Prisoners in Paradise | Full Episode | Forensic Files

A special 48 hours mystery. Four young Americans accustomed to the good life were enjoying a taste of
paradise. >> They were on vacation and they were partying. >> Lois McMillan, their friend and artist
was also there spending the holidays with her family at their Caribbean retreat. Then one night she never came
home. >> 12:30. wears locks. >> The unthinkable, Lois's body was found. >> Something happened and she was out of
fear fleeing from an attacker. >> Even more shocking, the four friends are arrested,
charged with murder. >> No witnesses have ever placed these four men with Lois McMillan that evening.
>> Their family say they were framed. >> There is no concrete physical evidence to tie these guys to Lois's death. Susan
Spencer investigates. Where will the evidence lead? >> You had apparently bloodstained
clothing. There was scratch marks on their arms. >> William Labrador, the key defendant,
speaks out. >> We do not convict innocent human beings. >> And a dramatic new twist that will turn
this case upside down. A 48 hours mystery. Prisoners in paradise. [Music] Welcome to 48 Hours Mystery. I'm Leslie
Stall. Prison is the last place four American friends expected to end up when they set off on a dream vacation. But
then, this story is full of the unexpected. For one thing, it's a case of murder in a place where such a crime
is almost unheard of. It's a case where the tide keeps shifting right to the very end. And it's all been unfolding in
a land where the justice system might seem a little bit foreign, even though some of the world's most respected
investigators from Scotland Yard are on the case. Susan Spencer reports on how some Americans who went looking for an
escape became prisoners in paradise >> for the villa and yacht set. Tortola in the British Virgin Islands is
simply paradise. >> A place where the well-healed can mix and mingle and sail and sun on private
beaches and private yachts. [Music] >> It's been a place of joy. We go down with a suitcase of books. We
go to the beach. We walk the beach. We snorkel. Totally relaxing. Nothing to fear. We're
away from all the stress. >> For more than 20 years, Josephine and Russell McMillan and their daughter Lois
fled the cold winters of Connecticut for their villa here on Torah. >> Lois liked it. She adored her. She grew
up there. >> My Yes. And she was well known down there. Ever since she was a child, she's been going
there. At the end of 1999, Russell McMillan fell seriously ill. So Lois planned a longer than usual holiday stay
with her parents. >> She was concerned when she found out about the cancer that that Christmas
would be our last. And in fact, it was. On the evening of January 14th, 2000, 34
year old Lois McMillan told her parents she was going to a local hangout to listen to music.
[Music] She never came home. And at what point did you begin to get worried? >> Oh, well, starting about 12:30, 1:00,
we're up and, you know, looking at our watch and where's Lo. >> Early the next morning, frantic, they
call the police. They had then showed up shortly thereafter. Three of the police
said to us that a body had been found of a drowned young woman on the other side
of the island. Had been found in the water. >> The body turned out to be that of Lois
McMillan. Police believe she was attacked somewhere along this deserted stretch just a few miles from where she
last was seen. Her car was found less than a mile away at the ferry dock. Handbag and money still inside.
Police think that after a violent struggle, she broke away from her attacker and took off across the seaw
wall down onto the rocks, leaving behind a trail of personal possessions. A gold
necklace, a can of mace, a hair clip, one shoe. They found her body here in the shallow water, shirt and bra pulled
up, her breasts exposed. But the medical examiner can't say whether her attacker
followed her down there and held her under, or whether dazed, she simply fell, hit her head, and drowned.
>> Us [Music] together. >> Crime of any kind is rare on Torto. News of this murder shocked the island. This
is something which is so far away from the norm here, >> especially because this victim seemed
not to have an enemy in the world. >> She liked people and she had friends around. She knew a lot of people on the
island. >> A warm, gentle, very nice person. >> Lois was the McMillan's only child.
Clearly, their pride and joy. >> Oh, these are sweet. Oh, look at this. Oh, what a great picture. Now, how old
would she have been in that one? >> Maybe about three years old. As an adult, Lois had drifted through
careers. Once an aspiring actress, then an artist and graduate of the Parson School of Design.
>> It's a happy painting. >> She'd recently been living at home in Connecticut. >> This is Lois's bedroom. Oh, you've got
to tell me about that. That looks like Salvador Dolly. It does to me, too. It's just a whimsical painting that she did.
>> That artistic whimsy often showed up in outlandish costumes. >> Well, that's her freedom outfit. This is
a very conservative community that we live in. She was quite flamboyant for Middbury, Connecticut, but they quite
got used to Lovas. >> But her sometimes quirky behavior did not provide either a motive or any clues
to her murder. So, the police started retracing Lois's steps the night before her body was
found. Lois came in uh that evening somewhere around 8:00 and change. >> She was by herself.
>> She was by herself. >> Lois Schwarz owns the Jolly Roger and except for her killer, maybe the last
person to have seen Lois alive. >> Somewhere between maybe 8:45, 9:30, um I was looking downstairs and I saw her
drive out by herself. No one followed her. No cars, no people, no nothing because I was there for about 5 to 10
minutes. >> No one knows where or when Lois met up with her killer that night. >> Guys at bars always know what people are
thinking. What are people here on Torilla thinking? >> They're thinking that the person who
drove her car down to the ferry dock did it and split the island that morning on
the first ferry. >> But that is not what the police are thinking. Just hours after Lois's body
is found, they put four suspects behind bars for murder. Four vacationing Americans more used to country clubs
than prison cells. They are Michael Spicer, a wellto-do neighbor of Lois's on Torah, and his 23-year-old friend
Evan George, Alex Benadetto, the son of a wealthy publisher who had dated Lois a
few years before, and William Labrador, his best friend and partner in a New York modeling agency.
News of the arrest electrified the island. Spicer and Labrador are well known here and their friends and family
insist they are innocent. >> They're keeping these guys with absolutely no evidence.
>> But these four suspects are about to find out that on the island of Torah, different rules apply when we come back.
>> How out of the clear blue sky are you falsely accusing not only one person but
all four of us? William Labrador >> of murder >> on trial for murder speaks out.
[Music] >> Exciting things happen on Torah, but murder usually isn't one of them.
There is no evidence whatsoever that associates my son Alexander Benedeta to the death of this poor girl.
>> For wealthy New York publisher Victor Benadetto's 37year-old son, Alex, Christmas 1999 ended here
in Her Majesty's prison. He found himself charged with killing Lois McMillan. >> A year and a half with no evidence
whatsoever. They're not animals. You don't keep people 23 hours a day locked in like a criminals before you prove
that they're criminals. >> The one consolation, Alex is not alone. Also charged are friends Michael Spicer,
39, a rich law school grad from Virginia, his companion, 23-year-old Evan George, and Alex's boyhood friend
and business partner, William Labrador, 37. He starts every letter A B D I P which means another beautiful day in
paradise. >> Labrador's mother Barbara echoes the outrage of all the families that the
four have spent almost 16 months in prison. >> I mean they're come to one of nature's
little secrets. Well the underbelly of this little secret down onto a tollah is it's
rotten. You can wind up spending over a year of your life in prison when you are totally
innocent and they cannot come up with any evidence to prove otherwise but they do not have the integrity to
say we made a mistake and that is frightening. >> This is one of my favorite pictures of
William checking out the waves. >> William Labrador and Alex Benadetto grew up together. Alex spent summers in Tony
Southampton, the Long Island resort town where William lived. Barbara Labrador says that although William grew up
around money, the family was not wealthy. >> The whole Hampton panache, >> right,
>> colors our family. Meanwhile, William had a paper route when he was 10 years old. My kids always worked. I've always
worked. We are not rich by a long shot. Still, William loved the New York social
scene. He reveled in working for an agency representing top models. And when things didn't work out at the big
agency, he and Alex, backed by Alex's dad, started an agency of their own. In late 1999, when business was slow,
Christmas in Torah seemed like a great idea. Once there, they hooked up with pal Mike
Spicer, the third defendant. All stayed at Spicer's family villa, Zebra House. >> Mike's kind of larger than life person.
He's always the center of attention at a party, great conversationalist, well read, good-looking, uh, and very
energetic. >> Justin Cohen is Spicer's best friend. In the press, he's been described as, I
believe the phrase is trust fun baby. Is that true? Well, there's a lot of that going around in certain circles.
>> Certainly here. >> Uh, yes. Certainly here in Torah. >> The last defendant was Spicer's other
house guest, Evan George. Young and handsome. >> Mike really took an interest in Evan and
kind of took him under his wing. >> All but Evan George knew the glamorous and eccentric Lois McMillan. She lived
just down the hill and loved to go out. They all love to party, especially at places like the Bomba Shack.
>> They have a full moon party, and they serve this famous bomb punch, which is rum and pineapple juice and
hallucinogenic mushrooms. So, it's quite wild. >> I mean, it seems like pretty much they
were partying. >> Yes, they were. They were on vacation and they were partying. >> On the two nights before her death, Lois
McMillan did go out with the four defendants to several clubs. But the men say the night of the murder
was different. >> They had dinner at their home. >> Former New York homicide detective Jay
Saul Peter has been hired by Alex Benadetto's family. They left at approximately 11:00, 11:00 p.m. when a
cab driver by the name of Salow picked him up. Salow drove him right over here to an ATM machine where Alex Benadettook
out money at approximately 11:45. >> That's stamped right on the receipt form. >> The men's defense is simple. They saying
they never even saw Lois McMillan on the night she died. [Music] For most of the night, three of the four
were together in public places. Only William Labrador can't prove what he did that night. His friends had dropped him
off some distance from Zebra House to walk home after he told them he was tired.
>> After spending the whole day hiking since 7:30 in the morning, cooking, figured a 15-hour day of recreation, was
more than ready to go home. Now, in an interview from Her Majesty's Prison, Labrador tells his version of what
happened that night. >> Walked back home, got dropped off at Sebastian's 11:48. >> He says he watched TV and went to bed.
>> ESPN Tonight, the NFL Tonight, and then Learning Channel, Area 51, and called it
a night. And that was it. And here I am. No one on the island, no witnesses have
ever placed these four men with Lois McMillan that evening. No one. >> No one except the police who routinely
began interviewing Lois's friends. Their search for clues led the Torlen police here to Zebra House where that afternoon
they turned up three pair of wet sandy sneakers and a shirt with a stain on it thought to be blood. The police also
noticed a small fresh cut on William Labrador's nose. He said he got it the previous day while hiking, but the
officers found their explanations very suspicious. And before the day was out, they had arrested all four.
>> Talk about your soul hitting the floor because that was where you're sitting there, you're helping out, you're
thinking to yourself, what are they doing? And then, okay, here we are accusing you of murder. Knock knock
knock. They have wet sneakers and a scratch on the nose. >> J Saul Peter says it was not enough
evidence to even think of an arrest. >> You and I could knock on 30 doors right now. If we enter 28 of those homes,
we're going to find wet sandy sneakers. >> They find a stain on a shirt that they
believe at that time is blood. I mean, you know, it's not like they went in there and and there was absolutely
nothing here at all. >> What appears to be blood could have been source. It could have been ketchup.
They put four boys in jail for no reason at all. >> The defendants and their families
charged that the police rushed to judgment out of fear that an unsolved murder would hurt Torah's image.
>> They wanted to wrap this up quickly. Arrest somebody, preferably not a local person, and then search for evidence.
>> The charge of murder, that's a big charge. Do you realize that this charge can bring you for a life imprisonment
without parole? Are these four apparently cleancut young men falsely accused, or is there more to
this story? >> I asked him whether or not he in fact had anything to do with that
killing of M. McMillan, and he said yes. >> That's next. >> Say goodbye. Why do you make me cry?
[Music] >> More than a year after Lois McMillan's brutal death, her parents finally will
see these four Americans tried for her murder. >> We feel there's guilt that has to be
proven. The truth will come out. >> But Lois's parents aren't the only confident ones today. All the boys are
looking forward to today so we finally can get the truth out in the courtroom. >> Barbara Labrador here with her daughter
Honey. >> Convinced of your son's innocence? >> Absolutely. No question from day one.
>> Hopes the judge simply will dismiss the charges against her son William and his
three co-fendants, Evan George, Alex Benadetto, and Michael Spicer. >> They know that we have done everything,
absolutely everything. everything, including hiring a team of high-priced lawyers. Six from the Caribbean and
three more from the United States. >> I anticipate that these boys will be released. This case should never have
been brought. >> Facing them, the prosecutor, 35-year-old Crown Counsel Terrence Williams.
>> Must have been a terrible way to die. Terrible way to die for her. His case against the defendants is based on an
investigation led by Deputy Police Commissioner Johnston, a Scottish homicide detective with 30
years experience. >> The first thing that I found unusual was that there was a female who appeared to
perhaps have drowned who was lying face upward, which is unusual because when a person drowns naturally, they would
normally be face down. >> From evidence found near the scene, >> we found a shoe quite close to the body.
We found another shoe further up the beach. >> Investigators pieced together the story
of a fight that began in Lois McMillan's car. >> It seemed as if it started with a
quarrel in the her jeep that she suddenly left the jeep because you know you found pieces of her necklace in the
jeep and pieces on the street and pieces on the seaside. >> Under British law, cameras are forbidden
in the courtroom. But as the case progresses, Williams takes the entire court, all nine jurors, the judge, even
the defendants on a dramatic tour of the crime scene. >> Something happened that she was out of
fear fleeing from an attacker. >> She obviously was running. Obviously, was a struggle. She has cuts on her
hands, which are self-defense cuts, perhaps grabbing a knife, somebody coming from behind her. She obviously
went to get her mace from her handbag because it was found on the rocks on the seaside, but she obviously was
overpowered. >> Williams believes she was trying to make it to this police station less than 150
yards away from where her body was found. >> She was close enough to a police station, but not close enough.
>> The jury sees the precise spot where Lois McMillan's desperate struggle ended. She was pushed head down into the
sand >> as does her father who keeps his distance. >> So she was both being drowned and being
affixiated by the sand. >> Meanwhile, the men Russ McMillan believes murdered his daughter bask in a
rare moment outside prison walls, possibly their last for many years to come. Authorities think they have a strong,
although circumstantial, case. >> You had apparently bloodstained clothing, wet clothing, damp shoes.
There was scratch marks on their arms. One of them had it cut somewhere around about the bridge of their nose.
>> The police collected 85 items from the house, clothing, shoes, even nail clippings.
>> Their nails are all cut quite low, apparently quite recently, and apparently in concert. I felt that we
had the right people, that one or more or perhaps even all of them had been responsible for her death and that there
was circumstantial evidence at that stage. >> And Scotland Yard was even brought in.
Tests showed that the specks on Michael Spicer's shirt were indeed blood, not barbecue sauce. The prosecution says the
blood did not come from the defendants, but it could have come from Lois McMillan. A Scotland Yard geologist also
inspected Spicer's sandy shoes. >> 15% of the sand on the shoes matches the sand at West End where her body was
found. >> Plus, the prosecution says the men's stories were inconsistent. >> The men claimed that she was not there
in the house with them, but tampons are there. In fact, the deceased when she was found dead was wearing a tampon.
>> Finally, there's that ATM receipt the defense is using as an alibi. Prosecutors say it actually puts the
four men in the same area as Lois McMillan at a crucial time. >> All of these things built up to sort of
give a picture that somehow or other she had come into contact with these four men and that one of them or all of them
were responsible for the horrible death that she met. Ridiculous, says the defense, which calls all this so-called
evidence, like sandy shoes on an island, inconclusive and meaningless. >> There is no concrete physical evidence
to tie these guys to Lois's death. Not a shred. Nothing. >> But the prosecution's case is more than
physical evidence. Its biggest weapon, testimony about an alleged confession by William Labrador.
>> Mr. Labrador asked me did I think that God would forgive him if he had anything
to do with killing the girl. >> Jeffrey Plant, a Texas businessman in jail awaiting trial for passing bad
checks, says that Labrador unburdened himself when the two were cellmates. >> I asked him whether or not he had
anything to do with killing of Miss McMillan and he said yes. that they were in an argument driving along and that
she attempted to pull into a police station here on the island. And he prevented that and one thing led to
another and that he had taken her and and uh drowned her by putting his foot on the back of her neck.
>> An account that directly matched the autopsy report. The information that he provided was information which we term
as someone having unique knowledge of a crime that could only have been known to
the person who actually perpetrated the crime. >> For the authorities, Plant pulled the
case all together. He fingered the killer and even provided a motive. >> And I I asked him why. And what he told
me is that it was over money and and that she wasn't any good. He told you with absolute clarity that he had killed
Lois McMillan. >> Absolute clarity. Says >> put her put his foot on her neck. >> Correct.
>> Until she drowned. >> Yes. >> The prosecution rests after 3 weeks. But even before the defense starts its case,
it takes a surprising turn. >> That's next. [Music] For more than a year, four American men
had been held prisoner on the remote Caribbean island of Torah, accused of murdering their friend Lois McMillan.
Since it's British territory, Torah's justice system does have a lot in common with our own, but there are some key
differences. Keep in mind that a judge can give an opinion on the evidence when instructing the jury. The prosecution
circumstantial murder case has the families of the four defendants in an uproar. They're convinced it's a frame
up. Susan Spencer picks up the story with the defense preparing for its turn in court, hoping to keep one year in
prison from becoming life. [Music] For 475 days, William Labrador and his three codefendants have watched beautiful
Torlin sunsets from their prison cells. >> You're in an environment where you cannot do anything about it. And the
anger that could be derived where there's no release point starts eating at you as a whole.
>> But tomorrow could change that. Tomorrow could bring freedom. It took the prosecution three weeks to
wrap up its case. Now, the defense wants the judge to dismiss all the charges, claiming there just isn't enough
evidence implicating any of the four men in Lois McMillan's murder. But the parents of Lois McMillan firmly believe
Tortolan Justice has found the killers of their daughter. >> At least possibly two of them were
really responsible for beating her to death. >> The two being Mr. Labrador and Mr. Benadetto.
I think the McMillans wanted someone as a scapegoat. I could understand their loss. I could understand their sorrow,
but you do not convict innocent human beings. >> Prosecutors may have a tough time
convicting anyone. Results from Scotland Yards labs, far from being the slam dunk they expected,
are inconclusive at best. The blood and the sand are extremely circumstantial evidence. I mean, they're
about as circumstantial as you can get and still be admissible. >> Defense lawyer Shawn Murphy, who also is
a personal friend of William Labrador, scoffs at the prosecution's evidence. >> A speck of blood was found on Michael
Spicer's shirt. Essentially, the prosecution said that a limited DNA profile came from this blood speck, and
it could have been Lois McMillan, but it also could have been one in four people
in the world. As for the grains of sand on Spicer's sneakers, sand traced to the
same side of the island where Lois's body was found. >> It puts Michael Spicer on the southshore
of the island sometime in the last decade. That has nothing to do with anything.
>> Not to say that anyone's out of the woods, especially not Murphy's friend, Labrador.
The other three were seen partying that night. No one saw Labrador, who says he went home early to go to sleep.
>> Unfortunately, he was home alone that night. That doesn't make him a murderer.
>> Now it's all up to the court to weigh a month of evidence, hours of argument over a speck of blood, a grain of sand,
that alleged confession that Labrador supposedly gave to a jail house snitch. The judge takes a full 24 hours to think
about it all and then issues a ruling that seems to surprise even the defendants.
>> The judge made a ruling, directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty. He dismisses the murder charges. Three
down, one to go. >> Against all except Labrador. >> Here come the guys. >> After a year and a half in prison,
>> I felt like crying right when I was told because it's been just so long. I thought it would never happen.
>> Evan George, Michael Spicer, >> after 14 months, it's quite a relief, huh? But I I will be home to America
tomorrow, I believe. >> And Alex Benadetto are free to go. >> Finally. My god. I want to jump in the
ocean. I want to jump in the beautiful Caribbean Sea and have the salt water wash the uh the circumstances of the
prison off me. >> Boy, that feels wonderful. That is wonderful. >> Evan George never even had been out of
the country until his dream vacation in Torah 15 months ago. 3 days after arriving, he was behind bars.
>> Yeah, it was very scary experience. But as pleasant as the ocean swim is, what all three want most is to get off
this island. >> While the Benadettos steal away to the airport, >> the check out from the hotel will be
very, very brisk. >> Spicer and George catch the first ferry to St. Thomas, the US Virgin Islands.
A forlorn William Labrador is left behind. Although his family now seems more certain than ever that he too soon
will be a free man. >> No case is no case. And the only reason that this has continued for William is
because of Jeff Plan. >> The damning testimony of fellow inmate Jeffrey Plan that in prison William
confessed to the murder. I haven't killed this woman and the only evidence or so-called evidence that they have
is a third time parole violator. It's pretty black and white to me. >> Williams mother says the defense will
prove beyond any doubt that Plant is lying about her son. >> A liar is a liar is a liar. Period. No
exception. >> That's next. I think with these scandals, I think he was more than framed.
>> William Labrador is sitting in a Tortolan prison largely because of the testimony of one man,
>> Jeffrey Plant. >> You're absolutely telling the truth about this guy. >> Yes, I am absolutely telling the truth
about this. a very convincing Texan who testified that when the two shared a prison cell, Labrador told him in no
uncertain terms that he killed Lois McMillan. Why would he choose to tell you this, do you think?
>> Maybe he just wanted to get it off his chest. I I don't know. Uh it was it was
he was bothered by something from day one. Labrador's lead attorney, Richard Hector, is about to show a different
side to Jeffrey Plant. >> I mean, the man told so many ridiculous lies. >> He will pull back the curtain on the
prosecution's star witness and reveal Plant's far from reputable past. More weddings than Elizabeth Taylor. Shannon
was wife number >> 10. >> 10. >> 10. >> You've been married 10 times. Well, I've
been married. Yes, I've been married 10 times. >> And a wrap sheet that stretches back to
the early 60s. >> I mean, we're we're talking about convictions for theft or bad checks. I
mean, looking at your record, people would say, "Why in the world would we believe this guy?"
>> Since there was absolutely no benefit to me whatsoever, none. Why would I not be believed? Well, the
contention is that there certainly was potential benefit to you that you've had charges reduced over this.
>> There was absolutely Susan, no deal whatsoever offered to me. >> Defense attorney Hector knows his entire
case could depend on discrediting Jeffrey Plant. And he has his own star witness, Tisha
Neville, all the way from Texas, Plant's former parole officer. I just would hate
to see an innocent man go to prison because of Mr. Plant's testimony. >> She will testify that he is both a con
man and a professional liar. >> He's a swindler and he's left lots of lawyers with unpaid bills and there's
creditors, a million of them out there after him. >> As the defense rests, >> the Labradors are convinced his
credibility has been destroyed. >> There are no forensics. There is no evidence. So all we had to do is
discredit Jeff Plant. And you know, Tisha Neville did that in spades yesterday. >> Yes. God gave us an angel in uh Tisha
Neville. >> I know. She's unbelievable. >> But the prosecution hopes jurors will
focus not on Plant's shady past, but on his specific account of the murder. It actually fitted in with the
pathologist's um interpretation which fitted in with her own interpretation of the events and
you know the fact that she was held out now that prisoner could not have known that there is no way that he could have
known it unless somebody came and physically told him >> as the exhausting 6 week trial ends.
>> I haven't felt like this in so long. >> The Labradors are upbeat. >> We're going back today. We're going to
start packing, getting our stuff together, positive affirmation to get off this island.
>> Now, the judge must instruct the jury. And under this system, he is allowed to
tell them his opinion of the evidence. He certainly does. He says he finds some of William Labrador's story implausible,
but that much of Jeffrey Plant's detailed testimony could be true. With that, he sends the jury off to make up
its own mind. Everybody's praying. Everything is in God's hands today. >> The jury is still sitting deliberating.
How much longer the people here in the courthouse have to wait? No one knows. >> Afternoon turns to evening. A large
crowd gathers outside the courtroom. I >> just want this whole nightmare to be over.
>> And finally, after almost 8 hours of deliberation, >> why you have guilty? >> The jury decides.
guilty. >> Labador collapsed. >> They kept saying over and over, "Where's the justice? Where's the justice?" Uh,
>> they immediately put handcuffs on him and whisked him out the door. >> William Labrador is found guilty of
murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. >> We've spent 482 days to get to this
point. I'm sitting there waiting for not guilty. And then Mr. Labrador, life in prison.
And they proceed to handcuff me. My mother screams that you squat me out of there.
>> The judge let the jury >> The judge did not let them allow the evidence that they had asked for. Make
note. >> Labrador's friends and family are furious, lashing out in court at Lois
McMillan's parents. >> I screamed. I screamed in the court. I said, "You have done your daughter a
terrible disservice because somebody is still walking around this island that did this to her."
>> They didn't say a word. They didn't say a word. >> They know. >> I looked him straight in the eye after
the conviction. I looked him straight in the eye and I said, "You know what you've done."
>> I go, "You know what you've done." >> The McMillans had little response that night. Mrs. McMillan simply saying, "My
heart has been lifted." Even after the verdict, the case against William Labrador was still far from
over. Stay with us. It's Mother's Day 2001, and it's not a happy one for Barbara
Labrador. >> I never expected that I'd be leaving without him on Mother's Day. [Music]
She's leaving Tortoah for home, but vowing to continue to fight for her son as he begins his life sentence.
>> I don't know anywhere in the free world that you can go to bed at 12:15 in the
morning and spend 16 months in prison and then be convicted of murder. At the time, that seemed the final
chapter in one of Tortoah's most notorious murder cases. The island was quiet again. William
Labrador sat in prison and he languished there for another 2 years after his conviction.
Through it all, his mother, Barbara, never lost hope. >> Never give up. Never give up when you
are innocent. Never, never give up. Labrador faced his final shot at freedom. He appealed to the island's
highest court based in London. The news could not have been better. The British court threw out Labrador's conviction
and ordered him released. >> It will be so nice to have him with me and not having to go into a prison to
see him. >> In its ruling, the judges labeled Jeffrey Plant. the prison informant who
claimed Labrador confessed to him a compulsive liar. >> When the only way you can convict an
innocent person is to get a career criminal to lie, there's something wrong and that must
change. On April 7th, 2003, after serving almost three and a half years for Lois McMillan's murder,
[Music] >> 39year-old William Labrador walked out of prison, a free man out of prison
today. How does it feel? >> Relieved. >> Very relieved. I'm very relieved. It's been a long journey.
>> What has it been like for you? >> Well, from the very outset, 1179 days ago, I mean, an innocent man has been
sitting in prison for that period of time. It's time to go live my life again, which thank God was not taken
away from me. >> As William Labrador returned to New York and a new life, Lois McMillan's parents and family just
tried to put the case behind them. >> It's been physically, emotionally exhausting.
bury >> while always keeping Lois's memory alive. >> We lost a beautiful, beautiful young
woman gone. [Music] The rest of it is after the fact. All of it. [Music]

Four American tourists in a tropical paradise are charged with the murder of young American woman. Are they headed for life in prison? The key defendant speaks out. "48 Hours Mystery" Susan Spencer reports in this episode that aired in August 2003. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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

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Brief Summary

Lois McMillan's murder leads to the wrongful conviction of William Labrador, who is later exonerated after a lengthy legal battle.

Key points

Murder in Paradise. Four young Americans are arrested for the murder of Lois McMillan during a vacation.
Framed for Murder. The four friends insist they were framed, with no concrete evidence against them.
Trial Begins. After more than a year, the trial for the four accused begins, raising hopes for justice.
The Verdict. William Labrador is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
William Labrador's Release. After nearly three and a half years in prison, Labrador is finally freed by a British court.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We do not convict innocent human beings.

William Labrador speaks out about the charges against them.

1:11WatchOct 14, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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