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[Music] I was looking forward to getting married we were going to have like the fairy tale life we first met online it
was in June of 2017 Patrick was definitely movie star handsome he definitely had the whole
package I am Jessica devani and Patrick deera was my fiance this is your engagement yes it's
beautiful thank you he he never got to give it to [Music] me Patrick De lero is planning as future
him and Jessica were looking forward to moving towards West Palm that's where Patrick's mother Patricia
lived and one day he came and he said Mom this one is the one this one is the one and he was waiting for the
ring that morning just started off a normal morning for him and Jessica they texted each other good morning I love
you he had got a phone call from his dad saying that there was a package being delivered at the gate he thought it was
the ring that was coming in that day so Patrick then goes down probably looking forward to this right
[Music] yes he would usually call her and it was about the time she was getting to work
which you know made her worry and it's like she instinctually knew something was wrong at that point and why were you
afraid for Patrick I was afraid because of the threats that were made in the past
I'm making a phone call I'm giving instructions and I'm going to have my my plan put into action you felt at that
moment that something terrible may have happened yes I left work right away to be on my
way to check on Patrick you get here as quickly as you can yes I got up right along this path I
had to climb the fence I don't think Patrick deera had any idea what was waiting for him on the other
side of that door there was multiple shots fired Patrick was hit multiple times it
appeared that he was killed in like Ambush style and I'll never forget the scene
like it's still in my head every day my boyfriend's house is his dad's house if anybody else is here is anybody
else here it was just the worst thing you could ever see in your entire life yeah they dog clearly this wasn't a
random killing someone had a vendetta against Patrick it was personal and it was
planned that's to be it was an assassination my whole future was taken away from
me my whole world was taken away CH up in there come on now [Music] [Music] that day we're at the office kind of
going through case work and paperwork and things like that what started as a slow Tuesday Morning back in 2018 for
valuan County Florida sheriff's detective Chad Weaver changed dramatically 911 where's your emergency
when this fragmented 911 call from a neighbor reporting Patrick D Laser's death came in um um has been shot and
killed when did that happen I don't know you don't want to try CPR correct no no he's dead he's
cold within minutes Sheriff's deputies wearing body cameras entered this Lush 9 acre Compound on the
outskirts of Deltona worried that the killer may still be here sheriff's officer here
inside you need to announce yourself now when the deputies showed up they had their guns out and preparing for the
worst but hoping for the best with the gunman still at large detective Weaver took charge of the crime scene as TV
news Choppers hovered above as we walked up to that area you could see a male looked like he
was in his early 20s appeared that he was suffering for multiple gunshot wounds deputies say someone shot right
through his front door 25-year-old Patrick D lasera had been shot four times by a high-powered Rifle right in
the doorway of the house he shared with his father Max who was out of town that day I never got to say goodbye to my son
I never got to talk to him nothing you can see the front door was open there was glass all over the place
there's a lot of blood you know right off the bat you're going okay this is probably going to be a who done
it at the scene detective Weaver and several deputies approached a traumatized Jessica devani Patrick's
29-year-old fiance my boyfriend in his cat's house I was just walking in circles around like
the front yard just pacing up and down ma'am come over here stay here behind the
tree just 2 months earlier at this very location Patrick had popped the question
to Jessica and presented her with this temporary engagement ring it just came out of nowhere he he just asked like you
know will you marry me and what did you say of course I said yes I was so excited
[Music] the marriage proposal couldn't have come at a better time for Jessica who worked
as a bank teller months earlier she had ended a tumultuous 8-year relationship and then met Patrick on a dating app we
just fell in love like right away it was a connection from the beginning so it was kind of like love at first
sight Jessica and Patrick who worked a construction job with his father had the Builder partied and played together as
their romance blossomed Patrick ordered this custommade work of art to be delivered
to his home for Jessica's permanent engagement ring he was a romantic says his mother
Patricia Ron Patrick was a wonderful son and he loved kids he loved babies and I
really was looking forward to have grandchildren from him Jessica and Patrick lived in different cities she
was in Orlando while Patrick lived with his father in Deltona 30 m away on the night of
February 26 2018 Patrick left her this sweet voicemail I love you good night sweet
dream morning I'll call you out send you a text when I uh I wake up right good night by it would be the last voicemail
she would ever receive from her love the next day a series of what seemed like random events would change everything
the first came when Patrick's father Max who was 70 M away working on a construction job received a phone call
so Max gets a phone call from an unknown person stating that they have a package
to deliver to his son Patrick Max hangs up the phone he tries to call Patrick Patrick doesn't answer so he sends him
text message hey there's someone with a delivery Max never hears from Patrick again after that he never answers never
responds meanwhile Max and Jessica kept calling Patrick with no luck Jessica feared the worst because of those
disturbing threats the couple had received you're thinking he's been harmed yes yes for sure Max and Jessica
rushed to the house she got there first I'm approaching the front door and that's where his body laid Patrick just
laying there and this big pool of blood and just he was just lifeless soon after Jessica discovered
her fiance's body Patrick's dad arrived he took us back to the crime scene with Jessica my son was lying down there his
head was right there his foot were still on top of this so that means that he fell back and
that tells you the gunman was right here that tells no bullet can take a right hand turn exactly that guy was right
there my son saw this guy he turned the around and the guy shot him because my son was just like this my son was like
this WOW detective Weaver's team combed through the house they soon discovered that the killer had taken Patrick's
computer we got a camera above us too and the hard drive from the home security camera
system investigators ALS also recovered unique shell casings from 300 Blackout ammunition bullets often used in
semi-automatic weapons like an AR-15 when we saw the shell casings with how close they were to the
body immediately realized that this was a calculated murder this was this was planned but why would anyone want to
kill Patrick D lerta weever learned about a bizarre incident in 2017 in a strange twist News 6 discovered the
young man has been shot at before when Patrick called police saying his neighbor had fired some bullets
after arguments back and forth about trespassing Patrick wasn't harmed there had been some complaints and Patrick
felt that the neighbor was shooting towards their house this is night footage of the man being tackled and
arrested by police for that incident it was an intriguing lead until Weaver learned the man was in custody on the
day Patrick was murdered so we were able to check him off the list detective Weaver then focused on some ominous
voicemails that had been discovered call me back and talk to me which led them to
a man that Patrick and Jessica knew quite well I'll talk to you soon I hope I was really scared because like he was
always shadowing my life learn more about Jessica and Patrick's relationship at 48
hours.com a couple in love with everything in front of them dreams of marriage and family about to come true
Jessica look this way then came February 27th 2018 when Jessica devani Came Upon her
fiance Patrick D lerta in a pool of blood at his home shot four times at close range by an assassin I think my
mind just doesn't want to accept it my whole future was taken away from me my whole world was taken away the Ambush
style assault of Patrick made it seem like the killer was lying in weight detective Chad Weaver was hoping Jessica
might have a lead that would jump start his investigation and we were speaking to her about any enemies or any problems
with anyone you know that Patrick had had the detective learned that there was someone who wasn't happy with Jessica
and Patrick's Whirlwind romance who is that person my ex Gregory Bender Jessica told detective Weaver that right before
she met Patrick she broke up with Bender her ex-boyfriend of 8 years it was a break W up that he was not happy with he
was not accepting a fit it's almost like he never left like he was always shadowing my life like he was not
accepting a fit at all he very controlling and as Weaver was about to learn Jessica and Bender had a very
complicated LoveHate kind of relationship over the eight years they were together he could be very charming
and manipulative at 42 years old Bender was almost twice Jessica's age when they
first met online in 2009 he was a successful hedge fund manager who lived in this house in windir a wealthy suburb
outside of Orlando he had a very charismatic personality he was very intelligent it felt like we known each
other all our lives he became my best friend was he a downto earth kind of guy not so much in the sense that he did
like to show off he loved fast cars and he loved guns as well but what if anything did Gregory Bender
have to do with Patrick's death detective Weaver wanted to know more Patrick was middle class Blue Collar
hardworking young man Gregory on the other hand who's White Collar well educated lived in a 3/4 of a million
dollar house totally different people from totally different walks of life Jessica told the detective that Greg
Bender simply couldn't tolerate the idea of any other man in in her life she told
a story about what happened when she briefly dated someone else after first meeting Greg he did stalk the person
that I was dating and he described exactly where he lived and he said that he would tie him up and harm him so a
relationship that had love in it now had a little bit of Terror in it I never feared what he could do to me but I
feared what he could do to other men despite his jealousness and verbal threats Jessica accepted Greg's proposal
to marry a few years into their relationship I was in love with him at the time and maybe I was a little bit
naive at the time I didn't want to find someone else and there is another twist in Jessica's Twisted relationship with
Greg in early 2016 he was having a procedure done at a local hospital Jessica decided to drop by for a
surprise visit when she entered Greg room another woman was there I was like what are you doing here she's like what
are you doing here and I told her I'm like I'm his fiance and I showed her the ring and then she showed me her ring
she's like I'm his wife she was this woman deera Sanchez he's secretly married to this woman yes my heart just
dropped I couldn't believe it I was in shock several days passed when Bender finally called Jessica and tried to
explain that that he had only married Sanchez so her son could go to school in the district where his house was located
he said I'm so sorry and he told me that he had only married her as like a business marriage he was just trying to
help her out and they had an arrangement together at that point Jessica had sort
of had enough so you end up giving Greg Bender in ultimatum what was that yes I told him that he had till the end of the
year to leave her he had to divorce her not only leave but divorce yes but that business marriage line was just another
of Bender's lies and he stayed married to deera with that Jessica finally ended the relationship in
2017 one month later Jessica met Patrick and began dating him but Bender was often on her mind I was afraid that he
would find out about our relationship but just 5 months after after dumping him Gregory Bender came across our
Facebook page he immediately started messaging Patrick on his Facebook threatening him and he said I know where
you live I'm going to harm you guys Bender left ominous voicemails like this one I'm giving instructions and I'm
going to have my my plan put into action what's he talking about at that point in
time he had mentioned to me that he was going to hire a hitman or he was going to do do the job himself and what job
was that to kill Patrick enough was enough Jessica and Patrick had these tapes and text messages presented to a
judge who issued this restraining order Bender was ordered to stay away from Jessica and turn in his large collection
of firearms to authorities did Greg Bender go away we thought he did go away we didn't hear anything and we felt
confident until she detective Weaver on the morning of Patrick's murder Gregory Bender called for the first time in 2
months he called my job that very morning but Jessica said she didn't answer so when she got the phone call
and saw on the caller ID that it was Gregory Bender Flags started going up and that's what made her so worried
flags were also going up for detective Weaver he believed he now had a prime suspect in Patrick's death and Weaver
had an idea now was the time for Jessica to return Bender's calls and investigators would listen in she really
wanted to solve Patrick's murder so she did that without hesitation okay call him and put him on the speaker hello
hello detective Weaver was hopeful Bender might say something to implicate himself you ruined my life you got your
run and ruined my life what are you talking about [Applause] [Music] hello hello hi hey it was a tense
awkward moment just a few hours after she'd seen her fiance's body investigators asked Jessica devani to
call the man they thought may have murdered him Greg Bender quickly spoke up I saw happened on the news I want to
tell you I'm I feel sorry for you I just wanted to try to do everything I could to help the investigation she reminded
Bender about his previous threats and we said enough is enough I can't do this I'm G to hire Hitman I'm GNA kill him no
that's not no no no I didn't say that did you ask him outright did you shoot Patrick I did but that's why I want to
find out if it is you like no it's not I'm your friend I did not do this could you tell he was lying to you yes I could
tell he was lying while Bender denied any involvement in Patrick's death detective
Chad Weaver says there was enough evidence to arrest him not for murder but for violating that restraining order
we had seen that he had attempted to contact her twice at work which we found was a violation of that
injunction even with Bender behind bars for the night detective Weaver didn't have much to link him to Patrick's
murder then he received a phone call from the attorney of Bender's now ex-wife deera Sanchez the woman Jessica
had first met in the hospital and he said she has some information that will be valuable to your case DEA asked to
meet detective Weaver in a parking lot she's very nervous she didn't want us coming to her house it turns out deera
had a pretty good reason to be nervous she was about to provide a crucial piece of evidence so we spoke with her and she
had told us that her and Gregory had gotten a divorce and she had moved out in December of 2017 around that same
time she had discovered what she believed to be a murder plan in a spiral notebook that she had seen Gregory
writing in in the past a murder plan handwritten in a notebook detailing an elaborate plot to kill de Mara said when
she confronted Bender about it he told her it was all a fantasy and she forgot about it 25-year-old Vala County Man is
dead until she saw the report that the man Bender was supposedly fantasizing about killing had just been murdered but
when she told us about the murder plan and that gave us what we needed to get into the house to see you know what else
was in there Valia County prosecutor Ashley traiger says learning about the murder plan was a potential GameChanger
if invest tigators could find it so the next day February 28th of 2018 they execute the search warrant at Gregory
Bender's home in Orange County Florida and windir detective Weaver had some doubts
but almost as soon as he entered Bender's house Weaver hit Pay Dirt he spotted several balls of
crumpled up Note Paper I looked in the trash can and I was in shock like there's no way that we just found this
murder plan the first thing I wanted to do was reach in the trash Jam grab it Weaver wisely held off while this paper
was bagged and tagged for forensics later when he was able to read the plan it was just as DEA said a detailed road
map for murdering Patrick D lerta some of the first things in it were directions and it actually had Patrick
delera's address tyon Boulevard Weaver took us to the crime scene to explain how the plan match the
actual murder this road leads down the side of the property it's off of Howen Boulevard this is important because the
dirt road that was drawn on the murder plan runs down the side of the property it's pretty heavily wooded down this way
so I think he walked on foot until he got to this opening and this is the area that we believe Gregory Bender accessed
to sneak up on our victim the sketch of the property was spot on the plan was evidence of Bender's
obsession with detail and compulsion to kill says Weaver the plan read put duct tape on
the bottom of a second pair of shoes so no tread prints wait for confirm that he
is alone then turn off cell phones and dispose of clothes plate tracker gloves with the murder plan in hand
Weaver had a powerful case against bender and with the discovery of this ammunition there was now a direct link
to those unique bullet shells found at the scene they find that arsenal of 300 Blackout
ammunition remember Patrick was shot four times with that type of unique ammo but only two shell casings were
recovered at the crime scene that's what made another Discovery by investigators
at Bender's house so important they find a shell casing and a desk drawer essentially a junk drawer the casing
matched the two recovered shell casings from the crime scene short of actually finding the murder weapon um in my
opinion I think that was probably the most important piece of evidence that we found that's because the murder weapon
has never been recovered although Jessica remembers seeing a powerful rifle at Bender's house when they dated
the AR-15 the semi-automatic rifle did he have one of those yes he did I think it's probably at the bottom of a lake
somewhere the evidence was overwhelming Weaver now had a clear and concise theory of the crime Greg Bender was
lying in weight in the bushes just out of view he made the phone call posing as a delivery man um Patrick receives a
text messages thinking that he has a package and as Patrick answered the door he shot and killed him less than 48
hours after Patrick's death an arrest warrant was issued for Gregory Bender charging him with the murder fuchia
County sheriff's deputies had an easy time locating their suspect who had been released from jail after violating that
restraining order Bender was in his own front yard says prosecutor Andrew urbanic and Mr Bender actually showed up
bonded out from the Orange County Jail just a short time after they started executing that warrant for Patrick's
mother the arrest is just the first step against a man she despises psychopath that's what he is do you want me to say
his name I've never pronounced his name I don't want to pronounce his name that is hurting my mouth to just say his name
why did Patrick have to die just out of jealousy of of a man that was obsessed he thought that by doing this that I
would go back to him but with no weapon no eyewitnesses and no DNA at the crime scene
ultimately this case is a circumstantial case bender and his attorneys are planning a vigorous trial defense you
started dating Patrick in June and using undercover video shot by a private eye they plan to challenge
Jessica on the stand about the real nature of her relationship with Greg Bender why are you dining with Greg and
going to Greg house in November of 2017 if you're happily moving on with Patrick what do you make of Gregory
Bender leaving his murder plan in the trash can two months after Patrick D lerta was
gunned down as he went to his front door expecting to pick up that Eng engagement
ring for Jessica devani he got me the perfect ring she was finally able to put on the ring at her 30th birthday
celebration a surprise finally delivered by Patrick's family why do you wear that
ring today I wear it because Patrick will always be the love of my life and Jessica will be wearing the ring at the
murder trial of Greg Bender her former boyfriend who stands accused of stalking and killing the man she had hoped to
marry all right this day could not have come soon enough says Patrick's devastated mother Patricia Jessica and I
we felt victimized every single day for 3 years and a half because we have no voice absolutely no voice prosecutor
Ashley tiiger is now the voice Patrick's loved ones had longed for as she began her opening statement Patrick De laerta
was the victim of a murder a detailed and meticulously thought out murder plan and a tragic ending in which he was shot
four times in the head face chest and hip defense attorney Richard Parker says the state's case is No Slam Dunk will
show that there's more than just one or two people that have motive and opportunity in this case Jessica is the
prosecution's star witness and will be the first to testify it was really hard I was really nervous Jessica describes
for the jury how Gregory Bender was a man consumed by jealousy who made many threats he would messag me saying if if
I didn't leave Patrick he would harm Patrick and Jessica read one of those threatening texts for the jury think
about it if I don't hear from you or the cops call again I'll just do what I said
and move on jurors learned that Bender went to extraordinary links to poison Jessica and Patrick's relationship as
you can see on this secretly recorded video it appears bender and Jessica are at lunch and then a week later at a
restaurant enjoying dinner just a few months after she started dating Patrick prosecutor Andrew urbanic did you
actually see these videos I did the encounters were captured by a private investigator hired by Bender there's a
scene of the two of them entering and leaving Bender's home he's seen rubbing Jessica's leg for the
camera they hold hands and here he leans in for a kiss it felt really odd I felt like he was
trying to put on a show because he kept like trying to get close to me and trying to hold my hand which he never
used to do I was like what are you doing I was like we're just friends right now
what are you trying to do but prosecutors Say the video was all a setup what did he do with it
he had given it to Patrick did that cause some Strife between you and Patrick and your relationship yes we had
a a fight and we had broke up for a few days did the two of you end up getting back together after that yes defense
attorneys tried to use their clients video production to convince jurors that Jessica and Bender actually were more
than just friends why are you dining with Greg and going to Greg's house house in November of 2017 if you're
happily moving on with Patrick because the defendant was threatening and I was trying to calm him down and he said that
if I went to see him he would not harm anyone the defense tries another tactic making what prosecutors say is an
unfounded allegation that Patrick's father Max was attracted to Jessica did Max de Sera comment in a a very positive
way regarding your appearance same objection judge still here say statement would you say you have a good
relationship with her I didn't have a relationship with her at all that led to a combative cross-examination when Max
took the stand what you're asking is making no sense I don't think that has nothing to do with Patrick's murder and
the defense implied he may have had the motive and the opportunity to kill his own son because of discrepancies in his
whereabouts that day your girl said that you were in fact staying with her is it
her memory that's wrong or is it yours it might be mine sir I was I'm constantly on the go I work here I work
there I don't keep track of phones I don't keep track of time so what point are you trying to make I don't know they
wanted to blame it on Max and you can tell he's angry that his son was killed unnecessarily violently
horrifically and now he has to be in a room with his son's killer throughout the trial Bender remained
stoic until his ex-wife DEA Sanchez took the stand and spoke through an interpreter were you married to Mr
Bender going Bender see yes during dea's testimony Bender broke down showing emotion for the first time in the trial
and jurors heard her audio interview with Weaver about the murder plan it was a plan to kill the guy I guess the guy
is Patrick yeah during a break in her testimony Bender appears to say I love you to someone in the gallery and is
admonished by an official don't talk to anybody in the cor when detective Weaver
took the stand the defense grilled him about the lack of forensic evidence in the case how about any hair or skin or
DNA anything like that from the scene that was helpful to your investigation no sir prosecutors responded by calling
cell phone experts who could connect Greg Bender's personal phone to a burner phone that was tracked to a cell tower
near the murder scene so the burner phone is the cell phone that made the call to Max de laerta that morning at
7:18 a.m. yes the state would rest at this time thank you after the prosecution rested Greg Bender chose not
to testify are you comfortable with the decision you have made yes thank you your honor thank you for closing
arguments prosecutors said Greg Bender was was the only person who had motive to kill Patrick he couldn't take the
Jessica left him and wouldn't come back to him because of Patrick D servant Council you may proceed in his closing
defense attorney Richard Parker insisted that Bender's murder plan did not equate
to guilt this case is about the difference between a fantasy and reality people should not be judged on their
worst thoughts just because they put them to paper but that's what they're doing in this case finally after 4 days
of testimony the case went to the jury prosecutor Andy urbanic was uncertain about what verdict they'd come back with
once it goes to the jury we can't make any guarantees but Jessica devani was confident a guilty verdict would finally
put an end to Bender's reign of terror it's my understanding you have a verdict I just want to see the expression on
this face [Music] [Music] this is where my son lives we follow you this is his place
okay this was Patrick's Place memories this is from a Christmas card that he gave me tender words from a son dad with
all my love thank for always being there for me to many more years love Patrick Max D lerta surrounds himself
with reminders of his son that's Patrick taken violently and far too soon I feel my son's present here I haven't
moved stuff I have you know it's everything is pretty much the same because I love this kid so much the only reason
make me feel better is that I lost my child for love Patrick's mother Patricia has
found some solace in her suffering he had love in his heart when he passed he was going down the stair to get the ring
and Jessica devani still wears that very engagement ring in honor of a marriage that never took place it's been hard um
past three years like I've been living in respect to Patrick but now Patrick's loved ones
huddle together hoping finally 3 years after Patrick's murder the jury will give them
justice state of Florida V Gregory Bender during four days of testimony they relive the horror of his death
listening to excruciating details of of Bender's murder plan we can see the an entrance wound on the right side of the
face it's my understanding you have a verdict is that correct as the verdict was about to be read Bender looked
directly at Jessica he was looking at me I don't know what was going on in his head Madam clerk if you could please
read the verdict we the jury find the defendant Gregory Bender as follows guilty of the charge of first-degree
murder murder as charged in the indictment and it's guilty and his fa does what nothing absolutely nothing in
Florida a conviction of first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence without parole so just moments
after the emotion of Victory Patrick's loved ones are allowed to address the court as Greg Bender listens just a few
feet away P your honor Patrick's mother I want to thank all of you for having put evil where he belongs
Jessica then spoke but chose not to look at her Tormentor you will not win you have only lost I hope you feel some
peace Patrick rest assured the man who took your life is going to pay with his own life now then it was Max's turn I
will miss my son and I regret that I wasn't there for him [Laughter] to remember that during the trial the
defense shamefully tried to suggest that Max may have been involved in his son's
murder I hope they keep you in jail until you die there until you died because the moment
you step out I'm going to finish you off I'm going to peel you like an onion the same thing you did to my son
Mr Max you have to address the judge you have to address the judge I will miss my
son he was a beautiful soul a beautiful kid and with that Greg Bender was CED off to prison for the rest of his life
he lost everything he's not going to win again ever again Jessica and Patricia are angry that this restraining order
they felt would offer protection for Patrick turned out to be worthless my son would be today alive if the
restauran order had been enforced by by the law enforcement Bender had been ordered to turn over his gun collection
to the Orange County Sheriff's Office he never did and without probable cause for
a search warrant law enforcement lacked the authority to seize those weapons it failed us it failed Patrick now Behind
Bars the days of Greg Bender lurking in the shadows of Jessica's life are finally over will you go on with life as
Patrick would like you to do I will I will go on for Patrick I will live in his happy
memories close to my heart one week after Greg Bender's conviction was what would have been
Patrick's 29th birthday Patrick's mom and I we went out to the cemetery in West Palm Beach and
we just celebrate his life we brought some cake and we brought some champagne and what did you say to Patrick on his
birthday when you were at his grave we finally did it we got the guilty verdict we always tell him we love him
we will always love him [Music] accused of his mother's murder at 14 what kid could commit a crime that
violent and not leave any forensic evidence then sentenced to life the state never really had any case against
this kid was he wrongfully convicted she was very close with Michael he was her baby 48 Hours next on CBS
[Music] do you believe he was killed correct uh yes my name is Alex Spyro I'm a former
prosecutor and I'm an attorney and I'm investigating The Disappearance of Don Lewis there's Witnesses and information
that shed light on further facts and circumstances surrounding this have you met these Witnesses yes and you believe
them yes there are new leads in The Strange Case of missing millionaire Don Lewis a man who seemed to vanish Without
a Trace we had lost all hope of ever knowing what happened to Dad and then they got some
hope from a TV series Tiger King was an addictive Netflix documentary series I'm Julie
Miller the senior feature writer for Vanity Fair Tiger King centers around Joe Exotic my name is Joe Exotic and
this is sge an Oklahoma based animal cat owner and his sworn enemy his rival Carol Baskin talking about a woman down
there in Tamp of Florida named Carol Bas Joe Exotic is this wild cartoonish flamboyant openly gay
mulleted tattooed gun toing large animal owner kind of the MC Jagger I'd say of the large cat animal
world Carol has fashioned herself as more of an animal activist big cats don't belong in cages she says that what
Joe is doing is not Humane and should be stopped it'll be a cold day in Hell before you completely stop me but also
woven into this entertainment uh was this cold case Don Lewis the owner of wildlife on Easy Street disappeared
Carol's second husband Don Lewis disappeared under very mysterious circumstances it was in 1997 and he just
vanished there have been all sorts of theories there's one that he was drugged and put in one of the small planes and
dumped out in the gulf and if the plan was to push him out this door that's a challenge the most insane Theory
probably being that Carol Baskin had her husband ground up and grinder and fed them to the animals word has it that
Carol snuck up onone in the middle of the night beat him in the head ground him up and fed him to the Tigers as
bizarre as that sounds this woman believes her ex-husband who once worked for Don and Carol may have revealed
something about Don's fate during a fight he said if you try to leave me again I will put you in the grinder like
I did Dawn in a meat grinder yeah her ex-husband denies her story do you believe her husband told her that he'd
put her in a meat grinder the way he did to Don I will tell you that there is certain information she's provided that
has been independently corroborated who would you like to interview the most Carol Baskin I didn't kill Don people
want answers they want to know what happened to Don Lis [Music] [Music] [Laughter]
like it or not the Tiger King Joe Exotic is back along with his arch enemy Carol
Basin I'm talking about a woman down in Tampa Florida named Carol Basin Lots has
happened to these two since we last heard from them Netflix came out with a second season of its Tiger King series
when you think you've seen it all you haven't quite seen it all Carol Basin vented on a celebrity
webcast called Hollywood raw I really feel like this is going to be just another horrible year of people having
the wrong idea about who I am and what I'm trying to do Carol Baskin began getting all that attention when she was
trying to shut down Joe Exotics private zoo in Oklahoma she is SP over a million
and a half dollars just trying to shut me down Joe fought back his weapon was a music video with a sensational message
featuring his idea of a Carol Baskin lookalike his video charged that Carol murdered her husband Don
Lewis and fed him to their Tigers Carol has denied the allegation vigorously and repeatedly but millions
of viewers saw the video and suddenly the heat was turned up on a Cold Case what happened to Carol's husband
Don the show even lit a fire under the local sheriff's department we reined everybody and have looked at new
evidence and continue to investigate investigators say only two people have declined to be interviewed by law
enforcement one of them is Carol Basin Carol is considered a suspect and a person of interest
it was 40 years ago that Carol first became a person of interest to Don Lewis like so many Florida stories theirs
begins like a Pulp Fiction novel that any reputable publisher would reject it starts on an unusually chilly night in
1981 in Tampa Carol was still a teenager and in a bad marriage she found herself
wandering in tears down a main Street in the middle of the night and just then 42-year-old Don
Lewis drove by in his truck he had stepped out of the home he shared with his wife glattus we had had an
argument and he left home and uh was headed to another girlfriend's house for the night which I found out later but he
was going down the Avenue and here was a pretty blind and she was crying and he told me that he stopped and um she got
in the truck with him and they spent the night together I'm sorry so he was on his way to another girlfriend's house
when he met Carol and took her to a hotel or a motel yes wow he was busy yes he was Don Lewis was busy with
two main interests money and women long before he picked up Carol that night on the street he met glattus she was just
13 when he noticed her shopping with her mother and I looked up and I thought woo
he sure is goodlooking and then he winked at me and I turned around to see who he might be looking at
and there was no one there so I said I guess that was me a little more than a year later Gladis and Don married
he was 17 with very little money but very big plans he could tear anything apart put it back together Don worked
hard fixing broken Machinery he made enough money to buy and grow a trucking business then he started buying and
selling Florida real estate and along the way he met an McQueen Don took somebody with an eighth grade
education and taught them how to manage a multi-million dollar business an kept the books and helped run things and they
were quite a team eventually Don was worth according to his lawyer between $5 and $10
million but you'd never know it he did business out of a used trailer on an empty lot he dressed in Old jeans and
cheap T-shirts and his cash management system was quaint what about burying money on the property did he did you do
that yes he did that's kind of an interesting thing to do well somebody would pay him cash and he love having
cash around so we'd put it in a jar and just dig a hole under the Little Red Barn we had I mean where I'm from people
who want cash frequently go to the ATM they don't go to the Little Red Barn but why do you suppose he didn't like go
to the bank well he had plenty of money in the bank too so Don and glattus raised a family their
three daughters Linda Donna and Gail remember their childhoods as happy he was home every night um we always had
dinner it was also a bit unusual largely because Don had a thing for Animals mostly Wild Ones I wouldn't call it
passionate I would call it an obsession we would come home from school and there
would be a baby alligator swimming in the bathtub there were ferrets and raccoons and horses and cows and and a
penguin and a monkey dad really loved animals but his daughters never knew about that other love of Don's women and
not just their mother gladus was he a good husband he was until I would get a call and say he's seeing someone oh well
that's pardon me that doesn't sound like a good husband he was up until that point yes may I be a little impolite and
ask you if you know roughly how many women he was seeing besides you you uh if you're talking about the whole 34
years I was married to him possibly 25 forgive me again for asking but how did that make you feel well when I would
find out I would tell him I was leaving and he would say there'll be no more did
you believe him of course at that time and as years went by no you have to make up your mind uh to live in that
situation or let it drive you crazy glattus was pretty good about living with a Serial
philanderer and then Don met Carol was there any sense when he met her that she was different than the other 24 some odd
women no she was um she was just like the other 25 but um I would say more greedy
because she did find out that he had money what do you think of her you really want me to answer that
I'd like to I think she's the worst thinging that ever was born in the United States of
America wow you don't mince words no and there's more if you want them Don and Carol had been seeing each
other for about 10 years when glattus decided she'd had enough she and Don finally divorced in 1990 a year later
Don married Carol and before long the new Mr and Mrs Lewis had new business they bought a bunch of big cats and put
them on exhibit at a place called Wildlife on Easy Street Don's former lawyer Joseph Fritz he'd take a chair
and sit in a yard with 10 12 Bobcats and all over him and him playing with him like like it was a household
puppy but before long there was difficulty on Easy Street Don and Carol weren't getting along he told me then he
said I I want you to know right now don't you or the girls or any of the grandkids R by be left in the room with
her alone and then after only 6 years of marriage Don Lewis just vanished he wouldn't walk away and leave his cats he
wouldn't walk away and leave his business I find it hard to believe he'd walk away and leave me
[Music] [Music] in the days before he went missing Don Lewis was planning to go to Costa Rica
to sell some used cars and trucks he was supposed to go and get me some VIN numbers and supposed to call me back and
he didn't was that like him I mean did he did he do that frequently no Don and I spoke on a daily
basis I finally reached Carol I kind of asked her if she knew where her husband was and um her answer to me was know
that she hadn't seen him since um the day before and she asked me if I thought that she should call the police
and I think I made a smart elic remark and said something like you think yeah you need to do
that there were some not so subtle signs that there were problems in Don and Carol's marriage and Don's daughter
Donna had sensed trouble between the two he thought she was crazy crazy mhm he didn't
um like the way she spent [Music] money the couple also reportedly thought about what to do with the animals Carol
wanted to keep them and make easy street a sanctuary Don so The Story Goes wanted
to breed and sell [Music] them he had talked about getting a divorce and if he had gone through with
it it could have been costly says Don's lawyer Joe Fritz so she would have lost a considerable amount of money Millions
that's considerable that's considerable the couple made a lot of money while they were together but it turned out
there were more signs of trouble after Don disappeared and McQueen says she remembered a sealed envelope that he had
given her 2 months earlier he came to the office and he was agitated and he gave me an envelope and he said take
this keep it safe place he either said take it to the police or you'll know what to do with it um if anything ever
happens I took a home I didn't think anything about it but after Don went missing Anne says
she opened the envelope he was asking the judge um for restraining order just months before he disappeared
Don tried unsuccessfully to get a restraining order against Carol telling the judge Carol has gotten angry enough
to threaten to kill me she has a 45 revolver and she took my 357 do you remember how you felt when
you read the stuff about how he she threatened to kill him I started shaking did you actually start shaking I'm
shaking now Anne says she took the document to the sheriff's department and while she
was there the burglar alarm went off at Don's office Carol had said it off according to the Tampa Bay Times
Carol got in with help from her father and Don's handyman a man named Kenny far and when Anne got back to the office she
says she was shocked everything was gone everything that was in my desk was gone
including she says Don's will and power of attorney police said Carol's action was legal after all she was Don's wife
but Don's daughters were suspicious well to us it's very odd she may be a spouse
but she did not have a key at all to the gate or the office so that says a lot right there but that's not the only odd
thing Carol gave this interview to the television show hard copy suggesting Don might have had some kind of dementia
maybe doesn't know who he is maybe doesn't know where to call him but Don's lawyer Joseph Fritz says
Don had no memory problems absolutely none did you see him shortly before he disappeared I saw him at least every
week and sometimes two or three times and Don's family doesn't believe Carol was really worried about Don in part
because they say weeks after he disappeared she cancelled Don's cell phone account if a person at the
beginning your husband you think he has dementia he's got Alzheimers and now he's missing do you turn his cell phone
off after two or three weeks of him being missing his only Lifeline to reach you yeah she turned it
off phone was turned off three weeks yes after cancel the account as the weeks turned into months
Carol offered another possibility instead of Costa Rica maybe don was under arrest in Mexico and couldn't call
her the only place I still haven't looked that I feel somewhat hopeful of being able to find him alive is going to
be Mexico and I don't know how hard or how long that'll take maybe a prison yeah I can't think of anything else that
would keep him away this long I find it hard to way he'd walk away and leave [Music]
me Don's family began to think the worst that Don was dead and that Carol played
a role in his death what was your first thought I would love to tell you but a better not can you give me a hint you
got it you thought it was her I can't say that would I be wrong in assuming that that was your first thought maybe
maybe I'd be wrong maybe you might be right and then the case took a turn police found Don's van abandoned at a
remote airport the keys were reportedly still in it remember Don had been planning to go to Costa Rica for work
there is the theory that he just got tired of everything and jumped in an airplane and flew to Costa Rica and
drove up the mountain and is living happily ever after there Don had owned several planes and
he loved to fly tell me a little bit about this airplane uh so it's a piper Arrow 3 Joe Solen has flown hundreds of
hours in one type of plane that Don Lewis liked to fly you can roughly get about 700 miles to a full tank uh the
two two main tanks full um I know so if say you were going to go from the Tampa area down to Costa Rica it's not an
onstop FL no no so that's like how many refueling Stu oh probably three to four at least yeah if he did refuel no one
seems to know about it besides Don's family says he would never just take off and leave
[Music] them but if Don didn't just fly off to begin a new life somewhere what was his
van doing at the airport I've heard at the time that he was strangled from the backseat of an airplane with an electric
cord pushed out 50 ft over the gulf Arrow 09 Michael the part 29 left turn out to the South I'm also a
[Music] pilot and I fly the same type of plane Don often flew first of all imagine the struggle
involved in strangling a70 lb man in this passenger seat then if the plan was to push him out the door that's a
challenge the slowest this airplane can fly is about 65 mph and that means winds
are approaching hurricane strength would be pushing against this door trying to keep it closed you'd have to open it
you'd have to keep it open and you'd have to somehow wrestle the body out of here without interfering with the flight
controls bottom line I guess you could do it but there easier ways to get rid of a
body and there was no evidence that any of DA's planes were missing so if it's unlikely Don Lewis was pushed out of a
small airplane where was as the mystery got deeper the theories got Wilder what were some of those
theories or rumors someone said he was under a septic tank on Big Cat Rescue in the summer of 1997 Carol spoke
with the local Fox TV station I'm very worried it's just a feeling but he is okay that he will just walk back in the
gate but Don never did it's very hard in the 21st century to go missing missing as a middle-aged man who has a very
active cellular records banking records Etc Alex Spyro is an attorney and a former New York City prosecutor he's now
working for Don Lewis's daughters well there were all sorts of um theories about what might have happened to Don
one of them was that he was tossed out of an airplane do you find that credible sometimes in high-profile cases people
come up with fanciful theories of you know tigers lions bears and airplanes I mean there's usually a simpler
explanation of things Spyro says the simplest thing of all is to start with the timeline of the Day Lewis
disappeared there's a critical window here where Don Lewis went missing and what really matters and where the where
the rubber meets the road is what happened during those 24 hours so what happened during those 24 hours Carol
says she last Saw Don Lewis early in the morning of August 18th 1997 when she came home from running a
late night errand she would not talk to us in person this time so she sent us a couple of diary entries Leonora Le Peter
Anton is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and a CBS consultant and one of them was the
what what she did that night this Sunday August 17th 1997 Carol says that late that Sunday
Night Before Dawn went missing she needed milk and supplies for her wild cats at 11:00 you know she had these
kittens that were in the house there was a bobcat kitten and two caracle kittens
and um she didn't have enough ingredients for the milk in her Diaries Carol says she left Dawn and drove to a
supermarket about 6 miles away but the store was closed and then the story takes another twist she says her car
broke down Carol says she walked all the way home it took her until nearly 4 a.m.
and then when she got home Don wanted to immediately go back and get the car so at 4 in the morning they went back he
got the radiator cap off put water in it and then they drove home 2 hours later she saw him in the
doorway and he was leaving you know he just left and that's the last time she saw him Don's ex-wife has her doubts
about that story I don't think she was going to buy milk no okay you do not no she wasn't going to go buy milk you
think that she was up to no good that night could be what happened next has raised even
more suspicions after Don disappeared Carol produced what she said was Don's will and power of attorney leaving her
in charge of everything but Don's family says his signature on those documents is
forged would I be wrong in assuming that you believe that Carol was involved in making up these Wills the will and
the power of attorney you could be I could be wrong you could be right if she was involved why would she want to have
Don Lewis killed money of course that happens all the time the where we live in today Leonora leer Anton had four
handwriting experts examin Don's signature on the power of attorney all said the signature did not look
authentic two of them said they felt it was traced from the 1991 marriage license between
Don and Carol um and that that basically they were you know not accurate Don Lewis
signatures but Carol says the signatures were authenticated back in 1997 and are
real the Tampa Bay Times also looked into Don's former right-hand man Kenny far remember he reportedly helped Carol
get into Don's office that day he was basically his a jack of all trades his right-hand man and then after Don Lewis
disappeared he went and worked with Carol Baskin he was driving one of Don's Vans Don's Blue Van Trish far Payne was
married to Kenny for five years in her first ever TV interview she told 48 Hours That 2 days before Don Lewis was
reported missing far came home with Don Lewis's van and inside there was a pile of guns he said help me carry these in
we carried them in we put them under the bed we put them in the closet we put them in the little bathroom we had in
our room I was like whoa where did you get these he said listen I I'm I'm hanging on to these right now for Carol
but uh he said Don's gone and uh I don't want you talking about him did you ask him what he meant
by Don's gone no not right then because he would blow up real easy at me and I just didn't question it later that week
she heard on the news that Don had gone missing everything started kind of coming together Kenny's got Don's van
Kenny's got Don's Guns uh Don's gone and I knew Don was gone the day before he supposedly was missing it something
wasn't right she says she was too afraid to ask Kenny but it was hard to ignore some very strange things like the large
freezer with a padlock that she says appeared on their porch around the time da disappeared and then she says the
freezer vanished how long after Don disappeared did the freezer disappear about a week
after Don disappear P Trish says she waited years to tell police about her suspicions I was afraid for my kids
you know I had my kids I was afraid for them I was more afraid for them than anything she says he made that one
threat that was especially frightening and bizarre and maybe revealing Kenny had threatened to put me in the Grinders
he said if you try to leave me again I'm going to put you in the grinder like I did Dawn I'm sorry he said what he said
if you try to leave me again I will put you in the grinder like I did Dawn in a meat grinder
yeah I thought he was telling the truth I knew deep down that Kenny has some part in Don's not ever coming
back I knew then for sure my goodness so you you sort of thought at that point that you were living with a murderer
yeah 3 years after Don went missing in the midst of her divorce from Kenny far Trish says she finally told the police
everything Kenny far wouldn't talk to 48 Hours on camera but told us Trisha's story is as he put it a outlandish lie
he says I had absolutely nothing to do with Don's disappearance far also says he cooperated with police at the time of
Don's disappearance and even took a polygraph now attorney Alex Spyro says he's found some new Witnesses have you
met these Witnesses yes and you believe them yes he said if you try to leave me again
I will put you in the grinder like I did Dawn do you consider Trish farp credible yes attorney Alex Spyro has has
been investigating The Disappearance of Don Lewis for months he doesn't want to say much because his investigation is
still going on but he will say there's been some progress has there been a new witness who's surfaced who can shed
significant light on what happened or corroborate Trish far Payne's version of what happened or just clear up some of
these unclear matters there have been yes if that's true you're a heck of a lot closer to figuring out what happened
than many people might know I like to think I'm closer to figuring out what happened than many people would know yes
the obvious question is what about Carol Basin you were going to be a fur coat weren't you honey after Don's
Disappearance in 1997 Carol Lewis carried on at her Sanctuary Wildlife on Easy Street eat he
does a lot of work um feeding is one thing that he was always here for on August 19th 2002 5 years to the
day Don Lewis was reported missing Carol had a judge declar Don dead gradually the investigation into
his whereabouts went cold she's a good girl yes she is in 2004 Carol got married again this time to how Baskin a
businessman and the ceremony was unusual even by Florida standards perhaps Howard
wore like a toga a tiger patterned toga and was like a caveman and he came to her on the beach and she hit him over
the head with a plastic bat and then he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and then apparently she put a
leash around his neck you know it's not how I would have done my wedding but Carol Lewis became
Carol Basin and Wildlife on Easy Street got a new name too hi I'm Carol Baskin and I'm the founder and CEO of Big Cat
Rescue Howard has an MBA and a law degree and he sort of brought a business sense to Big Cat Rescue he brought in
like a Washington lobbyist he knew people in the community he basically was really good at getting donations our
donations last year alone were up 50% the organization's Mission also changed there was no more breeding or buying big
cats our goal is to end the trade in Big Cats Carol is an animal rights Advocate
we can do it with help from people like you someone who believes no one should own a wild cat not even herself she
spoke about it in a 2018 interview with CBS affiliate WTSP our mission is to put ourselves out
of business because there shouldn't have to be a place rescuing lions and tigers
from people that get them as pets Carol eventually went after Joseph Maldonado passage you know him as Joe
Exotic an exotic animal owner in Oklahoma in 2010 she tried to stop him from taking his baby tigers to shopping
malls around the country $5 total charging money for pictures Joe fought back hi car can down that Big Cat Rescue
and tried to take the name of Carol's organization and make it his own so Carol sued him she has spent over a
million half dollars just trying to shut me down she won and a judge ordered Mr exotic to pay Carol nearly $1
million and that only added more fuel to their Feud I'm ready to damn poor I use
a file cabinet from my dresser George Joe took to his YouTube channel Joe Exotic TV to air his grievances in his
own exotic way can you believe they spend enough time to build another entire website about me for Joe nothing
was off limits word has it that Carol snuck up on Don in the middle of the night and he gleefully revived those
suspicions about Don Lewis's disappearance Joe made that music video with a woman who was supposed to be a
Carol Baskin lookalike pushing that unsubstantiated theory that she fed her husband Don to the
Tigers Joe's hatred of Carol Baskin started feeding on itself and you think I'm obsessed with you and getting more
violent Carol Basin better never ever see me face to face he's posted pictures of an effigy of me hanging and pointing
a gun to my head and Joe Exotic may have done more than pretend to kill Carol jury finds former Winnwood Animal Park
owner Joe Exotic guilty in 2019 he was convicted of among other things hiring a Hitman to actually kill her he got 22
years meanwhile Carol had a new theory about who might be responsible for her ex-husband's disappearance she clawed
his face up pretty badly he said he almost had to knock her out to get the gun away from her because she was so
intent on killing him in January 2021 then president Donald Trump held the keys to Joe Exotics
prison cell his legal team hoped for a full presidential pardon I think we're going to get the pardon I do I'm 100%
sure a very stretched limo waited near his federal prison ready to whisk the Tiger King away from captivity but the
limo left empty there was no pardon Joe Exotics case is closed but Florida Sheriff Chad chronister still
doesn't know what happened to Don Lewis he thinks Don was murdered and more than
one person might be involved this wealthy individual left and left his wealth behind left his
money behind you know when's the last time you've ever heard someone leaving without their wealth behind but the more
bizarre theories about what happened are too much even for a law man in Florida they talked about the meat grinder and
that the meat grinders were used to feed the cats well the meat grinders had been
removed from the property you know several weeks before his his disappearance not saying they couldn't
have been involved but they weren't on the property with all those uncertainties and those
millions of Tiger King viewers demanding answers the sheriff ordered his team to
take a new look at the case as a result of Tiger King we contacted and followed up on well over 200 leads Moses Garcia
is a homicide detective for Hillsboro County he says all those tips didn't help much a large amount of those were
virtually useless and Garcia says some of his efforts at investigation have been blocked by Carol when the first
Tiger King there were some rumors that came out that Don Lewis was buried in a septic tank or underneath a septic tank
on the property um we wanted to go onto the property and kind of look around but
we were not allowed access it is frustrating I'd like to get on that property and look around a little bit
the detectives also say they've been unable to interview Carol Basin she does a lot of interviews where she says that
the sheriff's office has not even approached her that can be very frustrating when you know you've
approached multiple times and you've been told no most missing persons wives spouses they cooperate with the law
enforcement Carol's alleged lack of recent cooperation does seem to have increased the sheriff's focus on her the
only people that have refused to be interviewed has been Carol Baskins and Kenny far in an interview with TMZ Carol
said since Don went missing she has released scores of documents and done many interviews TMZ reports Carol said
she has nothing new to tell detectives and is declining to speak to investigator Garcia on advice of her
lawyer but she did email us saying Trish far Payne's story about Kenny is false she called Trisha's description of the
meat grinder quote ludicrous and clearly fabricated unquote and as for Don's family's accusations that she cancelled
Don's cell phone just weeks after disappeared she says that never happened and she told us regarding the family
quote they are liars unquote and Carol says Don's allegation that she threatened his life is just made up the
judge denied his application saying Don wasn't in any immediate danger she says she never threatened Don and he only
sought a restraining order to stop her from throwing out mountains of stuff he'd
accumulated but Carol says she know who did threaten Don it's an explosive allegation Carol says it's glattus Don's
exwife who might be the real villain according to Carol glattus was angry over a lawsuit she filed against dawn
after their divorce she sued him for a million dollar but glattus lost could she have been so angry over
not getting the million dollars more that she thought she would get that she would killed on in a last Stitch effort
to recover the money she felt he owed her for all of her suffering the Lewis family's new attorney Alex Spyro says
that's nonsense I have seen no credible evidence that the Lewis family has anything to do with Don Lewis's
disappearance if all the attention is hard on Carol she's made the most of it meow Tiger King has made her a queen she
was on Dancing With the Stars Tyra Banks introduced Carol [Music] [Applause] B and she's come out with a documentary
on the streaming Channel Discovery plus Carol baskin's cage fight you're abusing big cats I'm coming for
you as for the Don Lewis case his family is still hopeful and they say after more
than 20 years years the publicity around Tiger King has changed everything with more tips and leads coming in every day
we feel like we have an army of angels behind us at this point is Joe Exotic one of those
angels he might be leading the whole band [Music] 48 Hours don't miss an episode
[Music] [Music] I really like to solve puzzles and genealogy kind of is like that it offers
you this endless stream of blanks to fill in my name is Chelsea rustad and in 2013
I began my search for my own family history and it took me down lots of unexpected paths along the
way in 2015 I saw on Ancestry Facebook page they were running a contest and uh two winners would receive An ancestry
DNA kit they contacted me and said Chelsea you're one of the winners the ancestry DNA kit arrived you
just kind of spit in a tube and seal it up and then it was on its way did you have any idea just what kind of story
your DNA would tell I really didn't I was uh genealogy hobbyist like millions of other people in the United
States I kind of accidentally fell into it I'm CC Moore and I'm an investigative
genetic genealogist and that means I use DNA to try to help law enforcement find
violent criminals when the Golden State killer suspect was identified through investigative genetic genealogy there
were many people who said this wasn't a tool that would be used commonly in law enforcement and I wanted to prove them
wrong and genetic genology has exposed a lot of secrets that people had hoped would remain secret yes often times that
someone's deepest darkest secret all I'm thinking is oh it's it's going to confirm my ethnic background
and maybe I'll get to connect with some cousins I was excited I was just really optimistic about like maybe it will
uncover something cool a young Canadian couple takes a road trip from Vancouver Island to
Seattle in November 1987 18-year-old Tanya van kenborg and her 20-year-old boyfriend J girl
disappeared during a round trip from county has the first half of this puzzling case in May of 2018 I got a
knock on the door and it was to investigators from scet County and I was so confused what are they investigating
the murder of 18-year-old Tanya van kyin Borg her body was found in a ditch near
the town of boyfriend J cook dead his body found near Monroe a few days L strangled with some kind of ligature
they let me know that they are investigating a family member of mine for murder a double homicide from 1987
this was a person who was in my family tree did that name appear on any of the suspects lists no that name had never
been across my desk ever without genetic genealogy would we know who killed Tanya
and Jay no I know that my DNA played a big part of that it's been a learning curve this was all brand new it's the
web of matches it's putting those puzzle pieces together little by little little
[Music] [Music] I have a problem that I'm Relentless and I don't give up there may be no more dogged
investigator than SN homish County Cold Case detective Jim Shar especially when it came to the murders
of Tanya van kenborg and Jay cook it was probably the most horrendous unsolved case that we had Tanya van
kenborg was an 18-year-old girl she just graduated from high school she was in a
new relationship with Jay cook on November 18th 1987 the young couple left British Columbia in Jay's parents fan
heading for Seattle Washington Jay was going to go to Jen's coheating in Seattle to pick up some
furnace parts for his dad they planed to sleep in the van near the store and drive back to Canada the next day so
when they didn't show up that evening the families became concerned we just had no idea where
where they might be or what might have transpired T years Big Brother John was at College when he got a call from his
worried Father John would your sister ever just go off and not call your parents no that didn't I don't think
that had ever happened if the plans had changed and she was going to spend another night she would have called my
parents after Tanya and Jay were reported missing law enforcement began looking for them desperate for answers
John and his father joined the search in Seattle something was Gravely wrong I mean the
obvious things in terms of them being in hospital or something or just simply with a flat tire somewhere all those
more innocent explanations were pretty much Vanishing on November 24 6 days after
the couple disappeared John's worst fears were confirmed Tanya's body was found at the bottom of a ditch in Ru
gadet County some 80 miles north of Seattle she wasn't wearing any pants or panties and her bra was pushed up over
her breast so it obviously looked like a rape murder T had been shot in the head
at close range she rolled down the hill it was a quick execution later that evening John had to
identify his sister's body such a a crushing feel that all of a sudden you see her lying there it's
definitely horrific but we had no idea still about where where was Jay where was the van how did this happen why did
it happen the next day T's wallet the keys to the van some bullets and a number of
other items turned up 16 Mi away in Bellingham they had been discarded under the porch of a Local Tavern next to the
Greyhound bus station police located the van in a nearby parking lot but Jay was still missing
the following day Jay's body was found here underneath Highbridge he was about 70 Mi south of
where T had been found it was a horrible scene her 20-year-old boyfriend had been
strangled a pack of cigarettes stuffed down his throat what did most investigators think about this killer I
mean who does something like this right that was the big question this was a person who was a real predator and it
was believed at the time that it was probably a serial killer or an ex-convict but finding that Predator
would be challenging investigators and forensic scientists had four crime scenes scattered over three counties but
few Clues a bullet casing found on the hillside near Tanya's body matched those bullets collected at the tavern in
Bellingham but a gun was never found this surgical glove was discovered under the porch investigators believe
the killer wore it to avoid leaving fingerprints but he may have been careless there was a palm print on the
back of the van that they believed hopefully belong to the suspect inside the van they found what would ultimately
be the most important piece of evidence the black pants T had been wearing they found that there was seen on Tanya's
pants and when they examined the seen they learned that it couldn't be left from Jay the sample matched the DNA
found inside T's body and would later be known as individual a but the the only evidence that connected all four crime
scenes these plastic zip ties found near T and Jay's bodies under the porch and inside the van according to detective
sharp they were part of the Killer's rape murder kit this was a predator that was hunting for a victim that he wanted
to rape and maybe in his mind he decided that he was going to kill him too they were two mild-mannered softspoken
kids they weren't out to pick a fight with anyone I mean both families were just so
devastated hoping to find the killer tenya's family offered a $50,000 reward for
information tips came in but none panned out the police to their credit were trying to chase down every sort of
theory [Music] over the years the theories and false leads would grow and more than 200 names
would fill the case File some were convicted felons and then there was Charles Sinclair he was believed to be a serial
killer Across the Western United States there was also an anonymous writer who sent threatening letters to Jay and T's
families claiming to be the killer yeah it's just unfathomable to think that you
know somebody normally done these murders but then was going to continue taunting the families with these letters
but every suspect's DNA was compared to individual A's profile and none matched the goal was to try to figure out who
did this Seaman sample belong to Lisa Collins a forensic scientist with the Washington State Patrol
uploaded individual A's profile to cotus the FBI's National offender datab Bas as
the years went by just complete silence it's disheartening you just um are afraid that this might be one of those
cases that's never going to be solved and then more than 30 years after T and Jay were killed there's a break in the
case I was skeptical I was hopeful but I was skeptical and I I'm a Believer now go inside the decades long search
for Jay and Tanya's killer at 48 [Music] hours.com we had those original seamen samples from the pants and then from
Tanya's body trying to figure out who this sample May belong to that was the tedious and hard part
the man police believe killed T van kenborg and Jay cook left behind a forensic calling card says Lisa Collins
but still managed to elude capture for years and then in 2017 detective Jim Sharp heard about an
Innovative tool developed by parabon nanolabs that uses DNA evidence to predict the genetic traits of an unknown
suspect it's called snapshot phenotyping they gather all that information and they end up making a
snapshot of what an individual with all those traits might look similar too parabal was hired to use individual A's
DNA to create this composite sketch which gave sharf some Clues as to what the spec could look like at the ages of
25 45 and 65 but he still didn't have a name investigators in California say DNA
evidence LED them to one of the country's most notorious serial killers and then in
2018 a stunning arrest in California opened new doors for law enforcement the so-called Golden State killer the man
responsible for numerous rapes and murders was finally apprehended after 43 years using genetic
genealogy did a little light bulb go over your head at that moment oh yeah big light bulb the Golden State killer
DNA have been uploaded to Jed match a genetic database that allows users of various consumer test kits to share and
compare their DNA this is fantastic I need to get on this [Music] parabon agreed to upload individual A's
DNA to Jed match and called in genetic genealogist CC Moore she's known for her work on the PBS show Finding Your Roots
so then what did you do DNA DNA so all we have is DNA we're going to turn and she's Fame for skills at mapping family
trees but this was her first criminal case I had had a lot of doubts whether this was the right thing for me to do
and I finally made the decision okay I'm I'm going to do this but a lot was writing on that
case it was a case she had been following for years and felt a personal connection to Moore's parents were from
the Pacific Northwest and she was the same age as Tanya van kenborg she was killed right when I was graduating high
school and going on to college and my life was just really beginning and hers ended so tragically and so I think it
always stuck with me on Friday April 27th 2018 individual A's DNA file was uploaded to Jed match it's compared
against everyone that's participating in that database and so what they're looking for are long segments of
identical DNA between two people sometimes the match list will show up right away and sometimes it takes a
couple days so I say to really late that Friday night I kept checking there was no matches the next morning Moore logged
on to see if there was a list and there was and so we're hoping for at least a second cousin or closer at the top of
that list and we used to call that being struck by lightning were you struck by lightning in this case twice we were
stuck struck by lightning twice on the list were two people who shared enough DNA with individual a to be his second
cousins and what was that what was that feeling like it was pretty exciting and scary in this case the cousin shared DNA
with individual a but not with each other which meant they're related to him on different branches of his family tree
but to figure out who he was more first had to find out who they were now fortunately one of the people
at the top of of that list had a really unique name and what was her name Chelsea
rustad remember Chelsea rustad had taken that ancestry DNA test and then went a step further you can download your raw
DNA file to your computer and then upload it to Jed match I just had no inkling at all that there were secret
relatives I didn't know about or Mysteries to uncover neither did the other second cousin whom Moore was also
able to identify but has chosen to remain anonymous and then I built the family trees of those top two matches
and surprisingly quickly I discovered how they converged it only took me 2 hours to come to the identification of
who I believed to be Tanya and Jay's killer this is a person who had eluded capture investigation for 31 years and
you were able to identify this person in two hours that's the power of genetic genealogy yeah but how how sure were you
I was very sure but isn't that scary Cece because your work might end up with this person in prison right and at that
moment I'm the only person in the world who knows that he's probably guilty of this crime other than him of course and
so it is a super heavy burden Monday morning April 30th detective Jim sharf got the news we've got it narrowed down
to one guy and I'm thinking I don't believe this and my first thought is who's the
guy would you upload your DNA to a Genealogy website chat now on Facebook and [Music]
Twitter 30 plus years dozens of dead ends hundreds of false leads and then in April 2018 CC Moore
got on a computer and out of the billions of people on Earth identified through genetic genealogy
the one man she believed killed Jay cook and T van kenborg who was the person you
identified William Earl talbet II William Earl talbet II when detective Jim Sharp heard the name he ran it
through the system and was surprised to learn that talbet had no felony convictions it was a new name that we
had never heard of before but it was was sure nice when we found out that he only
lived 7 miles from the bridge where Jay's body was found Shar also learned that in
1987 Talbot 24 at the time worked as a delivery driver and made stops near where Jay and Tanya were headed to pick
up that furnace part and says that talbet was fired a few months before the murders so it makes sense that he was
down in that area prowling around and probably ran into Jay and T but sharf needed more than old work records and
genetic genology it's really just a tip it's an investigative lead to make an arrest sharf needed to
be sure that the DNA left at the crime scene by the man they knew only as individual a matched William tal bits so
somehow sharf had to obtain a fresh DNA sample from but himself we were going to
follow him until he dropped or threw away anything that had touched his mouth cuz we wanted his saliva on it as the
best type of DNA Source investigators learned talbet now drove a semi and they began tailing his
truck one day about a week later they watched as talbet stopped at a red light and opened the truck door the light
changes to Green he slams the door and drives away and there's a white paper cup laying on the street it's blowing
around in the wind so they jump out they go over and they collect the cup and they call me sharf rushed the paper cup
to forensic scientist Lisa Collins with the Washington State Patrol they wanted me to test this cup and just see if I
could get a DNA profile from it sh left the cup at the lab to await the results CC Moore had already begun searching for
talit online and quickly found his sisters and father on social media I couldn't find hardly anything about him
you know no marriages I could find very little footprint online at all and that was a little
unusual years earlier someone else who knew nothing about the investigation had made a similar search Chelsea rustad in
2013 long before she submitted her DNA to any websites Chelsea Googled her grandpa's sister blanch and found a lot
of information online her daughter was a Patty tbet and Patty had three daughters
and one son and the son was William Earl tbet thei these were Chelsea's second cousins
the Talbots Chelsea friended two of the sisters on Facebook but their brother William was a mystery this guy was just
kind of question mark off the grid Chelsea figured William was estranged from his family but didn't
give it much thought even after she uploaded her DNA to ancestry.com and then Jed match so she
was stunned that Day in 2018 when those investigators showed up on her doorstep and asked to see her
research and I'm just kind of like wait one of you're saying one of my family members is connected to
a murder and they're saying you know yeah it's uh from 1987 and the person of interest is
William Earl talbet and I'm just kind of grasping the scope of this and you know sickened
thinking about it the investigators wanted to know her impression of William Talbot I told them my theory that I
think he's a stranged detective sharf got more details from Talbot's friends and family he had a history of anger and
violence when he was younger he was a really angry kid in audio taped interviews with Talbot's sisters sharf
learned William's troubles began when he was 11 and his father was seriously hurt
in a motorcycle accident the sisters say William began to lash out he beat me up
uh broke my teleport I had to go to the hospital another sister says William Hurt her too still she said she didn't
think he was capable of murder yeah he'd be a bonee head but not to the point of
attacking or killing somebody no but would the DNA on the paper cup tell a different story that was on
detective shar's mind when he returned to the Police lab and Lisa colins shared the results of her testing I said the
profile from the Cup matches individual [Music] a it was just an amazing moment yeah
what did that feel like Jim I got tears in my eyes I'm like I can't believe it it's so
emotional and then I'm like yeah we got him and so on May 17th 2018 nearly 31 years after two Carefree
teenagers set out on a road trip and never returned detective sharf arrested William talbet he says John we've got
him sharf called Tanya's brother John right away saying that at long last individual a was in
handcuffs yeah I mean that's when it really sent a chill down my spine it was pretty overwhelming to think that it had
all culminated in that moment right there now 31 years later the next day William Talbot was charged with Tanya's
murder charges for Jay's murder soon followed Jay's sister spoke at a press conference it's hard to put into words
this feeling of relief of joy of of great sorrow that this arrest brings Jay's mom
said the moment was bittersweet on one hand we're close to closure and on the other we're still at
a loss and I don't have my only son Jay detective sharf told the group he was grateful for breakthroughs in DNA
technology if it hadn't been for genetic geneology we wouldn't be standing here today but would evidence obtained
through genetic genealogy be allowed in court [Music] okay let's go more than three decades
had passed since those dark November days in 1987 when Jay and Tanya were found murdered William Earl Talbot is now
accused of killing both now with William Talbot's arrest T's brother John Van kenborg was finally
able to face the man suspected of his sister's murder and what did you think the first time you saw
him you just reviled I mean it's hard to control your emotions talbet pleaded not guilty to
two counts of aggravated murder and so in June of 2019 his trial began in the snow homage
County superior Court it was the first case ever to go to a jury trial where the suspect had
been identified through investigative genetic genealogy although the Golden State killer had been identified first
Talbot's trial would be held before his and ccore was acutely aware of how much was writing on the outcome we didn't
know at that point how genetic genealogy was going to be treated in court because
there was no precedence the prosecution was hoping to make it a non-issue I was going to minimize the exposure by
kind of downplaying the importance of the genetic genealogy knowing full well that was the part of the case that was
perhaps most intriguing to people Chief criminal Deputy Matthew balok was the lead prosecutor on Talbot's case did you
he approached the defense with a proposal they would stipulate to the jury that the DNA from Individual a had
come from William talet as an agreed upon fact much to my surprise they agreed it was a
major victory for the prosecution the use of genetic genealogy to locate a suspect would not be contested in court
that was a huge relief really it was the best possible outcome so you admit that
that is William Talbot's DNA am I correct you're correct that was a stipulation Talbot's attorneys John
Scott and Rachel Ford would argue that there's actually an innocent explanation for that DNA every indication of the DNA
found from my client indicated consensual sex yes they admit that talbet had sex with t but they deny he
raped or killed her or Jake they point out that t and Jay were missing for several days before their
bodies were found implying that the couple must have encountered their killer later on tell me what you think
then happened to T and Jay we don't know what happened these kids were off to an
Adventure whether they went to a bar a restaurant uh some sort of Club to meet people I don't know tabit's lawyers say
it's understandable that talet might not remember meeting t or even where he was
30 years ago but it's significant they say that investigators were unable to link talbet to the type of gun that
killed T the pack of cigarettes or the materials used to strangle Jay so William tablet defense is
basically that he had sex with t and then somehow somebody else killed her that's not William tas's defense William
tas's defense is that there is insufficient evidence to prove him guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt but
prosecutors say they do have sufficient evidence there's tet's DNA from Tanya's body and her an the fact that he lived
just 7 miles from where Jay's body was found and the palom print on the van that police say was a match to
talit then there are the zip ties found at all four crime scenes balock says they prove the connection between Jay's
murder and Tanya's and the van what do you believe the zip ties were used for I believe that Mr talbet had Jay and T in
the van for some period of time after he abducted or kidnapped them and I believe
that he used the zip ties to restrain them as part of his investigation detective sharf had hoped to obtain a
usable DNA profile from any of the zip ties there had been a mixture of DNA on one of the zip ties that was found in
Jay's van and they weren't able to discern who all the profiles belong to but mid-trial forensic scientist Lisa
Collins had decided to run that DNA mixture into a new software program to see if she could find a match and to her
surprise she did when I compared William Talbot's DNA profile to the mixture obtained from the zip tie that was found
in the victim's van he was included as a possible contributor but because her Discovery
came during trial prosecutors felt it was too late to present to the jury fearing it would delay the trial talbet
elected not to take the stand and his lawyers were hopeful that the jury would agree there was not enough evidence to
prove him guilty in their closing arguments the defense told the jury that police were
unreasonably focused on the DNA they never stopped to consider that per perhaps the person who left the DNA
was not the murderer attorney Ford argued that detective Jim Sharp had tunnel vision is
it at all possible that yes that was William Talbot's DNA but he didn't kill either one of them is that possible sure
is it reasonable no she was found without her pantser underwear so just practically speaking is the claim that
Mr talbet had had consensual sex with her and then she got dressed and the person who ultimately killed her
undressed her balog says the only reasonable theory is that talot had overpowered the couple with a plan of
raping Tanya and then killed them both he had zip ties he had gloves he had a firearm he had ammunition after a
two weekl long trial the jury began to deliberate but they didn't come back that first day
or the second you realize this is really going to be the moment of [Music] truth on that third day of deliberations
the families of Jay cook and T van kenborg finally got news there was a verdict we the jury find a defendant
William Earl P II guilty of the grant of first murder guilty William Talbot had been
found guilty of the aggravated murder of Tanya van kenborg and guilty of the aggravated murder of Jay cook just to
hear the Foreman of the jury and say guilty was surreal CeCe Moore wasn't in the courtroom but she later saw video of
Tanya's brother John's reaction it was as if I could see a physical burden left off his shoulders he had told me how he
had carried this burden for years you know he was the only sibling he was her older brother and so that was incredible
to see Chelsea rustad had never spoken to either Jay or Tanya's family but with their blessing she decided to attend
talat sentencing where she first met John I was really nervous he looked a little bit nervous as
well she's effectively a family member of the murder so I think it was Brave of her to take that risk thank you for for
coming today at the sentencing Jay Cook's mother told the judge about the grief she has carried all these years some of
us wanted a shirt or a sweater you wear them if could put them to your nose and smell
him I still have that old sweater in my dresser drawer the sentence was mandatory thank you the courts only
possible sentence on each count is to impose a sentence of life without possibility of release two life terms in
prison without parole Chelsea says her sympathy is for Jay and T's families despite her genetic ties to talit all
right his dad wasn't there his sisters weren't there he had a family member in the audience and I was there supporting
the victims Chelsea rustad is proud that her DNA helped bring a Kill to justice but there are some who have concerns
about this new frontier in police [Applause] work it might be that you're not the
Golden State killer but it also might be that you don't want law enforcement scrutinizing your entire family law
professor Andrea Roth is head of the UC Berkeley Center for Law and technology and says one of the problems she sees is
that the DNA used for genetic geneal ology can be very revealing this is DNA testing that tells you a lot about a
person's very sensitive information their medical history information about familial lines that the families
themselves don't even know Professor Roth does agree that in cases like this genetic genealogy Could Be an Effective
tool for the public good but she cautions that Most states have no restrictions on its use
there's the concern that the government could use your DNA for some reason other
than a criminal investigation that it shouldn't be using it for giving it to insurance companies or using DNA to find
out who was at a protest meeting we don't have evidence right now of the government doing that but um those are
are reasons that somebody might want to think about before they decide to upload
their DNA because of this lack of legal oversight Roth has deep reservations about sharing DNA on public genealogy
websites would you not upload your DNA I would not but it may already be too late
for Professor Roth or many other Americans to truly opt out experts estimate that today more than 90% of
white Americans can be identified using genetic genealogy and that's because says CC
Moore those of European descent are well represented on websites like Jed match we have enough DNA we can identify
almost anyone of Northwest European ancestry even if it takes hours dozens of hours hundreds of hours we'll get
there but in this case after more than 30 years with no solid leads Moore was able to use Chelsea rustads DNA to help
locate a viable suspect in just just 2 hours was this the fastest you've ever found a suspect it was to this day 3 and
a half years later hundreds of cases later this was the most straightforward case I've ever worked and that is
amazing detective sharf believes that this case changed the face of Cold Case investigations forever genetic genealogy
is the best tool that's come around since DNA you don't need a Cod this database to get your
[Music] match for Jay and tenya's families it means they finally have some answers and
a measure of Peace on T's grave her parents inscribed the final line from a poem she wrote when she was
17 there is a place that I know of where up above there flies a dove and slowly as it turns to Dawn she Hearts her wings
and then she's gone she was growing up and and maturing and spreading her wings and getting her
feet under her and and then she was gone you miss her still don't you yeah definitely
[Music] serial killers can be very difficult to predict four families shattered when
their daughters go missing two were not found 20 years will the prime suspect finally reveal where they are a little
bit of a cat and mouse game 48 Hours next on CBS since streaming on Paramount Plus
[Music]

"48 Hours" brings you stories involving family dynamics gone awry in this mini-marathon. Binge-watch the full episodes, which include "The Ring: The Murder of Patrick De La Cerda," "The Missing Millionaire: A “Tiger King: Mystery" and "A Killer in the Family Tree."

00:00 The Ring: The Murder of Patrick De La Cerda 41:55 The Missing Millionaire: A “Tiger King" Mystery 1:24:26 A Killer in the Family Tree

True crime. Real justice. "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.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

Patrick DeLerta is murdered, ex-boyfriend Gregory Bender is tried for the crime after evidence links him to the murder plot.

Key points

A Love Story Turned Tragic. Jessica and Patrick's fairy tale romance takes a dark turn when Patrick is murdered.
The Phone Call. Jessica confronts Greg Bender, the prime suspect in Patrick's murder, in a tense phone call.
The Arrest of Gregory Bender. An arrest warrant was issued for Bender just days after Patrick's murder. 'The arrest is just the first step against a man she despises.'
The Verdict. The jury finds Gregory Bender guilty of first-degree murder. 'We the jury find the defendant Gregory Bender guilty.'
The Disappearance of Don Lewis. Don Lewis vanished under mysterious circumstances, leading to suspicions about his wife Carol.
The Sealed Envelope. A sealed envelope reveals Don's concerns about Carol before he went missing.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This was a calculated murder.

Detective Weaver describes the nature of the crime.

10:49WatchJun 15, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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