Original subtitles

Five strangers brought together by fate...

- If you don't back off,

I swear I'm about to hurt you, man!

- You a man? - Yeah, what you gonna do?

Torn apart by a horrific murder.

A woman who takes refuge in her own imagination.

- In reality, she had no control over her life.

Her controlling fiancé...

- He's wired kind of tight.

- Get over here. - No, don't.

- You're gonna sit and talk to me.

A new neighbor harboring a dark secret...

- Gabrielle seems like,

really could be capable of anything.

A boss who crosses the line...

- Being aggressive was a natural reaction for him.

And a childhood friend

still obsessed with the past.

- I would call her a predator.

- When they all came together...

- - Don't you ever--

- It was the beginning of the end for all of them.

- Where are you going? - Stop trying to control me.

The moment they met...

They were sent

on a "Killision Course."

- Syracuse is a beautiful city--

tree-lined avenues, pleasant neighborhoods--

but sometimes problems lie in places you can't see,

the places hidden from view

by closed doors and picket fences.

- To be perfectly frank, I don't lose much sleep

if a criminal gets murdered over some nefarious act

gone wrong.

Domestic homicides,

almost always the victim doesn't deserve it.

The killer is someone they trust.

- All five of these people, they lived near each other,

socialized with each other, trusted each other,

but one of them didn't deserve that trust.

- Trust can be a fragile thing,

especially when people have grown up

in less than ideal circumstances,

and when trust is broken,

that can spiral into feelings of betrayal,

jealousy, and rage.

In the spring of 2013,

a sordid tale of lust, love, and lies ends in brutal murder.

The first character in this tragic narrative

is aspiring writer, Tiana Beck.

- To say that Tiana had a troubled childhood

is an understatement.

Her mother died when she was young,

and her father disappeared.

Tiana was put into the system,

and grew up in a succession of foster homes.

- There's a pattern in children raised in foster care.

The disjointed caregiving, the lack of stability,

it affects their ability to form true

emotional attachments to anything real.

- She may have had food and shelter,

but she lacked a real sense of being loved.

I think writing and drawing

was a way for her to express her emotions.

- Children in these situations

often take refuge in their imagination.

For Tiana, that creative outlet was in writing and drawing.

- Tiana seemed to have grown up

with a decent head on her shoulders.

She did well in school, had a decent part time job.

Eventually she enrolled in a community

college writing program.

She was trying to establish a solid life for herself.

- Work and school provided some balance for Tiana,

but because of her childhood,

she craved stability and security

on an intimate level.

That's when she met Ethan Lawrence.

- Ethan was taking classes

at the same community college as Tiana,

and we believe that's where they met.

From what we know now,

I think Ethan was attracted to her vulnerability.

She probably seemed like someone he could control easily.

Ethan Lawrence had reasons of his own

for wanting the intimacy that Tiana could provide.

- I knew Ethan Lawrence ever since he was born.

Me and Ethan's dad,

we served in the same military police company

in the army,

and I can tell you, being an army brat,

it's a hard way to grow up.

Ethan's dad was, well, he was wired kind of tight.

Everything was supposed to go just the way he said so,

and even if Ethan broke some other rule,

you know,

just doing what kids like to do, he'd get a beating.

- It's evident that some serious control issues affected life

in the Lawrence household.

The father ruled with an iron fist

over Ethan's mother and Ethan himself.

Kids see how their parents act.

Those traits are hard to shake.

I think this would true for Ethan.

Everything had to be exactly

how he thought it should be, and if it wasn't--

- Stand back. I swear I'm about to hurt you.

- He lashed out.

- If you leave now, you're gone.

When Ethan and Tiana meet they recognize the chance

to escape the fear and isolation of their pasts.

- After only a few months of dating, Ethan proposed.

- She accepted the ring without hesitating,

and, I mean, why wouldn't she?

On the outside, Ethan was perfect for her.

Their engagement is supposed to be

the start of a new life,

but happiness can be elusive,

and by moving in together,

they set off a deadly chain of events.

- After graduation, they moved into

a small off-campus apartment.

It was then that they met

their new neighbors, Brandon and Gabrielle.

- Gabrielle, nice to meet you. Welcome. Hi.

- I'm Ethan. - I'm Tiana.

- What we managed to piece together

after interviewing dozens of people

associated with this case,

we were able to create a chain of events

relevant to the prosecution.

That chain basically begins the first night

they all hung out in a group.

- You should have one now.

- Tiana was undoubtedly thrilled

to have a friendly couple next door.

Gabrielle seemed like someone that could be a real friend.

Someone that she could trust.

But for Gabrielle,

friendship has never come easily,

and trust is hard to come by.

- Gabrielle Tabarez was raised in an extremely sheltered home,

almost deliberately kept out of society.

- Gabrielle's family held deeply conservative religious views

and lived in a reclusive community

that segregated themselves from the rest of society.

They lived life by their own beliefs.

She was essentially required to stay in the home

to care for her sick mother

who refused to see a doctor

based on their religious principles,

likely having to watch her mother die.

- Gabrielle was only 15, which would have

made her mother's death more traumatic,

but it also must have been a relief

after caring for her for so long and seeing her suffer.

- We know that Gabrielle left home

almost immediately after her mother's death.

Years later, Gabrielle believes

she's finally found her ticket to a better life

when she meets Brandon Cashel.

- I went there just once, but--

- They met through online dating

and were married a few years later.

For Gabrielle, Brandon represented financial security,

and a refuge from the hard living

she had experienced since leaving home.

- Hey, give me a beer. - Brandon, on the other hand,

wanted the classic version of a housewife,

and Gabrielle fit that to a T.

- Sounds good.

On the outside, Brandon seems good-natured...

But he hides demons of his own.

- What we learned during the investigation

is that Brandon Cashel's profile

showed a troubled childhood.

His parents had a pretty miserable marriage,

so the house was always filled with conflict and anger.

- Children often know how to hide when there's trouble,

and this is what gets imprinted emotionally.

As the child matures, it's not always healthy.

- As an adult, Brandon had very few real friends.

Most of his social contact was online.

- His various online profiles showed he stayed logged in

for hours and hours.

Most of that time was spent playing

violent video games like first-person shooters.

- The type of games where he could kill, annihilate,

and crush his opponents,

the things he wasn't allowed to do in real life.

Because in the real world,

Brandon is an outgoing entrepreneur.

- What do you do?

- I run a fantasy game and book store.

- Really? - Yeah.

- His store was the kind of place

you could spend hours

if you wanted to take a break from real life.

- I went to school to be a writer.

- Really?

- Oh, really? - Yeah, yeah.

- We're actually hiring right now.

- For Tiana, Brandon's offer sounded like a dream job,

like somewhere her love of fantasy

and real life could kind of coexist.

- That is not gonna happen.

- It just didn't sit well with Ethan.

He would have been mad that some dude he just met

was getting between him and his girl.

- Okay. - You're extremely controlling.

- A man just don't interfere with another man's woman

unless he has an ulterior motive.

That was the way he was raised.

- You're not gonna come to me and try to take my lady.

- I'm not trying to take anything from you.

- We should probably go.

- What was that?

- To put it simply, he didn't want to back down,

especially in front of other people.

- I am speaking with you.

- Tiana was taken aback by the entire thing.

She knew Ethan could be difficult,

but this public outburst was just embarrassing.

It was a side of him that she had never seen before.

The next day, it's Brandon

who comes to their apartment to apologize.

- I think Ethan knew he stepped out of line

over that argument.

He had some of his father in him.

It was that part of him he didn't like.

No reason to hold a grudge,

and he really did want Tiana to be happy.

- Honestly, man, if the job's still open,

she would love that.

You excited? -

For Tiana, working at the game store

is a promising new chapter in her life story.

- Well, Tiana was finally in her element, you know,

and Brandon let her work on her writing

while it was quiet in the store.

It was a perfect fit.

- There was a commonality between Brandon and Tiana

that drew them together.

She escaped reality through her fantasy writing and sketching,

and Brandon did the same thing through his video gaming.

- As time went on, Brandon actually read

some of Tiana's short fiction,

and he was very impressed.

- You should write on this. You're a real writer.

Don't write on those scraps.

- Apparently that was something that

Ethan never really took the time to do.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

- The four of them spent a lot of time together.

Tiana and Gabrielle were like instant best friends,

and Brandon seemed extremely happy also.

But the relationships

that develop over the next few weeks

are not what they seem.

- I'm ready to go.

- Ethan, he was the only one that was seeming hesitant.

Having these new people sort of barge in

between them, it bothered him.

The more Tiana thrives

among her friends and colleagues,

the more resentful Ethan becomes,

and it's only a matter of time

before he completely loses control.

- Syracuse is a midsize city,

and we see our share of violent crime.

In my 19 years as an investigator,

I've never seen anything like this.

Ever. Not even close.

Less than two months after moving in,

22-year-old Tiana Beck

has become close with her neighbors,

Gabrielle and Brandon,

but as she becomes closer to them,

Ethan's grip on her tightens.

- No doubt Ethan was possessive.

He put a ring on Tiana's finger.

In his mind that meant she belonged to him.

- From what we know about Ethan,

in his mind he truly loved Tiana.

He had their whole lives planned out.

- What's up with all this laughing?

- It's just Gabby. She's funny.

- This would have been new to her,

and she didn't realize the effect it

was having on her life.

- That's enough.

- In Ethan's family the man was the boss.

The woman followed the rules.

Tiana begins to realize

that Ethan may not be the man she fell in love with.

It's not clear if she's his fiancé

or his possession.

- Tiana dropped by Gabrielle's place.

I think she wanted to talk about her problems with Ethan.

- Hey. - Hey. Where's Gabby?

I texted her. She didn't answer.

- She wasn't feeling well. She, uh, took a nap.

- Oh.

- I'll have her call you when she gets up.

- Well, seeing Gabrielle with a nasty bruise

left Tiana really worried.

She tried texting Gabrielle many times with no reply.

Tiana couldn't believe that Brandon would hurt Gabrielle.

He'd been such a good friend to her and almost like a mentor,

you know, when it came to her writing.

- You all right? - Yeah.

Just tired.

- Are you sure? - Tiana's instincts told her

something was wrong,

but she didn't know where to turn.

Brandon was acting strangely,

she couldn't confide in Ethan,

and Gabrielle wasn't returning her texts,

so she dismissed it.

Days passed without any response

from Gabrielle,

until Tiana finally spots her outside their building.

- Whoa, I just wanted to stop you.

Um...

- Tiana encountered Gabrielle two days later.

Gabrielle had tried to cover her bruise with makeup,

but we know now that Tiana was suspicious.

- Are you okay? - I know what you saw.

- Gabrielle told her friend that she and Brandon

had been experimenting in bed.

Role playing.

Nothing serious,

but it went a bit too far one night.

No big deal.

- So did Tiana really believe all that?

I don't know, really.

For the time being, she just went along with it.

But Tiana can't shake the feeling

that there's more to the story.

Alone with Brandon at work,

she presses him for an explanation.

- Can I ask you something? - Mm-hmm.

- So I saw Gabby the other day,

and she had a bunch of, like, bruises and scratches.

I asked her about it, and she told me

that you guys tend to play it

a little bit rough in the bedroom.

- She told you that? - Yeah.

Do you guys do that?

- Tiana had held Brandon in such high regard.

This really shook her idea of who her new friends were.

They wouldn't have appeared to be

the kind of people to do that.

I think this was the moment her instincts

about Brandon began to shift.

- Tiana brought up her concerns,

but Brandon backed up Gabrielle's story,

and in our timeline of the investigation,

that was the same day that Robin Kilgust

came back into Tiana's life.

- Tiana?

Oh, my goodness. I haven't seen you in so long.

How are you?

- I'm good. - You look so great.

Robin Kilgust is the sudden reminder

of Tiana's troubled childhood in foster care.

- There's information about Robin's early life.

It seems that her mother and biological father

were drug addicts living in the streets.

When Robin was about 12,

she was shunted into the foster care system

which is where her records began.

- Robin had never experienced structured life

when she entered foster care,

and the transition was rough.

She acted out a lot, sometimes violently,

which meant she was moved frequently.

- I hate you!

- Robin's records do indicate

a single six-month period of stability

before her discharge.

That period was when she shared a foster home with Tiana Beck.

- Got you!

- Being friends with Tiana appeared

to be the only meaningful, emotional relationship

either woman had in their childhood.

Their separation was devastating to both of them.

- Kiss you.

After leaving foster care,

her life went on a downward spiral.

Robin searches for the closeness she had with Tiana

chasing fleeting relationships with both men and women.

- How are you? - I'm good.

- Oh, my God. I haven't seen you.

- How are you?

Tiana is overjoyed to reconnect

with her only friend from childhood.

- I can't believe I saw you like this.

- Okay.

- Wow, she likes you.

- Tiana didn't have people from her past.

So to meet up with Robin,

someone that she knew as a child,

was very exciting for her.

You know, she wanted to show off how far she'd come,

and only Robin would have known how far that was.

- Were you fired or did you quit?

- No, I just walked out. - Oh, okay.

Tiana wastes no time

introducing Robin to her new friends.

- I walk in on my first day...

- So Robin was talkative and friendly,

and, you know, she just fit right in.

So suddenly having her around was fine at first,

at least for Tiana and Gabrielle.

- I just can't believe that after all this time

you just show up in my life again.

- For Ethan, he was now almost an outsider in his own world.

Tiana was not following his rules.

His world was spinning out of control,

which was not good for him or anyone around him.

- Oh, God, like, I'm telling you--

- Ethan saw Tiana was getting independence,

and that didn't sit well with him at all.

- Day by day, Tiana seemed to be slipping from his grasp.

And when he tried to hold on tighter, it just got worse.

- That's it, that's it.

You're never here anymore. You're driving me crazy.

- I'm working, I'm not-- - Working on what?

You're not working on us.

- He loved her.

Tiana was his life,

and he thought all these new friends were driving her away.

- I'm just-- - You're just what?

- Ethan's troubles were increasing

because even when he wanted to show sincere emotions,

it came out as intense and angry.

It was the only way he knew how to act,

and it was actually pushing Tiana

into an angry place as well.

She was regressing back into the emotional state

she was in during foster care,

which Ethan didn't understand.

Her writings and drawings

were how she was able to express her pain

and frustration with Ethan.

Ethan has pushed Tiana to a breaking point,

and he has no idea how close Tiana's

dark and violent thoughts are to becoming a reality.

As Ethan becomes more controlling

and her new found friends, Brandon and Gabrielle,

appear to be hiding a dark secret,

Tiana channels her feelings of confusion and sadness

into anger.

It's only the return of Tiana's childhood best friend, Robin,

that provides her some moments of happiness.

- From reading Robin's journals

we'd learned that she'd developed

an unhealthy fixation on Tiana

after their encounter at the game store.

- Robin's brief experience with Tiana

triggered an emotional response

that, coupled with her already fragile emotional state,

created the obsessive behavior.

- The journals indicated that Robin began following Tiana

and watching her every move.

She had developed a romantic interest in Tiana

that seemed very unhealthy.

- Okay, so this one is really good for your kids.

I think that they'll really like it.

It's a board game and a kids game.

Robin has become an almost constant presence

in Tiana's life.

- I'm so sorry. Can you just--I'm so sorry.

- I was just listening to a song,

and it made me think of you.

- Robin, I'm at work.

- Robin was delusional.

She was never loved as a child,

so it does make sense

that she wasn't able to understand

that Tiana was rejecting her,

or she just refused to accept it.

- Okay, so why don't we get a drink after work, yeah?

- Okay, yeah, yeah, okay.

- Tiana was probably not as honest

as she might have otherwise been

because she cared for her friend.

- you. - Okay.

- I would guess that if Tiana knew the extent

or Robin's behavior and motivations at the time,

she might have taken actions sooner

to get Robin out of her life.

- Girlfriend troubles?

Here, why don't we all get together?

I'll bring Gabby.

We'll go to the bar after work, and we can meet up with her.

- Yeah, fine.

Going out with her friends

is starting to feel less like a release for Tiana

and more like a chore.

- Up to this point, Tiana had been

enjoying her new circle of friends.

She started going out a lot

when she met Brandon and Gabrielle,

and now that Robin was in the mix

they were going out even more.

- Have you seen the two lesbians over there?

- I can imagine what Tiana must have felt.

Here's Robin, a treasured friend from childhood,

but now she's latching on to Tiana

in a very disturbing way.

Tiana would have been torn between

rejecting her oldest friend

or accepting the unwanted attention.

- Hey. - What's up?

- Some of Tiana's socializing was avoidance.

She didn't know how to handle Ethan's controlling behavior.

Ethan was in a downward spiral.

The more Tiana stayed away, the angrier Ethan became.

- We learned that Ethan, fairly quickly,

stopped hanging out with Brandon and Gabrielle,

refusing to go out with them socially.

- That created a lot of tension

between Ethan and Tiana.

After another night out with her friends,

Ethan's anger boils over into a heated argument

with Tiana.

- I don't want to do this right now.

- You what?

- I don't want to do this right now.

- You are gonna do this. It's me and you, okay?

I don't want you dealing with those people anyway.

You don't need them. You need me.

I love you, I provide for you,

and that's all that matters.

- Ethan really had only, like, two settings,

love or anger.

- Stop it. - Stop what?

Stop telling you that I love you

and I need you and it's only me and you?

- And at that point, he's pretty much stuck with anger.

I don't think he could switch it off.

- I said get over here. Get over here, I'm--

- He would have been very scary, just like his father could be.

- What are you doing? Where are you going?

- Stop trying to control me.

- Are you kidding me? I--

- When Tiana stood up to Ethan, that shocked him.

It would have been a huge shift in their relationship.

She had taken power for herself,

and that wouldn't have been something

he knew how to deal with.

- We have somebody new at the--

- Tiana wouldn't have had anywhere else to go.

To her Ethan was dangerous,

and Robin made her uncomfortable.

That meant that Brandon and Gabrielle

were the only people she could turn to.

- Hey. - Hey.

- Are you okay?

- Where from the outside it really looked

like Tiana's friends were there for her

and helping her to solve her problems.

But taking a closer look,

things weren't actually what they seemed.

- And today he was saying that maybe

I shouldn't hang out with you guys anymore.

- It's gonna be okay.

- Gabrielle would have been very concerned for her friend.

Ethan was exhibiting signs of abuse,

and that was something that Gabrielle

would have taken very seriously.

- You don't need him in your life.

- At that point she began

to press Tiana to break up with Ethan.

- Like, I couldn't stand him with you.

- Brandon had his own motives

for her to leave Ethan.

From what I learned, it seemed that Tiana really needed

to feel a sense of family and stability.

But at that point...

- That's it. Get over here.

- Everyone in her life

was pulling her in different directions,

attaching their own agendas to her.

It didn't seem like many of those motivations

were positive for Tiana.

Unsure of her next step,

Tiana doesn't return home that night,

leaving her fiancé to fear he's lost her forever.

- Brandon and Tiana were at work,

but Tiana was being harassed by incessant texting from Ethan.

- Ugh.

- These texts were not expressing concern.

They were angry.

He wanted to know where she had been.

Where she had stayed the night.

- He's being ridiculous. "Where are you, where are you?"

- He know you're here, right? - Yes, I'm at work.

Like, where else would I be, right?

- Right. - You know what I mean?

- Where have you been? - What?

- Where have you been? - Ethan was fired up.

Ethan should have backed down on the idea

that Tiana was his property,

but the kid just didn't get it.

- We have surveillance video and eyewitness testimony,

so there's no doubt about what happened next.

- Let's go. You're coming with me right now.

- No, don't touch me like that.

- Let's go. Get going right now.

- Hey, hey! What are you doing?

These five lives have become dangerously intertwined

and are at a boiling point.

- Get--get over here.

When Ethan tracks down Tiana at her work...

- Where have you been?

He loses control.

- No, you don't you touch me. - You're coming with me.

- As far as we know,

Ethan had never put his hands on Tiana before that day.

From what we saw on surveillance,

it appeared to me that Ethan was near a breaking point.

- Don't. - Get out right now.

- I didn't do anything. I'm not going.

- What are you doing? This is my shop.

- You don't you touch me.

- At that point, Brandon intervened

and a physical altercation broke out between them.

- If you don't back off, I swear I'm about--

- Shut up, shut up.

All right, you do not touch her like that.

- Brandon wouldn't have needed any provocation

to go after Ethan.

Being aggressive was a natural reaction for him.

- I'm coming back for this store, I swear to you.

- It would have been as though

he had stepped into one of the video games.

- I'm coming back for this store, I swear to you.

Hey. - Watch.

Get over here!

- Luckily, the altercation ended without real violence.

Overwhelmed and upset,

Tiana feels the walls closing in.

- She was isolated.

She couldn't go home and risk facing her

potentially abusive boyfriend.

She didn't feel entirely safe around Brandon either.

- Even though it appeared that Brandon was protecting Tiana,

any form of confrontation

was becoming too much for her to take emotionally.

She felt that she had no one to turn to

and was starting to unravel.

The day of the fight, Robin plans

another of her unexpected drop-ins at the store.

- Hey. - Hi.

- Robin knew exactly how to take advantage of Tiana,

so they suggested

they have a girls' night out and get some drinks.

At home, Brandon is still furious

from his altercation with Ethan.

- I'll kill you. - Yeah, what are you gonna do?

- Unfortunately, Gabrielle was unaware

of the fight at the store.

If she had known about it, she probably would have had

a better understanding of how angry Brandon was.

- Brandon was the type of person

that would internalize his aggression

until it boiled over.

And when you don't express emotions, especially anger,

it gradually becomes more difficult to control.

Once again he took that anger out on Gabrielle.

Across town, Robin is plying Tiana with drinks

and clearly has an ulterior motive.

- Look, you've had a really long day.

Why don't we just knock a couple back, huh?

Let's do shots.

Robin sees the opportunity

to take advantage of her fragile state of mind.

- This moment was as close to real intimacy

with someone that Robin had ever had.

Tiana was the one person in her life that had cared for her.

- We learned from the bartender

that Robin was practically pouring them down her throat.

He cut them off, but it was too late.

As the night continues on,

with Tiana's defenses down, her resistance fades.

- Witnesses report that at about 9:00 that night,

Robin and Tiana left together.

Tiana was incapacitated.

She couldn't even walk without Robin's help.

- Hey. I got you.

- Tiana woke up in Robin's bed.

It's unknown whether anything sexual happened between them.

- Oh. - Good morning.

- Tiana was already experiencing extreme instability.

Spending the night with Robin

would have pushed her down a dark path.

Tiana completely rejected Robin.

- Hey, you're fine. You had too much to drink.

I just took you home.

- I--I got to go.

- For someone like Robin,

Tiana's rejection

would have hit her very hard.

And at that point--

- You're not going to do this. - I'm sorry.

- No one could have known

what Robin might really be capable of.

- Tiana.

Don't you dare leave!

The lives of Brandon, Gabrielle, Tiana,

Ethan, and Robin approach a point of no return.

After fleeing Robin's aggressive advances,

Tiana turns to Gabrielle for guidance.

But Gabrielle is nowhere to be found.

- We were able to pull cell phone records,

so we knew exactly when Tiana called Gabrielle's number,

and we know that someone answered that phone.

- There was definitely something strange

about that phone call.

For one thing, Brandon answered, not Gabrielle.

He said he and Gabrielle

were visiting Gabrielle's cousins for a few days.

That just didn't make any sense.

- Gabrielle had not been in contact with her family

for several years,

but the main concern at that point was

why Gabrielle hadn't answered her own phone.

Days passed without Gabrielle returning

or Brandon coming to work at the game store.

- We believe Tiana had been sleeping in her car

for a few days when Brandon and Gabrielle were missing.

Tiana starts to panic.

- Every single person in Tiana's life was failing her.

Her relationship was over,

and her other friends had abandoned her

when she needed them the most.

These events would have left her unstable.

She was falling deeper and deeper

into a dark emotional place.

With nowhere to go

and vulnerable to a breaking point,

Tiana decides to go back to Ethan.

- I was, you know, very surprised

when I learned how he reacted.

- I wanted to say sorry for everything that happened.

- But then Ethan's true colors came out.

- And understand that I'm the head of the household.

- He was calm, but had become even more controlling.

- I want you to know things are gonna change.

- Ethan demanded that Tiana cut

all ties with Brandon and Gabrielle

and started looking for new apartments.

- It's gonna be me and you. Nobody else.

Follow my directions,

and we're gonna have a great time together.

Tiana seems to submit to Ethan's control,

that is until she could write a new ending to this story.

- And then Tiana received a text that she could not ignore.

- Tiana hadn't seen or heard from Gabrielle in days.

- What happened?

- The mental state of both these women

would have been very fragile at that point.

- He just started beating me so hard,

like never before.

- Tiana would have only seen to run away.

Gabrielle is terrified.

Brandon threatened her within an inch of her life,

but she's determined to go back

for the money she has hidden in her apartment.

- Gabby, I do not want you going back there.

But Gabrielle convinces Tiana

that Brandon is back at work,

and Tiana won't let her go alone.

- Ah! Let her go.

- Agh.

- I first learned about this homicide

when hikers discovered human remains

in a state park near Albany.

It wasn't even a whole body.

So we sent teams looking in woodlands

all across the county.

Probably the most important piece was the hand.

Tiana and Gabrielle's decision

to return home will ultimately cost someone their life.

But who was the victim

and who was the killer?

On June 20, 2013,

the dismembered body of a homicide victim

is found near Syracuse, New York.

- We knew we had a female about 22 years old.

Whoever dismembered her had tried

to burn off her fingerprints,

but we were able to pull a partial off the woman's thumb.

Forensic evidence confirms

the victim's identity

is Tiana Beck.

Investigators quickly focus on her fiancé, Ethan.

- When we learned how volatile

Ethan and Tiana's relationship had become,

he was instantly our main suspect.

- But, this isn't happening.

- But we were able to pretty quickly rule him out

based on cell phone records.

He had a solid alibi.

And it was Ethan that gave investigators

the lead they needed.

- Ethan called us.

He'd gotten Tiana's effects back from the coroner

and her engagement ring was missing.

- We started canvassing pawn shops.

48 hours later we had a positive ID.

- With the proof that Brandon pawned Tiana's ring,

it gave us probable cause to search the apartment.

- Brandon Cashel had pawned that ring the day

after we believed Tiana was murdered.

We also found blood and body tissue

in the tub in their apartment.

Brandon and Gabrielle

are brought in for questioning.

- Brandon denied everything.

But that ring, that did it.

Overwhelmed by guilt,

Brandon's wife Gabrielle confesses

to her own involvement.

- Tiana and Gabrielle entered the apartment building

at approximately 3:45 p.m.

- I'll just be five minutes. - Okay, hurry.

- Contrary to their expectations,

Brandon actually was at home when they entered the apartment.

- Aah!

- I thought I told you to stay home.

- Oh, my God. Let her go.

Stop. Stop it.

- Unfortunately, what Tiana didn't realize

was the depth of Brandon's rage and anger.

- No!

- It's often difficult for abuse victims

to confront their abusers.

But in many cases the victim does find the strength

to fight back.

But Gabrielle can't bring herself to kill.

- Tiana Beck was strangled to death by Brandon Cashel.

And now, Brandon has crossed over

from abuser to murderer.

- To be honest, it's sort of shocking to me

that Brandon let Gabrielle live.

My only guess is that he needed help with the body.

- She saw Brandon kill Tiana,

then watched him dismember the corpse.

- Brandon was easy to convict.

He went down on second degree murder

with malice aforethought.

He's doing a 50 year minimum.

- It's hard to say that Gabrielle was innocent.

She did help Brandon to dismember the body

and then get rid of it.

- Tiana's death would have been devastating for Robin.

She lost the person she'd been living for since childhood.

I really can't imagine how anyone could recover from that.

- As for Ethan, I believe he will carry the weight

of what happened for the rest of his life.