Police Discover A Mass Killer's Secret Hideout | Forensic Files

Is there any people in there trafficking? You want to hold him in the basement or
what? He's on the tape. Oh my god, come in here. The back door is unlocked. This is never
unlocked. This door is open right here. This is not normal. This is Sarah Evans. She's just found
the body of her good friend Benny King covered in blood inside his own home. The killer, however, was nowhere to be
seen and every witness they had blamed somebody different. All I know he was a skinny guy about 6
ft 6 5 black. With a a young guy. He said it was a young white guy. Did you talk to him down there?
[laughter] She's been taking all his money. Weeks later, another murder happened
across town in exactly the same fashion. They now had a serial killer on their hands and they had to do everything they
could to figure out who it was and where they were hiding out before they killed
again. It wasn't me. [laughter] It all started on April 8th when Akron police received this phone call.
Akron 911, what's the location of your emergency? Oh my god. [laughter] What's the problem?
What's the problem here? I don't know. Ma'am, is he breathing? No, I don't know. I'm not up there.
Oh my god. Immediately, police rushed to the scene. Someone help. Mhm? Someone help.
Come in here. No, go. Will you go hang out over there for us so you can have room to work here?
Did I bring you the blood pack? You did. The ground floor had been ransacked, but
it was the scene [music] upstairs that had terrified Sarah. Upstairs lay her good friend, [music] 69-year-old Benny
King, and cops would find that he'd been stabbed 33 times. What's that, bro? Where's his injuries at?
I don't know. I I have not touched him. Okay. I All I did was touch him to see if he
was stiff. But he's stiff and cold. So, we're calling it obvious. 10-22. Yeah, I'm not going to move him.
We'll let the head meet. Initially, the cops had no idea what could have possibly happened to Benny,
but as they explored the house more, a clear picture would slowly be painted of exactly what had happened.
His bed was absolutely soaked in blood, and his walls were covered in it, too. Police presumed that Benny had been
attacked in his bedroom before he crawled into the hallway begging for his life, where the killer finished the job.
The majority of the cuts were to his head, neck, and upper body, but there were a few wounds on his hands as well,
indicating that Benny had courageously tried to fight back. The police don't know this yet, but in just a few weeks,
this exact scene would be found across town in an identical murder. For now, though, what police found in the kitchen
was even more bizarre. Any idea what? Can't find anything? I didn't dig around too much there. I'm
really not going to. Well, cuz the the way you called it, said that all these cabinets in the kitchen are open, and
she checks on them on a regular basis and said, "I don't know why that would be like that."
Like someone was in here looking for something. Like all the cabinets here are open.
[music] I mean, who does this? Oddly though, nothing seemed to have been displaced or stolen. Something very
strange is going on. So, the cops turn to the person that discovered Benny's body, Sarah Evans, who had some crucial
information that would start to spiral this case into a complex mystery. Was it the back door that you found
found open? No, the front When I come back from lunch break This door was locked.
Okay. And when when I called you is when I come back up, the front door was unlocked.
Okay, so you were actually here this morning at at 11:30 and you spoke to him then?
No, I didn't see him. I thought he like would lay down take a nap or drink. And then you came back a little bit
after 1:00 and that's when you found the door open. Yeah, it was unlocked. Okay.
The back door was unlocked, too. 11:45 Does he usually keep keep his doors locked?
Yeah. So, I said he locks it when he goes to take a nap, but as soon as he gets up in
the morning, he unlocks it. Was the dog how when when you got here? No, the dog was
in his chair. Okay. In his chair when I come in the door. And that's why I knew when I seen the
stand open and the dog in the chair. Detectives then asked Sarah if she could think of anyone who had any issues with
Benny. That's when she mentioned two brothers, Justin and Johnny, who were often seen visiting Benny. Sarah also
told them that they had ongoing problems with Benny and were sometimes seen fighting with each other. In fact, their
most recent argument resulted in Benny chasing them off his property with a shotgun. Justin also was on the lookout
for a way to make money fast. So, it's rumored that he'd stolen something of Benny's and pawned it, causing all these
arguments. Police figured they finally had their suspects, but that's when Sarah mentioned a suspicious vehicle
that had been spotted outside Benny's house right around the time of his death. That was up through here
Mhm. Earlier today, this morning I guess. It sped away. How long ago was back. I don't I know it was earlier this
morning. It come back and sped away again. He said it was a younger white guy driving.
Who said that? It's a guy. I can't tell you because he's in trouble. He's got warrants. He
doesn't What are both his warrants for? I don't have no I have no idea. So I'm I'm just giving you the information I
was given. Okay. This seems like vital information, but the only guy that sights is quite
literally on the run from the cops with outstanding warrants. So the officer tries to see if he can strike a deal.
Okay. Well, tell you what. There's a a detective coming, okay? I understand your your friend has has some warrants.
Mhm. Um if it's possible that we can guarantee we're not arresting him, not doing
anything, would would you guys can go ask him if he would want to talk to us then?
Ordinarily a fugitive would never agree to a deal like this, but because Benny was such a nice and respected guy in the
neighborhood, he comes outside just a few seconds later to tell the cops everything he knows.
How's it going, guys? How's it going, brother? I was out here on on my friend's porch
and I saw this goldish old older style Hummer, big body Hummer, Mhm. speed away from over here. I don't like
I didn't hear no noises like gunshots or anything. Okay. About what time was what was that?
Uh Mhm. 10:30, 11-ish. I was up here at Maybe 12. I was up here at Okay. No, it had to be like
I was up here at 11:30. Okay. to be about 10:30 or something. Okay. So so between 10:30 and 11:00 you
guys her screaming about something and all this happened. Okay. Then she discovered that.
I've not seen that vehicle You've never seen that car around here, nothing? Did you Did you happen to see
who was who was driving? A white male. Okay. Blondish short hair. Short. Kind of crew cut like yours.
Okay. I would say anywhere from his mid-20s to early 30s. He sped around the corner so
fast his tires were squealing and [ __ ] hell. If the car had shown up around 12:00
that night, that's right in between Sarah's two visits to Benny's house, the exact window where Benny was murdered.
And with how the car was allegedly driving, it really does seem as though this Hummer has something to do with
Benny's murder. They just need to figure out who was inside. And conveniently, a
neighbor overheard this conversation and told the police that he knows a man in the neighborhood that drives a Hummer
exactly like the one described. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the guy's real name, only his nickname, Jaybird.
You're just assuming Jaybird Right. connected to a Hummer. Correct. You don't know.
Right. I don't have any personal knowledge about that, but I know that I've seen him many times with a
With a Hummer? Hummer. What color? Uh black like that. He's got it. Does he Does he go like that?
You So you've seen Jaybird driving this goldish Before, yeah. Okay. It sounded like this Jaybird was a prime
suspect, but nobody on the scene right now was able to tell them his real name. But before they're able to figure it
out, they're confronted with a fourth suspect, and it was the last person that anyone had expected. This is Benny's
daughter, Patricia, and as soon as she showed up on the scene, she seemed to already have her mind made up about who
the killer really was. Benny's daughter. I want to follow up with this. He passed
away. But uh Did you talk to [ __ ] down there? [laughter] Let me say this friendly.
That lady down there has been paying his bills. [snorts] And she's been taking all his money and
not paying on his bills. So the gas bill I have not yet paid. So you don't have a bill.
So, I don't have a bill to say cuz she's not giving him the bills. She's keeping
them. She's for She is writing on the receipts what she is supposed to pay versus what she really paid.
[snorts] And this has been going on for over 3 months. So, she's been working on it for
3 months. He's never had a bill that he never paid in full until this lady down the street decided that
she was going to help him. She took it upon herself to help him is by taking his money.
That's right. She's talking about Sarah. Apparently, since she's taken over paying Benny's bills, they've all either
been late or underpaid. Patricia is certain that she's been stealing money from Benny this way. And in fact, she
thinks she might have stolen even more, too. And his money better still be in there
cuz I know exactly where it's at. What where? It's in a cabinet in this kitchen in a
coffee book. I found Yeah. Yes, she did. There ain't a body found in there no more.
I'll be right back out with you. It's It's okay. Was it in there? No, it was in a container like this.
It was in here. So, whoever did this knows exactly where he hid his money. And she's one and Johnny, those are the
two that come down here. Those two are the suspects. I'm telling you there's nobody else.
Them two. Everything is starting to fall into place. It now makes sense why the cabinets were flung open. Whoever killed
Benny was looking for money. And that's not even the biggest revelation the cops
are about to have, not even close. Currently, they have four suspects, and any one of them could be their killer.
Each one of these could take days to interview and process, but with every hour that passes, the killer is getting
closer to finding their next victim. Luckily, after talking to another neighbor, they were given some vital
information that cut down their search just a little bit and sent them in the direction of one man in particular.
They were able to discover that Justin, one of the suspected brothers from earlier, had a nickname, Jaybird. The
money, the gun, the drugs, the Hummer, everything was lining up, and in the cops' minds, this could definitely be
their killer. So, to ensure they had all the information possible, they started interviewing his brother, Johnny, so
that when they got around to Justin, they'd have no trouble getting him to confess.
All hell, probably afternoon, I took my dog over there. Uh-huh. So, he could see him. Me and my wife
did. I had her take dog around back. Then I brought the dog in for a couple minutes he could pet it. He got pissed
off about something, so we left. What uh what did he get pissed off about? He did.
What did he get pissed What was he pissed about? he's got, he don't like no other dogs,
you know what I mean? Being around his little dog cuz he's afraid the dog's going to eat him.
Uh-huh. Do you Do you go over and see him quite often? Yep, sure do. Go over there and drink a
beer with him just about every day. Um so, you last saw him yesterday about 7:30 in the evening or
Yeah, with him. What's this all about? He's dead. You got to be kidding me, dude.
No, I'm not. Oh my god. I got to go down there, dude. The cops figured this reaction to be
genuine, and as they talked to him more, they became certain that Johnny didn't know anything about the crime. But, that
doesn't mean his brother is innocent. In fact, what Johnny is about to say actually makes the cops even more
suspicious. Uh who is Justin? Brother. Okay, when would have seen him later than you had you had?
No, he ain't a lot he ain't been a lot around down there. If somebody said they saw him down
there, that wouldn't be true? I don't know. I'm I When I go down there, my brother ain't there.
Usually, Johnny and Justin would go and see Benny every morning at around sunset, and that's been the case for the
last 3 years since his wife passed away. Johnny can't think of a reason for Justin to be down there so early,
especially not on his own without telling him. Johnny was even able to provide some extra details about the
disagreement they had recently, proving to the cops just how heated it had gotten between them.
He told look, get away from my house, don't you ever come back again. He said, I've loaned you money four or five times
on this bull junk stuff that you bring me. I'm on a fixed income here. I can't just keep
giving. He physically pushed him? Oh, yeah. Yeah. By this point, the cops had already
heard all they needed to hear. 19 hours later, they managed to track down Justin
and would bring him in for interrogation. Justin was left in the interrogation room for around 45 minutes
before the interrogation began. This is a tactic used among many others to make Justin feel as uncomfortable as
possible. [snorts] Hey Justin. You are arrested for those warrants we talked about.
Um you got four warrants on you. How do you know him? What is your relationship with
him? Did you kind of take his stuff? My brother, um he was more or less like a stepfather pretty much.
How so? Stupid stuff that he gave me a dollar or a cigarette or something to eat or you
know what I mean? I lived next door to him there for four or five months. You know, I had a warrant which I went did
my time and got it all taken care of, you know what I mean? If you're asking did I kill him, well, I
did not. Seems rather straightforward from Justin's perspective. He had exactly the
same nice things to say about Benny and doesn't seem stressed out or anxious about being here. He's leaning forwards
towards the detective instead of instinctively pulling away. He's maintaining eye contact when he can and
his tone seems deliberate and genuine. Everything about how he's presenting himself as relaxed as though he's just
trying to give the detectives what they need and get out of there. But unfortunately, just saying you didn't
murder someone isn't enough for the cops. So, they decide to confront him with the evidence they've gathered
against him. Um, so we talked, you know, we talked to everybody in the neighborhood except for
one person that they said he banned from the house. Wasn't me. [laughter] Oh, yeah.
Is that over money or what was that about? Uh, yeah, it was over money, but uh No, I was with my brother at at his
house. My mom told you he was very familiar with five of his children. Okay. He told my brother to tell me.
Sorry. Did he say anything about a shotgun? Yeah, he did. He told my brother, he's
like, "I should take my shotgun down there for a couple of twins in his ass." He said that. Brother
he said He stole my god damn cash. He never had a problem giving me money or anything like that before. I had all
his pockets. He was a good guy. Thanks. I cared more about him than that. Justin was banned from the house and
there was an argument over money, but it doesn't seem like he held that against Benny at all. But, the detectives find
this strange. All the signs pointed towards Justin being the killer, but now he seems like he had no issues with
Benny at all. But, they've still got their main piece of evidence though. His Hummer was seen at Benny's house on the
morning of the murder. That had to mean he was lying this whole time, right? Uh, you drove or used to drive a Hummer.
Hummer. Do you ever drive a Hummer or anything? In the neighborhood? Not at all.
Did you ever work on a Hummer? Never had one. Always had a car. Do you know anybody that uh
[clears throat] No. If you watch any interrogation where a guilty suspect is confronted with a
piece of valid evidence, their reaction is always very stiff and short. They try
and deflect it immediately by saying no and explaining exactly why that could never be the case without showing a hint
of emotion. Justin is an ex-convict that works various handyman jobs jumping from
place to place. He doesn't need to explain why he doesn't own a $40,000 SUV. His facial expression when he's
asked alongside the way he laughs and jokes naturally about the concept is enough to tell the detectives he was
telling the truth. They still didn't want to discount him completely as a suspect, but they did figure that if he
wasn't the killer, then he might at least be able to help them out. So, they asked who he thought might have been
responsible, and his answer was someone they were very familiar with, Sarah. She knew she took things, rent card to
the bank, food stamps. That's what my brother was telling me on the phone the other day.
And he thinks that [music] she might have something to do with it. So, if I point a finger, I'd probably check her
for sure. Of [music] course, he's talking about Sarah, and he's accusing her of exactly
the same thing Patricia did earlier. And in fact, John had even mentioned this in
his interview earlier that day, too. Anybody in that neighborhood or anybody have any problems with him or give him a
rough time? uh what's called down the street there? Who's that? Uh, I'm trying to think of her name. She
lives down at the end of the road. She'd go over there, take his money for bills
welfare at a corner store, and was supposed to pay on all his bills. Well, come to find out, she ain't been paying
the full amount on your bills. She's been only paying a half. And I went over there one day. He said, "After all I've
done for that bitch." Did they reconcile it all or No, he He said, "Look, you're a thief. Get the
[ __ ] out of my house. Don't ever ask me for another dime." Quickly, the cops are starting to
realize that Sarah wasn't the wonderful, trusted member of the community that they'd assumed she was. Now, three
people have claims that she was exploiting Benny's trust to steal his money, and all are saying that she could
be the killer. To make matters worse for her, she's also the only person left that knew about his money stash in the
coffee can. Things are getting extremely complex, and the cops have already worked tirelessly for days now. And the
problem is the longer this investigation goes on for, the longer the killer is on
the loose, meaning the higher the chances that they might kill again. So, now 6 days after Benny's murder,
detectives bring in Sarah for an interview. It was imperative that they either catch the killer right now or get
new information that brings them straight to them. They don't, then they'll have no suspects, no leads, and
a murderer at large. We know that you called 911. We've got the the recordings, so we'll listen to that.
Uh we understand that you would pay his bills. Mhm. Yeah. Tell us about that. Well, that's where we got in a dispute.
I needed to pay the bank his bill. When I went there, I only had $40 on me. I needed to borrow it to go ahead and get
that money. I paid him back his $40. That's why I'm still still around. Then you broke up there.
Yeah, but we made up. Yeah. In the interview, similarly to Justin, Sarah doesn't deny the disagreement
between them and fully admits that she took some money from him to pay his bills. But again, they seem to make up
and become friends again. This time though, the detectives aren't buying it. Not when so much is on the line.
We're hearing two different sides of what we're talking about. We're hearing what you're telling us, but we're
hearing from his daughter and what his best friend's telling us. Now, we've been hearing that
that he banned you from coming to his house. He didn't want you paying his bills or anything like that. So much so
that the owner of the store called him to say, "Hey, she's scamming you." So, you're telling us that is not true.
That's not true. That is not true. I went up there I didn't go up there until I had the $40 I had to pay them.
Sarah is saying that all she took from Benny was $40 and she even paid it back. It's just been blown out of proportion
as she wasn't able to get in contact with Patricia and Johnny to clear her name again. It's suspicious, but the
detectives aren't going to get anything more out of her on this front. So, they decide to ask her some more background
questions. Usually, these don't end up solving the case, but this time one of their questions provoked an answer that
seriously piqued their interest. There's a lady that I was smoking. She had like silver hair,
long hair. This is true. Let me ask you this. Is that your daughter? She's my daughter. Yes.
Yeah, that Yeah, that's your daughter. And she doesn't live there with you. Do you have any other children?
Yes. Do any of them live with you? No. The audio we received from the police department is censored here, but Sarah
tells the cops about her other kid, a boy named Jason. A boy who had just gotten out of prison.
Where is he now? He just got out of prison last night. How long when did he get out of prison?
He just got out last night. What was he in jail for? Um robbery. Would your son be capable of doing so?
Oh god, I would pray not. No. I would pray not. According to the detectives, when they
asked this question, Sarah tensed up and seemed extremely closed off. She inhales
sharply and her whole body jumps when they bring up this possibility. As far as the detectives are concerned, whether
intentionally or not, she just told them there is a possibility. That's all they're able to focus on, and it all
makes sense, too. She knew about the coffee can full of money, so what if she'd accidentally mentioned that to
Jason? He just gotten out of prison for robbery, and it'd make complete sense if
he saw Benny as an easy target and decided to try and steal his cash. That could even explain the Hummer, too. It
was a nice car that Jason might have jacked and used to get in and out of the scene quickly. Instantly, the hunt for
Jason began. But, no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't track him down. But, that's when some new
information came to light. [music] Information that would change everything. An inmate of the prison Jason was
staying at had contacted police after hearing about the crime, claiming that he knew who the perpetrator was, and
promised to reveal it to them in an interview. So, Paul, you told one of the deputies you
got some information about homicide. That's about the old lady that got stabbed.
Uh-huh. Yeah, his mom found the body. And then I heard him and his mom arguing on the
phone. But, it wasn't supposed to go that far. Because she always going over to the
house cleaning up what she'd been doing up for years. Mhm. Everybody in the neighborhood knows he
did it, just nobody is speaking on it. I don't know why. The inmate said he'd heard Jason and
Sarah talking about the murder on the phone after Jason thought he'd hung up. The cops now had no doubt in their minds
who their new number one suspect was. And by this point in the investigation, it's likely Jason's cash was starting to
run out. They had to find him as soon as possible before he got the chance to kill again. But, unfortunately,
they were already too late. I called police and my auntie. Hi. My name is George Ballis. I'm down in
Florida now, but my father's still up in Akron. We haven't been able to get a hold of
him, and some of his neighbors got a hold of me today, too, and said they haven't seen him since Saturday.
They said there were some people over there they didn't really recognize. All right, so we have it in, and we're
going to get someone over there to check it out, and then um we can give you a follow-up call.
Police quickly initiated a welfare check on George's father, Gary Ballis. When they arrived, they knocked on the front
door, and after receiving no response, the officers forced entry through a side door.
Gary! Akron Police! Gary, it's Akron Police! Gary! On Thursday, May 21st, Gary Ballis was
found dead. It was obvious he'd been dead for a few days, and given the abundance of stab wounds, it was ruled a
homicide. An investigation would turn up very little information, except for the
fact that Gary's car was missing from the driveway. So, next, they started to talk to his neighbors to see if they
knew anything about what had happened. Akron Police! Just wondering if I could talk to you a
couple seconds about your neighbor behind you. Uh-huh. When's the last time you saw him?
When he left, I guess. Was anybody there with him? Um he came over here Oh, yeah?
and knocked on the door. What did he say? He came over to pick flowers out of the
yard. Purple ones? Uh lilacs. Did Did he have anybody with him when he was there?
He came over [clears throat] here by himself. Did he have the car there Tuesday?
I don't remember. I was I was over here. Right. Do you remember Do you know what
kind of car it is? Uh blue station wagon. Like a Subaru? Yeah. Anybody else live here that might have
seen him? Um my just my kids were here with me. Have you seen your neighbor lately?
Gary? Yeah. No, uh last time I saw him was like 3 4 days The car was there when she took the
flowers over, do you remember? been there for over a week. A week? You want to step out here for 1
second? So, Gary Gary is deceased. [snorts] What? It's looking suspicious, that's why I'm
asking you these questions. He hasn't mentioned anybody, you haven't seen anybody, you haven't heard any fighting,
so All right. Obviously, then maybe it was somebody who's come here before. It's a little odd for Gary's car not to
have been at his place for over a week, especially given Gary was still home. There's a chance that this family could
be misremembering, but the cops got exactly the same information from each of the other neighbors.
Hi, sir. Sorry to bother you so Yeah, I'm Okay. Um are you familiar with the um older
gentleman that lives at the blue house across the street? Yeah, that's Gary. Gary?
Yes, sir. That's Gary. What's um He's a neighbor. Used to help him out. Used to babysit
his uh wife. When's the last time you seen Gary? Uh a couple days. Couple days? Yeah.
Like he was out cutting his grass. Do you remember what day that was? Uh that was last Thursday.
Yeah, last Thursday. I remember that on Monday. Monday? Yeah. He was [clears throat] out there cutting
his grass. Is he frequent cutting his grass? Was something wrong with Gary or Um we were investigating an incident
like over there. Oh, okay. The only issue was not a single one of the neighbors could tell the cops who
might be driving that car. Gary did have visitors over somewhat frequently, but they never used his car. If the cops
could figure out where the vehicle was and who took it, it seems like they'd have a pretty sure shot at finding the
murderer. And that's when they talked to this couple who claimed they've seen a new guy around his house recently.
Actually, he's actually Excuse me, has anybody ever been over to talk to you guys here?
No. Okay. You know, I called I called the police out here yesterday and they didn't even
let me go in there. I don't have a match. What did you call them yesterday for? Because I haven't seen him since
Saturday and it's not like him to leave town and not tell me anything. You haven't seen him since Saturday?
Yeah, nobody answered that door. Did you say you guys are positive though it was Saturday he was cutting his
grass? Yeah. Have you seen the guy with the cane before? No, never seen him before.
Was he um white or black? White. You said he was younger? Yeah. His car wasn't there?
No, his car hasn't been there since Sunday. Okay. But soon the cops were able to put
together exactly what had happened. It turns out Gary was never in that car with the other man. When his car pulled
out of his driveway for the last time, Gary was already dead. But at least they had a description of who they thought
the murderer was. And even better, just a short time after, the cops received word that his car had been seen at a gas
station on a surveillance camera. Unfortunately, the camera quality was too poor to properly make out his
identity, but at least the cops now know without a shadow of a doubt that if they
find that car, they can find the man that killed Gary. But it turns out someone had already done that for them.
An unnamed witness came forward and told them that he'd seen that very car and knew precisely who it now belonged to.
Jason came over Saturday morning. He was going to help me work on the house I'm working on.
Do you know Jason's last name? Shockley or I can't I don't even know how to pronounce it. It's something like
that. Anyway, he came over, but I had to go to Harbor Freight because I needed a
grinder. And so I I told him I said, "I got to go to Harbor Freight." He said, "Oh, I'll take you." And I said, "Wait a
minute, Jason." I said, "I'm not getting in no hot car." I said, "Is that car hot?" He said, "No, the car's not hot.
Uncle Willie, no, I wouldn't do you like that. The car's not hot." The car this man is talking about is
Gary's Subaru. But more importantly, he just mentioned the name of the man they believe killed Benny, Jason Shockley.
This was a shocking breakthrough in both cases. Not only have they essentially just solved Gary's murder, but now
they're hot on Jason's tail and have more evidence than ever to try and track him down. Back on the scene, they'd also
noticed that Gary's credit cards had been stolen. And this guy's story even lines up perfectly with that, too.
He said, "My friend let me use it. He went to Florida. He gave me a credit card, told me to keep gas in it, and I
can buy cigarettes and buy me something to eat if I needed it." I was kind of like not believing it, but he said, "No,
Willie, I swear." It almost seemed too good to be true. So, the detectives asked the witnesses
to pick Jason out of a photo lineup, and he pointed [music] straight at him instantly. Jason was now the suspect of
a double homicide. Two citywide investigations had converged into one. Every single officer and detective in
the area knew they couldn't let Jason take another life, so they had to act fast and hunt him down. That's when
police received one final phone call, this time from Sarah Evans, Jason's mother. On that call, knowing how
dangerous he could be, she decided to give up her own son and told the police the address of his safe house.
All right. Which house is it? It's the second one, the one on the right, 80 87. The house was abandoned, boarded up, and
dirty. It was unclear if anyone was even inside, but the cops have to be extremely vigilant as they know Jason
[music] could be armed. After clearing the first floor, they moved upstairs as a group and tried to figure out where
Jason was hiding. [music] Only one door on this floor was fully closed, and every other room was empty.
This is where they think Jason is. Problem is, they've already made a lot of noise, so whoever's on the other side
of that door could be prepared. That's why they decide to storm in. Hands, [ __ ]
Hands! Hands, [ __ ] Hands! Don't move! Roll over and put them on the top of your head.
Roll on your stomach. Hands up behind your back. Let's go. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Hurry up, Jason.
All right, I got you. Put the knife Anybody else in the house? No, sir. You got anything illegal on you, man?
Besides the knife? No. All right, stand up. Search his pockets. Put him in the cruiser.
You got shoes, black? Yes, sir. Where are your shoes at? They're underneath the blanket right
there. You can put a towel and shake them. Yeah. How old are you now, man? 30. I remember you as a kid over there, man,
on Johnson Block, man. Yeah. Is this mail slot here? Can you get this open, Jason?
I just moved in. That would be good. I I only call the cable company. Are you out there?
Yeah, I'm right here. Here, here he comes. All right. I don't think so. I don't think they
would know. Yeah, we need to get Come on, man. Just as they'd hoped, Jason was found
lying amongst rubble and trash on the second floor attempting to hide away from the very people who just put him in
cuffs. Thankfully, he put up no resistance and a quick sweep of the house confirmed he was the only person
here. Amongst the trash on the floor, [music] the officers found multiple knives and a credit card belonging to
Gary Ballas. After 6 weeks of investigations, they'd finally caught him. He was then
taken out of the house and into the back of a patrol car, but there was still one
problem with all of this. They still had no [music] evidence that he was the one
who killed Benny all those weeks ago. Sure, the connection is strange and multiple people [music] have accused
him, but there's nothing solid. That's what the cops wanted to change in the interrogation room and bring peace to
Benny's family almost 2 months after his death. Remember, Jason is likely not aware of
exactly how much the cops know. All he knows is that he was arrested and now the cops are interrogating him. He might
even think that they don't know about the murders and that he could get away with everything.
How do you know Gary Ballas? I knew that Gary because I said my cousin lived next door but my mom used
to go over and help him out a lot. He He used to tell me about how he hates uh I would post and everything.
Yeah, he's a very smart guy. Man, he hates Yeah. Hey, he he's out there. He He's a trip. [music]
I asked him, you know, if there would be a possibility if he could lend me his car so I could
That's why I would have to work and stuff. Okay. You know, he was He was all right for a
second, you know, then he He doesn't like people using his car and stuff. Right.
He was like I'm going to be happy. He was like, "You know, I want to see you I don't want to see you succeed." He
said, "I don't want to see you do well." You know, you know that I just got out of prison
So how long have you had the car for? I had I had this car for a few days. How long have you known him for?
I've known Gary for almost 9 years. Oh wow. So you've had a long relationship. I've stayed a night or two at his house
before. been in the house before and Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. Everything up until this point is mostly
the truth. He did know Gary and he had spent some time with him recently. But remember he was found with Gary's stolen
credit cards in his stolen car just days [music] after he was murdered. This is shaping up to be a textbook
interrogation where the detectives will have to catch him out in various lies in
order to extract the truth. And they're about to start that process immediately.
Jason, you want to tell me what happened to Gary? Um what do you mean tell you what
happened? I have people that are that are in the area that see you and him together. He's been deceased
since about the same time you seen him and you got his car and his credit cards.
He's dead. You need to tell me what happened. I told you. He lends me his car. For work.
Why his neighbors and his son tell me else than that he will not lend me his car?
Everybody's told me that. Well then that's what they told you. Look, all I did was knock on the other
door. You knocked on his house and he's not there. He's claiming that Gary had lent him his
car for work and had used the credit cards he'd left in his car to just buy a few cigarettes. But clearly the cops
don't believe him. In fact, this entire questioning segment about Gary is more of a formality. They have much more
evidence about this crime than they do Benny's. So their plan is to try and have him confess to Gary's murder so
that confessing to Benny's doesn't seem like such a big deal. It seems like a clever strategy, but it won't work if
Jason simply refuses to admit to anything. When you agreed to us and agreed with us, that
it's kind of weird that you're the last person that Yes. Yes. And now he's I find that weird. I
I've seen what you guys saying with him. But at the same time, I'm not no I'm doing.
That's not us. Get up. No. Well, sometimes people don't win and sometimes people
No. No. No. with you. No. Anybody that knows me will tell you that's not what I do at all.
If you were a jury and you heard your story about a man who loaned you his car, who has been known
not to loan his car to anybody. His family says his neighbor has said so. Cuz if you don't help yourself,
this can end up really bad for you. When confronted with the cold, hard facts, something changes about Jason. He
loses his confidence. He's fidgeting with his hands to try and distract himself. He avoids making eye contact
with the detective however he can, whether it be looking down at the table, up at the ceiling, or even at the wall
next to him. He almost looks ashamed, and that's no illusion. Pay close attention to what he does next as it
marks the beginning of a startling confession. And even if you did wrong and the judge and then you admit to what
happened and everything else, the judge takes that into consideration cuz it shows remorse.
You want me to turn it off? No. Stop. You erased the first one. I'm not erasing anything.
You erased the first one. I'm not erasing anything. That's evidence. I can't do that.
You erased I would say if you agreed with us one. We'll tell you what we're saying.
Okay, this is completely off. Jason thinks that that audio recorder is the only thing recording what he's
saying right now. Somehow he doesn't realize the camera in the corner also has a microphone built in. So now that
the audio recorder is off, he thinks he's free to say whatever he wants. He's over there.
He's drinking one of these stuff. He's talking some [ __ ] I guess I'm on the phone with $20.
He's telling me about his stuff and then he had to leave. You know, you know what it is? It's a very
addictive drug. Okay. I'm on the phone with him. He he got me. I'm talking real crazy behind him.
I asked him to give me the receipt. So So you know what? I got to go. Pick it up for me.
And the phone just cut back on. And And then I went and pulled him out and he took his life. I pushed him down. He
dropped the knife. I dropped the knife. And he put the knife down. Back into his chair.
This is a suicide. And when he went to reach I stopped him. I stopped him. He was so serious.
It was a textbook confession, and the cops did an incredible job at helping him through it and making him feel
comfortable. The [music] thing is, they know this still isn't the whole truth, but it's all they need for now. They
could disprove his self-defense story later in court. What matters is that he admitted to it in some respect. Now
[music] they can switch gears to Benny's murder, but he's not going to make that
one as easy. [music] We probably are going to prove that that that you did Benny.
No, they said they didn't do Benny. And you're definitely going to be looking at a capital case.
And I'll be looking at a capital case of an innocent man for somebody out here, too.
You You told us about Gary. It's like the detective Kennedy said, "The two cases are like a mirror."
So, you're you're lying about the cases being similar. Despite just being finessed into
admitting to murder, Jason suddenly thinks he's the smartest person in the room. The cases are almost an exact
mirror of each other, but Jason thinks he can escape liability for at least one of them. But, he's dead wrong.
And see, here's another thing. You just told us that you went through Gary's pants. You went through Benny's [music]
pants, too. Cuz you know Cuz Benny was known to carry several hundred dollars in his pants pocket.
That I didn't know. Oh, everybody knew. Everybody knew. I didn't. [music] So, Benny never pulled
money out and put it in I didn't say that. Most moms are like, "There's no way my
kid would do that." No, she she she she knows for a fact that I didn't do that that
I'm not saying about Benny. I'm just saying Your mom's Excuse me. thinking It's impossible. You know, it's
impossible. Well, we talked to her, though. We talked to her. She said Yeah, we talked to her.
She's freaking out. And as far as me asking her if I thought you did it, it was now hell no.
It was one of the I hope not. Jason, do you see what I mean? Listen to me, okay? I don't told you
about doing Gary, bro. But, this [ __ ] about Benny was not me. And despite all the pressure the cops
put on him, this is the story he stuck to. It seemed he thought he could maybe convince a jury of one self-defense
charge, but two was simply too suspicious. But, that didn't matter, as the cops figured they still knew exactly
what happened. Jason knew Benny through his mother and had heard about the coffee can of cash. He broke in one
morning and in attempt to steal the cash, accidentally waking Benny in the process. They started fighting and
Jason, fearing he'd call the police, stabbed him multiple times. Eventually, Benny crawled out to the hallway where
he bled out. They also started to discount his story about Gary's murder. They believed that it wasn't any form of
self-defense [music] and in reality, it was simply a disagreement. Jason had gotten
irrationally angry after Gary refused to let him use his car. In his rage, he shoved him to the ground and killed him
in the same manner before stealing his credit cards and leaving in his car. These are the theories that the
prosecution presented to the jury and as expected, they believed them. Only one person was charged in the murders of
Benny King and Gary Ballace. Justin, Johnny, and Sarah were all ruled innocent, but Jason wasn't so lucky. In
2022, he was convicted of both of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.

On April 8th at around 1pm in Akron, Ohio, Sarah Evans found her good friend Benny King dead in his bedroom. Police had many suspects, but ultimately failed to find the killer, until another identical murderer happened across town. They now had a serial killer on their hands, and knew they had to find the killer before he took another life.

This video was made for educational purposes only. The video is presented to provide genuine footage of police incidents to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and newsworthy content allowing viewers to examine and assess public safety material. This is a fact-checked documentary using authoritative sources. The individuals shown in this video have not been convicted of any crime and are legally presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. This material is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and represents personal analysis and commentary. Nothing presented should be interpreted as legal counsel, and the observations provided may not include all circumstances or reflect the final charges in each case. This video features real police-related footage shared to support public awareness and government transparency. The content is designed to inform and educate viewers on public safety matters and is presented as a documentary relying on verified and credible sources. All materials used were lawfully obtained through public records requests and are available to the public. The footage is utilized strictly for journalistic, documentary, and educational purposes under the Fair Use doctrine outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.**

Brief Summary

Benny King's murder investigation reveals financial motives and leads to Jason Shockley's arrest for two homicides.

Key points

Benny's Gruesome Discovery. Sarah Evans finds her friend Benny King stabbed 33 times in his home.
The Search for the Killer. Police uncover a series of suspects linked to Benny's murder.
Suspicion Falls on Sarah. Benny's daughter accuses Sarah of stealing from him, raising suspicions.
The Investigation Intensifies. As detectives delve deeper, Sarah's connection to the victim raises suspicions.
A New Suspect Emerges. Detectives learn about Jason, Sarah's son, who just got out of prison.
Jason's Capture. After weeks of investigation, police finally apprehend Jason, but questions remain.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is not normal.

0:27WatchNov 5, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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