Original subtitles

This is the story of an all-American couple.

They're the life and soul of the party,

and they're living their happily ever after.

Here here!

It was supposed to be beginning of

a perfectly beautiful life together.

But things are not always what they seem.

I went from seeing my child everyday

to not seeing my child at all.

And not all fairy tales have happy endings.

It was a nightmare.

It was brutal.

Somewhere in these precious home videos,

a killer is lurking,

waiting to unleash hell.

There's the demon who would've known?

It's Christmas Eve in New York City's borough of

Staten Island,

and the extended mapes family is celebrating in style.

The camera follows the scent of a roast Turkey to

the kitchen to find

Christmas chef, Theresa, in classic '80s-style

tank top and perm.

We were all very loud Italians

and, um, very opinionated.

And we enjoyed spending every moment together.

Eagerly awaiting the feast is

Theresa's five-year-old daughter, Simeonette.

Simeonette was the only girl, so it was just her,

her two boy cousins, and her brother.

When Simeonette was born,

her older brother, little John,

pronounced her name Sissy, and it kind of stuck.

For little John,

Christmas with the family is as good as it gets.

Wo yay!

Christmas was the pinnacle of our childhood.

That was the time we would get to come and see grandma

and all of our family, you know, get to

sleep in a different bed in a different house,

let grandma feed us, that kind of stuff.

So it was great.

For dad, John sr.

the mapes family home is a safe haven

to enjoy down time with the kids.

Sissy and little John, they were in heaven.

They was around their cousins and playing and all the...

The musics, the gifts, the food,

the...you name it, the whole atmosphere.

It was -- they loved it. They loved it a lot.

Christmas is a rare chance for the whole family

to let loose together, and no one holds back.

We always made it a party, and that party

lasted for a week,

you know, the whole week we were there.

This is the first time Theresa,

John, and the kids have been back to Staten Island in months.

John has a job in the air force,

and life in the military means a life on the road.

I flew everywhere -- I was gone all the time.

When your dog doesn't know you when you get home,

you know you got a problem.

It was kinda very hard on my children,

growing up in the military, because that stability

wasn't there.

We moved roughly every 18 months to two years,

and that would sometimes mean,

you know, one state to another.

It was a little bit stressing,

'cause it's hard to keep and maintain friends.

Despite the regular changes,

Sissy can always count on the support of her big brother.

Nobody was allowed to pick on my sister.

They were not allowed to -- I made sure.

If I knew, I put a stop to it.

After the Christmas feast,

a very special guest drops by.

Hi, Santa!

There's Simeonette.

-There she is. - Little chubby cheeks.

Yeah. -She was so excited.

Yeah.

How we enjoyed those christmases.

I would dress up as Santa for nieces and nephews

to make them believe and give them gifts

on Christmas Eve

until my nephew, little John,

was like, "you're not Santa, you're uncle Frankie."

You know.

That probably gives you a little glimpse

of the pain in the butt

I could've been as a kid, you know?

So I didn't have a filter

or a way to say, "don't say that."

I knew it right away.

And there I am, ruining it for the other little kids.

It's just... One of those things.

Wo yeah.

Whoa!

Clearly, Sissy is on Santa's good list this year.

Her reward a giant unicorn.

She was always sweet.

That's one thing you remember about Sissy

she was a sweet kid.

Wo we'll see ya!

Theresa and John know that their frequent moves

are hard on the kids, which is why,

six months later, they're back in Staten Island

visiting family once more.

We put the pool together, got it ready

just before fourth of July.

My brother-in-laws would get on each other's back,

and then we'd knock ea --

try to knock each other off.

Just great time.

We won!

Whoo!

She's so little in the pool.

So little, so tiny.

-She had no teeth. - No.

And everybody's smoking.

My mom would make sure that we were all together,

no matter where we were or what we were doing.

We would have to come in for that weekend

for fourth of July.

The family caps off the day

with sparklers in front of the house.

And Sissy, seen here in yellow,

is delighted to join in on the fun.

Everyone seems to be having a good time...

Until the grownups break out the heavy artillery.

Whoa!

When the sun goes down, the explosives came out,

and we just ignited the neighborhood.

The kids would go with the sparklers, and the adults

would throw m80s and mortars,

and we'd just light up the sky,

And it was fun.

Family fun again -- Christmas and fourth of July.

Whoa!

Amidst all the chaos,

it's easy to see why the mapes are all fired up about moving

back to Staten Island.

Seven years later, the dream becomes a reality.

My husband said, "you know what?

I think it's time that we go back home," and,

you know, and he put in for a transfer.

My kids were thrilled to death.

They could not wait to call

Staten Island, New York, their home.

Staten Island was, you know,

it's the only place we wanted to be.

The timing couldn't be better.

Sissy and little John settle into the local school

and thrive.

Fort Hamilton was the school that they grew up in,

and they loved it.

They had a lot of good friends, they did extremely well,

and that was the best move we made.

By the spring of 2000, Sissy

has turned into a confident young woman,

and it's not long until she graduates high school

with honors.

So Sissy was extremely smart and did

very, very well in school,

but she never talked about it.

She never let anyone know, because she just kept it

to herself she just wasn't the type

to gloat or brag or anything.

During the summer, Sissy takes a job

helping children with special needs.

It's here she discovers her calling.

She was about 19 years old, and she said,

"you know what, mom?

I think I'm gonna become a teacher."

And knowing that my daughter picked that,

I knew that she would be the best teacher in the world

when it came to those children.

Sissy's life is about to change dramatically,

but it won't be because of her new career.

It's 2001, and Simeonette "Sissy" mapes

is studying hard to fulfill her ambition of becoming a teacher.

When she was in college,

her girlfriend decided that

Sissy needed to find a boyfriend,

so she introduced Sissy to Jonathan.

Sissy and Jonathan Crupi graduated from high school

the same year but never knew each other.

The two quickly bond over their shared past

and their dreams for the future.

It's not long before Sissy mapes has fallen in love.

Simeonette had came home one evening

and told me that she had met a -- a young man.

His plans were to become a schoolteacher also,

you know, "mommy," she said,

"I think you'll like him.

"He's a really nice guy, and, you know,

"and he knows what he wants to do with his life.

"And I think he's the one.

He's the one," and I was --

you know, I smiled,

and basically told my daughter,

"whatever makes you happy."

As well as sharing the same passions,

Jonathan and Sissy share a quirky sense of humor.

Who needs to hit the clubs when you can use

a Brooklyn sidewalk to bust out your best moves?

Whoo!

Jonathan and Simeonette seemed to have the ideal relationship.

They were always laughing together,

always playing pranks on each other, on vacation all the time.

It was hard for me, because any girlfriend

that I would have, would always try to compare.

Look at the relationship they have --

how come we can't laugh like that?

I went from seeing my child every day

to not seeing my child at all.

I could tell that my daughter was very, very happy.

In the back of a limo at a friend's wedding,

it's clear just how happy they are.

Seeing Jonathan and Simeonette in

the limo is how I seen Jonathan and Simeonette all the time.

I always seen them laughing and -- and --

you know, just this special couple.

After dating for four years,

Sissy and Jonathan want to move in together.

They can't yet afford a place of their own,

but Sissy has a plan.

Simeonette said, "mom, what do you think about...

"Jonathan and I moving in together,

and can he move in with US?"

The mapes have a small basement apartment

separate from the rest of the house.

Sissy's hoping to claim it for her and Jonathan,

but mom and dad are not so sure.

My husband and I agreed that

the only way that Jonathan can move in is

if this was gonna be a permanent relationship.

And that Christmas, Jonathan decided

to ask Simeonette to marry him.

By the summer of 2006, Jonathan and Sissy

haven't saved enough for a wedding,

but they do want to make their commitment

to one another clear to everyone.

At the crown palace in Staten Island,

they throw a huge engagement party

for their families and friends.

As everyone knows in New York,

you know, you gotta do it big.

Simeonette was dressed all in gold,

and Jonathan dressed in his suit.

And all of us were at, um, this beautiful hall,

and we had such a wonderful time that evening.

Little John was very happy

that he could say that

his sister found a good man

that loves her, would take care of her

and treat her like a woman.

Here here!

Every time you see Simeonette,

she would be smiling, just so happy.

It was supposed to be the beginning

of a perfectly beautiful life together.

Both the Crupis and the mapes

are big families with big personalities.

It was great -- it was -- it was a big party,

you know, good food, and, um,

you know, fantastic time.

And just as if

it were a wedding reception,

Sissy and her father share a moment on the dance floor.

That dance with my daughter...

Get this feeling through you, the tingling and...

The pride and the joy.

It was really, really good.

Soon, the party is in full swing

as everyone hits the dance floor.

Of course, mom, Theresa, is already

out there getting her groove on.

Some things never change.

It's the perfect celebration

for a seemingly perfect couple.

July 2007 --

one year after their engagement party,

Jonathan Crupi and Sissy mapes tie the knot.

Sissy looked fantastic, she looked beautiful,

so when she walked out, you know, she got a lot of

gasps from people, that, you know,

never would think they'd see Simeonette getting married.

She looked great. It was amazing.

I seen the smile on my baby's face,

I seen just how happy she was

and how happy she was going to be.

And we knew that they were gonna enjoy

each other's company for the rest of their lives.

The newlyweds move into a home of their own

in New Springville.

Sissy is thrilled to land a job teaching social studies

at Brooklyn school for classics,

and it's clear she has a talent.

Simeonette's students scored so high on the sats,

they thought Simeonette cheated.

They had to retest the students

on a weekend with a guard there.

And

Simeonette's students excelled again,

and I never been so proud of my daughter.

Sissy's working hard and flying high.

But for new husband, Jonathan, it's a struggle.

And after several failed attempts to secure

a teaching job,

he has a shocking confession to make.

Jonathan

never got his fellowship, never got his degree.

Jonathan tells the family that he failed his exam.

He'd been too ashamed and upset to even tell his wife.

Simeonette couldn't believe that he lied to her and everything,

but she really loved him, and she believed him

when he said that he was sorry

and decided that she was gonna give him another chance.

Jonathan tells Sissy that he still wants

to complete his teaching degree.

Problem is, it will cost around $25,000 to retake

the course.

When it came to re-paying for the degree,

it caused a financial burden on Simeonette and Jonathan.

But Sissy is determined to support

her husband and somehow make it work.

While Jonathan finishes his degree, Sissy sets up

a payment plan to finance her husband's debt.

Simeonette was working full-time and so was

able to help make those payments to the university.

So Simeonette was paying for his degree.

After months and months of hard work,

Jonathan finally finishes his teaching degree,

and Sissy persuades her school principal

to give him a shot teaching English.

Now Jonathan and Simeonette are working at school for classics.

They become the most popular teachers

in that high school -- their students loved them.

They just adored them.

Both keen to advance their education,

it comes as no surprise when they choose to enroll

for their masters.

Simeonette was thrilled to death that,

you know, Jonathan was able to start his master's program

along with her,

and it was something that they both had a dream of doing

and getting accomplished.

In 2012, they move into

their fifth year of married life,

and things for the young couple seem to be going great.

As the summer rolls around,

it's time for the famous

mapes family fourth of July celebrations.

But on the day, Sissy isn't feeling well.

My daughter was outside the pool.

Jonathan was inside the pool,

and right around 6:30 that evening,

Simeonette said, "mom, I'm not feeling well.

We're gonna go home."

That evening, I called Simeonette,

and I asked her how she was doing,

and she had answered the phone crying.

I said, "Simeonette, you're gonna have to go

to the doctor and find out what's going on."

And she promised me that she would,

and I told her, "okay,

"I'll talk to you in the morning.

If you need me, just call me."

In Staten Island, police urgently respond

to a 911 call from Jonathan Crupi

concerning his wife, Sissy.

Across town, Theresa receives

a voicemail message from her daughter's husband, Jonathan.

When Theresa calls back,

she can't believe what's being said.

I hung up the phone,

and I tried to make it down the stairs.

Something happened to my knees,

and I can only think that

it was the shock of it.

I get my neighbor to drive me to my daughter's house,

which is maybe 10 minutes away.

We get there, and all of a sudden,

all the police cars started coming.

Police on scene make their way inside the house.

At the bottom of the stairs, in a pool of blood,

they find Sissy's lifeless body.

Outside, police confirm Theresa's worst nightmare.

I...

Was just hysterical, I --

I can't even tell you that

I remember that day all that great,

but I remember...

The cops telling me I couldn't get to my daughter.

I wasn't allowed to kiss her or hug her goodbye.

I get out of my truck.

I look up, and I see Theresa.

And she's crying.

And they go -- and she goes, "they killed our baby.

They killed our baby."

Merry Christmas.

Needless to say, it was the worst day of my life,

and because of that, I wish I was never born...

So that my child wouldn't have to suffer.

While detectives process the crime scene,

distraught husband, Jonathan, is taken to the precinct.

The spouse is automatically a suspect,

so the first thing they're gonna want to do is question

the spouse about where were you?

And if you are the innocent spouse,

of course you're going to cooperate with the police.

Jonathan tells investigators that he left

the house earlier that day to run some errands in town.

At 9 A.M., he went by the school to pick up supplies.

At 10 A.M., he had his car serviced,

and at around 12 P.M.,

he went to the hardware store.

He texted Sissy throughout the morning

but never heard back.

Jonathan believed that she was probably still asleep.

It was -- it was morning, he was running his errands.

The messages on Jonathan's cellphone

support his story.

And telephone mast analysis confirms his location

at the time of his texts.

Jonathan's text messages to Simeonette that day

were consistent

with the sequence of events of the going to school,

going to get the car inspected.

With Jonathan free to leave,

back at the crime scene,

evidence points to Sissy's murder being

the result of a burglary gone wrong.

Windows and doors are found open,

and the house has been ransacked.

The house was a mess.

There were jewelry boxes and drawers that were open.

It appeared that somebody had actually burglarized the home.

While police continue to investigate,

on July 10th,

family and friends gather to say farewell to Sissy mapes.

It was just heart-wrenching.

It was...

A nightmare

to walk into that funeral home

and have to see our baby girl laying in a box.

Because Simeonette made a difference in their lives,

a lot of her students traveled 2.5 hours

on a bus to get to her funeral that evening.

You know, a mother...

Came to Theresa

and said, "your daughter changed a lot of

these people's lives,"

and I know I've never changed anybody's life like that.

But my daughter did

to a lot of these kids.

I can only imagine if she was able to live...

What she could have done.

While the mapes family mourns,

detectives receive the medical examiner's report.

It reveals that Sissy had severe bruising,

suggesting she'd either fallen

or been pushed down the stairs.

She's also been stabbed multiple times.

Simeonette was stabbed about 15 times.

Um, it was brutal.

Initial analysis suggested that this was

a home invasion gone wrong.

But there's something about the layout

of this crime scene the detectives don't like.

If it was a home invasion, how would the invader

get behind her

on top of the steps?

There's no ingress unless you come through a window,

and this is a very high-traffic area.

This is not the area where, you know, home invaders,

you know, taking a ladder out of a car, throwing it up against

the window, and coming in.

What's more, the brutal nature of

the attack suggests this was no crime of opportunity.

Usually, when you have a home invasion case,

the person who's invading the home usually just wants

to disable the victim, get them out of the way,

so they can accomplish what they wanna do.

This, though,

was a brutal, angry --

when you see that many stab wounds,

that's anger.

To detectives, it's clear

that Sissy's murder was personal.

They have no choice but to

refocus their investigation on husband, Jonathan.

Jonathan had given them

a perfect account of every single thing

that had happened that morning

with respect to him,

and that's what made the police

think to themselves,

this is pretty perfect.

What's going on here?

There's usually not a --

"I left the house at this time.

I went to this place at this time,"

so that got their,

intuition or whatever, for lack of a better word.

In a bid to challenge his alibi,

detectives collect and analyze surveillance video from

the morning of Sissy's murder.

Starting with the school,

video confirms that Jonathan was there at 9:30 A.M.,

picking up supplies.

Further surveillance from the garage corroborates that

Jonathan dropped off his car

to be serviced at 10:30 A.M.

To kill time, he even crossed the road

to look at sneakers in a local shop.

Jonathan's alibi is being proven on camera, step by step,

text by text.

Lastly, detectives watch video from the hardware store.

Jonathan told police he was there at 12 P.M.

Police pull the footage and expect to

see Jonathan walk in at any time.

But Jonathan is a no show.

Their suspicions rising,

police order a further search on his property.

Finally, in a closet, they find a gym bag,

and in the gym bag, they find a cellphone,

and on the cellphone,

they find a number of unrecognized phone numbers.

Detectives decide to dial

the most frequent unknown number.

And that's when they discover

Ms. Pumpkin.

Ms. Pumpkin is a local prostitute,

and Jonathan Crupi called her on the morning

of his wife's murder.

When he cut the cake

at Sissy mapes' engagement party,

fiance Jonathan goofed around with the knife.

But in the wake of Sissy's senseless murder,

no one is laughing.

Police have just discovered that on the morning

of his wife's slaying,

he contacted a local prostitute

known as Ms. Pumpkin.

When brought into the station for questioning,

she reveals that Jonathan was with her for an hour

from 12 P.M.

Ms. Pumpkin confirmed for us

that yes, she, in fact,

was with him in that timeframe.

She had another booking, and she squeezed him in.

Instead of going to the hardware store

like he told police, Jonathan spent $300

cheating on his wife.

Analysis on Sissy's cellphone uncovers that she had

recently found out about her husband's

extracurricular activities.

And the deceit doesn't end there.

Right around June, Simeonette receives a letter from

Staten Island college saying that she had made honors

and will be receiving her master's degree.

So we were thrilled to death, and Simeonette was waiting

on Jonathan's letter.

Johnson's letter never came.

Police discover Jonathan had never even

enrolled to take his master's degree.

He had hoodwinked his wife,

pocketed the tuition, and was instead leading

a secret double life.

He never took the class.

He would drop Simeonette off, and then he would go meet

Ms. Pumpkin, and they would do whatever they would do.

So at some point, Simeonette found out that

the money that he had received

as a loan to go to school was not being used to go to school.

For Sissy, it was the final straw.

Jonathan had spent

50,000 on strippers

and hookers

the whole four years of their marriage.

I never seen my baby cry like that ever in her life.

She knows that she has to leave.

And she made me promise that I wouldn't tell

my husband and my son,

or anyone else, for that matter,

that she was gonna handle it.

Just days after telling her mother that

she was going to confront Jonathan over his lies,

Sissy was dead.

Detectives dig deeper,

and it's not long before they hit pay dirt.

They subpoena and get his computer records.

And they find on his hard drive a number of searches,

like, how to clean up a crime scene.

Does bleach clean up DNA?

For detectives, it seals the deal.

On November 13, 2012, Jonathan Crupi is arrested.

He maintains his innocence.

It takes three years,

but in June 2015, the case against Jonathan

is presented to the jury.

What I think happened was that Simeonette

told him that his gig was up.

She was just gonna uncover him,

and she was gonna let everyone know

what kind of a man he was.

Terrified of being exposed as a liar and a cheat,

Jonathan takes matters into his own hands.

Prosecutors allege that during a heated argument,

Jonathan shoves Sissy down the stairs.

But when the fall doesn't kill her and she starts to scream,

Jonathan has no choice but to silence her,

letting loose his rage to stab Sissy 15 times

in the back, chest, and neck

before staging the scene as a home invasion.

Then he makes a play of running errands,

even sending his already murdered wife a series

of texts.

Finally, he calls Ms. Pumpkin to let off some steam before

returning home to play the role of

the grief-stricken husband.

He had sex with a prostitute after he killed

my sister, right?

It took every ounce of my being to not...

Jump over the rail and go after him, for sure.

After a five-week trial,

the jury needs just two hours to deliver a verdict.

Jonathan Crupi is found guilty of second-degree murder

and sentenced to 25 years to life.

It's the result Sissy's family have been praying for.

This has been long awaited.

Three years, and he got what he deserved,

and my baby can rest in peace.

-Amen. -Amen!

Amen.

Jonathan has two faces of evil.

There was a side that was hot-tempered,

lazy,

deceitful,

and then there was this other side

that was loving,

caring,

but the whole time with a knife in his hand.

For Sissy's family, watching old home videos

of happier times is bittersweet.

My baby.

You know, you always think that those moments

will last forever, and they don't.

That face.

Do anything to take her off of that screen?

Yeah.

There's Simeonette.

And there's the demon.

Who would have known?

The way he swung the knife.

If only I knew, I could've saved her.