Original subtitles

- Singer island, florida, in the 1990s was very low-key.

- It was more like a bahamian beach town,

And people were friendly.

They were kind.

They were neighborly.

- You never thought twice about anything happening.

It was unheard of.

- The husband and wife were due to go

To a dinner with neighbors, and they never showed up.

[suspenseful music]

A friend said that they went on a friend's boat to the bahamas,

And that they'll be back.

- It was just bizarre.

They weren't like that.

They weren't spontaneous people.

- The family, they were putting flyers up everywhere.

They started doing a lot of searches.

- Two people went out on the boat that morning,

But only one came back.

- The gulf stream is so strong there

That it's going to take them out into the atlantic ocean.

A week later, they were going to close up the house.

When they pulled out the freezer,

They opened it up, and realized it was a body.

- Something like that happens and changes the way

People see their community.

They lose the sense of security.

- Just all-out fear.

- That's just a cold-blooded murder.

- What could they have done to upset somebody so bad

To make them do this?

[upbeat reggae music]

♪ ♪

- Just a short drive across the causeway

From west palm beach, florida,

Singer island is a small, tight-knit community

With the easygoing lifestyle of a caribbean island.

But even in the clear blue waters of singer island,

Darkness can surface from the deep.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- The riviera beach police department received a report

That christopher benedetto and janette piro

Were missing for five days.

On November 11, 1998, they were due to go

To a dinner with neighbors,

And they never showed up.

That's on a Wednesday. November 12 comes, nothing.

November 13 comes on a Friday, nothing.

Over the weekend, the newspapers started piling up,

The mail was in the mailbox,

And it was extremely uncharacteristic.

- The neighbors, they had keys to each other's houses

So they could check on things if they were traveling

Or anything like that.

They wanted to see if chris and janette

Had taken their suitcases.

And their suitcases were still there

And so were chris' wallet and a cell phone.

- All of chris' medications were in the refrigerator,

Things that, if they had gone on a trip,

He would have taken with them.

- The neighbors were upset because this is not normal.

Also, the neighbors said

That chris drove a toyota 4runner suv-type vehicle,

And it was missing.

So the police department detectives

Were brought in on the case.

And they put out a bolo for this 4runner on a news report,

Thinking that, well, if it shows up,

Then we're going to find chris and janette.

The neighbor knew janette's sister, regina,

Up in new jersey, so they called her.

And she said, "no, I don't know where they are.

They haven't called."

Regina's husband, michael koblan,

Then called chris' brother saying,

"hey, the neighbors are saying chris and janette are missing.

"I'm going to go down there. Don't worry.

I'll call you back and tell you where they are."

So on that following Monday,

Michael flies down from new jersey.

He meets with the neighbors.

And basically, they're like, "we don't know where they are."

He's like, "I'm going to go look.

Don't worry. I'll find them."

Michael had gone to a lot of the marinas.

And he had spoken to somebody who said that chris and janette

Went on a friend's boat to the bahamas

And that they'll be back.

- Singer island is one of several easy gateways

To the bahamas, only 70 miles away.

On a calm summer day, you can be on the beach

Sipping a rum punch in a little over three hours.

However, in late November, winds and currents can come up

At a moment's notice, making the crossing unpleasant

At best and deadly at worst.

- There's no clothes really, no suitcases missing.

And if chris and janette had gone to the bahamas,

When did they leave?

Did they leave that night

When they were supposed to go to dinner?

Was it the next day?

It just doesn't make sense.

- When I heard chris and janette were missing,

It was just bizarre.

They wouldn't leave without telling anybody.

They weren't like that.

They weren't spontaneous people.

We lived on the water on bimini lane.

Chris and janette lived on the road over,

Called dolphin lane.

They had a love for fishing, so they bought a boat,

And they had nowhere to keep it.

So we rented our dock to them.

They were very friendly people.

And we were happy to have them.

- Chris and janette owned a 28-foot center console

Ocean runner fishing boat, a serious, no-frills vessel

With twin yamaha motors that they used for deep-sea fishing

In the atlantic ocean.

- They went fishing mostly every day

Because that's what they loved to do.

- So when chris and janette didn't show up at my house

For days, I started calling.

And I didn't get an answer.

We were very concerned.

Where could they be?

- The evening of November 16--

Chris and janette have now been missing

For at least five days--

We got a call from the singer island's embassy suites.

The valet was watching and the news reports

Were to look out for this 4runner

And had reported that, you know,

He had noticed a 4runner parked in the lot

In the back corner of the motel,

So he notified the police.

And when the police got there,

They ran the tag, and it was chris benedetto's 4runner.

Police think maybe, you know,

They parked their vehicle there.

They met their friends at the embassy suites,

And they went out on a trip on a friend's boat.

The next day, chris and janette have been missing for six days.

And chris' brothers, who--

Two of 'em were in law enforcement in new york city--

Now are concerned that, look, they're still not back.

So they decided to come down to help look.

[dark music]

♪ ♪

Chris' brothers and michael koblan stayed in the house.

They were putting flyers up everywhere.

And they're going door to door.

There was now great fear with the brothers

That something terrible has happened to them.

And then a week later, Monday, November 23rd,

Chris benedetto's brothers decided

That they were going to close up the house.

They just start unplugging things

That didn't need to be on.

Well, one of the things that didn't need to be on

Was the bait freezer that was in the garage

Under a workbench.

When they pulled out the freezer, they opened it up,

And they saw something really strange

And at first couldn't figure out what it was.

And then to the shock of the brothers,

They realized it was a body that was in there frozen.

[dramatic music]

[siren wails]

- The first thing through your mind is,

"oh, my god, what have I done?

"have I washed down evidence? Have I contaminated evidence?"

- I told the detectives that the anchor was missing.

This doesn't make sense.

- We did a subpoena for the phone line

That went to that boat.

That was the aha moment.

[unsettling music]

♪ ♪

- Chris benedetto and his wife, janette piro,

Have been missing for 12 days.

While closing up the couple's home,

Chris' brothers make a grisly discovery--

A body that's stuffed into a bait freezer.

And they can't tell who it is.

- I just can't even imagine.

I mean, you know, you're opening up the bait freezer

Thinking you're going to see frozen fish,

But it's a body.

And then the horror of not knowing even who it is

Because the body was upside down

And the head and everything was stuffed into the bottom

Of the freezer.

And then chris' brothers really looked.

And to their shock, they realized who it was...

Their sister-in-law, janette piro.

♪ ♪

- Janette's case is the only case I ever had

Where a body was literally stuffed

Into a bait freezer and left.

How degrading to a person.

What could she have done to upset somebody so bad

To make them do this?

- The brothers dialed 911.

And now the police are scurrying to get there

Because you've got a crime scene.

But the problem is, is you've had brothers,

The brother-in-law, michael koblan,

The neighbors that were all through the house.

So it was really difficult for the local police to process

And investigate that type of crime scene.

- I can't fathom how the benedetto brothers would feel

With their experience as police officers.

The first thing through your mind is, "oh, my god,

"what have I done?

"you know, have I washed out evidence?

Have I contaminated evidence?"

- Any of these people had been in the house before.

So even if there's fingerprints, it's justified.

[tense music]

- I remember walking up and seeing the garage area.

By the time that I'd arrived,

I think the medical examiner was already present.

So we allowed them to do their investigation.

- Normally, the medical examiner

Takes his pictures and put the body into a bag.

But with janette, you have a bait freezer

That she's frozen in, so they elected,

Let's just take the whole bait freezer

To the medical examiner's office.

- It was all over the news,

Devastating that they found her

In a small freezer in the garage.

We didn't know what happened.

It was a big mystery.

I mean, how could you do that to somebody?

- Something like that happens and changes the way

People see their community.

They lose the sense of security.

Somebody has come in and violated everything

That makes that community what it is.

- The medical examiner said that her body was preserved

By freezing it.

So the rigor mortis didn't have a chance

To kick in and start causing the deterioration

And things like that.

There was no puncture wounds. There was no gunshots.

But she had ligature markings around her neck.

Whoever did it had tied this 3/8-inch braided rope

Around her neck twice and then basically strangled her.

Using a rope, next to using your hands,

Is the most personal thing.

You think, as in law enforcement, like,

"okay, wife found dead,

"husband's vehicle's found abandoned,

And where's the husband now?"

My first gut feeling was, "oh, the husband did it."

- We still have no idea where chris is.

We don't know if he's dead, alive, he's taken off.

- What goes on behind closed doors, nobody really knows.

Maybe there's something more to this couple

That we just don't know about.

We need to go talk to the family,

The friends, the neighbors.

We learned that chris and janette were set up on a date,

They met at a restaurant,

And that janette was an interior designer.

She loved her job, loved designing things,

Very outgoing too.

I mean, she loved company and loved entertaining

And very adventurous type of person.

[melancholic music]

- Janette, she did have an eye for beautiful things.

But janette's beauty came from inside her

More than the outside because of just the person she was.

She was a beautiful, wonderful person.

Chris enjoyed life.

He loved fishing.

His love for the ocean just--

You could see it in his face every day.

- We learned chris was born and raised in new york.

He worked in construction,

But then he had suffered a fairly significant injury

While he was working up there.

[siren wails]

- He fell off a scaffolding

At a relatively young age, broke his back.

[machine beeping]

- It was a very severe, significant back injury

Requiring multiple surgeries.

- And he would always wear a back brace

When he went fishing.

- Chris had four steel rods in his back

Just to basically keep him upright.

So chris had a lot of pain medication that he was on.

He got a very large settlement.

It was $1.2 million, which, at the time,

Seemed like it was a lot of money.

But he needed this money to last for him and janette

Because he knows he never could work again.

At this point, we had a missing person.

Maybe chris and janette could have got

Into an argument and fought.

Did chris do this?

Was he capable of doing this?

You know, he could have fled and gone somewhere else.

- Chris would have been the last one seen with janette.

So you have to say, "is he potentially a suspect?"

- Is he really a fugitive, technically,

From killing his wife, or is he missing or what?

Was chris dead or alive?

[suspenseful music]

Ense music]

- With chris benedetto's whereabouts still unknown,

Authorities wonder if he was involved in janette's murder.

- You have the husband who's missing.

But it's not like today where

You can track people's cell phones.

So the detectives started doing subpoenas

For chris' credit card records and bank accounts

To see if he had movement.

He could have fled and gone somewhere.

But they determined

That he didn't empty the bank accounts.

He didn't use his credit cards,

That these accounts were just inactive.

So it was sort of a dead end.

- As authorities continue looking for chris,

Family and close friends worry that his disappearance

Means he could have met a similar fate to janette.

[somber music]

- Chris and janette would catch fish.

They would always leave them in the cooler for me.

They were very down-to-earth, easy to talk to.

So me and my wife were very uneasy

Because these were people that were here every day,

And all of a sudden they're not.

Being an ocean lifeguard, I was trained and taught

To see things out of the ordinary.

And then it hits me that I was probably

The last person to hear chris.

So I called the riviera beach police department.

I wanted to give the authorities any information

That would help to find chris.

I told the detective that now I remember

I heard chris go fishing the last day

That he was seen on November 11th.

I told them it was around 8:00 in the morning.

[foreboding music]

I heard chris' voice say, "grab the rods"

To someone else.

Then I heard the boat start.

[engine hums] then they left, like normal.

So a couple hours later, chris' boat came back.

It parked just the way it always parked.

But the person in the boat wasn't chris.

- Ben said he was standing there doing some work,

And he heard steps come up.

And the man walks to chris' truck.

He started it up. He drove off.

So all these little pieces together is starting to be

Indication that chris isn't coming back either.

- It was somebody I'd never seen before.

- Ben gave a description of the man as heavyset,

Round face, maybe in his 40s or 50s, graying hair.

Well, that's about the same build of chris' brothers.

- Two people went out on the boat that morning.

I'm sure of that.

But only one came back.

Then the detective said, "well, ben,

"if we bring someone over to the house,

Could you identify them?"

And I said, "absolutely."

- While detectives round up potential suspects

For ben to id, authorities execute a search warrant

On the boat.

- The police officers came back and processed the boat.

I was sitting on my dock watching them.

I noticed the second anchor was missing.

They didn't know that yet.

I told the detectives how the anchor was tied to a chain

And also a nylon rope.

And I knew that it was on the boat at all times.

- Sometimes boat owners want two anchors

Because it makes them feel safer

To have redundant systems.

However, second anchors are rarely, if ever, used.

So investigators wonder why the second anchor is missing

From chris' boat and whether this is a clue

As to his whereabouts.

- The riviera beach police department

Took possession of the boat.

They took it out of the water.

They had crime scene go through it.

They found 3/8-inch braided rope,

Which is the same size of the ligature markings

Around janette's neck.

But basically, the boat was clean.

They even commented that they didn't even find

Any fish blood on the boat.

They also processed the 4runner.

Nothing was found in any of these vehicles.

- You think this should be a gold mine of evidence,

But they weren't.

And it was frustrating.

- Later that day, ben is in front of his house,

And up pulls an entourage of detectives' cars.

Getting out were the lead detectives,

The brother-in-law, michael koblan,

And chris' brothers.

- Right away, one person, he looked straight at me.

[dramatic musical sting]

It was eerie. It was... Evil.

It just puts shivers down my spine.

That was the man that was on the boat that day.

When chris and he went out that morning,

He's the only one that came back.

[tense music]

- It's been 12 days since anyone has seen

Or heard from chris benedetto.

Police no longer view him as a suspect

But instead fear chris was a victim himself.

Now his friend ben demonstranti comes

Face to face with the man he saw driving chris' boat

On the day chris disappeared.

- Right away, I told the detectives,

"that's the person I saw."

And they go, "oh, well, that's the brother-in-law,

Michael koblan."

- Ben said he felt like there was daggers coming out

Of his eyes because he was just as shocked to see this guy

As this guy was as shocked to see him.

You know, the police are kinda shocked, and what's going on?

Michael koblan was just a family member.

He was searching for chris and janette.

They had no reason to believe

He had anything to do with this.

- Hearing that michael koblan has been identified

As the last person seen coming off the boat without chris

After the boat came back on November 11th,

Michael koblan became a person of interest in the case.

- Police isolate michael koblan and interview him,

Asking him if he was the person

That got off the boat on November 11th.

- During the week, Wednesday, November 11th,

You're not sure or you were not down in florida?

- I wasn't down there.

- You were not down there? - No.

- Okay.

- Michael totally denied it.

He said that he did fish on the boat with chris before,

But he wasn't here on November 11th,

That he was back up in new jersey.

And his wife confirms the alibi.

After the detectives interviewed him,

He flew back to new jersey.

- The detective told me,

"michael says he wasn't in town that day."

And I said, "this doesn't make sense.

I saw him."

But then, at that time, I was very nervous.

So I could have been mistaken.

- Chris' wife, janette, is michael koblan's wife's sister.

So there was a bond there.

He and chris were very close.

Even when chris' brothers found out

That michael was seen getting off the boat,

They were like, "there's no way."

You know, "he wouldn't have done this.

It's got to be a mistaken identity."

We interviewed everybody at the marina.

And we found out that when koblan came down here

To look for chris and janette, he stayed on a friend's boat.

And I'm thinking, "well, if michael koblan flew here,

Then he maybe used a credit card."

We found that michael koblan had

An american express account, and on that american express

Account was a third party that could use the card.

And the name was michael kerry.

Well, this is unusual, because someone booked

A flight on continental airlines

And flew down from newark, new jersey,

To west palm beach on November 10

And then flew back to new jersey on November 12.

Now I'm thinking, we've got a suspect here.

Maybe michael kerry is a lookalike of michael koblan.

Maybe ben's wrong.

He didn't see michael koblan.

Did this michael kerry come down here and kill

Chris and janette, and why?

♪ ♪

I remember doing request searches for new jersey

And florida for all driver's licenses

In the name of michael kerry.

We did a database credit search for michael kerry.

There was, like, 16 or something

In the whole country with a date of birth

Range in the '40s or '50s.

I remember thinking, just catch him, and it'll be it.

♪ ♪

But it had been months

And months and months of searching.

And of course, we got nothing back.

Nobody was named michael kerry matching the description.

Nobody was in florida.

Nobody knows michael koblan, and they don't

Have an american express card.

We knew from the investigation that the suspect

At the time, michael koblan, was back up

In new jersey with his wife.

Now you're thinking, well, maybe his alibi

Was a false statement.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

Now I wanted to see what he

And his wife's phone records were.

And back in the '90s when you subpoenaed the phone records,

It's not like nowadays where they

Send it all to your email and it's on a nice spreadsheet.

These were 4-by-7 cards that had the printouts

Of phone numbers on it.

There had to be 30 or 40 cards.

And I have no idea whose phone number these are.

But I would call to find out who it was.

- John is going through the tolls, step

By step, phone number by phone number.

- And I remember, literally, it was, like,

The second or third card left.

And I looked down, and I see November 11, 2:14 p.M.,

The same day that ben heard chris

Going on a boat with somebody.

The phone call was from a florida number

To regina koblan's cell phone.

♪ ♪

I didn't know what the other number was.

So I called it, and it was a payphone from the rutledge inn,

A hotel literally within walking distance

Of chris benedetto's house and walking distance to chris'

Boat at ben's house.

Who made the call?

- We're in the parking lot here near the rutledge.

- We went to the rutledge inn.

And I remember giving the guy a subpoena

For the hotel room records.

And we went to the very first room.

He goes, here you go.

These are our records.

And there was boxes everywhere.

♪ ♪

You have all these hotel rooms registration

Cards, all handwritten.

Half of them you can't even understand.

And there's hundreds of them in each box.

There's no dates on the boxes.

It was horrible.

I was in that room for about three hours.

And lo and behold, I pull this card up and it says,

Michael kerry.

- The registration card is handwritten.

Everything is in the name of mike kerry.

But it says brick township, new jersey,

With michael koblan's address.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

- Seven months into the investigation

Of janette piro's murder

And chris benedetto's disappearance, investigators

Have made a huge, huge break in the case.

♪ ♪

- I'm sitting in the hotel room

Going through the records,

And I pulled out a hotel room registration card.

And it says michael kerry.

♪ ♪

But it was so strange because it

Has michael koblan's address in brick, new jersey, underneath.

But why would michael kerry put michael koblan's address down?

That doesn't make any sense, unless michael

Koblan must be michael kerry.

♪ ♪

- John then reaches out to the resources in the fbi and says,

I need a handwriting expert.

- We subpoenaed michael koblan to come in to the brick,

New jersey, office to give handwriting exemplars.

♪ ♪

And we're telling him to write michael koblan,

Michael koblan, michael koblan.

And then we're like, now you need to write michael kerry.

I remember koblan saying--he's like, well,

Who's michael kerry? Why am I writing michael kerry?

He's like, oh, just write it.

So we sent it to quantico, which is our lab.

And I'll never forget her calling me back.

And she said, I'm telling you 100%

That michael koblan wrote that registration card.

♪ ♪

So now we can prove that michael kerry

Was michael koblan.

- So now we've got that piece that makes the puzzle fall

Into place, that definitely put michael koblan here

On singer island November 11, 1998,

Based on the scientific evidence.

- But we still don't know what the motive is.

So again, we start looking at chris

Benedetto's financial records.

We determined that chris lent michael $160,000.

- $160,000 is no small chunk of change.

And if chris benedetto came knocking for that money

And koblan didn't have it, things may have turned ugly.

♪ ♪

- We're zeroing in on michael koblan.

♪ ♪

Now it was trying to prove that michael did it.

And it was hard because there was no crime scene and no body.

♪ ♪

It's just pretty circumstantial.

And the point of then putting koblan

At the house committing the murder

Or on a boat committing a murder, I didn't have.

♪ ♪

So the assistant u.S. Attorney said to me, well,

Look, if the state prosecutors won't take the case,

I'm going to close it.

I didn't want to close the case.

I knew there was more that we could do.

So I wrote a closing summary.

I wrote 35 pages of what happened.

That's how it made me feel.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- I read his closeout memo.

And I called macveigh, and we talked about the case.

- John kasternakes is like, why is this guy not in jail?

Let's do this.

- And I and macveigh and waites collaborated

On all the investigative steps that we thought we should take.

- We subpoenaed michael koblan to talk to him.

But he just didn't honor the subpoenas.

We started going back.

And I did a subpoena for the records

For the phone line that went to the boat

That michael koblan stayed on after chris

And janette went missing.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

I noticed that michael koblan had called a jewelry store

In new york while he was here.

Why would you be calling a jewelry store?

And then I realized that janette's engagement ring,

Diamond earrings, and some of the watches that she owned

Were missing.

Because in July of '98, janette took

A video of the whole house

For insurance reasons--

- --That we found during the search of the house.

- And we never found those. They were missing.

♪ ♪

And in chris' safe deposit box was the certification

From the jewelry store.

My belief was that michael possibly stole the rings

And then took them back to this jeweler to fence.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

So we flew up to interview the jeweler in new york.

And he said that michael came to him and gave him the ring

And that he wanted me to sell it.

The problem is there's no receipts.

- I was talking to him.

Hey, look, it's your word against his.

I need something to prove that you're

Telling me the truth about michael koblan

Coming in with the ring.

- And he said, well, mike's actually

Coming in in a couple of weeks for some piece

For his daughter.

- It was important to get koblan on tape

Discussing the ring to be able to indict michael koblan.

- That was our one shot to prove that michael did it,

That he was the one that committed janette's murder

And possibly committing chris' murder too.

♪ ♪

- I was talking to the jeweler.

We're going to go ahead and wire you up.

And say to him, hey, look, the fbi has come to see me.

What do I say about the ring?

- You hear mike go, oh, really?

And he's got this arrogant voice about him.

- This is a tremendous response.

What are you talking about? What ring, right?

That's what the innocent person says.

- That was the aha moment.

The only way to take the ring would have been in the house

With janette.

So koblan's the one that committed the murders.

[tense music]

- After getting michael koblan on tape confessing to selling

Janette's engagement ring, federal prosecutors

Now feel they have enough evidence to make an arrest.

♪ ♪

- June 27, 2003, we're ready to effect the arrest.

We've got the team set up.

We set up the surveillance on him.

- Michael koblan drives into the parking lot.

You know, your heart is racing.

What's he going to do? Is he armed?

What's going to happen?

We pull up and get out.

- John asked him, mike, do you remember me?

We met in florida. I'm john macveigh with the fbi.

And I've got a warrant for your arrest

For what happened to chris and janette.

♪ ♪

- We brought him back to the police station

And wanted to see if we can get a confession.

But he really wasn't going to talk to us.

There's no way he's going to confess to this.

♪ ♪

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- After I found out mr. Koblan was arrested,

I was so relieved.

It was like the sun was shining brighter

That day because--

[exhales sharply]

--Just to give them justice.

♪ ♪

- We have all these little slivers of evidence

To put together and build a strong case

Against michael koblan.

You're not going to get a conviction without it.

[tense music]

During the investigation, we noticed

That the anchor on chris' boat was missing

And there was a line cut.

So trying to surmise what happened

Is that they went out,

And there was probably heated discussion over the 160 grand.

- I believe that chris wanted the money back.

Mike koblan had run out of excuses

For not giving the money back.

- And our theory is michael koblan incapacitated him.

♪ ♪

And then koblan wrapped chris up in the anchor and chain--

♪ ♪

--And threw chris overboard, knowing

That once chris is in the water, he's going to sink.

And the gulf stream is so strong there

That it's going to take him out in the atlantic ocean.

♪ ♪

- The gulf stream is like a swift-moving

Underwater river in the atlantic

That's always headed north.

Its current moves 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

At a steady clip of 5 to 7 knots.

Even a body with an anchor attached

Can be carried away by this force of nature.

And if investigators' theory is correct,

Odds are it will never be found.

- I believe that koblan went and he killed janette

With the rope that was missing from the boat

Because janette knew he was here

And that him and chris had been out that day.

This is premeditated.

This is planned.

It's just a cold-blooded murder.

♪ ♪

- We went back to the state attorney's office.

And they go, well, we're still not going to do the case,

Even with the ring evidence.

But we all knew he was guilty.

Macveigh, me, waites, we knew it based on all the evidence

That we had.

And so come hell or high water, we

Were going to put a case together

And come up with the statutes that would cover us federally.

♪ ♪

- For chris, it was crime on the high seas

Because the federal government has jurisdiction there.

And we believed that chris was murdered on the high seas.

And then the dilemma we had then was that janette

Was murdered in her house.

Well, that's not a federal crime.

It's a state crime.

♪ ♪

- Because janette piro was killed on land,

Federal prosecutors had to find a workaround.

Janette would have been a witness,

Having seen koblan and chris leave together for a fishing

Trip that morning.

So for janette's murder, prosecutors

Charged koblan with interstate stalking and tampering

With a witness resulting in death,

Which are both federal crimes.

- The koblan trial started in fort

Lauderdale united states district court

On February 16, 2005.

- When I came into the courtroom,

I pointed at mr. Koblan and said,

I'm sure that that's the person I saw on the boat that day.

♪ ♪

- In trial, we're all confident in the case.

But until you hear it read, you still

Leave a little bit of doubt in there

That things just won't go the way you hope they will.

♪ ♪

- When the jury came back, and I had my hand back up

On the railing, and chris' sisters

Both reached up and grabbed my hand.

♪ ♪

I heard the first guilty.

I didn't hear anything else after because I started crying,

And tears just started pouring down my face.

And I remember looking across at koblan,

And I just saw empty, hollow eyes.

We got the right person.

♪ ♪

- In the end, friend and fishing buddy ben demonstranti

Gave invaluable testimony that unraveled

Koblan's lies and ultimately led to his demise.

In may of 2005, koblan was sentenced to life

In prison, where he ironically died of a heart attack

Two years later.

Michael koblan almost got away with murder.

Sinking chris' body to be carried

Away by the fast-moving gulf stream

May have been a good plan.

And even to this day, it's never been recovered.

But the cold-blooded killer didn't

Account for how close a seaside community

Like singer island can be.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- About a year after the trial, me and my wife

Talked about doing something nice for chris and janette.

We put their names on a bench.

And it couldn't have been a better spot.

♪ ♪

Every time I'm over there,

I'll talk to either one of them.

It's just I have a little conversation with them.

♪ ♪

I would love to give them a big hug--

♪ ♪

Tell them I love them.

And it was an honor to know them.

♪ ♪