Axeman | Death Comes Knocking | Forensic Files

[WHOOSHING] [BRIGHT MUSIC] [GRIM MUSIC] [HORNS HONKING] MARGARET E. KELLY: It was a weeknight
in the beginning of December, just a couple weeks out from Christmas. [LINE RINGING]
- Milford police received a 911 call from a distraught 17-year-old in Milford, Connecticut.
[SIREN WAILS] Who would do something like this? Why would they do something like this with such violence?
[TENSE MUSIC] REPORTER: This video, provided by a neighbor, shows a threatening man.
He's seen walking past a home holding an ax. [MAN SHOUTING] [DOGS BARKING] [SIREN WAILS]
NARRATOR: Emergency services speed to the caller's home. What they find is truly disturbing.
MARGARET E. KELLY: When the police arrived, it was apparent from the injuries to the victim's body
that she was not alive. [GRIM MUSIC] NARRATOR: Lying on the kitchen floor is the caller's mother,
40-year-old Julie Minogue. - It's an extremely violent attack. ETHAN FRY: Police discovered Julie's three-year-old boy
in the room next to where she was found in what they described as a trance-like state.
MARGARET E. KELLY: The 17-year-old, who called 911, when he heard Milford Police Department,
he was not sure if it was the man pretending to be the Milford Police Department and
was extremely fearful at that time, so he jumped out the window. [RESONANT MUSIC]
- I can't imagine what he was going through at that point. [RADIO CHATTER] I think one of the big questions
was, why did this happen? Who would do something like this? And why would they do something like this with such violence?
NARRATOR: Police searched Julie's home for clues. MARGARET E. KELLY: When the police
arrive at a scene like this, they have many, many questions. How did the person enter the home?
Was anything taken? Any indications of a forceful entry? [RESONANT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Detectives believe the intruder
forced his way into the house and attacked Julie with an ax. [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[CAMERA BEEPS] MARGARET E. KELLY: They were able to observe an ax in the kitchen that appeared to contain a blood-like substance
and hair. There were chop wounds to her head and abrasions on other parts of her body as well.
After doing this for over 38 years, I think one of the questions we always have is
how one person could do this to another person. [SIREN WAILS] [GENTLE MUSIC] GERALD MINOGUE: My name is Gerald Minogue,
and my daughter is Julie Minogue, who was murdered on December 6, 2022. When I heard, I was--
I was just blown away. I was devastated. I was really devastated. I couldn't even see her.
Her body was damaged so bad. No one could see her. It was just such a terrible, terrible event
that they just didn't wanna let the family know how their loved one went out of the-- you know,
went out of this world. How could something like this happen to somebody in, you know, the pristine state of Connecticut?
Death by an ax is something that is something long, long gone. It's not something that you would expect to be, you know,
hearing about, let alone experiencing it in your own family. [TRAIN CLUNKING] [RESONANT MUSIC]
TRICIA O'REILLY: My name is Tricia O'Reilly. I was Julie Minogue's very close best friend, like sisters.
I saw it on the news, saw her whole condo complex. Did not believe it. Did not-- did not believe it.
I thought-- I was like, oh, it's somebody else in there. It's not-- not my Jules.
Then they showed her door, and I saw toys outside. I fell to the floor, screaming--
screaming, no, no. GERALD MINOGUE: What happened here? How could something like this happen to a loved one?
[RESONANT MUSIC] MARGARET E. KELLY: Time was very much of the essence here, because we had an individual who
was murdered in a horrific way, and we had someone in the area who had not been accounted for.
NARRATOR: Forensics officers combed Julie's home for evidence that could lead them to the killer
and sent the murder weapon to the lab to test for DNA and fingerprints. [RESONANT MUSIC]
- Everybody had good things to say about Julie and the kind of person she was. They all say she was just a great mother.
She was a welcoming person. She was a warm person, friendly to everyone. So that is another factor that makes it tragic.
NARRATOR: The youngest of three, Julie Minogue was born and raised in New York.
GERALD MINOGUE: She has an older brother and an older sister. As a child, she was extremely sweet, extremely considerate.
She loved animals. This is Julie at high school graduation. Right here, she was 17.
She had grown up from, you know, a cute and pretty child to a very, very beautiful young woman.
This makes me feel very proud because it was a milestone. She was graduating from high school.
She just gave me the sense of a young woman that was, you know, ready to take on the world.
[SOMBER MUSIC] TRICIA O'REILLY: Julie and I met at the obstetrical or gynecologist office
that we worked at. She just had a heart of gold. Her smile could light up a room, and her laugh--
it was just vivacious and contagious. If you met her, you wouldn't forget her. [GRIM MUSIC]
NARRATOR: Officers go door to door searching for witnesses. Did anyone see or hear anything?
ETHAN FRY: One thing police immediately do is look around and sort of canvas the neighborhood
to see if anybody has doorbell cameras or surveillance cameras. MARGARET E. KELLY: It was important for them
to determine whether or not there were either witnesses that saw someone in the area or
surveillance cameras that may have detected someone in that area. It's an extremely personal and violent type of crime.
ETHAN FRY: Police wanted to find the suspect as soon as possible. NARRATOR: Given the brutality of the attack,
investigators wonder if Julie was killed by someone close to her. [RESONANT MUSIC]
GERALD MINOGUE: Julie was married with one child at 20 years of age, and immediately, you
could see her calling was to be a mother. NARRATOR: Julie had two sons with her husband
before they divorced and a third son with a former partner. GERALD MINOGUE: She was a nurturer,
especially of her children. She was a terrific mother. She enjoyed the feeling that there was, you know,
somebody that relied on her for their care. TRICIA O'REILLY: She did absolutely anything and
everything for her three sons. Her boys were the light of her life. GERALD MINOGUE: This was on Thanksgiving, which was--
I believe it was that year, November 28. This is her son in the Coast Guard. He had flown in to be there for Thanksgiving.
This is her middle son, the 17-year-old. Obviously, that's the baby, and that's my daughter.
This one is important because it's the last picture of her whole family together.
And a few days later, she was murdered. [SOMBER MUSIC] NARRATOR: Julie's autopsy report
is released to the police. It confirms she was killed with the ax. MARGARET E. KELLY: Based on the autopsy report,
Ms. Minogue was killed by numerous, numerous sharp force injuries, more than 11 to her head
as well as other parts of her body-- blunt force objects as well. - I am haunted by exactly how she
felt during those last few moments of her life. The fear, the pain, the hurt that came her way--
I just can't get it out of my mind what she had to go through. No human being, no living being should
ever, ever have to leave this earth, you know, in that fashion. [BIRDSONG] [RESONANT MUSIC]
- Milford's a small city on the Connecticut coastline. Connecticut's known for wealth, but
Milford's more of, you know, a middle-class community. There's not a lot of ostentatious wealth there.
So it's your basic sort of shoreline city in Connecticut. There's a little harbor, a beach, parks, schools.
MARGARET E. KELLY: The nature of a homicide occurring on a weeknight in the city of Milford
is not a common occurrence. ETHAN FRY: The killing made a lot of news just because of the facts and the sort
of horrific circumstances involved. MARGARET E. KELLY: We have an individual who just bludgeoned a woman to death and was on the loose.
ETHAN FRY: When people heard that a mother of three had been killed inside her own home,
there was an outcry in the community. There was an outpouring of grief, really. [UNSETTLING MUSIC]
GERALD MINOGUE: There's a tremendous outpouring of support that we received. There was a big vigil that took place.
ETHAN FRY: A lot of people organized fundraisers in her memory as well. The loss was felt throughout the community.
[RESONANT MUSIC] NARRATOR: With her killer at large, detectives delve into Julie's personal life.
Could the answer lie there? ETHAN FRY: Police say that when there's a crime scene that's
very gruesome, that's often an indication that the perpetrator was somebody who knew the victim to sort of inflict
that level of violence. NARRATOR: After her divorce, Julie started dating. - She, like a lot of people, she got onto one
of these dating sites. NARRATOR: Her most recent relationship was with former Marine Ewen Dewitt.
- Mr. Dewitt was a college graduate, one of eight children, and a United States Marine Corps veteran.
GERALD MINOGUE: They started out, you know, very, very slow, just, you know, chatting back and forth
and then getting together on some daytime activities. - She met Ewen for the first time at a dog park.
She was walking her dog, Lexi. She was a cute little golden retriever. GERALD MINOGUE: She was a very strong woman because she
was raising children on her own, and she was working full time. And she wanted somebody, you know,
who she saw as strong as her that, you know, could carry the load and help her, you know,
get through the challenges of being a single parent. TRICIA O'REILLY: They hit it off.
They started dating. GERALD MINOGUE: And because she had children already, he got to know her children.
TRICIA O'REILLY: He had played sports. He was nice to them, and they got along. GERALD MINOGUE: When I first met him,
my first impressions were pretty positive. Very slowly but surely they were-- they were building a relationship that would,
you know, mushroom into much more as time went on. TRICIA O'REILLY: He and I had a--
a good, you know, kind of relationship as me being Julie's best friend. She seemed happy.
She seemed happy. And as long as she was happy, of course, all of us were happy.
- You know, I felt good because she finally found somebody, which I thought was,
you know, gonna be a solid partner for the future. The other thing I was informed about
is that he was a recovered alcoholic. And I was, you know, alcoholic or not, if he was a recovered alcoholic,
I felt that that takes more strength than weakness. - And then when she became pregnant,
that was when he asked her to marry her. He gave her a beautiful ring. - Julie enjoyed being a mother, so she was excited.
And he showed excitement as well. NARRATOR: Julie moved in with Dewitt, and in September 2019,
she gave birth to a boy. [GRIM MUSIC] Three years later, the devoted mom was dead.
With the family and community demanding answers, police get a major break. MARGARET E. KELLY: When the police went door to door
canvassing the neighbors to find footage, they were able to find two neighbors who voluntarily provided their door surveillance footage.
Their Ring doorbell systems actually captured an individual walking by at around
the same time in close proximity to the time of the murder. What they discovered was pretty shocking.
ETHAN FRY: The footage showed a person walking through the frame holding an ax and walking in the direction of Julie's condo.
NARRATOR: This is almost certainly the person responsible for slaying Julie. But who is he?
Using state-of-the-art software, forensic video analyst Nick Barreiro can pick out details
not obvious to the naked eye. NICK BARREIRO: I've seen a lot of videos in my career.
I've analyzed thousands of hours of video footage. [GRIM MUSIC] And it's very rare to see somebody just
walking down the street holding an ax in the middle of the night. This is shocking video.
Because this video was recorded with a Ring camera, we can trust that the timestamp in the bottom-right corner
is accurate. Ring videos are synced with the cloud, and the timestamp can be trusted because of that.
An accurate timestamp is important in any investigation because it helps the investigators
establish a timeline. And now we know the exact moment that the suspect passed by here on his way
to the victim's house. NARRATOR: This video was recorded at 8:56 PM, just minutes before Julie's son called 911.
- Anytime we have video of a suspect, initially, the instinct is to-- let's get the best view of this person as we can.
Let's enhance their face. Let's see if we can get any facial details to help identify this person.
So that's what we'll do in this case. So currently, I'm searching frame by frame for the best possible starting point,
the best possible image of this suspect's face. Now that we've selected this frame,
I'm gonna make some adjustments. So what I've done here is I've adjusted the brightness and
contrast, and I've done some sharpening to try and extract as much detail as we can from this suspect's appearance.
Although we can't see his face clearly, we can see that he has some facial hair,
a goatee or a full beard. We can see his hat is blue with some sort of a white logo on the front.
We can see that he's wearing a darker blue or black sweater or jacket over the top
of a lighter blue shirt. These types of details can lead to the suspect's arrest
and ultimate prosecution. [RESONANT MUSIC] NARRATOR: As police search for the man with the ax,
they learn more about how Dewitt and Julie's relationship changed after their son was born.
- That time I visited the hospital-- it was the first time that I saw some areas of concern
on my part on Ewen. He was kind of annoyed, I would say, that, you know, all of a sudden, there's this new individual
and this individual is getting all the attention. For some reason, he relapsed and started to drink again.
NARRATOR: And when he was drunk, Dewitt's mood would change. GERALD MINOGUE: On this particular Saturday,
he was supposedly taking care of the baby, but when she came home, he was drunk, very drunk.
That turned into an argument. TRICIA O'REILLY: She was holding the baby. She was walking down the stairs.
Not only did he push her-- she got up. - And he picked up a playpen and threw it at her,
OK, with the baby in her arms. TRICIA O'REILLY: And she covered the baby, of course.
And it hit her in the head. GERALD MINOGUE: This could have been a really big disaster.
My daughter had to go to the emergency room and had to have five staples put into her head.
NARRATOR: Julie called the police, who arrested Dewitt for domestic violence. - She just needed to be constantly reminded by me,
by her parents, by her other friends that you did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong.
NARRATOR: A protection order was issued against Dewitt. TRICIA O'REILLY: She moved out.
She ended the engagement. She ended all the entire relationship. And she started to pursue custody,
full custody of the baby. [GRIM MUSIC] NARRATOR: Detectives have the door cam footage
of their prime suspect. Julie's traumatized teenage son confirms that it's his mom's ex-partner and father to his
three-and-a-half-year-old brother, 42-year-old Ewen Dewitt. MARGARET E. KELLY: He definitely
recognized Mr. Dewitt, and he knew who it was that had done this to his mother. He'd been home sick from school that day,
was upstairs asleep when he heard noises and yelling. When he came down the stairs into the kitchen, when
he saw the condition that his mother was in, he fled back up the stairs, barricaded himself in his room,
and called 911. - Obviously, it's a horrific circumstance, but if the 17-year-old had tried
to confront the suspect in some way, things could have gotten worse. GERALD MINOGUE: I never saw anything like that coming.
I mean, I never did, OK? And, you know, should I have? I don't know, but I never saw it coming.
[RESONANT MUSIC] NARRATOR: Police launch a manhunt for Ewen Dewitt. MARGARET E. KELLY: At this point in the investigation,
no one really had any idea why Mr. Dewitt would murder the mother of his child. NARRATOR: Despite Julie securing a protection order,
Dewitt had been given visitation rights to their son. - At the time, all visitation was
to be supervised, so he wasn't supposed to be near her at all. - She wasn't thrilled about that,
but she realized that these are things that a father should have if he wants. NARRATOR: As time went on, Dewitt's behavior
became increasingly menacing. - The event that really turned this into, you know, from ugly to uglier is
when he thought that there was this prearranged meeting that they had that, you know, she didn't agree to.
She had other plans, and she never agreed to it. - Things escalated-- the texting.
Not just a one-sentence text message. Long, lengthy paragraphs with probably every word
was a curse word. - They're vulgar. They're harassing. You know, he calls her names.
He accuses her of, you know, leading him on, things like that. So just rantings, I guess, would be a fair description.
- Hundreds a day, hundreds, just evil. The threats against her, direct to her, was like a long Santa Claus list of just never-ending--
like, you know, like, the list just goes on and on and on. It was one text after another, and
it was just repetitiveness of just evil, sheer evil madness. NARRATOR: Julie was petrified.
She turned to the Milford police for help. GERALD MINOGUE: She explained to the police
that she has an order of protection against Ewen Dewitt, and she's scared of him.
- Disgusting, evil texts that she showed the Milford Police Department. She was terrified, absolutely terrified,
because he would say he was going to make sure that no one sees you again. GERALD MINOGUE: The policeman looked at the text and said,
well, there's enough here, you know, that he violated the order of protection, and I'm gonna, you know, request an arrest
warrant so that we go and arrest him and get him out of your life. NARRATOR: The arrest didn't happen.
Increasingly fearful, Julie tried something else to protect herself and her children.
- In November of 2022, Ms. Minogue also made an application to civil court for a civil restraining order to preclude Mr. Dewitt
from having further contact. [RESONANT MUSIC] GERALD MINOGUE: She went into court
just to strengthen everything that she had received. MARGARET E. KELLY: What I can tell
you is that Mr. Dewitt did not want the order put into place. GERALD MINOGUE: So on December 1, 2022, Julie went to court.
PROSECUTOR: Did there come a time, ma'am, that you had to go to the police recently?
JULIE MINOGUE: Yes, yes. I was getting harassing text messages. PROSECUTOR: And this is the number of text messages
that you got from Mr. Dewitt? JULIE MINOGUE: Yes PROSECUTOR: OK. JULIE MINOGUE: The police counted them as to 220.
PROSECUTOR: OK. JULIE MINOGUE: It was over two days. PROSECUTOR: Are you fearful of being in Mr. Dewitt's presence?
JULIE MINOGUE: Yes. - They asked Julie-- she was on the stand-- if she feared for her life.
She looked right at me. She had tears in her eyes. Her voice was shaking. And she said, yes, I fear for my life.
- Hearing Julie's voice in that hearing, you really hear her sort of desperation for something
to happen. [SOLEMN MUSIC] PROSECUTOR: Are you fearful for the safety of you and your children?
JULIE MINOGUE: Yes. PROSECUTOR: Is that fear heightened because of his alcohol problems?
JULIE MINOGUE: Absolutely. GERALD MINOGUE: Lo and behold, the judge said the restraining order was granted,
and I think that she felt very safe. She felt that she had done everything possible.
She thought that, in a matter of time, he was gonna be behind bars, and he was gonna be no problem to her.
TRICIA O'REILLY: The entire time, I just kept praying to God to keep her safe, keep the kids safe.
NARRATOR: Five days later, Julie Minogue was dead. Dewitt is the prime suspect.
[GRIM MUSIC] The doorbell footage reveals another potential factor behind the murder.
NICK BARREIRO: As he walks by here, there is a bit of-- not a stumble, but he crosses one leg over the other.
That either looks like hesitation, like he's not sure where he's going, and he changes direction at the last second
as he's taking a step. Or potentially, he knows where he's going, but it's certainly possible that he
is just losing his balance at that point because he's intoxicated. And if that's the case, it could go to his state of mind
when he was committing this act. This video seems to indicate that he had been drinking heavily that night.
Based on the information that this suspect was a recovering alcoholic that was slipping and struggling to stay sober
and then just recently found out that his ex-girlfriend had obtained a restraining
order against him, certainly seems like motive for what we see in this video. [GRIM MUSIC]
NARRATOR: Despite the manhunt, police appear no closer to finding Dewitt until, out of the blue,
they get a call. ETHAN FRY: While looking for Dewitt, police got a tip from an unexpected source.
Dewitt's own mother called them and told them that he had just called her and confessed to having killed Julie.
MARGARET E. KELLY: Dewitt's mother said that my son just called. He said he killed his girlfriend.
She indicated that he was wandering around, and she did not know where he was. ETHAN FRY: It's hard to know exactly why Dewitt's mother
called police, but in some way, maybe she wanted to see him be held accountable.
NARRATOR: Dewitt's mother gives detectives his cell number. - Almost immediately after that, police called Mr. Dewitt.
He answered his phone but would not engage in any conversation. [SIREN WAILS] The police were able to ping Mr. Dewitt's phone
and find the general area of where the phone was located. They went over to that location,
which is in a neighboring town close to the border of Milford. [SIREN WAILS] There was a bar at that location.
The police provided a picture to some patrons of Mr. Dewitt. They indicated he had just left there and gone
into the back parking lot. - Dewitt was found pretty soon after in a trailer. MARGARET E. KELLY: When the police
arrested Mr. Dewitt inside that trailer, he did not resist. [SIREN WAILS] [RADIO CHATTER]
- Anytime there's a homicide and there's a suspect at large, I think there is a sense of relief
in the community when the suspect is taken into custody. [SOLEMN MUSIC] [SIREN WAILS]
- I was glad that he was locked up at that point, and I just wanted to make sure I did everything in my power
that he stayed that way. NARRATOR: Held in custody, detectives question Dewitt.
- I'm sure police wanted to learn why he would do something like this and with such violence to the mother
of his three-year-old son. [GRIM MUSIC] MARGARET E. KELLY: What would have caused Mr. Dewitt to commit this crime,
and to commit it in such a brutal manner? ETHAN FRY: According to police, he said that he had just, quote, "had enough"
and sort of snapped. - He, at some point, made comments, well, I did it. So in that sense, he did confess.
ETHAN FRY: That night, the suspect had taken a Lyft rideshare from his home in Roxbury, Connecticut.
He had an ax with him in the vehicle. And then it dropped him off outside of Julie's condo,
and he stormed into the condo and killed her with the ax while her three-year-old son and 17-year-old
son were in the home. NARRATOR: Despite Dewitt's confession, he offers no real clue to his motive.
- I'm not sure we'll ever learn why all this really happened. - How could somebody hate somebody that much that
they say they cannot live. I can't understand it. [SOLEMN MUSIC] NARRATOR: More than two years after the murder,
to avoid facing a jury, Dewitt takes a plea deal. ETHAN FRY: I think the family accepted the plea deal in a way
to avoid a trial and having all of this evidence have to come out again. - Trial is truly emotional, something
I think we all wanted to be-- wanted to avoid, especially from the fact that the eyewitness, my grandson,
would have to testify. MARGARET E. KELLY: It would have been almost impossible not to have him testify.
It's absolutely horrific to have to put a child on the stand, and especially a child
who witnessed his mother get brutally murdered. [RESONANT MUSIC] NARRATOR: There was another witness
on the night of Julie's murder that proved crucial to Dewitt's conviction. MARGARET E. KELLY: The doorbell footage
was important because it corroborated other evidence that we had from her son, who was
present for some of the circumstances that night. ETHAN FRY: Something I talked to both prosecutors and defense
attorneys a lot is how much camera footage has changed how courts work. [CAMERA WHIRS]
Surveillance footage from cameras we see all over the place makes what happened clearer in ways
that weren't so clear before. NARRATOR: During the sentencing hearing, Julie's family gave impact statements
on the effect of her death. GERALD MINOGUE: Finally, after almost three years, my daughter's life was brought to light again.
She was part of the discussion again where, up until that point, everything was about the defendant,
so it's really an emotional thing. And we had a chance to speak and explain and say what-- say what we felt about the whole thing.
And that was very emotional. Calling this painful is a gross understatement. Julie's sons were even denied the ability
to see their mother's remains during her viewing due to the brutality committed by the defendant
when he murdered her. I will always carry the weight of the horrible thought of the pain, horror, and fear my daughter experienced
those last few moments of her life, attacked viciously by an ax by an evil monster.
- In a lot of homicides, the defense will try to put a psychiatric report together about a defendant who has mental health issues.
In this case, we learned that the suspect allegedly had PTSD and alcohol abuse problems
after serving in the military. So I think part of the defense effort was to try to put that together in a report
to try to help mitigate the behavior he was accused of. MARGARET E. KELLY: Mr. Dewitt's attorney
mentioned in his sentencing comments that Mr. Dewitt had acted impulsively. There is no indication, based on the record
of this case and the evidence, that this was an impulsive act. Mr. Dewitt took a Uber or a Lyft ride
from quite some distance away, concealing an ax in his pants, to go to Ms. Minogue's home.
There's no indication that this was an impulsive act. NARRATOR: When prosecuting attorney, Margaret E. Kelly,
challenges the defense's case, Dewitt shows his true colors. MARGARET E. KELLY: There is no indication whatsoever that this
was an impulsive act. This was a cold, calculated, well thought out. EWEN DEWITT: That's [BLEEP]
MAN: Hey. WOMAN: Watch your mouth. OFFICER: Sit down. Sit down. EWEN DEWITT: [BLEEP]
JUDGE: Mr. Dewitt, if outbursts like that continue, I'm left with no other choice
but to remove you from the courtroom and the sentence-- EWEN DEWITT: That would be great.
NARRATOR: Ewen Dewitt is sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Julie Minogue.
- I don't think any sentence can make a murder victim's family happy. I think that the Minogue family was very gracious and patient
during the entire process. And I certainly recognize that they wanted more years,
but I think, all in all, they-- they understood why the court made that offer. GERALD MINOGUE: 40 years for a person's life
doesn't sound like a lot, OK, be honest with you. But when I put the pieces together that he's 45 years old
now and that he'd be getting out of jail, you know, in his 80s, OK, you know, he's probably
gonna die in jail. [SOLEMN MUSIC] - I think that this murder just highlights the horrible effects
of domestic violence. ETHAN FRY: Julie's family and a lot of her friends and domestic violence advocates would say this absolutely
could have been avoided, and there were a lot of warning signs. NARRATOR: Julie's murder highlights
issues around domestic abuse and failures by the authorities to protect her. TRICIA O'REILLY: Julie did everything in her power.
She dotted her i's, crossed her t's, did everything that you were supposed to do or we
have been told as women with domestic situations to do. - Every domestic violence homicide obviously is tragic.
I think what caused such an outcry after this one was the fact that Julie had complained to police a month before the killing.
I mean, we have Julie's own words. She wrote in that affidavit asking for the restraining order.
I mean, she literally wrote, "He's going to kill me." Those were the last words of her statement,
which are profound in light of what happened. TRICIA O'REILLY: They always told her that they would take care of this
and that she would be OK. They always assured her that they were going to arrest him.
She was always told this. Didn't happen. - Obviously, Julie's family will never be the same after this.
One positive thing that happened was the community outcry was so profound that lawmakers in Connecticut passed changes
to laws to give better protections and warnings to victims of domestic violence.
That included a GPS alert system to give victims in high-risk domestic violence cases
more of a warning that the perpetrators are nearby. [SOMBER MUSIC] GERALD MINOGUE: My daughter's death, as terrible as it is,
will save people's lives now. Unfortunately, she couldn't take advantage of that.
But now other women can take advantage of it because of, you know, what happened to my daughter.
TRICIA O'REILLY: I still reach for the phone to call her every day-- good times, bad times, good things, bad things.
I know she's with me, with all of us. She should be here. I just can't believe that that-- that it
has happened-- that it happened and how it happened. NARRATOR: Julie's youngest child is now in the care
of his half brother. - The children are, for the most part, doing very well, OK, I would have to say.
But there's no doubt that there's a lot of pain, and there's a big hole that's left.
- It's a shock you never get out of. I still am in shock. - And you know, every birthday that comes up,
you have, you know, somebody that's not there every Christmas, every Thanksgiving,
every special event. She's not there. And that hurts, OK? - They lost the best, best person in their life.
And it's just-- the saddest thing in the world is that you hear it all the time, she should be here.
But it's the truth. [THEME MUSIC] [RADIANT MUSIC] [BRIGHT MUSIC]

A teen calls 9-1-1 after seeing his mother being attacked by a man with an axe. Her violent ex-partner is caught on doorbell camera carrying the weapon, and her family says the system failed her.

This true crime series delves into the chilling stories of homicide investigations where crucial evidence is captured on doorbell camera or home security footage.

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Brief Summary

Julie Minogue was murdered by her ex-partner Ewen Dewitt, highlighting failures in domestic violence protection.

Key points

The Disturbing 911 Call. A distraught 17-year-old calls 911, revealing a violent crime scene.
The Gruesome Discovery. Police find Julie Minogue, the victim, with fatal injuries in her home.
A Mother's Love. Julie Minogue was a devoted mother, raising three sons with love.
The Shocking Video Evidence. Surveillance footage captures a man with an ax near the crime scene.
Escalating Threats. Julie Minogue's ex-partner sends hundreds of threatening messages before her death.
Julie Minogue's Fear. In a hearing, Julie Minogue expresses her fear for her life due to her abuser.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was just blown away. I was devastated.

Gerald Minogue shares his reaction to the news of his daughter's death.

4:14WatchMar 2, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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