♪♪♪
Reporter: Just hours after he left for work,
George altidor became concerned
When no one answered the phone at his home.
What police would find inside the home no one could imagine.
29-year-old marie altidor was lying in a pool of blood.
Also dead--her mother
And the couple's two small children,
Brutally murdered.
Have you ever had one this bad?
No. None of our cases are easy,
But this one takes it to an all-new low.
♪ captive of my own thoughts ♪
♪ battles I have not fought ♪
♪ catch the light ♪
Tonya and I are here in miramar, florida,
To investigate one of the most horrific
And heartbreaking cases we've ever worked on--
The 24-year-old murders of "mamie" marie altidor,
Her mom theresia,
Her 2-year-old daughter, and her 6-week-old daughter.
She's 29 years old, and her mom is here from haiti visiting her,
60 years old, and then those two babies.
Three generations all wiped out.
Marie was a haitian immigrant
Who was very devoted to her family.
On April the 30th, 1997,
Her husband george returned home from work
To find marie and her mom theresia
Both fatally shot and beaten with a hammer,
Along with his two babies, dead from blunt force trauma.
Within that very gruesome scene, a big clue was left behind.
And then we have that note on the wall--
"they stole my $100,000."
-Yeah. -Drug money, right?
Right. Who's gonna take the time to do that?
And why even write on the wall?
It's not often a killer leaves a note,
So there's clearly a purpose behind it.
But was it actually written by drug dealers,
Or is someone else trying to throw off investigators?
Using a hammer is so much more personal and violent and vicious
Than a gun or a knife.
Right.
Cracking a 6-week-old baby's skull.
-I don't-- -and a 2-year-old baby's skull
That's hiding with her dollies behind a couch.
Who could do that?
There could not be any more vulnerable victims.
-It's a monster. -Exactly.
It has been 16 years and still no answers...
Police consider her killing a cult killing...
Years later, the case is still unsolved...
Siegler: I've chosen cold cases from across the country
And teamed up with the best detectives to solve them.
We're more determined than ever
To bring justice to these victims.
♪♪♪
-Morning. -Hello. Good morning.
Hi, ladies.
-Hi. Tonya rider. -Hi.
-I'm jonathan zeller. -Welcome. Danny smith.
-Nice to meet you. -Welcome.
Well, we read it all. We studied it all.
We wanna do whatever we can to help you all.
Thank you very much. We're very happy to have you guys.
Absolutely.
There's not a more horrible case than this.
It's really weighed heavily on the hearts of residents,
Family, obviously, and the officers
That were here at the time
And have kinda caught up with it over time.
Absolutely.
-Y'all ready to get to work? -Let's go.
-Let's do it. -I think we got a lot to do.
-Yeah. -Okay.
This case will stick with me for the rest of my life.
Nobody deserves to die like that, okay?
Especially the two kids.
And there's nothing I want more than to solve this
And bring justice for-- for the victims.
Okay, let's--let's start off with putting
Our victims up on the wall.
Gonna start with the baby.
The baby was how old, guys?
-6 weeks. -6 weeks.
-And her name? -Officers: Sabrina.
And then we have her older sister.
-Samantha. -Samantha.
-Who was how old? -2 years old.
-2.
-And then we have marie. -Yes.
-Last name altidor? -Altidor.
And her nickname was "mamie," right?
Yes.
Who was how old when this happened?
-29? -29.
And then we have theresia laverne,
And theresia was 60.
Theresia is marie altidor's mom.
She lives in haiti.
She offered to come to miramar and help her with the new baby.
Who is in this picture with our mother-in-law?
-Marie, her mom theresia. -George altidor.
-And george. -Correct.
That's horrible.
Sabrina, at 6 weeks old-- she would be 24 now,
Presumably in her career, maybe married,
Maybe kids of her own,
And nobody in her family got a chance to--
To experience any of that, and that goes for samantha
And marie also, and ms. Laverne.
It's three generations.
We owe the family a resolution to this case.
April 30, 1997. Tell us how it all began, danny.
The husband, george altidor, left his house at 7 a.M.
He got to work. He tried to reach marie
Numerous times throughout the day.
He was unable to. He contacts his brother-in-law,
Says, "can you run by my house? Starting to get worried."
Brother-in-law went to the altidor residence,
Found three generations, slain.
Marie and her mom were both shot and savagely beaten
With a blunt force object.
The children were killed by a hammer
Or a hammer-like object.
We think that our murder weapon is a revolver?
-We do. -And how many shots are fired?
-Five. -Five.
Okay, so let's break down the crime scene.
The front door was unlocked.
There's no signs of forced entry.
The instrument was not left.
There was no firearm left on scene.
There were no casings anywhere throughout the house.
In the area where sabrina and samantha were found,
There was writing on the wall.
It read, "I want my $100,000 drug money.
They stole my drugs."
So that's your single biggest clue, then,
That writing on the wall. -Absolutely.
Investigators didn't find any evidence
Of drugs or drug activity,
Which raises the possibility that the message
Was actually written just to divert the attention
Away from the true killer.
So the investigators began looking at the person
Closest to the victims.
The handwriting had been looked at twice.
They actually had the husband, george, write
The same phrase over and over and over again.
And so far, your handwriting experts say
Just inconclusive?
-Inconclusive. -Okay.
-Times two. -Times two.
So we're gonna send off george's handwriting
To the new handwriting expert
To see what he says.
Very, very, very curious to see how that goes.
Yeah, I agree.
So talking over here, starting on our suspect board.
Let's put up here george.
George, at the time, I believe he was 33.
He's from haiti.
So let's start with the big picture--
The marriage, the relationship between george and marie.
What evidence do we have
That they had any trouble in that marriage?
-None. -None.
Nobody's talking about divorce.
I think marie normally took pride in keeping
Her personal life private.
Which is pretty common in the haitian community.
We don't know of any marital issues
Between george and marie, and it's crazy to think
That a father could do that to his own babies.
But if george is a monster,
Then we're gonna need to find a motive.
Okay, so let's break down the person george altidor is.
So what do we have
That goes toward being able to do that?
-The first wife. -And what'd she tell you all?
-His jealousy. -Yeah.
She was also very afraid of him.
Yes.
When he pointed the gun at her...
The exact quote of what she said,
I think from george was,
"if I kill you, nobody would know."
"nobody would know."
During the initial investigation,
George's ex-wife told the police
That years before he had threatened her at gunpoint,
But george claimed he never owned a gun.
This shows not only his temper but maybe his mindset.
Maybe he thinks he's clever enough to outsmart police.
Um, what about the number of calls
Once he starts checking on 'em? Do we think those are odd?
That, to me, is a little extreme.
-Okay. -Yeah, like it escalated...
-Right. -...Really quickly.
According to phone records, george called home 16 times
Trying to get ahold of marie that day,
But on other days, he didn't seem nearly as persistent
When he couldn't get ahold of her.
So was he sincerely concerned
Or just trying to appear that he was?
Okay. Let's put up here drug-related random intruder.
So the note on the wall, message on the wall.
Message on the wall.
'cause that's what it was meant to be.
It was meant to be a message, right?
-But to who? -It was meant to be a message
To the owner of the house,
"ha ha ha. Look what I did to you
'cause you owe me $100,000."
Was there ever any evidence that george
Or anybody in that family was ever involved in drugs?
No. This is just a very normal, you know, home.
Okay, now let's talk about that phone call at 7.
7:09.
"marie?"
The call did originate from their landline,
And it went to a relative in maryland,
And we confirmed that with them.
-What do we do with that? -That's the question, kelly.
We don't know when the murders occurred,
But the police department does believe
That marie's godmother received a call
From the house at 7:09 that morning.
The thing is, george's coworkers confirmed way back then
That george got to work on time at 7:30 that morning.
There's no way that george could have killed
His whole family after that phone call at 7:09
And still made it to work on time.
And that brings us back to the possibility
Of an unknown suspect.
Why do you need to kill a baby that can't even speak
Or a 2-year-old?
That's senseless. There's no reason for it.
Why even use a hammer? If you're going there with a gun,
Shoot everybody, and be done with it.
Shoot everybody.
I see the hammer as overkill rage.
We have so many unanswered questions.
Was this revenge? Was this staged?
Could it have been more than one person,
And how could anybody do something this horrible?
♪ are we in a dream? ♪
♪ am I gonna wake up just to see that you're gone? ♪
♪ gone ♪
Do you have any other cases nearly as sad as this one?
No. Nothing--nothing that really even comes close to this.
I've investigated this case and spoke with the family
For about half of my career.
We have grown close over the years.
So yeah, I mean, you can't help but to say it's personal.
-Hello, ladies. -Hello.
This is that homicide,
That violent crime that I cannot shake.
This is my adopted haitian family.
-I like that. -Yeah.
[laughter]
Can you tell us what marie was like?
-Yeah. -And what'd she like to do?
We grew up like sisters. I think that we--
All of our cousins. We have a big family,
But we really knew each other very well.
And how about your mom? What was she like?
Were y'all able to visit enough to get to know samantha?
She was only 2.
Samantha--she was lovely.
♪♪♪
Listening to this family talk about
How horribly devastating this has been to them,
What do you say to 'em?
Who could possibly say anything
That's gonna make them feel any better?
In those days around the funeral,
Was there ever a time where george said to you
From his mouth what he thinks happened,
Who could've done this?
Never?
It's your mother and your sister and your nieces.
And he's never out of his mouth tried to tell you anything.
And to this day, all these years later...
Nothing?
Nothing.
That's crazy, you know?
We were all-- we're still in shock.
There has to be justice.
♪♪♪
Our handwriting expert is ready to give us his findings.
-You wanna call him? -Okay.
[line rings]
Good afternoon.
Hey, grant, it's, uh, danny smith
From the miramar police department.
So how are we looking?
In 1997, marie altidor, her mom theresia,
And her babies were brutally murdered.
The message on the wall implied that it was drug-related,
But investigators have always suspected
That maybe it was written by her husband george.
We've asked our handwriting expert to compare
The message on the wall to old handwriting samples
Given by george.
If george is the author of that note,
It proves he was involved.
Okay.
Okay, well, thank you. That's not what we thought
You were gonna tell us, but we appreciate it.
If we could have matched
The handwriting on that wall to george,
It would have gone a long way to solving this case.
But if george didn't write the note on the wall,
Then who did?
Sh--.
♪♪♪
I think you're really gonna like dr. Pinneri.
She's the medical examiner from back home in texas,
And then chris robinson-- he's from georgia,
And he's like a firearms ballistics guy.
We don't know what to do
With that handwriting on the wall,
But we do wanna look at all the other clues
Left at the house.
-So happy to see y'all. -Yes, happy to be here.
Dr. Kathryn pinneri and chris robinson
Are both here to help us re-examine the forensic evidence
And recreate the crime scene.
Dr. Pinneri re-examined all of the wounds
On each victim to maybe help us figure out
The order of the attack,
Which might help tell us more about the killer.
This is one of the most disturbing cases...
-Horrible. -...Um, I've seen
In my career, very haunting.
This is in the top five worst cases I've been involved in.
How many cases have you seen in your whole career?
-Thousands. -Thousands.
-And this is in the top five? -This is in the top five.
-Damn. -Wow.
There's a lot going on here. It's a quadruple homicide
With a lot of different injuries.
The grandmother, theresia--
She's got extensive blunt trauma of her head.
There's 23 described blunt force injuries
On multiple sides of her head, so she is moving, turning.
Some of the injuries actually appear patterned,
Which tells me a little bit about the weapon
That was used to inflict it.
I think the most likely thing would be a hammer.
The hammer has the perfect edges and surfaces
To create all of the wounds that she had.
Additionally, she has
A contact or near contact gunshot wound
To the back of her head.
One thing that you can tell from this injury
Is that it came after the blunt trauma
Because of the fracture patterns.
A fracture line can't cross a pre-existing fracture line.
Fracture patterns can help determine
The order of an attack.
In theresia's case, we can tell that she was first struck
By a blunt object,
Which produced a crescent-shaped fracture in her skull.
Then she was shot, causing a new fracture,
Which spread outward until it terminated
On the earlier break.
That wouldn't happen if the gunshot was first.
The mother, marie, has five gunshot wounds,
One of which is a re-entry from another wound.
So she's shot here and turns and gets shot there
And then either falls or collapses.
And then she's shot in the head in the back.
But then she also has blunt trauma,
And there's about 19 described blunt entries
To the head and face.
Most of these wounds are on the left side
Of her face and head, which is kinda how she fell.
In my opinion, she was down on the ground
When these blows to the head were sustained.
She's not moving around to sustain injuries
On the--all surfaces like the grandmother was.
It seems crazy that two weapons were used,
Especially when you consider
That marie had already suffered fatal wounds.
Is it possible that we're looking at two killers,
Or is it just one trying to send a message?
Is it someone with a lot of rage?
Whatever the case, it's clearly overkill.
Samantha, the 2-year-old,
Has approximately 22 blunt force injuries
Of the head and face,
And sabrina, who's not even 6 weeks old--
She's got six injuries of her face.
I was counting up your-- your number of hammer strikes
On all four victims.
It's exactly 70.
I mean, think about that. Think about that.
-It's really-- -you're like...
You know, you talk about it--
It's horrible. The whole case is horrible.
It takes a special kind of evil.
♪♪♪
It's gonna be an interesting discussion today,
Going back to the house.
Yeah. This is gonna be one that stays with me for a while.
[sighs]
♪♪♪
♪ there's nothing to hold ♪
♪ voices and songs ♪
♪ all about those still home where... ♪
In attempting to recreate a crime scene,
Especially when you're dealing with four victims,
Being able to go to the actual place
Where it happened is crucial.
Looks a lot smaller than in the pictures.
-Yeah. -Doesn't it?
The altidor home has been remodeled since then,
But coming here today can still give us
An invaluable look at what happened that day.
Orient us. Where are we, and what's going on here?
All right, well... [clears throat]
Come in-- you come in the front door.
You've got the bassinet there, so we've got sabrina.
Kitchen left, we've got theresia, ms. Laverne.
And then to the right we've got couches situated
In essentially the same manner where we've got samantha.
According to old statements, marie was very safety-conscious.
Marie always locked her doors,
And there was no sign of forced entry.
She definitely would not open the door for a total stranger,
So it's odd that marie and theresia
Were going about their regular household duties,
And they didn't seem to know that there was any threat
Until it was too late.
What do you all say we go to the kitchen,
And then start going through your thoughts?
Absolutely. Okay. Okay.
-So in our kitchen... -Okay.
...Where is theresia standing when everything happens?
The sink's here, and the bowl...
-Is right there? -It's just really peculiar.
And, guys, there were pots and pans
With dinner-type food on the stove, right?
-Yes, I think so. -And when she falls,
Is she kinda like this? Just so--just so--this way.
She kinda falls toward that direction.
Okay, so I'll-- I'll be theresia.
Chris, what's gonna happen first?
I'm over here with my bowl doing my thing.
-Okay, so I come in. -I turn around. I've still got
My bowl in my hand. -Okay.
-There you are, whoever you are. -I strike her.
-As hard as you can, right? -Yes.
-So she falls just like this? -Yes, ma'am.
She falls down, and then I give her the other 22 strikes
Because I can clearly see the blood spatter
Emanating all over the pantry doors here.
I'm gonna have to go to the side
Because I have the blood spatter going out
Across the kitchen... -Okay.
...Out into the living room, 10 to 12 feet.
Lot of rage, overkill.
I have to get down and dirty.
Then I pull out the gun just to make sure,
And then I shoot her right in the back of the head.
And then marie comes from the back
Because she hears the-- -well, where is she coming from?
She's coming from where I am right here.
Oh, this wall wasn't here.
She came from the back.
Then he shoots her in the left shoulder.
And then sees she's gonna turn, and then I shoot her again.
And I'm turning to get away, and I make it around.
The china hutch is here, and then...
-Fall there. -She's gonna fall on the ground.
-Falls on the ground. -And then--
Then he gives one to the back. -[gunshot]
Okay.
And then one right to the head,
And then I start to hit.
One, two, three, four.
I had the spatter coming up the blinds
Across the floor,
Five, six, seven.
19 strikes.
That's a lot different than just talking about it.
It takes forever. Sure.
Marie's gunshot wounds were fatal,
But her killer then struck her 19 more times with a hammer.
This just screams of someone filled with rage or adrenaline
As they continue to move through the home
Murdering then her two babies,
Presumably first was 6-week-old sabrina...
There's six strikes to the baby.
...Followed by 2-year-old samantha,
Who was hiding behind a couch.
- And she's going to be around-- - oh, that's where she is.
So she's right here by her little sister's massacre?
- Yes. - Yes.
So you're looking around. You find her.
Again, this is a...
- .22. - .22.
Okay.
Where's our note on the wall?
And the furniture's accurate, right?
Furniture is fairly accurate, yeah,
Where you would have to lean over to draw on that.
If drug dealers were trying to send a message to george,
It seems the murders would have done that on their own.
The murders speak for themselves.
Why take the time to find a marker and write on the wall?
Why give george nothing to live for
And pave the way for him to rat you out to investigators?
The writing doesn't make a lot of sense
Unless someone wrote it to make police
Think it was drug-related.
The goal of all this was murder.
They didn't look for one piece of valuable...
No breaking and entering. No damage to the door.
The jewelry is right there in plain view.
This is not a ransacked house.
After examining this crime scene,
It does not appear to be
An act of revenge or to be financially motivated.
There was no forced entry.
There was nothing taken, and george's locked office
Does not appear to have been tampered with.
If I came here looking for drugs or money,
That locked office would have been
The first damn place I checked.
This is the greatest thing for me
That I've ever done on this case.
- Wonderful. - To be able to come here
And see the inside and... -Re=enact everything.
But if george is the killer, we have a problem
With the handwriting on the wall not being his,
And that 7:09 phone call that was made
After he had already left for work.
Either george didn't do it
And we're left with a big old mess,
Or george had some help.
Is there any kind of way
When you see it with your own eyes
You would ever buy it was a drug killing?
- No. - Okay.
♪♪♪
[truck horn blows]
Okay, so we got a new name, danny,
And it's erta arty.
We've all but ruled out the theory that marie
And her family's murder was drug-related,
But if her husband george is the one who killed,
Then how do we explain that the handwriting
On the wall does not match george's?
Or that he had already left for work
When we believe that she was still alive
Because she called her godmother?
Hey, erta, this is danny smith.
I'm with the miramar police department.
Besides, what would george's motive be
To murder his whole family?
We're hoping that marie's friend erta
Can help us figure out if we're missing anything.
Erta, how long did you stay there?
Do you happen to remember while you were there,
Do you think you or her mom
Would have left, like, cooked dinner and dirty dishes out?
Like, didn't put food away in the refrigerator?
Would that happen?
Okay.
If marie and her mother wouldn't leave
Dirty pots and pans on the stove overnight,
Then maybe that's a clue
That they were murdered the night before,
And if so, then george would have had
An opportunity to commit the crime.
But that still doesn't explain the 7:09 phone call
Or the writing on the wall.
While you were there did-- did they seem to have a--
A good marriage? Were they happy?
Did he seem excited to have a brand-new baby--george?
So, can you compare the way that mamie was
Before the marriage, before she met george?
Yeah.
Do you know what the argument was over?
Okay. Okay.
And this is gonna be how many days
Before they all end up murdered?
Okay. Ma'am, thank you very much.
If you think of something else, you call us back, okay?
All right, bye.
She was great.
♪♪♪
Josetta was the one we were hoping
Maybe mamie talked to. - Okay.
[line rings]
Hey, regine? This is, uh, danny smith
With the miramar police department.
Are you with josetta?
Oh, okay.
Hey, josetta? How are you today?
Josetta janvier had a really close relationship with marie,
And we're hoping that she can give us
Some better insight into their marriage.
Josetta's native languages is creole,
So her daughter's joining us to help translate.
So as you know, we're trying to talk to
As many people as we can talk to that knew the family,
That were around before the murders happened.
"she doesn't want to stay with him," meaning george?
[josetta speaks creole]
Regine: Really looked not good?
Josetta: Not for him, really.
You can translate if you want, regine.
Okay, and did she say why?
She's told that to your mom before she ever married george
Or after she was already married?
Okay. Did your mom ever see the way george treated mamie?
What?
Are you saying that mamie knew george was cheating on her?
Damn.
This is huge, because according to josetta,
Marie believed that george was having an affair.
If this is true, then is it possible that george
Just wanted to start a brand-new life,
And would that have been enough to drive him
To commit all these murders?
-Well, thank you. -Thank you.
-Regine: Okay, bye-bye. -Bye.
Man, that was good. That was good.
♪♪♪
-All in a day's work, jon. -They're worth it.
[knocking on door]
If george altidor is responsible for committing
All these murders, we've been trying to understand
How a phone call could have been made
At 7:09 from the house
After george had already left for work.
-Hello. -Hi. Come on in.
- Woman: Down here, manman. - Thank you for seeing us.
Marie's godmother, helene mondestin,
Is the woman that we believe was called that morning,
So we want to see if she remembers
Anything unusual about that call.
What we wanted to talk about was
A phone call you received...
-Yes. -...Early in the morning.
Okay. Okay.
- You see? - Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Has mamie ever called you guys
At 7:00 in the morning?
- [helene] never. - Okay.
So this was just out of the blue.
How many times have you spoken to her before?
A lot, or many times?
So if somebody were to have called
And say, "hey, this is mamie,"
You would have no reason--
So you have no clue who called you?
Mnh-mnh.
We've been under the assumption that marie made that call,
But helene can't say for sure that it was her.
- Thank you so much. - Good night. Drive carefully.
- Okay, thank you. - Night, y'all.
Is it possible that the woman
George was allegedly having an affair with
Is the one that made the call?
And if so, did she help with handwriting, too?
This may change the whole complexion of this case.
Before the person on the other end
Could identify themselves by name, she said...
-She already said-- ..."is this mamie?"
Right, exactly.
♪♪♪
I never thought we'd end up in broken arrow, oklahoma.
George and florence ended up here because
They went to seminary school, and then they moved here.
We've traveled to oklahoma to confront
Our suspect, george altidor.
So we're going to be getting there way before time
For them to go to church. They ought to be home.
Depending on who answers the door, what's your plan?
My plan is to first of all, introduce ourselves.
We're the ones on the case. We have some updates,
And that's where-- -you think they'll invite us in?
You never know. Maybe things have changed.
Maybe he is interested in-- in wanting an update
On his two murdered daughters and his wife.
His whole family.
The last time george was approached back in 2007,
He refused to talk and requested an attorney.
Moving out here gets you a long way from miramar.
-Oh, yeah. -A whole different world.
But we've now learned about a possible motive.
All right, let's have good luck, y'all. Come on.
And after 24 years, it's time to get some answers.
♪♪♪
Hello.
I'm looking for george.
Are you george? Hey, george.
I'm detective zeller, I'm the new person
On your family's case in miramar.
And I wanted to talk to you about the case
And give you some updates.
Uh, would you like to talk to me?
Who's mister-- I don't know who mr. Diaz is.
So you want me to call your lawyer
So I can give you an update on your kids' murder?
So then talk to me, then.
You're not the least bit curious, as--
As far as what's going on?
But, george, this is your family that got murdered.
Okay, so my point is, is that if it's your lawyer,
Call him. Call him now.
Okay, this is not harassment.
All right.
I think I want to kiss you. Considering how that went,
You couldn't have done any better.
He looked like an idiot... And cold,
And she's in the background, telling him what to say.
I know.
Whoo! Nice job, baby.
George has a right to have an attorney,
And asking for an attorney is no implication of guilt.
But on the other hand, why wouldn't you open the door
To hear what we have to say after 24 years?
If he really wanted to know,
He would say, "let me call my lawyer.
I'll call you back and set up a time to come see you."
That was pretty cold, the way he handled it.
He didn't care.
[bicycle bell rings]
♪♪♪
- Good morning, boys. - Morning.
- Hey, good morning. - Morning, morning.
-Y'all ready to get rid of us? -Yeah, let's do it.
All right, so...
There's nobody left we need to talk to, right?
- No. - And we've done
All the testing we can and gone and talked to george.
We've covered this, you know, from beginning to end.
With everything that we've learned,
It's time to talk about our suspects.
Is this truly a drug deal gone wrong?
Is this a drug deal where they just hit the wrong house, right?
So what all-- what all do we know?
Well, marie's not going to let him in.
-So they would get in how? -Forcing entry.
They would be kicking that door in,
Shooting it off or something, right?
No breaking and entering. No damage to the door.
The goal of all this was murder.
You got nothing like that in this house.
The big thing is that locked office door.
If I'm there to look for something,
Why would I leave a door locked?
There could be someone in there.
My money/drugs could be inside there.
And if I'm really a drug dealer, and I'm really there
To steal drugs and money, what should that house look like?
Torn apart.
And this house didn't look like that.
Where do we even get the idea that this would be
The house that they would want to hit?
From the wall. This writing on the wall
Was alluding to it being drug-related.
And you're telling me that a killer just happened
To find a marker laying around?
Is there anything that makes anybody in this room
Believe that this was truly a random intruder
Or a drug-related hit?
-No. -Nothing.
Now let's talk about george altidor.
Mamie had confided in someone
And said that she was aware that he was cheating on her
With the girl that lived down the street.
You're wondering about the state of their marriage
And if you have a motive, and here we go.
John, what's your favorite piece?
My favorite piece is his ex-wife.
The fact about him having a gun, and she and her...
Former boyfriend... -Old boyfriend.
...Were threatened at gunpoint by george
Saying that he could kill them, and nobody would know.
Yes, and now you also know, 24 years later, john,
When you went knocking on that door in oklahoma,
What was george's response?
He didn't want to hear an update on--
On what's going on 24 years later.
It doesn't seem like he gives a damn.
You're not the least bit curious as far as what's going on?
And now you know he had moved on...
For this reason. He was ready to move on.
-Start a brand-new life. -That's right.
You know george altidor
Didn't write the note on the wall.
Somebody else is involved.
-You know that. -Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
So we're sitting here today trying to figure out
How to get around that 7:09 phone call.
We can't explain it, and we can't disprove it,
And we can't evaporate it 'cause it is what it is,
And it's the middle of this world.
That phone call has been the hurdle
Since, you know, 1997, and it continues to be.
That is the one thing that is stopping us
Moving forward with this case.
We've uncovered a lot this week,
But we still have unanswered questions about this phone call.
We're hoping sometime in the near future
We're going to be able to get justice for marie
And her mom and her babies.
The whole thing of this case just makes me sick,
And we don't leave any stone unturned,
But this is just heartbreaking.
The only way to ever explain that call
Is for something brand-new to break out
Where somebody that knows about that call comes forward.
But until that happens, this is where we are, and, uh...
I don't know. It makes me sick.
Makes me sick, 'cause I thought we could figure it out.
Yeah.
♪♪♪
[seabird calling]
♪♪♪
You thought about what you're going to tell 'em?
Unfortunately, I have had this conversation
With them in the past.
They never really had their hopes up
Like they did this time, though. -I know.
In this line of work,
Having to tell a family that we didn't get as far
As we wanted to is as bad as it gets.
My heart aches for marie's family,
But they deserve to know the truth.
And unfortunately,
Tragically, right now, that's the best we can do.
I guess I'll do it like a band-aid.
Unfortunately, we didn't get what we were looking for.
We got a lot of good new information,
But, um, that phone call,
That 7:09 phone call... -Yes.
...Is, uh, that's what we're having a hard time getting past.
I was hoping when we came here that we could figure that out,
We could clear it up, but some female
Called from that house, and it's--
We're locked into that time.
And it's so frustrating to have these thoughts,
But you can't quite get enough
To file charges in a courtroom yet.
Wow.
I'm sorry.
-It is hard. -It is so hard.
-Even more now. -You want justice.
-Justice. -You want the person
Who did this to be held responsible.
-Exactly. Exactly. -Yes.
Such a painful wound, though.
It's like every time, it reopens.
-It's not like it ever closes. -Yeah, I know.
-But I know I feel bad... -Yeah.
[crying] ...For my cousin, because...
She was just...
It still hurts.
It really hurts so much. It hurts.
And we... [sobbing]
It's just, we want justice, but it's just that...
This is nearly 25 years.
[crying] we are suffering. We are grieving every day.
It has been 24 years,
And every day we are waiting for an answer.
We are still hurting.
We are still grieving.
We don't have closure.
We are hoping for that day to come.
It has to move forward. I'm willing to take that risk.
I can't speak for my cousins,
But I plead to the state to consider
A circumstantial evidence case, even with the risks.
Because there is the pain that we're feeling
To come in front of a jury... -[sobbing]
...So that the jury can decide, even with that phone call.
[sobbing] it's too painful for my cousin.
This needs to move forward, guys.
[sniffles]
You need to call the state's attorney's office
And go have a meeting, and you sit down in that room,
And you tell them everything
You just said at this table today.
You have the right to do that, okay?
-Mm-hmm. -You have the--
You're the victim here.
You have the right to have a meeting
And get your questions answered.
That is your right.
-We're not gonna lose hope. -There you go.
-I should say. Yeah. -There you go.
-And you keep praying. -Yes. It's a daily thing.
Yeah. So sorry.
You can't put into words
What this family has gone through.
They have every right in the world to be angry,
And who in the hell can blame 'em?
All they can do now is to continue to fight
For their loved ones, and our hope, all of us,
Is that one day, they will get justice.
♪♪♪