00:00:04
[LAUGHTER] WOMAN 1: You like that? - Oh my god. WOMAN 2: He ripped the box? [CHUCKLES]
00:00:16
Yeah. [EMOTIONAL MUSIC] DARLIN MOLINA: I
love that he always managed to find a way to give
us whatever we wanted,
00:00:29
considering they
didn't have much and they were living
paycheck to paycheck. KAREN MOLINA: Definitely.
00:00:34
DARLIN MOLINA: Mm-hmm. My dad wanted to move
to the United States to have the American dream
by being a hard worker
00:00:49
and just providing
for his family. - He would just
make everybody laugh and just crack
jokes all the time.
00:01:02
DARLIN MOLINA: I remember
we would paint his nails or do his hair. He would just do anything
to make us happy.
00:01:12
There wasn't much money,
but there was a lot of love. KAREN MOLINA: July
4, Independence Day.
00:01:22
Dad went to the grocery
store to go get some stuff to make dinner. He did call us, just
checking up on us.
00:01:28
I think, like 20 minutes
prior to the incident. [OMINOUS MUSIC] [SIREN WAILING] SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: July
4 in the city of Pasco
00:01:51
is never a quiet night. But as I first
got this call, it started to sound like more than
just a routine injury call.
00:01:59
I turned my lights on and I
increased my speed so that I could get there quicker.
00:02:04
When I got there,
I saw a man that had blood covering
his shirt, and I could tell that he had
multiple injuries on his face
00:02:12
and blood was coming
out of his mouth. DARLIN MOLINA: As soon as I
saw my dad covered in blood,
00:02:18
I got really scared. I just didn't understand
who would do this. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
It didn't make
00:02:23
me feel good knowing that
someone was a potential threat to members of my community,
and I wanted to ensure
00:02:28
that he was captured quickly. DARLIN MOLINA: He didn't
only take my father away.
00:02:34
In a sense, he took
my mother away, too. I feel like we all haven't
been the same since.
00:02:54
[SOFT PIANO MUSIC] KAREN MOLINA: He
would always go like, to work and always
talk about us and stuff
00:03:11
and say how pretty we were. [CHUCKLES] There was actually
somebody that came up to him
00:03:16
once, remember? And they were like,
oh, you probably just think they're pretty
because of your daughter.
00:03:20
[LAUGHTER] - Oh, jeez. Yeah, he was
really proud of us. I just remember growing
up in a happy family.
00:03:29
Like, we used to have
a lot of fun together. - Yeah, we did. DARLIN MOLINA: My parents
were definitely
00:03:42
planning for children. I feel like when they found
out they were pregnant with me,
00:03:46
it was a little
bit of a surprise, but it was a welcome surprise. He would always tell me
that when I was born,
00:03:53
he grabbed a Sharpie
and he drew a little Sharpie mark
on my leg to make sure they
00:03:57
didn't switch me at birth. Very protective always. After me, Karen is born. She was born
in September 29 of 2000,
00:04:09
and then Kimberly followed
right after, March 7 of 2002. Mom was so pretty. This was her
holiday work party.
00:04:26
When she worked at the
photography studio, I think. That's when she met dad, while
she was taking his picture.
00:04:31
KAREN MOLINA: I remember that.
- Yeah. - I think he was
waiting for her after her shift or something.
- Yeah.
00:04:36
He kept saying, I'm
going to pick you up. [LAUGHS] And she kept
saying no and rejecting him.
00:04:41
He was being persistent, so she
said yes and she finally caved. My parents were
migrant workers.
00:04:52
They worked out in the fields. They had to follow
wherever there was work. My dad's originally from
Culiacán, Sinaloa in Mexico.
00:05:01
He grew up in a big
family, very tight knit community, lots of love. My grandma was, I would say,
absolutely smitten with my dad.
00:05:13
She loved him so much. When he moved here
from Mexico, he went straight to LA, California.
00:05:19
My dad moved over here
with next to nothing. He had to start off
literally from zero
00:05:25
coming over here, 'cause
he just wanted to get away from the violence in his area.
00:05:32
[SOMBER MUSIC] KAREN MOLINA: He
decided to come over here because around
that time his brother
00:05:41
was actually killed. I guess he was scared
that something would happen to him eventually.
00:05:46
- As his brother was
a victim of gun violence, they never thought
that this would
00:05:51
be essentially
in the Rodriguez's family's future in Pasco, Washington. DARLIN MOLINA: I was around
13 when we moved here.
00:06:01
We saddle down in Pasco. I feel like a Pasco was safe. I feel like it was a good
place to raise a family,
00:06:10
and I feel like my parents
felt the same way. My dad always loved
Independence Day.
00:06:18
He just loved
the whole celebration of the fireworks
and the barbecues and just family
getting together.
00:06:27
I feel like that was
really important to him. [EMOTIONAL MUSIC] [MELANCHOLY MUSIC]
00:06:41
I'm right on the 4th
of July of that year. I was pregnant. I wasn't feeling well and I did
not want to do anything at all.
00:06:50
I remember him saying,
let's go see the fireworks. I want to go see the fireworks
with you and your sisters.
00:06:57
And I just kept saying,
I don't feel good. I don't want to go anywhere. He's like, but I'm going
to go to Fiesta Foods
00:07:02
and I'm going to get
something to eat. What do you wan? KAREN MOLINA: My dad,
he was a good cook,
00:07:09
so he would always make
some stuff for my sister while he was here. DARLIN MOLINA: I
remember getting
00:07:16
a phone call and I thought
it was my dad, but it wasn't. Someone told me,
your dad got shot.
00:07:25
You need to get over here. [OMINOUS MUSIC] I was like, stop
playing with me. Who is this?
00:07:33
And they're like, no,
I'm being serious. Your dad got shot. You need to get over here.
00:07:37
[GUNSHOTS] [BEEPING] [SIREN WAILING] SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
When I got there, I saw a man that had
blood covering his shirt,
00:08:05
and I could tell that he had
multiple injuries on his face. Had one gunshot wound in the
side of his face and his cheek.
00:08:18
And I saw that a bullet
had also grazed the other side of his face. And I was very concerned
for his well-being.
00:08:26
And my main focus was to get
him to sit down on the curb because I didn't want
him to end up passing out
00:08:31
from the large
amount of blood that was coming out of his mouth. DARLIN MOLINA: I remember
we're getting out of the car.
00:08:49
And I saw my dad immediately. He was on the floor,
sitting on the sidewalk, and I tried to run to him,
and the police officers weren't
00:08:56
letting me go up to him. They told me there
was too much blood, and the paramedics were
handling the situation,
00:09:14
and Amber just being
really upset and crying. Like, what if he dies and you
won't let me talk to him?
00:09:46
Because my dad got shot
in the face, he couldn't talk. So he was holding his
hand to his cheek,
00:09:52
and with his other
hand, he was just making little gestures to calm down. And he wasn't
telling me, but he
00:09:58
was just signaling like, calm
down, it's going to be OK. [SIREN WAILING] SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
The paramedics arrived
00:10:06
on scene to help Jorge. They spent a few minutes
providing care to him there, and then they rushed him off
to one of our local hospitals.
00:10:13
[TENSE MUSIC] DARLIN MOLINA: I
got to the car and I immediately called Karen,
saying, dad just got shot.
00:10:20
You need to go to the hospital. Go get mom. KAREN MOLINA: My first thoughts
were like, is he conscious?
00:10:25
Is he not conscious? Is he going to need surgery? Like, what's going on? Is it that bad?
00:10:30
We didn't know what
to think at the time. DET. JESSE ROMERO:
Jorge was not able to communicate
anything prior to being
00:10:42
taken to the hospital. He was not able
to provide anything as far as what happened.
00:10:49
SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: Where
did the rest of this crime take place? Everyone was telling us
that a vehicle crash had
00:10:54
occurred in the nearby area. And then when I noticed a blood
trail leading from where Jorge
00:11:07
had been speaking to us at, I
followed that blood trail east, toward the intersection
of 14th and Lewis
00:11:15
at the Los Pinos parking lot. SHAWN SANT: Law
enforcement investigators were able to recognize that
there was what appeared to be
00:11:23
a recent traffic accident. It was apparent that this black
Cadillac Escalade had crashed
00:11:30
into the fence
between a used car lot and a restaurant
called Los Pinos. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: When
I looked inside the car,
00:11:39
I saw blood. I could see grocery bags,
and I saw bullet holes. The scene was telling
me that Jorge had
00:11:46
just been involved in a crash. It was obvious that he had
been shot while inside of that
00:11:49
vehicle, and then after
the vehicle had crashed, he left and walked to where we
found him at 15th and Lewis.
00:11:59
DARLIN MOLINA: The police
start asking me, do you know who did this? Did your dad have any enemies?
00:12:05
Did he not get
along with anybody? I was like, my dad
was a great guy. I was like, I don't know
who would want to do this.
00:12:12
KAREN MOLINA: Once we
got to the hospital, Darlin was, you know,
traumatized by the situation
00:12:17
just because she was the one
to see my dad like that. DARLIN MOLINA: I was just
still really confused.
00:12:22
I kept asking, can
I get an update? Can you tell me what's going
on' They kept telling me,
00:12:26
we're not sure. You have to wait
for the doctor. - And I think it was after
like about 10 minutes or so,
00:12:32
they were going to fly
him out eventually to Spokane, Washington,
to Sacred Heart Hospital.
00:12:37
- Upon further inspection
at the hospital, it was determined that Jorge
had been shot in the head.
00:12:44
The bullet had
pierced his brain and his condition was
serious, so therefore he was airlifted
because Sacred Heart
00:12:51
is a Level III trauma center. [MELANCHOLY MUSIC] DARLIN MOLINA: Being taken
to Sacred Heart in Spokane
00:12:58
was going to give him
a higher chance of survival. I never thought my dad
wouldn't pull through.
00:13:06
He was fully conscious
at the scene. He looked fine. He was awake. In my head, my dad
was going to be OK.
00:13:15
I packed him a bag with
his favorite cologne, with his clothes, his
favorite slippers, socks.
00:13:23
And I put it all
in a duffel bag. It's going to be
all OK the next day. And you know, it didn't
turn out that way.
00:13:45
Spokane is about a two-hour
drive from Pasco. When we got there, we
went straight to the room.
00:13:53
My dad was in the ICU
and he was asleep. They told us that
my dad was in a coma.
00:14:04
It was pretty severe and his
brain just had no more activity due to lack of oxygen.
00:14:17
KAREN MOLINA: Darlin was
the one to, you know, communicate with everybody. She's the one that called
everybody just to let
00:14:22
them like, what happened. DARLIN MOLINA: I remember
being really mad at everybody.
00:14:30
And we're taking it out
on the doctors, on the staff. I just kept saying like,
how did you let this happen?
00:14:39
I remember even passing
out and I got admitted because I was pregnant. It was just a really
scary time and
00:14:50
we just weren't understanding
the severity of it. [INTRIGUING MUSIC] DET. JESSE ROMERO: We
saw security cameras
00:15:02
on Los pinos that pointed
directly to the accident scene, so we knew that it
more likely than not
00:15:10
captured what happened. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN
(VOICEOVER): The Los Pinos parking
lot surveillance footage
00:15:17
showed Jorge's
vehicle going on Lewis and then crashing into the
fence in the parking lot.
00:15:24
SHAWN SANT: They also
saw a person come out and exit from the passenger
side of the car,
00:15:29
and you were able to actually
see this person have what appeared to be
a weapon that they were
00:15:34
putting in their waistband. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
The video also showed Jorge get
out of the vehicle
00:15:42
and begin walking
away west in the road to where I later found him. The surveillance video also
showed the suspect attempt
00:15:53
to remove the vehicle
from the crash site, but he was not able to get
the vehicle unstuck.
00:16:00
So then the video showed
him flee the scene. DET. JESSE ROMERO: From
slowing down the video,
00:16:18
we can actually
see what we believe to be the actual gunshot
within inside the vehicle
00:16:27
because there is a spark,
and then obviously the vehicle is
veering to its left and wrecking shortly after.
00:16:36
The fact that it's
in black and white, it makes it difficult
to fully identify our suspect.
00:16:42
DR. BRYANNA FOX:
As a former FBI agent, I know firsthand that even in
the 2020s, 2017 era, cameras,
00:16:50
while they're pretty much
everywhere, the footage is not always that good. A lot of times it's grainy,
it's difficult to identify,
00:16:57
especially from further away. DET. JESSE ROMERO: We
have a suspect that is seen on security
video, but we still have
00:17:04
to identify the individual. SHAWN SANT: Other family
members didn't recognize who this person might be.
00:17:11
If this was a stranger
encounter, where did they meet? DET. JESSE ROMERO:
In this case,
00:17:17
we knew that he
had been grocery shopping at Fiesta Foods. We were able
to review the video.
00:17:22
We see our victim,
Jorge, inside the store, and then we are
able to identify the suspect also inside
the store at the same time
00:17:31
that Jorge was there. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
The Fiesta Foods footage showed Jorge
shopping, and then it
00:17:39
showed the suspect
was observing Jorge as he did his shopping. SHAWN SANT: We weren't able
to get a good shot at his face,
00:17:48
but we could see from
the clothing it was similar. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
The video showed
00:17:53
when Jorge left the store
that the suspect left as well. SHAWN SANT: It is unknown
if they had an encounter out
00:18:01
in the parking lot, because
there wasn't video surveillance available from the parking lot.
00:18:08
DET. JESSE ROMERO:
We believe that when Jorge was putting away his
groceries into his vehicle
00:18:13
and getting into his
vehicle, the suspect took the opportunity to also
get into the vehicle,
00:18:19
displaying the handgun
to Jorge and forcing Jorge to exit
the parking lot and travel
00:18:25
west bound on Lewis Street. [OMINOUS MUSIC] SHAWN SANT:
The original information
00:18:38
was that the suspect
had fled the scene, and they were
pursuing leads and trying to locate this
individual that was believed
00:18:45
to have been involved. KAREN MOLINA: The police
were really great with us. They would let us know
whatever was happening next.
00:18:54
They would contact Darlin
like, every so often. They would, like,
assure her pretty much
00:18:58
that they weren't going to stop
until they tried to-- tried to find this person.
00:19:04
DR. BRYANNA FOX:
Police released the footage that they were
able to get from the CCTV.
00:19:08
An anonymous caller said,
I recognize that person. SHAWN SANT: The person calling
in said that this individual
00:19:18
told them that they used
a 32-caliber handgun and shot somebody in Pasco. DR. BRYANNA FOX: That's
an unusual caliber of weapon.
00:19:29
And the person that
the anonymous caller had identified, Pedro Cadenas,
had a juvenile record.
00:19:35
And in fact, he looked
so similar to the image seen in that CCTV footage, all of it
led police to think that this
00:19:46
was a very viable lead. [MELANCHOLY MUSIC] DARLIN MOLINA: After a certain
amount of time at the hospital,
00:19:57
the doctor started
explaining to us that he just wasn't
waking up anymore. KAREN MOLINA: They
were trying to tell
00:20:07
us that he's brain dead. And there's no going
back from that. DARLIN MOLINA: The doctors
gave us two options.
00:20:19
Option one was to pull the plug
and put him into hospice care and let him pass away.
00:20:28
Or option two was
to keep him plugged in, keep a feeding tube on him, and
just hope one day he wakes up.
00:20:38
My parents were never
legally married. So because I was next
of kin, I was the one that
00:20:45
had to make the big decisions. And it upset me
a lot because I just feel like it was just too much
for me to be able to handle.
00:20:58
Like, I'm suffering the same
way everybody else is. And the last thing
I want to deal with
00:21:03
is being the one
to pull the plug. KAREN MOLINA:
My dad would always tell us that he
would never want
00:21:13
to be in a vegetative state. If something were to happen
to him, like, he would just
00:21:19
want us to like, let him go. DARLIN MOLINA: It
really sucks being in a situation like
that because you just
00:21:30
don't want to accept reality. When they gave us the options,
I remember just saying,
00:21:37
he doesn't want
to live this way. And as hard as it was
for the whole family to accept that, that--
00:21:44
that was my decision. KAREN MOLINA: We decided
to just take in a hospice home and live off the rest
of his days there.
00:21:52
DARLIN MOLINA: And I
remember talking about it with my mom
and my sisters, and we ended up all agreeing.
00:21:57
And although it wasn't what the
whole family wanted to hear, it was what the-- my immediate family
and I decided.
00:22:13
[INTRIGUING MUSIC] DR. BRYANNA FOX:
Nobody thinks when they're going
to the grocery store,
00:22:23
particularly
on such a great day, on July 4, that they would end
up being the victim of murder
00:22:30
by a stranger. But that's exactly what
happened to Jorge Rodriguez, and that really strikes
fear in the community
00:22:38
because if he had
it happen to them, it means it could
happen to anybody. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
In the aftermath
00:22:46
of a shooting like
this, the biggest fear is an officer is
that the suspect would continue to go out into
the community and hurt others.
00:22:52
So you want to capture them
as quickly as possible. SHAWN SANT: One
of the key witnesses
00:22:56
that ended up coming forward
was the ex-girlfriend of our suspect. She observed the video
sequence at Los Pinos.
00:23:06
So combined with
his visual picture that was seen
on the surveillance video, she was also able to say
he also had that same walk.
00:23:16
DET. JESSE ROMERO: Pedro's
girlfriend tells us that they were at a barbecue in Pasco on
the 4th of July, that he showed
00:23:23
up with blood on his person. She asked him what happened. His statement to her
was, I had to do it.
00:23:30
SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: When
Detective Romero and his team were able to arrest Pedro
and get him into custody,
00:23:36
it felt good knowing that he
was not out in our community. He was not going to be able
to hurt additional people.
00:23:43
SHAWN SANT: He was
arrested for the assault against Jorge Rodriguez
as well as the robbery charges.
00:23:50
When Pedro Cadenas was
taken into custody, he did not provide
any further statements
00:23:55
to law enforcement officers. KAREN MOLINA: We will
always go to the arcade for Kimberly's birthday
because during the winter,
00:24:11
I mean, it was
always snowing, so we had to go somewhere inside. And that's where she
liked to go all the time.
00:24:15
- Yeah, I remember that. KAREN MOLINA: Dad would always
make sure we had fun somewhere,
00:24:24
especially in that timing. I mean, he wouldn't
work too much because there was barely any
work for any type of work
00:24:31
that he would do. But-- I mean, he made
it work for all of us. DARLIN MOLINA: Yeah, I remember
you guys loved going there,
00:24:38
but as I got older,
I started hating it. KAREN MOLINA: Yeah. DARLIN MOLINA: [LAUGHS]
Consider growing up,
00:24:45
we didn't have much,
it was nice to be able to at least do this
for her birthday every year.
00:24:49
- Yeah. - Where we used
to love going there. - Yeah, we did. [EMOTIONAL MUSIC] It was about three weeks or so
after the incident happened.
00:25:08
We were just trying to keep him
like, you know, comfortable. That was the whole
point of hospice,
00:25:12
just trying to keep them
comfortable until the last of their days. It was, I guess, a little
heartwarming sometimes
00:25:20
because like, we would
grab his hand and like, we would feel his hand,
like, kind of grab us.
00:25:26
They told us they
could be like, you know, like, just like
little muscle spasms and stuff.
00:25:30
But we like to believe it
was like something else. [CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY] Just him trying to, like, let
us know he was still there.
00:25:40
DARLIN MOLINA:
The doctors would tell us that he couldn't hear
us, but something in me
00:25:45
told me that he could hear us. I won't say what I said, but I
remember telling him something,
00:25:55
and a teardrop
fell from his eye. He heard me. [SIGHS] While my dad was in hospice,
he wasn't getting better.
00:26:16
He was deteriorating
day by day, and we can just tell that he
was going to pass away soon.
00:26:24
KAREN MOLINA: We really
didn't know, like, when to leave, when to stay,
just because we really
00:26:29
didn't know if it was
going to be, you know, his last day or something. DARLIN MOLINA: I remember
my boyfriend had, like,
00:26:44
a party at his boss's house. My mom said, you should go. You need to get out of here.
00:26:51
I didn't want to leave
because something told me something was going
to happen, but
00:26:55
they were all insistent
that I had to leave and get some fresh air. I remember going
home to get ready,
00:27:02
and that's when Kimberly
called me, my sister, and she told me
that he passed away.
00:27:12
KAREN MOLINA: Eventually,
he just stopped breathing out of nowhere. Um, I wasn't there,
unfortunately.
00:27:18
I had literally left, like, a
couple minutes prior to, like, you know, um, him passing away.
00:27:27
DARLIN MOLINA: It was
kind of a sense of relief because I honestly
don't know how I would
00:27:32
have reacted witnessing it. KAREN MOLINA: My mom
took my dad's passing a little harder because of the
way my younger sister reacted.
00:27:48
DARLIN MOLINA: The one that
was hurt the most was Kimberly. Right. I was seeing her and she
just got on top of him,
00:28:04
and she did not
want to let him go. She was just sobbing
and hugging him and just
00:28:12
seeing her that way,
it made me so sad 'cause I was the oldest-- like, her older
sister, I was just
00:28:18
trying to be strong for her. But I knew I had to be strong
for everybody else, too.
00:28:25
And it just really
sucked because I had never seen her that way. DR. BRYANNA FOX: It would
have been tragic enough
00:28:41
if Jorge had just been
carjacked and severely injured by gunfire, but the fact
that he was taken off of life
00:28:49
support and died. [SIREN WAILING] [SOMBER MUSIC] Any evidence that
they would have
00:28:54
been able to glean from him
from eyewitness identification, that was gone now,
and additionally,
00:29:01
this turned from
an assault and a carjacking into a murder case. DARLIN MOLINA: I remember
the detective calling to say
00:29:10
that an arrest had been made. - They told us who did
it and how old he was. Pretty much everything
that they knew.
00:29:17
SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: Pedro
Cadenas was a 17-year-old man. The local police department
here had some run-ins with him
00:29:24
in the past. DR. BRYANNA FOX: His father
died when he was five. His mother, who was just
17 when she had him,
00:29:32
it was in and out
of prison herself. Pedro was being raised by his
older sister, who was just
00:29:37
a few years older than him. At age 11, he got
into crystal meth, which is one of the most
addictive drugs
00:29:45
and also very hard
for people to essentially manage and function,
let alone as a child.
00:29:53
So these are not excuses
for his behavior, but at the same time,
it helps explain
00:29:59
how a 17-year-old
could go on to commit such a horrific crime. DARLIN MOLINA: He
wanted to rob my dad
00:30:09
and unfortunately,
the situation ended up badly for both of them. KAREN MOLINA: I
do believe that he
00:30:20
was trying to fight
this guy, like, in the truck when he
was trying to steal it,
00:30:24
and I believe that's why he
crashed the car, because he wasn't going to let
somebody just take-- take
00:30:28
his car away,
especially the truck that he worked so hard for. DARLIN MOLINA: After
the arrest was made,
00:30:36
this was all over social media. I remember his sister
posting that they had a rough upbringing and
that's why he did what he did.
00:30:47
I understand that they
had a rough upbringing, but that doesn't
excuse what he did.
00:30:54
I feel like a lot of people
have a rough upbringing and they don't go
around killing people.
00:31:01
KAREN MOLINA: He was
a complete stranger to us. With somebody like
my age and, you know,
00:31:06
for him to do something
so heinous, it's like-- yeah, it was shocking to us. [MELANCHOLY MUSIC]
00:31:23
DARLIN MOLINA: The days
following his death were really hard with
the funeral planning
00:31:28
and trying to get
everybody together. And then on top of all of that,
having to worry about money.
00:31:34
We definitely
struggled financially to pay for the funeral. KAREN MOLINA: We'll always
be, like, really grateful for,
00:31:41
like, the Mexican
community, especially to know that they
worked at a field, but everybody
gave-- gave so much.
00:31:52
DARLIN MOLINA: They
did fundraisers. They did raffles for us. They would put boxes around
all the grocery stores.
00:32:01
I knew he had so many friends. I just didn't realize how
much he meant to everybody.
00:32:10
I remember his coworkers
coming up to me and saying that work just
wasn't the same anymore,
00:32:16
that they missed hearing his
cackle and his laugh every day. It felt like he was missing.
00:32:24
I feel like just being Mexican
at the time made me really proud because it just showed
me how supportive we are to one
00:32:32
another, because I don't
know what I would have done without everybody's help. KAREN MOLINA: My dad's
funeral was beautiful.
00:32:49
There was actually
a band that were there that was playing music also. It was a beautiful
thing to see.
00:32:55
DARLIN MOLINA: It's
just a hard day. I remember everybody
paid their respects. I was beyond thankful
for anybody that showed up,
00:33:04
but I just remember
being really hard for me. KAREN MOLINA: His
family from Mexico
00:33:12
wasn't able to come,
unfortunately. So we had to do everything
over video chat. DARLIN MOLINA: Just hearing
another son died that way.
00:33:25
Like, they just
were devastated, especially knowing
that my dad left Mexico not to be killed that way.
00:33:40
Shortly after
my dad's death, we started noticing that
my mom was really sad, but we didn't think much of it
just because we were all sad.
00:33:52
She started throwing up a lot. KAREN MOLINA: She would
get a lot of stomach pains,
00:33:57
and I feel like
she kind of just ignored it 'cause she had
other stuff to worry about.
00:34:02
DARLIN MOLINA: She
would do anything not to go to the hospital. So I forced her
to go, and I remember
00:34:10
that's pretty much when they
told us that she had cancer and unfortunately, we
caught it too late.
00:34:19
KAREN MOLINA: So it
was pretty hard on us to find out that she
was going to have
00:34:22
only, like, months to live. We're like, OK, we're going
to go through this again.
00:34:30
[SPEAKING SPANISH] And she's, like,
don't touch it. DAUGHTER 1: And my dad's,
like, yeah, don't touch it.
00:34:40
KAREN MOLINA: Like,
my mom was trying to tell us that my dad's, like,
soul was trying to take her.
00:34:48
Yeah. [SOBS] DARLIN MOLINA: I
remember her telling me that if he was there, he
would treat her like a queen.
00:34:59
I know he would have
been there all the time taking care of her. My mom passed away
in October of 2018.
00:35:11
The only thing that gives
me a little peace of mind is that they're
both together now.
00:35:16
I really hope that
they found each other and that they're happy
wherever they are.
00:35:32
[SOMBER MUSIC] DR. BRYANNA FOX: It'd be one
thing if Pedro Cadenas had shot and killed George
Rodriguez, and
00:35:47
he felt very bad
and very remorseful and had begged for forgiveness,
but it couldn't
00:35:53
have been more opposite. This is a kid that was sort
of wanting to live up to this,
00:35:57
you know, bad reputation,
and was doing even more while he was in jail. He was assaulting guards, he
was damaging the facility,
00:36:06
he was bragging about
what he had done, really acting like,
uh, nothing matters.
00:36:12
And if anything, he just
wanted to have the street cred of being so bad and really
didn't care what type
00:36:18
of consequences it brought. DET. JESSE ROMERO: Pedro
was arrogant in trial. There was not a sign
of remorse on his person.
00:36:29
SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
Pedro Cadenas was staring straight forward. He didn't show any emotion,
didn't respond to my testimony
00:36:34
or to the video of me speaking
with Jorge in any way. DARLIN MOLINA: I
feel like he just
00:36:41
had this smug look in his face
that he did nothing wrong. I remember just holding onto
a lot of anger those days.
00:36:52
He not only hurt me, but he
hurt my whole family. He not only took
my dad away from me,
00:36:57
but he also took away
my mom, because if we weren't so focused on what he
caused with my dad,
00:37:04
we would have caught what
happened to my mom sooner. [INTRIGUING MUSIC] SHAWN SANT: We all
wanted justice for Jorge
00:37:19
because this was one
of the most, I guess, sinister acts that we had
seen, or at least that I
00:37:25
had personally witnessed. This person was willing to kill
another person over a vehicle.
00:37:31
The fact is even
more concerning-- is that it was done
by a person that was 17 years of age at the time.
00:37:38
DET. JESSE ROMERO: You
have a hard working individual that ends up being
a victim of a horrific crime.
00:37:44
So in my opinion, this
was a very senseless crime committed by Pedro. DR. BRYANNA FOX: After
police put together
00:37:53
the best case they
could with all of the evidence
they had collected, a jury was able to return
a guilty verdict and just half
00:37:59
a day of deliberations
on November 26, 2018. DET. JESSE ROMERO: Pedro ruined
multiple lies by his actions.
00:38:08
He ruined our victim's life,
his entire family's life, and it could have been
a contributing factor as to why
00:38:16
their mother passed early on. Pedro was sentenced to 36
years and two months. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN: You do
want to see the perpetrator go
00:38:29
away for a really long time. You don't want there to be
an opportunity for them to get back out into society.
00:38:35
But the legal system
is complicated, and 36 years is a very
long time to go to prison.
00:38:43
DARLIN MOLINA: There
was a sense of relief, but at the same time, I
can't fathom the thought
00:38:47
that in a sense, I
feel like he got away with it, because one
day he's still going
00:38:54
to be able to walk among us. And I find that so unfair. [SOMBER MUSIC] DR. BRYANNA FOX:
It's difficult enough
00:39:06
to have people come face to
face with the killer in court. It's even worse in this case,
as the offender is a juvenile.
00:39:15
So reconciling all
of that in their minds, I'm sure was
extremely difficult. SGT. CHAD PETTIJOHN:
When a case like this
00:39:24
happens, as a police
officer you want to say it doesn't affect
you at all, or maybe it only affects you
a little bit because you
00:39:30
want to stay strong. But a case like this
does affect you, and it does stay with you.
00:39:35
You do remember
Jorge bleeding and you do remember his
daughter showing up and being hysterical,
understandably, at the scene.
00:39:44
And you do remember how
their family was destroyed. DET. JESSE ROMERO:
It's a difficult case
00:39:51
to investigate,
knowing that it's somebody that's so young
and knowing his actions
00:39:57
and what his actions caused. It's one that I won't forget. DARLIN MOLINA:
My dad, he was 51.
00:40:10
He was really young. And then my mom was
also super young. I just feel like it
wasn't their time.
00:40:15
[EMOTIONAL MUSIC] In a sense, our parents babied
us a lot and at the same time, they taught us so much and they
wanted us to do well in life.
00:40:25
So in a way, they
prepared us, but in a way it kind of sucked losing them. I just wish they would be here.
00:40:43
KAREN MOLINA: We
all had children after my dad passed away, so
unfortunately my dad was never
00:40:48
able to meet any of our kids. DARLIN MOLINA: I remember when
I told him I was pregnant,
00:40:55
he was like, is
it for sure now? I had miscarried before,
and he's like, OK, I don't want you
lifting anything heavy.
00:41:04
I don't want you running around
everywhere, all over the place, like, you need to lay down.
00:41:11
KAREN MOLINA: He was excited. He even went out of his
way to, you know, grab some little slippers
for his first grandchild.
00:41:18
[CHUCKLES] DARLIN MOLINA: I feel
like my dad would have been such a great grandfather.
00:41:25
I feel like I would barely
see my kids because my dad would always be taking them.
00:41:29
[LAUGHS] Like, my dad
would be showering them with gifts and you-- just always being
there for them.
00:41:39
I feel like the same
way we grew up would be the same way he
would treat his grandkids,
00:41:44
if not even better. KAREN MOLINA: He's
here in spirit, and I know he's
watching over them.
00:41:57
DAUGHTER 2: Oh my god. - [SPEAKING SPANISH]
Oh my gosh. [CHATTER] DARLIN MOLINA: I miss
him so much because it'd
00:42:15
be nice to just get one
more phone call from him and just answer it. [SOFT PIANO MUSIC]
00:42:21
Holidays haven't been the same. Birthdays haven't
been the same. Any type of gathering
hasn't been the same.
00:42:29
And I just feel like it'll
never be the same again. KAREN MOLINA: I'll always
miss those times where
00:42:37
we were just hanging out. I would come in, like,
you know, help out, we're here in the yard
or just cleaning his truck.
00:42:48
I adore my dad. I'll always adore my dad. He's just not here anymore. DARLIN MOLINA:
The only message I
00:42:58
can give others that have
gone through something similar is to just keep pushing
every day and be strong.
00:43:06
You will think
about it every day, but you just have to find
something in your life
00:43:11
that's worth fighting for. And just remember that
your loved one would want you to keep going
and remember them
00:43:22
and appreciate the life that
they didn't get to live. [THEME MUSIC] [AUDIO LOGO]