00:00:03
[ominous music] NARRATOR: The United
States of America houses some of the most
evil prisoners
00:00:10
the world has ever seen. Violence is part
of everyday life for prisoners serving time.
00:00:17
And for Craig Wissink,
there is no exception. - I've covered a lot
of different people,
00:00:24
but few people have done things
as brutal as Craig Wissink. - There's no turning
back for him.
00:00:32
He's crossed that
line into evil, and that's where
he's going to remain. NARRATOR: Along
with an accomplice,
00:00:38
he attempted to rob
an innocent family with devastating consequences. - They put the shotgun
to the door,
00:00:46
and they shot him in his chest. And they blew his back out. - He made a plan. It turned out to be
a deadly plan.
00:00:54
NARRATOR: Behind bars, Wissink
targeted a correctional officer in his pursuit of terror.
00:01:06
- He took a fire extinguisher,
and he beat her repeatedly. - He just got more
violent and dangerous.
00:01:13
He became evil. NARRATOR: Unrestrained, he
remains a danger to anyone who crosses his path.
00:01:21
- Wissink is not mentally
stable, is on drugs, is a violent person. I think it's without question
that over time, if he could,
00:01:30
he would kill again. - He was a monster that took my
life away from me, my husband,
00:01:37
my kids's father away from me. - He was mismanaged. His mental health was ignored.
00:01:44
But that doesn't give
him the right to kill. Just let him rot in itself. [theme music]
00:02:14
NARRATOR: The state
of North Carolina currently houses over 30,000 inmates. [stirring music]
00:02:24
Bertie Correctional
Institution, which opened in 2006,
is home to 1,000 of its most dangerous felons.
00:02:32
NICK OCHSNER: Bertie
Correctional Institution is in a rural part
of northeastern North Carolina.
00:02:37
There's not a lot around. It's not in a big city, kind
of in the middle of nowhere.
00:02:47
BRIAN SUDUL: Prison is the
dirtiest place in the world. The smells, it's body odor.
00:02:52
If you're in the chow hall,
it smells like a dish room. The smell of blood is awful.
00:02:57
It's something
you'll never forget. The sounds of people assaulting
each other, throwing chairs.
00:03:02
I used to walk out there
and tell them to shut up. Quiet it down. LINA HAJI: Prison takes
such a toll on anybody.
00:03:10
You have to be
on your toes all the time. Where you are kept awake,
essentially, by paranoia.
00:03:17
Your interactions with
humans are very limited. You are constantly
being told what to do.
00:03:24
Your senses are deprived. NICK OCHSNER: Bertie
Correctional Institution has really a wide
variety of inmates.
00:03:33
There are the medium
security inmates. And then you have these
more violent, dangerous,
00:03:38
maximum security inmates. NARRATOR: One of these
prisoners was Craig Wissink. [stirring music]
00:03:53
LINA HAJI: He went from
murdering somebody in a robbery to viciously attacking
an innocent correction
00:03:58
officer in prison. NICK OCHSNER: Scalding her. Stabbing her. Bludgeoning her with
a fire extinguisher.
00:04:07
You can reach no
other conclusion than Craig Wissink is evil. - It was just so easy
for him to take a life.
00:04:20
BRIAN SUDUL:
Everybody's accountable for their own actions. He did not need
to kill this poor girl
00:04:25
to get his point across. NICK OCHSNER: He
showed a history of violence time and again.
00:04:32
What doesn't get more
dangerous than that? [stirring music] NARRATOR: Craig Wissink
was born on May 30, 1981.
00:04:50
[stirring music] NICK OCHSNER: We don't
actually know a whole lot about Craig Wissink's past.
00:04:59
We know that he
grew up in Arizona. And then we know sometime
between May of 1981 and
00:05:06
the late 1990s, he finds
himself in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on the other
side of the country.
00:05:17
Fayetteville, North Carolina,
is a really interesting place. I actually grew up there.
00:05:22
It's centered
around Fort Bragg, one of the largest military
installations in the world.
00:05:29
You have your mix
of really nice homes and really nice neighborhoods. And then you have
trailer communities,
00:05:34
where things go on inside there
that the rest of the community may not be thinking about.
00:05:44
NARRATOR: Fayetteville
has one of the highest crime rates in America. Its residents have
a 1 in 25 chance
00:05:51
of becoming
a victim of property theft or violent crime. LINA HAJI: In a lot of low
socioeconomic populations,
00:06:00
you see this kind
of generational criminality that is almost
beyond their control.
00:06:05
They may not have
adequate education or adequate sources of income. And so you see these crimes
of necessity being committed.
00:06:19
NARRATOR: Little is known
about Wissink's childhood, but at 17, he had his
first run in with the law.
00:06:29
PAUL LOPEZ: He was arrested
in Cumberland County for common law robbery. As a result, he was
given the maximum term,
00:06:38
which was 10 months. LINA HAJI: As of the last
few decades, the emphasis on youth
offenders really has
00:06:47
turned to rehabilitation
as opposed to punishment, and understanding that
the brain is still developing,
00:06:54
and that a lot of these
youths have hardships in their background
and should be afforded a second opportunity.
00:07:01
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Wissink served
five months in prison-- just half of his
maximum sentence.
00:07:10
He was released in March
1999, still aged 17. He moved into a trailer
in the Sunset Mobile Home
00:07:20
Park, Fayetteville. NICK OCHSNER: It existed
in this no man's land. Right outside the city,
but it's removed, so to speak.
00:07:29
You feel basically left
alone from the rest of town. When you look at the kind
of people living in a trailer
00:07:38
park, they're people trying
to get by and make a living and have a cheap
and affordable place to live,
00:07:43
or they're people like Craig
Wissink, who are out of prison and need somewhere
to live that they can
00:07:47
afford on very little money. NARRATOR: Living just 6
miles away from Wissink was
00:07:56
25-year-old Jonathan
Pruey, where he lived with his 28-year-old wife Jennifer. JENNIFER LEACH: My name
is Jennifer Leach,
00:08:09
and I was John Pruey's wife. I met John at a bar-- [laughs] --a country bar. I felt so excited.
00:08:22
It was love at first
sight, really. I mean, he was so handsome
and he was so nice.
00:08:31
And we just danced
all night long. He asked me for my phone
number, and we started dating.
00:08:43
NARRATOR: Jennifer and John
married in September 1994 and soon welcomed
a baby together.
00:08:51
Along with Jennifer's child
from a previous relationship, they became a family of four.
00:08:57
In order to be around them,
John quit a career in the army and became an electrician.
00:09:06
JENNIFER LEACH: John
was so kind-hearted. He was a great husband. He was a great father.
00:09:12
He was just happy, you know. He loved basketball. He loved family time. He was very protective over
his kids and everything.
00:09:23
John made me feel so safe. NARRATOR: The family moved into
a trailer on Cumberland
00:09:35
Road, Fayetteville. [stirring music] JENNIFER LEACH: We used to do
just a lot of family
00:09:45
stuff together. It was starting to be safe. NARRATOR: Craig Wissink
was still living
00:09:55
on the other side of town. He was now 19 and had been
out of jail for over a year.
00:10:04
NICK OCHSNER:
Wissink was living in a trailer owned
by one man who was also living at the trailer.
00:10:09
Wissink had his
15-year-old runaway girlfriend living with him. And then a third man
named Lawrence Ash
00:10:16
was also living there. So there's four people
inside this small trailer. NARRATOR: Another one
of Wissink's friends
00:10:26
told them that he
knew of a local man who he believed
dealt in marijuana. The man was Jonathan Pruey.
00:10:34
NICK OCHSNER: The friend tells
Wissink that Pruey has got about $1,000 to $1,500
and a pound to a half-pound
00:10:41
of marijuana in his trailer. But more importantly, he says,
Pruey doesn't have a gun.
00:10:47
NARRATOR: Wissink
and his friend hatched a plan to rob Jonathan
Pruey and steal the cash.
00:10:54
Wissink persuaded his roommate,
17-year-old Lawrence Ash, to conduct
the robbery with him.
00:11:03
NICK OCHSNER: Wissink was
seen by his girlfriend getting a shotgun
from someone else
00:11:07
and telling that person he
planned to rob a drug dealer. JENNIFER LEACH:
John had marijuana,
00:11:14
and he would give some
marijuana to his close friends and whatnot. They thought John was
a big drug dealer when
00:11:25
he was only an electrician. LINA HAJI: Wissink is
young, he's impoverished. He's living in a trailer
park with some friends.
00:11:36
It's a way to get money
very quickly without having to put in any effort. [stirring music]
00:11:47
NICK OCHSNER:
Wissink is clearly desperate at this point. He doesn't know what to do.
00:11:52
He doesn't know
how to get money, but he knows he needs money. And so his answer is
to turn to violence.
00:11:58
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Around
10:00 PM on June 27, armed with the shotgun,
Wissink and Ash
00:12:11
put their plan into action. PAUL LOPEZ: Wissink stole a car
from a friend of his mother.
00:12:18
He then contacted
his girlfriend. And he told her that he had
some things to take care of,
00:12:24
and he would be back later. NICK OCHSNER: Wissink and Ash
were both dressed in black.
00:12:31
One of them was wearing
a hockey mask, like Jason in the horror films. The other had a green
camouflage mask.
00:12:38
LINA HAJI: It's just a couple
of unsophisticated criminals deciding to put on some
masks and rob somebody.
00:12:45
It's also interesting,
is they told many, many people what they
were planning on doing.
00:12:49
It's just, hey, this is
what we're going to do. We're going to rob a drug
dealer, throw on some masks,
00:12:53
get the money,
and that'll be that. PAUL LOPEZ: Wissink
and Lawrence Ash then took the stolen car and drove
to Cumberland Road, which
00:13:03
is where Jonathan Pruey lived. NARRATOR: For Jennifer
Pruey, that evening at a home with her husband,
Jonathan, was like any other.
00:13:19
JENNIFER LEACH: My parents
came and picked the girls up. It was like 10:30 at night.
00:13:24
We were just
having family time. I had put my pajamas on,
and I was sitting in a chair.
00:13:30
And John was laying across
the couch playing video games. [knocking] Somebody knocked
on our front door,
00:13:38
and John looked
up because nobody ever uses our front door. We were like, who's
knocking at our door?
00:13:49
So John got up. He went to look out the window. And that's when they
kicked the door in.
00:13:58
NARRATOR: Panicked, Jonathan
quickly slammed the door shut. Outside stood with
Wissink and Ash,
00:14:05
their faces disguised
by their masks. PAUL LOPEZ: At the doorway,
a struggle ensued.
00:14:12
Lawrence Ash was
trying to force entry into the residence passed
the doorway, while Jonathan
00:14:16
was holding it from
the inside, trying to prevent him from entering. During this altercation,
one of the intruders--
00:14:24
it's not sure which one,
whether it's Wissink or Ash-- fell and actually landed
just inside of the residence.
00:14:33
JENNIFER LEACH: John
had got a punch in and had busted one
of their noses. I ran and grabbed the phone,
and I was calling 911.
00:14:43
I was so shocked
and panicked and in trauma. NARRATOR: With one intruder
already inside the trailer,
00:14:53
the second remained
outside with the risk of entering at any moment. NICK OCHSNER: In an attempt
to stop the second man
00:15:01
from getting into the house,
Pruey presses himself up against the door. NARRATOR: Then
the unthinkable happened.
00:15:13
NICK OCHSNER: A shotgun
blast goes through the door and hits Pruey. He falls to the ground,
bleeding.
00:15:21
[stirring music] JENNIFER LEACH: And they
shot him in his chest. And they blew his back out.
00:15:31
It happened so fast. I remember hearing the impact
of it, because I could hear the "oof. " It just didn't--
00:15:42
it didn't register at first. NICK OCHSNER: Wissink and Ash
get back in their car.
00:15:50
They speed off. A neighbor who lives
near Pruey actually tries to chase after them,
but can't keep up with the car.
00:15:56
As they're speeding away,
Wissink and Ash throw their masks out of the car. NARRATOR: Jennifer,
along with her neighbors,
00:16:07
anxiously waited
for the ambulance to arrive. JENNIFER LEACH: It
just seems like it took
00:16:12
forever for them to get there. I remember hearing my neighbors
yelling, John, stay with us.
00:16:20
NARRATOR: When they
arrived, the paramedics rushed to Jonathan's side while
also checking over Jennifer.
00:16:28
JENNIFER LEACH: They wanted
me to go to the hospital because they were
scared that I was
00:16:33
about to have a stroke because
my blood pressure was so high. NARRATOR: Jennifer was
taken to the hospital
00:16:40
while paramedics attended
to Jonathan in the trailer. JENNIFER LEACH: And I remember
being at the hospital,
00:16:46
and my sister coming
and taking the rag and going like this to my hair. His flesh and stuff
was in my hair,
00:16:58
you know, blood and everything. And she was wiping
it out of my hair. NARRATOR: Following
the medical checks,
00:17:05
Jennifer waited on news
of her beloved husband. JENNIFER LEACH: I remember
being in the room,
00:17:13
and I could hear the ER doors. And I kept asking,
is that John? Is that John? Is that John?
00:17:21
You know, because I was
expecting him to come. NARRATOR: As the night dragged
on, Jennifer continued to wait.
00:17:36
After the robbery and shooting,
Wissink and Ash had driven 15 minutes back to their trailer.
00:17:44
PAUL LOPEZ: Wissink
contacted his girlfriend and requested she meet
him at her residence.
00:17:50
When she arrived,
she saw Wissink was burning clothing items
and shoes that she recognized
00:17:57
that he and Lawrence Ash
were wearing the last time that she saw them. Wissink had a large
laceration to his nose area
00:18:07
and appeared to be agitated. He told his girlfriend that
he needed to get out of town
00:18:12
and requested her
to accompany him. [stirring music] NARRATOR: Wissink
and his girlfriend
00:18:22
immediately departed
for Arizona, heading to his mother's house-- a 30-hour drive away.
00:18:31
NICK OCHSNER: They make
a few stops along the way. At the first stop,
Wissink sees a friend.
00:18:36
Wissink tells his
friend that he just shot someone and thinks he's dead. He asks the friend
for some money to get away.
00:18:45
PAUL LOPEZ: On another
stop, he told his girlfriend that
he and Lawrence Ash had robbed Jonathan Pruey.
00:18:51
He then told his girlfriend
that he heard a shot and saw that Lawrence
Ash had fired
00:18:55
a round through the front
door of Jonathan Pruey's house with a shotgun. LINA HAJI: We tend to call
it impression management.
00:19:05
By telling people different
versions of the story, he's playing into what
he thinks people
00:19:11
would want to hear from him. He's panicking. NICK OCHSNER: Another stop,
Wissink goes to his trunk
00:19:19
to get a change of clothes. And his girlfriend
notices the shotgun that he had borrowed
a few weeks earlier
00:19:25
wrapped in sheets in the trunk. [stirring music] NARRATOR: At the hospital, in
the early hours of the morning,
00:19:38
Jennifer was given news
about her husband, Jonathan. JENNIFER LEACH:
They finally told
00:19:44
me that John hadn't made it. He didn't make it. My whole world just crumbled. It was just like the world--
00:19:54
my stomach, my heart
was ripped out of me. I just couldn't believe it. They gave me some
meds to calm me down.
00:20:04
His body was still
at the house. And they wouldn't let
me see him because it was considered a homicide.
00:20:16
NICK OCHSNER: The autopsy
of Pruey found a 1-inch gash in his chest. It found three other
wounds as well.
00:20:24
And the autopsy specifically
found metal pellets throughout his back muscles
and a piece of plastic
00:20:32
from a shotgun cap. Pruey died from
that shotgun blast. [stirring music] NARRATOR: The following day,
Wissink and his girlfriend
00:20:48
continued their drive
to his mother's house in Arizona, where they
planned to hide out.
00:20:54
His partner in crime,
Lawrence Ash, remained behind in Fayetteville
at the trailer park.
00:21:06
NICK OCHSNER: The day after the
murder, Ash goes to a friend and confesses that
he and Wissink
00:21:12
had attempted to rob Pruey
and ended up killing him. Ash suggests to the friend
that the friend
00:21:18
call in and report Wissink
as the gunman in this murder. And then the two of them,
Ash and his friend,
00:21:26
could split the reward money. But the plan goes
a little haywire when the friend
actually ends up
00:21:31
telling police that it
was both Wissink and Ash involved in that murder. Two days after Pruey's
death on June 29,
00:21:44
Ash is taken in for questioning
and arrested. NARRATOR: Once
in custody, Ash pinned
00:21:52
the murder all on Wissink. When he told police Wissink
had fled to Arizona, officers worked
to track him down.
00:22:12
PAUL LOPEZ: Approximately
a week later, police arrested Craig
Wissink and his girlfriend
00:22:16
at his mother's
house in Arizona. NARRATOR: Wissink
was questioned by police, where he gave
his version of the events.
00:22:29
NICK OCHSNER: Wissink
tells police him and Ash approached the door
and tried to get in,
00:22:35
but then Pruey bars the door. And that's when Wissink
says he runs off the porch
00:22:40
and hears a shotgun
blast fired by Ash. Wissink tells police
that he then says to Ash, why did you do it?
00:22:48
Both Wissink and Ash point
the finger at each other. - I don't believe this
murder was intentional.
00:22:54
I don't believe
it was calculated. I don't believe this
was a murder stemming from some kind of psychopathic
rage or serial killer tendency.
00:23:04
I think this was
a robbery gone wrong. NARRATOR: Ultimately,
both men were charged with first
degree murder
00:23:10
and held within the North
Carolina prison system. [stirring music] PAUL LOPEZ: The stolen
vehicle Wissink used
00:23:24
was located by law enforcement. They also located
a disassembled shotgun. JENNIFER LEACH: I
think Wissink killed
00:23:34
John because he's an evil man. They could have left when
my husband was fighting them,
00:23:41
but they did not. He chose to put the gun
against the door and shoot. [stirring music]
00:23:57
NARRATOR: Wissink's
trial took place four years later at the
Cumberland County Courthouse, Fayetteville.
00:24:04
He was now 22. JENNIFER LEACH: When
the trial finally came, it was too traumatic for me.
00:24:13
I couldn't go, I
just couldn't-- I couldn't bear being there. PAUL LOPEZ: The most
damaging evidence
00:24:22
was the testimony
against Mr. Wissink by his girlfriend
and friends that he'd been in contact with before
and after the incident.
00:24:35
NICK OCHSNER: Him and Ash
were tried separately. They're both convicted
of his murder.
00:24:40
Both of them were sentenced to
life in prison without parole. LINA HAJI: Although it appears
that he didn't plan out
00:24:47
this murder, he ended
up killing somebody during the commission of a
robbery, which, in this state,
00:24:53
equated first degree murder. NARRATOR: For Jonathan
Pruey's wife, Jennifer, her
husband's death has had
00:25:06
a profound effect on her life. JENNIFER LEACH: Months
later, after I got out of the hospital and everything,
it took me down the wrong road.
00:25:18
I couldn't deal with it. I ended up going into drugs. I have PTSD from
it and depression.
00:25:26
John was the love of my life. I felt like a part
of me died when he died. [stirring music]
00:25:41
NARRATOR: Wissink was sent
to Central prison in Raleigh as a convicted murderer.
00:25:46
He returned to a life
of incarceration, but this time with a life
sentence to his name.
00:25:55
LINA HAJI: He was sent to a
maximum security prison, which is probably extremely jarring
for somebody who doesn't seem
00:26:02
to have a very violent
history, doesn't seem to be gang-affiliated,
or somebody that's
00:26:07
entrenched in violent crime. NARRATOR: While
in prison, Wissink tried to turn things around
and found himself a new hobby--
00:26:17
pencil drawing. NICK OCHSNER: In 2005,
he got fourth place in an art competition,
and a few years
00:26:25
later, he actually got first
place for a work of art. Maybe Wissink was reforming.
00:26:30
Maybe there was some hope here. BRIAN SUDUL: In my former
state institution, we had a craft program, where
they made wood crafts, paint.
00:26:40
And they actually
sold this stuff. Craftsmanship is some of the
stuff-- was just beyond stuff
00:26:45
you can find in the free world. Story writing, essay
writing competitions. I knew a Mexican Mafia
member that was a knitter.
00:26:54
He knitted everything. I saw a knitted teddy
bear about 6 foot long. LINA HAJI: When
you're in prison,
00:27:08
art can be seen
as kind of a safe space to express yourself,
emote, and not have
00:27:14
to use verbal communication. It's very easy to be
a person serving life to be angry
and vengeful and rageful
00:27:25
and to engage in drug use. But Wissink has made a decision
that that is not the route
00:27:31
that he wants to take. BRIAN SUDUL: I
would promote that. I want them up there painting.
00:27:39
Because if they're painting,
they're not selling drugs, they're not stabbing inmates.
00:27:42
They want to continue
doing their time like this and having a purpose. NICK OCHSNER: As Wissink
appears to be reforming,
00:27:54
he's moved from central
prison in Raleigh, that maximum security
facility, to Nash Correctional,
00:27:59
a medium security facility. NARRATOR: Wissink's good
behavior didn't last. By 2013, he had
developed a drug habit.
00:28:14
LINA HAJI: Drugs are
smuggled into prison through either
staff or visitors. It can be through
actual in-person visits.
00:28:22
They can smuggle in contraband
through the mail. BRIAN SUDUL: Inmates
take drugs in prison
00:28:28
to continue their addiction,
to pass time, to escape reality
of their situation.
00:28:33
Drugs are distributed
in prison through inmates. They either go get it
directly from the dealer,
00:28:39
or a dealer will give
it to his friend. Through this friend,
give it to this guy.
00:28:45
It's like a human
trucking operation. LINA HAJI: It's not
uncommon for offenders
00:28:51
to enter prison
without an addiction and leave prison
with an addiction. There's a very good chance
that even though Wissink
00:28:58
was a model inmate during
his first nine years, that his mental
health was declining
00:29:03
and that he took to substances
as a way to cope. He could have developed
symptoms of depression,
00:29:09
symptoms of anxiety. [stirring music] NARRATOR: At Nash
Correctional, Wissink was reunited with
an inmate friend
00:29:28
he had met nine
years before when he first began his sentence. NICK OCHSNER:
The two old friends,
00:29:39
both serving life
sentences, reconnect by walking laps around the
prison, spending time together.
00:29:44
That friend would say
that this Wissink in 2013 is not the same man
that he remembered.
00:29:50
The happy, Bible-reading,
pleasant-to-be-around friend. Instead, that friend
would say that Wissink
00:29:57
had turned sour almost. He was always high
on drugs, it seemed. He was always in a frown.
00:30:08
LINA HAJI: All
of a sudden, we start to see a different Wissink. And the only
difference that we see
00:30:13
between the first Wissink
and the second Wissink is that now he
started to use drugs.
00:30:19
NARRATOR: As Wissink's drug
usage got a hold over him, his behavior began to change.
00:30:26
- And in a four-year
period, from 2013 to 2017, he gets six infractions
for fighting,
00:30:32
interfering with staff,
possession of banned substance, and possessing an electronic
device, a cell phone.
00:30:40
Wissink moved back to a maximum
security prison in October of 2015, but then moved
back down to a medium
00:30:48
security prison the next year. NARRATOR: That
prison was Bertie Correctional Institution,
a men's prison in Windsor,
00:30:59
North Carolina. NICK OCHSNER: The issues at
Bertie Correctional Institution are the same
issues that plagued
00:31:07
the entire North Carolina
prison system at that time. There's a lack of staffing.
00:31:11
There's generally low morale. There are starting to be red
flags and warning signs popping
00:31:16
up about the conditions,
the dangerous conditions for staff working inside
North Carolina prisons.
00:31:24
NARRATOR: 35-year-old Wissink
arrived there in October 2016. He immediately
started displaying
00:31:35
signs that he wasn't stable. NICK OCHSNER: Wissink
told the staff that he was having
homicidal thoughts
00:31:42
and asked for help
with his mental health, but no one took that seriously. They didn't do anything, and he
remained in medium custody.
00:31:55
BRIAN SUDUL: Any time an inmate
makes homicidal accusations, they have to be
thoroughly investigated.
00:32:00
He needs to go down
to special housing, or whatever, wherever they
have to segregate him.
00:32:05
An investigation should be
completed on those accusations. LINA HAJI: What's
so unfortunate is
00:32:14
when an inmate tells you that
they have homicidal ideations, mental health doesn't
typically treat
00:32:19
that as a mental health issue. They treat it
as a security issue. So you see this kind
of often getting
00:32:25
passed back and forth between
mental health and security. This is your problem. No, this is your problem.
00:32:31
[stirring music] NARRATOR: The following
year, in April 2017, Wissink requested to move bunks.
00:32:45
BRIAN SUDUL:
Inmates may request to move because they
were not getting along with their cellmate,
or they want
00:32:50
to go live with
a friend of theirs or another member
of the gang that they're in.
00:32:55
NARRATOR: Wissink's request
to move bunks was denied. BRIAN SUDUL: Anytime
you tell an inmate no,
00:33:03
you can just see
the dejection on their face. When I ran the special
housing unit,
00:33:08
I didn't allow inmates to move. If I moved every inmate
because they wanted to move,
00:33:14
it would be like
playing musical chairs. My staff, they have
other things to do.
00:33:18
It's just not possible. NARRATOR: One of the
correctional officers who often supervised
Wissink was 29-year-old
00:33:30
Sergeant Megan Callahan. NICK OCHSNER: Megan Callahan
became a corrections officer at Bertie Correctional
Institution in January of 2012.
00:33:42
She was later promoted
to sergeant in 2016. Her friends describe
her as an upbeat person
00:33:48
who loved and was committed
to her job, always smiling, very nice, and outgoing.
00:33:59
NARRATOR: On April
26, Wissink was disciplined by Sergeant
Callahan for failing to follow a direct order.
00:34:08
BRIAN SUDUL: It's very
common for inmates to disrespect staff. Probably viewed her
as this weak, timid female.
00:34:13
Mouthing off to her, and he
caught himself a write up. NARRATOR: Wissink was not
about to let this go lightly.
00:34:24
NICK OCHSNER: At about 5:30
PM, Craig Wissink is angry. His request to move
bunks has been denied.
00:34:30
He's been disciplined
by Sergeant Callahan. And so what does he do next? Wissink set a fire in a common
area in the dormitory.
00:34:41
[stirring music] BRIAN SUDUL: I've had inmates
take a piece of tin foil, and then they mate the ends
of it with the battery,
00:34:50
and then they just touch
that tin foil to some paper and they'll set it on fire.
00:34:55
Maybe a contraband lighter. Some staff member that smokes
might have dropped a lighter.
00:35:00
NARRATOR: Wissink set
the fire inside a trash can, and the emergency
alarm was triggered.
00:35:07
NICK OCHSNER:
Around the same time that Wissink sets the fire
in this common area,
00:35:10
he's also heating up
water in the microwave. He's basically
laying a trap to lure
00:35:15
Sergeant Callahan into this
common area to attack him. LINA HAJI: This could have
been something that had been
00:35:24
brewing for a very long time. And when he was told
by correction officers he was not going to be moved
to a different bunk, that
00:35:31
could have triggered
some anger in him that he hadn't really seemed
to have displayed before.
00:35:38
NICK OCHSNER: Sergeant
Callahan and two other officers respond to go put it out.
00:35:42
Another of the officers
goes into the dorm area but stops at the doorway. Sergeant Callahan rushes
in with a fire extinguisher,
00:35:49
drags the trash can with
this fire into a bathroom to try to put it out. That's when Wissink throws
that hot water on her face.
00:35:59
[stirring music] He then stabs her with a sharp
piece of glass, a glass shank. But that's not enough.
00:36:11
He grabs that
fire extinguisher, and he starts beating her over
and over again in the head
00:36:16
from behind. NARRATOR: Despite there being
around 60 inmates nearby when the attack was
happening, none of them
00:36:27
came to help Sergeant Callahan. Eventually, Wissink was secured
by correctional officers.
00:36:41
A member of staff called 911. NICK OCHSNER: Despite the
efforts by medical staff and
00:37:07
local first responders,
Sergeant Callahan succumbed to her injuries. She has burns on her face
and parts of her upper body
00:37:15
and that stab wound
from the glass shank. She ultimately dies from blunt
force trauma to the head.
00:37:22
[stirring music] Sergeant Callahan was murdered
with the very thing she brought in to help save other people.
00:37:34
She brought this
fire extinguisher in to put out a fire. She ended up being
killed with it.
00:37:44
LINA HAJI: From
what we know, it doesn't appear that he had some
kind of long-lasting revenge
00:37:50
plot towards her. And yet, the way
that he attacked her was so brutal and so grotesque.
00:37:57
I mean, it was so up
close and personal. You would have
thought that this is somebody that Wissink had
absolutely loathed for years.
00:38:07
NICK OCHSNER: He'd
already told prison staff he was having
homicidal thoughts, and then he was triggered.
00:38:13
And in the span
of 30 minutes, we see him going from angry
about being disciplined,
00:38:18
angry about not being
able to move bunks, to taking that anger out on
the person inside the prison he
00:38:25
blamed for his anger. BRIAN SUDUL: It just goes
to the unpredictability of an inmate's behavior.
00:38:35
He did not have
the disciplinary history of a possible killer. But one bad day turned
him into a killer.
00:38:46
NARRATOR: The murder
of 29-year-old Megan Callahan sent shock
waves around North Carolina.
00:38:53
[stirring music] NICK OCHSNER: The reaction
from the community to this tragic incident,
people were stunned.
00:39:05
REPORTER: An American
flag was draped over the casket of Sergeant
Megan Callahan today.
00:39:10
Hundreds gathered to pay
their final respects at her funeral at Edenton
United Methodist Church.
00:39:16
NICK OCHSNER: Sergeant
Callahan's family, understandably, was
devastated about her death.
00:39:21
I also think they had
questions about how this could happen in the first place. What breakdowns led
to their loved one dying?
00:39:31
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Wissink was
charged with murder on the day of the killing,
but it took another seven years
00:39:47
for his trial to take place. Now aged 42, he was
tried at the Northampton County Superior Court.
00:40:05
NICK OCHSNER: Originally,
the prosecutor in this case was going to seek the death
penalty against Craig Wissink,
00:40:11
but that capital case changed
to seeking life without parole. In court, on the stand,
Sergeant Callahan's mother
00:40:17
gave an emotional statement. But in there, she actually
said she forgives Wissink
00:40:23
for killing her daughter. LINA HAJI: Sergeant
Callahan's mother did not want the death penalty.
00:40:31
She is somebody who
believed in forgiveness. She didn't want to live with
that hatred and that bitterness
00:40:37
that she saw in the man who
took her daughter's life. NARRATOR: Wissink
was found guilty
00:40:44
and given his second sentence
of life without parole. BRIAN SUDUL: I have
no pity for him.
00:40:51
I don't believe his
sentence was appropriate. I don't know
if the intent was there,
00:40:56
but he built up the intent
during the assault. As soon as he used
the weapons, that was it.
00:41:03
He should suffer the same fate. NARRATOR: In order to make
sure Wissink could never
00:41:12
murder a member
of staff again, he was placed in the most
restrictive of environment available.
00:41:20
NICK OCHSNER: Wissink
was transferred to the supermax prison,
US Penitentiary Florence,
00:41:25
where he is serving
the rest of his sentence in solitary confinement. BRIAN SUDUL: They have
cells underground.
00:41:30
The inmates are locked
up 23 hours a day. They get an hour of rec. Inmates kill each
other there still.
00:41:36
That place was built
to confine people, to confine the Aryan
Brotherhood, the Mexican Mafia, killers,
people that shouldn't
00:41:45
be around other people. NARRATOR: Although Wissink
is locked away for life, the impact of his crimes
continues to affect
00:41:54
the families of his victims. JENNIFER LEACH:
It's been 25 years. I still love him, you know,
like it was yesterday.
00:42:06
I miss his laugh, his hugs. I used to feel safe around him. It was difficult
for my girls to grow
00:42:12
up without their father. On June 27, the night
that he was killed, I always do
something every year
00:42:23
to memorize him, whether
it's going out to dinner, going to a park,
or doing something.
00:42:32
[somber music] NICK OCHSNER: Sergeant
Callahan's mom, she hoped that her
daughter's death could
00:42:49
be used to draw attention
to the dangerous conditions inside North Carolina's
prisons and the need
00:42:53
to increase staffing levels,
increase safety measures, and increase security
for the staff
00:42:58
working inside these prisons. In the midst of this tragedy,
she saw this as an opportunity
00:43:03
to try to create change. NARRATOR: Questions
remain about whether the 29-year-old
correctional officer's death
00:43:12
could have been prevented. LINA HAJI: Wissink
is a testament to how drugs can affect
somebody's judgment
00:43:25
and behavior and emotions. There is a clear decline
in who he is as a person, and a clear decompensation
of his mental health
00:43:34
after he started using
substances in prison. NICK OCHSNER:
Wissink could have been stopped when he told
staff that he was homicidal
00:43:45
and wanted mental
health treatment. He could have gotten
the treatment he needed.
00:43:48
He could have been moved
to the close custody facility. Craig Wissink could have
been stopped from killing
00:43:54
Megan Callahan, but he wasn't. LINA HAJI: What kind
of quality of life is Wissink going to live
now that he's murdered
00:44:06
a correctional officer? He's going to be
disliked by all staff for taking out one of theirs.
00:44:13
This is their prison that
they run under their authority for the rest of his life.
00:44:20
Wissink has a target on his
back now from everyone-- not just correction
officers, but correction
00:44:25
officers and inmates. [theme music]