Kassanndra's Secret | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] she didn't care what you thought of her she didn't care if you liked her
she didn't care if she was too loud or too in your face she just was she was your best friend right yeah yeah for
years I got a pair of new shorts this t-shirt two Essie nail polishes she got into these things called haul videos
where you would go shopping I will show you what I got and then I'll tell you how much everything cost kind of spread
the word about deals 99 Cents 7.99 8.99 3.50 she never really left home got this
for my mom I got this for my mom to go with the slippers I also bought this for her she was always there so we were
really good friends August 25th 2020. Cassandra's mom Marie Smith got up she left for work
everything was fine when I came home it was clear that she had used the master bathroom to get
ready to go all of her makeup was in there and then I didn't hear from her I knew she had a shopping day planned
and her friend Alexandra was going to be meeting with her the next day I remember I was late by about 15
minutes I texted her hey where are you hey I'm sorry I'm late I got no response I left panicked messages until her
voicemail box was full she never just went dark like that before the morning of the 27th I had texts from
Marie that said to Cass spend the night with you is she at your place are you with her
she's not with you I thought she was with you and that's what I realized there was
something wrong when did you call the police I called them later that day it started out like any other adult
missing person case the majority of those calls are resolved with no nefarious activity
maybe she's out there the world is so wired with cameras there is just no way that somebody didn't see
something we're able to see the white car Cassandra's Cassandra's car you can see
a subject getting out of the vehicle and start walking away that's Downing evidence that's incredibly valuable
evidence for us you can see him walking across the street he's dressed in all black black shoes black pants black
T-shirt blue surgical gloves and a black fedora something he was involved but there was something going on there
we didn't know about yeah she was Keeping a Secret she didn't want to tell me [Music]
thank you foreign [Music] this is Ruby they're called everybody anybody I could think of this is going
to be complete Pet haul only and nobody had heard from her this I got for eight dollars in change who is nine dollars
and change 5 I hope you liked relaxed for Marie Smith the realization that her daughter Cassandra Cantrell had
been missing for more than two days was almost more than she could take I never thought that I'd be the person sitting
here talking about my daughter I wanted her found I don't even know how to explain how
Frenching it is Marie's close friend Christy Sinclair says it was Agony this can't be happening this isn't real
she lost her phone she lost her car she had no money I don't know anything but what you don't want to think about
anything about that I'll show you this I made it this was only five dollars as Cassandra's family and friends grappled
with her disappearance police got to work Pierce County Sheriff's detective Franz helmke was assigned to the case
his first step talk to those who knew Cassandra best how did Marie describe Cassandra normal
I thought Christie's pajamas responsible yeah responsible she would you know call let her know you know
where she was going detective honke learned Cassandra was close with her family and good about staying in touch
they're selling these for 15 she enjoyed making those YouTube shopping videos and
loved being on stage she'd even joined a local production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show where people act alongside
the movie Marie says it was a perfect fit for her daughter she was with a group of people
who were a little wacky like her she was good it's adorable Sherry Mueller the show's
producer recalls Cassandra's natural Talent she was playing a character by the name of Janet Weiss she also learned
the character of Columbia by all accounts at the time of her disappearance because Cassandra was a
happy 33 year old and not someone who would run off this wasn't the typical missing person that was going to come
home in a couple days detective helmke canvassed the area around where Marie and Cassandra lived and found on a
neighbor's security camera a clip of Cassandra's white Mazda on the morning of August 25th it was seen leaving the
neighborhood did you see any video of the car coming back no hours ticked by with no sign of
Cassandra her family and friends tried to remain hopeful it was particularly difficult for Cassandra's twin brother
Rob growing up the two were inseparable and would stay up late at night to watch
scary movies she was never scared of that stuff no wow we laughed a lot of it okay it's just a tough girl then as they
got older their shared passion for movies evolved into collecting memorabilia they even dreamed of opening
their own collectible shop Half Price two dollars it was only five bucks but as close as they were Rob couldn't
imagine where his sister went and he was filled with remorse about their last conversation we were having an argument
she wanted to actually come over on the 25th but I ignored her the 25th of August 2020 the day Cassandra went
missing that's a big regret I imagine still for you yeah because then she probably would have told him what she
was doing that day and I would have at least known she had gone Cassandra's family and friends organized
searches I can't imagine what that must feel like to be out there searching and and knowing what you could possibly be
looking for you put it in the back you don't think about that just help me find a clue help
me find a clue and then three days after Cassandra vanished police found her white Mazda
unlocked with the keys still inside it was almost underneath Interstate 705 which goes into the heart of the
downtown Tacoma it's Camp there are cars in the area did something happen down here
strange place for a young woman to park a car and then go missing yeah our alarm
Bells going off then yeah increasingly she had clearly gotten ready to go somewhere
where did she go who did she go to see detective helgi had ordered an emergency trace on Cassandra's cell phone to try
and find her last known location and he discovered her phone last pinged about two miles south of a tower on Vashon
Island in the Puget Sound one of the first things I did was just get on Google Earth and strike an arc from that
Tower to see where it lands and it showed his landing around this Shoreline at Owen Beach or Point Defiance Park
Anderson huge body of water you're thinking we're just never going to be able to find this yeah
[Music] [Music] [Music] foreign chasing that last ping from Cassandra's cell phone knew it was somewhere here in
the vast Waters of the Puget Sound which is nearly 100 miles long what's the next
step about trying to recover that we debated about that because it's a needle in a haystack
it's a huge body of water this is the vicinity that it showed up as of being at finding it was a long shot but detective
Sergeant Brent Van Dyke was up for the challenge he brought the Pierce County Metro dive team out to the beach on a
summer day we got lucky with the tides that day the tide was extremely low so it made our search area a little less
Van Dyke had a plan to dramatically reduce the area where the phone might be first he asked members of his team to
throw stones from the beach to simulate how far someone could throw a cell phone
if you picture throwing something from here it limits the distance that I would have to search for what he threw the
dive team then formed a line essentially creating an underwater Dragnet we had a
boat out in the water and a line of people on snorkel that day just looking down
they were told that Cassandra's phone had a case decorated with glitter this is the actual underwater footage
the dive team was in the water for a little more than an hour when incredibly one of the guys on the line said hey I
think I got it they saw a sparkle I think I got the phone and it wasn't fault phone was sent to a specialist to
determine if any information could be recovered the hunt to find Cassandra was intensifying as detectives learned more
about her she felt like she could tell you pretty much everything about what was going on
in her life right yes even her deepest darkest secrets she would tell you first yep
and a month before she disappeared Cassandra confided a secret to her best friend she texted me a positive
pregnancy test and said I think I might be preggers and the day she was supposed to meet
Alexandra but never showed up it was going to be her first ultrasound for detective Franz helmke learning
Cassandra had been pregnant at the time of her disappearance changed everything this is what is now peaking my my
interest normally in a situation where a pregnant woman disappears you look at who the partner is first correct
Cassandra had also told her mother she was pregnant but didn't provide details I asked Marie did she tell you who the
father was and she says well with some guy she met online or through a dating app she told me it was not somebody that
she was actually seeing and that he didn't even live in the area it was no secret Cassandra was actively
date like Tinder detectives about an old boyfriend Cassandra was still in touch with
Colin Dudley the two had dated back in 2006 while in The Rocky Horror acting group
the show's producer Sherry Mueller Colin played a character called a criminologist
on stage outside of the stage when he wasn't performing he was the head of tech and he kind of ran the cast
but after dating for several months Colin and Cassandra broke up Colin started a relationship with
another cast member Rebecca Fisher and the two eventually moved in together [Music]
Steve Ammon hung out at their home regularly to play a game called Dungeons and Dragons
explain what Dungeons and Dragons is it's not a board game right no not a traditional board game uh it's more of a
theater of the Mind type gameplay doing things that you wouldn't normally do in real life who will play a wizard a rogue
a fighter [Music] always took place in calling Colin was kind of the dungeon master of
it the one who ran the show and Steve liked being around him Colin was quick to help if someone needed money he says
and he still remembers the meals Colin cooked for game nights he was a chef by profession so it was
nice food in 2014 after Colin's father died he rekindled a friendship with Cassandra
she assured me you know that she was just there to be a friend she's like he's got a girlfriend
according to Marie Cassandra and Colin would sometimes watch movies or grab a bite to eat
at some point Alexandra says even though Colin was living with Rebecca his relationship with Cassandra once again
turned romantic and Cassandra told Alexandra that Colin was the father of her baby she was very
excited she talked about you know names and games she wanted at the baby shower she had
she had a Amazon registry already made Cassandra's only hesitation whether she should tell Colin he was
with Rebecca and had mentioned he didn't want to have kids but Alexandra says Cassandra did tell Colin she was
pregnant and he was okay with it she called me and she said well I told him and it went better than expected he was
calm and said not to worry about it and that they would talk detective helmke wondered if Colin knew
where Cassandra was we're just trying to follow up with people who knew Cassandra
you know places she likes to go that we could maybe look Colin sat and talked with Detective
helmke on his front porch and the conversation was recorded this is a recorded statement we're going to be
taken from Colin Patrick Dudley so you know we just kind of begin with just simple hey tell us about you and
Cassandra how did you meet hi Mary are at The Rocky Horror Picture Show we were in a relationship for a
couple of months and then we broke up in 2006. I then started kind of running some of these things by him that that
people were telling me talking to other people talking to Cassandra's family and
some other friends they reported that she was about 10 weeks pregnant and what we've been hearing is that she's
been telling people that you are the father no way no hell no Colin was adamant he and Cassandra were
not in a relationship and he was most definitely not the father of her child I asked him are you sure you know no
one-night stands no you know hookups after the fact or anything like that no absolutely not he says in fact Colin
insisted he hadn't seen or spoken to Cassandra since they broke up back in 2006 except once when he ran into her at
the mall do you have any no contact with no messages or no Facebook or anything no
helmke believed Colin was lying but could he prove it it turned out a clue to finding the answer was in Marie's
paperwork [Music] detective helmke believed Colin Dudley was lying when he said he had not seen
or spoken to Cassandra for years but it was Cassandra's mother Marie Who provided some proof she had been combing
through Cassandra's old phone bills where she noticed a mystery number that kept reappearing
we didn't know whose it was because it didn't have a name attached to it going back how far in the past oh we looked
back months and months you know as far back as we could see this number kept popping up
and the last time it popped up Marie told detective helmke was the morning Cassandra disappeared I said so okay so
what's that number and she tells me I immediately know it's Collins humpke wanted forensic investigators to
take a closer look at Dudley's phone which detective helmke had taken when they'd met on Dudley's front porch I
told him you know I have a warrant to seize your phone I read him the warrant grabbed the phone and we left
investigators later obtained the phone records for both Cassandra and Colin's phones they were turned over to
Detective Ryan salmon the cell phone forensics analyst for the sheriff's department salmon noticed something
curious the name Cassandra never appeared in Colin's phone what name was he using right for Cassandra he had it
under Velma why Velma we learned later through Cassandra's mother that she had gone as Velma from Scooby-Doo as a
Halloween costume and it's likely salmon said that Colin Dudley did not want his living
girlfriend to know he was still in touch with Cassandra even without the information from her waterlogged phone
salmon was able to see when and where she and Colin interacted simply by having those phone records it's
extremely helpful in determining where somebody was during a critical time frame people have a cell phone with them
almost all day every day Sandra or someone else parked it there detective helmke knew the city's light
rail system was nearby and asked their security people if they could find any footage of Cassandra's car
what they found proved crucial we have the video you want you need to get it down here and look at it these videos
have never been shown publicly in this video from a moving Light Rail train taken the late morning of August 25th
helke could see a man in a black hat walking away from where Cassandra's car was parked then a different camera shows
that same man from a much closer angle he'll cross right in front of this camera
so he comes walking across and you see all black the blue gloves then the Fedora and he just sits down at
the stop the time was 11 50 A.M the man sits for four minutes and then keeps walking well he
what's up he continues walking his face covered by some type of mask is hard to see but based on his build and
gate helke suspected that Colin Dudley was the man wearing that Fedora the detective had been told that Colin often
had asked demanded even that people call him hat or Hat Man was he always wearing a hat
he would put it on and switch into his Persona of the Hat Man and preferred to be called the hatman Alexandra McNary
had heard all about it from Cassandra the Persona was basically the main character from Clockwork Orange hi hi hi
there my little druggies very dark intentionally so morally dubious did you see the security video at all of
the man in the Hat I did get to see it did you look at it and say that's Colin well who else would
it be in that video from the light rail system the man in the Hat keeps walking right
into the Tacoma Dome station parking garage only blocks away from where Cassandra's car was found honky a
security Personnel at the garage if they had any footage the answer was a resounding yes
they find him walking into the parking garage to a truck you can see him using a remote control
opener gets into the truck and then as he exits the parking garage you can see pretty clearly in the video the license
plate which comes back to Mr Dudley that was Colin's Chevy truck proving the detective said that the man in the video
and Colin Dudley were one and the same detective helmke was convinced that Colin had done something to Cassandra
and he wanted to get into Dudley's house immediately we don't have a body we don't have any true evidence that
Cassandra's dad were still hoping maybe she is tied up in the basement what do you think is the strongest piece
of evidence connecting Colin Dudley to Cassandra's disappearance chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and
Twitter thank you authorities were out in force after they raided Colin Dudley's house but they
found no sign of Cassandra Cassandra was not found inside McCollin was detained temporarily for us to do
the fingerprints and DNA investigators seized several items from the house including Colin's Chevy Colorado truck
and a black fedora I don't know if it's the same one he's wearing in the video or not there were numerous areas that
they identified in the basement where there was possible DNA blood evidence they said that the cadaver Dogs showed
particular interest in the basement specifically a brown sofa in the basement detective helmke believes something
terrible had happened to Cassandra Dudley had stopped talking to investigators but his live-in girlfriend
Rebecca Fisher a carpenter agreed to sit down for an interview do you think he would be capable of hurting Cassandra
after a third pause say yes he's got size and strength on her I don't think he would no
he would not and investigators could not prove otherwise Dudley was free to go why can't you arrest him
well he's guilty of something but what is he guilty of detective Henke wanted to know
every move Dudley made on August 25th the day Cassandra went missing and he said it became clear that Dudley had
hatched a well-thought-out plot to get rid of Cassandra he had planned this and probably was pretty meticulous in his
planning in his police interview Dudley said that early in the morning Cassandra
disappeared he visited Costco so the first stop he makes is at a Costco gas station
then he went to a second Costco to pick up supplies for investigators subpoenaed receipts and
the store provided video here surveillance cameras pick up Dudley in the store around 7 A.M this is where he
said he stopped because he needed supplies for his spring cleaning correct yes the video is so Crystal Clear we think
that probably the garbage sacks store records show that Dudley purchased a box of heavy duty trash bags goes back to
his house right detectives say then Dudley dropped off the supplies at home and drove to the Tacoma Dome station
parking garage arriving at 8 17 a.m We answer surveillance video for that too shows that truck again now in the back
you'll see a bike and then you'll see him get out and put on a helmet and get on a bike and ride it away
Dudley left his truck in the garage and began pedaling home it's about a 20-minute ride investigators believe he
wanted to be home by 9 A.M because as it turns out he and Cassandra had made plans at his house
sure enough text records show that Cassandra was outside Colin's house at 8 49 A.M
she said I'm a bit early that okay and he says he says yep come on down those two messages were both deleted out
of his phone and so the two phones are then pinpointed in that same location at the
house for a couple of hours right for a little more than two hours neither phone showed any movement and it was
during this period of time investigators believe Colin Dudley likely killed Cassandra Cantrell
shows you the amount of premeditation right went into planning this right it appears investigators say that around
11 40 a.m Dudley turned off his cell phone as Cassandra's phone shows it moving away from the house
detective salmon says that's because Dudley had her phone with him as he drove her car to the spot where he
abandoned it near the Light Rail station he turns his cell phone off but doesn't
turn her cell phone off and is driving around with it what was he thinking apparently he
wasn't he wasn't thinking well enough not as smart as he thought he was you'll see Cassandra's car is that it
right there yep that white wine coming down and then you see Dudley in the Hat walking away from her car
remember how he paused for a few moments and sat down detective salmon believes he was gathering himself after murdering
Cassandra I think he's just physically tired because of probably how violent the
incident was detectives say Dudley then retrieved his truck from the garage where he had stashed it earlier that day
drove to Owen Beach and talked to Sandra's phone into the Puget Sound and what time roughly was that last
thing it was around 12 45 P.M but while investigators had discovered her [Music]
full deal what Dudley had done with her but they did have his Chevy Colorado truck
helke had an idea as an investigator I've been exposed to different Technologies and we knew cars
had electronic evidence contained in them almost every car or truck has reams of data that can be extracted as
Illustrated here so this is where the major break in the case came through you can turn your cell phone off and not
necessarily be able to track but you can't turn your car's Black Box off exactly helke got a warrant to remove
the truck's Black Box essentially a computer that tracks and Records nearly every move a vehicle makes he reviewed
the data which confirmed much of what they already knew from the phone records but there was something new that caught
everyone's attention trucks Black Box had a record of Colin Dudley's movements on August 26th the
day after Cassandra visited his house and this is the next morning correct so now we're at 6 00 a.m and then of course
we notice where the vehicle stops that there's a large wooded ravine on September 22nd 2020 detective
Sergeant Brent Van Dyke rushed to that Ravine which is eight miles from Dudley's house it was nearly a month
since Cassandra had gone missing I got there first and looked over to the hillside
and you could clearly see that there was a garbage can halfway down the hill you could see that the garbage can had a
bag liner and some ropes around it he also spotted blood Point knew you had remains oh absolutely
helmke also at the scene wanted to make a quick identification and he knew that Cassandra had a distinctive tattoo I
asked them to take a picture of it so they took a picture and came walking up the hill helmke recognized the tattoo
immediately Trail was dead when he thought about calling Cassandra's mother so I called Marie and uh
told her that I had information that I needed to share with her first question was
okay and he said I don't know I'm sorry he's not Cassandra's twin brother Rob overheard
that phone call the second I heard her screaming I knew that they had found her Colin Dudley was arrested that night and
later charged with first-degree murder investigators felt they had built a strong case so strong that they decided
not to try and retrieve the information on Cassandra's waterlogged phone case barreled toward trial for two years
and then Cassandra's friends and family heard that prosecutors were considering making a plea deal with Dudley they
could not believe it was premeditated it was literally cold-blooded I have no words
a lot of anger though a lot see more evidence of how the case against Colin Dudley came together at
48hours.com [Music] she was an optimist she never lost that even up until the end I believe that she
entered his house hopeful hopeful that Colin Dudley was getting comfortable with her pregnancy instead
investigators believe he brutally murdered her an autopsy revealed exactly how brutal there were fractures major
fractures to her skull so head over the head yeah yeah many times cause of death
was a blunt force trauma investigators say they were never able to identify a murder weapon but they did
find those traces of blood likely Cassandra's in Dudley's basement basement floor walls a stainless steel
table and the laundry room sink police suspect Colin cleaned the basement multiple times
killing Cassandra and kept her body there overnight before dumping her and that Ravine the next morning and they
believed Colin's living girlfriend Rebecca was home during some of that time and thinking about you know
Rebecca's there in the house too that was my next question was there any thoughts that she had to have been
involved there was no I mean some people thought that investigators confronted Rebecca
did you have anything to do with The Disappearance of Cassandra on any level nope we did not find any information
that she knew that it went on that she had anything to do with it they kept separate areas of the house and so I
could see you know her doing her own thing and not going down the basement yeah but Rebecca did
Allen never wanted to be a father he does not want to be a dad Pierce County Deputy prosecutors Brian
Watson Carey and Patrick Vincent went to work on proving Colin's guilt I thought
this was a very strong case at least circumstantially I mean oddly it's not one in which we had a great deal of
physical evidence it was a case that relied on essentially digital records like that video of Colin leaving
Cassandra's car those phone records placing Cassandra at Colin's house the morning she disappeared and the data
showing Colin's truck where Cassandra's remains were eventually found prosecutors it seemed like a lot but
they were concerned about convincing a jury at trial insurance paper we don't have an
eyewitness we don't have a murder weapon we don't have a confession so when the defense offered to accept a
plea deal the prosecutors negotiated eventually Colin Dudley agreed to plead guilty to murder in the first degree for
killing Cassandra the prosecutors brought the deal to Cassandra's family they were Furious
[Music] but on November 14 2022 Colin Dudley formally entered his guilty plea in
compared to the church he was sentenced to 26 years in prison I I have no words that would even
encompass the frustration anger sadness heartache Cassandra's family and friends had
wanted a trial where the full story was told they're also upset that someone guilty of murdering a pregnant woman
would only get 26 years in prison do you think the system is broken very broken in this case how is it that
somebody can do what he did and not have to spend his life in prison it was a sentiment Steve Ammon shared he
felt betrayed by his one-time friend and had even written a letter to the judge saying he should not be out at all he
won't learn from this Colin Dudley likely will get out and with good behavior he could be free
again as early as 2044. never see the light of dick is when he gets out he could be in his
early 60s yeah I still got all that time to live Cassandra's family wants to make sure
that no one else suffers the way they say they have they would like a law in Washington
state that if someone is guilty of knowingly killing a pregnant woman they would automatically get a life sentence
no possibility parole you die in jail until there's any sort of resemblance of Justice I'm not letting this go
and while the family wages that fight Cassandra's twin brother is trying to honor
Ed her in other ways she would have loved you did though finally open that dream that you had together your own
store yes I got a big mirror of her hanging in the window and in photos throughout the store of her it's a
living tribute to her [Music] you know say hi keep her headstone clean for your flowers
do you think what life could be like with her now if she had had the chance to live her life
and be a mom yeah I think about it a lot because she had all of these plans you know
she had oh geez sweet plants Marie says her daughter lived life to the fullest immortalized by that
distinctive tattoo she had of her favorite quote we don't stop playing because we grow
old we grow old because we stop playing she always had something up her sleeve and she would spring little surprises on
me hmm and that's what I miss most is just happy presents [Music] two young women out for a night of
partying together there's a dark side to Los Angeles how did they end up dumped at separate
hospitals and who was responsible for their deaths something terrible happened that night 48 hours Saturday on CBS and
streaming on Paramount Plus foreign

A young woman vanishes. Eerie surveillance video captures a man in a hat. Investigators learn the two are linked by a secret. “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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

Brief Summary

Cassandra Cantrell was murdered by Colin Dudley, who received a 26-year sentence after pleading guilty.

Key points

Cassandra's Disappearance. Cassandra Cantrell goes missing, leaving her family and friends in panic.
A Mother's Agony. Marie Smith struggles with the reality of her daughter's disappearance.
Colin's Denial. Colin Dudley adamantly denies being involved in Cassandra's life or disappearance.
The Mystery Number. Marie discovers a recurring mystery number in Cassandra's phone records.
Detective's Investigation. Detective Helmke begins to piece together Cassandra's last known movements.
Cassandra's Disappearance. Cassandra went missing, leading to a meticulous investigation into Dudley's actions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I never thought that I'd be the person sitting here talking about my daughter.

Marie Smith reflects on her daughter's disappearance

4:32WatchApr 14, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.