00:00:12
As a mother, Michelle was awesome. I called her the picture girl. Pictures, pictures, pictures.
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She looked like a million dollars. Wear high heels and [music] carry a baby on her hip. When she was a child, it was
00:00:30
hard not to have a close friend relationship with her, even though I had to be the mom.
00:00:35
>> A woman has vanished from her Houston apartment. Her family and friends are fearing the worst.
00:00:41
>> I got the phone call from my son and David said something's wrong. >> Authorities say Warner's arange
00:00:47
boyfriend claimed she stormed out of the apartment following an argument. >> Mark Castellano was Michelle's boyfriend
00:00:53
for a while. Mark and Michelle did meet at work. She captivates a room when she walks [music] in. That part about her is
00:01:00
completely true. She mesmerizes people. [music] >> They had a son together who was Kaden.
00:01:06
Michelle was living with Mark the night she disappeared. We called the police. Everyone was searching.
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>> We don't have a scene. We don't have a witness. We don't have evidence. We don't have a body.
00:01:19
The more we thought about it, we kind of looked at each other and said, "Let's go
00:01:24
back and let's search it. So, will you explain to me how you use the iPhone and FaceTime?
00:01:39
>> They tried to follow it like a treasure map. >> Like that kind of thing, right?
00:01:43
>> Correct. >> Well, it was in real time. >> So, you were facetiming. Correct. So, it's like I'm aiming it at this tree
00:01:54
here and you say, "Do I go to the right of the tree or is it more to the left of
00:01:57
the tree?" That kind of thing. >> Correct. Exactly what I'm looking at right now.
00:02:03
>> A week went by. Michelle was still missing. We heard about Dr. Phil and Mark Castellano was going on his show.
00:02:10
>> Today, we will take you inside a national news story as it unfolded in front of our cameras in real time. Mark
00:02:19
was going to be on Dr. Phil. [music] When he said he wanted to talk with you, what'd you do?
00:02:24
>> I got on an airplane, flew to Odesscent. There was a woman missing and like everybody else, we wanted to help find
00:02:30
her. >> I'm staying strong for my son. I cry every once in a while. >> But you're hurting inside.
00:02:38
>> Yes, I'm hurting inside. This is killing me. >> Friends describe her as bubbly. Those
00:02:45
same people describe you as psychotic. >> Well, they don't like me too much. She
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has to be alive. I'm sorry. She does. She has to be out there. >> If she is watching this right now with
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>> she can come home. And >> what do you say to her? >> She We can fix this. >> It was the worst week of my life.
00:03:06
Michelle was just gone. I'm Tracy [music] Smith. Tonight on 48 Hours Gone. [music]
00:03:44
>> [music] >> It's just about a 45minute drive from the refineries of the Texas coast to the
00:03:54
highrises of downtown Houston. And in 2000, 20-year-old Michelle Warner moved to the big city. She was a new mom
00:04:01
looking to make a fresh start. Michelle did have the small town girl in her, but Michelle always desired to go
00:04:11
to the big city. Donna Malone is Michelle's mom. >> She loved to talk to people. Um, she
00:04:17
never met a stranger. >> We were really, really close when we were young kids, and I mean really
00:04:21
close. >> Her brother David, >> from the time we were born, we did pretty much everything together. I was
00:04:26
her child, not theirs. She just grew into this beautiful swan, you know, and she had the long pretty hair and um a
00:04:35
beautiful smile. She started going to college and started studying criminal justice.
00:04:41
But things didn't exactly work out. Michelle may have been a saint, but she was also a sinner. She married right
00:04:48
after high school in 2001 [music] and had a daughter, Haley. When that marriage went south in 2003, little
00:04:55
Haley went to live with the ex-husband and Michelle was on her own. >> Michelle was a great mom. Um, but she
00:05:03
ran into some tough times in her life. >> She fell in with a bad crowd. She even
00:05:07
disappeared a couple of times and she was arrested for possession of cocaine. But that was eight years ago. And her
00:05:15
family says Michelle's dark days were behind her. >> She was finally turning around. She was
00:05:21
no longer on any kind of drugs. She was going to work every day. >> In 2008, she also began a relationship
00:05:29
with a man she met at work, a man named Mark Costellano. >> My impression of Mark from the very
00:05:35
beginning was what an odd duck. What a strange little man. >> Mark Costellano and Michelle had met on
00:05:42
the job. She was a secretary at a medical firm. He was the IT guy. You know, the person who fixed computers. I
00:05:49
absolutely do not know what Michelle saw in Mark. >> He's always been, you know, a little
00:05:54
off. >> In 2009, Michelle and Mark had a son, Kaden. But Donna says Mark Costellano
00:06:02
wasn't much of a dad. >> Kaden was about 2 months old, and Mark just went away. Just I can't handle
00:06:07
this. It's too stressful for me. Everything was always about me, me, me, me, me, me. In those early days, life
00:06:14
was tough for Michelle as a single mom, bouncing from job to job >> and no child support. He did not pay any
00:06:21
child support. Michelle was doing it on her own, struggling to do it on her own.
00:06:26
Um, it was very difficult for her. >> Then in the summer of 2012, she got a break, a new job at a law firm in
00:06:33
Houston. All she needed was a place for her and Kaden, now 3 years old, to stay.
00:06:39
She reached out to the one person she knew there, Mark Costellano. He agreed to let them stay at his Houston
00:06:45
apartment, but Michelle set down some rules. When Michelle moved back in with Mark, the agreement between them was
00:06:52
that they would live together, raise the child together, but not as a romantically involved couple.
00:06:59
>> But just three months after moving in with Castellano, on Saturday, September
00:07:03
22nd, 2012, Michelle was gone. A woman has vanished from her Houston apartment. Family and friends are fearing the
00:07:12
worst. >> When Michelle's brother, David, couldn't get a hold of his sister, he called
00:07:17
Castellano and confronted him. >> Do you have any idea where she may be? You're the last person I know of that's
00:07:24
actually seen her. >> Yeah. Yeah, I am. I am. But I, like I said, I don't know where the hell she
00:07:29
went. >> Costellano told David that he and Michelle had had a fight. She walked out
00:07:34
and left her car and her toddler behind. David was surprised to learn on the night Michelle disappeared, Castellano
00:07:42
took Michelle's car and drove Kaden more than 500 miles, over 8 hours, to his parents' house in West Texas.
00:07:51
>> Mark's story did not make any sense. >> Almost immediately, Michelle's family
00:07:55
filed a missing person's report. 5 days passed, nothing. That's when Houston homicide detectives got the case.
00:08:04
>> Where are we? >> We are at the apartment complex where Mark and Michelle live together.
00:08:11
>> Veteran Houston homicide detectives Phil Waters and Sergeant Brian Harris. >> When you first came here, you went in
00:08:20
and what did you do? >> Went to the apartment. Uh the family was there. Actually, it was interesting that
00:08:26
Mark's story was what happened. You know, I mean, in terms of uh the story that he was telling everyone,
00:08:32
>> Castellano had told David in that phone call that he and Michelle had been arguing over Kaden when she walked out.
00:08:40
>> All of the events leading up to it, the fight, all of that stuff that happened
00:08:44
here, >> accurate happened, at least what he's telling us. The only people in the
00:08:49
scenario that are casting any kind of suspicion on Mark are Michelle's family. That's where all of that is coming from.
00:08:55
And they're not saying things like, "You know what? Michelle told me yesterday that if anything ever happened to me,
00:09:01
it's Mark." >> Instead, you were getting >> we were getting, "We don't like Mark.
00:09:05
It's Mark's the bad guy." And it's more personality dislikes about Mark. >> But back at the apartment, [music] cops
00:09:14
did find something strange. >> We knew that Mark was an IT guy. He's a techie nerd. So then what becomes
00:09:21
noticeable in the apartment, there are computers, but all the hard drives are gone.
00:09:26
>> The homicide detectives wanted to talk with Castellano, so they called him at
00:09:31
his parents' house in West Texas. Turns out he had an unusual question for them.
00:09:36
>> He said, "Can I ask you a question, though? I need some advice." And I said, "Sure." And he said, "Do you think I
00:09:43
ought to let Dr. Phil interview me?" >> What'd you say? >> Well, I was a little stunned. I said,
00:09:49
"Dr. Phil." And I said, "Absolutely. Let Dr. Phil interview you." As the week passed, the search for
00:10:01
Michelle expanded quickly from Houston to West Texas all the way here to Los Angeles and the Dr. Phil show.
00:10:10
>> Today, we will take you inside a national news story as it unfolded in front of our cameras in real time. It
00:10:19
was Dr. Phil McGrath, not the police, [music] who would first interrogate Costalano about Michelle's mysterious
00:10:25
disappearance. >> Let's talk about the night she disappeared. >> Okay. >> You had a fight.
00:10:30
>> Yes, sir. >> And was this a physical fight or an argument or both? >> Basically, I come home. Um, she's in her
00:10:37
room. First thing she does is start yelling at me that the Caden has made a big mess. We start fighting. She walks
00:10:45
up to me and she gives me this kind of sucker punch while I'm on the fort. I mean it she she hits me all the time and
00:10:52
I don't retaliate, but she hit me and said, "And clean it up, right?" expletative expletive and she goes in
00:10:59
and slams the door. >> What was your first impression of him? >> That he was a game player. He thought he
00:11:05
was the smartest guy in the room and he wanted everybody to know it. >> You go back in to resume the argument,
00:11:11
frankly. >> Yes. And >> she's gone. >> She's gone. >> I would take her pictures out and say
00:11:17
out loud, "Michelle, where are you?" You know, just call me, text me, please. >> More troubling information in the search
00:11:34
for a missing mother. >> No one has heard from Warner in a week. Today we're talking about the story of a
00:11:43
beautiful young mother, Michelle Warner, who went missing after a violent fight with her ex-boyfriend, Mark Castellano.
00:11:51
>> From the very beginning, Dr. Phil McGra felt there was something suspicious about Mark Castellano. Why do you think
00:11:58
Mark Castellano wanted to come on your show? >> Well, you know, I think this guy is a
00:12:03
narcissist. I mean, I really do. >> She basically owns me in a in a lot of ways, and I I admit that. I I caved to
00:12:11
Michelle nine ten of the time. >> Costalano was on the defensive. >> He said to you she could have just
00:12:18
disappeared again. >> Right. >> That was a possibility. >> He says it was a possibility. She could
00:12:23
have gone in the bedroom, locked the door, gone out the door and left. But her car is still there.
00:12:32
>> And her son is still there. >> Her son is still there. Her car is still there. But she's gone off the grid.
00:12:40
>> Meanwhile, in Houston, 500 m to the east, the cops were searching the grid, trying to find Michelle.
00:12:48
>> We do something called the psychological autopsy. We start breaking down the person's life. And so that's what we
00:12:54
were having to do with Michelle. >> Back in West Texas, Dr. Phil continued his interview with Costalano.
00:13:01
>> He had a hunch that those missing hard drives might [music] be connected to Michelle's disappearance. So he grilled
00:13:08
Mark. >> You said you would show them to me when I have. >> Do you have them here?
00:13:12
>> Yes. >> Can we Can we look at them? >> Yeah, I'll bring them to you. One second.
00:13:18
>> Um, no. I don't have them cuz he still has them. >> He's still copying. >> Okay. Well, you can come back.
00:13:24
>> Okay. Sorry. I thought I already He brought them back, but he didn't. >> You said you were going to show those to
00:13:29
us and you got up and walked to the door and then said, "Oh, that's right. They're not here." But not 15 minutes
00:13:35
before we got here, you told my producer they weren't here. You already knew they
00:13:38
weren't here when you got up to go get them. >> My mind is scatterrained right now. I
00:13:45
mean, I I forgot. >> I forgot. >> Bells are going off right now. I'm talking to him and I'm watching the
00:13:54
theater of what's going on. >> What was he doing? >> You know, he's playing games here. To
00:14:00
him, it's a manipulation. And I'm wondering why he's not putting all of his effort, all of his emphasis on
00:14:08
finding Michelle. You know, my dad used to say, "For every rat you see, there's 50 you don't." When he tells you that
00:14:15
lie, there's 50 more. >> Dr. Phil relentlessly peeled back Costellano's story. >> He also admits throwing her cat down the
00:14:27
hallway, throwing her cat into a wall. And that is very troubling to me. >> Each revelation led him closer to the
00:14:35
conclusion that Costalano killed Michelle. >> Was there violence? >> There was violence. She and I would
00:14:43
would wrestle, push each other around. Um there was one time I choked her. >> He admits to being violent with her.
00:14:51
>> He admits to being violent with her to the point of choking her. Now think about this. if he in fact is culpable in
00:14:57
her disappearance, why in the world would he admit that? >> So, let's look at the moment when you
00:15:04
asked him the big question. >> It's really odd for a mother to just not check on find out anything about a
00:15:13
child. If you think something has happened to her, why aren't you looking for her? I mean, as far as everybody has
00:15:20
exhausted the leads that I have, I don't know where where else to go. I They the
00:15:27
police are looking for her. They're professionals. >> Did you do anything to her that would be
00:15:32
considered foul play or criminal? >> No. No. >> Did you kill her? >> No, sir. So, as you left,
00:15:41
where did you stand with Mark Castellano? What did you think? It is clear in my mind. I'm not believing a
00:15:49
word he is saying. When I walked out the door, I said, "He killed her." No doubt
00:15:56
about it. >> You said it then. >> He killed her. >> But Castellano hadn't confessed to
00:16:01
anything. After Dr. Phil returned to LA to get his show ready for broadcast, detectives
00:16:08
brought Costalano in and turned up the heat. This is where it happened. Houston Homicide Division. Here in the interview
00:16:15
room, it wasn't exactly what you might think. There was no tough guy posturing, no rolled up shirt sleeves, guns on the
00:16:22
hip, no raised voices. It was pure psychology. >> I was like, Phil, when you go in there,
00:16:28
it's like it's like walking into a minefield because one, you don't want to upset him and make him angry where all
00:16:34
of a sudden he says the L word, lawyer, or he says, I want to leave. >> Detective Waters takes the lead. Okay.
00:16:42
So, the first thing, you're not under arrest. And again, I've told you I certainly appreciate you coming here and
00:16:49
talking to us. >> I want Michelle to be found. >> He's spending a lot of time here.
00:16:52
[music] >> I want Michelle to be found. That's what Costalano just said. That's his story
00:16:58
and he's sticking to it. >> Have you tried to call her >> at this point? No, I don't want to call
00:17:03
her. >> This was it. This was it. We had no evidence. We had nothing. >> So, all this stuff is going. So,
00:17:09
Detective Waters started looking for motive. >> If Costalano was a killer, [music] did
00:17:15
something push him over the edge? >> Pressure is building. >> The pressure is building on me. Yes.
00:17:20
>> Got it. >> When she gets mad, she's violent. She'll hit you. She thinks she has the right
00:17:23
to. You know, man has to take up crap. She's a pretty girl and she gets everything she wants. She She has a
00:17:28
princess attitude. >> Wow. >> That princess attitude phrase was a flag for detectives, an insight into how
00:17:35
Costalano viewed the relationship. we kind of get a flavor for your relationship. And this is just my
00:17:42
impression is that when it's when it's good, it's like intensely good, but when it is bad, right,
00:17:52
>> it is intensely bad. >> Detective Waters approach, no tough questions yet. He's trying to get
00:18:00
Castellano to trust him. >> Let's get to last Saturday, the 22nd. Okay. >> Walks out and slams the door to her
00:18:11
room. And about 10 15 minutes later, I opened the door to say, "Well, you know what?" And it's gone.
00:18:18
>> She's gone. >> Once that narrative was complete and he felt like he had told his story. It was
00:18:26
at that point that I'm now going to confront you. >> I need you to explain to me what
00:18:32
happened. We >> This is a dance. I'm letting Mark play the music and then at one point another
00:18:39
song comes on and it's mine and now the dance changes. >> We both know. We both know Michelle did
00:18:49
not walk out of that apartment. I don't love her. I'm not in love with her. I mean, I don't want anything to
00:19:12
happen. I I wish Michelle would pop up right now. Hey, when she gets mad, she's violent. I'm I don't care what anybody
00:19:19
says she is. If she >> I said something about Did you take too many pills? You can't watch Kaden or
00:19:24
something. >> Detective Phil Waters sat for hours talking to Mark Costellano, gaining his
00:19:30
trust. >> She was like, I can't tolerate Kaden. and she was like, "I need help with
00:19:34
him." She's like, "He's driving me nuts." >> Waters finally discovered a way to bring
00:19:38
out the truth about what happened that night. >> You brought up Kaden. >> Yes. >> So, your your concern for Kaden is
00:19:46
mainly centered on when Michelle is the primary >> right >> caregiver. Kaden was the most important
00:19:54
part of his life. So, I knew that I was going to have to frame whatever he did in that apartment in that context.
00:20:03
>> That context, getting Castellano to admit his actions that night were to protect Kaden.
00:20:10
>> It wasn't about hurting Michelle. It was about the love and the strength of that
00:20:15
love that you have for Kaden and protecting him from anybody that would threaten or hurt him. And that's what
00:20:24
you're going to have to explain now. >> The strategy worked. >> So, I want you to be honest with me and
00:20:30
tell me what happened. >> When he took his glasses off, I went, "Here it comes."
00:20:36
>> You knew? >> I just knew it. >> She's getting dressed and she's finishing up and she's still yelling and Kaden's
00:20:48
hiding. >> [snorts] >> I grabbed her and I broke her neck. >> Boom. There he comes with it.
00:21:00
>> I'm sorry. Um, >> gave me the death penalty. That's fine. >> I deserve it, >> Mark. Look, I'm proud of you.
00:21:11
>> Life is over with anyway. >> Your your life's not over with, Mark. I push her and then grab her and then
00:21:17
>> But by the time Sergeant Harris came into the room, Costellano seemed to pull
00:21:21
himself together and physically demonstrated how he killed Michelle. >> Costalano claimed Michelle's erratic and
00:21:29
abusive behavior pushed him over the edge. >> She'll hit you. She thinks she has the
00:21:34
right to. >> He painted this picture of Michelle as an abusive woman. >> Yes. >> When you talk to other people, did they
00:21:42
say that she was volatile? She had a temper. She was abusive. >> Everyone we talked to described her as a
00:21:49
not just family members, but um as a loving mother. >> Was there any evidence that Michelle was
00:21:55
abusive to Mark? >> Not anything that was documented other than Mark's story. >> I'll be right back.
00:22:03
>> After his confession, he was left alone with his phone. But instead of calling a lawyer,
00:22:13
>> hey, mom, >> he called his parents. >> Well, I confessed I did it. >> He called his brother.
00:22:19
>> I'm sorry that all the facade that I put up for a week, but I can't take the guilt anymore.
00:22:25
>> A friend >> and I wanted you to know that she's dead. >> He even talked with Dr. Phil's producer.
00:22:33
>> It was a moment of rage. I just I couldn't take it anymore. I pretty much confessed to everybody I
00:22:39
can think of. >> Castellano had also told Detective Waters what happened moments after he
00:22:46
killed Michelle as he stood over her body lying on the bed. >> He said that Kaden walked in and said,
00:22:54
"What's wrong with mommy?" And he turned around and his response was, "Oh, she's
00:22:58
taking a nap." >> He put Kaden in a bath and then dragged Michelle's body into the closet. That's
00:23:07
when he loaded Kaden into Michelle's car [music] and drove through the night over
00:23:12
500 miles to West Texas. He left Kaden [music] with his parents, turned around and drove all the way back
00:23:20
to Houston, back to the apartment where he had left Michelle. >> How did he get her out of the building?
00:23:26
>> He packaged her up in a large container, plastic container, and duct taped her
00:23:32
hands and feet, put a bag over her head. He said he explained that he put the bag
00:23:36
over her head because he was tired of looking at her. Uh >> he was tired of looking at her.
00:23:40
>> Tired of looking at her. >> With the container loaded in the backseat of Michelle's car, Costellano
00:23:48
once again made that long drive back to West Texas. Outside of Midland, he buried Michelle in a shallow grave.
00:24:02
It turned out Michelle's body was somewhere out here in these endless West Texas oil fields. Costalano had drawn a
00:24:10
map and given police a rough idea of where the grave was, but it wasn't a good enough description. The key to
00:24:18
finding Michelle's body was as close as an iPhone. >> Hello. >> Hi, Sergeant Harris. It's Tracy from 48.
00:24:26
Well, you can see that, right? Harrison Waters stayed in Houston with Castellano
00:24:31
while local police and FBI agents tried to locate Michelle's body with the map, but it only got them in the general
00:24:38
vicinity. >> So, they called us in the interview room and we decided to try the FaceTime.
00:24:45
>> FaceTime is the Apple iPhone's video phone. You can see and hear whatever the
00:24:50
person on the other end of the line wants to show you. Mark was actually speaking to the detectives and they were
00:24:57
holding their phone out >> like that kind of thing. Right. >> Correct. And he was able to see. Then
00:25:04
they did much what we're doing right now. >> Just walking around aiming it. >> Correct. And so they panned the area and
00:25:11
then he told them to stop and he directed them towards it was like more of a big scrub brush.
00:25:18
When they got closer, that's when the FBI agent, we could hear her say, "I found her. I found her."
00:25:34
[music] With the discovery of Michelle's body, Castellano was finally arrested and
00:25:43
charged with murder 8 days after Michelle went missing. An exclusive interview. >> Dr. Phil's show went on TV a few days
00:25:52
later. >> Mom vanishes. The killer confesses. [music] >> Until Mark's confession, Caden had been
00:25:59
staying with his relatives. But now, authorities moved him in with Michelle's family.
00:26:07
With Costello behind bars, I got the chance to confront him. And what he told us was a brand new version of what
00:26:15
happened that night. Hi Mark. I'm Tracy Smith from CBS News 48 hours. >> From the start.
00:26:51
>> You okay? >> Yes, [music] ma'am. >> Mark Costellano had told everyone >> she's gone.
00:26:55
>> She's gone. >> Yes, sir. >> Lies. >> So, we wanted to set the ground rules before our interview.
00:27:02
>> So, here's the thing, Mark. You lied to the cops. You lied to Dr. Phil. You lied
00:27:08
to your parents. >> Mhm. >> Why should we believe you now? this point. So, there's no point to lie
00:27:15
about anything. I don't like lying. I don't like lying at all. It's not me. I'd rather just go ahead and tell the
00:27:21
truth and get it over with. >> Are you telling me the truth now? >> Yes, of course I'm telling you the
00:27:26
truth. >> The first thing Costellano wanted to tell us. >> We got into a fight. It just it just happened all wrong.
00:27:34
>> Was that he was not a murderer. >> It was, you know, not my finest hour. >> Not your finest hour?
00:27:40
>> No. >> Why do you say that? Well, I mean this the whole thing wasn't my finest hour,
00:27:45
but like >> he says yes, it was true the couple had a fight that night, but he was the
00:27:51
victim. >> It got violent. >> Well, yet they always get violent. She beats the hell out of me. I've been
00:27:56
beaten by this woman for a long time. >> But this time, Castellano says he'd had
00:28:01
enough. Remember, there's never been an official report of abuse in this case. >> So, did you just snap
00:28:09
>> to to retaliate back from her swinging at me? Yeah, I snapped her, hit her back. This time I was tired of being hit
00:28:15
and yeah, then I was going to defend myself this time around. >> So, you threw stuff back and forth and
00:28:19
then you grabbed her. >> I didn't grab her yet. She punched, she threw another punch at me.
00:28:24
>> And then >> that's when I I grabbed her and lunged forward. >> This is where Castellano's story
00:28:30
changes. >> I grabbed her and I broke her neck. I'm sorry. >> From his confession to the police.
00:28:37
>> So, I want to go back to this confession. what actually happened that night. >> That's what we don't really talk about.
00:28:45
>> That's Costalano's lawyer at all, telling him not to reveal all of what happened that night. Still,
00:28:52
>> I should have done this. I should have done that. >> He did tell us a few details. [music]
00:28:57
Costellano now says it was all an accident. In the struggle, he says Michelle died when he ended up falling
00:29:04
on top of her neck. Michelle's death was my fault because I'm the one that fell on her.
00:29:11
>> That fell on her. >> Yes, I did fall on her. She just I like that. I mean, she was just lifeless and
00:29:19
all of a sudden, you know, her body let go and but it was an accident. >> Michelle's mother, Donna Malone, can
00:29:25
barely contain her disgust. >> First of all, I will never believe it was just an accident. You don't just an
00:29:33
accident murder someone and feel nothing. >> You drive a car and you hit somebody.
00:29:37
Did you want to hit them? No. You're like, it was an accident. You might be at someone's house and they just had
00:29:43
brand new carpet put in and reading velvet cake and you drop it on the floor. Do you want to do it? No. You
00:29:50
feel bad about it? Yes. But still, accidents are accidents. They're not planned. That's why they're called
00:29:55
accidents. That tear was the only time during our interview that Costellano showed any emotion.
00:30:03
>> He's a liar. Comparing it to spilling cake on someone's floor, but to murder someone,
00:30:09
that's a a violent act. >> Did you choke her? >> No, I didn't choke her. >> But you said you were angry.
00:30:17
>> I was very angry. >> You said you snapped. >> Yeah. To to to go ahead and actually
00:30:21
raise my hands against her. I had a gun. I've always had a 9 mm. If I really wanted to kill Michelle, I would have
00:30:28
shot her. I would have taken my gun and shot her. >> That he could just have shot her if he
00:30:32
wanted to kill her. That's just nonsense talk. It's nonsense. >> What did you do with Michelle's body?
00:30:39
>> Um, it stayed it stayed um it stayed in the closet, you know. I looked at her
00:30:44
and it was just like, "Oh my god." So that's when I put the bag over her head and I put her in the closet.
00:30:50
>> Why the bag over her head? Because just her face, the way he was frozen, I knew I messed up.
00:30:58
>> Did it occur to you as you were handling her body that this was the woman that
00:31:03
you loved? This was the mother of your child. >> I did. It did. And I also know I
00:31:09
couldn't bring her back. >> 3 days later, Costellano would dump Michelle's lifeless body in that shallow
00:31:17
grave. How do you feel about misleading people for so long? >> Well, it was a tough call. It was a very
00:31:24
tough call. I didn't plan on getting away with this. If I had planned on getting away with this, I would have got
00:31:29
away with it. >> I feel very angry about the fact that Mark lied to all of us. He could have
00:31:34
just told the truth from the beginning. It was obvious that everyone was on to him, family, law enforcement. Why not
00:31:42
just tell the truth? Get it over with. >> She did attack me first. The more Costalano talked, the more it seemed he
00:31:49
was angry with women. >> I mean, women are now y'all are replacing men in a lot of aspects. Y'all
00:31:55
are becoming the big time aggressors. Women are now the new aggressors. She's beautiful and you're beautiful
00:32:02
woman yourself. Life's a little easier for for women like you because people just can't put
00:32:08
[snorts] bad things with pretty people. >> It sounds like you resent that a little
00:32:13
bit, Mark. Well, when you sit there and have been told that when you're not a pretty person that you know life's going
00:32:20
to suck for you. >> Mark Costellano's bizarre answers during our jailhouse interview raised more
00:32:26
questions about what makes him tick. >> I'd rather just go ahead. >> So, we wanted to talk more about it with
00:32:31
Dr. Phil. I got to say I really screwed myself over the way I confessed everything because first of all I didn't
00:32:40
really describe everything accurately and second of all I didn't really think I was going to every word I was going to
00:32:45
say was going to be used completely out of context which it was in a lot of ways.
00:32:49
>> He's criticizing the process. Things were taken out of context. Well, here's the context. Did you kill her or did you
00:32:57
not? I think this guy has such an inferiority complex. And that's one of the things about narcissism. There's a
00:33:05
false sense of superiority, but it's a false sense of superiority. >> The truth is they really feel inferior.
00:33:12
>> They really feel very inferior, very put upon. And he felt very much that he had
00:33:21
reached above his level with Michelle and >> that she was out of his league. out of
00:33:28
his league. She was way over his head in this instance. She did not reject him. He had the ultimate rejection of her.
00:33:37
>> What do you think his motive was? >> I think this guy is very hedonistic. I I
00:33:41
think this relationship was on the downslope. I think it was falling apart and I think he felt her slipping away. I
00:33:50
I think it was one of those situations where if I can't have you, nobody will >> come up.
00:33:57
>> At his trial, Castellano's [music] attorneys will present his new version of what he says is the truth.
00:34:04
>> We the jury, >> but will the jury buy it? It was very hard to wait on the trial.
00:34:20
We wanted some form of justice for Michelle. We felt that we were building up to this this pinnacle that would
00:34:28
bring us some sort of peace. May 27th, 2014, Mark Costellano is on trial for the murder of Michelle Warner,
00:34:38
the mother of their son, Hayden. This is a case about obsession, rage. >> Assistant District Attorney Jamie Raina,
00:34:48
>> and this defendant's calculated attempts to get away with murder. He became so upset with Michelle that he
00:34:57
grabbed her by the neck, that he started to choke her. He started to squeeze her
00:35:01
in the neck. You'll hear him tell those officers he choked her for one and a half to two
00:35:07
minutes. call investigator Phil Waters. >> At the center of the prosecution's case,
00:35:15
Mark's own words, that videotaped confession to Detective Waters. >> And we both know, we both know Michelle
00:35:23
did not walk out of that apartment. >> So, I want you to be honest with me and tell me what happened.
00:35:39
I grabbed her and I broke her neck. >> Okay. >> The state medical examiner testifies
00:35:47
Michelle was strangled >> high up in the neck. >> Her hyoid bone just beneath her jaw was
00:35:52
broken. Mark Costellano does not take the stand. Instead, his lawyer, Eric Davis, presents that very different
00:36:01
story. Michelle's death was an accident. >> She comes at him and he grabs her and
00:36:06
he's controlling and he falls down with his weight on hers and hears the pop. When he reached out to defend himself to
00:36:13
protect himself, he didn't anticipate that she would fall and break her neck. >> I didn't find any real evidence that the
00:36:21
throat was disturbed. >> An expert for the defense, a forensic engineer, testifies Mark's accident
00:36:28
story was a possibility. There's no physical evidence that shows any type of squeezing or sideways forces. All of the
00:36:36
physical evidence shows is forces applied from the front. >> So, what's the detective's reaction to
00:36:42
Castellano's defense? >> Is that possible that he fell on her and that's how her neck snapped?
00:36:48
>> No. >> The problem is is that you cannot accidentally strangle someone for a minute and a half
00:36:55
to two minutes. >> Show me what you think he did. what he told you he did to Michelle. What did he
00:37:01
do? >> He's so mad. He follows her in the bedroom and he goes and whatever takes
00:37:06
place, he reaches out and he's just grabbing her for a minute and a half and two, he's grabbing her, grabbing her,
00:37:13
and she has nowhere to go. >> If Castellano thought the jury might take pity on him, prosecutors would
00:37:20
present more [music] evidence that shows the actions of a cold, callous killer. Weeks after Mark's confession,
00:37:28
detectives discovered a chilling piece of surveillance video. So that's their apartment right over
00:37:35
there. And across the way on that building there, there was a camera and that camera showed a shadowy view of the
00:37:42
back stairs of Castellano's apartment. So he drags her body in a bin down the stairs.
00:37:48
>> Uh you see him stop and he has worn himself out. He even says when he's on the phone with people that he's
00:37:55
confessing to, you know, Michelle had gained a lot of weight. So, it was really a a really an exercise
00:38:02
to bring her down the steps and put her in the car. As for those hard drives that seemed to
00:38:08
be so important in the early days of the investigation, turns out they weren't relevant to the case.
00:38:16
If you cannot remain composed when the verdict's read, you should step outside at this time because
00:38:22
>> after more than a week of testimony, 19 witnesses, and six hours of deliberations, a verdict ending an
00:38:30
anxious wait for Michelle's family. >> If you'd stand, please. Mr. Castiano. We the jury find the defendant
00:38:42
guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. >> Mark Costellano guilty in the strangling
00:38:51
death of Michelle Warner. >> I was very pleased with the fact that he was um declared guilty. I said, "Okay,
00:38:58
good. They did this quickly." So, I believe that that this is in the hands of a good, solid jury and they'll do the
00:39:06
right thing. >> The next day, Michelle's loved ones are back in court for Castellano's
00:39:11
sentencing. [music] Ironically, it's also Michelle's birthday. She would have turned 33.
00:39:18
>> Each side will be given 25 minutes to argue their case. Mark Costellano's attorney begs for mercy and argues his
00:39:26
client's much talked about confession was a show of remorse. >> I'm sorry. Crime was solved because of a man's
00:39:35
conscience. In fact, if Mr. Kasiano had kept his mouth shut, we wouldn't be here. But he did what most criminals
00:39:42
don't do. He told on himself. No matter what you do, he's going to the penitentiary. The question is how long.
00:39:55
>> Michelle's family wants to see Costalano receive the harshest penalty, life in
00:40:00
prison. >> I do not think that he has any sense of remorse. None. I hear nothing but
00:40:06
excuses that it was Michelle's fault that he did what he did and we all have free choice and he chose to kill her.
00:40:16
>> The jurors spent four hours debating [music] his fate. All rise of the jury. >> Finally, a decision.
00:40:23
>> The jury having found you guilty of murder. You're now sentenced to 27 years in the institutional division of the
00:40:30
Texas Department. >> The sentence feels like a slap in the face for Michelle's family.
00:40:37
>> One word went through my mind when I heard 27 years. Seriously. After several months, it's still
00:40:45
impossible for the family to [music] understand the jury's decision. I don't know what happened in in the room while
00:40:53
the deliberation was going on because I've not had not one juror come forward and speak to me. I do not feel that I
00:41:01
got closure for my daughter's death and neither does any of the rest of her family. None of us do. Now it is up to
00:41:08
Michelle's family to explain to two kids, a daughter living with her ex-husband [music] and little Kaden why
00:41:15
their mother is gone. >> Is like taking your entire world and flipping it over. You You don't expect
00:41:23
anything like that to ever hit that close to home for you. And it's turmoil. >> I miss the the laughter that I shared
00:41:33
with her. And I I just miss the conversation. I can't have that anymore. And that's
00:41:41
very sad. It's very lonely. It makes me feel lonely. So, it's an empty hole that will always
00:41:48
be there for the rest of my life. And that's a hard thing to swallow. [music] >> [music]
00:42:16
[music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> The morning of [music] February the
00:42:46
15th, um I got up early, brought my wife coffee in bed, and then we had our Valentine's celebration. [music] I gave
00:42:52
her a card. She gave me a card. >> I think that the Valentine's Day was always a very special day for her.
00:42:59
>> He painted a picture [music] of of lovers. He talked about how how sweet and caring and tender they were with
00:43:05
each other. [music] >> She wrote me a card said I was the most important person in her life and she
00:43:10
loved me very much. That morning >> after the breakfast, Alan McNton told us that he went to his mother's house in
00:43:19
Sandy Springs, [music] Georgia, about 35 miles away. >> Hey, baby, it's me. I'm leaving mother's
00:43:25
house. I love you. I'm >> Alex said that when he arrived home that that evening, he found that all the
00:43:33
lights were off. >> I walked through the house. I called out her name. I turned the corner and went
00:43:38
to her office and I saw her on the floor. I saw blood under her arm, blood on the
00:43:44
wall. So I called 911. >> 911. What's your emergency? >> I need help right now. I just got home.
00:43:49
My wife's on the floor with blood all over. I don't think she's breathing. >> When I walked in, the first thing I
00:43:57
noticed was cast off blood [music] that ran up the wall. I noticed that there was a large pool of
00:44:02
blood on the floor around her body and I could see cuts in her clothing and I could see, you know, open gaping wounds
00:44:08
where she had been stabbed on her torso. >> My sister called me [music] and she was
00:44:14
frantic and she basically said that the Kui County Police Department [music] needs us to come down that something's
00:44:21
happened to mom. >> I called my mom's phone, no answer. Called the house, no answer. [music]
00:44:26
Called Alex's phone, he answered. He was crying and I said, "Ale, [music] Alec, what's going on?" "Your
00:44:35
mother." >> He's like, "Your [music] mom, your mom." Like, he couldn't finish what he was
00:44:39
saying. >> "Your mother's gone, honey. Your mother's gone." >> I got another call from my sister. And
00:44:45
again, she was frantic. And she said, "Mom's [music] dead. Mom's dead." And I was like, "What? What are you talking
00:44:50
about?" I was in complete shock. I felt paralyzed. It was unreal. When they conducted a search warrant on
00:44:58
the house, they began to find [music] evidence. >> We did come upon a place in the back of
00:45:03
the closet. There were some objects there that were separate. They weren't shoes. They weren't clothes. It was a
00:45:08
bag and some cameras. >> It was a [music] critical piece of evidence. She did in fact speak from the
00:45:16
grave. I'm Richard Slesinger. Every picture tells a story. When I first walked into the home, there
00:45:48
wasn't any signs of forest entry. There were no broken door locks. Drawers weren't pulled out. clothing items
00:45:54
hadn't been tossed around the house. >> Criminal investigator Jason Fentner was only 29 and had just started working
00:46:00
homicides in Kawita County, Georgia, not far from Atlanta. >> Miss McNton was wearing jewelry, gold
00:46:07
and diamond jewelry on her person that had not been broken or ripped off or stolen.
00:46:12
>> This was his first major murder case and it was a doozy. >> It looked like a horror house that you
00:46:19
might go in on Halloween. Kathy McNottton had been stabbed [music] more than 30 times.
00:46:26
>> What took place? What kind of murder? >> But she was a most unlikely victim. >> By all accounts, Miss McDnolton was a
00:46:34
really nice person with no enemies. Everybody loved her. >> She was definitely chatty, very chatty.
00:46:40
We called her Chatty Kathy. >> Michelle Mendenhal is Kathy's youngest daughter. >> She always saw the best in people.
00:46:47
Always gave people the benefit of the doubt. [music] Kathy had retired after a long career at Delta Airlines and was in
00:46:54
training to join an investment firm. >> She worked from the bottom up at Delta when she started.
00:47:00
>> So your mother was really sort of a self-made woman. >> She was she always was independent,
00:47:06
financially independent. She used to always say, "Don't rely on a man, you know, financially."
00:47:11
>> But emotionally, she was not as independent as she would have liked. After nearly 21 years of marriage, Kathy
00:47:19
got a divorce. >> I don't [music] think she thought in her middle age she'd be divorced.
00:47:24
>> Heather Mendenhal is Kathy's oldest daughter. [music] >> It's kind of like I'm 50 years old and
00:47:30
you know, I'm lonely. >> Her two adult daughters were on their own. Kathy dated, but there was no one
00:47:37
special. >> She wanted to be happy and grow old with somebody. She went looking for love online and
00:47:45
that's where Kathy met Alec McNottton, a lawyer from Enid, Oklahoma. >> She was intelligent. She was well read,
00:47:53
wellraveled. We had a lot of those things in common. I mean, love is something that just happens. There's not
00:47:59
a whole lot of logic to it sometimes. >> Alec McNorton was 55. He'd been married
00:48:06
three times, and Kathy fell for him quickly. and hard. >> They had dated for about five, six
00:48:13
months and then they were already talking engagement. We definitely question like, "Mom, don't you think
00:48:18
this is a little too fast?" And she'd just be like, "Well, I you know, he's it. He's it. He's my soulmate."
00:48:24
>> And then on November 15th, 2004, less than one year after they met, Kathy and Alec became husband and wife.
00:48:35
>> It was a small wedding. My mom wore a big white dress. Was that out of character for your mother? I mean, did
00:48:41
did she do things quickly, impulsively? [music] >> No. >> So, what did you make of this?
00:48:48
>> I thought that she was happy. >> There were some problems. [music] McNottton told Kathy he was having
00:48:54
trouble getting his Georgia law license, so he became a car salesman, but they managed.
00:49:01
>> How was the [music] marriage? >> Very good. >> You were happy together? >> We were.
00:49:08
But the good times ended when McNorton's daughter, Alexis, from a previous marriage, was killed in a car accident
00:49:15
at the age of 22. >> This girl was a showstopper. Columbia University, women's studies major, had
00:49:23
interned with Hillary Clinton. She was going somewhere. >> What did that do to you?
00:49:27
>> Well, it almost killed me. I went into a depression. >> Did that affect your marriage?
00:49:34
>> Oh, yeah. It affected me and uh you don't recover from something like that. My wife saved my life.
00:49:42
>> And when police questioned him after the murder, McNaught told them he and Kathy
00:49:46
were still very much in love. >> I loved her to the the depths of my heart. >> He told me that he didn't know what
00:49:56
happened to his [music] wife and that he wanted to find out. >> But I want you to find whoever killed my
00:50:00
wife. Okay? You know what? Police spent hours with an emotional McNorton over the next couple of days.
00:50:07
>> I got enough effort. My life's over. [snorts] >> It was important to go over the details
00:50:15
involving his daily activities so that we could exonerate him and move on to find out who did murder his wife.
00:50:22
>> McNottton told police where he had been that day. >> He said he left his home sometime around
00:50:28
11 a.m. or 12:00 p.m. that day. He said he went to his mother's about an hour away and he had left Kathy this message
00:50:37
on their home answering machine saying he'd arrived there. >> Hey honey, it's me at Mother's. I love
00:50:44
you baby. Bye. >> McNorton also told Fetner that he did not return home until 7:30 p.m. when he
00:50:51
discovered his wife's body. >> He was very specific about the time frame that he gave to the authorities.
00:50:57
>> McNutton seemed to have a solid alibi. He was cooperative and had willingly locked himself into a timeline that
00:51:06
investigators could now check. >> He was allowed to leave the sheriff's office and I believe he went and stayed
00:51:11
with his mother >> as the victim's husband. Of course, there was reason [music] to suspect
00:51:16
McNottton, but there was no physical evidence against him. >> I didn't see any blood on him. There was
00:51:22
no blood on his hands. There was no blood on his clothes. [music] >> Jason Fentner had to figure it all out.
00:51:29
What you've got is no murder weapon. You have a husband that's a former attorney that says he didn't do it
00:51:37
and a woman who's been stabbed to death. It's not your [music] traditional crime
00:51:43
scene. >> And there was one other thing to consider. Kathy's ex who lives in Texas.
00:51:50
>> That's true. She does have an ex-husband. [music] >> It was their wedding anniversary that
00:51:54
day. He was in town that day. What was his motive? His jealousy. Long before Kathy met Alec McNottton,
00:52:16
she was married to an airline pilot, Gary Mendenhal. And their daughter, Heather, [music] remembers a happy
00:52:23
childhood. I think that we were a pretty typical American family. Two working parents, two kids, lived in suburbia,
00:52:32
good schools. >> But the relationship was troubled. Eventually, Kathy and Gary divorced and
00:52:39
he moved to Texas. >> From time to time, Mr. Minhal would come to the Atlanta area on business or to
00:52:45
visit with his daughters. >> Sheriff's investigator Jason Fentner, >> and he happened to be in town on the day
00:52:51
after Valentine's Day. the day Kathy McNotton was murdered. And >> one of the first things Mr. McNottton
00:53:00
did is began throwing out a list of people that he quote highly suspected. >> I think somebody that knew her went
00:53:06
there with that purpose. [snorts] >> Gary Mendenhal was on McNorton's list. >> Tell me what you told the police.
00:53:12
>> I said, "Look, I I can't imagine who would kill Kathy. She's nice and sweet. The only person I know she's ever had a
00:53:18
problem with is her ex-husband." Fentner called Menenhal in for an [music] interview.
00:53:23
>> What is your relationship to Kathy McNorton? >> Uh, I'm the ex-husband. I was married to
00:53:29
Kathy for approximately 21 years. >> Why did you get divorced? >> For irreconcilable differences.
00:53:36
>> As they talked, Fentner noticed something interesting about Menden Hall. He had a cut on his hand.
00:53:44
>> What happened to your thumb? >> Oh, right there. I was I was cleaning up Heather's uh apartment here yesterday
00:53:50
and washing the countertop and I caught the some kind of wrap she had in it. >> Tore it up.
00:53:57
>> It takes forever for those to heal. >> Oh, I know. >> When you stab somebody 31 times like the
00:54:01
killer murdered my wife, your hand slips down the knife and you cut your hand. Gary Menenhal's dominant right thumb was
00:54:08
cut. >> And there [music] were some other potentially troubling things about Mendal. According to prosecutor Kevin
00:54:17
McMurray, >> he drove a silver car. There was a silver car seen [music] at the residence.
00:54:22
>> A silver car was seen leaving Cathy's home the day she was murdered. And Gary
00:54:28
Mendenhal had rented a silver car that very day, but Alec McNorton also drove a silver car. Two men with two alibis.
00:54:39
Rookie homicide investigator Jason Fentner had his work cut out for him. and I'm [music] looking at it and
00:54:45
saying, "I need to make sure I'd run down all these different leads." >> The first priority was figuring out when
00:54:51
Kathy McNottton died. The medical examiner could not establish a time of death, so police turned elsewhere.
00:55:00
>> From the phone records, we determined that Kathy McNotton had a call from inside her house to her friend in
00:55:06
California. And that phone call ended at 11:55. So, we knew Kathy McNotton had to
00:55:13
be alive at 11:55 a.m. >> McNorton had already given investigators a detailed account of his whereabouts
00:55:21
that day, and he told them he left home between 11:00 a.m. and noon. Alec McNorton [music]
00:55:29
also told investigators he was at his mother's house about an hour away when he left Kathy a phone [music] message at
00:55:36
about 2:30 p.m. There's one problem with that story, though. that cell phone tower right over there. Tower number
00:55:44
309. >> The critical piece, the the piece that matters is that cell phone call was
00:55:51
originated on tower 309. A tower that is less than 2 mi from his house. And that
00:55:59
tower is 40 miles from his mother's house. So Mr. McNottton is not at his mother's house when he's calling his
00:56:06
home phone. Investigators believe they had caught McNottton in a lie and [music] they
00:56:12
wanted to know why an innocent man would be lying about the day his wife was murdered.
00:56:20
>> Where were you when you made that call at 233 and think about this cuz it's important.
00:56:25
>> Um I was at my mother's house. >> The police were quite certain when they found these cell phone records that they
00:56:32
had caught you in a lie. >> That's right. And they made a big deal about me lying. and I didn't lie about
00:56:38
anything in this case. >> McNotton insists the phone records, no matter what they show, are just plain
00:56:45
wrong. But Fentner was starting to poke more holes in McNotton's story. Listen to the
00:56:52
911 call. >> She's not moving and she's not breathing and her eyes are not moving. She won't
00:56:58
she won't respond. There's blood on her on her on her hands and her on the wall.
00:57:03
He claimed he was kneeling down at his wife's body, that he was touching her body, that he was tilting her head back
00:57:08
and moving her body and trying to render aid to her. >> I want you to kneel by her side,
00:57:14
>> okay? >> Close to her head, >> okay? >> And bear her chest, okay? >> Okay. By her chest, okay.
00:57:21
>> Fentner wondered, "Why didn't McNorton have any blood on him?" >> There was blood soaked into the carpet
00:57:27
around her body. If you knelt down next to her body, it would be reasonable to believe you have blood on your pants, on
00:57:33
your hands. >> But McNorton says it's more important that the police didn't find any
00:57:38
scratches on his body when they looked. He says that helps prove he's innocent since Kathy desperately tried to fight
00:57:46
off her killer. >> She fought for her life. Her hands were cut up from the killer's instrument and
00:57:52
her fingernails were broken off from fighting the killer. But watch what happens when
00:57:58
investigators even raise the possibility that McNaught killed his wife. >> You're full of I didn't kill my wife. I
00:58:06
love my wife. She loved me. And I'm tired of the questions. So you either arrest me or take me home.
00:58:15
>> Police weren't ready to arrest anyone, but they [music] were ready to clear someone. Very soon they concluded Gary
00:58:22
Mendenhal had absolutely nothing to do with Kathy's death. >> In fact, we actually got it down to an
00:58:28
exact time frame where it's nearly impossible for one to believe that Mr. Minhal could have flown here from Texas,
00:58:36
did the things [music] that he did, murdered his ex-wife, clean up, get back, change clothes, and then meet with
00:58:42
his daughters for dinner. Uh, the time frame didn't work out. It wasn't Mr. Menhal.
00:58:46
>> Fentner continued his investigation. He got an earful when he talked to Heather
00:58:51
and Michelle about McNottton. >> They painted a picture of a selfish man that didn't like his wife that much.
00:58:58
They said that he was argumentative, that he was very controlling and and doineering.
00:59:03
>> At the same time, Fentner was being [music] inundated with calls about McNorton.
00:59:09
Some of the calls were from people who knew McNorton very well. We received calls from his own siblings who called
00:59:18
us and said, "Hey, I want to be off the record cuz I'm scared of him, but I think my brother did it."
00:59:23
>> His own family. >> Correct. >> If you talk to people in prison, if somebody gets arrested or accused of
00:59:28
murder, the family turns against him nine times out of 10. >> Well, I don't know about that, Mr.
00:59:34
McNut. I mean, I I I don't think my family would call and say he's a murderer. food.
00:59:38
>> I didn't think so either, Richard. >> All of them expressed an extreme fear of
00:59:43
Ally. And that's just something else that you add to this pile of things that are that are mounting against him. Why
00:59:49
is everybody afraid of you? >> Fentner was about to find out. The police found those three disposable
00:59:56
cameras in Cathy's closet [music] with unprocessed film inside. >> We knew we had to find out what was on
01:00:03
them. >> They say every picture tells a story. And this one was a shocker. Everything that my mom knew about Alec
01:00:28
was [music] all the good things, like everything that he had achieved, everything that he
01:00:34
had acquired, [music] his accomplishments. >> At least that's what Heather thought.
01:00:39
But in May 2006, a year and a half after Kathy married Alec McNottton, Heather had a terrifying phone call with her
01:00:47
mother that began with a dinner invitation. >> She said that she'd love to come to
01:00:52
dinner, but she couldn't. She sounded funny on the phone. I just, you know, kept pushing her a little bit and she
01:00:58
said, "I I can't." Soon, Kathy confided in her daughter and told her a shocking story that her husband, Alec McNottton,
01:01:08
had beaten her. >> She was on her way to work and he had violently followed her out to the car,
01:01:16
opened the car door, and pulled her out and took her by the hair and was like literally like dragging her.
01:01:23
>> Dragging her by her hair. >> Mhm. He was in violent rage. >> [music] >> She said that there's no way that she
01:01:35
could like be seen in public. But McNottton says he and Kathy had only a small argument over a car. He says he
01:01:46
tried to grab the keys from Kathy in the driveway and she fell off her high heels.
01:01:52
>> She fell off her heels as we were struggling and skinned her elbow, I think, and her knee and her chin. She
01:01:58
fell off her heels. >> Yeah, she stumbled and we fell. She got scuffed up. >> What did you think?
01:02:06
>> I was frightened. >> I'm like, "Well, did you call the police?" She's like, "No, I did not call
01:02:10
police and I'm not going to." >> Instead, Kathy started her own investigation of Alec [music]
01:02:17
and even kept a secret file, notes, and undeveloped photos in disposable cameras. Police found it all hidden
01:02:27
inside her closet. >> I took the [music] three disposable cameras to a local developer here in the
01:02:32
area. When I got it back, I was shocked. There were pictures of her doing this, holding her hands up,
01:02:44
and there's a huge bruise on her face, and she's got bruises and scratches on her arms.
01:02:48
>> McNutton has his own explanation for all the bruises. He says Kathy's ex Gary
01:02:55
Mendenhal must have done it. >> I just knew he had done that. >> You're saying that Gary Mendenhal beat
01:03:02
her up? >> That's my opinion. Yes. >> But that was not investigator Jason Fentner's opinion. Heather told him that
01:03:09
McNottton had beaten Kathy and Fentner knew those photos could be a key piece of evidence against McNottton if the
01:03:17
police could answer some crucial questions. One of the first questions that came up then was who took these
01:03:23
photos. >> Photographer had to authenticate the photos, say when the pictures were
01:03:28
taken, and if Kathy said Alec had injured her. >> How come nobody's called to say, "Hey, I
01:03:34
took pictures of her when she was beaten up." >> The police began searching for the
01:03:38
photographer. But there were other important things in Cathy's closet. Very damaging notes about shady financial
01:03:47
deals. and worse. >> She had written down that he threatened to kill me. >> Prosecutor Kevin McMurray.
01:03:56
>> She describes all the lies he's told to her. >> Kathy was on to him, but she was [music]
01:04:02
conflicted. She compiled this list of pros and cons about McNorton. And despite the abuse, under pros, she wrote
01:04:11
sweet, loving, handsome. Under cons, she wrote, "No sex, depression, bankruptcy."
01:04:18
>> Alan McNton told us that they had a perfect relationship, that they had never had any physical altercations,
01:04:23
that they that they were deeply in love, and that they shared a a wonderful marriage.
01:04:30
>> But that sure looked like a lie. Kathy's daughter, Michelle, says Kathy and Alec
01:04:35
were having a lot of problems and argued constantly about money. >> The marriage she basically was financing
01:04:43
And then one night, the couple's [music] disagreements over money exploded into a
01:04:48
loud argument. You know, I told you I got your credit BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE A problem with my credit.
01:04:54
>> And Alec McNorton taped it. >> I always carry a tape recorder in my [music] briefcase my whole career. She
01:05:02
was out of control. So, I just took my tape out so that if later on she said something, I'd just play it back and
01:05:08
say, "You lose your temper over minor stuff." you start recording. >> I could tell from listening to it that
01:05:14
she did not know she was being recorded. >> And I'm going to call a attorney. >> You could hear Kathy screaming [music]
01:05:20
at the top of her lungs at Ally. >> Investigator Jason Fentner says the recording backfired on McNorton when
01:05:28
Kathy began referring to the time she said he beat her. >> You ever wear your hand to me again to
01:05:35
even fire to strike me? It is over. I'll get on that boat and I'll learn more. >> She says, [music] "I've got pictures.
01:05:42
I've got affidavit." >> Yeah, that was right after we'd had the struggle in the driveway over the car.
01:05:48
So, I knew what she was referring to. >> But, as it turned out, this was not the
01:05:51
first time McNottton was accused of [music] abuse as Fentner learned after tracking down McNottton's first wife,
01:05:58
[music] Linda. >> And they said Alec McNottton has murdered his wife. Linda McNorton had
01:06:05
divorced Alec nearly 40 years earlier. >> And my [music] stomach sank to my toes.
01:06:13
>> Despite the decades that have passed, she has never forgotten what she says her ex-husband did to her.
01:06:20
>> He beat me with his fist with a Coke bottle. He broke my nose. He fractured my jaw.
01:06:27
He beat me hard. I never [music] abused my wife or any woman ever. >> The evidence against McNorton was piling
01:06:37
up. His [music] past, that tape, the photos of Cathy's bruises, her notes, [music] and those cell phone records
01:06:45
that seemingly proved McNottton was not where he said he was on the day of the murder. Fetner called McNaught in for a
01:06:53
follow-up interview, and the former lawyer [snorts] sneered at the evidence. I think the comment he made was there's
01:06:59
not a a snowballs chance in hell that a jury would convict me on this. >> Well, that's very different from I
01:07:04
didn't do this and they're lying. >> It is. It sounds like a challenge to me. >> And on February 27th, 2009,
01:07:13
>> stand up, turn around, put your hands behind your back. >> Alec McNottton was arrested and charged
01:07:17
with murder for stabbing his wife Kathy more than 30 times. He was thrown in jail with no bail.
01:07:26
>> They railroaded me. They put the blinders on that night. That homicide detective in his very first murder case
01:07:32
was overwhelmed. He didn't know what to do. And he decided it was me right there
01:07:36
at the scene and never considered anybody else. >> And now the prosecutors had one very big
01:07:45
problem. They still had no idea who took those damning photographs. And without that crucial information, the law says
01:07:53
the photos could never be shown to a jury. >> We had to connect it to the crime. We
01:07:59
had to be able to show that it was [music] Mr. McNottton who had done this. >> All right.
01:08:04
>> And the trial was about to start. As the murder trial of Alec McNottton approached, prosecutor Kevin McMurray
01:08:26
was haunted by the photographs Kathy McNottton left behind. >> It became obvious that Ms. McNottton was
01:08:34
making an effort to preserve what had happened to her. >> But the law says if McMurray wanted to
01:08:42
show those photos to the jury, he'd have to find the photographer. So he had to scramble.
01:08:48
>> For the longest time, we really [music] ran into some dead ends. We took these
01:08:53
pictures to witnesses and asked, "Have you seen these injuries? Did you take these pictures? Are you familiar with
01:08:59
any of this?" And time after time, the people closest to her said, "No." The trial was only a month away, and
01:09:07
McMurray was getting desperate. He finally turned to Delta Airlines where Kathy had worked [music] to see if
01:09:15
she had asked anyone there for help. >> And that was the turning point. >> It was.
01:09:22
>> At the point that I saw her, it was obvious she had bruises on her body. >> Sandra Harmon was a counselor who did
01:09:29
some work with Delta. >> Kathy looked very disheveled. Sandra says Kathy told her McNotton had
01:09:37
attacked her outside their home just the day before. >> The first thing Kathy did when she sat
01:09:45
down was to ask me if I would take pictures of her. >> Sandra agreed to take the photos
01:09:53
and now found herself thrust into the middle of a murder trial. Now, Miss Harmon, did you have any confusion over
01:10:01
whether or not she was talking about her current husband or someone that she had
01:10:04
been previously married? >> Oh, absolutely no confusion whatsoever. She was very clear.
01:10:09
>> And you understood to be to be who? >> Um, Alec McNottton, her husband. >> She's lying if she says that my wife
01:10:18
said that I beat her up. McNotton, who was a practicing lawyer, says Sandra's testimony, is nothing more
01:10:26
than hearsay. >> Why would she make that up? >> Because she's the star, Richard. She's
01:10:31
the prosecution star witness. She's the surprise. >> She seemed like a liar to you.
01:10:36
>> People don't lie intentionally, but people get persuaded by the police when they are the star witness in a
01:10:42
high-profile murder case. It happens all the time. Those photos were powerful evidence, and McNorton's defense lawyer,
01:10:51
Michael Cam, could not make them disappear, even though >> this actually looks like I've cut this handkerchief in two.
01:11:01
If you were, >> he happens to be a semi-professional magician. >> Cam says the law is a lot like magic.
01:11:10
[snorts] >> All about altering perceptions. There was a complete lack of evidence.
01:11:16
Clearly, this was a violent death. I mean, she had numerous, numerous stab marks. There was blood all around her.
01:11:24
There's blood under her. He had no bruises. There was nothing to indicate that somebody had actually cleaned up
01:11:30
the crime [music] scene. There was no um evidence of his DNA on her fingernails.
01:11:38
>> But the prosecutors had more damaging evidence. >> Call [music] your next witness. They put
01:11:42
all three of McNorton's ex-wives on the stand. His first wife, Linda, describes what she says happened after she refused
01:11:52
to have sex with him. >> He then beat me badly. >> How did he beat you? Could you please
01:11:57
describe that? >> With his fist and with a Coke bottle. >> She's lying. There's no witness alive
01:12:04
that corroborates her story. >> [music] >> McNauton's second wife, also named Linda, tells jurors what she says
01:12:13
happened. The one time she said no to her then husband. >> And he grabbed me by either shoulder and
01:12:20
just slung me over into a glass top dining table that that fell over. >> Were you scared of the defendant after
01:12:27
he threw you? >> I was scared of him before that. >> Second wife, did you throw her into a
01:12:33
coffee table? >> I pushed her out of the way. She's exaggerating. She's not lying.
01:12:39
>> But it is Susan Knox, McNautton's last wife before Kathy, who tells the most frightening story.
01:12:46
>> She says there was always tension between Alec and their daughter, Alexis. But it got dangerous one night when
01:12:53
McNorton pulled out a shotgun. >> I just said, "Uh, Alec, what are you doing with that gun?"
01:13:00
>> What was his response? He said in a very slow monotone voice, he said, "I'm going
01:13:07
to kill Alexis and then I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill myself."
01:13:15
>> Alexis was in another room listening to it all and dialed 911. >> Oklahoma City 911.
01:13:22
>> Hi. Um, I just woke up. My parents have had a huge fight last night and I was
01:13:27
listening downstairs and my mom woke up and my dad said he's going to kill us and and he's capable of doing that. So,
01:13:34
[laughter] >> okay, we'll send it off there. >> Officers calmed everyone down and took
01:13:39
away McNottton's shotgun. >> That normal behavior? >> Of course not. I mean, it's it's
01:13:45
emotional behavior. My daughter is 18 and brilliant and beautiful and admitted to Barnard College at Columbia and you
01:13:53
know her life's work is there in front of her and she decides to drop out of high school.
01:13:57
>> Would you have shot her? >> Of course not. Or shot anybody in my life, not even a bird.
01:14:04
>> The testimony of McNorton's three ex-wives is hugely important. >> It was devastating.
01:14:10
>> Although McNorton doesn't seem to notice, >> he thought everybody loved him. He
01:14:14
thought he was the smartest guy in the room, no matter what room he was in. >> I'm showing you what's been marked and
01:14:20
admitted as states exhibit 10. >> In this room, the courtroom, someone needs to explain McNottton's side of the
01:14:27
story. >> I didn't kill [music] my wife. I love my wife. >> And Alec McNottton decides there's no
01:14:34
one better than Alec McNorton. You did not want [music] him to take the stand. >> I did not.
01:14:40
>> Did you tell him that? >> Yes. and not so politely either. I said, "You [music] are so arrogant and
01:14:47
unlikable. I'm afraid that you're going to blow it when you take the stand." >> But McNorton insists.
01:14:56
>> So when you heard them stand up and say, "We call Alec McNorton," what was your
01:15:00
first thought? >> My first thought was, "This is a rare opportunity. My name is Alec McNotton.
01:15:16
>> Alec McNorton is either the smartest man in this courtroom or the dumbest. >> You understand that you have a right to
01:15:24
remain silent. >> Yes, sir. I do. >> The alleged killer is about to gamble his freedom on his way with words. He
01:15:32
can't get death, but he could get life. >> I hoped that Mr. McNautton [music] would
01:15:37
take the stand. >> As he takes the stand in his own defense, >> he underestimates everyone else,
01:15:44
overestimates his own abilities, and the result is he's easily trapped in his lies.
01:15:49
>> Defense lawyer Michael Cam wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter.
01:15:54
>> Alec, did you kill your wife, >> Kathy McN? >> No. >> One question, that's it.
01:16:03
>> Cross examination, Mr. McMurray. Immediately, prosecutor Kevin McMurray begins tearing apart McNorton's story
01:16:10
about where he was on the day his wife was murdered. [music] >> He wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
01:16:16
>> McNottton has always maintained that at 2:30 that day, he was already at his mother's house about an hour away in
01:16:24
Sandy Springs, Georgia, when he called home and left a message. >> Hey, it's me. I'm up at Mother's. The
01:16:31
cell phone records show he was actually within a few miles of his home. >> You were not in Sandy Springs
01:16:40
at 2:33 p.m. on February 15th, 2009. Isn't that true? >> It's not true. I was I was at my
01:16:49
mother's. >> So, those records are wrong. >> They are. >> That phone call was absolutely critical
01:16:56
to this case from the very beginning. And it was Mr. McNautton's fatal mistake. >> McNotton talked to police early in the
01:17:04
investigation. Detectives poked holes in his story almost immediately, and prosecutors say McNotton should have
01:17:11
known better. Considering he's a lawyer. >> Had he not talked to the police initially, it would have been a very,
01:17:22
very difficult case to prosecute. >> And why did you talk to them? >> Because I wanted to find out who killed
01:17:27
my wife. and and I I I would have done anything. And so that that need to find out who
01:17:36
had killed my lovely wife overrode my legal judgment. >> But investigator Jason Fentner thinks
01:17:42
McNorton had another reason. [music] >> He did his best to mislead that that dumb redneck investigator.
01:17:49
>> Who's that dumb redneck? >> I think that's me. >> You told investigators that you had
01:17:53
never hit Kathy McNutton, but that wasn't true either. >> That is true. He clearly lied about a lot of things on
01:17:59
the stand. >> That is untrue, isn't it? >> No, it's true. >> I knew what the truth was.
01:18:05
>> Kathy's daughters, Heather and Michelle, watched McNorton, testify. >> I can't believe my mom was married to
01:18:10
someone like this. Who is this person? >> I didn't hit her. I did not kick her. >> Even his own lawyer can see the effect
01:18:19
McNottton is having on those in the courtroom. I'm looking at the court personnel and the expressions on their
01:18:25
face changed and they were giving me the >> There are times during that cross-examination that what Mr. McNotton
01:18:32
said in the face of the evidence was so preposterous. >> There was a robbery. >> There was a robbery.
01:18:37
>> Yes, sir. >> Was there a TV missing? >> No. >> Was there a computer missing? >> No.
01:18:41
>> Was her watch taken? >> No. >> I think everyone, myself included, sought to not visibly display our our
01:18:48
disbelief. [music] >> That's a lie. McNorton denies everything his accusers say about him.
01:18:55
>> She's lying. I didn't know such things. And that's not true. >> McNorton has had his say.
01:19:02
And now the lawyers get their last chance to persuade the jury. >> For the first time in my career, we have
01:19:08
a case where the victim has spoken from the dead. She recorded what has happened
01:19:14
to her with that man. And the evidence shows who killed Kathy McNotton. There were no calluses on his hands, no cuts,
01:19:24
no bruises, no blood, no DNA. The only only verdict you can render is Alec McNorton is not guilty of any offense.
01:19:37
>> The jurors begin to deliberate on what looks to most people like an open andsh
01:19:42
shut case. >> Obviously, I was nervous. >> That first night, the jury goes home.
01:19:48
>> The waiting and the waiting. No verdict. >> It was just torture. >> And then at the end of the second day,
01:19:55
the jurors announce they've decided. >> That's to count one malice murder. We, the jury, found the defendant guilty.
01:20:03
>> Guilty of murder. Alec McNorton, the man Kathy once thought was her soulmate, is convicted
01:20:15
of killing her, stabbing her more than 30 times in the home they shared. >> Were you surprised when you were
01:20:23
convicted? >> Yeah, I I was stunned. >> Mr. McNottton, come forward, please. >> I still believe that justice will
01:20:30
prevail, and my wife's killer will be found tried, convicted, and executed. >> This [snorts] is a question I ask a lot
01:20:37
of people in your situation. What does justice feel like? >> It definitely doesn't do anything to
01:20:44
fill the void that she's not here that we'll never physically see her again. I'll never hug
01:20:51
her again. It doesn't it doesn't help with those things. >> It also doesn't answer one lingering
01:20:59
question. How did a woman like Kathy, a strong woman with friends, [music] family, and money, end up a victim of
01:21:07
domestic violence? >> I feel like if my mom had said [music] one time's enough, you know, maybe she'd
01:21:13
still be here today, and I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. >> And even though it is Alec McNottton who
01:21:19
stands convicted, it is Heather and Michelle who are left feeling guilty. >> For good year, you know, that's all I
01:21:27
felt. Guilt. guilt and regret that I didn't [music] say anything and that I just kept it, you know, to myself that I
01:21:36
didn't speak up [snorts] when I had the chance. And, you know, you can't, it was too late.
01:22:04
>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> My name is Carol Dodge and I am the mother of Angie Dodge
01:22:47
who was brutally murdered in June of 1996. And for 23 years, I've traveled every
01:22:59
road there is, turned every stone there is to find justice for my daughter. As the officers arrived at the crime
01:23:11
scene [music] and found Angie Dodge laying on the ground and it was obvious that there was a very brutal murder that
01:23:18
had happened. a lot of blood. During the investigation, we came across a significant amount of DNA that we
01:23:25
believe is from the killer. >> Would you say that this crime scene provided really good evidence?
01:23:33
>> Excellent evidence. >> For nearly two decades, police could not find a match to the killer's DNA. So in
01:23:43
2014, they went way outside the box and searched a public DNA database owned by ancestry.com.
01:23:52
It led us to this Michael Jr. who just happened to be a filmmaker [laughter] films of homicide. Um kind of a murder
01:24:09
mystery filmmaker. Then he cuts off her head. [screaming] [crying] >> My name is Michael Usher. Uh I'm a
01:24:16
filmmaker and was a suspect in the Angie Dodge case. Murderabilia. It was then I knew it was
01:24:24
a girl and she was young. Got me the reputation of being a person who is really into murder and things
01:24:33
like that. >> And I shoved her body over in the shower. I just kept stabbing her. It was pretty
01:24:40
creepy. We had Louisiana State Police call him. He had agreed to come down to the state
01:24:48
offices there in New Orleans. The majority of the time that I was in the interrogation room, I just didn't
01:24:57
know what they were talking about. They finally had to look at me and go, "No, we think that you, Michael Lushery,
01:25:06
you know, we think that you're involved in this murder case." >> My whole purpose is to find uh who
01:25:14
killed Angie Dodge. >> The ability to kill is obviously somewhere in all of us because it
01:25:23
happens every day. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Grief has no time limit. I just can't
01:26:20
[clears throat] I can't let go. I can't let go of her. >> Carol Dodge lost her daughter Angie when
01:26:29
she was just a teenager. >> She was just discovering who she truly was and wanting independence.
01:26:37
She says, "Just let me grow up. Let me make my own mistakes. You know, you don't need to watch me. You know, you
01:26:43
don't need to be my shadow. It was the summer of 1996 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, a mostly Mormon community
01:26:56
where neighbors knew each other by name and doors were rarely locked, says former chief of police Mark McBride.
01:27:04
>> But it was very, really a very quiet, peaceful town overall. >> Just 3 weeks before her death,
01:27:11
18-year-old Angie got her own apartment in this house. I saw her the night that she was killed.
01:27:18
She said, "It's so hard growing up." And she laid her head on my shoulder and we
01:27:22
just kind of rocked back and forth. And I'm so grateful for that moment. Extremely grateful that
01:27:31
my last words were that I love her. >> The next morning, Angie didn't show up for work at a local beauty supply store.
01:27:41
We got a phone call at our 911 center about 11:00 in the morning and one of her friends at work came to
01:27:48
check on her and the door was unlocked. She went in and she found a body laying there on the floor and a very bloody
01:27:54
crime scene. >> There were no signs of forced entry, but there were signs of a struggle.
01:28:00
>> You think she fought for her life? >> Yes, I do. Angie was stabbed and cut 14 times and
01:28:10
left half naked. The killer ejaculated on her, leaving behind what DNA expert Greg Hampian calls a pristine profile.
01:28:20
>> It's a single profile, uh, complete identification, one man to the exclusion of everyone on the planet.
01:28:28
>> [snorts] >> Police began collecting the DNA of dozens of local men and spent months
01:28:34
interviewing everyone Angie knew, including this young man, Christopher Tap. [music] Although his DNA didn't
01:28:42
match and Tap denied any involvement, after more than 28 hours of interrogation over 23 days, Tap [music]
01:28:51
confessed to participating in Angie's murder. >> You were there, correct? >> Correct. Did you know Christopher Tap?
01:28:58
>> No, didn't know. Had no clue. >> Tap told police that the night of Angie's death, he and two friends
01:29:07
stopped by her apartment. During an argument, Tap claimed one of his friends started stabbing Angie while he held her
01:29:15
down. >> You're holding her down, okay, while she's being cut. You're holding her down while she's
01:29:24
being >> [music] >> But when Tap went before a judge, he pled not guilty of raping and murdering
01:29:32
Angie Dodge. >> I said, "You beast, you horrible beast. How could he do this to my daughter?"
01:29:40
>> Defense argued Tap's DNA didn't match the killers. But on May 28th, 1998, it took a jury approximately 13 hours to
01:29:50
reach a verdict. >> Guilty. Nearly 2 years after Angie Dodge was murdered, Chris Tap faced his punishment
01:30:04
with Carol Dodge glaring at him. >> You are guilty of the crimes of murder in the first degree and rape.
01:30:13
>> His sentence 30 years to life, but the murder of Angie Dodge was still an open
01:30:19
case. Chris Tap did not match the DNA and he wouldn't tell police who did. >> I just couldn't understand why he would
01:30:30
go to prison and take a life sentence and not give the other person up. >> Tab did give authorities several names,
01:30:40
including someone named Mike. >> How sure are you that he's first name? I'm dead [music] said positive. But
01:30:48
police could never make a DNA match, so the case went cold. But not for Carol Dodge.
01:30:55
>> I never stopped looking for the actual person who matches the DNA. >> By 2009, the killer's DNA had been
01:31:06
entered into the national criminal database known as COTUS. But there was still no match. So, Carol called
01:31:14
well-known DNA expert Greg Hampian. >> I had this message, they don't know who killed my my daughter.
01:31:23
>> By then, there had been many advances in DNA technology. And so, with Hampian's
01:31:28
help, Carol Dodge pushed authorities to use a new controversial search process called familial DNA. It looks for anyone
01:31:38
who may be related to Angie's killer, >> which means going into that database in
01:31:44
Idaho of the convicted offenders and looking for a family member that might match this DNA partially.
01:31:56
>> Idaho doesn't allow familial searches in their criminal database, so Hampian made
01:32:02
an even more controversial suggestion. a familial search through public databases.
01:32:10
>> I'm the one that went to the Idaho Falls Police Department and the prosecution
01:32:14
saying, "We need to do this." >> Imagine you're one of millions of Americans to open up a kit like this,
01:32:21
spit into a test tube like this, and then send your DNA off to a commercial database. Well, now that database owns
01:32:29
your DNA profile, and you may not realize it, but police may be able to access it.
01:32:38
We're interested in solving a crime and we're going to use any technique we can that we can legally use.
01:32:44
>> In the summer of 2014, detectives searched a public DNA database owned by ancestry.com.
01:32:52
They got a hit. >> I was told they got 34 out of 35 markers, I believe. >> Is that good?
01:32:59
>> Yeah, that's that's [music] a good investigative lead. It was a close enough match to make Detective Patrick
01:33:06
[music] McKenna think they had found a relative of Angie's killer. So, police got a warrant for ancestry.com to reveal
01:33:15
his identity. It was a man named Michael Usri Senior. >> We know it's not that individual or we
01:33:23
would have had 35 out of 35 on that. So, that's when we started doing research into the family. That led investigators
01:33:31
to suspect Usri's son, Michael Usri Jr. [music] Detective McKenna wondered if this could
01:33:42
be the Mike that Chris Tap once named. >> And then we started researching him and
01:33:49
the films that he was making. It was a little eerie to uh try to think that that could possibly be a solid suspect
01:33:56
in the case. [music] I have to ask you this question. >> Yes. >> Do you have a particular interest in
01:34:21
murder? [laughter] >> I I don't have a particular interest in murder. Um, >> it sure seems like it based on your
01:34:29
phone. >> I know it does, but no, I I really have quite an aversion to it. >> But authorities investigating the brutal
01:34:36
murder of Angie Dodge weren't so sure. >> Precisely at 2:00, three uh gentlemen came to my door.
01:34:46
>> In December of 2014, more than 18 years after Angie's murder, Michael Usri Jr.
01:34:53
was living in New Orleans when two detectives from Idaho Falls and a Louisiana state police officer brought
01:35:01
us to a state police office near the New Orleans Super Dome and started grilling
01:35:06
him. >> They said, "So, what about your travels to Idaho? Have you ever been to Idaho?"
01:35:14
And um I had in fact actually went up there with some friends for just one night. He was 19 years old back then and
01:35:23
he and his friends drove to Rexburg, Idaho, passing right through Idaho Falls. >> Well, they were really interested in
01:35:30
that. >> A little surprised that we were we were able to actually place him in Idaho
01:35:36
Falls. >> It was a big red flag for Detective Patrick McKenna. >> It's kind of weird, but I just really
01:35:43
didn't didn't get it. Then one of the officers pulled out a warrant and swabbed his cheek for DNA.
01:35:54
>> At that point, I went, "Hey, what what's going on here, you guys? Should I get a
01:35:59
lawyer?" >> Once they had his DNA, they drove Michael Usri home without any explanation.
01:36:07
>> I just basically stood on my sidewalk in a days. >> It was a call to a close friend that
01:36:14
finally shed some light. and uh he said, "Well, what's the case? What what is this?" And I go, "Well, they wouldn't
01:36:20
tell me anything except that it was a high-profile murder case in Idaho Falls." So, he gets on the computer and
01:36:27
within 20 seconds, he's like, "Oh, yeah. This is the case right here. It's some girl named Angie Dodge."
01:36:33
>> The filmmaker whose movie featured a convict describing how he stabbed a woman to death.
01:36:39
>> Watched her insides spill out all over the floor. was now suspected of doing just that to Angie Dodge.
01:36:47
>> I mean, it was very much a case of an overkill. They stabbed her and cut her and it was just a a butchery.
01:36:56
People were like, "Wow, what does this imply?" You know, for your career, what is for your life, for your family, for
01:37:02
your family's name? >> Usri remembers being terrified, spending days holed up at home, worried what
01:37:10
police would do next. pretty sure that they were capping my phone calls, uh, possibly staking me out, certainly
01:37:18
checking my computer searches. >> But Usri knew he hadn't killed anyone, and he wanted answers. A local newspaper
01:37:28
reporter showed him a copy of the warrant investigators used to obtain his DNA. And right there, the answer to the
01:37:37
question, why him? dated back about 17 years. >> And I went, "Wow, this is because of my
01:37:43
dad." >> The filmmaker's father, Michael Estri Senior, participated in a genealogy
01:37:49
project at his local church. A sample of his DNA went to that public database, which was later purchased by
01:37:57
ancestry.com, and that's where police came across it. >> There are 34 out of 35 LL's that match.
01:38:06
It seems shocking to me. >> 34 out of 35 DNA markers sounds like a stunningly close match to Angie Dodge's
01:38:17
killer, but the reasons police honed in on him instead of any of his other relatives are detailed in the warrant.
01:38:25
>> I told you Mike is the first name. Okay, >> remember Chris Tap told police a guy
01:38:32
named Mike was involved in the murder. Police took to Facebook and found his profile. Bingo. Facebook showed us had
01:38:40
friends living in the Idaho Falls area. And then there's Oshri's films. And then
01:38:47
bludgeoned her to death with this very hammer. >> The more Ushri read, the more furious he
01:38:54
grew that anyone would think he was a killer. But even more troubling was the idea that Angie Dodge's killer might be
01:39:02
someone in his family. Just knowing [music] that somebody in my family would possibly do something like
01:39:09
that is disturbing. I mean, to say the least, you know, >> [music] >> Michael Usri worried every day. He knew
01:39:40
that Idaho Falls police suspected him of murdering Angie Dodge. And the uncertainty of what would happen next
01:39:48
kept him up at night until January 13th, 2015. More than a month later, >> they sent me an email and it says,
01:39:58
"Michael Jr., we just wanted to let you know that your DNA did not match our crime scene DNA, something you already
01:40:05
knew." >> In an email from police, Michael Usri was officially cleared of the murder of
01:40:11
Angie Dodge, but he was still thoroughly traumatized. >> You were angry at Ancestry.
01:40:18
>> I was angry at everybody. the police, scientists, you know, these database companies, you know, how could they
01:40:26
misfire so bad? >> 48 hours asked ancestry.com about USR's experience. In a statement, they said
01:40:34
they will not share any information with law enforcement unless compelled to by a
01:40:40
court order or search warrant. Usri's case, they say, was unique and the only time they have received a formal legal
01:40:48
request for DNA related information. After what happened to Usri, ancestry.com told us they took action.
01:40:57
[music] The public database used by authorities was made private and can no longer be
01:41:03
accessed by the public or police. >> Can't control fate and what happens to you. So, I just figured that this was
01:41:11
there was a reason for this uh happening. >> Michael Usri decided he wanted to try
01:41:17
and prevent it from happening to anyone else by making a documentary about his experience. He was shocked when Angie
01:41:25
Dodge's mother was willing to talk. What he didn't realize is that Carol Dodge had an agenda of her own.
01:41:32
>> She's fairly certain that a killer is in my bloodline. I remember Mike and I sitting down and I says, "Okay, Mike,
01:41:39
here's a piece of paper. Now, I want you to write down from your great-grandfather to your grandfather,
01:41:46
your dad." And he did me a genealogy sheet. My grandfather, he had six other brothers. Carol just wonders, "Hey,
01:41:53
maybe it's somebody you don't even know. Maybe it's an illegitimate son of one of your papy's brothers."
01:42:01
Despite all that, Carol Dodge and Michael Ushri have forged a rather odd close bond.
01:42:08
>> You're a really special person. >> You are too, Carol. >> And after hearing Carol and Angie's
01:42:14
story, the focus of Usri's documentary changed dramatically [music] to Carol Dodge's search for her daughter's
01:42:23
killer. He immersed himself in the case, starting with the man who had confessed,
01:42:29
Chris Tap. How many times did you stab her before you let go >> that first time?
01:42:34
>> Usri quickly learned that Chris Tap was now claiming his confession was forced
01:42:40
and the Idaho Innocence Project headed by that DNA expert Greg Hampian was now working to set Tap free.
01:42:49
>> Based on the DNA, is there any way that Chris could have been in that room? >> No, not based on the DNA. The more Carol
01:42:58
Dodge learned about DNA, the more she questioned Chris's confession that he held Angie down while she was being
01:43:05
stabbed. >> It wasn't until I started studying science that I said, "It's impossible.
01:43:13
How could Chris admit in doing what he said he did and there be no physical evidence?"
01:43:20
>> But it wasn't just the science that bothered Carol Dodge. She believed Chris Tap's confession was coerced by the
01:43:29
detectives who interrogated him. >> I mean, come on, man. I mean, you're the heat of the moment. She's putting up the
01:43:34
fight. Do you know you're caught? You're right there in the middle. >> I watch it,
01:43:38
>> right? >> And it's so frustrating. >> This was Chris Tap when we first met. At
01:43:44
40 years old, he'd been inmate number 56265 for 20 years. You look at that 20-year-old kid, you know, and you
01:43:55
realize, God, I was just an idiot. >> Think hard about it. I know it's >> I know it's there. You know,
01:44:00
>> Chris Tap says his confession was a lie. A story fed to him by police and then
01:44:06
forced back out of him on tape. >> You can see him specifically pointing out facts to me or or giving little
01:44:14
innuendos. >> This would be the stairs going up. Okay. So, you went up these stairs. [music]
01:44:19
Okay. or hints of how the murder went down. >> Well, it's a porch that goes outside.
01:44:25
>> It all started because Chris Tap's friend, a man named Ben, who also knew Angie, was arrested in Eli, Nevada for
01:44:33
assaulting a woman at Knife Point. To investigators, the crime seemed similar to the attack on Angie. So,
01:44:42
while Ben was in custody in Nevada, investigators brought Chris in for questioning.
01:44:50
Emphatically, I said, "I had nothing to do with it. I don't know what you're talking about.
01:44:53
>> I'm going there. I knew there's no way." >> But instead of leaving it at that, Tap,
01:44:58
then just 20 years old, cooperated. >> I felt like, trust him. They're not going to do anything wrong.
01:45:04
>> He doesn't know they can lie to him. And most innocent people have no idea that
01:45:09
the interrogators can lie to you. First, Tap was told there was irrefutable evidence that his friend Ben
01:45:16
killed Angie and that Tap was there when it happened. >> I'm pretty sure we're [music] we know
01:45:23
what happened and who did what, how, when, where, and why. >> Tap kept denying all knowledge of the
01:45:29
crime. >> Did you hear her scream or anything like that? >> I [music] wasn't there.
01:45:34
>> But detectives persisted and even though he had a lawyer, Tap kept talking. And
01:45:40
so when they offered you a polygraph, seemed like a good idea. >> Yeah, seemed like a great idea. I had
01:45:46
nothing to hide, no reason not to do it. >> But Tap was told he was being deceptive
01:45:54
and detectives promised him full immunity, no jail time in exchange for the truth as long as he hadn't
01:46:01
participated in the actual murder. That's when Tap says he started telling police what he thought they wanted to
01:46:09
hear. >> Now, are you sure Ben's there? >> Yes. >> You're positive? >> Yeah. >> Yes.
01:46:14
>> Okay. >> Tap told detectives he was there when Ben killed Angie Dodge. >> He told him, "No, don't do it. Don't do
01:46:22
it." >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, did he did he have the knife? >> Yeah. But just hours later, detectives
01:46:31
learned that Ben did not match the killer's DNA. A desperate Chris Tap started changing his story, blaming
01:46:38
several other friends for the murder. >> I continue to lie. I continue to give them story after story, and it they
01:46:46
should have just stopped, but they didn't. >> But Chris, why didn't you stop? >> I didn't think I could. When none of the
01:46:54
men he named matched the DNA, Tap says police still refused to let up. After 23 days and seven interrogations, Chris Tap
01:47:05
confessed to participating in Angie's murder, and authorities voided his immunity agreement.
01:47:12
>> You're holding her down, okay, while she's being cut. You're holding her down while she's
01:47:19
being >> cut. That's what was the end of it all. That's what brought me to prison.
01:47:29
>> Authorities have repeatedly dismissed Tap's claims of a forced confession until an astonishing discovery would
01:47:37
change the game. >> No, you're fine. >> Never before seen videotapes of seven polygraph exams administered to Chris
01:47:46
Tap. Tapes that convinced even Carol Dodge that Chris Tap is innocent. Chris Tap
01:47:54
basically just got railroaded. >> Carol Dodge took on a new mission to free the man convicted of her daughter's
01:48:05
murder and find the killer who left his DNA, [music] even if it turned out to be
01:48:11
a member of Michael Usri's family. You always got to have a little faith. Got to have a little hope. I haven't
01:48:39
accepted this as my end. >> I can't imagine spending one day in prison, let alone 20 plus years.
01:48:47
Mike Heavey is a retired superior court judge who believes so strongly that Chris Tap is innocent. He spent the last
01:48:55
four years trying to prove it. >> When you look at the interrogation videos, he knows nothing.
01:49:01
>> So Chris Tap, >> he struggles. >> Let it out >> for details. >> Let it out. You're there.
01:49:09
>> Why? Cuz he wasn't there. Heave runs a wrongful conviction project called Judges for Justice and took on Tap's
01:49:17
case after watching the interrogation tapes. >> I wasn't tired. I wasn't even down the
01:49:23
stairs. I wasn't nowhere around. >> Judge Heave became convinced that Chris Tap had been coerced into changing his
01:49:31
story an astounding six times and knew that something was missing. >> I was concerned. He went from one day
01:49:40
saying, >> "I wasn't there." >> And the next day, >> you're standing above her like this like
01:49:45
her head's right here. >> Yeah. >> I'm at the crime scene and I stabbed her. I couldn't see how he made that
01:49:49
jump. So, I went back to look at the polygraph and my jaw just dropped. >> Help us say that [music] I'm nervous.
01:49:56
>> In between Chris's nine interrogations, detectives administered seven polygraph
01:50:02
exams. All of them were recorded, but no one had ever bothered to look at the tapes because polygraphs are
01:50:09
inadmissible in court, and the sound is barely audible. >> I have to adise your rights.
01:50:17
>> Polygraphs are typically used to assess the credibility of the witness when they're done honestly.
01:50:22
>> And how was the polygraph used in this case? >> This case was used to trick Chris Tap
01:50:27
into giving false testimony. Our polygraph expert says it was used like a psychological rubber hose to get him to
01:50:35
implicate himself in the murder of Angie Dodge. >> Judge Heavey says that detectives in the
01:50:42
case broke the rules in the polygraph room and thought no one would ever notice.
01:50:48
>> United States Supreme Court has held that it's improper to threaten. You can't threaten because it leads to false
01:50:54
confessions. They threaten him with the gas chamber, being accessory to murder, and being a conspirator to murder.
01:51:01
>> You know what an accessory to murder is? That's being charged with just like they get [music] life imprisonment.
01:51:10
>> They figured no one's going to look at the polygraphs, so it'll be hidden. No
01:51:14
one will ever see it. >> Heave says Chris Tap was brainwashed. >> I'm scared. You're scared. The reason
01:51:21
why is because you [music] subconsciously remember it. >> Chris Tap eventually comes to believe
01:51:26
that the polygraph is an all- knowing scientific instrument that can read his subconscious and is telling the machine
01:51:33
that he was at the crime. Protect your I wouldn't say this about you. You got trapped.
01:51:49
Chris finally says, "Yes, I stabbed her because Ben threatened me." And then Chris said, "Did I do it?"
01:51:55
>> The police officer walks over, says, "Give me your hand." Like he passed the polygraph.
01:52:01
And that gets Chris Tap, 30 years to life, charged with the death penalty. Ugly stuff.
01:52:09
>> Do you remember that moment? >> Yeah. Scared. Scared. That's pretty much the day my
01:52:18
life ended. >> But Tap never told anyone about what happened during those polygraph exams.
01:52:25
>> I didn't know what they did in the polygraph tapes was wrong. I didn't know. If I would have known these things
01:52:31
20 years, 15, 10 years ago, then maybe we wouldn't be here today. >> Idaho Falls police deny any wrongdoing.
01:52:42
and I don't remember seeing >> in their interrogations or polygraph exams. >> Do you think the polygraph was used as a
01:52:49
coercive tool? >> I don't know that was the intent. I think the intent is find out the truth.
01:53:00
>> Over the years, the courts have upheld Tap's confession as valid and admissible
01:53:06
and not the product of coercive police conduct. I don't think they were trying to cause harm. It wasn't any malicious
01:53:13
intent. I don't think >> it's hard for me to wrap my head around what the police are thinking.
01:53:19
>> John Thomas is Chris Tap's appellet attorney. >> It's okay. You made a mistake. Just say,
01:53:25
"Hey, I made a mistake. We got the wrong guy. Let's all rally around and let's get the right guy."
01:53:33
Mike Heave was hoping that the newly discovered polygraph tapes would be enough for a judge [music] to grant
01:53:39
Chris Tap a new trial. >> Those polygraph videos now new evidence. They're the wedge to get Chris in front
01:53:48
of a judge to see the coercion that went on. >> I hope he walks out a free man. It's not
01:53:54
often you hear the mother of a victim say that about the only man serving time for her daughter's murder.
01:54:02
>> True. [music] It was March 2017 and Chris Tap was just two weeks away from two hearings that
01:54:22
his lawyer, John Thomas, hoped would set him free. >> We have too much evidence showing that
01:54:28
Chris Tap wasn't there. >> Have you ever found DNA that matched Chris Tap at the scene?
01:54:36
>> No. But police chief Mark McBride maintained that given Tap's confession, the absence [music] of his DNA at the
01:54:43
crime scene proved nothing. Then in a stunning turn of events, the district attorney's office wanted to make a deal.
01:54:52
Tap's murder conviction would stand, >> but the rape conviction would go away and there would be no probation.
01:55:02
Chris Tap would just take his lumps on his 20 years and and walk walk a free man.
01:55:07
>> Victory. >> VICTORY. [cheering] >> Tap took the deal. That was in 2017. 2 years later.
01:55:17
>> I've got a full-time job. I'm married. I've actually become that productive member of society that I truly thought I
01:55:25
could become. >> Meanwhile, Carol Dodge never stopped hunting for Angie's killer. I've done a
01:55:31
lot of research on technology and I was found determined I was going to solve my
01:55:38
daughter's case. >> Not long after Chris's release, Carol got some help. New police chief Bryce
01:55:47
Johnson says he already had his sights set on Angie's case. >> I talked to all the detectives and I
01:55:53
kind of told them, "Let's not worry about what's been done over the past 23 years. We have one mission. to find out
01:55:59
who left this DNA sample. >> It wasn't easy, but 2 years later, there was news. >> Today, we are here to share developments
01:56:09
in the homicide investigation of Angie Dodge. >> On May 16th, 2019, >> thank you and thank you for being here.
01:56:16
>> Chief Johnson told the world they had finally found and arrested the man who matched the DNA.
01:56:23
>> Carol inspired us all to try harder and to do better. The thing about Carol is
01:56:28
she knew more about DNA than I knew about DNA. >> What Carol knew is that this woman,
01:56:33
>> Good afternoon, CC Moore and a company called Parabon Nanolabs had been making
01:56:39
huge strides in solving cold cases using genealogy and public databases. >> This is our 56th case this year at
01:56:49
Parabon using genetic genealogy to identify unknown suspects and victims. Moore and Parabon were able to generate
01:56:57
an even more complete DNA profile of Angie's killer than ever before. That profile could now be uploaded to a
01:57:06
large public DNA database called Jed Match, a free website that allows people to upload their own DNA profiles in
01:57:15
search of relatives. In return, if users opt in, their data can be accessed by law enforcement. When we upload that
01:57:23
data, we get a list of people that share significant amounts of DNA with the unknown suspect.
01:57:31
>> Moore found a family tree that she was confident contained a killer. And it was
01:57:37
Michael Usri's family tree. >> He apparently was a split off of the Usri family from something like over a
01:57:47
hundred years ago. So, we're talking about right family tree, but the branch is way off on the other side.
01:57:54
>> Way off. Yeah. >> Did you know anything about this sort of offshoot of your family?
01:57:59
>> No, totally not. >> Now, Detective Sage Albbright and Captain Bill Squires were laser focused
01:58:08
on the men in this way off branch of Usher's family tree. It had been whittleled down to a list of persons
01:58:16
that I think was around 10 or 11 people that we were able to reduce down further
01:58:20
just because they weren't in Idaho at the time or they were 3 years old at the time.
01:58:27
>> Left with six possible suspects, detectives had to secretly collect their DNA, following them around for days,
01:58:34
waiting for discarded cigarette butts, soda cans, or plastic straws. One guy was a tobacco chewer. The detectives
01:58:43
came out, kind of scooped that up. We sent it off to the lab, came back negative. It wasn't the person we're
01:58:47
looking for. >> Then they started running out of men and a fear set in. >> The thing we were concerned about is
01:58:54
there a child out there that nobody knows about, right? Did someone have a baby and it's not in the genealogy
01:59:00
record? >> They were right. And this obituary miraculously led CC Moore to a missing
01:59:07
usery. This woman, Helen Darnell, had a daughter who was once married to an usri. After their divorce, a son was
01:59:15
born under a different last name, Brian Drips. >> When we looked at that name, uh, we
01:59:22
realized we had talked to him in the first days of the investigation. He lived across the street from Angie.
01:59:28
>> I literally said, "You got to be kidding. Brian Drips, he was right across the
01:59:36
street. that it took me 23 years when they had it in the first 25 pages [gasps] of the
01:59:47
investigation. >> The police report indicates that the day of Angie's murder, a young police
01:59:53
officer who was canvasing the neighborhood had briefly questioned a then [music] 31-year-old Brian Drips.
02:00:00
>> Everyone in that neighborhood got got a knock on the door. Drips denied any knowledge of the crime [music] and
02:00:07
police never asked for his DNA about 7 weeks after the murder. Drips left Idaho Falls. He was living in Idaho about 300
02:00:17
miles away when a cigarette butt linked his DNA to the crime and detectives picked him up for questioning.
02:00:24
>> It was obvious he was nervous. He he put on a pretty good game game face, but his
02:00:28
his hand started to shake. For several hours, Drips denied any involvement in Angie's death.
02:00:35
>> And then when we told him, "Oh, we have your DNA at the crime scene," uh, he there was there was a noticeable change
02:00:42
in his demeanor. And eventually he he told us that he had been involved. >> Detective Albbright says Trips also
02:00:50
reported that he acted alone. That meant Chris Tap could not have been there. Two months after Drips was
02:01:01
arrested, Tap was back in court. >> As third convincing evidence, the defendant was convicted of a crime for
02:01:07
which he not connect. >> This time to be fully exonerated. [applause] This case is the world's first
02:01:20
exoneration by way of genealological DNA testing. >> I'm extremely happy for him. I hope that
02:01:29
he can piece together his life again. >> But Usri says he still has doubts about
02:01:35
the use of genealogy. >> Kind of a scary thing to me to think about what this world is going to be
02:01:42
like. Um, if all of our genetic codes are in a computer database, once it's in a computer, uh, that's almost like more
02:01:51
permanent than carving something in stone nowadays. But I think that we really really need to be uh cautious and
02:02:01
and and take a step back and look at this technology. >> Carol Dodge disagrees. >> Without technology, without
02:02:10
genealogology research, uh we would have never found Angie's killer. It is the key that opens the
02:02:19
door to justice. >> [music] [music] [music] [music]