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[narrator] Up next,
these robbery teams appear
to be skilled professionals.
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00:00:10,867 --> 00:00:16,600
They got more bold and brazen
with how they were committing
the acts.
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00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,967
[narrator] So bold and brazen
that a young store clerk
is shot to death.
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The robber fires one round
from a semi-automatic
9mm pistol.
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[narrator] The killers
apparently don't care
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that security video
will catch them in the act
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and they make
a crucial mistake
that's caught on camera.
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There's no perfect crime.
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And sure enough,
that's when we got
the lead
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that would end up
solving the case.
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[theme music playing]
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[narrator] Shortly
before midnight
on May 20th, 2015,
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20-year-old Sean Smith
arrived at a smoke shop
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called Smoke 911
in Woodstock, Georgia
in the Atlanta suburb.
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He was there
to see his friend,
Enrique Delos-Reyes,
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whose shift at the store
was just about to end.
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21-year-old Enrique
was known to everyone as E.J.
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[Shannon Wallace]
Being an only child
his parents doted on him.
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E.J. had taken a job
at the Smoke 911 in Woodstock.
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Um, pretty much,
his first adult job.
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[narrator] Sean often helped
E.J. close up the store.
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But this time
something seemed different.
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[Ryan Hilton] They were gonna
hang out after work.
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When his friend, Sean Smith
came to the store,
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he, he saw a silver BMW.
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And in the driver's seat
of the BMW was a black male
wearing a red beanie
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and had a grey sweatshirt on.
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[Shannon] Sean made
eye contact with the driver
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and was a little unnerved
just about the eye contact.
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[narrator] Sean mentioned
the car to E.J.,
who had also seen it.
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[Shannon] Sean asked him,
you know, "Why haven't you
called the police?"
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And E.J.'s response was,
"They haven't done
anything wrong.
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Why am I gonna
call the police?"
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[narrator] E.J and Sean
proceeded to close up
the store.
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Within a few minutes,
two men burst inside.
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[Ron Hughes] They entered
in to the front door
of the business.
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Both brandishing fire arms.
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Uh, placed both
E.J. and Mr. Smith
on the ground.
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Mr. Smith was searched
and subsequently,
moved to the bathroom area.
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While the other suspect
when to the cash register.
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Started taking, uh,
money and merchandise.
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[narrator] While Sean
was in the bathroom he heard
a single gunshot.
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After hearing a car
drive away, he rushed out
to find E.J. covered in blood.
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[narrator] First responders
arrived minutes later to find
E.J. fighting for his life.
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[Ron] He suffered
a single gunshot wound
to the chest.
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As he arrived to the hospital,
he became unresponsive
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and they were unable
to revive him.
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[ambulance sirens blaring]
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[Shannon] Law enforcement
got on the phone
with E.J.'s mom,
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broke the news to her,
and she was
completely devastated.
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Um, fell to the ground
and sobbed
along with E.J.'s dad.
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[narrator] A single
9mm shell casing
was on the store counter.
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The silver BMW that had been
in the parking lot was gone.
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A visibly shaken Sean Smith
was exonerated by
the surveillance video
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and was now turned
to as an eye witness
to the crime.
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He described the attackers
as black males
in their early 20s.
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[Shannon] Both of the suspects
had their faces covered.
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One had a skull cap
pulled over his face,
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had slits in where his eyes
would be so he could see.
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The other individual had,
um, you know,
his shirt kind of pulled up
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and his hand covering his face
to disguise it.
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There's a struggle
between E.J. and the suspect.
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And you see the suspect
pull the gun out
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and shoot E.J.
one time in the chest.
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[narrator] The smoke shop
had no cameras
outside the store,
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so there were no usable images
of the BMW Sean saw
earlier that night.
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Investigators were in
a tough spot.
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Their evidence was thin,
and their suspects
gave every indication
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of being
seasoned professionals.
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It was very apparent that
these guys had committed
robberies before.
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This wasn't
an amateur job at all.
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[narrator] E-cigarettes,
and in some states,
legalized marijuana
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have made smoke shops
into lucrative
business opportunities.
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They are largely
cash businesses
and that makes them
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an inviting target
for criminals.
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A fact known to E.J. Reyes.
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[Shannon] There had been
some other robberies
in the area
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that his family knew about
and were concerned enough
to talk to him about
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how to handle
any robbery or anything
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that might happen
there at the smoke shop.
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[narrator] The problem
for investigators
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is that these crimes
are mostly random.
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They have nothing to do
with the people
inside the store.
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And everything to do
with what's in the store.
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[Ron] Random crimes
will always be the most
difficult to investigate
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because there's
no personal relationship
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between your victim
and your suspect.
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When it's random in nature,
it is often times hard
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because you're trying
to get suspects
in millions of people.
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Even with a surveillance
camera, which we had here,
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that captured
the entire crime,
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it's difficult.
It's often like trying
to catch that one fish
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in a giant ocean.
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[narrator] Investigators
poured over every second
of surveillance video
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from the Reyes murder
and noticed a mistake made by
one of the suspects.
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[Ron] As suspect number two
was moving merchandise around
he picked up a tote
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that he was sticking
merchandise in.
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But before doing that
he had to remove the top,
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and the top
was left behind on scene.
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[narrator] What made
this important was that
suspect number two,
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unlike suspect number one,
was not wearing gloves.
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Analyst's seized the lid
of this plastic container
and made an unusual decision
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on how to treat it
as evidence.
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They opted for
a possible fingerprint
instead of the touch DNA.
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DNA takes time to process.
It has to go to the crime lab.
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[narrator] The surveillance
video allowed analysts to
target the exact spot
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where suspect number two
touched this item.
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If a print could be lifted,
it would almost certainly
be his.
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So fingerprints,
if you could get
that immediately,
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and get that information now,
you'd rather have that
than wait on DNA results.
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[narrator] Especially
with a killer on the loose.
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But in a setback
the prints were only partial
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and not good enough to get
a hit in AFIS, the national
fingerprint database.
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Which was kind of a downer.
We were hoping that
those prints
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of the lain impressions
off that lid would provide
identity of a suspect.
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But they did not.
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[narrator] Despite
both suspects having taken
considerable efforts
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to hide their identities,
Sean Smith got a good look
at one of them
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as he walked into the store.
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With the help
of a forensic artist,
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a composite sketch
was created.
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This and still frames
from the surveillance video
were release to the public.
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Tips poured in
and one looked promising.
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We got an anonymous tip
from a young lady
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who stated she believed
the person responsible
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for the robbery and homicide
in Woodstock
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was a Mr. Varner.
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She stated that
he had a history of drug use
and violent crime
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and that the day after
our homicide occurred
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she knew that Mr. Varner
was in Canton, Georgia
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attempting to sell
a .40 caliber handgun.
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Uh, and seemed to be
very nervous.
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[narrator] And Varner
who had two outstanding
arrest warrants
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had access
to the same type of vehicle
used in the Reyes murder.
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She claimed that
prior to the robbery-homicide
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she had seen Mr. Varner
in his girlfriend's vehicle,
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which she described
to be a four door BMW,
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uh, that was silver or grey
in color.
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[narrator]
On Varner's Facebook page,
detectives found photos
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of several people
with known gang ties.
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One was wearing clothing
similar to clothes worn by
one of the murder suspects.
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[Ron] Some of the people
that he was standing
with were wearing
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multi-colored ballcap
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that was very similar to what
the second suspect in armed
robbery-homicide was wearing.
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[narrator] Varner,
when brought in
for questioning
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claimed he had nothing
to do with the murder
and had an alibi to prove it.
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[Ron] Also, Mr. Varner
was actually older
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than the two
that were inside the store.
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So we were able to discount
Mr. Varner as a suspect.
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[narrator] The investigation
was back to square one.
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But then another robbery
at another smoke shop
provided a possible avenue
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to solve the Reyes murder.
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We firmly believed
that the smoke shop robberies
in Cobb and Cherokee County
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were related.
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[narrator] Four days before
the murder of E.J. Reyes,
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00:10:08,166 --> 00:10:11,166
two smoke shops
were also robbed
in Kennesaw,
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a town just 10 miles away.
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The surveillance video
from the Kennesaw smoke shop
robberies
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00:10:17,500 --> 00:10:21,266
showed similar suspects
acting in similar ways.
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Forcibly taking over
the store, coming in fast,
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taking items
and leaving fairly quickly.
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[narrator] There was
another similarity.
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The vehicle used
in the robberies
was a silver BMW.
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A surveillance camera
outside one of the stores
captured high quality images
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of the vehicle.
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It was much more clear
of an image of that BMW
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but still did not read
a license plate or be able
to identify the occupants.
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[Shannon] You could
see the car really good.
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In fact what you could
see about it were
the star-shaped wheels
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that did not appear
to be factory wheels
to the car.
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[narrator] This BMW
with custom wheels
quickly became the focus
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of the investigation.
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Detectives surmised
the vehicle was likely stolen.
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Often in commercial robberies
and other robberies
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a lot of people use
stolen cars to commit
those crimes.
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They can destroy those cars,
they can burn them,
they can abandon them.
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I requested a list of stolen
silver BMWs from,
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I believe,
2003 to 2015 models
in the Atlanta Metro area.
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[narrator] The list included
135 vehicles.
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And there was no guarantee
that the BMW sought
by investigators was on it.
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I always tell people,
"This is the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.
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Not the Georgia Bureau
of we know
everything already."
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It felt like,
we were a long way
from identifying the suspect.
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[narrator]
In a major potential break,
detectives now learned
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of a string
of video game store robberies
in the same area.
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The thieves in these crimes
appeared to be the same people
hitting local smoke shops.
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[Ryan] We discovered that
GameStop video game stores
were being robbed
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00:12:03,867 --> 00:12:05,367
in a similar manner.
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00:12:05,367 --> 00:12:10,600
With speed and violence,
taking over the store,
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00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,767
taking items
from people's pockets,
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00:12:12,767 --> 00:12:15,767
taking items from the store
and then feeing.
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[narrator] The suspects
bore the same
physical description
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00:12:18,367 --> 00:12:21,000
as those robbing
Reyes's smoke shop.
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00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,867
These crimes
were almost certainly linked.
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Investigators now went
to a robbery at
a video game store
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00:12:27,367 --> 00:12:30,166
that happened two days
before the Reyes murder.
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00:12:30,166 --> 00:12:33,367
In this crime three suspects
were involved.
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00:12:33,367 --> 00:12:36,767
Surveillance video showed
one of them
was not wearing gloves.
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You can see
one of the offenders
grabbing items.
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00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:46,266
Headphones and smaller box
items that are held
behind the cash register.
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And in doing so,
one of the items was touched
and not taken.
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So that item stayed
and remained on the shelf.
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[narrator] It was clear,
this thief had touched
the item with his bare hand.
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00:13:00,100 --> 00:13:03,867
Investigators now made
the same decision
they'd made earlier.
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00:13:03,867 --> 00:13:08,400
Since speed was important,
they went for the fingerprints
instead of the DNA.
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00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,667
The box was sent to the lab,
where it was processed
for fingerprints
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using cyanoacrylate,
what can be bought
off the shelf as super glue.
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00:13:16,967 --> 00:13:20,767
[Eric Rich] We have
a cyanoacrylate chamber
or super glue chamber,
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00:13:20,767 --> 00:13:24,233
an airtight tank
that we process
the evidence in.
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00:13:24,867 --> 00:13:27,166
We place the item
in that tank,
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00:13:27,166 --> 00:13:30,667
heat the super glue
and then seal the tank up.
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And after, say 30 minutes,
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00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,967
you should start to see
if there are latent prints,
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00:13:37,967 --> 00:13:41,967
um, on the item
that you are processing.
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00:13:41,967 --> 00:13:45,000
[narrator] Heat causes
the super glue to vaporize.
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00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,500
The microscopic particles
are attracted
to the sweat and oils
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00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:52,967
excreted by fingers
and left behind
on the surface of the item.
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00:13:52,967 --> 00:13:56,867
The particles then crystallize
leaving a white residue.
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00:13:56,867 --> 00:14:01,166
The super glue process,
basically hardens
the fingerprint.
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00:14:01,166 --> 00:14:05,767
So you're able
to take multiple lifts
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00:14:05,767 --> 00:14:08,967
of that latent print
if it develops.
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[narrator] Four high quality
prints were lifted and put
into the AFIS database.
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One matched back
to a man named,
Nathaniel Delay.
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[David] Mr. Nathaniel Delay
had minor criminal history.
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00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,667
No felonies, um,
never been to prison,
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um, nothing like
armed robbery before.
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[narrator] Delay flatly
denied involvement
in any of the robberies
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or the Reyes murder.
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[detective] I believe it.
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[David] Nathaniel Delay's
telling us
that it'd been years
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00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,166
since he's been
in Cobb County.
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That's actually a good thing
for investigators.
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00:14:46,266 --> 00:14:49,000
Because if he would have said
that he had been to GameStop
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00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,967
and he had been there
just a day before,
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00:14:50,967 --> 00:14:54,867
it kind of eliminates
and cuts our legs out
of finding that fingerprint
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00:14:54,867 --> 00:14:56,000
on that box.
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And kind of gives him an out.
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[narrator] Nathaniel Delay
had no explanation
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00:15:00,266 --> 00:15:03,500
for why his prints
were at the scene
of one of the robberies.
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00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:08,300
But what investigators
were really after
was who killed E.J. Reyes.
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00:15:08,300 --> 00:15:12,400
That murder and this robbery
appeared to be
directly connected.
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00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,266
And Nathaniel Delay
seemed to know a lot more
about both crimes
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00:15:16,266 --> 00:15:17,667
than he was letting on.
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00:15:17,667 --> 00:15:20,066
If I had a nickel
for every time somebody
told me a lie,
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00:15:20,066 --> 00:15:21,367
I wouldn't have to be a cop.
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00:15:21,367 --> 00:15:23,700
[Ryan] Nathaniel?
My name's Ryan Hilton.
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-How are you?
-[Ryan] I'm with the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation.
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00:15:25,567 --> 00:15:27,266
-All right, man.
-How you doing?
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[narrator] From the start
detectives attempting to solve
the murder of E.J. Reyes
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00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,100
were on the lookout
for a silver BMW
with custom wheels
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00:15:45,100 --> 00:15:48,767
that was seen
outside the smoke shop
where E.J. was killed.
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00:15:48,767 --> 00:15:53,767
They soon learn that
nine days before the murder,
a BMW fitting that description
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00:15:53,767 --> 00:15:56,800
had been carjacked in Atlanta.
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00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:01,166
The victim had told
law enforcement that
there were two suspects
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00:16:01,166 --> 00:16:06,266
that had, uh, put a gun to him
and robbed him--
carjacked him.
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00:16:06,266 --> 00:16:10,367
[narrator] The carjack victim
called Jordan was shown
the composite drawing
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00:16:10,367 --> 00:16:13,100
and video images
from the Reyes murder.
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00:16:13,100 --> 00:16:15,567
But could not make
an identification,
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00:16:15,567 --> 00:16:18,100
then something
unexpected happened,
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00:16:18,100 --> 00:16:21,166
which led investigators
straight back
to their only suspect.
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00:16:21,867 --> 00:16:23,567
Nathaniel Delay.
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00:16:23,567 --> 00:16:25,600
[Ryan] Nathaniel Delay
has a unique look.
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00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:27,934
He has the word "success"
tattooed across his forehead.
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00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,367
I was just swiping
through my phone
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00:16:30,367 --> 00:16:34,700
and I came
to the driver's license photo
of Nathaniel Delay.
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00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:40,734
Mr. Jordan stopped
and said that is a 100%
the person who took my car.
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00:16:41,367 --> 00:16:42,433
[man] What's you reaction
to that?
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00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:46,100
Hot damn. [laughs]
269
00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:47,867
[narrator] The problem
was that Nathaniel Delay
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00:16:47,867 --> 00:16:52,100
did not look at all
like the suspects
in the murder of E.J. Reyes.
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00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:56,233
And Delay was clear,
he wasn't there but knew
a lot about the murder.
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00:17:10,867 --> 00:17:13,867
[narrator] Delay
told detectives that
a man named Justin White
273
00:17:13,867 --> 00:17:17,967
called him the day after
the Reyes murder
and was extremely nervous.
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00:17:38,767 --> 00:17:42,000
He told Delay, specifically,
to google that incident.
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00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:43,934
To look up that incident
in the news.
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00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,400
[detective] Mm-hmm.
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00:17:57,767 --> 00:18:00,166
[narrator] Nathaniel Delay
told the police that
the other person
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00:18:00,166 --> 00:18:04,100
in this robbery-murder
was a man named
Dominique Stevens.
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00:18:04,100 --> 00:18:06,266
[Ron] Dominique Stevens
had previously been in prison.
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00:18:06,266 --> 00:18:11,700
But Justin White had
nothing but traffic offenses
prior to this.
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00:18:11,700 --> 00:18:18,867
Uh, so, no. No indication
that he was a violent criminal
prior to these incidences.
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00:18:18,867 --> 00:18:23,266
[narrator] Multiple items
from the robberies were found
in their homes.
283
00:18:23,266 --> 00:18:25,867
[Ryan] The evidence located
at the scene
was huge.
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00:18:25,867 --> 00:18:30,100
It was a huge factor
in proving that Justin White
and Dominique Stevens
285
00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:33,367
were responsible
for the death of E.J.
286
00:18:33,367 --> 00:18:36,367
[narrator] Dominique Stevens
maintained his innocence,
287
00:18:36,367 --> 00:18:39,600
but when faced
with the evidence
Justin White came clean
288
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,900
about what happened
the night E.J. Reyes
was shot to death.
289
00:18:42,900 --> 00:18:46,667
His story was that
he never intended
to harm anyone.
290
00:18:46,667 --> 00:18:49,867
He just reacted
when E.J. fought back
during the robbery.
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00:19:09,767 --> 00:19:12,166
[Ryan] None of the blame
for this can be placed on E.J.
292
00:19:12,867 --> 00:19:14,100
None of it.
293
00:19:14,100 --> 00:19:16,567
Justin White knew
what he was doing
when he got into it.
294
00:19:16,567 --> 00:19:21,433
The fact that E.J.
fought back...
however tragic and noble.
295
00:19:22,900 --> 00:19:27,066
Not his fault he got shot.
Never will be.
That rests on Justin White.
296
00:19:30,567 --> 00:19:33,900
[narrator] Nathaniel Delay
who was not present
at the murder
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00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:37,166
pleaded guilty
to armed robbery
and got five years.
298
00:19:38,266 --> 00:19:41,266
Justin White
and Dominique Stevens
pleaded guilty
299
00:19:41,266 --> 00:19:44,667
to a racketeering charge
that included
all the robberies
300
00:19:44,667 --> 00:19:47,467
and the murder of E.J. Reyes.
301
00:19:47,467 --> 00:19:51,266
Dominique Stevens
got life in prison
plus five years.
302
00:19:51,266 --> 00:19:56,100
Justin White,
the shooter got
consecutive life sentences.
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00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:57,900
[Shannon] The way I look at
armed robberies is,
304
00:19:57,900 --> 00:20:01,900
it is just one second away
from being a homicide case.
305
00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:07,467
Any time you
go into a place
brandishing a firearm.
306
00:20:07,467 --> 00:20:12,166
You're showing that
you are willing and able
to use that firearm.
307
00:20:14,867 --> 00:20:18,467
[narrator]
Investigators readily admit
that if not for the discovery
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00:20:18,467 --> 00:20:22,767
of a single fingerprint,
inadvertently deposited
during the well-planned
309
00:20:22,767 --> 00:20:24,767
but still chaotic robbery,
310
00:20:24,767 --> 00:20:28,266
the murder of E.J. Reyes
might never have been solved.
311
00:20:28,266 --> 00:20:32,166
The fingerprint was really
the lynchpin in this case.
312
00:20:32,166 --> 00:20:36,100
Without that fingerprint
we would have
never been able to identify
313
00:20:36,100 --> 00:20:37,166
anybody that was involved.
314
00:20:38,266 --> 00:20:40,667
[David] In this case
it reminded me of the basics.
315
00:20:40,667 --> 00:20:43,266
The best professionals,
in whatever field it is,
316
00:20:43,266 --> 00:20:47,100
do the absolute best
at the basics.
317
00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:49,266
Process the crime scene,
look at the evidence,
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00:20:49,266 --> 00:20:51,266
review surveillance video
319
00:20:51,266 --> 00:20:53,667
and have good evidence
collection procedures.
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00:20:53,667 --> 00:20:56,367
If you can do that
you can solve cases.