00:00:00
Come on outside. Keep your hands rock. What's going on here? Okay, so Ian, is is Thomas snowplan
00:00:08
staying up here? This is the father and son who owned this ranch house in the New Mexico
00:00:14
desert miles from anywhere. Police believe a murderer is hiding inside their home. Thomas Lopez, a man who days
00:00:24
earlier beat his girlfriend to death. Do you know where he might be staying at or anything?
00:00:31
But what makes this [music] interesting is that the son is in fact hiding this man and the father is about to find out
00:00:39
that his son is protecting a murderer inside the vents of his own home. They said he might be in the vent.
00:00:47
Thomas. Thomas, talk to me, man. I know you're down there. We don't come over here for simple
00:00:52
stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, what's dead? On the 24th of February, police were
00:01:05
called to a hospital in New Mexico to investigate something horrifying. 26-year-old Sabrina Calderon had just
00:01:12
been brought in, unconscious, covered in bruises, barely clinging on to life. Um, so her name is Sabrina Cauldron.
00:01:21
[music] is in such like dehydration that her kidneys are failing. She is too sick for
00:01:27
even us to take care. And who brought her in? I believe they said they thought it was
00:01:31
her dad. What is that? [music] Would you say is that something from being being hit?
00:01:36
Probably. She's 26 years old. She should [music] not be in this condition. Right.
00:01:40
Sabrina is in such critical condition that the nurses are almost certain she won't survive. But what made the
00:01:46
hospital so suspicious is that Sabrina's injuries were that of someone who had been viciously beaten. And the man who
00:01:53
dropped her off left almost as quickly as he possibly could. The hospital called in police, but with no leads, the
00:01:59
cops decided to use her emergency contact info and call up her dad to see if he could shed any light on what just
00:02:06
happened. Can you hear me now, Mr. Calderon? Uh, yes. Could you tell me what happened real
00:02:12
quick? Why she has these injuries? Uh, yes. Uh oh. Thomas Lopez. He got her from here. I guess that knife point. He
00:02:19
took her over there and uh where's over there? It's a ranch house. He had her locked up
00:02:24
in the room and he was just beating her. She he was being there every day. That was almost disturbingly simple.
00:02:32
Apparently, a man had taken her at knife point from her [music] dad's home and was beating her every day at a house out
00:02:39
on a ranch somewhere in New Mexico. The cops find it extremely strange that he never contacted police. So, there is
00:02:45
some amount of suspicion to cast on him. Regardless, they ask him for some details about the guy that he claims did
00:02:52
this to her, knowing that if this lead hits a dead end, they know who to suspect next.
00:02:58
Where does he live at? He was just going from place to place. How did you get her?
00:03:02
He ended up taking her to the hospital and I thank God for that. And dropped up and took off.
00:03:06
Do you know what he looks like? I I sure don't. I don't. Say his name one more time.
00:03:11
Uh, Thomas Lopez. Thomas Lopez. Okay. Police now have a name. Thomas Lopez. The victim's father claims that Lopez
00:03:21
was the one who both attacked and dropped Sabrina off at the hospital, which would explain why he was in such a
00:03:27
big rush to leave. Where do you think he resides? Mostly in Carlsbad or in Portales?
00:03:32
I mean, he he just stay wherever he could. I guess it seems like Thomas is going to be
00:03:37
extremely difficult to track down. The cops don't have a description of him. He has a common name and constantly jumps
00:03:42
from place to place without a known address. If this guy had gone on the run, it could be weeks before they
00:03:48
managed to find him. But that's when everything changed. Sabrina briefly woke up and found the strength to confirm
00:03:55
that it was indeed Thomas that had done all this to her. And she managed to give
00:04:00
police the address of the ranch her father mentioned. All before taking her final breath and dying moments later.
00:04:09
Sabrina had just solved her own murder. Immediately, the cops head to the address heavily armed, knowing that they
00:04:18
might come face to face with an aggressive killer. However, there is one problem. Police haven't had time to get
00:04:24
a search warrant, meaning that they have no right to enter the home without permission. That means they're stuck
00:04:31
outside knowing that just feet away a brutal murderer could be hiding. Ian, is that you?
00:04:51
Ian, come to the front door for me. Hold on a second. Who is it? It's the sheriff's office.
00:04:58
Let me let me see your hands. Come outside. Let me see your hands. Let me see your hands. Is the dog okay?
00:05:05
Yes, sir. Hey, Rice. I got contact. I don't have nothing. Okay. Sit tight right here, man.
00:05:09
Okay. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. This is Ian, part owner of this ranch and good friend of Thomas Lopez. Sabrina
00:05:17
had told cops about him and said that he could be vital to tracking Thomas down.
00:05:21
At this point, the cops have no idea how much Ian knows. But they do know that his house is supposedly where Sabrina
00:05:27
was attacked. For all they know, he could have been involved as well. So, they have to be extremely cautious when
00:05:33
dealing with him and clearing out the house. Who's all here, man? My father, my friend, Bugy.
00:05:41
What's Bugsy's real name? I don't know. Come on outside. Keep your hands to see him.
00:05:48
What's going on here? Smoking staying out here or has he been out here? Um, I've been out here a few times, but
00:05:55
yeah, I see. Is there anybody else inside? You said Bugsy, if I can go with you at the door,
00:06:00
can you call her outside? Yeah. Okay. You want me to go get her? Yeah. Well, just call her from the door,
00:06:05
please. Bugsy is another one of Ian's friends that happened to be staying at the
00:06:09
property around this time. She couldn't have anything to do with the crime, but cops are still pleased to hear that
00:06:15
there might be another witness and someone that could help them track their suspect down. So, what we're doing is
00:06:20
we're asking everybody to come out of the house cuz we're fixing to do a search warrant on the house. And
00:06:25
supposedly, there was an incident a couple of nights ago where somebody got beat up out here. And so, now we're
00:06:32
securing the house to do a search warrant [music] for evidence. Okay. See how Perry keeps looking over
00:06:37
to Ian. It's almost like he knows something is wrong because this isn't the first time that Ian's brought
00:06:43
criminals over to this house. Something police would later bring up. With that said, Perry obviously doesn't want to
00:06:51
give his own son up to the police, so he decides to stay quiet. We're We're good. Uh we're out here with
00:06:58
Ian Wayland and his dad, and so there's nobody else in the trailer, so both are just chilling out here. Work for Temple.
00:07:05
Notice how Ian doesn't say a word. That's because he just hours earlier helped Thomas crawl into the vents
00:07:12
inside his house to hide him from the cops. However, his father has absolutely no idea.
00:07:19
Yeah, we're good. We're good for the next few minutes out here. Uh, just a warrant.
00:07:23
That'll work. Thank you. Well, we don't have it right now. We're getting it. Like I said, we just came
00:07:26
here. Okay. Well, then we don't had to do anything. You say we're securing the house.
00:07:31
You don't actually have a warrant. No, I do not have toan. Ian, Ian, I can't do anything.
00:07:37
Come here. I'm exercising my rights. Ian, come here so we can talk. Okay. Would you mind if I walked inside
00:07:43
with you just so we can make sure there's nobody else inside? Sure. Okay, I I will go with you. Like I said,
00:07:51
I'm not looking for anything except for just make sure there's nobody inside. They're still not 100% sure that the
00:07:57
house is empty. Ian mentioned someone called Bugsy, but wasn't sure if they were still around or not. So, the
00:08:02
officer prepares to head inside and clear the scene with Ian. Thank you. You have to you might have to put on
00:08:13
some lights. Yeah, go for it, man. It make it easier for both of us, man. And you don't have anybody staying with
00:08:22
you currently? No. No. I just want to make sure, you know, not somebody waiting behind me, you know.
00:08:33
Shit's back here, man. So, okay. Do you mind if I walk make sure there's nobody on this side? Go ahead.
00:08:38
Appreciate it, man. Yeah, absolutely, bro. Okay. Thank you. Do you mind if I walk in
00:08:44
here? Like I said, I'm not worried. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm not looking for anything. Just make
00:08:50
sure nobody's in here. Sure. It happens, man. Um, do you mind if I take a look inside?
00:08:58
Appreciate that, too. Okay. Thank you. My cross be filing. Right on. Do you have just friends stay
00:09:08
from time to time or you got every once in a while, you know? Hey. Hey. Sorry. My bad. Hey, I'm right here.
00:09:21
Okay. Come back here. What? You under the covers. Let me see your hands. What's up?
00:09:27
There's somebody under the blanket there. You under the covers. Let me see your hands.
00:09:32
Let me see your hands. It's not a guy, but you see it's not a guy. Okay. All right. [laughter]
00:09:38
Mind coming with us, ma'am? You're looking for Okay. No, she's fine. Look, you we're not looking for her, but
00:09:44
we do, ma'am, need to ask that you uh come outside with us. Clearly, Bugsy isn't the person they are
00:09:50
looking for, but she would turn out to be extremely useful to the case down the line. She's been staying at the house
00:09:56
recently, so the cops keep her around thinking she might have seen something Ian didn't. The officer then clears the
00:10:01
rest of the house and finds it to be totally empty. In the meantime, the officer outside catches Perry up on
00:10:07
everything that's been going on at the house lately and what they plan to do in the search.
00:10:11
So, you got to refer to this Thomas. Yes. Yeah. Thomas has gotten himself into some pretty heavy at this point. So,
00:10:19
uh yeah, by what I've seen other than I don't care for the dude. Okay. Uh keep this between me and you. Uh
00:10:30
I'm here trying to make [ __ ] right and I apologize [music] for my son. You know what happens?
00:10:35
Okay. Not dude. Okay. That's Yeah, obviously not the guy we're looking for. So, Mr. Whan.
00:10:43
Yes. Um, so they're fine where they are right now, but what it's sounding like is uh
00:10:48
the investigators are wanting to do the entire property covered in the search warrant. So,
00:10:55
what does that mean? Well, meaning the car is going to have to stay here. They can they're okay in there for now.
00:11:02
Um, but they and they are asking the the entire property. Y'all want to go through the [music] barns and
00:11:08
Yes, sir. That's what it's sounding like. We could probably go do that right now.
00:11:11
Well, the warehouse is locked up and the barn's unlocked. Okay. But I could take y'all on a tour if you
00:11:16
want. Yeah, we're going to wait for them to get the paperwork done just so that I
00:11:21
don't think I'll be honest with I don't think Thomas is hiding in the shop or something like that. But on the off
00:11:25
chance that he is, I don't want him to have the uh the ability to talk to a lawyer and say,
00:11:29
"Will they illegally search the barn?" Even if we have permission at this point, we're just going to kind of stand
00:11:34
by and do it through the by the books so the paperwork. Okay. The thing is, Officer Rice was wrong
00:11:39
thinking that Thomas wasn't hiding on the property. Had he gone looking for him on his own, things could have ended
00:11:45
much, much worse for him. However, the day is coming to an end, and it's time for the officers to go over everything
00:11:52
they've figured out so far. However, they can't risk Ian or Perry overhearing any of this. See if you can figure out
00:11:59
why that might be, and we'll reveal it after this clip. She's been living here. Probably. Did you ask her? I've asked
00:12:07
her question. I would ask her cuz if she has been living here, she might have witnessed this.
00:12:13
Sorry, I don't mean to be on edge, but you Yeah, especially after Yeah. But um I guess the way it's looking she died
00:12:23
from that whole situation like those beatings. I see. I'm guessing there was some internal
00:12:30
injuries. Okay. So it wasn't like he tracked her down and the way it seemed. Okay.
00:12:36
The officers are clearly trying as hard as they can to conceal the exact details
00:12:40
of the case from Ian and Perry. That's because detectives plan to interview them later. So, the less information
00:12:45
that gets put into their heads, the better. This is usually for two main reasons. If they're guilty of something,
00:12:52
this stops them from changing their answers to hide evidence based on what they know. Or if they're just a witness,
00:12:58
it stops them from giving answers based on what they heard from the cops rather than what they actually saw, protecting
00:13:04
their credibility in court. It should be made clear that this isn't the first time that cops have been dispatched to
00:13:09
Ian's house. And in fact, multiple criminals had been arrested here before, though never Ian himself. He just seems
00:13:17
to hang around with the wrong people. Let me tell you, okay. Hey, listen. They're expanding the
00:13:23
search to the whole property. He cannot take the car. Okay. So, okay. So, the thing is with it is
00:13:29
you guys physically yourselves are not being detained. Okay. Other than I guess today, any other issues going on?
00:13:36
Okay, that's that's good, I guess. Unfortunately, no. you know, got a nice place out here. I'd be more
00:13:41
selective about who comes out. Yeah. Dude, honestly, I used when I lived out in the county, if I had friends over and
00:13:47
they brought somebody I didn't know, I would straight up tell them, "Guys, I'm cool with all y'all." But I don't know
00:13:52
him. He said, "And if I don't know him, he doesn't need to be here." If you haven't noticed, the longer this
00:13:57
goes on for, the more uncomfortable Ian seems to get. And as that continues, the
00:14:02
cops start to get more suspicious, too. After having multiple criminals caught and arrested on his property, you'd
00:14:08
think he'd start to be more careful about who comes over. That's what made the cops suspicious here. If he's been
00:14:13
hanging around so many criminals, he might feel obligated to cover up for them. That's the main thing on the
00:14:19
officer's mind when he decides to bring Ian to the interview room. But they actually decide to wait before
00:14:23
questioning him. They have a fairly large number of witnesses for the case, so they want to get as much information
00:14:28
from the others first before talking to the riskiest of the group. Ideally, they'll get information that could help
00:14:33
catch Ian in a lie and force him into telling the truth. So, they start by questioning his father, Perry, the owner
00:14:40
of the property. Too many people coming and going. [music] I'm getting sick of this.
00:14:45
So, you were in your room. They had been there a couple of days. Um, you heard her getting slapped. You knew she was
00:14:50
getting slapped by the way she was sounding. You peeked out. Ian was telling him, "Hey, y'all need to calm
00:14:54
and quit this or whatever he said." the girl outside, this Elizabeth chick um and some other guy gave the girl that
00:15:02
was being slapped after she said, "Y'all need to help me." But that apparently was two different
00:15:06
women. See, I thought the girl that would got beat up was not this girl. I don't know. I'll stay back in my room.
00:15:16
But you saw a woman getting beat, but I didn't think it was her. She was already in Carl's bad, right? Is it
00:15:25
time? She just barely got in crawls back. Probably Friday. It seems that Perry absolutely heard
00:15:31
Thomas attacking at least one woman, but wasn't able to confirm who it was. He backs up Ian's propensity to let anyone
00:15:37
and everyone over to the house and tells the cops that it was bound to end up badly eventually. If Perry can identify
00:15:43
the girl that he saw Thomas hitting though, it could be a massive help for the cops as it would mean all the
00:15:48
evidence lines up and they can begin their search for him immediately. Supposedly you just got the you got the
00:15:53
faces mixed up cuz you don't see him. Sure, but you know what? Thought I thought there's two
00:15:59
there. And there was there is Thomas did beat up another girl that he has warrants out for his arrest
00:16:04
now, too. That's why he's running. Does he beat up every woman he comes in contact with?
00:16:13
See, I thought we was talking about another woman. I knew this I knew of this chick. The picture you showed me, I
00:16:18
knew her going to the ER, but the chick that I heard through the wall saying, "Y'all got to help me." was
00:16:27
not her. Perry is saying that he had heard Thomas beating a girl up, but that it was a
00:16:32
completely different girl to the one that they were looking for. So now there was even more reason to catch him as
00:16:38
soon as possible, as [music] it seems like this wasn't an isolated incident at all. Maybe I'm confused cuz Okay, once
00:16:46
she went to the ER, she never went back to the house, right? Okay, [clears throat]
00:16:51
I'm thinking of another chick. Does that make sense? No, but we'll figure it out.
00:16:56
I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. This whole thing is just confusing this for me. [music] I need to be more
00:17:03
involved. I know with who comes and goes, but you know, [music] he thinks he's a grown ass man
00:17:09
now. Ian's going to have to start putting his split down about who stays at the house.
00:17:16
Made it simple. Well, we need to get this man. [clears throat] Perry unfortunately didn't have much
00:17:22
else to add. So now they turn their attention to Bugsy, their surprised witness, who might just have the answers
00:17:28
they're looking for. Okay. Cuz you might have might have seen or heard something that happened out
00:17:32
there at Ian's house a couple days ago. Um, honestly, I just got there today to do some laundry, so I have
00:17:38
Well, Ian says you were out there a couple of days ago whenever this incident happened. Okay.
00:17:42
Oh, okay. Do you know Thomas, the guy that's always out there with Ian and all them
00:17:48
guys? I mean, I've seen him a few times out there. Yeah. I mean, even if I was if I
00:17:52
was there, I didn't I mean, I didn't see none of that. Did you hear any of it? I didn't. At first glance, it seems like
00:18:00
Bugsy might not be as much help as they anticipated. But things can change quite
00:18:05
quickly when a witness is told just how serious the situation is. That's why the
00:18:09
officer decides to let her in on what happened to Sabrina and see if that jogs her memory at all.
00:18:14
The reason we're here is because there's a girl that was with Thomas today. [music] She started having complications
00:18:20
from what Thomas and Sabrina had an altercation over. Okay. She is now deceased.
00:18:29
Unfortunately for the cops, this didn't change [music] the fact that Bugsy hadn't seen anything at the house.
00:18:35
However, she was able to give them one piece of information that could end up proving infinitely more useful than what
00:18:41
they were hoping for initially. She gave them the address of another house Thomas
00:18:45
was known to stay at. Inside that house is actually another one of Thomas's victims, and the police are about to
00:18:51
discover that he's actually a serial domestic abuser. This is crucial to build a strong case against Thomas.
00:18:59
Gooding yourself? Pretty good. All right. Looking for Thomas? He's not here. Um my my friend
00:19:05
Mon'nique, that's her boyfriend. Okay. She asked me to stay here because she's Is Mo'Nique not here either?
00:19:09
No, she not. She went She went out to Clovis. Okay. And I'm just watching. Do you know where Thomas is?
00:19:15
He's not supposed to be here. I just really need to talk to him. He's not supposed to be here. We changed
00:19:18
the locks for the locks for him. She's really scared of him. So Oh, yeah. Yes. We changed the locks.
00:19:23
[clears throat] Okay. Was she battered a while back? Yes. Is that what that Do you mind if we just make sure he's
00:19:29
not in the house? That's fine. What's that? I'm her friend. But nobody else is in this house.
00:19:34
Yeah. Um the only thing is that she called me since she scared me. My boyfriend changed out the box
00:19:44
for her. He took her phone. Oh, he took her phone. Well, you're saying her? Who? Who are
00:19:49
you talking about? She hasn't been here all day. back in the day here, sir. But she still lives here.
00:19:54
Yes. Yes. She hasn't had contact with him that you would know of. She pretty much wanted
00:19:59
nothing to do with him. How long ago was it was their incident that happened? That was [music] yesterday. But she
00:20:04
called me and told me to come to to come change out her locks because she's scared of the one.
00:20:09
It turns out this is the home of the other girl that Thomas had reportedly been beating, which if anything is
00:20:16
worrying the cops even more since we know he's not limiting his violence to one girl. It would make sense if he's
00:20:22
hiding out here waiting for this girl to come back home. The homeowner, however,
00:20:26
is telling the cops that he's not here and she's not seen him for days. Is she working or where is she at?
00:20:33
Um, she just got out of rehab and well, she went to Clovis with her daughter. Oh, I mean I guess that's what I mean.
00:20:40
About yesterday. Does he have any friends around here that we know that he hangs out with?
00:20:47
Family know of him because she's my friend, but I know she don't have nobody. He
00:20:51
terrorizes her. Do you think he still has her phone? Oh, he does. Get that number.
00:20:55
He does have her. The officers continued to search every room in the house as well as the attic, but weren't able to
00:21:01
find him anywhere. According to everyone they' talked to, Thomas had gone off the
00:21:05
grid and was nowhere to be seen. But there was still one person they hadn't talked to. [music]
00:21:12
The one person that they knew was acting strange from the very beginning. Ian Whan. If anyone was going to know where
00:21:19
he was, it was going to be Ian. So later that night, they brought him into the interrogation room for hopefully the
00:21:25
last interview that they need in this case. Their their cameras are down, so I'm
00:21:30
using this thing. Okay. Okay. I'll explain to you why we're here talking. You're not in any kind of trouble. Okay.
00:21:37
Oh my god. I'm not in any trouble. You have any idea why you might be down here?
00:21:42
Well, yes. Because of the fight or whatever, [music] I guess that Thomas had, right? Do you know anything else about
00:21:51
it? No. [clears throat] Remember, Ian hasn't been told any details of what actually happened yet.
00:21:58
He doesn't know that Thomas killed Sabrina or even that there was a physical exchange, but that's all about
00:22:03
to change in just a few moments. Tom, let's talk about Thomas Lopez. When was the last time you seen him?
00:22:09
It's been about like a day or so. A day or so. [music] What about his girlfriend Sabrina?
00:22:14
About a day or so. Okay. What happened between Sabrina and Thomas? I just like heard an
00:22:20
altercation. I didn't like see anything. I just heard them screaming at each other enough to where it alarmed me. And
00:22:28
Were they inside your house when they did that when they were screaming? Okay. Was there any anything physical
00:22:33
going on or just screaming? Did you see anything physical? Did you hear anything
00:22:36
physical? Did you hear yelling stop or stop or anything? Mhm. [clears throat] No. So, whatever you heard screaming and
00:22:42
stuff, where were they at? Like I guess it would be like down towards the kitchen area. I don't know.
00:22:48
I heard them yelling and whatnot and I went out there and I was like, "Hey, man. Are y'all okay?" And they just
00:22:55
like, "Yeah, man. Fine." You know, and what did she say? Nothing. It's clear Ian was around when
00:23:02
the fight happened, but it seems like he didn't realize how bad things had actually gotten. Apparently, Sabrina was
00:23:08
actually crying when he went to talk to them, but he just figured it wasn't his business and went back to sleep in his
00:23:14
room. Do you know what the fight was about? I don't. And honestly, I've got so much
00:23:19
stuff of my own crap. Like, okay. When was the last time you heard from Sabrina?
00:23:23
I don't know Sabrina. Like, I I'm not making this up. Like, but she was that's Thomas's girlfriend
00:23:29
or whoever. I I don't even know that. Like, I just know that that that there was an
00:23:35
altercation between I I don't even know if this Sabrina is if this is who like messed up teeth.
00:23:40
I'm assuming that's who it was. So that day that whenever we went out there with
00:23:44
extension, as the officer mentioned earlier, Ian has a habit of letting people that he
00:23:49
barely knows stay at his house. But it turns out this is a recipe for disaster. Since people know he likely won't get
00:23:56
involved in their business, they see this property as an area out in the middle of nowhere where they can do
00:24:00
whatever they want with no eyes on them at all. Initially, this only resulted in
00:24:05
smaller crimes, robbery or drug possession. But this time, it turned into something much more serious. And
00:24:12
Ian is now about to find out exactly what happened. Do you know why I'm here? No.
00:24:18
Remember I told you last time we don't we don't come over here for simple stuff.
00:24:22
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember you told me that. So, what's up? She's dead.
00:24:32
You'reing me. What happened? Do you know? Well, from what she told us before she
00:24:38
died was that she was getting her ass beat by Thomas over that your house in the barn with the cough.
00:24:44
Died. Mhm. And so whenever you heard him arguing when he said he was getting pretty
00:24:49
roughed her, what did you see him do? Like just slapping her. Slapping her. Well, I just trying to figure out what
00:24:54
happened. And first of all, he's in your house. He know. So we from the very beginning cops figured he
00:25:01
knew a little more than he was letting on. Now he knows exactly what happened, how serious it was, and what the
00:25:08
consequences will be if he doesn't give up everything he knows. Not only will he
00:25:12
be implicated on the crime, but if Thomas is on the property and he ends up harming an officer, that will be his
00:25:19
fault. The question is, is that enough for him to turn in his friend? When was the last time you seen Thomas? When even
00:25:27
Okay. Is he at your house? I don't know. Where does he hide? In your house whenever the cops are trying to get him.
00:25:32
Where did Where would he go hide inside? We're over there. Okay. The house is secure. We're going to search warrant
00:25:37
for it. Where would he be hiding? If he's in your house, where would he be at? You don't want that problem at your
00:25:41
house? No. Like, I didn't know. Have you seen Thomas? Have you seen Thomas today?
00:25:50
Tell me the truth, man. Yeah. I mean, where was he at when you seen him? uh in the house.
00:25:56
Okay. Was he there when the cops got there just a while ago? Um Ian, can we take the
00:26:06
Oh, you can't do that. This is Ian's ultimatum. Ian had been put in a scary position. He knew what
00:26:15
the right thing to do was, but he was also terrified of this footage getting out. Amongst the people he hung around,
00:26:22
he didn't want to be seen as someone untrustworthy, so he asked for the camera to be turned off and told the
00:26:28
detectives the truth. Ian admitted that Thomas was at his house. In fact, he was
00:26:34
hiding in the vents. Apparently, that's where he was the whole time. Now, the cops knew exactly where he was, but
00:26:42
getting to him would be no easy task. To arrest him, they'd have to try everything they could to make contact
00:26:48
with him or else get into the cramped vents with a known killer, right? Damn it. He knows we're here. I
00:26:57
assume he knows we're going to come back, I guess. I don't know. In the interview, they said he might be
00:27:01
in the vent. Uh, yeah, that's what they're claiming is that he might be. So, if he's in A's vent, the only one
00:27:07
large enough for an adult that I know of is when you go in, there's a hallway that goes all the way back to the house.
00:27:12
There'll be a blanket in the hallway right now. As we go in, still clear all the little
00:27:17
areas that we go past. So, I don't want to get fixated and have him come out behind us.
00:27:21
You hit that vent. The only downside is you'll have two rooms to clear in the hallway before the vent. The last door
00:27:27
is literally next to the vent. We'll figure it out if anybody sees something weird.
00:27:31
Several cops made it to the scene a few minutes earlier and have managed to locate the vent they think he's hiding
00:27:36
inside of. Thomas, this is the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office. Come outside. He's not answering or nothing. He might
00:27:50
answer. Let him know if he does. Look around. Sheriff's Office. Deputy Bachman. Call
00:28:04
out, man, with your hands up. Know you're down there. Is that the bank you went in or this?
00:28:11
Is this over? I saw it. It goes down. There's no access back there. Ian had cuz Ian had the screw.
00:28:21
He puts the vent back on so he can do his own. The officers are right. The vent cover
00:28:26
couldn't have been put in place from the inside. So Ian had to have helped him hide. But they'll figure out what to do
00:28:32
about that later. For now, they need to figure out a way to get Thomas out of the vents. To start with, locate his
00:28:38
exact position. And they came up with a creative solution to do this. He's right there. These How far
00:28:46
approximately all the way down there's a bit. Just trying to see if there's a mirror.
00:28:55
I got a good point. This needs duct tape and a mirror. There's probably duct tape
00:29:00
in the garage. Tape a phone and flashlight together. Stick down in there just so we
00:29:07
get some really good light and light up. I just have to confirm. It sounds far-fetched, but after
00:29:13
pointing a phone and a torch deep into the vents, they were able to confirm precisely where Thomas was.
00:29:25
See, it looks like you can see the back of his neck, a jacket. [music] The problem was he still wasn't
00:29:32
responding, and they certainly didn't want to get in the vents with him. So, while another group of officers checked
00:29:38
the outside to ensure he couldn't escape, the cops tried desperately to reach out to him. But quickly, they
00:29:44
started to get concerned about something else entirely. Thomas, if you can hear me, man, answer.
00:29:53
I know you're down there. I We saw you in the pictures. Answer me. Just let me know you're okay, man.
00:30:00
Are you okay down there? Yeah. Don't move, man. at your door. Like you would think that he'd shuffle a
00:30:09
little bit. I haven't heard him. Well, looks like he's moved since. Yeah, but like no noise, nothing.
00:30:26
Thomas had been down there for hours now, possibly even days. The cops know he's there, but they haven't seen his
00:30:34
face or any movement whatsoever. They're fearing the worst, but they still can't
00:30:39
risk going down there with him. That's when one of the officers gets a genius idea.
00:30:44
You're going to want to push him back this [music] way cuz he's going to have to come out this way.
00:30:48
So, if you introduce gas, you want to introduce it on that. Okay. Have a fogger or [clears throat]
00:30:54
spray. Yeah. I would introduce it down there. You want to do the same thing with a
00:30:59
video. It may make him uncomfortable enough that he'll come out. That going to make you cough.
00:31:04
Turn around. It looks like he's facing us. Hey, his his head's up here for sure.
00:31:08
He went in deeper. Yeah, cuz you don't want them to crawl. So, I would introduce it over there,
00:31:12
[music] too. Pushing him this way. Yeah. Yeah. They're planning to shoot pepper spray
00:31:17
into both ends of the vents, forcing him out. If he was to stay inside, he'd end
00:31:22
up choking and writhing in the pain the gas caused. But it turns out this plan was so smart and terrifying to Thomas
00:31:30
that they wouldn't even have to put this into action. I hear him. Hey, come on out, man.
00:31:38
Dude, come on out. What do you come out and we'll talk? I'm I'm scared, sir. Well, there's nothing to be scared
00:31:48
about. Come on out. Okay, I've been beat up by the cops before. I understand, but nobody's going to hurt
00:31:53
you. I just need you to come out slow. Yep. We'll get you some to go. We'll get some
00:32:07
be got some dirt in there. You want to take the hood off? The concept of being stuck in the vents
00:32:14
with the pepper spray was just too much to Thomas. And with some convincing, they were able to get him out. The ideas
00:32:20
and tactics used in this extraction were far from textbook, but they were incredibly smart. Now they just had one
00:32:27
more job to do. Interrogate Thomas and finally figure out the truth of what happened to Sabrina.
00:32:36
Move all this over here. Okay. You speak English or Spanish? Both. Okay. You want
00:32:40
Preferably English though? Preferably English. We'll stick with English. So listen to me.
00:32:44
We are in America. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used
00:32:49
against you in a court of law. Well, what we are here for is what happened with Sabrina the other
00:32:55
night. That's what all this is about. There is an enormous amount of evidence against Thomas. Remember, everyone
00:33:02
involved in the case has pointed the finger towards him, including the murder victim herself, but that doesn't mean
00:33:08
he's not going to try and defend himself. Notably, without the presence of a lawyer. The story he chooses to go
00:33:14
with though isn't the most convincing. Okay, we we talked to Sabrina. Okay, she told us what happened to her. Okay, I
00:33:22
need you to be honest with me and tell me the truth. Okay, were y'all guys fighting that night?
00:33:27
Just an argument. That's all it was. We weren't fighting. We didn't get past school.
00:33:31
Did she How many times did she hit you? I don't want her to get in trouble, sir.
00:33:35
Okay. How many times did you hit her? I didn't hit her. We just bumping each other like you know what I mean? Did you
00:33:40
shove her down the steps? Spray her across those fingers. I want to show her. That's my kid's mom. But
00:33:45
you guys had a kid together? I don't want to hurt her. So tell me what happened in that bar.
00:33:49
That's when she fell. And certainly we went back there and argued cuz I want we didn't want to be arguing in in that
00:33:55
house. I don't want to get thrown out cuz I I know where I don't have nowhere to live. But
00:34:00
apparently they went out to the barn because they didn't want to argue in the house and Sabrina slipped and fell down
00:34:06
some steps causing all of her injuries. You guys are arguing. Okay. And it did get physical, but you didn't want to
00:34:14
tell me what happened, right? Is that what you're telling me? It got physical, but you didn't want to tell me what
00:34:18
happened. We just kind of like just got in each other's face about it. Was that the same you took her to the
00:34:23
hospital? [music] Um, I mean, it was it was ongoing for like a couple days. So, you guys were just like basically
00:34:29
arguing for two days pretty much. When was the pushing and shoving? I want to say pushing and shoving. We
00:34:34
just kind of a chest pump and whatever. Yeah. When was that? All right. During that that
00:34:40
night when she [ __ ] fell. Okay. So, you guys just do this chest chest p cuz we we don't want to argue in that
00:34:46
house cuz I don't want to get thrown out of there. Thomas is also claiming that he didn't
00:34:51
hit her or even push her around. The worst they did was get into each other's faces and bumped each other's chests. As
00:34:58
I'm sure you're aware, that's not exactly consistent with Sabrina's injuries or what she told the police.
00:35:04
But Thomas's story gets even more unbelievable as he continues. So then you guys go out to the barn.
00:35:11
What happens next? We just sitting there just smoking a cigarette and stuff. We're up there.
00:35:16
So you guys go up and are you like upstairs in the barn? Is that what you're saying?
00:35:19
Yeah. In that loft. You start up there and then she starts coming back down and she [ __ ] loses her foot. You know,
00:35:25
there she goes down the damn steps. So, where was So, when was the I pick her up, walk her to the house,
00:35:30
and she's like, "Well, if I can't get bear no more, then I need you to take me to the emergency room."
00:35:35
So, when was when was the uh the chest bumping or uh all that? When where was that at?
00:35:42
It's kind of beginning when we got in there, like got in there, then that's when [music]
00:35:46
How'd she fall down the stairs? She lost her footing, you guess. Like, you look at the stairs and they're
00:35:51
inside that place. It's there's a big ass gap between each. It's not constructed pretty good. There's like
00:35:56
some [ __ ] some just put together like [music] are we talking from the top all the way
00:36:01
to the bottom? It's like halfway toward the bottom. She lost her footing. All kinds of [music] junk and stuff
00:36:07
that's in that barn. So, not only did Thomas not have anything to do with her injuries, but
00:36:14
when she got hurt, they'd already made up. He believes that this story has explained away why Ian will have heard
00:36:21
shouting in the house, why they went out to the barn, and why Sabrina got such horrific injuries. This is why it's so
00:36:28
important that detectives keep as much of the evidence as possible secret. He's constructed a story that technically
00:36:35
covers up all the evidence that he thinks exists. And while it's not comprehensive, it would definitely make
00:36:41
proving his guilt in a courtroom slightly harder. But it doesn't explain a huge number of other things like how
00:36:47
the injuries were sustained by a golf club or the drugs Sabrina said he injected her with. Both things he
00:36:54
doesn't know the cops know about. And in fact, he was never able to explain these
00:36:59
other things away. There was simply too much evidence for Thomas to deal with, and he chose to plead guilty at his
00:37:05
trial. Nurses from the hospital told the jury that Thomas had initially told them
00:37:09
she'd fallen down the stairs, too. But Sabrina immediately refuted this claim when she woke up. She said he'd hit her
00:37:16
multiple times with his bare fists, struck her multiple times full force with a golf club, and had her tied up to
00:37:22
a chair in the barn for a large amount of time while this all happened. Even worse, she said this had been going on
00:37:29
for around a month. And for the entire time, she felt as though she had been held captive. Obviously, there wasn't
00:37:37
much Thomas could do against this defense, and he was convicted of murder, kidnapping, and resisting an officer. He
00:37:44
was sentenced to 18 years behind bars.