00:00:00
[Music] once I started you know and there was nothing else like it what are you holding in your hands
00:00:15
now these are items that were seized out of Israel Key's jail cell has the public ever been shown this
00:00:22
before no these skulls are drawn in blood the blood where do you believe the blood
00:00:31
came from I think it was Israel's blood Israel Keys is a serial killer who hid his crimes for many years he was
00:00:40
meticulous uh he was incredibly bright uh and he was incredibly lethal and the significance of the 11 skulls what is
00:00:48
that we believe that 11 is the total number of victims I don't think anybody in his
00:00:54
family his friends his relationships his spouses had any idea what he was doing it gives me the chills to think I had
00:01:01
talked to him had known him that's where I got um my kicks I guess was being able
00:01:07
to live two different lives and have no one have a clue unless you heard him talk about the murders you would not
00:01:17
know that he was a serial killer with kit it wasn't about a particular victim it was about a location why did he pick
00:01:24
these folks I didn't it was just random Samantha kig is an 18-year-old girl who was uh raised and lived in Alaska she
00:01:35
went to high school here she worked at the coffee stand she was a young girl working her job I I'm terrified of what
00:01:44
she went through so at this point Samantha is just she's making coffee she has no idea
00:01:50
her entire life is about to change in a horrible way no people never expect stuff to happen
00:02:01
he would wait until he had the victims under control and then that's when I think the the real monster came
00:02:10
out there's a specific way I wanted things done very specific way I wanted things to happen and uh and I have the
00:02:18
whole thing planned out I have everything I need to do it he loved to travel every time i' Drive I'd be
00:02:25
looking for places good places to do stuff you'll see locations in Seattle Gresham Oregon Port Angeles Washington
00:02:35
he would rent cars he would drive thousands of miles he would take people from one state and he would bury them in
00:02:40
other states San Diego Tijana Salt Lake City Utah Cleveland Ohio Edmund Washington Fort Wayne Indiana there are
00:02:48
potential victims wherever Israel Keys traveled do you believe that this weapon somewhere in the United States may have
00:02:55
been used to kill someone it's possible I had big plans for that [Music] we know that there are families out
00:03:05
there whose loved ones um died at the hands of Israel keys right now we're just trying to find them
00:03:13
[Music] n [Music] [Music] in February of 2012 the residents of Anchorage Alaska were shaken by a
00:04:09
frightening mystery it basically looked like someone just literally walked out of their shift it was the evening of
00:04:16
February 1st when 18-year-old Samantha kig vanished after her night shift at this roadside espresso stand she went to
00:04:25
work that day expecting to go home go home to her boyfriend and her dad Michelle Tasker is a family friend her
00:04:32
boyfriend was supposed to pick her up that night but that didn't happen multiple calls went
00:04:38
unanswered several hours later her boyfriend's cell phone lit up with a message from Samantha's phone the text
00:04:46
messages said something to the effect of I'm going on vacation I'm tired you know
00:04:50
that she was just going away and she just left but we knew she hadn't left that wasn't her character so they knew
00:04:58
something was wrong something was terribly wrong and the next day investigators watched it all
00:05:05
unfold on security camera video FBI special agent Jolene Goden soon joined the team trying to find
00:05:16
Samantha what are we looking at this is Samantha 8:00 p.m. is closing time so she's doing all of her normal things
00:05:22
that she would do to to get ready for closing that's when a masked man walked up to the window he wanted much more
00:05:29
more than just coffee so Samantha's over at the window here she handed something
00:05:36
to the customer she backs up and this is where you see Samantha do this you see her raise her
00:05:41
arms when you raise your hands like that it's usually CU somebody's doing something exactly what started as an
00:05:48
apparent robbery suddenly took a darker turn she turns the lights off do you think her as salance said turn off the
00:05:55
lights yes at this point you see an individual jump in through the window uh right through the window right
00:06:02
through the window have you ever seen something like that before no and then you see two individuals walk
00:06:11
away it it looks like an abduction as the news spread say please help find my daughter Samantha's Father
00:06:20
James kig went public I don't know if my daughter's being fed taken care of if she's still alive if she's getting any
00:06:28
sleep as time went on there was a tremendous amount of fear uh about what happened
00:06:35
and and who was in our community that could do something like this the FBI joined the Anchorage Police Department
00:06:42
in looking at family and friends did you have a sense you were getting to know this young woman yes yes FBI special
00:06:50
agent cat Nelson learned everything she could about Samantha and the people she knew she seemed like she had a very good
00:06:58
spirit like she was a very kind individual caring about others um you could tell that she had a lot of friends
00:07:05
that cared about her a lot Samantha's boyfriend was quickly ruled out as a suspect there was no obvious lead in
00:07:14
this case and it ped so many um barriers for us in the beginning as to where to start looking for
00:07:24
her 10 days after Samantha disappeared a vigil was held hundreds of people came what else can we
00:07:32
do Flyers hand out flyers ask around if you know somebody who knows something get them to talk we just need some sort
00:07:40
it's that one lead that one tip that's going to bring her home as friends and family fan out
00:07:48
across Anchorage to try to find Samantha the question is could she also be out here somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness
00:08:00
then finally after three agonizing weeks that's when the text came in that said there was a ransom note and where to go
00:08:08
the text to Samantha's boyfriend was as mysterious as her disappearance it said to look in Connor Park under pick of
00:08:17
Albert it also said ain't she pretty we just got up and just ran and everybody took off to the
00:08:26
park one of the girls kind of noticed something on the bulle board I walk up and there's a picture of a missing dog
00:08:32
named Albert and right underneath is a plastic bag with a look like a clipping and a photograph in it didn't touch it
00:08:40
we called the police that note contained a picture of Samantha and a long typed out message that talked about putting
00:08:49
$30,000 into Samantha's bank account that account was connected to Samantha's debit card which the kidnapper had and
00:08:58
the photo which is has not been made public was of Samantha holding a newspaper I believe it was dated
00:09:04
February 13th so well after Samantha's abductions so the hope of course is that Samantha is alive Samantha's dad
00:09:12
deposited $5,000 into her account several hours later a man makes an ATM withdrawal using Samantha's card he has
00:09:22
a covering over his face um dark clothing he has gloves on his hands I so it's there's very little you can tell
00:09:29
investigators rushed to the ATM but we're too late missing the suspect by minutes one week later another ATM
00:09:40
withdrawal is made this one is very different this withdrawal occurs in Willcox Arizona nearly 4,000 mil away
00:09:48
and then a short time later we have one in Lordsburg New Mexico then Umble Texas and then
00:09:54
Shephard Texas he's heading east he's heading east we can see that he's moving across the Corridor but the suspect had
00:10:01
made a crucial mistake during the ATM withdrawal in Arizona a white Ford Focus can be seen in the background that
00:10:10
information was pushed out to to law enforcement across that entire Corridor then on March 13th a State Trooper
00:10:17
notices a vehicle matching that description in a Texas Hotel parking lot and a short time later a man comes out
00:10:25
he gets in the vehicle um and he starts to drive away the trooper follows and once that vehicle exceeds the speed
00:10:32
limit he has his probable cause to pull that vehicle over and when he asks the driver for
00:10:39
identification he ultimately presents him with an identification card for Israel
00:10:44
keys and who the heck is Israel Keys Israel Keys was not even on our radar that trooper's instincts were
00:10:54
spoton a search of the car uncovers Samantha's ID her deit card her cell phone and a gun along with a disguise
00:11:03
that matched the man in the ATM photos at this point we believe we have our guide but now the FBI wanted to know
00:11:12
what had Israel Keys done with Samantha kig the race is on because we still don't have Samantha we have him but we
00:11:20
don't have Samantha so if Samantha is alive and we really need to find her quickly
00:11:29
[Music] in March 2012 two weeks after Israel Keys was arrested in Texas he was extradited to Anchorage Alaska at the
00:11:52
point we didn't really know you know was he the one who took and kidnapped Samantha kig or was he someone who was
00:11:59
just using a credit card that he found FBI agent Jolene Goden says investigators initially didn't know what
00:12:07
to make of keys what was it like to look into the eyes of Israel keys I spent a lot of
00:12:13
time with Israel Keys you could be in a room with him and it was like you were in the room with your neighbor I think
00:12:19
I'm bed at Walmart and then there were other times where the hair on the back of your neck stands up a little
00:12:26
bit investigators scramble to learn everything they could about Israel Keys the man did he have a criminal record I
00:12:34
believe he had a a DUI but that was it no no crimes of violence in his history no sex offenses in his history nothing
00:12:41
like that he's a 34 year-old man from Alaska who has a construction business small kind of quiet life even one of my
00:12:50
colleagues at the US attorney's office used him as a handyman one of your colleagues hired him to do some work
00:12:56
sure this is someone you felt comfortable giving a key to your house so he could go there when you weren't
00:13:02
there to fix things an Anchorage resident since 2007 Keys lived in this house with his girlfriend and his
00:13:10
10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship neighbors say he didn't stand out nothing suspicious at all
00:13:18
except for that he worked hard but investigators had suspicions and one very pressing question we started off
00:13:26
with where is Samantha no one knew if Samantha the con was still alive Anchorage assistant us attorney Frank
00:13:33
Russo and his colleagues knew time was of the essence he would have been sitting right here so they confronted
00:13:41
Keys about Samantha once we heard what he had to say and went from being a very happy day as a prosecutor to one of the
00:13:49
worst I've ever had we ended up hearing a confession Keys admitted he had killed
00:13:54
Samantha so we wanted to find out why he did what he did but before he would say
00:13:59
more one the lawyers got you this Keys began what would become a pattern for giving information he wanted an
00:14:07
americano coffee from Starbucks he wanted a Snickers bar and he wanted a particular cigar ultimately Keys lays
00:14:13
out the entire story of of how the Abduction of Samantha occurred the video of that confession had never been made
00:14:20
public before in it Kei says he pointed a 22 caliber pistol at Samantha I remember asking him you know why did you
00:14:29
picked that coffee cart at that time and he just simply said well it was open late meaning he chose her completely at
00:14:38
random key said as they walked off into the night Samantha Broke Free and ran he
00:14:45
chased after her and tackled her he indicates that his plan is to hold her for ransom suggesting to Samantha that
00:14:51
that if she cooperates he'll release her she'll be able to to go home it was all
00:14:56
a lie instead keys drove Samantha to his home chained her up in his shed and sexually assaulted her keys then
00:15:06
strangled her to death Key's family the FBI later determined knew nothing about the horrors that had just taken place he
00:15:15
was talking about the murder of this girl like someone else would discuss what they had for lunch within hours of
00:15:25
murdering Samantha Israel keys left Anchorage for a Caribbean vacation with his family and where did he leave
00:15:33
Samantha where was she where was her body Samantha was in the shed uh at his house keys didn't return until 2 weeks
00:15:40
later it was then that he posted the ransom note and texted Samantha's boyfriend knowing she was already
00:15:48
dead Keys told investigators he had driven some 35 miles north of Anchorage to manusa Lake where over the course of
00:15:57
three trips he disposed of Samantha's remains he had drilled a hole and went ice fishing in the lake and he had tied
00:16:07
it up with bailing wire and weights and he had placed parts of her body down the
00:16:13
lake as he fished I remember asking him did you catch any fish and he said yeah I caught fish and I said what did you do
00:16:21
with the fish and he said well I took him home and ate them and for me that that just
00:16:27
turned my stomach it took the FBI's dive team 10 hours to recover Samantha's body
00:16:35
I remember I was the one who told both Samantha's mom and dad and that was that was a bad day Koenig family friend
00:16:48
Michelle Tasker he has a daughter and you did that to somebody else's daughter I don't understand you have the right to
00:16:56
talk to after talking to keys investigators realized they had a depraved killer on their hands and that
00:17:03
Samantha was likely not Key's only victim I'm two different people basically how long have you been two
00:17:11
different people long time 14 years and that tells you what that he had been a serial
00:17:20
killer for 14 years special agent Katherine Nelson knew every aspect of Key's life needed
00:17:27
to be examined Cleveland Ohio so she started a deep dive into his paper trail cell phone records Financial records
00:17:36
anything we could find out about his background his travels anything that would just tell us a better story about
00:17:42
him it was starting to look like Keys could have victims across the United States we know that Israel Keys travel
00:17:49
to places such as Washington California Wyoming Texas Vermont we'll get the whole story eventually and he teased his
00:17:58
interrogators with details of other murders I'll tell you about everything I'll give you every single gory detail
00:18:06
you want but before Keys would agree to do that he wanted something extraordinary in return I want an
00:18:14
execution date for you yes and he said I want a promise that I'll get the death penalty if you do that then I'll tell
00:18:23
you about all the people I killed what we said is the more murders you give us the more likely it is that they're going
00:18:31
to want to impose the death penalty on you but without a guarantee of death Keys was reluctant to say anything more
00:18:39
so give me something to work with hold a bunch of your cards back but give me a card finally Keys folded all right I'll
00:18:48
give you two bodies and a name [Music] hey is how you doing all right eat no candy
00:19:10
bar they are odd moments to see swear off those C it's in the fridge I'm going to eat
00:19:19
it investigators casually bonding with their interview guest let get him a cigar and let him say we got you over
00:19:27
here awesome cigar for nothing in some ways to The Outsider it looked like you guys were in a way befriending a serial
00:19:36
killer yeah you give me like an hour on the internet but there was method to this
00:19:44
madness says assistant us attorney Frank Russo it was just the act that we had to
00:19:50
put on when we went in that room it was just trying to kind of do anything we could to get
00:19:55
information Israel Keys voluntarily granted two dozen interviews to various investigators in the seven months after
00:20:05
his arrest is it true he could have walked out at any time sure FBI special agent Jolene Goden I think he wanted to
00:20:13
tell the story he wanted to talk about what he did even my own family pretty much I did he enjoyed the rush he
00:20:21
enjoyed the thrill of it that strategy paid off when Keys gave up the names of two victims a married
00:20:29
couple more than 4,000 M from Anchorage in Vermont he gave us the names of the people we wrote them down and what was
00:20:37
the couple's name Bill and Lorraine Courier do your Intel guys immediately try to find out if there's a missing
00:20:44
couple absolutely what do you learn right away that bill and the rain are missing and have been missing for some
00:20:49
time correct bill and the rain Courier are a couple that lived in Essex Vermont nothing stands out really about them
00:20:56
they were just kind of living their life the couriers vanished on a night in June
00:21:01
2011 leaving their family bewildered we love them both with all our hearts we're
00:21:08
devastated by their disappearance and in fear for their lives after interviewing
00:21:13
neighbors police Drew this sketch of a possible suspect police say this composite sketch
00:21:20
of a man who may have been seen driving the couple's dark green Saturn sedan is a big break but the case went cold for
00:21:27
nearly a year until Keys laid out the road map of what had happened he flew into Chicago and he
00:21:34
drove East he intended on that trip to commit a homicide he didn't know who it would be yet on that trip Keys stayed at
00:21:43
this hotel in Essex Vermont while there he dug up a bucket similar to this one that he had buried a few years
00:21:52
prior so this is just the standard orange Home Depot bucket for the first time the FBI is
00:22:00
showing 48 Hours these are several boxes of 22 ammunition the contents of what keys like to call a kill cach so he
00:22:10
would preposition these caches and then when the urge Came Upon him if he happened to be in that state he had his
00:22:18
tools of Destruction ready to go correct or he'd plan a trip to a particular State knowing he already had a cash
00:22:24
there he didn't know who he was going to kill but he already knew that he had the
00:22:27
items there that he needed we have the silencer for the 22 we have a wood stock for a 22 a plastic stock for a 22 uh a
00:22:36
portion of a 22 rifle and then we have the drum magazine the 22 had a number of 22 caliber bullets that's correct you
00:22:44
ever seen anything like this in your career no the cash used in The Courier attack has never been found but Keys
00:22:53
told the FBI where they could find this a weapon he had used in Vermont this is a silencer that heys actually
00:23:01
constructed himself with his murderous Tools in hand Keys went hunting for victims and found himself Outside The
00:23:10
Courier house I decided I was going to look for a house with a couple in it I was looking for a fairly easy way to get
00:23:17
into the garage and there was the first house I found that had all those things he just happens to take a walk from his
00:23:24
hotel into a neighborhood and this un suspecting couple just living their lives is about to have a monster at
00:23:34
their door yeah the monster didn't knock he's very quickly in the house he restrains
00:23:41
bill in the rain very quickly you just make sure they know right away who's in charge and immediately tie them up and
00:23:49
then he moves them to their car and he drives them to an abandoned Farmhouse that he had scoped out earlier Keys
00:23:56
attacks Lorraine first she's upstairs in the bedroom he had restrained uh Bill downstairs but the couriers were not
00:24:03
going down without a fight Bill's yelling for his wife Bill ultimately starts to break free from the restraints
00:24:10
and Keys has to go back downstairs in order to restrain him again and what happens down there there's a struggle
00:24:16
that ensues so I knew I was either going to have to knock him out or just kill him he saw the gun he started to say
00:24:22
something and it just pissed me off and I just started pulling the trigger do you think that this silencer
00:24:29
might have been used in the murder of Bill career I think it's very likely Keys then strangled Lorraine Courier and
00:24:38
left the couple in the basement of the abandoned Farmhouse did anyone ever find these
00:24:45
bodies no a short time after this happened the house ended up being demolished and it was taken to the
00:24:50
landfill we made numerous attempts at the landfill it was a I believe a 10 or 12 week search at the landfill
00:24:59
the FBI was searching in an attempt to find them but we were not able to recover their bodies but as meticulous
00:25:05
as Keys was in covering his tracks he slipped up this is the one item in all the things that we found that belong to
00:25:13
keys that actually had his finger print on it there's a perfect right thumb print for is Keys yeah right no there is
00:25:22
I don't have the lab wow yeah I'm impressed well I'm disappointed in myself mostly but I'm
00:25:31
s what other Clues had keys left behind what other murders had he committed investigators began focusing on his time
00:25:41
in Washington state where Keys was raised a place where he would admit to killing at least four more people he go
00:25:51
sh Strang we'll get the whole story eventually far back cuz I can remember but you know that's
00:26:10
where I get a lot of the ideas either fishing or out hunting and see somebody in the
00:26:17
woods to understand Israel Keys you have to go deep into the vast remote Wilderness where he was raised the place
00:26:26
where he lived off and on for more than 20 years Washington State how many people in the state of
00:26:33
Washington do you believe Israel Keys killed we believe he killed four victims total in Washington state FBI special
00:26:42
agents Ted holla and Colleen Sanders first question keys in 2012 they have spent 8 years
00:26:50
investigating his life and crimes in Washington searching for more victims this is like a horror movie isn't it
00:26:58
it's very much like a horror movie the opening scenes of Key's life took place in a secluded cabin outside
00:27:06
the small town of cville he grew up poor uh he grew up in a large family there were 10 children in
00:27:14
all and they kind of live apart from society John where are we heading now so we're heading north out of out of
00:27:25
calville we're going to go see if we can find uh where is Israel Keys grew up just right up here on the right John
00:27:32
Smith and his wife Desiree knew Israel Keys when he was a teenager Desiree hasn't been in this area since she was
00:27:41
15 yes this could be it yeah I remember it being long and Steep and kind of headed up the mountain side and yeah it
00:27:51
was completely impassible through most of the winter it was built to be completely off the grid be completely
00:27:58
isolated from society no radio no television no electricity nothing nothing the key family attended a church
00:28:07
that preached Christian identity theology a philosophy John and Desiree were also raised on but have since
00:28:15
disavowed Christian identity theology is very white supremacist um they come from
00:28:22
the perspective that the other races are subhuman so with Israel keys specifically he could dehumanize anybody
00:28:31
if they rejected his worldview schooled at home cut off from the outside world Keys was socially awkward very quiet uh
00:28:41
very loner is uh standoffish it's it's hard to explain how he made me feel but I felt unsafe
00:28:49
being near him so one specific conversation about killing a deer um he said that the initial shot didn't kill
00:28:56
it and so when he arrived he started to gut the thing while it was alive this is
00:29:01
interrogation audio of keys describing himself I've known since I was 14 that there were things that that I thought
00:29:09
were normal and that were okay that nobody else seems to think were normal and okay but just when Keys committed his
00:29:17
first murder is still an open question whose picture are you holding my daughter Julie Marie Harris she was 12
00:29:25
years old and disappeared on March 3rd 1996 Sher odard says her daughter Julie a Special Olympics athlete with
00:29:35
prosthetic feet vanished from koville while waiting for a ride to church then I went up and down every street in this
00:29:42
town and screamed her name and there was no Trace there was no Trace Israel Keys
00:29:49
then 18 years old lived in the area at the time Julie's prosthetic feet were discovered at the mouth of the the
00:29:58
cville river the next year her skeletal remains were found we asked Israel Keys about Julie Harris and her death and he
00:30:07
said he was aware of it but that he was not involved in it I remember the name I
00:30:12
don't remember the details of the story Keys told investigators the birth of his
00:30:17
daughter convinced him to never Target children something kind of changed in the way I thought and I didn't want to
00:30:26
do anything that would mess with kids or whatever but Key's daughter was born after Julie Harris was
00:30:35
murdered 48 Hours Tracked Down friends of Julie who had never spoken with law enforcement one of those friends told us
00:30:44
she remembers Keys talking to Julie at the pool where she often swam and that Julie ended up giving him her address
00:30:54
and phone number have you heard this no I did not know that does that sound tantalizing as a possible
00:31:03
clue like any other lead that we have we would want to investigate it fully we would certainly be be interested in
00:31:10
talking with her people have wondered if your daughter was the very first victim
00:31:15
of Israel keys and I'm wondering that too despite the Intrigue surrounding Julie Harris Keys claims his first
00:31:23
attempted murder came in 1997 or 1998 when he abducted and sexually assaulted a young woman near Bend Oregon it was
00:31:34
weird Ian she was scared but also just talking like about random stuff I don't know it was weird I I was just convinced
00:31:41
that I had screwed up that time in Oregon because you know I I I let her go he indicated he never let another go
00:31:49
after that sometime after that assault Keys joined the US Army our investigation lent us to believe that he
00:31:58
was a model Soldier and excelled in the Army Keys told investigators he waited until he completed a three-year stint in
00:32:05
the Army before he stalked his next victim when you were told us it wasn't long when you got out of the military
00:32:12
that he killed somebody and it was that sort of feeling that you needed to do something it was hard to
00:32:20
resist B Town Nia Bay at the farthest Northwestern tip of of Washington is best known as home to the mcot tribe
00:32:32
legendary Whale hunters Keys moved here after marrying a tribe member he met online they started a family he lived
00:32:42
there he rented the house out Eric Johnson worked with keys at The Parks and Recreation Department this is a shop
00:32:49
here the blue part the blue part that was his shop that's where he worked yeah there are reminders of Key's skilled
00:32:56
carpentry all around town Town including this structure he was a great Family Guy
00:33:03
a smart guy gifted Carpenter you know well spoken an upstanding member of the communing member of the community yeah I
00:33:12
would do something and then I would go back like business as usual and go out with
00:33:19
friends go out to bars you know for all the years they've known me they actually
00:33:23
don't know me at all really [Music] about 60 Mi southeast of Nia Bay is another spectacular location one of the
00:33:35
deepest lakes in the United States which investigators suspect is also a watery grave you guys know about Lake Crescent
00:33:45
in Washington he revealed to us that one of the Washington State victims was actually their body was sunk in this
00:33:52
particular Lake I think that lake is 5 to 700 ft deep here's a picture of Israel Keys's boat sometime in 2005 or
00:34:02
2006 Keys had a body in this boat any idea who this person may be any idea how this person was killed no how long did
00:34:13
the body last and a freshwater lake in the last months of 2012 special agents Hala and Sanders were hopeful that Keys
00:34:22
would give them more information on who is at the bottom of this Lake but the Killer had another plan I can't be
00:34:30
satisfied sitting in prison for all my life I'd rather go out while I still have some sanity good memories
00:34:39
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you really think I'm going to feel like when you need more
00:35:02
information after 7 months of interrogations 7 months of teasing investigators with bits and pieces of
00:35:10
his violent past Israel Keys decided to take one more life his own serial killer Israel Keys was found
00:35:19
dead at the Anchorage Correctional Complex we received a call early in the morning that on December 1st 2012 Israel
00:35:28
Keys had committed suicide in his jail cell he used a disposable razor to slit his wrist and keys attempted to strangle
00:35:35
himself with betting and what was your reaction to that my reaction was a lot of these secrets are going to die with
00:35:42
him now for Samantha koenig's loved ones the news hit like a gut punch he should have
00:35:50
been executed now he killed himself that's great it's not what we wanted we wanted him to stand trial we wanted him
00:35:58
to answer for what he did but the world's better off he's gone inside key cell jailers discovered
00:36:08
a bizarre blood soaked suicide note with passages like Crush like a bug you still
00:36:15
die we had hoped that that note was going to be Clues and tips for us on and that he was finally going to give us all
00:36:21
of the information on the homicides and it really wasn't it was kind of a rant but the end of Keys was by no means
00:36:29
the end of this case a few months before his suicide investigators found those mob
00:36:36
drawings he drew a series of 11 skulls and these were found underneath his bed in his jail cell
00:36:48
drawn in Israel Key's own blood you have 11 skulls what does this mean I think this is the entirety of of
00:36:58
his crimes and it indicates that there are seven victims we don't have identified prior to his death Keys had
00:37:05
pointed the FBI to another victim there's one in New York he refused to provide that victim's name but
00:37:14
investigators believe it happened when Keys took a road trip through New York state in the spring of
00:37:22
2009 so they comb through missing persons reports and keys computer is this the person very in New York no
00:37:31
her name was on your computer which computer mine when they confronted him with photos one in particular rattled
00:37:40
him it was a photo of a woman named Deborah Feldman given the way he looked at it and he started shaking a little
00:37:47
bit um I would say she is definitely one of his victims Deborah Feldman is a a woman who went missing from New Jersey
00:37:56
it was in 2009 her body has never been recovered we're relatively confident about Deborah Feldman however we do not
00:38:02
have any forensic evidence to to make that connection according to the FBI that would make Deborah Feldman Key's
00:38:11
fourth known victim along with Samantha kig and Bill and Lorraine Courier agents
00:38:17
are now determined to identify the remaining seven and they are clues that point to at least two other states tell
00:38:26
me about Wyoming was there for him the Green River in Wyoming is where Keys had buried his
00:38:34
Casher is there a sense that there may be a body somewhere near that River we have a strong suspicion that Keys may
00:38:42
have a victim located in that area in the late 2000s Israel Keys also spent time in California's Wine Country
00:38:51
including visiting the Posh Sonoma town of Hillsburg in May of 20 7 Keys has often talked to investigators about
00:39:02
using boats and also kayaks in the disposal of bodies we know that he rented a single person kayak in hburg
00:39:12
near a campground during that time in 2007 but Key's road trips weren't limited to the US in 2007 he drove along
00:39:21
the alen Highway by himself for about a week of that year the alcen highway goes
00:39:26
through Canada up to Alaska yes correct we know that Keys traveled to Canada quite extensively and
00:39:33
specifically said that he would go to Montreal when he was asked about whether he killed anyone in Canada what did he
00:39:39
say he said Canadians don't count it's been several years since Israel Keys killed
00:39:47
himself the FBI hopes investigators across the country will take a second look at suspicious deaths in their area
00:39:56
they're also hoping the public can help if anyone has any information on Israel keys and his travels or if they have a
00:40:06
family member that they think may have been potentially a victim of Israel keys that they come forward to the FBI with
00:40:11
that information that includes the Lake Crescent area of Washington state where Keys told investigators he had dumped a
00:40:20
body we absolutely want people to come forward who think they may have seen something connected to Israel Keys
00:40:25
especially on this Lake and what about those kill caches buried throughout the country if anyone out
00:40:34
there comes across one of these what should they do first for people not to not to touch too much and not to
00:40:42
contaminate it too much and definitely contact local law enforcement in their Community who can then reach out to
00:40:48
us for the FBI their focus is clear for me the important thing is Samantha and Bill and Lorraine and Deborah and all
00:40:58
the victims that we don't have identified that's what this case is about and their commitment unwavering do
00:41:06
you have an optimistic streak that says we can find answers to the other seven cases I do I absolutely do and it won't
00:41:16
be easy by any means and it may take a long time but I'll never give up trying [Music]
00:41:40
[Music] the 911 call came in around 10:50 p.m. it's a female hyperventilating okay calm down where are you
00:42:31
at and then the phone goes dead she's pinging on kener at 2595 and she's extremely out of breath she sounds
00:42:41
like she's running that we got First Responders arriving to a unmaintained County Road
00:42:50
2595 they don't know what they're getting into as they're going down this dark Road in the middle of the night 38
00:42:56
we're out with that female 25 they see a white female flagging them down what's going on my husband he went
00:43:06
to go help me my Jeep is stuck in the back around the corner and he's been shot in the head
00:43:14
please is he okay I need to know if my husband is okay dispatch calls me on the cell phone said hey I think they need
00:43:22
you out there on scene want to check her out make sure she's okay and then you want yeah yeah
00:43:31
yeah you want a little bit of oxygen help you out she was just frantic she had blood on her shoulder area and uh
00:43:40
it's all over her leg and her shirt what's your name Chasey Chasey Chasey what pointer tell us what what what
00:43:48
happened I heard a shot and the Jeep started rolling and I didn't see anything and I saw I saw a shadow that's
00:43:56
all I saw no was it your husband what's his name Robert Rob pointer Robert Pointer yes
00:44:02
he's a firefighter that's why has blood just breathe for me that's why hasn't blood
00:44:10
on me I robbed here right around midnight so we're walking up with our flashlights this point on you can start
00:44:21
making out a silhouette of somebody still in the [Music] Jeep the Jeep was covered in blood there
00:44:29
was no indication of a struggle he's he's around the corner we had a witness Chasey pointer and that
00:44:38
there was somebody loose you know at large that had killed her husband and I could see
00:44:49
Robert and as soon as that that shot he slumped over into the passenger seat [Music]
00:45:00
I just I just wanted to be okay was he dead or alive he was dead this is a case About
00:45:08
Sex Lies money and murder [Music] the [Music] [Music] when I'm awake I see his [Music]
00:46:10
face when I'm asleep I see [Music] it it hurts and he's been shot in the head please he's he's around the corner come
00:46:27
here the harrowing night of September 9th 2016 is forever etched in the memory of Chasey pointer Cal yourself down it's
00:46:36
something I can't get out of my head and when I walked up to him I yelled his name and I just felt something when she
00:46:43
says her husband Robert Pointer a decorated fire department Captain was gunned down by a shadowy figure just
00:46:51
feet away from her on this Rural Road in Roy City Texas you can if you look below
00:46:57
us Tire Treads from tractors uh deep ruts it's a true Farm Road detective Michael Burke photographed the
00:47:05
SE the Night Out Of The Murder they were still watering the ruts they were still
00:47:10
muddy it was pretty rough it's not even a traveled Road it's for Farmers to use to make access to
00:47:18
their fields that night Sergeant Shane Meek wondered how Chasey and her husband ended up on this broken road and
00:47:27
questioned a breathless Chasey in the back of his squad car breathe for me Miss pointer calm down and breathe for
00:47:33
me okay breathe fast like that you're not helping yourself okay slow breaths chasy says the couple plan to meet at a
00:47:40
fast food restaurant for tacos I was going to meet him up at the jacket box I don't I don't ever take
00:47:48
this road all right I what made you come down this one I I missed my last one oh
00:47:52
you did yeah okay so I I didn't I've never never been done right before she texted her husband what do you say to
00:48:00
him told him that GPS said that I was 3 mil out Chasey says while texting she got
00:48:10
stuck I called him after that I told him that my jeep was stuck and that I needed
00:48:15
him to come help me as a fire captain Robert was used to coming to the rescue he rushed to her side I said on the
00:48:24
phone with him he drove out there why did he park there he told Chasey that the ruts were too deep and he
00:48:33
wasn't going to be able to get his truck down here I met him almost all the way down
00:48:38
to his truck and we walked back together and then he went to go get my Jeep got on the driver's side as Chasey
00:48:47
waited on the side of the road for Robert to back up she heard a gunshot I don't think I reacted to the
00:48:55
sound it was Robert I jumped in the Jeep it was rolling very slowly I was holding his
00:49:05
head in my left hand and I put the Jeep in park with my right hand and I just I was calling his
00:49:12
name I could see his eyes I could just feel the blood this was a clean assassination Robert unfortunately
00:49:24
didn't have a clue what what happened to him the victim was sitting in the driver's
00:49:30
seat he's got an entry wound approximately right here in the temple on the right side of his yes sir and the
00:49:36
wding from a shotgun shell was still in his skull and could you tell if that blast was was shot from forward of the
00:49:44
vehicle or from behind it was hard to tell chasy says as she ran for help she saw that shadowy figure there was a man
00:49:54
I there's a tall person at that's H know taller than me and what was he wearing dark clothes is all know did you see any
00:50:02
type of firearm rifle or anything like that in his hand no while sympathetic Sergeant Meek was puzzled that some guy
00:50:10
just happened to be standing in the shadows of the trees to step out and shoot this guy point blank in the in the
00:50:16
head with a gun just didn't make sense all right well give me a second my partners need to speak to me I'll be
00:50:21
right back with you okay I was terrifi right I just watched my husband get shot and the man that did it was still
00:50:35
out there but whoever that suspect was why would he want Robert Pointer dead Robert
00:50:43
was a devoted public servant a career firefighter honestly it's one of those things you don't even believe in at
00:50:52
first at the University Park Firehouse near Dallas where Robert spent 19 years as a firefighter and later a captain the
00:51:01
pain of his loss is still raw for his buddies Jason Paul Earl and Mark but every day you
00:51:14
still feel this absence yeah absolutely you still miss the man no how could you not I think of bob every day I come up
00:51:21
here it burns me up inside but every time I pass Locker I get choked up inside it makes me want to
00:51:29
cry I'm about to cry now a firefighter with the touch of a gentle [Music] giant my last fire was Bob this uh
00:51:40
little girl she was crying Bob took the time comfort her and tell her we were all okay and everything was
00:51:48
fine and that's the way Bob always was not just that little girl his girls his girls were number one on his list always
00:51:55
always no matter how much help he needed he was always there Robert Pointer had three
00:52:03
daughters a 6 and a half-year-old with Chasey and from his first marriage Natalie and Nicole the things you miss
00:52:10
the most are the simple things like being able to call him being able to see him and hug him you
00:52:17
know back in 2008 his 20-year marriage to their mother Amy pointer his high school sweetheart began to UNR travel
00:52:27
signs started showing up that something was a Miss he was shorter with conversations he wasn't home as much
00:52:35
there were excuses when he was gone then Nicole discovered her dad had a second cell phone that was the initial
00:52:43
realization that there was somebody else and eventually this other woman you learn her name it was chasy Tyler
00:52:51
Mormon chasy was a 20-year-old working as a nurse aid he was introduced to Robert through a mutual friend from the
00:53:00
first moment that I ever met him in person we were never apart after that what was his marital status as far as I
00:53:06
knew he was separated from what I understand she continued to go up to the station to kind of let him know that she
00:53:12
was interested and did that quite often she pursued Bob she pursued Bob we've been married 20 years and
00:53:22
here's a young girl that's giving him attention and I just think that she continue to try and you know feel any
00:53:28
need and be there we started seeing each other in December of 2007 and I I was pregnant by
00:53:36
May of 2009 Robert and chasy were married on December 28th 2009 she was 22 he was 40
00:53:49
I knew I wanted to marry him what is it about Robert that you fell in love with he's goofy he would just make me laugh
00:53:57
but almost 7 years later Chasey says the couple's love faded the corner and he's
00:54:03
been shot in the head and that night in the squad car chasy decided to share her
00:54:11
frustrations I was young and stupid when we got married I didn't want to be married anymore
00:54:24
[Music] we've been we've been having problems I was coming to be him with the jck box so
00:54:35
we could talk what do y'all fight over my daughter he's trying to take my daughter away from me just over an hour
00:54:42
after chasy pointer held her husband's blooded head in her hands she kept giving Sergeant Meek details not of the
00:54:50
shooting we're trying to work on it but of the state of her marriage why would he try to take your daughter away like
00:54:55
what reason did he give you knows that that's what's going to hurt me the most yeah her story kept adding all
00:55:01
these different twists and turns and pieces of information that just weren't fitting in the place of the puzzle we're
00:55:07
talking about marital problems at a time when your husband's body is still in a jeep why did you go there I don't
00:55:16
know chayay says 3 years into their marriage the couple grew apart nothing really set it off we slept
00:55:25
in SE separate bedrooms I never felt he loved me like he could have he loved his
00:55:31
ex-wife a lot and I felt like she still had a lot of him according to chasy Robert had a temper he was taking
00:55:40
testosterone and steroids to treat low testosterone levels and Chasey claims that made him violent there would just
00:55:49
be times you know he would grab me by my hair um I could get thrown up against the wall this was verbal abuse and
00:55:57
physical abuse is that right verbal mental physical Robert's ex-wife Amy doesn't buy it that is all made up he
00:56:06
did get on treatments he had normal testosterone for her to say that he had Roid Rage and all that that that just
00:56:13
wasn't him so she's lying to me is what you're saying yes I am when Natalie was 16 she lived with her dad and Chasey for
00:56:21
6 months and never saw him become violent so it was useless to try to come to me and act like Dad was some kind of
00:56:30
Beast did you ever see him slam Chasey against a wall absolutely not Natalie and Nicole have told us that it never
00:56:42
happened are they telling the truth no sir they've never really cared for me from the beginning I was the younger
00:56:48
girl that came in and took their father Chasey believed she had a good reason for not reporting the alleged abuse to
00:56:57
authorities you know I don't walk out and announce he's beating on me I'm not going to do that because it would
00:57:03
jeopardize his job despite their problems Chasey says she tried to keep the spark alive in the marriage I don't
00:57:11
mean to embarrass you with this but what is this from this was done for Robert I
00:57:17
had a friend of mine who was a photographer and she did a budoir shoot for me he wasn't attracted to me after I
00:57:23
lost all the weight he he liked me when I was heavier over a 2-year span chasy transformed her
00:57:30
body the first picture is December probably about 2013 uh the second picture was December
00:57:40
2015 I lost a total of 104 lbs I got up every morning ran strict diet worked out
00:57:48
I pushed myself pretty hard Chasey admits she began seeing other men a lot of men when I dropped the weight I
00:57:56
didn't hide in his shadow anymore you had confidence correct I started meeting people you know I was going out more I
00:58:03
was doing things for myself Natalie accidentally found evidence on chasey's computer that her stepmother was
00:58:11
cheating she had left it open on her Facebook and she was talking to Men on there that weren't dad what kind of
00:58:19
conversations very sexual and gross Natalie says while her father pulled overnight shifts at the the
00:58:26
firehouse Chasey often snuck out for hours at a time leaving Natalie and her then four-year-old sister
00:58:35
alone she was never wearing gym clothes but she always said she was going to the
00:58:38
gym and often my little sister would wake up and she would cry and cry because she couldn't find her
00:58:44
mom Natalie eventually Found the courage to tell her dad about chasey's cheating
00:58:51
ways I will stand up for what I know and what I believe in and that to me wasn't
00:58:55
right you said what I said I think Tracy's cheating on you deeply troubled Robert filed paperwork for divorce but
00:59:04
ended up not following through he was trying to save the marriage he had already been divorced once he didn't
00:59:10
want to lose his his third daughter and not be able to be with her all the time Robert installed a security camera next
00:59:17
to the front door to try and catch Chasey cheating with one of her lovers then just 12 days before Robert's
00:59:26
murder the doorbell rang soon as that doorbell rang I was out that door telling him he had to go and off he runs
00:59:34
and Robert knew correct I love him he's a pain in the ass but I love him on the night of
00:59:41
Robert's murder Sergeant Meek had a hunch that Chasey pointer knew more than she was
00:59:47
saying something just didn't sit right JC do you mind if I take some pictures of you real quick although she wasn't
00:59:54
under arrest she was read her rights all right look up at me all right listen to
01:00:00
me you have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law house but
01:00:05
Chasey kept on talking yeah revealing what she was up to before that fateful Rendevous with her husband whose house
01:00:15
was that Michael Garza hanging out with someone named Michael Garza are you and Michael Garza dating or anything like
01:00:22
that you have a relationship yes well then that read flag goes off did y'all have a date was
01:00:28
it date night no we we just hung out we we had sex [Music] obviously you got okay what were you saying I'm sorry
01:00:47
he's contacted an attorney to get a divorce and I was I was okay with that we've been married
01:00:56
six years almost seven years investigators say the more chasy pointer talked the more she seemed like a
01:01:03
suspect than a grieving wife we we don't we don't meet up the hyperventilating is
01:01:09
now stopped and she's gone into this stutter talking so I I don't know which leads me to believe that she does these
01:01:17
pauses and so I told him to gather additional thoughts so are you thinking is this a performance yes sir it it
01:01:26
started seeming more and more that way and a performance with a recurring character Michael Garza I was a with at
01:01:34
Michael's house at Michael's house what what tell me his name again I'm sorry Michael Garza Michael Garza yes you have
01:01:39
a relationship yes yes yes Michael Garza who is he he was a place that I would go
01:01:46
to to vent and and I loved him for that Chasey began having an affair with Michael Garza after meeting him on
01:01:53
Facebook in the summer of 2016 this selfie captured one intimate moment it was something I felt guilty about
01:02:03
Robert shared his frustrations about Chasey with his buddies at the firehouse and I told him man you just
01:02:10
got to cut your losses divorce sucks but you're miserable and he said yeah you're
01:02:15
right you're right but I'm invested those are his exact words I'm invested in this Robert was hopeful the marriage
01:02:23
could be saved he took Chasey and their daughter to Mexico on vacation but it backfired we fought he
01:02:32
thought I was on the phone with somebody else it upset him it was the Wednesday that Bob had
01:02:39
come home from Mexico he said the trip wasn't good he said I just can't do this anymore and when did he die right not
01:02:48
long after Chasey told Sergeant Meek about the affair with Michael Garza I'll be transporting the female to the Roy
01:02:56
City Police Department she was driven downtown to be questioned by detective Michael Burke let me get this door
01:03:06
68 car just have me sit right there the interrogation started at 220 in the morning did I love Robert yes he was an
01:03:17
me I love and lasted 8 hours I loved them I I really did love him we've had a lot of issues in our
01:03:25
marriage among those issues her affair with Garza Michael and I ended up having friends while I was there and she gave
01:03:34
more detail about Robert's murder right to the front of my Jeep there was someone standing there probably 6 foot
01:03:42
maybe I could see dark clothes that's it I don't know if they were white black I
01:03:48
don't know anything somebody from what you're saying shoot your husband cold blooded
01:03:55
murder and just let you run away there was someone standing there when somebody comes out to murder a random stranger
01:04:04
you know a big red flag is that they don't let a witness go and that suggested what to you suggested she
01:04:10
might have known the killer look the way your husband was killed somebody was right next to him detective Burke
01:04:15
pressed her I think you're full of crap I want trigger I don't know who pull the
01:04:20
trigger see I think you do and that's the problem no I don't two hours into the interrogation detective Burke broke
01:04:27
through who killed your husband who shot [Music] Robert can you say that louder for me
01:04:37
please Mikey as in Michael Garza where was to the passenger side now cornered Chasey changed her entire story she says
01:04:50
she told Garza about Robert's alleged anger issues I didn't want I just [Music] I wanted to come to know what it's like
01:05:00
to be bulli all the time Chasey told 48 Hours Garza rode with her that night the
01:05:08
plan was to confront Robert outside the Jack in the Box and demand he leave Chasey
01:05:15
alone did you see him put a shotgun in your vehicle no sir you never saw a shotgun no sir how can that be true I
01:05:25
was on my phone Garza tells me make a right ha to County Road 2595 and ask him what was going on he
01:05:35
said he's going to meet us here Chasey now claims it was Garza setting a trap he told me to take my Jeep back up
01:05:44
around the first corner and let Robert know that my jeep was stuck and I needed him to come help
01:05:50
me you had to tell Robert something to get him to come to the location right yeah yes sir but my Jeep wasn't
01:05:59
stuck when Robert arrived she noticed something kind of touching he wore the cologne that he wore on our wedding day
01:06:09
and he hadn't worn it since and I made a joke about it and uh and he laughed Robert could never have imagined that he
01:06:18
was just moments away from Death as I was walking to the Jeep I said stop who are you Ying stop to too to Garza but
01:06:26
why would you have shouted that way if this was just going to be a conversation between two men isn't that indicative
01:06:32
that you shouted stop because that meant don't shoot him no I didn't at that point I didn't want him to even talk to
01:06:41
Robert at that moment sorry at that time there was a gunshot did Garza say anything to you
01:06:59
nothing 91 not until after I called 911 did he run up to me and he took my phone from me when he threw it down on
01:07:08
the ground prosecutor Jeff kovat doesn't buy any of it the question is which one of
01:07:17
those stories does she want us to believe hurt him scare him or just have a talking to none of them more
01:07:26
credible investigators believed that you were luring your husband to this remote
01:07:31
area so he could be murdered there was no plan to to bring him out and and murder him there was no talk of
01:07:41
[Music] that on September 10th the morning after her husband's murder Chasey pointer was arrested for
01:07:53
conspiracy to commit murder the couple's daughter would stay with chasey's mother
01:08:00
did you conspire to have your husband murdered no sir you're telling me that you are speaking the truth yes
01:08:07
sir investigators then set out to find the man who allegedly shot Robert Pointer but Michael Garza the truck
01:08:17
driver had hit the road [Music] [Music] the funeral was absolutely beautiful it was very
01:08:40
ceremonial on September 15th 2016 just 5 days after his wife was charged in his death Captain Robert Pointer was laid to
01:08:51
rest we had guards guarding his n his ashes the entire time firefighters from All Over Texas honored him did the
01:09:02
Fireman's Prayer when duty calls me oh Lord wherever Flames May rage give me the strength to save some
01:09:13
life whatever be its age I remember trying to hold it all together and then when I lost it it's
01:09:21
when we walked out other fire station and police came in and they lined from the church all the way to the
01:09:31
fire station I remember the bag Vibes painful one of the hardest things is they give the last call for Robert
01:09:41
Pointer you still think that person's still there somewhere that this couldn't have happened that's the thing with Bob
01:09:48
you always had this underlying feeling that even if he had to walk through fire somehow that man would make it through
01:09:57
Amy Says in the last days of his life Robert was finally ready to walk away from Chasey he was kind of beaten down
01:10:05
he was tired where he was just ready you know to get a divorce I think she knew he was ready to move
01:10:11
on investigators say just the day before he was gunned down Robert had reached out to a divorce attorney on Facebook
01:10:19
sending this provocative message I'm thinking of a surprise attack and he said something to her about a
01:10:28
surprise attack on me he had contacted a realtor said he was going to put the house up for sale he was going to have
01:10:34
custody of our daughter the next day he is killed do you think that's just a coincidence that's not a coincidence
01:10:40
that's why the murder happened when the murder happened what was the attraction for Chasey with your dad was it Love or
01:10:46
Money Money Natalie says Chasey had convinced her father to change his almost $685,000
01:10:55
life insurance policy instead of the girls getting the money Chasey was made the primary beneficiary we believe that
01:11:03
was the motive she saw him as an ATM machine and she was going to milk the last little bit of money she could get
01:11:09
out of him prosecutor Calvin Grogan says investigators discovered a mountain of digital
01:11:20
evidence there were plenty of text messages after the life insurance beneficiary designation change occurred
01:11:27
in April indicating that Chasey pointer was looking for somebody that would take
01:11:32
care of Robert and many of those techs more than 10,000 were between chasy and her lovers
01:11:39
she's having affairs with multile men Danny Mims brag golden Shan butcher Michael
01:11:46
Garza prosecutors believe Chasey began grooming Garza for murder convincing him that Robert was an imminent threat she
01:11:55
used sex to manipulate men she's not going to come right out and ask about hey will you kill my husband for me
01:12:01
chacy pointer plays the victim and then she uses that to manipulate people and so she told all of these men that she's
01:12:08
just abused battered woman she texted Garza from that Mexican vacation where the couple was to reconcile quote he's
01:12:16
coming after me sooner or later Garza answers F him no I will shot that dude dude was Michael Garett talking about
01:12:28
murdering your husband I didn't think he was serious I didn't want him involved I
01:12:33
told him that I'm telling you man this girl was good at what she did this is Brad golden she would be at my house
01:12:40
every day every day around 4 to 5:00 he's the lover caught on the security camera video he says Chasey manipulated
01:12:50
him I never even suspected suspect boy never she had been married she had told me she' been divorced since 2014
01:13:00
Brad says Chasey told him horror stories about Robert She always told me that Robert was abusive to her I don't know
01:13:09
if she was trying to get me to feel sorry for her and I just wasn't falling for it or whatever cuz I kept trying to
01:13:15
get the M Poli station know were you ever able to cooperate any of her story of abuse we spoke to neighbors we spoke
01:13:23
to friends I mean there was no evidence of support reped at all Chasey had made allegations about Robert's anger issues
01:13:30
to ex-lovers Sean Butcher and Danny Mims who she often texted 8 days prior to the
01:13:37
murder I wish he'd run out of air in a fire moving back to July 11th I need him Gone Gone go all capitalized Denny Mims
01:13:48
replies I'm not a magician Chasey answers well I need one did you want him dead no I was upset Sean butcher says to
01:13:59
Chasey what do you need to leave Chasey pointer says I would be better off with him gone benefits and can't lose custody
01:14:08
investigators have said you were going from person to person to try to find someone who would kill your husband I
01:14:16
wasn't the day before the murder it's from chy dears I've made up my mind what do you think she's made up her mind
01:14:23
about I think it's pretty clear it's about killing Robert Pointer with Michael Garza on the run a
01:14:31
SWAT team raided his [Music] house coming up empty but the next day garit turned
01:14:43
himself in and he was charged with Robert Pointer's murder he did not want to speak to us
01:14:49
only wanted to speak to his attorney and that's as far as we got with their two suspect ects now
01:14:55
Behind Bars investigators hope to find direct evidence linking Garza to the murder 5 weeks later that evidence would
01:15:07
come from a farmer with emergency I believe I found the shotgun who Unearthed the murder weapon
01:15:15
while plowing this field less than A4 mile from where Robert was shot that shot got
01:15:25
was still loaded the shell hadn't been ejected okay and there's two more uh in the magazine and they're all man killing
01:15:32
slugs consistent with what the medical examiner said was used to kill Robert Pointer we did a um a search on the
01:15:40
firearm Mossberg 835 UL mag I came back to Matthew Garza Michael Garza's brother police now had what they needed
01:15:51
Michael Garo would be the first to face trial Michael Garza just happened to be the person that was in chasey's life at
01:15:59
the right time and all it really took for Chasey is to basically just dangled the
01:16:04
[Music] bait and then when I looked up there was nobody there okay you probably think I'm
01:16:18
crazy from her bizarre performance the night her husband was murdered to her confession about her lover Michael Garza
01:16:26
Michael was going to shoot Robert he was going to do it investigators were convinced chasy pointer was determined
01:16:34
to have her husband killed that night he's around the corter come here investigators believe you knew about the
01:16:41
mission planned the mission to murder your husband for money that's what they say and look at me they're right aren't
01:16:50
they no sir on July 10th 2018 the prosecution put the alleged trigger man Michael
01:16:59
Garza on trial he had pleaded not guilty when Garza took the stand he made a shattering
01:17:07
announcement implicating chasy he says that he gave her his brother shotgun cuz he thought that she was abused he
01:17:14
implied that she did it Garza told the court he couldn't have murdered Robert Pointer because he was tending to a sick
01:17:21
animal on the Family Farm his Alibi is that he was tended to Oreo the cow while this whole murder was going on the jury
01:17:30
didn't find Garza's Alibi credible I actually do believe that his testimony helped us on July 20th Michael Gara was
01:17:40
found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison it was a huge step forward but it also felt like the real
01:17:56
battle had just begun the pointer family now focused on chasing in my mind she's
01:18:02
always pulled the trigger because she was the instigator of all of it what were you thinking going into
01:18:09
trial I was very hopeful prosecutors were hopeful too that they would prove chasy wanted Robert's money and that she
01:18:18
was The Mastermind there's no way Michael Garza was ever going to get Robert Pointer out of on that road alone
01:18:26
only Chasey could do that and she played her part well using chasey's text prosecutors
01:18:33
demonstrated that her alleged love for Michael Garza was really a Sinister Ploy he is a pawn he's the dumb idiot
01:18:42
she got to do this in fact Garza didn't know that after he shot Robert chasee planned on spending the night with
01:18:50
another lover she was texting Brad goldon while she's out there committing this Murder She had sex with Brad gold
01:18:57
that morning they still planed to meet up that night what the heck is going on I don't
01:19:04
know my life was out of control chasey's defense attorneys Scott corod and Frank Hughes say the state's
01:19:13
obsession with chasey's Affairs tainted the jury Chasey having Affairs has nothing to do with murder it just
01:19:22
demonizes her chasy pointer is not guilty of murder she's guilty of being negligent because she should have
01:19:29
anticipated that this Thug Garza would commit a murder to get to her calling 9111 is probably the strongest point
01:19:39
that we have in her defense no one who planned to kill someone would shoot him and call 911 he went to go help me my
01:19:48
jeus second but the prosecutors argued at the sight of her dead husband Chasey had a moment of
01:19:56
around it's one thing to talk about killing somebody it's another thing to go through with
01:20:02
it while Chasey chose not to take the stand jurors did hear her speak he knew that I was seeing someone and through
01:20:10
those recorded police videos I didn't want to be married anymore one that captured this revealing
01:20:17
moment at the end of her two-e trial the jury began its deliberations we waited for a
01:20:30
while Hour 2 Hour 3 hours went by after the fourth hour hey okay they have a verdict
01:20:41
okay Chasey pointer was found guilty of [Music] murder I cried and relieved they got it that they saw who
01:20:55
she really was she met him and she walked him to his death smiling and gigglin talking
01:21:03
about tacos and cologne she's [Music] evil Chasey told me that you always had Robert's heart I think that's true she
01:21:15
took away all choice of anybody of having any relationship or any you know future with him
01:21:24
this is his bunker gear having it is almost like having part of his presence which is comforting in a way and uh
01:21:32
painful in another how do you want your father to be remembered as as he was as he really
01:21:42
was he was gentle and he was smart and he was kind he was rare and we were lucky to
01:21:49
have him this is a Injustice true Redemption and remorse comes from telling the truth isn't it
01:22:00
time you did that he wasn't supposed to die jurors sentenced Chasey pointer to life in
01:22:10
prison with the possibility of Parole in 30 [Music] years are your tears now tears of what
01:22:22
you did to your own life or tears of what you did to him it's both [Music] we all live two
01:23:47
lives only the most intimate people that we know really know who we are 911 do you need police or paramedic uh
01:23:58
paramedic it begins with a 911 call from the house it was a Sunday morning November 13th year
01:24:05
2016 what's the address of the emergency sir it's a TGA in San Clemente too is a new community it's
01:24:13
kind of considered a sleepy little town nice place to work nice place to live now what's happened we got a patient
01:24:20
here who's Fallen upstairs and I don't have a pulse and she cold Eric Scott Sills is a fertility doctor you found
01:24:28
her down at the bottom of the stairs yeah partially on the stairs Suzanne SS is his wife looks like her shoe come off
01:24:34
or something the mother of twins a boy and a girl so she's not breathing no she's not breathing she was
01:24:42
the one who was found that morning I'm going to give you instructions for chest compressions okay
01:24:48
they had it on a speaker phone so Scott and Mary Kate the daughter were both heard on the on the 911 call
01:24:55
what are you trying to do sir I can't see what's going on what are you CPR I'm doing the CPR Dr SS was a infertility
01:25:02
specialist you going keep up I'm going to do it this way they ran their Clinic as partners Suzanne took care of all the
01:25:09
business side of things continue the compressions until paramedics arrive and take over she's making noises out of her
01:25:16
mouth she was his number one supporter in everything that he did they really looked like they had it all okay hold on
01:25:24
we're doing it baby come she was making some kind of noise just from the compressions that I think
01:25:33
she was already dead we get notified by our Sergeant to come out to a house and begin a death
01:25:45
investigation so when you went inside what stuck out to you well as soon as you go into the front door the stairwell
01:25:50
is right off to your left Suzanne was right there she had a blanket covering her body we could see
01:25:59
the other things laying around like this stainless steel Soup pot a purse an empty medication bottle and then the
01:26:06
scarf was a little bit further down away from her the deputy Corner during her preliminary body exam of Suzanne the
01:26:14
injuries weren't consistent with somebody falling down the stairs her neck had a pretty pronounced ligature
01:26:20
Mark the question is how was she strangled when she was found the scarf was around her
01:26:27
neck I think the first day there was mention of dogs maybe pulling on a scarf oh you so good they had a couple of dogs
01:26:34
rescues very K saw the dogs pulling on the scarf we didn't get the impression that it was any kind of violent pulling
01:26:41
do you think that the dogs could have pulled on her scarf hard enough to strangle her to death could they do it
01:26:48
yes when you came to the house it was a death investigation by the time you left
01:26:52
was it a murder investigation no it wasn't just as clearcut as that [Music] [Music]
01:27:47
[Music] do you have a spidey sense when you go into these scenes like to think so
01:27:55
probably all of us would like to think so that we could just figure it out as soon as we walk in Sherlock Holmes
01:28:01
Style on that Sunday morning in November 2016 Orange County Sheriff's homicide detectives Eric hatch and Dave Holloway
01:28:09
had more questions than Clues at that point in time that morning November 13th was Scott Sills a victim or a suspect to
01:28:19
us he was a victim we were going to a house where two kids and a husband just lost their wife and mother Dr Scott
01:28:26
zills had made that 911 call and reported finding his wife and business partner Suzanne at the bottom of the
01:28:33
stairs is it a steep stairway yeah it's pretty high I believe it was 13 and 1/2 ft from the floor to the top of the
01:28:42
stairs did it seem plausible that a 45-year-old woman in pretty good shape would have fallen down the stairs to her
01:28:49
death at the time it sounded believable Suzanne had injuries to pretty much her whole
01:28:57
body her face was all bruised up her back was bruised up both arms and legs were had bruising and abrasions and
01:29:06
around her body was that odd collection of items they definitely stood out especially that steel Puck it almost
01:29:13
looked like it was placed there it wasn't upside down or leaning against anything we had to figure out why those
01:29:18
things were there the detectives say Dr Sills didn't seem nervous that a homicide team was in his home asking
01:29:25
questions he was just kind of going with the flow how Cooperative was he oh very
01:29:30
everything we asked of him he he gave us he signed a consent form that gave us permission to search his house and when
01:29:36
they interviewed the Sill's children Mary Katherine and Eric the 12-year-old twins each told a similar story to their
01:29:43
dad that Suzanne had not been feeling well that night Suzanne had a history of migraines they were typically
01:29:50
debilitating requiring a dark room quiet and bed rest rest and she had been suffering from a migraine that weekend
01:29:57
the migraine seemed to explain that large pot sometimes she carried around a bowl in order to have it near her
01:30:04
bedside in case she threw up in the middle of the night and the empty pill bottle was for a pain medication Dr
01:30:10
Sills said his wife took to treat her migraines so did that make it sound more possible that she could have fallen down
01:30:17
the stairs because she was suffering from a migraine maybe and there seemed to be nothing in the relationship to
01:30:25
suggest another reason what did you learn about the Sill's marriage according to Scott everything was fine
01:30:32
they had a you know a good relationship both children attested that their parents loved each other and said they
01:30:38
rarely argued and were never violent detectives started piecing together a timeline of the
01:30:49
weekend Saturday night she was on the couch Eric came down to see her check on her make sure she was
01:30:59
okay it was around midnight when Eric said he and his mom went back upstairs after she put the dogs away in their
01:31:06
crate Mary Katherine had gone to bed in her parents' bedroom Suzanne was going to spend the night in Mary Katherine's
01:31:12
room which was the quietest it was Mary Katherine's idea for Suzanne to spend the night in that room it was clean
01:31:20
according to Mary Katherine and done up like a little hotel suite for Susan and a convalescent
01:31:26
there Mary Catherine had left a note on her door with what would be her last words to her
01:31:32
mom I know you were tired she said but you need to know that I love [Music] you around 4:00 a.m. Eric said he woke
01:31:51
to the sound of his parents arguing in the Next Room the two windows that's Eric's room so
01:31:58
Eric is right next to Mary Katherine's room where his mom was and what did he tell you he heard
01:32:05
well he heard loud voices arguing but he didn't describe hearing any physical confrontation Eric told detectives that
01:32:12
after about 5 minutes he decided to go sleep in the main bedroom with his sister according to Mary Katherine's
01:32:20
statement she thought he'd come in around 3:40 a.m. and told her their parents were arguing about a work email
01:32:28
how do you know she she got an email because Eric said they were talking about oh okay so Eric told you that
01:32:34
there that she got an email and that she was it was about some something something about work Dr Sills told
01:32:41
detectives he had argued with Suzanne because he found her working late on her laptop which made her migraines worse
01:32:47
when you heard that they had an argument shortly before she was found at the bottom of the stairs dead was going
01:32:54
through your mind well again that's one more piece of data that we're going to collect it doesn't mean one way or the
01:32:59
other that it was a murder but that's definitely an Avenue that we would have to pursue neither Eric nor Mary
01:33:06
Katherine heard their dad return to the bedroom I woke up and my dad was just like on the coverage just laying there
01:33:13
like there wasn't enough room to get in I guess we just was laying there on top of it
01:33:22
yeah it was was around 6:30 a.m. the next morning when Dr Sills and the twins woke
01:33:29
up he asked them if they wanted to go to the pool and get some donuts Mary Catherine said when she left
01:33:37
the bedroom and looked over the banister she saw her mom's body at the bottom of the stairs that long red and
01:33:45
white scarf around her neck that was Mary Katherine's scarf it was found in the same room as Suzanne's
01:33:56
body but the scarf wasn't on her body when we arrived it was not Mary Katherine told us that she had to remove
01:34:02
the scarf and she did that not to impede mom's breathing adding to the mystery were the injuries to Suzanne's neck the
01:34:10
deputy coroner had noticed during a preliminary examination of the body earlier that morning especially with the
01:34:16
lature mark across her neck it just didn't make sense is it possible that she could have fallen down the stairs
01:34:21
and then somehow the scarf strangled her could have caught on a banister sure I suppose so but we didn't have any
01:34:28
evidence of that as detectives continued their investigation the questions mounted did anybody in the house hear a
01:34:35
fall down the stairs no nobody described hearing a fall down the stairs or if suzan had been carrying that stainless
01:34:41
steel pot no one heard that bounce down the stairs or land on the tile floor there was no evidence on the stairs of
01:34:48
someone going down like broken ballast or anything like that and something else the detectives
01:34:56
thought was strange it was a warm day even though it was November but when we spoke with Scott and during the whole
01:35:03
time we were in the house doing our investigation he was wearing a beanie over his head and he said that he slept
01:35:08
with it cuz it was cold did you ask him to remove the beanie yes as it turned out Suzanne wasn't the only one with
01:35:17
injuries that morning [Music] we discovered that Scott had some injuries he had a cut up here on his
01:35:39
forehead and on his arm he had a uh bruise Dr Scott Sills said there was a simple explanation for the injuries he
01:35:49
had hurt himself while working on his car in the garage with his son Eric there was just one problem Eric told us
01:35:58
dad didn't hurt himself did he say to you I left the garage so maybe you heard himself while I was gone no he told us
01:36:04
they came in the house together and investigators said they found something Dr Sills couldn't explain on that day
01:36:11
you found blood yes blood in Mary Katherine's room where Suzanne had been staying on the curtains the wall and the
01:36:21
nightstand so that morning when you ask Scott about the blood what did he say he
01:36:27
didn't know where it came from he He was unaware of it Mary Katherine told investigators the
01:36:33
room was quote perfect when she left it she also said she'd turned down the bed but now it was made it didn't really
01:36:42
make sense why would Suzanne take the time to make the bed in the middle of the night so if you found blood in Mary
01:36:48
Katherine's bedroom you know that there are ligature marks on Suzanne why not take him down to the station at
01:36:56
this point and question him once you arrest somebody that starts processes that you can't stop besides the blood in
01:37:03
the bedroom we didn't really have enough evidence of a fight occurring so at the
01:37:08
end of the day there wasn't enough probable cause legally to arrest him Suzanne's autopsy 4 days later didn't
01:37:16
provide any definitive answers the forensic pathologist noted that Suzanne had injuries all over over
01:37:23
her body that could have resulted from a fall including a fractured C3 vertebrae
01:37:29
near the base of her neck which can be fatal then there was that ligature mark across her neck and hemorrhaging of the
01:37:36
blood vessels in her eyes which pointed to strangulation it would take months to
01:37:41
make an official ruling it's not something they want to rush into it's not something they want
01:37:47
to make a rash judgment on the doctor wanted to examine the whole case more more clearly
01:37:54
in the meantime detectives requested DNA testing on evidence collected from the Sill's home and forensic analysis on
01:38:02
Suzanne's phone and laptop they also dug deeper into who the Sills were none of their immediate neighbors knew anything
01:38:10
about the family eventually we contacted whoever we could out of their contact list to try and find out
01:38:17
[Music] more in high school I thought but this must be what genius means his humor his his quick wit Sandy
01:38:31
Roberts and Jamie aens have known Scott Sills since their high school days in Herman Tennessee he was something we had
01:38:38
never seen before in a small town in Tennessee at that age he was very special it was
01:38:45
hilarious how many people come to class in a three-piece suit and it's not dress
01:38:50
up day he's flamboyant he's bigger than life he was very very kind I grew up uh pretty poor I didn't have a car in high
01:39:01
school or anything like that and a lot of times no lunch money and uh he always pulled out his wallet and paid for it it
01:39:07
just wasn't a question his future seemed Limitless he was accepted to both law school and medical school we were kind
01:39:16
of all on the edge of our seat wondering what he was going to decide to do and it was no surprise when the
01:39:24
hometown boy became a renowned IVF specialist a profession that would lead him to suzan Suzanne was going through
01:39:32
fertility treatment trying to get pregnant with her first husband Chris solamini met Suzanne AR
01:39:39
swaga in business school where she earned an MBA she had confided in him about her struggles to get pregnant
01:39:47
having kids was everything to suzan she'd cry about it I mean it was so important to her
01:39:53
[Music] and Eric Scott SS was her fertility doctor but soon Chris says they were a
01:40:02
couple she started talking about Dr Sills after she had told me she was getting divorced and that she was now
01:40:11
dating him I just remember her saying he's a brilliant doctor Dr Sills who was also
01:40:19
coming out of a previous marriage seemed to have met his match suzan was smart witty we love Mr
01:40:28
St sarcastic but not in a mean way you know just enough to to dig at you you know incredibly driven a loyal friend
01:40:38
she was so classy so beautiful very engaging seemed like to me he he found one that is a good it was a good fit
01:40:47
Suzanne fit right in at Scott's 20th High School reunion she danced the whole time
01:40:54
they were lovely together he just seemed really happy the couple married and welcomed twins through IVF adding to Dr
01:41:02
Sill's two older kids and eventually Suzanne's business Acumen would lead them to start their
01:41:09
own IVF practice in April 2015 she started the business and she built it Suzanne pretty much ran
01:41:19
everything with the exception of actually doing the procedures the practice soon took off we actually
01:41:26
have Dr Scott SS here in OBGYN who's also a fertility specialist so and Dr Sills was often featured on the TV
01:41:33
program The Doctors which was distributed by CBS we've decided to provide you that removal surgery at no
01:41:41
cost he was in many eyes a saint he was uh loved by his patients Dr Julio Novoa is an OBGYN who co-authored a book with
01:41:51
Dr Sills Dr SS was a great doctor and and Susan was a a great advocate for women as well and there were a team not
01:41:59
just married but a team and working well together but about a month before her death Rick Leeds another of Suzanne's
01:42:07
friends says she left him a troubling message she sounded like she was whispering it was so different from the
01:42:16
happy jovial excited voicemails I got before this one was definitely things were
01:42:23
good when they spoke Rick says it sounded like there was tension over a photo she said it was a topless photo of
01:42:32
her that had appeared on a Blog this was some discussion she didn't want to [Music]
01:42:50
have when news of Suzanne's death reached her friends they were stunned it was devastating I couldn't believe it it
01:43:00
didn't seem plausible to me that she just fell down the stairs with a migraine headache it didn't sound like the
01:43:07
vibrant Suzanne they knew Dr Sill's friends say they were equally perplexed Scott would not discuss
01:43:16
anything with us he quickly changed the subject we never spoke again you don't know how tragedies
01:43:23
affect people what were your impressions of Scott Sills throughout the investigation
01:43:30
I would describe him as emotionless he never acted as though Suzanne was even his wife he talked about what a good
01:43:37
manager she was and how she kept their business flowing but he never once mentioned that she was a good mother or
01:43:44
that he loved her all very businesslike yeah in fact the day after Suzanne's death the doctor had gone to work
01:43:53
work I was shocked at who goes to the office the next morning when your wife died Joanie Ricker's daughter was a
01:44:03
nurse at the Sills IVF clinic and had called her in a panic she said her patients are in cycle and they have to
01:44:10
be treated Joanie volunteered to help manage the office something Suzanne did and ended up working there for 2 years
01:44:19
did Dr SS talk about his wife oh never did he ever say how she died or we it was never
01:44:27
discussed pretty soon she says the doctor started changing his appearance he started dress like a movie
01:44:35
star I mean he was very simple before and she says the once balding doctor now had a full head of hair we definitely
01:44:45
noticed um new hair they also noticed Dr Sill's flashier online persona I said to one of my friends now is SS a
01:44:57
doctor or a model I personally don't know any doctors on social media that are taking selfies in the gym and their
01:45:05
their Blazers and their sunglasses and in their Porsches I it was a little much all of a sudden there started to be
01:45:12
another woman in photos and he was out on dates and they were going around town the behavior raised eyebrows but it
01:45:22
was hardly evidence then in November 2017 a year after Suzanne's death there was finally news from the coroner's
01:45:30
office Suzanne's cause of death was cited as ligature strangulation and the manor a
01:45:40
homicide Dr Sills was now the prime suspect DNA results on the blood in Mary Katherine's room showed a mixture of his
01:45:48
and suzan's DNA they were both there there was a fight there's a fight and he killed his
01:45:55
wife on August 8th 2018 nearly two years after suzan's death detectives Holloway
01:46:03
and hatch made a surprise house call at the doctor's home did you ask Dr Sills at this point
01:46:11
just flat out did you kill your wife yes and started stressing out and started sweating and he became more
01:46:18
defensive they say the doctor denied killing his wife and he now offered an explanation for his blood in Mary
01:46:26
Katherine's room he said he had injured himself replacing a window screen wouldn't Mary Katherine have seen the
01:46:32
blood that he left from replacing the screen for sure and she didn't mention it nope despite the death being ruled a
01:46:42
homicide detectives said they still had more investigating to do like finding a motive a search of suzan's phone
01:46:50
provided some Clues text messages hinted at problems in the marriage there was one in particular where she had some
01:46:59
pretty strong words towards Scott in text sent in late August Less Than 3 months before her death Suzanne wrote I
01:47:07
am trapped you are killing me I just want out and we just aren't right for each other and about a month before her death
01:47:18
Suzanne had confided in Rick Leeds she and Scott we're in a really rocky place and she was thinking about leaving
01:47:27
him he said Suzanne was also upset about a photo she'd posted online whatever was
01:47:34
going on between her and Scott and this picture was just a pivotal point for her Suzanne had posted a topless photo
01:47:45
after making a bet in a political chat room called patrick.net Suzanne apparently was one of the few women who
01:47:52
was involved in this forum she kind of threw out that if Donald Trump won the presidential nomination that she would
01:47:58
post a picture of her bare breasts and on the day of her death detectives had found a print out in Dr
01:48:05
Sill's home office of an exchange between Suzanne and another patrick.net member from August 30th 2016 discussing
01:48:14
the photo the man who went by 10B bass wrote All I've got to say is you must have a super cool husband Suzanne AKA
01:48:24
turtle dove replied he's exhausted actually it isn't easy being married to a woman who is partially naked and
01:48:31
posing alluringly all the time Dr Sills denied that he had printed that chat but
01:48:37
when investigators later searched his phone they found a photo of the same exchange does this sound like this could
01:48:46
lead to motive yes if it's something that's building up in him some kind of anger or jealousy about what his wife's
01:48:53
doing online without him enough to kill her mhm detectives also learned that Dr Sills had tried to collect on a
01:49:03
$250,000 life insurance policy on Suzanne but he claimed the insurance company had called him he wasn't able to
01:49:11
collect that death certificate was ruled as a homicide do you think Scott sils thought he'd gotten away with it I think
01:49:17
so every day that went by he felt a little bit more at ease I think on April 25th 2019 nearly 2 and 1/2 years after
01:49:26
Suzanne's death Dr Sills was arrested for her alleged murder on his way to surgery he quickly posted a million
01:49:34
dooll Bond but investigators were about to get an unexpected tip from a woman who said she had met Dr Sills while
01:49:42
Suzanne was still alive they met through Facebook he was infatuated with her she shared an email
01:49:51
Dr Sills had sent her about two weeks after Suzanne's death poor marer Marie yes so it's in French this is probably
01:50:01
the most important manuscript I have ever written I am asking you to seriously rethink our suspended but once
01:50:08
intense relationship when you first read that email what was your reaction I thought may I was shocked
01:50:15
this is a motive so could Dr SS have killed his wife to get her out of the way oh I just don't see that at all Dr
01:50:24
s's defense attorney Jack early denies that there was a romantic relationship and he says that email was merely a
01:50:31
devastated father's desperate attempt to find a new mother for his children did you feel in your gut that you could win
01:50:39
this case oh yes [Music] [Music] in November 2023 just over 7 years after Suzanne Sills death Scott Sills now
01:50:59
stripped of his medical license went on trial for her murder the Orange County District Attorney's Office declined our
01:51:07
request for an interview but cameras were allowed in court for portions of the trial where senior Deputy da
01:51:13
Jennifer Walker laid out her case to the jury November 13th of 2016 this man killed his
01:51:24
wife and hit it Walker argued that Scott Sills beat and then strangled Suzanne to
01:51:31
death before staging the scene to make it look like she'd fallen down the stairs this is a murder not an accident
01:51:39
the prosecution's case relied heavily on suzan's autopsy but Scott Sill's defense
01:51:45
attorney Jack early came to court armed with a unique theory he suggested that Suzanne fell either going up or down the
01:51:54
stairs and that one or both of the family dogs then tugged on the scarf that was wrapped around her neck do you
01:52:02
honestly think that the dogs pulled hard enough to strangle her to death no no I
01:52:09
didn't that was not the main theory that the dogs actually strangled her to death instead early focused on another
01:52:16
injury identified in suzan's autopsy that fractured C3 vertebra he he says that injury is consistent with a fall
01:52:25
and that it would have left Suzanne incapacitated let's assume that someone trips and falls and fractures their C3
01:52:32
their breathing is compromised if they're then choked it doesn't take much to kill them the defense had the scarf
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tested for dog DNA it came back positive and there was testimony that the dogs were known to play tug of war as seen in
01:52:47
this video and when Suzanne and Scott's now 19-year-old daughter Mary Katherine took
01:52:53
the stand for the prosecution her testimony supported the defense's theory investigator Dave Holloway was at
01:53:01
the trial Mary Katherine testified that she saw the dogs pulling at the scarf around her neck and none of that came up
01:53:09
during the the day we interviewed her the first time how did that strike you well um I know that she was still close
01:53:17
with her father do you think she's trying to protect her dad I would say so early denies that he says the reason
01:53:25
Mary Katherine didn't tell investigators is simple it wasn't asked why would she
01:53:30
think the dogs are important she doesn't even know that there's any question of being choked he says Scott zills did
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tell First Responders and he argued that suzan's toxicology tests point to an accidental fall she had a muscle
01:53:45
relaxing and pain medication in her system and early told the jury that Suzanne suffered from a fainting
01:53:51
disorder and that vertigo would accompany her migraines but the prosecution said the defense's theory
01:53:58
just doesn't make sense strangulation is a silent killer you know what's not a silent killer falling down multiple
01:54:04
stairs you have to believe she bounced her head neck back shoulders Insider arms legs and feet multiple ways against
01:54:14
approximately six stairs like being in a soundproof pinball machine then was strangled by her dogs
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not reasonable and why would Suzanne have a scarf around her neck that early in the morning to begin with prosecutor
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suggested that Scott Sills used it to strangle her and then left it around her neck to cover the marks but early told
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the jury it wasn't unusual for Suzanne to wear a scarf especially when she wasn't feeling well because if she got
01:54:45
sick that was something that she would would would wear a scarf to wipe your mouth with it
01:54:52
but the prosecution also pointed out that Suzanne and Scott's son Eric told investigators he saw his mother put the
01:54:59
dogs away in their crate in the hours before she died Eric said that his mom put the dogs
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in the crate yes sometimes dogs when they're crate trained when they go to bed will go lay in the crate even with
01:55:13
the door open there was also no blood on the stairs or damage to them there are all these injuries that you say come
01:55:21
from the fall down the stairs all over her body but she leaves no marks on the stairs but there's no marks anywhere in
01:55:26
the house but there was that blood in Mary Catherine's bedroom and the prosecution argued it was evidence that
01:55:33
a fight occurred a forensic scientist testified that the stains on the nightstand and drapes were consistent
01:55:40
with Scott Sill's DNA early did acknowledge that his client's blood was in the room but he told the jury about
01:55:48
Scott's claim that he heard himself there on an earlier date from Scott replacing a screen yeah from getting cut
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on a nail that was in the back of the nightstand that was there that forensic scientists though testified that one of
01:56:02
the stains on the wall was a mixture of DNA and Scott and Suzanne were likely contributors early says that doesn't
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mean it was suzan's blood and that it could have been her touch DNA that was picked up Susan had touched that area
01:56:18
before at some point in time and she lived there but the prosecution pointed out out that there were also clumps of
01:56:23
suzan's hair found in Mary Katherine's room and there were blood stains on Suzanne's clothing that were found to be
01:56:30
consistent with Scott Sill's DNA too early had a rebuttal to it all starting with the hair she has hair extensions
01:56:40
and you know what hair extensions cause loss of hair and the blood on the clothes you don't know how old it
01:56:47
is the jury was also shown pictures of those injuries that were observed on Scott remember how he told investigators
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that he hurt himself while working on his car with his son and how according to investigators Eric said that his
01:57:02
father didn't get injured well when Eric took the stand his testimony allowed for
01:57:07
the possibility what he testified is why I didn't stay there the whole time he fixed the car does that seem like a
01:57:14
discrepancy to you well it's not a discrepancy nobody's asking him that full story at at the age of 12 so he
01:57:22
didn't necessarily say at age 12 dad didn't get the injury from the car no he basically said I wasn't there when he
01:57:29
got the injury while Eric SS did testify that a loud discussion between his parents had woken him up shortly before
01:57:36
his mother's death the defense told the jury that there was nothing to it and those texts between Scott and Suzanne in
01:57:44
the months before Suzanne's death if you have 40,000 texts and there's five of them with hard language in it that's a
01:57:52
perfect marriage the jury didn't hear about the life insurance policy that email Scott
01:57:58
sent to another woman or his social media photos in the wake of his wife's death but they were told about the
01:58:05
patrick.net posts and the prosecution argued that topless photo that Suzanne posted on the site enraged Scott it
01:58:14
wasn't a big deal it's not striking to you that he had this photo in two places on his phone and then on the printer no
01:58:21
first of all I don't know really who printed this stuff up early maintains there is no motive for murder there was
01:58:28
never any physical violence there working in marriage relationship everybody looked at as
01:58:35
loving Scott Sills chose not to take the stand the trial spanned 3 weeks and then
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the case went to the jury my heart was just [Music] pounding what do you make of the defense
01:58:50
that the dogs may have played a role in her death chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and
01:58:56
[Music] X jurors Aaron Ellis Jack VanCamp and Susan bleo say that when deliberations
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began they felt the pressure it's just so intimidating that you got someone's life on the line it weighs on you oh
01:59:21
yeah and the ripple effect the kids and the yeah did you think about that that these kids didn't really lose their mom
01:59:31
that if you convict him now they're losing their dad of course yeah they say they also felt a clear motive was
01:59:38
lacking I mean it's hard to imagine why something like this somebody would do that
01:59:46
yeah after about 3 hours they came to a decision the Jes have indicated that they
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breached a verdict in this matter the clerk read the verdict we the jury in the above
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entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott Sills not guilty of the crime of first-degree
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murder we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Eric Scott Sills guilty of the crime of second
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deegree murder guilty of second deegree murder Scott Sills who gave the gift of life to so many through his IVF practice
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now convicted of taking the life of his wife the mother of his kids I just felt sad I mean I was
02:00:35
tearing up on the way out this whole family had been through so much you know now this is the next phase of it but he
02:00:42
did that the jurors we spoke to say that no one on the jury bought the defense's
02:00:50
theory about the dogs the dogs would have to choke her on the stairs and my dog was as big as hers
02:00:59
and my dog cannot get a grip on wooden stairs with their nails to do anything they just slide the scarf had no
02:01:09
puncture wounds either I would have expected holes and the pole down the stairs wouldn't create that scenario in
02:01:17
her [Music] body instead what they spent the most time grappling with was whether Scott
02:01:25
Sills was guilty of first deegree or second deegree murder first degree murder requires premeditation and
02:01:33
deliberation I just didn't think he planned it I don't and if he had planned it or done any kind of forethought it
02:01:41
wouldn't be a hot mess crime scene that it was it was kind of like a snap but investigator Dave Holloway says
02:01:50
while Scott Sills may not have planned his crime he certainly had the time to think about what he was doing he had
02:01:57
plenty of time from when he applied pressure to suzan's neck till she died to stop what he was doing he still did
02:02:03
it I was a little disappointed that it was a second degree on March 15th 2024 about 3 months
02:02:12
after the verdict court reconvened for sentencing Suzanne Sill's Mother Teresa newbower addressed the court and kept
02:02:20
the focus on her daughter she was a dynamic person she had hopes and dreams hopes and dreams newbower said
02:02:31
that one day Suzanne would see her daughter Mary Katherine walk down the stairs of the family's San Clemente home
02:02:38
on her wedding day it was a very painful uh thing for me to learn of the role the staircase
02:02:49
eventually played in real life Mary Katherine also addressed the court and spoke of all the loss she had
02:02:59
endured at such a young age she and her brother were taken in by a family friend
02:03:04
after their father's arrest and that family friend died suddenly of a health condition around the end of the trial
02:03:11
she asked the judge to show her father Mercy I want my father to walk me down the aisle at my wedding someday when I
02:03:18
have a family and children I want my father to be there to hold my baby I have been left orphaned and I feel so
02:03:25
lost without my parents we're here for sentencing on the matter judge Patrick Donahue sentenced
02:03:33
Scott Sills to the mandatory sentence under California law 15 years to life in prison H good luck
02:03:40
sir his fate was decided but for so many questions remain exactly what led up to
02:03:48
Suzanne Sill's death do you think we'll ever know exact how it happened I don't think so yeah Scott Sills declined our
02:03:56
requests for an interview but in the end no explanation will suffice or ease the
02:04:02
profound sense of loss that lingers patients now without their doctor thousands of women felt him to be
02:04:10
a saint from the saint all the way down to the devil that's how it ended up being and children without their father
02:04:23
or their mother her kids were so important to her and everything she did revolved around
02:04:29
her her children she was an incredible human being you know I miss her [Music] need more time with 48 Hours go deep
02:05:00
behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 Hours investigations were you at all prepared
02:05:06
for what happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists and turns and get in on the
02:05:12
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