Fatal First Date | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] this wasn't just a crime scene was it no it was not this one was bad two innocent people that were on
their first date had their lives destroyed for what reason how well did Leslie Reeves know
chrismith first date Chris was in a band and a singer and they had connected and he
asked her rout the night before Thanksgiving they decided just to meet up go to the
bar he lived 65 miles away in a really small farming Community the bar that night was very
busy the place was packed wall to wall Chris and Leslie were talking a lot laughing getting along with everyone
around them she texted me around 10 and she said everything's going okay she did
then text a second text that said I feel like something's a little bit off or something I'm not sure what she meant
was that text the last time you heard from Leslie Reeves mhm yes it was [Music] did you try texting her in the morning
mhm and did she respond no I just started driving towards Farmersville CU I had the address and
called the police department in that area Montgomery County Sheriff's Office this is Jeff hi I'm greatly concerned
about my friend can someone do a welfare check what are you feeling at this point
Nana a lot of anxiety because I don't know what I'm going to walk into uh going up there to this
house I pulled up in front of the address and then who came while you're sitting there while I'm sitting there uh
who's this uh woman parked I said well maybe I'll roll my window down and talk to her I asked her
if she was checking on Chris and she said she was checking on her friend and that's when I went up to the
door I saw the back door was broken and then I saw Chris laying there and then I ran back to my car and
called 911 nobody's answering the door and and the back window's shattered and there's a body and there's a foot I saw
on the floor I'm only 16 I can't deal with this I was in shock I think Sheriff's Office Jeff Jeff give me
some help I got one alive and one dead I just remember them bring bringing Chris
out on the stretcher to the ambulance I remember there being a sheet over him so
it made me panic a little bit I got a call from our Command Center in Springfield so you are the lead crime
scene investigator yes were you really prepared for what you fac when you walked into that house I was
not why would somebody do this to him why would they try to hurt my baby that's all I kept thinking he's my baby
someone heard him going on a first date and they both end up getting shot is insane
[Music] [Music] on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day 2021 Nanette Styer sat in her car and
watched anxiously as EMTs and Montgomery County sheriff's deputies descended on a
house in the Tiny Village of Farmersville Illinois I was quite upset and kind of going crazy in the car
Nanette had been unable to reach her good friend Leslie Reeves Nanette knew Leslie had gone to
that house the night before to go on a first date with Chris Smith a man she had met online she was very excited she
thought oh this would this might be um a really good connection but now Nanette was worried
she'd seen Chris get taken away in an ambulance but there was no sign of Leslie I kept hoping you know okay bring
Leslie out please finally a detective approached and asked Nanette for a photo of Leslie
she showed him her phone and he gave her the horrible news I'm so sorry to have to tell you
this your friend has um been murdered you know shot he said he didn't tell me where but he did
say I want you to know that she went very [Music] quickly EMTs have found Chris barely
conscious and unable to say anything about the shooting they rushed him to the hospital and deputies searched the
house later that day crime scene investigator Josh Easton of the Illinois State Police was called to the scene and
he began cataloging the Mayhem inside what do you see when you first approached the door I noticed the side
door of the house the glass in the door has been broken out the refrigerator was
pulled away from the wall the kitchen table was pushed the the chairs were knocked over no weapon was found leading
investigators to suspect that a third person was involved een took note of every detail including the burnt pizza
in the oven I assumed that maybe they were cooking a pizza for the night and the suspect shows up at the door
they both tried to fight him off and when Chris was shot Leslie went to the living room to try to hide how many
times was she shot she was only shot one time in the head in the head Leslie's body was in the living room while Chris
had been found in the kitchen e said of the 1,800 crime scenes he had been to this
was one of the most horrific there was blood everywhere the cabinets the refrigerator the countertop there was
blood from corner to corner in the Kitchen East spotted two silver colored bullet casings from a 9mm gun one in the
kitchen and the other near lesli's body as Easton processed the scene detectives
began learning about the victims Chris Smith was a 48-year-old divorced father who worked for a pool
contractor Chris was a nice guy he would hang out here frequently was friends with most people in town everybody knew
him bartender Dena lran says Chris was well known in town as the guy who grew banana trees and giant pumpkins I
remember one Halloween he donated hundreds of pumpkins for decorations for any of the kids to
paint he gave back to his community did either one of you ever worry about Chris no
no Sharon castanza is Chris's mother Ashley hul his sister Chris is a stayhome person that literally would
just work in his backyard Chris lived with a dog named Tiki and an EMT told the family that tii
may have helped Chris make it through the night by huddling with him for the roughly 12 hours that Chris was bleeding
before being rescued I think Tiki protected Chris I think she probably laid right right next to
him Chris's close-nit family could not imagine anyone wanting to kill him it was like no way how why like who yeah
who would have done that investigators had the same questions about Leslie and learned that
she was a divorced mother of two children who lived in Troy about an hour south of
Farmersville although Leslie had a master's degree in engineering she chose instead to teach Pilates and to promote
self-defense classes for women hi I'm Leslie from all studio and Leslie posted this video to her YouTube channel to
advertise one of her classes Empower yourself against aggression and assault as we teach you easy to learn
self-defense techniques power up Leslie tried to help women in abusive relationships but friends say she had
her own TR Tres Nanette told deputies she was worried about a former boyfriend a contractor by the name of Robert tar
known as Bobby she said I am going to completely block Bobby from email texts phone calls I I have to go no
contact later that evening news of Leslie's murder began circulating and reached another close friend Amy
steinhauer she had met tar a divorced father of three and did not have a good impression of
him but you never see someone and think that they can kill my friend Amy called the Sheriff's Office
that night to give them T's name by then detectives had already set out to find Bobby tar while 85 miles to
the north surgeons were fighting to try to save the life of Chris Smith a bullet
St still lodged in his [Music] brain I just want to get there I just want to get there as fast as I could
after learning that Chris had been shot in the head his family rushed to the hospital in Springfield Illinois 2 hours
from their home I was on the phone to everyone I could think of cuz I just needed prayers from
everybody doctors removed part of Chris's skull and some bullet fragments in his brain before putting him in a
medically induced coma his family struggling to piece together what had happened learned that he had been out
with a woman named Leslie Reeves had you ever heard the name Leslie Reeves before
no I looked her up and then I triy to reach out to her friends and I found her best friend Nanette Nanette told them
the same thing she had told investigators she suspected Leslie's ex-boyfriend Bobby
tar that night sheriff's deputies went to tars home in Collinsville an hour south of the crime scene authorities say
he never asked why they wanted to talk to him and he agreed to go to the police station without a lawyer
t m although her friends said the couple had broken up tar told investigators that he and Leslie were still together
you Leslie have a lot of problems I wouldn't say no worse than any average couple it was Leslie the
detectives wanted to talk about I want you to to dig down deep here and be as honest with me as you can
okay um Leslie is dead what can you help me shed some light on this how did she die she was murdered what
happened that's why we're here with you you help me believe that you're not involved in this I'm not involved in
anything investigators asked tar about Farmersville the scene of the crime you know where Farmersville is
Farmersville no I can't say that never been there I've never heard of it and they asked tar where he had been the
night before Thanksgiving I went to a buddy of mine's house he left and left me some money out
of his shop and go pick it up the friend lived a short distance from T's home remember time he came
back yeah it wasn't that long um maybe 630 something like that investigators believe the shooting took
place sometime early on Thanksgiving morning after 1:00 a.m. tar said after he got back he was home all night you
can talk to my daughter about me being home that's exactly what they did detectives brought T's 17-year-old
daughter Shelby to a different room at the police station and she told them that her father actually left home twice
that night so the first time he left was roughly 6:30 right and then he he came home about a half hour later and I said
he had to go back right and then it was 9:1 15ish when he got back home Shelby said he had been gone for more than 2
hours and when he got home he was upset he gets home he was crying he was soing he said he missed lesle Shelby said she
went to sleep around 9:30 and was awakened by her father around 2:45 a.m. he started laundry he was pacing walking
around and he was like I can't sleep detectives went back to Tar and told him Shelby's story did not match his tar
then changed his story and said he had gone to his friend's house twice but still insisted he was home by 8 as tar
sat at the police station detectives searched his house and found his phone and a Glock pistol Shelby had told them
her father had a different gun but they didn't find it it's little it's like this big I look at my cre the Army cleen
Shelby told investigators she had seen it the day before Thanksgiving in her father's sock drawer yesterday morning
actually I went to get S it was there and no it's not there was there yesterday and gone today okay Bobby tar
sat at the police station overnight while authorities continued to investigate they had already learned
that his car had been captured by License Plate Reader cameras just after midnight the night of the shooting the
cameras were near a gas station and investigators discovered the tar had bought gas there just after midnight
back at the police station they confronted him with the gas station receipt see your Al cuz I don't remember
doing that you don't remember being out after midnight when you have told us you are 100%
positive the gas station is here in Troy yes and the murder occurred here in Farmersville
correct the gas station was near tars home an hour from the crime scene Andrew AR frony is the Montgomery County
State's Attorney he has distonia a condition that causes muscle ticks and tremors so why is it significant cuz it
so he went out and got some gas it was significant to us cuz why would he lie about it so I got fuel what does I Pro
investigators believed it was proofed tar was lying about his whereabouts that night they placed him under arrest
you're under arrest Forder a frzy says they arrested tar immediately because they feared Chris's
life was in danger and they hadn't found the murder weapon if he was out of custody could he
take further steps to dispose of the evidence just one day after Leslie Reeves was killed and Chris Smith was
left fighting for his life investigators believed they had the man responsible in
custody I'm Aaron Mori Bobby but in his only media interview Bobby tar tells 48 hours they got the wrong guy there is so
many things Untold that will prove my innocence Bobby tar charged with the murder of Leslie Reeves and the
attempted murder of Chris Smith is nothing if not unflappable did you kill Leslie reefs no
did you shoot Chris Smith no he kept his cool even when confronted with a Litany
of Lies he told investigators you told the police you only left the house once that wasn't true correct you told
the police you had no idea where Farmersville is MH that was a lie mhm you lied about getting gas in your car
that night mhm when he spoke with us tar admitted he was at Christmas house the night before Thanksgiving placing
himself at the scene of the crime he says the night began when he met Leslie at her part-time job at this Loft store
she had said she was going to go meet some friends because one of their friends was playing in a band she asked
me if I wanted to go and I said well you know I would go but I have my youngest daughter staying with me for a week tar
says that when he declined the invitation Leslie asked if if he would follow her to Farmersville because her
van was unreliable and so he did that makes no sense to Leslie's friend Amy steinhauer she was terrified of
him rightfully so just a few weeks earlier Amy Says Leslie told her that tar had shown up
while she was on a first date with a different guy after that incident Leslie told Amy she was frightened by tar and
texted Amy I could be killed by him someday if I don't cut all contact so you're telling me now that this woman
who was scared of you who had actually texted a friend that she thought you might kill her asked you to follow her
to another man's house does that make any sense no I understand U so I don't understand that
text in general why did she think you might kill her I don't know I've got no clue
tar says Leslie lied to her friends about their relationship he insists she asked him to follow her North to
Farmersville so I went with her up there I think we arrived there around 7:30 I parked in front of her van in
front of his house as as far as I went I left I never went back to Farmersville again if he had an innocent explanation
for why he was in Farmersville why did he lie to to detectives my daughter her and Leslie there was a little bit of
tension between both them I did not want her to know that I was going to meet Leslie that night tar claims that after
he lied to his daughter Shelby about seeing Leslie he stuck to that lie at the police station because he was afraid
they would tell her and he never corrected those lies even when detectives arrested him why not just say
look between you and me I lied to my daughter so let me tell you the truth but let's just not share that with her
why wouldn't you do that I should have done that he's quick to point out the lack of physical evidence connecting him
to the bloody crime scene investigators searched his white Jetta but did not find any shards of glass or blood stains
two tests by the state police were done on my car zero blood found in my car there's zero DNA of mine at the crime
scene anything from the crime scene in my car or on me or any of my clothing or my
shoes zero prosecutor of frany has to concede that point was any of Ty's DNA found
inside the house no were any of his fingerprints found inside the house and authorities still had not
found the murder M weapon but a week after the shooting they got a phone call from T's friend Billy Adams Adams said
tar called him from jail that call was recorded what's your day look like today cuz I need 10 minutes of your time tar
ask Adams to go to his house and look for some deck brackets I got some special aluminum
brackets and that I need you to get because there for another job that I didn't tell that about yet so don't say
nothing to him instead Adams contacted the Sheriff's Office deputies suspected tar knew the phone call was being
recorded and was speaking to his friend in code about something other than deck brackets yeah get them and get rid of
them they thought that was suspicious which was why they went over and searched investigators were on their
hands and knees in T's yard looking for a gun Dan folz is T's defense attorney they searched that area thoroughly no
gun you know what they did find deck brackets a few days later they got another phone call this time from tarr's
Brother asking them to come back to the house tarr's family gave deputies a zip looc bag they said they had found in the
same yard that had been searched just days earlier inside a Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol
and silver colored ammunition the Illinois State Police determined the gun was the murder weapon and the ammunition
matched the casings found at the crime scene we still to this day don't know how that ended up there specifically in
the spot that they searched are you saying you were set up someone was framing you yes
but if someone was framing tar he or she would have to be pretty detail oriented
the state police say T's fingerprint was on the Ziploc bag he is adamant that he
would not have been dumb enough that he would have carried it all the way back to his home and said hm where would I
put this gun on my 1 acre lot I think I'll put it next to the front door and tar points out neither his Prince nor
DNA were found on the gun itself nothing on the firearm no DNA no Prince of mine
on the firearm what I think what happened is that the gun was cleaned and then Mr tar just missed a spot that spot
was Leslie's DNA say police found on the guide rod of the gun T's explanation the
gun wasn't his it belonged to Leslie I purchased the Hellcat and Leslie purchased it from me
as investigators continued to build a case against Bobby tar they say he was hatching a plan to silence the only
eyewitness did you ask a inmate to shoot chrismith what do you make of Bobby T's story chat
now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook andex [Music] Lesly accompanied me here on several
occasions if there's anyone who knew what guns Leslie Reeves owned it's Howard Bolton her close friend and
firearm instructor when I would hold classes she would actually shoot with us Leslie was becoming a very good shot
Bolton says Leslie had organized a class called girls with guns not long before she was murdered we put the girls
through their Paces they would move and fire they would go forward and fire they
would come back and fire and Leslie did very very well at that Bobby tar insisted to us that Leslie owned the
Hellcat that was used to kill her but Howard says he never saw her use it Leslie never brought a Springfield let
alone a Hellcat to class so then how did Leslie's DNA get on the guide rod of the
murder weapon Howard believes that Leslie's DNA could only be on that guide rod if the gun was fired at her at close
range so when he shot her wherever it was he shot her would have contaminated that part of the gun in fact Howard says
Leslie owned a different gun her friends say they wish she had taken it with her
the night she was killed had Leslie Tak the gun with her I assure you the outcome would have been
different tar declared his innocence but the case against him could hinge on what
Chris Smith the only Survivor remembers would he be able to identify him that was the question as Chris remained in a
coma we were talking to him singing to him and I was always holding this [Music]
handu well Chris Smith Lay helpless authorities say tar was plotting to silence him
forever a grand jury indicted tar on two counts of solicitation of murder those charges are based on allegations by an
inmate who says tar paid him $10,000 to shoot and kill the lead detective and Chris did you ask a inmate
to shoot Chris Smith no ma'am and to kill detective roach no ma'am tar says the alleged plot was a
lie concocted by a former cellmate tar says he loaned that cellmate $10,000 for his bond and that it had nothing to do
with Chris Smith were you worried he was going to testify and point to you as the
shooter no I was not worried one iota the truth was that no one knew what Chris Smith remembered the first time he
regained Consciousness was in early January 2022 about two months after the shooting like egg fu young egg fu young
Chris's voice was so weak in those early days it's already over there that his old friend Mark Reen a talk show host in
St Louis 522 971 FM talk barely recognized Chris on the phone I could not believe that I was hearing from this
guy and I cried he cried just talking about that moment really brings me chills because I just thought he was
never going to be someone that was in my life ever again what did Chris tell you
well when Chris came out of this I was pretty sensitive to ask him about what had happened that night because I think
I was a little afraid of even having those conversations so most of the conversations that we had were really
focused on hey how are you are you going to be okay after intense Physical Therapy he's made incredible strides
he's much stronger than when he awoke from a coma but he discovered there are gaps in his
memory what does he remember from that terrible night I wish to God I could remember something I mean even just a
smidgen of something but I remember nothing he remembers nothing of the shooting or Leslie Reeves I said who
heex Leslie I don't know Lesley you had no idea no nothing nothing nothing is Chris the same person who used to come
on your show before he was shot yeah I think at the core he's still the same guy that I knew he's still the smartass
he's still the guy that's going to talk about how good he is and how good he was
and how much he could lift weights Chris works out at the gym most mornings trying to regain muscle so that
someday he'll be able to walk without assistance straight them he's even back to being the lead
singer in his rock and roll band I don't know how he did make it I don't understand how he did he's a
miracle but Chris is aware his life is very different from what it once was so I'm half the man I used to be but I'm
trying to get it back as hard as I can and then my left leg is uh partially paralyzed my hip to my knee then from my
knee to my toes completely paralyzed so if there's any neurosur out there any researchers out there please get a hold
of me I'll be your guinea pig just make me normal and give me my life back please it's tough isn't it
Chris it tough doesn't even describe it doesn't describe it Chris is resigned to
living with part of that hollow point bullet in his brain doctors say it's in a spot that makes it too dangerous to
remove so that's where you got shot yep right here there's a y you still feel it
on my skull right there after decades on his own Chris had to move back into his
mother's house I thank my blessings daily that he's here with us I just wish that this guy didn't take everything
away from him Chris visits with his loyal dog Tiki but no longer lives with her and he'd love to see his 12-year-old
daughter more often but he can't drive and he's living in St Louis almost 2 hours away from his daughter and ex-wife
I miss her she was my little pee in the pot I mean we did everything together the trial of Robert tar was set
for April 2024 but Chris would not be there he told the prosecutor he was too angry to attend you didn't think you'd
be able to just sit there oh no no way I I know myself I doesn't know why know but Chris's alleged shooter Bobby tar
will be there and he said he was eager to tell the jury that he's not a violent man but on this one night early morning
did you snap no that's not my nature I don't lose it [Music] snap follow along with Chris's
remarkable story at 48 hours.com [Music] when Bobby tar went on trial in April 2024 prosecutors told the jury that he
killed Leslie Reeves rather than allow her to live the life she wanted a life without him Mr tar couldn't deal with
the fact that Leslie was seeing somebody else and he had to go and take care of it Andrew a fronti says tar secretly
followed Leslie to Farmersville early that evening and shortly afterwards his phone began showing some interesting
activity he had actually searched Chris Smith on his phone had tried to find his
Facebook profile tar headed home and texted his friend Billy Adams I don't feel like she would drive that far for a
party or go out with a girlfriend I think it's for a dude he also searched whether police could track his phone if
he was using a VP n a virtual private Network he was researching to determine whether or not that would Mas where his
location was while he was using the phone authorities say around midnight tar left home stopping at that gas
station and then according to a fronti surveillance videos and cell tower records show that tar drove back to
Farmersville you believe he intended to kill both Chris and Leslie I 100% believe that he went up there with the
intent to do serious harm to both with one victim dead and the other with no memory it's difficult to say with
certainty what happened but the prosecution argued that sometime after 1:00 a.m. Bobby tar tried to enter
through the back door of Christmas house Leslie and Chris tried to keep him out there was some kind of altercation or
struggle and that's when the glass was broken crime scene investigator Josh East told the jury what he had observed
inside the kitchen the refrigerator was pulled away from the wall where it appeared it normally was prosecutors
believe Leslie was trying to use the refrigerator to block the door and based on where Chris was shot in his head they
think he was crouching down down to help Leslie I think that while Chris was crouched down trying to hold the door
shut Bobby shot through the door and shuck Chris with Chris incapacitated Arron says Leslie hid in the living room
tar tracked her down shot and killed her I strongly believe that he walked in an
Executor defense attorney Dan folz disputes all of that there is simply no evidence that that's what happened
there's no evidence that Leslie pushed the refrigerator there's no fingerprints and blood on the refrigerator of
Leslie's F says evidence of a fight in the kitchen tells a different story the amount of blood in that kitchen was
astonishing from looking at that crime scene do you believe that Christopher Smith had to fight his his as salent in
the kitchen it would appear to me that there was some sign ific struggle in that
kitchen between him and someone else and he says the as salent could not have been Bobby tar because he would have
been covered in blood they did not identify a single piece of DNA in his car they didn't identify a bloody
fingerprint they did not identify anything tying him to that crime scene but prosecutors argued the house wasn't
bloody when tar left they said Chris bled heavily in the 12 hours it took for help to arrive and while the prosecution
did not have a lot of forensic evidence linking [ __ ] of the crime scene affronti
says his phone activity his lies to investigators and the evidence found on the Hellcat all prove his guilt when you
put all of that together that's when you get the clear picture of what happened when it was the defense's turn tar says
he wanted to tell his story to the jury but he chose not to testify why didn't you just decide you
were going to talk to the jury and tell this story if in fact you have a story to tell I should have I very well should
have we made a strategic decision because it may have opened the door for a whole lot of other more damaging
evidence to be used uh to cross-examine him the defense didn't put on any Witnesses and counted on the jury to
find Reasonable Doubt in the lack of physical evidence after 3 hours the jury found
Bobby tar guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder everyone clapped and Bobby just sat there shaking his
head two months later tar was back in court for sentencing and this time so was Chris to tell the judge how the
shooting impacted him and his family C were not allowed in the courtroom lost my house lost my truck
I've literally lost my life about being killed tar also spoke and denied shooting Leslie and Chris the judge
sentenced him to 85 years I hope the rest of his time on this Earth is Hell Leslie Reeves friends are focused
on keeping her memory alive she was a light of a lot of people's lives she was always smiling she was a very good
mother lived for her kids and was an advocate and champion of women women's rights and especially women that were
abused if it can happen to her it could happen to anyone so we all need to be careful Chris Smith says he never
expected he'd be a victim of domestic violence and cautions other men to take a hard
look at their behavior if guys you feel like that you want you want to hurt a woman get
help while Chris Mourns his old life he's writing a book about his experiences and says he's working to
make what he calls Poor Man's Margaritas out of the lemons and limes he's been handed I've got a doover good Lord give
me a do over and how many people will get a second chance life Chris has found love with Michelle
albre she's an angel loving me and accepting me the way that I am he proposed to her on stage I just ask she
married me guys what's the most important lesson out of all of this don't ever give up on
anything ever no matter how bad things are don't ever give up [Music] as a kid growing up in Chicago there was
one horror movie I was too scared to watch it was called Candyman but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly
inspired by an actual murder listen to Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder wherever you get
your podcasts I'm Erin morard of 48 hours and of all the cases I've covered this is the one that troubles me most
listen to murder in the Orange Grove the trouble case against Crosley green wherever you get your
[Music] podcast welcome back to postmortem I'm 48 Hours correspondent Aaron morard and
I'm filling in today for Amry green who's out in the field reporting on another story for 48 hours joining me
today is producer extraordinaire Paula Roa uh we're going to discuss our report on the shooting of Leslie Reeves and
Chris Smith on the night before Thanksgiving in 2021 Leslie and Chris went on their very first date together
but by the end one was dead and the other struggling to survive Paul and I have been talking about this on naum for
months so we're going to share some of that with you this was a tough one wasn't it Paul thanks for being here
uh yes it was it was it's it's a tough story given what happened but you know on the other hand there is a Survivor so
that's positive for once for 48 hours it's it's very unusual now before we get into it remember if you haven't listen
to the 48 Hours episode yet you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast feed go take a listen
and then come back here for our scintillating conversation okay this was an incredibly sad case as Paul had said
where two people were just enjoying a first date together they were getting to know each other they went to a bar they
were having fun but unfortunately sometime in the early morning of Thanksgiving day they got caught in the
crosshairs of a jealous ex-lover investigators almost immediately zeroed in on Leslie's former boyfriend a man by
the name of Bobby tar and they soon charged him with murder and attempted murder you have been I didn't realize
You' had been at CBS for 32 years I know you've you've interviewed your share of
killers but Bobby wasn't quite what we're used to was he right I mean for one thing it was not hard to talk him
into doing an interview he wanted to talk normally you have to go through uh defendants lawyers you have to you
convince them and it's not always easy to do it's like trying to really make them understand why it would be good for
them to talk Bobby tar was completely different like I mean he would text me all the time he would call me all the
time we had video chats I mean he really really wanted to talk he felt he had a tale to tell and he wanted to tell it
now just to point out so listeners realize he's in jail when he's reaching out to you and you're having video
conversations I mean I think people would be surprised to know that I think they are and you know it did surprise me
at first I think people like myself even find that astounding that they have so much access to the outside world Bobby
was no exception he could text me whenever he wanted to more or less he could video chat with me we just had to
set that up and he would call me collect and you know I set up my phone so that I
was able to accept his calls the funny thing is a couple of times I didn't accept the call because I thought it was
spam and then I was kicking myself realizing it was him who was calling but he always called back that was no
problem he always called back now you had the first contact with Bobby tar and then I had to go into at this point
prison to interview him I had never talked to him my job was to just listen to his story tell me what happened Bobby
and not to challenge him at all because I didn't want to you know scare him into
not talking to you so that's a producer's role sometimes that the audience might want to know I never
asked him a really hard question I let eron ask him the hard question and I was worried about that also
because I wondered if when he got erron he was going to think you know he's been
double crossed or something I was really worried that when I went in and all of the sudden I was asking him tough
questions that he'd be angry but he wasn't this was very unusual for me this was a man no matter what even when I
questioned his story his affect never changed he was always that affable guy you know we call him in the hour
unflappable and he calls himself an easygoing guy now all that said he shot two people in the head and that's not an
easygoing guy you asked him in the interview if he had snapped that night and he said I don't snap I think though
that was the benefit of of interviewing him because he comes across like a Charming guy and we don't want to give a
convicted killer a platform but when you really push him and talk to him you you
realize that there is a very dark side I don't think anybody listening or watching our show would think that this
was an innocent man yes because uh the evidence was against him well one of the poignant details in this case I think is
that the victim Leslie Reeves taught self-defense courses she actually wanted to help women Escape abusive
relationships and as we reported apparent she was taking steps to get out of her own what her friends say was a
toxic relationship but the more we looked into it it's complicated isn't it it's complicated she claimed that Bobby
uh owed her $10,000 that she had left it in a safe in his house and he had used it to buy a motorcycle so she ordinarily
would have just cut all ties with him but she wanted to get her money back and so he would tease her with it he would
give her $1,000 and then he'd say come over my house tonight I'll give you another
$1,000 and of course he always wanted her to spend the night and um Leslie's friend said one week before the shooting
he said come over to my house again I'll give you $1,000 the usual story she did
and then she wanted to leave and he wouldn't let her he blocked the door and she because she is a selfdefense expert
managed to get by him she was very strong by the way I mean she ran a pilates studio Leslie and in the
pictures you can see the muscles in her arms she was no pushover um she grabbed her car keys and went out into the yard
and kept hitting the alarm button on her keychain so that it would go off she knew that his parents live nearby other
people live nearby and they'd come out and say why is this car alarm going off over and over again and um eventually he
gave it up he brought out her purse everything else she had with her the money and then she took off well and I
should point out that we only know this from Leslie's friends right because Leslie did not survive to really tell
what happened and so we've had to rely a lot on what her friend said she had a close n circle of friends um she was
divorced she had two children but she lived with one of her closest friends so um she was not alone and she told people
these stories and then we have to take what Bobby tar says with a grain of salt because he denied what her friends say
one of the reasons um Leslie was terrified of Bobby is that he was stalking her or so she thought that's
what she told her friends a month before the shooting it was around Halloween she
had another first date with a different guy and they were getting along and they
were in a church parking lot when uh Leslie says Bobby showed up in his car out of the blue there was no reason he
would know she was there she wasn't in her hometown how was he tracking her that's never been fully established the
the authorities say they don't know how he was stalking her and he wasn't convicted of that Bobby always has an
explanation for everything and that was one of the problems that both you and I uh encountered with Bobby tar is that
both of us felt that because he talked to me after this trial that he had taken the evidence and fashioned a story
around it to make him look innocent and so he admitted he he said yes I did stop and see her when she was
on this first date but he said that he wasn't tracking her he just happened to come across her now we know that there
is in fact a text that Leslie sent one of her friends where she said I'm paraphrasing I have to cut off all
contact with this guy or he could wind up killing me and um that's a pretty serious text to send to somebody and you
asked him about that I did and he said I just don't understand that text I don't
know why she sent it so now let's go a little bit to the investigation into Bobby tar you know as we had mentioned
investigators had arrested Bobby tar right away and well if you consider the shooting happened Thanksgiving morning
around 1:00 amm uh Bobby tar was picked up I that Thanksgiving evening right so it was hours later after the shooting
and I remember when I first saw that they had arrested him which was basically cuz he lied to them that it
felt so um premature but as the prosecutor told us and now this really makes sense to me you know they had one
victim still alive and they were so worried that if Bobby tar was the killer he could finish off that victim if they
let him go but the problem was um they arrested him before they had any results yet on any of their crime scene give me
your thoughts about the investigation that was a problem for prosecution yeah it seemed it was a very bloody scene the
investigator said that Chris Smith was shot in the kitchen and he said the amount of blood in the kitchen was just
astonishing it was everywhere in that kitchen so you start to wonder well if there's blood everywhere and the glass
door was shattered how come there was nothing in Bobby tar car no sign of blood no sign of glass
that he stepped on in with his shoes um he did wash his clothes afterwards but they found no blood on his clothes I
mean how did that happen and there is an explanation the prosecutors claim that it was not a bloody scene when Bobby tar
was there he shot Chris once in the head he stepped to the Next Room shot lesli once in the head and then he left after
he left that that's when Chris was still alive and sort of wandering around the kitchen bleeding from a head wound which
bleeds a lot and he had bled for 12 hours before being rescued the kitchen was covered in blood but it wasn't like
that prosecutors say when Bobby tar was there but not mentioned in the hour the defense said investigators did not
extensively test the evidence found there was blood on Leslie's pajamas and another Speck of Blood on the kitchen
counter they didn't take that either I mean it was tough for the prosecution I think at trial because they did have to
deal with that but what they had was of course incredible number of lies from Bobby tar he lied about going to the gas
station for God's sakes and they had enough phone records that indicated that he did not stay at home all evening like
he had said and they knew he was lying also because they had picked up his car on license plate readers which they got
immediately there's so many digital Trails out there welcome back to postmortem where
we tell all those details we didn't get to put into 48 hours probably among the most damaging pieces of evidence was the
fact that Bobby's own family testified against him his dad his son and his own daughter that was the big thing that he
told the police a story and then he said you could ask my daughter she was home the whole night with me so of course
they did they went and got his daughter and her name was Shelby Shelby we have her interrogation also in the show and
her mother who's a paralal told her tell the police the truth that's all you got
to do so she did she told the police the truth that her father had left three times that evening and it contradicted
Bobby's story and what he had told the cops here's something that we didn't have time to put in the hour so right
before Bobby T's daughter was about to testify he texts her and so if you talk to the prosecution they think he was
trying to intimidate her or make her think twice about testifying against her dear old dad he said to me he knew it
was hard for her to testify and he was just you know hoping she was okay um I don't know which one I believe but it
was an interesting detail well it's possible in that case he was telling the truth because it was sort of a nice in
quotes a text it was like I know this is hard for you I I hope uh you know you're
doing okay paraphrasing that's what it was our producer at the trial Mark goldbam was having lunch with Shelby and
her mother when her father Bobby tar sent that text and they were like oh my God and they immediately told the
prosecutor and when they went came back from lunch you know they told the judge and it was a point against him so Bobby
if he had this story he had to tell you would have thought maybe he would tell the jury he did not he chose not to but
then he did speak at his sentencing and now I didn't attend that tell me what you thought about that Paul well he went
on and on before the judge for about a half hour or so so telling his story I believe that he figured out a way to
tailor his story to fit the evidence and he tried to sell that to the judge and the judge at some point cut him off and
said enough already because you had your opportunity to testify you chose not to
and I don't want to hear any more of it and uh sentenced him to 85 years so in this case the other victim is a man by
the name of Chris Smith who was unbel shot in the head and really truly miraculously survived Paul you actually
talked to him way before I got to meet him so tell me your thoughts Chris is a great guy and he has a a piece of a
hollow point bullet in his brain it's too dangerous for doctors to operate in that section so they left it there um he
is paralyzed on his left side he has to use a cane and a wheelchair a lot of the
time but otherwise he's the Chris who was uh there before the shooting and the first time he ever texted me he said hey
it's me Bullet boy referring to the bullet in his brain so he has a sense of humor that he never lost he was in the
hospital for almost two months and when he came to he could barely speak he didn't know what happened to him he
remembers nothing at all of the shooting or lesli Reeves which is really interesting when you consider that
Leslie and he had been speaking on the phone texting with each other for two weeks before um the date and it's
interesting how the brain works it just excised the shooting and Lesly completely out of his brain now because
he couldn't remember anything not only could he not testify I'm sure that was a big disappointment for the state but he
didn't even go to the trial because he thought he'd be so angry but he did give an amazing impact statement as
sentencing uh we weren't allowed to bring cameras into the courtroom but he did speak outside and I want to share
that with you here now it might be a little hard to understand simply because he's outside the court but listen it's
really worth listening to I want to live my life normal go back to work just be normal again that's all I want to get my
life back and basically that's what my inex him was this time and what happened I've had six brain surgeries I've had
two plates in my head um I'm on the second one pray to God it's the last one and just everything I lost lost my house
lost my truck lost my dog I mean I really lost my life about being killed that is so hard to hear he's
right when he says he lost everything he's not kidding he had three Strokes in the hospital he was placed into a
medically induced coma he had to relearn how to walk relearn how to stand how to
talk um it wasn't easy looters came in when nobody was watching the house and they everything in his house including
his above ground pool um he had to move back in when he was 50 with his mother and her new husband and by the way we
should mention Tiki the dog Tiki was home when the shooting took place and the first EMT who came through the door
happened to be a friend of Chris's and he told Chris that Tiki was huddling with him and he thinks kept him alive
during the 12 hours that Chris lay on the kitchen floor the glass door was shattered so the cold from the November
wind was getting into the house but because Tiki stayed right next to Chris probably helped save his life and he now
cannot live with Tiki he couldn't really take care of her and when he moved in with his mother they were two big male
dogs there so he had to give Tiki to a neighbor but he still sees Tiki I mean that to all of us would be a serious
loss that's hard for him to me what I think though is the most important part part of this hour is that we take a look
at what Chris is doing now I mean how would you describe where he is in his journey for
getting back to his life Chris showed me a picture of himself just before this happened he was absolutely ripped I mean
he he had abs of steel and um you know he's trying to get back there he goes to the gym every morning now to try to
regain muscle you know he was in a rock band Chris he's back singing in the rock
band but he used to play guitar he can't play guitar now um he's a remarkable person and uh the fact that he still has
a sense of humor says something he is determined to get as as close back to the Chris that he was and he even turned
to the camera and he said if there's any doctor there who has new treatments I'm
ready to try him I hope he does hear from somebody that would be really great and he wants to be a motivational
speaker that's what he he's launching a business as a motivational speaker because he feels he has a story to tell
and he can inspire people that's another thing he says in our hour never give up
just never give up and I think we're both going to take that with us but before I let you go Paul I want to ask
you about the new 48 Hours NCIS podcast that just came out on the case of Aaron corwood you originally reported on this
case for 48 hours and you are prominently featured in this podcast so tell me about this work on the original
story and why this case mattered to you well it's one of my favorite stories Aaron Corin was a young Marine's wife
and she was out in in a town called 29 Palms which is near Joshua Tree National Park it's an absolutely beautiful desert
likee area and aarin wound up being killed there are a lot of abandoned mines out in the wild around Joshua tree
and they found her one of those mines after a two- Monon search and I met Erin's mother I spent some time with
Erin's mother and we brought her with us when we went back to the mine she wanted
to come she asked us if she could come and we went out to the mine with her and she said her goodbyes and I'm still in
touch with her see I love the fact that we can do podcasts about these stories that you know because we never can put
enough in to 48 hours but you can talk about those kind of things in this podcast postmortem and in this new NCI
podcast Paul thanks for joining me today thank you for having me so if you like this series postmortem
please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast and you can also
listen adree on Amazon music wry Plus in the wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast thank you
really all of you for listening

A couple is shot during their first date. Can the only survivor identify the shooter?

Watch " Fatal First Date" and then catch up with "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Paul La Rosa on "Post Mortem" as they go behind the scenes of their report on the shooting of Leslie Reeves and Chris Smith, who were attacked while on their first date by Leslie’s jealous ex-lover, Bobby Tarr. Erin and Paul delve into Chris’s journey as a survivor, Leslie’s courageous attempts to escape her relationship from Tarr, and the heroic story of Chris’s dog, Tiki, on the night of the murder.

00:00 Fatal First Date 41:36 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/3AxomfU

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.

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Brief Summary

Leslie Reeves was murdered and Chris Smith severely injured on their first date, leading to Bobby Tar's arrest and trial for the crimes.

Key points

A Night of Horror. Two innocent people on a first date are caught in a violent crime.
The Search for Answers. As investigators piece together the crime, the victims' loved ones are left in shock.
Unraveling the Truth. Bobby Tar's conflicting stories raise suspicion as detectives dig deeper into the case.
Chris Smith's Recovery Journey. Chris Smith, a shooting survivor, fights to regain his strength and life after the attack.
Trial of Bobby Tar. Bobby Tar is found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting of Leslie Reeves and Chris Smith.
Leslie Reeves' Legacy. Friends remember Leslie Reeves as a champion for women's rights and a loving mother.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Why would they try to hurt my baby?

A mother grappling with the loss of her son.

3:27WatchFeb 7, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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