Original subtitles

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[pensive music]

- Nothing compares to the ties of teenage friendship

in the small town of Slapout, Alabama.

Unbreakable bonds are formed while riding four-wheelers,

taking the truck on dirt country roads,

and bonfires in the middle of the woods.

- These friends, we were all close-knit,

practically family.

- They loved each other so much

and they would do anything for each other.

[suspenseful music]

- But when the heart of that close-knit friend group,

Anna Catherine Cardwell,

is found murdered in her own home

the day after Valentine's Day,

loyalty turns to suspicion.

[suspenseful music]

- It was somebody that she knew,

somebody that she invited into the home.

- When we found out that Anna Catherine

had let her killer in, we immediately started thinking,

"Well, who could have it been?"

We didn't know who to trust.

- I couldn't imagine anybody in her circle

being capable of doing something like that.

That is an absolute betrayal.

[suspenseful music]

- Because here in the Slapout inner circle,

whoever's riding shotgun

might just be wielding the gun.

[compelling music]

[mellow music]

- In Slapout, Alabama,

we have one blinking light.

In a small town, everyone knows everyone.

[somber music] [birds chirping]

- The most important things for Anna Catherine

were her family, her friends.

When Anna Catherine graduated from high school,

she wanted to follow her friends and go to Southern Union.

But when she entered her second year of college,

she had moved back home.

[somber music]

[suspenseful music]

That day, I was off from work.

[door squeaking]

Anna Catherine was sleeping in.

She didn't have classes that day,

so I stuck my head in her bedroom just to check on her.

And she was still sleeping, so I shut the door,

went about to do my errands.

[suspenseful music]

I was gone maybe an hour.

[suspenseful music]

When I came back home,

the first thing I noticed was her car was missing.

[ominous music]

And when I walked in the back door,

[suspenseful music]

I saw blood everywhere.

[suspenseful music]

And bloody footprints headed to the kitchen.

[suspenseful music]

And then, it wasn't far into the kitchen

that she was laying there on the floor.

[suspenseful music]

And I grabbed the phone.

Please!

[Paula sobbing]

[Paula sobbing]

[suspenseful music]

[somber music] [siren wailing]

I remember the ambulance showing up.

They went in and came straight back out.

And I just remember several sheriff's deputies showing up.

[pensive music]

- We arrived on the scene and the 911 caller, Ms. Cardwell,

was outside of the residence, very distraught.

We did speak to her

and just get an overview of what she saw

before we went into the house.

[suspenseful music]

There didn't appear to be any type of forced entry

into the residence.

[suspenseful music]

We walked into the garage,

made sure that there's no one else in the garage,

[suspenseful music]

and opened up the back door.

[suspenseful music]

[footsteps clacking]

There was a blood trail leading to the kitchen area.

[suspenseful music]

Anna was there on the floor in the kitchen.

[suspenseful music]

It just looked like just a horrendous scene.

[pensive music]

- It was obvious to us

that there was one fatal gunshot wound

to the back of the head.

That's like an execution-style killing.

[pensive music]

- [Det. Evans] We spoke to Ms. Cardwell

who said that she left the residence around 9:15.

And the 911 call was placed around 10:15,

so we knew there was about an hour window there

for the crime to have taken place.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paula] My son was working in Clanton,

which was about a 30, 45-minute drive.

My husband was up north on a business trip,

so I kept trying to call him,

and finally, he answered,

and I told him what had happened

and one of his coworkers got him on a plane

and got him home.

- The father and the brother who also lived there,

they were both out of town working at the time,

so they were not involved in this.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] Although the immediate family was ruled out,

in the kitchen,

investigators notice a telling detail

within the crime scene.

[suspenseful music]

- So based upon the clothing she was wearing,

which is kind of something you would go to bed in,

and the fact that there were no busted windows

or doors kicked in,

it did indicate to us that she most likely knew her killer.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paula] She must have gotten up from bed

and answered the door.

- [Det. Evans] The overall condition of the house

was immaculate, really.

There was not anything obvious that appeared to be missing.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] If their hunch is right and Anna did let

her own murderer in through the front door,

there must have been familiarity.

[suspenseful music]

Investigators must track this bloody trail

and figure out how Anna ended up dead on the floor

in the kitchen.

- The blood trail is telling us that as she's running,

she's bleeding, the blood is striking the ground,

and you can tell her movements

from just being able to look at the blood patterns

and see where she had gone.

- The blood began

where the hallway pretty much meets the den.

It appeared that Anna had been shot there in the hallway

and she began to run through the residence.

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] There was a bloody hand print

kind of on the wall on the door,

as if she was trying to escape,

and almost did.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] The shell casings in the residence

were from a nine-millimeter handgun.

[suspenseful music]

It would appear that the murder weapon

was gonna be a nine-millimeter handgun.

[compelling music]

- [Alan] Once they have assessed the scene,

investigators want to turn back

to Paula Cardwell immediately for more information.

She is still in shock.

[compelling music]

- [CJ] You don't ever want to see a mother

whose child has been murdered.

[somber music]

- [Paula] It's like you're just frozen,

and you don't know what to do,

and you just do something.

[somber music]

The detective just asked me:

Was there anything that I noticed that was missing?

And I said, "Well, her car's gone."

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] When we realized the vehicle was missing,

we put out a BOLO,

which basically means be on the lookout.

- [Alan] Meanwhile, Paula begins the near-impossible task

of calling close family and friends with the news,

and word quickly spreads.

- My phone kept ding-ding-dinging,

and seeing like everyone texting me like, "Did you hear?

You know, like something's wrong."

- [Paula] And then friends started showing up, and family,

and there were a lot of people from her friend group.

It was just a yard full of people,

with just everybody, you know, confused

and can't believe what has happened to her.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] Law enforcement takes this opportunity

to ask friends and family about the victim.

[pensive music]

- [Paula] Anna Catherine was who she was,

and she was proud of it,

and I loved that confidence about her

and that ability to have such good self-image.

When Anna Catherine graduated from high school,

she wanted to be a school teacher.

She'd started taking classes.

So, I would love to think that's what she would've been

'cause she was very good with children.

- [Melinda] I don't think she knew a stranger.

If you were a stranger, she would make you into a friend.

You could not ignore her.

That's how her personality was.

- I mean, she was the little princess

and then she was also the little tomboy.

[Anna Catherine laughing]

- [Lindsay] She was so silly that

I could just picture it in my head right now.

Her hair just slinging around, her mouth wide open,

like being crazy.

[mellow music]

- People go to a couple different high schools,

even private schools in the area,

but Slapout's a small community

and so it's pretty common for all of them

to be friends with each other.

- We always had somewhere to go and something to do.

[mellow music]

- Anna Catherine had different friends

from this group and that group.

She was just the person that hung out with everybody.

That's just goes back to how kind she was.

[mellow music]

- [Paula] She loved her friends deeply

and they were very important to her,

and she loved being part of a group and doing things.

[mellow music]

- [Lindsay] I think the closest friend

that was always at her house every single day,

no matter what, was Lacy.

[pensive music]

They both confided in each other.

She would tell Lacy everything

and Lacy would tell her everything.

- [Alan] Detectives went to speak to this best friend

who was grieving at the scene.

- [Det. Evans] Then our conversation with Lacy,

she was upset, she was emotional,

but she really couldn't tell us anybody

who she suspected of committing this crime.

She did not indicate that Anna had a problem with anyone.

I mean, everybody seemed to love Anna,

everybody got along with Anna.

[suspenseful music]

- [Lindsay] As friends,

we have always been like close-knit and knew everyone.

We knew everyone's business.

There was no one that had that type of anger

that I could think of or that anyone could think of

that could possibly even have the capacity

to even think to do that.

But I know the whole community felt scared.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] For those closest to Anna on her front lawn,

it's unsettling to think someone in their circle

cannot be trusted.

[suspenseful music]

- [Melinda] Everyone's crying, everyone's hugging,

but you're glancing at the faces,

and you just wonder if anyone there

could have known something.

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] Here, you clearly have a beautiful young girl

that is murdered in her own home.

So, one of the first things that we start thinking about is:

Is there a boyfriend?

Is there an ex-boyfriend?

Is there some type of personal connection

to this young girl?

[pensive music]

- [Paula] Anna Catherine had recently started dating Nick.

They seemed to really get along well

and enjoy each other's company.

[couple chattering]

Anna Catherine liked the guys that were fun,

that were polite and good to her,

and that were good to her family and her friends.

And if they were not, she just wouldn't stay with them.

[siren wailing]

- [Alan] Detectives learn

that one of those ex-boyfriends, Todd,

is among the group grieving at the crime scene.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paula] Todd was a previous boyfriend

and they dated for a while, I mean, a year longer,

and just had recently broke up

before Anna Catherine started dating Nick.

[suspenseful music]

- [Melinda] All of Anna's friends were there.

Lacy was there, Todd was there.

[suspenseful music]

I didn't see Nick.

[compelling music]

- [Det. Evans] The night before was Valentine's Day,

and according to Ms. Cardwell,

Nick had come to the house just to spend time with Anna.

[compelling music]

He was there until approximately 2:00 in the morning.

[compelling music]

- [Melinda[ Everyone was very confused,

trying to figure out who could have possibly done that

and it just kind of made you think.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Coming up.

- [Lindsay] With Nick being the new guy in the group,

he definitely was questionable.

- [Paula] Todd had text her the night before she was killed

and I think there were maybe still some feelings there.

- [Det. Evans] They called me on the radio and said,

"You're not gonna believe this."

[suspenseful music]

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- [Alan] The tight circle of friends

of Anna Catherine Cardwell are gathered on her front lawn

to grapple with her mysterious murder.

Conspicuously missing among them

is Anna's new boyfriend, Nick.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paula] I was a little shocked later in the day

that Nick did not show up.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] With Nick's absence at the house quite glaring,

investigators got even more curious and gather more intel.

[suspenseful music]

- [Robyn] Anna Catherine just told me about him,

and that he's a really good guy,

and that he was really kind and nice to her,

and I mean, and she thought he was really good-looking.

- [Paula] I had met him, he was a very nice young man.

He was good to Anna Catherine,

and he told me, one day, he said,

"That's just the sweetest girl I've ever met."

So, they were really happy together.

- [Lindsay] Anna was definitely head over heels for him.

[pensive music]

But with Nick being the new guy in the group,

he definitely was questionable.

He was the last one to see her.

- [Det. Evans] Nick was the last person really with Anna

besides her mother.

We were given his name and number

from some of the friend group.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Finally, that afternoon, Nick surfaces,

and agrees to meet with investigators at the station.

[compelling music]

- [Det. Evans] When we interviewed Nick,

he did look distraught.

It didn't look like he was hiding anything.

He was immediately very forthcoming with where he was,

what he had been doing,

and he appeared to be very shaken up about the situation.

- [CJ] But, is there things about him we don't know?

Is there a part of him that leads us to believe

that he has a violent past?

[pensive music]

The first thing that we noticed

is there's no what we would call a rap sheet,

but we gotta look further.

[suspenseful music] [clock ticking]

- [Det. Evans] During our conversation with Nick,

he did say that the night before she was killed,

they had decided they would officially be a couple.

[pensive music]

So, he had come to the house

just to spend time with her on Valentine's Day.

[compelling music]

He was there until approximately 2:00 in the morning.

[pensive music]

- [Paula] I knew he had to work the next day,

so I said, "Anna Catherine, it's getting late,

you need to go to bed."

And she said, "Okay, mama."

And in a little bit, I heard her door close and that was it.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] Once we got Anna's cell phone,

there were some text messages

after 2:00 in the morning to Nick,

you know, things like, "I miss you already,"

that sort of thing.

So they did leave on good terms,

so what he was telling us was accurate.

[suspenseful music]

We asked Nick, obviously,

where he was the morning of the 15th.

His response was that he was at home asleep, alone,

which could be troubling if you're trying to prove an alibi.

Nick said he was woken up by a call

telling him what had happened to Anna.

[suspenseful music]

From the way he answered our questions and his demeanor,

it appeared that he was being truthful.

[suspenseful music]

So Nick's, you know, still under consideration,

but not heavily.

- [Alan] Detectives aren't ruling Nick out as a suspect

and they also can't help but think

that Anna's murder the day after Valentine's Day

is no coincidence.

So, they turned their attention to Anna's ex,

the one who'd been present at the crime scene,

Todd.

[compelling music]

- [Det. Evans] His father is a well-respected businessman

in Elmore County.

[car engine humming]

Their family is fairly well-known.

Nothing out of the ordinary

that would raise suspicion towards him.

[pensive music]

- [Lindsay] So, Todd and Anna, I know they dated for a long time.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] Police learned that the two stayed in touch

and that Todd had texted her on Valentine's Day.

[suspenseful music]

- [Paula] Todd had text her the night before she was killed.

Anna Catherine was excited that Todd had reached out to her,

and I think there were maybe still some feelings there.

- [Alan] Was Todd's text meant to rekindle a lost love,

or could it have been something more sinister?

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] We brought him in and talked to him.

We read him as Miranda rights

and we got a statement from Todd.

[suspenseful music]

According to Todd, they broke up very amicably,

but there's always a possibility

that we're just getting the story that they want us to hear.

[suspenseful music]

We did ask Todd where he was that morning.

[suspenseful music]

He advised us that he was in school out of town at college

for about an hour away.

[suspenseful music]

We were able to verify that that was true.

Pretty much alleviated him as a suspect at that point.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Just as they wrap up Todd's statement

on the afternoon of the murder,

police get the strongest lead yet:

a hit on the BOLO for Anna's car.

- [Det. Evans] About 5:00 that afternoon,

one of our deputy sheriffs located the vehicle.

The car was in the parking lot of a local grocery store.

He was able to see the tag on the front that said, "Anna."

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] The car is located about 10 miles away from the house.

Finding her car was huge for the investigation.

That car is basically a rolling crime scene.

[compelling music]

[suspenseful music] - [Alan] Mere hours after the murder

of 20-year-old Anna Cardwell,

a hit comes in on her car,

just miles away from where it was stolen

from the crime scene.

[compelling music]

- [Sheriff Franklin] I remember them saying,

"Hey, they have located the vehicle,

and it was downtown in the Winn-Dixie parking lot."

[compelling music]

- [Det. Evans] All right, we've got crime scene A,

the residence,

and now we've got a secondary crime scene

that we've gotta start processing also.

[compelling music] [siren wailing]

That unit dusted for fingerprints,

collected bottles from the vehicle,

items that they thought we may be able to get DNA off of.

[compelling music]

- [Alan] While investigators await results,

Anna's friends take the search into their own hands.

[pensive music]

- [Lindsay] So then we knew where her car was.

But still, where's this person?

I hopped in the car with Lacy,

and I just remember driving around

just trying to figure out what's going on.

[pensive music]

We even drove to the Winn-Dixie after the cops got the car

and just drove around the parking lot.

[pensive music]

Looking around.

We were so determined to find out what's going on.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] With the car dumped just miles

from the crime scene,

investigators follow the hunch

that the killer was close to Anna.

With several of her more recent romantic interests

ruled out,

police continue to question Anna's friends.

- [Det. Evans] Who knows Anna best?

Who is she closest to?

Who does she spend the most time with?

Who would know the most details about Anna's life?

- [Alan] Lacy was one of the first friends

investigators spoke with at the crime scene,

but now they know they need to dig deeper

with Anna's best friend.

[mellow music]

- [Det. Evans] Is she holding back information

that could possibly be helpful?

So, we call her back in

and get a written statement from her.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] At the station, they pressed Lacy further

about who Anna was hanging out with most lately.

- [Lindsay] So at the time,

Lacy was dating a guy named Josh Caspari.

[mellow music]

- [Melinda] Lacy introduced Anna to Josh,

and they became friends.

[mellow music]

- [Lindsay] Anna was always hanging out with Lacy and Josh.

Whether this is just the three of them

or whether it was Josh and Lacy and Josh's roommate, Cody,

or anybody else in the group.

[pensive music]

Cody was more of a subtle-type person,

like he was outgoing, he was always with the crowd,

but like he wasn't that loud mouth like Josh.

We all clicked because we were all goofy

and it didn't matter what you said because it was...

Everybody's gonna be laughing at somebody.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] Detectives ask if Lacy had spoken with Anna

in the morning or night before her murder.

[suspenseful music]

- [Lindsay] That morning, Lacy tried to text her,

couldn't get ahold of her.

Well, she didn't really think anything right away

because Anna always was sleeping in

if she didn't have something to do.

[pensive music]

- [Det. Evans] Lacy stated that another friend

called her later that morning

and told her that Anna had been killed.

[suspenseful music]

Lacy called Josh and told him what had happened to Anna.

Lacy gets in her car and goes to the Cardwells' house

to be there with the family,

to just try to comfort them.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] Detective Evans is curious

why Josh Caspari did not meet her at the crime scene

to be with the friend group.

Lacy explains that she and Josh

were not exactly a model of stability.

[compelling music]

- [Lindsay] Lacy and Josh really had like a crazy relationship.

"Oh, I'm gonna break up with you this day,

and then we're gonna get back together this day."

[compelling music]

- [Det. Evans] At this time, she does advise us

that Josh was not happy with Anna,

that Anna convinced Lacy to break up with Josh.

She didn't think Josh was a good guy.

She didn't think Josh was good for Lacy.

[compelling music]

- [Paula] Anna Catherine was quick to let Lacy know,

"You deserve better,"

and would encourage Lacy to find someone else.

[compelling music]

- [Lindsay] Anna did definitely

have high standards for her friends

as far as like she wanted them to have a guy

that treated them right, loved them for who they were,

treated them how they were supposed to be treated

with respect.

[compelling music]

- [Paula] Josh and Anna would talk about Lacy.

It drove Anna crazy to be in the middle of the drama.

[suspenseful music]

I think she was a lot more wrapped up in that drama

than we realized.

[suspenseful music]

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- [Alan] Investigators have learned that Anna Cardwell

was trying to convince her best friend, Lacy,

to break up with Josh Caspari.

[compelling music]

- [Lindsay] Lacy was actually trying to

end it for good this time

[suspenseful music]

because she was trying to, you know, move on.

- [Alan] So, detectives bring in other friends

for questioning,

and what they have to say raises even more red flags.

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] They said

Josh blamed Anna

for the relationship with Lacy going south.

- We realized that a lot of people were scared of Josh.

If everybody else in the group has that opinion of him,

are you trying to cover for him?

- [Alan] The more the friend group is comfortable talking,

the more tea gets spilled.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] They said, "Hey, if you're gonna talk to anybody,

you need to talk to Josh Caspari."

[suspenseful music]

During the course of our investigation,

we realized that a lot of people

did consider him to be the type of person

that could do this.

- [Alan] They waste no time bringing in Josh Caspari

for an interview.

[suspenseful music]

Like so many of Anna's friends, he comes in voluntarily,

deeply touched by the tragedy of his dear friend's death.

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] When Josh Caspari came in for an interview,

he came in, he sat down, he talked to investigators.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] He seemed like he was genuinely in disbelief.

He voluntarily came in

and gave a statement for his whereabouts for that morning.

He said that he had left his vehicle at a friend's house

and he had called his mother to come pick him up

and take him to his truck at a friend's house down the road,

and that she had come and picked him up.

[suspenseful music]

His demeanor didn't stand out as being suspicious.

[pensive music]

Nothing that really drew any alarms from us.

He just seemed like one of the crowd, one of the group,

but we knew we were gonna have to do a little more digging.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] And it doesn't take a steam shovel

to uncover the real dirt.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] The next day on the 16th,

we had another investigator

who had gone to interview Josh's mother,

and he called me on the phone

and said she told him that she had indeed picked her son up,

but it was in the Winn-Dixie parking lot,

where Anna Cardwell's car was dropped off.

[suspenseful music]

So at this point, his mother destroyed his alibi.

He had lied to us about his whereabouts.

He was located

where the car was ditched after the murder.

[compelling music]

- So he's immediately in that timeline.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] This is a major turning point

in the investigation.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] It's just 24 hours after Anna's murder

and Josh's own mother has ruined his alibi.

This gives police the ammo they need

to obtain a search warrant for Josh's home.

[pensive music]

They need more than catching him in a lie,

they need a smoking gun.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] We were able to enter Josh Caspari's residence.

The house was fairly orderly

for a couple of guys to be living in it.

Nothing really out of the ordinary there

until we started searching the residence.

As we began our search,

we located numerous firearms

throughout the entire residence.

[suspenseful music]

There were shotguns, rifles, pistols.

This was a arsenal of firearms.

[suspenseful music]

I took a list of what we had recovered,

handed it to dispatch,

and asked them to start running the weapons.

[compelling music]

- [CJ] You run the serial number for those guns

to find out its origin.

- [Det. Evans] They called me on the radio and said,

"You're not gonna believe this,

but all these weapons are coming back stolen

from our jurisdiction."

[suspenseful music]

[telephone ringing]

November of 2011, we got a call of a home invasion robbery.

[pensive music] [siren wailing]

- [CJ] A former police officer

was the victim of a home invasion.

- [Det. Evans] These masked men bust into his house

and stick a gun to his head,

and tell him they're gonna kill him.

- [CJ] They pistol-whipped him

and his gun collection was taken.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] The cache of guns implicates Josh Caspari

in the home invasion.

[suspenseful music]

But does it also implicate him in Anna's murder?

[compelling music]

- [CJ] And as we start squeezing those walls in,

it's all about Josh Caspari.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] We're looking at someone who is capable

of that type of violence.

[suspenseful music]

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- [Alan] It's almost 24 hours after Anna's murder

and investigators now have a strong suspicion

that Josh Caspari is her killer.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] We're starting to see a complete picture of

the violence that he's capable of.

During the search of Josh Caspari's residence,

there was also a safe found.

We opened the safe,

and there were steroids and a large amount of currency.

And then there were two handguns in there,

both nine millimeters.

[suspenseful music]

So, we had to send them both off for testing.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Josh is arrested for home invasion

and brought in for interrogation.

Now, they need to hear from Josh what actually happened.

It wasn't going to be easy to get the truth.

[suspenseful music]

- [Sheriff Franklin] This guy was a huge steroid taker.

When he walks in the interview room,

he's actually flexing his muscle.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] It kind of painted the picture

of just a egotistical bully.

[suspenseful music]

We go back to Caspari

and re-interview him this time about the home invasion.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] He implicates his roommate, Cody Abernathy,

in the home invasion.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] While investigators continue

to take Josh's statement at the sheriff's office,

detectives tracked down his roommate

and the quiet member of the Slapout friend group,

Cody Abernathy.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] We then go get Mr. Abernathy

and arrest him for the home invasion.

Interview him.

[pensive music]

- [CJ] I think Cody was open with law enforcement

because he realized the walls had really closed in on him.

- [Det. Evans] Abernathy's statement to us was, you know,

"Basically, you just do what Josh wants you to do."

They're all scared of Josh.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] In exchange for leniency,

Cody cooperates and confesses

that Josh had coerced him into the home invasion.

But that admission is immediately overshadowed

by a far more significant revelation.

[pensive music]

- [Det. Evans] We asked him

if he knew anything about the murder,

[suspenseful music]

so he admits to taking Josh up there on the 15th of February

and dropping him off

and leaving him there at the Cardwell house

in the early morning of the murder.

[suspenseful music]

I mean, you've got someone who can actually place him there

in a awfully questionable context.

Being that close to the actual incident,

you know, that's important.

[suspenseful music]

- [CJ] So now you have Cody Abernathy

committing the home invasion with Josh.

You have him dropping Josh off at Anna's home

not too long before Anna was killed in her house.

[suspenseful music]

Did he know Joshua Caspari was going there to kill her?

[suspenseful music]

What did Josh tell him?

So, those are things to where we had to sort that out.

For Cody, that was kind of the difference between,

"Are you looking at 10 to 99 or life

for being an accomplished of murder

or are you looking at a smaller sentence

in connection to the home invasion

and for, you know, admitting your role

in basically helping this crime occur,

even if you didn't know he was going there to kill her?"

[suspenseful music]

- [Lindsay] Whether or not Cody knew

what Josh was gonna go do to Anna,

I still don't know the answer to that.

I don't want to think that he did know

I hope he didn't know.

[compelling music]

- [Alan] Cody claims he had no idea

Josh was planning on killing Anna,

but the intel he provides helps investigators hone in

on Josh's interrogation.

[compelling music]

- [Sheriff Franklin] I think there was a part of him

that would want to unload this and get it off his chest.

[suspenseful music]

[shoes clacking]

[suspenseful music]

[p

[pen

[pensi

[pensive

[pensive m

[pensive mus

[pensive music

[pensive music]

[siren wailing]

- [Alan] Josh Caspari has been arrested

for the murder of his friend Anna Cardwell,

but he still won't explain why he did it.

[suspenseful music]

[suspenseful music]

- [Sheriff Frnaklin] He needs to understand that, hey,

this is a coldblooded killing

and that you need to give a plausible explanation

and a truthful explanation on exactly what's going on.

[suspenseful music]

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Josh, claiming memory lapse,

the investigation turns to cold hard science.

[suspenseful music]

- [Sheriff Franklin] The prints that we were able

to extract from Anna Cardwell's car

were sent to the Department of Forensic Science,

and those particular prints came back to Josh Caspari.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] Investigators can place Josh inside Anna's car

that was stolen from the crime scene.

But, they need to confirm

that one of the dozens of guns Josh had stolen

was used to kill Anna.

[suspenseful music]

- There were two nine-millimeters in the safe

from Josh's house.

So, we had to send them both off

to the Department of Forensic Science for examination.

[compelling music]

And one of them does come back as the murder weapon.

[suspenseful music]

- [Alan] The autopsy results come in and tell the story.

[suspenseful music]

- The medical examiner performed an autopsy on Anna's body

and it showed a total of four gunshot wounds.

[suspenseful music]

- [Det. Evans] Two rounds that went through her back

and then another round to the chest,

and she's still up, and she's still fighting,

and she's still trying to get away,

[suspenseful music]

until he ultimately brings her back into the house

and executes her.

[suspenseful music]

I think he drug her back in from the back door

and kind of pushed her down onto the floor and shot her.

[suspenseful music]

Just standing over somebody

the moment before you take their life,

I think that's a power thing.

[pensive music]

- [Alan] In exchange for his cooperation,

Cody isn't charged as an accomplice to the crime,

but he gets 10 years for the home invasion.

[pensive music]

Josh is charged with capital murder.

[somber music]

- [Lindsay] Lacy gets the texts and says,

"Well, Josh has been arrested."

All of us were just started bawling,

crying with her, as she was unconsolable.

[somber music]

I don't think that Lacy knew what to do at that point.

Your best friend is gone

and then your boyfriend was charged with her murder.

Like, how do you deal with that?

[Josh crying]

I still don't understand

or whoever would think that he would do it.

[somber music]

- [Paula] Justice was very important to me and my family

because that's the last thing I could do for Anna Catherine.

What else could I do?

But I can get justice for her.

[mellow music]

So, it was my last job as a mom.

[mellow music]

- We decided to seek the death penalty.

[mellow music]

- [Alan] When the death penalty is on the table,

Josh finally comes clean

and owns up to the premeditated murder.

[mellow music]

- [CJ] That story was,

"I blamed Anna for my relationship with Lacy

that went south.

It was Anna's fault,

and I went to her house to basically get revenge on Anna

for taking away something that I love."

[suspenseful music]

Joshua Caspari pled to the capital murder of Anna Cardwell,

murder in the course of burglary in the first degree.

And in exchange for giving the full story in open court,

his punishment was life without the possibility of parole.

[suspenseful music]

[somber music] [birds chirping]

- [Lindsay] I feel like it did make us all grow up really quick

and realize like this is real,

and it could happen to you,

and it can happen in your circle

and it can happen in your town.

So, when it's your friend,

someone you know you went to school with, you worked with,

that is insane 'cause it still don't seem real.

We learned that always tell each other

that you love them

and spend as much time as you can.

You don't ever know when the last day will be.

[Lindsay sniffling]

[mellow music]

- [Paula] She did make a difference with other people.

She was just an amazing person.

[somber music]

- Josh Caspari has tried to escape from prison twice,

unsuccessfully.

Thankfully, he remains incarcerated,

what he will be for the rest of his life.

For Anna Cardwell's family and friends,

Anna's legacy lives on.

But the promise of safety within the friend group

remains forever broken.