Original subtitles

The story you are about to see was inspired by actual events.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It was Tuesday.

The Santa Ana winds were blowing in Los Angeles.

My partner and I were working the day shift out of robbery homicide when the

call came in at 8 .20 a .m.

Hispanic female discovered in an aqueduct.

near Echo Park.

Some believe the Santa Anas make people crazy.

Depression, suicide, murder.

The hot, dry air blows, they say anything can happen.

But they forget this is L .A.

Anything happens anyway.

My name's Friday.

I'm a cop.

Division Homicide said to call you, like, I guess because it's a sex murder?

found the body?

A couple kids riding bikes.

Did they disturb the body?

I doubt it. They seem pretty shaken up. Their folks came and got them.

We'll need their names.

Do me a favor. Move this perimeter all the way to the top of the ramp. Start

searching. Find something interesting.

Flag it for SID.

Body's down there.

Multiple stabbings of the abdomen.

Deep slashing cuts of the throat.

Slashing cuts here. Not too deep. And there's mutilation of the vagina and

buttocks. Any semen? Can't really tell.

Full rigor.

Blood on her skin is dry.

Been out here at least 12 hours.

Dumped her like garbage.

Well, not dumped. Too much blood.

Said he drove in here, killed her, drove out.

Good cover, high wall.

She screamed.

Nobody probably heard. I'll run down previous rape murders, see if this

anything.

What?

Sex crime, because that cop said so.

No, the evidence. Oh, the evidence is telling you what you want to see.

He made a comment, started you thinking that way.

Look at your marks. What does that tell you?

Tied her up.

Bruising on the fingers.

Means somebody held her wrist.

You see any defensive wounds on her hands?

No. Somebody held her arms behind her back.

While the other one used a knife.

Two killers doesn't mean it wasn't rape.

There's not much bleeding on the genital mutilation.

We'll have to see what the autopsy shows, but I'm betting it was post

So you think they staged it to look like a sex crime?

That's my guess.

Throw us off.

Send a message to someone else.

We did this to her.

We can do it to you.

We ran the prints from your Jane Doe through acres. Didn't get a hit.

No match on any missing persons for the last 48 hours. It's early. Keep

checking. This ID just called. We might have the murder weapon.

The knife?

Downstream. Pulled up a kitchen carpet with an 8 -inch blade.

Doesn't look like it's been there long.

Joe, autopsy's finished.

All right. Let them know we're coming down.

I want you two to go back, walk the aqueduct.

Both directions.

SID's been through it already.

You noticed the Santa Anas last night?

It's dead like a rock.

Well, I'm thinking the wind might have scattered evidence further than we

We're looking for clothing, personal effects, anything that might help ID

girl.

Elena, you speak Spanish. You'd be my second on this. It's a division

Are you going to take the case? Rampart's slammed right now. We caught

close it.

All right.

Female, Hispanic, approximately 35 years old, Jane Doe.

Cause of death, five sharp force injuries into the chest, neck, and

Blades over the aorta in two places.

Now, there's no rape, no bruising on the breast, no bite marks, so I agree with

you about the sex crime staging.

What can you tell me about her life, Sanjay? Well, given the stretch marks

pelvis flexion, I'd say she's had at least one child.

Take a look at her hands.

McAuliffe's, dirty nails, working class.

And she may have been working on her back.

Early stages of syphilis.

contracted within the last six months. High -risk job. If the pimp doesn't kill

you, something else will.

An STD doesn't necessarily make her a hooker. True, but she also has extensive

scarring in the uterus.

An abortion.

Wouldn't in the last year. Real coat hanger job.

How far do you think we've gone?

I don't know.

Half a mile?

I think we should keep going.

I'm not quitting yet, though.

No, I'm talking about going the other direction.

Who? What?

Checkmate out to Maria Ramos. They did yesterday.

Byron Velasco. 37 on Igros Vila.

Yeah, I wrote this. Who's Maria Ramos?

Our maid.

She's legal.

IRS busted me on our nanny. I learned my lesson. We're not here about your

taxes, Mr. Belasco. We're investigating a homicide.

Is this Maria Ramos?

Oh, man.

Yeah, that's Maria.

She was just here yesterday.

What time did she leave?

5 .30, I think.

She'd asked me for a lift to the bus stop. The one on Franklin.

Yeah, but I just got back from the jam, you know. So you made her walk?

Yeah.

You must have an address or phone number for Ms. Ramos.

No, she always called me from a pay phone. Thought you said she was legal.

showed me her green card. I even copied it just in case.

That's about all I have.

She's just a maid, you know.

Just mopped the floor and left.

She called Belasco last week from a pay phone at 8th and Alvarado. Let's get

some people out there with their picture.

Anything jump on this guy?

Belasco has no prize.

His wife had a DUI arrest last year.

A guy on the block says Maria passed his house before 6, and she was heading for

Franklin. I checked with all the bus drivers on the route, and no one

seeing her get on last night. A coroner places a TOD around 6, which means she

was grabbed right after work in the Beachwood area. Off the street like that

could be random.

All random kidnapping murders are usually about rape or robbery. This was

neither. It's from the green card.

Talk to the next of kin.

What do you want?

Do you know this woman?

Should I?

Her green card number matches your name and address.

You've got to be kidding me.

I fixed this already.

Your green card was stolen.

Over a year ago.

Had to go to every DMV, INS, LAPD in the city about it.

Wait.

Here. They gave me a new one.

See? That's mine.

And that's what they said.

So much.

Apologize, ma 'am. We've made a mistake.

So why don't you fix the mistake?

What'd you say?

Take it easy. Not immigration.

Since Maria Ramos is back to being Jane Doe, we should check the phony ID with

immigration.

See how the T isn't quite solid, that little gap between the lines?

That's one tell.

And this.

That's a misalignment from an inkjet printer.

The forger pulled the old INSL off the Internet.

All this means what?

It means every card with the same mistake can be connected back to a

counterfeit printing.

Like matching a thread to a tie.

Basically.

But look, this isn't the actual card. I can't tell which flaw is from the

counterfeit press and which is from the copier. You're not testifying. What do

you got?

About a year ago near Tucson, Border Patrol found a truck filled with dead

illegals, 22 people suffocated. I remember.

A few people made it off the truck alive.

Your victim might have been one of them. How's that?

We caught some of the people that got away. They all had this card on them.

One of the flaws is the same.

It's a 50 -50 match.

I'll take those odds.

Where'd they get picked up? A church downtown, St. Stephen's.

This church, St.

Stephen's, may be a solid lead. The place is known to harbor illegals.

So check it out. My contact at immigration said it wasn't worth the

Said the priest can raise a stink if he feels threatened.

All we want to do is talk to the guy.

He said it requires a delicate touch.

Well, that means you're out.

All right, I'll take this.

We do outreach to families who have recently entered the U .S. We offer them

sanctuary and we help them to become legal.

They think we're with immigration.

Oh, they've swept through here before.

She went by the name Maria Rama.

What happened?

We found her in an aqueduct. She was stabbed to death.

We don't know who she is, Father.

Ana Morales. She came to our church about three months ago.

Stayed a couple of weeks.

Any idea who might have done this to her?

I don't know.

Ana never said much.

We helped her find some cleaning work and got her an apartment.

We'll leave that address. Was Ms. Morales a prostitute?

Ana was a good woman, Detective.

A hard worker.

She was saving money to bring her son from Honduras.

That's really not an answer.

Good people like Anna flee poor countries. They come here and are

criminals.

They're not bad.

Just desperate.

When a person died, they leave their life behind like an echo.

Anna Morales' apartment had roach traps in every corner and a pneumonia smell

from too much cleaning.

It meant she didn't like living in an East L .A. tenement.

I didn't blame her for keeping four locks on the door, bars on the windows,

her valuables well hidden.

How much?

300.

This must be her kid.

How many times we got to hear about a woman leaving her nine children to come

north for a better paycheck?

The sign on the building in the background.

It's a phone number.

The mural said pride in our area.

Only I didn't see much of that.

What I did see was sweatshops, broken windows, corner drug deals.

New arrivals usually landed here first.

People like Anna Morales.

At the building.

Take a look around.

That's where they took the picture.

Want to introduce ourselves?

No, I don't want to spook them.

Let's call Immigration and Customs Enforcement instead.

Make it look like a routine sweep. We'll piggyback their raid. All right.

Let's check this one first.

I said stay down.

All right, I'll take care of this guy. Let's get him some clothes.

We're going to have to talk to him later on.

They're all undocumented.

Said they didn't know about the brothel. No kidding.

We find out who's in charge?

Not yet. I keep leaning on him. Somebody knows.

All right.

They're scared to talk.

Show them the victim's picture. Maybe that'll persuade them.

20 women living in one room, forced into prostitution.

Couldn't get much worse.

Here without means, surrounded by a foreign language and a foreign country,

Morales would have leaned on somebody.

It's the same way a good cop reaches out to a reluctant witness.

You gain their confidence, let them know things are going to be okay.

Do it right, they'll tell you everything.

You understand?

...with his cigarette when... ...I told him I wanted to call my family.

To another.

I would cut them.

I would hit them in the teeth.

If any of us got pregnant, he would force us to have an abortion.

Eduardo no dijo que si tratamos de escapar, que no descansaría hasta

encontrarnos.

Y matarnos.

Erica and Anna met at a factory in Juarez.

The coyote who brought them over the border was a guy named Eduardo.

How much did she owe?

Well, he charged her about three grand.

Made her work get off, you know, sometimes ten, eleven men a night.

The girls turned in condom wrappers as payment on their debt.

And Eduardo kept track?

He held them over a year.

Ana got out like four months ago. She escaped through a crawlspace in the

She know anything about the murder?

She says Eduardo warned them.

Any girl who escaped, he would hunt down and kill.

That's why Eduardo killed Ana.

We've got nothing that ties Eduardo directly to the murder.

We kept a dozen girls as sex slaves.

Since when is that a walk?

You think any of those women will ever set foot in a courtroom?

Well, Erica made the idea in his mock trial. They just arrest the guy and make

him swear about his animal rights. Unless he lawyers up, and then we're out

luck. The guy's been in the system before.

He knows what the score is.

We need him to admit he did the kill.

So what are you thinking?

You undercover.

Joe, I'm Puerto Rican.

He would never read me as a Mexican.

Besides, Eduardo's not going to incriminate himself to a complete

Yeah, you're probably right.

But I'll bet he'd believe Erica.

We send her in with a wire under the pretense of paying off her debts.

She'll say she's scared, doesn't want to wind up like Anna.

If Eduardo bites, we nail him for the murder. Push his butt and you'll get him

for two murders.

Anna and the girl. We'll cover her from all angles. She'll never be out of

sight. Now, Eric is willing. I say we take the shot.

Why not start with a warrant?

Eduardo knows about the bust on the brothel.

Whatever cartel or syndicate he's working for is going to know soon

Now, we can expect him to act on this. We hesitate.

Our guy's in Mexico.

Is SIS on board? They can pull together in time?

Yeah.

What do you think?

I think the guy's a vicious thug.

Not my call.

Means you don't like it. We all know where the thing like this is a risk.

You know I'll do it right.

Forgetting murder for a minute. Even if Eduardo admits to extortion, we still

take him down. Buys us more time, builds a stronger case for the homicide.

You're saying this is the only way.

Yeah.

SIS spotted Eduardo entering the store.

When are we going in?

Three hours.

Joe knows what he's doing. If the guy makes a threat, we go in. It's not

complicated. Not until he pulls a knife or a gun.

We're going to be right there. You got nothing to worry about.

Erica.

The door's been closed all day. Two Hispanic guys went in earlier.

One of them looked like your boy Eduardo.

Maybe the other one's our second killer.

I haven't left yet.

Good. Let's get in position.

How are we doing?

Four King 20. We're green to go.

Four King 21.

Good.

Tell her to do exactly what we told her. Follow the script. She'll be okay.

We've got people all over the place.

Just the wire.

Just the wire.

Can't see much through the front.

Keep your eye on the girl.

10 -4.

Coop, where is she?

On the approach, passing 4, King 21.

Jimmy, you see her?

She's going into the store. I got her.

Move in. Move in.

We were here all day. Then how'd the shooter get inside while you were

the place?

There was a lot of traffic earlier.

Buckets were stacked up. We had to switch our observation point a few

missed it.

Yeah. Joe, you want to take a look?

We found a .38 revolver back here. All six shots fired.

We got a positive ID of the victims yet? Yeah.

This one's a waddle.

I'm thinking this guy got caught first, two shots square to the chest.

That would have put him down fast.

This one tries to run.

Takes two in the back.

Where's the sixth?

Door jam above your head.

The shooter was already in here waiting for them.

Explains why SIS didn't see him enter.

You think these guys got hit because of the raid on the brothel? Well, if

Eduardo's cartel thought he was a liability, maybe.

Doesn't look like a robbery.

Not even close.

Joe, come here.

That familiar?

Maria Ramos.

The card of her body. Probably meant to sell it again.

Bag it. Maybe SID can pull some prints.

What a man.

California, Arizona.

GPS location. For navigating the border. No coyote leaves home without one.

Looks like the VCR is recording.

Meanwhile, they go to the back room.

Our shooter steps out, kills them both.

That's her shooter. It's about 15.

A cartel used a wannabe gangbanger? Bring in Erica.

You know him?

Look again.

Don't lie to me.

You tell her I'll put her in jail if she lied to me.

Erica.

She says she doesn't care if she goes to prison, but he gave her justice.

Yeah, that's about as clean as it's gonna get.

Okay, I'll take it.

And what we got off campus, nobody's crying about Eduardo being dead.

Don't expect any help if the shooter's a neighborhood kid.

Listen, the age progression software, can you use it on this?

Oh, yeah, sure.

It won't be perfect.

I don't need a perfect.

How old do you want to make him?

About six.

Six? You want to make him younger.

Can you do that?

I can try.

Give me a couple hours.

FID pulled two sets of prints off the green card in the desk.

Anna Morales and Eduardo Caneda.

Traced blood on the back of the card. A negative. Victim's blood type. Puts

Eduardo at the scene. Looks like we got our guy. Big surprise now. Who killed

him? Humanitarian of the year.

The idea on the second dead guy is Manuel Caneda.

Eduardo's brother?

Cousin. Small -time rap sheet. Customs item flagged for a drug meal.

Anything on the 38th?

Sold over a year ago, prints weren't in the system.

Look, our shooter.

Former reviews.

I've seen this kid before.

That picture is almost ten years old. See?

Good work.

Yes, that's her son. His name's Miguel.

When did he get here?

About a month ago. He traveled the trains up from Honduras.

And I told him where to find me and I helped him get in touch with her. You

didn't say this before.

No, I apologize.

Why didn't you?

Out of concern for the boy.

When I heard what happened to Anna, I thought I should tell Miguel myself.

Know where he is?

I'm not going to answer that.

Father, I have to inform you, anything you say in here now is admissible in

court. I know my rights, detective.

But protecting these people is the mission of this church.

Protecting someone who murdered two men.

That's right.

Who were they? It's not about who.

We're going to have to look around.

The church is open to everyone.

But the rectory is a private property of the Catholic Church.

You'll need a warrant.

I know you think you're helping Miguel.

I have to do my job to take care of him. Father, he committed a mortal sin.

He breached divine law. And the price he'll pay is the eternal separation from

God. Unless you help him make it right.

I know my obligation under God. And you know my obligation.

He turns himself in, he gets a fair shake in court.

But if I come back with a warrant and find that you've given him sanctuary,

arrest both of you.

Now, I hope it doesn't come to that.

What was that all about?

Parochial school left an impression.

Oh, you're telling me you believe in divine law?

Eternal separation?

Joe, why are we going after this kid?

What's the harm if he disappears, goes back to Honduras?

That's not what we do.

We're trying to arrest the kid who lost his mother.

And then killed two men. I think they didn't deserve it. I had a case once.

Amelia Dean had an old man who used to like to knock her around.

Broke her nose or jaw, knocked her teeth out, put her in the hospital once a

month.

And one day Amelia got tired of it, put a bullet in his brain.

Believe me, there wasn't one person who didn't think the son of a bitch deserved

it.

So what do you do?

What do you think I did?

What I didn't tell Macias was that I'd arrested Amelia Deems 21 years ago.

And I still thought about the case.

S .I .S. is sitting on the church. If the kid tries to leave, we'll pick him

How do you eat this stuff?

It's cheap.

So what do you think?

Look, the law doesn't make any exceptions for a church to harbor a

you don't even know if he's there. He's there.

The priest didn't exactly say it, but he said it. There isn't a probable cause

to get a warrant to enter a private building on church grounds. And even

warrant, if you're wrong and the kid isn't there, we'll get lousy press and

maybe even a lawsuit.

Over what? They'll call it an illegal search and say we violated the Fourth

Amendment rights of the Catholic Church.

On that alone, good luck finding any judge to sign off on it.

A neighborhood vigil is underway at this hour to protest police efforts in

arresting a 14 -year -old boy accused of murder.

The man organizing the protest, Father Rafael Sosa, spoke to reporters earlier

today. Miguel Morales defended himself against the men who murdered his mother

and tried to kill him.

Should have heard Joe today trying to guilt a priest into giving up Miguel.

Is that what I did?

Something like it to me. I just reminded him of his duty not to let Miguel burn

in hell.

He's going to be holed up there for months. Priests will do the right thing.

Yeah, if they're confident.

Robbery homicide Friday.

Miguel gave his confession and received the sacrament.

He's ready to turn himself in.

Saw you on the news tonight.

Then you know how many people are behind him.

Randall.

You're on the job long enough. You're eventually going to make an arrest you

don't like.

Mine was Amelia Deems.

My partner was about to make hers.

You have the right to keep silence.

Anything you say could be used against a court of law.

You have the right to talk to a lawyer.

You can't use a lawyer.

His mom told him, in case she died, so he could go to the police.

The day before his mother was killed, he went to see Eduardo at the store.

He had to be a man.

He had to protect his mother.

And Rado said he'd forget about the dead if he could talk to her.

What did

he

say?

He begs his mother in heaven to forgive him.

Matthew having a tough time with it? Worry about your indictment, not my

detective. From what the kids said, it's first -degree murder. Murder of a

murderer. Jury will never convict. Go for a plea.

I thought I saw some leftover pizza in the fridge.

I think that's like two weeks old.

I'll see if I can find something else.

Shorty needs some real grub.

Gracias.

What was that?

No, he was just asking for a sandwich.

Docket number 632 -891, State of California versus Miguel Morales.

Blumming today, Mr. Torres?

Pro bono. How magnanimous.

The charge is two counts, first degree murder. Do we have a plea? My client

pleads not guilty, Your Honor. Your Honor, the defendant is an illegal alien

poses a significant flight risk. The people asked for remand. It came all

way, now he wants to leave.

Father Rafael Sosa of St. Stephen's Catholic Church has agreed to post bail

Miguel and assume temporary guardianship.

These are serious charges. The defendant's being tried as an adult.

outrageous. My claim belongs in juvenile court, Your Honor. You already lost

that fight, Mr. Torres.

In light of the indictment, the defendant is hereby remanded. Bail is

He's a 14 -year -old kid, and you're going to send him to Pelican Bay for the

rest of his life? Not my call.

Well, you can talk to the DA. He's firm on this. It's an election year.

Oh, he's going to look tough on immigration.

And those who exploit illegals and crimes committed by illegals with zero

tolerance. This kid is no politics.

Look, he's got a good lawyer and a shot at beating this, okay? I've got my work

cut out for me. What are you talking about? You have a confession.

This guy tore up the case for one reason.

He thinks he can win.

You saw Miguel?

Did Chen tell you what they're doing?

We need to talk.

Now, I brought you into RHD because you made major cases for your division.

Your arrest record was stellar.

But here it's a whole different level.

And I gotta know if you can handle it.

Get wrapped up in these cases?

Maybe he's a good kid, maybe he isn't.

All we know for sure...

He killed two people.

That's all that matters.

For cops?

Yeah.

You don't like it, go be a social worker.

Or go volunteer for Father Sosa.

For the record, I think the DA's making a mistake.

They could do a lot better with a lesser charge.

And that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about?

Sometimes I'm pragmatic.

So you set up the operation, put the suspects under surveillance, and the

purpose of the sting was to arrest Eduardo and Manuel Caneda. That's

No further questions, Your Honor.

Lieutenant Friday, how would you characterize the murder of Miguel's

Anna Morales?

I would say it was brutal.

Because Eduardo and Manuel Caneda stabbed her repeatedly and then sexually

mutilated her body.

You say you were planning on arresting them for the murder?

Yes. But to do that, you needed an admission of guilt, so you planned a

Lieutenant, if the sting had failed, would you definitely have arrested them?

Not at that time. So the men who killed Miguel's mother, they would have been

free to walk the streets and continue their extortion and sex slave operation?

Our efforts would have been ongoing.

Walk the streets, yes or no?

Yes.

In Miguel Morales' confession, did he say that he feared for his life from

men? He said Eduardo Caneda was looking for him, yes.

Lieutenant Friday, where do you think Eduardo and Manuel would have dumped

Miguel's body after they stabbed and mutilated him?

Objection.

Withdrawn.

Detective Macias, is the LAPD in the habit of risking the lives of civilians

make an arrest?

No. We do everything we can to minimize the risk to the public.

Then why was Erica Sanchez used in the sting?

He volunteered to help us catch Eduardo Cañera. We felt the only way he would

incriminate himself was by talking to somebody he already knew.

But your point is the LAPD's motto, to protect and serve, only applies to

immigrants of legal status.

Objection. Sustained.

Mr. Torres, enough.

I'll rephrase.

Did you send an illegal alien into harm's way with total disregard for her

safety? She was under constant surveillance.

Could she have been killed by Eduardo and Manuel Canera before you got to her?

It was a possibility, yes.

Then how can you honestly say you were doing your job?

Nothing further.

Your Honor, permission to redirect?

Go ahead.

Detective Macias, did you read Miguel Morales' rights when you placed him

arrest? Yes, I did.

And we also reviewed his rights before his taped confession, and he waived them

there as well. And he claimed that the only reason he killed both victims was

because he feared for his own life, that they would kill him like they did his

mother. That's what he said.

It's on the tape.

After he was Mirandized, did Miguel Morales say anything to you that was not

included on the videotape?

Anything at all?

Not really.

He asked for something to eat.

Did he ever mention anything to you about getting justice?

Detective Mathias.

Miguel said he was glad he killed them.

He told me he had to get justice, that they deserved to die.

Have you reached a verdict?

We have not, Your Honor.

We believe we're deadlocked in our decision.

You think if you had time for further deliberation, you could reach a verdict?

We do not, Your Honor.

Then I have no choice.

I hereby declare this a mistrial.

They caught a deal.

Voluntary manslaughter.

Two counts.

He will probably do seven years.

Smart move.

Did you lean on Chang?

You think I'd do that?

You never told me you spoke Spanish.

The nuns beat four years of Latin into me when I was a kid.

A lot of words in Spanish are similar. It wasn't hard to figure out.

You were good in there. You were objective. You did your job with

That's what I expect out of my detectives.

Just the facts.

Joe.

You don't have to worry about me.

Erica Sanchez is currently being held as a material witness by the Bureau of

Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Their investigation of Eduardo Canida's

smuggling operation is ongoing.

Father Rafael Sosa was tried and convicted of obstruction of justice.

He was given a suspended sentence and one year probation.

He is currently appealing.

Miguel Morales was sentenced to seven years for voluntary manslaughter.

He escaped custody while being held at the California Youth Authority in Los

Angeles. He currently remains at large.

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