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When your sister, Aniah, dropped you off that evening, she did indicate that she would give you
a call when she got home, correct? Yes, sir, she did. And >> [music] >> Pure hell.
It's just the worst feeling ever to not know where your child is. I mean, we were doing everything we
could as parents in that moment to try to find her. 19-year-old [music] Aniah Blanchard
disappeared last week. >> Aniah Blanchard was reported missing 11 days ago. There has been no trace of her
since Blanchard is the stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris. Walt >> [groaning]
>> Harris! When she was missing, fighting was the furthest thing from my mind at that
point. >> [snorts] >> We just want our daughter home. We want our family If you have any information,
please, [music] please come forward. I was almost a shell of myself. You know, honestly, I didn't even know if
I'd fight again. But she always was the one that was like, "Don't stop." That's it. Keep pushing.
You know, keep pushing, keep pushing. I know it's hard. Everything for me moving forward is
about making her proud. I'mma always fight for my baby girl. She was a very happy girl that loved
[music] life. Very loving and giving. She always [music] put others before herself.
People could just really tell like that she had something about her that was special.
There's nothing in my mind other than finding Aniah. You don't sleep, you don't eat, you're
constantly thinking about where she is, what has happened. And it does not go away.
We were just trying [music] to keep each other sane to so we could keep moving forward.
So, it was a constant go, go, go. We're not stopping. [music] Aniah, I love you, and your mommy is not
going to give up till I find you. We're going to bring you home, Aniah. You're coming home, so don't worry.
>> [music] [music] >> I had Aniah on my birthday, June 22nd. That was just going to be something so
special in life for she and I to share the same birthday. >> [laughter] >> Her laugh,
infectious. Her spirit, irrepressible. Aniah Blanchard was just 19 when she vanished.
Her vibrant presence replaced by the terrifying silence of her absence. Aniah's mother, Angela Harris.
She just embraced people. She just loved people. You would walk in, and no matter how you
felt, how down you were, she could pick you up. Aniah's stepfather, UFC heavyweight Walt Harris,
was a rising star ranked ninth in the world in the fall of 2019. He says Aniah constantly inspired him.
You know, after wins, we celebrate. If it's a loss, she'd always pick me up, and she was always that rock, that voice
that kept me going. Aniah grew up in Homewood, Alabama, near Birmingham. Go Tigers!
It's practically local folklore that after every school softball game, >> [music]
>> Aniah invited the opposing team to join hers on the pitcher's mound to share high fives
>> [music] >> and the Lord's Prayer. And even if we lost, the other team lost, no matter
what, no hard feelings. >> [music] >> I think that was her whole thing. This is a way to connect people. Longtime
friend Hannah Crocker met Aniah in the sixth grade. She was [music] one of those people that
just wanted to make sure that, "Hey, you're doing okay? If not, let me help you out." Did folks ever think that you
two might be boyfriend and girlfriend? All the time. Is this your girlfriend? I'm like, "No,
this is my sister." [music] They were nearly inseparable, says Aniah's older brother, [music] Elijah
We grew up, you know, 17 months apart. We were always together, and she even followed me to college. Elijah headed
off to Auburn University in 2017. Aniah enrolled at nearby [music] Southern Union State Community College a year
later, finding an apartment just minutes from [music] her brother. I would call her every morning.
Um Sorry, it just got rough sometimes. Uh October 23rd, 2019, Aniah, Elijah, and
their mom, Angela, attended the funeral of a family friend in northern Alabama. Immediately after the service, the
siblings had to leave. Both had to work [music] the next morning back in Auburn,
185 miles away. She looked over at me. She said, "Hey, Mom, we really need to leave now because
it's getting late." I said, "Yeah, you're right. It's It's 7:00. You've got a 4-hour drive." And then she hugged me,
and I kissed her on the cheek, and I told her I loved her. Driving right past Birmingham, Aniah and
Elijah made a pit stop at home to see their stepfather, Walt. Three? He was training for his next fight.
That's one. Go. I didn't ever call them step kids. They were my children. It's just the way I saw it. You know, I
loved them like my own. The children's biological father, Elijah Blanchard Sr., a local pastor and
businessman, remained a close presence in their lives. He and Angela divorced in 2004.
Soon, she started dating Walt Harris. And then he met Aniah and Elijah Jr. for the first time.
You came into her life around age 3. [music] Tell us about how that bonding process
went. I think it started day one. Man, we did everything together. It was beautiful for me to watch their
bond grow over the years. They loved me like they knew me their whole lives. >> [music]
>> We just felt like a little family. Walt and Angela made it official, getting married in January 2010.
They eventually had two children of their own, Asa and Ayla. He was with them more than I was because I worked a
lot. Angela, a pediatric emergency room nurse, worked nights at a Birmingham hospital. So, it was Aniah who helped
Walt with the younger children. It was me and Aniah. She helped me basically raise her little brother and sister.
Coming from a strong Christian background, I wanted to be a good influence in their lives.
The kids certainly look up to their dad. At 6'5", 250 lb, Walt Harris has been a
towering presence in their lives. Walt! And in the bruising octagon cage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the UFC.
Man, everything he throws is hard. Win, lose, or draw, Walt's family has always been in his corner. My family's
always been the reason why I fight, and they've always been the reason why I get
back up. And Aniah, she was the main catalyst for that. After the funeral, Aniah and Elijah's
visit with Walt [music] was all too short. A brief talk, a long hug, and they were
back on the road to Auburn, still about 2 hours away. When they left, Walt says he was left
with a growing sense of regret. >> [sighs] >> I struggle with it every day. Um I should have just told them to stay cuz
I felt like she was tired. I remember she said, uh "No, I'm fine. That I'll I'll be fine." Man, I hugged her, and I
told her I love her, and that was it. They made the drive without incident, arriving in Auburn around 11:00 p.m.
Aniah dropped off Elijah at his apartment. So, I just said, "I love you. Be careful, and just make sure you get home
safe." So, at 11:09 p.m., I texted her and said, "Are you close to being home?" She responded right back, "Yeah."
Aniah's college roommate, Sara O'Brien. She always let me know where she was at and when she would be home.
We actually shared each other's location on our iPhone. That's because, Sara says, Aniah had a deep-rooted fear.
Since the day I met Aniah, she always told me that that was her biggest fear to be kidnapped or murdered.
Like, as soon as she walked in, she would check every room. She would tell me multiple times, like,
she had nightmares about it happening to her. You don't She really never went anywhere
by herself at night. But that night, after dropping off her brother, she was alone with just 3 miles to go.
That's how far away she and Sara lived from Elijah. 3 miles, normally a 10-minute drive.
But nearly 30 minutes later, Aniah had not come home. Sara texted again. Did you go out without me?
About a minute later, came the reply. I'm smoking a blunt, lol. It was the word blunt, Sara says, that stopped her.
She had never heard Aniah use it. I said, "Who are you smoking with?" "Eric." I say, "Who is that?"
"I just met him." And I responded with, "Where?" It was 11:43 p.m. There would not be another response.
Sara checked her cell phone one last time for Aniah's location. She appeared to be at a nearby apartment
complex where lots of students lived. Sara went to bed, she says, thinking Aniah was hanging out with friends.
The next morning, October 24th, [music] Angela Harris took her children to school and reached out to Aniah to talk.
It was their early morning ritual. We FaceTimed every morning. That was kind of our thing, like, "Good morning.
What are you doing? What do you got to plan for the day?" So, when I called her at 8:00 a.m. and she didn't answer the
FaceTime, I thought, "Okay, well, you know, she's busy, so I'll give her a little bit longer." Sara was eager to
hear about Eric, the mystery man Aniah met [music] the night before. She went straight to Aniah's bedroom.
And she wasn't there. She would always come home. She wouldn't spend the night with anyone she just
met. Sara glanced at her cell phone, looking for Aniah's latest location, but there was none.
>> [music] >> Aniah's phone had gone dark. When did concern turn to worry for you,
Sara? When I called her, the lady that she baby-sat for, and she hadn't shown up that morning
because she never misses a day to baby-sit those kids. She loved them. She was like a mother to my kids.
Corinna Thomas, the working mother who depended on Aniah, said she was the most reliable nanny she ever had. Amazing. I
don't I don't [laughter] know how else to explain it. Like, every good quality that you want in a
person, she had. Like, every everything. She never once never once >> [music] >> didn't show up to take care of those
kids. And that's when I hopped in the car to look for Aniah's car. The longer I drove, the more worried I
got. I didn't see any trace of her at all. Sara decided to get Aniah's brother and
take a second look. Her roommate calls me and tells me that Aniah never even came home last night.
Aniah's missing. And then I told him what she said about Eric, that she was with him.
And he was like, "No, she didn't tell me anything about that." And my heart kind of just sank.
And this was completely out of her character. This isn't Aniah. Aniah wouldn't have run away.
Immediately, I called my parents and was like, "Uh Aniah's missing." And he says, "Mom,
we can't find Aniah." And I said, "Son, what are you talking about? You can't find her." Like, he said, "No, Mom, I'm
I'm in her apartment, and we can't find Aniah." Immediately alarmed, Angela and Walt took off for Aniah's apartment,
two excruciating hours away. We just got in his truck and just flew to Auburn. All types of things are going through
our head. What's happened? What's going on in Pure Hell? Walt, how did you process all
of this when you found out that your daughter was missing? That drive to Auburn was uh
the hardest the hardest day I've ever been through in my life, because I knew something wasn't right.
Elijah decided to check with Corinna Thomas again. Maybe Aniah showed up. I wasn't worried until
um until her brother messaged me. Hey, I'm Aniah's brother. I was wondering if you heard from my sister
today. No, I haven't. I called her a bunch of times this morning, and she missed
picking up the kids this morning. Yes, I'm at her apartment right now. We have been looking everywhere for her and
can't find her. And Aniah never left her dog, Blue, alone overnight. That was her [music]
baby. We just knew when we got to her apartment that, "Wait, there there's something really bad wrong here." Word
quickly spread to Aniah's friends. And I was like, "What I was just talking to her last night. What are you talking
about? I mean, I live 3 hours away from her." I was like, "I don't know where she is." Hannah Crocker dropped
everything and headed to Aniah's apartment. >> Once it was 24 hours, I was like,
"That's not Aniah." In my heart, I was like, "She's a female. Something happened."
Yeah, Auburn is a college town, >> [music] >> and it's a very safe place. Former Lee County District Attorney,
Brandon Hughes. This from the very beginning just felt differently, you know, based on the information we had.
It just didn't feel like this was a college student who decided to leave and blow off some steam. That just [music]
wasn't her personality. That's just not something she would have done. Aniah's disappearance was breaking news. Right
now, the search continues [music] for a missing 19-year-old. They're looking for
Aniah Blanchard. >> If you have any information on where she [music] is, call Auburn police. If you
have any leads on where our daughter is, Aniah Blanchard, please, please, please, go to the
authorities. Tell someone. She was last seen in a black Honda CRV 2017. Please, [music] if
you know anything, we have to have her back. We have to have her back. >> [music]
>> October 25th, with Aniah gone for 2 days, her Honda was spotted in an apartment complex in Montgomery,
Alabama, 55 miles from Auburn, and it was badly damaged. >> [music] >> Worse still, there was no sign of Aniah.
Corinna Thomas had to break the news to her children. And they said, "Aniah's missing."
And >> [snorts] >> And then they cried. And then they came up with their own plan to help find her. They got their
tablets. "Hey, Google, how many houses are in Montgomery?" And I was like, "Why are you looking
that up?" And he said, "Cuz we got to go see how many houses we have to go look for her at." They They just wanted to
find her. But nothing anyone did led to an Aniah sighting. Then a few days after she disappeared,
police discovered that after Aniah dropped off her brother, she stopped at this gas station, just 2 minutes from
her home. It's a Chevron gas station on College Street. Aniah entered the Chevron gas station
approximately 11:21 in the evening on the night of October 23rd, and she stayed there approximately a minute and
a half to 2 minutes before she left. Aniah bought a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips and a drink. That was
her thing every night, even at home growing up. She would snack right before bed.
We needed to know if anybody saw anything. What was she doing? Did she leave with anybody?
>> Investigators zeroed in on the Chevron gas station where Aniah was last seen on
video before she disappeared. They were looking for any leads to where she might be.
The community of Homewood, where she grew up, prayed for Aniah's safe return. >> [music]
[music] >> Ribbons and bows in Aniah's favorite color appeared everywhere. >> [music]
>> It has rocked us to our core. It's one of ours. Come home, Aniah. And when they weren't praying for her,
they were out trying to find her. Pretty quickly, people came together. It's like, "Hey, let's do searches here.
Let's do searches there." We would go in the woods. We would go behind people's houses. We would go
in the alleyways. We drove my truck in backwoods. We were all in people's yards. We must have
canvassed from Auburn to Tuskegee. Just me and her within the first two or three
days. The investigation quickly expanded across several counties, especially after Aniah's car was found 55 miles
away in Montgomery. You got to imagine we had there was just massive areas that we had to search.
There were dozens of agencies, state agencies, county agencies, local agencies, federal agencies, huge task
force. And reward money poured in. UFC President Dana White and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones each
contributed $25,000. It's a pain. It's a anxiety. And it's just so many emotions.
You're trying to hold hope that something positive is going to come out of it. But as the days go on, you your
hope just starts to dwindle and dwindle. Now missing eight days, hope was dealt a major blow.
Tonight, police in Auburn, Alabama, say there's evidence that a missing college student is a victim of foul play.
Evidence, you know, from within her vehicle is the reason that we are aware that, you know, she was harmed. And we
do consider this a a case where there's foul play involved. Police would not say what they found,
but Aniah's biological father, >> [music] >> Elijah Blanchard Sr., was not ready to
give up. >> That was hard for us. I'm a man of faith. And regardless of what the police
say, I still have hope that my Aniah is out there waiting on her father to get her.
Aniah's disappearance was taking more than an emotional toll on Walt Harris. He immediately canceled his upcoming
fight. Aniah was the only thing on everyone's mind. I wasn't able to focus at all. It was
chaos. There was sadness. I just wanted to be there for my family. It's like a dark abyss.
You're fighting that off. Then, after 14 days, the police announced they wanted this man.
He was seen at the gas station store at the same time Aniah was there. An eyewitness said he thought he saw him
force Aniah into her car before they drove off together. This is a person of interest.
>> Anyone who sees him is asked to call 911. Someone did. And the man the police were
looking for was not named Eric. He was Ibraheem Yazeed, a 30-year-old from Montgomery.
And he had a lengthy arrest record. He should be considered dangerous and would be potentially armed.
Police said Yazeed was charged earlier that year with kidnapping, robbery, and nearly beating a
77-year-old man to death. He was also accused of robbing and beating a second man. Despite the
serious charges, he was free on bond and had been staying in a hotel near the Chevron gas station.
How is this person free to walk into a gas station? How is he just minutes down the road from me? How is he in the same
gas station as my best friend? But he was. And that was at 11:22 p.m. Aniah's car was next seen a few minutes
later at another nearby gas station where Yazeed bought a small cigar. It would be a little more than an hour
before a license plate reader picked up Aniah's Honda near the entrance to I-85 heading south towards Montgomery.
Aniah's parents clung to hope. And they had faith that their daughter would be found alive.
They even prayed for Yazeed. You can stop now. You can You can change this. You can let her go. God will forgive
you. Police captured Yazeed the following day hiding in the woods 145 miles away in
another state. Police say he did not surrender peacefully. 30-year-old Ibraheem Yazeed was arrested
overnight in Florida on the charge of kidnapping in the first degree. Yazeed appeared in a Florida court the next day
with a swollen left eye. And court documents finally revealed what police found in the car.
It was blood and a lot of it. >> Court documents today say blood that was discovered in Aniah Blanchard's car was,
quote, "indicative of someone suffering a life-threatening injury." Yazeed waived extradition to Lee County,
Alabama, where Angela and Walt Harris would be waiting, hoping to find out where their daughter
was. Do you think someone accused of kidnapping should be allowed out on bond? Chat now on Facebook Index.
The Harrises were committed to facing Yazeed whenever he appeared in court. And each time
felt like the first time. As a father, as a guy, I'm imagining as well what might have been coursing through your
[music] veins. Then you see him, Mr. Yazeed, looking back at you guys. Anger. I remember shaking. I don't want
to climb across the the barricade. It made me really angry cuz he was just kind of smug. Like, "You You You're
tough. I'm tough, too." You know, like he was challenging me almost. It took all of Walt's training in the
ring and Angela's steady hand to keep him from ripping into Yazeed. She grabbed me. And she said, "Just
breathe." And I just started trying to hear her voice because I could not I wouldn't
take my eyes off of him. Like, "Okay, who's going to look away first?" type of deal.
Angela, how did you stay composed? I wanted him to know that I'm representing my daughter.
And that I'm not going anywhere. We're right here. And we're going to fight this all the way through. Yazeed
maintained his innocence. And the burden to find Aniah [music] mounted. Everybody was on edge because there's a
lot of pressure. There's pressure to to I'm the slow girl. >> [music] >> Angela and Walt Harris publicized their
daughter's disappearance on Dr. Phil. I love you, baby girl. Um we're looking for you. Um we're doing
everything that we can. And we're going to get you. I promise. And they're on television.
You're doing everything you can. But up to this point, it hasn't been enough. By then, the DA, Angela, and Walt had
grown close. If you want to call up, get frustrated and yell at me for an hour, cry with me for an hour,
I'm there. And that's what we were doing. A month after Aniah went missing, the DA
had news. Authorities now believed that this man, Antoine Fisher, who once served time for
murder, helped Yazeed dispose of evidence. He was charged with kidnapping. He soon cooperated providing
a road map to Aniah. Aniah's remains were located in Macon County, Alabama, which is
between Auburn and Montgomery. Obviously, we didn't know to a 100% certainty that that's who it was. You
know, there were several items of clothing out there. I saw a boot. I took a photograph of it. Hughes asked
the Harrises to meet at the DA's office. And they don't know why they're there. I showed the Harrises the photograph.
The Sorel boots, like this one, were a gift from Walt when the family visited New York City. Walt looked at the bone.
He just drops it on the table and said, "Y'all excuse me." My wife had come up there and she was
come up the back stairwell. She said she saw Walt just punching the wall. I mean, this is
a concrete wall. He's screaming and just punching this wall. That's hard. Talk about a parent's worst nightmare
when her body was found. Immediately, I just wanted to actually know if I could see my child.
I just want to see her. Um you know, we were told no. I just didn't want to go on anymore.
Walt broken confused >> [gasps] >> angry Um I just wanted to know why and what happened.
Hughes and the police returned to the woods to search for more evidence. Just literally crawling on hands and
knees looking for evidence, looking for anything that we could find. And what they found helped the Harrises finally
learn what happened to their beloved Aniah. How would you react if you came face-to-face with your loved one's
suspected killer? Take an in-depth look at the case at 48hours.com. A blood-soaked passenger seat.
A bullet hole in the door. The evidence tells a story of what happened to Aniah that night.
Investigators aren't certain how Yazid ended up inside the car with Aniah. Did he ask for a ride? Did he force her?
But the damage outside suggests [music] there was a struggle at some point as the car was moving.
Investigators say Yazid shot Aniah as she tried to escape. Aniah Blanchard was killed in a manner
of homicide. Cause of death was a gunshot wound. Was your faith shaken? Rocked? To have
our angel taken like that. I didn't know why God would allow it. But Walt ultimately found comfort in his faith.
It brought me back. It's helped me understand that God didn't do this. And on December 2nd, 2019 Aniah's murder
>> then District Attorney Hughes announced the person responsible was Ibrahim Yazid.
He was now being charged with capital murder. We're also seeking the death penalty.
Two days later, the Harrises were in [music] court when Yazid fought back. I got a right to do. But y'all have no
video, no audio of me shooting anyone. >> [clears throat] >> That's why I'm trying to see how y'all
going to find me over on hearsay, but y'all ain't presenting no evidence. Yazid seemed pleased when he was done.
The attitude, the smirks, the the looks. Wow. But maybe the most damning evidence
against Yazid comes from Antoine Fisher. Remember, he was facing charges of helping Yazid. Those charges were
dropped. Fisher told police that just hours after Aniah disappeared, Yazid showed up in Montgomery looking for
help. And he was driving what looked like Aniah's black Honda. Fisher said he followed Yazid to an
apartment complex. The same complex where police would find Aniah's Honda. Yazid then got into the truck Fisher was
driving, says lead detective Josh Mixon. They ended up behind a church near a cemetery. And when he looked in the
rearview mirror, he saw Yazid dragging something wrapped in a comforter. It appeared to be two legs. He dragged
it in the woods, come back, got in the vehicle. And he said, "Tell me that's not a body." Fisher says Yazid told him
he shot a girl, {quote} "when she went for the gun." Wow, it's indescribable how
someone could actually do those things to my beautiful daughter. And um so traumatizing to think about what she
went through. And hearing it in great detail it was painful. And then the Harrises would learn that
Yazid, in addition to being charged with nearly beating an elderly man to death,
was also being charged with shooting two other people the year before he's accused of killing Aniah.
What would you like to see happen? Justice. Definitely justice. I want justice for my daughter. But justice has
been delayed. The pandemic has slowed all of Yazid's criminal cases and his lawyer declined to be interviewed.
Walt, who had considered ending his career, found inspiration when Aniah came to him in a dream. She was sitting
in our living room. And there was just a beam of light on her. And she had her arms out. And I
hugged her and she said, "Keep going." And I just woke up like with a renewed figure. I
felt fresh. >> One. Two. Three. Keep pushing. Four. Inspired by Aniah Walt Harris bravely returned to
the ring. Incredibly, a fight was scheduled for October 24th. The anniversary of Aniah's
murder. When he first told me, I said, "Are you sure?" He said, "I'm sure." And so I
knew how important that this was to him and how important that this would be to her, to Aniah, and that she would want
him to do it. Walt flew to Abu Dhabi and spent two weeks in quarantine training in a hotel.
We love you, Aniah. Angela, meanwhile, remained home caring for their family. I miss her so bad. And holding a vigil the
night before [music] Walt's fight marking the anniversary for the last time they saw Aniah alive.
Your daddy's about to fight for you. The following day, the Harrises were on the
edge of their seats to watch Walt fight halfway AROUND THE WORLD. >> [cheering] [applause]
>> PERHAPS HARRIS PLAYING POSSUM A little bit. Walt started out strong. >> This Harris attacks the body
and now goes up top. But in an instant, the fight was over. Walt's actually grabbing his stomach. In
retrospect, Walt told us he needed more mental strength. He returned home and a few days later,
he released all that pent-up emotion. He just broke down and fell out on the floor crying.
And through all of her pain, Angela found her new calling. She started a non-profit
Aniah's Heart to teach safety and help search for missing people. I've done group sessions for education. I just did
one with some sophomores from Aniah's high school, a group of like 20 girls, teaching them about education and
safety. It was amazing. >> This is a a must. We have to have this law. It And she's campaigning for
Aniah's Law. A bill which, if enacted, allows judges to deny bond to serious violent
offenders. >> You have people committing multiple violent crimes and they just get out on
bond. It it's it's just not okay. I know one thing that I will not stop fighting for her.
Around Christmas 2019, nearly 2,000 people came together to celebrate [music] Aniah's life.
That beautiful smile she had, it could just light up a room. >> [music] >> Aniah was like when you looked at her in
her eyes, the way the way she made you feel. She [music] made you feel like she was okay.
We will miss you. We are so happy you were our >> [music] >> Aniah has been my best friend since I
met her in sixth grade. She'll be with the best memories ever, of course. She was a leader.
She would put people first even when she was sad or needed anything. I love you, Aniah. You are truly my
sunshine on rainy days. All of this stuff is true. She was really, truly [music] a special human
being. December 21st, 2019 [music] will be forever known as Aniah Blanchard Day in the city of Homewood, Alabama.
>> [music] [applause] [music] [applause] >> Where's Mom? I called her phone and it went straight
to voicemail. I've never seen my mom not answer her phone. [music] Where are you?
What are you doing? No response. Something's not right. Something wasn't right. My name is Zach Bock. I am
Raquel. My mom was Dee Warner. Dee was my mom. Raquel called me. She was at Mom's house
and she couldn't find her. Her cars were there. She wasn't there. There's no chance that she would not
drive the Escalade to wherever the hell she was going. Not my sister. [music] My mom was a very bubbly, outgoing
person. She made you laugh. There wasn't a day that I was in the office where we
weren't laughing. She's a very, very good businesswoman. She's [music] very smart. She could be very tough. You
didn't want to be on her bad side. >> [laughter] >> She was good sister-in-law. She spoke
the truth. You knew where you stood with her. >> She was always done up. Her nails were
done. Her hair was [music] done. Her eyelashes were done. Always ready to go and beautiful.
We reported her missing at night, Sunday night. Are you Dale? That's right. And your wife is missing? Well, I don't
know if she's missing or if she just left. That was not unusual for your mom to pack her bags and disappear for a day,
right? >> Right. This isn't the first time she's done this, guys. Why is this so
different? Because nobody knew where she was at. I don't know. I think I'm until
another day goes by as far as I'm concerned. I'm not You're not alarmed yet. I began searching and searching.
>> We were running around >> looking at all the credit cards to see if there was a charge on it.
>> Dee Warner hasn't been seen since late April. She's just a mess that day. A complete
mess. Hyperventilating and throwing up and crying. The FBI searched Warner's Franklin
Township property. They've looked everywhere. >> 5 6 700 acres. We all went on foot.
The first year was a struggle. Authorities say they are constantly following up on tips. It's been more
than two years since Dee Warner's disappearance. There's not a day since she left that I don't wonder what
happened to her. When you're driving through here, are you still wondering where Dee is? Yeah, you know, sort of
haunts you. She was reported missing more than three years ago. She never would have left
like this, never. Never. Never. When do you miss [music] your mother the most? When life gets hard.
Do you think Dee Warner was murdered? >> Yes. Wholeheartedly. Absolutely. We had been struggling because everybody
said you don't have a body. You don't have a [music] body. I know a no body homicide is very hard. Maybe you'll find
the body. Maybe you won't. But don't sit around waiting for Santa Claus to come.
You got to solve this case. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> I remember riding my [music] bike around
there, riding the four-wheelers around there, just being a kid. That was where I I grew up. So, it's home. It'll always
be home to me. But, it's home in a different way now. It was Sunday, April 25th, 2021. A spring morning in the
farmland of Lenawee County, Michigan. Raquel Bock drove the short distance from her house to her childhood home for
her weekly breakfast with her mother, Dee Warner. Sundays we would go to my mom's first thing. Raquel says that when
her mom was not there and not answering calls or texts, it just didn't feel right. If my mom could glue her phone to
her hand, she would. If I didn't respond to a text message in 5 minutes, I was getting another one. Hello. One of Dee's
cars, a Hummer, was parked at the farm office just down the road. What about your mother's car that she drove all the
time, the Cadillac? >> It was parked in the garage. So, all your mother's cars are there?
Yes. [music] And she's not responding to any kind of calls or texts? >> No. The fertilizer sprayer, usually parked
in a barn, was gone. And Raquel's stepfather, Dale Warner, was out on it working. Was that normal? Yeah. It was
pretty normal for him to work any day, any time of day. >> [music] >> Raquel went down the road to Dee's
brother, Greg, and his wife, Shelley's house. She said, "We can't find her." And I'm like, "What do you mean you
can't find her?" They said, "Her car's here. We have called everybody. We don't know where she's at." First thing I did
was call her number. If she was somewhere, she would answer my phone call. And then I texted her.
And did you >> Raquel and her aunt, Shelley, went driving to look for Dee. They returned
to her house with only more questions. There were blankets [music] laying on the couch and tissues. Tissues
everywhere. Everywhere there was these tissues. They looked upstairs in the bedroom and
bathroom for clues. Her makeup bag was gone. Her curling iron and all of that stuff was gone. Later, they learned
Dee's phone and passport were missing, too. The feeling that I had in my stomach was nothing but fear.
Zach Bock, another of Dee's four children from her first marriage, soon came over to join the search. He went
down to the farm office to look for any sign of his mom. There's cameras here in
the office. I'll look at the cameras. There was a security camera inside the office and a few more outside. I never
saw her walk to the office. I never saw her drive a vehicle. I didn't see her. And there was something else out of the
ordinary. Their 9-year-old sister, Lena, Dee and Dale's only child together, had
stayed at her cousin's house the night before and Dee hadn't yet called or come to get her.
Lena went everywhere with my mom. They were very, very close. And would she ever leave Lena behind with Dale? Never.
I called my siblings. We met up at my house and we called the sheriff's department.
By now, it was late in the day on Sunday and the Lenawee County Sheriff's Office
sent a deputy to talk to Dale. The conversation was recorded on a body camera. I am Deputy of Lenawee County
Sheriff's Office. How are you, sir? Good. This and other body cam footage has been adjusted at times for clarity.
She was sleeping on the couch. Dale told police he had last seen Dee that morning
before he went out to work. And then this morning 6:00 I got up and you know, she was snoring away. I text
her and she didn't answer, so I figured, well, she's still sleeping. Dale seemed
to believe his wife was alive and well and that she left intentionally. Well, her hair curler was gone,
her hair dryer was gone, the makeup bag was gone. I went in and seen all that stuff gone.
I was real concerned. He said she might be using another phone. I told the other
kids she's got a second phone. Do you even have the phone number? No, it's a secret phone that she doesn't know that
I know she has it. Dale also told police that Dee had been upset and suffering from a migraine the night before after
an argument with two of her employees. I think all last night she was really upset.
She was talking to bad things as far as employees and one employee decided to quit.
We got three different businesses here, so the tensions are high all the time. Dale and Dee ran three main businesses
from their farm. Zach was their bookkeeper. My mom ran essentially the office for all three
businesses. There was a trucking business with about 15 employees that Dee managed. She always referred to it
as her trucking business. And there was the farm itself and a chemical company that sold fertilizer and seed. Which was
the most successful? Which did the best? 100% the trucking company. [music] Stephanie Vogel worked for Dale and Dee
and describes Dee as a good business person, tough, generous and hard working. But Raquel says that running that
trucking business was not easy for Dee. I know that she had a hard time getting respect from some of the farmers because
she was a woman and younger and pretty. Dale told police that conflict between Dee and their employees was nothing new.
She ran all the vacations and quite a few of them. She's pretty wired, if you know my wife.
I I don't know, but she's in your face and tell you how it is. On Saturday, the day before she went
missing, Dee had texted Stephanie asking her [music] how to block the driver who
had quit from the company's Facebook page. I told her how to do it. That was at 4:34.
On Saturday afternoon, April 24th. Yep. And then at 4:44 I said, "Did you tell Zach?"
At 7:43 I said, "How are you?" And she never answered. That's the very last time you ever heard
from Dee Warner. Dee's sister-in-law, Shelly, wondered if the pressures [music] had just become too much for Dee. You're
thinking at that point she might have taken her life? I did. We were worried because of
everyone's report of her emotional behavior. She had been upset and had an argument on Friday and Saturday. The
crescendo was building up. There might have been a breaking point. Can you think of a day when no one knew
where your mother was? A full day? No. After hearing nothing from Dee Warner, some of those closest to her feared she
may have harmed herself. And they noticed that Dale, her husband, didn't seem very worried. She will cool
off and come back home. Dale had told police that Dee, when upset, had a history of spending the
night elsewhere. So I called her back, so somebody picked her up. And he said he thought she might come
back eventually. I mean, I don't know what else to do other than wait a day or so and see what she she shows up.
But the sheriff's office did not wait for Dee to show up. They came out on Monday and Tuesday to conduct interviews
and search the property. On Thursday, four days after Dee disappeared, they searched the farm
again and Dale agreed to talk to them at length at the kitchen table. This started on Saturday morning.
Dale now told investigators that he and Dee had had a fight on Saturday. He said
she had accused him of talking about her behind her back to the employees she had
fought with, which Dale denied. Did she hang up the phone? And I had no more contact with her the rest of the day. I
tried calling her several times and she wouldn't answer. He said he didn't talk to Dee again
until [music] that evening at home when their fight continued. She says, "You don't care about me.
Nobody cares about me. What does it matter if I'm even here?" Dale and Dee had been partners in life
and business since they started their first company together in 2005, the year before they got married. Was
this a love match? Did you feel that way? >> No. She had a desire for success. Yes. I believe that's what her
attraction was. I really do. They weren't an obvious pair. Dee's family [music] and friends say she
loved to have fun, dress up, go out and dance. Dale, they say, just seemed to work a
lot. I don't know what she seen in him. I really don't. He doesn't like to do things with her.
I went on a cruise with her because he didn't want to go. Dale was fairly quiet, kind of distant from all
of us kids. When he did communicate, it was usually he kind of like to poke at people where he knew what hurt the
worst. Raquel says Dale helped feed Dee's insecurities. I don't think she ever felt
good enough. Like she felt like she had to prove constantly everything in her life, her
looks, her her money, her businesses, everything. Dee's family later learned she had been
having an affair. It didn't surprise them, they said, given the state of her marriage. But police say her affair
partner was out of town the weekend she went missing and could not have had anything to do with the case.
A week after her disappearance, Dee's brother, Greg, organized a search of the land around her home. We all went on
foot and we walked a probably 5 6 700 acres. Wow. We we came up with zero. By now, Dee's family was growing
suspicious of Dale. On the day Dee [music] went missing, Dale told each of them what happened,
but they say they all heard slightly different versions. She had a bad migraine headache.
She was laying on the floor. He gave her a massage. She went to sleep. He picked
her up and put her on the couch about 12:30. He got up about 6:00, 6:30. He left, but
she was snoring on the couch. Zach says Dale told him he had had a fight with Dee. He said that they had a
really big fight the night before. But Raquel says Dale told her the fight was no big deal. He said that they had a
little fight the night before >> [music] >> and she was all mad and she won't answer
him now. And there was another odd detail in the story Dale told Dee's family and police
that Sunday. The only thing that's really strange, too, is this time she put her wedding ring in my desk.
Yeah, she's never done that before. Raquel, Zach and Greg all say he showed them that ring on Sunday, too.
Seeming to offer it as proof that Dee had left intentionally and maybe for good.
But Greg says that ring is worth [music] as much as $40,000 and leaving it behind didn't sound like
Dee. That's not my sister. Not only would she not give him the wedding ring back, she probably would
have thrown a Molotov cocktail in the house on her way out. As time passed, the family's suspicions
that Dale had harmed his wife only grew. About 6 weeks after Dee went missing, Greg says he confronted Dale about how
he thought the investigation was progressing. I asked him point-blank, "Dale, what do you think about your wife
who's still missing? She just disappeared into thin air?" And he said to me, "Well, it it could be
a little faster, but I think they're doing a good job." And that's when I I told him. I said,
"You know what? You're a liar." And uh and I told him, "I'll get you." You told him that? Yeah.
But believing Dale had something to do [music] with Dee's disappearance was very different from being able to prove
it. The Michigan State Police and the FBI helped the county sheriff conduct a large-scale search of their properties
again in October. But there was still no sign of Dee, alive or dead. We had been struggling
because everybody said you don't have a body, you don't have a body. In February 2022,
10 months after Dee had gone missing, Shelly was watching an episode of 48 Hours featuring an investigator named
Billy Little. You don't have a body, so what? You don't get to get away with murder because you're good at disposing
of bodies. And so I thought, oh my gosh, I I got to have Greg see this. So he watched it. And immediately when he said
that, he said, get me that guy's number. Every time you go by here, does it hurt
a little bit? >> It it hurts a lot every time. Greg Hardy was convinced Dale Warner was
behind his sister's disappearance. Did she love living here? She did. Although the sheriff's office had
conducted at least seven searches and interviewed Dale several times, Greg was growing impatient by what he saw as
a lack of progress. Authorities, says Greg, told him that without a body, it would be difficult to
charge Dale with murder, >> [music] >> which is why Greg called Billy Little. Maybe you'll find the body, maybe you
won't, but don't sit around and wait for Santa Claus to come. You got to solve this case.
Missouri-based attorney and investigator Billy Little made his first trip to Lenawee County in the spring of 2022.
My goal is always to just discover the truth, find out what happened. The nice thing about the truth is it
doesn't have a side. Billy Little got to work on his own investigation and learned from Dee's
family that the couple argued frequently, especially about money. This was not a happy marriage, a
marriage of endless love. Dee's adult children told him their mom had often talked about divorce, but that
she didn't want to split custody [music] of their little sister Lena with Dale. Still, the day before [music] Dee
disappeared, they say something had changed. Had you really seen your mother like that before?
Upset, yes, but this was just very different. She was like almost calm. Dee's kids say that she had finally had
enough and was going to tell Dale that night she wanted to sell the profitable trucking business and end her marriage.
This was Dee's life. Why did she want to sell the business? Because it had become too difficult
emotionally and personally for her. That's how bad the marriage had gotten. Greg told Billy Little that he thought
Dale was moving money between the businesses after Dee disappeared. Greg had already filed a civil suit to
protect Dee's interests and to get more information about what Dale was doing. Call it a gut feeling if you'd like,
whatever you'd call it. In court documents, Dale says he did move money on the advice of
professionals. The more Billy Little learned, he says, the more he liked the family, became
convinced that Dee was no longer alive. The evidence that she's dead is the absence of evidence that she's alive. No
surveillance cameras, no electronic signature, her phone's not found, her bank accounts were never accessed, cash
wasn't taken from the house, even the ring. She didn't even take that. Greg and Billy Little tried to increase
the pressure on Dale. Friends had started a social media campaign called Justice for Dee, and
Greg paid for this billboard that he says he wrote sarcastically saying, Help Dale find Dee.
It went up at a big intersection near Dale's farm, where Greg says drivers from the trucking company would be sure
to see it every day. Help Dale find Dee. Um it was part of almost psychological operations.
But Little says he and Greg were mostly focused on trying to find evidence to help build a murder case without a body.
You've got a lot of equipment, you've got a lot of chemicals. There are a lot of ways to dispose of a body on a farm.
And they continued to search relentlessly for any trace of Dee. You can see there's a silo right over there.
That's the location where the buildings were. This property, about 3 miles from Dale
and Dee's home, is one of the places that stood out to Greg. Six months after Dee disappeared, there was a fire where
the old farmhouse used to be, and Greg says the neighbors told him they thought Dale, who owned the property with Dee,
had set that fire. The fire was determined to be a controlled burn, which are common in the area.
Police searched this site in October 2021, just a few days after that fire. It's
not known what, if anything, they learned. Greg and Billy Little came here themselves the next year.
We used a drone to fly not only this site, but every site we could find around here. We flew a couple thousand
acres of drone footage. They found nothing conclusive, but that old farm was just one site they thought
was suspicious. There's basically three [music] or four major sites that bother me.
There was a field near Raquel's house that Dale had farmed. Which one? Where is It's right around the corner here.
And another field two towns over that Dale had access to. And many more places Greg wanted police
to check further. And isn't the really hard part about this, Greg, is there's just so many places?
>> There are so many places. In August 2022, [music] the Michigan State Police took over
Dee's case. Greg and Billy Little had pushed for this because they say the state police
had more experience and [music] resources than the county sheriff. After the state [music] police took over
the case, they interviewed Dale again and pressed him on his story. Dale told them that [music] the argument with that
employee just before Dee disappeared was partly about Dee taking money from the business.
But police did not have evidence that Dee had stolen money. In September, the family filed another suit to have Dee
Warner declared legally dead. Greg says he wanted to be able to file a wrongful death suit against Dale one day.
The family waited for news [music] on the criminal case. And then It was pretty crazy because we had a meeting
with the prosecutor the same day, and she gave me no indication. On November 21st, 2023, two and a half
years after Dee [music] Warner went missing, the news came that her husband, Dale,
was under arrest. Stephanie was preparing for her mother's funeral when she got the call.
Raquel's boyfriend called me, and he said Dale was arrested [music] for murder. And I fell to my knees at the funeral
home. Just so happy. Dale Warner was charged with the murder of his wife, Dee. Mr. Warner does enter a plea not guilty.
He pleaded not guilty, and Dee's [music] family braced themselves for a long legal battle ahead.
However long it took, we wouldn't stop [music] fighting. You had to testify. Were you nervous? Yeah.
I mean, all you do is tell the truth, [music] so that's what I kept telling myself.
On May 1st, 2024, just a little more than 3 years after Dee Warner disappeared, her friends and family
gathered here at the Lenawee County District Court for the first day of Dale Warner's preliminary hearing. All rise,
please. It would be up to Judge Anna Frushour to decide if the case should move to trial. I was worried because
there is so little physical evidence. There is >> [music] >> no body, there are no body parts. Dee
had been recently declared dead in civil court, but Dale Warner's defense attorney, Mary Chartier, said this was a
fact prosecutors would need to establish themselves in the criminal case. Whether Ms. Warner is dead is something
that the the government needs to prove. Raise your right hand, please. Do you swear to tell the truth?
>> state was determined to show that while there was no body, there was also no evidence that Dee was still alive. Since
April 24th, 2021, have you seen Dee Warner? No. Have you heard from Dee Warner? No.
In the months leading up to Dee going missing, and prosecutor Jackie Wise worked to show there was no evidence
that Dee had taken off on her own. She's got a second phone. She asked Stephanie
Vocal about that secret phone that Dale claimed his wife had. Did she ever discuss getting a second phone with you?
She did. She had asked me to look into pricing and trying to find one for her, yes. Okay, so up until April
25th, 2021, did you ever purchase that phone? No. Could she have bought the phone on her
own? Yeah, she could have bought it on her own, but she would have had somebody else set it up.
She was not tech-savvy. People would call Daniel Drewyor. Michigan State Police Detective Daniel
Drewyor is the lead investigator on this case. Do you swear to tell the truth? >> He testified about the exhaustive
searches law enforcement did to find [music] any trace of activity from Dee over the 3 years she had been missing.
We did search Warner's for healthcare records, phone records. We searched numerous vehicles. We got records for
social media. We did several land searches. All their searches came up empty, but Dee's daughter Raquel had
noticed something curious at the Warner home. On the stand, she said that on the day
her mother disappeared, she saw tire tracks by the back of the house. There were two tracks that led up to the
sliding glass door. There were [music] no security cameras pointed at this part of the property,
but the prosecution suggested that the tracks Raquel saw were left by Dale using the farm's [music] JCB front end
loader to remove Dee's body from their home. When parking the front end loader, the JCB, in this spot, the bucket
attached to it fits between those two pillars, and you can set it on the deck up against the back door.
Remember, Dale said his wife was asleep in the living room when he left that morning, close to those sliding doors.
I see you in the house. You were so sick. In his 2022 interview with police, Dale had an explanation for
those tracks. He said he thought he used the loader to go back to the house and get his worksheet for the sprayer at
around 6:30 a.m. So I had to run and grab my name sheet, my load sheet. I don't remember for
sure. Like I got to JCB, the loader, pull it around by the house, and I run in and I had to grab
something out of the house, and I run back out and hop in the loader, back back out. No evidence that Ms. Warner is
dead, and no evidence that she was murdered was found, correct? >> Yes, ma'am. The defense emphasized there was no
evidence Dale Warner had anything to do with Dee's disappearance. And in fact, his statements about what
he was doing that morning were supported by security videos around the farm. The
videos played in court show Dale at 7:00 a.m. using that front end loader. At 7:45 a.m., police say he texts Dee,
"Going to be spraying. Call you later." He is seen 3 [music] minutes later driving a sprayer onto the road and
returning at 8:13 a.m. So you have the sprayer records for the John Deere, and then did you actually even do a sprayer
reenactment? We did, yes, ma'am. Consistent with what Mr. Warner said, right? Consistent with the time that
occurred on that morning, yes. The defense also argued that Dale had not acted like a guilty man. Are you
Dale? He allowed police to search his properties and spoke to them many times after Dee disappeared.
Only parts of a few of those interviews were played in court, but his attorney said that Dale had [music] repeatedly
denied harming Dee. Of all the phone calls and interviews with Mr. Warner, >> [music]
>> he never once said I he harmed his wife, correct? >> Correct. He was always adamant that he did not,
correct? Yes. Over and over, the defense underscored the lack of physical evidence in the
case. Do you have a murder weapon in this case? No, ma'am. Big pool of blood, anything like that? No, we have no
forensic evidence of that nature, no, ma'am. They honed in on Mr. Warner from the beginning.
In her final statement to the judge, Mary Chartier [music] argues that there is no basis for the charges.
If he murdered his wife, where on Earth is Ms. Warner? Since 4/25/2021, nobody has heard from or seen Dee
Warner. Prosecutor Jackie Wise maintained that the state's case was strong. All we're required to prove at this
stage is probable cause to believe that Dale Warner killed Dee Warner, and probable cause standard has been met.
The decision was now with the judge, and Dee's supporters were worried. Would Dale now face the murder charge at
trial, or would he walk out as a free man? The thought of him getting out was just
[music] scary. Do we have enough? All rise, please. How nervous were you before the judge
issues the ruling? So I was horrible. It was so horrible. I felt like I could just
curl up in a ball and uh On June 7th, 2024, Judge Anna Frushour returned to court
with her decision. She first spoke about Dee. Dee Warner was a woman with a big heart
and a temper. She cared for her children, and grandchildren, and employees. There was nothing in the evidence that
suggested she would disappear intentionally, especially from her children. And there was nothing she
heard, the judge said, that made her feel differently. The statements by Dale Warner of a secret phone She's got a
second phone. and someone coming to pick up Dee Warner She's with someone somewhere. were not supported by any
facts or evidence in this case. But there was enough evidence, she said, to believe that Dee Warner was dead and
that her husband was likely the one behind it. There's probable cause that Dee Warner died by homicide at the hands
of the defendant, Dale Warner. All rise. This is reality. They think that there's
enough evidence that he killed our mom to go to trial. Dale Warner has been ordered to stand
trial for the murder of his wife, but Billy Little knows the real work is still ahead. My fear for getting past
her preliminary hearing is probably a one out of 10. Um my fear of getting a conviction at
trial is probably an eight out of 10. It's a high bar. Yeah. Law enforcement was still searching for
physical evidence, >> [music] >> and in August 2024, 2 months after that preliminary hearing
concluded, that's exactly what they found. Breaking news in the case of Dee Warner.
Dee's family heard about it first. I received a a message that said, "We need to have a an emergency meeting with
the detectives." They met detectives at Greg and Shelly's farm. Police told them
they had gone back to a property that Dale and Dee owned and taken away a large metal tank that was used to store
fertilizer. According to a search warrant, that tank had a non-factory weld on the back and a
sign on it that said, "Out of service. Do not fill." When the tank was scanned, investigators
finally found what they had been looking for. It was my mom. Well, it was a body in a tank. It took just
days, authorities say, to confirm that the body inside that tank was Dee Warner.
Her death was ruled a homicide. And how did she die? Uh they're not sharing that with me.
Authorities are not granting any interviews about this case before the trial, but that warrant also says that
security video from the day Dee was reported missing showed Dale in one of the farm buildings searching for
something near the welding equipment. For 3 years, police have been looking for Dee's body underground, and now they
had come to believe that she might have been concealed above ground. The tank was in this agricultural
storage building right behind me. And was this cylinder right in here? Yeah, it was parked here. So Dale would
have access to all this. >> Greg says he has no doubt now that Dale killed Dee and hid her body.
All these things point one single direction clearly without any question. And that's a Dale. That's correct.
Dale's defense attorney declined to speak to 48 Hours on camera, but she told us that Dale maintains his
innocence and said in this email they're prepared to vigorously fight for him in
court and present his defense. Isn't it likely that Dale's going to argue, well,
that was a cylinder sitting out in a barn. Anybody had access to that cylinder. Someone could have come into
his own barn and put your mom? Absolutely. I mean, he he can say anything. Raquel says finding her mom's body after
these three long years gave the family a sense of peace. I wanted to shout from the rooftops
to everybody that she didn't leave us willingly. D's family later dressed in a private
burial soon after her body was identified. Her daughter Lena, now 12, was with them.
The one thing that she knows for sure that was her mother there. That her mother didn't leave her.
It was real. It's like you get hit in the stomach every time. I miss her laughter and
her comfort. You miss her? Very much. I miss her every day. Raquel and Zach say they miss their
mother deeply and that her death has changed them in profound ways. I'm now 3 years sober
and shortly after she went missing I started my own real estate company. I stopped being scared of failing on
something cuz there was nothing left to lose. He's my mom's [music] spirit. Very
hard working and driven and determined. Your children will grow up hearing about
D. Yeah. What will you tell them about your mother? Oh. My mom enjoyed being a grandma so much.
They will always remember how she would have been there. My mom would have been there for everything. [music]
CBS next Saturday, a young girl found dead in a swamp. Did this look [music] like an accident or something else?
Something entirely different. >> A decades-old mystery with a surprising answer.
>> Oh, no. Oh, no. I never would have guessed how this ended. 48 Hours is all new. CBS next Saturday 10:00 9:00
Central and streaming on Paramount Plus. It's a small town. It's rural America in every way.
This is the family next door. Very connected, very loving, very bonded. They spent a lot of time together.
The happy American couple. Eric ran a successful contracting business. He was involved [music] in his boys
sports activities. He was very [music] good to the boys. And he taught those boys so much.
Kouri was a real estate agent that also would buy and fix up and [music] flip homes.
She was smart. She was savvy. She knew how to connect. She was [music] absolutely in love with
Eric and absolutely in love with her boys. Eric and Kouri were probably at the best
[music] place they've ever been in their marriage and seemed genuinely happy with
each other. They had it all. I mean it was one happy family. At 3:00 in the morning I got a phone
call and it was Kouri and she said, "Get up here. Something's happened to Eric."
>> [music] >> He went to sleep and never woke up. She was a complete wreck. She's sitting on the couch. She's just
bawling. Were they giving you a sense of how he may have passed? Um so the paramedics
said aneurysm so we were all believing aneurysm. >> [music] >> I had talked to him the day before. He
looked horrible. He said, "My chest hurts." So the last time you're seeing him alive
you don't think Right. The lead detective and a another officer came to our house and said they were
going to close the case. They're done. It's an accidental overdose. They communicated that Eric had
died of a fentanyl overdose. In the weeks and months after Eric's passing, how would you describe Kouri,
her state of mind emotionally? How was she handling things? It probably took her
2 months to go back in her own bedroom. It was devastating to her. She writes a children's book.
She did this to help her work through the feelings with her children. The book I think was 100%
beneficial to the boys. Then you can take a sigh of relief. It's over. We're done. We can start living
again. And then I got a phone call. >> [music] >> Kouri was just arrested in Salt Lake.
A Summit County woman who wrote a children's book about coping with grief following her husband's death now
accused of being the one that actually killed him. I think she felt that this would be
treated as an accidental overdose and nobody was going to be the wiser. He told his family,
"If I die, you need to take a look at her because I think she's trying to kill me."
They're going to have to prove that she got the drugs and that she somehow gave them to him. And unless they can connect
those dots, they're going to have a hard time proving murder in this case. >> [music]
[music] [music] >> In the early morning hours of March 4th, 2022, Lisa Darden was attempting to console
her daughter, 31-year-old Kouri Richens. She was sprawled out on the floor just sobbing.
Kouri had just learned from emergency personnel that her husband Eric was dead. She was tore up. Her brothers
Ronnie and DJ were also there. She was a complete wreck. I just started crying. According to Lisa, that night Kouri had
poured Eric a drink to celebrate a new opportunity at her real estate business, the purchase of this mansion. She told
me she made him a Moscow Mule. That's a drink made with vodka and ginger beer. She said they went to bed about 9:00,
9:15. She went and laid with Ash. Ashton, the 9-year-old, has always had major nightmares.
And when she went back to get in her bed, he was cold. She went to push on him and he didn't
respond. It was after 3:00 a.m. and Lisa says Kouri immediately called 911 and at the
dispatcher's instructions performed CPR. When first responders arrived, they started working on Eric, but it was too
late. It's just unbelievable. You're you're in shock that something like that, you know, could happen.
It was those first responders who initially suspected Eric had died of an aneurysm. The father of three young sons
was just 39. How were the boys? Did the boys know what was happening? They knew something was happening and they could
see the ambulances and cops coming in. Very distraught. They all just sat there on the couch and just cried together.
The sad scene was a far cry from the happy family they once were. Kouri and Eric met in 2009 at a local
Home Depot. Back then, Kouri was a cashier. Eric worked in construction and was a frequent customer. I heard that he
wanted her number for a long time. He was kind of afraid to go get it, so he had to have a friend run in and go get
it from her. Eric asked her out and they hit it off. When Kouri said, "I'm dating
this guy." What did you think? Uh Kouri was terrified of me meet me. Oh, really? Why? [laughter]
Because I'm the big brother and tough. Yeah. Yeah. But DJ and Ronnie say Eric fit right in.
I thought he was a great guy. In 2013, Kouri and Eric got married and had the boys. First Carter, then Ashton,
and finally Weston. Lisa says fatherhood came easily to Eric. He taught those boys so much. They idolized their
father. And he idolized the boys as well. Kouri's family got to know the Richens,
including Eric's two sisters, Katie and Amy. They'd come up for birthdays here and there and we're all very friendly.
Eventually, Eric started a stone masonry business and Kouri started her own real
estate company, buying houses, fixing them up, and selling them for profit. Greg Hall was her marketing director and
good friend. Kouri had something that a lot of people don't. A lot of times you find an individual that is intelligent
but no common sense, or common sense and no intelligence. She had both. She was a
brilliant young lady. How many houses would she have on average that she was working on or
trying to flip? At one time? Yeah. I would say on average three. So it was kind of a constant rotation of
buying a home, fixing it up, selling it. >> Yes. And Eric's business continued to
flourish. They both lived very well. And they both bought and spent what they wanted. In their spare time, Eric loved
to hunt and together they traveled the world. It sounds like on the surface, Eric and Kouri seemed to have it all.
Would you say that was so, Lisa? >> yes. I don't know that I can even begin to overstate how close this family was.
This was a huge loss. Greg Skordas is the spokesman for Eric's family. He was this beautiful son and
and brother and to have that taken away from you, I I can't imagine much worse than that.
Not long after Eric's funeral, an autopsy revealed the cause of his death. It wasn't an aneurysm. It was a lethal
dose of fentanyl. Fentanyl is many, many times more potent than oxys and the other pain medications that we typically
use. It's a very dangerous drug. But how did fentanyl get into Eric's system? Kouri's family believes his recreational
drug use could be to blame. Nearly every day, they say, Eric would take a gummy with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana. It was always just just to relax at the end of the day. And according to Ronnie,
Eric did not always get the gummies from reputable sources. Just about every trip
that I've been on with him, he'd buy just from someone off the street. Lisa says Eric also sometimes took pain
pills. Hey, do you have any pain pills? Hey, can you call and get uh hook me up?
He certainly wasn't an opioid or an illegal drug user. Kouri's family thinks Eric had taken something he didn't know
was laced with fentanyl and that his death was a tragic accident. Eric's family strongly [music] disputes
this claim. He didn't die of a self-inflicted drug overdose. [music] Eric's family wondered if Kouri may have
been involved. >> They said, [music] "This doesn't smell right." No question the family thought that
right from the beginning. >> [music] >> In the months following her husband's tragic death, Kouri Richens struggled to
find her footing on her own and to navigate life as a single mom. Kouri was still completely distraught.
Even now, she's never had time to grieve. She's doing her best to move on. She didn't know of a way of doing
that. Kouri's brother, Ronnie, says it was also hard for the couple's three young sons. The boys, it's still hard
for them. They lashed out a little bit cuz they couldn't quite understand what was going on. And they needed some help
and Kouri needed some help. Eventually, Kouri found a way to turn her grief into
action. In March 2023, 1 year after Eric's death, Kouri came up with the idea to write that children's book about
coping with loss, Are You With Me? She promoted it on a local TV show, Good Things Utah.
I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night. And so, you know, I was like, "Let's just write
one." The self-published book follows the story of a child who lost his father but is reminded his presence still
exists all around. In the book, Eric is portrayed as an angel who is always close by. "Yes, I am
with you on Christmas." Kouri writes. >> [music] >> "You can't see my smile, but it's there.
I'm here and we're together." Like dad is still here. It's just in a different way.
Kouri's mother, Lisa, says writing the book was therapeutic. I think the book was a great thing.
It helped them. >> It helped them all. Her family says it finally seemed as though Kouri and the boys would be able
to move forward. It seemed to make the boys really happy. While the family was working to get back
on track, police had been investigating Eric's death. And just weeks after Kouri's appearance on TV to promote her
book, New at 10, this has been a talker all day today. A Summit County woman who
wrote a children's book about coping with grief following her husband's death now accused of being the one that
actually killed him. >> On May 8th, 2023, Kouri, the grieving wife, >> This is the home where police found Eric
Richens dead on >> was now the prime suspect in her husband's death. He must have been in a panic.
>> I was shocked. She can't be arrested. A Utah mother has been charged with murder.
Kouri was charged with aggravated murder and taken into custody. Court documents allege she committed
homicide by the administration of a poison. Greg Skordas, the spokesman for Eric's
family, suspects Kouri put a lethal dose of fentanyl in the drink she made Eric that night, the Moscow mule. The dosage
that he was given that night was of such a high level that no person could have survived it. Skyla Zarrow was her
attorney at the time. Did police ever test the glass that she gave Eric this cocktail and
They seized a number of items from the home and there was no fentanyl that was found
on any glassware. Kouri's family says they struggled to make sense of the charges. Kouri denies
any involvement in her husband's death. For anybody who knows Kouri, just knows she could not have done this.
She'd never do this. Lisa says her daughter and son-in-law had a great relationship.
>> Nobody's perfect, but they're pretty close. And like many couples that have disagreements, they were able to
overcome their differences. He didn't want Kouri to work. He wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom and she's
very independent and that wasn't going to happen. Another issue, says Kouri's brother,
Ronnie, was the amount of time Eric spent away on hunting trips, [music] sometimes 4 or 5 months a year. It just
kind of irked her because that this is biggest passion in his life is hunting and she might want
him home a little bit more and so, you know, they might get in a fight about that.
And then, according to Kouri's mother, Lisa, there was alleged infidelity on Eric's part. She says she heard about it
first from Kouri and then from Eric. It was a text about trust, how I trusted him as a son-in-law, as a father, as a
husband, and how could he do this? >> [music] >> Kouri's family says the couple went to
counseling, determined to work through their issues. Skordas, who denies Eric ever cheated on Kouri, says Eric had a
different reason for wanting to make his marriage work. >> [music] >> He was going to do whatever he could to
make it work because he he lived for those boys. He would have done anything for those boys. Let's let's go to
counseling. Let's try to keep the family together. Skordas says at one point Eric
had considered divorce but ultimately decided against it. He says to protect the boys in case the relationship didn't
work out, Eric put his estate into a secret trust >> [music] >> without telling Kouri and named his
sister Katie in charge. But in the months leading up to Eric's death, Ronnie says the couple seemed
better than ever. How were they doing [music] as a couple, as a family? >> Yeah, fantastic. They were
um probably one of the best spots I've ever seen them in in quite some time. Everyone's having fun, laughing, joking,
you know, it's it seemed really great to me. So why would Kouri want Eric dead? Court documents allege Corey was having
an affair and planned a future with her paramour. Along with that, a life insurance payout might have been a
motive. Skordas says Eric's family agrees. This is cold-hearted greed. At the time of Eric's death,
there were at least six life insurance policies on him totaling nearly $3 million. dollars.
Court documents allege that in January 2022, 2 months before Eric died, Corey forged
Eric's signature to get yet another policy worth an additional $100,000. Corey is also accused in court documents
of stealing from Eric's personal accounts and misappropriating money distributed from Eric Richens' business
[music] dating back years. According to Skordas, Corey didn't just want the money, she desperately needed
it. Court documents allege her house-flipping business was drowning in nearly $2 million of debt.
She was in way over her head. She needed some money in a hurry. It was a significant amount of money.
Skordas says a premarital agreement stipulated Corey [music] had given up claim to Eric's business assets except
that if husband should die prior to wife while the two are lawfully married. >> [music]
>> He was worth much more to her dead than divorced. She felt that there was easy
money and fast money to be made by not having her husband around anymore. Corey's attorney Skye Lazaro strongly
disputes any allegations her client forged Eric's signature, mishandled finances, or stole from Eric. As for the
claim Corey was in debt and needed the money, she says that's simply not true. She was in the business of flipping
houses. This is what they did. Lazaro says taking on debt from lines of credit was part of how the business of flipping
houses worked and the money would be paid back when a home sold. It's not as if she had all these
conventional loans that she owed people money on. It sure looks like a large number, but we're talking about business
transactions with people who she did business with. Eric and Corey sat down every month and
did the bills together. At all times, Eric knew what was going in and what was coming out.
Lisa says Eric not only knew about the finances, but he was also very supportive of Corey's new business
opportunities like the purchase of the mansion they were celebrating the night he died.
>> Eric saying, "Let's have a shot. Come on, let's celebrate, Corey." It was that night Skordas says Eric's
family believes Corey gave him the Moscow Mule laced with fentanyl. And he says Eric's family believes it
wasn't the first time Corey had tried to poison her husband. The time he died wasn't the first time
we believe that she tried to kill him. Just outside Salt Lake City in the shadow of Utah's Wasatch
Mountains home to famed ski resorts including Park City is the property that Corey Richens was
planning on flipping. The deal she and Eric were celebrating the night he died, says her attorney Skye Lazaro. It's a
decently good size home. Lazaro showed us the nearly 10-acre estate. Where are we? Give us a sense of why this is
significant real estate. >> is the Heber Valley. Right over the hill is Park City, all the major ski areas,
and then to the right is Deer Creek Reservoir. So, this really sits between major recreational areas.
>> It looks ginormous. It's massive. The 20,000-sq-ft mansion and its 4,000-sq-ft guesthouse
were originally built in 2017, but never finished. The project was abandoned for
2 years until Corey discovered it. I think this was kind of her dream when she got into this idea of flipping
houses was to be able to do properties like this. Lazaro says Corey used financing from a group of investors to
make an offer on the house for $3.9 million. The plan was to develop this, turn it into a recreational hotspot
given this is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world, and hopefully sell it at a profit.
>> How much did she think she could make off of this house? Her and Eric sat down
with an accountant one time and he said, "If you can get it done and stay under budget, you could walk away with $12
million." Wow. It's a It's a big turn. Yes. From 3.9 to 12 million. Yes. There's a lot of
excitement. I remember how excited she was. Greg Hall worked with Corey. He says it was a solid investment.
>> have been a real easy flip. They wouldn't have had to to sit on that for long. As far as you know, Eric was on
board with this plan. >> But that's not what Eric's family remembers, says their spokesman Greg
Skordas. I don't think he was ever in favor of that. He was on board with supporting his wife. That doesn't mean
he agreed with it. In fact, the house is mentioned in this legal filing containing notes from an
investigator who interviewed Eric's family after his death. They said Eric and his wife were arguing about buying
the property. And that wasn't all Eric's family told investigators. According to that same
filing, they made numerous allegations against Corey including that they suspected his wife had something to do
with his death. They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him, she was to blame.
They also told investigators they believe Corey had tried to poison Eric before on two separate occasions.
According to the filing, Eric's family said the first attempted poisoning was in 2019 when Eric and Corey and six
friends were on vacation in Greece. They said Eric became violently ill after Corey gave him a drink.
Ronnie says he heard it was all a misunderstanding. Eric was on medication and that medication you're not allowed
to drink on. He asked the waitress uh to bring a a virgin drink, a drink without alcohol. She didn't do it.
It made him very, very sick. Corey called his doctor, figured out what to do, and then later that night he
was back in and fine. Everyone that was there will tell you the exact same thing.
According to that same filing, the second time Eric's family said Corey tried to poison Eric was the month
before Eric died on Valentine's Day 2022. They said his wife brought him a sandwich which after one bite, Eric
broke into hives and couldn't breathe. Corey's family denies she ever tried to poison him. They ordered a sandwich and
the sandwich was bad. He went and took a nap and then went and coached one of his
child's games. Aside from an assertion by the family, there doesn't seem to be anything else
out there that supports that. Eric's family also called into question Corey's behavior following her husband's
death. According to court documents, Eric's family told investigators 2 days after
Eric died, Corey punched Eric's sister Amy in the neck and face when Amy tried to stop her from opening
a safe they said contained between There was an argument that broke out and Eric's sister said that she owns the
house. Everything is put into a trust and she owns the house. Remember, Eric had created that trust
and kept it secret from Corey when they were going through those marital problems. Until Eric's death, Corey knew
nothing about the trust according to court documents. If Eric had any sort of documents, he'd have them in the safe.
So, she went in to go see what was in there. Amy came after Corey and I, you know,
Corey defended herself. The two of them started pushing and I was standing in the middle of them. All they did was
push. Both of them were trying to swing over the top of me. So, the narrative that's been pushed that it was poor Amy
that got assaulted was nonsense. The brothers say Amy stormed off and called the police. A month later, Corey was
charged with assault and later pleaded no contest. Her husband's just passed away. She's
highly emotional. Everybody's highly emotional. Things got a little heated between them.
Two families two very different stories about what they believe happened to Eric. But with accusations flying back
and forth, what did the evidence show? The state has to prove that she did this, that she got the drugs, and that
she somehow gave them to him. She had apparently contacted a drug dealer, a known drug dealer in that area, and
purchased fentanyl and had done it on more than one occasion. >> tion. >> [music]
[music] >> All right. Can you tell me who Corey is and how I can get back to his office?
Have a seat, please. In June 2023, Kouri Richins appeared in court before Judge Richard Maurozić for a bond
hearing. The issue before the court is whether defendant Kouri Richins should continue to be held without bail during
the pre-trial period. It was the first time since Richins had been charged in her husband's death that
the public got to see her. And for the entire 4-hour hearing, she sat in handcuffs next to her attorney, Skye
Lazaro. I cannot imagine how difficult it was for Kouri to sit there and listen to everything that was talked about at
that hearing. To convince the judge why Richins should not be released, prosecutors Patricia Cassell, You know,
we have three witnesses. Brad Bloodworth, Detective, what was the sheriff's office? and Joseph Hill
presented evidence and called witnesses to make their case Richins had poisoned her husband. It had all the elements of
a mini trial. In order for the judge to make a determination to detain someone at a
bail hearing, the state has to prove substantial evidence. Prosecutor Joseph Hill called to the
stand cell phone expert Chris Koto Dramos. >> Sir, can you step in front of Britney
and we'll get you sworn in? He asked him about Google searches he says Richins made on her phone. Were you able to
observe uh internet searches on that phone? Yes. Those searches, which were detailed in
court documents, included "Can deleted text messages be retrieved from an iPhone?" "Can FBI [music]
find deleted messages?" "What is a lethal dose of fentanyl?" I don't know that these searches mean as
much when you look at the timing of when they're done. Lazaro says there's an innocent explanation. Those searches
were conducted after Eric's [music] death. I think it's more to answer questions relating to what she was being
accused of. The state also called to the stand the lead investigator on the case,
Detective Jeff O'Driscoll. I was assigned to be the lead lead detective in this case in April of this
year. Prosecutor Bloodworth questioned Detective O'Driscoll about where Richins may have gotten fentanyl. He
specifically asked about an interview the detective conducted with Carmen Lauber, who said she worked for Richins.
She's referred to as CL. CL is an associate of the defendant. Uh she cleaned houses for the
defendant's business as well as her personal home at times. Detective O'Driscoll said CL had a
criminal history with drugs. At the time of their interview, she was on probation
for multiple drug distribution charges, according to court records. She has not been charged in connection with Eric's
death. In our interviews, CL told us that in early 2022, the defendant reached out to her either
by phone call or text message requesting that she procure fentanyl for what the defendant reported was a investor who
had a back injury. Detective O'Driscoll testified that CL told him she purchased 15 to 30 fentanyl
pills and then sold them to Richins. CL told us that after purchasing the pills,
she returned home. She said that either later that night or the next day, the defendant met her and did a
hand-to-hand exchange of pills for cash. That transaction, says Detective O'Driscoll, took place on February 11th,
2022, 3 days before Valentine's Day, when, according to court documents, [music]
Eric's family said Richins had tried and failed to poison Eric with that sandwich. But there was more. But I now
shift to a second drug buy. Detective O'Driscoll said CL told him Richins contacted her again approximately a week
later. The defendant reached out to her again by text or or call and said that she wanted some more fentanyl that was
stronger than the previous batch. This time, Detective O'Driscoll said CL told him Richins paid by check.
>> And the defendant came to the door and wrote her a check from her business, from the defendant's business, for
$1,300 for the purchase of the fentanyl. Just a week later, Eric was dead. We dispute all of those allegations.
In her cross-examination, Lazaro asked Detective O'Driscoll if there could have been another reason for that $1,300
check. It could very well be that Kouri was paying her for cleaning houses, correct?
I don't want to speculate, but it could be, despite what CL said, correct? Okay.
Lazaro says because Carmen Lauber is a convicted felon, she's not credible. >> As she was on probation at the time, I
think anytime you have an informant type situation, uh it can call into question the veracity
of their statements or the motive for what they're saying. In her cross-examination of Detective
O'Driscoll, Lazaro attempted to show how CL might have felt pressured to tell investigators what they wanted to hear.
You began the interview by explaining to CL essentially how dire of a situation she is in, correct?
I don't have the interview memorized, but I know we talked about that, yes. Okay. Well, you told her that she was on
probation to drug court for four first-degree felonies, correct? Correct. You essentially tell her
that she has a potential of doing a considerable amount of state and federal prison time, potentially. Yes. Is that a
common tactic in law enforcement to be able to leverage charges for information? Lazaro also asked the
detective what evidence there was to back up CL's claims that she had sold fentanyl to Richins.
>> And because CL's working for the defendant, there's communication, correct? Correct. But Detective
O'Driscoll said he saw no text messages where Richins allegedly asked CL for drugs. We didn't find any. Was anyone
with her that could collaborate that she saw CL hand Kouri drugs? Not that I know of.
48 Hours attempted to contact CL for comment. We received no response. They have to prove that she
obtained drugs and gave them to her husband. And unless they can connect those dots,
they're going to have a hard time proving murder in this case. >> [music] >> As Kouri Richins' bond hearing came to a
close, her attorney, Skye Lazaro, was hopeful her client would be granted bail. This is a case in which there
doesn't appear to be any smoking gun. These cases are generally more favorable to the defense. Good morning.
The prosecution closed its case to deny Richins bail with a victim impact statement from Eric's sister, Amy.
I'm here today to represent my brother, Eric Eugene Richins. Eric is gone, and I am broken-hearted.
None of our lives will ever be the same. Eric died under horrendous circumstances.
I am tormented by the thought of what he endured. Please do not allow Kouri to hurt Eric's
memory, our family, friends, and community anymore. We have been through enough.
Judge Richard Maurozić spent very little time making his decision. Richins would
remain in custody. The circumstances of this case weigh soundly against granting
pre-trial release of any kind. Richins' family was disappointed. They say her time in jail while waiting for
her trial has taken its toll. I hear her on the phone. [music] I hear her sobbing.
In September 2023, Richins' family says she had a medical emergency in custody while taking prescription medications
and needed to be rushed to the hospital. What did she say happened to her? That they gave her the wrong medicine and it
caused a seizure. Richins made a full recovery, but while she was away, jail officials say they found this
handwritten letter in her cell that was never sent. The document, later filed in
the court record, has become known for the words scrawled at the top of the page, "Walk the dog." Prosecutors say
it's from Richins to her mother. I take care of her 16-year-old dog. Mhm. And her thing is, be sure you walk her.
She's so worried about this dog. In November 2023, prosecutors filed this motion asking the court for a no-contact
order to deny Richins access to her mother and brother. In the motion, they say the letter is
evidence of witness tampering. They say Richins gives her mother instructions on
what her brother, Ronnie, should say in court. The letter instructs Lisa Darden to
induce the defendant's brother, Ronald Darden, to testify falsely, the motion states. To me, this letter is an attempt
to get a witness to testify to something that isn't true. By spoon-feeding the witness the
testimony that he's supposed to give. In the letter, Richens writes that her defense will need to establish that Eric
bought drugs while traveling abroad. We need some kind of connection. Here is what I'm thinking, but you have to talk
to Ronnie. He would probably have to testify to this. In the letter, it appears that she's
laying out a little bit of her defense. For example, your name is brought up. Eric told Ronnie he gets pain pills and
fentanyl from Mexico. Almost like she's laying out a case. Mhm. Saying, "Tell Ronnie
Richens goes on to write, "Ronnie should have texts from Eric talking about getting high as well. Reword this
however he needs to to make the point. Just include it all. The connection has to be made with Mexico and drugs." Is
she giving you instruction in this letter? I don't know. I don't know one way or another. Um
most of that, unfortunately, I can't speak about. The things that are in the letter are true things and everybody
who's in her circle already knew this. But Corey has a different explanation. She says the letter is fiction. In
separate phone calls from jail that were recorded and later entered into the court record, she told her mother and
Ronnie that the letter was part of a book she's been writing and that it's private.
The judge denied the motion for no contact saying the state had failed to prove witness tampering. It isn't
witness tampering cuz it didn't go anywhere. And it was never communicated to anyone.
As the families wait for the trial, they say their focus is on Eric and Corey's three sons.
The family is concerned about the boys. That's the main focus, the boys. That's who's important
here right now. Both families say they hope to gain custody. The boys are currently living with a member of Eric's
family. Lisa says they're only allowed to speak to their mother twice a week on a video call. Just heart-wrenching as to
what they're going through. Lisa, Ronnie, and DJ have been denied private visits with the kids. But Lisa
says she does what she can to support them and attends all their sports practices. And the reason I can do that,
it's a public place. I can't be stopped from going there. I still get to see him. I still get a
hug and kiss and that keeps me going. Besides the murder case, which could carry a sentence of 25 years to life,
Corey faces another criminal case for fraud and forgery charges. And there are multiple ongoing civil cases regarding
the fate of Eric's estate. Both sides believe the other is after the money. Both families are concerned about the
boys. >> You could say that. You could say that. I wouldn't. We believe that the defendant's family is
concerned about the money that they can get. >> Whoever ends up with the boys ends up
with the money. That's all they want. It's not right. Until that's resolved, both families are
waiting for the trial to start and are hoping for a verdict that delivers their version of justice. What is the family
doing to stay strong now? You know, the family has the family. They have each other. They feel like the state has put
together a good case and they're going to stay united and and support each other no matter what happens in this
case. She's innocent. She's been thrown in jail over something that she hasn't committed. Are you both confident that
Corey will be found not guilty, Lisa? I am. 100%. >> 100%. She'll be out. New CBS next. A young romance is cut
short when a mysterious car wreck leaves a man dead. >> His car was way over there and his body
[music] was way down here. >> There was footprints and tire tracks. She believes that this was no accident.
>> There's so many things missing [music] from the story. 48 Hours is all new. CBS
next and streaming on Paramount Plus. Every year marks another year, you know, that there's
no closure. Yeah, I'm still having insomnia 30 years after the fact. I wish I had solved the crime for the
families. We tried. This is the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt I was a cop for 32 years at Austin PD.
I'll always be associated with that case. There's no getting away from that. I just hope one of these days we can put
this thing to bed. Jonesy. Yeah. Uh you hear about the call at 2900 West Anderson? Yeah, I'm headed over there.
The call occurred at 11:27 p.m. Homicide four. Homicide four. Did you get my in route there?
I was the lead investigator on the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Shop murder case.
On December 6th, [music] 1991, there was a robbery, fire, and murder committed. That's all right. I'll make the call
myself. The victims were Jennifer and [music] Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers.
I can still see them. I can still see the inside of that place. That stuff's indelibly burned in my
mind. There has never been >> [music] >> in Austin a more grisly, ugly crime. There's four girls in there
and they're all beautiful girls and they're very young. They're cleaning up. They lock up the yogurt shop and then we
believe it to be two individuals [music] came in. They forced them to the back room at
gunpoint. >> [music] >> I lost my sister, Eliza Thomas, in the yogurt shop murders. I was 13. [music]
Yeah, I was 13 when my sister died. The whole city was in shock. Everywhere we drove, there were these
billboards with a picture of my sister on it. And so it's like you just hold on to anything you can
to get through these moments that are [music] so impossible. We went where the case took us.
Open the door! Police! We were going to charge some people and get them in jail or clear them from this case.
>> [music] >> I don't know how many murders I've tried. It's unlike anything I've ever
done before. It's nothing but one unexpected [music] twist after another. Do you believe that there is right now
some evidence [music] that could lead to the killers? Yes. Yes. I know who did this. I just don't know his name.
Is this uh end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? >> [music] [music] [music]
[music] >> So, what is all of this here? These are my notes. It's been more than 30 years since John
Jones began the painstaking search for the killers of four teenage girls in an Austin yogurt shop. Oh, that's the
big book. This one is really from day one. He has long since retired from the Austin Police Department and moved out
of Texas. But copies of some of the case files moved with him. Hypnosis, polygraph, confessions.
You know, I noticed this sitting here. Yep. We will not forget. You have it? Nope. Can't. The images of
December 6th, 1991 remain all too vivid. I can definitely still see it. What do y'all got out there? I'm in route there
on 35. This side of fire and we got fire inside business. It started with that call from dispatch.
Okay, I'm copying the fire part you cut out on the first part of that call. To go to a scene of a fire that would
turn into something far worse. Yeah, apparently a double homicide is three fatalities.
Assistant fire marshal, en route. AND THEN ABOUT HALFWAY OUT THERE THEY CALLED ME AGAIN on the radio and said,
"We found a fourth body." A local TV news crew happened to be filming Jones on a ride along that
night. What place of business is this here? This is the I can't believe it's children.
Okay. Fire department had just knocked down the fire. I mean, there was still a lot of water in there, a lot of smoke
still. It was all muted grays and blacks. There is no color in there with the exception of the girls.
The girls were quickly identified. Two had been working at the shop, closing up that night. Eliza Thomas [music] and
Jennifer Harbison were both 17 years old. Jennifer's 15-year-old sister, Sarah, and their [music] friend,
13-year-old Amy Ayers, had met them there to head home. >> [music] >> The four girls had been gagged, tied up
with their own clothing, and shot in the head. Investigators would learn that [music] at least one of the victims had
been sexually assaulted. The yogurt shop had also been set on fire, destroying potential evidence. There was smoke and
soot on every surface, so >> [music] >> kind of made fingerprinting kind of difficult. This was a crime like none
Austin had seen before. Jones knew he needed help and from the scene contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms, the FBI, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Soon as we knew what type of guns we were looking
for, that information went out nationwide. >> [music] >> Gunshot wounds showed two different
types of guns were used, leading investigators to believe that there were at least two killers on the loose. What
were the two guns? A .380 and a .22. And we recovered all of the rounds. The weapons, though, were not found, and a
task force worked to come up with potential suspects. Well, they were from all spectrums. I mean, we looked at
everybody from family members to drifters. And while police tracked down leads, the
families and the city of Austin grieved. The Harbison family lost their only children, daughters Jennifer, a
hard-working high school senior, and [music] Sarah, who was enjoying sports and clubs as a high school freshman.
Their mother, Barbara, spoke with us in 1992. My life was sort of focused around them
for from here until eternity. Someone took eternity away from me. I lost my daughter.
I lost my first dance. Bob Ayers is the father of the youngest victim, Amy, a country girl with a love
for animals. >> [snorts] >> I won't see her graduate. I won't see her become a veterinarian.
She was a daddy's girl. I remember the shock. Sonora Thomas, 13 years old when her
only sibling, Eliza, was murdered, had a hard time dealing with the loss of the sister she looked up to.
I remember fantasizing for days that my sister had somehow escaped [music] and run away and that she was going to come
back. And so that's what I was kind of holding on to. Her parents struggled as well.
My family never talked about my sister after she died. Never? No. It's too it's too painful.
Sonora did as best she could, picking up some pieces of her sister's life. Eliza,
an animal lover, had a pig she planned to enter in a livestock show. Just a few months after the murders, Sonora took
over those duties. Third place, Sonora Thomas. While Sonora may have seemed to be coping, the
reality, she says, was far different. You had to grow up quickly. Very quickly. I would say I fell apart under
that pressure. We knew they were hurting cuz, you know, we were hurting, too. Here you go. Open your little mouth.
Jones, a parent himself, felt the family's grief. He promised to do all he could to help them. We told them what we
could and I assured them that we would keep them apprised of everything that was happening, and and we did. Jones
also made a pledge to the families involving the shirt he wore on the night of the murders. I kind of made a promise
to them the next time they saw me with that green and white shirt on that that was a signal to them that, you know, we
knew who did it. And Jones seemed assured they would find the killers. You know, we stayed in constant contact with
the Behavioral Science Unit at uh the FBI in Quantico. They said that I should, as the face of the
investigation, project an air of confidence that would cause the the bad guy to shiver in his boots.
So, look in the camera and be confident. And when we followed him working the case in 1992,
he did just that. You know, let me just say this, whoever you are out there, you're going to be mine one of these
days. Where you at? Okay. I'm right here. But trying to figure that out was daunting.
342 people that have been listed as suspects. But we're looking at pages and pages of
suspects here. One of those early suspects was a teenager named Maurice Pierce. He was arrested 8 days after the
murders at a mall near the yogurt shop, carrying a .22 caliber gun, the type used in the murders. The .22s
were unmatchable. So, you can't say it wasn't his gun. No. But there was no way to prove that it
was his gun. Um he gave a statement. As a matter of fact, I took his statement. And
he implicated three other boys. Jones says Maurice Pierce [music] claimed that he was driving a getaway car and that
three acquaintances, Forest Wellborn, Michael Scott, and Robert Springsteen, [music]
were involved in the murders. But Pierce's story began to fall apart. It started to crater when
we wired him up to go talk to Forest. And we were listening in on the wire and it was pretty obvious Forest
didn't know what Maurice was talking about. And when Wellborn, Scott, and Springsteen were brought in for
questioning, they, too, denied any involvement. It was decided [music] there was just not enough evidence to
charge them. Let's stop right here. Right here. And the search for other suspects
continued. Get down on the ground. Get down. Get down. Get Get down. Get down. >> [music]
>> Two months after the yogurt shop murders, with no viable suspects, police were chasing leads no matter where it
took them. We're into vampires, uh the occult, graveyard and rats. The task force became aware of a
counterculture-type group of local residents known to be into the supernatural. They go out and dance and
take pictures on tombstones. And investigators began to hear that this group might be connected to
something far more serious. The the tips were that they were talking about uh murders.
Talking about the yogurt shop murders? >> The yogurt shop murders, yes. There was [music] one woman in
particular whose name kept coming up in connection with these tips. She got stopped at Oakwood Cemetery. The task
force planned a raid on her home, hoping to see if any evidence might be found there.
UNLOCK THE DOOR! POLICE! POLICE OFFICER. POLICE OFFICER. GET DOWN. GET DOWN. GET DOWN.
POLICE! IT WAS creepy in there. But as [music] it turns out, a lot of that stuff was
rat bones and theatrical parts. But it was a good lead. [music] So, we finally figured out that
they're just living to make believe life. Just Sergeant Hook could be out the task
force. The raid may have been a bust, but it wasn't long before the task force had its eyes on another person of
interest. This sketch shows a man that multiple eyewitnesses told police they saw
sitting in a car outside the yogurt shop on the night of the murders. And it was somebody we really wanted to
talk to. So, we put it out there. And the response they got came from an unexpected source. Couple other
investigators from the Sex Crimes Unit came up and go, "We have a sketch looks just like that."
3 weeks before the yogurt shop murders, a young woman in Austin had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Police
had released [music] this sketch of three men wanted in connection with that crime.
One of those suspects [music] bore a striking resemblance to that man witnesses reported sitting in a car
>> [music] >> outside the yogurt shop. You know, I just kind of went when I saw the
the composite. A tip came in that the men wanted in the kidnapping and sexual assault case had
fled to Mexico. Two were caught and arrested. One who resembled the person of interest in the yogurt shop sketch.
The development made national news. When they got caught in Mexico, we went down there to interview them.
Jones' team questioned the men, and so too did the Mexican authorities. But the Mexican government announced to
the whole world that they confessed and they were going to try them for the murders down there. They confessed to
the yogurt shop? >> Yes, they did. But Jones learned those confessions had details that didn't match the crime
scene. Even the caliber of guns they claimed to use was wrong. There was too many inconsistencies in
the confession. So Jones' team re-interviewed the men, and he says this time they recanted
[music] just about everything. It made Jones and other investigators wonder if [music]
those confessions were coerced by the Mexican authorities. The once promising lead fell apart.
It was depressing. Over the following years, there would be other confessions. Ones that were
willingly given. So you know, we faced six confessions. Six people who confessed? Yeah, written.
That confessed to this crime? >> Yes, they did. And they didn't do it. >> Nope. In 1994, after nearly [music] 3 years of
leading the investigation, John Jones was moved out of the homicide division. He says [music] it was a mutual
decision. Austin police wanted fresh eyes working the case, and Jones felt it was time to move on.
Other detectives took over, and as time passed, [music] the victims' families were left wondering why no one had been
arrested. Amy Ayers' mother, Pam, spoke [music] to us in 1996. They're probably out there
>> [snorts] >> leading a life as normal as they've ever had. And ours is [music] never going to be
the same. That same year, Eliza Thomas' mom moved away from Austin and the painful
reminders. Running into people who were constantly asking how the case was going was very
hard on me and especially my daughter, Sonora. Sonora's life had taken a downward
spiral. >> [music] >> In my high school years, things really deteriorated. Drugs, using alcohol,
being hospitalized, going to a boarding school for, you know, disturbed teenagers, things like
that. The case seemed stalled until October 1999. Some breaking news, Austin police have
arrested four men in connection with the yogurt shop murders of 1991. [music] There were finally arrests, but would it
answer the question on the billboard that had been haunting Austin for nearly [music] a decade?
After nearly 8 years, Austinites are getting some [music] answers in the case of the yogurt shop murders.
I want to start off by thanking y'all for joining us here today. For almost 8 years, we've all waited to
hear the words that our police department is close to a point of solving a crime that has haunted our
very souls. Today, we finally get to hear those words. When four men were arrested in the fall
of 1999 for the yogurt shop murders, relief was felt citywide. Sarah, Jennifer, Amy,
Eliza, we did not forget. The girls' families struggled to take it all in. There had been so many false leads
for such a long time. It was hard to know how to think about it and then how to feel about it.
But there were finally names and faces to blame. Maurice Pierce, Forrest Wellborn, Michael Scott, and Robert
Springsteen. To the task force, they were familiar names and faces. They were the same young men that John Jones and
his investigators questioned just 8 days after the murders. Did you do this? I have no comment. And
ultimately released for lack of evidence. I was confident and remain confident to
this day that we got as far with them as we could then. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't
something develop later that would cause them to actually go out and arrest them.
So I was going, "Yes, good job." I was ready to dig out the hideous green and white
shirt. But before that shirt could come out of the closet, the one he promised the
girls' families he would wear when the case was solved, Jones wanted to know more about what led
to the arrests. There was no physical evidence. Nothing. Joe James Sawyer was appointed as Robert
Springsteen's attorney. What made them go back and charge these guys? >> Because the new officers, when they when
they reopened the cold case, convinced themselves that we let them slip through our
fingers. We had to have had the murderers in the beginning. In part, they decided that because they
had nothing else. There was no new physical evidence suddenly tying any of the four men to
the crime. But what police did have were two newly obtained confessions. [music]
One from Michael Scott and another from Sawyer's own client, Robert Springsteen.
Michael Scott's confession came first. He was questioned over 4 days. Come on, Michael, you're doing good.
Tell us. Let's do this today. Let's do it. Seeing girls I remember one girl screaming terrified.
Scott told investigators that he and the others only intended a simple robbery. He said they cased the yogurt shop
earlier that day, and then after dark, he said, they came back armed with two guns. I had gun go off.
I only pulled trigger once. I hear another gun go off. Investigators claimed that Springsteen
later corroborated much of what Scott said. But after intense questioning, he went
further. Springsteen told them he shot one girl and raped her. He was so tired of this. He'd already been questioned.
He'd already been uh through that mill. He thought, "You know what? I'll tell you any damn thing you want." Sawyer
maintains his client is innocent and says the confession was coerced. In 2009, Robert Springsteen explained to 48
Hours why he would admit to doing something so horrible, something he says he didn't do. I was berated and berated
and berated by the police officers until they obtained what it was they wanted to
hear. They were not going to allow me to leave, and I I basically they they broke
me down. >> ask you, did you have anything to do No. I had nothing >> at the yogurt shop? No, never. Even
though Joe James Sawyer didn't have Michael Scott as his client, he says he has serious concerns about his
confession, too. Is that the gun you shot somebody with, Mike? I don't Is that the gun you walked up
behind somebody with and shot in the head? I frankly couldn't believe it. They [music] terrorized him,
and he was afraid to say no. Forrest Wellborn denied having anything to do with the murders, but police
[music] were convinced he was the lookout that night, and Michael Scott placed him at the scene.
Hi, I'm Erin Moriarty with CBS. I spoke to Wellborn in 1999 in jail shortly after his arrest.
Were you there that night? >> No. Were you there as a lookout? No. I mean to say
You had nothing to do with this. Nothing at all. Wellborn had been questioned multiple
times by investigators over the years, and he never wavered. He, like the others, first came on police radar when
in 1991, just days after the murders, Maurice Pierce had been [music] caught with that .22 caliber gun at the mall
near the yogurt shop. Pierce told the detectives back then that he had given the handgun to
Wellborn, and that [music] it had been used in the yogurt shop murders. Why would he say that?
I don't know. Welborn has always [music] maintained his innocence, despite pressure from the
police. They get right in my face and you know, tell me everything I said was a lie.
Remember, false confessions in this case were nothing new. Jones said that [music] six written
false confessions were obtained when he was in charge. So, when he learned that the two confessions [music]
were all the new investigators seemed to have, it gave him pause. I go, "Well, maybe I shouldn't get that
shirt out just yet." It wasn't long before the case against the men began crumbling. Charges against
Forrest Welborn were dismissed after two grand juries failed to indict him. And later on, charges were dropped against
Maurice Pierce for lack of evidence. Everything fell apart except the cases against Michael Scott and Robert
Springsteen. And with Scott and Springsteen's confessions, the victims' families felt
prosecutors had a strong case. These young men have been implicated and they have confessed and they can withdraw it,
but the truth is they actually were there and they actually did the murders. In 2001, nearly 10 years after the
murders of Eliza Thomas, Amy Ayers, and Sarah [music] and Jennifer Harbison, the
yogurt shop murder trials began. Both defendants, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, [music] faced the death
penalty. The only thing that ever tied Robert or Mike Scott [music] to that crime scene were their
confessions. >> [music] >> Confessions that both defendants said were coerced. The two were tried
separately. [music] Springsteen's trial was first. Neither of the men would testify against one another. So,
instead, prosecutors used their confessions against one another, reading parts [music] of the confessions to the
juries. Springsteen's lawyer, Joe James Sawyer, was frustrated that he couldn't cross-examine Scott.
I thought the trial was massively unfair to my client and that it was being done
systematically and with deliberation. The trial lasted 3 weeks. The jury deliberated for 13 hours.
If it please your honor. And then, reached a verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant Robert
Springsteen IV guilty of the offense of capital murder. Guilty. Springsteen was condemned to death row.
In 2002, [music] Michael Scott went on trial. He was convicted as well. He [music] was
sentenced to life in prison. But the case didn't end there. 15 years after the murders came a shocking turn of
events. [music] In a 5-4 decision, the court behind me said that Michael Scott's constitutional
rights were violated during his trial and therefore should get a new one. Both Scott and Springsteen's convictions were
overturned on constitutional grounds. The Sixth Amendment gives defendants the right to confront accusers.
>> [music] >> And remember, in Scott and Springsteen's trials, their confessions were used
against one another, but they weren't allowed to question each other in court. And
the relief the relief was incredible. But that relief for the defendants came as a devastating blow to the victims'
families. We later spoke to Eliza Thomas's mother, Maria, about that moment. Every time I hear those words, that
their rights were violated, I just feel like I'm going to go insane. Their rights are violated.
Our girls were murdered. It ruins your sense of fairness. It ruins your sense of
that we live in a just world. Even though their convictions were overturned, Scott and Springsteen were
[music] not released. A new district attorney, Rosemary Lemburg, was determined to retry them.
>> [music] >> In an effort to find more evidence, her office had ordered DNA tests on vaginal
swabs taken from the victims at the time of the murders. It's called Y-STR testing and was
[music] fairly new in 2009 when we spoke with DA Lemburg. This technology searches for male DNA
only. A partial male DNA profile was obtained from one of the victims believed to have
been sexually [music] assaulted. And no one expected what it would reveal. Does that DNA match any of the
four [music] young men who were originally accused and two of them who've been convicted? It does not.
The DNA did not match any of the original four suspects, including Scott and Springsteen. And that's significant
because Springsteen, in that confession he said was coerced, told investigators he raped one of the girls.
CeCe Moore is a DNA expert and genetic genealogist [music] whom we asked about the case and the
role of Y-STR DNA in criminal cases. It is a tool that can eliminate almost everyone. It should eliminate
everybody but the suspect. If their Y-STR does not match, they did not contribute that. Because where that
DNA was found, yes, in this case, it's very important. The district attorney was focused on
finding the source of that [music] DNA. She wondered if Springsteen and Scott had another partner. I remain really
confident that both Springsteen and Scott [music] were responsible for killing those poor
girls. But in 2009, with [music] no matches on that DNA, Lemburg dropped charges
against Springsteen and Scott. After nearly 10 years behind bars, they were released, but not exonerated,
leaving open the possibility they could be retried at a later time. This was a difficult decision
and one I'd rather not have to make. The question remained, though, whose DNA was it?
I know who it is. Killers. >> [music] >> You're convinced that that That is a certain truth.
Amber Farrelly was part of both Scott and Springsteen's [music] defense teams. She came up with a theory that the
mystery DNA might belong [music] instead to two never-identified men who witnesses reported seen sitting in the
yogurt shop just before it closed. Those two men were described wearing fatigued-colored
jackets. They were very slouched over, whispering, like they were It was a very close conversation in a booth.
Officials tried to track down those two men [music] as well as the source of the
DNA. And then, in 2017, an Austin police investigator searched a public online DNA database to see if he
could get a hit. [music] And unbelievably, he did. I thought, "My God, we actually
have a chance a shot to solve this crime after so many years." I really thought this was it. I really
thought we had a chance to solve it. US Congressman Michael McCaul, like so many others from Austin, hoped that the
recently uncovered DNA in the yogurt shop murder case might finally bring answers to the victims' families.
We'll never forget that tragic day. It's stained in my memory. 25 years after the murders, the Austin
Police Department went searching for a match to the Y-STR DNA that had been found on the yogurt shop victim believed
to have been sexually assaulted. And in 2017, they got a break. On a public DNA database used for population studies,
investigators thought they had found a match. I've seen DNA prove homicide cases. The
DNA evidence is is really the key here. But that sample from the crime scene was
not a complete DNA profile. It was just Y-STR, the male portion of DNA, and it was not a very detailed sample, having
just 16 markers. 16 STRs is not a very powerful match. There could be millions of people with that same profile. So, in
genetic genealogy, we usually use 67 or 111 markers or maybe even more. But isn't it a place to start? It is. It's
not absolute, but if there's nothing else to work with, it is certainly something to look into. Still, it seemed
to be the most promising lead in years, but there was a problem. The seemingly matching sample on the public database
had been submitted anonymously by the FBI. That meant it came from a federally convicted offender, arrestee, or
detainee, but had no name attached to it. When Austin authorities tried to get that
name, the FBI would not provide it, citing privacy laws. There are some restrictions on privacy, so it gets into
some very sort of you know dicey issues. Frustrated, officials reached out to Congressman McCaul for help. And so I
pressed the FBI very hard. Finally, in early 2020, the FBI agreed to work with the Austin Police
Department to see if further testing could be done on that YSTR DNA from the crime scene. I was very excited about
it. The idea that we could bring this case to a to closure for the families and bring those responsible to justice.
More advanced testing [music] came up with additional markers, 25 instead of the original 16.
But as so often happened in this case, what seemed so promising turned into disappointment.
Some of the additional markers did not match the FBI sample. In other words, what seemed to be a match was not. In a
letter to Congressman McCaul, the FBI [music] explained the new results, quote, "Conclusively exclude the male
donor of the FBI sample. As such, the FBI YSTR profile is not an investigative lead."
And that was the greatest disappointment because we really thought we had it. If
it didn't match that individual, doesn't it still mean there's somebody out there? This DNA belongs to somebody,
right? >> It does. It does. Um and that's why we're we're not going to rest till we find the match. How important
then is this DNA profile that exists to solving this case? I mean, it's um it's everything.
With DNA research advancing so quickly, there's real hope that one day that sample of DNA obtained [music] 30 years
ago may finally solve this case. Still, it will not erase the pain or the loss of lives. Every year that goes by, I get
farther and farther away from my sister. I know. And I worry about losing memories.
Sonora Thomas struggled for years with panic attacks and physical pain until with the help of therapy, she realized
it was connected to the murder of her sister Eliza. With a unique understanding of what
trauma victims experience, Sonora wanted to help others like her and became a therapist. There's so many
moments, you know, when your heart is open, you know, you're joyful, but there's also this loss that's always
accompanying your life. Sonora found it helpful to look for ways to remember Eliza. When we got married, we had a
flower and an empty chair at our ceremony and my sister was mentioned. Compounding Sonora's pain, her mother
died in 2015. Maria Thomas passed away with so many unresolved [music] questions about the
murder of her daughter. There is a kind of torture that continues by the fact that it's
unsolved and it's ongoing. It's always there. >> [bell] >> John Jones is still haunted by the fact
that the case is unsolved and by what he saw that gruesome night. He has suffered from PTSD through the
years. I had completely shut down. Uh to where all my energy was directed at at the case. It took a toll on you,
didn't it, John? Even 30 years afterwards. Well, yeah. It would on anybody. I think. Not as much as the families,
you understand. I know. Whatever pain I'm having pales in comparison to what they what they're going through.
>> [singing] >> These days, Jones finds solace singing in his church choir. I can relax when
I'm in church. Leave the world behind? Leave outside? No, I I know it's just past the door.
And when he's [music] in that outside world, the families of Amy Ayers, Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, and Eliza
Thomas are never far from his thoughts. I feel bad for them. That it's still not solved.
But Jones has hope. He has kept that shirt he wore the night of the murders. Only worn once. The shirt he promised to
never wear until the case was solved. More than [music] 30 years later. Still sitting in there. Still sitting here.
It is. And sometime soon, John Jones looks forward to wearing it again. [music] I just hope one of these days we can put
this thing [music] to bed. For the family's sake. >> [music] [music] [music] >> 48 Hours. Don't miss an episode.
>> [music] [music] [music]

"48 Hours" true-crime cases with recent developments. Watch the YouTube super marathon, which includes "Fighting for Aniah," "The “No Body” Case of Dee Warner," "The People v. Kouri Richins" and "The Yogurt Shop Murders."

00:00 Fighting for Aniah (This episode aired on June, 29, 2024.) 41:19 The “No Body” Case of Dee Warner (This episode aired on Feb. 1, 2025.) 01:22:38 The People v. Kouri Richins (This episode aired on March 1, 2025.) 02:03:38 The Yogurt Shop Murders (This episode aired on Aug. 2, 2025.)

UPDATES: -On March 19, 2026, a jury found Ibraheem Yazeed guilty of felony murder and murder in the death of Aniah Blanchard. Yazeed was not found guilty of capital murder and no longer faces the death penalty.

-On March 10, 2026, a jury found Dale Warner guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Dee Warner.

-Kouri Richins was found guilty on all charges on March 16, 2026. Sentencing is scheduled for May 13.

-In September 2025, the Austin Police Department identified Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer and rapist, as the suspect in the Texas yogurt shop murders. Brashers, who is deceased, was tied to the murders through DNA testing. On Feb. 19, 2026, a judge declared innocent the four men who were wrongfully accused of the murders — formally exonerating them. Attorneys for the men indicated they are discussing restitution and considering a civil lawsuit.

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.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

Aniah Blanchard's disappearance leads to a tragic murder case, deeply affecting her family and community.

Key points

A mother's love and determination. Angela Harris vows to find her daughter, Aniah, no matter what it takes.
Hope turns to despair. Evidence suggests foul play in Aniah's disappearance, leaving her family heartbroken.
Walt's Emotional Fight. Walt Harris returns to the boxing ring on the anniversary of Aniah's murder, driven by love and loss.
Last Contact with Dee. The last time anyone heard from Dee Warner was on April 24th.
Dale's Arrest. Dale Warner was arrested for the murder of his wife Dee after two and a half years.
Judge's Decision. Judge Anna Frushour returns to court with her decision regarding Dale's trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This isn't Aniah. Aniah wouldn't have run away.

A brother's disbelief over his sister's sudden disappearance.

15:04WatchMar 28, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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