00:00:08
NARRATOR: This time
on "Killers Caught on Camera." In Texas, a marriage
in turmoil--
00:00:15
- Hey, Rici, where'd
you get that bag that I gave you for Christmas? NARRATOR: --ends
in a lethal altercation.
00:00:21
KELLY MARSHALL:
Her drunk husband-- PATRICIA BIRMINGHAM: You're
embarrassing yourself.
00:00:24
KELLY MARSHALL: --is chasing
her in broad daylight, half naked. - I'm mad enough
to just pull it.
00:00:29
TIMOTHY HAYES: Spouses
argue as to who's going to take out the trash. COREY BIRMINGHAM: You're
going to meet Jesus.
00:00:33
- Not whether or not
somebody's going to kill somebody that day. - I didn't believe he was
capable of killing her.
00:00:40
NARRATOR: And in the UK,
a woman goes missing. - Marta not turning up
for work set off alarm bells.
00:00:48
- Clearly, there's
a significant danger that she's been harmed. NARRATOR: And her
husband is discovered
00:00:55
with severe injuries. OFFICER: He's got
a knife in his neck. MAN 1: It just
sounds like something
00:01:01
bad is happening to her. WOMAN: We know what
happened because the video tells us what happened.
00:01:06
MAN 2: I heard some gunshots. - Drop it! Whatever it is, drop it! - That does not prove
that I killed my wife.
00:01:13
DETECTIVE: The camera
doesn't lie. NARRATOR: In Harris
County, Texas, close to the city of Houston,
the suburb of Spring.
00:01:30
- Spring is in the north
end of Harris County. It's a relatively
populated area.
00:01:35
A lot of subdivisions,
neighborhoods, things like that. - It's a well-off community.
00:01:41
It's an idealistic place
to live and grow up. NARRATOR: This pleasant Houston
suburb was home to 48-year-old
00:01:51
Patricia Birmingham,
her husband Corey, and their 16-year-old
daughter Olivia. In 2021, Patricia was working
as a high-flying real
00:02:02
estate agent. - Hello, everyone. I just wanted
to come on real quick and tell you guys about a new
listing that I have coming up.
00:02:10
NARRATOR: Former work colleague
Shely Hernandez remembers first meeting Patricia.
00:02:15
- We showed up at one
of her projects, and we just kicked
it off, you know. She was just very outgoing,
joking about everything.
00:02:24
The first impression
that she gave me is that she was just very
outgoing and a very fun person.
00:02:28
NARRATOR: Patricia's
life in Houston was a far cry from her tough
childhood in Orlando, Florida.
00:02:34
MARY DEES: My first true
memory was when I was six and she was three. My mom and dad were
going through a divorce,
00:02:43
and at that time,
it was the three of us, my mom,
my sister, and I, that kind of took
care of each other.
00:02:51
NARRATOR: Patricia had
shown a determination to succeed from an early age. - Anything that she wanted,
she knew it took work.
00:03:01
If you asked her to go
sell 100 boxes of cookies, she would do 200 boxes. - What are you looking at?
00:03:10
- Stop videoing. - Even though I used
to work for her, it didn't even feel like she
was my boss at sometimes,
00:03:16
you know, 'cause we would call
each other or text or, you know, just joke about things.
00:03:22
She was a very humble person. She was a very down-to-Earth
person more than anything.
00:03:28
[LINE RINGING] NARRATOR: But in December
2021, 911 handlers received a call from
a concerned neighbor
00:03:35
in a state of distress. [SIREN WAILS] NARRATOR: Law enforcement
and emergency medical services
00:04:05
arrived on scene. OFFICER: So far, one of my-- TIMOTHY HAYES: The scene
was a two-story residence,
00:04:22
a long driveway,
a couple cars parked, and the victim was
lying on her back in the driveway with
a tarp next to her feet.
00:04:32
OFFICER: Charles,
go have EMS roll up. - She had sustained an apparent
gunshot wound to the head.
00:04:37
NARRATOR: Standing
next to her was a man wearing only a bathrobe. [RADIO CHATTER]
00:05:05
NARRATOR: The man was
heavily intoxicated. - And I'll sit down and tell
you the whole story.
00:05:25
NARRATOR: He identified
himself as Carey Birmingham. Carrie and Patricia
met in 2003 after she'd
00:05:36
moved to Texas for work. Carrie was nine years
older than Patricia. - He seemed to be a good man.
00:05:47
He was a young gentleman,
professional appearance. He spoke highly of himself. You know, he was
his best friend.
00:05:57
He made sure that I was
aware of these fine things that he had and his
career in insurance,
00:06:06
and I was happy for my sister. But at the same time,
that doesn't impress me. But I never had a reason
to doubt her choice.
00:06:18
NARRATOR: The couple soon tied
the knot in a lavish ceremony aboard a cruise ship,
a second marriage for Carey.
00:06:25
- He wasn't planning
on having any more children. However, my sister
was determined
00:06:32
to have children of her own. NARRATOR: In 2005, Patricia
gave birth to her daughter, Olivia.
00:06:39
MARY DEES: Olivia was
everything that she wanted. The day she was born,
that was the happiest
00:06:45
I've ever seen her. NARRATOR: But life
in the Birmingham home had begun to deteriorate.
00:06:52
Overwhelmed
by financial problems, both Patricia
and Carey were drinking and had frequent arguments.
00:07:00
- Whether it was
a gathering with friends, whether it was dinner, whether
it was them coming to Orlando
00:07:07
or visiting, drinking
was always involved. - Alcohol literally
makes your brain function less effectively.
00:07:15
It makes you particularly bad
at regulating your emotions, at filtering the things that
you're doing and saying.
00:07:23
And so that inhibition
of what's called your prefrontal cortex,
the front of your brain,
00:07:27
means that you're going
to say things in a way that you wouldn't
say otherwise, and you're going to interpret
situations as more hostile.
00:07:34
[RADIO CHATTER] NARRATOR: The victim
was quickly identified as Carey
Birmingham's wife, Patricia.
00:08:06
NARRATOR: At the scene,
investigators located three shotgun cartridges. Two had been used to take out
the tires of a white Tesla
00:08:20
parked on the driveway. The other hit Patricia
in the right eye, killing her instantly.
00:08:29
[radio chatter] - So you're primary? TIMOTHY HAYES:
When I turned up, I spoke with Mr. Birmingham.
00:08:47
- He appeared to be
slightly intoxicated. - My impression was
that he was pretty
00:09:04
relaxed about
the entire situation given what we were
dealing with and being only several feet away
from his wife's lifeless body.
00:09:14
[RADIO CHATTER] OFFICER: OK. - It gives me
the impression that there's no remorse, at least initially,
about what he has done
00:09:24
or care about the situation
he's put himself in and the situation
he's put others in.
00:09:31
NARRATOR: While Carey
Birmingham was transported to the Harris County
homicide office to sober up,
00:09:36
Detective Timothy
Hayes began to unwind the events of that morning. TIMOTHY HAYES: Just
because someone tells us
00:09:43
they did something
doesn't always mean they in fact did it. There still has to be an
investigation that takes place.
00:09:49
Physical evidence
has to be recovered, eyewitness testimony, video
surveillance footage, which
00:09:55
would either corroborate
or not corroborate what Mr. Birmingham had told us. NARRATOR: Detective Hayes
knew from experience
00:10:03
that a neighborhood like
this would be covered by lots of home security devices.
00:10:08
TIMOTHY HAYES: I
started talking to neighbors who may have
video surveillance footage.
00:10:14
While it may not
be the entire case, it may help piece
together what led up to a certain situation,
what happened
00:10:21
during the time of the crime,
and then sometimes what happened after as well. NARRATOR: Across the street,
a house with a camera
00:10:29
that recorded everything. TIMOTHY HAYES: This is Patricia
Birmingham walking down
00:10:34
the sidewalk holding
her purse and what appears to be
her cell phone, pointing it in the opposite
direction of something
00:10:42
coming down the street. Her demeanor here at least
appears to be calm. She's just walking
pointing the camera.
00:10:50
NARRATOR:
Investigators knew they needed to find her cell phone. What it contained could
unlock this investigation.
00:10:58
First, detectives had
to speak to Patricia's family. - My phone started ringing.
00:11:07
I answer the phone, and all
of a sudden, I hear, "This is Detective Hayes." He said, "Your
sister has died."
00:11:20
Everything is kind of blurred. One minute I was fine, and the
next minute I was hysteric.
00:11:27
What happened? Where is she? What's going on? And he said, "Her
husband killed her."
00:11:33
[RADIO CHATTER] NARRATOR: It was late
afternoon by the time a judge granted
a search warrant
00:11:38
for the Birmingham property. TIMOTHY HAYES: We
entered the residence through the side
door of the house,
00:11:46
and we observed
a Benelli shotgun leaning up against the corner
of the kitchen area right
00:11:54
by that door. Based on proximity
to where it was to Patricia Birmingham's
body, it could
00:11:59
have been used in this case. There appeared to be more
firearms inside of the house.
00:12:05
NARRATOR: Forensic
analysis would later prove the shotgun found
by the door matched
00:12:10
the shells found outside. But it was in the garage
that investigators uncovered the most
critical piece of evidence.
00:12:19
TIMOTHY HAYES: On top
of some water bottles, we had located
what appeared to be Patricia Birmingham's
cellular device.
00:12:26
NARRATOR: Was this
blood-stained phone the same one seen
in Patricia's hand? Investigators
applied for a warrant
00:12:36
to access the cell phone. Meanwhile, they
received new footage recorded by security cameras on
another neighboring property.
00:12:50
- You obviously see
Patricia Birmingham right here with her cell
phone in her left hand.
00:12:55
And if you keep
playing the video, we end up seeing Mr. Birmingham
coming from the left frame
00:13:00
of the screen here. It appears she's running now
away from Mr. Birmingham. It didn't appear to be the
typical domestic relationship.
00:13:21
There's some kind
of disturbance happening. It's not normal
behavior to be out there in the middle
of the day just
00:13:28
wearing nothing
but your bathrobe. NARRATOR: Three days
after Patricia's death, Detective Hayes was finally
granted a warrant to access
00:13:40
Patricia's cell phone. - The first data I
found on the phone was the audio
recording that was
00:13:46
about 30 to 40 minutes long. NARRATOR: Assistant District
Attorney Kelly Marshall
00:14:00
worked on the case. - It started at 9:58 AM, and we
can hear at the beginning of the audio recording
the defendant
00:14:08
is accusing her of recording. And you hear that
she's fearful. [KNIFE CLINKS] - What she's doing here, where
she presses Record on her phone
00:14:31
to pick up the audio,
is she's trying to document the situation. And that could be because she's
trying to create this evidence
00:14:38
to show family and friends
so that they believe and understand how
bad the situation is.
00:14:46
[CLACKING] - Mrs. Birmingham says in this
recording, "Go get your gun," which led me to believe that
this might not be the first
00:15:01
time that Mr.
Birmingham has either threatened her with a firearm
or pointed a firearm at her.
00:15:08
SHELY HERNANDEZ: The last
lunch that we had, we talked about business. We talked about personal stuff.
00:15:13
She opened up about
her situation, and she even admitted
to me that Carey had pulled a gun several
times before in the past.
00:15:24
She left me in shock
because, like, how a successful
woman is dealing with something like that?
00:15:42
- A lot of times,
you know, spouses argue as to who's going
to take out the trash or not,
00:15:47
not whether or not
somebody's going to kill somebody that day. - Fat-shaming is
common in intimate
00:16:16
partner violence situations. It's a type
of psychological abuse where the perpetrator
is trying to feel
00:16:21
more powerful than the person
they are trying to humiliate. It's not just her fault
that she apparently
00:16:27
doesn't meet his standards. He's also blaming
her for his weight. NARRATOR: Ultimately,
the argument
00:16:34
centered on Carey's
suspicion that Patricia was having an affair. [CAREY LAUGHING]
00:16:52
- It speaks to me
as to what's a normal day and language with Mr.
Birmingham and his wife.
00:17:19
- This threat that
he's going to kill her, she obviously doesn't
take it seriously
00:17:25
because she says go ahead,
and that's this downplaying of a real threat. And that could either be
because he's repeatedly
00:17:32
threatened this in the past,
or she just doesn't believe that he's capable of that.
00:17:38
NARRATOR: Also on the phone
were several video recordings. - This is moments
after the argument
00:17:56
that they were having
on the audio recording. It appears that she's
trying to remove herself
00:18:01
from the situation
inside of the home, and he's continuing
to follow her, walking down the street
away from their house.
00:18:07
- That Christmas bag. - She clearly feels
threatened enough that she needs to put
distance between herself and
00:18:17
the defendant, because this
man had every ability to choke her and kill her if he
got close enough to grab her.
00:18:24
TIMOTHY HAYES: We see her
filming Carey going up and down the street,
which corresponds
00:18:29
with the surveillance footage
we recovered and kind of adds a little bit more context
as to what was going on,
00:18:35
because not only do
we have the footage, but also audio
as to what's being said.
00:18:50
[PATRICIA LAUGHING] - You can hear Patricia
almost laughing at the absurdity
of the situation,
00:19:06
that her drunk husband is
chasing her in broad daylight in their neighborhood
in front of their neighbors,
00:19:14
half naked,
as the bathrobe comes open, and she knows to put
distance between herself
00:19:19
and the defendant, who has
been threatening to kill her for the last 30 minutes.
00:19:40
- Generally, when people
know they're being observed, they change their behavior.
00:19:43
And so in this case,
he might be thinking, well, I'm not going
to be quite as ridiculous
00:19:49
or I'm not going to be quite
as aggressive in this situation if she's filming me.
00:19:53
But if she is banking
on that, that is clearly not what's happening. And if anything, he seems
to be annoyed by the fact
00:19:58
that she's filming him,
and he certainly isn't taking it as any kind of real threat.
00:20:02
NARRATOR: The next disturbing
video captured the last moments of Patricia's life.
00:20:36
- When I first saw the video
of Carey Birmingham pointing a shotgun at Patricia
Birmingham, it took me aback.
00:20:45
He's clearly intoxicated
to a huge degree, pointing a shotgun at his
wife, and she's filming him.
00:20:53
Some people may think that,
well, why are you filming? You should run away. But the thing is, he's
holding a weapon that's
00:21:00
capable of ending
her life immediately, and at that point,
the best defense she had was her cell phone.
00:21:16
- Mr. Birmingham's-- now
he's looked in one direction because she has
mentioned the neighbors
00:21:21
could witness this act. He looks that way,
showing that he's fully aware of the situation
and what's going on outside.
00:21:28
And then, furthermore,
he checks his firearm to see whether or not
the action is on safety
00:21:33
or not, to manipulate
the firearm to make sure it's in a position
to where it can be fired.
00:21:47
[GUN CLICKS] - He shoots her
once in the head. The second two shots that
are heard on that video,
00:21:56
he actually turns the gun
and immediately in seconds, takes out the front tire and
the back tire of her vehicle.
00:22:04
So she's shot one
time in the head, meaning that she had to have
a closed casket funeral.
00:22:12
Her eye was gone. Her face was blown off. And the defendant, in the same
second that he blew off
00:22:20
his wife's head, even
incredibly intoxicated, made perfect aim
and took out the front
00:22:27
and back tire of her vehicle. - Carey Birmingham had
the intent to murder his wife,
00:22:38
and he did it. [HEAVY BREATHING] - It sounds like he
lays down next to her, and then you can
hear heavy breathing.
00:22:49
And then he moves the phone
into the garage area. [CAREY GROANS] - It's incredible that
this footage exists,
00:23:03
and that was what was
so unique about this case. You got to see
behind closed doors.
00:23:09
You got to hear the audio. You got to hear him planning
over 30 minutes that he was going to kill his wife.
00:23:18
JULIA SHAW: He's clearly
accepted in his mind some sort of challenge,
and he decides
00:23:24
that he is going to prove
himself by shooting her. Certainly he knows
how to use a gun,
00:23:29
and you can see that here
as well as he very much, even in his incredibly
drunk state,
00:23:35
is able to use and fire
and hit his target exactly where he wants. NARRATOR: Carey Birmingham was
charged with Patricia's murder.
00:23:45
He chose not to explain his
actions to investigators. - Patricia was very smart.
00:23:52
She was. She recorded the last
30 minutes of her life where that we can objectively
look at everything
00:23:59
that happened leading
up to the moment where Carey Birmingham murdered her. To be clear, there
was no evidence
00:24:07
presented at trial that
Patricia Birmingham had an affair. All that we had is
that the defendant
00:24:14
was accusing
Patricia Birmingham of cheating, of being
involved in an affair. There was no evidence of that.
00:24:23
NARRATOR: Carey
Birmingham's case went to trial in March 2024. Unusually, the jury was
comprised completely of women.
00:24:33
- I came to trial
wanting to forgive him. I didn't believe he was
capable of killing her.
00:24:44
He was controlling. He was conniving. He was narcissistic. He was a functional alcoholic.
00:24:52
I never thought he could
lose that type of control and do that type of violence.
00:25:01
You know, looking
at the shotgun to make sure that the safety
was off, positioning it,
00:25:09
pointing it at her, and then
ultimately, you know, wishing her goodbyes
and telling her to go
00:25:16
meet Jesus, that was chilling. It was never anything I
could have ever imagined.
00:25:26
NARRATOR: Carey Birmingham
pleaded not guilty. He claimed the killing
happened in the heat
00:25:31
of the moment, a defense
known as sudden passion. - Sudden passion is
not license for murder.
00:25:41
It's absolutely not. It's not sudden revenge. It's not something
that you can plan
00:25:46
for up to 24 hours or up to 30
minutes before the crime. NARRATOR: Despite the weight
of video evidence presented,
00:25:54
the jury accepted
the sudden passion defense. - I thought I misunderstood
when the verdict came back
00:26:02
that they agreed that
it was sudden passion and that they're
going to sentence him barely over the minimum.
00:26:13
And they said they're going
to give him 10 years in prison with the possibility
of parole in 5 years.
00:26:22
- In terms of the surveillance
video footage, the video recordings from the
cellular phone, and the audio
00:26:28
recordings from
the cellular phone for them to reach that type of decision
and then to sentence
00:26:34
him to only 10 years. - Is that what Texas is about? Letting people walk
for unrepentant murder?
00:26:42
It's crushing. It's defeating. It's something that makes you
question why you do this job.
00:26:59
- She was a beautiful
woman inside and out. Knowing, you know,
there's not going
00:27:06
to be any future
memories, just that, you know, I had the privilege
of knowing her entire life.
00:27:18
[CHATTER] - What are you looking at? - Just knowing that
her life was shortened because of someone else's
selfishness and she's not here
00:27:31
to experience Olivia graduating
and going to college, getting married herself
and having children--
00:27:40
there's so many losses,
so many things that, you know, she'll never have
the opportunity to experience.
00:27:48
So that's sad. NARRATOR: Carey Birmingham's
violent escalation was documented
by his partner, but
00:28:07
the evidence wasn't
uncovered until it was too late for Patricia. But digital devices can be
a vital tool for victims.
00:28:15
- Technology now
allows people who feel threatened
in relationships to gather evidence in a way
that was never possible before.
00:28:23
It can allow them to track
perpetrators movements in a way that protects them. Victims can use it to document
evidence of hostility
00:28:31
or aggression or abuse. NARRATOR: But the same tech
that can keep you safer can also be exploited.
00:28:38
- Perpetrators
often use technology to monitor, threaten,
intimidate, and control their victims
and to keep their victims
00:28:48
dangerously close. NARRATOR: In the UK,
in Northamptonshire, Kettering, a market town with
a large Polish community,
00:29:04
it was home to 31-year-old
Marta Chmielecka. - Marta was kind-hearted. She was friendly and very
kind and is always smiling.
00:29:15
She loved going
out with friends. She was very gregarious. She wanted to have fun.
00:29:20
NARRATOR: Marta grew up in
the Polish city of Bydgoszcz. ALISON BAGLEY: Marta's
father was a musician,
00:29:26
and Marta took after him. And she was a great singer. And she would sing at weddings,
and she would do karaoke,
00:29:34
and she'd even
enter competitions. NARRATOR: In 2016, in Poland,
Marta married Pawel Chmielecki.
00:29:41
ALISON BAGLEY: He loved cars. He liked travel. He liked drinking
with his friends.
00:29:46
He seemed to like boxing. He would go to boxing matches. And he liked Marta, but he
liked showing off Marta.
00:29:53
NARRATOR: In 2017, Marta
and Pawel moved to the UK, close to Marta's brother
and his family in Kettering.
00:30:02
ALISON BAGLEY:
Marta was described as a fantastic Auntie. She was really
close to her nieces.
00:30:08
Family was very, very
important to Marta. They would do
everything together, go on holiday together.
00:30:14
NARRATOR: But over time,
Marta and Pawel's relationship broke down. ALISON BAGLEY: He was very
jealous of other people
00:30:23
being with Marta. If she wasn't there, he
would phone her all the time. He would constantly call her.
00:30:28
His controlling behavior
poisoned their relationship. NARRATOR: Stephanie Collins
is a forensic psychologist.
00:30:35
- She was very much
the trophy wife. He liked what she looked like. He was proud of being with her.
00:30:43
But he overstepped the mark
in terms of control. She became something
that belonged to him.
00:30:53
NARRATOR: Pawel's controlling
behavior turned physical. PETE LONG: There'd
been a number
00:30:57
of reports of domestic violence
between Pawel and Marta. These were reported both
by Marta and by third parties.
00:31:06
But the cases
were discontinued. NARRATOR: And things escalated. ALISON BAGLEY: He punched her.
00:31:13
He punched her in the face. He bruised her. He broke her lip. And that was
in public, you know.
00:31:21
Someone behaving
like that in public-- that is a massive concern. STEPHANIE COLLINS:
Often, domestic violence
00:31:27
is quite a private affair. It is generally done
behind closed doors. But it feels in this case
that Pawel just doesn't care.
00:31:37
He doesn't care what
other people think of him, and in that
respect alone, makes him a dangerous
individual.
00:31:44
NARRATOR: In 2020,
Marta decided to end the relationship. She moved out of the home
that they shared together.
00:31:52
ALISON BAGLEY: It takes
a lot to leave your partner, especially when you're
in a different country
00:31:58
that you've set out to make
a new life together. Marta really was very
brave in acknowledging
00:32:06
that this relationship
was toxic. NARRATOR: Marta
moved in with friends and started
to build a new life.
00:32:12
ALISON BAGLEY:
Marta was beginning to come out of her shell. She was smiling again.
00:32:18
She was happy again. NARRATOR: But Pawel refused to
accept that Marta had moved on.
00:32:25
He continued to text her,
to monitor where she was and who she was with. October 2021, Marta's mother
was visiting her from Poland,
00:32:39
and Marta was planning a trip
home to see her father. Thursday, October
14, 2021, Marta
00:32:49
went to work as normal
at a logistics warehouse in the town of Corby. - She was working 4
on 4 off day shifts.
00:32:58
NARRATOR: And on Friday,
October 15th, Marta spent the evening with
friends in Woodlands Court
00:33:04
on Wood Street in Kettering. But after Marta left her
friends at 10:40 PM that night,
00:33:11
she went missing. PETE LONG: Marta
left Woodlands Court, and she was not seen
again by her friends
00:33:18
from that point onwards. Over the subsequent
days, attempts were made by her family
to contact her by telephone.
00:33:27
And other than one text
message received back from Marta's phone that
the family suggested
00:33:32
was not in the usual language
that Marta would use, no contact was made
with Marta at all.
00:33:40
NARRATOR: On Tuesday,
October 19th, Marta unexpectedly missed her shift. - Marta not turning
up for work set off
00:33:49
alarm bells for her
family and for her friends and for her work colleagues. Where is Marta?
00:33:55
NARRATOR: Marta's sister-in-law
went looking for her. She visited Pawel's
place on Wood Street
00:34:01
and knocked on his door. There was no reply. She called the police
and reported Marta missing.
00:34:12
Pete Long was the senior
investigating officer. PETE LONG: In cases of missing
persons, every hour is crucial.
00:34:19
In this instance, where Marta
hadn't replied to her family's attempts to contact
her for four days, then
00:34:27
clearly there is a significant
danger that she's been harmed. NARRATOR: Police
searched for surveillance
00:34:34
cameras in the area where
Marta was last seen. The residential street
had many door cams and
00:34:42
high-tech rotating cameras. PETE LONG: They'd spend so long
looking in one direction,
00:34:49
move further around, look in
another direction, and so on. Although the quality
is extremely high,
00:34:56
unless the control room are
aware of an ongoing incident, there's always a risk
that you will only
00:35:02
pick up parts or even none
at all of the incident that you're interested in. NARRATOR: The first time Marta
was captured on camera was
00:35:15
on Friday night at 10:45 PM. - We see Marta, having
left the social events in Woodlands Court,
walking along Wood Street.
00:35:24
She appears to be
walking very, very well. There's no signs of her
being intoxicated.
00:35:30
So for a woman to be walking
alone in Kettering at this time of the evening is not unusual.
00:35:35
Marta appears
to be walking home. No issues, no problems. NARRATOR: As Marta made
her way along Wood Street,
00:35:43
a separate camera captured
a man leaving his home. PETE LONG: We see
a male further
00:35:48
up Wood Street walking in the
direction of Woodlands Court. NARRATOR: When the man reached
Marta, he tried to grab her.
00:35:58
PETE LONG: You can see
from her body language that she pulls away. This clip is very concerning.
00:36:03
It clearly shows that
Marta intends to get away. She doesn't want
anything to do with him
00:36:09
and clearly walking
off down Wood Street. NARRATOR: But he
caught up with Marta.
00:36:15
PETE LONG: The male
grabs hold of Marta and appears to pull
her between the cars.
00:36:20
Her body language is
saying I need to get away, and she's pulling
away from him.
00:36:25
NARRATOR: The rotating
camera panned away at a crucial moment. 90 seconds passed by before the
camera covered the scene again.
00:36:34
PETE LONG: When
the camera pans back, we can see the male
leaning over Marta. Clearly something's happened.
00:36:43
NARRATOR: The camera's
view was obstructed, but police suspected that
Marta was on the ground.
00:36:50
As they continued
on Wood Street, the man was seen dragging
Marta along with him.
00:36:56
- This is Ring doorbell
footage that shows Marta and him walking along. Marta is clearly distressed.
00:37:04
She collapses to the floor. She's coughing. He's leaning over
her, seemingly unbothered by what's
happening to Marta as he
00:37:12
casually checks his phone. She's lying on the floor
clearly in a lot of discomfort.
00:37:20
- It would seem that some
form of violence or assault has been enacted on her. It's hard to know
from the footage
00:37:30
whether it was intentional
that she collapsed by a device that she knew was
being recorded,
00:37:36
as her overriding emotion
would be that of total fear. She would have known,
especially from having possibly
00:37:46
just been punched
or kicked, that it wasn't going to stop there. PETE LONG: The fact that
he says not far now--
00:37:56
PETE LONG: --suggests that
he's got a plan of where he's going to take her. We see Marta going
for a mobile phone.
00:38:04
Is she trying to raise help? Or is it that she's
just stalling for time? NARRATOR: The rotating camera
captured what happened next.
00:38:13
PETE LONG: Clearly, she
suffered some kind of injury. She's unsteady
on her feet, which
00:38:17
is totally different to how she
was prior to meeting the man, and Marta's being frogmarched
by the man in a bear
00:38:24
hug kind of movement. She's clearly unable to control
where she's going herself,
00:38:32
and he's dictating
where they're going to. The tragedy here is that
she really needs help,
00:38:38
and there's nobody
here to help her. - The footage is quite
disturbing, really, seeing a young woman being
dragged along by her arms
00:38:52
obviously in some
sort of discomfort. Something horrendous
has happened. And when you see that, you're
completely powerless to help.
00:39:00
It's really very,
very upsetting. PETE LONG: The final
part of this journey shows Marta still unsteady
on her feet, clearly restrained
00:39:11
whilst being pulled
along the street, and this is the last
sighting we have of Martha.
00:39:17
NARRATOR: This last
glimpse of Marta on camera was very close to Pawel
Chmielecki's residence.
00:39:28
The next day, the cameras
on Wood Street captured Pawel
leaving his home. PETE LONG:
On Saturday, the CCTV
00:39:37
showed that Pawel
left his house for a short period of time
and Martha was not seen.
00:39:43
He appeared fine and we
weren't able to establish where exactly he went to. A short time later, Pawel's
seen return along Wood Street.
00:40:00
NARRATOR: The following
day, on Sunday, footage recovered
from a local store showed Pawel wearing
clean shoes and clothes.
00:40:08
PETE LONG: It's two days
after Marta went missing. And to the casual observer,
it's quite a remarkable.
00:40:15
He's in the local shop
buying beer and whiskey. This is the last time
Pawel is caught on CCTV.
00:40:28
NARRATOR: Police decided it was
time to talk to Pawel to see if he knew where Marta was.
00:40:51
NARRATOR: The neighbor
showed them the stairs that led to Pawel's apartment. - The police attending had no
idea whether Marta was in there
00:41:08
or not. - Police presence alone
may cause an offender to cause injury to any person.
00:41:26
The fact that Pawel
wasn't replying to their request to open the
door heightened those worries.
00:41:42
- The officer's attending had
to make a very quick decision. PETE LONG: If Marta
hadn't been injured--
00:41:52
PETE LONG: --time
was of the essence. - Upon entry, they find Pawel
with a knife in his neck
00:42:02
and a number
of injuries to his neck, and Marta is
deceased on the bed. - Marta was found partially
undressed, and she was wrapped
00:42:14
in a blood-soaked duvet. - It was obvious that Marta
had been dead for some time.
00:42:22
NARRATOR: Marta's family
were notified of her death. Pawel was taken to hospital.
00:42:29
When the police
checked Pawel's phone, they discovered
a series of photographs. PETE LONG: Pawel
had been taking
00:42:35
photographs on his
phone of messages contained on Marta's phone. He was convinced that
she was in a relationship
00:42:42
with other people and was
driven by jealousy. It's suspected that a number
of these photographs
00:42:48
were taken after he'd killed
Marta due to blood that was found on Marta's screen.
00:42:56
NARRATOR: The autopsy
report revealed that Marta had died from
multiple stab wounds
00:43:01
to the neck. - She'd suffered 32 incised
stab wounds, seven of which were to her neck.
00:43:09
This says to me that it was a
prolonged and frenzied attack. One can only imagine the horror
that Marta would have gone
00:43:18
through whilst she was
a victim of that assault. STEPHANIE COLLINS: 32 stab
wounds is by any means
00:43:24
excessive in intimate
partner murder. There's a sense that Pawel was
trying to almost depersonalize
00:43:34
Marta by creating
and inflicting so much damage
to her that she would be unrecognizable so that
he had the ultimate control
00:43:46
both in life and death. NARRATOR: When he was
taken to hospital, Pawel's injuries were found
to be non-life threatening
00:43:55
and self-inflicted. Police went to the hospital
to arrest him. NARRATOR: Pawel later
admitted he stabbed Marta
00:44:29
to death in his room
after confronting her about dating other people. He had kept Marta's body
in his room for four days
00:44:40
before she was
discovered by the police. STEPHANIE COLLINS:
This is clearly a murder that has been driven
by very, very strong emotions
00:44:52
from Pawel. The fact that he kept
her body for four days suggests to me that that sense
of you still belong to me,
00:45:02
regardless of whether
you're alive or dead, and nobody can take
you away from me.
00:45:08
ALISON BAGLEY: In court, he
was just sat there in the dock. I would say he was impassive.
00:45:13
He didn't show any emotion
whatsoever, nothing at all. NARRATOR: Pawel Chmielecki was
sentenced to life in prison
00:45:20
with a minimum
term of 18 years. - Marta was a young lady
with a love for life. It was just a pointless waste.
00:45:29
In cases like this,
you do despair that a life has been taken
that had so much to offer.
00:45:36
ALISON BAGLEY: After
Marta's murder, it galvanized the community
to come together.
00:45:41
And there was a march
to mark her death. - Marta, age 31, was
murdered inside a home.
00:45:50
These acts are not OK. We have to take a stand. We are here to ensure that
this doesn't happen again.
00:45:57
- And people shared
their stories, and people were given
practical advice about how people could get out
of these toxic, horrendous,
00:46:08
awful relationships
and how they could support each other to do that
and how to recognize
00:46:12
the signs of violence. [RESONANT MUSIC]