Original subtitles

Narrator: Tonight...

I just miss her, and I love her.

...A young woman is found dead on her bedroom floor.

The way she was laying there just wasn't natural.

Her battered body indicates a struggle took place...

Clumps of hair right in the entrance way.

Narrator: ...And yet, police can't say if it's murder.

Levasseur: How does something violent happen to her

Without a single person hearing anything?

I hope that's what you can figure out.

Was devan's death an accident...

So if somebody's falling unconscious,

Then we'd expect bruising.

...Or is there a killer walking free?

Do you feel like you have an idea

Who may have been involved with her death?

Private investigator derrick levasseur...

I know this isn't easy to talk about.

...Journeys to seattle, washington,

To help police solve the mystery

Of what happened to devan schmidt.

As a homicide investigator,

You lose a little piece of your heart with all your victims.

♪

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Levasseur: So, we're here in seattle,

And we're looking into the death of devan schmidt.

♪

She was a vibrant young woman.

It seemed like she had her whole life ahead of her.

And from everything I've heard,

She was well-liked by everyone she came across,

Which is just one of the things

That make the circumstances of her death so shocking.

♪

Devan was 29 years old when she moved to seattle

To start the next chapter of her life.

Then, just six months later,

In the early-morning hours of may 2, 2015,

Devan was found dead on her bedroom floor,

Her body severely bruised.

After reviewing the crime scene,

The medical examiner noted signs of quote "homicidal violence."

But what makes this case so tricky is what he found next.

Devan's toxicology reports came back positive

For large amounts cocaine in her blood and stomach.

And because of that,

Both the cause and manner of death were ruled "undetermined,"

Which left a giant question hanging.

Was this an accidental overdose or was this a homicide?

Did someone intentionally cause harm to devan

That resulted in her death?

It's been over three years without a definitive answer,

Which means if this was a homicide,

Devan's killer could still be out there.

I need to dig deeper into the circumstances

Leading up to devan's death.

♪

Levasseur: How you doing, lia?

Surviving.

Understandable.

Let's talk about devan first as a person.

Tell me about her.

Amazing.

Beautiful.

Fun.

She loved adventure.

She was just such a free spirit.

You know, we just had so much fun together all the time.

My baby sister.

♪

Just her loss has been truly devastating

To myself and our family.

Did she give you any inclination,

Any idea of what her plans were that evening?

She was heading home,

That she might hang out with some friends,

And she was gonna give me a call.

The next day or that night?

She was supposed to call me that night.

But that was okay that she didn't

'cause I knew that she may get together with some friends.

But when I didn't hear from her in the morning,

That's when I got concerned.

So I had, you know, tried calling her.

No answer.

Sent her a message, and unfortunately,

I had said to my sister, "hey, you brat.

You know, please let me know that you're okay.

I need to know that you're alive."

Later on that evening,

That's when the detective called me, and...

♪

[ voice breaking ] ...That's when our life changed.

♪

Sorry.

Take your time.

♪

When you first learned of her death,

Did he describe it as she was killed?

He asked me,

"could I think of anyone who may have wanted to hurt her?"

I couldn't understand

Even where that question was coming from, like...

What have you learned about the chain of events

That took place that night before devan was found?

Who was she with?

It's my understanding that my sister was hanging out

At her apartment with her two friends

K.T. And dominique

And the friend that they brought along, erick sims.

And I know that the girls were drinking wine

And that the guys were having some beers

And they were using some cocaine recreational.

My sister was by no means a drug addict.

I mean, anybody who knew her,

Her employers, everybody.

That was never an issue.

As far as you know,

How did they eventually end the night?

Or I should say, end that morning?

Erick ended up leaving before anyone else did,

Probably 10 minutes before k.T. And dominique had left.

Shortly after,

My sister had sent a text message to k.T. Stating that,

"your friend is back.

What the hell?

How do I get rid of him?"

Meaning erick?

Correct.

Interesting. What was k.T.'s response?

"do you want me to come back and get rid of him?"

And my sister's response was,

"you know what? Don't worry about it.

I got this."

And that was the last anyone heard from her.

So you believe at some point,

Erick sims and your sister came in contact again?

Absolutely. That's my belief. Yes.

So you believe that erick sims

Was the last person to see your sister alive?

Absolutely, I believe that.

I got to ask the obvious question --

Do you think that erick sims is responsible

For your sister's murder?

My personal belief -- absolutely.

Absolutely.

The cause of death was ruled undetermined.

What was your take on that?

We were absolutely shocked.

I'm hoping to bring some exposure, like,

Showing that my sister was murdered.

♪

Lia has good reason to believe her sister was killed.

In fact, devan's death was initially investigated

As a homicide.

How's it going?

Nice to see you.

Detective james cooper is the lead investigator on the case.

Because it's still an open investigation,

I know there are some things he won't be able to talk about.

So I'm going to stick to the broader topics

Like his first impression of the crime scene.

When I arrived there,

The scene was already cordoned off.

Patrol officers were already outside,

No one was inside, the building had been cleared,

And my partner and I were the first ones

To go in there once it was cleared.

And as soon as I looked at it,

I immediately went outside, looked at my sergeant like,

"we need to get csi out here.

This is something bad."

And I believed it was a homicide.

The way she was laying there just wasn't natural, okay?

But despite detective cooper's belief,

The medical examiner ultimately labelled the death undetermined

After toxicology reports noted

Unusually large amounts of cocaine in devan's system.

Were you surprised when the medical examiner came back

With his findings?

I've been on the department 30 years.

I know what an overdose looks like.

That was not an overdose.

In king county,

To have a case move forward as a homicide,

The medical examiner's office

Has to rule it a "homicide" or "death by homicidal means."

If we don't have that tag, we can't take it anywhere.

So I've kept the case and just hoping someday that,

You know, someone else can look at that autopsy report

And maybe shed new light on it.

Do you feel like you have an idea

Who may have been involved with her death?

♪

You know, at this time,

All I can tell you is it's an open investigation.

But I'm always open for any new information,

Any new technique, any new idea.

And if it sheds light on the case, I'm in.

People are like,

"why do you still hold on to this case?

It's undetermined."

Someone lost their life here, you know, it's important.

♪

With detective cooper unable to share any of his files,

Devan's sister lia has provided information key to this case,

Including crime-scene photos and the medical-examiner's report.

I have a clear shot of almost the entire bedroom.

She's faceup and her underwear are off.

But what stands out to me immediately

Is she has significant bruising to her hip area, both sides.

I would expect that to be found if she was facedown.

We have some clumps of hair that appears to be

The same color of her hair right in the entrance way.

These injuries look like someone who had been in a fight.

Alright, here's the opinion that was rendered

By the associate medical examiner

And the chief medical examiner.

"an asphyxia cannot be ruled out.

The unusually high level of drugs in her blood

Also remain unexplained and may have contributed to her death."

This is what detective cooper was talking about.

This is the problem.

You can't charge someone with a murder

If you have an autopsy report

That says her manner of death is undetermined.

That's the roadblock.

Detective cooper told me himself that he would be willing

To listen to another medical examiner

If they did in fact come to another conclusion.

So I'm gonna send it out to someone that I respect

And see if they come to the same conclusion as these individuals.

If they come back with the same opinion,

We have nothing else to do here.

♪

Narrator: Coming up...

Go ahead. Say what you want to say.

You know, now looking back,

I really don't think it was accidental.

And later...

I told you from my first meet,

Something bad happened to devan schmidt that night.

And even if I got an answer, it will stay with me forever.

♪

♪

Levasseur: Despite clear signs of quote "homicidal violence"

And even possible asphyxia,

Detectives haven't been able to pursue devan schmidt's case

Because the original medical examiner

Ruled her death undetermined.

So I reached out to a pathologist

That I've worked with before

To take another look at the autopsy.

But before I meet with her,

I want to make sure I have as much information as possible.

♪

Alright, right now, I'm on my way over

To where devan schmidt was last living before her death.

♪

From what I've heard,

Devan was living in a duplex with multiple roommates.

I'm hoping someone heard or saw something

That could help with my investigation.

Alright, there it is right there, red door.

So, you actually can see here, right?

Like, it's a duplex.

At the time,

Devan was staying on the right side of this duplex.

♪

No one was home on her side of the building.

But I'm hoping a neighbor will be willing to talk with me.

So, you were here when everything went down next door?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Devan's neighbor said he didn't hear anything

The night of her death

And that none of her roommates still live there.

But he did tell me about her living situation.

He said that devan's roommates lived upstairs,

While she lived downstairs in a basement apartment

That had its own entrance.

I'm just gonna...

[ grunts ] okay.

Can you guys get a shot of this?

You can see right here. There you go.

Alright, so we got the door right here.

You can see a window down there, too.

See the window?

Looks like maybe that might have been her bedroom.

And you got a similar layout over here.

But if people were back here that night,

You wouldn't really be able to see them from the street.

You're pretty protected. You can't see anyone.

Okay, alright. That's good.

Devan's neighbor went on to tell me that one of her roommates,

A man named jesse marshall, still lives in the area.

I have to track him down.

♪

Not only did jesse live upstairs from devan,

But according to reports, he was the man who found her body.

Jesse.

I know this isn't something that's easy to talk about.

I'm trying to figure out what happened to devan,

And I know that you were living with her

At the time that this all went down.

And you guys were living --

You were living upstairs with your girlfriend?

At the time, yeah. Okay.

Walk me through that morning.

Sure. Take me right through it.

I mean, it was may 2nd,

And I noticed the back door was flung wide open.

Not normal.

Not normal. No. No.

And I kind of went,

Took two steps downstairs like, "hey, devan."

And then I went down the stairs,

And that's when I saw her feet in the doorway.

And I just remember, like, a big, like, fat fly,

Like, flying, like, figure 8 and...

It immediately just, like, didn't feel...Good.

♪

And so I went down and I touched her hip.

She didn't feel cold, but she didn't feel warm.

And so that's when I, like, you know, "devan.

Hey, girl."

You know, tried to wake her and nothing.

And then I just jumped up and ran up the stairs

And I was like, "somebody call 911.

I think devan's dead."

And then...

They asked me if they could walk me through cpr.

So I kept them on the phone until they arrived.

I'm just giving her cpr.

I was just, like, really invested at that point.

You know, hoping that the light would come back on.

And like, you know, just, like, looking at her eyes,

Just hoping that, "come on," you know?

And I just kept on going till the medics arrived

And then they tapped me out.

I want to talk a little bit more detail about devan

And the condition of her body when you found her

Because it's extremely important.

Okay.

When you walked downstairs, you said you saw her feet.

Was she facedown?

Was she facing the floor?

What the was the con--

She was faceup and --

Wait, she was faceup?

She was faceup.

You didn't flip her over to resuscitate her?

She was faceup when you found her?

Yes. For sure.

Okay. Okay.

By the looks of her,

It looked like she could've just laid down

And passed out but with her eyes open.

I mean, she was just, like, laying there.

I definitely thought that it could've been

A bad reaction from a drug overdose.

Like, I couldn't wrap my mind around

What had really happened for a long time.

Right. I mean, listen.

The way I look at it,

We could have an accidental death

Or we could have a situation where an individual --

Go ahead. Say what you want to say.

Well, I just don't --

Like, I mean, I don't think it was accidental.

You know, now, looking back,

I really don't think it was accidental.

I definitely think that there was foul play involved.

Did anyone at any point hear anything,

Like a stumble or some type of struggle

That happened between her and another individual?

I mean, we all talked

And they didn't hear anything like that.

No one did.

How does something violent happen to her

Without a single person hearing anything?

I hope that's what you can figure out.

I don't know.

♪

So far, everyone I've spoken to

Seems to think devan's death was a homicide.

But that doesn't change the fact that the medical examiner

Ultimately ruled her cause and manner of death as undetermined.

With that in mind,

I'm ready to meet with my own expert, dr. Kanthi de alwis.

As a pathologist

With the honolulu medical examiner's office

For over 30 years,

Most recently as a chief medical examiner,

Dr. De alwis has performed over 10,000 autopsies

And acted as expert witness in roughly 1,000 trials.

Can we break it down, the autopsy report,

Into two different sections?

I think it'll be easier for me to interpret.

First, I want to start with devan's injuries.

Could you go over the more significant ones?

Yes.

♪

The medical examiner described an injury

To her left side of the neck

And that was inside the soft tissues,

Inside the neck.

Not just on the skin or on the surface,

Way inside the tissue.

And that was consistent with

A compressive force to that area.

Then she also had --

Inside her lip, there was an injury,

Which was consistent with the lip area

Getting compressed against the teeth.

In addition, there was bruising

To the top part of her hips

On both sides, not one side,

As well as over her knees.

This was extensive bruising, not just a small bruise,

As well as the top of her feet.

And these are not consistent

With just somebody falling and hitting the floor.

These are consistent with a forceful compression

While she's facedown.

So all of these injuries together

Are indicative of someone who is laying facedown.

Yes.

Well, then how do you explain in the photos,

She was faceup when she was found.

How would explain that?

The body has been moved.

That's interesting.

In my opinion, her body has been moved

After she sustained these injuries

That were significant.

Dr. De alwis tells me

That because of the injuries to devan's neck,

She can't rule out that devan had been choked.

Doctor, what we've talked about so far

Paints a picture of foul play being involved somehow.

And yet, we have a medical examiner

Who ruled the manner of death undetermined.

Correct.

I can see that because she had cocaine in her blood,

As well as in her stomach.

For me,

It was one of the strangest aspects of the this case.

While the medical examiner found

3.1 milligrams of cocaine in devan's blood,

Which you would expect to find in someone

After a night of using the drug,

They also found over 50 milligrams of unabsorbed cocaine

In her stomach.

So, this is a high level of cocaine,

But she hasn't had time

To get all this cocaine absorbed into the blood.

Because had all this cocaine been absorbed,

The level in blood could have been much higher than 3.1.

Is it fair to say

That cocaine couldn't have caused her death, then?

I cannot rule that out at this point.

We have to take the whole picture

Of all the other injuries and the cocaine.

So I need to know more information --

How was her mind-set that night?

Has she ever had any suicidal intent

Or prior suicide attempts?

Or was she in a psychotic state

With this high level of cocaine,

Where she was banging her head all over the place

Or banging her body in that excited delirium?

Right. And that can happen.

Dr. De alwis made it pretty clear what we'd need

In order to come to any sort of resolution with the case.

If I have any chance of getting the answers the she asked for,

I need to find at least one of the three people

Partying with devan that night, her last night alive.

Narrator: Coming up...

The reason he went back to devan's house

Was to ask if she had more cocaine.

♪

That's what he said.

That doesn't make sense.

♪

♪

Levasseur: Devan schmidt was found dead

On the morning of may 2, 2015.

Was she murdered,

Or did she die from an overdose after partying with friends?

♪

After reviewing the autopsy,

My own pathologist had a lot of questions

About what really happened that morning.

The only way to get those answers

Is to get one of the other three people

Who were at the house with devan that morning to talk to me.

I still haven't had any luck finding dominique or k.T.,

But after repeated calls,

One of my team members was able to talk to erick sims,

The man devan's sister thinks

Had something to do with her death.

Yeah, tell me. Fill me in. What did he have to say?

Woman: He actually had a lot to say.

In erick sims' version of events,

He actually believes that devan took her own life.

♪

Sims told us that at some point

While they were partying that night,

He and devan decided to go get cigarettes.

But then, on the way to the store,

She had him stop at a nearby lake.

Once they were there, erick said devan took off her clothes,

Jumped in, and invited him to do the same.

They then swam out to a dock, at which point,

Devan suddenly became despondent,

Telling him that she just wanted to get away from it all.

After that, he said she kissed him.

♪

Then they proceeded to go back to the party,

To devan's place, until the morning,

When they all decided to part ways.

Erick admits that he went back to the apartment

After k.T. And dominique left

But that it was to see if devan had any more cocaine.

He says she never answered the door, so he left.

♪

Erick said he'd be able to meet in a few days,

Which means I still have time to try and corroborate his story

Before asking him about it face-to-face.

[ birds cawing ]

♪

We're about a mile away from where devan lived,

And according to erick sims, him and devan left the house,

They came down here, they went skinny-dipping,

They swam out to one of these two docks,

And according to him, they kissed.

The problem with that is all we have

Is erick sims' statement over a phone,

And I'm not willing to go just off that.

♪

We have to talk to one of the two other people

That were at the party that night.

We got to find dominique or k.T.

♪

My associate frank asked to meet with me

Because he had some important information to share.

Because of the nature of his work,

We need to hide his identity.

Levasseur: What's up, brother?

Frank: Hey, derrick. How are you?

You tell me. What do you got?

Been working all day. We got dominique for you.

She's agreed to meet with you.

On the hook, willing to talk?

100%. On camera?

On camera. I'm there.

I'm good. That's number-one priority.

She puts me inside the apartment

The night of the incident.

There's no way I'm not gonna be there.

Was that it? No.

The other thing I got is erick sims' criminal record.

This guy's been arrested 27 times.

He had delivery charges of narcotics,

Gun charge, domestic violence.

So this guy's been in the system?

Yes. This guy made a living selling drugs.

Yeah, look at it. Right here. Right.

"substance manufacture and intent to deliver."

Right.

"guilty plea." holy [bleep]

And he actually --

It looks like he has an assault in 2016, too.

Yep.

Well, listen.

I'll head over to meet dominique right now,

If you want to text me the address.

I don't want her waiting or having a chance to change her mind.

Alright, I'll text you. Alright, brother. Thanks.

♪

Hi. Come in?

Hello. Come in.

I met devan. I worked at club.

She started working shortly after me,

And just one of those people, like, a kindred spirit.

We were inseparable from the time we met.

Talk about the evening

Leading up to this whole ordeal that took place.

My boyfriend at the time, k.T., and I went over

With erick sims, who was a friend of k.T.'s,

And I remember all of us sitting around.

I remember there being cocaine.

We were listening to music, chatting.

Cocaine makes you talk fast and about everything,

So that was kind of the theme of the night.

Devan and erick left at some point.

I can't remember what they had left for,

Cigarettes or something.

When she came back, she told me

That they had gone to lake washington

And skinny-dipped

And that she had made out with this guy,

And we didn't really discuss it too much further.

The guys had come back in from smoking or whatever,

And we weren't alone.

Something I figured we'd talk about later.

And the next morning,

It was probably around 7:00 a.M.,

So we ended up leaving.

I got a phone call from devan

Probably 10 minutes after I left,

And she had told me that erick had come back to her house

And was like, "what do I do?

Like, I want him out of here."

I want to make sure I have it right.

She called you or texted you?

She called.

I had read somewhere

That there was a text message that allegedly said,

"hey, your boy's back. How do I get rid of him?"

But what it sounds like to me,

That in all actuality, it was a phone call.

It was a phone call. She definitely called.

Did she sound scared or frightened?

She didn't sound scared or frightened.

And we asked her if she wanted us to come back,

And she said no, she's fine.

I didn't talk to her after that.

We had tried to call her a couple times,

And she didn't answer.

When you left that morning, what was devan's condition?

Was she coherent? Was she awake? Oh, yeah.

She was cheery.

She was dancing around in the grass.

Like, just being her normal self.

Who, from what you understand,

Brought the cocaine to her house that night?

Erick sims.

Erick sims brought the cocaine?

Mm-hmm.

Erick was usually the one that supplied the cocaine

Anytime that we spent time with him.

Is it safe to say he was a -- is he just someone

Who always got it for himself recreationally

Or was he a dealer?

Mm, I would say a dealer.

♪

The reason I ask you that

Is because we actually made contact with erick sims,

And he said that the reason

He went back to devan's house

Was to ask her if she had more cocaine.

Hmm, yeah, that's weird.

That's what he said.

That doesn't make sense.

He was very descriptive about what happened at the lake.

She took her clothes off first.

She actually called him into the lake,

Said, "hey, you know.

Come on in with me."

She started swimming out to a dock.

When they got out to the dock,

She started talking a little weird to him.

She said, you know, "listen, I just want disappear."

Does that sound like the mind-set that devan was in?

Mm, she never mentioned anything like that to me.

And he does acknowledge, you know --

And this was another question that I had for you,

But you've already kind of answered it,

Which is, you know, he said she kissed him.

Mm-hmm.

And I have no reason not to believe that at this point.

I don't, either.

Why are you getting a little emotional right there?

[ chuckles ]

It's just emotional.

And that, too.

If she said something like that,

I don't -- I don't -- I don't know what to think.

Is it possible that's how she was really feeling?

I hope not.

She never gave me any reason

To think she felt that way.

Knowing what you know now,

What do you think happened that night?

I don't really know.

I don't want to accuse somebody of something so horrible,

You know, if that's not a true thing,

But to me, if I had to point a finger,

I feel like erick is responsible at least in some way.

♪

Narrator: Coming up...

If she fell on her on own,

What would you expect to see when she fell?

She would likely reach out her hand,

Or she would reach out her foot.

So we would actually expect a far different injury pattern.

♪

♪

Levasseur: Devan schmidt spent the last few hours of her life

Hanging out with three other people --

A man named k.T., k.T.'s friend erick sims,

And devan's best friend, dominique dixon.

I'm still waiting to have my sit-down

With person of interest erick sims.

Based on the holes dominique poked in his previous statement,

I have a lot of questions to ask him.

But then...

"I am not interested in your program.

I don't want to be contacted by you or any of your associates."

Uh...

"I will get legal assistance to enforce that."

Really? Well, that's a change of heart.

Erick's about-face seems potentially suspicious

And leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

But there was one part of his story I could try to verify.

Earlier, erick had indicated

That devan had taken her own life,

But could that explain the massive bruising

She had on her body?

My own expert pathologist wondered if devan's injuries

Could have been self-inflicted

While she was in the throes of a violent cocaine delirium.

I need to see if it was even possible

For devan to cause those types of injuries to herself.

Hey, guys.

Hello. How's it going?

Nice to meet you.

So I'm meeting with dr. Rami hashish

And his team

At the university of washington's biomechanics lab.

I know you guys had a chance

To look at devan schmidt's autopsy report, the photos.

What was your first impressions?

What stood out to you?

What really stood out

Was the marked bruising on the front of the body.

So specifically,

There was bruising right here

At the top of the hips around the iliac crest.

And this is a small spinal model,

So this is the iliac crest.

And these two points are referred to

As the anterior superior iliac spines.

So there was really bruising along these two regions

And that's evident right here.

Okay.

There was also bruising on the patellas,

Or the kneecaps, right here.

Mm-hmm.

And then there was also bruising on the tops of the feet

Or what's referred to as the dorsum of the foot

And that's right here.

One of the theories surrounding her death

Is that this was an overdose and it was an accident,

But she just naturally fell to the ground on her own.

So we can examine that.

So, what we have here on the ground

Is essentially a pressure mat.

And, amanda, do you mind

If you actually lay down on the pressure mat?

Okay, so, this box here on the screen

Represents that pressure mat.

And as it becomes more pinkish,

That would indicate

That there's more pressure being applied.

Just simply laying down

In this prone-stomach position,

There's not that much pressure

Being applied to the hips.

Otherwise, we would see this pressure map start to heat up.

Okay.

So, now what I'm going to do

Is I'm gonna apply an external pressure,

An external force to amanda's back

So we can actually see

If there's any alteration of pressure

And how that actually is reflected.

Okay. Okay.

So, amanda, do you mind if I press down on your back?

No. Go ahead.

Okay.

Okay, yeah.

And I'm applying pressure specifically to her back,

Which is essentially being directed

To her anterior hips touching into the ground.

The amount of pressure which I applied

Is approximately about 40 pounds of force.

Okay.

Based on what you just showed me here,

For her to naturally lay down on her own,

That force would not have been replicated.

Is that fair to say?

That's fair to say.

If she had been standing

And abruptly fell for whatever reason,

Whether it was an overdose, she tripped,

Whatever it may be -- if she fell on her own,

What would you expect to see when she fell?

So, if she's conscious,

She would likely reach out her hand,

Or she would reach out her foot to kind of prevent the fall.

Perhaps both. Right.

So for instance, actually,

When people fall with an outstretched arm,

It's called a foosh fracture --

Fallen with an outstretched hand.

So we'd actually expect a far different injury pattern.

Okay.

So if somebody's falling unconscious,

Then we would expect potentially more impact to the face,

The nose perhaps, the forehead.

And we would expect bruising,

Potentially even more severe injuries.

Right, and we know that that was not the case with devan.

The only injury to her face was a minor cut inside her lip.

That was it.

Yes.

And I want to touch on specifically

The knees and the toes.

What would cause those types of injuries,

That type of bruising?

Well, it's not necessarily just the toes.

It's actually the top of the dorsum of the foot.

So for the guys like me,

This is the top of the foot here?

Yeah, that's the dorsum of the foot.

Okay, so this top area, which would not probably --

Even here, it's not really coming in contact.

Exactly. Exactly. Okay.

But if we go back to the pressure mat,

And we look at this.

If I press down here, we can now see

That there is contact with the dorsum of the foot

With the pressure mat

And there actually being a pressure applied to it.

So she couldn't have created that bruising

To the top of her foot on her own?

By just applying a static --

By her just doing it?

If she was kicking.

Is she was kicking.

Correct. I gotcha. Okay.

And then you have to ask the question --

If she were alone,

Why would she be kicking her feet up and down

While she's laying on the ground?

Rami, this is your field of expertise,

So I have to ask you,

What do you think happened to devan?

♪

It's finally time to meet back up

With my expert pathologist and tell her what I found.

You asked me to get you some more information about devan,

Her history, and not only her history,

But also if I could find out

What happened the night of her death.

I was able to contact one of her best friends,

Dominique dixon.

She was actually the woman with her

The night before she died.

So that whole night, they were together.

Couple things.

First off, she admitted that her and devan

Had used cocaine recreationally.

They were all drinking alcohol,

They were all doing cocaine.

Talk about suicidal tendencies,

Any history of depression,

Dominique said, "never saw it."

Devan was a happy girl.

She was always the life of the party.

She got along with everyone.

No suicidal tendencies?

No prior attempts?

Nothing.

Is there a plausible scenario

Where either this was some type of natural occurrence

Or an accident where it was self-inflicted?

It happened while she was alone?

Is it possible?

And I went to a doctor who specializes in biomechanics,

A dr. Rami hashish.

I want to show you this and just get your opinion on it.

Okay, very good.

So, now what I'm going to do

Is I'm gonna apply an external pressure,

An external force to amanda's back.

Okay.

Okay, yeah.

As I press down on amanda's back,

We can see those two respective regions

And those represent the pressure

Essentially being applied at her hips.

You're gonna see.

Okay, so that is possible?

This is totally fascinating.

Absolutely fascinating.

Rami, this is your field of expertise,

So I have to ask you,

What do you think happened to devan?

In a case like this,

I speak with a reasonable degree

Of scientific or biomechanical certainty.

It's more likely than not

That an external force was applied to her,

Which would likely result in the bruising to her hips.

Is it more than likely

That this pressure was applied by another human being?

With information presently available,

Yes, that seems to be the case.

This is absolutely fascinating.

The information you gave me and having seen this,

She was on cocaine,

Her body was in that compromised state

Of needing a lot oxygen to the brain,

And then she gets asphyxiated

When another person was on top of her,

Restraining her,

As well as applying pressure to her neck.

And everything corroborates that this was a homicide.

Would you be willing to testify to that in court?

Yes.

Narrator: Coming up...

Although the amount cocaine in her system

Could have potentially killed her at some point,

It was still in her stomach.

So in my opinion, the drugs are irrelevant.

♪

♪

Levasseur: For three years, the big hold up

With the investigation into devan schmidt's death

Has been determining how she really died.

I've consulted with the experts, I've looked at all the evidence,

And I think I figured out what happened to devan schmidt

In her apartment the night she was killed.

Although I don't know at the moment

Exactly what the motive might have been,

It's clear to me that someone somehow got into her room,

Physically attacked her,

And pinned her facedown to the floor,

Resulting in the bruises on her hips, feet, and legs.

Then I believe her attacker

Used his arm to choke devan from behind.

Listen, it's completely possible

That detective cooper already came to the same conclusion,

But I got some additional information

That I want to share with him.

James.

What I really wanted to focus on

Was what appeared to be the roadblock

In this investigation from your standpoint.

That's true.

And from reading the autopsy report,

This appeared to be a homicide,

But because of the amount of cocaine in the stomach,

The medical examiner couldn't get there

And that's why he ruled that the cause of death

And manner of death was undetermined.

That's true.

And in my opinion,

Based on the experts I spoke with,

Although the amount of cocaine in her system

Could have potentially killed her at some point,

It didn't have enough time in her body

To actually do that.

That's correct.

It was still in her stomach.

So in my opinion, the drugs are irrelevant.

I'm not gonna argue that.

Okay.

I brought in dr. De alwis to come in here

And re-examine the autopsy report

And the crime-scene photos.

She's done over 10,000 autopsies

And has testified in multiple occasions

As an expert witness in forensic pathology.

So with the totality of everything that she had,

Including the drugs, she told me confidently

That she would rule the manner of death in this case

As a homicide.

And she also told me that she would have no problem

Testifying in court to her findings

If she was called on to do so.

I very much would be appreciative

To talk to this doctor about devan and devan's death.

I'll set that up. Yeah.

What you told me, inside, I'm pretty happy about it.

You've given me more information that I can expand on

With this investigation.

When I talk to devan's sister,

I can relay to her that

I have more things to work on,

And I thank you.

I have people telling me,

"why are you putting effort into this case?"

Like I told you from my first meet,

Something bad happened to devan schmidt that night,

And it'll stay with me forever.

And even if I got an answer,

It'll stay with me forever.

As a homicide investigator...

♪

...You lose a little piece of your heart

With all your victims.

♪

Someone hurt a nice person.

It ain't right.

I'm handing off my findings to authorities,

But there's still one more person

I want to speak to before leaving seattle.

Lia, thank you for meeting with me again.

Based on the witness testimony,

Based on the experts that I spoke with,

I do believe

That erick sims did make contact

With your sister that morning

And he was the last person with her.

And in my opinion, I believe

Erick sims is the strongest person of interest in this case,

And he has a lot of questions he needs to answer.

And for the sake and the integrity of the investigation,

There's not much more I can say,

But I can tell you

I believe your sister's death was a homicide.

♪

Thank you.

Like, we've known this, but just to have it validated

And for you guys to come in

And try and help bring awareness

And bring some...

Type of justification for my sister

In a small way right now is huge.

I do believe there's new life in this case,

And all the information that we were able to gather

Is now in the hands of the people

That can do something about it.

We are so thankful.

I will never stop fighting for her.

♪

I just miss her, and I love her.

♪

Give me a hug.

♪

From the beginning, it was obvious what was

Holding off the investigation into devan's death.

I've connected authorities with both the pathologist

And the biomechanical doctor that I met with,

And I believe police now have what they need

To see this case through.

Hopefully, it's just a matter of time

Before devan can finally rest in peace.

♪