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[Music]
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up next
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the murder of a funeral director
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it just didn't make sense it didn't ring
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clear at all
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cell phone records provided some
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important evidence
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there was a whole lot more to this story
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than what was originally thought
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but a homemade mask found near the scene
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indicated
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the victim and killer knew one another
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i'm thinking we've messed something up
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somewhere we've made a mistake
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[Music]
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in the small town of navasota texas
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lonnie turner
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was an important figure lonnie was the
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owner
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operator of a local funeral home there
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in navasota
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he was a well-respected member of the
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community at large
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he would help the needy i mean if you
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didn't have money or you didn't have
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insurance to take care of a service he
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would tote the note for you
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a lot of times he went unpaid
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and lonnie was one of the first
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african-american members of the city
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council
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and the school board he broke down a lot
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of racial barriers
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good businessman all-around good guy
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one november night shortly before
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midnight
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lonnie's son arrived home and discovered
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the light bulb had been unscrewed near
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the door
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on the back porch he noticed the tv is
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only the den
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the lights are on and he goes back to
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dad's room
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he saw lights on under his father's
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bedroom door which was unusual for this
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time of night
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so he looked inside
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he noticed what appeared to be some
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blood on the wall he saw that his father
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was there
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in an area between the edge of the bed
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and the bedroom wall he gets scared
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and he runs to his room and he lifts up
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his mattress to get a gun
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then he ran outside and called police
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[Music]
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and everything in a panic
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lonnie jr got in his car and drove to
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the police station
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when police arrived at the turner's home
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a short time later
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the victim's brother lawson answered the
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door
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lawson said he just arrived and when he
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got there he hadn't seen his brother or
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his nephew lonnie jr
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and so he was going to stay with his
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brother overnight he goes through the
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house and he doesn't see
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lonnie senior so he's thinking he's out
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on a call
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so he was gonna go ahead and get ready
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and get ready for bed because he had to
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get up the next morning
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they took him out and treated him as if
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he may be the shooter
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police found lonnie senior dead on the
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floor of his bedroom
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shot twice at close range
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they found two spent nine millimeter
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shell casings
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in the police cruiser officers told
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lawson
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that his brother had been murdered
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[Music]
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this is unbelievable
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oh no i was out there that night and he
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just
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he cried like a baby he was extremely
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upset
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police found no signs of forced entry
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nothing was stolen
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even though there was seven thousand
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dollars in cash in a safe
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in an adjacent room the safe was
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actually open
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there were firearms all over the house
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and none of those items seemed to have
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been touched
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at the police station the victim's son
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loni junior told police he had no
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idea who would have done this do you
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know anybody would want to hurt your dad
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i don't want to do something like this
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nobody no nobody
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just enemies it you know but police were
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confused by the stories given by the
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victim's brother lawson
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and by the victim's son who'd left the
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scene after
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calling police and those stories were
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about to get
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even stranger
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virtually everyone on the navasota texas
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police force knew lonnie turner
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he ran the town's most successful
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funeral home
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and was a civic leader we spent time
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at the funeral homes we respected him
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and respected the fact that
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he was not only a friend to us but he
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was a leader and a role model
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the crime scene gave every indication
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that lonnie was in bed asleep
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but woke up saw he was in danger and
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lifted his arm to protect himself
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the first shot hit him in the forearm as
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the shooting began he had actually
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rolled
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to his left during the shooting and roll
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completely off of the bed
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the second shot hit him in the chest
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start looking at people that knew him or
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had a reason to kill him
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investigators were troubled by the
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movements of the victim's son
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lonnie jr and the victim's brother
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lawson
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on the night of the murder lonnie jr
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said he came home found his father
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injured in the bedroom
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then grabbed his gun and cell phone
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called police
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and drove to the police station by his
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own admission
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lonnie said he called police without
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even checking to see if his father was
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still
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alive we started asking him
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well why didn't you go check on your dad
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you know was he still breathing
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was he trying to say anything to you and
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lonnie didn't even do that
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it just didn't make sense it didn't ring
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clear at all
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it was one of the strangest stories i've
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had from a murder suspect
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and there have been some pretty strange
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stories even stranger
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was what happened next shortly after
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lonnie jr left
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but before police arrived the victim's
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brother lawson
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claimed he arrived from out of town and
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let himself into the house
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he was going to stay with his brother
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overnight lawson was scheduled to
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referee
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college football in houston the next day
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when he heard no answer he assumed his
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brother was out on a funeral call
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picking up a body
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so when police arrived he was completely
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unaware
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a crime had been committed lonnie turner
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was killed with a nine millimeter weapon
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interestingly police found a nine
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millimeter
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taurus handgun under lonnie jr's
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mattress
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in his bedroom test fired from that gun
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were compared to a bullet recovered from
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lonnie's senior's body
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i was able to determine that the
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question bullet from autopsy was fired
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in the submitted taurus pistol
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fingerprints on that gun matched lonnie
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jr's
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when questioned lonnie told police he
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wasn't surprised his nine-millimeter gun
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was used as the murder weapon he claimed
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the gun had been stolen two weeks
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earlier
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we thought that was kind of strange he
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never reported that gun stolen
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to law enforcement all of a sudden
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reappears underneath the mattress and in
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the house
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police performed a gunshot residue test
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on both the victim's brother
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lawson and the victim's son lonnie jr
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lawson tested negative he also passed a
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polygraph
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and he had no motive no real reason for
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him to have shot his brother
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but gunshot residue was found on lani's
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hands
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he said this probably happened because
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he grabbed his 38 caliber handgun for
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protection
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before calling police to check
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lonnie's alibi investigators first had
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to estimate the time of his father's
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murder
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we started checking to see who last
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spoke delaney senior
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we determined that he spoke to a female
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friend of his around 9 15.
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and when lawson tried to call his
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brother lonnie senior around 10 pm
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there was no answer so we believe the
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death will be between 9 15 and 10
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o'clock
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lonnie jr said he had an alibi for the
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entire
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evening including between 9 15 and 10
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pm lonnie claimed he was at a restaurant
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with his girlfriend
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then went to his girlfriend's house
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his presence was verified both at the
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restaurant his girlfriend's house and he
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left his girlfriend's house somewhere
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around 9 40 9 45
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that night and from there he went to the
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local car wash
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it appears that he per his father's
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instructions
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carried the suburban to a car wash there
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and washed the suburban
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and we've actually had some witnesses
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that verified that information also
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but lonnie refused to take a polygraph
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he was starting to feel the heat and
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knew he was a suspect at that point
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the day after the murder investigators
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found
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a potential clue in a small creek
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just 50 yards from the turner's home was
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a pair of gloves
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and what looked to be a mask
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cut from a felt bag they've cut two
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holes
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in it for the eyes and then a little
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area where they can breathe
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out the mouth when that evidence was
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found it was thought to be a major
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a major break in the case masks are good
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objects to find dna profiles on
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due to the fact that they're in close
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proximity to your skin
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and also in the mouth region you get
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good profile from saliva
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police were convinced these items
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would identify the killer 21 year old
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lonnie turner jr and his father both
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lived and worked together
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lonnie's senior was grooming his son to
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take over his funeral business
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lonnie jr was an only child his parents
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separated when
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he was a teenager according to friends
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loni junior didn't fit the mold of a
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funeral director
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lonnie jr very flashy
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flamboyant junior he's the type of guy
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that he likes nice things there were a
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significant number of rumors that lonnie
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jr was selling and bombing fluid on the
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street
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when cigars and cigarettes laced with
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marijuana
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or pcp are dipped in embalming fluid
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the effects are often intensified
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the embalming fluid was a rumor
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and it remained a rumor we were never
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able to confirm that that was
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a that that was a fact as the
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beneficiary of his father's estate
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lonnie jr stood to inherit the funeral
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home
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and all of his father's assets i think
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junior saw the business
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as sort of his cash cow and it would be
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able to finance his lifestyle
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dna analyst jennifer watson examined the
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mask
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and gloves found 50 yards away from
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lonnie turner's home
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near a creek police believed
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they had been worn by the killer she
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found
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epithelial cells around the holes for
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the eyes and
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mouth and was able to generate a dna
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profile
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which she compared to lonnie jr's dna
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the results surprised everyone
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the result was that lonnie turner jr was
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excluded as a contributor to that
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profile
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the dna from the mask was also compared
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to the victim's brother
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lawson his dna also
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did not match in looking for other
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suspects
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police knew one thing the killer was
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familiar with the house
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and the family lonnie senior always left
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the back door open
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we figured that somebody knew about the
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layout of the house knew that the back
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door was
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unlocked and there was only one other
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person who fit
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that profile 19 year old
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james white lonnie senior's godson
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who often helped out at the funeral home
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he did work around the turner funeral
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home in the turner senior home
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it's the church that the junior would
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have to do
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that he may not want to do and then he
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would pay my son to do it
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four months before the murder james
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white was charged with stealing two of
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lonnie senior's personal checks
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he made them out to himself for a total
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of eight thousand dollars in cash
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and forged lonnie senior signature
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senior was mad at him for doing that and
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certainly felt betrayed
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but he continued to
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embrace white as a godson
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but white apparently knew lonnie senior
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kept
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cash in a bedroom safe he also knew
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where lonnie
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jr kept his guns
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we believed he would have had knowledge
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of where it was kept lonnie jr
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loves showing off especially that nine
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millimeter because it was something
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special he bought
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for his 21st birthday james white
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claimed he spent the entire night of the
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murder at a party with two
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friends but they didn't corroborate this
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story
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we confronted a friend and he said
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listen james white just called me
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said hey lie to the police tell them
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that i was with you
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this friend said he saw white that night
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but not
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until 10 30 p.m which gave
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white plenty of time to commit the
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murder
00:14:36
the prime suspect in the murder of
00:14:38
lonnie turner senior
00:14:39
was his godson james white
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white denied any involvement
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so investigators compared white's dna to
00:14:49
the dna found on the homemade mask
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found near the crime scene
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james white's dna was definitely on the
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mask
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and with the amount of dna that was
00:15:00
present it's likely that he wore that
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mask
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when i was told that i almost jumped out
00:15:05
of my boots
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now james white changed his story
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after several hours had passed one of
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the people doing the interrogation
00:15:16
threw in lonnie turner jr's name and
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it seemed to like turn on a switch in
00:15:21
white and
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that's when he started talking about how
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he had been set up
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white now said that lonnie jr hired him
00:15:30
to kill
00:15:31
his father white said he went into
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lonnie's senior's house
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and that lonnie jr was with him but he
00:15:38
got cold feet and tried to back out
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but lonnie jr literally held a gun to
00:15:44
his head
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and threatened to shoot him if he didn't
00:15:47
go through with it
00:16:05
[Music]
00:16:06
really grateful for the children of me
00:16:11
there was only one problem with this
00:16:14
story
00:16:15
lonnie jr had an alibi for the entire
00:16:18
evening he was at a restaurant
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at his girlfriend's house then at a car
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wash
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while driving home records indicate
00:16:28
lonnie jr was on his cell phone
00:16:31
the entire time james white
00:16:35
never said lonnie jr was on his cell
00:16:37
phone
00:16:38
while he was literally holding a gun to
00:16:40
his head
00:16:42
we couldn't put him at the residence you
00:16:43
know committing that crime he was either
00:16:46
with someone was being seen by someone
00:16:48
or was talking someone on the phone
00:16:51
if things were to have happened the way
00:16:53
he said it then junior would have had to
00:16:55
been pointing a gun at his head while
00:16:56
talking on the cell phone at the same
00:16:58
time
00:16:59
the polygraph that was given to him it
00:17:01
came back inconclusive
00:17:03
james david white is not the sharpest
00:17:05
crayon in the box
00:17:07
and i didn't know how much of it was due
00:17:09
to that
00:17:11
or to deception i just didn't know
00:17:14
prosecutors believe
00:17:16
james white needed money and knew lonnie
00:17:19
turner senior
00:17:20
kept cash inside his home
00:17:24
he also knew lonnie jr kept guns
00:17:28
under his bed the evidence suggests
00:17:31
white stole
00:17:32
one of the guns the nine millimeter two
00:17:34
weeks before the murder
00:17:38
prosecutors believe the motive was
00:17:40
burglary
00:17:42
which is why white wore a mask
00:17:45
in the event he was seen white
00:17:48
unscrewed the light bulb on the porch
00:17:51
entered the house
00:17:52
and probably thought no one was home
00:17:58
when he opened the bedroom door looking
00:18:01
for valuables
00:18:02
he found that wasn't the case
00:18:06
one bullet entered lonnie's forearm and
00:18:10
he tried to cover his face
00:18:12
the other hit him in the chest killing
00:18:14
him instantly
00:18:16
prosecutors believe white panicked left
00:18:19
the money and valuables behind
00:18:21
but returned the gun to lonnie jr's
00:18:24
bedroom
00:18:27
then threw the mask and gloves in a
00:18:29
nearby creek
00:18:31
but the mask still contained enough dna
00:18:35
to tie him to the scene
00:18:42
the other interesting element in this
00:18:44
case was the family member's
00:18:46
movements that night
00:18:49
lonnie jr came home found his father
00:18:52
wounded in the bedroom
00:18:53
grabbed his gun and cell phone called
00:18:56
police then drove
00:18:57
to the police station
00:19:00
[Music]
00:19:06
but before police arrived his uncle
00:19:08
lawson
00:19:09
entered the house since he planned to
00:19:11
spend the night
00:19:14
when he heard no answer he assumed his
00:19:16
brother was out on business
00:19:18
and when police arrived
00:19:22
he was in the kitchen making a sandwich
00:19:24
completely
00:19:25
unaware of the crime
00:19:31
james white's father who was also the
00:19:33
victim's best friend
00:19:35
remains convinced that lonnie jr
00:19:39
was involved i think that it's fair for
00:19:42
my son to be
00:19:43
in prison for this murder because he
00:19:46
said he pulled the trigger
00:19:48
but i would like to see lonnie jr there
00:19:52
also because my son didn't have anything
00:19:55
to profit from this
00:19:56
the junior is the one who profit
00:19:59
everything
00:20:00
in july of 2005 james white accepted a
00:20:04
plea bargain
00:20:06
admitted his complicity in the crime
00:20:09
and was sentenced to 25 years in prison
00:20:12
without the forensic evidence i don't
00:20:14
think we'd be here today talking about
00:20:15
this case i
00:20:16
honestly believe that if it hadn't been
00:20:17
for that dna profile
00:20:19
on that mass we wouldn't have made it
00:20:21
able to make a case
00:20:23
prosecutors admit lonnie jr's story
00:20:26
about what happened
00:20:28
defies belief but the alibi
00:20:31
was what saved him i think there are a
00:20:34
lot of people
00:20:35
today who still believe that
00:20:39
he had something to do with his dad's
00:20:41
death
00:20:42
and it has hurt his reputation
00:20:45
and it has certainly hurt the solid
00:20:48
reputation that his father
00:20:50
worked so hard to build for the family
00:20:53
business
00:20:54
lonnie jr wasn't there that night when
00:20:57
his father was murdered
00:20:58
there's no question about that the
00:21:00
evidence
00:21:01
clears that for me it stands out because
00:21:04
of the twists and turns
00:21:05
it took us some places that i think we
00:21:07
really didn't anticipate when
00:21:09
we began the investigation
