Original subtitles

We arrive on scene.

I activated my body-worn camera.

Little did I know what I was walking into.

I was very shocked that the body was found.

She was just genuinely loved by everybody.

I was impacted by it. I had nightmares.

We really were kind of scrambling

to make an identification.

The suspect had several weeks of a head start on US.

To think that another human being

would do this to a person was very disturbing.

I wanted to get this guy.

It was like my life's mission.

A woman has just discovered

what she believes to be a dead man

in a wooded area in new port richey's north end.

Pasco county sheriff deputy Matthew adamo

responds to the call.

We think we're responding to

a standard death investigation call.

It was relayed to US as a dead homeless male in the woods.

We arrive on scene.

I activated my body-worn camera.

Little did I know what I was walking into.

Officers talk to the 911 caller right away.

The woman tells officers

the remains are beside a shopping mall

next to a mobile home community.

Ideally, we would like to preserve the scene

as much as possible.

Typically, we will set up a perimeter

that's going to encompass the entire crime scene.

We establish an outer perimeter and then sometimes establish

a smaller inner perimeter to work within.

Investigators call a CSI team to the scene

and then search for witnesses.

The urgency for canvassing

is to ensure that we're getting surveillance footage

before it's overwritten.

We want to ensure that we're locating any witnesses

before they leave the area or forget what they saw.

Deputies start with the residents

of a nearby neighborhood.

One of the difficult things to navigate

in canvassing a neighborhood

is speaking with the witnesses you find

or people that are willing to talk with you.

You're not sure what information they're going to give.

You're not sure if it's accurate.

You're not sure if it's relevant.

Back at the strip mall,

deputies question business owners for information

or if they have working surveillance cameras.

Simply because we see surveillance video cameras

doesn't mean that we're gonna get any information from them.

Typically, they don't record,

or they don't retain the footage for very long,

or the operator doesn't know how to obtain the footage.

Unfortunately, surveillance video

did not help US in this situation.

Investigators hope a closer look at the remains

will yield more definitive clues.

This scene was a little more difficult than others

due to it being outside and in a very densely wooded area.

Yeah.

Walking in a little further, when I got closer to the body,

the body appeared to have some female clothing on.

So that changed a little bit

of the dynamic of what we were looking at here.

Right away, investigators believe

they might know whose remains they've found.

21-year-old brook Lynn peck

disappeared in October 2015,

just over a mile from the wooded area

where the body was found.

Her family has been searching for her ever since.

My relationship with brook Lynn was very, very close.

More like a daughter to me.

Brook Lynn was liked by everybody who met her.

Everyone who would meet her would say

what a lively personality she had.

Even if she didn't have something,

she would go out of her way

to make sure that someone else had something.

I have not met one person

that had something negative to say about her.

She was just genuinely loved by everybody.

At the end of the day, what I would like to hear

about brook Lynn's disappearance is just closure.

If she was murdered, I'd like to know.

I mean, you don't ever want to hear the worst,

but hearing the worst is better than hearing nothing.

Confirmation on whether the woman's body is brook Lynn

will have to wait until the coroner conducts an autopsy.

Crime scene techs move in to examine the body.

Investigators finally get their first close look at the remains.

In this case, we believed

that there was foul play involved.

There was evidence

of blunt force trauma to her head.

Her dress was pulled over her face.

Her stockings were ripped.

Normally, if a body's found,

one indication that they were robbed

could be that they're not wearing any jewelry.

This was one of the more brutal scenes I had been to.

To think that another human being would do this to a person

and leave them without an identity

or without any cause

or care for that person

was very disturbing.

Found in close proximity to the body,

investigators bag the pair of women's flip flops,

an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol,

and multiple items of garbage.

There was some trash on the ground,

and we had to decipher through what was evidence

and what was not evidence.

Early in the investigation,

there was some difficulties that we faced,

like we didn't have the decedent positively identified.

We didn't have any suspects, any motives.

We just knew that the suspect had

several weeks of a head start on US.

Pasco county, Florida, deputies

believe they may have found the body of a 21-year-old woman

who vanished just over a mile from their crime scene.

Deputies believed it was a missing person

named brook Lynn peck who was reported missing

out of new port richey police department.

When we were first contacted

about the body that was found west of 19,

we were told that maybe this might be her.

"But we don't want to get your hopes up.

But we'll get back to you and let you know."

At that point, I was pretty much to the point

of whatever is, is.

Now at the crime scene,

investigators find signs of sexual assault.

The way she was positioned,

it didn't appear to be natural.

She didn't place her dress over her head.

She didn't position herself

to where her legs were in a "v"-shape.

Her legs were posed in a manner

that's consistent with a sexual battery.

We ended up getting word

from the medical examiner's office

that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Despite the deteriorated condition of the body...

...investigators are able to pull fingerprints,

which they'll run to confirm the victim's identity.

They also find traces of DNA

they believe could have been left by the killer.

Corporal Joseph ioppolo from the new port richey p.D.

Has been working brook Lynn's missing persons case.

Brook led a very high-risk lifestyle.

Had a pretty rough upbringing.

But it was out of the ordinary

for her to be gone for more than a couple days

without contacting family or friends.

Brook Lynn peck's aunt contacted me

to initiate a missing persons report on brook Lynn.

Detective ioppolo asked a lot of questions

in the beginning. No detail was too small.

He wanted to hear everything.

So, anytime we have a missing person case,

you want to talk to family, friends,

kind of get an idea of her lifestyle,

where she frequented.

Given the area where the body was found,

it was quite possible it was brook peck,

'cause she frequented those areas.

With the case now a homicide,

detectives pore over every last detail

of brook Lynn's missing persons file.

And note a unique physical characteristic

that may be relevant to the case.

We learned that brook Lynn was missing

the tip of her pointer finger on her left hand.

That information was relayed to the medical examiner's office.

But the victim found in the woods

had all of her fingers intact.

At this point, we realized

that the decedent was not brook Lynn peck.

When we heard that this wasn't brook Lynn,

we had a whole different range of emotions.

We went from being happy and relieved that it wasn't her

to also being sad that it wasn't her,

because we were kind of hoping at this point

that we would have some closure.

At that point, it was bittersweet

that it wasn't brook Lynn peck,

because now we don't have an identity for this victim.

We really were kind of scrambling

to make an identification.

Police comb through their missing persons cases

to see if they can find their newly unidentified Jane Doe.

And almost right away, they get a hit.

Family and friends are really worried about judi therianos.

They say it's not unlike her to disappear for a few days,

but it is unusual not to hear from her.

This week, they filed a missing persons report

with the Maine state police, who say

they have notified authorities down in Florida.

52-year-old judi therianos

disappeared around march 14th,

nearly a month before the body was discovered in the woods.

Judi and I took a road trip down to Florida

to visit our friend who had cancer.

She stayed behind to take care of her,

and I returned back to Maine.

Judi and I got referred to as mother and daughter,

because our age difference is about 20 years.

But that didn't stop US.

Our friendship was more like soul sisters.

I was leaving to go north,

and I said, "be careful,

and don't be stupid,"

that, you know --

"just watch your back."

The medical examiner's office was able to get a fingerprint

from the deceased person, and they were able to determine

that our deceased was Judith therianos.

Where one victim's family finds hope,

others find only despair.

I was in complete shock.

Reality really hit in after her sister told me

that her body was found.

Investigators have to somehow find out

where judi was and who she was with

in the days and hours leading up to her murder.

Her best friend, glenda cook, provides them with a lead.

Glenda actually had a voice message from Judith.

And we followed up with that

with interviewing other people.

Particularly, on this case, there was a person's name

that came up in the case named Charlie,

and we started investigating that.

Judi met this old guy, Charlie,

that showed up at an acquaintance's house,

and it was the last person that physically saw her.

The only information that we had on Charlie

was he was approximately 70 years old,

had a long, white beard. We didn't have his full name.

We didn't know where he lived. We didn't have a phone number.

We didn't know anything else about him.

At that point, we were basically

starting at square one to try to identify him.

The search for Charlie would be cut short

when, out of the blue, he simply shows up

at the police station.

When Charlie decided to come to the sheriff's office,

it was a little odd and kind of threw US for a loop.

Was he was trying to help US out,

or is he trying to throw US off?

In pasco county, Florida,

the last person to see judi therianos alive,

Charlie,

has just shown up at the police station.

He went to one of our district offices

with some of Judith's belongings

and reported that he had been with Judith

prior to her death.

Charlie tells the officer

that judi was staying at his house before she disappeared.

Charlie then says he called judi,

who told him she was at a different restaurant

and needed a ride.

Charlie claims he called judi over and over,

but she didn't pick up and never returned his calls.

He also says he brought with him

some of judi's things she'd left behind.

At that point, we didn't know

what role he played in the investigation.

We didn't know if he was a suspect,

if he was a witness,

if he was the last person to see her alive.

Charlie insists he cared for judi.

He shows officers text messages he exchanged with her

before she disappeared.

The officer on duty collects judi's belongings

from Charlie and photographs everything.

When Charlie gave US some of her property,

it assisted in the investigation to help US understand

who Judith was and places that she may have visited

by being able to go through her property.

While Charlie claims he had no idea

what ultimately happened to judi...

Detectives learn where she had last called him from

and go canvass the area.

We separated into groups.

A few detectives went to locate her last-known whereabouts,

and a couple of US went to a convenience store

to obtain video.

We concentrated on a convenience store

and several other businesses in the area.

Investigators hope to locate judi

and perhaps even her killer on this surveillance footage.

But reviewing all this video is a painstaking process

that will take time.

Meanwhile, back in Maine, judi's friends and family

gather to say goodbye

to the woman whose life was cut short

by a demented killer.

We had a memorial service for judi.

It was a really difficult day,

to see her mother just mourn judi

and to see the whole family and myself mourn her,

even though that her body wasn't home yet.

It was a really hard,

a hard day to witness.

In Florida, pasco county sheriff detectives

hope the surveillance video they recovered from the area canvass

will provide the answers they are looking for.

Then they get a break.

The first surveillance video that we located

was her purchasing alcohol in a convenience store

nearby of an area that she was known to frequent.

In the surveillance video footage,

we observed Judith purchasing her items.

At the time, she was seen accompanied by another person.

Detectives wonder, could this mystery man

be connected to judi's murder?

Now my focus for the investigation

is identifying who this person is with Judith.

Investigators searching for judi therianos' killer

have a brand-new lead.

When we located the surveillance video of Judith

in the convenience store with a male,

we didn't know if he was responsible for her death

or if he was another just acquaintance of her.

Maybe he can assist US with the investigation.

Whether witness or a suspect,

police need to find him.

Investigators show a screenshot of the man in the video

to people living in the neighborhood

near where judi's body was found.

We received information that there was a man named grizzly

who lived nearby in a mobile home park,

that he had known Judith.

So we had gone to speak with him

to see if he had any kind of information

that could assist with this investigation.

Grizzly tells detectives

he recognizes the man with judi

and even says he let the man stay at his place

for a few nights.

Grizzly claims the man was looking to get out of town.

Grizzly says the man left behind

a bag of clothes at his place,

which he hands over to investigators.

When we collected those items, we examined them,

and we believed that it was the same shirt

and the same backpack that was in the surveillance video

at the convenience store while she was with the man.

Grizzly, he knew that he had a twin brother named Jared,

but he didn't have any further information on his identity.

Investigators send the clothes to forensics for analysis.

And then they're approached by another neighbor.

After we spoke to grizzly, I was walking back to my car,

and a man named Stefan said,

"hey, detective, can I talk to you about the I.R.S.?"

And he gave me a wink as he said it to me.

Which made me believe that he didn't want to talk to me

about the I.R.S., and he probably had more information.

Stefan says he knows judi

and the man from the photo.

He also tells detectives about a terrifying conversation

he'd had with the man later that night.

That's not the only thing Stefan says the man told him.

At the scene, we located a rubbing alcohol bottle.

At the time, we didn't know the significance of it.

Now we know that he took rubbing alcohol

and poured it on her body

in an attempt to conceal his identity by killing the DNA.

Stefan says he was terrified

that the man would turn on him next.

Stefan identified the man as Timothy Johnson.

It was a huge turning point for US,

because it felt like we were getting closer

to figuring out who had killed Judith.

Detectives do a background check on Timothy Johnson

and discover an extensive criminal history.

Timothy Johnson was previously arrested

four times in Florida for aggravated battery,

a domestic battery, and two times for fail to appear.

One of those aggravated assault arrests took place

three weeks before Judy therianos' body was discovered.

Johnson had been evicted from his most recent home.

He was drinking heavily

and broke into a woman's home late at night.

The arrest was captured on pasco county police body cam.

Timothy Johnson was so cold-hearted

and didn't show any type of remorse

about the crimes that he had committed.

Johnson has only been out of jail

for a few weeks, but now he's the prime suspect

in a homicide.

Pasco county detectives launch a search,

but the words of one of their witnesses

is ringing in their ears.

Has Timothy Johnson slipped through their fingers?

Investigators are searching for Timothy Johnson,

their prime suspect in the Judy therianos murder.

I conducted research on Timothy Johnson

in numerous databases with the sheriff's office

trying to obtain a background.

I didn't have to look that far for Timothy Johnson

'cause he was incarcerated, and it makes me very happy.

Detective berberich and I went to the jail

to speak with Timothy.

We felt we had the upper hand,

because we knew certain aspects of the investigation

that he may not have thought that we did.

At that point, I was nervous, too,

because I wanted to make sure I didn't screw it up.

I wanted to get this guy.

It was like my life's mission.

While talking to Timothy, we were able to realize

that this is not his first rodeo.

When he spoke to US, he was calm, pretty soft-spoken.

He didn't appear to be aggressive.

This was not the first time he's been interviewed

by law enforcement.

He admitted that he knew Judith,

and then he admitted to having sex with her.

So we knew as detectives that we were getting closer

to having him confess to murdering Judith.

Come on. She may be a free spirit,

but she's not trash

to where she's gonna have sex on a dumpster.

That's just stupid. You know, like, it kind of made me mad.

Don't criticize your victim like that.

Johnson doesn't respond,

but investigators keep pressing.

With that, Timothy Johnson shuts down.

He was smart enough to know when he shouldn't speak.

But I got him to admit

having sexual relations with her.

As soon as he said that, I knew I got him,

even though he hadn't confessed.

But I knew it was -- I mean, I knew it was him.

Deep down, my cop-tuition or whatever,

I knew it was him.

But they might not need his confession.

That very day, before detectives can even leave the jail...

...they receive word that Johnson's cellmate

says he has more information about Judy's murder.

The informant tells police

what Johnson told him about the murder.

The informant was able to provide US

with specific details.

He knew where it happened.

He was able to provide US information

that he had sex with her near a dumpster

and that he left her body in the wooded area.

After the murder, the informant says

Timothy Johnson took Judy's debit card...

...and went to a restaurant.

I obtained surveillance video footage

of him at the restaurant eating.

And it was the same time

as the transaction on Judith's credit card.

Timothy was just sitting there nonchalantly.

He wasn't panicked. He wasn't freaking out.

It was like nothing ever happened to him.

But then, the informant says,

Johnson returned to the scene of the crime.

During all of the investigations that I've worked,

I've never seen anything like this.

The witness statements,

the debit card, and surveillance video

give investigators everything they need.

Afternoon. Pasco sheriff's office

has arrested Timothy Johnson with first-degree murder.

Based on the physical evidence

and the testimony of his cellmate,

Timothy Johnson is convicted of murdering judi therianos

and is sentenced to life in prison.

We always see the worst in humanity,

so nothing really surprises me.

So this was sick, and it was disturbing,

but it wasn't something that I was --

well, that's a lie. I was impacted by it.

I had nightmares.

But not so much because of him,

but because her last moments were really terrible.

I'm thankful, and I'm grateful to have closure.

But my heart goes out

to the families that don't have that closure,

that they're always wondering and have that hope

that maybe their loved one will just reappear.

The disappearance of brook Lynn peck

remains unsolved.

If anyone does have any information,

I would just really love for them to come forward,

any information at all.

Nothing is too small or unimportant.

It doesn't matter if they're afraid.

Just reach out and just let US know

exactly what happened to brook Lynn.