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[Music] on October the 29th of 2017 Kaye mandad and Mark Howton go to the maluna music
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festival in San Antonio they ared late in the afternoon and they consumed ecstasy there's an argument and Kaye and
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Mark leave and at some point they pull off of the road for what Mark describes as makeup sex and afterward she tells
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Mark she's not feeling well there are hours that are unaccounted for she goes unconscious and at 10:30 at night he
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goes to the hospital and he Flags down the nearest EMT she has no pulse she's covered head to toe in bruises and
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unclothed from the waist down and her bra above her chest oh I'm just looking for we're we're uh quiet place to talk
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quiet place to talk [Music] so she was perfectly normal having sex yes just like always was
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Nor when I first got to the hospital I saw something I could have never imagined I was kayle's best friend
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I know she was definitely mine it just felt absurd the amount of life support that
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she was on doctor came in and we asked what's the prognosis and he said there is none
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he said she's not coming out of this I'm telling you right now I'm sorry the medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had
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died from blunt force trauma to the face and to the head and Mark Howton is arrested this is a case where there's
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more than meets the eye and things aren't always as they seem he tried to perform CPR on her while trying to
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operate a motor vehicle my client isn't exactly The Brightest Bulb in the box at
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this moment but he's attempting to try and assister her if it's not a homicide in my opinion this is I think a terrible
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terrible accident Mark howon he's a dangerous person he is a textbook example of a
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domestic violence abuser it's about control with him it's Kaye Madi she had just turned 19 she was coherent she was
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walking on her own and she got into the car with that defendant after what can only be described as a dramatic trial
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all right J the jury ultimately hangs and ladies and gentlemen jury I'm declaring a m
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trial devastated by the result of the first trial kayle's parents feel the need to take things into their own hands
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and to see that Justice was served in the second trial I spent hours and hours studying
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autopsy photos we knew she had suffered big blow on her left side and I wanted to see what did her head hit after
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taking that blow Lawrence tell me about this car Peter this is Mark howerton's car and you bought this car is that
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right yes I did I needed to be able to show the jury what happened to Kaylee what did you figure out so we determined
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that kayle's head likely struck that locking knob resulting in fatal injury they commission a reenactment of what
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they believe happened to their daughter the video could be a game changer this is the moment of
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truth will their daughter get [Music] Justice [Music] [Music] Kaylee mandad and Taylor Clement best
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friends since 9th grade had a streak Snapchatting every morning every single day she was much more of a morning
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person so I would get mine first thing in the morning but Monday morning October 30th
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2017 no word from Kaye I didn't get a Snapchat at 8:00 in the morning like I usually do and that's
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actually how I knew something was really wrong both good students they bonded in
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science class Taylor says she was instantly drawn to Kaye she had like a really infectious smile and the big eyes
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and like the loving heart the two separated to go to different colleges that October morning Kaye was on
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Taylor's mind as I'm working in the library it's in the back of my head like I haven't heard from her Taylor didn't
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know it but just hours earlier kayle's mother Allison steel and stepfather Lawrence bitand were awakened at 4: in
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the morning with horrifying news your has been involved in some incident and she's been LIF flighted to Kyle Texas
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they raced from their home in Houston to the hospital praying Kaye was okay what was it like when you entered
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that room what did you see I saw my daughter's body smashed I could see that she was on a
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ventilator and my heart just stopped and I knew that it was bad within hours kayle's parents were told there was no
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hope for Recovery their daughter just 19 years old once so full of life was soon
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declared brain dead Lawrence and Allison want the world to know what happened to
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her all that potential had been destroyed and not knowing how it happened or how it was even
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possible they invited K's friends to see her one last time Taylor sat with Allison as she held kayle's hand and
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prayed I remember her repeating over and over this has to be for something this has to be for something Kaylee had
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previously requested that her organs be donated to help others as she was taken to surgery for that procedure her
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parents said goodbye it was very emotional of course we didn't want to let her go but this is
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what had to be just just days before things seemed to be going well for Kaye a sophomore
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Communications major at Trinity University in San Antonio she had joined a sorority and was a cheerleader and she
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met a boy Kaye at the time was very much in love with the only serious boyfriend
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she had ever had his name was Jet burin Jet was a trinity football player and fraternity brother Kaylee dated him
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freshman year but they broke up what she told me was I don't know that he wants a
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serious relationship and she did I think that part of her life got very murky for
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her very fast there was another man in kayle's life Mark Howton he was 22 years old and had been a star high school
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baseball player I've been a pretty good hitter I just keep my weight back and keep your eye on the ball
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whack it Mark lived in Houston but was often on Trinity's campus visiting friends that's where he met Kaye I think
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that they're both very beautiful people and I think that that was the primary attraction John Hunter is howerton's
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lawyer I think that there were problems with her relationship with Jed and Mark was offering an alternative to that both
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Jed and Mark knew Kaye was seen the other man and neither friends say like the competition then just one month into
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this new relationship Mark Howton rushes Kaye to a small rural Hospital in Luling
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Texas the chapel is actually really quiet while medical staff tended to Kaye police officers interviewed Howton in
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the quietest place they could find okay it was recorded on the officer's body cam so tell me where where were we all
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at today Howton told officers that he and Kaye went to the music festival there they drank alcohol and took
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MDMA a drug known as Molly or ecstasy Christy Jack is an attorney based in Fort Worth we asked her to look at the
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files in this case she says things took a troubling turn at the music festival they saw jet burchum at some point and
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began to argue how are says sometime after 400 p.m. he and Kaye left in his Mercedes still arguing after Kaye told
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him she still had feelings for jet I was pretty much saying you need to get over
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this dude you ain't worth your time your friends are fake as I was just telling her all I was trying trying to get it
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through her head Howton said they then stopped in a parking lot where they had makeup sex we were having sex such sh
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her but it wasn't like Killinger it wasn't it wasn't like that rough said Howton but consensual 500% consensual
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after we had sex like she um still talked to me for five six minutes afterwards that's when she was like I'm
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not feeling too good but then she just passed out but Howton told officers they got back on the road hours passed Howton
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says at some point Kaye stopped breathing and he tried to resuscitate her and at 10:30 at night he
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sees a sign on the road that indicates a hospital the next exit he pulls off emergency medical workers told
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investigators they instantly knew Kaye was in bad shape she was nearly naked bruised and had no pulse you have a
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paramedic or a nurse who says these bruises were on her when she arrived at the hospital in Luling why isn't she
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responding Howton told the police officer Kaylee already had bruises on her legs earlier in the day she bruises
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easy she look seriously she gets drunk and she falls over and she bruises police interviewed Howton
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several times but he was not charged with any crime related to kayle's death then 3 months later her autopsy report
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was released the medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had died from blunt force face and head trauma it was ruled a
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homicide Mark Howton was charged with murder he pleaded not guilty and was released on
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bail there were a large amount of drugs taken over the course of this weekend Mr
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Howton brought the decease to a hospital which is something you you don't typically see murderers don't usually do
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that no all rise to the jury the idea that it was open and shut is a mistake as the trial begins John Hunter says he
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has evidence that will surprise the jury in December 2019 2 years after Kaya mad's disturbing demise Mark Howton is
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finally brought to trial for allegedly kidnapping assaulting and murdering her call rise for the jury I don't to
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your what was it like to see Mark Howton in the courtroom like everybody else I Tred not to look at him too
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much the trial begins with prosecutor Alesandra crenshaw's opening statement I think the best way to tell
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this story is to start where Kaye mad's life ended and that's in the car of this
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defendant prosecutors alleged that Howton forcefully escorted Kaylee from the maluna music festival to his car he
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then drove her to a parking lot where he sexually assaulted and beat her causing a fatal brain bleed
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these photos show kayle's condition about 18 hours after she arrived at the hospital I believe that you will have No
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Reservations about finding this defendant guilty of the offense of murder things are not always as they
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seem in his opening statement defense attorney John Hunter attacks the very foundation of the prosecution's case Mr
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Howton did not not caus Kaye mad's death no one saw anything that transpired between Mark Howton and kayy mad that
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evening on the 29th there are no eyewitnesses the state begins its case with paramedic Cheryl Lane s is square
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tell the truth who was driving an ambulance up to the Luling hospital that night when a vehicle suddenly appeared
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behind her there's a black car behind us honking and flashing the lights before I even get out I see a gentleman
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that's hollering and screaming I open the door he's telling me that his girlfriend is not breathing and he needs
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help when Lane looked inside howerton's car she saw a disturbing scene she was exposed her pants and
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clothes were in the floorboard by her feet she had bruises on her just multiple bruises that I just remember
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seeing that's when I started CPR but Hunter says not everyone at the hospital believed Kaye had been attacked
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the treating physician at the Ling Hospital approached this as a drug overdose wasn't that because Mark had
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told them he thought she had overdosed correct but the symptoms she was presenting were consistent with that
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patient history was this woman beaten or not no Hunter insists the photos showing
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bruising on Kaye don't point to Foul Play by the time that the sexual assault nurse exam photographs
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her she has been resuscitated six times I believe maybe eight she's had chest tube inserted she's had IVs placed on
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both arms she's been worked over by those physicians at the Ling Hospital in a traumatic
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way while the medical team fought for kayle's life police interviewed I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and
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photographed Mark Howton police officer Chris Adams while I was taking photographs of my notice the tops of
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both of his hands they look red to you yes sir unusually readed yes sir evidence investigators believe that
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Howton did hit Kaye those actually do look like they scabs already on them the mark Howton arrested after
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Kay's death was an enormously muscled intimidating figure kayle's friends say he used steroids even in such a confined
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space it would have been relatively easy for him to cause that kind of damage to
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her head Mark Howton initially cooperated with investigators allowing police to search his Mercedes where they
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found a gun and marijuana if he was worried about himself he would have told the police to get a warrant instead
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Hunter says Howton was much more concerned about Kaye I found out an update on here
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please is there any ways is there anything else you the only person who could counter howerton's story was dead
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investigators hoped kayle's remains might speak on her behalf I'm SAR to tell Dr Susanna Dana performed the
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autopsy and says the evidence shows Kaylee was beaten to death she had a number of what I call blunt force
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injuries to her face and her head and what is this that we see behind year that's a bruise that's a contusion
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defendant exhibit number one but during cross examination hunter gets Dr Dana to
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admit at least one of kayle's injuries was caused by her medical care so CPR can cause a lot of different injuries
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not just simply superficial ones right yes in this case the rim was broken is that correct I believe so yes the
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medical examiner says the cause of death is complications of blunt force face and
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head trauma and the manner of death is homicide is the examiner wrong I believe the examiner is definitely wrong
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whatever the jury thinks about how Kaylee died they're about to learn much more about her troubled love life with
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Mark Howton um he had grabbed her and drawn her against the [Music] wall [Music]
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in the agonizing Final hours of Kaylee mad's life her friends gathered to say goodbye kayle's childhood friend Taylor
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Clement met her College friends for the first time they bonded talking about Kaye even in that situation she was
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bringing people close that would have never met before some of those friends now nervously wait
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to testify in Mark howerton's murder trial do you recognize this person who is this
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individual her roommate Morgan Samson told of a stormy history between Kaylee and Mark including one particularly
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disturbing incident just a few weeks before kayle's death she was planning to go to a party and says Mark got upset
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when she invited k to come along Mark and Kaye were out on the balcony um and he had thrown her up against the brick
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wall Kaye ended up going to that party against howerton's wishes soon neighbors reported hearing loud banging in kayle's
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room campus police officer Roderick Lewis was dispatched to investigate when I arrived to the location male subject
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was exiting the room so you're in the room just waiting on her while she's at a party exactly okay any mind if I take
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a look in the room man no this Howton resisted officer Lewis's request to see inside I'd like you to step out here
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with my partner right now when officer Lewis did go into kayle's room he found the glass door to
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the balcony was cracked and kayle's clothes were scattered in the trees friend say Howton later smashed kayle's
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laptop on the street the university barred him from campus Kaylee told her ex-boyfriend jet
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burum that she wanted to get back with him she was really torn between two different people and both of whom were
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vying for her affection jet told the jurors it all came to a head at the music festival she said she wanted to break up
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with them at Malla cuz they be plenty of witnesses and people around did she seem worried about
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breaking up with him yes Howton picked Kaye up to go to the music festival but first he says they pulled
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into a nearby car wash to take MDMA or Molly Howton said they had more once they got to the
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festival we're talking about massive doses well above what would be necessary for it to effect be effective uh to gain
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the experience when Kaye didn't show up on campus that night her friends started
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calling her Howton answered kayle's phone I was like have you seen Kaye have you heard from her like are you with her
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and he said she can't talk right now and then hung up the phone panicked they began searching for Kaye jet buram who
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also attended the festival says he saw Mark and Kaylee move towards the exit seemingly against kayle's wishes Kaye
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looked like she was trying to create space and kind of just get away that what did you see him do uh as she's
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trying to step away I see him reach out his right arm and hook it around her shoulder and pull her in closer and then
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turn and walk away this is important testimony it's important testimony because it's showing that she's being
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taken someplace against her will defense attorney John Hunter hammers him on cross-examination it immediately falls
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apart almost from the very first question in his questioning Hunter fronts jet want you to take a look at
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that revealing how he initially misled investigators about what he had seen and you advise the police that you saw Mark
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phally pick her up and place her in his car isn't that correct yes sir and it differs from the testimony that you gave
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today right yes sir I did not see him put her in the car beram admits he exaggerated to
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police but why prosecutors say he was worried about kayle's safety and wanted to convince cops to search for her
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Hunter then challenges jet regarding inconsistencies in his testimony to the grand jury about the timeline at the
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music festival would it surprise you to learn that the phone call you plac to K's phone was made at 7:00 no sir in an
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effort to undermine Jet's credibility he is asked about an unrelated drug charge
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you were on probation at the time were you not Mr mering correct in 47 minutes of brutal questioning money and
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marijuana it was on your phone buram takes the Fifth byth Amendment 30 timesed by the by the fth amendment
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that's his lawyer by his side by the fth amendment the damage is done tell me the
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impact of him saying over and over that he's taken the fifth the impact I think can't be understated it's a it's a huge
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thing to see somebody do that Hunter has a star witness of his own Dr William Anderson good afternoon a
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forensic pathologist and former medical examiner who reviewed kayle's autopsy and records for the defense so you look
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at the autopsy you're going to see you're going to see what look like bruises now Anderson presents the Crux
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of Hunter's case that kayle's bruising was caused in part by resuscitation efforts and the organ donation process
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he goes one step further pointing to a thin line in a photo of Kay's skull starting here
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we have this jaged line it's like I said it's like a c in the sh that is a skull
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fracture a skull fracture which Hunter says could indicate that kayle's brain bleed was caused by a fall but she was
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in a car she was in a car for portions of that day hematomas don't kill people instantaneously thank you doctor if you
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can I don't think that you can overstate the importance of his testimony from a defense perspective it creates the
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impression that all of these injuries occurred by every other means but Mark Howton once the defense
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rests prosecutors bring the medical examiner back to challenge Dr Anderson's testimony is that a schol fracture no
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it's not the faint line that Dr Anderson was referring to came from a picture I didn't believe it I thought it
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was Reckless for him to have that opinion so definitively with only a picture all right the jurors must now
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make a momentous decision did Mark Howton kill [Music] Kaye after just 10 hours of deliberating
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the jury in the mark Howton murder trial sends a note to the judge all right the
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jury there will be no verdict after careful deliberation discussion unfortunately we cannot come to an anous
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decision ladies and gentlemen Jor I'm declaring a mistrial mistrial are you happy is that in a way a victory for you
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anytime that your client doesn't go to prison it's a victory it was a little bit
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disheartening but at this same time I was mentally prepared for that outcome prosecutors David lunan and Alesandra
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Cranshaw were disheartened too did you feel as though you'd let the family down well sure yeah
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absolutely but it doesn't end there the prosecutors plan to retry the case and get busy preparing for round two
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starting with the defense star witness medical examiner Dr William Anderson I was not prepared for Dr Anderson to
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testify uh to what he testified to they'd been stunned by his claims that Kaye had a skull fracture and her
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bruising was caused in part by the organ donation process so do you find that this notion that organ harvesting caused
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these bruises to be absurd absurd absurd in this instance it's absurd while the prosecutors work to
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address those claims defense attorney John Hunter files a motion to get the whole case dismissed based in part on
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what he says were jet Bertram's lies The Knowing use of false evidence by the prosecution undermines our entire faith
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and confidence in the judicial system if that can happen then there's no point in
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even having a trial kayle's mom Allison steel and stepdad Lawrence baand sat through the
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first trial and and concluded jurors needed more information about what happened inside Mark howerton's
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car you became investigators we did yes I knew we needed to show what happened in that car the jury needed to know how
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it happened she's a scientist he's a NASA engineer they got to work I spent hours and hours studying autopsy photos
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and I really fixated on one of the a photos that showed an impact on kayle's head you know right in front of her ear
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this photo of a small dot above kayle's right ear other photos show deep bruising above kayle's left ear like
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this one described by the medical examiner in the first trial and what is this that we see behind the ear that's a
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bruise that's a confustion kayle's parents believe that when taken together the photos tell a story
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we believe that of all of the injuries the blows that he landed on her the Fatal one occurred when he reached from
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his driver's seat hit her in the left ear and drove her head into the window and onto the lock button of the car in
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fact in a recorded audio interview with police the day Kaylee died Howton admitted he had previously done just
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that she push Kay's head up against the window um I pushed her and she hit the window one time that was over a week ago
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yes so in many respects it was like same song second verse they'd need proof to convince a jury kayle's parents headed
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to a used car lot where Allison posed in a car similar to the Mercedes Howton drove that night and I'd photographed
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her head in different positions while I'm holding the autopsy images trying to see if they match up with the door and
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it's a near perfect match Lawrence decided to go a step further so then I loaded this 3D modeling program building
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a 3D model of kayle's head the first thing you can do is you can create a solid out of that 3D mesh and then and
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you can project an image onto it and bringing them closer to having actual proof so this gave me the
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confidence to go to the next step which was just seek out the Killer's car Mark Howton sold the car in 2018 Lawrence
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Tracked Down the new owner and bought the car what' you think of that uh well this is new this is uh not something
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I've been uh accustomed to hearing uh in other cases show me what what you believe went down let's go up here to
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the passenger side the car Kaye was fatally injured in is sitting in her parents' driveway Laurence says driving
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at home was a haunting experience it's torturous um but it's also you know she was showing us what
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happened you know she was guiding us to this car and you believe that he struck her
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when he did she came over to this knob her hit her head hit it now you notice when you push it down it doesn't go
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flush it doesn't go flat right this will not retract fully no matter how hard you
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hit it kayle's parents decided to make a video to demonstrate their theory in court they went and found two actors a
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male and a female to dress the parts they were um similar size similar weight if we did the Reconstruction ourselves
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it would be considered biased and probably thrown out or at least discredited so they hired a private
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investigator to produce the demonstration they didn't even look at it in case they
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were called to testify about it the video is simple showing three angles of what kayle's parents and their experts
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believe happened with showing a jury a video like this potentially help the prosecution's case if if it's allowed
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jurors are very visual it makes it easier for them it shows how it can happen and it answers a number of the
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questions that the jury had in the first Tri John Hunter says however Kaylee got that
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dot above her ear it's all speculation it could be from something at the hospital it could have been from
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something before she got in Mark's Car could it be that that is from a locking thing on the door I mean sure it could
00:32:44
also be that A Space Alien came and put a little you know Mark on her I almost feel like it's not worth discussing
00:32:50
because it's so unscientific years go by I am not law enforcement that's not my background
00:32:59
Allison worked to pass the Texas Clear alert bill it enables law enforcement to quickly initiate searches when people
00:33:08
aged 18 to 64 go missing in 2021 a district court in Texas denied John Hunter's motion to dismiss the case
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ruling there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct relating to Jet burcham's testimony Hunter
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appealed that ruling it was horrible just waiting and not knowing what was going to happen
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Hunter filed appeals all the way to the United States Supreme Court which declined to hear the case we lost in
00:33:42
every Court we could take it to and so more than 5 years after kayle's death a date for a second trial is set May 23rd
00:33:54
2023 what's at stake here are feelings running High emotions running High I don't think the stakes could be any
00:34:04
[Music] higher what do you make of Kay's parents investigation see more evidence from the
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case at 48 [Music] hours.com in May of 2023 Mark Howton is about to go on trial for the the second
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time for the murder of Kaye mandadi I felt confident that this was her time in the five plus years since
00:34:38
kayle's death Howton was active on social media posting things like come at me legally I'll beat you showing little
00:34:48
remorse wow 75% of people think I'm guilty that just means 75% of people in the world are going to have to
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suck he was living large and bragging about having beaten the state of Texas in a court of
00:35:06
law howerton's attorneys John Hunter and Haley peas say acting out on social media was his way of coping with the
00:35:16
pressure of being falsely accused of murder he was using social media as an outlet to relieve some of that tension
00:35:24
during the first trial jurors had only one un charge to consider felony murder this time around lawyers add more
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charges including aggravated assault and criminally negligent homicide then came time to consider the
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video kayle's parents had made did you want the jurors to see that video I did initially presenting the video came with
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risks including the risk that Hunter's cross-examination about it might undermine the whole case
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the judge said I'm going to let it in but if so then the parents are now Witnesses and they will no longer be
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allowed to sit in the trial and the prosecution went and talked to the parents and they decided to withdraw the
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exhibit on May 23rd trial 2 begins this one without television cameras Alexandra
00:36:19
cran Shaw's opening statement is nearly the same I basically told the jury that the best way to explain this case is to
00:36:27
start where kayy mad's life ended and that's in the car with this defendant but there is a big change to the witness
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list no jet burchen there was nothing to be gained and prosecutors add a witness an expert
00:36:43
on domestic violence who told jurors Howton was a textbook abuser who isolated and manipulated Kaye and
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ultimately became enraged and lost control a pattern particularly difficult to handle at just 19 years of age I
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think she had no idea the dangerous predicament she was in John Hunter wants jurors to give Howton the benefit of the
00:37:12
doubt the presentation of how Kaylee looks in the hospital and how she looked at the autopsy does not mean that she
00:37:21
was beaten his case this time around relies heavily on the test testimony of a pharmacologist who said the high
00:37:29
levels of MDMA or ecstasy in kayle's system could have caused her brain bleed I always felt that that was the
00:37:40
major precipitating reason for her death but prosecutors and kayle's family say hunter grossly exaggerated the danger of
00:37:51
MDMA there's never been a single documented case anywhere of MDM ma causing a subdural hematoma what do you
00:38:00
say to that well first of all they haven't done much research on this at all Hunter PL one Final witness the
00:38:08
former medical examiner whose testimony about organ donation and a possible skull fracture caused so much damage to
00:38:16
the prosecution in the first trial Dr William Anderson this time prosecutors are ready
00:38:25
for him with a new witness a respected medical examiner who told them Anderson's claims in the first trial
00:38:33
were irresponsible they realized that we were going to be more than prepared to shoot
00:38:39
down all those claims that he had made in the first trial I didn't need to have a fight about the skull fracture so the
00:38:45
defense rests without Dr Anderson it was a shock you could hear a gasp in the courtroom now a second set of 12 people
00:38:56
will determine Mark howerton's fate it's an agonizing second wait for kayle's parents this is the moment of truth will
00:39:07
their daughter get Justice agonizing for John Hunter 2 he'd spent nearly six years working to keep
00:39:15
Howton free so the jury comes back in what do you hear the two most beautiful words in
00:39:22
the English language not guilty not guilty of murder my heart sank when we heard not guilty
00:39:30
on the murder they're thinking dear God this is the Final Nightmare he's going to walk out of the courtroom but there
00:39:38
was more Howton was convicted of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury everyone was hugging each other
00:39:47
and expressing their relief that that Mark howon was going to prison I turned to my left
00:39:54
and eight Sheriff officers had assembled to take him to jail eight so that was their way of saying we're here for
00:40:08
you so that was a that was a nice moment to see that Howton was sentenced to the
00:40:15
maximum 20 years in prison to kayle's family not nearly enough Mark Harton's a monster and he does what a monster does
00:40:26
[Music] for kayle's friend Taylor the wound remains raw I miss my best [Music] friend Lawrence and Allison say they
00:40:41
have no regrets about spending time and money on a video the jury never got to see it helped us learn what happened we
00:40:51
would do it over again if we had to we showed Allison that video for the very first
00:41:00
time it's hard to see it because that's most likely the blow that killed her kayle's mom who prayed something
00:41:11
good would come from her daughter's death continues her fight to help other victims of
00:41:19
violence what I would like is for her sacrifice to help other people that's what she would want I have absolutely no
00:41:28
doubt about [Music] that a good family man disappears I knew something bad was happening to him I
00:41:44
felt it then a highs speed chase reveals Clues it was like the scene out of a movie and a powerful motive Revenge I
00:41:53
had no idea the type of evil we were dealing with 48 hours Saturday on CBS and screaming on Paramount Plus