Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Wow.

This is weird.

- When someone is murdered,

detectives rely on witnesses to solve it.

But when no one comes forward,

they need the evidence to speak.

- What we have here, Ronnie, is a whodunit.

But I specialize in whodunits.

- Tonight on "The First 48 Critical Minutes"...

- My guess is that the doctor

saw something or knew something.

- A man stabbed, and nobody sees it.

- A mother's brutal murder baffles detectives.

- Did you see this, Deputy?

- And a preacher mysteriously beaten

to death in his apartment.

- Another decanter with a knife stuck in it.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

[sirens wailing]

♪ ♪

[radio chatter]

♪ ♪

[sirens wailing]

♪ ♪

[tense music]

narrator: Cincinnati, Ohio,

3:30 p.m.,

the quiet East Walnut Hills neighborhood.

Fire and rescue units respond to a call

for an apartment fire.

While extinguishing the flames,

they make a gruesome discovery on the top floor,

two bodies badly burned.

♪ ♪

narrator: The fireman entered one top floor apartment

and discovered the bedroom completely engulfed in flame.

♪ ♪

narrator: Firefighters conducted a search

of all other apartments on the top floor

and made a startling discovery.

- This is frickin' weird, man.

♪ ♪

- The biggest challenge of having no witnesses is,

there's no one to point you in the right direction.

You spend a lot of time just trying to make sense of things

that somebody else could have helped you make sense of.

There's nothing more valuable to a trial than for a juror

to sit there and listen to another human being

talk about what they saw.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives examine the body of the first victim,

whose apartment was on fire.

[indistinct chatter]

49-year-old Vernon Allmond

was a beloved Cincinnati hairdresser,

whose clients knew him as the weave doctor.

- Did you see this?

- Stab wounds.

- Stab wounds?

[indistinct chatter]

- There's at least 30 stab wounds.

- OK.

- Yeah...

♪ ♪

- Wow.

This is weird.

[indistinct chatter]

- Multiple stab wounds on Vernon

usually is a sign of passion.

The doctor's stabbed also but not in the same way

that Vernon was stabbed.

My guess is that the doctor was probably some sort of witness.

He saw something or knew something.

♪ ♪

- Tell me what you know about Martin.

Is he Black or white or Hispanic?

- How old do you think Martin is?

Closest guess.

- Does he have a car?

- OK. Does Vernon have a car?

- Is it here?

narrator: Greg says that his brother's

gray Chevy Malibu rental car appears to be missing.

♪ ♪

- If we can find out who Martin is,

we need to pick him up, like, now.

♪ ♪

- This is pure passion.

- Passion.

- The stabbing is multiple times.

It's personal.

- Like, how did the doctor get involved?

- The poor doctor--

- Poor doctor probably saw him coming out.

- Heard it. Saw it.

- So then he kills the doctor, then he sets him on fire.

- Right.

♪ ♪

Come to mama.

♪ ♪

narrator: Luke learns that Martin is in jail now

and has been for the past two months.

♪ ♪

- It's going to be somebody else.

narrator: Detectives shift focus

back to the only remaining lead,

Vernon's stolen rental car.

- Find that car, find out who's in that car.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detective Luke asks for district patrol

to be on the lookout for the stolen Chevy Malibu.

- So we need the car and the occupants stopped and held.

Treat the car as a crime scene.

OK. Thank you so much.

Bye.

♪ ♪

narrator: They pull over the car

and transfer its driver to homicide.

♪ ♪

The driver is David Wallace,

a convicted felon who's done time for aggravated robbery.

- Well, that car wasn't yours.

♪ ♪

- Yeah, it's pretty serious.

♪ ♪

- You and me both.

And I'm sorry for what gone on, man.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Why don't you let me help you out with this

and work through this?

♪ ♪

narrator: David claims he exchanged crack

for the use of a car.

- But [bleep] gone.

narrator: He claims the man left with the crack

and never returned for the car.

- He gone.

- Describe him to me.

- Dark-skinned, not as tall as me.

You know what I'm saying? Like 5'10", maybe 6 foot.

You know what I mean?

- How old do you think he would have been about?

- Like, early 40s.

- Any facial hair?

- No.

No, he was, like, butt-naked face.

- You ever seen him before?

- Never in my life.

♪ ♪

- It is commonplace that people in this business

will sell, rent, and do business with their cars.

- This guy's believable.

I believe him.

It's very frustrating.

You know, you want that guy to be your guy.

narrator: 12 hours in the team is back at square one.

♪ ♪

- The big easy win isn't happening on this case so far.

This is not an obvious gang-related killing.

This is somebody whose motives are a little different.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[telephone rings] - Thompson.

narrator: Thompson finally gets a break in his case.

A friend of David Wallace, the man

pulled over driving Vernon's car,

spotted the man who allegedly traded the car for crack.

The man is Anthony Wayne Scott.

- The police were able to snag this guy up,

so we're going to go in and talk to him.

- A suspect has their version of events.

But is it the truth?

With no one else to tell the police what happened,

police have to compare what the suspect says

to what the evidence tells them.

♪ ♪

- I'm just trying to debate on whether or not to talk to you,

because I know-- no disrespect to you,

but I don't trust cops.

- I'm just trying to figure out how this car got there

and how you were in it.

And man, can't you just help me out a little bit here?

- Yeah, I was picked up by somebody in the car

over on Main Street.

- Did you know that person?

- No.

narrator: Scott claims that a stranger pulled up next to him

in the car asking if he knew where to buy drugs.

Scott says this stranger then gave him his car

to trade for drugs at a nearby crack house.

- He wanted to just rent it for a little something.

- Well, the guy that picks you up on Main Street.

- I never made it back to him, because...

narrator: Scott says that after trading the man's car

for drugs he left the crack house to find him

and give him the crack.

But the man had vanished.

♪ ♪

Thompson shows Scott a photograph

of the victim, Vernon Allmon.

- He was murdered?

- Yeah.

Do you know him?

♪ ♪

What's his name?

- I can't remember his name.

♪ ♪

- His name is Vernon.

- Vernon.

That's who had the car.

That's who gave me the car to go up there.

- Well, hold on.

You're saying that the person who picked you up

on Main Street is Vernon?

Then how--tell me how he would get up to his apartment

and be dead there.

♪ ♪

That wasn't a trick question.

♪ ♪

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time

getting over this Main Street rendezvous

where you just stumbled across Vernon.

- I understand that. - I don't think it makes sens.

- I understand that. - All the vagueness.

And I show you his picture, and you're crying.

You look at it.

- I didn't cry.

- The hell you didn't.

Have you ever been in Vernon's apartment?

- I'm not giving no information about that.

♪ ♪

- He first of all admits to being in the car.

And then he admits to knowing the victim.

Then he admits to being with the victim.

narrator: Detectives do not have enough evidence to charge

Scott with a double murder.

They charge him with receiving stolen property.

In jail, Scott later admitted involvement in the murders

to two separate fellow inmates.

He was subsequently charged with two counts of murder.

♪ ♪

Memphis, 2:00 p.m.

A 911 call comes in from an apartment comple.

[sirens wailing]

narrator: When paramedics arrive,

they find a man on the living room floor dead.

♪ ♪

- The family members had not heard from him

from what I understand, which is why

they are over here trying to get

them to check the apartment.

♪ ♪

Is he in his underwear?

narrator: The victim's body is in an advanced

state of decomposition.

- It definitely looks like he's been killed.

- Ronald Paige.

narrator: 50-year-old Ronald Paige

was a pastor of the Cornerstone Church

in nearby Earle, Arkansas.

He lived by himself in Memphis.

- It looks like we've got a whiskey decanter

or whatever right there next to his elbow.

- It might be the murder weapon.

♪ ♪

Did you see this, Deputy?

Right there, you got another decanter

with a knife stuck in it.

♪ ♪

- You know, I think there's blood on that knife.

- It looked like it.

♪ ♪

Man.

Something took place here.

You can see the cast off or the blood

spatter going up the wall.

♪ ♪

Did you ever notice visitors or anything like that?

narrator: The witness says the victim

would often invite homeless people to stay with him.

- Maybe this time he picked up the wrong guy.

♪ ♪

- When a person is found in their home,

the first thing you want to know is,

was there a forced entry?

And if there is no forced entry

the things that tell you is that whoever

is responsible for this was either allowed to enter

or they had a key and had the ability to enter on their own.

♪ ♪

- We're hoping that we get some physical evidence that will

give us a break in the case.

narrator: First, they examine the possible murder

weapons for fingerprints.

- One print is all you going to need.

♪ ♪

- The ME said that the victim had 100-plus

stab wounds to his body.

We think that's the knife that was used.

Negative?

- Nothing.

narrator: Justice turns to other items

collected from the apartment.

- There is a DVD movie that was playing in the bedroom

when we got to the scene.

♪ ♪

- Yeah, there's something on there.

♪ ♪

- This may be it.

narrator: They run the print through AFIS,

the Automated Fingerprint Identification System,

hoping to find a match.

- Please.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

♪ ♪

- Just got a hit.

- His print was on the DVD that was

in the machine still spinning.

So he had to have been there recently.

♪ ♪

He's obviously a person of interest.

If he was at the crime scene, he's definitely somebody

we'll need to talk to.

- He was a suspect in a break-in of a car on the 19th.

narrator: The vehicle was stolen just a few days befor.

- It's a Black Chevy Blazer.

It's still got the temporary tags on it.

- I bet you if we find that truck, Andre will be in it.

♪ ♪

- Lieutenant Miller.

♪ ♪

narrator: The Criminal Apprehension Tem

has found the stolen Blazer and Andre Harris

at a neighborhood gas station.

They bring Andre Harris back to headquarters

for questioning.

- He saw that Homicide sign.

He got that sick look on his face right now.

♪ ♪

He's like, "What am I being charged with?"

♪ ♪

- He was caught in a stolen car.

We're going to start with that first.

And then we're going to ease our way into the homicide.

You ready, Ron?

narrator: Quinn and Collins will interview the suspect.

- What's going on, Andre?

- Why do you think you're here?

♪ ♪

- Where did you get the Blazer from?

narrator: Andre claims that he bought the Blazer from a womn

and her boyfriend.

- Your name's not on that bill of sale, title, anything.

♪ ♪

- As of right now, the way it look, you stole the ca.

♪ ♪

- How'd you cut your arm?

♪ ♪

- Yeah.

♪ ♪

- Washing the car?

♪ ♪

- Do you know what office you're in?

- Yeah.

- What?

- This is a police office.

♪ ♪

- When you came in those doors from the hallway,

it said Homicide.

- Uh-huh.

- We're homicide investigators.

- So you think I killed somebody or something?

♪ ♪

- Well, Andre, you're not telling us the truth again.

See, we--listen to me-- we know the answers

to the questions that we're asking you.

- Because we're trying to give you an opportunity

to clear the air and tell the truth.

♪ ♪

You know this man right here?

♪ ♪

You studying that picture awful hard.

♪ ♪

That man right there is dead.

♪ ♪

- Well, what if we were to tell you that we have evidence

that proves otherwise?

And--listen to me.

We have evidence that can put you in his apartment.

♪ ♪

You're not sitting in the Homicide office

because you stole a [bleep] Blazer.

♪ ♪

- There's no question about that.

There's no question about it.

We can prove that you was inside the house.

♪ ♪

But what went on in the house, only you know that.

♪ ♪

You sitting there saying, "I wasn't in the house.

I don't know nothing about this."

We take this stuff to court.

We put out proof on showing that you was in the house,

the jury, the judge, and everybody else

in that courtroom are gonna think

you're a cold-blooded killer and a cold-hearted liar.

They're going to picture you as that.

Something went on in the house to make it happen.

We need to know what.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Damn.

♪ ♪

narrator: Andre says he met the pastor

at a nearby gas station

when he offered him a place to stay.

♪ ♪

[sobbing]

♪ ♪

- We'll give you a few minutes.

And we'll be back in here with you.

♪ ♪

- He just broke. He just broke.

♪ ♪

- We'll never really know what the truth is.

There's always two sides to every story.

And Mr. Paige will never be able to tell his side.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Cell phones are extremely valuable

in homicide investigations,

because you literally have a handheld tracking system.

It's almost impossible for you to go somewhere

using a cell phone and it does not hit

off some cell tower somewhere.

So we can literally figure out exactly

everywhere that you've been.

We can know exactly who you talk to,

when you talk to them, when you text someone,

and who texts you.

So they're extremely valuable.

[sirens wailing]

narrator: Patrol and EMS race to the scene

and find a woman in the driver's seat

of a red Camaro shot dead.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- Rich. - Hey.

- He was just sitting in there?

- Just sitting in there, she.

- Oh, she?

- Yeah.

- You got her name? - Yeah.

- Juanita Ibarra, OK.

♪ ♪

narrator: 32-year-old Juanita Ibarra was born and raised

in Tulsa and worked as a translator

at the University of Oklahoma Pediatric Clinic.

She leaves behind four children,

two boys and two girls.

- Looks like somebody came up and walked up on the car.

narrator: Juanita was shot in her left ear.

- There's two live rounds that are sitting on the ground.

Whoever did it came up close and personal and did it.

- Thank you.

- She sent messages at 12:55.

She says, "I don't have anything."

And then she says, "I can go get some."

- OK.

- It seems like there's a little bit of drug talk.

- At 3:00

she's got an outgoing call to a Freddie.

♪ ♪

- She misses a call at 3:16, so that puts down

the window to a 14-minute window

when she probably got killed there.

- Oh, great.

♪ ♪

- We'll check on that video when they open up.

- We'll notify the family,

trying figure out, what do you know?

And maybe we'll get somewhere.

♪ ♪

[knocking]

- Tulsa Police.

You mind if I come in?

I'm Jason White.

♪ ♪

narrator: White and Leatherman notify Juanita's family

that she's been murdered.

♪ ♪

- She showed up at the parents' house last nigh.

They hadn't heard from her in, like, three weeks,

has drug problems, and was going

to move home and try to, I guess,

maybe try to start over again.

♪ ♪

- What we have here, Ronnie, is a whodunit.

But I specialize in whodunits.

♪ ♪

narrator: Eight hours in, Corporal Nathan Schilling

searches Juanita's phone for a lead.

- Look at this. - What?

narrator: Schilling finds a photo of the back

of a silver pickup truck...

♪ ♪

- At 2:57 this morning.

narrator: Taken just minutes before the murder.

- Holy crap.

She took a picture of the person who killed he.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- 20 minutes before she's found dead in her car,

there's a picture of the back of a truck.

It's a Toyota Tacoma, silver in color.

There's a very good chance that that's

a picture of either a suspect or a witness.

♪ ♪

- She takes the picture.

I think she knew she was the target.

- Yeah, in trouble, in trouble. - Yes.

- She's trying to do something about it.

narrator: Without a clear license plate number,

detectives examine the photo for other leads.

- Fourth and Memorial is that corner.

- Southwest corner.

- It's possible.

I mean, it's a corner of a building.

♪ ♪

narrator: The next morning surveillance

footage from the church near the crime scene comes in.

♪ ♪

- OK, here's where they pull up.

- There's the victim's red Camaro.

narrator: The video shows the victim's car

following the silver truck.

♪ ♪

- I wonder if they told her to follow.

She pulls in right behind him.

Driver gets out.

Then the passenger gets out.

- There are two people.

♪ ♪

- We've got two suspects.

♪ ♪

- Bam. They take off.

- Security video is the new eyewitness.

It's almost impossible to go anywhere

publicly and not be captured in video in some way,

shape, form, or fashion.

Back in the old days there were

very few businesses that actually

deployed video cameras.

It's pretty safe to say now that

there are very few that don't.

♪ ♪

narrator: Just an hour later...

[phone rings]

- Hello.

Oh, really?

narrator: The team gets a huge break.

♪ ♪

- So Ronnie and Jason, they were taking a witness home,

and they found a taco shop that they think

is pretty close to the building we've been

looking for in our picture.

♪ ♪

- You talk about some of the best quality

video I have ever seen.

Matter of fact, here, look.

Here's both of the guys right here.

♪ ♪

He goes up to her car.

- It's good stuff.

- Oh, yeah, we got it all.

♪ ♪

We're going to go downtown, let everybody see the video

that Ronnie and I obtained.

♪ ♪

- There's the Tacoma.

♪ ♪

- There's our boys right there.

♪ ♪

- There they are coming in.

♪ ♪

narrator: Minutes later...

♪ ♪

- There she is.

narrator: Juanita enters the restauran.

♪ ♪

- There she is again.

♪ ♪

- So who is she talking to right now?

- OK.

She calls Freddie at 2:32.

♪ ♪

All right. There she is again.

She leaves out of there.

- Nothing happened right inside the store.

♪ ♪

narrator: As Juanita pulls out of the parking lot...

- Yep, that's her backing out right there.

- Yep, that's the Camaro.

- Yep, it is.

narrator: She crosses paths with the men

from the silver pickup.

♪ ♪

- There's some sort of a discussion.

They recognize one another.

♪ ♪

narrator: And they get into an argument.

♪ ♪

- He's mad at... - His buddy

- Telling him to get in the truck.

And right here she's going to take the picture.

♪ ♪

- And it went back around to the coffee shop.

- And there's the truck.

He pulls out, and she's right on their rear end.

narrator: Juanita follows the suspects.

- We're so close, man.

I can't stand it.

I'm just--I'm tired.

Man, I got to recharge my batteries a little bit.

♪ ♪

[cell phone dings]

- I think that's going to be the truck.

narrator: The team gets a lead.

♪ ♪

- I mean, look at the tailgate.

- It's the same tailgate.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detective Michael Zenoni spotted a silver pickup

parked near the crime scene that looks

like the suspect's vehicle.

♪ ♪

- There's a pretty good chance that this is our truck.

♪ ♪

That's a Toyota.

narrator: A man comes out of the house

and gets in the truck.

- Dang it. It's turning around.

Man, I think that guy that we've been looking at

is in this truck too.

♪ ♪

That's it.

♪ ♪

The guy in the video is definitely in that truck.

♪ ♪

- We definitely want to catch [indistinct].

♪ ♪

- That truck right across the way

with the headlights on that's turning

is our suspect vehicle.

It's now southbound on Memorial.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: The driver is taken into custody.

♪ ♪

- He's got an ID that says he's Mario Gallegos.

narrator: The team brings in officer Rodolfo Nava

to translate for the suspect.

- I want to ask you a few questions.

I need you to be very truthful with me.

OK?

And it's basically about an incident that occurred

out of the taco stand early Friday morning,

where there was, like, a disagreement

that was going on out there.

It would have been Friday.

[both speaking Spanish]

- Yeah, he said he was there.

- OK, great.

Was he there in his truck?

- He said it was his friend's truck.

- Who was his friend?

♪ ♪

- What's his full name?

- [speaking Spanish]

- No.

- We have it on video that he gets

into it with somebody in the parking lot of the restaurant.

- [speaking Spanish]

narrator: Mario admits that Pablo was arguing with a woman

outside in the parking lot.

- Do you know the girl?

- No.

- What kind of vehicle was the girl in?

- OK.

So the girl in the red car,

the video shows that she's behind them as they drove off

out of the parking lot.

Does he remember her pulling in behind them?

- No. - No?

Well, she did.

♪ ♪

Why did Pablo shoot her?

That woman had four children.

♪ ♪

- Did you shoot?

- No.

- No?

- So it's either him or Pablo that did it.

♪ ♪

- Well, he needs to remember.

♪ ♪

narrator: The team returns to the address where they found

the pickup truck and Mario.

♪ ♪

Police make entry...

♪ ♪

narrator: And place Pablo under arrest.

♪ ♪

- That's him for sure.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives search the house for firearms.

♪ ♪

- Diana found a gun.

narrator: The gun is a .25-caliber,

the same caliber as the projectiles

found at the crime scene.

- It's a little .25.

And there's casings at the scene.

This couldn't get any better for Jason.

♪ ♪

- OK. So watch. This is you.

♪ ♪

You're walking over here.

- [speaking Spanish]

- And here you go.

♪ ♪

OK?

♪ ♪

- Her car will be coming up right there.

♪ ♪

What were you guys talking about?

- She said something about, "I want to drink with you guys,

And that's really about it."

♪ ♪

- You remember getting into an argument with her?

- Here we go. - You can see a bit of it.

You see, that's her, screaming and yelling at yo.

♪ ♪

- He said, "Yeah, that's when they decided never mind.

Let's just leave."

- So after that, you went straight home?

- Si, yeah. - All right.

That woman was killed.

♪ ♪

- Si.

♪ ♪

- Does he know anything about it?

- [speaking Spanish]

♪ ♪

- No. - No, he doesn't.

- OK. We've talked to his friend,

and he already told us what happened.

He talks about

the car following them and them stopping.

He said that he tells him to stop the truck.

Does he remember that?

- No.

- OK.

Is there any reason why the gun that was used in this murder

is in his bedroom?

- [speaking Spanish]

- He said, "No, what gun?

- OK. - He says he wants his lawyer.

- We have plenty to take him to jail tonight.

And it's time for the court to do what the court does.

♪ ♪

- Some of the reasons that people don't come forth

when they see a crime such as a homicide is,

they don't want to get involved.

They don't want to testify.

They don't want the person that's responsible

for the crime to know that they're the person

responsible for bringing them to justice.

And there's an overriding theme in a community

that people don't snitch.

♪ ♪