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[Music] I was looking forward to getting married we were going to have like the fairy tale life we first met online it
00:00:20
was in June of 2017 Patrick was definitely movie star handsome he definitely had the whole
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package I am Jessica devani and Patrick deera was my fiance this is your engagement yes it's
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beautiful thank you he he never got to give it to [Music] me Patrick De lero is planning as future
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him and Jessica were looking forward to moving towards West Palm that's where Patrick's mother Patricia
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lived and one day he came and he said Mom this one is the one this one is the one and he was waiting for the
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ring that morning just started off a normal morning for him and Jessica they texted each other good morning I love
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you he had got a phone call from his dad saying that there was a package being delivered at the gate he thought it was
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the ring that was coming in that day so Patrick then goes down probably looking forward to this right
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[Music] yes he would usually call her and it was about the time she was getting to work
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which you know made her worry and it's like she instinctually knew something was wrong at that point and why were you
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afraid for Patrick I was afraid because of the threats that were made in the past
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I'm making a phone call I'm giving instructions and I'm going to have my my plan put into action you felt at that
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moment that something terrible may have happened yes I left work right away to be on my
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way to check on Patrick you get here as quickly as you can yes I got up right along this path I
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had to climb the fence I don't think Patrick deera had any idea what was waiting for him on the other
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side of that door there was multiple shots fired Patrick was hit multiple times it
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appeared that he was killed in like Ambush style and I'll never forget the scene
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like it's still in my head every day my boyfriend's house is his dad's house if anybody else is here is anybody
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else here it was just the worst thing you could ever see in your entire life yeah they dog clearly this wasn't a
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random killing someone had a vendetta against Patrick it was personal and it was
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planned that's to be it was an assassination my whole future was taken away from
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me my whole world was taken away CH up in there come on now [Music] [Music] that day we're at the office kind of
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going through case work and paperwork and things like that what started as a slow Tuesday Morning back in 2018 for
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valuan County Florida sheriff's detective Chad Weaver changed dramatically 911 where's your emergency
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when this fragmented 911 call from a neighbor reporting Patrick D Laser's death came in um um has been shot and
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killed when did that happen I don't know you don't want to try CPR correct no no he's dead he's
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cold within minutes Sheriff's deputies wearing body cameras entered this Lush 9 acre Compound on the
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outskirts of Deltona worried that the killer may still be here sheriff's officer here
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inside you need to announce yourself now when the deputies showed up they had their guns out and preparing for the
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worst but hoping for the best with the gunman still at large detective Weaver took charge of the crime scene as TV
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news Choppers hovered above as we walked up to that area you could see a male looked like he
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was in his early 20s appeared that he was suffering for multiple gunshot wounds deputies say someone shot right
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through his front door 25-year-old Patrick D lasera had been shot four times by a high-powered Rifle right in
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the doorway of the house he shared with his father Max who was out of town that day I never got to say goodbye to my son
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I never got to talk to him nothing you can see the front door was open there was glass all over the place
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there's a lot of blood you know right off the bat you're going okay this is probably going to be a who done
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it at the scene detective Weaver and several deputies approached a traumatized Jessica devani Patrick's
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29-year-old fiance my boyfriend in his cat's house I was just walking in circles around like
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the front yard just pacing up and down ma'am come over here stay here behind the
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tree just 2 months earlier at this very location Patrick had popped the question
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to Jessica and presented her with this temporary engagement ring it just came out of nowhere he he just asked like you
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know will you marry me and what did you say of course I said yes I was so excited
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[Music] the marriage proposal couldn't have come at a better time for Jessica who worked
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as a bank teller months earlier she had ended a tumultuous 8-year relationship and then met Patrick on a dating app we
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just fell in love like right away it was a connection from the beginning so it was kind of like love at first
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sight Jessica and Patrick who worked a construction job with his father had the Builder partied and played together as
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their romance blossomed Patrick ordered this custommade work of art to be delivered
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to his home for Jessica's permanent engagement ring he was a romantic says his mother
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Patricia Ron Patrick was a wonderful son and he loved kids he loved babies and I
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really was looking forward to have grandchildren from him Jessica and Patrick lived in different cities she
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was in Orlando while Patrick lived with his father in Deltona 30 m away on the night of
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February 26 2018 Patrick left her this sweet voicemail I love you good night sweet
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dream morning I'll call you out send you a text when I uh I wake up right good night by it would be the last voicemail
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she would ever receive from her love the next day a series of what seemed like random events would change everything
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the first came when Patrick's father Max who was 70 M away working on a construction job received a phone call
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so Max gets a phone call from an unknown person stating that they have a package
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to deliver to his son Patrick Max hangs up the phone he tries to call Patrick Patrick doesn't answer so he sends him
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text message hey there's someone with a delivery Max never hears from Patrick again after that he never answers never
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responds meanwhile Max and Jessica kept calling Patrick with no luck Jessica feared the worst because of those
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disturbing threats the couple had received you're thinking he's been harmed yes yes for sure Max and Jessica
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rushed to the house she got there first I'm approaching the front door and that's where his body laid Patrick just
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laying there and this big pool of blood and just he was just lifeless soon after Jessica discovered
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her fiance's body Patrick's dad arrived he took us back to the crime scene with Jessica my son was lying down there his
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head was right there his foot were still on top of this so that means that he fell back and
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that tells you the gunman was right here that tells no bullet can take a right hand turn exactly that guy was right
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there my son saw this guy he turned the around and the guy shot him because my son was just like this my son was like
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this WOW detective Weaver's team combed through the house they soon discovered that the killer had taken Patrick's
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computer we got a camera above us too and the hard drive from the home security camera
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system investigators ALS also recovered unique shell casings from 300 Blackout ammunition bullets often used in
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semi-automatic weapons like an AR-15 when we saw the shell casings with how close they were to the
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body immediately realized that this was a calculated murder this was this was planned but why would anyone want to
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kill Patrick D lerta weever learned about a bizarre incident in 2017 in a strange twist News 6 discovered the
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young man has been shot at before when Patrick called police saying his neighbor had fired some bullets
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after arguments back and forth about trespassing Patrick wasn't harmed there had been some complaints and Patrick
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felt that the neighbor was shooting towards their house this is night footage of the man being tackled and
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arrested by police for that incident it was an intriguing lead until Weaver learned the man was in custody on the
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day Patrick was murdered so we were able to check him off the list detective Weaver then focused on some ominous
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voicemails that had been discovered call me back and talk to me which led them to
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a man that Patrick and Jessica knew quite well I'll talk to you soon I hope I was really scared because like he was
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always shadowing my life learn more about Jessica and Patrick's relationship at 48
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hours.com a couple in love with everything in front of them dreams of marriage and family about to come true
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Jessica look this way then came February 27th 2018 when Jessica devani Came Upon her
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fiance Patrick D lerta in a pool of blood at his home shot four times at close range by an assassin I think my
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mind just doesn't want to accept it my whole future was taken away from me my whole world was taken away the Ambush
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style assault of Patrick made it seem like the killer was lying in weight detective Chad Weaver was hoping Jessica
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might have a lead that would jump start his investigation and we were speaking to her about any enemies or any problems
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with anyone you know that Patrick had had the detective learned that there was someone who wasn't happy with Jessica
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and Patrick's Whirlwind romance who is that person my ex Gregory Bender Jessica told detective Weaver that right before
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she met Patrick she broke up with Bender her ex-boyfriend of 8 years it was a break W up that he was not happy with he
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was not accepting a fit it's almost like he never left like he was always shadowing my life like he was not
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accepting a fit at all he very controlling and as Weaver was about to learn Jessica and Bender had a very
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complicated LoveHate kind of relationship over the eight years they were together he could be very charming
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and manipulative at 42 years old Bender was almost twice Jessica's age when they
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first met online in 2009 he was a successful hedge fund manager who lived in this house in windir a wealthy suburb
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outside of Orlando he had a very charismatic personality he was very intelligent it felt like we known each
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other all our lives he became my best friend was he a downto earth kind of guy not so much in the sense that he did
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like to show off he loved fast cars and he loved guns as well but what if anything did Gregory Bender
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have to do with Patrick's death detective Weaver wanted to know more Patrick was middle class Blue Collar
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hardworking young man Gregory on the other hand who's White Collar well educated lived in a 3/4 of a million
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dollar house totally different people from totally different walks of life Jessica told the detective that Greg
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Bender simply couldn't tolerate the idea of any other man in in her life she told
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a story about what happened when she briefly dated someone else after first meeting Greg he did stalk the person
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that I was dating and he described exactly where he lived and he said that he would tie him up and harm him so a
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relationship that had love in it now had a little bit of Terror in it I never feared what he could do to me but I
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feared what he could do to other men despite his jealousness and verbal threats Jessica accepted Greg's proposal
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to marry a few years into their relationship I was in love with him at the time and maybe I was a little bit
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naive at the time I didn't want to find someone else and there is another twist in Jessica's Twisted relationship with
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Greg in early 2016 he was having a procedure done at a local hospital Jessica decided to drop by for a
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surprise visit when she entered Greg room another woman was there I was like what are you doing here she's like what
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are you doing here and I told her I'm like I'm his fiance and I showed her the ring and then she showed me her ring
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she's like I'm his wife she was this woman deera Sanchez he's secretly married to this woman yes my heart just
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dropped I couldn't believe it I was in shock several days passed when Bender finally called Jessica and tried to
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explain that that he had only married Sanchez so her son could go to school in the district where his house was located
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he said I'm so sorry and he told me that he had only married her as like a business marriage he was just trying to
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help her out and they had an arrangement together at that point Jessica had sort
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of had enough so you end up giving Greg Bender in ultimatum what was that yes I told him that he had till the end of the
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year to leave her he had to divorce her not only leave but divorce yes but that business marriage line was just another
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of Bender's lies and he stayed married to deera with that Jessica finally ended the relationship in
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2017 one month later Jessica met Patrick and began dating him but Bender was often on her mind I was afraid that he
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would find out about our relationship but just 5 months after after dumping him Gregory Bender came across our
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Facebook page he immediately started messaging Patrick on his Facebook threatening him and he said I know where
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you live I'm going to harm you guys Bender left ominous voicemails like this one I'm giving instructions and I'm
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going to have my my plan put into action what's he talking about at that point in
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time he had mentioned to me that he was going to hire a hitman or he was going to do do the job himself and what job
00:18:01
was that to kill Patrick enough was enough Jessica and Patrick had these tapes and text messages presented to a
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judge who issued this restraining order Bender was ordered to stay away from Jessica and turn in his large collection
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of firearms to authorities did Greg Bender go away we thought he did go away we didn't hear anything and we felt
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confident until she detective Weaver on the morning of Patrick's murder Gregory Bender called for the first time in 2
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months he called my job that very morning but Jessica said she didn't answer so when she got the phone call
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and saw on the caller ID that it was Gregory Bender Flags started going up and that's what made her so worried
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flags were also going up for detective Weaver he believed he now had a prime suspect in Patrick's death and Weaver
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had an idea now was the time for Jessica to return Bender's calls and investigators would listen in she really
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wanted to solve Patrick's murder so she did that without hesitation okay call him and put him on the speaker hello
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hello detective Weaver was hopeful Bender might say something to implicate himself you ruined my life you got your
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run and ruined my life what are you talking about [Applause] [Music] hello hello hi hey it was a tense
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awkward moment just a few hours after she'd seen her fiance's body investigators asked Jessica devani to
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call the man they thought may have murdered him Greg Bender quickly spoke up I saw happened on the news I want to
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tell you I'm I feel sorry for you I just wanted to try to do everything I could to help the investigation she reminded
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Bender about his previous threats and we said enough is enough I can't do this I'm G to hire Hitman I'm GNA kill him no
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that's not no no no I didn't say that did you ask him outright did you shoot Patrick I did but that's why I want to
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find out if it is you like no it's not I'm your friend I did not do this could you tell he was lying to you yes I could
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tell he was lying while Bender denied any involvement in Patrick's death detective
00:20:44
Chad Weaver says there was enough evidence to arrest him not for murder but for violating that restraining order
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we had seen that he had attempted to contact her twice at work which we found was a violation of that
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injunction even with Bender behind bars for the night detective Weaver didn't have much to link him to Patrick's
00:21:04
murder then he received a phone call from the attorney of Bender's now ex-wife deera Sanchez the woman Jessica
00:21:13
had first met in the hospital and he said she has some information that will be valuable to your case DEA asked to
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meet detective Weaver in a parking lot she's very nervous she didn't want us coming to her house it turns out deera
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had a pretty good reason to be nervous she was about to provide a crucial piece of evidence so we spoke with her and she
00:21:35
had told us that her and Gregory had gotten a divorce and she had moved out in December of 2017 around that same
00:21:41
time she had discovered what she believed to be a murder plan in a spiral notebook that she had seen Gregory
00:21:48
writing in in the past a murder plan handwritten in a notebook detailing an elaborate plot to kill de Mara said when
00:21:57
she confronted Bender about it he told her it was all a fantasy and she forgot about it 25-year-old Vala County Man is
00:22:05
dead until she saw the report that the man Bender was supposedly fantasizing about killing had just been murdered but
00:22:14
when she told us about the murder plan and that gave us what we needed to get into the house to see you know what else
00:22:19
was in there Valia County prosecutor Ashley traiger says learning about the murder plan was a potential GameChanger
00:22:27
if invest tigators could find it so the next day February 28th of 2018 they execute the search warrant at Gregory
00:22:36
Bender's home in Orange County Florida and windir detective Weaver had some doubts
00:22:43
but almost as soon as he entered Bender's house Weaver hit Pay Dirt he spotted several balls of
00:22:51
crumpled up Note Paper I looked in the trash can and I was in shock like there's no way that we just found this
00:22:57
murder plan the first thing I wanted to do was reach in the trash Jam grab it Weaver wisely held off while this paper
00:23:05
was bagged and tagged for forensics later when he was able to read the plan it was just as DEA said a detailed road
00:23:13
map for murdering Patrick D lerta some of the first things in it were directions and it actually had Patrick
00:23:20
delera's address tyon Boulevard Weaver took us to the crime scene to explain how the plan match the
00:23:29
actual murder this road leads down the side of the property it's off of Howen Boulevard this is important because the
00:23:36
dirt road that was drawn on the murder plan runs down the side of the property it's pretty heavily wooded down this way
00:23:42
so I think he walked on foot until he got to this opening and this is the area that we believe Gregory Bender accessed
00:23:49
to sneak up on our victim the sketch of the property was spot on the plan was evidence of Bender's
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obsession with detail and compulsion to kill says Weaver the plan read put duct tape on
00:24:04
the bottom of a second pair of shoes so no tread prints wait for confirm that he
00:24:10
is alone then turn off cell phones and dispose of clothes plate tracker gloves with the murder plan in hand
00:24:21
Weaver had a powerful case against bender and with the discovery of this ammunition there was now a direct link
00:24:29
to those unique bullet shells found at the scene they find that arsenal of 300 Blackout
00:24:38
ammunition remember Patrick was shot four times with that type of unique ammo but only two shell casings were
00:24:46
recovered at the crime scene that's what made another Discovery by investigators
00:24:51
at Bender's house so important they find a shell casing and a desk drawer essentially a junk drawer the casing
00:25:00
matched the two recovered shell casings from the crime scene short of actually finding the murder weapon um in my
00:25:07
opinion I think that was probably the most important piece of evidence that we found that's because the murder weapon
00:25:13
has never been recovered although Jessica remembers seeing a powerful rifle at Bender's house when they dated
00:25:21
the AR-15 the semi-automatic rifle did he have one of those yes he did I think it's probably at the bottom of a lake
00:25:31
somewhere the evidence was overwhelming Weaver now had a clear and concise theory of the crime Greg Bender was
00:25:40
lying in weight in the bushes just out of view he made the phone call posing as a delivery man um Patrick receives a
00:25:48
text messages thinking that he has a package and as Patrick answered the door he shot and killed him less than 48
00:25:58
hours after Patrick's death an arrest warrant was issued for Gregory Bender charging him with the murder fuchia
00:26:06
County sheriff's deputies had an easy time locating their suspect who had been released from jail after violating that
00:26:13
restraining order Bender was in his own front yard says prosecutor Andrew urbanic and Mr Bender actually showed up
00:26:22
bonded out from the Orange County Jail just a short time after they started executing that warrant for Patrick's
00:26:28
mother the arrest is just the first step against a man she despises psychopath that's what he is do you want me to say
00:26:37
his name I've never pronounced his name I don't want to pronounce his name that is hurting my mouth to just say his name
00:26:44
why did Patrick have to die just out of jealousy of of a man that was obsessed he thought that by doing this that I
00:26:53
would go back to him but with no weapon no eyewitnesses and no DNA at the crime scene
00:27:02
ultimately this case is a circumstantial case bender and his attorneys are planning a vigorous trial defense you
00:27:11
started dating Patrick in June and using undercover video shot by a private eye they plan to challenge
00:27:19
Jessica on the stand about the real nature of her relationship with Greg Bender why are you dining with Greg and
00:27:27
going to Greg house in November of 2017 if you're happily moving on with Patrick what do you make of Gregory
00:27:38
Bender leaving his murder plan in the trash can two months after Patrick D lerta was
00:27:54
gunned down as he went to his front door expecting to pick up that Eng engagement
00:27:58
ring for Jessica devani he got me the perfect ring she was finally able to put on the ring at her 30th birthday
00:28:06
celebration a surprise finally delivered by Patrick's family why do you wear that
00:28:12
ring today I wear it because Patrick will always be the love of my life and Jessica will be wearing the ring at the
00:28:21
murder trial of Greg Bender her former boyfriend who stands accused of stalking and killing the man she had hoped to
00:28:29
marry all right this day could not have come soon enough says Patrick's devastated mother Patricia Jessica and I
00:28:38
we felt victimized every single day for 3 years and a half because we have no voice absolutely no voice prosecutor
00:28:47
Ashley tiiger is now the voice Patrick's loved ones had longed for as she began her opening statement Patrick De laerta
00:28:57
was the victim of a murder a detailed and meticulously thought out murder plan and a tragic ending in which he was shot
00:29:06
four times in the head face chest and hip defense attorney Richard Parker says the state's case is No Slam Dunk will
00:29:18
show that there's more than just one or two people that have motive and opportunity in this case Jessica is the
00:29:27
prosecution's star witness and will be the first to testify it was really hard I was really nervous Jessica describes
00:29:36
for the jury how Gregory Bender was a man consumed by jealousy who made many threats he would messag me saying if if
00:29:44
I didn't leave Patrick he would harm Patrick and Jessica read one of those threatening texts for the jury think
00:29:52
about it if I don't hear from you or the cops call again I'll just do what I said
00:29:58
and move on jurors learned that Bender went to extraordinary links to poison Jessica and Patrick's relationship as
00:30:06
you can see on this secretly recorded video it appears bender and Jessica are at lunch and then a week later at a
00:30:14
restaurant enjoying dinner just a few months after she started dating Patrick prosecutor Andrew urbanic did you
00:30:23
actually see these videos I did the encounters were captured by a private investigator hired by Bender there's a
00:30:30
scene of the two of them entering and leaving Bender's home he's seen rubbing Jessica's leg for the
00:30:37
camera they hold hands and here he leans in for a kiss it felt really odd I felt like he was
00:30:46
trying to put on a show because he kept like trying to get close to me and trying to hold my hand which he never
00:30:51
used to do I was like what are you doing I was like we're just friends right now
00:30:55
what are you trying to do but prosecutors Say the video was all a setup what did he do with it
00:31:01
he had given it to Patrick did that cause some Strife between you and Patrick and your relationship yes we had
00:31:07
a a fight and we had broke up for a few days did the two of you end up getting back together after that yes defense
00:31:16
attorneys tried to use their clients video production to convince jurors that Jessica and Bender actually were more
00:31:23
than just friends why are you dining with Greg and going to Greg's house house in November of 2017 if you're
00:31:31
happily moving on with Patrick because the defendant was threatening and I was trying to calm him down and he said that
00:31:38
if I went to see him he would not harm anyone the defense tries another tactic making what prosecutors say is an
00:31:48
unfounded allegation that Patrick's father Max was attracted to Jessica did Max de Sera comment in a a very positive
00:31:58
way regarding your appearance same objection judge still here say statement would you say you have a good
00:32:03
relationship with her I didn't have a relationship with her at all that led to a combative cross-examination when Max
00:32:11
took the stand what you're asking is making no sense I don't think that has nothing to do with Patrick's murder and
00:32:16
the defense implied he may have had the motive and the opportunity to kill his own son because of discrepancies in his
00:32:25
whereabouts that day your girl said that you were in fact staying with her is it
00:32:31
her memory that's wrong or is it yours it might be mine sir I was I'm constantly on the go I work here I work
00:32:37
there I don't keep track of phones I don't keep track of time so what point are you trying to make I don't know they
00:32:43
wanted to blame it on Max and you can tell he's angry that his son was killed unnecessarily violently
00:32:51
horrifically and now he has to be in a room with his son's killer throughout the trial Bender remained
00:32:58
stoic until his ex-wife DEA Sanchez took the stand and spoke through an interpreter were you married to Mr
00:33:07
Bender going Bender see yes during dea's testimony Bender broke down showing emotion for the first time in the trial
00:33:17
and jurors heard her audio interview with Weaver about the murder plan it was a plan to kill the guy I guess the guy
00:33:26
is Patrick yeah during a break in her testimony Bender appears to say I love you to someone in the gallery and is
00:33:34
admonished by an official don't talk to anybody in the cor when detective Weaver
00:33:39
took the stand the defense grilled him about the lack of forensic evidence in the case how about any hair or skin or
00:33:47
DNA anything like that from the scene that was helpful to your investigation no sir prosecutors responded by calling
00:33:55
cell phone experts who could connect Greg Bender's personal phone to a burner phone that was tracked to a cell tower
00:34:03
near the murder scene so the burner phone is the cell phone that made the call to Max de laerta that morning at
00:34:09
7:18 a.m. yes the state would rest at this time thank you after the prosecution rested Greg Bender chose not
00:34:17
to testify are you comfortable with the decision you have made yes thank you your honor thank you for closing
00:34:24
arguments prosecutors said Greg Bender was was the only person who had motive to kill Patrick he couldn't take the
00:34:33
Jessica left him and wouldn't come back to him because of Patrick D servant Council you may proceed in his closing
00:34:41
defense attorney Richard Parker insisted that Bender's murder plan did not equate
00:34:47
to guilt this case is about the difference between a fantasy and reality people should not be judged on their
00:34:56
worst thoughts just because they put them to paper but that's what they're doing in this case finally after 4 days
00:35:03
of testimony the case went to the jury prosecutor Andy urbanic was uncertain about what verdict they'd come back with
00:35:12
once it goes to the jury we can't make any guarantees but Jessica devani was confident a guilty verdict would finally
00:35:19
put an end to Bender's reign of terror it's my understanding you have a verdict I just want to see the expression on
00:35:26
this face [Music] [Music] this is where my son lives we follow you this is his place
00:35:50
okay this was Patrick's Place memories this is from a Christmas card that he gave me tender words from a son dad with
00:36:01
all my love thank for always being there for me to many more years love Patrick Max D lerta surrounds himself
00:36:12
with reminders of his son that's Patrick taken violently and far too soon I feel my son's present here I haven't
00:36:22
moved stuff I have you know it's everything is pretty much the same because I love this kid so much the only reason
00:36:32
make me feel better is that I lost my child for love Patrick's mother Patricia has
00:36:40
found some solace in her suffering he had love in his heart when he passed he was going down the stair to get the ring
00:36:49
and Jessica devani still wears that very engagement ring in honor of a marriage that never took place it's been hard um
00:36:59
past three years like I've been living in respect to Patrick but now Patrick's loved ones
00:37:08
huddle together hoping finally 3 years after Patrick's murder the jury will give them
00:37:16
justice state of Florida V Gregory Bender during four days of testimony they relive the horror of his death
00:37:25
listening to excruciating details of of Bender's murder plan we can see the an entrance wound on the right side of the
00:37:33
face it's my understanding you have a verdict is that correct as the verdict was about to be read Bender looked
00:37:40
directly at Jessica he was looking at me I don't know what was going on in his head Madam clerk if you could please
00:37:49
read the verdict we the jury find the defendant Gregory Bender as follows guilty of the charge of first-degree
00:37:57
murder murder as charged in the indictment and it's guilty and his fa does what nothing absolutely nothing in
00:38:09
Florida a conviction of first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence without parole so just moments
00:38:17
after the emotion of Victory Patrick's loved ones are allowed to address the court as Greg Bender listens just a few
00:38:24
feet away P your honor Patrick's mother I want to thank all of you for having put evil where he belongs
00:38:36
Jessica then spoke but chose not to look at her Tormentor you will not win you have only lost I hope you feel some
00:38:45
peace Patrick rest assured the man who took your life is going to pay with his own life now then it was Max's turn I
00:38:55
will miss my son and I regret that I wasn't there for him [Laughter] to remember that during the trial the
00:39:07
defense shamefully tried to suggest that Max may have been involved in his son's
00:39:12
murder I hope they keep you in jail until you die there until you died because the moment
00:39:20
you step out I'm going to finish you off I'm going to peel you like an onion the same thing you did to my son
00:39:27
Mr Max you have to address the judge you have to address the judge I will miss my
00:39:32
son he was a beautiful soul a beautiful kid and with that Greg Bender was CED off to prison for the rest of his life
00:39:43
he lost everything he's not going to win again ever again Jessica and Patricia are angry that this restraining order
00:39:53
they felt would offer protection for Patrick turned out to be worthless my son would be today alive if the
00:40:00
restauran order had been enforced by by the law enforcement Bender had been ordered to turn over his gun collection
00:40:10
to the Orange County Sheriff's Office he never did and without probable cause for
00:40:15
a search warrant law enforcement lacked the authority to seize those weapons it failed us it failed Patrick now Behind
00:40:25
Bars the days of Greg Bender lurking in the shadows of Jessica's life are finally over will you go on with life as
00:40:36
Patrick would like you to do I will I will go on for Patrick I will live in his happy
00:40:43
memories close to my heart one week after Greg Bender's conviction was what would have been
00:40:52
Patrick's 29th birthday Patrick's mom and I we went out to the cemetery in West Palm Beach and
00:41:01
we just celebrate his life we brought some cake and we brought some champagne and what did you say to Patrick on his
00:41:09
birthday when you were at his grave we finally did it we got the guilty verdict we always tell him we love him
00:41:20
we will always love him [Music] accused of his mother's murder at 14 what kid could commit a crime that
00:41:33
violent and not leave any forensic evidence then sentenced to life the state never really had any case against
00:41:38
this kid was he wrongfully convicted she was very close with Michael he was her baby 48 Hours next on CBS
00:41:48
[Music] do you believe he was killed correct uh yes my name is Alex Spyro I'm a former
00:42:14
prosecutor and I'm an attorney and I'm investigating The Disappearance of Don Lewis there's Witnesses and information
00:42:22
that shed light on further facts and circumstances surrounding this have you met these Witnesses yes and you believe
00:42:29
them yes there are new leads in The Strange Case of missing millionaire Don Lewis a man who seemed to vanish Without
00:42:38
a Trace we had lost all hope of ever knowing what happened to Dad and then they got some
00:42:46
hope from a TV series Tiger King was an addictive Netflix documentary series I'm Julie
00:42:56
Miller the senior feature writer for Vanity Fair Tiger King centers around Joe Exotic my name is Joe Exotic and
00:43:04
this is sge an Oklahoma based animal cat owner and his sworn enemy his rival Carol Baskin talking about a woman down
00:43:12
there in Tamp of Florida named Carol Bas Joe Exotic is this wild cartoonish flamboyant openly gay
00:43:22
mulleted tattooed gun toing large animal owner kind of the MC Jagger I'd say of the large cat animal
00:43:32
world Carol has fashioned herself as more of an animal activist big cats don't belong in cages she says that what
00:43:40
Joe is doing is not Humane and should be stopped it'll be a cold day in Hell before you completely stop me but also
00:43:48
woven into this entertainment uh was this cold case Don Lewis the owner of wildlife on Easy Street disappeared
00:43:56
Carol's second husband Don Lewis disappeared under very mysterious circumstances it was in 1997 and he just
00:44:06
vanished there have been all sorts of theories there's one that he was drugged and put in one of the small planes and
00:44:14
dumped out in the gulf and if the plan was to push him out this door that's a challenge the most insane Theory
00:44:22
probably being that Carol Baskin had her husband ground up and grinder and fed them to the animals word has it that
00:44:31
Carol snuck up onone in the middle of the night beat him in the head ground him up and fed him to the Tigers as
00:44:38
bizarre as that sounds this woman believes her ex-husband who once worked for Don and Carol may have revealed
00:44:45
something about Don's fate during a fight he said if you try to leave me again I will put you in the grinder like
00:44:52
I did Dawn in a meat grinder yeah her ex-husband denies her story do you believe her husband told her that he'd
00:45:03
put her in a meat grinder the way he did to Don I will tell you that there is certain information she's provided that
00:45:09
has been independently corroborated who would you like to interview the most Carol Baskin I didn't kill Don people
00:45:17
want answers they want to know what happened to Don Lis [Music] [Music] [Laughter]
00:46:07
like it or not the Tiger King Joe Exotic is back along with his arch enemy Carol
00:46:14
Basin I'm talking about a woman down in Tampa Florida named Carol Basin Lots has
00:46:20
happened to these two since we last heard from them Netflix came out with a second season of its Tiger King series
00:46:26
when you think you've seen it all you haven't quite seen it all Carol Basin vented on a celebrity
00:46:34
webcast called Hollywood raw I really feel like this is going to be just another horrible year of people having
00:46:43
the wrong idea about who I am and what I'm trying to do Carol Baskin began getting all that attention when she was
00:46:51
trying to shut down Joe Exotics private zoo in Oklahoma she is SP over a million
00:46:58
and a half dollars just trying to shut me down Joe fought back his weapon was a music video with a sensational message
00:47:07
featuring his idea of a Carol Baskin lookalike his video charged that Carol murdered her husband Don
00:47:17
Lewis and fed him to their Tigers Carol has denied the allegation vigorously and repeatedly but millions
00:47:27
of viewers saw the video and suddenly the heat was turned up on a Cold Case what happened to Carol's husband
00:47:36
Don the show even lit a fire under the local sheriff's department we reined everybody and have looked at new
00:47:44
evidence and continue to investigate investigators say only two people have declined to be interviewed by law
00:47:50
enforcement one of them is Carol Basin Carol is considered a suspect and a person of interest
00:47:58
it was 40 years ago that Carol first became a person of interest to Don Lewis like so many Florida stories theirs
00:48:06
begins like a Pulp Fiction novel that any reputable publisher would reject it starts on an unusually chilly night in
00:48:17
1981 in Tampa Carol was still a teenager and in a bad marriage she found herself
00:48:24
wandering in tears down a main Street in the middle of the night and just then 42-year-old Don
00:48:31
Lewis drove by in his truck he had stepped out of the home he shared with his wife glattus we had had an
00:48:41
argument and he left home and uh was headed to another girlfriend's house for the night which I found out later but he
00:48:53
was going down the Avenue and here was a pretty blind and she was crying and he told me that he stopped and um she got
00:49:03
in the truck with him and they spent the night together I'm sorry so he was on his way to another girlfriend's house
00:49:10
when he met Carol and took her to a hotel or a motel yes wow he was busy yes he was Don Lewis was busy with
00:49:21
two main interests money and women long before he picked up Carol that night on the street he met glattus she was just
00:49:31
13 when he noticed her shopping with her mother and I looked up and I thought woo
00:49:38
he sure is goodlooking and then he winked at me and I turned around to see who he might be looking at
00:49:48
and there was no one there so I said I guess that was me a little more than a year later Gladis and Don married
00:49:57
he was 17 with very little money but very big plans he could tear anything apart put it back together Don worked
00:50:06
hard fixing broken Machinery he made enough money to buy and grow a trucking business then he started buying and
00:50:14
selling Florida real estate and along the way he met an McQueen Don took somebody with an eighth grade
00:50:22
education and taught them how to manage a multi-million dollar business an kept the books and helped run things and they
00:50:32
were quite a team eventually Don was worth according to his lawyer between $5 and $10
00:50:39
million but you'd never know it he did business out of a used trailer on an empty lot he dressed in Old jeans and
00:50:48
cheap T-shirts and his cash management system was quaint what about burying money on the property did he did you do
00:50:57
that yes he did that's kind of an interesting thing to do well somebody would pay him cash and he love having
00:51:03
cash around so we'd put it in a jar and just dig a hole under the Little Red Barn we had I mean where I'm from people
00:51:10
who want cash frequently go to the ATM they don't go to the Little Red Barn but why do you suppose he didn't like go
00:51:17
to the bank well he had plenty of money in the bank too so Don and glattus raised a family their
00:51:26
three daughters Linda Donna and Gail remember their childhoods as happy he was home every night um we always had
00:51:33
dinner it was also a bit unusual largely because Don had a thing for Animals mostly Wild Ones I wouldn't call it
00:51:43
passionate I would call it an obsession we would come home from school and there
00:51:46
would be a baby alligator swimming in the bathtub there were ferrets and raccoons and horses and cows and and a
00:51:54
penguin and a monkey dad really loved animals but his daughters never knew about that other love of Don's women and
00:52:03
not just their mother gladus was he a good husband he was until I would get a call and say he's seeing someone oh well
00:52:12
that's pardon me that doesn't sound like a good husband he was up until that point yes may I be a little impolite and
00:52:21
ask you if you know roughly how many women he was seeing besides you you uh if you're talking about the whole 34
00:52:29
years I was married to him possibly 25 forgive me again for asking but how did that make you feel well when I would
00:52:37
find out I would tell him I was leaving and he would say there'll be no more did
00:52:42
you believe him of course at that time and as years went by no you have to make up your mind uh to live in that
00:52:51
situation or let it drive you crazy glattus was pretty good about living with a Serial
00:52:58
philanderer and then Don met Carol was there any sense when he met her that she was different than the other 24 some odd
00:53:09
women no she was um she was just like the other 25 but um I would say more greedy
00:53:19
because she did find out that he had money what do you think of her you really want me to answer that
00:53:27
I'd like to I think she's the worst thinging that ever was born in the United States of
00:53:34
America wow you don't mince words no and there's more if you want them Don and Carol had been seeing each
00:53:41
other for about 10 years when glattus decided she'd had enough she and Don finally divorced in 1990 a year later
00:53:51
Don married Carol and before long the new Mr and Mrs Lewis had new business they bought a bunch of big cats and put
00:53:59
them on exhibit at a place called Wildlife on Easy Street Don's former lawyer Joseph Fritz he'd take a chair
00:54:09
and sit in a yard with 10 12 Bobcats and all over him and him playing with him like like it was a household
00:54:16
puppy but before long there was difficulty on Easy Street Don and Carol weren't getting along he told me then he
00:54:25
said I I want you to know right now don't you or the girls or any of the grandkids R by be left in the room with
00:54:33
her alone and then after only 6 years of marriage Don Lewis just vanished he wouldn't walk away and leave his cats he
00:54:43
wouldn't walk away and leave his business I find it hard to believe he'd walk away and leave me
00:54:50
[Music] [Music] in the days before he went missing Don Lewis was planning to go to Costa Rica
00:55:12
to sell some used cars and trucks he was supposed to go and get me some VIN numbers and supposed to call me back and
00:55:21
he didn't was that like him I mean did he did he do that frequently no Don and I spoke on a daily
00:55:29
basis I finally reached Carol I kind of asked her if she knew where her husband was and um her answer to me was know
00:55:38
that she hadn't seen him since um the day before and she asked me if I thought that she should call the police
00:55:46
and I think I made a smart elic remark and said something like you think yeah you need to do
00:55:53
that there were some not so subtle signs that there were problems in Don and Carol's marriage and Don's daughter
00:56:00
Donna had sensed trouble between the two he thought she was crazy crazy mhm he didn't
00:56:09
um like the way she spent [Music] money the couple also reportedly thought about what to do with the animals Carol
00:56:19
wanted to keep them and make easy street a sanctuary Don so The Story Goes wanted
00:56:25
to breed and sell [Music] them he had talked about getting a divorce and if he had gone through with
00:56:33
it it could have been costly says Don's lawyer Joe Fritz so she would have lost a considerable amount of money Millions
00:56:42
that's considerable that's considerable the couple made a lot of money while they were together but it turned out
00:56:50
there were more signs of trouble after Don disappeared and McQueen says she remembered a sealed envelope that he had
00:56:58
given her 2 months earlier he came to the office and he was agitated and he gave me an envelope and he said take
00:57:06
this keep it safe place he either said take it to the police or you'll know what to do with it um if anything ever
00:57:13
happens I took a home I didn't think anything about it but after Don went missing Anne says
00:57:22
she opened the envelope he was asking the judge um for restraining order just months before he disappeared
00:57:32
Don tried unsuccessfully to get a restraining order against Carol telling the judge Carol has gotten angry enough
00:57:39
to threaten to kill me she has a 45 revolver and she took my 357 do you remember how you felt when
00:57:49
you read the stuff about how he she threatened to kill him I started shaking did you actually start shaking I'm
00:57:57
shaking now Anne says she took the document to the sheriff's department and while she
00:58:04
was there the burglar alarm went off at Don's office Carol had said it off according to the Tampa Bay Times
00:58:15
Carol got in with help from her father and Don's handyman a man named Kenny far and when Anne got back to the office she
00:58:25
says she was shocked everything was gone everything that was in my desk was gone
00:58:31
including she says Don's will and power of attorney police said Carol's action was legal after all she was Don's wife
00:58:41
but Don's daughters were suspicious well to us it's very odd she may be a spouse
00:58:48
but she did not have a key at all to the gate or the office so that says a lot right there but that's not the only odd
00:58:57
thing Carol gave this interview to the television show hard copy suggesting Don might have had some kind of dementia
00:59:05
maybe doesn't know who he is maybe doesn't know where to call him but Don's lawyer Joseph Fritz says
00:59:13
Don had no memory problems absolutely none did you see him shortly before he disappeared I saw him at least every
00:59:23
week and sometimes two or three times and Don's family doesn't believe Carol was really worried about Don in part
00:59:30
because they say weeks after he disappeared she cancelled Don's cell phone account if a person at the
00:59:38
beginning your husband you think he has dementia he's got Alzheimers and now he's missing do you turn his cell phone
00:59:45
off after two or three weeks of him being missing his only Lifeline to reach you yeah she turned it
00:59:53
off phone was turned off three weeks yes after cancel the account as the weeks turned into months
01:00:01
Carol offered another possibility instead of Costa Rica maybe don was under arrest in Mexico and couldn't call
01:00:09
her the only place I still haven't looked that I feel somewhat hopeful of being able to find him alive is going to
01:00:15
be Mexico and I don't know how hard or how long that'll take maybe a prison yeah I can't think of anything else that
01:00:23
would keep him away this long I find it hard to way he'd walk away and leave [Music]
01:00:29
me Don's family began to think the worst that Don was dead and that Carol played
01:00:36
a role in his death what was your first thought I would love to tell you but a better not can you give me a hint you
01:00:45
got it you thought it was her I can't say that would I be wrong in assuming that that was your first thought maybe
01:00:54
maybe I'd be wrong maybe you might be right and then the case took a turn police found Don's van abandoned at a
01:01:04
remote airport the keys were reportedly still in it remember Don had been planning to go to Costa Rica for work
01:01:12
there is the theory that he just got tired of everything and jumped in an airplane and flew to Costa Rica and
01:01:17
drove up the mountain and is living happily ever after there Don had owned several planes and
01:01:25
he loved to fly tell me a little bit about this airplane uh so it's a piper Arrow 3 Joe Solen has flown hundreds of
01:01:33
hours in one type of plane that Don Lewis liked to fly you can roughly get about 700 miles to a full tank uh the
01:01:42
two two main tanks full um I know so if say you were going to go from the Tampa area down to Costa Rica it's not an
01:01:51
onstop FL no no so that's like how many refueling Stu oh probably three to four at least yeah if he did refuel no one
01:02:00
seems to know about it besides Don's family says he would never just take off and leave
01:02:06
[Music] them but if Don didn't just fly off to begin a new life somewhere what was his
01:02:13
van doing at the airport I've heard at the time that he was strangled from the backseat of an airplane with an electric
01:02:20
cord pushed out 50 ft over the gulf Arrow 09 Michael the part 29 left turn out to the South I'm also a
01:02:29
[Music] pilot and I fly the same type of plane Don often flew first of all imagine the struggle
01:02:40
involved in strangling a70 lb man in this passenger seat then if the plan was to push him out the door that's a
01:02:48
challenge the slowest this airplane can fly is about 65 mph and that means winds
01:02:55
are approaching hurricane strength would be pushing against this door trying to keep it closed you'd have to open it
01:03:02
you'd have to keep it open and you'd have to somehow wrestle the body out of here without interfering with the flight
01:03:09
controls bottom line I guess you could do it but there easier ways to get rid of a
01:03:15
body and there was no evidence that any of DA's planes were missing so if it's unlikely Don Lewis was pushed out of a
01:03:24
small airplane where was as the mystery got deeper the theories got Wilder what were some of those
01:03:32
theories or rumors someone said he was under a septic tank on Big Cat Rescue in the summer of 1997 Carol spoke
01:03:55
with the local Fox TV station I'm very worried it's just a feeling but he is okay that he will just walk back in the
01:04:04
gate but Don never did it's very hard in the 21st century to go missing missing as a middle-aged man who has a very
01:04:13
active cellular records banking records Etc Alex Spyro is an attorney and a former New York City prosecutor he's now
01:04:21
working for Don Lewis's daughters well there were all sorts of um theories about what might have happened to Don
01:04:31
one of them was that he was tossed out of an airplane do you find that credible sometimes in high-profile cases people
01:04:37
come up with fanciful theories of you know tigers lions bears and airplanes I mean there's usually a simpler
01:04:45
explanation of things Spyro says the simplest thing of all is to start with the timeline of the Day Lewis
01:04:53
disappeared there's a critical window here where Don Lewis went missing and what really matters and where the where
01:04:59
the rubber meets the road is what happened during those 24 hours so what happened during those 24 hours Carol
01:05:06
says she last Saw Don Lewis early in the morning of August 18th 1997 when she came home from running a
01:05:14
late night errand she would not talk to us in person this time so she sent us a couple of diary entries Leonora Le Peter
01:05:23
Anton is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and a CBS consultant and one of them was the
01:05:32
what what she did that night this Sunday August 17th 1997 Carol says that late that Sunday
01:05:40
Night Before Dawn went missing she needed milk and supplies for her wild cats at 11:00 you know she had these
01:05:49
kittens that were in the house there was a bobcat kitten and two caracle kittens
01:05:53
and um she didn't have enough ingredients for the milk in her Diaries Carol says she left Dawn and drove to a
01:06:03
supermarket about 6 miles away but the store was closed and then the story takes another twist she says her car
01:06:13
broke down Carol says she walked all the way home it took her until nearly 4 a.m.
01:06:20
and then when she got home Don wanted to immediately go back and get the car so at 4 in the morning they went back he
01:06:27
got the radiator cap off put water in it and then they drove home 2 hours later she saw him in the
01:06:35
doorway and he was leaving you know he just left and that's the last time she saw him Don's ex-wife has her doubts
01:06:44
about that story I don't think she was going to buy milk no okay you do not no she wasn't going to go buy milk you
01:06:52
think that she was up to no good that night could be what happened next has raised even
01:06:59
more suspicions after Don disappeared Carol produced what she said was Don's will and power of attorney leaving her
01:07:07
in charge of everything but Don's family says his signature on those documents is
01:07:14
forged would I be wrong in assuming that you believe that Carol was involved in making up these Wills the will and
01:07:23
the power of attorney you could be I could be wrong you could be right if she was involved why would she want to have
01:07:32
Don Lewis killed money of course that happens all the time the where we live in today Leonora leer Anton had four
01:07:47
handwriting experts examin Don's signature on the power of attorney all said the signature did not look
01:07:55
authentic two of them said they felt it was traced from the 1991 marriage license between
01:08:02
Don and Carol um and that that basically they were you know not accurate Don Lewis
01:08:11
signatures but Carol says the signatures were authenticated back in 1997 and are
01:08:19
real the Tampa Bay Times also looked into Don's former right-hand man Kenny far remember he reportedly helped Carol
01:08:29
get into Don's office that day he was basically his a jack of all trades his right-hand man and then after Don Lewis
01:08:36
disappeared he went and worked with Carol Baskin he was driving one of Don's Vans Don's Blue Van Trish far Payne was
01:08:45
married to Kenny for five years in her first ever TV interview she told 48 Hours That 2 days before Don Lewis was
01:08:54
reported missing far came home with Don Lewis's van and inside there was a pile of guns he said help me carry these in
01:09:04
we carried them in we put them under the bed we put them in the closet we put them in the little bathroom we had in
01:09:09
our room I was like whoa where did you get these he said listen I I'm I'm hanging on to these right now for Carol
01:09:16
but uh he said Don's gone and uh I don't want you talking about him did you ask him what he meant
01:09:22
by Don's gone no not right then because he would blow up real easy at me and I just didn't question it later that week
01:09:32
she heard on the news that Don had gone missing everything started kind of coming together Kenny's got Don's van
01:09:40
Kenny's got Don's Guns uh Don's gone and I knew Don was gone the day before he supposedly was missing it something
01:09:52
wasn't right she says she was too afraid to ask Kenny but it was hard to ignore some very strange things like the large
01:09:59
freezer with a padlock that she says appeared on their porch around the time da disappeared and then she says the
01:10:08
freezer vanished how long after Don disappeared did the freezer disappear about a week
01:10:14
after Don disappear P Trish says she waited years to tell police about her suspicions I was afraid for my kids
01:10:25
you know I had my kids I was afraid for them I was more afraid for them than anything she says he made that one
01:10:34
threat that was especially frightening and bizarre and maybe revealing Kenny had threatened to put me in the Grinders
01:10:42
he said if you try to leave me again I'm going to put you in the grinder like I did Dawn I'm sorry he said what he said
01:10:48
if you try to leave me again I will put you in the grinder like I did Dawn in a meat grinder
01:10:55
yeah I thought he was telling the truth I knew deep down that Kenny has some part in Don's not ever coming
01:11:05
back I knew then for sure my goodness so you you sort of thought at that point that you were living with a murderer
01:11:16
yeah 3 years after Don went missing in the midst of her divorce from Kenny far Trish says she finally told the police
01:11:24
everything Kenny far wouldn't talk to 48 Hours on camera but told us Trisha's story is as he put it a outlandish lie
01:11:34
he says I had absolutely nothing to do with Don's disappearance far also says he cooperated with police at the time of
01:11:42
Don's disappearance and even took a polygraph now attorney Alex Spyro says he's found some new Witnesses have you
01:11:52
met these Witnesses yes and you believe them yes he said if you try to leave me again
01:12:14
I will put you in the grinder like I did Dawn do you consider Trish farp credible yes attorney Alex Spyro has has
01:12:25
been investigating The Disappearance of Don Lewis for months he doesn't want to say much because his investigation is
01:12:31
still going on but he will say there's been some progress has there been a new witness who's surfaced who can shed
01:12:41
significant light on what happened or corroborate Trish far Payne's version of what happened or just clear up some of
01:12:51
these unclear matters there have been yes if that's true you're a heck of a lot closer to figuring out what happened
01:13:00
than many people might know I like to think I'm closer to figuring out what happened than many people would know yes
01:13:07
the obvious question is what about Carol Basin you were going to be a fur coat weren't you honey after Don's
01:13:17
Disappearance in 1997 Carol Lewis carried on at her Sanctuary Wildlife on Easy Street eat he
01:13:25
does a lot of work um feeding is one thing that he was always here for on August 19th 2002 5 years to the
01:13:35
day Don Lewis was reported missing Carol had a judge declar Don dead gradually the investigation into
01:13:45
his whereabouts went cold she's a good girl yes she is in 2004 Carol got married again this time to how Baskin a
01:13:56
businessman and the ceremony was unusual even by Florida standards perhaps Howard
01:14:03
wore like a toga a tiger patterned toga and was like a caveman and he came to her on the beach and she hit him over
01:14:12
the head with a plastic bat and then he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and then apparently she put a
01:14:22
leash around his neck you know it's not how I would have done my wedding but Carol Lewis became
01:14:28
Carol Basin and Wildlife on Easy Street got a new name too hi I'm Carol Baskin and I'm the founder and CEO of Big Cat
01:14:37
Rescue Howard has an MBA and a law degree and he sort of brought a business sense to Big Cat Rescue he brought in
01:14:45
like a Washington lobbyist he knew people in the community he basically was really good at getting donations our
01:14:52
donations last year alone were up 50% the organization's Mission also changed there was no more breeding or buying big
01:15:02
cats our goal is to end the trade in Big Cats Carol is an animal rights Advocate
01:15:08
we can do it with help from people like you someone who believes no one should own a wild cat not even herself she
01:15:16
spoke about it in a 2018 interview with CBS affiliate WTSP our mission is to put ourselves out
01:15:24
of business because there shouldn't have to be a place rescuing lions and tigers
01:15:29
from people that get them as pets Carol eventually went after Joseph Maldonado passage you know him as Joe
01:15:38
Exotic an exotic animal owner in Oklahoma in 2010 she tried to stop him from taking his baby tigers to shopping
01:15:47
malls around the country $5 total charging money for pictures Joe fought back hi car can down that Big Cat Rescue
01:15:56
and tried to take the name of Carol's organization and make it his own so Carol sued him she has spent over a
01:16:04
million half dollars just trying to shut me down she won and a judge ordered Mr exotic to pay Carol nearly $1
01:16:13
million and that only added more fuel to their Feud I'm ready to damn poor I use
01:16:20
a file cabinet from my dresser George Joe took to his YouTube channel Joe Exotic TV to air his grievances in his
01:16:29
own exotic way can you believe they spend enough time to build another entire website about me for Joe nothing
01:16:38
was off limits word has it that Carol snuck up on Don in the middle of the night and he gleefully revived those
01:16:45
suspicions about Don Lewis's disappearance Joe made that music video with a woman who was supposed to be a
01:16:52
Carol Baskin lookalike pushing that unsubstantiated theory that she fed her husband Don to the
01:17:00
Tigers Joe's hatred of Carol Baskin started feeding on itself and you think I'm obsessed with you and getting more
01:17:09
violent Carol Basin better never ever see me face to face he's posted pictures of an effigy of me hanging and pointing
01:17:19
a gun to my head and Joe Exotic may have done more than pretend to kill Carol jury finds former Winnwood Animal Park
01:17:27
owner Joe Exotic guilty in 2019 he was convicted of among other things hiring a Hitman to actually kill her he got 22
01:17:39
years meanwhile Carol had a new theory about who might be responsible for her ex-husband's disappearance she clawed
01:17:48
his face up pretty badly he said he almost had to knock her out to get the gun away from her because she was so
01:17:53
intent on killing him in January 2021 then president Donald Trump held the keys to Joe Exotics
01:18:18
prison cell his legal team hoped for a full presidential pardon I think we're going to get the pardon I do I'm 100%
01:18:25
sure a very stretched limo waited near his federal prison ready to whisk the Tiger King away from captivity but the
01:18:35
limo left empty there was no pardon Joe Exotics case is closed but Florida Sheriff Chad chronister still
01:18:44
doesn't know what happened to Don Lewis he thinks Don was murdered and more than
01:18:50
one person might be involved this wealthy individual left and left his wealth behind left his
01:18:58
money behind you know when's the last time you've ever heard someone leaving without their wealth behind but the more
01:19:05
bizarre theories about what happened are too much even for a law man in Florida they talked about the meat grinder and
01:19:13
that the meat grinders were used to feed the cats well the meat grinders had been
01:19:17
removed from the property you know several weeks before his his disappearance not saying they couldn't
01:19:23
have been involved but they weren't on the property with all those uncertainties and those
01:19:28
millions of Tiger King viewers demanding answers the sheriff ordered his team to
01:19:34
take a new look at the case as a result of Tiger King we contacted and followed up on well over 200 leads Moses Garcia
01:19:43
is a homicide detective for Hillsboro County he says all those tips didn't help much a large amount of those were
01:19:52
virtually useless and Garcia says some of his efforts at investigation have been blocked by Carol when the first
01:19:59
Tiger King there were some rumors that came out that Don Lewis was buried in a septic tank or underneath a septic tank
01:20:05
on the property um we wanted to go onto the property and kind of look around but
01:20:09
we were not allowed access it is frustrating I'd like to get on that property and look around a little bit
01:20:14
the detectives also say they've been unable to interview Carol Basin she does a lot of interviews where she says that
01:20:22
the sheriff's office has not even approached her that can be very frustrating when you know you've
01:20:26
approached multiple times and you've been told no most missing persons wives spouses they cooperate with the law
01:20:33
enforcement Carol's alleged lack of recent cooperation does seem to have increased the sheriff's focus on her the
01:20:42
only people that have refused to be interviewed has been Carol Baskins and Kenny far in an interview with TMZ Carol
01:20:49
said since Don went missing she has released scores of documents and done many interviews TMZ reports Carol said
01:20:56
she has nothing new to tell detectives and is declining to speak to investigator Garcia on advice of her
01:21:04
lawyer but she did email us saying Trish far Payne's story about Kenny is false she called Trisha's description of the
01:21:13
meat grinder quote ludicrous and clearly fabricated unquote and as for Don's family's accusations that she cancelled
01:21:22
Don's cell phone just weeks after disappeared she says that never happened and she told us regarding the family
01:21:29
quote they are liars unquote and Carol says Don's allegation that she threatened his life is just made up the
01:21:39
judge denied his application saying Don wasn't in any immediate danger she says she never threatened Don and he only
01:21:46
sought a restraining order to stop her from throwing out mountains of stuff he'd
01:21:52
accumulated but Carol says she know who did threaten Don it's an explosive allegation Carol says it's glattus Don's
01:22:02
exwife who might be the real villain according to Carol glattus was angry over a lawsuit she filed against dawn
01:22:11
after their divorce she sued him for a million dollar but glattus lost could she have been so angry over
01:22:20
not getting the million dollars more that she thought she would get that she would killed on in a last Stitch effort
01:22:27
to recover the money she felt he owed her for all of her suffering the Lewis family's new attorney Alex Spyro says
01:22:34
that's nonsense I have seen no credible evidence that the Lewis family has anything to do with Don Lewis's
01:22:41
disappearance if all the attention is hard on Carol she's made the most of it meow Tiger King has made her a queen she
01:22:50
was on Dancing With the Stars Tyra Banks introduced Carol [Music] [Applause] B and she's come out with a documentary
01:23:03
on the streaming Channel Discovery plus Carol baskin's cage fight you're abusing big cats I'm coming for
01:23:17
you as for the Don Lewis case his family is still hopeful and they say after more
01:23:23
than 20 years years the publicity around Tiger King has changed everything with more tips and leads coming in every day
01:23:34
we feel like we have an army of angels behind us at this point is Joe Exotic one of those
01:23:41
angels he might be leading the whole band [Music] 48 Hours don't miss an episode
01:24:17
[Music] [Music] I really like to solve puzzles and genealogy kind of is like that it offers
01:25:07
you this endless stream of blanks to fill in my name is Chelsea rustad and in 2013
01:25:17
I began my search for my own family history and it took me down lots of unexpected paths along the
01:25:27
way in 2015 I saw on Ancestry Facebook page they were running a contest and uh two winners would receive An ancestry
01:25:36
DNA kit they contacted me and said Chelsea you're one of the winners the ancestry DNA kit arrived you
01:25:45
just kind of spit in a tube and seal it up and then it was on its way did you have any idea just what kind of story
01:25:54
your DNA would tell I really didn't I was uh genealogy hobbyist like millions of other people in the United
01:26:05
States I kind of accidentally fell into it I'm CC Moore and I'm an investigative
01:26:11
genetic genealogist and that means I use DNA to try to help law enforcement find
01:26:17
violent criminals when the Golden State killer suspect was identified through investigative genetic genealogy there
01:26:24
were many people who said this wasn't a tool that would be used commonly in law enforcement and I wanted to prove them
01:26:30
wrong and genetic genology has exposed a lot of secrets that people had hoped would remain secret yes often times that
01:26:40
someone's deepest darkest secret all I'm thinking is oh it's it's going to confirm my ethnic background
01:26:50
and maybe I'll get to connect with some cousins I was excited I was just really optimistic about like maybe it will
01:26:56
uncover something cool a young Canadian couple takes a road trip from Vancouver Island to
01:27:02
Seattle in November 1987 18-year-old Tanya van kenborg and her 20-year-old boyfriend J girl
01:27:11
disappeared during a round trip from county has the first half of this puzzling case in May of 2018 I got a
01:27:20
knock on the door and it was to investigators from scet County and I was so confused what are they investigating
01:27:29
the murder of 18-year-old Tanya van kyin Borg her body was found in a ditch near
01:27:34
the town of boyfriend J cook dead his body found near Monroe a few days L strangled with some kind of ligature
01:27:42
they let me know that they are investigating a family member of mine for murder a double homicide from 1987
01:27:49
this was a person who was in my family tree did that name appear on any of the suspects lists no that name had never
01:28:01
been across my desk ever without genetic genealogy would we know who killed Tanya
01:28:09
and Jay no I know that my DNA played a big part of that it's been a learning curve this was all brand new it's the
01:28:19
web of matches it's putting those puzzle pieces together little by little little
01:28:27
[Music] [Music] I have a problem that I'm Relentless and I don't give up there may be no more dogged
01:29:19
investigator than SN homish County Cold Case detective Jim Shar especially when it came to the murders
01:29:27
of Tanya van kenborg and Jay cook it was probably the most horrendous unsolved case that we had Tanya van
01:29:38
kenborg was an 18-year-old girl she just graduated from high school she was in a
01:29:44
new relationship with Jay cook on November 18th 1987 the young couple left British Columbia in Jay's parents fan
01:29:55
heading for Seattle Washington Jay was going to go to Jen's coheating in Seattle to pick up some
01:30:04
furnace parts for his dad they planed to sleep in the van near the store and drive back to Canada the next day so
01:30:14
when they didn't show up that evening the families became concerned we just had no idea where
01:30:20
where they might be or what might have transpired T years Big Brother John was at College when he got a call from his
01:30:27
worried Father John would your sister ever just go off and not call your parents no that didn't I don't think
01:30:35
that had ever happened if the plans had changed and she was going to spend another night she would have called my
01:30:42
parents after Tanya and Jay were reported missing law enforcement began looking for them desperate for answers
01:30:50
John and his father joined the search in Seattle something was Gravely wrong I mean the
01:30:56
obvious things in terms of them being in hospital or something or just simply with a flat tire somewhere all those
01:31:03
more innocent explanations were pretty much Vanishing on November 24 6 days after
01:31:11
the couple disappeared John's worst fears were confirmed Tanya's body was found at the bottom of a ditch in Ru
01:31:19
gadet County some 80 miles north of Seattle she wasn't wearing any pants or panties and her bra was pushed up over
01:31:30
her breast so it obviously looked like a rape murder T had been shot in the head
01:31:38
at close range she rolled down the hill it was a quick execution later that evening John had to
01:31:47
identify his sister's body such a a crushing feel that all of a sudden you see her lying there it's
01:31:57
definitely horrific but we had no idea still about where where was Jay where was the van how did this happen why did
01:32:05
it happen the next day T's wallet the keys to the van some bullets and a number of
01:32:12
other items turned up 16 Mi away in Bellingham they had been discarded under the porch of a Local Tavern next to the
01:32:21
Greyhound bus station police located the van in a nearby parking lot but Jay was still missing
01:32:33
the following day Jay's body was found here underneath Highbridge he was about 70 Mi south of
01:32:42
where T had been found it was a horrible scene her 20-year-old boyfriend had been
01:32:52
strangled a pack of cigarettes stuffed down his throat what did most investigators think about this killer I
01:33:00
mean who does something like this right that was the big question this was a person who was a real predator and it
01:33:08
was believed at the time that it was probably a serial killer or an ex-convict but finding that Predator
01:33:16
would be challenging investigators and forensic scientists had four crime scenes scattered over three counties but
01:33:24
few Clues a bullet casing found on the hillside near Tanya's body matched those bullets collected at the tavern in
01:33:33
Bellingham but a gun was never found this surgical glove was discovered under the porch investigators believe
01:33:42
the killer wore it to avoid leaving fingerprints but he may have been careless there was a palm print on the
01:33:50
back of the van that they believed hopefully belong to the suspect inside the van they found what would ultimately
01:33:59
be the most important piece of evidence the black pants T had been wearing they found that there was seen on Tanya's
01:34:07
pants and when they examined the seen they learned that it couldn't be left from Jay the sample matched the DNA
01:34:17
found inside T's body and would later be known as individual a but the the only evidence that connected all four crime
01:34:26
scenes these plastic zip ties found near T and Jay's bodies under the porch and inside the van according to detective
01:34:37
sharp they were part of the Killer's rape murder kit this was a predator that was hunting for a victim that he wanted
01:34:46
to rape and maybe in his mind he decided that he was going to kill him too they were two mild-mannered softspoken
01:34:57
kids they weren't out to pick a fight with anyone I mean both families were just so
01:35:04
devastated hoping to find the killer tenya's family offered a $50,000 reward for
01:35:10
information tips came in but none panned out the police to their credit were trying to chase down every sort of
01:35:20
theory [Music] over the years the theories and false leads would grow and more than 200 names
01:35:29
would fill the case File some were convicted felons and then there was Charles Sinclair he was believed to be a serial
01:35:38
killer Across the Western United States there was also an anonymous writer who sent threatening letters to Jay and T's
01:35:48
families claiming to be the killer yeah it's just unfathomable to think that you
01:35:52
know somebody normally done these murders but then was going to continue taunting the families with these letters
01:35:58
but every suspect's DNA was compared to individual A's profile and none matched the goal was to try to figure out who
01:36:08
did this Seaman sample belong to Lisa Collins a forensic scientist with the Washington State Patrol
01:36:17
uploaded individual A's profile to cotus the FBI's National offender datab Bas as
01:36:24
the years went by just complete silence it's disheartening you just um are afraid that this might be one of those
01:36:32
cases that's never going to be solved and then more than 30 years after T and Jay were killed there's a break in the
01:36:41
case I was skeptical I was hopeful but I was skeptical and I I'm a Believer now go inside the decades long search
01:36:53
for Jay and Tanya's killer at 48 [Music] hours.com we had those original seamen samples from the pants and then from
01:37:15
Tanya's body trying to figure out who this sample May belong to that was the tedious and hard part
01:37:24
the man police believe killed T van kenborg and Jay cook left behind a forensic calling card says Lisa Collins
01:37:33
but still managed to elude capture for years and then in 2017 detective Jim Sharp heard about an
01:37:48
Innovative tool developed by parabon nanolabs that uses DNA evidence to predict the genetic traits of an unknown
01:37:58
suspect it's called snapshot phenotyping they gather all that information and they end up making a
01:38:07
snapshot of what an individual with all those traits might look similar too parabal was hired to use individual A's
01:38:17
DNA to create this composite sketch which gave sharf some Clues as to what the spec could look like at the ages of
01:38:26
25 45 and 65 but he still didn't have a name investigators in California say DNA
01:38:34
evidence LED them to one of the country's most notorious serial killers and then in
01:38:41
2018 a stunning arrest in California opened new doors for law enforcement the so-called Golden State killer the man
01:38:50
responsible for numerous rapes and murders was finally apprehended after 43 years using genetic
01:38:59
genealogy did a little light bulb go over your head at that moment oh yeah big light bulb the Golden State killer
01:39:07
DNA have been uploaded to Jed match a genetic database that allows users of various consumer test kits to share and
01:39:16
compare their DNA this is fantastic I need to get on this [Music] parabon agreed to upload individual A's
01:39:27
DNA to Jed match and called in genetic genealogist CC Moore she's known for her work on the PBS show Finding Your Roots
01:39:37
so then what did you do DNA DNA so all we have is DNA we're going to turn and she's Fame for skills at mapping family
01:39:45
trees but this was her first criminal case I had had a lot of doubts whether this was the right thing for me to do
01:39:53
and I finally made the decision okay I'm I'm going to do this but a lot was writing on that
01:40:01
case it was a case she had been following for years and felt a personal connection to Moore's parents were from
01:40:09
the Pacific Northwest and she was the same age as Tanya van kenborg she was killed right when I was graduating high
01:40:18
school and going on to college and my life was just really beginning and hers ended so tragically and so I think it
01:40:26
always stuck with me on Friday April 27th 2018 individual A's DNA file was uploaded to Jed match it's compared
01:40:38
against everyone that's participating in that database and so what they're looking for are long segments of
01:40:44
identical DNA between two people sometimes the match list will show up right away and sometimes it takes a
01:40:51
couple days so I say to really late that Friday night I kept checking there was no matches the next morning Moore logged
01:40:59
on to see if there was a list and there was and so we're hoping for at least a second cousin or closer at the top of
01:41:07
that list and we used to call that being struck by lightning were you struck by lightning in this case twice we were
01:41:14
stuck struck by lightning twice on the list were two people who shared enough DNA with individual a to be his second
01:41:24
cousins and what was that what was that feeling like it was pretty exciting and scary in this case the cousin shared DNA
01:41:34
with individual a but not with each other which meant they're related to him on different branches of his family tree
01:41:43
but to figure out who he was more first had to find out who they were now fortunately one of the people
01:41:52
at the top of of that list had a really unique name and what was her name Chelsea
01:41:58
rustad remember Chelsea rustad had taken that ancestry DNA test and then went a step further you can download your raw
01:42:08
DNA file to your computer and then upload it to Jed match I just had no inkling at all that there were secret
01:42:17
relatives I didn't know about or Mysteries to uncover neither did the other second cousin whom Moore was also
01:42:25
able to identify but has chosen to remain anonymous and then I built the family trees of those top two matches
01:42:35
and surprisingly quickly I discovered how they converged it only took me 2 hours to come to the identification of
01:42:43
who I believed to be Tanya and Jay's killer this is a person who had eluded capture investigation for 31 years and
01:42:57
you were able to identify this person in two hours that's the power of genetic genealogy yeah but how how sure were you
01:43:08
I was very sure but isn't that scary Cece because your work might end up with this person in prison right and at that
01:43:19
moment I'm the only person in the world who knows that he's probably guilty of this crime other than him of course and
01:43:28
so it is a super heavy burden Monday morning April 30th detective Jim sharf got the news we've got it narrowed down
01:43:38
to one guy and I'm thinking I don't believe this and my first thought is who's the
01:43:48
guy would you upload your DNA to a Genealogy website chat now on Facebook and [Music]
01:44:02
Twitter 30 plus years dozens of dead ends hundreds of false leads and then in April 2018 CC Moore
01:44:16
got on a computer and out of the billions of people on Earth identified through genetic genealogy
01:44:23
the one man she believed killed Jay cook and T van kenborg who was the person you
01:44:31
identified William Earl talbet II William Earl talbet II when detective Jim Sharp heard the name he ran it
01:44:42
through the system and was surprised to learn that talbet had no felony convictions it was a new name that we
01:44:50
had never heard of before but it was was sure nice when we found out that he only
01:44:55
lived 7 miles from the bridge where Jay's body was found Shar also learned that in
01:45:02
1987 Talbot 24 at the time worked as a delivery driver and made stops near where Jay and Tanya were headed to pick
01:45:11
up that furnace part and says that talbet was fired a few months before the murders so it makes sense that he was
01:45:21
down in that area prowling around and probably ran into Jay and T but sharf needed more than old work records and
01:45:30
genetic genology it's really just a tip it's an investigative lead to make an arrest sharf needed to
01:45:39
be sure that the DNA left at the crime scene by the man they knew only as individual a matched William tal bits so
01:45:48
somehow sharf had to obtain a fresh DNA sample from but himself we were going to
01:45:55
follow him until he dropped or threw away anything that had touched his mouth cuz we wanted his saliva on it as the
01:46:04
best type of DNA Source investigators learned talbet now drove a semi and they began tailing his
01:46:14
truck one day about a week later they watched as talbet stopped at a red light and opened the truck door the light
01:46:23
changes to Green he slams the door and drives away and there's a white paper cup laying on the street it's blowing
01:46:32
around in the wind so they jump out they go over and they collect the cup and they call me sharf rushed the paper cup
01:46:41
to forensic scientist Lisa Collins with the Washington State Patrol they wanted me to test this cup and just see if I
01:46:49
could get a DNA profile from it sh left the cup at the lab to await the results CC Moore had already begun searching for
01:46:58
talit online and quickly found his sisters and father on social media I couldn't find hardly anything about him
01:47:07
you know no marriages I could find very little footprint online at all and that was a little
01:47:16
unusual years earlier someone else who knew nothing about the investigation had made a similar search Chelsea rustad in
01:47:25
2013 long before she submitted her DNA to any websites Chelsea Googled her grandpa's sister blanch and found a lot
01:47:34
of information online her daughter was a Patty tbet and Patty had three daughters
01:47:41
and one son and the son was William Earl tbet thei these were Chelsea's second cousins
01:47:48
the Talbots Chelsea friended two of the sisters on Facebook but their brother William was a mystery this guy was just
01:47:57
kind of question mark off the grid Chelsea figured William was estranged from his family but didn't
01:48:04
give it much thought even after she uploaded her DNA to ancestry.com and then Jed match so she
01:48:12
was stunned that Day in 2018 when those investigators showed up on her doorstep and asked to see her
01:48:21
research and I'm just kind of like wait one of you're saying one of my family members is connected to
01:48:27
a murder and they're saying you know yeah it's uh from 1987 and the person of interest is
01:48:36
William Earl talbet and I'm just kind of grasping the scope of this and you know sickened
01:48:43
thinking about it the investigators wanted to know her impression of William Talbot I told them my theory that I
01:48:51
think he's a stranged detective sharf got more details from Talbot's friends and family he had a history of anger and
01:49:00
violence when he was younger he was a really angry kid in audio taped interviews with Talbot's sisters sharf
01:49:08
learned William's troubles began when he was 11 and his father was seriously hurt
01:49:13
in a motorcycle accident the sisters say William began to lash out he beat me up
01:49:21
uh broke my teleport I had to go to the hospital another sister says William Hurt her too still she said she didn't
01:49:30
think he was capable of murder yeah he'd be a bonee head but not to the point of
01:49:38
attacking or killing somebody no but would the DNA on the paper cup tell a different story that was on
01:49:48
detective shar's mind when he returned to the Police lab and Lisa colins shared the results of her testing I said the
01:49:57
profile from the Cup matches individual [Music] a it was just an amazing moment yeah
01:50:06
what did that feel like Jim I got tears in my eyes I'm like I can't believe it it's so
01:50:13
emotional and then I'm like yeah we got him and so on May 17th 2018 nearly 31 years after two Carefree
01:50:26
teenagers set out on a road trip and never returned detective sharf arrested William talbet he says John we've got
01:50:35
him sharf called Tanya's brother John right away saying that at long last individual a was in
01:50:44
handcuffs yeah I mean that's when it really sent a chill down my spine it was pretty overwhelming to think that it had
01:50:50
all culminated in that moment right there now 31 years later the next day William Talbot was charged with Tanya's
01:50:58
murder charges for Jay's murder soon followed Jay's sister spoke at a press conference it's hard to put into words
01:51:06
this feeling of relief of joy of of great sorrow that this arrest brings Jay's mom
01:51:16
said the moment was bittersweet on one hand we're close to closure and on the other we're still at
01:51:24
a loss and I don't have my only son Jay detective sharf told the group he was grateful for breakthroughs in DNA
01:51:35
technology if it hadn't been for genetic geneology we wouldn't be standing here today but would evidence obtained
01:51:43
through genetic genealogy be allowed in court [Music] okay let's go more than three decades
01:52:10
had passed since those dark November days in 1987 when Jay and Tanya were found murdered William Earl Talbot is now
01:52:19
accused of killing both now with William Talbot's arrest T's brother John Van kenborg was finally
01:52:26
able to face the man suspected of his sister's murder and what did you think the first time you saw
01:52:33
him you just reviled I mean it's hard to control your emotions talbet pleaded not guilty to
01:52:44
two counts of aggravated murder and so in June of 2019 his trial began in the snow homage
01:52:51
County superior Court it was the first case ever to go to a jury trial where the suspect had
01:52:57
been identified through investigative genetic genealogy although the Golden State killer had been identified first
01:53:04
Talbot's trial would be held before his and ccore was acutely aware of how much was writing on the outcome we didn't
01:53:13
know at that point how genetic genealogy was going to be treated in court because
01:53:17
there was no precedence the prosecution was hoping to make it a non-issue I was going to minimize the exposure by
01:53:26
kind of downplaying the importance of the genetic genealogy knowing full well that was the part of the case that was
01:53:31
perhaps most intriguing to people Chief criminal Deputy Matthew balok was the lead prosecutor on Talbot's case did you
01:53:40
he approached the defense with a proposal they would stipulate to the jury that the DNA from Individual a had
01:53:48
come from William talet as an agreed upon fact much to my surprise they agreed it was a
01:53:55
major victory for the prosecution the use of genetic genealogy to locate a suspect would not be contested in court
01:54:05
that was a huge relief really it was the best possible outcome so you admit that
01:54:10
that is William Talbot's DNA am I correct you're correct that was a stipulation Talbot's attorneys John
01:54:17
Scott and Rachel Ford would argue that there's actually an innocent explanation for that DNA every indication of the DNA
01:54:27
found from my client indicated consensual sex yes they admit that talbet had sex with t but they deny he
01:54:36
raped or killed her or Jake they point out that t and Jay were missing for several days before their
01:54:44
bodies were found implying that the couple must have encountered their killer later on tell me what you think
01:54:52
then happened to T and Jay we don't know what happened these kids were off to an
01:54:57
Adventure whether they went to a bar a restaurant uh some sort of Club to meet people I don't know tabit's lawyers say
01:55:07
it's understandable that talet might not remember meeting t or even where he was
01:55:13
30 years ago but it's significant they say that investigators were unable to link talbet to the type of gun that
01:55:21
killed T the pack of cigarettes or the materials used to strangle Jay so William tablet defense is
01:55:31
basically that he had sex with t and then somehow somebody else killed her that's not William tas's defense William
01:55:39
tas's defense is that there is insufficient evidence to prove him guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt but
01:55:44
prosecutors say they do have sufficient evidence there's tet's DNA from Tanya's body and her an the fact that he lived
01:55:54
just 7 miles from where Jay's body was found and the palom print on the van that police say was a match to
01:56:03
talit then there are the zip ties found at all four crime scenes balock says they prove the connection between Jay's
01:56:12
murder and Tanya's and the van what do you believe the zip ties were used for I believe that Mr talbet had Jay and T in
01:56:22
the van for some period of time after he abducted or kidnapped them and I believe
01:56:28
that he used the zip ties to restrain them as part of his investigation detective sharf had hoped to obtain a
01:56:35
usable DNA profile from any of the zip ties there had been a mixture of DNA on one of the zip ties that was found in
01:56:45
Jay's van and they weren't able to discern who all the profiles belong to but mid-trial forensic scientist Lisa
01:56:55
Collins had decided to run that DNA mixture into a new software program to see if she could find a match and to her
01:57:04
surprise she did when I compared William Talbot's DNA profile to the mixture obtained from the zip tie that was found
01:57:14
in the victim's van he was included as a possible contributor but because her Discovery
01:57:21
came during trial prosecutors felt it was too late to present to the jury fearing it would delay the trial talbet
01:57:31
elected not to take the stand and his lawyers were hopeful that the jury would agree there was not enough evidence to
01:57:38
prove him guilty in their closing arguments the defense told the jury that police were
01:57:44
unreasonably focused on the DNA they never stopped to consider that per perhaps the person who left the DNA
01:57:54
was not the murderer attorney Ford argued that detective Jim Sharp had tunnel vision is
01:58:03
it at all possible that yes that was William Talbot's DNA but he didn't kill either one of them is that possible sure
01:58:13
is it reasonable no she was found without her pantser underwear so just practically speaking is the claim that
01:58:21
Mr talbet had had consensual sex with her and then she got dressed and the person who ultimately killed her
01:58:27
undressed her balog says the only reasonable theory is that talot had overpowered the couple with a plan of
01:58:34
raping Tanya and then killed them both he had zip ties he had gloves he had a firearm he had ammunition after a
01:58:44
two weekl long trial the jury began to deliberate but they didn't come back that first day
01:58:52
or the second you realize this is really going to be the moment of [Music] truth on that third day of deliberations
01:59:22
the families of Jay cook and T van kenborg finally got news there was a verdict we the jury find a defendant
01:59:34
William Earl P II guilty of the grant of first murder guilty William Talbot had been
01:59:42
found guilty of the aggravated murder of Tanya van kenborg and guilty of the aggravated murder of Jay cook just to
01:59:51
hear the Foreman of the jury and say guilty was surreal CeCe Moore wasn't in the courtroom but she later saw video of
02:00:00
Tanya's brother John's reaction it was as if I could see a physical burden left off his shoulders he had told me how he
02:00:09
had carried this burden for years you know he was the only sibling he was her older brother and so that was incredible
02:00:18
to see Chelsea rustad had never spoken to either Jay or Tanya's family but with their blessing she decided to attend
02:00:30
talat sentencing where she first met John I was really nervous he looked a little bit nervous as
02:00:48
well she's effectively a family member of the murder so I think it was Brave of her to take that risk thank you for for
02:00:56
coming today at the sentencing Jay Cook's mother told the judge about the grief she has carried all these years some of
02:01:06
us wanted a shirt or a sweater you wear them if could put them to your nose and smell
02:01:14
him I still have that old sweater in my dresser drawer the sentence was mandatory thank you the courts only
02:01:22
possible sentence on each count is to impose a sentence of life without possibility of release two life terms in
02:01:29
prison without parole Chelsea says her sympathy is for Jay and T's families despite her genetic ties to talit all
02:01:39
right his dad wasn't there his sisters weren't there he had a family member in the audience and I was there supporting
02:01:47
the victims Chelsea rustad is proud that her DNA helped bring a Kill to justice but there are some who have concerns
02:01:55
about this new frontier in police [Applause] work it might be that you're not the
02:02:02
Golden State killer but it also might be that you don't want law enforcement scrutinizing your entire family law
02:02:10
professor Andrea Roth is head of the UC Berkeley Center for Law and technology and says one of the problems she sees is
02:02:19
that the DNA used for genetic geneal ology can be very revealing this is DNA testing that tells you a lot about a
02:02:28
person's very sensitive information their medical history information about familial lines that the families
02:02:36
themselves don't even know Professor Roth does agree that in cases like this genetic genealogy Could Be an Effective
02:02:43
tool for the public good but she cautions that Most states have no restrictions on its use
02:02:52
there's the concern that the government could use your DNA for some reason other
02:02:56
than a criminal investigation that it shouldn't be using it for giving it to insurance companies or using DNA to find
02:03:04
out who was at a protest meeting we don't have evidence right now of the government doing that but um those are
02:03:11
are reasons that somebody might want to think about before they decide to upload
02:03:16
their DNA because of this lack of legal oversight Roth has deep reservations about sharing DNA on public genealogy
02:03:25
websites would you not upload your DNA I would not but it may already be too late
02:03:33
for Professor Roth or many other Americans to truly opt out experts estimate that today more than 90% of
02:03:42
white Americans can be identified using genetic genealogy and that's because says CC
02:03:49
Moore those of European descent are well represented on websites like Jed match we have enough DNA we can identify
02:04:00
almost anyone of Northwest European ancestry even if it takes hours dozens of hours hundreds of hours we'll get
02:04:09
there but in this case after more than 30 years with no solid leads Moore was able to use Chelsea rustads DNA to help
02:04:18
locate a viable suspect in just just 2 hours was this the fastest you've ever found a suspect it was to this day 3 and
02:04:29
a half years later hundreds of cases later this was the most straightforward case I've ever worked and that is
02:04:37
amazing detective sharf believes that this case changed the face of Cold Case investigations forever genetic genealogy
02:04:47
is the best tool that's come around since DNA you don't need a Cod this database to get your
02:04:54
[Music] match for Jay and tenya's families it means they finally have some answers and
02:05:02
a measure of Peace on T's grave her parents inscribed the final line from a poem she wrote when she was
02:05:12
17 there is a place that I know of where up above there flies a dove and slowly as it turns to Dawn she Hearts her wings
02:05:23
and then she's gone she was growing up and and maturing and spreading her wings and getting her
02:05:34
feet under her and and then she was gone you miss her still don't you yeah definitely
02:05:46
[Music] serial killers can be very difficult to predict four families shattered when
02:06:04
their daughters go missing two were not found 20 years will the prime suspect finally reveal where they are a little
02:06:11
bit of a cat and mouse game 48 Hours next on CBS since streaming on Paramount Plus
02:06:20
[Music]