Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪

- His head's beaten.

There's blood spatter. [camera shutter clicks]

- There's gonna be blood all over the person that hit him.

- They say money makes the world go round.

- Damn, this is crazy!

- But in Homicide, we often see

how the desire for money can lead to fatal consequences.

- The victim lost $13 million at the casino.

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

- A deadly robbery leaves investigators on a wild chase.

♪

- Then a woman mysteriously vanishes from a casino.

- We might have found her.

- I'm dead serious.

- And an elderly man's generosity

leads to a brutal beating death.

[tense music]

♪

♪

- I've worked a lot of homicides

where money takes a part, and greed is real.

You know, to watch somebody else

have something that you want is real.

Sometimes people want money as quickly as they can get it,

as easily as they can.

"And if that means I have to take something

"from somebody that I'm not entitled to--

"even if it means taking someone's life,

I'm willing to do that."

♪

- We are being dispatched to a possible shooting.

It's in the rural area of Harris County.

♪

- He lives on the property.

There's a house up near the street entrance.

♪

narrator: The victim has been shot once in the chest.

♪

narrator: 69-year-old Terry Todd

was a Navy veteran who served at Guantanamo Bay

during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

He ran a welding shop

and lived in a house on the edge of his property.

♪

narrator: Terry's cell phone is laying next to his hand.

narrator: They search his pockets.

His wallet is missing.

♪

narrator: Alongside the victim's truck

are several fresh tire tracks.

- Right now, we're trying to get a fire truck in here,

trying to get some aerial pictures of the tire tracks.

♪

[camera shutter clicks]

narrator: The aerial photos suggest

a second vehicle cut off the victim's pickup truck.

♪

- The victim, he wasn't supposed to be here

'cause he had a doctor's appointment,

and he wanted to clean himself up.

♪

narrator: Investigators search Terry's house for clues.

♪

narrator: The house is ransacked,

and heavy kitchen appliances

have been moved close to the front door.

- It just appears that the house was being burglarized

when the owner showed up, and it just went worse.

I'ma go speak with the trucking company,

see if any of their employees were at the property

earlier today.

♪

narrator: Alanis speaks to an employee of the company.

- [speaking Spanish]

♪

- [speaking Spanish]

♪

♪

narrator: The witness says he didn't recognize the two men,

but he was able to get a look at their vehicle.

Gracias.

♪

narrator: Alanis calls Patrol

to help in the search for the white van.

♪

- [speaking English] Homicide. Deputy Alanis.

Yes, ma'am.

narrator: Alanis gets a call

from the victim's daughter-in-law.

- What?

They did? Really?

narrator: Someone has been using

the victim's credit cards.

♪

- I hope they have video.

♪

For some reason, they can only see 24 hours.

♪

♪

narrator: Then at the last gas station on the list...

- It's not perfect.

I mean, it was a small screen, so I couldn't see very well.

Hey, man, just to let you know,

you could tell what's going on, but it's not that great.

narrator: Alanis calls the Forensic AV Department

to retrieve the video and enhance the quality.

♪

Two days later,

Alanis has a copy of the enhanced surveillance video.

♪

- You ready? - Yeah.

♪

- That's our boy, right there.

♪

narrator: The suspect never turns toward the camera.

♪

- Yeah.

♪

Nada.

♪

That's gonna be a perfect print.

narrator: Deputy Juan Viramontes

notices a detail that could break the case open.

- Take Mills. Tell her to dust this one.

Not a lot of people put their hand like this.

- Absolutely.

♪

narrator: Alanis and Viramontes

rush to the gas station,

hoping the print placed a few days ago

is still there.

♪

- Hey, Gail. - Howdy.

narrator: CSU Gail Mills will dust for prints.

♪

- If you like it, we like it.

If something comes up.

- Right, if we get a hit on it.

narrator: The team heads back to Homicide

to wait for the results.

♪

[phone ringing]

- There's Gail right there.

Yes, ma'am?

♪

Holy...

yes!

- Yeah. Good job, Juanito.

- Appreciate it, Gail.

narrator: CSU Gail Mills got a hit on the print.

♪

- That is him.

- That's awesome. - That's him, man.

- Juan Reyes.

It took a Juan to find a Juan. - [laughs]

narrator: 39-year-old Juan Reyes

has a prior assault conviction.

♪

Three days later...

♪

- Gulf Coast Task Force found Juan Reyes.

- All right, Juan.

♪

narrator: Reyes admits

to using the victim's credit cards...

but is unwilling to say more.

♪

- He claimed that he got the cards

from a joker on the street.

I tried to talk about the murder.

At that point, he didn't want to talk anymore.

♪

- We're booking him in on the credit card abuse.

narrator: Investigators don't have enough

to charge Reyes with murder.

- He didn't give much up,

so we're gonna have to just get the evidence.

narrator: They head to Reyes' house to search for evidence.

♪

If I can find those rifles in his house, well,

that would put Juan Reyes in the victim's house.

♪

♪

- Here's the truck.

- Tucked and hidden behind the house.

narrator: They find the white van with a broken rear window.

♪

Inside, they find the rifles

stolen from the victim's house.

♪

With enough evidence to charge Reyes with the murder,

the team turns to finding the second suspect.

[phone ringing]

- Homicide. Deputy Alanis.

narrator: Alanis gets a potential lead.

A tipster says Reyes is known to hang around

with his 23-year-old cousin, Ricardo Celedon.

♪

He has no criminal history.

♪

- We know that Juan and Ricardo do everything together,

so we definitely need to go and find him and see what he knows.

♪

Sheriff's Office. [knocking on door]

♪

narrator: Three hours later...

- And have our units on the far east end of the perimeter.

narrator: Deputy Pool spotted Ricardo

driving a Dodge Dakota.

When Ricardo saw the deputies,

he bailed out of his car and escaped on foot.

[dog barks]

♪

[phone ringing] - Hello?

♪

- You don't just run to run. There's a reason he ran.

♪

narrator: Alanis begins the interrogation.

♪

Ricardo says that he and Juan

were burglarizing the victim's house

when the victim came home unexpectedly.

♪

He claims they tried to escape,

but the victim blocked them in with his truck

and started to call 911.

♪

Ricardo says that's when Juan jumped out

and shot the victim.

♪

- Pretty much laid it all out.

♪

Mr. Todd was almost 70 years of age,

served his country.

For him to be killed in that manner,

you know, it's just--

I'm just happy that I was able

to get the people responsible for his death.

♪

♪

- I think that greed exists

on all economic and social levels.

I've seen cases where people feel like,

"I'm not getting what I'm entitled to,"

and it tends to fester.

Greed can make a person react

in a way that is completely out of character for them.

It's just a matter of,

does that greed consume that person

to the point of no return?

♪

narrator: Mobile, Alabama.

♪

A 68-year-old woman is reported missing

by her employer in Biloxi, Mississippi.

- Biloxi Police are looking for a missing Alabama woman.

Authorities say Kay Atkins Raines

of Mobile, Alabama, was last seen

at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi

and the Home Depot in Gulfport on Sunday.

♪

narrator: After five days pass with no sign of Kay...

♪

Biloxi PD refers the case to Mobile Homicide.

♪

- On Sunday, Kay Raines gets off work

sometime in the afternoon around 1:00.

She since then has not been heard from

by and friends or family. - OK.

♪

narrator: 68-year-old Kay Atkins Raines

grew up in Mobile.

She started a program for disadvantaged children

before leaving to start a family.

Kay's husband, Ron Raines,

was a partner with a multinational accounting firm.

After he died in 2006,

Kay began frequenting casinos,

gambling away millions of dollars

over a period of several years.

♪

- According to Biloxi PD,

the victim lost $13 million at the casino.

Biloxi PD is working on getting all the video

from the Beau Rivage.

♪

We need to do a search warrant on the house.

We're going to investigate it as a homicide as of right now.

♪

narrator: While the team prepares a search warrant

for Kay's house,

Gillespie brings in her neighbor

to get more background on her.

♪

- How long has Ms. Kay lived next to you?

- Eight or nine years.

- Mm-hmm.

Now, does she have any kids?

- Yes, Clarke.

narrator: He says that Kay's adult son

recently moved into the house.

♪

♪

- What kind of problems did he have?

- Uh, drugs.

But over the last year, he has been on medication.

She has been very excited about how he's been acting.

♪

- Do you know of any other instance

where she's picked up and left? - Never.

- Or missing? - No.

- Mm.

♪

You go to the side.

♪

[knocks on door]

He's coming to the door. [lock clicks]

Hey. Are you Clarke? - Yes.

- Hey, you mind stepping out here and talking to us

for a minute? - Sure.

- Do me a favor. Just turn around.

Put your hands up on the wall for me.

We're just gonna check you and make sure

you don't have any weapons.

How are you doing today, man? You doing all right?

- Yeah, I'm a'ight.

- What, are you by yourself, man?

- Yeah.

- Where's your mom at?

- Have you talked to her since then?

- Uh-uh.

- When was the last time you talked to her?

- You can relax. All right.

Four or five days ago? - Mm-hmm.

♪

- OK.

Well, we just want to look around

to make sure she's not here and everything like that, OK?

And then we're gonna go talk to you after that.

♪

This is her room.

♪

- Look at that. - Hmm.

- Yeah, she didn't leave that like that.

- Her purse and wallet is right here.

- What?

♪

- Here's her bank cards.

- OK.

- His room is like nothing's wrong.

♪

- Yeah? Oh!

That might be her phone. Underneath her bedsheet.

narrator: In Kay's bedroom,

they find a red suitcase fully packed with her clothes.

- We'll take the phones.

Damn, this is crazy, man!

♪

All right.

I mean, I'm Detective Gillespie.

And this is my partner... - How you doing?

- Detective Crepeau.

♪

- We're just trying to ask you

some information about your mother.

♪

♪

♪

- All right.

That's your decision, OK? - Right.

♪

- No passcode.

narrator: Detectives get access to Kay's phone.

♪

That's the night before she disappeared.

♪

- There's a call that goes to MoneyGram.

narrator: Two days after Kay disappeared,

outgoing calls to a wire transfer service

were made from her phone.

- I'll put in a request for it.

♪

narrator: Back at Homicide,

the surveillance video from the Beau Rivage Casino

has arrived.

♪

- Here's Kay arriving at the casino.

♪

She's got that red suitcase that we found in her bedroom.

♪

[computer mouse clicking]

♪

Now, this is Sunday morning.

♪

It looks like Kay is leaving.

But she doesn't have the suitcase with her.

♪

She must have been planning on coming back.

♪

All right, so here's Sunday night.

♪

That looks like Kay's car pulling up.

♪

Oh, that's Clarke right there.

♪

And there's Clarke getting off on her floor

where she was staying.

♪

Something had to have happened by now,

because hours after she goes missing,

Clarke goes to the casino

and takes her stuff out of her room.

♪

It's just hard to believe

anyone would kill their own mother,

but I'm starting to think that's what we have here.

♪

narrator: Two days later,

Clarke unexpectedly shows up at Homicide.

- OK.

Just give me a couple days, and we'll get it back to you.

- All right.

- Any ideas where we can find your mom at?

- On gambling? - Yeah.

- Tell us...

♪

♪

- Well, you know, the thing is, Clarke,

there's video of you there Sunday evening, OK?

♪

- You go into her room

and get her belongings out of her room.

♪

- No, no.

- Not at all.

♪

- Her wallet's at the house.

Everything of hers is at the house.

And you hadn't even tried to look for her.

- [exhales sharply] - That's a problem.

- You know what has happened to your mom.

♪

♪

- Well, look, man, when you come to your senses

and you want to tell us what happened,

come down here and talk to us.

- All right.

- He basically just walked out of here

without a care in the world,

like he's gonna get away with it,

and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure he doesn't.

♪

- Most boys and they mother are extremely close.

It's a special relationship.

So it's hard to imagine

the amount of resentment someone would have to have

to kill your own mother.

But I've worked cases where there's an inheritance

and people feel like, "How dare you not give me

"what I feel like that I'm entitled to.

It's mine."

And you do get cases

where just because the homicide has been committed

does not mean that the hate goes away.

In some cases, it escalates,

because now, "Look at what you made me do."

♪

- They just sent us the audio recording from MoneyGram.

MoneyGram received a phone call from Kay Raines' account

to transfer money right after she disappears.

♪

- It's Clarke.

♪

♪

- You see how he even hesitated on that one too?

♪

♪

- He's definitely impersonating his mother

after she's gone missing,

trying to wire himself $800.

♪

Everything always ends up pointing back to Clarke.

Only problem is it's all circumstantial.

♪

narrator: Almost two months after Kay's disappearance,

Gillespie discovers that the GPS tracker on Clarke's car

traveled to a remote region northeast of Mobile

the day before.

♪

- So it's got to be right about here.

This is probably where he went off.

♪

Wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

♪

- Man, damn.

- Oh, [bleep].

♪

- I appreciate it.

Right there. Right there.

♪

- That's the color hair she had.

♪

narrator: Gillespie calls to get assistance

from the crime scene unit

and the forensic archaeological team.

♪

- Just real quick... - Yeah?

- Human? - Yeah.

- Yeah? OK. - Yeah? All right.

narrator: The team unearths a woman's body.

- We might have found her.

- Are you serious? - I'm dead serious.

narrator: Gillespie puts the word out to pick up Clarke.

- Blows my mind.

Why come back up here, though?

Maybe he just wanted to make sure she was still here.

- Right.

♪

[phone ringing]

- Y'all have him stopped?

♪

narrator: Officers stopped Clarke

and took him into custody.

♪

- Clarke, where did you go yesterday?

- Yesterday...

- We've had a tracker on your vehicle this whole time.

Yesterday, when you drove up to where you went,

it tracked you going up there.

♪

♪

- I want you to look at this right here.

♪

You took us to your mom's grave yesterday.

You told us part of the story without even speaking.

You've got to tell us what happened, Clarke.

You've got to put what we call a human side to this,

'cause right now, you look like a monster.

♪

Clarke, what happened to your mom?

♪

- She's gone because you killed her.

♪

I don't know what else to do.

I don't know anything about it.

♪

- All right.

♪

It's hard to even imagine somebody that would

do something like that to their own mother.

I think Clarke could have killed her

because he felt like she blew his inheritance.

The fact that we found her today, I feel good about that.

We can now get justice for Kay Raines.

♪

- Clarke, did you want to say anything?

Do you know what happened to your mother?

[engine turns over]

♪

- Everybody loves money,

but what amount of money would make you kill someone?

The rational person would be saying,

"You know what, there is no amount of money

that could make me kill another person."

But desperate time makes people react

in desperate measures, so you have to ask,

well, were you in a desperate situation,

or are you just a violent person?

[line trilling]

- [sobbing]

[sirens wailing]

narrator: When police enter the house,

they find a man lying in a pool of blood.

♪

- We're gonna look in the house real quick.

♪

- OK.

The complainant's name is Dixon, Orval, O-R-V-A-L.

♪

narrator: 71-year-old Orval Dixon

had been a manager at a luxury apartment building

before retiring.

He leaves behind five children and 14 grandchildren.

♪

- He lives here with his girlfriend, Tracy Evans.

narrator: Orval's girlfriend, Tracy,

came home around lunchtime and found him dead.

- They say they come in, his head's beaten.

There's blood spatter.

[camera shutter clicks]

♪

- Oh, that's blood splatter? - Yeah.

♪

narrator: Near Orval's body,

investigators find a bloody hammer.

♪

- Most likely, that's the murder weapon.

♪

- The blood splatter goes from the bed

to all over the wall.

Whoever hit him, there's gonna be blood

all over the person that hit him.

♪

♪

- Hey there. How you doing?

- Hi. Sorry about all this.

OK? - Yeah.

- OK.

- OK.

♪

- All right, let me figure out what's going on.

- OK, thank you. - OK.

- [exhales sharply]

♪

That's where the TV was.

On the corner right here.

It's obviously missing.

narrator: They now have a possible motive.

♪

- The only ones that live here

are the old man and his girlfriend

and those two right there.

♪

narrator: Orval lived with Tracy,

her younger brother, Michael, and Michael's girlfriend.

- What we're gonna do is everybody from the house

down here, we're gonna put them in the office.

Talk to everybody. Get squared away.

♪

- I'm gonna talk to the girlfriend.

♪

narrator: Orval's girlfriend, Tracy, found the body.

♪

- Start with yesterday. - OK.

narrator: Tracy says she went to visit a friend

and decided to stay overnight.

She didn't return to Orval's until this afternoon.

♪

- How long has Orval had that TV?

♪

- Who knows he has that TV?

♪

- OK.

♪

- There are cases where the level of violence

is not appropriate to what was taken

or the motive for the crime.

♪

I cannot imagine somebody losing their life for a TV set.

In this particular case, you have a elderly man

who doesn't have a whole lot, but what he has,

he's willing to share with someone else.

But as much as we would like to give a hand up

to somebody that needs it,

you better know who you're dealing with.

narrator: The team will question

Orval's other housemates,

Michael Jones and his girlfriend.

- [distorted voice] Yes.

- She has a baby in there with her?

- I think so.

- Tell me about Orval.

- What happened yesterday?

- Me and Tracy Evans got into it earlier.

narrator: She says Orval's girlfriend, Tracy, got mad

and kicked her and Michael out of the house.

- What about your boyfriend?

♪

narrator: She says she met up with Michael

around 1:00 a.m.

and they spent the rest of the night together.

- OK.

narrator: She says she now has to move back in

with her mother.

♪

- So when y'all got kicked out yesterday,

you were wearing the clothes that you're wearing?

- Yeah.

- Same with Michael?

- Yes.

- [exhales sharply] All right.

Hang tight.

♪

If Michael did this,

those were the clothes he was wearing last night.

♪

- Ugh.

♪

- Uh-oh. What happened to the coffee?

- Man, I can't [bleep] keep staying up.

♪

- Hop up for me, man. Stand up.

♪

- All right.

It's a lot easier to stay awake when you're standing.

♪

What's wrong?

♪

- OK.

♪

I tell you what.

You hang right here, all right?

- Jesus, man. You gotta be kidding me.

I'ma sit down.

♪

- I saw a couple dots on his shoe that may be blood.

♪

- Take your shoes and clothes off.

- We're not sure about the spots on his shoes,

if they're blood or not.

We're gonna have to get them tested

to be positive that it is blood.

♪

narrator: 40-year-old Michael Jones

served ten years in prison for auto theft

and four years for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

♪

- He's got a warrant for his arrest

for a traffic violation.

♪

narrator: While Michael is in jail for the traffic warrant,

the team will continue the investigation.

- All right. Come on.

♪

- Michael's girlfriend said he was with a friend yesterday,

so we're gonna try to get ahold of this friend.

♪

narrator: She says Michael needed bus fare

for his girlfriend.

narrator: She claims they spent the day

gathering scrap metal to sell.

♪

narrator: She claims Michael took her van to Orval's house.

- Where were you?

- OK.

But you don't know what happened inside the house?

♪

- OK.

♪

narrator: Sayers gets the initial test results

from Michael's clothing.

Any blood on the clothing will glow.

♪

- Oh.

♪

Scattered everywhere.

♪

- And then on the shirt also.

♪

- Oh, that's great.

♪

Hey, Michael.

♪

All right.

Remember I took your clothes? - Mm-hmm.

- Well, I noticed there was a red blood stain on your shoe.

- OK.

- That blood matched the blood of the victim.

♪

So you've got Orval's blood on your shoes.

♪

♪

♪

- You do know that

you've been charged with capital murder, right?

♪

- I think Michael desperately needed money

for his girlfriend and the baby.

What I believe happened was

Michael took his friend's van back over to Orval's house

for the purpose of taking Orval's TV.

♪

Orval was a 71-year-old man.

He offered his house to Michael

to stay there with his girlfriend and the baby,

and he was brutally murdered in his own home.

♪

- If you look at our society,

we love to sit and watch TV shows

about the rich and the famous,

people that live these luxurious lifestyles.

And you can't help but put yourself

in that person's position,

but a lot of us don't realize

that by taking money,

it's not gonna put you in that situation.

It's a short-term fix that creates

a whole lot of other issues for you.

♪