All language subtitles for The.Real.Murders.on.Elm.Street.S01E03.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV

I was home in bed,
and I received a call at

approximately 1:00 to 1:30
in the morning.

A neighbor saw a fight
going on out in front of

the residence on Elm Street.

There was a man on the sidewalk
in front of the residence,

and he was motionless.

I'm just trying to get there as
fast as I can.

So when I arrived
at the scene,

there was a body lying on
the sidewalk, and there was

a mask between his legs.

The deputies were on the scene,
and they were very,

very spooked.

They described going into
the house and locating one body

and locating another body,
and described it almost like

a Freddy Krueger coming out
of a closet.

These were big,
muscular type of deputies.

They didn't scare easy.

And when I went in,

and I see exactly what
they were talking about.

I've never seen anything like
that in my life.

That night, I believe
it was a Sunday night,

between one and two o'clock
in the morning,

I was notified by dispatch
of a homicide.

I got out of bed and jumped in
the shower real quickly.

And by the time I left
the door, I had been called

four different times adding
another body to

the crime scene...

...then I drove to the address
on Elm Street in Salida.

Most homicide scenes,
there's always going to

be evidence.
You just have to find it.

And the first 48 hours are
the most important

to get that case solved.

Deputies were telling me that
they had located four bodies

at the scene.

At first, I didn't believe 'em,
because I've never been

involved in a quadruple
homicide, and I don't recall

a quadruple homicide ever
occurring in Stanislaus County.

So there was no lights
in the house.

It was really very horrific,
a lot of blood.

Obviously the person lying on
the sidewalk was deceased.

He was a white male adult.

There was three bodies inside
of the residence.

Two of them were
in the kitchen,

and one was in the living room.

All of the victims were
bludgeoned with some type of

blunt instrument,

in addition to
a signature stab wound,

and slices to the throat area.

It was a bloody scene,
but as an investigator,

you don't care about how ugly
it is, how much blood is there.

These are their bodies.
They're part of this puzzle.

We identified three of
the victims with ID that

they had on the persons.

One had been a Franklin Raper,
who was 51 years old.

Richard Ritchey,
he was 25 years old.

And Dennis Colwell,
who was 35 years old.

The one that we did not
identify right away

was a female.

Young female,
about 22 years of age.

Her injury to her neck was
so horrific that she was

almost decapitated.

Myself and the other
investigators were all

wondering how these people
all related.

We had no idea who knew each
other because of

the different ages.

Immediately, it didn't look
like home invasion or robbery

because these people are
brutally murdered.

The people that did this wanted
to kill people.

Their objective was to kill
these people.

As far as who is capable of
committing a quadruple

homicide, just almost unheard
of, especially in Salida.

So at that point, we had no
idea who the perpetrators were.

I observed a camouflage mask in
between the legs of the man

who was lying deceased
on the driveway.

And there was another
camouflage mask lying on

the grass at the residence.

There was a knit cap that was
on the lawn.

And when they looked at it,
there was hair on it.

DNA wasn't around much
at that time.

It was just in the beginning
stages of it.

But you can still match that
hair, blood type,

and stuff like that.

So that was a good piece
of evidence.

I observed footprints leading
from some dirt area near

the gutter of the house.

And that was going eastbound
toward the railroad tracks.

Following the footprints,
there was a bat,

a Ka-Bar knife, a knife sheath
that they discarded.

That tells me that there's more
than one person that did this.

So there was a trail,
if you will, of evidence to

where they went to a vehicle
and then left the scene.

A lot of
the locals heard about it.

The large crowd were outside
the crime scene, actually to

the perimeter of
the crime scene.

Salida wasn't
a very large town in those days.

It was a small farming
community,

just north of Modesto.

I was a reporter at the Modesto
Bee, and I covered crime.

And, soon as we heard about
it, everybody went out

and started covering it.
It just rocked the town.

The deputies know what to do.

They're basically freezing
the crime scene, make sure

nobody comes in and out.

They're taping off the area
and talking to people.

The lady came up,
she was visibly shaken

and said, "Hey, I'm
the sole survivor.

I was there when
it happened."

The killers didn't know
they had missed somebody

and they had missed her.

So we had a witness,
a survivor, if you will,

right at it.

Pure evil came to the house on
Elm Street that night.

And I don't think detectives
expected to find what they did.

By the next morning,
everybody in Salida knew about

the massacre on Elm Street.

It was just a horrible crime.
It was a bloodbath.

There was a lot of fear.

They were afraid
at that point that, hey,

what's going on here?

Somebody going to bust into my
home and kill all my family?

They had no idea yet who
the killers were,

so it was tense.

Luckily, there was
one survivor.

Her name was Donna Alvarez,
and I interviewed her for

approximately an hour.

Donna Alvarez told me that that
was her first night

being at that residence.

She had never been
there before.

She said she was
somewhat homeless.

She had no place to go,
and she arrived at

the residence with one of
the victims, Richard Ritchey,

and Franklin Raper,
who was living in

the residence, told her she can
spend the night there.

She was in one of the bedrooms.

And all of a sudden,
she heard screaming.

She wasn't sure what was going
on, other than it was dark.

And she knew something bad
was happening.

She looked out the door
and saw everybody had

a camouflage mask on.

One of the individuals removed
his mask briefly.

And she said it was obviously
a Caucasian,

but he had Afro type of hair.

And he had a gun, and told
her to get into

the living room.

And then somehow
he was distracted.

She felt that she got to get
out of there, so she went.

The only place she could go was
to the garage.

She then hid under a pile of
laundry that was on the floor

of the garage.

After hearing all
the commotion, she said it got

quiet, and she found out that
everybody was murdered

except for herself.

Apparently, during the murder
frenzy, they forgot about her,

and she was able to slip out
of the garage.

I think the garage door was
broken, and she was able to get

under it and run to
a neighbor's house,

and called 911.

I was walking outside the crime
scene, made contact with a lady

who stated that her daughter
has been unaccounted for,

and she hopes that the victim
was not her daughter.

And she said, "I heard my
daughter might be one

of the victims."

And they said, "Well,
can you identify

anything about her?"

And they said, "Well, she's real
small and got dark hair,

has a little tattoo on her."

She had brought a photograph to
us of her daughter.

And based on that photograph,
we were able to identify

the young female victim as
being the lady's daughter,

Darlene Parris.

These people all had families.
A couple of them were married.

And it was just real sad
for the families

that their loved ones were
butchered like that.

That night, I just had a weird
feeling, like I was uneasy.

I just, I don't know.

I remember hearing the phone,

probably two, three o'clock in
the morning, and it was

my brother saying
"Dad's gone."

And I just, you know, I think
I fainted, I don't know,

I just went down hard and it
just was this devastation.

I woke up from a dead sleep at
that time and I heard my mom

sobbing, and she was on
the phone

crying uncontrollably.

We turned on the TV
and there it was,

bodies coming out of the house.

It was right there, it was kind
of stunning.

You know you're never going to
see your grandpa again.

I knew him as Papa Red,
Franklin, Franklin Raper,

Papa Red.

He liked us to call him
Papa Red.

My dad was very giving
and loved his family and his

family also included what
he would call his people,

which were not
necessarily blood-related.

But if they needed him to take
care of them, he would step in

and try to protect them as best
as he could.

He would want to bring people
into the home, you know,

that didn't have a place to go.

But my mom just couldn't handle
that because she had

three kids.
They did split up,

That was-- it was tough for him
to deal with.

I remember at that time, it was
kind of like, "What are

you going to do, Papa?
Like, where are you staying at?

And he said, "Well, I'm staying
close in Salida."

But he was having issues with
some people.

I knew he was having
some issues.

'Cause I-- I heard my mom maybe
a couple of weeks before that

saying, "Dad, can you please
come up here and just move up

here with us and get out of
the area for a while?"

Detectives got a lead that
Franklin had been in a fight

with a gentleman that owned
a repair shop there in Salida.

They had some bad blood
between them.

There was several altercations
over a year's time.

And they actually got in
a fist fight.

And Franklin came back to
the shop

after they had
had some words.

And he was in a car with
another guy.

And they started spinning
donuts outside the shop.

And um, unfortunately,
Franklin's vehicle died.

And so the owner of the repair
shop confronted Franklin.

They beat Franklin up
pretty good.

Basically, Franklin
lost the fight.

So I tracked him down
by this auto parts place.

He was not feeling too great.

And I asked him, "Dad,
what's going on?"

And he said, "These guys are
a bunch of punks."

I didn't know who they were
or had never met them

or anything, but I was quite
worried about him.

Detectives zeroed in on
the shop owner, tracking down

all the problems
he'd had with Franklin.

They thought this could
be the motive.

If the individual who owned
the automotive store is one of

the persons that actually
committed the murders,

then he was dangerous.

They didn't know what
they were going to find.

But if they were the killer,
they were pure evil.

Detectives started running down
leads and chasing suspects,

and they found out one of
the victims, Franklin Raper,

had had a beef with a guy that
owned an auto body shop

there in Salida.

So we went to the auto body
repair shop and met with

the owner and asked him if
he heard about

the quadruple homicide
in Salida.

And he tells me that everybody
in Salida knows about it.

He was asked if
he had anything to do with it.

And he admitted that he did not
get along with Franklin,

that him and Franklin did not
like each other, but no way that

he would kill Franklin Raper
or anybody else.

He had an alibi.

He was home with his wife
and family and in bed at

the time of the murders.

His family was interviewed,
and they checked out his alibi.

We determined that there was
no indication that he would

kill Franklin Raper.

So they let him go.

At this point,
the town was on edge.

They couldn't believe it.

Salida's a nice
little town.

And here's this horrendous
murder of four people.

Everybody was afraid.

I was in the fifth grade with
Darlene's half sister,

younger half sister.

We realized that we were both
part of this crime.

My grandfather was a victim.
Her older sister was a victim.

For her being a sister
and being so close like

they were, it was definitely
something I noticed impact

her big time, from a change
from when I knew her before.

We were going through different
therapy sessions

and school counseling
and connecting on our own.

It was devastating for
that family.

It really was.

It was devastating
for everybody.

These guys are, nobody's gonna
be able to catch them.

Are they gonna find out
who did it?

So it was a lot of fear at that
time, a lot of fear.

Nobody knew who
the killers were.

They didn't know if they were
going to be next.

It was a rough time.

Detectives started
looking elsewhere.

They went to Franklin's family.

I interviewed Franklin Raper's
son, and he told me that

Franklin Raper asked his son if
he could borrow a gun.

And his son said, "Why?
Why do you need a gun, Dad?"

And Franklin says, "Well,
I'm afraid of this guy,

Jason LaMarsh."
And Franklin was no sissy.

So to be afraid of some guy,
his son thought, this guy must

be a bad hombre.

And it turned out he was.

Jason LaMarsh was a bully.

My grandpa would talk
about him.

And I know there was some
bad blood there.

Jason LaMarsh had stolen
Franklin's car, put it out in

the street, set it on fire.

But then Franklin knew,
hey, this is serious.

I need to protect myself.

Jason LaMarsh,
he threatened to kill me.

I knew that his car had been
burned up, and they pulled him

out of the car
and broke his collarbone.

So I went to see him.

I actually had tried to get
my dad to move.

I cried and pretty much begged.

I said, "You need to get out of
this area, Dad.

"It's really getting,
this is too much.

You can stay with us."

He said, "No, I've been in
this town a lot longer than

they have, and they're not
going to run me out."

He said, "I'm good with
the man upstairs."

And he looked me right in
the eye and said, "Don't worry,

I'll be OK."

And that was the last time
I saw him, so.

But I always felt that
I at least tried.

I tried to give him that
option, you know,

to get out of there.

So we really wanted to locate
Jason LaMarsh and find out

exactly what was going on
and interview him.

So I immediately called
the Sheriff's Office and ran

a background check.

And we discovered that he had
been arrested before,

which indicates that we have
a photograph of him.

And I showed Dawn Alvarez,
who was in the house that

night, the photo lineup
and asked her if she could

identify the person she saw at
the crime scene.

She immediately pointed to
Jason LaMarsh.

She became hysterical,
just as if

Jason LaMarsh was there
in person.

Well, in trying to track
LaMarsh down,

detectives contacted LaMarsh's
girlfriend, Michelle Evans.

And his girlfriend
didn't know where he was.

Or she said she didn't.

And they learned that
her sister, Tanya Miller,

had also been living
in that house where

the murders occurred.

But she was staying with
her mother that night.

We thought that we had to find
her and interview her to find

out if there was any connection
between her

and the murders itself.
Tanya Miller was stricken.

She had no idea why
somebody would come in

and commit these murders.

At that point,
we confirmed that

she was not there,

and no indication that
she participated in the murders

or had any knowledge

of what had occurred.

They ask her, "Do you know
Jason LaMarsh?"

She said,
"Yes, my sister dates him."

She did not like him.

She did not like her sister
hanging out with Jason LaMarsh

because he brought her into
a group of people that

she did not like.

And these people, they had been
known to cause trouble.

The group was living at
a little ramshackle ex-labor

camp that had been abandoned
there in Salida.

It was called "The Camp."

She stated that Franklin Raper

actually lived at The Camp
for a while.

And then when he left The Camp,
she allowed him to stay at

the residence on Elm Street to
get away from the people

who lived at The Camp.

So the detectives decided,
we're going to see for

ourselves what's going on.

And so we went out talking to
people, gathering information.

The community felt like
they didn't want anything to do

with those people.

They could see armed guards
walking around the perimeter

of the place.

They had heard rumors

that there was satanic rituals
being held there.

Community didn't really know
what these people were

all about, they were just
afraid of them.

Well, after we had developed
this information, we're going

to go there and, you know,
talk to them and see where

they were last night.

We arrived, I think it was

about five o'clock
in the morning.

The camp itself
was probably an estimated maybe

a half acre big, and the back of
the residence was what looked

like a two-bedroom wooden
construction home.

When they got there,
no one was there.

There was a clothesline in
front of the house.

And I go,
camouflage clothing?

That's what the killers
were wearing.

We were kind of real concerned
about our safety.

We had to be aware of
the danger that's out there.

They were vicious people.

Whatever triggers them,
they can strike,

and they strike at any time.

If that was the group that
actually committed the murders,

they probably would have
no problems killing us.

You've got a bunch of people
living here in the camp,

and Jason LaMarsh is one of
them, and he's a prime suspect.

So the detectives didn't know
what they were going to find.

And then a man came up
and started talking

to detectives.

He said he was named
Gerald Cruz.

We learned that Gerald Cruz was
the leader of The Cause.

He was a big man.
He was 300 and... plus.

We started talking to Mr. Cruz.

And I asked him if
he had heard about

the quadruple homicide
in Salida.

And he said, no,
he hadn't heard about it.

"I don't know anything.
What are you talking about?

I don't know what
you're talking about."

You know.

Which I thought was very
strange, because everybody in

Salida had heard about it.

As an investigator,
you can tell when people are

lying to you.
Something's not right here.

What immediately struck me was
his shoes had a couple of very,

very small specks on them that,
in my mind, could be blood.

I told myself that I believe
this guy could very well be

one of the suspects
in the homicide.

I asked him if Jason LaMarsh
lived on the property,

and he pointed to a trailer
that Jason was staying in.

But he said he was not home,
and he stated no, he does not

know where he's at.

Now, walking back,
I know what I was thinking.

And I knew that, all right,
there's something here.

I'm gonna start putting
a search warrant together.

And at the same time,

we're gonna watch
this place.

We found weapons that were
illegal, bomb-making materials,

explosive materials that
were illegal.

Now they're really concerned.

We're not sure what the intent
was, other than somewhere down

the line, maybe they were going
to do something else.

We also found books on
Satanism and astrology,

and different type of
materials such as that.

People that actually were in
The Cause actually were forced

to get their finger cut and put
their fingerprint in this book

that Gerald kept.

They were forced to write
a diary, and he would read

the diaries, because in
his mind, he thought, well,

if I know what
they're thinking of then,

I can control them better.

And then detectives found
things that were beyond

their wildest nightmare.

There was a wheel,
a punishment wheel,

that we found.

It was called the
"Wheel of Punishment."

And when Cruz thought somebody
had done wrong or had screwed

up, he would throw it in
the air and have them catch it.

Wherever their thumb landed,
that was a punishment they got.

He would discipline them by
doing things like withholding

food, withholding clothing,
making them sleep on

the concrete without any type
of blanket or anything.

He would use forced sodomy,
he would use oral copulation.

It could be all kinds of
bizarre happenings,

whatever Gerald came up with.

It would dehumanize the people
that were under him,

and they would look to him
for everything,

for their basic needs.

Gerald Cruz would exhibit a lot
of the traditional types of

manifestations that cult
leaders exhibit.

Mind control,
physical torture,

financial control, sexuality.

His group dynamics were based
upon his ability to control

everybody around him.

They were under the influence,
the mental influence,

of Gerald Cruz.

That was scary.

So after the search warrant was
conducted, we found receipts

where they had purchased
a Ka-Bar knife and where

they had purchased
camouflage masks.

Everything was falling into
line as to leading to

the suspects at The Camp being
the perpetrators

of the homicide.

But we don't have
the suspects in custody.

Now they just needed to find
out who was involved out of

the group there and what
their participation was.

Now we're on day...

...I believe, day two,
or two and a half.

And none of us
have been to bed yet.

So I told Sergeant Larson that
I was going to get a few hours

sleep, because if we did catch
these suspects, one of us had

to be somewhat coherent in
order to interview them.

When I got up, I had learned
that Michelle Evans

was booked for murder.

Michelle Evans was
Jason LaMarsh's girlfriend,

and her sister, Tanya Miller,
had also been living there in

that house on Elm Street, so
there was that connection.

Michelle Evans was very nervous,
she was avoiding questions.

She did not provide any
information as to

her involvement
or anybody else at that time.

We found out at that time,
she was a good friend of

David Beck, and Beck was
also at the camp.

Jason LaMarsh, Beck,
and Cruz were the main

characters at The Camp.

So we arrested Beck
and brought him in.

Mr. Beck, Dave Beck,
he wouldn't tell us anything.

Of course, denied it,
and so did Michelle Evans.

And so we put them in
the same interview room.

And that led to
a big break in the case.

So this was a real rock
they flipped over out there,

and all the snakes came out.

Detectives needed to find out
who was involved in the murders

of Franklin Raper,
Darlene Paris, Rich Ritchey,

and Dennis Colwell,
the massacre on Elm Street.

They're starting to gather
people up, you know,

and bring them in
for questioning.

We arrested David Beck
and brought him in and also

Michelle Evans.

And we put them in
the same interview room.

That's an age-old tactic used
by investigators.

And she went in there
and started talking in a low

voice and telling him that
she did not tell us that--

anything about him
being involved.

And Mr. Beck was doing
everything

with his hand motions
without saying anything,

for her to shut up.
But she kept talking.

And after that conversation,
I immediately conducted my own

interview with Michelle to see
what, if any, information that

I could obtain.

After back and forth for
approximately one hour,

Michelle finally cracked
and agreed to tell me exactly

what happened.

Michelle Evans told me
the night before they committed

the murders, they had a bonfire
at the camp, and they all were

basically psyching themselves
out, going over to kill

Franklin Raper.

He was the target at that time.

Besides Franklin Raper,
everybody else

was at the wrong place at
the wrong time.

The suspects had no idea
who was going to be there,

but they were instructed by
Gerald Cruz not to leave

any witnesses.
Everybody is to be killed.

She told them that when
Franklin first moved on to

the property there at the camp,
he was friends with Gerald

and the other members.

But he didn't like what was
going on.

He didn't like the brutality of
Cruz hurting other people.

They tried to get him to
kind of be roped into

this kind of thing,

and there was no way
he was having it.

I think he thought they were
capable of a lot of evil.

So he was done, and he tried to
get other people when he left

to leave with him,
and that's why they were over

at the house that night.

Those were people that
he helped get out of there,

and they kind of had their own
little group, and that was

really ticking Cruz off.

Franklin wasn't afraid to stand
up to Cruz, and I think that's

one of the reasons why Cruz had
to eliminate him as a threat

because how are you gonna
control your entire camp

and you let this one person
basically leave without any

type of repercussions?

He had to take some kind
of action.

Michelle Evans stated prior to
leaving over there, Gerald Cruz

made everybody
their assignments, which window

they're gonna to come through,
and which door.

So she drove the car,
and they drove to Elm Street.

Instead, she parked her car
over by the railroad tracks,

and she pointed to where
we found the murder weapons.

That's where
she parked the car.

Michelle went into the home
before the murders occurred,

because her sister lived there,
so they wouldn't think anything

about Michelle just walking
into the house.

They were in that house,

and Mr. Raper was extending
hospitality.

Donna Alvarez was in bed.

That's when Michelle went in
another bedroom and opened

up the window.

That's what the killers were
looking for.

Michelle said somebody flipped
the breakers off at the house,

which cut out the electricity
to the house.

That's when they went in there
like gangbusters, coming in

the windows, in the doors,

and they caught everybody
off guard.

Those poor people must have
been so freaked out when those

guys came in wearing
masks and everything,

because they went right over
and started attacking them.

Michelle said she was walking
outside, and she walked by

a body right there in the front
yard and waited in the car

until everything was over.

Michelle Evans provided me
all the names

of everybody was there.

With that information,
we put out a BOL, which is

"be on the lookout,"
or all the names that

we listed, and they're all
wanted for quadruple homicide.

Dave Beck was already
in custody.

The first individual that was
picked up was Ricky Vieira.

And then Gerald Cruz,
who's the ringleader.

Ron Willey was also arrested.

Everyone except Jason LaMarsh,
they couldn't find him.

He's the final one they want,

and they want him bad.

LaMarsh, he had borrowed a car
and drove with a female to

Oregon, and she
did not know what for.

And on the way up, he told her,
I was involved in the murders,

the massacre on Elm Street.

And she freaked out,
but she was cool about it.

So when they got to Oregon,
a little town called Pendleton,

they pulled in, got a motel.

She's still freaked out,
thinking I'm here with

this killer.

So she finds a telephone.

Pendleton Police Department
activated the SWAT team

and took him down at the motel
where he was staying.

Breaking news today
at Pendleton.

Police have just made an arrest
at a local motel.

They arrested him
without incident.

Detectives now have all
the suspects in custody.

When they got into court,
the suspects, all five of them,

were giddy almost.

They were joking around that
they apparently didn't realize

the severity of what
they had done.

And it just angered
the families of the victims.

It was really, really hard for
me for a long time to

hear the details of the crime.

They had no remorse at all.

I know that for a fact.

Everything was a joke.

Apparently, they thought
they were going to beat the rap

and everybody was going to get
off and eventually go home.

Jason LaMarsh and Ron Willey
were convicted of four counts

of second-degree murder,
and were both sentenced to

62 years in prison.

For Ricky Vieira, he is on death
row right now in San Quentin,

along with Dave Beck
and Gerald Cruz.

When you take four people's
lives so violently like that,

I don't know what justice would
be for a crime like that, to be

honest with you.

I actually told them, I want to
be able to forgive you,

but I can never forget what
you did to my dad.

After my dad was killed,
I had this dream.

And it's um...

...and it was my grandma,
his mom,

and all she was saying was,
"It's about time you got

here, Franklin.
I've been waiting for you."

And so it gave me a lot of
comfort to have that dream,

because that dream came to me,
and I knew...

...Dad's OK.

He's at peace.

In Cincinnati,
we have RiverFest

and it's the biggest event
of the year.

They have music.
They have fireworks.

When you're on night crew,

you just sit around
waiting for death.

They were wasting their time
looking at me.

Word was spreaking
among people.

Would they be next?

I was afraid to leave my house.

We start off today
at a big party

and we end up investigating
a murder.