00:00:05
NARRATOR: The USA imprisons
some of the world's most deadly inmates. These felons are capable
of committing shocking acts
00:00:13
of violence and murder. A prison in Tennessee
houses one of the worst, Curtis Watson.
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JULIE PILLOW: It's
very difficult for me to equate evil other than
I know it when I see it.
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And I believe that
Curtis Watson was evil. SHEENA JONES: He
has a way to make people think that he's safe and
it's OK, and I won't harm you.
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We see that he
will do otherwise. NARRATOR: Watson was a lethal
threat towards females.
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LINA HAJI: Two of his victims
were women, one of them his wife. Watson is the very
definition of a misogynist.
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CHUCK BAKER: I
would not want him anywhere near any female person
unless he was fully restrained.
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NARRATOR: Once
behind bars, Watson raped and killed
a high ranking state administrator before escaping.
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MARK DAVIDSON: You now
have this armed and dangerous inmate on the loose
in these rural counties
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and communities. CHUCK BAKER: We had massive
air support, helicopters. We have a plane with high
thermal vision cameras,
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every asset known to man. We were scouring the Earth
for this individual. He was, and is
still is probably
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one of the most dangerous
individuals in our state. [theme music] NARRATOR: The state
of Tennessee
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locks up a higher
percentage of its people than any Democratic
country on Earth.
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Of its 54,000 inmates,
around 1,000 are held at West Tennessee Penitentiary. CHUCK BAKER: The West
Tennessee State Penitentiary
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is one of what I call
major high security prisons in the state of Tennessee. In law enforcement,
the nickname
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is what we call
it West Tenn High because it is a high
security prison. It is a huge piece of property.
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Thousands
and thousands of acres. MARK DAVIDSON: That prison is
in a very heavily wooded area,
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miles and miles of difficult,
steep, forested terrain with creeks and rivers. It's an inhospitable place.
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I would describe the mosquitoes
as Jurassic Park size. JULIE PILLOW: It is loud.
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The clanking of the doors,
inmates are yelling. We have had escapes
in the past.
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We do have murders
at the prison. Normally, those are
inmate on inmate murders. NARRATOR: One
of the most infamous
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inmates to have
spent time there is 50-year-old Curtis Watson. [tense music] CHUCK BAKER: He's one
of those ticking time
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bombs who literally could
snap at a moment's notice and kill you. SHEENA JONES: I
think we certainly
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see someone who could be
on their best behavior and who knew how to move
around authority,
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who made you feel like
they could be trusted. NARRATOR: While carrying
out his prison duties.
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Watson abused the freedom
to unleash terror. JULIE PILLOW: He
took an opportunity
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to take advantage
of a high up official and brutally strangle
and rape her. LINA HAJI: Watson
chooses victims
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who are unlikely to fight back
the way somebody of his size and his gender will fight
back, which really has
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a cowardly component to it. NARRATOR: After escaping,
Watson went on the run. MARK DAVIDSON: This
was August of 2019.
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It is hot as Hades. You had police officers
and TBI folks and Highway Patrol officers
out in the same elements
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that Curtis Watson was in-- getting wet, sweating to death,
getting eaten alive by bugs.
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It was tough,
tough, tough work. SHEENA JONES: It was someone
who committed a murder
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and could be dangerous. We knew that this
could escalate. What if he tried to kidnap
someone and go into their home?
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MARK DAVIDSON: We found
ourselves, all of a sudden, dealing with a murder,
rape, escape.
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And it generated so much
media attention, that it really was a different animal.
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[tense music] NARRATOR: Curtis Watson spent
the early part of his life being raised in Tennessee.
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- We don't know much
about Curtis Watson, like we know that
he was born in 1975,
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and then we get his first
misdemeanor DUI record by 1999. [tense music] NARRATOR: Watson
was 24 years old.
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The DUI, Driving
Under Influence, was the first
of many minor crimes he was charged with
over the next 12 months.
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A couple of years
later, Watson was living in Carroll County, Tennessee. He was now married
with a young baby.
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He was then convicted
of a far more serious crime, aggravated child
abuse towards his own daughter.
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- I believe his child was
three months old at the time. She had a fractured
skull, cracked ribs,
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a chest injury that was causing
acute respiratory distress. LINA HAJI: Infants
are so vulnerable.
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They are absolutely 100%
reliant on adults to get their very basic needs met. So the fact that you
are a grown man that
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can hurt a three-month-old
infant really says that you are incapable of
any kind of empathy, remorse,
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accountability,
or positive emotion towards another
living human being. NARRATOR: Watson was sentenced
to 10 years in prison.
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In August 2011,
he was released. He was now 36 years old. Within a year, he
would go on to commit
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his second serious crime
within his own household. JULIE PILLOW: The incident
involved his wife.
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And it had to do with
him wanting to have sexual relations with her. Her response was
not what he wanted.
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And he hit her in the head
with a baseball bat. - He beat her bloody. He raped her multiple times.
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- It's not just
an act of violence. It's also an act of betrayal. It's also an act of confusion.
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He doesn't value
her as a woman. He doesn't value
her as an equal. He doesn't value
her as a partner.
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JULIE PILLOW: He kept
her within the home up to the point where I think
he realized that because
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of the head injury, that
if she didn't get treated, she might die. So they ended up
at the emergency room,
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and then he was arrested. He ultimately pled
to an aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced
to 15 years for that.
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[tense music] NARRATOR: Watson
was sent to West Tennessee State Penitentiary
near the town of Henning.
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[tense music] MARK DAVIDSON: West Tennessee
today is a modern facility. And it's set up like
most modern prisons
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with a pod system, with prison
guards controlling the pods. CHUCK BAKER: When people say
it's in the middle of nowhere,
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it is in the middle of nowhere. It is very close
to the Mississippi River. It's probably 10 plus
miles to the nearest town.
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There's a two-lane
road that gets you in and out of the place. [tense music] NARRATOR: Watson
spent the first seven
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years of his incarceration
without any incidents. - He was on good behavior. He didn't spend a lot
of time in his cell.
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He would help fix things. CHUCK BAKER: Mr. Watson,
actually, he was the go-to guy
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for anything mechanical. I'll never forget
the warden said this guy could literally fix anything.
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So if it was broke
there, he was the guy that fixed it-- lawn
mowers, tractors, any type
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of equipment, engines. JULIE PILLOW:
The inmates told me that he was kind
of a lone wolf,
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that he stayed to himself,
that he I guess, had finagled
a single man's cell. So he didn't have a cell mate.
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They didn't really have
anything bad to say about him but nothing really good to say
about him either, that he
00:09:22
just kind of kept to himself. NARRATOR: Watson was such
a model inmate that by 2019,
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the 44-year-old had lulled
prison staff into a false sense of security. - He somehow
convinced the prison
00:09:40
officials to allow
him to become a minimum security inmate. So basically, that's
what we call a trusty.
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MARK DAVIDSON: Trusty, by the
way, is spelled T-R-U-S-T-Y, as in a trusty
person, not a trustee
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with two E's who keeps money
at the county courthouse. A prison trusty is somebody
who's deemed to be reliable.
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SHEENA JONES: They are
getting reformed in a way. So it's someone that
you feel safe to give
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extra duties and privileges
that normal inmates wouldn't get. So the role would give him
a lot of time out of his cell,
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roaming around the grounds,
helping to do the upkeep, helping to make sure things
were functioning properly,
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helping to fix things
when they break, helping to keep the grass
cut so that the other inmates
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could be outside,
like helping to make the place feel more homely. - I actually am
not shocked that he
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was a pretty model
inmate in prison and that he didn't act out. You see this quite
often with individuals
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who are convicted of crimes
towards women and children. He's probably aware that he
is looked down upon for having
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attacked a woman and a child. And this is a way for Watson
to kind of hide under the radar
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so that he wouldn't be a victim
himself because of his crimes. MARK DAVIDSON:
Somebody's in prison
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for two violent crimes
against children and women, but he has somehow convinced
the prison officials
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that he's a great
guy that ought to be doing trusty
work out on the grounds and not be sitting
in a cell all day.
00:11:14
NARRATOR: Working
as an administrator for West Tennessee
State Penitentiary was 64-year-old Debra Johnson.
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- She was a career employee. She had risen through the ranks
from correctional officer
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to deputy warden
to warden and then to prison administrator, which
means you supervise wardens.
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SHEENA JONES: She had
been there for 38 years. She had received awards and
accolades for the job she did.
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She was well-trusted,
she was well-respected. JULIE PILLOW: She was very
beloved by the inmates
00:11:47
that she had contact with. They called her mom or mama. She believed that
everybody had good in them,
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and that just because you
weren't in prison, that you still had value. And she promoted
rehabilitation.
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She wanted people to succeed. NARRATOR:
As an administrator in charge of four prisons across
the west of the state,
00:12:12
Debra regularly visited West
Tennessee State Penitentiary, often staying there overnight.
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- It's not uncommon
for some prisons for people to live on the grounds. The house would have been
off some to the side.
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It's not directly
connected to the prison. CHUCK BAKER: I call it a crash
pad, a temporary quarters
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for her when she
comes, what I call an older, white,
Southern painted house with the wooden floors
and had a basement.
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But it didn't have
a lot of furniture in it because that was not
her full time home.
00:12:44
MARK DAVIDSON: She was happy
to stay on the prison grounds. To me, that kind of signals
her comfort level
00:12:50
with her job and her
position and the prison, and that she felt
like she was pretty
00:12:56
safe despite being in the
proximity of so many inmates. NARRATOR: During the last
week of July 2019,
00:13:06
Debra Johnson encountered
Curtis Watson during one of her visits to the prison. - A lot of the trusties
would wash cars.
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They would do oil changes. They would do things, minor
maintenance on vehicles. JULIE PILLOW: Debra Johnson
had come to the shop
00:13:22
to get her tires aired
up, and Curtis was the one that aired the tires up. She got out of her
vehicle while he
00:13:31
was airing the tires up. She didn't make a distinction
between you're an inmate and I'm a high
up TDOC official,
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so she was friendly
and kind to him. NARRATOR: Once her tires
were aired, Debra drove off.
00:13:48
- He made a comment
to a fellow inmate about her being friendly. And apparently misinterpreting
her friendliness,
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he thought she
really liked him and that he thought that
maybe she wanted him to come over to her house.
00:14:02
LINA HAJI: I believe that,
unlike us, somebody like Watson doesn't view
niceness as something
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genuinely coming from
another person to help him. They view niceness
as a vulnerable spot
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where they can come in and take
advantage and then offend. NARRATOR: A few
days later, Watson,
00:14:24
on the day of his
44th birthday, left his cell around 7:00 AM. [tense music] He arrived at the maintenance
shop on the prison grounds
00:14:35
to begin his morning shift. JULIE PILLOW: They're met
by a correctional officer.
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And they figure out what
everybody's assignments are because I believe some
of them go out to cut grass,
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some are working
within the shop. He advised one
of the officers that he needed to run over
to a different location
00:14:57
to obtain some items. He hopped on a golf cart
to presumably go over there to retrieve what he needed.
00:15:08
- I don't think it was
strange for inmates to have access to golf carts. If the property is
that big, they'll
00:15:13
have to get from one side
to the other quickly, and they'll have to be
doing odds and end jobs.
00:15:17
It would not also be
uncommon for them to have tools to get those jobs done. [tense music]
00:15:24
NARRATOR: Watson made his
way across the prison grounds to Debra's house, where
she was in residence.
00:15:31
He pulled up on the golf
cart outside. Without warning, Watson
entered Debra's home
00:15:38
and began to assault her. JULIE PILLOW: She probably
tried to calm him down, to talk her way out
of the situation.
00:15:46
It just didn't
work, unfortunately. I believe there was a struggle. She put up a fight.
00:15:55
He used a USB cord
and wrapped it around her neck several times
and strangled her.
00:16:02
- We know that her
clothes were torn. We know that she was raped. We know that she was
thrown across the bed
00:16:08
and just left there. We know that her
house was in disarray. - There's no way for me
to know if the rape
00:16:14
occurred before her passing, or
what was the timeline on that. He cut off her
blouse, her bra, and
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she was not clothed on her
bottom part of her body. It was brutal. [grim music] MARK DAVIDSON: It
would have been awful.
00:16:33
And I'm sure she was
thinking of her family. And I'm sure she was in shock
that one of her inmates
00:16:39
was in her house
doing this to her. I'm sure she felt a tremendous
sense of betrayal and horror.
00:16:46
But she fought. She did all she could,
and it's just heartbreaking. - The attack on Debra
Johnson actually
00:16:54
doesn't stray too far off
of his violent history. That's because Debra Johnson,
number one, was a female.
00:17:01
Number two, she was
a vulnerable victim. She was 64 years old. He chooses his victims based
on how much power and control
00:17:08
he can exert over them. He wanted to dominate her. It's a slow and painful death.
00:17:15
And yet Watson had no
problem doing that in order to get his needs met. SHEENA JONES: I
don't think he went
00:17:22
in there planning to kill her. I think in his mind, he
really thought she likes me.
00:17:28
He misread the signs. And when she said
no and refuted him is when he
probably snapped.
00:17:36
I'm going to take it
because who's going to stop me. [grim music] NARRATOR: While Watson
was in the house,
00:17:46
prison officers passed
by Debra's home. There was a couple
officers that noticed the golf
cart by Debra's home,
00:17:56
so they went
and knocked on the door. But they didn't get
an answer, so they left.
00:18:03
And I believe,
unfortunately, that all this was occurring behind that
closed door at that time
00:18:10
or had just occurred. [tense music] Following the murder,
Watson left Debra's body
00:18:23
and drove away
in the golf cart. He ran into the officers
who had knocked on the door.
00:18:29
JULIE PILLOW: And they
stopped him and asked, "What are you doing?" And he holds up this
bag of screws and said,
00:18:36
"I just got this." And they said, "Well, you
need to go back to the shop." So they thought everything
had been resolved.
00:18:44
At that point, no one
knew that anything had happened to Debra Johnson. [tense music]
00:18:52
NARRATOR: Watson arrived
back at the maintenance shop and dumped the golf cart. He then made a specific
request to the inmates
00:18:59
working in the shop. - He then started asking
about getting a tractor. And another inmate was
washing the tractors and said,
00:19:06
well, "These tractors
aren't ready. I'm still washing them." Well, Watson didn't
really listen to that.
00:19:11
What he was actually doing was
in the process of escaping. SHEENA JONES: He
grabbed the tractor.
00:19:17
He grabbed a high vision vest
so that he can toss that on and go off the grounds and appear
that he was just doing his job.
00:19:24
He made it look like
everything's OK, nothing to see here. NARRATOR: After disposing
of his underwear in a garbage
00:19:32
can in the shop, Watson
rode off in the tractor across the prison grounds. [tense music]
00:19:42
JULIE PILLOW: The next
sighting of Curtis Watson was by another officer
in the potato fields.
00:19:47
And Curtis came riding
up in the tractor, and the officer spoke with him
and said, "What are you doing?
00:19:54
"Well, I'm checking this
clutch on this tractor. I just fixed it,
and I'm checking it."
00:19:59
And then he continued riding
off of prison property, where he later ditched this tractor.
00:20:07
And that's when he
went on the run. - I don't think Watson had
this very premeditated,
00:20:14
laid-out plan to escape. This was more something
that happened impulsively. NARRATOR: Nobody
realized that Watson
00:20:23
was missing for over an hour. MARK DAVIDSON:
He did not appear at the head count for lunch.
00:20:31
At that point, they knew
that he was unaccounted for. And they were also
in the process
00:20:37
of going to Debra
Johnson's house and trying to figure out
why she hadn't come to work.
00:20:42
JULIE PILLOW: She
normally checks in first thing in the morning. So three individuals,
one was the warden
00:20:48
at the women's prison,
a deputy warden, and then another individual. They couldn't get anyone
to answer the door.
00:20:58
NARRATOR: Eventually,
they were able to gain access to the house
through the back door.
00:21:03
And when they did, they
were horrified to discover Debra's dead body inside. MARK DAVIDSON: She was
found with her head
00:21:11
down by the foot of the bed. Her shirt was opened forcibly. She did not have any
clothes on below her shirt.
00:21:19
[tense music] She appeared to be deceased. So upon initial
first inspection, this appeared to be a sexual
assault that led to a homicide.
00:21:33
And by that time, Curtis
Watson was fleeing. LINA HAJI: Watson was
not a problematic inmate
00:21:39
prior to escaping. Was he holding all of this rage
in while he was incarcerated and feeling like he couldn't
act like his true self?
00:21:50
Was this an urge
and a craving and a desire that was kind of really
bubbling up and
00:21:56
trying to come out, and Debra
Johnson just ended up being the perfect victim
for all of this rage?
00:22:02
[tense music] The prison went on lockdown,
and the hunt for Watson began. [tense music]
00:22:14
All local police
forces and agencies were called in to help. [tense music] MARK DAVIDSON:
They also contacted
00:22:26
the Tennessee
Highway Patrol and asked them for aerial support. The Highway Patrol has
helicopters, planes.
00:22:32
They had roads
shut off where you could not get through
roads without being checked either in or out--
00:22:37
your trunk, your car. The Tipton County Sheriff's
Office was involved, the Lauderdale County
Sheriff's Office.
00:22:44
It was all hands on deck. NARRATOR: The Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation were also notified.
00:22:50
They immediately
began to investigate the homicide of Debra Johnson. [tense music]
00:22:58
CHUCK BAKER: My name
is Chuck Baker. I'm a Special Agent with
the Tennessee Bureau
00:23:02
of Investigation,
also known as the TBI. I was the lead investigator
on the Curtis Watson case.
00:23:09
So on the day
of the actual incident, I was in Memphis, Tennessee. The Special Agent
in charge called me and
00:23:17
said, "Hey, I need
you to start rolling towards Henning, Tennessee. We've got a homicide."
00:23:23
So I immediately dropped
everything, jumped in my car, and sped north. NARRATOR: Agent Baker learned
more about the homicide
00:23:32
while on his way
to the prison, and that the likely suspect had
escaped and was now on the run.
00:23:39
- This was a very unique case
where an actual prisoner who was basically outside of the
prison working as a trusty,
00:23:47
killed one of the highest
ranking persons in the state of Tennessee
and the Tennessee Department
00:23:52
of Corrections. I knew this was
going to be something more than just
an average homicide or
00:23:57
an average prison escape. [tense music] NARRATOR: Approximately
an hour and a half
00:24:04
after Debra's body
had been discovered, Chuck arrived
at the crime scene. CHUCK BAKER: I walk in there.
00:24:12
I immediately look to my left. There's a bedroom, and I see
Ms. Johnson lying on the bed.
00:24:17
There was no signs
of dramatic physical trauma. There was no blood. There was nothing like that.
00:24:24
It wasn't what I would
call a messy crime scene. It just looked like
she fell asleep.
00:24:29
So my hope is that she
passed out and that was it. I noticed a telephone
cord that was on the bed,
00:24:38
and I could see ligature
marks on her neck. So I believed, at that
time, that was probably
00:24:43
going to be our murder
weapon would be strangulation by this telephone cord. NARRATOR: In the bedroom,
Special Agent Baker
00:24:51
also found a high vis prison
vest that belonged to Watson, tying him to the scene.
00:24:58
At the same time, the prison
grounds were being searched for any sign of him. [tense music]
00:25:07
SHEENA JONES: They
find that tractor two miles away from the prison. We don't know if he felt like
that was slowing him down.
00:25:13
I could imagine someone
driving a tractor wearing a prison vest. You would be pretty noticeable.
00:25:19
And so maybe he's like, OK, I
have to get off this tractor and find coverage. CHUCK BAKER: He has driven
this piece of equipment
00:25:25
all the way to the easternmost
part of the property, and he disappeared
without a trace.
00:25:32
Agents were able to discover
some of his clothing in a trash can
at his work station,
00:25:37
specifically a pair
of boxer underwear, which was later tested at our lab. NARRATOR: The discovery
of the tractor
00:25:45
established that
Watson had completely fled the prison
grounds, and was now loose in the surrounding
community.
00:25:53
- I had two worries
about him escaping. Number one, if someone
picked him up in a car or he
00:26:01
stole a car. And number two, you
have a major railroad, the CN Canadian
National railroad,
00:26:07
and he could have jumped
on one of those trains, headed to Chicago
or headed to New Orleans.
00:26:11
LINA HAJI: He doesn't strike
me as a sophisticated criminal with a plan. I don't think he knew
where he was going.
00:26:17
He's impulsive. He follows his urges. He's very selfish. He only wants his needs met.
00:26:24
I don't think he was
thinking much of anything. [tense music] NARRATOR: The TBI added Watson
to the state's most wanted list
00:26:33
and issued a blue alert. - A blue alert is
where a law enforcement officer in Tennessee
has either been
00:26:39
killed or seriously injured. And we have a known suspect. This happened to be
the third blue alert
00:26:45
in Tennessee history. Every interstate sign
in Tennessee is showing, hey, there's an active blue alert.
00:26:52
All the media is contacted. You're going to get
alerts on your telephone. Be on the lookout
for Curtis Watson.
00:26:58
His picture is going to be
distributed all over the place. It's just a massive
all points bulletin
00:27:03
looking for Curtis Watson. SHEENA JONES: Prison
escapes happen. But it's not often that
we see a murder happen,
00:27:12
and then they escape prison. When TBI released a mug
shot, we take that mug shot,
00:27:19
and we're putting it up on our
social pages with the story. We're putting it on air.
00:27:23
We're reminding people
to be on the lookout. CHUCK BAKER: This
was August of 2019.
00:27:29
It is hot as Hades. And in this particular area,
you had police officers and TBI folks and Highway
Patrol officers
00:27:36
out in the same elements
that Curtis Watson was in-- getting wet, sweating to death,
getting eaten alive by bugs.
00:27:43
It was tough,
tough, tough work. - They had
the helicopters going. They had the dogs they always
bring the dogs out, too.
00:27:51
I mean, it was a lot. CHUCK BAKER: The area
where he was is so rural. It's so difficult, the terrain.
00:27:59
And if he got in one
of those small towns, he's going to stick
out like a sore thumb.
00:28:04
So to me, it was just
a matter of time. NARRATOR: Night fell. There had been no sign
of Watson anywhere.
00:28:18
- People were just
afraid, like you're kind of looking over your
shoulder a little bit more.
00:28:23
You find yourself
looking around, making sure you're double
locking the doors, and you're not letting the kids
play in the front yard.
00:28:30
You're on guard. [tense music] NARRATOR: The search
for Watson intensified. CHUCK BAKER: We had the Federal
Bureau of Investigation
00:28:41
who sent in their SWAT team. We had the TBI aircraft. We have a plane with high
thermal vision cameras,
00:28:49
every asset known to man. We were scouring the Earth
for this individual. SHEENA JONES: The TBI
was also asking residents
00:28:56
in the area to look
under their porches, look around their homes. Look for anything that
could have been unusual.
00:29:03
Look for something that you
know you didn't leave there. Check your ring cameras.
00:29:07
They were asking
residents to be involved. [tense music] JULIE PILLOW: When
you're involved
00:29:14
in this type
of manhunt, everyone wants to get them in custody
because of what he's done,
00:29:20
but what he may also
be capable of doing. MARK DAVIDSON: I felt the need
to be on social media,
00:29:26
trying to reassure
people that law enforcement had this contained
and that they would find him.
00:29:33
I talked
to the governor's office, and they agreed to put out
a reward for his capture,
00:29:38
which is pretty unusual. I'd never done that before. There was a lot
of angst and anger
00:29:44
and a strong desire
to bring him to justice. [tense music] NARRATOR: Another day
passed without a single
00:29:54
verified sighting of Watson. However, there were signs he
was active in the local area.
00:30:03
JULIE PILLOW: We
had information that he had been around
individuals' homes in the night, going
into their vegetable gardens.
00:30:12
We had a family whose
shed was broken into. And he left his prison
clothing in their shed
00:30:21
and took some
hunting camouflage clothing, hunting
knives, backpacks, survival type of items.
00:30:30
So obviously, they were
very scared to know that he was that close to their home.
00:30:38
- These are just
crimes of opportunity. These are just
crimes of survival. He's literally just
living in the moment,
00:30:44
stealing from home so he can
get from day to day, if not hour to hour. I don't think
Watson was, at all,
00:30:52
thinking about elaborate
plans on how he could survive and not get caught. MARK DAVIDSON: When I
went to the grocery store,
00:31:00
most everybody
there was talking about where is Curtis Watson. People were really on edge.
00:31:06
We had a lot of potential
sightings of him. When my kids had
friends over, they were telling stories
and talking about,
00:31:14
well, so and so said
they saw Curtis Watson. And it really was
just the topic of every day and every hour.
00:31:19
[tense music] - There were over 75 tips
across the state of Tennessee. None of them were credible.
00:31:28
He was a tall man who had
a shaved head with a beard. That could have been
a lot of people,
00:31:34
and people were trying to help. [tense music] NARRATOR: Two more frustrating
days passed without any leads
00:31:46
until Watson accidentally
revealed his whereabouts to authorities. CHUCK BAKER: The big break
came in early morning hours
00:31:55
where an individual
had observed on their doorbell
camera, Mr. Watson, coming into their carport and
looking into a refrigerator.
00:32:05
SHEENA JONES:
When he went to go on the left side
of the refrigerator, they got a clear
picture of his face.
00:32:10
They locked their doors. They made sure that
their place was locked down, and then they
called the police.
00:32:16
CHUCK BAKER: That person
at the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office
contacted the agent
00:32:20
who was looking at the search. That agent said, hey,
shut the town down. Send everybody, every resource
known to man to Henning
00:32:28
and surround the town. [tense music] MARK DAVIDSON: Once
we got that camera, that was a great relief.
00:32:36
We knew he was in the area. We had no indication
that he had harmed anybody else,
which was good news
00:32:41
at that point in time. We knew he had not
gotten far, and it was just a matter of time.
00:32:48
NARRATOR: The entire
search operation descended on the town
of Henning to try and capture Watson,
the suspected murderer.
00:32:56
[tense music] JULIE PILLOW:
Ultimately, an individual that worked at the prison
noticed this individual walking
00:33:05
in a field. And she said, "I
think that's him." And so she called, and then
everybody converged.
00:33:13
And it was, in fact,
Curtis Watson. [tense music] NARRATOR: Watson
stepped out of the field
00:33:23
and handed himself
over to the police. MARK DAVIDSON: When he
finally was apprehended,
00:33:29
he was in a pretty
bad physical state. He had bug bites everywhere. He had jungle rot on his feet.
00:33:36
So it was clear he had
a really rough time in his very much failed attempt to escape.
00:33:42
It just took those
four days for him to finally basically give up. CHUCK BAKER: You're talking
the hottest time of the year.
00:33:49
I don't think he had
another 24 hours on him, to be honest with you. I think he was
relieved to be caught.
00:33:54
His physical shape
was not good. And he looked terrible. He looked tired. [tense music]
00:34:00
LINA HAJI: There's
a part of Watson that probably thought, OK,
I'm going back to prison, back
00:34:06
to structure, back to food,
back to health care, back to some kind of support. And that may have been
a comfort for him.
00:34:16
SHEENA JONES: I feel
relieved for the community that they were safe, that this
happened without incident,
00:34:22
and that this story was done. - In the history
of our state, it was probably one
of the most collaborative
00:34:27
efforts in a manhunt. [tense music] NARRATOR: Watson was
checked over at the hospital
00:34:36
before being escorted
to the Sheriff's Office. Upon arrival, he
was interviewed by Special Agent Chuck Baker.
00:34:44
CHUCK BAKER: He was very calm. When you interviewed him,
he would answer questions.
00:34:48
But he would look down
and not look you in the eye. It seemed like he
was ashamed, maybe.
00:34:54
Mr. Watson specifically
told us that he would not talk
about the assault or death of Ms. Johnson.
00:35:03
But he did talk to us
about the actual escape and how he eluded
us for so long, and basically how he survived.
00:35:11
- I think that
the reason he did not discuss
the murder was purely out of self-preservation.
00:35:16
The escape is something
that can be boasted about. It's something
that other inmates
00:35:22
are likely to look
at as something incredible and potentially honorable. Whereas sexual assault
and the strangulation
00:35:31
of a 64-year-old
well-liked woman is going to be viewed very differently. NARRATOR: Watson
detailed what happened
00:35:38
to him once he had abandoned
the tractor four days prior. - He basically moved
at night and he moved
00:35:46
in ditches, deep ditches. And for three
nights, he basically circled almost the property.
00:35:52
He could always see
the prison lights at night. And then later on, he
decided to move further
00:35:57
east towards a populated area. He ate field corn and ate
stuffed from people's gardens
00:36:05
and got items from people's
houses, things like that. We had probable cause
to charge him with the murder
00:36:13
of Ms. Johnson. And that's what we did. NARRATOR: As well
as murder, Watson was charged with
aggravated rape,
00:36:22
aggravated burglary, aggravated
kidnapping, and escape. He was held within
the Tennessee prison system.
00:36:32
MARK DAVIDSON: And you would
think, on the face of it, that he is on his way
to completing his sentence,
00:36:37
enjoying his status as a trusty
and getting out of prison. And instead, what we
get is the rape and
00:36:44
murder of the top prison
official who was living on the grounds and an escape. JULIE PILLOW: I
believe that he thought
00:36:52
about it for that week prior
to attacking Debra Johnson. When he made that statement
after airing up her tires,
00:37:01
about what he could
do and get away with, I believe that he
was constructing his plan from that
point on, in my opinion.
00:37:09
[tense music] NARRATOR: For Debra
Johnson's family, Watson's capture meant they
could now grieve her loss.
00:37:18
- They were
devastated, obviously. The main thing they
wanted to know was why. And unfortunately, I
told them that's not
00:37:25
a question that we'll
ever get the answer to. He could have done other things
but let her keep her alive.
00:37:32
So it's just something that
they'll always struggle with. CHUCK BAKER: She was very
respectful of the inmates.
00:37:40
I actually talked to several
inmates who were upset. And I never heard anyone
say a bad thing about her.
00:37:48
JULIE PILLOW: She tried to help
them rehabilitate themselves. She wanted the best for them.
00:37:53
And to lose her life
at the hands of an inmate, it's just not
anything that anyone
00:37:59
could have ever comprehended. [somber music] NARRATOR: Many of those
involved in the case
00:38:10
attended Debra's funeral. [somber music] JULIE PILLOW: It
was in Nashville. And it was standing room only.
00:38:20
Attending the funeral,
I felt like I got to know her as a person
and not just as a victim.
00:38:27
[somber music] CHUCK BAKER: I sat with
some of her friends. They were just wonderful.
00:38:34
And they were just about
as heartbroken as the family. And the TDOC presence
at the funeral was huge.
00:38:41
The governor spoke
at the funeral and gave the family a flag. Even the funeral itself
went to the highest
00:38:49
levels of state government, so
it was just a huge outpouring. [somber music] NARRATOR: The legal process
to bring Watson to justice
00:39:06
began three months
after his capture. In November,
a preliminary hearing took place where
the facts of the case
00:39:16
were presented
to the courtroom. [tense music] - We knew that it
was going to be
00:39:22
a death penalty
case, that it had the potential to go to trial. And we wanted to just
make sure that we didn't
00:39:28
leave any stone unturned. CHUCK BAKER: The family
was OK with the filing of the death notice.
00:39:35
But it really was
their preference, if possible, to not deal with probably a
death sentence that they would
00:39:40
be dealing with
for the rest of their lives because of all the appeals you
get if you're on death row.
00:39:45
And I was able to tell
them that on average, it takes about 30 years to execute
somebody in Tennessee.
00:39:50
They were OK with
life without parole. So we made that offer. NARRATOR: Watson
accepted the deal,
00:39:58
pleading no contest to the
charges of aggravated rape and first degree murder. He pled guilty
to all other charges.
00:40:06
[tense music] 19 months later,
Watson, now aged 45, began his plea hearing
at the Lauderdale County Court.
00:40:23
CHUCK BAKER: Because he
was considered such a dangerous threat, he was
with a special response team
00:40:28
from TDOC, which meant that
he had guards, tactical guards surrounding him at all times.
00:40:35
And he was transported
in a tactical vehicle. They spared no expense. He was, and is
still is, probably
00:40:43
one of the most dangerous
individuals in our state. MARK DAVIDSON: He did
appear to be more defeated.
00:40:49
He seemed to have come
to terms with the reality of the proof of the case
and his predicament.
00:40:54
And then without
any real problems, Watson admitted his guilt. NARRATOR: As well as a sentence
of life without parole,
00:41:02
Watson received
an additional 25 years for the aggravated
rape charge. MARK DAVIDSON: Julie and I
were pleased with the outcome.
00:41:11
Given our conversations with
the family and their desires, that it was the appropriate
outcome for them,
00:41:17
and that was
our primary concern. We knew that it would
eliminate Curtis Watson from ever being free again
to harm anybody else.
00:41:25
NARRATOR: Watson was sent
to Morgan County Correctional Complex to begin his sentence.
00:41:30
[tense music] Debra Johnson was due to begin
her retirement the same year she was tragically murdered.
00:41:43
But her legacy
continues to live on. MARK DAVIDSON: They
renamed a prison in Tennessee, a women's
prison, the Debra
00:41:50
Johnson Rehabilitation
Center in her honor. I think Debra would be
very pleased with that.
00:41:57
And I know her family is. And I know it's a good
way to honor her legacy as a career TDOC employee.
00:42:04
- Hopefully, the way that she
carried herself over her career and that she was kind, that
she did not judge individuals,
00:42:13
that she tried to help them be
the best that they could be, that that's hopefully
a living legacy
00:42:20
within the TDOC community. I know that she was loved. I think she'll always be
a lasting presence there.
00:42:31
NARRATOR: Since Debra's
murder, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
has taken steps
00:42:37
to implement safer protocols. - Our communications
at the time was terrible. Because we were
in such a rural area,
00:42:45
we had little to no
cell phone service. We had radio systems
that were not compatible with other agencies.
00:42:53
We have since gone leaps
and bounds in communication. We now can deploy portable
cell sites, satellites.
00:43:01
All of our radio now are all
compatible with most radios. Our training has
changed tremendously
00:43:07
in that amount of time. Our technology has
changed for the better, and it's only getting better.
00:43:13
NARRATOR: Curtis Watson
remains under maximum security. - Curtis Ray Watson is
really someone cowardly.
00:43:22
And I say that because of his
choice of victims. I say that
because of his inability
00:43:29
to take responsibility
for his actions, his engaging in physical
as well as sexual violence,
00:43:38
somebody who does
violent, horrific acts towards vulnerable victims
over and over and over again.
00:43:46
MARK DAVIDSON: He
is among the worst of the worst in Tennessee. And he's evil
to the point where
00:43:51
he had harmed other
people, children and women, that put him in prison. And then he created
a facade to fool people
00:44:01
into putting him
in a position to commit the ultimate crime, murder. And he did it against one
of the top ranking officials
00:44:10
in the state of Tennessee,
who was trying to help people like him. I don't know how much
more twisted and evil
00:44:16
you can get than that. [music playing]