- In 2018, "snapped" featured the controversial story
Of crystal mangum,
A woman already synonymous with scandal
In the city of durham, north carolina.
- She was involved in one of the most notorious cases
That we'd ever seen.
- She could never get away from the spotlight.
- When she met reginald daye, crystal believed
She'd found the safety she'd always dreamed about.
- He wanted a family. He wanted love.
He wanted to just be at peace, enjoy life.
- But a brutal attack would destroy their relationship
In an instant.
- It was a steak knife buried to the hilt.
- She claims he tried to choke her.
- With her reputation preceding her,
Crystal faces an uphill legal battle,
As some question her credibility.
- You have to ask yourself, "can that person
Get a fair and impartial jury of their peers?"
- Now, more than a decade into her prison sentence,
Crystal mangum shares her side of the story.
- He was the aggressor, and I was no match for him.
They just arrested me.
They didn't ask me, you know, what happened or anything.
- I believe the police treated my mom
Not as the victim that she was
Because of what happened with duke.
- As she fights for vindication, others question her inability
To take responsibility for her actions.
- At the end of the day,
He wouldn't have been in the hospital
If he hadn't been stabbed.
And there's no doubt that the injuries
Were part of the reason
That he was in such a critical medical situation.
- I'm just grateful to be alive.
I regret that he lost his life.
I just don't know how else things could have turned out.
I felt like I didn't have any other choice.
♪
- My name is crystal gail mangum.
I decided to do this interview
Because I want people to know the truth
Surrounding reginald daye's death.
It's frustrating to know that I'm sitting in jail
For a crime that not only I didn't commit,
But a crime that doesn't exist.
- Even after all these years of being in prison,
With all that crystal has been through,
You know, she's at a space now that--
It-it's hard for her to accept responsibility
For any of her actions.
She is set to be released soon,
And this is not the end of her story.
It's still being written.
- April 3rd, 2011.
At 2:30am, local resident carlos wilson
Calls 911 in a panic after his uncle and neighbor,
46-year-old reginald daye, shows up at his apartment door.
- I held reginald's wound, talked to him,
Trying to get him to calm down
'cause I didn't want his heart rate
To exceed so much where it would pump all the blood.
You know, he was bleeding profusely.
- Durham police department shows up
And then your first responders,
Which would be the fire department.
- They wasted no time doing what they needed to do,
Loading him up and taking him to the hospital.
- While reginald is transported for care,
Officers face the difficult task of determining
Who attacked him and why.
Born in 1964, reginald daye grew up
In a small town just outside of durham.
- He's a country boy. He liked the outdoors.
He liked to fish.
Occasionally he'd like him a budweiser.
- Known for his hardworking personality,
Reginald supported himself
With a passion for painting houses.
- He liked to paint.
He was just so thrilled about painting, you know,
Just beginning from the prepping of a wall
To the finished product.
And he always told me that you can never go wrong
With learning a trade, no matter what the trade may be.
- He was somebody that enjoyed helping other people.
He was kind, had a pretty simple life,
And he just wanted someone to share it with.
- In 2011, a friend hired reginald to do some work
Around her house, which is where he first met
32-year-old durham native crystal mangum.
- My mother, she was, um, a very outgoing,
Just life of the party.
Had this kind of exuberance feel about her.
Like, she was so upbeat.
- Crystal was also ambitious.
- I started out at, um, ibm, making computers.
Um, that was quite interesting.
And then I worked at north hill networks for a while.
I worked at, uh, mitsubishi.
Then I went on to join the navy as an operations specialist.
I'm very proud that I was in the navy
And that I served my country.
That was one of the best decisions I could have made.
- In 1999, crystal met a fellow sailor,
And they had two kids.
Sadly, their relationship ultimately ended.
Shortly thereafter, she was honorably discharged.
- She moves back to durham to be near her family,
To be closer to her father and her mother,
You know, so she could have a support system,
'cause she did have two small children.
Crystal was about 26 at that time
And wasn't getting a lot of support from the father.
- She was a single mother
And just doing what she could to provide for us.
While she was raising us, she was still going to college,
And she ended up getting her bachelor's degree in psychology,
And that moment when I saw her walk across the stage,
I was really proud of her.
- She seemed to be very driven and very focused.
It was like she knew what she wanted,
And she was gonna go after it.
- Growing up,
It was mainly me, my mom,
My grandparents on my mom's side, r.J..
Until I was seven, when kayla was born,
Which is our little sister.
- Unfortunately, crystal's relationship
With the father of her third child didn't last.
- It was really hard for me to support my kids,
But I was trying to save up money to move out.
- In an effort to keep her head above water,
Crystal moved in with her aunt in 2010.
That's when she met reginald daye.
- Reginald came over.
He, um, was very quiet.
To me, very attractive.
He would come in and bring his painting equipment
And just start working,
And he was very confident in what he was doing.
And he did a good job.
We hit it off. He was down to earth.
So I asked him, "do you need a roommate?"
- My mother came, and she told us
That she had a place for us to stay.
And then she introduced me to reginald.
- Once she was there, things started to happen.
It was more than a roommate situation.
- Reggie daye fell very hard, quickly, for crystal mangum.
- He was very happy at first.
It was like that honeymoon state they were going through.
Crystal was just as taken with reginald
And appreciated how well he treated her children.
- Reggie loved kids, period. He bonded with them.
He did whatever he could to make them feel welcome.
- Crystal did notice that he drank regularly,
Uh, especially after coming off of work.
But she thought they had a good relationship,
And, uh, she was satisfied being in that relationship.
- He wanted a family. He wanted love.
He wanted to just be at peace, enjoy life.
- Nearly two months after crystal moved in with reginald,
Their life together appears to be in mortal danger
After he is attacked.
- He was being taken to the hospital
For emergency surgery.
- By the time law enforcement arrive on the scene,
The woman they ultimately track down for the attack has fled.
- I was still in fight or flight mode after I stabbed him.
I didn't even have enough strength to call the police.
It took all the strength in me just to run.
All I could think about was getting to my kids.
All I could think about was those pretty, little faces
Saying, "mommy, are you okay? Mommy, please just get to us."
That's all I could think about. I gotta get to my kids.
'cause being a mom means everything to me.
- I'm sleeping on the couch downstairs at my nana's house,
And I just hear a bang on the door,
Like doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.
You know, I kind of thought it was a dream at first,
And then I see my nana open the door,
And my mom just comes running in,
Stumbling, falling on the floor,
And she kept saying, "I stabbed him."
- And then my son called the police.
I went through a period of shock.
I felt at my lowest.
- Coming up...
As detectives begin their investigation,
Crystal's connection to one of durham's
Most notorious cases re-emerges.
- Here in durham, north carolina,
Everybody knows who crystal mangum is.
- It was just ridiculous. Like, my heart hurt.
My eyes hurt from crying.
Like, I just didn't know what to do.
They built a caricature of me.
Like, the crazy, mad, black woman.
And so how do I maneuver and make my way in this world?
- In the early morning hours of April 3rd, 2011,
Reginald daye's life hangs in the balance
After being stabbed.
- In this case, we had one wound.
It was one wound that transected from the liver,
The spleen, and I think to part of his lung.
And it was consistent with being someone
Who was just basically defending themselves
And trying to get away.
- While reginald is rushed into surgery,
His nephew carlos leads durham police
To the scene of the crime.
The moment they walk in to reggie's apartment,
It's clear that a violent struggle had occurred.
- Initially, I see this knife
Stabbed into the armrest of the couch.
As I proceed around through the kitchen,
I see, uh, knives that are out of a knife block.
But they're kind of scattered across the kitchen floor.
And you kind of see a trail of these that lead to the bathroom,
And then we also found a blade in the bedroom as well.
There was also a door to the bathroom
That had, like, fist holes punched in it.
And then, of course, there were some blood drops
That we could see, um, from the master bedroom
As well as in the bathroom
And then also leading through the living room
Out toward the, uh, main door to the apartment.
- Reginald's nephew tells police his uncle claimed
The person who stabbed him
Was his girlfriend, crystal mangum.
- Here in durham, north carolina,
Everybody knows who crystal mangum is.
- The events that transformed crystal mangum
Into one of durham's most notorious public figures
Date back to 2006,
Long before she met reginald daye.
- While she was in school, you know,
You have financial aid and everything,
But that doesn't take care of everything.
Still have to pay your bills.
- To make ends meet, crystal started working
As an exotic dancer for private parties.
- That's something that she chose to do
Because you can make three, four hundred dollars
For an hour's worth of work.
- On the night of March 13th, 2006,
The gig crystal had booked
Was supposed to be a party like any other.
- Crystal mangum had been hired by a group
Of duke lacrosse students to come and perform
For a party they were having on campus at their house.
She attended this party.
She was getting paid to provide this exotic dancing services.
- What happened next would forever alter
The course of crystal's life,
And that of the duke lacrosse team.
- Crystal immediately reported that she had been
Sexually assaulted by multiple individuals
Involved with the duke lacrosse team.
- She went to the hospital for a rape kit,
And then she's interviewed about what happened at that house.
Police show her a picture of the team,
And that's how she picked out three people
From that picture.
- Once that was reported, there was a frenzy
Of media reports as well as police response
And even response from the district attorney's office,
Who demanded immediate attention
And immediate action in the case.
- Ultimately, three lacrosse players were indicted.
This case was the perfect storm.
The perception of duke, for many people,
Is that it is an elitist university
For privileged young people, so you have that on one hand.
Then on the other hand, you have a low income,
African american woman down on her luck,
Having a difficult life, and she accuses
These three young men from the university
Of a horrible crime.
- Crystal really was kind of the focus of a national fight
Over civil rights, over black rights,
Over women's rights,
Over all of those kinds of things.
It split america right down the middle.
- But even as crystal's accusation divided durham
And dominated the national news,
The case against the lacrosse players
Started to unwravel.
- The dna tests came back,
And showed that none of the players
That she had accused had any dna connection
To her allegations of sexual assault.
The attorney general decides that not only
Was this a case of a false accusation,
But that these men were totally innocent.
- Crystal mangum continued to stand by her claims,
But her support dwindled.
- After 2006, she was pretty much a pariah,
Or a persona non grata in this community.
- Her name is synonymous, so no job,
No way to make ends meet.
- Crystal mangum after this incident
Found it difficult, if not impossible to rent...
A-a an apartment.
- I was tryin' really hard.
I put in so many applications my hands got tired.
Like, it was just ridiculous.
Like...
[sighing]
My heart hurt, my eyes hurt from cryin',
Like, I just didn't know what to do,
And I had three kids.
- Me and my mother, and my sisters,
We moved around a lot,
Bouncin' from house to house.
We even lived at a homeless shelter
At one point.
- Shunned by the community,
Crystal desperately needed a refuge,
One that she found in 2011
When reginald daye invited her to move in.
- I told him, I said, um,
"there's one thing that I need to tell you,
"that we need to get, um, out in the open."
I felt like I'd been blacklisted,
And there's just no other reason
Other than that I am crystal mangum.
So, he said, "well, I understand,
"and I appreciate your honesty."
- Nearly two months after crystal and her children
Moved in with reginald, he's fighting for his life
In a durham hospital.
Police must determine if crystal was, in fact,
The one to attack the man who had taken her in.
- There was immediate notification of
Most of the supervisors and command staff,
Due to, you know, her previous involvement
From the duke lacrosse case.
So when I was notified that she was involved,
I knew that it was gonna be a major incident,
And that we needed to basically have all hands on deck.
- They just arrested me.
They didn't ask me what happened or anything.
♪
- hours after reginald daye was stabbed in his apartment,
Durham police are on the hunt for the alleged perpetrator,
His girlfriend, crystal mangum.
- Our uniform patrol officers and our investigators
Were actively trying to locate ms. Mangum.
We wanted to make sure not only to get her side
Of the story as far as what occurred,
But also address if she had any particular physical injuries
That had resulted from this act of violence.
- With one team of officers processing the crime scene
At reginald's apartment, another heads to the apartment
Where crystal fled, and where her son called 911.
- That night is kinda still blurry to me.
I remember making the phone call, but...
I don't really remember speaking on the phone
To the police, but, yeah, I called the police.
I talked to them.
She kept telling me that, you know, he was beatin' her,
That she did it in self-defense.
I was definitely scared for her.
I never seen her frantic like that.
It, um, hurt me to see her like that.
And just cryin' on the floor,
You know, hysterical.
And about 10 minutes later, they showed up,
They got her up off the floor, put her in handcuffs.
- When they got to the apartment...
They didn't ask me any questions.
They just said, "get up, crystal."
- The investigators then advised me
That they had located crystal,
And that she was gonna be at police headquarters,
And that I would need to respond there at some point
To document her with photographs,
And also collect a, uh, dna sample from her.
When I arrived at police headquarters,
I went and met with crystal.
She was in a secure interview and interrogation room
At the police department.
I documented her with photographs
And also got the dna swab.
She consented to that, uh,
And didn't mind being cooperative with me at all.
I observed her physically distraught.
She was upset,
And she appeared like she had been in an assault.
Her hair was just a mess.
She had a swollen face.
She had wounds on her hand and her arms
That was consistent with being defensive wounds.
And, she didn't speak a lot.
- Crystal had been through the system before,
So she knew that it was best to just ask for an attorney
Rather than try to talk your way out of it.
She knew that it was better not to talk to the police
Until after you've had a consult with an attorney.
So she never spoke.
- With crystal remaining silent,
Authorities treat her injuries and file charges.
- They immediately put me in jail.
They charged me with, um, assault with a deadly weapon,
With intent to kill.
I felt like there was no reason to be alive.
I might as well just end it right here.
And then I thought about my kids.
That was the only thing that really helped me
To keep it together.
Because if I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here today.
- It was really hard.
Like, I was really attached to my mom,
And I had to, you know, try to be a man on my own,
And not have your mama there to pick you back up,
Or just do the small things that you don't even realize
Until you don't have it, you know?
- After booking crystal into the durham county jail,
Detectives contact the hospital
For an update on reginald's status.
- The stab wound was 7.5 inches deep.
I mean, it was a steak knife buried to the hilt.
It hit the colon, the spleen,
I think the kidney.
But they repaired all of the damage.
Prognosis from the medical doctors was positive,
And they felt that he would make a recovery,
But he was still listed as critical.
- This was one of those cases where everything looked like
It was going in one direction, and then in a split second,
Everything turned,
And that changed crystal mangum's future.
♪
- Coming up,
Reginald's story surprises investigators.
- He admits hitting her,
- And crystal mangum breaks her silence.
- I'm not responsible for his death.
- In my eyes, it was total self-defense.
♪♪
♪
- Durham police are investigating
The stabbing of reginald daye by his girlfriend,
Crystal mangum. When doctors announced
He is expected to make a full recovery.
- About two days later after the incident,
Reginald daye was recovering in the hospital,
And myself and major crimes investigators,
We responded to the hospital to speak with him.
- Reginald tells detectives that April 2nd, 2011
Was supposed to have been a big day for him and crystal.
- The relationship had kind of gotten to a new level.
Reggie had actually taken her
To a family picnic to meet his family.
This was the first time that, you know,
He had kind of said, this is my girlfriend.
Here's my family.
- But reginald says that their special day soon turned sour.
- When they come home from the party,
There is a police officer
Who is in the parking lot of the apartment complex
Dealing with a car that's being towed.
Crystal knows him and crystal goes up and speaks to him.
- Reggie got jealous saying, you know,
"I just introduced you to my whole family,"
You know, "what are you doing? Why are you flirting?"
- They got in a heated argument.
- The officer said, "are you okay?"
She was like, "no, we're fine."
Then he said, "well, then y'all can't be out here yelling.
"go inside!"
- Reginald tells detectives that he and crystal complied
With the officer's order, but he admits
That the argument quickly escalated inside.
- He had been drinking and he just got insanely jealous.
- He admits hitting her.
He admits jumping on her.
He admits all of that.
- He stated that miss mangum had fled into the bathroom
And locked the door behind her, and that he pursued her
By forcing the door in to get-- to go after her.
- Reggie said that he kicked the door in,
That he actually had pulled her hair.
- He admits pulling her hair,
And pulling her back into the room.
- Mr. Daye told investigators that at the time that
He grabbed her hair, miss mangum stated,
Uh, to let me loose.
His statement and the context of the scene determine
A conclusion of self-defense.
The injuries that I observed on miss mangum
Would appear that she had been
On the receiving end of an assault, as well.
- Reginald claims at that point
He came to his senses and released crystal,
But the fight was far from over.
- His position was he let her go, turned to leave.
She ran into the kitchen and grabbed some knives
And came back at him and stabbed him once in the side.
♪♪
- He said that I was the aggressor,
But I don't know where he got that from.
He was the aggressor.
- The only two people who know exactly how that went down
Are crystal mangum and reginald daye.
But everybody has a breaking point,
Especially if they've been drinking, and especially
If they're triggered
In a relationship by something that really upsets them,
And pushes them over the edge.
- For somebody to say they love you
And to treat you so kind and then turn around and...
Beat you,
It was really hard for me to process it.
- While crystal remains in custody,
Detectives continue building their case
Until the evening of April 6th, when reginald's condition
Takes an unexpected turn for the worse.
- My mom called me and told me that he wasn't doing good,
And I was like, huh? I'm assuming that
He was going to walk out of the hospital in a few days.
- He started experiencing agitation and some issues.
They were wondering whether or not it was delirium tremens.
Was he an alcoholic coming off that?
- If you don't treat alcoholism, detox will kick in,
And that's one of the worst drugs you can ever detox from,
Because it affects all the organs in the body.
The whole body as a whole.
- He starts running a fever,
And at some point goes into cardiac arrest,
In which, obviously,
Doctors activate their medical procedures
And start doing everything they can
To provide life-saving measures for mr. Daye.
- Doctors scrambled to restart reginald's heart,
But they can't save him.
♪♪
- He was in a coma, for a period of time,
And if he was able to survive the coma,
Would probably be living with substantial brain damage.
- After they realized he wasn't going to recover,
That's when they went ahead and pulled the plug.
- It was the family's decision to pull life support.
- On April 13th, 2011,
Ten days after the stabbing,
Reginald daye is pronounced dead.
- I was shocked, kind of,
Because I thought he was just going to be okay,
And he was going to survive.
- From a legal standpoint,
Reginald's death has dire consequences for crystal.
- Ultimately, for miss mangum, the charges that went along
With this had now changed.
It's gone from being an assault on mr. Day to murder.
♪
In durham, north carolina,
Reginald daye has succumbed to his injuries
10 days after being stabbed in his apartment.
- The complications,
The combination of being an alcoholic
And then being stabbed caused him to die.
- It was very shocking.
It was very disappointing. It was hurting. It was anger.
It was so many emotions at one time because I--
I'm assuming that I will see my uncle again,
Standing upright,
Walking and talking, being his happy, normal self.
And I never got that chance
To see him standing upright again.
I had to watch him laying in a coffin,
And I never thought that was going to happen.
- Facing a first-degree murder charge
And the possibility of life in prison,
Crystal decides it's time to talk.
Given her reputation in durham,
Her attorney decides she should give a statement
Directly to the district attorney.
Crystal's story initially mirrors reginald's account
Of the day he brought her to meet his family.
- He was already drunk before they even left,
And... I remember
She went to grab her phone to call somebody,
And he dragged her off the bed in front of us.
- He kept telling us like, come on, let's go.
You know, drop the kids off at nana's house
And, like, let's go.
He kept rushing her to get out the house
And we kept telling her, like, mom, don't go.
I just had a bad feeling about it.
And, yeah, she ended up leaving with him
To go to the party.
- Crystal says that around 1:00 am,
She and reginald returned home from the party.
She tells the d.A. About stopping to say hello
To the police officer she knew.
- I dropped his hand mistakenly
And went over and started talking to the officer.
I already had a few drinks.
And I was attracted to the officer,
And I think he could see that.
And I think the officer was attracted to me.
So he was jealous.
- That made reggie angrier than he already was.
By the time they got into the apartment
And the door closed, he just hit her.
- Reginald started yelling at me
And he hit me.
I hit the floor
And that made him angrier.
I locked myself in a bathroom to get away from him.
What more could I do?
I'm just glad my kids weren't there at the time.
He kicked the door in.
He was not in his right mind.
- Crystal corroborates reginald's claims
That he eventually walked away,
But she says it was reginald who returned
From the kitchen with the knives.
- Crystal says that reginald daye went in there,
Grabbed them, and started throwing them at her
As though she were, uh, target practice.
- She claims that she's trying to hide and dodge them.
Eventually they end up on the floor.
She claims he tried to choke her.
- I was 140 pounds and 5'4".
He's 188 pounds, 5'9"
And I was no match for him,
So I stabbed him to get him off of me.
- Authorities are wary of crystal's claims
Due to her prior accusations against the duke lacrosse team
That didn't hold up in court.
- I believe the police treated my mom not as the victim
That she was, but because of what happened with duke.
She was just judged based off of
Who they thought she was,
And it was a lot going against her.
And not too much going for her.
- The next morning, crystal mangum is
Once again headline news in durham when she's charged
With second degree murder.
- It really hurt me from people that would say--
Accuse my mother of being a murderer
Because that's not the person that she is.
- I felt like I was being beaten all over again.
I felt like he'd won,
Like everybody was laughing at me.
I felt like it was okay
For him to do what he did.
I felt worthless.
I felt like I didn't matter,
Like nobody cared.
- Coming up,
As the trial gets underway,
Prosecutors hope that a key witness
From crystal's past will seal her fate.
- Crystal once again finds herself
In this situation,
Where she is the villain.
- And a bombshell report allows crystal
To look toward the future.
- It is dr. Wecht's opinion
That crystal did not kill reginald daye.
- The truth is on my side.
I knew that the truth would prevail.
I didn't know that it would take 12 years.
♪
- Two and a half years after reginald daye's death,
35 year old crystal mangum is headed to trial
For his murder.
- My biggest fears were that people were going to judge me...
Based on the duke case
And not on the facts.
- On November 14th, 2013,
Crystal's trial begins at the durham county courthouse.
In his opening statement, crystal's attorney
Makes the case for self-defense.
- By his own admission, she had locked herself
Into a bathroom and he kicked in the door
And drug her out by her hair,
At which point he was stabbed.
She had every reason to be terrified of him,
Had every reason to think he was going to harm her.
- The prosecution, however, paints crystal
As a dangerous woman with a long history
Of volatile behavior.
- The prosecution portrayed her as a woman
Who had a lack of self-control,
As a woman who was on the edge,
And a woman who, you know, frankly,
Was going to snap at any time.
In court, they made it seem like I was the aggressor.
- To bolster their case,
The state calls their star witness,
An ex-boyfriend of crystal's named milton walker,
To discuss a domestic assault case
That occurred one year prior to the attack
On reginald daye.
- Milton walker took the stand and said,
"she threatened to kill me with knives."
She then burns all his stuff in the bathtub.
And of course, he also calls 911
And they arrested her.
And when it was first reported in 2010,
I was a reporter at that time
And we all went to the house.
It was pretty violent. It was pretty violent.
And he did believe he was going to be killed.
- Milton's testimony was bad for us
Because it set the pattern of when she gets mad at somebody,
She will actually go grab a weapon and come back.
- Crystal has this pattern in life
Where she continuews to find herself
In unhealthy and failed relationships,
And in an unfortunate situation
Of being the villain
When it all wasn't on her.
- On November 22nd, 2013,
The jury is quick to reach a guilty verdict.
- When they read the verdict of guilty,
I thought, lord help me.
I just didn't have any more faith
In the judicial system.
At that point, I felt like I was all alone.
And I just felt like I was just free falling
Into a whole new world.
- Following the verdict, the judge sentences crystal
To 14 to 18 years in prison.
All reginald wanted was to be loved,
To have a family of his own,
Something that he tried to do with ms. Crystal mangum,
To love her and care for her and her kids.
And it was the death of him.
- Between 2013 and 2018,
All of crystal's appeals are denied.
- Life in prison is a whole new world.
It's like everything you're waiting for
Is to be released.
The best moments that I've had in here
Is the support.
Support from staff,
Inmates.
Simple things, you appreciate.
- Six years after being convicted,
Crystal is given hope when a bombshell report
Raises questions about the cause
Of reginald daye's death.
- It started out when my attorney
Gave me a copy of my discovery.
There was an email
From an anonymous tipper
Saying that someone discovered
That there was an errant,
Um, misplaced tube
That was responsible for reginald daye's death
And that it was not the stab wound
That was responsible.
- Crystal and her new attorney contacted doctor cyril wecht
For an official review.
- Dr. Wecht is a well-renowned
Forensic pathologist.
And he wrote this report
Stating that I'm innocent.
- I'm dr. Wecht's assistant.
I started my career in forensics with him back in 2000
As an intern.
Dr. Wecht's work reviewing cases
And working as an expert consultant,
You know, has had convictions overturned.
- When dr. Wecht studied reginald's medical records,
He believed the stab wound was not the cause of death.
- Dr. Wecht's report after reviewing everything,
You know, he felt the surgery was successful.
There was no documentation that there was any trauma
To the thoracic cavity.
Reginald daye went into respiratory distress.
To help him get oxygen, the intent was to place
An endotracheal tube into his trachea.
And it looks like on the first attempt
That they actually placed that tube into the esophagus.
Unfortunately, they did not catch that.
And so he was deprived of oxygen,
Which ultimately caused irreversible brain damage
For the medical records.
- According to the findings,
Reginald daye's autopsy report
Failed to mention the mistake.
- It is dr. Wecht's opinion
That crystal did not kill reginald daye,
That it was an accidental death
Due to a mistake at the hospital.
- Reginald daye died not from homicide.
'cause the stab wound had nothing to do
With his death.
♪
- At the end of the day,
He wouldn't have been in the hospital
If he hadn't been stabbed.
And there's no doubt that the injuries
Were part of the reason
That he was in such a critical medical situation.
- Crystal's actions beforehand or taking ownership
Of that space,
What she could have done different,
She doesn't seem to have any remorse in that area.
- Crystal hopes dr. Wecht's report
Will ultimately help vindicate her
In the murder of reginald daye.
- The fact that the media is not reporting on it
Is surprising.
I still feel optimistic
Because it's got to come out
And I know it's going to pay off.
- I know that she's, you know, fighting every day
And she's keeping her spirits and she stays hopeful,
You know, that she's going to get out soon
And she'll get her name cleared.
- I'm just grateful to be alive.
You know, I'm-- regret that he lost his life.
I felt like I didn't have any other choice.
- My mom missed me graduate from high school,
Go to prom,
Go to college,
Get married,
Have a baby.
She just missed me growing up.
- I missed everything
With my kids.
And that's-- this is something that I can't get back.
I don't even know how
To-to reconcile
Any of that.
But it's never too late.
♪♪