All language subtitles for Chicago.PD.S09E20.1080p.WEB.h264-GOSSIP-NHI

- It's just that memory,
it's a tricky thing.

It's complex, unpredictable.

Right now, Makayla says
she hardly remembers a thing.

- Right, because she was
drugged when she was taken.

- Phenobarbital, they kept her
asleep the whole time.

- I understand that.

But that makes it
even more complicated.

At this moment, she seems
to be coping remarkably well.

- Why does it have
to be "seems"?

She's sleeping better.

She's on a routine.

She's... she's happy.

I don't want to keep
putting a label on my kid

that she's not well
when she is.

She's okay.

- I agree.

But I do want you
to be prepared

that she might remember.

- Okay, so... why?

Help us out, Doc.

I mean, will she or won't she?

- I can't tell you
that for certain.

It's possible she may never
remember the events fully.

It might feel like a dream
to her, something abstract.

Or it might be images in
her mind, like photographs.

Or one day, it very well
could come back lucid, real.

I wish I could give you
a clearer answer than all that,

but I can't.

I just want you
to know that over time,

her memory will shift.

They do for all of us.

- She does seem a little
like a ticking time bomb.

- Yeah, well, she's not.
- She's fine.

- I know.

- I wanted to talk to you
about something else.

The building manager
called me yesterday

about the three-bedroom that
we put the deposit down on.

It's gonna be ready next week.

I was thinking I'd still
take it for Makayla and I.

- Really?

- Yeah, you know, unless
you want it for yourself.

- No, it's too big for just me.

- Yeah, I mean, bad things
happened in that place.

I think it'd be good
to get her out of it.

Clean slate.

♪

- All right, well,
I should get to my dad's.

He's been in Florida
for the last seven weeks,

so you can imagine his fridge.

- Ooh, that's a fun,
fun treat for you.

- I know, right?
- All right, Mak.

I've got to peace out, kid.

- Okay.
- Hold up.

We caught a scene.

Makayla gets
to see Disco Bob's?

- Sure, yeah.

- Okay, bye, Mak.

- Bye, Mom.
- Bye.

♪

- Hey.
- Hey.

- We the first ones here?
- I think so.

- Intelligence.
- Who's she?

- She found the victims.

They're her parents,
the Graces.

She hadn't heard from them
in a couple of days,

so she came here,
used her key, found them.

- Get the paramedics here
to help her.

- 2622.
- Casowith.

- Hey.
- Hey.

♪

- It was on when we arrived.

We didn't want
to touch anything.

Looks like they were
being held in there.

♪

- That's not water.
- That's bleach.

♪

- Sir, please understand,

it's an active crime
scene inside.

- I don't get what
you're telling me.

They're my parents.
I want to see them.

- I can't
let you go inside.

- They're trying to give my
sister a goddamn sedative.

You're telling me my
parents were murdered.

I'm going inside.

- No, believe me, you don't
want to see them like this.

You don't. Please.

- Children?
- Yeah.

They got another son
coming in from Dunlap.

The Graces have three children,
seven grandkids,

and they've lived in this place
for 36 years.

- Forced entry, home invasion?
- No, sir, no signs of either.

Nothing appears
to be missing at all.

- We also found rope and duct
tape in the bedroom upstairs.

- Killer spent
quite some time with the Graces

before he killed them
based on this food cooked.

- I'm thinking half a day.
- Huh.

What's that smell, bleach?

- They were bathed in it
before they were killed.

- The walls were wiped too.
- Should be splatter everywhere.

- Killer wiped down everything.

This is the cleanest
scene I've worked

in 30 years on this job.

He's damn smart.

I doubt we'll get anything.

- Scrub it clean anyway.

- This can't possibly be
a first-time kill.

It's way too well-executed.

- All right, so let's
run it all past ViCAP,

see if it matches
any other homicides.

- Yeah.

- There were no signs of
sexual trauma on either

of the Graces' bodies,

so whatever the motive was,
it wasn't rape.

- Any low-hanging fruit
on surveillance?

- There's a wildlife
camera in their backyard,

but that's all it caught...

squirrels
and the neighbor's cat.

- PODs?

- No, whole stretch
of that neighborhood

doesn't have them.

It's too safe to need them.

- Well, the neighbors'
security cameras...

there's four of them
down the block...

got nothing on them either.

- Right, and there's no
911 calls, no witnesses.

That block was
dead quiet all night.

Strange thing is,
I went back six months

to find in-service calls...
nothing.

- No prints on any of the
plates, cups, light switches.

No strands of foreign hair.
No murder weapon.

- And their family?

- I spoke to the children.

They were aware of no threats
made to the parents.

Couldn't think of anyone
that would

want to harm them at all.
We're at empty.

- Well, clearly this is
not a normal homicide.

I mean, it wasn't about
passion, about opportunity.

It was sadistic.

I mean, killer played
with these people.

Why?

I mean, why the dinner,
the book, the bath,

this bedtime routine?

- I ran our crime stats and MO
through ViCAP like you asked.

No other homicides
popped as a match,

but something else
did when I ran

"bleach bath" and "lullaby."

- Oh, good.

- All right, here we go.

This boy is Daniel Smith.

Police found him 28 years ago
in 1994 at a rest stop

off 55 half dressed
and covered in bleach.

- Hmm.

- Police believe someone
had bathed him in it.

- And Daniel,
you say someone took

your parents, told you to run?

Who?

Did you know this person?

Okay.

Now, this man, he went
into your house, right?

Where is your house?

- RV.

- Okay, an RV, that's good.

But Daniel, you said
this man gave you a bath.

How did he give you
a bath in an RV?

- I want to go home.
- I know, bud.

Okay, what about your
mom and dad's names?

Do you know their real names?

- Mommy and Daddy.

- Yeah, that's right,

but what about
their real names?

- It continues on like this.

The detectives
interview Daniel dozens

of times over dozens of days.

His story does shift,
but the gist of it is,

a man entered his house

and told his parents
what to do.

He read them a book,
made them eat dinner,

sing the lullabies,
gave them a bath

- in something that smelled.
- Huh.

- And when it got to nighttime,
the man told Daniel to run,

and his dad said to listen.

- And the boy's parents?

- That's where
it gets stranger.

They were never found,
not even ID'd.

Police searched.
They did a national poll.

There were no missing Smiths

that matched his parents,
no Smith family

with a missing three-year-old,
nothing on birth records.

They searched RV sites,
every neighborhood in Illinois.

They did this for years.

They were never
able to corroborate

a single detail
of this boy's story,

not even his name.

- So he's like
a living John Doe.

- Exactly.

He was placed into foster care
and adopted finally at 13.

- Says he lives
in Oak Park now.

- He does,
31 with a wife and child.

- Get him to talk to you.

♪

- Daniel?

Daniel.

- We were hoping
we could speak with you.

- Yeah, you just
stay right there.

Give me a minute.

- You got it.

- Sorry, just didn't want
to talk in front of my family,

but this won't take long
because I'm not interested.

- I'm sorry?

- I mean, I appreciate
that you are, but I'm not.

This happens every few years.

Cops show up,
they read my cold case,

and now I believe that
the original cops,

they were probably right.

- Okay, right about what
exactly?

- It's all in the full file.

Cops believe that
the man I described,

my home, my parents, that it
was all a response to trauma.

They thought that
I'd been abused

and abandoned, that my
mind couldn't handle it.

So I forgot, and I filled in
the blank with something else.

They thought none
of it was true.

- You misunderstand.
- We're here for a current case.

- Daniel, we're here because
it appears that

what you reported,
it happened again.

♪

- You good? Comfortable?

- No.
- No, not even a little bit.

- We're sorry
about this room, man.

It's just we have to be
in here to capture

what you say on that camera
there.

- Sure, sure. Thank you.

You know, I just...

I doubt I'm gonna
get you anywhere.

I don't want you
to waste your time with me.

Probably better spent
with the other family.

- Yeah, no, we're digging
into them, I promise you.

But it's possible
this will help.

- Yeah, I don't
think you understand fully.

I've got no idea what's
real and what isn't,

and I've spent, like,
the last 30 years of my life

trying to figure it out,
but I've gotten nowhere.

- Why don't you tell the two
of us everything you can?

And then this time,
she and I can be the ones

- to try and figure it out.
- Yeah.

- Uh...

I remember a mom and a dad.

They're young,
and they're beautiful.

And there's an RV sometimes.

And I know that I...

I told the cops about
a house, but I don't...

I don't really
remember a house.

The only thing I remember
are the curtains.

They're flowered,
or with birds on them.

And, uh, a bath.

I remember pain.

The bath,
I had to take a bath.

Told Mommy, Daddy,
I didn't like it.

It... it hurt my skin.

And I was crying.

And someone told me to stop.

- Who?

- I don't know.

Sometimes I convince myself
that it was my dad, my mom,

that, you know,
it really was abuse

and that it happened
all the time.

And then I think that
there was someone else, a man.

- This man, do you know him?

- No.

He's this stranger
that just appears

one day out of thin air.

He drops down
with this pink dust.

- Pink dust.

- Yeah, that's what I remember.

In my head, it falls
off him like snow.

- I don't know.

I get why the police thought
it was something else.

The way Daniel talks about it
even now, it feels made up.

It feels like a kid
telling a story.

- Yeah, it's hard to believe.
- I mean, why the gaps?

28 years between crimes?

It's a long stretch
for any killer.

- Exactly, especially
one this elaborate.

- All right, so what else
do we know about the Graces?

- Yeah, we're still scraping
the barrel with the Graces.

Ran that duct tape and the
rope from the crime scene,

both widely sold
generic brands.

- Same goes for the
book and the CD.

They're dated,
but they're sold everywhere.

- Yeah, and re-interviewed
every person on that block.

No report of a suspicious
vehicle, suspicious person.

Nobody saw anything,
and people were out.

That's what makes zero sense.

- All right, so keep
working both scenes.

Keep looking for a nexus.

- Hey, I'm gonna go
back over to my dad's.

Told him I'd send
some clothes out.

- Cool if Mak comes?
- Yeah.

She gonna be your
packing buddy?

- She, uh... she found
some baby pictures of me.

Apparently, I look
like mashed potatoes.

So she wants to hunt for more.

- Fine, I'll keep working,

and I'll meet you back
at our house?

- Yeah. Okay.

♪

- Dr. Magnuson?

I'm Officer Kim Burgess,
Chicago PD.

I was hoping you could
spare a few moments

to talk to me about a patient
you evaluated decades ago.

- His name was Daniel...
- Smith.

- Yeah, that's right.

- Yes, I always knew
someone would come.

Come in. Come in.

- Yeah.

- Sorry for the mess.

My wife died two years ago,

and I have yet
to master her tidiness.

I guess I'm lost without her.

But we can talk in here.

Now, memory is a fickle kind
of ghost, so I kept everything.

Should be here somewhere.

- And you knew police
would come ask about Daniel?

- Yes, I knew it was
just a matter of time

until somebody turned up.

Oh, here we go.

The cops kept
everything relevant,

but I continued seeing Daniel
after he went into care.

I kept the rest.

- Why did you believe Daniel?
- You don't?

- No.
- Oh.

- No, I don't...

I don't know
what I believe, except...

look, I'm glad for him either
way that he doesn't remember.

But you were
the only professional listed

that didn't think
it could be abuse.

- I didn't have
a professional answer then,

and I still don't.

But I've spent my life
working with children.

You learn to see it
when a child's loved.

It's something real...
a confidence, a protection.

And Daniel, I believed
he was loved by parents.

I just believed him.

♪

- Hey.

What's going on?

- Well, we got a little bored
of my dad's place.

Found two pictures,
decided that's all

we were really interested in.

So there might have been a
little phone bribing going on.

This is the last video,
right, kiddo?

- Mm-hmm, it's a good one.

- Okay, let me see.

What exactly are you
supposed to be?

♪

Ready?

And pose!

- Gah!
- Ah!

Hand it over.

You're cut off for the
evening, young lady.

- You gonna do bedtime?

- Yeah, I would love
to do bedtime.

Let's hit it.

- Night.
- Oh, good night.

I gotcha.

- One book.
- Okay.

- It's very late.

♪

Huh.

♪

- You can enter every
single row house

from the attic, each one.

All you have to be is small
enough and determined.

- And you'll have full
access to every home.

- Yeah, and a view.

You can see and hear
from the ductworks.

And that's why we
don't have surveillance

of the offender entering
the Graces' home,

why he's been like a ghost.

He's coming from above.

- How's the offender
getting up there?

- Well, the last row house
on the block is empty.

It's been under reno
for a year.

So easy to break into,
nobody knowing.

- So he breaks in
without a trace.

He makes his way
up to the attic.

He watches the Graces, waits,
drops down without a sound.

- You get anything from Daniel?

- We showed him pictures
of the row houses.

He didn't recognize anything.

- The Graces
have lived here since the '80s.

There's no record that
Daniel's family ever did.

I'm thinking he lived in a
different row house entirely

with a similar attic,
same framing, same duct work.

That's our nexus, Sarge.

Our offender's not choosing our
victims based on who they are.

He's choosing them
based on the buildings.

He knows these buildings.

- All right, so have Forensics
do a second sweep

of that attic
and the empty row house.

Then dig into the nexus.

Anyone who ever lived here,
anyone who helped

build this place, we run.

- Good work.

- Anything?

- Yeah, the row homes were
built by Age One Construction.

They still exist.
They're a small company.

- They take on Midwestern work.
- And they hire out freelance.

Lots of contractors,
especially the carpenters.

- They keep records?

- Oh, no, of course not.

- So we're going to have
to go person by person.

- Oof.

- Run through that for me.

- Yes, you were listed
on the building site.

No, sir, you were listed
on Age One's records.

Okay, well... right.

We will confirm
those dates for you.

Thank you very much.

All right, we've got
another misprint.

This man said he worked with
Age One in the office in 1989.

- Where are we
with the tenants?

- Still nothing.
- I cleared four more.

All clean records.
Don't fit the profile.

Also, they don't remember
anything abnormal

about any construction workers.

- It's been too long.

- Yes, ma'am, thank you.

That's a no-go.

Says she barely
remembers living there.

She was going through a divorce
when she rented the place.

So she spent
those months crying

and getting very into puzzles.

So I don't think she's our man.

- What other buildings
did Age One build?

- Uh, let me see.

Hold on.

They did a bunch downtown
and then two more row houses,

one in Cicero and one
in the Back of the Yards.

- When were
the row houses built?

- Three and seven years ago.

- Okay, more likely you
remember a construction worker

from a couple years ago

- than 40.
- Yeah.

- Jay and I'll take
the Back of the Yards.

- Cicero.

♪

- All right, I'm calling
the leasing office.

- Yeah.

Honey?

What about that one?

- Yeah.

You see
that guy, my 9 o'clock?

That guy?

- Yeah.

Sure looks like
he's staking out the place.

- Yeah.

He's bald.

Looks like he's
shaved his eyebrows,

and the age is right.

- Hmm.

- That's a good view.
- That's beautiful.

All right,
let's call the realtor.

♪

- You keep eyes.
- Mm-hmm. I got him.

- Sarge, this is Kim and Adam.
- We've got a person of interest

at our nexus condos on Cicero.

Male, white, 60s, 70s.
Zero hair on his body. Bald.

Looks like
he shaved his eyebrows,

so no hair for DNA evidence.

- All right, Kim, he's moving.

- Sarge,
he's getting in his car.

We're going mobile.

- Okay, keep a long eye.

I'll get Jay
and Hailey moving to you.

Keep distance.

- All right, easy,
easy, easy, easy.

Keep it discreet,
nice and slow.

I can't get a plate.

- Me neither,
I can't see a thing.

He was hunting
that apartment, Adam.

- Yeah, we need more cars.

Jay, Hailey, we're heading
northbound on Laramie.

A grey Sedan.
Male, white driver.

60s, 70s.
He's in the car alone.

We can't get a plate read.

- All right,
we're in the game.

Pulling onto 2-1 now.

We are northbound.

We should be
parallel to you soon.

- Copy you.

He's turning left
on Laramie and Cermak.

- Did you clock the plate?
- No, no.

- All right.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got him.

We got him westbound on Cermak.

We're three cars behind.

- All right,
we're moving westbound now.

We'll pick him up
from you on 21st.

Get eyes on a closer follow.

- He's taking a right
on Central Ave.

We can't follow.
Kim, he's coming right to you.

♪

- He's taking a left
on 19th Street, moving fast.

- Go.

All right, I got it.

Henry David 96 Young 3.

All right, I got him.

Name's Jim Wheaton.
62 years old.

Multiple priors...
disorderly conduct,

trespassing, multiple failures
of protection orders.

Yeah, these are
peeping Tom charges.

- Kim.
- What?

- Guy's a carpenter.

Damn it.

Guys, target lives
at 4272 18th.

He's gonna be bedding down.

He's gonna be right
on top of you.

Pull back right now.
Pull back now.

- We're made.

- Take him, Jay. Take him.
- Do not let him go inside.

Do not let him
destroy evidence.

This is our guy, Jay.

♪

- Hello.
- How may I help you, officers?

♪

- Hmm.

Okay, someone want
to explain to me

what that man's doing
in interrogation

without a shred of evidence?

- Because he's good for it,

and I'm not letting him
stake out new victims

- and destroy evidence.
- Mm-hmm.

- Jim Wheaton has spent
the better part of the last

25 years in jail or prison,
multiple habitual offences

that all add up to one thing.

That is a man who
enjoys watching

other people, other couples.

It's a man who wants to kill.

- He's been charged three times
on peeping Tom offenses.

He is staking out victims.

- What else?

- There's a
construction connect.

He's a carpenter,
does freelance jobs framing.

It explains the attic.

- Okay, can we hook him
to the row homes?

- Not yet,
but we're working on it.

- He also has a past that fits.

He was taken
from his home into care

when he was eight years old.

- They said it's complex
trauma and abuse,

and he was abused
by his birth parents

for eight years of his life.

- But he wasn't
taken from his home

until he tried to beat
his mom with a baseball bat.

It's his MO, boss.

He finds a couple, parents,
tries to recreate

a happy little childhood,

and when it doesn't work,
he kills them.

- It's him, it fits.

- It does.

Unfortunately, the only thing
I'm not hearing is evidence.

All of this is circumstantial.

Look, all of this will be
beat down by any decent ASA.

We need more.

♪

- All right, let's just do
everything we can in 48.

Dig into every aspect
of his life.

Do a trash pull.

And press the hell out of him.

Let's just lie our asses off.
Let's go.

Wait, Kim.

I want you to get
Daniel in here.

It'll be inadmissible,
but let's see

if this man sparks him, okay?

- Yeah, got it.

♪

- You understand, Jim?

We have you now.

We own you.

Hey, look at me
when I'm talking to you.

You are not in control anymore.

- Help me help you, man.

Only reason why
you're still sitting here

is because we want more.

- We have your file,

every detail from DCFS.

I know what your parents
did to you, Jim.

- The media gets a story
like this, they eat it up.

And they eat you alive.

- Do you understand me, huh?

- A young boy just trying
to find his parents, a family.

That's what connected you
to the Graces.

- We've got all
your construction jobs.

We found all the homes
that you framed.

- You're gonna be
eaten alive in prison.

I'm gonna personally
make sure of it.

You understand me, huh?

- Because they're
good parents.

Because they love
their kids more than anything.

And you wanted that.

- I will give you solitary.

It's a one-time offer.

Cooperate, I will make sure
you live.

What do you want to do, hmm?

♪

- Daniel, do you recognize him?

- No.

No, I don't remember him.

- Okay.

- All right, let's go
through it one more time.

All the cash withdrawals
on his accounts?

- Aren't illegal.

We've got him going
in and out of a bunch

of different
convenience stores,

but it was a long time ago
and he paid in cash.

- There's no receipts.
- Right, and his trash?

- Not illegal to own
cleaning supplies.

- The burnt pieces?
- Not illegal to burn.

ASA won't give us a warrant out
if we can't match the fibers.

- And there's nothing
on the construction jobs.

I mean, it's framing work,
but there's nothing matching

those jobs to the row homes.

- Right. He was just too smart.
- I mean, he left nothing behind.

Nobody saw anything.
And he cleaned.

- Well, he wasn't always
so clean.

He got picked up half a dozen
times by police for years.

All minor offences.

I mean, not the work
of a criminal genius.

- But then he was placed
in protective custody.

And there's rows and rows of
sexual deviants to learn from.

This man learned
how to be clean

in the penitentiary
from the pros.

- So that's how
he got better,

because he wasn't always
that way.

Back then, he let Daniel go.

Not the work
of a great criminal, right?

So if we find a mistake,
it's not gonna be now.

It's gonna be then.
It's gonna be with Daniel.

- Mm-hmm.

You really think
he'll remember?

- I think we
have to make him remember.

Daniel, if you're not
comfortable doing this,

we would understand.

I'm sure there's a danger here
of triggering something.

- That's exactly what you want.

- Yes.

- I want to.

I want to know.

♪

That... he read that to us.

- You remember that?

- Yeah.

♪

- Daniel?

Do you recognize that place?

- Uh, I think I've been there.

Mm-hmm, I think that's
where it happened.

♪

- Any room in particular?
- Anything vacant's fine.

- Room 10, right down here.

Boy, you two are sure far
from the city.

- We certainly are.

♪

- We'll take it from here.
- Thanks.

Adam.

- Flowers, birds.
- Yeah.

- These woods go all
the way up to Blow Creek

and down to Route 83.

Okay, listen up.

Each team moves in a line,
shoulders 5 feet apart.

Alpha north, Bravo west,
Charlie south.

We've got a lot
of ground to cover,

so we go slow and steady.

If there is anything,
it's been there 30 years,

and it's not
running away today.

- That's right.

If it's not green
and growing out of the ground,

it doesn't belong here.

Okay, we're looking
for trace evidence...

bottle cap,
rubber band, anything.

- If you find anything,
flag it and then

get an intelligence officer.

- All right, let's run it.

♪

- Is that...?

♪

- It's him.

It's Daniel.

- Alpha team,
cadaver dogs got a hit,

quarter mile west
of Suttonbush Slough.

Dogs are alerting.
Think we've got bodies.

♪

- Mark and Isabella Smith.

We found their remains in the
woods behind a hotel off 55.

But you remember.
Your DNA was on them.

Yeah.

See, of all the people
born in the world so far

and all the people
still to come,

that DNA can only
be yours, Jim.

We found this at your house.

That is a match to the
weapon used to kill

Cathy and Herman Grace.

And these shoes,
their DNA was on them too.

♪

Anything you want to say
before I read you your charges?

- Are you a good mother?

♪

- I'm charging you with four
counts of first-degree murder.

Each one, Jim, each one...

a life for a life.

You die in prison.

- We think your family had been
on the road for a while.

They stopped at a motel
for a night for...

I don't know, for a movie
or a warm shower.

That's where the offender
found them,

and that's where
your parents were killed.

- And you found them.

My parents, they... it wa...

it was real.

- It was real.

- Both your parents, their
names were Mark and Isabella.

ID'd them off dental records.

We also found this.

It's a camcorder found
in your family's camper.

- All right.

- I want that one.
- Wave to Daddy.

Say hi to the camera.

- I want to let the...

I want to let the wind
blow out the candle.

- Okay, baby, perfect.

both:
♪ Happy birthday to you

Ready?

- Oh-ho-ho!

♪

Those geese come out the bay!

They're friendly! Hey, geese!

- Wave to the camera!

That-a-boy!

- Hi, Daddy!

- Love you, Daniel!

♪

- Oh, Makayla.

- Don't do anything crazy
up there.

- Okay!

The choice is beer or beer.

- Ooh, I'll take beer.

- Copy that.

- Thank you very much.

Your dad's place is a weird
spot to want to have a drink.

- He's still not back?
- Ah, no.

No, he's not coming back.

He called me
this morning, and...

Apparently, the best way
to get out of debt

is to stay in Florida
and play the ponies.

- So that's perfect.
- Perfect.

- I'm gonna buy it.

I loved this house growing up.

My childhood,
I mean, you know...

- Yeah.
- It wasn't the best.

But this house, man...

this house was.

Always full of light,

big-ass yard.

Best hiding spots
in the neighborhood

for capture the flag.

A banister,
you could climb the banister.

It wouldn't ever fall out.

I have the best memories here.

So I'm buying the house
for Mak, for us, for you.

- Adam...

- Look, I can keep
the undercover apartment.

I'm not moving in.

- Wait, you... you can't
buy me a house.

- Why not?

I mean, I get it.

We're not perfect right now.
I get that.

But why not this?

- Kim, she might remember.

- I know.

I know.

- Either way,
we can give her

all the best memories
in the world

to protect her from that.

We can give her that here,
together.

Why not?

♪

♪