Original subtitles

Previously on Ballard...

You have 72 hours.

Find something meaningful or this case goes to Homicide.

So, serial killer, huh?

You got a name?

I found a closed case from 2008. The victim was strangled in her bed.

The family reported a gold bracelet missing from the scene.

We found that bracelet...

...among our killer's souvenirs.

The victim's boyfriend was convicted, but he always claimed innocence.

If we reopen this case,

we might find a link between the women and the real killer.

And we could potentially free an innocent man.

Mike and Denise were found within a ten mile radius near Crestline.

So she was the target. Mike was an obstacle.

Luis said that we could trust him.

You should've kept your mouth shut.

Always a pleasure.

You need a ride?

Thanks. I got one.

Ibarra was gonna flip on the cartel, so Driscoll took him out.

Driscoll's either incredibly reckless or he thinks he can't be touched.

They got no leads, no suspects.

You're young, maybe you don't know how this works,

but they're right outside, looking for cracks.

Like I said, I'm not a monster.

-I got it. -Are you sure about this?

He's gonna die!

Make a vertical incision a half inch deep to create an opening.

Push the tube into the incision until you feel it go through the trachea wall.

No!

Did you know this man?

Ma'am, look at me.

Sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you again, did you know this man?

Yeah.

You're gonna have to speak up now. I can't hear you.

Her throat was compressed in the attack. She'll be hoarse for a while.

Yeah, I knew him.

Help me out with something.

Who pulled out the trache? Him or you?

You gonna read me my rights now?

Hey, buddy. An ambulance is waiting. Let's pick this up tomorrow.

We're gonna need her clothes.

This is not my first rodeo.

You'll get her clothes once she's changed at the hospital.

Come on, let's go.

You okay?

Everything's gonna be fine.

Let's go!

Thank you.

-What the hell happened? -News said someone tried to strangle her.

No. It's, uh... ...related to the John Doe case.

-What? -How?

Uh...

Probably hard to know since it's under Sheriff's jurisdiction.

Right. They're very territorial.

Can we go see her?

I don't think visitors are a good idea.

Detective Laffont? Some Detectives from Homicide are here. They want...

Hey, Tom.

-Greg? -What the hell?

Sorry to intrude.

Okay. Hey.

-Whoa, whoa. What's going on? -Hey, hey, hey. What the hell?

You didn't have to.

Believe me, it was perfunctory.

You look like hell.

What happened?

-You know what I know. -Bullshit.

How come you never told me an ex-cop was a suspect in your John Doe case?

I just didn't get a chance. It all came together so fast.

But when I get back to work, I'm going to...

About that, Homicide is taking the Pearlman case.

So those are "I'm sorry" flowers, not "get well" flowers.

They're taking the John Doe case too,

but it sounds like that one closed itself when Driscoll pulled his trache.

Any more bad news?

I'm gonna put a protective detail on you until we sort all this out.

No, no, no.

Driscoll's dead. I don't need a detail.

It wasn't a question.

Fine. I get to pick the team.

Once you're cleared by the doctors, you can call Metro and make arrangements.

But take a few days.

Hey.

-Hey, Ballard. -Hi.

Got you staying at the Sand Dollar Motel until this all blows over.

Sounds lovely.

Appreciate it.

He a friend of yours?

One of the few.

Okay, room 210. We'll be here if you need us.

Thanks.

So, Laffont dropped by my crib last night sometime after 1:00.

He gave me a phone. A dead ex-cop's phone.

Said you wanted me to dump the data.

Did you?

Before I answer that, what the hell is going on?

I can explain,

but first I gotta figure out how to get that phone back in the chain of custody.

Already took care of it.

Working with Mo on a need-to-know basis.

I need to know.

I need you to fill me in.

Who's Anthony Driscoll?

He murdered a John Doe, one of my cold cases.

And then I find out this guy's running guns and drugs

between the Zacatecas Nuevas cartel and the LAPD.

Jesus, Ballard.

Yeah. And he must've been in deep

because he chose to pull his trache rather than get arrested.

Doesn't sound like a cartel hit, the way he came for you.

Strangling's not their style.

No.

My guess is he was on his own.

If this was a cartel hit,

we wouldn't be sitting here right now talking.

I'm sorry.

I pulled you into some deep waters.

Uh... Story of my life.

I did dump Driscoll's phone.

Found a bunch of numbers, probably burners.

So we'll have to chase 'em down the old-fashioned way.

Follow the pings, put faces to numbers.

And I still cannot believe that you took a cell phone from a crime scene.

-I was gonna give it back. -Yeah.

Oh, man. I'm beginning to like you more and more.

Jesus.

Laffont. What's up?

Just checking on you. How you doing?

I'm fine, it's just my voice is driving me crazy.

How's the team holding up?

Not well.

You give any thought what you're gonna tell them?

Everything.

Why didn't you tell us?

I shouldn't even be telling you at this point.

Well, at least now we know who's outside the circle of trust.

No, this is so much bigger than trust.

This puts all of you in danger.

They went after Javier Fuentes the same day Driscoll went after me.

And I know that's not the job you volunteered for.

So if any of you want out, I understand.

Okay.

No more secrets.

Circle of trust.

Let's get back to work.

Get back to work on what?

They took both of our cases.

Right. I don't know that yet.

But I'm gonna figure it out.

Hello, this is KCAL News doing a story...

This is ABC7 calling...

Detective Ballard. Mike Suffolk with the LA Times...

Hello. My name is Lillian Lee. I saw you on the news.

I'm running out of hope.

My son, he was killed.

His name is Raehyun. Raehyun Lee.

I call the detectives, but they no longer call me back.

I want my son back.

I fear he will never rest in peace because they never found his body.

I found our new case.

Who's in?

Box was a mess.

My guess is the original IO pegged it as a gang killing and called it a day.

Gonna be a heavy lift.

Yeah. Are you sure about this?

There's no body. Just a pool of blood in the alley behind Ray's apartment.

Maybe you ought to go home. Rest for a couple days.

No, I'd rather work. I'll go crazy licking my wounds.

Honey, lemon, ginger. Soothes the vocal cords.

Thank you.

A green Ford Fiesta was spotted on security footage leaving that alley

around the time Ray disappeared.

No plates, which seems "gang-y."

But the vic's cell pinged once after that up in La Cañada.

Which seems considerably less "gang-y."

But it says here that Ray was affiliated with the Asian Gs.

Hmm.

They had Koreatown on lock in 2018.

Seven years later, territory's shifted. Maybe somebody will talk.

Mmm. I don't know.

I mean, gangs in my neighborhood can hold a grudge.

And people tend to keep their mouths shut, even years later.

We still have to try.

So, Martina, Colleen,

will you draft some flyers with the car info and the victim's photo?

Push it out on LAPD socials.

Rawls, Parker, will you post those in the neighborhood?

I mean, it's a long shot, but it's one the original investigator never took.

-Let's go talk to Ray's mom. -Mm-hmm.

Right thing to do, expanding the circle of trust.

But you did leave out the part about Bosch and the cell phone you swiped.

I'm working up to it. The team needs to focus on this new case.

The team needs to?

We could use a win right now, don't you think?

But, uh, why this case?

I don't know. Something in the mother's voice.

They never found my father's body either.

Oh, shit, I spaced.

-What's up? -It's Lancaster prison.

I was supposed to go visit Jorge Ochoa today.

Oh, the guy doing time for one of our serial killer's murders.

Detective Renée Ballard.

Yeah, I know. I'm sorry.

Can you get me another appointment ASAP? Thank you.

Lancaster hasn't gotten the memo it's not our case anymore.

I guess not.

I know he's gone.

I just want to bury him, so his soul can get to where it needs to go.

He wanted to play baseball, even scouts came to watch him play.

But then he had an accident on his friend's motorcycle.

They put a metal plate in his shoulder.

No more baseball.

After that, he had different friends. Rougher boys.

But even God's favorite was a fallen angel.

Ray, was no angel, Mom.

He was in a gang.

Did it to take care of us, but he was into some bad shit.

Um, Ray's brother, Jun.

I'm sorry, but if you wanna know the truth, Mom...

police need all the facts.

He's right, we do.

So I read in the case file

that Ray got into an argument with another boy at school

a few days before the shooting.

Marcus Jeong. Yeah.

Him and Ray were friends, till they weren't.

-Do you know what happened? -I was just a kid.

Marcus has twin face.

Two-faced, Mom.

I told the detective to go look at him,

but because Marcus doesn't dress like a bad man...

Marcus wasn't in a gang. And the cops thought it was a gang thing.

So they moved off Marcus.

And then they pretty much gave up altogether.

Well, we're gonna do everything we can to find out what happened, okay?

Mm-hmm.

-I think it worked out there pretty well... -Marcus Jeong?

Detective Ballard, Detective Laffont.

We wanted to talk to you about Ray Lee.

Yeah, um, Kate, I'm gonna... I'ma catch up with you. Yeah.

He tried to jump me into the Asian Gs.

He was recruiting me hard, and I-I felt the pull, you know?

But I had people on my side.

My mom, my teachers, the counselor at school.

All trying to keep me on the straight and narrow.

But when Ray got killed, look, that was a big reality check.

It's just, what can happen when you're in that life.

I got it together quick after that.

Can you tell us about the fight you had with Ray, the week he disappeared?

It's become like one of those urban myths, you know?

We just had some static.

About what?

He thought I was stringing him along about joining up,

but it got blown way out of proportion.

People started talking like it was this cage match.

And then this video started circulating.

Wait, what video?

Some kid uploaded cell phone footage of the fight.

My mom had a lawyer friend get it taken down a couple of weeks later.

Didn't want it hurting my prospects.

Sure looks like things worked out for Marcus.

Maybe at Ray's expense.

Let's see where he was the day that Ray disappeared

and then maybe Colleen can dredge up that video he was talking about.

Mm-hmm. Hey.

I am calling an audible.

-You look exhausted. -Laffont.

You're going back to the hotel.

Get some rest.

Handcuffs if necessary.

All right, Burner Boy is back there, seven o'clock.

Another blue-suiter.

I don't know him.

I'll call in the shop number, see who signed it out.

Man, Ballard and all these cops.

What's she gotten into?

Some bad shit, brother.

Oh, honey.

I'm okay. I'm okay.

-Oh, baby. -I'm fine.

Huh?

I thought you told me to get some rest.

I did.

Uh, but I'm calling early because we got a lead.

A witness replied to the flyer we put out.

No way.

Way. Surprised me too.

He lives up in Montrose, just west of La Cañada.

That's where the vic's cell phone pinged last.

Rightio.

He said he was heading out on an early hike

up Colby Canyon on the morning in question.

Saw someone coming out of the hills in jeans and a hoodie,

all dirty, wearing work gloves. He drove away in a green Ford.

Okay, but why would somebody remember all these details seven years later?

I am so glad you asked.

I am now going to read his statement, word for word.

Ahem.

"I got there and realized there was no pit toilet at the trail head."

I just finished my coffee, so...

Anyway, I found some bushes.

And I'm in the middle of doing my business...

"...when someone came out of nowhere."

They came down right through there,

and my dog went crazy, pulling on the leash.

I got my pants around my ankles, so I go ass-over-teakettle into the dirt.

Anyway, when I saw the flyer about the green Ford,

it was the first thing I thought of. It was right over there.

Found something!

That's him.

Ballard.

Check it out.

Amen.

Did you find a gun?

Were there prints?

Yeah, we're processing the gun now.

In Colby Canyon?

Look, Jun, I know you want to help, but you gotta let us do our jobs.

Same thing the cops said seven years ago.

Jun, look what she's done.

She helped put your brother to rest.

Just 'cause they found the body, Mom, doesn't mean this is over.

I'm headed to Lancaster in the morning to go talk with Jorge Ochoa.

Do... Do you think you can...

Have Firearms fast track the gun?

I'm on it.

Thank you.

Also, uh... uh...

See if Colleen has made any progress on the video?

First thing tomorrow.

You know, I never put it together,

what happened to your dad.

How it drives you.

You could always stay with us.

Leo would love to have you.

And Tutu.

Especially on Bachelor night.

Aw.

And leave all this?

Hmm.

Thank you for the offer.

But it's... it's not the motel. It's just not home.

Mm-hmm.

Hey. What's up?

You talk to Ochoa yet?

No, not yet. I'm on the Sierra Highway.

I'm about 40 minutes out.

Any news on the gun we found with Ray's body?

Uh, Firearms Freddie says it was registered to a Ms. Christa Fortson.

Any connection to Marcus or Ray?

Not according to Ms. Fortson.

You spoke to her?

Uh, she has an early shift at Denny's, so I swung by there and got a short stack.

Said she bought a bunch of guns back in the day

for an ex-boyfriend gang member.

-Ah, young love. -Yeah.

He'd dole 'em out to his buddies.

Any chance he wants to tell us which buddies?

Not likely.

He's dead.

And Ms. Fortson's alibi checks out.

Great. Swing and a miss.

Yeah. Talk soon.

Sorry I didn't make it in the other day.

I'm not going anywhere.

That's Elena's.

Your fiancée?

Are those your initials?

Yeah.

Where did you get this?

In a storage unit that belonged to the person who actually killed your fiancée.

What do you mean? Who?

I don't know that yet, Jorge.

But I think you're innocent.

I need to hear it from you though.

I am. I am. I told my lawyer that.

He said the DNA was too hard to explain.

He wanted me to take a plea,

but I was never gonna do that because I wasn't guilty.

So you went to trial?

The jury didn't believe me.

Then I had no more money to fight.

I loved Elena.

I'd never hurt her.

She gave me one too, with her initials.

It said, "Mi Vida, E.C."

They took it when they arrested me.

She got promoted at her job, and she was so proud.

But it meant long hours.

We'd be apart more.

So she bought these with her own money, so we'd have each other.

Always.

Look, I don't know, Ballard. The DNA's a killer.

Well, it's not foolproof.

She was Jorge's fiancée. Of course they slept together.

Yeah. Says the woman with a probable concussion.

This gold bracelet belonged to his fiancée.

Her name was Elena Cervantes.

You know where I found it?

In the storage unit of a serial killer I'm investigating.

And why didn't you lead with this?

Because I was testing your faith in me, Damani.

And you failed, by the way.

You in?

Yeah, I think I am.

Good. This guy really deserves someone who's gonna dig down.

Well, I'll get the shovel.

-How's Javi? -He's hanging on.

You got any idea who came for him?

Mmm, not yet.

I'm working on it.

-I'll be in touch. -Yeah.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey.

Hey.

You got to treat her nice.

Thanks.

What's all this?

I've got someone working on an age progression for Ibarra's kid.

-Gael? -Yeah.

I called Missing Persons,

but they're taking too long, so I went to DCFS myself.

You know, asked for every kid around his age.

Figured I'd look for a match. I just, uh...

I didn't realize there'd be so many.

It's really got its hooks in you, huh?

Gotcha!

I found it. Marcus's video.

His lawyer did a good job burying it, but I found a snipped daisy chain.

The Internet never forgets.

You get back over here.

Back off! Get off of me!

Marcus. Get out of here. Now!

All right, show's over.

Come on, Mr. Kim. Let 'em fight.

Wait, freeze it. I know that name.

Nathan Kim. He's a teacher at the school.

Original IO interviewed him, and he said the fight wasn't a big deal.

That it was blown out of proportion.

Same thing Marcus said.

Why did Mr. Kim play that down?

For his benefit or for Marcus's?

Let's find out.

Stay on Gael.

Let's go, Rawls.

How long do you think Berchem's gonna keep this detail on you?

Until he decides I'm not in danger at home.

You know, I could upgrade your protection.

Put some of my private sector guys on your house.

Ex-Green Beret. They worked the Oscars.

Sounds a little fancy for me, no?

It'd be free of charge, of course.

That is within our budget. Can I think about it?

Sure.

Hey, hang on. Laffont is texting.

Apparently, Marcus was at a swim meet in Bakersfield the day that Ray disappeared.

He broke the record for the 50-meter freestyle.

Great. So he's not our guy.

Doesn't look like it. Let's go talk to Mr. Kim.

Get out of here. Now!

All right, show's over!

Pretty heated in this video, Mr. Kim.

And rough with Ray, considering he was one of your former students.

I know. It's not a good look.

This gang thing, it... gets to me.

I grew up in this neighborhood.

Used to ride my bike all over, never once locked it up.

And at some point, things changed.

All the work I do in the classroom, it goes down the drain

the second these gangs start promising them quick money and some street cred.

Is that what was happening with Marcus?

He had so much promise.

But I could just see him at this fork in the road.

I mean, look at Ray. He was exactly where Marcus was just a few years before.

And I lost that fight with him.

And he ended up dead.

You think Ray died because of his gang affiliation?

I know he did.

He had a long list of enemies by the time he died.

You remember who was on that list?

Seven years ago.

Man, I talked to the detective back then.

There was a kid named Ashton Reed.

Eddy Fortson was another one.

Victor Cabrera.

Did you say Fortson?

Yeah. He was a student in my class.

Any relation to Christa?

That was his sister. Why?

Gun that killed Ray was registered to Christa Fortson.

Well, didn't she have an alibi?

Yeah, she did. Which makes her brother our best bet.

Hey, if this ain't about the child support, then what is it?

Murder, Eddy.

Oh. Uh... I mean...

Ray Lee.

He was shot multiple times with a gun registered to your sister.

And we know you had beef with him too.

Ray who? I... I don't know a Ray.

Well, you went to school together, Eddy.

I went to school with lots of people.

You were both on the baseball team.

You rode together to away games.

Your sister told us about the guns she bought.

She buy one for you too?

We're processing that gun right now for prints.

We find yours, Eddy, you'll be paying child support from prison.

Yeah.

Christa gave me that gun.

But it wasn't because I wanted to kill no one, okay?

I was getting messed with at school.

You mean bullied?

Christa told me I could use it, flash it around,

get the upperclassmen to ease off me.

But it wasn't a week before someone stole it from my locker.

Sister was pretty bent.

You've been to Colby Canyon?

Colby Canyon? No, what's that?

A hiking trail, up the 2.

That place.

Never been. No, no. Only the four-point-whatever's got to go.

-What do you mean? -From my school.

One of the teachers took all the smart kids once a year

for bonding, trust falls, all that kind of shit.

What teacher?

I don't know. What's his name? Mr., um...

Mr. Kim.

Yeah.

I never made the cut.

Gotta go back and talk to him again.

About what?

All we have is a hunch and the word of a former student.

We're gonna need more.

Yeah. Well, we're not gonna get anything this late.

So, first thing in the morning, we start from scratch on Nathan Kim.

Good night.

Hey, Rawls.

If that offer for security still stands, I'll take it.

Oh. Yeah.

Consider it done.

-Thank you. -Mm-hmm.

Appreciate you.

Hey. Wanted to get this all cleaned up before you got here.

Thank you.

I see you upgraded your protection detail. Pretty impressive.

I got some help from a friend.

Is Tutu home yet?

Outside with Lola.

Hey, Colleen. What's up?

You know I can't help myself.

So... ...I did some digging into Nathan Kim's vehicular history.

Turns out, his mom owned a green Ford Fiesta at the time of Ray's murder.

No way.

Do we know where it is now?

Donated to charity after she passed in 2021.

I'll call tomorrow morning as soon as they open.

If we can find the new owner,

maybe there's some physical evidence left behind.

Yeah, it's a big if and a big maybe, but it's worth a shot.

Nice find, Colleen.

Now put your laptop away.

Copy that.

Hi, baby girl.

Aw.

-Ah! -Oh, sorry. Here.

Uh...

Thank you.

Here, here, here, here, here. Come here.

Are you ever gonna tell me about that tattoo?

Yeah.

After my dad died, I was alone.

My mom was already long gone.

I fell in with some... some people, and it...

Anyway, it wasn't good.

I was really messed up.

So I got this.

You know, I figured even if I was lost, that maybe he could watch over me.

I love that.

Oh, gosh.

You've been so good to me.

It's easy to be good to you.

These last few days...

something's kinda snuck up on me in all the chaos.

When you called that night, realizing you were in trouble,

it made me think...

Hmm.

I'm on my way in.

Get ready to love me.

Uh, okay.

We found the donated Ford.

And with the current owner's consent, FSD is processing it as we speak.

No shit?

And we hit the jackpot,

'cause nobody ever wiped the GPS data off the nav.

Guess where Nathan Kim was the night Ray died.

Colby Canyon?

You love me, right?

Hang on. I got another call.

-Detective Renée Ballard. -Jun is gone!

He said one of his teachers killed Ray. Mr. Kim.

I don't know what he's gonna do.

All right, I'm headed there.

Black-and-whites got here first.

They saw a young, Asian male barricaded inside.

-They called SWAT. -Shit.

We gotta move.

Rawls, you're coming with me. Laffont, Parker, watch the back.

Rawls, get a crowbar.

-Jun? -Go away!

-Please, do something! -Shut up!

Jun, it's Detective Ballard.

-Do something. -Shut up!

Jun, put down the gun and walk towards the door. We got this guy.

He killed Ray, and nobody did anything.

Colby Canyon. That's where you take the smart kids.

Same place you buried my brother!

I don't know what you're talking about.

Bullshit! You're lying.

Tell him what you did, Nathan.

You're crazy. I didn't do anything.

We have the evidence. We have your car.

You don't have time.

Okay, okay.

I didn't want to hurt anyone. I... I just went there that night to scare him.

-You took a gun! -Guns are all he understood.

I didn't go there to kill him.

But think about it, how many kids did I save?

-Shut up. -Jun?

We have everything we need, Jun.

All right? I told you I wouldn't quit.

Put the gun down, all right? Let us come in there, do our jobs.

We got him.

Put the gun down.

Come on. Help us.

Put it down.

Jun, come to me. Come to me, come to me. Turn around.

On the ground. On your knees.

No!

Don't move! Don't move.

Stay where you are.

-I got him, I got him, I got him. -Come on! Hands behind your back!

I'm sorry.

I know.

Spoke to the DA.

I explained to her about Jun, and she's gonna push for a low term.

His poor mother.

Well, at least she has answers now.

Sucks it took so long.

Well, that's because the original investigator was looking for a bad guy

that looked like a bad guy.

Sometimes they just look like us.

What do you say, you put this one on the shelf too? The Ibarra case.

Definitely as good as closed.

Oh, um, one sec.

Um, a little more work to do.

You wanna put it up? You went through hell with this one.

No. That's your case.

Hey, Harry.

They traced another number from Driscoll's cell phone.

I wanted you to see it for yourself.

-Kids, where are you going? -Hey, hey, slowly, slowly.

You gotta be fucking kidding me.