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[Music] [Applause] it's August 1st 2018 I get a call from one of my investigators said we had a
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shooting victim on Sunny book drive and it didn't look good County 911 where's your emergency
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um yes ma'am I actually my gun was papered and I'm so sorry I like just got my boyfriend in the neck I'm so sorry
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[Music] we actually had uh the perpetrator admitting to shooting the victim on the
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911 call before we even arrived at the scene Miss told us she did [Music] it now the
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way look at me Dem look at me look at me Dem I'm Lieutenant Chris Wilson I was the first investigator to Riv seen
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what kind of gun was it it was a GL 43 I was just grabing it I did not know there
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was one gra to bring it to oured basically we had a a a young man down uh not responsive and also a young woman who
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was Fran frantic very emotional she was just pleading for help I cannot lose him
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I cannot lose him I cannot lose him look come on look calm down for me calm down calm
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down I'm Sor I want to know how this happened CU I don't even understand know the gun going off I don't even see how
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like it even got him because I wasn't even like really pointing it directly at him in the first place I was able to
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look over any type of evidence any type of forensics that that could have been involved trying to make sense of what
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might have happened in that living room that night like been fighting here I knew then that we we could be possibly
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looking at a homicide cuz you had the right for onent the confessions on this video and
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we can't hear it there's no sound there there's sound but it's just a a noise constant noise all way through
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it ladies and Gentlemen please rise this is malice murder this is felony murder this gun did not discharge on its
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own Mary Katherine hiden was angry she lost control and she pulled the trigger I didn't even know it was
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chamber I never wanted to hurt him I never wanted anything like that there may be people watching this
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who find it hard to believe what what you're saying right now mhm what would you say to
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them all I know is what's in my heart and I know what happened that night I loved Steven I would never ever do
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anything to hurt him 56 at this time Henry [Music] we about two [Music] police body cameras captured the chaotic
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scene the night Steven Freeman was shot and killed by his girlfriend of seven years Mary Katherine hickon inside the
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home they shared now he still got a post okay let work on him okay Mary Katherine
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Higden is in the living room and so is Steven Freeman he's laying right here on a mattress Mary Catherine is hovering
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over him and he's literally dying in front of her I'm so sorry calm down okay calm down just
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alive Mary Catherine told the police that her gun went off accidentally she was handing it to
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Steven who like to keep it on the side of the bed at night for protection none of our guns that we've had around our
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house were ever you know chambered there was never a bullet in the chamber it was
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never my intention to ever injure him or kill him those words ring Hollow to Steven's grieving mother
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Jennifer Freeman have you spoken to Mary Katherine Higden since this all happened
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I have not she will never give me an answer that's going to be good enough for me because this should never have
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happened Steven was 23 years old everybody just loved Steven because he was just sweet you know just a good kid
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Steven's heart was huge he was a devoted son to the most wonderful woman in the world Jennifer Treasures the note he
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wrote her after she had gone back to school and completed her college degree and know that if you put your mind to it
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you could accomplish all of your hopes and dreams and more I'll love you to the moon in back
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Steven and that was our thing it was either I love you more or I love you to moon in back that was our little thing
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what's up Stephen Steven had a happy childhood growing up in the town of Griffin Georgia always had a smile on
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his face always and that was from the time that he was a little bitty baby through
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adulthood he loved the outdoors loved it that was probably his passion above all
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else was to be outside duck hunting deer hunting fishing camping that was where he found his peace and his comforts
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Mary Katherine's Father Tom hickton and older sister Sarah say she too was a happy child then here's your host Mary
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Catherine who like to put on a show bye she always was the entertainment in the room no matter what age she's just
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funloving remember one time she had a pet frog that she used to walk around the neighborhood with a Sho string so um
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we would say our life would be boring without her Steven and Mary Katherine began dating in high school the romance
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quickly became pretty serious and they moved in together after graduating Steven worked at repairing roofs Mary
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Catherine was a preschool teachers Aid did you like Mary Catherine I did I did I loved her she would eat at our house
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on Sunday night with my parents and our extended family and we certainly considered Mary Katherine like a
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daughter he was just you know he's just like my best friend that loved me and that was
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there for me and just listen to me and we just really hit it off great we were just I guess You' say like two peas in a
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Pie Mary Katherine shared Steven's passion for the outdoors before long she won over his
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closest friends Thomas Skinner Andrew McCree and Chase puit what did you like about her that she made my friend Happy
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I mean most girls won't even get in the woods for 30 minutes if she'll go fish with you for 4 hours or go deer hunt
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with you then that's awesome man I'm glad you found somebody that makes you happy the couple also shared a passion
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for guns how many guns did Steven own um he had I say couple shotguns uh somewhere around 10 maybe no
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I probably had yeah probably around that yeah she would brag about how she would
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she knew more about guns than St or us yeah that is because Mary Catherine landed a job selling guns at a local
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sporting goods store where Thomas Skinner also worked before you're able to sell a gun you're trained and taught
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how to handle it you know like how to hand somebody a gun do you believe her when she says I just held it up and it
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went off no no not for a second yet that was the first story Mary Katherine told police when they arrived
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at the house that night this is is a Glock model 380 to detective Adam traml it also seemed like
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an unlikely story is it possible for this gun to just go off accidentally not from my experience the
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trigger would have to be pulled this is this is not the weapon that was used that's correct it's just the type of gun
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the type of gun can you show us the process of loading the weapon and firing it yes I
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can first you would load your ammunition you would insert the magazine direct the
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slide and fire the weapon police were also suspicious for another reason he claiming it was
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accidental discharge uh but based on some of the evidence we've seen in the house while we were in there attending
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to him uh it looked like they've been fighting Lieutenant Chris Wilson saw the evidence
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firsthand now of course there are new homeowners here and everything here is it looks very nice and well kept that
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wasn't the case that night there was food slung everywhere on the campus and the on the floor uh food thrown there I
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guess it looked like they had been throwing it at each other it looked like there had been some some food tossed
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around here as Mary Katherine hiden was taken in for questioning police knew there had to be much more to this story
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[Music] Steven was the calm in the [Music] storm we used to laugh and say he would
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outlive everybody because he didn't stress out about anything Jennifer Freeman struggles to understand how her
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son's life could have ended so violently at the hands of a woman he loved Mary Katherine Higden Listen to We're going
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to walk through this okay we're going to walk through it we're going to work through it it's all right okay just come
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with us come on get they took you to the police station they didn't take you in handcuffs they
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just wanted to ask you some questions you agreed to cooperate oh yeah most definitely first one says you had the
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right for but detect Adam traml and Chris Wilson found the story that Mary Katherine told them in the interrogation
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room hard to believe Mary Katherine told the police that Steven asked for the gun
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so she claims she tossed it to him now he's in the living room on a mattress right there and she says when she tossed
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it the gun went off when she said she tossed the gun that didn't match what I would think a
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normal person would do it also didn't match what she told the investigators at the scene she told them she was simply
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handing the gun to Steven not tossing it and that's when she accidentally shot him below the
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neck Lieutenant Wilson decided to confront her do not it's my to I you kind of lost your cool on her not
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really that's the tactic at that point we weren't buying the story so we SLA my hands I tell I
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say stop lying to me tell me the truth right now last time what did she do she said I did it out of
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anger yeah just like that believing that they had an ironclad confession on tape
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they arrested Mary Katherine Higden for murder but there was a big problem I the only
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thing it [Applause] was there was nothing but feedback on most of the recording and it couldn't be fixed oh no
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what can we do so at this point all you've got to say what she said was what you twoo remember that's
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correct but they still had the forensic evidence that convin against them Steven
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shooting was no accident so her story was I don't keep around in the chamber correct okay what did you find on the
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weapon that said to you I don't know if I believe that looks like she loaded it that night there was cooking grease on
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the magazine there was also grease on the slide of the gun which tells me that the magazine had to be out at one
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point rounds loaded slid back into the gun and racked Mary Catherine had told police
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she was cooking dinner for Steven that night the same dinner they found thrown on the kitchen
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floor she's just very loud very very dramatic very always over the top looking to go start an issue as
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investigators began to question the coup's friends they discovered this Teenage Love Affair had turned
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toxic and most of the blame was being placed on Mary Catherine eight seven times out of 10
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she yell she was bitching at Steven for something Steven would often walk out during an argument and block Mary
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Katherine's number from his phone that's because she would call him obsessively according to his coworker Elijah verella
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some mornings several different occasions he would get to work and before we even got to the first job he'd
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have 30 Miss calls from her like she was just blowing him off the line like his friends also told detectives Steven
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feared she was unstable and dangerous I I know that she's pulled a g on him before Oh has she oh I know that
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I know that he's told me I mean I know I mean I know she's done it three or four
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times like at least each one of you was told by Steven mhm that Mary Katherine pointed a gun at him is that correct yes
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yes as soon as they said he was shot I knew what happened I knew Mary Katherine did it on April 21st 2018 3 months
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before he was killed Steven texted his friend Andrew MK is running around screaming at
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the top of her lungs outside and now she's trying to shoot me and herself as alarming as that sounds it
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was another alleged incident the following month that left Steven badly shaken he said you know she's pointed a
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guns at me multiple times he goes but uh this time was the only time I saw a look
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in her eyes and I was actually scared that she might shoot me so she came over from my house night did Steven ever
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report that to the police to my knowledge no I think he thought he could handle it or I don't know he said he
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cares for He doesn't want her to go to jail the relationship was on again off again and it was a roller coaster ride
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right up to the end on July 30th 2018 2 days before Steven's death he texted good morning beautiful Mary
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Katherine have a great day Steven you to love you but by the next day I said are you
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Mary Catherine arguing and he said yes ma'am I'm not going back there tonight and he said I'm running from
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Satan Steven slept at a friend's house ignoring Mary Katherine's calls and text messages the next evening she had
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prepared dinner and stevenh was again Mia you called him a lot on that day 910 912
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9177 923 929 930 mhm why why so many times I guess cuz it is like irritating I need to know if I
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need to just you know make me a dinner I'm trying to wait to eat with you it's just one answer are you coming home yes
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or no she found out through Steven's mother that he was still at his friend's house so once you told her where he was
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she went after him yes of course I didn't realize that it was going to escalate and I was going to escalate as
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it did and I have guilt to this day because I I responded cuz I didn't want to lie to her Steven was already driving
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home with Thomas Skinner she comes out of nowhere riding our tail like right on our bumper and she pulled up beside my
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truck like right beside Sten rolled her window down and she started yelling at him she said are you coming home now and
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he said yes calm down I'm coming home but she was like screaming at the top of at the top of her
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lungs less than 2 hours later Steven Freeman was dead while police believe it is an open
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and shut case of murder fueled by Mary Katherine's anger her defense attorneys say not so fast they claimed there was a
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side to Steven Freeman that no one knew if Steven Freeman truly feared that Mary
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Katherine might shoot him why didn't he leave the relationship for [Music] good I played that over my head a
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million times I couldn't finally walk away hindsight's 2020 maybe we should have done more maybe we could have done
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more but Mary Katherine denies she ever pointed a gun at Steven that is until the night she
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killed him well let me let me just read a text and and I want to be specific here uh
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Stephen text you this I know you pointed a gun at me a bunch of times but the last time you did it scared the bleep
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out of me mhm did you point a gun at him no no like I didn't because when he was saying
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that I had pulled a gun to kill myself I was thinking about hurting myself if true it wasn't the first time
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Mary Katherine's father told Detectives both he and Steven were concerned about her suicide threats and I didn't realize
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until after he died that she would tell him that if he didn't come home that she
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was going to kill herself um I think that's why he stayed but by July of 2018 Steven had
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had enough he made plans to move to another town with his friend Thomas and not tell
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Mary Catherine according to prosecutor Kate Len all of the signs were that she was
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unraveling he was planning on moving while she was at work he never got the chance Mary Katherine shot him 2 days
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before he was supposed to leave did it seem like a pretty straightforward case yes yes there was never really any
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question that that she shot him she was the only one in the house besides him she confessed to doing
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it what we're looking at is uh what we call the murder board the prosecution claims it
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discovered Mary Katherine had revised or added details to her story 10 different times the 911
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dispatcher asks her um what happened and she says that she was just grabbing the
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gun to bring it to bed remember Mary Katherine said she didn't know the gun was loaded then once officers arrive on
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scene then um she starts telling the officers that uh that she was handing Steven the gun and then it accidentally
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went off according to detectives she told them in the interrogation room the gun went off when she tossed it to
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Steven the story you first told them was not true yes I knew that obviously it was a line but I
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just I guess I was just scared then police say she admitted shooting him in anger but she told her father and her
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sister that she and Steven had been arguing and that she shot him in self-defense he just threw every
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everything that I made in my face and I just picked up the gun just to to scare him just to get him out of the house cuz
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I was scared when you raised the gun at him did you say anything to him I just said get that blank out of my house and
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what did he do I I remember I remember him leaning down and then he just it just happened all so fast and then he
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laided down and then he lunched at me and I got scared and I kind of rear back and then just the next thing I know he
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was just sorry um and then he was just bleeding she never tells the police that he lunched at her she has every
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opportunity to tell the police that he lunched at her but she doesn't do that Mary Katherine says she was embarrassed
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to tell police that Steven had a history of violence towards her did Steven ever
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hit you yes not so much like where it was like physical like punches or anything
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just like grabs there there was one time where you know he smacked me across the
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face a lot of times um he just kind of you know like like pop me on the back of my head but Steven's friends insist she
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was the violent one in the relationship you saw Mary Katherine hit Steven yes I had multiple times face chest shoulders
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everything one time um she slapped him and he kind of grabbed her like she slapped him hard and he kind of like
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grabbed her and was like don't hit me but Sarah hickon believes her sister she says she saw bruising on Mary
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Katherine's arm two weeks before the shooting and I wish that I would have taken a picture of it and she wouldn't
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tell me at first but eventually I pulled her off to the side and I was like what is that and she
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was like well Steven just grabbed me a little bit too hard I was like what are you talking about but investigators
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believe the forensic evidence shows that far from defending herself Mary Katherine shot Steven In Cold Blood
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while he was simply sitting on their bed there's very little blood anywhere except for right here on this corner
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it's all in one area CU Steven didn't move it tells me that this story of him lunging at her doesn't really add up the
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thought being if he had gotten up and started to make his way toward her there would have been some blood that moved
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beyond the bed correct everyone made a rush to judgment Mary Katherine's attorneys public defenders George
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carbajal and Michael Grams insist Steven could have started to get up and go after her and they say she had good
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reason to be afraid because of his alleged history of abuse what kind of abuse was Mary
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Katherine subjected to um pretty much every kind telling her that um she needed to be a certain way
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was showing where all the money's going uh every moment of the day um making her
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let him know where she's going to be every moment of the day and what physical assaulting I think that he hit
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her on the back of the head and he literally kicked her out of the bed with such force that she flew and hit her
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head on the on the door frame did Mary Katherine ever call 911 to report any of this
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abuse no she always thought that it was her and that she needed to do something better and it was her fault that she was
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making Steven angry you know some of Steven's friends say that she was the abusive one mhm verbally pointed a gun
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at him more than nobody ever saw that all of that came from Steven the defense team claims it uncovered
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evidence of Steven's Jael and Hyde personality and an angry tiate of text messages that Steven sent to Mary
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Katherine a year prior the 63 Pages or whatever of hateful horrible threatening text
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messages that was what really really corroborated it these texts are from an old phone of Mary Catherine's the
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prosecutors didn't even know existed Steven had discovered that Mary Katherine slept with a friend of his
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while they were broken up the language is so ugly we can't repeat most of it but there was also a photo of him
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holding up a dead fish with the caption this is you as well as a threat I'm going to effing wreck you for
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Wrecking me did you know he was talking to her like that I didn't but I do know that he was a human being and he was
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hurt he was angry and I don't condone the language I don't condone what he did the defense claims this is just the
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tip of the iceberg as Mary Katherine takes the stand at her trial her testimony takes
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the courtroom by surprise what is the Red Room um it's like one of those I guess
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sex rooms off of 50 Shades of Gray [Music] Bing County Superior Court is now in session The Honorable Scott L balard is
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Judge presiding thank you y'all be seated please on June 17th 2019 almost a year after Steven Freeman's death
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24-year-old Mary Katherine Higden goes on trial for murder what do you think is your strongest evidence the physical
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evidence the grease on the gun that there was no other person present that all of the blood is in one area there's
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nothing that shows that he was moving or coming at her at the time that he was shot the text messages of her trying to
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get him to come home calling over and over and over prosecutor Kate Leonard says the
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physical evidence supports her theory that Mary Katherine shot Steven in Anger after he hadn't come home for dinner and
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ignored her calls and text messages but there were still some hurdles to over kind of if you want to tell me what what
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went on tonight you know in the very beginning I the only thing it was that is your confession sure and
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it's pretty much inaudible yes how do you mess up the confession um especially when it's such
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a powerful confession and then there was this gun is in an Evidence bag cuz we secured it
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when we made entry First Responders move the gun found next to Steven Freeman claiming they feared that Mary Catherine
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was reaching for it we did take pictures of it before we were moved before we mov
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all right as a prosecutor when you heard the cops say we moved the gun we moved it for safety reasons why did that
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bother you because you could just as easily have moved her for safety reasons leave the gun where it is that's rule
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number one you don't mess with the murder weapon you're under the defense call Mar Catherine hiden now facing the
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possibility of life in prison Mary Katherine Higden made the risky [Music] decision to take the stand the whole
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truth so helpy God yes when it was good it was good but what it was bad it was bad Mary Katherine tearfully paints a
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portrait of Steven as an abusive and controlling boyfriend and he'd expect you know his clothes all ready and
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folded in his shoes where it needed to be he'd want me to make sure his shower was started for him while he often
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seemed to have one foot out the door Mary Katherine says Steven would angrily accuse her of cheating on him and I was
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like Steven you saw that we were just in there talking and he just said no I know
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you you know you're just a the defense introduces those ugly threatening messages that Steven said
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after finding out Mary Catherine had slept with one of his friends at least now I know what you once again
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were what everyone told me not to get with when I picked your scrub ass up out of the mud and made you Mary
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Katherine claims his text frightened her because the relationship had become violent he said The more you talk the
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more you get punished when I get home how did you understand the threat of being punished when you would get home
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he you know smack me around sometimes you would grab me and shank me and say you know why can't you just do better
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and be better and just do what I tell you to do the details are graphic okay but they are just the beginning he
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said I miss you too much I'm coming home to you and you're about to get it bad you're going to the Red Room
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tonight what is the Red Room um it's like one of those I guess sex rooms off of 50 sh to I don't want
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out I just I'm not exactly jumping at the opportunity to get whipped and tortured in your Red Room of pain it
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wasn't any specific room but it was just when like we would bring out like these
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certain things that we had bought what would happen in the Red Room um he' just tie me up and hit me Mary Catherine
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tells the court that on two occasions the rough sex turned into rape one time she says it was just after the couple
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had returned from a trip to Disney World he started hurting me really really bad I said Stephen please
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stop and he said he said that since he spin so much money at me at Disney I need to give him
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what he deserves to get up there and call a dead man a rapist that's disgusting she had never
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told anyone that before how convenient to wait until you're sitting on The Stand Accused of his murder and he can't
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defend himself but Mary Katherine insists that's why she was so afraid of Steven the night she shot him and she
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adds a new detail claiming Steven became angry after finding out she wanted to end the relationship so he started
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throwing things started you know pushing me around and that's when I got scared and I just wanted him out of the
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house and and that's the next thing I remember is him lunging at me and then the next thing that I remember them is
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him standing there saying call 911 what she leaves out of her testimony is the moment she pulled the trigger I
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never wanted to hurt him I never wanted anything like that I didn't even know it
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was chambered in Kate Leonard isn't buying any of it in her cross-examination she confronts
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Mary Catherine for never having complained about Steven's alleged abuse can I give you a minute to show me in
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those text messages between you and he and you and every other person that was in your cell phone where you talk about
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him being physically violent I never talked about it only with friends I never text it
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out then the prosecutor has her own surprise for the court hours before killing Steven Mary Katherine was
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searching violent internet pornography sites while at a babysitting job all of those and many more you looked up when
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Steven was not with you but it was him that liked the Red Room is that your testimony yes I looked at things for
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ideas cuz obviously he's gone I wanted to please him the woman who just told you that she was
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raped looks at gang rape porn bondage porn why would you relive that trauma now Mary Katherine Higman is
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about to find out if the jury believes [Music] her Mary Katherine hiden spared no
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detail in her emotional testimony about alleged abuse by Steven Freeman so when anytime I would stand up for myself or
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you know kind of retaliate he said don't don't hit me cuz if you hit me I'm going
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to hit you 10 times harder you make your SE thank you now it's the prosecution's last chance
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to argue that none of it is true this is not a case of self-defense this is a case of
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manipulation in closing arguments Kate Leonard reminds the jury of the different stories Mary Katherine told
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the police the gun was tampered it was an accident I tossed it I don't know what happened I was scared I was angry
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but she did not tell them that she was abused and the prosecutor does not believe she
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was when your abuser is out of the house and you are safe are you as a victim of domestic
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violence going to track down your abuser where he is with his friends are you going to go and track him
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down does that make sense the prosecutor says Mary Katherine's rage boiled over on the
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night of August 1st 2018 after Steven finally came home and then refus to eat the dinner that she
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had prepared look at me Steven look at me Steven and when he doesn't he is shot in the left side of the neck where you
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know that he's not facing her he never sees it coming in his closing argument defense attorney
00:35:45
Michael granham focuses on Steven's alleged history of abuse those were his words the more you do this the more
00:35:56
you're going to get punished granims brings up those ugly texts that Steven sent Mary Katherine a year prior that
00:36:03
torrent of demeaning hatred texts is probably the worst tirade that I've ever seen and I'm a criminal
00:36:13
defense lawyer then he recounts Mary Katherine's most serious allegation that Steven raped her and as she's crying and
00:36:21
she's telling him it hurts Steven stop stepen you're hurting me his answer well I spent money on you at Disney so I'm
00:36:28
entitled to this he insists Mary Katherine saw the same frightening look in Steven's eyes just before she shot
00:36:36
him Mary Catherine hiden knew exactly what was [Music] coming Gram's demonstrates his point
00:36:44
with an unusual prop as a metaphor does anybody have any doubt about what's going to happen
00:36:56
next you may now retire to the jury R but as the case heads to the jury the drama is far from over I just knew it
00:37:04
was a major responsibility two of the jurors Victor and Chris were feeling the weight of their burden and I knew pretty
00:37:12
much no matter what you vote one family gets hurt you destroy one side of that courtroom no matter
00:37:18
what you vote within minutes of getting the case the jury took its first vote 10 to2 guilty but then and I knew
00:37:28
that I was about to be the one to upset that apple cart so I went ahead and did that both Chris and Victor told their
00:37:35
fellow jurors that they shared the defense's concerns about the investigation starting with that lost
00:37:41
confession in the very beginning I the only thing it was inside I was like are you kidding me
00:37:50
I mean I know this isn't a major city but it's audio equipment she's still in custody
00:37:58
why are you not going to bring her back in to at least speak with her again but Mary Katherine had already obtained a
00:38:05
lawyer where's the G right there and they question why the police moved the gun that was used to shoot Steven it's
00:38:14
ludicrous to argue that it's easier to move the gun than it was to move her what also troubled them prosecutors had
00:38:23
cracked open Mary Katherine's cell phone for texts social media and search history
00:38:28
but they decided not to spend another $1,800 to unlock Steven's phone it was too expensive to pay another two grand
00:38:36
to crack his phone open and let's see what kind of person he was to try to you know dispute the rape and abuse
00:38:43
allegations or back them up they didn't do that but you could already get those messages on Mary Katherine's phone no we
00:38:48
get the message between them two we don't get what he was talking about with his homeboy or what he was looking up
00:38:53
online and all Chris and Victor say they were left with serious doubts about all
00:38:59
of the prosecution's evidence all of it's tainted from the way the cops handled the investigation well if you
00:39:04
don't have any evidence you don't have a case I didn't have any proof that she had done much anything except for lying
00:39:12
and those lies didn't seem to bother either juror if I was being arrested for potentially murdering somebody I would I
00:39:19
probably would get scared enough that I would just come up with whatever story I
00:39:22
could but that almost seems like you're making an excuse for her not making an excuse I'm just I'm just empathizing
00:39:28
with the the situation and in toxic relationships there are mountains and mountains and mountains of
00:39:34
Lies by the next afternoon it was clear their arguments had made an impact and so the jury had a verdict we
00:39:42
the jury find as follows count one malice murder we find the defendant not guilty count two felony murder we find
00:39:53
the defendant not guilty not guilty of murder as well as the Lesser charges of assault and possession
00:40:04
of a firearm during the commission of a felony and I'm just sitting there and I'm thinking I have failed this
00:40:11
family and that was hard we did good work on this case say that you don't trust the police because of the the
00:40:18
interview say you don't trust the forensic evidence you still have the 911 tapes where she says I shot my boyfriend
00:40:28
2 hours later Mary Katherine Higden was a free woman oh I cannot believe this is
00:40:36
happening right now as she watched the woman who killed her son walk free Jennifer Freeman could
00:40:43
barely contain her anger toward the jury Steven definitely got the short end of the stick because I don't believe that
00:40:49
they even listened Victor insists he was just following the law I think she killed him
00:40:57
that's wrong but you voted not guilty because of the evidence am I understanding you
00:41:06
correctly to say that because the police screwed up she's not guilty I didn't say
00:41:12
she's not guilty she's not in prison the jury found you not guilty on all the charges do you feel any
00:41:22
guilt because I love stepen and I never meant that to ever happen to [Music] him 48 Hours don't miss an episode
00:41:50
[Music] I've thought about a thousand times the what if and that's kind of nauseating
00:42:42
that we were that close in my time as district attorney we have had some odd cases this one was a
00:42:51
complete roller coaster ride towards the end as far as an tional situation this was by far um the toughest
00:43:04
one Tracy Harris was a hardworking young mother that disappeared March 7th 1990 she was a very sweet friend a very
00:43:15
shy person and people really liked her and respected her her her daughter was a toddler a four-year-old named Carolyn
00:43:24
who she had with Carl Harris she had been married for several years they had recently divorced but had never really
00:43:33
split they still lived in the same home they slept in the same bed I did hear that Tracy was missing and was very
00:43:41
concerned something had happened to her Carl came by our house she'd been missing for a couple days he was
00:43:50
genuinely concerned and he said you know I can see her leaving me but she would never leave this baby
00:43:59
her body was discovered about 150 yard further Downstream about 7 days before she went
00:44:07
missing based on the autopsy the manner of death was homicide Tracy was a kind and loving
00:44:16
person who did not deserve what happened to her most people did think that Carl Harris had murdered Tracy prior to her
00:44:27
going missing there had been a confrontation or two concerning a girlfriend that Carl had Carl Harris did
00:44:34
have a reputation for being very violent in particular towards Tracy Harris there
00:44:39
was several instances where the witnesses would say it didn't take anything for him to just go off on her
00:44:46
he was incredibly abusive to her I never put my hands on Tracy never so all those
00:44:53
people were lying yes ma'am I love Tracy she was the love of my life I think from
00:45:00
the very get-go there was only one suspect in this case Carl Harris everybody thought I killed him
00:45:06
everywhere I turn they they you know you can hear him whispering in the background there's the man that killed
00:45:12
Tracy a lot of people were were waiting for him to be arrested and then surprised when he never
00:45:20
was Ozark Police Department had created a Cold Case unit and in 2016 they picked up the Tracy Harris
00:45:30
Carl Harris case they told me they was looking at me as as a suspect again after 27 years the evidence was
00:45:39
circumstantially strong the domestic violence the circumstance with the girlfriend and comments he made that she
00:45:46
wouldn't be back who else would want this sweet innocent young lady murdered Jordan and her team had spent a
00:45:59
lot of time building a case that I was about to torpedo I kept the secret for 30 years
00:46:11
[Music] n [Music] [Music] Tracy was alive when she came to this location and traveled down this access
00:47:06
road to the beachy area 22-year-old Tracy Harris disappeared on March 7th 1990 a week later her body was found in
00:47:17
the chattah hatche river a few miles from her home in Ozark Alabama the area around the river was a
00:47:26
place Tracy and her friends would get together it was certainly one of the first places that investigators were
00:47:31
looking for Tracy Dale County district attorney Kirk Adams her body had come to rest upon a log after the water started
00:47:39
to recede a bit the autopsy revealed that Tracy had drowned but also noted marks around her neck likely indicating
00:47:48
strangulation the missing person case became a homicide and Ozark Police started interviewing those close to
00:47:55
Tracy and her ex-husband Carl with whom she still lived Carl had let the police in his house a couple of times for them
00:48:03
to look around Carl was believed to have been the last person to see Tracy picking her up the night she disappeared
00:48:11
from the restaurant where she worked as a waitress he then dropped Tracy off at their house and headed out to his job at
00:48:18
a supermarket there were not any clues at home it didn't appear that anybody had taken her by force
00:48:27
police thought that location by the river might provide more clues they learned that while Tracy might have
00:48:33
enjoyed spending time by the river she would never have gone in the river every witness we spoke with she could not swim
00:48:43
she was terrified of water she was so scared of the water when she was baptized and she went under she was
00:48:52
hysterical Selena dson and Tracy were about 11 years old old when baptized they were childhood friends spending a
00:49:00
lot of time together at church it was there she first saw Tracy with Carl Tracy and Carl started dating when we
00:49:08
were probably 16 17 years old and I was happy for her that she you know had a boyfriend and somebody that she really
00:49:17
liked in her senior year of high school Tracy became pregnant and she and Carl who was 3 years older married when she
00:49:26
had Carolyn she was adorable everybody just loved her and she was like Tracy she looked like her and she had a
00:49:32
personality like her Tracy's mother was taking care of Carolyn you know young parents you could
00:49:40
tell that her and Carl you know struggled some tell me about your your family as a young family you and Tracy
00:49:48
and Carolyn we was all happy and everything we didn't have a problem with each other or nothing like that the
00:49:55
picture Carl paint KN of a happy home though was not what police found when they started questioning friends and
00:50:02
family assistant Dale County district attorney Jordan Davis there was about 14 different people that had come forward
00:50:11
that witnessed some type of domestic violence between Tracy and Carl one of those people was Dawn
00:50:19
Beasley she and her soon Tobe husband Jeff who worked construction with Carl lived with the harrises for about a
00:50:26
month Tracy and I were a lot alike Dawn who was pregnant at the time and Tracy a
00:50:32
young mother quickly became friends I think that she appreciated having someone you know Carl was uh real
00:50:41
controlling and you know he didn't want her to have a lot of friends what did you see going on between Carl and Tracy
00:50:49
so one time we were uh sitting at the table and she told uh Carl Hey listen I'm going to need needs some money for
00:50:57
the water bill and he flew into a rage he's got her bent over backwards with his hands around her throat did he
00:51:04
verbally threaten her he threatened to kill her in front of me I intervene I I'm telling him let her go did she talk
00:51:11
to you about it at all yes she just wanted to be a family she felt like if she could just get through the rough
00:51:19
stuff you know that it would be okay Dawn told police about those altercation she said she saw and her
00:51:29
feelings about Carl well they asked me so what do you know about Carl Harris and I said well I know he's a rat
00:51:36
bastard he was not good to Tracy he asked me about fights I'd seen and I made a statement and I signed it and
00:51:44
every word of my statement was true there are quite a few people who said that they saw you being abusive to Tracy
00:51:53
were you abusive to Tracy no ma'am I was not we all saw it everyone in town was talking about it I did my grocery
00:52:02
shopping and I'm in the milk section and there's a couple standing there talking
00:52:06
about it the husband says well looks like that boy D finally killed that girl despite all the talk in town Tracy
00:52:16
never filed police reports about the alleged abuse back then the domestic violence law was much different if the
00:52:22
police arrived and nobody wanted to make a report or there was just no reports done
00:52:27
it wasn't just stories about abuse that made law enforcement take a hard look at
00:52:31
Carl there was that young girlfriend he did have a 17-year-old girlfriend at the
00:52:36
time who several people said he had had conversations with about marrying her um
00:52:42
but that he couldn't leave Tracy because he'd have to pay child support he also made comments prior to her going missing
00:52:50
and after including come back whenever Tracy won't be home Carl admits to having a girlfriend honestly it went
00:52:57
their business and talking to her about Tracy but says any comments he made were
00:53:03
misunderstood you didn't tell anybody that she wasn't coming back no ma'am I've never said that it was just so many
00:53:12
things most of all which were circumstantial but they all pointed at Carl Harris but no arrest was made and
00:53:20
the case went cold Carl claims that through the years he occasionally called authorities to ask about the
00:53:28
investigation but they say otherwise has there ever been a time that Carl Harris
00:53:34
said I want you to find out who killed Tracy never does that strike you as odd strikes me as very odd
00:53:44
[Music] [Music] [Music] a lot of people you know just assumed Carl would be arrested assume that he
00:54:15
did it and we're waiting for him to be arrested for years Selena Dodson wondered if there would ever be Justice
00:54:23
for her friend Tracy Harris who in 199 was found murdered in Alabama's chattah hatche
00:54:32
River Selena's thoughts would often wander to Tracy and Carl's daughter so I would wonder you know I wonder what
00:54:40
happened to Carolyn I wonder what she looks like I wonder what she's doing I was 4 years old when my mom was
00:54:48
murdered when I was 45 I would cry nonstop if I would get in trouble and say I want my mom I want my
00:54:58
mom Carolyn was immediately adopted by Tracy's mother they soon left Ozark hoping to start over and move to Texas
00:55:08
what did you grow up thinking happened to your mom I knew my mom was murdered then as the years went on I found out
00:55:17
that it it had to do with my dad what did people tell you about him I've always heard that he was very abusive
00:55:25
towards my mom that he was just a a bad individual Carolyn had no interest in a relationship with her father whom she
00:55:35
did not see while growing up her grandmother provided a loving home and Carolyn says that was more than enough
00:55:44
she she was like the best like she did everything for [Music] me when Carolyn was about 21 she says
00:55:53
Carl did reach out and they met but did not talk about Tracy did you want to ask him about her yeah I've
00:56:02
always wanted to ask questions but the way that everybody portrays him to be I didn't think that he would tell me the
00:56:08
truth still Carolyn wondered about her mother wanting to know what really happened I have tried to piece it
00:56:17
together that's what I do I try to I try to piece everything together and make it
00:56:21
all make sense this was definitely something Carolyn was passionate about she wanted some type of justice for her
00:56:29
mom when her grandmother died in 2015 Carolyn returned to Ozark to bury her next to her mother she started asking
00:56:39
people in town what they knew about Tracy and the investigation and there was one lady she said that her son
00:56:46
happened to be best friends with the sheriff Carolyn spoke with the sheriff who put her in touch with the Ozark
00:56:52
Police Department at the same time the Cold Case unit was starting to reopen the
00:56:58
investigation as it turned out their number one suspect had not changed there was nobody whose name had ever come up
00:57:09
that had any reason to kill Tracy Harris and I think when they reopened the case
00:57:14
they were just trying to prove Carl did it not look for anybody else and so they
00:57:20
went back through all the witnesses that had given statements in 1990 all the ones that they could find they got back
00:57:27
in touch with among those who police went back and interviewed an acquaintance of Tracy and Carl's he said
00:57:34
the police are so dumb I can kill somebody and get away with it Tracy's on because it kind of shocked me because I
00:57:40
mean he was saying that it was like he was smarter than the police you know I was a young naive teenager investigators
00:57:48
also tracked down that girlfriend of Carl's who was 17 when Tracy was murdered did Carl at any time tell you
00:57:56
that you didn't have to worry about Tracy showing up and into the house he could have when do you think you said
00:58:02
that I don't know although she recalled little about her time with Carl she did remember learning Tracy was dead I I
00:58:11
just couldn't believe that she was dead and her realization that perhaps her boyfriend was a murderer I just remember
00:58:20
thinking that you know people were talking and it it even took me being questioned to even think that maybe he
00:58:30
could have done it but after it all happened we just stopped seeing each other and there was also several people
00:58:40
that they found since then that he had made statements to that were incriminating while police were
00:58:47
reinvestigating the case Carl was trying to get on with his life several years after Tracy's murder he had left Ozark
00:58:56
feeling like The Cloud of Suspicion had destroyed his life I had to go out of town to get jobs when people don't know
00:59:04
me he worked as a bouncer in construction had a girlfriend and another Daughter by 2016 he had moved to
00:59:14
South Carolina where investigators gave him a call I thought it was good news I thought they found somebody they was
00:59:21
looking at and when they told me they was looking at me as suspect again they come up two weeks later arresting
00:59:29
me more than 26 years after Tracy Harris's body was found Carl Harris was arrested on September 13th
00:59:39
2016 for her murder there's absolutely no evidence at all that it connects Carl Harris to this
00:59:46
murder none whatsoever David Harrison is Carl's defense attorney he says Carl's arrest was motivated by politics and
00:59:55
nothing more in 2016 in this area there were unsolved murderers they had a lot of political pressure to to charge
01:00:02
somebody the environment of ozar Alabama was we need to do something were you worried that there was some new piece of
01:00:10
evidence that they had no I was never worried never cuz I was innocent well Carl may not have been
01:00:18
worried there was someone who for years was Dawn Beasley that friend of Tracy who with her then fiance briefly lived
01:00:29
with the harrises every time I would have a police officer get behind me I would
01:00:34
wonder is this where where all of a sudden they know what's happening this is the moment
01:00:41
[Music] I've always wondered what happened to my mom since I can remember for decades
01:01:04
Carolyn wanted to know more about the 1990 murder of her mother Tracy Harris and in
01:01:12
2016 with the arrest of her estranged father Carl Carolyn thought finally she would get some answers how do you react
01:01:21
when the thing you want is Justice for your mom but it's your dad who's been charged with her murder it's a relief
01:01:30
that we found somebody but and then in the back of my mind I'm like was it really him could he have really done
01:01:36
this why motive was also a question prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis thought about as they prepared their
01:01:45
case against Carl I don't think there was one particular motive I think that the domestic violence was definitely in
01:01:53
the back of our heads but also this 17 y- old girlfriend that he had based mostly on statements from the interviews
01:02:02
originally done back in 1990 an investigator from the Ozark Police put together this scenario of what he
01:02:09
thought happened the night Tracy went missing quote it was determined that Carl Harris left his job at superfood
01:02:17
sometime around 9900 p.m. and went to his home Carl Harris jumped on top of Tracy Harris and began choking her Carl
01:02:25
Harris then placed her seemingly dead body into his vehicle and subsequently drove her to the Chuck tahachi River and
01:02:33
placed her body into the water police say Carl then picked up a friend reportedly at 9:30 making all those
01:02:41
stops Carl would have traveled about 20 miles you can take all the statements of
01:02:47
anybody you want to put together in this investigation here there is no evidence
01:02:51
whatsoever that is true when you put the timeline to this case Mar unless he was
01:02:56
on a lar jet that was impossible defense attorney David Harrison says the entire
01:03:02
investigation is not just flawed but that the police narrative is fabricated this officer made this up to
01:03:12
make this arrest the defense also offered up an alternate suspect that friend police say Carl picked up the
01:03:20
night Tracy disappeared named Bobby Herring Bobby Herring was convicted of raping a woman in a sister County but
01:03:28
prosecutors say Herring had an alibi for the time Tracy was murdered and they were remained confident that Carl was
01:03:35
their man what's different in 2016 that wasn't there or obvious in 1990 I think the major thing was getting
01:03:45
these Witnesses together which is what we did for the grand jury presentation and once you heard those people it was
01:03:52
very clear that Carl was violent he had threatened Tracy he had said one of these days I'm going to kill you those
01:04:00
things just add up as they prepared for trial Kirk and Jordan sifted through statements looking for more potential
01:04:08
witnesses to testify I was actually three when this happened so from 1990 and we're trying to track down Witnesses
01:04:16
we were dealing with people that had moved all over the country several had passed away there was a lot to go
01:04:21
through so we just kind of started with a long list and we just started trying to narrow it down the prosecutors also
01:04:28
visited the area around the river where Tracy's body was found part of our job is to paint that picture for a jury and
01:04:35
I just think it's always important to try to get a feel for the area they spent time on the bridge where police
01:04:41
believed Carl through Tracy into the river this location is approximately 7 miles from where Carl and Tracy Harris
01:04:50
lived it's very quiet and very rural they also went to the area under the bridge where people would sometimes
01:04:58
gather there's a lot of graffiti under this bridge a lot of names as well putting the case together was an arduous
01:05:06
process one filled with continuances and delays Carl was out on bail having spent
01:05:13
2 and a half weeks in jail after his arrest as confident as the prosecution was so was the defense I've tried 140
01:05:23
criminal jury trials I know bad one from a good one they never had a shot with this case but they maintain that the
01:05:31
case was specifically built on the statements of all the people who said that they saw Carl being abusive to his
01:05:38
wife his strange Behavior afterwards was that a concern for you as you were preparing a defense never never because
01:05:47
the credibility of the people that were going to testify they had no credibility
01:05:52
none whatsoever but Carolyn who traveled to ozar for every single hearing was convinced of her father's guilt I was I
01:06:01
was ready to put him behind bars ready to see it happen finally more than 3 years after Carl's arrest the trial was
01:06:08
scheduled for January 13th 20120 the week before trial Jordan continued to scour over old witness
01:06:17
reports deciding who should testify that's when one statement from 1990 not followed up on caught her attention the
01:06:26
one in particular that we found that they hadn't talked to in 2016 was this Don Halbert now Beasley and she had
01:06:35
witnessed domestic violence while living in their home what we thought was interesting was that she had witnessed
01:06:41
it in the same manner as how Tracy was actually killed it took Jordan several calls to wrong phone numbers to find
01:06:48
Dawn Beasley and she says my name is Jordan Davis I'm with Dale County DA this is about Carl and Tracy Harris Dawn
01:06:58
who had moved away from Ozark and was now divorced says she didn't even know there was an arrest for the murder of
01:07:04
her friend Tracy until that call they asked me we need you to testify and I said no I uh I can't possibly do that my
01:07:15
job is uh very stressful I texted her the next morning and said we really would like for you to come she texted me
01:07:24
back and said that she was was going to decline our invitation that she couldn't
01:07:28
help us so Jordan for you this wasn't an invitation this is a murder trial I was
01:07:34
aggravated I simply got a subpoena ready and we gave it to our investigators the
01:07:38
next day she made a scene it was very dramatic I was very unhappy I said you're ruining my life and you don't
01:07:49
understand why you guys don't want me to [Music] [Music] testify it was unbelievable to me that I
01:08:16
should end up with this incredible secret Dawn Beasley's secret weighed on her when she was asked to testify in the
01:08:25
2020 murder trial of Carl Harris Dawn refused to come saying she was too busy then after being subpoena she called
01:08:36
prosecutor Jordan Davis again I told Jordan I have given you completely honest reasons why I don't want to
01:08:45
testify but the most important reason I can't testify is because you have an innocent man on
01:08:53
trial I thought wow she's coming up with with crazy story as to why she can't get
01:08:57
here and she said well how do you know he's innocent I know he's innocent because the man that did commit the
01:09:03
crime confessed it to me the night he did it that's my ex-husband Jeff beasy Dawn told Jordan about the night
01:09:14
of March 7th 1990 when Tracy went missing Dawn about to celebrate her 21st birthday the next day was pregnant with
01:09:24
her first child her fiance Jeff came home waking her in the middle of the night he said I I accidentally heard her
01:09:32
and now she's dead who Tracy what happened I went over to Carl's to talk to Carl Carl wasn't there
01:09:42
I talked to Tracy I tried to talk her into leaving him she got mad at me we had a fight we tussled and I
01:09:48
accidentally heard her and now she's dead he said he took her down to the river because he didn't want them to
01:09:56
come home and find her body Dawn says she told Jeff they needed to go to the police but he insisted they keep quiet I
01:10:05
had an impossible choice to make and I really struggled Tracy deserves justice but the cost was going
01:10:15
to be so high what was the cost going to be if you went to the police I was going
01:10:22
to have to throw my entire life away I'm about about to get married I'm pregnant
01:10:27
this baby deserves a chance at a life with a loving family and a mom and a dad and so Dawn made her decision she would
01:10:38
stay quiet she says out of her desire to keep her life intact and also out of fear that police might not believe her
01:10:46
they're going to ask him some questions he's going to deny it then what happens to
01:10:51
me Dawn says she was honest when questioned her after Tracy's body was found and described the abuse seeing
01:11:00
Carl grab Tracy by the throat and threatened to kill her and every word of my statement was true they just never
01:11:08
asked me who do you think did it I walked out and I do remember the sense of relief because I hadn't actually had
01:11:17
to lie did it feel like you were lying though by not telling them sure I've gone back more
01:11:25
and question that decision over and over and over and over and over again did you
01:11:31
feel badly at all that he was under such scrutiny and suspicion I would like to say that I
01:11:38
did but I didn't Carl made Tracy miserable while Ozark Police questioned Dawn they never got a statement from
01:11:48
Jeff even though they both spent time together living with the harrises they had a statement from on and that was
01:11:56
things that they had witnessed while living in the home together I'm sure they thought that Jeff's statement would
01:12:02
be very similar to Don's but Jeff Beasley should have raised some red flags for police he had a criminal
01:12:09
record Don met Jeff shortly after he was released from prison having served four
01:12:15
years for burglary and Escape attempts but Dawn was willing to overlook his criminal past and the information about
01:12:23
killing Tracy they married and started their own family keeping the secret to themselves I never talked about it ever
01:12:33
to another living Soul not even Jeff you and Jeff never talked about it ever again never never once you just pulled a
01:12:41
dark curtain over and that was it it was done we just pretended it never happened
01:12:46
were you ever concerned that you might get into trouble having not gone to the police right from the beginning sure
01:12:55
yeah of course Dawn says she worried yet life preceded mostly as if nothing had happened Dawn and Jeff would have
01:13:04
another child her growing family eventually made her think of Tracy's daughter Carolyn I should have been
01:13:10
sorry for Carolyn and I was sorry for me even after Jeff was arrested again in 1991 for burglary and spent 5 years in
01:13:23
prison Dawn kept kept the secret wanting her family life to be normal when he got
01:13:29
out Jeff comes home from prison but very quickly I realized that this is not going to be what I anticipated it was
01:13:38
going to be Dawn claims Jeff became abusive after 13 years of marriage and four children she and Jeff divorced as
01:13:49
time went on she did think about ways to tell authorities what she knew maybe how
01:13:54
you do it on my deathbed maybe I make an anonymous phone call maybe I write a letter but she says the fear of upending
01:14:02
her own children's lives always stopped her that however changed with Jordan's insistence that she testify at Carl's
01:14:11
murder trial she dreaded what she now had to do tell her adult children that their father killed someone and that she
01:14:21
kept it quiet for 30 years the only I was ever afraid of was how they were going to
01:14:28
respond and they responded with support and love and understanding meanwhile the
01:14:35
prosecutors on the Friday before the start of the trial were also processing what Dawn had just told them I knew we
01:14:43
couldn't have a trial Monday because we had to figure out what's going on here Jeff Beasley's name until they spoke to
01:14:51
Dawn was unfamiliar but they did remember something from from that trip to the river where Tracy's body was
01:14:57
found while we were here we were looking under the bridge and in big huge spray painted letters was the last name
01:15:07
Beasley but it doesn't mean anything at that time because on the statement Dawn's name was Dawn hbert it didn't
01:15:13
even say Beasley prosecutors do not know why or who spray painted the name Beasley under
01:15:20
the bridge Carl Harris's trial was put on hold police tracked down his old friend Jeff Beasley who was living in
01:15:28
Ozark working as a trucker and brought him in for questioning I'm being accused of of of
01:15:36
murder of of taking someone's life I couldn't I wouldn't [Music] can we really do this can we really
01:15:59
solve this for Carolyn can we really give her peace prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan
01:16:08
Davis spent more than three delayed filled years putting together their case Seeking Justice for Tracy Harris now
01:16:16
with Dawn Beasley's Revelation that her ex-husband Jeff told her that he killed Tracy I appreciate you coming in they
01:16:24
hope to learn the truth did you uh hurt Tracy in any way did you Jeff Beasley not only agreed to talk to
01:16:34
investigators yeah just have a seat for but also to take a lie detector test are
01:16:40
you the person that caused the death of Tracy Harris that night he maintained his innocence even after being told you
01:16:47
did not pass he failed the polygraph I I didn't do this I I did I didn't do this
01:16:54
this was not me for more than 4 hours beastley insisted he had nothing to do with Tracy's death
01:17:02
seemed like you guys are wanting me to say I did something when I didn't I'm not I'm not going to put a word in your
01:17:08
mouth only you know and that's what I need I don't [Music] know and then I want it done he
01:17:20
confessed we went down to the river claiming he entered Tracy were having an affair she said she was leaving
01:17:30
[Music] call they wanted me to leave D so she was telling D Jeff said he and Tracy had been
01:17:42
waiting in the river and we got into an ARG was in the river so tell me what happen she went down and didn't come
01:17:54
back up but some things in Beasley's story were not adding up dawn said Jeff had told
01:18:02
her that Tracy and he fought at the Harris's home and those who knew Tracy did not believe she was having an affair
01:18:10
not one witness we had ever mentioned that she was possibly seeing someone else because
01:18:18
it was clear from the witnesses that Carl wouldn't allow that I cannot imagine that she
01:18:25
was cheating with with Jeff or anyone else he told me it was an accident you know now sitting here I think that maybe
01:18:35
he hit on her maybe she rebuffed his advances maybe she said I'm going to tell her and maybe he freaked out
01:18:46
and made sure she wasn't going to ruin his family and there was the issue of why TR
01:18:55
known to be terrified of water would voluntarily go in the river everybody in the case of new Trac say she was SC War
01:19:04
well we went to the river quite a couple times they also wanted Jeff to explain those bruises the autopsy noted on
01:19:11
Tracy's neck Mark's authorities felt were consistent with strangulation one of the pathologist
01:19:19
reports uh said that she was responsibly strangled I didn't strangle her I remember taking her pushing her
01:19:30
underwater autopsy says it I don't I guess was it an accident yeah I would hope yeah but
01:19:40
police and prosecutors did not believe it was an accident and Jeff Beasley was charged
01:19:47
with the murder of Tracy Harris he confessed in a way that matches the evidence I don't know how many times
01:19:53
that happens when you get a confession from the real killer technically 17 18 hours before trial the Das broke the
01:20:01
news to Carolyn Jordan called me to come to the police station that they had to tell me something and I broke we finally
01:20:10
did it like we finally found out who killed my mom you could just see so many emotions
01:20:17
going through her she'd been told all her life your dad did this but to find out he didn't do it you could tell Not
01:20:27
only was she relieved but you could tell she was so grateful that somebody had solve this case on January 13th 2020 the
01:20:37
day prosecutors had planned to be in court starting Carl Harris's trial instead they held a press conference I
01:20:44
have dismissed the murder case against Carl Harris an arrest has been made a 54-year-old Jeff Beasley of ozar with
01:20:52
the murder of Tracy Harris it hurt our pride that we had the wrong person you've got to you know check your ego at
01:20:59
the door because what's important is the right person got charged Carl Harris heard the news that he was a free man
01:21:07
from his attorney it just blow my mind I was happy that I was standing my ground
01:21:14
and I was telling the truth the whole time and they finally caught the boy did it Beasley pleaded guilty and received a
01:21:21
30-year sentence Did you ever consider filing charges against Dawn no there are a lot of people who are going to say
01:21:30
maybe she should be charged with something I think it was extremely difficult for her to come forward but
01:21:36
the fact is she could have kept that secret for forever she could have come up here she could have lied on the stand
01:21:41
the goal was to find the truth and to seek Justice for Tracy Harris and ultimately Dawn did that was there any
01:21:50
relief for you after all this time it was extraordinary relief for Carl Harris his relief is mixed with
01:21:58
anger along with his attorney David Harrison they held their own press conference I think it's negligent I
01:22:06
think it's incompetence we're talking about an innocent man alleging that police fabricated
01:22:13
information like that investigator's report describing how Carl killed Tracy Carl filed notice that he plans to sue
01:22:22
the city of Ozark for $6 million for for damages including false imprisonment and
01:22:28
pain and suffering we wanted to ask ozar police about the investigation but they
01:22:34
declined citing the pending claim we're mortified that we were that close to putting the wrong man on trial
01:22:42
and we were very confident that we would be able to get a conviction in this case
01:22:46
I do think about that all the time and that's kind of nauseating to be honest um that we were that close and I think
01:22:53
we we definitely learned a lesson with this case Tracy Harris's murder more than 30 years ago has left many
01:23:00
wondering what might have been especially Carolyn she still has no relationship with Carl Carl has not come forward and
01:23:09
actually been truthful to me about the abuse and I can't forgive him if he can't be men
01:23:19
enough to look at me and tell me what he did and that he's sorry for it Carolyn's
01:23:27
Focus remains on the mother she never had a chance to get to know everybody I've talked to said that she was so
01:23:35
quiet she was so modest she was the sweetest person that they've ever met do you wonder what your
01:23:42
mom would be like today every day every day [Music] 48 hours to miss it would be a crime
01:24:04
were you at all prepared for what happened in this case [Music] this story has always been one that has
01:24:53
fascinated people because it's so bizarre that this could even happen 17 1/2 years we have always
01:25:03
talked about Mike Williams being missing not ever finding his body not ever having resolution was very
01:25:15
difficult he was going to wake up early and go duck hunting he was a big duck hunter and so he went off to the lake
01:25:23
and then he never came [Music] back Mike Williams was a straight shooter he loved his family he loved his
01:25:36
wife he put her on a pedestal Mike did everything that she wanted done Denise said jump Mike want to know how high
01:25:44
they were going to be celebrating their wedding anniversary and so when he did not come home about noon when he was
01:25:49
supposed to Denise started getting worried and started calling around this search was the most intensive I
01:25:57
ever seen law enforcement and friends and family combing the lake looking for me they found the boat his truck the
01:26:07
trailer that was all there I got up in the helicopter flew around and looked for his body and one of the things that
01:26:15
I noticed there were no less than 15 to 20 very large alligators swimming all around this area
01:26:27
lake seol is known for having a lot of alligators we're in North Florida there are a lot of
01:26:34
alligators when we went back out there you know there was more evidence that there was there had been alligator
01:26:39
activity around there that's what you believed happened to Mike yes I I firmly believe that I
01:26:49
guess you're sort of hoping you find something and sort of hoping you don't what was was hoping it if he was
01:26:54
here we would find him and get closure but no it didn't happen people are attacked by
01:27:01
alligators little dogs are eaten by alligators but you never hear of someone who's just vanished eaten by whole by an
01:27:11
alligator it is totally impossible for 185lb man to be consumed by an alligator Without a Trace I think that's when we
01:27:21
started going oh my gosh this is not what we thought it was many people felt like there was Foul
01:27:29
Play involved Cheryl Williams Mike's mom comes along and I pray every day that Mike will come home Cheryl begins her
01:27:38
Crusade if you will trying to get answers she'd make picket signs and stand in front of the church there were
01:27:45
Billboards you know have you seen my son she wrote the governor a letter every day for 9 years until God tells me in my
01:27:54
hard that that child is dead I cannot give up looking for she wasn't going to quit until she
01:28:01
had a body alive or dead he didn't just fall out of the boat this wasn't just a hunting
01:28:09
[Music] accident this man was murdered and they blamed it on alligators for 17 years
01:28:22
[Music] [Music] you've got to really love duck hunting to love Lake seol it's shallow it's swampy and it's
01:29:14
popular with the local alligators Mike Williams really did love duck hunting and people say that's why
01:29:22
he came here with Before Dawn on December 16th 2000 alone his wife said the plan was
01:29:31
that Mike would be back home in time to celebrate his wedding anniversary but 12 hours later after his
01:29:39
wife reported him missing Lake seol would be swarming with Rescuers searching for Mike Williams on the land
01:29:47
on the water and in the air can you show me the area that you guys searched in basically this area from here to there
01:29:57
about 5 Acres Alton rainu and David Arnett were among the first law enforcement officers to get a call about
01:30:05
a missing duck hunter what we thought had happened is that he possibly fell out of the boat or capsized is it
01:30:11
unusual for people to fall out of boats while they're hunting for ducks It's Not
01:30:16
Unusual it it happens um quite often out here as far as they might hit a stump and throw them
01:30:22
out early the next morning there was a break Mike's boat was found on board were some decoys and his
01:30:33
shotgun but no sign of Mike himself we' done a grid search very slow meticulous grid search back and forth over the
01:30:42
search area and what began as a search and [Music] rescue soon turned into a search for a
01:30:50
body we stayed with that grid until we covered this whole area cadaver dogs were brought in while teams
01:30:57
scoured the murky bottom of lake seol in a gruesome search for Mike's body that was high intensity and low
01:31:07
Tech this is the tool of your trade right that was that was actually one of the poles and and all you do is put it
01:31:15
in the water and see if you feel anything if it's a log it's kind of a a a thump kind of a hard thump if it would
01:31:23
been the body you hit it it's kind of like a pillow did you feel something ever on
01:31:29
the bottom that felt like a body never never Williams vanished one day before his sixth wedding anniversary he met his
01:31:42
wife Denise at North Florida Christian High School he was a football player she was a cheerleader he was president of
01:31:50
the student council she was the secretary had they seem together gray couple Scott dunie met Mike in high
01:31:59
school he and his wife Anessa were among Mike's best friends if you knew Mike he's the kind of person that uh is going
01:32:08
to do anything and everything for you so Denise you know found a gem they both graduated from Florida
01:32:15
State University Denise became an accountant for the state Mike became a real estate appraiser working for clay
01:32:23
Ketch this kid was straight as an era he really truly was Clay and his wife Patty
01:32:29
got to know Mike well he was an unbelievable worker it was not uncommon for him to do 15-hour days I mean he
01:32:37
would be in there early working until one or two in the morning and then be right back he had incredible
01:32:43
energy before long Mike's career took off and that's when he married Denise he loved his wife he even would
01:32:53
would leave the office and go pump her gas I'm sorry go pump her gas yes she would call him and say Mike I need gas
01:33:02
and Mike would run over there pump her gas and run back we all said we wanted to be married to Mike just before
01:33:10
Mother's Day in 1999 Denise gave birth to the couple's daughter and by chance a local
01:33:17
Tallahassee TV station was at the hospital we're just totally overwhelmed she was due to day and she would have
01:33:24
made me wait a whole another year for Mother's Day she tipped the scales it was unbelievable I have a whole new
01:33:29
respect for my wife and women in general and what they go through to bring a a new child new life into the
01:33:37
world 19 months after he became a father Mike was missing and the longer the search lasted
01:33:44
on Lake seol the harder it was on the Searchers afraid of what they might find one of Mike's oldest friends Brian
01:33:55
Winchester was out there looking for him from the start and it was Brian who discovered Mike's empty
01:34:04
boat Brian decided that we didn't want to be there when Mike's body was pulled up Brett Ketchum was with Brian during
01:34:12
the search so we would get in a car and drive to a gas station and go get a Coke
01:34:18
and it was very emotional trips I mean it was you know crying and and it was tough the search was called off after 44
01:34:28
days Rescuers could find no trace of Mike Williams he was listed officially as still missing and some people
01:34:37
wondered if he had just run off we knew M could not run off I mean he loved his family and he adored his
01:34:46
daughter adored her so Mike did not run off this was not some elaborate ruse soon there was another explanation
01:34:55
offered for why Mike's body could not be found that he had been snatched by an alligator alligators they don't eat you
01:35:07
right then this is morbid to talk about but they go stuff you somewhere for 6 months and and then come back later one
01:35:14
of the rescue teams agreed writing the alligators have dismembered and have stored the remains in a location that we
01:35:22
would not be able to find but there was at least one person who had serious doubts about that
01:35:32
theory Mike's mother Cheryl she pretty early on believed that there was more to this and that he was
01:35:42
not in likes him at all I think she just thought something something's not right here
01:35:48
[Music] 6 months after Mike Williams disappeared investigators had no new leads no real
01:36:02
hope of finding him and then what could be a break bubbled up from the muck of lake seol that pole is marking a spot
01:36:13
where the waiters had popped up a local fisherman found a pair of waiters like these which were believed
01:36:21
to have belonged to Williams did it make sense to you that they popped up here I mean you would you
01:36:27
would search that area right we had searched it many times Well very well then two days after that Mike's
01:36:38
fishing jacket and his hunting license were found at the same spot along with a flashlight but Williams was still
01:36:47
missing his wife Denise was raising their 2-year-old daughter alone Denise was a doting mother the pride and
01:36:55
joy of her life but Scott dunie says now that Denise was a single mom money was getting tight I was helping her with
01:37:07
some of the items that needed to be sold and to generate some cash until the insurance money
01:37:13
came and there was a lot of insurance money involved Williams had three policies worth more than
01:37:21
$1.75 million Mike wanted to make sure his family was taken care of because Mike hunted and
01:37:28
fished and did some pretty high-risk activity and clayr encouraged him to load up with her expenses reportedly mounting
01:37:37
Denise went after the insurance money quickly while the search itself is still going on while he is still actively
01:37:45
missing they're still actively searching for her he she is going and filing a claim against his life
01:37:51
insurance Jennifer Portman covered this case for the Tallahassee Democrat she was a consultant for 48 hours she was
01:38:00
really ready to accept the fact that he was missing and presumed dead very early
01:38:05
on but the State of Florida was not according to Florida law since there was no proof Williams had died he would not
01:38:14
be declared dead for 5 years Denise did not want to wait that long to collect on
01:38:21
Mike's life insurance how much time did take in this case it took 6 months it was very fast abnormally
01:38:30
fast that's because Denise's attorney argued to a judge that the waiters the vest and the hunting license were proof
01:38:38
enough that Williams was dead the judge agreed and issued a death certificate cause of death accidental drowning while
01:38:46
duck hunting on Lake seol body has not yet been recovered based on that and that alone
01:38:54
was what got him declared dead pair of waiters and a fishing license and some other stuff yeah
01:39:00
exactly the case of the missing Hunter seemed closed and was soon forgotten by almost everyone but not by Mike's mother
01:39:10
Cheryl did she believe that her son drowned in Lake seol she never ever believed that her son was in the lake
01:39:18
and she was absolutely committed to find out what happened to him it's never out of my head where is
01:39:30
this child Cheryl caught the attention of the local news he may be dead but he's not in that Lake and if somebody
01:39:38
did hurt in my child I want him found and I want him punished Cheryl started keeping notes of everything copious
01:39:46
notes of all of the you know strange things that were going on she eventually filled 27 single spaced pages with lots
01:39:55
of unanswered questions like what made the waiters float after 6 and 1/2 months underwater her notes ended with a plea
01:40:04
to anyone who would listen please help me find my son she was trying to basically compile all of these evidence
01:40:13
that she could find and trying to get it in front of someone who would listen to
01:40:17
her well did Denise help her oh no Denise completely cut her off Denise was adamant no investigation she
01:40:27
threatened to withhold Cheryl's granddaughter from her correct she said if you continue to press for this
01:40:35
investigation you will never see your granddaughter again so what did you do she took the energy she would have spent
01:40:43
loving on that child and tried to find her daddy Cheryl pressed on and started poking holes in the official version of
01:40:52
what happened to her son for years after Mike Williams disappeared there was a theory that the
01:40:58
reason his body was never found was that he had been eaten by alligators turns out there's a problem with that theory
01:41:07
Cheryl contacted Matthew aresco an alligator expert Florida has a few of them in his response he explained that
01:41:16
alligators do not feed in the cold winter months cold weather um causes the water temperature to drop so alligators
01:41:23
don't feed in winter time what's more aresco said that when alligators kill there is always forensic evidence left
01:41:31
behind and he said attributing Mike's disappearance to an alligator attack may be a convenient explanation for the
01:41:40
authorities but was virtually impossible we're in North Florida there are a lot of alligators I will give you that but
01:41:48
it is winter alligators do not eat human beings without leaving a Trace in the middle of December when it's cold it
01:41:56
just doesn't happen if not for Cheryl Williams there's no way that we would know where Mike Williams was or anything
01:42:13
that ever happened to him she was the driving force Cheryl Williams knew because an
01:42:20
expert told her that her son was not eating by an alligator but she did not know much else
01:42:27
about how he vanished one of the things that has been so difficult about this case is that there was an absolute lack
01:42:35
of physical evidence you didn't have a body you didn't have any of these things that maybe could point you toward
01:42:39
something but Cheryl had something those 27 pages of detailed notes in 2004 4 years after Mike disappeared Cheryl's
01:42:50
campaign finally caught the attention of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators met with her
01:42:58
and then launched a multi- agency investigation when did you first begin thinking this was a crime the first
01:43:07
night we talked to Miss Cheryl at the time Derek Wester was with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office he was part of
01:43:13
the investigation she had it all broke down and then as she's relating this story all these inconsistencies start
01:43:21
adding up do you remember what some of those consistencies were the insurance it was Mike's three life insurance
01:43:28
policies that caught their attention particularly the last one he bought not long before he disappeared worth $1
01:43:38
million how did Mike Williams end up with that million-dollar life insurance policy who sold it to him Brian
01:43:45
Winchester sold him the million-dollar life insurance policy about six months before he went missing Brian Winchester
01:43:50
was an insurance agent he'd been Mike's best friend since high school where like Mike he met his future
01:43:58
wife Cathy Aldrich and from then on the two couples were inseparable you know they did literally everything together
01:44:07
they went out to dinner together they bought houses at the same time they got married at the same time babies at the
01:44:15
same time you know they were they were very close Brian Winchester was in the insurance business so it's not that odd
01:44:21
that he would sell his friend and insurance policy no it's not I mean just the timing of it in retrospect looks a
01:44:28
little weird that wasn't the only thing that started to look weird those waiters that
01:44:35
popped up in Lake seol surfaced just as Denise Williams needed proof that her husband was dead in order to get the
01:44:43
insurance money how many days before the court hearing these waiters popped up less
01:44:50
than a month I mean it was really close they they had supposedly been submerged in the lake for 6 months these waiters
01:44:58
was in very good shape they were also not slimy and what did that mean they had not been in the water very long so
01:45:05
you looked at that stuff and you thought to yourself what planted it was planted
01:45:10
yeah no one could say for sure who planted it but as time passed Denise Williams and Brian Winchester started
01:45:18
attracting attention and some suspicion because years after Mike disappeared Winchester divorced his wife Kathy he
01:45:28
began dating Denise and then he married her we went to the wedding was she a suspect in your
01:45:35
mind at that point I think in mine I was yes the minister at some point said I've
01:45:42
counseled with this couple and they have no secrets I don't know and clay and I both went we kind of nudged each other
01:45:49
like well there might be this one little secret you don't know all these things start becoming like
01:45:56
clear that we now we've got the insurance now we've got the waiters got the alligator Theory being busted by the
01:46:04
experts so as they're building their case you know they talk to people they start getting somewhere one of the first
01:46:11
people investigators talked to was Denise Williams there's no emotion there's no softening up there
01:46:21
there's there's nothing I mean she just matter of fact and cold but Brian Winchester had much more to say he
01:46:29
offered detectives an alibi for the morning Mike Williams went missing he said he was 60 Mi away from the lake in
01:46:38
bed Brian tells us that he was going hunting with his father-in-law and overslept you know for a fact that Brian
01:46:44
was not telling you the truth then MH Winchester could not have known it but detectives already had a witness who
01:46:51
said he saw Winchester that morning at Lake seol I know the the man personally I mean I've I've known him all my life
01:46:59
and I composed a lineup and I took it to him Joel says well he wasn't smiling like that but that's him and he pointed
01:47:06
to Brian Winchester and he had seen that same man he said when that morning there
01:47:12
was one more thing Winchester didn't know police were talking to his ex-wife and she told them Denise and Brian might
01:47:20
have been having an affair for years before Mike disappeared there was definitely a suspicion that him and
01:47:29
her were having an affair well before that December while Denise was still married to Mike yes the plot was sure
01:47:37
thickening but investigators still weren't sure what the full story was after 2 years the FDLE hit a wall
01:47:47
but Cheryl Williams who had been fighting since the day her son disappeared was not giving up and it's
01:47:55
horrible not knowing what happened to him she was very very very frustrated with FDLE and felt that they were not
01:48:02
doing their job they weren't trying so she picketed you know she would have signs made and and walk up
01:48:09
and down in front of the church every year she would have Billboards put up around town they
01:48:15
showed a picture of Mike and missing and if you have any information who's to contact and she went after the governor
01:48:21
she wrote the governor a letter every day for 9 years in fact the governor received
01:48:30
1,472 letters that we know of her suspicion was always with Brian anise more so with
01:48:42
Denise the two people who were considered most likely suspects were together and unless one of them turned
01:48:49
on the other you were never going to find out what happened here did you think this case would get
01:48:55
broken not until I found out that they were having marital problems they turned on each other like rats in the
01:49:02
[Music] S and your God tells me in my heart that that child is dead I cannot give up
01:49:26
looking for him as the years dragged on it looked like the mystery of what happened to
01:49:33
Mike Williams might never be solved if Brian and Denise knew anything about Mike's disappearance they weren't
01:49:42
talking and no one could make them by Florida law as long as they stayed married neither could be forced to
01:49:50
testify against the other with Brian and Denise being married you were how were you ever going to get the truth because
01:49:57
one is not going to turn on the other but behind the scenes Denise and Brian's marriage was
01:50:10
disintegrating and after 7 years in 2012 they decided to separate he is you know
01:50:21
self-described as being a sex addict he's trying to please her by going to therapy by getting counseling like he's
01:50:27
jumping through all these hoops trying to do all these things to get her back and she's not kind of accepting
01:50:33
them after four more years of trying to patch things up Brian snapped one morning Denise gets in her
01:50:43
car she's driving to work and she senses something in the back and Brian Winchester has hidden in the back of her
01:50:50
car and is coming over the seat and has got a gun got a gun he's got a gun he had a gun he had a tarp the idea was
01:50:57
that he was going to kill her he's screaming and I'm just like shaking and he's telling me to stop
01:51:04
crying that people are going to notice because Den reported her kidnapping to the Leon County Sheriff's Office I was
01:51:10
like are you planning on you know ending both of our lives today well mine I'm planning on mine and then he would say I
01:51:17
want to kill he must have said a million times I want to kill myself Brian Winchester was soon arrested and charged
01:51:24
with the kidnapping and aggravated assault of his wife I was just kind of agreeing with whatever he was saying and
01:51:32
I was like I know that you love me and police quickly realized that the rift and Denise and Brian's marriage
01:51:38
presented an opportunity a tag team of detectives arrived to see what they could get out
01:51:46
of Denise to see if she would Now flip on her estranged husband and talk about his involvement in Mike Williams's
01:51:56
disappearance I know Denise he did and you know exactly what I'm talking about and he was going to do
01:52:03
it again Tallahasse detective David mccraine tried he wasn't going to kill himself in he was going to kill you so
01:52:10
that you could talk about him later that is the truth mccraine turned up the heat 15 years ago he walked in
01:52:17
and told you he'd done something didn't he Denise no you have G this is not going
01:52:28
away okay he's going to kill you he's kill himself because know but Denise did not
01:52:37
budge for Department of for so special agent Mike dainy came in he'd been working the Williams case for years do
01:52:47
you think he's responsible for M disappearance I do not and I never have I would have never married him if I
01:52:53
thought that I mean in my mind and in my heart no she wasn't giving up anything she was giving up absolutely nothing
01:53:00
where do you think Mike's buried at oh I I have no idea any speculation on that on where he's Buried buried I
01:53:08
mean I believe you don't really believe he he died at on the lake I do why I just I just always have that's
01:53:19
what I believe that was her story and sticking to it that left Brian as the only possible
01:53:28
source of information in the Williams case he was facing a long stretch in prison for the kidnapping but there was
01:53:35
no word about what if anything he would say about Mike's disappearance we're here in state of
01:53:45
Florida versus Brian Winchester 2000 16 months later Brian plad guilty to kidnapping and assaulting Denise and
01:53:53
appeared in court for his sentencing we had a a plea and we weren't sure what the government was going to ask for he
01:54:00
was crying at times he apologized Tim Jansen is Brian Winchester's lawyer we had indicated we want 15 the state gets
01:54:10
up and asks for 45 my client would like to address the courot never ever did I have any intentions of
01:54:26
harming Denise nor would I nonetheless I do know that she was hurt by my actions and again I am truly
01:54:41
[Music] sorry Start by S your name please Denise Williams Denise showed up at the
01:54:50
sentencing what was she like there what did she want she wanted him to go to prison for the rest of his life I start
01:54:57
each day with the memory of him jumping out of the back and I end each day feeling the gun shoved in my ribs
01:55:06
when I turn on my right side trying to sleep she was scared she was compelling he will finish what he has started no
01:55:14
matter what age he is when he's released most people in the courtroom were pretty
01:55:18
stunned by it it was pretty powerful I'm asking you to send it him to life in prison for the crimes he has committed
01:55:25
it comes down to my life or his and I'm asking you please to choose mine thank you come on up with your client Mr
01:55:37
Jansen for kidnapping Denise Brian was sentenced to 20 years behind bars he was Shackled at the waist and
01:55:48
the ankles and when they shuffled him off to prison we felt so defeated because we said
01:55:55
there'll never be an answer to our friend Mike never an answer we'll won't know well you were wrong we were
01:56:05
wrong they had found Mike's body [Music] [Music] this was so huge it still is really
01:56:28
pretty stunning just one day after Brian Winchester was sentenced for kidnapping
01:56:35
Denise Williams the Florida Department of Law Enforcement held a news conference and the News really was huge
01:56:43
standing here now I can tell you that we know what happened to Mike Williams he was
01:56:49
murdered they know that because sometime before before he was sentenced for kidnapping Brian Winchester cracked and
01:56:56
confessed in these audio recordings I went and met Mike at a gas station I followed him to the lake we
01:57:06
launched the boat it was just like a hunting trip was supposed to be Winchester had cut a deal with
01:57:14
prosecutors in exchange for his confession he would not be charged with murder even though he admitted killing
01:57:22
his best friend I got him to stand up and I pushed him into the water and he was in a panic obviously I was in a
01:57:30
panic I didn't know what to do and I ended up shooting him the agreement that we drafted up
01:57:39
said that anything he said that day could not be used against him Winchester gave prosecutors what they wanted most
01:57:47
the location of Mike Williams's body I backed my Suburban down to the edge of the lake and put his body in the back
01:57:56
and pushed his boat back out into the water Brian says he left Mike's truck and trailer at Lake seol to make Mike's
01:58:04
disappearance look like an accident but actually Mike's body was nowhere near Lake
01:58:13
seol he was 60 M away at car Lake a remote marshy area just 10 minutes from Winchester's home
01:58:24
Brian LED investigators here to the spot he buried Mike back in 2000 and they commenced what FDLE told
01:58:33
me is the most extensive search they have ever undertaken in the history of the agency the search uncovered Mike's
01:58:39
skeletal remains and his wedding ring among other things and there was horrifying evidence
01:58:50
of what happened to him and what they were able to show very clearly was that he had been shot
01:58:57
basically at Point Blank Range in the face with a shotgun this was up close personal deadly yeah and gruesome
01:59:09
yeah and Winchester provided one final piece of the puzzle he said it was all Denise's
01:59:17
idea she would not get divorced and so she basically said said there's only one solution as he tells it she was not
01:59:26
willing to endure the public shame of a divorce so she thought murder was a better answer I guess it was better to
01:59:34
be known as a widow than a divorce a wow that is incredibly cold and wouldn't it
01:59:40
be great if we also owe by the way collected you know almost $2 million in insurance we would end up together we
01:59:47
would live happily ever after oh and as a side note we've got all this money to to enjoy my wonderful life together the
01:59:55
happily Ever After part didn't work out so well in May 2018 5 months after the discovery of Mike's body was announced
02:00:06
Denise Williams was arrested and charged with first-degree murder conspiracy to commit murder and
02:00:14
accessory after the fact it was a very bizarre moment and she said nothing and she didn't look at
02:00:24
anybody she just looked straight ahead it's a Bittersweet feeling you are so thankful
02:00:32
that she has been outed for the true person she is but it doesn't you're still left with the same result even
02:00:39
though you saw her let away in shackles and an ugly dress and hair that needed a die job I got to tell you that
02:00:48
felt pretty good to me cuz I know how important appearances are she didn't do it she had nothing to do
02:00:56
with it she's completely innocent defense attorney Ethan Way is representing Denise did she know about
02:01:02
it no not before not during not after you are very confident I have an innocent client it's the best
02:01:09
[Music] kind on December 11th 2018 prosecutor John fuches gave his opening argument at
02:01:20
Denise Williams's Mur murder trial Denise likes the sound of being a widow much more than a divorce obviously can't
02:01:27
be caught with a murder so they had to make it look like an accident raise your right hand please
02:01:33
early on the state called Brian Winchester we had an agreement that she would never say anything about me and I
02:01:40
would never say anything about her because we felt like that as long as neither one of us talked that nobody
02:01:47
would ever find out what happened good morning ladies and gentlemen Ethan Way was in an enviable
02:01:53
position for a defense attorney representing an accused murderer the prosecution star witness admits he is
02:02:02
the killer when you shot Mike Williams with the 12 gaug shotgun was Denise Williams standing there with you no she
02:02:08
wasn't she was in my head behind me Denise Williams had no idea that you shot her husband in the face with a
02:02:14
shotgun did you correct Mr Winchester you're murderer isn't it true yes sir Mr Winchester you're a liar isn't it true
02:02:23
yes sir of course Cheryl Williams always suspected her one-time daughter-in-law was involved and Cheryl was now a
02:02:31
witness for the prosecution the initial theory was that he was missing and possibly eaten by alligators right you
02:02:39
never believed that did you no sir how long did it take before Denise called you and said I'm sorry I was wrong all
02:02:45
these years she never did finally Winchester's ex-wife Kathy testified Denise kept quiet as part of a
02:02:56
conspiracy of Silence between Brian and Denise were you aware that Brian Winchester kidnapped Denise Williams yes
02:03:05
about a week after that the Denise asked you to do something Denise asked me to get a message to
02:03:12
Brian that I'm not talking after 3 days of testimony both both sides rested Ethan Way was so
02:03:25
confident the state had no hard evidence that he didn't want the jury to consider
02:03:29
any charges less than murder one this is a strategy decision as you understand it's a little bit out of the ordinary
02:03:38
yes I guess for one of a better word it's a little bit of a gamble yes the jury was now facing an All or Nothing
02:03:45
decision and the attorneys presented their closing arguments this is not a case about trying to get quote Justice
02:03:53
for Mike this is a murder case there's no evidence that supports any of the allegations against my client we are
02:04:02
counting on you to return a verdict that speaks the truth and that verdict is not
02:04:06
guilty think back three days ago Brian Winchester is on the stand describing how he shot his best
02:04:17
friend everybody in this entire room was moved by the sheer horror of that situation one
02:04:28
person that one person sat here absolute Stone Face didn't bat an eye didn't shed a
02:04:36
tear that lady right there just Denise Williams the jury took 8 hours to reach a verdict the defendant is guilty of
02:04:45
conspiracy to commit first degree murder Denise Williams was found guilty as to count to we the jury find the
02:04:56
defendant is guilty of first degree murder on all counts the defendant is guilty of accessory after the fact of
02:05:05
first degree murder Mike's family and friends waited 18 years for this day sometimes the
02:05:15
wheels of Justice turn slowly but they do still turn for Cheryl Williams it has been a
02:05:21
long heartbreaking fight but now she can finally lay her son to rest it hit her really hard and and I think she's still
02:05:33
coming to terms with it I mean the brutality of it the the finality of it how anyone could do this to Mike it kind
02:05:40
of destroys your your faith in in man to do this to him and the way it was done and it's just
02:05:50
unimaginable you still miss oh yeah he was such a good guy he loved to work he loved his family he put him on a
02:05:57
pedestal and he got killed for it that's the irony of this is the kid did nothing
02:06:03
[Music] wrong CBS next a rock star of the snake breeding world found dead I assumed it
02:06:26
was a snake it wasn't a snake but the killer was cold blooded who would want to kill Ben renck we could have imagined
02:06:33
anything like that 48 Hours Crime Time double feature continues next on CBS [Music]