00:00:04
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING] MAN 1: That just
sounds like something bad is happening to her.
00:00:08
WOMAN 1: I heard her
scream, no, stop it. MAN 2: I heard some gunshots. Drop it.
00:00:13
Whatever it is, drop it. That is not true
that I killed my wife. WOMAN 2: We know what
happened because the video
00:00:20
tells us what happened. MAN 3: The camera doesn't lie. NARRATOR: This time, on
"Killers Caught on Camera."
00:00:29
In the UK, a woman is
picked up by a stranger-- This person is the
key to everything.
00:00:37
NARRATOR: --who's obsessed
with horror memorabilia. It became really clear
that between them, there
00:00:50
was a real fascination
with true life crime, serial killers, cannibalism. NARRATOR: And in
Knoxville, Tennessee--
00:01:08
NARRATOR: --a secret spy camera
is deployed to catch a killer. Audio is located up here,
and we have the camera here.
00:01:20
These are young boys. That's, kind of, dangerous. NARRATOR: In the heart
of the United Kingdom,
00:01:45
in the West Midlands,
lies Tipton, home to carer Tracy Barrett. NARRATOR: Tracy's home
overlooks the Birmingham canal,
00:02:05
a serene and tranquil space. NARRATOR: But what used
to be a place of calm for Tracy is now tainted
with bad memories.
00:02:26
In May 2019, Julia
Rawson ran a business, selling pagan goods with long
term partner Elaine Higginson.
00:02:35
She was a keen artist,
bubbly, outgoing, and well-known in the area. On the 11th of May, Julia spent
the day shopping with Elaine.
00:02:46
They parted ways, and Julia
went towards the center of Birmingham to
meet some friends.
00:02:52
But she got on the
wrong bus and ended up in the market town of
Dudley, eight miles northwest
00:02:58
of Birmingham. The next morning,
Elaine messaged Julia, but there was no reply. Julia's friends also
hadn't heard from her.
00:03:16
Her silence was completely
out of character. Elaine called the police. Julia Rawson was
reported missing
00:03:25
on the 14th of May, 2019. She was reported
missing by a friend, having last been seen on
the Saturday late afternoon.
00:03:38
NARRATOR: Police started
to make enquiries. The last sighting of
Julia was in a Dudley
00:03:43
pub, The Bottle and Cork. The pub was wired
with CCTV cameras. Emi Polito is an expert
in forensic video
00:03:55
analysis, who has worked on
hundreds of cases in the UK. The daytime CCTV
of Julia in Dudley
00:04:03
helps the police established
what clothes she's wearing, what footwear, what
trousers, what jacket.
00:04:12
And therefore, it
really helps the police starting building a picture. Now, have a look
at this footage.
00:04:17
This is really interesting. We see a person matching
the description of Julia entering a pub, and
we can get a good view
00:04:26
of what she's
wearing, potentially some patterns on a jumper. This is really good
detail that will help
00:04:34
with the police
investigation in terms of trawling her whereabouts. NARRATOR: Julia
was seen chatting
00:04:42
and drinking with a man. At around 10:45 PM,
another man came in and sat down at the far end of the bar.
00:04:52
The lamp is covering the
person's face completely. It looks like almost like
if he's done it on purpose,
00:04:59
doesn't it? NARRATOR: Julia approached
him, and they started to chat. This is really
good because this
00:05:07
puts Julia in a specific
location, a specific time. And she's potentially talking
to someone that could be
00:05:14
involved in her disappearance. NARRATOR: The CCTV
footage provided police with vital clues.
00:05:25
This is potentially the
last person that Julia is seen with before she disappears.
00:05:30
This person is the
key to everything. What was distinctive about
him is that during the course
00:05:37
of the evening in the pub,
he'd rolled up his sleeves and shown Julia some
quite distinctive tattoos
00:05:43
that he had on both arms. Yes, the CCTVs are not great. We are not able to tell in
detail what this tattoos are.
00:05:52
But certainly, we know that
this person has got tattoos on each of his forearms, and
this is really helps the police
00:05:59
identifying this person. Luckily for us, not only do
we get a view of the tattoos,
00:06:06
but we also get a view
from different angles. Because as the person
is showing them,
00:06:11
he is also rotating his arms. And this allows us to see
them in even more detail.
00:06:17
There is a point in the CCTV,
where the person leans over to Julia, perhaps,
because he wants to talk
00:06:23
a little bit closer to her. And you can get a
view of his face. We, perhaps, can discern
a long beard on his face.
00:06:33
And again, this is now
additional information to the tattoos,
which can really help
00:06:39
the police identify
the person, perhaps, with the help of the public. This imagery was shown by
the community support officer
00:06:50
to people who work within
Dudley Town Center. Bear in mind, at this stage,
we still got a missing person
00:06:55
inquiry, and this
person was going to be key to that investigation. NARRATOR: The footage was
circulated on social media,
00:07:05
and a local security
guard recognized him. 11 days after
Julia went missing, a man matching his
description was
00:07:15
spotted in Dudley Town Center. Young female that
has gone missing? OFFICER: We're looking for
a female missing person.
00:07:24
She's been missing
for about 11 days, OK? We've got picture on CCTV
with someone that matches
00:07:30
your description with
her, so we just want to get some details from you. OFFICER: She's been
missing for 11 days.
00:07:35
So obviously, we
need to find her, OK? And because you look like the
person we've seen on CCTV, we
00:07:40
just-- OFFICER: --get some details. NARRATOR: The men
were identified as 30-year-old Nathan
Maynard Ellis, a former film
00:07:52
and theater student, and his
25-year-old boyfriend David Leslie. Professor Coral Dando is an
expert in forensic psychology
00:08:03
at the University
of Westminster, applying psychological
research to help criminal investigations.
00:08:10
OFFICER: We're looking for
a female missing person. Here, we've got some body cam
footage of Nathan being stopped
00:08:17
initially by one police
officer, and he was then joined by, at least,
one other, maybe a third
00:08:24
because he resembles the person
that was last seen with Julia. OFFICER: With
someone that matches
00:08:31
your description with her, so we
just want to get some details. He reacts quite differently.
00:08:38
OFFICER: And because you
look like the person we've seen on CCTV, we're just-- Oh, yeah.
00:08:47
He tries to turn and do a
bit of reverse engineering, we call it, with
the police officer
00:08:53
and say, well, this
is nonsensical. It doesn't make sense. If I was the person
involved, don't you think
00:08:58
I'd have changed my appearance? NARRATOR: Nathan was
answering questions and was being cooperative.
00:09:05
So notice, from the body-worn
camera footage that the officer gives out this information
and then says nothing,
00:09:12
and then Nathan feels it. We know when people are
being deceptive, that they don't like to be silent.
00:09:21
Silence is uncomfortable. So they will always try and
fill a silence with something.
00:09:27
Conversely, David, his partner,
seems to react very, very nervously, blowing
his nose, coughing,
00:09:34
almost seeming as
if he is going to be physically ill at any point. And one thing we can
notice from the footage
00:09:41
is that the other male is
carrying quite a large bag, which, to me, looks
like almost as
00:09:46
if it is a pillow or
some sort of bedding. And again, this could
be an interesting piece
00:09:51
of data for the investigation. NARRATOR: Police were
confident he matched the man seen in the bar.
00:10:01
We get a good idea from
these images of the size and of the tattoos and where
they are located in the arms.
00:10:10
Because they'd
been, apparently, had gone under the
radar, I suspect they'd let their guard down.
00:10:18
So initially, he may
have covered his tattoo. But then, he's become a
little bit more confident.
00:10:23
It's not unusual
for people to just think that they're clever enough
to get away with this thing.
00:10:31
And so, as a result,
he hasn't got a bother to cover his tattoo
or change his appearance.
00:10:36
In actual fact, if
he thought about it, that's exactly what he
actually should do because it
00:10:40
would have reduced
the likelihood that he was going to get spotted. When people do not
have the chance
00:10:46
to develop a story
or a lie script or prepare for
telling a lie, it's a classic opportunity
for spotting when
00:10:54
people are being deceptive. The fact that he changed
nothing about his appearance
00:11:00
suggests, to me, that,
probably, especially combined with the response of, I
would have changed something,
00:11:07
he thought that that would
make him look more innocent. So at some point, he knew, well,
the police are going to ask me.
00:11:12
They're going to maybe pull up
CCTV footage or some picture and say, hey, this
looks like you.
00:11:17
And his response
was going to be, well, I would have
changed my appearance if I had been guilty.
00:11:26
NARRATOR: Nathan was arrested
on suspicion of kidnapping and taken into custody.
00:11:31
David provided a written
statement and claimed he and Nathan were
at home all night.
00:11:38
Police now had a suspect
in Julia's disappearance, but still no idea where she was.
00:11:45
They searched the
canal for evidence, but the extensive
security camera footage revealed both men made regular
trips along the canal path
00:11:55
with heavily loaded
plastic bags. NARRATOR: Police weren't
sure where the men were going
00:12:16
or what heavy items
were in the bags. Julia was still missing. CCTV footage also
revealed Nathan
00:12:27
had celebrated his
birthday the day after Julia's disappearance. But could be that the person
is trying to look normal.
00:12:37
And so, they're putting
on a brave face. They're going out as normal
so that they have an alibi, so
00:12:41
that people don't point out
that they're acting weird, or it could be
that they actually
00:12:46
don't have those feelings. NARRATOR: Tracy lived
directly below them and noticed something
else that was odd.
00:13:38
NARRATOR: Unusual
nighttime cleaning. And Nathan and David remained
uncommunicative with neighbors.
00:14:02
NARRATOR: And they had a unique
taste in home accessories. NARRATOR: Police got a
warrant to search the flat
00:14:34
and confirmed what
Tracy had observed. On top of the gory
obsession, a range of tools,
00:14:44
including a saw and
ornamental weapons. It became really clear
that between them there
00:14:52
was a real fascination
with true life crime, serial killers, cannibalism. There is some research, which
has found that people who like
00:15:07
horror films are more likely
to be high on what's called sensation-seeking. On top of that,
horror films often
00:15:13
represent our greatest fears. And so, it gives you
a safe way to explore encountering those fears.
00:15:20
Psychologically-speaking,
the reason why people like horror movies
is because they like the thrill.
00:15:24
They like being shocked
maybe even disgusted. But if you are already
predisposed to violence,
00:15:29
and you have higher
sensation-seeking, and you're watching
horror movies, you might take inspiration
from your horror movies
00:15:36
to engage in your
violent tendencies and then do terrible
things to people. NARRATOR: The shrine of horror
memorabilia was untouched,
00:15:49
but much of the flat
had been refurbished. In most cases, but
especially in cases
00:16:27
involving major
crimes, such as murder, or kidnapping, or
rape, the police would start gathering evidence
from a small confined area,
00:16:34
which, usually, is limited
to the scene of the crime. NARRATOR: Police pulled up
the carpet and found a stain.
00:16:41
It was blood and
matched Julia's. If and when that
limited amount of CCTV or video evidence
reveals enough information,
00:16:54
then the investigators
can extend their scope to search for
video evidence to larger areas.
00:17:01
And it becomes a little bit
like a tier level investigation. NARRATOR: Further afield,
CCTV footage revealed Nathan
00:17:09
getting rid of his couch. And Tracy provided
police with more clues. NARRATOR: In retrospect,
Tracy realized
00:17:51
something was going on. NARRATOR: Search teams
abandoned the canal and turned their
attention to the wasteland
00:18:10
on the other side of the water. Sniffer dogs searched the area. I received a call
from the search advisor
00:18:23
to be informed that they'd
made what turned out to be a very grim discovery. NARRATOR: Over the course
of the next few days,
00:18:40
police found the
rest of Julia's body. The body parts were very very
well wrapped and preserved.
00:18:48
There was no sense given
off for dogs to pick up on. There was no flowers
for us to indicate on.
00:18:55
Ultimately, one of the body
parts was exposed slightly, but you couldn't see it.
00:19:00
Now, it's a specialist search
dog that picked up on the scent from that first body
part that led us
00:19:05
to that location, which was
not visible to the naked eye at all. NARRATOR: 12 separate
body parts were found.
00:19:22
The search phase lasted
a total of 47 days. It stands a long time, however. The searchers were split over
various areas canals, woodland,
00:19:33
refuge tips, self-storage
units, premises, drains, and other areas. They were found scattered
in quite a large area.
00:19:44
But the drone
footage really helps us get an idea of
the scale of the area or where the body
parts were found.
00:19:53
And this, potentially,
could indicate the suspect is
forensically aware and is trying to cover his
tracks as best as he can.
00:20:00
Now, this would have taken a
considerable amount of time and effort to be able to do.
00:20:04
Because, otherwise,
you would just dump the body in one place. NARRATOR: The body
parts were sent
00:20:11
to a specialist imaging unit. Now, in this particular case,
the police have also employ
00:20:19
the services of Warwick
University to get a three-dimensional
reconstruction virtual footage of the actual
injuries on on the body.
00:20:28
Now, this is done so
that the images are not too upsetting or too
graphic in the courtroom,
00:20:33
but also help establish
the extent of the injuries. NARRATOR: Analysis of the
images showed there were
00:20:43
two types of incisions made. The first were clean cuts. The second, more amateur.
00:20:50
We can see from the
images here that there have been some false starts and
failed attempts to dismember,
00:20:57
severe the body. And the different
styles of cuts that we can see from the
imagery, potentially,
00:21:04
could suggest that there
were more than one person employed in this operation. NARRATOR: The
amateur cuts helped
00:21:13
prove a second person had
helped Nathan dismember Julia. Nathan and David were
charged with murder.
00:21:23
Most of Julia's
body was retrieved, but her kidney was missing. People who murder, especially
people who spend a lot of time
00:21:32
planning their
murders, sometimes, take trophies from
the crime scene. So they will keep
things, like photos,
00:21:37
or they'll keep objects,
or sometimes, even things like hair or body parts. That is, however, really rare.
00:21:47
So mostly, if you take a trophy
or memento, as it's sometimes called from the crime scene,
to remember your kill,
00:21:52
to remember what
you did, you will take things that
are less obvious and just belonged to the
victim, not actual organs.
00:22:13
NARRATOR: Forensic
pathology concluded, Julia had been bludgeoned to
death with a rolling pin
00:22:18
before being dismembered. I realize that quite a lot of
the detail around what happened
00:22:24
to Julia in her final hours and
the terrible things that took place within the flat and the
way in which she was treated
00:22:34
in death and disposed of in
such horrific circumstances will be absolute terrible news
for the community in which
00:22:43
these discoveries were made. NARRATOR: Nathan
and David were tried separately in December 2020.
00:22:50
During Nathan's
trial, a dark past came to light, when a character
witness took the stand.
00:22:57
She'd been in a
relationship with Nathan, and he'd been sexually
violent towards her.
00:23:03
Having got a previous
history of sexual violence and other types of violent
behavior, which may not
00:23:09
be sexual in nature, but
bring those two together is a red flag for future
offending in terms of murder.
00:23:17
So it's like a
progressive type behavior. And they get away
with it once or twice,
00:23:23
maybe even get
convicted, serve a term imprisonment for
serious sexual violence or other violent behavior.
00:23:30
So it could be GBH,
ABH, that type of thing. And then, when they come out, or
if they haven't been convicted,
00:23:36
if they walk away,
they will, often, men, typically go on to murder. NARRATOR: For the
murder of Julia Rawson,
00:23:44
Nathan claimed diminished
responsibility, that it was a terrible
accident and, in a panic,
00:23:51
disposed of her body. It seems as if Nathan
was the dominant one. He certainly appeared to be the
person that was reaching out
00:24:00
to have psychologically damaging
relationships with women, damaging to them, physically
and psychologically,
00:24:07
but also damaging to
himself because he was trying to repress the
true him for the public,
00:24:12
for society at large. That behavior fits
within we would expect. And this acting out of
fantasies, obsessive thought
00:24:21
behaviors, psychologically
damaging behaviors is just one of a long list of
behaviors that are exhibited
00:24:28
by people who try and
repress their sexuality and try and present a self to
the world, which is not true.
00:24:38
NARRATOR: Nathan was sentenced
to 30 years for Julia's murder and for four offenses
of historic rape.
00:24:46
At David's trial, he was
also found guilty of murder and sentenced to a
minimum of 19 years.
00:24:53
This was a complex
investigation that involved an extensive
search of an area to locate Julia's body.
00:25:00
The sole aim of
the investigation to seek justice for Julia. I hope that the
result today provides
00:25:05
some solace for Julia's family. I know that they are still
grieving for her loss,
00:25:10
but, hopefully, as a family
unit, they can move forward. So in this
situation, we have two
00:25:19
gay men who are in a
relationship together, and they kill a woman. And there has been
some research on what
00:25:26
sometimes feels incongruous. So although many men who are gay
embrace aspects of femininity,
00:25:32
that straight men often don't
embrace in the same way. There still can be misogyny
within gay male communities.
00:25:39
So you're not
outside of the norms. You're not outside
of culture entirely just because you're a gay man.
00:25:44
And so, you can still
have that hatred that can get built up and
manifest in very violent ways.
00:25:55
So CCTV is crucial to
a police investigation. Certain circumstances
might lead you to slip up
00:26:02
and to make mistakes. And obviously, the more
cameras, the more sources of video recordings are, the
more are the chances that you
00:26:11
are going to make that mistake. After the images of Julia
and the person talking
00:26:17
in the pub circulated
on social media, police caught a lucky break. And in investigations like
this, you do need a lucky break.
00:27:02
NARRATOR: Cameras are an
increasingly common presence in our lives,
capturing normal life.
00:27:10
A vital part of catching
Julia Rawson's killers were the CCTV cameras in
the bar and along the canal,
00:27:19
but also body Cam on law
enforcement officers. OFFICER: We're looking for
a female missing person.
00:27:26
NARRATOR: Less visible
are the hidden cameras available at specialist stores. This is a spy pen.
00:27:33
You would just have
the camera here, and the audio is in
the back, and it's a one-button operation.
00:27:39
And your SD card
storage is here. NARRATOR: Spy cameras
are now so sophisticated,
00:27:45
they can record good quality
audio and video, day or night. The water bottle has a
pinhole built in the label.
00:27:54
The camera sits on the
outside of the bottle. You can fill it up
with water, which makes
00:27:58
it a very good covert device. NARRATOR: And in our next
case, essential to capture
00:28:05
a killer on camera. It's definitely
a game changer. Now, your everyday person
can come into a store
00:28:12
and then do their
own investigation. NARRATOR: The US, in
the state of Tennessee,
00:28:20
Knoxville, its historic
capital and home to almost a million people. In 2016, 16-year-old Emma
Walker was a cheerleader
00:28:31
at Central High School. She was dating star athlete,
18-year-old Riley Gaul. Riley Gaul was a year
or so older than Emma.
00:28:40
He had just recently graduated. NARRATOR: They seemed
like perfect high school sweethearts.
00:28:46
But only a few months
into their relationship, things started to change. Riley began telling
Emma what to wear
00:28:55
and became possessive
and controlling, which played out through
texts and social media posts.
00:29:04
Her friends, particularly,
had been encouraging her to part ways with Riley. NARRATOR: Her parents
weren't happy either,
00:29:13
especially when they saw one
particularly chilling text. Her family did not approve
of this relationship.
00:29:27
The parents had, in fact, at
one point, grounded him to try to keep her away from Riley.
00:29:34
NARRATOR: They also banned
Riley from the house, but he was always
quick to apologize.
00:29:45
As you're a teenager,
your brain is actually still physically growing. And until you're 25, so it
goes into your early adulthood.
00:29:51
And so, if you're talking
about a 16 and an 18-year-old, their brains just
aren't fully developed.
00:29:56
It means that you're
less able to make good long-term judgments. Because one of the later
parts of your brain to develop
00:30:04
is your prefrontal cortex,
the front part of your brain. And it's responsible for
you making good decisions.
00:30:13
NARRATOR: After two years
of on and off dating, Emma decided she'd had enough. Emma finally was
starting to realize
00:30:22
that it was time to move on. NARRATOR: The breakup
affected Riley deeply. He started texting her.
00:30:30
He was constantly trying
to get her to talk to him. Well, there's usually
an escalation of stress
00:30:38
before the breakup. Then, there's a peak after. Because not only have
you had the stress
00:30:44
of the actual dissolution
of the relationship and all that that entails,
but you also lose,
00:30:49
typically, one of your
closest emotional supports. So that person, who
you normally would
00:30:55
be turning to in a high stress
situation, is also gone. NARRATOR: Emma turned to
her friends for support.
00:31:05
Emma had gone to a party
after a football game, talking to her friends
about, you know, I'm done.
00:31:11
I'm really done. And while they're at this
party, and it's dark, he starts texting
her and claiming
00:31:21
that he's been kidnapped. And then, she gets
some texts that indicate that, perhaps, he's
been dumped outside this party.
00:31:31
All the kids are scared. And a couple of her friends
actually went outside first.
00:31:38
Then, what they
discover is Riley laying in a ditch, faced down,
looks very disheveled,
00:31:45
and as if he has been beaten. Coercive tactics during
a breakup are quite common,
00:31:56
and coercive tactics
can include things like threatening to
hurt yourself or others,
00:32:01
potentially, or to take
other drastic steps to force or, you think, force that
person to stay with you.
00:32:08
Now, the level, of
course, of tactics we're seeing here, staging
a whole kidnapping,
00:32:13
is absolutely wild. That is not something that
normally happens, of course. And so, that level of
coercion, manipulation, lying
00:32:22
is that's just the
sine of something much deeper and
much more obsessive happening at this point.
00:32:34
NARRATOR: Riley
decided not to take the kidnapping to the
police, but things turned even stranger.
00:32:42
The very next day, a stalker
emerged in Emma's life. Emma was home. Her mother had gone,
I guess, was at work.
00:32:51
Somebody knocks on the door. It scares her. A guy, all dressed in black. She was scared to death.
00:32:59
NARRATOR: Her parents
were so worried, they started walking
her to and from work
00:33:03
to make sure she was safe. Police were keen to check
security cameras for clues.
00:33:10
As the police investigated
the man in black, they start pulling footage. NARRATOR: Nothing in
the footage gave away
00:33:20
who the strange
figure in black was. Here, we obviously
see that there is a dark character outside,
who seems to be stalking her.
00:33:33
People who engage in
stalking are usually obsessed with the person
they are stalking.
00:33:38
And usually, they are a
former or current partner. So there's a huge
piece of this feeling
00:33:44
like you are in
love with somebody, even if it's
unrequited, that you are then following them around.
00:33:49
Whomever it is, if
someone's following you, or you think someone's
following you,
00:33:52
that's going to have profound
psychological implications for you. It might make you afraid
to leave the house.
00:33:56
It might make you feel
unsafe within your own-- within your house, even, right? It can have really, really
intimidating consequences
00:34:05
for you and your loved ones. NARRATOR: On Monday morning,
November 21, 2016, just
00:34:14
a couple of days after the
stalker incident, at 6:00 AM, Emma's mother,
Jill, went into her room
00:34:23
to wake her up for school,
but she was unresponsive. NARRATOR: Emma was pronounced
dead from two gunshot wounds.
00:34:56
There was nothing
about Emma Walker that would suggest that she
had caused her own death.
00:35:01
There was no apparent history of
drug use or reckless behavior. NARRATOR: Crucially,
body cams from officers,
00:35:09
first on the scene,
picked up vital evidence. There were at least two shell
casings there on the ground
00:35:16
that they were able to locate. Every gun has a signature. There's grooves and twists
that occur within the gun
00:35:25
when you're firing it. NARRATOR: Emma was shot
from outside the house while she was asleep.
00:35:32
Once from above her head,
and once from the side. This bullet that
entered Emma's
00:35:38
body had traveled through
wood, through the house there. And so, there was some
damage to that bullet.
00:35:47
NARRATOR: Riley turned to social
media, an outpouring of grief. Police started questioning
all of Emma's friends,
00:35:58
and the Sheriff's
Department got a break. One of his classmates
said that Riley had asked
00:36:05
about fingerprints on guns and
whether those could be erased, if they could be detected.
00:36:13
NARRATOR: 16 hours after
Emma was declared dead, Riley was questioned
by detectives
00:36:18
at Knoxville Police Station. NARRATOR: Riley was in shock. He couldn't bring himself
to mention Emma by name.
00:36:53
Referring to a victim in
a not quite dehumanizing, but certainly depersonalized way
by calling her the girl is a--
00:37:02
I mean, it just feels like
a psychological tactic to distance yourself
from the victim,
00:37:08
to not really see
her as a human being, don't name her because
that evokes who she really
00:37:13
was as a human being,
and instead to, sort of, go, pushing it away. Because, I think, that
makes it easier to not feel,
00:37:21
maybe, guilt, not to feel the
remorse that you would have if you're constantly
actually thinking
00:37:26
about the complexity of this
victim as a human being. NARRATOR: Police asked Riley
about his grandfather's gun.
00:37:54
NARRATOR: They revealed that
his friends, Alex and Noah, said he had asked about removing
fingerprints from a gun.
00:38:14
NARRATOR: Police released Riley. He immediately
texted his friends. Police needed to eliminate
Riley or find some evidence.
00:38:24
The Sheriff's Department
was in a bit of a conundrum. We've got lots of smoke. We need some fire.
00:38:32
NARRATOR: The police came
up with a radical plan. If ever Riley is
going to mess up
00:38:38
and say things to
implicate himself, it's not going to be to them. It's going to be to his buddies.
00:38:46
So the Sheriff's
Department talks these boys into becoming spies, basically. NARRATOR: Alex and Noah invited
Riley over to play video games.
00:38:57
Try to get him to
talk about the gun. Try to get him to talk
about the killing. NARRATOR: His friends were
wired for sound and vision
00:39:11
by the police. These are young boys. That's, kind of, dangerous. But they agreed to do it.
00:39:27
NARRATOR: The secret camera
was hidden in a car key. Audio is located up here. And then, we have the camera
here and the different buttons
00:39:37
that operate that
would be on a card or the different mode
settings for audio only, audio and video.
00:39:44
Very covert. Nobody would think
twice about a key fob. The friends of a suspect
were undercover cops,
00:39:57
without guns, without badges,
and without protection. NARRATOR: When Riley
arrived, the secret camera
00:40:20
was recording. You only have one one
take at it, you know? It's only one time he's going to
probably be this open about it.
00:40:37
Right away, what you saw
was a bit of a psychopath. It's pretty
incriminating evidence
00:40:54
because of how relaxed he is. He's talking as if he
doesn't even know her. NARRATOR: Riley was worried
the police were closing in.
00:41:32
NARRATOR: He wanted his friends
to withdraw their statements about his grandfather's gun.
00:41:47
I don't know if it'll be
over the phone or in person. It's really good audio
quality, good video.
00:41:52
He seems pretty relaxed. He definitely doesn't know
he's on camera, right? NARRATOR: Incredibly, Riley
then asked his friends
00:41:58
to help him get rid of the gun. Ultimately, he tells these
boys, his friends, that he's
00:42:13
got to get rid of this gun. NARRATOR: The bluffs
are a remote area of forests and deep lakes.
00:42:32
They didn't sign up to help
him dispose of a murder weapon. But that was part
of the mission.
00:42:44
They had to carry it
all the way through. NARRATOR: Riley took them to
where he'd hidden the gun.
00:42:53
Noah and Alex waited in the car. He got back in,
holding a plastic bag. His friends are basically
like, yeah, we got your back,
00:43:18
you know? So they're doing a pretty good
job of getting him to talk and getting him to
feel comfortable
00:43:23
that they can help, his friends
could help him get out of it, I guess. So, yeah, that's
pretty good evidence.
00:43:30
NARRATOR: And Riley was
unaware three police cars were following close behind. NARRATOR: Once his friends
had eyes on the gun,
00:43:50
Alex texted the police
with the code word. NARRATOR: Riley
Gaul was arrested, and police recovered the
bag containing the evidence.
00:44:26
He has the gun and all this
men in black clothing and duct tape. And I mean, basically,
a whole kit of evidence.
00:44:36
NARRATOR: Not only
did the bag contain the gun used to kill Emma. Also inside were the
clothes worn by her stalker.
00:44:43
Solid evidence that the
stalker was, in fact, Riley. The camera doesn't lie. The audio to back
up who said it.
00:44:58
So having the covert
device was definitely a great way to get the
evidence that the friends
00:45:04
were trying to get. They obviously wanted some
closure for the family. And today's technology making
it easier for things like that,
00:45:11
then, definitely, the camera
and audio did its job, what it's supposed to do. NARRATOR: At his
trial, Riley Gaul
00:45:18
was convicted of first
degree murder, sentenced, to 51 years in prison. She was a young
girl, and he really
00:45:27
had been the only
boyfriend she had known. So while it's a little sad
that she couldn't quite
00:45:34
seem to break free,
it's not unusual that she would have
thought of Riley in terms of her protector.
00:45:42
And that makes it all
the more upsetting, I think, that Riley was
playing on those fears.
00:45:50
It's very apparent that
what he was trying to do was to win her back. [THEME MUSIC PLAYING]