Original subtitles

This is the story of one big happy family...

...who love to film it all.

My mom, she was capturing moments all the time.

But behind the smiles...

...lie dark passions...

I could tell that something was wrong.

...that will destroy this family.

Brutal.

To the tenth power.

I just started screaming.

The smell of death was overwhelming.

It's 1982 in Bryan county, Oklahoma.

Back then, home movies were on film.

This film shows the Pierce family

joyfully playing with pets in the backyard.

There's eight-year-old Brian

and 10-year-old kimberley,

helping one-year-old Vivian master

the art of waving to the camera.

Behind the lens, mom, Rebecca, lovingly films as

the kids fool around with the sled.

In the background, wearing his signature hat,

dad, Ken, is busy cooking up a storm.

Mom and dad were married young.

My mom was 17 when she got pregnant with me.

In 1983, Rebecca gives birth to baby Amanda,

who completes the family fold.

There's one video where

Amanda's in a Walker on the -- on the lake,

on the sand, on the shore of the beach,

and then Vivian's running around her

in her little swim diaper.

And, you know, she's kissing on Amanda,

and it's -- that's how they were.

They were just...

Best friends from the beginning.

Mom, Rebecca, loves to capture

their lives on camera.

My mom had a camera with her all the time,

and she was capturing moments all the time.

From long, lazy days at the beach...

...to easter egg hunts in the backyard.

By the 1990s, the Pierce family

are living in caddo, Oklahoma.

Like many small towns, it's full of old

southwestern charm.

Caddo is classic americana.

I mean, it's just little,

and everybody knows everybody.

You can see people riding horses down the road,

tractors going down the road.

It's a very small town.

Mom has switched from film to video,

and the kids play with her new camera.

Dad, Ken, loves nothing more than

horsing around with family.

He was a character -- weird character.

Very funny, though.

Everybody loved him.

He was always joking,

cracking jokes, aggravating people.

But behind the laughter and joy,

things are not always as they seem.

Ken has another side.

It was his alcoholism, you know, he was the most kind man.

But when he would drink,

my dad, Kenneth, would just turn into a monster.

The situation is tough on all the family.

Growing up in a domestic violence situation,

you think that that's normal.

When my sisters were born,

it's like I took on this role and responsibility.

I just -- I became their little protector.

I just did everything I could

to keep them away from the fighting.

When Ken's demons take hold, it's mom, Rebecca,

who bears the brunt.

The nights with all the violence

would turn into mornings of apologies and hugs

and kisses, and my mom

would have a black eye,

sometimes two black eyes, and it would be like

we would just move on, and everything was fine.

Here, Vivian tapes her brother, Brian,

getting ready for the prom.

Despite bouts of unrest, Rebecca puts on

a brave face for the sake of her kids.

She was a fighter.

She -- she was a survivor.

But she wasn't like a gentle, nurturing mom.

You know, she had pain and anger

that she carried around.

Here, Rebecca lays down the law.

She was very headstrong,

like, if you were in the wrong,

she would tell you you were in the wrong.

After a spat, Ken will always apologize to Rebecca.

Do what?

He had that struggle of,

"I want to be a good man,

"but I have pain,

and I'm gonna drink with that pain,"

but that escalated into anger and abuse.

Although Ken is cruel to his wife,

his daughters bring out a more tender side.

In this video from 1992,

Ken plays with 11-year-old Vivian.

I'm gettin' ready to get off.

Wait!

My sister Vivian was my dad's favorite.

My dad, Kenneth, just was drawn to her.

Here, dad Kenneth carefully watches

as she takes the reins.

When my mom got pregnant with Vivian,

I was 10 years old,

and I was very excited

to have a little sister,

and with the birth of Vivian,

it changed our family dynamics.

I saw a softness in him when she was born.

Whoa!

The kids grow up quickly, and it's not long

before Kim finds a new love -- Justin.

I believe that meeting Justin in high school,

it was a lifeline for me and for him.

He brought this, like, breath of fresh air into our family.

He was -- bonded with my sisters.

He was like a brother to them.

My dad loved him.

My mom loved him, and it was like he was

part of the family immediately.

In 1995, the young couple embark on a family of

their own when Kim gives birth to a son, Kole,

crowning Rebecca, a proud grandma.

Looking back at all the pictures and the videos,

just -- she loved her grandchildren.

The love spreads throughout the family.

Kim's sisters adore their new nephew.

Here is 14-year-old aunt Vivian,

sharing in baby Kole's first Christmas.

In 1999, Kim gives birth to her second child.

Having grandchildren

has worked wonders on Ken, caught on camera here,

cradling his new granddaughter, Madelyn.

My dad loved being a grandfather.

I mean, he loved his grandchildren.

And it changed who he was, I mean,

it was just this tenderness about him.

Mom, Rebecca, has also found a new lease of life.

This video shows her giving Madelyn

her first riding lesson, and for once,

the smiles aren't just for show.

Ken's new compassion filters into the family home.

His abuse towards Rebecca is less frequent,

and things are on the up.

My dad had a lot of regrets for our childhood.

We were sitting on the front porch

of the house, at his -- my dad's house, and...

I just -- I looked at him, and I was like,

"dad, I forgive you for everything we've been through,

and I'm so thankful you're here today,"

and my dad just started weeping, and --

the healing has got to start with forgiveness.

Here! Here! Guys!

It's may 2000 in Oklahoma,

and the extended Pierce family look on as

the grandkids enjoy a mud bath in the backyard.

Grandma Rebecca is enjoying her new lease of life.

And dad, Ken's, violent outbursts have become

a thing of the past...

Kole, I'll give you a coke!

...but he's still a drinker.

My dad, Kenneth, was an alcoholic.

He'd aged so much because of the alcohol

and just the hard lifestyle.

On December 15, 2001, Kim receives

a panicked call from her youngest sister.

Amanda calls me,

and she's like, "dad's fallen in the backyard.

I need you."

Get over there, and I just looked at him.

He was just so peaceful,

you know, he was kind of blinking his eyes.

Ken is taken to the hospital

and put on life support.

He'd had a hemorrhagic stroke.

I was at his bedside the whole time,

you know, knowin' he's gonna come out of this and, you know,

everything's gonna be fine.

I step away, go to the restroom,

and he dies.

Ken's sudden passing is tough for the Pierce family.

After my dad died, my mom went into a really bad depression.

Vivian, you know, she was very close to him.

She was the one that really grieved the most

after he died.

She was pretty depressed.

She was a very big daddy's girl, um,

I know she took it really hard.

Determined to move forward, mom,

Rebecca, films the family focusing on the good things

in life.

In this footage, Vivian holds her niece, Madelyn,

and is thinking about starting

a family herself with boyfriend, Kevin.

They were, like,

inseparable, you know, through high school.

Vivian and Kevin got pretty serious, pretty fast.

In June 2003, Vivian gives birth

to their son, Blaine.

Vivian...

Did everything she could to make it

a perfect little family.

I think Kevin was a little nervous in the beginning,

but they made it.

Thanksgiving 2003 is caught on video by Kim.

It shows how far the family has come...

Until the camera runs out of power.

A year later, Vivian and Kevin's family

is set to grow.

In 2004, Vivian had her second child.

She had a daughter named kalyn.

And she was -- she was such a good mother.

She was so nurturing.

The ever-expanding Pierce brood

seems to bring the family together.

Here, they're celebrating yet another birthday,

and grandma Rebecca is in her element.

She wasn't a cookie-baking grandmother, but she --

she would do whatever they needed,

she'd do -- whatever the kids needed, she would do it.

In the living room, the men idly wait for cake.

But Vivian's partner, Kevin,

has something else on his mind.

The reality of supporting a family...

Has come home to roost.

Kevin works in construction, but the irregular

contracts leave the family living paycheck to paycheck.

I know Vivian had asked mom for money,

so they were always struggling financially.

To bring in extra money,

Vivian gets a job working at a local steakhouse.

She was a good waitress.

She made really good tips, you know,

just trying to make ends meet.

She's a hit with the locals.

Just about every Friday, my wife

and I would attend the naifeh's steak house.

She was there for US, and we were there because of her.

And it does wonders for her self-confidence.

I think Vivian felt a little bit of a freedom, you know,

because she was tied down there for a little while.

Kevin struggles with Vivian's newfound independence.

They kind of drifted apart, you know.

She was more work and take care of the kids,

and he would work,

but, you know, whenever he got off work, he would go and drink,

so it was hard on her.

It really was hard on her.

Mom would call me at times and say,

you know, Vivian and Kevin got into a fight.

I have no doubt that Vivian and Kevin loved each other.

They just didn't know how to love each other.

In 2005, Vivian makes

the difficult decision to separate from Kevin.

She takes the kids and moves back

in with the rock of the family,

her mom, Rebecca.

Vivian, single again, seems reinvigorated.

Me and Vivian had a lot of girl time,

you know, we had a lot of girls' nights out.

In 2007, Vivian's friend crystal plays matchmaker

when she meets recent divorcee, Damon Butler.

He came into the bar, and we struck up a conversation.

He seemed like a really nice guy,

so I got his number for her, and she text him,

and then they started dating.

Damon adored her, and it was -- it was like

a breath of fresh air.

Like, I was relieved that somebody was gonna take care

of her.

Vivian seemed really happy.

I thought that they made a good couple.

It's 2007 in calera, Oklahoma,

and Vivian Pierce has moved on with her life.

After separating from her high school sweetheart, Kevin,

things are on the up.

She's recently met a new man,

Damon, affectionately known as "d,"

and he's a hit with family and friends.

D was a very fun-loving joker

type of guy -- he looked like a big old trucker,

but he was more like -- kinda like a big ol' Teddy bear.

Damon seemed to just fit in with everybody.

He was nice to everybody,

he joked around with everyone, you know.

It just seemed like it was natural for him to be there.

Damon has two kids of his own, so fits right into family life.

Damon was a nice guy.

He enjoyed hanging out with all of US,

especially on weekends.

That's kind of when we got to get together, you know.

He was really good with Blaine and kalyn,

and he was great with my kids.

He was somebody that you trusted.

Within a month, the couple move

in together and become a blended family.

I thought it was really good.

I mean, they seemed to really good co-parent together.

It was good for her

to meet someone that was

genuinely nice to her.

In the fall of 2008,

Vivian throws a baby shower for her sister, Amanda,

caught here on video.

And Amanda's partner, Dustin, gives it a twist.

I wanted to be a little unorthodox, so I decided

to have a man's baby shower,

invite all my buddies over and obviously Amanda

and her family were there.

After a few drinks, the men start a backyard game

of horseshoes.

Here's Vivian's Damon jockeying for a win.

We have, horseshoe pits, and we're grilling

some food and just hanging out.

It was really fun.

As 2008 draws to a close,

everyone has high hopes for the year ahead.

The first date on the diary is belated celebrations

on January 9th to Mark Vivian's 28th birthday.

Me and the girls, Brandy and Vivian,

all decided we were gonna go out for Vivian's birthday.

Vivian drops the kids off with Amanda and Dustin,

who have agreed to babysit.

She tells them she'll pick them up in

the morning and heads home to get ready.

We all met up at Vivian's house that night, and, um,

d was there, and he was saying,

"y'all girls go out, have a good time," you know,

"drink one for me."

The girl's head out and have fun.

But the next morning, Vivian doesn't

show up to pick up the kids.

It was normal for her to pick up the kids early the next day.

That's when we realized that something was...

Off.

We, called Rebecca

and asked her to go check on Vivian

since we still had the kids.

Rebecca heads to Vivian's house,

but Damon tells her she's not there.

Both worried, they head out to try and find her.

Damon and Rebecca showed up at my house.

Damon had said Vivian took off walking, and they was just

wondering if she had showed up

at my house, and which I told 'em no,

that she -- I hadn't seen her since I dropped her off.

Later that afternoon, crystal receives

a call from Brandy at the steak house.

Brandy called me and said, "have you seen Vivian?"

And I told her no -- Brandy said,

"well, she was supposed to have been at work,

and she hadn't showed up for work."

Crystal and Brandy rush to help with the search.

Me and Brandy drove to Vivian's house.

It was so simple to get in.

It was just the bottom lock, and we got right in.

And as soon as me and Brandy walked in,

I could tell that something was wrong.

The house is in complete disarray.

And so I walked into Vivian's bedroom,

and, um, I noticed

that the bathroom door was closed,

but the doorknob was hanging off.

And one thing that sticks out in my mind

was the shower curtain -- the shower curtain was just

pulled just perfectly straight.

And for some unholy reason,

I went over there and yanked that curtain back.

And that's when -- whenever I found her.

I see my beautiful friend laying in the bathtub,

with her clothes half tore off of her.

And I reached down and touched her,

and soon as I touched her, I knew.

I knew.

And I just started screaming at the top of my lungs.

Across town,

calera police chief, Don Hyde, is sound asleep

when his phone rings.

It was after 10 o'clock at night -- I received a call

from my officer that was on duty.

"Chief, are you awake?"

And he says, "we have a homicide."

And...

I got up on the side of the bed, began to get dressed,

and I started praying.

When I arrived on scene, I was met by officer whittington,

and he said, "chief, it's worse than we thought."

He said, "there's not one body, there's two."

I went in to the home,

and I entered into a bathroom.

I took three steps, and I just couldn't go any further.

It was...

One of the worst scenes I'd seen in -- ever.

The first victim, 28-year-old Vivian Pierce,

is lying in the bathtub with her throat cut.

It was just absolutely terrible.

I don't know any other words of describing it any other way.

Across the hall, chief Hyde is directed to

a different bathroom to inspect the second body.

The manner in which the second victim was

murdered -- brutal

to the tenth power.

Chief Hyde cannot identify the victim.

The wounds are too severe.

The smell of death was...

It was -- it was just overwhelming.

Kimberley and her husband, Justin,

are en route to the scene when they receive a phone call

from the chief.

We were driving, and Don Hyde calls,

and he goes, "it's not good. You all don't come."

I go -- I told Justin, like, "we're going -- we are --

we're gonna go."

So we pull up to the -- their street in calera,

and there's fire trucks and police cars,

and it's, like, surreal.

Justin is asked to formally identify the bodies.

He confirms the first victim is Vivian.

The second victim is his mother-in-law,

56-year-old Rebecca Pierce.

It took...

Quite a while to determine and validate that that was

even her

due to the amount of injuries that she sustained.

Outside, Justin breaks

the devastating news to his wife.

He just -- he grabs me, and he goes, "it was your mom,"

and he said, "Vivian and mom are both gone."

I don't know, it was just like...

It was draining, like I just...

It's not just Rebecca and Vivian's family

who feel the impact of their horrific demise.

Inside, I'm just blowin' up.

My heart is hurting so bad.

But I'm a strong cop.

I've got this under control.

We've got a bad situation here, but I'm gonna handle it.

Due to the severity of the crime, chief Hyde

calls in the Oklahoma state bureau of investigation.

Donny Hyde, the chief, was pretty upset.

There had been not just

a homicide but a double homicide in his town,

and he was asking for help from the osbi.

Agent reanae childers races to the scene.

She enters the house to examine the bodies,

starting with Rebecca.

It was extremely bloody scene.

Couldn't even tell just from looking if

that was a male or female in the floor.

It's a lot of head wounds,

a lot of blood about the victim's head.

I'm just looking at the body, and I'm realizing

that it's probably gonna be a beating.

In the hallway,

a possible murder weapon is identified.

There was a baseball bat in the residence with blood.

Investigators enter the second bathroom

to inspect Vivian's body.

I think the first thing that struck me about

what I saw was how unnatural

the position of her body looked, just the way it was

in the tub.

Her neck was severely slashed.

It was almost to the point of decapitation.

You could tell she had been through a lot,

been through hell.

In the kitchen sink,

investigators find a knife covered in blood.

This was a very brutal attack,

very personal.

I believed that it was gonna be someone close to these women.

Police need to speak to Vivian's boyfriend, Damon,

but he is nowhere to be seen.

At that time,

we didn't have a clue as to his condition

or had he been taken from the residence.

We begin the search to try to locate Damon Butler.

We did not know if he was a suspect or potential victim.

Meanwhile, osbi agents

turn to the victim's friends at the scene.

Crystal tells investigators that she saw Damon with

Rebecca earlier that day

when they knocked at her door looking for Vivian.

They did ask me if I knew who -- who did this,

and I told 'em no, and I didn't have a clue

who would do that -- I didn't.

Investigators also learn that Vivian and Damon

were struggling.

Things begin to come out about Vivian

and Damon's relationship.

It had been kind of rocky.

He had been using, I believe, some methamphetamine.

Vivian told crystal and Brandy that she was done with it,

she was done with the drugs, and she wasn't gonna live like that.

It appears that Vivian and Damon's perfect relationship

was beginning to come apart at the seams.

When we were out drinking that night, um,

Vivian was telling me about what

was going on with her and d,

that he had been staying out late at the casino, gambling,

not bringing home any money, you know, to help pay the bills

or anything.

Text messages from Vivian

confirm the couple's disputes.

Vivian said that she had been talking to Kevin

and that they were talking about getting back together.

Which makes it possible

that someone was jealous -- but who?

It was extremely important

that we find Mr. Butler, because he was

one of the last persons to have been seen with Rebecca.

The next day, just after 1 P.M.,

Oklahoma highway patrol spot

a man matching Damon's description shuffling along

the roadside.

They had received a report of someone just walking,

and, of course, anybody out walking that cold of weather,

they were -- they were gonna speak with 'em.

An I.D. Check confirms that it's Damon Butler.

Chief Hyde is quick to respond

and transports Damon back to the station.

I buckled him in, I treated him with respect,

and if he was the person that did

what I had witnessed had been done in calera,

I just didn't know how I felt right then,

but I was -- I was scared.

When Damon Butler was being transported,

he made some statements,

something along the lines of walking in on

a burglary, that they were from Dallas.

He described a couple of individuals that maybe watch

the murder of Vivian.

Butler explains how the two men that invaded

his home also made him watch

as they beat Rebecca to death.

They had tied him up, but he managed

to escape, running for his life.

However, for detectives, his story

doesn't seem to add up.

There's no visible signs of forced entry.

We should see some damage of some sort

to a window, a door jamb, something.

We didn't see any evidence of that.

Investigators decide to focus on

the evidence found at the scene.

Alongside finding potential murder weapons,

a camera recovered from Butler's car grabs

their attention.

On the camera, there was pictures of Damon Butler,

where he had shaved his beard.

Some of the photographs also showed Damon Butler

in what appeared to be, drag.

The bizarre evidence raises questions.

We wanted to know when,

perhaps that appearance had been altered.

Was it prior to the crime, was it after the crime

to kind of help US set up a timeline

and see if perhaps him shaving of his beard was

something to kind of disguise

his -- his look.

Investigators turn to the victim's family for help.

Reanae called me in to her office

and asked me to look at the pictures,

and, I was blown away.

He was dressed up as a woman.

I told reanae, I said, "well, the night before,

he had a goatee and everything,"

and I said, "in these pictures, he's clean-shaven."

That suggested to US that he was trying to alter

his appearance and perhaps in anticipation of leaving

the area or going undetected.

Butler is arrested but maintains his innocence.

One week later, chief Hyde's phone rings.

Went out and took a call from a deputy,

and he said that Mr. Butler wanted to talk to me.

And I said, "what does he want to talk to me about?"

He said, "well, he -- he wants to confess."

Damon Butler finally reveals the truth.

Vivian, after a night out on the town, had returned home,

and Mr. Butler was there.

When Vivian tells Damon it's over

and that she's leaving him for Kevin,

Damon loses control.

He beats her with a baseball bat,

drags her to the bathroom,

and then unleashes hell.

The following morning, mom, Rebecca,

shows up at the house looking for Vivian.

Damon tells her that Vivian and him had a fight,

she walked off,

so together, Damon, Rebecca, go and look for Vivian.

They talk to friends. They look around.

But they end up back at the house.

Pressure's mounting on Damon at this point.

Vivian is already dead, and in the bathtub,

and he doesn't really know what to do,

so Rebecca's gotta die.

Then he shaves his beard, he changes his appearance.

He takes his photographs, looking at himself

in drag and everything, but he knows

that the pressure is gonna keep mounting.

People's gonna keep asking questions,

so he just disappears.

Butler agrees to take a plea deal, and in September

2009 pleads guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.

He receives two consecutive life sentences

without the chance of parole.

Damon Butler's never leaving prison.

We were leaving the courtroom, and I just turned to the d.A.,

and I go, "I want to see him.

I want to see him. I want to talk to Damon now."

Damon agreed to sit across from me and nobody else.

So I went into this little room across from

the table from each other, and I said, "Damon,

"I need to know, did mom see Vivian,

and why did you do this?"

And he said,

"your mom never saw Vivian," and that was like a relief.

And that gave me a little peace.

And I said, "why did you do this?"

He goes, "Kim, I just didn't want to lose her."

And...

I said, "I forgive you right here.

I'm leaving this here, and I forgive you."

For family and friends,

memories captured on home video are bittersweet.

It's unimaginable that a guy that

you brought around your whole family,

that you trusted him, and just

the thought that

he could do what he did.

Yeah, it's pretty messed up.

Because of Damon's selfish acts, I mean,

he's taken my mother, he's taken

kalyn and Blaine's mother.

And he's just -- he's totally

changed the trajectory of our family.

Looking back at all the pictures and the videos,

I have sadness whenever I look at all those things.

I miss Vivian a whole lot.

I know she's looking down on her kids

and being very proud of 'em.

Rebecca was a hell of a woman.

She was a beautiful person.

They were so happy.

Such better times.