All language subtitles for Accident.Suicide.or.Murder.S06E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

-A gentle caretaker of horses
is found dead

in her dorm room
at a popular racetrack.

-She was hanging.

-There was blood everywhere.

-And her wrists
were also slashed.

We weren't sure if it was
gonna be a homicide or suicide.

-That obviously raised
a lot of questions.

-It makes no sense.

-Three years later,
hundreds of miles away,

another horse groom
is found dead.

-This was a crime scene.

-She said that
he was gonna get her.

-Could these two cases
be connected?

-This guy left a trail
and got away with a lot.

I don't believe in coincidences.

-We were both shocked.

-They're both females,
they're both white,

and they both work in the track.

-It's a race against the clock
as detectives hunt for a killer.

-He liked women
that he could intimidate.

-I felt as though
I let Pam down.

-We all made a mistake.
-All hell broke loose.

This guy, he's a predator.

You can't let him
be on the street.

-And there's no doubt
he's going to rape

or hurt another woman.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-On a humid summer evening,
a little after midnight...

♪♪

...a frantic 911 call sends
firefighters to Vernon Downs,

a popular racetrack located
in Upstate New York.

-Vernon Downs is
a harness racing track.

It has dormitories in the back
where the grooms are housed,

and the grooms are individuals
who take care of the horses.

-A fire has broken out
in one of the dormitories.

Firefighters quickly get
the blaze under control,

but once the smoke clears, they
make a horrifying discovery.

-There was a dead female
that was in the dormitories.

She was hanging.

♪♪

There was an extension cord
around her neck.

-And there was blood on that.

-Detectives notice
that the extension cord

is tied to a shelf
above the victim's head,

and they speculate that this
could be a possible suicide.

-And there was a vodka bottle
next to her body.

There was blood on her
everywhere.

♪♪

-Her throat was cut.

There was a electric knife
by her on the floor.

You could see the blood
from her throat.

And her wrists
were also slashed.

-The scene was gruesome.

-I have never seen
anything like that.

I don't think any of us
saw anything that violent

like that before.

-It looked, to all appearances,
like a self-inflicted death.

-There are papers
surrounding the victim's feet

that did not burn,
and investigators are hopeful

that there might be
a suicide note

to explain what happened here.

-But there was no note

indicating
she had killed herself.

No suicide note
was found at the scene.

-Detectives learn that
the victim was a horse groom.

Grooms work in the stables

and take care of the horses
at the racetracks.

Coworkers identify the victim

as 39-year-old Leslie Dickenson.

-I knew Leslie Dickenson

because she worked
at Vernon Downs with me

as a groom.

She was very quiet, very petite.

Loved animals.

Grooming is very physical.

You can get very dirty.

You get wet because
you're bathing horses.

You got to clean their stalls,
clean their water buckets.

Leslie was very fragile.
She wasn't very strong.

So I would help her
with her water buckets.

Just a very nice lady.

♪♪

I was absolutely shocked.

I've never been
in that situation

where a groom has died.

And it was...hard to believe.

-To those who knew her, Leslie
was kind and compassionate,

making her violent end
difficult to comprehend.

As investigators examine the
fire she apparently perished in,

they find it
only more confusing.

-How the fire started
looked a little bit suspicious.

Candles were lit under something

so that they would burn
and catch fire.

-It was very difficult
to tell what happened.

-Was the vodka poured around

and lit to start
the place on fire?

-As they take a closer look
at the victim,

several details stand out
that make investigators wonder

if their first impression
of suicide may have been wrong.

-When the body was hanging,

the pants were unbuttoned
and the zipper was down.

-That obviously raised
a lot of questions

in our mind
as to what exactly happened.

Generally, when you see
women who commit suicide,

it's usually with pills.

They don't usually scar
or mark up their body.

Honestly, I've been to
many, many, many scenes

where people were dead.

I've never seen a person
have this many methods

for killing themself,

which, in her case,
was slitting the wrist

and hanging herself up
then burning the room.

We knew we still had
a lot of investigating to do.

-As the forensics team
continues to process

the crime scene for evidence,

detectives zero in
on the grooms.

-We interviewed 20 or more
of the grooms.

Everybody that may
have seen Leslie that day,

may have been with her.

Trying to get a timeline.

-According to the grooms,

Leslie finished work
around noon,

and this Friday was payday.

-The grooms travel
from different track to track,

but they're a close-knit group.

They know each other, and they
get along usually very well.

-They're there 24/7
to take care of the horses.

And very often, you know,
when they get done working,

they'll have a drink.

-Coworkers tell police that
Leslie joined them for drinks

from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

-Leslie had been sitting
on a picnic table

outside of her dormitory room.

They just had a couple drinks.

That was the last
anybody had seen of her.

-Around midnight,
smoke fills the dormitory

where Leslie lives...

alerting grooms of a fire.

-There was one witness
who said he smelled smoke

before anybody else
smelled smoke.

Another groom went up
to the guard station

and told the guard
there was a fire.

-Investigators continue
to press grooms

for information about Leslie.

They want to know
if she was having trouble

with anyone at the track.

-Anybody we asked said
she's a nice person, you know,

kept to herself a lot,
but everybody liked her.

There was absolutely no bad
things at all said about her.

-She was well liked by other
grooms, never bothered anybody.

Took care of her horses
and did what she had to do.

-While Leslie's body
is transported

to the coroner's office,

detectives are faced
with the difficult task

of notifying Leslie's family
of the tragic news.

-It was pretty shocking to them.

-She had a very good
relationship with her family.

She seemed to be very close
with her sister.

-They said she was
an outgoing person,

said she loved horses,
loved the job she was at.

-When digging
into her background,

detectives uncover a secret
that Leslie Dickenson

kept from her friends
at the track,

and this troubling information

sheds new light
on the investigation.

-She had a previous
suicide attempt.

-Leslie's family confides that
she struggled as a teenager,

even attempting
to take her own life with

over-the-counter medication
two decades earlier.

But according to her family,
those dark days were behind her.

She'd found happiness
and was dating

a fellow groom from the track.

Investigators, however, discover

that the pair
had recently parted ways.

-People said they didn't get
along, they had argued.

And then other people
said they were together.

-Investigators wonder
if the breakup

may have triggered Leslie's
mental-health issues,

sending her spiraling
into a depression.

So they turn their attention
back to the grooms,

looking for clues
about Leslie's state of mind.

-The first question
investigators asked --

"Did you notice
that she was depressed?"

-She was actually
doing pretty good.

She had just bought herself
some new clothes.

She seemed upbeat.

-And no one seemed
to have any idea

that she was unhappy with life.

And everybody said no.
She seemed fine.

There was nothing
out of the ordinary with her.

-She was quiet,
but I would have never

guessed her to commit suicide,
by no means.

-Looking for answers,
investigators turn

to Leslie's ex-boyfriend,
but they're surprised to learn

that he relocated
to another track

several hundred miles away
just two days before the fire.

-Boyfriend had shipped out
with his horse

and the owner
to a different track.

-Could Leslie's boyfriend have
used his departure as an alibi?

-We weren't sure
if it was gonna be

a homicide or suicide,

but the fact that Leslie's
boyfriend had left town

is very suspicious,
so we had to track him down.

♪♪

-The door was locked
from the inside.

It was pretty apparent
this was a crime scene.

-I don't believe
in coincidences.

And there are similarities
between what happened

to Leslie and Pamela.

-After learning
alarming information,

detectives zero in
on Leslie's ex-boyfriend

as a possible suspect,

and they hunt him down
at a racetrack

several hundred miles away.

-We did interview him.

We learned it was a very good
relationship between them,

and he said they were
getting along fine.

-Leslie's ex-boyfriend
tells detectives he was working

on the night Leslie
was killed...

300 miles away
from Vernon Downs,

and several eyewitnesses
confirm his story.

-He wasn't there.
He wasn't a suspect in it.

-If Leslie's ex-boyfriend
is not their suspect,

detectives wonder
if it's possible

that someone on the
horse circuit killed Leslie

and slipped away before
detectives could find them.

-The lifestyle of a groom
is very seasonal.

Constantly moving around.

But they are kind of
a small community

because they get to know
each other

at all of the different tracks.

And people knew all
the circumstances of this case.

This was a very big deal.

But there was no real
prime suspect.

-At this point,
to try to determine

if this was a homicide
was difficult to do

because we didn't really have
anything glaring at us.

-With no clear leads,
detectives are hopeful

that the autopsy report
will help them

figure out what happened to her.

-The autopsy determined
that this was a suicide.

They labeled it a suicide.

-The cause of death
was the strangulation

as a result of the cord
and the hanging.

-The autopsy report states
death by asphyxia and hanging.

This, coupled with Leslie's
history of mental-health issues,

leads to the coroner's
conclusion

that Leslie did indeed go to
great lengths to kill herself.

-They thought
she cut her throat

and wrapped the cord around
and then hung herself

and then cut her wrist
as she was hanging.

-Upon learning
the devastating news,

Leslie's family
struggles to say goodbye,

and they lay her to rest
in a baby-blue coffin

that matches her eyes.

For Detective Lisi
and his team,

the Leslie Dickenson case
is closed.

Then, three years later,

1,500 miles
south of Vernon Downs,

police are dispatched
to the Pompano Beach Racetrack

in response
to a suspicious 911 call.

-On February 20, 1990,

the Pompano Beach
Police Department

received a call for a woman
that was thought to be sick.

She didn't report to work,

so her employer went to the room
to check on her.

The door was locked
from the inside.

He pushed the door open
a little bit.

And he could see the victim...

...on the floor in the room.

And she was unresponsive.

-When we arrived,
we discovered

that it was a female victim

who was an employee
at the harness track.

She was a groom.

-Attempts to revive the victim
are unsuccessful,

and she's declared dead
at the scene.

The victim's boss identifies her

as 32-year-old
Pamela Albertson,

a groom from Blanchester, Ohio.

♪♪

-She's in the room by herself
and a door that's locked.

We looked at her windows,
and it gave enough way

for a person to slide
through the window.

-The room was very sloppy.

Knocked-over soda on the floor.

Things were just thrown about.

Pam was laying
right inside the doorway.

It appears as though
there may have been
some sense of a struggle.

-So we knew then that
somebody had been in there

and locked the door from the
inside and went out the window.

-Her clothes were
somewhat on the floor.

It appeared as though somebody
put her pants back on her.

She had no underpants on.

Her pants were pulled up,

but they weren't secure
in any way, unzipped.

-Pamela's body had bruises

on both sides of her head
and her upper lip.

-We felt pretty confident

there was foul play,
that she was assaulted.

-The crime-scene unit
and the medical examiner

arrive together
and begin to process the scene

for DNA evidence.

-They gathered items
that were on the floor,

one of which was
a tank top, red in color,

and that was sent
to the lab, as well.

We also secured
vaginal swab evidence from Pam.

-CSI techs also discover
a key piece of evidence

that could lead them
to the killer.

-They recovered hairs
from Pamela's hand.

They weren't cut.

They were pulled
from somebody's scalp.

-Our next step was basically
to identify any witnesses.

We started knocking
on doors in the dorm.

The dorm room directly above
Pam Albertson's dorm room,

a woman by the name
of Ann Santoriello lived.

She was a groom.

-When detectives give Ann
the tragic news

about her neighbor, Pamela,
they have no idea

that Ann was at Vernon Downs
three years earlier

when Leslie Dickenson died.

-We spoke with her about Pam.

-I was absolutely shocked.
I really was.

I knew Pam because
we lived in the same dorm.

And we would just talk.

She was very cute.

She was just
a sweet, sweet lady.

Very hardworking.

-Nobody spoke in any bad way
about Pam.

She was perceived as a very
nice person and was friendly,

had a social life
with the other grooms.

-She'd hang out with a few guys,

and she just enjoyed shooting
pool and having a few drinks.

-Detectives wonder who would
want to hurt this gentle groom.

And while talking to Ann,
they learn

some alarming information.

-She explained that Pam
was very much afraid

of someone named Mississippi.

-Pamela was very scared
of him.

It was a groom.

He was called Mississippi
because he's from Mississippi.

-So it was an alias that he
adopted that people knew him by.

-Pamela told me
that he was harassing her.

He said that he had sex
with her.

There was no shot of that,

because she wanted
nothing to do with him.

She told me
she was getting afraid of him.

I asked Pamela,
could she go home?

And she said she would get
a bus ticket to go home.

And she was gonna go home
in two days,

but never made it
because she got killed.

-Ann reveals intriguing
information about Mississippi

to detectives that could provide
a motive for Pamela's murder.

-He got fired about a week
or two prior to Pam's homicide.

And some of the other witnesses

thought he got fired
for harassing Pam.

-Detectives are now on the hunt
for any witnesses

who might have seen Pamela
with Mississippi.

-We identified a woman

that lived in the dorm
right next door,

and she said that evening

she witnessed Pam at her doorway
to her dorm room

with an individual she'd never
seen before, a Black male.

-She said Pam was telling him,
"I'm going to bed.

You can't come in."

-Investigators are stunned
by this eyewitness account.

Could this unidentified man
actually be Mississippi?

-We had a person of interest.

-Police are on the hunt
for a mysterious suspect

in the murder
of Pamela Albertson.

And while interviewing grooms
at a neighboring stable,

they learned
that Mississippi is actually

27-year-old horse groom
Robert Hayes.

-He was working as a groom,
cleaning out one of the stalls

when we encountered him
at Tagariello Stables.

-We said, "Hey,
we're investigating a homicide.

We'd like to talk to you
about it."

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

-He seemed cooperative.

He said he had heard
Pam had been murdered.

-He volunteered to come down
to the police station.

♪♪

Rob had volunteered
to give his fingerprints.

But as we started to investigate
him, more information came in.

-Detectives confirmed
that Robert Hayes

did spend time in jail
for assault.

-He had a fight with a groom
from a neighboring barn,

and it was a very violent fight.

He got the guy on the ground.

He was putting dirt in his eyes.

He smacked him with his belt
buckle a couple of times.

-People felt he was dangerous.

-A number of witnesses
who were on scene

had mentioned Robert Hayes

and the problems
that Pam was having with Robert

over the weeks and months
before.

-However, no one reported
any of the incidents

they witnessed
between Pamela and Robert.

As detectives dig in,

they learn that most grooms
live under a code of silence,

preferring to handle things
themselves

instead of going
to law enforcement.

But police find
the recent murder

has made the grooms
more forthcoming.

-When we spoke to people
at multiple other racetracks,

we were both shocked.

There were other incidents
at other tracks.

He's been banned
from a couple tracks.

Was a victim in new Jersey

in which Robert Hayes
assaulted her.

She says Hayes came to her room,
asked her for a cigarette,

and he forced his way
in the door

and just started strangling her.

-This guy left a trail
and got away with a lot.

-Another victim tells detectives

of a horrifying encounter
she had with Hayes

while working at a track
in Delaware.

-He wanted to have sex.
She denied him.

And then he attacked her,
began choking her.

And he threw her off the second-
floor balcony of the dormitory.

-He liked women
he could intimidate,

and they don't come forward
because they're scared to death.

-We really start to focus

on Robert Hayes
as our main suspect.

-I went with Detective Flynn.

He wanted me to pick
a photo lineup

of who I thought
murdered Pamela.

And I picked Robert Hayes
very easily.

There was no doubt in my mind.

-Detectives also bring in
the eyewitness

who saw the suspicious man
outside Pamela's dorm room

the night of her murder.

-And she identified Robert Hayes
in that lineup,

indicating
that that was the person

she had seen at Pam's door
the evening prior.

And he denied ever being
with Pam in a room.

He never put himself
at the doorway.

-Investigators go back to Robert
with these accusations,

insisting he knows more
than he lets on.

-He showed no emotion at all.

It didn't faze him
in the least way.

He denied any involvement in it,

and when confronted with
if he's ever had sex with Pam,

he had stated that he had sex
with her about a month ago.

-He said she had a reputation.

-But an eyewitness comes forward
with a damning testimony

that pokes a hole
in Robert's story.

-A gentleman named Clyde Tate
witnessed an incident

that took place
at the stables one evening.

He had heard Pam
yelling for help.

♪♪

He said he found Robert Hayes --
Mississippi -- on top of Pam.

He was in the process
of taking his pants off.

When Clyde approached him,
separated them,

Robert went on his way.

That wasn't reported,
but certainly

that led to the fear
that Pam had.

-Police pressure Robert.

They want to know when was the
last time he saw Pamela alive.

-He said he didn't see Pamela,
but we have witnesses

that put him together
close to the 9:00 p.m.

We knew he was lying.

We knew he had been
in the dorm building with her,

and we knew he was at the door.

-After hours of interrogation,

Robert changes his story
and finally admits

that he was with Pamela
on the night she was murdered.

-Robert finally confessed
that yes, in fact,

he had been with her.

-He was talking to her
outside her dorm,

but he denied the murder.

-The witness statements,
the fact that he lied --

he said he wasn't with her,
then he changed his story --

we felt that we had enough
to charge him with murder.

He had collected evidence
at the room.

He did fingerprinting
off the windows, the doors.

We were hoping that would
reveal some more information

that would connect Hayes
to this crime.

-The items were recovered,

was sent to the crime lab
for further testing

in the search
for the presence of DNA.

-We're talking
about the early 1990s.

DNA testing was not
as sophisticated as it is now.

-I had great concern
about that.

And DNA evidence was brand-new.

This was the first DNA case

that Pompano Beach
had presented to the court.

-While detectives wait
for DNA results,

the medical examiner
releases the autopsy report

confirming Pamela's
cause of death as a homicide.

-The autopsy report came back

and determined
that she had been murdered.

♪♪

She had a broken hyoid bone
in her throat.

-The cause of death
was strangulation.

-I could have done more
to save her life.

And that really,
really bothered me,

because I know
without a doubt in my mind,

he was coming for her.

The woman
didn't get to live her life.

-For Ann, the harrowing
turn of events calls to mind

Leslie's unfortunate death
years prior --

information she takes to police.

-She said
she was at Vernon Downs

three years earlier.

♪♪

-I remember Robert Hayes
worked at Vernon Downs

when I worked there.

I really didn't pay
that much attention to him.

-And a young lady
by the name of Leslie

was murdered in Vernon Downs.

And in that case,
she said it was ruled a suicide,

but Robert Hayes
was on the track

when that incident took place.

♪♪

Ann Santorelli suspected
it was a murder in Vernon Downs.

-I would have never guessed her
to commit suicide.

It makes no sense.

Who sets themselves on fire

and puts a cord around her neck?

-You know, the grooms all talk.

They were highly suspect,
many of them,

that Leslie Dickenson
was a questionable death

and that
some further investigation

should have taken place.

-I don't believe
in coincidences.

And there are similarities

-Detective Flynn
and his team have just learned

that the prime suspect
in Pamela Albertson's murder

was working at Vernon Downs
when Leslie Dickenson died.

-We realized
that maybe it wasn't a suicide.

Robert may have had
some involvement

in that case, as well.

All of that needed to be
looked at more intently,

because Robert Hayes' case
against Pam Albertson

was a circumstantial case.

-Which means that there's
a strong possibility

there's not enough evidence to

convict Robert
for Pamela's murder

and he could go free.

-That compelled me
as an investigator

to try and look into
Leslie Dickenson's death.

The state of Florida
has a Williams rule --

Williams vs.
the state of Florida.

-Under Florida's Williams rule,

if investigators can uncover
evidence of past crimes

that mirror the current charge,

prosecutors can use it
to strengthen their case.

If Robert Hayes is linked
to Leslie Dickenson's murder,

Detectives believe that evidence

could help secure a conviction
in Pamela's killing.

-So we had to look at
Leslie's case for the similarity

to show
that he has done this before.

-One week later,

Robert Hayes is arrested
for Pamela Albertson's murder.

[ Telephone rings ]

-We reached out to Oneida County
Sheriff's Office.

-Detective Flynn asked me

if I was familiar
with Robert Hayes

from our case -- Leslie's death.

I was not.

So we brought the case
out of the file.

And it turns out
we did interview a groom

named Robert Hayes.

His statement
was that he smelled smoke.

-Even though detectives
interviewed Robert Hayes

at the scene of Leslie's death,

he did not give them
any indication

to suggest
that he could be a suspect.

-We had no evidence
of Robert Hayes being involved.

-As Detective Lisi
and Detective Flynn

compare Pamela's case
to Leslie's case,

they see glaring parallels.

-They're both females.
They're both white.

They both were grooms,
and they both work in the track.

-Not only
are the victims similar,

but the crime scenes are,
as well.

-There were just a lot
of, you know, consistencies

in the manner of death --

enough to strongly merit
reopening the case.

-We realize
that it's a good possibility

that Detective Flynn was right,
that there was a mistake made,

it was not in fact a suicide.

That he's probably right,
this was a homicide.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

I was sent to Florida
for two weeks

to work with Detective Flynn

and the Pompano Beach
Police Department.

They would take me around
where I could go to the track

and interview same witnesses
that they interviewed

and try to gather
enough evidence

to determine
this was not a suicide.

-While in Florida,

Detective Lisi
works with Detective Flynn

to track down dozens of grooms,

hoping to find witnesses

who may have information
about Leslie's death.

-There was one witness
who said

that Hayes had talked about
going out with Leslie.

This information
was never revealed to us

at the time of Leslie's death.

-The investigator, Lisi,

was getting help
from the people in Florida.

The case started to build.

-In order to prove that
Leslie Dickenson was murdered,

the medical examiner
has to change the cause of death

from suicide to homicide.

And the only way to do that
is to exhume the body.

-Exhumation of the body
is always difficult.

We didn't know
if the judge would grant it.

-But the judge
isn't the only hurdle

for Detective Lisi
and his team.

-You have to include

in your motion to the court
for permission

the family of the person.

So that's usually who gives you
the greatest pushback.

-But we had communicated with
the family what we were doing,

why we were doing it.

The family was given
a disservice from the start

because a death case
that should have been a homicide

was ruled a suicide.

-She had a previous suicide,

and they thought that that
was exactly what had happened.

So they were surprised about it,

but they were not opposed to us
reopening the case.

-The good part
was the family said yes.

And the judge --
he granted the exhumation.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

-On November 15, 1990,

Leslie Dickenson's body
is exhumed.

-I have to raise the casket,

and it'd have to be taken to
the medical examiner's office.

-Upon close inspection,

the medical examiner
notices that Leslie

has a broken hyoid bone and
defensive wounds on her hands.

-The hyoid bone
was very, very telling.

Along with the defense wounds
that were on her hands

led everybody to believe

is indicative
of her protecting herself.

Combined with
the blood splatter,

it's not consistent
with her cutting her own wrists.

And this totality
is very suspicious.

-There was a blood splatter
on her back.

That means it fell straight down
from right up above her.

How could a drop of blood
fall directly on her

unless someone was standing over
her with a bloody instrument?

This was not a suicide.
This was a murder.

-In 1987, when Leslie died,

Oneida County was using
the traditional coroners system

that allows
hospital pathologists

to conduct autopsies in lieu of
a medical examiner.

And at that time, many
pathologists were not trained

to identify hyoid bone fractures
or defensive wounds,

which is why

in Leslie Dickenson's
first autopsy,

these crucial details
were overlooked.

-Things like blood splatter,

hyoid bone,
the defense wounds --

that's the stuff
that a pathologist does not see

and a medical examiner does see.

We all made a mistake.

And that's what it was --
a mistake.

-Although the medical examiner

changes the cause of death
for Leslie Dickenson

from suicide to murder,

Detective Lisi
does not have enough evidence

to press charges against Hayes
for Leslie's death.

-When you build
a circumstantial case,

you haven't got a smoking gun.

You haven't got a DNA sample,

You haven't got an admission.

-Once we knew
that it was a murder,

then the whole question was how
or when was Robert Hayes there

and was he responsible for it?

-Robert Hayes was our suspect,

and it was my job
to connect the dots

that this person was involved

-While detectives in New York

continue to investigate
Leslie Dickenson's murder,

hoping to find a smoking gun
to prosecute Hayes,

the DNA results
in Pamela Albertson's case

come back,

and all eyes
turn toward Florida.

-The evidence
that was gathered --

vaginal swabs,

as well as the shirt
that was taken from the room

with the DNA evidence on it --

[ Dramatic music plays ]

the lab called me and told me

that the evidence came back
as a match to the sample

that was obtained
from Robert Hayes.

So that linked him to
the homicide of Pam Albertson.

-Although DNA evidence
on Pamela's clothing

traces back to Robert Hayes

and they have
multiple witness statements

claiming that Pamela
was afraid of Robert,

there is still no guarantee

that Robert will be convicted
for Pamela's murder.

-The fact that his semen
was on the tank top

does not prove he killed her.

Proves he was there
at some point.

But that doesn't make him
the murderer.

-Robert Hayes
maintains his innocence,

claiming that he was not
in Pamela's room

on the night of her murder.

-This was 1990.

There were no security cameras
on properties.

There wasn't any eyewitnesses
to the absolute attack.

There was no fingerprints
that we discovered

that put him inside that room.

-As the prosecutors
approach trial,

they feel confident
they've put together

a strong case against Hayes.

-The trial took place
in October 1991.

At the time,
the death penalty in Florida

required a recommendation
from the jury,

but the jury did
not have to be unanimous.

The final decision
was the judge's to make.

-Trial lasted two weeks,

and ultimately,
he was found guilty

of murder in the first degree.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Robert Hayes was convicted

and sentenced to death
in the electric chair.

-On June 5, 1992.
Robert Hayes is found guilty

and sentenced to death row
in Florida

for the murder
of Pamela Albertson.

-I really thought
this guy was a danger to women.

I was happy
that he's off the street,

he's not gonna hurt
anybody else.

-Now that Robert Hayes
is on death row,

the investigation
into Leslie Dickenson's murder

screeches to a halt.

-Our investigation
was at a standstill.

-Simply because of the fact
that the person

who was our prime suspect
was on death row.

-Legally speaking,

there should be only one way
out of death row,

and that's in a casket.

But that's not what happens
in real life.

In real life,
there are appeals --

many appeals.

More people have been taken
off of death row in Florida

than have been executed.

-After Robert Hayes was found
guilty and sentenced to death,

he appealed the conviction.

-The Innocence Project
looks at cases

where DNA evidence is used

and tries to determine whether
they actually have somebody

who is innocent of the crime
with which they were charged.

-In 1995,
the Florida Supreme Court ruled

that the original DNA testing
used on the red T-shirt

in Pamela's case
involved band shifting --

a method they deemed
scientifically unreliable.

-And the t-shirt testing
that was done

was a method
called band shifting,

where in the DNA process,

certain bands matched that
of Robert Hayes.

So it pointed to him
as a suspect,

but it was not pointing to him
with absolute certainty.

-The method
that investigators use

to examine the DNA
that was left on the shirt

was considered no longer
reliable by the Supreme Court.

-The second go around
was a bit of an uphill battle.

We lost a lot of
the DNA evidence

that we had in the first trial.

The appeals court said we
couldn't use that DNA testing,

the red shirt,
as part of our material

going forward in the prosecution
the second time.

So we were going back to trial

with only half the DNA evidence
that we had the first time.

-They were no longer able to
use the testimony of witnesses

who had told them that Albertson
was afraid of Hayes.

-There was another issue
of hearsay and opinion

that it cannot be allowed
in the new trial.

We still had the hairs
on Pam's hands.

Those hairs
were likely associated

with that of the individual
that caused the attack.

-In 1997,

after being incarcerated
on death row for six years,

Robert Hayes goes to trial
a second time

for the murder
of Pamela Albertson

to prove his innocence.

And the defense zeroes in on the
hairs found in Pamela's hands,

arguing that they must have
belonged to the assailant.

-These hairs
belonged to a Caucasian.

Hayes is a Black man.

So we knew right away
something is wrong here.

Whose hair is that?

-The defense argument was.
it was a Caucasian.

Defensive wounds --
she grabbed the suspect's hair.

She had some of his hair,
and it couldn't be Robert Hayes.

-Which led the jury
to come back with a verdict

of not guilty for Robert Hayes
in Pam's death.

-The three hairs
had been examined,

but they had never been tested
for DNA.

-Later on,
it was determined by a lab

that those hairs
were from the victim, Pamela.

-In a mind-blowing twist,

Robert Hayes is released
from Florida's death row

on July 16, 1997.

-And he was free
to go back into the community

wherever he chose to go.

-A person like Robert Hayes
to be released

would be the worst thing
they could possibly do.

-That was a gut punch.
I felt as though I let Pam down.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

♪♪

I still feel like that.

♪♪

-After being exonerated,

Robert Hayes
cannot be tried again.

It's called double jeopardy.

And once you're exonerated
by a jury, that's it.

You can't be tried
for that crime.

♪♪

-Knowing his violent history,
Detective Flynn and his team

are desperate to keep
Robert Hayes behind bars,

and their only hope
is to reach out to New York,

because Hayes
has never been tried

for the murder
of Leslie Dickenson.

-So now they put
the ball back in our court

to really go ahead
and try to find out the truth

and find enough evidence
to indict Robert Hayes,

because we knew he was guilty,

but now he was gonna be free.

-And there's no doubt
he's going to rape

or hurt another woman.

-He was a dangerous individual,
and the only hope I had

was that Oneida County

-On July 16th, 1997,
Robert Hayes is set free.

And once again,

Florida detectives
turn to New York for help.

-When Robert Hayes
was found not guilty

in the second trial
for Pam Albertson,

I let Oneida County
Sheriff's Office know that.

-All hell broke loose
with the investigators.

They were in my office
like immediately.

-I felt we should have
to do something,

we have to do something.

I had talked to Mike Arcuri.

I said, "We have to go forward
with this investigation."

-This guy -- he's a predator.

You can't let him be
on the street.

The investigator is in Florida
knew full well

that they had the right guy,

but that the evidence
was tainted somehow.

So now they were pushing us,

"You guys have to get him
for the Leslie Dickenson case."

[ Dramatic music plays ]

-We realized
that putting the case together,

the grooms were key.

They were all over the country.

We went all over
the East Coast --

South Carolina,
North Carolina --

multiple states to try to find
different witnesses.

A lot of them opened up.

A lot of them
were afraid of him.

There were a couple women
that he had actually threatened.

The end of the day,

they did come forward
and give us statements.

-Detective Lisi finally gets
a break when two men,

a groom and a former cellmate
of Robert's,

come forward
with the same statement.

-There was an individual
who said

that he had an admission
from Robert Hayes

that Robert Hayes
had committed this murder...

up at a track in New York.

-There were grooms

and a prisoner
that he was in jail with

where he admitted
that he had killed Leslie.

-The witness statements

and the admission of guilt
from Robert Hayes

is enough evidence

for New York state prosecutors
to arrest him.

-In 2003, Hayes was indicted
for second-degree murder

in the death
of Leslie Dickenson.

-In November 2004,
the trial of Robert Hayes

for the murder
of Leslie Dickenson begins.

-I was there in Oneida County
with Joe Lisi.

-In a heart-stopping
turn of events,

Robert Hayes pleads guilty to
the murder of Leslie Dickenson.

-Hayes decided to enter
a guilty plea to manslaughter.

[ Soft music plays ]

-We were both shocked.

-I never expected him
to plead guilty.

It was like a relief.

-The court required him
to allocute --

that is to tell exactly
what happened

on the night
Leslie Dickenson was murdered.

Robert Hayes indicated yes,

he did go down
to her room that night,

that he tried
to take some money from her,

that she slapped his hand,

that he got mad,
they had words.

He punched her in the face
and knocked her out,

at which point he got worried.

He thought that he was going
to get in trouble.

Then he took the electric knife,
cut her wrist, cut her neck...

tied her up with the cord.

He took the vodka,
poured it around, and lit it

to try to hide what he did

and to try to make it look like
a suicide.

-Robert Hayes was sentenced

to between 15
and 45 years in prison.

-But with the possibility
of parole after 25 years.

I had great concerns
whether or not he gets paroled.

-The biggest feeling I had

was the sense of making it whole
for the family.

Because in totality,
we screwed up.

The whole
criminal justice system

let that family down.

We missed things
that shouldn't have been missed.

But now we righted a wrong.

[ Down-tempo music plays ]

-When they got him
for Leslie's case,

that made me very happy.

♪♪

-Although Robert Hayes
pled guilty

to Leslie Dickenson's murder,

the story doesn't end there.

Hayes claims he is innocent in
the murder of Pamela Albertson

and wrongfully spent time
on death row.

He reaches out
to the Innocence Project,

demanding that the DNA
in Pamela's case be retested.

-The Innocence Project asked the
Broward State Attorney's Office

to retest the vaginal swabs,
retest the shirt,

and let's show once and for all
that this was not Robert Hayes.

-They retest Pamela's clothing
for DNA samples,

and they discover that
it belonged to Robert Hayes.

-The DNA found on her body
belonged to Hayes.

Instead of clearing his name,

Hayes condemned himself as the
murderer of Pamela Albertson.

-Although Robert Hayes cannot
be retried in Pamela's case,

the DNA evidence can be used
by New York state prosecutors

to keep Hayes behind bars
for Leslie Dickenson's murder

when he's eligible for parole.

-The parole board can consider
the murder of Pamela Albertson

in determining
whether he gets paroled.

-My feeling when that happened

was that justice
is finally being served.