just off of the worn foot path you have an area that's pretty well
01:28:02
overgrown with weeds but you could clearly see a small area that was burned just beyond where I'm standing there was
01:28:10
a body that was obviously charred it had been set on fire the body found inside a
01:28:16
blue kitty pool was so badly damaged that police could not determine the most basic facts about the victim we didn't
01:28:23
know if that was an adult or a child male or a female the next day using fingerprints
01:28:31
police were able to identify the victim it was Jackie Vander Griff a 24-year-old
01:28:37
nutrition major at Texas Women's University in nearby Denton I chose this major because um I realized the
01:28:45
importance of nutrition and just overall health both named Jacqueline named after
01:28:50
Jacqueline Kennedy one of Jackie Vander Griff's closest friends Jackie Tan they met in high school ever since then we
01:28:58
were Jackie squared and I loved it she made me feel like I could be myself and just be goofy and funny Jackie Tan
01:29:08
remembers her friend as a good student who was focused and trusting that girl smartest girl I've
01:29:17
[Music] known she had her whole life ahead of her she had plans me and my detectives
01:29:26
we went out there for her memorial service and um sorry for Captain Luna the brutality of
01:29:37
this crime hit close to home could it just as easily been my daughter that this happened
01:29:45
to Jackie spent the last evening of her life indented with this man police didn't know his identity right away
01:29:54
but this woman knew him very well he would always give me flowers always especially if he had something to be
01:30:01
sorry about Charles Bryant lived some 20 miles away but he had been making frequent
01:30:07
visits to Denton trying to rekindle a relationship with his ex-girlfriend Caitlyn matthysse who had recently moved
01:30:16
there to attend the University of North Texas he was just trying to win me back and I was just like nothing is going to
01:30:23
work Caitlyn's involvement with Bryant had begun 3 months earlier in June in the
01:30:30
town of Grapevine when it came into the restaurant where Caitlyn was working as a server the day that I met him was the
01:30:37
day after I graduated high school he had lots of muscles um and Tattoos which kind of interested me at
01:30:45
the at the time Bryant was then 29 working as a bartender and personal trainer your
01:30:53
you're 18 he's 29 he's got muscles and tattoos and must have made your mother crazy yeah extremely crazy in a good way
01:31:05
though yeah she cared about me being a mother of adult children is a different role you have to let
01:31:14
go for them to to fly away and grow up with you Caitlyn is the youngest of Karen and H's four
01:31:25
children she says Caitlyn was hard to miss Fireball you know when she's in the house she never walked anywhere she ran
01:31:36
everywhere and Caitlyn ran headlong into the relationship with Charles Bryant that summer of
01:31:43
2016 one of their regular date spots was at the park by Grapevine Lake where this
01:31:49
picture was taken when Karen learned about the relationship she asked Caitlyn to show her a picture of
01:31:57
him I Got This Feeling Just deep inside to my bones an evil feeling and I said he's going to hurt
01:32:09
you he's going to do something bad wow and she's like oh he's nice he's good to me he makes me feel like an adult were
01:32:17
you thinking to yourself you're 18 you're too young to know yes but I didn't want to insult her within weeks
01:32:27
Caitlyn was having serious doubts of her own about Bryan that's when I started to
01:32:32
see these warning signs that he was manipulative he was a bit of a Nar narcissist he thought very highly of
01:32:42
himself he would say things like oh you'll never find anyone better than me it was toxic and he was
01:32:49
toxic in mid August 2016 Caitlyn broke up with Bryant she thought that was the last she'd see of him but the next day
01:32:58
he showed up uninvited at her mother's house and somehow he convinced me to get back with him he was trying to say oh I
01:33:07
can work on this and I can be better and making all these promises but Caitlyn realized she wasn't
01:33:15
interested in promises that was one of the things that my mom taught me people do not change you you can't change
01:33:22
someone at that point I was just waiting for the perfect time to end things a little more than a week later
01:33:30
after Caitlyn moved away to school she told Brian it was over again later that night police found him
01:33:39
on campus just by sheer coincidence I had made a traffic stop and he was driving that vehicle Captain Jeremy pul
01:33:47
was then a lieutenant for the UN campus police he pulled Brian over early in the
01:33:52
morning of August August 24th I thought he was an intoxicated driver by the way he was driving and that was my focus so
01:33:59
right now I'm have to place you on you know a risk so good you can just remain seated it's all good Bryant was not over
01:34:06
the legal limit he was charged with a few outstanding traffic tickets and they let him go later that same day he was
01:34:14
back on Caitlyn's campus again he actually knocked on the door of my dorm room he didn't know prior to where I
01:34:22
lived and he said oh your name was on the door did that creep you out it did at that point I was scared Caitlyn got
01:34:31
him out of there and called campus police captain pul recognized Bryant's name on the report and went along to
01:34:38
interview Caitlyn the next day she told us things like I I just did not like the way Charles spoke to me I
01:34:46
did not like the way he treated me and I made that choice then and there you know
01:34:50
I would do everything I could to help her with this situation pulk issued a no trespass order Banning
01:34:58
Charles Bryant from the UNT Campus but once again Bryan would not take no for an
01:35:06
answer the biggest fear I have as a police officer sometimes is emotion because emotion drives people to
01:35:13
do things you would never imagine [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was my first day there and he walked
01:35:35
through the door and my heart just dropped to the bottom of my stomach it was August 31st
01:35:42
2016 a week since Charles Bryant had tracked Caitlyn matys down at her new dorm and now he was invading her space
01:35:51
again coming into her new restaurant on her first day of work M was like I just want you to leave what did he say to
01:35:59
that he didn't really say anything he looked upset my new co-workers they were like
01:36:05
yeah he was here yesterday looking for you Caitlin asked her manager to keep Bryant out but her manager said there
01:36:14
was nothing he could do I can't work here I don't feel safe enough to work here Caitlyn went back to
01:36:22
her old job ahead hours drive away her mother found it all hard to watch from a distance I said come home it was my
01:36:32
motherly instinct to protect her and in order to protect her I had to have her with
01:36:37
me but Caitlyn thought she'd be safe in her dorm a week later on September 6th what would have been their 3-month
01:36:46
anniversary Bryant was back yet again he show up to to my dorm knocked on my door and at this point I was
01:36:55
shaking I'm all alone I uh actually hid in my sweet mate's closet you hid yes when I was on
01:37:02
the phone with the police they were like we can't hear you you need to speak up and I was just afraid that he was going
01:37:07
to hear my voice I did hear him say Caitlyn I know you're in there just open up I have something for you and I'm like
01:37:14
God what what do you what do you have for me I don't want it Bryant left flowers send a two-page
01:37:23
letter when police arrived he was gone I heard him say hey it's Charles I have something for you he not for sure was
01:37:31
him yeah I know it was him here 27 myself and 443 in a police found him outside 10 minutes later you school here
01:37:40
no what's your name now in running cloth and arrested him for trespassing but you know you're not
01:37:48
supposed to be up Brian posted Bond and was released within hours although Caitlyn had
01:37:54
already blocked him on her phone email and social media he created a new email address and wrote to her later that same
01:38:02
day here I am heartbroken and with a criminal record for bringing the girl I love
01:38:09
flowers that's when it became really serious for me if an actual physical arrest doesn't stop the behavior then
01:38:16
you're you know something is wrong Captain pul helped Caitlyn get an emergency protective order and because
01:38:23
Brian had kept trying to reach her after his arrest how you doing Charles you have your ID with you poke had his
01:38:30
officers go to Brian's house the next day and charge him yet again this time for stalking this was his third arrest
01:38:38
in 14 days I told him if he continued to communicate with Caitlyn I would use every email I would use every text
01:38:47
message I would use every phone call as a reason to have him rearrested 2 Days Later Bryant posted a $5,000 Bond and
01:38:56
got out of jail he was telling his roommate that I was the the crazy one in this
01:39:03
relationship so all of his friends were kind of coming at me and they were like why you need to like drop these charges
01:39:10
against him by September 13th Bryant was back in Denton just a half mile from Caitlyn's dorm in an area she had told
01:39:19
him about back when they were still dating I was talking about going up to fry Street and like meeting new people
01:39:26
Bryant went to fry Street public house that night at about 700 p.m. an hour later Jackie Vandergriff walked in asked
01:39:34
about a job and ended up in a conversation with the bartender and Charles Bryant about 45 minutes later Jackie
01:39:44
posted a message on her Twitter I'm glad I decided to get off Tinder and walk to
01:39:49
a bar Jackie's friend Jackie T Jackie was a very social person whenever she went
01:39:58
out she would make friends with everybody and it wasn't even flirty it wasn't anything you know she was talking
01:40:06
to the bartender talking to other people at about 9:00 Jackie left with Bryant and the bartender she and Bryant
01:40:15
went to another bar nearby and started talking to a group of women by 9:45 it was raining and
01:40:23
everyone was headed out Jackie left with Charles Bryant I feel like she felt comfortable
01:40:31
enough with him that night because she had been hanging out with him for so long that she was like hey well whatever
01:40:37
he's just going to drop me off it's not that far and I'll be good once in his car Bryant stopped at a
01:40:46
convenience store this was the last time Jackie Vander Griff was seen alive the day after she was found dead there
01:40:56
was a new post on her Twitter never knew I could feel like this it was just really bizarre police suspected it was a
01:41:05
message from her killer they knew they had to move quickly to ID the man Jackie had been with they had some luck when
01:41:12
they tracked down the women Jackie met that night one of the friends that was with
01:41:18
her had gotten a business card from this person because he was a fitness instructor now that Grapevine Police had
01:41:28
Charles Bryant's name they learned about that restraining order so in my eyes that played into him as being a good
01:41:38
suspect Grapevine Police called Captain pul who was in the middle of a road race
01:41:45
the first thing he told me was Charles Bryant was their main suspect in Jackie's murder and I immediately just
01:41:51
sat down on a park bench in the middle of the race it floored me Bryant was emerging as a
01:41:57
strong suspect but Grapevine Police did not have physical evidence connecting him to Jackie's death so for now Bryant
01:42:05
was free and pulk was worried about what he might do next I called Caitlyn and I
01:42:11
just asked where are you I was like does this have to do with the murder that happened in Grapevine and he's like I I
01:42:18
I can't tell I can't specify that to you Caitlyn but are you safe right now and what did you say I said I think
01:42:28
so she might have been wrong in the days after Jackie's murder Charles Bryan sent
01:42:34
Caitlyn several emails including this picture writing on it first kiss under this tree Once Upon a Time that photo
01:42:44
was taken at Grapevine Lake he might have taken that picture that same day that Jackie was killed
01:43:03
it was September 2016 and Caitlyn mathys Charles Bryant's ex-girlfriend was very
01:43:10
worried he might have been involved in the brutal murder at Great Fine Lake just days before I was waiting for more
01:43:17
news to come out cuz at that point they hadn't even um arrested him yet will you
01:43:23
worried he was going to come after you I was I thought that's exactly what he was
01:43:28
going to do the emails and picture Bryant had recently sent Caitlyn were proof that he
01:43:34
was still thinking about her in the days after Jackie was killed but they were also proof of something else it was
01:43:42
prohibited for Charles to communicate with her in any manner and then if he did he would have been violating that
01:43:48
order Captain poke thought they could use those violations to help the Great find police who didn't have enough to
01:43:56
make an arrest yet so I told the detective we can get a warrant signed on some evidence we just got and at least
01:44:03
you know get him off the street you go by Charles you go by Dean Charles okay Charles Bryant was arrested
01:44:11
on September 18th for violating Caitlyn's restraining order Grapevine detectives were hoping they'd soon find
01:44:17
more evidence connecting him to Jackie's death he's brought to the Great Vine Police Department for an interview and
01:44:25
right away he's beginning to distance himself from having any almost any interaction with Jackie recognize who
01:44:33
she iside a bar and at the same time we begin serving a search warrant for his residence what can you tell me about
01:44:46
her that's about it I guess it had been 4 days since Jackie's body was fat found plenty of time to
01:44:54
dispose of any possible evidence but Captain Luna at Grapevine PD says they found a lot at Bryant's home including a
01:45:03
large military style knife you know what her purse was found in there too Brian had no way to answer for any of it
01:45:14
including two more items police found while he was in custody video of him buying a shovel the
01:45:20
night Jackie disappeared and a Kitty pool missing from his backyard that matched the one
01:45:26
Jackie's body was found in we have video of you with this girl me you're at the bar you're walking around Walmart at
01:45:36
4:00 in the morning buying a shovel she's found dead in a pool that came from your
01:45:46
backyard he even got to the point at the end of his interview with our detective
01:45:51
where he said well I must have done it I I I don't remember doing anything everything points to me it's like I had
01:45:57
to have done it an open and shut case not even close although there was overwhelming evidence
01:46:05
that Bryant had disposed of Jackie's body there was no evidence yet that confirmed how Jackie had died or that
01:46:12
Bryan had killed her and that's when they reached out to me and asked if I could come in and spend some time with
01:46:18
him and and interview him and see what I could get because you have a an exp expertise in dealing with this kind of
01:46:27
personality right this is kind of my calling Jim Holland is the senior member of an elite team of Texas Rangers a
01:46:34
select division of the Texas State Police he specializes in interviewing some of the country's most prolific
01:46:40
killers and analyzing their thoughts hey how you doing and Charles Bryant seemed to fit
01:46:47
the bill Jackie's body had been dismembered before being set on fire how do you begin to understand a mind that would do
01:46:57
that a lot of these people actually want to tell you uh they want to tell someone
01:47:03
at first Bryant kept to his claim that he didn't remember a thing yeah it's crazy I really don't remember me in this
01:47:10
world the idea that he doesn't remember doing it oh no it's absolute nonsense so
01:47:17
you knew Charles Bryant remembered exactly what had happened oh yes absolutely and your job was just to pull
01:47:26
that out of him right you know you're not a violent dude you haven't uh haven't really been in trouble Holland
01:47:33
says his strategy was to try to make friends with Bryant and get him talking you know you obviously work out I mean
01:47:39
you're stud right you don't want him to look at you as a law enforcement officer
01:47:44
you want him to think of you as a friend a Compadre a drinking buddy you know you
01:47:48
kind of go back to what two boys would talk about in a high school locker room you know about the the girl they kissed
01:47:54
on Friday night you don't have any issues with girls just blow mind and Holland suggested possible scenarios to see if
01:48:03
Bryant would take it from there okay so so something happens bam there there's a
01:48:10
snap and we need to figure out what that is and maybe you know she got mad maybe
01:48:15
she's giv you all the signals and and then cut you off I mean there could be all kinds of different things going on
01:48:22
here right I mean chicks right you know chicks you know as we're going through the interview there I'm watching him I'm
01:48:31
um I guess in a way a human lie detector I'm um I'm reading him and I'm throwing
01:48:35
things at him in which I know the answer and I'm looking for his responses whether they're false uh or
01:48:43
true under the pretense of helping Bryant remember what happened Holland suggested they do a memory exercise what
01:48:52
we're going to do is these mind exercises which means we're going to move back in time Bryant who first
01:48:57
claimed he didn't know who Jackie was then seemed to remember her he said he could see her coming into the
01:49:05
bar she's looking for a job that's what it was and offering her a ride makes sense it was raining I probably would
01:49:12
offer to ride home there's tons of things in this that I can tell you right over a pizza as Holland tried to steer
01:49:19
Bryant to confess he probed about a but what does everyone want to know yeah why and who's the only one who
01:49:29
can tell us that Holland eventually cut to the Chase and asked if what happened with Jackie
01:49:36
was really all about Caitlyn was there a time that you pictured her as this girlfriend that did you wrong or did
01:49:42
anything like that come into play the level of nonsense that came out of his mouth at different points about
01:49:52
that was just astonishing do you think Charles Bryant looks around the bar and sees Jacqueline Vander Griff ah she
01:50:02
looks like Caitlyn it wouldn't surprise me if he actually Mook her at first you know that saw her from behind and
01:50:08
thought man you know my ex is here I think in his mind that whole night I think that's what he
01:50:18
pictured after the murder right after the murder he took Jackie's phone and used it to add me on
01:50:32
[Music] Facebook when Texas Ranger Jim Holland was brought in to interrogate Charles
01:50:45
Bryant the nature of the crime made him wonder if Bryant's brain was wired like the serial killers he'd encountered in
01:50:54
what way is the mind of a serial killer different from common criminal you know generally people like that tend to be
01:51:01
sociopathic or or Psychopathic mindsets and it's just a different game psychopath would be someone who's
01:51:07
basically born with a a scar on their brain and a sociopathic mindset is um something that Society has brought on
01:51:15
something happened to them that changed their psyche something maybe had happened in his childhood Christy Dixon
01:51:22
got a glimpse of Charles Bryant's psyche firsthand she met him on a dating app the year before Jackie Vander Griff's
01:51:30
death he seemed pretty quiet and reserved almost like he was shy by the second or third time that we were
01:51:38
hanging out um I noticed he was getting pretty attached pretty quickly and I just was not there it was very casual to
01:51:46
me after she broke things off he continued to pursue her Bryant even told her that he loved her Christie says
01:51:55
they'd never even shared a kiss it was a little too much too soon too fast I work
01:52:01
with abused children and that to me kind of stuck out christe says that's when she asked Brian about his childhood he
01:52:09
told her he had been molested a claim that 48 Hours could not independently verify I remember thinking that makes
01:52:17
sense I'm not a psychologist or anything but his behavior sort of came off to me
01:52:22
as maybe an abused child or someone who is just needing that extra love that most
01:52:29
people probably aren't seeking still Christy thought he was harmless and stayed in touch I thought
01:52:37
he was just a really nice guy and felt sorry for him I'm not an angry guy I'm not aggressive as Ranger Holland
01:52:44
continued his interrogation he wanted to see if Bryant would answer the key question how did Jackie Vander Griff die
01:52:52
her autopsy didn't provide many answers there's a lot we didn't know we didn't know where it occurred we didn't know
01:52:59
exactly how it broke down and so that's what my goal was Holland wondered if the
01:53:03
crime had a sexual element but initially Bryant denied anything sexual took place
01:53:09
I Rec call having sex you don't no no I Rec call having sex after three more hours of interrogation Bryant said they
01:53:18
did have sex kinky sex according to Bryant Jack wanted to be choked with an oversized zip tie that just happened to
01:53:27
be in his car she didn't fight you in any way when when you're putting it on the consensual sex aspect of it was
01:53:35
was one of those things that that no I I felt strongly that he was lying about and Bryant also claimed that neither he
01:53:42
nor Jackie had tightened the zip tie intentionally okay so you think he just tighten up on it own basically that's
01:53:49
that like it had a snag on something or okay then what happen remember she's not responsive
01:54:03
Shak are you just thinking this is a complete and total lie yeah it's total fabrication did he kill her yes
01:54:10
absolutely when you deal with these people it's it's so rare that you would sit down with them and they would just
01:54:17
tell you A to Z this is what occurred and they're always going to leave out things
01:54:23
that make them look really bad in other words there's an excuse I'm not a bad person I didn't mean for this to happen
01:54:28
it was an accident although Bryant was evasive about how Jackie died as Holland led him through the memory exercise
01:54:36
Bryant went into gruesome detail about how he disposed of her body K what do you see in the
01:54:45
pool garbage BS right now tell me exactly what you see occurring after that go down that true and what happens
01:54:59
next put it on fire the fire why do you burn the body s out even if he couldn't admit to murder
01:55:10
Bryant seemed a waver between denial and acceptance at one point conceding that the evidence showed he had to have done
01:55:19
it I can't fight it it's obviously me after an intense 6-hour interrogation and with mounting evidence Charles
01:55:28
Bryant was finally charged with Jackie Vander Griff's murder Christy Dixon could not believe the
01:55:35
news that night I actually was scared to go to sleep I had nightmares he had never threatened me before but just the
01:55:42
fact that someone that I felt that I knew had murdered someone potentially I was
01:55:49
terrified for Caitlyn matis her worst fears were confirmed and when she tried to learn more about the woman Bryant
01:55:56
killed she made a shocking discovery on Facebook I looked up Jackie Vandergriff and I
01:56:05
realized oh my God I'm already friends with her Caitlyn says that digital friendship began after Jackie's death
01:56:13
you got a friend request from Jackie vandri yes Caitlyn believes that Facebook friend request could only have
01:56:21
come from one person Charles Bryant that really sounds diabolical it was Brian pleaded not
01:56:31
guilty to Jackie's murder his defense was the same story he told Ranger Holland these two young people met they
01:56:41
consumed a lot of alcohol our position is they had sex kinky sex i'llbe it and she died Brian's court appointed defense
01:56:50
attorney glennis McGinty says Jackie Vander Griff's death was a tragic accident are you telling me there's no
01:56:58
evidence that Charles Bryant killed Jackie Vander not direct evidence prosecutors Lucas Allen and Anna
01:57:05
Hernandez belied the evidence they did have would be enough but they also knew that most jurors want a motive and they
01:57:14
weren't sure they'd be able to tell this jury why they thought Jackie was targeted you have to wonder what is
01:57:21
driving person to do something like that in your minds there is no doubt that the
01:57:27
murder of Jackie Vander is connected to the stalking of Caitlyn matys yes I think we believe that definitely she
01:57:36
might have just been victim number one with Caitlyn being victim number two to help prove this the prosecution
01:57:43
was hoping the judge would allow Caitlyn to testify against her ex-boyfriend turn
01:57:49
stalker in open court I felt [Music] [Music] sick Jackie was the most special [Music]
01:58:10
person I know I'll never meet someone like her again in April 2018 a year and a half after Jackie Vander Griff's
01:58:19
untimely death Charles Bryant was standing trial for her murder her friend Jackie Tan could not bring herself to be
01:58:27
there I wanted to go but I'm going to be honest I couldn't look at him Charles Bryant would have to answer for a long
01:58:39
list of items the prosecution had collected including that giant zip tie the shov purchase the night Jackie died
01:58:47
and that large knife which police believe he used to cut up her body all found at his
01:58:53
house this is something that you pray every night does not happen to your child when they go off to school
01:59:01
investigators had also found a stun gun in his car with Jackie's DNA on it but it appears Jackie was spared at least
01:59:09
one har prosecutors Anna Hernandez and Lucas Allen say the medical examiner was able to run tests on Jackie's remains
01:59:17
and found no evidence of sexual assault there was Zero evidence to support that they had any type of sexual encounter
01:59:25
prosecutors say this undermines Bryant's story that this was kinky sex gone wrong
01:59:31
his attorney glennis McGinty how could they have had sex if there's no evidence no evidence to the degree of no sperm
01:59:40
found in her that doesn't mean they didn't have some type of consensual sexual uh encounter she likes it Le
01:59:48
making out prosecutors chose not to play that interrogation tape for the jury which meant Bryant would have to take
01:59:55
the stand if he wanted jurors to hear his version of events he elected not to shouldn't he be explaining to the jury
02:00:05
why he's not at fault for her death and then that flies in the face of our constitutional rights but the defense
02:00:12
knows it has an uphill battle to convince a jury that Brian is not guilty of murder while admitting he disposed of
02:00:20
Jackie's body if he's says it was just an accident why didn't he call for help sure fair question
02:00:28
intoxicated panicked and his mind would not process all of that to make a rational decision that you or I would
02:00:36
have made call the police but Bryant went further than simply discarding Jackie's body much much further and
02:00:44
prosecutors wanted the jury to hear their Theory a huge piece of that story was the
02:00:54
socket but before the jury could hear from Caitlyn the judge would have to rule on whether or not to allow this
02:01:01
evidence how is he his boyfriend local TV cameras were there when without the jury presid he Caitlyn took the stand
02:01:09
and faced her ex I was disgusted just to see his face did he look at you did you
02:01:15
meet eyes at one point we had to when they made me describe to the court what he was
02:01:23
wearing and he just had this smirk on his face there's nothing really that can prepare you for that is there no the
02:01:30
second I walked out those doors I started balling in the end the judge ruled against Caitlyn being able to tell her
02:01:39
story to the jury it was definitely a real blow to us that was the right decision why he had not been convicted
02:01:46
of anything with Caitlyn as the jury went out to deliberate the defense was hopeful I don't believe that they could
02:01:54
prove that he murdered her I don't think that they proved that but would the jury
02:02:00
agree they were out for a little over 2 hours and even without hearing Caitlyn's
02:02:06
story We the jury find the defendant Charles de Bryant Jr guilty of the offense of murder Mr Charles Bryant was
02:02:13
found guilty of Jackie Vander Griff's murder and dismemberment to your way of thinking was Justice
02:02:23
yes I knew she was up there and said thank you because prosecutors had no evidence Bryant committed another crime
02:02:32
at the same time as Jackie's murder like rape or kidnapping he was not eligible for the death penalty he was sentenced
02:02:40
to life as terrible as it is to say but I wanted the death penalty under Texas law Bryant could be
02:02:49
eligible for parole after 30 years Caitlyn says she feels like she's still looking over her shoulder and always
02:02:57
will be I fear that when he gets out he'll come and find me and do something to either me or someone that I love
02:03:06
that's my biggest fear ever since this happened Caitlyn and her mother have been thinking about
02:03:14
Jackie and her family this whole time I wanted to reach out but I didn't know how they felt nearly 2 years after
02:03:22
Jackie died they finally met her grandmother bless her heart she immediately came up to us and to Caitlyn
02:03:31
and hugged her and said I've been so worried about you these past two years [Music]
02:03:40
wow Karen why is this the part that gets you he took away their little girl and the the pain I saw in their
02:03:53
eyes I could feel their pain and yet the grandmother was telling Caitlyn she was
02:03:59
worried about Caitlyn yes you sound like very special people they [Music] are Caitlyn says she struggled with the
02:04:12
fact that she survived and Jackie did not this so easily could have been you and some days I wish it
02:04:25
was it's just the guilt that eats me up sometimes I would have easily taken her place if I had the
02:04:33
[Music] chance 48 Hours don't miss an episode [Music]