1 00:00:01,034 --> 00:00:03,517 [police sirens wailing] 2 00:00:04,068 --> 00:00:06,034 [tense music playing] 3 00:00:14,172 --> 00:00:17,137 [Lisa] In homicide we have, it's called "the board." 4 00:00:19,517 --> 00:00:21,965 No pun intended, we live and die by the board. 5 00:00:24,862 --> 00:00:29,551 All your detectives are lined up one through twelve. 6 00:00:31,068 --> 00:00:32,689 It's the luck of the draw. 7 00:00:32,724 --> 00:00:34,379 [phone ringing] 8 00:00:34,413 --> 00:00:38,172 If you're number one or number two and that homicide line rings, 9 00:00:39,896 --> 00:00:40,724 you're up. 10 00:00:44,241 --> 00:00:49,344 That's how I caught three cases back to back, 11 00:00:49,379 --> 00:00:53,965 uh, that, emotionally, made a huge impact on me. 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,172 [reporter 1] Garcia's younger sister found her stabbed to death. 13 00:00:57,206 --> 00:00:59,793 [reporter 2] Police say 19-year-old Lena Kim Nguyen 14 00:00:59,827 --> 00:01:01,206 was stabbed to death. 15 00:01:01,241 --> 00:01:02,655 [reporter 3] The body of 18-year-old 16 00:01:02,689 --> 00:01:03,965 Jennifer Crecente 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:07,137 found Thursday night with a single gunshot wound. 18 00:01:07,172 --> 00:01:09,827 [Lisa] They were beautiful, they were fun-loving, 19 00:01:09,862 --> 00:01:12,413 they were caring, charismatic. 20 00:01:12,448 --> 00:01:14,931 I could totally see myself as them. 21 00:01:16,655 --> 00:01:18,379 And they were all brutally murdered. 22 00:01:20,379 --> 00:01:24,379 Jenny, she had a gaping hole in the back of her head. 23 00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:28,551 How many people have you seen like that? 24 00:01:30,551 --> 00:01:32,724 [Kerry] It was like she was the... 25 00:01:32,758 --> 00:01:36,172 detective that investigated the women hater's club or something. 26 00:01:37,310 --> 00:01:40,379 [Lisa] As a female detective, 27 00:01:42,379 --> 00:01:45,172 it's a lot of trauma to deal with. 28 00:01:46,620 --> 00:01:48,448 My head was[bleep] up. 29 00:01:50,103 --> 00:01:53,689 But working in a predominantly male job, 30 00:01:54,586 --> 00:01:56,000 you do have to prove yourself. 31 00:01:58,862 --> 00:02:00,344 So how do you keep going? 32 00:02:04,172 --> 00:02:07,793 [theme music playing] 33 00:02:22,172 --> 00:02:25,000 [tense music playing] 34 00:02:25,034 --> 00:02:28,344 [Lisa] Growing up, I always wanted to be a cop. 35 00:02:34,137 --> 00:02:37,000 My brother-in-law had been a police officer 36 00:02:37,034 --> 00:02:39,448 and so I would see him in uniform, 37 00:02:39,482 --> 00:02:43,241 and I'd look him up and down and look at his gun belt and the whole bit. 38 00:02:44,965 --> 00:02:48,448 And I'm like, "Hey! Why don't you take me out on a ride along?" 39 00:02:48,482 --> 00:02:50,310 I kept bugging him and bugging him 40 00:02:50,344 --> 00:02:55,000 and I wore him down and he's like, "Fine." 41 00:02:55,034 --> 00:02:59,448 He goes, "Don't even ask me to go to the restroom, 42 00:02:59,482 --> 00:03:02,517 you don't need water, you don't need anything. 43 00:03:02,551 --> 00:03:05,724 We're going from call to call and that's it." 44 00:03:05,758 --> 00:03:07,655 I'm like, "All right, let's do it!" 45 00:03:07,689 --> 00:03:10,241 [upbeat music playing] 46 00:03:15,034 --> 00:03:18,517 I was like, "Hey, I think this is what I wanna do." 47 00:03:18,551 --> 00:03:22,413 He's like, "You're crazy. Women shouldn't do this." And we were on the drive... 48 00:03:22,448 --> 00:03:26,137 And every time he told me, "You shouldn't do this," I would do it. So... 49 00:03:26,172 --> 00:03:28,482 that was just one more thing for me, 50 00:03:28,517 --> 00:03:30,551 for him to tell me not to do that I did. 51 00:03:30,586 --> 00:03:31,586 [giggles] 52 00:03:34,206 --> 00:03:39,310 Fast forward, I graduated the Austin Police Academy in 1986 53 00:03:39,344 --> 00:03:43,586 and I spent, uh, several years on patrol. 54 00:03:43,620 --> 00:03:47,413 [indistinct police radio chatter] 55 00:03:47,448 --> 00:03:50,103 I think police work is always a boy's club. 56 00:03:50,137 --> 00:03:53,551 There's not a whole lot of females that are attracted to police work. 57 00:03:53,586 --> 00:03:57,931 Uh, the Austin PD as of today has 1,800 officers 58 00:03:57,965 --> 00:04:03,655 and there's still only maybe, I would say, 11, maybe 12% female. 59 00:04:06,689 --> 00:04:09,965 Female police officers in general, you know, already have like a, 60 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,758 a bit of a barrier. 61 00:04:12,793 --> 00:04:17,931 But I've known Lisa since the day I stepped on the street in a uniform, 62 00:04:17,965 --> 00:04:20,931 and I just expected her, that she was gonna go. 63 00:04:22,068 --> 00:04:25,448 She's well-focused on her mission. 64 00:04:25,482 --> 00:04:29,586 [Lisa] I went to work the gang unit, did that for about five years. 65 00:04:29,620 --> 00:04:34,068 I did some undercover work, including prostitution, narcotics. 66 00:04:35,137 --> 00:04:38,310 I enjoyed, you know, working with the guys, 67 00:04:38,344 --> 00:04:41,655 but sometimes you'd open that door and you'd be like, 68 00:04:41,689 --> 00:04:44,310 "All right, [bleep], I'm bleeding. 69 00:04:44,344 --> 00:04:46,724 And I'm in no mood. [chuckles] 70 00:04:46,758 --> 00:04:48,448 So don't [bleep] with me right now." 71 00:04:50,310 --> 00:04:55,241 I ended up promoting to detective in the year 2000. 72 00:05:01,034 --> 00:05:03,241 When I went to the homicide unit, 73 00:05:03,275 --> 00:05:06,034 I was like, "Oh, my God. This is real[bleep]," you know? 74 00:05:06,068 --> 00:05:10,655 Because, you know, with gangs and robberies and whatever else, 75 00:05:10,689 --> 00:05:13,517 your suspects all circle back around, 76 00:05:13,551 --> 00:05:18,137 but with homicide it's... That's it. That is the ultimate crime. 77 00:05:24,379 --> 00:05:26,137 [line ringing] 78 00:05:28,551 --> 00:05:30,793 [operator] 9-1-1, where is your emergency? 79 00:05:33,206 --> 00:05:36,655 [Lisa] January 26, 2004. 80 00:05:36,689 --> 00:05:41,034 I got notified of a suspicious death in northwest Austin. 81 00:05:44,620 --> 00:05:50,517 When I caught this case, or when this case caught me, was early in my career. 82 00:05:51,724 --> 00:05:55,137 It's stress, it's a lot of pressure. 83 00:05:56,655 --> 00:05:59,689 Like, this was her first major homicide investigation, 84 00:05:59,724 --> 00:06:03,379 and I was assigned as the primary support investigator. 85 00:06:05,310 --> 00:06:07,068 I responded directly to the scene. 86 00:06:09,379 --> 00:06:12,413 [Lisa] Being the, the number one, 87 00:06:12,448 --> 00:06:14,551 you feel the weight of the world on you. 88 00:06:17,965 --> 00:06:22,034 You're trying to remember everything that you're supposed to be doing, 89 00:06:22,068 --> 00:06:25,931 um, because you don't wanna screw up. 90 00:06:27,034 --> 00:06:28,965 You, you just don't wanna screw up. 91 00:06:34,068 --> 00:06:37,448 Talking to the two young girls that were living there, a 13-year-old 92 00:06:37,482 --> 00:06:41,965 and a 16-year-old, that the oldest sister, 18-year-old Virginia Garcia, 93 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,689 also known as Jenny, was found dead in her bedroom. 94 00:06:46,724 --> 00:06:47,793 Brutally murdered. 95 00:06:49,896 --> 00:06:53,379 [indistinct police radio chatter] 96 00:07:01,448 --> 00:07:03,793 [tense music playing] 97 00:07:11,172 --> 00:07:13,034 [Lisa] As you walk into her bedroom, 98 00:07:13,068 --> 00:07:18,620 what you're seeing is a half-naked young female, 99 00:07:18,655 --> 00:07:23,655 uh, her head covered in a pillowcase, bloody pillowcase. 100 00:07:26,724 --> 00:07:31,310 She was nude from, from the waist down. 101 00:07:31,344 --> 00:07:33,793 [Dave] This particular case had what appeared to, 102 00:07:33,827 --> 00:07:36,137 to potentially be a, a sexual component to it. 103 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,827 [Lisa] She sustained three stab wounds. 104 00:07:54,172 --> 00:07:58,793 And the knife is protruding from her, her chest. 105 00:08:03,551 --> 00:08:06,379 [Dave] Her arms were bent at the elbows 106 00:08:06,413 --> 00:08:09,034 and pulled back behind her to the small of her back. 107 00:08:09,068 --> 00:08:11,344 They appeared to be tightly bound. 108 00:08:12,862 --> 00:08:14,724 It was... it was very brutal. 109 00:08:17,379 --> 00:08:22,586 And I imagine, you know, that she was, she was just in terror. 110 00:08:31,275 --> 00:08:35,827 The suspect broke a window, went in through the laundry room. 111 00:08:35,862 --> 00:08:38,482 Um, that's how he gained entry into the house. 112 00:08:40,344 --> 00:08:45,655 The family was a mother, father and three young, young girls. 113 00:08:48,689 --> 00:08:52,413 The victim's sisters came home from school 114 00:08:52,448 --> 00:08:58,689 and ended up finding, um, their older sister in her bedroom... 115 00:09:00,034 --> 00:09:01,000 deceased. 116 00:09:02,620 --> 00:09:06,724 And, so they're actually the ones that, that placed the 9-1-1 call 117 00:09:07,310 --> 00:09:08,413 from the neighbor's. 118 00:09:16,172 --> 00:09:18,620 We're processing the crime scene. 119 00:09:18,655 --> 00:09:22,758 It appeared that each of the bedrooms had been ran sacked. 120 00:09:23,965 --> 00:09:25,620 There was jewelry that was stolen. 121 00:09:27,620 --> 00:09:32,655 Honestly, my first thought was it was burglary in progress, 122 00:09:34,241 --> 00:09:40,137 and she comes home, and she catches the suspect. 123 00:09:40,172 --> 00:09:44,931 And at that point, he's like, "I'm [bleep]. I have to do something with this girl." 124 00:09:50,620 --> 00:09:53,448 It wasn't until we rolled her over 125 00:09:53,482 --> 00:09:56,931 that we were able to see what she was bound with, 126 00:09:59,344 --> 00:10:01,724 which were the zip ties. 127 00:10:01,758 --> 00:10:04,482 So now it appeared to be more methodical. 128 00:10:05,413 --> 00:10:07,724 It wasn't just a simple burglary. 129 00:10:08,758 --> 00:10:10,448 It looked intentional. 130 00:10:10,482 --> 00:10:14,551 I'm like, "You[bleep], you tied her up 131 00:10:14,586 --> 00:10:19,931 and you plunged that knife in her chest as your exclamation mark." 132 00:10:19,965 --> 00:10:23,655 I told Jenny, "I'm gonna find who [bleep] did this to you. 133 00:10:25,344 --> 00:10:28,586 Whatever it takes, I'm gonna find who did this to you." 134 00:10:38,655 --> 00:10:42,482 [tense music playing] 135 00:10:42,517 --> 00:10:44,241 [Dave] As we were working the crime scene, 136 00:10:44,275 --> 00:10:46,344 we found that the phone lines had been cut. 137 00:10:48,482 --> 00:10:52,413 An individual normally would not go those lengths to, to cut the phone line. 138 00:10:54,103 --> 00:10:57,758 And we also were not able to find any other knifes inside that residence 139 00:10:57,793 --> 00:11:01,172 that matched that particular knife that was used. 140 00:11:01,206 --> 00:11:04,896 It appeared that the perpetrator brought that knife with him. 141 00:11:07,275 --> 00:11:10,586 So there was just more and more mounting evidence 142 00:11:10,620 --> 00:11:13,586 that suggested that this had been pre-planned. 143 00:11:13,620 --> 00:11:15,724 [tense music playing] 144 00:11:15,758 --> 00:11:17,448 This wasn't just a random act. 145 00:11:18,344 --> 00:11:20,068 And there was certainly concern 146 00:11:20,103 --> 00:11:23,448 that we potentially could be dealing with, with a serial killer. 147 00:11:26,448 --> 00:11:29,793 [Lisa] My initial thought was not a serial killer necessarily, 148 00:11:29,827 --> 00:11:33,448 but it could it be somebody that she really knows. 149 00:11:35,448 --> 00:11:39,931 Family members, a boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend, or something. 150 00:11:42,931 --> 00:11:48,137 Because the pillowcase being over the victim's head 151 00:11:48,172 --> 00:11:50,000 could be somewhat of an indicator 152 00:11:50,034 --> 00:11:55,275 that the suspect didn't want the victim looking at him 153 00:11:55,310 --> 00:11:59,068 while he was murdering her, so that it's not real. 154 00:12:00,827 --> 00:12:02,965 It's not real to the suspect. 155 00:12:07,379 --> 00:12:12,620 On Jenny's left upper thigh area there was a... 156 00:12:14,068 --> 00:12:17,068 what looked like, kind of, drying sperm 157 00:12:17,103 --> 00:12:21,206 which we collected in order to be able to test for DNA. 158 00:12:21,241 --> 00:12:27,034 There was an uncapped lotion bottle on the floor on the victim's bedroom, 159 00:12:27,068 --> 00:12:28,862 so it certainly gave the appearance 160 00:12:28,896 --> 00:12:33,965 that the assailant in this case, uh, was, was possibly masturbating. 161 00:12:35,379 --> 00:12:37,103 Who, who, who does that? 162 00:12:38,206 --> 00:12:39,655 What kind of person does that? 163 00:12:42,758 --> 00:12:44,448 That's just some sick behavior. 164 00:12:46,344 --> 00:12:49,344 [tense music playing] 165 00:12:49,379 --> 00:12:53,034 Around where the, where the blade was at, 166 00:12:53,068 --> 00:12:58,379 there was blood smear and it was in the shape of a heart. 167 00:13:02,724 --> 00:13:04,724 [Dave] We look at that blood smear, 168 00:13:04,758 --> 00:13:08,379 and it didn't follow the natural laws of gravity. 169 00:13:10,724 --> 00:13:14,206 [Lisa] And, to me, it wasn't accidental. 170 00:13:22,413 --> 00:13:26,103 It's weird what sticks out, you know, as you're going through a crime scene. 171 00:13:30,862 --> 00:13:34,448 The house was very tidy and organized, 172 00:13:34,482 --> 00:13:38,517 but there was chocolate wrappings 173 00:13:38,551 --> 00:13:42,413 just kind of around the house and so, 174 00:13:42,448 --> 00:13:43,965 I don't know, for some reason, 175 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,344 they just... It was like a glaring neon sign to me, 176 00:13:47,379 --> 00:13:50,103 that's why I instructed crime scene to go ahead 177 00:13:50,137 --> 00:13:54,724 and, and collect whatever wrappings they could find 178 00:13:54,758 --> 00:13:58,758 for any type of, like, DNA comparison or fingerprint comparison. 179 00:14:02,137 --> 00:14:07,000 The image that will stay forever in my mind 180 00:14:07,758 --> 00:14:09,862 is seeing those chocolates. 181 00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:13,000 In my head I'm thinking, 182 00:14:13,034 --> 00:14:15,862 "Did this [bleep] eat the chocolates 183 00:14:15,896 --> 00:14:19,000 while he was waiting to kill this young girl?" 184 00:14:29,620 --> 00:14:33,275 [Dave] We learned that the victim in this case was a student 185 00:14:33,310 --> 00:14:36,068 at Saint Edwards University, in South Austin. 186 00:14:37,793 --> 00:14:39,965 You know, we wanted to pin down her timeline 187 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,758 for, at least, the last 24 hours. 188 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,172 We reached out to each one of her professors 189 00:14:45,206 --> 00:14:48,068 and they established that she was indeed present. 190 00:14:48,103 --> 00:14:52,482 So she had left school, arrived home around 4:00 191 00:14:52,517 --> 00:14:55,965 and she was supposed to pick up a younger sister at about 5:00 p.m. 192 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:57,965 And when she failed to do so, 193 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,620 that sister tried to reach her by cellular telephone 194 00:15:00,655 --> 00:15:02,586 and was not able to establish contact. 195 00:15:03,379 --> 00:15:05,241 It was not long after that, 196 00:15:05,275 --> 00:15:08,137 that the body of the victim was found in the bedroom. 197 00:15:11,586 --> 00:15:13,655 [Lisa] Jenny worked at a local restaurant. 198 00:15:14,413 --> 00:15:16,655 She was very well-liked. 199 00:15:16,689 --> 00:15:20,482 In interviewing, you know, the people that she worked with, 200 00:15:20,517 --> 00:15:25,827 is that she was just a very kind of charismatic well-liked, well-behaved. 201 00:15:25,862 --> 00:15:27,241 She was just a good girl. 202 00:15:28,931 --> 00:15:31,862 Who would have wanted to do this to Jenny? 203 00:15:33,241 --> 00:15:35,862 [Dave] We didn't have any leads at that point in time. 204 00:15:44,586 --> 00:15:50,206 [Lisa] In homicide, your baptismal is the first case, right? 205 00:15:50,241 --> 00:15:55,000 Depending if you[bleep] up, they're like, "You can't be in here. 206 00:15:55,758 --> 00:15:57,206 You cannot be in this unit." 207 00:15:58,724 --> 00:16:03,586 So, the weight of solving it, 208 00:16:03,620 --> 00:16:05,206 you wanna do everything right. 209 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,793 I was lucky, cause early on in my career, 210 00:16:10,827 --> 00:16:13,137 I was taught by the best. 211 00:16:13,724 --> 00:16:16,586 [guitar music playing] 212 00:16:18,758 --> 00:16:22,965 Bruce was not only my FTO, my field training officer, 213 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,931 he was a mentor, a teacher, but most importantly, 214 00:16:26,965 --> 00:16:28,655 he was like a brother to me. 215 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,000 He was what was known as a cop's cop. 216 00:16:34,172 --> 00:16:35,551 [Kerry] First man we caught. 217 00:16:37,310 --> 00:16:39,586 If somebody said, "What's the one officer 218 00:16:39,620 --> 00:16:42,862 you would wanna have with you on any given call?" 219 00:16:42,896 --> 00:16:44,413 He would be the first one chosen. 220 00:16:44,448 --> 00:16:46,931 [Lisa] Although he was a patrol officer, 221 00:16:46,965 --> 00:16:49,724 he could run circles around detectives, 222 00:16:49,758 --> 00:16:51,724 or sergeants, or lieutenants. 223 00:16:51,758 --> 00:16:56,551 And so, even when I was in homicide, I would count on him. 224 00:17:00,275 --> 00:17:06,827 I know she was still consulting with Bruce on investigations. 225 00:17:06,862 --> 00:17:10,655 Bruce was always there in her career and in her life. 226 00:17:13,344 --> 00:17:18,482 [Lisa] I spoke to Bruce about Jenny Garcia's crime scene. 227 00:17:21,758 --> 00:17:27,000 I wanted him to, in his head, see what I saw. 228 00:17:29,517 --> 00:17:33,482 And then get his feedback on the type of suspect. 229 00:17:35,068 --> 00:17:41,310 We talked about binding and gagging her. He terrorized her. 230 00:17:41,344 --> 00:17:46,827 And I told him, "I'm thinking it may have been boyfriend or ex-boyfriend." 231 00:17:46,862 --> 00:17:50,310 And he goes, "But what if it's like some dude 232 00:17:50,344 --> 00:17:52,793 that, you know, she didn't wanna mess with?" 233 00:17:52,827 --> 00:17:55,655 And I'm like, "Well, then there's that possibility." 234 00:17:55,689 --> 00:18:00,655 To plunge a knife in her chest through her heart, 235 00:18:00,689 --> 00:18:04,931 that, that's a lot of hate. Bruce agreed, it was hatred. 236 00:18:07,448 --> 00:18:08,344 That was hate. 237 00:18:20,517 --> 00:18:23,103 [somber music playing] 238 00:18:23,137 --> 00:18:28,655 [unintelligible sobbing] 239 00:18:33,448 --> 00:18:39,620 My recollection of the father is that he appeared overly distraught. 240 00:18:39,655 --> 00:18:41,896 Very, uh, melodramatic. 241 00:18:45,137 --> 00:18:46,896 [Mr. Garcia speaking] 242 00:18:48,896 --> 00:18:50,310 He was inconsolable. 243 00:18:51,137 --> 00:18:52,482 [officer speaking] 244 00:18:55,517 --> 00:18:56,689 [Mr. Garcia speaking] 245 00:19:04,241 --> 00:19:09,068 [Lisa] The father was a taxicab driver here in Austin. 246 00:19:09,103 --> 00:19:12,793 Turns out he was at work at the time. 247 00:19:12,827 --> 00:19:20,068 Mrs. Garcia was very, I mean, she was distraught, but she held it together. 248 00:19:20,103 --> 00:19:24,689 She couldn't break down, she had to keep her[bleep] together for everybody else. 249 00:19:24,724 --> 00:19:27,517 And I believe she did that because she knew 250 00:19:27,551 --> 00:19:30,758 that her husband was inconsolable. 251 00:19:34,758 --> 00:19:38,379 I don't think that there's another job on this planet 252 00:19:38,413 --> 00:19:42,103 where the weight and gravity of somebody's death 253 00:19:42,137 --> 00:19:45,620 gets thrust upon you like that. 254 00:19:45,655 --> 00:19:47,965 You learn a lot about, a lot about yourself. 255 00:19:49,620 --> 00:19:53,172 I used to ask the family for a photograph 256 00:19:53,206 --> 00:19:55,379 and then I would post that photograph 257 00:19:56,655 --> 00:20:00,758 and every day I didn't solve that homicide, 258 00:20:00,793 --> 00:20:05,758 that was my reminder of how hard I had to work. 259 00:20:12,275 --> 00:20:14,068 As you're progressing on the case, 260 00:20:14,103 --> 00:20:17,517 several things are running through your mind, 261 00:20:18,827 --> 00:20:23,103 and you can't box yourself in just with one theory. 262 00:20:24,413 --> 00:20:28,931 Whether it was a current boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend, 263 00:20:28,965 --> 00:20:32,793 a stranger, you have to leave everything open, 264 00:20:32,827 --> 00:20:35,413 and the evidence will take you where it takes you. 265 00:20:39,896 --> 00:20:42,517 Jenny did have a boyfriend at the time. 266 00:20:43,793 --> 00:20:45,862 He was a person of interest. 267 00:20:45,896 --> 00:20:47,206 [Jonathan speaking] 268 00:21:09,517 --> 00:21:11,965 They worked together at the same restaurant. 269 00:21:52,172 --> 00:21:55,620 [Lisa] He was obviously still in a state of shock, 270 00:21:55,655 --> 00:21:59,275 but it looked like Jenny and him were... 271 00:21:59,310 --> 00:22:01,931 they were in a good place in their relationship. 272 00:22:01,965 --> 00:22:07,896 From the other interviews, nobody had anything negative to say about Jonathan. 273 00:22:32,379 --> 00:22:39,068 And he was even asked for a DNA sample, which he voluntarily gave. 274 00:22:52,862 --> 00:22:54,827 Jenny Garcia, we approximate, 275 00:22:54,862 --> 00:22:57,551 she was dead by the, by the time, 276 00:22:57,586 --> 00:22:58,931 a little after 5:00. 277 00:23:00,965 --> 00:23:03,551 Eventually, we were able to confirm 278 00:23:03,586 --> 00:23:05,620 that he had been at work at the time. 279 00:23:07,103 --> 00:23:10,034 So, we had to, you know, look for another suspect. 280 00:23:12,862 --> 00:23:18,586 The way the Austin Police Department homicide unit functions at a high level 281 00:23:18,620 --> 00:23:22,586 is because it becomes a full-team effort. 282 00:23:24,241 --> 00:23:26,551 Basically, you have a homicide briefing 283 00:23:26,586 --> 00:23:28,965 and as the lead detective, which would be me, 284 00:23:30,310 --> 00:23:33,793 you start tasking different detectives. 285 00:23:33,827 --> 00:23:35,413 [phone ringing] 286 00:23:36,793 --> 00:23:39,275 So, we're at the homicide unit, 287 00:23:39,310 --> 00:23:40,724 talking about the case... 288 00:23:40,758 --> 00:23:41,965 [phone ringing] 289 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,206 ...and the homicide main line rings, 290 00:23:48,137 --> 00:23:51,000 and Detective Walker answers the phone. 291 00:23:53,137 --> 00:23:57,000 You could kind of hear him, he was a little bit bothered by the, by the caller 292 00:23:57,034 --> 00:24:01,034 and somebody turned around and said, "Who was that?" And he goes, "I don't know. 293 00:24:01,068 --> 00:24:03,310 I got some guy named David," I think, 294 00:24:03,344 --> 00:24:05,137 and he was asking if his friend was okay 295 00:24:05,172 --> 00:24:08,931 because he sees the news crews were out at her house. 296 00:24:08,965 --> 00:24:11,275 Walker asked him, "Well, who's your friend?" 297 00:24:11,310 --> 00:24:13,517 And he mentioned the victim's name. 298 00:24:18,344 --> 00:24:20,793 TV was on in the room where we were briefing. 299 00:24:20,827 --> 00:24:22,724 [reporter on TV] Jenny's younger sister found her stabbed to death... 300 00:24:22,758 --> 00:24:26,965 We're looking at the TV and the cameras from the local news crews 301 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,206 were not at her house. 302 00:24:29,241 --> 00:24:32,344 They were down the street at the, at the corner at an intersection. 303 00:24:32,379 --> 00:24:38,448 And so, I was like, "How did he know all that information?" 304 00:24:38,482 --> 00:24:40,620 [Dave] That definitely piqued our interest. 305 00:24:40,655 --> 00:24:43,448 This looked to be a fishing expedition that an individual 306 00:24:43,482 --> 00:24:46,689 was wanting to know what we knew and what we thought had happened. 307 00:24:46,724 --> 00:24:48,551 [phone ringing] 308 00:24:48,586 --> 00:24:54,724 Once he hung up, we tracked the phone number down to David Diaz Morales. 309 00:24:57,586 --> 00:25:02,344 That phone call turns out to be a big break in this case. 310 00:25:24,068 --> 00:25:28,379 [Lisa] So we asked Jenny's boyfriend about David Diaz Morales. 311 00:25:28,413 --> 00:25:31,137 He recognized the, the name 312 00:25:31,172 --> 00:25:35,172 and they all worked together at an Austin diner. 313 00:26:04,965 --> 00:26:10,172 And David always wanted to try to hook up with Jenny 314 00:26:10,206 --> 00:26:12,068 and Jenny was like, "No, no, no," 315 00:26:12,103 --> 00:26:17,620 and she finally had to tell him, "No way, no how. It will never happen." 316 00:26:21,241 --> 00:26:23,758 [tense music playing] 317 00:26:26,413 --> 00:26:30,413 I asked Detective De Los Santos and Detective Scanlon 318 00:26:30,448 --> 00:26:34,379 to go out and pick up this David Diaz and bring him to the station. 319 00:26:38,482 --> 00:26:40,724 [Kerry] Me and another detective got it a car 320 00:26:41,413 --> 00:26:42,724 and went to his apartment, 321 00:26:45,931 --> 00:26:47,758 woke up his sister, 322 00:26:47,793 --> 00:26:50,413 woke him up and just told him who we were 323 00:26:52,896 --> 00:26:55,724 and that we would like for him to come down to the office 324 00:26:55,758 --> 00:26:58,448 and talk to us about his friend, Jenny. 325 00:26:59,758 --> 00:27:02,931 He didn't ask any questions, "Why me?" You know. 326 00:27:02,965 --> 00:27:05,448 He just said, "Okay, let me get dressed." 327 00:27:05,482 --> 00:27:08,137 It was really cold outside, we went in the apartment 328 00:27:08,172 --> 00:27:11,517 and we're standing there while he's getting dressed in his room 329 00:27:11,551 --> 00:27:15,103 and I'm just kinda scanning with my eyes 330 00:27:15,137 --> 00:27:19,275 and I see some jewelry sitting on top of a, like, an entertainment cabinet. 331 00:27:27,758 --> 00:27:31,620 They know that the Garcia home 332 00:27:31,655 --> 00:27:35,000 had basically been burglarized 333 00:27:35,034 --> 00:27:36,620 and jewelry was stolen. 334 00:27:39,103 --> 00:27:41,275 I was like, "Holy[bleep]." 335 00:27:46,137 --> 00:27:48,103 [Kerry] He's brought back to the office, 336 00:27:48,137 --> 00:27:50,310 you know, it's 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. 337 00:27:50,344 --> 00:27:52,482 I don't remember exactly what time it was. 338 00:27:52,517 --> 00:27:54,931 We put him in an interview room and, eventually, 339 00:27:54,965 --> 00:27:57,793 myself and Detective Eric De Los Santos went in 340 00:27:57,827 --> 00:28:00,241 and conducted an interview with him. 341 00:28:04,241 --> 00:28:05,482 [David speaking] 342 00:28:10,379 --> 00:28:12,379 [David speaking] 343 00:28:21,689 --> 00:28:25,689 [Lisa] Detective Scanlon and Detective De Los Santos 344 00:28:25,724 --> 00:28:28,482 were interviewing David Diaz Morales. 345 00:28:28,517 --> 00:28:34,827 I think David Morales reacted better to Kerry and Erick 346 00:28:34,862 --> 00:28:38,931 as males as opposed to if I had interviewed him. 347 00:28:38,965 --> 00:28:42,551 He had some sort of, like, female issues, you know? 348 00:28:48,827 --> 00:28:50,689 [David speaking] 349 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,206 [David speaking] 350 00:29:10,827 --> 00:29:12,206 [David speaking] 351 00:29:24,379 --> 00:29:29,965 The interview was one of those where the suspect that you're talking to 352 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,827 is convinced that he can convince you that is not him. 353 00:29:48,379 --> 00:29:50,068 [David speaking] 354 00:30:05,344 --> 00:30:09,620 De Los Santos noticed that the t-shirt that Morales was wearing, 355 00:30:10,172 --> 00:30:11,827 um, had a stain on it. 356 00:30:13,724 --> 00:30:15,379 [David speaking] 357 00:30:36,344 --> 00:30:38,896 And Erick looked at it and said, 358 00:30:38,931 --> 00:30:42,379 "I think that's a body fluid." 359 00:31:30,517 --> 00:31:36,000 He may have been using the lotion to masturbate with 360 00:31:37,068 --> 00:31:38,689 and then he ejaculated 361 00:31:39,724 --> 00:31:41,827 and then part of his ejaculation 362 00:31:41,862 --> 00:31:45,034 ended up on her, on her thigh 363 00:31:45,068 --> 00:31:48,448 in addition to, possibly, the t-shirt he was wearing. 364 00:31:53,724 --> 00:31:55,379 It was just kind of surreal to me 365 00:31:55,413 --> 00:31:58,379 because he really couldn't argue that it wasn't. 366 00:32:17,310 --> 00:32:19,448 [Lisa] You know, as he's being interviewed... 367 00:32:23,206 --> 00:32:25,344 I'm thinking, 368 00:32:25,379 --> 00:32:30,862 "Were you in that house waiting to kill Jenny 369 00:32:30,896 --> 00:32:33,206 eating these peoples' chocolates?" 370 00:32:36,586 --> 00:32:38,172 Like, "It's no big deal. 371 00:32:38,206 --> 00:32:40,965 I'll just sit here and wait because, you know, 372 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,896 I have a plan and I know what my endgame is gonna be, 373 00:32:44,931 --> 00:32:47,379 but in the meantime, I'm just gonna sit here 374 00:32:47,413 --> 00:32:49,758 and, oh, yeah, I'll have some chocolate." 375 00:32:49,793 --> 00:32:52,379 In my experience, I have not seen 376 00:32:52,413 --> 00:32:55,586 any suspect that has broken into a residence 377 00:32:55,620 --> 00:32:58,862 and sat there and ate the victim's food. 378 00:33:01,689 --> 00:33:02,655 It's crazy. 379 00:33:02,689 --> 00:33:05,965 [police siren wailing] 380 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,620 So I got a search warrant for Morales' apartment. 381 00:33:10,655 --> 00:33:12,275 So we secured the search warrant 382 00:33:12,310 --> 00:33:14,103 at the residence of Dave Morales, 383 00:33:15,965 --> 00:33:20,068 where we found a number of pornographic DVDs 384 00:33:20,103 --> 00:33:23,241 that depicted victims in various cases of bondage. 385 00:33:24,551 --> 00:33:27,965 We also discovered that, behind his television set, 386 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:30,862 there were a number of loose black zip ties 387 00:33:32,689 --> 00:33:36,068 that were consistent with the bindings that were used on the victim, 388 00:33:36,103 --> 00:33:38,551 that were used to tie her hands behind her back, 389 00:33:38,586 --> 00:33:42,551 and we were able to confirm that the knife that was entailed in the chest cavity 390 00:33:42,586 --> 00:33:46,448 of the victim, that was consistent with the set of knives at his apartment. 391 00:33:55,448 --> 00:33:59,482 [Lisa] I remember thinking, "This[bleep] wormy guy 392 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:05,068 broke into this girl's house, tied her up, 393 00:34:08,344 --> 00:34:09,551 jacked off on her. 394 00:34:11,034 --> 00:34:16,551 He got rejected by her and his way of dealing with it is to kill her." 395 00:34:30,724 --> 00:34:33,000 He had requested an attorney, 396 00:34:33,034 --> 00:34:36,000 but, in the meantime, we ended up arresting him. 397 00:34:42,344 --> 00:34:44,758 David Diaz Morales met with his sister. 398 00:34:49,793 --> 00:34:52,517 He essentially admitted to her that he had killed Jenny, 399 00:34:55,379 --> 00:34:58,655 but really wouldn't give her a reason why. 400 00:35:15,793 --> 00:35:19,551 This case, it was... 401 00:35:22,586 --> 00:35:25,448 it was very difficult. It was very difficult. 402 00:35:29,620 --> 00:35:31,793 Every time Christmas comes around 403 00:35:31,827 --> 00:35:34,586 and I see those chocolates, it just... 404 00:35:34,620 --> 00:35:36,448 it takes me back to that crime scene. 405 00:35:37,827 --> 00:35:40,931 I associate chocolate with Jenny's death. 406 00:35:41,931 --> 00:35:44,793 I actually went and bought chocolates 407 00:35:44,827 --> 00:35:46,620 and I'm like, "I just can't do it." 408 00:35:46,655 --> 00:35:48,758 I love chocolate, but I just can't do that. 409 00:35:51,310 --> 00:35:56,482 It taught me, I guess that, you know, it can go from roses one day 410 00:35:56,517 --> 00:36:01,034 to a knife in the chest the next day. 411 00:36:02,689 --> 00:36:05,793 The smear of blood on her chest in the shape of a heart, 412 00:36:07,137 --> 00:36:10,344 that question never got answered. 413 00:36:10,379 --> 00:36:12,862 And you don't always get those answers, right? 414 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,896 But you got the person that did it. 415 00:36:17,931 --> 00:36:22,206 I felt a sense of relief knowing that we had 416 00:36:22,241 --> 00:36:26,103 the right person that killed Jenny. 417 00:36:26,137 --> 00:36:28,068 I felt like I belonged, 418 00:36:28,103 --> 00:36:33,034 that the Jenny Garcia case gave me the, the confidence 419 00:36:33,068 --> 00:36:37,034 to know I can hang with some of these guys in homicide 420 00:36:37,068 --> 00:36:40,482 that I had, you know, looked up to and admired. 421 00:36:40,517 --> 00:36:42,137 I can, I can do this. 422 00:36:45,172 --> 00:36:49,620 [police sirens wailing] 423 00:36:52,310 --> 00:36:53,344 [Lisa] Kerry pages me. 424 00:36:54,206 --> 00:36:57,034 I was at dinner with my husband, 425 00:36:58,241 --> 00:37:01,724 he's like, "Hey, I'm out at a scene 426 00:37:01,758 --> 00:37:03,793 and it looks like it's gonna be a murder." 427 00:37:06,620 --> 00:37:08,310 I thought, "Oh, my gosh." 428 00:37:08,344 --> 00:37:11,689 Now there's another young woman that, that has been murdered. 429 00:37:23,344 --> 00:37:26,103 [reporter] Police say 19-year-old Lena Kim Nguyen 430 00:37:26,137 --> 00:37:30,241 was found Wednesday evening around seven by her sister. 431 00:37:30,275 --> 00:37:33,448 Lena was stabbed to death in her Gracy Farms apartment. 432 00:37:35,862 --> 00:37:38,034 [Kerry] We were notified by her sister 433 00:37:38,068 --> 00:37:39,482 when she came home, 434 00:37:39,517 --> 00:37:41,758 she found the door was locked from the inside. 435 00:37:43,068 --> 00:37:45,137 [Lisa] She knew that her sister was there, 436 00:37:45,172 --> 00:37:49,068 tried to knock several times and there was no answer. 437 00:37:53,758 --> 00:37:56,827 At which time the sister calls her boyfriend, 438 00:37:56,862 --> 00:38:00,620 the boyfriend comes over and he tries to get in. 439 00:38:01,862 --> 00:38:04,034 It was a second story apartment, 440 00:38:04,068 --> 00:38:08,724 so he ends up scaling the balcony 441 00:38:09,517 --> 00:38:13,172 and gets onto the patio area 442 00:38:13,206 --> 00:38:17,275 and the patio door is open, 443 00:38:18,827 --> 00:38:22,655 which was not too unusual because they had a dog 444 00:38:22,689 --> 00:38:25,689 and so, they would leave the patio door open 445 00:38:25,724 --> 00:38:27,517 so the dog could come in and out. 446 00:38:28,517 --> 00:38:32,551 [tense music playing] 447 00:38:32,586 --> 00:38:34,275 [Kerry] Lena's sister's boyfriend 448 00:38:34,310 --> 00:38:37,137 found Lena in that apartment and called the police. 449 00:38:41,551 --> 00:38:44,310 [Lisa] As we enter the apartment, 450 00:38:44,344 --> 00:38:46,034 it's only a one-bedroom apartment, 451 00:38:46,068 --> 00:38:48,655 and so we walk through the front door 452 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,344 and it's a small living room area 453 00:38:52,379 --> 00:38:54,793 with an adjacent little kitchenette, 454 00:38:54,827 --> 00:38:56,862 that's where the computer was. 455 00:38:59,379 --> 00:39:03,172 It appeared to me that she was seated in a chair 456 00:39:04,448 --> 00:39:06,724 and her attacker came up behind her 457 00:39:06,758 --> 00:39:08,724 and pulled her down onto the floor. 458 00:39:11,068 --> 00:39:13,793 And assaulted her with a knife. 459 00:39:18,965 --> 00:39:24,034 [Lisa] Nothing can prepare you for seeing 460 00:39:24,068 --> 00:39:26,758 some of the horrific things that you see at crime scenes. 461 00:39:29,034 --> 00:39:31,931 The dog was running around in the apartment 462 00:39:32,862 --> 00:39:35,758 and had been, uh... 463 00:39:35,793 --> 00:39:42,103 had been licking on Lena and had blood on his, on his mouth. 464 00:39:44,827 --> 00:39:49,206 And I remember thinking, "Man, if you could only talk," you know? 465 00:39:49,241 --> 00:39:50,724 "What would you tell me?" 466 00:39:52,103 --> 00:39:54,034 She had just gotten out of the shower. 467 00:39:54,068 --> 00:39:55,620 I believe her hair was still wet 468 00:39:56,758 --> 00:39:58,551 and she was on her computer. 469 00:40:08,241 --> 00:40:10,034 And he... 470 00:40:10,068 --> 00:40:12,965 he grabbed her by the hair, exposed her neck, 471 00:40:13,931 --> 00:40:15,689 first couple of puncture wounds 472 00:40:15,724 --> 00:40:19,103 was enough to have killed her. 473 00:40:19,137 --> 00:40:21,517 All the other puncture wounds were post-mortem. 474 00:40:25,482 --> 00:40:29,551 Multiple stab wounds like that, somebody's angry. 475 00:40:30,965 --> 00:40:32,344 Someone is angry. 476 00:40:33,551 --> 00:40:35,344 This is personal. 477 00:40:35,379 --> 00:40:40,620 It didn't appear as if it was a burglary gone bad. 478 00:40:43,655 --> 00:40:46,689 As I'm standing there, looking at the victim, 479 00:40:46,724 --> 00:40:50,896 it takes me back to Jenny Garcia's crime scene. 480 00:40:51,931 --> 00:40:54,896 [somber music playing] 481 00:41:01,172 --> 00:41:04,000 Another young woman in Austin, Texas, 482 00:41:09,103 --> 00:41:12,137 murdered during the prime of her life. 483 00:41:16,275 --> 00:41:21,793 As a female detective, that, that moment 484 00:41:24,310 --> 00:41:26,137 hits you really hard. 485 00:41:28,034 --> 00:41:30,758 It's a lot of trauma to deal with. 486 00:41:38,206 --> 00:41:42,000 I still keep a framed photo of, of Lena. 487 00:41:45,310 --> 00:41:47,344 And it's in a box at, at my house. 488 00:41:52,655 --> 00:41:57,103 And she's just a gorgeous girl with just a really beautiful smile. 489 00:41:58,137 --> 00:41:59,689 So young and full of life. 490 00:42:00,724 --> 00:42:02,862 It just... uh... 491 00:42:02,896 --> 00:42:06,034 She looks like sunshine, that's my best description of her. 492 00:42:06,068 --> 00:42:08,000 She looks like sunshine in that picture. 493 00:42:09,586 --> 00:42:11,758 Every day, I would, I would look at it. 494 00:42:12,724 --> 00:42:14,862 I imagine her telling me, 495 00:42:14,896 --> 00:42:16,655 "Have you found who did this to me?" 496 00:42:17,758 --> 00:42:19,724 Similar to Jenny, you know, 497 00:42:20,517 --> 00:42:22,896 I told her, "I'm gonna..." 498 00:42:22,931 --> 00:42:26,758 You know, "I'm gonna try my hardest to find out who, who did this to you." 499 00:42:41,758 --> 00:42:45,586 As the lead detective, you're kinda watching, 500 00:42:45,620 --> 00:42:50,310 you know, all your people that you delegated to do X, Y, and Z, 501 00:42:50,344 --> 00:42:53,034 and they're coming back to you, 502 00:42:54,206 --> 00:42:56,379 and, and giving you information. 503 00:42:58,793 --> 00:43:03,310 There was a neighbor who witnessed an individual 504 00:43:03,344 --> 00:43:05,896 run from the vicinity of the apartment complex 505 00:43:05,931 --> 00:43:08,620 that was dressed in dark clothing articles. 506 00:43:10,034 --> 00:43:13,482 [Kerry] I found a shoe impression in some dirt, 507 00:43:13,517 --> 00:43:14,931 and we took a picture of it. 508 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,896 [Lisa] We did a technique called luminol... 509 00:43:19,931 --> 00:43:22,068 [Kerry] ...to try to illuminate blood stains 510 00:43:22,103 --> 00:43:24,103 that we didn't see with our naked eye. 511 00:43:27,241 --> 00:43:31,413 [Lisa] And it reacted to the kitchen sink. 512 00:43:34,965 --> 00:43:38,620 Did somebody after they stabbed her, 513 00:43:38,655 --> 00:43:41,137 you know, wash their, wash their hands? 514 00:43:46,275 --> 00:43:49,206 [Kerry] When we swab the dog, the blood on the dog, 515 00:43:49,241 --> 00:43:54,620 we were hoping that we can develop a profile from the blood 516 00:43:54,655 --> 00:43:56,586 that might help us identify our suspect. 517 00:43:57,689 --> 00:44:00,827 But the dog only had Lena's blood on her. 518 00:44:03,586 --> 00:44:06,827 [Kerry] After all the efforts we put into this crime scene, 519 00:44:06,862 --> 00:44:09,310 the swabbing of different objects 520 00:44:09,344 --> 00:44:13,034 and hoping that we were going to collect something 521 00:44:13,068 --> 00:44:15,310 that was gonna help us to develop a profile, 522 00:44:15,344 --> 00:44:16,965 be it to our frustration, 523 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,103 ultimately we didn't find any DNA at the crime scene. 524 00:44:20,137 --> 00:44:21,551 [Lisa] Through the autopsy, 525 00:44:21,586 --> 00:44:23,517 through the medical examiner's report, 526 00:44:23,551 --> 00:44:26,137 we found out that she had not been sexually assaulted. 527 00:44:28,413 --> 00:44:35,689 With no DNA coming back, I didn't feel like we had any solid evidence. 528 00:44:35,724 --> 00:44:40,103 And that's when personal relationships become very important. 529 00:44:40,137 --> 00:44:43,482 [tense music playing] 530 00:44:45,689 --> 00:44:49,551 Lena was a young, beautiful girl. 531 00:44:49,586 --> 00:44:55,482 She was popular, she was dating a guy by the name of Chris. 532 00:44:55,517 --> 00:45:01,068 Lena's sister, she gave me the backstory on their relationship. 533 00:45:01,103 --> 00:45:04,000 There was nothing significant about Chris 534 00:45:04,034 --> 00:45:08,586 that stood out to me as him being suspicious. 535 00:45:09,896 --> 00:45:13,241 There were several guys that were interested in her. 536 00:45:13,275 --> 00:45:16,413 There was an older white male in the complex 537 00:45:16,448 --> 00:45:18,344 apparently that took a liking to her. 538 00:45:19,448 --> 00:45:22,206 So, I had to research 539 00:45:22,241 --> 00:45:28,172 and be able to eliminate a bunch of these other loose ends. 540 00:45:29,034 --> 00:45:31,620 But the one name that kept coming up 541 00:45:31,655 --> 00:45:34,379 was Lena's ex-boyfriend, Tai Ho. 542 00:45:36,620 --> 00:45:40,379 They had separated, you know, upwards to six months ago. 543 00:45:40,413 --> 00:45:44,206 But we're now learning that he was harassing her, 544 00:45:44,241 --> 00:45:46,448 and we found out through another individual 545 00:45:46,482 --> 00:45:51,310 that he would become upset whenever there was mention of her name. 546 00:45:51,344 --> 00:45:56,034 [Lisa] We found out that they had somewhat of a volatile relationship. 547 00:45:57,448 --> 00:46:00,275 And he was living in the Fort Worth area, 548 00:46:00,310 --> 00:46:05,137 which is about 170 miles from, from Austin to Fort Worth. 549 00:46:08,310 --> 00:46:12,137 [Dave] So we immediately made plans to depart Austin and head to Fort Worth 550 00:46:12,172 --> 00:46:13,965 to, to contact this individual. 551 00:46:20,862 --> 00:46:24,586 Tai Ho was living with his friend and his friend's family 552 00:46:24,620 --> 00:46:27,965 because his own family moved to California. 553 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:32,137 He remained in Texas to finish high school. 554 00:46:35,896 --> 00:46:40,689 So we meet up at the address where Tai Ho is living 555 00:46:40,724 --> 00:46:47,103 and we end up getting consent from Tai Ho 556 00:46:47,137 --> 00:46:48,275 to search his vehicle. 557 00:46:55,724 --> 00:46:59,482 We did locate photographs of Lena in his car. 558 00:47:01,620 --> 00:47:06,482 He, somehow, saw a picture of Lena 559 00:47:06,517 --> 00:47:10,862 and the new boyfriend and they were kissing and that affected him. 560 00:47:12,793 --> 00:47:15,758 He was asked if he would be willing 561 00:47:15,793 --> 00:47:18,137 to come down to the Fort Worth Police Department. 562 00:47:24,965 --> 00:47:29,241 I had already been up over 24 hours at that point. 563 00:47:29,275 --> 00:47:34,413 My first impression of Tai Ho is he was just, he was very calm. 564 00:47:37,551 --> 00:47:43,758 So his story was that he drove his friend to school in Fort Worth, 565 00:47:43,793 --> 00:47:50,379 dropped him off, came back home, slept, got up, 566 00:47:50,413 --> 00:47:55,896 went to go play basketball with some people that he really couldn't identify 567 00:47:55,931 --> 00:48:02,793 or give me names and then, eventually, comes back home. 568 00:48:02,827 --> 00:48:05,241 He was trying to play it really, really cool. 569 00:48:05,275 --> 00:48:09,413 Like, "No big deal, I was here in Fort Worth." 570 00:48:09,448 --> 00:48:13,000 We're evaluating his responses to our questions, 571 00:48:13,034 --> 00:48:17,103 and I noticed that he had sustained an injury to his left hand. 572 00:48:20,896 --> 00:48:22,448 It appeared to be fairly fresh. 573 00:48:22,482 --> 00:48:26,103 It was something that was scarred or even scabbed over. 574 00:48:27,827 --> 00:48:31,724 Definitely piqued my interest, because he didn't have a reasonable explanation 575 00:48:31,758 --> 00:48:33,448 as to why that injury was sustained. 576 00:48:34,620 --> 00:48:38,482 He denies killing her throughout the whole time 577 00:48:38,517 --> 00:48:40,931 and he denies ever being in Austin. 578 00:48:40,965 --> 00:48:45,448 But he does tell me that he still loved her 579 00:48:45,482 --> 00:48:47,137 and that he wanted to be with her. 580 00:48:48,482 --> 00:48:51,413 The interview started about 9:45 p.m. 581 00:48:51,448 --> 00:48:54,655 and we finally ended at 4:00 in the morning. 582 00:48:57,275 --> 00:49:02,310 And then... Tai Ho asked, 583 00:49:02,344 --> 00:49:06,448 "Do you guys know of a church that is close by?" 584 00:49:06,482 --> 00:49:11,620 And I think Dave and I looked at each other, like, "What?" 585 00:49:16,413 --> 00:49:18,827 "Okay, is this the moment?" You know? 586 00:49:18,862 --> 00:49:21,000 "Is he fixing a crack at this point?" 587 00:49:23,379 --> 00:49:26,655 It was clever not to push and ask in that particular point in time, 588 00:49:26,689 --> 00:49:29,793 so I posed a question, I asked him if he was religious. 589 00:49:29,827 --> 00:49:31,896 And he indicated that he was not. 590 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,482 [Lisa] I think that he was probably thinking, 591 00:49:36,517 --> 00:49:40,517 "I should just spill it. I should just tell them what I did." 592 00:49:41,586 --> 00:49:43,517 But he couldn't quite get himself there. 593 00:49:45,931 --> 00:49:51,482 He became more than just a person of interest to me at that point. 594 00:49:53,517 --> 00:49:56,172 He goes from person of interest to suspect. 595 00:49:58,896 --> 00:50:01,517 He was a senior at Crawley High School. 596 00:50:01,551 --> 00:50:02,689 [school bell rings] 597 00:50:05,379 --> 00:50:09,551 One of the girls at the high school tells us that Tai Ho 598 00:50:09,586 --> 00:50:14,275 was wanting to get gloves, wanting to get dark clothing, wanting to get a gun. 599 00:50:15,172 --> 00:50:17,793 She heard Tai Ho talking to people, 600 00:50:17,827 --> 00:50:19,965 asking specifically for these things. 601 00:50:20,896 --> 00:50:22,931 I knew at that point in the investigation 602 00:50:22,965 --> 00:50:24,379 that there was a witness 603 00:50:25,379 --> 00:50:27,344 that was near the apartment complex, 604 00:50:27,379 --> 00:50:29,448 around the time of the murder in Austin 605 00:50:29,482 --> 00:50:33,103 who observed an individual wearing dark color clothing 606 00:50:33,137 --> 00:50:35,379 fleeing from the vicinity of the apartment. 607 00:50:37,586 --> 00:50:39,517 [Lisa] In interviewing this girl, 608 00:50:39,551 --> 00:50:44,172 I asked her if she thought that Tai Ho was capable of murdering somebody 609 00:50:45,206 --> 00:50:47,310 and she said, "Yeah." 610 00:50:48,655 --> 00:50:50,344 She thought he was capable. 611 00:50:56,931 --> 00:51:02,586 We checked attendance records and Tai Ho was not at school 612 00:51:02,620 --> 00:51:04,965 on the day of Lena Nguyen's murder. 613 00:51:07,482 --> 00:51:11,206 But that was circumstantial evidence. 614 00:51:12,448 --> 00:51:13,689 I wanted more. 615 00:51:13,724 --> 00:51:17,241 [tense music playing] 616 00:51:17,275 --> 00:51:20,172 We were searching her cellphone activity, 617 00:51:20,206 --> 00:51:22,862 we're searching her computer activity 618 00:51:22,896 --> 00:51:26,586 and we finally catch a big break at that time. 619 00:51:28,275 --> 00:51:31,517 We discovered that Tai Ho hacked into her account. 620 00:51:33,620 --> 00:51:38,620 There was indication that he had been harassing her 621 00:51:38,655 --> 00:51:40,896 up until the point of, he was stalking. 622 00:51:42,482 --> 00:51:45,724 We found through Tai Ho's AOL account 623 00:51:45,758 --> 00:51:49,103 that he had documented a conversation 624 00:51:49,137 --> 00:51:53,758 in which he pretended to be Lena Nguyen 625 00:51:53,793 --> 00:51:57,689 where he acted as though it was a loving engagement back and forth 626 00:51:57,724 --> 00:51:59,344 between the two of them 627 00:51:59,379 --> 00:52:02,310 where he would ask how she was doing 628 00:52:02,344 --> 00:52:05,586 and then he would impersonate her and respond that she was fine. 629 00:52:05,620 --> 00:52:08,103 This was clearly an individual that was not willing 630 00:52:08,137 --> 00:52:10,068 to give up on the relationship. 631 00:52:10,103 --> 00:52:13,655 She posted this thing like, "Leave me alone. 632 00:52:13,689 --> 00:52:16,620 Quit bugging me. You're blowing up my phone. 633 00:52:16,655 --> 00:52:21,827 It's over. Stop calling me 1,000 times a day. 634 00:52:21,862 --> 00:52:24,689 What do I need, a restraining order?" 635 00:52:24,724 --> 00:52:27,448 And I believe, to me, in reading that post, 636 00:52:27,482 --> 00:52:33,275 she's referring to Tai Ho without actually saying his name. 637 00:52:35,034 --> 00:52:39,620 And there at the end of that entry, she's pleading for help. 638 00:52:49,482 --> 00:52:52,034 [Lisa] While investigating Tai Ho, 639 00:52:52,068 --> 00:52:53,931 we pulled his cellphone records. 640 00:52:55,896 --> 00:52:58,448 Cell tower hit Waco, 641 00:53:00,448 --> 00:53:05,034 which would be the, the path taken by Tai Ho 642 00:53:05,068 --> 00:53:07,827 from the Fort Worth area through Waco to Austin. 643 00:53:10,655 --> 00:53:13,758 That was a huge lead in, in this case. 644 00:53:15,137 --> 00:53:20,103 Ultimately, we were able to put his, put his cellphone 645 00:53:20,137 --> 00:53:24,068 in Austin at the time of Lena's murder. 646 00:53:26,034 --> 00:53:30,103 I contacted Tai Ho and told him 647 00:53:30,137 --> 00:53:35,793 that if he wanted to drive down to Austin to pick up 648 00:53:35,827 --> 00:53:38,413 some of the items that I had seized from him 649 00:53:38,448 --> 00:53:41,586 after Lena's murder, he could come pick them up. 650 00:53:42,275 --> 00:53:44,793 He drove to Austin, 651 00:53:44,827 --> 00:53:47,655 we wanted to see if he would submit to a polygraph. 652 00:53:49,275 --> 00:53:55,965 He voluntarily took a polygraph and he failed it. 653 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:01,517 The DA felt that we had enough at that point to, to cut a warrant. 654 00:54:01,551 --> 00:54:03,655 We took his vehicle again, 655 00:54:03,689 --> 00:54:05,862 and this time for forensic processing. 656 00:54:07,586 --> 00:54:11,000 [Dave] It's during the course of this search we found a pair of shoes 657 00:54:11,034 --> 00:54:13,551 in the trunk of the vehicle. 658 00:54:13,586 --> 00:54:16,344 The imprint impression at the scene 659 00:54:16,379 --> 00:54:17,931 appeared to be one and the same. 660 00:54:36,034 --> 00:54:40,000 [Lisa] We had really solid evidence against Tai Ho at this point, 661 00:54:42,206 --> 00:54:45,862 but I still knew that I had to get a confession. 662 00:55:26,413 --> 00:55:30,206 So during the course of the interrogation, I'm thinking about Bruce. 663 00:55:31,448 --> 00:55:33,758 Since he had been my field training officer 664 00:55:33,793 --> 00:55:36,137 and my partner in the gang unit, 665 00:55:36,172 --> 00:55:39,275 I learned interview and interrogation skills from him. 666 00:55:41,137 --> 00:55:44,000 You work in an interview interrogation different ways 667 00:55:44,034 --> 00:55:47,206 and within that same interrogation you might go hard, 668 00:55:47,241 --> 00:55:49,655 you know, on somebody and then back off 669 00:55:49,689 --> 00:55:52,137 and then give them a little bit of time to breathe, 670 00:55:52,172 --> 00:55:53,103 think about things. 671 00:56:59,724 --> 00:57:04,620 I spoke to Bruce about just the marathon interview with him. 672 00:57:07,310 --> 00:57:12,413 It's just mentally and physically 673 00:57:12,448 --> 00:57:18,413 and emotionally exhausting interviewing somebody for hours on end. 674 00:57:18,448 --> 00:57:21,689 He goes, "And what did you get out of it?" I said, "Jack[bleep]" 675 00:57:21,724 --> 00:57:23,862 [chuckles] 676 00:57:38,793 --> 00:57:41,344 At that point, we felt like we had 677 00:57:42,931 --> 00:57:47,206 enough probable cause to, to arrest him. 678 00:57:50,241 --> 00:57:52,103 That could be the extra pressure 679 00:57:52,137 --> 00:57:54,724 needed to try to get a confession. 680 00:58:00,965 --> 00:58:06,137 He tells us that he wants to talk to Lena's sister. 681 00:58:06,172 --> 00:58:08,655 [Dave] We didn't know the nature of the request 682 00:58:08,689 --> 00:58:10,827 at that particular point in time, 683 00:58:10,862 --> 00:58:14,448 but it's definitely intriguing that he was wanting to, to reach out. 684 00:58:14,482 --> 00:58:17,862 [Lisa] At some point, we have to make a calculated decision 685 00:58:17,896 --> 00:58:24,793 to see if the suspect regrets any of his actions 686 00:58:24,827 --> 00:58:29,517 and will confess his crime to the victim's family. 687 00:58:29,551 --> 00:58:34,413 So, in essence, she was being used as a, a vehicle, 688 00:58:34,448 --> 00:58:38,689 but I prepped Lena's sister, Thoa, before allowing her 689 00:58:38,724 --> 00:58:40,931 to go into the room with Tai Ho. 690 00:58:40,965 --> 00:58:45,793 I felt bad for her, I mean, I did not want to have to send her in, 691 00:58:47,482 --> 00:58:52,000 but she wanted to step up to the plate to try to help her sister. 692 00:58:55,103 --> 00:58:56,517 [Thoa speaking] 693 00:59:18,137 --> 00:59:19,172 [Thoa speaking] 694 00:59:19,689 --> 00:59:20,655 [Tai speaking] 695 00:59:32,620 --> 00:59:33,862 [Thoa speaking] 696 00:59:38,448 --> 00:59:39,862 [Tai speaking] 697 00:59:41,379 --> 00:59:42,517 [Thoa speaking] 698 00:59:52,827 --> 00:59:53,862 [Tai speaking] 699 00:59:57,344 --> 00:59:58,482 [Thao speaking] 700 01:00:03,517 --> 01:00:05,172 [Dave] He whispered in her ear 701 01:00:05,206 --> 01:00:06,862 something to the fact that... 702 01:00:08,034 --> 01:00:10,172 "You've got the right person in the chair" 703 01:00:10,206 --> 01:00:11,655 and that he was responsible. 704 01:00:13,551 --> 01:00:19,413 I think maybe he felt like, you know, Thoa was, she wasn't law enforcement. 705 01:00:19,448 --> 01:00:21,310 If he actually said it to me, 706 01:00:21,344 --> 01:00:26,482 then that would mean that, yes, he did it. 707 01:00:26,965 --> 01:00:28,172 [Thoa speaking] 708 01:00:28,206 --> 01:00:29,586 [Tai speaking] 709 01:00:33,034 --> 01:00:34,448 But if he told Thoa, 710 01:00:34,482 --> 01:00:38,310 then it was just basically, he's like, "I'm sorry." 711 01:00:41,379 --> 01:00:43,655 [Dave] That was a confession at that point. 712 01:00:43,689 --> 01:00:47,862 For him to now say that we had the right person in the chair, 713 01:00:48,689 --> 01:00:50,241 that was quite a revelation. 714 01:00:59,000 --> 01:01:02,517 [guitar music playing] 715 01:01:02,551 --> 01:01:05,965 Tai Ho was charged with the murder of Lena Nguyen, 716 01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:08,862 and he was sentenced to 75 years in prison. 717 01:01:11,551 --> 01:01:15,482 I take Lena's picture down and then I file it 718 01:01:15,517 --> 01:01:19,827 in the, in the case jacket, at the very front of the case jacket 719 01:01:19,862 --> 01:01:22,586 so that you, you see the person's face. 720 01:01:22,620 --> 01:01:24,517 It's not just a case number. 721 01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:32,379 My brother-in-law, like I said earlier, 722 01:01:32,413 --> 01:01:38,655 was not real keen on women being police officers, 723 01:01:40,793 --> 01:01:44,689 but after the Lena Nguyen's case, 724 01:01:44,724 --> 01:01:48,862 he's like, "Oh, okay, I'm proud of you." [chuckles] 725 01:01:48,896 --> 01:01:51,689 You know, just that quick, "Okay, I'm proud of you." 726 01:01:53,931 --> 01:01:57,724 [tense music playing] 727 01:01:57,758 --> 01:02:01,586 The other homicides detectives had kind of dubbed me 728 01:02:01,620 --> 01:02:04,931 "the women hater club detective" 729 01:02:04,965 --> 01:02:10,275 because I had these back-to-back homicides of young females 730 01:02:10,310 --> 01:02:11,758 that were being murdered. 731 01:02:17,482 --> 01:02:21,137 I'm like, what... You know? How do these young women's cases 732 01:02:21,172 --> 01:02:23,241 land on my, on my lap. 733 01:02:23,275 --> 01:02:24,586 Um... I don't know. 734 01:02:26,689 --> 01:02:31,137 Working homicides are more of a calling. 735 01:02:31,172 --> 01:02:35,482 It's almost like your life doesn't really belong to you anymore. 736 01:02:35,517 --> 01:02:37,241 Your life belongs to the board. 737 01:02:38,241 --> 01:02:39,551 The board is cruel. 738 01:02:43,586 --> 01:02:47,034 On February the 17th, 2006, 739 01:02:47,068 --> 01:02:51,482 I was wrapping up Lena Nguyen's case and... 740 01:02:52,655 --> 01:02:56,586 I'm up on the, on the board again as the number one. 741 01:02:56,620 --> 01:02:58,310 [phone rings] 742 01:02:58,344 --> 01:03:03,517 I get a call and I thought, "Oh, my gosh, 743 01:03:03,551 --> 01:03:06,965 not another young woman that, that has been murdered." 744 01:03:17,310 --> 01:03:21,896 I responded to the 8,500 block of Coppiano Drive. 745 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:28,344 A man walking his dog found a body in the woods, 746 01:03:28,379 --> 01:03:31,206 just on the other side of a retention pond. 747 01:03:34,655 --> 01:03:40,137 One that particular day, it was a cold and overcast. 748 01:03:43,586 --> 01:03:48,482 We had to walk through some cedar trees to get to the body. 749 01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:59,034 Growing up, I always wanted to be a cop, 750 01:03:59,068 --> 01:04:03,965 but nothing can prepare you for the things that you see in the homicide unit. 751 01:04:12,068 --> 01:04:14,379 [wind chimes tinkling] 752 01:04:17,517 --> 01:04:22,862 [birds chirping] 753 01:04:22,896 --> 01:04:26,310 Although it's beautiful what they've done with this crime scene area, 754 01:04:26,344 --> 01:04:30,793 the vision in my head will always remain the way I last saw her. 755 01:04:38,793 --> 01:04:42,206 She had a large gaping wound, 756 01:04:42,241 --> 01:04:44,896 and the back of her head had been shot off. 757 01:04:47,758 --> 01:04:51,068 I couldn't see her face because her actual hair 758 01:04:51,103 --> 01:04:53,758 was over her, and she had long hair, 759 01:04:53,793 --> 01:04:56,241 was over her, her head. 760 01:05:00,275 --> 01:05:04,758 One of the things that was really significant to me and very memorable 761 01:05:04,793 --> 01:05:10,482 was she had kind of light brown hair 762 01:05:10,517 --> 01:05:15,310 and strands of her hair were in the tree branches. 763 01:05:23,586 --> 01:05:26,034 Her brain was scattered 764 01:05:26,068 --> 01:05:30,103 as a result of the weapon that she was shot with 765 01:05:30,137 --> 01:05:35,068 and in processing the crime scene and walking around there, 766 01:05:37,344 --> 01:05:40,413 I had accidently stepped on a piece of her brain. 767 01:05:41,379 --> 01:05:43,620 And I was like, "Oh, no." 768 01:05:43,655 --> 01:05:45,103 That felt horrible. 769 01:05:45,137 --> 01:05:47,517 It's just... That was a horrible feeling. 770 01:05:48,206 --> 01:05:49,068 Um... 771 01:05:51,620 --> 01:05:53,620 [Kerry] In this case, 772 01:05:53,655 --> 01:05:56,862 the devastation that resulted from the wound inflicted on her... 773 01:06:01,586 --> 01:06:04,896 I mean, I wouldn't even describe it for you 774 01:06:04,931 --> 01:06:06,689 because I don't want anybody else... 775 01:06:13,620 --> 01:06:16,241 [Lisa] A young girl out in the woods... 776 01:06:17,689 --> 01:06:21,862 just... dying in that manner. 777 01:06:23,793 --> 01:06:27,241 I mean, any homicide detective will tell you, 778 01:06:27,275 --> 01:06:29,137 yeah, it does, it takes a toll on you. 779 01:06:32,241 --> 01:06:34,517 We found a Texas driver's license 780 01:06:35,758 --> 01:06:37,896 that identified her as Jennifer Crecente. 781 01:06:42,655 --> 01:06:43,689 Jenny Garcia, 782 01:06:46,068 --> 01:06:47,034 Lena Nguyen, 783 01:06:48,827 --> 01:06:50,896 now we have Jennifer Crecente. 784 01:06:50,931 --> 01:06:54,517 [tense music playing] 785 01:07:00,517 --> 01:07:02,068 [tense music playing] 786 01:07:13,172 --> 01:07:15,758 [reporter] Quiet Coppiano St. overtaken by cops, 787 01:07:15,793 --> 01:07:17,586 cruisers and crime scene tape. 788 01:07:17,620 --> 01:07:22,206 The body of 18-year-old Jennifer found Thursday night with a single gunshot wound. 789 01:07:22,241 --> 01:07:25,379 [reporter 2] Doug Mamouser found the body while walking his dog. 790 01:07:25,413 --> 01:07:28,068 My heart was racing and, uh... 791 01:07:28,103 --> 01:07:30,310 It was just very upsetting. [sniffles] 792 01:07:34,724 --> 01:07:38,862 [Lisa] While I was processing the crime scene, 793 01:07:38,896 --> 01:07:41,931 Kerry's at the mother's house interviewing her. 794 01:07:43,655 --> 01:07:46,137 [knocking on door] 795 01:07:46,172 --> 01:07:49,137 You could just see she was crushed. 796 01:07:53,241 --> 01:07:56,241 [Elizabeth] They talked to me for a long time. 797 01:07:57,724 --> 01:07:59,241 Over 30 minutes 798 01:07:59,275 --> 01:08:03,206 and then they finally said that, yes, that was her. 799 01:08:04,137 --> 01:08:07,068 And I put my head down on my coffee table 800 01:08:08,068 --> 01:08:10,448 and then I just started 801 01:08:10,482 --> 01:08:14,275 banging my head on the coffee table and I started to cry. 802 01:08:15,931 --> 01:08:18,724 [Kerry] I just remember looking at her and looking around 803 01:08:18,758 --> 01:08:21,413 and there was nobody there for her except for us. 804 01:08:21,448 --> 01:08:23,620 Doesn't feel good telling somebody 805 01:08:24,827 --> 01:08:27,103 that you just found their daughter in a field. 806 01:08:27,137 --> 01:08:30,655 [sad piano music playing] 807 01:08:30,689 --> 01:08:37,206 Jennifer was a very unique girl. 808 01:08:39,344 --> 01:08:41,931 She was born an adult. 809 01:08:43,620 --> 01:08:48,034 She was pretty fiercely protective of the people that she loved, 810 01:08:50,413 --> 01:08:54,275 and I know very strongly that she knew 811 01:08:55,517 --> 01:08:58,310 that I loved her beyond measure. 812 01:09:01,931 --> 01:09:04,310 [Lisa] In talking to Jennifer's mother, Elizabeth, 813 01:09:05,482 --> 01:09:08,344 we knew that one of the last people 814 01:09:08,379 --> 01:09:11,965 that Jennifer was probably with 815 01:09:12,000 --> 01:09:13,482 or had talked to 816 01:09:13,517 --> 01:09:16,620 was her ex-boyfriend Justin Crabbe. 817 01:09:19,344 --> 01:09:23,620 [Elizabeth] Jennifer dated Justin for two-and-a-half years 818 01:09:23,655 --> 01:09:27,965 and it was up, down, all around. 819 01:09:28,000 --> 01:09:30,137 It was pretty volatile. 820 01:09:30,172 --> 01:09:32,896 And she was experiencing dating abuse. 821 01:09:33,724 --> 01:09:38,482 It was emotional and verbal abuse, 822 01:09:38,517 --> 01:09:40,689 it was not physical abuse. 823 01:09:40,724 --> 01:09:44,862 I literally woke up every single day and said, "How can I help her today?" 824 01:09:46,241 --> 01:09:49,620 "What can I say? Who can I go to?" 825 01:09:49,655 --> 01:09:52,517 There was a stay-away agreement at school, 826 01:09:52,551 --> 01:09:54,689 he showed up anyway. 827 01:09:54,724 --> 01:09:56,862 I asked Jennifer's therapist 828 01:09:56,896 --> 01:10:01,172 to, to help and so many people I went to and said, 829 01:10:01,862 --> 01:10:04,482 "Please, help my daughter." 830 01:10:04,517 --> 01:10:08,482 But I would hear things like, "Well, she's in a bad boy stage, 831 01:10:08,517 --> 01:10:10,206 you just need to let that play out." 832 01:10:11,655 --> 01:10:12,655 It was scary. 833 01:10:14,344 --> 01:10:18,000 Yeah, it was just a toxic relationship 834 01:10:18,034 --> 01:10:23,620 and that's been confirmed through the statements from Jennifer's friends. 835 01:10:24,896 --> 01:10:26,862 [Kerry] So we knew we had to find Justin. 836 01:10:26,896 --> 01:10:29,931 [tense music playing] 837 01:10:29,965 --> 01:10:32,689 [Lisa] So I'm going back to the office 838 01:10:32,724 --> 01:10:37,620 and conducting computer research to see what kind of involvement 839 01:10:37,655 --> 01:10:40,793 Justin had with the Austin Police Department 840 01:10:40,827 --> 01:10:43,172 and try to figure out where he was at, 841 01:10:44,172 --> 01:10:46,275 at the time of, of Jennifer's murder. 842 01:10:49,551 --> 01:10:53,551 With all my homicide cases, I always talked to Bruce about them. 843 01:10:53,586 --> 01:10:57,517 He was my touchstone, he was my rock. 844 01:10:57,551 --> 01:11:01,758 He was the go-to person for me. 845 01:11:02,413 --> 01:11:05,344 [phone ringing] 846 01:11:06,896 --> 01:11:09,758 My phone rings and it's my supervisor 847 01:11:10,689 --> 01:11:13,068 and... [clears throat] 848 01:11:13,103 --> 01:11:18,620 he was very, very nervous and he was like, "Lisa, I have to tell you something," 849 01:11:18,655 --> 01:11:22,896 you know... Uh, "Bruce killed himself." 850 01:11:23,241 --> 01:11:24,068 And... 851 01:11:25,379 --> 01:11:26,206 Uh... 852 01:11:30,655 --> 01:11:33,724 I just instantly started, uh, shaking. 853 01:11:39,068 --> 01:11:40,896 There are no words 854 01:11:40,931 --> 01:11:43,344 when somebody that you know and you love, 855 01:11:43,379 --> 01:11:46,689 and you admire, and you respect commits suicide. 856 01:11:49,655 --> 01:11:51,448 I personally do not know... 857 01:11:54,482 --> 01:11:57,034 what was going through his mind at the time. 858 01:11:58,310 --> 01:12:01,034 He told me that he was gonna retire. 859 01:12:01,068 --> 01:12:06,965 I was a little concerned about him retiring because he's always worked. 860 01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:11,241 So after his suicide, everybody goes through this. 861 01:12:11,275 --> 01:12:15,275 "What if I had done this?" "What if I had done that?" 862 01:12:15,310 --> 01:12:18,517 You know, the back-to-back murders of these young women 863 01:12:18,551 --> 01:12:23,620 and then Bruce's suicide absolutely pushed me to the... 864 01:12:24,620 --> 01:12:25,758 to my limit. 865 01:12:28,310 --> 01:12:29,275 I was[bleep] up. 866 01:12:33,137 --> 01:12:36,965 After his, his suicide, you know, going back to work, 867 01:12:37,000 --> 01:12:40,965 I felt like did the other homicide detectives 868 01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:43,931 really want me in that condition 869 01:12:43,965 --> 01:12:50,827 coming back to a unit where you have to give 150%? 870 01:12:50,862 --> 01:12:56,586 You don't wanna screw it up, so I had a meeting with the other detectives 871 01:12:56,620 --> 01:13:00,413 and, and the sergeants, and I actually told them, 872 01:13:00,448 --> 01:13:02,379 "I feel like I'm[bleep] up. 873 01:13:02,413 --> 01:13:05,827 Um... But I'm trying to work through it. 874 01:13:05,862 --> 01:13:10,068 But if you guys don't feel that I'm up to par to do the job, 875 01:13:10,103 --> 01:13:12,068 then let me know and then I'll go find 876 01:13:12,103 --> 01:13:15,068 another, another position within the police department." 877 01:13:27,172 --> 01:13:30,862 After Bruce's death, when Lisa came back to the office, 878 01:13:30,896 --> 01:13:34,413 um, she did acknowledge that it was really... 879 01:13:35,827 --> 01:13:38,758 some... something that's impacted her. 880 01:13:38,793 --> 01:13:40,896 [Lisa] I walked out, let them talk. 881 01:13:40,931 --> 01:13:43,689 But I did not want to leave. 882 01:13:45,482 --> 01:13:48,241 These were cases that were very, very involved 883 01:13:49,448 --> 01:13:53,379 and taxing on everyone in the homicide unit. 884 01:13:55,896 --> 01:13:59,620 [Kerry] I knew what Bruce meant to Lisa. 885 01:14:00,655 --> 01:14:04,068 I worked Bruce's suicide. 886 01:14:07,034 --> 01:14:08,965 I remember looking at him and thinking, 887 01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:13,758 "We just played golf together, like, last week," 888 01:14:14,172 --> 01:14:15,000 and... 889 01:14:18,310 --> 01:14:19,137 Um... 890 01:14:20,931 --> 01:14:22,862 it just, it doesn't get easy. 891 01:14:23,620 --> 01:14:28,344 [tense music playing] 892 01:14:28,379 --> 01:14:31,482 But when Lisa expressed that, you know, 893 01:14:31,517 --> 01:14:33,482 she possibly couldn't do the job anymore, 894 01:14:35,310 --> 01:14:38,310 my thought was to let her know that, "Yes, you can," you know? 895 01:14:38,344 --> 01:14:40,241 "You absolutely can still do this job 896 01:14:40,275 --> 01:14:43,413 because you're that good of a detective." 897 01:14:45,724 --> 01:14:51,517 I... to the last one, every detective, sergeant in that unit was 898 01:14:52,620 --> 01:14:56,103 there behind her 100%. We needed Lisa. 899 01:14:57,482 --> 01:14:58,965 [Lisa] You know, sure enough, 900 01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:02,137 I came back and they're like, "Nope. We still want you in here." 901 01:15:04,034 --> 01:15:07,655 My coworkers helped me get through Bruce's death. 902 01:15:11,689 --> 01:15:14,413 I think through the other homicide detectives' eyes, 903 01:15:15,206 --> 01:15:17,896 when I first came into homicide, 904 01:15:18,931 --> 01:15:22,172 in their eyes I belonged, but in my own eyes 905 01:15:22,206 --> 01:15:28,068 it wasn't until I got pushed to the absolute edge after his suicide 906 01:15:29,344 --> 01:15:34,275 and their "Yes, we want you here" 907 01:15:34,310 --> 01:15:39,241 that in my mind I felt, "Okay, I belong. I do belong in here." 908 01:15:41,103 --> 01:15:43,827 They taught me, I guess that... 909 01:15:45,689 --> 01:15:48,413 I'm a lot stronger than what I even thought I was. 910 01:15:48,448 --> 01:15:50,586 Like I had enough in me 911 01:15:51,724 --> 01:15:57,034 to know that the way to help me heal 912 01:15:57,068 --> 01:16:04,034 was to go back to a job that deals with death. 913 01:16:04,068 --> 01:16:07,103 I don't know if that makes sense to anybody, but... 914 01:16:07,137 --> 01:16:09,206 [sniffles] I felt like... 915 01:16:12,448 --> 01:16:14,034 I felt like that's what I needed. 916 01:16:17,655 --> 01:16:20,896 Because, you know, and it's not about you. 917 01:16:24,793 --> 01:16:25,896 It's about Jennifer. 918 01:16:27,310 --> 01:16:28,931 Figuring out who did this to her. 919 01:16:32,206 --> 01:16:39,103 I think with Justin Crabbe and the history of that relationship, 920 01:16:39,137 --> 01:16:43,000 you have to recognize the toxicity 921 01:16:44,655 --> 01:16:47,103 or maybe she just finally had it with him 922 01:16:47,137 --> 01:16:49,379 and this time they were broken up 923 01:16:49,413 --> 01:16:52,655 and, you know, with a lot of these guys 924 01:16:52,689 --> 01:16:55,413 it gets to be, "Well, if I can't have her, nobody will." 925 01:17:00,896 --> 01:17:03,172 [Kerry] I'm getting a notification 926 01:17:03,206 --> 01:17:06,896 from the crime scene and the detectives out there that they found a shotgun 927 01:17:06,931 --> 01:17:10,103 in a duffle bag that was discarded out there. 928 01:17:10,137 --> 01:17:12,793 Around the same time, I go to the office, 929 01:17:12,827 --> 01:17:14,724 I get a notification that Justin 930 01:17:14,758 --> 01:17:18,206 was seen diving out the back window of his house, 931 01:17:18,241 --> 01:17:22,206 climbing over a wood privacy fence to the street behind his 932 01:17:22,241 --> 01:17:25,206 and jumping into a waiting cab 933 01:17:25,241 --> 01:17:27,448 and when he got in the cab, he ducked down. 934 01:17:27,482 --> 01:17:30,275 My sergeant's talking with the officers, 935 01:17:30,310 --> 01:17:32,000 he lets them know that, you know, 936 01:17:32,034 --> 01:17:34,827 they need to go ahead and stop him and detain him. 937 01:17:34,862 --> 01:17:36,482 He's brought back to the office... 938 01:17:46,310 --> 01:17:48,344 He's defeated before we even get in a room. 939 01:18:07,758 --> 01:18:09,172 [Justin speaking] 940 01:18:24,655 --> 01:18:32,275 In that interview, he was just like not engaging at all, parley with me. 941 01:18:32,310 --> 01:18:34,620 Um, he kept playing his head down on the table. 942 01:18:36,724 --> 01:18:38,586 I'd been working a long time, right? 943 01:18:38,620 --> 01:18:40,827 This was like starting at 7:00, 944 01:18:40,862 --> 01:18:43,517 or so the night before and, you know, 945 01:18:43,551 --> 01:18:46,103 and I'm just looking at somebody 946 01:18:46,137 --> 01:18:50,206 that I feel like has just wrecked a lot of lives 947 01:18:50,241 --> 01:18:55,275 and, um... I just opened the door, and I grabbed that table, 948 01:18:55,310 --> 01:18:57,103 and I pushed that table out the door. 949 01:19:09,137 --> 01:19:12,448 Now he tells a story and it's a lot different 950 01:19:12,482 --> 01:19:14,103 than what he was telling before. 951 01:19:14,137 --> 01:19:15,413 [Justin speaking] 952 01:19:19,965 --> 01:19:23,931 And that his friend has this shotgun in his hands 953 01:19:23,965 --> 01:19:25,689 and he's acting like he's Elmer Fudd 954 01:19:26,965 --> 01:19:29,310 hunting rabbits and hunting ducks in the woods. 955 01:19:40,103 --> 01:19:42,310 And now he tells a story 956 01:19:42,344 --> 01:19:47,482 that Jennifer is walking about 20 to 30 ft. in front of him 957 01:19:47,517 --> 01:19:50,241 and his friend, not paying attention to them, 958 01:19:50,275 --> 01:19:54,103 and Justin says, "I reached over his hands 959 01:19:54,137 --> 01:19:57,827 and grabbed the shotgun and said, 960 01:19:57,862 --> 01:20:00,172 'Let me have it for a minute or whatever'." 961 01:20:00,206 --> 01:20:03,413 And his words were... 962 01:20:10,655 --> 01:20:12,137 I already know that's not true 963 01:20:12,172 --> 01:20:15,275 because I've been briefed by Detective Morrill. 964 01:20:17,689 --> 01:20:21,482 [Lisa] So his story didn't match up to the crime scene. 965 01:20:23,448 --> 01:20:26,862 She was on her knees, bent over, 966 01:20:27,620 --> 01:20:32,172 one arm bent and the other, 967 01:20:32,206 --> 01:20:37,689 like the other hand kind of like in this position, like in an upward position. 968 01:20:37,724 --> 01:20:40,862 You know, she's trying to beg for her life 969 01:20:42,103 --> 01:20:45,586 by trying to reason with the shooter. 970 01:20:48,965 --> 01:20:54,413 He realized that she was directed to get on her knees 971 01:20:55,551 --> 01:20:57,241 and essentially be executed. 972 01:21:04,241 --> 01:21:07,241 We knew that we were going to arrest him at that point. 973 01:21:21,068 --> 01:21:25,379 In the end, Justin and his lawyer and the prosecution 974 01:21:25,413 --> 01:21:29,758 came to a plea agreement for 30 years or 35 years 975 01:21:29,793 --> 01:21:31,896 in the Texas Department of Corrections... 976 01:21:33,241 --> 01:21:34,068 and... 977 01:21:37,586 --> 01:21:40,896 I don't know, I just don't feel like that was enough. 978 01:21:44,103 --> 01:21:47,758 It isn't until kinda after you wrap the case up 979 01:21:48,620 --> 01:21:52,241 and you put the killer in jail 980 01:21:52,275 --> 01:21:57,689 that you sit back and can breathe a little bit. 981 01:21:58,896 --> 01:22:01,482 So I don't, I don't really feel complete 982 01:22:01,517 --> 01:22:05,103 until I know that they're actually in prison. 983 01:22:07,137 --> 01:22:09,448 [Elizabeth] These amazing detectives, 984 01:22:09,482 --> 01:22:13,724 I'm, I'm still really grateful to them 985 01:22:13,758 --> 01:22:19,413 that they're able to relate to me 986 01:22:19,448 --> 01:22:23,413 and, you know, I take them cookies down to the homicide unit 987 01:22:23,448 --> 01:22:25,413 and we sit, and we talk. 988 01:22:25,448 --> 01:22:27,310 There were a lot of little kindnesses 989 01:22:27,344 --> 01:22:30,310 along the way and that made me feel hopeful. 990 01:22:31,586 --> 01:22:34,724 They chose to do their job, but, but... but with a heart. 991 01:22:35,827 --> 01:22:40,965 [somber music playing] 992 01:22:45,931 --> 01:22:50,000 [Lisa] I look at all these girls, they were beautiful, 993 01:22:50,034 --> 01:22:54,206 they were fun-loving, they were caring, charismatic. 994 01:22:54,241 --> 01:23:01,827 And their killers took that light from these girls. 995 01:23:01,862 --> 01:23:06,724 They died before they got a chance to even know who they are. 996 01:23:08,379 --> 01:23:10,482 [Kerry] When you talk about Jenny Garcia 997 01:23:10,517 --> 01:23:13,689 and Lena Nguyen and Jennifer Crecente, 998 01:23:13,724 --> 01:23:16,551 Detective Morrill becomes a part of those stories. 999 01:23:18,482 --> 01:23:22,275 Those stories also become a part of Detective Morrill. 1000 01:23:24,275 --> 01:23:28,655 [Lisa] I don't ever believe that the families of the victims 1001 01:23:28,689 --> 01:23:31,620 ever get closure. 1002 01:23:31,655 --> 01:23:35,172 I think that they learn to deal with their loss, 1003 01:23:35,206 --> 01:23:38,103 but it's always lingering, they'll never forget. 1004 01:23:40,000 --> 01:23:42,310 It's the same thing with me. 1005 01:23:42,344 --> 01:23:45,172 I will think about these girls forever. 1006 01:23:48,172 --> 01:23:51,758 But I realized afterwards that working homicide 1007 01:23:51,793 --> 01:23:53,862 has been the most satisfying job 1008 01:23:53,896 --> 01:23:56,482 within the police department that I have ever worked. 1009 01:23:59,724 --> 01:24:02,896 And sometimes I think, "What would Bruce tell me?" 1010 01:24:02,931 --> 01:24:06,034 [wind chimes noises] 1011 01:24:06,068 --> 01:24:09,379 He would tell me, "If you wanna stay there, then[bleep] stay there." 1012 01:24:13,034 --> 01:24:15,517 You just keep going, you keep moving forward. 1013 01:24:22,241 --> 01:24:25,103 [Kerry] Just by doing this job and doing it right, 1014 01:24:26,137 --> 01:24:28,586 doing it with the heart that she has, 1015 01:24:28,620 --> 01:24:31,551 she makes other detectives around her that much better. 1016 01:24:33,379 --> 01:24:34,793 It truly is... 1017 01:24:36,758 --> 01:24:40,068 It truly is a band of brothers and sisters.