00:00:08
Julia: This time on Killers
Caught on Camera. Cop: I got a subject
down over here.
00:00:13
Julia: In Florida. - Ma'am, you may
want to stay inside. Julia: A frantic
search for a killer.
00:00:20
Cop: Sheriff's Office,
come to the door. Man: The patrol
officers were running around trying to figure
out if there was
00:00:26
still a shooter in the area. Julia: And in Montana, a woman
vanishes without a trace.
00:00:34
Man: She's observed
walking into the home. And from that point on, she's
never observed coming back out.
00:00:40
[tense music] Man: It just sounds
like something bad is happening to her. Woman: We know what
happened because the video
00:00:49
tells us what happened. Man: I heard some gunshots. - I need to get rid of the gun.
00:00:55
- Man, that's good. Man: The camera doesn't lie. Julia: In Florida, in Santa
Rosa County, Navarre.
00:01:13
Scott: Navarre is a very
laidback beachside community. We have a mix of retired
military people
00:01:18
that come to Florida looking
for a better life and a slower pace of life. It's a great place
to raise a family.
00:01:25
Random acts of violence
in Santa Rosa County, and particularly Navarre, is
very rare thing to happen.
00:01:35
Julia: March 19, 2023. [sirens blaring] Scott: When the call
came out, it came out a shooting
that had occurred
00:02:00
at the Cayo Grande Apartments. At that point, all we knew
was that someone had been shot
00:02:04
and they were down. I began responding
to the scene. Cop: Which one's 7724? Julia: Outside one
of the apartments--
00:02:14
Cop: Hey, he's over here. Julia: --a man down. cop: He's in front of 406. I got a subject down over here.
00:02:23
Scott: It was pretty chaotic. A lot of people coming out
of their apartments to see what
00:02:26
was going on. - We just heard a-- a gunshot. - The victim was
laying on the sidewalk
00:02:31
with a large pool of blood. I could tell without moving
the body that he had been shot.
00:02:35
He had a head wound. Julia: Paramedics arrived. They confirmed he'd
been shot dead.
00:02:44
But whoever killed
him was potentially still nearby and armed. Scott: The patrol
officers were running
00:02:51
around trying to figure
out if there was still a shooter in the area.
At that point, we didn't know.
00:02:55
It could have been a neighbor. It could have been
someone who potentially was still in the area and still
posed a threat to other people.
00:03:01
- Ma'am, you may
want to stay inside. - Inside the residence,
patrol deputies located a toddler approximately
two or three years old.
00:03:08
- Come here, come here. I got him.
I got him. Come here, baby.
Come here. - She was there
and had apparently
00:03:16
witnessed the murder. cop: Hang on, honey. Scott: The deputy quickly
removed her from the scene
00:03:23
and put her in a safe location
until we could determine what exactly was happening.
00:03:28
cop: Sheriff's Office. Julia: Investigators checked
the apartment for a suspect,
00:03:34
but all that remained were
untouched bags of groceries. [knocking] cop: Sheriff's Office.
00:03:41
Julia: Officers needed
to know if anyone saw or heard anything that
could help find the killer.
00:03:47
cop: Sheriff's Office. Hello. - At this point, we begin
interviewing neighbors. cop: Have you guys heard
anything in the last
00:03:55
like 15 minutes?
- Yeah. I heard a gunshot. I'm pretty sure. cop: OK. cop: We found two
witnesses, and
00:04:02
they said that
suspect walked by them and was like, hey,
somebody got shot. And then he walked that way,
cool, calm, and collected.
00:04:10
40s, 50s, white male. cop: Sheriff's Office,
come to the door. Julia: Multiple witnesses were
able to describe the gunman.
00:04:19
Deputy Simmons: Hi, sir.
I'm Deputy Simmons. Sorry to wake ya. Julia: Each neighbor
built a clearer
00:04:24
picture of the perpetrator. cop: 40s, 50s white male
wearing a camo jacket. Julia: While first
responders continued
00:04:35
to look for the shooter,
Detective Marino began to search
for any evidence left at the crime scene.
00:04:42
cop: Does he live by himself? Have we established that? Alex: I would be willing, yes.
00:04:47
I walked into his apartment,
kind of looked around. I noticed a lot
of Walmart grocery bags.
00:04:56
Some were in the doorway,
some were in the kitchen. I walked around the rest
of his apartment.
00:05:01
I didn't see any
signs of a struggle. And he also had about $1,200
in cash sitting right there.
00:05:08
So looking at that, I didn't
think this was a robbery. Because if it was, that
wouldn't have been there.
00:05:13
So at that point,
I didn't really have anything to go off of. cop: That's his car.
00:05:21
Julia: Police discovered the
man who lived in the apartment was 24-year-old Colby Vinson.
00:05:29
Scott: We identified
the victim as Colby Vinson through the apartment records. Also the tag on the car
indicated that that
00:05:35
was Colby Vinson's car. Julia: Nate Veroneau
was a close friend of Colby's from high school.
00:05:45
Nate: Colby had
friends everywhere. Huge heart. Like, super lovable. There was never a moment
where you would see him sad,
00:05:55
when he wasn't making
others laugh around him. You could tell
him anything, and he would just kind of be
able to laugh with you
00:06:01
and be able to turn you
around wherever you were. And I think a lot of times,
we took it for granted.
00:06:09
Julia: When Colby
was in high school, he dated a girl named Rachel. Shortly after they
finished school,
00:06:16
they were expecting a baby. - When Colby told me he was
having a child on the way,
00:06:22
it was like a gleaming
smile behind him. Like, he was just super, super
excited for what was to come.
00:06:26
It was a really awesome
moment to share with him. Julia: But when Colby
and Rachel split up,
00:06:32
Colby had to fight for custody. Nate: He was under
a long battle of custody with his first daughter.
00:06:38
He did everything
he possibly could to-- to get that custody back
because that's what he loved
00:06:43
the most was being a father. - Colby Vinson was
fighting for shared and equal custody of his child.
00:06:54
Control of contact, which is
when a parent restricts access to a child of another
parent, is a common form
00:07:00
of coercive control. And so one of the things that
parents can use and weaponize
00:07:06
is access to a child. All you want to do is
take care of your child and love your child
and be there for them.
00:07:14
And the other
parent is standing in the way of that for you. - I'm guessing in the head,
in the back of the head.
00:07:22
- During the initial stage
of the investigation, we discovered that Colby Vinson
had recently been engaged
00:07:26
in a custody battle,
and the judge had finally awarded 50/50 custody. And this was the first
night he was gonna
00:07:32
have the daughter to himself. The night that he gets
visitation with his daughter
00:07:37
is the night that
he was murdered. So obviously, our attention
was drawn to that.
00:07:42
At that point, we began
looking into the child's mother, Rachel Moore. Julia: Rachel was brought
in for an interview.
00:07:51
Rachel: Hi. I'm Rachel. - How long were you and Colby
together before you separated?
00:07:59
- Probably four and a half,
five years, maybe. But my child was about 14
months old when we separated.
00:08:06
She's four now, and we haven't
had much contact since then. - Rachel denied
any involvement.
00:08:13
She claimed that she
had been home all night and had no idea who would
have killed the victim.
00:08:18
- Do you know anybody
that would want to hurt Colby in a manner like this? - I don't know.
00:08:24
Like I said, I haven't spoke
to him in almost 10 months. Alex: Talking with
Rachel, the thing
00:08:30
I kind of noticed when
talking with her is she really had no emotion. She would appear to be
upset, appear to cry.
00:08:38
But I wasn't really
getting any true indicators of her being really upset. Like, her eyes
weren't watering,
00:08:44
no tears, nothing like that. - This isn't what
you want to happen because this might happen,
and then [bleep] happens.
00:08:56
Alex: After the interview,
I was pretty sure Rachel had a big hand in this. - What if she saw this?
00:09:06
Then where do you go? What-- that meant-- that's not
something you can just unsee.
00:09:12
- I know witnesses saw
a male, and they all kind of gave a rough description. But how that male was
connected to Rachel,
00:09:19
I just didn't know yet. Julia: Police retraced Colby's
last movements to try and find
00:09:28
some clues about his killer. A receipt found
in Colby's apartment led investigators
to a Walmart four miles away.
00:09:39
Colby and his daughter
left the store at 9:22 PM. Less than half an hour
later, Colby was shot dead.
00:09:52
- Colby did all
the preparation in the world to get that custody
back of his daughter.
00:09:56
He had got, like,
a new bed and new toys and everything for his
daughter for that special day,
00:10:01
that first day
that he was gonna have back with his daughter. He'd finally reached
the end of that battle.
00:10:07
And then for all of that to
just be gone from the first day that he was gonna be
spending with his daughter,
00:10:13
it's just terrible. Julia: The Walmart footage
confirmed his movements, but police still had no leads
on who could have killed
00:10:23
Colby Vinson in cold blood. They searched the local area
for surveillance footage
00:10:32
and began to look into Rachel
Moore's background. [tense music] Scott: When we began
looking into Rachel,
00:10:40
we discovered that there
was a gentleman that lived with her
approximately 10 years
00:10:43
prior by the name
of Jason Curtis. Jason was married
to Rachel's mom at one point.
00:10:49
They had since
divorced, but apparently Rachel maintained a close
relationship with Jason Curtis.
00:10:53
He had previous
domestic violence charges, assault charges,
things of that nature.
00:10:58
Alex: We were able to find out
a little bit more about Jason. Found out he lived
in Cullman County, Alabama,
00:11:03
which was about five
hours away from here. He had a girlfriend. We were able to find
out what vehicles
00:11:07
he was associated with. Julia: They tracked
the cars Jason Curtis was using through license
plate recognition cameras.
00:11:18
Scott: We discovered
that none of his vehicles had been in the area during
the time of the murder.
00:11:23
However, there was a green
Volkswagen Beetle that was registered to his girlfriend.
00:11:27
That vehicle was actually seen
entering Santa Rosa County the day of the murder
and seen leaving
00:11:33
Santa Rosa County
moments after the murder from a license plate reader. Julia: Rachel told detectives
she handed over her daughter
00:11:43
to Colby on March 19
at 6:30 PM in the parking lot of the Publix supermarket. Cameras in the area revealed
that Rachel's former stepfather
00:11:56
was also nearby. Scott: Here we can see
Jason Curtis's vehicle traveling to the parking
lot of the supermarket.
00:12:04
This is the same supermarket
where the custody exchange took place. And the fact that he
was in the parking
00:12:09
lot on the day
of the custody exchange on the day of the murder
lets us believe this is
00:12:14
a clue and not a coincidence. Julia: Investigators
were able to identify Jason Curtis, who was wearing
jeans and a green jacket.
00:12:27
Scott: Once we discovered
the green Beetle had been in the area, we began
canvassing for surveillance
00:12:31
that may indicate that
they were in the area at the time of the murder. Julia: Footage from
a nearby liquor store
00:12:39
confirmed the identity of the
vehicle's driver and passenger. Scott: Immediately following
the custody exchange,
00:12:48
there's footage
of Jason Curtis and his girlfriend walking
into the liquor store
00:12:52
and purchasing two
bottles of alcohol. This information is
crucial because it proves that there wasn't some
stranger driving the car.
00:12:59
This was Jason Curtis and his
girlfriend in that location on the day of the murder.
00:13:05
This proved, without a doubt,
that Jason Curtis was there and that he was
connected to our victim
00:13:10
on the day of the murder. Julia: But the police
still didn't have enough evidence
to prove Jason Curtis
00:13:17
murdered Colby Vinson. Scott: So at this point, we
began turning our attention back to Rachel Moore
to see if maybe she
00:13:25
could provide some
more information about Jason Curtis's
potential involvement. Julia: Rachel was brought
back in for another interview.
00:13:40
- I don't know
who would do this. And I would not do
this to my daughter. This is horrible.
00:13:49
- Everything in this
investigation keeps coming back to you
and this custody battle.
00:13:56
- But I'm telling
you, I don't know. I don't know who
would have done this. - Detectives wrote a search
warrant for her cell phone,
00:14:04
and it was seized
during the interview. - We are gonna confiscate
your cell phone as evidence.
00:14:08
OK? Julia: After handing over her
phone, away from the cameras, Rachel made a confession.
00:14:20
Alex: Rachel was
out in the hallway where she pretty much said,
you know, I know who did this.
00:14:28
And we asked her, will you be
willing to come back in and provide a truthful statement?
00:14:31
She agreed. Rachel's mother asked
to sit in on that interview. Rachel and Christina
were talking beforehand,
00:14:41
but they were whispering. Julia: What Rachel
Moore's mother is saying is to not say anything.
00:14:58
But Rachel Moore
responds saying, yeah, but the police officer knows. And if the police officer knows
that I've been corresponding
00:15:06
with someone, has
evidence against me, it's possibly a better
strategy to at least
00:15:11
come clean about some of it. And you can just
see in their minds the calculations going
on of what is going
00:15:16
to be the best strategy here? And they clearly
have a different view on what the answer to that is.
00:15:26
Scott: Anytime you go into
an interview with a suspect, it's a psychological battle.
00:15:32
It's a battle
of wills, and it's a battle of trying
to convince this person to do the right thing
and to tell the truth.
00:15:39
Julia: The psychological battle
turned in the detective's favor as Rachel opened up.
00:15:45
Rachel: My ex-stepdad, Jason
Curtis, I grew up with him. Like, my dad wasn't
around much, but he was.
00:15:53
He called me. I told him everything
that was going on, and he had sent me pictures
of knives and guns.
00:16:02
- You think he would
actually come down here and [bleep] shoot him? - I don't know.
00:16:08
I don't know, but he-- he did
tell me not to worry about it. And then he called.
00:16:12
He called last night
and said that I don't have to worry about
it and everything's fine.
00:16:18
- Rachel's mom is nauseous. - Like, this wasn't
something that was set up. - Her daughter has quite
possibly organized a murder,
00:16:28
and her ex-partner
is the perpetrator. - Ma'am, are you OK? Do you need some
water or something?
00:16:36
- Retching into a garbage
can, this response, which feels quite
extreme, is actually,
00:16:42
I think, quite
a reasonable response to an extreme situation. - You did not ask him
to come and [bleep] kill him?
00:16:48
- Not-- not-- not
like that, I didn't. [tense music] Scott: There was
a tremendous sense of relief
00:16:56
that we were
on the right track and that we were--
we were hopefully gonna get the bad guy.
00:17:03
- Sir, I didn't do this. Julia: Rachel was arrested and
taken into custody reluctantly.
00:17:09
- Like, I'm deadass being
arrested for something I did not do. Julia: Meanwhile, investigators
turned their attention
00:17:17
to Jason Curtis. Scott: We began
coordinating with law enforcement
officials in Alabama
00:17:23
to make the arrest
of Jason Curtis. Julia: Officers from Cullman
County Sheriff's Office
00:17:30
in Alabama tracked
down Jason's vehicle. [sirens blaring] Scott: The Alabama authorities
stopped him on a traffic stop
00:17:46
to effect the arrest warrant. - This is stupid. What we're gonna do
is [bleep] stupid.
00:17:51
Julia: Jason Curtis
was taken into custody. A search of the VW Beetle
that Curtis drove to Florida
00:17:59
revealed damning evidence. - They located a 357 Magnum
under the driver's seat. They also located a note
in the vehicle which
00:18:11
had very descriptive
information describing Colby
Vinson, his address, his build, his tattoos,
things that someone would need
00:18:18
to come down and find him. Julia: Equipped with
all the evidence, Jason Curtis was
interviewed by police.
00:18:27
Alex: At that point, we
knew we had our killer. It was just now seeing
if he'll admit to it.
00:18:32
What's going on, Jason? - Y'all tell me. - Well, we're about to. So the reason
we're here is there
00:18:40
was a warrant put
out for your arrest, all right, for the murder
of Colby Vinson.
00:18:48
Does that name sound
familiar to you? - No. - Do you have
a stepdaughter named Rachel?
00:18:53
Jason: Yes.
- OK. Well, it was Rachel's
ex-boyfriend. - OK, I don't know his name.
00:18:58
I never met him. Julia: Jason Curtis,
in this interview, you can see he's
twisted into himself.
00:19:04
He's holding his own arms. He just presents as someone
who is trying to stay neutral.
00:19:10
- I'm just gonna
put it out there. You're lying. I can tell. cop: I just want to let
you know that Rachel
00:19:19
went to jail yesterday. - I ain't seen Rachel
in years and years and years. I talked to her on the phone
sometime this week
00:19:27
a little more than
often because she was upset about having
to turn her baby over to him.
00:19:35
cop: And, Jason, we also
have her cell phone. They're doing forensic
downloads on those devices.
00:19:40
When they do that, every
conversation, every picture, we are gonna have. Tell me the truth.
00:19:47
- I'm not gonna go to jail the
rest of my life for something I did not do. cop: But you're gonna
let Rachel do it?
00:19:51
- I love her to death. I don't want her going to jail
for the rest of her life. I did not shoot the man.
00:19:58
Julia: Police questioned
Curtis about some pictures he'd sent Rachel. - Talk about sending her--
00:20:06
sending her a picture
of a choice of weapons, swords, knives, gun. What's-- what's
the best option?
00:20:14
Jason: I sent her that picture. I also sent her a picture
of my motorcycles, my guitars.
00:20:21
Julia: The reason
that the police want a confession
is a confession is the single strongest
piece of evidence
00:20:25
you can have at a trial. It also might mean
that you don't even have to go to trial,
which can save everyone
00:20:29
quite a lot of hassle. So you can see why the police
officer wants this. You can also see why he
is resisting and saying,
00:20:37
well, if I confess, then I'm
definitely going to prison for the rest of my life.
00:20:41
- Why are you lying about it? - Lay down on the floor
and squall like a baby. I'm not gonna make up
something I did not do.
00:20:49
Alex: Jason never admitted
to murdering Colby. He kept saying, you don't
have anything on me,
00:20:54
nothing to prove. I think eventually
it got to a point where we both were getting
pretty heated, and he was like,
00:20:59
I want to talk anymore. I want my lawyer. So at that point, we
got up and walked out.
00:21:08
Julia: There was no chance
of Jason confessing. Detectives turned
to the digital evidence.
00:21:17
Alex: When we were able to go
through Jason's cell phone, I was able to find
text messages
00:21:23
between Jason and Rachel. When I went through Rachel's
phone, a lot of those were missing because she
told us she deleted them,
00:21:35
but Jason never deleted them. So I was able to get
the full conversation. When Rachel was talking
to us, she said she
00:21:43
was even joking with Jason. You know, like, I'll
pay for your gas, or she said she was joking.
00:21:49
But after seeing her messages
between Jason and her, if you read it, like, you
can tell this isn't joking.
00:21:56
[tense music] One of the handguns
that was in there was the handgun that was
retrieved from his truck
00:22:05
when he was arrested. Julia: In situations
where people are going through highly
distressing situations,
00:22:13
whether that's a custody
battle or a divorce or even a bad boss
at work, people do often joke about murder.
00:22:21
But of course, almost never
are those thoughts acted on. In this case, the plan
is more specific than I
00:22:28
would expect in a pure joke. We're talking about
specific weapons. We're talking about
locations, addresses,
00:22:36
how you might get there. That's where you get
into the arena of a plan and not just a rogue thought.
00:22:47
Scott: I think
Jason Curtis thought that because he
lived five hours away and his connection to Rachel
was somewhat distant,
00:22:53
we would never be able
to prove that he was here. I think that he
thought in his mind
00:22:58
that he was gonna get
away with this scot-free. Julia: In 2024, Jason
Curtis stood before a jury
00:23:07
for the murder of Colby Vinson. Scott: As the trial went
on and the evidence mounted,
00:23:14
you could see
his-- his demeanor change in the courtroom, and he
appeared to look more defeated.
00:23:20
Julia: Jason Curtis
was convicted of first-degree
premeditated murder. He was sentenced
to life in prison.
00:23:30
Almost a year later, it
was Rachel Moore's turn to face a jury. - At trial, Rachel tried
to paint a picture that she
00:23:40
was this protective mother
that would do anything to protect her
child, but the irony
00:23:44
was that she had someone
murder the father of her child directly in front of her child
and traumatized that child
00:23:49
for the rest of her life. I think that she
really believed the jury was gonna buy that she
didn't think that Jason Curtis
00:23:55
was gonna murder anybody. However, the evidence
showed the opposite. Julia: The jury
found Rachel Moore
00:24:03
guilty of first-degree
premeditated murder and tampering with evidence. She was sentenced
to life without parole.
00:24:12
Nate: Colby did everything
for his daughter, and for a man who
devoted his life to be able to just
have that moment back,
00:24:22
for it to be ripped
away at the end, it's just absolutely horrific. It's disgusting.
00:24:29
- This case, to me, sounds
like the realization of what a lot of people who are
going through custody battles
00:24:35
play with in their minds
quite often, which is what if the other
person just disappeared and
00:24:40
I didn't have to deal with
this horrible custody battle that I'm in? So to me, this is
a horrible and tragic
00:24:47
case of basically
someone's really dark fantasy coming to life. [tense music] Alex: Colby was
well-liked, well-loved.
00:25:00
He had very close friends. Really loved his daughter. The biggest tragedy of this
case is somebody died.
00:25:08
And then a little
girl was present. She's gonna remember
that probably for the rest of her life.
00:25:15
So I think that's probably the
biggest tragedy right there. Nate: The thing I miss the most
about him is just his presence,
00:25:28
the-- the-- the weight that
he carried in a room, the-- the laughter and joy he
brought everybody around him.
00:25:38
I think that--
that honor of Colby is something that we
take upon ourselves and implement
into in our own lives.
00:25:47
Remembering all
the fun times we had together and all
the crazy moments we shared and just laughter.
00:25:54
I mean, that's-- that's
probably the best way to honor him is just to do that. ♪ ♪
00:26:10
Julia: In some cases,
you have people who are unwilling to perpetrate
their crimes themselves.
00:26:16
Even in the cases
of murders, sometimes people hire hitmen
or other people to do
00:26:20
the hard part of the crime. In other cases, you have
people who are willing to take
00:26:25
matters into their own hands. And in both,
whether it's you or someone who you're vicariously
killing somebody else through,
00:26:33
you often have what's
called the illusion of unique invulnerability. In other words, whether
you're getting somebody else
00:26:40
to do it for you or you're
doing it yourself, almost always, people
who kill think they
00:26:45
are going to get away with it. [tense music] Julia: In the US,
Montana, Billings.
00:27:14
Julia: 49-year-old
Laura Johnson had recently moved to Billings
to start a new life.
00:27:27
- Laura is my oldest sister. She always took care of me. She was my best friend.
00:27:36
Even after she got
older, we always lived close to each other. And you could
walk in her house,
00:27:42
and sunny day out,
and windows would be open, and stereo would be up,
and she'd be in the kitchen.
00:27:52
She loved to bake. She was a heck
of a baker, I'll tell you. She could bake anything.
00:27:58
She was just amazing. Baking and dancing. [laughs] Julia: By the age of 23,
Laura had five children.
00:28:12
Tammy: She had five boys,
and I had three girls. Christmas or any
kind of celebration,
00:28:18
I mean, with the eight
kids, that was pretty much an instant party. Laura as an aunt was amazing.
00:28:27
She was a wonderful mom. Here's a picture
of she's getting swallowed up by her boys.
00:28:36
And when their mama told them
to do something, they jumped. Always had to have her hair
done and makeup on, her nails.
00:28:45
It was important to her. Julia: By 2012, her five sons
had grown up and moved out.
00:28:54
Laura and her husband
decided to separate. Andrea: Her life had changed. She was ready to move
on to something else.
00:29:02
So she had left Washington
state, where she was from, moved to Nevada,
and that is where
00:29:07
she decided to date again. Julia: In 2013, Laura
started a new chapter and began a relationship
with Greg Green.
00:29:20
- It started off that he was
a very nice, attentive person, an ideal type of relationship.
00:29:31
He was very caring, romantic. Julia: Laura and Greg
had an on/off relationship for the next
five years in Nevada.
00:29:42
Then in July 2018, Greg
took a job a thousand miles away in Billings, Montana. Laura followed a month later
and took a temporary job
00:29:55
as a pizza delivery driver. September 2018. [tense music] Tammy: Laura's son,
Stephan, called me.
00:30:08
And he said, have
you heard from Mom? I said, no, she's
supposed to call me today,
00:30:13
but I haven't heard from her. We called the other brothers,
and nobody had heard from her.
00:30:18
So my mom called
the police department. Julia: Officers
went to the home Laura had been living
at with Greg Green.
00:30:40
Brad: Billings police officers
responded to Mr. Green's home and made contact with him.
00:31:00
Brad: He claimed that
she had just taken off and that she had
done it before. He had come home
from work, and she
00:31:06
had packed all of her
belongings and was gone, and he had no idea
where she had gone.
00:31:15
Julia: Over the past
15 years, Laura had struggled with depression,
anxiety, and drug issues.
00:31:22
She'd recently
started attending a daily clinic for support. Shawn: Trying to get
out of any addiction
00:31:30
is a tremendously
difficult thing to do. And it's a courageous act
and a really important act
00:31:35
to begin to try to get
clean and sober. So the fact that Laura decided
to take control of her life,
00:31:41
start going
to a methadone clinic, these are positive signs
that Laura is trying
00:31:44
to take ownership
of her life, take responsibility, and begin
to address things and
00:31:49
get herself more stable. Andrea: She fought
with that addiction and her family knew that she
fought with that addiction.
00:31:56
But she was doing really great. She was doing good with it. Julia: Laura's sons
were two states away.
00:32:03
Determined to find their mom,
they turned to social media. Andrea: I came across
a poster on social media.
00:32:11
The poster was going viral. I was immediately taken
back, mostly because you have this beautiful blonde
woman, just a beautiful face,
00:32:21
smiling, blue eyes, and then
you have this stark writing that just says missing.
00:32:27
It's not every day that
you have a mom go missing. Julia: As the weeks
went by, the family
00:32:35
still didn't have any leads
as to where Laura could be. - The family was just
in this heartsick moment
00:32:43
where nobody had
answers, and they're trying to work from two states
away, trying to find their mom.
00:32:49
I think any son or daughter
would jump into a car and drive over there
and start knocking on doors.
00:32:56
And that's exactly what
one of Laura's sons did. Brad: Her son had traveled
here with his girlfriend
00:33:02
at the time, contacted some
people in the community. I believe they had posted
flyers around the city.
00:33:09
Julia: But when Laura's
son went to the home Laura shared with Greg, he
made a significant discovery,
00:33:17
a camera pointing
directly at the property. Brad: The investigation
took a turn at that point.
00:33:23
The residence to the north
of Mr. Green's house had a video camera on the
corner of the residence that
00:33:32
showed essentially
the entire front yard and front of Mr. Green's trailer. And essentially, you could
see anytime anybody came and
00:33:42
went from that residence
through the driveway or through the front gate. Julia: On September
13 at 7:00 PM,
00:33:51
the camera filmed
Laura arriving home from work in Greg's
white Buick, which she used to deliver pizzas.
00:34:01
Brad: This is footage of Laura
Johnson walking up the driveway where the dog is greeting her.
00:34:08
She's observed
walking into the home. And from that point on, she's
never observed coming back out.
00:34:16
Julia: Almost three hours
after Laura got home, Greg left in his truck. Brad: The flash that you see
is his vehicle lights coming
00:34:24
on, and this is him
pulling out of the driveway on the evening of the 13th. The only person
observed leaving
00:34:30
is Mr. Green in that vehicle. We can see
at the time he leaves, the vehicle she was driving is
still parked in the driveway.
00:34:41
Julia: Surveillance
footage revealed Greg headed straight
for the nearest store
00:34:47
for some late-night shopping. Brad: He bought a number
of items that were a little bit
00:34:54
odd, some saw
blades, a paint tray, and I think some type
of a gray spray paint.
00:35:01
The video from
the self-checkout showed a pretty
considerable scratch on the side of his face.
00:35:09
Julia: The injury was
fresh, and police were left wondering how he got cut. The next morning, September
14th, Greg moved the white
00:35:22
Buick into the garage. Brad: This is just before
7:00 AM on the 14th. Mr. Green pulled the Buick into
the garage and shut the door.
00:35:34
Julia: That evening,
Greg was captured on camera loading what
looked like a shovel and two
00:35:42
red suitcases into his truck. Brad: It's very
deliberate, not in a hurry. It doesn't look like
he's looking around and
00:35:52
worried about people seeing. Julia: As the police analyzed
the surveillance footage,
00:36:04
another alarming clip emerged. Brad: It's grainy, but you
can definitely see that he's
00:36:10
carrying something very large. He's carrying it cradle style. It appeared to be wrapped
in something like a blanket.
00:36:19
There's no motion. It's just still. I mean, it's heavy. It's not moving. Julia: Greg was brought
in for an interview.
00:36:37
cop: This is a missing
person investigation. We're-- we're looking
for Laura Johnson.
00:36:43
We just need to get
to the bottom of this. And honestly, you're
the best person to talk to.
00:36:47
- We're really
focusing on trying to get a timeline
of events, or at least his version of the events.
00:36:54
- I think I came home
on it could have been the 12th or 13th,
right around there,
00:37:00
and that's when she was gone. Packed her stuff
when I was at work. Two suitcases she had and gone.
00:37:11
I haven't heard from her since. Brad: That was pretty
alarming to us, the fact that he's describing that she
left with two red suitcases,
00:37:20
and the video surveillance
that we had viewed shows him carrying
two red suitcases.
00:37:27
He was lying to us. - I noticed the car
was in the garage. I kind of started
looking around,
00:37:33
and then I went to the closet,
and I kind of looked. OK, well, her stuff is gone,
and she's taken off again.
00:37:38
It's no surprise. I mean, I've been through
it half a dozen times. Brad: Essentially everything
he told us about the time
00:37:47
her leaving was absolutely
false because we know that he was the one that parked
her vehicle in the garage
00:37:54
and that she never came out. - Did you love her? - Yes, I did. Yes, absolutely. - Do you still?
00:38:06
- No, after her leaving so many
times there, it just kind of. No. Brad: Later in the interview,
we told Mr. Green
00:38:19
that we had video
surveillance that showed everything that had happened. - Something happened that
evening between the two of you.
00:38:28
She did not come back
out of that house. How do you think
we know all this? - I don't know.
00:38:35
cop: There's video surveillance
that we have obtained, and it shows all of this, Greg.
00:38:38
- A video camera? cop: Yes. - I ain't gonna
say nothing else. Julia: But the police
didn't have enough evidence
00:38:49
to arrest Greg Green. - We essentially let
Mr. Green walk away from the police department.
00:38:56
We seized his vehicle. Julia: On the inside
of Greg's truck, police discovered
tiny specks of blood.
00:39:05
They sent it off
for DNA analysis. Detectives also
searched Greg's home. Brad: The one thing
that stood out
00:39:15
to me was the distinct
smell of new carpet. He's renting this. Why is there new carpet?
00:39:28
When we searched through one
of the drawers in his desk, we found a folder
that contained
00:39:33
multiple missing persons
flyers for Laura that had obviously been torn down. So he was, for whatever reason,
going around and removing
00:39:43
these missing person flyers. Julia: Through
their investigation, police discovered more about
Laura and Greg's relationship.
00:39:55
Tammy: He would do things like
she would try and fix herself up to make herself
look nice for him,
00:40:02
and he would insinuate that
she looked like a tramp. And as she was walking
away, you know,
00:40:08
say she had a flabby butt or
things to break down, you know, her self-confidence.
00:40:17
He had taken pictures
of her that she didn't know anything about. Like, when she was
high or passed out,
00:40:28
he would take pictures
of her half undressed. He sent these
pictures to her boss.
00:40:40
She was doing security work. And he said, is this
somebody that you would trust as security for your company?
00:40:51
And she got fired. And it just totally
deflated her. - Shaming someone
is a very potent and
00:41:04
effective way of trying to
undermine someone's confidence. When you're systematically
putting them down,
00:41:10
it's a way to try
to control someone. And if someone
feels to blame, they feel worthless, if someone
keeps telling you
00:41:15
that something's
your fault, then you're under their influence. You're less likely
to want to leave.
00:41:21
So it's a pretty
vicious cycle that makes them a little
bit more dependent, and it's harder
for them to extricate
00:41:27
themselves from
a relationship of that kind. Julia: Just before
she went missing,
00:41:34
Laura decided she'd had
enough and told her family. Tammy: They weren't
together anymore.
00:41:43
She was still in the same
house with him, but they were
in separate rooms. And she had a job, and she
was gonna save the money
00:41:51
for a ticket back to my place. The last time that I
spoke with Laura, I said, do you really think it's safe?
00:41:59
I mean, she said,
it'll be fine. She said, I've got the taser. You know, if he comes
in there, I've got the taser.
00:42:10
I said, well, if you feel
scared at all, just call me, and I will get
you the money, OK?
00:42:20
She said, I promise. Brad: Well, at that
point, as an investigator, you're pretty confident
that you have the right guy.
00:42:28
The one thing we don't
have is Laura's body. So we don't have the ability
to determine how she died,
00:42:37
what caused her death. And that's just a huge
piece of a puzzle of any homicide investigation.
00:42:45
Julia: Four months passed,
and still no trace of Laura. Then finally, the DNA
results came back.
00:42:55
Andrea: They found
her DNA in that truck. At this point, they
finally have evidence.
00:43:02
Laura's blood is
inside of that truck. Julia: Greg Green
had moved back to Nevada, where
the local police tracked
00:43:11
him down to make an arrest. - When I found out that
the police had arrested Greg,
00:43:20
I started crying. I was pretty happy because I
was starting to think it was never gonna happen.
00:43:32
cop: Hi, Greg. Julia: The post-arrest
interview gave an insight into the real Greg Green.
00:43:40
- So you know why we're here. - I believe so, yes. cop: Well, we have
a warrant for your arrest
00:43:48
for deliberate homicide. That's why you're here. - Huh? Deliberate homicide? - If the police accuse you
of deliberate homicide,
00:44:00
and your reaction is
huh, that doesn't show shock or horror or protest. If they're innocent,
they're gonna protest.
00:44:07
They're gonna try to emphasize
that they're not guilty and they're horrified. He didn't show any of that.
00:44:15
Julia: In February
2020, Greg Green stood trial for the murder
of Laura Johnson.
00:44:21
- While Greg was
on trial for murder, he had a very
interesting demeanor. It was almost like
he enjoyed it.
00:44:29
He oftentimes made eye contact
with television cameras. He looked smug. It was very odd.
00:44:37
It was almost like he
enjoyed all the attention in this murder case. Julia: After
an eight-day trial,
00:44:47
the jury came back
with their verdict. Guilty. Tammy: I think he thought
he was gonna get off.
00:44:55
So yeah, that was really
satisfying, not just because he deserved to be found guilty,
but because he didn't
00:45:05
get his way for a change. Julia: Greg Green was sentenced
to 100 years in prison,
00:45:13
and he still hasn't revealed
where Laura's body is. Andrea: She had her whole
life ahead of her still,
00:45:23
and he just took it away. And to know that she is
buried out there somewhere, that's pretty heart-wrenching.
00:45:37
Tammy: People were
always drawn to her. And going through
the pictures, it's almost impossible
to find a picture of her
00:45:47
without a big smile. [somber music] ♪ ♪ When you think of Laura,
think of the happy times.
00:46:03
I just want my sister home. I want to put her to rest. It's not over until
she's put to rest.
00:46:26
[tense music] ♪ ♪