Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[chair crashes]

- As a former homicide detective,

I have seen how the best-laid plans

can fall apart and end in violence.

- He got hit from the left side, broke his jaw.

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

[knocking] - Mary, come to the door.

- A woman lures a mark in Dallas.

- I was supposed to set him up.

- Possibly a robbery gone bad.

- No!

- Then a ruthless attack

under an interstate overpass...

- And a rescue plan goes off the rails.

- Guy's dead in the driver's seat.

♪ ♪

- Premeditated murder is when you actually

put together a plan

that is gonna take this person's life.

It's not like we were involved in a fight

where I was defending myself.

It was something that I put a lot of thought

and effort into.

And in some cases, there's not enough evidence to prove that.

But there are cases where you find the evidence

or you find the witnesses or you find things that say,

"Clearly this person went through some extreme measures

to take this person's life."

♪ ♪

narrator: A call comes in to 911

from an apartment complex in the Webb Chapel neighborhood.

When paramedics open the door of the vacant apartment,

they find a man lying on the floor,

dead.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- You can see the blood right over there by the cat.

narrator: A trail of blood

leads from the hallway

to the apartment where the victim was found.

♪ ♪

- Looks like there's been a lot of activity

going back and forth from inside.

♪ ♪

- I think these here are stabs.

narrator: The victim was stabbed multiple times

in the head, neck, and chest.

- These could be defense wounds.

- Yeah.

He might have struggled in here a little.

♪ ♪

OK, let me check his pockets.

There's nothing.

♪ ♪

narrator: The victim has no ID or wallet.

♪ ♪

- It's not a very big blade. - Yeah.

narrator: Detectives search the room for evidence.

♪ ♪

Behind a door, three feet from the body,

they find a folding knife with hair and blood on it.

- Here's an open condom wrapper.

- Appears that his boots are off,

his pants are unzipped.

Possibly lured in here by a prostitute, maybe,

a robbery gone bad.

♪ ♪

narrator: Then a woman arrives on scene,

worried because her father has been missing since last night.

♪ ♪

The woman shows Jones a photo of her father,

hoping he's not the victim.

♪ ♪

- Does he have a silver tooth? He's light-skinned?

♪ ♪

- Yeah, that's him.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

How--how do you--how would you describe his skin tone?

- It's kind of like me, the same skin.

- Light? - Yeah.

No! - OK.

♪ ♪

- [crying] No. - [speaking Spanish]

- [sobbing] No!

No! No!

narrator: The victim, Marcelino Alvarado,

leaves behind his wife, two daughters,

and four grandchildren.

He worked at a nearby recycling plant

and played saxophone in a local band.

♪ ♪

The team goes door-to-door looking for a witness.

- Have they talked to you yet?

♪ ♪

narrator: Then...

- Can I come up and talk to you?

narrator: Patrol finds a resident who says

he has information about the murder.

- Right.

narrator: He says a neighbor named Mary

told him about the murder hours before police arrived.

♪ ♪

- Appreciate it.

♪ ♪

We are gonna go find out if Mary's inside.

She may have had something to do with this.

♪ ♪

[knocking]

Mary.

It's the police department. Come to the door.

Step in, Mary.

That dog doesn't bite, does it?

♪ ♪

Who's in here with you?

- My friend.

narrator: Mary says her boyfriend, Steven,

is in the apartment.

- We found a guy next door, dead.

♪ ♪

narrator: Steven agrees to speak

with Detective Joe Jones.

♪ ♪

narrator: According to Steven,

a man named Tattoo

found the body.

narrator: He says he doesn't know his real name.

narrator: Steven claims he hasn't seen Tattoo

since he left their apartment this morning.

♪ ♪

- All we have is a nickname right now.

We're hoping to get him identified tonight

and find out what happened.

And that's where we are.

narrator: The team heads back to headquarters

to try and identify Tattoo.

♪ ♪

- Right now, it's a crapshoot.

We're just trying to find Tattoos in the area.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[phone rings]

- Tabor.

- Hey, Steve. What's going on?

narrator: It's the man who told detectives about Tattoo.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- All right, we're on our way.

- All right.

Let's go get him.

♪ ♪

narrator: Steven agrees to come to Homicide.

♪ ♪

- What made you decide to go ahead and talk to us?

♪ ♪

- Why don't you just start from the beginning

and tell me what happened?

narrator: Steven says Monica

is a friend in the neighborhood.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- OK, was she gonna split it with you?

Were you gonna get half of it? - Yeah.

- So it was always between...

- Me and-- - You and her.

So what happened then?

[mimics gurgling]

♪ ♪

And, like...

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- And I was there. I thought, "What the hell for?"

I mean, what--

♪ ♪

- What do you mean sick?

- OK.

♪ ♪

- And you told her that, that "You just killed a guy?"

- And what did she say about that?

- All right.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives now need to hear

Monica's side of the story.

♪ ♪

- Monica's true name is Yvette Galaviz,

and it appears that she is homeless.

narrator: Monica is 21 and has convictions

for prostitution and drug possession.

- Potentially she could go out there

and hurt somebody else or try to jack somebody,

so we need to find her as soon as possible.

♪ ♪

- I have handled cases where you have a woman

that lured somebody to a certain location

for the purpose of having sex.

And unfortunately, when they get there,

either there's another person there waiting for them,

or the person that lured you there

has a plan to take your life.

If that victim resists or fights back

or doesn't comply with exactly what it is

that you're demanding that they do,

it often results in homicide.

And this case is a textbook case of that.

♪ ♪

[cell phone rings]

- Hello.

narrator: Tabor gets a call from the Gang Unit.

They've found Monica.

[indistinct police radio chatter]

♪ ♪

- Why?

♪ ♪

- We're gonna have her transported

down to our office.

I'm gonna find out what she has to say.

♪ ♪

You know why you're here?

♪ ♪

- Why do you think people would be putting your name in this?

- Why?

♪ ♪

- I've been told you use heroin.

Is that right? - Yeah.

- If you don't take it, it actually hurts...

- It hurts. - Hours after.

- And it's painful.

♪ ♪

- Have you ever been inside the vacant apartment

directly next door to Mary's apartment?

- No, that one's always been locked.

- 'Cause what I'm being told is that you went in there

with this guy that you heard that was murdered,

that you went into the apartment...

- Mm-mm.

- The vacant apartment with him.

- Nuh-uh.

♪ ♪

- Here's the problem.

We have people that--

that witnessed you go into this apartment

and set up a trick with this guy.

And we're probably gonna be able to prove all that

with DNA and fingerprints and everything else.

- I went in there by myself.

I'm not gonna lie. Not with him.

- But you told me that you'd never been in there before.

♪ ♪

Yvette, you went in there with him.

♪ ♪

- OK, we went in, OK?

♪ ♪

And I was supposed to set him up.

narrator: According to Monica, Steven, who she knows as Trip,

asked her to lure Marcelino into the vacant apartment.

- But I didn't want to.

- Who else was in that apartment besides--

- It was just Trip in the closet.

narrator: Monica claims Steven was waiting for them inside.

- So Trip was in the closet.

- [speaking indistinctly] - And then what happened?

- Trip came out and got him from behind, so--

and he was kicking him and stomping on him,

and he's like, "No, you could kill him."

♪ ♪

- What do you think Trip told me?

Have you heard that he's been arrested?

- Mm-mm. - Yeah.

♪ ♪

He's in jail.

♪ ♪

I've already talked to Trip.

♪ ♪

Well, Trip is saying you did it.

- I was nowhere near them, OK?

I will step back--

- I think when Trip is telling you to get him--

when he's telling you to get him, get him

that you have no other option but to get that guy.

- No, I didn't stab-- no, I didn't have it.

When he said, "Get him"--

- I truly believe in my heart--

- To believe that. I understand you.

That's your job. You can believe it.

- And I can understand, coming from you--

- And I'm sitting here telling you what I know.

- It's easier to admit--

- Man, I'm here admitting everything else.

Why wouldn't I admit that?

- But it's hard to admit that you did that.

- [bleep], I'm already going down.

I'm already being arrested. I mean, what the hell?

♪ ♪

- So you don't think you have anything else to tell me?

♪ ♪

You were there just to rob the guy, that's it?

Is that right?

- We'll talk about that in a minute.

♪ ♪

[bottle thuds]

♪ ♪

[bowl clatters]

- [bleep].

[bottle thuds]

♪ ♪

[bottle thuds]

♪ ♪

- Both admit to doing the robbery.

They both admit to getting the guy in there to rob him.

They both admit that he died

while they were in there robbing the guy.

You know, they can both go down equally.

[chair crashes]

♪ ♪

Yvette, do you know what you're being charged with right now?

- No, I don't.

You never come back and tell me.

- OK, right now, you're being charged

with capital murder, OK?

- [whimpers]

- You have a warrant with $1 million bond.

♪ ♪

Right now, these guys are gonna take you

down to the Lew Sterrett jail.

♪ ♪

- It came down to her heroin addiction

and her need for the drug.

And whatever went wrong this time,

it cost a man his life.

♪ ♪

- A lot of homicides are committed

in the commission of another crime.

I often say that robberies are one step away from a homicide.

Homeless camps tends to have its own community.

And unfortunately, you have a lot of people

that doesn't have a lot of resources,

just life necessities-- food, medication.

Sometime to get those, it escalates to violence.

♪ ♪

- Not looking good.

Got an open field and a dead body.

All we have is a passerby that called 911,

and here we are.

♪ ♪

- He's been dead for many hours.

- He got hit from the left side, broke his jaw.

His teeth came through the skin.

- Somebody's really pissed off at this guy

to bash this man's head in like that.

- No, you never get used to seeing

man's, you know, cruelty to man.

♪ ♪

- Yeah, I want to say some type of rock.

Walked about 80% of the perimeter

looking for a weapon, nothing.

♪ ♪

narrator: Patrol Officer Cesar Villafana,

who works the Overtown beat,

tells Reyes he knows many

of the homeless people in the area.

♪ ♪

narrator: The victim is 30-year-old Alfredo Rivera,

known to his friends as Bemba.

Born in Puerto Rico, he'd been living in Miami

for the past three years.

♪ ♪

- That's who he is, huh?

narrator: Officer Villafana saw the victim

with another man, Corey Grogan,

the day before.

- He was with another guy that we actually took to jail.

- Why, did they just trespass?

They weren't arguing?

narrator: Sanchez checks to see

if Corey is still in custody.

- He's not in jail.

I really need to talk to him now.

Call your crew and tell them to find Corey.

If they know who Corey is, find his ass.

♪ ♪

narrator: Back at Homicide,

Sanchez checks the exact time

Corey was released from prison.

♪ ♪

- 1340 hours today.

narrator: Corey was released several hours

after detectives believe the victim was killed.

- He didn't do it.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives hope that Corey,

the man last seen with the victim,

will be able to give them a new lead.

- Blond hair, blue eyes--

he won't be hard to find in Overtown.

♪ ♪

- Oh, yes.

narrator: Ricardo John spots a man

fitting Corey's description.

- Corey!

♪ ♪

narrator: Back at Homicide,

detectives head in to speak with Corey.

- You all right?

Corey. - Yeah.

- Let me bring you back to yesterday.

When they stopped you, who were you with?

- Who's his enemies and who's his friends?

♪ ♪

narrator: Corey says that word on the street

was that Bemba stabbed a man in the neck three weeks ago.

♪ ♪

- Did you see Pulpo today?

♪ ♪

- Yeah, he said that Bemba was dead.

♪ ♪

narrator: The next day, the team has spotted a man

matching Pulpo's description.

[siren wailing]

♪ ♪

- [speaking Spanish]

♪ ♪

- This is Pulpo.

♪ ♪

- Let me ask you a little bit about what was going on

with the guy that was killed yesterday in Overtown.

- OK, how is your relationship with him?

- How'd you get that scar on your neck?

- What was the fight about?

- What do you think, John?

I don't believe a word. - No, man.

- No, I'm not.

Why am I gonna sit here and [bleep]?

- But based upon what you're telling me,

he grabbed you around the [bleep] neck.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- As a homicide detective,

I've often dealt with people that are drug addicted

to some type of substance.

And these are people that

once upon a time were very productive in the community

but for whatever reason, they made a bad decision

to experiment with drugs and it consumed their lives.

And sadly to say, they will do

absolutely anything they can to support that habit.

But it's not them talking. It's the drugs.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- All right, just give us a few.

Just give us a few.

- [groans]

I don't think he did it.

Guilty guys don't usually defend their selves

with that much passion.

And if anything changes, I know where to go get him.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives decide to release Pulpo.

♪ ♪

- We took off full speed ahead with a bunch of leads--

all dead ends.

Somebody knows something,

and we just got to find that person.

♪ ♪

narrator: Hours later, they find that somebody.

He is 30-year-old Richard Cranford,

who was arrested and charged with aggravated battery

for allegedly assaulting a man with a pipe.

Cranford told the arresting officer

that he has information on the homicide.

- Gonna go in there and see what he has to say.

♪ ♪

How you doing, man?

- OK.

- Absolutely none.

I understand that you want to help yourself.

But whenever charges are pending in front of you,

you're still under arrest.

It's your choice to tell me what happened or not.

♪ ♪

- So that night--

let's just go right into it.

narrator: Cranford tells Herrera

that the night of the murder,

he was shooting heroin with a woman

about a block away from where Bemba slept.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- What's the guy's name?

♪ ♪

- Give me the address right now?

♪ ♪

- No, that's not how this works.

- I told you in the beginning, you're under arrest.

That means you're going to jail.

- OK.

♪ ♪

Rich, hang out for a second. I'll be right back.

- Just stand up for me

and I'll explain everything to you, Rich.

You're going in for a felony.

narrator: Patrol takes Cranford back to jail

for the unrelated charge of aggravated battery.

♪ ♪

The next morning...

♪ ♪

Detectives track down

the woman who was allegedly with Cranford

the night of the murder

and bring her in for questioning.

♪ ♪

- Remember what you did last Saturday?

- Who do you hang out with when you do that?

- OK.

Saturday, did you guys hear

anybody fighting, any struggles, anything?

♪ ♪

- Yes, he is. - Yes, he is.

- He can't hurt you. He's in jail.

- You're fine.

I got you. We got you.

Go ahead, just let it out. What happened?

♪ ♪

- Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

- What happened? Tell us what happened.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- [sighs]

All right, give me a minute.

♪ ♪

- He substituted Joe for himself.

He's giving a story line which is somewhat true,

but it's about himself.

♪ ♪

narrator: The next morning...

♪ ♪

Richard Cranford, who is still in police custody

on the unrelated charge of aggravated battery,

is brought to Homicide.

- He has no idea probably why we're gonna talk to him.

♪ ♪

narrator: Reyes and Sergeant Juan Herrera

head in to speak with Cranford again,

hoping for a confession to seal the case.

- All right, so, Richard...

you came to me with some information

about a murder that happened in Overtown.

The one thing that we do is,

we corroborate what people tell us.

It's a good thing that I did that...

- Mm-hmm.

- Because your information does not hold water.

- Because, my friend, it wasn't no Joe.

It was you.

- Oh, I know you did.

The facts don't support what you're saying.

Things are not well for you, brother.

And they're not well for you because you continue to lie.

- I'm positive you're lying to me.

We talked to your friend.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Brother, I know it.

♪ ♪

- That's the "oh, [bleep]" look right there.

"Oh, my God, what'd I get myself into?"

♪ ♪

- You know, sometime people take the law

into their own hands because they feel like,

"well, I'm just as smart

as any law enforcement official."

Well, there's a chance if you take the law

into your own hands, that person

is probably going to resist you.

Because once again, you are not the police,

and bad things are gonna happen.

They end up going from heroes to a murder suspect.

If they had involved law enforcement,

you wouldn't be facing a murder charge at this point.

♪ ♪

- Looks like he just crashed.

- Guy's dead in the driver's seat.

♪ ♪

Go through his pockets.

Hopefully he has some ID on him.

♪ ♪

narrator: 44-year-old Vallon Broadus

leaves behind seven children.

♪ ♪

He was an accomplished athlete

who attended Northeastern State University

on a track scholarship.

♪ ♪

- He's got a close pattern of rounds in the chest,

another close round in the windshield.

♪ ♪

- Here's a phone.

We're gonna want that.

♪ ♪

- Some skid marks where he's been in reverse.

Obviously he's backed over that pole

at a pretty fast rate.

- Hmm.

♪ ♪

- Could be the suspect hunkered down in there.

♪ ♪

[knocking]

Tulsa Police!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Tulsa Police. Is anyone here?

♪ ♪

Looks like somebody left here in a hurry.

♪ ♪

narrator: In the living room...

narrator: The team finds a live video feed

of the driveway where the victim was shot.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Did you see the pistol on the dryer?

♪ ♪

[bleep]

That thing is still locked back and ready to roll.

[indistinct chatter]

- All right, we're out.

Right now, it's kind of a big mystery...

♪ ♪

Try to figure out who lives here,

'cause I think whoever lives here

obviously left and knows something about this.

We're gonna go to the office,

try to do a little intel work.

♪ ♪

[cell phone rings]

narrator: Three hours after the murder...

[cell phone ringing]

Someone calls the victim's cell phone.

- Hello.

- Yeah, who is this?

narrator: The caller says she is Vallon's fiancée.

- All right, I want to come talk to you.

- Bye-bye.

♪ ♪

Hey, can you roll with me?

Talked to the girlfriend.

Gonna be a death notification kind of deal.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[alert bell dinging]

♪ ♪

What time did he leave here?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- OK, tell me about Megan.

- Sounds like she knows what's going on.

- Yeah.

♪ ♪

- The main things we need to do right now

is, we need to find Megan.

narrator: Kennedy calls a number

listed for Megan's mother.

[line rings]

- Yes?

narrator: My name is Detective Mark Kennedy

with Tulsa Police Homicide.

Have you talked to your daughter?

- Yes. - When did you talk to her?

- This morning.

She called me frantic.

She's on the run.

She kept saying, "Mom, I can't say too much.

"Just watch the news.

"I promise you, Mom, I did not do it,

but I know who did."

♪ ♪

- You know where she's at now?

- No.

♪ ♪

narrator: Four hours later,

Megan decides to come forward.

♪ ♪

- How you doing?

Detective Kennedy.

[door clicks shut]

Let's go back to last night.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- How do you know Vallon?

♪ ♪

- So you didn't know he was coming to your house

last night?

[dramatic music]

- Tell me.

narrator: Megan says that earlier in the day,

a friend of hers brought over a couple,

a Black male and a white female,

who were looking for Vallon Broadus.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: The couple claimed that Vallon

had kidnapped the woman's sister.

- They told you whenever you were there...

- "Hey, we're waiting for Val?"

- Nothing else?

narrator: Megan gives them the name of her friend

that brought the suspects to her house.

- All right, hang tight.

- We need to talk to him.

♪ ♪

Ike Nicholson.

narrator: 48-year-old Ike Nicholson

has convictions for robbery as well as drug possession.

- Ike Nicholson is with a girl.

She's a white female.

narrator: A white female is also associated

with Ike's phone number.

♪ ♪

Both suspects have open warrants.

- We need to talk to them.

♪ ♪

[indistinct police radio chatter]

narrator: Two days later...

- This is Kennedy.

narrator: Police arrest the suspects

after staking out their house in the nearby town of Bethany.

- All right, we're gonna head that way.

♪ ♪

- Come on back, guys.

- I want to know the truth why you guys

basically went to Tulsa to begin with.

♪ ♪

- Prostituting them out?

- OK. When was this?

- Where was Ike?

♪ ♪

- You're waiting for Vallon to show up?

♪ ♪

- Did Ike have a weapon with him?

- Did you see Ike do it?

♪ ♪

- So then after the shooting occurs,

did he say he shot the guy?

♪ ♪

Did you find your sister?

♪ ♪

- But now that you look back,

obviously Vallon didn't have anything to do with it.

♪ ♪

At this point, I don't look to charge her.

I mean, she's sitting-- acting like she's gonna be

a cooperating witness.

We'll do Ike next.

We'll see what he has to say.

- Come on back.

♪ ♪

- I'll just get to the point, man.

Obviously I've talked to the people at that house.

♪ ♪

And I think it would be smart

to tell your side of the story now.

♪ ♪

- I find that hard to believe.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- I know it's hard. I know you're in a bad place.

I think the intentions were probably pretty good,

and that's what I want to get to.

- Did you know that Val was supposed

to show up at that house?

- Yeah.

- So you're sitting in the car.

And whenever you see the maroon car pull in,

he pulls all the way up under the carport--

- Mm-hmm.

♪ ♪

- Did you see Val get hit?

- Well, I saw him--

I saw a look on his face that he might have--

I may have shot him.

♪ ♪

- What was your purpose?

- Bad deal.

I think we're pretty much done here.

I appreciate you.

I'll have these guys come in and get you here in a minute.

- OK.

Thank you for your honesty, all right?

♪ ♪

There's other avenues they could have taken.

They could have got law enforcement involved.

They didn't do any of that.

They tried to do it on their own,

and here's the result.

You know, this whole thing was for nothing.

I mean, she wasn't with him.

Didn't look like Vallon had her,

and Vallon ends up dead,

and this guy's going to jail for it.

♪ ♪

- As an investigator or as a homicide detective,

sometimes you are never going to know the full truth.

No matter how long you question

or no matter what questions

or no matter how good

your investigative techniques are

or what technology you have available to you,

sometimes it just doesn't make sense

and it's just not gonna make sense to you.

So you have to be at peace with that.

♪ ♪