All language subtitles for Very.Scary.People.S06E08.The.Angel.of.Death.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

I was scared to death.

I was totally alone

and I just didn't know
what else to do.

I could just imagine
Dana coming after me.

So I got my husband
Russell's gun...

...and waited.

I kept an eye
on the two doors

that you could enter
from the street.

If she came through one door,

I was gonna run out
the other.

And if I couldn't get out,

last choice
would've been a gun.

Welcome to Very Scary People.

I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

In 1994,

a vicious killer targets
vulnerable women

in a gated
California community.

But unlike most
serial killer cases,

these gruesome crimes
are committed by a woman,

not a man.

A woman driven by hate, greed,

and a thirst for blood.

This is the Angel of Death.

I was, uh, at
the Perris Police Department

working in
the detective bureau

when my sergeant came in,

told me that
there was a dead body

up in the Canyon Lake area.

Canyon Lake
is a gated community,

it's an affluent area,
million-dollar homes,

and it's a good drive.

It's about a 15,
20-minute drive.

Once I got to the scene,
when I first saw the victim,

it was shocking.

I wondered who would do
something like this

to an 87-year-old woman.

Norma Davis was seated

in a golden recliner

and she had a knife
coming out of her chest,

and one out
of the right side of her neck.

So when they rolled
the head back,

the head almost came off.

We checked the knives

and determined
that they had come

from the butcher block
down in the kitchen.

And we noticed that
there was a telephone cord

under the body,

so we could see that

somehow that that might
be involved as well.

It definitely
looked rageful to me.

Then you start processing
in your mind,

how was the killer doing this?

And what they teach you
in profiling

is the more injuries
that are violent

and closer to the face,

it's more of a passion thing,

so the closer the relationship
to the victim.

You can't really make
any assumptions at that point,

but you start thinking,
"Okay. Is...

It could be family-related."

As police process
the crime scene,

Norma's former
daughter-in-law,

Jeri Armbrust

arrives with her husband,
Russell.

When I was told that Nana
had died, it was...

It was not believable.

It was just something that
happened to other people.

I couldn't really comprehend
that she was gone.

I called her Mom,

everyone else
called her Nana,

but to me, she was Mom.

The police asked lots
of questions about Nana.

And I had really no answers.

I couldn't imagine
how this would've happened.

I noticed that Jeri
was wearing these Nike shoes.

We were able to pick up
a dust Nike shoe print

from the house.

The shoe print was a size 6.

Jeri was a caretaker.

She was the last person
to see the victim alive.

That definitely stood out.

I thought maybe she was
the one that killed her.

I noticed them looking
at me sort of strangely,

but I didn't think
anything of it.

Detective Greco
believes Norma

knew her killer.

He wants to know more about

Jeri's relationship
with Norma

to see if she or someone
in her family

could've killed her.

Russell, my husband,
and I were separated

and each of us
interrogated separately.

They went over
to my daughter,

my son in Hollywood,

my son in Huntington Beach.

My family at that point

included my husband,
Russell's daughter, Dana,

who was a nurse.

Detective Greco
immediately discounted that

because he had a sister
who was a nurse

and he knew that nurses
could not possibly be involved

in something
as horrendous as this.

But Detective Greco
has no idea how wrong he is.

Because 37 years earlier,

a killer was born
into Jeri's extended family.

Russell met Dana's mother,
who was a beauty queen,

and she must have been
a beautiful person

on the outside,

but she had really
big problems on the inside.

But he did marry her anyway.

He was delighted when
they had their little child,

little Dana.

He doted on her
from the time she was born.

Dana Sue Gray
who was raised with money.

She was raised in a culture
and an... A community

where it was expected
that you had money.

Russell was running
several beauty shops.

He would have to hide
the money in the beauty shops

because Beverly would come in

and take it out
of the cash drawer.

She spent money on clothes
and beauty products,

and health products,
and just loved to spend.

Didn't seem to matter
what she spent the money on.

She was active in Scientology,

she used a lot of her money
on the courses,

and that drained a lot
of her personal funds.

When Dana was around two
or three years old,

her parents divorced.

Russell told me
that the reason

that he and Beverly divorced
was adultery.

He would get calls
from the neighbors

telling him that there was
another car there that day.

And her father did stay
in her life supporting her.

She had him wrapped
around her little finger.

He believed anything
she told him.

And he would've done
anything for her.

In the Dana Sue Gray case,

I was requested
to conduct an evaluation

by the district attorney.

Dana grew up largely

in her mother's home.

Mother was very fickle.

It was all about herself.

And so she did not have
an easy life.

Growing up around
so much money

is going to start building
a person who is very entitled.

And with
a narcissistic mother,

we know that
that usually is genetic.

So we're starting to build
this entitlement of life.

She's always gotten
what she's wanted.

Dana's relationship
with her mom

was contentious,
to say the least.

She often told us
that her mom had said to her,

"Well, I do love you,
but I don't like you."

That was a point of resentment
on Dana's part,

why her mother
is not giving her attention.

At one point,
there had been a conflict

with the mother

in which Dana went
and took scissors

and cut holes in her
mother's favorite dress.

We see that kind of behavior
often in people

who are sadistic.

If you haven't hurt
the person,

you damage something
that's important to them.

When Dana is a teenager,

her mother develops
breast cancer.

Despite the doctors
and nurses

doing everything they can,

her mother dies in 1975.

When her mother passed away
and gave all of the money

to Scientology
and not to Dana,

I can imagine
there was a growing desire

to retaliate and harm those
who then had money.

That was a really bad time
in her life.

She came to live with Russell
and his then wife.

Dana starts
to distract her emotions

with risk-taking,
dangerous things.

She was living a fast life.

Skydiving, wave surfing,

swimming,
appealing to a lot of men.

She had a devil-may-care
attitude that they liked.

I remember one time,
they had a picture

that showed her skydiving
at the Grand Canyon in a...

in a circle holding hands
with the other skydivers,

which was completely illegal
to do at the time,

but that's Dana.

But she apparently
was very bright.

She graduated from high school

and completed
a nursing degree.

I married Russell
when I was, I think, 48,

which seems very young now.

Dana and her father
got along quite well.

So I had a picture
of her as a person

who loved her dad
a great deal.

The first time I met Dana,

she was really upbeat,

jivey kind of a gal.

She just exuded energy.

Dana works
for a few years as a nurse.

And then in 1987,

she gets married.

Dana married William Gray.

William was in a band

and Dana sang in it sometimes.

And they did wedding
related photography

and other services.

Dana and her husband
seemed happy.

At the very outset,
Russell said to Bill,

he said, "You are going
to have to sit on my daughter.

She'll run right over you
if you don't."

Dana and William
honeymoon in Hawaii.

It's there,
in that sunny place,

that William sees his wife's
dark side for the first time.

She was on shore

and he was in
a very dangerous situation.

She sees that he is drowning,
he's calling out for help.

He can't tread water,
he can't take control.

Instead, she swims out to him

and she takes the board
and brings it back to shore.

And she sits there
and watches him.

She could let him die

or she could let him live.

And I think Dana started
to realize that this is fun.

As he struggles to
save himself from drowning,

William Gray realizes
that his new wife, Dana,

seems to have no interest
in rescuing him.

If Dana is psychopathic,
I think in that moment,

that was a very curious,
exciting time for her

because she had all
of the power and control.

He had to make his way
to a buoy

and then pull himself in
on the rope.

And he said,
"Why didn't you help me?

I needed help."

She said, "Well,
I knew you could do it."

Dana and William's
honeymoon period

fizzles out fast,

and not just because of
the near drowning incident.

In the early 1990s,
the economy crashed

and their finances fell badly.

They had bought a house.

They ended up taking a second
and a third mortgage out.

They were underwater
on their mortgage.

They had maxed out
their credit cards.

Bill had very little to say
in their marriage.

Dana made the decisions
and she acted them out.

She always liked
to have the best things.

What Dana did model was

a mother who was
a shopping addict,

a mother who was
in love with herself.

I think the core of it

was that she wanted
to impress people

and be similar
to those amongst her,

like her mother had.

So, it didn't matter
if she didn't have the money.

It was more important
that she had the image.

So, they had to rely
on Dana's salary.

And so Dana worked two shifts
day after day, after day,

to the point that Russell
was worried about her health.

It made their life
very difficult,

very stressful.

There's a lot of fighting.

And she did have
two miscarriages with him,

and that was
a big disappointment.

Their relationship
is strained.

Their marriage
is already on thin ice,

and Dana's eyes
start to wander.

Bill always had a band.

And in that band,
there was a particular man

that Dana seemed
to be interested in.

She gravitated
towards this other man

who had a child.

Bill became jealous.

Bill finally put
his foot down,

and somehow it resulted
in Dana leaving

and going to live
with the other man.

Dana moved in with the man

that she was having
the affair with

and his young son
in a mobile home

south of Lake Elsinore.

Beginning in 1994,

Dana's life
was very much different.

She got into opioids

and she had stolen meds
from patients

and deprived them
of their meds

when they were
in a lot of pain.

So ultimately,
she lost her job.

And so she didn't have
that income

coming in anymore.

She had moved
from a nice home

in Canyon Lake

to a mobile home

in a deteriorating part
of Wildomar.

And she was living
with a young child

and she was
financially dependent.

She was making curtains

for this dilapidated
mobile home

that he lived in.

It was sad,

not what she was used to.

Dana was used to having
only the finest.

Dana was drowning
her sorrows in alcohol.

Dana is spiraling
and needs help.

But she knows that
if it's money she wants,

she might have better luck
asking Jeri than her father.

I was Dana's
stepmother, legally.

Dana and her dad, Russell,
were very, very close,

and he would do anything
he could for her.

But he had told me,
"Don't ever loan Dana money."

She was totally out of money,

totally broke all the time.

I said, "It sounds to me
as if there's drugs involved."

But Russell didn't believe it.

Dana was talking about

how she wanted
a better living situation.

So I said, "Maybe we could
work something out

with the condo."

Jeri had recently bought

her former mother-in-law,

Norma, a new condo.

I said,
"Well, if Mom doesn't mind,

you and your friend
and his son

could possibly live there."

At the time, I had thought
it might be beneficial

because Mom's health
was not great

and a nurse living with her
might be a good idea.

But moving in
with Norma

is the last thing
Dana wants to do.

She grew up

as a very entitled
kind of person

who generally
in whatever situation

she was in thought
of herself first.

She was enraged
at Norma and Jeri

because she thinks Jeri
should give me my own place

and how dare
she support this woman.

I'm struggling.

You are doing this
on purpose.

You are a horrible person.

Now, I'm going to hurt you

in one of the worst ways
I can imagine.

I think that
it was building in her.

We have early signs

of narcissistic
personality disorder

and we've got
these erratic emotions.

All of this is paired
with this growing injustice.

And it was a matter of time

before Dana lost control

of all of these elements

and needed to siphon them

into one attack that
would give her the feelings

that would calm
all the pain that she had.

Dana crosses the line

from an entitled,
but nonviolent person

to someone completely
unrecognizable.

Dana finds her way
to Norma's house.

She's enraged with Jeri,

but it's a displacement
from Jeri to Norma.

And then Dana
repeatedly stabs her.

She killed her
and then kept killing her.

She kept raging on her

and really,
really enjoying it,

with every knife
and every stab wound

and the near decapitation
of Norma.

That has to do
with fulfilling Dana's needs

of empowering herself.

We found Norma
on February 16th, 1994.

The coroner established
that the victim

had been dead
a couple of days.

Norma Davis was stabbed
ten times

and then nearly decapitated.

We feel that
it's a personal killing,

but we still have
no suspects.

The shoeprint in the doorway

doesn't really
give us anything

because if it matched Jeri,

she had access to the house.

She was taking care of Norma.

However, that shoeprint
didn't match Jeri.

The shoeprint was submitted
to the laboratory.

Analysis was performed,

but none of those analyses

led to any perpetrator.

Based on the shoeprint,

we knew that
the person had to be

a smaller male or a woman.

I believe
that the police

finally eliminated me
as a suspect

when they checked
the shoe size.

The shoe size
was different from mine.

But I pointed out to them,

I loved her, number one.

Number two...

I just couldn't have done
such a thing.

Number three, I had no motive.

When you see
an elderly person

that's murdered that way,

it evokes almost
a sick feeling in your...

In the pit of your stomach,

because if that person
were to do that

to an 87-year-old,

there's no stopping
what that person would do.

I don't think
any of us were thinking

serial crime at that moment.

We were thinking
a singular crime,

which would make more sense.

A random act of violence
in a quiet community.

And then,
two weeks later,

while doing my investigation
into the Norma case,

I got another call
of another homicide

up in the Canyon Lake area...

...of another
elderly female.

Dana liked killing Norma

and she wanted to do it again.

Dana is babysitting

her boyfriend's
five-year-old son

when she puts him in the car
and drives to the home

of 66-year-old June Roberts.

June was a part of Jeri,

her stepmother's life,

and also knew Norma.

June Roberts
was a very outgoing person.

She liked to golf.

She was very interested
in herbs,

so she handled a lot
of people's ailments

with her advice.

Dana knew June very well

and she went to see her often,

consulting her about
various herbal remedies.

Dana tells the boy
to wait in the car.

She puts on gloves

and knocks
on June's front door.

She allegedly told June

that she had
a drinking problem

and that she needed
to get some vitamins

and to get herself clean.

And she claims that

June was putting her down

for her drinking

and that this was
what triggered her.

Dana asked to borrow a book.

June offered to go get a book

and bring it back to Dana.

And she pushed herself
into the home saying,

"I'll find the book
on my own."

As they were looking
for the books,

she then began to murder June.

June was killed
with a telephone cord.

Dana had to use a chair

to have enough strength
to kill June.

She tied the phone cord
to the chair,

put the chair over June,
and then further,

used a wine decanter
to bash in June's head.

A lot of murderers
I've worked with

have described a feeling
of boringness in their lives

that is so strong
they don't wanna live.

And when they engage
in the act of murder,

they feel like themselves.

They feel whole.

So I can imagine
that when Dana was staring

into June's eyes,

she felt like herself.

And then she started
to build up that stimulation

where that murder became
more and more grotesque,

bashing her skull in.

She stole from June.

She rifled through her purse

and took major credit cards.

Dana calmly returns
to the boy in her car,

still buckled into his seat.

I still can't believe that

she could have left
that little boy in the car

and gone in
and murdered someone.

Everything Dana did
was just unbelievable.

But she was now able

to give this son
the perfect day,

the perfect mother-son day,

and thoroughly enjoys it.

They have lunch.
He gets a haircut.

They go shopping.

Dana went on a spending spree

with June Roberts'
credit cards.

It's not uncommon for killers

to have special people
in their life.

She wanted a child
that she could care for,

so she overly attached

to this young
five-year-old boy.

When she had miscarriages,

she likely had a lot of hope

and then her hope fell,

and I can imagine
it was gutting for her.

And I think it became
very important to her

to have her own child.

So now that she has access
to June's money,

she can provide the life

she wanted to give this boy.

She doesn't have
to ask her boyfriend

for money anymore

and she can be the mother
that she wanted to be.

She can be the mother
that she wanted to have.

While Dana blows
through her victim's money,

June's friends make
a horrible discovery.

When they went
inside the house,

they found her murdered
inside of her house.

When you first walked
into the scene,

what you saw was a woman

laying on her right side,

had slid up against a desk,

and you could see
the blood smear

as it was coming down
the desk.

A telephone cord
had been wrapped

around her neck tightly

and then tied
to the arm of the chair.

There was glass fragments
everywhere

because she had been hit
in the head

with a heavy wine
decanter bottle.

And it appeared
that the suspect

had gone through the wallet

and some of her credit cards
were missing.

One glaring similarity
between the two scenes

was the use of the phone cord
for strangulation

and there were all
items of value

that were left behind.

In the June Roberts' case,

her ring was still
left behind.

There was a check
that was still left behind

at the Norma Davis case.

Also, one of the areas
that we looked at,

June had an open Bible.

As I recall,
looking into the open Bible,

she had a prayer list

and was stunned when we saw
Norma Davis' name

on her prayer list.

And so there was a connection
between these two victims.

We didn't know what it was
at the time,

but certainly seeing
a close-knit community

who was really grieving
the loss of the first victim

that she placed
this recent crime victim

on her prayer list.

Now, we wanna know

was there any
kind of connection

to Norma Davis' murder?

I was close to June.

I can't really describe
how I felt then.

I was... I was in shock.

June used to play golf
with Jeri.

So there is a relationship
and a continuation

of Dana's retaliation
against Jeri.

I knew there was a predator
on the loose,

somebody that was killing
older people,

elderly people in that area.

I thought
it had to be a serial killer.

Somebody who killed Norma

had killed the second victim.

I couldn't believe
June had been killed.

She lived not very far away
from us.

Probably four houses away.

And we all had been together
many times

and now she's gone too.

I called my children
and said,

"Somebody is targeting
our community."

"Please be careful.

Watch out for everybody.

Don't get close to anyone."

But I had no information

that I could give
to the police

that would help them.

When June Roberts
was murdered,

that threw out my whole idea

that it was a random thing
with my grandmother, my nana.

Very few people would have
traveled in the same circles

that my nana
and June Roberts did.

Now, I was really worried
about my mom...

'cause, obviously,
she could be next.

Dana Sue Gray hardly matched

the profile
of a serial killer,

yet she's already claimed
two victims

and there are more to come.

She seems to have an appetite
for murder.

And while Gray
is on the street,

no one is safe from her wrath.

My first thought was that

these two cases
might be connected.

You don't wanna read
into everything

and make an assumption

that the two crimes
are related.

You have to take a step back
and say objectively,

"What evidence might
we be looking for

at both of these scenes
to connect them?

What did the victims
have in common?

And what does
that information mean

in the context
of the serial crime?"

It raised
a lot of questions for me

because I had never worked
a serial crime before.

I was overwhelmed.

I was thinking
that I was one detective

who just had a homicide

and now I've got
a second homicide

and, potentially, it could
have been a serial killer.

We had nothing.

We had no description.

We had no profile.

We had no idea
what to look for.

I mean, now, you're like,

"Hey, we need to be
more cognizant of areas

where there's elderly women."

I have to go home at night

and not be
in that community,

but other people,
that's where they live,

staying by themselves.

If I was elderly, I would be
feeling very vulnerable.

People were freaked out.

We had single, elderly women
huddling together

and sleeping
in each other's homes

because they didn't know
if they were going
to be murdered.

We felt like we were
the prisoners, locked in.

Scary.

Where are your daughters?

While the rest
of her community is on edge,

Dana is riding high,

especially now that she's
feeding her desire to kill.

I would break down the motive
in this case

in three ways.

One, she wanted to get
her rocks off

and that was a way to do it.

Two, these little old ladies
were like her mother.

Great way to get rid
of that pain

that was just seething
inside of her.

And, three, she could grab
a little bit of cash.

And there's an element
of the narcissism

and the entitlement

that no one would be able
to catch her

because she so meticulously
committed the crimes.

She didn't leave fingerprints.

She was too good
to be caught.

Dana got into a conversation
with her manicurist

about the crimes
that were scaring

everybody in the local area,

in the retirement community.

Dana says to her,

"I hear they think
it might be a serial killer

from San Diego."

So Dana is trying to inject

an alternative hypothesis

about who the killer might be.

Dana has already
murdered two women,

but she can't get enough,

so now she's on the hunt
for a third.

This time, she decides
to switch things up,

targeting a complete stranger
in the next town over.

Dana saw a very quiet
antique store.

An antique store
is a good, easy target.

She carries a cord,

a yellow plastic
woven cord that

she must have had it
in her purse.

She brought a weapon with her
that she wanted to use

and that she knew how to use.

Dana approaches
the store clerk,

57-year-old Dorinda Hawkins.

They're looking for
a killer of elderly women.

So this would throw
the police off the trace,

but also give Dana
the capacity to still kill

and get the stimulation

she is now
falling in love with.

She is purporting
to buy frames

for her mother's photos.

I think
it's an easy story to tell.

My beauty queen mother.

Everybody wants to frame
a picture of their mother,

especially
of their dead mother.

It's going to draw emotions
from Dorinda.

She's not gonna question her.

She won't be on guard.

And she can easily
then move into the next stage

of killing her.

But she didn't like everything
that Dorinda showed her.

She said that Dorinda

seemed to be thinking
of herself

as somehow better than Dana.

Dorinda upset her.

That becomes her excuse

that whatever happens

can be used to say

it happened because of this.

And at a point,
Dorinda is bent down,

trying to retrieve
an object...

that she feels the cord
around her neck.

The third victim is the one
that really shows you

the mind of Dana Gray.

What led me
to believe that

she knew what she was doing,

she came in saying to Dorinda,

"You're here alone again."

She may have surveyed
that store before.

She knew Dorinda was alone

and she had the weapon
in her purse,

and so this is premeditation.

I think it was just easy
for her.

It was easy to kill.

And now you've got
Norma Davis

who was killed with an object

that was
from within the house.

Then June Roberts was killed
with an object from the house.

Then the killer switches up.

She switches up
and she brings her own cord.

Unlike the other victims,

Dorinda was only
57 years old.

The others were much older

and could put up
less of a fight,

but Dorinda fought
for her life.

She ended up grabbing hold

of a table leg on the floor

when she was down

trying to separate herself
from Dana.

During the strangling,

Dorinda Hawkins is begging
for her life.

She's saying,
"Just let me live.

I have eight kids.
Just let me live.

Take anything.

You can have whatever
you want in the store.

Just take it."

And Dana tells her,

"I'm not doing this
for the money."

Here,
she's trying to differentiate

this killing from the others

where she took credit cards.

So she is thinking about

how this crime needs
to look different.

I believe that's what
triggered this crime,

that she needed
to create a pattern

that would throw
the police off.

I think
that the reason why
she switched up with Dorinda

was because she was reading

what was being put
in the paper

and maybe
a little too much information

was being put out there.

Dorinda fights back
as Dana tries to soothe her.

While Dana is strangling
this woman,

she says, "Relax, just relax."

Dana worked
as a surgical nurse,

so it is very likely
that she was desensitized

to people screaming in pain

because she would say to them,

"Relax, just relax."

So now she's in the face
of Dorinda.

Dorinda is flailing
and screaming.

And Dana is likely
so desensitized,

she says the same words,

"Relax, just relax,"

while brutally attempting
to murder her.

And it amazes me that
in the face of this torment,

this torture,

Dana is calm
and asking someone

about to be dead
to stay calm too.

After Dorinda passes out,

Dana then takes $5
out of Dorinda's purse

and $25 out of the register.

But I think
there's a deeper why to that.

And it's that she was
retaliating in some way.

So this is a woman
who was raised

in an extremely wealthy area

with a very
narcissistic mother.

She was at a point
in her life,

before these murders,

where she had lost
all of her money.

I think that when she took
those small bits of money,

it was an extra "you"
to the victims.

It was an extra "you"
to her mother.

Dana takes one last look

at Dorinda's lifeless body
on the floor,

then hurries
out of the antique shop.

And I think she left sooner
than she might have

for fear that somebody
would come in.

And Dorinda Hawkins comes to
two hours later.

For the first time during
her terrifying murder spree,

Gray has left behind
a witness.

But despite the fact
that there's finally someone

who could identify her,

she continues to seek out

and murder victims
in cold blood.

The urge to kill has
stimulated her with excitement

and she won't rest
until she satisfies it again.

Following
the gruesome murders

of Norma Davis
and June Roberts,

the gated community
of Canyon Lake is on edge.

But police haven't yet
connected these two murders

to the attack
on Dorinda Hawkins

in the neighboring town.

Canyon Lake was...

It was like
the Night Stalker out here.

I remember what it was like

when we had
the Night Stalker here.

Nobody wanted to leave
their windows open

'cause that's how the guy
was getting in

and killing people.

And it was the same way
for this.

No idea who it was
and who was gonna be next

and why
they were being killed.

After the second homicide,

I remember going to a call,

I knock on the door
and nothing happens,

I knock on the door
and nothing happens.

Go up one more time

and if someone
is standing there

with a gun pointed at me,

you know, you're gonna get
in a shootout

with just some person
who's really nervous

because people are being found
dead in their community.

Everybody's worried.

The press
is blowing up the phones,

people are calling in and...

Any suspicious activity,
any suspicious person

is being called
into the... To the station.

We had to assign
a community service officer

because it was just
overwhelming.

He was writing down names
of people calling in tips

and then we would have
to go back

and kind of follow up
on those tips later.

This is a belt
of communities from Sun City

to Canyon Lake
to Lake Elsinore,

and there's a lot
of older people,

older populations
in all three communities,

and they felt very vulnerable.

They banded together and...

There were all kinds
of rumors going around.

There was rumors
it was a serial killer,

there was rumors
that it was a man,

and there was rumors that

it was somebody
that knew all these people.

It was on everybody's lips.

You couldn't go anywhere
without people
talking about it.

I just think
that people were scared.

They were afraid.

And they were right
to be afraid.

Detective Greco knows
if he doesn't act fast,

another unsuspecting member
of this tight-knit community

is going to die.

I didn't wanna let
anybody down, really.

It was... It was heavy.

It was a heavy weight.

Yeah.

I was so immersed

in trying to find out
who the suspect was.

I was constantly thinking
about who did this,

and where they live.

It had to be somebody
from the community.

When you think about
the way that the police work,

pretty much
everyone is a suspect

until they've proved
that they're not.

Especially when they think
that somebody

that the person
actually knew,

they're gonna have to look
at all the immediate family,

look at all of
her close friends and whatnot,

and rule every one of them out
one at a time.

This was a gated community.

Security was protecting
the gates in and out,

but it didn't mean
you couldn't...

You couldn't climb the fence

or go through,
you know, the drainage

to get into the community.

But we did consider somebody

who may have lived
in that area,

knew the area.

But we also looked
at maintenance workers.

I think there was a gardener
that had seen a woman that...

Shortly within that time
period of Norma Davis' murder

just walking around with a...

Like a blank stare
on her face.

He wasn't really able to give
a good description though,

of this person.

As police in Lake Elsinore

wait for Dorinda Hawkins
to recover enough

to give a clear statement,

Detective Greco
chases down leads

in the Canyon Lake murders,

not realizing they're looking
for the same killer.

At the search
of June Roberts' house,

one of the items
that was missing

was a checkbook
and credit cards.

So there were three of us

who are
kind of working our way

through this investigation
on the credit card usage.

And we started seeing
that the credit cards

were being used
in various locations.

The date
the credit cards were used

was on February 28th, 1994,
right after June was killed.

The credit cards
were used at a bistro,

at a jewelry store,

and a hair salon.

As we were going
to different locations,

we kept getting information
that it was a female

around 5'6" with blonde hair

and she had a little boy
with her about age five

and he had blond hair
as well.

Then the hair salon,
she went in there

and I believe she wanted
to get her hair dyed red.

And then a boy
had his hair cut as well.

The stylist remembered
a conversation

that she had with the boy.

And the boy said,
"That's my other mommy."

So I knew I was looking

at a potential step-mom
situation in that case.

So I asked the stylist,
I said,

"Did you happen to get
the boy's name?"

And she goes,
"Yeah, I wrote it down
in my appointment book."

And I took that as evidence.

I got a phone call
one day from Joe Greco.

And he said,
"Jeri, I want to inform you,

since you've asked me,

we don't have any other
information about Norma.

But we do have
some things about...

June Roberts.

We know that the person
who killed her

took her credit cards

and went to shop
at several different places.

And one of the places
she went to was a beauty shop

where she had
her hair styled."

So it was a woman.

That was a shock.

We still felt that
there was some connections

to our community.

We drove around Canyon Lake

to see if we could find
any random women driving.

Russell kept his loaded gun
by his bed.

My mom told me
that it was a woman,

and I thought, wow.

I always figured
it was a man doing this

just because
it was so violent.

The second I heard
it was a woman,

it's like someone basically
was talking in my head

and they said, "It's Dana."

A light went off.

Dana makes
the most sense of all.

She knew my nana,
and she definitely knew June,

but I can't come out and say,
"Mom, I think it's Dana,"

because I didn't have
any more proof at that point.

It's Russell's daughter.

I mean...

how can I accuse Russell's
daughter of something?

A picture of the suspect

comes into focus
for Detective Greco

as Lake Elsinore Police
and the media

question Dorinda Hawkins
about her attack.

I looked
directly in her eyes,

there was no emotion,

no anger, no being mad.
Nothing.

It was just a dead,
cold stare.

Dorinda Hawkins

described the woman
as heavy-set,

blonde-ish hair.

What stood out the most
from my interview with...

Dorinda was she was told
just to relax.

Because it's what
a caregiver would say

to calm somebody who is...

stressed out
over a frightful situation.

The police
did a composite sketch

based on the description

that Dorinda Hawkins
gave to them.

We did see
the newspaper article

and the sketch
of the suspect in that case

and somebody brought it
to my attention.

I considered the fact

that because
of these two homicides

and the short period of time

within the attack
on Dorinda Hawkins

that they could be connected.

Two murders and one attack

all in under a month.

But Dana Sue Gray has no idea

that police could soon
be closing in on her.

Her boyfriend at
the time begins to question

where she's getting money
to buy all these goods

and she says
that a family member

had sent her the money.

She also reassured him saying,

"Don't worry,
more money will come."

What that tells me was

that she was onto something.

And she was enjoying
the killing.

This was just the beginning
for Dana Sue Gray.

After finding out
who the suspect

could possibly be,

the first thing I did
was I started to look

at the...
At the name of the boy

and I started looking at all
the different public schools

to see if I could find
a name that matched.

And I did.
I found one name that matched.

We did a stakeout
on the house.

The lady came home.

We realized she did not fit

the description of the suspect

so we felt that we're going
in the wrong direction

with that name.

What Greco thought
could be the key

to solving the case

turns out to be a dead end.

And without any new leads...

he takes a fresh look
at old ones.

I was continuously
going back to Jeri's house

to get more information

just to see if there was
something that I missed,

something that I could have
figured out.

And she was just so helpful.

Every time I asked her
for something,

she gave it to me.

I felt very fortunate
that Joe had decided

I was no longer a suspect,

but that I could be an ally.

So I started to feel
more comfortable

with giving her
more and more information.

So I started sharing
what I knew

about the suspect
I was looking for.

I gave her the description
of white female, in her 30s,

blonde hair, recently cut,
possibly dyed red.

And she has
a five-year-old boy with her

that also has a recent
haircut blond hair.

And I asked her
if that matched, you know,

the description of somebody
that she knew.

She didn't come right out
and say, you know,

"No, absolutely not."

She just kind of
just hesitated and said no.

We didn't have any indication

that it could be
anyone we knew.

I don't think Jeri
made the connection

because it was too obscene.

The crimes were so horrific

that anyone would struggle

to think it was somebody
in their life

or that they had been around.

Dana came to see us

and she was very happy.

She said, "Oh, Jeri, look,

look at my new red hair.

Ta-da."

That sort of took me aback.

I didn't know
really what to say.

So I said, "Okay.
It looks great. Come on in."

And she came in into the den

and we just sat there
talking.

And during the conversation,
she said, "By the way,

I now get to have a boy
call me mom.

Isn't that great?"

I said,
"He's calling you mom?"

I knew she wanted
to be a mom,

so it didn't surprise me,

but red hair and a son?

It was in my mind
and I couldn't believe it.

My mom, at that point,
looked at her

and I don't know how

she didn't just freak out
right then and there,

but somehow she kept it
together enough.

I could hardly wait
for her to leave.

I went across the street
to my friend

and asked her
for a copy of the newspaper

because there was supposed
to be a sketch

in that newspaper of
the person doing the murders.

I looked at the picture
again and again.

I could finally see
a tiny resemblance

that could be Dana,

but I still couldn't quite
believe it.

I didn't sleep all night.

All I can think of was...

these things go together
like a puzzle.

So the next day,
I went to work.

A few minutes later,
Bob arrived.

Well, she came in
and asked me

some questions about Dana.

Before I even answered,
I said, "It's Dana, isn't it?

It's Dana."

He looked at me and he said,

"She did it, didn't she?
It's her.

I knew it.

I knew it.
I should have told you."

And I said, "Okay.
I have just one thing to do."

I get a phone call
and it's Jeri on the phone.

And I said, "Joe...

I believe
I know who the murderer is."

As shocking as it is
to imagine,

Jeri is convinced
her stepdaughter Dana

fits the description
of the killer.

Even so,

Detective Greco is a long way

from being able
to make an arrest

until he can put a stop
to Dana's havoc,

no one is safe.

Jeri said, "I thought about
what you said last night.

It sounds a lot
like my stepdaughter."

And I proceeded to tell him
about the red hair...

the blond boy.

The red hair alone
didn't bother me.

It was when she said
that the little boy

could call her mom,

that the red hair
and the boy clicked together.

I said, "It all fits."

He said, "Well,
there's one thing missing.

What's the little boy's
name?"

I needed to know the name

to be able to match it up

with the name
in the appointment book

from the salon.

When I repeated
the name to Joe...

he said, "It's a lock."

Those three words
stick with me until this day.

I was hoping I was wrong.

You'd never believe
something like that

could happen in your family,

but it's frightening how
she could attack these women.

Joe told me
that he'd let me know

as soon as they had Dana
in custody.

And so I went home.

However, Jeri's son, Bob,

is terrified for her.

You have no idea
how much I did not her...

Want her going home.

I told her,
"No, you need to stay.

I'm gonna go home with you."

And she says, "No, you're not.

I have to go home
and tell Russell."

Even though I told my son Bob
that I was fine

and I didn't want him
to come home with me,

I could just imagine
Dana coming after me.

I was scared to death.

At this point, Dana was...

quickly becoming comfortable
with killing.

The retaliation
didn't necessarily need

to fall on strangers.

It may have become
more focused on people

she directly felt hatred
towards, which was Jeri.

So I went home,
I got Russell's gun,

put my dog on a leash,
and waited.

I kept an eye on the two doors

that you could enter
from the street.

They were both locked,
but she had a key.

So if she came through
one door,

I was gonna run out the other.

And if I couldn't get out,

last choice
would have been the gun.

Luckily for me,
she didn't come,

and Russell did.

And then I had
the biggest job of all,

I had to tell Russ.

I can't imagine
how that conversation went.

To think that you're gonna
tell your husband

that his daughter
is the serial killer

that's killing
not only random people,

killing two people
they knew, brutally.

I don't know how she did it.

I said,
"Russ, I discovered
who the murderer is."

And he said, "Who is it?"

And I said, "It was Dana."

He just looked at me.
He didn't believe me.

It was totally, uh, something
he could not comprehend.

And I said, "They are trying
to find Dana now.

They're trying
to pick her up."

Back at police headquarters,

Detective Greco knows
it's only a matter of time

before Dana will need
to feel the thrill

of killing again.

He rushes out
to get a warrant

to search her house.

I immediately called
Rich Bentley,

the DA in this case,

and I said, "I think
I know who the suspect is."

I gave Rich all
the information that I had,

and Rich goes, "I don't think
we have enough."

And I said,
"Well, I'm gonna write
a search warrant on her house,

and I'm gonna see
if I can get a search warrant
signed by a judge."

I write the search warrant.

I take it to a judge,

and the judge looks
at my search warrant

and signs off on it.

And I think he said something
like, happy hunting.

So I was excited.
I was excited.

And in the meantime,

we set up a task force

to see if we could find Dana.

Uh, unfortunately, it was...
It was a little too late.

As police search
for Dana Sue Gray,

she's out hunting
for her next victim.

This time,
without bringing along

her boyfriend's
five-year-old son,

she singles out
87-year-old Dora Beebe.

Dana was in
a shopping center,

saw Dora go into a bank,

and she saw her
leave the bank

and go home,

and she followed her
to her home.

Dana goes
from extended family

to a close family associate,

to someone she had cased out

but did not personally know,

to a total stranger.

She goes up to Dora's door

and pretends that she's lost.

This seems to have been...

the ruse she used
to get in the door.

She brings no weapon
into Dora's house.

She makes use
of the telephone cord again.

And this time,

she makes use of an iron.

There are different patterns
that killers will use.

When you start
using household objects,

in general,

that's somebody
who is inventing it

on the fly to some degree.

Dora Beebe was beaten

with a clothes iron,
and she was hit so hard

with the clothes iron

that it dented
the clothes iron.

And Dora Beebe
was on the ground

almost in a defensive posture,

as if she was trying to block
her face from getting hit.

There was blood spatter

that surrounded her
on the walls,

and there was a bloodied soap
next to the sink,

which made me think Dana

may have started
to clean up the scene.

The murder of Dora Beebe

shows me that Dana
was getting more into this.

We have an escalation
of the crime

from picking the victim

to the violence and force
that was used.

With the evolution

of the four incidents,

violence becomes easier.

She's kind of desensitized
herself to it.

Once Dana is sure
that Dora is dead,

she takes her trophy.

She took Dora's bank book

and went to the bank

and obtained $2,000.

So again, she is...

finding trophies.

She is rewarding herself
for what she has done.

She is happy

after she had taken the life
of another elderly woman.

She is taking care of her own

narcissistic needs.

"I need to go get money
out of her bank account

so I can get what I want
and what I need."

Ultimately,
Dana felt the world

had deprived her
of these things,

so she was going to take them.

But police don't know

about the murder
of Dora Beebe

when they finally catch up
with Dana Sue Gray.

We hit her boyfriend's house

in Lake Elsinore.

I'm in the lead.
I've got all these guys

with me with guns.

Dana goes,
"What's this about?"

And I go, "I think you know
what this is about."

And I handcuff her.

I go, "You're under arrest."

Once I took her into custody,

we did
the follow-up investigation

with Dorinda Hawkins
and she picked her out

of a photo line so she's...

No problem.

She picked her right out.

She said the hair
is different, but that's her.

It all just kinda fell
into place.

Once Dana was in custody,

there was a house of cards.

It fell in.

So we get Dana
into the station,

put her
in the interview room.

And as I'm walking
through the station,

I saw two detectives

from the Riverside County
Sheriff's Department

using our report
writing room.

And I go, "What are you guys
doing here?"

And they go, "We had a murder
tonight in Sun City."

The person
that found Dora Beebe

was a long-term boyfriend

who had observed
the body in the house

and called to report her
as being murdered.

I know I should have thought,

"Wait a minute,
there's a connection?"

It didn't... It didn't hit me
at that point.

And I was just too focused
on interviewing Dana.

So we get Dana
in the interview room,

do the Miranda rights,

she waives her rights,

agrees to speak.

She starts making mentions

of finding this purse

and using the card.

And I'm confused. I'm like,
"What are we talking about?

What was the name
on the card, right?"

And she brings up
the victim's name.

She goes, "Dora Beebe."

And it hits me.

So I get up in the middle
of the interview

and I walk
to the Riverside detectives

and I go, "What's the name
of your victim?"

He goes, "Dora Beebe."

I go, "Don't go anywhere.
I got your suspect."

With Dana now in custody,

police execute
the search of her home.

In Dana Sue Gray's home,

there were lots
of shopping bags

filled with
miscellaneous items

that had been
recently purchased.

And that's what we compared
to the receipts that we had.

We looked to see
if there was a hairbrush

containing blonde hair
and possibly red hair,

showing the progression
of dyeing her hair.

In one of her vehicles,
the Cadillac,

we found the box
of surgical gloves.

And so this could be
the vehicle

that was going
between locations

when she was committing
the murders.

We had a lot of evidence

that tied her
to all of the victims.

I remember having
to go through every shoe

to see
if we could find a match

for the Norma Davis scene.

And we found a shoe

that matched
the exact pattern,

the exact size.

She had clothes still

with tags on them

where she went
on a shopping spree

with June Roberts'
credit card.

We found the key

to the cash register
in her house

that went back
to Dorinda Hawkins' case.

And $2,000 that was taken

from Dora Beebe's bank account
in Sun City,

we found that money
in her stockroom.

And there were threads

that ran through
each of those cases

that tied them all together,

Dana Sue Gray being the hub
where the evidence

that we obtained
from her home

tied her to the other scenes.

The victimology and all
of the different scenes,

similar type of victim,

female victims,
elderly, some vulnerable,

all of those made me believe

that we had in fact
the right individual.

News leaked
that they had made

the arrests.

It's totally shocking to me.

I mean,
I just found out just now

that this is the person.

It's such a relief.
I can't believe it.

When the news came out,

they had a big
press conference.

And they were talking
to the rarity

of a female serial killer,

the rarity of a woman

using violence

as opposed to
more of a quiet means,

which most
female serial killers

are associated with.

There are not a lot
of female serial killers,

and Dana Sue Gray
appears to be

one of the most lethal
and cunning.

You can see in her pattern

that it would have
only continued

to become more vicious
and led to more victims.

I think she's a thrill killer

and a retribution killer.

Retribution was very large

in her mind, I believe,

"Because the whole world
refused to give me

what I wanted,

beginning with my mother,

who would not give me
what I wanted."

Back at the station,

Detective Greco
questions Dana Sue Gray.

I think she knew
that it was over.

I think she knew it was up.

We have finally caught her.

She was crying
the whole time.

It was very strategic crying.

She was not
genuinely remorseful.

She was pissed off
that she had been caught,

and her mind was busy
trying to figure out

how the hell
to get away with this.

Around midnight,
a phone call came through.

It was Joe.

And he said, "Jeri,
she won't admit a thing.

I think we need
Russell down here.

Maybe she'll admit it
to her dad."

She keeps
talking about wanting

to see her father.

So we brought him in there.

And she was just...

She was just
distraught, crying.

Made her feel better
and he was giving her a hug.

I'm sure
he was completely confused

by what the heck was going on.

He didn't know what we had

or what the evidence was.

Russell was in there
quite some time.

He came out,
he had tears in his eyes.

He said, "Jeri,
she said she didn't do it."

She said, "Daddy,
I didn't hurt anyone."

Dana never admitted
to anything,

you know, in that room.

I think the person

in the interrogation
was a new Dana.

We've got this forceful
lioness of a woman

who just got cornered.

He was going to work
very hard

to lie, fabricate her story,

and manipulate

all the individuals
around her.

That night
after the interview

with Dana,

Russell and I talked

and he accepted
that it must be true

but he couldn't believe it.

He wasn't angry with me
for turning her in.

He said
that he probably thought

I had saved lives.

That day Russell changed.

He became very withdrawn.

He only had
a few close friends,

but the rest of the world,
he just kind of shut out.

I don't know
if Russell slept that night.

I did, finally.

Dana was in custody

and she couldn't hurt
anybody else.

Dana sits in jail
waiting for her trial

and clinging
to her claim of innocence.

Several days
after she was arrested

and in custody,

I went to the jail

in hopes of getting
an interview with her.

I got in the jail

and went up
to the women's floor

and she saw me there.

I identified myself

and told her
I had reported about it.

And I said,
"This is your opportunity

to set the records straight."

Dana was scowling

like a angry demeanor.

She just said no
and walked away.

Dana refuses
to admit any involvement

in the gruesome deaths
of Norma Davis,

June Roberts, and Dora Beebe,

or the assault and robbery
of Dorinda Hawkins.

But with
the staggering amount

of evidence against her,

the prosecution is seeking
the death penalty.

Dana pleads not guilty,

but there's a catch.

She pled not guilty
by reason of insanity.

At which point,

I was requested
to conduct an evaluation

by Rich Bentley,
the District Attorney.

Over my professional life,

I've evaluated
many serial killers.

But this is the only
female serial killer

that I ever saw.

They are very rare.

Dana understood
what her job was.

To convince me

that at the time

she did not know
what she was doing.

She cried a number of times,

but I noted that sometimes
she appeared to cry

but there were no tears.

Sometimes,
people try to feign sadness

when there isn't any.

I never really saw
any outright anger.

She could admit
that there was anger

that had triggered her,

but I didn't see it.

I did see a lot of resentment.

And, "Why me?"

And, "Look how
they done me wrong?"

She claims that she was

looking in herself
outside herself,

kind of detached,

and that she did not remember

significant portions
of what happened,

but most of the time
with serial killer,

that's not going to fly.

With the four murders,

you have to find yourself
in four different places

at four different times.

And that
you were dissociating

and you don't quite remember

doesn't quite cut it.

The pattern for Dana

is that there are elements
of premeditation

in all of the killings.

So I concluded
that she did know

that what she was doing

was wrong and illegal.

She did not meet
the standard for insanity

at the time
of any of the crimes.

After years of delays,

Dana's trial is set to begin
on September 8th, 1998.

But with just a week to go
before opening arguments,

Dana throws everyone
a curve ball.

She pleads guilty
to avoid the death penalty.

I think the reason
why she took the deal

was because the psychological
evaluations on her

came back confident

and then she would've had
to gone through a trial.

And there was just
overwhelming evidence

that would've convicted her.

Part of the plea bargain
agreement was,

"I'll plead out
to these three.

That would be June Roberts,

Dorinda Hawkins,
and Dora Beebe.

But you can't come after me
for Norma."

I think Dana

didn't want to admit
to anyone

that she killed my nana,
ever, including her dad.

She can't face anybody

if she says
she killed my nana.

She wanted
to have a relationship

with her father,

but she would have lost
that relationship

had she admitted
to killing Norma.

And she doesn't want

to lose the support

of her father's money

and putting money
on the books for her canteen.

She is the perfect pairing

of that entitlement
and narcissism

and that antisocial
behavioral harm to others.

Lack of remorse,
does not give a .

But Norma
had to be off the table

for her to be willing
to confess

to the other incidents.

The victims' families
were all consulted

as to whether
they approved of this

but not my family.

They were not contacted
in any way,

and they deeply resented it.

They really thought
they should've had a voice

in what happened to her.

In exchange
for her guilty plea,

Dana is sentenced
to life in prison

without parole.

I don't have
a problem with her

getting life without parole.

I do have a problem
with her not being charged

of my nana's murder.

Dana has never said to me

or to anyone else
that I know of

that she feels anything

for these people
that she killed.

The closest
she ever came to it

was in a letter to me

in which she said,
"Yes, there is remorse."

To me, that's not an apology.

It's not an explanation.

It left me
with just as many doubts

as I've had before.

I did visit Dana
when she was in the facility.

I took Russ there
on a weekly basis.

The first time it was fine.

The next time
we went to see Dana,

I suddenly got ill.

I felt like I was
in the presence of evil,

just plain evil.

I was sick to my stomach.

I left the room immediately
and went downstairs to wait.

I don't know why I got sick

but I couldn't stand
to see Dana.

And I never went back.

My only closure is
that every day she lives,

it's probably not
a good day for her.

She's got a tough time
and she's had to think about

all the horrible,
horrible things

that she's done.

Had she had a chance
to hone her crime,

and not have been caught,

I think she would've been one
of the most notorious killers

of our time.

It made me realize
that killers walk among us.

And you don't even know it.

They can be your cousin,

your grandchild,

your neighbor,

your friend,

your stepdaughter,

somebody you've
skydived with.

I don't know
why Dana did this.

She wanted
what she didn't have.

She thought
I had more money than I did

so she wanted that.

She wanted the condo.

She wanted a better car.

She just plain wanted.

Dana Sue Gray's
month-long murder spree

terrorized the people
in her community and beyond.

She chose elderly victims

who couldn't fight back,

easy targets
for this twisted psychopath

who seemed to crave
the thrill of killing.

To this day,
the families of her victims

remain haunted by the nurse
who became one

of America's most notorious
female serial killers.

I'm Donnie Wahlberg,

thanks for watching.

Good night.