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Hi, everyone. It's Andrea Canning back with the latest episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly.
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Good morning. How are you doing? You're listening in to Dateline's morning meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center.
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I think I see Blaine. Hi, Blaine. Hey, Blaine. New face on the phone. Hello. The editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news around the country.
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It's a good story because you can't believe he didn't do it. He had three other victims and they testified against him at the trial.
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She makes some cookies. He suspects that those cookies were poison. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly.
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I'm Andrea Canning. It's October 17th and here's what's on our docket. The last minutes of a tech mogul's life.
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The prosecution and defense paint a very different picture of what happened the night Bob Lee was murdered as the trial of his accused killer gets underway.
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The hallways were packed. There were reporters running out to go do their live hits.
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There's a lot of anticipation that's been building around this. In Dateline Roundup, a special appearance by our brand new Dateline correspondent, Blaine Alexander.
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Sean Combs is facing six new lawsuits. Plus, we have the latest on the Menendez Brothers saga.
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It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past.
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And have you started binging Keith's new podcast yet? He'll be here to talk about The Man in the Black Mask.
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And the question throughout this whole podcast is how much of it was true and how much was fantasy?
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But first, we're off to rural Indiana, where the trial has just begun in a bizarre and gruesome double murder that has hung over the small town of Delphi for seven years.
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On Valentine's Day 2017, the bodies of two eighth-grade girls were found near the banks of Deer Creek, Indiana.
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They had been brutally stabbed to death. For years, the investigation went nowhere until 2022.
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NBC Nightly News reported a huge update. Tonight, a major break in the murder mystery of two teens in Delphi, Indiana.
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An arrest has been made. Richard Allen, a local man, was charged with the murders.
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He pleaded not guilty and has been in custody ever since. Because of a gag order, we don't know much about the prosecution's case against Allen.
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But the defense team has not been so quiet, filing a bombshell motion suggesting the victims were actually murdered in some kind of pagan sacrifice.
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Dateline producer Marianne O'Donnell is here to bring us up to speed on what to expect in court over the next few weeks.
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Hi, Marianne. Thanks for being here. Sure, absolutely. So you have been reporting on this for a very long time.
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You've made a number of trips to Delphi. What have you learned about these girls and what happened to them?
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Well, they were really close friends, classmates. Libby German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13.
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and they had the day off from school and they decided to go to a spot that attracted many people.
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It was an old railway bridge. They wanted to take photos and one of the girl's sisters dropped them
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off and they were supposed to show up at around 3.30 to get picked up, but they never did.
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And about a day later, their bodies were found in the woods below the bridge. This was a gruesome crime scene, Marianne.
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Horrible. Just the description in court documents, the girls were, it appears, stabbed to death and just left there in the woods.
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What makes this case so chilling is that one of the girls captured a video on her phone.
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Yeah. She catches sight of a man walking towards them, and she has a presence of mind to turn on the camera of her phone.
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Then you hear what sounds like a man's voice saying, guys down the hill. So obviously that image was circulated after the bodies were found.
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Police convinced that was the killer. But can you really get a good look at the man in the video?
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No, and that's really been, I think, what's puzzled so many people. It's very hard to say exactly what his features are.
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And I think that's what kind of led police to a certain extent on a bit of a goose chase.
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Five years go by. How do they finally zero in on Richard Allen? Days after the girls are found, an officer spoke with a man who identified himself as Richard Allen and who said, oh, yeah, I had been at the bridge on that day and around that time that it was believed the girls were last seen.
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And after all those years of looking, beating the bush for some other guy, police went back to the records.
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And somehow they found this officer's note of that encounter had been overlooked all those years.
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And they went, wait a second, we need to check this guy out. There is a bullet found at the crime scene that the police believe is connected to Richard Allen.
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Right. And really, this is what leads to his arrest. They go to his house. They find a gun. They test that gun. That gun, they say, matches a single bullet, not fired bullet, that must have been ejected near the bodies. This is a key piece of evidence for the prosecution.
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Marianne, the big question is, can you even connect this bullet to the crime if the girls were stabbed?
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I think that an excellent question I think what we going to see is the defense argue that the testing is not sufficient enough to say that bullet came from our client gun
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Allen's defense attorney has made the point that after the murders, he never left the area or tried to throw away his clothes. They're saying, you know, that's hardly the behavior of a guilty man.
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More than that, they're saying there's no way one man in the middle of the day could have ordered two girls off a bridge into the woods, killed them both without anyone hearing a sound.
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They say it just doesn't add up. And certainly not to their client who was a husband and a father and who worked at a local CVS right there in town.
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And there was something very unusual about the way that the bodies were found. Can you set that up for us?
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Correct. One of the girls is naked. The other, oddly, is dressed in the other girl's clothes.
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The defense has really been saying, look, the girl who's naked has sticks on her body that are placed in such a way as to suggest rune characters that seem to come from an old Norse religion, sort of cult, in this case, what they called Odinism.
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And these are characters that are apparently sending a message that suggests this was a sacrificial killing.
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The state police early on looked into that angle to see if that was a possibility.
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They ruled it out. The defense said, oh, no, that's what this was all about. Richard Allen had no ties to any cult.
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Someone else, maybe a group linked to this cult. They were the people who killed these girls.
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That was their defense. And now it's really not because the judge has said, uh-uh, you cannot enter that as a defense unless you can point to a person and prove that person was in that vicinity at that time.
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Mary Ann, the judge has also ruled against the defense on another key motion, because while Allen has been in custody, he has confessed to the murders multiple times, not only to a prison psychologist, but on calls to his wife. This is according to the prosecution. The defense, of course, wanted those statements thrown out.
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the defense fought bitterly to keep those confessions out. And the reason they said
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they should be excluded was because Allen was under extreme duress. But the state has said,
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no, no, no. He freely gave those statements without any coaxing from anyone. And the judge
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agreed. This is going to be interesting for you, Marianne, because you've covered this story for
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so long and there has been such a lack of information, you're going to start seeing all
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these things come out. Absolutely. There has been a gag order placed on the case very soon after the
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arrest of Richard Allen. So you're going to be hearing things coming out from the investigators
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that have not been disclosed before. And the families of the victims will be there. You know,
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they've been steely. They've been, you know, grace under pressure. But I can't imagine what
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that's going to be like for them. All right, Marianne, we look forward to your updates on this.
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Happy to keep you posted. When we come back, another long-awaited trial began this week in San Francisco.
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The trial of the man accused of murdering a Silicon Valley executive in 2023. He says he can explain everything.
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On Monday, a San Francisco jury heard opening statements in the trial of Nima Momeni.
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He's charged with the murder of Bob Lee, a Silicon Valley tech executive who co-founded Cash App.
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Nima stabbed Bob to death in the early hours of April 4th, 2023. His defense team is not disputing that.
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The question is why? The DA says it was premeditated, but Nima says he was acting in self-defense and has pleaded not guilty.
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The judge isn't allowing cameras in the courtroom, but Dateline associate producer Kelly Moody,
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who first came on the show a few weeks ago to talk about the case, is here now to give
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us an update. Kelly, thank you for racing over from the courthouse to talk to us.
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Quite literally racing. You're very welcome. So the case has received a lot of attention, both in the Bay Area and nationwide.
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Did you feel that walking into court today? Yeah, the hallways were packed. There were reporters running out to go do their live hits throughout the day.
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Plenty of local press. Everyone was there. There's been such a long lead up to this case with so many delays that there's a lot of anticipation that's been building around this.
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So tell us about the prosecution's opening statements. Dramatic? Very dramatic. The line that the prosecutor used was, ladies and gentlemen, you are seated in court with a murderer, indicating Nima Momeni, and he calls him a coward who stabbed an unarmed man three times.
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So what did you hear from the prosecution that was new? Because you haven't had all the details up to this point about how the prosecution plans to go after him.
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One of the big things that we got was an outline of a motive. Before the murder actually happened, Nima's sister, Kazar, was at a friend's apartment using drugs, and apparently she blacked out.
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Bob, who knew Kazar socially, had been at that apartment earlier in the day but had left by the time that this happened.
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The prosecution says that Nima got mad at Bob, and they ended up on a FaceTime together.
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And Nima was asking if there was any sort of a possibility that his sister had been sexually assaulted while she was under the influence of drugs something new that the prosecution is alleging was Nima state of mind that night and that is coming from some text messages that they got their hands on
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Yeah, the prosecution is claiming that per text between Kazar and Nima, brother and sister,
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that Nima may have been high on cocaine the night of the murder. Kazar says to Nima that, quote, blow messed up your kind,
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And what the prosecution is saying is that kind actually was supposed to say mind.
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It was a typo and makes you act like a lunatic. That's the quote that we were shown.
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And prosecutors told the jury that video will show Nima stabbing Bob three times.
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Right. This was right near the Bay Bridge. And there's multiple different surveillance cameras that show some sort of an altercation.
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Okay. So the defense also presented its case in opening statements. And this was really our first chance to hear more about this self-defense theory.
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Yeah, we haven't heard a lot of specifics about how they're interpreting this until today.
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So their theory is that it was actually Bob who attacked Nima. And the defense said that they had proof that it was Bob who was high after barely sleeping over a 91-hour period of time.
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They claim that he only had six hours of sleep in that window and was also high on various drugs, primarily cocaine.
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The defense argued that Bob was on a cocaine bender and could have been paranoid, aggressive, and possibly even violent.
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So how does the defense explain this surveillance video that the prosecution is saying shows Nima lunging at Bob?
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They say it actually shows Nima defending himself, and they say he actually used his background in martial arts to redirect the knife back at Bob after Bob had lunged at him.
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They're saying that they have medical experts who will eventually testify to show that that's what happened by looking at the pattern of Bob's wounds.
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The videos have been out there in some media outlets. Can you tell at all when you look at it?
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Is it too dark and grainy to tell if he's defending himself? It's grainy and it's open to interpretation. I think the more vivid videos are after the fact when you see Bob stumbling away. And those are pretty clear where you can see him holding his wounds struggling. And then that now paired with what we heard for the first time, the 911 phone call was pretty jarring.
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It was definitely difficult for everyone in the courtroom to hear Bob say help 47 times trying to get some sort of assistance as he was bleeding out basically on the street.
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It's really sad. It's hard to hear Bob's brother, Bob's father, Bob's former wife, Krista Lee.
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They were all in the audience for that. And it was definitely difficult to watch them listen.
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Yeah. And his children were there as well. One of the children is 16. The other is, I believe, 19. They were there. They did not hear the 911 call when it was played in court. They were there for the first part of the prosecution's opening statements and were clearly overcome with emotion as well. So they ended up leaving a bit early.
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So how long is this trial supposed to last? Until mid-December. That's a long one.
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It is. With all the holidays, there are some delays here and there. There's no court on Fridays. So this jury better strap in.
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Yeah. Okay, Kelly. Well, thank you. We will look forward to talking to you some more as it continues.
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Yeah, definitely. Thank you. Up next, Dateline's Blaine Alexander will be here for Dateline Roundup.
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We'll talk about the latest in the Menendez brothers' bid to get out of prison and the new accusers to step forward against music mogul Sean Combs.
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Plus, Keith will join us to talk about his latest podcast series, The Man in the Black Mask.
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Welcome back to the show. Joining me for this week's roundup is Dateline's new correspondent, Blaine Alexander.
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Blaine, welcome to your first episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. Well, thank you so much.
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I appreciate you having me. Yes, we're glad you're here. Okay, let's dive right into our first story. We're headed back to Los Angeles. Last week, we talked about how the Menendez brothers, they've been making big headlines again. The LA County DA's office recently announced it would review the brothers' sentence 35 years after killing their parents. And we got more news in that story.
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Yeah, so many of us have been following this case for decades. So a number of family members gathered for a press conference in downtown L.A., along with the brothers' defense attorney and TV personality, Rosie O'Donnell.
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And all of them were there because they're trying to push for the release of those brothers.
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For many years, I struggled with what happened to my sister's family. But as details of Lyle and Eric's abuse came to light, it became clear that their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive.
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It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past.
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The L.A. County D.A.'s office noted a decision regarding the Menendez brothers has not yet been made.
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When do you hope to have a decision made by? I am hoping to have a decision within the next 10 days or so.
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10 days? Yeah, my decision, not the court. My decision will be up to the court. So this is a story we'll keep our eyes on.
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For our next story, we're back to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. for an update in a complex double murder case.
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We've talked about this one on the show before. Aupair Juliana Perez and Brendan Banfield her employer are accused in a double homicide plot Brendan is charged with the aggravated murder of his wife Christine and both are charged in the death of an unsuspecting stranger they allegedly lured to the scene of the crime
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Blaine, what is the latest in this case? Investigators found that Juliana was in contact
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almost every day with both Brendan and his mother, Teresa Banfield, and that included phone as well
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as texting and emailing from a tablet in jail. According to a search warrant affidavit that was
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obtained by NBC News 4, investigators think that Brendan's mother may have been helping pass
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messages on to Juliana. Those kind of messages, as we know on Dateline, would be monitored by the
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jail. Oh, absolutely. And Brendan and his mother both told Juliana, don't talk about these alleged
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crimes because the calls were, as you said, very likely being recorded. Investigators were also
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suspicious that Juliana's defense attorney was passing messages between the three. Absolutely
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right. So investigators then did a search of Juliana's cell, but her defense attorney says
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they didn't find anything to indicate the passing of messages. But the nearly daily calls,
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they seem to point to a very close relationship between Juliana and Teresa Banfield.
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Yeah. So the prosecution noted at Brendan Banfield's bond hearing that Teresa Banfield
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is actually paying for Juliana's defense. And the prosecution said that this was, quote,
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controlling the ability of the co-defendant to cooperate. Right. And we should say Juliana's defense attorney declined to comment on the prosecution's remarks from the bond hearing.
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This will not be the last time we'll be talking about this case as it gears up for trial.
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Oh, lots more to talk about here. Juliana's trial is expected to start on November 12th.
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So for our final story, we're back in New York where music mogul Sean Diddy Combs is facing yet another set of accusations against him.
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That's right. So this Monday, six additional complaints were filed against Combs by
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attorney Tony Busby. It's a name that you've heard before. You talked about him on the podcast last
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week. What do we know about these new accusations? These new accusers are two women and four men,
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one of whom alleges that they were a minor at the time of the alleged assault. Now, all six of the
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new alleged incidents happened somewhere in New York, either in New York City or at Combs' property
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in the Hamptons. And two of the accusers say that they were actually assaulted at one of Combs'
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infamous white parties. You've heard a lot about them recently. They're these big parties filled
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with A-list celebrities that are just very fancy, happen over Labor Day weekend. Now, Combs' legal
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team, of course, responded to the lawsuits filed on Monday and called them part of a reckless media
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circus, I'm quoting here, and said that Busby's press conference and tip hotline are, quote,
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clear attempts to garner publicity. Combs has denied all of the accusations against him,
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both criminal and civil. And last week, his legal team made some accusations of their own.
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Yeah, so this dates back to that video that came out. You, of course, remember this, that shows him in a hallway beating his then-girlfriend, the singer who goes by the name Cassie.
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After that video came out, Combs issued a statement on social media apologizing for his behavior in the video.
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Well, now Combs' team is alleging that the prosecution leaked that video and other information to the media, hoping to skew public opinion against Combs.
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The prosecution, of course, has denied leaking anything, but the judge now on the case is considering a gag order, and that's something that would actually stop both sides from talking to the media.
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Combs remains in federal jail in Brooklyn after a judge denied his third request for bail last week.
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We'll keep you updated on this story as we learn more. Blaine, thank you so much for joining us, and we'll have you back on again soon.
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Absolutely. I look forward to it. For our final story this week, we've got a real treat for you.
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Keith Morrison is here to talk about his new original podcast series, The Man in the Black Mask.
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Hi, Keith. Hi there. Or as I like to call it, The Man in the Black Mask. Even better.
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All right. So we don't want to give away too much. So just give us a quick preview of the case.
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Well, you will hear about a couple out for a walk who encounter a man rushing toward them
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and falling down in front of them and apparently, you know, injured and terrified.
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And then another guy runs along after him, and he's wearing this black mask. And it was just an instant bad feeling.
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It was like everything in my body just tensed up. I felt bad. This is a bad situation.
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I knew right away something was wrong. And that is how the story begins. Where it goes from there is, well, complicated.
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By the way, you had me right out of the gate with this scene of, you know, a man being chased by another man in the hockey mask.
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So this is connected to an up-and-coming filmmaker in Edmonton, Canada? It is indeed, yes.
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A filmmaker who wanted to specialize in horror movies. He kept notes about what a horror movie plot might be, about what sort of devious, terrible things the villain might do to his victim.
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He wanted to be a major movie producer, and he was on his way. And the question throughout this whole podcast is how much of it was true and how much was fantasy?
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Yeah, like was it a publicity stunt? Was it for something for his movies? Well, wouldn't you think so?
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So the suspected killer in this case had a dark fascination with the show Dexter, which is a show that I have seen from beginning to end.
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And for anyone who hasn't seen Dexter, it's a show about a blood spatter expert turned serial killer who kills the guilty criminals.
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So he's sort of an antihero. There were a number of fans of Dexter in this podcast, and they love to take apart and dissect, pardon my using that expression, just about every scene in the series.
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Yeah, I mean, there's something about whatever's happening in the world now that people seem to be fascinated by serial killers.
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It's strange, isn't it? I couldn't figure that out for the longest time, but now I sort of joined them in their fascination.
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I think probably... is a tiny percentage of human beings who have absolutely no conscience whatsoever and really
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set out in life to do harm. But they are clever, they want to commit bad deeds, and they want to get away with it and commit some more.
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Keith, I would imagine that you have say in which stories that you want to turn into podcasts,
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because they're big efforts to do these. Why this one? Why now? It was the kind of story where when you tell it on television, you wish you had six episodes to tell the whole thing.
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Well, guess what? We have six episodes of a podcast. We can live in it. We can understand it a lot better.
00:24:40
And the way you tell it, you really make the listener feel like we're there, which is what I love about how you do these.
00:24:48
I'm glad to hear it. Thank you. So two episodes are already published. I can't wait to listen to the whole series.
00:24:54
So, again, one and two are out now, and three and four are available to subscribers.
00:24:59
You know, subscribing is really, I shouldn't do a pitch, should I? But it just seems like the right thing.
00:25:04
You subscribe, you get the episodes early, and you don't have to listen to those pesky commercials.
00:25:10
I agree with you 100 Subscribe now to our Dateline channel Yes Thank you for your time Keith Thank you That it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly If you want to find out more about the cases we discussed this week head to our website at DatelineTrueCrimeWeekly
00:25:29
Coming up this Friday on Dateline, Karen Reed in her own words. The woman accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend tells us what she remembers about that night.
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I didn't know what the hell happened. How did the night end up like this? I felt like I was living in a nightmare.
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That's on my new two-hour mystery, The Night of the Nor'easter, airing this Friday at 9, 8 central on NBC
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or stream it Saturday on Peacock. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson.
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Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff.
00:26:07
Production and fact-checking helped by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazzaka is our digital producer.
00:26:13
Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.
00:26:19
Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.
00:26:24
All right. Thanks, everybody.