Original subtitles

**

Berlinger: In the small town of Chillicothe, Ohio,

six women have gone missing,

young mothers caught in a vicious cycle of addiction

and prostitution.

Four of them have turned up dead.

Woman: I found a woman's body in a crick.

Berlinger: I'm Joe Berlinger.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an activist.

I'm working with forensic intelligence analyst

Angela Clemente

and former FBI agent Steve Bongardt

to find out what happened to these women.

We got to get justice.

All of us in here have to get justice.

Berlinger: For five days, we've been closely following

the murder trial of Jason McCrary.

I'm driving. Timberly's in the passenger seat.

And Dollar Bill, he then climbed in.

McCrary accuses Ernest "Dollar Bill" Moore,

a drug dealer with connections to all of the missing women,

of killing Timberly Claytor.

I seen her raise her left hand like this,

and all I heard was pop, pop-pop, like that.

The jurors are not convinced.

Man: We, the jury in this case, find the defendant,

Jason McCrary, guilty of murder in violation...

Berlinger: Three hours after closing arguments,

they return with a guilty verdict.

But with serious flaws in the prosecution's case,

this trial has created more questions than answers.

Was there enough evidence to prove McCrary's guilt

of Timberly's murder beyond a reasonable doubt?

Could Chillicothe's most notorious drug dealer

be responsible for the deaths

and disappearances of six women?

Ruth: There's somebody out there that knows what went on,

but they just won't tell because they're scared.

Magill: So we pray, "Our Father..."

Heather: He put the gun to my chest, and he said, "Live or die."

Landrum: Everybody who knows information that tries to come out

and talk about it, they end up dead.

Coleman: He gave her a hot shot of heroin.

Kellough: And I said, "I know who your son is,

and I know what he did, too."

Sam: If she's out there, please just let her go

[Echoing] and let her come home.

**

Berlinger: Despite a guilty verdict, there are major flaws

in the case against Jason McCrary.

The detectives got rid of all --

refused the evidence to take it

and have it checked to see who was in that car.

Two of the prosecution's eyewitnesses

claim that they weren't even there.

Clemente: There's several problems forensically.

I've processed specimens in rapes and murders,

and to not process DNA

from two of the witnesses that were supposedly in the car

during this murder taking place,

I mean, that's, like, the most simple thing

that you want to do,

just to at least prove that they were there.

And, unfortunate for the families,

I don't believe that they proved

the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

I have spoken to each and every one of the victims' families,

and all of them

have mentioned Dollar Bill in one way or another,

that he's been connected to these women,

the ones that are missing or murdered.

You know, this is something that we can actually follow up on.

Berlinger: Dollar Bill was a free man

on the night Timberly Claytor was murdered.

Two months later, police say he tortured

another drug dealer in Chillicothe.

**

Lavender: Ernest Moore was known to be a big drug figure.

Dollar Bill and Jason McCrary

was involved in the drug trade together,

but Dollar Bill was the one supervising the operation

of a lot of it.

Lytle: Ernest Moore, Dollar Bill's, been a subject

of numerous investigations of ours.

Obviously, most recently, the torture case, um,

with Arthur Hamlin.

By all accounts, Arthur Hamlin is a drug user.

Apparently, he may have stolen some drugs from Ernest Moore

at one point in time.

Authorities say the victim was bound with duct tape,

stuffed into a duffel bag,

and then brought to this house on Mulberry Street,

where he was allegedly tortured.

Marks: He was stripped of his clothing and tortured

over a period of many hours,

including having lighter fluid sprayed on his genitals

and set on fire.

**

Berlinger: To find out more about Dollar Bill's

possible involvement in the fate

of the six missing or murdered women in Chillicothe,

we've tracked down one of his former drug dealers.

Wallace Coleman is serving a 14-year sentence

at the Ross County Correctional Institution.

The Ohio Department of Corrections refused our request

for an in-person interview,

but we were able to arrange a video call.

All right, Wallace Coleman.

Uh, I'm looking forward to this one.

Um, he goes by "Cheese."

Yeah, I know. What did you tell me?

Why do they call him Cheese?

He said, um -- I asked him, I said,

"You know what? Why do they call you Cheese?"

And he says, "Because I bring in all the cheese,

the money, you know?"

I said, "Okay."

These names are hysterical.

He's obviously a drug dealer, and he worked closely

with Ernest Moore, or "Dollar Bill."

Cheese is kind of a link to him.

What arrangement did you promise him

that he is expecting?

You know, what's -- what's the deal here

for him talking to us?

You know, I explained to him that, you know, "What I'm --

what I'm gonna do is follow up on what you say,

and if I find that, you know, I can substantiate that,

then I will go into court on your behalf."

And, hopefully, a judge will look favorably

on his providing of certain information,

which, you know, might reduce his sentence.

I think it's better for you guys

to just have a one-on-one,

so I'm gonna just stay off to the side.

Okay.

**

-You there? -I'm here.

-Can you hear me? -Yeah.

Good to see you.

Can you tell me a little bit about Ernest Moore?

A gremlin?

I know you were a co-defendant of Ernest Moore,

so tell me what happened with that.

Berlinger: Dollar Bill's vicious kidnapping and torture of Arthur Hamlin

may suggest he's capable of murder.

And he knew most, if not all, of the Chillicothe victims,

including Timberly Claytor.

So, I'm going to bring you back to Jason McCrary.

You know he was charged with Timberly Claytor's murder.

He blamed it on your co-defendant Dollar Bill.

-Yeah. -Was Dollar Bill involved?

He was involved?

Can you explain that? Tell me about that?

Why? Just over a couple hundred bucks?

Is he like that? Does he do stuff like that?

Isn't that kind of petty?

And how do you know this information?

Did you have a relationship with him

that he'd be comfortable to tell you something like that?

Okay.

Berlinger: If Cheese is telling the truth,

Dollar Bill killed Timberly Claytor over $200.

We've heard rumors that Tameka Lynch,

the first missing woman to turn up dead,

owed a similar debt.

I was told that Tameka had stole some dope

and Dollar Bill found out about it.

He got mad.

He says, "I guarantee," he says, "I'll get my dope back."

Berlinger: Could Dollar Bill be responsible

for Tameka's death, as well?

Now, I'm going to bring you to the people that you know.

Tameka Lynch.

You knew Tameka?

And she was reportedly last seen with Charlotte Trego,

and Tameka was found --

Tameka was found dead,

but Charlotte's still missing.

Do you know anything at all about Tameka's death

or Charlotte's disappearance?

Her death is ruled as an overdose.

Do you know if Tameka was murdered,

and if so, was Dollar Bill involved?

Berlinger: In a surprise twist, Cheese says Crail Brooks

murdered the first two women to go missing --

Charlotte Trego and Tameka Lynch.

The next question for our investigation --

Who is Crail Brooks?

Berlinger: A new lead from Dollar Bill's associate,

Wallace "Cheese" Coleman,

may help us unravel how Tameka Lynch died...

Kayakers found the body of 30-year-old Tameka Lynch

on a sandbar here in Paint Creek.

My daughter came by every single day.

Berlinger: ...and help solve the disappearance

of Charlotte Trego.

Boggs: She disappeared in May.

Got to the point where I didn't hear from her,

and it was almost two weeks,

so I knew there was something wrong.

I just love her. I want her home.

She's missed very dearly.

Berlinger: According to Cheese, Crail Brooks,

a convicted drug dealer, killed Tameka

and then murdered Charlotte.

Coleman: It was Crail Brooks that did it.

He set her body on fire.

That way, she couldn't be found.

Was there anyone else involved with that with Crail?

Crail told you this with his own mouth?

Why would he just come out and tell you that?

Have the police ever asked you

or talked to you or questioned you at all

to see if you knew any information?

Berlinger: Although Cheese has revealed Crail Brooks

and a man named Preston as new persons of interest

and he has given us the possible location

of the first Chillicothe woman to go missing,

we obviously can't just accept his statements

until they are corroborated.

**

An FBI special agent for 20 years,

Steve Bongardt has brought Al-Qaeda terrorists

and domestic killers to justice.

He's been brought in to profile Crail Brooks

and assess the credibility of Cheese's account.

Do you want to see the interview?

Because I actually have it here. Bongardt: Sure.

All right, I'll turn it around.

Yep. Thanks.

Clemente: Do you know anything at all about Tameka's death

or Charlotte's disappearance?

It was Crail Brooks. He had beat up Tameka.

And he gave her a hot shot of heroin,

an overdose to make it look like she killed herself.

Then Charlotte Trego was with her.

His mind was, she here, she's seen what happened.

We gotta get rid of her, too, or she's gonna tell on us.

That's when Crail, he had set...

Man. Whew.

He set Ms. Trego on fire and burned her body.

That's why there's no body or evidence where she's at,

why can't nobody find her.

You know, I don't know how credible he is.

You know, he may have an agenda,

but this felt pretty compelling to us.

I mean, it -- -It did.

This is really important.

I found him to be credible because there's that one moment

where, when he's about to tell us what happened,

he rubs his face, and you can tell he's having...

He's crossing the line. Right?

He's making the jump.

-Yeah, exactly. -Exactly, exactly.

The other thought is that, a hot shot, right?

We're dealing with a hot shot. -Yeah.

And a hot shot is a perfect staged homicide, right,

where you make it look like an OD. Like it's an OD.

You know, like, who is Crail, is the big issue.

If we look at his rap sheet, he was arrested for drugs,

domestic violence, possession of controlled substances,

tampering with evidence.

He was in the area just weeks after Charlotte

and Tameka went missing.

Not doing a threshold diagnosis, right.

I'm not a psychologist,

but I'm very familiar

with antisocial personality disorder

and this type of personality, and the type of violence

that you get is affective violence --

reactive, emotional type of violence,

and in the heat of the moment, at this party,

if Crail found out that she stole from him

or if it comes out or if he's reminded of it,

or he decides to make an example of her.

And he's not thinking further than killing her,

and after he does it, now there's a problem.

Right now, he's got to clean it up,

and he knows Charlotte Trego knows about it, too,

so it's a good question, but it's a question

maybe to try to vet out the story a little bit more.

**

Berlinger: We return to Ohio

to follow up on Cheese's information.

We discover shortly after Charlotte Trego's disappearance,

police searched the fields around the house

where she was last seen in Bainbridge.

Without speaking too much, we've searched that area.

And, when I say "searched," I mean...

Searched. Yeah. ...I mean, I'm talking every square inch.

Okay? There was a couple other fields,

different areas near railroad tracks

and things like that that we've --

that we've also combed thoroughly, um, to no avail.

Is Cheese's story untrue, or does it just mean the police

couldn't find Charlotte's body?

While looking into these possibilities,

a new development emerges.

We receive a lead from the mother of Megan Kellough,

a young woman who recently overdosed in Chillicothe.

Megan got involved with a boyfriend who was

what they call "the baller."

He sold drugs.

Made big bucks.

Would get her hair done, her nails done,

took her shopping every day.

She got hooked on that.

And then, after being with those ballers for so long,

she ended up using their products.

She had a lot of information on all of them.

Berlinger: So Megan overdosed in December of last year?

One thing I know to be a fact,

my daughter did not overdose.

My daughter was murdered.

And it was because she knows so much.

Megan had a recording on her phone of Crail Brooks admitting,

confessing, that he had killed Tameka and Charlotte.

Berlinger: If Robin is right,

Megan's phone contains solid evidence

that Crail Brooks killed the first two missing women --

Charlotte Trego and Tameka Lynch.

Berlinger: Megan Kellough died of an apparent overdose

on December 4, 2015.

But her mother believes that Megan's death was no accident.

She says Megan used her cellphone to secretly record

a conversation with Crail Brooks.

Megan played the phone conversation for me to hear

so that I would know, so that I would be aware,

just in case anything had happened to her.

I heard, in the recording,

Crail Brooks said he killed Tameka.

Tameka got in his pockets.

And he said it just like,

"She couldn't get away with that.

She wouldn't get in my pockets.

And Charlotte ended up -- I had to beat her face in,

and then she started flipping out

and saying that she wanted medical attention,

so right there I knew sh--

I knew the biotch was going to go talk,

so I had to take care of the problem.

So, ain't nobody gonna find her body."

When I heard this recording, all I could say is,

"Oh, my God, Megan, we got to find somebody.

We got to go take this to somebody."

And she said, "But, Ma," she said,

"You got to be careful."

And I said, "What do I got to be careful for, Megan?"

And she grabbed me, kissed me, was holding on to me.

She says, "If anything ever happens,

all this information is in my phone."

Then I knew something was gonna happen anytime.

I was woke up that morning.

[ Crying ]

And Jay Thomas came to my house to tell me

they found Megan, they found my baby.

**

Berlinger: Robin takes us to the site where her daughter died.

It's allegedly a trap house,

where drugs are sold and addicts go to get high.

This is gonna be a very hard thing for me,

because I haven't been on this street

since the morning,

but we're gonna do this.

This right here is the house

where I came to identify my daughter's body.

It's a heroin, crack cocaine, trap house.

And we walked up.

They made me stand outside.

I waited a few minutes, and they finally brought my daughter

out on the front porch.

I looked. It was truly my baby girl

laying there on that table, lifeless.

And all I could do was stand there hopeless, helpless.

Trying to make her breathe again.

Trying to get somebody, anybody, to make her breathe again.

**

Berlinger: Just moments after arriving, we spot the homeowner.

She was with Megan Kellough the night she died.

Kellough: There she is. Yes, there she is.

Looks like she has a customer sitting on her step.

She's getting ready to run and tell somebody.

We might should move.

Berlinger: Okay, um, uh, yeah, we should go.

**

The recording that Megan had on her cellphone,

it was with her the morning

that I went and identified my daughter's body.

Twila Goble had her cellphone in her hand.

Officer Twila Goble.

I wanted the cellphone.

She wasn't even letting me touch that cellphone.

And she said, "No, we have to take it for evidence."

Berlinger: Police reports confirm

that Chillicothe detective Twila Goble

took Megan's cellphone for evidence.

But Megan's death was ultimately ruled accidental.

So we wonder, why haven't the police

returned the phone to Robin?

We decide to take this information

to the Chillicothe police

and see if we can get some answers.

Producer: In the Megan Kellough case,

apparently there was a cellphone recording of Crail Brooks

describing how he murdered Tameka and Charlotte

that was given to this police department.

That's news to me. [ Laughs ]

To my knowledge, that recording, um, I've never heard it,

and I don't know that it truly exists

to the extent that individuals are believing

or are hearing that -- that it is out there.

Could Megan Kellough's death really be a homicide?

Could she be the seventh victim?

When we look at Megan Kellough,

Megan Kellough obviously died of a drug overdose.

She had been involved in being a drug addict and prostitution.

So, in that regard, she does kind of have

the similar lifestyle traits as these other ladies.

Um, Megan Kellough's no different.

But we know that Megan Kellough had connections

to certain drug dealers, Crail Brooks being one of them.

So, there's no investigation of Megan Kellough?

That investigation would be closed, yes.

And who was the lead investigator on this case?

It would have been Detective Goble, though, I believe.

Oh, Twila Goble?

Mm-hmm, Twila Goble, mm-hmm.

Berlinger: We've got promising leads, but, so far,

we've been unable to confirm Cheese's story

about Tameka Lynch and Charlotte Trego.

What we do know is that all of the missing women

have one thing in common.

Reporter: Chillicothe Police say nearly a dozen

suspected heroin overdoses in all.

One man died.

No place is immune from this horrible, horrible epidemic.

Reporter: The body-camera video showing Chillicothe Police

reviving a man and woman

after suspected overdoses of heroin

right in the middle of a shopping center parking lot.

EMT: OD and gave her two Narcan.

**

[ Indistinct talking ]

He's got a pulse, but it ain't gonna be long.

Berlinger: Heroin overdoses in southern Ohio

have reached epidemic proportions.

EMT: 27 Headquarters, Narcan has been administered.

Berlinger: To understand more about the drug underworld

the missing women inhabited,

we've arranged an interview

with an undercover narcotics detective.

Man: What we deal with here in Chillicothe is,

we portray ourselves mostly as just a normal user

that needs the drug for their fix for the day.

We do use confidential informants

that may introduce us to a dealer.

There are subjects who may have lesser charges

and can get a lighter sentence

if they cooperate with law enforcement.

If the informants were to be discovered

by the dealers on the street,

the consequences would be pretty severe.

The majority of our dealers are all out of town.

They bounce in and out of what we refer to as trap houses.

Sometimes it can be an abandoned house.

Sometimes it can be a user that they push their way in,

and then you have the dealers that, you know, move in

with some of these girls and, in exchange for sex,

will kind of keep them high

and use their property to sell from.

They'll set up shop for small periods of time,

and then they leave.

Berlinger: With fresh intel from an undercover operation,

the Chillicothe SWAT team

prepares to raid a local trap house.

Okay.

Man: Well, the bust that we have planned for today,

we've basically conducted an investigation

into a few subjects

that we've known to be dealing drugs in Chillicothe.

We've made a couple purchases off the subjects,

where we've purchased both heroin and crack cocaine.

**

We believe that they are getting ready to return

to the Chillicothe area with a large amount of drugs.

We will be able to pick off the drugs before they can be

distributed out to our community.

**

[ Radio chatter, bang ]

[ Radio chatter ]

**

[ Indistinct talking ]

**

Lytle: When our special response team entered the house,

there were six subjects inside the house.

Of course, you know, we secure all of those individuals.

Berlinger: Two alleged dealers from Columbus

and a fresh supply of drugs

have been taken off the street.

Y'all having fun? Broke-ass bitches.

We have, uh, significant quantities of,

I believe, cocaine, heroin, some marijuana, some Xanaxes,

some different types of drugs, so we got a really good hit.

A lot of drugs off the street, which is a great thing.

Berlinger: It's a significant haul but just a fraction

of the drugs flowing into Chillicothe.

All right, just put your hands here on the vehicle.

What I'm gonna do is pat you down,

make sure you have no weapons on you, all right?

A tip from undercover detectives gives patrol officers

an unexpected lead.

Have a seat with, uh, that officer there.

This routine traffic stop yields nearly 800 prescription pills,

$1,500 in cash, and a loaded pistol.

Just give me some evidence bags.

I don't want this stuff blowing away.

Man: You know, I'm a firm believer that we're never

going to completely stop the flow of drugs

throughout our community

or any other community in the United States.

You know, if you cut the head off of the snake,

you hoped that it would die,

but it kind of, like, grows a new one

and someone else comes up and takes their place.

**

Berlinger: The heroin epidemic in southern Ohio

is so pervasive, law enforcement can't solve it alone.

Since all of the victims were opiate addicts,

we speak to public health nurse Lisa Roberts

in order to help us understand how addiction

might have lead to their disappearances and deaths.

Coming to this region has been very eye-opening for me.

You know, I mean, you hear about the problem,

but when you really see it, it's kind of shocking.

These women have gotten some national attention

when everyone thought it was a serial killer,

but they didn't get the attention

when it was a drug problem.

I think the real serial killer here is probably opiates.

This addiction is so powerful.

It lives in the survival part of their brain,

and they will pursue it

as if it's the very air that they need to live.

They are very vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation,

to all sorts of risky behaviors.

You know, if their dealer fears that they may be, you know,

talking or collaborating with police or whatever...

As an informant.

...as an informant, then they may very well

just decide to kill them.

Do you think some of these women

are being purposefully overdosed?

Is that a possibility? Have you heard of that?

You know, these so-called hot shots.

Hot shots are basically a very good way

to kill somebody and get away with it.

Very good way to get rid of an informant.

A good way to get even with somebody

who maybe ripped you off, or maybe you ripped somebody off,

and you can, um, eliminate them that way.

And so it's a very real possibility

that this is what's happening.

Is it be possible that the missing and murdered women

were all police informants

and that law enforcement

unwittingly put their lives in danger?

Berlinger: We're waiting for a phone call from Jason McCrary,

who was convicted of murdering Timberly Claytor.

We've convinced McCrary to speak to us.

He believes that certain information

that did not come out at trial may help him with his appeal

and with our investigation.

The Department of Corrections has just totally shut us down,

even though McCrary wants to talk to us,

so, unfortunately, it's a phone call.

I mean, we've tried every which way to get access

for an in-person interview, then a video interview.

[ Telephone rings ]

And this could be it, right?

Hello?

Woman: Hello. This is a prepaid call from...

McCrary: Jason McCrary.

Woman: ...an inmate at the Mansfield Correctional Institution.

-Hello? -Good morning, Jason.

How are you?

-I'm fine. -Good, good.

I'm going to kind of bring you right straight to, um,

the questions, if that's okay with you?

McCrary: Mm-hmm.

Now, Tameka Lynch, um, can you tell me about the death of her?

Now, this is Crail -- this is what Crail said?

Right.

And do you know where -- do you know where they dumped her?

Um, do you have any information

about what happened to Charlotte Trego?

And can you tell me about that?

So you're -- you're saying that the body --

her body is there somewhere

and it was burned on that property?

Okay.

Is there any way to confirm that information

that you could direct me to?

Okay. Do you know why he would just come out

and say something like that?

Uh, why was Charlotte killed? Do you know?

Woman: You have one minute remaining.

Uh, was the drug house at State Road 588?

Okay. Okay.

I know we've only got just a minute.

Um, do you -- can you explain to me what happened,

exactly, to Charlotte?

Woman: Thank you for using GTL.

**

All right, well, that was pretty compelling.

Um, but some inconsistencies there.

Yeah. There's an inconsistency

between what Cheese has said and what Jason McCrary said.

Cheese said Charlotte Trego -- Trego was with Tameka

and that they died at the same time.

And it was Crail and Preston.

But Jason is saying, no.

It was Dollar Bill and that it was in Gallipolis,

on that property.

Did you find him -- Did you find him credible?

This guy's been in and out of the system on some level.

So he's smart enough to know that whatever he tells us

we're going to try to verify.

We need to corroborate.

So, what'll be huge about verifying his story is,

if we find a body at the house in Gallipolis

where Dollar Bill was staying.

On the other hand, we don't have the ability to,

you know, search for a body.

We -- We need to engage with law enforcement.

There's gonna be a case agent, an FBI agent,

that's assigned to the case of Dollar Bill.

So I'll reach out.

In fact, I'll text my contact now

and see if we can try to find out

who that case agent is.

Um, the other thing that is the,

"I should have burned her like the other ones."

Did you hear that? "The other ones"?

There's only one other one that we know...

Right. ...which is Charlotte Trego,

so maybe the timeline goes before that.

There might be other girls that are out there

that we don't know yet,

that Dollar Bill has been doing this for a while.

Other potential women who aren't part of the Chillicothe Six.

Right.

Park: I have a little bit of breaking news.

Cheese just sent me a message on JPay, um,

saying that detectives have just contacted him

to speak to him about the missing women.

You're kidding. That was quick.

So, do we think -- Do we think --

Just to be clear, do we think Cheese has been contacted

because of our interview with him?

Clemente: Yes.

Yes, I do. -You do?

Park: Hi, Cheese. How are you? All right.

You sent me a message saying that the cops had contacted you?

Cheese, um, who were the detectives that --

that came in to interview you?

Hansen?

Did they say why they were coming to you now?

Um, do you -- do you think that they're trying to talk to you

because you were speaking to, um, us?

Woman: Thank you for using GTL.

[ Cellphone chimes ]

What'd you think?

If they know anything about the first call,

then they're listening to what we're talking about now,

and that would be more in real time.

And that would be really quick.

That -- That's my thought.

So, you think the --

somebody's listening to our calls with him.

Right now, it could be real time.

Berlinger: Is the Chillicothe Police Department's

sudden interest in Cheese just a coincidence?

Or were they listening in on our conversation?

Although Jason McCrary corroborates Cheese's story

that Crail Brooks killed Tameka,

we've now uncovered two different accounts

of who might have killed Charlotte Trego.

Jason McCrary's tip that Dollar Bill is responsible

for her death is compelling new information.

With his alleged confession of killing

and burning multiple women,

we need to take a closer look at Dollar Bill.

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