All language subtitles for Let.the.Devil.In.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-ETHEL

♪ Jiffy Pop, Jiffy
Pop the magic treat ♪

The new Barbie pool party.

Now with a Barbie
sold separately.

Coca-Cola...

The personal
computer revolutin

that's sweeping
the entire country.

I am from Jefferson
Township, New Jersey.

It's my hometown where
I've made the best friends

that I've ever had in my life.

1988, this terrible
thing happened

a mile from where I grew up

to a kid that I played
basketball with.

There was this
explosion of violence

that nobody saw coming.

That just hasn't ever
made sense to me.

A mother and son
from New Jersy

are dead tonight.

This was brutal.

This was much more
than typical murder.

Tommy was my age.

Same socioeconomic background.

We all grew up with
the same rules.

Great kid, wrestler, baseball
player, good student.

And his mom?

Super, super lady.

Such a small town with
such a tragic event.

It was just all everybody
wanted to talk about.

We prayed for Tom. We
prayed for Betty Ann.

We prayed for the
family that was left.

We prayed for ourselves.

The rumor mill's running wild

because people want answers.

Morris County Police

are broadening
their investigation

to determine if it was linked
to a local satanic cult.

We had a lotta things

that pointed toward the
devil made him do it.

Is that possible?

Everybody was buying in

that this was a Satanic murder.

"To the greatest demons of hell,

I'd like to make a solemn
exchange with you."

When you make a
pact with a deity...

...there has to be a sacrifice.

This meeting in Morris County

was set up to make people aware

that Satanism exists.

People in the community were
looking for something to blame.

I just could not
believe what's going on.

You can call it the boogeyman.
You can call it the devil.

The devil doing it.

It's not really a
satisfying explanation.

What was going on
with this family?

What's being hidden here?

Parents were terrified that
their kids could be next

or that they could be next.

It's one of those moments
that you question your faith.

How can this happen?

The whole room got cold.

The question was, was I
talking to Satan or Tom?

It's horrifying. It's
scary. It's fascinating.

It's mysterious. It's insane.

You know, Satan comes
in many disguises.

And he knows
everybody's weaknesses

and he knows how
to manipulate them.

What he did, I don't know, but
I know he played a part in it.

It wasn't God.

The suburbs in the 1980s

was the ideal place
and time to be a kid.

No phones, no social media.

Just bikes, friends,
and freedom.

The world felt safe and magical.

A perfect little bubble.

But beneath that innocence,

there was this thing,

this malevolence
creeping in the shadows.

No one knew where or
when it would strike,

but when it did,
it was shocking,

and it shattered everything
we thought was real.

I'm Eli Roth, and I've
spent decades writing

and directing horror movies.

They entertain,

but they also tap into
real fears we all have

about the darkness around us.

I've been inspired
by true stories.

They conjured images in my mind

that were even scarier than any
ghost story I could make up.

And it's these kinds of stories

that haunt a whole
community for decades,

just like what happened
in Jefferson, New Jersey,

one cold, snowy night in 1988.

I was a police officer

for Jefferson
Township in the '80s.

20-something years old.

And I was really just
becoming an adult, really.

Came from a family
of police officers.

My dad was a police officer
in Jefferson Township, also,

and spent most of my childhood

around police and
police families.

I always looked up to
my father and, you know,

respected him and wanted to
follow in the path that he took.

I knew the police life,

and I understood it and just
always found it interesting,

you know, dangerous, risky.

And I kind of enjoyed
that, you know...

the adrenaline, and something
I really liked to do.

Usually on a Saturday night,
you'll get a call about a party

or a bar fight or something.

Officer McConley.

The dispatch said,
"Oh, we got a call

that a guy couldn't
find his wife."

And it was kind of a weird call.

You know, to me, it
sounds like, alright,

does she have a boyfriend?

Like, you know, like,

"What do you mean, you
can't find your wife?"

Copy that.

I was young, so
I was aggressive.

You know, I got there quick.

It was cold and it was snowing.

And I remember a lotta
snow on the ground.

When I pulled up,
there was a yard

that went up kinda like
a hill to the front door.

There was a group of
people down by the road,

and one of the kids I
played football with,

Stuart Kennedy, was in
the yard with some people.

He was my age.

Yeah, we graduated
together and everything,

and he was distraught.

And I got out of the car and
I said, "What's up, Stuart?"

And he said, "Oh, you might
need the first aid kit.

She's bleeding."

We proceeded into the house.

It was a small
house. Very small.

And so we went in
the front door,

and there was, like,
a living room area.

We proceeded straight, and
when we took the corner,

there was the steps going
down to the basement.

Never expected to come
across what I found.

Hello?

Is anybody here?

This is police.

Ma'am?

Blood is like oil.

If you take a quart of
oil and you drop it,

it'll keep spreading.

I remember I leaned over her

'cause I didn't know if I
was gonna need to do CPR.

That's when I saw that, like...

I remember, like, an eyeball
hanging out of the head and all.

It was...

It was pretty, um...

I don't know how to explain it.

It's not something, you know,
you'd expect to see. Like...

You know, it's like something
out of a horror movie.

Then I saw weights on the floor,

and the weights
were off to one end,

so I assumed that her
head was bashed in,

which caused her eyeball to
explode out of the socket.

And at that point, I
knew that she was gone.

I went into, like, my job mode.

I didn't know if
somebody had broke

into the house and killed her.

Was it a burglary that
went bad? Was it...

I had no idea what it was.

I'm just, "Is there a
killer in this house?"

Hello?

The basement was small...

...but then there was kind
of like a utility room.

I thought for sure,
because the blood

was still coming
out, like, slowly,

that whoever did it was...
was maybe in the other room.

You know, your blood's pumping.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

For a second, I didn't
know it was Stuart.

So that was close.

Hey.

He was shooken up. Yeah.

Once we realized there
was nobody there,

then I went upstairs.

A lotta people in town
had police electrons

so they could hear everything

that you talk about
on the radios.

So, we were instructed that
if it's something major,

call headquarters
from the phone.

And then Bruce showed up.

When Bart got on the radio,

you could tell it was
obviously something serious.

His voice was excited.

He was calling for
the detectives,

calling for the
medical examiner,

calling for additional
help and resources.

In 1988, I was 31 years old.

At that time, I was a patrolman
in Jefferson Township.

Married, no children
at the time,

and just enjoying life.

Well, it was a nice town.

I mean, obviously I was
familiar with everybody.

I grew up here.

And that's the way the
town was back then.

Everybody knew each other.

It was just a normal,
good place to live.

There's been other
homicides within the town,

but not frequently.

Maybe, you know, once a year
or once every two years.

So, this was shocking.

When I arrived at the scene,
it was 11:00 at night,

about a dozen people
out in the front yard.

As soon as I got out,
all kinds of people

are telling me what's going on

and, you know, trying
to sort out who was who

and who actually even
lived in the house.

When I first entered, I noticed
the smell of burnt paper.

There was books
scattered about the floor

that had been on fire.

I remember just a lotta
confusion, you know,

trying to figure out
what was going on.

So, I'm up by the kitchen now,

and this guy comes
storming in the house...

Excuse me, sir. It's
a closed crime scene.

Officers, this is who did it.

This is my son. I live here.

...and says, "My son did
it," like, aggressively.

What's your son's name?

Thomas Sullivan Jr.

How old is your son?

14.

He grabs a photo.

Looked like a school
photo of a young boy.

And that kind of threw me back.

I said, "Well, who's that?"

And he said, "That's
my son Tommy.

He killed my wife.
She's downstairs."

He was excited and
upset. Understandably.

I was trying to calm him down.

He was adamant that
it was... You know,

Tommy was the one that did it.

But I just couldn't comprehend

that a young boy would be
able to do that to his mother.

You know, an eighth grader.

I mean, he looked
like... He was a child.

If you looked at the
picture, it was a child.

Whatever he did to my wife.

I remember he seemed credible
when I first spoke to him.

He did that. Did you see
downstairs? It was him.

He was very adamant...
"My son did this. Get him.

"Look, he tried to burn the
house down," buh-buh-buh.

That's what really threw me off.

I have seen everything.
I've seen the circle.

The father made him a
suspect... I've seen my wife.

...which I found
unusual because...

I don't think a father
would want to blame his kid

until he knew.

Wouldn't you be worried

that maybe they
abducted your son, too?

Killed the wife
and took the son?

A father would
protect his child.

None of it made sense to me.

There are several
police reports

available from that night,

and one is a write-up from
Officer Bart McConley.

In his report,

he recounts a statement from
the father of the house,

Tom Sullivan Sr., about
his whereabouts that night.

"He advised me that he was
sick and went to bed early.

"As he was sleeping, he heard
the smoke detector go off.

"He got up to see what was wrong

"and found what he thought
were newspapers burning

"on his living room couch.

"After distinguishing the
fire, he went to the door

"and saw his automobile
rolling down the driveway

"and into the snowbank
across the street.

"He then went over
to the neighbors

and he had his neighbor
call the police."

I was at a party at
a friend's house,

which was right across the
street from the Sullivans'.

All of a sudden,
somebody started rapping

on the door real loud...

And it was Tom Sr.
from across the street.

And he's just, like,
hyperventilating, sweating.

I mean, the guy's a mess.

And he said that his
house was on fire

and he can't find his family.

So they immediately
called the cops.

I said, "Well, let's
go over there."

Went into the house with him,

and there were books on the
floor that were on fire.

We started stamping it all out.

And the books that were
on fire were Satanic books

that were set up in a
circle in the living room.

It was unnerving,
that's for sure.

The younger son comes
out of his bedroom.

I mean, that kid was young.

So, I said, "Well,
let's check downstairs."

Betty Ann?

Get halfway downstairs,

Tom looks to his
left, sees his wife...

Betty Ann!

...and just flipped out.

He ran up, picked the kid up,

and ran across the street
to my friend's house.

And I just followed.

He turned to me and
said, "Tommy did it."

I was scared shitless.

Scared shitless.

We received a phone call.

We lived probably a mile,

a mile and a half
from the scene.

In 1988, I was a detective

and a juvenile officer

for the Township of
Jefferson Police Department.

Any kids that got in trouble

usually ended up sitting
in front of my desk

or me paying a visit.

I had never heard of Tommy
or his brother, Brian,

so they had no history with
me as a juvenile officer

or the department.

We started looking at what
was going on with this family.

How did this come about?

The family, Betty
Ann and Tom Sr.,

to the best of my knowledge,

had never had any contact
with the police department.

It wasn't a place, as soon
as they gave out the address,

you know who it was,
that type of thing.

We had certainly had plenty
of those over the years.

I had never had any
dealings with this family

at all prior to
this and after this.

They weren't on the
radar for anything.

Betty Ann was a
devout Catholic.

From what we understood,
she went to Mass every day.

She made sure that
Tommy got to Mass

usually at least once a week
on Sunday, and maybe even more.

We have no real idea
of why this happened.

We need to facilitate
the gathering

of whatever forensic evidence
might be available at the scene.

There was still
some smoke evident

in the house at the time.

I'm just looking at
remnants of a newspaper fire

where somebody balled some
newspaper up and lit it.

And then there were the books
that were in the circle.

After I got down
to the basement,

the first thing I saw
was Mrs. Sullivan.

And it was obviously...

You know, she was
deceased at that point.

It wasn't even a
matter of, you know,

an ambulance to transport
her 'cause she may make it.

What we initially
took away from it

was the level of violence.

People can get
upset, have a fight,

maybe lose their
temper, hit someone,

have a weapon and use it,

you know, in the
heat of passion or...

But this was brutal.

She was stabbed multiple
times about the upper torso

and the face,

and just the
saturation of the blood

down in the basement was...
kinda sticks in my mind.

And she had to have
put up a fight.

She did have wounds to her
arms, mostly to her upper torso,

which I'm guessing
after she had collapsed

that they continued
stabbing her.

These were serious wounds.

The number 47 sticks in my mind.

The ones to the face...

It appeared that there
was almost an attempt

to peel the skin off the face.

I was the traffic
officer for a while

and handling many
accident investigations.

And quite honestly, I can say

I've never even had a
motor vehicle accident

that was... the victims
were as, you know,

disfigured as what
Mrs. Sullivan was.

It was definitely a homicide.

At that point, I'm trying to
piece everything together.

Mr. Sullivan was inside,
along with Mr. Eastman,

one of the neighbors.

So, I'm trying to figure out
the time frame of everything

that had happened at this point.

We had everybody accounted
for in the family...

Tom Sr., who was the father;

Betty Ann, who was the mother,
and she was the victim;

and then Brian Sullivan
was also at the house.

We hadn't seen or there
was no account of Tommy Jr.

The question became,
where is Tommy?

I was the next-door
neighbor of Tom.

I could walk and
knock on Tommy's door

and it would take me 30 seconds.

Tommy was my age.
We grew up together.

We were in the same class

and wrestled on the same team.

Jefferson, it was just
like a regular, I guess,

middle-class-type town.

There was a bunch of kids all
the same age on that street.

Wait up. So, we
would all hang out.

There was this
old burnt-out tree

that had, like, 20
Playboys underneath.

We would always ride our bikes
there and look at the Playboys.

If the weather wasn't nice,

you'd try to play
video games inside.

Yikes. Oh, no.

I remember we had
a ColecoVision.

The Sullivans had an Atari.

His mother would bring us
up snacks, make, you know...

bring juice or whatnot.

She was always
really nice to us.

Thanks, Mom.

Being in the house was
just, like, kinda normal.

We would see the mom and the
boys at church pretty regularly,

and they were, you know, for
the most part, just super quiet.

They were just like every
other family on the block.

There wasn't really anything
out of the ordinary.

Being on your own
is a responsibility

that begins as soon
as you leave school.

'80s kids had so much freedom.

Summer breaks and weekends
were spent playing all day,

either riding bikes until
the streetlights flicked on

or retina burn from
an arcade screen.

At some point, someone's
mom would scream,

"It's dinnertime,"
and we'd all go home

and dine on blue-box mac
and cheese and burgers.

But underneath that
independence was something new.

Everyone looks
forward to growing up,

and it's a good feeling to
be given more responsibilit.

For many families,

this was the first time
that both Mom and Dad

had full-time jobs,

so when you got outta school,

you'd come home
to an empty house.

They called us latchkey kids,
and, of course, it was fun,

but it made us vulnerable
and it made people nervous.

-It's 10:00 p.m.
-It's 10:00 p.m.

It's 10:00 p.m.

Do you know where
your children are?

That wasn't just a PSA.

It was more of a warning.

'Cause when no one's paying
attention, anything can happen.

I'll never forget that night.

What the...

There's police in the backyard.

There was yellow caution tape.

I remember seeing
the dogs going around

and sniffing things in
the woods and whatnot.

You could see a ton of
footprints all over the place,

so people have been
trampling all around the snow

in between his
house and our house,

and in both backyards and
the front lawn and whatnot.

Growing up in the
town we grew up in,

I mean, you never really
saw... saw any cops.

You're like, "Oh, my
God, is everybody okay?

What the hell
happened next door?"

The first thing that
clicked in my head

was just, "Find Tommy and
find out what was going on."

Did a search of the house to
make sure Tommy wasn't there.

I remember walking
into his bedroom.

The room was fairly dark.

Bed was there.

It was still made, so we knew
he didn't go to bed that night.

I have to look under the beds

to see if he's under there.

With all these cuts and
everything on this woman,

I'm thinking I'm gonna
get stabbed in the fa...

I didn't know, you know? Like...

There was some things
referring to some heavy metal.

I did notice some drawings that
he had made... ram's skull,

some pentagrams
that he had drawn,

just on scrap
paper and notebooks

on the covers of the books.

The one that I
remember in particular

was one of Satan's face.

You could tell that he
was not of a normal mind

of what was going
on at that point.

Heavy metal.

Is it harmless for your children

or an invitation to drugs,
violence, even suicide?

Every decade has its own
unique teenage rebellion.

Pop culture to help them
rage against the status quo.

The '80s were no different.

Alienated boys taking comfort
in the aggressive sounds

of Ozzy Osbourne,
Anthrax, Metallica.

Laughing at the
tongue-in-cheek slasher films

like "Friday the 13th" or
"Nightmare on Elm Street."

It's the one and
only Freddy Krueger.

Aah!

When it comes to fashion,

if you couldn't find a
pentagram shirt or a band

you liked at the local mall,

you just got out a black
marker and did it yourself.

In fact, I remember
being around Tommy's age

and I silk-screened
an Iron Maiden Eddie

on the back of my "Texas
Chainsaw Massacre" shirt.

It was an innocent expression,

a way to feel tough
and in control.

Unless it wasn't.

Unless it was something darker.

But how would anyone know?

The main thing at that
point was secure the scene.

Hey! Hey, come on, guys!

In the house, we probably
had about maybe six people

that didn't belong
there that went in.

Outside, we probably
had about another seven

or so that didn't
belong on the property.

They all knew the Sullivans
and they were trying to help.

It was kinda overwhelming
trying to control the scene

when you have, you know, a
dozen people wandering around.

And it was then at that point

we realized the scene was
completely contaminated.

This is the police department.

I got everybody outta
there and secured the area.

And that's when we started
doing our searching

of the outside area.

The Sullivans' car was
out of the driveway

in... kind of perpendicular
to the roadway, almost,

maybe a 45-degree angle,
stuck in a snowbank.

At that point, the
big problem was,

we didn't have really
many witnesses,

you know, other than the father.

I was 19-years old,
going to college.

Coming back that
first winter break,

that was my first
time being back home.

I remember just feeling
on top of the world.

Chris Eastman, he
was a friend of mine.

We used to always have
parties at his house.

So, there was one that night.

You know, I knew all my
friends were gonna be there,

or a lot of my friends anyway.

And, yeah, so it was just
an exciting time to get back

and just connected
with everybody.

Parked probably about maybe
six or seven houses away.

I remember just
getting out of the car

and I was just in
a good mental spot.

I remember singing
a song, you know.

I know it's a little corny,

but I was just in
that good a mood.

I was humming, singing,
and as I was doing that,

I noticed up the block
somebody come running outside

with something
shiny in their hand.

I thought it was a
flashlight at first,

but then I realized the way
it was moving in the light,

that it was something else.

And I had no idea, but
I knew it was metallic.

I kinda stopped

'cause I just
thought it was weird

that they were moving so fast.

I couldn't tell how
old the person was.

I probably couldn't tell you
if it was a guy or a girl.

That's how far away I
was and it was dark out.

Hopped in the car, started
it, and pulled out right away.

It was like, there was no
warm-up or anything like that.

So, I was like, "Wow,
this is really weird."

Backed out very aggressively
into a snow mound.

We had a lotta
snow at that time.

And the car got
stuck in the mound.

Couldn't get out.
Opened the car door.

They didn't go in the back and
try to dig it out, you know.

They didn't even go and look
at it, why it was stuck.

Left the door open and ran back
up their driveway to the right.

And they went in
between the houses

that was directly to
the right of them...

...and disappeared.

I went joyriding with
my friends in Jefferson

before... before
we were, you know,

of age, so I thought that
might have been the situation,

where somebody just
was trying to joyride

and made a mistake and
just kinda just took off

'cause they were scared.

I headed back to Chris' party.

What's up, buddy?

Hey. Hey.

What's up, dude? What's
up, dude? How are we doing?

So, I went inside
and I told Chris.

I said, "Hey, your
neighbor just backed out

and left a car running
with the door open

kind of in the middle
of the street."

You know, I guess me
just passing that piece

of information to him
satisfied me, you know?

I was like, "Oh, I
kinda did my job.

I let him know that there
was something outside

that was a little unusual,
and he's not worried about it,

so I'm not gonna
worry about it."

I started having a couple beers.

You know, it was
just a good time.

I was down there for
maybe about 20 minutes.

Then the Jefferson
police came.

Detective Hart here. Police.

Most people there
at Chris' house

weren't 21 years old, you know,
so I was one of the minors.

So I was really worried
about being in trouble

for underage drinking.

There was an incident
earlier tonight.

But they hit us right away with

"Did anybody see
anything next door?"

And I just kinda raised my
hand and opened my mouth.

I saw something.

Do you mind coming
with me, please?

Yeah.

They took me down to
the police station

'cause they said they wanted to,
you know, do some questioning...

You knew something happened,

and that's when I really
started to get scared.

I am a lifelong resident
of Jefferson Township,

born and raised in the
Lake Shawnee section

of the community.

I loved growing up there,

raised my own family there

in the house that I
actually grew up in.

So can't get any more
hometown than that.

For the last six years now,

I've been the mayor
in Jefferson Township.

But in 1988,

I was on the Jefferson
Township Police Department,

at that point, about two years.

That night, I was working
the midnight shift.

At that point, they
were gonna do a search

of the area looking
for Tommy Sullivan.

For a lot of reasons, you know,
you wanna try to find him.

What happened? Was
anybody else there?

I mean, at that
point, you don't know.

He was the missing
piece of, you know,

anybody at the home at the time,

so, naturally, he's
the first suspect.

On foot, he couldn't
have gotten too, too far,

but it was imperative
to try to find him.

At that time, we were
about 30 officers,

which is relatively
small in New Jersey.

We had a large area to
cover, 42 square miles.

Not a big population.

I think at that time

we were probably running
about 18,000 people.

But a wide area, a large area.

My understanding is that my
parents talked to the police

and said that Tommy
was not in there,

and they were
literally just looking.

Like, the police came in,
looked around in all the houses

to see if Tommy was there,

and then they went to the next
house to see if he was there.

And it was just like kind
of a manhunt for Tommy.

As all the investigators
start arriving,

I started to become
more involved

with the outside search.

It started out where we
had to organize in teams.

We didn't wanna damage
the scenes any more

than what it was, so we held off

on doing a foot search
of the general area.

Initially, took a while
to get the K-9 unit there.

You wanna get the K-9
there as quick as possible

so that the scent
is still fresh.

You know, another animal
comes through or anything

that can distract the dog
off that particular scent.

They started at the car

where it was stuck
in a snowbank,

and went across the street,

through the neighbor's yard,

and down and across
through the woods.

White Rock is kind of a
planned community, you know,

houses on one side, houses on
the other, and woods behind.

We're walking through the woods
just looking for anything,

looking for tracks,
looking for...

You know, K-9 will lead you

in different directions
and stuff like that.

I was with the handler from
the sheriff's department

tracking the dog from
White Rock Boulevard.

We ended up all the way
out to Schoolhouse Road,

which is a road
that runs parallel

with White Rock Boulevard.

Turns out what we were tracking
was one of the neighbors

that thought they were being
helpful, trying to find Tommy.

When the K-9 search didn't
come up with anything,

then we started
branching out more

and doing a search
of the neighborhood.

A lot of things
going on in my mind

about which way to proceed next.

Wintertime, nighttime,

so he's not gonna be
hanging around outside.

So, you know, first thing
you're worried about

is he trying to break
into somebody's home?

He'd be known in the area

'cause the neighbors
all knew each other,

so they would know if
he tried to their house,

they'd be calling us right away.

At some point, it was
decided we needed to

take Brian and his father
to the police station.

A gentleman and his
son were in a room.

They were, you know, very upset.

I was scared.

I didn't know what was going on,

and I could tell the father
was really emotional.

The father was pacing
back and forth...

...saying, "I don't know
if I'm gonna hug him

or if I'm gonna to kill him.

When they find him, I
don't know if I'm gonna

hug him or if I'm
gonna kill him."

And that's when I
realized something,

you know, really bad happened.

Tom.

They took the father out,

and they left me in the
room with the young boy.

And I could hear a lot of
commotion through the door,

and I realized that
somebody... somebody died.

The boy was sitting
there crying.

You know, I went over and,
you know, he didn't know me,

I didn't know him.

But, you know, he was crying.

And then, you know,
I started crying.

Not sure why. Don't know why.

Maybe I was feeling
compassion for the boy.

Maybe I was scared
that somebody died

and I'm in the police station
and I'm being questioned, um...

It was just a really
emotional experience for me.

But I remember I was just
trying to comfort the boy,

and I don't know
how long it was,

but they pulled me in
for some questioning.

I just remember
I needed to focus

and give them every bit of
information as best I could,

but it was certainly
a tough time for sure.

There was a lot of concern
about Brian that night.

Tell me everything
you remember tonight.

And then he started
talking about it.

And what he related to me was
his interaction with Tommy.

Brian Sullivan, age 10,

states that he and
his brother Tom

had watched TV in the
downstairs family room

from approximately 8:00
p.m. to 10:00 p. m.

During this time,

his mother remained
upstairs with his father,

who wasn't feeling well.

Did you see that?

Brian, come on.
It's time for bed.

Say good night.

Good night, Tom.

At approximately 10:00 p.m.,

he went to his
room to go to bed.

Hail Mary, who art in heaven...

He said his prayers.

...On Earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day
our daily bread.

A short time later, he got
up to go to the bathroom.

He got up and came basically
face-to-face with Tommy.

He saw his brother Tom,

who appeared all hyped
up, shaking, and nervous.

Tom?

Noticed that Tommy was
getting cleaned up.

It looked like he had
blood on his hands,

bloody towel, that
type of thing.

And asked him what had happened.

And Tommy just kind of
said, "Don't worry about it.

I just cut myself. It's
all taken care of."

Tom then told Brian
to go back to bed

and "Don't wake up Daddy."

Brian then states
he became scared

and went back to his bedroom
to find his stuffed animals.

It wasn't long after that

that the smoke alarm
in the house went off,

and that's what kind of
sparked the series of events

that led to the discovery of
Betty Ann in the basement.

I would say it was maybe
45 minutes to an hour

before I was sent
back on patrol.

So, I'm driving and I remember

a lot of things were
going through my mind

thinking about what
the father told me.

Just didn't feel right to me.

For a father to draw a
conclusion that quickly,

to go from knowing
nothing to saying,

"Get my son," when you don't
even know where your son is.

He was very adamant,
"My son did this.

"Look, he tried to burn the
house down," buh-buh-buh.

But how do you know
that? You were sleeping.

Said that the smoke
detector woke him up.

And already in my
mind, I'm thinking,

"That brutal murder
didn't wake you up

in that little tiny house?"

I found it a little odd.

You never searched your house.

Why are you gonna look
at a high school party?

Why wouldn't you look
in your house first?

And why did you have
teenagers call headquarters?

How did you go from going
down the street to the party,

to coming back and knowing
that your son did this?

At minimum,

I felt like he knew a lot
more than he was telling me.

My shift ended.
I didn't go home.

I went to my parents' house,

and I remember I was
still in uniform,

and my dad came out and
said, "What's going on?"

I was really just
becoming an adult, really,

like 20-something years old.

Didn't experience much in life.

And I just kind of
told him what happened.

You know, that we found
this woman that was,

like, brutally murdered,

and I was trying to process it.

It was terrible.

And it bothered me.

My dad, he was like,
"You know, it's terrible,

but imagine what
kids in Vietnam saw.

You know, like, they went
through a lot worse."

Back then you didn't
really discuss

your emotions or anything.

He always taught us to be men.

And so I just buried
it. Compartmentalized.

You know, you can't
be a cry baby.

Not only did we
search the woods

behind the homes
across the street,

but we had a condo development

that were just being
built at that time,

and you're talking a
couple hundred units.

You just don't know what
you were going to run into,

if in fact, you found him or,
you know, other people with him.

You have to have that
little sense of fear

just to get the adrenaline
going a little bit,

you know, and to help
you do your job better.

So it was pretty intense.

We don't know if
we have a teenager

or young boy that
is out of his mind

somewhere with a
knife doing something,

or we don't know if
he hurt himself or...

you know, we don't
know much of anything.

Was he gonna hurt neighbors?

What was he gonna do?
You know, where was he?

What happened? Was
anybody else there?

I mean, at that
point, you don't know.

Was there other people involved?

I mean, he could be
another homicide victim,

for all we know at
that point in time.

Was there a fight?

Did the kid run because
he saw something?

Don't know.

He's the missing link.

He's the one that
will have answers.