The Moment Killer Realizes He’s Caught | The Interrogation Room hosted by Vivica A. Fox | Forensic Files

- [Ciolino] Your body's gonna respond, stress is screaming at you and making you do crazy stuff.
- [Vivica] Observing the signs. - [Vivica] Detecting changing stories. - If you go ahead and take
a polygraph test and you don't do well, well, now we're really gonna be all over you.
- [Vivica] Spotting when to hold back. - He's starting to feel like, "I've got this, he believes me."
- [Vivica] And when to close in. - I started informing him of what other detectives were doing.
- The suspect is on his knees, in figurative terms. - And then you just start hitting them with hammers: bam!
Bam! Bam! - I'm Vivica A. Fox. As an award-winning actress, I know how to play a part
and convince audiences I'm someone else. I can spot the signs when someone is playing a role
and not being honest. We'll expose the lies and uncover the shocking truth on our journey to uncover
the secrets of the interrogation room. (suspenseful music) - [Vivica] Springfield, Missouri.
- [Vivica] At police headquarters, 65-year-old retiree Jay Rothe has asked to see Detective Neil McAmis.
- [Vivica] Rothe is worried about his friend, 53-year-old Linda Riley. He just learned that she's been reported missing.
The previous day, a neighbor became worried when she could hear Linda's phone
repeatedly ringing. Upon entering the unlocked property, there was no sign of Linda.
She called the police, who were concerned upon arrival because of what they found.
- [Ciolino] Her purse is here, her phone's here. It looks like there's been a struggle of some sort,
and they agreed with her, right? I mean, what woman leaves the house without a phone anymore,
or without her purse or without both? Somebody who's pretty endangered is most policemen's guess.
- [Vivica] Linda Riley is described by her family as a kind, fun-loving person
who loved animals and was devoted to her dogs. As someone always determined to see the good in people,
it meant that she could also be very trusting of strangers. This further alarms the Springfield Police Department,
and they issue a missing endangered person alert and begin an investigation into her disappearance.
- The response by the police happening so quickly was simply because of the evidence at the crime scene.
Nobody can get a hold of her, speak with her. It was apparent that we needed to move as quickly as we could
with the investigation. - [Parm] She'd left her dogs, and everybody who knew her,
her neighbor who actually reported her, said she would never leave the dogs behind.
Was she taken by force? Who took her, who saw her? So straightaway, those questions are gonna be paramount
in the detectives' heads. - It's obviously very stressful, especially in a disappearance case like this,
where, essentially, your victim is just gone. There's multiple aspects with it.
Of course, you have the family that wants answers, but also you have the public concern too,
of who did this, what happened, do we need to be in fear? You know, it's very difficult.
- Jay Rothe was with Linda Riley two nights ago. Since then, he's been out of town, fishing.
Given their close friendship and recent contact, could Jay be the key to helping detectives
in their attempt to locate her? - [Robyn] The fact that Rothe was the last person
to have been with Linda before she went missing, definitely makes him a person of interest
in this investigation. I don't know if I would label him as suspect, but he will be a person of interest.
- [Neil] He deeply cared for Linda, and it really seemed like he was there doing everything he could
to try to help locate Linda and to try to, you know, help police in the investigation
and trying to figure out what had gone on. - He's doing a voluntary interview,
so he's not under arrest. You know, he doesn't have to be there. He's free to leave at any time.
So that's the first thing that struck me, that, you know, he seems this really affable guy
who's just there to help. Nice and easy-going, you know, breathing rate normal. No signs of any anxiety.
So, just a guy that just wants to help. - Jay Rothe's attendance at the police station
as a volunteer is commendable. At the end of the day, he is trying to find out where his partner, girlfriend, where she's gone.
He's seen as being the good Samaritan in this piece. - [Vivica] As a close friend of Linda's,
Jay's knowledge of her life, habits, friends and acquaintances could give the police the lead they desperately need.
- [Parm] You know, did he see anybody hanging about, was there anything untoward?
Was Linda worried about anything? - Rothe's demeanor led me to believe that he was being open and honest with the detectives
and truly trying to help them in trying to find Linda. - [Parm] You have to listen to him
because he may actually be that helpful person who's really concerned about Linda,
who wants to help and wants her found quickly. And missing people, if they're found quickly,
within the first 24 hours or so, they're more likely to be found alive. The longer it takes to find that person,
the more chances are that that person is going to be unwell or dead. - [Vivica] The police are all but certain
53-year-old Linda Riley was met with foul play. However, she's only been missing for a little over 24 hours.
There is still a chance Linda can be found alive. - The initial hope is that she just got into it with somebody.
Maybe she's at somebody's home. - [Vivica] They need a lead in order to progress this case.
And it could be information provided by friend Jay Rothe will show them the way forward.
- Will the 65-year-old retiree's information be enough to save Linda? Coming up, Detective McAmis narrows his focus.
- [Ciolino] Your super secret police antenna should shoot right up when you hear that statement.
- [Vivica] Rothe is put to the ultimate test. - So he has to take the gamble. - [Vivica] 53-year-old divorcee Linda Riley
has been reported missing. She hasn't been seen in a little over 24 hours. The Springfield police are convinced
someone is responsible for her disappearance. - Her friend Rothe has asked to see detectives
to assist with search efforts. He is concerned about some of the company Linda has been keeping.
Detective McAmis wants to know more. - Initially, the detective needs to focus
on the individuals that he has in front of him. And if the investigation progresses,
he can start looking at those and widening the search. But initially, he does need to look at
what's right under his nose. - [Vivica] At this point, Detective McAmis surprises Rothe
by suggesting any concern around Linda's disappearance could be an overreaction.
- [Neil] Do you think that she maybe just left? - [Vivica] This leads Rothe into arguing the case,
and offering additional reasons to be concerned about Linda. What he says is compelling.
But he inadvertently alerts Detective McAmis's suspicions. - When he made the statement,
"She would not leave her dogs," that definitely stood out to me. - How would he know that the dogs were still there?
There was no way for him to have that information, at that point. - [Ciolino] Now, that could be a problem for him,
because how does he know the dogs were left? How does he know she didn't ask a neighbor to watch the dogs,
she didn't drop the dogs off at a friend's house, whatever, right? But he immediately said,
"Oh, no, she wouldn't leave the dogs there," which, you know, your super secret police antenna
should shoot right up when you hear that statement. - [Vivica] For Detective McAmis,
Jay Rothe has just changed from a concerned friend to a person of interest. And the interview
is now an interrogation. (ominous music) - [Robyn] When detectives ask direct questions to people:
do you think she's dead? Do you know what happened to her? They're also wanting to see the response,
the nonverbal cues or the verbal cues that a suspect or person of interest gives back to them.
Very often, a suspect will evade discussing that because they don't want to talk about it,
especially if they're involved. So, the "Uh, I don't know." There'll be a more of a vague answer to the question.
These are things that are very important to a detective when questioning somebody.
- [Vivica] Having spent nearly two hours helping cops with their investigation,
Jay Rothe returns home. 24 hours later, there is still no trace of Linda Riley.
Hopes that she will be found alive are fading fast. - [Neil] There is that hope that she is alive.
But obviously, the longer time goes on and nobody hears from her, there's no financial transactions
being made from her account, then, obviously, as time goes on, it becomes more evident
that we're gonna be dealing with a homicide situation. - [Vivica] Then, at police headquarters,
Jay Rothe reappears, without warning. He has new information to offer. - [Parm] He almost comes across as he's gone home,
thought about the answers that he's given the day before, and decided to elaborate on some of them.
- He starts mentioning her ex-husband. He starts mentioning people that she's hanging around with.
It's almost like he's volunteering suspects to Detective Amis. And as I'm listening to it, I'm thinking,
well, are you trying to detract from yourself being a suspect or are you actually being helpful?
- It was a scatter-gun approach. He was trying his hardest to drag other people into the investigation.
- [Parm] It's almost like he's got an agenda. He's going to tell the detective what he wants him to hear.
And he's going through this list, almost manically, trying to give a lot of information
in a very short period of time. He seems quite agitated and quite excitable about it all.
- [Vivica] Rothe also wants to make an adjustment to something he said yesterday.
- [Ciolino] She had filed a complaint, but he had forgotten that, and went, "Oh, uh-oh.
"I better go try and explain that one away." So once again, down to the police station
with diarrhea of the mouth, not helping his cause at all. - [Parm] Linda reported Rothe for assaulting her
because she wouldn't have sex with him. And she said that he had punched her in her face
and his fist was in her mouth. - At the point of her refusing, he takes his fist
and he tries to forcibly ram it into her mouth. I mean, that's an extremely violent act.
- [Parm] Unfortunately domestic violence does escalate, and it can. And quite often it does result in a death,
because that violence would become worse and worse over time. So the fact that there was this report
would have been quite worrying. - If Rothe thinks he can paper over his past violence toward Linda,
he is wrong. The cops have been investigating, and alarm bells are ringing. - In my second interview with Jay,
he still was very helpful, very cooperative. So at that point, I just was trying to keep him on board
to try to keep him talking, try to maintain that good relationship with him that we had so that it would help me
if I did need to speak with him on a future occasion, which, of course, happened.
- [Robyn] Jay has now had two interviews with Detective McAmis. They've both been friendly, they've been cordial.
Detective McAmis has a really nice disposition. He has a really great way of connecting with people.
He develops great rapport with those people he interviews. And Jay's feeling more confident.
He's now walked out of an interview room with Detective McAmis twice. He's starting to feel like, "I've got this, I'm okay."
Like, "He believes me." - [Vivica] This is exactly what McAmis wants Jay Rothe to feel.
In reality, he's become more certain that Rothe is responsible for Linda's disappearance.
- I think there is a point with him where he felt like he could trust me, as odd as that may sound.
And therefore it was just able to, you know, chip away at him just a little bit at a time
from one interview to the next, from one day to the next. - [Vivica] But with Linda still missing,
McAmis needs to speed things up and find a way through Jay's helpful facade. - [Neil] During my interviews with Jay,
there were so many stumbling blocks that just kept coming up. And it was hard to get him to
go further down the path of questioning that I was taking him. So I tried to come up with a new tactic,
and that was the polygraph. - [Ciolino] Polygraph's an investigative tool. And there will be people that will tell you
a polygraph is worthless, it's no good science-wise, no court allows its submission in cases.
But I'll tell you, the CIA and FBI will fire you if you fail a polygraph, if you're a 20-year employee even, right? You're gone.
- [Vivica] A suspect cannot be forced to take a polygraph test. But it's the fact they have a choice
that makes them so useful to an investigation. - If a polygraph is suggested to an individual
who's trying to be helpful, trying to be friendly, and trying to locate their friend who is missing
and they're really concerned about them, that person is likely to say, "Yes, I'll do it."
- If you refuse to take the polygraph test, it definitely sends off alarm bells in a detective's mind.
Why would you not want to take a test? - I think it's fair to say that Rothe is a simple soul.
He wouldn't know the intricacies of the law. He wouldn't understand the balances placed in
undertaking a polygraph test or not. But he would be thinking, "If I don't assist the authorities,
"they're gonna start to draw inference "on my lack of support." - [Vivica] Three days later,
Rothe agrees to take the polygraph test. But after arriving at police headquarters,
He's deflated and withdrawn. Even this could be a useful clue. - [Parm] Throughout the first two interviews,
Rothe does come across as being quite relaxed. He sits back in his chair, he's quite an animated,
he's quite friendly and he's got a lot of information that he wants to share. He's been helpful.
He's been helping police with their inquiries. Now it's HE'S being investigated.
HE'S being looked at as a suspect. And I think that probably has dawned on him by now.
(knocking) - [Ciolino] Jay is now feeling the heat. He's starting to figure out,
"I'm their number-one suspect with a bullet, "and I got a problem." So your body's gonna respond to this stuff. Stress, right?
Stress is the great internal thing that's just screaming at you and making you do crazy stuff.
- So the fact that you're willing to take a polygraph test is usually, you know, a plus in your column.
But if you go ahead and take it and you don't do well, well, now we're really gonna be all over you.
It's almost over with at that point, for you. - [Vivica] Jay Rothe claims he is just trying to help,
and his willingness to go through with a polygraph test proves it. But it's the results that count.
Either they'll clear his name, or they'll put him firmly in the frame, not only for Linda Riley's disappearance,
but also her probable murder. Coming up, the results are in. - [Vivica] And Detective McAmis turns up the heat.
- You just start hitting them with hammers: bam! Bam! Bam! - At police headquarters in Springfield, Missouri,
it's a pivotal moment for the investigation into missing 53-year-old Linda Riley.
- I tried to come up with a new tactic and that was the polygraph. I felt like that was an angle that I could really go down
to try to pursue with him. - [Vivica] Will a lie detector test confirm Detective McAmis's suspicions?
Or will it blow the case wide open? While the polygraph examiner prepares his results,
Rothe waits nervously in the interrogation room. - [Darren] Now, someone's response
to being told they've failed a polygraph will be linked to their belief in how, sort of, valid it is.
- [Parm] He tells Rothe he's failed it, and that they both expected him to fail it.
And it's almost... you could see the visible change in Rothe because he does become dejected.
It's like almost like the life has come out of his body. - [Parm] You know, you see him sag in that interview room,
and it's almost like, "Well, that's it, "I'm at the end of it. What do I do now? He knows."
And it is that realization. "Detective McAmis knows I lied." - So, clearly, Rothe believed the polygraph
was, basically, you know, undeniably yes or no. So, that went some way in that being the catalyst, really,
for him beginning to unravel. - [Neil] I decided that it was kind of gonna be a turning point of my interview with Jay,
where I was gonna kind of... turn up the tension a little bit more with him. Another big chip off of Jay
was when I started informing him of what other detectives were doing, that search warrants were being conducted on his van
and at his residence. And you could just see the look on his face, it was noticeable, in terms of it went from nervous
to straight being scared. - So Jay gets hit with the first thing, "Hey, you failed a polygraph. I know you did this.
"And, oh ,by the way, Jay, we're tearing that little trailer of yours, "that double wide, we're tearing it apart piece by piece
"and we're gonna find the evidence." And this is overwhelming. They do this on purpose, right?
Hit 'em with all the bad news at once. It was really a competent move by the detective.
You know, you build up, build up, build up, and then you just start hitting them with hammers: bam!
Bam! Bam! - [Vivica] McAmis slams on more pressure by letting Rothe know his adult son, Jason,
is now aware of the case against him. - [Robyn] This, for me, was Jay's breaking point,
and Detective McAmis knew this. I could see that Detective McAmis picked up on this,
because he did not let it go. He kept on, he kept on pushing. "Your son knows, Jay. Do this for your son.
"Your son's a good boy. "He knows you're not a bad person." - [Robyn] Jay was just nodding his head and agreeing
and you could see that Detective McAmis knew that he now had his in. He was almost there.
- [Robyn] You will always see a detective use the strategy of trying to minimize a suspect's culpability
in a homicide. It's much harder for somebody to admit killing somebody in cold blood
than it is to blame the victim as well. "Oh, well, the victim had something to do with it."
- [Ciolino] So he starts hitting him with, you know, "I know you're a nice guy, things got outta hand,
"these things happen." - [Ciolino] What's the goal? Get an admission. We don't care how we get the admission,
but get some sort of admission. We'll build on a little admission into the big admission.
- [Robyn] Once Detective McAmis has picked up on his in now, and that he's almost at the confession,
he, like, moves his body in, he actually uses his rolling chair and puts himself right into Jay's space.
"Look at me, I'm right up in your face. "I don't believe you're a bad person."
- [Parm] What the detective does do is, at this point, he starts having a lot longer silences.
And those silences are worth a huge amount in any investigation, because it's inviting him
to fill that silence with the story, with an account of what happened. - [Darren] And it goes back again
to this cognitive overload. That was the point in his unconscious that he just couldn't carry on with it anymore.
The pressure was just too much. - The suspect is on his knees, in figurative terms.
- And Jay breaks down, and, at that point, admits to it being a freak accident.
- [Ciolino] Jay is now drowning, and we have this detective who's, like, offering his hand.
"Jay, come on, you and I will get through this together. "It's not as bad as it seems."
When, in fact, it's horrible. - [Maleary] The empathetic way that the officer deals with the suspect is really good.
He's giving the suspect the opportunity to unload on him and share his burden. Rothe hasn't got anybody to confide in,
I don't think he's got any real friends. The officer is probably the closest relationship
that he's had in talking to somebody for some considerable time. - [Neil] When Jay finally confessed,
it really is... it's difficult to describe the array of emotions that take place.
My interviews with him lasted several days over just numerous, numerous hours. But when the confession happens,
you go from being mentally and physically just drained beyond imagining to you get this adrenaline rush
that is hard to describe. - Jay Rothe has confessed to killing Linda Riley in his trailer home
after a heated argument. But for Detective McAmis, the investigation has only just begun.
- You got a statement, you got a confession, great. Now we need something to really lock this thing down.
And this is important, because you don't want, in four, five, six, seven years, appellate court going,
"This guy's claiming it was a false confession "made under duress." So you wanna get some physical evidence
that he leads you to that's gonna lock this thing down. - In order to get a conviction,
the police must first show that a murder has in fact taken place. The best way to prove it
is to find the victim's body. - [Parm] Where's Linda? Linda still has to be found.
So he has to carry on with that rapport. It's not over just because Rothe has said, "I killed her."
- [Vivica] Coming up, Detective Neil McAmis starts to piece together what really happened to Linda Riley.
- I was not expecting anything like that. And so it was shocking to me at that point.
- [Vivica] Detective McAmis has extracted a murder confession from 65-year-old Jay Rothe.
But Rothe is yet to disclose what he did with Linda Riley's body. Can McAmis get the answers
that Linda's family so desperately needs? - [Ciolino] Everybody knows this poor woman is dead, okay?
But for our purposes, we want the kind of closure that's gonna lock him in the penitentiary
for the next 1,000 years, okay? And in this particular case, she's missing, there's still no body.
Jay, what happened to the body? - [Parm] When Rothe actually admits killing Linda
and burning her body, I think at first the detective is quite incredulous, because he said, "You buried her?"
And then when Rothe says, "No, I burned her," I think there is a little, slight bit of shock there,
because that's not normal. - I was not expecting anything like that. And so it was shocking to me at that point,
and I was surprised when he clarified and said, "No, no, I burned her." - [Darren] The way in which
people that commit murder dispose of remains is significant. Someone that's just been discarded
and set on fire, that just basically goes a long way to tell us that, really, Rothe didn't have that much respect for her.
You know, it's almost a complete desecration of the person. - [Parm] All through the interviews, all of the interviews,
Rothe talks about his love, his admiration, how he was looking after Linda. But there was a part of it
that was almost that control and coercive behavior. And when he's killed her, the worst thing he could have done
was to desecrate her body, and he did that. He burnt her so that there's no sign of her left.
You don't do that to people that you love and care about. That is inexcusable, absolutely inexcusable.
- [Neil] The confession was so critical in this case. Without the confession, we would've never come to
any type of closure with the case, as to what happened and the manner of which she was disposed,
it just would've been impossible to have ever had any resolution for that. - [Darren] Police interviews can last a few hours,
can last days. So when somebody finally confesses, suddenly it's like a massive burden's been lifted.
You know, it's almost like carrying a heavy weight. And when that weight's taken off that person,
you know, that's the effect that happens on his psychology, the fact he just literally is exhausted, you know?
That's what finally caused Rothe to start crying and just basically collapse onto the desk.
- [Neil] After Jay confessed, and when he started to give the appearance of becoming emotional,
I'd like to think that maybe there was some sense of remorse there, realizing what had happened.
I think it was more knowing that he's gonna go to jail for the rest of his life for what he has done.
- [Vivica] On March 4th of 2012, six days after Linda Riley went missing, Jay Rothe accompanied police
to the location where he burned her body. Rothe was charged with felonious restraint,
kidnapping, and second-degree murder. - [Robyn] The reason why it's a murder second charge
is because there is the absence of a premeditated murder. And, therefore, does not fit the elements of the crime
for murder in the first. - [Vivica] Despite having confessed to the crime, as time went on, it became unclear how Jay would plead.
- [Neil] It was drawn out right to the last minute. I thought we were gonna go to trial.
I thought that he was going to fight it. Then, right at the last minute, Jay decided to take the plea deal
and pled to second-degree murder. - [Ciolino] Jay is an older guy, right? And he's hoping to get out prison someday.
So with second-degree, he is eligible for probation. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
His best bet is to plea bargain it. The state saves a whole bunch of money. The family's happy 'cause they don't have to sit in court
and look at this mope every day for several weeks. And so a deal's cut that perhaps you will get out on probation one day.
Chances are slim that he does not. - [Vivica] During sentencing, Rothe's attorney argued that
a maximum penalty of only 10 years should apply because of his client's age and ill health.
But the circuit court judge firmly disagreed, saying Rothe was a danger to women and children.
- [Parm] In July, 2013, Rothe was sentenced to life imprisonment in Missouri, which means 30 years.
He must serve 40% of that sentence, which means he's going to be 78 before he's eligible for parole.
- To the relief of Linda's family and friends, it seems unlikely that Rothe will live long enough
to ever taste freedom again. (dramatic music)

When Linda Riley is reported missing by her neighbor, police discover a plethora of evidence that suggests foul play. When Linda’s friend Jay Rothe tries to work with police to help find Linda, he inadvertently makes himself their number one suspect. Hosted by Vivica A. Fox, THE INTERROGATION ROOM is a brand new true crime series that brings viewers behind the scenes, where real-life murderers and detectives play cat and mouse. Behind every shocking crime is a detective racing to uncover the truth, and it all comes down to the wire inside the interrogation room.

=============== Like, comment and subscribe if you’re ready for more true crime. Your favorite shows like World’s Most Evil Killers, Meet Marry Murder, Forensic Files, Unsolved Mysteries, Murdered At First Sight and Bloodline Detectives are all available to stream 24/7 for free via the FilmRise Streaming Network. You can access The FilmRise Streaming Network through most free App Platforms and Smart TV portals such as Amazon Fire TV, The Roku Channel, Android, iOS and many more.

Brief Summary

Jay Rothe confesses to killing Linda Riley after failing a polygraph test during a police interrogation.

Key points

The Disappearance of Linda Riley. 53-year-old Linda Riley has been reported missing, raising concerns among her friends and family.
Jay Rothe: Person of Interest. Jay Rothe, the last person seen with Linda, becomes a person of interest in the investigation.
Polygraph Test Tension. Jay Rothe agrees to take a polygraph test, but the results could seal his fate.
Breaking Point. Detective McAmis applies pressure on Jay Rothe, leading him to a breaking point.
Confession of a Freak Accident. Under pressure, Jay admits to the incident being a freak accident.
Jay's Confession. Jay Rothe confesses to killing Linda Riley after a heated argument.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The suspect is on his knees, in figurative terms.

0:47WatchJul 11, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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