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[Music]
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up next a young woman's missing and
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someone has stolen her identity no one
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saw her leave no one saw her arrive back
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at her apartment but who wanted to harm
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her she had received some harassing
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phone calls prior to her being reported
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missing eventually the forensic evidence
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provided those answers everybody in
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their brother was trying to make a deal
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with the devil let he who has no sin
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cast the first stone let me tell you I'd
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have no problem casting all the
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[Music]
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stones life was an adventure for
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28-year-old Denise O'Neal it was no trip
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she wouldn't take virtually no activity
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she wouldn't try she always loved to
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travel always either swimming or having
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a game of tennis or scuba diving going
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to museums and the Arts of course
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anything in the art she loved she just
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loved life she really loved
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[Music]
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life after graduating from college
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Denise took a job as a waitress in Palm
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Beach Florida while she looked for a job
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teaching English she knew the restaurant
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business from A to Z and certainly made
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very good money so why
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not Denise was a punctual
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employee but after missing two
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consecutive days of work without calling
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in her manager grew alarmed Denise had
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been employed at this restaurant for 2
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and A2 years and had never missed a day
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of work at all her employer notified the
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police department and they began a
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missing person's
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investigation police went to Denise's
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apartment her car was missing but there
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were no signs of a Breakin her apartment
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was extremely neat in order nothing
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seemed to be in
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disarray they also checked the phone
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answering machine Mach which provided a
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clue there was an early alert from a
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credit card company saying there was
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some unusual spending on one of her
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cards later that afternoon police found
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Ana's car in a parking lot across the
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street from her apartment they
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immediately felt that someone else must
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have been in the car because uh Miss
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O'Neal was a very very uh vidious person
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and the car was just the opposite a pink
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jacket belonging to Denise was on the
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back seat
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two soda bottles were on the floor there
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was a cigarette butt on the floor of the
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driver's side of the car and mral didn't
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smoke I noticed that there was white
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sand on the right rear floor mat we had
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sand on the driver's side and a small
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amount in the passenger
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side in Florida sand is quite common but
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not this kind of sand it wasn't beach
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sand it wasn't black mud it wasn't
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coarse brown sand it was unique it was
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consistent with
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Limestone police dusted the entire car
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inside and out for
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fingerprints we found over 20 prins in
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total they were all over the car they
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were on the inside they were on the
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trunk they were on the outside of the
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vehicle on the day Denise went missing
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her credit card revealed she bought a
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pair of women's sneakers at 2:30 in the
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afternoon but failed to show up for work
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at
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5:30 so somewhere in between that window
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something must have happened to her this
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was one of the best pieces of evidence
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for the police cuz it gave them a time
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frame no one at Denise's apartment had
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seen or heard anything
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suspicious but then a chilling call came
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in to
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911 do you have emergency uh apparently
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there's a body in the canal right by our
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house by the house where I'm at what
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kind of body a human body
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the body was very visible to the
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neighbor it looked like had been wrapped
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up in some large pink sheet dental
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records
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confirmed the victim was Denise
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O'Neal the body was bound her hands and
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feet were tied up with several
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implements shoestrings a dog leash a
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multicolor dog
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leash we were numb for like days we knew
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we had the
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barrier and we walking up
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um Palm Beach
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Boulevard it was so hot and we were
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freezing we were so
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cold and yet it was
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hot and you think you're dreaming you
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think you're going to wake up but you're
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not waking up
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all the horror the fear that that poor
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girl went through prior to her death the
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total disregard for human life it puts a
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lot of pressure on police to come up
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with a murderer cuz you know people feel
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like you know this could happen again to
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any one of
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us the medical examiner determined that
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the cause of Denise O'Neal's death was
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asphixiation she'd been strangled to
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[Music]
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death they also found evidence of sexual
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assault when the swab from the victim
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was analyzed in the DNA section a male
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profile was de velop investigators were
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puzzled by the two electrical cords used
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to tie the sheet around Denise's body
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these objects I've never seen before I
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was very suspicious as to what they even
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were I had no idea research identified
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them as heat rocks a heat rock is a
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pretty simple device it's a fake rock
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that gets heated up by electricity and
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people use it to warm cold-blooded
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animals like a pet snake
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investigators also found some unusual
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black hairs on the bed sheet microscopic
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analysis showed these were dog hairs my
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killer is going to own a black dog my
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killer is also going to own a reptile
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whether it be a snake or a lizard my
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killer is also going to have some type
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of association with a size 36 belt
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because it's a size belt that we found
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wrapped around Denise's body
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the sand found in Denise's car was
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similar to the sand in the area near her
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body proof Denise's car had been used to
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transport her body investigators knew
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that Denise had been abducted sometime
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between 230 and 5:30 on the day she
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disappeared her neighbors said they
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didn't see or hear anything suspicious
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not
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know what
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happened strange
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no clue later that same day someone used
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Denise's ATM card to withdraw
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$700 from her checking account the
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working assumption at this point for the
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cops was that whoever used that ATM card
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probably killed Denise
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O'Neal unfortunately the surveillance
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camera at the ATM wasn't functioning
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properly so it was impossible to tell
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who made the
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withdrawal then in investigators noticed
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something on the local
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newscasts this man one of Denise's
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neighbors kept turning up in various
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news stories about her
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disappearance this Behavior really
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struck police as odd because he wanted
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to be in front of the camera and he
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wanted to be interviewed in an interview
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given before Denise's body was found he
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made a surprising reference she's very
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quiet yeah I I try saying hi there
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sometimes she just don't say nothing so
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we always kept to herself what was most
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interesting was that he referred to
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Denise in the past
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tense she's very quiet yeah his name was
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LS cabalero and he was Denise's nextdoor
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neighbor and was
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unemployed but when police went to
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interview
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cabalero he wasn't home I happened to
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knock on door 737 which was right across
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the hall call from her apartment of
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738 while knocking on the door I heard a
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dog
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bark through a window investigators saw
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the Dog and Its
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coloring seeing a black chat with my own
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eyes the hair on the back of our necks
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stood up detectives asked another
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neighbor about
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calero the guy said the the only guy I
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know is the guy and he pointed up the
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guy that lives up there there you know
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the guy with the uh the chow and the boa
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constrictor said
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wow
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wow in the search for Denise O'Neal's
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killer investigators Prime Suspect lived
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just a few feet away from Denise's
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apartment it was her neighbor Lis
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cabalero when we first walked up on
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cabalero he told us he didn't say it
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directly but told us he really didn't
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like Denise he described her as being
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snoody calero denied any involvement in
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Denise's murder and said he had no
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relationship with her other than to say
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hello we discovered that Mr cabalero was
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in serious financial trouble he had a
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phone bill of $6,000 from phone sex
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lines that he had been calling that he
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was behind in his rent and that he could
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be evicted at any time Detective IV
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obtained a search warrant for cabalo's
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apartment what struck me immediately was
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the large amount of pornography inside
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the closet the type of pornography that
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was there dealt with a lot of violence
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it was real real sick stuff we did not
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find Denise O'Neal's fingerprints inside
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calero's apartment but they did discover
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other Clues I walked into the actual
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bedroom area and as I started to turn to
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the left I observed what appeared to be
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and thought was a fish aquarium they
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found Impressions at the bottom of the
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tank and it looked like they might be
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where the heat rocks had been a pair of
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heat rocks and the electrical cords were
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wrapped around Denise's body police also
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found a pair of black men's sneakers in
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cabalo's closet they didn't have any
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shoel in them Miss O'Neal had been bound
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with black colored
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shoelaces there was also a reddish brown
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stain on the bedroom carpet that might
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be blood to be sure investigators turned
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out the lights and sprayed the stain
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with
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luminol three very distinct blood stains
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emerged it appeared to be consistent
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with the outline of the buttox area of a
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human being also in cabalero bedroom
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investigators found several other
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important items we found a pair of
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scissors and trapped within the hinge of
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the scissors appeared to be blue colored
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fibers we knew that Miss O'Neal had been
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wearing a blue colored garment that had
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been cut cabalero maintained Denise had
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never been inside his apartment but
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under a cardboard box investigators
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found
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a gym membership card and when I picked
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it up and turned it over and it had
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Denise O'Neal's name on it I was
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ecstatic I didn't know her he says in
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front of the cameras well I've got you
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now because she's dead and her card is
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inside your
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house detectives believe this clue was
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left at the scene by a desperate Denise
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O'Neal
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I can't prove it but I'll always say
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that she put that card there that's the
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way it hit
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me my first question was have you ever
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detailed Denise's vehicle Louis cabalo's
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response was he's never been in her car
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or never detailed her car but analysts
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found cabalo's Prince inside Denise's
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car when faced with this evidence
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cabalero changed his story he now
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claimed he was an unwitting accomplice
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he said the real killer was his friend
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19-year-old Isaac
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Brown so Isaac approaches her and
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friends her in the hallway uh yes he
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approached her he DED her from
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behind as she was going into her door so
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now she's into your apartment yes Isaac
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has her on the belly and U I'm a little
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bit hysterical I never thought it was
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going to happen Brown who had no
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criminal record also confessed but said
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the killer was cabalero who was broke
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and desperate for money Brown said
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cabalero had been planning to Rob Denise
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for months there was just loose talk
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from cabalero saying that man I need I
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need to come up I need to I need to hit
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somebody I need some money right now and
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only person I can think of that's got
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some money right now is right there and
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he'd always point across the hallway
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everybody and their brother was trying
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to make a deal with the devil in other
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words every bad guy in this case was
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wanting to confess and plead out but get
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the best deal they could Brown's prints
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were found on a soda bottle in Denise's
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car proof he was involved despite Brown
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and calero's conflicting versions of
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what happened their stories were
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identical on one count they had
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breakfast together just hours after
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dumping Denise's body in the
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canal they went to an IHOP restaurant
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off a Commercial Boulevard in 441 in the
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city of tamarak investigators Tracked
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Down the receipt for that meal when it
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asked for the waitress to enter how many
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customers were present it didn't say two
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customers it said three customers this
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explained why the 36in belt used to wrap
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Denise's body didn't fit cabalero or
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brown and why the shoes without the
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shoelaces in Capo's apartment also
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didn't fit either one as well that led
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me to believe very strongly that I had a
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third killer that I had a third
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individual involved with the murder of
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Denise O'Neal but if there were a third
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perpetrator leis calero and Isaac Brown
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weren't talking
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[Music]
00:15:33
investigators now had two men in custody
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for the abduction and murder of Denise
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O'Neal leis cavalero and Isaac Brown not
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surprisingly each man identified the
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other as the
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killer complicating things further
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investigators discovered that a third
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man was with cabalero and brown on the
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morning they disposed of the body
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it is absolutely shocking the defense
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now can say the real culprit uh is out
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there the real culprit is the person who
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you have in charge but who was this
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third man when police did a background
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check on Lewis cabalero they learned
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he'd been arrested a month earlier for
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car theft and he had an
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accomplice he was with acquaintance of
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his Robert Messer 20-year-old Robert
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messer's fingerprints were on
00:16:36
file voila lo and behold there was Mr
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mes uh print on some of the items in the
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trunk of Denise O'Neal's car when police
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arrested Messer he too denied any
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involvement in the murder Robert mess
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told me I didn't kill her how dare you
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tell me that I'm the
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killer I'll tell tell you what happened
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I was
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there Messer said he did nothing but
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that cabalero and brown were both
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involved Messer said he was in calero's
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living room when cabalero and brown
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raped and murdered Denise O'Neal in the
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bedroom I sat there with my fingers in
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my ears and the TV was up loud I can
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barely hear the TV now but I heard her
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screams I heard her screaming
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all three men were charged with first
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deegree murder but when DNA results came
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back only one of the three leis capero
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was tied to the sexual
00:17:44
assault based on the forensic evidence
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and witness
00:17:49
interrogations investigators believe
00:17:51
cabalero plan the attack on an afternoon
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when Denise was doing her laundry
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[Music]
00:18:02
when no one was around he grabbed
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[Music]
00:18:08
her and forced her into his
00:18:14
apartment and with Isaac Brown's help
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gagged and tied her
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up he took her ATM card and forced her
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to divulge her pin number
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calero then left to get some money and
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on the way back picked up Robert
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Messer Isaac Brown stayed behind at some
00:18:41
point Denise was able to remove her gy
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membership card and hide it underneath a
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cardboard box leaving proof that she had
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been in cabalo's
00:18:56
apartment when cabalero returned turned
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with Messer he sexually assaulted
00:19:02
her then used electrical cords from the
00:19:06
heat rocks to strangle her to
00:19:12
death the trio wrapped Denise's body in
00:19:16
the sheet using the belt shoelaces and
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the electrical
00:19:23
cords they used Denise's car to drive to
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the canal where they dumped her her
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body they tracked sand into the car and
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left their fingerprints
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behind later the three went to
00:19:42
breakfast they were absolute bar burned
00:19:45
they should have been burned alive all
00:19:46
three of them and I make no bones about
00:19:49
it and they say don't who let he who has
00:19:52
no sin cast the first stone let me tell
00:19:54
you I'd have no problem casting all the
00:19:56
stones Robert Messer was tried and
00:19:59
convicted of manslaughter and sentenced
00:20:02
to 15 years Isaac Brown was convicted of
00:20:06
five counts including second degree
00:20:10
murder chances are this is where I'll
00:20:13
die in
00:20:15
prison I don't want for someone else to
00:20:18
have to go through what I'm doing when
00:20:20
all they could do is just make better
00:20:23
choices than who they call friends make
00:20:26
better choices and and you know how they
00:20:30
follow their
00:20:32
morals Lis cabalero was convicted of
00:20:35
kidnapping and murder and he now sits on
00:20:39
death row I thanked God for forensic
00:20:43
signs and thank God for the men and
00:20:45
women who donate their time to study it
00:20:49
to bring to Justice these monsters I am
00:20:51
very grateful for forensic science
00:20:54
Denise O'Neal is one of a few victims
00:20:59
that I've encountered through my tenure
00:21:02
with this agency that have affected me I
00:21:06
still think about Denise I still think
00:21:09
about her family
00:21:12
[Music]
