Peter Van Sant Investigates True Crime | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] I am Oh, [Applause] you're [Music] the road's called Highway 16. It's part
of the TransCanadian highway system. There are places in this road where you will see more bears than you will see
cars. The road can take on kind of a sinister aspect to it. It's a place that can be a good friend
to evil. The locals know it as the highway of tears. [Music] And it's called that because there's
been a series of disappearances and murders of women and girls uh that date back four decades and a large number of
them are still unsolved. People know that their sisters and daughters are at risk if they go near this highway and
perhaps wind up hitchhiking for an emergency reason. The number of victims varies with who you talk to. The Royal
Canadian Mounted Police Force uh says that there's 18 victims, but if you talk to the local people, they believe the
number is 33, 43, perhaps even more. This is our storage room where we keep all our box files.
They're the toughest cases that you can imagine. girls that are last seen sticking their thumb out on the highway
and never to be seen again and potentially there is a serial killer. >> This area we're coming into right now,
we have two victims from this remote community. >> Yes, we have um one murdered young girl
and and one missing young lady. >> It's pretty staggering, isn't it? >> It is. Yeah. And um you know, we'd like
to bring them all home. Is it possible that Maddie Scott's case could end up on the Highway of Tears list?
>> Anything's possible. >> How's it going? >> Madison Scott, Maddie as we know her, is
a 21-year-old woman from Vanderhahoof, British Columbia that was camping out at Hogsback Lake. She went missing on May
28th, 2011. And her disappearance is a mystery. [Music] The RCMP amassed over 170 personnel
to conduct searches by land, by water, by air. There was no sign of Madison at the
lake. We as a team are dedicated to find out what happened to Madison Scott. Once you start thinking about what has
happened in this place, it starts to get inside your head. >> Our investigators have been working
these files for over 5 years. It was a very emotional for all of us. We want wins. We want victories.
Thankfully, that's just around the corner for us. And it involves an American. He's he's clearly a monster.
Oh, [Music] you're [Music] [Music] Oh, it's just an awful feeling to know that she disappeared from just a
few feet away. It's just that's devastating. >> Devastating. And yet, Dawn and Elden
Scott keep coming back to the place where their 20-year-old daughter Maddie was last seen alive. It's a really
unsettling, you know, knowing that she disappeared from here and nobody has seen her
>> since. >> It was here at Hogsback Lake in northern British Columbia, Canada, where Maddie
camped out after partying with friends on the night of May 27th, 2011. >> It's a beautiful little spot. It's close
to town. >> So, it was just a group of kids going for a birthday party. >> Yeah, they were going out camping for
the night. >> The next day, Maddie has not come home. Did you call her on her cell phone?
>> Hi, you've reached Maddie Scott again. >> I did try to call her and it went right
to her voicemail. >> Leave me a message and I'll call you back. Thanks. >> Still, Don wasn't worried. Sell service
at the lake was always spotty. >> I thought, gee, like she's 20 years old. She went to the lake. The weather was
beautiful. She was with friends. If something was up, she would call us. >> But Maddie never called.
>> It just didn't seem right. And that was Sunday morning. So Elden and I hopped in
the vehicle and we drove out there. >> Hogsback Lake is only a 15-minute drive from the Scott's home in Vanderhahoof, a
tiny town along Canada's infamous Highway 16. Locals call it the Highway of Tears for a reason.
Since 1969, at least 18 women have gone missing or have been murdered in this very same area. Just like Maddie
>> here again is a girl from one of these small towns along this highway who has
disappeared without a trace. >> Bob Fel, an investigative reporter for Outside magazine and a CBS News
consultant, has written about this haunted highway and the Mattie Scott case. >> Madison Scott fits uh the same the same
pattern as some of these cases that are on the official list. She disappeared from a place very close to the highway.
>> But on that Sunday morning in 2011, Mattiey's parents were not thinking about the nearby highway's reputation.
They just wanted to find their daughter. You arrive here at Hogsback. What do you
see? >> Her pickup was parked here >> just as it is now. This is her pickup truck.
>> This is her pickup. Yes. >> And what do you do? We walked over to the truck and looked
in it. >> Don and Elden found Maddiey's purse and backpack inside her locked truck, but
her phone was missing. >> She doesn't go anywhere without her purse or her, you know, personal
belongings. >> At what point does panic start to set in? >> Immediately, >> the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the
RCMP, rushed to the scene, but there was no trace of Maddie. Something happened to Maddie. Mattiey's
disappeared. She didn't get taken by a flying saucer. Somebody knows something. >> Sergeant Ken Floyd and Constable Tom
Wamsteer of the RCMP are the lead investigators. They begin by developing a profile of Maddie. She was close to
her brother Ben and sister Georgia. After graduating high school, Maddie began working with her father in the
logging industry. Everyone speaks highly of Madison Scott. She was well-loved and liked in the
community. She was an avid outdoors person. She was into dirt biking and she loves sports.
>> Is Maddie a real competitor? >> Yes. Yes. Very much so. >> Amanda Fitzpatrick and Jasmine Classen
are Mattiey's close friends. >> What thoughts come to mind when you think of Maddie?
>> She always shared. Um I don't know. She was really thoughtful. >> The girls cannot think about their close
friend without remembering all the videos they made together. >> Tell me about her movie making.
>> She liked to take charge. Everyone would have their own ideas and she would just kind of take over.
>> I'm really scared right now. I'm just weird things keep happening and I just seems like someone's following me. In an
eerie twist, Maddie co-wrote and starred in a suspense movie called The Stalker.
Neither Jasmine nor Amanda was at the birthday party the night Maddie went missing, but about 50 others were, and
investigators began going at them hard. You spoke to every single person who had
been at that party? >> Uh, we have. Uh, it remains ongoing. We haven't identified anyone that would
have a grudge or had any reason to harm or or cause Madison's disappearance. >> But investigators did uncover one
troubling detail. That fateful night, Mattiey's friends had left her at the lake completely alone.
>> As far as she knew going there, there were other people that were going to be
staying out at the lake that night. But one by one, everyone packed up and left,
including Jordie Buluke, who had promised Maddie that she'd stay with her. >> I just can't believe that
it's just so wrong. >> People still think that I am a horrible person cuz I left my best
friend out there. And people like yell at me and like write on Facebook that I've killed her and I left her and I'm
stupid. >> Did the police question you? >> Oh yeah. And they asked me the question
several times. Did you kill Maddie? Were you there when Maddie was killed? For Dawn and Elden Scott, the
disappearance of their 20-year-old daughter, Maddie, >> hey, what's up? >> is almost incomprehensible.
>> I I think it was just so surreal to everyone, like this can't really be happening. He just kept
expecting her to show up. Finding her in this vast Canadian wilderness that surrounds the Highway of Tears where so
many women have gone missing feels nearly impossible. >> It's like a needle in a hay stack. It's
just amazing. You know, there's water, there's forest, there's rugged terrain. It's staggering. That's why the
possibilities like it's they're endless. Frustrated and heartbroken, Dawn and Elden began their own investigation
separate from the official police version of events. >> This is a board that uh part our team
has put together. It's a list of the people that were at the party. When they arrived, when they left, who they
arrived with, who they left with. This makeshift investigation went up on the Scott's basement wall just feet from
Mattiey's now empty bedroom. >> We needed a place to put up a board to keep track of, you know, lay it out like
what went on. >> They retraced Mattiey's trail throughout the day as she visited a liquor store
and later bought snacks. That's Maddie on a security camera recorded just hours before she vanished.
You have a category questions, >> right? >> What kind of questions do you have even
today? >> Why was she left there on her own? Why did everybody leave? >> And if there is one person who can
answer some of those questions, it's Jordie Buluk, Mattiey's friend who had promised to camp out with her.
>> Tell me about the party that night. Well, it was just supposed to be the people that we knew and then it turned
into like this like big party. >> Word had spread online. >> It was posted on Facebook. So that's how
everybody found out and went out to Hogsback. Big party. >> Were there strangers at this party?
>> I know most of them, but like the people that came at the very end of the party
party, I did not know. I had no idea who they were. >> At one point the party got a bit rough.
People got up and like started a fight behind me and I bounced into the fire. >> Jordy was injured so her boyfriend
carried her to his truck and told Maddie they were leaving. >> What did she say to you?
>> She was just like shocked. She's like, "Really? You're going?" And I was like,
"Yeah, I'm going." And she kind of begged me. And then I was just like, "Well, you can come with us."
And she said, "No." And she wanted to stay there with her tent for it to be safe.
>> Did she tell you she thought it would be safe? Yeah, she said that she'd be fine.
>> What time did you leave the party? >> I left around 1:00. >> By 10:00 the following morning, Jordy
was feeling guilty about leaving Maddie alone. She returned to the lake to help her pack up.
>> I got there and there was no Maddie. And I looked around, checked the place. I
was like, "Oh, maybe she's in her truck." No. >> Jordy noticed that the tent was a mess.
>> And the door was wide open. The blankets and everything were pushed to the side.
Her rings were outside. She never takes up off her rings and she there's like three rings on the ground and earrings,
like wooden earrings on the ground. It was just like, where's Maddie? >> Investigators have focused a lot of
attention on Jordy and the last people to leave the party. >> Common sense dictates that Jordy was a
suspect. I mean, she was one of the last people. Spoke with Maddie. I was poly talked to every single day for 3 months.
I went in for like I think it was two polygraphs >> and the result >> they said I aced it.
>> I aced the polygraph. >> Jordy is no longer a suspect. >> The investigation spread outward and
Sergeant Ken Floyd says he learned that a 28-year-old logger and single father of two, Friian Bjornson, was telling
friends that he knew what had happened to Maddie. FBI Bjornson is a Vanderhahoof resident. Uh he was a
friend of Madison's. They had spent time together socializing. >> I couldn't even believe that they were
seeing each other because he's bad news. He's bad news. >> Bejornson, better known as Fri, led a
troubled life and abused drugs, a fact confirmed by police. But his mother insists her son was turning his life
around. From our perspective, uh, Friian, again, like others, was a suspect. >> There was talk in town that Fri owed
drug dealers money and that they had abducted Maddie to teach him a lesson. It's a theory investigated by police.
>> We don't leave any stone unturned where where Mattiey's concerned, and we would
be irresponsible by not following up with the suggestion that there was a revenge or some connection between Fri
and Madison. Bejornson voluntarily took a lie detector test and passed. >> He wanted to clear his name and he
wanted people to know that he had no involvement in what happened to Maddie. >> Based largely on that polygraph test,
the RCMP cleared him. But 2 days later, Bejornson disappeared. Two weeks later, investigators made a shocking discovery.
They found Bejornson's severed head in an abandoned house in a nearby town, >> and they're still looking for the rest
of his body. Fri's mother told 48 Hours that she believes her son was killed for
a paycheck heed the night he went missing. Four suspects were charged in connection with Bejornson's murder.
Mattie's case remains unsolved. There is no connection between Madison's disappearance and Frib's murder.
>> On this very night, 5 years ago, May 28th, 2011, Madison disappeared. She remains missing.
>> We do believe she'll be found. >> I do. Yes, I do. >> I said that from the very first day that
we will find her and we'll bring her home. >> We need them to come forward. She was
last seen wearing >> the Scots have issued public requests for help >> and soon like now would be a good time
>> and there is a $100,000 reward for information. >> When you take even a simple drive,
Mattiey's looking back at you. You see her on the side of the road on one of these signs. What is that like for you?
>> Oh, it kills you every time. again. Why am I sitting here, you know, not out looking somewhere?
It's your child, you know. Yeah, it's devastating. It's just gut-wrenching. You see all these posters on vehicles
and it's just staggering and, you know, you just can't believe that it's your child.
[Music] >> And Mattiey's parents are not alone. Just six months earlier in the same
town, another daughter disappeared. >> Every day I wake up thinking about Lauren. Every night I go to sleep
thinking about Lauren. It's going to be the same forever. Six months before Mattie Scott
disappeared, Doug Lesley, who also lives in this remote region of Canada, received an ominous late night phone
call. It was November 27th, 2010. >> Midnight, I get a call from the cop saying that uh asking if Floren was
there. And I said, "What's going on. He said, "Well, if Lauren's home, somebody's using her ID." So, I thought
that was kind of strange. >> What does that mean? Someone was using her ID. >> Well, they found her ID in a in a
vehicle. >> Doug's 15year-old daughter, Lauren, was not at home and he couldn't reach her.
>> But you were you were worried. >> Oh, yeah. I was worried. I didn't know what was going on, whether she was in
trouble or whether she would, you know, I didn't have any idea. What he did know was that he wanted to
find his daughter. So when police promised but failed to call him back, he headed out along a dark road that feeds
into the notorious Highway of Tears. >> So at 2:00 in the morning, I figured I'm
going to drive till there find cops. >> Doug had no idea that hours earlier an alert cop had made a traffic stop on
that road. investigative reporter Bob Fel. >> An RCMP constable was driving down the
road simply on regular police business and out of one of these logging roads, these skid roads, a black pickup truck
comes out. There's a kid inside, 20-year-old kid. Uh he questions him, IDs him, doesn't quite like how the
kid's acting. >> The kid was suspected of poaching. He was held at the scene while a game
warden was summoned and followed fresh tire tracks back through the snow. >> Takes his flashlight expecting to find a
moose or an elk. Instead, he finds the body of a 15year-old girl who had just been killed and dumped there.
It was at that moment that Doug Lesley came upon the scene. And the game warden was standing there
and he was white as a ghost. And I told them who I was and that I didn't want to
hear any bull. I wanted to know what was going on. And they said all they could tell me was they were investigating a
homicide. So I I knew right away. >> Cuz you knew that homicide investigation was Lauren.
>> Yep. [Music] >> Police told Doug they were having trouble identifying the victim's face.
So Doug told them to check for a unique tattoo on his daughter's wrist. >> Says, "Grip fast." It's our family
motto. It just means hang on tight. >> Police found the tattoo and Doug's worst fears were proven true. The victim was
his daughter Lauren. Uh, she was molested, beat over the head with a pipe wrench,
and her throat was cut. Just awful. Who could do such a thing? Not a human for sure.
20-year-old Cody Lebachov, whose pickup truck was first pulled over on that routine stop, was now a suspect in the
murder of Lauren Lesley. >> She was very mature for her age. Um, very caring. She was a joyful kid. She
was a great swimmer, great great athlete. She excelled in karate. All the more remarkable considering
Lauren had a genetic eye condition that left her nearly blind since birth. Close
friends like Charlene Lang barely noticed. >> She never led on to it. You would never
know meeting her. She did everything everybody else could do. She did it better.
>> With the help of thick eyeglasses, Lauren was spending hours each night online. And Charlene believes that's how
Lauren met Cody Ledger Bachov. >> Cody Ledgerbachov was very active in social media. He used Facebook, he used
online dating sites, his handle, his name online that he used a lot was one country boy.
>> And so when she met someone online, she'd begin a a conversation with him. >> She'd establish a relationship. She's
very trusting. They could confide in her. >> Perhaps too trusting. Lauren's mother,
Donna, would worry about her daughter's trips along the Highway of Tears from her hometown of Vanderhahoof to the
crimeridden city of Prince George. >> She would enlist anybody to take her to Prince George because she had her she
had a network of friends there and it really concerned me because I didn't know who these people were and um
and I tried to convince her how dangerous it was. But Cody Lebachov, a local high school graduate, seemed like
the all Canadian boy next door. He worked at this Ford dealership in Prince George and lived in this house with
three roommates, all women. Garrett Anatol was on his soccer team. >> When my friend told me it was Cody, our
friend, and stuff, and I couldn't believe it either. I was like, "Oh my god, that was Cody." Cuz he's from your
own town, right? He was popular. He got he was, you know, graduated. He got along with everybody. fun, joke around,
you know, party and stuff like that. >> But as investigators dug into Ledger Bachoff's past, they were able to tie
him to three other murders near the Highway of Tears. A year after Lauren's death, the RCMP declared they had
captured a homegrown serial killer. We can announce today that three counts of first-degree murder have been laid
against 21-year-old Cody Allen Lee Bachov. >> The three other murder victims had
disappeared in 2009 and 2010. >> This is someone who, if the charges are proven, was a 19-year-old serial killer.
That's extremely young for a serial killer to start his career. Police would not talk to 48 hours about how they
connected Ledger Bachov to these victims, but they believe there may be more. We believe there are others out
there that may have been in contact with Ledger Bachoff or these victims and possess information that can assist our
ongoing investigation. >> Lauren's friend Charlene says she had once met Ledger Bachov and did not like
what she saw. I did not like his eyes. They just looked angry. They looked They don't look soft and innocent. They
looked angry. >> And you felt this way long before he was in the news. >> Long before.
>> With Cody Lechabakov under arrest in the murders of Lauren Lesley and three others. Towns people along the Highway
of Tears felt some relief, but it was clear Leebachov was far too young to have committed murders that stretched
back to 1969. [Music] Other killers still were roaming that highway, and it was Sergeant Wayne
Clary's job to catch them. >> They're cruising out there picking up these girls that are very, very
vulnerable. Cody Ledger Bachov was under arrest, but that did not solve the Mattie Scott
disappearance. He'd been in custody months before Maddie had gone missing. and his arrest also brought little peace
to the families of the women killed along the Highway of Tears. The cases that Sergeant Wayne Clary is
determined to solve. >> Is the guy we're looking for in these boxes? >> Every report since the first murder in
1969 is in this room. How many boxes we talking about in here? >> Over 750. >> So thousands of pages of documents in
here. >> Thousands. Yeah. Clary took over the special unit assigned to the Highway of
Tears cases in 2012. >> There will be transcribed statements in here. There'll be forensic reports.
There'll be lab reports, witness interviews. >> More than 60,000 people have been
interviewed. How many persons of interest have there been in this investigation?
>> The last I looked, uh, about 1,400. 1,400. And we've uncovered men who drive vans with the door handles removed from
the inside, uh, duct tape, um, um, plastic wrist restraints, uh, trap doors. It's incredible to me how many
men are capable of doing this. The seemingly endless wilderness where these attacks have occurred is
staggering. So I think our first stop along the way is from up here will be Vanderhof
>> to show us the challenges his people face. Clary took us into the air to fly the nearly 500 miles of the Highway of
Tears from the interior all the way to the sea. >> Where are we >> right now? We're just flying over Prince
George which is the uh the hub of the north and it's it's the start of our uh investigation into our missing and um
and murdered women. It's been said that the Highway of Tears is a perfect killing ground for someone because they
can't hide their victims. >> And I would add to what you just said, a perfect dumping ground.
[Music] >> The landscape is beautiful, but it's a terrible beauty considering the context.
>> As one is looking out, it's just hard to imagine what the victims been suffered
down there over the years. Some victims have been found alongside this lonely highway, others discovered
by hikers. >> Wayne, give me a sense of where are you right now? >> Right. Right now, we're flying over um
Prince Roert and this is the end of Highway 16 or the highway. >> Our sad aerial journey ends on the west
coast just 25 miles from the Alaskan border. It was time to come back to Earth and
drive the Highway of Tears. Who were the women murdered along this road? >> We're in the town of Smithers along
Highway 16, and we have um two girls we're investigating. >> 15-year-old Deline Nikai disappeared
while hitchhiking in 1990. Lana Derek was a 19-year-old college student back in 1995. and very close to
here. Um, 19 years earlier, we recovered the the uh the body of Monica Ignis. >> Monica Ignis was just 14.
>> She went missing in December 14th, 1974. If we're all quiet, we can hear cars
going down Highway 16 right now. It's that close. >> I can hear them in the distance.
>> Yep. We're less than a mile. probably about a half a mile from the highway. >> And Monica Ignis isn't the youngest
victim. That would be 12-year-old Monica Jack, who disappeared in 1978 while riding her bike.
The highway has become so notorious, warning signs are everywhere. We're now in Smithers, British Columbia,
and we were driving off of Highway 16, which is just over this ridge. We've driven about a mile down a dirt road and
again we're in total isolation. And Wayne, what happened here? >> Well, in in um in April of 1995, there
was a couple gentlemen moose hunting and they were perhaps 20 25 ft off into the
bush here and they discovered the uh the remains of Ramona Wilson. >> And who is Ramona?
>> Ramona Wilson's a girl who went missing from Smithers in 1994. her pictures right here. It's been
18 years and it's getting quite old. >> No one remembers Ramona Wilson more than
her mother, Matilda. >> Last year I was here for her birthday was February 15th and on June 11th
day she was murdered. >> Matilda took us into the woods. Look how long how far he had carried her
>> to where her daughter's body was found. >> There's bunch of trees all around like
that and they put her underneath the tree right there. >> That's where her body was found. Right
over there. >> Yeah. We continued our journey, eventually meeting up with fisherman Tom Chipman.
>> It's pretty painful. I mean, um, it dredges up memories every time I see a picture.
>> Chipman's daughter, 22-year-old Tamra, disappeared in 2005 from Prince Roert while hitchhiking. No,
>> you got to stay here. >> She left behind a three-year-old son. >> The worst part is her body was never
retrieved and not knowing what happened to her and where she ended up. Chipman spent weeks searching the
endless logging roads. >> There was nothing ever found of her. She just disappeared. Yeah. She just
vanished. >> Vanished. Just like Colleen McMillan, a sweet 16-year-old redhead who back in
1974 asked her little brother Shawn to be a stand-up brother. >> She just said, "Don't tell mom I'm
hitchhiking." and she walked away. >> What happens? >> She didn't arrive. Just didn't get there.
>> Her body was found a month later, not 30 miles from the family home. Colleen's brother Kevin.
>> It's a lifelong disaster is what it is. It was sad the day it happened and we're
sad today and we'll be sad the day we die. >> But then nearly 40 years after Colleen's
disappearance, >> it has been a long wait for answers. >> A dramatic development.
>> We've had a major break in the case and surprisingly it's an American [Music]
In 2012, 38 years after Colleen McMillan disappeared. >> Thank you for coming. I'm Inspector Gary
Shanker. The RCMP announces a stunning break. >> The break has to do with the 1974
disappearance and murder of 16-year-old Colleen McMillan. >> Using new enhanced DNA technology, the
Highway of Tears task force matched male DNA recovered from Colleen's clothing to
this man, Bobby Jack Fowler, a Texas native who had worked as a roofer in Prince George. Colleen's brothers, Shawn
and Kevin. >> I couldn't comprehend what was going on here. They they found the guy and I
couldn't wait to phone everybody. We had all been waiting 38 years. >> Finally, one of the cold cases along the
Highway of Tears is at last solved. It's gratification. In the States, we call this a CSI moment. You've just had
your Canadian CSI moment with this case, haven't you? Ours took longer, but we've
had it. It just reaffirms to us why we do our jobs. >> The task force strongly believes Bobby
Jack Fowler killed these young women as well. Gail Weise and Pamela Darlington, both 19 years old and missing since
1973. And Fowler may be responsible for six other Highway of Tears murders. a violent man. Um, sexual assaults,
kidnapping, firearms, um, in and out of jail. He's he's clearly a monster. Fowler was married twice and has four
children, but his work life was nomadic. He'd drive from motel to motel, picking
up women in bars and girls hitchhiking along the highway. He he believed that the the majority the vast majority of
women that he met in those places not only uh desired to be sexually assaulted but desired to be violently uh sexually
assaulted. >> Fowler lived in 11 states from Texas to Oregon. Newport, Oregon investigator Ron Benson
is looking into Fowler's past and thinks he may have left another Highway of Tears here in the US.
We have a similar situation where two girls left Beverly Beach State Park in the middle of the night and probably
came out on the highway. We know Bobby Jack Fowler was in Oregon off and on for decades. When these girls bodies were
found 5 months later out in the woods, they were found in a condition similar to the cases in British Columbia.
Benson believes Fowler may have committed as many as seven murders in Oregon, but it was one notorious case
involving a woman at this motel in 1995 that finally led to the end of Fowler's rampage.
>> Bobby Jack Fowler tried to kill her here. He tried to tie her up and to escape him, she jumped naked out of a
second story window with a rope tied around her leg. >> The woman agreed to speak with us on the
phone. >> He was just weird. He just got weird. And then he put the rope around my foot. He was
like, he told me he was going to put me in the ocean. I just was trying to scream
and he just covered my mouth. But somehow she did manage to get to the window and jump out alive.
>> No one deserves this. If people are out there, you you don't know who they are.
I'm just glad that uh I got away. >> When the first officer arrived, he was packing. He was putting his belongings
in the car. >> Fowler was arrested and convicted of kidnapping and assaulting her. If he'd
had 15 more seconds, he would have driven away into obscurity, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would have
not have had that opportunity to make that DNA connection. >> The McMillan now know who killed their
sister, but will never get the satisfaction of seeing him pay for her murder. Fowler died in prison in 2006.
>> I just I'm just I'm glad that it's kind of over for us. [Applause] [Music] But it's not over for the family of
Maddie Scott. She disappeared long after Fowler died. So far, the RCMP has identified two alleged serial killers.
But that does little for the families of Tamara Chipman, Ramona Wilson, Lana Derek, Monica Ignis, and more. They are
still waiting for closure, hoping that the haunted beauty of this highway will one day reveal all its secrets.
It's one of the most beautiful, most spectacular roads that you'll ever travel on.
>> So you can be there on the most beautiful day of the entire year and suddenly you see one of these signs and
you feel this foroding on the road. It's a place that definitely has a personality and a lot of times that's
dark. [Music] [Music] Now, a special two-part edition of 48 hours. [Music] 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, [Music] 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. [Music] [Music] Heat.
[Music] [Music] 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. >> What are you reporting?
>> Uh uh my friend, his mom and dad, we think they're dead. >> Sebastian Burns and his friend Aif 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 teeth 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 thief 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, but 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 9:50 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 No, but I don't I don't think I touched him.
>> 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 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 I 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. You 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 Belleview 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. In here. 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 Tif 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 Issac, 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. >> Do 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. >> A teeth. Why don't you talk to police?
But 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.
[Music] >> 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.
>> He's 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, "Ces, 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, >> Raf. >> 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 tabs. 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 sound 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 Quer's hair salon calling for Sebastian to confirm his appointment with Greg.
>> 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' 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 When you guys run 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 ever. >> 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 it working?
uh went well. We haven't started filming or anything, but our script is uh can do
anything. >> 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. Tell me how smart you are. 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.
>> All right, 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 2530 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 police letter head 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 a man. The next day, Sebastian brings a teif to the crime boss to tell his story.
>> How does it feel when your parents thought >> pretty broadly, but it's tempered by the fact that I felt
that 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, 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.
[Music] 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 Terresa 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 uh 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 Burns 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. [Applause] 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. [Music] 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. [Music] >> Sebastian Burns and Aifraf 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?
is what I did. >> Now, on the eve of their murder trial, a judge would decide if a jury would get
to hear those chilling confessions. [Music] 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? Um 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 Aif's 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 Heiser 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 uh 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
Song 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 Tif'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. You 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's 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. [Music] >> Do you recognize Mr. Burns and Mr. Raf 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.
>> 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. [Music] >> 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 Nativ 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?
>> He has 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 Mioshi'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 a testimony of one of my best friends. Don't listen to that. My
own words on the video tape. Don't listen to that. Just take my word for it. We didn't do it.
>> Defense call 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? [Music] >> 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? [Music] 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. >> 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'd
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 you did that. That's why you're
here. 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. Here, 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. [Music] >> 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. [Music] >> First, >> um, 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 wouldn't that >> um metal >> and the eerie notion that the killer had
showered before leaving the sid clean up blood and that kind of stuff >> and that wasn't the only reason why
detectives found no blood on the boys you uh it's on Facebook have to shower no blood on you do it naked
[Music] Sebastian pointed out how he and a teeth would profit from the crime. >> Whatever money we get, it's like we
would invest it in our film. I guess >> he gave up the most soughtafter clue, the loophole in the alibi.
Why don't >> you uh do the dirty deed? Um, during the movie and I'm going to get you out of
the trouble you're in. [Music] >> Huh? >> I'm flattered by your attention. >> Aif explained that while Sebastian
killed his family, he staged a breakin. >> What did he enter in the house? >> Ranked out of DPR. 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. >> It wasn't the first time Sebastian used a movie as an alibi. You got into a 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 Hlet 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 Heheiser 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 tell I 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 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 know that >> you can hear a teeth giggling in the background and and kind of going, "Oh
god, oh god." I did >> 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 or whatever.
[Music] >> 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. [Music] 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. Conad, the 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 when I did that. >> And ultimately the words that came out
of Sebastian Burns's mouth led to his demise. His hubris led to his demise. [Music]
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. And 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 verdicts. 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 or 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. [Music] >> 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 your 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 videotapes. >> 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 that I ever will be.
and the memory of her wit and her charm and her keen human sympathy. [Music] They're dear to me to this day.
>> Mr. Ruffet, thank you. Unlike your colleague, I find you genuinely remorseful, Mr. Ruff. 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.
>> Back up here. >> It's taken them a decade, but prosecutors will send the Rafa'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. [Music] [Music] The 911 call came in around 10:50 p.m.
911. >> It's a female hyperventilating. >> Okay, calm down. Where are you at? >> And then the phone goes dead.
>> She's pinging on Kenner at 2595. She's extremely out of breath. She sounds like
she's running. >> That we got first responders arriving to a unmaintained county road 2595.
They don't know what they're getting into as they're going down this dark road in the middle of the night.
>> 38. We're out with that female 25. >> They see a white female flagging them down.
>> What's going on? >> My husband, he went to go help me. My Jeep is stuck in the back around the
corner and he's been shot in the head. Please. Is he okay? I need to know if my husband
is okay. >> Yeah. >> Dispatch calls me on the cell phone. Said, "Hey, I think they need you out
there on scene. Want to check her out? Make sure she's okay." And then you >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You want a little bit of oxygen, help you out? >> She was just frantic. She had blood on
her shoulder area and uh it's all over her leg and her shirt. >> What's your name?
>> Chasey. >> Chasey. Chasey. What? >> Pointer. >> Tell us what what what happened.
>> I heard a shot and the Jeep started rolling and I didn't see anything and I saw I saw a shadow. That's all I saw.
>> Was it your husband? What's his name? >> Robert. Robert Pointer. >> Robert Pointer.
>> Yes. He's a firefighter. That's why it's blowing me. >> Just Just breathe for me.
>> That's why it's blowing me. [Music] >> I arrived here right around midnight. So, we're walking up with our
flashlights. At this point on, you can start making out a silhouette of somebody still in the jeep.
[Music] >> The jeep was covered in blood. There was no indication of a struggle.
He's he's around the corner. >> We had a witness Tracy Pointer and that there was somebody loose, you know, at
large that had killed her husband told me >> and I could see Robert and as soon as that that shot,
he slumped over into the passenger seat. [Music] I just I just wanted her to be okay.
>> Was he dead or alive? >> He was dead. >> This is a case about sex, >> lies, money,
and murder. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] When I'm awake, I see his face. And when I'm asleep, I see it.
[Music] It hurts >> and he's been shot in the head. Please, he's around the corner like
>> The harrowing night of September 9th, 2016 is forever etched in the memory of
Chasey Pointer. >> Calm yourself down. >> It's something I can't get out of my head.
>> And when I walked up to him, I yelled his name and I just felt something. when
she says her husband, Robert Pointer, a decorated fire department captain, was gunned down by a shadowy figure just
feet away from her on this rural road in Royce City, Texas. >> You can see if you look below us, tire
treads from tractors, uh, deep ruts. It's a true farm road. >> Detective Michael Burke photographed the
scene. >> The night of the murder, there were still water in the ruts. They were still
muddy. That was pretty rough. [Music] >> It's not even a traveled road. It's for
farmers to use to make access to their fields. >> That night, Sergeant Shane Meek wondered
how Chy and her husband ended up on this broken road and questioned a breathless
Chasey in the back of his squad car. >> Breathe for me, Miss Pointer. Calm down and breathe for me. Okay,
>> breathe fast like that. You're not helping yourself. Okay, >> slow breaths. Jaci says the couple
planned to meet at a fast food restaurant for tacos. >> I was going to meet him up at Jack in
the Box. I don't I don't ever take this road. >> All right. >> I >> What made you come down this one?
>> I I missed my last one. >> Oh, you did? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, I I did I never never been down this
road before. >> She texted her husband. What do you say to him? >> Told him that GPS said that I was 3
miles out. Chasey says while texting she got stuck. [Applause] >> I called him after that. I told him that
my Jeep was stuck and that I needed him to come help me. >> As a fire captain, Robert was used to
coming to the rescue. He rushed to her side. >> I stayed on the phone with him. He drove
out there. [Music] >> Why did he park there? He told Chasey that the ruts were too deep and he
wasn't going to be able to get his truck down here. >> I met him almost all the way down to his
truck and we walked back together and he went to go get my Jeep, got in the driver's side.
>> As Chasey waited on the side of the road for Robert to back up, she heard a gunshot.
>> I don't think I reacted to the sound. It was Robert. I jumped in the Jeep. It was rolling
very slowly. I was holding his head in my left hand and I put the Jeep in park with my right hand and I just I was
calling his name. I could see his eyes. I could just feel the blood. This was a clean assassination.
Robert unfortunately didn't have a clue what what happened to him. The victim was sitting in the driver's
seat. He's got an entry wound approximately right here in the temple >> on the right side of his.
>> Yes, sir. >> And the wading from a shotgun shell was still in his skull. >> And could you tell if that blast was was
shot from forward of the vehicle or from behind? >> It was hard to tell. Chasey says as she
ran for help, she saw that shadowy figure. >> There was a man. I There's a tall person. That's all I know. He was taller
than me. >> And what was he wearing? >> Dark clothes is all I know. Look. >> Did you see any type of firearm, rifle,
or anything like that in his hand? >> No. >> While sympathetic, Sergeant Meek was
puzzled. >> That some guy just happened to be standing in the shadows of the trees to
step out and shoot this guy point blank in the in the head with a gun. Just didn't make sense.
>> All right. Well, give me a second. My partners need to speak to me. I'll be right back with you. Okay.
I was terrified. I just watched my husband get shot and the man that did it was still out
there. >> But whoever that suspect was, why would he want Robert Pointer dead? Robert was
a devoted public servant, a career firefighter. >> Honestly, it's one of those things you
don't even believe in at first. At the University Park Firehouse near Dallas, where Robert spent 19 years as a
firefighter and later a captain, the pain of his loss is still raw. For his buddies, Jason,
Paul, Earl, >> and Mark. >> But every day you still feel this absence. >> Yeah, absolutely.
>> You still miss the man? >> No. How could you not? I think of Bob every day I come up here. It burns me up
inside. But every time I pass his locker, I get choked up inside. It makes me want to
cry. I'm about to cry now. A firefighter with the touch of a gentle giant. My last fire was Bob. This uh little
girl, she was crying. Bob took the time, comfort her, and tell her we were all okay and everything was fine.
And that's the way Bob always was. Not just that little girl, his girls. His girls were number one on his list.
Always. Always. >> No matter how much help you needed, he was always there. >> Robert Pointer had three daughters, a 6
and 1/2year-old with Chasey, and from his first marriage, Natalie and Nicole. >> The things you miss the most are the
simple things like being able to call him, being able to see him and hug him, you know?
Back in 2008, his 20-year marriage to their mother, Amy Pointer, his high school sweetheart, began to unravel.
Signs started showing up that something was a miss. He was shorter with conversations. He wasn't home as much.
There were excuses when he was gone. >> Then Nicole discovered her dad had a second cell phone.
>> That was the initial realization that there was somebody else. And eventually
this other woman, you learn her name. >> It was Chasey Tyler Mormon. >> Chasey was a 20-year-old working as a
nurse aid. She was introduced to Robert through a mutual friend. >> From the first moment that I ever met
him in person. We were never apart after that. >> What was his marital status? >> As far as I knew, he was separated.
>> From what I understand, she continued to go up to the station to kind of let him
know that she was interested and did that quite often. She pursued Bob. She pursued Bob.
>> We'd been married 20 years and here's a young girl that's giving him attention.
And I just think that she continued to try and, you know, fill any need and be there.
>> We started seeing each other in December of 2007 and I was pregnant by May of
2009. Robert and Chasey were married on December 28th, 2009. She was 22. He was 40.
>> I knew I wanted to marry him. >> What is it about Robert that you fell in love with?
>> He's goofy. He would just make me laugh. >> But almost 7 years later, Chasey says
the couple's love faded. >> The corner and he's been shot in the head, please. And that night in the
squad car, Chasey decided to share her frustrations. >> I was young and stupid when we got
married. I didn't want to be married anymore. [Music] We've been We've been having problems. I
was coming to meet him at the Jackson Box so we could talk. >> What do y'all fight over?
>> My daughter? He's trying to take my daughter away from me. >> Just over an hour after Chasey Pointer
held her husband's bloodied head in her hands. She kept giving Sergeant Meek details not of the shooting,
>> but of the state of her marriage. >> Why would he try to take your daughter away? Like what reason did he give you?
>> He knows that that's what's going to hurt me the most. >> Yeah. Her story kept adding all these
different twists and turns and pieces of information that just weren't fitting into place of the puzzle.
>> You're talking about marital problems at a time when your husband's body is still
in a jeep. Why did you go there? >> I don't know. >> Chasey says 3 years into their marriage,
the couple grew apart. >> Nothing really set it off. We slept in separate bedrooms. I never felt he loved
me like he could have. He loved his ex-wife a lot and I felt like she still had a lot of him.
>> According to Chasey, Robert had a temper. He was taking testosterone and steroids to treat low testosterone
levels. And Chasey claims that made him violent. >> There would just be times, you know, he
would grab me by my hair. Um, I could get thrown up against the wall. This was verbal abuse and physical abuse. Is that
right? >> Verbal, mental, physical. >> Robert's ex-wife Amy doesn't buy it. >> That is all made up. He did get on
treatments. He had normal testosterone. For her to say that he had roid rage and
all that, that that just wasn't him. >> So, she's lying to me is what you're saying.
>> Yes, I am. When Natalie was 16, she lived with her dad and Chasey for 6 months and never saw him become violent.
>> So, it was useless to try to come to me and act like dad was some kind of beast.
>> Did you ever see him slam Chasey against a wall? >> Absolutely not. >> Natalie and Nicole have told us that it
never happened. Are they telling the truth? >> No, sir. They've never really cared for
me from the beginning. I was the younger girl that came in and took their father.
>> Chasey believes she had a good reason for not reporting the alleged abuse to authorities.
>> You know, I don't walk out and announce he's beating on me. I'm not going to do
that because it would jeopardize his job. >> Despite their problems, Chasey says she
tried to keep the spark alive in the marriage. >> I don't mean to embarrass you with this,
but what is this from? This was done for Robert. I had a friend of mine who was a
photographer and she did a budoir shoot for me. He wasn't attracted to me after I lost all the weight. He he liked me
when I was heavier. >> Over a 2-year span, Chasey transformed her body. >> The first picture is December probably
about 2013. Uh the second picture was December 2015. I lost a total of 104 lbs. I got up
every morning, ran strict diet, worked out. I pushed myself pretty hard. >> Chasey admits she began seeing other
men. A lot of men. >> When I dropped the weight, I didn't hide in his shadow anymore.
>> You had confidence. >> Correct. I started meeting people. You know, I was going out more. I was doing
things for myself. >> Natalie accidentally found evidence on Chase's computer that her stepmother was
cheating. She had left it open on her Facebook and she was talking to men on there that weren't dad.
>> What kind of conversations? >> Very sexual and gross. >> Natalie says while her father pulled
overnight shifts at the firehouse, Chasey often snuck out for hours at a time, leaving Natalie and her then
four-year-old sister alone. >> She was never wearing gym clothes, but she always said she was going to the
gym. And often my little sister would wake up and she would cry and cry because she couldn't find her mom.
>> Natalie eventually found the courage to tell her dad about Chase's cheating ways.
>> I will stand up for what I know and what I believe in. And that to me wasn't right.
>> You said what? >> I said, "I think Chase is cheating on you." >> Deeply troubled, Robert filed paperwork
for divorce, but ended up not following through. >> He was trying to save the marriage. He
had already been divorced once. He didn't want to lose his his third daughter and not be able to be with her
all the time. >> Robert installed a security camera next to the front door to try and catch
Chasey cheating with one of her lovers. Then just 12 days before Robert's murder, the doorbell rang.
>> Soon as that doorbell rang, I was out that door telling him he had to go. >> And off he runs. And Robert knew.
>> Correct. I love him. He's a pain in the ass, but I love him. >> On the night of Robert's murder,
Sergeant Meek had a hunch that Chasey Pointer knew more than she was saying. >> Something just didn't sit right.
>> JC, do you mind if I take some pictures of you real quick? >> Although she wasn't under arrest,
>> she was read her rights. >> All right, look up at me. >> All right, listen to me. You have the
right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
>> Just rings. But Chasey kept on talking. >> Better of friends. >> Yeah. >> Revealing what she was up to before that
fateful rendevous with her husband. >> Whose house was that? >> Michael Garza. >> Hanging out with someone named Michael
Garza. >> Are you and Michael Garza dating or anything like that? Do you'all have a
relationship? >> Yes. >> Well, then that red flag goes off. Did y'all have a date? Was it date night?
>> No, we we just hung out. We we had sex, obviously. [Music] Do you got anything?
>> Okay. What were you saying? I'm sorry. >> He's contacted an attorney to get a
divorce and I was I was okay with that. We've been married 6 years, almost 7 years. Investigators
say the more Chasey Pointer talked, >> the more she seemed like a suspect than a grieving wife.
>> We we don't we don't meet up. >> The hyperventilating's now stopped and she's gone into this stutter talking.
>> Um I I don't know. >> Which leads me to believe that she does these pauses. >> I told him
>> to gather additional thoughts. >> So are you thinking is this a performance? >> Yes, sir. It it started seeming more and
more that way. >> And a performance with a recurring character, Michael Garza. >> I was with at Michael's house. At
Michael's house. >> Then what? Tell me his name again. I'm sorry. >> Michael Garza.
>> Michael Garza. >> Yes. >> Y'all have a relationship. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Michael Garza. Who is he?
>> He was a place that I would go to to vent and and I loved him for that. Chasey began having an affair with
Michael Garza after meeting him on Facebook in the summer of 2016. This selfie captured one intimate
moment. >> It was something I felt guilty about. >> Robert shared his frustrations about
Chasey with his buddies at the firehouse. >> And I told him, "Hey, you just got to
cut your losses. Divorce sucks, but you're miserable." And he said, "Yeah, you're right. You're right. But I'm
invested. Those are his exact words. I'm invested in this. >> Robert was hopeful the marriage could be
saved. He took Chasey and their daughter to Mexico on vacation, but it backfired.
>> We fought. He thought I was on the phone with somebody else. It upset him. >> It was the Wednesday that Bob had come
home from Mexico. He said the trip wasn't good. He said, "I just can't do this anymore."
>> And when did he die? Oh god. >> Not long after Chasey told Sergeant Meek about the affair with Michael Garza,
>> I'll be transporting the female to Roy City Police Department. >> She was driven downtown to be questioned
by Detective Michael Burke. >> Let me get this door. >> Just have to sit right there.
>> The interrogation started at 2:20 in the morning. >> Did I love Robert? Yes. He was an me. I
love >> and lasted 8 hours. >> I loved him. I I really did love him. We've had a lot of issues in our
marriage. >> Among those issues, her affair with Garza. >> Michael and I ended up having sex while
I was there. >> And she gave more detail about Robert's murder. >> Right to the front of my there was
someone standing there, probably 6 foot maybe. I could see dark clothes. That's it. I don't know if they were white,
black, I don't know anything. >> Somebody from what you're saying shoot your husband cold blooded murder and
just let you run away. >> There was someone standing there. >> When somebody comes out to murder a
random stranger, you know, a big red flag is that they don't let a witness go. >> And that suggested what to you?
Suggested she might have known the killer. >> Look, the way your husband was killed,
somebody was right next to him. Detective Burke pressed her. >> I think you're full of crap. I want to
tell you I don't know who pulled the trigger. >> See, I think you do. And that's the
problem. >> No, I don't. >> 2 hours into the interrogation, Detective Burke broke through.
>> Who killed your husband? You shot Robert. >> Can you say that letter for me, please?
>> Mikey as in Michael Garson. >> Where was Mikey? into the passenger side. >> Now cornered, Chasey changed her entire
story. She says she told Garza about Robert's alleged anger issues. >> I didn't know what I'm
[Music] to know what it's like to be bullied all the time. >> Chasey told 48 Hours Garza rode with her
that night. The plan was to confront Robert outside the Jack in the Box and demand he leave Chiy alone.
>> Did you see him put a shotgun in your vehicle? >> No, sir. >> You never saw a shotgun?
>> No, sir. >> How can that be true? >> I was on my phone. Garza tells me make a right onto County
Road 2595. and asked him what was going on. He said he's going to meet us here. >> Chasey now claims it was Garza setting a
trap. >> He told me to take my Jeep back up around the first corner and let Robert
know that my Jeep was stuck and I needed him to come help me. >> You had to tell Robert something to get
him to come to the location, right? >> Yes, sir. >> But >> my Jeep wasn't stuck.
When Robert arrived, she noticed something kind of touching. >> He wore the cologne that he wore on our
wedding day, and he hadn't worn it since. And I made a joke about it. And uh and he laughed.
>> Robert could never have imagined that he was just moments away from death. >> As I was walking to the jeep, I said,
"Stop." >> Who are you yelling stop to? >> To Garza. But why would you have shouted
that way if this was just going to be a conversation between two men? Isn't that
indicative that you shouted stop because that meant don't shoot him? >> No, I didn't. At that point, I didn't
want him to even talk to Robert at that moment. I'm sorry. At that time, there was a gunshot.
Did Garza say anything to you? >> Nothing. >> 911? >> Not until after I called 911.
>> Okay. >> Did he run up to me and he took my phone from me when he threw it down on the
ground? >> Prosecutor Jeff Kovatch doesn't buy any of it. >> The question is, which one of those
stories does she want us to believe? hurt him, scare him, or just have a talking to. None of them are credible.
>> Investigators believe that you were luring your husband to this remote area so he could be murdered.
>> There was no plan to to bring him out and and murder him. There was no talk of
that. [Music] On September 10th, the morning after her husband's murder, Chasey Pointer was arrested for
conspiracy to commit murder. The couple's daughter would stay with Chase's mother.
>> Did you conspire to have your husband murdered? >> No, sir. >> You're telling me that you are speaking
the truth? >> Yes, sir. >> Investigators then set out to find the man who allegedly shot Robert Pointer.
But Michael Garza, the truck driver, had hit the road. [Music] [Music] The funeral was absolutely beautiful.
It was very ceremonial. On September 15th, 2016, just 5 days after his wife was charged in his death,
Captain Robert Pointer was laid to rest. >> We had guards guarding his urn, his ashes the entire time.
>> Firefighters from all over Texas honored him. did the fireman's prayer. >> When duty calls me, oh Lord,
wherever flames may rage, give me the strength to save some life, whatever be its age.
>> I remember trying to hold it all together. And then when I lost it, it's when we walked out.
other fire stations and police came in and they lined from the church all the way to the fire station. I remember the
bag pipes painful. One of the hardest things is they give the last call for Robert Pointer. You
still think that person's still there somewhere that this couldn't have happened. That's the thing with Bob. He
always had this underlying feeling that even if he had to walk through fire, somehow that man would make it through.
>> Amy says in the last days of his life, Robert was finally ready to walk away from Chasey. He
>> was kind of beaten down. He was tired where he was just ready, you know, to get a divorce. I think she knew he was
ready to move on. Investigators say just the day before he was gunned down, Robert had reached out
to a divorce attorney on Facebook, sending this provocative message. I'm thinking of a surprise attack.
>> And he said something to her about a surprise attack on me. He had contacted a realtor, said he was going to put the
house up for sale. He was going to have custody of our daughter. >> The next day, he is killed. You think
that's just a coincidence? That's not a coincidence. That's why the murder happened. When the murder happened. What
was the attraction for Chasey with your dad? Was it love or money? >> Money. >> Natalie says Chasey had convinced her
father to change his almost $685,000 life insurance policy. Instead of the girls getting the money, Chasey was made
the primary beneficiary. >> We believe that was the motive. She saw him as an ATM machine and she was going
to milk the last little bit of money she could get out of him. >> Prosecutor Calvin Grogan says
investigators discovered a mountain of digital evidence. >> There were plenty of text messages after
the life insurance beneficiary designation change occurred in April indicating that Chasey Pointer was
looking for somebody that would take care of Robert. And many of those texts, more than 10,000, were between Chasey
and her lovers. >> She's having affairs with multiple men. Danny Mims, Brad Golden, Shawn Butcher,
Michael Garza. >> Prosecutors believe Chi began grooming Garza for murder, convincing him that
Robert was an imminent threat. >> She used sex to manipulate men. She's not going to come right out and ask him,
"Hey, will you kill my husband for me?" Tracy Pointers plays the victim and then
she uses that to manipulate people. And so she told all of these men that she's this abused battered woman. She texted
Garza from that Mexican vacation where the couple was to reconcile. Quote, "He's coming after me sooner or later."
>> Garza answers, "F him. No, I will shot that dude." Was Michael Garza talking about murdering your husband? I didn't
think he was serious. I didn't want him involved. I told him that. >> I'm telling you, man. This girl was good
at what she did. >> This is Brad Golden. >> She would be at my house every day. Every day around 4 to 5:00.
>> He's the lover caught on the security camera video. He says Chasey manipulated
him. >> I never even suspected suspected boy never that she had been married. She had told me she'd been
divorced since 2014. >> Brad says Chasey told him horror stories about Robert. >> She always told me that Robert was
abusive to her. >> Mhm. >> I don't know if she was trying to get me to feel sorry for her and I just wasn't
falling for it or whatever cuz I kept trying to get her to me to push this, you know.
>> Were you ever able to cooperate any of her story of abuse? >> We spoke to neighbors, we spoke to
friends. I mean, there was no evidence to support it at all. Chasey had made allegations about Robert's anger issues
to ex-lovers, Shawn Butcher and Danny Mims, who she often texted. >> 8 days prior to the murder. I wish he'd
run out of air in a fire. Moving back to July 11th. I need him gone. Gone. Gio, all capitalized.
>> Danny Mims replies, I'm not a magician. Chasey answers, well, I need one. >> Did you want him dead?
>> No. I was upset. >> Sean Butcher says to Chasey, "What do you need to leave?" Chasey Pointer says,
"I would be better off with him gone. Benefits and can't lose custody." >> Investigators have said you were going
from person to person to try to find someone who would kill your husband. >> I wasn't.
>> The day before the murder. It's from Chasey Dears. I've made up my mind. What
do you think she's made up her mind about? I think it's pretty clear it's about killing Robert Pointer.
[Music] >> With Michael Garza on the run, a SWAT team raided his house. Coming up empty.
But the next day, Garza turned himself in and he was charged with Robert Pointer's murder.
>> He did not want to speak to us. Only wanted to speak to his attorney. And that's as far as we got.
With their two suspects now behind bars, investigators hope to find direct evidence linking Garza to the murder.
5 weeks later, that evidence would come from a farmer. What's your emergency? >> I believe I found the shotgun.
>> Who unearthed the murder weapon while plowing this field less than a/4 mile from where Robert was
shot, >> that shotgun was still loaded. The shell hadn't been ejected. Okay. And there's
two more uh in the magazine, and they're all man killing slugs, consistent with what the medical examiner said was used
to kill Robert Pointer. We did a um a search on the firearm >> Mossberg 835 Ultim.
>> It came back to Matthew Garza, Michael Garza's brother. >> Police now had what they needed. Michael
Garza would be the first to face trial. >> Michael Garza just happened to be the
person that was in Chase's life at the right time. All it really took for Chase is to basically just dangle the bait.
[Music] And then when I looked up, there was nobody there. >> Okay. >> He probably think I'm crazy.
>> From her bizarre performance the night her husband was murdered to her confession about her lover, Michael
Garza, >> Michael was going to shoot Robert, >> he was going to do it. Investigators
were convinced Chasey Pointer was determined to have her husband killed that night.
>> He's around the corner like >> Investigators believe you knew about the mission, planned the mission to murder
your husband for money. >> That's what they say. >> Look at me. They're right, aren't they?
>> No, sir. On July 10th, 2018, the prosecution put the alleged trigger man, Michael Garza,
on trial. He had pleaded not guilty. When Garza took the stand, he made a shattering announcement,
implicating Chiy. >> He says that he gave her his brother's shotgun cuz he thought that she was
abused. He implied that she did it. Garza told the court he couldn't have murdered Robert Pointer because he was
tending to a sick animal on the family farm. >> His alibi is that he was tended to Oreo
the cow while this whole murder was going on. >> The jury didn't find Garza's alibi
credible. >> I actually do believe that his testimony helped us. >> On July 20th, Michael Garza was found
guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison. [Music] It was a huge step forward, but it also felt like the real battle
had just begun. >> The Pointer family now focused on Chasing. >> In my mind, she's always pulled the
trigger because she was the instigator of all of it. >> What were you thinking going into trial?
>> I was very hopeful. Prosecutors were hopeful, too, that they would prove Chasey wanted Robert's money and that
she was the mastermind. There's no way Michael Garcia was ever going to get Robert Pointer out on that road alone.
Only Chasey could do that, and she played her part well. >> Using Chi's texts, prosecutors
demonstrated that her alleged love for Michael Garza was really a sinister ploy.
He is a pawn. He's the dummy that she got to do this. >> In fact, Garza didn't know that after he
shot Robert, Chasey planned on spending the night with another lover. >> She was texted Brad Golden while she's
out there committing this murder. She had sex with Brad Golden that morning. They still plan to meet up that night.
>> What the heck is going on? >> I don't know. My life was out of control. Chi's defense attorneys, Scott Cornod
and Frank Hughes, say the state's obsession with Chi's affairs tainted the jury. Chasey having affairs has nothing
to do with murder. It just demonizes her. Chasey Pointer is not guilty of murder. She's guilty of being negligent
because she should have anticipated that this thug Garza would commit a murder to
get to her. Calling 911 is probably the strongest point that we have in her defense. No one who planned to kill
someone would shoot him and call 911. >> He wants to go help me. My jeep. >> But the prosecutors argued at the sight
of her dead husband. Chasey had a moment of sheer. >> He's around the corner. >> Come here.
>> It's one thing to talk about killing somebody. It's another thing to go through with it.
While Chasey chose not to take the stand, jurors did hear her speak. >> He knew that I was seeing someone
>> through those recorded police videos. >> I didn't want to be married anymore.
>> One that captured this revealing moment. >> At the end of her twoe trial, the jury
began its deliberations. We waited for a while. Hour, 2 hour, 3 hours went by. >> After the fourth hour,
>> hey. Okay, they have a verdict. Okay, >> Chasey Pointer was found guilty of murder.
>> I cried and relieved. >> They got it that they saw who she really was. She met him and she walked him to his
death. >> Smiling and giggling talking about tacos and cologne. She's evil. >> Chasey told me that you always had
Robert's heart. >> I think that's true. She took away all choice of anybody of having any
relationship or any, you know, future with him. >> This is his bunker gear. Having it is
almost like having part of his presence which is comforting in a way and uh painful in another.
>> How do you want your father to be remembered? >> As as he was as he really was.
He was gentle and he was smart and he was kind. He was rare and we were lucky to have
him. >> This is injustice. True redemption and remorse comes from telling the truth. Isn't it time you did
that? >> He wasn't supposed to die. >> Jurors sentenced Chasey Pointer to life in prison
with the possibility of parole in 30 years. Are your tears now tears of what you did
to your own life or tears of what you did to him? It's both. [Music]

"48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant breaks down some unforgettable crime investigations. Watch the YouTube super marathon, which includes "Highway of Tears," "Perfectly Executed (Part 1 & 2)" and "Chacey Poynter: Witness to Murder."

00:00 Highway of Tears 40:33 Perfectly Executed (Part 1 & 2) 2:07:10 Chacey Poynter: Witness to Murder

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.

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

Brief Summary

Chasey Pointer conspired to murder her husband Robert for financial gain, leading to a dramatic trial and her conviction.

Key points

Maddie Scott's Disappearance. Maddie Scott, a 21-year-old, went missing while camping in 2011, sparking a search.
The Discovery of Lauren. Doug Lesley learns the horrifying truth about his daughter Lauren's murder.
Breakthrough in Colleen McMillan Case. New DNA technology links Bobby Jack Fowler to the 1974 murder of Colleen McMillan, solving a decades-old mystery.
The Boys' Alibi. Sebastian and Aif provide detailed accounts of their whereabouts during the murders, raising suspicion.
The Great Despisers. Sebastian and Aif work on a screenplay about two friends accused of murder, unaware of the real plot unfolding.
Confessions on Tape. Sebastian and Aif's confessions become a pivotal point in the trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's staggering. That's why the possibilities like it's they're endless.

Discussing the vast wilderness where Maddie went missing.

11:16WatchSep 13, 2025

Tension

75/ 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.