00:00:03
[THEME MUSIC] MAN: It just sounds
like something bad is happening to her. WOMAN: I heard her
scream, no, stop it.
00:00:11
MAN: I heard some gunshots. OFFICER: Drop that! Whatever it is, drop it! MAN: That is not true,
that I killed my wife.
00:00:18
WOMAN: We know what
happened because the video tells us what happened. MAN: The camera doesn't lie.
00:00:25
NARRATOR: This
time, on "Killers-- Caught on Camera"-- NARRATOR: --in
Jacksonville, Florida,
00:00:32
a woman is found
dead in her home. NARRATOR: A history of
violence is revealed by cameras
00:00:41
hidden in plain sight. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
Some of the most shocking footage that I've ever
seen in my entire law
00:00:47
enforcement career. NARRATOR: And in
Manchester, in the UK, a family become the
unintended victims--
00:01:00
AMBER HAQUE: Michelle's
eldest son, Kyle, was getting into a bit of a bad crowd.
00:01:05
NARRATOR: --of an
unimaginable act of revenge. VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
This is a very heartbreaking
00:01:11
story that shocked the nation. Palm Coast-- a small community
an hour south of Jacksonville,
00:01:34
home to 25-year-old
Brandi Celenza, her six-year-old son, Ryland,
and Brandi's sister, Amber.
00:01:45
AMBER CELENZA: These photos
bring a lot of memories back, happy ones. I can't really remember
a sad day with her.
00:01:54
NARRATOR: Brandi became
pregnant with Ryland at just 19. My favorite photo of
when she had her baby.
00:02:01
She was young, not even
out of high school, and was getting pregnant
so she had nothing.
00:02:08
She played like a
child, and Ryland got to just, have a fun mom. She was always around.
00:02:17
She was carefree. NARRATOR: A few years
later, in May 2014, she met Keith Johansen.
00:02:24
They fell in love
and married in 2017. [MUSIC PLAYING] Nicole Quintieri was
part of the community's
00:02:32
police force in Flagler County. NICOLE QUINTIERI: They were
just this big, happy family that
00:02:37
went out and did
family activities, and everything was just amazing. Brandi's son, who
was not Keith's son,
00:02:46
according to Keith,
referred to Keith as daddy. AMBER CELENZA:
Everybody was happy.
00:02:50
They had their life
all right there. NARRATOR: After getting married,
Brandi, Keith, and Ryland
00:02:57
moved into a new
house in the suburbs. Even though, it's cold, it's
still beautiful to be here.
00:03:06
[KISS] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Detective
George Hristakopoulos knew the area well.
00:03:13
GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: I
worked this zone on patrol for about, a year or so. Very quiet
neighborhood, retirement
00:03:21
community, very quiet area. AMBER CELENZA: She was
friends with everybody, just had that personality.
00:03:27
No judgment, ever. She loved laughing. She just, I think, she
liked hearing herself laugh,
00:03:34
and that made
everybody else laugh. She had that giggy laugh. It was this beautiful,
perfect marriage.
00:03:43
They were getting ready
to have a vow renewal. They had just gotten a new home. NARRATOR: On April 7, 2018,
they were all at home.
00:03:54
Brandi was making breakfast
for her son, Ryland. NARRATOR: Two religious
visitors knocked at the door.
00:04:05
Good morning, ma'am. How are you doing? Hello. NARRATOR: A very normal
morning, but just
00:04:11
a couple of hours later-- [SIRENS] NARRATOR: --Emergency Services
responded to a 911 call
00:04:22
about a shooting in the home. NARRATOR: When they
arrived at the house, they found Brandi in the
bedroom with two gunshot wounds
00:04:42
to the chest. Keith was distraught. NARRATOR: There would be
no renewal of wedding vows.
00:05:02
[MUSIC PLAYING] Brandi was pronounced
dead at the scene. AMBER CELENZA: The
phone rang at work,
00:05:10
and I just basically,
dropped the phone and just fell right
then and there at work, in front of everybody.
00:05:18
NARRATOR: Police body
cams recorded everything. NARRATOR: With
everyone in shock,
00:05:40
Keith's dad turned up
to comfort his son. Keith was worried about
the guns in the house.
00:06:01
I understand. Yeah, I understand. NARRATOR: Police
discovered Brandi's six-year-old son, Ryland, was in
the house when his mother died.
00:06:18
NARRATOR: Keith was the only
adult witness, his account of events was vital-- NARRATOR: --but Keith's physical
appearance confused officers.
00:06:51
NARRATOR: The medical
examiners began to determine exactly, how Brandi died. Keith explained to detectives,
what he thought had happened.
00:07:30
NICOLE QUINTIERI: We're
interviewing Keith and he says that Brandi
was probably, just being
00:07:36
a good housewife and tidying
up moving the firearms, and they both fell and both
went off and both shot her.
00:08:06
He described, the most perfect
marriage, the most perfect relationship in the world, and
he said that they never argued,
00:08:15
and they were thinking
about renewing their vows. NARRATOR: But the picture
perfect family life Keith
00:08:21
described started to unravel. NICOLE QUINTIERI: When I started
asking the deeper questions of,
00:08:31
were there any issues
in your relationship? Were you guys faithful
to one another?
00:08:36
Keith Johansen told us that
Brandi, very nobly, came to him and told him that she might
have had an online relationship
00:08:47
or some sort of online affair-- NICOLE QUINTIERI: --but that
was nothing, no big deal.
00:09:02
It was all water
under the bridge. NARRATOR: Back at the
house, officers discovered
00:09:55
a home rigged with cameras-- NARRATOR: --and an armory of
small firearms monitored 24/7.
00:10:13
NICOLE QUINTIERI: We
noticed multiple gun safes, multiple cameras on
every angle of the house.
00:10:28
NICOLE QUINTIERI:
To go into a house where the residents have
cameras in all of the rooms,
00:10:36
like the bathrooms,
was very abnormal. NARRATOR: Police discovered
recording devices
00:10:42
close to where Brandi was found. Surveillance cameras
are an absolute game changer in law enforcement.
00:10:48
The Sheriff instituted a
real-time crime center here at the Flagler County
Sheriff's Office,
00:10:53
and we have analysts
almost around the clock so we can conduct a
better-informed investigation.
00:11:00
NARRATOR: Detective's new
analysis of the footage would be key to
solving the case,
00:11:04
but when they asked Keith
to view the recordings, he was uncooperative. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
None of the passwords
00:11:31
that he gave us
worked, and he gave us several different variations
of the same password.
00:11:39
NARRATOR: The
detectives had no idea, what the footage would show, but
they knew it could be crucial.
00:11:45
They issued a
warrant for the video from the surveillance company. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
I tried for seemingly,
00:11:53
forever to just try
to get a human being that I could serve
this legal process to and get this search warrant.
00:12:03
NARRATOR: It was a frustrating
delay in the search for evidence, but the
autopsy provided detectives
00:12:10
with their first breakthrough. NICOLE QUINTIERI: We
received information from the Medical
Examiner's Office that
00:12:18
said there were
two gunshots, which it's very uncommon for somebody
to shoot themself two times.
00:12:26
One time, suicide--
understandable. Two times-- unlikely,
but still possible. But the big kicker
was, one of the shots
00:12:36
was a distance shot,
which you can't shoot yourself from a distance. NARRATOR: The forensic pathology
revealed a major discrepancy
00:12:45
in Keith's version of events. Brandi's husband was
now, the prime suspect. The home surveillance
camera system had become
00:12:54
a vital electronic witness. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: If we
were successful in getting
00:12:58
this footage, we knew that
it would be absolutely, absolutely groundbreaking. [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:13:06
NARRATOR: Assistant
State Attorney Jennifer Dunton was brought in. She knew the digital recordings
could help her go back in time.
00:13:15
JENNIFER DUNTON: In this case,
we didn't have an eyewitness, which we rarely do, so it
was very important to piece
00:13:21
together all the evidence. The video evidence
was sort of, like-- it was an eyewitness to events.
00:13:28
NARRATOR: When the footage
eventually arrived, it revealed what had gone
on behind closed doors.
00:13:35
GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
What we saw was some of the most
shocking footage that I've ever seen in my
entire law enforcement career.
00:13:46
NARRATOR: An argument about
alleged flirting online had been escalated by Keith.
00:14:03
NICOLE QUINTIERI: Watching these
videos, the drastic difference between what the
suspect portrayed to us
00:14:11
and what was
actually going on, I don't know that I've ever had a
lie so in-depth to the contrary
00:14:20
of the actual incident. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: I think,
we could see whether he was
00:14:38
portraying his sniveling,
begging us to see his side of things version
versus this version,
00:14:45
where he absolutely,
looks like a monster. NICOLE QUINTIERI: Never,
in a million years,
00:14:55
would I have thought that
Brandi Celenza was going through what she went through
for the days leading up
00:15:00
to her death. NARRATOR: Brandi's body
language was revealing. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS
(VOICEOVER): She just sat there
00:15:06
and cried in a fetal
position much of the time. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS
(VOICEOVER):
00:15:12
Even the way he positions
himself on the bed-- looking at her, threatening her. It's just a--
00:15:20
it's completely different. JENNIFER DUNTON: You can try
to envision what that life is
00:15:32
like, but you don't know
until you live that, and so this was a
true insight into what
00:15:39
domestic violence looks like. So people typically stay
in abusive relationships because there is a
gradual shifting baseline.
00:16:00
So you experience more
and more abuse over time. The violence escalates. It usually starts as
psychological or coercive
00:16:08
control, so belittling a
partner, as psychologically controlling their behavior,
maybe controlling finances,
00:16:16
mocking them when they try to
go out and see their friends, and then, that often escalates
into physical violence
00:16:21
and/or sexual violence, which
then can escalate even further, to murder. [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:16:32
NICOLE QUINTIERI: At this
point, he's so enraged that he's telling her
to use a gun on herself
00:16:38
so he doesn't have to. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
And giving her a gun and telling her to use
it, you could tell,
00:16:48
she's just absolutely
broken at this point. He's totally broken
her, her self-esteem,
00:16:55
and she just looks in disbelief,
like, what's happening? She can't believe it. JENNIFER DUNTON: It was horrible
having to sit there and go
00:17:18
through those videos
and watch and imagine, what she was going through. NARRATOR: Brandi's
whole family had no idea
00:17:28
what she was going through. AMBER CELENZA: She was happy. That house is a happy house.
00:17:32
I don't understand. AMBER CELENZA: There,
everybody was happy. Why didn't she say anything?
00:17:39
I grew up with you for ever,
we've done everything together, and you can't even say
one thing or, like, hint?
00:17:48
I never got a hint. Telling your loved
ones that you're in an abusive relationship is
often, an incredibly difficult
00:17:59
thing to do, and it's
because of the barriers to reporting being really high. So for one, as a victim of
intimate partner violence,
00:18:08
you often feel, like, it's
maybe your fault so there's an internalization of the
perpetrator's coercive control
00:18:15
and psychological manipulation. So the perpetrator has convinced
you that, maybe, you do deserve
00:18:21
to be violently
treated because they've belittled you for so long
that you've internalized that.
00:18:26
Not telling family
and friends is often, also because maybe you're
dependent on your partner,
00:18:30
and you don't want to
dissolve the relationship. You don't want to
break up or maybe
00:18:35
you're worried that
it'll get worse. So there's lots of
different barriers, some are more
because of dependence
00:18:42
on the person than others. And there's also shame
and guilt and feeling like you shouldn't have gotten
yourself into the situation.
00:18:49
[MUSIC PLAYING] NICOLE QUINTIERI: You can see
when Keith Johansen is just mentally abusing her,
that she's staring off,
00:19:04
you know, a thousand
miles just to not feel what she's going through. You can see the tears
rolling down her face,
00:19:12
but she's emotionless,
almost, on her face because she just
has nothing left. NICOLE QUINTIERI: When someone
is mentally and emotionally
00:19:31
controlled by their
partner or by their spouse, it gets to the point of
where they feel like they are
00:19:38
actually the person that
their spouse is telling them that they are-- that they'll be
nothing without their spouse,
00:19:46
that they will make
nothing of themselves, that they are nothing, that
they're not worthy of anyone
00:19:52
else other than them. Behind closed doors, you don't
know how far bickering can go.
00:20:09
We had never seen, on video,
in such great detail, somebody being so evil towards
another human being,
00:20:17
who he supposedly, loved. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: There
was almost, no doubt in my mind
00:20:28
that he killed his wife. NARRATOR: But there
was a crucial element missing from the recordings.
00:20:35
JENNIFER DUNTON: The murder
was not caught on video so you have to piece
it all together
00:20:40
and prove your case
in a different way. NARRATOR: Investigators believed
Keith deleted the footage
00:20:46
from the day of the murder. The question remained-- was
there enough video evidence
00:20:51
to prove a motive? JENNIFER DUNTON: If he did it,
what points to premeditation? So every time I'm looking at
something, that's the lens
00:20:59
that I'm looking at it through. JENNIFER DUNTON: Every time the
word "I'm going to kill you"
00:21:10
comes out of your mouth,
that clip's coming out. Any threat to do harm-- --and then what-- to
give context, what
00:21:18
the fight was over,
what the motive was, what he was upset about. NARRATOR: Every threat made by
Keith was building evidence.
00:21:30
NICOLE QUINTIERI: It
gave a very clear picture that, Keith Johansen
had it in his mind days
00:21:37
before that he was going
to kill Brandi Celenza. He said it several
times, on video,
00:21:45
that he needed to leave the home
so that he wouldn't kill her. She needed to kill herself
so that he wouldn't kill her.
00:21:55
JENNIFER DUNTON:
The video evidence showed both motive, a reason why
he would want to kill his wife.
00:22:01
He was very, very upset with
her in the days leading up about this perceived
or apparent cheating
00:22:06
she may have been doing. JENNIFER DUNTON: We were
confident that Brandi Celenza didn't shoot herself.
00:22:16
This wasn't an accident. This wasn't suicide. NARRATOR: The team
then, combined the video with the 911 call.
00:22:23
It revealed a difference between
his words and his actions. NARRATOR: Keith never actually
tried to save his wife's life.
00:22:36
GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
Our 911 operator tried to have Keith check
if Brandi had a pulse
00:22:41
and things of that
nature and tried to get him to stop the bleeding. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: Keith
was saying, Brandi, Brandi,
00:23:14
stay with me, stay with me. NARRATOR: CCTV footage
showed Keith wasn't even in the same room
as Brandi when he
00:23:21
talked to the 911 dispatcher. NICOLE QUINTIERI: Here he
is in the living room hiding
00:23:27
his narcotics because he was
more worried about getting in trouble for the
drugs in his house
00:23:33
than saving his wife's life. The connection
between substance use and alcohol and intimate
partner violence,
00:23:45
particularly intimate partner
homicide, is so strong. People who already have
violent tendencies are going
00:23:51
to act on them because you're-- the front part of your brain,
your prefrontal cortex,
00:23:55
is usually, sort of
diminished, and so you're making worse decisions, and
you're less likely to inhibit
00:24:00
things like violence. [SIRENS] JENNIFER DUNTON: In the
videos, you had verbal abuse--
00:24:15
that demeaning type
of treatment of her-- but it very, very,
quickly, escalated to actual threats of harm
and threats of death,
00:24:22
and then, ultimately,
two days later, unfortunately, deadly
violence was used. NARRATOR: The footage
of Brandi just
00:24:32
moments before she died revealed
a calm and loving mother. JENNIFER DUNTON: We were looking
at as many pieces of evidence
00:24:40
to show that minutes
before she was killed, she was functioning
completely normal.
00:24:47
We had her on video just three
or four minutes before he calls 911 acting completely normal.
00:25:04
JENNIFER DUNTON: She had
the interaction at the door with the religious visitors
and answered questions,
00:25:10
and you can see her
picking up a cat. JENNIFER DUNTON: And
then, feeding her child,
00:25:22
talking to her child about
going to the fair, just a normal sleepy, slow
morning in her house.
00:25:34
AMBER CELENZA: We made
plans for the fair coming up that weekend. She was being a
very loving mother.
00:25:41
Her son was just being
a typical little boy-- GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS: Telling
his mommy that he loves her.
00:25:51
They parted ways in the
kitchen, and Brandi's son would never see her, again. NARRATOR: Individual cameras
brought into focus, the control
00:26:02
Keith had over Brandi's life. GEORGE HRISTAKOPOULOS:
Keith apparently frowned on her having friends
and wanted to isolate her.
00:26:10
NICOLE QUINTIERI:
His intentions were to have full control
over everything that she did in her life.
00:26:17
He can see anybody and
everybody that she's talking to. He bought the house. He can put cameras and
stuff wherever he wants.
00:26:25
He made her quit her job
so she has to stay home. So really, everything that
Brandi Celenza wanted to do
00:26:34
in her life, he controlled. Get the [MUTED]
out of my life. NARRATOR: The cameras in the
home provided damning evidence.
00:26:45
Three weeks after
Brandi's death, Keith was arrested and
charged with murder. JENNIFER DUNTON: We
initially arrested
00:26:51
him on second degree murder. And then, after we had
a chance to thoroughly go through those videos again
and we saw both the motive,
00:27:00
but really the premeditation
that those videos outlined-- all of his threats, direct
threats to kill, and to hurt
00:27:08
her and do bodily harm, and
the removal of the camera just days before-- that really showed premeditated
design from his perspective--
00:27:21
JENNIFER DUNTON: --so
we chose to upgrade it to first degree
murder at that point
00:27:24
and take it to a grand jury. NARRATOR: The trial
began in October 2021. JENNIFER DUNTON: The video
surveillance was key.
00:27:35
I think, without the
video, you would have not seen the death threats. No one would have
known about that.
00:27:40
Brandi was not here to tell us. So those videos spoke
for Brandi in court, which we very rarely have.
00:27:48
With the CCTV footage, it
helps the jurors and the court find Keith guilty of
first degree murder.
00:27:57
JENNIFER DUNTON: It was a tragic
example of that escalation of violence that
occurs, and it can
00:28:01
go from just verbal abuse
to deadly force very, very quickly. NARRATOR: Keith
Johansen was found
00:28:11
guilty of first degree
murder and sentenced to life without parole. AMBER CELENZA: That's what we
wanted to hear from day one.
00:28:20
That's what we knew. We knew that he did this,
and just finally hearing it, it was, like,
waves just crashing
00:28:31
and just, it was
an awesome feeling. JENNIFER DUNTON: It's just
relief, relief that we've
00:28:39
gotten justice for the family. AMBER CELENZA: She
was my best friend. She was a mom.
00:28:45
She was an aunt. She was a daughter,
a granddaughter. She was all these things--
a best friend to everybody.
00:28:54
Little things were
big things to her-- a butterfly. Just, amazing person
all the way around,
00:29:03
had no fear, an awesome person. [THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: Whether it's
inside or outside the home,
00:29:24
cameras now follow
our daily lives. All-seeing digital eyes
capture our words and deeds.
00:29:32
Often, they record
crucial evidence of our darkest thoughts, like
in the case of Michelle Pearson.
00:29:43
Walkden, Salford, in
the North of England-- home to journalist Amber Haque. AMBER HAQUE: Michelle Pearson
was a single mom to five kids.
00:29:55
The oldest was Kyle,
Demi, Brandon, and Lacie, and the youngest was Leah. It's quite a
tight-knit community,
00:30:04
lots of terraced houses. Michelle was very
well-known in the area. NARRATOR: December 11, 2017.
00:30:19
Around 5:00 AM, Emergency
Services were called to a fire. It was Michelle's house.
00:30:28
Mike Broadley was working
for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. MIKE BROADLEY:
Michelle Pearson makes
00:30:34
a 999 call from a mobile phone. By the time this is passed
from the BT operator,
00:30:39
Michelle's call has dropped, and
there is no information passed. The crews make a
very fast response.
00:30:47
AMBER HAQUE: All the neighbors
are out in the street, and they can see the house
completely engulfed in flames,
00:30:54
and the neighbors know
that Michelle is in there with her five children. MIKE BROADLEY: This was a
very rapid developed fire.
00:31:05
NARRATOR: Michelle's eldest
son, Kyle, was on the top floor. MIKE BROADLEY: Kyle exited via
the box bedroom front window
00:31:13
onto just above the
door and got to safety. NARRATOR: The upstairs
window was wide open.
00:31:19
Air flowed faster
through the house, and the fire accelerated. MIKE BROADLEY: And the
heat, smoke, and flames just
00:31:26
raced up the stairs, ripped all
the plasterboard off the walls, caused extensive damage, and
straight out of their bedroom.
00:31:33
And due to the scaffolding being
up the front of the property, they couldn't open the
windows either to escape.
00:31:40
By the time the
crews answered, they found Michelle next to the
bath, the baby in the bath.
00:31:46
NARRATOR: Fire crews got
Michelle and her youngest daughter, Leah, out
of the bathroom,
00:31:50
and they were put
in an ambulance. Brandon and Lacie were
also pulled from the fire,
00:31:56
but were pronounced dead on
arrival, at the hospital. MIKE BROADLEY: When the crews
were searching the bedroom
00:32:03
that Demi and the siblings
were in, it had been on fire and suffered heat
and smoke damage.
00:32:10
NARRATOR: Demi
died at the scene. Michelle and her daughter,
Leah, were left in the hands
00:32:15
of emergency doctors. Fire investigators got to
work at the scene to find out, what happened?
00:32:24
Mike Broadley was one of
the lead investigators. MIKE BROADLEY: We go into a
full investigation looking
00:32:31
for evidence, signs
of burn patterns that could indicate
where the fire started,
00:32:36
and why it traveled the way it
did and behave the way it did. We discounted that it was
accidental through electrical,
00:32:42
through candles,
through smocking, through the cooking process. And once we discounted
all the accidental causes,
00:32:48
we were only left with
the one option of, this is a deliberate act. NARRATOR: The Pearson home
was now, a crime scene.
00:33:01
Perpetrators of
this kind of crime often think, they're
not going to get caught,
00:33:04
and so that's a key motivator
for doing it because if you think, well, the evidence
is going to burn up anyway
00:33:09
and they won't catch me
then, this is a good avenue to get justice, in some way.
00:33:14
It might be easier to distance
yourself from the consequences of setting a fire
than knowingly,
00:33:20
say, stabbing someone or
hurting someone in another way because you have that possible,
psychological justification
00:33:27
where you go, well, I don't know
what the fire is going to do? I don't know, whom it's
going to harm or not?
00:33:32
And so, you can
distance yourself a bit from the
potential consequences of that fire setting.
00:33:37
[THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: Fire
investigators needed to know how the fire was started.
00:33:46
MIKE BROADLEY: It quickly
became apparent that the kitchen window had been smashed.
00:33:50
We found evidence of a Budweiser
bottle on the kitchen counter with a bit of a burn wick.
00:33:56
When we went into
the front room, we actually found that there
was a glass bottle at the front
00:34:01
and near the door
leading to the staircase. This was the bottle that
delivered the fatal fire,
00:34:07
unfortunately, and
where it landed, blocked the escape
to the front door. This fire took less
than two minutes
00:34:14
to develop the way it did. So as soon as our bedroom window
was open, it was straight away.
00:34:19
It was instant. NARRATOR: Mike and his team
decided, the fire was started by two Molotov cocktails.
00:34:28
MIKE BROADLEY: It was concluded
that a bottle had been introduced through
the kitchen window,
00:34:32
containing an accelerant,
which we believe was petrol. NARRATOR: Police collected
footage from any surveillance
00:34:42
cameras they could find. AMBER HAQUE: Incredibly,
and quite crucially, the investigators found CCTV
that showed the perpetrators,
00:34:53
MIKE BROADLEY: Shortly
before two minutes to 5:00 in the morning, the offenders
had lifted the back fence panel
00:34:59
up and made entry
through the garden to the back kitchen window. NARRATOR: Dr. Vasileios
Karagioannopoulos
00:35:09
is an expert in cybercrime at
the University of Portsmouth. VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
The CCTV footage definitely
00:35:15
shows us how useful CCTV
footage from the murder scene can be because we can see the
suspect or any accessories.
00:35:23
The petrol bombs are thrown
in the ground floor-- the first flash and then the
second one from the explosion.
00:35:41
Obviously, it was very hard
for the family to escape. NARRATOR: This was now a
multiple murder inquiry
00:35:53
with a recording of the event. Emi Polito is a
forensic video analyst. EMI POLITO: It is
very rare, in a murder
00:36:02
case, for the police
to be able to find CCTV of the actual incident. In this instance, even
though the CCTV was not
00:36:10
of good quality, but it was
able to put a number of people at the scene and actually show
the extent of the incident
00:36:18
and of the damage
that is caused. NARRATOR: The chilling
footage revealed more than one
person was involved
00:36:25
and the direction
of their escape. VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
We can see the offenders
00:36:32
trying to get away. We can see how big
the flashes are. You can see them running away.
00:36:37
NARRATOR: The
search for evidence included the cameras on the
fire trucks at the scene.
00:36:42
VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
They joined their accomplice in a getaway car, and we can
see footage from the dash
00:36:49
cam of an emergency vehicle
Catching the escape car as it's leaving the scene, after
the petrol bombs have been
00:37:01
thrown in the Pearson property. Quite compelling
evidence and images for the police during an
investigation, and it's
00:37:12
very powerful. EMI POLITO: This is important
information because they actually show the incident.
00:37:19
It really starts putting
the picture together. NARRATOR: Police had no idea
who the figures caught on camera
00:37:26
were, but new information
came to light. MIKE BROADLEY: There had been
an emergency call earlier on
00:37:34
that morning to the police
because somebody had been outside shouting for one of the
children and being a nuisance,
00:37:41
so they had called
the police earlier. AMBER HAQUE: Michelle's
eldest son, Kyle, was getting
00:37:47
into a bit of a bad crowd. He'd ended up in a feud
with another young lad, and there was this cycle of
sort of tit for tat revenge
00:37:55
violence that was going on. NARRATOR: But Greater
Manchester Police still needed more information.
00:38:04
LEWIS HUGHES: That feud
involved minor crimes and incidents, several
incidents, and retaliation
00:38:10
between the two groups. NARRATOR: It escalated when
Kyle set fire to a car. AMBER HAQUE: Kyle had caused
fire damage to this guy's car,
00:38:21
and in revenge
for that, this guy had started to threaten Kyle. He also later, turned
up to the family home
00:38:29
and started threatening
Michelle, as well. NARRATOR: The
discovery of the feud gave police a prime
suspect, but the CCTV
00:38:38
couldn't identify the man. AMBER HAQUE: The police
received a tip off. They were told that the
perpetrators had been seen
00:38:48
in an Off Licence just
hours before the arson attack had happened. VASILEIOS KARA
GIANNOPOULOS: The police
00:38:56
acquired point-of-sale
CCTV from the Off Licence. Point-of-sale cameras are very,
very useful for various kinds
00:39:04
of investigations. They can show us who is
making a purchase so we can see their faces, for example.
00:39:11
We can see the way they've
paid, whether they've paid with cash or with credit cards.
00:39:16
We can see what
they've purchased and when that happened. NARRATOR: The
footage showed three
00:39:24
young people buying alcohol. Police identified one
of them as Zak Bolland-- the man who threatened
Kyle and his house hours
00:39:34
before the fire. EMI POLITO: We can
clearly, see the faces, and they are buying alcohol.
00:39:42
NARRATOR: The beer brand
matched the bottle used to make the Molotov cocktail. VASILEIOS KARA
GIANNOPOULOS: They're
00:39:47
holding a box full of bottles
of beer, which, we believe, were then used to
commit the arson.
00:39:57
NARRATOR: But it wasn't
enough to make an arrest. AMBER HAQUE: They're
kind of laughing
00:40:02
and joking with each other. To be honest, they look,
like, they don't really have a care in the world.
00:40:08
NARRATOR: Then, a breakthrough
on another liquid purchase. The police also got CCTV
footage from a petrol station.
00:40:18
NARRATOR: Two men
are caught on camera. Their identity hidden. Their purchase clearly seen.
00:40:28
EMI POLITO: They think they
are being clever by covering themselves up with the hoodies.
00:40:32
However, we are able to pick
up patterns on the clothing, on the jackets, the
color of the trousers,
00:40:39
even features on the shoe ware. And the combination of the
clothing items between the two
00:40:43
people are similar
to those that we are able to see in the
first bit of CCTV footage.
00:40:50
NARRATOR: It can't
be a coincidence. Zak Bolland is clearly,
linked to both locations.
00:40:57
They then, enables
the police to assume that they are the same person. VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS: If
the suspects are masked in some
00:41:05
of the footage, that doesn't
mean that investigators cannot combine and use that footage
with other CCTV in order
00:41:11
to reinforce their case. NARRATOR: Police identified
the two others with Zak Bolland
00:41:17
as David Worrall and his
girlfriend, Courtney Brierley. All three were arrested.
00:41:26
LEWIS HUGHES: Zak Bolland denied
the attack, his girlfriend, Courtney Brierley, went no
comment to all questions asked,
00:41:33
and Dave Worrall
was the only one who gave a comprehensive
account on interview.
00:41:37
He actually told us
that he believed, they were going to set fire
to a bin at the premises.
00:41:43
We've set about disproving
this, proving that the bins were at the front of the premises,
exactly where the group knew
00:41:49
they were from the
earlier incident where they've threatened
the Pearson's. And there were, in fact,
no bins in the back garden.
00:41:56
NARRATOR: On the 13th
of December 2017, Michelle's youngest child,
Leah, died in hospital.
00:42:04
She was only three years old. Michelle had now, lost
four of her five children. AMBER HAQUE: Due to the
severity of the injuries
00:42:15
that Michelle had
sustained, she struggled a lot with memory problems. She would often ask,
where the children were
00:42:23
because she didn't
remember or recall that they had suddenly died. MIKE BROADLEY: The
children had the procession
00:42:30
through the local area
and arrived on horse drawn carriages to the church, where
there was a very big turnout
00:42:38
of friends, family, and
the local community came to support everybody, as well. NARRATOR: In May 2018,
Courtney Brierley was
00:42:47
found guilty of manslaughter. Zak Bolland and David
Worrall were found guilty of the murder of four
children and the attempted
00:42:56
murder of Michelle and Kyle. MIKE BROADLEY: Zak,
Courtney, and David were all sentenced for a total
of 98 years between them.
00:43:07
Today, may be at
the end of the trial, but it's not the end for
us, as we may try to recover
00:43:14
and get on with our lives. This incident led to
the death of, pretty much, a whole family.
00:43:22
And when you look at the
images from the staircase and the bedrooms, it
was extremely hot,
00:43:27
and it had been extremely
terrifying for that family. So here, we're going
from very petty disputes
00:43:38
to really serious consequences,
and it's really easy to think, how can that happen?
00:43:44
And surely, that's not
normal, but actually, statistically speaking,
that's exactly, how a lot
00:43:49
of these situations happen. They start from
these really petty, normal human
interactions and then
00:43:54
they spiral out of
control into these really extreme consequences. [THEME MUSIC]
00:44:03
NARRATOR: The
point-of-sale cameras were an unexpected
and vital witness. VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
In this particular case,
00:44:09
the point-of-sale cameras
were instrumental in actually, cracking the case. CCTV and video evidence
is effectively, crucial.
00:44:19
It's a crucial piece of evidence
in a criminal investigation. NARRATOR: But the
killer's convictions
00:44:27
were not the end of the story. AMBER HAQUE: On the
25th of August 2019, Michelle Pearson,
very sadly, passed
00:44:37
away following
some complications after she had an operation. She said, she'd lost any
will to live at this point
00:44:44
and just wanted to let go, to
be with her babies, her angels. NARRATOR: It was 20
months after the fire.
00:44:56
Michelle was 38 years old. Zak and David had
their sentences increased by three years.
00:45:06
Her coffin, followed by four
white horse-drawn carriages, one for each of her children.
00:45:15
VASILEIOS KARA GIANNOPOULOS:
This is a very heartbreaking story that shocked the nation.
00:45:20
This was just, such
a desperately tragic and completely harrowing
story that not only affected
00:45:28
the local community in Salford,
but all across the city of Manchester and beyond.
00:45:34
They were known locally,
as the Walkden Angels. It had that much of an impact
on the local community here.
00:45:44
MIKE BROADLEY: This
incident is one that will always stay with me. The whole idea that you could
do that act and just drive away
00:45:51
and you've left that
devastation behind you, I just can't believe somebody
can do that and just drive
00:45:58
away and get on
with their lives, knowing that you've potentially,
wiped the whole family out.
00:46:09
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]