1 00:00:08,242 --> 00:00:10,978 (dramatic music) 2 00:00:12,513 --> 00:00:15,616 - I'm not gonna lie, yes I have prostituted. 3 00:00:15,649 --> 00:00:18,752 Prostitution has been since Jesus walked. 4 00:00:18,786 --> 00:00:21,355 I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying it's wrong. 5 00:00:21,389 --> 00:00:24,825 It's a moral judgment on each individual. 6 00:00:28,028 --> 00:00:32,133 Now when you start taking people against their will 7 00:00:32,166 --> 00:00:35,703 or raping 'em, beating 'em, or robbing 'em, 8 00:00:35,736 --> 00:00:38,239 then I say, the hell with you. 9 00:00:45,079 --> 00:00:48,382 Had I ever had a conversation with the man previously? 10 00:00:48,416 --> 00:00:49,250 No. 11 00:00:50,151 --> 00:00:51,419 Had I ever seen him? 12 00:00:51,452 --> 00:00:52,286 Yes. 13 00:00:53,521 --> 00:00:57,291 But I sensed nothing, I sensed nothing. 14 00:00:57,325 --> 00:01:00,494 (typewriter clicking) 15 00:01:04,965 --> 00:01:08,636 Before he put the gag in my mouth, I could have screamed, 16 00:01:08,669 --> 00:01:10,671 but something said don't do it. 17 00:01:10,704 --> 00:01:13,507 But after he had his way with me the first time, 18 00:01:13,541 --> 00:01:16,377 he never took the gag off anymore. 19 00:01:18,746 --> 00:01:22,750 That day went by and it turned into another day. 20 00:01:23,951 --> 00:01:27,087 He said, "You might as well say your prayers 21 00:01:27,121 --> 00:01:31,292 "'cause I'm gonna feed you and then I'm gonna kill you." 22 00:01:32,660 --> 00:01:34,828 And then he went to sleep. 23 00:01:43,337 --> 00:01:47,508 (sirens wailing) (camera shutter clicking) 24 00:01:49,009 --> 00:01:52,012 The detective told me, "You are very lucky, young lady," 25 00:01:53,247 --> 00:01:55,383 while he's taking these photographs. 26 00:01:57,117 --> 00:01:58,552 He said, "Just last week, 27 00:01:58,586 --> 00:02:01,822 "we found a lady cut up in a suitcase." 28 00:02:07,628 --> 00:02:11,799 That man had no intentions of me coming out that house. 29 00:02:12,533 --> 00:02:14,067 But God said otherwise. 30 00:02:18,206 --> 00:02:20,874 (ominous music) 31 00:05:25,258 --> 00:05:27,695 - Yeah, I was overachiever, I was a A-student. 32 00:05:27,728 --> 00:05:31,899 I had the best friend and we would always compete in school. 33 00:05:34,768 --> 00:05:38,872 I loved going to school, I love learning. 34 00:05:38,906 --> 00:05:41,208 I was the president of the National Junior Honor Society 35 00:05:41,241 --> 00:05:42,510 as I got older. 36 00:05:45,913 --> 00:05:48,749 I was going to be a cosmetologist. 37 00:05:48,782 --> 00:05:50,551 A cosmetologist or a welder. 38 00:05:50,584 --> 00:05:51,685 (laughing) 39 00:05:51,719 --> 00:05:53,421 - A welder? - A welder. 40 00:05:53,454 --> 00:05:57,224 - Or maybe a 18-wheel driver, a truck driver, 41 00:05:58,258 --> 00:06:00,193 but that was my vision. 42 00:06:04,432 --> 00:06:08,035 My mother and father were married 43 00:06:09,336 --> 00:06:11,505 and I think they got divorced 44 00:06:11,539 --> 00:06:13,974 when I was about three or five. 45 00:06:14,007 --> 00:06:16,977 I can remember the divorce. 46 00:06:17,010 --> 00:06:21,181 I'm this little bitty girl, I had two ponytails, 47 00:06:22,616 --> 00:06:25,185 a brown little flower dress on, sitting in the courtroom, 48 00:06:25,218 --> 00:06:28,288 when my mother was getting a divorce. 49 00:06:29,490 --> 00:06:32,493 When my mom divorced my dad, my dad divorced us. 50 00:06:34,628 --> 00:06:37,230 He would always promise me he was gonna come and get me 51 00:06:37,264 --> 00:06:40,300 or come and see me, so I would sit in the window 52 00:06:40,333 --> 00:06:44,271 and wait for my father who would never show up. 53 00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:48,642 That's how I learned about prostitution. 54 00:06:48,676 --> 00:06:51,011 I would sit in the window on 93rd and Cedar 55 00:06:51,044 --> 00:06:55,115 and watch the women of the night tour, or the day, 56 00:06:55,148 --> 00:06:56,550 'cause they were out in the day with boas 57 00:06:56,584 --> 00:06:59,853 and little hot pants, I didn't know what that was but, 58 00:06:59,887 --> 00:07:03,591 sittin' in that window, waiting for my daddy. 59 00:07:09,863 --> 00:07:14,034 - What I heard about crack in the early '90s 60 00:07:14,902 --> 00:07:16,504 was that it was addictive. 61 00:07:18,138 --> 00:07:21,709 People would do some of everything to get it, rob and steal. 62 00:07:22,442 --> 00:07:24,244 Turned people into bums. 63 00:07:25,979 --> 00:07:28,749 I know I didn't wanna be one of those people. 64 00:07:31,819 --> 00:07:35,923 When I was 13, 14 years old, becoming a teenager, 65 00:07:37,324 --> 00:07:38,959 I wanted to go to all the parties, 66 00:07:38,992 --> 00:07:41,762 I just wanted to party, have fun. 67 00:07:42,863 --> 00:07:45,365 And I started disobeying my mother's rule. 68 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,468 As a mom, you know, 69 00:07:48,502 --> 00:07:51,972 I know exactly what my mother was talking about, you know, 70 00:07:52,005 --> 00:07:54,207 'cause now I'm raising kids of my own. 71 00:07:57,077 --> 00:08:00,681 The day that I tried crack cocaine, I was with a neighbor, 72 00:08:00,714 --> 00:08:03,551 we were doing other drugs, marijuana, alcohol. 73 00:08:04,752 --> 00:08:08,488 She used crack cocaine and I asked to try it. 74 00:08:09,356 --> 00:08:11,458 And I tried it and I was high. 75 00:08:12,726 --> 00:08:13,827 It was a rush 76 00:08:17,565 --> 00:08:20,000 that I can't really describe. 77 00:08:22,035 --> 00:08:24,271 It was a rush that come over your body 78 00:08:24,304 --> 00:08:27,340 and then it goes away very quick. 79 00:08:27,374 --> 00:08:31,545 So you have this high sensation for five minutes 80 00:08:32,946 --> 00:08:34,548 and then it's gone. 81 00:08:36,249 --> 00:08:39,486 It was maybe once a week 82 00:08:40,921 --> 00:08:44,625 and it grew to where it was a couple times a week, 83 00:08:45,726 --> 00:08:48,495 to where I had somebody supply me, 84 00:08:49,697 --> 00:08:52,566 to where I had to buy it on my own, 85 00:08:54,234 --> 00:08:57,004 to where I had no money to buy it on my own, 86 00:08:57,037 --> 00:09:01,041 so I had to use other means to get it on my own. 87 00:09:02,509 --> 00:09:04,377 In about the year 2007, 88 00:09:05,946 --> 00:09:08,616 when I moved on Imperial Avenue, 89 00:09:08,649 --> 00:09:11,585 other people in the neighborhood did drugs. 90 00:09:12,452 --> 00:09:14,121 People were kinda, 91 00:09:15,288 --> 00:09:16,757 they were a little more generous at that time 92 00:09:16,790 --> 00:09:20,594 because I was the new person on the street. 93 00:13:36,716 --> 00:13:39,887 (gentle guitar music) 94 00:13:48,896 --> 00:13:53,066 - Even as a child, Mount Pleasant was uniquely different. 95 00:13:54,267 --> 00:13:57,170 It was like a city, town, country, 96 00:13:58,371 --> 00:14:00,473 all pulled together as one community. 97 00:14:02,509 --> 00:14:06,613 You felt safe in Mount Pleasant and we loved it. 98 00:14:09,316 --> 00:14:12,485 In 1983, I started my ministry here 99 00:14:13,786 --> 00:14:15,822 in Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church. 100 00:14:15,855 --> 00:14:17,958 It was still a vibrant area, 101 00:14:17,991 --> 00:14:20,827 but there was definitely a difference. 102 00:14:22,896 --> 00:14:25,565 Jobs were beginning to thin out. 103 00:14:28,401 --> 00:14:32,572 When jobs are leaving on the right hand and the left, 104 00:14:33,740 --> 00:14:36,176 your community is far more vulnerable 105 00:14:37,277 --> 00:14:40,380 to some of the vices that destroy. 106 00:14:47,620 --> 00:14:49,957 There was a time when a preacher, or a pastor, 107 00:14:49,990 --> 00:14:53,160 or what have you, or a reverend was walking down the street, 108 00:14:53,193 --> 00:14:56,629 things that were out of sorts would stop. 109 00:14:58,031 --> 00:15:02,202 Things that were perhaps not that right, 110 00:15:03,836 --> 00:15:07,474 that behavior would stop until the pastor, the preacher, 111 00:15:07,507 --> 00:15:09,609 the reverend had gone by. 112 00:15:12,612 --> 00:15:16,383 Now, the respect level is somewhat different. 113 00:15:33,166 --> 00:15:35,335 In the beginning of my addiction, I went through a phase 114 00:15:36,803 --> 00:15:40,974 common things escaped my mind on how to do them 115 00:15:41,708 --> 00:15:42,409 I couldn't wash dishes. 116 00:15:43,876 --> 00:15:46,146 I would stand at the sink and literally could not figure out 117 00:15:46,179 --> 00:15:47,880 what to do first. 118 00:15:47,914 --> 00:15:50,450 It was like my mind was blocked, I would just stand there. 119 00:15:50,483 --> 00:15:52,685 Standing on top of piles of clothes. 120 00:15:52,719 --> 00:15:54,454 Like, I didn't know how to sort clothes. 121 00:15:54,487 --> 00:15:57,090 It like drained me of my sense. 122 00:15:59,392 --> 00:16:00,860 It drained me of my sense. 123 00:16:00,893 --> 00:16:03,163 All you could think of was crack, crack, crack, crack, 124 00:16:03,196 --> 00:16:04,664 crack, crack, crack. 125 00:16:05,265 --> 00:16:07,434 (somber music) 126 00:16:08,601 --> 00:16:10,603 It was like Hurricane Katrina came through 127 00:16:11,471 --> 00:16:14,407 and ravaged my whole life. 128 00:16:15,575 --> 00:16:17,244 Everything in my house was just about gone. 129 00:16:17,277 --> 00:16:20,313 My children's TVs are gone, 130 00:16:20,347 --> 00:16:23,416 all the electronics are gone, Xboxes. 131 00:16:24,917 --> 00:16:27,854 If it was worth something, I'd sell it. 132 00:16:27,887 --> 00:16:29,789 My husband sold my son's bike. 133 00:16:31,224 --> 00:16:33,393 It was horrible, horrible. 134 00:16:36,129 --> 00:16:40,300 I remember once coming home with a pocket full of money, 135 00:16:41,901 --> 00:16:45,738 a pocket full of dope, and when I get home, 136 00:16:45,772 --> 00:16:47,674 everybody is on the porch. 137 00:16:47,707 --> 00:16:50,977 And I'm catching it from everybody. 138 00:16:51,010 --> 00:16:55,082 My mom, my cousin, my four children, my neighbor, 139 00:16:56,516 --> 00:17:00,187 my son's friends, everybody was just on the porch. 140 00:17:00,220 --> 00:17:02,855 And I decide that I'm not gonna stand here and take it 141 00:17:02,889 --> 00:17:06,726 and I walk off, and my 10-year-old daughter follows me. 142 00:17:06,759 --> 00:17:08,295 And, you know, 143 00:17:12,799 --> 00:17:16,203 I couldn't choose my child over the dope. 144 00:17:17,637 --> 00:17:21,641 We fought and argued, she laid in the middle of the street 145 00:17:22,842 --> 00:17:25,878 on Broadway just to get her momma to come home. 146 00:17:25,912 --> 00:17:27,080 And I couldn't 147 00:17:28,615 --> 00:17:32,319 choose my child over dope. 148 00:18:28,875 --> 00:18:32,212 - I went up the first part of the steps. 149 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,284 And that's when he came behind me and put me in a choke-hold 150 00:18:40,052 --> 00:18:43,055 and told me that if I screamed, 151 00:18:46,993 --> 00:18:49,596 fought, or tried to get away 152 00:18:49,629 --> 00:18:51,798 that he would kill me. 153 00:18:52,932 --> 00:18:55,968 I screamed and that's when he jumped up 154 00:18:57,770 --> 00:19:00,440 and started closing the windows. 155 00:19:03,176 --> 00:19:06,813 But I was sitting right in front of this window 156 00:19:06,846 --> 00:19:11,017 and I'm telling God that I find myself in a situation 157 00:19:12,685 --> 00:19:13,786 and to please 158 00:19:15,622 --> 00:19:19,292 don't let me die when I come out that window 159 00:19:21,828 --> 00:19:24,163 because I'm about to jump. 160 00:19:24,197 --> 00:19:27,200 (suspenseful music) 161 00:19:44,717 --> 00:19:47,387 (phone ringing) 162 00:19:52,692 --> 00:19:54,461 - [Dispatcher] Cleveland EMS and Fire, what is-- 163 00:19:54,494 --> 00:19:57,063 - [Man] Hurry up to 12205-- 164 00:19:57,096 --> 00:19:59,299 - [Dispatcher] Slow down so I can get the right address. 165 00:19:59,332 --> 00:20:01,234 - [Man] 12205 Imperial. 166 00:20:03,403 --> 00:20:06,172 She fell out the window upstairs on the second floor. 167 00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:07,340 - [Dispatcher] Is she awake? 168 00:20:07,374 --> 00:20:09,208 - [Man] She kinda awake, going in and out. 169 00:20:09,242 --> 00:20:10,610 - Is she breathing? - Yeah. 170 00:20:10,643 --> 00:20:11,611 - [Dispatcher] Which window did she fall out of, 171 00:20:11,644 --> 00:20:12,845 first or second? - I don't know. 172 00:20:12,879 --> 00:20:17,049 Shit, you ask me all (voice trailing off). 173 00:20:24,357 --> 00:20:25,358 - I woke up. 174 00:20:27,294 --> 00:20:29,195 I asked the nurse for a telephone, 175 00:20:29,228 --> 00:20:31,664 because I needed to call my husband. 176 00:20:31,698 --> 00:20:35,868 She told me, "Your husband rode with you in the ambulance." 177 00:20:39,038 --> 00:20:42,309 And I told her that was not my husband. 178 00:20:43,776 --> 00:20:46,379 (somber music) 179 00:21:03,896 --> 00:21:06,799 - Anthony was a mean child. 180 00:21:06,833 --> 00:21:08,768 The fighting, you know, 181 00:21:10,503 --> 00:21:13,573 let's say you and I were brother and sister. 182 00:21:13,606 --> 00:21:15,274 I would never at you 183 00:21:17,276 --> 00:21:19,812 in a way that I would do a stranger. 184 00:21:19,846 --> 00:21:23,650 Whereas Anthony, he would come at my like I was a stranger. 185 00:21:23,683 --> 00:21:27,454 (melancholy piano music) 186 00:21:27,487 --> 00:21:31,658 For some reason, he felt like Mother didn't love him. 187 00:21:32,759 --> 00:21:34,927 Before everything hit the fan, 188 00:21:34,961 --> 00:21:36,529 he had said a couple of things to me, 189 00:21:36,563 --> 00:21:39,699 saying that he didn't think Mommy loved him. 190 00:21:39,732 --> 00:21:41,934 And I'm looking at him like he crazy, 191 00:21:41,968 --> 00:21:43,803 like are you serious? 192 00:21:43,836 --> 00:21:46,373 I think it was the other way around. 193 00:21:46,406 --> 00:21:48,174 I don't think that he loved my mother 194 00:21:48,207 --> 00:21:50,176 the way he should. 195 00:21:50,209 --> 00:21:53,713 And when he showed the lack of compassion, 196 00:21:54,914 --> 00:21:58,117 she just kind of let him do his own thing. 197 00:21:59,085 --> 00:22:01,654 But he was always a mean child, 198 00:22:02,555 --> 00:22:04,957 very aggressive, all the time. 199 00:22:21,608 --> 00:22:24,210 - When you're in the streets and you're involved 200 00:22:24,243 --> 00:22:26,413 with street people and drugs, 201 00:22:26,446 --> 00:22:29,816 everybody is for theirself, basically. 202 00:22:29,849 --> 00:22:32,852 So you start to harden up yourself 203 00:22:32,885 --> 00:22:36,889 in order to fit in with that lifestyle. 204 00:22:36,923 --> 00:22:38,891 Because if not, you will be crushed. 205 00:22:43,262 --> 00:22:47,166 I can remember times that I have been sitting up somewhere 206 00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:50,169 getting high and I started to think about my children 207 00:22:50,202 --> 00:22:53,840 and you know, wanna talk about my children. 208 00:22:53,873 --> 00:22:57,309 And even cried before, you know. 209 00:22:57,343 --> 00:22:59,746 And people say if you gonna be doing that, 210 00:22:59,779 --> 00:23:02,281 you need to go somewhere else. 211 00:23:03,483 --> 00:23:05,818 My children, I remember them 212 00:23:07,987 --> 00:23:10,457 talking bad about me. 213 00:23:10,490 --> 00:23:13,793 I remember them, their anger was so, 214 00:23:13,826 --> 00:23:15,294 they were so upset. 215 00:23:15,327 --> 00:23:17,196 Because like I said, I was around the neighborhood. 216 00:23:17,229 --> 00:23:19,666 I was around their friends and family. 217 00:23:19,699 --> 00:23:22,502 And people see you and kids could be very cruel. 218 00:23:22,535 --> 00:23:24,370 "Your mother is a drug addict." 219 00:23:24,403 --> 00:23:25,938 "Your mother a crack head." 220 00:23:25,972 --> 00:23:29,842 And today, I know how that felt for my children 221 00:23:29,876 --> 00:23:32,344 to have to be subjected to that because 222 00:23:32,378 --> 00:23:34,781 I wanted to get high. 223 00:23:34,814 --> 00:23:36,983 It was very selfish of me. 224 00:23:41,588 --> 00:23:44,156 Really in my heart, I have always been a caring 225 00:23:44,190 --> 00:23:46,559 and compassionate individual. 226 00:23:46,593 --> 00:23:48,561 But I wasn't myself. 227 00:25:35,101 --> 00:25:38,170 (somber piano music) 228 00:25:43,409 --> 00:25:44,410 - LeShan was 229 00:25:45,845 --> 00:25:47,680 my third oldest child. 230 00:25:49,716 --> 00:25:53,886 And when she was born, well, I was doing drugs. 231 00:25:55,087 --> 00:25:57,724 I was doing drugs when she was born. 232 00:25:57,757 --> 00:26:01,928 They had to operate on her the first day she was born. 233 00:26:03,863 --> 00:26:06,733 I stayed I the hospital with her 234 00:26:06,766 --> 00:26:09,001 for I think it was 86 days. 235 00:26:10,369 --> 00:26:13,572 I stayed there and she finally came home. 236 00:26:13,606 --> 00:26:15,441 She finally came home. 237 00:26:16,743 --> 00:26:19,812 I stopped messing around for a while. 238 00:26:20,747 --> 00:26:23,349 I tried so hard not to go back. 239 00:26:24,751 --> 00:26:26,585 But I did. 240 00:26:30,657 --> 00:26:33,693 I have done lots of crazy things in my life, you know, 241 00:26:33,726 --> 00:26:37,229 to get my drugs, so I'm quite sure when she started 242 00:26:37,263 --> 00:26:40,299 doing drugs, she had to do some of the same things 243 00:26:40,332 --> 00:26:41,500 that I'd done. 244 00:26:43,803 --> 00:26:46,372 It went from my mom to me, from me to her. 245 00:26:46,405 --> 00:26:49,341 And it just, it happened like that. 246 00:26:51,844 --> 00:26:54,914 (somber piano music) 247 00:27:02,321 --> 00:27:06,292 - I don't really have a lot of memories of Crystal. 248 00:27:06,325 --> 00:27:10,496 We didn't have a really good or close relationship. 249 00:27:11,931 --> 00:27:15,968 I knew at a very early age that she had a problem. 250 00:27:19,305 --> 00:27:21,808 You'd just find drug paraphernalia, 251 00:27:21,841 --> 00:27:23,442 crack pipes, crack. 252 00:27:24,610 --> 00:27:26,312 Sounds, I woke up in the middle of the night, 253 00:27:26,345 --> 00:27:27,814 I'd see them doing that. 254 00:27:27,847 --> 00:27:29,949 Just like a kid that grows up and watches their parents 255 00:27:29,982 --> 00:27:31,984 cook breakfast every day. 256 00:27:32,018 --> 00:27:33,686 It becomes the norm. 257 00:27:35,988 --> 00:27:37,423 I'll never forget, me and my sister, 258 00:27:37,456 --> 00:27:41,627 for about a week-and-a-half, ate teaspoons of peanut butter, 259 00:27:42,762 --> 00:27:43,963 for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 260 00:27:43,996 --> 00:27:46,298 And that's all, that's the way we survived. 261 00:27:46,332 --> 00:27:48,901 I had a can of peanut butter in my bookbag. 262 00:27:48,935 --> 00:27:51,771 And I would give myself a teaspoon 263 00:27:51,804 --> 00:27:54,006 and her a teaspoon for breakfast. 264 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:57,576 And when we met up after school, her a teaspoon 265 00:27:57,609 --> 00:27:59,378 and me a teaspoon for lunch. 266 00:27:59,411 --> 00:28:03,449 And for dinner, her a teaspoon and me a teaspoon. 267 00:28:07,153 --> 00:28:09,055 Crystal always tried to get clean. 268 00:28:09,088 --> 00:28:10,857 And you know she was trying to get clean 269 00:28:10,890 --> 00:28:12,759 because she was around. 270 00:28:12,792 --> 00:28:14,794 I remember one day she was upstairs 271 00:28:14,827 --> 00:28:16,896 at my great-grandmother's house, 272 00:28:16,929 --> 00:28:19,531 and she was on the phone crying. 273 00:28:19,565 --> 00:28:21,868 She was talking about how she wanted to get clean. 274 00:28:21,901 --> 00:28:23,736 And she just couldn't, 275 00:28:24,703 --> 00:28:26,739 she kept giving in 276 00:28:26,773 --> 00:28:29,909 and she didn't know what to do. 277 00:28:29,942 --> 00:28:30,777 She wanted to be a mother. 278 00:28:30,810 --> 00:28:32,211 She wanted to be, 279 00:28:33,379 --> 00:28:35,447 she wanted to be normal, you know? 280 00:28:35,481 --> 00:28:37,817 She didn't want to be addicted anymore. 281 00:28:37,850 --> 00:28:38,684 And 282 00:28:40,887 --> 00:28:43,222 I don't know, I knew when she came around, 283 00:28:43,255 --> 00:28:44,123 that's what she wanted. 284 00:28:44,156 --> 00:28:45,124 She wanted to be clean. 285 00:28:45,157 --> 00:28:47,426 She wanted to feel loved. 286 00:28:47,459 --> 00:28:50,029 She wanted to have her family. 287 00:28:50,062 --> 00:28:53,165 (somber piano music) 288 00:29:02,775 --> 00:29:04,911 - There's this place that's not too far from here 289 00:29:04,944 --> 00:29:08,948 we used to keep our clothes, and we got evicted. 290 00:29:08,981 --> 00:29:11,217 And we used to keep our clothes over there. 291 00:29:11,250 --> 00:29:14,253 And I kinda forgot about that place. 292 00:29:15,587 --> 00:29:17,456 And I walked past there this summer 293 00:29:17,489 --> 00:29:19,725 and I could just, I could feel her. 294 00:29:19,758 --> 00:29:23,462 I could feel her just like she was there. 295 00:29:23,495 --> 00:29:25,364 We didn't have a child, we didn't have work. 296 00:29:25,397 --> 00:29:29,568 And we would walk from one side of town to the other 297 00:29:30,169 --> 00:29:31,170 in December. 298 00:29:35,174 --> 00:29:37,977 It'd take us 45 minutes to get to where we were going, 299 00:29:38,010 --> 00:29:41,580 you know, at like 3 o'clock in the morning. 300 00:29:42,581 --> 00:29:44,183 The boots that she had on, 301 00:29:44,216 --> 00:29:48,387 they weren't for being, like out in the cold like that. 302 00:29:51,090 --> 00:29:52,925 I remember giving her like 120 bucks 303 00:29:52,959 --> 00:29:56,062 to go get her some really nice boots. 304 00:29:58,597 --> 00:30:02,668 When I got off of work, she had these moon boots. 305 00:30:04,103 --> 00:30:06,172 They were the ugliest boots I'd ever seen in my life. 306 00:30:06,205 --> 00:30:10,209 But they were warm, and she was happy with them. 307 00:30:11,610 --> 00:30:15,281 But she didn't just get one pair, she got two pair. 308 00:30:17,783 --> 00:30:21,954 'Cause I would wrap my feet with plastic and she said 309 00:30:22,889 --> 00:30:24,857 there was no way that I could be, 310 00:30:27,994 --> 00:30:30,762 she didn't want me, you know, my feet getting wet. 311 00:30:30,796 --> 00:30:33,365 She didn't want me to get sick. 312 00:30:35,534 --> 00:30:39,538 She was a very caring person when she was sober. 313 00:32:30,416 --> 00:32:33,152 (birds chirping) 314 00:32:45,864 --> 00:32:48,867 - I had gotten to the point where I was so small, 315 00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:52,738 that I could wear a 10/12 toddler. 316 00:32:54,173 --> 00:32:57,976 So I would go in the store and buy a dress or get a dress 317 00:32:59,178 --> 00:33:00,712 and put it on. 318 00:33:00,746 --> 00:33:03,815 And when I fixed myself up, I would look like a little girl. 319 00:33:03,849 --> 00:33:05,351 And it would show, 320 00:33:06,718 --> 00:33:10,489 I got a lot of approaches and a lot of dates, 321 00:33:11,657 --> 00:33:14,093 just because I looked like a little girl. 322 00:33:14,126 --> 00:33:16,762 I carhopped, I jumped in and out of cars. 323 00:33:16,795 --> 00:33:19,898 But, there ain't even no buts in that. 324 00:33:19,931 --> 00:33:22,101 I jumped in a lot of cars. 325 00:33:23,535 --> 00:33:26,205 If you really looked high, I wouldn't get in your car. 326 00:33:26,238 --> 00:33:28,374 But if I seen you in the neighborhood, 327 00:33:28,407 --> 00:33:31,877 you know, you got smoke, I'm like in your car. 328 00:33:31,910 --> 00:33:34,313 So I had regular people 329 00:33:34,346 --> 00:33:37,449 who you would never even, you know, 330 00:33:37,483 --> 00:33:38,750 sick people. 331 00:33:38,784 --> 00:33:40,652 There's some sick people out there. 332 00:33:46,092 --> 00:33:49,661 - In 2008, 333 00:33:51,097 --> 00:33:53,332 we were beginning to follow what we call 334 00:33:53,365 --> 00:33:55,567 the vision of this church. 335 00:33:55,601 --> 00:33:59,105 We began to go out and go into the area. 336 00:33:59,138 --> 00:34:01,673 We would just walk various streets, 337 00:34:01,707 --> 00:34:03,742 passing out literature, 338 00:34:03,775 --> 00:34:05,844 letting everyone know who we are as Mt. Olive. 339 00:34:05,877 --> 00:34:08,914 And all we were doing was just walking in the area. 340 00:34:08,947 --> 00:34:11,750 Among the places we walked, 341 00:34:11,783 --> 00:34:14,586 we walked around 123rd. 342 00:34:15,321 --> 00:34:18,390 (solemn piano music) 343 00:34:21,727 --> 00:34:22,994 When we stopped 344 00:34:24,296 --> 00:34:25,464 at this corner 345 00:34:27,966 --> 00:34:31,069 of 123rd and Imperial, and we prayed. 346 00:34:34,973 --> 00:34:36,208 I do not know, 347 00:34:36,242 --> 00:34:37,876 I know now why we stopped. 348 00:34:37,909 --> 00:34:40,779 I didn't know at the time. 349 00:34:40,812 --> 00:34:44,983 We feel strong about being led by the spirit of God. 350 00:34:53,125 --> 00:34:55,927 There was activity in the area. 351 00:34:55,961 --> 00:34:58,597 And all of it was not uplifting activity. 352 00:34:58,630 --> 00:35:01,733 Some of it was just the activity 353 00:35:01,767 --> 00:35:05,871 that represents the social ills of our community. 354 00:35:06,738 --> 00:35:08,840 And as we made ready to stop, 355 00:35:10,242 --> 00:35:13,479 some of the things that were going on, 356 00:35:13,512 --> 00:35:17,683 some things that maybe didn't look as legal 357 00:35:18,417 --> 00:35:20,452 or nice to me stopped. 358 00:35:22,454 --> 00:35:25,257 Some of the young men, and young ladies 359 00:35:25,291 --> 00:35:27,226 that were just around, 360 00:35:27,259 --> 00:35:30,996 came over and joined in our circle of prayer. 361 00:35:37,569 --> 00:35:39,605 People are looking for relief. 362 00:35:39,638 --> 00:35:42,408 People that you would least think 363 00:35:43,609 --> 00:35:46,345 are concerned with their well-being, 364 00:35:47,846 --> 00:35:49,448 are very concerned. 365 00:35:50,782 --> 00:35:52,384 We prayed for them. 366 00:35:53,519 --> 00:35:56,822 We prayed loud, we prayed long. 367 00:38:03,148 --> 00:38:07,319 - I had talked to her the day before Mother's Day. 368 00:38:08,487 --> 00:38:10,322 We talked on the phone and everything. 369 00:38:11,490 --> 00:38:14,159 And I stopped by, just seen her, and what-not. 370 00:38:14,192 --> 00:38:18,163 And I made sure I didn't call on Mother's Day, 371 00:38:18,196 --> 00:38:21,967 because I didn't feel like I should wish her 372 00:38:22,701 --> 00:38:23,268 a happy Mother's Day. 373 00:38:24,135 --> 00:38:26,438 I grew up by myself, you know. 374 00:38:26,472 --> 00:38:29,307 You didn't earn the title to me. 375 00:38:29,341 --> 00:38:33,512 So the next day after Mother's Day, she had disappeared. 376 00:38:34,846 --> 00:38:37,015 I figured, you know, she probably got upset 377 00:38:37,048 --> 00:38:39,250 that I didn't wish her Mother's Day. 378 00:38:39,284 --> 00:38:41,753 And I talked to her the day before. 379 00:38:43,154 --> 00:38:45,090 So I gave it a few more days. 380 00:38:45,123 --> 00:38:49,027 And after that, I went and filed a police report on her. 381 00:38:50,529 --> 00:38:53,098 I filed one, my sister filed one, 382 00:38:53,131 --> 00:38:55,033 and my aunt filed one. 383 00:38:56,134 --> 00:38:57,669 Everybody knew something was wrong. 384 00:38:59,938 --> 00:39:03,475 Officer said, well, you know, she's an adult. 385 00:39:03,509 --> 00:39:06,244 She's over 18, she has the right to go missing. 386 00:39:06,277 --> 00:39:07,879 And there's not much we can do. 387 00:39:07,913 --> 00:39:10,048 That's what the officers told me. 388 00:39:11,717 --> 00:39:14,753 I don't think that's something they should tell me. 389 00:39:16,221 --> 00:39:18,424 It's not their job to take away somebody else's hope. 390 00:39:31,737 --> 00:39:33,905 There are some good cops out there. 391 00:39:35,006 --> 00:39:36,442 There's some beautiful cops out there. 392 00:39:36,475 --> 00:39:37,976 There's some cops out there that really do care 393 00:39:38,009 --> 00:39:39,778 about their job. 394 00:39:39,811 --> 00:39:40,979 But there's some out there 395 00:39:41,012 --> 00:39:43,949 that just don't give a hit, you know? 396 00:39:45,283 --> 00:39:47,853 (solemn music) 397 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:56,862 I was hysterical, I was just crying. 398 00:39:56,895 --> 00:39:58,329 My head was bleeding and everything. 399 00:39:58,363 --> 00:40:01,299 And I ran across the street to the pizza place. 400 00:40:02,434 --> 00:40:03,669 I asked them can they call the police 401 00:40:03,702 --> 00:40:05,170 because a man was trying to kill me. 402 00:40:07,639 --> 00:40:09,675 They said they don't want nothing to do with it. 403 00:40:09,708 --> 00:40:13,111 I had to leave because I was bleeding on their floor. 404 00:40:15,013 --> 00:40:18,450 I don't know what they believed, I don't know. 405 00:40:19,317 --> 00:40:20,486 I don't know what they felt. 406 00:40:20,519 --> 00:40:21,587 I know they were out there laughing. 407 00:40:31,697 --> 00:40:34,299 The detective that took the report, 408 00:40:34,332 --> 00:40:36,367 she had told me he had just got finished 409 00:40:36,401 --> 00:40:39,037 with 15 years for the same thing. 410 00:40:39,070 --> 00:40:43,274 She ran his jacket, I mean rape, everything on there. 411 00:40:46,545 --> 00:40:50,716 It turned out that it was his word against mine. 412 00:41:07,699 --> 00:41:09,801 I have nightmares every day. 413 00:41:09,835 --> 00:41:11,870 I don't sleep at all. 414 00:41:14,205 --> 00:41:17,275 In fact, my love life, my husband, everything. 415 00:41:18,143 --> 00:41:19,978 I will sleep fully clothed 416 00:41:20,912 --> 00:41:21,980 on the couch. 417 00:41:23,314 --> 00:41:26,051 I don't want him to touch me sometimes. 418 00:41:26,084 --> 00:41:28,987 I've been with that man nine years. 419 00:41:30,889 --> 00:41:33,458 (solemn music) 420 00:41:47,338 --> 00:41:49,941 I begged, I said you would y'all let him go? 421 00:41:49,975 --> 00:41:51,509 She said, "Well, the prosecutor says 422 00:41:51,543 --> 00:41:54,512 "there just wasn't enough evidence to keep him." 423 00:41:56,848 --> 00:42:00,251 They don't listen to women that are on drugs. 424 00:42:00,285 --> 00:42:01,687 They don't listen to them. 425 00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:03,021 They're nothing. 426 00:42:17,969 --> 00:42:22,140 - So attitude towards women, he was of life. 427 00:42:23,008 --> 00:42:24,643 He was polite, courteous. 428 00:42:24,676 --> 00:42:28,013 You know, he was like the boy next door. 429 00:42:33,652 --> 00:42:36,287 If he see a guy acting up on a female staff member 430 00:42:36,321 --> 00:42:39,725 that he likes or get along with, 431 00:42:39,758 --> 00:42:42,694 then he would confront that inmate. 432 00:42:43,595 --> 00:42:45,831 That's how his persona was. 433 00:42:46,965 --> 00:42:50,268 (gently dramatic music) 434 00:42:51,302 --> 00:42:52,570 They had a sex offender program 435 00:42:52,604 --> 00:42:54,773 inside the Grafton Institution. 436 00:42:54,806 --> 00:42:58,343 And he's like, "I'm not gonna join no program like that, 437 00:42:58,376 --> 00:43:01,947 "because I don't want nobody to know my business. 438 00:43:03,081 --> 00:43:04,115 And that was one of his main faults. 439 00:43:04,149 --> 00:43:05,751 He was still in denial. 440 00:43:05,784 --> 00:43:07,986 He'll say, "No matter if they put me in isolation, 441 00:43:08,019 --> 00:43:09,621 "no matter if they put me in the hole, 442 00:43:09,655 --> 00:43:11,456 "no matter they ride me out, 443 00:43:11,489 --> 00:43:13,692 "no matter if I bust somebody's head with a lock, 444 00:43:13,725 --> 00:43:17,528 "or a stock, or whatever, I'm gonna do 15 years my way." 445 00:43:17,562 --> 00:43:19,931 And he did 15 years his way. 446 00:43:19,965 --> 00:43:23,301 (gently dramatic music) 447 00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:46,624 - I was standing out in front of a store 448 00:43:47,793 --> 00:43:50,295 when Anthony Sowell came walking past. 449 00:43:51,997 --> 00:43:55,667 In each one of his hands he had a bag. 450 00:43:55,701 --> 00:43:59,738 And a bag contained two 40 ounces of beer. 451 00:43:59,771 --> 00:44:01,707 I could hear them cling. 452 00:44:01,740 --> 00:44:04,042 So I asked him, you know, "Where you going? 453 00:44:04,075 --> 00:44:04,976 "What you gonna do? 454 00:44:05,010 --> 00:44:05,977 "Can I have some beer with you?" 455 00:44:06,712 --> 00:44:07,846 He said, "Come on." 456 00:44:15,721 --> 00:44:18,356 when I first went to the house, it was a two-family. 457 00:44:18,389 --> 00:44:20,959 But he lived in like the attic apartment. 458 00:44:22,994 --> 00:44:27,032 This day we did not go on the third floor, where we usually, 459 00:44:28,199 --> 00:44:29,300 where I had been every other time. 460 00:44:30,168 --> 00:44:31,302 We went on the second floor. 461 00:44:32,738 --> 00:44:36,641 I asked him why we don't go upstairs to his apartment. 462 00:44:37,776 --> 00:44:40,178 And he told me that it was dirty. 463 00:44:43,281 --> 00:44:47,452 (people chatting) (gently dramatic music) 464 00:45:03,769 --> 00:45:06,237 We continued to do drugs. 465 00:45:06,271 --> 00:45:08,840 And we moved into another room. 466 00:45:10,275 --> 00:45:14,179 In that room, I remember a blanket being on the floor, 467 00:45:15,113 --> 00:45:17,215 an extension cord that was cut, 468 00:45:17,248 --> 00:45:19,818 a piece of an extension cord. 469 00:45:19,851 --> 00:45:22,854 And I remember him bringing a chair. 470 00:45:25,656 --> 00:45:27,658 He asked me to turn around. 471 00:45:27,692 --> 00:45:29,094 And I think I'm turning around, 472 00:45:29,127 --> 00:45:31,529 maybe showing him how I look. 473 00:45:31,562 --> 00:45:34,132 You know, I'm tipsy, high, no right state of mind. 474 00:45:34,165 --> 00:45:35,934 And when I turned around, 475 00:45:35,967 --> 00:45:38,503 he put his hand on the back of my neck. 476 00:45:38,536 --> 00:45:40,939 And really hard, he squeezed. 477 00:45:42,107 --> 00:45:44,976 And I turned around and I pushed him. 478 00:45:45,844 --> 00:45:47,178 And that's when he hit me. 479 00:45:47,212 --> 00:45:49,747 And he hit me in my face really hard, 480 00:45:49,781 --> 00:45:52,617 to where we ain't playing no more. 481 00:45:58,790 --> 00:46:02,928 He ripped my shirt and he made me turn over on my stomach. 482 00:46:04,062 --> 00:46:05,563 And that's when he got the extension cord 483 00:46:05,596 --> 00:46:08,033 and he put it around my neck. 484 00:46:12,203 --> 00:46:16,107 When I woke up, I remember my neck was burning. 485 00:46:17,375 --> 00:46:19,110 I remember being wet. 486 00:46:21,079 --> 00:46:25,016 And then I sat straight up off the blanket. 487 00:46:26,217 --> 00:46:27,685 At that time, I could see a little bit more. 488 00:46:27,718 --> 00:46:31,056 And I seen him sitting in front of me in a chair. 489 00:46:35,326 --> 00:46:37,462 I seen his eyes bulge, 490 00:46:38,563 --> 00:46:41,599 because he was shocked that I was woke. 491 00:46:43,869 --> 00:46:46,304 He said he was going to kill me and hisself, 492 00:46:46,337 --> 00:46:48,139 because he knew he was going to jail. 493 00:46:48,173 --> 00:46:50,141 I told him, "You're not going to jail." 494 00:46:51,609 --> 00:46:53,544 I said, "But I ain't never coming over here no more." 495 00:46:54,379 --> 00:46:55,813 He told me he was sorry. 496 00:46:56,882 --> 00:46:57,582 He'd been going through a lot of things. 497 00:46:58,716 --> 00:47:00,051 I'm like, "Well, I ain't did nothing to you." 498 00:47:00,085 --> 00:47:01,953 As he was talking and everything, 499 00:47:01,987 --> 00:47:03,821 I was still getting dressed. 500 00:47:03,855 --> 00:47:07,158 We left, we walked down the steps. 501 00:47:07,192 --> 00:47:11,396 And he stood in the door and I walked down the driveway. 502 00:47:12,763 --> 00:47:15,133 I looked back a couple of times to see was he still there. 503 00:47:16,601 --> 00:47:19,670 Soon as I hit the corner, I took off running. 504 00:47:20,405 --> 00:47:23,708 (gently dramatic music) 505 00:47:53,638 --> 00:47:56,307 - It's funny 'cause I would ride down the street oftentimes 506 00:47:57,742 --> 00:48:00,511 and I would see people that looked just like Crystal. 507 00:48:00,545 --> 00:48:03,648 And I would stop the car and get a better glimpse at them. 508 00:48:03,681 --> 00:48:05,316 And like, okay, that's not her. 509 00:48:05,350 --> 00:48:06,817 So you always riding down the street 510 00:48:06,851 --> 00:48:09,854 and you're always looking and wonder is that her? 511 00:48:09,887 --> 00:48:11,322 Is that her? 512 00:48:11,356 --> 00:48:14,292 You know, wondering, maybe she's in a mental institution. 513 00:48:14,325 --> 00:48:17,929 Maybe she, you know, maybe she's in prison. 514 00:48:17,963 --> 00:48:19,597 Then you checking the prison records. 515 00:48:19,630 --> 00:48:21,199 They don't see her. 516 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:25,303 I had been checking down at the coroner's office 517 00:48:25,336 --> 00:48:29,074 for a while now, trying to see if they had any Jane Does. 518 00:48:29,807 --> 00:48:30,976 You know, nothing. 519 00:48:33,378 --> 00:48:36,481 So that's when I started putting up the flyers. 520 00:48:42,420 --> 00:48:46,591 From 130th and Buckeye all the way down to 93rd. 521 00:48:47,993 --> 00:48:50,595 From 93rd and Buckeye all the way over to Miles. 522 00:48:52,697 --> 00:48:54,699 And nobody had seen her. 523 00:48:57,402 --> 00:49:00,972 It's hard, 'cause a lot of days you spend 524 00:49:01,006 --> 00:49:02,440 a lot of time wondering. 525 00:49:10,848 --> 00:49:13,784 I would have never thought that she had been killed. 526 00:49:48,153 --> 00:49:49,454 - [Reporter] To some extent, the investigation here 527 00:49:49,487 --> 00:49:50,688 is just beginning. 528 00:49:50,721 --> 00:49:51,856 Police are going to be going through this house 529 00:49:51,889 --> 00:49:53,791 inch by inch, trying to determine-- 530 00:49:53,824 --> 00:49:55,793 - [Reporter] Police discovered six decomposed 531 00:49:55,826 --> 00:49:57,728 and dismembered bodies inside this home. 532 00:49:57,762 --> 00:49:58,863 - [Reporter] Okay, so far no identities 533 00:49:58,896 --> 00:50:00,131 on any of the victims. 534 00:50:00,165 --> 00:50:01,066 But we do know that 10 bodies are those 535 00:50:01,099 --> 00:50:02,833 of African-American women. 536 00:50:04,269 --> 00:50:05,036 - [Reporter] What happened in this house behind me 537 00:50:05,070 --> 00:50:06,471 is simply a nightmare. 538 00:50:06,504 --> 00:50:08,439 And there are a lot of deeply disturbing questions 539 00:50:08,473 --> 00:50:10,241 for authorities here. 540 00:50:10,275 --> 00:50:12,877 (solemn music) 541 00:51:10,635 --> 00:51:12,470 - I actually met him around the corner, 542 00:51:12,503 --> 00:51:14,004 right around like two streets. 543 00:51:14,038 --> 00:51:15,340 - [Interviewer] Do you think he was hiding something? 544 00:51:16,207 --> 00:51:17,442 - No, he was in plain view. 545 00:51:17,475 --> 00:51:20,111 He said meet him, I met him on the street. 546 00:51:20,145 --> 00:51:21,546 We stood there and we talked. 547 00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:23,681 It was two streets away. 548 00:51:24,549 --> 00:51:25,883 I met him two streets away. 549 00:51:28,486 --> 00:51:30,020 He said, "I got something to tell you." 550 00:51:30,054 --> 00:51:30,855 I'm like, "What? 551 00:51:30,888 --> 00:51:32,022 "What, tell me." 552 00:51:41,031 --> 00:51:44,702 He said, "Everything that they say is true." 553 00:51:45,936 --> 00:51:47,905 He said, "I don't know why I did it. 554 00:51:48,539 --> 00:51:49,740 "I spazzed out. 555 00:51:49,774 --> 00:51:52,477 "I'm just all fucked up in the head." 556 00:51:53,711 --> 00:51:55,613 That's exactly what he said. 557 00:51:58,216 --> 00:52:00,885 He said, "I love you, I'm gonna call you later." 558 00:52:00,918 --> 00:52:01,752 He said, "But I gotta go, 559 00:52:02,953 --> 00:52:03,721 "because the police are looking for me." 560 00:52:03,754 --> 00:52:04,589 And he walked off. 561 00:52:07,558 --> 00:52:10,861 That's my brother and I love him as my brother. 562 00:52:11,729 --> 00:52:13,564 But I'm thinking in my head, 563 00:52:13,598 --> 00:52:17,535 like Tressa, how, like how did you not know this? 564 00:52:18,403 --> 00:52:20,004 How did you not see this? 565 00:52:22,407 --> 00:52:24,775 At some point, I should have seen it. 566 00:52:25,943 --> 00:52:28,246 It was crazy, it was really crazy. 567 00:52:28,979 --> 00:52:32,317 (gently dramatic music) 568 00:53:43,053 --> 00:53:46,624 (gently suspenseful music) 569 00:54:14,685 --> 00:54:17,588 - I've stayed in abandoned houses. 570 00:54:19,324 --> 00:54:21,826 No bathroom, no water, no heat, 571 00:54:21,859 --> 00:54:25,195 no lights, no bed, no doors, no windows. 572 00:54:27,765 --> 00:54:29,500 You know, who would want to live like that? 573 00:54:29,967 --> 00:54:30,801 No food. 574 00:54:31,669 --> 00:54:33,137 There's no running water. 575 00:54:34,505 --> 00:54:37,475 So after the toilet's filled, there's the bathtub. 576 00:54:38,876 --> 00:54:41,946 The bathtub was the toilet, you know? 577 00:54:43,648 --> 00:54:45,182 Then there's the sink. 578 00:54:45,215 --> 00:54:48,252 Then there's the rooms that are not occupied. 579 00:54:48,285 --> 00:54:50,287 Then there's the corners. 580 00:54:50,321 --> 00:54:51,622 Then there's the stairs. 581 00:54:51,656 --> 00:54:52,490 I mean, 582 00:54:56,894 --> 00:54:57,728 the smell. 583 00:55:07,405 --> 00:55:08,973 After you get high 584 00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:11,409 and after you been there, 585 00:55:12,410 --> 00:55:14,845 you don't pay it any, 586 00:55:16,246 --> 00:55:19,249 you know, I felt that's what I deserved in the world. 587 00:57:03,588 --> 00:57:06,190 (solemn music) 588 00:57:30,014 --> 00:57:32,349 - My sister called me and told me that they came 589 00:57:32,382 --> 00:57:34,519 and knocked on the door and told her 590 00:57:34,552 --> 00:57:37,555 that Crystal was one of the victims. 591 00:57:38,723 --> 00:57:41,391 You just want to, you just hate them. 592 00:57:41,425 --> 00:57:42,259 Why? 593 00:57:46,163 --> 00:57:49,567 Crystal lost custody of me when I was three years old. 594 00:57:50,868 --> 00:57:52,402 I've learned to appreciate her a lot more 595 00:57:52,436 --> 00:57:53,904 since she's been gone 596 00:57:53,938 --> 00:57:56,340 than I did when she was here. 597 00:58:31,709 --> 00:58:32,943 - [Court Reporter] Do you solemnly swear that the testimony 598 00:58:32,977 --> 00:58:34,244 you're about to give shall be the truth, 599 00:58:34,278 --> 00:58:35,412 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, 600 00:58:35,445 --> 00:58:36,781 so help you God? 601 00:58:37,882 --> 00:58:39,617 - My name is Vanessa Gay. 602 00:58:39,650 --> 00:58:43,821 That's V-A-N-E-S-S-A G-A-Y. 603 00:58:45,389 --> 00:58:48,125 - [Court Reporter] Thank you, all right respond to this. 604 00:58:48,158 --> 00:58:49,727 - [Prosecutor] Good afternoon, Miss Gay, how are you? 605 00:58:49,760 --> 00:58:50,661 - I'm here. 606 00:58:55,499 --> 00:58:57,001 - [Prosecutor] How old you, Miss Gay? 607 00:58:57,034 --> 00:58:58,569 - [Vanessa] I'm thirty seven 608 00:58:59,770 --> 00:59:02,006 - [Prosecutor] Focus in on me, all right? 609 00:59:03,173 --> 00:59:04,742 I'd like to direct your attention to... 610 00:59:07,712 --> 00:59:10,080 - I was standing at the bank, 611 00:59:10,114 --> 00:59:14,284 and this man walked past with a bike on his cell phone. 612 00:59:15,519 --> 00:59:18,823 He stays in range so that he could say, 613 00:59:18,856 --> 00:59:23,027 "It's my birthday and nobody's celebrating my birthday." 614 00:59:24,228 --> 00:59:25,529 I told him, "I don't celebrate birthdays, 615 00:59:25,562 --> 00:59:27,331 "but happy birthday." 616 00:59:28,633 --> 00:59:31,035 I'm thinking, do I stay out here 617 00:59:31,902 --> 00:59:32,637 and wait for something else? 618 00:59:33,370 --> 00:59:34,404 Or do I go with him? 619 00:59:37,241 --> 00:59:41,078 People saying hi to him as we walking. 620 00:59:41,812 --> 00:59:43,814 Nothing to indicate or 621 00:59:46,316 --> 00:59:48,953 that the whole night was going to be terrible. 622 00:59:53,157 --> 00:59:56,426 When we got to his house, we step in 623 00:59:57,294 --> 00:59:59,129 and you can feel a eerie, 624 01:00:00,631 --> 01:00:02,366 just a eerie feeling. 625 01:00:03,533 --> 01:00:07,638 And then the closer you got up the stairs, 626 01:00:08,372 --> 01:00:09,740 you smelled something. 627 01:00:14,011 --> 01:00:14,845 And um, 628 01:00:17,047 --> 01:00:18,716 I asked him, "So what's up?" 629 01:00:19,884 --> 01:00:20,685 I meant, "So is we about to smoke? 630 01:00:21,418 --> 01:00:22,186 "Is we about to drink? 631 01:00:22,219 --> 01:00:23,420 "What we about to do?" 632 01:00:23,453 --> 01:00:26,056 He said, "Yeah, have you got a thing? 633 01:00:26,090 --> 01:00:28,693 "Why don't you make a stem?" 634 01:00:28,726 --> 01:00:31,395 And I stood up and handed it to him. 635 01:00:37,501 --> 01:00:39,336 He turned his back and 636 01:00:40,637 --> 01:00:41,772 put something on it. 637 01:00:41,806 --> 01:00:43,640 And you heard a lighter. 638 01:00:43,674 --> 01:00:47,812 You heard sizzle and then you feel the punch. 639 01:00:48,979 --> 01:00:51,148 He turned around and punched me in the face. 640 01:00:52,382 --> 01:00:54,919 Tell me to take, "Bitch, take your clothes off." 641 01:01:05,662 --> 01:01:08,665 I did exactly what he told me to do. 642 01:01:10,667 --> 01:01:12,369 He looked me in my eyes. 643 01:01:12,402 --> 01:01:16,006 And I've never seen anybody's eyes as evil. 644 01:01:18,809 --> 01:01:20,711 All you're seeing was black holes. 645 01:01:20,745 --> 01:01:23,480 You didn't see a spark, you didn't see a, 646 01:01:23,513 --> 01:01:25,182 you just seen black. 647 01:01:27,617 --> 01:01:30,620 As I got raped, raped, raped, 648 01:01:32,456 --> 01:01:34,691 and beat and beat and beat. 649 01:01:35,826 --> 01:01:38,763 It went on hours and hours and hours. 650 01:01:54,144 --> 01:01:58,315 That morning I asked him could I use the bathroom. 651 01:01:59,716 --> 01:02:01,385 And um, 652 01:02:03,487 --> 01:02:04,822 he told me yeah. 653 01:02:06,290 --> 01:02:10,094 - [Prosecutor] As you walked to the bathroom, 654 01:02:10,127 --> 01:02:11,962 did you notice anything-- - Yes. 655 01:02:12,830 --> 01:02:14,398 - About the room on the left? 656 01:02:16,801 --> 01:02:19,636 (Vanessa sobbing) 657 01:02:24,308 --> 01:02:26,811 - The plastic was pulled up 658 01:02:26,844 --> 01:02:28,745 and I saw something on the floor. 659 01:02:28,779 --> 01:02:31,615 (Vanessa sobbing) 660 01:02:35,185 --> 01:02:37,287 It was like, it was like, 661 01:02:37,321 --> 01:02:38,488 it was a body. 662 01:02:38,522 --> 01:02:40,290 It had no head on it. 663 01:02:41,191 --> 01:02:44,028 (Vanessa sobbing) 664 01:03:08,218 --> 01:03:09,419 - [Prosecutor] Did you use the bathroom? 665 01:03:09,453 --> 01:03:10,287 - Yes. 666 01:03:14,258 --> 01:03:16,160 - [Prosecutor] Was he nearby when you used the bathroom? 667 01:03:16,193 --> 01:03:19,429 - I think he was outside the door, I don't know. 668 01:03:21,198 --> 01:03:25,369 I just know I thought it was over, the end, for real. 669 01:03:25,836 --> 01:03:27,037 I just, 670 01:03:27,905 --> 01:03:29,806 I kept thinking to myself, this, 671 01:03:29,840 --> 01:03:31,375 I can't see why I have to, 672 01:03:31,408 --> 01:03:35,045 this is not possible, this is not real. 673 01:03:36,180 --> 01:03:37,848 I'm thinking not to cry too much or. 674 01:03:37,882 --> 01:03:40,050 It was, I seen what I saw. 675 01:03:49,059 --> 01:03:51,528 I had to go to the bathroom 676 01:03:52,129 --> 01:03:53,097 without um, 677 01:03:54,899 --> 01:03:57,501 without acknowledging anything, 678 01:03:58,702 --> 01:04:00,871 without changing my expression, 679 01:04:00,905 --> 01:04:02,772 without freaking out, 680 01:04:02,806 --> 01:04:04,008 without crying, 681 01:04:08,512 --> 01:04:11,982 without letting him know that I seen, 682 01:04:12,016 --> 01:04:13,850 I seen that, you know. 683 01:04:17,988 --> 01:04:21,458 I mean, I was not supposed to make it out of there. 684 01:04:21,491 --> 01:04:24,661 Really, I was not supposed to make it. 685 01:04:27,764 --> 01:04:30,968 I was not supposed to make it out of there. 686 01:04:42,812 --> 01:04:45,715 He kept saying, "You gonna tell. 687 01:04:45,749 --> 01:04:47,551 "If I let you go, you're gonna tell." 688 01:04:47,584 --> 01:04:49,353 I said, "Tell what? 689 01:04:50,287 --> 01:04:51,821 "Might have been a little rougher 690 01:04:51,855 --> 01:04:53,490 "than maybe I'm used to, but, 691 01:04:53,523 --> 01:04:55,225 "what am I gonna tell?" 692 01:05:02,666 --> 01:05:04,101 When he got his keys. 693 01:05:05,435 --> 01:05:07,637 I walked arm-in-arm, standing right by his side, 694 01:05:09,006 --> 01:05:12,142 because I felt if he got behind me, I'm not gonna make it. 695 01:05:17,047 --> 01:05:21,218 We walked up those stairs and he opened that door, 696 01:05:21,818 --> 01:05:22,386 and I was out. 697 01:05:24,221 --> 01:05:28,192 I went down the street limping and bleeding and everything. 698 01:05:28,225 --> 01:05:31,061 Just done, my whole body was done. 699 01:05:33,530 --> 01:05:35,699 It was a Sunday morning. 700 01:05:35,732 --> 01:05:38,335 I went to all these churches, they turned the other way. 701 01:05:38,368 --> 01:05:41,271 I heard a couple people laugh, you know. 702 01:05:41,305 --> 01:05:43,073 And nobody helped me. 703 01:05:45,209 --> 01:05:46,610 Nobody helped me. 704 01:05:48,145 --> 01:05:50,981 (Vanessa sobbing) 705 01:06:13,503 --> 01:06:17,674 I went to the bando, and I slept, and slept, and slept. 706 01:06:26,516 --> 01:06:29,986 When I was on crack, people already thought I was crazy. 707 01:06:31,155 --> 01:06:33,590 Already didn't want to believe an addict. 708 01:06:33,623 --> 01:06:36,293 They don't want to believe an addict anyway. 709 01:06:37,027 --> 01:06:38,162 So I just stayed high. 710 01:06:43,900 --> 01:06:45,569 - Thank you, Miss Gay, you may step down. 711 01:06:47,204 --> 01:06:49,339 We're going to take a break. 712 01:06:49,373 --> 01:06:51,341 We'll be back in about five minutes... 713 01:06:51,375 --> 01:06:53,943 (solemn music) 714 01:07:18,802 --> 01:07:21,438 We therefore unanimously find that the sentence of death 715 01:07:21,471 --> 01:07:24,341 should be imposed upon the defendant, Anthony Sowell. 716 01:07:24,374 --> 01:07:27,177 All 12 jurors have signed their name to this very form 717 01:07:27,211 --> 01:07:29,413 and have not signed any contrary form. 718 01:07:29,446 --> 01:07:32,916 Are these your verdicts, Juror number 1? 719 01:07:32,949 --> 01:07:35,552 And Juror number 2, are these your verdicts? 720 01:07:35,585 --> 01:07:37,354 Juror number 3, are these your verdicts? 721 01:07:37,387 --> 01:07:39,723 Juror number 4, are these your verdicts? 722 01:07:40,924 --> 01:07:41,925 Juror number 5, are these your verdicts? 723 01:07:43,127 --> 01:07:44,060 Juror number 6, are these your verdicts? 724 01:07:45,262 --> 01:07:46,296 Juror number 7, are these your verdicts? 725 01:07:47,497 --> 01:07:48,665 Juror number 8, are these your verdicts? 726 01:07:49,866 --> 01:07:51,101 Juror number 9, are these your verdicts? 727 01:07:51,135 --> 01:07:53,870 Juror number 10, are these your verdicts? 728 01:07:53,903 --> 01:07:56,506 Juror number 11, are these your verdicts? 729 01:07:56,540 --> 01:07:59,143 (solemn music) 730 01:08:47,224 --> 01:08:50,394 - I don't think people take 731 01:08:50,427 --> 01:08:53,663 serious addicts, you know? 732 01:08:54,764 --> 01:08:58,034 He wasn't very careful, yet 11 women died. 733 01:08:59,469 --> 01:09:01,471 They didn't want to see. 734 01:09:02,339 --> 01:09:04,274 They didn't want to see. 735 01:09:18,222 --> 01:09:19,989 - It was a dream that I had. 736 01:09:20,023 --> 01:09:22,592 I was sitting in the kitchen and I was talking to her. 737 01:09:22,626 --> 01:09:25,362 And she was standing over the stove cooking chicken 738 01:09:25,395 --> 01:09:28,265 and she was talking to me and giving me advice. 739 01:09:28,298 --> 01:09:31,568 You know, like motherly advice my life. 740 01:09:33,937 --> 01:09:36,139 I know what Crystal was, you know. 741 01:09:36,172 --> 01:09:39,175 She was a person that was just sick, 742 01:09:40,310 --> 01:09:42,479 a beautiful person that was sick. 743 01:09:42,512 --> 01:09:46,182 There's a lot of people out there like that. 744 01:09:50,954 --> 01:09:54,558 (gentle music and singing) 745 01:09:58,228 --> 01:10:00,564 - These were real people. 746 01:10:00,597 --> 01:10:04,768 These were women that belonged to mothers and fathers. 747 01:10:05,935 --> 01:10:08,738 These were women that had family, cousins 748 01:10:08,772 --> 01:10:10,139 and uncles and aunts. 749 01:10:10,173 --> 01:10:12,008 And they had children. 750 01:10:14,878 --> 01:10:18,715 These were women that would be greatly missed. 751 01:10:21,184 --> 01:10:24,388 But then it reminded me of something else. 752 01:10:24,421 --> 01:10:27,023 If I'm going to love someone, 753 01:10:27,056 --> 01:10:29,192 be involved with them, 754 01:10:29,225 --> 01:10:31,361 I gotta do it on a daily basis. 755 01:10:31,395 --> 01:10:35,265 And I gotta do it when they're lovable. 756 01:10:35,299 --> 01:10:37,801 I gotta do it when they're not so lovable. 757 01:10:37,834 --> 01:10:41,805 I'll never know when I'm talking to someone I love 758 01:10:41,838 --> 01:10:43,340 for the last time. 759 01:10:46,576 --> 01:10:50,714 - Dealing with this horrific memory every day 760 01:10:50,747 --> 01:10:53,317 is become easier as time go on. 761 01:10:55,051 --> 01:10:58,722 Dealing with myself and what I went through, 762 01:10:59,756 --> 01:11:01,958 I had to stop being a victim. 763 01:11:01,991 --> 01:11:03,660 I'm no longer the victim. 764 01:11:03,693 --> 01:11:04,961 I'm a survivor. 765 01:11:06,129 --> 01:11:09,065 And I heal from this by helping others. 766 01:11:10,534 --> 01:11:12,802 You couldn't never have told me, 767 01:11:12,836 --> 01:11:14,404 or told anybody in, 768 01:11:15,672 --> 01:11:18,041 in 2 1/2 to three years, 769 01:11:18,074 --> 01:11:20,710 Lala gonna have an associate's degree. 770 01:11:20,744 --> 01:11:23,079 She gonna be attending Cleveland State. 771 01:11:23,112 --> 01:11:25,682 She gonna have a daughter that's gonna graduate. 772 01:11:25,715 --> 01:11:28,718 Her kids are gonna be with her. 773 01:11:28,752 --> 01:11:30,354 She's just gonna be sober. 774 01:11:30,387 --> 01:11:31,688 You couldn't have told nobody that. 775 01:11:31,721 --> 01:11:33,390 They'd be like what? 776 01:11:49,005 --> 01:11:53,176 - [Interviewer] How has this whole experience changed you? 777 01:12:10,093 --> 01:12:13,430 - It's like I'm still not fully changed. 778 01:12:14,764 --> 01:12:16,833 I'm still in that cocoon. 779 01:12:18,402 --> 01:12:19,803 Because I'm still 780 01:12:21,838 --> 01:12:22,672 just 781 01:12:23,907 --> 01:12:25,442 trying to sort things out. 782 01:12:25,475 --> 01:12:28,044 I'm still finding my place and my way 783 01:12:28,077 --> 01:12:30,647 and how to keep moving forward. 784 01:12:33,483 --> 01:12:36,453 So, um, 785 01:12:39,389 --> 01:12:40,457 I don't take, 786 01:12:41,791 --> 01:12:43,326 don't take life for granted. 787 01:12:43,359 --> 01:12:45,562 I mean, really, because death is, 788 01:12:45,595 --> 01:12:47,797 it can be right around the corner. 789 01:12:48,998 --> 01:12:50,400 You know, it's not that hard to find. 790 01:12:50,434 --> 01:12:52,669 It's not that hard to find. 791 01:12:54,838 --> 01:12:57,407 (somber music) 792 01:14:13,082 --> 01:14:16,419 (gently dramatic music)