Original subtitles

♪

Narrator: A summer vacation to east texas turns deadly.

Barr: It was so senseless, and these --

And these people were just so...

[ kick lands ] [ grunts ]

[ sniffles ] possessed by the devil.

Narrator: But there is more to this murder than meets the eye.

Evil spirit.

A devil. [ camera shutter clicking ]

A tormenter from hell.

That name sent shivers down my spine.

Narrator: A ring of killers is on the loose.

Man: He's not here!

She was one of the wiliest suspects I've ever seen.

It's up to smith county's top detectives

To chase down justice

Before another life is lost.

Man: Get on the floor! Get on the floor!

Apparently, they haven't heard about the long arm of the law.

♪

[ shouts indistinctly ]

♪

Smith: East texas --

It's a beautiful place,

But it's also home to madness, mayhem, and murder.

For over three decades as sheriff,

I put together one of the best detective teams

In the state of texas.

Together, pam, joe, and I made it known --

You do wrong in smith county,

We're coming after you.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪

Narrator: When summer comes to east texas,

The woods around smith county are dark, still,

But not entirely quiet.

There's a couple of things that old-time law enforcement

Look at.

Crime seems to rise

During a full moon.

In the summertime, a full moon

And the heat

Contributes to a lot more crime.

♪

[ siren wailing ]

Narrator: The caller is 19-year-old aaron warren,

And his alarming story gets smith county deputy sean parrish

Dispatched to the scene.

I met him there at the intersection.

He was down there at 281369, just standing.

The locals called it "werewolf lane."

It was pretty rural.

There was a cemetery further down on the left.

♪

Okay, son, I'm gonna need you to put your hands up

Right where I can see them.

Got anything on you?

I was extremely lucky that

I just happened to be 2 miles away.

What's your name?

Aaron warren.

Alright, aaron, tell me what happened.

Some guys robbed us,

And now I can't find adam.

-Who's adam? -My friend.

Parrish: I didn't know what we had at the time,

So my main concern right then was trying to find his friend.

I didn't know if we had an abduction,

If his friend was injured and needed medical attention.

You know, there was just too many unknowns.

♪

This your vehicle? -No, no.

It's, um, it's adam's mom's.

♪

It was facing west.

And both tires on the driver's side were flat.

It had been disabled to where it couldn't be driven.

Narrator: As deputy parrish takes in the peculiar scene,

An uneasy feeling sets in.

I said, "well, could adam be in the trunk of your car?"

He says, "I'm not sure."

♪

♪

And there wasn't anybody in it.

I started scanning both sides of the roadway with my flashlight.

Hey, aaron. [ police radio chatter ]

I'm-a need you to just stay right here for me, all right?

And I discovered these two marks in the dirt,

Like someone's heels had been drug through the dirt.

I intensified my search in that particular area.

♪

♪

I discovered a young white male,

Approximately 18 to 20 years of age,

Laying on the ground.

He was lifeless.

I put my hand on his back just to check if he was breathing.

He was not breathing.

Narrator: Hidden 50 feet off the road

Is 18-year-old adam carrier's murdered body.

Parrish: This is unit 7753 calling in a 10-55...

[ police radio chatter ]

Narrator: Werewolf lane sits right on

The smith county/tyler city line.

This brings investigators from both jurisdictions to the scene.

-Detective rasco? -Yes.

-Inspector thomas. -Sean.

There's a lot going on here. Just...Just watch your step.

[ police radio chatter ]

He's right over here.

Narrator: Smith county detective joe rasco is no stranger

To working with other agencies.

We have an exceptional relationship here in tyler

Between the law enforcement agencies.

Not all cities enjoy that.

The day of the lone ranger is over with.

It's all about the camaraderie.

Whoa, that's brutal.

He had blunt force trauma

And several knife wounds to the chest.

He was beaten.

His clothes were really bloody.

[ camera shutter clicking ]

His shoes were no longer on his feet,

And he was just left there in the woods.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

Got a knife handle over here,

Probably from the murder weapon.

Got a lot of defensive wounds.

He didn't go quiet.

Good for you, buddy.

♪

We're gonna need to bring the friend over here

To make a positive I.D.

[ siren wailing ]

[ gasps, sniffles ]

[ camera shutter clicks ]

Narrator: Aaron tells detectives that he and adam

Are from johnson city, tennessee.

This was their last day of a 2-week trip to texas.

Aaron had come to tyler on vacation with adam's family.

They were staying at a resort at a lake nearby.

Rasco: They were at lake palestine,

Just in the southern part of smith county.

They were swimming, drinking, and listening to music.

They'd been out there all afternoon and evening.

♪

Narrator: When aaron gets into the story

Of them leaving the lake, something sounds strange.

What were you doing out on this road?

Driving! We were driving around.

-Just driving around? -[ sniffles ] yeah.

♪

He said that him and his buddy had been flagged down

By some vehicle behind them.

They flashed their headlights to get 'em to pull over.

And then he said, "we got out and we talked to 'em.

And then he just said, "they started beating us up."

♪

Thomas: You could tell he was being untruthful

About certain things that had occurred.

Come on.

♪

Narrator: Why would aaron be untruthful?

What is there for him to hide?

The one person in town who might know

Is their chaperone for the trip, adam's mother.

But first, detectives must deliver her the dreaded news.

One of the detectives said, "I don't know any other way

To tell you, jackie, except adam's dead."

And I -- you know, it's like, "what?"

And he said,

"I'm sorry, but adam's gone."

And he had just graduated high school in may,

And this happened on the first day of July.

And he had never disrespected me his whole life.

He'd never raised his voice.

Just an all-around good kid, you know?

♪

Narrator: Jackie thinks just as highly

Of her son's best friend, aaron, and can't fathom a reason

Why he wouldn't be telling detectives the truth.

As far as we knew, aaron was the last person

To have contact with the victim.

Narrator: But then, a second 911 call changes everything.

Usually, we're the ones making the phone calls,

Looking for the suspects... [ sirens wailing ]

Not the other way around.

This is someone that's saying they know someone

Who committed this crime.

It could be nothing, but what if it's everything?

♪

[ kicks landing ] [ grunts ] ow! Aah!

♪

♪

Smith: When someone dies in smith county,

Whether they're a local citizen or not,

We treat 'em all with the same priority.

But in the adam carrier's case,

It's pretty obvious his friend aaron was lying about something.

Does that make him a suspect?

You bet it does.

Narrator: But just as detective joe rasco's

About to put the screws to aaron warren,

A new suspect unexpectedly appears.

[ line rings ]

♪

Narrator: Tyler police ask the tipster,

23-year-old michael thompson, to come to the station.

There, he's questioned by detective wayne thomas.

♪

Do you know where we can get some weed?

Uh, yeah. Sure.

I got a guy who sells up on the county line.

We take you.

You'll need at least one of us to vouch for you, anyways.

We'll all go. I roll the best joints around.

-Cool. -Cool.

Yeah, we're in.

Narrator: Although michael's story differs from aaron's,

The more he speaks,

The clearer it is they're discussing the same case.

♪

Narrator: When the group reached the road

Locals call "werewolf lane,"

Michael claims they split into two.

He and an accomplice take aaron warren

To another location,

Leaving adam carrier behind with his friends.

So are we all gonna fit in your car?

Actually, I don't think I should bring everybody with me.

-No worries. -All right, bro.

♪

Narrator: Michael's vague about

How aaron ended up bruised, penniless,

And abandoned in the woods,

But he does fill in some blanks about adam's murder.

♪

Narrator: Claiming he had nothing to do with the murder,

Michael thompson points the finger

At his two associates --

Susana arroyo and hersain "devil" gomez.

We knew aaron was lying.

Could he be hiding something else?

That's what we need to find out.

Aaron, you're starting to concern me.

We just got a call.

And now, I got a suspect that says he and his friends met you

And adam earlier at the lake.

That ring a bell?

Those guys we were hanging with at the lake, um,

They're the ones that did this.

We were just, um, hoping to score some pot.

Narrator: Given a second chance to tell the truth,

Aaron confirms michael thompson's story.

Everything seemed okay until the group separated

Aaron and adam.

Hey, um... [ chuckles nervously ]

Are you guys sure this is the place?

That's when they started, um, beating me up.

[ kicks landing ] [ grunts ]

And then they grabbed my wallet and ran off.

Oh! Ow!

And when I got up, I made my way back to adam's car,

And they were all gone. [ inhales sharply ]

So was adam.

♪

Rasco: Aaron's not lying anymore.

He was protecting his friends.

They were good kids.

They're just naive.

And now, we have a murder to solve because of it.

Based on the two witnesses,

Detectives develop a working theory

Of what transpired that night.

The two victims were from out of town.

They seemed to be easy targets.

♪

Narrator: And after separating the friends

Under the pretense of buying drugs,

Gomez's robbery plan goes into motion.

No worries.

All right, bro.

At the other location where they had parked

Adam's mother's car...

♪

Man: They're not here.

[ squish, air hissing ]

...The plan was to puncture his tires.

-Hey, bro. -What's up?

Think you ran over something.

Susana: Damn. That is one flat tire.

Aw, man.

Adam got out of his vehicle and went to the trunk of the car.

He got a jack and a tire iron out to change the deflated tire.

He started to take the tire off.

And at that time, gomez came up behind him

And hit him over the head with the spare tire.

♪

-Aah! -Uhh!

[ adam grunting ]

-Hey, dude! What the hell?! -Shut up!

Back off!

And the fight was on.

I think the surprise came when adam carrier fought back.

Adam fighting back, I think it enraged the suspects.

Adam was getting the best of hersain gomez.

And at that point, susana arroyo began assaulting

Adam carrier with a tire tool.

[ thud ] adam: Aah! [ gasps ]

Eventually, they knocked him semi-conscious.

♪

Hersain "devil" gomez

Proceeded to stab adam in the chest with a knife.

♪

The devil is an evil spirit, a tormenter from hell.

♪

Grab his arm.

And they drug him back into the woods.

It became clear who the two main instigators were --

Hersain and susana, gomez especially.

He's the one that introduced the idea of killing adam.

He's the one that told the group

That there's not much difference

If you get caught in punishment for robbery or murder.

So why not just kill him?

It was so senseless, and these people were just so...

[ sniffles ] ...Possessed by the devil.

♪

[ knock on door ] hey, sheriff?

Yeah. Come in, joe.

Narrator: By the time background checks on suspects

Gomez and arroyo return, there is little surprise.

The two share gang affiliations and hefty rap sheets.

They got records that go back years --

Just little stuff at first, but it's escalating.

Think they may have graduated to murder?

Don't know, but sure like to find out.

Trying to find these two is not gonna be easy.

These suspects know that we're looking for them,

And they've had hours to run and hide.

♪

Narrator: When the morning papers hit the stand,

Sheriff j.B. Smith's media blitz is off and running.

You don't just vanish into thin air.

Somebody knows something.

It's possible that someone may have seen something.

Narrator: Their instincts are right on the money.

A man that runs a bus station here in tyler

Happened to see one of the newspapers

With a picture of gomez and arroyo.

And he recognized them.

And so he looked through his records and recalled

The night of the murder, that someone had came in

And bought two tickets to laredo, texas,

In the name of susana arroyo.

Once he confirmed that,

He contacted the police department

And he was definitely able to positively identify them.

Rasco: We know exactly what time they left.

That bus left at 1:30 in the morning.

It was a very short time frame

From the time this incident happened

To the time they disappeared.

They're gone.

♪

Connecting the dots,

Detectives speculate the pair crossed the border into mexico.

Laredo is right there on the border

Of texas and mexico.

They get off the bus, and it's a short walk.

The u.S. Marshal service

And the fbi violent crimes task force in tyler

Start the process

Of trying to find these two individuals in mexico.

♪

Narrator: Weeks go by, then months.

Still, "devil" gomez and susana arroyo remain at large.

Two years pass -- nothing.

And as years go by, these people were not prosecuted.

It gets frustrating. It gets exasperating.

It was, um,

A long -- a long, hard road.

A lot of, um...

A lot of real intense moments.

But I made a promise to adam that night

That I would see it to the end.

As long as I had breath to breathe,

That I would see that they were brought to justice

For what they did to him and what they took from him,

And what they took from me.

♪

Narrator: In 2001,

Detective pam dunklin joins the homicide squad,

And as soon as she does,

Her new partner enlists her on the case.

I personally had just about given up on this

Because of the fact that they were in mexico,

And I didn't expect them to be found.

But joe and pam don't give up.

Narrator: Rasco tasks dunklin with keeping tabs

On the suspects' families in smith county.

The hope is, her fresh eyes can pick up a clue.

You're watching their family members here,

Seeing if there's any contact.

You continue to talk to witnesses to find out

Maybe where specifically these individuals can be located.

You just have to be watching for that one slip-up

That'll turn the whole case around in your favor.

♪

Narrator: And it doesn't take long

For that slip-up to take place. [ siren wailing ]

Rasco: You're working on a murder case.

And all of a sudden, out of nowhere,

It dovetails into another.

You can't make this up.

Narrator: The evil connection between these cases

Is beyond what anyone could've predicted.

It just goes to show,

You never know where the road's gonna lead you.

[ gunshots, siren wailing ]

♪

♪

[ gunshots ] [ women screaming ]

[ siren wailing ]

[ police radio chatter ]

♪

Early on a Sunday morning, the tyler police department

Received a call of a possible homicide

There inside the city limits.

Narrator: The scene is just a mile northeast

Of downtown tyler,

In a thriving hispanic community.

Thomas: I responded to that location.

There were bullet holes that went all through that house.

And there's a lone body there in the house.

♪

Narrator: The case is inside tyler p.D.'s jurisdiction,

But they call in the smith county sheriff's office

To lend a hand.

♪

This particular incident, they needed our help.

Tyler p.D. Doesn't have a blood spatter expert.

We do.

Dunklin: What've we got?

Well, looks like these fellas were having a party,

Ended up with a corpse on the couch.

Rasco: I'm gonna go check it out.

Narrator: As detective rasco helps process the scene,

Detective dunklin interviews possible eyewitnesses.

But she's got her work cut out for her.

Dunklin: The witnesses there are spanish-speaking.

There's confusion. It's very difficult.

So exactly where were you when you started hearing gunshots?

[ speaking spanish ]

You don't speak any english.

No. Sorry.

They are fearful of you because they don't know w--

What you're asking them.

Despite the language barrier, detectives dunklin and thomas

Work to piece together the events of the night.

So, was the victim a friend of yours?

He's -- he's a-a friend.

Thomas: They were just hanging out,

Drinking beer there at the house.

We -- we have a party

And we -- we drink a lot and we play.

Narrator: As the partygoers open up,

They identify the victim as 31-year-old joel garcia.

He was a mexican citizen, and he was in texas working.

And he had family in mexico,

And the money that he would make working here

He would send back to his family in mexico.

Okay.

The victim was struck multiple times.

It was pretty much a bloody mess.

Narrator: But the harshness of the scene

Does help fill in the blanks as to how this all happened.

With blood spatter,

There are specific patterns that we look for.

Well, noel, what are we looking at?

Hmm. Very strange, joe.

I'd expect to see an empty space and cast-off blood

Where the shooter was standing.

But there isn't one.

Bingo.

So where was the shooter?

I had one of the officers that was probably

One of the best at crime scene in the state of texas.

The texas rangers, fbi, secret service --

They've all used noel.

He's one of the best.

This is plum crazy as far as I'm concerned.

Means that your shooter...

...Is out there.

Outside?

[ camera shutter clicks ]

So the bullets went through the wall,

Through his body, and into the other wall.

Worked a lot of murder cases over the years.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

Never heard of that.

This shooting is a drive-by without a car.

Those were some strong rounds that got through those walls.

So this wasn't just a handgun.

His sense of the weapon was that it was an ar-15,

And this is a very powerful rifle.

[ gunshots ]

♪

Narrator: Meanwhile, outside, dunklin's persistence pays off.

She's found one brave witness willing to talk.

At some point, the group of friends ran out of beer

And needed to make a beer run.

Narrator: And that's when

The friendly labor day celebration

Went south.

-[ woman laughs ] -[ men speaking spanish ]

When they ran out of beer, there was a disagreement

On who would leave and make the beer run.

So a fight broke out between joel garcia and another man.

The other guy ran outside to his truck,

Retrieves an ar-15.

He saw joel garcia run into the house.

[ gunshots ] he fires several shots

And kills him.

You wanna give me a name?

♪

Sí.

Narrator: The eyewitness names the shooter --

Saul arroyo.

I said, "joe, you're going to want to hear this."

Saul arroyo -- we were very familiar with him.

Narrator: They take their findings to sheriff smith.

There's a suspect,

And he's gonna look familiar to you.

Narrator: Saul arroyo, the brother of susana arroyo --

Prime suspect in the murder of adam carrier.

For two years, susana and hersain "devil" gomez

Had been two of smith county's most wanted.

That name sent shivers down my spine.

Murder was a family affair for these people.

We just got an address for him here in tyler.

We're about to head over there.

All right. Keep me posted.

We got this, boss.

♪

Narrator: 36 hours after joel garcia's murder,

A task force is dispatched to saul arroyo's home.

Dunklin joins them on-site.

[ police radio chatter ]

We figured if we find saul arroyo,

Then we'll probably find susana arroyo,

And then maybe hersain gomez.

Narrator: As they pull up to the home,

The idea that true evil is waiting for them

On the other side of the door becomes very real.

This is a known criminal with an assault rifle.

They're walking right into the lion's den.

Dunklin: This is what our job's about.

This is what we train for --

Getting the worst of the worst off the street.

[ door bangs open ]

♪

♪

Dunklin: So here we are.

Joel garcia's been murdered because saul arroyo

Didn't wanna pay for more beer.

His sister, susana, has been on the run from us for two years

For the murder of adam carrier.

And law enforcement needs to act fast.

Saul arroyo has a rifle --

A fact that isn't lost on anyone.

Narrator: Once the task force is in position

Outside the arroyo family home, the order is given to move in.

If we can nab saul, then we've got one bad guy behind bars,

And that puts us a little closer to adam's killers.

[ man shouts indistinctly ]

[ door bangs open ]

Man: Get on the floor! Get on the floor now! Get on the floor!

♪

Man over radio: Negative. Negative. It's abandoned.

♪

Narrator: But like his sister susana,

Saul is a step ahead of detectives.

He blew town quicker than a jackrabbit on fire.

Saul's gone. You wanna challenge us, saul?

We'll take that challenge.

We've put together a task force of some

Of the finest law enforcement officers in the country.

We're gonna get you.

You better watch your back.

Narrator: Needing a lead, detectives move in on the family

And apply pressure.

We wanted to talk to the father,

Because he's got to know something.

And usually, they know more than they're gonna tell ya.

But unexpectedly, saul's father is forthcoming.

His father told us his truck was gone.

His father was surprised.

And he found that his keys were missing.

It appears saul went straight from the crime scene

To his daddy's house,

Took his keys, and took his pickup truck.

Probably within 30 minutes of when this happened,

He was gone.

Criminals are creatures of habit.

They will go to family.

Rasco: There was no doubt in our minds where he was gonna go.

We knew his sister was in mexico.

We figured that saul arroyo carried himself to mexico.

[ siren wailing ]

Narrator: The border between texas and mexico

Is 8 1/2 hours away, a straight shot down I-35.

But from there, there are dozens of checkpoints along the border.

We issued a bulletin on that license plate of that truck,

But there's a massive amount of people

That pass through that border -- massive amount of people.

Detectives rasco and dunklin scramble to contact

All state and border patrol authorities

To try to intercept saul arroyo at the border.

We've got the best border network in the world,

But they are looking for one truck out of thousands.

And once you cross that border, you're in no-man's land.

With no sign of saul or the truck at the border,

Detectives fear they're too late.

But, all hope is not lost.

Him fleeing to mexico might be to our benefit,

Because if we could catch him,

Maybe we could find susana and gomez,

'cause they're not gonna be far apart.

The fbi, u. S.

Marshall's service -- they have a presence in mexico.

They have communications inside of mexico

That we don't have, and they have informants.

In a situation like this, you've gotta circle the wagons.

And you can bet in this instance,

We're gonna hitch our wagon to theirs.

We got the license plate of the truck saul's driving.

If we can pick him up on the road,

I bet you he'll lead us straight to his sister.

I think that's right on the money.

And in the meantime, our folks here in tyler and smith county

Will keep our eyes and ears open.

Right. And if we here anything on the fugitives' whereabouts,

You're our first call.

Despite the long odds, no one's giving up on getting justice

For the families of joel garcia and adam carrier.

I stayed in contact with adam carrier's mom

And joel garcia's family.

Just tried to keep them updated

And let them know that we were continuously seeking justice.

I said, "I wanna know what's going on,

And I wanna know weekly what's going on."

I believed that if you know you're right

And you push, you get more done.

They were very dedicated.

♪

Smith county authorities have a few tricks up their sleeve.

You can run anywhere you want --

The next county, the next state, even mexico.

But we're not gonna stop looking for you.

And the folks back home,

They're gonna tell us if they hear something.

Narrator: And when you're dealing

With jailhouse informants,

A little persistence pays off.

♪

♪

Y'all come in.

We had received information from various people

To the fact of there were locations

Pinpointed where they may be.

You've got an address in mexico.

Yeah.

An informant overheard the family talking about it --

A small town a few hours south of the border.

Yep. The marshals are headed out now

To see if they can round 'em up.

Hot dang.

Well, keep me posted.

♪

By the time the marshals arrive,

The fugitives have fled once again.

Dunklin: It was very frustrating,

But by no means were we going to give up.

We were going to find these people

And get justice for the victims and the families.

Narrator: For three more years, susana arroyo, saul arroyo,

And "devil" gomez remain at large.

Authorities in smith county and mexico

Get no leads to their whereabouts...

Until the summer of 2004,

When one of the fugitives slips up.

Homicide, dunklin.

In mexico city.

When?

The fugitives -- they haven't heard

About the long arm of the law,

So they felt like they were safe in mexico.

But they weren't.

Police in mexico just picked up one of our guys

In the adam carrier deal.

No, thank you.

All right, bye-bye.

Let's go tell him.

We've located one of smith county's

Most wanted fugitives.

Hersain gomez --

He had been arrested for burglary there in mexico.

Now we're on to something.

Authorities in mexico pressure gomez

To reveal where the arroyos are hiding.

Narrator: This guy's way too hardcore for that.

Narrator: The career criminal doesn't give in so easily.

He's not gonna give these people up.

Look at what they've done. Look who they are.

What's he gonna gain by giving these people up?

Nothing, until we get him back here.

We want to go get him.

We want to go now.

When are we gonna go get this guy and bring him home, sheriff?

Well, as much as I want

Gomez back on our turf, we're gonna have to hold on.

Yeah, we can't risk spooking the other two.

Yep, and the goal is all three.

One ain't enough.

If you pounce on him immediately,

You trigger a chain reaction to the others in the family.

So what do you do?

You back off and you watch.

Pam, keep an eye on the family here in town.

Joe, every source you got, we wanna hear from.

You got it, boss.

This is not over.

I said I wanted all three,

And I'm not gonna back off of that.

All eyes are you now, arroyos.

The clock's ticking.

♪

♪

Narrator: After years of evading arrest south of the border,

Suspect hersain "devil" gomez is finally in police custody.

Catching gomez was huge, but we still have the arroyos --

Susana and saul.

We need to catch them.

The team we put together is going to find them,

And I guarantee you they're running scared.

Narrator: And the smith county team's efforts

To track down the arroyos pays off.

♪

Man: Get on the ground! Get on the ground right now!

Get down! Get on the ground!

Down! Get on the ground! -Okay, okay, okay!

♪

When saul was found, he was leaving his house to go to a job

He had gotten there in mexico.

-Where's your sister? -[ laughs ]

Saul, is your sister in the house?

Take the house.

♪

[ man shouts indistinctly ]

♪

She's not here!

She fled out a window.

Dunklin: I don't know how she slipped through their cracks,

But she did.

She was one of the wiliest suspects I've ever seen.

♪

Two days later in a hotel, susana arroyo was located.

And they didn't let her crawl out through

The back window this time.

Her mistake -- she thought we'd give up.

Not going to happen.

The law will eventually catch up.

And we did.

Susana arroyo, saul arroyo,

Hersain gomez --

The law's got you now.

Narrator: All three suspects

In the murders of joel garcia and adam carrier

Are returned to smith county, texas,

To stand trial for murder.

Now we've got our chance to put 'em in

One of smith county's jail cells

Along with the other dirt bags, right where they belong.

Narrator: To help make that happen,

Additional witnesses, now free from fear, start coming forward,

Including gomez's brother, benito.

♪

Narrator: On may 17, 2005,

Hersain "devil" gomez pleads guilty

To the murder of adam carrier.

After being sentenced by the judge to life in prison,

He makes a statement in court.

On January 26, 2006,

Susana arroyo is also convicted of murder

And sentenced to life in prison.

On December 5, 2006, a jury finds saul arroyo guilty

Of the first-degree murder of joel garcia.

They send him to prison for life.

Throughout the investigation, I stayed in contact

With joel garcia's family and let them know

That we were continuously seeking justice for him.

It was important to finish that investigation

And make sure that family was able to get closure.

This case was solved by a whole team of investigators

That just wouldn't give up.

After years and years, they were not going to let it go.

It wasn't going to go away.

I had a talk with my preacher several times later on.

Um, I told him, "I know god wants me to forgive.

But," I said, "I would be lying to you, I would be lying to god,

I'd be lying to myself if I could honestly say

That I could find it in my heart now

To forgive them for what they did to my son."

In smith county, we never give up.

Doesn't matter how far away you go,

And this case proves that.

♪