All language subtitles for Detective.Diaries.S01E04.The.Witching.Hour.1080p.WEBRip.x264-KOMPOST[eztv.re]

Homicide was my calling,

but you're only as good
as your last case

that becomes who you are.

An Arlington family
is planning two funerals

for a beloved Vietnamese couple.

And...

this would be my last case.

I think somebody
who has the courage enough

to come forward with
information this case,

can really bring closure

not only to that community
out there

but also to the family.

Those people didn't
deserve to die like that.

You know, I can
still see that now.

The layers and layers of tape

that was wrapped
around their face.

This is a horrible way to die.

There is no motive no suspects

and still no persons
of interest in this case.

I'm like what?

That doesn't sound right.

You are a nice kid,

if you were there

and others committed
this offense,

tell us who those people were.

I felt betrayed

and I just can't seem
to catch a break.

He is probably gonna
get away with murder.

But sometimes you have to
make a deal with the devil.

I never wanted to be a cop.

My degree is in journalism.

I never shot a gun or anything

before I got on
the police department.

But, I've always been
one who's asked questions

and I've always been one
who was inquisitive

and wanted to know the answers
to those questions.

It's ironic that I end up

working as a homicide detective

and doing the very thing

that I've always done in life.

One thing I've learned,

if you spend enough time
asking the right questions...

eventually you will
get to the truth.

When this case
was assigned to me...

I had been in homicide
for 21 years,

I've worked a lot of
homicides up to that point,

I often use to say
there's nothing I haven't seen

but this was a case

that has so many
twists and turns

and highs and lows and

emotions that
were involved in it.

Really in the end kind
of caught me by surprise.

Little did I know
when we were working this case

that this would be my last case.

June 10th, 2012 was on a Sunday.

I get the call,

asking me to respond
to a homicide

at 3620 Waverly Drive
in Arlington.

Two elderly people

found inside the apartment...
deceased.

The main thing I wanna hear is,

"Do you have a suspect?"

And they said, "No."

"Do you have witnesses?"

And they said, "No."

And so right then I knew

I wasn't coming back home
that night at all.

So I'd tell my daughter
who's upset now

that I have to leave,

we always kind of play game,

like I got your nose
and I'll give it back to you

when I come back.

But that's the way it was
for me working homicide.

When I got there...

there's a lot of people
standing around.

Lot of police cars in the area.

I normally just sit in the car

and just kind of look first

and see what's going on.

So I'm kind of processing
the whole scene.

I worked with Byron
for 20 years.

He's very analytical

and he knows how he's going to

approach the situation.

You know, he's calm,

he's level headed,

slow and steady.

Takes him awhile to get there

because he, you know,

he's being methodical
and I'm like,

"Let's go." You know,

and he's just like, "Slow down,

we're gonna get there."

It's a one bedroom
apartment, so as soon as you walk in

you can see furniture
thrown about,

the whole place
seems to be in disarray.

We have a beer bottle

that's in the middle
of the kitchen counter,

we have a marijuana cigarette,

and you have CD's thrown about.

The fact they were
just scattered

throughout the apartment
was weird to me.

To be honest with you
in this particular case here

the... scene looked staged
so to speak.

We look for signs
of forced entry

and we could not find
a true source of forced entry

and we were curious
of how the suspects

got inside the apartment.

Did the victims
know the suspect?

Did they let the suspects in?

Or did they have the key

to the victim's apartment?

There's a pool of blood

right by a chair
that's in the living room.

You know, when we you have
pool of blood there

as opposed to just droplets,

it lets me know that most likely

some type of attack
took place there

and the person was lying there

for a prolonged period of time.

And I also saw blood
throughout the apartment.

It is on the walls as if
someone was grabbing the walls,

as they were been dragged
into the main bedroom.

In the bedroom things
are in disarray as well,

looks to be ransacked

and the victims
are found in the closet

and they're stacked
on top of each other.

Looking at the victim's bodies,

I can see
what appears to be trauma

on both victims,

as if they were struck
with some type of object.

They had this gray duct tape
that was around their legs,

their hands were duct taped
behind their bodies

and then the tape went
all the way up to the eyes,

so it covered their nose.

Layers and layers of tape,

that was a shocking view to see.

They were
elderly, they lived there alone.

I could see by the bed
there was an oxygen tank

that was used
by one of the victims.

So it made me think,

man this is
a horrible way to die.

You can only imagine

just how much they're
trying to grasp for air

and not being able to do so

with the layers of duct tape

around your mouth and your nose.

And you just think that
the person that did this

had no mercy for them, you know.

And they were
eventually identified

as Mr. Long Nguyen
and Ms. Huong Ly.

In the city of Arlington,

all the Vietnamese community
is pretty big,

businesses, banking,

grocery stores,
restaurants and you have it.

So it became a big part

and still is a big part
of Arlington

which is,
a positive aspect of...

For the city.

Long Nguyen and Huong Ly,
were Vietnamese couple,

they came to America,
they started a family,

they had a daughter,

they had a son-in-law,
grand kids.

They built a business
from the ground up

and they supported their
entire family with that business.

They're living
basically the American dream.

You know,
you start to think about

your parents, your grandparents,

that you do get
emotionally involved.

It was horrible the...
You know,

the whole crime--
It was horrible.

The one thing that I remember is

that their hands
were touching each other.

It just felt like
they were just together

and they stayed together
the entire time.

They're so connected
and as a couple

that they know
this is the end for us

and we gonna go together,
you know.

I was under the adage that

there's nothing I haven't seen

but that is stuck in my mind

and you know,
I can still see that now.

We have
a call back

First impression you think of
is that a robbery took place.

And in the course
of that robbery

somebody killed the victims.

But it didn't seem like
anything of value was taken,

we felt that

we were probably dealing with
at least two suspects.

Just the logistic
of dealing with two people,

how the bodies were positioned,

I thought that it would be
kind of hard for one person

to control both victims.

We processed the scene,

we did not find
any definitive fingerprints

that would give us a lead
to any possible suspect.

We also looked at
their bloody handprints

and we had that tested as well,

and that blood came back
to the victim Long Nguyen.

One of the things
that looked out of place

was the ashtray that
had a joint in it.

We're talking about
the elderly Asian couple,

it was just totally
out of place.

We put a rush job
on that marijuana cigarette.

And for us to at least

at the very least
get a DNA profile.

At that point
I had a mental note

of all of that stuff

that I wanted to question
the family about.

The after the murder

I asked the family to come
to the police station.

Uh, the family was
in a total state of shock,

they confused about

how and what happened
to the... to the family.

- What's your first name?
- C-H-A-U.

C-H-A-U.

Chau Tran, he was the son-in-law

to the victims
was the only person

that spoke English,

his wife and his mother
didn't speak in English.

So I started going through
the process with Chau,

since he was my main source
of communication.

Chau explained to me
that the night before

the victims
along with his mother

came to his home
to celebrate their birthdays.

It was Long
Nguyen's birthday along with Chau's.

They were just
loving grandparents, you know?

They're someone who I also
consider my best friend as well.

My parents owned a sewing
business with my grandparents.

I would go out there
mainly every day

just to help them as well.

It was just kinda cool
being out there

because it was just our family,

my brothers and my parents,
and my grandparents.

Just hang out at the shop,
you know?

That was like my whole...

Kinda like my whole childhood.

I think I visit my grandparents

maybe three, four times

out of the week just to
hang out with them,

eat, because, man,
both my grandparents can cook.

Both of them can cook.

I was only 15
when my grandparents passed.

It was like why would someone

do this to
two 60-year old people?

Yes.

Um, and...

We were just
trying to figure out

some type of motive.

They own this sewing business.

Oh, yeah.

No...

Okay. Okay.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh, they did commercial
sewing for amusement parks.

The business is not open
to the public,

so this was not a possibility

of a customer who's gone mad.

Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.

Chau and his family
was able to give me

a lot of insight
on some of the things

that I noticed
from the crime scene.

We talked about any jewelry

that could've been taken
from the family.

But we didn't
find any of those items

at the crime scene.

I said,
"Did they smoke marijuana?"

But he assured me
that was not the case here.

I'm with the family

at the police station
for over four hours.

I express sorrow to Chau.

I want them to know that I care,

I want them to know that

I can't bring
your loved one back.

But I can give you
that closure that you need

to not wonder who did this.

I arrive at the
medical examiner's office,

so I can get a better look

at the victims'
body at that time.

I can see trauma throughout
the facial areas,

as well as the hands
and the bodies.

On Mr. Nguyen's head,

it appeared to have a claw mark.

We didn't find any type of

item that was used
against the victims.

So we can only speculate

that they were struck
with a hammer.

Although they had extensive
trauma throughout the body,

the asphyxiation was
the official cause of death

due to the duct tape
that was wrapped around

the victims'
eyes and nostrils and mouth.

And a horrible way to die.

Just a horrible way to die.

We needed to find
a possible suspect fast.

It's our job to come up
with some type of answer.

I asked Diane to
start the canvassing,

see if anybody saw or heard
anything at the time.

At this point

I've gotten the results back

for the DNA samples
from the crime scene.

Just as expected,
the profile that we got

from the marijuana joint
that was left...

did not match
that of the victims.

I did ask for a possible
racial background

of the DNA sample.

This particular sample

could be that of
an African-American person.

We have that sample

that was taken from
the marijuana cigarette,

placed into CODIS.

CODIS has

hundreds of thousands
of people in there,

if not millions
of people in there,

and the results from
a sample like that,

takes time.

So therefore, we have to wait.

We continued canvassing
the apartment complex.

And in the course of that...

We learned there was
an apartment

right down the walkway
from the victims' apartment

that was said to have a party

the night of this offense.

So Byron goes, find out
who lives in that apartment,

and find out it's this guy
named David Hayes.

He, along with his girlfriend,

lived in that apartment.

They did have
a party that night.

They were drinking
at the time, partying.

They stated that they were
out in the courtyard,

which is adjacent

to the victims' apartment.

This was a particular
concern for us

because everyone
in apartment number seven

were African-American,
you know, Black males.

I'd ask for
a sample of this DNA.

He agreed.

David told us that he had

his brothers there as well
at the party.

He gives his brother's name

as Samuel Gregory.

Doing
a background check on him,

I realized that

he didn't give me
the right name.

I found out his name was
Shannon Gregory and not Samuel.

Shannon Gregory
had a criminal history.

And that criminal
history involved,

gang-related activity,

felony arrest in the past.

Shannon Gregory had a DNA
profile already on file,

due to his
past felony convictions.

We were on pins and needle
waiting to see

what kind of results
we were gonna get back.

We learned that
Shannon Gregory's DNA profile

did not match the
marijuana cigarette

inside the apartment.

And then we also get
initial information that

the person that left that sample

is not in the CODIS database.

So therefore we have to wait.

That was... That was a blow.

It's really frustrating for me.

I think that,

you know, Byron was a little...

He was a little discouraged,
you know, at that point.

I knew that we needed to find

the DNA that matched
the marijuana cigarette

inside the apartment.

So Susie, are police any closer

to catching the killer here?

There is no motive, no suspects,

and still no persons
of interest in this case.

With the killer still
at large and few leads,

residents say they're worried.

Kinda scary. You know,
I got two young children,

a four-year old
and my two-year old

and it just makes me not
even wanna live here,

it makes me wanna move.

You have the apartment complex

and the community as a whole,

worried about their safety.

I think somebody
who has the courage enough

to come forward with
information in this case,

can really bring closure not
only to that community out there,

but also to the family.

As we canvass their apartment,

we end up interviewing
a lot of people,

all of those people did allow us

to take a DNA profile swab.

Byron swabbed a lot of people,

just so he can try to get a hit.

We kept running into dead ends

and no one matched
that particular,

DNA profile we had.

So we're kinda at a loss
at this point.

It's during
this time that I get a phone call

from the insurance company.

And it's not uncommon
for me to get

a phone call
from the insurance company

because everybody has policies

out on loved ones.

But when they told me
it was over $1,000,000

and 1.8 to be exact,

that kinda sparked my interest.

And I said, well, I've dealt
with a lot of insurance policies

but I've never had one
that was that high.

The beneficiaries
were Chau Tran,

the son-in-law, and the...

And his wife Oanh,

who's the daughter
of the victims.

Almost $2,000,000.

That initially
gave me some concern.

I decided to take a drive

up to the sewing business.

I look around that area

and I see these
surveillance cameras.

I go to the management there

and I asked her if the
cameras were working.

And she said yes.

I looked at June 9th.

Chau said that
the victims left his house

around 10:00 to go back home.

Around 10:30 or so,

you can see what appears
to be Chau's van

pulling up to
the sewing business.

I can see two people
get out of the van,

and they're carrying this
large duffel bag.

And Chau opens the door.

He had to kinda struggle
to get that

large duffel bag
inside the business.

It appears that he just
dropped it in the business

and then immediately came out.

And then he puts

a bag inside the dumpster.

Was Chau there dumping
a murder weapon

or something else incriminating?

During my initial interview
with Chau,

he never mentioned
that he left the house

after the party.

I was starting to think what
is Chau up to up this point.

I wanna know
what's in that dumpster.

So with that being said...

I jump into that dumpster.

I scrambled
through all these bags...

until I find the bag
that belonged to Chau.

And I can see mailings
and, you know,

stuff with their names on it.

And I can see
other just various trash.

I did take some of the items,

you know, with his name
and stuff on it.

But nothing that was, um, uh...

you know, incriminating
or anything like that.

I also called Chau
had him meet me

at the business location.

I asked him
about the duffel bag.

As soon as he open the door,
I can see the duffel bag

with, uh, that I recognized
on the video.

And it was full of material

that would be used for sewing.

I asked Chau, I said,
"Why would you guys

have that much insurance
on that couple?

This seemed kind of
obsessive for me

for you to have that much."

And Chau explain
that the business

was in the Huong Ly
and Long Nguyen's name.

And that... For the business,

the family all felt like

they needed this much
insurance to carry on

if something were to
happen to them.

I did check the business out
and the business

was in their name.

They had taken the policy out
over a year

prior to the murder.

His explanation behind it
made sense.

I did not consider

Chau, nor his family to be,
possible suspects.

I'd really...
had established report

with Chau and his family

and I knew I could not withhold

that insurance policy based on

the information that I had.

I'd let the insurance company
know that they could carry on

with the
release of the benefits.

It's frustrating at this time,

because we just don't have
a motive.

We don't have
any kind of evidence

and... And I just
can't seem to catch a break

on coming up
with a possible suspect.

The killers
are still at large.

One hundred days later now.

Police are still looking
for a break in the case.

It kind of went cold,
as far as the leads.

Nothing really panning out,
you know, when he wanted it,

but he continued to work on it.

I'm contemplating retirement,

I don't want this case
hanging over my head.

And I know I have DNA
that is just sitting out there

of a possible suspect,

you would think a person
who would commit

a crime like this,
surely would do something else

at some point that would
cause us

to have their DNA in the system.

But that wasn't happening.

That was the case
more so than any case ever.

That was the one case that I saw

quite a little bit of emotion
at home.

He has a great sense of humor.

But I also know that
sometimes the sense of humor

could be a way of working
through the pain

of what he's seen.

And he would go upstairs
to decompress.

You know, when you have
your alone time,

you, um... You always talk
to yourself, at least I do.

You know, as we say in homicide,

you have to have
the homicide gods

with you as well.

I used to ask for,
"Give me a sign

and give me a clue
or something."

I started doubting
whether or not

I was gonna get a...
Get the lead that I wanted.

I felt that this was going to be

that pinned in legacy
of my time in Arlington.

It was just, like, a big stone

that you couldn't move.

But one quote
that we used to have is,

"We work for the dead."

Long Nguyen and Huong Ly are...

I have their pictures
on my file cabinet.

It's just a reminder
of who I'm working for.

The image where the couple
was in the closet,

their hands are interlocked,

was traumatic for Byron.

That always, you know,
was in the back of his mind.

And I think that was also
the driving force

that I am going to find out
who did this to this couple.

I would
keep in contact with Chau.

I wanted to maintain
this level of communication.

And I would always tell Chau,
"I'll tell you I...

I haven't forgotten
about you guys."

I wanted to maintain

that sense of connection
with them.

Byron was the most
genuine person

that I've ever met.

Um, he was loving

and he just wanted
to make sure that we were good

and constantly
checking up on us.

It had that comfortness

knowing that someone
had our backs,

someone who would do anything

to make sure that, you know,

justice is done.

It's been
three years at this point.

I'm frustrated. I'm tired.

I've worked several other
cases at that point.

But I've always come back
full circle

to this case here.

And then finally...

in October of 2015,

I get a call
from the lieutenant.

He called me and said...

"They found a match

to that marijuana cigarette."

And I say
to the lieutenant,

"Are you telling the truth?
Are you reading this right?"

He says, "I'm reading it
right here.

It says, 'A marijuana cigarette

that's found
in the crime scene.'"

At this point, I'm in shock.

I'm in disbelief.

I get the official letter.

And I get up from my desk.

And I started running around
the third floor screaming,

"I got him! I got him!"

And everyone is saying,
"What the hell

is wrong with Stewart?"

I kept looking at it
over and over,

"Yes, this is the match

to the marijuana cigarette
that was found at the scene."

And that person name
is Willie Guillory.

Once you get that information
back on Willie,

that his DNA
was in that crime scene,

it's like now
we're just starting this case,

this case is brand new.

Once I got
that DNA notification,

I wasn't putting
any papers in to retire

until this case was done.

So now, I want to know

everything I can
about Willie Guillory.

Willie had been arrested

for stealing a horse,
which is a felony in Texas.

When he was arrested on that,

his DNA was put into CODIS.

So that's how we got a match.

We realized
that he's on probation

for the theft,

and he's in violation
of that probation.

And so I got a warrant,
and we set out to arrest him

on the probation violation
that he had.

Luckily for us,

instead of being
in the Houston area,

he was in the Fort Worth area,

which is a city adjacent to us.

He was
living in a homeless area,

and he's 20 years old.

So I gave the warrant
to our fugitive unit

and eventually,
like they always do,

they found him and they were
able to arrest him

on that warrant
that he currently have.

All right, Willie.

And now
Willie's under the impression

that he's been arrested
on his probation violation.

So his mindset is,

"Okay, you caught me, you know,

he knew he was in violation."

We got all the
preliminary information out.

He was very comfortable
at that point.

And then I said, "Willie,
I have something else

I want to talk to you about."

And the expression on his face

changed at that point.

Byron's staller
interview is very long.

It's very...
He's very methodical.

I learn a lot, you know,
working alongside of him.

Very smooth, very cool,
always in control.

At 16 years old,

we don't believe
Willie by himself

can control two individuals

and kill them both.

And wrap them over duct tape
and put them in the closet.

I don't know why my name
came up in this

I've never been to Arlington.

I didn't hurt nobody.

There were some other people.

He started getting
really emotional.

I sent the crime scene techs
in there

and they came in and took
his sample of the DNA

which made him even more
emotional at the time.

We knew at that time that
Willie was there.

He was involved in this offense.

To what degree at
16 years old, I don't know.

But we knew that we were
on the right track.

Just being a father myself,

it was very hard watching him
scream for his mother.

He has to encompass a lot
of different emotions

at the time and he's going
through a lot at the time.

And so, it's a process,
asking for somebody

who's gonna be comfortable
to him like his mother,

is a part of that process.

You know,
I called Willie's mother

and I explained to her
Willie has been arrested

for a capital murder that
happened here in Arlington.

It was just hard.

As a mother, it was hard.

I couldn't believe it.

I kinda dropped the phone.

It felt like something

just ripped out of me.

I didn't think he was capable
of doing anything like that.

And you can imagine
she was shocked,

capital murder.

He doesn't even live
in Arlington.

He lives in Houston.

How are you gonna arrest him
for a capital murder?

Di and I
make the decision

that we're going to drive
to the city of Houston.

You guys okay?
A little nervous?

I got a conscience.

I don't wanna charge anybody

with anything
that they didn't do.

You know how
that can go sometime.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Okay.

Okay.

Bobby had custody of Willie

for, uh, at least...

six years or more.

He used to beat Willie.

He used to...

He used to tell Willie
to do something or he gonna...

he gonna do this to him
and he's gonna do that to him.

He's low down and dirty.

This led us to believe

that Willie is not
the mastermind

behind this offense.

How do you guys believe
Bobby is involved in this?

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Everyone believed now
that Willie had involvement,

but they thought the primary
source of that was Bobby.

Bobby agreed to come

to the Katy Police Department
and talk to me.

We began to interviewing him.

We gave him the full details

of why Willie had been arrested.

I asked him, I said, "Bobby,
do you have any involvement

in this as well?"

He denied
any involvement in this.

Although we don't have
enough information

to arrest Bobby at this point,

I'm patient enough to know

that he will cross
my path again.

So, I turned my attentions
back to Willie

and attempted to talk to him
again about the offense.

Now, I want you to know that
I've been down in Houston

and I've talked to your sister,

talked to your mom, okay?

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

I contacted
the fugitive unit again.

Based on the information

that was given to us by Willie,

I obtained a warrant
for Bobby's arrest

for capital murder

and the fugitive team
went down to the Houston area

and they made the arrest

and had him transported
back to Arlington.

It's been a long road for us
to get to the point

where we're talking to Bobby,

but I think Bobby,
just like Willie,

knew once we told him
about this offense

that this day was coming
one day sooner or later

it was gonna come.

We gave him the full details

of why Willie had been arrested.

I asked him, I said, "Bobby,
do you have any involvement

in this as well?"

I'm looking on how

I can connect with Bobby.

I tried to take
full advantage of that.

I noticed that he had
a picture of

Jesus Christ on his shoulder.

His facial expressions,
his body language...

everything indicated
that he was ready.

Mmm-hmm.

Mmm-hmm.

No.

No, I did not intend.

Just to stop them
from hollering.

We got
the entire confession.

It was a quiet moment,
on the third floor.

But we're still not done.

Obviously, he said that,

he did not mean
to kill the couple at all.

And I know this is not true
because of the condition

of their body and how
they were brutally killed.

And it made no sense
for them to drive

all the way to Arlington
to rob this elderly couple.

I started getting the impression

that someone put them up
to this.

I knew he wasn't telling
the truth at this point.

Now, I'm starting to think

he's trying to cover
for someone.

Now, we're starting
to think, okay,

this is definitely
a murder for hire.

They're not the end of this.

You know, we still need
to figure out,

who's behind this
because we know at this point

that they're not behind this.

I then turn
my attentions back to Willie.

Since Bobby confessed,
Willie began to talk.

He told us that he and his uncle

had driven down from
the Houston area to Arlington

with a specific intent
to kill the victims.

He said that
there's another person

that was involved
in this case as well.

- Dephne?
- Okay. Okay.

We have
a new player here

who we don't know anything
about at this point.

Willie explained that Dephne

was related to a woman name Vi

who is uncle Bobby
was dating at the time.

Mmm-hmm.

We were able to confirm that

this person named Vi who Bobby
was having affair with

does exist.

This person named Dephne
who he mentioned does exist.

And he named her
to be Dephne Wright.

So we start looking
into Dephne Wright.

Dephne and Vi are Vietnamese

and they live
in the Houston area as well.

And, with Dephne,

we realized that
she did not have

any kind of criminal history
or anything like that,

but based on the information

that was supplied by Willie,

and eventually by Bobby,

we learned that Dephne
provided the key

to the victims' apartment.

Dephne was the person that

got this whole ball rolling.

Dephne told Bobby

what time the victims
would be gone from the house,

where they would be at the time.

All of that information

was supplied to him by Dephne.

So, now it made sense to us,
money is the motive here.

Willie was just used
in this process.

Bobby had financial strains
on his mortgage,

he's not working at the time
as well, so he...

Money was his motivating factor.

But, Bobby still
do not understand

the dynamics of why
he's committing this offense.

We needed to figure out
the reason why

Dephne solicit him
to do this offense.

We drive back
to the Houston area again,

to Dephne's house.

First thing we notice
when we get to her house

is that there are
cameras everywhere.

There's cameras in the backyard,

there's cameras up front,
one on each end of the garage,

one on a pole.

Bars on the door,

almost like it was, you know,

break-in proof or something.

It's just kind of weird.

You know, so where we have pause

about even wanting to
approach this place at this point,

you know, it's like fortress.

As we're
walking up to the front door,

Dephne comes out.

I immediately turn on
my recorder at this point

and I started recording
our conversation.

Yeah.

She says I have my own business.

I do spiritual readings.

And she says that
I remove curses and stuff

from businesses
and things of that nature

in the Vietnamese Community.

People from all
economic backgrounds

would pay her
significant money, $20,000,

$30,000, $40,000
to remove curses.

Or put curses on people as well.

She was considered to be
a spiritually powerful person

in the community that
was well-respected.

I don't think
anyone messed with her.

Mmm-hmm.

And that stuck in my mind that

she was very confident that
no one is gonna stiff her

for removing his curses.

Mmm-hmm.

And I asked her,
do you know a person

by the name of Bobby Guillory.

I felt her cockiness, you know,

even knowing that I know
that you're involved in this

but you still come across as if,

I had nothing to do with this.

And then I said, well,
here's a picture of Bobby.

Mmm-hmm.

She said yes, that's James.

I know James
but I don't know a Bobby.

They know him as James.

Now Bobby's full name
is Bobby James Guillory.

So apparently he was using
the James with them

and not Bobby.

So, now we can kind of
put the pieces together

to know that, yes,
that relationship does exist.

So based on the totality
of all of that information,

we made a decision
to get a warrant for Dephne

and charge her
with the offense of

capital murder as well.

But still, there's so many
questions at this point.

You just... It's...
You just...

All over the place.

Why are these people,
the victims,

was there some sort of feud

between the Dephne
and the victims

that led to this murder?

How did Dephne get the key
to the apartment?

She in turn gave the key
to Bobby.

We knew there was
a good possibility

that Dephne could made bail

so, at same time
that we arrested Dephne,

we also got a search warrant
for her house.

A monitor with probably 15
or so active cameras

being displayed
at the same time.

It was dark.

It wasn't really well-kept.

The house was weird.

It was, uh...
It was small space

but lots of stuff.

There's a shed in the backyard.

They had jars with fruits in it.

But it was on and alt...

Uh, an alter
where it was offerings.

Had candles lit.

There was books in here too.

How she did
her spiritual writings.

And if you see it,
it just, like, calligraphy.

It's just didn't make any sense

to the average person.

I'm looking at everything
that's in this room.

And I see this signing book.

Now I can see that
there were a number of

people with pictures.

I don't know if this is
a photo of the clients

or the people that
she need to put a spell on

or the people she need
to take a spell off of,

you don't know.

Now,
who's on the page right here?

I see Chau Tran's name
in the signing book.

I'm going what the hell?

Why the hell up is Chau Tran
in this book?

We both became a little
concerned about Chau,

that she could think that
she could cast a spell on him.

You know, some voodoo stuff
that she had going on.

So I called Chau.

I said, "Chau, hey,
I need to meet with you.

Can you meet me
at the department tomorrow?"

And I didn't go into detail.

He agreed to meet me
the following day.

The next day comes around,

I can't get in contact with him.

I'm calling him.

I still can't get
in contact with him.

And then I get a call
from an attorney.

Chau Tran came for advice,

about being interviewed

by the police department

or the detectives
handling this case.

And, I advised him
not to do the interview

unless I was present.

No.

Up until this time
until this since 2012,

I'd been communicating
with Chau directly,

at my leisure,
and at his leisure, anytime.

But once I got the call
from Chau's attorney,

I knew I was never gonna be
able to talk to Chau again

about this case.

Right.

Wait. What?

This whole entire time,

establishing a rapport with Chau

and working this case for him
and his family

to try to bring them closure,

and now it's turned out
that Chau is a suspect.

I just need to be able
to prove it and confirm it.

So we started
doing a background check on Chau.

We do financials,
and we learned that

they closed the sewing business,

they abandoned it.

So, we know that they did not,

use that insurance money

the way they were
supposed to use it.

And I also learned that Chau
has a gambling problem.

Spending like
crazy amounts of money

at WinStar Casino,

up the in the Texas,
Oklahoma border.

$5,000 here,
$10,000 here.

So after running
the financial on Chau,

a picture is coming clear
that Chau is a suspect

in this offense.

So I decided to confront Bobby,

and asked him directly
about Chau.

Mmm-hmm.

Yeah.

At this point
I'm... I'm in shock.

Chau from the start,
from the 911 call.

Had an elaborate scheme
to deceive us.

I had all the evidence
that I needed at that point

to know that Chau
was involved in this offense.

And that he benefited
from the victims death

through insurance money.

This was just
the ultimate betrayal for me.

But we knew
in order to get to Chau,

we had to go through Dephne.

We're in 2017,
Bobby has been convicted

and found guilty
of capital murder

and he gets life without parole.

Willie had taken a plea

and he is given up
to 20 years in prison.

And now we go to
the trial of Dephne.

And I'm working with David Alex

who's the prosecuting attorney
on this case.

So we worked constantly
preparing for the case,

going through
every measure of the case,

and at the same time
we are slowly building a case

on Chau as well

but our case with Dephne,

it is very challenging
in and of itself.

We didn't have any evidence
that Chau or Dephne

had been at the scene.

So even though we had
Willie who confessed,

Bobby confessed,

we very much needed more
for this case

than what we had.

I proposed that to David Alex,
the prosecutor, you know,

my client would be willing
to testify and...

and explain his involvement

and his connection with Dephne,

if he was offered immunity.

This is
shocking for everybody.

I'm like, "What?

How does Chau get away
with this?"

You know, he set this up,
this all started with Chau.

In the Chau Tran's case,

he had to be granted
what's called immunity

meaning if you get
up and testify and say,

"I was part of the murder

and Ms. Wright
was part of the murder."

The district attorney,
the prosecution cannot use

any of your statement
to prosecute you,

even though you're up there
saying under oath,

"I'm guilty, I'm a bad guy."

The fact that they were gonna
give him immunity

to testify against Dephne
just did not set right,

you know, we both felt like

that Chau should
have been tried.

His ass needs to fry
just like everyone else,

but sometimes
you have to make a deal

with the devil.

During the course of
dealing with this case,

working with David Alex,

we came to the realization that

Dephne was doing
a lot of scamming,

committing insurance fraud,

obviously Dephne was money-crazy

and she would hold
people accountable

and when you have somebody
like that

who was soliciting
murder for hire,

she was the person that
will do this again.

I think the DA felt
and David felt

that we would pretty
get a conviction

without Chau's testimony.

And it was Dephne who

was the biggest fish
so to speak.

So David is asking,

"How do you know
the defendant?"

And the defendant
as being Dephne Wright.

And Chau says, "My mother-in-law

and I were...

Read in the newspaper
that Mi Chau,

I'm assuming that's
the name of the business,

she has some kind of magic
or voodoo

to help our business."

They felt like they would
not being favored.

So in the Vietnamese culture,

Tay Boi is like voodoo,

I would say it's like
a spiritual healer.

His mother-in-law felt
it was because of this curses

and spells that were being
put on the business

by competing businesses,

and so she asked him
to find somebody that

could help spiritually
in the form of white magic.

So David asked, "What
happened after you hired her,

what happened?"

Chau says, "After the first
of the month,

Mi Chau helped us,
we receive 4,000 orders."

Here he's saying
after she removed this curse,

the business started profiting.

So obviously that
increased his belief

that she was able to help.

They went back and forth,

and visited her,

and she would do
different things,

cast spells and other things

to try to lift the business up,

and it worked,
for a while there,

they were making a lot of money

and she wanted
some of that money.

So she was getting
a monthly payout,

but then business would go bad

and she would say that
it was because, you know,

she was putting a spell on them

because they weren't paying her.

I guess the price that
originally was agreed upon,

just $15,000
had gone up to $280,000.

So you can see
the dire straight that,

Chau was in at this point

owing this type of money
to Dephne.

"My mother-in-law told us

because we owe a lot of money,

let her die

so we can use
the insurance money

to pay Dephne Wright.

My mother-in-law told us that
she would sacrifice to die

and let us collect the money

so we...
so we could not struggle."

Dephne had a control over him
that wasn't natural,

in fact you could say
it was supernatural,

in fact he believed that.

That's what it boils down to,

his strong belief in the occult

and the black magic
that she was able to perform.

And he definitely felt that

if he didn't do
what Dephne demanded,

that either him
or his family would suffer.

And she's behind bars,
and he's still afraid of her.

"You were the one that called

the defendant, Dephne Wright,

to tell her that
your mother-in-law

and her husband
were on their way home?"

"Yes."

Damn, I mean, he just...

he just knows
it's gonna happen, huh?

They're gonna die horribly
and brutally, you know,

and so...

And all for the name
of paying Dephne this money.

It's hard to believe.

This is beyond insane for me

to send your loved ones
to their death.

If they were in aggreance
to it then they stood there

and got intentionally
beaten and killed.

The crime scene does suggest

that's where the pulling
and blood was,

and...

how walls were grabbed
and things of that nature,

that, um, by the victims
that they were struggling.

David, the lead
prosecutor in this case says,

"Does your wife
at this point know about,

the plan to pay
the defendant for killing,

her parents?"

He says, "Not yet
but later on, she knew."

But she knew.

So... So what is the deal?

Then the whole family
knows what's going on?

This case gets weirder
every time.

This is the part
I don't need to know,

I needed to...
I needed to know it

in my own bubble
the way I knew it,

you know, and not, um...
not, at this way.

I find Chau Tran's story
to be ludicrous,

is to cover for his part
in this case.

Chau Tran, he was responsible,

because he put,
as I understand it,

over a million dollars in his
pocket of insurance money.

Chau said that
this was a whole stage act

where his in-laws were in on it,

the only thing is that

when you look at
the crime scene,

it suggests that these people
did not want to be killed,

it suggest that they were
fighting for their lives

trying to survive this attack.

So I don't buy Chau's story
for a second.

I think justice was served
with regard to Bobby,

I think justice was served
with regard to Willie

who was a hands-on participant

and just gave
gruesome descriptions

of the brutal conduct

towards an elderly lady,
in her own home,

I certainly don't think
justice was served

with regard to Chau Tran,

he pocketed all the money,

and walks free,
at least for now.

Mmm-hmm.

I just wanna say that, you know,

my parents are the most amazing

human beings on this planet

and if people have stuff
to say about them,

you're totally wrong.

I'm gonna tell you this now,

my parents are amazing

just like my grandparents
were my everything.

My parents are my everything.

I kind of don't
wanna answer that.

I don't... I don't know.

It's just...

Yeah. Just leave it at that.

It's because I'm comfortable
with where I'm at right now,

I just don't wanna open doors
that I don't want to go into,

it's like my feelings,

because I don't wanna get angry,

I'm not...
I don't like to get angry,

you know, I don't.

We can move on, uh...

Oh, I'd probably tap him
on his shoulder,

let him look at me

and then if he was man
enough to come to me

and say something
then I would, uh...

I would listen.

When he did see me,
at the trial he looked away,

yeah, I wanted him
to look me in the face,

and I wanted to see his eyes
when he knew that

I knew he lied to me.

Chau has to grapple
with the fact

that he knows I know the truth

and he has to live
with that, I don't.

Although I think Chau
should be held accountable,

I could live with the fact
that Dephne, Bobby,

and Willie
had been held accountable

for this offence.

Every question that I think

I ever had
since June 10th, 2012,

I got answered.

I got my closure,

and I think I brought closure
to the victims

more than anything.

We speak for the dead

and I like to think that
the victims know that

we are holding
the people accountable

for who took their lives.

I've been in law enforcement
for 31 years

and this would be my last case.

Closing this case along
with, you know, retirement

gave me the insurance that

I don't have anything left,
you know,

I've done the things
that I need to do,

this case is not gonna be
a cloud over me, uh,

so I can leave in peace.