Original subtitles

Okay, Bill.

It's unbelievable.

Hey, good job and stay safe.

All right, bye.

So Bill got a confession from NASO for the murder of the girl

from Berkeley.

Most serial killers, you know, once they're caught, held accountable,

provide more information.

But Joseph NASO?

No, he hasn't talked.

Right now, are you ready to admit anything?

No. Over the years, I've talked to him about taking credit for what he had

done. I'm not going to admit any killing or any crime.

Did you do it? No.

If he has that personality trait that he likes attention, that he likes being the

star, come on, Joe.

Tell the truth.

Take credit.

I'd love to hear that.

Seriously.

Seriously.

Seriously.

I'd love to see it.

A confession letter?

That Joe wrote?

Is this in Joe's handwriting?

That is Joe's handwriting.

I've never heard him confess the same.

That's surprising.

It's a bombshell. I mean, it's everything that I want.

Holy.

Oh, my God, I got chills.

Damn. You guys do good work.

He just called me out of the blue.

So, wait, how did this happen?

So, apparently...

Bill used a ruse. He lied to me.

Back in 2020, before I even met Bill, he was getting a lot of attention for

painting that he was doing from Death Row in San Quentin.

His art was selling all over the world. He was having magazines write about him.

Bill used that spotlight to convince Joe that he knew powerful people, including

the governor.

And he said, hey,

You give up one of your crimes to law enforcement, they are more apt to let

you out of jail, out of prison.

And he fell for it.

Joe Naso has always considered himself the smartest guy in whatever room he is

in. But he got outsmarted by his so-called friend on death row in San

Quentin.

I mean, to get a serial killer's confession,

Signed in death row at San Quentin.

That's big.

For years, Bill sat on this confession.

He kept it safe in his cell.

I didn't even know about it until Bill started to trust me.

And with the help of Bill's attorneys, I was actually able to get a physical copy

of the confession.

And it was a bombshell.

The girl from Berkeley.

It was sometime in the late 1960s up to the mid-70s that I saw a girl's ad to

model in the Berkeley Barb tabloid.

I called her, and we made a date to meet in downtown Burke.

She said she would ride a bike to a certain location at a certain time.

After she changed her bike, I drove her to my home in Oakland.

I would be at home alone at that time of day.

Once inside, we talked a bit to get acquainted.

She was nice-looking with long brown hair and seemed to have a good figure,

I'd guess about 5'4 and 120 pounds.

I didn't plan on dating her.

so I did not concentrate on her name, and I don't recall it.

He said she did nude modeling, but I said I was only interested in no more

than topless portraits.

We agreed on a fee.

I had her lay on her back on my sofa for some topless shots.

During this session, I choked her to death.

No violence, no sex, just a quick death.

I put her in a trash bag and into my car trunk.

Late that night, I drove over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and in the

low rail section, I stopped and quickly put the bag over into the bay.

To this day, I have always felt much regret and sorrow for this terrible act.

I would thank the Berkeley PD.

but have a record of a missing girl back then who made a date to ride her bike up

to meet someone and vanished.

What does it feel like reading that out loud?

Reading it out loud is very chilling.

The idea that...

somebody would ever read this and think, oh, great, let's let him out into the

world. It's so preposterous. It just also shows how insane he is.

When somebody's lying or giving a false confession, they won't give minute

details.

So I feel that this is a legitimate confession for the girl from Berkeley.

I got the confession over to Berkeley PD, and I didn't hear anything for

months while they vetted it.

And then one day out of the blue, I got word it was a big break.

So Berkeley PD contacted the FBI.

And I received a phone call from the FBI.

And it was a girl named Lynn Ruth Conn.

And the FBI agent said, my head's spent.

Everything in that confession letter matched up to the missing person report,

detail for detail.

Joe says she took her bike and she chained the bike up. And that's in the

police report.

But the big detail for me was Lynn Ruth Connis met a photographer when

she placed an ad in the Berkeley Bar.

All that matches up.

It's a confession letter that Joe told Bill.

I think this confession just slammed the door shut for the FBI.

I had the FBI contact me to see if I could help them with a cold case.

And I said, well, what's in it for me?

She said, well, what do you like in it?

In this case, Jonas is never getting out of prison.

But there is no expiration date on justice.

Just because he's in jail for four murders, that doesn't matter.

He needs to be held responsible for every single one.

Having the FBI involved, it's a big deal.

This confession letter, it's riling a lot of people up, it seems.

But there's one person in this world who deserves that confession letter more

than anybody.

And that's where I'm heading right now.

Thanks for meeting with me. Absolutely.

I'm here because I believe without any doubt that I've

solved the mystery of what happened to your sister.

A written confession is rare. And believe me, there's a lot of people that

want a copy of that letter. But there's one person who is the most important in

this particular case.

And that was Lee Connors.

Lynn Ruth's brother.

And he allowed me to come visit him to share what I had with him.

Can you tell me a little bit about, you know, who your sister was?

Absolutely, yeah.

This is a video that a friend of hers sent me of Lynn and her when they were

15 years old or so.

That's Lynn hanging from the tree.

There's a place where she comes right up to the camera, which I really like.

Lynn was a very loving person.

She was definitely the cooler older sister.

I looked up to her. I wanted to be like her.

She was an aspiring artist.

She was very talented. Things would just flow from her.

This thing, this is her drawing of her life.

She just puts such detail in things.

She wanted to go out to California because she felt like there was not much

opportunities, especially in North Carolina at the time.

But then that was it.

She was gone without a trace.

We just loved her so much, and we missed her so much.

Just didn't understand what was going on, you know?

Well, I believe without any doubt that I solved the mystery of what happened to

your sister 49 years ago.

And she was taken from this earth by an incredible monster named Joe Natho, an

informant. A guy that was in San Quentin prison with Joe Natho. He sent me a

confession letter.

Because of your sister.

I have the confession letter with me. It's up to you whether you want to read

it or not. I do.

You know, my mother always said, and I want to say as well, you know, no matter

what happened, no matter what, how bad, how good, whatever, I want to know what

happened. Just take care of this right now.

Go ahead and take your time.

He says no violence.

In the sentence before that, he says, during this session, I choked her to

death.

No violence.

That's not violent. Right. I thought the same thing.

He has always felt much regret and sorrow for this terrible act, be it he's

done it to several other ladies.

Yes.

What do you feel about it?

Things have lined up.

That never did seem to before.

I do kind of feel like he's responsible for whatever happened to her.

Yeah.

My father kind of accepted the fact right off the bat that something bad had

happened. But my mother, you know, would never admit that this was something that

was put in the newspaper.

It's titled, A Mother's Plaintiff Plea to Daughter.

It has been a year since I last heard your voice on Mother's Day.

Lee and I came across the country in August to try and help Berkeley Police

Homicide Inspector Dan Wolke, but nothing.

I feel so guilty.

I never gave you enough time or money to help you.

I know you were trying to make us believe in you, and we love you so.

Please come back.

Ever since Lee and I have been paralyzed, nothing is as important

anymore. Please come back. Your room is waiting.

Although you don't have to stay for long, we just want to know you're okay.

I appreciate you reading that to me.

Thank you so much for what you brought and shown me.

I'm pretty confident that that's what happened to her.

Hey, Bill, how are you?

You look good, man.

Well, thanks. I was going to say that I looked old, but then I saw you and I was

like, I didn't feel so bad.

This is what I'm saying.

Hey, so I just pulled over right here along the road. Okay.

Because I wanted to get back to you very quickly and let you know how things are

developing. Okay. I turned the confession letter over to Berkeley PD

and the FBI.

This page...

is growing legs on it. Really?

There's multiple law enforcement agencies who are now getting involved

because of our investigation and because of what you provided me.

Well, that's really good news.

You know, after more than 10 years doing this, I never expected this to turn out

as positive as it has.

So I'm glad you called because I have some news as well regarding my sentence

that was reduced.

Nerves racking. I'm shaking because this is something I never expected.

You know, after 42 years in prison, because of what the judge did in

lowering my sentence, now the California Department of Corrections Parole Board

has granted me a parole hearing next week.

Holy... Wow.

If they find me suitable, I will be granted parole.

Wow, that is huge news.

It is. You know, after so many years, I never thought...

that this opportunity would come up, and now it has.

Now I will be judged upon my rehabilitation and the person I am today

rather than the boy I was when I was 18 years old.

There's a lot of emotions going through me right now, Ken.

To be honest with you, I'm kind of speechless. I don't know how to feel

either. I mean, you've helped me tremendously with these cases.

I'm just very happy for you because I know that you were not the person you

were when you were 18.

I say judge you now, not judge you then.

And I really appreciate you, okay? And stay safe and good luck with your parole

hearing. Yeah, I hope you'll be one of the first people I call to let know what

happened. Okay, Bill. Okay, take care. I

want Bill to

get out.

And we're not just talking personally, professionally as well.

I mean, between the original investigation and Bill and I's work,

we've been able to tie Joe Naso to 10 murders, well on the way to the 26 that

he has claimed.

These murders span decades, from his first kill in 1965 to number 9 and 10 on

his list that happened in the 1990s.

But no matter how many women Joe killed, he never let it get in the way of being

what he thought was a good father, always trying to show up for his two

sons, Charlie and David.

In fact, Joe and Charlie, his older son, lived together, just the two of them,

for years.

And as I've continued digging through the Yuba County police files, the ones

from the original investigation,

I'm seeing mention after mention of one person.

Charlie Nathan.

Charlie and Joe spent time doing father and son things that normal father and

son things shouldn't be.

Joe kept a log of, you know, taking Charlie to courthouses in the Reno area,

down to how much he paid for those visits.

Three very interesting things came out of police interviews after Joe was

arrested in 2011.

Charlie told police that his dad got him a prostitute.

And when she got belligerent, dad took care of her.

Charlie also told police that during one of their trips, he saw his dad dump a

body into the river.

You know, they made a lot of trips, Joe and Charlie together, from their home in

Yuba City to Reno.

for reasons unknown to me.

And finally, Joe's wife, Judith, told police Charlie told her that he saw Dad

kill a woman.

But because of his mental capacity and mental health issues, it's not something

you can rely on. You couldn't tell whether it's fantasy or true.

Charlie was a...

straight-A student going into his freshman year of college.

And then shortly after that, he had this schizophrenic break, couldn't maintain

school, had difficulty taking care of himself, and he was diagnosed with

paranoid schizophrenic.

Just by me looking through the years of Charlie Nace's development, his mug

shots in particular, you can see the effect that his mental health has had on

him.

The question is...

Did Charlie's mental health issues come from something that Natho did?

Individuals with schizophrenia often have a genetic predisposition to the

disorder, and it is exacerbated by the environment they're in. So if Charlie

already had something kind of brewing in there, it wouldn't take much to turn

Charlie into having a significant mental health crisis.

So although Joe Naso wants to portray himself as father of the year, he in

fact has harmed Charlie Naso, in my opinion, and Charlie Naso has become

another victim of Joe Naso.

Now knowing what I know about Charlie and Joe's relationship, I want to go

back and look at a piece of evidence that Carl Yoder, who used to run errands

for Joe Naso, found in Joe Naso's house.

Going through the house after Joe was arrested, I did find an audio tape.

It was dated 1988, and it said Joe and Chaz on it.

This was an audio recording of Ghost of Natho and Charlie Natho.

And it was recorded by Charlie without the knowledge of Joe.

Did he just say, why did you take

your clothes off in the kids' playroom? That's what I heard.

And Joe said,

I don't know what you're talking about.

He said that for a specific reason. That's interesting.

Almost as if some kid told him something

that Joe did something to him behind the school.

That stood out to me because

I've got to think of the Rochester murders.

Between 1971 and 1973, three young girls were raped,

strangled, and bodies just dumped in Rochester, New York.

They were never solved.

And coincidentally, they had the same first name, last name, starting with the

same letters.

Joe not only grew up in Rochester, in 1971 and 1973 when these girls were

killed, he was making frequent trips from the West Coast to Rochester to

visit his family.

There are so many similarities to Joe's murders.

They were all raped and strangled, their bodies dumped.

Investigators did look at Naso after his arrest in Reno.

But from what I understand, Naso was eliminated as a suspect.

I would eliminate him, too, because it's not his M.O., I thought, to murder a

kid. But they have to look into it now.

I remember one of the Rochester victims' names right off the bat because it's the

same name as one of his adult victims in California, Carmen Colon.

And that right there is eerie enough.

It's too many coincidences. And I'm wondering if Rod Chester had this tape,

had they taken Joe Naso as a suspect for those murders a little bit more serious.

This tape changes everything.

So we're in Rochester, New York right now. I'm here to speak to a detective

about the double initial murders.

I want to share what I've discovered because I think Joe Nasa should be

seriously considered as a suspect.

Mark, thank you for meeting me and allowing me to come up here to Rochester

to visit you.

Can you tell me a little bit about the victims?

Yes, they all lived in the city of Rochester proper.

They all were by themselves doing an errand.

They were abducted on the street, although not in the blitz sense that you

would think. They were apparently conned into getting into a car, were driven

away, and then ultimately sexually assaulted and murdered.

Created... You know, quite a media stir and quite a stir in the public. What is

the link? What's the victimology here? How is somebody possibly picking out

young girls with the same initials? Or is this just some freak circumstance

that's beyond any logical reason?

Right, but all three were strangled. All three were strangled.

I'm curious when and how Joe Naso's name came up involved in this.

I got this call and said that they had arrested this guy in California and that

he had killed a person named Carmen Colon.

What did I think of that? And I was like, whoa, that's insane.

And that he had this other very violent history.

And that he at one time lived or was born in Rochester. And I'm like, wow.

Another strange piece of evidence that I came across was A cassette tape. Okay.

A recording between Joe Naso and his son, Charlie.

wow i mean i'll tell you one thing we both know an adamant denial

is far different than i don't know anything about that Yeah. Right? I mean,

I don't know anything about that. Come on. Right.

If somebody's going to accuse me, let alone my child, of something that

heinous, I'm going to beat my chest and say, no.

Okay? I mean, that's as good of an admission as anything. I agree.

It's not just the tape.

Okay. There is other evidence that he may have targeted underage girls.

Joe Naso was very detailed. He wrote down everything. Where he went and got

gas in 1983.

What hotel he stayed at. He annotated all this stuff.

And they found it all in the search warrant. One of the things that he had

was deemed his rape journal.

In addition to that list of 10, during the search warrant, we found a journal

written by Joseph Naso.

that we later referred to as the rape journal because it was, in fact,

descriptions, sometimes dates, sometimes names of women that he had raped.

There is evidence there that he committed over 150

sex crimes starting in the 1950s.

The verbiage that he used was horrific.

I've got to be honest with you when I tell you, I probably never read anything

more disturbing than that.

You think he went back to Rio to relive it?

Yes. Okay.

So, as you can see, with the first one there,

Rochester.

Wow.

This is...

This is gold, really, though. Yeah, I mean, that's a lot of information. And

again, there's a lot of Rochester stuff in there. I would either get my eyes

full or make a play or just follow her. Stalking.

He wrote Stalking.

So I think this diary confirms a little bit, too, that he would look at children

as victims, right? Yes.

It was a crime wave all by himself.

A 14-year-old girl someplace took her up in the hills in Penfield near Panorama.

Okay, so Panorama Plaza is where Michelle Mayenza was taken to eat

a burger at Carol's just before she was killed.

So, NACO basically confesses the raping.

a child, a 14-year-old in there at the exact same place where Michelle was last

seen. Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are all the notes that I got.

I think he, in my mind, as I sit here today, is a very strong

suspect that needs significant consideration.

I don't know how he could be discounted.

This project has grown a lot of tentacles.

And it's touched a lot of different agencies, a lot of different law

enforcement personnel.

Me and Bill have looked at cases that have stumped police investigators and

experts for decades.

Bill has been in the mind of serial killers.

He lived with these vile monsters, and he got well-educated in the way they

think. I mean, I've worked with the best FBI criminal profiles, but I would not

compare any of our knowledge to stand up against Bill Nogueira's knowledge.

To have him outside of those prison walls, I believe we could solve a lot

more cases.

Oh, man.

How you doing, Louie?

A bit nervous.

Wow.

This is new to me.

I've never been in front of a camera before.

I've never been interviewed in a camera.

And there's light, there's everything.

Something new to me.

Never expected this after being 42 years.

In prison, 40 of those on death row.

What do you mean, you're first in and out in 42 years?

Winning.

It was great.

I committed a terrible crime when I was 18 years old.

No justification, no excuse.

But I did it.

There's nothing I can do to change that.

But I can change the future.

Oh, man.

It's good to see you. Good to see you. You look good.

Well, I appreciate that.

Wow.

Old, but good.

Oh, man. It's all good to see you. It's so good.

Here we are. You're free.

I'm in California, meeting you for the first time. It's blowing my mind. Yeah,

just looking at you is special, man. Yeah.

When I saw Ken, I felt good.

I felt like an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time.

It was good to hug him. It was good to shake his hand.

He's my partner.

I would never have called a cop a partner before because before he was the

enemy.

It's been a while, huh?

Long road.

Long road.

Well, how about all this, like being outside? The air smells different.

Yeah. Everything is different. There's no tension here.

He's always been there for me for 42 years, and I don't feel tension.

I can actually sleep.

So that's something really special.

Bill, I mean, he went into prison a teenager, and he gets out a senior

citizen. Let that sink in.

He committed the crime. You have to do the time.

But, you know, he lost his whole adulthood.

Just gone.

Now he gets to get it back.

I remember being on a beach in Jacksonville, Florida, and you calling

me early one morning.

You asked me, you're like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I'm on a beach. And

I was like, and I apologized to you. And you're like, why? Why are you

apologizing? I said, because you can't do it. And you said, well, make me a

promise. You said, someday if I get out.

I can share that moment with you. I remember that. Before I went to prison,

every morning I would take the bus, even as a seven-year-old child, and I'd make

my way to the beach and I'd surf all morning. Yeah? I haven't seen the beach

in 42 years, and I'm sure it misses me like I miss it.

I'm a man of my word. I always keep my promise.

What's making you emotional?

Well, that he loved the beach so much and for him to get out of prison and

I can be a man of my word and show him that, that's pretty emotional.

Here it comes.

Very cool.

I can still time the ocean like I used to. I can tell when it's rising.

I stood on that same rock right there. I can't tell you how many times.

You know, there's a lot of memories here, but there's a fist in my stomach

that's gripped, and I can't hardly move because every time I move, I feel like

this is going to disappear.

Like I'm going to wake up, and I'm going to be in that cell again, and all this

has been a dream.

You know, I've woken up in the last 42 years.

More times than I can remember that I hear that sound. I hear the wave, and I

smell it.

But you know what?

This ain't fake. This is real. I know it is.

This opportunity is something I've wished for for 42 years, and now I have

it. And I'm not going to let anybody down.

That's the most important thing.

is that I'm going to cherish every moment that I'm out.

Every moment that I'm free.

I'm going to make the best of it.

I have a small, small circle.

And I like it that way.

But I have respect for him. I have love for him.

He's not like any partner I've ever had.

And now that Bill is out of prison, There's no barriers anymore.

It's, you know, the cold case cop and the convict.

It's crazy.

That combination right there, I think, is going to put a hurt on a lot of cold

cases.

It's so weird that we get to sit here and, you know, I'm not talking to you

behind bars.

You know what I mean? I'm sure it's even weirder for you.

Yeah, it's surreal.

Never thought this moment would come.

I think about the last three years that we've been in contact and how far we've

progressed. I mean, we had results.

I brought a couple of things here I felt it was important to show you.

There's Pam Lampson.

Wow.

That's the one that he killed on Mt. Tam and posed against a tree, and I went and

talked to her brother.

He altered the life of a whole family.

Just being here talking to you guys made me a little shaky. Yeah, you know.

It's nice to know that he's in a place where he can't harm anybody else.

Here is Lynn Ruth Connors.

I also met with her brother.

We just loved her so much and we missed her so much and didn't understand what

was going on, you know.

He's grateful for the information that you provided.

That's Rebecca Jean Dunn.

That's one of his Las Vegas victims.

This is Charlotte Cook.

That's a girl from Miami near Down Peninsula.

Met with her family as well, her daughters. That was very, very

emotional.

I hurt for them because they grew up without their mother.

This has never been about me.

It's been about the victims and that we brought them the answer. We gave them a

bit of justice.

They deserve it. They deserve the truth.

It feels good. I mean, it feels good.

We basically sold, in conjunction with police, nine out of the ten on Joe

Nacer's list.

I mean, we did some great things.

But the future holds a lot more for us because that list is only the top ten.

He killed 26 women, and I think that together we really can solve unsolved

murders. And the number one thing on my list is the number one thing on that

list.

A girl near Healdsburg.

Yeah, that's a big one. And I want that one. It's like my white whale. I think

we can go through it.

The both of us together, and you start picking it apart. You see things I don't

see sometimes. And the same way for us. Exactly. We just have to get to work.

As a journalist, it's frustrating.

An inmate on death row helped the case that I had been working on so hard for

years. But I'm grateful for what Bill did.

The question is whether Naso will admit everything he's done.

I'm not sure he has it in him. I don't think he cares about anybody else

besides Joe.

Covering the story has been nothing like I've ever experienced in my entire

career. And I would like to meet Bill Noguera one day and just express

my gratitude for all this amazing work he's done. I think he's an extraordinary

human being.

When serial killers strike, it's a ripple effect that goes through

generations.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people's lives are affected by one person's

actions.

Charlie Natho is a victim of his father, Joe Natho.

Judah Natho is also a victim of Joe Natho.

There's 26 women, their families.

communities, friends, neighbors, all these people are victims of Jonatia.

One person, one monster, and all these lives will never be the same.