All language subtitles for Mother.Undercover.S01E01.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH.Hi

- My name is Lisa.

[dramatic music]

[siren wailing]

I am a mother.

One of my sons was shot dead.

I tracked down his killer.

And this is how I did it.

[dramatic rock music]

♪♪ ♪♪

REPORTER:
A man was shot to death

right in front
of a group of people

while leaving a nightclub
in North Philadelphia.

Police say the shooting
was even captured on video,

but they're still having
no success in finding

the person responsible.

LISA: I thought about
RJ's dreams and goals,

and I thought about
my little boy.

I couldn't let this person

who caused so much harm
and pain just walk away.

I was obsessed.
I became obsessed.

I was like,
it will not be unsolved.

And I decided,
I'm gonna have to do

the groundwork, the footwork.

I started doing
my own surveillance.

I went undercover quietly

in the middle of the night,
dawn hours.

My goal was to get
as much information

to give to the detectives
so they can have easier access

to any potential witnesses
in order to try and identify

who the murderer was.

I wanted him to be scared.

I wanted him to know
this person that you killed,

you picked the wrong one.

You picked the wrong one,

and you messed
with the wrong mother.

And I was coming for you.

[siren wailing]

REPORTER: It's 5:30
on this Saturday, April 9.

Here are some of the stories
that we're following

for you this morning...

LISA: I lived in North
Philadelphia at the time.

But I decided to take
a trip to see my mom.

We did some outings,
went to lunch.

I called it an evening.

It was around 11:00, 11:30,
and I took a shower,

and I went to bed.

And I wanted to sleep late,
so I put my phone on vibrate.

[suspenseful music]

JOSE:
RJ came around, uh,

we talked for a little bit.

He might have had
a bite to eat.

He was gonna go out
with a couple friends

to shoot some pool.

He borrowed $10, $20 from me.

I went to sleep, I had
to work the next morning,

and, uh, he went on his way to
shoot pool with his friends.

[upbeat dance music]

LISA:
North Philadelphia is known

for its marginalized
community.

It's a richness
of culture there,

and it's a richness
of Latin community,

but it was an area where I know

it's easy to find
harm's way there.

[phone ringing]

[suspenseful music]

JOSE: I received
the phone call from my sister

that RJ had been shot and that
he was at Temple Hospital.

I was just shocked.

Along the way,
I was just praying

that he was just shot,
but he would be all right.

LISA:
I heard the phone vibrate.

Turned over,
phone vibrates again.

[phone buzzing]

I said, I'm gonna turn it off.

When I picked it up, I had
two missed calls from Jose

and one missed call
from RJ's aunt.

I knew something bad
had happened.

The phone rang again,
and it was Jose.

And I answered it.

[siren wailing]

JOSE: Two detectives
walked up to me.

They told me,
I'm sorry for your loss...

[somber music]

And walked away.

I didn't know what to feel,

how to feel, what to do.

I just crouched down and cried.

He's not coming back.
He's gone.

Then I called Lisa.

LISA: Jose told me,
Lisa, RJ's gone.

And I said,
what do you mean he's gone?

And he said,
RJ's gone, he's been shot.

And I said, I screamed, no.

And I hung up the phone
and I just threw

the cell phone
across the room.

And I was talking to myself,
saying, Lisa, wake up, Lisa,

wake up, you're in a
nightmare, wake up.

And then Luis called me
from the scene

of the crime, my oldest son.

And he told me, Mom, it's true.

There is yellow tape here
everywhere.

And when are you
getting home, Mom?

My whole world just crashed.

It was like,
this can't be happening.

How am I gonna survive this?

You're not supposed
to bury your children.

They're supposed to bury you.

I grew up in Philadelphia, PA.

Had my first son, Luis, at 19,

and then had Christopher at 21.

And RJ was born.

I unwrapped the receiving
blanket, counted his fingers.

Remember looking at his big,
beautiful brown eyes,

full head of hair.

His name's Raymond,
originally,

and he was a ray of light
and sunshine.

- RJ was a loving,
beautiful baby.

Loved him--loved him since the
first time I put eyes on him.

- RJ was just full of smiles.

RJ will light up a room.

- It's gonna be
a great day today.

It's already been good.

You know, be sipping
on the coffee.

Me, I'm on, like, my third cup.

- He was protective
over his family.

And if I needed him,
I knew he was there,

because we were tight.

- My mom is a hater.
She think we taking a picture.

It's the video camera.
[laughs]

LISA: Take a picture!
Take a picture!

- I got it, yo.

LISA:
He adored music.

He would write lyrics.

He would be writing songs,
even as a kid.

He referred to himself
as Hommi.

That was RJ's rap battle name.

He was always
very affectionate.

He would say, if no one has
told you they love you today,

I love you.

For Latinos,
family is everything.

Um, you take care
of your family.

[suspenseful music]

♪♪ ♪♪

We get to the
coroner's office.

We went into this room,

and there was a window
with blinds.

And RJ's body was laying there

with a white sheet
covered to his shoulder.

And I think I was in a state
of shock at that point.

And I said, yeah,
that's--that's RJ.

And I said, okay,
it's time to go.

And at that point, I wanted
to know who murdered my son.

So I was calling the detective
over and over again.

The detective, when I did get
ahold of him, he told me,

we don't have a lead yet
on the case.

We'll keep you informed.

Don't call us, we'll call you.

- Well, we knew that
there were family members

that were hurting,
and they were

relying on us to do our job.

And the investigation
was already in motion.

We're looking
for surveillance cameras

outside of that bar where he
was shot to see if we could

identify vehicles
that were driving

shortly after that murder.

Of course,
we're collecting evidence

on the crime scene, as well,

that may give us clues
as to who we're looking for.

[siren wailing]

REPORTER:
It has been a violent day,

meanwhile,
across Philadelphia.

Just before 3:00 a.m.,
officers on patrol

heard gunshots in the area
of the 2400 block

of South 24th Street.

LOUIS: North Philadelphia
is notoriously known

as the Badlands.

♪♪ ♪♪

It's known for some of the
purest and cheapest heroin.

Hand in hand with the
drug trade goes violence.

Just the sheer volume
of shootings and murders

that happen every day
is completely overwhelming.

And unfortunately,
some crimes are never solved.

- It was a kid in the hood
that got shot,

so it wasn't important.

You get caught
in the wrong spot,

you're a Latino
in a bad neighborhood,

bad things can happen.

And in the back of my mind,
I'm thinking,

RJ's case is gonna be forgotten

if I don't stay involved.

It was a murderer
in the streets

and I needed to find out
who took my son.

I didn't know where
I was gonna start.

I had no clue.

I just knew I had to start.

REPORTER: A gunman
opens fire and committed

a horrific mass shooting,
and it was several dead,

including the suspect.

We'll bring you the latest.

LISA:
I asked Jose

who were the friends
that were with him

the night that he got killed?

Jose told me that it was
Gunner and White Boy.

I told Jose, all right, I wanna
go to your sister's house,

because they hang out there.

And Jose was like,
what are you doing?

And I said, we need
to find out what happened.

And the start is
with the individuals

that were with him that night.

So then I went
to the sister's house

and I told her to give
the message to the friends

that I wanted them
to tell me what happened.

LISA:
We went to Jose's house.

Gunner comes in, says,
I'm here to speak to RJ's mom.

Now my heart is racing.

And I'm like, oh, my God,
I'm gonna talk

to someone who was there.

Told me there was a fight.

- Well, RJ's friend told us
the more people he put down,

the more people kept
coming towards him.

And he was just pushing
them off best he could.

This one guy, they never spoke,

they didn't have
no disagreement,

just walked up to him
and shot him.

[gunshot]

LISA: At that point, I said,
what does he look like?

And he told me,
he said he was chubby,

he's not that tall.

And he told me that he had
a long beard and curly hair.

And he was Latino.

I said, well, Gunner,
can you please just call?

And I begged him,
I begged Gunner,

can you please call the cops,

can you please
tell the detectives,

tell them everything you know.

And he told me that he was
not gonna tell the cops.

There is a street code
that they follow.

You don't snitch, you just
handle it in the streets.

[suspenseful music]

We're gonna get
street retaliation.

And I said, I don't want
street retaliation.

I wanna see that man
in handcuffs.

I wanna go to court.

I wanna see
that murderer charged.

I don't want him dead.

I don't want another mother
to suffer from a loss.

[phone rings]

LOUIS: Witnesses are reluctant
to come forward

because there's a price to pay
for cooperating with police,

and they're putting
their own lives in danger.

Not all these people
are willing to do that,

to risk it.

- It's a thing that happens in
our community, unfortunately.

They feel like if they snitch,
they're going to be dead,

or they're gonna
come after their family,

and they don't feel protected.

So her fight was
to do it the proper way

and do it the right way.

♪♪ ♪♪

LISA: While we were
at Jose's house,

another one of RJ's
friends shows up.

I said, do you know anything?

At that point,
she tells me there's a video.

And I said, a video of what?

What do you mean
there's a video?

And she says, there's a video
of the actual shooting,

and it's on social media.

♪♪ ♪♪

It was on Facebook, Snapchat,
and Instagram.

My heart starts racing,
because now I'm thinking,

I'm gonna look
at the shooting of my son.

But also,
another light bulb goes off.

I'm gonna possibly see
witnesses that were present

while the shooting happened.

And my hope was that the video
captured the shooter.

I immediately call
the detective,

told him I had a video,

and I sent the links
to my son, Luis.

And Luis immediately, he
started looking at the videos.

Can you see the
shooter in the video?

That's my first question.
Can you see the shooter?

[indistinct chatter]

PERSON:
Ooh, ooh, shit! Ooh, shit!

LISA: And he says, Mom,
you really can't

see a clear shot of the face.

At this point, I actually
look at the video.

[indistinct chatter]

PERSON:
Ooh, ooh, shit! Ooh, shit!

LISA:
I see RJ.

I see there's a scuffle.

[overlapping voices]

PERSON:
They out here drawing.

They mixing and shit,
they mixing.

- I hear people talking.

Oh, look,
there's a fight happening.

PERSON 2:
The wretchedness, damn.

LISA:
He looks to the right.

And then as he
looks to the left,

you see the shooter walk up.

He sees the shooter,
he sees the gun.

And right there,
the shooter pulls the trigger.

[overlapping voices]

[gunshot]

PERSON 3:
Oh, we out of here.

LISA:
My son just drops.

You hear witnesses saying,
oh, they got shot,

the boy got shot.

But you don't hear anyone
screaming, call 911.

So as I'm seeing this, my mind
is going through this video,

this is gonna be what's
gonna get us to this killer.

This is the tool.
This is what we need.

Not only do I
have to bury my son,

but I also
have to watch his death.

[overlapping voices]

Over...

PERSON:
Ooh, shit!

LISA:
And over...

PERSON 2:
Damn.

LISA:
And over again...

PERSON 3:
Oh, we out of here.

LISA:
To identify witnesses.

But I knew that
this was the last thing

I can do for RJ to get
information to the detectives

so they could find his killer.

♪♪ ♪♪

I was raised
in a single family.

Well, my mother
was a single mother.

We had domestic violence
in my home,

and at the age of about 20,
I turned to drugs.

I turned to using cocaine.

I, um, enjoyed the feeling
of it, because it

made me forget that trauma
that I had not dealt with.

I was in the midst
of addiction,

and I knew that I was going
really rock bottom.

Looking at RJ and trying
to do right by RJ

was my motivation
to stop using.

I went and got
my high school diploma

and I got a good paying job
as a frontline worker

in the social work field.

RJ saved me from the streets,

and he saved me
from addiction.

He did.

How can I not honor
his life by trying

to find out who took his life?

REPORTER: There has been
so much violence

and heartbreak in America
after multiple mass shootings

have ripped families
and communities apart,

one after the other.
The latest...

LISA: Me and my son Luis
started working together,

working the case.

We start trying
to identify witnesses.

And I was taking pictures
of the actual video

while it's rolling...

[camera shutter clicking]

So that we can
enlarge their faces.

And I told Luis,
see who comments

on the videos that was there.

If they said, yeah,
I was there,

or yeah, I seen the boy
get shot.

I printed everything out.

And I literally had
a room in my house

that was focused
on RJ's investigation.

♪♪ ♪♪

And on this wall,
I had a mapping process

that I did of witnesses,
because I wanted

to see how it pieced together.

I'm talking to the detectives.

They're telling me
they have no suspect.

LOUIS: Initially, detectives
were able to get some names

of people who were there.

But at that time,
people weren't willing

to come forward and tell us
the name of the shooter,

despite the fact that
some of these people

were no less than
an arm length away from him

when he pulled the trigger.

It was simply disheartening.

LISA: And I decided,
I'm gonna have to do

the groundwork, the footwork.

[keyboard clicking]

My goal here was, okay,
identify the witnesses first.

Follow them.

Hang out in their locations
to give that information

to the detectives.

I started doing
my own surveillance.

♪♪ ♪♪

Based on the information
that I got

from the stills
and the Facebook

and through my research,
I identified areas

where potential witnesses
hung out.

Then I would do surveillance
in the targeted locations.

I didn't take
Christopher with me.

I didn't take anyone with me.
I went on my own.

And guess what?
I could become the target.

Because it is the ghetto,
it's the hood.

- When my mom came to me
about the fact of,

she wanted to take it
to the neighborhood,

take it to the area where
he was shot and killed,

I was skeptical.

Depending on what area
she was going into,

because we're talking
about North Philadelphia here.

We're talking
about the Badlands.

We're talking about
high drug and gun violence.

- I had to be
discreet about it,

and there was times when I
had to just park and follow

individuals and try to identify
their home locations

based on where
they were hanging at.

It was unsafe, but it was
a risk I was willing to take

to get witnesses.

♪♪ ♪♪

[siren wailing]

I was doing
surveillance quietly

in the middle of the night.

I wasn't concerned
at that point about my safety.

My obsession
to identify this murderer

was so much stronger
than my fear.

That was my drive
that ignited that fire.

JOSE:
Some of these neighborhoods,

you don't walk in
and ask questions, you know.

They could have taken her down
any time, any moment.

LISA:
I had to change my attire.

So I would put, like,
something on my head,

like hats, or I did, like,

turban kind of style,
scarves on my head.

I had to be strategic.

♪♪ ♪♪

There was so many witnesses
that I identified.

[keyboard clicking]

There was one lady that
worked in a supermarket

like a half block down
from where RJ was murdered.

She was a cashier.

I went a couple of times
to that supermarket

and selected that cashier.

And guess what?
I started a conversation.

Little by little,
by the third time, I'm like,

did you hear about that
shooting in B and Allegheny?

I knew she was there.

"Yeah, I did.

I know about the shooting.
I was there."

Oh, you was?

Did you see anything?

She described
the same stock and build.

Didn't give me
details of the face.

So I knew a little information.

CHRISTOPHER: In our community,
when things doesn't seem

like they're going your way,
the next best thing

is try to take things
in your own hands.

And she did.

- Gunner's friend had
given me one video,

but then when we
looked at social media,

we found two additional
videos from different angles.

[keyboard clicking]

There was another gentleman.

His comment said,
"I was so close

that the body fell on me."

That person, in my mind,

was close enough
to see the shooter.

So I was targeting
that individual.

I went into that Facebook
and I identified people

who were friends
to some friends that I knew.

I went to one lady and I said,
hey, by any chance,

do you know this individual?

Yeah, I do, I know him.

And I said, do you know
where he lives?

She said, look, I don't
have his information,

but I have
his mother's information.

So I got the mother's address.

Then I found out where
the mother went to church.

Then I spoke
to RJ's grandmother,

because they had
an associated church.

And apparently, this mother

had asked for prayer
at church,

because her son had been
present at a shooting

with a gun in B and Allegheny.

So at this point, I'm thinking,
that's the shooter.

♪♪ ♪♪

He was dark skinned,
had an afro, had the beard,

but he didn't have
the stocky build.

So that was the only thing
that was off.

♪♪ ♪♪

I was putting
this puzzle together,

and every little piece
and information

that I got, it just connected.

And I would go home
and connect another address

or another person in order
to try and identify

who the murderer was.

[phone ringing]

So my niece called me.

She was upset about RJ's death,
and she mentioned it

when a coworker approached her.

The coworker told her
that her sister

had helped someone
who got shot on that same day

at that same location.

I immediately wanted
to talk to them to find out

what happened that night
with RJ, just in case

they know who the killer is.

[line trilling]

TRACY: My phone rang.
It was Lisa on the other end.

She wanted to know
what happened.

It was actually just a regular,
active, beautiful night.

[upbeat music]

You know, people were
out in the streets.

It's Philadelphia.

You know, it is a city
that loves its sports,

loves its people,
great nightlife.

I was in the nightclub
downstairs

with a friend
celebrating her birthday.

Being that my friend's
boyfriend owned the bar,

we closed the bar at night,
so it was fairly late.

We were leaving,
closed the gates.

And then you just hear
a loud pop and screaming.

[gunshot]

I just remember people
standing over RJ's body,

but nobody was doing anything.

And I knew I had to help.

LISA: She said he was
laying on the ground.

She went to help him.
She said RJ was awake.

He looked dazed.

She told me he had the
biggest beautiful brown eyes.

[somber music]

TRACY: I looked down at him.
He looked confused.

He was there for a moment,
and then one last blink,

and you can see that, you know,
he was no longer there.

Then I proceeded
to do CPR for him.

As doing so, I just started
screaming, call 911.

[siren wailing]

Cops finally got there,
which felt like forever.

That's when the cops
do what they--

they scoop and carry,
grabbed him,

threw him in the back
of the cruiser, and took off.

[siren wailing]

Unfortunately, I didn't
see the act of violence.

I was no help of being able
to identify

the person who had
done this to RJ.

Um, just my portion
of afterwards.

I feel bad still.

I hurt for the pain that she
has of not having her son RJ.

Um, I wish it were different.

- It felt good to know
that my son wasn't alone

on the cold ground,
dying by himself,

just looking around.

She was RJ's Earth angel.

And I'm forever
grateful to her.

TRACY: She specifically
wanted to thank me

for being there for her son.

The one line that she did say
to me was, um...

"It was nice knowing that
my son came into this world

"in a woman's arms

and had passed
in a woman's arms."

Um...

that kind of will
always stick with me.

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

LISA: So RJ, as a teenager,

started making
his own choices.

He was using weed,
and this weed was leading him

to different paths.

And he started spending more
time in North Philadelphia.

It is an area where you
see homelessness,

where you see
prevalent drug addiction.

He started getting more
withdrawn from the family

and becoming more
into his circle of friends.

CHRISTOPHER:
RJ, I guess, started changing

once my mom and his dad
got divorced.

That, I really think,
affected him.

He started gravitating
more towards the streets

than he was before.

LISA: I knew that the choices
that he was making

could put him in harm's way.

And once he did get
locked up for selling weed.

And at a point,
I told RJ, the streets

are gonna either take your life
or it's taking your freedom.

[sentimental music]

RJ became a father at the
age of, I believe he was 19.

And he had JoJo, his daughter.

He started shying away
from the drug dealing

and started doing
some construction work.

And he wanted
to be a good father.

I felt ecstatic.

I felt that RJ
was gonna be safe again,

that he was removing himself
from harm's way.

- It was his time to leave all
the childhood stuff behind

and become the man that
we all knew that he could be.

[line trilling]

LISA: I got to a point
with the detectives

where I was calling and I
wasn't getting a response.

So at that point,
I wrote to his superior.

The detectives
finally called me.

And they told me they would
meet me at my place of work.

[car horns honking]

LOUIS: After the shooting,
we ran down every witness,

every lead we had,
but were in a sense, hopeless,

because we weren't
getting answers.

[suspenseful music]

LISA: The first thing
I told them was,

I need you to contact me.

I've been calling you
every day.

And they said, well,
we really don't have much.

And they told me,
even if we have updates,

we can't share
that information with you.

And I said, okay, well,
you're not sharing with me,

I can share with you.

I had printed out
separate piles

of seven or eight witnesses.

And I started giving names.

They said, how did you
get that information?

And I said, the streets.
I've been out there.

If you go to the streets,
they'll talk.

- She was able to speak
with people in a way

that police detectives
are unable to do

out in those neighborhoods.

She was doing everything
that she could

on her end
to gather information,

to give us new leads
of individuals

we could identify
and speak with.

We're speaking
to these witnesses

and we brought them down
to the Homicide Unit,

tried to develop
a relationship, a rapport

with them, and make them feel
as comfortable as we could

and get the information
they had.

But none of those individuals
were willing to give us

even a clue to help the family
of RJ find justice,

just because of fear factor
of being labeled a snitch

and the consequences
that come from that

in those neighborhoods.

It's difficult
to remain positive.

There probably wasn't
a single night I went to sleep

where I wasn't thinking,
how can I find a way

to get a witness to come
forward and solve this murder?

LISA: I gave the detectives
names of witnesses.

I gave them videos
of the shooting...

[indistinct chatter]

And it didn't lead
to anything.

LISA:
I felt I hit a brick wall.

I felt that I was
hitting a dead end.

There was no more
connecting the dots.

[suspenseful music]

The investigation,
my research was stagnated.

I decided to take
a different approach.

I'm gonna reach out and see
if I can soften some hearts

of these witnesses.

And that's what I did.

♪♪ ♪♪

I wanted media coverage.

And my niece told me
about this journalist

that did an article
about retrieving a gun

very quickly in Philadelphia.

HELEN: Honestly,
when I first got the call,

I thought,
you know, this--the--

the numbers are not
on her side.

In a lot of ways,
Lisa did not differ

from a lot of the mothers
that I have followed.

But what Lisa had
was this fire in her.

Lisa was desperately
trying to keep her son

from being another statistic
in Philadelphia.

So we sat down, and she told me
all that she knew.

Uh, but really, the story
for me was about this mother

who was on a mission
to make sure

that she got justice
for her son.

- A man was shot to death right
in front of a group of people

while leaving a nightclub
in North Philadelphia.

Now the victim's mother
is asking for your help.

LISA: This person is walking
free in our streets,

and they can hurt your son,
your daughter, your child.

There's a murderer out there.

Helen Ubinas started tracking
me, started tracking my story.

[keyboard clicking]

That brought interest
to the other networks

and the news media.

- We hear one mother's
compelling story

and her courage
to fight for justice.

LISA: I wanted it to be known
to the whole community,

to Philadelphia,
I'm Lisa Espinosa,

and I'm looking
for my son's murderer.

BERT: There were
plenty of witnesses

that saw what happened,
and no one's coming forth.

- Yeah, in the
Latino community,

there's a snitch code.

They say snitches get stitches.

I wanted the killer to know,
I'm looking for you.

And I knew that
through that media outlet

and me making noise,
he was gonna hear.

Our community needs to get
together and get empowered

and go against
these individuals

who are cold-blooded killers.

I reached out to Roz,
Rosalind Pichardo,

Operation Save Our City.

Someone told me that
she did protests and marches

and she worked
with families of homicide.

ROSALIND: She told me
about RJ's death.

It was so close
to where I live.

It's, like, a couple blocks
from my house.

So this could be anyone
that I know, you know?

And I kind of connected
right away.

[sentimental music]

I've lost my boyfriend
to murder.

My ex-boyfriend,
he was shot himself, too.

And then I lost my brother,
Alexander Martinez, to murder.

When my brother was murdered,
uh,

we didn't get much information
from, like, the detectives.

So that's when Operation
Save Our City was born,

where we can
advocate for our own selves.

♪♪ ♪♪

- This is where
it all happened.

This is the club that RJ
was in on April 10, 2016.

And on the third white line
was where he was shot

and his body dropped.

And in that corner right there

is where I did
the first protest.

[dramatic music]

We started protesting
and marching

through the neighborhoods,
and all these mothers

were being introduced to me
that was telling me,

I lost my son, I lost my son.

I met a lady who lost her son
April 13, three days after RJ,

whose case is still unsolved.

PROTESTOR: What do we want?
ALL: Justice!

PROTESTOR: When do we want it?
ALL: Now!

PROTESTOR: What do we want?
ALL: Justice!

PROTESTOR: When do we want it?
ALL: Now!

LISA: And we asked people,
do you know of anything?

Have you heard
about this murder?

This murder happened
around the corner.

- Lisa put herself
in danger every single day

that she was investigating
her son's murder.

She may be knocking
on the door of the person

who's responsible
for killing her son.

REPORTER 1: Those taking part
in this group photograph

have all been impacted
by gun violence

on the streets
of Philadelphia.

REPORTER 2:
Because gun violence

has hit each one of them.

ROSALIND: There was just
something about her energy

not like any mother
that I've ever helped.

Although you can see
the pain in her eyes,

there was, like,
no stopping her.

There was no fear.

Because she was ruffling
a lot of feathers

in the neighborhood.

- I was worried they
had a killer right now

that was loose out
in the streets

who didn't care
about killing RJ.

So why would he care
about hurting

somebody else
within the family?

[tense music]

- I started getting anonymous
texts from unknown numbers.

"Stop talking, bitch."

"If you don't stop, we're
coming after your family."

"You're gonna die like your--
like your son."

At this point, though,
my family

started getting worried.

My sons got to a point
where they felt

I was making too much noise.

They said, well, Mom,
we lost RJ.

We don't wanna lose you.

Then I let my sons know,
I can't stop.

♪♪ ♪♪

I knew I was close because
I was already getting threats.

I knew that I was making
the killer uncomfortable.

Any information I got
from the protests

could lead
to the next location

to do targeted outreach

in different locations
within the city.

REPORTER 1: Now to the searing
heat here in the Northeast,

where they have extended
a heat emergency.

REPORTER 2: And we are slated
to hit 95 once again today.

It's almost unbelievable.

LISA:
We did a targeted outreach.

Hot summer day,
was a heat wave day.

And at this point,
I'm putting flyers on cars,

I'm putting flyers
in all the mailboxes.

And that day, I got a lead.

[suspenseful music]

Pulled someone aside who said,
you need to be careful.

The killer,
he's a drug dealer.

He's always walking
with a gun.

I said, come over here, well,
talk to me a little bit.

We'll pretend like we're
talking about the flyer.

I heard the killer
drives a car.

What's the car color?

He said, oh, he's driving
a two-tone gray Crown Regal.

And I said, well, tell me
a little bit more, come on.

And he tells me, he's known
by Fax, and he's known by G.

♪♪ ♪♪

But you gotta be careful.

He hangs out in 7th and Tioga.

He deals drugs.

And he also has a drug corner
a block down

on 6th Street
and Westmoreland,

a few blocks away
from where RJ was shot.

It gave me hope that I would
be able to give some more

detailed information
to the police

for them to make an arrest.

We're actually approaching
the area where the killer

had his drug corner.

He ran this drug corner here
in this corner right here.

We're on 6th and Allegheny now.

This is a very high drug
trafficking dangerous place

to be in the evenings.

I went by myself
to look for the car.

And I just looked
and looked and see

if anybody with that build
or with that curly hair

and the beard was selling
drugs at that location.

♪♪ ♪♪

As I'm getting
to the next corner

of the end of the street,

there's a group of people
that knew RJ.

And one individual
comes and tells me,

the killer hangs out
at a motorcycle club

in 5th and Westmoreland.

♪♪ ♪♪

[motorcycle engines roaring]

I organize a National Day of
Remembrance for murder victims

right there on that corner.

So we had many families
that came,

and they brought their
loved ones' belongings,

pictures of their loved ones.

If they were unsolved cases,
I asked them to bring

reward signs,
flyers to distribute.

- We had dealers, um,
who own most of the block, um,

the surrounding blocks
around it.

So it was very dangerous.

- If the killer
was in this area,

I wanted him to know that
I was a mother on a mission.

And I wanted justice.

When I heard that
his name was G or Fax,

I gave that information
to detectives.

When they told me that
he was a drug dealer,

I gave
that information to them.

When they told me he hung out
at the motorcycle club

in 5th and Westmoreland,
I gave that information.

All of this information
I have gathered,

the detectives are not
giving me any feedback.

I felt that the investigation
wasn't rolling fast enough.

They weren't getting
anyone in custody.

- It was a lot of frustration.

It was anger, questions.

But why the police
aren't doing anything.

But it made her stronger,

and it made her wanna fight
even more.

HELEN:
She was desperate.

She was begging, really,
begging reporters

to please tell her story.

I hoped that when
I wrote about Lisa,

people would understand that
this mother is not going away,

that I have her back.

I'm also not going away until
someone could help her

solve RJ's murder.

♪♪ ♪♪

[keyboard clicking]

LISA:
I appear on the cover

of "The Philadelphia
Inquirer."

Helen Ubinas does an article,
"Mother on a mission."

Now it's on the front page.

The pressure was on the cops.

The story's getting heard.

Philadelphia Police
Homicide Unit is gonna move.

There's something
has to happen.

Went to work.

5:00 I get a call.

Raymond's case has been given
to the Special Task Force.

Now there's five detectives
on the case.

We're gonna be working on it.

LOUIS: Things started
to develop very rapidly.

[phone rings]

Our real-time crime center

received an anonymous
phone call

from an individual
who had information

related to RJ's killing.

And that ignited a whole new
lead in the investigation.

[suspenseful music]

[gunshot]

♪♪ ♪♪

That led us
to Giovanny Perales.

Once we learned Giovanny
Perales was a suspect,

we were able to piece together
his cell phone records,

which showed he was hitting
off of cell towers

right at the area
of the crime.

And you could see
he was traveling away

from the crime scene
and then hitting off

of a different
cell phone tower

in the area of where we knew

he had an address,
where he lived.

Without Lisa's work through
the papers, through the media,

TV stations, and keeping it
on the forefront

of everybody's brains,

we may not have ever received
that anonymous phone call.

[siren wailing]

[dramatic music]

LISA: The detectives
sent me a text.

And they say, we're on our way
to charge a suspect.

And I'm like, oh, my God,
they're going, they're going,

they're going
to get this person.

[sirens wailing]

LOUIS:
He was staying at a home

not far from where
the murder took place.

♪♪ ♪♪

Detectives prepared
a search warrant.

And Giovanny Perales
was taken into custody.

LISA: And then about
two hours later, I get a text.

It says,
"The suspect is in custody

and has been
officially charged."

And at that point...

I let out such a scream.

It was just like,
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

It felt so good.

And that was liberating.

- She said, Christopher,
they got him, they got him.

It's over.

It was a relief
that my mom can now

finally start grieving.

[somber music]

HELEN:
The fact that this one mom

was able to get some answers,

some accountability,
some justice,

wasn't just something for Lisa.

Suddenly I thought,
there's a reason why you

keep writing these columns.

It's not a waste of time.

Something could happen.

Something did happen.

- I remember I was excited,

but I still wasn't content

until we heard what that
final verdict was going to be.

LISA: It's the preliminary
hearing day.

We're sitting there,
they bring out RJ's murderer.

[gavel banging]

I sat in the front.
I wanted him to see me.

Because I knew
he knew me already.

They said his name,
Giovanny Perales.

He was known
in the streets for G.

Giovanny Perales
pleaded guilty.

He chose not to say anything.

So I never got
a response from him.

He came across as having
no remorse at all.

♪♪ ♪♪

CHRISTOPHER:
I miss RJ's presence,

his laughter.

I miss my little brother.

Um...

Can't get one back.

Don't want one back.
[laughs]

Don't need another one.

Um, but I think his aura

is primarily
what I miss from him.

- This quilt has the
clothes he was wearing

the day that he was murdered.

The little hole in the
middle of the flower

is actually where the bullet
pierced his chest.

At times, I just wanna
feel his warmth and his hug,

so I put it around me.

And the warmth of the blanket,
I just close my eyes

and feel like it's him
just holding me.

- I just keep the good memories
that I have with him.

There were a lot of them,
there were a lot of them.

What I miss most about RJ
is his smile and personality.

LISA: So in aiming
to find RJ's murderer,

a ripple effect happened.

REPORTER: You're looking live
at a rally in Fairmount Park.

It's all part of
National Gun Violence

Awareness Wear Orange Day.

This comes as violence
in our area is up.

LISA: I wanted to work with
families of unsolved cases,

so my protesters didn't stop.

I was determined that
I had to live again for RJ.

So now I honor his memory.

I tell my story,
my survivor story,

that gun violence is real
and it could touch your home.

We all are bonded by our
grief and by our loss.

But life continues, and if
the shoe was on the other foot

and it was me that
had been murdered,

I would want my family to live
the life I couldn't live.

♪♪ ♪♪