Original subtitles

It is very hard to talk about them,

Even after this length of time.

There's never really closure.

It is just a continuance of their lives, our lives.

Pain doesn't go away.

It's hard to let go of somebody

That you've been very close to for a long time,

And it's even harder to lose them to some horrible tragedy.

This was a manhunt

Of a proportion that evansville had not seen.

Just inconceivable that evil like that exists.

Calling all units, 3501 aspen drive.

10:15 p.M. --

Officers respond to a report of a burglary

At 3501 aspen drive.

That particular night, you know, very, very dark.

And pretty doggone cold, too.

A typical January night for our part of the country.

When I arrived on aspen drive to investigate the burglary,

I was met by five of our officers.

Hey, you guys lost or something?

You're at the wrong house. We're supposed to be next door.

That house is the least of our problems.

They had gone next door to the burglary just to see

If anybody had seen anything or heard anything...

And discovered the door was unlocked.

They went in, a couple of the troopers.

Over there, sir.

And almost immediately saw four dead bodies.

Call the techs. Get this locked down.

Ted and I had just fallen asleep on that night

When the phone rang.

What time is it?

Hello?

What's going on? Ted, who is it?

It's the police. The police?

I was very groggy from being asleep.

Yeah, what's wrong? What do they want?

It's your sister.

Theresa?

And as I looked at him, he turned extremely pale.

And I remember him saying, "what, what?

What are you talking about?"

Thank you. Ted?

He hung up, and he said...

- What happened? - I'm so sorry.

Someone came in and shot everyone.

They're -- they're all dead. What do you mean?

I'm so sorry.

Where's the children?

Come -- come on --

What?! Who -- why?!

It was like the shattering of a crystal goblet,

That it's so tender that it just

Shattered into a million pieces.

And that's the way my inside felt.

I'm so sorry. What?!

So sorry.

There was a father and a mother and two small children.

Little older than babies, really.

This is sick.

This is much worse than sick.

Theresa gilligan was lying face up,

Still had her coat on,

Hands tied, bullet hole in the head.

Bullet casing.

Yep.

You see that?

Looks like the father almost got himself loose.

Mr. Gilligan, patrick gilligan,

Was laying face up very, very nearby.

His bindings were slightly off.

He wasn't completely free, but virtually free.

These poor kids.

Her two children, four and five years old,

Were tied with a vacuum cleaner cord...

Just loosely around and...

They were laying there.

They'd been murdered also with a gunshot.

The crime scene tech, he sees the worst of the worst.

You all right?

And our crime scene tech was just so overwhelmed.

At one point, he had to sit down.

He...

He had a little boy...

...And a little girl about the same age.

Theresa was 30.

Pat was 30.

Lisa was five, gregory was four.

They were babies.

They were tiny little babies.

You know, and pat and theresa were just starting their life.

In 1980, theresa was my only sister.

I always thought she was beautiful.

I wanted to follow in her footsteps

Because she was such a fantastic mother and wife.

Patrick was the brother that I never had.

Very protective of the family.

He loved the kids and my sister so much.

They were -- if you want to say

They were the most normal family, they were.

I got a call telling me that there was actually

Four people killed, and two of them were young kids.

We knew we were dealing with something much different

Than a normal homicide.

Damn.

- You notify the families yet? - Yeah.

What's it look like?

Doesn't add up.

Well, they certainly turned this place over.

Yeah, they stole from the place next door, too.

Think it's a robbery gone wrong?

I don't know.

Why would you kill an entire family just to rob a house?

Anyone hurt next door?

No, they weren't home.

Maybe next door was staged just to throw us off.

And what if this isn't a robbery at all?

What if this family was targeted?

Mrs. Gilligan's purse was on the chair,

Had been rifled through.

- That's not good. - What?

There was broken glass all over the place

From the gun cabinet.

There was long gun left in the gun case.

Whoever did this...

May have a lot of weapons right now.

There was guns missing out of the cabinet,

So we felt certain that he was armed.

And he obviously had already used a weapon

At least four times.

You know, this had escalated into...

Well, the worst crime imaginable.

Police gather at the crime scene

To plan their next move.

Everybody listen up.

All the detective teams went out to the house

To look for possible evidence, leads, clues.

Whoever did this, we need to assume

They're going to do it again.

Now we need all of you going door to door,

Asking neighbors who saw what.

If anybody saw anything even slightly unusual,

We need to know about it.

There was a real sense of urgency

To get whoever committed this crime.

But be careful out there.

This guy might still be in the area.

And, remember, he's heavily armed.

Report back when you got something.

It was really a horrific scene,

And we've gotta get this thing solved

And get the perpetrators -- or perpetrator --

In custody as soon as possible.

I mean, who knows where he might strike again?

At the time of the murders, I remember them happening,

But your brain just shuts down.

I did lay down and rest for a while.

And I got up because I heard some noise in the living room.

You're not gonna get me.

You're not gonna get me.

And when I went out, there was pat and theresa and the kids,

And they were all laughing and having a great time.

Okay, fine, I like 'em.

Hey, sleepy head.

Nice of you to finally wake up.

You know, I mean, I can still see the vision.

It was, you know...

Pat had greg right in front.

Lisa was in front, my sister was there,

And, I mean, that's all they said was,

"it was really bad, but it's over now.

We're together."

What's wrong?

I thought you were...

Our guys who were canvassing the neighborhood were coming back.

Hey, rhodes.

Local news is outside.

They want an update.

- An update? - Yeah.

You know what? I would love an update.

Who's got an update for me?

I got something.

A couple neighbors said they saw a strange car

In the neighborhood yesterday.

What's a strange car?

An old blue plymouth, had a few dents on it.

One witness, as a matter of fact,

Was very suspicious of the car.

They had pulled into the neighborhood in front of her.

It was a light blue plymouth, four-door,

Had some damage to a door or fender or something.

You sure it wasn't just somebody visiting the neighborhood?

No, nobody I spoke to talked about having guests over.

This neighborhood is a well-kept neighborhood.

All the houses and yards are trimmed nicely

And what have you.

And this car just didn't belong there.

It was pretty rough.

And it just didn't fit the neighborhood.

And at least one neighbor noticed this car.

Let's find that car. Yeah.

Police suspect that whoever killed the gilligan family

Escaped in a blue plymouth.

They coordinate all efforts to tracking down that car.

We were watching all the evansville stations,

And people were still afraid, because a murderer --

Mass murderer -- was running around in their city.

To was all over the newspaper.

You know, it wasn't just page one, it was page one through 13,

And then some supplements along with it.

Four people had been murdered for no reason,

And the person who had murdered them --

Brutally murdered them -- was out there on the streets.

And nobody knew who he was, where he was,

And what his intentions were.

I think everybody who lived here at the time

Thought that, "we could be this family.

"we have come home at night to an empty house,

"to a dark house, and turned that latch

"and stepped into that threshold assuming that we're safe,

Assuming that there's no one there."

You know, it's something everybody can relate to

And everybody can feel that anxiety.

With no leads on the missing blue plymouth,

Police double down on the crime scene.

Hey, rhodes?

Here's a broken window.

Yeah, we think it's how the killer got in the house.

Taped the window so it wouldn't make any noise

When he shattered it.

And he stuck his hand in, opened the door.

I recognize this.

The glass being taped...

It immediately jumped out that I've heard of this before.

A broken window taped like this...

It wasn't a murder, it was a burglary.

This was something that you see on tv.

I've worked many burglaries,

I've never worked a burglary where the glass was taped --

Except one.

But this wasn't just a burglary, it was a mass execution.

Sure, but...

There might be some connection.

The m.O. Was exactly the same.

You know, the looking for guns, taping the windows,

That kind of thing.

So, I mean, bingo.

What was your guy's name?

Richard milligan.

Richard milligan was a drug abuser.

He had been involved in some petty crimes.

These...

These burglaries, if I remember right,

Were the first --

His sort of first major involvement

In what we would consider very serious felonies.

You happen to remember what kind of car he drove?

As a matter of fact, I believe mr. Milligan

Drove a blue plymouth.

Let's go pick him up.

Police stake out richard milligan's

Last known address.

They surround the house from a variety of angles and locations,

And they sit and watch and wait for the blue car to arrive.

We're wasting our time.

I'm not so sure about that.

What do you mean?

While they're sitting there, the blue plymouth arrives.

They know this is the car they're looking for.

That's our car all right.

But we better be careful with this guy.

If he feels trapped, he's gonna want to use those weapons.

As soon as the car stops, officers descend on it.

Get out of the car!

Police, get out of the car, milligan!

- Get out of the car! - Milligan, hands up!

- Out of the car! - Out of the car now!

Out of the car, milligan!

- Let's go, do it now! - Step out!

- Do it now! - Hands, hands, hands!

What's going on?

A young female gets out.

If richard milligan wasn't driving the blue plymouth,

We needed to find his whereabouts

As quickly as we can before something else,

Maybe equally as horrible, happened.

What's this about?

Get out of the car! Milligan, hands up!

- Out of the car! - Out of the car -- hands!

- Out of the car, milligan! - Let's go, do it now!

Step out!

Debbie...

What's going on?

The police officers who were at the scene

Recognized debbie durham when they got her out of the car.

What's this about?

We're investigating a homicide.

A homicide?

Anyone else in there?

It's clear.

Debbie durham was milligan's friend.

So they knew who she was.

And some of them knew that that was indeed

Not only richard milligan's car, but that it met the description

That had been given by the witness.

She's wearing a large diamond engagement ring.

The moment the officers saw that ring,

It grabbed their attention. This is related.

This is not something that this particular person could afford.

Where'd you get the ring from, debbie?

It was a gift...

From my boyfriend.

- From your boyfriend? - Rhodes?

There's a gun on the seat.

- That's not mine. - Yeah, whose it it, then?

- I don't know. - Okay.

Turn around, you're under arrest, debbie.

- No. - Hands behind your back.

No! This isn't even my car.

At that point,

They can search the car for other evidence.

The sheriff's department and state police

Found other stolen property in the car --

Guns, for one thing, taken from both residences.

The house next door had been broken into,

And then the gilligan house had been broken into after that.

What we theorized happened is he had actually taken things

From the first burglary to his car and thought,

"no one's home next door.

"I passed the house a couple times.

Why not to ahead and get in there?"

There is jewelry hidden all over the car.

Another gun...

Just under the seat.

Anything else under there?

There is no question this came from the gilligans' home.

The one I'm remembering specific that came from the gilligan home

Was a set of walkie-talkies that greg's godfather,

He had just bought them for him for that christmas.

Debbie, we found a lot of stuff in that car.

I need you to tell us where you got it from.

I don't know where it's from.

It's not mine. Who took it?

You, or richard milligan?

Look, richard was just letting me borrow the car.

And he couldn't have stolen this stuff, either.

Why not?

Because...

He's in jail.

And so we called the jail,

And we asked them,

And lo and behold, richard milligan was in jail.

That was good for him, I guess,

Because he had the perfect alibi.

With debbie in custody,

Officers question her about the stolen items

Found in milligan's car.

Let's get started then, shall we?

I already told you,

I didn't do anything.

When they got debbie in for questioning,

She was wearing a single ring,

And that made her look very suspicious.

That's a nice ring, debbie.

It was a fairly unique ring.

It was identified by a jeweler.

And that ring was originally

Mr. Gilligan's mother's ring, and it was resized

For theresa.

And I'm wondering, was she at the crime scene

When it happened?

Did she get them herself?

Did she remove them from mrs. Gilligan?

You say you got it from your boyfriend?

Yeah.

And where'd he get it from?

A jewelry store.

He didn't get it from any store.

Where else would donald get it?

You mean donald wallace?

Yeah.

We knew that donald wallace

Was an associate of richard milligan.

Debbie durham was donald wallace's girlfriend,

And donald wallace was not your average burglar.

He was very intelligent.

But he was very manipulative.

Debbie...

I need you to tell us where donald is.

Fine.

Don't tell us.

But I want you to see something.

And it wasn't until they had showed her some of the pictures

Of what had happened at the gilligan residence

That she switched sides.

What is this?

That is the gilligan family.

They were found killed in their home last night.

And that ring you're wearing belonged to mrs. Gilligan.

Debbie...

We need you to tell us where donald is.

I don't know.

really.

Last time I saw him was at my mom's...

Last night.

We felt there was a real sense of urgency

To get whoever committed this crime --

And this time, we felt there was a very good possibility

Of donald wallace.

Okay.

We'll talk to your mom.

Given the nature of the crime and his background,

They believed that he was a dangerous human being.

Wait.

He's running scared.

He's been in the system a number of times.

He doesn't want to go back to prison, and we know he's armed.

And at least has some cash with him,

So he has a means of getting away.

And we did not want him to get out of this area.

Detectives knew where the girlfriend's mother lived,

So they went to that address.

Police.

Hello.

Ma'am, we're detectives.

We're looking for donald wallace.

The mother of the girlfriend was there.

And we explained to her we were looking for donald wallace.

And I'll never forget what she said.

She said, "yeah, he was here last night.

The idiot started a fire in my front yard."

He came over and was acting like a madman.

He took off his clothes and burned them --

Right over there.

She pointed out where the fire was in the front yard.

- Okay. Stay here. - Sure.

In the rubbish and ashes of the fire

Was a can of lighter fluid, charcoal lighter fluid,

And a partially burnt army jacket.

There were stains on it that we felt certain were blood.

And in looking in the pockets, we found a set of rings.

Ma'am?

Have you seen any of these items before?

No, sir. I don't recognize any of that.

He did leave something here.

- What is it? - I'll grab it.

Now the girlfriend's mother said

That donald had came over there last night around midnight

And said that he was taking pictures.

I've never seen him with this before.

But it looks like it still has film in it.

Let's get this developed right away.

Police have just announced

That there is an arrest warrant out

For donald ray wallace of evansville.

I remember when I first saw his face on tv,

Thinking he looked like charles manson.

And I remember looking at the picture and thinking,

"this is horrible to have this person

The very, very last thing that my sister saw."

He had a look of "just dare me."

They took the camera and got the film developed right away,

And there's a picture of wallace and debbie durham...

With proceeds of both burglaries spread out in front of them.

And you could see wallace with the gun on his hip.

He's got a.38 caliber gun, which was what was used

To shoot these folks.

Didn't enrage me as much as just

The stupidity and the callousness

Of the fact that you have murdered these people,

And now you're boasting about what you've done.

When we looked at these pictures,

I guess you would call this an "aha" moment.

We said, "this is him.

"this is at least one of the people

That committed this horrific crime."

Police soon receive a tip with information

On wallace's possible whereabouts.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 15th,

Officers investigating the case go

To an apartment in newburgh, indiana,

Which is located just east of evansville,

Because they have information that wallace may be there.

State police, open up!

We know you're right there!

don't shoot! Don't shoot!

Where's donald?!

Where's donald?!

- Where is donald?! - I really don't know.

My name's jake, I live here.

Donald, he's not here.

Jake, what is going on?

You know harboring a fugitive is against the law, right?

I swear, he's not here.

He is not there, but some of the folks

Who are there cooperate

In terms of telling officers that he has been there.

- Where is he? - I don't know!

He just left. He just left, he's not here.

He said debbie got arrested,

He said he was gonna go look for her.

And what they're telling police at the time,

He's left the apartment, he's going to see if he can find

His girlfriend or confirm that she's in custody.

At that point, wallace is fully aware

That the evansville police department,

The vanderburgh county sheriff's department,

And the indiana state police are all looking for him

In reference to the gilligan homicide.

If he comes back here, you call us.

We knew not only the urgency of finding him,

But we just knew anybody that approached him that was not

A regular acquaintance of his was certainly in danger.

The police search continues for murder suspect

Donald ray wallace.

It was intense, nobody knew where he was,

What he was capable of.

It's just an area-wide manhunt for the guy.

It apparently was a burglary in process.

The family came home --

This is what we're theorizing at this point --

The family came home and found him,

And walked in on the burglars.

He had committed this heinous crime already,

And no one knew what he was capable of doing.

He was on the run,

So everyone was warned as to not approach him.

Police are turning to the public for any information

On the whereabouts of murder suspect donald ray wallace.

We had put over the news media, radio and tv,

"if you see anything that's out of the ordinary,

"if you see someone that you don't recognize

In your neighborhood, let us know."

You never know where your next clue is going to come from.

Shortly after 11 p.M., officers get a tip

That wallace has been spotted in evansville.

Police suspect that this was a burglary in progress.

The family came home and walked in on...

This is rhodes.

The caller said that he had just watched the news

About looking for donald wallace.

- Where? - And he said,

"as I was walking my dog, I saw something really strange."

He said, "I'm almost positive I saw a guy scale a trellis

And go into the attic of a house."

He said, "I don't know who it was.

"I just thought with everybody looking for this

Wallace character, that I should report it."

Okay. Thanks.

We'll get someone over there right away.

- Another sighting? - Yep.

This guy said he saw someone break into attic window.

We didn't put a lot of stock in it because our dispatcher

Had received hundreds of calls that day.

Let's go.

The forecast -- cloudy skies with flurries today.

We can expect up to an inch of snow and a high of...

Overnight flurries... Did you hear that?

I didn't hear anything.

I swear I heard something above us.

With the wind out of the north at 19 miles per hour...

...It is currently 20 degrees.

I'll get it.

As the officers approach, they surround the house, of course.

State police, open up.

In the home, there's an elderly couple that live there.

Good evening, ma'am. Detective rhodes.

I hope you don't mind if we come inside.

Yes, of course. What's this all about?

Is anyone else here?

No, it's just us.

How long have you been home?

Most of the afternoon, why? We got a tip.

Somebody saw a man crawl into your attic space.

They'd been home all day and all evening,

And they're assuring the officers

That there's no one in their house.

I'm sure it's nothing. Stay down here to be safe.

Okay.

Light, light.

light's out.

My partner hollered upstairs,

"if you don't come down, we're gonna come up after you."

As soon as I jacked that shell, a voice from upstairs said,

"just a second."

Okay. Don't shoot.

And at that point we looked at each other,

And, "my god, there is someone up there."

There was just no telling what he might do.

He had already committed an atrocious act,

And he was now running scared.

So anyone that is scared, gets backed into a corner,

They're much more dangerous

Than someone who's committed a petty theft

And getting caught is not a big deal.

For donald wallace, getting caught was a very big deal.

Come out with your hands up.

Do it slowly.

Okay.

- Hands up. - Easy.

Come on down, very slowly.

At that point, I said, "what's your name?"

And he said...

"richard milligan."

I want you to come down.

Keep your hands over your head, do it slowly.

It was dark. We really couldn't recognize who it was.

What's your name?

Richard milligan.

Both my partner and I looked at each other.

We knew it was donald wallace.

Milligan.

Richard milligan is donald wallace's running mate.

Richard milligan is in jail.

Okay.

Keep your hands over your head.

Come down the stairs very slowly.

I held him at bay with the shotgun.

My partner holstered his weapon, put the handcuffs on him.

Put your hands behind your back.

And I said, "you're under arrest."

- What for? - Murder.

He said, "what for?"

And I said, "four counts of murder."

And I'll never forget what he said.

He said, "if I had known you knew who I was,

This wouldn't have played out this way."

You boys are lucky to be alive.

let's go.

- Hello? - We were in bed,

And once again, ted answered the phone.

Yes, it is.

It was almost mimicking the first call.

You got him?

Yeah -- yeah --

They got -- they got donnie wallace.

They got him.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

My god.

When the announcement actually came out that he was arrested

And he was in custody, I felt a good relief.

More than me, it was gonna help diana and her folks to think,

"okay, we've got the guy that did this."

Police have taken into custody their prime suspect,

After tracking him down to the attic of an evansville home.

He has been charged with all four murders.

He killed four people...

And what did it get him?

He was in custody within --

Less than 30 hours after he killed a family of four

To ensure he wouldn't get caught.

You know, it...

It was pretty much a done deal that he was a goner.

After 11 years, I wrote him a letter

Because I was unable to go

With some sense of normalcy in my life.

I wanted to know the truth.

How could anybody corral them into being tied

And go through this horrendous crime?

He sent me a letter,

And he told me exactly what had happened,

What had transpired that night.

He had taken some radios and jewelry,

And then when the garage door opened,

There was no way of him getting out.

And he obviously felt like...

Like he was trapped.

Get right upstairs and get your pajamas on.

Don't say anything.

Get over here. Okay.

- Get over there! - Okay!

Theresa and the kids came through the door,

Pat was in the car.

Turn around and do not move!

Okay.

Please don't -- I said don't move!

Mommy...

it's okay.

Please, we -- I said don't say anything!

Shh, it's okay, it's okay.

What's going on in here?

- Pat? - My god.

Get your hands up. Right now, put 'em up!

Okay.

Pat saw something was happening, and ran in.

Look, we'll do whatever you want, all right?

- Shut up! - You don't have to.

- Get on the ground. - Okay.

Get on the ground, right now! Okay! Okay!

The way he very systematically proceeded

To gather control over the entire room.

- Pat! - Honey, do you hear me --

Shut up! Shut up! Okay.

shh!

It's okay. It's --

We're gonna be fine. It's gonna be okay.

All right?

In his words, patrick slipped his bonds.

That wasn't a very good idea.

I would like to say that the truth gave me strength,

But it didn't. It just gave me the truth.

This is almost tough to look at.

This is...

The perfect all-american family.

This is the gilligans.

Such a shame.

Their life was cut way too short, way too soon.

It's tough.

There's really not a day that goes by that something

Doesn't remind me of the family.

Um...

And it's just difficult.

I miss them every day.