Original subtitles

This is the story of a woman named April...

It's Hayden. ...And a man named Michael...

Hayden?

Yeah, that's your little brother.

...a couple with three children...

Cheers.

...with good friends...

Everyone knew the Holtons.

...and a common enemy,

an enemy that would tear this perfect southern family apart.

Heartbroken, shattered, and crushed.

This murder's all but ended a family.

In a special 2-hour "American monster,"

the story of husband against wife...

It's not my fault we lost the house.

She needed to make sure that her children were gonna be safe.

...and father against son...

...a story that spirals into chaos, violence...

Help!

...and death.

I can't begin to imagine what goes through their minds --

something that violent.

Just one question remains --

guilty or not guilty?

Sometimes, it just hurts to think how it all ended

cause it had a good beginning.

It all starts happily

with an 11-year-old girl named April Evans.

Ready, set, go.

It's July 13, 1989, in Panama City, Florida.

Okay.

April is having a whale of a time on a summer vacation.

She's keeping an eye on her younger twin brothers,

Chris and Michael,

as they splash around the pool with their cousins.

It's Michael. It's all of them.

Yeah, it looks like she's bossing all of US around,

but, you know, April was the leader of the pack,

I guess you'd say,

and she just loved doing stuff together.

Hello.

Watching from the sidelines is April's grandmother,

Mary Bess Evans.

And that's April's 75-year-old grandfather, inos Evans,

heading out to the store to pick up supplies for lunch.

Going to see my grandparents

are probably some of the best memories I have as a child.

It would be just a joyous occasion seeing them.

Hurry up! -Operating the camera

is April's aunt, Martha brown.

This was our vacation down at Panama City beach.

My mother had the children for a week,

and we all came down to the beach.

That's my daughter, Jennifer, with the hose,

little miss always-wanting-attention.

She and April together, they were hilarious.

The two of them, they would keep you in stitches,

and, of course, there are the boys.

Yesterday was Martha's 35th birthday.

April and her posse are eager to help her celebrate.

Hello.

Happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday, dear Martha

happy birthday to you and many more.

I guess the thing that stands out the most to me with April

as a little girl was the fact

that she was such a mother

to her two brothers.

When you're a mother, no matter what your children are doing

and even if you're talking to somebody else,

you've got that little radar.

You're always aware of what your children are doing,

and April had that.

What are they called?

April has strong parental instincts,

which she learned the hard way.

April's parents, Susan Evans and David groger,

were frequent drug and alcohol abusers,

and David had run-ins with the law.

One time in particular that I went up to see sue and Dave,

they were living in a trailer park.

I don't think either of them had jobs.

I went over there to see them, and sue wasn't there.

Dave didn't know where she was.

In fact, she hadn't been home for two days,

but according to him, that wasn't uncommon,

for sue to just take off.

April stepped in as a sort of parent role.

I think April had put, like, dish towels on US as diapers,

and in fact somebody said she was even feeding US like a bird,

making food soft and putting it in our mouths,

so we could eat.

I was angry that sue would just take off,

not even worry about her children.

My parents did not raise US that way.

Mary Bess and inos Evans took Susan to court

and were granted custody.

April was 3 years old,

twins Chris and Michael just 18 months.

And oddly, sue didn't fight her over it.

Lord knows what would've ended up happening to them

if they'd stayed with sue.

Mary Bess and inos try their hardest

to provide the children with stability,

but it's a lot for the retired couple to take on.

My brother and I, from stories I've been told,

really were doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted,

so we had no schedule, which meant no schedule for them --

sleep whenever, eat whenever.

It wasn't working out.

My parents were just too exhausted

from everything that they had been through with sue,

and they were told about the Alabama baptist

children's home association,

which they vet families through the baptist church,

and it's sort of like a foster situation,

but the children could stay in a family environment,

stay close to my parents.

April stays with her grandparents

while the twin boys are given a home with the owenby family.

I thought they were very nice people.

They raised them in a very moral home.

They were in church.

They were raised right from wrong.

They would not have gotten that if they had stayed with sue.

The owenbys live in the small town of eclectic, Alabama,

a two-hour drive from Mary Bess and inos.

Eclectic was real small --

was a real small community.

Everybody probably knew everybody.

The owenbys went to the baptist church in eclectic,

and it was a fairly large church.

When she turns 9 April joins her brothers

at the owenby home in eclectic.

My grandparents felt like

if April continued to live with them

or with any other family member, for that matter,

that we would grow up and have no relationship with her.

April thrives

and grows into a confident young woman.

I remember her just being a run-of-the-mill teenager,

just wanting to live life and enjoy it and have fun

and, you know, sing along to the radio

and wear cute clothes and have makeup on

and do the things that most teenagers want to do.

But I also -- I recall her being, in a way,

somewhat sort of quiet and reserved at times,

studying and making sure she had good grades in school.

At 17, April meets the love of her life,

Michael holton.

April and Michael met in high school

and were high school sweethearts.

They seemed very happy together.

Cute as a button -- they really were.

They were both attractive people, tall and slim,

and Mike was a musician.

Mike was in the band in high school,

playing guitar and singing.

Meeting April made Michael grow up.

He was a lot quieter than April.

She was always the life of the party,

but I think he liked that.

I think, you know -- he enjoyed watching her have fun,

and they loved each other.

The young couple are soon inseparable.

No one is surprised when at just 19,

April becomes Mrs. Michael holton.

When I saw April walking down the aisle, I was bawling.

I really just felt like her life was just starting,

and everything was gonna work out and be awesome.

Just sometimes it just hurts to think how it all ended

cause it had a good beginning.

Her parents' addictions ruined April's childhood,

and she's always dreamed of a stable family life.

She's found that in her high school sweetheart,

Michael holton.

He shares April's values and her dream

of making a big, happy family.

A year after marrying,

the newlyweds welcome their first baby boy...

Okay? -Okay.

...Jesse Madison holton.

When April had her first child,

he was probably maybe 18 months old

when she became pregnant with her second child.

She was ecstatic over it.

She and Michael both were.

Hayden? -Yeah.

Michael was excited about being a father.

He was looking forward to having a family.

What do you think?

April took to motherhood like duck to water.

She was able to be something

that her mother never was for her.

It was almost like,

"I've seen the worst in a family dynamics,

and I've seen good in family dynamics.

Now, I want the opportunity to have a family,

so I can make everything right.

I'm not like my mother."

A third son arrives two years later,

and the holton family are living a perfect life.

Michael has a career he loves

saving lives with the local fire department.

When I first met Mike,

he had just become a full-time firefighter,

having just gotten old enough.

He and several other juniors at the time,

they were go-getters.

They were ready to get out and do the job.

While working as a firefighter,

Michael trains to become a paramedic.

Michael was probably the best paramedic around,

and it was always neat to watch him

just interact with the individual and assure them that,

"we're gonna get you through it

and get you the help that you need."

Was difficult for Michael to balance career and fatherhood

with three boys.

Despite working herself,

April carries the lion's share of the parenting.

Whoo!

Here, she's behind the camera at a basketball game in 2003,

eagerly capturing her son's grand entrance on tape.

Didn't care how crazy she sounded screaming

at her kids' games.

Those were her kids, and she would embarrass herself and them

if she thought it'd make them do any better.

That's just the kind of person she was.

Shoot!

Jesse Madison, now known simply as Madison,

remembers those innocent times.

Any sport that we played, we were, like, glorified.

Our mom made US feel like we were the best players out there.

In 2003, at just 25,

Michael holton receives the honor of a lifetime.

He is named eclectic's fire chief --

the youngest in the town's history.

This video taken in his first year

shows Michael running a competition

to find eclectic's fastest firefighter.

He's in jeans there walking around doing the scoring.

He got the stopwatch in his hand.

Michael probably spent a third of his time

giving to a community that he loved,

the place that he grew up at,

the place that his wife called home most of her life,

just to make it a better place.

The boys enjoy a carefree childhood,

which Madison remembers fondly.

This is me on a go-kart.

We used to have to take turns riding these things,

and I hated that.

I wanted to be the driver at all times.

As a child, Madison idolized his father.

When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like my dad

and be a firefighter.

You know, we always bragged to our friends like,

"hey, our dad's the fire chief," you know?

Life is good for Michael holton

with his loving wife, April,

and a tight band of three sons,

but one night in 2004,

something seemingly small changes all that.

Michael's team with emts are called to an emergency...

Where Michael injures his back badly.

Over the following weeks, Michael's condition worsens.

The doctor tells him there's no immediate cure,

and all he can do is manage the pain and rest up.

He had to take something where he could still maintain

his level of care for the patients,

and they told him, "well, tramadol, or Ultram,

it's not a narcotic. It's like a synthetic drug.

It's not supposed to make you drowsy

or take away your ability to work."

But it's powerfully addictive,

and Michael's impulse to continue working

results in his using the drug as a crutch

to keep his family humming.

2006 is the worst possible time to discover new problems,

this time, with their eldest son, Jesse Madison, now 7.

He's having difficulty concentrating at school.

He's more concerned with YouTube profile than his grades.

You almost had a 360. -Madison was a hardheaded child.

He didn't listen well, didn't pay attention.

I don't think Madison was an easy child to raise.

Wait. Wait, wait. Go.

I didn't really want to listen.

Like, I might have got a spanking or whatever

the day before for something,

but I kept on doing it,

you know, just 'cause.

Whoo!

April told me at one point Madison was add or adhd,

and so he needed some help focusing on his schoolwork,

and I think April took Madison to the doctor

and was able to get him medication,

which helped him get his schoolwork done.

But Madison doesn't like taking the medication.

My parents made me take it.

Yeah, I focused a little bit more,

but the medicine really affected me

because it would mess up my stomach

or I'd have a migraine.

No way!

Madison's father is also struggling

with his own medication.

By 2009, Michael needs more and more tramadol

to get pain relief.

When Michael had been taking it for a while,

April voiced her concerns

that she felt like he was becoming too dependent on it...

...that he told her that his job required a lot of physicality.

As he got older, this type of work just made him hurt

and that the tramadol helped with that.

The family are concerned it's affecting Michael's mood.

I knew that there was an issue there just based

on conversations that I had with April.

Michael's mood swings increase

and so do April's concerns.

She knows all too well the role drugs played

in her chaotic upbringing.

She didn't want that in her house.

She didn't want her kids exposed to it.

April hated drugs.

Whether it be prescriptions written by a doctor

or whether it be drugs you find on the streets,

April absolutely detested drugs.

The life she and Michael have worked so hard to build

is beginning to crack.

She didn't want to lose her family,

but she didn't know how to fix the problem.

In 1999, April and Michael holton

had everything to look forward to --

a new family and plenty of opportunity...

...but Michael's accident at work

is making his job difficult,

and he's looking for a way out.

In 2010, fire chief holton attends a town meeting.

Passions are running high about a local issue.

The meeting ends with the resignation of eclectic's mayor,

and Michael holton has an idea.

Michael thinks he'll be better able

to serve his town from behind a desk.

A government job offers stability

and a less physically-punishing routine.

He got on the city council,

and then when a mayoral election came around,

Mike ran for mayor.

In 2012, a 33-year-old Michael wins by a landslide.

I was proud that he won,

and I was confident he would bring the same energy

to that job as he brought to the fire service.

The young mayor is a popular figure in the town.

In 2013, Michael is hit by a mysterious illness.

April called me one evening panic-struck.

He had had a seizure in the mayor's office.

They took him immediately to the hospital

cause nobody knew what was going on,

and she wanted to know what could cause a undiagnosed,

just out-of-the-blue seizure.

But Michael doesn't let it hold him back

and returns to work immediately.

A few weeks later, Michael is struck again.

Thanks, dad.

I'm heading out to the office.

Be good for your mom.

He was leaving to go to the mayor's office,

and while he was backing up, he had a seizure,

and so he went through the neighbor's shed

that was next door, back around and hit our house.

I'm like, "what in the heck is going on?"

And so I walk around, and I see my dad's truck...

Dad? ...Up against the house.

Dad!

And I start freaking out then.

So, I go and I open the door,

and my dad was still, like, in a seizure-like state.

What do I do, dad? Mom!

I honestly thought he just had, like, some type of disease

Because he was taking much more than the average dose

that you're prescribed,

and when you overdo it, it can cause seizures.

April knows that Michael's back has healed,

and his doctor has stopped his tramadol prescriptions.

I'd gone over to their house,

and she was cleaning up,

but I could tell she was cleaning,

like, feverishly,

like, as if she was looking for something.

Are you okay?

She was like, "the doc said that Michael should not take

any tramadol whatsoever,

and I know he is."

I know it's here.

Okay.

Let me help you.

I just reached back behind a dresser leg and found them.

It wasn't prescribed to him

because they'll have your name and your date of birth

and where your pharmacy is.

This was empty.

Someone had taken off that part,

so it was not a prescribed medication.

I knew it.

April decides it's time to confront her husband.

Michael finally breaks down and admits the truth.

I was desperate.

Doctor wouldn't help me.

Michael has been buying tramadol on the black market.

You know how I feel about drugs, Michael.

It's a sore subject considering April's own parents

were drug addicts who couldn't raise her.

And the impact is more than physical and emotional.

The holtons' finances are also hit by Michael's addiction.

Money is draining from the family bank account.

The mortgage hadn't been paid, if I had to guess,

because money was being spent on narcotics.

And once you get behind, it's just...

It's hard to catch up.

April is forced to turn to her aunt

for financial help.

She said, "I'm so sorry, aunt Martha.

I didn't know that we were this far behind on our payments

because Michael hadn't told me,

but they're fixing to take our house."

I just didn't know what to do.

Okay.

The boys are picking up on growing tension

between April and Michael.

I remember my parents, like, getting in fights,

like, them arguing all the time,

just him being verbally abusive to her,

treating her like garbage.

And the entire family is suffering

from Michael's mood swings.

My sister and I, we went to go have happy-hour margaritas

at the place in a little bar in downtown eclectic,

and he called her and said

some very unsavory words

and threatened to knock her out

if she didn't get home immediately.

And I remember seeing her just start

packing all of her stuff up, and I said,

"we're not getting up and going anywhere.

We're gonna finish the margaritas,

and when we're done, we'll go home."

It was at that point that I began to realize

that things weren't going as well as April

had led US on to believe.

Michael became very irate when we got to the house.

He started screaming, making threats.

He was a different person.

You know, the person I remember was not someone who got angry

and was quick to violence.

I just had never seen that before.

When April and Michael started their family,

their love was unstoppable.

15 years later,

their world is falling apart.

In the fall of 2014,

they receive some earth-shattering news.

They lost their house in eclectic

because the mortgage wasn't being paid.

April was devastated.

She loved that little house.

She didn't want to leave there.

The family are forced to move to a trailer.

She called me and said she wanted to give me

her new address,

and she said, "we found a place.

I know it's a trailer, but it's a double-wide,

and it's actually got more square footage than our house."

We'll talk soon.

She's trying to make it sound upbeat,

but I think she was really ashamed

that they lost the house.

I think this is the last one.

I don't know why I'm the one making calls.

It's not my fault we lost the house.

In their new home,

April and Michael are arguing more and more.

It's not a black-and-white situation.

It's a, "I love this man.

He has a problem,

but I want to help him in any way I possibly can

to get him through this problem."

I think she realized that she was at a crossroad

and that eventually she was gonna reach a point

where she was gonna have to make a decision.

She said, "I love Michael. I just want my husband back."

April is also concerned that Michael's addiction

is gonna jeopardize his standing in the community.

She knew that the issue was out of control,

and she knew that it wasn't right for him

to be in a position of leadership

while also living this other life.

She insists that Michael step down as mayor,

but Michael isn't convinced.

The city had put him up on such a pedestal.

He was all these things to all these people.

It's kind of tough to say, "not only am I a mayor,

but I also have a drug problem, and I need some help."

April told him that if he didn't resign

that she was gonna go public with his drug issues.

That month, Michael resigns as mayor.

Six months later, the holtons pull together

to celebrate the 15th birthday of their eldest son,

Jesse Madison.

They embarrassed me like most parents do

by going to a Mexican restaurant

and telling them it's your birthday,

and they will put a sombrero on your head

and sing you "happy birthday."

Happy birthday to you

yes, happy birthday to you

it seems to the world as if the family are turning a corner,

but behind the jokes, Madison has a problem.

My junior year rolled around.

I started hanging around with a different group of people

who smoked pot regularly,

and I started hanging out with them more.

I found somebody to buy it from, so that's where, basically,

I'd spend all my money.

For April, the situation has reached a crisis point,

so she calls on her police officer brother, Chris.

April called me one night, and she said,

"I found Madison smoking marijuana.

Can you come to the house?"

So I drove over there.

I'm sorry for calling. I didn't know what else to do.

Madison was just hanging out.

I found this in his bag.

And Michael was just kind of nonchalant about it.

I'll leave you guys to it.

Why, he just told Madison, "it's okay.

It's not that big of a deal if you just smoke weed."

And for April, it was a big deal.

She had a mother that was a drug addict,

she had a father that was a drug-and-alcohol addict,

and she was not okay with Madison smoking marijuana.

It absolutely terrified her.

She thought it was sue all over again.

When Michael said, "it's just pot," she said,

"it was like something flipped...

And I realized I can't help him anymore,

but I can help my children,

and that's what I've got to do."

But April doesn't know the full extent of the problem.

Shortly afterwards,

Michael's black-market supply dries up,

and so he makes a desperate decision.

And he was like, "hey, son, do you know anybody

where I could get some pills from?"

And I was like, "what do you need pills for?"

And he said something about like, "my back hurts,"

or whatever, and then he told me what kind of pills he wanted,

and I was like, "those are, like, class-a painkillers."

Madison knows a classmate who can get him the drugs,

and Madison becomes his father's drug mule.

Father and son are locked in a secret pact

never to breathe a word to April.

It's a secret that will rip the family apart.

When Michael holton began taking painkillers

after an accident at work,

he had no idea how it would impact his life.

In may 2016, April reaches the end of the line

You've broken me.

She didn't see him ever conquering this.

She really didn't -- any more than her mother could have.

What are you saying?

I want a divorce.

April did not make the decision

to leave Michael flippantly.

It was something that she thought

very long and very hard over.

The money, the pills.

Finally, I think it was the --

she needed to make sure that her children were gonna be safe.

For Michael, it's a devastating blow.

I think Michael felt like he'd lost everything at that point.

There's nothing else to live for.

And I think he probably had a battle going on

in his own mind and his heart

between drug use and his family,

and it just -- the drugs were winning.

April was probably the only thing keeping Michael

from just falling off the deep end.

When she leaves, there's really no rules at home.

You can do whatever you want to,

and there's no one there to stop you.

April gets a place down in tallassee,

a 20-minute drive from eclectic.

The boys divide their time between their parents' homes.

The days that my dad was at work,

we would go to my mom's,

and the days he was at home, we would go with him,

and then they'd split the weekends up.

Friend Tonya has been there every step of the way for April,

including her move to a new house.

Thank you for helping me unpack.

Not a problem.

I have something for US.

I think we deserve this.

You deserve this.

She was so incredibly proud at that moment,

that she had made this decision,

and she was doing something very positive for the boys.

Happy birthday, dear --

today, it's Tonya's daughter's birthday.

Happy birthday to you

April's captured briefly on camera

looking relaxed and happy

just days after leaving Michael...

...but Michael's not doing so well.

A few weeks after the split, he calls Tonya and asks to talk.

Hey.

Thanks for meeting me.

He was very adamant that if April dated another guy

or slept with another guy,

he was very adamant that he did not know

how he was gonna handle that.

I just keep getting all of these thoughts in my head

about other guys and April.

April being probably his first and only love,

the thought of sharing her with someone else...

...that was not an option for him.

But April has a more pressing concern than dating.

Madison's behavior seemed to get

somewhat progressively worse.

I got caught high one time at her house,

and she said, "if I ever catch you high or with marijuana

at my house again,

you are not gonna stay here anymore,"

and I was like, "okay." Then like a week later,

she caught me with marijuana at her house.

Madison!

April finally said, "he can't stay in my house.

I have two other kids to think about.

I don't want him adversely affecting them,"

so she basically said to Michael,

"he can live with you, and you can deal with this."

It's a recipe for disaster.

Michael is barely able to look after himself,

let alone an unruly teenage son.

At that point, it's, you know, "mom's not here.

If I want to smoke weed, I can do it,

and dad's got me going and picking up stuff for him,

so he don't really care."

Madison's behavior continues to spiral out of control.

How was school?

I didn't go.

I partied hard, smoking, drinking.

I was still stoned every day.

What?

Michael is desperate to prove to April

that he's taking her concern seriously.

Look, I'm not a kid anymore, alright?

Michael was at his wit's end.

I believe Michael and April both were with the drugs.

But Michael is still depending on his son

to get tramadol for him.

I'll get US some takeout.

As bad as it is for Michael,

things are looking better over in tallassee.

April is moving on.

She's met somebody new.

Geez.

She was getting treated like a queen.

She was being told how beautiful she was.

She was in a place that she hadn't been in a very long time.

She was so happy.

It isn't long until Michael finds out what's going on.

She's met someone, a-a guy who...

And my dad freaked out about it.

No. -And I had never

seen my dad cry before, but whenever we got home,

he was, like, laying in the bed,

and he had, like,

a washcloth over his face, like, crying.

September 11, 2016,

begins like any other sunday

until April gets a call from a friend in eclectic.

Madison had a party last night,

and a mom called because her son's been,

you know, hanging over the toilet all night long,

and she's pretty mad.

As April drives to eclectic,

Michael also gets a phone call from the same mother.

When he arrives back home,

he finds a mess of roaches, bongs,

and marijuana.

I had thrown a party the night before.

The day after, I was at my friend's house,

and I get a text from my dad that says,

"get home now," and so I do.

April finds Madison on the sofa, handcuffed.

As soon as I got there, my dad had put me in handcuffs.

I had never seen him this kind of angry before.

It was this weird look in his eyes.

Michael is already calling 911

to have his son arrested on drug charges.

Madison had been given his last chance,

and he blew it.

A sheriff's deputy arrives on the scene soon after.

Thanks for your time, deputy.

It's clear Michael is trying to scare his son straight.

Take care.

But the officer advises everyone to cool off.

It would be better to take Madison

to the station on Monday morning.

The deputy leaves the holtons to it.

One of them will not survive

the next few minutes.

Help!

Help!

Help, somebody!

We received a call within 12 minutes.

A neighbor had called in this call.

Madison had gone to the neighbor's residence,

beat on the door, and asked for help.

Madison and the neighbor return to the house.

The neighbor hears a cry and goes inside,

leaving Madison out front, still handcuffed.

He said he heard April make a noise,

so that's why he entered the residence.

He went in the bedroom,

The neighbor tells them to look in the bedroom.

Officers struggle to remove Madison's handcuffs

with their own keys.

Madison tells them that the handcuff key

is on the living room table.

Inside the house,

there's ample evidence of Madison's party last night...

...and the handcuff key is right where Madison says.

Police move to the bedroom.

On the floor is a .380 caliber pistol.

Next to it are Michael and April.

They've both been shot.

Michael isn't breathing.

It's clear he's beyond help.

But April is still breathing.

Mom. Mom! Mom!

Let go. Get off me. Get off. Mom.

I don't even think there's a word to explain.

I can't explain the feeling. It was terrible.

April is rushed to the hospital, fighting for her life.

I received a call from a deputy

at the elmore county sheriff's office.

Nobody was telling me a whole lot.

I didn't know the extent of her injuries...

...but I knew -- like, in my heart of hearts,

I knew it wasn't going to be good.

She'd been shot in the hand and she'd been shot in the head.

I ended up staying at the hospital all night.

I called my brother Michael.

He drove from Texas all night to get here.

Walk in the room, and you see her

laying there with the machine breathing for her.

I think it was at that point I realized

that there's no coming back from this.

My older brother called me

and said that I needed to get to mom's house,

that Michael was gone.

Someone had come to the house

and said that Michael had shot April and shot himself,

and that Michael was dead.

Just couldn't believe it.

At that time, Madison was being taken to the police station,

being detained for questioning.

And they put me in the interrogating room,

and I was in there for, I don't know how long it was.

It felt to me like a day that I was in there,

cause it was freezing cold, I was soaking wet.

They hadn't brought me any extra clothes or anything.

Didn't give me any type of explanation

as to why I'm in there.

Madison fills the police in on his side of the story.

Get off of me. Get off!

No. -Help me!

They asked me, like, a couple different times.

Like, in different ways, they asked me what happened.

And so I explained to them.

I don't remember which one.

But something about the statement

is puzzling investigators.

Madison has told them that both his parents were alive

when he left the house, and he never heard the gunshots.

The boy's statement was he left,

got on the road, which the road is probably,

I would say about 30 or 40 yards away

from where the front door is.

And right across the street is where this gentleman lived

that he went to their house.

Well, he was very, very in fact

about he never heard any rounds go off.

I really don't.

The primary investigator had some issues

with what was going on.

We obviously don't want to let somebody go

if they have probable cause,

reasonable cause, to believe that,

hey, this person possibly can be responsible for what's going on.

Officers need more time to question Madison,

so he is placed under arrest for possession of marijuana.

The sheriff called me

and told me that they were going to keep Madison,

and that there were some things that didn't line up.

Police are awaiting the result of Michael holton's autopsy

to see if the bullet entered his head from the front,

suggesting suicide, or the rear, suggesting murder.

Wo one day after the deadly shooting,

crime-scene tape is still blocking the holton's home

on Lindsey road in elmore county.

Mike holton was pronounced dead on the scene,

his wife rushed to the hospital.

The shooting of April and Michael holton

has all the hallmarks of a murder-suicide.

The morning after Madison's interview,

Michael's autopsy report arrives at the sheriff's office.

We got the autopsy back from the department of forensic science

and the pathologist had ruled that this is a homicide,

that this man was killed.

The pathologist's recommendation

is based on the trajectory of the bullet wound

in Michael's head.

The autopsy indicated that he was shot

very near the lower center back of the head.

Just the physics of it, to manipulate the weapon

would be very difficult for someone to shoot themself.

The doctor sure didn't think

it was a self-inflicted wound at all.

Sheriff Franklin knows that Madison

is the only person he can talk to who might have an answer.

Hey, bud.

He enlists Madison's uncle Chris,

to sit in on the interview.

I did the interview with Madison.

I don't know the kid. I don't know him.

All I know is this is what we've got.

I got a piece of paper that says that's a homicide.

How close were you...

Madison's story stays consistent.

He maintains he was across the street

getting help from the neighbor

and in handcuffs when the shooting must have happened...

Why were you standing outside?

I walked around to the shop.

But he never heard shots fired.

How could that be?

There's only one way to find out,

police head back to the crime scene to do a test.

We went out there and did a ballistics test

with the same style weapon, the same style ammo.

Not a longer barrel. Same type everything.

We fired a round off in the master bedroom.

Walked onto the porch.

Walked in the yard.

Got in the road.

Walked onto to the neighbor's porch.

You can hear every one of them.

And it's not like, "all right, everybody be quiet now.

Let's see if we can hear this round."

It was nothing like that.

If you're walking down the road and you've heard that round,

you'd stop and say, "hey, where'd that come from?"

In the interview room, I didn't know what to think.

And at that point, I think you could say

I was trying to figure it out on my own,

trying to fathom

how a kid could kill his dad,

if that's what happened.

The other police tests are inconclusive.

They did do a gunshot-residue test on Madison,

which he had no gunshot residue on him.

However, the residue from the gun

used to shoot April and Michael

has particles which are extremely difficult

for examiners to detect in a test.

The sheriff still thinks Madison carried out the shooting,

but he has to work out how.

Now, he had made a comment

that he had the handcuffs behind his back.

There was also evidence to show that -- and he admitted to this,

that the handcuff key is right there in front of him.

Investigators now start to develop a theory.

They believe that after seeing off the sheriff's deputy,

Michael and April go into the bedroom

to discuss how to proceed with Madison.

Then, they think, Madison retrieves the handcuff keys...

...frees himself,

collects his father's .380 pistol,

opens the bedroom door,

and guns down Michael from behind.

Then he turns the weapon on his mother.

Afterwards, they think he wipes his prints

and drops the .380 pistol by his father's feet.

The whole time that I've talked to him.

Most people, if you had just lost a parent,

"my god, daddy's gone," or "my god, mama's gone,"

or, "what in the world happened?"

You've got a world of emotion.

Just a wave of emotion.

Just -- just didn't have that.

That was something else that I just didn't quite understand.

Like --

The only other person who can tell police

what really happened that day is April,

and she's in critical condition.

I remember hearing that morning that one of her family members

was like, "you know, it's really weird Madison's not here."

And I'm like, "yeah," and you're wondering.

I'm like, "why -- why is Madison not here?"

And she said, "I think they're trying to say

that Madison did it."

Look at me.

I did ask Madison.

I said, "look, if your dad did something to your mom

and you killed him, own it."

But Madison was adamant.

"I didn't kill anybody that day."

And I didn't know what to think.

I-I just --

I kind of left there more confused than when I got there.

Love you.

Investigators believe the theory is solid

and are convinced that they can prove it in court.

Just minutes after this interview,

Jesse Madison holton is formally charged

with one count of murder.

I didn't know what to think.

Like, I felt like I was losing my mind.

I received a phone call from the investigator

that said they were charging Madison with Michael's murder.

It was a shock to hear that Madison had done it.

It's hard to believe a son could kill their parents.

The same night Madison is charged

with the murder of his father,

his mother succumbs to her injuries.

I went in there, and I held her hand.

And I...

I told her I loved her and...I don't know,

I just apologized to her for the way her life ended.

She deserved a lot better than that.

She just looked like she was asleep.

She was just laying there quiet and peaceful...

...and it broke my heart.

April takes the truth of what happened with her.

They called me out of the holding cell

and they -- they told me my mom died.

And so they -- then the warden told me

that I was probably going to be charged with her murder, too.

It went from murder-suicide to double homicide

all in 24 hours or less.

Just hours after his mother's death,

17-year-old Madison holton is charged with the murder

of both his parents.

The town of eclectic is shaken by the news.

Nobody's ever seen a crime of this magnitude, right?

It's a small community and most people think

that nothing of this magnitude

can happen in a community this small.

April's side of the family and Michael's side of the family

are divided in their opinion of who is responsible.

We were still in shock,

and the police officers had said Madison did it.

So as much as I didn't believe it, I was accepting that.

If they have enough evidence

that quick to charge someone in a murder,

I just had to lean toward they know what they're doing,

and I believed he did it.

On Friday, September 16th, five days after the murder,

Madison has his bail hearing.

His defense attorney tells the judge

that Madison is not a flight risk.

But this is a double homicide.

If Madison were 18,

he'd be looking at capital-murder charges.

The judge sets bail at $1 million,

it's a sum the family can't afford to pay.

Madison's attorney couldn't believe it.

He's like, "your honor..."

But it was. It was $1 million.

It means that while he awaits trial,

Madison will remain behind bars.

It makes me feel sick to know that my sister's gone

and there's a possibility

that he's going to go to prison for it,

for the rest of his life.

I mean, it scares me to death.

Prisons in Alabama are not a good place to be,

and you definitely don't want a child in there.

It's September 17th,

the day of Michael and April holton's joint funeral.

Almost the whole town attends.

The funeral was full of people

that loved and respected Michael and April.

It was great to see the fire departments,

that Michael worked at, show up.

Michael's casket was put on a fire truck

and carried to the graveyard.

There were hundreds of people there.

I think the number of people at the funeral

were a testimony to Mike and April

and what they meant to the community.

A multitude of tributes are offered by the community.

Yeah, it was a very emotional day,

the event, the people involved, we cared about.

It was such a moving ceremony.

Eclectic unites in its grief,

but people are divided in their opinions

of what really happened.

People don't know what to think.

You know, do -- do I believe that the kid did it,

or do I believe that the guy,

who we thought was a squared-away guy,

killed his wife and killed himself?

Which way do I go?

You had the faction of people that knew Mike holton,

and were really close to his family,

and would never admit to the fact

that this is the person Michael holton had become.

And then you had those that just said, "Madison's a monster

and he killed these people and he should just rot in jail."

There is one notable absence on the day of the funeral.

I asked that Madison not be allowed at the funerals.

He had been charged with murdering my brother

and my sister in-law and I did not want him there.

That's the time for US to mourn

and don't want the person accused of murdering them there.

Madison is allowed a brief visitation before the ceremony.

The sheriff took me to the visitation.

I was handcuffed, and I was in an orange jumpsuit,

you know, with all these people around.

I didn't get to have time by myself.

I was being monitored the whole time.

I walked into the funeral home, and I saw my mom in her coffin.

Told my mom I loved her and that I'm sorry

for all the stupid things I did as a kid.

The next room, my dad's casket was in there.

I looked around and I was like, "no. No, no, no, no, no."

I was like, "shut that door. Get him out of here."

Like, "he doesn't need to be here."

Madison is supported by April's side of the family.

There was no accusations.

We were talking about how we needed to rally behind Madison

because, had he done something like that,

there must have been a reason.

April's family's perception of what happened

is starting to turn.

You start hearing about the evidence,

you start having conversations about what they found,

what they didn't find, and none of it makes sense.

They are beginning to doubt the sheriff's case against Madison.

No evidence whatsoever.

No DNA, nothing. No fingerprints on the gun,

no blood on my clothes. I was handcuffed behind my back.

They can find traces of blood, so had he washed himself off,

there still would've been traces.

And if he had blood on his hands,

he probably would've had some on his clothes,

and they took his clothes.

I tried everything I could to prove my innocence,

and they refused every single last bit of it.

And then at the preliminary hearing, investigators say,

when he was asked by the defense attorney

why they arrested Madison, and his response was,

"because he's alive."

We have three people in a house and two are dead.

And neither one of them, that we can tell, killed themselves.

Police are convinced it's a homicide,

and Madison is their only suspect.

It's 2016.

17-year-old Madison holton is in jail,

awaiting trial for the murder

of his parents, April and Michael.

Madison's case has put eclectic, Alabama, on the map.

That's the number-one story.

It's number one on news feeds, on social media.

It's everywhere.

Everywhere you turn, every radio station,

every TV's talking about it.

His friends keep Madison up to date via video call.

Michael holton's mother is the only person

from Michael's side of the family who visits Madison.

Mom, I don't think, was trying to help him

as far as prove his innocent or guilt,

but just make sure he had some money to get things he needed

and just talk to him.

She has reservations about Madison's other callers.

Michael's brother, Chad,

doesn't agree with his mother visiting Madison.

No one else in the family that I know of supported Madison.

We all pretty much told mom we believe he did it.

We just wanted to make sure

she did not get hurt any more through this.

Madison remains in jail for a year.

Jail made me feel like a caged animal.

You know, like, there was nothing I could do in there

except for read the Bible, work out, drink coffee.

I'd wake up and I'd be like all right,

I'm just going to wake up in my bed at home.

Like, "this was all a dream."

He called.

He asked how everybody's doing,

and he wanted to tell me how hard it was in there.

I didn't want to hear it. Didn't care.

That's the only time I've spoken to him since that day.

But April's family never give up on Madison.

What kept me going was my family on the outside,

you know, encouraging me, telling me to keep my head up.

In late 2017, April's family and Madison

receive a glimmer of good news.

His attorney filed some motions, got his bond reduced,

which made it to where my wife and I

were able to bond him out of jail.

We were able to bail Madison out in December of 2017.

We got him out right before Christmas,

which made for a great Christmas present for everybody.

That is, almost everybody.

This turn of events magnifies the split in the family.

My family and I didn't like the fact that he was out on bail.

We believe that the evidence was there that showed he was guilty

and didn't feel like he should be out.

Someone that's capable of killing their parents,

what could they be capable of doing?

But then the defense team get hold of evidence

that could blow the case wide open.

Sheriff Franklin sent one of his investigators

over to the courthouse to get with US to say,

look, here's the letters.

We want you guys to be aware of them before we go to court.

We don't want you to find out about it in open court.

And he allowed US to read them.

So I read them to the entire family.

Michael holton's journal was found at the scene of the crime.

Wrote a section basically first to his mom.

He talked about each individual child

and, you know, how much they need to respect their mom,

and he was sorry for all the things he'd done to her.

And then, to everybody else, he put

well, it was a fun ride while it lasted

so it was obvious the letter was written

by someone who had had serious thoughts of suicide.

Once I read those letters I was like,

there's no way Michael didn't do this.

You know, when people put their thoughts on paper,

you kind of get an idea of where they are.

You could tell Michael was hurting,

and I don't mean like a physical pain.

I mean like hurting in here or hurting up here.

Madison's family thinks this should change everything,

but the sheriff's department have no doubt

that Michael and April were murdered.

I've heard a lot of theories.

Michael was hell-bent on committing suicide.

But there's nothing in that journal

that would make any sane man or woman that read that say,

aha, he's fixing to go out here in the next five minutes.

He's fixing to kill himself.

The prosecution's key evidence

remains the autopsy that states that this was a homicide,

that Michael was shot from behind in the back of the head.

Was Michael depressed? Possibly. Probably so.

I don't dispute that one bit, but we're not concerned about

what he was the day before or what his problems were.

We're concerned about what happened at that moment.

Months fly by, and on October 22, 2018,

the day of jury selection arrives.

I was nervous, you know, 'cause you don't know

what the outcome is going to be.

I kind of started to worry, like maybe I could lose, you know?

Just bringing back a lot of the thoughts

about that night that the murders took place.

The hurt, the pain, wanting to get it over with, get closure.

Nobody is expecting the bombshell that is about to drop.

It's October 22, 2018,

over two years since April and Michael holton were shot.

Today is the jury selection for their son's trial.

I remember waking up the day of the trial

and just preparing myself for the worst

and hoping for the best,

you know, just, like, prepping my family,

prepping myself more than anything.

If I do lose, like, I'm going to prison for the rest of my life.

The police are confident,

but moments before the trial starts, they get a shock.

15 minutes before we go to trial over there,

the district attorney's office called and said,

hey, I've looked at this.

You know, we're right here. Crunch time.

And he had a problem that the pathologist

couldn't say with 100 degree of certainty, you know,

that it could not have possibly been a suicide.

The pathologist's report points to homicide,

but because he can't rule out suicide,

the d.A. Has doubts

about successfully prosecuting Madison.

Bye.

The district attorney decided

that they were not going to take the case to trial.

Our job as prosecutors is to find the truth and do justice,

and it's difficult to do justice when we can't find the truth.

And what happened here is

this case has been open to interpretation

as to what happened from the very beginning.

We have three good theories.

One theory is that Jesse holton killed his parents.

The other theory is that Jesse's father killed his mother

and then Jesse killed his father.

And then the third theory

is that Jesse's father killed his mother

and then committed suicide.

Without conclusive testimony from the pathologist,

none of the theories can be proven

beyond a reasonable doubt.

Because we cannot prove that he either did it

or he didn't do it beyond a reasonable doubt,

we are ethically obligated at this point

to dismiss those charges, and we have done that today.

The case will not go to trial.

Madison holton is a free man.

I'm, like, ecstatic.

I'm like, "go get the paperwork before they change their mind,"

you know?

I walk out the courthouse a free man,

no murder charges against me, and a whole new look on life.

But the sheriff's department is dismayed.

They believe that even though the pathologist

could not absolutely exclude suicide,

the findings of the pathology report

still support a murder charge.

I can tell you what the evidence shows.

I can tell you what the pathologist shows.

I can tell you that the pathologist has ruled

that this is a homicide.

I can understand why the district attorney's office

is doing what he's doing,

but we still have this ruled as a homicide.

Nothing has changed.

Michael's side of the family, like the sheriff,

believe that Madison is guilty.

I was very angry about that.

For two-and-a-half years,

we were told they believe that Madison had done this.

They believe they had the evidence to prove

that Madison had done this, and then the morning of trial

you tell me you're dropping the charges.

I guess we never will know the complete truth.

In a way, that as much as I didn't want Madison

to have to go through a trial,

I had hoped the truth, the real truth, would come out.

Come here, buddy. Simply watching Madison holton,

it's easy to forget he's not a typical 19-year-old.

He suffered unthinkable loss and spent his senior year

in jail on a $1-million dollar bond.

The year and three months that Madison spent in jail,

he missed his senior year in high school,

he missed graduation, his senior prom.

I mean, you go to school all these years

to graduate your senior year, and he missed all of it.

In December 2018, Madison finally completes high school.

With his family's support, he graduates with flying colors.

I learned in jail the way I was living was wrong,

and I realized that whenever I got out

would be my second chance.

After I get my bachelor's, I plan on going to law school,

and I plan on becoming a defense attorney

to defend those who need it the most.

But the police don't believe

that this is the end of the road.

The charges have not been dismissed.

As long as he hasn't been in front of a jury,

there's no jeopardy attached, so the d.A. Tomorrow could say,

you know what? We're going to go to trial.

We could go back and charge him again.

To this day, Madison maintains his innocence,

but his dad's side of the family think he's guilty.

I still believe Madison did it.

I still feel the same as when they told me they charged him.

I don't know why Michael's family

doesn't want to believe it.

Nobody wants to believe that their kid

is capable of doing something that violent.

This is pre-- before he was, like, on painkillers.

You know, this was, like --

this was, like, when my dad was my dad.

You know, this was, like, before he even,

like, took the turn downhill.

Feels good seeing my dad like that, you know?

You know, seeing US as a happy family, you know?

It cuts deep.

I don't want him to ever think less of his father than he does.

If he wants to blame something, blame the drugs.

That's what it was.

Eclectic remains divided, and the debate carries on,

but April's family insists that one of the victims

of this terrible crime has been forgotten.

People stopped talking about April,

and, in reality, she was the hero.

She was the one trying to make sure her kids

had some normal life and showed up at every event

and was struggling to pay all the bills

and doing whatever she could to make sure

that there was enough money in the house to feed them.

To lose April at such a young age, such a beautiful person,

it just really takes a piece out of you,

a piece of your heart.

The way she loved people, you know, it's --

she deserved a lot better than what she got in the end, though.

I always tell people drugs chased her into the world

and then chased her out of it.

April had so much love that she wanted to give...

...and you can tell.

I mean, look at Madison.

A child can't give love if they don't know what love is...

...and he was loved.

She loved her children.

She had a heart of gold, no doubt.