Evil Demise | “48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

going to continue to work relentlessly till we find Hannah Graham. >> Somebody's got to know where she is.
>> Cuz it's been a week and we can't find her. My Facebook feed was just waterlogged
with, you know, Hannah Graham missing, missing, missing, missing. >> My initial reaction was, "How could this
be?" >> The reaction on Twitter is a pretty good barometer of the way people care.
Neil Logenstein, WTOP News. The disappearance of Hannah Graham brought us down here to Charlottesville for what
was the most extensive search in Virginia history and it left the audience across the country hungry for
every detail on Twitter. Everyone had an idea about what police could do to find
her. >> She's our only daughter and she's enormously precious to us all. >> You know, immediately I contacted the
police department and said, "What do we have here? You know, do you feel like this person went missing on her own?"
They said, "No, this was out of character. This is being seen as suspicious." You've got different women within that
area who had gone missing. You had Morgan Harrington, Alexis Murphy, you know, Hannah Graham was the latest one.
You know, all these names. You go down the list. Continuing coverage now for the search for Alexis Murphy. 5 years
since Morgan Harrington was last seen alive. >> Searches on for a missing University of
Virginia student. Your heart squeezes and you say, "Oh no, not another one." >> I received a call from the University of
Virginia police who informed me that Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot.
>> I knew that minute [music] something terrible had had happened. >> We still haven't found Alexis, but the
tapes [music] in and of themselves are haunting. What happened? What transpired in those minutes that we don't have her
on camera that caused her to disappear literally into thin air? [laughter] >> We are part of a club. We're part of a
ugly little club. [music] >> The surveillance tapes really were the the turning point in this case.
>> She's coming from the direction you were coming from the University of Virginia.
>> In one of those images, she's walking with a man. We do have tape here supposedly shows them together.
>> After the uh Hannah Graham case broke and my chief deputy said, you know, that
looks just like our composite. He [music] looks like the asalent in our case. In my mind, this was not a first
timer. [music] >> We had these missing girls and of course their families were looking for answers.
>> DNA science is ultimately what connected three separate cases. I'm Susan Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours,
Hannah Graham, Deadly Connections, 48 hours. We'll be back in 90 seconds. Charlottesville is beautiful.
Beautiful downtown mall, great restaurants. It's a, you know, college town. >> Charlottesville, Virginia. Historic,
[music] quaint, home to the prestigious University of Virginia. 18-year-old Hannah Elizabeth Graham
loved it here. When she went missing on September 13th, 2014, she had just started her second year.
A few days later, her distraught parents, Sue and John Graham, appealed for help. that this is every parent's
worst nightmare. I'm certain that everybody knows that what happened to Hannah could happen to
their child. Please, please help us. >> The disappearance outraged the entire community. From fellow students,
>> you make things good, Hannah Graham. >> To the police chief, Tim Longo. >> We're going to continue our work.
going to continue to work relentlessly until we find Hannah Graham. >> We knew at that time that she had gone
out to dinner with friends that night and that, you know, like most college students, she had gone to a couple
parties. >> I'm going to start with the family. >> WTVR reporter Laura French, a 48 hours
consultant, has followed this story from day one. We know that after she left that party, no one had heard from her
other than a couple text messages. And that text at 1:06 a.m. was, you know, I'm trying to get to a party, I believe,
and I'm lost. >> I'm lost. >> It wasn't completely out of character that she'd be lost
here. She moved into off-campus housing. School had just started. We were just a
few weeks into the school year and you know you can lose your bearings especially in and out of that downtown
mall area. >> So this is the mall in Charlottesville. This is the last place really where we
see Hannah Graham. >> That's right. This is known as the downtown Charlottesville pedestrian mall
and it is the last known image that we have of Hannah Graham on this mall. >> Popular place with the kids.
>> You definitely see kids down here but this is not what we would call the hangout.
Britishborn Hannah Graham moved with her parents to Virginia when she was just 5
years old. Her friend [music] Llaya Nasser remembers her as super smart, musically gifted, and with a dry sense
of humor. >> She's one of those people who just knew who she was. Uh very much a go-getter.
She was very confident um and driven. Hannah is uh witty and much smarter than any coach that was on the field.
>> Just shy of six feet, Hannah was a standout on the softball field. High school coach Craig Maniglia.
>> As time went on, she moved herself up to her senior year when she became captain
of the team. [snorts] >> Vivacious, popular, talented. No surprise that Hannah Graham's
disappearance exploded on social media. >> Prosecutors say that will happen. WTOP
radio reporter Neil Augenstein, who worked with 48 Hours on this investigation, was tweeting details
almost by the minute. >> We've been able to tell it as it's developing. With Twitter, you can tell
the little bits that caught your attention and do add color and perspective and and context to a story.
>> County Sergeant testified today >> and the story became even more intriguing as video began to surface.
Here is Hannah at a UVA event only 10 days before she went missing. An eerie contrast to the grainy images of her
caught on tape by surveillance cameras the night she disappeared. >> Well, the Hannah Graham case resonated
so much more with Charlottesville because, you know, she was living here in Charlottesville. attorney and
longtime Charlottesville resident Lloyd Snook has been following the case closely.
>> Her disappearance was reported within a day. They could track through the various video cameras where she had
gone. She had been downtown and then the trail goes cold. Then she just vanished.
He walked us through the videos of Hannah's last known hours. Starting as she leaves her apartment, a normal kid
out on a Friday night. This is McGrady's. This was a restaurant. And you will see Hannah Graham coming in
from the left, the lower left. She's highlighted. Now, I'm going to stop that because, you know, that stumble to some
people who watch this is very telling. >> She seems a little unsteady on her feet
both here and later on in the video. She's coming from the direction uh that you would come from if you were coming
from the University of Virginia. >> And then after a few minutes, we see her. She reemerges.
And what do you think this was all about? >> My guess, purely a guess, is that she
went by McGrady's to see if a friend was in there who might buy her a drink or something like that.
>> Police believe Hannah had been drinking that night. She's next seen on video from a nearby gas station. And this
time, I mean, she is running. Who knows what that means? >> You know, it it's really hard to say. I
It's not a particularly dangerous neighborhood. It's a well-lit area. >> And I think that the cops have looked at
this and there doesn't appear to be anybody running after her. Right. >> So, she's running now. She's going
toward the mall. Just seconds before Hannah next surfaces on security footage near a local pizzeria, its camera
catches a man [music] walking on the downtown mall. >> You'll notice he's a pretty distinctive
looking guy. He's a big man. He's got dreads. It's kind of obvious why people would notice him over the course of the
next half hour. He disappears here briefly and then we're about to see Hannah here. She's by herself.
>> By herself. >> But soon the man makes a Uturn and then reappears now walking in Hannah's
direction. >> So you see a pretty big guy there. >> Yeah. >> Keeping behind several other people.
>> And at that point he's probably 20, 30 yards behind Hannah. The last video from a jewelry store camera shows
Hannah and the unidentified man now walking side by side >> and they seem to be walking in sync
[music] together. >> By enhancing the picture, police note that his arm is around her waist.
>> Very strange to watch two people on videotape and and realize how much their lives are going to change. You can only
imagine what was going on in her mind. and you can only imagine what was going on in in his mind.
>> There is no video from her last known stop. >> So, this is the Tempo Bar. This is the
last place that she was seen in public. >> In public. No, no images of her. Um, but
the police say that several eyewitnesses put her inside that bar with the suspect.
If that young lady's touched your life in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her.
>> Somebody knows what happened to Hannah. We don't know who that is, but somebody
knows what happened to Hannah. >> That somebody police think may well be that man on tape
who made the odd Uturn to walk in Hannah's direction. >> [music] >> want to split them up. Couple guys on
the right, couple guys on the left. >> Yeah, sounds good. >> Yeah. >> News of Hannah Graham's disappearance
put normally peaceful Charlottesville on high alert. >> I was terrified when I found out just
because I know it could have easily been me cuz I've walked home alone. I definitely thought differently walking
to my car at night, having worked in that area. You know, I wanted to make sure at, you know, when I was leaving
after a newscast at 11:30 at night, that there was someone watching me walk to my
car. It was definitely on the back of everyone's minds. >> Also on the back of everyone's mind,
events of 5 years earlier when another young woman simply vanished off these streets. 2009, you have this Virginia
Tech student, Morgan Harrington, who is [music] last seen at a Metallica concert
at the John Paul Jones Arena. >> Do you feel good? >> It was Saturday, October 17th, 2009.
20-year-old Morgan Harrington drove from her parents' home in Rowan Oak, Virginia
to the UVA campus arena to see one of her favorite bands. >> Morgan had come to spend the weekend
with us, which was not unusual, and was really excited about the Metallica concert.
>> It was the last time her parents, Jill and Dan Harrington, would see their daughter alive. How long was it before
you were aware that anything at all was wrong? On Sunday morning about 11 o'clock, I received a call from the
University of Virginia police who informed me that Morgan's purse had been found in a parking lot.
>> I knew that minute something terrible had had happened. >> And Morgan, you knew, was gone.
>> Morgan was like the moon. She was reflecting the light that was in the world.
Lindsay Crisp grew up with Morgan, friends [music] since elementary school. >> Wherever she walked in, there was a
shift in the energy. >> Morgan was a lot of fun. You know, she had finally reached that point in life
where we had a adult relationship with her and it was really an exciting um very gratifying point in time. She was
someone who loved art and music, did not like math and science, which is we are math and science people.
>> Lindsay was in Europe when Morgan went missing only to come home to a terrible
shock. >> My parents stood me in the den and they said, "We need to let you know Morgan's
gone. She's been missing for 10 days." It felt like there was no hope in that moment. And um so I ran upstairs and
just cried. >> Investigators had little to work with. At one point Morgan had left her
friends. Something had happened and she ended up outside the arena. >> Morgan left to go to the restroom and we
have a witness that Morgan was bleeding from an injury on her face. So we assume
that at some point between the seat and the restroom, Morgan fell. And then the next thing we heard was that Morgan had
left the building and they wouldn't let her back in. >> There was a report that um she was seen
hitchhiking. Does that make sense to you? >> It does now. She was reported to be
confused and how's Morgan going to get home? >> Morgan Harrington was last seen on this
bridge alone, on foot, and possibly injured. Unable to get back into the concert, she may have simply decided to
find her own way to her friend's apartment. A casual decision that likely cost her her life.
>> I think Morgan was impaired. I think she she was injured. She was not thinking
clearly. >> Yeah. I think that someone driving a taxi cab stopped and Morgan felt safe
and got in and I think the rest is history. >> But this is your theory about theory.
Nobody actually saw a cab or saw her get into a cab. >> No. >> This weekend's search for Morgan
Harrington will start here where she was last seen on this bridge. >> Within days, Morgan's disappearance was
dominating the local news and social media. >> Family members, volunteers, and friends
will scour the Charlottesville area looking for clues, looking for anything that could lead them to Morgan.
>> And as with Hannah Graham, years later, the community responded. We had 2,000
people searching for Morgan over a weekend. >> Morgan's case was one of the first cases
that used social media to solicit information and tips and as a crimesolving tool.
>> Was passing out flyers. >> We felt that the only way that we could help Morgan was to not let Morgan's case
be swept under the rug. >> If Morgan is out there and hears us, um, please come home.
>> We are trying to find you. We will never stop. We are trying. Honey, hang on.
>> Even Metallica tried to help. >> Any information, no matter how small you might think it is, could be that crucial
piece investigators need to help solve the case. >> Somewhere out there lies the answers or
lies the vital link of information that we need. >> Help us bring Morgan home for Christmas.
>> You are basically swinging on a pendulum between hope and despair. It becomes
pretty clear after a couple days that, you know, it's probably not going to turn out good.
>> You are basically swinging [music] on a pendulum between hope and despair. >> It becomes pretty [music] clear after a
couple days that, you know, it's probably not going to turn out good. Tragically, Morgan's father was right.
>> Breaking news this afternoon out of Albamarl County. >> In January 2010, 3 months after Morgan
disappeared, human remains were found on a farm just 10 miles from the UVA campus.
>> We're fairly confident at this time that the remains are those of Morgan Dana
Harrington. She was found by a farmer who was checking his fences and saw what he
thought initially was, you know, a deer carcass, >> but it was not. It was our daughter.
>> But a forensic exam of the remains apparently yielded no clues as to who her asalent was. That would come from a
t-shirt. >> The t-shirt, I believe, was found in November, a couple weeks after Morgan
was killed. found one day draped over a bush near the UVA campus. >> The most disturbing to me was that it
had been put out like a trophy and just the nerve and cockiness of a perpetrator
who would leave a trophy like that in the middle of a campus. >> They were able to actually pick up some
of Morgan's DNA in the t-shirt. Even more importantly, testing picked up unknown DNA. And when police ran it
through their database, they got a hit, not to a person, but to another crime four years earlier and 100 miles away.
>> They had foreign DNA in their case, which was matched to my foreign DNA in my case. In the fall of 2005, a man
attacked, beat, and sexually assaulted a young woman in Fairfax, Virginia. Detective Michael Boon was the lead
investigator. >> This is just an aerial of the general area. >> It is. It's a 2005 aerial.
>> The woman who asked to be identified only as RG was walking home from her local supermarket sometime after 8:30
p.m. She's captured here on a security camera. she felt somebody behind her and she turned and was face to face with the
suspect and asked him if she could help him and he stated something to the effect that he was waiting for a friend
or something and she felt uncomfortable. Um, she had a vibe and just kept moving
and when she reached the front of her residence she said she heard footsteps coming quickly behind her and then she
was picked up off the ground. >> And how violent an attack was this? You know, you call it a blitzkrieg type of
attack. Comes out of nowhere. >> Blitzkrieg type of attack. >> Yeah. Comes out of nowhere very fast,
very violent. He takes her and carries her across the parking lot into the wooded area down where this large tree
is. >> I parked roughly where that green truck is over there. >> Uh-huh. It was just blind luck that Mark
Castro came along when he did. >> What was the reason that you were even here that night?
>> I was here uh to see a boxing match at my friend's house. just stop by and see
the boxing match. >> That's right. >> When Mr. Castro pulled in and parked in this general area, the lights from his
car would have been shining into the area where they were. >> Those lights may have saved the woman's
life. >> The suspect stood up, looked up, and looked towards the parking lot, which is
where Mr. Castro was standing, and she said he took off running. >> Out the corner of my eye, I see a figure
standing roughly in front of that trash can. I was just shocked and I'm, you know, can am I believing what I'm seeing
right now? >> What were you seeing? >> I was seeing uh a lady that was beaten nearly to death and she was covered in
mud and covered with blood and she was walking towards me. >> Did she say anything about what had
happened? >> Uh she told me that, you know, there's a guy back there >> just back there meaning back in the
woods. >> And after that, I sprinted back there screaming at the top of my voice telling
whoever it was to come out. >> But the attacker was gone. I turned around and come back to her and then
made sure to get her to safety. I knocked on uh each and every house until someone answered the door.
>> She went to Fairbeck's hospital uh the emergency room where we bring in a forensic nurse who does the sexual
assault exam. Uh they scrape the underside of the fingernails >> and there was DNA evidence.
>> Yes. The next day, the victim, RG, was able to describe her asalent to a sketch
artist who produced a composite >> approximately um 6 6'2, maybe 200 lb, short hair with mustache and beard.
>> But a description of the suspect, a sketch, even his DNA did not answer the central question. Who was he? It would
take another tragedy and another lost life to answer that. >> The DNA evidence had been found in the
Morgan Harrington case and I just had a feeling on the Hannah Graham case. You make things good. Hannah Graham,
where are you? We want you back where you belong. >> The days go by with no trace of
secondyear UVA student Hannah Graham. Despite what would become the largest search in Virginia's history. Members of
the Charlottesville community have turned out enforced to help. Armies of Hannah's university friends
have been helping. Each day, hundreds of volunteers show up, including one who has lived through this all before.
>> I read that Alexis Murphy's aunt Trina was helping. Thank you, ma'am. >> When my niece was missing, I wanted the
whole world looking for her. >> When they had the the big search for Hannah, I went out to help look for her.
Um, it just it's just heartbreaking. >> Like the Grahams and the Harringtons, Trina Murphy knows the pain of having a
child go missing. She knows it all too well. >> The FBI is in day three of its search
for Alexis Murphy, and there's still no sign of her. >> If anybody know anything, please,
please let us know. Please. >> They have expanded their search for Murphy. >> The more people that are looking, the
better chance we have of finding her. On August 3rd, 2013, four years after Morgan's murder, a year
before Hannah Graham went missing, Trina's niece, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy, [music]
left her home in Shipman, Virginia, on a routine errand, Shipman's less than 40 miles from Charlottesville.
>> She was planning to go to Lynchber um to buy hair extensions because she was getting her hair done for her senior
pictures. Her last tweet was birdbound. >> Alexis's mother, Laura [music] Murphy.
>> And this is a kid who tweets and calls all the time. He's constantly trying to
stay in touch, >> right? She was a very [music] happy child. Lexis love making people laugh.
>> Go. First, [laughter] >> we had videos where she dancing and she she could dance.
>> Her mother and aunt knew something was seriously wrong when they heard nothing
from Alexis for hours. >> There was not a single tweet, not a single text message, not a single phone
call, no activity on her cell phone once she left Liberty. That's the Liberty Gas Station where
Alexis was last seen. Like Hannah Graham, her movements caught on tape. What did you think then when you saw
that tape? You know, how could she go missing from the Liberty Gas Station? What happened? What transpired in those
minutes that we don't have her on camera? In surveillance video not yet released to the public, Alexis's car is
seen leaving this gas station, apparently following an SUV. Investigators identify its owner as one
Randy Taylor, and witnesses say he often would just hang around the gas station watching people.
>> I just think that he had been stalking her. He knew her routine. >> It didn't take much time to link him to
her disappearance. They found her hair extensions um in his trailer. She had a Monroe piercing. She had a nose
piercing. She had false fingernails. They were found in there. Um and her blood on the shirt he was wearing that
day. Um seen in the video. Police find her car in a movie theater parking lot in Charlottesville.
Inside the car, they find DNA they can't identify from several sources, but none
of it matches the unknown DNA from the Harrington murder and the Fairfax rape. Even without finding Alexis, they arrest
Randy Taylor and charge him with her murder. His trial is attended by someone who truly understands what the Murphy's
are going through. >> Well, Jill reached out to us probably about 3 weeks after Alexis was abducted.
Jill Harrington makes the three and a halfhour round trip every day. >> And I also wanted to be there and
shoulder and support them any way I could. >> It means a great deal to us. Jail has
really, really helped me. >> Guilty on all counts. This >> the jury convicts Randy Taylor. He is
sentenced to life. Alexis never has been found. When we left court, they said, "We're never
going to give up searching for her." >> And now the Murphy's and the Harringtons
join the Grahams in the search for Hannah. >> Trina Murphy and I converged on Charlottesville to to talk to the
community to ask for tips, to ask for participation in search because the Grahams were unable to do that at that
time. And we wanted to get as many people out there looking for Hannah as possible
>> just to hold their hand, to hold her mother's hand and um pray for their closure, you know, for them to find
their daughter. >> We're part of a ugly little club that we have some knowledge and and some
understanding of how to proceed. Once you know how bad it feels to have a murdered child, you want to do whatever
you can to help anyone else who's in the same terrible spot that you're in. >> Police say they do have a person of
interest in the disappearance of Hannah Graham. >> On day six of Hannah's disappearance,
acting on a tip, police identify and locate the man seen on tape with her in the mall.
>> They search his apartment. They seize his car. They obtain something out of his wallet. It's a tip that's used for
cigars and they take that into evidence and they send it off to be analyzed. Within a day, the man's name leaks out.
He is 32-year-old Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. and before police can even confirm it to reporters, he simply walks into
the police station voluntarily. So Jesse Matthew arrived at the the Charlottesville police station and uh he
said he wanted to to get a lawyer. Matthew didn't [clears throat] answer any questions. Wasn't interested in in
telling police anything. Uh and he left the the police station >> with no concrete evidence. They can't
hold him. But that doesn't stop them from following him. Several hours later, while police were were following um
Jesse Matthew, he took off from his grandmother's house. >> Driving his sister's car, he suddenly
floors it >> and they lose him. Excuse me. They lose him. >> Astonishingly, the only suspect in
Hannah Graham's disappearance leaves police in the dust. >> Police did not have the authority to
chase him. They didn't have enough to arrest him really at that point, but they really thought they had their
suspect >> and he's gone. >> When news broke that Jesse Matthew was on the lamb, Twitter exploded.
>> Have all these people who are already deeply involved uh in this case, searching for answers, racking their
brains, and they're coming up with ideas and saying, "Well, why don't aren't police doing that? Why can't police do
this?" Things don't work as quickly in real life as they do on a TV show. >> I believe Jesse Matthew was the last
person she was seen with before she vanished off the face of the earth cuz it's been a week and we can't find her.
But somebody knows where she is. Somebody's got to know where she is. So, I hope and pray
that we might have an opportunity to talk to Jesse Matthew again because I think he can help us find
Hannah Graham. >> And just days after fleeing, Matthew, still on the run, is formally
charged in Hannah's abduction. >> The Commonwealth felt we had sufficient probable cause to
seek an arrest warrant for Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. of Charlottesville charging him with a
class 2 felony of abduction with the intent to defile. >> And for the first time,
>> my name is Sue Graham. >> Hannah's mother speaks out. >> Somebody listening to me today either
knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. We appeal to you to come forward and
tell us where Hannah can be found. They only knew that Hannah was missing. They didn't know where she was. They
didn't know if she was alive or dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew.
Now, police aren't just looking for one missing person. They are looking for two.
Days are going by and we don't know where Jesse Matthew is. In Alberl County, searches had become daily
events. Searches for both UVA student Hannah Graham and for the only suspect in her disappearance, Jesse Matthew.
Not only do we have each day that's ticking by that the Graham family doesn't know where their daughter is,
but we also have the person that they say was last seen with her. We don't know where he is. There's no clues being
offered. It was tense. >> This press conference and every press conference hereafter is about one thing
and one thing only, and that is finding Hannah. >> This was a very heated few days. I'm
hoping that they're hearing my words and and and and seeing my frustration. >> Chief Longo was was obviously very
involved in this >> and pick up the phone and tell us something regardless of how
insignificant you think it might be. >> He was speaking to the press and speaking directly to um Jesse Matthew.
>> I've made no mistake about it. We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about his interaction with a sweet
young girl that we can't find cuz he was with her. >> Surely someone had information about
Jesse Matthew. After all, the then 32-year-old grew up in Charlottesville, went to high school there, and was
[music] working at the University Hospital transporting patients. >> People have been trying to learn more
about Jesse Matthew since uh they first heard his name. People who've known him had called him a gentle giant. This was
a guy who was a football player. This was a guy who was working in Charlottesville with kids. He was a a
volunteer uh football coach. >> He was a quiet guy and mentored these high school students. In fact, the night
that Hannah Graham went missing, he was at the game that Friday night helping these kids, cheering them on. So, on the
outside, nothing seemed suspect. I have talked to friends of his who said I trusted him with my children.
>> Nobody said yeah you know Jesse always had trouble and we this is the kind of
thing we would have expected. I mean that >> no if anything it was he was not capable
of premeditating anything. He may have been awkward socially sometimes and quiet but never
never could he be capable of this. >> He was a team player. He was always there and and you know participating in
team activities. >> William Hay knew Jesse Matthew when both played football at Virginia's Liberty
University which Matthew attended from 2000 to 2002. >> He knew how to play football. Um and he
was actually great at it. I I thought he had potential to do some some great things on the football field. But off
the field, information began to circulate that cast Matthew or LJ as his friends called him, in a much different
light. >> My head coach let us know they were going to put LJ off the team because
apparently he had um forced himself on a female student. Uh >> did anybody ever say, "Hey, you know
what happened? Is this true?" Once he was kicked off the team, no no one that I know of actually went out their way
just to get more detail. His roommate said that he he may not have known that he was going too far. Um but again,
that's speculation here from his roommate. There were so many rumors going around, but no, there was no
concrete evidence. >> Lynchburg police did confirm they conducted an investigation of an alleged
rape that occurred around the same time, but no criminal charges were filed. Still, Matthew left. Not just the
football team, but the university and teammates says Hayith quickly put the incident and Jesse Matthew behind them.
>> None of us came in defense of them. I mean, it lingered on for maybe a couple
of days, but then we we kept it moving. >> After Liberty, Matthew attended Christopher Newport University in
Newport News, Virginia. Again, he was on the football team. and again he left after just a few months amid allegations
of another sexual assault. >> What happened to these cases? >> It went under the radar. Um they didn't
press charges. So the next university did not know what they were getting. >> There's no requirement that that
>> there was no requirement that they needed to alert the other university of why he was transferring. So there's
these allegations and next thing you know he's transferred. They never had a determination by any anybody that he was
dangerous. >> Attorney Lloyd Snook. Looking back, you can't help but say, gosh, uh, if there
been a requirement that the colleges make this public, >> it's probably more to the point that
that when there is no actual prosecution, that's where the system fails. >> Not once, but twice.
>> That's right. After leaving his [music] second college, Matthew came back to Charlottesville driving a cab for a few
years. He had a few minor run-ins with police, traffic violations, and trespassing.
>> To kill or hurt somebody, that's not my son. >> Matthew's father, like many, was
bewildered at the thought that Jesse could be involved in something as serious as Hannah Graham's abduction. I
can see him maybe trying to give the girl a ride home or help her out. >> Mostly I'm just really shocked.
>> Francis Lee Vandelle was Matthew's landlady. >> We don't know a thing yet. We don't know
a thing. Everything seemed to be going well for Jesse. He'd had a promotion at the hospital. Charges are filed against
a man [music] authorities believe was the last person seen with a University of Virginia student before her
disappearance more than one week ago. >> I'm watching the news. I'm shocked. I'm
like, "Wow, this this LJ that went to school with me." >> William Hay hadn't seen or heard from
Matthew in years. When he learned that his former teammate was suspected in Hannah Graham's disappearance, his
reaction was pure shock at first. >> And then next, you know, everything just stopped flashing through my head. The
incident that happened at Liberty, like, wow, could LJ have have done this? >> And how did you answer that?
>> At first, you know, I'm like, um, no. He just seemed to be uh a a caring person.
But again, then when you start looking at some of the other things, then I thought that possibly
>> you you almost get the impression of two Jesse Matthews. >> Who was the real Jesse Matthew? Maybe
this guy was was okay. People were trying to get in touch with the family with his lawyer.
>> I am Mr. Matthews attorney. I was hired by him and his family on Saturday. That's the only comment I'll make at
this time. looking, you know, asking tell us a little bit about him. What, you know, let us at least paint a
picture that that's fair. I think that everyone was trying to maintain hope that maybe this was a mistake.
>> But as the days wore on with no sign of Hannah Graham or Jesse Matthew, hope was
scarce with memories turning to those other young women for whom searches had failed. They may not have all been
connected, but it definitely was on the minds of people living in and around central Virginia, the Charlottesville
area. >> I think most people were beginning to think pretty bleak thoughts. You know,
somebody give us some information about something. >> Soon someone would, and the twisted
trail of Jesse Matthew would take [music] a surprising turn into the past. This car came in front of me and
stopped. And the fellow that was sitting in the driver's seat kind of glares at me. I had seen his face on the news
every morning. My heart literally probably stopped beating because I knew that was him.
>> This special two-part edition of 48 hours will continue. >> [music] [music] >> This special two-part edition of 48
Hours continues. news. >> There is a developing story out of Charlottesville. >> It was just a few hours after this
picture was taken that Hannah Elizabeth Graham went missing. >> Hannah Graham had just started her
second year at the University of Virginia. going to continue to work relentlessly
until we find Hannah Graham. >> The first thing that came to my mind was the name Morgan Harrington.
>> Police are again desperate for details in the case of missing Morgan Harrington.
>> Morgan was another [music] college student that had gone to a concert one October 2009 night.
>> The FBI is in [music] day three of its search for Alexis Murphy and there's still no sign of her. Here you have a
high school student who leaves for the day to get some hair products. >> Alexis, if you can hear me, this is your
dad. I'm I'm letting you know that I won't give up. I want you home. >> Hannah Graham, Morgan Harrington,
[music] Alexis Murphy, why in this nice area are these young girls going missing?
>> If Morgan is out there and hears us, please come home. >> If anybody know anything, please let us
know. We [music] are trying to find you. We will never stop. >> All we want to do now is to bring Hannah
home safely. >> They could track through the various uh video cameras where she had gone. They
knew that she had been at the University of Virginia at a bar. Then she had been
walking around a bar a mile away. Then she had been downtown. Then she'd just vanished. Somebody listening to me today
either knows where Hannah is or knows someone who has that information. [music] >> They didn't know if she was alive or
dead. Everybody had their fears, but nobody knew. >> Split them up. A couple guys on the
right. >> You are basically swinging [music] on a pendulum between hope and despair. If
>> you attend the University of Virginia, if that young lady's touched your life
in any way, you have the responsibility to help us find her. [music] When Alexis was missing, I wanted the
whole world looking for her. >> Over the weekend, 1,200 volunteers covered 85% of the city searching for
additional clues. This is probably one of the greatest coordinated search efforts in the history of the
Commonwealth. And now we have reason to believe she was inside of a bar on this mall with an
individual. Having done a little bit more investigating, [music] that is when they started learning the name Jesse
Matthew Jr. >> Jesse Matthew was the last person she was seen with before she vanished off
the face of the earth. >> People have been trying to learn more about Jesse Matthew since they first
heard his name. >> They search his apartment. They seize his car. >> So certainly he is the focus of our
investigation. >> And they're they're coming out with evidence. >> Police say forensic evidence also
connects him to the death of Morgan Harrington. And I think that's when I started thinking, could this be the same
person? >> Several hours later, while police were following Jesse Matthew, he took off
from his grandmother's house >> and they lose him. >> Excuse me. They lose him. >> They They really thought they had their
suspect >> and he's gone. >> We want to talk to Jesse Matthew. We want to talk about where Hannah Graham
is. I'm Susan [music] Spencer. Tonight on 48 Hours, Hannah Graham stalked by evil.
[music] The disappearance of Hannah Graham left the audience across the country hungry
for every detail on Twitter. >> September 21st, 2014, a week after Hannah Graham went missing. And Jesse
Matthew, the one person who may hold the key to her whereabouts, is missing as well. Matthew was last seen Saturday
speeding away from police who were following him. >> I hope and pray that we might have an
opportunity to talk Jesse Matthew again cuz I think he can help us find Hannah Graham.
>> It was tense. It was already tense and it was even tenser cuz now we don't know
where he is. >> WTVR reporter and 48 hours consultant Laura French wasn't the only one
speechless to learn that police had let their only suspect slip away. So Jesse Matthew is gone.
>> Jesse Matthew is gone. I even joked with one of the investigators and said, "You
guys really know where he is. You're watching him." >> Surely here are some serious accusations
against this individual. And you don't know where he is. He fled. And he fled far. Police have released this wanted
poster of Jesse Leroy Matthew. >> He is the last person that was with Hannah. So certainly he is the focus of
our investigation. >> Remarkably, 4 days after he fled, Jesse Matthew is spotted in, of all places,
Galveastston, Texas, on a near empty beach, 1300 miles from Charlottesville. >> Fast forward to September 24th. We have
a woman out on the beach looking just for a peaceful afternoon to watch the water.
>> That woman was Karen Monk. His tent was about right here, close to the grass and
his car was parked on the other side. >> She's sitting in the back of her car and
she sees this man in a tent, you know, few yards down from her, doesn't think much of it until he drives
by her. >> This car came in front of me and stopped. And the fellow that was sitting
in the driver's seat, his windows were down. He leans over and looks, kind of glares at me.
Monk suddenly found herself face to face with one of the most wanted men in the country.
>> When I looked up and I saw him, I mean, his facial features are unmistakable. I
just held my breath just hoping he would just keep going. Um, my heart literally probably stopped
beating cuz I knew that was him. >> You mean to tell me that she recognized him on the beach from a wanted poster
that she'd seen on television or what? >> From a mug shot. And she's like, "Okay,
do I leave because I'm probably in danger or do I stay here so I can tell police exactly where he is?"
>> She not only stayed, she called every law enforcement agency she could think of, finally [music] getting a response
from the Galveastston County Sheriff's Office. They found Jesse Matthew on the beach and arrested him without incident.
>> How does she view what she did? >> She's very humble. She views it as being in the right place at the right time and
doing the right thing. >> We're here tonight to announce that Jesse Matthew was in custody in
Galveston, Texas. >> And apparently he had bigger travel plans than Texas. [music] A map of
Mexico was found in his car. Now in custody, he was headed not south, but north back to Charlottesville, Virginia.
He was locked up in Galveston for 40ome hours. [music] Charlottesville authorities came and flew him back here
and they had him by their side at all times. >> But Matthew quickly dashed any hope
police had that he'd give them information about Hannah Graham. >> He never cooperated with anybody as far
as answering questions voluntarily. >> Never has. >> Never has. >> We have a person in custody, but there's
a long road ahead of us. And that long road includes finding Hannah Graham. >> Now the search expanded out from
Charlottesville and the university campus here to the surrounding countryside. And despite the growing
odds against this having a good outcome, no one was giving up. In fact, the volunteers just kept on coming.
>> I got three more for your team. >> It wasn't clear whether she was alive or or dead at this point. prosecutor
>> Neil Augenstein covered this story both for WP radio and online. He's also a 48 hours consultant.
>> As time went on, people were thinking more and more that she probably had had
died. >> This specialized team of trackers searched for Hannah Graham on Friday afternoon. The team, which includes a
navigator, a dog, and a handler, is directing the dog off trail to find any trace of a human scent. it.
>> Nice job. >> People wanted answers. People wanted closure. People wanted it now.
>> But no one wanted the news that came on October 18th, 35 days after Hannah disappeared.
We're following a developing story out of Albamarl County. Sometime [music] before noon today, a search team from
the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Department was searching an abandoned property along Old Lynchberg Road in
southern Alamoral County when they [music] discovered what appears to be human remains.
>> Where the human remains were found was uh behind a home that nobody was living
in at the time. And this was within a few miles of a home where Jesse Matthew had grown up and spent time uh with his
family. >> How far was this from Charlottesville? >> Uh so this house was five, six, seven
miles out of downtown Charlottesville. >> What also intrigued investigators, the
site where Morgan Harrington's remains had been found four years earlier [music] was only a few miles away.
With the discovery of Hannah's body, the community that had searched so long and
hard with John and Susan Graham [music] now could only grieve with them. As a parent, my heart sank because it was
final. Their worst fears had come to light, but at the same time, they were able to bring her home.
>> The focus turns now to the suspect in custody and charged with her abduction,
32-year-old Jesse Matthew. The next challenge, building a solid case against Jesse Matthew. He wasn't
talking, but science was about to do the talking for him. I obtained a search warrant for Mr.
Matthews for his DNA. I have a lot of friends that go to UVA. My [music] initial reaction was,
"How could this be?" >> After a month of vigils and hopes and prayers for Hannah Graham, the reality
of her murder was a horrific shock. This is our opportunity to create a silver lining in the tremendous cloud that that
um Hannah's fate represented to us. >> When it comes to these sort of girl gone missing stories, [music] there's always
this barrier of ignorance where you don't know the person who's on the other side of the screen.
And I did [music] this time. Hannah's friend, Llaya Nasser. It's something that's so overwhelming and so powerful
and you can't understand or fathom why anybody would do this. >> Law enforcement wanted to ask that very
question to Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. who now sat in jail formally charged with abduction with intent to defile Hannah
Graham. He was not charged with murder. People have been calling for the death for Jesse Matthew before Hannah Graham's
body was even found. This is showing the power of Twitter and and not necessarily
for good. Uh you know, people were convinced of his guilt. >> While Matthew was behind bars in
Charlottesville, a case a 100 miles away in Fairfax, Virginia, ice cold for nearly 10 years
was about to heat up. I was uh getting ready to leave to go out of town uh to to Georgia to a funeral. I was watching
the video of Hannah Graham going through the mall down there. Detective Michael Boon had never stopped working at
unsolved rape case from 2005 involving the victim known only as RG. He'd had little to go on but the composite sketch
of her rapist. >> Hey, we're searching for Hannah. But then one day, he happened to glimpse
news coverage of the Graham case. >> The person Charlottesville police most want to question is this man, Jesse
Matthews. >> I saw the picture of Jesse Matthews and I saw the picture of the composite
drawing. So, I mean, I knew they had the the right person. >> You knew the second you saw his picture?
>> Yeah. He had been looking at that composite for almost 10 years, and his gut told
him that without question, his rapist and Jesse Matthew were one and the same. That Matthew's DNA would match the
unidentified DNA in his rape case. So Boon gets a search warrant and speeds off to Charlottesville to meet with his
suspect. So you take this sample and what did you do with the sample? I drove it to the department of forensic science
to the Citro Lab in Richmond. >> A quick turnaround, got an answer in a week. >> So the word was, "Look, you know, we
need this." >> Well, they knew. They knew what we were dealing with. Yes. >> What do you think you were dealing with?
>> Very violent sexual offender. >> The results, a bombshell. Boon was right. Jesse Matthews DNA [music]
matched that of the Fairfax rapist. >> I held out hope every year that he was going to get identified. this just like
finally. >> But there was more because remember the rapist DNA matched DNA found on Morgan
Harrington's t-shirt after her murder. [music] Now investigators knew whose DNA it was.
>> Breaking news. [music] >> We were able to confirm today that Jesse Matthew Jr. has been linked. Forensic
evidence has linked him to the Morgan Harrington case from 2009. >> Wow. You broke this.
>> I did. We know that Jesse Matthew at some point made contact with Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington the
night she disappeared and three months later was later found murdered. That's what we do know. It doesn't mean he did
something. >> Fast forward to 2014 to Jesse Matthew and the Hannah Graham case. >> We know that police have forensic
evidence that places her with him. What that is, we don't know. >> We know she was with him. She's she's on
tape with him. >> But the question is, did she leave in his car? >> That's what's not been made public.
>> The key would be evidence showing what happened to Hannah after she was last seen at the restaurant with Matthew.
Police searched his car within days of her disappearance and will say only that no blood was found. the state has in its
um possession a digital record from a cell tower from Hannah Graham's phone. We also know that there's digital
records from her Facebook account, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter, all those different social media venues. But
there's about 50 plus search warrants. So half of those we don't know about. But on October 20th, 2014, 2 days after
Hannah Graham's remains were discovered, authorities indict Jesse Matthew. Not for Hannah's murder, nor for Morgan's,
but for the attempted capital murder, abduction, and sexual assault of the anonymous RG back in 2005.
Apparently feeling that the rape case was the strongest. It was bittersweet news for Jill and Dan
Harrington. Why have there been no charges filed in Morgan's case? >> I think they're trying to they want to
finish prosecuting the Fairfax case. >> So, you fully expect that there will be?
>> Uh, yes, I do. >> To show their support, the Harringtons will be front and center at Jesse
Matthews upcoming rape trial. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, prosecutors are scrambling to build a
solid case against Matthew for the murder of Hannah Graham. And pressure is building.
Suspected killer Jesse Matthew was safely behind bars, but each passing day brought the question
When would he be charged with Hannah Graham's murder? >> On Monday, February 2nd, 2015, Jesse
Matthew Jr. was indicted in Albam Marorrow County for abduction and murder of Hannah Graham.
>> It was 5 months after she vanished before prosecutors had the evidence they needed.
>> What we don't know is what they found in his apartment. We can report this much
though. In the second search of his apartment, police went in there for something very specific. And when asked
if they got what they went in there for, they said, "Yes, we did." Those details
presumably will come out in court. >> But relief that the Graham case was moving forward mixed with
disappointment, especially once again in the Twitter sphere. >> When Jesse Matthew was first charged
with first-degree murder, people were outraged. Why were they going to go for the death penalty?
>> Jesse Matthew Jr. was served that new indictment. >> That all changed 3 months later when the
Commonwealth attorney announced she would seek the death penalty after all. >> The Commonwealth received some
additional forensic information in late February that led to this increase in charge.
>> Was upping the charges to capital murder a strategic move or was that based on
some bombshell evidence they may have had? >> They haven't told us. Charlottesville
attorney Lloyd Snook has been following the Graham case. >> Some other evidence, [music] maybe
there's some DNA evidence that hadn't come back from the lab yet. >> In addition, there is a second analysis
and that is to weigh aggravating and mitigating circumstances. >> What would those be?
>> Well, that's a long way of saying that it was a really, really awful crime. Not
just awful because all murders are awful, but something really, really bad. I want to see what happens when evil
intersects with justice. >> Jill Harrington was at a pre-trial hearing in Hannah Graham's case the day
the change to the death penalty was announced. >> She supports the move. >> I really don't know what the
justification for changing the the charge is, but some bad things happened. Lives were lost.
As the years have gone by, her daughter's case has seemed to be stalled. Despite that t-shirt DNA
linking Matthew to Morgan, a trial for Morgan, we do want to have that day, but it really changes nothing in our lives.
Our lives are as empty. The pain that we'll have after a trial is the same pain that we have today.
>> By spring of [music] 2015, Matthew faced two trials. for the murder of Hannah
Graham and [music] for the 2005 abduction, sexual assault, and attempted capital murder of the woman known as RG.
And questions were raised about a Matthew connection to the Alexis Murphy case. Questions generated by attorneys
for her convicted killer, Randy Taylor. They demanded evidence [music] be tested
for Matthew's DNA just in case. >> We're fine with that. Let's say by the off chance they do find Jesse Matthews
DNA in her car. It just means that he was also involved. It doesn't make Randy Taylor any less guilty than he is now.
What do you think the the odds of that are? >> Honestly, I think it's pretty slim.
>> Trina Murphy, Alexis's aunt, was right. [music] No DNA link with Matthew was found.
>> You Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr. >> Meanwhile, after nearly a decade, RG's case was moving forward. attempt to kill
RG in the commission >> with hearings. >> How do you plead to that charge? >> Not guilty.
>> And [music] finally, in June 2015, a trial with Jesse Matthews fate depending
on the DNA and on testimony from the anonymous victim RG. >> She was hesitant. She was worried.
[music] >> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrow. >> She is a very dignified woman from a
different culture. Very well educated. I might say brilliant. And she wanted her
privacy, but at the same time, we tried to make sure she had the opportunity to to get her voice heard.
[music] Since the rape, RG had moved back home to Asia to a new life. [music] Seeking
justice meant not only traveling halfway around the world, but publicly reliving
[music] perhaps the most terrifying moments of her life. What do you think the specific impact
was on her? >> The trauma. The trauma of it. It just so violent. >> Detective Boon had always kept in touch
with her, contacting RG with any news about the case. >> I picked her up at the airport. You
know, I hadn't seen her in such a long time. She was nervous. She's going to see him in court, and that's very
stressful for a victim. Very stressful. She did not want to be victimized again by some who might blame the victim. She
didn't want people around her to know about it and it she didn't want it to define her.
>> She did nothing wrong. >> No. No. Here we understand that. But some people don't.
>> And the composite sketch RG helped put together back in 2005 posed a problem.
The attack was at night. She was traumatized. And [music] predictably, the defense insists that neither it nor
an updated version looks anything like Jesse Matthew. [music] >> So going into this then you have the
sketch and you've got a victim. You don't know how she's going to testify, >> right?
>> You you a little nervous as this starts. >> I try not to be nervous, but it's always
a risk to have a jury trial. I was concerned >> justifiably so. >> We're moving along rather quickly, so
that's a good thing. It was a move not many saw coming, including >> the outcome of this trial, like
everything else in these tangled cases, would defy everyone's predictions. >> I'm kind of reeling.
This wasn't just a rape case. This was a rape case that was tied to the Hannah Graham case.
>> The trial of Jesse Matthew for attempted murder, abduction, and sexual assault
takes place in the shadow of the Hannah Graham case. Although unlike Hannah, this victim, known only as RG, does
survive. In June of 2015, she travels from her home in Asia here to Fairfax, Virginia for Matthew's trial, hoping to
help put him behind bars. And not just for herself. >> We thought about our victim in our case
and Hannah and Morgan pretty much every day from the day that we found out that this was our man. It strikes at your
heart, you know, as a as a father myself, but just as a human being. I mean, I can't think of anything worse
than attacking a woman or a child. Hopefully, we'll be out of court soon. And >> Commonwealth Attorney Ray Mura was happy
to have his case against Matthew go first, hoping to pave the way for future prosecutions for Hannah and for Morgan.
>> I think every bit of testimony that was heard in this case, you were listening
with the thought that could this somehow be related to these other cases. The judge allowed no cameras, but sketches
and Neil Augenstein's tweets painted a vivid picture. From the first moment RG walked into the courtroom,
>> this was the first time that she was in the same room with with Jesse Matthew in
10 years. I and everyone else in the courtroom was looking to see who was making eye contact with with who.
>> Did she ever look at him? >> I never once saw her look at Jesse Matthew. Did he look at her?
>> He looked at her the whole time. >> I think there was some expectation that at the trial she would sit there and go,
you know, that's him. >> Yeah, that was an issue. But she hadn't seen it in 10 years. So, I wasn't going
to press her on that. She came just a whisper from being murdered. And um there in the courtroom 20 ft from her
sits the man who who tried to murder her. In a hushed voice, RG testified about that horrible night, saying her attacker
picked her up from behind like a baby. And then she went on, "He [music] put me on the ground and he sat on my legs and
he banged my head on the grass on the ground. He hit my face, beat me. I was screaming and yelling." I think in first
she was extremely nervous and admitted certain parts that she put in a part of her mind that she didn't want to bring
back out, but she knew she had to. I was punching him. I was trying to kick. He sealed my nose and my mouth with his
hands and he choked me. He was pulling my pants down. I was still struggling. >> She told the story she didn't seek
vengeance on the stand. He said, "I will kill you. If you scream again, I'll twist your neck." "Let me do this. I'll
let you go." The nightmare only ended, she said, when he dragged her into a ditch and ran off. RG was a very good
witness. >> I didn't see anybody, but you know. >> Also testifying was Mark Castro, the
passer by who heard RG's cries that night. He found her confused and covered in blood. He got a neighbor to call 911
and stayed until the ambulance arrived. What did you feel was the most important
thing that you needed to get across to the jury? >> Uh her condition. It was not a uh just a
typical assault. This is attempted murder. She looked like somebody that was near dead.
>> You wanted to be sure they understood how badly hurt she was. >> That's right.
>> I'll look at the defendants to see if there's any emotion expression. There wasn't any from him. Unlike RG, Michael
Boone did look Jesse Matthew in the eye [music] as the lead detective testified about how he got the vitally important
sample of Matthew's DNA. >> I went through and explained to him how I collected it, put on gloves, and then
swabbed the inside of his mouth and uh took that back and submitted it to the Department of Forensic Science.
>> DNA was pivotal to the trial. Experts testified that the sample from Matthew matched what was found under RG's
fingernail. >> How strong was the DNA evidence? What were the >> What were the numbers?
>> It was one in uh 7 billion that it could have been anyone else but the defendant.
So, one in greater than the world's population. >> One in seven billion is pretty clear.
>> That's a pretty good number. >> After 2 and 1/2 days, the prosecution rested and attention turned to the
defense. The defense asked for a brief recess. The brief uh recess lasted longer and longer.
>> What are you thinking during all this? >> At first, I just thought they were trying to decide what whether they were
going to uh put on a defense or not. >> Then you see Jesse's family get taken in
the back. Then you see them go back and forth, but then you see prosecutors just
sitting there. So, you're thinking, there can't be a deal going on. Then you see his mom in tears. What's happening?
It was at that point that Neil Augenstein, who at over six feet tall, has a rather good vantage point, noticed
something else. >> I watched the the uh the prosecutors walking down the aisle and I [music]
looked at the paperwork. It said Alfred plate. So, I went on Twitter and started
tweeting that the defense and prosecution were handling uh printed copies [music] of an Alfred ple.
>> Neil's tweets broke the story that there would be no jury verdict. Jesse Matthew would plead guilty, albeit
a slightly qualified guilty. >> They kind of threw the towel in on it, made a decision to plead Alford, which
is a type of guilty plea where the defendant is allowed to say, "The evidence against me is overwhelming. I'm
pleading guilty, but I do not admit that I committed the crime." >> You did not offer this.
>> No, I never offered any plea agreement. You know, we wanted the jury to decide
it. The only thing that he's gaining by doing an Alford plea here is not having to look at his mother in the eye and
say, "This is what I did." >> The plea stunned everyone, including Jill Harrington, who attended the trial
to show support. >> Argie is one exceptional human being. I applaud her courage and determination in
finding her justice in this court building today. The trial didn't end as expected, but
the result was all that mattered. >> He's convicted, so we've done our job. He's off the street. We gave him no
breaks. This is a good thing. [music] >> In the end, the judge gave Matthew the maximum in this case, three life
sentences. For RG, it was a difficult but triumphant trip. And before flying home, she had some
business to attend to with a man she had not seen since the night of the attack.
>> She said, "Thank you. I for saving my life." >> Did you say anything else to her?
>> I said, "You're welcome. I just did what I thought is the best thing to do." >> RG also thanked Detective Boon, whose
business card she kept in her wallet all these years. >> We went back into a conference room and
she pulled it out and she said, "I guess I should give this back to you now." and
I told her to keep it. >> The RG case was closed, but suddenly justice for another victim was moving
with shocking speed. >> In your heart, did you think he'd be standing here today?
>> Yes. Reporters were stunned. >> He was sitting really close to the Harrington family and looked right at
them as he left the courtroom. They're coming out right now. I got to go. Perhaps no one was more shocked than the
Harringtons themselves at the Commonwealth attorney's blockbuster announcement. >> Misindicted for firstdegree murder and
abduction with the intent to defile Morgan Harrington. >> [music] >> It has been such a long journey.
>> The charges coming finally nearly 6 years after Morgan's death. >> It makes more real the fact that Morgan
is dead and yes was murdered. >> He needs to know that uh justice is coming. To drive the point home, the
Harringtons resolutely locked eyes with Jesse Matthew as he walked past them in court.
>> I wanted him to see this is the face of justice for Jesse Matthews because I've
known and believed for some time that he killed our Morgan. >> Trina Murphy is there for support.
>> God bless you, Trina. So sorry. The trial was set for October 2016 in the Harrington case.
>> The maximum sentence in Harrington's murder is life in prison. If convicted for Hannah Graham's murder, Jesse
Matthew could face the death penalty. >> The Hannah Graham murder trial was scheduled for July of 2016. A capital
case with plenty of time for a plea. >> He can plead at any time up until he's found guilty.
>> What's he got to lose? He's facing the death penalty. >> That's a hard call. I will say he's got
some good lawyers. You know, I think they'll fight it out. >> And with much of the evidence in the
Hannah Graham case sealed, it's unclear how strong a case the state really has. >> We don't know what the evidence is. And
they've actually been very careful in many ways to not put a lot of stuff out there.
>> Based on what you do know, would you be surprised if this ever went to trial?
>> Let's think about some of the the circumstantial evidence issues here. Okay. What we think we know is that they
were seen together, say 1:30 at night, the night that she was last seen. Supposing the defense argues there's no
evidence that he did anything to actually hurt her. That's a problem. >> Hannah's family has grieved in [music]
private, leaving comments about the case to others. Hannah's coach, Craig Maniglia. They're strong and they will
figure out a way to get around this. They won't get over it, but they'll go forward. I can tell you that Grahams
want justice, >> as do friends like Llaya Nasser. >> When you send your kids to college, you
send them there to chase their dreams. Hannah didn't get that chance. >> Her last moments were at the mercy of a
murderer monster. Hannah's dreams were on everyone's mind this past summer when several of her UVA
classmates took to the mountains. Pausing on the majestic French Alps and the peaks of Tanzania to remember her.
>> We had dreamed of going to hike Mont Blanc talked about this >> 3800 me in the air.
>> So we figured in a symbolic measure we would do this bring her memorial there.
>> This was on Kilamanjaro. A simple tribute, says Alan Q, to an unquenchable spirit.
>> She loved hiking. She loved skiing. [music] So I always imagine her skiing through the clouds.
>> Learning from these tragedies is of great importance to Jill Harrington. >> I think we are at a critical time.
There's a critical number of girls who have been killed or are missing from our area.
>> Never let a friend leave an adventure. >> I will check on friends. To increase
awareness, the Harringtons founded an organization, Help Save the Next [music] Girl.
>> We will help save the next girl. >> Jill believes that what happened to Hannah, Morgan, Alexis, and RG hits
close to home for many young women. >> That's was always my intent was to save the next girl. Unfortunately, we
couldn't save Hannah Graham. >> Jill Harrington's crusade to protect young women continues. And as usual,
Trina [music] Murphy is at her side. From the day we found your story while following the Hannah Graham story, we
have not ceased [music] to grieve and pray for you. >> Alexis's body still has not been found.
It's now become bigger than just Alexis. And it's not about any one case or any one girl or guy. We have to unify. She
is out there somewhere. And until we are able to bring her home, we don't have any closure. [snorts] It's been 720
days. 1,51,000 minutes since the last time we got to see her beautiful face. >> In August 2015, the Murphy's gathered
for the second anniversary of Alexis's disappearance. For her mother, it felt like yesterday.
>> Just getting started in life. >> Hi. >> I never got pictures. I always wanted to
see her dressed up to go to promo. >> I'll never see that. All right, guys. It's 7:16. RELEASE.
[cheering] >> Families need to understand that you really have to work at keeping their
story alive. >> You just have to beat the drum and it's the only way that we're going to ever
affect change. >> This poem, it's called Metallic. Morgan Harrington's friend, Lindsay Crisp,
found her own way to keep memories alive. >> See, she was supposed to be at a Metallica concert.
>> In a raw and emotional piece, she wrote and shared at an open mic event. >> Do not let your girlfriends go out alone
here. >> A few days after her video hit social media, Lindsay was reunited with Jill
Harrington. >> Love you so much. I'm sorry it came to this, sweetie. on the Copley Bridge for
the first time since Morgan's death. >> Last place where she was of her own valition. It's become kind of a memorial
spot for us. >> So now the bridge is full of color and pictures and a sign that says justice.
It felt good to be able to do something for her. And on the sidewalk, words of thanks to RG, the anonymous rape victim
whose testimony and courage helped take a predator off the streets. >> She's the one that got away. And I'm
sure she didn't feel like the lucky one, but thank God she did. >> She is the hero. I mean, she came back
from far, far away and relive this thing. She didn't have to do it, but at the end of the day, this was something
she had to do for the next woman. and also for herself as a woman. And we're all just so proud of her.
>> But for those left behind without resolution, memories are tinged [music] with heartache and with questions of
what might have been. >> I really sort of thought Morgan would be an artist. >> I mean, she was just chucka block full
of potential. I mean, she could just roll out of bed and be [music] gorgeous. [laughter]
Loved to laugh. She was really, really funny. >> She achieved everything she could at the
highest level she could achieve it. >> She was very smiley and silly, [music] too, which is what I want people to
remember most of all. This warm, sunny, [music] smiley girl full of life. We start tonight with breaking [music]
news in the Jesse Matthew case. A plea agreement reached on March 2nd, 2016, just a few months
before the Hannah Graham murder trial was to begin. Jesse Matthew accepted a deal.
>> Today, Jesse Matthew Jr. plead guilty to the first-degree murder of Hannah Graham.
guilty to the first-degree murder of Morgan Harrington. In exchange for pleading guilty, Matthew
no longer faced the death penalty. He will serve four consecutive life terms with no possibility of ever being
released. Both the Harrington and the Graham families supported the plea agreement.
>> I would say the primary emotion is relief. Um, finding justice for Morgan has been a burden on our family for six
and a half years. >> Today's events do not bring Hannah back to us. Of course, we miss her every day.
At times like this, one has to draw comfort where one can. >> After the announcement, the Harringtons
return to the Copley Bridge. This time to tie green ribbons on the railings as a symbol of new growth and
going forward. Jill said it would be their final visit to the bridge where [music] Morgan was
last seen. >> You don't get over your daughter being murdered, but you can get past it and we
want to do that. >> Hannah's enduring gift to us all is that she enabled this wicked man to be
apprehended and convicted. She did change the world, but at a terrible price. [music]
Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> This is where it all began, right? This
is where it all began. April 23rd, 2018, I received the call that a body was located off of Highway 98.
I come over to this area and approximately here was about where the head of the body was at and stretched out across the
ditch with the feet facing in that direction. >> She had bruises from head to toe
covering her entire body. She had lacerations on her face, stomach, legs. >> So this woman suffered before she died.
>> She suffered. I've never seen anything like it. It was extreme violence. Extreme violence overkill.
>> And who would do something like that? >> At the time, you don't know. And what
you worry about then is are they loose in our community? What type of individual am I dealing
with or individuals? [music] Is there one person? Is there two? You have a million questions that you
can ask, but you have no answers at the time. The next day, they identified the woman
that is Eileen Seiden, a young 31-year-old female in the Miami area. >> I've known Eileen Seiden for 25 years.
She was my best friend. Eileena called me. She had told me it was pretty where she was. The last talk
I had with Eileen was very different. She told me just these horrific things you never think you'll hear from your
best friend. She said, "I need your help." It was like a movie. My sister's involved and I don't know what's
happening. I told her to run. >> You use the word run. Did you say run? >> 100%. I said run. Get the Get out of
there. Go. She's like, "I can't." She was scared to death. This doesn't happen. This doesn't happen
to us. This doesn't happen in real life. We received a call from the Sportsman's
Lodge motel. There was a room that they were in the process of cleaning. There was blood.
>> And what goes through your mind as you walk [music] through all this beauty? >> This right here would be the last place
that you could ever imagine a homicide taking place, especially right here in this piece of paradise.
>> I'll take you to room number 15. Now, when the housekeepers first came through this door, what did they see?
>> Uh, they said the furniture was knocked over onto the floor. As they started cleaning the room, they found more and
more stuff to be wrong. They noticed stuff missing from the beds, the sheets, anything like that. This bed here was
completely covered in uh blood stain. >> So, that tells you there was a violent scene going on.
>> Yes. And what happened in room 15? >> It's [music] unknown. If these walls could talk, right?
>> Oh, if they could talk, I'd like to hear them. >> [music] [music] >> Appalachiccola, Florida is a wonderful
small place >> for Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jared Patterson. The sleepy Gulf Coast
town of Appalachiccola [music] and surrounding countryside are among the last remnants of a bygone era. It
certainly still hearkens back to a time before there was condos on every inch of
the beach and before there were highrises. We're referred to here the counties along this area of the coast as
the forgotten coast. But when a couple heading to a nearby fishing pond discovered Eene Siden's battered body on
April 23rd, [music] 2018, Patterson wondered what had brought a killer to Florida's forgotten coast.
>> The horror that it really was, it absolutely shocked people. It looked like someone was in a hurry.
Whoever it was dumped the body and took off. >> Lead investigator Lieutenant Ronnie
Jones, then with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, says documenting Eileen's unsettling dump site was the
first of two ominous events over the next 24 hours. He was soon dispatched to the second crime scene at the
Sportsman's Lodge Motel. and that bloody spectacle inside room 15. >> So, what's it like for you to be back in
here? >> Uh, brings back some pretty bad memories. >> Joan's memories live in stark contrast
to the treehaded grounds of the otherwise peaceful motel. >> As soon as I came in, I noticed the bed.
I It's you couldn't miss it. I mean, this whole area was covered and had blood stains on it.
>> And when you saw that kind of blood loss, what did that tell you? >> I just put two and two together and I
automatically put that back to the um body that was found the day before. >> You did that quickly like that?
>> Had to have. It wasn't just somebody cut yourself and bled a little bit on the
bed. I mean, the amount of blood that was on this bed tells me that whoever was here was probably deceased.
>> Jones recalled there was a smell of vinegar in the room. And what did that tell you? That someone attempted to
clean the crime scene. >> A luminol test for traces of human blood revealed what an apparently hasty
cleanup couldn't hide. >> The whole entire bathroom lit up. >> So that was the scene of perhaps some of
her most vicious attacks was inside that bathroom. >> Yes. >> And Jones says the shower curtain rod
was a possible weapon. On the rod was located a palm print and also uh blood. >> And that's significant evidence, right?
That's right. >> Testing would soon confirm that it was Eileen's blood in the motel room. Now
came the gut-wrenching duty to notify Eileen's sister, Francesca Seiden. >> He said my sister was murdered. I don't
know. Like what do you do? You look for support. That's all I could do. I didn't understand why like it was
given to me again like to handle another loss. >> While growing up in Miami, then
16-year-old Francesca and 9-year-old Eileene faced their first tragedy when their beloved mother passed away from
cancer. >> How did the two of you deal with this? We didn't talk about it because it was
so fast. >> Six years later, their father, Frank, a successful furniture manufacturer who
Francesca says shared a special bond with Eileene, suddenly died from a heart attack. It left Eileen, then 14, an
orphan, and 22-year-old Francesca with a decision to make. I signed the papers and I became her legal guardian.
>> And what did that mean? What were your responsibilities? >> I became a parent. I had to take her to
school. I had to pick her up from school. I had to finish my own school. I was working. I didn't have time to
grieve. And I don't think that she did either. >> 7 years later, Francesca [music] moved
to Los Angeles on her own. That's when she says Eileen, now in her 20s, began [music] grieving their parents. She
started to think a lot. She became more sensitive. >> Something like losing your parents has
long lasting effects throughout your life. It's obvious that it did. >> This is Eileen's best friend. Not
wanting her name associated with this case, she has asked 48 hours to refer to her as Ally. She remembers a strong and
determined Eileene making it on her own in Miami. >> She worked as a property manager. She
lived in a great apartment, you know, she paid her own rent. She made her bills. She was very independent.
>> Francesca saw that independence firsthand when Eileen made an extended visit to LA in 2016.
>> Looking back, do you wish she had stayed with you? >> 100%. Because whatever happened when she went back to
Miami is when she reconnected with Zach. Zach was Zachary Ael, who Eileen had known since they were teenagers.
>> I'm not sure if I had the best reputation in high school. At first, she wasn't really sure about him.
>> But years later, she and Zach Ael started dating. >> I think in the beginning, Eileen found
Zach fun, but I think it changed pretty quickly. >> Investigators in Franklin County would
soon learn all about Zack Ael. They discovered that Zach, Eileene, and this woman, Christina Ajo, had all been seen
in the Appalachiccola area. Detectives also learned the three shared a room at the sportsman's lodge, room number 15.
We needed to know what happened inside that hotel room outside of three people entered and two came out carrying a
body. Off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Captain Mike Pikovet set sail on his 50ft boat.
>> It's kind of weird uh trying to remember any good times. There just were. There
was always some issue. >> Back in 2018, Mike would play a central role in Eileen Seiden's murder
investigation. He knew Eileene and her boyfriend Zack Ael well. >> Zach is just um very entertaining. He's
very extroverted. >> Mike had met Zach by chance at a bar about 7 years earlier.
>> He came up to me at Duffy's and said, "Hey, I like your shirt." And I'm like,
"Okay." >> Then uh Christina came up. >> Christina Ajo, Zach's [music] girlfriend
at the time. The two had been dating for about 4 years. Mike says Christina immediately started boasting about her
powerful father. >> Right out of the gate, she said, "Oh yeah, my dad's a major with the Palm
Beach County Sheriff's Department, and if we ever get into any trouble with the law, he can take care of it." I was
like, "What? Who says that?" >> Despite their odd first meeting, Mike says he began hanging out with the
couple. What followed were years [music] of wild nights, wild parties, and lots of heavy drinking. That was their go-to
thing. Okay, we've got to do shots of this, shots of this. >> But Mike says there was an interesting
power dynamic [music] in the couple's relationship with Christina, who is 8 years older than Zach, calling the
shots. >> She was very controlling and very directing. He would follow her lead with
stuff. [music] >> One day in 2016, Zach stopped by Mike's boat, but not with Christina. Instead,
Zach introduced Mike to Eileen Siden. Mike could tell Zach now had two women in his life.
>> It was the weirdest thing. If your relationship's not working, just end it and move on.
>> However, Mike says that Zach couldn't make a clean break from Christina, who was also his business partner.
>> He tried so many times. He just didn't know how to. And then also all the threats all the time that she couldn't
make him disappear. Every time she got drunk, she would say some weird things. >> Eileen's best friend, Ally, [music]
says Zach and Eileene began to secretly date. >> She seemed to love him so much that she
was still hoping that he would, you know, decide to be with her. He would lead her on to think he was trying to
end it with Christina. >> In 2017, Eileen unexpectedly lost her job as a property manager.
>> She was really starting to lose control of her own life. Ally says that may explain why Eileene eventually started
working at Zach and Christina's used car dealership. >> It wasn't the independent life that she
had always lived. >> Ally says Eileene continued to pressure Zach to break up with Christina for
good. But when Zach finally tried to end things with Christina, she countered with an unconventional proposal.
>> It was not the answer that anyone expected. Christina came back and said, "Well, why don't we try and all be in a
relationship then?" It now became this opportunity for this throppple three-way kind of relationship.
>> A throppple is a romantic relationship among three people. Ally says Eileene was against the idea.
>> Eileen said, "Absolutely not. There's no way. It's never going to work." And there was kind of a crickets for a few
weeks. >> But Ally says Eileene later changed her mind. The trio was now a throppple.
>> I was in shock really, but also a little bit happy for them that maybe this could
work. >> But it didn't work. Before long, there was trouble. >> This whole dynamic started to change
where one of them always seemed to be them odd man out or was jealous. At that point, it just started to spiral out of
control. According to Mike Pikovette, things escalated, leading to irrational behavior and fights fueled by alcohol.
He says Eileen and Christina traded [music] punches often, usually resulting in black eyes on one or both of the
women that they'd sometimes hide behind big sunglasses. >> It was an [music] everyday thing, pretty
every second day thing, I could say. >> Ally remembers things differently. She says Zach was the main aggressor in the
relationship. >> Eileen would call me and say, "You have to come over here. Like, he hurt me
again." And I'd rush over there and photograph her and beg her to go to the police.
>> But Ally says Eileene refused, fearing Christina's law enforcement connections
would work against her. Eileen's sister, Francesca, was furious when she learned
of the abuse. >> I wanted my sister out of this situation. I wanted her out. >> It's hard to leave. It's hard to leave.
And I had this feeling that Christina was more violent of the two. It was really difficult to
see her going through a time like this. It was just so hard and she was scared to death.
>> Once Ally says the abuse got so bad, she took Eileen to the emergency room. >> They took her to the hospital because
they have to report things, but she wouldn't say where the bruises came from. Eileen's best friend [music] had to
deliver a hard truth. >> Eileen, you have to break up with this guy. Someone's going to end up dead.
When Eileen was in real trouble, it was hard to get anyone to come rescue her. The path that led to Eileen Seiden's
murder may have begun weeks earlier. In 2018, Ally was surprised that despite the physical violence in their
relationship, Eileen had decided to move in with Sack Ael and Christina Ajo. The
thruple was now working together, sleeping [snorts] together, and living together. Eileen was trapped in the
relationship because she was trapped financially, but she felt that that was one last chance to make it work. It was
like a one month or two month trial. >> But within a few weeks, Ally says Eileene had had enough.
>> Eileen was just going to move out. She was really done with the relationship.
But Eileen's plans to leave were halted on April 7th, 2018 after Zach and Christina had gotten into a violent
fight. Ally says she got a call from Eileen on Zach's phone. >> She was going to leave and get Zach out
of the house, but like to go to a coffee shop. The next call I got was from Christina. She was angry and furious.
Ally says Christina threatened to report the car Eileen and Zach were driving in
as stolen in an apparent attempt to keep them from leaving her behind. Ally immediately warned Eileene and Zach.
Instead of coming around and coming back like I thought they would, they hit the
gas and went to Georgia. I said, "What are you doing, Eileen? You don't have your phone. You don't have a wallet.
This is crazy." She said, "We're going on a road trip. This is a good thing. But the road trip wasn't a good thing to
Christina Ajo. She began harassing Zach and Eileene, sending a storm of angry texts. You two deserve each other.
Christina sent more than 150 texts in roughly 24 hours. All went unanswered, including this one. My dad will be
calling you. Later, Christina issued this threat. You effed me over and now I'm effing you over.
>> I was just trying to tell her Christina, you why don't you worry about your own
life. >> About 48 hours into the road [music] trip, Zach and Eileen were heading to
Texas and Christina seemed to have a change of heart, texting, "If you want to come back home, come back. You never
have to question my love." for reasons that are unknown. Instead of coming home, Zach invited Christina to join
them and she flew to Dallas. But with a thrpple united, the old problems returned.
>> Eileen started to call me from Zach's phone at night saying, you know, this is
getting bad and I I don't know what to do. It wasn't until Christina arrived that that started to happen. I was
really worried someone would get hurt. >> By day 10 of the road trip, Eileen's older sister, Francesca, was also
worried. She hadn't heard from Eileene in a while. When the trio stopped in New Orleans, Eileen finally called Francesca
and shared an alarming suspicion. >> She's like, "I think they're going to kill me." No joke. So I was like,
Eileen, run to the nearest gas station. Go tell the person. >> Call 911. >> Yeah. Run to like I said, run. Get the
get out of there. Go. She's like, I can't. >> Francesca, desperate to help, tried to
get more details from Eileen. >> If I had where the address was, I would have called the police then and there,
but she had to go. She had to get off. And she hung up. I was extremely frustrated, but I and and I was scared.
>> With no way to help her sister, Francesca hoped Eileen would stay safe. The road trip continued into its second
week. The trio then headed to Panama City, Florida. But a [music] missed exit led them to the forgotten coast.
>> The road trip is difficult to understand. partying one day and murdering the next.
>> David Adlerstein is a reporter for the Appalachiccola Times, one of the oldest
newspapers in Florida. >> I've been covering the Eileen Siden case since the week it happened.
>> On the evening of April 21st, the trio seen here in this screenshot from surveillance footage stumbled into the
quiet peace of Franklin County. They went to a popular restaurant, the Red Pirate, played miniature golf,
partied. >> At the recommendation of a local, the thrpple headed to the nearby Sportsman's
Lodge Motel. They reserved the last vacancy of the night, room [music] 15. The next morning, on April 22nd, 2018,
the Thrpple made a plan. They decided they'd [music] spend another day there, not get back on the road and make it a a
party. So, they got up in the morning and went to the liquor store. >> Here they are in these screenshots from
the store's surveillance footage. While there, the trio purchased large bottles of vodka and fireball whiskey. When I
went to investigate their path that day and went to the liquor store, the clerk,
she pointed out that the fireball that they bought was the largest bottle you could buy. And this is just the three of
them. >> The throppple then returned to the sportsman's Lodge motel. >> I don't think Eileen was having fun. I
think she was just trying to maybe get by and stay alive. >> Ally says she spoke to Eileene that day.
>> Eileen said, "I need to leave him. I'm telling you, I'm like a sex slave. He has this really scary look in his eye.
It's very scary. It's different. And she said, "I need your help." >> Ally says the two friends had crafted an
escape plan. Eileen would get on a bus from Tampa, the trio's next destination. >> I bought her a Greyhound ticket because
she didn't have a wallet. >> The bus would drop Eileen off near Miami, and Ally would take her home.
Eileen just needed to get on that bus and she'd be safe. >> And then, you know, I never heard back.
I never heard anything after that. >> The next night, hundreds of miles away in Fort Lauderdale, Mike Pigette was
home and alone. There was a knock at the door. It was Christina Ajo and Zack Ael.
>> I was like, "Okay, where's Eileen?" And right away Christina says, "Oh, she ran
away." And I said, "Bull." I said, "Where is she?" And Zach right away it started to choke up and he said, "She's
dead." >> The news was shocking enough, but Mike says once Christina was out of earshot,
Zach told him what happened. >> He said Christina killed her. He woke up, she was dead next to him, and uh he
tried to give her CPR. Then uh wanted to call 911. Christina said no. when and told me you can't call 911. For some
reason, he kept on saying he had to protect Christina. I'm like, "What do you got to protect her for?"
>> Mike says he wanted to protect both of his friends. He feared a violent outcome
if he called 911. >> I didn't want them to get killed. Just wanted to make sure that they were
brought in a safe way. And the only thing that I could think about is to go talk to her father.
>> Christina's father, Colonel Tony Ajo. The one Mike says Christina had always bragged could make her problems go away.
When Zach and Christina fell asleep, Mike took this photo and says he went online to search for Christina's father,
a man he had never met. >> So, I was panicking trying to find his phone number. >> When Mike finally got a hold of Colonel
Ajo, he didn't immediately reveal the deadly news. >> I said, "I got to talk to you. It's
about Christina. It's very important. >> Mike says Christina's father directed Mike to meet him at an odd place, a gas
station. >> So I went up there. I said, "Christina killed somebody." And he says, "You know
I'm a cop, right?" I'm like, "Yes, sir, I do." He right away [music] said, "Wait right there."
>> Mike says Christina's father then brought him to the sheriff's office to make a formal statement.
>> He did what was the right thing to do. I got two other people to ask me all the
questions. >> Later that day, Mike was shown a photo and he was the one to identify the
battered body of Eileen Siden. With that confirmation, police descended on Mike's
home as Zach and Christina were about to leave. [music] They were arrested and brought back to
Franklin County. [music] The pair were later charged with firstdegree murder. It would take almost [music] 6 years
before Zach Ael and Christina Ao would face a jury, and by then only one of them would stand trial.
You're healing. You're doing the things that you need to heal. And then >> you're stopped.
>> For almost 6 years, Francesca Seiden lived in agonizing limbo as her sister Eileen's case, complicated by having two
defendants face delay after delay after frustrating delay. >> And now you're going to get ready for
this big moment. Then it stops again. Finally, in January of 2024, at the Franklin County Courthouse in
Appalachiccola, Florida, Zack Ael was about to face trial. He had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and would
stand before the jury alone. 8 months earlier, Christina Ao took a plea deal for a lesser charge of secondderee
murder. So, she admitted taking part in this. >> Yes. She implicated herself in the
actual beating of Eileene. [music] >> After studying the mountain of evidence, prosecutor Jared Patterson believes Zach
Ael was more responsible in Eileen's murder. [music] And the state is relying on the jury believing Christina Ajo's
version of what happened inside room 15. The only one who has told us anything about what happened in that room is
Christina Arau. >> Once Christina made her plea deal, she would become the prosecution star
witness. >> Print reporter David Adlerstein, camera in hand, was there as Christina AO
transported the courtroom back to the evening of April 22nd, 2018. A Rajo testified that she, Zack, Ael,
and Eileen were relaxing in the room at the sportsman's lodge after a day of heavy drinking.
>> When Zach drinks, does he act differently? >> He becomes very aggressive, very mean.
>> Zach Ael became violently enraged, says Ajo, when Eileen posed a seemingly innocent question. But she said,
"Christina, guess what?" >> And she looks over at Christina and says, "Hey, Christina, guess what? How
would that sentence be finished?" >> I have no idea cuz she never got to finish it.
>> Zachary got up immediately and went over to her and was in her face, hitting her. He's
just yelling at her, telling her, "You always start problems." A Rajo admits to also hitting Eileene as she demanded to
know what she was about to say. She never got an answer. >> And I got so frustrated. I just swear to
God I left the room. [laughter] >> After stepping outside room 15 for a few minutes, Ajo claims she returned to find
Abel and Eileen in the bathroom. When I opened the door, he had something white in his hand, like if he was poking
about her. >> The medical examiner was able to identify small circular bruising to the
body of Eileen that could be consistent with a shower curtain rod. >> Like the shower curtain rod
investigators recovered that had palm print impressions in Eileen's blood. >> Whose palm was it? The palm print
belonged to Zachary Ael. >> The assault continued near the bed, says Ajo, where she says Abel reached for his
wooden walking stick. >> He hit Sarah several times with it. When he hit her in the back, though, the
stick broke. >> We had actually found pieces of that wooden staff in the hotel room. We
didn't realize the significance of it until we found the other piece in the vehicle that contained our victim's DNA.
>> AO says she watched in terror as Abel began using that stick to sexually assault Eileen.
>> Christina's description of the crime was horrifying to listen to. Eileen clearly
suffered terrible death. Adlerstein recalls the medical examiner saying Eileen's injuries reminded him of those
he had seen in motor vehicle crashes. As a reporter, I try very hard to not be emotional.
I distinctly remember fighting back tears. >> AO claims she eventually put herself
between Abel and Eileene and the attack finally stopped. Eileen was badly beaten, but still alive, she says, and
the exhausted trio just fell asleep. >> I didn't think she was going to die for me.
>> Ajo claims it wasn't until she woke up the next morning that she realized Eileen was dead. She says she only
participated in the cover up out of fear of what Abel might do to her. >> She seemed to me genuinely remorseful.
Others had different opinions. Who is Christina Ao in your book? >> Manipulative,
cunning, chameleon. I think that there's evil in her. >> Alex Morris is Zach Abel's attorney.
>> He says Christina Ajo acted alone. >> I believe that she is the murderer. Let's talk about her story.
Morris says it was Christina Ajo who beat Eileene. And that photo taken by Mike Pikovette at his home after the
murder shows she had injuries to her hands and feet. >> Which tells you Christina must have been
the attacker. >> That's right. >> Christina Ao was the one with homicidal intent, says Morris. Triggered when Abel
and Eileene took off with her in the rear view mirror. And he says those threatening texts that [music] she sent
to Abel's phone before joining them on the road trip read like a confession. There are threats of bodily harm to both
Eileen and Zach and the messages. You come near me, ho, I will kill you. >> I think it speaks for itself. And that's
exactly what happened. After Eileen's murder, Morris says Ajo wiped down the motel room using the
vinegar that Ronnie Jones would later smell. He says Abel's palm prints on the curtain rod got there when he moved it
during the cleanup. >> He was instructed to pick the curtain rod up over there and put it over there
by Christina. This toll booth surveillance photo from after the murder shows that Christina Ajo and not Zach
Ael was the one driving the car and therefore Morris says she was the one in control.
>> The evidence indicates Christina to be the one giving the directions and had everything
to be able to manipulate the situation. manipulating Zach Ael says Morris because of those threats she had been
making for years about her father's influence in solving her problems. >> Bottom line is Zach was fearful of
Christina's father. >> Abel chose not to testify. When Morris made his final arguments to the jury, he
concluded the evidence showed there was only one person who wanted Eileen Siden dead. They haven't proven any motive as
to why Mr. Abel would be interested in murdering Miss Siden. But I'll tell you where motive lies and it's clear as day
and that's with Mr. Rajo. >> The motive being I want rid of the person who's taken my man. So jealousy.
>> Yes. >> In his closing, Patterson said Christina Ao already accepted her role in this
crime. He asked the jury to hold Zack Ael accountable for his part by finding him guilty of murder.
>> They lived together. They worked together. They own a business together. They went to the sportsman's lodge
together. They emptied out the room together. They ran away together. They got arrested together. The only thing
they didn't do together was kill Eileen Sid. No way. >> [music] >> But who would the jury believe?
[music] She wasn't born here and she didn't live here, but she was left here and she'll
always be remembered by Franklin County. >> Residents of Florida's forgotten coast
will now long remember Eileen Seiden, says Ronnie Jones. Almost 6 years after her death, the community waited for
justice for the stranger they now had come to embrace as one of their own. >> What was going through your mind as the
jury begins its deliberation? make it quick. >> I was told by the jury foreman that when
they first went in, there was 10 in favor of firstdegree premeditated murder with two holdouts.
>> All right, everyone, please be seated. >> After about 5 hours of deliberations,
the jury reached a consensus. >> In the case of the state of Florida versus Zachary Ray Ael, the defendant is
guilty of the lesser included offense of seconddegree murder. seconddegree murder. Just like Christina
Ajo, Adlerstein says the jury foreman told him they just couldn't [music] decide if Zack Abel had actually
intended to kill Eileene. >> They knew that Christina had plead guilty to second. And I think they
eventually said, "We're going to give him the same." >> It doesn't tell me that they're equally
responsible. Mike Picovet says even with the verdict, he is convinced his friend
played no part in Eileen's death. >> To me, there's an innocent man sitting in jail.
>> I think they're both just as guilty as the other. >> Now retired from law enforcement, Ronnie
Jones spends his days tending his bar in Appalachiccola. He says he's still left wondering what
really happened inside room 15. Is this case a mystery to you? It's not a mystery on exactly what happened, but
exactly why it happened. That is what still bothers me to this day. Why, >> like what Eileen might have been about
to say that sparked the attack. >> It was my understanding and the rumors that she was fixing to disclose the fact
that she was pregnant. >> Pregnant? And was she pregnant? Did you learn that at autopsy?
>> I was at the autopsy and she was not pregnant. I don't know if she thought she was or not.
When it was time for sentencing, Zack Ael finally spoke and told the courtroom another twist in this tortured story.
>> I had stopped and I grabbed a ring pop and I proposed to her with a ring pop and asked her to marry me and she said
yes. And me and Eileen were going to go our way and leave Christina out of it. [snorts] Zach spoke at his sentencing
and said that he'd actually proposed to Eileen during this trip. >> I think that is just BS. It's a great
story, but no. >> I have been in the justice system in one form or another for 40 years. Rarely
have I seen the sort of injuries that I saw on Eileen Seiden. The judge told Abel he wished he could impose a harsher
punishment before sentencing [music] him to the maximum, life in prison. In >> the state of Florida, life means life.
We don't have parole. >> At her sentencing, Christina Ajo's father, Colonel Tony Ajo, set the record
straight. He said he never used his influence to benefit his daughter, and he recalled the conversation he had with
her after the murder. You will own up to the truth. You will accept responsibility.
You will be the voice of the victim and you will testify under oath in a court of law. And then whatever is sentenced
to you, that's fine. >> There was no agreement with her as to the length of sentence. She gave her
statement with the knowledge that she could still receive life in prison. >> I think about that day every day of my
life. >> [snorts] >> The details haunt me and the memories keep me up. >> The judge acknowledged her cooperation
and sentence Christina Ao to 25 years. >> Justice has been served. They won't beat
up any more females. Neither will she. >> I think that every woman kind of thinks
I would leave if I was in that situation. I would just get up and leave. I would never tolerate that.
Eileen's best friend, Ally, hopes there will be more compassion for those trapped [music] in abusive
relationships. >> It's always the I'm sorry, it's never going to happen again. And you believe
it cuz you're in love and things are good 95% of the time, but the 5% that are bad are so bad.
>> With your sister gone, how do you want her to be remembered? I want her to be
remembered as a sweet, loving human being who unfortunately had lost her parents at
such a young age. But she was still so sweet. Like she was such a sweetheart. Her soul was so kind.
>> [music] >> I can only describe it as evil. Something horrible >> from 48 hours. This is trained to kill
the dog trainer, the ays, and the bodyguard. [music] >> He couldn't control his obsession.
>> Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your
podcasts.

“48 Hours" reports on cases involving damning actions that led to heinous crimes. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "Hannah Graham: Deadly Connections (Part 1)," "Hannah Graham: Stalked by Evil (Part 2)" and "Who Killed Aileen Seiden in Room 15?"

00:00 Hannah Graham: Deadly Connections (Part 1) 42:08 Hannah Graham: Stalked by Evil (Part 2) 01:25:04 Who Killed Aileen Seiden in Room 15?

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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