The Pact | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] you go back to the first days after the murder this might have been a dispute between
teenagers it might have involved a girl that might have involved drinking whoever knew about John's killing kept
this secret for over 40 years that's one that's one man Martin diabetes [Music] September 26 1969 is the day that
changed the lives of Bill and Neville and McCabe forever [Music] I don't think I've had a whole night's
sleep since it's happened if it's not too painful can you tell me about his last day Winter Dance the
second dance 15 year old John McCabe was looking forward to going to the Knights of
Columbus dance that evening took a shower scrubbed his hair put his father's half to shave on he didn't
shave but his father was after shave on oh yeah he got all spruced up 11 o'clock I started looking out the
window that's when the dance closes he should be home by midnight so I went down to the dance and checked
the road screaming out the window John John no John I started praying at that point
the day after John McCabe went missing three young kids were cutting through a vacant lot when they made a horrifying
discovery which was the body of John McCabe he had been bound and gagged and tied
with rope after John's body was found Bill McCabe a Pillar of Strength had to do the
Unspeakable that was identify the body of his dead son never forget it people keep talking about closure
you can't shake it he then had to go home and inform his family of what had happened
Bill said honey my son's dead well I was a senior in high school were you fearful yes they hadn't caught the
people that killed my brother did you think when you looked at kids in your classes maybe it's him maybe that's him
maybe it was them maybe they knew something how could they not know anything without physical evidence without a
witness this case remained unsolved for several years and several years became decades
pray every day every day will be served there was only one way this case was going to be solved
and how old were you in 1969 17 and that's if someone came forward and talked how do you know how John McCabe
died I was there I'm Richard Schlesinger tonight on 48 hours The Pact [Music] [Applause]
[Music] it took almost every ounce of strength left in his 85 year old body to get to
the witness stand but Bill McCabe waited 43 years for this day and the start of this trial in January 2013.
good morning Mr McCabe do you remember September 27 1969 yes sir how old was John at that day he was 15 years
six months and two weeks [Music] I always visualized him as being a big shot somewhere John Joseph McCabe my son
JJ you know but I never got to see any of those things in the fall of 1969 two men had just
landed on the moon thousands had just crashed at Woodstock and John McCabe 15 years six months and
two weeks old was living with his family in Tewksbury Massachusetts I think we have a right to be proud of them yeah
John's father bill was an engineer his mother Evelyn worked at the school library his sisters Roberta who was six
and Debbie who was 17 remember a brother who was always busy doing what brothers
do it was pretty interesting you open the closet door and your closets filled with grasshoppers I just remember his
hands were always dirty like with oil or grease or a frog in his hand so he brought home a goose once oh yeah
Canadian goose big sucker it's fun to watch you talk about this because your eyes light up I mean you have very fond
memories of those days Evelyn holds on to any reminder of her son I have John's money
I can't spend it and you've had it all these years yeah 25 years every now and then I the
smell's gone off of it now it I almost put it in the casket with them and then I thought no I'll just keep it
with me and when I see him again I'll give it to him [Music] when she last saw John Evelyn gave him
permission to go to that dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall I let him go I let him go out the door
I shouldn't have the next day police came to the house and took Evelyn's husband to the
basement to talk they didn't want me to know anything but you heard I heard them
Evelyn got on her knees and pressed her ear to a vent in the bathroom this is where I could hear everything
that was going on down soah the police were telling her husband John's body was discovered in a vacant
lot in the neighboring gritty city of Lowell well what did you hear I heard that he
was tied up and there was tape on his eyes and his mouth I heard a lot I cried I laid there and cried
a huge investigation was launched by the Lowell Tewksbury and Massachusetts State
Police what evidence did they collect at the scene the rope that was used to tie
John up a tape that was used to tape his eyes and his mouth all of his clothing his shoes
Jerry Leone was the local D.A who years later took on the case today he's a partner in the law firm Nixon Peabody
there was forensic evidence but it wasn't really meaningful because it you couldn't tie it to anyone in particular
but the case looked promising at first a witness had spotted a car near the crime scene that night
I believe the way he had described it was a 1965 Chevy Impala colored Plum on the room
then another tip LED police to a schoolmate of John's 16-year-old Mike Ferreira who says he barely knew John I
probably seemed like a handful of times in my life I don't you know I didn't really he
wasn't a friend Ferreira and his friend Nancy Williams were questioned because they had picked up John when he was
hitchhiking on his way to the dance I picked him up and I gave him a ride to the corner and I never saw him again
Ferreira told police that while the dance was underway he left Nancy and met up with his best friend Walter Shelley
me Walter and Bob Ryan took right to Lowell try to get some beer they were in Walter Shelley's car it was maroon and
it was a 1965 Chevy Impala police searched it but found no evidence still Walter Shelley was now A Person of
Interest he was brought in for questioning and later polygraphed five times the test showed he was lying in
all vital areas of the questioning if you read the reports now you start seeing Ferreira and Shelly Shelly and
Ferreira Ferrera was questioned multiple times I know where they're going not totally
stupid but Ferreira wasn't helping himself at one point while joyriding with some friends he suddenly blurted
out that he killed John I was 16. we're drinking joking and I said yeah I did it
they knew I was joking I was a joker Leone says police were not amused but there was no way to corroborate what
Ferreira said without physical evidence without a witness statement putting him at the scene the Ferreira lead kept
drying up there were dozens of other people police investigated other teens local drug
dealers and pedophiles detectives worked this case hard for two years while Bill
McCabe worked on a record of his son's life [Music] I wasn't trying to be an author or
anything like that I I was just looking at ways to hold on to him keep his keep his memory
he also tried to make sure the police never forgot his son I was always on the phone talking to the police I'd be up in
the middle of the night she'd be saying what the hell are you throwing up get back to bed
despite Bill's persistence and the intense police effort there were no arrests Shelley and Ferrero went into
the service in 1970 so the following year the two of them left the area and the McCabe family was left without
any answers for decades [Music] [Music] this is the little Compass so he can find his way home
[Music] with each passing season John McCabe's case grew colder but his mother kept
asking the most painful questions about how he died I tried to strangle myself just
to visualize what it felt like I wondered did he call for me what kind of a mother was I I wasn't
therefore I am for a Time Evelyn set a place for John at the dinner table his absence was a constant presence in
the house you can't just do something wrong and not have to pay for it the case stalled for some 30 years until
November two thousand Sean and I went just about everywhere you know when Jack Ward a childhood friend of John's made
good on a decades-old promise to Bill McCabe he would say Jackie have you heard anything about John you keep your eyes
out let me know I said if I ever had anything some game you know I'm going to tell you
Ward had been at a cookout at this house in Tewksbury where he ran into a kid from the old neighborhood Mike Ferreira
this photo was taken that day we're all sitting around drinking and that's when you just blurted out
I know who killed John and he said it to me again I know who killed John and you know finally I said who
he says Walter I said Walter Shelley he says yeah Walter Shelley I said what would be Walter's motive to
kill John you said Mala because of Mala Marla Shiner Ward said she was Walter Shelley's girlfriend back then but he
said the trouble was Marla also seemed to like John McCabe and by all accounts Walter Shelley was one very jealous
young man the footage you see was taken a few years after the murder Ward admits he sat on the information
for a while worried about how to tell Bill McCabe do you go knock on somebody's door and
say hey I know I killed your son you better have it right I was shocked when he told me so I
scribble it on a piece of paper I put it in the Bible on the page beginning The Book of John so I wouldn't forget it and
I immediately called the police but it took many more calls from Bill McCabe and three more years for police
to show up at ferreira's door it was now 2003. Ferreira worked as a forklift operator lived in Salem New Hampshire
and Nancy Williams his friend back in the day was now his wife Mike wouldn't hurt a fly
never I know he wouldn't Ferreira says he remembers the cookout conversation with Jack Ward very differently Jackie
went and told them I said well to Shelley killed him I never said that and at this cookout
you know I already had a few drinks and he's running his mouth shell he did it Shelly did it and this went on all
afternoon and finally I got sick of hearing that I just he probably did it next thing I know three years four years
later I think the cops down my house wanted to talk to me about John McCabe Ferreira also denies discussing the
jealousy motive with Ward that's his theory I never said that but again there was no corroborating
evidence so again the case stalled well what did they tell you about the investigation
it's going fine it was always going fine and how long did they tell you that for
and you know what it was sitting on a freaking show but the police had not forgotten
John McCabe all right thanks in January of 2007 37 years after the murder Jerry Leone was sworn in as Middlesex County
district attorney the Lowell Police Department took it upon themselves to visit me weeks after I had been elected
to say we'd actually like you to focus on this one and and take a hard look at it with us
investigate run back over the files and a name jumped out at them in Mike ferreira's
latest interview with police in recounting the night of the murder Ferreira said he was with Walter Shelley
but this time he added a name and said the other guy with them was Alan Brown Edward Allen Brown's name surfaces as
someone who we're going to focus on Edward Allen Brown was 17 and lived not far from the mccabes when John was
killed he had long since moved away but when police tracked him down he said he knew
nothing about the murder never even heard of it so How likely is it that he would never even heard of the murder of
John McCabe in a town the size of Tewksbury I'd say curious at the time and police got a call from Brown's wife
that was even more Curious his wife told police that she thought he was lying his
wife said that she thought he was lying right Carolyn Brown indicates to police that 20 to 25 years earlier her husband
had told her about an evening where he was involved in a young man being killed [Laughter]
wasn't enough it was the same old story there was no corroborating evidence and no real movement in the case until 2011
when detective Linda Coughlin was assigned to find the killers you think this case really took off when you met
detective Linda Coughlin yes definitely why did you feel that way because of her attitude
she she said I'm going to get them and she did detective Coughlin zeroed back in on
Edward Allen Brown he was retired from the Air Force and living in New Hampshire Coughlin interrogated Brown
just twice but when Brown learned he failed a polygraph he suddenly broke down he confessed that he was there when
Walter Shelley and Mike Ferreira killed John McCabe yeah why Lowell police brought in the mccabes and
told them Brown's story about John's Final hours my dad started crying he killed over on the table
[Music] on April 15 2011 nearly 42 years after John McCabe's body was found in that
vacant lot his father's perseverance finally paid off Mr McCabe held our feet to the fire he
never let us forget John McCabe's murder the DA's office announced the indictments of Edward Allen Brown for
manslaughter and Michael Ferreira and Walter Shelley for first degree murder two names known to police since day one
two names also Gathering dust here in John's book of mourners the murderers came to the wake
and they came to the funeral [Music] it would take almost two years to bring the men accused of killing John McCabe
to trial two more years the mccabes would have to wait do you solemnly swear the testimony January 18
2013. would you please be seated Edward Allen Brown was called to testify against his one-time friend Mike
Ferreira first defendant to go on trial do you see Michael Ferrara in the courtroom today
yes over there Mr Brown for the first time Brown publicly shared the details of the night
John died Brown says he was at home watching television when Mike Ferreira and Walter
Shelley pulled up to his house they wanted me to go with them to help them help them do what I didn't know at
the time until I got in the car and we left Brown testified they were on their way
to the Knights of Columbus Hall when he learned of their plan they said they wanted to go find this
kid that had been uh you know messing around with Marla to teach him a lesson and how did you know Marla Shiner that
was Walter's girlfriend Michael noticed John McCabe was thumbing and he said there he is
and we pulled up next to John Michael got out and grabbed him and uh pushed him in the backseat where I was
Michael was facing back at John trying to to smack him and John had his arms up to try to to stop him
from doing that we went on the spaghettiville bridge Brown says they drove up a dirt road to
the vacant lot and pulled over and we got him outside the car who pushed John out of the car I did
I thought they were just going to slap him around what happened next then Michael and Walter
Russell John tripped him up and got him on the ground testified that he and Shelley held John
McCabe down while Ferreira tied him up Michael tied his ankles then went around and tied his his wrist together
then he took another piece of rope around his ankles and attached it up to his neck
they had put tape on his mouth John's uh squirming wiggling trying to get out he's lying on his belly uh with his legs
up in the air and his um his head turned sideways then they said um that this will teach you to uh to mess
with Milo anymore and we got in the car and left Brown says they drove around drinking
beer for a while then um I I told them that we should go back and let them go Brown says they eventually returned to
the lot Michael and Walter got out of the car and went over to him they were there for about 30 45 seconds
and they came quickly back to the car we started to drive off and one of them said that he wasn't breathing
John McCabe had died of strangulation [Music] I wonder I wonder what he thought of that night
[Music] then they uh they brought me home what did you do I remember I think I cried
[Music] Brown says he kept the murder a secret for 41 years because he was afraid of
Michael Ferreira Michael said if anybody talks to anybody about this I'll kill him Helen Brown's a freaking liar and I
mean they know that according to the prosecutor he's been uh Iraq in Afghanistan five to us maybe he's got
something wrong in his head they talk about these people that give false confessions
either he did it with somebody else or by himself or he is really a messed up human being
my sense of Edward Brown was he was easily LED Eric Wilson Michael ferreira's attorney believes that police
pressured Edward Allen Brown because he was someone they could force into confessing to a crime he did not commit
they also offered him a deal no jail time Edward Brown did not walk into Lowell Police Department headquarters
and say look I got to get this off my chest after being interrogated by train detectives over the course of many days
he was faced with the threat of spending the rest of his life in jail or he could
tell the police what they wanted to hear Walter Shelley and Mike Ferreira picked
you up at your house at 10 30 right yes the question that I had to answer for the jury is why would he tell them that
if he didn't do it did you think you could do that that's a tough sell it was a tough sell
but Ed Brown gave me a lot to work with you were fed information it was a dirt lot
right yes over the course of two days ferreira's attorney grilled Brown relentlessly and in your four or five
trial prep sessions until Brown admitted that the prosecution had fed him parts of his story you have had information
that was near a railroad tower right yes and you're being told that Shelley was jealous of a Marla Shiner right yes
there are certain pieces of information that an investigator May provide to someone who they're interviewing to see
whether or not they know anything about that to see whether or not it jogs their
memory well but couldn't that also be a way of telegraphing to the witness what you want him to say well in this case
that didn't have to happen because Brown was the one who talked about the Rope the tape The Binding of John however
Brown got his story Wilson claims it cannot be true because it does not fit the evidence in fact in the 9 1969
police reports detectives noted that they were unable to find any evidence of a scuffle
there was no suggestion anywhere around John McCabe's body or the scene that that struggle described by Edward Brown
ever took place why would Edward Allen Brown lie and implicate himself so directly in what happened unless it was
the truth your testimony has not always been 10 30 has it Wilson thought it was not enough
to try to discredit Brown he also had to punch holes in the alleged motive jealousy over a girl he'll do it by
calling that girl my name is Marla Shiner to the witness stand that you would have known each other
[Music] Mr Brown you've lied under oath when you're scared right yes you've lied
under oath when you're nervous right yes you've lied on the road when you're frightened right correct prosecutors had
a problem with their star witness Edward Allen Brown he to wither under strong cross-examination
from the defense you still can't get your facts straight can you no so prosecutor Tom O'Reilly called detective
Linda Coughlin to counter accusations that she'd forced Edward Allen Brown to confess and fed him details at any point
did you feed him information as to the investigation never But Eric Wilson says Coughlin also had
tunnel vision and ignored evidence of other suspects there were a number of investigative reports and material that
you either overlooked or didn't even know about true I don't know what you're referring to
how about Richard Santos Richard Santos was flagged in this Tewksbury police report as a suspect in
the McCabe murder in 1974. [Music] Santos was arrested for committing a crime eerily similar to John McCabe's
murder this young woman was abducted on Route 38 her feet were bound her hands were
tied behind her back her mouth was duct taped and her eyes were taped shut all of the facts that surround Santos as
a possible subject leads you to be suspicious but there was never anything tying him to mode of opportunity means
information on Richard Santos still the judge allowed the jury to hear about Santos and another Suspect with respect
to Robert Morley Robert Morley a local 25 year old who reportedly knew both Ferreira and Shelley and was suffering
from mental illness he was labeled long before you were assigned this case as a strong
suspect right there is a report that uses the word for him strong suspect and the very same report mentions Mr
Ferreira as a prime suspect but it's how morally became a strong suspect that makes him so interesting police learned
about him shortly after the crime from his own Brothers Memorial's own Brothers went in and said
that they thought he might have been involved in it yeah they thought he might have former
D.A Jerry Leone says Morley's brothers were mistaken I think what happens in matters like this is people will say
sure you should take a look at X or Y because they have a profile of somebody who would do something like this and
they were around the area at the time but then you have to look at the evidence and see whether or not the
evidence leads you to believe that they had anything to do with it did the brothers have any specific evidence that
you're aware of they did not he split to Florida the day after he was questioned
by police Mr Morley years later in my estimate committed suicide you learned of his death his suicide right
he jumped off a bridge right his brother says he fell off a bridge the defense also tried to punch holes in
the alleged motive for the murder and called a surprising witness to do it yes my name is Marla Shiner and my spelling
of my last name is s-h-i-n-e-r thank you Marla shiner the girl who Walter Shelley and Mike
Ferreira allegedly killed for Edward Allen Brown had just testified that Marla was Shelley's girlfriend in
September of 69 and Shelley was jealous because John was flirting with her but Marla says John never flirted with her
did you ever go to a dance with John McCabe never ever convey to you that he had any type of romantic interest in you
in August or September of 1969. none the McCabe say it doesn't matter if the flirting was real or imagined
she could have been just stopped and said hello to John and Shelly could have walked by and seen
it and he's going to explode next Marla through the prosecution a curveball September 26 1969
were you dating Walter Shelley no I was not dating Walter when when John McCabe died when did you start dating him then
I believe it was after that death how old were you 13. you 13 September 69. I don't know I can't do the math right
here but according to police Marla told them she was dating Shelly at the time and was just 12 years old when they
started seeing each other you didn't tell the police that you were dating Walter Shelley
in 1969 when John McCabe was killed I no I don't believe I did tell him that why lie about dating someone unless it
was because of her that John was murdered 48 Hours had questions for Marla Shiner too but she declined our
request for an interview Marla eventually married Walter Shelley but it didn't last she said he was very violent
Miss China was Walter Shelly a jealous man absolutely it appears that we're ready to proceed
then judge at this point in time the defendant would rest this was a hard-fought trial till the
end and then it was up to the jury to decide did Mike Ferreira help Walter Shelley kill John McCabe over a girl
or was Edward Allen Brown telling a story The prosecution wanted to hear it only took jurors five hours to decide I
told Michael that we had to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst and he was ready for that
today I have the verdict slip please for the McCabe family more than four Decades
of waiting and working came down to this moment what did you think the verdict was going
to be guilty my glad he was guilty if for no other reason he was there it's hard to understand how the jury could
you know anticipate otherwise Bill McCabe was too nervous and too sick to sit in the courtroom that day so he
waited in another room while Evelyn and their daughters heard the verdict yesterday what set you to this
indictment ma'am is the defendant guilty or not guilty not guilty George not guilty
everyone including Mike Ferreira was so stunned it took a while to sink in when the verdict came in when you heard
that that foreign to tell him yes why I was afraid he was going to die tragically
Evelyn was right [Music] just four days after the verdict Bill McCabe's heart gave out
and he gave up what do you think killed your husband stress the stress of the trial
while Evelyn McCabe laid her husband to rest next to their son the DA's office had a decision to make after losing the
case against Mike Ferreira would it go ahead with the trial of Walter Shelley [Music]
I still don't believe Bill's gone I can still hear him snore in the night and then I I feel the bed he's not there
Evelyn McCabe was determined to honor her husband's dying wish he laid in the hospital bed and I said
I'll pick up and take over for you she'd see to it someone would pay for John's murder the jurors find Michael farrared
not guilty watching Michael Ferreira Go free was tough for some jurors too so how hard was it for you to acquit him it
was very difficult one of the jurors Michael duquette says the biggest problem was Edward Allen Brown plan was
to teach him a lesson for messing with Marlon did the majority of the jurors believe him no why not they just felt
that he was not telling the truth I thought they were just going to slap him around and
they felt that he had been fed information and that didn't make a ton of sense to me maybe he wasn't the best
witness but I just can't see somebody saying I did it when they didn't do it duquette came to
believe Brown and wanted to find Michael Ferreira guilty of something but the only choices the jurors had were first
and second degree murder so what did you want to convict him of manslaughter and it wasn't an option we
are extremely pleased with the jury's verdict despite the Ferreira loss prosecutors decided to try to convict
the other suspect in the murder Walter Shelley the acquittal in the Ferrara case didn't do anything to lessen our
belief that we had the right people who were responsible for killing John McCabe
all right September 3rd 2013 seven months after Michael ferreira's acquittal his murder was about John
McCabe it was Walter Shelley's turn to stand trial Shelley was 17 the Knight of John's
murder he's now 61 remarried and has lived quietly in Tewkesbury ever since just a few miles from Evelyn McCabe well
to Shelley is sitting on small of his back home in New Hampshire if convicted of first-degree murder Shelley could
spend the rest of his life in prison they wrestled him to the ground it was the same case prosecutors presented
against Michael Ferreira the same motive jealousy and the same evidence the robes
that came off the victim's body presented by the same Witnesses Marla Shiner detective Linda Coughlin and once
again the state star witness Edward Allen Brown I heard one of them say he's not breathing was it any easier to sit
through the second trial no I want to say it was harder Dad wasn't there for backup you were called a liar repeatedly
Brown seemed less rattled this time more confident and the mccabes allowed themselves to hope I can keep my fingers
my toes everything crossed during closing arguments the defense called Brown a liar he'll tell you
whatever you want to hear but the prosecution argued that brown would never implicate himself in a crime he
did not commit what do you confess for he was talked into it a week-long trial went to the jury
this would be the McCabe's last chance to see someone held accountable for killing John
we had faith that the jury was going to come with the right answer this time finally two days later a verdict the
person has it jury agreed upon its verdict yes Walter Shelley's wife and family waited
nervously Evelyn McCabe couldn't bring herself to even sit in the courtroom and had to
wait outside she couldn't hear another not guilty May the verdicts be recorded she was scared
she was going to drop dead charging the defendant Walt the Shelley with the offense of murder what saves
the defendant guilty and not guilty guilty guilty of what guilty and life behind bars for Walter
Shelley this jury believed Brown so when you heard guilty do you remember the first thing you thought
I thought my father would be proud we got one of them it was the final twist in a mystery
filled with them for the same crime and on the same evidence one man walked free
one man went to prison [Music] hey John guess what we got them Billy it turned out beautifully
he didn't live to write about it but Bill McCabe finally got the end he was looking for to the story he wrote about
John's life and death a story that took four decades to play out he was 15 years six months and two weeks
about his boy who will be 15 years 6 months and two weeks old forever he's done the secret care of him until I
get there please and then I will [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

A 15-year-old boy goes to a dance and never returns. Teen killers keep a secret for 40 years - until one of them cracks. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger investigates. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

CASE UPDATE: Michael Ferreira pleaded guilty to perjury and was sentenced to probation for 5 years as of June 7, 2021. Because Walter Shelley was a juvenile at the time of the murder, his conviction was downgraded to second-degree murder and he will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years in prison.

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

Brief Summary

The episode details the 1969 murder of John McCabe and the long quest for justice by his family, culminating in two trials.

Key points

Decades of Pain. For over 40 years, the McCabe family lived with the pain of an unsolved murder.
The Day That Changed Everything. September 26, 1969, marks the tragic day John McCabe went missing, altering lives forever.
A Horrifying Discovery. The day after John McCabe went missing, his body was found, bound and gagged.
A Long-Awaited Confession. Edward Allen Brown finally confessed to being present during John McCabe's murder.
Indictments After Decades. In 2011, after 42 years, indictments were announced for the murder of John McCabe.
The Verdict. After decades of waiting, the jury finally delivers a verdict in the McCabe case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You can't shake it.

Bill McCabe reflects on the pain of losing his son.

2:30WatchAug 1, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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