All language subtitles for Dead.of.Winter.S02E06.Nightmare.in.North.Dakota.WEBRip.x264-CAFFEiNE_ENG_Subtitles01

[ telephone ringing ]

♪

♪

Carole: There is nothing
behind those beady eyes

But an evil, sick man.

I don't want anyone
in my family

To run into him on the street.

We made a deal with the devil.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

The winner of '85
was a brutally cold winter.

The day of the crime, we had
20, 30 below wind chill factor,

But that day, everything was
just bright white snow

And clear as can be.

♪

[ telephone beeping ]

[ dial tone ring ]

[ busy tone beeping ]
[ sighs ]

Come on, dad.

My parents lived on a farm about
seven miles out of minot

And it's in
an isolated location.

Still getting
a busy signal?

Yeah.
[ sighs ]

It's got to be
all the ice and snow.

The storm must've
taken down their phone line.

[ hangs up receiver ]

Yeah,
you're probably right.

Never could get through
on the phone.

[ busy tone beeping ]

That's why we drove out.

When you got to the farm,

We both went to the garage door

And that was locked.

And they never locked that door.

But I had a key, so I locked
that and I went in.

[ breathes heavily ]
oh, god.

I figured that there was
something wrong

But I never expected anything
like this.

In the kitchen,
everything was a mess.

Most of the dishes were out
on the kitchen floor,

And everything was just
smashed, thrown around.

Dad?

Dad, are you here?

There was a tv on
in the living room,

And I think that was
making some noise, too.

[ tv static rushes ]

The whole situation
was creepy --

I mean...

Just hard to describe.

[ static continues ]

I stepped into
the dining room area,

And I could see dad
laying on the floor.

♪

And he had...

Blood all over the floor.

♪

I knew that he was dead.

I can see that
as if it happened yesterday.

Just stays with you.

♪

Mom...

And that's when I turned
to check on mom.

♪

They just stepped
into the bedroom.

She had bullet holes in her.

♪

I know my mother was dead

Because of the way
she laid there, you know...

Looking up at the ceiling

With her eyes open.

♪

Just gone.

Out of emotions.

♪

♪

My mother, cora,
and my father, charley.

One thing they lived for
was their grandkids and family.

Family was important to them.

You're in very good health.

They had a lot of life
left in them.

I never thought that
this would be the last picture.

So, this just wasn't right.

[ police sirens wailing ]

Narrator:
Investigators descended
on the crime scene.

Erck: On Saturday afternoon,
when I arrived,

There were several patrol units
at the scene already.

Man: There he is --
the residents.

The abernathey house...

Was terrible.

Cora's purse was dumped on
the table in the dining room.

That was the first signs
of an apparent robbery.

Male subject on the floor
of the living room area.

Charley had two
entrance wounds

To the back of the head.

And his throat
was slashed very deep.

There was a lot of blood
in that area --

On the carpet, on his body,
up the wall,

Out into the kitchen...

From another room.

To the left,
there was the bedroom

Where cora was lying,
and it was very evident

That she had been shot several
times and her throat was cut.

Seven shots, altogether --

Two to charley's head,
five to cora's head --

And both had been cut

On the throat with a knife.

It was just --

It was just a bad scene...

...The worst I'll
probably ever see...

...And the worst that I did
in my 35-year career.

♪

Bad things don't happen
very often here.

And...

When you have a double murder,

It's extremely unusual.

I wasn't called to the scene
until about four hours later.

What the hell
is going on in here?

And I walked up to vern erck,

And I said,
"vern, I got two questions.

Why wasn't I called earlier,

And what are all these cops
doing in here?"

Hey, easy with that.
Hey, hey! Put that down!

Hey, vern.

Not one of them
are wearing gloves.

What are they all doing in here?
I tried to stop them.

I was overruled.

There were people that really
had no reason to be there.

They'd probably never ever,
ever seen a murder scene.

Not many of us have.

I'm sorry, sir.
I'm not in charge over here.

Well,
you're in charge now.

[ police siren wails ]

Ah, no.
You've got to be kidding me!

A deputy comes
flying down the road --

Sirens going, lights going --

And he pulls up right up
to the garage,

Right where the tire prints
would've been.

It was cold!
It's rural area!

They didn't walk out there.

You know they had a car,

And we would've had those
tire prints

Had nobody driven
into that driveway.

What on earth is going on here?

I want all nonessential
personnel out of the scene now.

Alright.
Alright everybody, listen up!

If you're not a tech, I need you
to drop what you're doing

And leave the scene
immediately.

[ claps ] let's go!

Come on.
I got something you need to see.

Slorby: There was a chair in the
middle of the living room.

It was pretty clear
that mr. Abernathey was murdered

Sitting in that chair.

♪

What do we have here?

And on the back of the chair --

Wood slat across the back --

Blood on it.

Hey, this is crucial.

I'm gonna want pictures of this,
not just video.

Hopefully, we got a print
on the back of that.

And yeah,
that was a wild moment.

I'm -- I'm sorry, sir.

That's mine.

I moved the chair.

That's where I grabbed it.

Well, I find out
one of the deputies

That was videoing the scene

Move that chair
to get a better view.

So his print was on the back
of that chair.

Damn it!

I was a real pissed,
and I was real disappointed.

The whole crime scene
investigation

Was basically botched.

There weren't .22 casings found.

But it was not something
to brag about at all.

Well, what about
the shells?

There's about 1,000 people
in this county

That have guns
that would match.

Including you and me.

There's just no other evidence.

Our crime scene didn't give us
any suspect.

Somehow, we're gonna have to go
the other way around

And go form some suspects

Out of the clear blue.

[ sighs ] these people were shot
and they were stabbed.

They were butchered.

We've got a maniac
on the loose,

And absolutely
no idea how to find them.

♪

Carole: I did not know there was
a video taken that day.

♪

[ sighs ] that was videotaped
before they closed the caskets.

So I looked up to look inside.

I hate open caskets.

You know, it's hard enough
to prepare for one funeral.

But to prepare for two...

I really miss my mom and dad.

My mother called me every night.

[ chuckling ] and my dad, I
could hear him in the background

Every once in a while,
"would you let that girl

Get in the house and feed
her kids before you bug her?"

My dad was my stability.

[ voice breaking ]
I was [indistinct].

And of course, my mom,
you know --

Who doesn't want their mom?

But yeah, I felt alone.

♪

[ exhales sharply ]

♪

♪

It's not unusual for the killers

To show up at a funeral.

You're hoping you'll see
something --

That killer behaving
differently,

Not kind of behavior you'd
expect to see at a funeral.

It didn't lead to anything,

But it could have.

Mrs. Abernathey?

I'm so sorry
about your parents.

Thank you.

Do you suppose we could speak
privately for a moment?

Yeah?
Let's go this way.

Usually, there is a connection

Between the killer
and the victim.

The family is bound to have at
least some information

That turns out to be helpful.

[ whispering ] I apologize
for having this here

But we're trying
to move quickly.

There's a possibility

That the robbery
was a cover-up...

...And that your parents
actually knew the killer.

Is there
anyone you know

That may have wanted
to hurt your parents?

I don't know
if I should tell you this.

I had some problems
with my ex-husband.

Carole: They asked me
about my ex-husband.

He was absolutely unhappy
because of the divorce.

There was the time that he was
in the ward county jail

And he had made some
off-the-cuff comment

About my dad not liking him

And probably blaming him

For us separating.

But...

I don't think he would go
so far as to hurt them.

Carole's ex husband
was an obvious lead

In this kind of case.

You frequently have
that connection --

Bad blood
because of a bad marriage.

♪

We had talked to her ex-husband.

♪

Do you know cora
and charles abernathey?

Uh-huh.

"somebody killed them.

We feel that it was
somebody

They knew.

We're here to find out
where you were on Friday."

Friday.

I had school.

And after school -- came home.

What'd you do
Saturday?

Went ice fishing.

"okay, who went ice fishing?"

"uh, just me."

"just you?"
"uh-huh."

Did you get along pretty
good with charley and cora?

♪

I didn't get along
with charley.

"charley and I still had spats,

Especially after the divorce

Because as far as he was
concerned..."

He'd just as soon never let me
see their daughter again.

They have any enemies
you know of?

I was their only enemy.

Did you in any way,
shape, or form

Have anything to do
with their deaths?

I would've never considered
anything like that.

It would have been against
my ex-wife,

Not against them.

He said if he would've done
anything

It would've been to carole.

Slorby: There was a number of us
that were pretty confident

We're gonna get our man.

Boy, am I excited.

Narrator:
The investigators' suspicions
take an unexpected turn

When the .22 caliber shell cases

Yield an incriminating clue.

Okay, so what's so important
we had to be down here

At 5:00 in the morning?

I was looking
at the shells...

Slorby: On the ballistic
examinations, on the bullets,

One was a twist to the right

And the other was
a twist to the left.

So that tells you
you've got two firearms here.

Even a double-barrel weapon's

Gonna have the same twist
on each barrel.

We still got nothing to tie
anyone to the scene.

Yeah, we need more.

One gun was fired
in the bedroom,

One in the living room.

That strongly suggests
there's two people --

Two killers, two perpetrators.

The ex-husband
working with somebody?

Maybe.

And that's what
you're looking for --

A pair of suspects.

And that's my earliest

"wow" moment.

After they were killed,
I'd go out there every night.

Every night after work,
I'd go out.

And we still had the horses
out there then,

So I just used that
as an excuse.

Just sat there.

♪

Just to go out there
and think, I guess.

[ whispering ]
I don't [indistinct].

♪

♪

Narrator: Now searching
for two suspects,

Detectives canvass the rural
area around the abernathey home.

♪

Hello, ma'am.

We're, uh, awful sorry
to bother you.

Do you remember the night
of the blizzard?

Well, we were wondering
if you might've seen

Anything strange,

Anything
out of the ordinary?

We spoke to between
15 and 20 neighbors,

And most of them --
seen nothing, heard nothing.

Woman: But you might want
to talk to my son.

Please, come in.

Sometimes canvassing
gets you nothing.

Other times, it gets you
everything.

I feel strange
saying this.

It's about kevin.

The parents raised the name --
kevin austin, their son --

And they were only talking
in terms

Of their problems with him.

Well, he's been
taking money from us.

He forged some checks
in our name

And there's just
something unusual about him.

I think...

This was bothering them
for a while.

They just felt he needed,
you know,

To straighten out his life.

Ma'am, not to minimize
what your son did,

But stealing money
from you?

I mean, what makes you
connect that

With what happened
at the abernathey farmhouse?

They didn't think he would be
involved in anything like this,

But you know, if someone
talked him into it

He maybe, maybe would've
went long.

Thank you for your time,
ma'am.

We'll be in touch.

♪

♪

This story seems
pretty flimsy to me.

I mean, at least
the ex-husband had motive.

Detective, about him --

We checked his story.

And?
It all checked out.

Someone saw him
ice fishing that Saturday.

He couldn't have got
from north dakota to
minnesota in time.

Erck: He had a good alibi.

He didn't stay
on the radar very long.

I guess this kevin austin's
story's all we got.

Well, vern, I know kevin.

Forgery charges
a few years ago.

Really?

Well, what do you
make of him?

Kevin austin --

He's just a minor crook

In the minot area.

Nothing really substantial
stood out about him.

Doesn't strike me
as the violent type.

He had a friend, though.

This guy
was a different story.

What's his name?

Newnam.

Calvin newnam.

Calvin newnam had
a violent history,

And I had previously,
as a [indistinct],

Prosecuted calvin newnam
for an aggravated assault,

And I think he probably felt
I treated him fairly.

I think he had a certain
comfort level with me,

But I had that history with him.

Calvin trusts me.

Why don't you let me
go talk to him.

Let's do it.

♪

♪

Thanks for meeting
with me, calvin.

Thought I'd seen
the last of you, slorby.

What's this about?

I want to talk to you
a little bit

About what happened
last year,

About what you did.

Slorby: Calvin tried
to break into a car,

And the guy caught him
in the act,

And...

Calvin hit him over the head
with bolt cutters,

Knocked him out,

And took off.

[ sighs ]

Why are we going
through that again?

You told me
you should've killed him.

He said, "I should've just
killed the guy,"

And he said it kind of coldly.

You know I mean?
It wasn't --

It wasn't in jest.

Calvin newnam fit

A killer's profile.

[ sighs ]

And I did my time for it.

[ windshield wipers swishing ]

Where exactly
are you going with this?

♪

You hear about the couple
that got murdered

At the farmhouse?

What's that
got to do with me?

I heard that your friend
kevin austin

Might've been up to you.

♪

Well, slorby,

It's been great
catching up but...

I think we're done here.

♪

Cold out there, buddy.

Take care of yourself.

♪

♪

They did hang out together,

And we needed to put them

At the crime scene
doing the crime,

But we don't have any evidence
putting him there.

Maybe we can't place in there
because they weren't there.

Well, if they were there
and they left anything,

We did a beautiful job helping
them cover their tracks.

The whole case --
the whole case --

Depended on a confession.
100%.

There was absolutely no other
way it was gonna be solved.

Absolutely none.

We got to
get to them somehow.

We got to
knock them off balance.

You know, two people can keep
a secret if one's dead.

[ chuckles ]

And that's their weakness --

Is there's two of them.

That's the weakness.

Divide and conquer.

Wait a minute.

We don't have
any physical evidence.

But they don't know that.

What are you getting at?

And verne erck

Came up with this crazy idea.

Alright, here's the idea.

We call the reporters.

We'll tell them we have
a big break in the case,

Tell him we're closing in
on our suspects,

That we have --
we have a ton of evidence

Waiting on processing

And maybe, hopefully,

Austin and newnam
are watching.

And hopefully,

We can crack one of them.

[ chuckles ]

We had no clue

If it's gonna work or not.

It sounded pretty stupid to me

But what else we gonna do?

You know what, why not.

What we got to lose?

God help us.

We set up a number
of fake news conferences

For the sole purpose
of attempting

To deceive our killers.

We believe the motive
is robbery.

Reporter:
Erck told reporters

Family members
have been interviewed

And have been very cooperative.

Slorby: The whole idea

Was to convey a message

That we're getting real close

To making an arrest.

Reporter: The reason the
investigation is taking so long

Is because there's
a tremendous amount of evidence

That has to be processed
by the state lab.

Everything we put out there...

...Was bull.

The thing that really
sticks out, in my mind,

Is the "tire tracks."

We know we don't have
tire tracks,

But they don't know...

We don't have tire tracks.

That was our first
news conference.

"we've got tire tracks,

And we're going to be making
some comparisons."

We hoped...

That our perpetrators
watched tv.

[ chuckles ]

Reporter:
Officers believe the killer --
or killers --

Will be captured soon.

♪

Narrator: With the trap set,

Investigators attempt
to confront both suspects

But focus heavily
on calvin newnam.

I bet I went up to his house
at least three times.

We made sure

That they saw us
taking pictures of the tires...

...And saw us measuring
and taking notes,

Like we're taking notes
on the tires.

He obviously...
[ camera shutter clicks ]

...Thought we were
getting real close

Even though we weren't.

But again, all that's important
is his own reality,

And he thought we were.

Hopefully...

He succumbs to it.

[ film advance lever clicks ]

The idea was to...

Use some psychological pressure

Not just through the media

But in person.

Keelan: At the time, I was
assigned to investigations.

So I got ahold of calvin
at his house,

Knocked on the door,

Trying to be friendly,

Try to get inside his mind.

[ knock on door ]

Come on in.

I came back off and on

For a little over six months.

There was something inside of me
that was telling me

That I think he'll come around,

And we kind of got
to be friends a little bit.

Hi, leo.

Good to see you again,
buddy.

He'd be laying on his couch
with the cat on his chest

Here to take pictures
of my tires again, leo?

No. No, they're still
processing that stuff.

Just wanted to chat.

Well, then, have a seat.

[ cat purring ]
this is willow.

Just a baby, aren't you?

I don't know if you want to
call him an oddball or eccentric

Or...
But yeah, he was different.

Not a normal person
you meet on the street.

[ purring continues ]

Gone on. Pet her.

♪

Ah, she likes you, leo.

Calvin's a little complicated.

He's quiet,
he's an introvert,

But I knew his past history,

And he could be a very violent,
you know,

Dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde-type
of person, too.

You guys making
any progress

On that farmhouse business?

Still working it.

I hope he had better suspects
than me, leo.

You know I can't talk so much
about that.

[ purring continues ]

Maybe it was miss willow.

Were you a bad kitty, huh?

I could tell his
defense mechanism

Was slowly starting

To slow down a little bit.

He was more comfortable with me.

♪

Man of god, huh?

[ purring continues ]

That's right.

I found out he and his father

Were ordained ministers.

I said, "you know,
I'm a born-again christian.

You must be
a born-again christian, too."

God's got a purpose
for you, leo.

He's got a purpose
for you, too.

What do you suppose
that is?

I could tell you needed
to talk to me about it.

He knew it was time,
and he wanted to do it.

I think you know
the answer to that.

I believe god thinks

It's time for you
to tell the truth.

And I brought it
to a head, finally.

I asked him if he would come
to the police department.

We need to talk there.

There's a lot of people
waiting near the truth, calvin.

♪

He knew I knew

That he was guilty.

♪

♪

Calvin.

I have your word on that?

Yes, sir.

♪

[ purring continues ]

♪

And 5:00 on the button next day,

He was down at the police
department --

September 25th, 1985.

Calvin, you're doing
the right thing.

I know this isn't easy.

He was getting a little antsy

And I said to him,

"calvin, it's like into
a nightmare, wasn't it?"

♪

And he goes, "[ sighs heavily ]
yes, leo, it was."

And he started to sob.

At the end, I think calvin
felt very guilty,

And he felt bad
about being guilty.

I need an attorney,
don't I?

Well, you have a right
to an attorney.

Uh, just --

Just call tom slorby.

And I said, "calvin...

He's a ward county
prosecutor now.

He'll be prosecuting this case."

Calvin, it's his job
to put you in jail.

No.
He's a good man.

He'll do right by me.

Okay.

Well, that's --
what could I say?

That's calvin.
[ laughs ]

And tom came down.

There just was a rapport

That was built up

And he had a certain
comfort level with me.

Joe:
There was a rumor around town

That mom and dad had money
stashed around the house.

The rumor wasn't true.

Listening to that cool, calm,
collected voice,

Just reaffirms my feelings

That there's no conscience,

There's nothing behind
those beady eyes

But an evil, sick man.

♪

Then I cut her throat.

[ sighs ]

Well, calvin, I know
this couldn't have been easy.

I appreciate
you telling me the truth.

Like I told leo,

I trust you.

We could put
the two of them together

The day of the murder.

It wrapped up the whole case.

The ploy, it worked.

The tire tracks,

The fake news,

Going to his house,

It worked perfectly!

We never would've got
a confession

Without putting the
psychological pressure on.

♪

There was no undoing
that confession.

These are his own words,

But he realized

That we tricked him.

And hey,

I'm not a bit ashamed
tricking him, okay.

Not a bit.
Kind of proud of it, actually.

He refused to testify
against austin.

So based on that,
I had no choice

But to dismiss the charges
against kevin austin.

And I was concerned.
I was concerned.

From a law enforcement
perspective,

When a guy
like kevin austin is free,

You never feel
that the community's safe.

Just the fact that
he was out and angry

Because he'd been implicated,

It made me feel scared.

♪

Joe:
Calvin retracting his statement

Meant that kevin was gonna
walk free

Without his testimony

'cause they didn't have
enough evidence

On kevin to prosecute him.

I was pretty upset about that.

♪

I had no case
against kevin austin.

Kevin austin was a free man

As to this murder.

Carole: Kevin austin
just made me shudder.

I didn't ever want
to face that face.

I don't want anyone
in my family

To run into him on the street.

I just wanted him to be
as far away from us as possible.

♪

I was state's attorney
for ward county at that time

And the timing of calvin newnam

Changing his mind to cooperate

Came right right when
I left office.

[ alarm echoes ]

[ door clangs ]

I lost my re-election bid
for a fourth term

In November of 1990.

Heard you lost your job, slorby.
[ chuckles ]

Bet that that makes
you pretty happy.

He was mad at me.

I trusted you.

You tricked me.

Slorby:
He saw me as the devil.

Didn't want to deal
with the devil.

And why he sat there
for that six or seven years

Is pretty much
inexplicable to me.

I'm ready now.

You're ready?

[ breathes deeply ]

But I'm not doing it
for nothing.

Slorby: My successor
made a deal with him.

To modify his sentence,

He decided to testify

Against austin.

Finally,
kevin austin was arrested.

Reporter:
30-year-old kevin austin
is in custody tonight

In the ward county jail,

Facing two counts
of double-a murder.

He faced similar charges
seven years ago

But those charges were dropped.

Calvin newnam did testify

At the kevin austin
murder trial.

Kevin austin was found guilty
of both murders, as well.

♪

Carole: Calvin demanded
a reduced sentence

To testify against kevin.

We made a deal with the devil.

But by the time we got out,

Quite frankly,
we were banking on the fact

That he would be
extremely sick or dead.

♪

♪

I think I don't want
to acknowledge

That he really did get out,

That he lived to get out.

I don't know that I've come
to terms with it yet.

He was supposed to die
before now.

Honest to gosh, he was supposed
to die before now.

Calvin is now released
with no conditions --

Not parole,

Not probation --
completely free.

I'd rather that calvin had
never been released from prison.

♪

Joe: Calvin's release brought up
a lot of memories, you know,

That had kind of faded
a little bit.

I don't know if I'll ever
be able to forgive those guys.

The forgiveness part
is not for him.

[ whispering ] it's for us.

And I have hated him
for many years.

♪

But it's gonna take a while.
[ chuckles ]

My sister and brother and I,
we've --

We lost a lot of years
with our parents.

Dad was very protective
of my mother.

I'm sure my parents
were scared to death,

And and with mom
laying in the bedroom

And probably hearing
everything that went on.

I can only imagine
what was going through her mind

When she heard the gunshots
and somebody coming through.

That's the worst part of it --
as many people that they had

That loved them and family,

And this should be the last
two people they ever seen.

Not right.

Just not right...

♪