1 00:00:01,021 --> 00:00:05,021 - ♪ 2 00:00:07,021 --> 00:00:12,021 - ♪ 3 00:00:12,021 --> 00:00:13,021 - CAROLINE: We have a lot of murders in Houston, 4 00:00:13,021 --> 00:00:18,021 but not necessarily a lot of murders of cab drivers. 5 00:00:18,021 --> 00:00:20,021 - This man had been shot to death. 6 00:00:20,021 --> 00:00:22,021 It was a very disturbing scene. 7 00:00:23,021 --> 00:00:24,021 - BRIAN: There was smoldering smoke, 8 00:00:24,021 --> 00:00:29,021 the distinct smell of burning human flesh. 9 00:00:29,021 --> 00:00:33,021 - SARA: 2 cab drivers murdered within 48 hours of each other. 10 00:00:33,021 --> 00:00:35,021 - CAROLINE: Both individuals had come here trying to live 11 00:00:35,021 --> 00:00:37,021 the American Dream, but you need to be careful, 12 00:00:37,021 --> 00:00:39,021 you don't know who you've got in your cab. 13 00:00:39,021 --> 00:00:40,021 - BRIAN: His last words on this earth is, 14 00:00:40,021 --> 00:00:44,021 "Please, I have children, don't do this." 15 00:00:44,021 --> 00:00:50,021 - SARA: I think the ultimate motive was money, was thrill. 16 00:00:50,021 --> 00:00:50,021 - NARRATOR: Five unique perspectives, 17 00:00:51,021 --> 00:00:55,021 five points of view, one murder. 18 00:00:55,021 --> 00:00:57,021 - BRIAN: I'm homicide veteran. - SARA: I've been a reporter 19 00:00:57,021 --> 00:00:58,021 in the Houston area-- - ROGER: I was 20 00:00:59,021 --> 00:01:00,021 one of the investigators assigned to work this case. 21 00:01:00,021 --> 00:01:01,021 - My name is Chaz Blackshear. 22 00:01:01,021 --> 00:01:03,021 - CAROLINE: I was the lead prosecutor. 23 00:01:03,021 --> 00:01:06,021 - ♪♪ 24 00:01:09,021 --> 00:01:13,021 - ♪ 25 00:01:14,021 --> 00:01:15,021 - My name is Brian Harris. 26 00:01:15,021 --> 00:01:19,021 I'm a 21-year retired homicide veteran 27 00:01:19,021 --> 00:01:21,021 for the Houston Police Department. 28 00:01:21,021 --> 00:01:24,021 On October 14, 2010, 29 00:01:24,021 --> 00:01:26,021 when I arrived at work at the homicide headquarters 30 00:01:27,021 --> 00:01:30,021 downtown Houston... 31 00:01:30,021 --> 00:01:31,021 I ran into 2 detectives. 32 00:01:31,021 --> 00:01:35,021 I knew they'd been working non-stop on a taxicab killing. 33 00:01:35,021 --> 00:01:39,021 A Yellow Cab murder where the driver of that cab 34 00:01:39,021 --> 00:01:41,021 had been murdered 35 00:01:41,021 --> 00:01:43,021 and his body was dumped on the north side 36 00:01:43,021 --> 00:01:46,021 of the city of Houston. 37 00:01:46,021 --> 00:01:49,021 I quipped, "Glad it's you, not us." 38 00:01:49,021 --> 00:01:51,021 Little did I know that within the hour, 39 00:01:51,021 --> 00:01:54,021 my partner and I would be assigned the murder 40 00:01:54,021 --> 00:01:57,021 of the second cab driver within 48 hours. 41 00:02:00,021 --> 00:02:04,021 Right away, my partner and I are talking while we're driving 42 00:02:04,021 --> 00:02:07,021 out to the west side of Houston, 43 00:02:07,021 --> 00:02:09,021 that, "Could this be connected?" 44 00:02:09,021 --> 00:02:11,021 We didn't know at the time, 45 00:02:11,021 --> 00:02:14,021 but, you know, our Spidey senses certainly were tingling. 46 00:02:17,021 --> 00:02:20,021 - ♪ 47 00:02:20,021 --> 00:02:22,021 - BRIAN: We had a Houston officer, 48 00:02:22,021 --> 00:02:23,021 and he was simply making rounds, 49 00:02:23,021 --> 00:02:26,021 driving through the various different parking lots 50 00:02:26,021 --> 00:02:29,021 in his beat and saw a Yellow Cab. 51 00:02:29,021 --> 00:02:32,021 Quickly he figured, "That's certainly out of place. 52 00:02:32,021 --> 00:02:34,021 "Why would a Yellow Cab be in the middle of a parking lot 53 00:02:34,021 --> 00:02:36,021 at 3 o'clock in the morning?" 54 00:02:36,021 --> 00:02:39,021 As he got closer-- and he could see, 55 00:02:39,021 --> 00:02:40,021 the cab was smoldering, 56 00:02:40,021 --> 00:02:42,021 there was smoke coming from the cab. 57 00:02:43,021 --> 00:02:46,021 There was also that distinct smell-- 58 00:02:46,021 --> 00:02:50,021 the distinct smell of burning human flesh. 59 00:02:56,021 --> 00:02:58,021 By the time I get there with my partner, 60 00:02:58,021 --> 00:03:01,021 there's dozens and dozens of people 61 00:03:01,021 --> 00:03:03,021 along the perimeter of the crime scene. 62 00:03:03,021 --> 00:03:08,021 We don't know who are witnesses, who are just casual onlookers. 63 00:03:08,021 --> 00:03:10,021 In a chaotic scene, you gotta start 64 00:03:10,021 --> 00:03:13,021 breaking that scene down into larger parts, smaller parts-- 65 00:03:13,021 --> 00:03:16,021 No matter how crazy it looks, 66 00:03:16,021 --> 00:03:19,021 you can make a lot of sense out of that. 67 00:03:21,021 --> 00:03:25,021 The dead themselves, in a way, speak to us. 68 00:03:25,021 --> 00:03:29,021 Not literally, but the position of their body, 69 00:03:29,021 --> 00:03:32,021 the way their body is inside or laid out or presented 70 00:03:33,021 --> 00:03:37,021 at any different homicide scene can tell us a lot. 71 00:03:37,021 --> 00:03:39,021 This case was no different. 72 00:03:41,021 --> 00:03:44,021 - ♪ 73 00:03:44,021 --> 00:03:45,021 - BRIAN: It looked as though there was a struggle. 74 00:03:45,021 --> 00:03:48,021 The person was trying to escape. 75 00:03:48,021 --> 00:03:52,021 It looked as though they almost did escape out that door, 76 00:03:52,021 --> 00:03:56,021 and they were shot and dragged back into that vehicle. 77 00:03:56,021 --> 00:03:59,021 And then to add insult to injury, 78 00:03:59,021 --> 00:04:01,021 the car is set on fire. 79 00:04:02,021 --> 00:04:04,021 But we weren't dealing with exact rocket scientists here, 80 00:04:05,021 --> 00:04:07,021 because they didn't understand 81 00:04:07,021 --> 00:04:10,021 that fire needs oxygen to breathe, 82 00:04:10,021 --> 00:04:11,021 so when they set this car on fire, 83 00:04:11,021 --> 00:04:16,021 other than the initial explosion or burst of flame, 84 00:04:16,021 --> 00:04:18,021 the fire quickly dies, 85 00:04:18,021 --> 00:04:22,021 because there's no oxygen to feed on. 86 00:04:22,021 --> 00:04:23,021 They were sloppy. They left evidence behind. 87 00:04:24,021 --> 00:04:27,021 They left the shell casing-- 88 00:04:27,021 --> 00:04:32,021 one on the outside of the car, one on the inside of the car. 89 00:04:32,021 --> 00:04:36,021 This is all great stuff that we can work with. 90 00:04:38,021 --> 00:04:41,021 - ♪ 91 00:04:41,021 --> 00:04:45,021 - BRIAN: So, how did he die? 92 00:04:45,021 --> 00:04:48,021 Was it the fire or was it the gunshot? 93 00:04:48,021 --> 00:04:50,021 And there's an easy way to tell. 94 00:04:50,021 --> 00:04:52,021 See, when an autopsy is done, if there's soot 95 00:04:52,021 --> 00:04:56,021 on the inside of the lungs-- if there's soot on those lungs, 96 00:04:56,021 --> 00:04:59,021 that means that they were alive when the fire was started. 97 00:04:59,021 --> 00:05:05,021 I'm just very thankful, as gruesome as this scene was, 98 00:05:05,021 --> 00:05:08,021 was that it was clear after the autopsy 99 00:05:08,021 --> 00:05:12,021 that he died of the gunshots, not of the fire, 100 00:05:12,021 --> 00:05:15,021 because there was not any soot in the lungs. 101 00:05:27,021 --> 00:05:30,021 - ♪ 102 00:05:30,021 --> 00:05:32,021 - BRIAN: Now we're able to attach a name. 103 00:05:33,021 --> 00:05:35,021 This was somebody who had a family, 104 00:05:35,021 --> 00:05:37,021 this is somebody who had people who loved him, 105 00:05:37,021 --> 00:05:41,021 somebody that he was trying to provide for, 106 00:05:41,021 --> 00:05:45,021 working a second job, bringing in extra income 107 00:05:45,021 --> 00:05:47,021 so he can just make it. 108 00:05:47,021 --> 00:05:50,021 Blaise was no different than myself. 109 00:05:50,021 --> 00:05:52,021 We all have three things in common: 110 00:05:52,021 --> 00:05:56,021 we all wanna be loved, we all wanna be respected, 111 00:05:56,021 --> 00:05:59,021 and we all want the ability to provide 112 00:05:59,021 --> 00:06:02,021 for the ones that love and respect us. 113 00:06:02,021 --> 00:06:04,021 They wanted that American Dream, 114 00:06:04,021 --> 00:06:05,021 and that's exactly who he was, 115 00:06:05,021 --> 00:06:08,021 he was trying to provide for his family. 116 00:06:10,021 --> 00:06:12,021 - ♪ 117 00:06:12,021 --> 00:06:13,021 - BRIAN: On this particular scene, 118 00:06:13,021 --> 00:06:16,021 the cab is in the parking lot. 119 00:06:16,021 --> 00:06:19,021 Looking up at the office complex, it is clear 120 00:06:19,021 --> 00:06:21,021 that there are video cameras. 121 00:06:21,021 --> 00:06:24,021 So, one of the first things that we do 122 00:06:24,021 --> 00:06:27,021 is look at these videos. 123 00:06:31,021 --> 00:06:34,021 Partner and I, we walk in and we go to the security office, 124 00:06:34,021 --> 00:06:37,021 we don't know what we're getting ready to see. 125 00:06:37,021 --> 00:06:39,021 And as that videotape starts, 126 00:06:39,021 --> 00:06:42,021 we see the Yellow Cab pull up, 127 00:06:42,021 --> 00:06:46,021 and we see clearly a black female with this wild Afro, 128 00:06:46,021 --> 00:06:49,021 crazy kinda hair. 129 00:06:49,021 --> 00:06:52,021 And she gets out and she starts to run to the front 130 00:06:52,021 --> 00:06:55,021 of the cab area and she keeps going, 131 00:06:55,021 --> 00:06:58,021 as a lookout, "Is anyone around?" 132 00:06:58,021 --> 00:07:00,021 And there's one particular moment she stops 133 00:07:00,021 --> 00:07:03,021 and is caught in mid-stride 134 00:07:03,021 --> 00:07:05,021 staring directly into the camera. 135 00:07:05,021 --> 00:07:09,021 It's the perfect shot. 136 00:07:09,021 --> 00:07:12,021 We just knew then we had to freeze that frame, 137 00:07:12,021 --> 00:07:15,021 and that would be the picture that we would use. 138 00:07:15,021 --> 00:07:17,021 But the video keeps going. 139 00:07:17,021 --> 00:07:20,021 She comes back to the cab and then there's a flash-- 140 00:07:20,021 --> 00:07:21,021 there's a flash inside the cab. 141 00:07:22,021 --> 00:07:28,021 You see that same black female, she runs across the parking lot, 142 00:07:28,021 --> 00:07:34,021 and then a lanky, thin male, baggy T-shirt, pants on, 143 00:07:34,021 --> 00:07:38,021 runs past the camera as well. Where are they running? 144 00:07:47,021 --> 00:07:50,021 - ♪ 145 00:07:50,021 --> 00:07:54,021 - BRIAN: You had absolute fear and terror 146 00:07:54,021 --> 00:07:57,021 running through the transportation industry. 147 00:07:57,021 --> 00:08:01,021 One incident, two incidences, it will be a third, 148 00:08:01,021 --> 00:08:05,021 will there be a fourth? We needed to get this stopped. 149 00:08:05,021 --> 00:08:08,021 Throw in the fact that now there's a male there. 150 00:08:08,021 --> 00:08:12,021 Is this their version of trying to be a Bonnie and Clyde? 151 00:08:14,021 --> 00:08:17,021 - ♪ 152 00:08:17,021 --> 00:08:19,021 - Hi, I'm Sara Davenport and I've been a reporter 153 00:08:19,021 --> 00:08:22,021 here in the Houston area for over a decade. 154 00:08:22,021 --> 00:08:25,021 When the news broke that there had been a murder, 155 00:08:25,021 --> 00:08:27,021 it wasn't that uncommon. 156 00:08:27,021 --> 00:08:29,021 It's a big city-- six million people. 157 00:08:29,021 --> 00:08:33,021 But what was uncommon was a small twist. 158 00:08:33,021 --> 00:08:36,021 Two cab drivers murdered within forty-eight hours of each other. 159 00:08:46,021 --> 00:08:48,021 - ♪ 160 00:08:48,021 --> 00:08:51,021 - SARA: October 12, early morning in 2010, 161 00:08:51,021 --> 00:08:53,021 a utility worker was out and he spotted something strange 162 00:08:54,021 --> 00:08:56,021 in a drainage ditch. 163 00:08:56,021 --> 00:08:57,021 And when he went to look, 164 00:08:57,021 --> 00:09:01,021 it was a very gruesome discovery. It was a body. 165 00:09:01,021 --> 00:09:03,021 You can imagine how terrifying that is. 166 00:09:03,021 --> 00:09:06,021 I mean, normally, early morning hours it's pretty quiet. 167 00:09:07,021 --> 00:09:09,021 And here this body is covered in dirt, 168 00:09:09,021 --> 00:09:12,021 shot up, possibly stabbed. 169 00:09:12,021 --> 00:09:15,021 You could tell it was a very disturbing scene 170 00:09:15,021 --> 00:09:17,021 by the way--when the utility worker called 911, 171 00:09:18,021 --> 00:09:19,021 he was terrified. 172 00:09:25,021 --> 00:09:26,021 When the police first arrived on the scene, 173 00:09:26,021 --> 00:09:29,021 they're trying to identify who this is, 174 00:09:29,021 --> 00:09:31,021 and they didn't find anything on his body. 175 00:09:31,021 --> 00:09:32,021 I mean, it looked like he had been robbed, 176 00:09:32,021 --> 00:09:34,021 there was nothing in his pockets. 177 00:09:34,021 --> 00:09:38,021 But when they started searching just a little bit away, 178 00:09:38,021 --> 00:09:40,021 they were able to find his passport 179 00:09:40,021 --> 00:09:42,021 and also his cellphone. 180 00:09:43,021 --> 00:09:45,021 That was a pretty significant break for two reasons. 181 00:09:45,021 --> 00:09:47,021 One is, it looks like the body was dumped. 182 00:09:47,021 --> 00:09:49,021 The murder probably didn't happen there, 183 00:09:49,021 --> 00:09:51,021 since the cellphone and passport were 184 00:09:52,021 --> 00:09:53,021 in a different area. 185 00:09:53,021 --> 00:09:55,021 But it was a huge break because now they knew 186 00:09:55,021 --> 00:09:57,021 who this body was through the passport. 187 00:09:57,021 --> 00:09:59,021 And now they had his cellphone 188 00:09:59,021 --> 00:10:01,021 and could figure out more about him. 189 00:10:01,021 --> 00:10:04,021 They were able to identify the victim as 32-year-old 190 00:10:04,021 --> 00:10:06,021 Mohammad El Sayed. 191 00:10:11,021 --> 00:10:13,021 Mohammad had been in the Houston area for a few years. 192 00:10:13,021 --> 00:10:16,021 He was a family man, had several children. 193 00:10:16,021 --> 00:10:19,021 He was a cab driver, and he had been working 194 00:10:19,021 --> 00:10:22,021 to pick up some extra shifts to make some more money 195 00:10:22,021 --> 00:10:24,021 to help out at home. 196 00:10:24,021 --> 00:10:26,021 He was working really hard to make ends meet for his family. 197 00:10:26,021 --> 00:10:29,021 They were new immigrants to the Houston area 198 00:10:29,021 --> 00:10:31,021 and to the United States, 199 00:10:31,021 --> 00:10:34,021 and so being a cab driver was a good, honest job 200 00:10:34,021 --> 00:10:35,021 for him to do. 201 00:10:35,021 --> 00:10:37,021 Being a cab driver might be somewhat of an easy job 202 00:10:37,021 --> 00:10:39,021 from the outside, but it's a risky job. 203 00:10:40,021 --> 00:10:42,021 You never know who you're picking up, 204 00:10:42,021 --> 00:10:43,021 what the next fare is going to be. 205 00:10:46,021 --> 00:10:52,021 - ♪ 206 00:10:52,021 --> 00:10:53,021 - SARA: When police went to the cab company, 207 00:10:53,021 --> 00:10:56,021 they ran the number from where the last call had come in 208 00:10:56,021 --> 00:10:59,021 for Mohammad El Sayed's cab. 209 00:10:59,021 --> 00:11:01,021 It had come in from a gas station--a Chevron-- 210 00:11:02,021 --> 00:11:02,021 around 2 in the morning. 211 00:11:31,021 --> 00:11:34,021 - ♪ 212 00:11:34,021 --> 00:11:35,021 - SARA: When police got to the Chevron station, 213 00:11:35,021 --> 00:11:38,021 they thought maybe this could be their first lead, 214 00:11:38,021 --> 00:11:41,021 but it really wasn't, because the security cameras, 215 00:11:41,021 --> 00:11:43,021 they weren't working that night. 216 00:11:43,021 --> 00:11:48,021 And the phone had been totally wiped clean of fingerprints. 217 00:11:48,021 --> 00:11:49,021 The suspects were really lucky on this one, 218 00:11:49,021 --> 00:11:54,021 because the police were hot on their tail until they weren't. 219 00:11:54,021 --> 00:11:55,021 Suddenly, it went cold. 220 00:11:55,021 --> 00:11:57,021 There were no fingerprints, there's no security cameras. 221 00:11:57,021 --> 00:12:00,021 The police didn't have any sign of the cab near where 222 00:12:00,021 --> 00:12:03,021 Mohammad El Sayed's body was found, 223 00:12:03,021 --> 00:12:05,021 so they went back to the Chevron 224 00:12:05,021 --> 00:12:06,021 and started looking in that vicinity. 225 00:12:06,021 --> 00:12:07,021 And it was pay dirt. 226 00:12:12,021 --> 00:12:15,021 The cab was found about three or four blocks away from where 227 00:12:15,021 --> 00:12:19,021 the call was originally made, right behind a strip mall. 228 00:12:19,021 --> 00:12:22,021 It had been wiped clean. There were no fingerprints. 229 00:12:22,021 --> 00:12:24,021 But they did find some small traces of blood, 230 00:12:24,021 --> 00:12:28,021 and then they did find two .380-caliber bullet shells. 231 00:12:28,021 --> 00:12:32,021 Where those bullet casings were found suggests that 232 00:12:32,021 --> 00:12:36,021 the driver, Mohammad El Sayed, had been sitting in his cab 233 00:12:36,021 --> 00:12:38,021 when he was shot. 234 00:12:38,021 --> 00:12:41,021 Police had the cab, and they had the victim, 235 00:12:41,021 --> 00:12:42,021 but they really didn't have any leads. 236 00:12:42,021 --> 00:12:46,021 The call was made about 35 to 40 minutes away 237 00:12:47,021 --> 00:12:49,021 from where the body was found. 238 00:12:49,021 --> 00:12:52,021 So, what does that mean for these suspects? 239 00:12:52,021 --> 00:12:56,021 If they're willing to drive that far to dump the body, 240 00:12:56,021 --> 00:12:57,021 where are they now? They could be in Dallas, 241 00:12:57,021 --> 00:12:59,021 they could be out of the State of Texas. 242 00:13:04,021 --> 00:13:05,021 People started wondering, 243 00:13:05,021 --> 00:13:07,021 is there a serial killer on the loose? 244 00:13:07,021 --> 00:13:08,021 What's gonna happen the next day after that? 245 00:13:09,021 --> 00:13:14,021 The tension in the city with these reports coming out, 246 00:13:14,021 --> 00:13:15,021 it was very real. 247 00:13:18,021 --> 00:13:22,021 Mohammad and Blaise were both Muslim cab drivers. 248 00:13:22,021 --> 00:13:25,021 Did that have anything to do with these murders? 249 00:13:30,021 --> 00:13:32,021 - ♪ 250 00:13:32,021 --> 00:13:34,021 - My name is Roger Chappell and I was an investigator 251 00:13:34,021 --> 00:13:36,021 with the Houston Police Department 252 00:13:36,021 --> 00:13:37,021 assigned to work this case. 253 00:13:41,021 --> 00:13:43,021 Cab drivers are hardworking people. 254 00:13:43,021 --> 00:13:45,021 It is not your-- your gangster-on-gangster 255 00:13:45,021 --> 00:13:48,021 or your dope-dealer-on-dope-dealer 256 00:13:48,021 --> 00:13:50,021 kinda stuff. 257 00:13:50,021 --> 00:13:55,021 These are innocent people doing hard work. 258 00:13:55,021 --> 00:13:57,021 Something like this, where we have at least two cab drivers 259 00:13:57,021 --> 00:14:00,021 that were killed in such a short period of time. 260 00:14:00,021 --> 00:14:04,021 So, at that point, uh, the urgency really did kick in. 261 00:14:06,021 --> 00:14:07,021 This was definitely gonna happen again. 262 00:14:07,021 --> 00:14:10,021 To me, it's not a matter of if, it's when. 263 00:14:13,021 --> 00:14:15,021 - [wind blowing] 264 00:14:15,021 --> 00:14:18,021 - ♪ 265 00:14:19,021 --> 00:14:20,021 - ROGER: I made a phone call to Yellow Cab 266 00:14:21,021 --> 00:14:22,021 and was able to obtain the recording 267 00:14:22,021 --> 00:14:24,021 from the second case. 268 00:14:24,021 --> 00:14:26,021 The deceased had picked up a fare, uh, 269 00:14:27,021 --> 00:14:28,021 somewhere on the west side of town. 270 00:14:28,021 --> 00:14:32,021 And it was a female that had made that phone call. 271 00:14:33,021 --> 00:14:36,021 The name that I heard, as I remember it, was Shauntay, 272 00:14:36,021 --> 00:14:38,021 because it was a little difficult to understand 273 00:14:38,021 --> 00:14:40,021 on that recording. 274 00:15:01,021 --> 00:15:03,021 - ROGER: My immediate thought was, "That's a fake name." 275 00:15:03,021 --> 00:15:06,021 I don't know if it's just a--a version of her name 276 00:15:06,021 --> 00:15:08,021 or if she just made it up. 277 00:15:08,021 --> 00:15:10,021 But that's one of the things too that we disseminate 278 00:15:10,021 --> 00:15:10,021 to the other investigators. 279 00:15:15,021 --> 00:15:17,021 In most murder cases that I've investigated, 280 00:15:17,021 --> 00:15:21,021 this is the first one where we actually had the murder 281 00:15:21,021 --> 00:15:23,021 captured on video. 282 00:15:23,021 --> 00:15:26,021 It truly does open up the book for us. 283 00:15:26,021 --> 00:15:29,021 As these folks were leaving and running away, 284 00:15:29,021 --> 00:15:31,021 what direction were they headed? 285 00:15:31,021 --> 00:15:33,021 So, that's where we're gonna start our canvass. 286 00:15:37,021 --> 00:15:37,021 We decided to go ahead and concentrate 287 00:15:37,021 --> 00:15:42,021 on the apartment complexes first. 288 00:15:42,021 --> 00:15:44,021 When the officers were out there, this manager's like, 289 00:15:44,021 --> 00:15:46,021 "You know what? I could be wrong, 290 00:15:46,021 --> 00:15:48,021 "but this is a coincidence to me 291 00:15:48,021 --> 00:15:50,021 "that I just can't seem to get over. 292 00:15:50,021 --> 00:15:53,021 "I had this tenant who was behind in her rent, 293 00:15:53,021 --> 00:15:56,021 "she was due to be evicted, then all of a sudden, 294 00:15:56,021 --> 00:15:59,021 she comes in this morning and pays off everything." 295 00:16:00,021 --> 00:16:01,021 The public already knew that we had two cab drivers, 296 00:16:01,021 --> 00:16:05,021 the media had already reported that. 297 00:16:05,021 --> 00:16:08,021 For this manager, based on what glimpse he got from 298 00:16:08,021 --> 00:16:09,021 the surveillance video--uh, photograph, 299 00:16:10,021 --> 00:16:13,021 was able to draw those parallels very quickly. 300 00:16:13,021 --> 00:16:15,021 They gave her name as Crystal Jones 301 00:16:15,021 --> 00:16:18,021 and the physical description seemed to match. 302 00:16:20,021 --> 00:16:23,021 - ♪ 303 00:16:23,021 --> 00:16:25,021 - ROGER: What we want to do is to get her 304 00:16:25,021 --> 00:16:27,021 before she gets inside her apartment, 305 00:16:27,021 --> 00:16:29,021 and there's a reason for that. 306 00:16:29,021 --> 00:16:31,021 It creates too much hazard for the officers 307 00:16:31,021 --> 00:16:33,021 and for other citizens. 308 00:16:35,021 --> 00:16:39,021 Crystal shows up and once everything got explained to her 309 00:16:39,021 --> 00:16:41,021 about how we wound up there, she agreed, 310 00:16:41,021 --> 00:16:43,021 "Yeah, you know what? Let me run down and explain 311 00:16:43,021 --> 00:16:45,021 all this to ya, I don't have a problem doing that." 312 00:16:48,021 --> 00:16:51,021 - ♪ 313 00:16:51,021 --> 00:16:54,021 - ROGER: Just that cooperation right from the beginning 314 00:16:54,021 --> 00:16:57,021 sent a very clear message to us. 315 00:16:57,021 --> 00:16:59,021 So, when she comes in to homicide, uh, 316 00:16:59,021 --> 00:17:03,021 Sergeant Harris talked to her, he felt very quickly 317 00:17:03,021 --> 00:17:04,021 that she wasn't involved in this. 318 00:17:04,021 --> 00:17:07,021 Brian is like, "Her voice is just too raspy, 319 00:17:07,021 --> 00:17:09,021 it just doesn't quite match up." 320 00:17:09,021 --> 00:17:10,021 When Brian asked her about, you know, 321 00:17:10,021 --> 00:17:13,021 how she came into all of this money 322 00:17:13,021 --> 00:17:15,021 and was able to pay off all her debt all of a sudden, 323 00:17:15,021 --> 00:17:18,021 she said, "Oh, well, I sold my car." 324 00:17:18,021 --> 00:17:19,021 And he said, "What do you mean?" 325 00:17:19,021 --> 00:17:22,021 and she was able to produce the documentation, 326 00:17:22,021 --> 00:17:24,021 the bill of sale and everything. 327 00:17:24,021 --> 00:17:26,021 We can tell when someone's lying to us most of the time 328 00:17:27,021 --> 00:17:29,021 very quickly, uh, we can also tell 329 00:17:29,021 --> 00:17:31,021 when they're being very truthful. 330 00:17:31,021 --> 00:17:35,021 Brian just felt right away this isn't our girl, period. 331 00:17:37,021 --> 00:17:38,021 Once Crystal Jones is eliminated as a suspect, 332 00:17:38,021 --> 00:17:42,021 it's very late at night, uh, everybody's worn out. 333 00:17:42,021 --> 00:17:44,021 There's really not much more we can do at the moment, 334 00:17:45,021 --> 00:17:47,021 all of our physical evidence is tied up at the crime labs. 335 00:17:48,021 --> 00:17:51,021 - ♪ 336 00:17:51,021 --> 00:17:52,021 - ROGER: We come back in the next morning 337 00:17:53,021 --> 00:17:56,021 and we get a phone call from our firearms lab. 338 00:17:56,021 --> 00:17:58,021 Typically, from a firearms report, 339 00:17:58,021 --> 00:18:03,021 we may get between 8 to 15 firearms that these-- 340 00:18:03,021 --> 00:18:05,021 these shell casings could have come from. 341 00:18:06,021 --> 00:18:07,021 But Kim Downs came downstairs and, for the first time 342 00:18:07,021 --> 00:18:11,021 since I've known her, she's ecstatic. 343 00:18:13,021 --> 00:18:15,021 There's, I don't know, 4 or 5 of us standing around, 344 00:18:15,021 --> 00:18:19,021 she says, "You're looking for a Cobra 380." 345 00:18:19,021 --> 00:18:22,021 She even shows us a picture of it. 346 00:18:22,021 --> 00:18:25,021 She says, "I'm not saying 'It's this number of firearms,' 347 00:18:26,021 --> 00:18:28,021 this is the gun you're looking for." 348 00:18:28,021 --> 00:18:30,021 That was a game changer. 349 00:18:33,021 --> 00:18:35,021 Our crime analyst starts doing the research 350 00:18:35,021 --> 00:18:38,021 on stolen firearms. 351 00:18:38,021 --> 00:18:39,021 Well, there were two reports that were located, 352 00:18:39,021 --> 00:18:44,021 and one of them mentions two suspects by name. 353 00:18:44,021 --> 00:18:47,021 Turns out this gentleman had allowed these two folks 354 00:18:47,021 --> 00:18:51,021 to stay with him and, uh, they stole a pistol from him. 355 00:18:51,021 --> 00:18:53,021 Uh, he names them as Chaz Blackshear 356 00:18:53,021 --> 00:18:54,021 and Danielle Hudson. 357 00:18:54,021 --> 00:18:59,021 Immediately we start doing the research on those two folks, 358 00:18:59,021 --> 00:19:02,021 and we notice that he has an arrest--a prior arrest, 359 00:19:02,021 --> 00:19:04,021 so--every arrest that occurs in Houston, uh, 360 00:19:04,021 --> 00:19:07,021 the arrestee is assigned an H.P.D. number. 361 00:19:07,021 --> 00:19:10,021 And lo and behold if we don't find pictures of them 362 00:19:10,021 --> 00:19:11,021 that resemble what we see in the video. 363 00:19:11,021 --> 00:19:15,021 Especially with Danielle. 364 00:19:15,021 --> 00:19:17,021 Phil called somebody in our fingerprint lab, 365 00:19:17,021 --> 00:19:20,021 and the information he was trying to tell 366 00:19:20,021 --> 00:19:24,021 the fingerprint person is, uh, "Hey, I've got a H.P.D. number 367 00:19:24,021 --> 00:19:25,021 I need you to compare this to." 368 00:19:25,021 --> 00:19:27,021 He didn't even mention a name. 369 00:19:27,021 --> 00:19:30,021 He says, "Don't tell me it's Chaz Blackshear." 370 00:19:30,021 --> 00:19:32,021 Phil literally--I think he came close to dropping the phone. 371 00:19:37,021 --> 00:19:41,021 All of that took place literally in a matter of 10 minutes, 372 00:19:41,021 --> 00:19:45,021 15 minutes-- just boom, boom, boom, boom. 373 00:19:45,021 --> 00:19:46,021 The gentleman that-- that listed his pistol, 374 00:19:46,021 --> 00:19:48,021 he was friends with Chaz. 375 00:19:48,021 --> 00:19:50,021 He had his cellphone number, 376 00:19:50,021 --> 00:19:53,021 and he listed that on the police report. 377 00:19:53,021 --> 00:19:55,021 Now, we have enough evidence against Chaz 378 00:19:55,021 --> 00:19:58,021 to be able to get a warrant for his arrest. 379 00:19:58,021 --> 00:20:00,021 Once the marshals were able to get the court order 380 00:20:01,021 --> 00:20:04,021 and activate, uh, the phone search, 381 00:20:04,021 --> 00:20:06,021 it literally took us right back to the same apartment complex 382 00:20:07,021 --> 00:20:08,021 that we had been to before. 383 00:20:16,021 --> 00:20:21,021 - My name is Chaz Blackshear. I'm from Dallas, Texas. 384 00:20:22,021 --> 00:20:26,021 As a child I went through a lot of... 385 00:20:26,021 --> 00:20:29,021 emotional rollercoasters. 386 00:20:31,021 --> 00:20:33,021 My mother being in jail-- 387 00:20:33,021 --> 00:20:34,021 that's my first memory. 388 00:20:34,021 --> 00:20:37,021 I used to get letters, drawings from her. 389 00:20:37,021 --> 00:20:41,021 I know my real father, 390 00:20:41,021 --> 00:20:44,021 but I only stayed with him for a short amount of time. 391 00:20:44,021 --> 00:20:46,021 It was in Arizona. 392 00:20:46,021 --> 00:20:47,021 I left him up there because, you know, 393 00:20:48,021 --> 00:20:49,021 he used to put his hands on me. 394 00:20:49,021 --> 00:20:51,021 Busted my nose and all that. 395 00:20:57,021 --> 00:21:00,021 Not too long after that, my mom got out of jail. 396 00:21:00,021 --> 00:21:03,021 Within a couple--probably a couple of months maybe, 397 00:21:03,021 --> 00:21:07,021 she had met this, uh, this dude named John. 398 00:21:07,021 --> 00:21:10,021 He was different, man. He actually showed love. 399 00:21:10,021 --> 00:21:12,021 Made me do my homework, made me, you know what I'm saying, 400 00:21:12,021 --> 00:21:14,021 do things that counted in life, 401 00:21:14,021 --> 00:21:17,021 and he was that father that I wanted. 402 00:21:17,021 --> 00:21:18,021 He had a motorcycle, you know. 403 00:21:18,021 --> 00:21:20,021 He loved to ride bikes, 404 00:21:20,021 --> 00:21:21,021 and I'd hop on the bike with him. 405 00:21:29,021 --> 00:21:31,021 He rode off and he never came back. 406 00:21:32,021 --> 00:21:33,021 I remember the police came. 407 00:21:33,021 --> 00:21:34,021 The police came knocking 408 00:21:34,021 --> 00:21:39,021 at our door probably around 10, 11 at night. 409 00:21:39,021 --> 00:21:41,021 So, I rush over to see what's going on 410 00:21:41,021 --> 00:21:43,021 and they put their hands on my momma, 411 00:21:43,021 --> 00:21:45,021 and I just hear her bust out crying. 412 00:21:46,021 --> 00:21:50,021 He had wrecked on the bike and the wreck killed him. 413 00:21:50,021 --> 00:21:54,021 He flew off the highway or something, I don't know. 414 00:21:54,021 --> 00:21:56,021 In a way, I feel like everything was snatched from me. 415 00:21:56,021 --> 00:21:59,021 The little family that I-- that I had. 416 00:22:07,021 --> 00:22:12,021 After he died, my momma went back on the drugs. 417 00:22:12,021 --> 00:22:15,021 I seen my mother OD one night. 418 00:22:17,021 --> 00:22:19,021 She was foaming up at the mouth, she couldn't stop shaking, 419 00:22:19,021 --> 00:22:21,021 and I was scared. 420 00:22:21,021 --> 00:22:23,021 I ended up moving in with some cousins. 421 00:22:23,021 --> 00:22:27,021 So, I ended up staying there with my, uh, adoptive father 422 00:22:27,021 --> 00:22:28,021 and my adoptive mother. 423 00:22:34,021 --> 00:22:36,021 They wouldn't let me do certain things 424 00:22:36,021 --> 00:22:39,021 that I was used to being allowed to do. 425 00:22:39,021 --> 00:22:43,021 That was one of the reasons I really rebelled a lot 426 00:22:43,021 --> 00:22:46,021 as a child, because I couldn't get my way. 427 00:22:47,021 --> 00:22:49,021 A lot of times--I used to cry every night. 428 00:22:49,021 --> 00:22:53,021 And I was contemplating suicide at an early age. 429 00:22:53,021 --> 00:22:56,021 Music was my passion, my goal, and my dream back then, 430 00:22:56,021 --> 00:23:01,021 you know, uh, that's where I put all my emotions, 431 00:23:01,021 --> 00:23:04,021 everything I've been through my life, I put in my music. 432 00:23:04,021 --> 00:23:09,021 And, um, that's-- that's one of the things I know 433 00:23:09,021 --> 00:23:12,021 that I'm blessed and I'm gifted at and, uh, 434 00:23:13,021 --> 00:23:16,021 I think I could breathe then, you know, I could--I could do it 435 00:23:17,021 --> 00:23:19,021 for the rest of my life as a career and be happy doing it. 436 00:23:19,021 --> 00:23:25,021 And not just doing it for the popularity or--or the money. 437 00:23:29,021 --> 00:23:31,021 Nobody supported me through what I wanted. 438 00:23:31,021 --> 00:23:32,021 It was always what somebody else wanted, 439 00:23:32,021 --> 00:23:35,021 what they think is right. 440 00:23:35,021 --> 00:23:38,021 What they believed in. 441 00:23:38,021 --> 00:23:41,021 They told me, uh, "You can go to college, 442 00:23:41,021 --> 00:23:44,021 "go to the military or get you a job, 443 00:23:44,021 --> 00:23:49,021 but you've got to do something," and none of it involved music. 444 00:23:49,021 --> 00:23:54,021 So, basically, I end up joining the military just... 445 00:23:54,021 --> 00:23:57,021 so I can get out of the house, so I can get away. 446 00:23:57,021 --> 00:23:59,021 Just get away. 447 00:23:59,021 --> 00:24:01,021 If things weren't gonna get better, 448 00:24:01,021 --> 00:24:03,021 I was going to force them to get better. 449 00:24:13,021 --> 00:24:16,021 - ♪ 450 00:24:16,021 --> 00:24:19,021 - CHAZ: Danielle, she was one of the first people 451 00:24:19,021 --> 00:24:23,021 who believed in me. 452 00:24:23,021 --> 00:24:28,021 She really showed me something that I'd never really seen 453 00:24:28,021 --> 00:24:31,021 out of a woman. 454 00:24:31,021 --> 00:24:33,021 She wanted the same thing I wanted. 455 00:24:33,021 --> 00:24:36,021 She was raised by her granny and everything too, 456 00:24:36,021 --> 00:24:40,021 so we kinda had similar backgrounds. 457 00:24:40,021 --> 00:24:41,021 We just kinda built that trust, you know, 458 00:24:41,021 --> 00:24:44,021 'cause we both been through something. 459 00:24:44,021 --> 00:24:45,021 And then not before long, we got-- 460 00:24:45,021 --> 00:24:47,021 you know what I'm saying, 461 00:24:47,021 --> 00:24:48,021 she started staying there with me, um, 462 00:24:48,021 --> 00:24:50,021 and I guess that's when everything kicked off. 463 00:24:52,021 --> 00:24:55,021 She just so happened to have a child, 464 00:24:55,021 --> 00:24:59,021 and I knew that his--his father wasn't really in his life. 465 00:24:59,021 --> 00:25:03,021 I could see how her son really looked up to me, 466 00:25:03,021 --> 00:25:05,021 always wanted to be around me. 467 00:25:05,021 --> 00:25:07,021 That made me hold on to him even tighter, you know. 468 00:25:07,021 --> 00:25:13,021 'Cause that's how I felt that he needed, uh, a father. 469 00:25:13,021 --> 00:25:15,021 You know, I didn't want them to feel the same way that I felt 470 00:25:15,021 --> 00:25:18,021 back when I lost John, and I was willing to do anything 471 00:25:18,021 --> 00:25:21,021 to make sure that don't happen. 472 00:25:21,021 --> 00:25:25,021 I really had tried to stop hustling and, you know, 473 00:25:25,021 --> 00:25:29,021 and actually go out and get a real job, 474 00:25:29,021 --> 00:25:31,021 'cause I don't want nothing to take me away from my family. 475 00:25:31,021 --> 00:25:34,021 And it was hard to get a job, you know, uh, 476 00:25:34,021 --> 00:25:35,021 I couldn't get one, couldn't find one, 477 00:25:35,021 --> 00:25:39,021 'cause I was unhonorably discharged from the military. 478 00:25:44,021 --> 00:25:46,021 We end up getting kicked out the apartment, 479 00:25:46,021 --> 00:25:50,021 and they had put the eviction notice on the door. 480 00:25:50,021 --> 00:25:54,021 The next day we was-- we had to go. 481 00:25:54,021 --> 00:25:55,021 I had to take care of 'em, 482 00:25:55,021 --> 00:25:56,021 I figured it was my responsibility, 483 00:25:56,021 --> 00:26:02,021 I felt if I didn't do nothing, I wasn't a man. 484 00:26:02,021 --> 00:26:06,021 The first thing that came to mind was quick money, 485 00:26:06,021 --> 00:26:09,021 and I was desperate for it. 486 00:26:14,021 --> 00:26:16,021 I'm pretty sure anybody for their family would do 487 00:26:16,021 --> 00:26:19,021 anything they have to to make sure they family was okay. 488 00:26:21,021 --> 00:26:23,021 I'm not gonna lie, I probably wasn't mature enough to see 489 00:26:23,021 --> 00:26:26,021 I could have found a better way. 490 00:26:30,021 --> 00:26:34,021 - [sirens wailing] - [indistinct radio chatter] 491 00:26:37,021 --> 00:26:38,021 - I'll never forget, I was laying on the floor, 492 00:26:38,021 --> 00:26:41,021 she was sitting up, and I was asleep. 493 00:26:41,021 --> 00:26:43,021 I was sleeping so hard, I didn't even-- 494 00:26:43,021 --> 00:26:46,021 I didn't even hear them kick the door in. 495 00:26:46,021 --> 00:26:48,021 I didn't even hear it. 496 00:26:48,021 --> 00:26:50,021 I don't know if it was from the stress or the depression, 497 00:26:50,021 --> 00:26:53,021 I don't know what it was, but I was actually dead asleep. 498 00:26:54,021 --> 00:26:57,021 She shook me and woke me up. I said, "What's up?" 499 00:26:57,021 --> 00:26:59,021 She said, "Man, the police here." 500 00:27:02,021 --> 00:27:07,021 They took --they took me, but I coulda took that, 501 00:27:07,021 --> 00:27:11,021 but with her--when they took her in, you know, uh... 502 00:27:11,021 --> 00:27:14,021 AJ was still there. 503 00:27:14,021 --> 00:27:16,021 Man, that's stuff I didn't want him to see, man. 504 00:27:21,021 --> 00:27:24,021 - ♪ 505 00:27:24,021 --> 00:27:25,021 - My name is Caroline Dozier. 506 00:27:25,021 --> 00:27:27,021 I'm a prosecutor at the Harris County 507 00:27:27,021 --> 00:27:28,021 District Attorney's Office, 508 00:27:28,021 --> 00:27:30,021 and I was the lead prosecutor in the Chaz Blackshear 509 00:27:30,021 --> 00:27:33,021 and Danielle Hudson capital murder cases. 510 00:27:34,021 --> 00:27:36,021 My very first involvement with this case was 511 00:27:36,021 --> 00:27:38,021 when Sergeant Harris and Detective Waters 512 00:27:38,021 --> 00:27:42,021 came to my office and talked to me about picking up this case. 513 00:27:43,021 --> 00:27:46,021 A cab driver had been murdered and they wanted my help. 514 00:27:47,021 --> 00:27:50,021 There were two very good leads that led us 515 00:27:50,021 --> 00:27:52,021 to Chaz Blackshear, specifically, 516 00:27:52,021 --> 00:27:55,021 and then ultimately, Danielle Hudson, as well. 517 00:27:55,021 --> 00:27:57,021 Um, one of which was the link between the two cases-- 518 00:27:58,021 --> 00:27:59,021 the shell casings. 519 00:28:01,021 --> 00:28:03,021 They were found to be fired from a very, um, 520 00:28:03,021 --> 00:28:05,021 unique type of gun. 521 00:28:05,021 --> 00:28:08,021 In addition to that, they took fingerprints off of the cab, 522 00:28:08,021 --> 00:28:12,021 and they were able to match one of the prints 523 00:28:12,021 --> 00:28:15,021 to Chaz Blackshear. 524 00:28:17,021 --> 00:28:20,021 We knew that Chaz Blackshear had a phone, 525 00:28:20,021 --> 00:28:22,021 and we were in contact with the phone company 526 00:28:22,021 --> 00:28:24,021 about his service. 527 00:28:24,021 --> 00:28:27,021 It was a prepaid phone and it was running low on minutes. 528 00:28:27,021 --> 00:28:31,021 And so, in a ruse, they told the phone company 529 00:28:31,021 --> 00:28:33,021 to call him and let him know that they were giving him 530 00:28:33,021 --> 00:28:36,021 additional minutes so that we could keep tabs 531 00:28:36,021 --> 00:28:38,021 on where he might be. 532 00:28:40,021 --> 00:28:42,021 Chaz Blackshear and Danielle Hudson 533 00:28:42,021 --> 00:28:44,021 were staying at a family member's home. 534 00:28:44,021 --> 00:28:46,021 I believe it was a cousin's home. 535 00:28:46,021 --> 00:28:49,021 And so, we wrote warrants for Chaz Blackshear. 536 00:28:49,021 --> 00:28:51,021 We didn't believe that we had enough at that time 537 00:28:51,021 --> 00:28:53,021 to write one for Danielle Hudson. 538 00:28:55,021 --> 00:28:57,021 - [siren wails] 539 00:28:57,021 --> 00:29:00,021 - CAROLINE: They found Chaz and Danielle both at the home. 540 00:29:00,021 --> 00:29:03,021 I believe they were sleeping on an air mattress. 541 00:29:03,021 --> 00:29:05,021 There was something about the shape of Danielle's hair 542 00:29:05,021 --> 00:29:09,021 or her head that was familiar, um, when they saw her. 543 00:29:09,021 --> 00:29:11,021 She looked basically like the person who was in the video 544 00:29:11,021 --> 00:29:16,021 of the two suspects running away from--from the taxi cab. 545 00:29:16,021 --> 00:29:18,021 The other thing that the officers found familiar 546 00:29:18,021 --> 00:29:21,021 about Danielle was the sound of her voice. 547 00:29:21,021 --> 00:29:23,021 They had listened to the recordings of the phone calls 548 00:29:23,021 --> 00:29:25,021 being made to the cab companies, and when they talked to her, 549 00:29:26,021 --> 00:29:28,021 they noticed that her voice sounded very similar to-- 550 00:29:28,021 --> 00:29:30,021 if not the same--as the person who'd made those phone calls. 551 00:29:34,021 --> 00:29:37,021 - ♪ 552 00:29:37,021 --> 00:29:39,021 - CAROLINE: They arrested Chaz on the warrant, 553 00:29:39,021 --> 00:29:41,021 and then they asked Danielle Hudson 554 00:29:41,021 --> 00:29:43,021 if she wouldn't mind coming down to the police station 555 00:29:43,021 --> 00:29:46,021 and giving a statement, and she agreed to do so. 556 00:29:46,021 --> 00:29:48,021 The detectives decided they first wanted to speak 557 00:29:48,021 --> 00:29:51,021 with Chaz Blackshear and see what he would admit to 558 00:29:51,021 --> 00:29:51,021 regarding the crimes. 559 00:29:57,021 --> 00:29:59,021 He said that he had taken cabs, 560 00:29:59,021 --> 00:30:01,021 um, he might've even been in the cabs 561 00:30:01,021 --> 00:30:03,021 of the murdered drivers, but that he was not involved 562 00:30:03,021 --> 00:30:06,021 in any way, shape, or form in those murders. 563 00:30:43,021 --> 00:30:45,021 - CAROLINE: Detective Waters was trying to get Chaz 564 00:30:46,021 --> 00:30:48,021 to confess to his involvement in these crimes, um, 565 00:30:48,021 --> 00:30:51,021 but was unsuccessful initially. 566 00:30:51,021 --> 00:30:53,021 The one ace in the hole that we had was Danielle Hudson. 567 00:30:53,021 --> 00:30:56,021 We still had an opportunity to talk to her 568 00:30:56,021 --> 00:31:00,021 and try and find out the crime from her and then maybe use 569 00:31:00,021 --> 00:31:04,021 what she told us to get Chaz to tell us the truth. 570 00:31:06,021 --> 00:31:09,021 Brian Harris showed her the footage from the crime scene 571 00:31:09,021 --> 00:31:11,021 and pointed out the similarities between her and the female 572 00:31:12,021 --> 00:31:14,021 on the surveillance footage. 573 00:31:14,021 --> 00:31:16,021 And she admitted at that point that that was in fact her. 574 00:31:19,021 --> 00:31:21,021 That was a huge break in the case for us. 575 00:31:21,021 --> 00:31:23,021 We already had some evidence that tied them to-- 576 00:31:23,021 --> 00:31:26,021 to this particular case, 577 00:31:26,021 --> 00:31:27,021 but now that we know that she's admitting to being 578 00:31:27,021 --> 00:31:30,021 the person on that video. 579 00:31:30,021 --> 00:31:34,021 Now we know that those two are probably our best suspects. 580 00:31:37,021 --> 00:31:41,021 - ♪ 581 00:31:41,021 --> 00:31:44,021 - Danielle seemed to think that 582 00:31:44,021 --> 00:31:46,021 because she wasn't the actual shooter, 583 00:31:46,021 --> 00:31:50,021 that somehow she would play no part in this particular crime. 584 00:31:50,021 --> 00:31:53,021 And she was pretty quick in-- in ratting out Chaz. 585 00:32:16,021 --> 00:32:18,021 - CAROLINE: Danielle Hudson claimed that she was 586 00:32:18,021 --> 00:32:21,021 driving the cab and that she heard Chaz 587 00:32:21,021 --> 00:32:23,021 having a conversation with Mr. El Sayed. 588 00:32:23,021 --> 00:32:27,021 At that point, she just thought they were gonna rob him. 589 00:32:27,021 --> 00:32:28,021 Mohammed was saying, 590 00:32:28,021 --> 00:32:30,021 "Please don't kill me, I have kids." 591 00:32:30,021 --> 00:32:32,021 And Chaz said, "Well--well, how old are your kids?" 592 00:32:32,021 --> 00:32:34,021 And once he told him how old they were, 593 00:32:34,021 --> 00:32:36,021 Chaz was basically like, "Well, that's old enough," 594 00:32:36,021 --> 00:32:37,021 and shot him. 595 00:32:37,021 --> 00:32:39,021 - [gunshot] 596 00:32:40,021 --> 00:32:42,021 - CAROLINE: The children were like maybe six years old. 597 00:32:42,021 --> 00:32:44,021 That was old enough in his mind. 598 00:32:45,021 --> 00:32:48,021 And when the gun went off, she claimed she was surprised, 599 00:32:48,021 --> 00:32:50,021 although she then helped pull the body out of the car 600 00:32:50,021 --> 00:32:52,021 and kick him down into the culvert. 601 00:32:54,021 --> 00:32:57,021 From Danielle's perspective, I think she wanted the police 602 00:32:57,021 --> 00:33:01,021 to believe that they were only gonna use the gun 603 00:33:01,021 --> 00:33:02,021 to scare people and get money. 604 00:33:02,021 --> 00:33:06,021 She did not want the police believing that she knew 605 00:33:06,021 --> 00:33:08,021 that the murders would happen beforehand. 606 00:33:12,021 --> 00:33:13,021 As she said in the interview, 607 00:33:13,021 --> 00:33:14,021 this was the beginning of his life of crime, 608 00:33:14,021 --> 00:33:19,021 and that maybe he enjoyed it a little bit. 609 00:33:19,021 --> 00:33:23,021 Danielle claims that Chaz told her "Don't worry about it. 610 00:33:23,021 --> 00:33:26,021 If we ever get caught"-- And that's a big if in his mind, 611 00:33:26,021 --> 00:33:29,021 --"if we ever get caught, I'll take full responsibility 612 00:33:29,021 --> 00:33:31,021 and you won't have any blame in this whatsoever." 613 00:33:36,021 --> 00:33:40,021 - SARA: 2 cab drivers murdered within 48 hours of each other. 614 00:33:40,021 --> 00:33:44,021 The tension in the city with these reports coming out, 615 00:33:44,021 --> 00:33:47,021 it was very real. 616 00:33:47,021 --> 00:33:49,021 And now we finally have two suspects that have been arrested 617 00:33:49,021 --> 00:33:52,021 and the city of Houston-- you could almost sense 618 00:33:52,021 --> 00:33:54,021 a sigh of relief. 619 00:33:54,021 --> 00:33:56,021 Chaz Blackshear and Danielle Hudson 620 00:33:56,021 --> 00:33:59,021 were now looking at two counts of first-degree murder. 621 00:34:04,021 --> 00:34:06,021 - BRIAN: During the interview with Danielle, 622 00:34:06,021 --> 00:34:07,021 my partner's in the other room with Chaz 623 00:34:07,021 --> 00:34:09,021 and they've been talking for a long time, 624 00:34:10,021 --> 00:34:13,021 and he was pretty cool character, 625 00:34:13,021 --> 00:34:15,021 he wasn't giving an inch. 626 00:34:16,021 --> 00:34:17,021 - Detective Waters told Chaz, you know, 627 00:34:18,021 --> 00:34:20,021 "Danielle's talking to us. She's telling us what happened. 628 00:34:21,021 --> 00:34:22,021 "She's telling us that you were involved 629 00:34:22,021 --> 00:34:25,021 and that you are the shooter in this--both of those cases." 630 00:34:25,021 --> 00:34:26,021 And Chaz wouldn't bite. 631 00:34:26,021 --> 00:34:27,021 He didn't believe that she was telling him. 632 00:34:27,021 --> 00:34:29,021 He said, "That's not the truth." 633 00:34:30,021 --> 00:34:32,021 Sergeant Harris had Danielle write a note, 634 00:34:32,021 --> 00:34:34,021 like, "You promised me you'd take responsibility." 635 00:34:35,021 --> 00:34:39,021 - He looks at that note, and it doesn't break him. 636 00:34:39,021 --> 00:34:43,021 He looks at it and he says, "She didn't write this. 637 00:34:43,021 --> 00:34:47,021 There's no spelling mistakes, she's not that smart." 638 00:34:47,021 --> 00:34:49,021 Still not breaking. 639 00:34:49,021 --> 00:34:53,021 We bring in the photographs, and on one of the photographs 640 00:34:53,021 --> 00:34:55,021 Danielle has circled Chaz 641 00:34:55,021 --> 00:34:57,021 and she writes in her own handwriting, 642 00:34:57,021 --> 00:34:59,021 "My ex-boyfriend." 643 00:34:59,021 --> 00:35:02,021 He's surprised, and then finally, 644 00:35:02,021 --> 00:35:06,021 as a result of seeing more and more of these photographs 645 00:35:06,021 --> 00:35:08,021 that she has signed off on, 646 00:35:08,021 --> 00:35:11,021 he then agrees to tell the full story to my partner. 647 00:35:16,021 --> 00:35:19,021 - Chaz Blackshear said he would tell the police everything, 648 00:35:19,021 --> 00:35:22,021 but not until he had a chance to talk to Danielle. 649 00:35:22,021 --> 00:35:24,021 - "I wanna see her. If you let me see her, 650 00:35:24,021 --> 00:35:26,021 I'll tell you whatever you wanna know." 651 00:35:27,021 --> 00:35:28,021 - BRIAN: We said, "Well, we don't-- 652 00:35:28,021 --> 00:35:31,021 "we're not gonna put her in the room first, 653 00:35:31,021 --> 00:35:35,021 tell us first and then we'll see what we can do." 654 00:35:35,021 --> 00:35:38,021 And he does. 655 00:35:38,021 --> 00:35:41,021 He describes in detail what he did. 656 00:35:41,021 --> 00:35:44,021 The actual "confession" itself was probably less than 657 00:35:44,021 --> 00:35:46,021 five to seven minutes. 658 00:35:47,021 --> 00:35:50,021 But what happens next is pretty incredible. 659 00:35:53,021 --> 00:35:54,021 - CAROLINE: The detectives were true to their word. 660 00:35:54,021 --> 00:35:58,021 After Chaz confessed and told them what had happened 661 00:35:58,021 --> 00:35:59,021 in the crimes, they allowed Danielle 662 00:36:00,021 --> 00:36:02,021 to be in the same room with Chaz. 663 00:36:03,021 --> 00:36:06,021 You could see what their relationship was like. 664 00:36:06,021 --> 00:36:07,021 And there was no fear on Danielle's face. 665 00:36:07,021 --> 00:36:10,021 As a matter of fact, instead of sitting in a chair 666 00:36:10,021 --> 00:36:13,021 across the table from him, she went right up to him 667 00:36:13,021 --> 00:36:16,021 and sat in his lap. 668 00:36:16,021 --> 00:36:19,021 - BRIAN: Her arms are curled around his head, 669 00:36:19,021 --> 00:36:23,021 like almost massaging his ears and scratching his head. 670 00:36:23,021 --> 00:36:28,021 And saying, "Well, you told me that you would do this 671 00:36:28,021 --> 00:36:30,021 "and that you would take responsibility, 672 00:36:31,021 --> 00:36:32,021 'cause I have my son." 673 00:36:33,021 --> 00:36:36,021 - CHAZ: When they let her come talk to me, 674 00:36:36,021 --> 00:36:38,021 I told her then, man, you know what I'm saying, 675 00:36:38,021 --> 00:36:39,021 "I--I got you, I'll put it on me, just-- 676 00:36:39,021 --> 00:36:40,021 "but you gotta do the same, 677 00:36:41,021 --> 00:36:44,021 that's the only way you can get out." 678 00:36:44,021 --> 00:36:47,021 - BRIAN: He then asks her, "Are you going to jail?" 679 00:36:47,021 --> 00:36:49,021 And she doesn't know at that point, 680 00:36:49,021 --> 00:36:50,021 because in our interview I said, 681 00:36:50,021 --> 00:36:52,021 "I don't know if you're gonna be charged, 682 00:36:52,021 --> 00:36:54,021 basically depends on what she says." 683 00:37:02,021 --> 00:37:04,021 - SARA: Criminals normally aren't very smart. 684 00:37:04,021 --> 00:37:06,021 And so the fact that the two of them were together, 685 00:37:06,021 --> 00:37:09,021 and they spoke so openly talking about the case, 686 00:37:09,021 --> 00:37:10,021 who was gonna take the blame, 687 00:37:10,021 --> 00:37:13,021 they must have been shocked when they realized the police 688 00:37:13,021 --> 00:37:14,021 were listening to every word. 689 00:37:17,021 --> 00:37:18,021 - CAROLINE: Once we had the confessions 690 00:37:19,021 --> 00:37:21,021 from Chaz and Danielle, we then filed formal charges 691 00:37:21,021 --> 00:37:26,021 of capital murder against them for both of the cab drivers. 692 00:37:26,021 --> 00:37:28,021 - SARA: Just because she didn't shoot the victims, 693 00:37:28,021 --> 00:37:30,021 just because she wasn't the one actually pulling the trigger, 694 00:37:31,021 --> 00:37:34,021 doesn't mean that she was gonna get off completely scot-free. 695 00:37:37,021 --> 00:37:39,021 - ♪ 696 00:37:39,021 --> 00:37:41,021 - SARA: In the end, both Chaz Blackshear 697 00:37:41,021 --> 00:37:44,021 and Danielle Hudson plead guilty. 698 00:37:44,021 --> 00:37:46,021 - CAROLINE: She was allowed to plead guilty 699 00:37:46,021 --> 00:37:48,021 to a lesser included offense. 700 00:37:49,021 --> 00:37:50,021 The state chose to seek the death penalty 701 00:37:50,021 --> 00:37:52,021 against Chaz Blackshear because we thought the cases 702 00:37:52,021 --> 00:37:54,021 were cold-blooded enough, and we thought a jury 703 00:37:55,021 --> 00:37:57,021 would return a verdict of death. 704 00:37:58,021 --> 00:38:02,021 - BRIAN: Danielle Hudson gets sentenced to 40 years-- 705 00:38:02,021 --> 00:38:07,021 40 years in Texas Department of Corrections--TDC. 706 00:38:07,021 --> 00:38:10,021 Chaz Blackshear, he also pleads guilty. 707 00:38:10,021 --> 00:38:16,021 - CHAZ: My lawyer at the time didn't understand. 708 00:38:16,021 --> 00:38:18,021 At the time, they were trying to give me the death penalty, 709 00:38:18,021 --> 00:38:21,021 you know, uh, and I wasn't trying to fight it. 710 00:38:21,021 --> 00:38:24,021 And I really didn't care about-- as long as they got off, 711 00:38:24,021 --> 00:38:26,021 then I was good no matter what, you know what I'm saying? 712 00:38:26,021 --> 00:38:27,021 Whether it's death or whether it's life 713 00:38:27,021 --> 00:38:31,021 or whether it's freedom, I put them before myself, 714 00:38:31,021 --> 00:38:36,021 and that's what... a--a family man does. 715 00:38:39,021 --> 00:38:41,021 - BRIAN: Chaz, he takes a life sentence 716 00:38:41,021 --> 00:38:43,021 without the possibility of parole. 717 00:38:43,021 --> 00:38:47,021 He will die behind bars in TDC. 718 00:38:48,021 --> 00:38:51,021 - ♪ 719 00:38:51,021 --> 00:38:52,021 - CAROLINE: I would say that Chaz Blackshear 720 00:38:52,021 --> 00:38:54,021 and Danielle Hudson were both just cold-blooded killers. 721 00:38:54,021 --> 00:38:59,021 They really--they really don't care about anybody who isn't 722 00:38:59,021 --> 00:39:02,021 part of their immediate family or their inner circle. 723 00:39:02,021 --> 00:39:03,021 The cab drivers that they killed 724 00:39:03,021 --> 00:39:07,021 were--were nothing and nobody to them. 725 00:39:07,021 --> 00:39:10,021 - Danielle had a child and so, potentially, the motive 726 00:39:10,021 --> 00:39:13,021 behind this was maybe they were trying to provide for the child. 727 00:39:13,021 --> 00:39:18,021 And then it just kind of spiraled out of control. 728 00:39:18,021 --> 00:39:20,021 - Would they have gone on to kill again? 729 00:39:20,021 --> 00:39:21,021 I'm convinced of it. 730 00:39:21,021 --> 00:39:24,021 How many more dead bodies would there have been? 731 00:39:24,021 --> 00:39:26,021 Who knows. 732 00:39:26,021 --> 00:39:29,021 I was very grateful to see that they were stopped 733 00:39:29,021 --> 00:39:32,021 before we could find that answer out. 734 00:39:35,021 --> 00:39:38,021 In either case, society lost two people 735 00:39:38,021 --> 00:39:40,021 who were family men, who love their children, 736 00:39:40,021 --> 00:39:43,021 who needed to be treated with dignity in life 737 00:39:43,021 --> 00:39:48,021 and certainly were not treated with dignity in death 738 00:39:48,021 --> 00:39:49,021 by these two crooks. 739 00:39:56,021 --> 00:40:04,021 - ♪ 740 00:40:05,021 --> 00:40:07,021 ♪♪