Sole Survivor | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] do you know why you're here today to talk about what happened this morning I have a question do I really
have to talk about what happened this morning again because I've told people and I told people and it just crushes me
every I say it okay so I can't I can't really talk about that again 911 what is your emergency um
there was a shoot out in my house and I don't know is dead and I'm scared after death I was 10 when all this
happened I was so young and so little is there anybody else in the house with you no I'm I think I'm the
only one alive I don't know but I'm scared I want my mom I lived with my mother that's
Michelle Conrad I lived with my stepfather Brian Conrad and then my older brother Zach Don I had a dog named
Molly and my stepdad Brian was a farmer and then my mom was also 6 months pregnant I don't hope my mom not
dead that night I was having a nightmare and I remember like hearing the gunshots
in my dream but like when I woke up it didn't end the gunshots were actually going off in my
house my mother started screaming screaming and screaming and screaming my I jumped out of my bed and
I'd went and crouched down by my door that's when IID heard footsteps it was very loud he was
stomping I just remember popping up as fast as I could and just taking two leaps back into my bed and just
freezing he fired two rounds off at me I had one of them graze my left leg and my
left arm he returned to my brother's room and I just remember gunshots going off and my brother
moaning I played dead for 2 and a half [Music] hours I was just like I can't just lay
here I need to do something so I just proceeded out the door and started dialing 91 one please can you some
somebody's coming somebody's coming I just couldn't get there fast enough I'm cold I'm very cold I could
not get there fast enough I heard my mom scream what in the world could have taken place and why is she the only one
on the phone I want my mom oh my Robin's home in Pampa Texas is is literally in the middle of nowhere so
you have to wonder why this family why this Farmhouse whoever the shooter was whatever his reason for gunting down an
innocent family in Cold Blood he probably didn't count on one thing he left behind a
witness [Music] [Music] it's on Highway 70 it's about 13.3 M out from the Bolan alley I have a purple
shirt on I have purple pants on it felt so long before they got there okay they're coming they're coming
they're coming I just kept looking and looking and looking and hoping to see you know someone coming to my rescue all
I want right now is my blanket and my [Music] pillow I'll never forget when I turn
down the drive way oh I see him I see him this child on a phone about a shooting she ran straight to me I hugged
her as distraught as she was she's very articulate just telling me in in absolute detail what was going on and
what she heard and and everything he told me everything was going to be okay they were going to figure it out we're
obviously not going in the house with her I got to secure her somehow out here in the middle of nowhere so I put her in
my patrol car and locked it all the cops had their guns drawn and they were going to clear out the house
to make sure no one was in there and to go see who was alive and who was not alive any crime scene that you go into
you know it's the ultimate who done [Music] it one comment we made when we first got
there is this is like the All American Family everything everything was in place the coffee was set to come on the
next morning Mom Dad children getting ready for the birth of a child the East door to the residence had
been kicked in and whoever entered that Residence at that time immediately went to
[Music] shooting Brian had been shot three times and Michelle had been shot six times and
the dog had been shot twice I guess I kept playing games with myself in my head when is my mom going to walk
out of there when is Brian going to walk out of there where's Molly I wanted all of my family to walk
out of there okay just like I did how that bullet missed Robin I do not know it struck a little drawer next
to her bed Zach had been shot three times laying in his bed appeared Zach never woke up
and Zach never knew what hit him I would never ask the question who's still alive I I wouldn't do it like I just I
just wouldn't do [Music] it Chief Deputy looked at me and we looked at each other and he said go be
with that little girl and uh I just wanted to take care of her best I could I said is it there anything
I can do for you Robin and she said I want to feed my animals and I said I've fed animals before let's go feed
[Music] animals maybe it's just pure survival you know coming from one situation
that's just so traumatic to a diversion I just remember him helping me feed I laughed at the amount of alphalpha ha he
tried to give my good goats because he it was like in a large amount and I said no no she just blew me away she
completely flipped a switch and was absolutely bragging about her animal got first or second in this and her brother
got first and second with his animal once we leave the crows and that moment's over the switch flipped again
and it was right back to reality and and and she's immediately back to crying and
cold and she grabbed my forarm finally like I kind of got the courage to just come right out and
say Mom and Brian aren't aren't going to walk out of there are they broke the law enforcement people's
hearts when they had to tell me no that they weren't walking out of there I was the only one that could walk out of
there still alive Zach never woke up up and he never he never knew what was going on so I'm
thankful that he didn't have a chance to hurt I'm really thankful for [Music] that right after it all had taken place
I went to my great grandma's house it was just family after family after friends after people and everybody was
crying and you know people were yelling at the top of their L saying what's going on what's going on what's going on
and I couldn't answer questions because I was just scared I really don't want to
go to sleep anymore okay it makes me to where I'm too scared I really don't want
to go to sleep okay so [Music] okay I got put in a room with one of The Advocates at the bridge there was a
microphone in the room and there was a camera in the room he shot in my room and missed me okay and so I had like I
was de two whole hours everything was videotaped to make sure that they had it for evidence and stuff like that did
anybody say anything could you hear anybody talking nobody talked they asked me what do you remember can you describe
what he looked like I don't know this for sure but I thought I saw a white white white eyes white face okay my
question to the other investigators was I need to know if she heard shots and if
so approximately how many shots did she hear and when he shot I saw a flash she never hesitated in her answer of 15
shots and through the course of the crime scene investigation 15 fired rounds were found inside the home
something that you'd hope no 10y old getting woke up at 3:00 in the morning would have indelibly burned into their
memory I can't talk about it it's too [Laughter] heartbreaking one of the things that our
officers were very concerned about was the safety of [Music] Robin because you have to remember at
this point we had no idea who had done this why it had happened or where those people might possibly be
they put us in a shelter kind of thing it was my biological dad my stepmom at the time my steps sister at the time and
myself you had to be buzzed in there was cameras all outside of it I understood that it was for my own safety I was not
allowed to leave except to go to the [Music] funeral we knew there would be an outpouring of the community at the
service and indeed there was everyone loved the conrades they were what we would call in the Panhandle
salt of the earth kind of people they were real people that we loved and cared about and they cared about
others I just remember sitting there and I would just look at one casket and I'd
look at the second casket and then I would turn I'd look at the third casket and I would do it all over
again it wasn't fair to sit there and look at that I was at the funeral we did have
surveillance set up at the church just looking for suspicious people no leads were developed through
the funeral services the anxiety and fear among the community went through the roof people were afraid
that there was somebody on the loose that could actually come into their home and do the very same thing so people
were certainly making sure their doors were locked people who kept guns in their homes were making sure they were
close by we're trying to let the evidence speak to us we had the showc casings we
have a lot of blood evidence we found several shoe prints there were some tire tracks that we located on the
property what investigators didn't have was any DNA or fingerprints they knew it
wasn't a burglary so they had to look for another motive there was one theory that it was
a drug hit that uh had got the wrong house all the leads were were hitting dead ends there was no Rhyme or Reason
for why this may have happened we all sat around and wondered wow who did [Music]
this [Music] we had no clue who this was there was no reason for it who would do this to this
[Music] family I received a call from a family member trying to reach out to my mother but was
unable to do so so I I I called the house and my mother's cell phone uh didn't get an
answer but wasn't alarmed at first around lunchtime that day I decided to leave work and drive to the house to see
if I could find [Music] them once I get to the house a relative is standing outside and he tells me that
my mother and grandfather had been murdered my mom was a very loving and caring mother and was my best
friend and my grandfather was always supportive always there for me had just recently lost my father as
well you definitely feel like you've lost everyone in your life orley mul and Don M were the two victims
in the house a relative found orley M lying in the floor with wood and once I stepped
in I found a bullet casing and saw a shell lying on the floor and saw Miss mul downstairs the shell casings that were
there were of a strange I believe like a russan ammunition and it wasn't something you
buy at Walmart or somewhere like that it was a different kind of ammo we were looking at the ammo the shell casings
and one of the other deputies there that does a lot of the crime scenes and said
I just took a burglar report from the night before from uh Scott King just lives down the road Mr King had reported
that his son Levi come into the house while he was gone and broke into his uh gun safe and stole several guns
and some of the ammo was the same kind once investigators had recognized those shell casings they had their
suspect 23-year-old Levi King law enforcement knew Levi King well he had been in prison for burglarizing a
neighbor's home and then burning it down he was sentenced to 14 years in prison but he served less than three before he
was sent to a halfway house he disapp appeared from that halfway house and was on the Run just a week before the bodies
of the muls were found so we started trying to piece stuff together one of the family members
also said that the orley and Dawn mul's pickup uh Dodge Dakota pickup was gone so it was entered into the computer
system Nationwide is stolen we had a warrant signed for Levi at I want to say like 11:00 that night
and that warrant was issued in the computer for Nationwide pickup none of us knew why this had
happened it it did feel completely random law enforcement kept us AB breast of the situation and had informed us
that they had identified Levi King as a suspect he needed a way to um you know excape the area and so I uh they believe
that he had targeted my grandfather's house and as well as the the truck for transportation Levi King was found in
the truck by the border patrol in El Paso he admitted having guns in the back well that Drew their attention they ran
the tags found out they was a stolen truck with a possible suspect from a murderer inside so they detained him
there at El Paso PD um and actually interviewed him so El Paso Police held in question Levi King until the Missouri
investigators could arrive just 15 minutes into that interview Levi King calmly confessed to killing orley MC and
his daughter-in-law Dawn but he couldn't fully explain why before I uh even realized that I mean I had
just pointed at Adam and fire how many times did you fire just once he he spun and fell over you walk
by to the door and you see this woman why um explain to me why you shot at her I was scared I was I mean I didn't
know what was going to happen to me you know I was panicking [Music] we geta Paso PD we are met by the
detectives that are working the case I observed Levi standing there knew him said his name he knew who I was we
both acknowledge each other we loaded him up and the pickup up and headed back towards
Missouri during a conversation with Levi he described that even hours later he could still smell the
Gunpowder the sweat and the blood describing it as a feeling that was probably better than any drugs he'd ever
[Music] done I want to say within the next week or two I had been told by a couple of
the uh Detention officers there in the jail that that Levi asked to see me and speak with
me we got him out of the cell took him to the outdoor exercise yard and somewhere in that conversation
within the next few minutes Levi made the statement you know there's four more in
[Music] Texas at a point time Levi King says you know there's four more in Texas I didn't know whether to believe
him to not believe him he'd been in our jail for approximately two weeks and nobody was hunting him nobody was
questioning him so I don't know why he made that statement describing the location of the
murders he he talked about the big cross in Texas Texas I knew exactly where he was
talking about there's only couple that are that big that stand out like that so don Ruby reached out to
investigators near that cross in the Texas Panhandle to see if there were any open
homicides there were the murder of Robin's family it didn't take long to piece everything together after killing
the muls and driving 500 Miles Levi King decided it was time to kill [Music] again the phone call that we received
from the Pineville sheriff's office in Missouri blew open the case for us we find out that Levi had gone in and
killed orley and Don MC and taken their vehicle and driven down through Oklahoma to
Interstate 40 at some point in time Levi decides that he's going to exit the interstate
and looks over and sees The Farmhouse belonging to The Conrads and pulls in kills Brian and Michelle and Zach and
shoots at Robin thinking he's killed Robin if there was ever a case where a man deserved to die it was Levi
King but first Levi king would have to face Justice in Missouri for the mol murders there he took a plea deal to
avoid execution he agreed to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of Parole in Texas he also
took a guilty plea but the da refused to take the death penalty off the table the purpose of this trial was only
to see what sentence he was going to get it was about whether he was going to be executed or whether he was going to
go back to Missouri and spend the rest of his life in prison I was 14 about to turn 15 when trial was
taking place I understood that we were in court for the death penalty you know I told
them okay he did this to my family so yeah okay go for it always in death penalty cases what
you don't want the jury to be stuck with is this picture of a person as as a killing entity an evil entity the first
thing we had to figure out how to do was to turn Levi from a monster into a human
being are you Levi Alexis King yes sir I am Levi had been bipolar at least since
adolescence at varying times he had um other diagnosis for depression for uh bipolar with with some amount of
psychosis and then I believe it at some points in time he he had a schizophrenia
uh diagnosis Levi King was one of seven children early on he showed signs of serious antisocial Behavior setting
fires and killing animals and drug use in his home was rampant his father introduced him to hard liquor and
marijuana and by his teens Levi King had moved on to meth and heroin and the place he called home you'd have to see
it to believe it the environment which he grew up in and just the overwhelming poverty and
despair until we went up there and actually walked around in it you just could not get a feel for it it it was
truly frightening the first thing you noticed was just filth the insulation was just
black and met melted there was one wall that just had this this massive display of ceremonial knives and swords there
was lots of guns and knives and you know regardless of whether they had food or not they they had money for
ammunition the defense did um a very good job to paint Levi as this poor pathetic
mistreated sad little person there's a whole lot of other people out there in this world that have
grown up in the same type of environment that Levi did or even worse than Levi did and they don't go on Killing
Spree Levi King kills people because he likes the smell of blood he kills people because he likes
that smell of gunm smoke he doesn't care I was going to be sitting in front of a murderer who had killed my loved
ones and to testify I didn't want to but I knew that I needed to for my family's
[Music] sake I was the only one that got to walk out of the house they didn't and they needed a
voice too before she goes in to testify she's absolutely scared to death I just look
at her and I said Robin we've got you back go do what you need to do tell the truth and just realize we're right
outside this door he will never get to [Music] you I tried to avoid looking at Levi
King as long as I possibly could and finally I couldn't resist the urge anymore because I wanted to see who had
actually done this and so I looked at him and the stare that I got back was the worst
feeling of my entire life he is very cold he's very blank and essentially it just felt like
he was staring a hole right through me when Robin testified sorry the hard part about Robin
testifying was to see the pain that that precious little girl had to go through and endure and
then to see her say I've endured this but you're not taking my life away from me I am not giving you that kind of
control I don't want to live with being bitter and being angry all the time for what had
happened I did forgive Levi King because me forgiving Levi King it was my sense of
peace and it was my sense of this is how I was raised and this is my family coming
out we present the evidence the defense has their time to present their case and
we asked 12 people to make a very very difficult decision to either take or not take a man's
[Music] [Applause] life you ask the question why and that's the question that sometimes haunts you
forever why why this family why this day why this time we may never know probably
the hardest part for people to deal with on these types of crimes the randomness of it the lack of
motive is to understand that there truly are people out there there who are just
plain evil Levi King is one of those people I'm asking 12 people to sentence this man to death this was a horrible
crime and we knew we had to be honest with the jury we tried to get to him say look he
will never walk as a free man ever that that is punishment and he will never harm anyone else
again for years I lived and breathed this case and despite your best efforts you don't always get it
right the jury deliberated for approximately 7 to 8 hours and they came back and said that they wanted to give
him life without parole one of them wanted to give him life without parole the rest of them wanted him to
have the death penalty I credit that with giving the the eventual one hold out enough
strength to to hold out I don't think we ever believe we get a life verdict I thought the best we
would get would be a a hung jury just a look on Lynn's face that almost looked like that she had failed
us but she really didn't ly Switzer fought for my family and that's something I will never be able to thank
her enough and all the law enforcement that was involved and sat on the stand either way ultimately I'd still
won and my family had still won Levi king would be extradited back to Missouri to serve that sentence so I
was fine with him being in Missouri because Texas is my state I don't want you back in my state you've already done
your damage here Tampa's home it's where my mom and Brian and my dad all raised me so to
leave I felt like I was being a coward and I was running from my problems and running from what happened it's not
saying that I want to stay there forever cuz I don't Robin tries very hard to not be a victim but occasionally
I see glimpses of that scared little girl in Robin I really don't want to go to sleep anymore okay it makes me to
where I'm too scared I really don't want to go to sleep the fear is still there and it's still very
real I really hate being alone because I feel like that's when my mind wanders the most and I think the worst thoughts
of what if I could have done this or what if I could have done that should I have gone and woke up
Zach I think it impacts her every day Robin has to deal with um nightmares still she has to deal with repetitive
memory of what happened to her she told me all the time she remembered her mom screaming there were times when she'd
text me at night and say you know I hear things going on and she was very very scared whenever um noises would happen
and just because she doesn't show it on the outside I think that she obviously has to deal with it on the inside I am
very superstitious I guess the day that everything happened I had on socks and I
had on long sleeves and long pants I will not sleep in long sleeves long pants or socks now I will not sleep with
my door open because I feel like there's a figure of a person standing in my doorway I'm scared of the dark when I
walk into the house and I know that I'm there by myself I will go through every single nook and cranny in the house to
make sure that there's no one in there the dates that are really hard are birthdays Zach's birthday mom's birthday
Brian's birthday even my birthday is hard because I don't like celebrating it without them I just have those days
where I want my mommy or want my stepdad or want my brother and want things to go
back to being normal and you just can't help but burst out into tears Robin is 21 years old she's lived
off and on with her biological father and an aunt and now lives with friends no place has felt like home
since the day Levi King walked into her life Robin briefly tried counseling but she didn't find it
helpful I felt like I didn't need to talk to someone if I wanted to talk to someone I'll talk to my family or put a
law enforcement person in front of me I'll talk to you but a psychiatrist no thanks I don't
need someone to Pat me on the back and tell them you know ask me well how do you feel I don't need
that I don't expect you to pity me and I don't want you to because that's not how
I am I want to be just like everybody else so how does Robin move past the memories of that horrible day there's a
group of people determined to help her maybe the only people who really understand what she's been
[Music] through the heroic things that Robin did to survive that day and to survive that
incident will always stick in my mind when that investigation was through we weren't through the law enforcement
Community surrounded Robin we wanted to give her a mechanism of people that she could go to if she had questions if she
had issues if she just wanted to talk everybody in the law enforcement field got together and and raised funds
to to start a scholarship program for her I'm thrilled to death every time that phone rings and I see Robin's name
on it it's always with a sense of Joy because uh she has a special place in my heart and she always
[Music] will they treated her like their little sister they just have big hearts they
carry big guns but they have big hearts when you go through things as traumatic as this experience was you
have a bond and I I connected with her we did keep in contact and later on when she turned 16
Robin invited me to her birthday party you know I revisit that place and I've always had this hesitation is
seeing me a happy day or a tragic day I have had a really good relationship with
Chad when I hug him every time I see him it's that same hug I got the day that he
came and he was the first one to me and it's just the most heartwarming it's like a safe
[Music] place I don't let what happened keep me down no no- sorry that's not me that'll
never be me I played basketball I played volleyball I played softball ran track I
was a cheerleader I like being a leader okay bye we have had a lot of moments Robin
and I that we have been together for prom she came and got ready at my house I was of course there for
her graduation just things that I know that she's going to need a mom for she says that her mom won't be there for her
wedding and I just want to be there for her I call Denise my adopted mom I Look to Denise for everything whether it be
homework a new boyfriend oh my gosh I don't know what to wear today to school every little thing to every major thing
that's when I look to Denise she has this positive outlook on life she has one of the most Caring Hearts that
anyone could ever see and I believe that Robin needs to be in a field with caring
and helping people I made the statement many times back then and I still make it
today and I hope the good Lord keeps me around long enough to see why he kept Robin D on this Earth because it's got
to be an incredible special reason and I hope I get to witness that I could honestly not tell you why I
was left why I was the only one that survived I couldn't tell you whether it be I'm able to tell people there's
nothing that you can't get through maybe if I get married one day and have kids if it's to help my kids get through life
or help other people in the world I I I don't know I don't know what my purpose is
but it's going to be great when it when it comes 48 hours to miss it would be a [Music]
crime [Music]

"48 Hours" Live to Tell: A young girl plays dead to live through a shooting that destroyed her family. She describes her remarkable story of survival. Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. 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.

Brief Summary

Robin Conrad recounts surviving a family shooting and the impact of Levi King's crimes on her life.

Key points

A Child's Nightmare. A young girl recounts the horror of a shooting in her home.
The Aftermath. The community grapples with fear and loss after a tragic shooting.
The Confession. Levi King admits to the murders, leaving investigators shocked.
Facing the Monster. Robin bravely testifies against her family's murderer, Levi King.
The Weight of Forgiveness. Forgiving Levi King brought a sense of peace, despite the pain of the past.
The Jury's Decision. After hours of deliberation, the jury chose life without parole over the death penalty.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I want my mom.

A desperate plea from a scared child.

1:07WatchMar 19, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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