All language subtitles for Episode 02 Puzzle Piece

You cannot imagine

the pain
and the heartache that I feel.

The body was
an African-American female

who was badly beaten.
She was unrecognizable.

There was a small puzzle piece
stuck to her stomach area.

We knew if we could find where
this puzzle piece came from,

then we probably had located
the crime scene.

You all ready?

It is very rare
that he is wanting

to tell his side of the story.

Within minutes,
blytheville, Arkansas, police

dispatch sergeant
Michael dannar to the scene --

an abandoned house
on the outskirts of town.

When we get a call of a dead
body, there's a greater urgency.

I switched on my body camera
at that time.

I activated my blue lights
and my siren

and went code to the area.

He's greeted by
the 911 caller,

a meter reader
for the gas company.

All right.

Beside the gas meter,

I observed what appeared
to be a black female deceased.

She had been deceased,
obviously, for a couple of days

because of her condition.

When I'm going by the body,
I get a real...

Good taste of it because,
I mean, people can say

what they want to
about the smell.

You can taste it.
It permeates you.

The caller appeared
to be shaken.

He was obviously upset
by what he had seen.

I'm not thinking

that this gentleman is involved
because he's very shocked

at seeing the body.

Additional officers arrive

and cordon off the area.

Your bumper?

Detectives then begin
examining the scene.

The residence
on cherry street

where the victim was located,

local drug users would use
that residence to squat in

and use it also
for a place to get high.

We arrived on scene.

It was important
to clear the residence

where the body was located

because there may be
potential suspects

or other victims
inside the residence,

and it could be our potential
crime scene, as well.

Officers draw their guns,

not sure what they might
encounter inside.

We get into what we call
a stick formation...

...to where we're in line.

And then there's a point guy,
which is me.

There was a garbage located
throughout the house.

You could obviously tell that

someone had been staying there
at some point.

We were
looking for blood spatter.

We were looking for instruments

that could have been used
in the actual crime.

It was some type
of orthopedic wrist brace

that somebody would use.

We just assumed that it would
possibly belong to a suspect.

We collected it as evidence.

We're on the away.

With the house
secured, back outside...

17-50.
- -Go ahead.

...investigators
examine the remains.

The body was badly beaten
in the face.

There was a slight
amount of decomposition.

She was swelling, as well.
We could not identify her

because she was not
recognizable.

Her face was not recognizable,
and we knew

that somebody had killed her
and dumped her there.

The body was in
horrible condition.

At the time, there were so many

bugs and flies on it that you
wasn't too sure what happened.

While an autopsy
will need to be performed

to determine cause of death,

detectives do observe signs
of sexual assault

the dress
that she had on

appeared to be
a pink-and-black dress,

and there was mal discoloration
in the front-middle portion.

In just the material
of the dress

and the way she was laying,
it appeared that

she was possibly
sexually assaulted.

Investigators move in

for a closer examination
of the body

and discover something unusual.

As I was taking photos
of her body,

I noticed that there was
a small puzzle piece

stuck to her stomach area.

It was odd
that one puzzle piece

was stuck to her body.

There was no puzzle pieces
inside the residence

where the body was found,

nor there were no puzzle pieces
around the body in the yard.

So, at that point, we started

trying to find where this
puzzle piece had come from.

We knew if we could find where
this puzzle piece came from,

then we probably had located
the crime scene.

Investigators
also note a tattoo

on the victim's left calf,
a detail

that could help
identify the remains.

We knew that the body had
been there for a couple of days

and we were behind
the eight ball

on this particular investigation
because it's hard enough

to solve these crimes
when it's fresh.

Much less several days old.

So I began, at that point,

to try to set out
and identify who the victim was.

But the police
are handed a possible clue

by an onlooker at the scene.

I received information
from an officer

that a Jasper Perry
had come to the scene

and told them that he had been
looking for his friend,

and her name was Bianca rainer.

However,
Jasper has left the scene

before investigators can get
a full statement from him.

When we're working a crime
as heinous as this,

to have a bystander come up

and ask officers,
"did you find Bianca rainer?"

That's odd considering
we didn't even know who she was.

At that point,
we do want to speak with him.

Officers obtain
Jasper's address

and track him down back
at his house.

I left the scene,
went a few blocks to the house,

and talked to Jasper Perry.

And how long ago it had been
since he had seen her

and where
she might have been going.

Once he describes the dress
to me, I'm thinking

that our deceased person
is Bianca rainer.

Now that we do have
the name of the victim,

we obviously want to do
everything we can to find

the young lady's killer.

Police in blytheville,
Arkansas, believe

they've identified the body
of 29-year-old Bianca rainer.

She had not only been strangled
with the cords around her neck,

but she had also been bludgeoned
and had been sexually assaulted.

Back at the station,

detectives work to confirm the
victim is in fact Bianca rainer.

Family members started
to tell US about the tattoos

that was on Bianca's body,

which included a Rose and
her children's name on her leg.

I was able to, again,
go through the pictures

that I had taken of the body

and verify that it was Bianca
rainer.

Bianca...

Was the first daughter
that I had,

believe it or not, and I call
her my daughter because...

She was with me from the time
she was a year old

up until she got grown.

She was my son's daughter.

And when she came
to live with me,

everything was just wonderful

because I had him there,
I had her there.

She was my prize.

Bianca was like really
an angel on earth,

really,
like she could do no wrong.

She was always quiet,
she was timid, she was shy.

But, like, she was always happy.
She was always smiling.

You would be like, "Bianca,
why you smilin' so hard?"

Like, "why are you always
so happy, girl?"

Like, you know,
she was the type of person.

It hurt me so bad
when she got killed

because, you know, we family.

Blytheville police now
turn for answers to the person

they believe saw Bianca
last before she disappeared,

Jasper Perry.

Jasper Perry
claimed that he knew Bianca.

We wanted to know
what their relationship was.

Were they sexually involved
or just friends.

At this point, we considered him
to be a suspect

because he was the last person
to see her.

Jasper originally told
US that he couldn't remember

which day he last saw her.

He said that they slept
in the same bed

but they weren't
sexually involved.

We knew that Jasper was
potentially the last person

to see miss rainer alive,

so we were suspicious
of Mr. Perry to say the least.

Jasper Perry gave US a story
which we didn't believe.

So we offered him a polygraph,
and he agreed to take it.

Detective Jason simpkins

administers the test.

Detective simpkins
questions Jasper for hours,

then leaves Jasper
to review the results.

He then shares his findings.

Being deceptive on the test,
that doesn't mean that

he killed Bianca.

It just means that there's
something that he's concealing,

some sort of information that he
has not given law enforcement.

So we need to find that out.

As far as polygraph being used
in court in the state Arkansas,

it is inadmissible.

However, it is a tool
that we use in the investigation

to help steer US.

Once a person
is found deceptive on a test,

and then, of course, you go from
the regular casual interview

to it is an interrogation
at that point.

So we are going to do

what we've got to do to
to get that information.

And it does put pressure
on that person.

It is a stressful situation.

We knew that, if he did have
something to do with her,

it was possible that his DNA
would probably be on her.

We didn't have any analysis
back at this point,

so we didn't know.

At that point, I don't know
if he's going to be the person

who actually killed Bianca,

but he's definitely going to be
a suspect until we determine

why it is that he was deceptive
on this test.

Detectives
investigating the murder

of Bianca rainer in blytheville,
Arkansas, have their eye

on the last person
they believe saw her alive,

a man named Jasper Perry.

Jasper's already failed
a lie detector test.

Now detectives are hoping
for a confession.

The test isn't going
to show that this person

is guilty of a crime.

The test is just showing
that there may be questions

with this person's level
of honesty in the investigation.

Now we have to determine if
he's actually involved or not.

Jasper insists he had
nothing to do

with Bianca's murder.

And while detectives have
their suspicions about him,

they know they don't have
enough evidence

to charge him with murder.

We knew that Jasper
was deceptive.

He was definitely
still a suspect in this case.

One day into
the investigation,

detectives are striving
to catch Bianca rainer's killer

as her family struggles
for answers.

It's just something
that I -- I don't know

if I'll ever be able
to move on from.

You don't really understand
things like this.

And people can say...

"I know how you feel."
You don't know how I feel.

You cannot imagine

the pain and the heartache

that I feel...

With my daughter being gone.

I don't know if heaven
and hell is real

or the afterlife or whatever,

but I know whatever
spirit is at,

she's hurt.

'Cause I know
she had plans for her life

and plans for her girls.

That's what really
hurts me the most.

Her kids will never have
a mother anymore.

She'll never ever, ever, ever be
able to be a parent again.

And her kids will never ever
have a parent,

like a mother, again.

Can't nobody replace.

Detectives
turn their attention

to the property
where Bianca's body was found

and discover
something peculiar.

Detectives learned
of a phone call

that was placed the night
before the body was found.

A caller advised
our dispatch office that

the doors to the residence
was open

and they were requesting
an officer to go by

and check the residence.

So as we're listening to this
phone call, the detective

who handles our
sex offender registry

recognized the voice

on the phone call is that
of Ricky bassett,

who is a local registered
sex offender.

Detectives
track down Ricky

and bring him into the station
for questioning.

Mr. Bassett told US

that he was going
to his old residence,

which was across the street from
where we located

Bianca rainer's body,
to look for a wrist brace

that he had left
at the residence,

and noticed that the door

was open to the residence
across the street.

And he just wanted to call
the police and report it.

Ricky did not live
in the residence

where we found the brace,
so we knew that it was

highly suspicious that
we would find this wrist brace

he's looking for
at what we, at the time,

thought
was the scene of the crime.

We had not gotten back
any results

from the medical
examiner's report yet.

We have a local sex offender who
is claiming that he lost

a wrist brace in what we thought
was the crime scene.

We were excited because
we thought we had our guy.

Detectives collect
a DNA sample from Ricky

and then set him up
for the polygraph test.

Detective simpkins questions
Ricky about Bianca's murder.

Ricky appears calm, looking
straight ahead during the test.

Detective simpkins
runs through the questions

and then analyzes the test data.

A polygraph examination can be
a several-hour-long process,

and it does put the heat
on a person.

It obviously
is a challenge because

we have to determine, why is he
showing to be deceptive?

It is challenging when
you're working a case like this

because this person is showing
to be deceptive.

So when I approach Ricky,

I want to know
why you are deceptive.

Are you involved
in this crime directly?

Do you have knowledge of it?

So I'm going to go at him,
at him hard.

Detectives hunting
Bianca rainer's killer

in blytheville, Arkansas,
have questioned multiple men

but now are focusing
on one of them,

registered sex offender
Ricky bassett,

after he failed
a polygraph test.

Now they need physical evidence

to place him at the crime scene
at the time of the murder.

Captain Frazier returns
to the house

where Ricky had recently lived,

across the street
from where Bianca was found,

and speaks with
the new tenant living there.

I just basically
swerved in there

and just basically got out
and said,

"hey, man, I need
to talk to you."

Captain Frazier
asks the man if he knows Ricky.

At this point,
he's acting suspicious.

He's looking around. He's not
looking at US in the eyes.

This man looked about 60.

I knew immediately
that he was lying to US.

We can see these puzzle pieces

laying all over the floor
in the hallway.

And they're covered in a stain

that we automatically
recognize is blood.

We knew at that point
we've got our crime scene.

We were there.
We were where we needed to be.

I just basically wanted
to keep him calm

and put him in cuffs.
I didn't know if he had a gun,

'cause I hadn't
searched him yet.

I didn't know
who I was talking to

until I found
his driver's license.

I'm looking at the picture.
I'm looking at him.

It was obvious
that he was Harold Bennett.

We knew that if he's lying
to US about that,

then he probably knows a lot
more about miss rainer's case.

Back at the station,

Frazier continues to question
Harold Bennett about Bianca.

We need to get Mr. Bennett
locked into a story

of where he was,
what was going on.

Of course, he denies
having anything to do with it,

but we know
that if he had sex with her,

his DNA would probably
be on her.

Bennett then comes clean.

He tells Frazier
he paid Bianca for a date.

I tried to appeal
to his conscience a little bit.

And this is a tactic
that investigators use often

to try to solicit
some information

out of the person
that we're interviewing.

He sticks to his story

that they just had sex
and she leaves.

I didn't really believe him,
but I didn't know,

so I call in detective simpkins.

It's not uncommon for US
to swap up investigators

and change tactics

on individuals
that we're interviewing.

And I knew there was more
to get out of him.

Having the information
of what he had disclosed

to captain Frazier
helped me in knowing,

okay, Harold did have
some sort of involvement

with Bianca rainer.

We know that encounter
would have been

right around
the time of her death.

Blytheville
police detective Jason simpkins

is leaning on murder suspect
Harold Bennett.

Harold, he started crying,
said he didn't mean to,

talked about an argument
between the two of them.

I know that he wasn't giving me
the actual full details

as to what he had done.

So detectives offer
to take him back

to the crime scene.

It is very rare

that a suspect would agree
to such a thing.

But Harold was wanting to

tell his side of the story,
so to speak.

That sealed the deal with him.

Harold walks me
through the house,

points me to where Bianca
was standing,

where he starts claiming

that she had had
a pocket knife on her.

Harold was steadily
portraying himself

as he was a victim in this
and this was self-defense.

Every time he would beat her and
she would lose consciousness,

when she would wake up, he would
go back and beat her some more.

He would say
that he felt bad about it,

but his actions,
his body language

showed more that he was...
Excited about reliving it,

that he was getting to tell me
and show me

what he had done to her,
how many times he had hit her,

where he hit her.

Harold continues his story
of disposing of Bianca's body

by dragging her across
the street in a trash can

and dumping her
beside the house.

I was able to garner

the confession
from Harold Bennett

and prove that he acted alone.

He was wanting to
to cast himself as a victim.

But he almost appeared as if he
was proud of what he had done.

I became involved in this case

when the detectives called
our office and notified US

that Bianca rainer's body
had been found.

The reenactment video was very
difficult for me to watch.

The way Harold Bennett described
what he did to her

was very upsetting.

While we were
watching the video,

the medical examiner called
one of the other detectives

to tell him the cause of death.

And what we didn't know
at the time

was that she had actually been
shot three times in the head.

In the prior interview,

Mr. Bennett tells
detective simpkins

that there is
a piece of evidence

that's not related to the crime,

but he knows it's there,

and he wants US
to get it out of the house.

During the reenactment video,

he never mentions shooting her.

He does attempt to portray
the murder

as more of a self-defense,
which obviously, you know,

when he shoots her
three times in the head,

I mean, there was
no self-defense involved

with regard to that.

It made the murder just that
much more heinous, I believe.

So after all this
confession on videotape,

we take Mr. Bennett to court,
and he is convicted

of the first-degree murder
of Bianca rainer

and sentenced to life in prison.

And he stated
that he he acted alone,

didn't have any accomplices,
and we believe that to be true.

I was really impressed
with the team,

from the first
responding officer

all the way to the prosecutor's
office in this case,

knowing that we were able to
secure a suspect within 24 hours

and have all the evidence
that we had against Mr. Bennett

and get him off the streets.

It was a very good day
and a win for law enforcement.

I see Bianca every day
in her daughter,

because they could have been
identical twins.

So that makes it
even harder for me

to accept the fact
that their mom...

Is gone.

Amya told her teacher
that she had been adopted.

I'm like, "okay, Amya,

do you know what it means
to be adopted?"

And she says, "yes, Nana.
I now have two mommies,

and one of my mommies
is in heaven.

That's Bianca."

I said, "that's right.

And the other one
is right here to tell you

it's time to go take a bath."

I just hope Bianca's kids

grow up with peace
in their heart.

And I just hope that they life
is just happy.

And her spirit just got them
and protect them.

Bianca wanted everybody
to like her

'cause she liked everybody,

not knowing
it didn't work that way.

She was a loving person.

She loved me.
She loved her children.

And if she were here today,

really, it's no telling
where we would be

or what we would be doing.

It's just no telling.