00:00:04
[Music]
00:00:39
the area where this occurred it's a very
00:00:41
nice area the homes are kind of spread
00:00:43
out they're not on top of each other
00:00:45
nice homes a higher end part of the
00:00:47
community where this
00:00:50
occurred it's a very quiet neighborhood
00:00:53
overall we don't respond to too many
00:00:55
calls in this
00:00:58
area it did not appear to be the place
00:01:01
that you would see a triple homicide and
00:01:04
something with such
00:01:09
violence in July 2015 the Sheriff's
00:01:13
Office responded to a 104 check or a
00:01:16
welfare check at a local residence a
00:01:20
gentleman by the name of Richard Smith
00:01:21
hadn't shown up for work for a couple of
00:01:24
days and his boss had gone out to the
00:01:28
house he had been off for one day but he
00:01:31
was off a second day unplanned and he's
00:01:34
supposed to be available 24 hours a day
00:01:36
by phone and his supervisor was unable
00:01:40
to reach him so it was highly unusual
00:01:42
and that's why his boss became concerned
00:01:45
and went to his residence to try and
00:01:46
check on
00:01:48
him he was a very well accomplished man
00:01:51
he worked for the Department of Homeland
00:01:54
[Music]
00:01:56
Security the family was well off they
00:01:59
had significant Investments but you
00:02:01
wouldn't know it by looking at the
00:02:03
family and and the way they
00:02:05
lived his family had over a million
00:02:08
something dollars in the
00:02:11
bank the circumstances of it were
00:02:14
sufficient to cause enough worry that
00:02:17
they called the Sheriff's
00:02:19
Office when law enforcement arrived at
00:02:21
the home they did a walk around of the
00:02:24
perimeter they noticed at the front door
00:02:26
there were a lot of packages in the
00:02:29
mailbox there were a lot of mail and
00:02:35
newspapers there didn't appear to be any
00:02:37
sort of broken windows or forced entry
00:02:40
so by all means the outside of the home
00:02:42
looked
00:02:43
[Music]
00:02:47
normal the first individuals to arrive
00:02:50
from the Sheriff's Office were the
00:02:51
patrol
00:02:53
deputies at that point it was determined
00:02:55
by the onse deputies to enter the
00:02:58
residence to see if they could locate
00:03:01
anyone inside because they also could
00:03:03
not get a response at the
00:03:05
door when law enforcement initially made
00:03:08
entry into the home there was a very
00:03:11
distinct smell that perhaps something
00:03:14
was a
00:03:15
Miss they noticed that the home seemed
00:03:17
to be cluttered there was a lot of just
00:03:21
living items from day-to-day
00:03:24
life but it was what you would call
00:03:26
maybe like a hoarding type of home
00:03:31
as we walked in there was like a den or
00:03:34
a you know a sitting room I guess we
00:03:37
enter this den area and there's a large
00:03:41
mass of clothes and blankets that are on
00:03:44
the floor just in front of the TV and I
00:03:47
could see just the tip of a shoe
00:03:50
sticking out from underneath all of
00:03:52
these
00:03:55
[Music]
00:03:58
blankets there was a pile on the couch
00:04:02
that was inside of the den
00:04:03
area there were two males inside of the
00:04:06
den area who were in their
00:04:17
40s we then backed out of that room and
00:04:21
continued through the kitchen and into
00:04:23
the living room in the living room I
00:04:26
observed some blood on the living room
00:04:28
floor and and there were carpets or area
00:04:32
rugs down on the floor leading from the
00:04:36
living room to the back
00:04:38
bedrooms in one of the bedrooms there
00:04:41
was another large mound of clothes and
00:04:45
there was a third victim buried
00:04:47
underneath all of those
00:04:49
clothes it was noted that there was a
00:04:51
female in one of the back bedrooms who
00:04:53
was in her
00:04:58
70s this was obviously a triple homicide
00:05:01
which is certainly very
00:05:02
[Music]
00:05:08
unusual a check of computer databases
00:05:11
and information from Richard Smith's
00:05:14
employer revealed that there was a half
00:05:17
brother that lived not too far away from
00:05:19
the home and he was contacted and agreed
00:05:23
to come to the home he was able to
00:05:26
identify his family members that lived
00:05:28
in the home Richard who was
00:05:31
49 John who was 47 and his mother Von
00:05:34
seil who was
00:05:39
[Music]
00:05:42
77 so we get into the victimology and we
00:05:46
want to get a full profile of each
00:05:48
victim so Von seal was in her late 7s
00:05:53
her husband had passed away um a few
00:05:56
years earlier and he had been fairly
00:05:59
successful life and had left a
00:06:01
significant amount of
00:06:04
money initially looking in at the
00:06:06
lifestyle of these three victims their
00:06:09
home was nice but it wasn't anything
00:06:11
lavish however once law enforcement was
00:06:14
able to look into their bank accounts
00:06:16
and their bank records it appeared that
00:06:18
they did have a significant amount of
00:06:20
money in different Investments all three
00:06:23
combines were just under a million
00:06:25
dollars just in their CDs and and bank
00:06:27
accounts and that did not include
00:06:28
obviously the value the home as well as
00:06:30
any life insurance that they may have
00:06:32
had on each
00:06:37
other over the years Miss Smith had
00:06:39
become disabled she didn't leave the
00:06:41
house much if at all and she typically
00:06:44
just sat there and uh watched TV and
00:06:46
ordered things from you know QVC or the
00:06:49
Home Shopping Network the younger
00:06:51
brother John who is 47 years old he had
00:06:56
some uh disabilities he worked at a
00:06:59
local wall Walmart he was pretty much
00:07:01
loved by all when we interviewed his uh
00:07:04
co-workers everybody loved John he was
00:07:07
going to be a hard worker he was fairly
00:07:08
quiet didn't really socialize a whole
00:07:11
lot but was by all accounts a fantastic
00:07:15
employee and just a a great guy to be
00:07:18
around Richard was a couple years older
00:07:21
than John and after his father past he
00:07:23
had taken on the role of really caring
00:07:26
for his mother and his brother
00:07:30
he would drive his brother to work he
00:07:32
would make sure that his mother was well
00:07:34
cared for and was fairly
00:07:42
reclusive so the patrol officers that
00:07:44
were on scene once they determined that
00:07:47
there was a homicide that occurred here
00:07:49
at the residence they secured the scene
00:07:52
to preserve the evidence and the
00:07:53
Integrity of the crime
00:07:56
scene the investigators Tak an overall
00:07:59
vanage point of the crime scene but the
00:08:01
actual crime scene work are done by the
00:08:03
crime scene technicians and they're the
00:08:05
ones that process the
00:08:07
scene they had to take a lot of
00:08:10
photographs as they peeled the layers of
00:08:12
the clothes back to make sure there was
00:08:14
no evidence in between the clothing that
00:08:16
was on the
00:08:17
[Applause]
00:08:19
individuals because the crime scene was
00:08:21
so complicated with the different layers
00:08:23
that were on top of the bodies it took
00:08:25
some time for them to actually remove
00:08:27
all of the layers on top of each of the
00:08:29
bodies to discover the
00:08:32
injuries the medical examiner actually
00:08:35
came out to the
00:08:38
scene right from the start we knew that
00:08:40
this was a brutal crime and that all
00:08:45
three victims had died in a very violent
00:08:48
manner all three victims likely had been
00:08:52
killed up close in personal by whoever
00:08:55
had conflicted this Terror on them it
00:08:57
was clear that John joh was killed in
00:09:01
the sofa where he was found there was a
00:09:04
significant amount of blood spatter
00:09:05
behind him and there was also some hair
00:09:09
and maybe brain matter that were on
00:09:10
boxes behind him we discovered that he
00:09:14
had blunt force trauma to the head and
00:09:16
also a knife wound or laceration to his
00:09:20
neck side of his neck throat
00:09:23
area Richard also appeared to be
00:09:26
murdered in the place where he was found
00:09:28
on the floor because of the significant
00:09:30
amount of blood that was underneath
00:09:33
him Richard had a gunshot wound to his
00:09:37
right ear and also had a knife wound to
00:09:40
his neck and throat area what ultimately
00:09:43
killed him was the knife wound to his
00:09:45
neck to the artery that made him bleed
00:09:47
out the gunshot wound to his ear was not
00:09:50
a fatal gunshot he would have survived
00:09:53
that but the medical examiner said it
00:09:55
probably knocked him out or temporarily
00:09:57
incapacitated him
00:10:02
Von's body had been moved we noticed in
00:10:05
the living room area she sat in a
00:10:08
particular chair and that chair was
00:10:10
covered in
00:10:11
[Music]
00:10:13
blood it was also determined that there
00:10:15
was some drag marks down a hallway to
00:10:17
the room where her body was ultimately
00:10:20
discovered Von seal the mother was also
00:10:22
had blunt force trauma to the top of her
00:10:25
head as well and had a knife wound to
00:10:28
her neck as
00:10:31
well and also had one of her fingers her
00:10:34
pinky that was half cut off and at that
00:10:38
point we weren't sure if it was a
00:10:40
defensive wound or what that was
00:10:42
about Von seal the blunt force trauma to
00:10:46
her head and also the knife W to her
00:10:49
neck would have caused death either one
00:10:51
of those but both of them were
00:10:53
ultimately the cause of her death and
00:10:55
the same thing with John as well
00:11:02
when you see up close and personal
00:11:05
injuries such as these of the three
00:11:08
victims only Richard was shot and he
00:11:12
wasn't only shot he was shot and he was
00:11:14
stabbed in the neck John and Von seal
00:11:17
were hit multiple times with a blunt
00:11:21
object and they were also stabbed to hit
00:11:25
somebody that many times and to stab
00:11:28
that person
00:11:30
shows uh amount of Rage or amount of
00:11:34
evil That You Don't See in a lot of
00:11:37
scenes when someone shoots somebody a
00:11:40
lot of times you know it's distant I
00:11:42
mean it's still evil but you know you
00:11:44
shoot somebody from across a room it's
00:11:47
not up close and personal this was up
00:11:50
close and personal
00:11:53
[Music]
00:12:02
even though the three main areas were
00:12:04
the den area the living room and the
00:12:06
bedroom where Vil was found the kitchen
00:12:09
area also became important because a
00:12:11
hammer was
00:12:14
discovered so they had to collect and
00:12:16
process that hammer and the sink itself
00:12:19
to see if there was any DNA evidence
00:12:21
from the victims or the suspect there at
00:12:23
the sink because the hammer had been
00:12:25
washed there was a trash can that was
00:12:27
discovered close to the back door in a
00:12:29
laundry room it had evidence of the
00:12:32
crime scene where it had been cleaned up
00:12:34
as well as her purse there was cigarette
00:12:36
butts and items from John and Richard
00:12:39
there as well and also in the kitchen uh
00:12:42
Richard's checkbook and his binder that
00:12:45
he always carried were in
00:12:51
there the police when they're
00:12:53
investigating any crime they they look
00:12:55
for what possibilities are there they
00:12:57
look to see if this was a for
00:13:00
entry and in this case even though the
00:13:02
home was very cluttered it didn't appear
00:13:04
to be ransacked and there were a number
00:13:07
of items of value around that could have
00:13:09
been taken had this been tied to a theft
00:13:12
or a
00:13:13
robbery Richard Smith's wallet was
00:13:15
missing but pretty much everything else
00:13:17
was there in the
00:13:21
home we're also looking at all
00:13:24
possibilities which is why we went and
00:13:27
talked to John's cooworker workers as
00:13:29
well and we found that really John
00:13:32
didn't have an enemy in this world no
00:13:34
one said a bad thing about him Von seal
00:13:37
or Richard for that matter they were
00:13:39
just very well-respected
00:13:41
[Music]
00:13:43
individuals at this early point in the
00:13:46
investigation we don't really have a
00:13:49
strong Theory we feel fairly confident
00:13:52
that this was not a random attack but we
00:13:57
also don't know exact
00:13:59
who to focus on at this point the
00:14:02
obvious concern would be anybody close
00:14:05
to the family that may frequent the home
00:14:07
and be welcome there but we still have
00:14:10
to figure out who comes over that house
00:14:13
on a regular basis and that's going to
00:14:15
take some Lake
00:14:21
work when law enforcement went to the
00:14:24
neighbors they really didn't gain a
00:14:26
whole lot of information
00:14:31
the other investigators on scene did an
00:14:33
area Canvas OR neighborhood canvas you
00:14:35
might call it where you go and knock on
00:14:37
the doors of the neighbors to see if you
00:14:39
can find any information out about the
00:14:41
individuals there at the
00:14:43
home everybody we talked to in the
00:14:46
neighborhood they didn't know much about
00:14:48
them they kind of knew their habits when
00:14:50
they came and left and stuff like that
00:14:52
and thought it was odd that you know
00:14:54
Richard's car was still there and he had
00:14:56
not been to work but other than that it
00:14:58
was just a family that kept to
00:15:00
themselves and minded their own
00:15:03
business once I had observed the crime
00:15:05
scene I really didn't know what to think
00:15:08
there's thoughts of run through your
00:15:09
have why did this happen who might have
00:15:11
done this obviously from just looking at
00:15:14
the crime scene it didn't appear to be a
00:15:16
robbery at face
00:15:17
value at that point you start wondering
00:15:20
who would want to do this to these
00:15:22
individuals and
00:15:26
why as the crime scene technicians are
00:15:29
processing the scene and the items that
00:15:30
they collected investigators are going
00:15:32
about contacting family members
00:15:34
contacting anyone who may know the
00:15:36
family contacting neighbors and asking
00:15:39
them what they saw or anything that
00:15:41
might have been out of the
00:15:44
ordinary we found one neighbor in
00:15:47
particular that was a very good witness
00:15:49
for us he tended to spend a lot of time
00:15:53
out on his front porch and this
00:15:56
particular neighborhood was a one-way in
00:15:59
One Way Out neighborhood and he was very
00:16:02
observant with every vehicle that came
00:16:04
into this neighborhood and he knew the
00:16:07
comings and goings of most of the people
00:16:08
around his immediate
00:16:12
home we also looked into Donald Hartong
00:16:16
as the half brother and his relationship
00:16:19
with the family
00:16:29
[Music]
00:16:32
investigator ninger took Donald hardung
00:16:34
from the scene to the esami county
00:16:37
sheriff's office to interview him
00:16:39
initially the purpose of the interview
00:16:41
was simply to get some background
00:16:42
information on the family members gather
00:16:45
what information investigator could from
00:16:47
Donald hardung since he was the only
00:16:49
family member that lived close by I was
00:16:51
very close to my mother you know my
00:16:53
father left me when I was a baby she
00:16:56
raised
00:16:57
me and uh
00:17:00
I was very very close to my mother
00:17:03
right and
00:17:07
uh I just can't imagine not being able
00:17:10
to see
00:17:13
her Donald he seemed to be very
00:17:16
forthcoming about his family told me
00:17:18
about him and his mother what type of
00:17:20
woman she was that he grew up in brute
00:17:23
in Alabama when he was young his two
00:17:26
brothers you know they were his half
00:17:28
Brothers they had a different father
00:17:30
than he did what's your relationship
00:17:32
with John and and Richard do you have
00:17:35
good relationships with them or yeah we
00:17:38
have great
00:17:40
relationships I mean do y'all do stuff
00:17:42
together y'all get along well we don't
00:17:44
really do a whole lot together we all
00:17:46
work all the time to hear Donald talk it
00:17:49
was a very good relationship he had with
00:17:52
his family everything was fine according
00:17:54
to Donald his family was last seen by
00:17:56
him on the 28th of July so that was the
00:17:59
last time we could confirm that anyone
00:18:01
had seen anyone of the family alive when
00:18:04
was the last time you saw your family
00:18:06
Tuesday I went over I always go over on
00:18:09
Tuesdays I got there probably about 1:
00:18:11
or 1:30 I stayed pretty much out in the
00:18:13
yard playing with the dogs go in talk to
00:18:15
Mama watch television together she loves
00:18:18
QVC she watches it all the time mhm and
00:18:21
uh she puts it on the news you know and
00:18:24
and I fix diner for them every Tuesday
00:18:26
so we had fried chicken green beans
00:18:30
corn and biscuits and french
00:18:34
fries
00:18:36
okay is there any leftovers or anything
00:18:39
well yeah I always put RT's in the stove
00:18:42
I always put his in the stove his is
00:18:44
always in the stove when he gets home
00:18:45
from work cuz he don't sometimes he
00:18:46
don't get in until 8 9:00 now was he
00:18:49
there when you were there Tuesday no I
00:18:51
never saw RT most of the time I leave
00:18:54
before he gets home okay normally we
00:18:56
watch the national news in five at 5:30
00:18:59
and then I leave right after that and
00:19:01
that's about what time I left was
00:19:02
between I say between 5:30 and 6: right
00:19:05
in there okay there's always a
00:19:07
possibility that something else could be
00:19:09
involved however when investigator
00:19:12
infinger interviewed Donald Hartung his
00:19:15
response to questions and his demeanor
00:19:18
were very suspicious and so he obviously
00:19:21
was a suspect because he was a family
00:19:24
member and he did live close by but his
00:19:27
reaction to questions in the interview
00:19:29
raised some questions how does it make
00:19:31
you feel to hear that your family was
00:19:33
killed makes me feel pretty
00:19:40
bad I mean you don't
00:19:43
seem well I upet I've got to control
00:19:46
myself here so I've got to take care of
00:19:49
this and during the course of his
00:19:51
interview it seemed clear that he had
00:19:54
put a timeline together that would show
00:19:57
Law Enforcement that he was not involved
00:19:59
because he was at home and and watching
00:20:01
TV his statements really seem to be
00:20:05
rehearsed let's go over your timeline
00:20:07
one more time okay that way I have it
00:20:10
all
00:20:12
straight I got there about
00:20:15
one when I finish cooking and I get it
00:20:18
all ready I give Mama hers John comes
00:20:22
and he gets his I go outside I smoke a
00:20:24
cigarette then I come back in and I've
00:20:26
already got my plate ready I sit down
00:20:27
and eat that's what I do every every
00:20:28
single
00:20:29
week okay what time you think it was
00:20:32
when you
00:20:33
left 6:00 at latest maybe 5:30 during
00:20:37
Donald's first interview he said that he
00:20:39
left before Richard had gotten home we
00:20:41
had a picture of Richard when he left
00:20:44
work so we knew exactly what time he
00:20:47
left work and approximately how long it
00:20:49
took him to get
00:20:51
home investigators spoke with one
00:20:54
neighbor who indicated that Richard was
00:20:56
home when Donald was home and that
00:20:59
Donald left after Richard got home this
00:21:02
blew uh a hole in Donald hartung's story
00:21:05
to investigators as to when he left and
00:21:08
when Richard got
00:21:11
home every bit of evidence located by
00:21:13
the investigators showed that this
00:21:15
homicide took place on the 28th on
00:21:18
Tuesday after Richard had gotten home
00:21:20
from
00:21:21
work once investigators were able to
00:21:24
determine when this crime occurred the
00:21:27
evidence at that point showed that
00:21:28
Donald Hartung would have been the last
00:21:30
one to have seen
00:21:32
them all these things are starting to
00:21:35
add up and paint a timeline of Donald
00:21:38
being the last one with his family he
00:21:40
cooks some dinner they eat it they they
00:21:44
don't digest it so Donald is looking
00:21:46
more and more like a suspect at this
00:21:51
point we brought Donald back down to the
00:21:54
Sheriff's office again so during that
00:21:56
interview kind of went over his story
00:21:58
again just to lock him into something
00:22:00
and at that point got a little more
00:22:03
forceful with Donald just kind of
00:22:05
accused him of probably killing his
00:22:07
family stuff like that and he still
00:22:10
showed no
00:22:12
emotion let me tell you if my whole
00:22:14
family
00:22:15
was murder I would be sh a little bit
00:22:18
more emotional than you do
00:22:22
D
00:22:25
okay be showing plenty of emotion
00:22:27
believe me have already already showed
00:22:28
some
00:22:30
emotion
00:22:32
to well not to not not to many people
00:22:35
but I've got my way of handling things
00:22:38
how do you handle
00:22:40
things I'll hold it inside I don't want
00:22:44
so the first day when I talked to him
00:22:46
his demeanor was strange but the second
00:22:47
day insinuating to him and accusing him
00:22:50
of killing his mother and brothers and
00:22:52
still not getting angry or upset at that
00:22:55
point it was very strange to me were
00:22:58
there things going on in your family and
00:23:00
you've held it in for so
00:23:02
long that finally you had enough there
00:23:06
was angry nothing going on in my family
00:23:09
nothing at all and killed your mom I did
00:23:12
not kill my mother and then killed your
00:23:16
brother I would never kill my mom or my
00:23:21
brother either one of my
00:23:26
brothers I mean do I look like kind of a
00:23:28
broom and maniac to you
00:23:32
people through our entire investigation
00:23:34
we never found anybody that had actually
00:23:37
been to the home other than the other
00:23:40
half brother in the family which was
00:23:41
Donald
00:23:43
Harton there were no friends or family
00:23:45
from work that had ever gone to the home
00:23:47
to visit or have dinner they really
00:23:50
didn't socialize a whole
00:23:53
[Music]
00:23:54
lot once there were some holes that were
00:23:57
punched into Donald's timeline and his
00:24:00
story about when he had last been at the
00:24:02
home and when he had last seen Richard
00:24:04
the focus obviously became a little bit
00:24:06
more onto him as the suspect for these
00:24:11
homicides law enforcement then got a
00:24:13
search warrant for his home to search
00:24:15
for anything that could be of interest
00:24:17
in relation to the homicides and it was
00:24:20
that point they discovered in Donald's
00:24:22
home that he had a room set up that
00:24:23
appeared to be unusual there were some
00:24:26
braids of hair that were hanging on the
00:24:28
wall walls there were some books related
00:24:31
to the Wiccan religion and Witchcraft
00:24:34
there was a Ouija board inside this room
00:24:36
and it appeared to be dedicated to these
00:24:39
different artifacts and very different
00:24:50
items when I asked Donald about the
00:24:53
wiccan stuff in his home he said that he
00:24:55
was just kind of by himself a Wiccan
00:24:57
didn't participate in a cult and just
00:25:00
kind of practiced it on his own I do
00:25:02
have Ouija board I have a prayer room
00:25:06
are you do you are you a Wiccan or yeah
00:25:08
I'm a Wiccan you are I've been a Wiccan
00:25:10
for about 3 years have you yeah what is
00:25:14
that it's a Pagan religion does it have
00:25:17
to do with
00:25:18
like uh moon phases and stuff like that
00:25:22
yes it does has a lot to do with moon
00:25:24
phases I asked him if he offered up
00:25:27
sacrifices or anything anything of that
00:25:28
nature what exactly wiccans do cuz I
00:25:31
didn't know no no there's no sacrifices
00:25:34
in Wick really no and some of these
00:25:38
wicked things in July and August when
00:25:42
there's two full
00:25:45
moons sometimes they'll uh offer a
00:25:49
sacrifice yeah well I don't offer
00:25:53
sacrifices
00:25:55
ever they drain the blood out of their
00:25:59
sacrifice and hit them in the
00:26:03
head I don't know anything about that
00:26:05
cover then they cover them to keep them
00:26:09
warm I don't know anything about that I
00:26:13
mean I I've never sacrifice I wouldn't
00:26:15
hurt a chicken that's the same way your
00:26:18
family was
00:26:18
[Music]
00:26:22
killed that's the same way my family was
00:26:24
killed
00:26:27
mhm you went over there and you killed
00:26:30
your mother and you killed your brother
00:26:33
and then you waited and RT got home and
00:26:36
you killed
00:26:38
him okay yes sir and you killed them all
00:26:41
the same
00:26:43
way stabing
00:26:46
them stabbing them they were
00:26:49
stabbed mhm my
00:26:52
God I thought you said they were shot in
00:26:54
the head I did tell you that last time
00:27:03
I don't do animal sacrifices and I sure
00:27:05
did sacrifice my family if you think
00:27:07
Wick's got something to do with this
00:27:08
your way out there I would never hurt
00:27:12
anything
00:27:15
never I sure wouldn't he said he just
00:27:17
was a solo practitioner wasn't a member
00:27:20
of any occult and just it was his own
00:27:23
thing that he did so don't you think
00:27:25
it's pretty much a coincidence that
00:27:27
you're a Wiccan in your family killed
00:27:29
like a Wiccan
00:27:31
sacrifice I don't know anything about
00:27:33
Wiccan
00:27:35
sacrifices I don't know a thing about
00:27:37
anything like that if you know about the
00:27:39
Blue Moon and all that kind of stuff you
00:27:41
do well I know about the Blue Moon I
00:27:43
know it's two full moons but I mean it's
00:27:46
been all over the
00:27:50
radio once Donald's house was searched
00:27:53
it became of interest to investigations
00:27:55
to look into the Wiccan religion to see
00:27:58
if perhaps this was some sort of
00:28:00
religious ceremony or to see if it had
00:28:02
some type of involvement in the
00:28:04
homicides of the
00:28:06
victims when it was put out to the media
00:28:10
it kind of blew up that it could have
00:28:12
possibly been a ritualistic killing
00:28:14
because it occurred when there was a
00:28:15
blue moon in our area this homicide
00:28:18
gained national news because of this
00:28:21
assertion that perhaps it was a a blue
00:28:23
moon homicide or related to Witchcraft
00:28:26
or the Wiccan religion but but it also
00:28:28
offended people that are members of the
00:28:30
Wiccan religion and we also learned that
00:28:32
it actually had nothing to do with the
00:28:35
murder of these three individuals while
00:28:37
we certainly understand that the
00:28:39
investigators need to look into every
00:28:41
aspect of a homicide and they did their
00:28:43
research on you know this Wiccan
00:28:45
religion in the blue moon for the state
00:28:47
attorney's office and for the
00:28:49
prosecutors it was really just kind of a
00:28:50
distraction for us we were more
00:28:52
interested in just getting down to the
00:28:54
facts of the case the motive for the
00:28:56
homicides and for getting jus for this
00:28:59
[Music]
00:29:02
family at this point in the
00:29:05
investigation we're becoming fairly
00:29:06
focused on Donald Hartung as our suspect
00:29:10
you have the right to remain silent
00:29:12
anything you said can be us evidence
00:29:14
against you in there were some definite
00:29:16
discrepancies in his interview with the
00:29:18
sheriff's office he didn't appear to be
00:29:22
truthful about the time that he left the
00:29:23
home he didn't appear to be truthful
00:29:25
about the exact relationship with his
00:29:27
brother
00:29:28
[Music]
00:29:30
others Donald was the half brother to
00:29:33
Richard and John they had vonal the
00:29:36
mother in common but different fathers
00:29:39
Donald was a child by Von Seal's first
00:29:42
marriage and John and Richard were from
00:29:46
her second marriage the family Dynamics
00:29:49
showed a strained relationship between
00:29:53
particularly Richard and Donald some of
00:29:56
Richard's co-workers would would tell us
00:29:59
that he wasn't very keen on spending
00:30:01
time with Donald that Donald made him
00:30:04
somewhat uncomfortable and that Richard
00:30:05
would work late on Tuesday nights uh so
00:30:09
he didn't have to go home and see Donald
00:30:12
because he knew that Tuesday nights were
00:30:13
when Don was going to be there cooking
00:30:15
for the family so there's definitely a
00:30:16
strange relationship between the the
00:30:18
brothers as far as I'm concerned me and
00:30:21
my mama and my brothers we were close do
00:30:24
same like Mom love your half Brothers
00:30:28
more than she loved you no never it
00:30:31
never seemed like my mom loved my
00:30:33
brothers more than she she loved all of
00:30:35
us although Donald Tung represented to
00:30:38
investigators that he was very close to
00:30:40
his family that they had a great
00:30:42
relationship and that they were all very
00:30:43
close there were some out of town family
00:30:46
members that were contacted who gave
00:30:48
quite a different story they told us
00:30:51
that in fact Donald was kind of the
00:30:53
black sheep of the family so we spoke to
00:30:56
some of the family members up from
00:30:58
brutin they were Von Seal's kin folks
00:31:01
and they gave us a little different
00:31:04
Outlook of the relationship between
00:31:06
Donald and the
00:31:08
family Donald was not as financially
00:31:11
well off as his brothers Donald had a
00:31:15
kind of a low-end menial job he lived by
00:31:19
himself in a
00:31:21
smaller somewhat unkempt
00:31:25
home whereas the Smith family was
00:31:28
financially very well off the bank
00:31:31
accounts between Richard John and vonal
00:31:33
combined totaled nearly a million
00:31:35
dollars in liquid
00:31:37
assets Donald he worked as a security
00:31:39
guard at uh Sacred Heart Hospital here
00:31:41
in Pensacola he basically didn't own
00:31:45
anything other than his car and worked
00:31:47
paycheck to paycheck where as his family
00:31:50
they had plenty of money now they lived
00:31:53
a very simple life they didn't live
00:31:55
extravagant where you would know they
00:31:56
had a lot of money if you saw them but
00:31:58
they had over a million something
00:32:00
dollars in the bank so Donald I think
00:32:03
was a little jealous of
00:32:07
that after the deaths of the Smith
00:32:10
family some family members came in and
00:32:13
were cleaning out the home and they came
00:32:16
across a will in a filing cabinet that
00:32:18
had not been filed they took it to a
00:32:21
local attorney and asked that it be
00:32:24
filed and we subsequently interviewed
00:32:27
that attorney and family members and it
00:32:30
was discovered that Donald Haron had
00:32:32
been written out of the
00:32:34
will Von seal had left the entire estate
00:32:38
valued it over a million dollars to
00:32:41
Richard and John the only way that
00:32:45
Donald was ever going to get any part of
00:32:47
that estate was if not just his mother
00:32:51
but if his mother and both brothers were
00:32:53
also
00:32:55
dead so Donald really is our Prime
00:32:58
Suspect but we still don't have any
00:33:00
direct evidence that ties Donald Hartong
00:33:05
to this crime I mean he's the last one
00:33:07
that we can prove saw his family alive
00:33:10
but we don't have the proverbial Smoking
00:33:13
Gun we we need some hard forensic
00:33:15
evidence in order to advance this entire
00:33:21
investigation the physical evidence
00:33:23
coming from the lab took some time it
00:33:26
took until October for the DNA evidence
00:33:28
to start to be processed and the results
00:33:31
to start to come in and this was a big
00:33:33
turning point in the case in the
00:33:34
investigation when a suspect is a friend
00:33:39
or family member of a victim and they're
00:33:41
welcome in the home where the victims
00:33:44
are found it's entirely expected that we
00:33:47
will find their DNA in that home the
00:33:50
difference is where we find that DNA if
00:33:54
we found the DNA on a tap for the
00:33:56
kitchen sink or something it really
00:33:58
wouldn't mean much but having DNA on the
00:34:02
latch of Von Seal's purse that is in
00:34:06
between cigarette butts with Donald
00:34:09
hartung's DNA top and bottom that's
00:34:13
significant Donald hartung's DNA was
00:34:15
also found on a computer bag belonging
00:34:19
to Richard Smith Richard was known to
00:34:22
carry that computer case with him just
00:34:25
what everywhere he went and he had that
00:34:27
computer case with him when he went to
00:34:29
work that day there really would be no
00:34:32
reason for Donald hardung to touch that
00:34:35
computer bag that bag was subsequently
00:34:37
found on the kitchen counter in a
00:34:40
completely different room from where
00:34:41
Richard's body was found therefore it
00:34:44
was significant that Donald hartung's
00:34:47
DNA was on both his mother's purse and
00:34:51
his brother's computer
00:34:54
bag the other place that we subsequently
00:34:57
found a it was very telling was on the
00:35:00
inside of Richard's belt loop his belt
00:35:04
itself Richard's belt had been pulled
00:35:07
out from the back of his pants it just
00:35:09
kind of had a little Arch to it and
00:35:13
Donald hartung's DNA was found on that
00:35:15
belt it seemed to me to be a natural
00:35:18
grab point if someone was to try to
00:35:20
slide a body over or you you could grab
00:35:24
that belt and kind of get your fingers
00:35:25
up underneath it and pull the body away
00:35:28
and again why would Donald Tong's DNA be
00:35:31
on the back of his brother's belt and on
00:35:36
his brother's computer case and on his
00:35:38
mother's purse this is all painting a
00:35:40
very compelling picture that Donald
00:35:42
Haron is our
00:35:48
guy this trash can almost appeared to be
00:35:51
a timeline of Donald's day in the house
00:35:54
on July 28th of 2015 and once the
00:35:57
Witnesses were contacted and then the
00:36:00
forensics came back that showed DNA in
00:36:02
places where it should not have been
00:36:04
Donald's timeline of his events on July
00:36:07
28th were discredited during my
00:36:09
interview with Donald I asked him if he
00:36:11
had ever touched anything of Richards
00:36:13
and he said no I never touched anything
00:36:16
of Richard's personal belongings well we
00:36:18
got some DNA back off of Richard's
00:36:21
checkbook which was inside Richard's
00:36:23
binder so there's no way Donald's DNA
00:36:27
would have gotten there just him being
00:36:29
in the house on something that was
00:36:31
inside Richard's binder so he had to
00:36:33
touch it and that puts him there when
00:36:36
he's killed because we knew when Richard
00:36:39
had left work and when he was killed cuz
00:36:41
he was wearing the same clothes when he
00:36:43
left work that he was found in so we
00:36:47
knew then that Donald was our
00:36:50
[Music]
00:36:53
guy we were able finally to get a
00:36:56
warrant uh for Don arrest for three
00:36:59
counts of first deegree premeditated
00:37:01
murder and Donald was ultimately
00:37:03
arrested on October the 27th of
00:37:05
2015 once the arrest is made it's at
00:37:08
that point that the state prosecutors
00:37:10
step in and really put the case together
00:37:13
with a fine tooth comb we make sure that
00:37:15
all of our eyes are dotted and our tees
00:37:17
are crossed because at that point our
00:37:19
burden of proof is beyond a reasonable
00:37:24
doubt while Donald Hartung was in jail
00:37:27
while awaiting his trial there was a
00:37:29
cellmate of his who reached out to our
00:37:31
investigator and he provided very
00:37:33
pertinent information that we felt
00:37:36
helped seal the case on May 4th of
00:37:39
2016 I went and spoke with an inmate U
00:37:43
Marlin
00:37:44
Purifoy and he was a cmate with uh
00:37:47
Donald in the Escambia County Jail and
00:37:50
during that interview he told us things
00:37:53
that no one would have known unless
00:37:55
Donald told him because we I wasn't even
00:37:57
aware of
00:37:59
it the information provided by the
00:38:02
cellmate was the fact that Donald
00:38:05
Hartung knew that his mother had a will
00:38:08
he knew that he had been excluded from
00:38:10
the will over a million dollars of his
00:38:12
family's estate he was very angry about
00:38:15
that he had planned this homicide for
00:38:18
some time and he also provided
00:38:20
information to the inmate about some of
00:38:23
the family dynamics that were not known
00:38:25
to anybody
00:38:27
the other thing this informant told us
00:38:30
was that all of these clothes and
00:38:32
blankets and everything were piled on
00:38:34
the victims that was an attempt to throw
00:38:38
off the investigation by keeping the
00:38:40
body heat in and making it more
00:38:43
difficult for investigators to determine
00:38:45
an actual time of death I mean Hartong
00:38:48
knew that it would become apparent
00:38:50
through the investigation that he was
00:38:52
only at that residence on
00:38:55
Tuesdays if he could keep the body iies
00:38:57
warm and make it appear that they were
00:39:00
killed sometime later in the week than
00:39:02
Tuesday it would give him more of an
00:39:04
alibi it's always risky using a
00:39:07
jailhouse informant you wonder about
00:39:09
their credibility you wonder that
00:39:11
they're always trying to look out for
00:39:13
themselves but in this case the jail
00:39:15
house informant the information he had
00:39:18
was what made him credible it coincided
00:39:20
with the scene and other evidence that
00:39:23
we had plain and simple he was after the
00:39:26
money he thought that he could take out
00:39:29
the the family and he'd be the only one
00:39:31
left and set to inherit all the money
00:39:33
Donald being the only living relative if
00:39:35
he would have gotten away with this he
00:39:37
would have inherited you know
00:39:38
approximately over $2
00:39:42
[Music]
00:39:46
million in between the time that Donald
00:39:49
was arrested and the time we went to
00:39:50
trial took a pretty significant amount
00:39:53
of time it was several years partially
00:39:56
because it was a very complicated case
00:39:59
we had three bodies there was a very
00:40:00
complicated crime scene there were
00:40:02
depositions that were being taken there
00:40:04
were motions that were being filed but
00:40:06
also the state was seeking the death
00:40:08
penalty and when the state seeks the
00:40:10
death penalty that puts a lot of work on
00:40:12
the state and the defense to get ready
00:40:13
for
00:40:15
[Music]
00:40:17
trial the actual first day of the trial
00:40:20
is filled with some sense of a little
00:40:22
bit of anxiety because here we are going
00:40:24
on this major triple homicide case that
00:40:26
had got gotten so much media coverage so
00:40:29
there is a level of nervousness but
00:40:30
there's also a level of relief that
00:40:32
we're finally
00:40:34
here so what we're trying to do at the
00:40:36
very beginning of the trial is just
00:40:38
explain to the jurors how the process
00:40:40
worked from the beginning to the end so
00:40:43
we start with the First Responders we
00:40:44
start with the crime scene technicians
00:40:46
we start with forensics and just kind of
00:40:48
lay it out in chronological order we
00:40:51
presented evidence of video footage
00:40:54
showing the last time Richard left his
00:40:56
job we showed video footage of the last
00:40:59
time John left his job again just trying
00:41:01
to show the jurors the chronological
00:41:03
order of evidence and when these victims
00:41:05
were last
00:41:06
seen on day three we presented
00:41:09
evidence that focused on Donald Hartung
00:41:12
and the victims we presented Witnesses
00:41:14
who talked about the victims and what
00:41:17
their Lifestyles were like what their
00:41:18
personalities were like what they did on
00:41:21
a day-to-day basis and we also presented
00:41:23
testimony and evidence from Donald
00:41:25
hartung's home with the inside of his
00:41:27
home looked like where he lived his room
00:41:30
that was dedicated to you know the
00:41:32
wiccan books and the Witchcraft and
00:41:34
things of those Natures just so that the
00:41:36
jurors could
00:41:37
see all told there were almost 30
00:41:40
Witnesses called by the state to prove
00:41:42
this case and each one of them was a
00:41:44
piece of the puzzle to show the picture
00:41:46
that Donald Haron was guilty although
00:41:48
the case was mostly circumstantial we
00:41:51
certainly felt like once all of the
00:41:53
pieces were put together we had a pretty
00:41:56
strong case to present to to the jury
00:41:58
you obviously never know what a jury's
00:41:59
going to do so we didn't want to walk in
00:42:01
overconfident or cocky but we certainly
00:42:04
felt comfortable that we could put it
00:42:05
all together in a way that would show
00:42:07
the jurors that Donald Hartung was
00:42:11
guilty after taking almost 5 years to to
00:42:14
get this case to trial after almost a
00:42:17
month of of trial this case came down to
00:42:21
the jury and when they go out after
00:42:23
closings it's out of our hands we've
00:42:26
done all the work we could do and and
00:42:28
it's up to them to see what the true
00:42:30
verdict should
00:42:31
[Music]
00:42:33
be when we transition to the Penalty
00:42:35
phase the pace doesn't stop it is still
00:42:38
Full Speed Ahead for the prosecution
00:42:40
there's no sitting back and and
00:42:42
celebrating at this point we are still
00:42:44
pushing forward as we still have a job
00:42:46
to do the jury is making the
00:42:50
determination as to whether Mr Hong
00:42:52
should spend the rest of his life in
00:42:54
prison or be sentenced to death
00:42:57
the evidence presented in the penalty
00:42:59
phase consisted of not only the evidence
00:43:01
that they heard at trial but also Victim
00:43:04
Impact statements where family members
00:43:06
got to give statements as to what the
00:43:09
family members meant to them and what
00:43:11
their deaths had meant to the
00:43:13
family in the State of Florida there are
00:43:16
only two punishments for first-degree
00:43:18
murder that's either life in state
00:43:19
prison or the death penalty and for the
00:43:22
death penalty to be imposed the jury has
00:43:24
to be unanimous in recommending that
00:43:31
after a month's worth of trial and about
00:43:34
4 hours worth of deliberation the jury
00:43:36
came back guilty is charged for
00:43:39
first-degree murder for all three
00:43:43
counts after the verdict Donald Hartung
00:43:46
was sentenced to three life sentences
00:43:49
and again zero emotion no emotion
00:43:57
[Music]
00:43:59
although this case generated a lot of
00:44:01
publicity for different various reasons
00:44:04
this case came down to one thing and
00:44:05
that was money it was greed it was
00:44:07
Donald hardung thinking he could kill
00:44:09
his whole family and inherit
00:44:12
money what made this case so difficult
00:44:15
as well is that these were what we would
00:44:18
consider true victims they were three
00:44:20
family members that just took care of
00:44:22
each other they worked they didn't do
00:44:25
anything illegal they were just there to
00:44:27
look after one another they had built
00:44:30
you know a sum of money so that they
00:44:32
could you know protect each other and
00:44:35
all of their lives were taken in cases
00:44:37
like this there are no real winners we
00:44:39
still have three citizens that have been
00:44:41
brutally murdered but it does bring
00:44:43
satisfaction to bring Justice to the
00:44:45
community and to the remaining family
00:44:48
members in this
00:44:50
case yeah looking back on this case it
00:44:53
sticks out in my career because these
00:44:56
were three
00:44:57
true victims of a crime they weren't out
00:45:01
committing crime selling drugs or
00:45:03
anything like that you know they were
00:45:05
just minding their own business and
00:45:07
ultimately killed by one of their own
00:45:09
family members it was very tragic
00:45:11
[Music]
00:45:13
incident I've learned one thing in my
00:45:16
years of doing this law enforcement work
00:45:18
most people are good but there's a small
00:45:20
percentage of people that are capable of
00:45:23
truly evil
00:45:25
acts and regardless of the motivation of
00:45:28
this this was a truly evil act and it
00:45:31
was really important for us to find who
00:45:34
did it prove who did it and hold him
00:45:38
accountable professionally all homicide
00:45:42
cases are important and significant this
00:45:46
case sticks out though for the greed
00:45:48
that took place one person to wipe out
00:45:50
his entire family for for one reason and
00:45:53
and that's money
00:45:59
[Music]
00:46:30
[Music]
