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[Music] Powerful opening statements in the Hollywood overdose murder trial. David
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Pier sent Brandt Osborne on trial for the deaths of two women. Model Christy Giles and her architect friend Hilda
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Cabralis. This trial will not change what happened and will not bring my sister back or Christy.
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Christy's plan for the evening was to go out with some friends and have a fun night. Aloha.
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My name is Yanselia and Chrissy was my wife. Christy loved to spread joy and laughter
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wherever she went. Hilda Marcela just moved from Mexico. She seemed very lovely and they were
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becoming fast friends. My sister did enjoy going out to parties. She liked dancing and the
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music. I remember seeing her Instagram. She was posting stories of that night. She sent me a couple of text messages.
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Her last text message to me was around 1 or 2 a.m. And throughout the day, I was
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trying to text her and there was no response. You're tracking Chrissy's phone. Yeah. Is this an address that you
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recognize? It's not an address I know. Around 5:00 p.m. I saw her location had suddenly moved to an emergency room
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hospital. My level of panic was growing and growing. I just knew that I had to try and get to
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the bottom of what happened. You blast out this address and very quickly you get responses. Yeah. What are those
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responses? That there's somebody that lives at this location that is a very unsavory person. David Pierce. Yeah.
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He passed himself off as a big shot Hollywood producer, but he was a con man with an alleged history of sexual
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assault. It wasn't clear what happened. We just knew she overdosed. And to me, my
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reaction was, who did this to her? So when you heard overdose, you immediately thought drugged. Yeah, drugged. here.
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Definitely not something that she would have done to herself ever. That's just not her.
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Got a call at home. Apparent overdose. Christy, she she was deceased. Hilda was still on life support at that time. I
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give as much information as I can to the detectives. Yan had put a number of things out on social media and it spread
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like wildfire. People recognized this guy right away and they were urged to to call us.
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Authorities say seven more women have come forward claiming Pierce sexually assaulted them as well. JD number one,
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Jane Do number two, Jane Doe number three, number four, number five, number six, number seven. Being a Jane Doe, we
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are the voice of both Christy and Hilda because they can't talk. Defendant Pierce wanted them to die. He wanted
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them to die because dead girls don't talk. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] for a fresh case. It's all on you.
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There's no no one else is going to solve this thing for you. It's you and your partner. That's it.
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And in November 2021, Detective Jonathan Vanderly and Detective Calvin Yu had to
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figure out why a lifeless woman was left at this emergency room. This video from Southern California
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Hospital shows staff pulling a woman out of a black Prius and helping her onto a
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stretcher while two men look on. When the stretcher moves into the ER, it becomes clear the car has no license
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plates. Detective Vanderly would later learn that the two men told the staff they found the woman quote passed out on
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the curb somewhere nearby and they were trying to be good Samaritans. They left without giving their names or phone
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numbers. They were mass disguised. This must be adding up to something that sounds very
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sketchy to you. very sketchy, but then you still have to figure out if an actual crime occurred.
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The woman was Christy Giles, and her mother, Dusty, will never forget the call that came from the hospital,
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telling her 24 yearear-old daughter was dead from a drug overdose. And I said, "What do you mean she didn't make it?"
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And then I hung up and I fell apart. Two hours later, at a hospital just 2 miles away, a second woman was left at
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another emergency room by the same two men, also in a black Prius, and wearing masks. They never give their names,
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never leave their phone numbers, license plates, anything like that. That was Hilda Marcella Cabales. The 26-year-old
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architect was still alive in the ICU and fighting for her life. And in Durango, Mexico, her mother, Hilda Marcella
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Placencia, was getting the news about her eldest daughter and namesake. She was very bad. She was intubated.
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You are a doctor. What was going on in your mind at the time? What happened? What What happened to her? Why is she
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that bad? And in the earliest hours of the investigation, there were only questions. How could this happen to
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Christy? It was an unimaginable ending to a life bursting with exuberance. Let's do some down.
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Christy was an adventurer, traveling the world as a high fashion model for Willamina.
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She ultimately made LA her home. Christy Giles. I live in Venice, California and
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I am an artist. At 21, her life took a dramatic turn. She met Yan Silier, a South African-born artist, photographer,
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and special effects editor, 17 years her senior. They'd been together 7 months when the couple went to Burning Man, an
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arts festival in the Nevada desert, where impulsively they took a big leap. We just decided to alope. We just got
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married right there. [Music] We said to each other that, you know, life's very short. So, we kind of really
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just proposed to each other and the next day we got married. After they got married, Christy started
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studying interior design in Los Angeles, which led to a new friendship with Hilda
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Marcella. Hilda had just moved there to start her dream job, recalls her father,
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Louise. I feel very happy for her but very sad for me because we we are very close.
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No one was surprised that the kumlady graduate of the prestigious university in Montter Mexico
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was thriving in LA especially her sister Fernanda. She was always making a lot of
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friends, talkative, outgoing, just having a good time and meeting people that they also like the music that they
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are also enjoying uh dancing, dancing, as this video shows is what the two friends were doing that night.
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Christiey's husband, Yan, was out of town visiting his father. He knew she and Hilda had planned a girls night out,
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starting at Soho House and then onto a warehouse party after midnight to see a favorite DJ. A friend who was with them
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said they did ketamine, a popular club drug. But by the next day, Yan was on his way
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home knowing Christy was gone. In less than 24 hours, your world was turned upside down. Shattered. Yeah.
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Hilda's father and mother rushed to be by her side. When they arrived, they found their daughter on life support. My
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heart broke in thousand pieces because I saw my my baby and conscience. I'm fighting for her life.
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I said, "Is this real? Am I dreaming?" I took her hand and I said, "Mom's here with you. You're not alone."
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Christiey's autopsy revealed that in addition to ketamine, she had cocaine, fentanyl, and GHB, known as the date
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rape drug, in her system. Are these drugs that Christy would take willingly? I mean, that combination of drugs sounds
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deadly to me. So, like, no. Yan needed answers. So, he began to build a timeline based on the digital
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trail Christy left behind. Information gathered from her messages and phone, which he was able to track. I wanted to
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get to the bottom of exactly what happened that night. He already knew what she'd been doing before she went
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out for the evening. She was enjoying a lovely sunset. She took our cat for a walk on the beach.
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Sand panther. S. Oh. Those were the last pictures she sent me of herself. And she said, "I wish you were here and
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I will forever wish that I was there, too." Yan was able to track Christiey's phone
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to a residence located at 8641 West Olympic Boulevard. At 5:30 a.m., Christy sends Hilda a wideey emoji and
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says, "Let's go." Hilda replies, "I'll call an Uber 10 minutes away." The fact that they're both in the same house text
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messaging each other they need to leave is very worrying. That was the last text message that
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Christy or Hilda ever sent. That Uber arrived, waited five minutes, and drove away empty. How did you process that? I
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mean, it's just confirming my worst fears again that they were there at that place against their will.
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[Music] What's going on in your mind from that detective standpoint when you're about
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to arrive at a scene? You don't want to form an opinion prior to getting there, but you are kind of mulling over the
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evidence. You're thinking about it. You're thinking about what questions you want
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to ask. Acting on information supplied by Yan, LAPD detective Jonathan Vanderly and his
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partner headed here to 8641 West Olympic Boulevard a little after midnight on November 14th, only a few hours after
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getting that call from the second hospital. And this is where the Uber that Christian and Hilda called that
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night would have waited right out front. Yep. 10 minutes between life and death.
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That's all it takes. It was the home of 39year-old David Pierce. Police would learn Christian
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Hilda had met him for the first time at that warehouse party. Police also discovered Pierce had a registration for
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a black Prius and found it parked behind the building. It matched the car seen at
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both hospitals down to the black rims. Pierce lived on the second floor with a roommate, Brandt Osborne, 42. There was
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a light on in the upstairs where the two men live. So I just went up, knocked on
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the door. Immediately the lights go out. You identify yourself? Yes, completely.
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LAPD opened the door and then just complete silence. After about 15 minutes, he says Pierce
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and Osborne came out. Pierce denied owning a Prius. So I immediately get a lie. Do you leave?
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No, I I interview Mr. Osborne. At first, he says Osborne denied seeing Christy and Hilda at all. He keep
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changes the stories numerous times. At first, there's no girls had been at that location whatsoever. I tell him on the
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interview, um, I listen, I know you're lying. It's extremely obvious you're very nervous.
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Vanderly says Osborne eventually admitted the women had been at their apartment, but said he'd been asleep and
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when he woke up realized Christy and Hilda were in distress. He said he and Pierce chose to go to two separate
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hospitals because quote, "We didn't know how it would look." Pierce, police say,
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did later admit he owned the Prius, but lied again, saying his license plates had been stolen. Vanderly says he saw
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those plates on the ground by the vehicle. Then the man agreed to let detectives
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inside. Two beds have been stripped. There was a washing machine that had been recently used. It was still wet.
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Anything else that stands out to you? There was a safe in his room with baggies, which is indicative of of
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narcotics. He said they're for crafts. For arts and crafts. By now, Vanderly says he knew Pierce and
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Osborne had dropped Hilda and Christy off and believed Pice had drugged them, but he didn't have enough evidence to
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make an arrest. He thought he beat us that night for sure. He was happy. He smiled and said goodbye. Yeah. Thanks,
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detectives. Yep. But that wasn't where it ended for you. No, not by a long shot.
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Vanderly knew he needed more evidence and turned to his colleague, Detective Calvin Yu. You hear the name David
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Pierce. What goes on in your mind? Well, the first thing is who did he sexually assault this time?
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Detective U had investigated Pierce in 2020 for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old. She was uh raped while she
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was unconscious. The victim said PICE had given her drugs to knock her out during a date, but the investigation had
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stalled and wasn't prosecuted at the time. Detective U knew Pierce had other prior charges, including another rape
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charge from 2014 that was also not prosecuted. He has a pattern. His first step is
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trying to find his victim. So that could be through a dating app, through online
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listings, or meeting them at bars or events. When he picks his victim, he goes to step two, which is bragging
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about himself. Pierce relies on lies. Detectives say to set his trap. You need to introduce himself as a producer,
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doctor, all these different things. He's none of these things. I think he might have been an intern at the time or
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something at a production company. An intern. Yeah. They say his next step is to drug his
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victims and incapacitate them, often with a drink. After they take this drink, he goes to step four, which is
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the sexual assault. Police would learn both Christy and Hilda showed signs of sexual assault, but they feared they
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would face challenges making the case. How difficult is it to prove a crime took place when the victims were
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recreationally using drugs? This makes the case extremely hard. I told Yan early on that this was going to be a
00:17:07
near impossible a case to prove. [Applause] Yeah. At first it's who done it. It just became what actually happened
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and that's what was the difficulty of this case. Detective Jonathan Vanderly says the
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pressure was on to locate any evidence of what happened after Christian Hilda met David Pierce that night.
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Video starts expiring these DVRs. It's a constant. You got to get this evidence before it disappears.
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[Music] Police did have some luck. Starting with this footage from outside that warehouse
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party, which they say shows the women leaving with Pierce Osborne and a friend of
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theirs, 47-year-old Michael Ansbach, on their way to Pierce's apartment. Police also uncovered this text exchange
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from moments earlier when the women were still inside that party. "Do you want Coke?" asks Hilda. "Yes," replies
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Christy. Hilda texted back, "I'm in the kitchen. Let's do a line." Witnesses say
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Pierce supplied that cocaine, which Jan says was not a common choice for Christy. Maybe it was late at night and
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she wanted to get less tired. It's not something she would do regularly. Police determined the group arrived at
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Pierce's apartment a little after 5:00 a.m. The women aren't seen again until 11 hours later when at 4:30 in the
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afternoon, a security camera recorded this grainy image showing Pierce with Christy over his shoulder at the top of
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the stairs. Police say Osborne is carrying her bag. 35 minutes later at the hospital, PICE, wearing a black
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sweatshirt, helps take Christiey's body out of the car. Osborne looks on. A full hour and a half later, this dark
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image shows the men leaving the apartment again with Hilda. Police say Pierce is carrying her and Osborne has
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her boots and coat. Half an hour later, the Prius arrives at that second hospital where the men take Hilda out of
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the car together. It had been more than 13 hours since Christy texted Hilda, "Let's go."
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[Music] For 2 weeks, Hilda was on life support. With no hope of regaining consciousness,
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her family gathered to say their goodbyes. Hilda, what were your final moments with
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your daughter? They were so hard, you know. And I just was asking God to not let her
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suffer more. I remember telling her that you can leave and just thanking her for being my
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sister. I told her, "Maybe when I pass away, I will see you again. and I give you a big hug, a kiss.
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The family decided to donate Hilda's organs. Her mom remembers the medical staff lining the halls as the family
00:21:01
accompanied Hilda to the O. The medical team was clapping to honor her, to say, "Thank you for
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giving life to others. Like Christy, Hilda had suffered a drug overdose. Toxicology reports would later
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reveal that she had cocaine, MDMA, or ecstasy, and elevated levels of fentanyl in her system.
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Police would also learn that while the women were in that apartment, the downstairs neighbor heard someone in
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pain and moaning on and off for 6 hours. Police believe that was Hilda. Neither Pierce nor Osborne nor Ansbach called
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for help. It makes me get angry because she was suffering and nobody nobody helped her.
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How hard is it to prove this narrative when the victims can't even testify on their own behalf? If we were just
00:22:19
investigating Christian Hills alone, very difficult. But the district attorney at the time went public, asking
00:22:25
other women who knew Pierce to call in so police could better understand what he did to Hilda and Christy. If you feel
00:22:35
comfortable moving forward so that we can evaluate your case and charge it, we're here for you. We started getting a
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lot of calls. As police continued building their case, Yan received a call that Pearson Osborne
00:22:50
were on the move. He recorded this video of the men loading up a moving van the day after Hilda died.
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Police say Pierce had also changed his phone number and it took them a week to locate him again. So, the pressure is
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on. You got to get this guy. I got to come up with something quick. Yes. Police have arrested three men in
00:23:14
connection with the deaths of a model and her friend last month. On December 15th, 2021, David Pierce,
00:23:23
Brandt Osborne, and Michael Lansbach were arrested in connection with Hilda and Christiey's deaths. The detectives
00:23:31
still knew next to nothing about what had happened inside that apartment. Vanderly says they decided to take a
00:23:38
gamble and bring the men in. this is the only way we're going to get the info we
00:23:42
need. Once the men were in custody, police conducted interviews with them one by one. Kind of played with the
00:23:50
rotation and uh it worked out exceedingly well. They secretly recorded Pierce and Osborne while Ansbach was
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talking to police. Pierce says, "I hope Ansbach's not up there telling him I gave them drugs and wine."
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When it was his turn, Pierce denied giving the women drugs. He was told there was like a very bad batch of
00:24:15
fentanyl that was going around. This was suspicious because information that the
00:24:20
women had likely died from fentanyl had not been released. I knew these girls died from fentanyl, but nobody else
00:24:27
knew. Two months after his arrest, Ansbach reached out to police with details of what he says he witnessed
00:24:34
that night. He says Pierce had offered the women a ride to an afterparty and then said he needed to make a quick stop
00:24:42
at his house. Ansbach says Pierce was very insistent they stay and have a drink. And after the women talked about
00:24:51
leaving, Pice gave all three of them so-called special cocaine. Ansbach says he, Christy, and Hilda got sick
00:25:00
immediately. And when he woke up hours later, he saw Christy without any signs of life. Ansbach says he told Pierce to
00:25:09
take Christy and Hilda to the hospital and says PICE then said repeatedly, quote, "Dead girls don't talk."
00:25:20
I wouldn't say survivor. I'm a fighter. That's what I am. But police had at least one woman who
00:25:28
could talk about David Pierce at his upcoming trial. He asked me if I wanted a drink, but it tasted really funny. And
00:25:39
then I don't remember the next several hours after that. [Music] January 9th, 2025. Opening arguments
00:26:04
begin in the trial of David Pierce, charged with felony murder, and Bran Osborne, charged with accessory after
00:26:12
the fact. The evidence will show that the defendant knowingly gave Hilda and Chrissy GHB and fennel knowing that it
00:26:21
was dangerous to their lives, knowing that it could kill them, but he just didn't care. Defendant Osborne helped
00:26:29
him get rid of any evidence to implicate defendant Pierce in the deaths of Chrissy and Hilda. Prosecutor Katherine
00:26:38
Mariano has marshaled the forensic evidence to make her case. The toxicology results that found fentanyl
00:26:45
in both women and the date rape drug GHB and Christy. Also, Pice's DNA discovered
00:26:51
on Christiey's body and under Hilda's fingernails. This is no accident. This is no mistake. But in order to
00:27:01
prove felony murder, she must show that Pierce incapacitated Christy and Hilda to rape them. Without their testimony,
00:27:09
she needs to establish he had a history of doing this to other women, putting drugs in their drinks, and then sexually
00:27:16
assaulting them. He didn't care whether they had lived or died. All he cared about was taking an advantage of them.
00:27:25
Here's where there's a problem. But defense attorney Jeff says the fact that Christy and Hilda were using drugs
00:27:32
before meeting Pierce that night means there is no case for murder. These young ladies unfortunately ingested fentanyl
00:27:40
and they died. It's a shame, but Mr. Pierce didn't kill him. V is sixth in a long line of lawyers who have
00:27:49
represented David Pierce in this case. He knows his client is problematic. He's very demanding. He's very sure of
00:27:57
himself. What David Pierce wants, David Pierce gets. He pushes her onto the bed.
00:28:03
Mariano has her own version of who David Pierce is based on the accounts of the women who talked to investigators and
00:28:11
chose to be anonymous. Jane number one, Jane do number two, Jane Doe number three, number four, five or six, number
00:28:19
seven. It was important for me to come forward and you know get any information I could
00:28:26
regarding this file man. Jackie is Jane do number two. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom for any of the
00:28:33
testimony, but she agreed to talk with us about her experience with Pierce in 2010 when she was a 24year-old law
00:28:42
student looking for a room to rent. She testified about her meeting with Pierce at his apartment on West Olympic
00:28:49
Boulevard where he gave her a tour and offered a drink. I started to spin and you know I I just became like
00:28:59
disoriented. You drink this drink, you start to feel dizzy, I'm sure confused. What happens next? So the next thing I
00:29:07
know um he was, you know, basically trying uh I would say trying to rape me. So I started fighting him back.
00:29:18
According to Jackie, he continued to assault her. He threw me onto the floor. He punched me in the face. When she
00:29:25
tried to take her phone out, he grabbed her arm so hard the phone flew and smashed into the wall. Unsteady on her
00:29:33
feet and unable to call for help, she did everything she could to escape. I had to crawl down the stairs. I was so
00:29:43
disoriented and crawled down West Olympic Boulevard to my car, screaming for help.
00:29:51
Though seriously injured and traumatized, she did not report it. There's a huge stigma that surrounds
00:29:58
women that come forward with sexual assault. But when she heard about Christy and Hilda, she decided to act.
00:30:05
In all, 20 women came forward. Pierce was charged with seven sexual assaults. Detective Calvin Yu thinks that's just a
00:30:14
fraction of those who suffered at the hands of David Pierce. Are there more Jane Does out there? Yes, I would
00:30:22
definitely say so. How many do you believe? As a hundred. 100red? That's incredible. And that's just based on the
00:30:30
people that you have spoken with directly. Yes. I'm just so grateful that they came forward and I can't even
00:30:35
imagine how the level of bravery that you have to have in order to testify to a room of strangers that you were so
00:30:45
intimately violated. And as the women testified one by one, defense attorney V could see what was happening. The
00:30:54
prosecution strategy was working. The victims coming to court testifying, some who broke down in tears, all gave the
00:31:02
same testimony. And I am watching the jury. They're looking at him and the expression on the juror's faces are
00:31:10
like, "How could you? How could you do this?" After the Jane Doe's testified, the
00:31:18
prosecution called Pierce's friend, Michael Ansbach, who was in the apartment that night and later arrested
00:31:25
along with Pierce and Osborne. Ansbach took this video of Christy and Hilda minutes after Pierce gave them
00:31:33
wine and cocaine at the apartment. Christiey's lying on the couch. It looks like she's on her way to becoming
00:31:41
unconscious. In his testimony, Ansbach again said he also used the same cocaine, got
00:31:48
violently ill, and then passed out. When he woke up, he said PICE asked him to check on Christy, and when he did,
00:31:55
Ansbach said it looked like she was not breathing. Hilda, he said, was in Pierce's bedroom.
00:32:03
According to Ansbach, this is when Pierce told him, "Dead girls don't talk." Like Pierce and Osborne, Ansbach never
00:32:15
called for help. His charges were later dropped. On day 11 and against the advice of his
00:32:23
attorney, David Pierce, who pleaded not guilty, was sworn in and testified. So he got on the stand and he did his
00:32:32
best to try to say everybody was wrong and he was right. He was apparently the only one telling the truth at the entire
00:32:40
trial. On the 12th day, here's his roommate Brandt Osborne, who also pleaded not
00:32:47
guilty, takes the stand. So Osborne's role was to help get rid of the bodies first and foremost.
00:32:55
He helped carry the girls at first. He helped formulate the plan in terms of what they're going to tell the security
00:33:02
guards. Osborne testified he was dumbfounded by Pierce's behavior and was emotional,
00:33:12
crying more than once on the stand, saying he played no part in a coverup because he didn't have a complete
00:33:18
picture of what was really going on. Jan, for one, was not buying it. He's basically claiming to be an
00:33:28
innocent bystander in the situation and that he's also a victim in the situation, but there are facts that
00:33:34
prove that he helped David Pierce cover it up. The question is whether the jury will believe either man.
00:33:44
After 3 weeks, the trial took a toll on Christy's family. We sat and had to hold our mouth closed
00:33:55
while they battered and I feel like they destroyed my daughter's reputation. Uh,
00:34:02
it was definitely difficult being in the same room as them. Did I have an overwhelming urge to throw
00:34:07
something really hard at their heads? Yeah. In closing, prosecutor Mariano hits back
00:34:14
at the defense. Just because Christy and Hilda did drugs on their own that night
00:34:18
doesn't make them responsible for their own deaths. David Pierce took care of that. Mariano argued he didn't care
00:34:27
about violating them in the most awful way. He didn't care that by drugging Chrissy
00:34:34
and Hilda that they could die. And she repeats the words of Ansbach attributed to David Piers. The words that rang in
00:34:43
the ears of everyone who loved Christy and Hilda. He wanted them to die because dead girls don't talk.
00:34:55
Hey, good afternoon everybody. Attorneys for Osborne and Piers told jurors there
00:35:00
simply was not enough direct evidence linking them to the crime and that there's a strong case for reasonable
00:35:07
doubt. Now it's up to the jury to draw its own conclusion about Brandt Osborne and
00:35:14
David Pierce. Just Giles made her decision a long time ago. Pierce is a sick, slimy lizard that sits
00:35:28
and prays and sneaks and his bite is deadly. As we're sitting here waiting on the
00:35:56
verdict for the case, I just want to um I'm here for her till the end. For Christiey's family, it's been a long
00:36:06
and wrenching road to get here. For you, what does justice for Christy look like?
00:36:13
I mean, there's no justice for Christy. There's only preventing him from doing it again.
00:36:18
I think that's the only justice we can get. And for Hilda's mother, who could not travel to be in court, the last 3
00:36:26
years without her daughter, have been its own trial. Nothing can bring her back again, but
00:36:34
the hole she lives in our lives will be always there. February 4th, 2025. After 2 days of
00:36:46
deliberations, the jury is back. Matter of the people of the state of California
00:36:52
versus David Brian Pierce. We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant David Brian Pierce guilty of
00:36:59
the crime of first-degree murder upon Christy Guiles. David Pierce guilty. We get that guilty on the first one and
00:37:10
sigh of relief. Guilty of the crime of first-degree murder upon Hilda Marcella Cabraas Arzola. Hilda comes up guilty
00:37:19
again. Another sigh of reliefs and then guilty of all the sexual assaults of seven Jane Does. I don't think I
00:37:27
breathed at all until I heard a guilty on every single one. A lot of relief, not just for my sake, but definitely for
00:37:34
all of the victims. Jane Does finally had their day in court and were believed. I felt this huge weight
00:37:43
released off me. It was almost like a euphoric feeling. We showed the jury what kind of
00:37:52
man this is. But the jury is deadlocked when it comes to Brandt Osborne. A mistrial is
00:38:00
declared. I was surprised, definitely disappointed at at the hung jury. Um I thought the trial made clear that he had
00:38:08
a definitely a hand in their death. What is there to question? He was aware of Christiey's
00:38:15
and Hilda's condition. He's a grown man that stands on his own two feet. He withheld medical help from
00:38:25
Hilda and Christy until they were dead. I'm not happy they perfectly could save her life and they chose to not do it for
00:38:39
me. That's not justice. At least in that part. I am here standing for me and Hilda's mom Marcela.
00:38:49
Now there's an unbreakable bond between the mothers who must live without their daughters. Our daughters individually
00:38:59
were like soul sisters. Both of them lost their souls at the hand of the same man, same way. And that will be forever
00:39:09
entwined. And before she leaves the courthouse, there is a final plea from Dusty. As
00:39:17
much as it hurts to lose my baby girl, her body was able to tell the story and her sharing her location. Technology
00:39:29
told us where she was, how long she was. So please within your own families share
00:39:36
locations. You never know when you're going to not be able to get in touch with somebody. When you look at photos of
00:39:47
Christian Hilda, what do you see? I see beauty. I see myself when I was 24. I will remember them as strong,
00:39:59
independent women. I'll remember them as beautiful souls, free spirits, women that were coming to
00:40:07
LA to pursue their dreams. Two young women who loved their families, [Music] their animals
00:40:18
and their lives. I want to remember her as the bright, beautiful soul that she was.
00:40:26
[Music] Fernanda, how do you hope your big sister is remembered? as someone who had
00:40:33
a lot of dreams, ambitions, very intelligent, funny. She was happy to be alive. [Music]
00:41:03
[Music] Need more time with 48 Hours? Go deep behind every true crime episode with
00:41:19
firstirhand accounts from 48 Hours Investigations. Were you at all prepared for what happened in this case? Shock is
00:41:25
the word that comes to mind. Get inside the twists and turns and get in on the case. Listen to Postmortem from 48
00:41:31
Hours, now available wherever you get your podcasts. Now, a special two-part edition of 48
00:41:38
Hours. [Music] Four young women, three murdered, one left to tell the story. The Hollywood Ripper. He's been called a
00:42:00
serial sexual thrill killer. Hollywood 2001. A 22-year-old believed to be actor Ashton Coocher's girlfriend is stabbed
00:42:12
to death. They were going to be hanging out. The injuries that she suffered were
00:42:18
horrific. El Montei, California 2005. [Music] A 32year-old woman is stabbed in her
00:42:27
home. There was slashing and cutting. There were multiple stab wounds, not just a couple.
00:42:34
Santa Monica, 2008. A young woman is woken up by a man attacking her with a knife. She was
00:42:44
stabbed multiple times in her chest and shoulder and and right arm. She fought. She stood up and she fought. They were
00:42:53
all young. They were all attractive. They were all female. The media started calling him the
00:43:01
Hollywood Ripper. But had he killed others? That was the question investigators more than 1,800 miles away
00:43:08
outside Chicago had been wrestling with. It would take a 48 hours investigation to find the answer. Where was the
00:43:18
window? Was this window outside Chicago 1993? The murder happened here in the middle
00:43:28
of the night. Someone jumped out of the bushes and stabbed 18-year-old Trisha Picacio to death.
00:43:36
My daughter Trisha was murdered when she was 18 years old. [Music] I was the one who found her.
00:43:47
I woke up and I had a cup of coffee and I was going out to my van and I just happened to see two little tennis shoes
00:43:54
sticking up by the side door. And when I saw it was her, I dropped the coffee cup.
00:44:03
[Music] Who would do this to her? Why would anybody do this? She was a nice girl.
00:44:19
I died right then and there. [Music] We were told that we have to understand that some murders go unsolved.
00:44:32
And I was like, there is no way somebody is going to come to my door, outside my
00:44:37
door, and do this and get away with it. He's cold. He's devious. He's a predator. And we've got ourselves a
00:44:46
serial killer. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] They never saw it coming.
00:45:45
Trisha, Ashley, Maria, Michelle. The trial of an accused serial killer has dominated the headlines here in Los
00:45:57
Angeles. He is known as the Hollywood Ripper. May it please the court. The methodical and systematic slaughter
00:46:11
of women. That's what this case is about. It is not overstating it to say this is
00:46:20
a sensational murder trial. Ashton Ashton on the witness list. Ashton Kutcher. He was scheduled to go on a
00:46:28
date with one of the victims the night she was murdered. Ashton Kutcher talked about what would have been his first
00:46:34
date with one of the murder victims. For me, this story begins near my home just outside Chicago.
00:46:43
One question has haunted this quiet Glen View community. Who killed Trisha Picacio and why?
00:46:52
The murder of Trisha Picacio is a case we've been working on since the summer of 2008. It took years to gain her
00:47:01
parents' trust. That maybe somehow by telling Trisha's story, we could help catch her killer.
00:47:13
It wasn't long after sunrise. So the morning of August 14th, 1993, I was going out to my van and when I saw it
00:47:21
was her, [Music] I ran over there and saw what happened to her. Rick Pacio had just walked out the garage when out
00:47:32
of the corner of his eye, he saw his 18-year-old daughter, Trisha, spled out on the landing stabbed to death. I tried
00:47:41
to revive her. That is the worst feeling in your life when you can't do nothing for somebody
00:47:48
you love. I remember just waking up to this blood curling scream of my father and it was,
00:47:57
"Doug, call 911. and Doug call 911. Trisha's brother, Doug, I don't really want to describe the details of of what
00:48:03
I saw. That's okay. I have nightmares about it all the time. The police arrived and Rick had to make a difficult
00:48:10
call to his wife Diane. He called me at work and said, "You have to come home. Trish is hurt." I heard a lady screaming
00:48:20
and the mother had just exited her vehicle and she was running towards Trish. Officer Ray Cavic saw her pull up and I
00:48:28
basically tackled her and I didn't want her to see Trish like this and remember her daughter like that. Who would do
00:48:33
this to her? There is nobody that knew her that would do this to her. My daughter never did anything to put
00:48:38
herself in harm's way. You She was the type of girl that you knew where she was, what she was doing, and you never
00:48:46
had to worry about her. Trisha was also the type of girl who made the most of high school. She took
00:48:53
calculus, was on the debate team, and played clarinet in the band. At the time of her murder, she was just a few days
00:49:01
away from moving on to the next chapter in her young and exciting life as a freshman at Purdue University.
00:49:09
She had a great attitude about everything and she knew what she wanted out of life.
00:49:15
Were you close with her? Trisha was an amazing girl. was probably one of the most energetic and happy
00:49:24
people I've ever seen. Trisha's close friend, Karen Jones, spent a lot of time at the Picacio House. Her mom was very
00:49:32
caring and treated us all like her children. Trisha's younger brothers, 17-year-old Doug and 13-year-old Tommy,
00:49:41
often had their friends over. I fed the whole neighborhood. Everybody ate there.
00:49:46
They were just a very warm family. On the night of August 13th, Karen, Trisha, and most of the kids from their
00:49:57
senior class went out, one last harrah for the summer. That night, a whole group of us got together for a scavenger
00:50:05
hunt party. One of the final parties of the summer before we all went off to college, we ended things at the
00:50:12
restaurant and people started getting in their cars to go home. Police believe it was around 1:00 a.m.
00:50:20
as Trisha walked toward the side door of the house, keys in hand, that the killer
00:50:25
grabbed her left arm, twisting and breaking it and then stabbing her 12 times. I remember my chest just sink the
00:50:36
minute I realized that she was gone and there was nothing I could do to help her. Detectives interviewed dozens of
00:50:45
people. Some parents were too afraid to even let their kids talk. No one seemed to know anything. There were no leads,
00:50:53
no arrests. To be honest, I think we were zonked out for a long, long time. People talk about closure.
00:51:03
My experience is there is no closure. That void is always there. Rick Picacio also had no idea how to go
00:51:12
on living in the same house where he had found the butchered body of his beautiful daughter. The family moved out
00:51:20
for 4 years. Eventually, they decided it was time to come back home. Shortly after, they had an unexpected
00:51:30
visitor. Former high school football player Michael Garulo, one of Doug Picacio's
00:51:36
closest childhood friends. Michael you've known since he was how old? Since probably he was in second grade. Because
00:51:44
he lived on the next street. Michael showed up at the door. And he says, "I need I need to talk to Rick."
00:51:50
And I said, "Well, he's at work, Michael." And he said, "Well, can I wait for him?" I said, "Yes." He sat and
00:51:56
waited for over an hour for him to come home from work. Sat at my kitchen table.
00:52:00
I remember walking in the garage door and I looked at him. He he had this look on his face like he was going to say
00:52:06
something to me. But before Michael Garulo had a chance to say anything, the garage door opens. His father and one of
00:52:14
his sisters come in and say, "We have to leave, Michael." And they picked him up
00:52:19
and whisked him out and the door closed. And I told Diane, I says, "Golly, that that was kind of odd." But the look on
00:52:25
his face, Moren, at that point, Rick, did you think this kid knows something? Or maybe he even had something to do
00:52:32
with it? Yes. You believe that was the moment that you started to think Michael Garulo may have
00:52:42
had something to do with doubt about it. The Pacios told authorities, but it was
00:52:46
too late. Michael Garulo had disappeared. [Music] Soon after he left Chicago, Mike Arjulo
00:53:08
turned up in Los Angeles. Like a lot of other dreamers, he wanted to be an actor or a model.
00:53:16
[Music] Anthony Dorenzo and Teamer Liry worked with Mike Arjulo in the late 90s. They
00:53:26
were all bouncers together at a Hollywood nightclub called the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
00:53:32
What did he tell you he was doing out here? Acting and modeling. Isn't everybody? Right. He's doing the
00:53:37
Hollywood thing. He's doing the Hollywood thing. Yeah, he sure is. Did he have a girlfriend at the time when
00:53:42
you were all hanging out? He always had girlfriends. He always had girls after. He was a good-looking, clean cut guy.
00:53:46
You know, the waitresses were always after. But Garulo moved on from the nightclub and began working for a
00:53:54
heating and cooling company. Who was the first one among you to meet Michael Garulo?
00:54:01
I was Chris Duran, Jennifer Disto, and Justin Peterson spoke to us in 2010. They were the kind of good friends most
00:54:11
young people would be attracted to. Really the connection between this big group of friends was kind of partying
00:54:18
and having a great time. Very free-spirited lifestyle, right? We were young. Their introduction to Mike Garulo
00:54:25
started with a flat tire. I'm changing my flat tire and this guy comes walking down the street.
00:54:33
He was good-looking. He stopped and offered to help me change a tire. At the same time, 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin
00:54:40
came out of the house she was renting on the street. Mike Garulo noticed and Ashley was standing there with me and he
00:54:48
was good-looking. She's beautiful. I was like, "No, it's okay. I don't I know how
00:54:52
to change a tire." So, he stood there talking to Ashley and they were, you know, talking and flirting. They
00:54:57
exchanged numbers and that was our first meeting. Did you have any feeling about
00:55:04
him one way or the I mean, he was just, you know, good-looking guy walking down the street offering to help. Ashley
00:55:10
Ellerin, the young woman Mike Argulo had immediately noticed, was a part-time fashion student. She was amazing. I
00:55:18
mean, she just had this charisma to her that she could go into a room and walk into the room and just take complete
00:55:26
control over the room. And she was just beautiful and and fun and spontaneous. She had a lot of friends. Ashley was a
00:55:33
22-year-old, you know, attractive girl living in the Hollywood Hills. And she liked to have fun. Absolutely. She liked
00:55:38
to have fun. We had a lot of fun. The guy they only knew as Mike kept trying to spend time with Ashley.
00:55:46
He called the house a lot after their runin. Called and had begun just showing up uninvited.
00:55:56
Seeing that we were hanging. The friends say one night he walked into the house during a party, sat down and was laser
00:56:03
focused on Ashley, but Ashley was not interested. Back then, lots of men were interested in her. Hollywood is
00:56:12
Hollywood. Interacting with celebrities, that is how it is. I mean, they live here. One celebrity in particular had
00:56:18
started following Ashley. It was then upandcoming TV actor from that 70s show Ashton Kutcher.
00:56:31
Why is everything doing that? We had hung out with them a couple of times. Let's go back to the night that
00:56:41
Ashley was supposed to go out with Ashton Kutcher. I knew they were going to be hanging out.
00:56:48
The next morning, Ashley's roommate, Jen, came home. I entered the house and Ashley was
00:56:57
laying across the two stairs covered in blood. The body of 22-year-old Ashley Lauren Ellerin was found by her roommate
00:57:04
early Thursday morning. And that's when I realized that no, this is not, you know, this is not happening. Who could
00:57:10
have done this? [Music] When Jennifer Desisto got home that morning in 2001, she walked into a gruesome and
00:57:36
terrifying scene. At that point was just a like a sense of trauma just came over
00:57:41
me. I thought maybe the person was still there and I kind of ran out hysterical.
00:57:45
I dropped that phone and ended up getting to the car and calling from my cell phone. 911.
00:57:51
Ashley had been attacked just after taking a shower, stabbed 47 times. Her body was lying just outside the
00:58:00
bathroom. Had you ever seen anything like that before in your life? I I absolutely had not and it still
00:58:07
traumatizes me to this day. Police arrived quickly and started asking questions.
00:58:14
Who could who could have done this? That must have been one of the first questions that police asked you though
00:58:21
was was anybody angry with her? Did she have any enemies? It sounds like such a trit question, but you would think that
00:58:28
based on what you saw only someone who hated another person. Absolutely. Yeah. And and also it was a given from the
00:58:35
get-go that it was obviously someone she was either familiar with or knew to let
00:58:38
them in cuz as we had said the the house was kind of doublegated. You believe that Ashley let him in? Yes.
00:58:50
Okay. This is Ninehurst Road and this is Ashley Ellerin's uh former residence. Hollywood homicide detective Tom Small
00:58:57
says there was little to go on. No blood splatter outside, no pieces of clothing,
00:59:03
no other no material that would lead you to one particular individual. No. We had
00:59:08
teams of detectives searching the interior and the exterior. Uh we walked the streets, we canvased every building,
00:59:17
door knocked every house. Were you kind of baffled initially? Very much so. You know, we were just looking for any type
00:59:24
of uh direction or clues that would uh to lead to a suspect. So, we had to start with the victim and work
00:59:33
backwards, find out her associations. They definitely wanted to talk to the person she was supposed to be on a date
00:59:40
with that night. How you doing? How you doing? Congratulations. actor Ashton Kutcher. And what role has he played in
00:59:46
this as a as a witness in any way? He is a person in a group of Ashley's friends.
00:59:54
He's one of many and he was a friend of hers. Kutcher and Ashley had plans to go to
01:00:01
dinner, but he was running late and kept pushing back his arrival. Kutcher told detectives that at 8:24 p.m. he spoke
01:00:09
with Ashley, who told him she'd just gotten out of the shower. Ashton Kutcher didn't actually arrive at
01:00:17
Ashley's front door until around 10:45 p.m., at which point he says he was confused because the lights were on, but
01:00:26
no one answered. Just as he was about to leave, he glanced through a window and noticed what he thought was red wine
01:00:34
spilled on the floor. Turns out it wasn't wine. It was blood. Uh, it just was a very bad scene. A lot
01:00:45
of anger, a lot of rage. Somebody had isolated Ashley Ellerin the killer and was very, very angry when he
01:00:54
did it. Could anyone think of someone who wanted to hurt Ashley? Not really. Almost to a person. Ashley was
01:01:02
considered to be, you know, like uh the life of the party. She had a lot of friends from different
01:01:10
walks of life, friends from school, her roommates. Celebrity type folks. Kutcher wasn't the only man police were
01:01:22
interested in talking to. This is Mark Durban, a not so famous actor who was also Ashley's property manager. Durban
01:01:31
and Ashley were secretly having a relationship and he and Ashley had been intimate earlier that evening, but like
01:01:39
Kutcher, he had fully cooperated with investigators, and both men were ruled out as possible suspects.
01:01:49
While police had no concrete leads, Ashley's friends couldn't shake the feeling that the guy who seemed fixated
01:01:56
on Ashley was involved. In your initial conversation with police, did you mention Michael Garulo
01:02:05
to them? Uh, yes, the I didn't know his name, but the heating and air conditioning guy. And did they pay any
01:02:12
attention to that? I know they took note. I don't I don't think they took it very seriously or that much of a threat.
01:02:18
He was not in their circle of friends and they were creeped out by him. So when you hear that, does it strike a
01:02:27
chord with you? Well, I mean, it it takes a little bit more than that to to get focused on somebody as a suspect in
01:02:33
a in a case like this. Garchulu wasn't really on Detective Small's radar. Ashley had a large social circle. There
01:02:40
were hundreds of people to talk to and he was just the creepy air conditioner guy. It would take months for police to
01:02:48
learn his last name and put him on their list. Uh it weighed really heavy uh on me personally because everybody has the
01:02:59
case and this one was mine. My frustration was why can't I get the evidence I need
01:03:06
to solve Ashley's murder? Back in Cook County, just outside Chicago, Trisha Picacio's murder was
01:03:16
unsolved for nearly 10 years. Her mother, Diane, was relentless, hounding investigators,
01:03:24
at least once or twice. And did you feel like anything was being done in that time? No, but I kept thinking maybe I
01:03:30
just keep going and talking to them and keep telling them every little thing that came to mind. I mean it was just it
01:03:34
helped and it did help some of them. It helped me probably emotionally because it was almost like I could talk to them.
01:03:40
They under they knew what had happened. Mhm. I have the tenacity to keep going until it does happen. You're not going
01:03:47
to give up. I'm not going to give up. No. My daughter is going to get the representation that she deserves.
01:03:55
Cook County Sheriff's Detective L. Solo was assigned to the case in 1999. We had
01:04:01
the benefit of technology when we took the case over. By 2002, new DNA technology allowed
01:04:09
investigators to take a fresh look at the evidence collected from the crime scene.
01:04:15
We we were hoping to establish some type of DNA profile, give us an idea of a possible offender or So, what's the
01:04:22
first big test result you get back? The first new piece of information from this round of
01:04:28
DNA testing? Well, the biggest thing is when we got the unknown male contributor
01:04:32
from the fingernails. Male DNA found on Trisha's fingernails. Now, they had to match it. At that
01:04:41
point, we began the DNA campaign of everybody, including the Picassio family, her friends of hers that were
01:04:47
with her at the road rally that night. We even tested the dog. You even tested the dog. Yeah. Detectives wanted samples
01:04:54
from anyone they had talked to back in the day. and Michael Garulo was on their list. Detectives heard Garulo was now
01:05:03
living in Los Angeles, so they went to the LAPD for help. I had no knowledge they were even coming. By now, Detective
01:05:11
Small had begun to take a closer look at Michael Garulo. And uh all of a sudden,
01:05:18
we get a phone call. Cook Countyy's in town. He says, "Well, who who is it you're looking for?" And they named
01:05:24
Michael Garulo. He said, "Hey, that's that's my guy." They showed up. I held up a a photo. I said, "Is this who
01:05:33
you're looking for?" And they said, "Yeah, how do you know him?" I said, "Well, right now he's a potential
01:05:39
suspect in a in a murder investigation. What do you guys have?" Detective Small agreed to help Cook County find Gulo and
01:05:48
collect a DNA sample. [Music] [Music] In 2002, almost 10 years after Trisha Picacio's murder, the LAPD caught up
01:06:16
with Michael Garulo. We obtained Mr. Garulo's DNA sample and I and he was cooperative with that. Not
01:06:25
really, but it it got done. The DNA sample was sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. The results were
01:06:34
stunning. A match. It was Michael Gulo's DNA on Trisha's fingernails. Case closed. Not exactly. Did you think it
01:06:44
was enough to move forward? Well, I thought it was, but uh I'm not the attorneys. Cook County Detective L
01:06:51
Salah. It was explained to me and and the explanation made sense at the time that they they just wanted some type of
01:06:57
cooperating evidence. They needed something more than that. Something more than that because they said Michael
01:07:03
Garulo's DNA might have gotten on Trisha in a way that had nothing to do with the
01:07:08
murder. At the at the time, he was a friend of the family, you know, and one would have to wonder, could it have
01:07:14
gotten there by casual contact? And had there been casual contact in the hours before or the day before they that she
01:07:22
was murdered? There was the day before. The day before her murder, Gula was driving with another friend, Scott
01:07:30
Olsen, when they saw Trisha. We drove past Picassio's house and who do we see around in the corner walking away from
01:07:39
us? There's Trisha. Mike's driving. He kind of swerves over, slows down, swerves over, gets right behind her, and
01:07:45
we saw she was crying. So, she's like, "Hey, give me a ride." Like, whoa, okay, sure, get in. So, she gets in the car.
01:07:53
Um, said, "Take her to so and so's take me to so- and so's house." So, we just we just drove her. We dropped her off
01:08:01
and and that was it. When we spoke to Jack Blakey from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in
01:08:07
2011, he confirmed that because of that ride and because Gardulo had spent time at the family home, he cannot be sure if
01:08:15
Garulo's DNA on Trisha was from the attack. The evidence just hasn't been there. I wish we could bring closer to
01:08:22
her family tomorrow. So, with nothing else tying him to Trisha's or Ashley's death, Gargulo was
01:08:32
only a guy who had the bad luck of knowing two different women who had been murdered in exactly the same way.
01:08:42
Gargulo left Hollywood and continued doing what he always did, never staying in one place for too long. How come
01:08:50
nobody keeps tabs on this guy? I don't know if they if they tried. My understanding was he kept kind of a low
01:08:57
profile. I think he knew he was on the radar. Over the next few years, Gulo had several girlfriends and even became a
01:09:07
father. In 2005, he settled in suburban Elmont, 20 miles east of Hollywood. Then just before Christmas that same
01:09:18
year in that same neighborhood, there was a murder. The victim was another attractive young woman. We're talking
01:09:27
about a 90 lb 32year-old woman who's defenseless asleep in her bed, in her home where if there's any one place in
01:09:35
the world, she should feel most secure. That attack is every woman's nightmare. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
01:09:43
homicide detective Mark Lilyfield. Uh this is a building where the murder happened. Behind me in apartment number
01:09:49
20 is where Maria Bruno lived. She had uh 2-year-old twins and then I believe a four-year-old and a 5-year-old. In the
01:09:55
months before her death, Maria and her husband had several violent fights, including one where her husband punched
01:10:03
her in the face. She left him and found an apartment in this gated complex. and she had picked that building
01:10:10
specifically because it was very secure. You had to either have a passcode or a key to get through the front door. So,
01:10:16
it was a pretty secure building. But someone got past that security. The suspect entered through the kitchen.
01:10:29
It appears from the evidence that he obtained a weapon there in the kitchen. A knife. Correct.
01:10:35
Her body was somewhat mutilated. and you just, you know, that's that's crap you see in the movies in real life. That
01:10:41
that is very rare. It just doesn't happen. There was very little evidence left behind except for one blue cotton booty
01:10:51
found in the courtyard outside Bruno's apartment. Just about where we're standing is where that blue cotton booty
01:10:57
was at. Right here. Yeah. Right here. Right here. And it was kind of out of place.
01:11:03
Actually, on the sole of the booty was a drop of blood. and DNA testing proved that in fact it was Maria's blood.
01:11:09
Police immediately took a hard look at Bruno's aranged husband. There was the history of a turbulent relationship and
01:11:18
drops of Maria's blood were found in his car. But Maria's husband told police that earlier that evening he and Maria
01:11:26
had decided to rekindle their relationship. They went to a restaurant where the manager confirmed Maria had
01:11:33
cut her finger and was bleeding as they left. And like Picacio, then Ellerin, and now
01:11:41
Bruno, another vicious murder eventually turned into a cold case. As for Michael Garulo, his romantic life
01:11:51
was once again in turmoil. He left his girlfriend and new baby in suburban LA and headed to the beach, Santa Monica.
01:12:01
And once again, where Garulo went, an attack eventually followed. A young woman is woken up by a man
01:12:10
attacking her with a knife. [Music] Santa Monica, April 28th, 2008. Another breakin, another brutal assault.
01:12:33
But this attack would change everything. All right. I got the call at about 12:30
01:12:39
in the morning from my sergeant and uh asked me to come out and uh respond to a scene of a stabbing or attempted murder.
01:12:47
Then Santa Monica police sergeant Richard Lewis. Um he gained access into this window which was open a few inches
01:12:53
and once he got inside there he then opens the front door and kind of stages it as an escape route. Um proceeds into
01:13:00
the bedroom where she's sleeping and uh what awakes her is a knife being plunged
01:13:04
into her. He just flat out stabbed her. Right. She was stabbed multiple times uh in her
01:13:14
chest and shoulder and and right arm and suffered several wounds to both of her hands as she's grabbing this knife as
01:13:21
it's being plunged down upon her. The victim was 26-year-old Michelle Murphy. What can you tell us about her?
01:13:29
Oh, it's an incredible young lady and uh just someone who's very resilient and uh
01:13:33
decided to fight. As Murphy, all of 5'11, was fighting for her life. The blade is slipping back and forth. And
01:13:42
somewhere in the struggle, the attacker is also cut. And at some point, there's a a lull in the action. And uh she was
01:13:49
able to get her feet up underneath and kick him off of her. The attacker stumbles off the bed and
01:13:56
out of the room, bleeding profusely from her multiple stab wounds, Murphy runs after the hooded man down the hallway to
01:14:05
the front door. Did he say anything to her ever? Uh, I'm sorry. He said, "I'm sorry." I'm sorry.
01:14:12
Then he ran out. Michelle immediately called her boyfriend who called 911. Uh, she told
01:14:22
me that she woke up and there was someone on top of her and she offer. [Music] Then the police call Michelle. What is
01:14:35
your name? It's very hard to hear her answers. The fire department is already on the way
01:14:42
and we're on our way. What does this person look like? You definitely like a long street like kind of thing.
01:14:50
Everything's a dark [Music] or something. So he comes out this door and there's blood on the steps right outside the
01:15:05
front door. We have some blood on the steps. Okay. And then blood on the concrete steps here leading out down
01:15:10
this walkway and into the alley. So, how significant in your investigation and when you showed up that night did you
01:15:16
think that blood was going to be? Huge. Huge. About 25 days after uh submitting my
01:15:23
samples to the crime lab, I'm informed by a criminalist where we actually have a hit, a DNA hit. And who does it match?
01:15:30
Michael Varulo conclusively. Yes, they were able to make the match because remember Garulo's DNA had been collected
01:15:43
for DNA testing in the Picacio case and was already on file. And guess where Garulo lived at the time of the attack.
01:15:53
It'd be the second building down in the uh first window. It would be just above that black trash can that you see on the
01:15:59
left side. He could see right into her bedroom. If she were to have the blinds open, that'd be correct. That's pretty
01:16:06
scary. Yes, absolutely. Within 24 hours of making that DNA match, Garulo was arrested for the assault of
01:16:17
Michelle Murphy. He was taken into custody. And what was his response? His response was, "Which agency is this?"
01:16:26
What did that say to you? That tells me a lot. tells me that uh he wasn't sure which crime he's getting charged for,
01:16:32
but that there was more than one out there. To me, that's what that meant. Yes. Sergeant Lewis was reminded of a
01:16:38
conversation he'd once had with Detective Lilyfield about a similar murder that had happened 3 years earlier
01:16:45
in Elante, just outside of Los Angeles. I got a call from Sergeant Rich Lewis from the Santa Monica Police Department.
01:16:51
He had a case that was very similar. Um, luckily his victim survived and he had identified a suspect. And it turns out
01:17:00
Gardulo once lived close enough to Maria Bruno to also watch her. She reported to
01:17:06
friends run-ins with the strange guy across the way. So, this is her apartment. And where was
01:17:13
Gargula's apartment located? Um, if you turn around, look, it's right over your right shoulder. It's apartment number
01:17:18
34. So, that is up just behind that tree. Correct. Correct. just to the right of that tree. Uh so you've got a
01:17:25
clear view obviously from his apartment. Now the pieces of the puzzle were finally starting to come together.
01:17:32
Determined investigators had discovered more evidence. Remember that blue booty found near Maria Bruno's front door? In
01:17:40
Gulo's old apartment just across the way. And sure enough, in the attic of the apartment, we wound up finding a
01:17:47
matching booty, a blue cotton booty just like the same one that we had found at the crime scene. The same manufacturer,
01:17:55
the same make, the same model of booty. And in that 2001 murder of Ashley Ellerin, Garulo lived only a couple of
01:18:05
blocks away. He was frequently seen hanging out with his dog at this park directly across the street from Ashley's
01:18:13
home. We had information that he's, you know, frequented the dog park, parked his
01:18:19
vehicle on occasion over there. Within a month, Michael Garulo was also charged with the murders of Ashley Ellerin and
01:18:30
Maria Bruno. [Music] When Trisha Picachio's family heard that Mike Gardulo had been arrested in LA,
01:18:40
they were certain he would soon be charged with Trisha's murder. But nothing happened. Then in 2011, 48 Hours
01:18:49
ran our first show about the so-called Hollywood Ripper and the unsolved murder of Trisha Picacio. Almost immediately
01:18:57
after the show aired, a witness reached out to me. I watched the show and it was
01:19:03
a mug shot of Mike Teamer Liry, one of Michael Garulo's bouncer buddies from Hollywood. And did you reach out to
01:19:11
Anthony? I did. I did. I sent him a text. Yeah, he tried. Uh, did you know Mike's a serial killer? Turns out both
01:19:19
Teamer and Anthony Dorenzo had led checkered lives of their own in and out of jail. But both men were now fathers
01:19:27
and seeing Trisha's father on 48 hours moved them. I tried to revive her. That is the worst feeling in your life
01:19:40
when you can't do nothing for somebody you love. I get emotional cuz I I love my
01:19:46
children. Uh, and when I when I look at him and I see that video to this day, I get a pain in my chest that any man
01:19:55
would have to miss and love their child like that. So, you're watching it and we're telling the story and you have
01:20:05
already know. You already know. You have pieces of the puzzle that we don't even
01:20:08
know exist. Yeah. I said, I advocate I have to let somebody know what I know. Here's what Teamer and Anthony knew.
01:20:15
They said back in 2000 when they were all working together, Michael Garulo told them he had murdered a girl in
01:20:24
Chicago. We're cruising down Sunset. You know, he asked us, he's like, "You guys ever kill anybody?" And he's like,
01:20:31
"I have." And we're like, "Shut the, you know, shut up." Yeah. Here we go again.
01:20:35
You know, he said he buried this. He was he was I buried a [ __ ] He goes, "I left the [ __ ] on the steps for dead."
01:20:41
We put them in touch with Chicago authorities and soon Michael Gardullo was indicted for the murder of Trisha
01:20:48
Picachio 18 years after her death. Then Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. This new evidence that uh has
01:20:58
just come forward after the 48 hour episode really coupled with the DNA, we feel at this point that we have
01:21:05
sufficient evidence. But the Picacio's search for justice was just beginning. There was a long road
01:21:15
ahead, full of unexpected twists and turns. Well, see, my truth is being 100% innocent, being wrongfully charged. All
01:21:24
I could do is be cold and fight for my innocence. [Music] Up next, I hate you. I hate you. I hate
01:21:39
you. The accused Hollywood ripper faces trial. This was somebody who was going to take pleasure in plunging a knife
01:21:46
into their victim over and over and over again. Celebrity Ashton Kutcher takes the stand. In a surprise, both the
01:21:56
prosecution and the defense make him their star witness. Ashton Kutcher talked about what would have been his
01:22:02
first date with one of the murder victims. The case will not be easy for the DA.
01:22:08
Zero trace evidence, no eyewitnesses, no fingerprints. Really, they had nothing.
01:22:14
And the defense says there may be other killers out there. They just have to establish some reasonable doubt in the
01:22:20
minds of the jury and offer a bizarre story began a circular slicing motion, multiple personalities.
01:22:29
It was really a very strange spectacle and even possession. If you are caught red-handed doing something, you can say,
01:22:39
"I was there, but I wasn't." You don't want to think that a regular person, you know, can actually commit this horrific
01:22:45
of a crime and then just go live dayto-day. Who does that? The case of the Hollywood Ripper is not over.
01:22:54
Not by a long shot. It's really, really sick. This special two-part edition of 48
01:23:04
hours will continue. [Music] This special two-part edition of 48 Hours continues.
01:23:45
[Music] He's accused of attacking at least four women. He's been called a serial sexual
01:23:55
thrill killer. This is not a typical murder case. This is a systematic slaughtering
01:24:02
of beautiful women by a serial killer. Four young women, only one survivor. The Hollywood Ripper is one of the most
01:24:14
horrible cases I've ever seen. This is a man who spied on them, who stalked them, and then brutally stabbed
01:24:23
them to death. And that's defendant Michael Carulo. Ashley Ellerin, 2001. Ashley Ellerin was supposed to go on a
01:24:35
date with Ashton Kutcher and he rang the doorbell and nobody answered. He saw what he thought was
01:24:43
spilled wine all over the place. Unfortunately, we later learned that that was her blood.
01:24:50
Maria Bruno, 2005. Mother of four was brutally murdered inside her Elmonte apartment.
01:24:58
She was stabbed to death. You think she was asleep when she was attacked? I do. Michelle Murphy, 2008.
01:25:08
This attack would change everything. [Music] How did Michelle Murphy somehow get away
01:25:18
from this guy? She fought. We have some blood on the steps. Okay. And then blood on the concrete steps
01:25:26
here leading out down this walkway and into the alley. So, how significant did you think that blood was going to be?
01:25:32
Huge. We actually have a hit, a DNA hit. And who does it match? Michael Varulo. I'm Moren Maher. Since the fall of 2008,
01:25:46
I've been covering a man known as the Hollywood Ripper. It's a story that 48 hours helped to break wide open.
01:25:57
Trisha Picacio, 1993. One question has haunted this quiet Glen View community. Who killed Trisha
01:26:06
Picacio and why? Who would do this? Why would anybody do this? What was your reaction when you got a
01:26:17
phone call that a witness had come forward to 48 hours? I was shocked. I Would you have imagined that a
01:26:23
television show would be able to help you solve a crime? No, but it's never happened to me. Targeted young women in
01:26:29
Illinois and the LA area. Frankly, it's almost a miracle that these cases were linked together. You say to yourself,
01:26:38
"Who could do this?" Butchering his victim, attempted murder of a You think, "Oh my god, it's a monster." Vicious
01:26:43
murders of three young women. Murder and contempted murder. [Music] [Music] in a Now known for keeping secrets,
01:27:35
the murder trial of Michael Garulo, nicknamed the Hollywood Ripper, could reveal a hidden life. Trisha
01:27:44
Picacio, Ashley Ellerin, Michelle Murphy, and Maria Bruno were all young, attractive, and outgoing.
01:27:56
On May 2nd, 2019, the case against Michael Garulo begins. Prosecutors say he murdered three women and attempted to
01:28:05
murder a fourth. He staked them out. Mary Fuljaniti, a former federal prosecutor and 48 hours consultant. He
01:28:14
stalked them and then he stabbed them brutally. Prosecutor Dan Aman says Michael Gardulo
01:28:22
is a serial killer, attacking four women just for the thrill of it from 1993 through his arrest in 2008. What you
01:28:32
will hear is that Michael Garulo for almost 15 years was watching, always watching, and his hobby was plotting the
01:28:40
perfect opportunity to attack women with a knife in and around their homes. During those years, Garulo played high
01:28:51
school football, was a wannabe actor, and a repairman. It has taken Garulo longer to go to
01:29:00
trial than any other inmate in the history of the LA County Jail. Nearly 11 years. This is how he looks
01:29:10
now. There have been nearly 100 hearings. He's fired attorneys and even tried to
01:29:18
represent himself. Mr. Rubin and myself have the opportunity to ask questions and cross-examine. But now with the new
01:29:26
high-powered courtappointed legal team, the wait is over. The prosecution starts
01:29:32
with its strongest case and most powerful witness. Michelle Murphy in 2008 was stabbed in
01:29:43
her bed in her Santa Monica apartment. Right. Right across the alley from Gargulo's apartment,
01:29:49
after showing photos from her brutal attack, Michelle Murphy, the only woman who survived this alleged serial killer,
01:29:57
is called to the stand. There were no cameras allowed in court during Michelle's testimony. But we
01:30:03
wanted to share with you some of what she said, her exact chilling words. I grabbed at the knife. I wrapped my hands
01:30:11
around the blade. And at some point, 5 foot1 Michelle Murphy gets her legs up against her chest and shoves the
01:30:18
attacker off of the bed. She describes how he runs out of the room down the hallway. She goes after him and Michelle
01:30:24
says the attacker told her, "I am sorry." This is Ms. Murphy in the hospital. Michelle never saw his face,
01:30:31
but noticed he was left-handed. In the struggle, the attacker was also cut, leaving his blood, his DNA all over her
01:30:41
bedroom. Gargulo's blood and DNA were found on Michelle's bedspread and sheet and in the blood trail across the alley.
01:30:50
After Michelle Murphy testified, the prosecution turned to the other victims to prove Gardulo's pattern of stalking
01:30:57
and stabbing. Three years before Michelle's attack, Maria Bruno, a mother of four young
01:31:07
children, was stabbed 17 times. Maria Bruno was stabbed to death in her Elmonte residence.
01:31:15
There's a pool of blood. Maria Bruno's body was discovered by her estranged husband, Irving, who called 911. I'm
01:31:24
looking at her right now. She's dead. She just moved here about less than less than a week ago.
01:31:34
Gargulo lived right across the way. Gargulo entered Maria's apartment through a window,
01:31:42
put on blue surgical booties, and mutilated Maria with a knife as she slept. The prosecution argues that the pattern
01:31:55
and direction of the blood drops show that the killer was left-handed, just like Michelle's attacker and just like
01:32:03
Michael Garulo. And this time, the killer left something behind. A blue booty with critical
01:32:11
evidence. Detectives located a blue surgical booty right outside of Maria's front door. Forensic analysis showed
01:32:21
that there were drops of Maria's blood on the booty and Garulo's DNA was around the elastic band.
01:32:30
Four years before Maria, there was Ashley Ellerin, a 22-year-old fashion student in Hollywood. Gargulo, who lived
01:32:39
within a short distance from Ashley's house and frequented the dog park across from her house, injected himself into
01:32:49
Ashley's life. On February 21st, 2001, within weeks of Gargulo fixating on Ashley, surveilling
01:32:58
her home at odd hours, Ashley Ellerin was found stabbed to death in the hallway just outside her bathroom.
01:33:08
Ashley had been stabbed over 47 times. As the state lays out its explanation of how Ashley was murdered, an important
01:33:19
witness is about to have Hollywood's eyes upon him. This is Mr. Koocher. He's Ashley's friend.
01:33:27
Ashton Kutcher is used to being a star, but not a star witness. Mr. Kutcher is part of the chronology of this case that
01:33:36
is offered to show you that there was a very narrow window of opportunity for somebody to get into the house and
01:33:42
murder Ashley. Why is Koocher called as a witness? He's incredibly important to the timeline here and when the murder
01:33:50
possibly occurred and he may have been the last person to actually speak to her before she was killed. At trial, only
01:33:57
still cameras were allowed for his testimony. Kutcher is asked about his planned date with Ashley on February
01:34:04
21st, 2001, the evening she was murdered. At 8:24 p.m., Ashley talked to Mr. Kutcher on
01:34:13
the phone, and they confirmed a plan to go out that night. Ashton Kutcher was running late, so he called Ashley again
01:34:20
at 10:15 to let her know he was on the way. But Ashley didn't pick up. He then drove to her home, knocked on the door,
01:34:29
but still got no answer. Will testify that at 10:45 p.m. he arrived at the residence and saw what he
01:34:36
thought was spilled wine on the floor. We believe now the evidence will show that was actually blood and Ashley had
01:34:42
already been murdered. A diagram of Ashley's home is shown. That's her bathroom where we believe she
01:34:51
had just exited the shower and was getting ready to go out with Mr. Koocher when she was attacked from behind and
01:34:58
then there was a struggle in the area right outside the bathroom where she was stabbed 47 times. Kutcher testified that
01:35:06
after learning about Ashley's murder, he quote went to the police. I was like, "My fingerprints are on this door. Like
01:35:14
I was freaking out." Although never a suspect, Koocher was concerned about what he left behind.
01:35:21
That's unlike Michael Garulo who was always careful to cover his tracks. [Music]
01:35:40
[Music] the methodical and systematic slaughter of women. That's what this case is
01:36:00
about. The prosecution painted a portrait of Michael Garulo throughout his life. He was violent towards women,
01:36:08
interested in serial killer Ted Bundy, and studied forensic science. Mike was a strange guy. This is Mirco
01:36:16
Hoffman, a man who now describes himself as Gulo's former best friend. Told MCO he could get away with committing crimes
01:36:24
because he studied forensics. He would go online whatever he could find about forensics. He would learn from people's
01:36:30
mistakes, other criminals mistakes, you know, how to get away with a crime. And he told me if he ever got caught
01:36:36
committing any crime, he would just lie until he dies. Lie. Lie until you die. Michael Gargulo felt confident,
01:36:44
arrogant, dare I say, invulnerable. Prosecutors said Gargulo also studied a book that taught you how to kill with a
01:36:55
knife. The anarchist cookbook talks about knives, the perfect guide to committing some of these crimes,
01:37:01
detailing how you go for the throat. We believe the evidence will show as this is what Mr. Garulo was doing.
01:37:07
As for Gulo's motive, prosecutors described a serial killer with a sexual bent. This was somebody who was going to
01:37:15
take pleasure in plunging a knife into their victim over and over and over again.
01:37:24
To better understand that, we asked Chris Moi to explain. He's a forensic psychologist and expert on serial
01:37:31
killers. He is also a consultant to 48 hours. Most serial killers are motivated by power. That's at the core of
01:37:40
everything. The prosecution points out that Gargulo never raped his victims, but he
01:37:47
controlled them and say for Michael Garulo that control itself is a sexual thrill. It's control over life and
01:37:56
death. So violence has become sexualized. According to prosecutors, Gargula went after women he found
01:38:03
attractive. Michael Garulo noticed Michelle Murphy. Michael Gargulo noticed Ashley Ellery.
01:38:09
Michael Gargulo noticed Maria Bruno. And he stalked them. He watched and waited and collected real time intelligence on
01:38:19
the victims. Prosecutors say the spying was all part of his power game and his pattern. And
01:38:26
you've got all this stalking, this watching, surveilling, and fantasizing going on. And the person is doing this
01:38:32
repeatedly to try to satisfy their urges. At some point for some of these individuals, it's not enough to just
01:38:40
think about it anymore. And they have to move to the next step. They have to actually kill in order to get the same
01:38:46
degree of stimulation. [Music] To really make their point, prosecutors took the jury out of court to see where
01:39:02
everything happened. Jurors saw that Michael Gardullo lived close to all of his victims, close
01:39:09
enough to watch them. To start with, Gardulo lived right down the alley from Michelle Murphy.
01:39:17
A few years earlier, he lived within a few hundred feet of Ashley Ellerin. And when he lived in El Montei, his
01:39:24
apartment was just across the courtyard from Maria Bruno. [Music] To strengthen their argument and really
01:39:37
show how Gardulo had a clear pattern, they also told jurors about a murder over 1,800 miles away. You will hear
01:39:46
that Gargulo's killing spree started in Chicago in the summer of 1993, almost 26 years
01:39:55
ago, when Gargulo killed his first victim, his neighbor, then 18-year-old Trisha Pocachio. While Garulo is not
01:40:06
being tried for Trisha's murder here in LA, prosecutors thought it was essential
01:40:11
to tell the jury what happened all those years ago outside Chicago. It's introduced here for a very limited
01:40:18
purpose and to show that the facts and the pattern in the Picacio case in Illinois are similar to the California
01:40:24
cases. It was 1993. Trisha Piccio was just 18 years old coming home late one night in the
01:40:33
Chicago suburbs. Gargulo, who was athletic and had trained in martial arts and boxing,
01:40:41
grabbed Trisha, who was very petite, snapped her arm and stabbed her repeatedly in the left breast, arm, and
01:40:50
chest. Left her bleeding to death on the doorstep of the family home and fled. I was the one who found her.
01:41:02
Trisha's father, Rick. I woke up and I had a cup of coffee and I was going out to my van and I just
01:41:10
happened to see two little tennis shoes sticking up by the side door and when I saw it was her,
01:41:17
I dropped a coffee cup. [Music] I died right then and there. At the time, Michael Garulo was a
01:41:42
17-year-old kid living around the corner, one of Trisha's brother's closest friends. When the murder
01:41:49
happened, Gargulo wasn't even a suspect, and the case went cold for years. [Music]
01:41:56
By 2003, there was new DNA technology. Eventually, Garulo's DNA was found on Trisha's fingernails. Back then,
01:42:08
prosecutors in Chicago did not think that DNA alone was enough to charge him, and the case stayed dormant. In 2011, 48
01:42:18
Hours reported on the case and a witness came forward to me. I watched the show.
01:42:23
Teamer Liry and Anthony Dorenzo had once worked with Michael Garulo as bouncers in the late '9s at a Hollywood
01:42:30
nightclub. They say Michael Garulo confessed to them one day when they were driving, telling them that he had killed
01:42:37
a girl in Illinois. At the time, it seemed too crazy to be true. Garulo had told them a lot of stories. We're
01:42:46
cruising down Sunset. When he asked us, he's like, "You guys ever kill anybody?" And we're like, he's
01:42:52
like, "I have." And we're like, "Shut the you know, shut up." Here we go again. He said he buried this. He goes,
01:42:57
he was I buried a [ __ ] He goes, "I left the [ __ ] on the steps for dead." We put them in touch with Chicago
01:43:03
authorities. And shortly after, Gargulo was charged with the murder of Trisha Picacio 18 years after her death.
01:43:13
Now they are key witnesses at Gargulo's Los Angeles trial. In 1997, Gargulo told his friend Teamer Liry,
01:43:22
quote, "I stabbed up the girl." End quote. Also in 1997, Mr. Garulo told his friend Anthony Dorenzo, "I actually left
01:43:32
the [ __ ] on the step for dead." End quote. They asked you to identify Garulo in the room. Did you make eye contact
01:43:39
with Mike? I did. Absolutely. He did not want to look at me. He knew every word that came out of my mouth was true. And
01:43:46
there's just no doubt about it. Each of the Picacio family members were called to testify, retelling the awful
01:43:54
details of finding Trisha on the doorstep of their home. They also described their relationship with her
01:44:00
alleged killer. What was it like for you to be in the room with him? Oh, it's it's it's in the room. It's
01:44:08
very very hard. Trisha's brother, Tommy. It's difficult. I mean, it never something like that never goes away.
01:44:16
The Picacios can only hope that this trial will bring justice for Ashley, Maria, and Michelle. But the defense has
01:44:25
another take. They point the finger in a different direction and away from Michael Garulo.
01:44:33
[Music] They just have to poke holes. They've got to raise any doubt. They're going to
01:44:51
throw everything out at the kitchen sink and they're going to hope that some of that will resonate and it'll raise just
01:44:57
a a seed, a kernel of doubt in one of those jurors and that's all they need. something accused serial killer Michael
01:45:04
Garulo knows. My truth is being 100% innocent, being wrongfully charged. In recorded jail conversations with 48
01:45:13
hours between 2009 and 2011, Gardulo maintained his innocence and a desire to fight the charges. It's a matter of
01:45:23
waiting and knowing that there will be victory because I know I'm innocent and uh it's just now putting it down.
01:45:29
Putting it down in the courtroom and just being patient. In the courtroom, his defense attorney,
01:45:37
Daniel Nardoni, has a plan. Argue someone else besides his client could have killed these women. He starts with
01:45:46
the Ashley Ellerin case. There's not one single witness called by the prosecution
01:45:54
that saw Michael Garduglo go into the house in the Ellerin case. Despite all the
01:46:03
efforts they put into scouring that that crime scene, they came up with zero. Zero DNA, zero physical evidence linking
01:46:12
him, zero trace evidence, no eyewitnesses, no fingerprints. really they had nothing.
01:46:20
Nardoni focuses on the prosecution's celebrity witness, Ashton Kutcher. To everyone's surprise, he says Kutcher is
01:46:28
really the defense team's star witness. Because Kutcher's account of that evening points to a very specific
01:46:36
suspect, and it's not Michael Garulo. Instead, it's the manager of Ashley's rented house. this man, aspiring actor
01:46:46
Mark Durban. I think there's suspicion that Mr. Durban did this murder. Mark Durban testified he was actually having
01:46:56
an affair with Ashley and admits they were intimate that very evening, just hours before Ashton arrived. The defense
01:47:04
argues that at the time of her murder, Durban was at Ashley's house. their proof. Ashton Kutcher's cell phone
01:47:12
records. Ashton Kutcher calls her at 8:24 p.m. We know there's a phone record. He calls her
01:47:19
at 8:24 p.m. Miss Ellerin stated, "I just got out of the shower." Mark Durban testifies that he was there
01:47:31
when she was taking a shower. And while he was there, he says Ashley got a phone
01:47:36
call, then he left. Nardoni insists it must have been Kutcher's call at 8:24. And that is critical because the
01:47:46
neighbor testifies that around 8:25 or 8:30 heard something. He hears horrible screaming coming from Ashley's home.
01:47:57
He hears two screams from a woman. That puts Mark Durban possibly right in the thick of it. At the time of the murder,
01:48:06
Mark Dervin was the only person known to have been with Ashley Ellerin, the last
01:48:12
person while she was still alive. But Los Angeles detectives clear Durban. He was cooperative and they didn't believe
01:48:20
he had a motive. Still, Nardoni may have succeeded in raising some doubt with the
01:48:26
jury. The defense makes a very big deal about Mark Durban. They did a pretty good job, I thought. And with that, the
01:48:34
defense was on to the other case where they saw an opportunity. The killing of Maria Bruno. Same argument, thin
01:48:42
evidence. Not one single person saw Mr. Gardulo leaving the house. But there was
01:48:49
that blue booty with a drop of Maria's blood on it. And Gardulo's DNA on the elastic band. Nardoni reminds the jury
01:48:59
Gargulo, who lived across the courtyard, was a repair man. We all know that Michael used booties all the time. He
01:49:06
says the booty probably dropped out of Gulo's pocket as he was returning from work and picked up a drop of Maria's
01:49:13
blood that was already on the sidewalk. Maria's body had been mutilated. And again, Nardoni offered up an alternate
01:49:22
suspect. He pointed the finger at Maria's aranged husband, Irving. The person that did this, what's it tell
01:49:30
you? I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. Whoever did this made it personal. Nardoni paints a picture of a fractured
01:49:42
marriage and details a previous fight between the two. Irving Bruno grabbed his wife out of the car, threw her to
01:49:50
the ground, and with a closed fist punched her in the face. He's got a terrible history of physically abusing
01:49:58
her that came out. She said she was scared of him. In fact, Maria Bruno had recently left him, but Irving told the
01:50:05
police that on the night she was killed, he and Maria had rekindled their relationship. Irving Bruno was the last
01:50:14
person with Maria Brono while she was still alive. That night, he told police they
01:50:22
went out to a restaurant together, returned to her place, were intimate, and then he left. A neighbor says she
01:50:29
heard crying at around 1:30 in the morning. And who's down there at 1:30 in the morning?
01:50:37
You know who. Irving Bruno. And police did find drops of Maria's blood in Irving's car. They found it on
01:50:47
Irving Bruno's baseball cap, a droplet. They found it on the passenger seat, and
01:50:54
they found it on the uh central console. But a restaurant manager testified he had seen Maria cut her finger earlier
01:51:02
that night. Police cleared Irving Bruno, but the defense still tried to persuade
01:51:08
the jury. The defense though is still going to try to raise doubt. Just because they were clear didn't mean they
01:51:13
didn't possibly do it. The defense also drills down on the Trisha Picacio case, the 1993 murder
01:51:22
outside Chicago. Everyone agrees it was Gardulo's DNA on Trisha's fingernails. But how did it get there? Nardoni says
01:51:32
it could have come from casual contact. Gulo had been friends with Trisha's brother and Trisha had been in Gulo's
01:51:40
van the day before she was killed. I have a theory and that is this that Trisha seats sits in the back seat of
01:51:49
the family van. You know she touches it her clothes pick it up uh potentially Mr. Gulo's DNA. To find out how likely
01:51:58
that is, we asked Nathan Lent, a forensic expert at John J. College of Criminal Justice. So, what we're talking
01:52:06
about now is a secondary transfer. A day later, I've never seen a secondary transfer that would last that long.
01:52:11
There's just not enough cells that would survive. And especially on your arm, which is touching other things, you're
01:52:16
putting on and off your clothes. Uh, that rubs off the cells pretty quickly. And he says casual contact is even more
01:52:23
unlikely because at trial, the scientist who matched Gargulo's DNA to Trisha's fingernails said it was actually a 5050
01:52:34
mixture of Trisha and Gargulo's DNA, and that is significant. Casual contact will
01:52:41
leave a few cells here and there. A 50-50 mixture means in almost all cases that there was a lot of DNA, a lot of
01:52:48
cells from both parties. That would require contact. That would require extensive contact. It looks to me that
01:52:55
the defendant was scratched by those fingernails. That's what it looks like to me. While there may have been some
01:53:00
doubt about the power of that DNA evidence, no one disagrees that the DNA in the case of the woman who survived,
01:53:08
Michelle Murphy, belongs to Michael Garulo. DNA is all over the place. So, they've got to somehow figure out, okay,
01:53:16
what am I going to do now to defend this particular charge? The defense's argument surprises everyone.
01:53:29
Michelle Murphy, because of her strength and courage, allowed investigators to work backwards
01:53:37
and piece this entire case together. Michelle Murphy is the sole surviving victim, and it is Gardulo's DNA that is
01:53:45
found all over Michelle's apartment. It's a problem defense attorneys Daniel Nardoni and Dale Rubin must address head
01:53:56
on. And we know that the evidence in this is stronger, is much stronger. Michelle testified
01:54:04
that she never saw her attacker's face, but did notice he was left-handed. And there were those words Michelle heard
01:54:12
her attacker utter as he ran out the door. I am sorry. Michelle Murphy is the only count in which the prosecution
01:54:23
has shown that Mr. Garulo was in her apartment and attacked her. In a surprising move,
01:54:32
Michael Garulo's attorneys do not deny that he attacked Michelle, but insist that he wasn't in his right mind when he
01:54:40
did it. She says that she's fighting off Mr. Garulo when all of a sudden he cuts himself. He
01:54:51
stands up. He like comes out of a fog, says, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." And runs out. Didn't know where he was. didn't
01:55:00
know what he was doing. And to prove it, the defense calls only two witnesses at
01:55:05
trial. Mental health experts. Both of them have diagnosed Mr. Garulo with a mental disease or disorder. He can't
01:55:15
premeditate. He can't deliberate. He can't have malice of forethought. The defense says when Gulo attacked
01:55:23
Michelle, it was as if another personality had taken over. as if he was possessed, an experience of possession.
01:55:34
Michael Garulo, they claim, suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Dissociative identity disorder used to
01:55:41
be called multiple personality disorder. There's a split whereby they may not have an awareness of when they're doing
01:55:49
certain things. This becomes the go-to defense because you can say, "I was there, but I wasn't." They're just
01:55:56
saying that they didn't have the mental state to be able to commit horrible crimes. And how often is that true? Oh,
01:56:01
it's very infrequently. I mean, the only times I've ever seen it actually be successful is when the person was truly
01:56:08
like a schizophrenic, had other voices in his head. The defense can only hope that they have managed to convince the
01:56:16
jury. After a 3monl long trial, 79 witnesses, the presentation of some 350 exhibits,
01:56:26
and that field trip to the crime scenes, closing statements begin. It was four female victims, all young,
01:56:38
attractive, and outgoing. Prosecutor Garrett Damron again lays out the similarities among
01:56:45
the victims and the attacks. These attacks, these murders took a great deal of strength and athleticism. Each of
01:56:53
these attacks were all extraordinarily cold-blooded, torturous. Each of these victims were ambushed. No evidence that
01:57:00
there was any theft. Knife is the weapon of choice. 20 similarities between the attacks of the four women are described.
01:57:09
Those common characteristics of these crimes point to one man, one killer, Michael Garulo.
01:57:20
Adding to their argument, you know about the DNA is the forensic evidence with Gulo's DNA found all over Michelle
01:57:30
Murphy's apartment on Trisha Vicio's fingernails and that slight amount on that booty near Maria Bruno's home. The
01:57:39
prosecution is trying to lump these all together. Why? Because they want to show
01:57:42
that it was one attacker, that the pattern, the practice, the, you know, everything that was done was similar.
01:57:48
You have to judge each case separately. On the other hand, the defense is trying
01:57:53
to do just the opposite. They want to separate these out. They want to show that no, no, no. One's in Illinois. Yes,
01:57:58
you may have some in California, but they're separated by years and time. They're not just one attacker. You can
01:58:04
find them not guilty on all these crimes, or you can find them uh guilty of some crimes and not guilty of other
01:58:11
crimes. The defense needs to plant a seed of doubt in one of those jurors. [Music]
01:58:31
The three-month trial of Michael Gardulo has captured the public's attention. Alleged killer dubbed the Hollywood
01:58:37
Ripper claims he's innocent. He's accused of attacking at least four women. For the families of the victims, the
01:58:46
wait for justice has seemed endless. Finally, the finish seems to be in sight as the jury begins its deliberations on
01:58:55
August 12th, 2019. This was probably one of the worst cases. I I've worked in this area for a long time as a
01:59:03
prosecuting defense attorney, and I've never seen anything this horrific. So for this jury to have to see all this
01:59:10
evidence and day in and day out for three months think about this case and what happened to these victims is really
01:59:16
challenging. But in what might seem like a short time given such a long trial after 3 and 1/2
01:59:25
days of deliberations the verdicts are in. We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant Michael Garulu
01:59:33
guilty of the crime of attempted murder. Guilty of attacking Michelle Murphy. Guilty of the crime of first-degree
01:59:40
murder. Guilty of murdering Maria Bruno. Guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. And guilty of murdering Ashley
01:59:48
Ellerin. Michael Gerulo sat without emotion as he heard the verdicts. Outside the courtroom, I immediately
02:00:01
called the Picacios with the news. It's all done. It's all done here and now it's your turn. She's sobbing, sobbing,
02:00:10
sobbing that she's so grateful that they all have their justice and that now it's
02:00:14
Trisha's turn. Remember, Trisha's case was included in California only as supporting evidence
02:00:22
of Michael Gulo's criminal pattern. It is up to Illinois officials in Cook County to try the case there. We have to
02:00:30
make sure that Cook County now does a the job that they need to continue to do because they need to prosecute him for
02:00:38
what he did to my daughter. Are you confident that he will be brought back to Chicago and he will stand trial?
02:00:45
Talking with the California attorneys and our attorneys in Cook County, I feel confident.
02:00:53
The Picacios are cautiously optimistic as they say they have been let down by the Cook County State's Attorney's
02:01:01
Office before. The family has criticized that office for being slowed to charge Gardulo when there was that DNA match in
02:01:10
2003. When we spoke with Jack Blakey from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in
02:01:16
2011, he told us that DNA match alone wasn't enough to charge Garulo. If there was a DNA match to Gardulo, why hasn't
02:01:26
he been arrested? The DNA match is consistent with casual contact. We still cannot establish based on the DNA alone
02:01:34
that he was present at the time of the killing as opposed to a different time. But it came out at the Los Angeles trial
02:01:41
that an Illinois forensic scientist submitted her findings to Cook County prosecutors in 2003. that it was a 5050
02:01:50
mixture of Trisha and Gardulo's DNA on Trisha's fingernails. Remember, the expert from John J. College of Criminal
02:01:59
Justice told us that usually signifies extensive contact. A 50/50 mixture means in almost all cases that there was a lot
02:02:09
of DNA, a lot of cells from both parties. That would require extensive contact. In almost all cases, extensive
02:02:17
contact. So why not bring charges? A lot of prosecutors are hesitant to bring a case when there's not at least one other
02:02:25
piece of evidence that helps complete the picture of how the DNA got there. Does it bother you that the charges
02:02:30
weren't filed? Oh, absolutely. We had them in 2003. You had them. It didn't work out. For L. Salah, the lead
02:02:37
detective on the Picacio case. The focus now is seeking closure to the case that
02:02:42
has haunted him through the latter part of his career and into retirement. Now that LA is done, they fully intend to
02:02:50
extra him back here. And I I think it has to be done for the Picassio family. Their verdict is still coming.
02:02:59
But the trial in LA did give the Picacios a chance to meet the men who changed the course of Trisha's case,
02:03:06
Teamer and Anthony, who came forward with Gardulo's statements. Evidence that pushed
02:03:12
authorities to finally charge Gardulo with Trisha's murder. So, you have both met the Picacios now?
02:03:25
Yes. Yeah. What was that like? I it was hard and I see out of the corner of my eye I see them and I spun around and I
02:03:32
was like Rick and he instantly knew who I was. He hopped up and gave me a hug. I
02:03:37
feel for them so much. Yeah. You know they were just sent through the ringer the whole time.
02:03:43
[Music] It's always painful. Yeah. It will always be. I just tell people it's something that I have to live with now
02:03:54
and deal with now and try to cope with for the rest of my life. Trisha's remembrance book from her funeral
02:04:01
provides bittersweet memories. And so there's family in here obviously and lots of friends. I mean hundreds of
02:04:09
people. It's filled with kind comments about their beloved daughter, but also this
02:04:18
back here. What was that name? Yeah, that's Michael Garulo signed that. It has been a 26-year long journey from
02:04:28
when that book was signed by the man the Picacios now believe killed their daughter. Gargulo is now a convicted
02:04:36
murderer of two other women. Women the Picacios through Trisha helped to find justice. She helped these other girls.
02:04:46
She was a very always liked to help people and I just want justice to get done because that's what my daughter
02:04:53
deserves. [Music] [Music] Personally, [Music] I could sort of relate to Kathy Blair
02:06:04
and just thinking about what that would be like as a woman to be home alone. That is the boogeyman story for every
02:06:11
woman, right? It's awful. An intruder is in your house. Yeah. Someone is stabbing you.
02:06:22
What's happening? My mom is dead. He killed my boss. This is a case that sticks with you
02:06:32
throughout your life. My name is Derek Israel. I was working in the homicide unit when this case uh occurred.
02:06:40
Uh my name is Carrie Scandalan and I was the lead investigator on the Kathy Blair
02:06:44
murder. Kathy was a larger than life. She's my big sister. I have always thought everything Kathy did was
02:07:00
amazing. How would you describe her from a student's perspective? She was so kind. Um, just believed in me
02:07:07
wholeheartedly. It still makes no sense. Who kills a choir director? Who does that? A monster.
02:07:19
Uh, I get notified that there's been another murder. The victims are an elderly couple. They
02:07:26
were the best parents you could ever want. They were just sweet people like anybody's grandmother and grandfather.
02:07:33
Right from the get-go, it started sounding really familiar. It's so violent and it's eerily similar
02:07:42
to Kathy Blair's and when we saw the connection, we just continued to work the investigations
02:07:49
together. You know, Carrie and I both kind of came to the conclusion that there was a
02:07:56
serial killer working here in Austin. I was uh out testing a thermal scope. I needed to get some video of some deer.
02:08:06
Rob Leaf has this thermal imaging scope. It's a night vision rifle scope. So, I saw the car pull up and park. I zoomed
02:08:14
in with the scope and by the time I had zoomed in, someone had gotten out, walked over to the sidewalk.
02:08:20
That is just unbelievably chilling. The last thing they were expecting was high resolution thermal video. This video
02:08:28
showed the murderer walking towards Kathy Blair's house. The actual killer. The actual killer.
02:08:39
[Music] [Music] These days in Texas, it seems like all roads lead to Austin. The sleek skyline of the Lone Star
02:09:34
Capital glittering. A boom town that welcomes newcomers chasing dreams. It's a city charged with life. An
02:09:47
unlikely place to find tragedy as dark as the death of a dreamer like Kathy Blair.
02:09:54
She loved life. You loved being around her. What were the things that were important to her? She had, I think, a
02:10:02
sense of justice, right and wrong. Kirsten Mat is Kathy's younger sister. Um, she was bossy and even as kids in
02:10:11
California, it was clear Kathy had a passion. She was always singing. She had a god-given talent, which was her voice.
02:10:23
It was music that led Kathy to Austin. Kathy went to UT Austin to get her master's degree in vocal performance.
02:10:34
She loved Austin, but love didn't always work out for Kathy. She divorced twice.
02:10:41
Still, her affair with Austin held firm. [Music] And by 2013, Kathy was renting a house
02:10:49
on a quiet street here on Tamarak Trail. It was home. She loved the people here.
02:10:56
She loved the vibe. In a city known around the world for music, Kathy Blair fit right in. She had
02:11:05
melody and rhythm in her soul. But you wouldn't find her singing the blues here on Austin's famed Sixth Street. Instead,
02:11:12
she chose a more spiritual stage for her talents. Christian Coral Society was a positive
02:11:24
social setting. The kids were kind to each other. Barbara Sally's daughter was one of
02:11:30
hundreds of students touched by Cathy's talent as a choir director and teacher. I think she lived, breathed, ate, slept
02:11:41
music. Barbara along with Kathy's student Kristen Degrroot met with us to share their memories of Kathy. She was
02:11:48
so kind. Um just believed in me wholeheartedly, which uh was something I really needed. And for Kristen, Kathy
02:11:56
was a role model. She and I were the same. Music needed to be in our lives or we would die. She was their teacher and
02:12:05
their mentor. One of her friends called it the Kathy Nation. The Kathy Nation. The Cathy Nation.
02:12:14
It was December 6th, 2014. Kathy's son, Joe, was staying with her while waiting for his assignment from
02:12:21
the Navy. After a night out, he came home to Tamarak Trail. What he found was shattering and echoed across that Kathy
02:12:30
nation. Think my mom is dead. There's a lot of blood. Broken. She killed my mom. Joe,
02:12:38
what's your mom's name? Her name is Kathy Blair. [Music] This case was clearly different really right from the
02:12:49
right from the get-go. Starting with the location. Oh, this is a nice neighborhood. This is a place where
02:12:56
people I think feel safe. Up until this case, which would frighten and chill Austin and shock veteran
02:13:04
detectives Scanland and Israel, one of the first things I thought of, I'm like, why this house? Yeah, why this
02:13:11
house? There's nothing that uh makes this house stand out from all the other ones. This is the living room right
02:13:18
here. Then in Kathy Blair's bedroom, there's a full-size jewelry case right here. Large drawers. All the drawers
02:13:27
have been pulled out and they're stacked up. So, it's like someone dumped them out and then put them in a pile right
02:13:32
here. Someone who had time to do that. Correct. A jewel thief who had time because Kathy Blair was already dead.
02:13:43
This murder started right here on the bed. 53-year-old Kathy Blair lay alone, asleep in her own bed. She awoke to the
02:13:53
ultimate nightmare. Yeah, Kathy Blair fought like hell. Choked, stabbed, and finally slashed
02:14:01
across the neck. The wound is a fatal wound, but she still has time, you know, to put up that fight. She she fought for
02:14:09
her life. Kathy's here, and there's blood all around her. So much blood that it formed the timeline of a murder.
02:14:19
There's a light switch and on that light switch we saw blood like a a blood swipe
02:14:23
that told us that the perpetrator had come in here after the murder and and switch that light on. There are more
02:14:28
blood swipes on these drawers. That tells me the murder of Kathy Blair occurs before these drawers were
02:14:35
removed. Word soon spread across Austin and across Kathy Nation. I just said, "No, that's not what
02:14:44
happened. That cannot possibly be what happened." Was Kathy Blair the kind of woman who might have an enemy who would
02:14:51
do that? No. She didn't have a malicious bone in her body. Why does someone come in here and and
02:15:01
murder someone in order to steal a little bit of jewelry? You know, it doesn't make sense.
02:15:08
It would be the first in a hideous series of senseless events. It's just one of those moments where you're in
02:15:16
disbelief. You think you're living in a dream. This does not happen. But it did happen. And the killer left
02:15:23
almost no evidence, no DNA, no fingerprints. No fingerprint. And no blood from the
02:15:30
killer. No. Israel and Scanland would need all their street smarts and then some because just 9 days later I get
02:15:39
notified that there's been another murder [Music] for Austin Detectives Israel and
02:16:00
Scandlin Images of Kathy Blair's death were harrowing. Tacked in the middle of the night and it was a really horrific
02:16:09
scene. But there was no physical evidence from a killer who made virtually no mistakes.
02:16:18
And that meant there was no clear suspect. Then suddenly the search for a suspect
02:16:26
changed in a way no one could imagine. It was around 1:30 a.m. on the night that Kathy Blair died. One of her
02:16:34
neighbors was out for a late night walk. What he saw and what he did would give the detectives their first big break in
02:16:42
the case. I was out testing a thermoscope. I needed to get some video of some deer.
02:16:48
And we've got some deer up and down the street. Rob Leaf lived a few short blocks from Kathy Blair. So it's a
02:16:54
thermoscope. So it picks up a heat signature. Wow. It's like daytime except it was the dead of night and Rob
02:17:04
was only looking for deer. I saw the headlights of a car coming up. I saw the car pull up in park and on this street
02:17:10
on this street. Rob kept recording. This is video he recorded that night with a scope like this one. I zoomed in
02:17:18
with the scope and by the time I had zoomed in, someone had gotten out and walked over to the sidewalk. You can
02:17:23
flip the setting to red to see the image more clearly. Did you focus in on the car? I first focus in on the person and
02:17:30
he turns left on Tamarack. Kathy Blair's street. The next day, Rob flew to Las Vegas on a
02:17:37
planned trip with old friends. Reading the news on my phone and saw a murder story. I clicked on it. I saw the
02:17:42
address. Rob raced back to Austin. He checked the video of that stranger on his street and
02:17:49
I called Austin police. How important does the video end up being in Kathy Flair's case? very very important.
02:17:59
The video was tantalizing but blank on images that did not give off heat, so you couldn't actually
02:18:07
identify the man, a license plate number or even if there was anyone else inside
02:18:12
the vehicle. Still, there was one important clue. It gave us an idea of what kind of vehicle our murder suspect
02:18:20
arrived at the crime scene with, and it was a sedan of some sort. These cops needed much more evidence.
02:18:29
Then 9 days after Kathy Blair's murder, in another peaceful Austin neighborhood just 15 minutes from Cathy's home, they
02:18:38
would get it. The victims are an elderly couple murdered overnight. Viciously. Viciously.
02:18:46
[Music] Sydney Jr., Johnny and Brenda want their parents to be remembered as the outstanding people
02:18:55
they were, not the grim headlines they became. Billy and Sydney Shelton were hardworking and happily married for 64
02:19:04
years. We were never rich, but not once did daddy ever complain about it. Not once did mama ever complain about it.
02:19:17
A life well-lived and peacefully slowing down. Billy was 83. Her husband Sydney 85.
02:19:26
These are sweet people that'll, you know, send you on the road with some cookies.
02:19:31
Home nurse Dao Catola was making her scheduled visit on December 15th, 2014. I knocked. Nobody answered. Front door
02:19:40
was splintered. It was clearly had been busted open. D nervously headed to the Shelton's modest bedroom and their room
02:19:48
had been ransacked. And then to the left, I saw him on the bed and I I ran. I just turned around and I ran. Sydney
02:19:57
and Billy Shelton had been beaten and stabbed. The knife is still present. Yes. In one of the victims. That's
02:20:04
correct. Is it clear that it's also a burglary? Yeah, I was seeing some of the same things.
02:20:12
The same things found at Kathy Blair's murder scene, starting with an empty jewelry box. And again, the drawers were
02:20:19
pulled out. They had been emptied and stacked. Three people had been slaughtered in their own beds. The crime
02:20:26
scenes were eerily similar, and investigators were privately wondering, was there a serial killer loose on the
02:20:34
streets of Austin? [Music] If word gets out that there's a serial killer, it kicks it to an entirely
02:20:41
different level. So, investigators kept their worst fears to themselves. But why
02:20:47
would any killer target Kathy or Billy and Sydney, who cops determined didn't even know each other? None of these
02:20:54
people had any enemies that we could figure out. What is it that connects these people together besides the
02:20:59
killer? Every lead was chased down. Then almost 3 weeks after Kathy was killed, the name of a stranger surfaced. Tim
02:21:10
Paron. He'd done yard work at Cathy's house, and a friend reported Parland was weird and rude. I go to our computer
02:21:19
system. It was a simple and easy search. Tim Paron had spent decades in prison. And he jewelry and he stole jewelry.
02:21:28
Specifically jewelry at night. Are you hopeful at this point? Yeah, I am. So, this is the in town suites. Tim
02:21:39
Parland where he was living at the time the murders happened. Israel and Scandlin went to look up the
02:21:45
lifelong convict. The detectives snapped these photos of Tim Parlin. Told them were homicide
02:21:54
detectives. So, he asked us a few questions as well about the murder. Well, yeah. Like, so how'd she die? Wow,
02:22:00
that's bold. you know, stuff like that. He's sussing it out to see what we know.
02:22:05
Cat and mouse. It is. Harland spoke to the cops in the hotel's parking lot, but when they asked to see his room, he
02:22:13
refused, claiming his wife was inside and asleep. And you drive away. And what's the conversation? I said, "This
02:22:20
is our guy." You did? Yeah. And Derek says, "I don't know yet." A return trip to the in town suites just
02:22:30
a few days later pays off. Parland wasn't home, but his wife was. Explain what we were investigating. And she knew
02:22:39
the Shelton. His wife knew the Shelton. Tim Parlland's wife knew the Sheltons from church. And Tim Parlin had worked
02:22:46
in Kathy Blair's yard. It was tenuous, but it was a connection. She gave us permission to search the apartment. Did
02:22:54
you find anything? We did a pawn receipt. This is that pawn receipt for a piece of jewelry, a a Nugget pendant.
02:23:03
And it turns out that pendant belonged to Kathy Player. It was pawned on the same night that Kathy Blair was
02:23:08
murdered. We found out that his sister had a green Toyota. Haron had been using his sister's car, a
02:23:17
green Toyota. Its outline appeared similar to the car in Rob Leaf's video and one caught on security footage
02:23:25
approaching that Austin pawn shop less than 24 hours after Kathy was murdered. We took it. We had it towed towed and
02:23:33
tested on the passenger seat. Traces of dried blood. Blood belonged to Kathy Blair that was
02:23:41
in that car. Austin was on edge. Kathy Blair was found dead inside her home. hoping for
02:23:48
an arrest. The wait for justice has been troubling for her students, family, and
02:23:53
friends. My name is Ha Müller and I'm an anchor at CBS Austin News. It was very,
02:23:58
very shocking in the community, and it was really unsettling. But now, justice was closing in on one man, Tim Parlin.
02:24:07
But you're thinking one guy still. Oh, yeah. When Kathy Blair's blood was found in
02:24:21
Tim Parland's car, detectives Israel and Scanland were convinced that he had killed her. At that point, we're all
02:24:28
jubilant. We're super excited. We got our guy. Parland fit the bill perfectly. He had
02:24:35
done yard work for Kathy Blair and was a career criminal with a long wrap sheet of burglaries. Now I just need to
02:24:43
question him, confront him. Hopefully he'll confess, but if he doesn't, we have hard physical evidence to tie this
02:24:49
guy to the murder. Israel had Parl arrested for an unrelated parole violation and brought in for
02:24:56
questioning. Seemed like a pretty short and straight road to charging Tim Parliament with murder. It turned out it
02:25:03
wasn't a short road, and it certainly wasn't a straight road. The first step was to get Parl to
02:25:09
corroborate some of the details of Kathy's murder. I just straight up told him that, you know, we knew that he had
02:25:16
killed Kathy Blair. What's his response? I didn't do it. And this was the thing he really liked to say. These hands
02:25:24
didn't kill anyone. So the detectives asked him who did, but Parlin wasn't giving up that information
02:25:33
so easily. So after hours of this conversation, he finally says, "Okay, I'll tell you who it was." And that's
02:25:41
when he said, "Sean Gant Ben Alkazar." Who is that? That's what I said. Who is that? Did you think he was stalling? Oh,
02:25:49
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This sounded completely made up. And I knew as soon as he said it that he had screwed us cuz
02:25:55
now you had to because now we got to go hunt some mystery guy down and prove that he didn't commit a murder. With
02:26:01
their lead suspect behind bars for now, the detectives reluctantly contacted Parland's mystery man. Shaun Gant
02:26:08
Benelkazar had never been in trouble with the law. He had a degree in microbiology, was once a high school
02:26:15
science teacher, and seemed an unlikely acquaintance of a serial jewel thief. This guy lived in Galveastston. He
02:26:23
didn't cause any trouble. Gampelazar readily agreed to meet with them that night at the Galveastston Police
02:26:29
Department. Let's go see the cops there. All right. We're investigating a murder
02:26:34
in Austin and in particular, we're looking at Tim Parlin as the person that we we believe committed the murder. I'm
02:26:41
completely in the dark on this um who was murdered. He tells the detectives he barely knows
02:26:49
Parland, that he just met him a few months earlier when his sister began dating Parland's nephew. So, we started
02:26:56
talking. Okay, when's the last time you were in Austin? Well, I've been in Austin a few times for the last month.
02:27:00
He was in town during the the weekends of both of those murders. And on top of it, he was staying with Tim Parlin. The
02:27:08
thing is, honestly, I want to help you guys out because this guy, Wolf and Sheep's clothing, basic didn't tell me
02:27:15
anything about his past, and I'm starting to feel like he set me up like a psy. The detectives knew from Parland's
02:27:24
criminal record that he did have a history of being a master manipulator. Did Tim ever approach you about doing
02:27:32
burglaries? And before long, the mystery man who initially said he knew nothing slowly started to crack. Gant Benelkazar
02:27:41
now says he was sitting in the car when Parl went into Kathy Blair's house. So where are you sitting in the car?
02:27:48
Passenger seat. Well, if he's sitting in the passenger seat, then why is there blood in the passenger seat? But Gampen
02:27:55
Elkazar had an explanation. He says Parland came back to the car clutching a bloody pillowcase. Came back with a
02:28:03
sack. Had blood on it, threw it in the passenger floorboard, and I took a peek at it. Had jewelry in
02:28:10
it and I didn't want anything to do with it. When did you figure out that it had
02:28:14
something to do with the murder? The fact that it had blood on it was not a good sign.
02:28:20
Then about 4 hours into the interview. Now I'm just wondering the restroom. As he walked down a hallway and he was
02:28:29
walking in front of me. I looked up and it just I mean I got a chill because I was like that's the same walk as the guy
02:28:36
in the video. Remember that spooky thermal video that the cops think accidentally caught Kathy Blair's killer
02:28:45
ambling down the sidewalk? You know, it was just the broadness, the deliberate steps.
02:28:53
I thought it was him. I definitely believed it could be him. Was it actually Gamp and Alkazar and not
02:28:58
Parland who had gone into Cathy's house? We started pursuing, you know, the line
02:29:02
of questioning along the lines of maybe he was in the house. Did he bully you into going into the
02:29:10
house or I was scared and you know he he was taking a threatening tone? He told me to go in the house and get the stuff
02:29:19
and finally he admitted I did go into the house and I did steal the jewelry. Came in through where? The back door you
02:29:26
said. Yeah, it was open. Okay. Open. Unlock. Unlocked. Yeah. I looked around and kind of prowled and snuck through
02:29:34
quietly. I turned on a couple lights um in rooms where I didn't see her and I found the room where she was and she was
02:29:42
fast asleep. That was the room her jewelry box was in. Okay. And so I I opened the jewelry box, took the stuff
02:29:50
out, put it in the the thing. Maybe he went back. I don't know. But I didn't kill her.
02:29:58
Yeah. I told him that's that's impossible. Everything you said is true except that it's not possible she was
02:30:04
still alive when you left. And I explained that the person who turned on those light switches, you talked about
02:30:11
turning on. The person who removed that pillowcase, you talked about removing. The person who removed those drawers,
02:30:17
you talked about removing. That person had Kathy Blair's blood on his hands. So the person who did all that killed
02:30:28
Kathy Blair. I kept pushing him for the reason. Something happened in that room when you were there. What happened? And
02:30:35
that's when he said, "I was standing there. I was looking at her." With no room left to lie, he breaks
02:30:43
down. She woke up. She lunged at me, grabbed the knife, started trying to wrestle it out of my hand, and then it
02:30:54
was a struggle, and I stabbed her in the neck. The confession came unexpectedly. The
02:31:04
witness was now the prime suspect. We had gone to clear the guy and instead he confessed to capital murder. Gampan
02:31:13
Elkazar kept talking and claimed that after murdering Kathy Blair, he handed off her jewelry to Parl. Did you get to
02:31:20
keep any of it? No, he didn't give me anything. I got nothing. You're going to have to ask him where he fenced it.
02:31:28
Shawn Gampanelkazar appears to have gained absolutely nothing from this senseless murder. I've never met anyone
02:31:37
who would go into someone's house and sneak in at night and and murder them in their bed. For what reason? None. For
02:31:44
their own gratification. That's it. We're going to place you under arrest for capital murder. Detectives
02:31:50
immediately read Gant Benelkazar his rights. But they still wanted to learn what he knew about the murder of the
02:31:57
Shelton. We started talking again. Ask him about the Shelton. Try as they might, Gampen Elkazar wasn't
02:32:04
talking anymore. Well, I wasn't there for that one. I don't know anything about that one. By
02:32:09
this point, everyone is exhausted. So, eventually, he just he terminated the interview. He said, "I'm done." Done.
02:32:17
Wish this all had never happened. After the arrest, Detective Scandlin made this
02:32:21
video of Gamp Benelkazar on his cell phone. His hunch seemed right. That's the moment that you think That Yeah, that's
02:32:31
what I thought it was him. Two men are in jail in connection with the murder of a beloved choir teacher. 4 days later,
02:32:37
Austin police announced that they had made two arrests. 30-year-old Shaun Gant Benal Khazar of Galveastston is charged
02:32:44
with capital murder. 49year-old Timothy Parlland is also expected to face charges related to Blair's murder. Shan
02:32:51
Gant Benel Khazar, he was a UT graduate. He had no criminal record of any kind. How did he get involved with a crime
02:32:57
like this? Tim Parlland had an answer. Later, while in custody, Parland admitted to the cops
02:33:04
that he had driven Gampen Alcazar to Kathy Blair's house and to the Shelton residence on the nights they were
02:33:11
murdered. And Parlland says he knew all along that Gamp and Alkazar had killed all three of them. Investigators now
02:33:19
thought they understood what had happened. Shawn murdered the Sheltons. Tim Parlland was a party to that murder
02:33:26
and he planned it. He facilitated it. He profited from it. He assisted in it. But
02:33:33
you are 100% convinced that it was Shawn who murdered that couple? Yes. Will he ever be brought to trial for it? It
02:33:40
seems unlikely. Unlikely because there was no direct evidence linking Gampan Alcazar to the
02:33:47
Shelton murders and he would always deny he had killed them. Prosecutors would focus instead on building their
02:33:56
strongest case, using Gampanelkazar's confession to convict him of killing Kathy Blair.
02:34:04
But when Shawn Gampanelkazar finally gets his day in court, no one could have anticipated what would happen next.
02:34:12
Makes you worry because this guy cannot be out on the streets. [Music] Okay, good morning ladies and gentlemen.
02:34:32
We're here to start the trial in the state of Texas versus Sha Gant Ben Alcazar this morning. 3 years after
02:34:37
Shawn Gant Benelkasar confessed to the murder of Kathy Blair, his trial begins. Did then and there intentionally commit
02:34:45
murder by causing the death. You never know what a jury's going to do, but it was a very, very strong case. You're all
02:34:51
here today. Assistant Das Andrea Austin and David Lovingston present the state's
02:34:57
case. The man who sits among us in this courtroom, the defendant, Sean Gantazar,
02:35:03
is Kathy Blair's killer. How hard was it to be there during that trial? It was really hard.
02:35:12
There were some pictures throughout that that I saw that I can't unsee. There was a car that parked while I was
02:35:22
out on the walk. Kathy's neighbor, Rob Leaf, testifies about the video he recorded on the night she was murdered.
02:35:29
By the time I zoomed and zoomed back in, someone was already out of the car and was crossing onto the sidewalk. that
02:35:35
someone, the prosecutor tells the jury, was Shawn Gampanelkazer, on his way to murder Kathy Blair. I just kind of
02:35:44
looked through the rooms, you know, and I I turned on a couple lights um in rooms where I didn't see her. The
02:35:51
prosecution's case hinges on G Benazar's rambling 5-hour confession where he describes breaking into Cathy's house.
02:36:02
She woke up. She lunged at me. He had a knife out. They fought over the knife and I
02:36:12
stabbed her in the neck. He didn't just kind of confessed. He straight up confessed to all the details
02:36:23
of of killing Kathy Blair. Signed right here. That confession was vital to the prosecution's case. He gave enough
02:36:32
details in this confession that were kept out of the media so we could show the confession was from the actual
02:36:38
killer and that he knew enough about this crime to have either been there or done it himself. There's no question
02:36:45
that this is a horrible, horrible crime. But Gapanelazar's defense lawyer, Ariel
02:36:51
Pion, makes a bold accusation right off the top. that damning video. She just was trying to fight the knife away from
02:36:59
me and I was It was all a lie. A false confession coerced by detectives Israel and Scandlin.
02:37:08
No, I'm just wondering. The defense tells the jury that during that 5-minute bathroom break in the
02:37:15
hallway when Gamp Benelkazar was not being recorded, detectives threatened him. Law enforcement went down there. We
02:37:23
believe the evidence will show with the express idea, plan, purpose, and intent to try to get him to confess to
02:37:32
something he didn't do. They have to come up with something. They have to argue that it's a involuntary statement,
02:37:38
but we obviously knew that wasn't true. The exact words were, "This is important
02:37:42
and we're not you're not going anywhere until we finish." Gampelazar takes the stand to blame the cops for his
02:37:49
confession. That if I I didn't explain a reason for having done it, even though I
02:37:55
didn't do it, um I would get the death penalty. And he maintains that it was actually Tim Parland who killed Kathy
02:38:02
Blair on that chilly December evening back in 2014. Were you worried the jury might You always have to worry with
02:38:10
juries. You don't get blood on your hands and put it on a jewelry test. At closing arguments, prosecutors insist
02:38:17
Gap and Elkazar voluntarily confessed and offered details about the crime only the killer could have known. I think it
02:38:25
comes down to a credibility. And hopefully are sitting there thinking, "This guy confessed. Why are we here?"
02:38:32
The case goes to the jury. When the hours started ticking away, two, three, five, six, seven, eight,
02:38:43
nine, you feel you feel awful. Were you worried? Yes. The idea that he would get out
02:38:53
is just unthinkable. I mean, Sean is going to kill somebody else if he got out. After 19 hours of jury deliberations,
02:39:07
this time I'll declare a mistrial. A mistrial. The jury cannot reach a verdict. If one person held out, she
02:39:17
didn't want to consider the confession. I mean, look, that's what this system is
02:39:21
about. We We're required to get a unanimous verdict. We didn't get a unanimous verdict. How hard was it to
02:39:26
hear that there was a mistrial and you would have to go through it all over again? really hard. Yeah, that was that
02:39:31
was tough. With a retrial in the works and Tim Parland's trial less than a month away, prosecutors were worried.
02:39:40
Could they get any jury to convict either of these men? Good morning. This man Timothy Parland
02:39:59
knew that Shan Gant would go in and murder Captain Blair. With Sha Gamp and Elkazar's mistrial still fresh in her
02:40:07
mind, prosecutor Andrea Austin is determined to put Tim Parland away for life. He stands trial for both the
02:40:15
murders of Kathy Blair and the Sheltons. In Texas, if you were part of the crime,
02:40:22
then you are also guilty of that crime. You can convict him even if you don't believe he stepped foot inside that
02:40:28
house because he was there and he participated. Correct. I'm going to ask you to find him guilty of capital
02:40:35
murder. Detectives were convinced Gant Vanelazar had killed the Shelton, but had no
02:40:43
evidence to charge him with their murders. So Tim Parlin would prove to be an easier target for prosecutors.
02:40:50
Parland admitted he drove Gampan Elkazar to both murder scenes. And the car Parlin was driving had Kathy Blair's
02:40:57
blood in it. Oh, he did much more than sit in the car. He's the one who targeted Kathy.
02:41:06
He's the one, for whatever reason, said, "Hey, you know what? This would be a good person for you to murder."
02:41:13
Morning ladies and gentlemen. Parland's lawyer Keith Lowerman argues that despite his client having confessed to
02:41:20
driving Gampelazar to both murders, there is no evidence placing Parland inside the two houses. He never set foot
02:41:29
in either one of these houses. And at the very end, you're going to realize that this man in those hands never
02:41:36
participated in any murders. After a nine-day trial, the jury doesn't take long to reach a verdict. We, the
02:41:46
jury, find the defendant, Timothy Parley, guilty of the offense of capital murder. Guilty.
02:41:52
Parlin is sentenced to mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole
02:41:58
for his role in the murders of Kathy Blair and Sydney and Billy Shelton. Five months later, Gampanelazar went to
02:42:06
trial a second time for the murder of Kathy Blair. The nerves were much higher the second round. Well, there's a lot at
02:42:14
stake. There's a lot at stake. The vehicle parked on the side of the street that it wasn't in front of a house.
02:42:21
Again, Rob Leaf's testimony is critical for the prosecution. And uh did at some point did you see an
02:42:28
individual get out of that car? Yes, sir. I did. I want you to watch this. It was a
02:42:34
struggle and I stabbed her in the neck. I I didn't Look what he does with his hands. I was just
02:42:42
He's retrieving a memory, right? Involuntarily, he's doing this. He remembers doing because he's the one who
02:42:50
murdered her. The police wouldn't let me go. It was my understand. Once more, Gampanelazar swears the cops coerced his
02:42:57
confession. And I come out of the bathroom. They keep saying, "Oh, we we know you did it. There's no doubt you
02:43:02
did it. And they keep saying it. Keep saying it. And I just got worn down. This time out, the jury deliberates less
02:43:09
than 3 hours. We, the jury, find the defendant, Shan Gamp Benazar, guilty of the offense of
02:43:17
capital murder. We poured our emotions out into this case. Was justice delayed and
02:43:29
Yeah. But delivered. but delivered. Like Tim Parliament before him, Shaun Gamp and Elkazar was sentenced to life
02:43:37
in prison without the possibility of parole. We're pleased. Um we miss Kathy. This isn't going to bring her back. Our
02:43:45
hearts are never going to completely heal. A few months after the verdict, I spoke
02:43:53
with Gampen Elkazar via a prison video phone. I wanted to ask why. Why would a guy who'd never been in trouble with the
02:44:01
law suddenly turn into a vicious killer? Instead, with no evidence of any remorse, he repeated what he told the
02:44:11
jury, that he was innocent, the cops had forced him to confess, and that Tim Parlin was the one who had killed Kathy
02:44:19
Blair. When I went to go see him at 4 4:00 a.m., um, he said, "Well, we're going to go get breakfast." and uh drove
02:44:28
me out to the place and then said that he had killed her and told me about it. Tim Paron confessed to you that he
02:44:35
killed Kathy Blair. Yeah, that's right. How could you have known the movements of the killer?
02:44:43
Anything that um I said was something that either uh you know Tim told me or I just made up.
02:44:53
And not surprisingly, when I visited Parland at a prison in northeast Texas, hello. Hello. How you doing? He pointed
02:45:00
the finger at Campanelkazar and claimed he knew absolutely nothing about the murder of Kathy Blair. After Shawn
02:45:10
viciously kills Kathy Blair, gets back in your car and drives away and he goes back to Galveston. He never said a
02:45:16
thing. Never said a thing. He never said he stone cold individual actually. Right. You've been described as the
02:45:22
master manipulator that you talked him into doing it. My IQ is very low and I have a big heart. I
02:45:31
believe that it is. It's very low actually. And I have a big heart. So I'm not the mastermind behind anything.
02:45:36
You're just a big teddy bear behind bars. Yeah, pretty much. Rob Leaf is the accidental hero of this
02:45:44
story. Someone who never knew he'd be called upon to help solve a murder. And you ended up leaving the neighborhood. I
02:45:52
did. Needed to change. I did. Absolutely. I would not be where I am as a a professional actor and musician without
02:46:00
her influence. Kathy Blair's student Kristen Degrroot is moving to New York to pursue her dream of a career in
02:46:08
music. One of my greatest regrets is that I never was able to tell her that she did
02:46:15
this for me. How proud do you think she would be of you? I I hope she'd be really proud of me.
02:46:26
They're just evil people in the end. There's just two broken human beings who, you know,
02:46:35
basically put a path of destruction through, you know, two families. [Music] Two families who will forever share the
02:46:47
same tragedy. They were the best parents you could ever want. [Music] I just miss her.
02:46:57
And at the end of the day, she's gone and I can't call her tonight. [Music] 48 hours. Don't miss an episode.
02:47:21
[Music]