Body in the Bag | Case Files: Dark Waters | Forensic Files

[water sloshing] [theme music] NARRATOR: Sitting close to the Florida coastline,
the city of Pensacola is the magnet for tourists. [stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER: Our beaches are beautiful.
People come here for vacations a lot. You know, we have a lot of up-and-coming small
businesses downtown. Our downtown is thriving. NARRATOR: Often dubbed the Cradle of Aviation,
a large swathe of Pensacola and its waterways is home to the US Navy's aviator training
school and air station. This military base sits in sheltered waters to the southwest of the city, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
- We're heading to an area called Navy point. And it's a body of water that is around
the outside of the Navy base. You can see a lot of people out here walking their dogs.
This is an area where you can come and enjoy outdoor activities. The water is over here.
Jet skiers do use that. [stirring music] NARRATOR: And it's jet skiers who made a discovery around 3:00 PM one November afternoon.
A large, overly stuffed duffel bag washed up on the shoreline. [stirring music] SHANNON BRIARTON: They thought maybe it was, you know,
money or drugs or something of that nature. But as they got closer to it, they could smell
a foulness coming from it. JOHNATHAN THACKER: They didn't open it. It was actually a small lock on the duffel bag
that would prevent somebody from opening it. They could see that there was insect activity
on and around the duffel bag. [water sloshing] [stirring music] SARAH MORMINO: The fact that the bag was surrounded by flies
and other insect activity leads us to believe that there is more in that bag than just
maybe luggage. It could be remains. Blow flies and other insects, they can smell decomposing flesh from miles away.
Once that odor is exposed to air, it does not take them long to find the body. Having those flies swarm that bag
is a key indication that there is something that we need to look more into. [water sloshing]
JOHNATHAN THACKER: They could see fluids coming out of the duffel bag. Some very unpleasant things.
So they knew enough to call the Sheriff's Office. [stirring music] We're on a trail right now.
And this is the way we actually went to recover the bag. - When they got close to the duffel bag and opened it,
they were able to see that there was a body of a female inside. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It was found right over here
in the duffel bag washed on the shore. [stirring music] It was a little chill in the air, a little overcast.
Yeah, this reminds me a lot of exactly what it was like that day. NARRATOR: Faced with a suspicious death,
police quickly cordoned off the shoreline. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It is a process of documenting the scene, collecting
evidence from the scene. At that time, it was a Sheriff's Office assisting, as well with their crime scene unit.
[stirring music] - Especially in large bodies of water, you never know where the body exactly came from.
So when you're trying to secure the scene, you don't know what you're securing because you don't know what's involved versus what isn't.
It's always better to be safe than sorry, and to tape off as much area as you can, and thoroughly
examine all of those areas. JOHNATHAN THACKER: A body in the water, it adds a level of complexity to the case,
makes that much more challenging to investigate. - Typically, when a body is discovered,
the medical examiner or forensic pathologist is called out to the scene. That body is then placed in a body bag,
usually on some type of a clean white sheet. That sheet is also taken to the morgue with the body,
and it is examined for trace evidence. Oftentimes, the hands are also wrapped in baggies
to preserve any evidence that may be there in order to help solve the case. SHANNON BRIARTON: When we got the body to the morgue
and opened the duffel bag, she was crammed in there. JOHNATHAN THACKER: She was in that bag in the fetal position,
so her knees were up close to her chest. And she was clothed only with a bra. She had nothing else on.
JONI JOHNSTON: Whenever you find a young woman, especially who is nude and she's deceased, I think immediately,
this raises the question of is there some kind of sexual component. NARRATOR: Police needed to establish
whether the victim was alive or dead when she entered the water. MICHELLE DUPRE: One of the techniques
that we use is we actually float the lungs. If the lungs float in a pail of water,
then there is no water in the lungs. If they don't float, then they are water-laden.
There was no water in the lungs, and so we know that she was already dead before she
was tossed into the water. [water sloshing] She was strangled. And we can tell that because we look for things like petechiae
in the eyes, petechiae around the eyelids. Petechiae are very small, punctate hemorrhages that appear because of pressure.
And that pressure occurs because of tightening around the neck. SHANNON BRIARTON: She was also duct-taped
around her entire face. Her wrists were duct-tied. JONI JOHNSTON: I think as a psychologist,
when you have somebody's face covered up, you always wonder why. If there is a sense of wanting to kind of,
you know, cover this person up. Maybe they knew her. Maybe there's a sense of shame.
And, of course, there's also the obvious question, how did she die? And if this is the way that she died,
if this person actually covered her face up to asphyxiate her, that really does suggest a very sadistic way
of murdering somebody. It is a very personal way to murder somebody. You are putting your hands on that person.
And you are watching that person's eyes. And you can see their expression as you do that.
And it does take several minutes for that person to suffocate. And you are wrapping that tape.
So it is a very gruesome and brutal and really sadistic way to kill somebody. [stirring music]
NARRATOR: Knowing they were now dealing with a murder, detectives searched for any clues that
might lead them to the killer. SHANNON BRIARTON: We were concerned that she was in the saltwater for any length of time.
Really, you know, you lose DNA evidence. You lose any evidence of a sexual assault.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: Within the bag, there was at least one paper towel. Once it was allowed to be dried out,
you could see very clearly that it had a very distinctive pattern on it. There was also what looked to be a Clorox type wipe.
Every time you need one, you just pull the next one. It was one of those types. - We noticed that she was also missing one earring.
She had one gold hoop in, and then one that was not in. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It had a bit of a distinctive design to it.
It was not so normal that it would be just any earring. It could have very well been matched
to another had it been found. So the thought was that perhaps that earring had come off
of her ear someplace where the murder occurred, or maybe even in the vehicle that transported her.
A lot of possibilities. - Finding the Clorox wipes and discovering that she might be missing an earring was very crucial.
NARRATOR: It was a starting point for investigators. But one big question remained--
who was the unidentified victim? [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Pensacola, police are investigating
a gruesome discovery. A duffel bag has washed ashore containing a woman who's been
bound with tape and strangled. - It's very common for killers to dispose of a body close
to an area where they live, whether they work. And also if it's water, oftentimes a place
they're familiar with that's in water. And so here we have this duffel bag that's washed up very close to a local Naval base,
which I think immediately gives investigators a clue. Could this be somebody who is actually working
or affiliated with this location? [water sloshing] - For this case, with her being off of the Gulf of Mexico,
a salt water that is high on crustaceans. Eventually, crustaceans could have found their way
into the bag, thus eating some of the remains, causing more trauma to the body that was not already there.
Her remains were found to not have a lot of animal activity. That leads us to believe that the body was not
in the water for an extended period of time, because the aquatic life did not have time to access the bag.
NARRATOR: Now police must urgently find out who the victim is. [stirring music] BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: I was in contact
with our medical examiner who was conducting the autopsy of the body that was found.
It was learned, once the body was removed, that it was a Black female. NARRATOR: They started by reviewing
missing person reports recently filed in the county. [stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER: As the detective on duty,
I was alerted to a suspicious call that our patrol officers had gone to. NARRATOR: The call was from Sylvia Watkins,
who hadn't seen her 25-year-old sister Samira, a mother of one, for several days.
SHANNON BRIARTON: She hadn't been seen or heard from. It was very unusual. She didn't show up to see her child.
It was around Halloween time, so she wasn't there to take him trick-or-treating.
We decided that we should go ahead and start looking into her disappearance. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: Samira Watkins
was working as a shift supervisor for a local restaurant. She was also going to school at night for dental hygienists.
It was very much out of the ordinary for Samira not to have any contact with her family.
They were very close knit. So the fact that no one had heard from Samira for some time
was very alarming. NARRATOR: Police started putting together a timeline of Samira's last movements.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: Samira's sister reported that Samira had gotten off from work around 9:00 PM and drove all the way
to, roughly, the downtown area of Pensacola, where they all lived. She was responsible.
She didn't disappear without notice. She had a good job. We reached out to her employer.
And they had also expressed concern because she had not showed up for her shift.
We talked to the school and found out that she also had not shown up to her classes.
We knew what her car looked like. That vehicle was nowhere to be found. All these things are continuing to build
concern about her well-being. NARRATOR: The sudden disappearance of Samira and her car prompted police to take a closer
look at those who knew her. SHANNON BRIARTON: After looking into Samira's life, we discovered that her son's father had been very abusive,
and he had been arrested for it. JONI JOHNSTON: She was involved with him for about three years.
It was just incredibly horrible relationship for her. He, in fact, as a matter of fact,
ended up going to prison for domestic abuse when he kidnaps her and won't let her go for days.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: That was an incident that occurred here in Pensacola. He had gotten out of prison not too long
before Samira went missing. There is now that possibility-- could that have been what happened to Samira?
Could the father of her child, having gotten out of prison, could he have done something to her?
SHANNON BRIARTON: So, obviously, we wanted to talk to him as well. JOHNATHAN THACKER: Some of the main things we were doing
was looking at his criminal history, trying to pull together all the cases. Anything that would show us that he
had those violent tendencies. We're looking at his probation status. Is he on probation or on parole?
Where he's checking in? Where does he live now? What address did he give? And once he was out of prison, you usually give
an address looking at that. NARRATOR: It didn't take detectives long to track him down.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: Samira's ex-boyfriend, his alibi was that when he got out of prison,
he began to work doing overnight cleaning. Him and his crew, they would go into offices, things like that.
And they would clean all throughout the night. SHANNON BRIARTON: Samira's ex-boyfriend had a solid alibi.
We were able to determine that he worked in different office buildings, and we were able to confirm that he was
there through his coworkers. NARRATOR: Investigators hit a dead end. But soon another name came to their attention--
a man known as Ricky Littleton. JOHNATHAN THACKER: So when I interviewed Samira's sister,
she kept talking about this boyfriend of Samira's, and she kept calling him Ricky.
She didn't know his last name, but she knew he was in the military. And she had explained to me that Samira and Ricky
had been seeing each other. That the relationship had turned sexual at some point,
and that Samira was pregnant. And she had said that the baby was this guy Ricky's.
She told her sister, I'm going to go meet with Ricky, and we're going to talk about our future.
And specifically the fact that Samira was pregnant. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: Samira just
happened to meet Littleton when she was going on to the Naval Air Station in the earlier
part of the summer of 2009. They met at the front gate. There was a little bit of flirting
exchanged back and forth. Littleton was a very handsome young man, was obviously in the military and responsible.
And certainly this was someone that Samira could see building a relationship with.
JONI JOHNSTON: She has found somebody who is the exact opposite of her abusive partner,
or ex-partner. This is somebody who is not only in the military, who's a stable career,
has no black marks on his record. He's a police officer in the military. So I would imagine that when she first met him,
it must have been so exciting. NARRATOR: Detectives asked Samira's new boyfriend Ricky
to s with their enquiries. JOHNATHAN THACKER: There's a couple of things that were odd with Ricky.
When I called him to ask him to come to talk to me, he actually-- when I said, hey Ricky, he corrected me
and said, no, this is Zac. Well, it was the same guy. So right off the bat, we're being--
I'm finding out that he's using a fake name while dealing with Samira and her family.
NARRATOR: Not only had Zach been calling himself Ricky, he was also married, with a child of his own.
[stirring music] SHANNON BRIARTON: Initially, he wouldn't admit to being even intimate with her.
And he goes on to say that the reason why is because he was accused of adultery several
months back. And the military really frowns on that. So he was really scared that he was going to get in trouble.
- In the military, you can be dishonorably discharged for having an affair. And he knows this.
His wife has been stationed out of state, and so he is basically living a double life.
- It was a red flag that he showed very little concern. He seemed more put off or annoyed that he had to be here.
As opposed to somebody that would at least say, hey, I really hate to hear that this young lady is missing.
Maybe I can do something to help. It's more like, hey, I need to get out of here.
I got to get back to work. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: He mentioned that the last time he had seen Samira
was the Wednesday before she was reported missing. JOHNATHAN THACKER: I know from talking to her sister
that, now the day of her disappearance, she indeed was leaving to go to Zachary Littleton's apartment.
BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: When I reviewed the first interview, he tried to distance himself from any sort of relationship
or contact with her. When I reviewed the second interview, he seemed to be a little more forthcoming
as far as his relationship with her, his sexual relationship with her, and the fact
that he knew she was pregnant. He also was using terms in the past tense, so that was a little unusual.
NARRATOR: Despite their suspicions, police still didn't have anything concrete against Littleton.
- Yeah, I didn't have sufficient evidence to be able to arrest him or do anything further,
so I had to let him go. [stirring music] NARRATOR: In Florida, police investigating the disappearance
of mother of one Samira Watkins are waiting to identify the body of a woman washed up in a duffel bag on the Pensacola shoreline.
- This body that was found in a duffel bag was identified by using fingerprints.
[stirring music] MICHELLE DUPRE: Some of the challenges when a body has been in water, in particular,
are things like identifying that person. However, we can often get fingerprints,
even if bodies have been in water for some time. Because we can infuse that finger with other water to
puff it up, if you will, and actually obtain that fingerprint. Another technique that we often use
is something called degloving, and that's where the skin actually slips off of the hand.
We put on a gloved hand, and we put that skin over our glove, and then we can actually roll that person's fingerprint
onto a fingerprint identification card and hopefully get an ID that way. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: At the time of our autopsy,
only one gold earring was found. There was an impression in the other ear, but the earring was not there.
Samira's family represented to us that she wore a gold pair of earrings all the time.
They were very unique set of gold earrings. NARRATOR: Together with DNA and physical evidence
found at the scene, the body was confirmed to be that of missing young mom Samira Watkins.
SHANNON BRIARTON: When we found out that it was definitely Samira in the bag, we knew that she
was very close to the family. They all lived in a house together. Her young child stayed there with her,
so we knew that telling the family was going to be very difficult and very emotional.
NARRATOR: With Samira no longer a missing person, but the center of a homicide case,
detectives focused their investigation on her boyfriend, Zach Littleton. - When Samira told Zach she was pregnant,
he was not supportive. Didn't want anything to do with co-parenting with her. In fact, he didn't believe it was his.
He said that he always used protection. And he asked her to have an abortion. And his wife was soon to arrive here in Pensacola as well.
BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: The other thing that also focused our attention on Zachary Littleton
was the fact that he was in the military. And having extramarital affairs is against the code of conduct for the military,
so that certainly raised some concerns. - It's very, very clear he has no intention of having any kind
of long-term relationship with her by the fact that he uses a false name when he introduces himself.
So this is somebody who's used to deception and deceiving women. - Once the body was identified to be Samira Watkins,
obviously, the investigation at that point sort of ramps up. Now, we are pretty certain that this is, in fact,
Zachary Littleton's doing. NARRATOR: Now, detectives had to find evidence to support their suspicions.
At - That point in time, in 2009, the cell phone technology analysis was pretty new.
So, at that point, law enforcement reached out to NCIS because they had some newer technology,
and they were able to analyze Samira and Zachary's cell phones. - Samira's cell phone showed that shortly after she
left her home and left her child with her sister, you can see her travels using mapping
and the cell tower hits. And you can see her leaving and going really across town to a tower that is located
basically adjacent to Zachary Littleton's apartment. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: When Zachary Littleton was initially
interviewed, he mentioned to law enforcement that he had two different cell phones.
He had one with an area code of 843 that he never let Samira have. He also had another number that started with a 777,
and that was the primary phone that he communicated with Samira. NARRATOR: Detectives also discovered
an unidentified phone number on Samira's cell phone. JOHNATHAN THACKER: There is a brand
new phone number that Samira is calling at that time. There ended up being 47 calls in that
9-day period to this, what I would call a mystery phone number. Equally concerning was the fact that that number of a sudden
just went cold. It really implied that whoever owns that number knew something happened to Samira, and she wasn't
going to be able to answer the phone, even if they called. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: Once they
got the cell phone records for this unknown number, it turned out to be a track phone or a prepaid phone.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: So it's rather difficult sometimes to get information on those phones.
But we did get lucky, and we did discover that this particular phone number was registered
to a Zach Littleton. - So I learned a lot of things from Zach's friends and coworkers.
One thing I learned is that he had a reputation of being a womanizer. That Samira was not the only girl
who he had had a relationship with, even though he was married. That he had skirted some punishment with the military
previously for infidelity. - This was somebody who was willing to break the rules, who
was willing to lie, who was willing to have relationships with women under false pretenses
to get what he wanted. He's somebody who, on the surface, is an upstanding police officer and military guy.
From the very beginning, while Samira sees him as somebody who could be a knight
in shining armor in some ways, he sees her as just another fling. He tells investigators so many different lies about his alibi,
about his relationship with Samira, about where he was. I mean, he is, obviously, somebody who's
very comfortable with lying. And I think, this, of course, backfires. And so all this deception really becomes more
damning evidence against him. [stirring music] BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: They started
canvassing the apartment complex where Zachary lived. And they were able to speak with one of the tenants, who
mentioned that they had seen a male and a female arguing close to Zachary Littleton's apartment
the night that Samira went missing. Coupled with everything else that law enforcement had
at that point, they had enough probable cause to obtain a search warrant to search
Zachary Littleton's home. NARRATOR: Officers descended on the apartment where they believed the suspect lived at the time
Samira went missing. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: The original apartment of Zachary Littleton was searched by law enforcement.
But because he had already moved out of it, there was not anything found that was significant to the investigation.
- Furniture was gone. The belongings were picked up and moved. - There were no obvious signs of a struggle
or blood or anything of that nature, because he had already moved and the apartment
had been cleaned out. NARRATOR: It was a blow for police desperate to get justice
for the victim and her family. JOHNATHAN THACKER: It's a cold-hearted thing to do, to place somebody in a bag
and to throw them in this waterway like their life wasn't worth anything. And that is very sad.
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Despite a lack of hard evidence linking him to the crime, police
were still convinced Zachary Littleton had killed Samira Watkins and dumped her body in water
near the Pensacola Naval base. JOHNATHAN THACKER: So I do have a theory on how Samira
got placed in the water. There is a bridge there. That's the bridge that enters into the Navy base itself.
I don't really think that Littleton used that bridge to throw her body into the water.
I think that there's just too much security on that bridge. There's cameras. I think what he actually did use is this bridge over here.
And this bridge would have been a more quaint bridge. It doesn't have all the traffic on it.
This one barely has the first car going across it. And I think that that makes better sense also,
because I think that this body of water tends to want to flush things out. I think that she went into the water there,
and that duffel bag made its way through that short period of distance over to the spot
where it was found. NARRATOR: But detectives needed more proof before they could
arrest Littleton for murder. Could the waters at the crime scene help prove that Samira's body was dumped
not far from the Naval base where Littleton worked? [water sloshing] - Anytime we find evidence or a body in the water,
we always collect a water sample. In that way, if we ever need to compare them, we can.
Ideally, what we want to see is that the organisms, the bacteria, and the water makeup found within the lungs,
sinuses, or around the remains match that type of water where the remains were found.
In this case, it's believed that Samira's remains were not dumped too far from shore.
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Detectives now turn their attention to the next address Zachary Littleton had lived at that.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: What we learned was that Zachary, when he left that apartment,
he moved into a home. He was looking to bring his wife, their child to this home.
So it wasn't an apartment. It was an actual house. - When law enforcement executed a search warrant
at Zachary Littleton's new home, they found some Lysol wipes. They found gray duct tape.
They found paper towels that were consistent with the pattern of the paper towel that was found in the duffel bag with Samira's body.
- I was tasked to search one of the front rooms of the home. And in there was one of those clear,
like comforter bags that a comforter comes in, with just miscellaneous stuff in it.
And I sort of scooped my hand down and got a handful. And there was the gold earring that she
had been wearing, that matched the earring that was on her. - It was just kind of one of those almost
Eureka moments, that it was the nail that was going to seal his coffin. Because this gold earring was unique, and so important
to the investigation. [stirring music] NARRATOR: The discovery of the earring was a major breakthrough in the case against Littleton.
But there was more to come. - Every investigator was tasked with little things to follow-up on.
We knew that her car was missing. So the thought was, you know, if somebody did do something to her, they had to get rid of her car.
And then after a little while, her car was discovered at a vacant house over an area called Bellview.
And then they had to get a way back home. So back then, taxicabs were still pretty popular.
We didn't have the Uber or the Lyft. So I went to the local yellow cab location,
and asked if they kept records of their fares and where they picked them up at, what phone number they called from, maybe they had a name.
And sure enough, there was a person named Zack who called to get picked up from the Waffle House that was not too far from where
her car was discovered. JOHNATHAN THACKER: I went to that restaurant to look at their video.
They pulled up the date and time that matched when that taxicab had picked up this individual.
And what it showed was Zachary Littleton. He's holding in his hands a canister of wipes, the exact kind that you
would use to clean up things. SHANNON BRIARTON: So by seeing the Clorox wipes in his hand,
we figured that was pretty immediately after the crime. He was probably wiping the car, steering
wheel down, or whatever to remove DNA or fingerprints. JOHNATHAN THACKER: Well, he walks in.
And he asks one of the employees if he could borrow their phone. They get the phone for him.
And that's when he calls the taxi right there from the restaurant. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: We believe the reason
that Zachary Littleton used the phone inside of the Waffle House was so that it could
not be traced back to him. Obviously, we know that he had three phones, and so he could have used any one of those three.
But instead he decided to go inside and use a landline phone that he probably hoped wouldn't be traced.
[stirring music] It was my goal to present this case before a grand jury in an effort
to seek a first degree, premeditated murder indictment. [stirring music] [water sloshing]
NARRATOR: Police in Pensacola are investigating the murder of a woman found washed
up on the Florida coastline. Their prime suspect, married military man Zachary Littleton,
has still not been charged with killing his pregnant lover, Samira Watkins. SHANNON BRIARTON: I think the motive for Zach
doing this was he wanted to be here and play until his wife got here. And I think that Samira being pregnant,
and now his wife is due to arrive in Pensacola any day, was his motive to get rid of, at least, the baby and Samira.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: My belief is that Samira likely was attacked by Littleton. That he grabbed her by her throat
and strangled her to death. He added the tape around her mouth and nose when she was unconscious to make sure that she
was not going to come back. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: The fact that he dumped the body and water was obviously
in an attempt to try and get rid of the body, number one, as well as any evidence.
[water sloshing] - It is likely that Mr. Littleton put Samira's remains, as well as the other pieces
of evidence, in that bag, and dumped her in the water in hopes that she would sink,
and none of that evidence would ever be found. In most cases, though, bodies, once they start to decompose,
those gases build in their system. And no matter how they're weighted down, in most cases,
they are going to float. And that's exactly what happened in this case. She floated, along with all of the evidence
that he had trapped inside the bag. [water sloshing] SHANNON BRIARTON: We discovered on his computer Google searches
that were to the effect of, how to speed up a body decomposition, do saltwater speed up body composition.
Those two searches were made days before Samira went missing. - We have to think that it was a huge surprise
to Zachary Littleton when Samira's body washes up. I don't think he was anticipating that.
And as, you know, the bag is opened and they start uncovering all these clues and the earring
and those kinds of things. And investigators began looking at him more closely because they've now ruled out her ex-partner.
I think he does have to scramble around and start making up things. And I think what we start seeing is,
you know, again, some of the lies he's telling really end up becoming the best evidence against him.
And some of these lies can be so easily disproven. He really shoots himself in the foot by a lot of the lies
that he tells. - After Samira's car was discovered, it then got towed back to a vehicle impound,
where it is processed for any sort of evidence and DNA. The steering wheel was swabbed for DNA
and was later determined to have Zachary Littleton's DNA on it. JOHNATHAN THACKER: Zachary Littleton
had told me previously he had never driven her car. And his DNA being on the steering wheel does
tend to show that he did drive it. NARRATOR: Police now felt they had enough evidence, including
phone records and Samira's earring found at his home, to charge Littleton with her murder.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: It is a good feeling to know that at that point that we would
be able to make the arrest. And I especially felt good with him knowing he wasn't going to slide.
He wasn't going to get past this. Perhaps he may have been thinking that at that point
that he was in the clear. SHANNON BRIARTON: There was no reaction. He was as calm as he was in the interview room
at the time of his arrest. - As I was putting all of the evidence together in preparation for the jury trial of this case.
I felt relatively confident that, in fact, once I could put everything together,
it would paint a clear picture that Zachary Littleton was the one who committed this crime.
NARRATOR: The prosecution also hoped to establish that more than one life was taken by Littleton that day.
[stirring music] MICHELLE DUPRE: In Samira's case, there is actually some concern that she may have been pregnant
at the time of her death. Medically, during the autopsy, of course, we always examine the female uterus.
It was not found that she was pregnant at this time. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: Samira's body
had been submerged in water for at least five days, and so the medical examiner was not
able to make a determination as to whether there was a fetus. We did have evidence from the doctor
that confirmed Samira's pregnancy, that she was, in fact pregnant. But we could not confirm it through the autopsy process.
MICHELLE DUPRE: This was very important because that would affect the charging process.
Someone could be charged with two cases of homicide in that case, but she was not medically found to be pregnant.
NARRATOR: Littleton was therefore only charged with one count of homicide. - After Zachary Littleton was arrested, in this case,
he went for a first appearance in front of a judge within 24 hours. And it was at that point that his lawyers entered a plea
of not guilty on his behalf. [stirring music] - So I was nervous come trial time
because I could see the picture here, the story of what happened. I could see that because I lived
it and I was involved in it. But you never know how a jury is going to see it. BRIDGETTE MYERS JENSEN: The case of Zachary Littleton
took approximately three days to try in front of a jury in Escambia County. I believe once the full picture was painted
for the jury of the different pieces of evidence-- again, the gold earring, the Waffle House video surveillance,
the DNA on the steering wheel, the neighbor that saw the two arguing. Everything put together, I believe,
painted a clear picture for the jury that Zachary Littleton was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
JOHNATHAN THACKER: The defense attorneys don't go easy on you. They don't because it's not in their best
interest or their client's. Most of it was pretty cut and dry. But they always do try to find the weak points.
NARRATOR: But the evidence against Littleton was overwhelming. - The jury returned with a verdict
after approximately three or four hours of deliberations. They saw all the evidence.
And they came back with a guilty verdict. - It was at that point that I turned around
and looked in the audience. And I saw Samira's family members that just wept openly.
And then the judge sentenced Zachary to life in prison without parole. [stirring music]
- So when I heard the guilty verdict for Zach, it was very satisfying. But it was also overwhelming.
There was a lot of emotion. This was a very hard case to investigate. It involved a young, successful girl who was pregnant.
[stirring music] JOHNATHAN THACKER: Very sad. A victim that was, in many ways, had some vulnerabilities that were exploited by Littleton.
Being at the front gate, you're wearing a uniform. You're a person of authority.
Could he be looking for people that were a little vulnerable? Absolutely. He could have been doing that all along,
and that was part of the way he would find women. And Samira would have been a prime target
for that in many ways. - It's one thing to be a police officer who may be investigating crimes on the base.
It's another thing to try to be a sophisticated criminal. And he wasn't. He left so many things behind.
Part of that was him, you know, in that situation, feeling desperate and trying to get rid of everything.
And I think the other part of it was kind of just being naive about the fact that, you know,
or either overly confident about the fact that he can just put all this stuff in a bag and dump it.
He wanted to erase the whole thing. And maybe by packing this bag, he kind of fooled himself into thinking,
this is my way of just getting rid of everything, which was the exact opposite of what happened.
- The satisfaction faction from proving this case really goes for the family members.
Samira was such a young, beautiful girl with her whole future ahead of her. So to be able to get some level of justice for this family
is certainly rewarding. [stirring music] [theme music]

A murdered woman is found inside a duffle bag washed up on the Florida coast.

In this chilling true crime series, detectives, pathologists and police divers work together to decode complex crime scenes where victims' bodies are discovered in water.

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Brief Summary

Samira Watkins was murdered, and Zachary Littleton was convicted after evidence linked him to the crime.

Key points

Gruesome Discovery in Pensacola. A duffel bag washes ashore containing the body of a bound and strangled woman.
The Search for Clues. Detectives investigate the circumstances surrounding Samira's disappearance and her relationships.
Identifying the Victim. Police confirm the identity of the body found in the duffel bag as Samira Watkins.
The Mystery Phone Number. Detectives uncover a mysterious phone number linked to Samira, raising suspicions about her fate.
Earring Discovery. A significant breakthrough occurs when investigators find Samira's unique earring at Littleton's home.
Zachary Littleton Arrested. After gathering substantial evidence, police arrest Zachary Littleton for the murder of Samira Watkins.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It could be remains.

Sarah Mormino discusses the foul smell from the duffel bag.

3:07WatchMar 7, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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