1 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,233 [ominous music playing] 2 00:00:13,166 --> 00:00:17,100 [narrator] Up next, a family mourns in unexpected death... 3 00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:20,200 [Julie] They came to the conclusion, she fell off the step-stool 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,166 and ruled it accidental. 5 00:00:23,166 --> 00:00:26,066 [narrator] But some things about the scene don't add up. 6 00:00:26,066 --> 00:00:28,200 Was it as it appeared initially 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,166 or is there something else going on? 8 00:00:30,166 --> 00:00:34,367 [narrator] Local police assured everyone, there is no foul play. 9 00:00:34,367 --> 00:00:36,667 A grieving family disagrees. 10 00:00:36,667 --> 00:00:39,867 They hired a private investigator to take a second look. 11 00:00:39,867 --> 00:00:43,166 [narrator] And he finds that quiet, rural neighborhoods 12 00:00:43,166 --> 00:00:46,266 can harbor some very dark secrets. 13 00:00:46,266 --> 00:00:48,266 [Don] They'd only been there for a few months 14 00:00:48,266 --> 00:00:49,834 their finger pointed straight at him. 15 00:00:52,867 --> 00:00:55,033 [theme music playing] 16 00:01:10,967 --> 00:01:14,867 [narrator] Michigan is divided into the upper and lower peninsulas, 17 00:01:14,867 --> 00:01:18,667 the lower peninsula is famous for being shaped like a mitten. 18 00:01:18,667 --> 00:01:20,867 The tiny village of Hubbardston, 19 00:01:20,867 --> 00:01:23,266 home to less than 500 people, 20 00:01:23,266 --> 00:01:25,133 sits right in the middle of it. 21 00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:27,600 It's a very close-knit community, 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,500 they all kind of know each other. 23 00:01:29,500 --> 00:01:31,467 I love the town Hubbardston. 24 00:01:31,467 --> 00:01:36,066 [narrator] For all her 80 years, Hubbardston was home to Bernita Cunningham. 25 00:01:36,066 --> 00:01:39,166 The mother of seven and grandmother of ten 26 00:01:39,166 --> 00:01:41,500 was known to everyone as Billie. 27 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:43,467 [Tim] Mom and Dad went to school together 28 00:01:43,467 --> 00:01:45,700 and, then, after Dad got back from the service, 29 00:01:45,700 --> 00:01:48,367 he was in World War II in the South Pacific. 30 00:01:48,367 --> 00:01:53,700 They ended up getting married and my Mom lived in the house he whole life. 31 00:01:53,700 --> 00:01:55,667 We always called it the good side of town. 32 00:01:56,066 --> 00:01:57,600 [scoffs] 33 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,166 [narrator] In 2006, Billie had been widowed for 17 years. 34 00:02:02,166 --> 00:02:05,467 She was notorious for being a creature of habit. 35 00:02:05,467 --> 00:02:08,467 [Don] She did the very same thing on every day of the week, 36 00:02:08,467 --> 00:02:11,266 every Tuesday she'd do this, every Wednesday she'd do this 37 00:02:11,266 --> 00:02:15,367 and, uh, it wouldn't take long for you to pattern her in Hubbardston 38 00:02:15,367 --> 00:02:18,700 where there's almost zero crime goes on. 39 00:02:18,700 --> 00:02:20,266 [narrator] So, on November 30th, 40 00:02:20,266 --> 00:02:22,867 when there was a break in Billie's routine, 41 00:02:22,867 --> 00:02:24,967 her next-door neighbors noticed. 42 00:02:24,967 --> 00:02:28,000 She didn't come over for an afternoon cup of coffee, 43 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,700 which she did every day. 44 00:02:30,700 --> 00:02:35,467 And that night they noticed yet another break in Billie's routine. 45 00:02:35,467 --> 00:02:36,767 [Julie] One of them got up in the middle of the night 46 00:02:36,767 --> 00:02:38,467 and they noticed the lights were on. 47 00:02:38,467 --> 00:02:40,700 Like, at 2:00 or 3:00 o'clock in the morning. 48 00:02:40,700 --> 00:02:43,500 And they thought, "Oh, Billie must not be sleeping well." 49 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:47,500 In the morning, the curtains were open. 50 00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:49,100 She wasn't sitting at the dining room table 51 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:50,600 where she should have been at that time, 52 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,600 having her coffee and saying her prayers. 53 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:54,166 And that was suspicious. 54 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,500 [Michael] So, they called Billie's son Bill Cunningham 55 00:02:59,500 --> 00:03:02,867 who lived just a couple miles down the road 56 00:03:02,867 --> 00:03:06,000 and suggested, he come and check on his mother, so he did 57 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,934 and Bill and the neighbor went into the house together and found Billie dead. 58 00:03:12,767 --> 00:03:15,500 [narrator] Billie was lying face-down in the foyer. 59 00:03:15,500 --> 00:03:17,367 It looked as if she'd met her death 60 00:03:17,367 --> 00:03:20,300 after accidentally falling off a step-stool 61 00:03:20,300 --> 00:03:23,000 while hanging a Christmas decoration. 62 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,166 [Don] They said she hit a very large mirror, shattered it on the floor. 63 00:03:27,867 --> 00:03:29,400 Then she went down on the floor 64 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,700 and, uh, laid there 65 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:36,300 and probably moved around quite a bit which caused a lot more cuts to take place. 66 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:40,166 [narrator] The circumstances of Billie's death were clearly unusual. 67 00:03:40,166 --> 00:03:44,500 Local police, who had little to no experience investigating murders, 68 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:47,867 believed the possibility of foul play was unlikely. 69 00:03:47,867 --> 00:03:51,567 But, to be sure, they still called for an autopsy. 70 00:03:52,066 --> 00:03:53,367 [Stephen] In Michigan, 71 00:03:53,367 --> 00:03:57,266 the law really doesn't absolutely require autopsy in any cases, 72 00:03:57,266 --> 00:04:00,867 it's always up to the decision of the local medical examiner 73 00:04:00,867 --> 00:04:02,600 and then, hopefully, but not always, 74 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,667 a forensic pathologist to do the case. 75 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:11,166 [narrator] This autopsy officially ruled Billie's case an accidental death. 76 00:04:11,166 --> 00:04:15,100 She had trauma to her neck and some fractured bones in her face. 77 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:19,200 The pathologist said this damage and the blood at the scene 78 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,767 resulted from Billie smashing into the mirror before she hit the floor. 79 00:04:23,767 --> 00:04:25,100 [Julie] After they found out she was diabetic, 80 00:04:25,100 --> 00:04:28,567 they came to the conclusion, she fell off the step-stool. 81 00:04:28,567 --> 00:04:30,266 They ruled it accidental. 82 00:04:30,266 --> 00:04:34,567 They said that she probably had a diabetic spell 83 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,600 and fell. 84 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,000 [narrator] Billie's family wasn't so sure. 85 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,767 After the scene was processed and Billie's body removed, 86 00:04:43,767 --> 00:04:45,767 they were let into the house 87 00:04:45,767 --> 00:04:48,000 and immediately grew concerned. 88 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,133 [Julie] My Mom was very organized. 89 00:04:51,066 --> 00:04:52,767 The house was always spotless. 90 00:04:53,867 --> 00:04:56,467 [Don] Julie and several people 91 00:04:56,467 --> 00:05:02,166 described Billie to me as being very, uh, organized. 92 00:05:02,166 --> 00:05:05,867 Everything is going to be in the exact place, she's very neat. 93 00:05:05,867 --> 00:05:09,834 Uh, and she's really, um, anal about that type of things. 94 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:12,500 [narrator] So, it didn't make sense 95 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:15,567 that a lot of things were out of place in rooms 96 00:05:15,567 --> 00:05:18,400 far away from where Billie's body was found. 97 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,367 [Tim] We noticed some things that weren't correct. 98 00:05:21,367 --> 00:05:24,700 Just some things that were just not characteristic 99 00:05:24,700 --> 00:05:26,166 of how Mom would have kept her house, 100 00:05:26,166 --> 00:05:29,567 some chairs tipped over and some things like that. 101 00:05:29,567 --> 00:05:31,300 [narrator] The question now was 102 00:05:31,300 --> 00:05:34,200 if this was not an accidental death, 103 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,166 was there any way to prove it? 104 00:05:37,867 --> 00:05:39,200 [theme music playing] 105 00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:50,900 [narrator] Hubbardston, Michigan sees very little violent crime, 106 00:05:50,900 --> 00:05:55,266 so, when Billie Cunningham's death was officially ruled an accident, 107 00:05:55,266 --> 00:05:57,767 townspeople didn't give it a second thought, 108 00:05:57,767 --> 00:05:59,767 but Billie's family did. 109 00:05:59,767 --> 00:06:01,734 People in town didn't wanna believe... 110 00:06:02,867 --> 00:06:04,867 that Mom was murdered. 111 00:06:04,867 --> 00:06:06,634 Couldn't happen in their little town. 112 00:06:07,467 --> 00:06:08,767 No, it had to be an accident. 113 00:06:08,767 --> 00:06:10,333 They didn't wanna believe that... 114 00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:12,567 she was murdered. 115 00:06:12,567 --> 00:06:14,367 [narrators] The family didn't just conjure up 116 00:06:14,367 --> 00:06:16,600 this murder theory out of thin air, 117 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,367 as they did their own post-mortem examination of Billie's house, 118 00:06:20,367 --> 00:06:22,367 they noticed all sorts of things 119 00:06:22,367 --> 00:06:24,700 that simply didn't make sense. 120 00:06:24,700 --> 00:06:27,667 The contents of a care-package Billie was preparing 121 00:06:27,667 --> 00:06:31,600 for a great-nephew serving in the military were all over the place. 122 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:32,900 And everybody says, 123 00:06:32,900 --> 00:06:34,867 "No way... would Billie, 124 00:06:34,867 --> 00:06:37,533 uh, leave something that, like that laying on the floor." 125 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:42,900 [narrator] Perhaps, most disturbing 126 00:06:42,900 --> 00:06:47,200 was the finding of a family heirloom shattered against one of the walls. 127 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,867 A Christmas Santa Claus statue was broken, 128 00:06:50,867 --> 00:06:54,700 a piece of it was 22 feet away in an opposite room 129 00:06:54,700 --> 00:06:57,367 [narrator] And this statue shattered with such force 130 00:06:57,367 --> 00:07:00,333 that it left a fist-size dent in the wall. 131 00:07:01,467 --> 00:07:02,634 [Brian] Where she was found 132 00:07:02,634 --> 00:07:05,166 or where she would have fallen, if that were to happen, 133 00:07:05,166 --> 00:07:08,166 that Christmas decoration wouldn't have gotten around the corner 134 00:07:08,166 --> 00:07:11,266 and hit the other side of the, the living room. 135 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,567 [narrator] But it was some missing money that convinced Billie's family 136 00:07:18,567 --> 00:07:22,800 that police didn't realize they were dealing with a potential murder. 137 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,266 [Julie] We go back to her bedroom where she kept her purse 138 00:07:25,266 --> 00:07:29,100 and I started going through her wallet and there was no money. 139 00:07:29,100 --> 00:07:34,667 Mom always kept a $100 bill in her... Hidden in her wallet for emergencies 140 00:07:34,667 --> 00:07:37,000 that my Dad made her do that, early on. 141 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,667 And there wasn't any there. 142 00:07:38,667 --> 00:07:40,166 Just some loose change. 143 00:07:40,900 --> 00:07:44,367 And I said, "Uh, something's up here." 144 00:07:44,367 --> 00:07:47,900 [narrator] Despite an official ruling that there was no foul play, 145 00:07:47,900 --> 00:07:51,467 Billie's family was convinced, she'd been attacked 146 00:07:51,467 --> 00:07:56,266 and the scene may have been staged to make it look like it was an accident. 147 00:07:56,266 --> 00:07:59,667 We had, uh, a cousin that was a retired state trooper, 148 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:01,767 we told him what we had found 149 00:08:01,767 --> 00:08:05,266 and he said, "Well, you really need to get a private detective 150 00:08:05,266 --> 00:08:06,200 involved in this." 151 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,734 And, and at that point we, we did. 152 00:08:09,567 --> 00:08:10,767 [narrator] Don Brookes, 153 00:08:10,767 --> 00:08:14,166 a 25-year-veteran of the Michigan State Police 154 00:08:14,166 --> 00:08:17,467 and a Private Investigator for 15 years 155 00:08:17,467 --> 00:08:22,000 was well-known and respected by law enforcement all across the state 156 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,700 and after examining photos of the scene, 157 00:08:24,700 --> 00:08:27,367 he reached his own preliminary conclusion 158 00:08:27,367 --> 00:08:29,867 about how Billie Cunningham died. 159 00:08:29,867 --> 00:08:32,467 Based on what the family told me, 160 00:08:32,467 --> 00:08:34,200 based on what the evidence I've seen 161 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,567 and based on the amount of blood and the amount of injuries, 162 00:08:37,567 --> 00:08:41,100 I would have treated it like a homicide from day one. 163 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:44,100 [narrator] And as he started asking questions, 164 00:08:44,100 --> 00:08:47,900 he uncovered some potentially disturbing information. 165 00:08:47,900 --> 00:08:52,166 It turned out that Billie Cunningham was herself worried 166 00:08:52,166 --> 00:08:56,166 that she might come to harm in the days before she died. 167 00:08:56,166 --> 00:08:59,900 I learned that Bernita Cunningham, Billie, 168 00:08:59,900 --> 00:09:04,066 um, had a certain amount of fear for a couple of kids in the town there. 169 00:09:05,367 --> 00:09:07,100 [narrator] In the original investigation, 170 00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:09,467 these teenagers had been questioned 171 00:09:09,467 --> 00:09:12,367 and eliminated as potential suspects. 172 00:09:12,367 --> 00:09:18,367 Now, the people involved in this new, technically unofficial, investigation, 173 00:09:18,367 --> 00:09:20,266 wanted to re-interview them. 174 00:09:20,266 --> 00:09:24,867 But these unofficial investigators found themselves in a tough spot. 175 00:09:24,867 --> 00:09:26,367 [Don] As a private investigator, 176 00:09:26,367 --> 00:09:28,667 I do not want to cross the line 177 00:09:28,667 --> 00:09:30,467 and interfere with anything the investigate-- 178 00:09:30,467 --> 00:09:32,166 police investigation going at the time 179 00:09:32,166 --> 00:09:36,166 'cause I know if any of the investigations I did when I was running these... 180 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:38,867 Um, as a detective, 181 00:09:38,867 --> 00:09:41,467 uh, I'd have been a little bit ticked off. 182 00:09:41,467 --> 00:09:45,100 [narrator] But when the Michigan State Police took their own look at the case, 183 00:09:45,100 --> 00:09:46,767 they reached the same conclusion 184 00:09:46,767 --> 00:09:49,800 as Don Brookes and Billie Cunningham's family. 185 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:53,266 It was clear that there was violence at the time of her death, 186 00:09:53,266 --> 00:09:55,767 I believed we had a homicide. 187 00:09:55,767 --> 00:09:59,767 [narrator] But if Billie was murdered, who had a motive to kill her? 188 00:09:59,767 --> 00:10:04,367 This, after all, was an elderly woman with no known enemies 189 00:10:04,367 --> 00:10:07,734 in a town that saw almost no violent crime. 190 00:10:09,667 --> 00:10:11,133 [theme music playing] 191 00:10:18,867 --> 00:10:21,000 [narrator] After weeks of official and unofficial investigations 192 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:24,400 into the circumstances of Billie Cunningham's death, 193 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,400 Michigan State Police became convinced, she'd been murdered. 194 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:30,300 The question, now, was proving it 195 00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:33,200 and some serious obstacles were in the way. 196 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,100 There wasn't a lot of evidence at the time, 197 00:10:35,100 --> 00:10:38,767 we had some pretty good photographs from the scene, the day of. 198 00:10:38,767 --> 00:10:41,467 Lot of it was circumstantial evidence up until that point. 199 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,266 [narrator] One of the biggest problems, 200 00:10:44,266 --> 00:10:46,867 after Billie's death was ruled an accident, 201 00:10:46,867 --> 00:10:52,467 her house had been cleaned by a company that specialized in cleaning crime scenes 202 00:10:52,467 --> 00:10:54,066 and they were very thorough. 203 00:10:54,066 --> 00:10:57,467 Now, keep in mind, the crime scene clean-up crew had been there already 204 00:10:57,467 --> 00:10:58,734 and cleaned up the home. 205 00:11:00,867 --> 00:11:02,233 [narrator] Another problem, 206 00:11:02,233 --> 00:11:06,767 the original autopsy which, despite Billie's considerable injuries, 207 00:11:06,767 --> 00:11:11,867 was conducted by a general pathologist, not a forensic pathologist. 208 00:11:11,867 --> 00:11:14,300 This turned out to be a crucial distinction 209 00:11:14,300 --> 00:11:18,967 in what was now looking less and less like an accidental death. 210 00:11:18,967 --> 00:11:22,667 [Don] We had a doctor who was not a forensic pathologist, 211 00:11:22,667 --> 00:11:26,300 he was going right along with what the, uh, the sheriff detective... 212 00:11:26,300 --> 00:11:29,066 "This kinda thing doesn't happen around here 213 00:11:29,066 --> 00:11:35,000 and let's see how we can, uh, justify these injuries from the, the crime scene." 214 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:36,066 And that's what they did. 215 00:11:38,867 --> 00:11:40,867 [narrator] Even worse for investigators, 216 00:11:40,867 --> 00:11:45,000 Billie Cunningham had been embalmed and had been buried for weeks 217 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:49,867 and investigators had already talked to everyone in this small town 218 00:11:49,867 --> 00:11:52,500 who had any interaction with Billie Cunningham. 219 00:11:52,500 --> 00:11:57,266 Early on in the investigation, we had, probably, 30 or 35 persons of interest 220 00:11:57,266 --> 00:11:59,500 that we felt necessary to rule out. 221 00:11:59,500 --> 00:12:02,834 [narrator] But one potential suspect still stood out. 222 00:12:03,467 --> 00:12:04,867 Just before her death, 223 00:12:04,867 --> 00:12:07,867 Billie Cunningham became concerned about a young man 224 00:12:07,867 --> 00:12:10,967 who had recently moved in just across the street from her. 225 00:12:10,967 --> 00:12:13,567 [Brian] Justin Stephens was originally from Texas. 226 00:12:13,567 --> 00:12:16,300 The family he was living with up here in Michigan, 227 00:12:16,300 --> 00:12:19,266 he had met while they were living in Texas. 228 00:12:19,266 --> 00:12:21,367 He ended up dating one of the girls of the family 229 00:12:21,367 --> 00:12:22,967 and he moved up to Michigan with them 230 00:12:22,967 --> 00:12:25,133 and they were living across the street... 231 00:12:25,867 --> 00:12:27,266 from where the incident happened. 232 00:12:28,567 --> 00:12:29,834 [Michael] He was unemployed 233 00:12:29,834 --> 00:12:34,767 but, suddenly, Justin was known to be in possession of about $100 234 00:12:34,767 --> 00:12:35,934 near the time of the crime. 235 00:12:36,667 --> 00:12:38,266 [narrator] He was 17-years-old, 236 00:12:38,266 --> 00:12:42,600 and had apparently interacted with Billie Cunningham shortly before her death. 237 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,467 [Michael] Billie Cunningham went to the neighbors for coffee, 238 00:12:45,467 --> 00:12:50,567 and mentioned to them that, "The neighbor boy came over to my house this morning, 239 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,567 asked if he could borrow a phone, 240 00:12:53,567 --> 00:12:55,934 and offered to help me put up Christmas decorations." 241 00:12:56,867 --> 00:12:58,367 [narrator] Billie told her neighbors 242 00:12:58,367 --> 00:13:01,066 she didn't want this young man in her house. 243 00:13:01,066 --> 00:13:03,767 So, she handed him her landline phone 244 00:13:03,767 --> 00:13:07,166 and insisted he make the call from the foyer. 245 00:13:07,166 --> 00:13:12,400 But phone records showed no call from Billie's phone during this time period. 246 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,200 It looked as if Justin faked needing to make a phone call 247 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,867 so he could get inside Billie's house. 248 00:13:18,867 --> 00:13:21,767 [Michael] We were able to determine that with a strong likelihood 249 00:13:21,767 --> 00:13:26,600 that Justin's knocking on Billie's door that morning was a ruse. 250 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,600 So, my theory was that he had cased the house that morning. 251 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,567 I was able to pull phone records for her landline for that date 252 00:13:34,567 --> 00:13:37,567 and we determined that there were no outgoing phone calls that day. 253 00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:56,100 [narrator] Even more concerning, 254 00:13:56,100 --> 00:13:58,667 a background check on Justin Stephens 255 00:13:58,667 --> 00:14:01,200 revealed some disturbing information. 256 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,100 [Michael] Justin Stephens had quite a criminal history, 257 00:14:04,100 --> 00:14:06,467 almost all of them were burglary. 258 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:08,567 One was an assault. 259 00:14:09,867 --> 00:14:14,400 So his criminal history fed into the theory 260 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,033 that he had burglarized Billie's home and assaulted her. 261 00:14:18,767 --> 00:14:21,667 [narrator] In the story, Justin was telling detectives 262 00:14:21,667 --> 00:14:24,500 that Billie had invited him into her house, 263 00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:27,667 made no sense to anyone who knew her. 264 00:14:27,667 --> 00:14:30,867 Well, that in itself, it is a red flag for me. 265 00:14:30,867 --> 00:14:34,667 A teenage boy offering to help an 80-year-old woman hang Christmas decorations... 266 00:14:35,367 --> 00:14:36,567 I considered abnormal. 267 00:14:41,867 --> 00:14:43,834 [theme music playing] 268 00:14:50,567 --> 00:14:53,100 [narrator] Once Michigan investigators concluded 269 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:55,567 that Billie Cunningham had been murdered, 270 00:14:55,567 --> 00:14:58,467 all roads led to Justin Stephens 271 00:14:58,467 --> 00:15:01,367 but detectives had no physical evidence, 272 00:15:01,367 --> 00:15:03,100 until they got an incredible, 273 00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:06,767 and as far as they knew, unprecedented break. 274 00:15:06,767 --> 00:15:10,100 The company that cleaned the scene after Billie's death, 275 00:15:10,100 --> 00:15:13,567 was in the business of cleaning crime scenes. 276 00:15:13,567 --> 00:15:17,367 Despite local police telling them they were cleaning up an accident, 277 00:15:17,367 --> 00:15:21,000 this cleaning crew had seen a lot of crime scenes 278 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,867 and they weren't so sure. 279 00:15:22,867 --> 00:15:25,700 The people that came to do the clean-up, 280 00:15:25,700 --> 00:15:29,033 also voiced their opinion that there's something not right here. 281 00:15:29,567 --> 00:15:30,967 [narrator] And, so, 282 00:15:30,967 --> 00:15:34,467 this cleaning company kept some items from Billie's house in storage 283 00:15:34,467 --> 00:15:38,767 on the off-chance they might get a call from investigators 284 00:15:38,767 --> 00:15:40,367 which is exactly what happened. 285 00:15:41,100 --> 00:15:43,533 I contacted those people at that time 286 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:45,300 and, uh, talked to them 287 00:15:45,300 --> 00:15:48,300 and they said, "We're kind of glad to hear from you." 288 00:15:48,300 --> 00:15:52,166 And they said, "We're not buying that, she had way too mirror injuries 289 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,200 for what, you know, the scene showed. 290 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,367 There is a massive amount of blood and it was over a very, very large area." 291 00:15:59,367 --> 00:16:03,767 [narrator] In this crime scene clean-up company's unofficial evidence locker 292 00:16:03,767 --> 00:16:06,800 detectives found parts of the shattered mirror. 293 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:09,066 Six hairs were pulled from that wall mirror, 294 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:15,867 five of which were determined to be grey and female. 295 00:16:15,867 --> 00:16:18,700 There's an assumption that most of those were probably Billie's hairs, 296 00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:22,467 but one hair was an animal hair. 297 00:16:22,467 --> 00:16:26,767 [Brian] The people that Justin was living with across the street had dogs. 298 00:16:26,767 --> 00:16:30,867 Uh, me and Detective Morey traveled to their house where they had moved to 299 00:16:30,867 --> 00:16:34,033 and obtained samples from those two dogs that they had. 300 00:16:35,967 --> 00:16:39,767 There was packages and something, you see, there was her DNA testing 301 00:16:39,767 --> 00:16:43,767 to be compared to the hair that was seized at the house. 302 00:16:43,767 --> 00:16:47,767 [narrator] Even if that single hair placed Justin Stephens at the scene, 303 00:16:47,767 --> 00:16:49,900 prosecutors had a huge problem. 304 00:16:49,900 --> 00:16:53,867 Billie Cunningham's death had been officially ruled an accident, 305 00:16:53,867 --> 00:16:56,100 which any good lawyer would use 306 00:16:56,100 --> 00:16:58,834 to create reasonable doubt with the jury. 307 00:17:00,066 --> 00:17:03,667 So, investigators made an unusual decision. 308 00:17:03,667 --> 00:17:08,667 They decided to exhume Billie's body and redo her autopsy, 309 00:17:08,667 --> 00:17:11,567 even though she'd been embalmed and buried for weeks. 310 00:17:11,567 --> 00:17:15,700 And for this autopsy, investigators turned to a pathologist 311 00:17:15,700 --> 00:17:18,867 who was used to dealing with suspicious deaths. 312 00:17:18,867 --> 00:17:20,567 [Stephen] They just decided, "Look, let's just take it 313 00:17:20,567 --> 00:17:23,300 to a forensic pathologist and have a re-look." 314 00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:26,967 So, about two and a half months or so later, that's what happened, 315 00:17:26,967 --> 00:17:29,200 she was exhumed and sent over here. 316 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,300 [narrator] As in the first examination, 317 00:17:31,300 --> 00:17:35,467 Dr. Cohle saw extensive damage to the victim's neck. 318 00:17:35,467 --> 00:17:39,200 She did have some cuts on the skin made by something sharp, 319 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:40,667 could've been glass. 320 00:17:40,667 --> 00:17:42,667 But, upon examining the body, 321 00:17:42,667 --> 00:17:47,767 uh, some of these sharp forced wounds penetrated rather deeply into the body 322 00:17:47,767 --> 00:17:51,367 and that was inconsistent with her falling on the floor 323 00:17:51,367 --> 00:17:54,333 and shards of glass from the broken mirror cutting her. 324 00:17:55,100 --> 00:17:56,667 Thus, I probed some of these wounds, 325 00:17:56,667 --> 00:17:58,000 I said, "Man, these are stab wounds, 326 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,300 you're not gonna get stab wounds from a broken mirror." 327 00:18:01,300 --> 00:18:04,667 [narrator] This answered why there was so much blood at the scene. 328 00:18:04,667 --> 00:18:06,000 In the second autopsy, 329 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,200 Dr. Cohle determined another detail missed in the first autopsy. 330 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,266 She also had some fractures of her face 331 00:18:12,266 --> 00:18:14,667 including the nose and some facial bones, 332 00:18:14,667 --> 00:18:18,000 that's a blunt force injury, that's a severe blunt force injury. 333 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,000 You're not gonna get that from falling off a stool and from sharp shards, 334 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:26,233 so, it looked like there was a lot more going on than just a simple accidental fall. 335 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,100 [narrator] This second autopsy led to a conclusion 336 00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:34,567 that directly contradicted the original finding. 337 00:18:34,567 --> 00:18:38,800 This was unusual case in which we, we did a 180-degree turn, 338 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,567 from accident to homicide and that was, that was satisfying, 339 00:18:41,567 --> 00:18:43,333 I felt pretty good about that. 340 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,700 [narrator] Prosecutors believed Justin Stephens had been casing Billie's house 341 00:18:49,700 --> 00:18:52,467 and knew she often left her door unlocked. 342 00:18:52,467 --> 00:18:55,800 On the day of her murder, that's what she did. 343 00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:00,567 And Justin later confessed that he slipped into the house while she was gone. 344 00:19:00,567 --> 00:19:03,000 He was looking for money or something to steal 345 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,567 when Billie unexpectedly returned. 346 00:19:05,567 --> 00:19:07,934 She grabbed her phone to call 911. 347 00:19:08,467 --> 00:19:09,934 Justin overpowered her, 348 00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:13,000 shattering the whole mirror. 349 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,700 Justin had to act fast, 350 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:19,767 grabbed the nearest thing at hand and hit Billie with the Santa statue. 351 00:19:19,767 --> 00:19:23,967 Justin apparently decided, there was no turning back. 352 00:19:23,967 --> 00:19:25,967 He stabbed Billie to death. 353 00:19:25,967 --> 00:19:28,100 Then, may have staged the scene 354 00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:32,166 to make it look as if she accidentally fell off a step-stool, 355 00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:35,200 and it almost worked. 356 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,300 Except for one thing he missed, 357 00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:40,266 a shard of glass covered with Billie's blood 358 00:19:40,266 --> 00:19:43,634 held a hair from a dog who lived in his house. 359 00:19:44,300 --> 00:19:45,433 [Michael] And that was huge. 360 00:19:45,433 --> 00:19:49,567 In my 22 years as a detective, this was only the second... 361 00:19:49,567 --> 00:19:52,800 homicide that I ever investigated that involved animal hair. 362 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,266 And the first that resulted in a positive match. 363 00:19:57,300 --> 00:19:58,767 [narrator] In 2011, 364 00:19:58,767 --> 00:20:01,567 a jury deliberated for just three hours 365 00:20:01,567 --> 00:20:05,800 before finding Justin Stephens guilty of first degree murder. 366 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,100 As a minor, when he killed Billie Cunningham, 367 00:20:09,100 --> 00:20:11,567 his sentence was ultimately decided 368 00:20:11,567 --> 00:20:16,233 at a minimum of 40 years and a maximum of 60 years in prison. 369 00:20:17,767 --> 00:20:21,000 As for Billie's family, they mourn her loss, 370 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,867 but are gratified that science proved their hunch was right all along. 371 00:20:25,867 --> 00:20:28,567 Her death was no accident. 372 00:20:28,567 --> 00:20:31,367 I think we all believed it would happen, 373 00:20:31,367 --> 00:20:36,467 that we would get justice, eventually, but we didn't know how long it would take. 374 00:20:36,467 --> 00:20:41,433 [Don] My satisfaction is from watching the family get resolution. 375 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:45,667 They were right and I, I'm so happy for them. 376 00:20:45,667 --> 00:20:47,767 [Michael] I have to admit, there were times in this investigation 377 00:20:47,767 --> 00:20:49,667 where I was getting frustrated. 378 00:20:49,667 --> 00:20:51,567 This went on for four years 379 00:20:51,567 --> 00:20:54,967 and, ultimately, when Justin was found guilty, 380 00:20:54,967 --> 00:20:58,467 I absolutely felt like it was worth every minute of those four years.