All language subtitles for True.Crime.Story.Citizen.Detective.S01E03.Deb.and.Judy.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb

[music]

[Judy] I think of Ronnie
every day.

This was him, taken the day
his son was born.

He was 24 years old.

I see things that remind me
of him.

I see his picture.

I find pennies on the road

and I say, "Oh, Ronnie was here"

because he used to give me
all his pennies.

So I will dive under a table
for a penny if I think it's...

She really will. She would get
hit by a car

trying to get a damn penny,
trust me.

And because it's a penny
from heaven.

And I know that sounds crazy

and people might look at me
like it's crazy,

but it's my healing.

He's with me all the time.

I know I lost my son,

but never once would anyone
come forward and tell the truth.

It had to be drug out of them.

We had to connect the dots.

[music]

[music]

Are those koi still alive
or are they...

Yeah, well, I don't know
about the alive part,

but this summer, I'm gonna build
a cover for this

that is raccoon-proof.

[Judy] My name is Judy Weaver.

I'm from Orlando, Florida.

Nowadays, it's amusement parks,

but we were here before Disney,

when it was really nice.

And it was very quaint, quiet.

Neighbors helped neighbors.

We took walks and fed the ducks.

And I like cars,

so I taught the kids
how to change a tire,

how to change the oil,

and just everything.

[Deborah] My mom Judy
is tenacious, that's for sure.

She is like a dog
with a bone at times.

And I think I got that
straight from her.

I'm Deborah Murray.

I'm the oldest,

and then Ronnie was under me
about five and a half years.

And then our sister was about
11 years younger than me.

They were total opposite

as far as the energy went.

Tammy was very loving
and affectionate.

Debbie could get a book,
and sit,

and read for hours,

and Ronnie
had to tear up things.

[Deborah] You walk in a room

and he'd have a fan pulled
completely apart.

He was always curious
about how things worked.

So I didn't want him
using my things.

So I ran him off a lot.

[Judy] He was a handful.

But he was a joy.

He always wanted to be
the peacemaker.

He never wanted to disappoint.

He always wanted me
to be proud of him.

Back in 2005,

Ronnie ended up
coming to live with me.

He started having trouble
with his personal life.

He became an addict.

And he was ashamed
of what he was doing.

[Deborah] He was battling drugs.

Ronnie had interactions
with people

living in that community

that were dealing in drugs.

A not so great situation.

[Judy] And on June 27th,

Ronnie wanted to go to the store
to get a pack of cigarettes.

His car was in front of my car.

So he used his bicycle
to go down to the store.

It had started raining.

I didn't want him to leave.

I could feel something wasn't
gonna go right.

And he's so,
"Mom, don't get paranoid."

He says, "I'll be back
in 10 minutes."

He kissed me on my left cheek
and told me he loved me,

and I'll always remember that

that's what I heard
out of his mouth.

I think most people aren't
blessed to have that

when they lose their loved ones.

Ten, fifteen minutes later,

I was in the shower and I heard

my daughter, Tammy,
come home from work.

She came and said there's sirens
pretty close to the house.

And I jumped out of the shower
and called Ronnie.

He didn't answer the phone.

Got in the van
and went looking for him.

[Deborah] I was home,
getting ready for bed,

and my mom called and said

there had been an accident.

And she was on the scene.

I found all the commotion
where the police department was

and where
the fire department was.

And you see the paramedics
all out

and the people standing around.

They were some
of the shady people

in the neighborhood.

I could see them
whispering things.

It was like a nightmare.

I pulled in and an old man says

it's a young man down the road.

And he looked at me and he says,

"Oh, it's your son.

It's Ronnie."

The paramedics
were trying to hook him up

on the stretcher and everything.

And that's when I found him.

[Deborah] When my mom
came upon the scene,

it was just like something
you wish you could unsee.

There was blood
all over the place

and Ronnie was in
an unconscious state.

We were being fed a little bit
of information here and there

from some
of the people watching.

What they said happened
that night

was that Ronnie just simply fell
off a bike

and hit his head on a curb.

[Judy] This is where Ronnie
was supposed to have been hurt.

As you can see, still,
there are no curbs.

[Deborah] There's still
no curbs.

So there's still no curbs here.

[Deborah] No curbs up there.
They don't exist.

[Judy] Everything was telling
me, "This isn't right.

Something's not right."

I'd started
observing everything.

Well, he fell on a bike
that's not there.

"Where's the bike?
Where did he fall?"

"He hit a curb."

"There's no curb.

Where'd he hit the curb?"

When they're getting Ronnie
on the stretcher,

I'm seeing him, now,
his pockets are inside out.

And they said
there was nothing else.

He had nothing else on him.

I know he had a wallet
when he left.

I know he had money
when he left.

I wanted to know how,
if he hit a curb,

fell off his bike,

how did the pockets
come inside out of his pants?

Nobody had an answer for that.

I saw one police officer
in a car.

He did not come out
and take names,

didn't bring a clipboard out
and ask any questions.

He was just sitting there.

It was raining.
He didn't wanna get wet.

EMTs told me his name was Spike.

I said, "My God, who on Earth
would name their name Spike?"

I never got to talk to him
because he left.

But my concern was then,
was to be with my son.

We will find out
the answers later.

[Deborah] When we arrived
to the hospital,

I asked that we'd be able
to see Ronnie.

We went back into trauma
to see him.

That was awful,

and I wish I could
take that away.

There was severe brain trauma.

There was brain swelling.

And the doctor that was going
to be doing his brain surgery

was explaining the two areas
of injury to his head,

a temporal lobe injury

and an injury
to the back of the head.

Made you wonder how in the world
he hit his head twice,

falling off the bicycle
one time.

So it's still not making
any sense.

[Judy] I called the police.

I asked them, "Why has no one
come to check on my son?

I have questions
that I want answers for

and nobody's willing to come."

"Well, the officer said
he took the report.

"He seen it only as an accident.

"There was no foul play.

Just a bicycle accident."
And that was it.

No investigating needed.

Even though the story was he had
fallen on his bike,

the bike had disappeared.

I threatened to call
and have it reported as stolen.

Shortly after that,
the bike did appear.

At some point,
someone had brought the bike up

to her front porch.

Somebody rolled up
in the middle of the night

when we were asleep.

As you can see, there are
no scratches on the bike.

I've never washed it
or anything,

just put air in the tire.

There was no damage
to the bicycle at all.

[Judy] Nothing had happened
on that bicycle.

Everything was like it was
when Ronnie rode off on it.

That was my first evidence that
something else had happened.

He was not on this bike
when he got hurt.

It was not the cause
of his death.

"Oh, well, sorry it happened,
but it was just an accident."

That's what I was getting.

No one was going to help us.

I couldn't buy into that.

It was up to us
to go and investigate it.

You're not gonna take me
out of the equation.

[music]
[birds chirping]

[Deborah] It doesn't appear
there was

any type of investigation
done at the scene.

There were no police sent
or dispatched to the hospital.

It was just determined
very quickly

it was a bicycle fall.

And that may have been misconstrued

because the sheet I actually
got a copy of

shows "motorcycle accident."

When the police arrived,
there was no motorcycle

and there was no bike.

Whatever it was, it was minutes
that it was looked into.

Ronnie was laid up
at the hospital in a coma.

I think it was immediate
to investigate

because it didn't make sense.

We tried to research
who was who,

what their criminal record
looked like,

what the activity was
going on down there

at the duplex.

I didn't know what I was doing.

My mom didn't know
what she was doing.

We just were going
with the flow.

[motor vehicle roaring]

Now, if I had my Firebird,
we'd be sounding like that

'cause it's got a Formula 5.0
in it.

It's getting a paint job.

Yeah, this is
a little six-banger,

but, hey, it does the job.
What can I say?

[music]

[Deborah] We didn't have to
go far to investigate.

The duplex was right up
from my mom's house.

We could just drive by there.

I started going that way then

because I wanted to see
who was around

and who wasn't.

This is the main house here
where my son was hurt.

[Deborah] We spoke
to many people.

We found out the place
was a drug house

that sold everything.

[Deborah] Then we were realizing
some of the people

that were witnesses
that evening lived there,

and the police took the word

for what they said
happened that night

and left it alone.

And I file a complaint

with the Orange County
Sheriff's Department

at that point

and received phone calls
regarding my complaint letter.

It was a detective, and he said
Ronnie was at a house

that was well known for drugs,

so he might not have been
an innocent victim in this,

and there were far more
imperative cases than Ronnie's

to check into.

[Judy] There shouldn't be
a line drawn

because you're this
or you're that.

That's not acceptable.

There is loved ones
that care for those people.

Anyone that gets hurt, there's
somebody that loves them.

And they want the right thing
done for them

just like they would
for anyone else.

[music]

I knew Ronnie was unconscious
and he may not make it.

So I need to find out
from the streets

what's been told.

When the police brush you off,

they brush you off at the scene

and they brush you off
on the phone,

then, yeah, you take it
to the streets,

because the streets are the ones
that have the answers.

[Deborah] She would talk
to everybody,

but it was never different

than the falling-off-the-bike
story.

You have an entire
duplex community

that potentially saw
what happened,

but they weren't open
to sharing that information.

Felt like they were hiding
from something that happened.

Just didn't make a lot of sense.

[Judy] They said that Ronnie was
horsing around with the bike,

and he popped a wheelie
and hit the curb,

and he curb
threw him down on the ground.

He did used to do that
when he was a teenager,

but not as a grown man.

And the only reason he rode
the bike

was to get to the store
and back.

He didn't go in the rainstorm

with a bike to pop a wheelie.

During the time
that Ronnie was on life support,

we would visit
the hospital daily.

It was primarily just spent

talking to doctors,
trying to find out

the prognosis.

There was discussions
on what they could expect

would happen with Ronnie.

[Judy] He wasn't getting better.

The fever wasn't going away
in the brain

and it kept killing cells.

I said, "Well, will he
ever recognize me?"

"No." "Will he know
who he is?" "No."

Everything was no, no, no.

[Deborah] He was never
gonna move again.

He was never gonna have
a thought.

There was no brain left.

So at this point,
you have to make a decision.

Move him to long-term care
or take his life support away.

[monitor beeping]

How do you end someone's life
that you love so much?

[music]

But how do you look at somebody

that you know
was so full of life,

just lay there and they're
at everyone's mercy?

How do you do that?

It's not easy.

I could feel Ronnie begging me
to let him go.

I could feel him.

And I know that I don't
want that for myself,

and I did not want that
for my child.

They did all the preparation
they needed to do.

And when he passed,

he died the minute
that he was born.

It was 8:00, same time
in the same hospital.

[Deborah] When the death
certificate was issued,

it was listed
as an accidental death.

I really felt disappointed
that this was it,

that this was all
we were gonna get.

The ball was dropped
the night it happened.

The ball was dropped
when it went to the detective.

And it just kept on bouncing
a few more times after that.

It needs to be made right.

[Judy] I needed to know
what happened to my child.

I needed to know for myself.

I needed to get
as much information as I could.

And so, Debbie and I decided
to go just tell the neighbors

that Ronnie is alive
and he's talking.

He's going to a rehab, and then
they're gonna send him home.

The people living in that
duplex community

did not know that he'd
never woke up.

They thought Ronnie was talking

and Ronnie was telling a story,

and it's not the story
y'all are telling.

It's a different story.

She was stirring the pot,
pressing them for the truth.

The next day, there was a girl
riding down the road

and she was asking me,
"How is your son doing?"

And I recognized her
from that night.

I said, "Well, he's got
a big headache."

I said, "But he's sitting up,
telling a different story.

"He said it didn't go down
like that.

He never fell on his bike."

She said, "Oh," and that was it.

Next thing I know,

I seen somebody walking
toward my house.

You can tell from his eyes,

this guy wasn't right.

[Judy] at my doorstepowed up

introduced himself.

He said he goes by Jay.

I didn't believe
what his name was

because it seemed like he was
fishing for what I knew.

He thought Ronnie was up
and telling his story.

We didn't really know
how he fit into this.

We didn't know his angle.

It just seemed like

he was feeding information
to distance himself

from his involvement
in what happened.

[Judy] He said that Ronnie
had a disagreement

with another person

over some money he owed him.

And so he punched him.

[Deborah] Jay introduced
the whole he got hit part,

which was different than
the falling off the bike story.

It went from popping wheelies
to being hit.

So it had already changed.

[Judy] No, I didn't
believe anything he said.

I just told him, "Well, there
was an investigation going."

And he got real quiet.

And then he was wanting us
to see

that he had his concealed weapn permit.

He pulled it out of his wallet

and he addressed me with it.

[Deborah] We didn't know why.

We didn't know
to take it as a threat.

Is it intimidation?

We didn't know.

[Judy] I stood there and I said,

"Well, I'm not gonna shut up

until I found out
what happened to my son."

And then he left.

[Deborah] We were
just very confused.

Now there's an extra layer.

This man we don't know
came to the house

possibly carrying a weapon.

You have to be a little careful

because we don't know his role.

We don't know him.

[birds chirping]

We didn't know his legal name.

But we knew
his nickname was Jay.

So I did a search on

the Orange County
Clerk of the Courts.

You could look for evictions,

a criminal record.

Even so much
as a traffic citation,

you would find record.

You could see
where their address was

at the time that happened.

I found an eviction
that was issued

to that address
where Ronnie was hurt.

I looked up a couple
of the names on social media.

And I found pictures of Jay.

Then I found his girlfriend's
details from that.

I managed to get his first name.

It ended up being
that his name was Jason.

Debbie discovered
that his girlfriend's daughter

went to the school
down the street.

I asked around.

One of the people told me

that it was Jason Gailey

and he lived
in that neighborhood

where Ronnie got hurt.

That's probably the difference
in our dynamics.

Let's see.

I was more the computer
and paper trail gal,

and my mom, she would talk more

and be able to glean
more information

from talking to people.

I ended up talking to the guy
that was Jason's mailman,

trying to find out
what information I could.

Apparently, Jason's
the drug boss in the duplex.

He has a license to carry
a concealed weapon.

And he has
a little bit of attitude.

He was known for it,
plain and simple.

[music]
[birds chirping]

[Judy] These are Debbie's notes.

She's more organized than me.

[chuckling]

This is his medical examiner.

This is the original
death certificate,

and at this point, it said

the manner of death
was accident.

I finally got ahold of someone
at the coroner's department.

And I asked could they please
go back through

the report and go back
through his injuries

that they found on him,

and see if there was anything

that could say he fell off
a bike and hit his head.

And they said there was no way
humanly possible

that the injuries that he had
sustained to his head

could come from falling off
a 24-inch bike

when you were 5'10".

And it was something that had
been inflicted on him.

At about six months
after all this,

there is in here
another death certificate

for a homicide

where it was changed to homicide

because of their findings
and their autopsy.

Uh, let's see what else
is in here.

Mm, someone drew a picture
of Uncle Ronnie.

[chuckling] One of Deb's kids,
I'm sure. [chuckling]

And drew a halo
over the top of his head.

[Deborah] We worked really hard

to change
Ronnie's death certificate.

Every day, you're faced with
things you've never dealt with

and didn't think you would
ever have to deal with.

But this was validation
for Ronnie.

He was a victim of a homicide

and he had the right
to have that known.

This point, they needed
to hand this back

to the detective in charge.

And they needed to do their job.

Well, nothing really happened.

So I requested a copy
of the 911 tape

from the night
of Ronnie's accident.

We didn't know
who made the call,

but we knew, at that time,
that it was somebody

in the duplex community.

And whoever it was,
that call to 911,

actually saw what happened.

We needed to meet that person.

I was coming home, so I figured,

"Let me go down there
and look around."

There used to be
a big dumpster light

between all of these buildings
when they were apartments.

And I saw the supervisor

that takes care
of the land here.

And I recognized him.

So I started
asking him questions.

He was telling me
that there was eyes and ears,

and that I needed to stay home
where I was safer,

and that he didn't know
how safe I would be,

asking the wrong people
the wrong questions.

That maintenance man, he knew
a lot of the inside scoop

on the drug dealer, Jason,
aka Jay,

because he had to go
into the apartments

and repair things.

He saw that Jason had cameras

right there between the alley
and the duplex.

Jason used to video everybody.

That's how
he did his drug dealing.

He would know
who pulled in that driveway.

Didn't stop us still.

We still came and got pictures.

When it cool off some,

they'd all be sitting
on the walls

of these two houses.

[Deborah] There would be a lot
of activity

outside of the duplex.

And I think once or twice,
they even yelled at her

'cause she was driving by,

snapping pictures
out of her car window.

Did I do things that put
my life in danger? Yes.

But I wanted to find out
the truth.

And how are you gonna find out
if they don't come to you?

You gotta go to them.

Eventually, the maintenance guy

connected me with the name
of the 911 caller,

a guy named Mike.

Mike had told him
about the phone call.

His story was that Jason
hit Ronnie

during a fight.

When Ronnie got hurt,

Jason took him inside
the apartment

and they laid him
in the living room on the floor.

And they were cleaning him up.

They weren't gonna
even call the police.

They weren't gonna call anybody.

Jason threatened them,
all of them.

They were forbidden to call 911.

But after Mike realized

the seriousness
of Ronnie's injuries,

he felt bad.

Mike went to a payphone

that was on the backside
of the duplexes,

away from the cameras,

and made the phone call
from a payphone.

[Deborah] Mike did ride the bike
to the payphone

to make the call.

That's why there was no bike
when the police showed up.

So, that,
we could finally understand.

[birds chirping]

[Deborah] Mike said that

the emergency response team
actually found Ronnie

inside the duplex.

He had been moved to a sofa.

When the paramedics came,

he was moved back out.

They never asked why
Ronnie was inside the duplex.

When the police arrived,

if someone had actually
investigated that night,

that whole bicycle story

would've been blown
out of the water.

But no one did.

I called
the state attorney's office

and told him
we had witness statements

that could link Jason
to what happened to my son.

And they're saying,
"Oh, oh, wrong line."

And they tried to bluff it out.

So I was telling Debbie,
"I can't get anywhere

"because I'm considered
a distraught mom,

I'm crazy, I don't know
what I'm talking about."

Debbie kept
all the information together.

She figured, "Well, one day,

we'll get someone
that'll hear us."

[Deborah] I had faxed information

to the detective

so that he could go further.

Just mapped out
the evidence we had

and documented it
into letter form.

My mom and I provided him
with a picture of Jason.

And we told him
that this was the person

that we thought hit Ronnie.

We gave him names
and contact information

for the witnesses
my mom spoke to.

We would see what information
he would be able to get.

Being
a law enforcement official,

I figured he'd be
better at it than us.

Six months later,

I asked had they spoke
to the individual

that we believed hit Ronnie.

There had never been any contact
made with him at all.

No, still, no one
had ever spoke to him.

Still.

We reached a dead end.

We don't know how to...

What's the expression?
Can't fight City Hall?

We didn't know what else to do.

[Judy] It had been seven years

since my son's death.

The police
weren't doing anything.

It was a closed deal
and that was it.

I was working in a restaurant.

And this police officer came in.

And, of course,
I didn't know who he was.

[Paul] The night I met
Judy Weaver,

I decided
to grab some food real quick.

When I was there,
eating my dinner,

one of the employees who
turned out to be Judy walked by

and we struck up a conversation.

He says, "Oh," he says,
"How are you tonight?"

And I said, "I'm good."
And I said, "How are you?"

And he says, "Oh, it's quiet."

Says, "Never anything happening
on a Monday night."

Well, I said, "A lot of things
happen on a Monday night.

My son was killed
on a Monday night

in the pouring-down rain."

I said, "So don't tell me
nothing happens

in Orlando on a Monday night."

She started speaking
about the case to me,

and while I was talking to her,

she explained to me
about the displeasure

of a sergeant by the name
of Spike Hopkins

who did nothing about the case.

[Judy] I was telling him
the investigating officer

was somebody with a dog's name,

and his name was Spike,

and who on Earth would name
their kid Spike?

I was going on,
cutting down the police officer

and how sorry he was,

and how I wished
he could have lived

through the years I had lived

and know what I felt.

It wasn't nice.

But I was honest.

[Paul] When you told me
your story,

and how bad
this Sergeant Spike was,

my heart dropped.

I remember sitting there, thinking,

"Oh, she obviously
hasn't seen my name tag."

Could I have walked out of there
and said I am sorry

to hear about your circumstances

and you'd never known it was me?

I didn't know who you were.

- You could've been anybody.
- Right.

I could've, but after hearing

you're a mother
who lost her son,

there is no way
I could walk out on you

after that.

[Judy] I went off on the guy.

And he said to me,

"Well, as you were
talking to me,

things started ringing a bell."

And he pushed his chair back,
and he says,

"Let me formally introduce myself.

I was the investigating officer,
aka Spike."

I was shocked, number one.

Well, you know, I talked
very badly of you.

- Right. Rightly so.
- Um.

I never had a kind word
to say about you, at all.

[Paul] Right.

I hated
what you represented, so...

And I can't blame you one bit.

I can't blame you one bit.

I just felt so bad
for the woman,

especially because
I dropped the ball

the night of the event.

And then law enforcement
and nobody else

would do anything to help her.

I wanted to get
to the bottom of this.

I went into the parking lot

where my police vehicle
was parked,

and I was gonna do
everything I could

within my power to make sure

that this mom
got justice for her son.

I got on the computer
and wrote an email

to our cold case detectives

to have them reopen the case

so we truly could
do the right thing.

After that, out of guilt
or compassion,

Spike became my friend.

He started coming over
and checking on me,

did I need anything?

And he handpicked
these two detectives

to do the cold case.

They were both remarkable.

Couldn't have picked
any two better detectives

to have done that.

[Deborah] They really beat it
into the ground.

They went back
and talked to everybody.

These guys even collected
some things

that I had,
that they could not find

in their original case file.

They worked this hard.

[Paul] Based on the research
and the investigation

that Judy and her daughter
were able to do,

the cold case detectives

got the witnesses identified,
the suspect identified.

And they actually flew out
and tracked down

some of the witnesses
from that night

in other states
around the country.

Going out and speaking to
the eyewitnesses of this,

they were actually able to get
the motive

and how the crime occurred.

And their information corroborated

what Judy found out.

Ronnie was actually struck
on the head

and did not fall off
of a bicycle.

The witnesses were very upfront
with the cold case detectives.

I think some of them
truly wanted my mom to have

some form of closure.

There were details that came out
we didn't know about.

[Judy] The night
that my son was killed,

Jason was pistol-whipping
an older man

in that driveway over something,

over $10 or something,
they said.

Ronnie was riding his bike,
and he intervened.

Ronnie said to Jason,

"Why don't you pick on someone
closer to your age?"

And he went after my son
with the butt of a gun.

[Deborah] That's what hit
the side of Ronnie's head,

was that gun,

which was impact one.

Impact two was when
he lost consciousness,

was immediately paralyzed
on his left side,

and fell backwards and smacked
his head on the concrete.

After they got
all the information

and everything together,
and all the witnesses,

I figured they had enough cause

to arrest Jason.

But the detectives wanted
to get someone on tape.

[Deborah] I think,
at that point,

they were worried
Jason would claim

it was an accidental hitting of

because of the dispute between
he and the other man.

So they asked how I would feel
about wearing a recording device

and go down and speak
with the witness

to see if he would say
anything incriminating.

So I agreed to that,

and they head across the street
in a car

so they could watch,

and I approached
and chatted with him.

It's a silly lead into,
but I had to ask him,

"What happened that night?

What really happened
that night?"

And I was just...
I was a bundle of nerves.

You never know if you're dealing
with people that are shady.

I was scared for her.

I don't want anything
to happen to her too.

[music]
[birds chirping]

[Judy] Debbie, when I was
speaking with Spike yesterday,

he did not know
you wore the wire.

[Deborah] Well, why would he?

They would have no reason to
keep him totally...

Well, because they were
keeping him updated,

but he thought
that was fascinating

that you were brave enough
to wear a wire.

I wasn't afraid.
I could've taken him.

[laughs]

[music]

I'm not sure what he said

because I was a wreck,

but I asked the detectives
to tell me what he said.

It had came out that Jason had
a gun in his hand.

He had taken it back
to his apartment.

He had asked his girlfriend
to hide the gun.

And he threatened all of them

if they told them what happened.

I think that was why
the cold case detectives

decide to proceed with charges.

You have a weapon in your hand

that you took the time to hide.

I don't think
there was a lot of accident

involved in that.

[Reporter] Jason Brian Gailey

is charged
with second-degree murder

because Judy Weaver
just wouldn't let it go.

[Paul] It's not normal
for family members

to conduct
their own investigation,

but they were instrumental

in giving us enough
probable cause

to arrest the suspect.

If they weren't beating
the streets

and talking to the people,

we would never be here today,

and the person who was arrested

would've never been arrested.

[Reporter] Based on
the new information,

Jason Gailey is picked up
and charged with murder.

And a mother's intuition
made it happen.

[Judy] By the next day,
it went on the news.

It was on every channel.

There was people lined up

out there with cameras
and facing my house.

I opened my front door
and shut it in a hurry.

And I called Debbie and I said,

"My God, that's what
we should've done first

"was gone to the media,

"and we wouldn't have
had to wait seven years

for them to start
an investigation."

[Deborah] After Jason
was arrested,

he was charged
with second-degree murder.

And then there was a timeframe

in which the state attorney
has to decide

to proceed with charges.

I was able to talk
to the detectives

several times, and they
kept me up to date.

I was excited
that we could provide

Judy and her daughter
and Ronnie some justice,

only to have the state attorney
drop the charges.

This person was gonna walk free.

The state attorneys
were not confident

that the jury
would see these witnesses

having clear mind and being able

to remember details
all that well

because so much time
had went by.

[Judy] On the TV,
it actually showed Jason.

And he just had a smirk
on his face.

He never said anything.

I don't know
what their intention was

when they led him out,

but it didn't matter.

He was done anyway.

He overdosed and died.

Was at about a week
after he got out of jail.

[Deborah] Breakfast is ready!

[Man] Katie,
do you want some bacon?

You guys wanna come
grab a plate?

Get some breakfast?

Have chicken?

[Man] Take that, go sit down.

He might be enjoying my plate
if he can lean forward.

[Woman] Careful, he's quick.

[Judy] That's funny.

The job had been done--
late, belated,

but it had been done.

And we knew what had happened.

I knew Ronnie had done
a good thing in the end.

He had tried to help somebody.

And Ronnie's buried, he's gone.

He did not die for no reason,

but we have to continue to live.

[music]

[Judy] It still bothers me some,
you know?

And I'm sorry
if I get teary eyed.

It's still... It's just
an emotion for a minute

and you're gonna cut it, right?

[laughs]

But he was always doing
for someone else,

which is what happened to him
the night he was hurt.

And, but that was just
how he was.

He was always that way.

[music]

[Deborah] There's no way.
You can't close it.

[Judy] There's never
gonna be a closure.

[Deborah] No, he's at peace,
he's been at peace since...

I believe he's been at peace
since the day he died.

When you let him go,
he can go in peace.

I'm just grateful that you
were there with me

during that time.

I think you gave me
some strength.

I think Ronnie's proud
of what we've done

on his behalf.

Looking at it, I think
it made us stronger.

Yeah, I know.

[Judy] I believe
it made us closer.

We were fighting
for the same thing.

We were fighting for justice,
for the truth.

That's a bond
that will never break.

And you're gonna get justice
where justice is deserved.

Just have to have faith.

[music]

[ducks quacking]
[birds cawing]

[music]

Violent death
of undetermined means.

On the next episode of

"True Crime Story:
Citizen Detective"...

Why didn't they fully
investigate my sister's case?

I just wanted to know,
whatever the truth was.

We all knew something was
horribly wrong.

This was murder.

"True Crime Story:
Citizen Detective."

♪