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This all began when Patricia Harris

was unable to get in touch with her son, Jonathan,

who lived on the first floor of her home.

Work time, work hours started.

I saw his car outside so I knew he was home.

I called him.

No answer.

Jonathan and Patricia had an understanding,

in which there would always be a text of communication

saying that they were okay.

But after not hearing from him for a long period of time,

she decided to go check on him.

He had his own place.

I couldn't get in without coming through

his front door.

The door was cracked.

Wide enough that you could almost walk in

without pulling it any further.

Jonathan?

Jonathan, you --

Jon! Jon!

He was laying on his stomach, right at the door.

Hard as a brick.

Heavier than I've ever seen him in my life.

I was saying, "Jon, Jon, Jon, Jon, get up, Jon.

Wake up, Jon."

And then I called 911.

It's just a chilling, chilling recording

and you hear her heart break on the tape,

it's just, gut-wrenching recording.

Jonathan Harris grew up in Montgomery county area,

lived with his mother and his brother, Lloyd.

I think we struggled, we knew what struggle was like.

You know, my mother going through divorce,

and the money issues that come along with that.

My mother wanted to give us great opportunities.

You boys be careful.

I was always big brother, he was always little brother.

But Jonathan was like the king of the cul-de-sac.

I wasn't Lloyd, I was Jonathan's brother, you know.

Hey, guys.

'Sup, Lloyd? Hey, Jonathan, what's up man?

You're on my team.

He was a real charismatic, fun, loving,

always kind of popping from one house to the next.

We met in elementary school.

He was kind of the funny kid, and I was the quiet one.

And, you know, we started hanging out.

And then that's when I got out of my shell.

Then he got really, really sick one day.

Our whole lives just completely changed overnight.

Jonathan, come on. We're gonna be late.

Mom, I don't feel well.

Baby, you are burning up.

And I'm itchy again.

He was 12 years old.

He was having these attacks, you know scratching

and what have you.

What was happening is, the fluid in his body

was overpowering him.

Is everything okay?

We got to get him to the doctor. Help me get him to the car.

I remember the car ride to the hospital.

And he was sitting in the back seat,

just slumped and fragile and frail

and he couldn't move on his own.

I never forgot that.

And that's when the doctor discovered

that he was born with one kidney.

I got on my knees and I said,

"god, this is the worst thing that'll ever happen to me.

It's way over my head. Would you please take over?"

He was on the verge of dying.

His kidney had completely failed him.

And my mother had been trying to give him a kidney,

but she wasn't compatible.

And I was like could I give him a kidney?

Mom.

I can do it.

I was scared, but, I knew I was saving my brother's life.

The whole process of preparing for the transplant

took over a year, but they did it in 2002.

Can you imagine two sons

on the operating table at the same time?

But that was all right, 'cause we came through it.

I got sent home after two days.

I was in pain, I was swollen, and I couldn't move.

But he comes home, and he just runs through

the house, ripping and running.

Goes outside and plays.

He was insane.

On your Mark, get set, go!

He got to be normal again,

and I think he was just the best version

of himself afterwards.

Jonathan wins.

Yeah, yeah!

Because realizing that you're not promised tomorrow

can really change your perspective.

And I think from that point on,

he just lived life in such a amazing way.

I'm sorry.

What can we do?

There is something you should consider.

It's called a kidney swap.

This may help get Jonathan a kidney sooner.

It's made up of matching families

willing to donate to other families in need.

Where do we sign up?

I told the doctor, you can take my kidney.

So Patricia donated her kidney to the exchange program,

and another donor who was compatible with Jon,

agreed to give him a kidney in return.

There was like 32 families.

So 16 were getting kidneys and 16 were donating kidneys.

16 recipients, 16 donors,

giving 16 people second,

or in Jonathan's case, third, chances at life.

I will move heaven and earth for my son.

But more than that, I can improve the quality of life

for someone else.

Gonna do this.

I'll see you on Sunday at the house, okay?

Having that second kidney just kind of gave him

the strength again.

And he was on his way.

I guess that just means I was put on this earth

for bigger things, better things.

When he got the second kidney,

he wanted to move in his own place,

but the funny part about it was,

he didn't want to move that far from me.

So my mother decided to make him

his own apartment or house.

And he loved it.

Wake up!

To have his mother come down and see this,

this was a devastating event.

Jonathan! Jon!

There was a belt wrapped around his arm

that had no place being around his arm.

I was so desperate for him to be alive.

I couldn't give up my baby.

She helped me turn him over and I heard him.

He gurgled.

That to me was, all right. He's not dead.

No!

That to me was, all right. He's not dead.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

you get a 911 call that comes in.

It's an extremely frantic woman who's screaming about her son.

26-year-old Jonathan Harris.

When she does turn over his body,

his body makes a sound.

And she holds on to this hope that her son is still alive.

At that point, your mind goes and everything else.

Nothing really makes sense.

And when she's waiting and they bring

the ambulance crew in, she still has that hope

that her son's gonna walk away from this.

I just kept saying I need my baby.

It wasn't -- I didn't have time to really

process it.

That's my baby.

When the gurney came out without his body on it,

my first instinct was, "my god. She was right.

He's dead."

But they said to me they're working on him in there.

And I see how they said it and why they would say it.

But I didn't think he was dead.

The sound Patricia heard when they turned him over

was in fact, just air escaping the body.

The truth of the matter was Jonathan was deceased.

And Maryland state police detectives

were called to the scene.

The victim was lying near the door.

He didn't appear to have any obvious fatal wounds to him.

Just some superficial wounds to his face.

And just a small amount of blood on the scene.

Right off the bat, there was obviously

electronics missing,

you could literally see where a TV used to be.

The belt around his wrists indicates to me

that he was being restrained at some point in time.

The door wasn't busted in, there was no damage to it.

So he either let them in, or they had access

to his apartment and he went in and they were already in there.

The scene is processed by our forensic services section.

It took all night.

Fingerprinting, collecting swabs,

Jonathan's computer is gone.

His PlayStation's gone.

His cellphone's missing.

His wallet's missing.

His key's are missing.

So there's lots of stuff that we can kind of

look into to see if we can potentially

identify a suspect in this case.

Lets check out the pawn shops, give them a list,

see if anything pops up.

Lets also get someone tracking the credit cards.

I'm gonna stay on the scene,

you want to check in with the mom,

see if she knows anything?

Yeah, got it.

We eventually made our way over to the neighbor's house.

I was completely under the impression

that Patricia knew he was dead.

Hello?

Detective kucsan, I'm here to see Patricia Harris.

Yes, come on in.

Thanks.

Patricia?

There's a detective here to see you.

Where's my boy?

Ms. Harris. I'm sorry for your loss.

No.

And they said it like I knew all the time.

And I just screamed out.

No.

No, that was my first reality.

Not my baby.

Not after he got his second kidney

and he was born again.

When Patricia was finally able to talk,

she explained that she had spoken to Jonathan

the morning before, and that everything was normal.

Nothing for the rest of the day.

That was unusual.

This is a difficult question to ask, but we need to know.

Did Jonathan have any enemies?

My god, no, no, no.

Can we talk about his financials?

Patricia explained, she was joint owner

of Jonathan's bank accounts and credit cards.

So if anyone tried to use the credit cards

from his stolen wallet, she'd be able to see it.

So we asked Patricia to go to the bank,

because she can go right away versus waiting

for the subpoena, that might take a little bit of time.

Can you have your bank and your credit card companies

call me at this number?

You can call any time, too.

Detective?

Who would do this to my boy?

We're gonna find out.

We will.

I had to work an event the night before

until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning.

So I slept in.

By the time I had waken up, I had just gotten 20 calls.

Text messages.

All very vague, something's wrong with Jonathan.

And for whatever reason, I knew that this was the one.

I called my mother, "what? What's going on?"

With tears in my eyes already.

She told me that Jonathan is dead.

My body just completely went numb.

I was crying, couldn't move, just the worst pain

I'd ever felt.

The one person I loved the most in this world,

had just been murdered.

And that was the most devastating, sad moment

of my entire life.

Of my entire life.

In silver spring, Maryland,

Jonathan Harris was found dead in his apartment by his poor mom

who lived upstairs.

Jon, you here?

God!

Jon!

Judging by the belt that was found around his wrists,

it appeared that he was tied up as part of some sort of

robbery or home invasion or something.

My god, there's a guy laying dead in the door,

door is open, maybe they knew him,

maybe they didn't.

Maybe somebody knocked on the door

and he opened the door and they killed him.

For what, a computer and a PlayStation and his wallet?

We wanted to track Jonathan's phone,

because his phone's missing.

We subpoena that.

We started trying to meet with

some of Jonathan's family and friends.

We were just trying to get a picture of

Jonathan's life actually.

Investigators are always gonna ask the question

who would want to hurt this person.

No one?

Seriously, the dude was like, perfect.

Everyone loved him.

People at work, people who went to his open Mikes.

Was he a singer?

Rapper.

Was pretty good, too.

No, he didn't have any problems with anybody.

I need you to think.

Jonathan sounds like a great guy.

But there must have been someone he was having trouble with.

No one.

Well...

What?

He did have an ex-girlfriend.

It didn't end well.

The only person that Jonathan Harris

had any issue with immediately before this event,

was an ex-girlfriend, by the name of Samantha Parker.

She was a little, I don't know.

Rough.

Not the type you'd expect Jonathan to be with.

What else can you tell me about her?

She described Samantha as someone who wouldn't

necessarily be the best person to be hanging around with.

She makes bad choices. She uses drugs.

Well, Jonathan was trying to help her out.

She didn't have anywhere else to stay.

Samantha had been in a little trouble.

I tried to trust my son.

To make the right decision.

He had been under my thumb for so many years.

And I wanted him to become a man.

He just wanted to help his friend

get back on their feet.

He just wanted to give a chance to someone

because he had been given so many chances.

It didn't work out. He asked her to leave.

Do you think Samantha could have done this?

No, no, I just don't see it.

Thanks for coming in.

I'd be shocked if I heard Samantha was involved.

I wouldn't think that his former girlfriend

could hurt him, because I know she did like Jonathan.

Would you have Samantha's number or her address

or have any idea where she might be staying?

She's probably on somebody's couch right now.

But I'll ask.

I'll ask around.

Nobody knew where Samantha Parker was at.

Nobody's talked to her for a bit of time.

The time of death was determined to be

somewhere around 24 hours before his mother found him.

So that would put the murder happening

on the morning of December 5th.

He showed signs of a strangulation event.

He had a fractured hyoid bone.

The cause and manner of death were

ruled to be homicide by asphyxia.

The level of force we're talking about

here is a powerful person.

Mark came to me and he said,

"Ms. Harris," he said,

"we would like to have a candlelight service in your yard

for Jonathan."

And they started coming.

And they started coming. And they started coming.

And as you came up, you took a candle,

and you lit it.

I heard a lot of stuff about him that I didn't know.

It was so beautiful.

Well, that's just like the kind of family we are.

Get hurt, come out stronger.

It just made me love my brother even more.

Patricia got us those bank and credit card records.

Yeah?

The detectives focused on the charges

made the morning of the murder.

One online from his apartment.

You know the killer wouldn't have done that. That was him.

But then there were a few others made away from the home.

Lets go check it out.

I want to know if Jonathan's using that card.

Because we don't know, so we have to go out

and view video.

At 8:04, he made a transaction at a fast-food establishment

nearby his house and you could see him on the video.

Detectives needed to go up to the physical location

of that gas station and pull that video.

We see a car drive up to a gas pump,

and Jonathan's credit card is used.

The transaction goes through at 10:17 in the morning.

There is an African-American man in the video

using his cards.

Who is that person?

who is that person?

After Jonathan Harris was found

strangled to death in his apartment,

Montgomery county, Maryland police learned that someone

had used his stolen credit cards

on the morning of his murder to put gas in a car

that wasn't his.

At that point in time, they got surveillance tape

of a large African-American man pumping gas into a silver car.

They didn't know who it was,

but that was the turning point in the case.

And there's a woman there.

Lets take a look at the camera footage

from inside the store.

That's definitely not Jonathan.

He's big enough to have done the strangulation.

And her.

You see a African-American female

enter the convenience store

to utilize the bathroom.

What was kind of distinctive about her,

she's carrying a redskins handbag.

And she was wearing tall black boots.

Maybe that's Samantha, the ex-girlfriend?

Files on my desk.

That's not her.

All right, push in on that angle.

There's the plate.

Dion sobotker, he has a couple of run-in's with the law.

But he's not someone with a violent past.

According to dmv records, Dion's last known

place of residence was about an hour south

of Jonathan's home town of silver spring.

We wanted his phone records, we want to know

who he's calling, who he's associated with,

if we can identify the female in the video.

We want to know if he was in the area at the time

that we believe the murder happened.

While investigators awaited the cellphone records,

they kept sobotker under surveillance

to make sure he didn't disappear or hurt anyone else.

Fortunately, he did neither.

And about that time, they got the GPS information

on Jonathan's missing cellphone.

They did track it and it went northbound and died.

It could have gotten disposed of.

They looked in the area and were unable to find that phone.

Start on the morning of the murder.

One number stands out because it it called 50 times

following the murder.

The detective was able to back track that number

and determine that that number, in fact,

belongs to latoya Morgan.

She's the one from the store.

The girl in the boots.

So, latoya Morgan also had a criminal history.

Petty theft, drug use, nothing significant.

When the police are able to get back the

court order information regarding GPS locations

of both Dion sobotker and latoya Morgan's phone.

Both of them are in the exact area of the murder

when it occurred.

But then we're, at least immediately, not able

to link them to Jonathan.

But when detectives checked every number

sobotker called, and the names associated

with those numbers, they finally uncovered

the connection they'd been looking for.

They go through Dion sobotker's call logs

on the date of the murder.

They see about 37 phone calls made to the person of interest

in this investigation.

Samantha Parker. Dion's been calling her.

A lot.

The victim's former girlfriend.

Samantha was incarcerated for a series of

thefts, shopliftings, a litany

of misdemeanor offenses here locally.

Thanks for speaking with us, Mark.

We need more information about Samantha Parker.

You know how Jon was rapping at different clubs, right?

Right.

They met there, and they seemed to

hit it off right away.

From a family of angels and a miracle saved me

thanks to my brother and the woman who raised me

defying death twice when the physical failed me

so I live life right and feelin' lyrical lately

Yo!

You did so good.

I mean, you had the crowd going crazy.

They loved you.

Nah, it was just my friends.

When I perform, they come out to support me.

Make me feel like a big deal.

I mean, you look like a big deal to me.

I'm Samantha.

I'm Jonathan.

Why don't you come meet my friends?

She was, kind of, Jonathan's first real girlfriend.

Jonathan asked me is she pretty.

I said, "yeah, she's pretty.

You know, hopefully she's a good person, too."

Jonathan was just trying to help her make a fresh start.

How was that working out?

Not so good.

What went on?

Right after they started dating, she got arrested.

When she got out of jail, Jonathan let her come

live with him because she had no place to go

and no place to stay.

I think a big trait that my brother had,

because he was in such a needy position for so long,

that he gravitated towards people that he could help.

Once Samantha's living with Jonathan,

I think in the beginning it was fine.

But maybe after two weeks, it started going down hill.

Thank god! Where were you?

I was just out chillin'.

So I call, I text. You ain't pickin' up the phone?

I was worried about you.

Nobody asked you to do all that, man.

You ain't my dad!

You're dad? For real?

I'm tired. You right. You right.

Thank you so much for checking on me.

I'm going to bed, man.

I ain't done talkin' with you.

I'm done talkin' with you.

And how'd it go from there?

Jon finally had enough,

and he put her stuff on the curb.

I know he did not put my stuff out on the curb.

Jonathan had kicked her out about end of September.

Jon! Jonathan!

Yo, you mind telling me why my stuff

is out on the curb right now?

It's time for you to move on.

Jon, what are you saying to me right now?

I'm done with this relationship.

I'm done with you using me.

Just leave.

Ain't nobody use -- what are you talkin' about?

Can you just please leave?

There was a fight between Jonathan and Samantha.

And then Samantha made some threats back toward Jonathan.

Leave? All right.

You'll be good and sorry by the time I'm done with you, Jon.

You're gonna be sorry about this!

You'll be good and sorry by the time I'm done with you, Jon.

Investigators knew all three suspects' phones

were near Jonathan's house at the time of the murder.

And they had video of Dion sobotker and latoya Morgan

using Jonathan's stolen credit cards

roughly two hours after his time of death.

After bringing all three suspects into custody,

the detectives attempted to interview Dion sobotker.

We need to ask you a few questions Dion.

Lawyer.

Come on, we want to hear your side of the story.

Could be your only chance.

I said I want my lawyer.

All right, have it your way, Dion.

What? I don't get no coffee?

With Dion refusing to talk, the detectives

then tried to talk to Samantha Parker.

She told them she knew Dion from mutual friends.

He had a side job of giving people rides for cash.

And she met latoya through Dion.

Samantha, we need to know what happened

at Jonathan's house.

I mean, I was there, but it wasn't my idea.

I didn't even see Jonathan that day.

She said Dion wanted to get some Christmas gifts.

Cheap.

And she said Jonathan would sell things.

They pulled up to Jonathan's house,

but she never got out.

And she says that latoya and Dion are the ones

who went in the house.

You're looking at a murder charge, and that's your story?

For some reason, you stayed in the car

when you're the only one that actually knew Jonathan?

Yeah.

Sit tight.

So, the investigator's last chance of obtaining

any truthful information in this case was latoya Morgan.

The woman at the convenience store with Dion

the day of the murder.

And finally, they had a suspect who was willing to talk

although latoya only knew some of what happened that day.

We have your phone records.

Your phone was near the house while

the murder was going down.

Tell us what happened. Start from the beginning.

Your right.

I was in the car outside.

I called Dion 'cause I needed a ride

to get to a funeral.

Hey, who's she?

Samantha

what's up?

She needs to make a stop first. Pick up something from her ex.

It's on the way to the funeral.

Don't make me late. I'm serious.

You'll be all right.

So, what happened in the house?

I have no idea.

But, I do know, I see the two of them

coming out with some bags and a big flat screen TV.

You done?

So done.

What happened next?

Stopped for gas.

Samantha pulls out a card out of a man's wallet.

Use this to get the gas, courtesy of my ex.

And it's that point that Ms. Morgan knew that

some kind of theft, at a minimum, had taken place.

I got to use the restroom.

There is nothing that latoya Morgan tells us

that is refuted in any way by the physical evidence,

which gave her a lot of credibility

from our perspective.

We served a search warrant at Dion's place,

and what we found there is

a pair of black and white sneakers.

Which are determined to have blood DNA evidence on them.

Our DNA lab determined that Mr. Harris' blood

is the blood that's recovered on Dion sobotker's shoes.

Also recovered at Dion sobotker's house

is a PlayStation.

It's later determined that PlayStation was

owned by Jonathan Harris.

Jonathan's wallet and credit cards were never recovered.

And police figured the suspects just tossed them somewhere.

On the morning of December 5th,

Jonathan went to a fast food place.

So, while Jonathan was away, Samantha and Dion

entered his apartment using the key Samantha kept

after Jonathan kicked her out.

Jonathan?

I'm confident that Samantha Parker's intent

in putting this together, was that she was there

to steal those things,

whether or not Jonathan Harris was behind that door.

That she was gonna get that stuff.

And he wasn't gonna stop her.

Samantha brought muscle with her, Dion's muscle.

I think Jonathan came home and they were already

in his house and he surprised them.

Ay, go get him!

Get off! Get off!

Give me something to tie him up with.

Get his hands! Get his hands!

Get off me!

I can't get --

hurry up!

You mix the right chemicals together,

you get an explosion, man.

And you mix these together, very caustic people,

and what happened? Someone dies.

Calm your ass down, boy!

I told you you'd be sorry.

All right, get the door! Get the door!

After we give our closing arguments,

the jury deliberates for about two hours

before they return a guilty verdict on

first-degree murder against Mr. Sobotker.

Unfortunately, Samantha Parker passed away

prior to our trial date in this case.

By the time she in, she had cancer, hepatitis,

and she went downhill very quickly.

We were not able to bring her to trial

to seek the justice for the Harris family

that we felt that they deserved.

My brother has a pretty awesome legacy.

People can only wish to have half the life

and touched half the people that he has.

And that helps me sleep at night.

I could break down any day.

I hurt real bad.

But I also stand.

This is what he said to me once --

I said, "Jonathan, what are you gonna do when I'm not here?"

He said, "well, mom, I'll think about what mom would do,

and then I'll do it."

So that's what I'm gonna do, I'll think about

what Jon would do, and then I'll do it.