All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S05E10_English

♪♪

Johnson:
It just kind of exploded.

Everybody just started
talking about it,

and people wanted to know
what was going on,

how did this happen?

In a lot of ways, it was
kind of a classic whodunit.

When you add to the fact
that his son is the most famous

NBA player in the world,

that fuels the speculation of
what might have been the cause.

What does this have to do
with Michael Jordan?

♪♪

♪♪

Hey, everyone. Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

The relationship between
a father and son is powerful,

but not every dad
passes on wisdom, strength,

and affection to his little man.

Basketball superstar
Michael Jordan was raised

by an extraordinary
set of parents,

and the father he looked up to
was James Raymond Jordan.

Mr. Jordan was a positive
and loving childhood role model

and also a vital part
of Michael's life

and success as a famous adult.

But in the summer of 1993,
at a time when "His Airness"

soared over
the entire basketball world,

James Jordan suddenly vanished,

and the mysterious disappearance
of the Jordan family patriarch

changed Michael Jordan's
life forever.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

Hey, man!

[ Cheering and clapping ]

-Whoo!
-Whoo!

In the summer of '93,

Michael Jordan was bigger
than basketball.

♪♪

Raye-Stout:
He'd just won his third
championship in a row.

Crowd: [ Chanting ]
Whoomp, there it is!

Whoomp, there it is!

The gold medal headlines
were written months ago,

when the NBA decided to go USA.

He had been a major factor
in the Dream Team,

Team USA winning the gold

in the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona.

♪♪

MJ's first NBA championship

came against the legendary
Los Angeles Lakers,

and as always, his father
was right there with him.

Raye-Stout: I remember him

cradling the trophy in
the locker room in Los Angeles,

sort of an iconic image

of James and Michael together
and celebrating.

♪♪

Johnson:
Being African-American,

I really had an affinity
for Michael Jordan.

I appreciated his success.

Air Jordans were popular.

He was always aware
about his image.

Yo!

This is Mars Blackmon,

and this is my main man,
Michael Jordan.

I remember from early on,

when he would do the commercials
with spike Lee...

Is it vicious dunks?
Michael: No, Mars.

...and the Mars Blackmon
commercials,

and they were just
so funny and great.

♪ Oh, be like Mike ♪
♪ Be like Mike, like Mike ♪

Johnson:
"I want to be like Mike."

You know, be like
Michael Jordan.

I still feel blessed
that I got the chance

to watch him in
the prime of his career.

It was a thing of beauty to see.

Ruthless because
he wanted to win.

He had the tongue thing.
His tongue always hung out.

Scoop: He comes out
and starts floating,

and he starts moving
in hyper-speed.

Michael Jordan scored
12 points in 4 minutes.

Like, damn!

I think that Michael Jordan
is the closest thing

in terms of what is
a real-life super hero.

Raye-Stout: To take off
and literally fly --

that's what it looked like.

I don't know where you could
have been in the world

and not have known
about Michael Jordan.

♪♪

James: I have the advantage
of looking at him as a son

as opposed to looking
at him as a superstar.

Rose: Michael respected
his father like nobody else,

because his father
was his best friend,

his father was his mentor
and his advisor.

He loved his father dearly.

Rose:
I would see them sometimes,

and they'd be
talking about things.

Sometimes, they'd laugh.

Other times, it would be
serious and stern.

And I think that James was just
the absolute best father

that Michael Jordan could have.

My wish for every young child,
black and white,

that they have the relationship

that Michael Jordan had
with his father.

Etheridge:
The cherry-red Lexus was a gift
from Michael Jordan

to his beloved father.

It was a flashy car.
It was a fancy car.

It was an item of pride
for Mr. Jordan.

Lazenby:
He loved the vehicle.

[ Cheering ]

When you look back on it,
it's heartbreaking.

That would be the last moment,
the last championship,

he got to share
with his father.

♪♪

Joey: On July 22, 1993,

Michael Jordan's mother
and father are at their home,

which is near Charlotte,
North Carolina.

So, it's early in the morning,

and they're headed
in different directions.

Deloris is flying off on a
two-week trip to the West Coast.

James Jordan is staying
in North Carolina

for his own personal reasons
for another day.

But it would be the last moment
they spend together.

♪♪

Johnson:
July 22, 1993, he had gone
to his former home of Wilmington

for the funeral of a friend
and former co-worker.

Wilmington was the place where
James Jordan had his roots.

He made his living.
He had his home.

He was such a kind man,
and the community all loved him.

So, the church service ends,
and James stays on in town

to go to dinner to catch up
with friends for a few hours.

Johnson: Sometime after
midnight, he got into his car

and began what would be
a three-hour trip home.

Lazenby: He drove down 95
tired that night.

As travelers often do,
he pulled over

near Lumberton, North Carolina,

and decided to close his eyes
for a few minutes and rest.

The next day, he was scheduled
to fly to Chicago

for a special celebrity sports
dinner hosted by Michael.

He and Michael were gonna
play golf together.

Etheridge: He didn't show up.

Johnson: He ended up missing
that flight on the 23rd.

Gagliano: People can sometimes
inadvertently make themselves

even more vulnerable by being
in unfamiliar surroundings

and not being alert
to the potential dangers

that could be out there
and ultimately find them.

It was weird that he stopped
his car to rest

at that particular place
on I-95,

in the middle of nowhere.

It's not a safe place.

♪♪

And with the life that I live

and rapidly how -- how I move,

I really urge everyone to take
time out for their family.

Gagliano:
In the middle of the night,
James Jordan was alone,

driving home from a visit
to Wilmington.

He had a plane to catch
in a few hours

to participate
in a charity golf match

with his famous son, Michael.

But Mr. Jordan
missed that flight,

and ultimately, he never
showed up at the golf outing.

The fact that he didn't make it
to the tournament was noticed,

but no one was
really worried about it.

He's known for keeping
a loose schedule,

known for disappearing for days,

and known for doing so without
telling friends, family,

or business associates.

Nobody thought anything of it,

and then he went missing
for the next 21 days.

Let's go back
a little.

Michael Jordan,
it might be known by many,

was born in Brooklyn.

We have two Brooklyn guys
talking here.
That's true.

♪♪

His father had gone to Brooklyn
to study aircraft maintenance,

and the family had moved there
for that purpose.

James Jordan was a man
of doing and fixing things.

That was the big value
in his life.

That was his identity.

And my mother
was pregnant,

and she had me
when I was in Brooklyn.

In February of 1963,
on a rainy day,

he was born with a bloody nose

after a fairly swift,
but somewhat troubled, delivery.

I stayed there a year,
and they brought me back

to North Carolina,
and that's where I grew up.

James Jordan
and his young wife,

they were both special people.

Deloris Jordan would become
a bank teller.

It was a family ready to move

into the new age of opportunity
for African-Americans

that was beginning to open up
in the '60s.

They soon were on their way

to the things that all Americans
have cherished

for many, many years --

that is home ownership,
and that is raising a family.

Joey: James Jordan
could be hard on young Michael,

and there's a famous
tough-love moment

that left a lasting impression.

Michael was nearby as his father
worked on something mechanical.

He was asked to get a specific
wrench out of the toolbox,

but young Michael didn't know
one tool from another,

and James lashed out at his son.

"Just go on in the house
with the women."

"Go in the kitchen
with the girls."

Lazenby: There are
millions of words, probably,

that Michael Jordan's father
said to him,

but those words are the ones
that survive in memory.

It was the sting of those words

that created
the ruthless intensity

and the competitiveness that we
all know about Michael Jordan,

both on and off the court.

Lazenby: Almost like he was in
a shouting match across time

with the old man.

"What do you think of me now?"

Were you
a gifted athlete early?

Could you --
I was a late bloomer.

Joey: When James Jordan puts
a basketball hoop up

in his backyard,

now there's nonstop basketball

and daily battles
between two brothers.

Michael grew up
in awe of his brothers

and of his brother
Larry in particular.

Rose: Larry would always
get the better of Michael,

until Michael started to grow.

But he knew he had
to go through Larry

to get to where he wanted to go.

Michael come out of situations
in the NBA games

playing with some of the other
best players in the league,

and it would be easy for him

because of the shit
Larry put him through.

Man, they would
go at each other.

Joey: James was a father who let
his boys play rough,

but he never let it go too far.

My basketball skills
developed real, real late,

and my height
and everything

started to come a little bit
later than most normal people.

Were you
widely recruited?
No.

As late as his senior year
in high school,

he was ready to go off into
the Air Force just like his dad,

but then, the coaches at
the University of North Carolina

came knocking at his door.

Michael:
I learned the fundamentals
of the game,

the mind and the thought process
that comes along with the game.

I put two and two together,

and I evolved as
a complete player.

Lazenby:
James Jordan and Deloris,

suddenly, they were traveling
to the games

and part of that frenzy
and worship and excitement.

It was a glorious time
in their lives.

♪♪

Gagliano: People can sometimes
inadvertently make themselves

even more vulnerable by being
in unfamiliar surroundings

and not being alert
to the potential dangers

that could be out there
and ultimately find them.

In the summer of 1993,
for James Jordan,

he found himself tired
and alone in a car,

and he decided to park
along the side of the road

on the outskirts of a town
called Lumberton,

in Robeson County,
North Carolina.

Johnson: Near the intersection
of I-95 and US-74.

Gagliano:
Mr. Jordan had no idea what he
had just driven himself into.

Etheridge: He fell asleep
with his windows down,

the doors unlocked.

It was desolate.
It was dark.

It's not a safe place.

There is crime everywhere.

It was the wrong place
to choose to do that.

Absolutely.

♪♪

Gagliano: Two weeks after
Mr. Jordan exited the interstate

for what he thought
was gonna be a short nap,

police made a mysterious
discovery miles away

near Fayetteville,
North Carolina.

Etheridge: Authorities got a tip
of a luxury car

found in a wooded, rural area --

stripped, vandalized,

and the license plate
was missing.

Gagliano: Because of its
run-down condition,

police officers
could not immediately tell

who owned the abandoned vehicle.

It took days, but the sheriff's
department later ascertained

that the red Lexus belonged
to James Jordan.

His Lexus was found,
but he wasn't in it.

Mr. James Jordan is missing.

Gagliano: Word spread to
the public like lightning

that Michael Jordan's
father had vanished

and was nowhere to be found.

Public reaction was shock,
sadness, disbelief.

Johnson:
It literally was the world

turning to look
at what was happening.

♪♪

Detective: We processed the car
last night for latent prints,

also full luminol of the car

to see if there's
any presence of blood.

Those tests were negative.

Etheridge:
He was the father of the world's
most famous basketball player.

No one heard from him
for three weeks.

Gagliano:
Mr. James Jordan has disappeared

under highly suspicious
circumstances.

It looks like foul play.

The Jordan family
is sick with worry,

and Michael Jordan's fans
lend instant support

for their number-one hero,

the superstar they see
everywhere they look.

♪♪

Gagliano:
Not far away from the spot

where James Jordan pulled over
to take a nap,

detectives were working on a
mysterious swamp investigation.

The mystery of John Doe began
on August 3, 1993,

in a place called Gum Swamp.

The swamp is black in color.

Britt: Almost the color
of coffee, strong tea.

♪♪

Etheridge: A local fisherman
spotted a body

on a windy creek, wedged
between two trees, facedown.

Reporter: Hal Locklear
found the body August 3rd.

He'd come to do some fishing

when he spotted a man's body
snagged on a tree.

The sheriff's department
and the coroner's office

are called in to figure out
who is this person

and what happened to them.

There was absolutely
no identification on this body.

The John Doe had been dead
for between 7 and 21 days.

Etheridge:
The cause of death was a single
gunshot wound to the chest.

It severed the aorta.

It was a .38-caliber bullet
lodged in the body.

It was murder.

Detectives had very few clues.

The police were stumped.

He had extensive dental work --
bridges, root canals --

a full restoration.

Johnson: That kind
of dental work is something

that the police
and coroners could use

to help identify the John Doe.

You got to wait a little bit and
hope that you'll get some leads.

♪♪

Etheridge: On August 7th,

the coroner collected
other remains --

bones and other samples --
and the body was cremated.

It was then the pieces
started coming together.

Tim Brown, the coroner
in the unsolved John Doe case,

then sees a CBS breaking news
story from Connie Chung.

Father of basketball star
Michael Jordan,

James Jordan has been
missing now for three weeks.

I was with my family at home
watching the evening news

and learned from the reports
that James Jordan was missing

and his car was discovered
there in Cumberland County.

Etheridge: Brown thinks
that his John Doe

just might be James Jordan.

It flashed through my mind
that it was a possibility

that it could be the John Doe.

Johnson:
The coroner starts to make calls

to see if he can get
the dental records

from Mr. Jordan's dentist

to compare them to his John Doe.

That's when everything kind of
clicked and came together.

Johnson:
So, on August 13th,

the dental records
that authorities received

were matched
to those of the John Doe,

identifying him as James Jordan,
the father of Michael Jordan,

the world's most famous
basketball player.

Etheridge:
It was a media circus.

There was a crush of cameras,
and there were satellite trucks

as far as the eye could see.

It literally was
the world turning

to look at what was happening.

The public reaction was shock,
sadness, disbelief.

♪♪

Rose: Having met Mr. Jordan,
it was heart-wrenching.

I almost had a sort of
out-of-body experience.

Raye-Stout: I was working
at the radio station.

My news director said, you know,

"James Jordan's --
Michael's dad was murdered,"

and it kind of hit me,
[Voice breaking] like it is now.

♪♪

Gagliano: There were some
mysterious circumstances

surrounding
the James Jordan tragedy,

and they created an outbreak
of conspiracy theories.

Johnson: Why was he killed?

Was there something
that's hidden

that we're not aware of that
was involved with his death?

All of those kinds of things
become the feast of conspiracy.

A captivating kind of story
to cover.

Joey: Investigators, reporters,
and the public all wondered --

how could Mr. Jordan's
disappearance

have seemingly gone unnoticed
for about three full weeks?

Reporter:
Police only then learned

no one had seen the elder Jordan

since a funeral
three weeks earlier

in a town about 50 miles away.

Etheridge:
Even as his 57th birthday
approached on July 31st,

no one took real notice.

There was no planned
celebration.

Johnson: Some people
cited that as saying,

"Well, you know,
that's just strange,

and that must mean that
there's something going on."

Reporter: What has
the family told you
with regard to, uh,

to what's been happening
or what happened?

Well, really, I-I'm not
at liberty to discuss that.

Heffney:
We learned that Mr. James Jordan
had a tendency --

if he went somewhere,

he would stay
for a period of time,

and no one knew where he was.

Reporter:
The FBI is looking into debts
James Jordan owed

to a company he owned
in South Carolina.

He had reportedly run
into tax trouble

while running JVL Enterprises,

a business that makes T-shirts,
shorts, and socks.

We knew that the business

that he was involved in
in Charlotte was failing,

and we knew of other ventures
that had failed.

We didn't see that
as problematic.

Reporter:
Michael Jordan likes to gamble
and caused a flap

during the NBA series
in New York earlier this year

when he went to
a New Jersey casino.

Heffney:
You had the speculation.

"Well, you know, he was killed,
or he was missing

because of Michael's gambling."

Authorities had to look at it.

Reporter:
Jordan made headlines

with an overnight gambling
junket to Atlantic City,

and later, his father said
that casino trip was his idea.

Now, whether that controversy

had anything to do
with this murder

is now a matter of speculation.

King: You were mad over
being questioned about it?

Well, I --
How do you view
the press and the athlete?

I felt that they were
attacking me in a situation

that didn't need to
be attacked,

and there's a lot of
speculations that was going
on.

Attacking you by merely
asking questions?

Speculating
about some things

that they really didn't
have true facts about,

tying in connections

that shouldn't have
never been tied into,

leaving more room
for speculations in that sense,

which gives them
a little bit more power

than I think
is necessary.

There was a probe with the NBA
about Michael Jordan's gambling.

They looked into it.

It turns out there was
absolutely no connection

between the gambling
and the murder.

They see a man
sleeping in the vehicle,

and when he woke up, they shot.

The phone records
really laid out

a map of what transpired.

♪♪

Welcome back to
"How It Really Happened."

Law enforcement officers
have positively identified

their John Doe murder victim
as James Jordan,

the missing father of basketball
superstar Michael Jordan.

With that critical development,

detectives urgently opened
a homicide case

to find out who did it
and how it happened.

And the Jordan family,

together with legions of
Michael Jordan fans everywhere,

demanded answers.

Will good old-fashioned
police work crack the case

and lead to justice
for this unsolved murder?

The hunt for the killer,
or killers, is on.

♪♪

Reporter: For Michael Jordan,
this has been a summer

that's run the emotional gamut,

from the triumph
of an NBA title in June

to the tragic death
of a loved one in August.

Johnson:
It was such a huge story.

Everybody knew
who Michael Jordan was.

Everybody could
identify with him,

that he had suffered this loss.

Why was he killed?

♪♪

A fisherman went
to the Gum Swamp.

As he was preparing to fish,
he noticed something,

and he really wasn't sure
what it was.

For prosecutor Johnson Britt,
there were two powerful images

that he couldn't get
out of his mind.

One was the haunting image
of James Jordan's body

laying in a swamp.

That's an image that you might
envision in a horror movie.

The other image --
weeks earlier...

[ Cheering, clapping, laughter ]

...you had witnessed the Bulls

win their third
NBA Championship.

Michael weeping, his father
comes and consoles him.

So, you take the two images,
you put them together,

and they're inseparable for me.

Foley: Our investigation
up to this point

has been an attempt
to identify this person.

Now that he's identified,

we can start
on the murder investigation.

Everyone was curious to know,
how did this happen?

There were lots of questions.

So, it was a real whodunit.

♪♪

Joey: Despite being stripped
and abandoned,

James Jordan's luxury car
still contained clues

that would unlock
the mystery of his murder.

Heffney: In 1993,
when the vehicle was found,

it had a cellphone in it.

This would have been a cellphone
that you, like,

see back in the day
in James Bond movies.

The phone records really laid
out a map of what transpired.

Heffney: You can see
the history of calls

made by Mr. James Jordan.

Britt: And then suddenly --

Heffney: Bam. You have one call
that's out of the ordinary.

The first call that was made
that was in question

was a call to a sex line.

Deductive reasoning would say,

"well, Mr. Jordan
is not making these calls."

Gagliano: Veteran investigators
have pinpointed the moment

they believe the victim
stopped using his cellphone,

and they started tracking down
who could possibly have been

making these suspicious
new calls.

♪♪

Investigators then met
face-to-face

with the people
who received calls

in order to find out precisely
who had contacted them.

Britt: An overwhelming majority
of the phone calls

came back to this individual
named Daniel Green.

Other calls were identified
having been made

by Larry Demery.

They made more than 30 calls.

They're calling
their friends and family

from the deceased's phone,
getting into this luxury Lexus,

and took this four-day joyride.

Douglas: As it turned out,
a friend of mine

actually saw Daniel Green
and Larry Demery.

Wallwork: And a fairly new
red Lexus pulls up next to me

during a stoplight,
which caught my eye,

and I noticed there were two
young guys in the front seat,

looking happy-go-lucky,

and immediately,
I'm thinking of my children,

that if I had that car,

they would not be
driving that car.

They just out
trying to impress people.

[ Tires squealing ]

Who are these teenagers?

Britt: They learned that
Daniel Green had a brother

who was in the U.S. Army and
was stationed at Fort Bragg.

When they interviewed him,

he placed Daniel Green
and Larry Demery

in the red Lexus
at his residence.

When talking to the brother,
Daniel Green mentioned

having the car of
Mr. James Jordan.

Britt: He showed him
a set of golf clubs

that were in the trunk
of this car.

Well, guess whose name
is on that golf bag?

It was Michael Jordan's.

Joey: Right away,
investigators want to talk

to Daniel Green and Larry Demery

to find out
whether these two teens

had any involvement
in the death of James Jordan.

Officers were assigned
to go find Daniel Green.

♪♪

Weller:
What was their motivation?

Everyone was curious to know,
how did this happen?

♪♪

♪♪

Gagliano: Detectives arrived at
Daniel Green's mother's home,

armed with a search warrant

and determined to bring
her son in for questioning.

Britt: The SBI agents who were
conducting the search

seized two very valuable
pieces of evidence.

Heffney:
Within Daniel Green's bedroom

was a .38-caliber
revolver handgun

in a vacuum cleaner.

The important fact
of the handgun

was that it was the same
caliber bullet

that was used
to kill Mr. James Jordan.

Britt: They noticed there were
videotapes stacked up.

All but one had a wrapper,
and an SBI agent took it,

not knowing what might be on it.

The discovery of
the .38-caliber weapon

was not necessarily
the smoking gun.

Ballistic tests
would need to be done

to determine
whether it was just similar to

or whether it was
the actual murder weapon.

♪♪

Detectives looked to see
if Green and Demery

had a history of past crimes

and were struck
by the seriousness

of their prior convictions
for people so young.

Arrests for aggravated assault,
robbery.

Heffney:
Larry Demery and Daniel Green

have known each other
since childhood.

They -- They considered
themselves brothers.

Johnson: According to their
records, they were progressing

in the crimes
they were involved in.

Those two kids
are scared of no one.

They have no respect
for law enforcement.

They have no respect for anyone.

Both of them were involved
in a robbery

of people out of Rhode Island.

These are clearly
two troubled kids

with serious criminal histories,

but are they really capable
of such violence?

Gagliano:
Investigators needed to run down

every possible connection
between the two teenagers

and the father of one of the
most famous men on the planet

in order to find out
what they knew.

When Daniel Green
and Larry Demery

were brought in
for questioning...

The both had an initial story
that mirrored each other.

The two suspects said
they were not guilty.

Gagliano:
But when detectives punched
holes in their statements,

Green suddenly started offering
wild new versions of events.

And then he would modify it,

that these unknown people
showed up at his house.

They were in dark suits.

With the car, wanting to
sell it to him for $45.

It was just too unbelievable
to even consider credible.

Joey: When the police
played the VHS tape

taken from the home
of Daniel Green,

it turned out to be
an incriminating homemade video

starring Daniel Green.

[ Rapping ] ♪ Let's see ♪

♪ First name, Dan-I-L,
last name, Green ♪

♪ Of the Green family ♪

♪ That's Green, as in tree ♪

The video was shot

in the living room
of his mother's house.

Britt:
Daniel Green was talking about

"You shoot a man in the head,
you take his money."

Etheridge: Daniel Green
had the audacity

to wear a watch that MJ
had given to his father.

Heffney:
And the NBA All-Star ring.

Weller:
Daniel Green was videotaping
himself showing off the ring,

basically letting everyone know,
"I got this big ring."

I felt totally disgusted.

Really disgusted.

Gagliano: In building the case
against Demery and Green,

investigators had compelling
circumstantial evidence,

but they needed a big break
to take the case to trial,

and it finally came from
one of the two prime suspects.

Joey: Larry Demery made
a full confession

of his role in the murder
of James Jordan.

Rogers:
In this case, acting in concert,
aiding and abetting,

which would make him
equally liable

even though he didn't
ever touch the gun.

And Demery's confession lined up
neatly with the evidence

the officers had already
compiled in their case --

that his accomplice,
Daniel Green, was the shooter.

Rogers: The gun was found on
Daniel's relative's property,

not Larry's.

No fingerprints of Larry's
on the gun.

Daniel Green had all the spoils
from the murder of James Jordan.

Very damning evidence that
he was involved in the crime.

In the early morning hours,
on Sunday, August 15, 1993,

investigators made the arrest
of Daniel Green and Larry Demery

for the murder of James Jordan.

In a heartbreaking parallel,
later that same day,

Michael Jordan and his family

mourn the passing of his father
in a memorial.

Etheridge: For Michael Jordan
and his family,

it was a day of finality.

It was a small service
in a small church --

Teachey, North Carolina.

Michael Jordan
issued a statement

describing his family
as tight-knit,

his father's death as shocking.

He encouraged everybody there
not to focus on the details,

but instead to focus
on his father,

the fact that he had been
such a good father.

Joey:
Michael Jordan reflected on
how the healing bonds of family

helped him get through
his father's memorial service

in "The Last Dance."

Michael:
It was devastating,

but, you know,
my mother was so strong,

and the first thing she said is,
you know,

"You got to be thankful,"
you know,

and I started looking
at the positive.

Gagliano:
Based on the confession

and combined with all the other
recovered evidence,

the prosecution slowly built
a working theory

of what really happened to
James Jordan on July 23, 1993,

after he left dinner
with a friend in Wilmington

and began that fateful
drive home to Charlotte

in the pre-dawn darkness.

Heffney:
Daniel Green and Larry Demery

were at the Crawley Inn
to rob somebody,

because they had done it before
and got away with it,

and they see this red Lexus
on the side of Highway 74

in the gravel.

Johnson:
Mr. Jordan is in his car asleep

when the two suspects
come up to him.

Heffney: They don't know
who's inside the vehicle.

The passenger-side window
is down maybe four, five inches.

Both Daniel Green
and Larry Demery

look inside the vehicle.

Britt:
They observe a black man

reclined back
in the driver's seat.

They saw the jewelry
that he was wearing.

Gagliano:
The killers target the Lexus,

thinking the sleeping driver
might be a drug dealer

or possibly...

Heffney: A college student.

And they intend to take the car

and, you know,
rob the college student.

They scoot down on the passenger
side of the car,

figuring out
how they're gonna work this out.

They go back up to the window.

Daniel Green has
the .38-caliber handgun,

and Mr. James Jordan
happens to wake up.

Britt:
When Mr. Jordan stirred,

Daniel Green stuck the gun
inside the car

and fired a single shot.

Heffney:
Mr. James Jordan was shot

in the chest area,
near the heart,

and he bled
basically internally,

and that's why there was not
a lot of blood

found in the vehicle.

Larry Demery said

after Daniel Green shot
James Jordan,

he got into the car,

pushed James Jordan
into the passenger seat,

and drove off with
Larry Demery following him.

After they discovered
who it was, Daniel Green said...

Britt: "I think we've killed
Michael Jordan's father."

Larry Demery said,
"No.You

♪♪

Gagliano:
Just a few months after
the murder of his father,

Michael Jordan held

a shocking and life-changing
press conference.

I'm very solid with my decision

of not to play the game
of basketball in the NBA.

On October 6, 1993,

tired of his fame,

disillusioned by allegations

of illegal betting,

and crushed by the murder
of his father,

Michael Jordan announced
his retirement.

I guess the biggest positive
thing that I can take out of,

you know, my father
not being here with me today

is that he saw
my last basketball game,

and that means a lot.

I'm happy with my decision.

I don't have
any reservations about it.

[ Applause ]

When Michael Jordan retired,
I wasn't surprised

because the devastation of
his father was really difficult.

In one of the few times
Michael Jordan has spoken out,

he told Oprah exactly
how he was choosing

to deal with the death
of his dad.

But Michael, you know
what's interesting to me?

I've heard you talk
about it,

where you say,
"My father, who passed,"

and I always think --

I mean, I know
he had to pass,

but I think
he was murdered,

and the fact that
he was murdered is --

is -- is a searing
kind of pain.

I mean, have you --
have you dealt with that?

Have you accepted the fact
he was murdered?

No, 'cause I'm --

I'm a very optimistic person,
to a sense,

that I don't look at
the real bad part of it.

I looked at no matter
what happened to my father,

he's not here.
Yeah.

So, he's passed to me.

When Michael Jordan
told Oprah Winfrey

that his father passed,

that's how he lives
with the death of his father.

I want to look at it
in a good sense,

'cause I think
that's a part

to help me get over
that situation.

♪♪

Joey: The murder trial began
on January 3rd of 1996,

and guilty-as-charged
Larry Demery

would be the all-star witness
for the state

in their case
against Daniel Green.

Britt:
His version of what happened
is more consistent

with what the independent
evidence showed us.

Gagliano: Ballistics experts
examined the bullet

to see if it had come from the
.38 that had killed Mr. Jordan.

Britt: They could not eliminate
that bullet

having been fired
from that gun.

The results were inconclusive,

but the evidence was enough
to be admitted at trial.

That goes to the circumstantial
evidence of the case.

I didn't have any doubts
that the bullet

was one that came
from that same gun.

♪♪

Britt:
Daniel Green was convicted
of first-degree felony murder.

He was convicted of robbery
with a dangerous weapon,

and he was convicted of

conspiracy to commit robbery
with a dangerous weapon.

The jury in this case
having unanimously recommended

a sentence of
life imprisonment.

Plus 10 years
for the conspiracy charge.

One way or another,
Daniel Green's going to prison

for a very long time.

Joey: Since Larry Demery
pled guilty before trial,

he was already convicted
of first-degree murder.

Rogers:
So, they were both convicted
of first-degree murder

and got life sentences
by separate juries.

Joey: The day after the jury
found Daniel Green

guilty of first-degree murder,

Frances Weller conducted
a phone interview with him.

Weller: When I walked away
from that interview,

I thought, "Someone could
almost say he's being skillful

and playing psychology
at his best,

but he's guilty as hell."

Gagliano:
"How It Really Happened"

requested comment
from Daniel Green,

and this is the statement
provided by his new attorney.

♪♪

Scoop: I think the most
important thing we need to learn

about Michael Jordan
and James Jordan's relationship

is that it is a love story.

It's a love story
between a father and son.

Rose: You think of
Michael Jordan, this huge icon,

who was perhaps,
at that point in time,

the most well-known person
on the planet,

and he would melt
when he would see his dad.

Scoop: They were able to share
that ride together.

James was still proud
of his son as a son,

not necessarily
the Michael Jordan,
the global icon,

just proud of his son as a son.

And even in James Jordan's
passing,

I am certain James Jordan
is still a very big part

of who Michael Jordan is today.

Each summer since 1993
marks another anniversary

since James Jordan's death.

If anything, his famous son
has gone on to successes

that surely would have increased
the beaming pride of a father --

three more NBA championships,
NBA ownership,

and the expansion of MJ's brand
into the billions.

Michael has spoken of
his father's

ongoing presence in his life,

special moments
that come in the form

of silent inner thoughts.

They are MJ's loving memories

of the way the two
would always talk together.

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.
Good night.

♪♪