1 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,868 On Sunday, we did receive a call to come out 2 00:00:16,033 --> 00:00:17,701 to County Road 424. 3 00:00:29,300 --> 00:00:32,300 This old house was in a very secluded area. 4 00:00:33,701 --> 00:00:34,901 The roof was falling in, 5 00:00:35,067 --> 00:00:36,300 the walls were starting to fall in. 6 00:00:40,667 --> 00:00:42,767 There was a cellar at this property. 7 00:00:42,934 --> 00:00:45,267 Everybody always asked questions about what was 8 00:00:45,434 --> 00:00:46,734 going on in this cellar. 9 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,601 There were rumors that there were certain individuals 10 00:00:52,767 --> 00:00:55,000 involved with the occult and witchcraft. 11 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:02,901 Everybody pretty much knew that there is evil out there. 12 00:01:05,367 --> 00:01:09,767 And in this case, it was hiding in plain sight the entire time. 13 00:01:48,968 --> 00:01:52,100 Brown County is a pretty rural area. 14 00:01:52,267 --> 00:01:54,100 A lot of farmland, ranching. 15 00:01:56,300 --> 00:02:00,100 Brownwood is the biggest town with five or six smaller towns 16 00:02:00,267 --> 00:02:01,400 inside the county. 17 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,100 North Lake community, it's very tiny. 18 00:02:10,167 --> 00:02:12,267 If you want to get away from it all, 19 00:02:12,434 --> 00:02:13,667 you'll like North Lake. 20 00:02:24,067 --> 00:02:26,567 I met Chantay at North Lake Community Church. 21 00:02:27,667 --> 00:02:30,467 She was very quiet, sweet. 22 00:02:30,634 --> 00:02:35,000 I thought she was a teenager because of how petite she was. 23 00:02:35,167 --> 00:02:39,000 And I was surprised to find out that she was 25. 24 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,501 She always had her Bible and a little notebook, 25 00:02:44,667 --> 00:02:46,767 and she also loved music. 26 00:02:48,267 --> 00:02:51,767 I have a lot of kids, eight of 'em all together. 27 00:02:51,934 --> 00:02:52,968 Chantay was my oldest. 28 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:57,968 Everybody loved her. She was just full of joy. 29 00:03:00,267 --> 00:03:01,868 She was born with a disability. 30 00:03:02,968 --> 00:03:04,267 She was in special ed. 31 00:03:05,467 --> 00:03:08,067 She wasn't catching up the way she should. 32 00:03:09,467 --> 00:03:12,167 I mean, she went to high school. She graduated. 33 00:03:13,901 --> 00:03:17,267 She could talk to you and have a conversation with you, 34 00:03:17,434 --> 00:03:21,467 and it didn't even sound like she had a disability. 35 00:03:21,634 --> 00:03:28,100 But she seemed naive on things that a woman of 25 should know. 36 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:34,267 And I know at our church, we all loved Chantay 37 00:03:34,434 --> 00:03:35,667 and wanted to take care of her, 38 00:03:35,834 --> 00:03:37,801 make sure that she was protected. 39 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:58,868 It was just like any Friday. 40 00:04:00,467 --> 00:04:03,501 And Chantay said that she was gonna go walking. 41 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,167 That was her thing, walking. Walk to the cafe, eat. 42 00:04:08,334 --> 00:04:10,200 Go home, change clothes, walk back to the cafe. 43 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,868 It was always the same thing every day. 44 00:04:16,267 --> 00:04:18,100 She knows she has to be home before dark. 45 00:04:21,667 --> 00:04:23,267 Chantay lived with my dad. 46 00:04:23,434 --> 00:04:27,267 She had called, I think it was like 8:36. 47 00:04:27,434 --> 00:04:30,067 She told my dad that she was about to be home. 48 00:04:37,601 --> 00:04:41,567 Saturday evening, I got a phone call from my dad. 49 00:04:43,634 --> 00:04:47,467 And he said that she still hadn't made it home. 50 00:04:47,634 --> 00:04:48,833 She had friends. 51 00:04:48,834 --> 00:04:50,400 He just thought she just spent the night with somebody. 52 00:04:52,868 --> 00:04:54,167 I started getting worried. 53 00:04:55,968 --> 00:04:57,167 Being a mom, 54 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,100 it just, it was a gut feeling. 55 00:05:01,267 --> 00:05:04,234 It's not like her to just not come home. 56 00:05:06,701 --> 00:05:09,901 At this point, I called the Sheriff's Department 57 00:05:10,067 --> 00:05:11,801 because something was wrong. 58 00:05:24,100 --> 00:05:25,567 On May the 14th, late in the evening, 59 00:05:25,734 --> 00:05:28,767 the sheriff's office received a call from a family member 60 00:05:28,934 --> 00:05:30,901 of Chantay Blankinship. 61 00:05:31,067 --> 00:05:34,267 It was reported to us that Chantay was walking around 62 00:05:34,434 --> 00:05:36,133 on the 13th of May. 63 00:05:38,601 --> 00:05:40,667 Investigators went to the home of Chantay. 64 00:05:40,834 --> 00:05:42,701 We wanted to talk to everybody we could and try to get 65 00:05:42,868 --> 00:05:45,000 a timeline on when the last time Chantay was seen 66 00:05:45,167 --> 00:05:46,701 and who she was seen with. 67 00:05:47,767 --> 00:05:50,267 Chantay had a boyfriend, John. 68 00:05:50,434 --> 00:05:52,601 They had been together for four years. 69 00:05:54,167 --> 00:05:57,267 We spoke with John Adams, who lived with Chantay 70 00:05:57,434 --> 00:05:59,167 and Chantay's grandfather. 71 00:05:59,334 --> 00:06:03,167 John told us about their day up to her disappearing. 72 00:06:04,467 --> 00:06:06,300 He said he picked her up early in the afternoon 73 00:06:06,467 --> 00:06:09,667 at a local cafe and they went back to the house. 74 00:06:09,834 --> 00:06:14,000 And then about six o'clock he left to go to work 75 00:06:14,167 --> 00:06:15,701 where he worked at a restaurant all night. 76 00:06:18,167 --> 00:06:20,801 Shortly thereafter, she had told her grandfather 77 00:06:20,968 --> 00:06:24,000 that she was gonna go for an evening walk with a friend. 78 00:06:26,467 --> 00:06:29,167 So we talked with the girl that was walking with Chantay 79 00:06:29,334 --> 00:06:30,567 the night she disappeared. 80 00:07:33,167 --> 00:07:35,601 Chantay was last seen near the community mailboxes 81 00:07:35,767 --> 00:07:37,801 in her neighborhood sometime around dusk. 82 00:07:39,367 --> 00:07:42,367 We attempted to ping her cellphone with no results. 83 00:07:42,534 --> 00:07:44,868 So, it's like her cellphone had been turned off. 84 00:07:46,868 --> 00:07:49,067 Her purse was still at the house. 85 00:07:50,767 --> 00:07:54,467 Had a couple of friends come out, and we searched all night. 86 00:07:55,767 --> 00:07:57,267 We drove around. We walked. 87 00:07:59,167 --> 00:08:00,767 Went to people's houses. 88 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:03,400 There's nothing. 89 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,767 When we were at church that Sunday morning, 90 00:08:25,934 --> 00:08:29,701 word was spreading that she was not found. 91 00:08:29,868 --> 00:08:33,901 And during the church service is when they decided to have 92 00:08:34,067 --> 00:08:37,100 a search party formed in the afternoon 93 00:08:37,267 --> 00:08:38,801 to look for Chantay. 94 00:08:38,968 --> 00:08:40,267 We all met at the church 95 00:08:40,434 --> 00:08:41,968 a little bit before three o'clock. 96 00:08:42,133 --> 00:08:45,100 There was probably 25 of us. 97 00:08:53,868 --> 00:08:55,968 The members of the church and the fire department had got 98 00:08:56,133 --> 00:08:58,267 together and divided up areas. 99 00:09:00,067 --> 00:09:05,167 We did wanna walk around the lake in case she drowned 100 00:09:05,334 --> 00:09:07,868 and she was on the shoreline. 101 00:09:08,033 --> 00:09:12,300 Maybe she fell, got hurt, but couldn't cry out for help. 102 00:09:14,100 --> 00:09:17,200 It was hours that we were looking everywhere, 103 00:09:17,367 --> 00:09:21,868 possible and impossible, that Chantay would be. 104 00:09:27,100 --> 00:09:31,467 When it was getting dark, we had to call it quits 105 00:09:31,634 --> 00:09:32,567 and go home. 106 00:09:40,868 --> 00:09:44,100 I didn't hear about anybody finding anything 107 00:09:44,267 --> 00:09:46,367 until later on Sunday night. 108 00:09:59,667 --> 00:10:01,901 We desperately wanted to locate Chantay. 109 00:10:04,367 --> 00:10:06,300 Never have I received a phone call like that. 110 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:09,667 Looks like we knew that... 111 00:10:52,801 --> 00:10:54,968 On Sunday, the whole community of North Lake was out 112 00:10:55,133 --> 00:10:57,968 looking for Chantay, and then someone found her. 113 00:11:15,767 --> 00:11:17,601 I responded immediately to the scene. 114 00:11:22,601 --> 00:11:26,000 When I got there, I had several investigators already on scene. 115 00:11:36,968 --> 00:11:40,200 We jumped the fence and just started walking the property. 116 00:11:49,434 --> 00:11:52,868 Just inside the gate is an old, old farmhouse. 117 00:11:54,501 --> 00:11:57,400 There's no floor in it. Most of the roof's missing. 118 00:12:03,567 --> 00:12:06,501 You can tell it's-- hasn't been lived in in a long time. 119 00:12:08,868 --> 00:12:13,133 The grass is tall, hadn't been mowed down. 120 00:12:15,601 --> 00:12:19,534 And then you see this cellar. It's encased in concrete. 121 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,100 Here in Central Texas, it's a tornado alley, 122 00:12:24,267 --> 00:12:28,267 so this is an old storm cellar to get into in case a tornado 123 00:12:28,434 --> 00:12:30,267 or bad weather blew through. 124 00:12:30,434 --> 00:12:33,934 Built probably back in the early 1920s. 125 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,300 It was kind of like, you know, "The Wizard of Oz". 126 00:12:38,467 --> 00:12:40,667 When Dorothy and the family went down in there 127 00:12:40,834 --> 00:12:43,300 into the cellar, that's basically what this looked like. 128 00:12:45,767 --> 00:12:49,467 The cellar had an old metal door that was falling apart 129 00:12:49,634 --> 00:12:50,734 and barely hanging on. 130 00:12:52,100 --> 00:12:54,667 And then we get to finding the spatters of blood. 131 00:13:01,901 --> 00:13:05,100 At the opening of the cellar, one of the walls had 132 00:13:05,267 --> 00:13:08,000 fallen over and was nearly touching the opposite wall. 133 00:13:13,167 --> 00:13:16,467 So you had to crouch down and almost crawl down through. 134 00:13:21,567 --> 00:13:23,467 The concrete steps probably 135 00:13:23,634 --> 00:13:26,501 extended about six foot below the surface of the ground. 136 00:13:30,701 --> 00:13:34,000 Inside was probably six-by-six feet, 137 00:13:34,167 --> 00:13:36,267 cement floors, walls, ceiling. 138 00:13:40,267 --> 00:13:42,167 Once you would go deeper into the cellar, 139 00:13:44,567 --> 00:13:45,601 it's just black. 140 00:13:50,767 --> 00:13:52,367 There's gonna be snakes down there, 141 00:13:52,534 --> 00:13:54,501 spiders everywhere, so we had to be careful. 142 00:14:03,267 --> 00:14:05,000 And that's where Chantay was located. 143 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:13,000 We all had met Chantay before. 144 00:14:13,167 --> 00:14:15,767 We'd seen her walking through the community, 145 00:14:15,934 --> 00:14:18,100 and we were able to make the identification. 146 00:14:23,100 --> 00:14:26,400 I noticed that she was nude except for a T-shirt. 147 00:14:28,868 --> 00:14:33,367 I could see a tremendous amount of trauma to her face, 148 00:14:33,534 --> 00:14:34,868 neck, and head area. 149 00:14:39,467 --> 00:14:41,501 We knew we had a murder investigation. 150 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,767 We located Chantay's missing clothes, 151 00:14:49,300 --> 00:14:50,601 a pair of flip flops, 152 00:14:52,901 --> 00:14:54,834 her pants, her underwear, 153 00:14:57,300 --> 00:15:00,067 and they were all pretty saturated with blood. 154 00:15:04,601 --> 00:15:06,267 Going deeper in the cellar, 155 00:15:06,434 --> 00:15:09,534 a lawnmower blade was located towards the back. 156 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:13,567 The lawnmower blade appeared to have 157 00:15:13,734 --> 00:15:15,300 a large amount of blood on it. 158 00:15:18,801 --> 00:15:20,467 So we collected that as evidence. 159 00:15:22,501 --> 00:15:23,868 Pretty brutal-looking scene. 160 00:15:29,367 --> 00:15:30,667 And on the outside of the cellar, 161 00:15:30,834 --> 00:15:32,300 it was pretty obvious where her body was 162 00:15:32,467 --> 00:15:33,567 thrown over the gate. 163 00:15:37,367 --> 00:15:40,367 It looked like that she had potentially been drug 164 00:15:40,534 --> 00:15:43,501 from that fence to that cellar by her hair. 165 00:15:45,968 --> 00:15:48,767 We found a few cigarette butts laying out there 166 00:15:48,934 --> 00:15:52,033 and that was all collected as possible evidence. 167 00:15:54,501 --> 00:15:57,100 All we had been told is that she was basically walking 168 00:15:57,267 --> 00:15:59,267 around with her clothes and her cellphone, 169 00:15:59,434 --> 00:16:01,467 but her cellphone was missing. 170 00:16:01,634 --> 00:16:03,701 So we believed whoever had brought her out here 171 00:16:03,868 --> 00:16:05,601 either took her cellphone 172 00:16:05,767 --> 00:16:07,968 or had discarded it at a different location. 173 00:16:11,701 --> 00:16:13,167 It was getting dark on us pretty quick, 174 00:16:13,334 --> 00:16:17,367 so we processed and checked out what we could. 175 00:16:17,534 --> 00:16:20,801 Chantay's body was originally found by two individuals, 176 00:16:20,968 --> 00:16:22,701 Jackie and Charlie, 177 00:16:22,868 --> 00:16:24,968 and I had two of the investigators 178 00:16:25,133 --> 00:16:28,367 load them up and take them to the law enforcement center 179 00:16:28,534 --> 00:16:30,367 to get an accurate statement from 'em. 180 00:16:50,767 --> 00:16:54,601 At the church, there was a lot of people that showed up 181 00:16:54,767 --> 00:16:57,501 to start searching for Chantay. 182 00:16:58,901 --> 00:17:01,100 But Charlie did not even know her 183 00:17:01,267 --> 00:17:03,667 and did not go to our church. 184 00:17:04,767 --> 00:17:06,767 I didn't know who he was. 185 00:17:06,934 --> 00:17:10,000 To me, it immediately raised some red flags. 186 00:17:10,167 --> 00:17:12,000 Why did he come here? 187 00:17:12,167 --> 00:17:15,567 How would he know where to go to locate this body? 188 00:17:35,567 --> 00:17:39,000 We paid a lot of attention to Charlie. 189 00:17:39,167 --> 00:17:42,000 During my 40-year career, I've actually seen an instance 190 00:17:42,167 --> 00:17:45,868 where the murderer has found the body. 191 00:17:46,033 --> 00:17:47,801 You kind of wanna get yourself out there first 192 00:17:47,968 --> 00:17:50,501 because you feel like it's gonna be found, 193 00:17:50,667 --> 00:17:54,100 so why not be the hero instead of the zero? 194 00:17:56,567 --> 00:18:00,067 But Charlie was never mentioned as a suspect by anyone. 195 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:12,567 You could tell he was upset. 196 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,000 He was distraught. He was very emotional. 197 00:18:18,167 --> 00:18:19,400 Do you know their last name? 198 00:18:19,567 --> 00:18:20,467 Mnh-mnh. 199 00:18:20,634 --> 00:18:22,767 We also interviewed his partner 200 00:18:22,934 --> 00:18:25,901 and make sure that her story matches his, and it did. 201 00:18:27,367 --> 00:18:29,767 Everybody always thought it was weird that, you know, 202 00:18:29,934 --> 00:18:32,567 he just happened to find Chantay, 203 00:18:32,734 --> 00:18:35,167 but he had taken a polygraph. 204 00:18:35,334 --> 00:18:38,567 In Charlie's case, there was no deception indicated, 205 00:18:38,734 --> 00:18:42,133 so we did not proceed with him as a suspect. 206 00:18:44,567 --> 00:18:47,200 At this point, I'm looking for the person who put 207 00:18:47,367 --> 00:18:48,667 Chantay in that cellar. 208 00:18:48,834 --> 00:18:52,667 We believed one of the people in the North Lake community 209 00:18:52,834 --> 00:18:54,300 was responsible for this. 210 00:18:58,100 --> 00:19:04,267 My thought was, we have a killer that is coming after our kids. 211 00:19:04,434 --> 00:19:07,167 I was just keeping an eye on everybody we could. 212 00:19:07,334 --> 00:19:09,901 You can't help but wonder, how close is this killer? 213 00:19:11,367 --> 00:19:13,767 The fear was, could he do this again? 214 00:19:40,868 --> 00:19:43,367 The North Lake community took care of Chantay. 215 00:19:43,534 --> 00:19:46,000 She was part of the family out there. 216 00:19:46,167 --> 00:19:49,501 And so this event shook that community to its core. 217 00:19:59,100 --> 00:20:00,868 Now, one of the first things that we're gonna do is 218 00:20:01,033 --> 00:20:05,100 an autopsy to get an idea of what actually happened. 219 00:20:05,267 --> 00:20:08,701 It did show that she had been sexually assaulted 220 00:20:10,367 --> 00:20:13,801 and that Chantay was killed from blunt force trauma. 221 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,767 Chantay was actually strangled. 222 00:20:21,267 --> 00:20:25,167 And then the blunt force trauma to Chantay's head was caused 223 00:20:25,334 --> 00:20:28,067 by the lawnmower blade that was located inside the cellar. 224 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:31,167 Several areas of the body were swabbed 225 00:20:31,334 --> 00:20:33,167 for the presence of DNA. 226 00:20:33,334 --> 00:20:36,567 The DNA analysis takes several weeks to be completed. 227 00:20:36,734 --> 00:20:39,267 So we were kind of just waiting to get the results to see 228 00:20:39,434 --> 00:20:41,000 if we get a suspect identified. 229 00:20:44,601 --> 00:20:46,367 But in the meantime, we had a meeting 230 00:20:46,534 --> 00:20:48,501 with local law enforcement agencies. 231 00:20:49,901 --> 00:20:52,767 We're working the victimology of Chantay and trying 232 00:20:52,934 --> 00:20:55,601 to identify potential suspects. 233 00:20:55,767 --> 00:20:58,567 We believed it was gonna be somebody in the community 234 00:20:58,734 --> 00:21:01,100 that had a connection with her. 235 00:21:01,267 --> 00:21:05,667 Her boyfriend, John, was living with her at the time. 236 00:21:05,834 --> 00:21:09,467 We spoke to several different neighbors who stated that 237 00:21:09,634 --> 00:21:11,400 during their conversations with Chantay, 238 00:21:11,567 --> 00:21:14,100 that she had mentioned problems in that relationship. 239 00:21:33,467 --> 00:21:35,767 And then there's a particular witness who stated 240 00:21:35,934 --> 00:21:39,000 that she had been around when John had gotten 241 00:21:39,167 --> 00:21:40,701 into an argument with Chantay. 242 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,367 Investigators went to the home of Chantay 243 00:22:36,534 --> 00:22:37,467 and visited with John. 244 00:22:38,901 --> 00:22:40,968 We did some searching of the residence. 245 00:22:44,968 --> 00:22:47,901 We found some cigarette butts that could have been consistent 246 00:22:48,067 --> 00:22:50,701 with the cigarette butts we found at the scene. 247 00:22:50,868 --> 00:22:53,300 We collected some of those to see if they would match. 248 00:22:55,367 --> 00:22:57,200 And then there was a shed out back. 249 00:22:58,467 --> 00:23:01,167 We did notice that there was a lot of lawnmowers, 250 00:23:01,334 --> 00:23:04,367 lawnmower parts, lawnmower blades laying around. 251 00:23:05,701 --> 00:23:09,367 A lawnmower blade was the weapon used to strike Chantay. 252 00:23:10,901 --> 00:23:12,767 So he was a person of interest. 253 00:23:18,901 --> 00:23:21,400 And then we brought John Adams into the office 254 00:23:21,567 --> 00:23:23,100 for a further interview. 255 00:23:24,601 --> 00:23:28,200 We asked him for his timeline that night. 256 00:23:28,367 --> 00:23:31,567 John did tell us previously, the Friday that Chantay came up 257 00:23:31,734 --> 00:23:35,300 missing, that he had been with her at the residence. 258 00:23:35,467 --> 00:23:37,167 The story that he tells, 259 00:23:37,334 --> 00:23:39,100 the circumstances were just odd. 260 00:24:05,267 --> 00:24:07,300 John said he went to work early in Brownwood 261 00:24:07,467 --> 00:24:09,567 at a local restaurant about six o'clock 262 00:24:09,734 --> 00:24:10,801 and worked all night. 263 00:24:12,467 --> 00:24:14,100 He was short with his answers. 264 00:24:14,267 --> 00:24:16,667 We weren't getting a lot of information from him. 265 00:24:18,601 --> 00:24:21,100 It's hard to tell if he's telling us the truth. 266 00:24:22,567 --> 00:24:24,667 So we asked for consent to search his phone, 267 00:24:24,834 --> 00:24:26,200 which he granted us. 268 00:24:28,667 --> 00:24:31,601 So after the interview was done, 269 00:24:31,767 --> 00:24:33,901 we were able to recover something that definitely 270 00:24:34,067 --> 00:24:36,467 puts up a red flag for law enforcement. 271 00:25:08,801 --> 00:25:11,701 They thought that maybe John had something to do with it. 272 00:25:14,167 --> 00:25:16,300 But I knew in my heart 273 00:25:17,567 --> 00:25:18,834 that he wouldn't hurt her. 274 00:25:21,300 --> 00:25:23,868 On John's phone download, we were able to recover 275 00:25:24,033 --> 00:25:25,367 the deleted text messages, 276 00:25:27,067 --> 00:25:29,868 and they were not dealing with this investigation. 277 00:25:30,801 --> 00:25:32,567 John consistently reiterated 278 00:25:32,734 --> 00:25:34,467 that he would never harm Chantay. 279 00:25:34,634 --> 00:25:36,367 He actually cared for her very deeply. 280 00:25:38,167 --> 00:25:40,701 We were able to go to the restaurant where he worked 281 00:25:40,868 --> 00:25:43,901 and obtain video footage, and it showed John there 282 00:25:44,067 --> 00:25:46,400 working the entire night. 283 00:25:46,567 --> 00:25:49,067 So, we knew based off of that information 284 00:25:49,234 --> 00:25:50,100 that he was not involved. 285 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:01,267 It was a trying time in this investigation. 286 00:26:01,434 --> 00:26:03,167 People were worried. 287 00:26:03,334 --> 00:26:07,901 People were scared because anybody could have taken her. 288 00:26:08,067 --> 00:26:12,501 We have a killer that is a member of our community. 289 00:26:12,667 --> 00:26:15,868 It was scary to walk around North Lake 290 00:26:16,033 --> 00:26:17,667 because everybody's a suspect. 291 00:26:19,267 --> 00:26:24,100 For me, there was a fear that if the killer or killers 292 00:26:24,267 --> 00:26:25,667 could do this to Chantay, 293 00:26:27,567 --> 00:26:28,567 they could do it to me. 294 00:26:50,367 --> 00:26:52,100 I just still couldn't believe how 295 00:26:53,367 --> 00:26:55,567 one minute she's there, the next minute she's gone. 296 00:26:57,567 --> 00:27:01,801 At this point, I didn't trust anybody because I didn't know 297 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,167 who had took my daughter's life. 298 00:27:05,334 --> 00:27:08,200 But I knew it was somebody that was close. 299 00:27:12,667 --> 00:27:15,467 Everybody had stated that Chantay would not have gotten 300 00:27:15,634 --> 00:27:18,267 into a car with somebody that she did not know. 301 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,367 We were able to eliminate 302 00:27:22,534 --> 00:27:24,868 her boyfriend, John, as a suspect. 303 00:27:26,267 --> 00:27:29,467 But we spoke to several different neighbors who also 304 00:27:29,634 --> 00:27:31,267 mentioned another name of Colin Smith. 305 00:27:33,467 --> 00:27:36,100 Colin did live in the North Lake community, 306 00:27:36,267 --> 00:27:39,000 and we were told Chantay had known him for years. 307 00:27:40,267 --> 00:27:43,868 One time, Colin had served Chantay alcohol 308 00:27:44,033 --> 00:27:46,167 and had brought Chantay home drunk. 309 00:27:47,367 --> 00:27:51,267 So to me, you could pick her up, serve her alcohol, 310 00:27:51,434 --> 00:27:53,868 knowing that that's wrong. 311 00:27:54,033 --> 00:27:55,601 You know, what-- 312 00:27:55,767 --> 00:27:57,567 you probably could have done anything, you know? 313 00:28:07,267 --> 00:28:09,100 A lot of the neighbors had seen her with Colin 314 00:28:09,267 --> 00:28:11,200 many times before, 315 00:28:11,367 --> 00:28:13,801 so he was somebody that we needed to interview. 316 00:28:15,100 --> 00:28:18,601 But when we did, he said that he barely knew her. 317 00:28:18,767 --> 00:28:20,300 It was something that wasn't expected. 318 00:28:22,267 --> 00:28:25,868 We believed he knew Chantay more than he was leading on, 319 00:28:26,033 --> 00:28:28,901 so we asked Colin if he would take a polygraph test. 320 00:28:59,367 --> 00:29:02,267 We could see that Colin failed the polygraph, 321 00:29:02,434 --> 00:29:05,067 so that's when we really started digging into him. 322 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,767 We believed that the last person that had seen her alive 323 00:29:52,934 --> 00:29:54,367 was not one of the neighbor girls 324 00:29:54,534 --> 00:29:56,167 that was walking down the street with her. 325 00:29:59,601 --> 00:30:01,000 It was Colin Smith. 326 00:30:02,367 --> 00:30:04,767 He had failed the polygraph. 327 00:30:04,934 --> 00:30:08,501 With his demeanor and his yelling 328 00:30:08,667 --> 00:30:10,367 and screaming at the interviewer, 329 00:30:11,868 --> 00:30:14,467 it was very possible that Colin 330 00:30:14,634 --> 00:30:16,567 was the person who put her in that cellar. 331 00:30:22,601 --> 00:30:25,868 That same day, we re-interviewed Colin. 332 00:30:26,033 --> 00:30:29,000 At that time, Colin did admit that he did have 333 00:30:29,167 --> 00:30:30,467 a connection with Chantay. 334 00:31:03,167 --> 00:31:05,868 Colin stated that he had been in the area that evening 335 00:31:06,033 --> 00:31:09,667 and had seen Chantay, but he had left and went 336 00:31:09,834 --> 00:31:12,267 out of town with his brother that night. 337 00:31:12,434 --> 00:31:15,100 He did confirm that Colin ate supper with him 338 00:31:15,267 --> 00:31:17,167 and his children and slept there that night. 339 00:31:18,601 --> 00:31:20,400 And so we didn't have no other choice, 340 00:31:20,567 --> 00:31:22,167 and we let him go. 341 00:31:22,334 --> 00:31:24,367 But with Colin's deception, 342 00:31:24,534 --> 00:31:27,868 he did remain as the top of our suspect list. 343 00:31:44,300 --> 00:31:45,367 After a year and a half, 344 00:31:45,534 --> 00:31:48,667 this investigation's really getting to me. 345 00:31:48,834 --> 00:31:51,501 A lot of nights laying there, trying to go to sleep, 346 00:31:51,667 --> 00:31:53,701 and all you can think about is what did I miss? 347 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,567 We had sent several items into the lab for DNA testing. 348 00:32:01,067 --> 00:32:05,868 The lab found an unknown male DNA on Chantay. 349 00:32:09,300 --> 00:32:12,467 We had so many different community members' DNA 350 00:32:12,634 --> 00:32:14,601 that we were comparing to our unknown, 351 00:32:14,767 --> 00:32:17,067 and we needed that to match. 352 00:32:17,234 --> 00:32:21,067 We would take DNA samples from any male person that 353 00:32:21,234 --> 00:32:22,434 we were interviewing. 354 00:32:23,667 --> 00:32:27,033 Unfortunately, every one of those came back as excluded. 355 00:32:29,501 --> 00:32:32,367 It was very, very frustrating that we did not have 356 00:32:32,534 --> 00:32:33,868 the suspect identified. 357 00:32:37,868 --> 00:32:39,567 The community is demanding answers. 358 00:32:41,167 --> 00:32:45,567 We had our unknown suspect's DNA, but at that point, 359 00:32:45,734 --> 00:32:46,801 we didn't know what else to do. 360 00:32:48,267 --> 00:32:51,100 One day, I get a call from Scott Bird, 361 00:32:51,267 --> 00:32:53,701 who had stated that he had heard 362 00:32:53,868 --> 00:32:55,968 about new technology called phenotyping, 363 00:32:56,133 --> 00:32:59,267 saying that they can draw a picture or a composite 364 00:32:59,434 --> 00:33:02,167 of our potential suspect based on his DNA. 365 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:07,667 Basically, I thought it was hocus pocus. 366 00:33:08,767 --> 00:33:11,367 I didn't know DNA could do that. 367 00:33:11,534 --> 00:33:12,767 At this point in the investigation, 368 00:33:12,934 --> 00:33:15,801 I'm willing to try anything. 369 00:33:18,267 --> 00:33:23,100 In November of 2017, that composite came back. 370 00:33:29,467 --> 00:33:33,667 The image did not have any kind of resemblance to anybody 371 00:33:33,834 --> 00:33:36,167 I'd interviewed or spoken to in this investigation. 372 00:33:37,667 --> 00:33:41,100 Our next step was, we released it to the public. 373 00:33:41,267 --> 00:33:43,968 We were hoping that this would give us more leads. 374 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,100 A few nights later, 375 00:33:57,267 --> 00:33:59,667 after the initial release of the snapshot, 376 00:33:59,834 --> 00:34:01,868 they had Wednesday night church service there 377 00:34:02,033 --> 00:34:03,367 at the North Lake Community Church. 378 00:34:05,167 --> 00:34:07,567 The pastor of the church said, "We've got something 379 00:34:07,734 --> 00:34:09,200 a little different tonight." 380 00:34:11,667 --> 00:34:15,901 One of our members got up and started talking, 381 00:34:16,067 --> 00:34:19,701 not really making eye contact, and he said that 382 00:34:20,868 --> 00:34:23,467 his salvation meant more to him 383 00:34:24,801 --> 00:34:26,167 than life in prison. 384 00:34:32,667 --> 00:34:33,868 "I killed somebody." 385 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,968 2 More than a year has passed by since Chantay's murder. 386 00:34:47,067 --> 00:34:48,601 I had just a lot of bad thoughts. 387 00:34:49,868 --> 00:34:51,067 I didn't know... 388 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,467 how to... 389 00:34:55,634 --> 00:34:57,200 live without her. 390 00:34:59,667 --> 00:35:00,868 I really didn't think we were gonna 391 00:35:01,033 --> 00:35:02,601 find the person that did it, 392 00:35:02,767 --> 00:35:04,601 but I was wrong. 393 00:35:09,767 --> 00:35:12,400 We walk into the church. 394 00:35:12,567 --> 00:35:16,234 The pastor just said that Ryan wanted to confess something. 395 00:35:18,701 --> 00:35:22,000 All I can remember is looking at my husband, 396 00:35:22,167 --> 00:35:25,100 and we were just in shock. 397 00:35:29,267 --> 00:35:33,901 We could not believe that he killed Chantay. 398 00:35:36,367 --> 00:35:40,200 I knew Ryan Riggs for approximately four years. 399 00:35:41,567 --> 00:35:46,000 Ryan was active with the North Lake Community Church. 400 00:35:46,167 --> 00:35:50,601 He was a sweet young man, would do anything for you. 401 00:35:50,767 --> 00:35:54,400 And anything that we did as a church, 402 00:35:54,567 --> 00:35:55,667 he was there. 403 00:36:01,267 --> 00:36:02,868 During the course of this investigation, 404 00:36:03,033 --> 00:36:06,634 Ryan Riggs' name never came up. He never was on the radar. 405 00:36:09,100 --> 00:36:11,100 Ryan was a part of the search group 406 00:36:11,267 --> 00:36:13,467 that went out looking for Chantay. 407 00:36:13,634 --> 00:36:16,701 He consoled the family when Chantay had been found. 408 00:36:18,501 --> 00:36:22,067 He actually had attended the funeral for Chantay. 409 00:36:22,234 --> 00:36:25,000 He was hiding in plain sight the entire time. 410 00:36:26,667 --> 00:36:28,868 Ryan was brought into the sheriff's office, 411 00:36:29,033 --> 00:36:31,767 and so we asked Ryan to tell us what had happened. 412 00:36:56,868 --> 00:36:59,400 During the interview, Ryan Riggs told us that he had 413 00:36:59,567 --> 00:37:02,667 always had these kind of dark fantasies all the way back 414 00:37:02,834 --> 00:37:03,901 to his teenage years. 415 00:37:25,501 --> 00:37:29,400 So they drive in his truck and they parked up on the hill, 416 00:37:29,567 --> 00:37:31,400 kind of overlooking the lake area. 417 00:38:23,801 --> 00:38:27,000 His demeanor didn't change. There was no emotion. 418 00:38:27,167 --> 00:38:31,667 It was just as two people having a casual conversation 419 00:38:31,834 --> 00:38:32,801 about what's for dinner. 420 00:39:42,367 --> 00:39:44,367 The night we got the call, 421 00:39:44,534 --> 00:39:46,267 we were just sitting in the living room watching TV. 422 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:52,167 I remember Scott Bird telling me, "Hey, 423 00:39:52,334 --> 00:39:54,968 Ryan Riggs just confessed to Chantay's murder." 424 00:39:57,267 --> 00:39:58,367 I just remember bawling. 425 00:40:03,868 --> 00:40:06,767 It was-- it was over. 426 00:40:06,934 --> 00:40:08,367 The hunt was finally over. 427 00:40:14,667 --> 00:40:17,667 After the prosecutors and defense attorneys get 428 00:40:17,834 --> 00:40:22,167 involved, it was decided that if he pled to life in prison, 429 00:40:22,334 --> 00:40:25,567 the prosecution would not seek the death penalty. 430 00:40:25,734 --> 00:40:28,567 So Ryan Riggs agreed and pled guilty 431 00:40:29,601 --> 00:40:31,801 and will serve the last remaining days 432 00:40:31,968 --> 00:40:33,167 of his life in prison. 433 00:40:40,367 --> 00:40:43,467 Seeing her picture, it brings that light back. 434 00:40:44,868 --> 00:40:47,000 This world is missing out on her. 435 00:40:49,167 --> 00:40:50,367 Chantay was just... 436 00:40:52,701 --> 00:40:56,000 the best, you know? There's nobody like her. 437 00:40:57,567 --> 00:41:01,601 And no matter what, she's here. 438 00:41:01,767 --> 00:41:03,968 And that will never, ever go away. 439 00:41:10,667 --> 00:41:12,667 It's not everyday that someone walks into 440 00:41:12,834 --> 00:41:14,000 a police station and says 441 00:41:14,167 --> 00:41:16,400 "I saw a body in the basement" 442 00:41:18,868 --> 00:41:20,534 The whole thing just seemed far-fetched. 443 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:24,367 If he hadn't have told anybody 444 00:41:24,534 --> 00:41:26,100 he probably would have gotten away with it.