[atmospheric music]
- In the early '90s, lamar jeffcoat built
Quite a empire of adult entertainment establishments.
[upbeat percussive music]
- Goldrush was definitely the best club.
There'd be fifty girls in there, dancing.
- It was a fun place to go.
It was safe to go.
Lamar was a pioneer.
Naturally, people saw the amount
Of money being made.
[dramatic musical sting]
And they were gonna take it,
One way or another.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[dramatic music]
- We had robberies all over the city of atlanta.
- Robberies that have to do with cash industry,
You think organized crime.
[gunshot]
- And the next thing I know, they said,
"lamar got killed last night."
It was crazy. - We all felt
There had to be a connection between the two events,
The robbery the year before and the homicide.
- Who are our suspects?
She identified both of them as police officers.
- People were killed,
Careers were destroyed,
Families were destroyed.
This is what happens when officers do the wrong thing
For the wrong reasons.
♪ ♪
[sirens wailing]
[upbeat percussive music]
♪ ♪
- In the early '90s, the city of atlanta is emerging
As a place for the world to keep its eye on.
- In 1994, atlanta was still a bustling city.
We were trying to figure out how to come into our own
As the international city we wanted to be.
- A lot of the young industry
From all over the united states,
Atlanta was one of the state hubs,
Which was growing very quickly at that time.
You have money coming in, businesses move in,
And there's opportunity for owners of businesses.
♪ ♪
- The community's entrepreneurial spirit
Helps nourish trending businesses,
And one thriving industry is quickly helping hotlanta
Earn its salacious nickname:
Strip clubs.
- Atlanta back then was the mecca, party capital
Of the country.
The big fad was "let's go to the strip club,"
From the top athletes to the top actors.
You had all the up-and-coming rappers,
You know, and everybody wanted to be in a strip club,
Filming a video and throwing cash out there.
- There were three or four different strip clubs
On stewart avenue, and goldrush was at the top.
- The goldrush was definitely the biggest, best club
On the south side of town.
It's two exits down
From the busiest airport in the world,
And the place stayed packed.
- But on February 10, 1993,
An unthinkable crime strikes
One of the town's most popular and most provocative clubs.
- The clayton county police department received
Several 911 calls about shots being fired
In a residential area within the city of morrow.
Morrow's a bedroom community,
But a really nice, nice community.
Morrow's a small city in clayton county.
The houses tend to be close together, smaller homes,
But this was one of the larger homes in the community.
[siren wails]
- When the call went out,
My partner and I was working in that area.
The dispatcher advised that there was shots
In the area, burglar alarm goin' off.
Upon our arrival, my partner and I walk up on foot
Instead of pulling directly up to the house.
And as we come down the driveway,
You could see the gun smoke in the air
Coming out of the garage area.
And then in the driveway there was blood,
Like a smearing of blood.
- They could still smell the gunpowder in the air,
And they noticed that the blood was still wet,
So they knew it was very, very recent,
So they could tell that this had just happened,
Whatever it was.
- It's one of those calls
That you already know that shots are fired,
So you already have your weapon drawn,
And you're expecting the unexpected.
And then, when you see the gun smoke and the blood
That is already in the driveway,
Now your senses are super heightened.
Your adrenaline is already pumping.
- Then they found the door that led into the garage,
One of the panels kicked out.
- At that point, they investigated further,
Were able to shine lights into the garage,
And saw a car in there
With what appeared to be blood pooled up
On the concrete floor next to the car.
- Police enter the garage
And slowly approach a parked cadillac,
Where they see someone inside.
- There was a white male, a single white male.
He had numerous gunshot wounds in his back
And in the torso area.
He was not responsive.
- They confirmed no pulse,
And at that point, they entered the home,
Looking for other victims.
Officers confirmed that he was the only victim
In the home.
- He was shot as he was sitting in the driver's seat.
The window of his vehicle was partially up.
He had never gotten out of his vehicle.
- He had a glock pistol in his hand.
- And he was turned around in the vehicle
As if he was shooting at someone from behind him,
So it gave that appearance that there was an ambush
That took place.
[dark music]
[indistinct radio chatter]
- Once the medical examiner responded
To the scene and he authorized the release of the body,
We were able to check for id
And confirmed, based on his wallet,
That it was lamar jeffcoat.
It was his home, and the car was registered to him.
- 50-year-old lamar jeffcoat is the owner
Of the renowned atlanta strip club goldrush showbar.
And now investigators are trying to piece together
What happened to the popular club owner.
- They were able to lift prints throughout the garage.
However, they were not able to find prints
That belonged to anyone except for lamar jeffcoat
And his family, everyone that had legal right
To be inside of that home.
At this point, dna was not something
We were even considering.
- As the team searches for ballistics evidence,
Investigators discover a critical clue.
- We called in the gbi
To collect the shell casings
In order to do ballistics.
- There were multiple shell casings
Inside of the vehicle and outside of the vehicle,
Which indicated more than one shooter.
- The casings inside the car matched
Lamar's 9-millimeter glock,
And the casings outside the vehicle all came
From a different kind of 9-millimeter pistol.
It appears as if this ambush turned into a shootout
Between lamar and his attacker.
- It was clear that one person had walked up
To the driver's side of mr. Jeffcoat's car,
And someone else had been standing
At the right rear corner of mr. Jeffcoat's vehicle,
And that a number of rounds had been fired
Into the vehicle from that position.
- When police examined the blood at the scene,
They realized lamar was not the only person
Who'd been shot.
- We were able to tell that the blood pool outside
Of the car was not lamar jeffcoat's.
He was shot numerous times through the back seat
Of his car.
There was lots of blood there, no doubt,
But that was not the blood
That was strewn through the garage.
This was cranial blood,
Thicker than normal blood.
It looked like it was from a head wound.
- There was a significant loss of blood,
And the trail of blood was prominent.
Whoever had been shot and so grievously injured,
As this blood suggested,
Had been able to get away from the scene,
So that led us to believe there were at least two people
That came into that garage.
- Investigators now believe
They are looking for two killers.
But did they both survive?
- Based on the amount of blood and the fact
That it looked like it was from a head wound,
We believed that that person was probably dead.
- Csi gathers the blood for analysis
While detectives follow the killers' trail
To find them and determine their fate.
- There was a wooded lot as you faced the house,
Just to the right.
It was completely dark.
It was not a lighted street.
It was not a lighted area.
They went into the wooded area,
Looking for whoever was at the end of this blood trail.
[tense music]
- Other units was arriving to the home,
So my partner and I began
To immediately follow the blood trail
And the location of the blood coming out from the leaves
That was on the ground.
We were utilizing our flashlights intermittently,
Not to give away your location.
It got darker and darker
As you proceeded through to the woodline.
Somebody could be laying in wait and waiting on you.
You are very conscious about being ambushed
Because you don't know what you've just walked into.
- The sheriff's department fugitive unit,
That's what they did.
Their job was to search for people.
They have a different mentality.
They're fearless when it comes to going looking for someone.
- I was expecting to find a body
Laying into the woodline, but we kind of spread out
And was following the blood trail.
We lost the trail.
But in the distance,
We could hear a car start screeching its tires.
But that was up the embankment.
- Officers immediately sprint
Towards the suspicious vehicle.
- So now we're in a different mode.
You can't run away from this.
I'm not stopping until I got you in handcuffs.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Lamar believed he was a target
And had become paranoid.
- He was kidnapped,
Held at gunpoint at his home.
- He didn't want really people knowing about it,
'cause it's embarrassing.
He wished he could get vengeance on it.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- Atlanta strip club owner lamar jeffcoat was found
Shot dead in his garage,
And investigators have discovered
A trail of blood they believe belongs to one of the killers.
As they follow the trail through the nearby woods,
They hear what sounds like a vehicle speeding away.
- And I was trying to make it up the embankment
Through the woodline,
But that vehicle was leaving the scene.
- It was unfortunate, but they were able
To make a getaway.
- Although we heard the car screeching off,
We still continued to look in the woodland.
We put it out on the radio, "be advised there's
"an unidentified vehicle fleeing the immediate area
Of this location."
Then my partner and I, we began
To start circling the neighborhood
And looking for anything unusual.
- While officers frantically searched
For the getaway vehicle,
Detectives question lamar's neighbors
Who called 911.
- The callers reported hearing multiple gunshots
And then a gap and then more gunshots.
- Two different neighbors were talked to.
One of them actually said that he heard the gunshots.
He came outside to see what was going on.
He heard what sounded like people in the woods adjacent
To lamar jeffcoat's home.
They was a wooded lot as you faced the house,
Just to the right.
He saw a car come up.
The people in the woods hollered at the car.
There were two people that exited the woods,
Got into the car, and then the car sped away.
- The neighbors did not see the vehicle,
Could not describe it.
We knew from that that we had probably
At least three people involved and maybe more.
We had no idea who else may have been in a vehicle.
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
- With no clear description
Of the vehicle or the suspects,
The team decides to focus on a compelling clue:
The assailant's gunshot wound.
- I didn't think there was any way he could have survived
Based on the amount of blood,
So we were waiting on the body
To either turn up, be discovered,
Be dumped somewhere.
- They looked around area hospitals or area morgues
Or area emergency rooms to see if somebody had presented
With that kind of wound
That would have required emergency care.
- There was one gentleman who had gone to a hospital.
Obviously, you hope that's a lead
That might pan out very quickly for you.
But in this case it did not.
This was unrelated to our case.
Beyond that, we had no reports
Of anyone going to a local hospital
To be treated for a gunshot wound.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Two hours into the investigation,
Lamar's wife and son arrive on scene,
Desperate for answers.
- Dispatch has a computer,
And so they're able to pull up all the information
About who lives there.
And so, when they were contacted from dispatch,
Mrs. Jeffcoat and her son, dean,
They responded to the scene.
Lamar's wife had been babysitting her grandchildren.
We have to make death notification,
Trying as best you can to comfort the family,
Because there's nothing worse than being notified
That your close family member has just passed,
Especially in this type of situation.
At the same time, we have to gather information
From them.
- Detectives asked the jeffcoat family
To give them more information about the deceased husband
And father.
- He was married to his childhood sweetheart
For a number of years, had a family,
And had tried a number of businesses,
And had some success, some failure.
- Lamar jeffcoat did not start out
In the adult entertainment industry.
He started out in seafood distribution.
Partway through his career, someone had actually suggested
To him that he purchase the goldrush,
And it was already an established business
When he bought it.
[rhythmic percussive music]
- For somebody, you know, that really didn't have
The background, lamar was very innovative.
Lamar was a pioneer in bringing in centerfolds
And developing within circuits bookings,
What we refer to as "features."
Goldrush had the reputation of being one
Of the higher-class establishments.
It attracted more money, a more elite clientele.
Goldrush was one of the places that they wanted to see.
- Lamar took that club
And made it very successful on the south side.
His staff talked very highly of him.
All the girls loved him.
Very fair but firm kind of guy,
Always out there talking to customers,
And he basically found the recipe
For a successful club.
- The success with the goldrush,
Along with the money being made,
Put him on a road that he enjoyed.
He loved what he did.
- His door was always open.
He always would listen to you,
Whether it's personal or business.
Just an all-around nice fella from what I saw.
It's a sad day when a husband, a father,
Get taken away from you that just wanted
To make a nice living for the family,
And a nice living for all those employees, too,
That worked for him, and all the people
That were loyal to him.
- Detectives ask lamar's family,
Still reeling from their loss,
To help them piece together a timeline for that evening.
- Mr. Jeffcoat left the goldrush club
On February 10th, so he was on the phone with his wife.
- Lamar stayed on the phone
With family members as he was pulling
Into the neighborhood at midnight
So that they would know he was safe.
- When he arrived home,
He'd ended the conversation
Just prior to going into the garage
To park the vehicle, so she was not aware
That anything had happened to him
Once the phone conversation ended.
- Lamar's family then reveals the recent events
That explain their concerns for his safety
And could be a prelude to his murder.
- We learned that about a year prior to the homicide,
He'd been victimized twice before.
There was a robbery at the club
Where the club had physically been broken into,
But no one is present,
And before that, he was kidnapped,
Held at gunpoint at his home.
[tense music]
- Lamar, I hate to say, was really distressed by that.
He didn't want really people knowing about it,
'cause it's embarrassing.
He told me they kind of stripped him
And hogtied him and held a gun on him
To open up the safe and empty it out.
- Lamar believed he was a target
And had become paranoid.
We learned he had started taking several steps
For his own security.
He was starting to carry a glock pistol.
When he turned on to his street,
He actually pulled the gun out,
Held it in his lap.
- By the look on his face,
I could see he wished
He could get vengeance on it.
But you never think, "oh, it's gonna happen again."
You know?
- According to his family,
He had become fearful
Because of having been victimized so often.
And, I mean, that explained why he was carrying a weapon.
- This new information changes the course
Of the investigation.
- We're beginning to, okay, make the connection
Between the prior robbery and the homicide,
And we felt it could have been the same people involved.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- Detectives have just learned
That atlanta strip club owner lamar jeffcoat
Had been a victim of two armed robberies
Before he was ultimately gunned down in his garage.
They must now ask, "is it possible
That all of these crimes are related?"
- Several of the things that we were able
To get from interviewing mrs. Jeffcoat and dean
Was the fact that after the previous robbery,
He had become very paranoid.
It had gotten to the point that he was carrying a pistol.
- As we began the investigation
Into the homicide, we all felt there had
To be a connection between the two events,
The robbery the year before and the homicide.
- We're still gathering information,
But at the same time,
We have to be empathetic
To the surviving family members.
I never make promises I can't keep.
So the promises I make are: I'm gonna do my best
To find out who did this.
That's a promise I will always be able to keep.
- Detectives leave the scene and pull the case file
On the robbery that occurred in lamar's home.
- About a year before mr. Jeffcoat was murdered,
He was kidnapped, held at gunpoint at his home,
And he was forced to open a safe.
At the time, he, of course, reported this to the police.
He claimed that about $70,000 had been taken.
- Unfortunately, lamar was unable
To provide police with any description
Of his attackers.
- As far as suspects, they had nothing,
And the case just eventually closed.
- After looking into the home invasion case,
Detectives dig into the other crime
That preceded lamar's murder:
The robbery at the strip club.
So they decide to talk to lamar's inner circle
Of employees.
- We interviewed employees there
As well as some of the girls that worked there,
And they all spoke very highly of mr. Jeffcoat.
We asked about the robbery that occurred at the club,
But they didn't have enough particular information
About that, except that it occurred
Very early in the morning
During a time when no one is present.
- Police also ask the employees
Who they believe may have robbed or killed lamar.
- We interviewed the manager, mr. Donnie kirkland.
We asked him if he had any ideas,
And he had no information about who might have
Been targeting mr. Jeffcoat.
The interviews at the club gave us a sense
Of mr. Jeffcoat, but did not help us much
In the investigation.
- While the previous robberies don't offer
Any immediate leads into lamar's murder,
Detectives decide to take a closer look
At the motives behind them.
- If it's a robbery, who are our suspects?
A competitor maybe?
- There were three or four different strip clubs
On stewart avenue, and there was competition
Amongst the owners of these clubs.
The competition was more or less common knowledge
In the police world.
Even though we didn't police the area,
A lot of our cases went there,
And a lot of the people involved in our cases,
So were were always kind of hearing information.
- And the team learns there is a history of antagonism
Between lamar and his fellow club owners.
- One of the things that led lamar to be more paranoid
Was the fact that he got information
That people were coming into his establishment
As spies to steal ideas for other businesses.
He, in fact, answered that
With sending other spies into the other establishments.
- It's always a threat for people to steal your model,
Just like any other business.
If you're a successful model,
People are gonna copy ya.
- If one club is doing well
And drawing the majority of the clientele,
Then the other clubs are suffering,
Because, again, there was a degree
Of quality in these clubs.
- The goldrush was definitely the best club.
There'd be fifty girls in there, dancing.
That place would stay packed.
[dark music]
- Knowing about the intense rivalry
Between club owners,
Detectives approach them in search of answers.
- Most of the owners and managers know each other,
So you reach out to the owners of the other clubs,
Just on the chance that they may have heard
Something on the street, they heard scuttlebutt,
Or somebody had come in and run their mouth.
We didn't get any leads
On the jeffcoat homicide.
But we learned that there had been some burglaries
At some of the strip clubs.
- They actually let us know that several
Of the other adult entertainment establishments
On stewart avenue had been victimized
At the same time as well.
The other owners of businesses up and down stewart avenue
Became a little paranoid themselves.
- Is it possible that a ring of criminals is preying
On the strip clubs of atlanta?
- If I was in that industry, yes,
I would feel, one guy's been targeted, murdered.
Yeah, uh, I need to be a little more careful
Because there may be more.
♪ ♪
- Robberies that have to do with cash industry,
You think organized crime, so at that point,
We got excited and said, "maybe we have
"some other information on these other robberies
That will help us solve ours."
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
We were to the point where we were close
To the end of obvious suspects.
- One of the owners of one of the gyms said
She actually overheard them discussing the planning
Of the robbery.
- And she had put two and two together
And thinks that they were talking about
Robbing lamar jeffcoat.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- Detectives investigating the murder
Of strip club owner lamar jeffcoat
Have just discovered that lamar's murder
May be part of a string of crimes
That has plagued atlanta clubs over the past several months.
- Being a owner, we were all kind of paranoid
And pretty much on high alert for our own particular bars
And establishments.
Everybody made sure they were ready to defend themselves
If they had to.
- Investigators reach out to other jurisdictions
To dig for more information
On the numerous thefts in the last two years.
- During the investigation, we're working very closely
With the atlanta police department.
We start looking into similar crimes,
Especially in the area of stewart avenue.
- Incidents had occurred in my business,
And foxx's, they got robbed.
Oasis had just opened up, and they robbed them,
So they definitely had a pattern.
- These places typically stay open till 4:00 back then,
So the burglaries would've occurred
Very early in the morning, and there was no confrontation
With anyone on the premises.
- They were breaking in and stealing the entire safe.
They'd take the safe and go.
[foreboding music]
- It definitely heightened our awareness
Of what a target we are,
Because back then, it was 70% cash, you know?
And people knew that.
- Detectives are well aware
That crime had plagued the strip
Long before the clubs started getting robbed.
- Stewart avenue had a terrible reputation.
It was just a place where you had to be careful.
It was overrun with street prostitution,
Drugs.
Anything goes on stewart avenue.
- Most crimes center around either money or sex,
And so, in that area, we have both involved there.
The more cash, the more attractive it is
For people to come into the area
To try to get that cash without actually working for it.
- The people who come to the strip clubs
Have cash on them, so you got the patrons,
Who are targets.
- In an attempt to keep their club safe
And prevent their customers from being robbed,
Owners began pulling from the same surprising pool
Of enforcers.
- Most of the security guards
In that area were law enforcement
Who were able to do that as a part-time job.
- They wanted law enforcement officers
To be there to kind of be that barrier, that guard,
To make sure that the patrons could get in, could get out,
They could get their cash to the bank safely.
- When they first robbed the bar,
Lamar did upgrade the security
And had police officers working there.
It was a sign of the times.
- It was always good to have a badge at the front door.
It definitely makes people think twice,
And you seem to trust those kind of people a lot more
Than you would trust a civilian.
- But the owners tell investigators
That even with off-duty cops working security,
The club robberies have surprisingly increased
Over the past two years.
- We had a law enforcement officer
At the front door, but there were a lot
Of robberies goin' on all over the city of atlanta,
And we had no idea who was doin' it.
- And now that lamar jeffcoat has been killed,
Investigators need to determine
If these thieves have suddenly elevated
Their methods to include murder.
- At this point, we're trying to tie in any other robberies
To lamar's murder,
But we were unable to make any connections.
Approximately a week into this investigation,
We were running out of people to interview.
We looked at the victim and then go out
In bigger and bigger circles, working away from the victim,
And we were to the point where we were close to the end
Of obvious suspects.
- Despite the dead ends,
Investigators promise lamar's devastated family
That they will continue to seek answers
By reaching out to the public for help.
- So at that point, you reach out to the media
And ask the media to put out a blast
Asking for help, any leads, tips,
Hoping that someone would have overheard something
Or seen something and give us a call.
Again, it's showing the family that you care
And that you're gonna do everything you can to bring
Those who did this to justice.
- Me and a lot of the girls have already planned
To help put signs up on the south side
If we can to all the bars.
I mean, we're gonna do the best we can to help this club out
To find out who did it.
We're determined. We won't give up.
[tense music]
- Press releases were made, but we really didn't even
Have time to sort of get frustrated
With the fact that this case wasn't progressing
Because it subsequently did open up rather quickly.
- The media blast pays off.
One week later, police get a call
From an unexpected location.
- Tami hurst was an employee at gold's gym,
And she was relaying
That she overheard a conversation
Between two gentlemen,
Where they were actually talking
About robbing someone.
And she had, since the case happened,
Put two and two together and thinks
That they were talking about robbing lamar jeffcoat,
And she relayed us that information.
- Detectives are thrilled to finally get a lead.
But what they hear next turns the entire investigation
On its head.
- She was very concerned that the two people
In this conversation discussing the robbery
Were mark mckenna and jim batsel.
She identified both of them as police officers.
♪ ♪
- You feel a sense of disgust, betrayal.
If these were cops that were ready to take another life,
You know, it doesn't get any worse than that.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- One week after the murder
Of atlanta strip club owner lamar jeffcoat,
Clayton county detectives receive a tip
From a woman who claims the men allegedly behind
The robbery and shooting are police officers mark mckenna
And james batsel.
- One of the owners of one of the gyms
Where these officers were working out
Said she actually overheard them discussing
The planning of the robbery.
- It's a huge lead for investigators,
But also a bold accusation
Against their fellow law enforcement officers.
- It's a terrible thing to have to question your faith
In fellow police officers.
And you can't simply act on one person's statement.
You seek corroboration for every element.
- But this was only one of the phone calls that we got,
So we need to look at this.
- Batsel and mckenna were uniformed officers,
So we got feedback from guys on the road.
♪ ♪
- I knew batsel personally. I knew mckenna.
And I knew that they were officers
At the city of riverdale.
Mckenna was a very soft-spoken person.
You'd never know he's in the room.
Batsel was the opposite.
He was one of those persons that he come in the door,
All eyes is on him.
- You wonder, "are they part of this?"
So we contact riverdale.
This is a situation now where you have to be careful
What kind of information you release
Because you don't know whether you're talking
To someone else who was involved in this.
So that makes it more interesting,
Where you have to start editing what you say.
- To avoid suspicion,
Detectives decide to reach out
To only one of the two suspects.
They plan to target the officer
Who's more vulnerable.
- We knew that the person who had been shot
Outside of the car had been drug away from the scene.
We were going to be able to identify the cover person
On the back of the car, so we were very surprised
When we found out that mckenna has not been to work
In a while, has been sick, since lamar's murder.
- Batsel shows up at work,
And he's coming to work every day,
But mckenna is not.
Mckenna hadn't come back
To work since the shooting.
There was a suspicion that they were involved
In conducting these crimes, but it was just speculation.
- We were able to get mckenna's address,
And we made an effort to reach him at his home,
And he was not there.
We subsequently learned
From the riverdale police department
Mark mckenna was with his wife
At his in-laws' home.
A telephone call was made.
We reached him, and he agreed to make a statement.
♪ ♪
- Mckenna agrees to meet investigators
At the station, and when he arrives,
They are shocked by his appearance.
♪ ♪
- His ear was bandaged, but his face was not,
And he clearly had a bullet hole.
The bullet hole was very--
It was obvious.
♪ ♪
But we sat down and asked him what had happened,
And mckenna, I think at that point, was like,
"yeah, I'm ready to-- I'm ready to give it up."
- Mark mckenna actually admitted his part
In the robbery and murder of lamar jeffcoat.
We learned he had been the one that was shot in the garage,
Which surprised me,
Because the fact that I was thinking
That person died somewhere
And we were waiting to find his body.
- It was a miracle shot that mr. Jeffcoat got off.
I say "miracle" in the fact that it traveled as it did,
Under mckenna's cheekbone and out his ear.
If that round had struck his cheekbone,
He would've been dead.
- Mckenna begins by telling detectives
Who all was involved on the night of the murder.
- Mark mckenna said that himself and jim batsel,
Along with chris grantham, had set up this robbery.
Christopher grantham. He was a bouncer
Who was actually working at the goldrush,
As well as fulton county deputy, deputy "monclaire."
- Officer mark mckenna finally reveals to investigators
The blow-by-blow of what happened
The night lamar jeffcoat was murdered.
- Fulton county deputy "monclaire,"
He was on scene at the goldrush
And sent a page to mark mckenna
To let him know that lamar jeffcoat
Had just left the business.
Mckenna and batsel were going to hide
On the sides of jeffcoat's garage.
As he drove in, they both rolled into the garage.
[suspenseful music]
- We learned, from the interviews we did
With mckenna, mckenna went
To lamar jeffcoat's driver's door
With a hammer in his hand,
Prepared to break the window...
♪ ♪
Having no idea that lamar jeffcoat had a gun.
[gunshots] - so batsel was
The cover officer who had actually shot lamar jeffcoat
From the right rear quarter panel of the car.
It made the crime scene make more sense
Because that's a two-police-officer pullover.
You got a police officer who's a contact officer.
Police officer, right rear quarter panel.
And so there is some betrayal,
But at that point, I can't get tied up in that.
What I'm worried about at this point
Is trying to get the truth.
- According to mckenna,
After the shooting in the garage,
Where he was wounded,
Batsel got him out of the garage
And took him to chris grantham,
Who was the getaway driver in the car.
[tires squealing]
Once they left the scene, again, according to mckenna,
Batsel and grantham took him back to grantham's apartment
So they could begin to try to treat this wound.
- Batsel had a former military career.
He was a medic in the military.
You could really see that he was applying everything
That he had learned along the way
Into everything that transpired
At that crime scene.
- Detectives then ask mckenna
If lamar's murder was related
To any of the strip club robberies.
- Mark mckenna revealed to us that, yes,
The robberies and the homicide were all done
By people involved in the same group
Or the same crew.
We learned through mr. Mckenna
Of burglaries that were committed
At the strip clubs.
In addition to that, there was a robbery
Of a home depot store.
- When investigators ask if mckenna, batsel, grantham,
And moclaire were the only four involved
In the string of robberies,
Mckenna drops a bombshell.
- The robberies had much bigger ramifications
And involved a network of police officers.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Detectives investigating the murder
Of lamar jeffcoat and the string of robberies
At atlanta strip clubs have just learned
That the crime ring was run
By a large group of police officers.
- It became personal at that point
Because the fact that these people were supposed
To be doing the same things that I was hired to do,
And they weren't.
Upon interviewing mark mckenna,
We found out that they were, in fact, part of a group
Of law enforcement in the atlanta area
Who were tied into several crimes
In the area.
We were able to identify officers
From riverdale police department,
Clayton county police department,
Atlanta police department,
Fulton county sheriff's department,
As well as civilians.
- They end up violently accosting people.
And the net result is, from what we can tell,
They were responsible for 18 robberies.
♪ ♪
- In total, nine men are arrested
In the robbery ring.
Among them are the suspects being accused
Of lamar's murder,
Who were given additional charges.
- Four people were arrested and charged
With the murder of lamar jeffcoat,
And that would be mark mckenna,
Jim batsel,
Chris grantham,
And the deputy sheriff moclaire.
- It was all over the news, rampant.
It was the makings of a movie, you know,
That the police had turned bad and they watched too much tv.
It was just crazy.
- I'm sure the family resents it.
The dynamics of the whole thing was--
The shocking part was, it was a group
Of law enforcement officers pulling this off.
It was really a kick in the head.
You can't trust everybody, including police officers.
- Batsel and mckenna agree to work with the prosecution
In exchange for taking the death penalty
Off the table.
They lay out exactly how the robbery ring operated.
- What we learned from mckenna and then batsel
Was that they were involved in some of the other robberies
And burglaries that this group had done.
- Based on the information that we had
From interviewing both mark mckenna
And jim batsel,
We had recovered several safes
That had been opened.
- They drained this lake,
And there was all these safes in the bottom of this lake.
♪ ♪
So that's where they've been throwing all the empty safes
Over time.
These guys were very well organized.
- As prosecutors build their case
For this massive criminal conspiracy,
The evidence they accumulate is overwhelming.
- There were no trials because everybody we arrested
Agreed to cooperate, took a plea.
There were a couple of burglaries
In clayton county, and that was all wrapped up.
They pled to everything in one go.
- All nine men,
Including five police officers,
Are convicted for their parts
In the robbery ring.
- Officers who were working extra jobs
At strip clubs, primarily, were involved in this,
So we stopped it.
We said, "no more will you work extra jobs
At strip clubs."
People were killed, careers were destroyed,
And families were destroyed.
- With the robbery ring shut down,
Prosecutors now focus their energy
On the four men responsible
For the murder of lamar jeffcoat.
- Mckenna, grantham, and batsel, all three pled.
The fact that they all pled
Let me know that we did a very good job
Putting this case together,
And there was no way for them to attack it.
- Jim batsel, mark mckenna,
And christopher grantham are sentenced to life in prison
Without parole.
William moclaire receives 25 years
For sending the page that ultimately ended the life
Of family- and businessman lamar jeffcoat.
[somber music]
- The industry lost someone,
In my opinion, who was a little bit of an icon.
Back then, your friends in the industry
Were very limited, so it was disappointing
That he passed away.
- When a group of bad cops steps outside the badge
And does, you know, things like this, yeah,
It's a stain on the entire police community.
You know? And that's tough.
I mean, it's tough because you gotta go there
The next day and face the public,
And they're reading the papers and watching tv
And saying, "hey, wait a minute."
You know, "are you one of these guys?
How do I know to trust you?"
♪ ♪
- The fact that 30 years later,
We're still talking about this case
Says that it has staying power.
It will always be an example
Of what happens when officers do the wrong thing
For the wrong reasons.
- Lamar was always there for everybody,
And treated everybody very well.
It's a sad day when your life gets taken
By somebody else's greed.
♪ ♪