All language subtitles for True.Crime.Story.It.Couldnt.Happen.Here.S01E13.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-NTb_Eng_sdh

[dramatic music]

Horrible as it may sound,
evil does exist.

Some people are
just plain evil.

[camera shutter clicking]

When bodies become objects

of someone's hatred,
it becomes personal.

It tends to show anger.

It tends to show rage.

They want to do
more than kill them,

They want to destroy them.

♪

We are
in Hunt County, Texas,

which is the Blackland Prairie
part of Texas.

This is really expansive,
flat land.

You can buy a big piece
of land out here,

do whatever you want with it.

I like the wide open spaces.

My closest neighbors is about
a quarter of a mile away,

either direction.

It's just
a very country atmosphere.

These are people
who work hard.

On Sundays, they go to church.

And they feel very strongly

about upholding
their traditional lifestyle.

Texas culture
is very conservative,

but it's also
the rugged individualism.

Pull yourself up
by your bootstraps.

Don't expect a handout.

♪

Got the Royse City Bulldogs

advertised on the water tower.

I assume that's
the high-school football team.

Royse City definitely has

that Old West aesthetic.

I'm the former mayor
of Royse City, Texas.

I grew up in Royse City.
I've lived here my entire life.

I mean, it's just a very
all-American small town.

Royse City
is a fabulous community.

It's very neighborly,
very friendly.

It's like family.

A lot of the history here
is listening to the old-timers

talk about their good old days.

In October of 2005,

a couple in their 40s,
new empty-nesters

decided to start a new chapter
of their lives

and move here to Royse City.

Tragically, they were found
brutally murdered

in that new home.

♪

On October 18, 2005,

Dennis and Norma Woodruff
hadn't been heard from

for several days.

A friend of the family
went to check on them.

He discovered
they were both deceased

from some kind of trauma.

The Hunt County
Sheriff's Department

responded to the scene.

Dennis had a gunshot wound
to the face,

then he had
multiple stab wounds

in the neck and chest area.

Dennis was so unaware of what
was about to occur

that he still had a cup
in his hand.

At the time he was shot,

would've had to have
been looking

right down the barrel
of the gun

right at the individual
who was pulling the trigger.

Norma was shot three times
in the face, once in the neck,

once in the hand,

as if she threw her hand up
to try to protect herself.

She was also stabbed.

This scene was brutal in a way

that I've never
really seen before.

Very bloody, very violent.

Based on the way

the blood spatter appeared
at the scene,

it was obviously
a blitz attack with a firearm.

The knife wounds
were secondary,

which would've been
post-mortem or post-death.

That tends to show rage.

It tends to show personal.

"I'm very angry at you.
I want to eliminate you.

I want to destroy you."

During the search, I found
a .45-caliber bullet

embedded in the couch.

There was a trail of blood
leading from the couch

to the bathroom.

There was trace amounts
of blood

present in the bathtub,

which would indicate that
the individual took a shower.

There was also blood found
in the adjacent bedroom.

We didn't find signs
of burglary, robbery, or theft.

It had to be someone close
who knew Dennis and Norma.

♪

My name is Bonnie Wilson.

Dennis was my oldest son.

He loved helping people,
and he loved music.

He was
in the Dolly Parton fan club.

And he was just a lot of fun.

Dennis met Norma
in high school.

She loved horses.
He never had ridden a horse.

They both complemented
each other.

They had two children,
Brandon and Charlie.

Dennis took care of everyone.

And then all of a sudden,
he was gone.

What is it?

"God won't put you
through anything that...

[voice breaking]
More than you can bear."

Right now we're going
to meet with Bonnie Wilson,

who is Dennis' mother.

And she's gonna tell us
a little bit more

about her son
and the family that he built.

[knocking on door]

Ms. Bonnie, hi.
- Hi.

- How are you?
- So nice to see you.

It is so nice to meet you.

For Dennis and Norma,

what was their world like
in the fall of 2005?

Yeah, well, they hadn't been
at Royse City very long.

He bought that house in August,

and they were
in the process of moving

into the new house
in September.

They had still had
the Heath house.

Were the kids still living
with them?

No, Charlie had went off
to school in Magnolia.

And Brandon
was starting college.

So they were down-sizing
for that reason.

Were they also into animals,
like Norma?

Charlie showed rabbits
at the 4-H,

and Brandon showed sheep.

Both children rode horses.

When you lost your son...

I can't imagine.

I have a son.

We were really close.

He called me nearly every day.

He called me on Saturday,

and I didn't hear from him
on Monday, so that--

You know, I didn't know
what was going on.

And then my son Randy came by,

and he said something
had happened to Dennis...

and that he was gone.

It was the next day,

and they said they had ruled
that it was a homicide.

♪

You've lost your son.

You've lost
your daughter-in-law.

Law enforcement sits you down
and says it's a homicide.

What goes through your mind
at that point?

I couldn't imagine

why anybody
would want to kill my son.

People in Royse City--
they were scared.

They didn't lock their doors,
now they do.

They don't sleep with
their windows open anymore.

There was always gonna be fear
or doubt

of whether or not
they're gonna be next.

When the news first
came out about the murder,

of course,
we didn't know who did it.

It's kind of scary
'cause you're thinking,

"Is this somebody
roaming around,

you know, doing this
in our community?"

The murders took place

in this Royse City
mobile home in mid-October.

Investigators say there were
no signs of a struggle,

and it appeared the victims
knew their attacker.

I thought,

"Oh, I'd never heard
of a murder in Royse City,

you know, all my life,"

and I've been here 82 years.

We are driving
into Greenville right now,

which is the county seat.

We are going to meet
with Katherine Ferguson,

who is a local attorney
in Hunt County,

and she's going to explain
to us

the complexities of this case.

My name
is Katherine Ferguson,

and I am
from Greenville, Texas.

This is my hometown.

When my parents first moved
here, believe it or not,

people didn't lock
their doors at night.

The murders in 2005
were quite a shock.

And then, of course,
there was the usual pressure

in a small community
to try to get answers.

♪

Can you take me back
to October, 2005?

When this discovery is made...

does news that it is
a murder travel fast,

or is that kept under wraps?

Law enforcement tries
their best to keep under wraps

cause of death.

They want to keep it quiet

because it helps
an elimination of suspects.

Who did they start
looking at?

Who are the people
they start zeroing in on?

Jeffery Collins,
a Texas Ranger,

was the lead investigator
on the case.

They started
questioning the family first

to try to piece together
how this may have happened.

You know, did anybody say,
"Oh, they've got enemies"?

Or, you know, "Who would want
to hurt these people?"

They didn't have
any answers for that,

but before law enforcement

has released the news
that there's a murder,

there's a call
to the Sheriff's Office.

They need to look very closely
at Brandon Woodruff.

Brandon was their only son
and the youngest.

The caller says that Brandon

isn't who he presents
himself to be.

Where was Brandon the night
of his parents' death?

Dennis and Norma Woodruff
were last known to be alive

sometime on Sunday night,

and Brandon had come
in that weekend.

He had dinner
with his parents Sunday night.

So is Brandon
the last person

to see his parents alive?

Well, law enforcement thinks
Brandon is the last person

to see his parents alive.

Brandon was going to school
at the time

about four hours
away from Royse City,

and he would come home
on the weekends

and he would help
around the house.

He would help take care
of the animals.

My name is Scott Poggensee,

and like Brandon, I grew up
in small-town Texas,

and I started a podcast called
the "American Justice Podcast"

because of this case.

The day after the bodies
were found,

investigators really start
to hone in on Brandon

because there's
a woman calling

that may have information
about their investigation.

The caller identified herself
as Norma Etherington,

the mother
of one of Brandon's friends.

Norma Etherington says
to the investigators,

"You really need
to talk to my son Mike."

And who is Mike Etherington
in the community?

Mike Etherington was a member
of the gang of kids

that Brandon ran with
when he was at high school.

They were the cowboy kids,
the blue jeans and boots,

showing animals,
and that kind of thing.

Mike Etherington inserted
himself into the investigation

before they even contacted him.

He called them.

So what does
Mike Etherington

tell the Rangers?

He talked
about a MySpace page,

where Brandon
allegedly had posted,

"I [bleep] hate my parents.

I wish they would die."

You have Mike saying,
"Look at Brandon.:

Mm-hmm.

Does anybody else point
the finger at Brandon?

Brandon's girlfriend
was Morgan Lee.

He had been over
to her house to see her

that weekend that he had come
back from school.

And at their house,

they had had
a Colt .45 Cowboy Load pistol.

Mm-hmm.

Her mother
after the Woodruffs had died,

she noticed
that it was missing,

along with a couple
of the bullets.

A .45 Long Colt--

it's a long, old,
Western-type revolver,

which would be consistent

with the bullets
that we found at the scene.

That's a clue.

That would tend to show
that someone in particular

is responsible
for the death of his parents.

♪

Mm-hmm.

When Brandon was interviewed,

he talked about his parents had
a really loving relationship,

best parents
a kid could ever have,

really supportive.

Nothing that spoke ill
of his parents?

Certainly nothing that
spoke ill of his parents, no.

Uh-huh.

Then they start asking
Brandon questions,

and Brandon gives them
a list of,

"This is what I did
that night."

Mm-hmm.

After he had dinner with
his parents that Sunday night,

he went over to the Heath house
to take care of the animals.

Okay.

Now, from here,
Brandon goes where?

Brandon went to go meet
people at Denny's,

and then they go to a club
in Far North Dallas.

Brandon tells Ranger Collins

that they stayed at the club
a couple hours,

and then they went back
to Abilene Christian University

to go to school
the next morning.

Well, during
the investigation,

it had come
to Ranger Collins' attention

that the neighbor
at the Heath house had called

and said
that he had information

about this crime as well.

[camera shutter clicking]

[distant siren wailing]

Right.

Right.

Right. Right.

So immediately it threw flags
into Ranger Collins' mind,

like, "Wait a second.

"Brandon's saying that he left
the Heath house at 8:00,

but we have this neighbor
that's saying

he was there
between 10:00 and 11:00.

This guy's lying
about his timeline."

Ranger Collins
really hammered Brandon

on being off on his times.

And then as soon as Brandon
left the Sheriff's Office,

Ranger Collins started writing
the arrest affidavit.

What were they using
for that arrest warrant?

Ranger Collins'
arrest warrant

contained a lot of the things
that Mike Etherington had said

about Brandon's MySpace page

and missing gun that Brandon
might've had access to.

And the night of the murders,

Brandon's times are off.

So that's proof he lied.

[dramatic music]

I was at my daughter's house,
and Brandon was there.

He was asleep
in the recliner,

and they came
right in the house

and told Brandon
he was under arrest.

My son is already gone,

and now they're saying that
they thought Brandon did it.

Ranger Collins said,

"Your grandson still has time
to repent."

I said,
"He doesn't have to repent

because my grandson
didn't do it."

I'm gonna ask
a very direct question.

Did you or did you not
murder your parents?

I did not.

If it wasn't you,
who was it?

I don't know. I don't know
why anybody would kill

anybody in the first place,
much less my parents.

My parents are supposed to be
with me right now,

not taken away.

And I'm not supposed
to be in here.

This is crazy.

♪

Even though he was arrested
and charged with the crime,

the investigation doesn't stop.

We consider new things,
new facts,

or leads are always followed.

♪

When Mike Etherington called

and talked
to the Rangers initially,

he was telling them

that, you know,
Brandon had a MySpace page,

and there were
these posts about,

"I [bleep] hate my parents.

They need to [bleep] die."

The Rangers went back and
could never find any postings.

Ranger Collins gets
extremely frustrated with Mike

because Mike
has started crawfishing now,

and it's, "Well, I didn't say
I saw them.

I heard
that they had been posted."

It's very different than,
"I saw it with my own eyes."

Yes.

What did those posts
actually say?

The only references
to his parents

were positive things,
like, "I love my parents."

- Mm-hmm.
- "They're great parents."

Ranger Collins knows Mike
is lying,

and he said, "I arrested that
young man on what you said,

"and now I'm finding out
that was not even the case,

that was not true.

But he didn't try
to correct anything.

I don't know how he lives
with "hisself."

If the state's theory
is that Brandon

must've killed his parents
because he lied,

well, Mike Etherington
has also lied.

Yes.

So does law enforcement begin
looking at Mike Etherington?

No.

Their reasoning for zeroing in
on Brandon

is they are being told

that Brandon
is living a double life.

Mm-hmm.

Ultimately, they started
digging a little more

about Brandon

and found out
that he was maybe bisexual

or actually gay.

They started talking to people
who said Brandon

had this hidden lifestyle

that Brandon
has been concealing

from his friends
and possibly from his family.

Brandon had been telling
his friends

that he was doing modeling gigs

and he was gonna be
in the next Armani catalog.

Turns out that he was
actually doing gay porn.

Ranger Collins told us

that the son had been doing
some things

that his dad
wouldn't have agreed with.

He was doing
pornographic movies for money,

that he might be gay.

Ranger Collins said,

"If Brandon's capable of lying
about his sexual identity,

he's capable about lying
about murdering his parents."

[dramatic music]

After Brandon's arrested,

two days later
his sister Charla

confronted Brandon while
he was in the county jail,

and then she comes back in
to talk to the Rangers.

His own sister even said
some things

that made them point
the finger at Brandon.

♪

Walk me through
what law enforcement

believed was the motive.

They had a couple of motives
all rolled together.

He's flunking out of school,

his parents are gonna
cut him off, and he's gay,

so Brandon's
fearing being exposed

so he must kill his parents
to keep his secret.

Back in 2005,
coming out as gay

in this area of the country
was not widely accepted.

That would be something

that would break up families,
cause trouble,

could be motive
for even murder.

And in this case,
I believe it was.

So is there any eyewitness
or any physical evidence

that ties to him to this
very gruesome crime scene?

No.

It is an entirely
circumstantial case.

♪

For the trial, Mr. Davis,

who was the first-chair
attorney on the case--

he had requested some discovery
from the state,

including copies
of all the jail calls

that Brandon had made.

He listened to them
and heard his own voice,

and he realized
that his attorney-client calls

had been recorded

and turned over to
the District Attorney's Office.

- That's a huge violation.
- Yes.

The District Attorney's Office

had violated Brandon's
Sixth Amendment rights.

What is the Sixth Amendment?

Your right to effective
assistance of counsel.

Everyone has a right
to confer, in confidence,

with their attorney,
and so we drafted a motion

to dismiss the case due
to prosecutorial misconduct,

which was denied.

During the time
that the case was delayed,

one of Brandon's relatives
goes out to the Heath house

to finish cleaning
out this barn.

And shoved up
under a pile of stuff

is a dagger.

They found a tiny bit of blood,

right there up in the handle.

They did a DNA test.
It was Dennis' blood.

Okay.

Had anyone in Brandon's life
ever seen him with weapons?

His roommate at ACU

said that he had seen
in the dorm room

that Brandon had some kind
of medieval-looking dagger.

Mm-hmm.

And now they have something

they can claim
is one of the murder weapons.

♪

Hunt County is a conservative,
religious community.

So, when it came
for jury selection,

we knew
Brandon's sexual orientation

could be an explosive issue.

We were concerned about that,

because if they viewed
homosexuality as immoral,

he's already got one strike
against him

in your opinion of him

before you've ever heard
any evidence.

And I believe it was
eight people on the jury

had said they believed
homosexuality was immoral.

♪

The trial was a huge deal.

You know,
how could that happen?

How could anybody do that,
you know, to their parents?

Brandon's lifestyle
was a little bit different,

but I don't think
people judged him for that.

♪

When Brandon
was first interviewed,

he gives
a very accurate account

of his movements
that day and night,

but he just doesn't know
what time things occurred.

So he would say,
"Well, we ate dinner."

And Ranger Collins would say,
"Well, that'd be about 6:30?"

And Brandon said, "Yeah,
that sounds about right."

And it continued like that
through the interview,

where the Ranger's suggesting
the times to Brandon.

Then they turn around
and want to say,

"Well, Brandon lied
because those times are off."

♪

The last contact
for Dennis and Norma

was Norma's mother.

They were talking
on the phone,

and that call ended
somewhere around 9:15, 9:20

Sunday evening.

That night
it was about 11:00 p.m.

Charla tried calling Norma,
and Norma didn't answer.

What were
Brandon's known movements?

We know
from the phone records,

at 9:27,

Brandon is calling
one of his friends

to make plans to go
to this nightclub in Dallas.

Mm-hmm.

Five minutes later,
he's calling Morgan Lee.

And that's his girlfriend,
at home.

Yes, correct.

At 9:41, he gets a call back
from Morgan.

At 9:49, another
friend calls Brandon.

10 minutes after 10:00,
Morgan calls Brandon.

Now, shortly after 10:00 p.m.

is when the neighbor
at the house in Heath

says he hears a vehicle
at the house next door,

gets up and looks,
and sees Brandon.

And we know where he is
at 11:00

'cause we got people saying
he was at the Denny's.

So Brandon is visually seen
at the house in Heath...

Shortly after 10:00 p.m.

That house is 20 minutes away
from the house in Royse City?

- Yes. Yes.
- And so the amount of time

in which Brandon could have
committed this crime...

Yes.

Is shrunk down
to about 40 minutes?

- Correct.
- And within that 40 minutes,

he's on a telephone

pretty much
the entirety of that time.

I mean, is it, you know,
shoot your parents,

get on the phone,
call somebody, leave a message,

hang up, go stab,
pick up the phone,

call somebody,
talk for a few minutes,

hang up,
go stab the other parent?

He also had to have been able
to get showered

and cleaned up
before he left the house.

- That's impossible.
- Exactly.

[dramatic music]

Everything Brandon said he
did that night checked out.

The only problem was
Brandon could not be precise

about his times.

And all the other teenagers
that were interviewed,

they were pretty inaccurate
about their times, too.

Mm-hmm.

But only Brandon being off
on his times

was indicative of guilt.

And so you presented
this to a jury?

Yes.

Brandon was found guilty
of capital murder

and sentenced
to life without parole.

I ran out when I heard
the verdict that he was guilty.

They said I screamed,
and I ran out.

The jury got it right.
The evidence never lies.

People always lie.

I'm sure he denies
it to this day--I would.

My name is Brandon Woodruff,

and I did not kill my parents.

I tell everybody, "Look
at the totality of the ways

"that they used to convict me,

you know,
from start to finish."

I do not believe
I got a fair trial at all.

I believe an innocent man
is in jail.

It's not admissible in court,

but Brandon has taken
two polygraph examinations,

which he has passed.

He is adamant that he
did not kill his parents.

I think the biggest piece
of evidence

that the jury convicted
Brandon over was that dagger.

Now, he had a little dagger,

and his roommate described it

as being
about a six-inch blade,

but this thing...

Okay, there's your
six-inch blade, all right?

The blade on this thing--
this is the entire blade.

Mm-hmm.
And then the handle was--

And then the handle.

This thing is a foot
and a half long.

It's 18 inches long.

It's a significantly
larger weapon.

Oh, absolutely.

At trial, we had
a forensic pathologist

talking about how that sword
could not have been

the source of those stab wounds

because there's no way that
that sword could've been driven

into Dennis Woodruff
and gone up to the hilt

and not
completely run him through.

If it went through
to the hilt,

which it appeared to have
because of the bruising marks

around the stab wounds,

then it should've run

completely through the backside
of Mr. Woodruff.

And if the state's
trying to allege

that the same weapon
was used on Dennis and Norma...

Mm-hmm.

Why would this only
have Dennis' blood on it?

Okay, let's talk
about the gun.

If they're saying that Brandon
had access to this gun,

who else had access
to that house?

All of the other kids
that ran with their group,

including Mike Etherington.

There had been a party,
I think,

a weekend or two before

at that house where that
same gaggle of kids showed up.

And there was never any proof

that that is even the gun
that was used.

There was never a weapon found

because we don't have a gun
to fire a test sample

to get rifling marks on.

We can't tell where
that bullet came from.

So the things
that they are using

to build this case
against Brandon

are also applicable
to other people?

Correct.

I think the fact
that Norma Etherington,

Mike Etherington's mom,

called with information
about the Woodruff murders

before anyone in the public
knew that there was a murder

makes them look suspicious.

Is it a red flag
for law enforcement

that someone is calling in
about suspects in a case

when it hasn't even been
disclosed that there is a case?

You would think it would be
a red flag for law enforcement,

but apparently it wasn't.

The gentleman that found
the bodies, Todd Williams,

gives them some information

about Norma Woodruff
and Norma Etherington

had been having a feud,

and there were problems
in the 4-H club

and things like that.

Todd Williams came forward
to see Ranger Collins

and said, "You know,
I really think

you've got the wrong person.

"Maybe go take a look
at Mike a little more closely

because there was
some issues going on."

One of Brandon's dogs
was poisoned.

And Dennis Woodruff
had suspicions

and had told people that
he thought Mike Etherington

might've had something
to do with it.

During the trial,
you were able to speak

with investigators
about what they found

on the scene...
- Yes.

What they tested,
what they didn't test.

Right. The biggest thing
is they found--

in Norma Woodruff's right hand
were some long blond hairs

and also what appeared
to be defensive wounds.

Now, at the time,
Brandon had dyed his hair black

for a school play
that he was doing at ACU.

- Mm-hmm.
- And Norma Woodruff

had strawberry blond,
dirty blond hair.

But it wasn't the same
as what was in her hand.

So this hair found mixed in
with the blood

on Norma's hand...
- Mm-hmm.

Is significant why?

As I argued to the jury,
it could very well be

that Norma was trying
to tell us who killed her

because she could've been
reaching up, grabbing,

and struggling
with her attacker

and pulling hair
out of their head.

And so did they preserve
that hair?

They seized all this hair
and bagged it up

and never sent it to the lab.

They did not test hair that
was found in the victim's hand?

No.

Could this piece of evidence
set Brandon free?

Absolutely.

The natural conclusion
is it's the hair

of one of her attackers.

[dramatic music]

[telephone rings]

Hey, Brandon.

We're talking to Hilarie.

Hi, Brandon.

It's so nice to sit here and
learn more about your family.

I was going to ask you, Brandon,

what do you want people
to focus on?

Yeah, so much is made

of you living
this double life.

How much do you think
prejudice played into this?

Were you scared your parents
were gonna find out

about your lifestyle?

Do you think you would've been
convicted of this crime

if you were straight?

I, myself, can relate to
what it's like

for a gay kid in a small town.

So it really became
a personal project for me

to look into this case.

For Ranger Collins
to trivialize that

and say, you know, "If Brandon
can lie about something small

"like his sexuality,

then he can lie about something
big like killing his parents,"

is just absolutely abhorrent.

If you ask any gay person
in the world

if coming out and dealing
with their sexuality

was a small thing,

I think 100% of them
would tell you,

no, it was the probably the
biggest thing in their life.

They don't want to tell
the church friends.

They don't want to tell
the school friends.

Most of the time,
they don't feel comfortable

telling their own family.

Just because someone

is struggling
with their sexuality,

especially in a small town,

that doesn't make them a liar,

and it doesn't make them
a killer.

This took place in 2005.

What laws were on the books...
- Right.

In that era?

Well, at this time,

sodomy was illegal in Texas
until 2003,

and so it was very recently
just overturned.

And then, of course,
gay marriage didn't come around

until 2015.

So Brandon was being told
systemically from a young age

that being gay is not okay.
- Mm-hmm.

Do you feel
that in rural Texas,

he was able to have
an unbiased jury?

Absolutely not.

And the reason that I say that

is because Greenville
and Hunt County

is the kind of town
where you, you know,

you can't throw a rock
without hitting a church.

And the bias
against homosexuals in general

is not good.

And to have your coming-out

weaponized against you
is terrifying,

not only for the person
that it happens to,

but for every other member of
the community who's watching.

Right.

I didn't really feel
like I had a choice.

Like, I had to get involved.

So let's talk
about what you have done.

Literally, it's just been
trying to get Brandon's case

out into the public discourse.

If people could just hear
the facts,

that his case
would be overturned.

What is going on
with Brandon's case right now?

Luckily, in mid-2021,

we were able
to contact somebody

with the
Texas Innocence Project,

and they decided, "Yeah, we're
gonna be in this full-force."

I'm grateful that
the Innocence Project of Texas

has gotten involved in it,

because if anyone can get
some traction

on this case for Brandon,
it would be them.

The Innocence Project is
trying to DNA-test the hairs.

For example, if those hairs
come back as someone

other than Norma Woodruff
and Brandon Woodruff

and is an unknown third party,

that will go a long way

to establishing
Brandon's innocent.

How important is it
for the truth to get out there

for Brandon and Norma
and Dennis?

It's very important.

Brandon has been in prison
all these years

for something he didn't do.

And so I want the people
to know about this case

and to come forward and help.

It's just heartbreaking,
and I need him home.

My son's gone.
I need him.

Yeah.

Come here.

♪

I've got a lot of family
members that support me,

that love me,
that believe in me.

They know the truth.
They stand confident.

And, you know,
they're my rocks.

But when I hear
that my own sister--

she's took the stand
of the law enforcement's side.

And that hurts
more than really anything.

You're supposed to know me.

Like, we grew up together.

You know, we went through
so much together.

I love my parents.
I'll always love them.

Dennis and Norma
had just started

this brand-new chapter,

where they were empty-nesters,

before tragedy struck
and everything fell apart.

And this tragedy
didn't just affect them.

It affected their kids.
It affected Bonnie.

And it affected every gay kid
in the community

who had to watch
another young gay man

be vilified for his lifestyle.

These murders happened
in 2005.

Today we want to believe that
we know more,

that we are more open-minded,

but there is still
a potentially innocent person

in prison.

And until we give
that another look,

are we better than we were?

♪