Perfectly Executed (Part 1 & 2) | Full Episodes | Forensic Files

Now, a special two-part edition of 48 hours. You don't know exactly what you're going
to be finding up there. And and so just driving up there in in itself, you're kind of walking into the unknown.
I I believe I was a little nervous. I would describe it as being absolutely savage.
This was someone who used a baseball bat to kill the family. What I see is an attack that is not only
calculated and carried out with precision. There was blood all over the room, on the ceiling, on the floor.
>> I also see a crime scene that smacks of the murderer having a very, very personal
vendetta. >> Somebody just went off the deep end and once they started killing, they either
enjoyed it or they couldn't stop themselves. In an upper middle class neighborhood of
an upper middle class community, three unsuspecting and undeserving human beings
were savagely beaten to death. >> There's blood. They're not breathing. I don't think it's safe here
>> by somebody who they knew. Heat. Heat. It was a plan. A well rehearsed, well thoughtout plan.
What happened in this house on a hot summer night in 1994 brought tragedy and mystery to this quiet neighborhood in
Belleview, Washington. Just after 2:00 in the morning on July 13th, police were called to a crime that would take them
10 years to bring to justice. Had you ever seen anything like it? Never. >> James Jude Conat is a senior deputy
prosecutor in King County. He and a team of detectives have been haunted by this crime and the killers
who got away. >> They think that they are smarter than other people in the world. And I know
that sounds just kind of a broad statement, but I I really believe they believe that
>> the search for the truth would lead police to another country through a web of intriguing clues. Could this
screenplay that described a murder unlock the mystery? And in the end, would a sophisticated undercover
operation set in a makebelieve world of crime catch the real killers? The story begins with a call for help.
>> Emergency reporting. >> Uh uh my friend, his mom and dad, we think they're dead.
>> Sebastian Burns and his friend Atif Rafé had stumbled on a horrific scene. Atif's
parents had been murdered. There is nothing that I can imagine about my parents that could have justified
anyone to do what was done to them. >> Sultana Rafif's mother was the first to be killed.
>> Sebastian, what did you see when you walked through that door? >> I saw mom lying on the floor.
>> Tariq Rafé was the next to be murdered. >> We could see There was blood around him
and it it was clear that he had been attacked. >> Why do you think that they're dead?
>> There's blood. They're not breathing. Uh there's blood all over his face. >> It was basically an overkill.
>> Detective Bob Thompson has been on the case since the night it began. >> It just looked like someone had hit him
40 or 50 times. >> Please. Fast. Okay. They're on the way. >> They're on the way.
>> We'll be outside. >> Okay. Go ahead. As the boys waited for help to arrive, a
third victim, Aif's autistic older sister, Bosma, was clinging to life, moaning in her bedroom.
>> The third victim was autistic. It would make sense that she's murdered last because everybody knows that she can't
make a 911 call. >> Bosma died a few hours later at the hospital, taking with her the secret of
who killed the Rafé family. The Rafes had just moved to Belleview from Vancouver, Canada. Sultana had a
doctorate in nutrition but devoted her life to raising her gifted son and disabled daughter.
>> I think she was um certainly an extraordinary person. >> Do you miss your mom?
>> I do. >> What do you miss most about her? >> Well, the the mere presence is enough,
but uh she knew me in a way that uh I suspect that no one ever will. Um, she was always able to look right through
the uh adolescent sort of pomposities that I might have had and remind me that uh I was just uh a silly kid at times.
>> Tariq Rafé was a structural engineer who had worked on buildings around the world.
>> In a sense, we were all like kids around him or or like my mom was too and we
were all I guess sort of in his orbit. Um he was a brilliant person. uh probably a far better mathematician than
I will ever be. >> No one could understand who would take the lives of this quiet family and spare
their only son. Detectives began to look more closely at the crime scene. >> What's the problem there? There's been
some kind of breakin. >> Sebastian had used the words breakin to report what had happened.
>> Is it locked? It's not locked. It's >> unlocked. Just looking at that room, you
started realizing this this looks like someone set it up. Boxes were tipped over, drawers were opened, but nothing
appeared to have gone through. That night, when police asked what was missing, a thief said two things, his
discman and a VCR. >> Someone came in, murdered three people, and took his Walkman and a VCR.
I mean, it makes no sense. Detectives probe deeper. Who were these teenage boys who reported the crime?
>> The 199293 school year. >> Sebastian Burns and Aif Rafé had been best friends since high school.
>> What' you like about high school? >> I liked being a kid. I liked having free
time and I liked hanging around with other kids and I just liked being young. The boys
shared a sarcastic sense of humor and an interest in reading and debate. >> What would you guys talk about? What
were you interested in? >> You know, it was things like uh Shakespeare and philosophy and uh camu
and things like that. >> They had a lot in common. They became very good friends because they were both
precocious. They were both intelligent. >> Sarah Isix is Sebastian's high school
sweetheart. >> He went to parties. He was athletic and he became friends with a Tif and sort of
showed a Tif how to dress. He'd introduced a Tif to girls. He sort of helped a Tif be a a stud like he was.
>> That's going back a bit. >> Sebastian was raised in a loving family with English roots.
>> There was a lot of respect in our household. I mean, um, you didn't talk back to my parents. So you didn't swear
in the house. >> Sebastian's sister, Tiffany. >> We both grew up playing classical cello,
so we had music lessons and we had to practice every day after school. >> All right.
>> In 2005, Tiffany was a TV reporter at the CBS station in Cleveland. She can't
say enough about her little brother. >> He's very smart. I mean, he's definitely
what you would call an intellectual. He's so well read. He's got so many fascinating things to say. Sebastian
became a member of the Royal Canadian Aircadets and was given an award by Prince Edward. A tie made it to the Ivy
League, attending Cornell University. It was the summer of their freshman year in
college when the murders took place. >> It sort of is like a jigsaw puzzle, you know, you just take that piece and you
put it here and you start you start fitting it together and pretty soon you get a picture.
Police took Sebastian and Aif to the station and examined them for traces of blood. They found nothing. When asked
where they had been that evening, the boys provide a full account. At 8:30, they drove to a restaurant for a bite to
eat. Then they went to a 950 showing of the Lion King. >> Why do you remember them?
>> They were acting annoying, obnoxious. Everywhere they went, the people who came into contact with them remembered
them. >> After the movie, they stopped at another restaurant and left the waitress a $6
tip on a $9 tab. >> They don't usually do that, especially young guys. Young guys don't tip very
well. >> But something else troubled police. How could the boys remember so much detail
about where they'd been that evening and yet not recall key moments at the murder
scene? The police decided to interview Sebastian and Aif again and detectives recorded the conversation.
>> I found my mom. >> Can't remember. >> What did you do? >> I I may have gone up to her. I I can't
remember. I don't know what I did. Um I can't remember. >> Did you go walk over to your dad?
>> Um I don't think so. No. >> Did you touch your dad? >> I don't think so. >> Well, you'd know though, wouldn't you?
>> Yeah. I I don't I I I don't know if I don't I don't think I touch >> See, I don't understand this. Aif, your
your sister is moaning. She's hurt. >> Yeah. >> And you don't want to help her. >> Detectives wanted to know why Aif didn't
help his dying sister even though he heard her through her bedroom door. >> How hurt is she?
>> I didn't know. >> Okay. You don't know how hurt she is? >> I don't know how hurt she is. All I know
is that I can't I I I can't do anything. >> Sebastian and Aif were witnesses. By the
time they left at the end of these statements, were they suspects? >> Yes, definitely sus. By the time they
left, they were suspects. >> You know what? I I think you know who it is. >> They
would tell you. I would tell you if I knew who did it. And investigators thought they not only knew who, they
also knew why. >> Three to $400,000 is about to slip through his fingers if she lives. Are
you saying that Tif didn't go to the aid of his sister because he didn't want to
save his sister? >> Aif didn't go to the aid of his sister because unless she died,
the whole plan came crumbling down on them. 3 days after the murders, relatives gathered in Belleview to bury the Rafes
in a traditional Muslim ceremony. But the only surviving member of the immediate family was nowhere to be
found. >> They were wondering where's the teeth? Where's the where's the son? >> On the day of the funeral, the Rafa's
only son was on a bus headed across the border to Canada. And with him was his best friend, Sebastian Burns.
Sebastian and Aif were now in Vancouver, Canada, out of reach of the Belleview police and an investigation that
targeted them for the murders of the Rafé family. Did the boys go to Vancouver or did they flee to Vancouver?
>> From our perspective, they they fled back to Vancouver. It didn't fade. He went home.
>> Their sudden bus trip across the border only raised more suspicion even though
both boys were Canadian citizens. >> How do you flee a country getting on a Greyhound bus?
>> In fact, a representative from the Canadian consulate informed the Bellev police of their trip in advance.
>> She contacted the Belleview Police Department to say, "These guys are leaving. They're going home if that's
okay with you." and she was told, quote, "Sure." >> Mhm. >> She then tells the boys, "It's okay to
go and they leave." That is not fleeing. >> It is not fleeing. >> I think it's >> to ask permission.
>> Aif and Sebastian both had my numbers. They knew I was even in the process of
getting them a pager so we could keep in contact. And they're gone. They don't tell me where they're at. They know I'm
investigating the murders of their parents and they're gone. >> Detective Thompson was a veteran cop.
This is the other. >> His gut told him that the boys were guilty, but he just didn't have the evidence to
prove it. Investigators kept combing the house. >> Is it locked? It's not locked.
>> They found no forced entry. There was, however, an eerie clue. A forensic tool,
Luminol, showed blood on the shower walls. The killer had used the shower before leaving. the person was so
comfortable and calm and collected that he or she might then decide perhaps they'll have a shower before they go.
It is inconceivable. >> Could that be the reason why the boys who had discovered the bodies at that
bloody crime scene didn't have a trace of blood on their hair, their hands, or anywhere on their bodies?
>> Are you a killer, Sebastian? >> No, absolutely not. Did you hold that bat in your hands and kill those three
people? >> No, I didn't. >> You're not lying to me. >> No. >> Would you have ever done anything, Aif
to hurt your parents? >> No. The single most distressing thing about this entire experience is the fact
that I would even have to speak out and say, "Yeah, no, I I did not do that." >> Okay. right in there.
>> Even without physical evidence, detectives were determined. They began to build a case against the boys based
on their odd behavior following the murders. >> They cooperated. They did everything
that was asked of them. However, when they did things, they they had this air or this attitude about doing it. They
honed in on their demeanor at the crime scene and questioned why they sat in front of the house if they believed an
intruder might still be there. >> He's out on the curb, you know, 20 yard away from the the front door where this
supposed killer might be in the house and he's waiting for the police on the curb. Well, the T7 a cigarette.
>> I'm not sure that anything that we did made any sense. I I was not thinking in
a normal way. Police also couldn't make sense of why a thief would notice that his discman and
VCR were missing. >> He's walking around the house claiming to discover the fact the VCR is missing.
And ultimately, while his mother and father and sister lay in a state of carnage,
let's not mince words here. It is carnage. He claims to have discovered that the
walkman was missing from his bedroom. >> And they've decided that my son and his
friend are the guilty parties. They've decided that >> I believe him to be totally innocent as
is a thief and they have been damned. >> Sebastian's family and friends rallied around him and a teeth.
>> I remember sitting on those steps with Sebastian. I remember sitting on that field.
>> Sebastian's former girlfriend, Sarah Isac, says she knows his character better than anyone.
>> Have you ever thought to yourself, "Maybe there was something I missed about Sebastian that I just didn't see."
>> There's nothing that anyone could tell me. There's never a moment when someone
could tell me something that made me think, honestly, maybe he did it. I never had to face that moment ever. I
know Sebastian He was and is my very, very good friend. >> Did the cops investigating this just
need to get home to dinner? I mean, why didn't they follow up the leads that came their way?
>> And there were other compelling leads. Within days of the crime, police received a tip from a reliable informant
that someone had offered $20,000 to kill an East Indian family that had recently
moved from Vancouver to Belleview. There's no physical evidence that links Aif and Sebastian to the crime. Their
alibis check out and now you get this lead from an informant in Canada that somebody had been bragging about a hit
on an East Indian family in Belleview, Washington. tells me that's the direction now you
should be focusing your investigation since there's no evidence against these boys.
>> Well, there is evidence against those boys. There was a lot of evidence against those boys and it was all
circumstantial. It wasn't evidence to convict them certainly. >> Is it fair to say that you didn't
properly check out this lead in Vancouver? >> Um, you know, there are it may be fair
to say that that lead was not fully checked out. You get all kinds of tips that come in
and you have to weigh them. But the leads didn't go that direction. The leads went directly to Canada and the
leads followed. We followed those leads to Sebastian and Aif, why don't you talk to police? On the
advice of a lawyer, the boys decided to stop cooperating with Belleview authorities.
>> The minute we went to Canada, Burns and Rafé wouldn't talk to us at all. They
were telling other people not to talk to us. >> So Thompson kept digging and found what
he thought was a disturbing clue from their past. We started looking through their high school yearbook and Sebastian
Burns was uh in a high school play called The Rope about two kids who commit the perfect murder.
>> These are words that Sebastian's character said on stage. Do you mind reading it?
>> An immaculate murder. I have killed. I have killed for the sake of danger and
for the sake of killing. Ariana McGregor performed in the West Vancouver High School production of Rope along with
Sebastian. >> The character in the play is somebody who's arrogant and um believes he's
better than everybody else. And Sebastian had a quality of being superior. He knew he was intelligent,
knew he was good-looking. What was Rope about? >> The gimmick of the play is that there's
somebody is murdered at the start of the play and the villains put him into a box
and then they invite guests over. Everybody's at this party wondering when the last guest is going to show up and
nobody knows that actually he's in the box at the front of the play. And so, um, there's lots of suspenseful giggles
all the way through because everybody in the audience knows that there's this, uh, person, this this thing in the box,
>> these black and white, >> your character on stage says, "We've always said, you and I, that moral
concepts of right and wrong don't hold for the intellectually superior. The only crime we can commit is a mistake.
There's some people who believe those are words that the real Sebastian Burns might say. Well, that's ridiculous.
There was no time ever during any performance or any rehearsal that anybody was ever thinking anything
serious about any of the supposed intellectual philosophies in this play or or anything like that.
But detectives believed the fictional murder story did inspire the real life crime. Even more chilling, the weapon
was the same, a baseball bat. >> Well, that's just a huge coincidence. I think Sebastian was actually mortified
when when he realized that he was a suspect in the baseball bat killings of the Rafes because he said, "Crips,
what's going to happen when they find out about the play?" >> How does the play end? their superior
figures them out. Someone who is actually more intelligent than they are uh figures it out and they get caught.
>> As the investigation continued in Belleview, the boys were living well in Vancouver.
With some of the money Aif inherited from his parents' estate, they bought a convertible and rented an apartment
together with another high school pal. >> I think I'll stay here forever. >> Jimmy Moshi
behind drawn curtains. They hid from the media who were constantly in pursuit of
them and their story. >> Hello, is Aif there? >> 987. But while they weren't talking to
the police, the police were listening to them. >> Hello, >> AI. >> Oh, yeah. >> Every word they spoke at home or in
their car was being recorded. >> How are you doing? >> Um, okay. I guess >> the boys had no idea they were now the
targets of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP. The RCMP applied for and ultimately uh obtained
authorization to do wire taps. On April 10th, 1995, RCMP investigators intercepted this phone message.
>> This is Crimper's hair salon calling for Sebastian to confirm his appointment
with Gregory tomorrow, Tuesday, April 11th. Sebastian could never have imagined that he was about to fall into
a trap set by one of the most sophisticated undercover operators in the world. There was no doubt in my mind
that yes, Sebastian Burns was responsible for this and we were in fact going to get a full confession from him.
By April of 1995, Sebastian Burns and Aif Rafé were Canada's most famous teenage murder suspects.
>> I remember a time when we're at a bus stop and someone drove by and rolled down the window and yelled, "Murderers."
That was typical. They were paras. They were hated. I was uh unable to go to college. I was
unable to get a job. >> But the boys had a plan to make their fortune and live out a lifelong dream.
They started work on their very own screenplay about two best friends accused of murdering a family.
The movie was going to be about Sebastian Barren and At Rafé and the injustice that was heaped upon them as a
result of the suspicion about their involvement in this triple aggravated murder case in Belleview.
>> They called it the Great Despisers. >> We were worried that it would sound a bit nerdy because having the word great
in the title makes sound kind of nerdy. And uh if we'd called it, for example, just the despisers,
um that would have uh been more unimpeachably cool. However, we we decided to have the courage to stick
with this nerdy title. While the boys worked on what they say is their fictional story about two friends
falsely accused, they had no idea the real life plotline was about to take an astonishing turn.
This is Crimper's hair salon calling for Sebastian to confirm his appointment with
>> that simple message from a local hair salon was the moment the RCMP was waiting for.
>> I think they were very vulnerable to whatever the RCMP had in store for them. These were kids who'd lived pretty
sheltered lives. >> When Sebastian was finished at Crimper Salon, a stranger was waiting. And when
Mr. Burns comes out of the salon, the undercover operator just approaches him, what they call the cold approach.
>> He seemed to me like some kind of an entrepreneur. >> He walks up to him and says, "Hey buddy,
can you give me a hand? I seem to have locked my keys in the car." >> So, uh, he asked me for a ride to his
hotel and I gave him a ride. >> The stranger took Sebastian to a bar and bought him a drink for his trouble. I
was impressed by that. And um I was also sort of intrigued, I guess, or or excited about the way that he seemed
um so ready to be interested in me. >> Sebastian told his new friend that he and his buddies had written a
screenplay, but he didn't have a job and needed financing. The friend said he knew someone who could help. Ultimately,
the goal was to get Sebastian to meet with the next guy up the chain, and it worked perfectly.
>> Sebastian thought he was about to meet a connected businessman, but it was this
man, Sergeant Hlett of the RCMP. We cannot show you his face. >> I don't think there's an undercover team
like this anywhere in the world. And I say that very seriously. >> The best of the best. the best.
>> The RCMP spent months preparing to manipulate their target. They had access to fancy cars, posh
hotel suites, weapons, false international documents, beautiful women. Posing as professional mobsters, the
RCMP set up the first meeting with Sebastian at a strip club. >> How important was this movie to
Sebastian Burns? It was just about his whole uh life. >> The crime boss told Sebastian he did
have cash to invest in his screenplay, but Sebastian would have to earn it. Sebastian had no idea he was being
offered work in a makebelieve world of crime. Jobs were also promised to Aif and their pal Jimmy Mioshi.
>> I hope these guys are solid, man. These guys never going to betray me ever. All
right. Never. Ever. >> Sebastian's first assignment. Transport a stolen car for the crime
boss. >> He had nothing. And then he was offered something. He was offered something that
was criminal, something that he probably wouldn't have thought was a good idea had he had something else going on in
his life. >> He was only paid $200 for the job. And he wasn't happy. >> He was disgusted.
>> He made it clear he wasn't happy. He uh told us he could make more money than
that stealing his videos out of stores. >> It was essential to the undercover operation that Sebastian continue
working for the organization. So the next staged crime is easier for more cash. >> What I want you guys to do, which is no
big deal, it's pretty straightforward. Uh >> Sebastian and Jimmy Moshi go from one
bank to another laundering money. >> Cash is here. Just take a deposit into this account. 20 What are you guys
running the first time? Next time got a different bank. >> This time for a day's work, they get
paid $2,000. >> So cool. This has been the coolest thing I've ever been on this morning.
>> I couldn't help but be excited about having $2,000 put in my hand and I'd hardly had to do anything for it.
>> Months go by. The undercover operators take Sebastian to posh hotels trying to
build trust and draw him out. How's the movie? Uh, well, we haven't started filming or anything, but our
script is uh can >> Did you sense that Sebastian felt he was smarter than you? >> Oh, there's no doubt he made it clear
and told us that on more than one occasion. >> Smart. I'm one of the most intelligent people
in the world. >> Slowly, the undercover operators bring up the investigation in Belleview. Hlett
tries to get Sebastian to confess by telling him he already knows what happened.
>> I know you did it. You know you did it. The police know you did it. I know that.
>> Sebastian doesn't admit guilt, but he confides in the mobsters that if the police did find something to tie him to
the crime, he might want them to destroy it. And he has a very practical theory. As
one of the best known murder suspects in Canada, he is confident that his movie would make millions if he is suddenly
proven innocent. >> And a film with that kind of promotion because the thing is as it is right now,
it's like controversy, right? Which in itself promotes, right? But this is like, oh, you're heroes and something
goes up to 25 30 million. >> Taking their cue again from their target, the businessmen raise the
stakes. They tell Sebastian that the Belleview police have physical evidence tying him to the crime.
>> Well, I tell you, they're coming to lock your ass up. >> Yours and your friends.
>> To make it seem real, Hlett shows him this phony memo on Belleview Policehead
detailing the evidence linking Sebastian to the murders. here. Just read this piece of
>> The mobsters offer to destroy the so-called evidence, but they need Sebastian to tell them exactly what
happened in the Rafé house the night of the murders. >> Well, I want your help. >> Yeah, you need my help.
So, you tell me what went on down there and I'm going to tell you how I'm going to take care of your problem.
Finally, on July 18th, 1995, one year after the murders, Sebastian meets the crime boss, Sergeant Hlett, at
the Ocean Point Resort, and the cameras are rolling. He walks into this hotel room and takes off
his shoes. He stretches out on a love seat. It's only then that Mr. Burns lets his guard down and the dirty little
secret that he's been protecting for the last 12 or 13 months starts to unravel on video for the whole wide world to
see. >> It has taken 3 months of undercover work to get to this moment. >> Both guys are coming in and say, "Hey,
let's go off your family and get all their money." >> Basically, essentially, yeah.
and he uh told me the details how him and Tif Rafé did commit the murders in Belleview.
>> How you knew three people at once? >> Uh not on the >> extremely extremely cold individual. It's phenomenal
to you, man. The next day, Sebastian brings a teif to the crime boss to tell his story.
>> Your parents must >> pretty rottenly, but it's tempered by the fact that I felt
that way. It was necessary to I guess um achieve what I wanted to achieve in this
life. That's all the police needed to hear. >> Those were solid, strong confessions
that only the individuals that responsible for that murder would be able to sit down and tell it like it
was. >> Cheers. >> Sebastian, Aif, and Jimmy Moshi are all arrested. >> You have anything to say?
>> But this case is just beginning. Sebastian says he's lying, that undercover officers intimidated him into
making a false confession. I believe that if I'd cross them that they would have me killed.
Sebastian Burns and Aif Rafé, best friends who once dreamed of making it big in movies,
were now behind bars. But no sooner were Sebastian and Aif arrested than the same Canadian
government that set a trap to catch them led an international battle to spare their lives.
>> We should not be sending anybody back. >> The case went all the way up to Canada's
Supreme Court. Persons who leave the country and commit offenses outside of the country should expect that they will
be punished under the laws of the jurisdiction in which they committed um the crime.
Sending the boys back across the border to Washington meant they would face the death penalty if convicted.
A punishment Canada had long since abolished and considered inhumane. >> We never knew when we were going to be
leaving for the United States. >> And every time we heard, oh, there may be a trial, you know, next year, then it
became the next year. And that lasted for about four years where we thought that we were a week away from
extradition. After 6 years of legal wrangling, the King County prosecutor in Seattle agreed
to Canada's demands not to seek the death penalty. Sebastian and Aif, now 25year-old men,
were finally extradited to face murder charges. Mr. Rafa, you're charged. >> Mr. Burns, you're charged in the cause
numbers that I just read with three counts of aggravated murder in the first degree.
>> If convicted, the penalty would now be life with no parole. >> That goes with the motion to dismiss.
>> They were appointed a team of attorneys. Representing Sebastian was Teresa Olsen,
an ardent, if eccentric, public defender who believed in the boy's innocence. >> Of course, they didn't do the killings.
the the the evidence is clear that they didn't do the killings. >> Olsen worked tirelessly on the case,
running down leads and witnesses. But in the summer of 2002, the case took a bizarre turn.
Guards at the King County Jail reported seeing Olsen having sex with Sebastian during an attorney client meeting.
>> Shut up. >> The well publicized scandal even caught the attention of late night comic Jay
Leno. male lawyer in Seattle is in trouble for having sex in jail with her client who is a murderer. How creepy is
that? Huh? Sex with a lawyer >> and brought the trial to a grinding halt. >> This court had no choice
but to appoint new counsel. >> Sebastian's new attorneys were a dream team. Ivy League trained Jeff Robinson
and Song Richardson. >> There is a lot at stake for Sebastian Burns and we will be fighting till the
end. >> 187's a retired artist. >> They were among Seattle's best and most expensive criminal defense lawyers.
>> Exactly. >> Along with Amanda Lee, they staunchly believed in the boy's innocence and
agreed to take the high-profile case at a public defender's wage. They have been
essentially judged and treated as though they were guilty from the beginning when
the evidence just isn't there. >> What kind of pressure is on all of your shoulders as we approach this trial?
>> Nothing more or less than the rest of Sebastian Burn's natural life. >> They were up against two of the most
seasoned and respected prosecutors in Seattle. >> I want to talk. We're going to get in
sit up. Roger David Heiser would be joining James Conat on the case. >> It's not justice, it's the truth. What
we're after here is the truth. And I would submit to you that's what separates our side from theirs.
By September 2003, Sebastian and Aif had been in jail for more than 8 years, charged but never convicted for the Rafé
family murders. >> You have to recognize that these are human beings and they have had their
lives stolen from them. And to make it worse, they've had their lives stolen from them
to somehow resolve a murder that they didn't commit. >> The case would turn on those
controversial confessions. >> Make believe mobsters extracting confessions from teenagers.
Is that allowed in the state of Washington? >> It's not allowed in the state of Washington.
And I don't think it's allowed anywhere else in the United States under the circumstances that it was done in this
case. >> Are you comfortable using the results from an illegal undercover investigation
by US laws in your case? >> This investigation was not illegal because it was conducted in Canada by
Canadian authorities targeting Canadian citizens. It was an investigation that they undertook separate and apart from
the Belleview investigation. This case, it's not only about the lives of my two friends. It's about the
responsibility of police and prosecutors to do their job properly and to act in good faith.
And they have not done that in this case. >> It would be up to Superior Court Judge
Charles Martell. Well, please be seated everyone >> to decide if Sebastian and Aif's
chilling confessions caught on tape would be allowed to damn them in an American court.
>> Other prosecutors in other cases with evidence just like that have told jurors just like the ones
that will sit in our case that it's a slam dunk. And those jurors very comfortably have convicted people and
sentenced them to die. And they've been wrong. Judge Martell was about to make the most
controversial ruling of his career. The boy's lives would depend on what he was about to say.
48 hours continues. 48 hours continues. I think that everyone who knew Sebastian
thought that he was going on to do something interesting with his life. Yeah. People expected him to be a leader
to do something interesting and um I hope one day he will. >> Sebastian Burns and Aif Rafé should have
been celebrating at the West Vancouver High School 10-year reunion. Instead, they had become the class of
93's most infamous graduates. Prosecutors say just one year out of high school, these brilliant best
friends tried to commit the perfect murder. It was a brutal crime. >> There's blood all over his face.
>> That shocked the upscale suburb of Belleview, Washington. Aif's mother, father, and sister bludgeoned to death.
The motive, insurance money. The boys got away and were living in Canada until undercover police officers
caught them on tape boasting about how they did it. >> How did you three people at once? Uh,
not at one. Now, on the eve of their murder trial, a judge would decide if a jury would get
to hear those chilling confessions. >> I do not find the undercover officer's conduct in this case shocking or
outrageous. Although they were deceitful, persistent and aggressive. They engaged in tricks, but not dirty
tricks. It was a controversial ruling allowing the boy's own words to be used against
them. What should you do first? The father. >> And would set the tone for the whole
trial. Just how powerful is the impact of this video of these two boys confessing to murders.
>> It's incredibly powerful. When I first saw it, I was taken aback. I was shocked. There are two young men
seemingly laughing about slaughtering three people and saying, "I did it." >> And while the confessions may be
shocking, the defense says they're not true. >> This case is about what happens when a
presumption of guilt, when a gut feeling that you have the right suspects takes over from logical and objective
evaluation of the evidence. This case is about what happens when you pursue individuals as opposed to pursuing the
truth. >> Finally, in November 2003, more than 9 years after the Rafé family murders,
Sebastian and Aif get their day in court. >> The juryy's going to finally hear the
story of what really happened to the Rafé family and they'll hear the story of Sebastian and innocence.
>> But prosecutors had a very different story to tell. Sebastian Burns is young, thoughtful, charismatic,
manipulative, and most importantly, a killer. A brutal killer. You've been portrayed
as a monster. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Maniacal, plotting, a murderer. >> Are you those things?
>> No. The state's theory is we want to make the jurors hate these two young men.
Essentially, they make it a test of character as opposed to a test of evidence. >> And character is at the heart of the
prosecution's case. >> All rise. Superior court is now in session. >> The defendants were two young men who
believed they could commit the perfect murder. >> Roger David Heheiser opened for the
state. Ladies and gentlemen, what you will hear in the end is that it was this very hubris that sealed their fate and
their arrogant and unrealistic belief that they were smart enough to achieve mastery over the police and their
investigation. He zeroed in on the piece of evidence that launched the case and for the first time revealed a startling
flaw in the boy's plan. >> There's a I need uh an ambulance. They made that 911 call too quickly.
>> They're we think they're dead. >> My belief is that they just walked straight into the house and made the 911
call. >> The timing was critical. So, we asked Detective Thompson to retrace their
drive home from downtown Seattle where they were last seen that night. >> Uh 18 minutes.
>> What does that tell you? And 18 minutes would give them three minutes in the house.
>> And three minutes, said the prosecutors, was not enough time in the house to find
the bodies and do all the things Sebastian and Aif told the police they did. >> And think about what they had to do in
that 3 minutes. Three minutes to arrive home, pull the family car into the garage, enter the
home through the garage, discover and comprehend that Sultana, Tariq, and Bosma have been brutally attacked and
laid dead in three different areas of that house. The revelation startled the defense, but
S. Richardson was thinking on her feet. asking you, how long does it take to walk into a house and see these two
brutally butchered bodies of a thief's family and then run downstairs and call 911
>> and turn the prosecution's argument on its head. >> How long is 3 minutes? Well,
let's see. That was about a minute and a half. >> But remember, it wasn't just the
murders. In that 3 minutes, the boys also had to figure out there had been a burglary and that a VCR and Discman were
missing. >> There's been some kind of break-in. I hear the voice of a person who has
contrived a story that can only be explained by somebody who knew very well what had
happened in the Rafé family home. I was out of my mind at the time. I was totally in shock, totally
staggered and and confounded and and was almost totally hysterical. In a case where every minute matters,
the defense bolsters their claim of the boy's innocence by playing up statements
the neighbors on both sides of the Rafé house gave to police in the days following the murders. The neighbors
initially said that they heard pounding coming from inside the Rafé house at a time when the boys have an airtight
alibi. You were standing in this driveway and that's >> Mark Sidell lived right next door to the
Rafes. >> How loud were the bangs you were hearing? >> Um, they're pretty hard hits
a little bit harder to need hang a a picture. >> Sidel says back then he didn't think a
murder was taking place next door and figured the Rafes who had just moved in were probably unpacking. I sort of
thought about going over and helping him so they could go to sleep, but luckily that night I didn't.
>> The Rafa's other nextoor neighbor, Julie Rackley, testified that she also heard
sounds. >> Initially, I thought it just sounded like hammering. It had sort of an odd
resonance to it. >> The neighbors who heard these sounds, described them in great detail, and
verified what they were for the police all heard them well before 10:00 at night. And at 10:00, Sebastian and Aif
were still seen at the movie theater. >> If the jury believes these initial reports that Mark Sidell and Judy
Rackley gave to police, your case could be in trouble. >> Absolutely. You can't be in two places
at one time. There's no debating that point. There are two independent neighbors who separately heard the
murder happen at the end of twilight before 10:00 and we were known to be on the other
side of town when that happened. It was impossible for us to have committed this
crime. >> Prosecutors contend it is possible. Even though the boys were seen going to the
950 movie, there's no proof that they stayed. Is there a way for these two boys to exit the theater without drawing
attention to themselves? Say during the movie. >> Jose Martinez sold the boys movie
tickets that night and he showed us how they could sneak out from this theater. >> Go out this exit behind the curtain or
the other one over there. >> So if they slip through this curtain, you're not letting any light into the
theater. >> Correct. >> Then up these stairs >> and out this exit door. >> Doors outside. The defense protested
that even though it could have happened that way, there was no proof that it did
and that prosecutors were grasping at straws to get a conviction. >> They sifted through Sebastian's history
and his life and a's history and his life and tried to find anything that would make them look like bad people. In
fact, months into the trial, prosecutors brought this intriguing surprise witness
from the boy's past who said she had evidence that could turn the case. But first, they would have to convince the
judge to let the jury hear what she had to say. >> Swear or affirm. >> Nazcol shift was a friend from the boy's
high school days who had dated Sebastian. What was this comment that Sebastian Burns made that that stood out
at you? >> He said, "I want to try to kill someone one day to see how how it would feel
because I think I would find it enjoyable." >> She claimed a late night conversation
she'd had years ago with the boys in her bedroom had planted the seeds for murder.
>> Did you think he was serious? He wasn't laughing and he said it in a serious tone.
>> Sebastian doesn't deny having the conversation, but emphatically says he wasn't serious.
>> It's uh a oneline paraphrase of a sarcasm from a hippie-dippy 3:00 a.m. conversation 10 years ago, and I can't
remember enough about it to defend myself against it. If anyone would reflect on that and think, imagine if
the worst parts of my personality, maybe the worst moments when I was 18 years old that I would be reminded of them for
the next nine years of my life and that's that in the public eye would be the person that I'd become. I think
people would really shudder. It's a nightmare. >> Thank you for your time and your
testimony. It was certainly damning testimony, but the jury would never hear it.
>> There is no question. Had I known about this last spring, I would have admitted this.
4 months into this thing, I can't stop this process and let everyone dash to the four winds to try and research this.
The judge's decision flustered prosecutors. But there's another witness more powerful and much more damning.
>> You swear or affirm that the testimony of >> the friend the boys swore would never
betray them. >> Do you recognize Mr. Burns and Mr. Rafé are in the courtroom here today?
>> Yes, I do. It had been years since Jimmy Moshi had seen his high school buddies Sebastian
and Aif. Jimmy had moved to Japan and was living under another name when prosecutors
forced him to return to Seattle and face his friends at their murder trial. >> He was in no uncertain terms conflicted.
In fact, he spent the last two or three years of his life trying to avoid the eventuality of being compelled to come
to court and testify about his against his two best friends. Jimmy could have easily been sitting next to his best
friends charged with a crime. Back in 1995 during the undercover operation, Jimmy was also a target of the RCMP.
The RCMP believed Moshi helped the boys plan the murder of the Rafé family and they wanted him to give a full
confession on tape just like his friends had done. >> Do you know what went on down there in
that house? >> What went on? Yeah. >> But no matter how much he was pressed for details, Moshi refused to implicate
his friends in the murder. >> Okay. Do you know who killed the parents? >> Yeah. Who is that what you want? Yeah.
And um I just want I just wanted you to explain to me exactly the purposes of you wanting to know is that so we can
establish this kind of totally for trust totally for trust. >> Totally. >> In some ways was Jimmy Moshi the
smartest of them all. >> He's not in jail. >> In fact Jimmy was arrested with Sebastian and a interrogated by
authorities in Canada. He was told that he might face the death penalty himself.
He was told that his family, his job, his future would be ruined unless he said that Sebastian and Natif confessed
to him. >> Back then, Jimmy told the police that his friends were innocent. >> At the time of your arrest on July 31,
1995, were they honest answers? They were answers that I guess the intention of a lot of those answers was to to
protect Sebastian and Aif >> at that point on July 31, 1995. Why is it that you gave answers that were to
designed to protect Sebastian and Aif? >> I guess it was also in a way to protect
myself. Um, but in general because I didn't want Sebastian and Antif to get whatever arrested and potentially
convicted. But under increasing pressure, Moshi eventually agreed to cooperate. And in exchange, he was
granted immunity from charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Suddenly, he began to reveal more to the
police about what he knew. But now the question loomed. Would Moshi betray his best friends?
>> Had this subject ever come up before, the notion of of Aif Rafé killing his family?
>> No, this was this was the first time. In a halting voice that often dropped to
a whisper, Jimmy told the court that it was during a drive from Seattle to Vancouver when Aif first brought up the
idea of killing his family. >> What was your response to the notion of Hatif's notion of killing his family? I
guess I was listening and um I I mean he was my friend at the time and I guess in a way I was neutral on
that notion. >> On the stand, Jimmy recounted a discussion about how the boys would
commit the crime. >> You remember which methods were discussed? I remember something about um
gassing the house and I remember discussion about um I guess using a baseball bat.
>> What do you remember about why uh why a baseball bat could or should be used?
>> I guess a quick and painless way of killing someone. I don't think there's any question that he was a
sounding board for them. >> The prosecution says Jimmy consulted on an especially chilling part of the plan.
Sebastian and Natif stayed here at the Rafé family home during the 5 days before the murders and it was no
coincidence. It was part of the plan, prosecutors say to commit the perfect crime. if they had been living in the
house previously that any kind of hair or whatever samples um that were collected after um wouldn't um
necessarily mean that they had done it >> by virtue of their being in the house for several days. Any fingerprint that
would be found or could be found could be explained as a result of there being there having been there for several
days. any hair evidence that might be found could be explained for them having been in the house for several days prior
to the murders. >> It's diabolical, but it's pretty clever. >> Damn clever. >> Finally, Jimmy gave the prosecution what
they needed. >> He said that a watched while Sebastian bludgeoned the family. And I remember hearing about how
um I guess a tif was pretty distraught and that um from the moment that Sebastian had
struck his mother that it was kind of a there's no going back. And >> how hard was it to sit and listen to
Jimmy Moshi's testimony? It >> was enormously difficult. I think it was difficult for him as well. Um, as I say,
I I am outraged that he did it. Um, but at the same time, I I think I I reserve my
real outrage for the people who forced him to do it. >> Did you discuss a plan to murder the
Rafé family with Jimmy Moshi? >> No, we didn't. Never. >> Why did Jimmy Moshi testify that you
did? because he had a life sentence held to his head. And if he didn't say what the police and
the prosecution wanted him to say, that life sentence was going to go off. >> It's the first time in 8 years that you
have ever said anything like that, isn't it, sir? >> Um, I'm not sure. >> And isn't what happened?
>> The defense tried to hammer back. Jimmy once lied to save his friends, so he could be easily lying now to save
himself. >> You're making it up as you go along, sir. That's why you're saying things for
the first time. >> No, I don't believe I am. >> Do you believe that Jimmy Moshi is a
liar? >> Jimmy Moshi is a self-admitted liar. Jimmy Moshi acknowledges that he has
lied. The question will be, how many lies does Jimmy Moshi get to tell? >> Mr. Moshi, this conversation was on.
>> The defense needed to come back with something strong and they had an arsenal
of forensic evidence that flew in the face of Moshi's testimony. They told the jury that there were three
killers in the house that night. Experts analyzed the patterns of blood on the wall and found drops everywhere
except this area where there was no blood, indicating another killer may have stood there during the attack. They
also said a pillow was moved during the bludgeoning. >> So we have killer number one moving the
pillow. We have killer number two bludgeoning Dr. Rafé with the bat. And then we have killer number three who has
to remain in the exact same place throughout the entire duration of the attack on Dr. Rafé.
>> And there was even more tangible evidence, a single hair on Tariq Rafé's bed.
>> According to the police officers there, this was an important hair because this
hair, according to the Belleview Police Department, would tell them who committed this crime. Did it match Aif?
>> No. >> Sebastian? >> No. >> Sultana? >> No. >> Bosma? >> No. >> Tariq? >> No. We don't know whether that hair
originated from someone who sat in the same seat uh that Sebastian Burns sat in at the movie theater or whether it was
picked up by Dr. Rafé at his workplace or how it got on that bed >> or if it was a hair from the killer or
if it was a hair from the killer. Prosecutors also added DNA evidence needs to fit a pattern and appear in
more than one place at a crime scene. That DNA profile appeared nowhere else in that house. There was absolutely no
other pattern of trace evidence that could even re be remotely suggested to be related to that hair. That was an
isolated hair. So with the forensic evidence inconclusive, the case comes down to whom the jury
would believe. You're saying the testimony of one of my best friends. Don't listen to that. My
own words on the vide tape. Don't listen to that. Just take my word for it. We didn't do it.
>> Defense calls Sebastian Burns. All right for the jury. >> More than 100 witnesses would take the
stand in the state versus Burns and Rafé. >> Could you kill again? Circumstances are
right. >> Finally, Canada's most secret undercover operation would be exposed before the
jury. And so would the question that had lingered for so many years. >> Why would you confess to a murder you
didn't do? >> At that point, it seemed like the only safe choice. It seemed like the best
choice. Why on earth would anyone confess to a murder they didn't do unless they were petrified?
That they were actually going to be killed themselves or people they loved were going to come to some type of harm.
>> The defense set out to prove that the scales were tipped from the beginning. Professional liars.
>> 1975 I was uh first trained in undercover work >> against teenage boys. Have you worked as
the primary undercover operator before? >> Yes. >> I am frightened by the fact that this
kind of undercover operation can be used ostensively to search for the truth when
it is built in whole on lies and manipulation and threats. >> Mr. Burns, come on forward.
>> Sebastian would have to convince the jury to believe him now and not to believe what he said on those tapes.
that I was in way over my head and I did not want to be involved with these guys.
>> I was upset with myself for having agreed to drive the car. And >> Sebastian began his side of the story
with the first assignment from the crime box, transporting that stolen car. >> What was your reaction when you heard
that they wanted you to drive the stolen car? >> Well, pretty quickly I felt that I've
been tricked. Sebastian, why didn't you just look at him and say, "I am out of here." Walk away.
>> No, but there is no walking away. >> You want to know what I [ __ ] uh did my time for? I told the guy when it came
time for court. The person that could finger me, they're not around anymore. >> Sebastian says he couldn't walk away
from criminals whose power seemed to be so farreaching. I believe that if I'd cross them or if they weren't happy with
me or if they thought I was going to betray them that they would have me killed.
>> I just assume that you know you with your connections that if I were to you around, okay, I would just assume that I
would wake up one day with a bullet in my head >> on the stand. Song Richardson pressed
Sergeant Hlett about his scare tactics. Sebastian could easily, very easily have
believed that you and your organization would hurt people if they crossed you, right?
>> Uh, he he could have believed it. Yes. >> And that you would kill people if they
ever crossed you, right? >> Well, I've never said that. >> It goes to Sebastian Burn's imagination.
Let him sit back when he goes home at night and imagine whatever he chooses to. >> Is there any time in which your
character directly threatens Sebastian Burns? >> No, never. >> The idea was not to frighten Sebastian,
but to make him comfortable talking about murder to other murderers. >> I know he did that. That's why you're
here cuz you're >> Could Sebastian Burns have walked away from his relationship with you at any
time he chose to do so? >> Without a doubt, he didn't have to return our calls. >> Hey, it's Sebastian leaving. Message
number three. >> Sebastian stayed, the defense argued, because he believed the Belleview police
were fabricating evidence against him. >> I'm going to show you something. You never saw this from me. That phony memo
detailing the evidence that the cops had against the boys. Just read this piece of
>> the undercover operators only offered to destroy the evidence. If Sebastian confessed,
>> you don't say to Sebastian, "Look, Sebastian, if you didn't do it, just say so. We'll still deal with that evidence
for you. We'll deal with it so you won't get convicted. But if you didn't do it,
just just say so. We'll still help. You never said that, right? >> No, I didn't say that because up until
this time, Sebastian Burns had never denied the involvement in the murders to me.
>> Going into the meeting on July 18th, what was your plan? My plan was to claim
to be the murderer that they insisted that they believe that I was. And to be convincing, Sebastian says he studied
newspaper accounts, so he'd know details of the murders. >> First, the mother and dad and sister.
As the cameras rolled, Sebastian confirmed the police theory that the weapon was a baseball bat.
>> Use a metal or wasn't that? >> Um, metal >> and the eerie notion that the killer had
showered before leaving. >> Sarah coming up blood making us. >> And that wasn't the only reason why
detectives found no blood on the boys. uh it's on Facebook and you have to shower no blood on you do it.
>> Sebastian pointed out how he and a teeth would profit from the crime. >> Whatever money we get, it's like we
would invested in our film, I guess. >> And he gave up the most soughtafter clue, the loophole in the alibi.
want you to uh do the dirty deed. Um dirty and I'm going to get you all the trouble
you're in. >> I'm flattered. >> Huh? >> I'm flattered by your attention. >> A teeth explained that while Sebastian
killed his family, he staged a breakin. >> What did he do in the house? stood around
the VPR. >> You told Hlet, am I correct, that you committed these murders of the Rafé, the
Rafé family during the movie? Am I right? >> Correct. >> That the VCR was taken to also uh
contribute to the simulation of a breaking and entering. >> That's right. >> You had the alibi of the movie.
>> The prosecution had another bombshell ready to drop on the defense. when you went in there.
>> It wasn't the first time Sebastian used a movie as an alibi. >> You got into a a a car collision, didn't
you? >> Yes. >> Uh you were driving your family car at the time. >> That's correct. Yes.
>> I mean, you hit a pole in a parking lot. >> Did you own up to it at the time?
>> No, I did not. >> When he was 16, Sebastian staged an elaborate cover up to conceal the fact
that he had wrecked the family car. >> Mr. Burns, the reality is uh what you said about doing was very similar to
what you told Haslett you did in this case. Isn't that correct? >> I told Hlett that we committed a murder,
which we didn't do. >> Well, Mr. Burns, let me stop you there for a moment. >> Roger David Heiser drew a haunting
parallel between the accident scene and the murder scene. Back in high school, Sebastian went to great lengths to make
it seem like someone else did the damage while he was at the movie. But the insurance company caught him in
the cover up. And in March of 1992, albeit with this stupid little car crash. What you decided to do was to
pick up the pieces of evidence that were at the scene of this collision. Am I right?
>> Correct. You put those back in your car. Am I correct? >> Correct. >> You took them to an entirely different
location in North Vancouver. Am I right? >> Correct. >> And uh you staged a scene in a parking
lot. Am I right? >> Basically, >> you manipulated the evidence to appear as though it was something that it
wasn't. Am I right? >> Yes. And the reason you did that, sir, was so that you could say
that this accident occurred while you were at the movies. Am I right? >> Correct.
>> Sir, you weren't at the movies when that accident occurred, were you? >> No. The difference is that the first one
is a car accident and the second one is a homicide. >> That's correct, Mr. Burns. That is a
difference. And the difference is also that in the first case I was responsible for the car accident and in the second
case I had nothing to do with this homicide. >> David Heiser wasn't about to let that
statement go in front of the jury. He had more of that damning tape. Can't I tell like I I you know
I felt like you know I was capable and like you kill a person >> and on July 18th of 1995 after you uh
told him that you had in fact killed the Rafé family, you told him that you did it because you felt capable of killing,
right? Correct. Yes. >> Did you see it happen? >> Yeah. >> All three? >> No. Only one.
>> Which one? My mom. >> The demeanor with which they deliver this this message of what they
accomplished that that night in Belleview is chilling. >> Didn't even fight. >> Um. Uh. Yeah.
Well, that's a story that hasn't really been told because I think I know that >> you can hear her teeth giggling in the
background and and kind of going, "Oh god, oh god." basically uh the father who was uh
nothing and curious episode was um the sister who basically um >> yeah I was standing up and walking
around and whatever >> your behavior on that tape when there's some laughing did you think that the
murder of the Rafé family was some sort of a comedy? >> No, absolutely not. But we were lying and I was not thinking
about the murder of the Rafé family when I was talking. >> To a certain extent, I had essentially
put the real events out of my mind entirely so that I was really only thinking of the story that I was selling
to Mr. Hlett. That's not part of a story that two scared individuals come up with because
they think it's what two mafia characters want to hear. That's the truth. That's the truth coming from the mind of
a Tifer Fay and Sebastian Burns. It's a challenge to sum it all up in a couple of hours. Six months of testimony
comes down to one final argument. >> There is no gray area. There is nothing in between. Either you must believe what
Sebastian Burn says and every single thing he says or you must convict him. >> James Conat will speak for the state.
>> You like your odds >> very much. Are you ready? Absolutely. >> Jeff Robinson knows this is his last
chance in front of the jury and he will have to counter with everything he has. >> How many times does the evidence have to
tell us it's not Sebastian and it's not a teeth before we listen? Please listen.
He points to the bloody scene in Tariq's bedroom and evidence of three killers. >> Three people went into Dr. Rafé's room
and there are three unknown DNA profiles. >> Robinson reminds them that there is no
forensic evidence linking the boys to the crime. And the question that you're required to ask yourselves is what has
the state shown me to make me believe that he is guilty without having one reason to doubt it?
>> Mr. Konad, floor is yours, honor. Thank you. >> There can be no doubt in your mind that
these two are the killers. >> The prosecution insists it is Sebastian's own words that leave no room
for doubt. How did you three people at once? >> Uh, not at >> and ultimately the words that came out
of Sebastian Burns's mouth led to his demise. His hubris led to his demise. What would be most compelling to the 12
jurors? Would it be the neighbors who thought they heard the murders that night when the boys were spotted at the
movie theater? Or would they be haunted by Jimmy Moshi's words damning his two former
best friends? Would the jury believe that Sebastian was scared of those undercover operators?
Or is this the picture of a young man who thinks he's about to get away with murder?
For the last time, the jury is asked to envision the last moments in the Rafé family home. This is the horror that
they left behind. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we must not lose sight of. Finally, it is up to the jury to make
its decision. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, you're retired to deliberate your verdict.
>> In the script for The Great Despisers, two boys are wrongfully convicted and executed.
After 4 days of deliberations, 10 years after the murders, the final act in the real life plotline.
>> All rides for the jury. >> We the jury find the defendant Glenn Sebastian Burns guilty of the crime of
murder in the first degree as charged in count one. Verdict form 1 F. We the jury
find the defendant uh Tif Ahmed Rafé guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree as charged in count three.
I did not believe that they didn't have reasonable doubt. I just didn't believe it.
>> I'm afraid of him. I think he's very scary. And I looked at him a few times and he was glaring at me personally and
anybody that committed a crime like that is a frightening person. >> I was looking at individual jurors just
to see if they I don't know. I guess I was looking for some kind of an answer. >> I wonder
how they sleep at night. I wonder how they came to that decision. >> One way the other
>> with the verdict that was given, can you sleep well at night now? >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> No second thoughts. >> No. >> No way. >> Not with anyone. >> Not a doubt. >> N.
>> I personally myself to the very day of the end of the trial wanted them to be
innocent. And in the end, I was totally overcome by the evidence. obviously, but
I think all of us were wishing that some suspect would be guilty so that we could
not convict these two young men. >> On October 22nd, 2004, 5 months after the verdict,
>> good morning, Sebastian and Aif were back in court. >> Sebastian, anything to say before they
put you away? this time to hear their sentence from the judge. >> Send Mr. Burns a very clear message that
he has been found guilty. Send him to prison for the rest of his natural life times three. Three consecutive life
sentences. Mr. Burns. >> Thank you, your honor. >> Sebastian had his own message for the
court. >> With all due respect to the jurors, the verdict is wrong. In the audience
were jurors who had convicted him and the undercover operators who had sealed his fate.
>> I certainly feel sorry for the victims. I feel sorry for their surviving son.
>> This was his only expression of sympathy. >> Before I continue, I would just encourage you to consider
>> in a speech that went on >> and that's >> for almost two hours. our jury was made to have.
>> I want to insist today on the truth that we are innocent. >> Aif never took the stand during the
trial. >> And I loved my parents. I rever memory to this day. >> He used this moment to admit he was
ashamed. Your honor, the impersonation that I gave on those videootapes. >> Yes,
>> there's no relation is alien to everything that I've ever felt or thought. I truly admired my father.
I was probably closer to my mother than to any other person than I ever will be.
and the memory of her wit and her charm and her keen human sympathy. They're dear to me to this day.
>> Mr. Ruffet, thank you. Unlike your colleague, I find you genuinely remorseful, Mr. Rafé. I think the
tragedy for you and ultimately your family was a meeting, a fateful meeting at a
probably a school cafeteria or a school ground. I don't know where it occurred with Mr. Burns.
>> Judge Martell saved his harshest words for Sebastian Burns. >> Mr. Burns, you're not immoral. You're
amoral. You are an arrogant, convicted killer. You are not a kid, as you so often refer
to yourself. You're an adult and you will be held responsible as an adult for your premeditated, naked, vicious
massacre of this family. It is therefore the conclusion of this court that you should be sentenced on
count one to life without possibility of parole, count two to life without possibility of parole, and on count
three to life without possibility of parole. those three sentences to run consecutively.
>> Put it back up here. >> It's taken them a decade, but prosecutors will send the Rafé's only
son and his best friend to prison for life. >> We've been saying all along they thought
they planned the perfect murder. >> Justice has been done for the three victims and our community has held the
two individuals responsible for this accountable for their conduct. There is a great deal of satisfaction in being
part of that. A great deal of satisfaction.

Two boys write a screenplay involving murder, but is it fiction or a confession? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports in this two-part episode that aired in September 2007. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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

The episode details the Rafé family murders and the controversial confessions of Sebastian Burns and Aif Rafé during an undercover investigation.

Key points

The Investigation Begins. Detectives begin to unravel the mystery behind the Rafé family murders.
The Boys Become Suspects. Sebastian and Aif, who discovered the bodies, become prime suspects in the investigation.
A Chilling Connection. A high school play about a perfect murder raises suspicions about Sebastian's involvement.
The Great Despisers. Sebastian and Aif wrote a screenplay about two friends falsely accused of murder.
Confession Unraveled. Sebastian's confession on video reveals the truth about the murders.
Legal Battle. Sebastian and Aif face extradition and a fight against the death penalty.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was a plan. A well rehearsed, well thought out plan.

2:30WatchJul 30, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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