Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Cape may is like a town that time forgot.

♪ ♪

You rarely hear of anything violent happening.

♪ ♪

- They came across a body floating

Off the coast of cape may.

- How she was bound with chains and duct tape,

It was just a nightmarish scene.

- Somebody was trying to discard that body,

And they did not want it to come floating back up.

- When I found out that her body was found in the water,

I had so much rage and questions and hurt.

- What she went through and how she was murdered

Was horrendous.

- It was a tragedy from start to finish.

Young people's lives just ruined.

- They wanted to get rid of a nuisance,

And it just showed a complete lack of humanity.

- The bottom line is you're trying to get to the truth.

- What did she do to deserve this?

♪ ♪

[soft music]

- Cape may is america's oldest seaside resort,

Known for its grand, victorian houses, pristine beaches,

And world-class fishing.

The cape is usually a safe bet

For a delightful seaside excursion.

But in the fall of 2003, a grisly discovery

Just a few miles off the coast sent shockwaves

Throughout the quaint beach town.

[tense music]

- On October 8, 2003, there was a couple fishing.

♪ ♪

They came across something.

They thought it was just a piece of debris.

When they got closer, they realized it was a body

Floating off the coast of cape may.

♪ ♪

- I've been doing this for 40 years,

And no one ever expects to find a floating body.

♪ ♪

This body had surfaced

3.3 miles away from cape may.

On the atlantic coast, anything over 2 miles

From the shoreline is considered federal waters

And within the u.S. Coast guard's jurisdiction.

♪ ♪

- The coast guard was able to recover the body.

As soon as we walked up, you could tell it was a female.

♪ ♪

The body was severely decomposed.

We have no idea who it is.

We have no identification.

- In my initial observation of the body,

It's quite obvious that she had been

Submerged in water for a pretty good period of time.

She had a rock crab gnawing on her inner thigh.

♪ ♪

- Rock crabs are bottom feeders,

So investigators know that at some point,

The body did sink to the ocean floor.

♪ ♪

- You can see the chains wrapped

Around the body's ankles.

There was some duct tape wrapped

Around the hands and feet.

You don't have to be a super detective

To realize that some foul play is involved here.

♪ ♪

- Somebody was trying to discard that body,

And they did not want it to come floating back up.

But the fact of the matter is,

It's just a natural phenomenon that bodies fill with gases

When they're underwater.

And if you don't have them weighted down good,

They're gonna float.

- We have no idea who the victim is.

We have no idea how this body got to where it got.

And unless you id the person,

You really don't have a starting point.

♪ ♪

- The medical examiner had arrived,

So I had said that I would follow the body back

To the morgue to where I had a more

Controlled and sterile environment to try

To work on identification.

To me, that was the most important thing.

The body, at that point, was our only clue.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

When you have an unidentified body,

You're hoping that their fingerprints

Are in the system.

But her finger had pruned up from being

Submerged under water.

So I basically took some saline solution

And took a hypodermic needle.

I tied a string around

The last knuckle of the finger,

And I was able to inject saline solution

Under that finger pad

And then roll it and get an identifiable fingerprint.

We'd already contacted our iafis operator

So she could put these prints into the system.

And I woke up in the morning to a phone call

Saying that we had an identification on the body.

The iafis operator said it is a 16-year-old female

By the name of kimberly holton.

♪ ♪

- We found out kimberly holton was in the computer system

Because she was a missing foster child

From dover, delaware.

It gets your adrenaline going, and you have a job to do,

But the human side of you kicks in.

You just can't imagine, like, what could go so wrong

In a 16-year-old's life

That they end up dead?

We had to find out from the point she went missing

To the point her body was recovered,

3.3 miles off the coast of cape may,

What happened in between there?

So we started doing some background on kimberly.

♪ ♪

- Kim was my best friend in high school.

I was 15, and kim was 16.

We were inseparable.

She lived one neighborhood behind me

With the machette family

And her foster sister, heather.

So we rode the same bus.

We actually became friends on the bus.

She was sitting by herself.

So I think one day, we just sat next to each other,

And we hit it off, and we laughed,

And we hung out ever since.

[soft music]

Kim went by "kimmy."

Kimmy was very loving and caring.

She was the sweetest person you'd probably ever meet.

♪ ♪

Kim absolutely loved animals.

I do believe she would have been

Some type of vet or vet tech.

She helped animals because nobody helped her

When she needed help.

[tense music]

Kim had told me some things

That had happened in her past life,

But I think her being giggly

And have a bubbly personality

Was her way of not thinking about things.

♪ ♪

Kim never missed any school.

So the day that she didn't get on the bus,

I just had a gut feeling something

Was terribly wrong with kim.

♪ ♪

Days went by, and we received notification

That the body that they found was kim's.

♪ ♪

I was completely devastated.

[somber music]

When we watched the news

And you can see the chains on her feet,

I have so much rage and questions and hurt.

♪ ♪

Who could have done this to her?

And what did kim do to deserve this?

♪ ♪

- Once we found out that kimberly was missing

From delaware, we knew we had to get

In touch with the delaware state police.

- When the new jersey state police contacted us

And described the condition the victim was in,

Found bound in duct tape and chains,

We were sort of floored at the time.

[dramatic music]

We had found out that on September 30, 2003,

Lorraine machette, who was kimberly holton's foster mom

At the time, called in a missing person

Report for kimberly holton.

Now we had to go contact lorraine machette

And break the news to her that kimberly had been found.

♪ ♪

Lorraine machette, she was upset at the time,

You know, as any parent would be.

♪ ♪

- Lorraine described that kimberly

Had gone missing in the past.

She would run away, gone for a couple days,

And would come back.

So it seemed to me that there were

A lot of issues within that household

Prior to kimberly going missing.

So lorraine was brought down to the office

To be questioned more thoroughly.

♪ ♪

We had to ask her what was going on inside the house

That would make her run away, not just this time,

But even in the past.

- We had found out that kimberly said

That lorraine's husband, rudy,

Had sexually assaulted her.

♪ ♪

And his trial was coming up in the next few days.

♪ ♪

- Immediately, as soon as she says that,

Bells and whistles go off.

Holy cow, there's motive right there.

♪ ♪

- In my mind, I said, this guy's the one who did it.

♪ ♪

- A lot of times, homicides are somebody

That knew the victim.

- Legally, we knew we had to let him go.

You don't know where he's gonna go.

Is he gonna flee?

This is crazy.

This can't really be happening.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- In the fall of 2003, new jersey

And delaware state police joined forces

To solve the murder of 16-year-old kimberly holton.

Kim's foster mother, lorraine machette,

Points the finger at her estranged husband,

Rudy, who also stands accused of molesting kim.

♪ ♪

And lorraine is not the only person

To think rudy could have been involved in kim's murder.

♪ ♪

- When her and I would walk through the neighborhood,

Kim's foster dad, rudy, would follow us in his car.

And it felt very uncomfortable for kim and I,

To the point where I did have to tell my parents,

And we did have to call the cops on him.

♪ ♪

- In our minds, rudy machette is our number-one suspect.

♪ ♪

- Homicides aren't always random.

A lot of times, it's somebody that knew the victim.

♪ ♪

You can't have a much greater connection

Than the foster father accused of sexually assaulting her.

♪ ♪

- So we go pick up rudy machette,

Bring him back to the troop, and start interviewing him

About kimberly holton's murder.

♪ ♪

I was thinking, we've got our guy.

Let's just get a confession, and this case

Is gonna be wrapped up in no time.

♪ ♪

During the interview, we don't tell him he is a suspect.

We're just trying to feel him out.

♪ ♪

Rudy was sort of shocked himself

About what was going on.

And he was too inquisitive, asking too many questions.

♪ ♪

You can just feel a person out,

And I could tell he was not making up any lies to us.

♪ ♪

So after interviewing rudy machette,

We talked to other individuals.

He had an alibi at the time.

And we corroborate his alibi.

♪ ♪

This isn't our guy.

♪ ♪

- Rudy machette offers a viable alibi,

And detectives' hands are tied.

So they're forced to release him.

♪ ♪

- It's kind of disheartening when you thought

You had the one that did it,

And now you're back to square one.

♪ ♪

At that point, we needed more concrete information

About kimberly holton's background

In and out of foster care.

♪ ♪

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- Kimberly lived with me in williamstown, new jersey,

For a little over three years.

♪ ♪

Kimberly's life was horrible at home with her mother,

Being neglected.

There was no food.

There was no toys.

The state stepped in and called me.

So that's how I got kimberly.

♪ ♪

When I had kimberly, she loved arts and crafts

And making things on her own,

Exploring through the woods.

Kimberly was a happy little girl,

And she didn't let anything stop her from finding her joy.

♪ ♪

For the three years that I had kimberly,

She just enjoyed life.

And then we were moving to crossville, tennessee.

And the day that we packed up, kimberly's

Biological grandfather and step-grandmother

Pulled up in the driveway with papers

Stating they now had custody.

That was horrible.

I cried from williamstown, new jersey,

To crossville, tennessee.

♪ ♪

- After moving in with her grandparents,

The living arrangements didn't work out.

So kimberly went back into foster care,

This time with the machettes.

♪ ♪

- When I went back to new jersey

To visit kimberly,

She weren't there no more.

The whole family had just moved,

And I didn't know where they were at.

♪ ♪

It made me feel empty that I couldn't find kimberly

And curious if she was even ok anymore.

[tense music]

When I found out she was murdered,

I sat in my room for three days just crying,

Knowing I'll never see her again.

♪ ♪

- No pertinent information is revealed

When speaking to kimberly's friends and family.

So authorities now take a closer look

At the autopsy for any clues that

Might lead them to her killer.

[dramatic music]

- Bodies that are submerged in water,

They don't cooperate with trying

To get evidence off of them.

So before the medical examiner can even really start

Performing the autopsy, we had to meticulously remove

Everything that was on her body.

So we started with the chains, and we got them removed.

♪ ♪

There was no really obvious trauma to the body

Besides the marine activity.

So we're gonna hope that the medical examiner can

Tell us what sort of injuries were sustained

And what killed this girl.

♪ ♪

The medical examiner described there had been

Blunt force trauma to her head, probably from a fall

And probably from a significant height.

- Because the autopsy doesn't reveal dna or other clues

That point to a perpetrator, investigators are left

With only one piece of hard evidence to pursue:

The chain found around kimberly's feet.

♪ ♪

- The chains were corroded,

And they had started getting rusty.

But once we started cleaning it,

I was noticing that every link of chain

Has a stamp on it in the same specific area.

♪ ♪

So hopefully this chain is gonna be

Unique to some certain hardware store,

And maybe we could hone in on where that was

And see who did this.

♪ ♪

[seagulls calling]

- Three days into kimberly holton's murder investigation,

Police in new jersey discover what could be a promising clue.

[dramatic music]

- The stamp that was on the chain

Came back to a lowe's hardware store.

♪ ♪

There was a lowe's hardware store in close proximity

To where kimberly lived in dover, delaware.

- That was the biggest evidentiary lead

We had in the case.

And it got us pumped back up again.

And we were ready to roll.

♪ ♪

During the course of the interview with the manager

Of the lowe's in dover, he was able to backtrack

Through the computer system.

That same length of chain, that same stamp was purchased

At that location, along with clamps

Clamped to the chain that was found on kimberly's body

And also cinder blocks.

♪ ♪

The day of that purchase was September 30, 2003,

Which was the day after

Kimberly being reported missing.

What are the chances?

There's no way that this is a coincidence

That some random person just bought the same exact chain

With the same exact stamp, cinder blocks, and the clamps

All at the same time at a lowe's home improvement store

A couple miles away from where kimberly resided.

♪ ♪

We actually had a timestamp on that receipt.

So we were able to pull the surveillance footage,

And we see two males walk up with those items

Up to the cash register.

They purchase those things, and they leave.

♪ ♪

- We were hoping that they used their debit card

So we could easily track them down,

But they used cash instead to pay for the chain.

♪ ♪

We're thinking, how are we gonna find these guys?

Because the video surveillance was grainy.

But you can see the mannerisms,

The way they walk, the way they're talking to the manager

As they're cutting the chain.

♪ ♪

So we decided we're going to contact the press

And release this videotape.

♪ ♪

- The police put this information out,

Hoping that somebody would recognize them.

♪ ♪

That tape proved to be a major break in the case.

[phone ringing]

- We're getting flooded with phone calls

With different names.

But one name keeps coming up is robert brothers.

♪ ♪

Then we're sort of shocked.

♪ ♪

Robert brothers called us and said,

Hey, that's me on the videotape.

[dramatic music]

So we said, you need to come down to the station

So we can talk to you about this.

♪ ♪

Robert brothers comes to troop 3.

We ask him about purchasing the chain, the cinder blocks,

The locks at lowe's.

And he says, yes, he went to lowe's,

And he was with his acquaintance jacob jones.

♪ ♪

And we asked him, what were you buying

The chains and the cinder blocks and the locks for?

And he said, well, jacob jones told me

That he was gonna use them as weightlifting equipment.

- I felt robert brothers was not involved

In kimberly's murder,

And he seemed as confused as we were.

So we asked, do you know what could have happened?

- Robert says jacob jones was currently dating heather.

Kimberly holton and heather were foster sisters.

♪ ♪

- I do believe that there was a lot of tension

Between heather and kim.

Kimberly was beautiful.

Heather could have possibly been jealous

Of the way that kim looked.

♪ ♪

- Now we have a connection, and we're thinking,

These can't all be strange coincidences.

All these things are starting to connect piece by piece.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

- Investigators learn that kimberly's foster sister,

Heather, is dating none other than jacob jones,

The second person seen

In the lowe's surveillance video.

Now investigators want to know if something happened

Between the three of them

That could have led to kimberly's murder.

So they bring heather in for questioning.

- When we spoke to heather,

She was very upset, was crying.

- We learned that

There was friction between

Kimberly holton and heather.

- Heather would tell her boyfriend, jacob jones,

What kimberly was doing,

And this would make jacob jones angry.

- We wanted to keep talking to heather,

But right now we need to speak with jacob jones.

♪ ♪

Jacob jones wasn't your typical murder suspect.

He had nothing on his record.

♪ ♪

He's 20 years old.

He's a sophomore at delaware state university,

And he had a 4.0 grade point average at the time.

♪ ♪

- One of the things we learned about jacob jones

Was that he was in the aeronautical program

At delaware state university.

He was a licensed pilot and instructor

At the dover air force base.

He was certified to use aircraft

From the aero club there.

[dramatic music]

- We located jacob jones

And brought him in for an interview.

And you could tell that he was scared.

- He denied any kind of involvement.

He tried to stick with the story

About purchasing these items from lowe's

As he was gonna make weightlifting equipment.

- Legally, we knew we had to let him go.

It kind of breaks your heart because you knew

We're probably letting a murderer

Walk out of our building.

There's still a lot of questions.

Is there additional evidence that he has

That he's going to destroy?

How can we get our hands on that evidence?

How are we gonna prove that jacob jones is the one

Who killed kimberly holton?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

But once we released jacob,

We knew we had to find additional evidence

To prove this case.

We spoke to his supervisor.

His supervisor said that over the course

Of the last few weeks,

Jacob stopped showing up for work or he was late.

He was very agitated and angry.

- We determined that jacob jones did have access

To these cessna airplanes at the air base

Any time he wanted.

- We asked the supervisor, when was the last time

You have record of jacob taking a plane up?

- When investigators review flight records

Provided by the supervisor,

They uncover a chilling truth.

Jacob jones chartered a plane and left the airfield

Around 11:45 pm on September 30th,

The very night after kimberly went missing,

And then returned back to said airfield

Just two hours later.

[dramatic music]

- This can't be a coincidence.

Now we're starting to think that jacob took the body,

Put the body in the plane,

And dumped the body out over the ocean.

♪ ♪

- At that point in time,

The walls were closing in on jacob.

♪ ♪

But jacob jones being small stature,

135 pounds tops, he wasn't going to load

Kimberly holton's body with chains and cinder blocks

Attached to it in an airplane.

So we deduced that someone helped jacob

Load kimberly holton's body

Before he took her out over the atlantic.

♪ ♪

- It was mind-boggling.

It kind of tied in all the little minor questions

That we had at that point.

They dumped her out of a plane at a height

That caused the trauma to her head post-mortem.

- Now we're thinking, how are we gonna find

Who he was with that night?

♪ ♪

- His dad revealed jacob actually confessed

To killing kimberly holton.

- Jacob jones's father called the other suspect.

- Immediately thereafter, they hear a gunshot.

[gunshot]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- It's been more than two weeks

Since kimberly holton's murder,

And detectives are closing in on jacob jones

As one of her two killers.

But then the unthinkable happens.

- On October 23, we are getting ready to make

An arrest on jacob jones.

And we get a call from jacob jones's father saying,

My son has just committed suicide in his bedroom.

[dramatic music]

He put a shotgun in his mouth and killed himself.

♪ ♪

- Perhaps after police grilled jacob jones,

He felt it was only a matter of time until he was arrested

And ultimately could not face

The possibility of life in prison.

♪ ♪

- It was sort of a surreal scene

When we went to the house,

To the jones residence,

And talked to them.

Both of the parents were in shock.

[tense music]

- Jacob's family, his mom and dad,

Seemed to try and do the right thing.

His dad revealed to us that prior to jacob

Committing suicide, he had actually

Confessed to killing kimberly holton.

♪ ♪

Immediately thereafter, they hear a gunshot.

[gunshot]

♪ ♪

They walk in, and their son's laying there

Dead in his bedroom.

♪ ♪

- They just sort of sat in the living room

With blank stares on their face,

Like how could this happen to our son?

[somber music]

- Jacob had mentioned to his dad

That kimberly was causing issues in the family home,

Especially with his girlfriend, heather,

And he needed to take things into his own hands

And rectify this situation.

♪ ♪

Jacob's father told us that

Jacob did go to lowe's.

He bought the chains, the cinder blocks

With the intention of killing kimberly.

♪ ♪

- Jacob told his parents who he was with that night.

We knew two people loaded her into the airplane

From the cheswolde airport.

♪ ♪

We're thinking, ok, we've lost jacob jones,

But now we've developed another suspect who could have assisted

With kimberly holton's murder,

And his name was michael keyser.

♪ ♪

- That was the first time this name

Had come up in our investigation.

♪ ♪

- When we did a background check,

We found out that michael keyser was

A 23-year-old white male.

He had a security job at the local racetrack.

♪ ♪

- Jones and keyser had known each other but peripherally.

They had worked together for a security company,

But they didn't hang out together.

They apparently didn't have a whole lot

Of common interests other than their one job.

♪ ♪

- We brought jacob jones's father and mother back

To troop 3, and we devised a plan

To help the case move along

And see what michael keyser would do.

♪ ♪

Jacob jones's father called michael keyser's cell phone

As he was driving to his security job.

♪ ♪

We had drug unit guys in unmarked cars

Following him when jacob jones's father

Made this phone call.

Jacob jones's father tells michael,

We've got this suicide note, and you're in it.

You've helped jacob kill kimberly.

I'm headed to troop 3 to talk to the police.

♪ ♪

Michael keyser drives right through the grass median.

He's so shook up.

[tires screeching]

- We don't know where he's gonna go.

Is he gonna flee?

This is crazy.

This can't really be happening.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Suddenly keyser starts going in the direction of troop 3.

♪ ♪

We were pretty excited because we knew that

Michael keyser 100% had something to do with this.

♪ ♪

Michael keyser arrives at troop 3, and he is a wreck.

♪ ♪

He wants to talk to a police officer

Because he says he has no knowledge of any of this.

- Keyser starts telling his version of what happened.

♪ ♪

On September 29th,

Jacob jones tells michael keyser

To go pick up kimberly holton.

- Michael keyser had lured kimberly

And brought her to a local motel

To talk about issues with her foster sister, heather.

By this point, jacob was there as well.

While they were in there, they were talking,

Joking around, everything was fine.

Kimberly decided to go to the bathroom.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Over two weeks after kimberly

Was murdered by jacob jones,

His accomplice, michael keyser, admits to helping

Dispose of her body, but only because keyser

Thought his own life was at stake.

♪ ♪

- Michael explained that he didn't know that

There was a premeditated plan in place ahead of time

To kill kimberly.

- Jacob jones tells michael

To hold kimberly holton's legs down

While he puts a phone cord around her neck,

Puts a pillow over her head, and suffocates her.

- Based on michael keyser's statement,

We determined that kimberly is probably killed

After 2 o'clock

In the morning, and for almost the entire day,

She's in the trunk of this car.

♪ ♪

That night, jacob jones and michael keyser

Drove to cheswolde airport.

♪ ♪

We think it's possible that both of them,

Michael keyser and jacob jones, loaded her into the airplane

From the cheswolde airport.

♪ ♪

We hired an expert that worked for the air force.

This expert said there is an installation

Where they can figure out,

Even if you turned the transponder off,

Where your airplane is going.

And he determined that jacob jones took off

From the cheswolde airport,

Flew out over the atlantic ocean,

About 3.9 miles

From the cape may new jersey coast,

And dumped her body out at that time.

♪ ♪

I mean, it's just a nightmarish scene.

♪ ♪

- The police had put out a press release

Saying that they had a suspect, and this suspect

Named michael keyser was under arrest.

♪ ♪

- Once we told kimberly holton's foster mom,

Lorraine machette, that we arrested michael keyser,

The family was pretty excited because we know

We have got our person who did this.

- Michael keyser took the cowardly way out.

Instead of speaking up, he played along

In murdering a 16-year-old girl who did nothing to him.

♪ ♪

- Kimberly holton's missing person case

Might have gone cold,

Being seen as an act of rebellion

By a teen who was already known to run away.

However, jones did not consider a key variable

In his plan: The ocean.

The plane was at such a high altitude,

When kimberly's body hit the water,

It acted like it hit concrete at 130 miles an hour,

And the cinder blocks disintegrated upon impact.

This lack of knowledge on his part

Allowed the truth to rise to the surface,

Along with kimberly.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Michael keyser was convicted of murder, first degree

And conspiracy, and the judge elected

To have him spend the rest of his life in prison.

♪ ♪

- I am glad he didn't get the death penalty.

He should suffer behind bars,

Just like he made kim suffer when he murdered her.

♪ ♪

- Investigators want to tie up all loose ends,

So they speak to kimberly's foster sister,

Heather, one last time.

- Detectives are able to determine that

Heather had no involvement in kimberly's death.

And we will never know the real motive

Behind jones's actions,

As he took the truth with him to his grave.

♪ ♪

We can speculate all we want, but whatever the reason,

Murder is never, ever the answer.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

- If kimberly was around, I would want to tell her

I always loved her, and I looked for her.

♪ ♪

And I would love to be able to hold her

And tell her, you still fit in my arms.

This is where you belong.

♪ ♪

- If kimberly was here today, I would just say,

Kimberly, I'm sorry for what happened to you.

You know, we did the best we could for you.

And I wish you would have had different opportunities

That you didn't have.

♪ ♪

- It's been 20 years, but it's like...

♪ ♪

Like it just happened yesterday.

Sherry and I met through social media.

Sherry sent me a picture.

It was a heart-shaped rock on the beach,

And she wrote on it, "love, kimmy."

♪ ♪

I felt happy, and my heart was full,

Because that's kim talking to us

And letting us know, thank you for being my voice.

♪ ♪

- Now kimberly's loved ones must take solace

In the fact that justice was done.

Jacob jones is gone, and michael keyser

Is in prison for the rest of his days

For taking the life of a bright,

Bubbly 16-year-old whose future was cut tragically short.

♪ ♪