1 00:00:07,340 --> 00:00:07,707 - I'm Kate Snow, 2 00:00:08,608 --> 00:00:12,112 and this is "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 3 00:00:12,145 --> 00:00:14,714 - It had so much mystery involved, 4 00:00:14,748 --> 00:00:16,316 pentagrams painted on the wall. 5 00:00:16,349 --> 00:00:19,419 What was this young man doing in that tunnel? 6 00:00:19,452 --> 00:00:20,453 - The Manson Tunnel? 7 00:00:20,487 --> 00:00:23,890 - Yeah, is a pretty horrible place to die. 8 00:00:26,459 --> 00:00:28,828 - The murder happened on the summer solstice. 9 00:00:28,862 --> 00:00:30,897 - This whole occult story came out. 10 00:00:30,930 --> 00:00:32,465 - There's evidence of occult activities 11 00:00:32,499 --> 00:00:34,601 having taken place up there before. 12 00:00:36,703 --> 00:00:39,372 - He told me that he had witnessed a murder... 13 00:00:41,875 --> 00:00:43,943 ...and that he was helping the police with it. 14 00:00:43,977 --> 00:00:45,845 - Little by little, it started coming out. 15 00:00:45,879 --> 00:00:48,314 - There had been some plots afoot. 16 00:00:48,348 --> 00:00:51,017 - Brutal and violent and chaotic. 17 00:00:51,051 --> 00:00:53,787 They are vicious killers. 18 00:00:53,820 --> 00:00:56,723 It was a horrible betrayal. 19 00:00:56,756 --> 00:01:04,898 ** 20 00:01:04,931 --> 00:01:08,368 - Hello, and welcome to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered". 21 00:01:08,401 --> 00:01:12,238 Ron Baker was a curious young man studying astrophysics 22 00:01:12,272 --> 00:01:14,641 to learn the mysteries of our universe, 23 00:01:14,674 --> 00:01:18,111 But the college student didn't see the evil forces 24 00:01:18,144 --> 00:01:19,879 at work right in front of him. 25 00:01:19,913 --> 00:01:22,082 His murder happened in a dark tunnel 26 00:01:22,082 --> 00:01:24,150 known for hiding secrets. 27 00:01:24,184 --> 00:01:26,186 To crack this case, some might say 28 00:01:26,219 --> 00:01:29,856 investigators were forced to make a deal with the devil. 29 00:01:29,889 --> 00:01:31,491 Here's Keith Morrison with... 30 00:01:36,696 --> 00:01:40,700 - This wasn't supposed to happen ever. 31 00:01:43,436 --> 00:01:46,106 It was a chilly December morning, 2020, 32 00:01:46,139 --> 00:01:48,742 the high desert outside Los Angeles. 33 00:01:48,775 --> 00:01:50,877 In there, behind barbed wire 34 00:01:50,910 --> 00:01:53,113 and secure locks and thick concrete, 35 00:01:53,113 --> 00:01:55,482 a prisoner was placed in front of a camera. 36 00:01:55,515 --> 00:01:57,150 It was a parole hearing 37 00:01:57,183 --> 00:02:01,221 for a lifer who was never supposed to be set free. 38 00:02:07,594 --> 00:02:10,663 50 miles away, nervous and worried, 39 00:02:10,697 --> 00:02:12,332 the sister of the man's victim 40 00:02:12,365 --> 00:02:14,567 listened to a live broadcast. 41 00:02:14,601 --> 00:02:17,971 With her, a storied L.A. homicide detective, 42 00:02:18,071 --> 00:02:21,274 now retired, named Rick Jackson, 43 00:02:21,307 --> 00:02:23,209 powerless to intervene. 44 00:02:23,243 --> 00:02:26,613 They waited for the board's decision, 45 00:02:26,646 --> 00:02:29,816 and it all came flooding back, 46 00:02:29,849 --> 00:02:31,985 as if decades had vanished, 47 00:02:32,085 --> 00:02:34,087 and the strange, terrible events 48 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,356 had only just occurred. 49 00:02:36,389 --> 00:02:38,892 - I worked homicide by the end of my career. 50 00:02:38,925 --> 00:02:40,193 It was 28 years, 51 00:02:40,226 --> 00:02:43,296 and you always think that you've seen everything, 52 00:02:43,329 --> 00:02:45,398 and this was one of those cases that-- 53 00:02:45,432 --> 00:02:48,101 that just didn't make any sense. 54 00:02:48,134 --> 00:02:50,103 - No, it didn't. 55 00:02:50,103 --> 00:02:53,139 It still doesn't, and maybe never will. 56 00:02:56,776 --> 00:02:59,612 It was just a few days after the summer solstice, 57 00:02:59,646 --> 00:03:02,515 that longest day of the year. 58 00:03:02,549 --> 00:03:05,852 It was June 24th, 1990. 59 00:03:05,885 --> 00:03:08,655 - My supervisor called and said, 60 00:03:08,688 --> 00:03:11,558 "Hey, I've got an interesting case for you and Frank," 61 00:03:11,591 --> 00:03:14,327 and so Frank and I went directly to the coroner's office 62 00:03:14,361 --> 00:03:15,695 to view the body. 63 00:03:15,729 --> 00:03:18,064 - Frank was Detective Frank Garcia, 64 00:03:18,064 --> 00:03:19,332 Jackson's partner. 65 00:03:19,366 --> 00:03:22,068 - He had multiple stab wounds and his throat was slit. 66 00:03:22,068 --> 00:03:24,537 - It was a murder all right. 67 00:03:24,571 --> 00:03:27,574 Close up. Personal. Bloody. 68 00:03:27,607 --> 00:03:31,678 - Whoever did this wanted to make sure that it was done. 69 00:03:31,711 --> 00:03:33,613 No one was gonna survive this. 70 00:03:33,646 --> 00:03:35,815 - He looked to be in his early twenties, 71 00:03:35,849 --> 00:03:37,384 but he had no I.D., 72 00:03:37,417 --> 00:03:41,421 so they called him "John Doe 135," 73 00:03:41,454 --> 00:03:46,593 L.A.'s 135th unidentified victim of the year. 74 00:03:46,626 --> 00:03:48,695 - He had a medallion on, and-- there were two. 75 00:03:48,728 --> 00:03:50,397 One was a pentagram, 76 00:03:50,430 --> 00:03:53,833 and there was also one that was just a religious cross. 77 00:03:53,867 --> 00:03:57,270 - Meaning something possibly? 78 00:03:59,572 --> 00:04:02,509 John Doe 135 had been found by hikers 79 00:04:02,542 --> 00:04:04,210 in an old train tunnel 80 00:04:04,244 --> 00:04:06,046 that cuts through the rocky hills 81 00:04:06,046 --> 00:04:07,814 in suburban Chatsworth. 82 00:04:07,847 --> 00:04:09,416 - Went up to the tunnel the next day. 83 00:04:09,449 --> 00:04:10,884 - What was it like in there? 84 00:04:10,917 --> 00:04:12,886 - Strange. There's paintings everywhere, 85 00:04:12,919 --> 00:04:16,056 paintings of words involving drugs-- 86 00:04:16,089 --> 00:04:17,791 LSD, acid. 87 00:04:21,127 --> 00:04:24,631 - We were told that they would do animal sacrifices there. 88 00:04:24,664 --> 00:04:27,367 There was writing on the inside of the tunnel, 89 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,636 things about hell and fear. 90 00:04:29,669 --> 00:04:30,937 There was pentagrams, 91 00:04:30,970 --> 00:04:33,707 all indicating some kind of occult activity 92 00:04:33,740 --> 00:04:35,308 that was taking place in the tunnel. 93 00:04:38,078 --> 00:04:40,146 - The pentagrams are long gone now, 94 00:04:40,180 --> 00:04:42,549 covered by newer layers of graffiti, 95 00:04:42,582 --> 00:04:47,087 hiding secrets, perhaps, horrors of the past. 96 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,388 But even today, 97 00:04:48,421 --> 00:04:50,990 the tunnel remains a dark and spooky place. 98 00:04:51,091 --> 00:04:53,860 Some of the locals call it the Manson Tunnel 99 00:04:53,893 --> 00:04:55,261 because of that, 100 00:04:55,295 --> 00:04:58,631 and because Charles Manson once lived nearby. 101 00:04:58,665 --> 00:04:59,899 Whatever. 102 00:04:59,933 --> 00:05:02,435 It was catnip for media. 103 00:05:02,469 --> 00:05:04,137 - The body was found in a railroad tunnel 104 00:05:04,170 --> 00:05:05,405 above Chatsworth Park. 105 00:05:05,438 --> 00:05:07,407 - They have no leads, no suspects. 106 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,576 - If you do have any information about this case, 107 00:05:09,609 --> 00:05:11,845 call LAPD Major Crimes. 108 00:05:15,215 --> 00:05:16,816 - One of the many assigned to the story 109 00:05:16,850 --> 00:05:18,952 was a young reporter for the "L.A. Times" 110 00:05:19,052 --> 00:05:21,154 named Michael Connelly. 111 00:05:21,187 --> 00:05:24,090 Yes, that Michael Connelly, 112 00:05:24,124 --> 00:05:25,925 the bestselling crime novelist, 113 00:05:25,959 --> 00:05:28,328 who, back then, was just beginning 114 00:05:28,361 --> 00:05:30,130 to make a name for himself. 115 00:05:30,163 --> 00:05:34,234 - It just, from the beginning, had so much mystery involved. 116 00:05:34,267 --> 00:05:37,237 You know, what was this young man doing in that tunnel? 117 00:05:37,270 --> 00:05:39,773 - And I suppose it would just add to the allure 118 00:05:39,806 --> 00:05:42,876 of the idea calling it the Manson Tunnel. 119 00:05:42,909 --> 00:05:46,579 - Yeah. It was a pretty horrible place to die. 120 00:05:46,613 --> 00:05:48,415 That was for sure. 121 00:05:48,448 --> 00:05:51,918 - And no one knew just then that they'd entered a story 122 00:05:51,951 --> 00:05:55,288 already into chapter two. 123 00:05:55,321 --> 00:06:00,593 The San Fernando Valley is a vast and crowded sprawl, 124 00:06:00,627 --> 00:06:02,796 more than one mystery here. 125 00:06:02,829 --> 00:06:06,099 It was midnight in the Valley, 126 00:06:06,132 --> 00:06:08,668 a couple of hours before John Doe 135 127 00:06:08,702 --> 00:06:11,237 was found in the Manson Tunnel. 128 00:06:11,271 --> 00:06:15,642 Gayle and Kay Baker's home-- the phone rang. 129 00:06:15,675 --> 00:06:18,044 - There was a strange voice, and it said, 130 00:06:18,044 --> 00:06:20,280 "We have your son. 131 00:06:20,313 --> 00:06:26,853 Uh, "Unless you give us $100,000 by 5:00 tomorrow, 132 00:06:26,886 --> 00:06:29,389 "he will die." 133 00:06:29,422 --> 00:06:33,126 - Their son, Ron, was a student at UCLA. 134 00:06:33,159 --> 00:06:35,462 - So I called his apartment, 135 00:06:35,495 --> 00:06:40,467 and I was told that he had been dropped off at a bus stop, 136 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:42,736 and he was going to a meeting at UCLA, 137 00:06:42,769 --> 00:06:45,171 and he hadn't returned. 138 00:06:45,205 --> 00:06:46,439 His roommate telling me that. 139 00:06:48,775 --> 00:06:52,812 - The next morning, Ron still hadn't returned home. 140 00:06:52,846 --> 00:06:55,982 And then the phone rang again. 141 00:06:56,082 --> 00:06:58,251 Same strange voice. 142 00:06:58,284 --> 00:07:01,521 - He said, "Unless you give us $100,000 by 5:00, 143 00:07:01,554 --> 00:07:03,523 "he will die". 144 00:07:03,556 --> 00:07:06,426 And at that time, I really did become worried, 145 00:07:06,459 --> 00:07:08,361 and I called the police. 146 00:07:11,031 --> 00:07:12,766 - Ron's older sister, Patty, 147 00:07:12,799 --> 00:07:14,634 rushed over to her parents' house. 148 00:07:14,668 --> 00:07:17,103 - The police put a wire on the phone. 149 00:07:17,137 --> 00:07:18,538 Nobody called back. 150 00:07:18,571 --> 00:07:21,875 The longer it went, the more worried that we got. 151 00:07:25,278 --> 00:07:28,548 - Police got a picture of Ron from the family. 152 00:07:28,581 --> 00:07:31,951 They checked it with the coroner's office 153 00:07:32,052 --> 00:07:34,788 to see if it matched any outstanding cases 154 00:07:34,821 --> 00:07:36,322 they were handling. 155 00:07:36,356 --> 00:07:38,258 It did. 156 00:07:38,291 --> 00:07:40,827 They called the Bakers. 157 00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:42,862 - Asking about some-- 158 00:07:42,896 --> 00:07:47,834 if Ron would have worn some earrings and a pendant, 159 00:07:47,867 --> 00:07:51,338 and he had done that. 160 00:07:51,371 --> 00:07:53,640 So then they came to see us 161 00:07:53,673 --> 00:07:57,477 and told us that his body had been found. 162 00:07:57,510 --> 00:08:00,447 - Is there any way to understand what that was like? 163 00:08:03,516 --> 00:08:06,786 - It's devastating. 164 00:08:06,820 --> 00:08:10,256 - Then, the Bakers had to do the most difficult thing 165 00:08:10,290 --> 00:08:12,258 they had ever done. 166 00:08:12,292 --> 00:08:14,728 - We were asked to go to the coroner's office 167 00:08:14,761 --> 00:08:16,663 to identify him. 168 00:08:16,696 --> 00:08:19,132 - Ron Baker was just 21, 169 00:08:19,165 --> 00:08:21,067 their only son. 170 00:08:24,471 --> 00:08:27,340 Ron was not your average victim, 171 00:08:27,374 --> 00:08:30,477 and this, not your average murderer. 172 00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:32,412 - When this thing first happened, 173 00:08:32,445 --> 00:08:35,682 we were just a few years past Richard Ramirez, 174 00:08:35,715 --> 00:08:39,052 the Night Stalker, who was involved in pentagrams 175 00:08:39,052 --> 00:08:40,186 and things like that, 176 00:08:40,220 --> 00:08:43,056 and he had struck a couple of times in the Valley, 177 00:08:43,056 --> 00:08:46,059 and just how that gripped the town in fear, 178 00:08:46,092 --> 00:08:49,129 there's a little bit of-of here we go again. 179 00:08:49,162 --> 00:08:52,265 - Yes, and there was something else about it, too: 180 00:08:52,298 --> 00:08:54,267 The date. - It was a-- 181 00:08:54,300 --> 00:08:56,169 the evening of the summer solstice. 182 00:08:56,202 --> 00:08:59,706 There were rumors going around at times 183 00:08:59,739 --> 00:09:01,307 that this could have been a sacrifice 184 00:09:01,341 --> 00:09:03,777 due to the multiple stab wounds 185 00:09:03,810 --> 00:09:06,846 and the fact that Baker's throat was slit. 186 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,248 - Did you think it was an occult thing? 187 00:09:08,281 --> 00:09:09,382 - We didn't know. 188 00:09:09,416 --> 00:09:12,419 We certainly didn't rule that out. 189 00:09:12,452 --> 00:09:14,654 - Especially when they discovered 190 00:09:14,688 --> 00:09:17,057 what Ron Baker belonged to. 191 00:09:17,090 --> 00:09:21,695 It had a name, The Mystic Circle. 192 00:09:25,131 --> 00:09:27,801 - Cryptic clues in Ron's apartment. 193 00:09:27,834 --> 00:09:31,371 - An altar, candles, the pentagram. 194 00:09:31,404 --> 00:09:34,174 - Could this killing be linked to the dark arts 195 00:09:34,207 --> 00:09:35,375 of the occult? 196 00:09:35,408 --> 00:09:37,277 - There's evidence of occult activities 197 00:09:37,310 --> 00:09:39,579 having taken place up there before. 198 00:09:39,612 --> 00:09:40,680 - Was there a lot of concern 199 00:09:40,714 --> 00:09:42,248 that maybe there were other people 200 00:09:42,282 --> 00:09:44,384 who were in danger? - Definitely. 201 00:09:56,429 --> 00:09:58,098 - The question is, 202 00:09:58,131 --> 00:09:59,566 did the occult lead to his death? 203 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:03,503 - It was the word that got all the attention, 204 00:10:03,536 --> 00:10:07,140 the word that brought TV crews to the notorious train tunnel 205 00:10:07,173 --> 00:10:09,109 under the Chatsworth Hills, 206 00:10:09,142 --> 00:10:13,446 the word that conjured up all manner of dark arts: 207 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:15,281 Occult. 208 00:10:15,315 --> 00:10:17,817 - "Holy terror" reads the graffiti over the train tunnel 209 00:10:17,851 --> 00:10:19,719 where Ron Baker's body was found. 210 00:10:19,753 --> 00:10:21,054 Police are hoping... 211 00:10:21,087 --> 00:10:24,624 - Was 21-year-old Ron Baker the victim of a ritual killing, 212 00:10:24,657 --> 00:10:26,826 an occult murder? 213 00:10:26,860 --> 00:10:29,863 - Did you or your parents have any idea 214 00:10:29,896 --> 00:10:31,231 who could have done this? 215 00:10:31,264 --> 00:10:35,669 - No, not at all. Or why? 216 00:10:35,702 --> 00:10:39,039 - And why Ron Baker, of all people? 217 00:10:39,072 --> 00:10:43,143 He was a compassionate, kind, churchgoing Methodist, 218 00:10:43,176 --> 00:10:45,745 not an enemy in the world. 219 00:10:45,779 --> 00:10:47,614 - Okay, there's cousin Ronnie. 220 00:10:47,647 --> 00:10:49,683 There, zoom. 221 00:10:49,716 --> 00:10:52,652 - My brother, he was a really positive person, 222 00:10:52,686 --> 00:10:54,421 a real gentle soul. 223 00:10:54,454 --> 00:10:56,222 He was very smart. 224 00:10:56,256 --> 00:10:59,292 He was majoring in astrophysics at UCLA. 225 00:10:59,325 --> 00:11:02,862 - Intellectually curious? - Yes, definitely. 226 00:11:02,896 --> 00:11:06,533 - Which probably explained why, Methodist or not, 227 00:11:06,566 --> 00:11:11,504 Ron joined a club at UCLA called The Mystic Circle, 228 00:11:11,538 --> 00:11:14,908 where he met fellow student Christine Reyna. 229 00:11:14,941 --> 00:11:19,112 - We would meet and hear lectures and talks from people 230 00:11:19,145 --> 00:11:21,848 that practiced a variety of different traditions 231 00:11:21,881 --> 00:11:24,150 or alternative religion. 232 00:11:24,184 --> 00:11:28,321 We've had people come in who studied Wicca. 233 00:11:28,355 --> 00:11:32,692 - Wicca, the pagan nature religion. 234 00:11:32,726 --> 00:11:35,095 Ron was fascinated. 235 00:11:35,095 --> 00:11:39,666 - I think, as a physicist, there was something appealing 236 00:11:39,699 --> 00:11:43,570 about Wicca being a nature religion. 237 00:11:43,603 --> 00:11:45,438 Because what do physicists study? 238 00:11:45,472 --> 00:11:47,774 They study energy, and they study forces, 239 00:11:47,807 --> 00:11:49,676 and those were things 240 00:11:49,709 --> 00:11:53,747 that were part of everyday language in Wicca. 241 00:11:56,716 --> 00:11:59,753 - But had he encountered something much darker? 242 00:11:59,786 --> 00:12:02,756 Ron shared an apartment with two roommates, 243 00:12:02,789 --> 00:12:05,859 Nathan Blalock and Duncan Martinez. 244 00:12:05,892 --> 00:12:08,695 The detectives drove over to talk to them. 245 00:12:08,728 --> 00:12:11,131 Nathan was out of town, 246 00:12:11,164 --> 00:12:14,367 so they talked to Duncan about the murder. 247 00:12:14,401 --> 00:12:18,405 - He was upset. - How close was he to Ron? 248 00:12:18,438 --> 00:12:19,906 - They were pretty close. 249 00:12:19,939 --> 00:12:22,075 They were very different characters. 250 00:12:22,108 --> 00:12:25,111 Ron was inward and naive a little bit. 251 00:12:25,145 --> 00:12:27,380 Duncan was more worldly. 252 00:12:27,414 --> 00:12:32,419 He had the energy, uh, charm. 253 00:12:32,452 --> 00:12:34,921 - Yin and yang. 254 00:12:34,954 --> 00:12:37,390 Duncan, a former Marine reservist, 255 00:12:37,424 --> 00:12:40,927 was bright and funny to Ron's quiet and shy. 256 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:42,829 Duncan got a job after high school, 257 00:12:42,862 --> 00:12:44,698 while Ron went to college, 258 00:12:44,731 --> 00:12:46,332 but both grew up in L.A. 259 00:12:46,366 --> 00:12:49,102 and had been best friends for years. 260 00:12:49,102 --> 00:12:51,571 Duncan's stepfather was a professor at UCLA, 261 00:12:51,604 --> 00:12:53,139 where Ron went to school. 262 00:12:53,173 --> 00:12:55,275 Nathan was from Detroit, 263 00:12:55,308 --> 00:12:57,510 ended up in L.A. after serving in the Army. 264 00:12:57,544 --> 00:12:59,612 He'd been a great athlete growing up, 265 00:12:59,646 --> 00:13:01,314 a football star, 266 00:13:01,348 --> 00:13:04,217 runner-up boxing champ as a teenager. 267 00:13:04,250 --> 00:13:08,922 He was the most recent member of the trio. 268 00:13:08,955 --> 00:13:12,592 Duncan told detectives that on the night of the murder, 269 00:13:12,625 --> 00:13:14,060 the summer solstice, 270 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:16,896 Ron had planned to take the bus to UCLA 271 00:13:16,930 --> 00:13:19,299 to visit his Mystic Circle friends. 272 00:13:19,332 --> 00:13:21,868 He asked for a ride to the bus stop. 273 00:13:21,901 --> 00:13:26,873 - So they dropped him off, and Ron went where he went. 274 00:13:26,906 --> 00:13:29,909 - And that, said Duncan, was the last time 275 00:13:29,943 --> 00:13:33,346 he and Nathan ever laid eyes on their roommate. 276 00:13:33,380 --> 00:13:36,616 So the cops had a look at Ron's room, 277 00:13:36,649 --> 00:13:40,186 and there it was. 278 00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:44,758 - An altar, candles, the pentagram, 279 00:13:44,791 --> 00:13:46,993 all the Wicca stuff there. 280 00:13:47,093 --> 00:13:50,597 Large knives that supposedly were used in their ritual. 281 00:13:50,630 --> 00:13:52,132 - We're certainly not ruling out 282 00:13:52,165 --> 00:13:56,102 the possibility that Baker's death was cult related. 283 00:13:56,102 --> 00:13:58,371 - Cult related? 284 00:13:58,405 --> 00:14:00,306 Satanic ritual? 285 00:14:00,340 --> 00:14:02,609 Human sacrifice? 286 00:14:02,642 --> 00:14:05,745 This whole business about Wicca-- 287 00:14:05,779 --> 00:14:08,081 how seriously did you have to take it? 288 00:14:08,114 --> 00:14:09,649 - We had to take it seriously, 289 00:14:09,683 --> 00:14:12,952 because it was the summer solstice, 290 00:14:13,053 --> 00:14:15,088 a holiday for Wicca. 291 00:14:15,121 --> 00:14:16,690 It happened in the tunnel. 292 00:14:16,723 --> 00:14:19,592 There's evidence of occult activities having taken place 293 00:14:19,626 --> 00:14:20,694 up there before. 294 00:14:24,230 --> 00:14:28,301 - Understand, a myth that some secret groups 295 00:14:28,335 --> 00:14:30,670 may have been practicing dark arts, 296 00:14:30,704 --> 00:14:33,540 even harming children and others, 297 00:14:33,573 --> 00:14:36,242 had a brief, unfortunate resurgence around that time, 298 00:14:36,276 --> 00:14:39,646 so the idea that occultists 299 00:14:39,679 --> 00:14:42,382 may actually have sacrificed a man 300 00:14:42,415 --> 00:14:47,721 in a tunnel that was decorated with the signs of devil worship, 301 00:14:47,754 --> 00:14:51,758 the media fixation was hardly a surprise. 302 00:14:55,595 --> 00:14:57,197 - I wrote some of these stories. 303 00:14:57,230 --> 00:14:59,265 I think we wrote them with reserve, 304 00:14:59,299 --> 00:15:02,569 saying this is what the police have on their plate. 305 00:15:02,602 --> 00:15:04,070 It's one of the things they're looking at, 306 00:15:04,104 --> 00:15:06,706 but they're probably looking at many other things as well, 307 00:15:06,740 --> 00:15:09,743 but I know enough now as a novelist 308 00:15:09,776 --> 00:15:12,579 to know that certain words 309 00:15:12,612 --> 00:15:15,382 can really fire the imagination of the reader, 310 00:15:15,415 --> 00:15:22,055 and so I think these stories did that in a big way. 311 00:15:22,055 --> 00:15:24,090 - This whole occult story came out, 312 00:15:24,124 --> 00:15:27,894 and that was the dominant narrative for a long time. 313 00:15:27,927 --> 00:15:30,964 - Were those in UCLA in this group that-that knew him, 314 00:15:31,064 --> 00:15:32,766 was there a lot of worry, 315 00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:35,869 concern that maybe there were other people who were in danger? 316 00:15:35,902 --> 00:15:39,739 - Definitely, and made us concerned 317 00:15:39,773 --> 00:15:44,177 that it was a hate crime. 318 00:15:44,210 --> 00:15:45,779 - Despite their fears, 319 00:15:45,812 --> 00:15:47,647 some of Ron's Mystic Circle friends 320 00:15:47,681 --> 00:15:51,885 joined his family for a deeply emotional memorial service. 321 00:15:51,918 --> 00:15:55,822 Ron's close friend and roommate, Duncan Martinez, 322 00:15:55,855 --> 00:15:57,123 delivered the eulogy. 323 00:16:18,645 --> 00:16:21,748 - As for suspects, there were none... 324 00:16:21,781 --> 00:16:25,251 except, perhaps, the alcohol. 325 00:16:25,285 --> 00:16:26,753 It'd showed up at the autopsy: 326 00:16:26,786 --> 00:16:29,055 Booze, a lot of it. 327 00:16:29,055 --> 00:16:31,291 - His alcohol was 0.21. 328 00:16:31,324 --> 00:16:33,593 That's another thing that didn't fit. 329 00:16:33,626 --> 00:16:35,495 Baker did not drink. 330 00:16:35,528 --> 00:16:37,897 - But he fought his killer. 331 00:16:37,931 --> 00:16:38,965 That much was apparent 332 00:16:39,065 --> 00:16:41,701 from the traces of blood under Ron's fingernails. 333 00:16:41,735 --> 00:16:44,337 So, DNA? 334 00:16:44,371 --> 00:16:48,074 Well, no, not back then. 335 00:16:48,074 --> 00:16:50,543 - All we could do was type and match the blood. 336 00:16:50,577 --> 00:16:51,945 It was AB-positive. 337 00:16:51,978 --> 00:16:54,814 Four percent of the population have AB-positive. 338 00:16:54,848 --> 00:16:57,751 - Four percent. 339 00:16:57,784 --> 00:17:01,755 So that could narrow down the list of suspects, 340 00:17:01,788 --> 00:17:04,624 if they could ever find one. 341 00:17:09,596 --> 00:17:12,132 - A mysterious phone call in the middle of the night. 342 00:17:18,304 --> 00:17:21,041 Had another young man disappeared? 343 00:17:31,850 --> 00:17:34,053 [sirens] 344 00:17:34,820 --> 00:17:37,956 - It was, in those days, like a curse 345 00:17:38,057 --> 00:17:39,692 had come to Los Angeles. 346 00:17:42,461 --> 00:17:44,363 A curse of murder, 347 00:17:44,396 --> 00:17:46,932 so many murders. 348 00:17:46,965 --> 00:17:49,068 Bestselling author Michael Connelly 349 00:17:49,068 --> 00:17:50,235 was a journalist then 350 00:17:50,269 --> 00:17:53,138 on the crime beat for the "L.A. Times." 351 00:17:53,172 --> 00:17:54,440 - I came here in '87, 352 00:17:54,473 --> 00:17:57,276 which was the dawn of the highest murder rates 353 00:17:57,309 --> 00:17:59,445 ever in the city, 354 00:17:59,478 --> 00:18:01,613 and a lot of it was fueled by the crack epidemic 355 00:18:01,647 --> 00:18:05,284 and gang warfare and all that. 356 00:18:05,317 --> 00:18:08,320 - But the murder of Ron Baker was different, 357 00:18:08,354 --> 00:18:11,156 a middle class college student, 358 00:18:11,190 --> 00:18:14,626 and the questions that made the news-- 359 00:18:14,660 --> 00:18:16,795 Was this a ritual killing? 360 00:18:16,829 --> 00:18:19,865 An occult crime? Was it Wicca related? 361 00:18:19,898 --> 00:18:24,536 Detectives Rick Jackson and Frank Garcia had to know. 362 00:18:24,570 --> 00:18:26,805 - We sure got an education real quick on Wicca. 363 00:18:26,839 --> 00:18:30,542 We interviewed one Wicca lady 364 00:18:30,576 --> 00:18:34,146 who was very knowledgeable about the practice of Wicca. 365 00:18:36,648 --> 00:18:38,851 - That woman was Christine Reyna, 366 00:18:38,884 --> 00:18:40,953 Ron's friend from the Mystic Circle Club, 367 00:18:41,053 --> 00:18:44,089 and an expert on everything Wicca. 368 00:18:44,123 --> 00:18:45,924 - It is helpful to be able to talk to somebody 369 00:18:45,958 --> 00:18:49,628 who not only knows what's entailed in the occult, 370 00:18:49,661 --> 00:18:51,830 in terms of at least Wicca, 371 00:18:51,864 --> 00:18:54,199 but, more importantly, to actually know 372 00:18:54,233 --> 00:18:59,071 what Ron himself believed and practiced. 373 00:18:59,071 --> 00:19:02,408 - Reyna gave the detectives a crash course on Wicca, 374 00:19:02,441 --> 00:19:06,011 its history, its peaceful rituals, 375 00:19:06,011 --> 00:19:08,013 its spiritual traditions, 376 00:19:08,047 --> 00:19:10,149 and Ron, she told the... 377 00:19:10,182 --> 00:19:12,384 - He had absolutely no involvement 378 00:19:12,418 --> 00:19:17,322 in anything that would ever involve human sacrifice. 379 00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:19,191 I mean, he would never have meddled 380 00:19:19,224 --> 00:19:23,095 or even ventured into anything like that, and so-- 381 00:19:23,128 --> 00:19:24,229 - So he worried about that himself 382 00:19:24,263 --> 00:19:25,431 before all this happened? 383 00:19:25,464 --> 00:19:27,533 - Yeah, absolutely. Like, that repulsed him, 384 00:19:27,566 --> 00:19:30,836 and he certainly didn't think that anyone who dabbled 385 00:19:30,869 --> 00:19:32,371 or followed those types of paths 386 00:19:32,404 --> 00:19:34,340 were people he would ever want to associate with, 387 00:19:34,373 --> 00:19:37,042 and I think that that was important 388 00:19:37,042 --> 00:19:38,844 for the detectives to know 389 00:19:38,877 --> 00:19:42,381 that this was not something Ron would have been attracted to. 390 00:19:45,084 --> 00:19:46,852 - The more detectives learned about Wicca, 391 00:19:46,885 --> 00:19:51,156 the less likely it seemed to them related to Ron's death. 392 00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:55,060 - I think through that process of-of just discovery 393 00:19:55,060 --> 00:19:56,128 and learning more things, 394 00:19:56,161 --> 00:19:59,598 they probably quickly got off the occult trail. 395 00:19:59,631 --> 00:20:01,400 It was very clear. 396 00:20:01,433 --> 00:20:03,769 - Not ritual at all. - There was no ritual. 397 00:20:06,972 --> 00:20:09,241 - The Wicca just faded away, 398 00:20:09,274 --> 00:20:13,278 and it became even more of non-interest to us. 399 00:20:13,312 --> 00:20:17,483 - So where the media was focused on Wicca, 400 00:20:17,516 --> 00:20:21,153 the detectives returned to more normal sorts of police work. 401 00:20:21,186 --> 00:20:23,088 They kept talking to people who were with Ron 402 00:20:23,122 --> 00:20:24,456 the day he died. 403 00:20:24,490 --> 00:20:27,960 Roommate Nathan was back in town and ready to talk, 404 00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:30,662 not that he seemed to know very much, 405 00:20:30,696 --> 00:20:33,565 and neither did Duncan, for that matter, 406 00:20:33,599 --> 00:20:35,868 though he was eager to help. 407 00:20:35,901 --> 00:20:38,370 The two told the same story. 408 00:20:38,404 --> 00:20:41,106 They dropped Ron off at the bus stop 409 00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:42,675 the night of the summer solstice, 410 00:20:42,708 --> 00:20:45,344 and they never saw him again. 411 00:20:45,377 --> 00:20:48,947 Then, after they heard Ron had been kidnapped, 412 00:20:48,981 --> 00:20:51,116 they went looking for him, 413 00:20:51,150 --> 00:20:53,519 but when Duncan told the detectives 414 00:20:53,552 --> 00:20:59,358 where they searched, well, it seemed odd. 415 00:20:59,391 --> 00:21:02,361 - He told us that he and Nathan 416 00:21:02,394 --> 00:21:04,463 went to Chatsworth Park, 417 00:21:04,496 --> 00:21:06,932 near the tunnel, to look for Baker. 418 00:21:06,965 --> 00:21:09,535 Why would anybody go look for their friend 419 00:21:09,568 --> 00:21:12,304 at Chatsworth Park near the tunnel 420 00:21:12,338 --> 00:21:14,073 if he was kidnapped? 421 00:21:14,073 --> 00:21:18,744 - Anyway, Duncan kept talking, offering information, 422 00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:23,515 which might be true, or not. 423 00:21:23,549 --> 00:21:26,118 - We asked Duncan to take a polygraph test. 424 00:21:26,151 --> 00:21:27,820 - How'd he do? - He failed it 425 00:21:27,853 --> 00:21:31,557 in all pertinent questions involving the murder. 426 00:21:31,590 --> 00:21:33,359 - Uh-oh. 427 00:21:33,392 --> 00:21:35,828 Soon after that, Duncan lawyered up 428 00:21:35,861 --> 00:21:37,730 and stopped talking. 429 00:21:37,763 --> 00:21:40,632 - I thought we were going in the right direction, 430 00:21:40,666 --> 00:21:43,335 because we had the right people. 431 00:21:43,369 --> 00:21:46,238 Now, the motive for the killing, 432 00:21:46,271 --> 00:21:48,874 um, still kind of tough. 433 00:21:50,909 --> 00:21:53,112 - Yes, the motive. 434 00:21:53,112 --> 00:21:56,348 Why in the world would Ron' friends and roommates 435 00:21:56,382 --> 00:21:58,884 be mixed up somehow in his murder? 436 00:21:58,917 --> 00:22:01,086 It just didn't make any sense, 437 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,956 especially to the Baker family. 438 00:22:04,056 --> 00:22:05,591 - We were kind of shocked. 439 00:22:05,624 --> 00:22:06,492 Like, what do you mean 440 00:22:06,525 --> 00:22:08,560 you're looking at Duncan and Nathan? 441 00:22:08,594 --> 00:22:11,797 - Did you think that they were barking up the wrong tree? 442 00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:14,466 - Yes, it seemed really far-fetched. 443 00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:16,135 Like, why would he do that? 444 00:22:16,168 --> 00:22:18,270 I mean, we didn't know Nathan that well, 445 00:22:18,303 --> 00:22:22,908 but why would Duncan do something to his good friend? 446 00:22:22,941 --> 00:22:25,878 - In fact, Duncan had been to the Baker home 447 00:22:25,911 --> 00:22:27,946 lots of times to hang out, 448 00:22:27,980 --> 00:22:31,517 and was always the entertaining houseguest. 449 00:22:31,550 --> 00:22:35,220 - He was always really personable, 450 00:22:35,254 --> 00:22:38,323 uh, very funny, easygoing, 451 00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:39,858 easy to talk to. 452 00:22:39,892 --> 00:22:41,860 - Was he a teller of tall tales? 453 00:22:41,894 --> 00:22:43,996 Fantasize a little bit as he told you stories? 454 00:22:44,096 --> 00:22:46,498 - Yes, he was, and a lot of times, 455 00:22:46,532 --> 00:22:49,501 the whole group would be kind of like, "Oh, yeah, whatever." 456 00:22:49,535 --> 00:22:53,205 You know? He just liked to be the center of attention. 457 00:22:56,208 --> 00:22:57,543 - A few weeks after the murder, 458 00:22:57,576 --> 00:23:00,179 Duncan and Nathan moved out of the apartment, 459 00:23:00,212 --> 00:23:03,215 and Duncan asked the Bakers for a favor. 460 00:23:03,248 --> 00:23:05,417 They said sure. 461 00:23:05,451 --> 00:23:08,654 - Duncan actually moved a bunch of stuff 462 00:23:08,687 --> 00:23:11,123 into my parents' house, into the garage, 463 00:23:11,156 --> 00:23:14,226 so my parents would talk to him every once in a while, 464 00:23:14,259 --> 00:23:16,195 and I know he told my dad 465 00:23:16,228 --> 00:23:18,330 that he was feeling pressured by the police, 466 00:23:18,364 --> 00:23:20,599 and he felt like people were following him. 467 00:23:23,068 --> 00:23:25,371 - Police may not have been following him, 468 00:23:25,404 --> 00:23:28,374 but they would soon hear him. 469 00:23:28,407 --> 00:23:30,476 A few weeks after the summer solstice, 470 00:23:30,509 --> 00:23:32,378 middle of the night. 471 00:23:38,584 --> 00:23:41,387 - It sounded like Duncan Martinez. 472 00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:43,422 Had he been abducted? 473 00:23:43,455 --> 00:23:46,592 Could it possibly be another kidnapping? 474 00:23:49,962 --> 00:23:51,597 - We respond that night, 475 00:23:51,630 --> 00:23:53,599 made a missing persons report. 476 00:23:53,632 --> 00:23:56,402 - What had happened to Duncan Martinez? 477 00:23:59,104 --> 00:24:03,475 - We are just waiting to see if he's gonna be found. 478 00:24:14,721 --> 00:24:17,290 - Welcome back to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 479 00:24:17,657 --> 00:24:18,858 I'm Kate Snow. 480 00:24:18,892 --> 00:24:21,795 Detectives investigating the murder of Ron Baker 481 00:24:21,828 --> 00:24:25,065 no longer suspected the occult was involved. 482 00:24:25,065 --> 00:24:28,501 Instead, they set their sights on Ron's roommates, 483 00:24:28,535 --> 00:24:31,071 Nathan Blalock and Duncan Martinez. 484 00:24:31,071 --> 00:24:34,708 To investigators, their story of the night Ron went missing 485 00:24:34,741 --> 00:24:36,509 just didn't add up. 486 00:24:36,543 --> 00:24:39,079 Then Duncan failed a polygraph. 487 00:24:39,079 --> 00:24:40,580 As police zeroed in, 488 00:24:40,613 --> 00:24:43,350 there was about to be another kidnapping. 489 00:24:43,383 --> 00:24:44,884 Back to Keith Morrison 490 00:24:44,918 --> 00:24:47,220 with "Night of the Summer Solstice". 491 00:24:50,657 --> 00:24:53,460 - A cryptic phone call late at night. 492 00:24:53,493 --> 00:24:55,995 A panic-stricken message from-- 493 00:24:56,096 --> 00:24:58,098 well, the caller didn't say, 494 00:24:58,098 --> 00:25:01,468 but the voice on the line sounded familiar. 495 00:25:07,741 --> 00:25:10,043 - My partner and I received a phone call from our boss, 496 00:25:10,043 --> 00:25:12,746 say, "Hey, Duncan Martinez just made a phone call 497 00:25:12,779 --> 00:25:13,880 "to a friend of his. 498 00:25:13,913 --> 00:25:16,950 "He said he's being held as a hostage." 499 00:25:17,050 --> 00:25:19,252 And then all of a sudden, there's a-- 500 00:25:19,285 --> 00:25:21,154 [ grunting ] 501 00:25:21,187 --> 00:25:23,089 You know, like he's being beaten 502 00:25:23,123 --> 00:25:24,324 or kicked or whatever. 503 00:25:32,332 --> 00:25:35,635 - It was one month after Ron Baker's apparent kidnapping 504 00:25:35,669 --> 00:25:37,537 and horrific murder. 505 00:25:37,570 --> 00:25:38,938 So now what? 506 00:25:38,972 --> 00:25:41,541 Had Ron's friend and roommate, Duncan Martinez, 507 00:25:41,574 --> 00:25:43,109 been abducted too? 508 00:25:43,143 --> 00:25:46,680 - So we respond that night, made a missing persons report, 509 00:25:46,713 --> 00:25:48,948 and we just made the assumption 510 00:25:48,982 --> 00:25:50,550 that it was a legitimate kidnapping. 511 00:25:50,583 --> 00:25:54,587 - And there was no trace of Duncan anywhere. 512 00:25:54,621 --> 00:25:57,090 His disappearance made the news. 513 00:25:57,123 --> 00:25:58,558 - We would like to eliminate him 514 00:25:58,591 --> 00:26:00,560 if he does not have any involvement in this case, 515 00:26:00,593 --> 00:26:02,028 and as long as he remains gone, 516 00:26:02,028 --> 00:26:03,863 we cannot eliminate him. 517 00:26:03,897 --> 00:26:06,666 - And then, several days later, 518 00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:08,234 a clue. 519 00:26:08,268 --> 00:26:10,770 Investigators tracked down the phone number 520 00:26:10,804 --> 00:26:13,039 Duncan used to make that panicky phone call 521 00:26:13,073 --> 00:26:15,208 reporting his own kidnapping. 522 00:26:15,241 --> 00:26:18,578 Detective Jackson gave it a ring. 523 00:26:18,611 --> 00:26:21,581 - Somebody picked up and I said, "Hey, this is who I am, 524 00:26:21,614 --> 00:26:25,318 "and I'm working on a case. Where are you?" 525 00:26:25,352 --> 00:26:26,586 And he goes, "Well, actually, 526 00:26:26,619 --> 00:26:29,322 "I'm at the airport in Las Vegas". 527 00:26:29,356 --> 00:26:33,059 - It was a random stranger, not Duncan, 528 00:26:33,059 --> 00:26:35,895 who answered a payphone, 529 00:26:35,929 --> 00:26:38,498 and not in a warehouse in North Hollywood, 530 00:26:38,531 --> 00:26:41,468 but in a crowded airport. 531 00:26:41,501 --> 00:26:44,971 - The kidnapping phone call that he left was a total farce. 532 00:26:45,071 --> 00:26:46,373 Nobody would have believed that. 533 00:26:46,406 --> 00:26:48,208 I think the motive for him making that phone call 534 00:26:48,241 --> 00:26:50,310 was if he's kidnapped, 535 00:26:50,343 --> 00:26:54,347 then we'll stop looking for him. 536 00:26:54,381 --> 00:26:56,883 - But the Baker family could not believe 537 00:26:56,916 --> 00:27:00,020 Duncan Martinez would harm Ron, 538 00:27:00,053 --> 00:27:02,355 much less kill him. 539 00:27:02,389 --> 00:27:05,692 Duncan, who'd delivered such an emotional eulogy 540 00:27:05,725 --> 00:27:07,660 at Ron's memorial service? 541 00:27:07,694 --> 00:27:09,295 No. 542 00:27:09,329 --> 00:27:13,099 And then, that weird phone call. 543 00:27:13,133 --> 00:27:17,170 - So obviously, he's trying to escape. 544 00:27:17,203 --> 00:27:21,041 Then we started believing that he was probably involved. 545 00:27:21,074 --> 00:27:23,109 - It was a few weeks later 546 00:27:23,143 --> 00:27:25,111 when Ron's father looked through the stuff 547 00:27:25,145 --> 00:27:27,580 he'd so graciously allowed Duncan to store 548 00:27:27,614 --> 00:27:29,683 in the Baker garage. 549 00:27:29,716 --> 00:27:33,553 He opened one of the boxes, and... 550 00:27:33,586 --> 00:27:37,157 - I discovered this note of things to do: 551 00:27:37,190 --> 00:27:39,159 Get a new identity 552 00:27:39,192 --> 00:27:42,095 and to sell his car. 553 00:27:42,128 --> 00:27:43,930 But it sounded like he was getting ready 554 00:27:43,963 --> 00:27:46,633 to leave the country or something. 555 00:27:46,666 --> 00:27:48,802 - Didn't look so innocent, 556 00:27:48,835 --> 00:27:51,905 Though it didn't exactly implicate him either. 557 00:27:53,773 --> 00:27:55,809 Weeks passed. 558 00:27:55,842 --> 00:27:57,811 No more crazy phone calls 559 00:27:57,844 --> 00:28:02,015 and no trace of the elusive Duncan Martinez. 560 00:28:02,048 --> 00:28:04,584 - He was gone, missing. 561 00:28:04,617 --> 00:28:07,020 We had no idea where he was. 562 00:28:07,053 --> 00:28:09,689 - So Duncan was in the wind, 563 00:28:09,723 --> 00:28:12,125 and Nathan was sticking to his story 564 00:28:12,158 --> 00:28:15,829 that they simply dropped Ron at a UCLA-bound bus stop 565 00:28:15,862 --> 00:28:18,031 and never saw him again, 566 00:28:18,031 --> 00:28:21,034 and a once-hot murder investigation 567 00:28:21,034 --> 00:28:23,536 started turning ice cold. 568 00:28:23,570 --> 00:28:25,438 - It got pretty discouraging. 569 00:28:25,472 --> 00:28:29,809 You're just waiting to see if anything comes out, 570 00:28:29,843 --> 00:28:31,544 and if he's gonna be found, 571 00:28:31,578 --> 00:28:35,949 but apparently he did a good job of disappearing. 572 00:28:37,851 --> 00:28:41,254 - Autumn came, Christmas, the new year, 573 00:28:41,287 --> 00:28:44,524 and Ron's 22nd birthday. 574 00:28:44,557 --> 00:28:47,727 - We would go visit the grave 575 00:28:47,761 --> 00:28:50,730 and put flowers on all those occasions, 576 00:28:50,764 --> 00:28:54,634 and it's not really how you wanna spend your-your holidays 577 00:28:54,668 --> 00:28:57,704 and your birthdays. - Yeah. 578 00:28:57,737 --> 00:29:00,573 - Having to remember him that way. 579 00:29:02,909 --> 00:29:05,178 - Another summer solstice came, too, 580 00:29:05,211 --> 00:29:07,013 the anniversary of Ron's death, 581 00:29:07,013 --> 00:29:10,250 the longest day following the longest year 582 00:29:10,283 --> 00:29:12,218 for the Bakers. 583 00:29:12,252 --> 00:29:14,320 - We think about some things 584 00:29:14,354 --> 00:29:17,357 that would have been that aren't, 585 00:29:17,390 --> 00:29:20,927 what he would have made of his life, 586 00:29:21,027 --> 00:29:23,530 whether we would have had more grandchildren, 587 00:29:23,563 --> 00:29:24,898 things like that. 588 00:29:30,303 --> 00:29:32,539 - The detectives, meanwhile, were stymied. 589 00:29:32,572 --> 00:29:35,875 They were convinced that Duncan was somehow involved 590 00:29:35,909 --> 00:29:37,344 in Ron Baker's murder, 591 00:29:37,377 --> 00:29:40,480 but to crack the case, they had to find him, 592 00:29:40,513 --> 00:29:43,883 which was not so easy. 593 00:29:43,917 --> 00:29:47,320 - Where we get nervous as far as the case being stagnant for-- 594 00:29:47,354 --> 00:29:49,522 It was over a year, or a year and a half almost. 595 00:29:49,556 --> 00:29:51,391 You know, something's gotta happen. 596 00:29:51,424 --> 00:29:52,826 He's got to turn up someplace. 597 00:29:54,828 --> 00:29:57,564 - Some people who've done terrible things 598 00:29:57,597 --> 00:30:00,900 imagine they can disappear forever, 599 00:30:00,934 --> 00:30:02,936 fake a death, change a name, 600 00:30:02,969 --> 00:30:05,171 an address, an I.D., 601 00:30:05,205 --> 00:30:09,609 but living, breathing human beings have needs, 602 00:30:09,642 --> 00:30:13,747 and sometimes they make mistakes. 603 00:30:16,082 --> 00:30:18,451 - The case takes an unusual turn 604 00:30:18,485 --> 00:30:20,920 when officials on the other side of the country 605 00:30:20,954 --> 00:30:24,357 encounter a young man with a dubious identity. 606 00:30:26,593 --> 00:30:28,962 - The Social Security card was new, 607 00:30:28,995 --> 00:30:33,099 and that is suspicion right there. 608 00:30:33,133 --> 00:30:34,467 - What was he up to? 609 00:30:34,501 --> 00:30:37,437 - I'm saying to myself, that doesn't make sense. 610 00:30:52,786 --> 00:30:54,554 - Where was Duncan Martinez? 611 00:30:55,588 --> 00:31:00,060 For eighteen months, there wasn't a trace anywhere. 612 00:31:00,093 --> 00:31:02,362 - Were you afraid he was just gone for good? 613 00:31:02,395 --> 00:31:04,964 - I knew eventually, he would surface somewhere. 614 00:31:05,065 --> 00:31:07,367 - You felt if you could get your mitts on him again, 615 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:08,902 you might be able to get him to talk? 616 00:31:08,935 --> 00:31:12,339 - Yeah, because I felt Duncan, at some point, 617 00:31:12,372 --> 00:31:15,575 was gonna get tired of running. 618 00:31:17,877 --> 00:31:21,815 - Then, it was late Autumn, 1991, 619 00:31:21,848 --> 00:31:23,550 Boston, Massachusetts. 620 00:31:23,583 --> 00:31:26,119 Three young men walked into the downtown federal building 621 00:31:26,152 --> 00:31:29,155 and encountered a seasoned 622 00:31:29,189 --> 00:31:31,691 and very particular passport agent 623 00:31:31,725 --> 00:31:34,661 who just happened to have the same first name 624 00:31:34,694 --> 00:31:37,097 as the elusive Mr. Martinez. 625 00:31:37,130 --> 00:31:41,468 - The name is Duncan Haywood Maitland. 626 00:31:43,303 --> 00:31:46,006 - Duncan Haywood Maitland looked out 627 00:31:46,106 --> 00:31:48,108 at the three young men before him. 628 00:31:48,108 --> 00:31:50,343 One of them spoke. 629 00:31:50,377 --> 00:31:52,746 He needed a passport, he said. 630 00:31:52,779 --> 00:31:54,114 Urgently. 631 00:31:54,114 --> 00:31:57,751 He was booked on a flight to Paris that very night. 632 00:31:57,784 --> 00:32:02,589 His name, he said, was Jonathan Wayne Miller. 633 00:32:02,622 --> 00:32:07,527 - He had several pieces of identification. 634 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,831 One was a school transcript, which has no photo, 635 00:32:11,865 --> 00:32:13,566 no description, no nothing. 636 00:32:15,268 --> 00:32:17,837 - Maitland told this Jonathan Wayne Miller 637 00:32:17,871 --> 00:32:19,773 that wasn't good enough. 638 00:32:19,806 --> 00:32:23,176 He needed a valid ID and passport photos. 639 00:32:23,209 --> 00:32:25,879 So Miller and his buddies left, 640 00:32:25,912 --> 00:32:29,149 and then soon returned with the pictures. 641 00:32:29,182 --> 00:32:32,385 - First thing I told him: "Where is your I.D.?" 642 00:32:32,419 --> 00:32:35,255 And he said, "It's right here. 643 00:32:35,288 --> 00:32:39,092 "I've got two friends. They're gonna identify me." 644 00:32:39,125 --> 00:32:40,660 - "They're my I.D.! Oh, my." 645 00:32:40,694 --> 00:32:43,530 - And I said, "They're not good enough. 646 00:32:43,563 --> 00:32:47,167 "You need a blood relative. 647 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:51,104 "We need either your mother or your brother 648 00:32:51,104 --> 00:32:54,174 "to come into this agency today." 649 00:32:56,309 --> 00:33:00,046 - Was it panic Maitland was seeing in young Miller's eyes? 650 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,416 - He said, "It's not possible." 651 00:33:03,450 --> 00:33:08,121 He said he had a very difficult time at home. 652 00:33:08,154 --> 00:33:10,490 He was abused. 653 00:33:10,523 --> 00:33:15,095 He finally left home and school. 654 00:33:15,128 --> 00:33:18,264 He said, "That means that I only have 655 00:33:18,298 --> 00:33:21,434 "an eighth grade education". 656 00:33:21,468 --> 00:33:22,869 So I said, "That's fine, 657 00:33:22,902 --> 00:33:24,871 but it doesn't help you with I.D." 658 00:33:26,973 --> 00:33:29,242 - It won't surprise you to know Maitland had heard 659 00:33:29,275 --> 00:33:31,978 more than a few stories in his time, 660 00:33:32,078 --> 00:33:36,082 had seen an abundance of bogus passport applications, too. 661 00:33:36,116 --> 00:33:38,485 He smelled something fishy, 662 00:33:38,518 --> 00:33:42,322 especially when Miller presented one more piece of I.D. 663 00:33:42,355 --> 00:33:45,091 - The Social Security card was new, 664 00:33:45,091 --> 00:33:48,895 and that is suspicion right there. 665 00:33:48,928 --> 00:33:52,098 It tells you that it's a new identity. 666 00:33:52,098 --> 00:33:54,200 - It doesn't tell you that it's fraudulent. 667 00:33:54,234 --> 00:33:55,935 It just tells you new? 668 00:33:55,969 --> 00:33:59,539 - It tells you both. 669 00:33:59,572 --> 00:34:02,809 - No proper I.D. No passport. 670 00:34:02,842 --> 00:34:06,379 Maitland sent Jonathan Miller away empty handed, 671 00:34:06,413 --> 00:34:08,214 but he wasn't done. 672 00:34:08,248 --> 00:34:09,449 The next day, 673 00:34:09,482 --> 00:34:11,618 Maitland started his own little investigation 674 00:34:11,651 --> 00:34:14,688 into Jonathan Wayne Miller, who claimed to have been born 675 00:34:14,721 --> 00:34:17,657 in the central Massachusetts town of Webster, 676 00:34:17,691 --> 00:34:19,859 so Maitland called the school 677 00:34:19,893 --> 00:34:22,662 listed on the transcript Miller submitted. 678 00:34:22,696 --> 00:34:26,132 - And I talked to a guidance counselor there, 679 00:34:26,166 --> 00:34:28,168 and I said, 680 00:34:28,201 --> 00:34:31,971 "It gives English 1 and English 2." 681 00:34:32,072 --> 00:34:36,076 He said, "That's freshman and sophomore English." 682 00:34:36,076 --> 00:34:38,545 And I said, "Well, what grades?" 683 00:34:38,578 --> 00:34:41,581 He said, "Nine and ten," 684 00:34:41,614 --> 00:34:42,782 and I'm saying to myself, 685 00:34:42,816 --> 00:34:46,720 this fellow quit school eighth grade. 686 00:34:46,753 --> 00:34:49,289 That doesn't make sense. 687 00:34:49,322 --> 00:34:51,725 - Something else also didn't make sense. 688 00:34:51,758 --> 00:34:54,494 On the fine print of that transcript... 689 00:34:54,527 --> 00:34:58,498 - There was a reference to a California test. 690 00:34:58,531 --> 00:35:02,268 A California test for a Massachusetts school? 691 00:35:02,302 --> 00:35:03,370 I don't think so. 692 00:35:05,372 --> 00:35:07,073 - Maitland knew what to do next. 693 00:35:07,107 --> 00:35:08,508 He called the FBI, 694 00:35:08,541 --> 00:35:11,544 which issued an arrest warrant for Jonathan Wayne Miller 695 00:35:11,578 --> 00:35:12,912 for passport fraud, 696 00:35:12,946 --> 00:35:17,650 only to find that Miller had vanished. 697 00:35:22,055 --> 00:35:24,858 And then, it was two months later, 698 00:35:24,891 --> 00:35:27,394 two months after young Mr. Miller encountered 699 00:35:27,427 --> 00:35:30,296 the Boston brick wall named Maitland. 700 00:35:30,330 --> 00:35:32,065 The location this time: 701 00:35:32,065 --> 00:35:35,735 a stretch of highway near the little town of Nephi, Utah. 702 00:35:35,769 --> 00:35:40,240 A highway patrolman pulled over a driver on Interstate 15. 703 00:35:40,273 --> 00:35:42,642 The officer took the driver's I.D., 704 00:35:42,676 --> 00:35:46,946 ran the name. Jonathan Wayne Miller, 705 00:35:46,980 --> 00:35:51,618 wanted by the FBI for faking a passport application. 706 00:35:51,651 --> 00:35:54,754 Miller was arrested and booked in a Utah jail. 707 00:35:56,856 --> 00:36:00,026 And in Webster, Massachusetts, a state detective 708 00:36:00,026 --> 00:36:02,429 went to Miller's last known address, 709 00:36:02,462 --> 00:36:04,030 knocked at the door, 710 00:36:04,030 --> 00:36:09,469 and Jim Miller, Jonathan's father, opened it. 711 00:36:09,502 --> 00:36:12,739 - And he says, "We're looking for Jonathan Wayne Miller." 712 00:36:12,772 --> 00:36:15,175 And I said, "Why are you looking for him? 713 00:36:15,208 --> 00:36:17,911 "He's been dead for 21 years." 714 00:36:20,547 --> 00:36:23,283 - Jonathan Wayne Miller dead? 715 00:36:23,316 --> 00:36:24,451 - I started crying. 716 00:36:24,484 --> 00:36:26,152 It was like my whole world came caving in. 717 00:36:26,186 --> 00:36:29,789 - Then who was the man locked up in that Utah jail cell? 718 00:36:29,823 --> 00:36:32,292 - He refuses to tell the judge who he really is. 719 00:36:32,325 --> 00:36:34,094 Well the judge says there's not gonna be any bail 720 00:36:34,127 --> 00:36:35,428 until we find out. 721 00:36:42,235 --> 00:36:48,308 ** 722 00:36:49,075 --> 00:36:51,945 - "Who was Jonathan Wayne Miller?" 723 00:36:51,978 --> 00:36:55,749 asked the cop at Jim Miller's front door. 724 00:36:55,782 --> 00:37:00,620 The answer was, perhaps, not quite what was expected. 725 00:37:00,653 --> 00:37:03,289 - He was a happy-go-lucky baby. 726 00:37:03,323 --> 00:37:04,624 He was one of the happiest go-lucky babies 727 00:37:04,657 --> 00:37:05,859 I ever saw in my life. 728 00:37:08,094 --> 00:37:12,232 - Jonathan was just a baby when he died. 729 00:37:12,265 --> 00:37:15,502 An accident. No one's fault, really. 730 00:37:15,535 --> 00:37:17,771 He wasn't quite two. 731 00:37:17,804 --> 00:37:20,840 - It was bad. It was bad. 732 00:37:20,874 --> 00:37:22,509 The family didn't think I was gonna make it. 733 00:37:22,542 --> 00:37:25,245 - Do you ever lose that sense of loss? 734 00:37:25,278 --> 00:37:27,647 - No. Nope. 735 00:37:27,681 --> 00:37:30,083 And I tell people, love your children, 736 00:37:30,116 --> 00:37:34,120 because when you lose one, you can't replace them. 737 00:37:34,154 --> 00:37:37,257 - Little Jonathan had been dead 20 years 738 00:37:37,290 --> 00:37:39,859 when that detective showed up at Jim Miller's door 739 00:37:39,893 --> 00:37:43,897 to say that his son was wanted in L.A. 740 00:37:43,930 --> 00:37:45,598 - I started crying. 741 00:37:45,632 --> 00:37:49,102 It was like my whole world came caving in. 742 00:37:49,135 --> 00:37:51,771 Right back where I was. 743 00:37:51,805 --> 00:37:54,774 - That first day? - Yup. 744 00:37:56,943 --> 00:38:00,013 - Jim Miller insisted his son was dead, 745 00:38:00,013 --> 00:38:03,016 even told the detective where he was buried. 746 00:38:03,016 --> 00:38:04,918 Yet, at that very moment, 747 00:38:05,018 --> 00:38:07,320 that selfsame Jonathan Wayne Miller, 748 00:38:07,354 --> 00:38:10,156 supposedly dead for two decades, 749 00:38:10,190 --> 00:38:14,027 was sitting 2,000 miles away in a Utah jail cell 750 00:38:14,060 --> 00:38:18,465 and very much alive, so what was going on? 751 00:38:18,498 --> 00:38:20,100 Duncan Maitland, 752 00:38:20,133 --> 00:38:21,735 the passport fraud specialist, 753 00:38:21,768 --> 00:38:23,703 had already figured that out, 754 00:38:23,737 --> 00:38:26,039 not long after that young man presented 755 00:38:26,039 --> 00:38:29,509 what Maitland could see was bogus paperwork. 756 00:38:29,542 --> 00:38:34,381 - So we were falling into a category, 757 00:38:34,414 --> 00:38:37,584 and that category we call I.D.I., 758 00:38:37,617 --> 00:38:41,254 Infant Death Identity. 759 00:38:41,287 --> 00:38:43,089 - Why would you call it that? 760 00:38:43,123 --> 00:38:48,928 - Because it's a way to assume a brand new identity 761 00:38:48,962 --> 00:38:53,066 without ever bumping into the person. 762 00:38:53,066 --> 00:38:54,501 - You've seen this before? 763 00:38:54,534 --> 00:38:55,735 - Absolutely, 764 00:38:55,769 --> 00:39:00,340 and it's a good way to hide. 765 00:39:02,175 --> 00:39:04,577 - Yes, the man who called himself 766 00:39:04,611 --> 00:39:06,012 "Jonathan Wayne Miller" 767 00:39:06,012 --> 00:39:09,549 had found and stolen Jim's baby son's identity 768 00:39:09,582 --> 00:39:11,785 in an effort to disappear forever. 769 00:39:11,818 --> 00:39:15,155 It was Maitland who told us how he must have done it, 770 00:39:15,188 --> 00:39:18,892 by cruising cemeteries, most likely. 771 00:39:18,925 --> 00:39:20,694 - You try to match a person. 772 00:39:20,727 --> 00:39:23,263 If you're a male, you're looking for a male. 773 00:39:23,296 --> 00:39:25,098 You're looking for a person 774 00:39:25,131 --> 00:39:30,236 born within one or two years of your year of birth, 775 00:39:30,270 --> 00:39:32,038 and you're golden. 776 00:39:32,038 --> 00:39:36,242 Back then, it was that easy to fake an identity, 777 00:39:36,276 --> 00:39:40,947 unless you ran into someone as exacting as Maitland, 778 00:39:41,047 --> 00:39:43,583 who called the Massachusetts Vital Records Department 779 00:39:43,616 --> 00:39:45,318 and asked a contact there to do a search 780 00:39:45,352 --> 00:39:48,955 for Miller's official death certificate. 781 00:39:49,055 --> 00:39:52,058 - So he went to the volume 782 00:39:52,058 --> 00:39:54,694 where that death record should have been, 783 00:39:54,728 --> 00:39:57,063 turned to the page number, 784 00:39:57,063 --> 00:40:00,066 and guess what? 785 00:40:00,100 --> 00:40:04,237 That page was missing. 786 00:40:04,270 --> 00:40:05,705 - Really? 787 00:40:05,739 --> 00:40:08,608 - Someone had actually 788 00:40:08,641 --> 00:40:13,680 cut the original state death certificate 789 00:40:13,713 --> 00:40:15,882 out of the book. 790 00:40:15,915 --> 00:40:18,418 - And presto! 791 00:40:18,451 --> 00:40:21,087 No death certificate suddenly brought 792 00:40:21,121 --> 00:40:23,990 the late Jonathan Wayne Miller back to life. 793 00:40:24,024 --> 00:40:25,892 It almost worked, 794 00:40:25,925 --> 00:40:28,461 until the passport agent got suspicious, 795 00:40:28,495 --> 00:40:30,497 and the FBI got involved, 796 00:40:30,530 --> 00:40:33,233 and the fake Miller was pulled over 797 00:40:33,266 --> 00:40:35,935 for that traffic violation in Utah. 798 00:40:35,969 --> 00:40:38,204 - So he's taken into custody, 799 00:40:38,238 --> 00:40:41,107 and he refuses to tell the judge who he really is. 800 00:40:41,141 --> 00:40:42,242 Well, the judge says 801 00:40:42,275 --> 00:40:44,411 there's not gonna be any bail until we find out. 802 00:40:44,444 --> 00:40:46,513 - Faced with a long stay in jail, 803 00:40:46,546 --> 00:40:49,149 the imposter finally came clean. 804 00:40:49,182 --> 00:40:50,950 As you've no doubt guessed, 805 00:40:50,984 --> 00:40:54,821 his real name was Duncan Martinez, 806 00:40:54,854 --> 00:40:59,459 under investigation in L.A. for the murder of Ron Baker. 807 00:40:59,492 --> 00:41:00,560 - We were thrilled, 808 00:41:00,593 --> 00:41:03,897 'cause now at least we had that reinvigoration. 809 00:41:03,930 --> 00:41:04,864 You know? - Mm-hmm. 810 00:41:04,898 --> 00:41:06,800 - It's-- you get that adrenaline pumping. 811 00:41:06,833 --> 00:41:08,368 We now know where he is. 812 00:41:10,437 --> 00:41:11,838 - Later, Detective Rick Jackson 813 00:41:11,871 --> 00:41:15,175 called Jim Miller and explained the whole messy truth 814 00:41:15,208 --> 00:41:19,446 about how and why his son's identity was stolen. 815 00:41:19,479 --> 00:41:22,148 - The guy was wanted for murder, 816 00:41:22,182 --> 00:41:23,249 and he got to Boston 817 00:41:23,283 --> 00:41:25,151 and tried to get out of the country 818 00:41:25,185 --> 00:41:27,487 with a passport under my son's name. 819 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:29,489 I was mad 820 00:41:29,522 --> 00:41:31,591 that someone would steal his identity and-- 821 00:41:31,624 --> 00:41:32,859 to commit a crime. 822 00:41:32,892 --> 00:41:34,194 - Is it generally the principle, 823 00:41:34,227 --> 00:41:37,797 or was it because this was your Jonathan? 824 00:41:37,831 --> 00:41:39,733 - Principle behind it. 825 00:41:39,766 --> 00:41:41,935 I don't care whose child it was. 826 00:41:41,968 --> 00:41:44,471 Let him rest in peace. Leave him alone. 827 00:41:45,105 --> 00:41:50,210 - Duncan had been on the lam for a year and a half. 828 00:41:50,243 --> 00:41:53,013 He had been in Boston much of that time 829 00:41:53,113 --> 00:41:55,715 working as a cook in a pizzeria, 830 00:41:55,749 --> 00:41:59,119 living in this apartment in a suburb called Revere, 831 00:41:59,119 --> 00:42:02,322 and stealing a dead baby's name 832 00:42:02,355 --> 00:42:05,658 to try to get a passport and skip town. 833 00:42:05,692 --> 00:42:07,060 - Had he have gotten that passport, 834 00:42:07,093 --> 00:42:08,962 who knows what would have happened? 835 00:42:09,062 --> 00:42:12,098 - Instead, Duncan's devious passport scam 836 00:42:12,132 --> 00:42:15,669 had put him in a Utah jail facing federal fraud charges. 837 00:42:15,702 --> 00:42:20,707 But Duncan had a plan, another one. 838 00:42:24,477 --> 00:42:27,847 - We get a call from Duncan Martinez's attorney 839 00:42:27,881 --> 00:42:30,684 informing us that Duncan is willing to talk to us 840 00:42:30,717 --> 00:42:32,752 about what happened the night of the murder. 841 00:42:32,786 --> 00:42:34,287 - And talk he did. 842 00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:37,590 Duncan Martinez spins a spellbinding tale. 843 00:42:53,772 --> 00:42:56,008 - Welcome back to "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 844 00:42:56,375 --> 00:42:57,676 I'm Kate Snow. 845 00:42:57,710 --> 00:43:01,880 Nineteen months after the murder of UCLA student Ron Baker, 846 00:43:01,914 --> 00:43:04,216 detectives finally caught a break. 847 00:43:04,249 --> 00:43:06,885 Ron's former friend, Duncan Martinez, 848 00:43:06,919 --> 00:43:08,687 had been arrested in Utah 849 00:43:08,721 --> 00:43:12,558 for stealing the identity of a child who had passed away. 850 00:43:12,591 --> 00:43:15,794 Now, investigators were eager to question Duncan 851 00:43:15,828 --> 00:43:19,498 about what went down in that spooky old tunnel. 852 00:43:19,531 --> 00:43:23,068 Back to Keith Morrison with "Night of the Summer Solstice". 853 00:43:25,971 --> 00:43:28,507 - Winter, 1992, 854 00:43:28,540 --> 00:43:30,309 Park City, Utah. 855 00:43:30,342 --> 00:43:32,077 Resort town. 856 00:43:32,111 --> 00:43:33,779 Ski Mecca. 857 00:43:33,812 --> 00:43:35,547 And until he got busted on the highway 858 00:43:35,581 --> 00:43:36,949 for that fake passport, 859 00:43:36,982 --> 00:43:39,885 the new hideout for fugitive Duncan Martinez, 860 00:43:39,918 --> 00:43:42,988 a prime suspect in the murder of his good friend, 861 00:43:43,088 --> 00:43:44,189 Ron Baker. 862 00:43:46,992 --> 00:43:50,729 Park City was just the next convenient place to disappear, 863 00:43:50,763 --> 00:43:54,099 until that inconvenient traffic stop, 864 00:43:54,133 --> 00:43:57,102 followed by his arrest on passport fraud charges. 865 00:43:57,102 --> 00:43:59,338 That changed things, 866 00:43:59,371 --> 00:44:02,775 so Duncan came up with a new plan. 867 00:44:02,808 --> 00:44:06,578 - We get a call from Duncan Martinez's attorney 868 00:44:06,612 --> 00:44:09,415 informing us that Duncan is willing to talk to us 869 00:44:09,448 --> 00:44:11,183 about what happened the night of the murder, 870 00:44:11,216 --> 00:44:15,220 out of the clear blue sky. 871 00:44:15,254 --> 00:44:16,755 - So the detectives 872 00:44:16,789 --> 00:44:18,791 and Duncan's attorney and the DA's office 873 00:44:18,824 --> 00:44:21,060 agreed on some ground rules. 874 00:44:21,060 --> 00:44:22,895 He'd tell the story, all right, 875 00:44:22,928 --> 00:44:25,064 but only in exchange for some sort 876 00:44:25,064 --> 00:44:28,267 of limited immunity from prosecution. 877 00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:31,470 Otherwise, no story, no dice. 878 00:44:31,503 --> 00:44:35,974 - We worked out a deal where he could talk to us freely. 879 00:44:36,075 --> 00:44:39,545 We couldn't use anything he told us against him. 880 00:44:39,578 --> 00:44:42,548 - There's a term for the deal they made. 881 00:44:42,581 --> 00:44:45,517 They call it "king for a day." 882 00:44:45,551 --> 00:44:47,486 Fancy. 883 00:44:47,519 --> 00:44:49,088 - He was in charge that day. 884 00:44:49,088 --> 00:44:52,858 Our hands were tied as far as what couldn't be used, 885 00:44:52,891 --> 00:44:54,193 but it could give us information 886 00:44:54,226 --> 00:44:57,996 to move forward to try to further the case. 887 00:44:58,097 --> 00:45:01,667 - But there was a catch, a big one. 888 00:45:01,700 --> 00:45:05,170 If Duncan ever let anything slip to anyone else, 889 00:45:05,204 --> 00:45:08,574 or if detectives uncovered any additional evidence, 890 00:45:08,607 --> 00:45:11,377 they could charge him with murder. 891 00:45:11,410 --> 00:45:13,412 But on this day, right here, 892 00:45:13,445 --> 00:45:16,849 he had one free day pass 893 00:45:16,882 --> 00:45:20,452 to reveal all, no charge. 894 00:45:20,486 --> 00:45:23,956 So what happened that night of the summer solstice, 895 00:45:24,056 --> 00:45:25,657 eighteen months earlier? 896 00:45:25,691 --> 00:45:28,861 Duncan explained that he and Nathan had lured Ron 897 00:45:28,894 --> 00:45:30,929 to that spooky railroad tunnel, 898 00:45:30,963 --> 00:45:34,166 supposedly to drink beer and meet girls. 899 00:45:34,199 --> 00:45:37,936 Then, as they walked down the track, said Duncan, 900 00:45:37,970 --> 00:45:41,173 Nathan tripped. 901 00:45:41,206 --> 00:45:43,142 Ron made a joke. 902 00:45:43,175 --> 00:45:46,845 Nathan got mad and started stabbing him. 903 00:45:56,555 --> 00:45:58,791 - But it got worse. 904 00:45:58,824 --> 00:46:03,729 Duncan described, graphically, Ron Baker's last moments. 905 00:46:18,911 --> 00:46:21,513 - Slit his throat. 906 00:46:21,547 --> 00:46:23,315 And Ron Baker, 907 00:46:23,349 --> 00:46:25,818 the sweet, gentle astrophysics student, 908 00:46:25,851 --> 00:46:28,053 was dead. 909 00:46:28,087 --> 00:46:29,955 Then, said Duncan, 910 00:46:30,055 --> 00:46:32,191 he and Nathan fled the crime scene 911 00:46:32,224 --> 00:46:36,328 and raced to a payphone where, again, according to Duncan, 912 00:46:36,362 --> 00:46:40,432 Nathan insisted that he, Duncan, call Ron's father 913 00:46:40,466 --> 00:46:43,268 to say it was a kidnapping and demand ransom. 914 00:46:43,302 --> 00:46:45,871 But Duncan said he made the call, 915 00:46:45,904 --> 00:46:48,207 worried that Nathan might kill him if he didn't. 916 00:46:58,951 --> 00:47:01,186 - Then he said they went home, 917 00:47:01,220 --> 00:47:03,288 dumped the murder weapon, cleaned up, 918 00:47:03,322 --> 00:47:06,759 and went to a party in their apartment building 919 00:47:06,792 --> 00:47:10,562 before making a second ransom call the next morning, that is. 920 00:47:10,596 --> 00:47:16,035 In short, said Duncan, it was really all Nathan's doing. 921 00:47:16,035 --> 00:47:19,038 - It mitigated a lot of his involvement in this, 922 00:47:19,038 --> 00:47:23,642 minimized everything he-he did, at least for the most part, 923 00:47:23,676 --> 00:47:26,812 with the, "I didn't think it was really gonna happen." 924 00:47:26,845 --> 00:47:27,746 Why would you go to the extent 925 00:47:27,780 --> 00:47:28,947 to lure him up there 926 00:47:29,048 --> 00:47:30,849 if you didn't really think anything was gonna happen? 927 00:47:32,818 --> 00:47:34,186 - Good question. 928 00:47:34,219 --> 00:47:36,455 Duncan had an answer, 929 00:47:36,488 --> 00:47:40,225 which put that "Nathan lost his temper and snapped" excuse 930 00:47:40,259 --> 00:47:43,462 in a whole more dubious light. 931 00:47:43,495 --> 00:47:46,331 Because, Duncan freely admitted, 932 00:47:46,365 --> 00:47:50,502 they had discussed doing something beforehand, 933 00:47:50,536 --> 00:47:55,808 inspired by the TV show "Dragnet". 934 00:48:08,687 --> 00:48:11,090 - Or maybe not a joke? 935 00:48:11,123 --> 00:48:13,859 Because on the night of the summer solstice, 936 00:48:13,892 --> 00:48:17,363 Duncan admitted, he and Nathan took their roommate, Ron, 937 00:48:17,396 --> 00:48:18,897 to the Manson Tunnel, 938 00:48:18,931 --> 00:48:23,035 and there, for reasons he couldn't or wouldn't explain, 939 00:48:23,035 --> 00:48:24,770 they killed their friend. 940 00:48:24,803 --> 00:48:26,572 But here, long after the fact, 941 00:48:26,605 --> 00:48:28,941 Duncan was talking like some spin doctor. 942 00:48:42,521 --> 00:48:44,556 - Did you hear the blame shifting? 943 00:48:44,590 --> 00:48:46,058 Not the first time 944 00:48:46,058 --> 00:48:47,493 Detective Jackson had encountered 945 00:48:47,526 --> 00:48:49,328 that sort of behavior from people, 946 00:48:49,361 --> 00:48:53,065 and, in this case, he was unconvinced. 947 00:48:53,065 --> 00:48:57,670 - I think it was a joint thing, and they were both involved. 948 00:48:57,703 --> 00:49:00,372 There's a French term, "folie a deux," 949 00:49:00,406 --> 00:49:04,343 which translated means "the madness of two." 950 00:49:04,376 --> 00:49:08,781 It's a psychological term that two people together 951 00:49:08,814 --> 00:49:11,016 get to the point where they do something 952 00:49:11,016 --> 00:49:13,285 that normally neither one would do on their own, 953 00:49:13,318 --> 00:49:16,455 and it's like a one-upmanship on the next. 954 00:49:16,488 --> 00:49:18,457 - Two people acting together-- - Yeah. 955 00:49:18,490 --> 00:49:21,293 - --can produce a poisonous mix. - Yeah. 956 00:49:23,595 --> 00:49:26,331 - But Duncan, the king for a day, 957 00:49:26,365 --> 00:49:28,467 deflected and denied, 958 00:49:28,500 --> 00:49:32,037 always blaming Nathan for killing Ron. 959 00:49:32,037 --> 00:49:34,540 Detective Garcia even tried one more time 960 00:49:34,573 --> 00:49:38,177 to maybe elicit some kind of confession. 961 00:49:51,557 --> 00:49:55,094 In fact, everything Duncan said that day was off-limits. 962 00:49:55,127 --> 00:49:59,431 But, as we say, there was some fine print. 963 00:49:59,465 --> 00:50:01,834 - We told him, you cannot talk to other people, 964 00:50:01,867 --> 00:50:03,035 because if you talk to other people, 965 00:50:03,068 --> 00:50:05,804 those are potential witnesses against you, 966 00:50:05,838 --> 00:50:07,606 and that was part of the deal. 967 00:50:07,639 --> 00:50:11,977 - "Sure," said Duncan Martinez, "A deal's a deal." 968 00:50:12,011 --> 00:50:15,514 They had no choice but to let him go. 969 00:50:15,547 --> 00:50:20,352 But soon, detectives and Duncan would connect once more 970 00:50:20,386 --> 00:50:24,790 in ways they couldn't possibly have imagined. 971 00:50:28,427 --> 00:50:31,530 - We told him, you will help us prove 972 00:50:31,563 --> 00:50:33,999 that what you're telling us is the truth. 973 00:50:34,033 --> 00:50:37,836 - Investigators were far from done with Duncan Martinez. 974 00:50:39,838 --> 00:50:42,041 - He was about to go undercover. 975 00:50:42,074 --> 00:50:43,475 - To him, this is, hey, man, 976 00:50:43,509 --> 00:50:45,644 this is Hollywood stuff here. 977 00:50:45,678 --> 00:50:47,246 I can really pull this off. 978 00:50:47,279 --> 00:50:48,280 - Could he? 979 00:51:00,926 --> 00:51:01,293 - Day after day, 980 00:51:02,361 --> 00:51:05,698 the trains rolled through the dark, old Manson Tunnel, 981 00:51:05,731 --> 00:51:08,100 past the strange graffiti, 982 00:51:08,133 --> 00:51:11,904 past the place where Ron Baker breathed his last, 983 00:51:11,937 --> 00:51:15,074 and two years went by. 984 00:51:15,074 --> 00:51:17,476 Duncan Martinez returned to the good life 985 00:51:17,509 --> 00:51:19,078 in Park City, Utah, 986 00:51:19,078 --> 00:51:21,113 while detectives turned their attention 987 00:51:21,146 --> 00:51:24,083 to his old pal, Nathan Blalock. 988 00:51:24,083 --> 00:51:26,085 He wasn't hard to find. 989 00:51:26,085 --> 00:51:27,953 - Nathan, we learned, 990 00:51:27,986 --> 00:51:31,223 was arrested for a bank robbery he pulled 991 00:51:31,256 --> 00:51:33,959 with somebody that he was doing drugs with. 992 00:51:33,992 --> 00:51:37,529 - So now, Nathan was locked up at the county jail 993 00:51:37,563 --> 00:51:39,098 in Riverside, California, 994 00:51:39,098 --> 00:51:42,101 totally unaware that his buddy had betrayed him. 995 00:51:42,134 --> 00:51:44,570 Oh, Duncan's story about what happened 996 00:51:44,603 --> 00:51:47,239 in that train tunnel was a betrayal. 997 00:51:47,272 --> 00:51:49,641 But was it true? 998 00:51:49,675 --> 00:51:51,510 You can't charge a man with murder 999 00:51:51,543 --> 00:51:54,713 based on blame from an old accomplice. 1000 00:51:54,747 --> 00:51:58,751 Mind you, there was some forensic evidence, a little: 1001 00:51:58,784 --> 00:52:02,621 Traces of blood under Ron's fingernails, 1002 00:52:02,654 --> 00:52:04,890 rare blood, type AB. 1003 00:52:04,923 --> 00:52:07,326 Duncan was type A, 1004 00:52:07,359 --> 00:52:09,428 but what about Nathan? 1005 00:52:09,461 --> 00:52:12,965 - We got a search warrant for Nathan Blalock's blood, 1006 00:52:13,065 --> 00:52:16,201 and that blood came back AB-positive, 1007 00:52:16,235 --> 00:52:18,070 Blalock's blood. 1008 00:52:18,070 --> 00:52:21,073 4% of the population have it. 1009 00:52:21,073 --> 00:52:23,308 - That was good, quite good, 1010 00:52:23,342 --> 00:52:26,745 but still not enough for a murder charge. 1011 00:52:26,779 --> 00:52:31,517 Detectives needed to place Nathan inside the Manson Tunnel 1012 00:52:31,550 --> 00:52:33,485 with the knife in his hands. 1013 00:52:33,519 --> 00:52:35,354 One possibility: 1014 00:52:35,387 --> 00:52:37,723 would the guy who'd ratted on him 1015 00:52:37,756 --> 00:52:39,324 help them some more? 1016 00:52:40,993 --> 00:52:44,930 - We had established a relationship with Duncan. 1017 00:52:44,963 --> 00:52:48,100 Uh, he knew where we were coming from. 1018 00:52:48,133 --> 00:52:52,204 We wanted to get Ron Baker's killer. 1019 00:52:52,237 --> 00:52:55,741 He told us he was involved, and we told him, 1020 00:52:55,774 --> 00:52:58,110 you will help us prove 1021 00:52:58,143 --> 00:53:00,746 that what you're telling us is the truth. 1022 00:53:00,779 --> 00:53:02,648 He was in total agreement. 1023 00:53:02,681 --> 00:53:05,918 - Eager to help throw Nathan under the bus. 1024 00:53:05,951 --> 00:53:10,789 So a recorded phone call was set up through the jail, 1025 00:53:10,823 --> 00:53:14,226 and Nathan and Duncan spoke for the first time 1026 00:53:14,259 --> 00:53:15,728 in almost two years. 1027 00:53:28,307 --> 00:53:31,377 It was like old times as the two caught up, 1028 00:53:31,410 --> 00:53:34,913 and then Duncan started spinning a story 1029 00:53:34,947 --> 00:53:36,915 to get Nathan talking. 1030 00:53:46,225 --> 00:53:48,527 Then, without missing a beat, 1031 00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:51,630 Duncan cleverly got Nathan inside the tunnel 1032 00:53:51,663 --> 00:53:53,198 and tied him to the struggle 1033 00:53:53,232 --> 00:53:56,835 just before Ron Baker was stabbed to death. 1034 00:54:10,215 --> 00:54:13,052 Nathan got nervous. 1035 00:54:13,052 --> 00:54:15,421 But before they wrapped up the call, 1036 00:54:15,454 --> 00:54:18,157 an unexpected bonus. 1037 00:54:18,190 --> 00:54:21,593 Nathan was totally unaware that Duncan had just duped him, 1038 00:54:21,627 --> 00:54:26,165 and he invited his old friend to visit him in jail. 1039 00:54:26,198 --> 00:54:30,936 And four days later, there he was, wearing a wire. 1040 00:54:30,969 --> 00:54:34,340 - You have to understand Duncan's personality. 1041 00:54:34,373 --> 00:54:35,674 To him this is, hey, man, 1042 00:54:35,708 --> 00:54:38,177 this is Hollywood stuff here, man. 1043 00:54:38,210 --> 00:54:39,478 I can really pull this off. 1044 00:54:47,953 --> 00:54:50,723 - Then, Duncan went to work 1045 00:54:50,756 --> 00:54:52,458 and tried to draw Nathan out 1046 00:54:52,491 --> 00:54:54,860 by claiming he'd left behind his blood 1047 00:54:54,893 --> 00:54:56,862 on the walls of the tunnel. 1048 00:55:10,075 --> 00:55:11,810 - Blalock, he'd play it down, 1049 00:55:11,844 --> 00:55:13,345 play it down, play it down. 1050 00:55:17,516 --> 00:55:19,451 - That was good, 1051 00:55:19,485 --> 00:55:21,553 but detectives in the DA's office 1052 00:55:21,587 --> 00:55:24,156 still wanted a little bit more evidence 1053 00:55:24,189 --> 00:55:26,392 before indicting Nathan for murder. 1054 00:55:26,425 --> 00:55:27,826 And Duncan? 1055 00:55:27,860 --> 00:55:30,929 Thanks in part to his limited immunity agreement, 1056 00:55:30,963 --> 00:55:32,498 he remained free, 1057 00:55:32,531 --> 00:55:35,868 as if he'd never harmed a hair on Ron Baker's head. 1058 00:55:35,901 --> 00:55:40,072 And the Baker family was not happy. 1059 00:55:40,072 --> 00:55:41,840 Not at all. 1060 00:55:41,874 --> 00:55:43,709 - I didn't like it, 1061 00:55:43,742 --> 00:55:46,078 and my parents didn't like it, 1062 00:55:46,111 --> 00:55:48,414 Duncan walking away. 1063 00:55:48,447 --> 00:55:51,083 I mean, he was friends with Ron for a long time. 1064 00:55:51,083 --> 00:55:53,118 Like, he'd been at the house, 1065 00:55:53,152 --> 00:55:54,853 talked about him at the funeral. 1066 00:55:54,887 --> 00:55:58,691 At any point he could have said what happened. 1067 00:55:58,724 --> 00:56:02,461 - But Duncan didn't seem to care. 1068 00:56:02,494 --> 00:56:03,796 He was about to embark 1069 00:56:03,829 --> 00:56:06,665 on a whole new chapter of his life. 1070 00:56:06,699 --> 00:56:09,301 At the University of Utah, 1071 00:56:09,335 --> 00:56:12,037 the man who liked to tell stories 1072 00:56:12,071 --> 00:56:15,174 now had plans to make movies. 1073 00:56:19,078 --> 00:56:21,680 - He had a leather jacket. He had a tattoo. 1074 00:56:21,714 --> 00:56:23,682 He had a little bit of the bad boy thing. 1075 00:56:23,716 --> 00:56:26,285 - A whole new role for Duncan Martinez, 1076 00:56:26,318 --> 00:56:28,687 and an encore undercover performance. 1077 00:56:36,562 --> 00:56:39,465 When "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered" continues. 1078 00:56:49,075 --> 00:56:50,744 - There was a brand new student 1079 00:56:50,777 --> 00:56:54,080 at the University of Utah, 1080 00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:57,083 a guy majoring in film studies, 1081 00:56:57,117 --> 00:57:01,888 and his name was Duncan Martinez. 1082 00:57:01,921 --> 00:57:06,226 - He rushed a fraternity at the university. 1083 00:57:06,259 --> 00:57:10,163 He was really liked by most of the fraternity members. 1084 00:57:10,196 --> 00:57:14,034 He was living a pretty good life. 1085 00:57:14,067 --> 00:57:16,169 - Yes, he was. 1086 00:57:16,202 --> 00:57:20,940 22-year-old Duncan Martinez, once a big time murder suspect, 1087 00:57:21,041 --> 00:57:24,077 was now a big man on campus. 1088 00:57:24,110 --> 00:57:27,847 - He went by the name Doofus O'Reilly. 1089 00:57:27,881 --> 00:57:30,884 That's what he liked to tell his friends to call him, 1090 00:57:30,917 --> 00:57:32,085 Doofus O'Reilly. 1091 00:57:32,118 --> 00:57:36,256 He was the center of attraction at a lot of events. 1092 00:57:36,289 --> 00:57:40,760 - Charming, charismatic, life of the party. 1093 00:57:40,794 --> 00:57:43,530 Doofus, a.k.a. Duncan, 1094 00:57:43,563 --> 00:57:46,666 was a long way from that murder in the Manson Tunnel. 1095 00:57:49,169 --> 00:57:51,338 And here he soon caught the eye 1096 00:57:51,371 --> 00:57:55,508 of an attractive sorority sister named Melissa Bean, 1097 00:57:55,542 --> 00:57:58,478 and the two started dating. 1098 00:57:58,511 --> 00:58:01,214 - I hung out at a particular fraternity house, 1099 00:58:01,247 --> 00:58:03,783 and Duncan was pledging the fraternity, 1100 00:58:03,817 --> 00:58:07,520 so we got to know each other, and Duncan was quick. 1101 00:58:07,554 --> 00:58:11,524 He was witty, and I liked that. 1102 00:58:11,558 --> 00:58:14,461 He had a leather jacket. He had a tattoo. 1103 00:58:14,494 --> 00:58:16,463 He had a little bit of the bad boy thing. 1104 00:58:16,496 --> 00:58:19,399 It was as if Guy Fieri had rolled in 1105 00:58:19,432 --> 00:58:20,333 and come to college 1106 00:58:20,367 --> 00:58:22,202 with sort of the hair and the look 1107 00:58:22,235 --> 00:58:24,771 and the big stories. 1108 00:58:24,804 --> 00:58:27,774 - Melissa said it was like Duncan dropped in 1109 00:58:27,807 --> 00:58:29,642 from another planet, 1110 00:58:29,676 --> 00:58:33,613 but he instantly fit in. 1111 00:58:33,646 --> 00:58:35,582 - He was a leader. 1112 00:58:35,615 --> 00:58:37,050 He was a little bit of a Pied Piper. 1113 00:58:37,083 --> 00:58:38,885 I think people naturally followed him. 1114 00:58:38,918 --> 00:58:40,854 I think people very much liked him. 1115 00:58:40,887 --> 00:58:44,591 Duncan could identify with and talk to anyone 1116 00:58:44,624 --> 00:58:46,960 about anything that they were into. 1117 00:58:47,060 --> 00:58:53,133 He had a lot of capacity for dazzling people. 1118 00:58:53,166 --> 00:58:55,402 - Back in L.A., 1119 00:58:55,435 --> 00:58:57,537 the detectives were still investigating 1120 00:58:57,570 --> 00:58:59,706 the Ron Baker murder, and they wanted 1121 00:58:59,739 --> 00:59:03,376 to put Duncan's dazzling-but-devious skill set 1122 00:59:03,410 --> 00:59:05,011 to use one more time 1123 00:59:05,011 --> 00:59:08,048 and get one more blockbuster piece of evidence. 1124 00:59:08,081 --> 00:59:09,849 They found Duncan at college 1125 00:59:09,883 --> 00:59:12,252 and persuaded him to make yet another call 1126 00:59:12,285 --> 00:59:14,354 to his old buddy, Blalock, 1127 00:59:14,387 --> 00:59:17,023 who was still behind bars for bank robbery. 1128 00:59:17,023 --> 00:59:19,826 Maybe this time, Duncan could spark 1129 00:59:19,859 --> 00:59:22,696 something really incriminating out of Nathan 1130 00:59:22,729 --> 00:59:25,198 to seal their case and then charge him. 1131 00:59:28,101 --> 00:59:29,602 - We flew up to Utah 1132 00:59:29,636 --> 00:59:31,905 and made the call from a Marriott hotel 1133 00:59:31,938 --> 00:59:34,174 where they had private lines and stuff. 1134 00:59:34,207 --> 00:59:35,842 They talked about a half hour, 1135 00:59:35,875 --> 00:59:39,179 and little by little, it started coming out. 1136 00:59:39,212 --> 00:59:42,349 - Naturally, the call was recorded. 1137 00:59:50,357 --> 00:59:52,359 And sitting in that hotel suite, 1138 00:59:52,392 --> 00:59:54,694 Duncan did talk as usual, 1139 00:59:54,728 --> 00:59:56,963 spinning another one of his stories, 1140 00:59:57,063 --> 00:59:59,132 saying a warrant was out for his arrest 1141 00:59:59,165 --> 01:00:00,000 and he feared taking the rap for Ron's murder. 1142 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:03,036 and he feared taking the rap for Ron's murder. 1143 01:00:15,281 --> 01:00:18,251 Duncan kept trying to get Nathan to say the words, 1144 01:00:18,284 --> 01:00:21,287 to take the blame directly for stabbing Ron, 1145 01:00:21,321 --> 01:00:22,756 for cutting his throat. 1146 01:00:49,382 --> 01:00:53,253 Then, Duncan played the guilt card. 1147 01:01:03,697 --> 01:01:07,067 "It happened." "A mistake." 1148 01:01:07,100 --> 01:01:10,837 Not quite a confession, but close enough. 1149 01:01:13,139 --> 01:01:16,076 Now, two years after Ron Baker's murder, 1150 01:01:16,076 --> 01:01:21,147 Nathan was talking himself into being charged with the crime. 1151 01:01:21,181 --> 01:01:26,519 But Duncan Martinez, he would resume college life, 1152 01:01:26,553 --> 01:01:31,091 film studies, frat parties, and freedom. 1153 01:01:31,091 --> 01:01:34,894 After he wrapped up his undercover call with Nathan, 1154 01:01:34,928 --> 01:01:39,332 Detectives drove Duncan back to campus and dropped him off. 1155 01:01:39,366 --> 01:01:41,101 - As he was getting out of the car, 1156 01:01:41,101 --> 01:01:43,169 he goes, "It's really too bad 1157 01:01:43,203 --> 01:01:45,638 "that we had to meet under these circumstances, 1158 01:01:45,672 --> 01:01:47,007 "because I think it'd be a lot of fun 1159 01:01:47,107 --> 01:01:49,476 "to hang out with you guys". 1160 01:01:49,509 --> 01:01:54,180 - Was Duncan Martinez literally getting away with murder? 1161 01:01:54,214 --> 01:01:55,915 Maybe. 1162 01:01:55,949 --> 01:01:58,818 He was too smart to screw that up. 1163 01:01:58,852 --> 01:02:00,053 Wasn't he? 1164 01:02:02,756 --> 01:02:05,358 - He told me that he had witnessed a murder. 1165 01:02:05,392 --> 01:02:06,760 - Duncan's secret. 1166 01:02:06,793 --> 01:02:08,928 - I remember thinking, this has to be something 1167 01:02:08,962 --> 01:02:10,130 that he's made up. 1168 01:02:10,163 --> 01:02:11,498 Surely, this would be something 1169 01:02:11,531 --> 01:02:13,066 that would have caught up with him. 1170 01:02:13,099 --> 01:02:14,300 - Was it about to? 1171 01:02:14,334 --> 01:02:15,869 - It was almost as if he knew 1172 01:02:15,902 --> 01:02:19,472 that his facade might have been slipping. 1173 01:02:30,083 --> 01:02:30,383 Welcome back. 1174 01:02:31,384 --> 01:02:33,553 Nathan Blalock may have just incriminated himself 1175 01:02:33,586 --> 01:02:35,689 in the murder of Ron Baker. 1176 01:02:35,722 --> 01:02:38,758 Nathan had no idea detectives were recording 1177 01:02:38,792 --> 01:02:40,960 when his friend, Duncan Martinez, called 1178 01:02:40,994 --> 01:02:43,396 to discuss their deadly deed. 1179 01:02:43,430 --> 01:02:46,099 Police believed they were partners in crime, 1180 01:02:46,099 --> 01:02:48,101 but thanks to his immunity deal, 1181 01:02:48,101 --> 01:02:50,003 Duncan was free to go, 1182 01:02:50,103 --> 01:02:54,107 as long as he kept that monstrous secret to himself. 1183 01:02:54,140 --> 01:02:57,777 Back to Keith Morrison with "Night of the Summer Solstice". 1184 01:02:59,546 --> 01:03:02,816 - If Duncan Martinez was the charismatic Pied Piper 1185 01:03:02,849 --> 01:03:06,052 of his University of Utah fraternity, 1186 01:03:06,086 --> 01:03:07,921 Melissa Bean was... 1187 01:03:07,954 --> 01:03:10,924 Well, let her describe it. 1188 01:03:10,957 --> 01:03:13,760 - I was president of my sorority. 1189 01:03:13,793 --> 01:03:16,830 I was gonna be chief justice of the judiciary. 1190 01:03:16,863 --> 01:03:19,299 I was exceptionally capable 1191 01:03:19,332 --> 01:03:22,736 and kind of nerdy and boring. 1192 01:03:22,769 --> 01:03:25,605 I mean, I drove a Volvo. I was basically a Volvo. 1193 01:03:25,638 --> 01:03:29,142 I was the Volvo in college, right? 1194 01:03:29,175 --> 01:03:33,079 - And Duncan seemed to love impressing Melissa. 1195 01:03:33,113 --> 01:03:35,181 Is that why he told her 1196 01:03:35,215 --> 01:03:39,953 a story that was more disturbing than impressive? 1197 01:03:39,986 --> 01:03:42,822 - He told me that he had witnessed a murder. 1198 01:03:42,856 --> 01:03:44,891 - So he's walking up to the edge of something here? 1199 01:03:44,924 --> 01:03:47,427 - Yeah, he-he never really got into details, 1200 01:03:47,460 --> 01:03:51,698 but he had told me that he was helping the police with it. 1201 01:03:51,731 --> 01:03:56,002 - Duncan, fun-loving film student and party animal, 1202 01:03:56,102 --> 01:04:00,573 Doofus O'Reilly, tangled up in murder? 1203 01:04:00,607 --> 01:04:03,176 But for once, Duncan seemed serious, 1204 01:04:03,209 --> 01:04:05,712 deadly serious. 1205 01:04:05,745 --> 01:04:09,482 - He said that 1206 01:04:09,516 --> 01:04:11,518 he and a roommate 1207 01:04:11,551 --> 01:04:14,654 had talked about 1208 01:04:14,688 --> 01:04:18,291 going after a college friend, 1209 01:04:18,324 --> 01:04:21,528 and that there had been 1210 01:04:21,561 --> 01:04:23,496 an intentional plan. 1211 01:04:23,530 --> 01:04:24,564 - That he was part of. 1212 01:04:24,597 --> 01:04:26,766 - That, it appeared, he had been part of, yes. 1213 01:04:26,800 --> 01:04:29,736 I remember thinking this has to be something that he's made up. 1214 01:04:29,769 --> 01:04:31,371 - Another one of his many stories. 1215 01:04:31,404 --> 01:04:34,674 - He's just trying to be a bigger person than he is, 1216 01:04:34,708 --> 01:04:37,077 because, surely, this would be something 1217 01:04:37,110 --> 01:04:39,079 that would have caught up with him. 1218 01:04:39,079 --> 01:04:42,349 - But was it true? 1219 01:04:42,382 --> 01:04:45,485 Melissa's happy campus life felt troubled, 1220 01:04:45,518 --> 01:04:49,756 and so she confided in a couple of trusted friends, 1221 01:04:49,789 --> 01:04:53,593 and she didn't intend that the story should spread, 1222 01:04:53,626 --> 01:04:56,296 but it did. 1223 01:04:56,329 --> 01:04:58,998 - So, kind of, me sort of being big-mouthed 1224 01:04:59,099 --> 01:05:01,935 about what Duncan said to me to a couple of guys 1225 01:05:02,035 --> 01:05:03,069 went to my brother, 1226 01:05:03,103 --> 01:05:05,605 went up the chain to the alums of the fraternity, 1227 01:05:05,638 --> 01:05:08,041 went to university police, and then LAPD, 1228 01:05:08,041 --> 01:05:10,577 and he's being asked to leave this fraternity. 1229 01:05:10,610 --> 01:05:12,645 - Then, Duncan found out 1230 01:05:12,679 --> 01:05:15,548 it was Melissa who leaked his story. 1231 01:05:15,582 --> 01:05:19,886 - He was pretty angry and pretty aggressive 1232 01:05:19,919 --> 01:05:23,423 and told me that I needed to keep my mouth shut. 1233 01:05:23,456 --> 01:05:26,526 There was sort of a restrained amount of violence in him. 1234 01:05:26,559 --> 01:05:28,061 - Were you frightened? 1235 01:05:28,094 --> 01:05:29,863 - I remember being afraid of him. 1236 01:05:29,896 --> 01:05:32,565 It was almost as if he knew that his facade 1237 01:05:32,599 --> 01:05:34,200 and the way that he had sort of slipped in 1238 01:05:34,234 --> 01:05:36,569 might have been slipping. 1239 01:05:36,603 --> 01:05:38,872 - Or maybe it was a mistake to bring it up in the first place. 1240 01:05:38,905 --> 01:05:41,341 - Might have been the loose lips were sinking ships. 1241 01:05:43,977 --> 01:05:45,245 - Back in L.A. meanwhile, 1242 01:05:45,278 --> 01:05:47,347 Detectives Garcia and Jackson were focused 1243 01:05:47,380 --> 01:05:49,449 on nailing Nathan Blalock. 1244 01:05:49,482 --> 01:05:51,718 He'd been sent to prison for that bank robbery, 1245 01:05:51,751 --> 01:05:53,753 and that's where they went to see him, 1246 01:05:53,787 --> 01:05:55,689 hoping to coax a confession 1247 01:05:55,722 --> 01:05:59,259 which they could use to finally indict him. 1248 01:05:59,292 --> 01:06:01,528 - So, when Nathan saw us, it was like, 1249 01:06:01,561 --> 01:06:03,263 "Hey, guys, what's up?" You know? 1250 01:06:03,296 --> 01:06:05,031 And we said, "Oh, nothing. We just- 1251 01:06:05,065 --> 01:06:06,733 "We want to come sit down and talk to you 1252 01:06:06,766 --> 01:06:18,178 "and see if we're missing something here." 1253 01:06:18,211 --> 01:06:20,146 - At which point, the detectives sprang 1254 01:06:20,180 --> 01:06:23,216 a little surprise they'd brought with them: 1255 01:06:23,249 --> 01:06:25,885 the audiotapes of Duncan exposing 1256 01:06:25,919 --> 01:06:28,221 his good friend, Nathan. 1257 01:06:45,372 --> 01:06:48,074 - And I said, "Would you be curious to hear 1258 01:06:48,108 --> 01:06:51,144 "who's saying this about you?" 1259 01:06:51,177 --> 01:06:53,313 And he said, "Yeah, I'd love to." 1260 01:06:53,346 --> 01:06:56,750 And then I said, "Well, I have a tape of that conversation," 1261 01:06:56,783 --> 01:06:58,485 and we hit the button. 1262 01:07:06,559 --> 01:07:11,164 And as soon as he hears, his head went just like this. 1263 01:07:11,197 --> 01:07:14,567 I mean, it's like, we had him so bad. 1264 01:07:22,142 --> 01:07:24,878 - And at that point, he's kind of losing faith 1265 01:07:24,911 --> 01:07:27,714 on his ability to hold out and not tell us what happened. 1266 01:07:27,747 --> 01:07:29,382 And I believe I'm the one that said... 1267 01:07:37,957 --> 01:07:40,660 And that was the break right there, 1268 01:07:40,694 --> 01:07:42,762 his confession. 1269 01:07:42,796 --> 01:07:45,165 - Two-and-a-half years after Ron Baker was stabbed to death, 1270 01:07:45,198 --> 01:07:47,867 detectives finally had what they needed. 1271 01:07:47,901 --> 01:07:49,069 And a few months later, 1272 01:07:49,069 --> 01:07:52,872 Nathan Blalock was indicted for first degree murder. 1273 01:07:52,906 --> 01:07:57,177 Fair or not, Nathan would have to take the entire rap 1274 01:07:57,210 --> 01:07:59,846 for killing Ron Baker. 1275 01:07:59,879 --> 01:08:02,148 As for Duncan Martinez, 1276 01:08:02,182 --> 01:08:03,383 the worst thing that happened to him 1277 01:08:03,416 --> 01:08:06,653 was being booted from his fraternity. 1278 01:08:06,686 --> 01:08:08,722 - Did you make peace with the idea 1279 01:08:08,755 --> 01:08:13,026 that Duncan would just live the rest of his life? 1280 01:08:13,026 --> 01:08:15,628 - I guess-- I guess I had to. 1281 01:08:15,662 --> 01:08:19,366 - Some people, through guile or luck, 1282 01:08:19,399 --> 01:08:22,802 manage to avoid paying the price justice demands. 1283 01:08:22,836 --> 01:08:26,773 But it's also true that in the fraternity of the convicted, 1284 01:08:26,806 --> 01:08:30,577 few behaviors are considered as low, as despicable, 1285 01:08:30,610 --> 01:08:33,580 as the ratting out of a friend. 1286 01:08:33,613 --> 01:08:38,718 And, though no one knew it, fate had redress in mind, 1287 01:08:38,752 --> 01:08:44,290 and maybe a sense of humor in the form, this time, 1288 01:08:44,324 --> 01:08:49,696 of a living, breathing rat. 1289 01:08:49,729 --> 01:08:53,500 - Could it be that the man who talked himself out of jail 1290 01:08:53,533 --> 01:08:55,435 talks himself right back in? 1291 01:09:04,344 --> 01:09:06,479 - Was he emotional when he was telling you this? 1292 01:09:06,513 --> 01:09:08,248 - Not at all. - Really? 1293 01:09:08,281 --> 01:09:09,883 - Kind of cold and calculating. 1294 01:09:21,428 --> 01:09:24,264 - Christmastime in Salt Lake City, Utah. 1295 01:09:24,798 --> 01:09:28,034 A sporting goods store. 1296 01:09:28,034 --> 01:09:31,104 An alarm went off, Cops arrived, 1297 01:09:31,137 --> 01:09:34,441 and Detective Jim Prior was called to the police station 1298 01:09:34,474 --> 01:09:38,345 to interview a burglary suspect caught red handed. 1299 01:09:38,378 --> 01:09:40,347 - Seemed like a likable enough kid. 1300 01:09:40,380 --> 01:09:43,083 He'd committed a petty crime, got caught, 1301 01:09:43,116 --> 01:09:45,085 confessed his part in the crime. 1302 01:09:45,118 --> 01:09:47,387 - Seemed personable enough? - Yeah, he did. 1303 01:09:47,420 --> 01:09:49,589 Not adversarial at all. 1304 01:09:49,622 --> 01:09:53,193 - Chatty. Cordial. Cooperative. 1305 01:09:53,226 --> 01:09:56,796 Sound familiar? Well, of course. 1306 01:09:56,830 --> 01:10:01,301 The thief was Duncan Martinez. 1307 01:10:01,334 --> 01:10:04,904 - Did he come off as a criminal, or as a-- 1308 01:10:04,938 --> 01:10:06,373 just a regular guy or what? 1309 01:10:06,406 --> 01:10:09,009 - No, my initial impression was maybe a smart-- 1310 01:10:09,042 --> 01:10:10,343 smart aleck college kid 1311 01:10:10,377 --> 01:10:13,613 who could talk his way out of anything. 1312 01:10:13,646 --> 01:10:17,384 - But Duncan couldn't talk his way out of this one. 1313 01:10:17,417 --> 01:10:21,354 He was headed to jail for a two-bit burglary. 1314 01:10:21,388 --> 01:10:24,624 - After he was interviewed and processed, 1315 01:10:24,657 --> 01:10:26,292 we wanted to confirm his identity, 1316 01:10:26,326 --> 01:10:28,094 and he says, "Well, we can go to my house, 1317 01:10:28,128 --> 01:10:29,629 "and I have my ID there". 1318 01:10:29,662 --> 01:10:31,831 - So they went into Duncan's apartment, 1319 01:10:31,865 --> 01:10:33,266 found his ID, 1320 01:10:33,299 --> 01:10:38,872 and while there, Duncan asked for a small favor. 1321 01:10:38,905 --> 01:10:42,609 - He said, "Hey, can you feed my pet rat?" 1322 01:10:42,642 --> 01:10:45,679 - "Feed my pet rat"? - Yeah. 1323 01:10:45,712 --> 01:10:47,313 And the other officer that was with me, 1324 01:10:47,347 --> 01:10:48,782 we kind of looked at one another and said, 1325 01:10:48,815 --> 01:10:50,183 "Did he really say that?" 1326 01:10:50,216 --> 01:10:52,485 And the kid was accommodating, 1327 01:10:52,519 --> 01:10:54,387 so he wanted to feed his pet rat, 1328 01:10:54,421 --> 01:10:56,623 because he fully expected to be in jail 1329 01:10:56,656 --> 01:10:59,659 and didn't want his poor creature to suffer. 1330 01:10:59,693 --> 01:11:02,495 - So Detective Prior walked over to the cage 1331 01:11:02,529 --> 01:11:04,330 and fed the rat, 1332 01:11:04,364 --> 01:11:06,666 and if he hadn't done that, 1333 01:11:06,700 --> 01:11:10,837 he probably wouldn't have spotted Duncan's day planner 1334 01:11:10,870 --> 01:11:13,340 lying right there. 1335 01:11:13,373 --> 01:11:17,377 and like any good detective, he took a little peek inside... 1336 01:11:17,410 --> 01:11:20,080 - And found a business card. 1337 01:11:20,080 --> 01:11:24,184 It was Detective Rick Jackson, LAPD robbery-homicide unit. 1338 01:11:24,217 --> 01:11:26,920 - Robbery-homicide in L.A. That's a big deal. 1339 01:11:26,953 --> 01:11:28,822 - Well, that's, I guess, the tip of the spear, 1340 01:11:28,855 --> 01:11:30,090 if you will. - Yup. 1341 01:11:30,123 --> 01:11:33,360 - And it made me interested. 1342 01:11:33,393 --> 01:11:37,530 - So interested, he called Detective Jackson. 1343 01:11:37,564 --> 01:11:41,301 - He says, "Do you know a guy named Duncan Martinez?" 1344 01:11:41,334 --> 01:11:44,437 And I said, Yes, I know a guy named Duncan Martinez." 1345 01:11:44,471 --> 01:11:46,106 - And I said, "Is there anything I can help you with?" 1346 01:11:46,139 --> 01:11:50,477 - My mind immediately went to, we can use this. 1347 01:11:50,510 --> 01:11:52,145 We need to get it on tape. 1348 01:11:52,178 --> 01:11:53,980 - Use this? 1349 01:11:54,014 --> 01:11:57,984 This was the excuse Duncan had given the police 1350 01:11:58,018 --> 01:11:59,586 for the burglary. 1351 01:11:59,619 --> 01:12:01,254 - He said, "I only did this 1352 01:12:01,287 --> 01:12:04,724 "because somebody is extorting me, 1353 01:12:04,758 --> 01:12:07,861 "'cause I witnessed somebody get murdered in Los Angeles, 1354 01:12:07,894 --> 01:12:11,398 "and this person that I know 1355 01:12:11,431 --> 01:12:14,901 "told me if I didn't do this burglary for him, 1356 01:12:14,934 --> 01:12:16,436 "then he was gonna tell the police 1357 01:12:16,469 --> 01:12:18,605 "that he knew about my involvement 1358 01:12:18,638 --> 01:12:21,074 in this L.A. thing." - Wow. 1359 01:12:21,074 --> 01:12:23,943 - Everything is done, where we can't use 1360 01:12:23,977 --> 01:12:25,812 what he told us initially against him. 1361 01:12:25,845 --> 01:12:29,082 Well, this broke the rules. - Bingo. 1362 01:12:29,115 --> 01:12:33,653 All Duncan's blabbing just might be his undoing. 1363 01:12:33,687 --> 01:12:37,991 Remember, under the conditions of his "king for a day" deal, 1364 01:12:38,091 --> 01:12:41,528 Duncan couldn't talk to anybody about the case. 1365 01:12:41,561 --> 01:12:46,099 So Jackson called Prior with an idea. 1366 01:12:46,132 --> 01:12:47,167 - You need to call him back. 1367 01:12:47,200 --> 01:12:48,802 Tell him this story's kind of a wild story. 1368 01:12:48,835 --> 01:12:51,771 You're trying to get your mind around exactly what happened, 1369 01:12:51,805 --> 01:12:53,106 and tape record him. 1370 01:12:53,139 --> 01:12:56,009 - By this time, Duncan had bonded out of jail, 1371 01:12:56,109 --> 01:12:57,210 was back home. 1372 01:12:57,243 --> 01:13:01,114 So Detective Prior called him, left a message. 1373 01:13:01,147 --> 01:13:03,783 - And then, lo and behold, he calls me back. 1374 01:13:13,827 --> 01:13:17,397 We started talking about his situation, 1375 01:13:17,430 --> 01:13:19,933 just giving-- I don't want to say fatherly advice. 1376 01:13:19,966 --> 01:13:24,337 - And then, Prior eased into that L.A. murder thing 1377 01:13:24,371 --> 01:13:25,939 Duncan had mentioned. 1378 01:13:39,219 --> 01:13:40,754 - At that point in time, he started to open up 1379 01:13:40,787 --> 01:13:44,090 a little bit, and started telling his story. 1380 01:13:44,090 --> 01:13:46,459 - The whole story: 1381 01:13:46,493 --> 01:13:49,562 How he and Nathan saw a TV show about a kidnapping 1382 01:13:49,596 --> 01:13:51,698 and decided they could do better. 1383 01:13:51,731 --> 01:13:55,669 How they picked the unsuspecting Ron Baker as their victim, 1384 01:13:55,702 --> 01:13:58,538 lured him to the tunnel, where, supposedly, 1385 01:13:58,571 --> 01:14:00,674 Nathan tripped and Ron made a joke, 1386 01:14:00,707 --> 01:14:02,308 and then all hell broke loose. 1387 01:14:14,888 --> 01:14:17,424 - What was it like to hear him spin out that story? 1388 01:14:17,457 --> 01:14:19,759 - I'd interviewed and had taken confessions 1389 01:14:19,793 --> 01:14:22,762 from many people over the years, 1390 01:14:22,796 --> 01:14:25,765 confessed to serious crimes, robberies, homicides, 1391 01:14:25,799 --> 01:14:28,401 sexual assaults, but-- [sighs] 1392 01:14:28,435 --> 01:14:31,171 hearing him say that, for some reason, 1393 01:14:31,204 --> 01:14:34,541 I knew that it wasn't B.S. 1394 01:14:34,574 --> 01:14:36,076 He was really telling the truth, I believe. 1395 01:14:36,076 --> 01:14:38,712 - Yeah. - And it caused me to step back 1396 01:14:38,745 --> 01:14:41,081 and say, "Did I really just hear that?" 1397 01:14:41,114 --> 01:14:43,350 - Was he emotional when he was telling you this? 1398 01:14:43,383 --> 01:14:45,452 - Not at all. - Really? 1399 01:14:45,485 --> 01:14:47,120 - Kind of cold and calculating. 1400 01:14:47,153 --> 01:14:49,956 He didn't seem remorseful at all. 1401 01:14:49,989 --> 01:14:51,958 - Even as he recounted 1402 01:14:51,991 --> 01:14:55,195 Ron's last desperate effort to survive, 1403 01:14:55,228 --> 01:14:59,132 and his own instruction to Nathan. 1404 01:15:07,340 --> 01:15:11,811 - When he told Nathan Blalock to cut Ron Baker's throat. 1405 01:15:11,845 --> 01:15:13,546 - That still makes your hair stand up? 1406 01:15:13,580 --> 01:15:16,049 - It does a little bit, yes, for sure. 1407 01:15:16,049 --> 01:15:17,684 And I'm thinking about it getting shivers. 1408 01:15:17,717 --> 01:15:23,323 - Even now? - Yeah. After 27 years. 1409 01:15:23,356 --> 01:15:26,559 - Soon after, at the L.A. police station, 1410 01:15:26,593 --> 01:15:30,897 Rick Jackson received that precious audiotape. 1411 01:15:30,930 --> 01:15:32,399 - It was like an early Christmas gift, 1412 01:15:32,432 --> 01:15:34,167 and I was thrilled. 1413 01:15:34,200 --> 01:15:37,604 - Duncan had broken the rules of his agreement. 1414 01:15:37,637 --> 01:15:40,840 All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, 1415 01:15:40,874 --> 01:15:42,776 and he did not. 1416 01:15:42,809 --> 01:15:46,579 So now, Duncan Martinez was indicted for the murder, 1417 01:15:46,613 --> 01:15:48,748 just like Nathan Blalock. 1418 01:15:48,782 --> 01:15:51,885 Soon, he'd return home to L.A., 1419 01:15:51,918 --> 01:15:56,356 but this time for trial for the murder of Ron Baker, 1420 01:15:56,389 --> 01:15:59,693 but Duncan Martinez had yet another plan, 1421 01:15:59,726 --> 01:16:02,862 and he intended to go free. 1422 01:16:06,766 --> 01:16:10,770 - Two trials, two verdicts, and one final twist. 1423 01:16:10,804 --> 01:16:14,274 - My heart just sank. - All these years later. 1424 01:16:14,307 --> 01:16:19,145 - To deal with another heartache at the hands of Duncan. 1425 01:16:19,179 --> 01:16:22,182 I'm glad that my parents aren't around to see this. 1426 01:16:35,828 --> 01:16:37,863 - Ron Baker could have been starting his career 1427 01:16:37,896 --> 01:16:38,731 as an astrophysicist 1428 01:16:39,565 --> 01:16:41,567 by the time his roommates went on trial 1429 01:16:41,600 --> 01:16:43,469 for first degree murder, 1430 01:16:43,502 --> 01:16:47,740 a crime so senseless that even as a jury was seated, 1431 01:16:47,773 --> 01:16:50,275 Ron's family and the detectives 1432 01:16:50,309 --> 01:16:53,345 were still struggling to understand. 1433 01:16:53,379 --> 01:16:55,781 - They were separate trials. 1434 01:16:55,814 --> 01:16:59,318 Nathan had the first trial. 1435 01:16:59,351 --> 01:17:02,755 - It was March 1996. 1436 01:17:02,788 --> 01:17:06,759 Nathan's didn't take long, and neither did the verdict. 1437 01:17:06,792 --> 01:17:10,863 - And they came back: guilty. 1438 01:17:10,896 --> 01:17:12,931 - No surprise, 1439 01:17:13,032 --> 01:17:15,668 and the court showed no mercy. 1440 01:17:15,701 --> 01:17:20,906 He was sentenced to life without parole. 1441 01:17:20,939 --> 01:17:23,542 Now, Duncan. 1442 01:17:23,575 --> 01:17:26,779 But before his trial began, because he had helped the cops, 1443 01:17:26,812 --> 01:17:29,548 Duncan was offered a deal, a good one. 1444 01:17:29,581 --> 01:17:31,817 Plead guilty to second degree murder, 1445 01:17:31,850 --> 01:17:37,790 and just maybe walk after around 12 years, 1446 01:17:37,823 --> 01:17:40,626 but it wasn't to be. 1447 01:17:40,659 --> 01:17:42,461 - He basically gave us the middle finger 1448 01:17:42,494 --> 01:17:44,697 and said, "No, I want less." 1449 01:17:44,730 --> 01:17:46,065 - "I want a better deal." 1450 01:17:46,065 --> 01:17:48,867 - "I wanna go on probation or I want seven years or whatever." 1451 01:17:48,901 --> 01:17:50,636 That wasn't in the cards. 1452 01:17:50,669 --> 01:17:53,772 - So Duncan put on his best behavior 1453 01:17:53,806 --> 01:17:56,408 and took his shot in court. 1454 01:17:56,442 --> 01:17:59,178 The defense made the arguments of a man 1455 01:17:59,211 --> 01:18:02,247 who'd had the confidence to turn down a deal, 1456 01:18:02,281 --> 01:18:06,785 insisted Duncan didn't kill Ron, that was Nathan, 1457 01:18:06,819 --> 01:18:09,021 and without Duncan's help, they said, 1458 01:18:09,021 --> 01:18:12,291 the cops would never have cracked the case. 1459 01:18:12,324 --> 01:18:17,496 Except, remember that story about watching "Dragnet" 1460 01:18:17,529 --> 01:18:20,733 and actually planning the crime? 1461 01:18:20,766 --> 01:18:23,802 And how in that dark tunnel, 1462 01:18:23,836 --> 01:18:26,138 while their victim struggled to survive, 1463 01:18:26,171 --> 01:18:30,709 it was Duncan who gave the order to finish him off? 1464 01:18:30,743 --> 01:18:34,213 Which the jury could not ignore. 1465 01:18:34,246 --> 01:18:37,750 - It was less than it took for Nathan's jury to come back, 1466 01:18:37,783 --> 01:18:42,154 and he was convicted for the same thing. 1467 01:18:42,187 --> 01:18:44,423 - Guilty of first degree murder, 1468 01:18:44,456 --> 01:18:46,358 sentenced to life without parole. 1469 01:18:46,392 --> 01:18:49,261 He had made his choice, no deal, 1470 01:18:49,294 --> 01:18:51,864 and he'd paid the price. 1471 01:18:51,897 --> 01:18:53,132 - I wasn't surprised at all 1472 01:18:53,165 --> 01:18:55,734 in the fact that he'd turned down a second degree murder. 1473 01:18:55,768 --> 01:18:57,536 He would have been out by now. 1474 01:18:57,569 --> 01:18:59,071 - So, he made his bed. 1475 01:18:59,071 --> 01:19:00,572 He should just have to lie in it now? 1476 01:19:00,606 --> 01:19:01,774 - That's the way I feel. 1477 01:19:01,807 --> 01:19:04,643 - But he would kill his best friend just for a thrill? 1478 01:19:04,677 --> 01:19:07,813 - It happens. There's no explanation for it, 1479 01:19:07,846 --> 01:19:11,016 and maybe it's back to the madness of two. 1480 01:19:11,016 --> 01:19:13,852 Together, they created this, 1481 01:19:13,886 --> 01:19:15,421 and that's what the jury felt, 1482 01:19:15,454 --> 01:19:18,057 based on the evidence that was put forward to them. 1483 01:19:18,090 --> 01:19:21,026 To do something like this to a friend, in this case, 1484 01:19:21,026 --> 01:19:22,561 that's exactly what happened, 1485 01:19:22,594 --> 01:19:25,631 and he didn't stop it, and he could have. 1486 01:19:25,664 --> 01:19:28,300 - I tell myself, had it not been for Martinez, 1487 01:19:28,334 --> 01:19:30,035 Baker would have never been dead. 1488 01:19:30,069 --> 01:19:32,371 When you put the two personalities together, 1489 01:19:32,404 --> 01:19:34,673 Blalock and Martinez, 1490 01:19:34,707 --> 01:19:39,311 now you got the dynamite and the fuse. 1491 01:19:39,345 --> 01:19:43,248 - Duncan and Nathan were both sent away, 1492 01:19:43,282 --> 01:19:45,684 destined to die in prison, 1493 01:19:45,718 --> 01:19:51,890 and nearly 25 years went by, young men to hard core lifers. 1494 01:19:51,924 --> 01:19:54,059 Ron's parents died. 1495 01:19:54,093 --> 01:19:56,228 Sister Patty married, had two children. 1496 01:19:56,261 --> 01:19:59,565 Detectives Jackson and Garcia retired. 1497 01:20:04,670 --> 01:20:08,107 And then, one June evening in 2020, 1498 01:20:08,140 --> 01:20:10,776 right around the summer solstice... 1499 01:20:10,809 --> 01:20:13,345 - So I'm sitting, scrolling through Facebook, 1500 01:20:13,379 --> 01:20:15,547 and somebody posted an article 1501 01:20:15,581 --> 01:20:19,852 about the governor pardoning and commuting a bunch of people, 1502 01:20:19,885 --> 01:20:23,555 which, sure enough, I see Duncan Martinez, age 50, 1503 01:20:23,589 --> 01:20:26,725 and, you know, my heart just sank. 1504 01:20:26,759 --> 01:20:28,193 - Her heart sank, 1505 01:20:28,227 --> 01:20:31,330 because Duncan's sentence had been commuted, 1506 01:20:31,363 --> 01:20:34,166 making him eligible for parole, 1507 01:20:34,199 --> 01:20:37,002 and nobody had notified Patty. 1508 01:20:37,036 --> 01:20:40,039 Later, she saw the commutation letter from the governor, 1509 01:20:40,072 --> 01:20:40,973 which said... 1510 01:20:53,218 --> 01:20:55,788 - I know there's a pressure to release inmates, 1511 01:20:55,821 --> 01:20:57,523 but there are a lot more types of inmates 1512 01:20:57,556 --> 01:20:58,524 that could be released 1513 01:20:58,557 --> 01:21:01,593 than people that have committed murders. 1514 01:21:01,627 --> 01:21:03,062 - But he has been a model prisoner. 1515 01:21:03,062 --> 01:21:05,097 You know, he's behaved. He's obeyed the rules. 1516 01:21:05,130 --> 01:21:08,367 He's-- maybe he's schmoozed a few people, too, along the way, 1517 01:21:08,400 --> 01:21:10,803 but he's not done anything bad, 1518 01:21:10,836 --> 01:21:14,273 and had he made a deal, 1519 01:21:14,306 --> 01:21:15,874 he would have been out a long time ago. 1520 01:21:15,908 --> 01:21:18,744 - Right. - So why not? 1521 01:21:18,777 --> 01:21:20,946 - And it comes back to the victim. 1522 01:21:20,979 --> 01:21:25,484 A nice kid, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly kind of person. 1523 01:21:25,517 --> 01:21:29,855 He never got a chance to be a good, productive citizen. 1524 01:21:29,888 --> 01:21:34,960 - Nevertheless, December 8th, 2020, 1525 01:21:34,993 --> 01:21:37,796 Rick Jackson and Patty Baker met 1526 01:21:37,830 --> 01:21:40,766 to watch and participate via livestream 1527 01:21:40,799 --> 01:21:43,302 in a formal parole hearing. 1528 01:21:43,335 --> 01:21:46,972 - He looks old, doesn't he? - Yeah. 1529 01:21:47,006 --> 01:21:50,376 - The parole board would not let us record the proceedings, 1530 01:21:50,409 --> 01:21:52,644 but they did provide a few pictures 1531 01:21:52,678 --> 01:21:54,980 of the man who came before them. 1532 01:21:55,014 --> 01:21:57,116 Duncan is 50 now. 1533 01:21:57,116 --> 01:22:01,086 His hair's turned gray. He's gained a few pounds. 1534 01:22:01,120 --> 01:22:05,391 Patty tried to stay calm as she prepared to watch. 1535 01:22:05,424 --> 01:22:08,293 - Well, my anxiety is pretty high. 1536 01:22:08,327 --> 01:22:10,496 There's that doubt in the back of my mind. 1537 01:22:10,529 --> 01:22:12,197 What if? - It's a wild card, 1538 01:22:12,231 --> 01:22:14,633 and who knows what Duncan will say today? 1539 01:22:14,667 --> 01:22:17,136 He can be a charming guy. He's engaging. 1540 01:22:17,169 --> 01:22:20,072 He's always used it for his benefit 1541 01:22:20,072 --> 01:22:23,475 and to manipulate others. 1542 01:22:23,509 --> 01:22:27,212 - Duncan, talkative as always, addressed the board. 1543 01:22:27,246 --> 01:22:29,448 Said he was deeply remorseful, 1544 01:22:29,481 --> 01:22:31,750 that he took responsibility for what happened, 1545 01:22:31,784 --> 01:22:34,286 that he was a terrible person back then, 1546 01:22:34,319 --> 01:22:36,722 but now was a changed man. 1547 01:22:36,755 --> 01:22:40,292 Low risk of violence, said a prison report. 1548 01:22:40,325 --> 01:22:42,928 Patty and Rick spoke up too. 1549 01:22:42,961 --> 01:22:45,597 They implored the panel to keep Duncan, 1550 01:22:45,631 --> 01:22:48,400 a master manipulator, locked up forever, 1551 01:22:48,434 --> 01:22:52,137 just as the jury ruled he should be all those years ago. 1552 01:22:52,171 --> 01:22:55,541 - It's not life with parole. It's life without parole. 1553 01:22:58,744 --> 01:23:02,281 - Then, as Duncan waited patiently inside the prison, 1554 01:23:02,314 --> 01:23:05,884 the panel spoke privately to discuss his fate. 1555 01:23:05,918 --> 01:23:08,053 Keep him where he is, locked up, 1556 01:23:08,087 --> 01:23:10,389 or release him? 1557 01:23:10,422 --> 01:23:15,661 It took less than 30 minutes, and then three little words: 1558 01:23:15,694 --> 01:23:18,097 "Suitable for parole." 1559 01:23:27,072 --> 01:23:28,107 - It's a gut punch, 1560 01:23:28,140 --> 01:23:32,177 mostly because it's a worse gut punch to Patty. 1561 01:23:32,211 --> 01:23:34,480 - I'm disappointed in our system, 1562 01:23:34,513 --> 01:23:37,816 and I'm glad that my parents aren't around to see this, 1563 01:23:37,850 --> 01:23:43,655 to deal with another heartache at the hands of Duncan. 1564 01:23:43,689 --> 01:23:46,759 - Duncan told us he couldn't comment just now, 1565 01:23:46,792 --> 01:23:49,328 but his attorney gave us this statement, 1566 01:23:49,361 --> 01:23:53,132 saying Martinez takes responsibility for his actions, 1567 01:23:53,165 --> 01:23:54,433 is remorseful, 1568 01:23:54,466 --> 01:23:57,603 has done all he can to rehabilitate himself in prison 1569 01:23:57,636 --> 01:24:01,607 and earned the right to be released. 1570 01:24:01,640 --> 01:24:05,244 But we wondered, why did Duncan get a shot at parole 1571 01:24:05,277 --> 01:24:06,712 and not Nathan? 1572 01:24:06,745 --> 01:24:08,614 Well, for one thing, 1573 01:24:08,647 --> 01:24:12,618 Nathan didn't apply back in 2017 when Duncan did, 1574 01:24:12,651 --> 01:24:15,354 so his case was not considered, 1575 01:24:15,387 --> 01:24:17,089 though he has applied now, 1576 01:24:17,122 --> 01:24:19,358 and it's gone to the governor's office, 1577 01:24:19,391 --> 01:24:21,960 which is not releasing details. 1578 01:24:22,061 --> 01:24:24,396 We asked Nathan himself 1579 01:24:24,430 --> 01:24:27,433 if he had some sort of comment to make. 1580 01:24:27,466 --> 01:24:29,535 And he wrote back this letter, 1581 01:24:29,568 --> 01:24:32,071 which we showed Patty. 1582 01:24:32,104 --> 01:24:33,505 - "What started as an accident 1583 01:24:33,539 --> 01:24:36,875 "became a nightmare for so many. 1584 01:24:36,909 --> 01:24:39,511 "I can't ask the Baker family for forgiveness. 1585 01:24:39,545 --> 01:24:43,449 "It is up to them to determine if I'll ever earn that right." 1586 01:24:46,518 --> 01:24:49,688 I'm glad he took accountability 1587 01:24:49,722 --> 01:24:51,423 for his actions. 1588 01:24:51,457 --> 01:24:53,392 It still doesn't bring my brother back. 1589 01:24:53,425 --> 01:24:56,395 It still doesn't change what either of them did. 1590 01:24:56,428 --> 01:24:59,798 - What they did. 1591 01:24:59,832 --> 01:25:02,234 The madness of two. 1592 01:25:02,267 --> 01:25:05,838 Nathan Blalock is still serving his life sentence, 1593 01:25:05,871 --> 01:25:08,774 but Duncan Martinez? 1594 01:25:08,807 --> 01:25:14,446 In April of 2021, Duncan was released on parole, 1595 01:25:14,480 --> 01:25:18,951 just in time for the summer solstice. 1596 01:25:22,688 --> 01:25:23,722 - That's all for this edition 1597 01:25:23,756 --> 01:25:25,891 of "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered." 1598 01:25:25,924 --> 01:25:28,961 I'm Kate Snow. Thank you for watching.