00:00:01
♪♪ ♪♪ -I wanted to say that I know everybody doesn't agree
on sharing this. I feel like I'm lost.
00:00:22
And just hoping that one day Katlyn's story
will help someone. I definitely needed
somebody to be held accountable.
00:00:32
I needed to tell Katlyn's
story, you know? I needed people to
know about her. She was beautiful.
She was smart.
00:00:37
And she loved to shop and dance. And she had so many friends. I always described her
as glitter.
00:00:46
She expressed her individuality
through her hair. She always had different colors
00:00:51
and it was always so cute
on her. I loved the purple on her. -She used to travel
for those music festivals.
00:00:57
I mean,
she's been all around the world. Yeah, the shuffling queen. That's what we always say.
00:01:04
-Yes! -She had the best sense
of humor. She loved Milani.
She loved her daughter.
00:01:14
She was single.
She, you know, she was getting a new apartment
and she was starting over.
00:01:19
-I mean, did you worry
at all about her safety there? -No. I thought, man, she's near,
you know?
00:01:26
And I never thought
this would happen. It never crossed my mind. -She told me that
something was wrong with Mommy
00:01:37
and that Mommy wouldn't wake up. ♪♪ -I was woken up
to a phone call. -Do you know what time it was?
00:01:55
-5:35 AM. It was Jacob on the phone saying
that Katlyn is unresponsive. They're doing CPR,
and the EMS is there.
00:02:05
-My sister called. She's like, "Sherry,
get to Katlyn's right now.
Something's wrong."
00:02:09
And my only thought was,
"Let me get to that baby." Who's up there with Milani? -Okay, thank you.
00:02:19
-I grabbed her, and she just,
like, melted into me. Yeah, it was --
It was pretty bad.
00:02:28
-I swear to God. They asked me,
does she do drugs? Do I do drugs?
Did you give her something?
00:02:34
Did she take something?
I was like, "I don't do drugs." -The police were adamant
that it was a drug overdose.
00:02:43
And I'm like,
"She doesn't do drugs." -I genuinely believed
she's going to be okay.
00:02:51
She got CPR. She was alive.
She had a heartbeat. She was going to be okay. -In the hospital, they even wano
bring a chaplain in.
00:03:01
And I was like, "No.
My child's not gonna die. I don't need a chaplain
in right now."
00:03:07
A tech came to me and walked me.
She said -- "It wasn't drugs.
Someone hurt your baby."
00:03:14
Who would want to hurt her? I mean, she loved everybody. And everybody loved her,
you know?
00:03:21
She didn't have enemies. -That you were aware of. -Yeah. I will never stop saying
my daughter's name,
00:03:28
and I will never stop
seeking justice for her. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ b ♪♪ -I walk into the hospital,
saw my daughter there,
00:04:22
and I watched them do CPR, and -
I'll never forget that. -On October 7th, 2022, as Crystal Sale arrived
at the hospital bedside
00:04:34
of her daughter,
Katlyn Lyon Montgomery, she knew the two people
she needed most.
00:04:40
And would you say your sisters
have really stepped up for you? -Absolutely. I don't know what
I'd done without my sisters.
00:04:50
-The oldest of the sisters,
Sherry Cox, was taking care of Katlyn's then four-year-old daughter,
Milani,
00:04:57
while periodically checking in
on Katlyn in the hospital. -I knew it was bad. -What did you think
had happened to Katlyn?
00:05:06
-I didn't know. -I called Sherry. The first thing
she said is something was wrong
00:05:13
with Katlyn,
but they didn't know what. -Sherry told their
youngest sister, Tina Hopkins,
00:05:18
nearly 5,000 miles away
in Hawaii, that 28-year-old
Katlyn was unconscious and in grave condition.
00:05:26
-You know, Sherry told me
like, "You have to come home. It's not -- it's not good."
00:05:31
-I was just shocked
that this was even happening and -- just confused. -Especially
when doctors told her
00:05:38
that Katlyn sustained
injuries to her neck and head. -While first responders
had initially thought
00:05:46
Katlyn had suffered
a drug overdose... -...her physical injuries and the lack of drugs found
at the scene...
00:05:56
-...indicated Katlyn was actualy
the victim of a violent assault. -That she had been strangled.
00:06:05
-We were all --
we were speechless.
We're baffled. Like who --
who would have done this?
00:06:10
-I got a phone call
to take a strangulation report. -Lead investigator Robbie Burnee
with the Bedford County, Virgin,
Sherriff's Office
00:06:19
focused on documenting Katlyn's
injuries. -I saw two distinctive marks, pl
to each other on her neck.
00:06:28
-Since those marks
weren't visible until after Katlyn
had arrived at the hospital,
00:06:33
Burnette says it helped
timestamp the attack. -It was very recent. -Like, when you say
very recent --
00:06:40
-Within an hour or so, most
likely, of when the call came i. -So her apartment's
on the second floor.
00:06:47
-Right on the end
of the building?
-Yes. -Shortly after learning
about Katlyn's injuries,
00:06:53
investigator Michelle Alderson
was sent to secure and process Katlyn's apartment,
now a crime scene,
00:07:02
one that had been disturbed
by first responders, EMTs, and Katlyn and her roommate
Jacob Piercy's dogs.
00:07:13
-So my scene was not as exact as I would like
my crime scenes to be. -Investigator Alderson set out
to find what
00:07:21
could have caused
the injuries on Katlyn's neck. she found a huge clue wrapped up
in Katlyn's comforter.
00:07:30
-It was a multiple
charging cord adapter. -Did they look
like they matched what had been described on her neck?
00:07:39
-I would call them consistent.
Yes. -With the cords found
on the bed, Alderson suspected
that Katlyn was attacked there.
00:07:48
But she soon learned
that first responders, not suspecting foul play
at that time,
00:07:54
had given the family
permission to wash Katlyn's sheets and clean up. -Doesn't that make
it difficult
00:08:02
to obtain DNA, fingerprints?
-Yes. Yes. Yes. -Investigators were unable to
recover any DNA or fingerprints
00:08:12
at the scene, including any
on those charging cords. As they searched for evidence
identifying Katlyn's attacker,
00:08:22
doctors struggled to revive her. After 29 hours, Katlyn was offiy
declared brain dead
00:08:31
the next morning, October 8th. -I remember going to her and, one of the only things
I remember is
00:08:40
telling her I'm sorry
that I couldn't protect her. ♪♪ I can say
that there are no words
00:08:48
that have been invented
to describe how this feels. It's excruciating. -I just can't comprehend
that she's gone forever.
00:08:59
Like I can't --
I can't go there. -Tina arrived just in time
to help say goodbye.
00:09:06
-My instinct is just to take
charge and fix whatever's wrong. That affects me greatly.
00:09:11
That I couldn't fix it
for my sister and our family. -Tina documented the moment
00:09:17
Katlyn was escorted
to fulfill her final wishes to be an organ donor. Tina shared the video on TikTok.
00:09:27
-My family and I
have been through a tragedy. -She and the rest
of her family started posting photos
and videos...
00:09:36
-I'm going to talk about
my niece. -Memorializing Katlyn. She liked music, right?
00:09:43
-Oh, loved music. Specifically,
electronic dance music. -Music
that Katlyn had discovered
00:09:48
with her older brother,
Jake Lyon. -There was this, like,
dance party type thing,
00:09:54
and at the end of the night, she ran up and like,
bear hugged me. She was like,
I want to do this all the time.
00:09:59
-Why? What is it? Tell me,
what is it that she took to? -I think just the energy
and the social element.
00:10:06
Oh, she would draw a crowd. -She loved life.
She absolutely loved life. -A life that had
changed unexpectedly
00:10:16
when Katlyn learned
she was pregnant with Milani. -I mean, we were
very supportive and was like,
00:10:21
you know,
we'll help any way we can. -But the always independent Katt
need much help, says Crystal.
00:10:28
Even with Milani's
father out of the picture and while working full time
as a restaurant manager.
00:10:36
-Katlyn was rocking it. She was rocking it.
-What do you mean, rocking it? -She was providing
for her child.
00:10:44
-Katlyn's family now
had to grapple with the reality that someone had
intentionally taken her
00:10:49
from her beloved child. -I still can't believe
my daughter was murdered. -She said, "You're going to find
whoever did this to my daughter"
00:10:59
I said, "There will be
no stone left unturned." -So who's the first person
you're looking at?
00:11:04
-We definitely looked at
Jacob Piercy, the roommate. -With no sign of forced entry
00:11:09
and being the only
other adult in the apartment, Katlyn's new roommate,
Jacob Piercy,
00:11:15
who had called 911 reporting her
injured, was an obvious suspect. -Investigators told us
that it was 99% sure he did it.
00:11:25
-But Tina says
she suspected this man, Katlyn's ex-boyfriend,
Trenton Frye, whom she had broken up
with ten days earlier.
00:11:35
-That was my
first gut instinct. -You first thought Trenton?
-I did. -Trenton lived three hours away
in North Carolina,
00:11:43
so investigators
gave him a call. -He said that he was in North Ca
working the entire time.
00:11:48
He agreed to come up
for an interview. Appeared to be cooperative. -So focus intensified
on Jacob Piercy,
00:11:56
especially when investigators
learned what Milani said she witnessed that night.
00:12:02
"My brother killed my mom." Brother was the nickname
she used for Jacob Piercy. Did you have anything
to do with hurting Katlyn?
00:12:13
-Absolutely not. ♪♪ b ♪♪ -Outfit of the day.
Again, these videos are just
for my sister,
00:12:30
so I'm not going anywhere today. -Tina, you're not going
anywhere today because your husband has stopped
giving you lunch money.
00:12:36
-For Tina, Crystal and Sherry, making TikTok videos started
as a fun way to connect their family.
00:12:46
That changed after
Katlyn's death. -My niece was murdered. We don't have
hardly any information.
00:12:54
We felt wronged and we
weren't going to stop fighting. -In those agonizing
early days,
00:13:01
Crystal was too deep
in her grief to speak publicly. So Tina stepped up
to post updates on the case.
00:13:10
-There is
an ongoing investigation. -That investigation centered
on Katlyn's roommate, Jacob Piercy.
00:13:21
-We were looking at him
pretty, pretty heavy at first.
-What do you mean? -Meaning he was our number one
suspect at that point.
00:13:27
-In my mind, I'm just here
to tell 'em what I can tell 'em. Help 'em figure out
what could have happened,
00:13:32
what couldn't have happened. I was in full denial. -But after
being interviewed several times,
00:13:38
having his body photographed
for possible defensive wounds and his cell phone confiscated,
00:13:45
Jacob Piercy knew he was
in serious trouble. Were you scared you'd be blamed
for whatever happened to her?
00:13:52
-Absolutely. You know, I'm the n
suspect of something so terribl. -We're still at a loss
at that point
00:13:57
'cause he's fully cooperating, and we haven't caught him
in a lie yet. ♪♪ -What troubled
investigators was
00:14:05
four year old Milani's
statement. She said she had seen
Jacob killing her mother,
00:14:12
but Burnette soon discovered that she had actually
witnessed Jacob performing CPR.
00:14:19
-She actually did
the motions of her, with her hands
of what Jacob was doing to her.
00:14:23
-Going like this.
-Yep. Yeah. That's the motion she made. -To be sure,
Burnette reviewed the 911 call.
00:14:29
You can hear Jacob doing CPR. -You could tell he was
definitely putting effort in.
00:14:42
-I thought I had done enough, but I think that's what tears me
up the most is just...
00:14:48
I wasn't able to save her.
You know. ♪♪ -At that point, investigators bn
to look closer at Katlyn's
00:15:01
ex-boyfriend, Trenton Frye. They tried calling him in
North Carolina a couple of days
00:15:07
after their
initial conversation, but learned he was unable
to talk to them. -He checked himself
into a mental health facility.
00:15:15
-And what did that say to you? -He had some kind of break. Somg
happened to him, apparently.
00:15:19
-So investigators turned
to Katlyn's friends to learn more
about the relationship.
00:15:25
Do you think he was the person
he presented himself to Katlyn? -Absolutely not. -Hannah McDowell met
Katlyn two years earlier
00:15:35
when she landed a job at
the restaurant Katlyn managed. ♪♪ Sharing a love
for music and dancing,
00:15:43
they became fast friends
and eventually roommates. They also shared
their frustrations
00:15:49
about the local dating scene
in Bedford County, Virginia, which prompted them
to look for love online.
00:15:57
What was she looking for? -Well, she wanted someone
that was supportive and be a father to Milani as
well, and possibly get married.
00:16:07
-In January of 2022, when Katlyn connected
with Trenton on a dating app, the tall, fitness obsessed
00:16:16
and apparently successful
North Carolina native seemed to be marriage material. How had she described him
to you?
00:16:25
-Well,
he had his stuff together. She was excited
to have a relationship with him.
00:16:29
-When Katlyn's aunt Sherry
met Trenton, she admits she was impressed. -He told me
that he owned a security company
00:16:38
and he owned his
own construction company. We had talked about
him doing my floors
00:16:42
because he had me
thinking he was, you know, this awesome builder. -Then eventually he was
at the apartment all the time.
00:16:53
-Which made Hannah wonder
how Trenton, who lived three hours away, could spend weeks on end
at their apartment
00:17:01
while also running
two businesses. -And when I would leave
in the morning, when I would come home
from lunch,
00:17:08
when I would get home from work, he would always just be
on the couch. -And she says, over time,
00:17:15
it seemed Katlyn wasn't leaving
the apartment much either. -She was quiet. She didn't hang out
with friends.
00:17:22
She was just very isolated. -Did you get the feeling
that it was because of him that she wasn't going out
as much,
00:17:30
dancing as much?
-Yes. And he would track
her location on her phone. I feel like she was --
chained to him, almost.
00:17:44
-I can't say that I liked him, but I can't say
that I didn't like him. -While Crystal had her
concerns about the relationship
00:17:50
with Trenton, Katlyn never confided
that anything was wrong. -She's always been so strong,
00:17:56
so I knew my daughter
could handle herself. -But Katlyn did express
some frustration
00:18:01
with the relationship
to her Aunt Sherry. -She said, "I'm so tired
of paying for everything."
00:18:08
She said,
"If he's got all this money, I mean, these businesses,
why doesn't he have money?"
00:18:12
And I said, "Well, Katlyn,
that's a red flag right there." -More red flags appeared
00:18:17
when he tried to convince her to
move with him to North Carolina, where he said he would find
them an apartment.
00:18:24
-In reality,
he was not reliable and wasn't fulfilling what
she thought he was going to do.
00:18:34
-In early September 2022,
Trenton admitted the truth -- he couldn't find an apartment
00:18:41
because he lacked the credit
and source of income to qualify. -Katlyn called me from work
and she was screaming
00:18:49
and crying,
just like bawling, crying. And she was like, "He's a liar. He lied about everything.
He doesn't have a job."
00:18:56
-Days later, Katlyn announced
she was breaking up with him. She was done?
-She was done.
00:19:02
-So she cut him off. -She did. She blocked him. -Oh, she actually blocked him, .
-She blocked him. Yeah.
00:19:09
-And that's when
Katlyn learned her friend Jacob Piercy
was also looking for a place
00:19:14
and asked if he wanted to find
an apartment with her and Milani. -They finally found
this one apartment,
00:19:20
and we were so excited that they
were going to be so close to us. -While Katlyn was making
a fresh start,
00:19:28
it seemed Trenton Frye
did not want to let her go. -He was actually sitting in
the parking lot of her apartme,
00:19:36
watching everything
Katlyn was doing. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Have you seen a big change
in your sister?
-Mm-hm.
00:19:58
She's just sad all the time. She has bags under her eyes now
where she didn't have them befoe
00:20:04
because she don't sleep.
She's not sleeping. -I woke up this morning
in sheer panic.
00:20:10
-In the days following
Katlyn's death, Crystal began sharing
her grief with others on TikTok.
00:20:17
-I'll get a... ...[sighs] a text message,
and for an instant I'll think that it's Katlyn.
00:20:25
♪♪ -I ended up seeing some
of her TikToks by accident. She was completely innocent.
She didn't do anything wrong.
00:20:32
♪♪ -Investigator Burnette was
convinced that Trenton Frye had somehow gotten into
Katlyn's apartment
00:20:43
and strangled her. ♪♪ Why did Trenton Frye
kill the woman he said he loved? -I think it's because she told
him no, and he couldn't --
00:20:55
he couldn't take the rejection
from her. -Investigator Burnette
now needed to prove it.
00:21:04
-We started looking at
obviously more of his cell phone records,
tracking that history.
00:21:08
-We found that his
phone pings were in the area
of Forrest, Virginia. ♪♪ -Commonwealth Attorney
Wes Nance was assigned the case.
00:21:19
He says investigators were
able to obtain Trenton Frye's cell phone
after he checked himself
00:21:24
into that mental health facility
in North Carolina. And that's how they learned that the device had started
pinging off a cell tower
00:21:35
in Virginia on October 4th, three days before Katlyn's
attack. ♪♪ -He wasn't just in Virginia.
00:21:44
He was in at least the area of
Katlyn's new apartment complex. -Investigators canvassed
the apartment complex
00:21:56
and found two of Katlyn's
neighbors, who remembered seeing
an unfamiliar man sitting
00:22:02
at a picnic table for hours. One snapped a photo
of the stranger on the afternoon of October 6th,
the day before Katlyn's attack.
00:22:14
Who do you believe that is? -Well, we'd later determine
it to be Trenton Frye. -How close to Katlyn's apartmen?
Why there?
00:22:23
-So this is
an elevated vantage point. It looks directly down
on her building. -Did Katlyn Montgomery have
any idea
00:22:31
that somebody
had been watching her for days? -No. No, ma'am. -And does it appear that
00:22:36
she wasn't just being watched? She was being followed
and stalked?
-Yeah. Absolutely, yeah.
00:22:41
♪♪ -Investigators learned two hours
after that photo was taken, Trenton Frye's SUV was recorded
by a surveillance camera
00:22:53
pulling into a gas station
near the apartment complex. He was seen inside the store,
now wearing all black.
00:23:02
It was around that time
that Frye texted Aunt Sherry. -He wanted to know if I
still wanted my floors finished,
00:23:09
and I didn't respond back
to him. I immediately called Katlyn. Well, she unblocks the number
and tells him,
00:23:16
"Do not call my aunt anymore." -The texts between Katlyn
and Trenton Frye, says Prosecutor Nance,
became heated.
00:23:24
Frye made it clear he knew
she was living with Jacob Piercy and he didn't like it.
00:23:30
-So there's an anger
and jealousy underlying those text messages. Um, he starts
to call her a piece of (bleep)
00:23:40
and tell her
that karma is a bitch. -Jacob Piercy says
that Katlyn called him, sounding frightened.
00:23:47
-At one point she told me that she wanted to go to
her mom's house and pick up her
self-defense weapon,
00:23:53
that she has.
Her pistol. ♪♪ -Katlyn didn't go
through with that plan. Later, Jacob, Katlyn, and Milani
had dinner together and watched.
00:24:07
Around midnight,
Jacob says he heard a noise near their second floor balcony. -Spread open the curtains
real quick to look.
00:24:15
I didn't see anything. -Did you lock or unlock
the sliding door? -Yeah, I believe I locked it.
00:24:21
-But investigators
later learned the lock on the sliding glass door
was broken, and they suspected that's
how Trenton Frye gained entry.
00:24:32
His Google searches revealed that he had looked up
the layout of the unit, which they believed helped
him find Katlyn's bedroom.
00:24:41
-I think it was
an absolute brutal, sudden sneak attack
on a then-sleeping Katlyn.
00:24:50
-Frye strangled Katlyn,
investigators say, with those charging cords while her daughter Milani
slept nearby.
00:24:58
-With her child laying
beside her. I don't think it gets
much worse. ♪♪ -After Frye left, says Nance,
00:25:08
Milani alerted Jacob Piercy that something was wrong
with her mother. ♪♪ Trenton Frye's digital footprint
from that morning, says Nance,
00:25:20
gives him away. -Mr. Frye started
to Google breaking news, and specifically he looked
to see
00:25:27
if he had any arrest warrants
out for himself. -There weren't any warrants
for him at the time...
00:25:33
...but 13 days later,
investigators have one in hand as they travel to the
mental health facility
00:25:41
in North Carolina. -Trenton Frye agreed
to talk to investigators and denied any involvement
in Katlyn's death.
00:25:52
He said he had checked
himself into the hospital because the only person he had ever considered harming
was himself.
00:26:07
-He did finally admit
he had been in Virginia, but claimed he was only
looking for a job and apartment,
00:26:14
hoping that he could
eventually convince Katlyn to get back together. -But when challenged
with evidence
00:26:25
that he was
at her apartment complex... -...Trenton Frye claimed
he had no memory of it,
00:26:34
that he sometimes blacked
out for long periods of time, including the hours
around Katlyn's attack.
00:26:52
-Investigators had heard enough. -Just turn around for me, pleas. -...and took Trent Frye
into custody.
00:27:00
♪♪ And how did you feel
that he had been arrested? -Relieved that somebody
was going to be, you know,
00:27:09
held accountable. -Trenton Frye was charged
with first degree murder and pleaded not guilty.
00:27:20
-There's no evidence,
no hard evidence, nothing you can point to to prove that Trenton was ever
in that apartment.
00:27:27
-Trenton Frye's defense
attorney, Joseph Sanzone, insists his client
didn't kill Katlyn.
00:27:35
He prepared to argue at trial that there wasn't
a murder at all. -I don't think
anybody tried to kill Katlyn.
00:27:42
I think it was purely
an accident. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today marks two months, two months from the last time
00:28:05
that I told my daughter
I loved her. Tomorrow marks three months. Today is 16 months.
00:28:13
It's been 25 months since my 28-year-old
daughter was murdered. -As the months dragged
on awaiting trial,
00:28:20
Crystal and her family
demanded justice for Katlyn on billboards purchased
around town.
00:28:28
-We now have a new court date. This one should be it.
And I pray to God that it is.
00:28:33
-Trenton Frye entered
the courtroom in March of 2025, two and a half years
after Katlyn's death.
00:28:42
-Her family was there,
her brothers were there, her aunts were there. -CBS Roanoke reporter Leila
Mitchell covered the trial.
00:28:50
-Prosecutors argued that Trentoe
stalked, obsessed over, and ultimately strangled
Katlyn Lyons.
00:28:56
-Leila Mitchell reported
on TV. Katlyn's family updated their
growing community of supporters
on TikTok,
00:29:06
while prosecutor
Wes Nance made his case to the most important audience -
the jury.
00:29:26
-Mr. Frye had given a number
of inconsistent statements. What I would absolutely
characterize as lies,
00:29:33
because they were all
in conflict with one another. -But prosecutor
Wes Nance didn't have to rely
00:29:51
on Frye's memory. Not only did he have the
digital data from Frye's phone placing him in the area,
00:29:59
investigators
had also discovered that his device made
one very important connection
00:30:06
after Katlyn
and her daughter went to bed. -Frye's phone had
automatically connected
00:30:23
to Katlyn's iPad via Bluetooth, providing the only evidence,
says Nance, that placed Frye
inside Katlyn's apartment.
00:30:34
-Now we have the two of them
within feet of each other during the window
of the injuries.
00:30:39
-And what about that sound that Jacob Piercy heard
earlier that evening? Nance believes
00:30:46
that it was Trenton Fry
positioning this metal bench that belonged to
their downstairs neighbor
00:30:53
on the brick wall
under their balcony. -Trenton Frye's defense
attorney, Joseph Sanzone,
00:31:08
concedes that Frye,
devastated after the breakup, was in the area and admits that Frye was
at Katlyn's apartment complex,
00:31:19
but says he was only outside. -I agree with
the billboards in this case. Justice for Katlyn,
00:31:29
but it should happen after a rew
of all the evidence. -He points to the lack
of DNA evidence at the scene
00:31:38
and disputes the prosecution's iPad-Bluetooth
connection theory. -We don't know
where the iPad was.
00:31:46
-And that's because
the iPad was recovered by investigators
at Aunt Sherry's house.
00:31:53
She told them she grabbed it
from Katlyn's apartment when she picked up Milani
after the attack.
00:32:00
But it was in the apartment,
right? -Well, no, we don't know that. We just know it connected.
00:32:06
-Would you admit, though,
that he's a pretty unlucky guy, that he happens to be
outside the apartment
00:32:12
when someone else
kills his ex-girlfriend? -Yeah, and whoever did it
in that circumstance
00:32:18
is the luckiest guy. -Jacob Piercy, the man who
found Katlyn Lyon unresponsive, took the stand to testify today.
00:32:26
-Jacob Piercy, Sanzone argued,
was the more likely killer. What would be Jacob Piercy's
motive for killing Katlyn?
00:32:35
-I don't think
anybody tried to kill Katlyn. I think it was purely
an accident. -Sanzone suggests
00:32:41
that Jacob Piercy strangled
Katlyn in a consensual sex act - one that went too far.
00:32:50
-I was furious. He degraded -- he humiliated my daughter. Oh, I was -- I was so mad.
00:32:59
-The medical examiner found no
evidence of any sexual assault or even recent sexual activity.
00:33:07
This is not sex gone wrong.
This is a murder. -A murder, Sanzone says, Trenton Frye couldn't
have committed,
00:33:18
saying it was impossible for Fre
to get into Katlyn's apartment, kill her, and get away
without waking anyone,
00:33:27
especially the dogs. Isn't it possible that someone
slipped into the apartment quie,
00:33:34
strangled her and left,
and not alarmed the dogs? -Only Tom Cruise can do that,
as far as I know.
00:33:41
I just can't imagine. In real life. -Sanzone has a witness whom he
believes can help make his case.
00:33:50
Trenton Fry himself. ♪♪ ♪♪ -Did you expect Trent
to take the stand? -I didn't. I was shocked.
00:34:15
-When Trenton Frye took the stad
to tell the jury his story, he appeared to have
regained his memory
00:34:21
of his actions that night. -If they don't hear
from your client, they're not going to believe
what you say.
00:34:36
They need to hear
from the person. -Prosecutor Wes Nance
challenged Frye's story.
00:34:52
-But Frye remained adamant that he could
not have killed Katlyn. -But Nance says that gas station
surveillance photo of Frye,
00:35:07
taken hours before the murder, proves that he dressed the part. -A ninja is known
for being in stealth mode,
00:35:15
and I think changing
his outfit to black is him going into stealth mode. -But would that add up to
reasonable doubt for the jury?
00:35:50
-Today, the jury will be told
that they can either find Trenton Frye guilty
of first degree murder,
00:35:57
second degree murder, or they can find him
not guilty at all. -All of our nerves
are on edge.
00:36:03
So wish us all luck today. It's going to be rough. -We weren't going to leave,
whether it was an hour
or 20 hours.
00:36:12
-But you didn't have to wait
very long, did you? -No. -The jury wasted
no time today,
00:36:18
deliberating
for just about an hour. -Because it came back
so quick, I was very concerned
00:36:24
that it didn't go the way
that we wanted. -Moments later,
Crystal heard the three words
00:36:31
she had been praying for. -Guilty. First degree. -Trenton Frye was found
guilty of first degree murder
00:36:40
in Katlyn's death. -I was staring at his face
the entire time, and he had no reaction
when the verdict was read,
00:36:48
Katlyn's family burst
into tears. -Having Trenton Frye be
accountable for his actions
00:36:54
does bring our family
a little bit of peace. -Tina, flanked by her
sisters and Katlyn's brothers,
00:37:00
announced the verdict
to their supporters. -This entire process
has been brutal for our family.
00:37:08
-Four months later,
they returned to court for Trenton Fry's sentencing. -This man didn't
just take a life.
00:37:15
He destroyed a family. -Katlyn's brother spoke
about the impact on Milani. -He left my niece
to wake up next
00:37:22
to her mother's lifeless body. She now lives in fear
of the dark and the monsters
00:37:27
that come into your home
while you're sleeping. -I begged God too many times
to count,
00:37:31
to please, please take me. Let me die
because the pain is unbearable. -Crystal was clear
what she hoped
00:37:39
for her daughter's killer. -I was sentenced to a lifetime
without my daughter. Milani was sentenced to
a lifetime without her mama, so.
00:37:49
He needs life. -Trenton Frye turned
to Katlyn's family. -But he never took responsibiliy
for Katlyn's murder...
00:38:28
-...responsibility that
Judge James Updike reminded him was his alone. -Life in prison.
00:38:54
-Even though we got
the verdict we wanted, my daughter's still not here. If I could walk out of
that courtroom and hugged her,
00:39:03
Then I would have won. Nobody won. ♪♪ I think that everyone that has lost their lives
to domestic violence,
00:39:17
their names need to be said. -Crystal's TikTok videos
are now focused on sharing Katlyn's experience
00:39:24
and hoping her story
could help save someone else. -I don't want another mother,
another family
00:39:31
to go through
what we're going through. I have to be my daughter's voice and I have to help
save other women.
00:39:38
-She and her family
have embraced the man who did all he could
to save Katlyn --
00:39:43
Jacob Piercy. -He's a hero. She needed him, and he was doing
everything he could to help her.
00:39:50
-They opened up and welcomed me
to Christmases and Thanksgivings and hang outs and birthdays
and cookouts,
00:39:57
and they've really made
me feel like part of the family. -A family still adapting
in Katlyn's absence.
00:40:06
-Feel my head.
It's burning up. -Crystal enjoys a familiar
role as Milani's grandmother,
00:40:13
while Aunt Sherry, who always shared
a special bond with Katlyn and her little girl,
has become Milani's guardian.
00:40:22
What does she call you? -She calls me Mama now, Mommy. -Was that hard for you
at first?
00:40:27
-Yes. Because I didn't want
my sister to be upset. Because I didn't want
her to think I was taking
00:40:33
Milani from Katlyn,
erasing Katlyn. -I was like, absolutely not,
you know? You are her mommy now.
00:40:40
She knows she's got Mommy
number one that had her, Katlyn. But you're her mommy now.
00:40:47
-Milani will get to know
her first mom through the journals she left. -"Your younger self would be
so envious of where you are now.
00:40:56
You're such a hard worker
and such an amazing mother." -Katlyn as she saw herself.
00:41:03
-"You're beautiful,
powerful and so strong." -Her final entry focused
on one subject.
00:41:10
Love.
-"I am loved. I deserve to be loved.
I am worthy of love." She knew that she was loved.
00:41:20
-She still is. -Very much so. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪