00:00:04
[water sloshing] [theme music] NARRATOR: Sitting close
to the Florida coastline,
00:00:42
the city of Pensacola is
the magnet for tourists. [stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER:
Our beaches are beautiful.
00:00:56
People come here
for vacations a lot. You know, we have a lot of
up-and-coming small
00:01:02
businesses downtown. Our downtown is thriving. NARRATOR: Often dubbed
the Cradle of Aviation,
00:01:10
a large swathe of Pensacola
and its waterways is home to the US
Navy's aviator training
00:01:15
school and air station. This military base sits
in sheltered waters to the southwest of the city,
overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
00:01:30
- We're heading to an area
called Navy point. And it's a body
of water that is around
00:01:39
the outside of the Navy base. You can see a lot of people
out here walking their dogs.
00:01:50
This is an area
where you can come and enjoy outdoor activities. The water is over here.
00:01:56
Jet skiers do use that. [stirring music] NARRATOR: And it's
jet skiers who made a discovery around 3:00
PM one November afternoon.
00:02:10
A large, overly stuffed duffel
bag washed up on the shoreline. [stirring music] SHANNON BRIARTON: They thought
maybe it was, you know,
00:02:24
money or drugs or something
of that nature. But as they got closer
to it, they could smell
00:02:32
a foulness coming from it. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
They didn't open it. It was actually a small
lock on the duffel bag
00:02:40
that would prevent
somebody from opening it. They could see that
there was insect activity
00:02:45
on and around the duffel bag. [water sloshing] [stirring music] SARAH MORMINO: The fact that
the bag was surrounded by flies
00:03:00
and other insect
activity leads us to believe that there is more
in that bag than just
00:03:05
maybe luggage. It could be remains. Blow flies and other
insects, they can smell decomposing
flesh from miles away.
00:03:16
Once that odor is
exposed to air, it does not take them
long to find the body. Having those flies
swarm that bag
00:03:25
is a key indication that
there is something that we need to look more into. [water sloshing]
00:03:36
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
They could see fluids coming out of the duffel bag. Some very unpleasant things.
00:03:40
So they knew enough to call
the Sheriff's Office. [stirring music] We're on a trail right now.
00:03:51
And this is the way we actually
went to recover the bag. - When they got close to the
duffel bag and opened it,
00:04:01
they were able
to see that there was a body of a female inside. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It
was found right over here
00:04:11
in the duffel bag
washed on the shore. [stirring music] It was a little chill
in the air, a little overcast.
00:04:26
Yeah, this reminds
me a lot of exactly what it was like that day. NARRATOR: Faced with
a suspicious death,
00:04:36
police quickly cordoned
off the shoreline. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
It is a process of documenting
the scene, collecting
00:04:46
evidence from the scene. At that time, it was
a Sheriff's Office assisting, as well with
their crime scene unit.
00:04:53
[stirring music] - Especially in large
bodies of water, you never know where
the body exactly came from.
00:05:07
So when you're trying
to secure the scene, you don't know what
you're securing
00:05:12
because you don't know what's
involved versus what isn't. It's always better
to be safe than sorry,
00:05:19
and to tape off as much area
as you can, and thoroughly examine all of those areas.
00:05:30
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
A body in the water, it adds a level
of complexity to the case,
00:05:34
makes that much more
challenging to investigate. - Typically, when
a body is discovered,
00:05:45
the medical examiner
or forensic pathologist is called out to the scene. That body is then
placed in a body bag,
00:05:51
usually on some type
of a clean white sheet. That sheet is also taken
to the morgue with the body,
00:05:58
and it is examined
for trace evidence. Oftentimes, the hands are
also wrapped in baggies
00:06:03
to preserve any evidence
that may be there in order to help solve the case. SHANNON BRIARTON: When we
got the body to the morgue
00:06:14
and opened the duffel bag,
she was crammed in there. JOHNATHAN THACKER: She was in
that bag in the fetal position,
00:06:22
so her knees were up
close to her chest. And she was clothed
only with a bra. She had nothing else on.
00:06:34
JONI JOHNSTON: Whenever you
find a young woman, especially who is nude and she's
deceased, I think immediately,
00:06:40
this raises
the question of is there some kind of sexual component. NARRATOR: Police
needed to establish
00:06:50
whether the victim
was alive or dead when she entered the water. MICHELLE DUPRE: One
of the techniques
00:06:56
that we use is we
actually float the lungs. If the lungs float
in a pail of water,
00:07:02
then there is no
water in the lungs. If they don't float, then
they are water-laden.
00:07:08
There was no water
in the lungs, and so we know that she
was already dead before she
00:07:13
was tossed into the water. [water sloshing] She was strangled. And we can tell that because we
look for things like petechiae
00:07:23
in the eyes, petechiae
around the eyelids. Petechiae are very
small, punctate hemorrhages that appear
because of pressure.
00:07:32
And that pressure
occurs because of tightening around the neck. SHANNON BRIARTON: She
was also duct-taped
00:07:38
around her entire face. Her wrists were duct-tied. JONI JOHNSTON: I think
as a psychologist,
00:07:46
when you have somebody's
face covered up, you always wonder why. If there is a sense
of wanting to kind of,
00:07:51
you know, cover this person up. Maybe they knew her. Maybe there's a sense of shame.
00:07:55
And, of course, there's
also the obvious question, how did she die? And if this is
the way that she died,
00:08:02
if this person actually covered
her face up to asphyxiate her, that really does suggest
a very sadistic way
00:08:08
of murdering somebody. It is a very personal
way to murder somebody. You are putting
your hands on that person.
00:08:17
And you are watching
that person's eyes. And you can see their
expression as you do that.
00:08:23
And it does take
several minutes for that person to suffocate. And you are wrapping that tape.
00:08:29
So it is a very gruesome
and brutal and really sadistic way to kill somebody. [stirring music]
00:08:42
NARRATOR: Knowing they were
now dealing with a murder, detectives searched
for any clues that
00:08:48
might lead them to the killer. SHANNON BRIARTON:
We were concerned that she was in the saltwater
for any length of time.
00:08:56
Really, you know, you
lose DNA evidence. You lose any evidence
of a sexual assault.
00:09:05
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
Within the bag, there was at least
one paper towel. Once it was allowed
to be dried out,
00:09:13
you could see very
clearly that it had a very distinctive pattern on it. There was also what looked
to be a Clorox type wipe.
00:09:25
Every time you need one,
you just pull the next one. It was one of those types. - We noticed that she was
also missing one earring.
00:09:32
She had one gold hoop in,
and then one that was not in. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It had a bit
of a distinctive design to it.
00:09:41
It was not so normal that it
would be just any earring. It could have very
well been matched
00:09:47
to another had it been found. So the thought was that perhaps
that earring had come off
00:09:54
of her ear someplace
where the murder occurred, or maybe even in the
vehicle that transported her.
00:10:01
A lot of possibilities. - Finding the Clorox
wipes and discovering that she might be missing
an earring was very crucial.
00:10:14
NARRATOR: It was a starting
point for investigators. But one big question remained--
00:10:20
who was
the unidentified victim? [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Pensacola,
police are investigating
00:10:36
a gruesome discovery. A duffel bag has washed ashore
containing a woman who's been
00:10:43
bound with tape and strangled. - It's very common for killers
to dispose of a body close
00:10:51
to an area where they
live, whether they work. And also if it's water,
oftentimes a place
00:10:56
they're familiar
with that's in water. And so here we have
this duffel bag
00:11:00
that's washed up very close
to a local Naval base, which I think immediately
gives investigators a clue.
00:11:06
Could this be somebody
who is actually working or affiliated with
this location?
00:11:11
[water sloshing] - For this case, with her being
off of the Gulf of Mexico, a salt water that is
high on crustaceans.
00:11:22
Eventually, crustaceans
could have found their way into the bag, thus eating
some of the remains,
00:11:28
causing more trauma to the body
that was not already there. Her remains were found to not
have a lot of animal activity.
00:11:37
That leads us to believe
that the body was not in the water for an extended
period of time,
00:11:43
because the aquatic
life did not have time to access the bag. NARRATOR: Now
police must urgently
00:11:50
find out who the victim is. [stirring music] BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN:
I was in contact
00:12:00
with our medical examiner who
was conducting the autopsy of the body that was found.
00:12:06
It was learned, once
the body was removed, that it was a Black female. NARRATOR: They
started by reviewing
00:12:15
missing person reports
recently filed in the county. [stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER:
As the detective on duty,
00:12:33
I was alerted
to a suspicious call that our patrol
officers had gone to. NARRATOR: The call was
from Sylvia Watkins,
00:12:45
who hadn't seen her 25-year-old
sister Samira, a mother of one, for several days.
00:12:52
SHANNON BRIARTON: She hadn't
been seen or heard from. It was very unusual. She didn't show up
to see her child.
00:12:58
It was around Halloween
time, so she wasn't there to take him trick-or-treating.
00:13:03
We decided that we should
go ahead and start looking into her disappearance. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: Samira Watkins
00:13:11
was working
as a shift supervisor for a local restaurant. She was also going to school
at night for dental hygienists.
00:13:20
It was very much out
of the ordinary for Samira not to have any contact
with her family.
00:13:25
They were very close knit. So the fact that no one had
heard from Samira for some time
00:13:30
was very alarming. NARRATOR: Police started
putting together a timeline of Samira's last movements.
00:13:42
JOHNATHAN THACKER: Samira's
sister reported that Samira had gotten off from work around
9:00 PM and drove all the way
00:13:49
to, roughly, the downtown
area of Pensacola, where they all lived. She was responsible.
00:13:56
She didn't disappear
without notice. She had a good job. We reached out to her employer.
00:14:03
And they had also expressed
concern because she had not showed up for her shift.
00:14:08
We talked to the school
and found out that she also had not shown up to her classes.
00:14:14
We knew what her
car looked like. That vehicle was
nowhere to be found. All these things are
continuing to build
00:14:24
concern about her well-being. NARRATOR: The sudden
disappearance of Samira and her car prompted
police to take a closer
00:14:34
look at those who knew her. SHANNON BRIARTON: After
looking into Samira's life,
00:14:41
we discovered that her son's
father had been very abusive, and he had been
arrested for it.
00:14:50
JONI JOHNSTON: She was involved
with him for about three years. It was just incredibly
horrible relationship for her.
00:14:56
He, in fact,
as a matter of fact, ended up going to prison
for domestic abuse when he kidnaps her and won't
let her go for days.
00:15:04
JOHNATHAN THACKER: That
was an incident that occurred here in Pensacola. He had gotten out
of prison not too long
00:15:13
before Samira went missing. There is now that possibility-- could that have been
what happened to Samira?
00:15:23
Could the father of her child,
having gotten out of prison, could he have done
something to her?
00:15:31
SHANNON BRIARTON:
So, obviously, we wanted to talk to him as well. JOHNATHAN THACKER: Some of
the main things we were doing
00:15:39
was looking at his
criminal history, trying to pull
together all the cases. Anything that would
show us that he
00:15:47
had those violent tendencies. We're looking at his
probation status. Is he on probation
or on parole?
00:15:55
Where he's checking in? Where does he live now? What address did he give? And once he was out
of prison, you usually give
00:16:03
an address looking at that. NARRATOR: It didn't
take detectives long to track him down.
00:16:12
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
Samira's ex-boyfriend, his alibi was that when
he got out of prison,
00:16:17
he began to work doing
overnight cleaning. Him and his crew, they would go
into offices, things like that.
00:16:28
And they would clean all
throughout the night. SHANNON BRIARTON: Samira's
ex-boyfriend had a solid alibi.
00:16:36
We were able to determine that
he worked in different office buildings, and we were
able to confirm that he was
00:16:41
there through his coworkers. NARRATOR: Investigators
hit a dead end. But soon another name
came to their attention--
00:16:50
a man known as Ricky Littleton. JOHNATHAN THACKER: So when I
interviewed Samira's sister,
00:16:57
she kept talking about this
boyfriend of Samira's, and she kept calling him Ricky.
00:17:03
She didn't know his
last name, but she knew he was in the military. And she had explained
to me that Samira and Ricky
00:17:10
had been seeing each other. That the relationship had
turned sexual at some point,
00:17:17
and that Samira was pregnant. And she had said that
the baby was this guy Ricky's.
00:17:27
She told her sister, I'm
going to go meet with Ricky, and we're going to talk
about our future.
00:17:35
And specifically the fact
that Samira was pregnant. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: Samira just
00:17:42
happened to meet Littleton
when she was going on to the Naval Air
Station in the earlier
00:17:46
part of the summer of 2009. They met at the front gate. There was a little
bit of flirting
00:17:52
exchanged back and forth. Littleton was a very
handsome young man, was obviously in the military
and responsible.
00:17:59
And certainly this was
someone that Samira could see building a relationship with.
00:18:06
JONI JOHNSTON: She
has found somebody who is the exact opposite
of her abusive partner,
00:18:11
or ex-partner. This is somebody
who is not only in the military,
who's a stable career,
00:18:17
has no black marks
on his record. He's a police officer
in the military. So I would imagine that
when she first met him,
00:18:25
it must have been so exciting. NARRATOR: Detectives asked
Samira's new boyfriend Ricky
00:18:33
to s with their enquiries. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
There's a couple of things that were odd with Ricky.
00:18:40
When I called him to ask
him to come to talk to me, he actually-- when I said,
hey Ricky, he corrected me
00:18:46
and said, no, this is Zac. Well, it was the same guy. So right off the bat,
we're being--
00:18:52
I'm finding out that he's
using a fake name while dealing with Samira and her family.
00:18:59
NARRATOR: Not only had Zach
been calling himself Ricky, he was also married,
with a child of his own.
00:19:08
[stirring music] SHANNON BRIARTON: Initially,
he wouldn't admit to being even intimate with her.
00:19:20
And he goes on to say
that the reason why is because he was accused
of adultery several
00:19:27
months back. And the military
really frowns on that. So he was really scared that
he was going to get in trouble.
00:19:34
- In the military, you can
be dishonorably discharged for having an affair. And he knows this.
00:19:41
His wife has been
stationed out of state, and so he is basically
living a double life.
00:19:47
- It was a red flag that he
showed very little concern. He seemed more put off or
annoyed that he had to be here.
00:19:57
As opposed to somebody
that would at least say, hey, I really hate to hear that
this young lady is missing.
00:20:02
Maybe I can do
something to help. It's more like, hey, I
need to get out of here.
00:20:06
I got to get back to work. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: He mentioned that the last time
he had seen Samira
00:20:12
was the Wednesday before
she was reported missing. JOHNATHAN THACKER: I know
from talking to her sister
00:20:22
that, now the day
of her disappearance, she indeed was leaving to go to
Zachary Littleton's apartment.
00:20:34
BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: When I
reviewed the first interview, he tried to distance himself
from any sort of relationship
00:20:39
or contact with her. When I reviewed
the second interview, he seemed to be a little
more forthcoming
00:20:47
as far as his
relationship with her, his sexual relationship
with her, and the fact
00:20:53
that he knew she was pregnant. He also was using terms
in the past tense, so that was a little unusual.
00:21:03
NARRATOR: Despite
their suspicions, police still didn't
have anything concrete against Littleton.
00:21:10
- Yeah, I didn't have
sufficient evidence to be able to arrest him
or do anything further,
00:21:14
so I had to let him go. [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Florida, police
investigating the disappearance
00:21:24
of mother of one
Samira Watkins are waiting to identify
the body of a woman washed up in a duffel bag
on the Pensacola shoreline.
00:21:35
- This body that was
found in a duffel bag was identified
by using fingerprints.
00:21:41
[stirring music] MICHELLE DUPRE: Some
of the challenges when a body has been
in water, in particular,
00:21:49
are things like
identifying that person. However, we can often
get fingerprints,
00:21:55
even if bodies have been
in water for some time. Because we can infuse that
finger with other water to
00:22:02
puff it up, if you
will, and actually obtain that fingerprint. Another technique
that we often use
00:22:09
is something called
degloving, and that's where the skin actually
slips off of the hand.
00:22:14
We put on a gloved hand, and we
put that skin over our glove, and then we can actually roll
that person's fingerprint
00:22:22
onto a fingerprint
identification card and hopefully get
an ID that way. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN:
At the time of our autopsy,
00:22:29
only one gold
earring was found. There was an impression
in the other ear, but the earring was not there.
00:22:35
Samira's family
represented to us that she wore a gold pair
of earrings all the time.
00:22:41
They were very unique
set of gold earrings. NARRATOR: Together with
DNA and physical evidence
00:22:48
found at the scene,
the body was confirmed to be that of missing
young mom Samira Watkins.
00:22:58
SHANNON BRIARTON: When we found
out that it was definitely Samira in the bag,
we knew that she
00:23:03
was very close to the family. They all lived
in a house together. Her young child
stayed there with her,
00:23:08
so we knew that
telling the family was going to be very
difficult and very emotional.
00:23:16
NARRATOR: With Samira no
longer a missing person, but the center
of a homicide case,
00:23:21
detectives focused their
investigation on her boyfriend, Zach Littleton. - When Samira told
Zach she was pregnant,
00:23:30
he was not supportive. Didn't want anything to do
with co-parenting with her.
00:23:37
In fact, he didn't
believe it was his. He said that he always
used protection.
00:23:43
And he asked her
to have an abortion. And his wife was soon to arrive
here in Pensacola as well.
00:23:51
BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: The other thing that also focused our attention
on Zachary Littleton
00:23:55
was the fact that he
was in the military. And having
extramarital affairs is against the code of conduct
for the military,
00:24:03
so that certainly
raised some concerns. - It's very, very clear he has
no intention of having any kind
00:24:08
of long-term
relationship with her by the fact that he
uses a false name when he introduces himself.
00:24:14
So this is somebody
who's used to deception and deceiving women. - Once the body was identified
to be Samira Watkins,
00:24:24
obviously, the investigation
at that point sort of ramps up. Now, we are pretty certain
that this is, in fact,
00:24:31
Zachary Littleton's doing. NARRATOR: Now, detectives
had to find evidence to support their suspicions.
00:24:38
At - That point in time, in 2009,
the cell phone technology analysis was pretty new.
00:24:46
So, at that point, law
enforcement reached out to NCIS because they had some
newer technology,
00:24:53
and they were able
to analyze Samira and Zachary's cell phones. - Samira's cell phone showed
that shortly after she
00:25:01
left her home and left
her child with her sister, you can see her
travels using mapping
00:25:09
and the cell tower hits. And you can see her
leaving and going really across town to a tower
that is located
00:25:18
basically adjacent to Zachary
Littleton's apartment. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: When
Zachary Littleton was initially
00:25:29
interviewed, he mentioned
to law enforcement that he had two
different cell phones.
00:25:34
He had one with
an area code of 843 that he never let Samira have. He also had another number
that started with a 777,
00:25:42
and that was the primary
phone that he communicated with Samira. NARRATOR: Detectives
also discovered
00:25:51
an unidentified phone number
on Samira's cell phone. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
There is a brand
00:25:58
new phone number that Samira
is calling at that time. There ended up being
47 calls in that
00:26:05
9-day period
to this, what I would call a mystery phone number. Equally concerning was the fact
that that number of a sudden
00:26:15
just went cold. It really implied that whoever
owns that number knew something happened to Samira,
and she wasn't
00:26:25
going to be able to answer
the phone, even if they called. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: Once they
00:26:31
got the cell phone records
for this unknown number, it turned out to be a track
phone or a prepaid phone.
00:26:37
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
So it's rather difficult sometimes to get
information on those phones.
00:26:44
But we did get
lucky, and we did discover that this particular
phone number was registered
00:26:51
to a Zach Littleton. - So I learned a lot of things
from Zach's friends and coworkers.
00:27:01
One thing I learned is
that he had a reputation of being a womanizer. That Samira was
not the only girl
00:27:07
who he had had
a relationship with, even though he was married. That he had skirted some
punishment with the military
00:27:19
previously for infidelity. - This was somebody who was
willing to break the rules, who
00:27:26
was willing to lie,
who was willing to have relationships with women
under false pretenses
00:27:33
to get what he wanted. He's somebody who,
on the surface, is an upstanding police
officer and military guy.
00:27:45
From the very beginning,
while Samira sees him as somebody who
could be a knight
00:27:49
in shining armor
in some ways, he sees her as just another fling. He tells investigators so many
different lies about his alibi,
00:27:58
about his relationship with
Samira, about where he was. I mean, he is,
obviously, somebody who's
00:28:04
very comfortable with lying. And I think, this,
of course, backfires. And so all this deception
really becomes more
00:28:12
damning evidence against him. [stirring music] BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: They started
00:28:21
canvassing the apartment
complex where Zachary lived. And they were able to speak
with one of the tenants, who
00:28:26
mentioned that they had
seen a male and a female arguing close to Zachary
Littleton's apartment
00:28:33
the night that
Samira went missing. Coupled with everything else
that law enforcement had
00:28:38
at that point, they had
enough probable cause to obtain a search
warrant to search
00:28:44
Zachary Littleton's home. NARRATOR: Officers
descended on the apartment where they believed
the suspect lived at the time
00:28:53
Samira went missing. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN:
The original apartment of Zachary Littleton was
searched by law enforcement.
00:29:02
But because he had
already moved out of it, there was not
anything found that was significant
to the investigation.
00:29:08
- Furniture was gone. The belongings were
picked up and moved. - There were no obvious
signs of a struggle
00:29:14
or blood or anything
of that nature, because he had already
moved and the apartment
00:29:18
had been cleaned out. NARRATOR: It was a blow for
police desperate to get justice
00:29:25
for the victim and her family. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It's
a cold-hearted thing to do, to place
somebody in a bag
00:29:34
and to throw them
in this waterway like their life
wasn't worth anything. And that is very sad.
00:29:42
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Despite
a lack of hard evidence linking him
to the crime, police
00:29:52
were still convinced
Zachary Littleton had killed Samira Watkins and dumped
her body in water
00:29:59
near the Pensacola Naval base. JOHNATHAN THACKER: So I do
have a theory on how Samira
00:30:06
got placed in the water. There is a bridge there. That's the bridge that enters
into the Navy base itself.
00:30:18
I don't really
think that Littleton used that bridge to throw
her body into the water.
00:30:23
I think that there's just too
much security on that bridge. There's cameras.
00:30:28
I think what he actually did
use is this bridge over here. And this bridge would have
been a more quaint bridge.
00:30:38
It doesn't have all
the traffic on it. This one barely has the first
car going across it.
00:30:44
And I think that that
makes better sense also, because I think that
this body of water
00:30:49
tends to want
to flush things out. I think that she went
into the water there, and that duffel
bag made its way
00:30:55
through that short period
of distance over to the spot where it was found. NARRATOR: But detectives needed
more proof before they could
00:31:07
arrest Littleton for murder. Could the waters
at the crime scene help prove that Samira's
body was dumped
00:31:14
not far from the Naval base
where Littleton worked? [water sloshing] - Anytime we find evidence
or a body in the water,
00:31:27
we always collect
a water sample. In that way, if we ever need
to compare them, we can.
00:31:33
Ideally, what we want to see
is that the organisms, the bacteria, and the water
makeup found within the lungs,
00:31:41
sinuses, or around the remains
match that type of water where the remains were found.
00:31:48
In this case, it's believed
that Samira's remains were not dumped too far from shore.
00:31:54
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Detectives
now turn their attention to the next address Zachary
Littleton had lived at that.
00:32:08
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
What we learned was that Zachary, when
he left that apartment,
00:32:12
he moved into a home. He was looking to bring his
wife, their child to this home.
00:32:20
So it wasn't an apartment. It was an actual house. - When law enforcement
executed a search warrant
00:32:27
at Zachary
Littleton's new home, they found some Lysol wipes. They found gray duct tape.
00:32:35
They found paper
towels that were consistent with
the pattern of the paper towel that was found in the
duffel bag with Samira's body.
00:32:42
- I was tasked to search one
of the front rooms of the home. And in there was
one of those clear,
00:32:49
like comforter bags that
a comforter comes in, with just miscellaneous
stuff in it.
00:32:54
And I sort of scooped my hand
down and got a handful. And there was the gold
earring that she
00:33:01
had been wearing, that matched
the earring that was on her. - It was just kind
of one of those almost
00:33:09
Eureka moments, that
it was the nail that was going to seal his coffin. Because this gold earring
was unique, and so important
00:33:17
to the investigation. [stirring music] NARRATOR: The discovery
of the earring was a major breakthrough
in the case against Littleton.
00:33:28
But there was more to come. - Every investigator
was tasked with little things to follow-up on.
00:33:36
We knew that her
car was missing. So the thought was,
you know, if somebody did do something to her, they
had to get rid of her car.
00:33:46
And then after
a little while, her car was discovered
at a vacant house over an area called Bellview.
00:33:53
And then they had
to get a way back home. So back then, taxicabs
were still pretty popular.
00:33:59
We didn't have
the Uber or the Lyft. So I went to the local
yellow cab location,
00:34:05
and asked if they kept
records of their fares and where they
picked them up at, what phone number they called
from, maybe they had a name.
00:34:14
And sure enough,
there was a person named Zack who called
to get picked up from the Waffle House that
was not too far from where
00:34:24
her car was discovered. JOHNATHAN THACKER: I
went to that restaurant to look at their video.
00:34:31
They pulled up
the date and time that matched when that taxicab
had picked up this individual.
00:34:39
And what it showed
was Zachary Littleton. He's holding in his
hands a canister
00:34:46
of wipes, the exact
kind that you would use to clean up things. SHANNON BRIARTON: So by seeing
the Clorox wipes in his hand,
00:34:53
we figured that was pretty
immediately after the crime. He was probably wiping
the car, steering
00:34:59
wheel down, or whatever
to remove DNA or fingerprints. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
Well, he walks in.
00:35:04
And he asks one
of the employees if he could borrow their phone. They get the phone for him.
00:35:10
And that's when he
calls the taxi right there from the restaurant. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN:
We believe the reason
00:35:17
that Zachary Littleton
used the phone inside of the Waffle
House was so that it could
00:35:20
not be traced back to him. Obviously, we know that
he had three phones, and so he could have used
any one of those three.
00:35:26
But instead he decided
to go inside and use a landline phone
that he probably hoped wouldn't be traced.
00:35:34
[stirring music] It was my goal
to present this case before a grand
jury in an effort
00:35:43
to seek a first degree,
premeditated murder indictment. [stirring music] [water sloshing]
00:35:56
NARRATOR: Police in Pensacola
are investigating the murder of a woman
found washed
00:36:01
up on the Florida coastline. Their prime suspect, married
military man Zachary Littleton,
00:36:08
has still not been charged with
killing his pregnant lover, Samira Watkins. SHANNON BRIARTON: I
think the motive for Zach
00:36:19
doing this was he
wanted to be here and play until his wife got here. And I think that
Samira being pregnant,
00:36:26
and now his wife is due
to arrive in Pensacola any day, was his motive to get rid of,
at least, the baby and Samira.
00:36:38
JOHNATHAN THACKER: My belief
is that Samira likely was attacked by Littleton. That he grabbed
her by her throat
00:36:49
and strangled her to death. He added the tape around
her mouth and nose when she was unconscious
to make sure that she
00:37:00
was not going to come back. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: The fact that he dumped the body
and water was obviously
00:37:08
in an attempt to try and get
rid of the body, number one, as well as any evidence.
00:37:13
[water sloshing] - It is likely
that Mr. Littleton put Samira's remains,
as well as the other pieces
00:37:22
of evidence, in that
bag, and dumped her in the water in hopes
that she would sink,
00:37:27
and none of that evidence
would ever be found. In most cases, though, bodies,
once they start to decompose,
00:37:35
those gases build
in their system. And no matter how they're
weighted down, in most cases,
00:37:40
they are going to float. And that's exactly what
happened in this case. She floated, along with
all of the evidence
00:37:48
that he had trapped
inside the bag. [water sloshing] SHANNON BRIARTON: We discovered
on his computer Google searches
00:38:01
that were to the effect
of, how to speed up a body decomposition,
do saltwater speed up body composition.
00:38:10
Those two searches
were made days before Samira went missing. - We have to think that
it was a huge surprise
00:38:23
to Zachary Littleton when
Samira's body washes up. I don't think he was
anticipating that.
00:38:29
And as, you know,
the bag is opened and they start uncovering all
these clues and the earring
00:38:35
and those kinds of things. And investigators
began looking at him more closely because they've
now ruled out her ex-partner.
00:38:43
I think he does have
to scramble around and start making up things. And I think what
we start seeing is,
00:38:48
you know, again,
some of the lies he's telling really
end up becoming the best evidence against him.
00:38:55
And some of these lies can
be so easily disproven. He really shoots himself in
the foot by a lot of the lies
00:39:00
that he tells. - After Samira's
car was discovered, it then got towed back
to a vehicle impound,
00:39:11
where it is processed for any
sort of evidence and DNA. The steering wheel
was swabbed for DNA
00:39:19
and was later
determined to have Zachary Littleton's DNA on it. JOHNATHAN THACKER:
Zachary Littleton
00:39:25
had told me previously he
had never driven her car. And his DNA being
on the steering wheel does
00:39:32
tend to show that
he did drive it. NARRATOR: Police now felt they
had enough evidence, including
00:39:39
phone records and Samira's
earring found at his home, to charge Littleton
with her murder.
00:39:46
JOHNATHAN THACKER:
It is a good feeling to know that at that
point that we would
00:39:50
be able to make the arrest. And I especially felt
good with him knowing he wasn't going to slide.
00:39:58
He wasn't going
to get past this. Perhaps he may have been
thinking that at that point
00:40:01
that he was in the clear. SHANNON BRIARTON:
There was no reaction. He was as calm as he was
in the interview room
00:40:11
at the time of his arrest. - As I was putting
all of the evidence together in preparation for
the jury trial of this case.
00:40:21
I felt relatively
confident that, in fact, once I could put
everything together,
00:40:27
it would paint a clear picture
that Zachary Littleton was the one who
committed this crime.
00:40:36
NARRATOR: The prosecution
also hoped to establish that
more than one life was taken by Littleton that day.
00:40:44
[stirring music] MICHELLE DUPRE:
In Samira's case, there is actually some concern
that she may have been pregnant
00:40:51
at the time of her death. Medically, during
the autopsy, of course, we always examine
the female uterus.
00:40:58
It was not found that she
was pregnant at this time. BRIDGETTE MYERS
JENSEN: Samira's body
00:41:06
had been submerged in water
for at least five days, and so the medical
examiner was not
00:41:12
able to make a determination as
to whether there was a fetus. We did have evidence
from the doctor
00:41:19
that confirmed Samira's
pregnancy, that she was, in fact pregnant. But we could not confirm it
through the autopsy process.
00:41:30
MICHELLE DUPRE: This was very
important because that would affect the charging process.
00:41:34
Someone could be charged
with two cases of homicide in that case, but she was not
medically found to be pregnant.
00:41:44
NARRATOR: Littleton was
therefore only charged with one count of homicide. - After Zachary Littleton
was arrested, in this case,
00:41:53
he went for a first
appearance in front of a judge within 24 hours. And it was at that point that
his lawyers entered a plea
00:41:59
of not guilty on his behalf. [stirring music] - So I was nervous
come trial time
00:42:12
because I could see
the picture here, the story of what happened. I could see that
because I lived
00:42:18
it and I was involved in it. But you never know how
a jury is going to see it. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN:
The case of Zachary Littleton
00:42:28
took approximately three
days to try in front of a jury in Escambia County. I believe once the full
picture was painted
00:42:35
for the jury of the different
pieces of evidence-- again, the gold earring, the Waffle
House video surveillance,
00:42:42
the DNA on the steering
wheel, the neighbor that saw the two arguing. Everything put
together, I believe,
00:42:49
painted a clear
picture for the jury that Zachary
Littleton was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:42:59
JOHNATHAN THACKER: The defense
attorneys don't go easy on you. They don't because it's
not in their best
00:43:04
interest or their client's. Most of it was
pretty cut and dry. But they always do try
to find the weak points.
00:43:15
NARRATOR: But the evidence
against Littleton was overwhelming. - The jury returned
with a verdict
00:43:23
after approximately three
or four hours of deliberations. They saw all the evidence.
00:43:33
And they came back
with a guilty verdict. - It was at that point
that I turned around
00:43:39
and looked in the audience. And I saw Samira's family
members that just wept openly.
00:43:45
And then the judge sentenced
Zachary to life in prison without parole. [stirring music]
00:43:56
- So when I heard
the guilty verdict for Zach, it was very satisfying. But it was also overwhelming.
00:44:05
There was a lot of emotion. This was a very hard
case to investigate. It involved a young, successful
girl who was pregnant.
00:44:13
[stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER: Very sad. A victim that
was, in many ways, had some vulnerabilities that
were exploited by Littleton.
00:44:26
Being at the front gate,
you're wearing a uniform. You're a person of authority.
00:44:32
Could he be looking for people
that were a little vulnerable? Absolutely. He could have been
doing that all along,
00:44:39
and that was part of the way
he would find women. And Samira would have
been a prime target
00:44:48
for that in many ways. - It's one thing
to be a police officer who may be investigating
crimes on the base.
00:44:57
It's another thing to try
to be a sophisticated criminal. And he wasn't.
00:45:01
He left so many things behind. Part of that was him, you
know, in that situation,
00:45:11
feeling desperate and trying
to get rid of everything. And I think
the other part of it
00:45:15
was kind of just being naive
about the fact that, you know, or either overly
confident about the fact
00:45:21
that he can just put all this
stuff in a bag and dump it. He wanted to erase
the whole thing.
00:45:29
And maybe by packing
this bag, he kind of fooled
himself into thinking, this is my way of just
getting rid of everything,
00:45:35
which was the exact
opposite of what happened. - The satisfaction faction
from proving this case really
00:45:45
goes for the family members. Samira was such
a young, beautiful girl with her whole
future ahead of her.
00:45:52
So to be able to get some level
of justice for this family is certainly rewarding.
00:45:58
[stirring music] [theme music]