00:00:19
My story is evil. Sort of getting a taste of hell, but it's a story that needs to be told.
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My name is Victoria, but it's not my real name. I'm going to take you to a really dark
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place. I was 19 years old. I was an absolute rocker chick. That night I was with a few friends. We
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were gearing up to go out and look at Christmas lights. As I was going home that evening, I [music] know it was just
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after midnight. I was pulling into my complex. I noticed my gate was wide open. It [music] was extremely dark in the
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parking lot and the lights in over my carport [music] were um glitching [music] and
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I thought I had heard the sound of possibly somebody coming through the gate. It was
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that sound of tires going over like a rail. just the sound. I had taken my dog and um [music] stuck
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her inside my jacket and then folded her up real tight cuz it was very cold outside.
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And as I got out, I just had the weirdest feeling that I was being watched. [sighs] And
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as I got up to the sidewalk, I saw a shadow go in front of a light. And as I did that, a guy just came up uh
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and Fastly approached me and he kept saying, "Excuse me, excuse me. I'm lost. Can you help me find where the beach
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is?" And then a second person comes up. He had a cigarette in his hand. And I [music] see this in slow motion in my
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head. I see him flicking it. And I said to myself, "Watch where it lands." And then bam, I got pounced from the
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front and from the back. He slammed a gun to my head. And he's just like in my ear, "I'm going to kill
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you so bad. I'm going to throw you off the cliffs. I'm going to mutilate you and throw [music] you down the cliffs."
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And I fought with everything I had in my soul to not be a missing person or to have a toe tag at the end.
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Victoria's story is a miraculous tale of survival. But even nearly 25 years after the
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attack, it's not over. which is why she's not using her real name on camera. [music] I've been referenced as Jane Doe
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for many years. I just remembered thinking, I don't have a tow tag. I lived through that night.
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A warning. Some of the details of Victoria's ordeal are difficult to hear. With sheer will, Victoria survived a
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series of terrible events, beginning with the assault on that Christmas Eve. Her attackers came out of nowhere. One
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she thought was Hispanic. The other an intimidating Asian man who, according to Victoria, was the one calling the shots
00:04:57
that night. Bam! I got sandwiched like a bear trap. He gouged me in the eyes. as hard as he could and [music] he
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slammed a gun to my head. He tells me, "Bitch, you're going to die tonight. I'm going to effing kill you."
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And at that [music] moment, my little puppy dog, who was caught in between all this, bit him so hard in the
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wrist, and he says, "What the f was that?" They both [music] kind of broke free for a second. I threw my dog in the
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bushes as I ran because I didn't want her to get killed. And then my hair got pulled back. And
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then they both jumped on top of me and just started beating me. And he just takes his gun and he slammed it into my
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mouth. And he takes my hair and he turns me to the side and he says, "Do you see
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that?" And it was the Hispanic man with his gun pointed at the windows of my neighbors.
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And the Asian guy says in my ear, "The first one, >> the first one, the first one
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>> that hears you, they're going to get their head blown off and you're going to
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watch. >> The first one." >> So, it's your choice. And [sighs] I heard this really loud
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smack, what I thought to sound like maybe a bowling ball being dropped on cement.
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When I came to the door was opened and they threw me in. And then he asked me where the cliffs
00:07:09
were. Take us to the cliffs. Do we need to go to the cliffs? He's trying to get me to pick out where
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I'm going to be thrown to. And as we were going, I I had this flash of my funeral.
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So I zoned out of that and I said to myself, there's two guns, silencers are on them, and
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nobody knows I'm missing. So it is going to be game on from this point. And I need to think of everything I can
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cuz all I have is my mind. That's my only weapon. So I'm like, there are no cliffs around here. I don't
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know where there are any cliffs. They ended up pulling over in front of someone's house
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and the Asian guy said, "Bitch, take your clothes off." And he took his gun and showed me that it was loaded.
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And he put that into my ear and told me not to get any ideas cuz he will have no
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problem splattering my brains in this car. And proceeded to rape me for the first time.
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And then he proceeded to say, "I needed a beach girl for my Christmas present to
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myself because I'm gonna throw you down. I'm going to make sure the cops see you." He had a specific role for me.
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And I felt like my only chance to live was to rewrite that role. just so happens that I have in my wallet
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a friend of mine's newborn baby picture that she had mailed me and I remembered saying that I had a a kid I
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had a baby and you're going to let me out so I can go and see my son and he says [ __ ] you
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think I'm going to let you go after you've identified me and I said you poked my eyeballs out with contacts
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in them. I can't see right now and then it got real quiet and I just thought, did they buy that?
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Did they buy that? >> Victoria was desperately trying to gain their sympathy. Yet, the assault
00:10:03
continued for what felt like hours. The two men taking turns raping her at gunpoint in the back of the car. And
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when things couldn't get worse, they did. The man in charge became even more sadistic.
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And I'm like, "This guy is psychotic. He is an animal." I just remember thinking,
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"At this point, I would rather die than continue where where I'm at right now." And he rips the door open, rips me out
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by my hair. I'm naked. He's got me with a gun to my head right here. Right here.
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And so I'm on all fours like this. He's telling me, "Bitch, keep your head down.
00:11:00
Keep your head down." Right as he goes to pull the trigger, the other guy throws a jacket on me real
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quick and he goes, "What the are you doing, man?" And the friend says, "She's cold, man."
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And here I am on the ground going, "Oh my god, the guy has caved. He feels something
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for me. And it was that pivotal moment. He comes down to me and he said, "One, two.
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By the way, [ __ ] merry effing Christmas. Run. I just kept thinking evil has crossed my path. I was
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kidnapped. I was tortured and I was left for dead. By the grace of God, I knew the right words to say and I
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ended up getting away. I was like, "Oh my god, did I really make it? Am I not in a car?"
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Victoria was suddenly free, running for her life. A family took her in and called 911. But before she went to the
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hospital, Victoria returned with investigators to the initial crime scene. They were looking for evidence.
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Victoria was looking for something she had left behind. I got out and I'm calling for my dog,
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Shasse, Shasse. And I didn't hear anything and I'm like, "Oh my god, I probably killed her when I
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threw her." And I'm crying now because I'm thinking she's dead. And [sighs] I heard this screech sound. Y
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like this. And I saw her and I'm like, Shassy, come here, girl. And I look over and
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these officers are at the end of the sidewalk balling and jumping up and down and saying, "She found her. She found
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her." It was a perfect moment. We got to the hospital. We went into the waiting room.
00:14:03
You know, it was kind of all confusing because at 12 years old, I didn't understand what was happening and no one
00:14:09
was saying anything and all we knew was just that my sister was hurt. I had red marks going across each one of
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my eyes where apparently his nails had gone in and uh cut the backs of my eyes. I had a semi- dislocated shoulder. I had
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dislodged part of my hinge in my jaw. Majority of my teeth were extremely loose. I lost a lot of hearing from the
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head trauma. I was in so much pain that on a scale from 1 to 10, I would have registered a thousand.
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I guess the way you could explain it is it took the air out of my lungs. It was just devastating.
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Nothing that any child that age should have to see. She was always the strong one and always
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our rock and now she was made into nothing. Now she's the one that needed us. They took me
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into hiding at my grandmother's house in Huntington Beach. I wanted a shower. I wanted to be clean.
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And I remembered my mom and she just lost it. >> My mom couldn't do it. It was just too
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It was too hard for her. So, I took her, you know, but I just had to reassure her. It's okay. I'm going to get you
00:16:00
clean. We're going to make you beautiful, you know. And just if you've ever watched a horror movie and seen
00:16:09
a murder scene in a shower, that is what it looked like. All this stuff was was touching my foot,
00:16:20
my ankles, like something. It reminded me of when I was in the beach. That seaweed would wrap up around your
00:16:24
ankles. I was like, "What is that? What is that? What is that?" She said, "Don't look down. Don't look
00:16:35
down." >> As I [music] washed her hair and as I tried to smooth it out, just chunks of hair came out.
00:16:44
And by the time we were done, probably half of her hair was on the floor of [music] the shower. had just been held
00:16:52
on there by the blood that was in her hair. [music] That day made me an adult. It was a nightmare
00:17:06
and it's still a nightmare and there's not a day that I don't think about it. My sister's so brave
00:17:15
and she was so strong and got me through the worst day of my life, which was Christmas Eve.
00:17:32
I was assigned Victoria's case on Christmas Eve of 1990. Well, when the case was first assigned
00:17:41
to me, I looked at it and I realized we really had a problem here. These were two violent offenders, I felt certain
00:17:47
that they were going to continue to assault. And so, I set everything else aside on my desk to work this one.
00:17:55
>> I remember sitting there and them asking me, "What was the shape of the brow?
00:18:02
What was the face shape? What did their hair look like? We post the composite drawings uh
00:18:10
through the news media on television. Just about any place we could distribute the composite drawings we did, hoping we
00:18:16
get somebody to to recognize them. But investigators had something else. DNA. Evidence collected from Victoria's
00:18:34
body at the hospital and from the jacket she was wearing that night yielded profiles for two men. And there was
00:18:42
another clue, something Victoria remembered her attackers discussing. I know that they were saying
00:18:56
show the respect to Sons of Samoa and and really playing into that as though they were part of that gang. And I saw a
00:19:05
smug, self-centered psychopath. He carved SOS onto my rear end. I know. I've heard of SOS before. They
00:19:25
were a really bad gang. >> I thought that they had uh had screwed up by telling her that and not killing
00:19:31
her. I thought that was a real viable lead. I knew we'd get these guys. I was in a 90% certain range that we get them
00:19:37
real quickly. Detective House told me people like this who do heinous acts will slip up one day
00:19:48
and I'll be there when that day happens. I felt like my whole life was completely
00:20:20
dominated by this attack. And it really beat me down because I thought I survived it. [music] And the realization
00:20:30
was that my journey had just begun. They broke her. They broke her spirit. She just was different.
00:20:43
She didn't smile. She didn't laugh. I remember when I would knod off to sleep. I was back in the car again.
00:21:02
I would wake up screaming and I would shake like a seizure. I was in the moment every time I closed
00:21:14
my eyes. So why would I want to close my eyes? I'd have to talk to her and talk to her
00:21:24
to get her to realize you're okay. You're safe. You're safe. Things that set me off would be the break of a car,
00:21:31
a door shutting, the phone ringing, knocks on my door, TV, the news. Somebody passed by a window, and I I
00:21:41
heard this this quick move and the shadow. They're coming to get me again. They're coming to get me again.
00:21:50
>> I would double check all the windows and doors for her over and over cuz she was
00:21:56
too terrified. [music] How in the world am I going to get past this? >> This one was at the top of the pile for
00:22:08
a very long time. I thought there was enough information immediately to have these guys in jail in a few weeks. We
00:22:15
worked at Sons of Samoa Angle for about a year. There was nothing. There was no rumors on the street. There was no gang
00:22:21
intel. There was no one matching the descriptions. [music] So, I had to come to the conclusion that it was a false
00:22:26
lead. What didn't we have in this investigation? We did not have a license plate. We did not have fingerprints.
00:22:32
Nobody else saw the bad guys coming or going. What we had was a lot of nothing, but we knew we had to work the DNA.
00:22:41
And in 1990, DNA evidence was just starting to become popular. And so, we had this good DNA evidence that would
00:22:47
tie us to somebody. We just didn't have a big enough data bank to make the connection. It was incredibly
00:22:54
frustrating. After the days turned into weeks and turned into months, >> I'd have to tell her, "No, we got
00:23:05
nothing." >> And then years went by. >> Case had gone cold and actually gone to the point to where we weren't actively
00:23:12
doing a lot with it. Knowing that they were still out there made me fear for every single person on
00:23:20
the street in the daytime walking amongst two demons cuz they were out there and nobody knew who they were.
00:23:36
For my sanity and my health, I was going to leave the state and start over fresh.
00:23:46
It was amazing. It felt like the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. Eventually, I made it to where it wasn't
00:23:55
with me every day. I could sleep through a whole night. I was regaining some of my inner peace.
00:24:04
And I think with that, allowing myself to feel [music] again. I had made a phone call to an old friend
00:24:12
and [music] the day he showed up, he never left and then I ended up having twins. It's
00:24:20
the highlight of our lives. In one day, I received a phone call that I waited for for 18 years.
00:24:33
>> I said, "Yeah, we got him." We finally got a DNA hit. [music] This was the best
00:24:37
part of the story. >> Yes. Yes. >> To know that one of them was caught. >> Just to confirm that she could identify
00:24:46
him, we arranged to send the photo lineup to her. >> So the moment I looked at this lineup, I
00:24:53
immediately knew. >> And she goes, "Number one, no. Number two, no. Number three, no. Number four,
00:24:59
no. >> Number five was him." That's the face I see every night when I go to bed before I fall
00:25:06
asleep. That's the nightmare I have. I don't have to look at number six. >> When I [music] saw his face,
00:25:13
>> I said, "You're caught. It's you and I've caught you and you're going to go down."
00:25:22
>> Please welcome from Huntington Beach, California, Joe Son. >> The name to the DNA was a man named
00:25:30
Joseph Sun. rather than going and hiding and staying away from the limelight, he was in the
00:25:36
MMA >> and now he's in command on the ground. >> It all came together. That's why he was
00:25:43
doing all the wrestling type moves with me. >> Oh, now he's working the choke. He's got
00:25:48
around. He's no longer armed. >> Joseph's son was in the DNA database only because he had a conviction after
00:25:56
he kicked in the door of a former roommate's car. As part of his plea deal, son had agreed to submit his DNA,
00:26:04
and that's what led to the hit in Victoria's case in 2008. But investigators couldn't believe what
00:26:11
else they found. He was an actor with a role in a Hollywood blockbuster. Austin Powers: International Man and Mystery.
00:26:22
I had his movie sitting on my rack. I remember running over to there and just destroying it because I thought, "Are
00:26:33
you serious? He's in my home." So, we're trying to give you your opportunity to tell us what happened
00:26:44
that night. >> I've never done anything like that. I have no idea what you're talking about.
00:26:50
>> Completely denied the crime. Completely denied any contact with her whatsoever.
00:26:54
>> That's nasty. That wasn't me. >> We knew that he was lying to us. I prefer confession, but sometimes a lie
00:26:59
is just as good. >> Despite Sun's denials, there was that DNA. So in October 2008, he was charged
00:27:08
with multiple counts of rape and kidnapping and then the case was handed off to another DA brand new to the
00:27:16
sexual assault unit. It was my first day. I had been on the job in sexual assault for maybe
00:27:26
half an hour. I just pulled a case down by random and it's the Joseph Sun case. I cannot believe the horrors that this
00:27:42
woman had to go through. This is my entire case load. I'm never going to survive.
00:27:48
This is a case that you have to work for. You have to fight for to make sure she gets justice.
00:27:56
I was glad we had Joseph's son, [music] but I wanted to find the second suspect.
00:28:00
You know, he's dangerous. You know, he's out there. That was my priority number one.
00:28:13
[music] When I got this case, it kept me up at night. We had identified one of the suspects
00:28:33
who had assaulted Victoria and I knew there was another one out there. And that's really where I focused my
00:28:40
initial energy. So, we decided to put Joseph's son's picture out on a bulletin along with the sketch of the second
00:28:47
asalent and we put it out to the media. >> We weren't getting anything. I mean, nothing. And we're going, come on. You
00:28:56
know, this somebody has to know this guy. And then a couple of days into it, we get an email from a man who wanted to
00:29:02
be anonymous. >> He told us he didn't know anything about the crime, but he knew Joseph's son in
00:29:08
high school, and he knew one of Joseph's friends, and the sketch looked a lot like that friend. It's a couple of
00:29:17
months of hard detective work and they were able to put together a very good profile about who this individual was
00:29:24
and where he was living >> and his name was Santiago Gayan. >> We still need to identify him. We still
00:29:32
have DNA evidence for the second offender. So, we need to get his DNA and compare that.
00:29:38
>> Two Huntington Beach detectives set up surveillance outside of his apartment complex. They were there for maybe 30
00:29:44
minutes [music] and they saw Santio Gaiton walking out of his apartment drinking a bottle of sun-kissed soda and
00:29:51
throwing out the trash. Finishes his last drink from the bottle and puts it on top of the dumpster. The detectives
00:29:58
get out of the car, they grab the bottle, they bag it, they grab the trash, they take that with them,
00:30:03
>> and what do you know? Was a DNA match. >> So Santio Gaiton is arrested. That was
00:30:11
the best night's sleep of my life. >> Mr. Gaiton had minimal criminal history. He had moved out of state and
00:30:20
essentially had tried to start a new life for himself. He had a wife. He had a couple of children. He was like anyone
00:30:26
else you might meet. So, we've identified the suspects. Now is when the real work begins. Anytime
00:30:35
you have a case that's 18 years old, you know there's the potential for things to
00:30:39
go wrong. Memories fade. Evidence gets lost. So, I wanted to make sure that I dotted my eyes and I crossed my tees.
00:30:48
Let's get ready. Let's get ready for trial. >> But things did go wrong. Very wrong.
00:30:54
Deputy DA Scarbor made a sickening discovery. It had taken police so long to track down the suspects. The statute
00:31:04
of limitations for rape and kidnapping had run out. It was like my stomach had hit the
00:31:14
floor. There was the very real likelihood that we were going to have to dismiss the case and they were going to
00:31:20
walk out of the courthouse scot-free. >> Oh my god. >> I spent the weekend looking for
00:31:29
different ideas and different angles. I reread through the entire case file and so a light went off. Why don't I
00:31:39
charge torture? There was no other way to describe the defendant's conduct other than they had
00:31:47
tortured her. Because torture carries the possibility of life imprisonment. There is no statute of limitations.
00:31:56
There was still going to be an opportunity to bring Victoria justice. One of my absolute best days,
00:32:04
bar none. Santiel Gaiton's attorney ultimately approaches me and says his client is
00:32:13
willing to plead guilty. >> I agreed that a plea deal would be acceptable, but he needed to confess
00:32:20
what he did. He confessed to everything and they gave him 17 years. Son decided that he wanted to go to
00:32:33
trial. He wasn't going to confess to anything. Then let's get ready to go. >> An actor from the Austin Powers Movies
00:32:40
goes on trial in Orange County this week for charges of a violent rape. >> The trial took place in August of 2011.
00:32:47
Victoria was essential to this prosecution. >> I had a job to do. My job was to put
00:32:52
away what I considered one of the biggest monsters ever. >> I was terrified for my sister cuz I knew
00:33:00
that she was going to have to see him. My biggest concern about going in the courtroom
00:33:08
was making eye contact. I didn't want him to be able to wink at me or do anything that would give him
00:33:18
the sensation that he was doing something to me again. So, I didn't allow him eye contact.
00:33:27
>> The testimony was heart-wrenching to hear. The jurors were horrified >> and they needed to hear every single
00:33:39
detail. >> There were jurors who had tears in their eyes. >> There wasn't a dry eye in the whole
00:33:46
courtroom. >> Joseph's son did not testify during the trial. At various times throughout the
00:33:56
case, he would attempt to yell out, "That's a lie. They're making this up. [sighs]
00:34:06
>> When I was waiting for the jury to make their decision, in my head, I thought,
00:34:11
"Was everybody affected? Did they believe me? Did they see the evidence?" DNA is DNA.
00:34:16
>> There are no guarantees in a jury trial. >> What if 99% of them feel one way and one
00:34:22
doesn't? The jury deliberated for a few hours before they reached the verdict. >> He was guilty.
00:34:38
Guilty of torture. I just thought you son of a [ __ ] Now you're the one who has your hands
00:34:48
behind your back. Have a little taste of my life and what you put me through. Joseph's son was sentenced to seven
00:34:58
years to life in prison, which meant that theoretically he would one day be eligible for parole. But then just one
00:35:06
month later, guards made a gruesome discovery. No one was safe around Joseph's son.
00:35:17
No one's safe. >> [music] >> In my [music] career, I have dealt with what I think is some of the worst
00:35:43
of the worst that humanity has produced. Joseph's son, I think, deserves a place
00:35:51
at the top of that list. Joseph's son was convicted and sentenced. He was transported to state
00:35:59
prison. Within a very short time of being there, he murdered his cellmate. The fact that the cellmate died of
00:36:13
punches, kicks, and blows It just sounded exactly like the person that I was with that night who did the
00:36:24
same thing to me. >> Under California law, if you're serving a life term in prison and you kill
00:36:32
somebody in prison, that could be a death penalty trigger. And so it would be possible for them to
00:36:40
file a death penalty case against Joseph's son for this. And if so, Victoria would need to come and testify
00:36:44
at the sentencing to say, "This is the crime he committed against me. He's bad enough a guy to warrant that level of
00:36:52
punishment." Honestly, in the very beginning, I didn't think he deserved to live,
00:37:01
but there was a lot more to it than that that I had to think about. I didn't know
00:37:05
if I had enough energy to do this battle. I understood they wanted to put him to death.
00:37:15
I mean, he [music] killed somebody. They tried to kill me. He's an animal. But I just felt at the end of the day
00:37:26
that I was done. I had a life to live and I wasn't interested anymore. So, prosecutors dropped the death
00:37:42
penalty for Joseph's son's upcoming trial. But Victoria's ordeal was still not over. It's hard to believe, but once
00:37:53
again, she found herself in a fight for her life. I had noticed in May of 2014 that I wasn't feeling [music] that
00:38:11
great. I shared with my husband that and he said, "Get to the doctor immediately."
00:38:18
He just had a bad [music] feeling. I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. I think you
00:38:33
for a minute or so lose your faith that why is this happening to my sister so many times? Why is she
00:38:42
being attacked in different [music] ways? Why can't she just have a beautiful happy life? Why now does this have to
00:38:51
come in? I needed to get in immediately. and start getting treatment. >> When she got diagnosed, I told her, "I'm
00:39:02
going to shave my head because I didn't want her to go through it alone." And I wanted to make her feel that I
00:39:11
supported her. [music] To shave your head for someone in my heart meant that I'm traveling with you.
00:39:23
It made me feel like I wasn't the only bald person in the room and it made me feel like I had someone
00:39:32
like me there. >> Can you see? I apologize. >> I've managed to bounce back pretty good.
00:39:41
>> I'm in remission and I'm just going to stay in that light for as long as it allows me to.
00:39:51
She has that something in her that allows her to bounce back even when bad things happen to her. It's quite
00:39:57
remarkable of her to do that. I don't know if it's in her DNA or in her karma or in her personality. The way she was
00:40:03
raised, I have no idea. For her to not only survive, but to survive well and do well is is it's a
00:40:11
miracle. It's miraculous stuff. I chose the name Victoria because I find that it's more rewarding and more healing to
00:40:28
be called Victoria because it was a victory. It was [music] an epic victory. There is happiness after tragedy.
00:40:40
It's okay to be happy again. I've had my kids. We're in a good place. I'm healthy again.
00:40:52
And I rock out every chance I get. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey.
00:41:34
[music] >> [music] >> It was a stunning summer night. The moon was out. Beautiful full moon.
00:42:20
I'm still afraid during full moons. Not really afraid of the moon, but just that something bad
00:42:29
could happen during a full moon. On August 28th, [music] 1996, I went out on a date with my Zach.
00:42:44
It was [music] the very first time he'd asked me out on a date. And a part of me
00:42:49
just thought, why would I go on a date with you? You're my Zach. You're my friend. But then I thought, absolutely.
00:43:02
We just started driving up the canyon. I remember feeling that little twinge of excitement when
00:43:11
you realize you really have a crush on someone and that they have a crush on you.
00:43:19
Zach Snar made me laugh and that connected us from the very beginning. In high school, we just [music] it
00:43:30
seemed like we had every class together and he'd always have some smart eloic remark to make when I walked in [music]
00:43:36
the classroom. And I think I started to look forward to those comments to see, well, what would
00:43:43
he say about me today? While we're driving, I remember thinking, I'm going to get a kiss
00:43:52
tonight. Zach's going to kiss me tonight. Zach turned into this parking lot and he
00:44:04
said, "Well, I've got a surprise for you." And then he pulled out his photography
00:44:10
equipment. And Zach was going to teach me how to take pictures. He loved black and white pictures. And
00:44:19
[music] we were going to get pictures of this full moon tonight. We went down a cement pathway
00:44:29
probably a hundred yards and I think it [music] was about that time that a white truck pulled up.
00:44:39
And in Utah at 9 8:30 at night, [music] cars pull up in the mountains. You don't think anything at all.
00:44:58
The man in the truck started walking toward us and he asks me, "Do you know where this path goes?"
00:45:12
And I answered back saying something like, "Oh, I don't know. We've never been here." Or, "I'm not sure."
00:45:21
And that's when I turned my back. And I don't know if Zach turned his head, too.
00:45:29
But I hope that Zach turned away because that's when the man pulled out a gun and
00:45:35
just open fired. [screaming] He aimed at us and let every single bullet out of his gun.
00:46:11
>> [music] >> I screamed [sighs] a loud shriek, bright bright lights, pungent acidy smell in the air, and my
00:46:29
ears just started ringing. I don't know where the first bullet hit me, but my body just [music] fell down.
00:46:40
Then it's silent for a minute, and then I remember thinking, "This is over now. This is over.
00:46:49
And it turns out that the man is reloading his gun and he's getting bullets out of his pocket and putting
00:46:55
them in his gun when then three or four more shots and they feel really close and I can feel
00:47:05
the speed and almost just wind brushing by. Then he stops finally. I don't dare move at that point.
00:47:20
All I could think of in my mind was hearing my dad saying, "If a grizzly ever attacks you, you need to hold still
00:47:28
and play [music] dead." And so I held my breath and I didn't close my eyes and I stayed as still as I
00:47:38
could. And when he moved my body, I just let it move with him because I needed to
00:47:45
be dead for him. When he touched me here on my hips, that was the first time I was really afraid.
00:48:03
That's when I thought, well, he's going to rape me. And that [music] terrified me much more
00:48:08
than what he had just done to us because I didn't have a concept of what being shot was. But everybody's afraid to be
00:48:17
raped. [music] But he didn't. Instead, he was looking for money, I assume, and he reached in all my
00:48:32
pockets. His face is this close to me, and he's breathing on me. And then the man ran up the mountain.
00:48:46
And I know he's gone for sure when I hear Zach's car start up. I yelled Zach's name
00:49:04
and it was so quiet. And I yelled again, "Zack." And it was the worst silence that I've
00:49:18
ever heard in my whole life. Well, I couldn't walk. I couldn't stand. But my arms were moving and my left leg
00:49:33
was moving. And I realized the closest way to get to the road was up the mountain side.
00:49:45
It felt so vertical that I just felt like I kept climbing up and then I'd fall back down.
00:49:55
I could feel cars driving by. I could feel the wind brushing against my face. I knew I was
00:50:05
so close to the road, but I have no idea how I got to the top. And uh I kneled on the side of the road
00:50:18
and waved my arms like this to the first car and it didn't stop. Our [music] plan was to get there in time to watch
00:50:38
the moonrise. All of a sudden, in the headlights in front of us crawled out from the side of
00:50:51
the brush, this woman covered in blood. It was like a horror movie but much worse because it's real.
00:51:11
She was in shock but she was able to hold a conversation. The victim told me [music] her name was
00:51:19
Iette Rodier and um that she and her friend had been shot. I wanted to help the person below, but I
00:51:29
was afraid to go down there. At this point, it was getting a little scary because we didn't know if the
00:51:40
person who had shot her was still lurking in the area. She was in and out of consciousness.
00:51:49
And every once in a while, she kept saying, "When is the help coming?" And uh we just kept saying they're they're
00:51:57
coming. They're coming. I remember getting in the helicopter on the gurnie, you know, facing straight
00:52:23
up to the sky. And one of the first things this paramedic in the helicopter says is,
00:52:33
"Well, you know, this is a beautiful night and we've got a pretty short flight, so
00:52:40
let's just enjoy this." And it was a beautiful night. And I do remember looking out at the sky and
00:53:00
being up in the air and feeling safe. And it's probably the last moment of peace I felt
00:53:11
for a long time. [music] I was shot at least four times and then several bullets grazed my head.
00:53:47
One of the bullets came and hit this shoulder and just dug a chunk of skin out. One of them came to my side and [music]
00:53:59
actually did expand and open up this entire left side. Then one came in behind it up higher and
00:54:10
came all the way through my torso to my inner thigh and that's where it got lodged.
00:54:20
And the fourth came right across my head. After the surgery, a social worker came in and she asked me
00:54:35
for Zach's [music] parents' number. We were all in bed. It was quarter to 1 in the morning and our doorbell rang.
00:54:53
My daughter uh got up and answered the door and she came in the bedroom and she said, "There's two detectives here and
00:54:59
they want to talk to you guys." And I sat straight up in bed and I said, "Zach's not home."
00:55:06
And it's like it hit me, "Zach's not home." So I think I at that instant I knew something was wrong.
00:55:16
I went in [music] there and I first thing I said was, "What's happened to my son?" And they said, "Well, your son was
00:55:22
involved in a shooting tonight." I was in such shock. I was hearing what they were saying, but it just wasn't
00:55:30
registering. And and I remember finally saying, "Are you telling me my son's dead?" And they just kind of looked at
00:55:36
me like, you know, it just was not real to me. and I just said, "I have to go to the
00:55:47
hospital. I have to go see a vet." I remember her leaning in and just hugging me
00:56:02
and feeling her arms around me. And I'm pretty [music] positive the first thing out of Sigh's mouth was, "We
00:56:10
are so glad [music] you lived. And that's still hard to think about because I felt horrible at that moment that I
00:56:28
had lived. And I would have given anything to switch and to let Zach be there and let
00:56:36
them be hugging their own son. It was a couple days after Zach was murdered that we were [music] sitting
00:56:54
out. I remember sitting out on the porch and my dad came out and said, "They caught him. They caught him." And we all
00:57:06
ran inside and the news was on. after allegedly shooting and leaving the two young people for dead at Little Dell
00:57:12
Reservoir. [music] >> There were all these reporters and all these flashes going off.
00:57:16
>> Murder suspect was [music] taken off to jail. >> Here's Jorge Ben Venudo, total stranger.
00:57:23
I remember just looking at him thinking, who who is this? You know, why why? >> Investigators say [music] George Benuto
00:57:31
had developed a fascination with death in recent weeks. Jorge Benvonuto was an [music] immigrant from Uruguay.
00:57:39
From what we've learned about him, he was just a loner. It took the police a couple of days to
00:57:46
find him. They knew immediately who it was because he had taken my brother's car and left
00:57:53
his car behind. He also had my brother's wallet. >> They [music] believe he abandoned his
00:57:57
truck at the scene and took Snar's Ford Bronco. The afternoon that they caught him, Ben Venudo had gone to a gas
00:58:04
station and was buying cookies with the last of Zach's money. The gas station attendant recognized him because his
00:58:12
picture had been all over the news. The police arrested him just behind [music] the gas station. He was sitting eating
00:58:20
the cookies. He just looked like this normal kid, you know, this young kid. and I just would
00:58:29
stare at his picture for hours. The policeman told us that he was 19 years old. They told us he had come from
00:58:37
Uruguay. He was living he lived in New York for a while and then moved out to Utah. And that he had bought a gun a
00:58:45
couple of weeks before and um apparently somebody had robbed his house. It made him very angry.
00:58:56
On the way to the interview, I was trying to understand what type of individual I would be talking with.
00:59:04
[music] During my conversation with Ben Venudo, he began offering his reason for
00:59:17
shooting these two young people. And part of his explanation was that he was tired of living himself, that he wanted
00:59:25
to do something. so bad that he would have the courage to then kill himself. But he said that in fact he'd lost his
00:59:36
nerve after he had shot both of these individuals. He had a real power trip with the
00:59:46
firearm. This made him feel powerful and somehow uh in control of things. When I described to Ben Venuto that he
00:59:59
had only completed killing one of the two individuals, the surprise was visible on his face. Uh he was almost um
01:00:07
disappointed that this gun that he treasured and thought so highly of let him down.
01:00:18
[music] He had told them, "I just wanted to watch someone die. I want to see what
01:00:23
it feels like to kill someone. I mean, they [music] could have taken a knife and run it through my body. I
01:00:30
don't think it would have been as painful because that's when we realized how it was a thrill kill. It was a
01:00:35
totally random thrill kill. I remember he was smiling and just looking into the camera.
01:00:45
Just made you sick. It just made me sick just to see him. In a way, I wish they would have just shot him right then and
01:00:52
there. I remember the next morning waking up in my room and it was a beautiful morning
01:01:17
and I remember the sun coming in through my window and the house was just silent
01:01:22
and I remember thinking it was it was a dream. What a horrible horrible nightmare.
01:01:31
And then [music] my bedroom door opened and my friend came in and she was just balling. And I that's when I knew that
01:01:37
oh my word this really happened. And it just seemed [music] so impossible that Zach could be gone
01:01:45
because honestly Zach was [music] just bigger than life. He had he had such a light about him that there was just no
01:01:53
way that anyone could have taken him from us. The funeral I remember being in our
01:02:14
church. Just the amount of people there was staggering. I mean, just there. It was standing room only. It was a
01:02:21
beautiful tribute for Zach. Iette was there and I remember she could barely walk. [music] She got out of the
01:02:28
hospital just long enough for the funeral and then she had to go back, but she was very weak. And I remember just
01:02:34
just she felt so bad. She felt so guilty. And here we are. We we just looked at her and she was such a
01:02:41
beautiful miracle for us. We were so grateful that she had survived. Walking out afterward behind his casket
01:02:54
[music] was painful was really when I just wanted to crawl up in a ball and hide from everybody and just not be
01:03:08
the girl that lived. I didn't want to be that [music] person right then. I just wanted to hide and be Zach's friend.
01:03:18
Our [music] house was so full of people and one day all of a sudden people quit coming
01:03:38
and it hit me so hard one day he's really not coming home and I found [music] out through
01:03:46
experience there is such a thing as a broken heart. You know, you hear of a broken heart, but it is a physical pain.
01:03:52
I never realized that. It hurt me to breathe. And I would look around and see all
01:03:59
these people [music] getting on with their lives. And I would think, how can they walk? How can they do what they're
01:04:05
doing? And how can they laugh? And how can they be happy? Because for me, life was basically over. I felt like it was
01:04:12
over. Before the shooting, I would say I [music] was a very trusting person. I was someone who
01:04:22
really thought everyone else in this world [music] was kind and generous and giving.
01:04:30
And after the shooting, I was terrified of everyone. Didn't trust. I didn't want to
01:04:38
socialize. Didn't want to leave my house. My mom made sure that someone was with me 24 hours a day in my room. I was
01:04:47
so afraid that this man was going to come and finish the job. I remember one night just feeling so
01:05:02
desperate for help and I went and I just became so angry. All a sudden, Ben Venudo had the power to make me who I've
01:05:13
always been a happy person. I I couldn't even smile. And I remember I went and I kicked a
01:05:20
hole in my wall in my apartment because I was just so angry. I think I really hated Jorge Benvveno when
01:05:32
it was like a [music] cancer spreading through my whole body. I wanted to hurt him.
01:05:41
I [music] wanted to hurt him. I can't hurt Zach. >> Well, it was pretty obvious that the
01:05:51
Snars thought the appropriate sentence was the death penalty. And they made that very clear to us.
01:06:02
Bob Stodd came in our home and I just looked at him and I said, "Kill him." >> We understood that and we told them, of
01:06:11
course, that that's what our goal was. Our object was to seek the most appropriate punishment. We certainly
01:06:18
felt that the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment. We were going after that.
01:06:26
>> I always knew I would have to testify at some point. And it scared me to get ready for it.
01:06:36
But there's no way you can really prepare to be in the same room as the man who shot you.
01:06:44
[music] I will never ever forget that day in court. Just knowing I was going to see Jorge
01:07:13
Benonuto for the first time scared me to death. At the beginning of the case, we had a preliminary hearing, which is
01:07:30
like a mini trial, and that's where I had to testify. The courtroom was packed. When they brought him into the
01:07:43
courtroom, I just felt like he sucked the air right out of there. Kind of. It's like I'm
01:07:50
looking at the person who who murdered my son. He didn't look [music] at us and I was
01:07:58
like, "Look at me." You know, look at me. This this boy had a mother. This [music]
01:08:05
this boy had a family who loved him. And he just didn't even look at us. When I saw him in the courtroom, I
01:08:15
realized he has no soul. And he stood there and pleaded not guilty. I don't remember actually walking to the
01:08:35
stand, but I do remember [music] sitting there and having to point him out and lifting my finger. And I remember
01:08:44
watching my finger and it just shook while I'm pointing at him that this is the man [music] who did it.
01:09:00
She looked so afraid [music] and she was trying so hard to be brave. I was amazed [music] that she could get
01:09:08
up there and look at him after what he had done to her. But she did it. She did it.
01:09:15
I imagined a lot what Zach would have done and he would have been so strong and so
01:09:24
brave during it. And so I just tried to be as [music] strong as Zach could have been.
01:09:37
Afterwards, she just [music] fell and she was just sobbing. I wanted him to get the death penalty.
01:09:54
Like he didn't have the right to live. We were ready to go to trial. We were ready to ask for the death penalty. We
01:10:08
had a good case. This is the kind of case that we would have won. But on the other hand, it's a very
01:10:16
difficult process. We have to convince the [music] jury beyond a reasonable doubt. 12 jurors. Even if one disagrees,
01:10:26
the death penalty is not given. And there will be countless appeals, countless habius corpuses. They'll have
01:10:33
to appear at different hearings. They'll see it in [music] the newspaper. They'll
01:10:38
see it on television. Ben Venuto said he shot them because he wanted to see what
01:10:43
it felt like to watch them die. >> And it won't be over for another 20 to 25 years.
01:10:59
Jorge did not want to die. So that is why Jorge Benvonuto decided to to ask for a plea bargain. He would accept a a
01:11:11
sentence of life without possibility of parole if he was not given the death penalty in a trial.
01:11:19
My family was very torn about it. Would it be giving up on Zach if [music] we if we took this plea bargain?
01:11:28
At the time, there was an execution going on in Texas. And I remember the [music] the crime had
01:11:34
happened 20 years before, but these protesters were protesting the [music] fact that they were going to,
01:11:42
you know, end his life and that he had changed his life and that he was truly sorry.
01:11:49
And I remember just thinking, I don't want that to happen to Zach. I don't want 20 years from now protesters out
01:11:57
there talking about what a great person Jorge Ben Venudo is. I I couldn't stomach the thought. And so that's why
01:12:04
we as a family decided to take the plea bargain. I know a lot of people were really
01:12:12
shocked the fact that we plea bargained. Um it was on talk radio. We had phone calls. The media, why would you do this?
01:12:21
I said, I do not want my son's trial turned [music] into a freak show. He deserves more dignity than that.
01:12:32
Having him just spend the rest of his life in prison is fine with me and I can [music] just know he's there in prison
01:12:41
forever. >> High drama in a Utah courtroom today as a killer is sent to prison for life
01:12:54
without parole. >> George Ben Bonuto killed a teenage boy and injured his friend.
01:13:02
It's like finally it was really over. When we walked out of the courtroom the day the man that [music] shot us, the
01:13:17
day he was sentenced, I was sure I was never going to see him again. I was never going to have to be in the same
01:13:24
room as him [music] again. And then the man that shot us filed an appeal that said he was depressed when
01:13:39
he made that deal. And because he was depressed when he made that deal, he should get out of it.
01:13:47
I remember [music] thinking of all the people to claim you're depressed and you should get out of consequences,
01:13:55
how dare you [music] >> [music] >> The good thing about the appeal is I got to make a victim statement and I wanted
01:14:24
Jorge Benvon to hear me. [music] I wanted him to know what he had done to us. And I turned right to him and looked
01:14:32
at him and I said, "Jorge, what was it like watching someone die?" [music] And I just stopped and waited. and he looked
01:14:40
up at me for one brief second and then [music] dropped his head again. That is the only time he's looked at me. And
01:14:46
then I said, "Was it worth it?" I didn't get an answer. Surprise, surprise. It was [music] like being kicked in the
01:15:10
stomach so hard. It's just indescribable how that felt. I could not believe [music] that he
01:15:17
could do that to us again. I know the name of the man who shot [music] me and who killed Zach, but I
01:15:33
don't say it out loud. I refuse to give him that power or [music] respect, and I've never said his name out loud, and I
01:15:42
never will. I've had five [music] operations total. It took about three years for me to
01:15:53
officially be out of hospitals. The most painful part has actually been the nerve damage. To not have sensation
01:16:04
on the right side of my body can be really painful sometimes. I would much rather have a surgery every
01:16:15
other week than have to feel the survivor's guilt. I would go over to the cemetery and
01:16:24
there would be the sweetest notes and little things on Zach's grave from Evette and and you could read her pain
01:16:33
that she felt so guilty for having survived. I didn't want to intrude. I didn't want
01:16:39
to force her to be part of our lives. I thought maybe it was too painful for her. But I really wanted her in my life
01:16:45
and our whole my whole family felt this bond towards her. Whenever I'm with her,
01:16:51
I think you were with my son and he was happy that night with you [music] >> and the stands. really
01:17:09
>> is the most consistently loving person that I could ever ask for in my life. And she's a person that knows how I
01:17:20
feel. I feel selfish about it, but I really value when she tells me that she's happy
01:17:30
that I'm here. I don't deserve it, but I appreciate it a lot. [music] I tried for [music] so long to be that
01:17:58
girl I was when I was 18. And it was actually my mom who finally one day said, "You know, you're going to
01:18:07
just need to mourn the event you were. She's gone and you won't ever be her again, but
01:18:18
[music] you have the chance to be someone a lot different and a lot better." Will you hold those? Speaking
01:18:24
of baseball. Speaking of baseball, >> I went to college to be a news anchor. >> Are you still recording? And I thought
01:18:30
that was going to be my happy ever after. Is that okay? >> But after the shooting and going through
01:18:36
the court process, I realized that the law is where a lot of good can happen for people. And I decided to go to law
01:18:45
school and am now able to help people in the law side of the criminal justice system.
01:18:53
>> I work entirely with victims of crime. And while I don't tell my story with them and they don't know what's happened
01:19:02
to me, >> I do feel like I'm able to give them a sense of compassion that maybe other
01:19:10
people can't, and that means the world to me. >> What's your favorite part on a horse?
01:19:16
I'm 32 years old. I have a [music] darling 7-year-old daughter. >> You get that, huh? I was married at one
01:19:27
point and my ex-husband and I tried really hard to [music] have that work and and it didn't unfortunately, but he
01:19:34
is the father of my daughter and together I think we're raising a pretty good kid. So,
01:19:42
I feel really lucky in my life. I miss Zach and I [music] I think about him all the time, like all the time.
01:19:54
[snorts] But I don't dwell on his death anymore. I dwell on his life. I have three children. My oldest is
01:20:02
Zachary Taylor Davis. [music] I wanted to name him after Zach. Sometimes it just brings tears to my eyes cuz, you
01:20:10
know, not only is he named after him, but I think he looks a [music] lot like him.
01:20:16
Every time I look at the moon, [music] I think of Zachary. He's the man in the moon to me. And I can never look at the
01:20:24
full moon without thinking of that night [music] that he saw the beauty in that full moon.
01:20:40
It's been 14 years since I was with Zach last. And I think of him every single day.
01:20:51
I can imagine his laugh. I would love to see him again and just run to him and hug him.
01:21:05
And it's interesting. I think I'll I I want to say, "Wasn't that night so scary?"
01:21:12
and have him look at me and say, "Yeah, it was." And he would know what I was talking about.
01:21:32
[music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Like many things in life, the facts of this case are not simple. They're not
01:22:13
[music] black and white. >> It's easy to forget how symbolic this trial was of a greater problem in the
01:22:20
world. >> You will hear strong, compelling evidence that explains the real reason
01:22:26
for this very sad and tragic [music] killing. It's been 6 years. Is it still hard to
01:22:33
believe that Blaze [music] is gone? >> It took a while for it to set in, but I'm at peace with it. Maybe that's
01:22:42
all that we were supposed to have. >> Happy birthday, dear. [music] >> There were like 19 years with so many
01:22:50
moments of brilliance and beauty. [applause] >> Blaze was very creative. Definitely when we were little kids.
01:23:00
[music] >> Did you want cheese? >> Sure. >> We were like attached at the hip. >> I think of him as somebody whose
01:23:08
potential for life [music] was completely obliterated. >> Bla1 Bernstein was gay and his killer
01:23:18
was a member of a neo-Nazi group. >> Undercover officers made their move on Sam Woodward. What have you learned
01:23:26
about neo-Nazis? >> They're everywhere now. >> They're all over the internet. >> They're here in Orange County.
01:23:35
>> I believe that this was a hate crime. >> The 26-year-old's appearance has changed
01:23:40
dramatically from the time of his arrest back in 2018. At the trial, Sam looked [music] like a spitting image of Charlie
01:23:48
Manson. It was absolutely terrifying to look at. The evidence will show you that
01:23:54
the defendant killed Bla1 Bernstein because he was gay. He was gay and Jewish. >> Hate crime or crime of passion. The
01:24:04
difference is the possibility of parole. >> Bla1 Bernstein was found with 28 [music]
01:24:12
stab wounds. The prosecution has a bit of a higher bar here because [music] they also have to show that Sam murdered
01:24:20
Bla1 because of his gay identity. He had developed his long-standing beliefs against Jewish people and gay people.
01:24:29
>> What happened that night was not a hate crime. >> We knew that he was going to present
01:24:35
some story of what happened that night. >> Not the targeting of someone because of
01:24:40
his sexual orientation. What kind of story could he come up with? >> Sam Woodward never planned to kill Bla1
01:24:48
Bernstein. >> Homophobia, sexual repression, hookup culture. It almost never ends [music]
01:24:56
the way that this story ends. >> We don't have any control over what the outcome is.
01:25:02
>> He could be innocent. We'll let a jury decide. >> [music] [music] [music] >> The why is the single most important
01:25:55
issue you will need to decide. Not who is responsible for the death of a young man, but exactly why he was
01:26:05
killed six years ago. >> For Jeannie Pepper and her husband Gideon Bernstein, those six years were
01:26:12
painfully marked by CO delays, shifting lawyers, and legal strategies. >> Slow justice is no justice.
01:26:22
It's not fair to victims, and it's not fair to the deceased. Finally, came April of 2024. Jeanie and
01:26:31
Gideon were more than ready for their day in court. >> We're impatient. We want to get on with
01:26:37
our lives. >> But not before telling the story of their firstborn child, Bla1 Bernstein,
01:26:44
how he lived, and why they believe he died. Murdered because of who he was. Targeted by hate. It's not safe for you
01:26:56
to be a lot of different minorities. Now, >> the victim in this case, and nobody
01:27:03
disputes that he was a victim, >> was stabbed to death. >> Ken Morrison would defend Samuel
01:27:10
Woodward, charged with firstdegree premeditated murder. Morrison squared off against prosecutor Jennifer Walker.
01:27:18
>> And where we start is with who was killed, Bla1 Bernstein. [music] And He was 19. He was gay and Jewish.
01:27:27
>> The silent, ghostly presence in the courtroom was Blaze. That slender, curious, playful young man
01:27:36
with a big world. [music] Images that refuse to fade. >> Are there pictures or things that
01:27:44
[music] flash through your mind that you think of Blaze? >> Always every day. It [music] was just weeks after Bla1's
01:27:57
death that we first met Jeanie and Gideon. Wounds raw. They [music] shared bittersweet memories of the son they
01:28:05
described as magical. [music] >> And the first time I saw him and I looked in his eyes, there's something
01:28:10
about this baby. He's he's going to change the world someday. Hey, >> that's going to be the intro.
01:28:22
>> What do you miss most about Blaze? >> Yeah, that's it. >> His quirky personality.
01:28:30
>> He was different. >> He liked to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. >> I call him the unicorn.
01:28:38
He was magnificently creative. It was [music] late summer 2016 and Bla1, who'd already achieved so much,
01:28:47
was headed to an Ivy League school here in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania. [music] There'd be new
01:28:53
friends, mentors, and challenges, and Blae seemed ready for it all. >> He really hit his stride.
01:29:02
>> A creative writer thinking about a [music] career in medicine. He was finding himself.
01:29:10
[music] >> Then came winter break, sophomore year. Blae headed home. He was really looking
01:29:15
forward to being with us, too. >> There were holiday celebrations and Hanukkah candles. The budding chef
01:29:21
cooked up a gourmet meal. And then sometime on the night of January 2nd, 2018, Blae secretly left his parents'
01:29:30
house. It would be the last time. that night. When did you realize that he was missing?
01:29:37
>> We didn't >> I didn't know that night. >> We didn't even know. We thought he slept
01:29:41
in and the next day we were >> I I had my aha moment when I was at the dental appointment.
01:29:49
>> The next day, Blae was due to meet his mother for that dentist appointment, but
01:29:53
Blae never showed up and wasn't answering his cell phone. >> I called Gideon. He asked me if Blae had
01:30:02
ever come home the night before and I screamed out, "I don't [music] know." >> Rushed out of the office and came home.
01:30:08
>> We both did. We flew home >> and checked Bla1's room. >> His wallet, [music] his retainers,
01:30:16
his keys, >> those are all still at the house. >> His glasses. >> Yeah. All of that stuff was at the
01:30:26
house. But your thought was, >> well, it was just so highly unusual. >> He wanted to spend time with us. I just
01:30:32
kept texting and calling him and leaving messages all day. Where had he been? We
01:30:37
didn't know. >> They called police and tried to log on to Blaz's social media accounts.
01:30:44
>> We just jumped on his computer. This was a big challenge for us. >> But with the help of family and friends,
01:30:50
they logged on to Bla1's Snapchat. That's where they discovered the night he disappeared, [music] Bla1 had sent
01:30:56
his home address to someone. Sam Woodward, a seeming stranger >> who never heard the name.
01:31:03
>> Never heard the name before. >> Gideon and Jeanie were panicked and baffled. Who was Sam? So Gideon messaged
01:31:11
Sam. Please pick up. Sam got on the phone. The Bernsteeen recorded the phone conversation and would share it with
01:31:19
police. and we just cracked in a snap account and saw that you had been uh trying to find him. So, you're the first
01:31:26
real clue to the to the puzzle here. >> Sam's pieces of the puzzle began with him meeting Blae near the Bernstein's
01:31:34
home. >> I picked him up at 11. >> And he said he drove him here nearby Bergo Park with its thick brush and
01:31:42
twisting paths and that once there they parked. >> Okay. And then did he get out of the car
01:31:48
or what happened? Yeah, he got out of the car and uh I got out of the car, too. >> And Sam added, Blae, claiming he was
01:31:57
going to meet a friend, walked down a path and vanished into the darkness. >> I shouted out, "Blaze. Blaze." But I
01:32:06
didn't see anything. I I didn't hear anything. >> Sam explained to the Bernsteeen how he
01:32:11
knew Blae and why he says they were getting together. It was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing. Yeah, dude.
01:32:20
Let's hang out. Since you and I were friends when we were at OSHA, >> OSHA, the Orange County School of the
01:32:26
Arts, where Rya, Blae, and Sam were once classmates. Rehea's high school memories
01:32:33
of Sam were about to come flooding back with a vengeance. >> I got a call from my mom. Rehea, did you
01:32:40
hear? And I said, "What?" And she said, "Blaze is missing." And then my mom said, "Reya, he was with
01:32:47
this guy named Sam Woodward." I screamed in the phone, "He what?" And she was like, "Do you know this guy?" And I
01:32:53
said, "Yes, I know this guy. He's crazy." How different were Sam and Blae. >> Oh, they were so different. Probably as
01:33:03
about as different as you could be. >> Hauntingly different, says Bla1's oldest friend. So when that word began to
01:33:11
filter across Orange County that Bla1 hadn't come home and that Sam Woodward might be a person of interest, [music]
01:33:19
it chilled Rehea to the bone. Her memories of Sam impossible to shake. >> Well, hello ladies.
01:33:27
>> He was drawing guns in his notebook in class. >> Did you say anything? >> No.
01:33:32
>> But you thought, >> "This is terrifying. >> [music] >> The spotlight was on Sam Woodward, whom
01:33:51
Rehea remembered from high school. >> He was very quiet, very withdrawn, didn't really talk to people.
01:33:58
>> Sam Woodward, odd man out, says Rehea. You know, everybody has their click, but
01:34:05
I don't think he identified with any of them [music] really. >> And as far as anyone knew, the last
01:34:11
person to see Bla1 Bernstein alive. [music] The only reason I could think of Sam
01:34:18
meeting up with Blaze is because either number one, he wanted to hook up with him or two [music] because he was
01:34:24
planning to murder him. And as for that story Sam told that on the spur of the moment he and Blae had decided to hang
01:34:31
out, it didn't come close to adding up for Rehea. >> He had a reputation of being what?
01:34:38
>> Racist, homophobic, sexist. >> It was Rehea who was there when Blaise's sexuality was still a secret until along
01:34:47
a glistening California beach, he bravely confided in his oldest friend. So you guys were kind of walking down
01:34:55
the beach alone together and he came out to you. >> Yeah. >> Rehea, who would later also come out,
01:35:01
stepped up when it mattered most. >> All I could do was be a good friend and love him unconditionally.
01:35:08
>> Did you get the sense that Blae had told anyone else that he >> I don't think that he did. He was kind
01:35:13
of upset to say it. >> Something that clearly was a big secret for him. Yeah, you know, coming out to
01:35:22
yourself is a really mature, difficult thing to do. >> And what did you tell him? I told him,
01:35:30
"It's okay. If you like boys, that's totally fine. Love her, you love." >> While he hadn't yet told his parents,
01:35:39
[music] Gideon and Jeanie sensed Blae might be gay. >> We went up to him and said, "Listen,
01:35:45
whatever your situation [music] is, we we embrace it. We love you. We don't care.
01:35:51
>> But in those first days of 2018, it wasn't just love. It was also an unimaginable fear that consumed [music]
01:36:00
Jeanie and Gideon. As the search for Blae began, Orange County cops spoke with Sam. He
01:36:08
repeated what he'd told the Bernsteeen on that phone call. that he had picked Bla1 up, driven to Barago Park, and that
01:36:16
then Blae had vanished. By January 5th, the search had become massive. >> We're out here conducting a search for
01:36:24
Bla1 Bernstein. >> We're here today to get your help to find our son. >> Please keep your eyes open for my baby.
01:36:31
I want him home with me now. >> Search and rescue teams and helicopters searched the wilderness area. And we
01:36:41
printed up thousands and thousands of flyers that people in the congregation put up. Everybody's looking.
01:36:49
>> Shalom. >> Rabbi Arnold Rockas coordinated the search from University Synagogue where
01:36:55
Bla1 was an active member and a role model. >> Please join me in honoring Bla1 Bernstein. [applause]
01:37:02
>> Bla1 embraced his Jewish heritage and confronted its haters. Not only were 6 million Jewish people
01:37:09
systematically murdered throughout Europe in concentration camps >> at such a young age to see someone with
01:37:16
so much talent is a beautiful thing, a good heart, a good soul. That's what Blae had.
01:37:25
>> Everyone was somehow hoping for [music] good news, including, it seemed, Sam Woodward.
01:37:31
>> Okay. So, is this the best number to reach you at? >> Uh, yes, sure it is. On that call that Gideon had recorded,
01:37:40
Sam sounded deeply concerned. >> You know, I want to fly Blaze as much as you do.
01:37:48
>> But Blae was nowhere to be found. Anxious hours stretched into sleepless nights.
01:37:54
>> I really didn't know if we would ever find him. >> As the days passed, >> you know that
01:37:59
>> it became more and more difficult. >> And I thought, we're never going to know. We're never going to know what
01:38:03
happened exactly. We're never going to figure it out. Um, [music] yeah, that's what I thought. I immediately
01:38:14
thought, "He's dead. He's dead." >> Just from hearing that he was with Sam. >> Yes.
01:38:21
It was day seven since Blae last left home. A family, a community was beyond frustrated. Detectives had searched
01:38:29
Bargo Park over and over, but they decided to give it one more look. In the pouring rain, a detective stood right
01:38:37
over there. And hidden under a large tree branch was a mound of dirt. Under the wet, caked earth lay blaze
01:38:46
Bernstein. >> If not the rain, we would have never known what happened to him. So the rain
01:38:55
uncovered his face. >> Leia and Richard Bernstein [music] are Bla1's grandparents.
01:39:01
>> We just loved him. I wish I could write like he wrote. >> I wish I could cook like he cooked.
01:39:09
Where's Blae? Yeah, he's in front. >> 48 Hours met them [music] just a few months after Blae was murdered.
01:39:17
>> I think the world lost a beautiful soul. >> I always [music] think of him before I
01:39:23
go to sleep. Their grandchild, once brimming with life and possibility, had been horrifically slaughtered with a
01:39:34
knife. And then the funeral happened and it was shattering. >> The grief stretched across Orange
01:39:47
County. >> We're hugging them right now. We're all hugging them. This is our big giant hug
01:39:54
to them. >> Just want to know why. >> I don't I don't even want to know because I'm not going to like that
01:40:03
answer. [music] 3 days after Bla1 Bernstein was found, butchered, and broken. >> Can you tell us what happened to Blaze?
01:40:33
>> No comments. >> Investigators confronted his one-time classmate, Sam Woodward.
01:40:39
>> Were you there when he disappeared >> at his parents' home? >> No comments. Undercover officers made their move on
01:40:48
Sam Woodward this afternoon. As he pulled out of his Newport Beach driveway and went down the road, they pulled that
01:40:55
car over and arrested him. >> Sam Woodward was charged with murder with the personal use of a knife.
01:41:03
>> Then Orange County DA Tony Rakus. >> How did Bla1 Bernstein die? >> He was stabbed multiple times in the
01:41:11
neck. >> What does that tell you? Well, it tells me that there was a lot of hate
01:41:17
>> for Bla1's parents. >> The details of his murder were too much to even imagine.
01:41:26
>> I just try not to think about what that really meant. I don't think that I that
01:41:32
I physically can deal with the trauma of what's happened. As [music] police gathered evidence, the
01:41:40
violence that happened in Burggo Park was revealed. With Blaz's body, his battered [music]
01:41:46
phone inside Sam Woodward's car. Blood. >> The blood on the headliner uh belonged
01:41:54
to both Sam Woodward and Bla1 Bernstein. >> Bla1 Bernstein's blood was in Sam Woodward's car.
01:42:00
>> Yes. Yes. >> And then they went on to search the house. >> Yes. What kind of forensic evidence did
01:42:07
they gather? >> There was a knife. The knife had blood on it. Bla1 Bernstein's blood on the knife.
01:42:15
>> At his arraignment, Sam Woodward would plead not guilty. Investigators would continue to search
01:42:22
for what happened that night in Bergo Park. They would soon come to believe that Sam
01:42:29
had a dark and frightening secret. He was involved in this extreme neo-Nazi organization Otaman division which does
01:42:38
expect its members to explicitly target members of the Jewish and LGBTQ community. Sarah Moore monitors hate
01:42:46
crime [music] working for GLAD, one of the most prominent gay rights organizations in the country. She's kept
01:42:52
a close eye on the small but violent group Adamwin. These are their propaganda videos posted between 2017
01:43:02
and 18. >> They want to kind of blow up the world as it is. They want to create something
01:43:08
entirely new. >> And the new thing is what >> in their mind it would be a white ethnostate.
01:43:16
>> And there's either no Jewish or no LGBTQ or no people of color in that society.
01:43:22
>> How does Adam Moffin recruit? >> They recruit primarily online. just a click away and exactly where Sam,
01:43:31
whom Ryarovski remembers had trouble making friends, found some strangers who welcomed and encouraged him.
01:43:40
>> Did you consider yourself a neo-Nazi? >> I just consider myself a Nazi. >> This man does not want his identity
01:43:47
revealed. But he says he was once a member of Adam Waffen and that he came in contact with Sam [music] the year
01:43:54
before Blae was murdered. It was like a camaraderie type of feeling, common interest.
01:44:01
>> And those interests were hating other groups, hating Jews, hating gays, hating
01:44:06
blacks. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> How involved was Sam Woodward and Adam Waffen? >> I [snorts and clears throat] know that
01:44:15
he was involved. involved enough, say investigators, to wear the Adam Waen mask, give the
01:44:22
Nazi salute, make a pilgrimage to Colorado to meet neo-Nazi leader James Mason, and travel to Texas to attend
01:44:32
Adam Waffin's version of a corporate retreat. They call it Hate Camp. At Hate Camps, members will get kind of a 101
01:44:41
training on how to be a violent extremist. And that bitter January 2018 [music] when news broke that Bla1 had been
01:44:52
stabbed to death allegedly by a member of Adamwaffin [music] as Orange County mourned.
01:44:58
>> Neo-Nazis reportedly cheered. >> Everyone celebrated him like he killed a gay Jew,
01:45:06
>> which [music] in their mind is sort of a jackpot. Gh. It's disgusting. There were people [music] congratulating
01:45:15
this accused killer for what he has done, killing my son, congratulating him. >> Had you ever heard of Adam Waffen?
01:45:23
>> No. >> Before this, >> but we should have because we're a perfect target for that group.
01:45:30
>> Because of [music] Sam's involvement in Adam Waffen. 7 months after Bla1's murder, prosecutors upped [music] the
01:45:36
ante, adding a hate crime enhancement, a murder motivated by prejudice. As the [music] story unfolded that the
01:45:47
murder was related to homophobia and anti-semitism, well, then the anger in the community
01:45:57
ratcheted up. >> For some, it brought back the darkest of times. >> It must seem like all of this hate was
01:46:06
behind you. That's something in the past. >> You can't forget it. >> You can't forget it. Never.
01:46:14
>> It's a murderous echo from her past. All too [music] real for Grandma Leia, a
01:46:20
Holocaust survivor. Once a little girl forced by Hitler's Nazis to wear a yellow star.
01:46:29
>> Yes, we did wear this dress. >> It's a horrible irony that what you escaped is
01:46:36
>> is following me. Sam Woodward was locked up in the Orange County Jail. He would begin his
01:46:45
yearslong journey through the justice system. It included a revolving door of defense lawyers who raised questions
01:46:53
with the court about Sam's mental health and his ability to defend himself. In 2022, Sam Woodward was found
01:47:02
competent to stand trial. Investigators say they also mined Sam Woodward's phone and social media
01:47:10
activity. And along with the Nazi propaganda, they found something else. Sam had visited gay dating and porn
01:47:20
sites. And he had exchanged flirtatious messages with Blae. >> So they matched twice on Tinder. Lewis
01:47:30
Keane, a reporter for The Forward, would cover the case and report on the conversations between Sam and Blae.
01:47:37
>> Blae admits that he's gay. Bla1 says, "I think you're hot." And Sam says back to
01:47:44
Blae, "You're not too bad looking yourself, Bla1." So, they kind of had this flirty interaction.
01:47:52
>> Maybe Sam was like closeted and wanted to hook up. Rya moved to New York City
01:47:59
where she lives as an openly bisexual woman. She still wonders about Sam's intention and blazes that tragic night
01:48:07
in Bergo Park. The defense may argue that Blae made a move on Sam and Sam freaked out.
01:48:14
>> Okay. And if you freak out, does that excuse you stabbing somebody? >> April 2024.
01:48:22
Stuff is getting real. The jury's being picked. >> Finally, Sam Woodward headed to trial.
01:48:29
Over time, the case had taken on even greater meaning. There's a lot at stake here because it's not just about getting
01:48:37
justice for Blaze, but it's also about what precedent this is setting for other LGBTQ plus people who have been or might
01:48:46
in the future be in similar situations. Bla1's parents steadied themselves to relive the night that shattered their
01:48:54
lives. >> I know that a lot of things will be said that are probably [music] untrue because
01:49:00
that's what happens in a criminal trial. I have an opportunity to defend [music]
01:49:05
Blaze and that's what I will do. Please come to order. Superior Court is now in session.
01:49:25
>> The people call Genie Pepper. >> It's the final thing that I have to do for my son is be there and make sure
01:49:32
that there is some form of justice. >> Good afternoon, Miss Pepper. >> It took more than 6 years for Jeanie and
01:49:39
Gideon to get this day in court. I just want to thank you for being here and I'm
01:49:44
I'm sorry that the circumstances, >> but it comes with terrible memories of the day they lost their son, Blae.
01:49:52
>> You remember where you were when you got the phone call? >> I do remember that. Yes.
01:49:57
>> And why does that stand out in your mind? >> Because it was the beginning of hell.
01:50:09
The couple have to come face to face with their son's killer. But the killer, Sam Woodward, doesn't seem to want to be
01:50:18
seen. >> Can I ask you to move the hair out of your face a little bit? Maybe pull the hair on the right side of
01:50:26
your head away so we can see [music] you, please. Thank you. Even before he took the stand, Sam
01:50:37
Woodward was already an eerie presence in the courtroom who got everyone's attention. Sam looked like Charles
01:50:44
Manson, >> so you couldn't really see his face. >> No, you couldn't really hear him all the
01:50:51
time. >> Reporter Lewis Keane. >> If you're in the jury, he looks extremely menacing.
01:50:57
>> Do you want to look him in the eye? >> Not really. I don't care. He's meaningless to me. And
01:51:06
>> can I nag you one more time to move your hair out of your face a [music] little
01:51:09
bit for us? >> Blaze, we love you and we want you to come home. >> Back when they were frantically
01:51:18
searching for Blae. >> Please keep your eyes open for my baby. I want him home with me now.
01:51:25
>> Sam Woodward told them he didn't know anything about what happened to their son. I didn't see where he went.
01:51:33
>> I searched all over for him. I couldn't find him anywhere. >> But his looks have changed dramatically.
01:51:40
And so has his story. >> Do you remember what you were thinking when you were driving the knife down
01:51:47
again and again and again? an anger like nothing I'd ever felt in my whole life.
01:52:21
There's absolutely no question Sam Woodward killed Bla1 Bernstein. >> The evidence will show that Samuel
01:52:29
Woodward is guilty of homicide. >> The question for the jury is >> why this homicide was committed. Sam's
01:52:38
defense attorney said in opening arguments that we were going to hear from Sam about something that happened
01:52:43
that night that provoked Sam into killing [music] Bla1. >> The challenge for defense attorney Ken
01:52:50
Morrison is to prove voluntary manslaughter, that Woodward acted impulsively. >> There was no cold, calculated decision
01:52:59
to kill. And the knife, according to the defense, it wasn't ever meant for murder. From
01:53:08
the time Sam was a boy scout, Sam was never without one. >> Did you ever carry a pocketk knife with
01:53:14
you in your pants pocket? >> Yes, I would almost all the time. >> Did you have a knife in your pocket when
01:53:24
you were with Bla1 Bernstein? >> Yes, I did. >> The [music] killing happened in less
01:53:30
than an hour. Prosecutor Jennifer Walker argues this was premeditated murder and
01:53:36
a hate crime. >> You'll see the cell phone evidence, the DNA evidence, the defendant's words, the
01:53:43
defendant's hate. >> In the nearly 3 months at trial, Walker painstakingly put on more than 20
01:53:50
witnesses, including the same former Adam Waffen member who spoke with us, now a witness for the prosecution, who
01:53:57
still wanted his identity [music] concealed. Do you recognize that? >> Yes. >> What is it?
01:54:02
>> There's a picture of Samuel Woodward. >> All to build the case for the added hate
01:54:07
charge and a greater sentence. >> The difference is the possibility of parole. If it's no hate crime, then it's
01:54:16
25 years to life with the possibility of parole. If it's a first-degree premeditated murder and a hate crime,
01:54:25
Sam faces life in prison without possibility of parole. The facts of this case are not simple.
01:54:32
>> The defense uses a timehonored tactic, [music] suggesting the victim is not as
01:54:38
innocent as he appears. >> You will learn that Bla1 Bernstein was not killed because of who he was,
01:54:48
but because of what he did. Tell us what happened. >> In Sam Woodward's version,
01:54:54
>> Sam, can you pick your head up? Move your hair. Bla1 was toying with him and threatening to out him. Once they were
01:55:02
in Bergo Park, Sam says he smoked a joint. >> Eyes started nodding off. >> Sam says he thought Blae took a
01:55:09
compromising picture. >> I saw my pants unbuckled. I could practically like feel something
01:55:17
somewhat close to my leg. And he had his phone in his hand. He tells us that he believes that Blae
01:55:28
is taking a photo of his privates. I just came undone. I went in a state of just terror and I asked, "What are you
01:55:38
doing? What are you doing?" And >> no photo was ever found. So there's no evidence that Blae actually took one.
01:55:46
>> What were you afraid of? I grew up in a home with my mother and my father and I love them more than I
01:55:54
can imagine. My father though, he there's no way, not a chance people like him, just even thinking about the look
01:56:05
on his face if he saw something like that, if he'd heard about something like that that got out somehow,
01:56:13
I couldn't fathom that. Sam grew up in an ultra-conservative Catholic household. He had parents who
01:56:22
believed homosexuality was a sin. But Sam also seemed to have really conflicted feelings about his own
01:56:29
sexuality. What you come away with is just immense sadness of all these external forces
01:56:41
coming to bear on his life. He did what he did and what he did can't be undone. >> Any idea how long it took to stop
01:56:54
stabbing Bla1? >> No idea. No. >> It was one of the most awful things I've ever heard. And you know that Blaz's
01:57:06
parents are sitting there for months of this trial. They've been hearing their son is accused of sexual assault.
01:57:18
You can't really imagine what that's like. Genie Pepper walked out of the room. >> For the prosecution, the only predator
01:57:30
in this story is Sam Woodward. >> He has a 6-in knife out. And Blaze is the predator. Blaze is the problem here.
01:57:38
That's what's being sold to you by the defendant. He was interested and fixated on hate.
01:57:46
Adam Waffen division had that outlet for him. >> Only two people know what really
01:57:53
happened that [music] night. Sam Woodward has had his say. Bla1 Bernstein isn't alive to tell us.
01:58:00
>> You should find him guilty of the first-degree murder with the hate crime. It's the only reasonable conclusion.
01:58:07
Do you have any hesitation? Do you have any doubt? >> Now it's up to the jury. >> The passage of time has been doubly hard
01:58:28
for Bla1's grandparents, Richard and [music] Leia. Still waiting for justice for the grandson they loved and lost.
01:58:36
I miss him all. Everything about [music] him. He was loving and caring. He was handsome, too.
01:58:47
>> Blae [music] and his exceptional appetite for life. I try to treat him as just a normal kid, you know, and [music]
01:58:56
he to he turned out uh [snorts and sighs] [gasps] sorry >> he turned out well. >> On July 3rd, 2024, the jurors [music]
01:59:14
began their deliberations. >> I don't want him to die. I want him to suffer every day of his [music] life.
01:59:22
>> Is there a part of you that wants to look that young man in the eye? >> No. >> Why not?
01:59:28
>> Because he's a footnote in history. >> Whether footnote [music] or headline, grandparents, parents,
01:59:37
rabbi, oldest friend. It felt like forever. I was nervous and I felt anxiety because I was not sure what the
01:59:46
verdict was going to be. 2,364 days after his arrest, Sam Woodward's fate is on the line. Living and dying in
02:00:02
prison or someday possibly walking free. >> It's my understanding that you do have a
02:00:08
verdict. Is that accurate? >> We have. It took the jury 8 hours. >> The verdict being read, there's no way
02:00:16
to describe what it's like. Sort of the emotional intensity of the moment. >> We, the jury, find the defendant, Samuel
02:00:24
Woodward, guilty of the crime of first-degree murder. >> But as soon as the jury says guilty, I
02:00:33
heard Jeie say, "Oh, thank God. guilty of murder. But was it hate? [music] Did Sam target Bla1 because he was gay?
02:00:47
The jury [music] spoke again. >> We the jury find it to be true that the defendant, Samuel Woodward, committed
02:00:53
hate crime, first-degree murder. >> Outside the Orange County courtroom, all that pain and uncertainty overflowed.
02:01:05
Good afternoon. My name is Todd Spitzer. I'm the district attorney of Orange County.
02:01:09
>> The current DA offered thoughts on love and law. >> We don't care who you love or who you
02:01:16
want to be with. You deserve to be a free person with free will and love who you love and that needs to be protected.
02:01:27
We are thrilled [snorts] with the verdict which holds Samuel Woodward accountable for the
02:01:35
brutal, violent, [snorts] painful murder of our son, brother, grandson, cousin Bla1 Bernstein on January 3rd,
02:01:46
2018. >> His parents will never get to speak to him again and that loss is incalculable.
02:01:54
The Woodwards also lost their son. He's going to prison. >> When the verdict was that the murder was
02:02:04
a hate crime, that essentially [music] meant that there is the proof that Blae was murdered because he was gay and
02:02:13
Jewish. Simple as that. >> FA who Bla1 first came out to [music] on that California beach. In my head, I was
02:02:24
telling Blaze, "We finally got him." Like, you know, case [music] closed. >> And says the prosecutor, Sam Woodward,
02:02:32
should pay the maximum price. >> He faces life without possibility of parole, and that's what we'll be asking
02:02:38
for. >> Thank you. >> Experts who monitor Adam Waffen say it has largely dissolved, but that the
02:02:47
threat of hate groups remains [music] today. You said, "Love who you love." It sounds so simple, but it's not.
02:02:58
>> Mhm. Just because you're accepting of yourself, that doesn't mean that everybody's going to see the same way as
02:03:04
you do. You know, >> can you picture Blaze if he was alive today? No, I don't think I can.
02:03:21
>> Can you still hear his [music] voice? >> No. >> That's kind of sad. >> Yeah. >> For Jeanie and Gideon, every day brings
02:03:35
reminders of what might have been. >> I think about Bla1 all the time because when I see things, I think to myself,
02:03:43
what would Bla1 be doing now? They founded what they call [music] a kindness movement promoting positivity
02:03:50
and random acts of kindness in Bla1's name. >> Blaze it forward was a response to
02:03:56
Blaz's death. And in Berago Park, where Blae took his last breath, there is this
02:04:07
hundreds of handpainted stones, most left by total strangers in the memory of Bla1 [music] Bernstein.
02:04:16
This pile of stones has grown and grown and grown. >> Yes, it's great to [music] see the
02:04:21
messaging. It's always positive >> and they're getting sent to us from all over the world. Still, [music]
02:04:28
>> still >> the silent stones speak of tolerance and Bla1 Bernstein's transformation into a
02:04:37
kind of martyr. His murder a marker of rabid hate. His spirit an inspiration to LGBTQ plus
02:04:46
people wherever they live and with whomever they love. >> Blaz's life mattered and [music] he has
02:04:56
a legacy. to create good news, >> to inspire people to be better, to be kinder, and to work on repairing the
02:05:05
world. Because [music] it's not too late and we can make it better. >> [music] [music]
02:05:42
[music]