00:00:02
Is there any people in there trafficking? You want to hold him in the basement or
00:00:08
what? He's on the tape. Oh my god, come in here. The back door is unlocked. This is never
00:00:27
unlocked. This door is open right here. This is not normal. This is Sarah Evans. She's just found
00:00:35
the body of her good friend Benny King covered in blood inside his own home. The killer, however, was nowhere to be
00:00:42
seen and every witness they had blamed somebody different. All I know he was a skinny guy about 6
00:00:48
ft 6 5 black. With a a young guy. He said it was a young white guy. Did you talk to him down there?
00:00:55
[laughter] She's been taking all his money. Weeks later, another murder happened
00:01:00
across town in exactly the same fashion. They now had a serial killer on their hands and they had to do everything they
00:01:08
could to figure out who it was and where they were hiding out before they killed
00:01:13
again. It wasn't me. [laughter] It all started on April 8th when Akron police received this phone call.
00:01:30
Akron 911, what's the location of your emergency? Oh my god. [laughter] What's the problem?
00:01:36
What's the problem here? I don't know. Ma'am, is he breathing? No, I don't know. I'm not up there.
00:01:46
Oh my god. Immediately, police rushed to the scene. Someone help. Mhm? Someone help.
00:01:59
Come in here. No, go. Will you go hang out over there for us so you can have room to work here?
00:02:07
Did I bring you the blood pack? You did. The ground floor had been ransacked, but
00:02:13
it was the scene [music] upstairs that had terrified Sarah. Upstairs lay her good friend, [music] 69-year-old Benny
00:02:21
King, and cops would find that he'd been stabbed 33 times. What's that, bro? Where's his injuries at?
00:02:29
I don't know. I I have not touched him. Okay. I All I did was touch him to see if he
00:02:33
was stiff. But he's stiff and cold. So, we're calling it obvious. 10-22. Yeah, I'm not going to move him.
00:02:42
We'll let the head meet. Initially, the cops had no idea what could have possibly happened to Benny,
00:02:49
but as they explored the house more, a clear picture would slowly be painted of exactly what had happened.
00:02:56
His bed was absolutely soaked in blood, and his walls were covered in it, too. Police presumed that Benny had been
00:03:04
attacked in his bedroom before he crawled into the hallway begging for his life, where the killer finished the job.
00:03:11
The majority of the cuts were to his head, neck, and upper body, but there were a few wounds on his hands as well,
00:03:18
indicating that Benny had courageously tried to fight back. The police don't know this yet, but in just a few weeks,
00:03:24
this exact scene would be found across town in an identical murder. For now, though, what police found in the kitchen
00:03:32
was even more bizarre. Any idea what? Can't find anything? I didn't dig around too much there. I'm
00:03:38
really not going to. Well, cuz the the way you called it, said that all these cabinets in the kitchen are open, and
00:03:43
she checks on them on a regular basis and said, "I don't know why that would be like that."
00:03:47
Like someone was in here looking for something. Like all the cabinets here are open.
00:03:53
[music] I mean, who does this? Oddly though, nothing seemed to have been displaced or stolen. Something very
00:04:03
strange is going on. So, the cops turn to the person that discovered Benny's body, Sarah Evans, who had some crucial
00:04:10
information that would start to spiral this case into a complex mystery. Was it the back door that you found
00:04:16
found open? No, the front When I come back from lunch break This door was locked.
00:04:21
Okay. And when when I called you is when I come back up, the front door was unlocked.
00:04:25
Okay, so you were actually here this morning at at 11:30 and you spoke to him then?
00:04:30
No, I didn't see him. I thought he like would lay down take a nap or drink. And then you came back a little bit
00:04:34
after 1:00 and that's when you found the door open. Yeah, it was unlocked. Okay.
00:04:38
The back door was unlocked, too. 11:45 Does he usually keep keep his doors locked?
00:04:43
Yeah. So, I said he locks it when he goes to take a nap, but as soon as he gets up in
00:04:48
the morning, he unlocks it. Was the dog how when when you got here? No, the dog was
00:04:53
in his chair. Okay. In his chair when I come in the door. And that's why I knew when I seen the
00:04:57
stand open and the dog in the chair. Detectives then asked Sarah if she could think of anyone who had any issues with
00:05:04
Benny. That's when she mentioned two brothers, Justin and Johnny, who were often seen visiting Benny. Sarah also
00:05:11
told them that they had ongoing problems with Benny and were sometimes seen fighting with each other. In fact, their
00:05:18
most recent argument resulted in Benny chasing them off his property with a shotgun. Justin also was on the lookout
00:05:26
for a way to make money fast. So, it's rumored that he'd stolen something of Benny's and pawned it, causing all these
00:05:32
arguments. Police figured they finally had their suspects, but that's when Sarah mentioned a suspicious vehicle
00:05:40
that had been spotted outside Benny's house right around the time of his death. That was up through here
00:05:46
Mhm. Earlier today, this morning I guess. It sped away. How long ago was back. I don't I know it was earlier this
00:05:54
morning. It come back and sped away again. He said it was a younger white guy driving.
00:06:00
Who said that? It's a guy. I can't tell you because he's in trouble. He's got warrants. He
00:06:05
doesn't What are both his warrants for? I don't have no I have no idea. So I'm I'm just giving you the information I
00:06:11
was given. Okay. This seems like vital information, but the only guy that sights is quite
00:06:17
literally on the run from the cops with outstanding warrants. So the officer tries to see if he can strike a deal.
00:06:23
Okay. Well, tell you what. There's a a detective coming, okay? I understand your your friend has has some warrants.
00:06:30
Mhm. Um if it's possible that we can guarantee we're not arresting him, not doing
00:06:34
anything, would would you guys can go ask him if he would want to talk to us then?
00:06:38
Ordinarily a fugitive would never agree to a deal like this, but because Benny was such a nice and respected guy in the
00:06:43
neighborhood, he comes outside just a few seconds later to tell the cops everything he knows.
00:06:50
How's it going, guys? How's it going, brother? I was out here on on my friend's porch
00:06:55
and I saw this goldish old older style Hummer, big body Hummer, Mhm. speed away from over here. I don't like
00:07:01
I didn't hear no noises like gunshots or anything. Okay. About what time was what was that?
00:07:06
Uh Mhm. 10:30, 11-ish. I was up here at Maybe 12. I was up here at Okay. No, it had to be like
00:07:17
I was up here at 11:30. Okay. to be about 10:30 or something. Okay. So so between 10:30 and 11:00 you
00:07:22
guys her screaming about something and all this happened. Okay. Then she discovered that.
00:07:26
I've not seen that vehicle You've never seen that car around here, nothing? Did you Did you happen to see
00:07:30
who was who was driving? A white male. Okay. Blondish short hair. Short. Kind of crew cut like yours.
00:07:35
Okay. I would say anywhere from his mid-20s to early 30s. He sped around the corner so
00:07:41
fast his tires were squealing and [ __ ] hell. If the car had shown up around 12:00
00:07:45
that night, that's right in between Sarah's two visits to Benny's house, the exact window where Benny was murdered.
00:07:53
And with how the car was allegedly driving, it really does seem as though this Hummer has something to do with
00:07:58
Benny's murder. They just need to figure out who was inside. And conveniently, a
00:08:04
neighbor overheard this conversation and told the police that he knows a man in the neighborhood that drives a Hummer
00:08:09
exactly like the one described. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the guy's real name, only his nickname, Jaybird.
00:08:18
You're just assuming Jaybird Right. connected to a Hummer. Correct. You don't know.
00:08:25
Right. I don't have any personal knowledge about that, but I know that I've seen him many times with a
00:08:32
With a Hummer? Hummer. What color? Uh black like that. He's got it. Does he Does he go like that?
00:08:40
You So you've seen Jaybird driving this goldish Before, yeah. Okay. It sounded like this Jaybird was a prime
00:08:47
suspect, but nobody on the scene right now was able to tell them his real name. But before they're able to figure it
00:08:54
out, they're confronted with a fourth suspect, and it was the last person that anyone had expected. This is Benny's
00:09:01
daughter, Patricia, and as soon as she showed up on the scene, she seemed to already have her mind made up about who
00:09:07
the killer really was. Benny's daughter. I want to follow up with this. He passed
00:09:15
away. But uh Did you talk to [ __ ] down there? [laughter] Let me say this friendly.
00:09:26
That lady down there has been paying his bills. [snorts] And she's been taking all his money and
00:09:33
not paying on his bills. So the gas bill I have not yet paid. So you don't have a bill.
00:09:38
So, I don't have a bill to say cuz she's not giving him the bills. She's keeping
00:09:42
them. She's for She is writing on the receipts what she is supposed to pay versus what she really paid.
00:09:50
[snorts] And this has been going on for over 3 months. So, she's been working on it for
00:09:53
3 months. He's never had a bill that he never paid in full until this lady down the street decided that
00:09:59
she was going to help him. She took it upon herself to help him is by taking his money.
00:10:04
That's right. She's talking about Sarah. Apparently, since she's taken over paying Benny's bills, they've all either
00:10:10
been late or underpaid. Patricia is certain that she's been stealing money from Benny this way. And in fact, she
00:10:17
thinks she might have stolen even more, too. And his money better still be in there
00:10:21
cuz I know exactly where it's at. What where? It's in a cabinet in this kitchen in a
00:10:26
coffee book. I found Yeah. Yes, she did. There ain't a body found in there no more.
00:10:35
I'll be right back out with you. It's It's okay. Was it in there? No, it was in a container like this.
00:11:09
It was in here. So, whoever did this knows exactly where he hid his money. And she's one and Johnny, those are the
00:11:17
two that come down here. Those two are the suspects. I'm telling you there's nobody else.
00:11:22
Them two. Everything is starting to fall into place. It now makes sense why the cabinets were flung open. Whoever killed
00:11:30
Benny was looking for money. And that's not even the biggest revelation the cops
00:11:34
are about to have, not even close. Currently, they have four suspects, and any one of them could be their killer.
00:11:41
Each one of these could take days to interview and process, but with every hour that passes, the killer is getting
00:11:47
closer to finding their next victim. Luckily, after talking to another neighbor, they were given some vital
00:11:53
information that cut down their search just a little bit and sent them in the direction of one man in particular.
00:12:00
They were able to discover that Justin, one of the suspected brothers from earlier, had a nickname, Jaybird. The
00:12:06
money, the gun, the drugs, the Hummer, everything was lining up, and in the cops' minds, this could definitely be
00:12:13
their killer. So, to ensure they had all the information possible, they started interviewing his brother, Johnny, so
00:12:20
that when they got around to Justin, they'd have no trouble getting him to confess.
00:12:24
All hell, probably afternoon, I took my dog over there. Uh-huh. So, he could see him. Me and my wife
00:12:30
did. I had her take dog around back. Then I brought the dog in for a couple minutes he could pet it. He got pissed
00:12:36
off about something, so we left. What uh what did he get pissed off about? He did.
00:12:42
What did he get pissed What was he pissed about? he's got, he don't like no other dogs,
00:12:46
you know what I mean? Being around his little dog cuz he's afraid the dog's going to eat him.
00:12:50
Uh-huh. Do you Do you go over and see him quite often? Yep, sure do. Go over there and drink a
00:12:54
beer with him just about every day. Um so, you last saw him yesterday about 7:30 in the evening or
00:12:59
Yeah, with him. What's this all about? He's dead. You got to be kidding me, dude.
00:13:04
No, I'm not. Oh my god. I got to go down there, dude. The cops figured this reaction to be
00:13:11
genuine, and as they talked to him more, they became certain that Johnny didn't know anything about the crime. But, that
00:13:17
doesn't mean his brother is innocent. In fact, what Johnny is about to say actually makes the cops even more
00:13:23
suspicious. Uh who is Justin? Brother. Okay, when would have seen him later than you had you had?
00:13:30
No, he ain't a lot he ain't been a lot around down there. If somebody said they saw him down
00:13:34
there, that wouldn't be true? I don't know. I'm I When I go down there, my brother ain't there.
00:13:39
Usually, Johnny and Justin would go and see Benny every morning at around sunset, and that's been the case for the
00:13:45
last 3 years since his wife passed away. Johnny can't think of a reason for Justin to be down there so early,
00:13:51
especially not on his own without telling him. Johnny was even able to provide some extra details about the
00:13:56
disagreement they had recently, proving to the cops just how heated it had gotten between them.
00:14:01
He told look, get away from my house, don't you ever come back again. He said, I've loaned you money four or five times
00:14:08
on this bull junk stuff that you bring me. I'm on a fixed income here. I can't just keep
00:14:14
giving. He physically pushed him? Oh, yeah. Yeah. By this point, the cops had already
00:14:20
heard all they needed to hear. 19 hours later, they managed to track down Justin
00:14:25
and would bring him in for interrogation. Justin was left in the interrogation room for around 45 minutes
00:14:30
before the interrogation began. This is a tactic used among many others to make Justin feel as uncomfortable as
00:14:36
possible. [snorts] Hey Justin. You are arrested for those warrants we talked about.
00:14:46
Um you got four warrants on you. How do you know him? What is your relationship with
00:14:52
him? Did you kind of take his stuff? My brother, um he was more or less like a stepfather pretty much.
00:15:01
How so? Stupid stuff that he gave me a dollar or a cigarette or something to eat or you
00:15:08
know what I mean? I lived next door to him there for four or five months. You know, I had a warrant which I went did
00:15:15
my time and got it all taken care of, you know what I mean? If you're asking did I kill him, well, I
00:15:20
did not. Seems rather straightforward from Justin's perspective. He had exactly the
00:15:25
same nice things to say about Benny and doesn't seem stressed out or anxious about being here. He's leaning forwards
00:15:31
towards the detective instead of instinctively pulling away. He's maintaining eye contact when he can and
00:15:36
his tone seems deliberate and genuine. Everything about how he's presenting himself as relaxed as though he's just
00:15:42
trying to give the detectives what they need and get out of there. But unfortunately, just saying you didn't
00:15:47
murder someone isn't enough for the cops. So, they decide to confront him with the evidence they've gathered
00:15:52
against him. Um, so we talked, you know, we talked to everybody in the neighborhood except for
00:15:59
one person that they said he banned from the house. Wasn't me. [laughter] Oh, yeah.
00:16:08
Is that over money or what was that about? Uh, yeah, it was over money, but uh No, I was with my brother at at his
00:16:15
house. My mom told you he was very familiar with five of his children. Okay. He told my brother to tell me.
00:16:22
Sorry. Did he say anything about a shotgun? Yeah, he did. He told my brother, he's
00:16:29
like, "I should take my shotgun down there for a couple of twins in his ass." He said that. Brother
00:16:36
he said He stole my god damn cash. He never had a problem giving me money or anything like that before. I had all
00:16:43
his pockets. He was a good guy. Thanks. I cared more about him than that. Justin was banned from the house and
00:16:51
there was an argument over money, but it doesn't seem like he held that against Benny at all. But, the detectives find
00:16:57
this strange. All the signs pointed towards Justin being the killer, but now he seems like he had no issues with
00:17:04
Benny at all. But, they've still got their main piece of evidence though. His Hummer was seen at Benny's house on the
00:17:09
morning of the murder. That had to mean he was lying this whole time, right? Uh, you drove or used to drive a Hummer.
00:17:18
Hummer. Do you ever drive a Hummer or anything? In the neighborhood? Not at all.
00:17:22
Did you ever work on a Hummer? Never had one. Always had a car. Do you know anybody that uh
00:17:28
[clears throat] No. If you watch any interrogation where a guilty suspect is confronted with a
00:17:33
piece of valid evidence, their reaction is always very stiff and short. They try
00:17:38
and deflect it immediately by saying no and explaining exactly why that could never be the case without showing a hint
00:17:44
of emotion. Justin is an ex-convict that works various handyman jobs jumping from
00:17:49
place to place. He doesn't need to explain why he doesn't own a $40,000 SUV. His facial expression when he's
00:17:56
asked alongside the way he laughs and jokes naturally about the concept is enough to tell the detectives he was
00:18:01
telling the truth. They still didn't want to discount him completely as a suspect, but they did figure that if he
00:18:08
wasn't the killer, then he might at least be able to help them out. So, they asked who he thought might have been
00:18:13
responsible, and his answer was someone they were very familiar with, Sarah. She knew she took things, rent card to
00:18:22
the bank, food stamps. That's what my brother was telling me on the phone the other day.
00:18:28
And he thinks that [music] she might have something to do with it. So, if I point a finger, I'd probably check her
00:18:36
for sure. Of [music] course, he's talking about Sarah, and he's accusing her of exactly
00:18:42
the same thing Patricia did earlier. And in fact, John had even mentioned this in
00:18:46
his interview earlier that day, too. Anybody in that neighborhood or anybody have any problems with him or give him a
00:18:52
rough time? uh what's called down the street there? Who's that? Uh, I'm trying to think of her name. She
00:18:57
lives down at the end of the road. She'd go over there, take his money for bills
00:19:02
welfare at a corner store, and was supposed to pay on all his bills. Well, come to find out, she ain't been paying
00:19:08
the full amount on your bills. She's been only paying a half. And I went over there one day. He said, "After all I've
00:19:14
done for that bitch." Did they reconcile it all or No, he He said, "Look, you're a thief. Get the
00:19:20
[ __ ] out of my house. Don't ever ask me for another dime." Quickly, the cops are starting to
00:19:25
realize that Sarah wasn't the wonderful, trusted member of the community that they'd assumed she was. Now, three
00:19:32
people have claims that she was exploiting Benny's trust to steal his money, and all are saying that she could
00:19:37
be the killer. To make matters worse for her, she's also the only person left that knew about his money stash in the
00:19:43
coffee can. Things are getting extremely complex, and the cops have already worked tirelessly for days now. And the
00:19:50
problem is the longer this investigation goes on for, the longer the killer is on
00:19:54
the loose, meaning the higher the chances that they might kill again. So, now 6 days after Benny's murder,
00:20:02
detectives bring in Sarah for an interview. It was imperative that they either catch the killer right now or get
00:20:07
new information that brings them straight to them. They don't, then they'll have no suspects, no leads, and
00:20:13
a murderer at large. We know that you called 911. We've got the the recordings, so we'll listen to that.
00:20:24
Uh we understand that you would pay his bills. Mhm. Yeah. Tell us about that. Well, that's where we got in a dispute.
00:20:33
I needed to pay the bank his bill. When I went there, I only had $40 on me. I needed to borrow it to go ahead and get
00:20:38
that money. I paid him back his $40. That's why I'm still still around. Then you broke up there.
00:20:44
Yeah, but we made up. Yeah. In the interview, similarly to Justin, Sarah doesn't deny the disagreement
00:20:50
between them and fully admits that she took some money from him to pay his bills. But again, they seem to make up
00:20:56
and become friends again. This time though, the detectives aren't buying it. Not when so much is on the line.
00:21:04
We're hearing two different sides of what we're talking about. We're hearing what you're telling us, but we're
00:21:09
hearing from his daughter and what his best friend's telling us. Now, we've been hearing that
00:21:15
that he banned you from coming to his house. He didn't want you paying his bills or anything like that. So much so
00:21:21
that the owner of the store called him to say, "Hey, she's scamming you." So, you're telling us that is not true.
00:21:28
That's not true. That is not true. I went up there I didn't go up there until I had the $40 I had to pay them.
00:21:35
Sarah is saying that all she took from Benny was $40 and she even paid it back. It's just been blown out of proportion
00:21:41
as she wasn't able to get in contact with Patricia and Johnny to clear her name again. It's suspicious, but the
00:21:47
detectives aren't going to get anything more out of her on this front. So, they decide to ask her some more background
00:21:52
questions. Usually, these don't end up solving the case, but this time one of their questions provoked an answer that
00:21:59
seriously piqued their interest. There's a lady that I was smoking. She had like silver hair,
00:22:05
long hair. This is true. Let me ask you this. Is that your daughter? She's my daughter. Yes.
00:22:10
Yeah, that Yeah, that's your daughter. And she doesn't live there with you. Do you have any other children?
00:22:16
Yes. Do any of them live with you? No. The audio we received from the police department is censored here, but Sarah
00:22:23
tells the cops about her other kid, a boy named Jason. A boy who had just gotten out of prison.
00:22:29
Where is he now? He just got out of prison last night. How long when did he get out of prison?
00:22:35
He just got out last night. What was he in jail for? Um robbery. Would your son be capable of doing so?
00:22:43
Oh god, I would pray not. No. I would pray not. According to the detectives, when they
00:22:50
asked this question, Sarah tensed up and seemed extremely closed off. She inhales
00:22:57
sharply and her whole body jumps when they bring up this possibility. As far as the detectives are concerned, whether
00:23:03
intentionally or not, she just told them there is a possibility. That's all they're able to focus on, and it all
00:23:11
makes sense, too. She knew about the coffee can full of money, so what if she'd accidentally mentioned that to
00:23:17
Jason? He just gotten out of prison for robbery, and it'd make complete sense if
00:23:21
he saw Benny as an easy target and decided to try and steal his cash. That could even explain the Hummer, too. It
00:23:27
was a nice car that Jason might have jacked and used to get in and out of the scene quickly. Instantly, the hunt for
00:23:34
Jason began. But, no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't track him down. But, that's when some new
00:23:41
information came to light. [music] Information that would change everything. An inmate of the prison Jason was
00:23:49
staying at had contacted police after hearing about the crime, claiming that he knew who the perpetrator was, and
00:23:55
promised to reveal it to them in an interview. So, Paul, you told one of the deputies you
00:24:02
got some information about homicide. That's about the old lady that got stabbed.
00:24:07
Uh-huh. Yeah, his mom found the body. And then I heard him and his mom arguing on the
00:24:12
phone. But, it wasn't supposed to go that far. Because she always going over to the
00:24:19
house cleaning up what she'd been doing up for years. Mhm. Everybody in the neighborhood knows he
00:24:24
did it, just nobody is speaking on it. I don't know why. The inmate said he'd heard Jason and
00:24:30
Sarah talking about the murder on the phone after Jason thought he'd hung up. The cops now had no doubt in their minds
00:24:37
who their new number one suspect was. And by this point in the investigation, it's likely Jason's cash was starting to
00:24:44
run out. They had to find him as soon as possible before he got the chance to kill again. But, unfortunately,
00:24:52
they were already too late. I called police and my auntie. Hi. My name is George Ballis. I'm down in
00:25:03
Florida now, but my father's still up in Akron. We haven't been able to get a hold of
00:25:08
him, and some of his neighbors got a hold of me today, too, and said they haven't seen him since Saturday.
00:25:13
They said there were some people over there they didn't really recognize. All right, so we have it in, and we're
00:25:18
going to get someone over there to check it out, and then um we can give you a follow-up call.
00:25:23
Police quickly initiated a welfare check on George's father, Gary Ballis. When they arrived, they knocked on the front
00:25:30
door, and after receiving no response, the officers forced entry through a side door.
00:25:41
Gary! Akron Police! Gary, it's Akron Police! Gary! On Thursday, May 21st, Gary Ballis was
00:25:59
found dead. It was obvious he'd been dead for a few days, and given the abundance of stab wounds, it was ruled a
00:26:06
homicide. An investigation would turn up very little information, except for the
00:26:11
fact that Gary's car was missing from the driveway. So, next, they started to talk to his neighbors to see if they
00:26:17
knew anything about what had happened. Akron Police! Just wondering if I could talk to you a
00:26:30
couple seconds about your neighbor behind you. Uh-huh. When's the last time you saw him?
00:26:36
When he left, I guess. Was anybody there with him? Um he came over here Oh, yeah?
00:26:42
and knocked on the door. What did he say? He came over to pick flowers out of the
00:26:45
yard. Purple ones? Uh lilacs. Did Did he have anybody with him when he was there?
00:26:50
He came over [clears throat] here by himself. Did he have the car there Tuesday?
00:26:53
I don't remember. I was I was over here. Right. Do you remember Do you know what
00:26:57
kind of car it is? Uh blue station wagon. Like a Subaru? Yeah. Anybody else live here that might have
00:27:04
seen him? Um my just my kids were here with me. Have you seen your neighbor lately?
00:27:10
Gary? Yeah. No, uh last time I saw him was like 3 4 days The car was there when she took the
00:27:17
flowers over, do you remember? been there for over a week. A week? You want to step out here for 1
00:27:22
second? So, Gary Gary is deceased. [snorts] What? It's looking suspicious, that's why I'm
00:27:31
asking you these questions. He hasn't mentioned anybody, you haven't seen anybody, you haven't heard any fighting,
00:27:36
so All right. Obviously, then maybe it was somebody who's come here before. It's a little odd for Gary's car not to
00:27:43
have been at his place for over a week, especially given Gary was still home. There's a chance that this family could
00:27:50
be misremembering, but the cops got exactly the same information from each of the other neighbors.
00:27:58
Hi, sir. Sorry to bother you so Yeah, I'm Okay. Um are you familiar with the um older
00:28:04
gentleman that lives at the blue house across the street? Yeah, that's Gary. Gary?
00:28:08
Yes, sir. That's Gary. What's um He's a neighbor. Used to help him out. Used to babysit
00:28:20
his uh wife. When's the last time you seen Gary? Uh a couple days. Couple days? Yeah.
00:28:28
Like he was out cutting his grass. Do you remember what day that was? Uh that was last Thursday.
00:28:33
Yeah, last Thursday. I remember that on Monday. Monday? Yeah. He was [clears throat] out there cutting
00:28:38
his grass. Is he frequent cutting his grass? Was something wrong with Gary or Um we were investigating an incident
00:28:45
like over there. Oh, okay. The only issue was not a single one of the neighbors could tell the cops who
00:28:52
might be driving that car. Gary did have visitors over somewhat frequently, but they never used his car. If the cops
00:28:59
could figure out where the vehicle was and who took it, it seems like they'd have a pretty sure shot at finding the
00:29:04
murderer. And that's when they talked to this couple who claimed they've seen a new guy around his house recently.
00:29:14
Actually, he's actually Excuse me, has anybody ever been over to talk to you guys here?
00:29:17
No. Okay. You know, I called I called the police out here yesterday and they didn't even
00:29:23
let me go in there. I don't have a match. What did you call them yesterday for? Because I haven't seen him since
00:29:29
Saturday and it's not like him to leave town and not tell me anything. You haven't seen him since Saturday?
00:29:33
Yeah, nobody answered that door. Did you say you guys are positive though it was Saturday he was cutting his
00:29:38
grass? Yeah. Have you seen the guy with the cane before? No, never seen him before.
00:29:45
Was he um white or black? White. You said he was younger? Yeah. His car wasn't there?
00:29:51
No, his car hasn't been there since Sunday. Okay. But soon the cops were able to put
00:29:57
together exactly what had happened. It turns out Gary was never in that car with the other man. When his car pulled
00:30:04
out of his driveway for the last time, Gary was already dead. But at least they had a description of who they thought
00:30:11
the murderer was. And even better, just a short time after, the cops received word that his car had been seen at a gas
00:30:19
station on a surveillance camera. Unfortunately, the camera quality was too poor to properly make out his
00:30:25
identity, but at least the cops now know without a shadow of a doubt that if they
00:30:29
find that car, they can find the man that killed Gary. But it turns out someone had already done that for them.
00:30:37
An unnamed witness came forward and told them that he'd seen that very car and knew precisely who it now belonged to.
00:30:46
Jason came over Saturday morning. He was going to help me work on the house I'm working on.
00:30:52
Do you know Jason's last name? Shockley or I can't I don't even know how to pronounce it. It's something like
00:30:56
that. Anyway, he came over, but I had to go to Harbor Freight because I needed a
00:31:00
grinder. And so I I told him I said, "I got to go to Harbor Freight." He said, "Oh, I'll take you." And I said, "Wait a
00:31:06
minute, Jason." I said, "I'm not getting in no hot car." I said, "Is that car hot?" He said, "No, the car's not hot.
00:31:11
Uncle Willie, no, I wouldn't do you like that. The car's not hot." The car this man is talking about is
00:31:16
Gary's Subaru. But more importantly, he just mentioned the name of the man they believe killed Benny, Jason Shockley.
00:31:25
This was a shocking breakthrough in both cases. Not only have they essentially just solved Gary's murder, but now
00:31:31
they're hot on Jason's tail and have more evidence than ever to try and track him down. Back on the scene, they'd also
00:31:38
noticed that Gary's credit cards had been stolen. And this guy's story even lines up perfectly with that, too.
00:31:44
He said, "My friend let me use it. He went to Florida. He gave me a credit card, told me to keep gas in it, and I
00:31:50
can buy cigarettes and buy me something to eat if I needed it." I was kind of like not believing it, but he said, "No,
00:31:56
Willie, I swear." It almost seemed too good to be true. So, the detectives asked the witnesses
00:32:01
to pick Jason out of a photo lineup, and he pointed [music] straight at him instantly. Jason was now the suspect of
00:32:08
a double homicide. Two citywide investigations had converged into one. Every single officer and detective in
00:32:16
the area knew they couldn't let Jason take another life, so they had to act fast and hunt him down. That's when
00:32:22
police received one final phone call, this time from Sarah Evans, Jason's mother. On that call, knowing how
00:32:31
dangerous he could be, she decided to give up her own son and told the police the address of his safe house.
00:32:39
All right. Which house is it? It's the second one, the one on the right, 80 87. The house was abandoned, boarded up, and
00:33:20
dirty. It was unclear if anyone was even inside, but the cops have to be extremely vigilant as they know Jason
00:33:27
[music] could be armed. After clearing the first floor, they moved upstairs as a group and tried to figure out where
00:33:33
Jason was hiding. [music] Only one door on this floor was fully closed, and every other room was empty.
00:34:13
This is where they think Jason is. Problem is, they've already made a lot of noise, so whoever's on the other side
00:34:20
of that door could be prepared. That's why they decide to storm in. Hands, [ __ ]
00:34:28
Hands! Hands, [ __ ] Hands! Don't move! Roll over and put them on the top of your head.
00:34:36
Roll on your stomach. Hands up behind your back. Let's go. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Hurry up, Jason.
00:34:43
All right, I got you. Put the knife Anybody else in the house? No, sir. You got anything illegal on you, man?
00:35:01
Besides the knife? No. All right, stand up. Search his pockets. Put him in the cruiser.
00:35:15
You got shoes, black? Yes, sir. Where are your shoes at? They're underneath the blanket right
00:35:20
there. You can put a towel and shake them. Yeah. How old are you now, man? 30. I remember you as a kid over there, man,
00:35:39
on Johnson Block, man. Yeah. Is this mail slot here? Can you get this open, Jason?
00:35:47
I just moved in. That would be good. I I only call the cable company. Are you out there?
00:35:55
Yeah, I'm right here. Here, here he comes. All right. I don't think so. I don't think they
00:36:06
would know. Yeah, we need to get Come on, man. Just as they'd hoped, Jason was found
00:36:28
lying amongst rubble and trash on the second floor attempting to hide away from the very people who just put him in
00:36:34
cuffs. Thankfully, he put up no resistance and a quick sweep of the house confirmed he was the only person
00:36:41
here. Amongst the trash on the floor, [music] the officers found multiple knives and a credit card belonging to
00:36:47
Gary Ballas. After 6 weeks of investigations, they'd finally caught him. He was then
00:36:54
taken out of the house and into the back of a patrol car, but there was still one
00:36:58
problem with all of this. They still had no [music] evidence that he was the one
00:37:02
who killed Benny all those weeks ago. Sure, the connection is strange and multiple people [music] have accused
00:37:08
him, but there's nothing solid. That's what the cops wanted to change in the interrogation room and bring peace to
00:37:14
Benny's family almost 2 months after his death. Remember, Jason is likely not aware of
00:37:23
exactly how much the cops know. All he knows is that he was arrested and now the cops are interrogating him. He might
00:37:31
even think that they don't know about the murders and that he could get away with everything.
00:37:36
How do you know Gary Ballas? I knew that Gary because I said my cousin lived next door but my mom used
00:37:43
to go over and help him out a lot. He He used to tell me about how he hates uh I would post and everything.
00:37:50
Yeah, he's a very smart guy. Man, he hates Yeah. Hey, he he's out there. He He's a trip. [music]
00:37:59
I asked him, you know, if there would be a possibility if he could lend me his car so I could
00:38:05
That's why I would have to work and stuff. Okay. You know, he was He was all right for a
00:38:09
second, you know, then he He doesn't like people using his car and stuff. Right.
00:38:13
He was like I'm going to be happy. He was like, "You know, I want to see you I don't want to see you succeed." He
00:38:20
said, "I don't want to see you do well." You know, you know that I just got out of prison
00:38:24
So how long have you had the car for? I had I had this car for a few days. How long have you known him for?
00:38:32
I've known Gary for almost 9 years. Oh wow. So you've had a long relationship. I've stayed a night or two at his house
00:38:41
before. been in the house before and Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. Everything up until this point is mostly
00:38:48
the truth. He did know Gary and he had spent some time with him recently. But remember he was found with Gary's stolen
00:38:55
credit cards in his stolen car just days [music] after he was murdered. This is shaping up to be a textbook
00:39:02
interrogation where the detectives will have to catch him out in various lies in
00:39:06
order to extract the truth. And they're about to start that process immediately.
00:39:11
Jason, you want to tell me what happened to Gary? Um what do you mean tell you what
00:39:16
happened? I have people that are that are in the area that see you and him together. He's been deceased
00:39:24
since about the same time you seen him and you got his car and his credit cards.
00:39:28
He's dead. You need to tell me what happened. I told you. He lends me his car. For work.
00:39:36
Why his neighbors and his son tell me else than that he will not lend me his car?
00:39:41
Everybody's told me that. Well then that's what they told you. Look, all I did was knock on the other
00:39:49
door. You knocked on his house and he's not there. He's claiming that Gary had lent him his
00:39:54
car for work and had used the credit cards he'd left in his car to just buy a few cigarettes. But clearly the cops
00:40:00
don't believe him. In fact, this entire questioning segment about Gary is more of a formality. They have much more
00:40:07
evidence about this crime than they do Benny's. So their plan is to try and have him confess to Gary's murder so
00:40:13
that confessing to Benny's doesn't seem like such a big deal. It seems like a clever strategy, but it won't work if
00:40:20
Jason simply refuses to admit to anything. When you agreed to us and agreed with us, that
00:40:27
it's kind of weird that you're the last person that Yes. Yes. And now he's I find that weird. I
00:40:33
I've seen what you guys saying with him. But at the same time, I'm not no I'm doing.
00:40:39
That's not us. Get up. No. Well, sometimes people don't win and sometimes people
00:40:45
No. No. No. with you. No. Anybody that knows me will tell you that's not what I do at all.
00:40:52
If you were a jury and you heard your story about a man who loaned you his car, who has been known
00:41:03
not to loan his car to anybody. His family says his neighbor has said so. Cuz if you don't help yourself,
00:41:13
this can end up really bad for you. When confronted with the cold, hard facts, something changes about Jason. He
00:41:21
loses his confidence. He's fidgeting with his hands to try and distract himself. He avoids making eye contact
00:41:27
with the detective however he can, whether it be looking down at the table, up at the ceiling, or even at the wall
00:41:32
next to him. He almost looks ashamed, and that's no illusion. Pay close attention to what he does next as it
00:41:39
marks the beginning of a startling confession. And even if you did wrong and the judge and then you admit to what
00:41:49
happened and everything else, the judge takes that into consideration cuz it shows remorse.
00:41:57
You want me to turn it off? No. Stop. You erased the first one. I'm not erasing anything.
00:42:07
You erased the first one. I'm not erasing anything. That's evidence. I can't do that.
00:42:12
You erased I would say if you agreed with us one. We'll tell you what we're saying.
00:42:19
Okay, this is completely off. Jason thinks that that audio recorder is the only thing recording what he's
00:42:25
saying right now. Somehow he doesn't realize the camera in the corner also has a microphone built in. So now that
00:42:32
the audio recorder is off, he thinks he's free to say whatever he wants. He's over there.
00:42:39
He's drinking one of these stuff. He's talking some [ __ ] I guess I'm on the phone with $20.
00:42:46
He's telling me about his stuff and then he had to leave. You know, you know what it is? It's a very
00:42:51
addictive drug. Okay. I'm on the phone with him. He he got me. I'm talking real crazy behind him.
00:43:00
I asked him to give me the receipt. So So you know what? I got to go. Pick it up for me.
00:43:10
And the phone just cut back on. And And then I went and pulled him out and he took his life. I pushed him down. He
00:43:20
dropped the knife. I dropped the knife. And he put the knife down. Back into his chair.
00:43:26
This is a suicide. And when he went to reach I stopped him. I stopped him. He was so serious.
00:43:40
It was a textbook confession, and the cops did an incredible job at helping him through it and making him feel
00:43:46
comfortable. The [music] thing is, they know this still isn't the whole truth, but it's all they need for now. They
00:43:54
could disprove his self-defense story later in court. What matters is that he admitted to it in some respect. Now
00:44:00
[music] they can switch gears to Benny's murder, but he's not going to make that
00:44:04
one as easy. [music] We probably are going to prove that that that you did Benny.
00:44:09
No, they said they didn't do Benny. And you're definitely going to be looking at a capital case.
00:44:16
And I'll be looking at a capital case of an innocent man for somebody out here, too.
00:44:20
You You told us about Gary. It's like the detective Kennedy said, "The two cases are like a mirror."
00:44:27
So, you're you're lying about the cases being similar. Despite just being finessed into
00:44:32
admitting to murder, Jason suddenly thinks he's the smartest person in the room. The cases are almost an exact
00:44:38
mirror of each other, but Jason thinks he can escape liability for at least one of them. But, he's dead wrong.
00:44:44
And see, here's another thing. You just told us that you went through Gary's pants. You went through Benny's [music]
00:44:49
pants, too. Cuz you know Cuz Benny was known to carry several hundred dollars in his pants pocket.
00:44:55
That I didn't know. Oh, everybody knew. Everybody knew. I didn't. [music] So, Benny never pulled
00:45:01
money out and put it in I didn't say that. Most moms are like, "There's no way my
00:45:06
kid would do that." No, she she she she knows for a fact that I didn't do that that
00:45:11
I'm not saying about Benny. I'm just saying Your mom's Excuse me. thinking It's impossible. You know, it's
00:45:19
impossible. Well, we talked to her, though. We talked to her. She said Yeah, we talked to her.
00:45:25
She's freaking out. And as far as me asking her if I thought you did it, it was now hell no.
00:45:32
It was one of the I hope not. Jason, do you see what I mean? Listen to me, okay? I don't told you
00:45:39
about doing Gary, bro. But, this [ __ ] about Benny was not me. And despite all the pressure the cops
00:45:47
put on him, this is the story he stuck to. It seemed he thought he could maybe convince a jury of one self-defense
00:45:53
charge, but two was simply too suspicious. But, that didn't matter, as the cops figured they still knew exactly
00:46:00
what happened. Jason knew Benny through his mother and had heard about the coffee can of cash. He broke in one
00:46:06
morning and in attempt to steal the cash, accidentally waking Benny in the process. They started fighting and
00:46:12
Jason, fearing he'd call the police, stabbed him multiple times. Eventually, Benny crawled out to the hallway where
00:46:18
he bled out. They also started to discount his story about Gary's murder. They believed that it wasn't any form of
00:46:25
self-defense [music] and in reality, it was simply a disagreement. Jason had gotten
00:46:30
irrationally angry after Gary refused to let him use his car. In his rage, he shoved him to the ground and killed him
00:46:36
in the same manner before stealing his credit cards and leaving in his car. These are the theories that the
00:46:43
prosecution presented to the jury and as expected, they believed them. Only one person was charged in the murders of
00:46:52
Benny King and Gary Ballace. Justin, Johnny, and Sarah were all ruled innocent, but Jason wasn't so lucky. In
00:47:01
2022, he was convicted of both of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.