(ominous music)
- [narrator] three family members shot in cold blood.
- This just doesn't happen here.
- [narrator] the only eye witness fighting for her life.
- The likelihood of her dying
Was much greater than the likelihood of her surviving.
- [narrator] evidence leads to a potential killer.
- [narrator] investigators searching for answers.
- [narrator] in the interrogation room.
(dramatic music) (clock 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.
- Alec kruger had called 911
And reported that there had been an intruder
At his residence,
And that his parents had been shot.
You hear what sounds like a possible gunshot,
And then the call goes dead.
(dramatic music)
- Coming up to the house,
There really wasn't any indication
Of anything gone wrong.
- As you go up the stairs is the main bedroom
Or the master bedroom.
Alec was found lying on the bed,
And tracy was on the floor on the opposite side of the bed
In that main bedroom.
Tracy kruger and alec kruger were both deceased,
And appeared to have multiple gunshot wounds.
Hilary kruger had suffered a gunshot wound,
And she was in very critical condition,
But was able to communicate
With the initial responding officers
For at least a short period of time.
(indistinct police radio chatter)
- Anytime you take a gunshot wound
At close range like that
And have serious injuries,
I think the likelihood of her dying
Was much greater than the likelihood of her surviving.
- We got in our car,
And drove to one of his friend's house
That we thought he would be at,
And sure enough that's where zak was.
Then we sat down and explained what happened.
And that was a very, very difficult conversation to have.
That was one of the hardest things
I've ever had to do.
(gentle music)
- We had a close knit family.
We loved each other very much.
The relationship between my mom and dad,
You could tell they truly loved each other,
And they were always by each other's side.
My dad was really into snowmobiles
And snowmobile racing,
So we would always go and watch him.
My mom would always be there cheering him on.
- Tracy and hilary definitely had
The type of relationship
That everybody dreams about having.
Just a perfect american family.
- I loved hanging out in the garage with my dad,
Watching him work on cars or snowmobiles.
And my brother would always be
Right next to him watching him.
He was just kind of a,
That class clown that made everybody laugh.
- I know alec would probably be just like his dad,
Making things go fast, working on snowmobiles,
Doing things with his hands,
Playing guitar.
And I know tracy would still be married to hilary,
And they'd be living a great life.
Growing up on a farm, that was a dream of his,
And unfortunately he was there for a very short time.
I don't think they even lived in that house
For a year and a half when this tragedy happened.
- The background on the kruger family was
They were just a standard middle america family
Living their lives and working their jobs,
And raising their children.
And so to have somebody come into their house,
And attack them in this brutal fashion
Didn't really make sense at first.
There's a lot of unanswered questions,
A lot of unknowns.
Did somebody end up at the wrong house?
Was there a confrontation at this house?
What would be the motive?
(suspenseful music)
- They discovered a shotgun near the northeast bedroom,
The phone off the hook,
And shotgun shells lying throughout
The upper staircase.
- We suspected because of that gun
Being in proximity to the bodies
And empty shell casings at the top of the stairs
That that was likely the murder weapon.
- So when I first drove up that night,
There were two vehicles stuck at the end of the driveway
Just east of the residence.
You could see that both were stuck backwards in the ditch
Like they had spun out.
- We were trying to figure out the two vehicles in the ditch,
What is the relationship?
Was tracy kruger or somebody else from the family
Down here on the road at some point?
- There was a little blue tow strap
Sticking out from the front of the pickup.
There was a single set of footprints
Leaving the vehicles.
- The license plates were run on the vehicles,
And that's what told us
That one was registered to michael zabawa,
And the other was registered to the kruger family.
At that point,
We are gonna wanna talk to michael zabawa.
(dramatic music)
- We get a radio call from one of the waseca police officers
That the neighbor's reporting his vehicle's been stolen.
We have no idea what's going on.
The assailant's still out there.
We wanna be very cautious,
We don't want anybody else hurt or killed.
- The stolen vehicle was found maybe
100 yards from zabawa's house.
- There were footprints near the vehicle
That you could follow down the street,
And right up to the zabawa residence in the snow.
We don't know who all resides in the residence.
We don't know how many people are in there.
We don't know if they're armed, or what their state of mind is.
- We already knew that there was two people dead,
Possibly three.
There was a weapon involved.
We had swat team gathering
In case we needed them for entry.
And then shortly after 7:00 am,
We get the 911 call from michael zabawa
Trying to report that his vehicle is stolen.
- He wanted to speak to law enforcement
To file a stolen vehicle report.
So we just communicated with the dispatcher
To relay to him, meet us at the end of the driveway,
And we would take it from there.
(dramatic music)
When michael zabawa exited the residence,
He came out with his mother,
Walked down the driveway where we were.
We approached him and introduced ourselves to him,
Said we understood he wanted to report his vehicle stolen.
We explained to him that we have questions
About this matter,
And that we'd like to talk to him at the sheriff's office.
He agreed voluntarily to come with.
- We wanted to get information quickly
Because we don't know if michael zabawa is the guy,
Or if it's somebody else.
(dramatic music)
(clock ticking)
It's not uncommon for suspects to
Sometimes make contact with law enforcement
To try to provide a story
Or provide an explanation that's gonna serve them,
And serve their purpose in the case.
So we were certainly suspicious early on
Just not knowing many of the facts.
(dramatic music)
It's a very serious, very heinous crime.
Certainly we're laser focused on
Getting information, figuring this out,
And getting the truth.
(clock ticking)
(dramatic music)
- My mom, she was in pretty grave condition.
I remember family members
And doctors saying that there was a low chance
Of her making it out of it.
Knowing that my dad and brother didn't make it,
I was kind of in a shocked state.
I didn't know what to say, what to do.
I was praying that my mom would make it through.
(dramatic music)
- We had not processed the crime scene
To any degree at that point.
We hadn't been able to gather much information
From the scene or any witnesses.
Our plan to interview him certainly was just
Gather information about his timeline of events.
- Mr. Zabawa on the car ride in,
He indicated that he had been at work the previous day,
And then he went home,
And that he was home all evening.
He said he was drinking at home alone.
As the interview progressed, his story slowly changed.
- So when a suspect gives you that kind of confident answer,
No, you're not gonna get me on this,
Or you're not gonna trip me up on this issue,
It does kind of make you set back a little bit,
And try to figure out where am I gonna go with this now?
(dramatic music)
If somebody accused me of shooting somebody
And I hadn't, I'd be quite upset.
Angry I think would be the reaction
We would expect from most innocent people.
- It's important that people are allowed
To have that emotional break from the interview,
And kind of allow him to reset.
It's an opportunity for us to try to get some information
From other colleagues who are at the scene.
(dramatic music)
- We had gotten information, that first break maybe,
About the shoes that they saw at the house
When they secured that matched the footprints in the snow.
- When you're throwing these bits of information out
It reminds michael zabawa that we do know a lot of information,
And we're gonna know a lot more as this case plays out.
(dramatic music)
- I was getting very frustrated,
Hence the sigh in the interview.
We now have evidence that we're explaining to you,
And you still go back to this story.
He's not biting on the shoe prints.
He's not biting on the fingerprints.
How do we keep moving forward to keep him talking?
And how do we get him to,
And motivate him to tell the truth?
(dramatic music)
(clock ticking)
- It was getting long and frustrating
Listening to his responses.
- When we've been at it for a little while
It's always a good time to maybe take a break and step out.
(dramatic music)
- When hilary first went into the hospital,
She wasn't conscious yet.
She finally stated showing progress,
And it was at that time, it finally felt like
She's gonna make it.
- That was an important piece of information
I wanted to use to confront mr. Zabawa with.
She may be able to tell us what happened.
So it was kind of an additional piece of leverage
To try to get him to tell the truth.
- Here you are, one day you've got
A great friend, a brother,
And the next day you don't have him.
And I can't even explain how that changes your life.
Your brain is constantly trying to figure out,
Why did this happen?
Why, why, why? Just one big circle.
It's the last thing you're gonna think of
Is somebody coming in the middle of the night,
And just start shooting at you
While you're in a dead sleep.
That just doesn't happen.
(dramatic music)
(clock ticking)
Those pauses allow that pressure to build.
People generally don't like that awkward silence.
And so you let that silence sit, and you let that build,
And you leave the ball in his court, so to speak.
And say how are you gonna respond to this?
He knows what happened ultimately in that house.
I wanted to make sure and see
If there was an accomplice
Or other people involved present at the crime scene.
(tense music)
(dramatic music)
- I sat back in my chair,
And almost threw my arms up in frustration.
You can't say this
And expect people to believe it
Because it doesn't match with the facts that we know.
(tense music)
(clock ticking)
We were kind of stuck in a pattern
Of this incremental admissions.
We didn't feel like we had anything to lose
At that point by trying another tactic.
Introducing a new face, he may react differently.
(dramatic music)
(clock ticking)
- He knows who he shot,
But it reminds him and amps up that emotional level
That this is very, very serious.
You did this and a child was killed.
- I think it was a pretty important moment.
It wasn't the whole truth yet from him,
But he's at least admitting that he was in the house,
And was involved in the shooting.
(intense music)
- Okay.
- Alec was shot three times.
Dropping the gun, it didn't go off three times.
And if it did it would be one time, not three times.
It's a pump shot gun,
It doesn't work that way.
- I don't believe that there's a struggle.
We have three people who have been shot,
A couple of them more than one time.
So the idea that this was just an unfortunate accident
Just doesn't fly whatsoever.
Both of us felt like we had enough at that point.
We placed him under arrest
Pending criminal charges for murder.
(dramatic music)
- I don't think he ever wanted to admit
That he intentionally shot and killed anybody,
He wasn't gonna go there.
But there's evidence left all over that crime scene.
There's evidence on him,
And we're gonna find it.
(gentle music)
- We had now spent the previous day
And into the night processing the scene,
Gathering information.
We determined that there had been eight rounds fired,
Which even further dismisses this idea
That this was just an unfortunate accident.
And we learned from the autopsy of tracy kruger
That a piece of actual spring from the bed mattress
And some fibers from the bed mattress were found
In his wound in his chest,
Which told us that he was using that mattress
As a type of shield,
Or a way to protect himself from mr. Zabawa
Who's shooting at him.
- It just confirmed
That there was really no struggle at all there.
He was trying to hide from michael zabawa at the time.
(gentle music)
- I wasn't out of the woods for quite a while.
It took two hospitals,
Two rehabilitation and nine months
Before I was able to come home again.
- To find a gun, to load a gun,
To walk up the stairs,
To start shooting people, are all intentional acts.
At any of those moments he could have changed his mind.
- There was never any type of struggle.
But that was the story that came out first,
Before anyone was even able to talk with me
And get the facts.
That upsets me.
I know how senseless these murders were.
(dramatic music)
- I think the jury could see that he was lying
And untruthful from the beginning.
That was very important to show the jury
That he wasn't telling the whole truth,
And the evidence supported what actually happened.
(dramatic music)
- It was emotional.
I testified
With zabawa only a few feet away,
But I was just there to do my job,
And make sure that he didn't
Get off on this.
- He was found guilty on two counts
Of first-degree premeditated murder,
Which were two consecutive life sentences.
He got 216 months for hilary's attempted murder.
But he never showed any remorse for any of this.
Never indicated he felt bad about what he did,
Or provided a logical explanation
Or anything for it.
And I don't think we'll ever know.
(somber music)
- It's on my mind every day,
But it doesn't control me or define me.
It's become part of me.
- I don't think we ever try to move past it.
There's always the thought there when we're together.
We just gotta just keep living the best we can.
- Tracy and alec were such good, kind people
That their memory deserves us to live our life
The best we can.
I miss everything about them.
I miss their silliness
And just being fun and being a family,
And just having dinners together.
I miss their hugs.
But I'm happy and thankful and grateful
That we did have that time with them.
That will always stay in my heart.