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Do you know what happened to Adriana tonight? No, I don't. She talked to us. She said that you and
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Heather did this to her. So, that's why we're talking to you two. This is the moment Tina realized her
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murder victim was still alive. And to make things worse, her victim had just told the cops everything they needed to
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know to put her behind bars for the rest of her life. We know what happened out there. It's just going to be a matter of
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getting fingerprints and evidence back. I didn't do it. I promise to cooperate. Tina is currently being interrogated
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over the horrific attack of her friend in Florida. Like most teenage fights, it apparently started because of a dispute
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over a guy. But this isn't the story that she and two other suspects would tell investigators in this extremely
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sick case. Okay. Tina, you know Can I call you Tina? Mhm. Okay. Obviously, you know something's up. So,
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tell me what happened tonight. Nothing happened that I know of. Heather just said that something about Adriana
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got beat up real bad. Okay. You don't know anything about that? No. Let me see your arms and hands if I could. Okay.
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And what's this right here? That little scratch there. This? Yeah. I I have a puppy. Okay. And your puppy
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caused that? No. I got a little puppy. Got your chin? Okay. 19-year-old Adriana had gone over
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to her neighbor's house to patch things up after an argument. But she had no idea that fate was waiting for her. That
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neighbor was Tina Brown, and Adriana was walking straight into a trap. What started off as a fight quickly turned
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into something much worse. But according to Tina, she's got an alibi. So, where were you tonight? At Heather's. At
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Heather's house? Heather said she was going to cook, so I went down there. She was cooking uh fish and french fries,
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and then we just started watching movies. You were there all night until the cops came up there? Mhm. What time
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did you go over there? Probably just started getting dark. Okay. So, about about sunset. Was
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anybody over at Heather's house when you went over there? Just Heather and her husband. Heather?
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Okay. Did anybody else come over there? Her and her little friend girls were at the house. She said she hurt her hand,
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so usually we get there and then everything is all right, so I don't end up going with her, but she said she was
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going to the emergency room. What time was that when they came by, you know? Was it long after you got there? You
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know. Okay. So, early in the evening? Um I don't know what time it was. Oh, okay. Um so, about 30 to 45 minutes
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after sunset? Tina's daughter, Brittany, was also at Heather's house at the time, but the
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problem here was that they, along with Tina, were the three main suspects in the case. The detective already knows
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there's bad blood between Tina and Adriana and spent some time discussing their friendship.
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What has been going on between you and Adriana this week? Oh, well, I just told Actually, um Adriana and me and Adriana
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were together today. Okay. Where were y'all together? Okay. What was going on there? We were just
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sitting there watching movies, trying to get my computer um pull it up where I can get iTunes and watch movies. Um have
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y'all had any problems? Oh, yeah. We've been having problems. The first three trailers we've had problems for a long
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time. What's the problems? Well, lately the new problem is she thinks that I'm the
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one who had her boyfriend locked up in jail. Okay, so she's mad at you thinking her
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boyfriend's locked up because of you? Yeah, but we talked about it earlier today. This would be one of several
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accusations that surrounded the four women. Tina's daughter, Brittany, also claimed Adriana slept with her
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boyfriend, but even so, Tina says there were no issues over the last few days. I mean, me and her actually just started
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back talking today. Okay. Cuz I asked her um this morning What was I doing this morning?
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I was trying to make some phone calls. And I wanted to heat up some chicken, so I asked her would she put the Church's
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Chicken in her microwave and she heated it up for me and brought it to my house.
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Okay. Do you know what happened to Adriana tonight? No, I don't. Heather just said she got beat up, but that's
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all I know. bit more than that. The detective is talking about the horrifying injuries
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covering Adriana's body. And despite her story, Tina knows exactly what happened.
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Tina, Brittany, and Heather waited for Adriana to arrive at Tina's house in Ensley before ambushing her with a taser
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and beating her down with a crowbar. The three then threw her in the trunk of a car and drove her to a secluded patch of
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woodland where they set her on fire and then walked away. Clearly, they expected
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her to be dead. But Adriana not only survived this horrific attack, but managed to crawl to a nearby house and
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find help. She did this with burns covering over 60% of her body. None of the suspects, including Tina, know that
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she survived until the detective drops this bombshell. We're not sure if she's going to make it or not. No, I don't.
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But she talked to us or she talked to the people that came over to help her. Mhm. She told them something. Do you
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know what she told them? I couldn't imagine what that is. She said that you and Heather did this to her.
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So, that's why we're talking to you two. But she said I called. She's been saying
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a lot of stuff lately. Okay. She said I called um cuz this is all stuff that we talked
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about today at my house. Okay. About my tire was stabbed. Okay. And I asked her she did it, she
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said no. I mean, I couldn't prove she did it, so we I ain't argue about it, fuss about it, or nothing. But you
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thought she did it? Mhm. Just just because what people said, but Mhm. Did you hear about her window getting
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busted out? Whose window? Adriana's window getting busted out a few days ago? Did you hear about it? No, sir, I
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didn't. And you said tonight you were over at Heather and Darren's, right? Yes, sir. And you didn't go anywhere?
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No. Did anybody come over there while you were there? Um He had somebody come over, but
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I didn't go out. Who were they that came over? He was dark-skinned and he had braids. Okay.
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And then there was another guy, but I didn't know who that guy Blocker sound familiar? Yeah. And did anybody else
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come over? Um Yeah. Um white guy in a red truck. You know who that was? No, he ran out there and went
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outside and talked to And what was Darian doing while y'all were there cooking? Anything? Laying on
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the couch watching movies. Is that pretty much what y'all were doing all the way until the cops came? Mhm. Okay,
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so you, Darian, and Tina were sitting in the living Heather sitting there in the
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in the living room watching movies. Mhm. And when the cops knocked on the door, what y'all do?
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We were sitting there. Okay. Why you answer the door? It ain't my door. Okay. So, y'all sat there and when the
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cops came, they didn't answer the door. How long were y'all in there before you did answer the door?
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I guess the the tape was going out cuz Adriana has a little boy that's kind of hyper. He said that that little boy
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probably got that taser and tased that little girl. All right, but you were home all night. You didn't see any kind
00:07:00
of disturbance going on over there before the cops came over there or anything. No, we would have heard something. Right
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now, uh Tina is starting to show signs of guilt. She's slumped over with her head hung down and avoiding eye contact
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indicating she's very ashamed and regretful or at the very least sorry she's been caught. Whatever the case may
00:07:19
be, she definitely seems uncomfortable. But as the detective points out, it's definitely not for the right reasons.
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Did you go to go get anything or go anywhere at all? No, I don't think so. Um mhm. Okay.
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You seem kind of lackadaisical about this. I'm telling you that this woman is uh probably going to die
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and has named you as the person that's harmed her. It kind of, you know, doesn't sit easy with me that you're
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just so nonchalant about this. I just I just talked to talked to her today and I told her I never called DCFS
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on them kids. Okay. Well, she's probably going to die is the word we're getting and we're concerned over that. And the
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last person she said that did this to her is you and Heather, okay? We're going to go out there. We know
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what happened out there. It's just going to be a matter of getting fingerprints and evidence back,
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okay? Once again, Tina shows her guilt, this time by touching her lips. This is often a telltale sign someone is lying
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and is trying to hide that fact by covering their mouth. The reason we're here. Uh basically, what she told the
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fireman was that you two came and grabbed her. Mhm. What'd she say what now? What she told
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the fireman was that you two came over and grabbed her, pulled her out of that house,
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beat her, and harmed her. And nobody out there, the kids or nobody saw none of this.
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Nobody saw it. We talked to everybody in that neighborhood. are always outside. We talked to everybody in the
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neighborhood. You saw them all out there. Nope. Mhm. And she's saying that y'all did it.
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And we're sitting here talking to you and then that I certainly appreciate and I know Tom appreciates that you're
00:09:06
talking to us. But we got to get to the bottom of this and we got to know what happened, the
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truth. And you two choices here. Either you're going to tell us or Heather's going to tell us.
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So, who's going to be? I didn't do anything to her. Okay. I was at the And you were home all night.
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I was at Heather's house. You were at Heather's all night, never left there. Cuz see, the story between
00:09:31
Heather and Darren is already shaky and your story is a third version of what they've told us so far. This is a
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serious allegation. I mean, this is uh life-changing, and somebody's life may end over this. We're getting told that
00:09:44
she's in pretty critical condition at this point, not likely to make it. When Adrianna was found, she reportedly
00:09:50
told her rescuers that Tina had never expected her to make it out of the woods, let alone make it to safety. But
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despite her brave fight, Adrianna died from her ordeal 16 days after her rescue. I mean, she was just at my house
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today. Why she didn't tell me? I've been blamed for a lot Well, it's it's it's a
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circ- a cycle over there. It goes trailer one, trailer two, trailer three, trailer
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do it to herself. Somebody did it to her. Adrianna been riding that bike all day today.
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Okay, but somebody did it to her. I didn't. Okay. I swear I didn't. But she's saying you did it. I didn't.
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Adrianna been saying I didn't I didn't It may be the last thing she tells somebody.
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You know? Tina, Heather, and Brittany were all found guilty of murder, with Tina believed to be the ringleader. Had
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Adrianna not made it that day, these three killers could have escaped justice. But now Tina sits on death row
00:10:41
waiting for her day of execution. Detectives often know exactly who the killers are right from the start, they
00:10:47
just need to prove it. But sometimes things are different, like in this case, where the detectives realize they got
00:10:53
things completely backwards, and their main suspect ends up revealing the shocking truth in the hunt for a missing
00:11:00
girl. Do you suspect Sam in any of this? The guy that, you know, was interested in her. And you know, some other guys
00:11:05
that were interested in her, but they found out that she had a boyfriend, you know, they're just they're friends now.
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I really couldn't see him doing it. One afternoon in April 2016, 17-year-old Ashley left her home in Illinois with
00:11:15
her boyfriend for an interview and a basketball game, saying she'd be back before 10:30. Ashley didn't return that
00:11:22
night. Her terrified parents called the police, who found her boyfriend's vehicle abandoned with two outfits, one
00:11:28
for the interview and one for the game. Adding up all the evidence, her boyfriend, Jeremy, was now the prime
00:11:34
suspect and was taken in for questioning. Has she been through any kind of trouble or trying times recently or
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anything like that? Not recently. A while back we had an abortion, though. And how long ago was that? Um
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probably December. Okay. It was No, it was a little bit before December. How How did she take that?
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She was all right. I mean, it wasn't like horrible like a bout of depression or anything, you know. It was She's fine
00:12:00
and she's a lot better now. How often do you see her? Once a day, usually. And then on Tuesday nights we
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don't see each other cuz I got a a designated party night with my buddies, so other than that it's usually once a
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day. Once a day, so I mean you guys are pretty serious then. Yeah. Yeah. Been going out for how long now?
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Almost 2 years. It'll be 2 years in July. Okay. What if somebody came up and said that
00:12:23
you know that she had uh some marijuana in her room? I'd be real surprised. Okay. I'd be real
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cuz she tells me everything. What about uh possibly owing somebody in Cahokia some money for
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drugs? What about that? I'd be really surprised. Do you know the name Mike? Does that name sound familiar?
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No. Maybe it's not familiar. Mhm. A name comes up during the questioning that Jeremy has never heard before and
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his reaction to hearing the new name is noticeable. This would be one of many men in Ashley's life that he doesn't
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know about, but there's one that remains familiar to Jeremy, 27-year-old Sam. Do
00:13:03
you suspect anything between Sam and Ashley? No. I I I couldn't see it. I mean, I just I trust them both too much. I
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mean, I trust her so much more than him, you know, because it's my girlfriend. I
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I he I don't think he would ever do anything to harm her, you know. It's just it doesn't seem like it's his
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nature. Well, what about if uh you know, possibly not even harming, but what about
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if they were to you know, if they if they were an item or something like that. Would you
00:13:36
suspect that at all? No. No. The fight that you had Tuesday night, you were telling me you guys had a
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little argument. What was that about? It was because apparently I I yelled at her or
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something and she didn't like it. And then she gave me all my stuff back, well what
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she had and said, you know, I'm going to break up with you and I No, and we don't
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want to talk it over and stuff and you know, that it was just all just I don't know.
00:14:03
Just stress because that's when she thought that she might be pregnant and Tuesday night again? Yeah. And and she
00:14:08
turns out she wasn't and that was the stress of that doing that and, you know, Do you know of any friends that she
00:14:14
might be with that uh that you know, that good friends that she would hang out with that she would go to
00:14:20
their house or anything like that? I can't see the ones that she would their parents letting it happen and not
00:14:26
letting her parents know. I There's no way that if she went to Brittany's house, there's no way
00:14:31
her Brittany's parents would, you know, not tell Ashley's parents. Or Christy's house, there's no way Christy's parents
00:14:37
would not tell Ashley's parents, you know. Who does she normally hang out with like there at the at school?
00:14:42
Christy and some other girls. I don't know their names cuz I I never really met them outside of school, but
00:14:47
uh she's played basketball with I think a couple of them that I haven't met and I
00:14:52
I don't know their names, but other than that, just Christy's like the main one. When Jeremy said Ashley went
00:14:59
out of town to play basketball, the detectives wondered what it was that made her travel so far when there were
00:15:04
basketball courts nearer her home. It turns out that the reason was Sam and Jeremy was completely clueless about
00:15:12
anything going on between them. Suddenly, police have a brand new suspect. Uh how long have you known Sam?
00:15:20
Uh I was probably sophomore in high school, I want to say. When you met him, he was a teacher?
00:15:27
He I I'm pretty sure he was a teacher over in St. Louis. I think he was doing something
00:15:33
something with kids. And then he was also doing wrestling stuff. He plays a lot of sports, so. Do you know him well?
00:15:37
Yeah. What's he like? What's he do? He's just your all around average, you know,
00:15:42
guy. I mean, loves to party and, you know, loves to teach. That's That's like his
00:15:49
main goal, but he's just average. I mean, there's nothing special or unique about him.
00:15:56
Just easygoing guy. But, uh, as far as like, uh, physical abuse at the house, No.
00:16:02
ever seen anything like that? Have you ever seen any marks on her or anything like that? No. Bruises or anything? Has
00:16:07
she called you up and told you anything like that or No. Okay. I know she's runs into walls a lot, like
00:16:13
literally. I mean, she's got kind of I've seen her do it. Not like, you know, she says that she runs into walls, but
00:16:18
I've seen her cuz I don't know if you want to call it she's blind or whatever, but
00:16:22
yeah, it's not like a continuous thing. I've just seen her do it a couple times,
00:16:26
but What's your mom like? Her mom? Mhm. She's She's real nice. I mean, she's raising two girls and, you know, dealing
00:16:33
with Mike, but What's What's he like? What's he do? He He's good. He I mean, he's a good dad. I mean, he loves them
00:16:39
both both those kids to death. After pressing him for nearly an hour, it slowly became clear to detectives that
00:16:45
Jeremy had nothing to do with his girlfriend's disappearance, but he had given them vital information about her
00:16:51
27-year-old basketball friend. Sam was a teacher at a rival school, and his number was found in Ashley's phone. It
00:16:59
turns out they made an awful lot of phone calls to each other. So, this time he was brought in for questioning. In a
00:17:05
story we've all heard before, Sam started out by claiming their relationship was friendship and nothing
00:17:10
more. Well, I gave her like a hug goodbye. I would do that. I That's not sexual, is
00:17:14
it? You give someone a hug goodbye. I think she kind of started to become obsessed with me. Cuz like I said, she
00:17:19
was calling me not like literally non-stop the time. But after being confronted with the testimony of
00:17:23
Ashley's friends, he changed his story. I will say this, we never kissed. We never kissed. Yes, we did have sex in
00:17:31
the back of the vehicle there. And after that day, I felt absolutely terrible about that.
00:17:37
Sam changed his story several times during the course of the questioning, and it was becoming clear to detectives
00:17:42
he knew more than he was saying about Ashley's disappearance. The detectives needs to break down the barrier that Sam
00:17:48
has created, and in order to do that, they try to guilt him into a confession. They're going to use his most loved
00:17:55
family members against him as a way of making him crumble. Grandma's not here. I know. Your mom's not here.
00:18:04
No, but you know what? In a way they are. Because everything they taught you, all the talks Grandma had with you,
00:18:14
are within you. All of them are. And unfortunately, right now, Sam, you ain't telling us the truth.
00:18:23
Can I go show you what happened? Please. She's still out there, Sam. She is. And where is it at?
00:18:35
I have to show you. It took these detectives an agonizing 12 hours to crack Sam, but he finally
00:18:43
admitted to being responsible for Ashley's disappearance. He told police that he got Ashley in a choke hold
00:18:49
during the argument and heard her neck snap. He decided to make it look like she had been strangled, so he choked her
00:18:55
again, and she became lifeless when he left the scene. Sam thought after 30 hours she would be long dead, and he was
00:19:02
taking the police to find her body. But by some miracle, Ashley was found barely
00:19:08
alive. It took her weeks to wake up from the coma she had slipped into and even longer to heal the psychological wounds,
00:19:15
but she was able to testify against Sam and live to see him sentenced to 20 years for her attempted murder. If you
00:19:23
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