The Shocking Murder of Riley Crossman | Killers Caught On Camera | Forensic Files

[TENSE MUSIC] MAN: And it just sounds like something bad is happening to her. WOMAN: I heard her scream no, stop it.
[SIRENS] MAN: I heard some gunshots. OFFICER: Drop it! Whatever it is, drop it! MAN: That does not prove that I killed my wife.
WOMAN: We know what happened because the video tells us what happened. MAN: Camera doesn't lie.
NARRATOR: This time on "Killers Caught on Camera," in West Virginia, a teenager is killed,
--then hidden from view. No one realized she was missing. NARRATOR: And in the UK during a minor traffic stop,
a woman is found with two heavy suitcases full of body parts. [THEME MUSIC] [TENSE MUSIC]
In the US, Berkeley County, West Virginia, home to 15-year-old Riley Crossman who lived with her mother, Chantel,
two younger brothers, and her mother's boyfriend, Andy McCauley. Riley was dating her classmate, Haydn Lacy.
Jasmine Cooley was her best friend. We became friends in middle school, and it was very quick how close we became.
We would sit out here for hours on end and just talk. We would talk about boys. We would talk about our friends, our lives,
especially, like, school and stuff, and what was bothering us. Our friendship, it reminded me of sisterhood more
than anything, and I feel like she was the sister my age that I never got. She stayed here for days on end.
She would stay so long that my mom would give her chores [LAUGHS] to do around the house.
[PIANO MUSIC] She was such a good dancer, and she showed that on stage. (SINGING) My dear Jasmine, happy--
JASMINE COOLEY: She was able to just dance her heart out or sing her heart out, and she was
just so good at what she did. [CHEERING] NARRATOR: But on May 7, 2019, everything changed.
I got a phone call, just some preliminary information about a missing 15-year-old, Riley Crossman.
It's not abnormal for a teenager to be missing a couple hours. DAN JAMES: Chantel was really struggling to make ends meet.
She worked two jobs at the time. She would literally finish one shift and then have a short break, and she would start another job.
So she worked pretty long hours. NARRATOR: It was the end of another busy day for Chantel.
DAN JAMES: Chantel had worked a long shift that day. She wasn't feeling well. Chantel comes home.
She said she walked in, that she saw Andy McCauley sitting in a chair. She went upstairs.
She saw Riley's door shut. She wasn't going to disturb her. NARRATOR: Chantel went to bed.
But the one thing that stood out that following morning is Riley almost always would walk into her bedroom, say,
hey, Mom, have a good day. I love you. And then leave for school. She doesn't remember Riley saying that.
NARRATOR: Riley normally walked to school in the morning before Chantel dropped the boys off in the car.
DAN JAMES: Chantel dropped them off, and she went about her day. It wasn't until around the evening hours
that she started to notice that something was wrong. NARRATOR: Riley hadn't been in touch with her mother all day.
Riley was glued to that cell phone, and a lot of the communication with her mom happened to be through that cell phone
because Mom was always at work. It wasn't until she came home that evening that she got
the phone call from the school that said she wasn't present for school that day.
No one realized she was missing. DAN JAMES: She immediately starts looking around,
calling all of Riley's friends. JASMINE COOLEY: I'd come home from school. My mom had come upstairs, and she
was on the phone with Riley's grandmother, and she asked me if I had talked to Riley today.
And I said, no, I don't think so. So I tried to text her, and it didn't go through.
And I had gone on Snapchat, so I went to go see if she posted anything, and nothing was there.
NARRATOR: Chantel also tried calling Riley. It immediately went to a voicemail. NARRATOR: The police got involved.
They kind of took it as a runaway complaint. NARRATOR: Riley's father lived nearby.
He didn't believe she'd run away. DAN JAMES: He in his heart thought there was something
more to this, and that prompted Captain Stapleton and the sheriff's department to drive back out to the location.
NARRATOR: The police headed out to Riley's home. They met up with Riley's mother, Chantel,
and her boyfriend, Andy. OFFICER: Hey, clear up the steps. So this is a photo of Riley's bedroom.
And at first, it was this messy bedroom. But the more they looked at it, they're like,
this isn't matching up. Her bookbag is there. Her eyeglasses were there. All the things that if you're going to run away,
typically a teenager would take with them. The cell phone was missing, but her purse was there.
Money was there. As they begin to look around this room more-- again, there's a pile of clothes everywhere--
they start to notice blood. Blood was on her sheet. The blood was also on the comforter.
NARRATOR: According to Chantel, Riley's room looked different to how she last saw it.
There was no note. The blood samples were sent off for DNA profiling. A missing child investigation was launched.
They checked her school, the neighborhood, and community centers. Dogs were brought in to track Riley's scent.
We also called a K-9 out to check the area, because where she lived at, it actually
was walking distance to where she would go to school. They didn't find anything.
So they reached out to the cell phone provider, and they were unable to give a ping on the cell phone
because the cell phone was turned off. And Mom's like, Riley always had her phone charged.
It was always plugged in. She never let it go silent. JASMINE COOLEY: Nobody knew what happened to Riley,
but Riley went missing, so everybody just lost it. She wasn't the type of person to just go missing,
so whenever anybody would say anything to me, like, do you think she would run off, I'm like, no.
OFFICER (ON RADIO): Bye. OK, thanks. There's so many law enforcement officers. They were just everywhere at that point.
And any evidence anybody had like last text messages, anything anybody had, they were on top of.
They wanted-- they wanted to know, who was the last to speak to her? Who last had conversations with her?
NARRATOR: Police started to question the family. DAN JAMES: Everything that Chantel said, all
of her statements matched up. Her younger brothers went to school, what happened that day,
their statements matched up. Then it was this discussion with Andy. NARRATOR: Detectives tried to piece together events.
On the Wednesday morning, Andy's colleague, Johnnie Walter, picked him up as usual.
Normally when they would pick up Andy at his home in the early morning hours, someone would have
to go and bang on the door. Hey, Andy, come on. We've got to go to work. This particular morning, Andy couldn't wait to go to work.
NARRATOR: Andy confirmed to police that he got to work on time and stayed there all day.
But Chantel said Andy was missing from work, an absence confirmed by his colleagues.
Detectives wanted to know where Andy went for five hours the day Riley went missing,
and called him back in. There's many reasons why people might confess to a lesser crime, so a crime that's
less serious than the one you're being accused of. And one of the main reasons is to divert
the attention of the police and to basically say, hey, look over here. So it's effectively an alibi, or I am trying to muddle up
the investigation and say, yes, you caught me, but for this other thing, not for the main thing that you're actually interested in.
So it's a distraction technique most of the time. He left to go back to get drugs, which doesn't make sense
because Johnnie Walter is already telling us there was enough cocaine left to do a couple more lines.
A changing story or changing some of the details of your story is by no means itself an indicator
that someone's guilty. But if those changes, those fluctuations in the story are huge, then we should pay attention and say,
hey, something's wrong, and either all or part of this is a lie. And with guilty people there is another problem,
which is that they often think that there is-- basically, that they're going to outsmart the police,
and so that they can come up with a story that is plausible, that is an alternative to what the police are presenting them.
NARRATOR: Another problem was that Andy said he left his cell phone at home when he went to work.
Police were unable to track his movements through phone data and had to change their tactics.
FRED EDWARDS: We were lost at that point in time. He fell off the grid. We knew that he came back to work
roughly four and a half hours from the time that he left. He was unaccounted for.
So he left this neighborhood, got in his truck, and basically tore out of there.
NARRATOR: Detectives turned to CCTV footage for answers. DAN JAMES: Task force and other members of law enforcement
had already been going up and down Route 9. They canvassed. They went from every business and every home,
and we found cameras from various businesses. NARRATOR: A camera attached to Hedgesville School
gave him their first breakthrough. These are the cameras-- you can see up on the right corner
and the left corner here-- that captured Andy McCauley leaving his worksite. That was our starting point.
We knew the direction of travel. We knew that he was on Route 9, and that was our tracking
point at that point in time. One of the key factors that we hit him with that he could not
deny were these video cameras, these surveillance photographs. NARRATOR: More crucial evidence emerged
from Haydn, Riley's boyfriend, who revealed Riley's final messages. Haydn goes to sleep, we believe, around 10:30 on May 7,
and then you had the series of text messages that come forward. Andy's in her bedroom.
She's reaching out to Haydn. Andy's in my room. I'm scared, Haydn. NARRATOR: Haydn fell asleep and didn't see her messages
until the following day. Detectives put the evidence to Andy. The DNA profiling of the blood samples from Riley's bedroom
offered up evidence of extreme violence. The DNA that came back matched Riley's DNA.
The blood was also mixed with saliva. The crime team also found two additional spots on the sheets.
Again, came back for Riley's blood and the saliva was mixed. We believe Riley's face forced into the pillow.
It almost looks like that's where her nostrils were. That's where her mouth is. There's a separation in between the blood.
NARRATOR: Riley's last text and the DNA results were a major development. Riley was still nowhere to be found,
and police needed to find out exactly what Andy was doing the day Riley went missing.
Cameras on the Bank of Charles Town provided another clue. FRED EDWARDS: Started tracking westward on Route 9,
and we came to the Bank of Charles Town right here, and we were able to capture video of the same green truck
going in that direction. So this was another-- another camera that put us in the right direction.
And there was a camera right on the corner here, very close to the roadway, and it gave us great footage.
Here you can see the green Dodge Ram with the ladder rack on the back, heading towards Berkeley Springs.
NARRATOR: Glimpse by glimpse, frame by frame, the cameras tracked Andy's truck. FRED EDWARDS: The next camera that was successful
that we found Andy McCauley on was at Murphy's Gas Station, which is literally within a mile and a half maybe
from the Bank of Charles Town. About four minutes later, he's picked up again. Same Dodge Ram truck at the Murphy's
Shell Gas Station that's in Hedgesville. NARRATOR: Andy was also caught on camera
rapidly paying for fuel at the Rock's Gas Station. FRED EDWARDS: So the significance of the camera
was we had the same truck going out Route 9 at that point in time. We had him leaving the high school,
going past the Bank of Charles Town. And this camera here put that vehicle going up Route
9 towards Berkeley Springs. NARRATOR: But Andy went off grid again, until he was spotted by his former girlfriend, Denise
Deaver. We actually had an eyewitness that put his truck here at a specified time frame that told us that the truck was
actually backed up. NARRATOR: Police now believed Andy killed Riley and he hid her body in her bedroom
until everyone left. Then he went back and moved her body. FRED EDWARDS: This is where the residence used to be.
It was bulldozed and demolished I believe in 2021. It's hard to understand it or get a feel to it,
but there used to be just a-- well, a gravel driveway right here. And he actually backed his truck.
Instead of pulling in, he actually backed the bed of his truck to the back door.
NARRATOR: Police had to find evidence that Riley's body was in Andy's truck. They brought in a specialist team
with a cadaver dog trained to respond to the scent of decomposing human bodies. DAN JAMES: When this truck is impounded,
that was one of the places where Rock was brought in to do his investigation. When we go in and we search things,
they don't tell me anything because they don't want it tainting how you worked your dog.
So in the Riley Crossman case when we searched the vehicle and we went in, as we are going around the vehicle,
we got to that back end of that vehicle. And he-- I saw that change of behavior with my dog.
I asked if we could drop the tailgate on the truck. So we dropped the tailgate. He immediately went in.
And as he went in, he kind of went up along the head rack area and along the wheel well and up
underneath the toolbox area, come back along the driver's side wheel well. And at that point, he gave me an indication.
As soon as we went up in there, I knew he was in scent because of the way he was acting.
So we knew that there was an odor of decomp. And an odor of decomp can come from anything.
Brandy was very good in explaining that to us. So we knew that this was a construction vehicle.
We knew that during job sites, you're cutting drywall. You're working with construction tools.
There could be an easy explanation why this dog, why Rock, the cadaver dog, indicated in the presence of decomp
in the back of the vehicle. NARRATOR: They knew a dead body had been in Andy's truck,
but they still didn't know exactly where he went on the day Riley went missing, until a chance
encounter on the edge of town revealed unexpected evidence. FRED EDWARDS: Yeah, I believe one of the officers
traveled past that. It was just a little-- little store out. And we'll get down there.
It's out in the secluded area of Berkeley County. One of the officers frequents that store,
and he happened just to go in there and ask, hey, you know, can I check your video?
And miraculously he checked it, and we saw the truck down there, so that was a complete jackpot,
if you want to say. And I think finding that video at Hernandez's was probably the turning point in the investigation.
NARRATOR: Then one final camera provided a geographical focus. FRED EDWARDS: There was actually a residential home here
that gave us our last video footage of Andy McCauley driving that green Dodge truck
up the mountain. And what was key about that was it gave us a general sense of time frame, because not only did it capture him traveling
as we are right now, up the mountain, it got him coming back down the mountain. It was right around a 20-minute time frame.
Maybe a couple minutes under that. So we knew that he had traveled up that mountain,
and had turned around and basically came right back. NARRATOR: Police got a team together
and headed up the mountain. FRED EDWARDS: The only reason that you're coming up here
is either to, one, you live in this area, you're trying to get home, or you are trying to circumvent
the other areas of traffic, and you are going to go down to the back creek area,
the actual fishing portion. So basically, there's absolutely no reason that somebody would come here.
On May 16, eight days after Riley was reported missing, investigators started to search the area.
Also on the scene was Brandy with her cadaver dog, Rock. BRANDY EGGEMAN: I have to look after my dog.
He is my asset, and I can't put him in any kind of danger. I got Rock out of the vehicle.
Rock actually wanted to go down the hill, and I pulled him back up, and we went back up the other way.
DAN JAMES: And as the officer was driving down the hill, he noticed there were a lot of birds in one location,
and he smelled something that he had smelled before. He got out and he saw this body over the hill.
Part of our training is looking out for evidence, especially in cases like this.
And so as we walked up on the side of the cliff where her body had been dumped off of,
I saw a bunch of these screws that were there. I mentioned to the forensics, I said,
I think I saw these screws yesterday in the back of that vehicle. FRED EDWARDS: Now they were very crucial screws.
They were very unique and very identifiable, and they were found right here lying essentially next to her.
BRANDY EGGEMAN: That was another link to everything with him. And upon finding that body, the first thing that we did
was put eyes on Andy McCauley. He was working at that job site up by Hedgesville High School.
NARRATOR: Eight days after Riley was reported missing, her mother's boyfriend, Andy McCauley, was arrested.
Our theory in the case was is that when Andy went into that room, he was intending to do something.
And I don't have any direct evidence of this, but I believe he went in there to sexually assault her.
And I think Riley was trying to get help, and the only thing she could possibly do
is scream for her mother, and he wasn't going to allow it. NARRATOR: Andy couldn't escape the evidence
caught by the cameras. FRED EDWARDS: Without the videos and without the footage,
it would have made this case very difficult to prosecute. Sure, it helps to have a camera catching the crime,
but we had probably the second best evidence with the cameras catching every other thing involving
Andy's movements and Andy's statements that weren't matching up. And then when you looked at that evidence,
the jury was able to draw a reasonable conclusion and were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt
that he committed these crimes. There is no explanation for anyone else other than Andy McCauley.
Cameras showed every one of those admissions and then the lies. That was absolutely critical for those cameras to show that,
to paint the picture to the jury. NARRATOR: On the 4th of November, 2021, Andy McCauley was convicted of first-degree murder and child
abuse resulting in death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
[SOFT MUSIC] This candle is the candle I got from her vigil the day they announced that her body was found.
And then the day that they announced that Andy was guilty, they did these personalized necklaces,
and it's got her name on them. When he was guilty, we did a big balloon releasing.
There is no reason that she shouldn't have graduated high school. There was no reason she shouldn't
have had her 18th birthday. But I feel like I will do everything in my power to outlive that for her and get those experiences,
because she deserved them. Everything I do is for Riley at this point. [TENSE MUSIC]
NARRATOR: In the UK in 2020, there were over five million CCTV cameras. The COVID pandemic led to a sharp rise
in home surveillance and doorbell cameras, and this helped catch more criminals on camera.
CCTV sources and video evidence in general has now become crucial in solving crime.
Without all these multiple camera sources, a lot of cases would be abandoned. There would be simply not enough evidence to progress them.
NARRATOR: And now in the UK, you're increasingly likely to be filmed even outside the main cities.
There's a significant increase in the use of these types of cameras in rural areas because that's
where there's a significant increase in crime. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: The Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.
On the 12th of May, 2020, the UK was in lockdown. Everyone was grounded, confined to their homes.
Coronavirus restrictions meant all but essential travel was forbidden. Despite the emergency laws, an unfamiliar vehicle
was spotted driving up and down a remote road near the Welsh border. This is a home security camera that we can see.
A concerned citizen is actually asking the police to investigate why this car is moving,
and the police go there to investigate. NARRATOR: Dr. Vasileios Karagiannopoulos
is a digital forensics expert in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth.
VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: The home surveillance camera actually allows the police
to identify the license plate. And when they check, the car is registered at an address in Wolverhampton.
This is more than 80 miles away from the location where this footage is received from,
so the police have a good reason to investigate why this car is moving so far away
from its registered address. NARRATOR: Police officers pulled the car over and spoke to the male driver of the vehicle.
He said he was waiting for a friend. Police reminded him of COVID regulations and sent him on his way.
But by 10 o'clock that night the same vehicle was spotted again, lurking near the woodland.
[RADIO CHATTER] The police knew something wasn't right. They went back to check out the vehicle.
A woman had just been dropped off by the side of the road with two suitcases in the middle of the night.
VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: The police visit the scene where the car was spotted, and they actually
find a woman in the area with some pieces of luggage close to the car. The police officers inquire about what's in the luggage,
and the suspect is actually trying to prevent them from opening the luggage. NARRATOR: Emi Polito is a forensic video
and audio analyst, working with police forces all over the UK. EMI POLITO: So on this recording,
we're actually seeing the suitcase. We don't know what's inside yet. A very grim discovery is made at the scene where they
actually find out that the suitcase contains the remains of a body. NARRATOR: The woman found with the suitcases
was 28-year-old Gareeca Gordon. EMI POLITO: The suspect, Gareeca Gordon, is caught red-handed with a suitcase
containing a dismembered body. But in order to be able to convict her, the police need to find a lot more evidence
to start building the case and making sure the case is as robust as it can be. NARRATOR: Gareeca was arrested and charged with murder.
The driver was held for assisting an offender. A chance traffic stop turned into a major investigation.
The police had to start from scratch to find out how Gareeca was involved and the identity of the body in the suitcases.
[TENSE MUSIC] Lozells, Birmingham. With a population of 12,000, an inner city area that
has high rates of violence, drugs, and weapon possession. Gareeca Gordon was living at a hostel.
She came to England from Jamaica aged seven. A troubled life ensued. She was sexually abused and had to leave the family
home after coming out as gay. After Gareeca's arrest, forensic analysis of her phone
revealed she made a call to a helpline. Part of the transcript revealed issues with another woman.
Phoenix Netts was also living in the same hostel, a 28-year-old woman who dreamt of becoming a paramedic.
As a child, she was a keen writer and close to her family. Phoenix was desperate to move back to London,
but lockdown stalled the move. On the 7th of April, Phoenix sent a worrying text to a friend.
EMI POLITO: "There's a girl here who keeps asking me to be sexual. I think I'm going to move back to London.
It's scaring me." We can see there's a clear indication that she was concerned about this girl.
NARRATOR: Coral Dando served on the front line as an officer in the Metropolitan Police in London.
She is now a professor of forensic psychology. They may have had a friendship, a female friendship, and Gareeca wanted to take
that further, it would appear. And it seems as if Phoenix didn't want that. The information suggests that she
was very anxious, very upset about Gareeca's sexual advances towards her. And of course, that is a form of sexual violence,
and it can happen between same-- in same-sex relationships in the same as it can do in any other relationship.
Unwanted sexual attention can have a significant effect psychologically, emotionally.
It can trigger anxiety. And it seems as if Phoenix was a vulnerable young woman,
and I think it triggered a vulnerability response, an anxiety response in a way exactly as we would predict.
Vulnerable people are more likely both to be perpetrators of crimes and to be victims of crimes.
Both the victim and the perpetrator were vulnerable. So these weren't people who came from really stable environments
with lots of resources. These are people who had in different ways needs, and these needs weren't being met.
Hostels are also a sort of in-between space where you're not meant to stay there forever.
You're meant to be there as emergency housing or for a temporary amount of time.
And that can lend them a very transitional feel in that people are in and out a lot.
And you're encountering strangers, and you're sleeping in very close proximity to strangers.
In no other context would you be doing that in the same way, and so it can open up new and different dynamics,
which can also lead to violence or difficult situations. So it's not to say that hostels are inherently dangerous.
It's just that there are a lot of people with existing vulnerabilities in them. NARRATOR: With Gareeca in custody,
digital forensic teams checked the CCTV footage obtained from outside the hostel.
EMI POLITO: So we have CCTV here from the suspect's home, and he's the job of the place to go back days, weeks,
even months to try to find valuable evidence as to what has happened. NARRATOR: On the 11th of April, Phoenix was captured on CCTV.
But in the early hours of the 16th of April, another woman living in the hostel heard noises of drilling and banging and someone
shouting for help. At around 5:30 in the morning, a search was made on Phoenix's phone.
EMI POLITO: Mobile phones, smart phones are incredibly important to an investigation,
not just because of call records, of text messages. In this case, the police were able to identify a number
of searches conducted on the mobile phone that were of interest to the investigation.
VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: One of the searches was how to fix a punctured lung.
One was internal bleeding. Can someone recover from getting stabbed? NARRATOR: Over the next few days,
CCTV from outside the hostel captured a series of unusual activities. The police are trying to get a better picture
of exactly what has happened. And as a matter of fact, the CCTV reveals a number of suspicious activities
carried out by the suspect. NARRATOR: A cover-up appeared to be under way. The suspect is found at the DIY
store buying cleaning products. NARRATOR: On the 20th of April, a van arrived to collect carpet, a bed, and some black bags.
EMI POLITO: The suspect can be seen carrying bin bags, even though the footage is at night, it's a bad quality.
NARRATOR: When the search history was cross-referenced with CCTV footage and card purchases,
a gruesome picture began to emerge. VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: We also know that the perpetrator
was looking for a circular saw. We can actually see a person delivering a big box
to the suspect's address that could actually be including the circular saw she purchased.
NARRATOR: The pathologist's report confirmed the body parts found in the suitcases were
dismembered with a circular saw. And police determined through DNA analysis that the dismembered corpse was Phoenix Netts.
If you picture dismembering someone, the intense emotional, visceral, sort of gut reaction to that
is that is the worst thing I can possibly think of doing. And so we assume that someone who has gone through
with dismembering a body must also have felt that way as they were butchering up the body.
But in reality, what we know is that people often see dead bodies no longer as human beings.
Arguably correctly, because they are dead. But they see them as a problem to be solved.
They see them as evidence, and so that evidence needs to be gotten rid of somehow.
NARRATOR: On closer inspection, detectives felt the messages sent from Phoenix's phone
after the 16th of April didn't add up. VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: Another very interesting piece
of evidence is this message saying, "Feel free to reach me by email" because obviously
email is far more impersonal. You don't have to speak to anyone, and anyone can send an email pretending to be Phoenix.
That's when they realize Phoenix is not using her phone anymore and someone else has her phone.
CORAL DANDO: It's not unknown to use the victim's phone to send out text messages, to send out information to deceive
the outside world, to suggest that that person is still alive, and that's clearly what's happened here.
In a lot of the cases I've seen recently, people have at some point pretended to text
on behalf of somebody else or they've sent an email lying about their whereabouts
or the victim's whereabouts. And it's usually to buy themselves more time and to fake that this person is
alive for some period of time. [TENSE MUSIC] NARRATOR: As well as impersonating Phoenix in text
messages, a voice altering app was used to send voice notes to Phoenix's family and friends.
EMI POLITO: Of course, these apps can be used in various different ways, and we can see here they can be used for criminal purposes
as well. COLIN ROBINSON: Nowadays you don't need to be a tech genius to create a deepfake.
There's plenty of apps available you can download to your phone or your laptop. They can just capture somebody's voice using a machine
and they can get them to say things they never said. NARRATOR: Colin Robinson is an expert
in audio forensics at Liverpool John Moores University. He's examined audio evidence from some
of the most high-profile cases. COLIN ROBINSON: A deepfake is a computerized representation of
a person's voice or their face. All our voices have very special nuances. The thing is, if you distill it down to numbers, which is what
a computer does, you can manipulate those numbers and then put in those nuances that weren't there before.
When we use a phone, our expectations of the quality is quite low, isn't it? We know that it's not quite the voice that we're hearing.
It's a representation of the voice because of the quality of the microphone and the phone
itself. This is where the criminal can take advantage. The police really have to be on their toes to be sure they
know what they're looking at. NARRATOR: When audio evidence appears suspicious, Colin has to look for clues to show
the audio has been manipulated. COLIN ROBINSON: Now to the untrained eye, this may look normal.
But to the trained eye, they will notice that this line here and this line here indicates an edit.
And what that means is a piece of audio has been taken out and it's been cut together and spliced together.
So when we're analyzing audio files, these are just some of the things that we will look for to see whether the audio has
been manipulated. NARRATOR: All the fake audio and text messages sent from Phoenix's phone meant her disappearance went
undetected. In the coming days, there is a lot of CCTV footage collected relating to the suspect.
Leaving her house, cycling about, taking the train. The whole pattern of her movements
and how she's moving around the city and the area in general is looking very chaotic.
NARRATOR: Meticulous analysis of Gareeca's phone records and thousands of hours of CCTV footage
showed regular trips to the Forest of Dean, 70 miles from Birmingham, despite early lockdown
restrictions. Just 11 days after the night of the murder on April 16, CCTV revealed another mistake.
What is really telling is her visit to a police station. She goes in. She's asking for a charger for a particular brand of phone,
but then hands in another brand of phone. The police officer here is actually telling the suspect
that she's given the wrong brand of phone for the charger she asked. She takes out a different phone and hands it in to get charged,
and takes the other phone. She has two mobile phones. NARRATOR: Strong evidence that Gareeca
had Phoenix's phone all along. And the most crucial piece of evidence was also captured on CCTV.
But we also have footage in the daylight of the suspect carrying suitcases. NARRATOR: But at this stage, it became
clear dismemberment wasn't considered enough to destroy the evidence of the crime.
Gareeca was then caught on camera buying fuel and a gas canister in Gloucestershire.
VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: We have seen from her internet searches that she's actually looking
of ways to dispose of the body. Now we have evidence of her getting petrol in order to achieve that.
NARRATOR: That night, Gareeca was found with two suitcases containing charred body parts.
CORAL DANDO: Seems very much by the truncated, short, sharp responses that she gives to the police officers'
questions that she hadn't expected to have to give an account. She'll be paddling really hard cognitively
to try and discourage that police officer or the police officers from accessing, opening the suitcase,
which she clearly knows have got body parts in them. And once that's been accessed, the game is over.
VASILEIOS KARAGIANNOPOULOS: Body worn cameras, CCTV footage, the home surveillance cameras, the text messages,
the internet history, we have a puzzle of information that the investigators can put together
and create a very thorough and strong case to convict the suspect. NARRATOR: The driver of the vehicle
was released without charge, but Gareeca Gordon was comprehensively caught on camera.
She pleaded guilty to Phoenix's murder at Bristol Crown Court on the 21st of April, 2021.
She was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years. She planned this murder meticulously, it would seem.
And certainly after the murder was committed, where it was carried out was cleaned.
The body was dismembered, and she'd clearly thought about how she was going to dispose of Phoenix's body.
In England and Wales in the year ending 2020, fewer than 7% of the homicides were perpetrated by women.
The vast majority of women who kill, kill an abusive partner. So they're either killing as a form of self-defense
or they're killing someone who, after many, many years of abuse, they've taken revenge on.
It's very rare for women to kill other women. It's also very rare for women to kill someone
who they don't know intimately. [SOFT MUSIC] Remote, rural home surveillance was crucial.
If police officers hadn't been alerted to a suspicious car driving during lockdown, they wouldn't
have come across Gareeca near isolated Woodland with the suitcases, and Phoenix's murder
may never have been solved. [THUD] [STATIC] [THEME MUSIC]

When a West Virginia high schooler goes missing in 2019, her family fears the worst when police uncover bloodstains in her bedroom. As they search for the missing teen, suspicious texts that were sent right before her disappearance lead police to believe that the perpetrator could be someone who was under the same roof as Riley.

And in the UK, during the COVID-19 pandemic police stop a vehicle that is driving within a restricted area. When they begin to question the driver and the luggage in her possession, they are left appalled upon opening the suitcase and by what they discover inside.

===============

Killers Caught On Camera is a brand new true-crime series with a voyeuristic twist: video footage from home security cameras, CCTV, and dashcams take center-stage, helping detectives catch perpetrators in moments of criminal intent to acts of pure evil. Family members of victims and law enforcement provide first-hand accounts of how these chilling events unfold while experts like Criminal Psychologist Dr. Julia Shaw dissect the darkest corners of the mind.

=============== 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

Riley Crossman and Phoenix Netts' murders highlight the critical role of surveillance footage in solving crimes.

Key points

The Disappearance of Riley Crossman. On May 7, 2019, 15-year-old Riley Crossman goes missing, sparking a frantic search.
The Discovery of Blood. Investigators find blood in Riley's bedroom, raising alarms about her fate.
CCTV Footage Leads to Breakthrough. Surveillance cameras capture crucial evidence of Andy's movements on the day Riley went missing.
Final Messages. Riley's last texts to her boyfriend reveal she was scared and in danger.
Conviction of Andy McCauley. Andy McCauley is convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Suspicious Vehicle Leads to Investigation. A concerned citizen reports a strange car during lockdown, leading to a major investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was the sister my age that I never got.

A friend reflecting on her bond with Riley.

1:55WatchMar 9, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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