(ominous music)
- [John] Walking up to the scene.
We have a young lady’s head smashed in.
- [Narrator] A woman, found dead.
- [John] The trauma she endured must have been unimaginable.
- [Narrator] When three potential suspects
are identified, the finger pointing begins.
(suspect chuckles)
- [Narrator] But first, a serial killer on the loose
for 16 years.
- This individual is gonna strike again.
- [Narrator] Until detectives catch a break.
- We kick into panic mode
’cause that’s our one shot to interview.
- [Narrator] Investigators searching for answers.
- [Juan] How many have you killed?
I want him to know that I already know the answer.
- [Narrator] In the interrogation room.
- He grabbed his soul and like, broke it open.
(drums bangs)
(ominous music) (click ticking)
- [Narrator] Every suspect accused of a crime
has the right to remain silent.
Many agree to be interrogated anyway,
but they can stop the interview at any moment,
making it a race against time.
Justice hangs in the balance.
(ominous music)
- [John] Santa Fe street,
near the railroad tracks in East Dallas.
(ominous music)
We find a strangled Hispanic female there
who’s had her clothes torn off of her.
They swabbed her.
(ominous music)
And all of the swabs tested positive
for the presence of seminal fluids.
They were able to collect a suspect DNA.
(ominous music)
When you look at something like that,
you’re thinking that this girl has been killed
because of a sexual assault.
(ominous music)
- [Jesse] Her mother came forward
and identified the victim as her daughter, Maria Perales.
(ominous music)
(wind blowing)
We started to learn a little bit about her,
that she was very outgoing, she was adventurous, friendly.
They also added,
she had been working at a nightclub as a waitress,
as a meseta.
Here in Dallas, there are a lot of clubs
that are referred to as taxi dancer clubs, as a meseta.
Their job is to keep the clientele in the bar,
sitting down and having drinks with them,
and dance with them.
What we initially found out was that she had left
with a Latin male in his twenties.
- Medium height and medium weight. (chuckles)
That’s super vague and narrows it down to, in Dallas, Texas,
to about, I don’t know, 400,000 people.
(ominous music)
The call was on a dead body
that was found at a construction site.
(ominous music)
- [Jesse] She was hidden behind mounts of dirt
that were there.
She also was left partially nude.
(ominous music)
- [John] She was wearing her high heeled shoes still.
I can recall that.
Her back was exposed to the sun,
and it had actually burned some of her skin.
She’d had her clothes pulled off,
and then had been used as a ligature to strangle her.
(suspenseful music)
- This individual was identified as Olivia Hernandez.
(ominous music)
She was 23 years old at that time.
- She loved her children, her two daughters.
She would do anything for them.
She was a waitress working on those clubs,
and that was why she was working, because of them.
She wanted to have a better life for them.
(ominous music)
- [John] You’ve got two women.
They’re both unclothed.
They’re about the same age.
Their appearances are relatively similar.
We’re immediately suspicious, okay, this could be linked.
- The profile that I was building in my mind
was that we had a serial killer on our hands.
(suspenseful music)
- To me, it’s a waiting thing.
We’ve requested the DNA comparison,
and it’s only a matter of time before it comes back in.
(suspenseful music)
After the DNA results come in, that confirmed it.
This is the same killer.
(suspenseful music)
- [Jesse] Six months passed, a year passed,
and this individual did not strike.
Was he gonna hit again?
I felt that he would, and it was just a matter of time.
(suspenseful music)
- [John] The victim was found at a garage.
(ominous music)
She’s displayed on the hood of a car
after having been brutalized by someone.
She’s completely naked.
(ominous music)
The victim’s name was Veronica Hernandez.
(ominous music)
Again, she worked as a taxi dancer.
- There it was.
We realized that he was still out there.
We’re looking at the same individual.
There’s no doubt in our mind.
(rising, dramatic music)
(wind blowing)
(Maria speaking in Spanish)
- What I miss from my mother is feeling that touch,
that she’s next to you or around you,
or showing you that love and affection.
I think that’s what I miss.
(sirens wailing)
(suspenseful music)
- [Jesse] The media made it run like wildfire,
and an anonymous caller called in a tip
that this particular suspect that he had seen
with this third victim
was actually wearing a mechanic shirt.
And on the shirt, he had his name, "Jose,"
and sure enough there was an individual in that shop
named Jose where the body was found.
And that’s how we ended up with Jose Sifuentes on our radar.
(suspenseful music)
Once all this came to the homicide unit
and it was my responsibility to take him under my wing,
I also learned that Detective Salas spoke fluent Spanish.
- [Juan] Jose Sifuentes, he was a 21 year old.
I think I was 26, maybe 25.
I mean, we were not far off.
He said he was from Mexico.
I’m like, "Hey, I was born in Mexico."
It kind of breaks the tension.
And there’s something that connects us.
He told me this soft story that,
"Man, I wouldn’t hurt a fly. I would never kill a chicken."
He would say, "I don’t know Veronica."
And I say, "Well, you know,
people are saying that they saw you with her."
I was just saying, "Hey, tell me what happened."
It was that cat and mouse, you know, game,
see how much you know.
And I said, "You know what? I know you took her."
(suspenseful music)
He finally told me that he took her to that shop.
(suspenseful music)
He said, "She fought."
And he said, "I silenced her."
(suspenseful music)
I went and told the lead detective,
"Hey, this guy just confessed."
(suspenseful music)
(ominous music)
- [Jesse] The results came back,
and there had been a positive match done
and connected between Sifuentes, Perales,
Olivia Hernandez, and Veronica Hernandez.
- We wanna bring him in and see if he’ll talk to us
about the two prior murders.
- [Jesse] The problem was that after Sifuentes
had been jailed,
he turned around and made bond.
- At that time, the bond was set at a hundred thousand.
To me, it’s kind of low.
All you have to do is post 10%.
So his sister posted the bond.
- [John] I inappropriately assumed
I had the luxury of time.
So we go back to an investigative mode,
and we’re looking for the guy.
His sister tells us he’s fled back to Mexico.
We spent a lot of time looking for him, but not finding him.
(suspenseful music)
- [Leighton] Three dead women, all strangled.
I don’t care if they were living in Dallas,
Texas, another state, another country,
that’s a serial killer who’s free.
And so, you know, the urgency to, you know, locate,
identify, and ultimately remove the danger from the world,
it’s high.
(suspenseful music)
- [John] Then here years later,
homicide detectives think they have found this guy,
Jose Sifuentes, on Facebook.
He created a Facebook page.
It seemed implausible, but it was the truth.
- FBI and Interpol, and the folks down in Mexico City
put together a surveillance team.
He was arrested on, never forget it, April 25th, 2019.
(suspenseful music)
- [John] It’s been two decades,
and if we can put a familiar person in front of him,
he is more likely to divulge information.
- He’s being escorted by our swat team.
The first thing I say, "Hey, take all the handcuffs."
And I told him, and I wanted him to hear that,
"Take the handcuffs off."
And right there I’m trying to establish
that I don’t feel threatened by him.
- We’re excited, but you know, kind of kick into panic mode
’cause that’s our one shot to interview him.
And someone who’s killed and killed repeatedly
does not come in and confess all their sins.
So, I needed that to happen.
(ominous music)
(clock ticking)
(Juan and Juan speaking in Spanish)
- You have to gain their trust.
And one of the best ways is,
see if you can give him something.
And I gave him the picture of his wife.
(Juan speaking in Spanish)
It usually builds rapport.
(Jose speaking in Spanish)
- [Juan] "Lic", that is the short term
for licenciado in Spanish.
A licenciado, it’s somebody with a title.
So it’s like, you know, I respect you.
(Jose speaking in Spanish)
(Jose sobbing)
- The reaction to the photo of his wife was instant.
It was like from the minute he walked into the room,
Juan Salas, he reached into Sifuentes
and just grabbed his soul, and like, broke it open.
(suspenseful music)
(Jose sobbing)
(clock ticking) (door thuds)
(suspenseful music)
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
- [Juan] I am a religious person.
I believe in God.
And so we’re speaking the same language,
and that was the key,
trying to get him to tell me more about himself,
to open up more.
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
(Jose sniffs) (ominous music)
(Jose sniffs)
(Juan and Jose continue speaking in Spanish)
(Jose sobbing)
- He’s at the tipping point,
whether, should I tell him or not?
If I just push him a little bit more,
he might just tell me the number
or say, "I want a lawyer."
And at that moment, you lost your chance.
(Jose sobbing)
(suspenseful music)
- You can feel the truth.
You can almost, probably touch it.
And I am trying to convince him that,
go ahead and tell me.
(Jose and Juan speaking in Spanish)
(clock ticking)
It wasn’t a question, it was more an affirmation.
How many have you killed?
I want him to know that I already know the answer.
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
(dramatic music)
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
- I remember then, I’m getting goosebumps right now,
thinking about, you work on something that long,
and to have it culminate in that way
is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
(suspenseful music)
- [Juan] He confessed to it.
This is how he did it.
But I’m trying to find a motive.
(ominous music)
(clock ticking)
(Juan and Jose speaking in Spanish)
- [Juan] Jose Sifuentes, he killed three people
and he confessed to it.
That’s the icing on the cake,
because I knew that he was facing
minimum three life sentences.
He is not coming out.
- [Leighton] I do not believe he would’ve confessed
to anybody else.
There was just such a deep spiritual connection
between these two men,
and we got exactly what we needed.
(gentle music)
(pensive music)
Veronica Hernandez daughter gets on the stand
and looks at him, and her eyes kind of explode.
And she points at him and she says,
"I remember you, you were at my mother’s funeral."
(Maria speaking in Spanish)
(suspenseful music) (camera shuttering)
- [John] When you’re a homicide detective,
you don’t get to choose your victims.
Your suspect does that for you.
I’m gonna see to it that she matters, that we all matter.
And good homicide detectives, you don’t quit.
(gentle music)
- [Jesse] Sometimes as a detective,
you carry with you some of these cases,
because you weren’t able to bring closure to them
and bring peace and tranquility to the family.
(gentle music)
After 20 years,
the justice was finally gonna be served.
- [Julie] I miss her smile.
I always think about how my life were to be different with her,
and I think it would’ve been different.
A good different. (chuckles)
(Julie sniffles)
(suspenseful music) (clock clicking)
- Two hikers at South Fork Park in the Acme Valley
located a female deceased in the middle of the road.
(suspenseful music)
There was blood everywhere around her person.
(suspenseful music)
The trauma she endured during this event
must have been unimaginable.
(suspenseful music)
- There was one set of tracks
that basically led right over her.
It looked like her head had been run over.
(suspenseful music)
- [Ken] Between 11:00 the day before
to 4:00 the morning of April 4th,
there was zero vehicles that came through there.
Then around 6:00 AM,
we had two vehicles that came into the park,
but we didn’t really know what we had.
Why was this victim here?
Who is this person?
(suspenseful music)
- We have a young lady’s head smashed in,
(suspenseful music)
and we also noticed that she had two marks
consistent with taser probes on her chest area.
And the victim was missing her purse,
so we couldn’t identify her.
(suspenseful music)
(gentle music)
- [Dalrene] Darian was a firecracker.
She came out ready for the world.
(gentle music)
- Didn’t matter who you were.
She’d warm her way into your heart.
Loved kids, loved animals,
and she loved her Papa. (chuckles)
(gentle music)
- [Dalrene] She was a very, very protective sister,
even, I mean, she would always be wrapping her arms
around her little brother.
(gentle music)
So I watched a very strong bond with them.
- We battled like any other siblings would battle,
but there was a lot of love in our relationship too.
When she was in high school,
she probably started going down the wrong path.
My sister got sober, and I felt like I was finally building
that relationship back with her.
- She had been clean,
and she was really trying to put her life together,
and she was living with her grandparents.
(suspenseful music)
The night she died,
her grandpa was still awake at 3:00 in the morning.
(suspenseful music)
Darian left and walked out to the end of the driveway,
and then she was picked up.
They don’t know by who.
And that’s the last time that they saw or heard from Darian.
(suspenseful music)
- [Ken] Not minutes later,
the confidential informant informed us
that she had spoken directly to a man named Brent Gerber,
a drug dealer from Whatcom County.
The whole reason they were going to that place
was for a drug deal, to purchase methamphetamines.
(suspenseful music)
(indistinct conversation) (click ticking)
- [Ken] We took a non-confrontational approach.
He was real meek and mild and cooperative,
and he wanted to talk to us.
- [Erik] The theory that the medical examiner had
was that she was hit by the passenger rear tire.
We were convinced that Brent was responsible at that point,
and knew full well that he’d driven over her.
- [Erik] Brent gave the name Payton,
and I recalled a man named Payton Mulryan
from my time when I was in a local drug task force.
We definitely were going to look for Payton Mulryan,
and pick him up.
(ominous music) (clock ticking)
- We know there’s more to the story.
That’s the information we want.
(intense music)
- [Reporter] This morning, homicide detectives
say they’ve arrested the driver
suspected of hitting and killing a woman
in Whatcom County over the weekend.
They’re now working on finding a second man.
(suspenseful music)
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
(tense music)
- [Courtney] So Darian’s brother, Eli,
told me that he was able to log into Darian’s various accounts
and Facebook account in particular,
and he discovered a whole series of messages
from the morning when Darian died.
- [Eli] I sat there and read through all those messages,
and then I got down to Payton Mulryan’s.
I read step by step every last thing my sister did
before she got killed.
I read the meetup.
I read everything saying that he was in a car
waiting right next to her at the park.
I read it all.
She met Payton Mulryan over social media that year.
I think Payton knew that she was in a vulnerable state,
and she trusted him.
So it wasn’t like she was expecting
to get robbed that night.
- [Courtney] Based off all the information,
we knew she was contacting Payton to arrange a drug deal.
And their intent was to rob Darian
and that she would just go away minus $250,
but she fought back and they killed her.
So at that point we still weren’t 100% sure
who the third suspect was in the back seat with the taser,
but the investigation really pivoted
towards trying to find Payton Mulryan.
(suspenseful music)
While searching for Payton and his location,
some leads came in about him
being at this particular gas station on Saturday morning.
We found video surveillance of the white pickup,
that there was three males in it.
Based off tattoos and the physical description
and comparing it to previous booking photos from our jail,
we were able to positively identify him.
The third suspect is Tyler O’Keefe.
(suspenseful music)
(car wooshing)
(siren wailing)
- [Erik] Tyler was arrested on a traffic stop,
and he agreed to give a statement.
Tyler has more of a stable home life.
He has a girlfriend, he has a child,
so we went in there with a little more leverage.
We felt that he had more to lose.
(suspenseful music)
(Tyler sobs)
(ominous music)
(suspenseful music)
- [Tyler] I wanted nothing to do with that.
- [Erik] It was pretty clear that Tyler just needed something
to give him a little assurance that we trusted him
and we didn’t think he was necessarily a bad guy.
(clock ticking)
(Tyler sniffs)
(Tyler inhales deeply)
(drum bangs)
(Tyler sobbing)
(suspenseful music)
(Tyler sobbing)
(suspenseful music)
(clock ticking)
(suspenseful music)
- [Erik] The prosecutor’s office
just felt that we would not have a successful outcome
with a murder, one trial,
and there was a strong possibility
that a jury would not have found them guilty.
So ultimately, the pleas then settled on manslaughter,
first degree.
Payton Mulryan received 13 years.
Brent Gerber and Tyler O’Keefe both received nine years.
I don’t believe the time was just
on men that will be out before they’re 40 years old.
- [Ken] Everybody blamed each other.
Nobody took full responsibility for the death of Darian Sader.
- I think Darian’s free,
and I believe that Darian’s in a much better place,
and she was our little sunshine.
And although we may not have her here,
we can carry out her name.
So she was a light to this world,
and it was just snuffed out a little bit soon,
sooner than we wanted.
(pensive music)