Original subtitles

(martiele) you can't have a bad day in the keys.

It's paradise found.

(scott) we could count on one hand

The number of homicides we'd had in that area.

(reporter) michael and missy macivor, both around 30 years old,

Murdered, apparently execution style.

(bill) this was one of the most shocking murder cases

In the florida keys.

A young couple and their unborn child

Are killed brutally.

(mark) it was the worst homicide scene that I'd been to.

(sharon) I looked at missy and mike as the all-american family.

(scott) we just weren't sure

Whether michael or missy was the target.

(james) they do this kind of stuff

When it's thundering and lightning out

Because the cops don't come out.

(sharon) the storm was a perfect cover for a killer.

(bill) there was a murderer on the loose,

And people were searching for an answer.

(james) they told him, "if you don't cooperate,

You're gonna go down for murder."

(scott) he left the evidence right there for us,

And that was the mistake that cost him.

(intense music)

♪

(soft music)

♪

(scott) the florida keys is a chain of islands

Coming down from the southern part of florida

Just south of miami.

(david) key west is the big tourist spot

That people think of when they think of the florida keys.

(sharon) everybody goes there because it's just beautiful.

(david) there's crime in the keys,

But violent crime, especially murder,

Is very rare.

(intense music)

(scott) the macivor case was extremely shocking.

It started out as a welfare check.

(sharon) I had a premonition almost,

An impending feeling of doom.

And I wasn't sure if it was the storm coming,

But I couldn't put my finger on it.

(narrator) on August 21st, 1991,

Tavernier key is slammed by a freak tropical storm

That rattles residents overnight.

(scott) we get a lot of storms in the upper keys,

But mostly they blow right over.

But that night, unusually,

We had hours and hours of pouring rain.

♪

(narrator) the next morning,

30-year-old michael macivor's family becomes concerned

When they can't reach him or his pregnant wife,

29-year-old missy macivor.

(sharon) the thing that struck me that morning

Was that it was almost ominously quiet.

It all happened so fast. My mother called me.

She said, "you know, I haven't heard from michael."

So I called the house and the phone kept ringing.

No one's answering, so my intuition kicked in

And I grabbed my keys.

(narrator) missy's coworkers also become alarmed

When she does not show up at the elementary school

Where she is a third grade teacher.

(james) all the teachers went to the house.

They saw mike's feet on the ground,

That's about all they could see.

And they ran to the neighbor that lived next door.

He came over and kicked the door open.

(narrator) when mike and missy's neighbor,

Bill, goes inside the macivor home,

He is horrified to find the couple

Lying in a pool of blood,

And he immediately calls 9-1-1.

(mark) when I walked into the macivor crime scene,

It was probably the worst homicide scene

That I had been to.

We went in and discovered the bodies where they had been.

Michael in the living room and missy still in the bedroom.

(narrator) michael and missy macivor and their unborn baby

Have been brutally murdered in their home.

(scott) it was weird that michael's head had been taped up.

♪

His eyes covered, his mouth covered.

There was some blood where he had been attacked.

(larry) michael had been killed by somebody standing

Or stomping on his neck.

Missy was tied up, she was sexually abused.

(mark) this was a really unusual crime scene for the keys.

Missy was an attractive young lady

That was pregnant and about to give birth,

So it was just too shocking.

(narrator) the macivor family is stunned by the devastating news.

(somber music)

(sharon) as soon as I pulled up,

I saw the yellow police tape around the house

And my parents and missy's family

Standing off to the right.

And looking at my mother's face, looking at my dad,

And they all had kind of a blank stare,

Like, of shock.

And my dad came up to me and told me

That both of them had been found dead.

How can they be dead?

They were just here.

(james) my dad said that mike and missy had been killed.

A million things went through my head.

I couldn't imagine what could have happened.

And he said somebody had murdered them.

And I'm like, "oh my god."

♪

(soft music)

(sharon) michael and missy were the perfect couple.

They had almost a soulmate type of connection.

(james) missy, she was very wholesome, the all-american girl.

She loved kids.

That's why she wanted to be a teacher.

(sharon) missy was bubbly, beautiful, very elegant.

Very sweet and very vivacious.

She had a very welcoming spirit.

Our family loved missy.

Michael was like this big, handsome, charismatic person.

So the two were a great combination.

♪

(martiele) mike met missy in kendall, florida,

At a nightclub one night.

His brother introduced him to missy.

I always heard great things about her,

You know, that she was a school teacher

And just a wonderful individual and athlete.

Mike was just an all-around american guy.

Hardworking, he was funny,

And a likeable guy,

And he can talk to anyone and strike up a conversation.

♪

(engine puttering)

But you caught his passion for flying

When you talked to mike

Because he just loved the aviation industry.

(narrator) both of michael's parents work in aviation,

Which sparks mike's passion for planes.

He starts flying at age 13.

(sharon) we were all brought up in the aviation lifestyle,

And mike began to take aviation seriously

As a career out of high school.

And at 17, they were rebuilding aircraft engines in our garage.

Michael was very much an entrepreneur,

And he was very witty, highly intelligent,

Constantly moving, very ambitious, driven.

♪

(narrator) in addition to his business aspirations,

Mike also wants to settle down

And have a family.

Tired of the hustle and bustle of miami,

Mike is looking for a simpler life

And falls in love with the keys.

(sharon) michael loved the lifestyle of the keys

Because he felt that it would be a great environment

To raise children, that it was very safe.

(narrator) mike and missy buy their dream home

In tavernaero key, a community for pilots.

(martiele) a lot of pilots had homes there

Because it was a priceless gem

To be able to have your own airstrip

In tavernier and park your planes under your home

And be next to the airstrip.

(narrator) mike and missy get married on may 12th, 1990.

(sharon) mike and missy had a beautiful backyard wedding,

And that was the beginning of a beautiful love story.

They made it a point of keeping their hearts

And their home open to everyone.

(narrator) shortly after their wedding,

Missy gets her dream job

At the key largo elementary school.

(sharon) missy was a third grade school teacher.

She loved children.

And that was her calling.

She had a great way about her.

She was a magnet for children

And adults as well.

People loved missy.

(narrator) one year after their wedding,

The newlyweds are thrilled

To learn they are expecting a baby boy.

(sharon) they were busy painting and building their nursery.

In fact, I had stopped over earlier in the week.

I had seen the nursery and remarked

That it was coming along beautifully,

And they were super excited.

My brother and missy were planning on having

A very large family.

I think the number was five children.

(james) a couple days before the murders,

When mike had stopped by to see me,

And he says how nice it's gonna be.

Gonna have the kid, you know,

You can fly up here, I can fly down there.

He drove off and that was the last time I saw him.

(narrator) life couldn't be going better for this all-american couple.

They are madly in love,

Anxiously awaiting their bundle of joy to arrive,

Excited for the future.

(sharon) all these dreams shattered.

All this planning taken away in just an instant.

Who would have done this and why?

Why?

(narrator) the news sends shockwaves through the keys,

And the pressure is on law enforcement

To find the killer.

(scott) a homicide in the upper keys,

Particularly a couple that was well-known

In the area, like missy and michael,

Was a big shock to the community.

A lot of scared people.

(narrator) with no answers,

The entire community is on edge,

And tavernier key,

Famous for being a safe place to live,

Is now a danger zone with a killer on the loose.

(bill) people just couldn't believe

That a young couple had been brutally murdered

Along with their unborn child.

It was just unthinkable.

(mark) people became suspicious of their own neighbors.

(scott) word spread throughout the upper keys really quickly.

People started locking their doors.

It was a scary time.

♪

(dayle) they found a gym bag filled with burglary tools

That a person could use to pry into someone's house.

(scott) but we couldn't just say,

"hey, did you kill missy macivor?"

(sharon) I said, "why can't you arrest him?"

"we don't have any evidence."

(newscaster) the murders happened the night of August 21, 1991,

In the macivors' tavernier home.

(narrator) with a killer on the loose,

Pressure is on the monroe county sheriff's department

To find answers.

They ask the florida department of law enforcement

For assistance.

(scott) we definitely had to put

All hands on deck for a case like this.

(thunder crashes)

(narrator) the night before the murders,

The keys were battered by a heavy tropical storm,

Giving the killer the perfect opportunity

To go unnoticed.

(scott) we talked to several of the neighbors

To see if anybody had heard or seen anything,

And that was a total dead-end because of the storm

That had come through that night before.

So the weather was definitely a factor.

(narrator) the clock is ticking and detectives turn

All of their attention to the crime scene.

(scott) mike had been attacked in the living room,

Killed him right there.

(dayle) his face had been wrapped up

And mike had been hit with the long piece of metal

With a towel around it,

And his neck had been crushed.

(mark) based on the autopsy results,

It appeared missy had been strangled.

(scott) the crime scene guys spent the majority of that day

And part of the next day collecting evidence,

Photographing everything, taking samples of blood stains

Where michael had been attacked.

And then on missy in the bedroom

There was semen left on her body.

(mark) later, lab results came back

That there were traces of semen on missy's body

That were not from mike.

(scott) using the dna that had been left on missy's body,

We determined that she had been raped as well.

(larry) the dna database was not that big,

But the dna did not match anybody

In the current databases that were available at the time.

(narrator) although the dna from the crime scene

Does not match anyone in the database,

Police focus all of their efforts on finding the killer,

And they start with the people

Who had access to the macivor home.

(scott) we were concentrating first

On why the ladder was left outside.

They had had some renovations going on inside the house,

So there was a lot of tools and stuff around.

(mark) the ladder up against the back patio

Told us that's most likely how the person gained entry.

(scott) there was a boot print on michael's neck.

(narrator) the boot print leads detectives

To their first person of interest,

The macivors' handyman, larry herlth.

(larry) larry was doing work.

And we'd come to find out that he was the one

That had put the ladder up against the back of the house.

(narrator) on August 30th, 1991,

Days after the murders,

Detectives meet with larry,

Who agrees to give police a dna sample.

(scott) the handyman was as upset as anybody.

Apparently, he'd become very friendly with them

While working on their house.

(narrator) although larry's boot prints

Match prints that are found in the house,

His dna does not match the blood at the crime scene.

(larry) they did match some of the footprints

That were in the house,

But he was there all the time.

(scott) he had an ironclad alibi

For where he was all night the night before.

(narrator) police quickly eliminate larry as a suspect.

♪

But detectives zero in on a suspicious clue.

An address book with the pages ripped out

Has been left behind by the killer.

(larry) why would somebody tear these pages

Out of an address book?

(narrator) could it be that the killer's information

Was in that address book?

Or did they take it to send a message

That they are going after more victims?

(sharon) whoever it was took the time

To open up that address book

And tear all the pages out

That had the letter b.

And at the time, my last name began with a b.

And no one found the pieces

Of the address book with the phone numbers,

So I always lived with a little fear.

It just struck me odd.

It was almost like somebody did it

To throw us off, to make us think

That they were in that address book.

(scott) we thought if he had been a family member

Or a close friend of the family,

Maybe the killer's name and address, phone number

Would have been in that book

And that's why those pages were ripped out.

But it didn't go anywhere.

(narrator) detectives do not believe that this is a random crime

And theorize that the macivors were targeted.

(larry) we knew that missy's sister had made a call to the house

Around 10:30 that night and nobody had answered,

The phone just rang and rang and rang,

Which was because the phone lines had been cut.

That was telling us that this was an experienced individual.

(scott) someone knew where the phone lines

Were coming into the house,

So we definitely think they were targeted,

We just weren't sure whether michael was the target

Or whether missy was the target.

(sharon) my brother was a big, strapping, muscular, lean, fit guy

Who could hold his own.

So I felt like, "how can one person

Overpower my big, strong brother?"

We didn't know how many people were involved.

Maybe it was more than one.

(narrator) detectives began digging in

To mike and missy's picture perfect life.

Missy was a beloved third grade teacher.

(scott) missy was well-known simply because of her job

As a school teacher.

And well-liked, everybody loved her.

(larry) who would make an elementary school teacher

A victim of a crime?

Especially a pregnant one.

(narrator) the medical examiner determines

That michael was killed first,

From a debilitating blow to the head.

(larry) because of the boot print on michael's neck,

We thought once he was under control,

The offender took care of him

So he could do what he really wanted to do.

♪

Missy was tied up, she was sexually abused.

The offender had spent way, way more time with her,

So I always believed that she was the object

Of this--this whole attack.

(narrator) however, the fdle and the sheriff's department

Do not have any leads on who would want to hurt missy.

But they do hone in on mike as the potential target

Because of his business dealings.

(larry) the sheriff's office believed that michael

Had brought this on the family

By his suspected drug activity.

(narrator) while missy is busy with pta meetings,

Mike spends a lot of time flying and back and forth

-To central america. -That raised our suspicions

Because there had been some smuggling activity

Coming in from belize to the florida keys.

We started on that angle trying to nail down his contacts

And who he had been in business with.

(narrator) is it possible that this all-american couple

Was living a double life

In the dark underbelly of the keys?

The monroe county sheriff's department

Theorizes that the gory crime scene

And the grizzly murder of the macivors' unborn child

Is the work of the drug cartels.

(james) drug smuggling was a big criminal enterprise

During that time period, and, you know,

Mike's involvement with airplanes

Led to the belief it was plausible.

I mean, it was something to follow up on.

(larry) mike macivor lived at the end of an airport

That was sometimes used for drug smuggling activity.

(scott) they had actually had a grass runway

Long enough for a smaller plane,

You know, like a cessna, to land.

(martiele) in the late '80s, '90s, you know, miami was known

As the drug capital of the world,

And that's only an hour away.

(larry) they would kick marijuana out of an airplane

Into the shallow waters,

And then boats would go out, race out and pick 'em up

And bring 'em back to shore.

(scott) it was a quick way to make good money

For some of the locals who had marinas or had boats

And were able to help get the drugs ashore.

(bill) it was a smuggler's paradise

Down here in the keys for many years.

We focused on michael because of the deal

With the airplane down in belize.

(narrator) a week before the murders,

Mike had made an unexpected trip to belize.

(sharon) there was a plane that came up on the market

In belize, south america,

So my brother, michael, flew down to look at it.

(james) I gave him all the money I had to buy this airplane,

And he purchased this airplane

Through the government down there.

They had an auction, and he won the auction.

(narrator) however, detectives speculate

That mike bought the plane illegally

From the drug cartels, not the belize government,

And the murders are retaliation

For a bad business deal between mike and the cartel.

(larry) we flew to belize to see

What the government's function was with this airplane.

And we met with the president of belize

About the legalities of michael and this aircraft

And if there was going to be any issues

Getting it out of the country once it was made ready.

And we were told that, no, there was not an issue.

Once the aircraft was paid for,

It was his to take and do with it

What he wanted to.

(narrator) although investigators confirmed

That mike did buy the plane legally from the government,

They learn that the plane has a shady history.

It was used by the cartel for drug smuggling.

Did mike anger the cartel because he bought their plane?

(scott) we were working that angle for a while,

Thinking that maybe mike had made somebody mad

Down in belize.

(larry) we actually went out to see if anybody had been

Hanging around giving michael a bad time.

None of that panned out.

(narrator) although investigators do not find any evidence

To prove the drug cartels in belize

Had anything to do with the murders,

They continue to pursue the theory

That mike was involved in drug smuggling

And speculate that he may have been targeted

-By someone locally. -We never really said

That michael was not involved in drugs,

And it was still a lead that everybody wanted to follow.

(scott) we were trying to find anyone

Who might have had a beef with michael.

(narrator) detectives dig in to mike's business,

And they learn that his brother, jim,

-Is also his partner. -Well, you're suspicious

Of everybody in the victim's family,

Because, unfortunately,

Most homicides are committed

By a family member or a close friend.

(larry) jim had an airplane

And he had an airstrip that he'd use,

So there was a thought that he could be involved

In the drug business with michael.

Jim was a very frightened individual.

(narrator) detectives keep a close eye on him.

(mark) we followed michael's brother out to where he was living

In a trailer out in the everglades.

And, at that time, he expressed fear

That he could be next.

(narrator) is jim acting nervous

Because he is responsible for the murders

And is trying to throw the police off his trail?

Or does he know that this was a drug hit

And thinks that he could be next?

So we really didn't know what we were dealing with

At that point.

(newscaster) the killings shocked not only

The young couple's distraught family,

But this entire community.

Michael and missy macivor murdered,

Apparently execution style.

(narrator) the florida department of law enforcement

Zeroes in on the theory that the macivor crime scene

Is reminiscent of torture tactics

Usually seen in drug cartel hits,

And they speculate that the murders

Are the result of mike's involvement in drug smuggling.

And missy, along with her unborn child,

Are collateral damage.

(larry) they were still believing that michael was the target

And that missy was just fun.

(narrator) investigators focus on jim, who they believe knows more

Than he is admitting about the murders.

(james) they kept on looking at me and asking me, you know,

"well, we think you know something."

I gave them as much information as I could give them.

They asked me for my dna.

I gladly gave it to them.

And I asked them why they wanted it.

They said, "well, we just want to compare it

With mike's dna to clear up whatever we found at the scene."

I thought if that clears up something

So you can find out who did it, that's great.

(larry) but the dna did not match,

And jim's dna was not at the scene.

(scott) he had been eliminated as a suspect.

(james) I knew they were trying to do a job,

But I was frustrated with them

And they really upset me.

My brother had just gotten murdered.

And I said, "you're asking me all of these questions,"

But I said, "I can't answer 'em

Because I don't know who did it."

I kept reminding them that my brother

Was a very well-respected business person,

And he wasn't about to jeopardize his future

With his family and his child.

(martiele) I never thought mike was in the drug business,

But when you repair planes or you buy and sell planes,

You run into people in the drug business,

So maybe he was repairing a plane

Or saw something he shouldn't have seen

And they just wanted him to be dead before he sang.

(narrator) is it possible that mike may have witnessed

A drug-related business deal and became the target?

♪

(sharon) the police were going to the airports

And asking all of his business associates

Had he gotten anybody mad at him,

Did he owe anybody money.

And no, the answer was no.

(scott) there were no signs that mike

Was actively involved in smuggling drugs.

(sharon) it became more and more clear

That the case was complicated

And they were not gaining any more information.

Weeks went by, months went by.

Finally, years started going by.

(scott) we would get leads here and there,

But nothing ever panned out.

(narrator) although the florida department of law enforcement

Has pursued the drug angle for two years,

They do not have any evidence or suspects

To prove this theory.

If the murder was not the work of the drug cartels,

Then what kind of person would murder a pregnant woman?

(soft music)

(sharon) what was done to missy was pretty horrific.

There were multiple attacks against her,

And the types of attacks that were carried out on her

Were that of a mind of a sexual predator,

Not of a drug cartel.

(narrator) hoping to get insight into the killer,

The fdle reaches out to lead profiler dayle hinman.

(dayle) as a profiler, we look at what happened,

Why it happened,

And what kind of person would do this.

What kind of person would actually kill a woman

Who was eight months pregnant?

That just seemed particularly brutal to me.

Looking at the scene,

I thought that the person who committed this crime

Had a serious burglary background.

It takes a very special and specific kind of person

To enter people's homes while they're there sleeping.

I think it's really likely that the offender

Had done surveillance, had looked at the house,

Had seen her, found her to be a desirable victim,

But he didn't bring anything with him to affect the crime.

He was apparently so skilled in his burglary practices

That he relied on what was there in the house.

(narrator) the fbi agrees with dayle

And theorizes that this is not a drug-related crime

And the killer was obsessed with missy.

(dayle) I saw this person as someone who had focused in on missy,

That either knew or didn't know that the husband was there,

But felt so emboldened and empowered

That he could control the situation.

(narrator) the fbi also concludes

That the killer is local to the keys

And could be someone who's hiding in plain sight.

(dayle) so we asked them to generate

A list of people who lived in the area

And who knew who missy was specifically.

(sharon) now we're looking for a killer of a different type.

We're looking for a sociopath, a serial killer.

Someone who could kill babies.

(narrator) investigators circle back to mike and missy's family,

Looking for leads on anyone who might have had

A romantic interest in missy.

When detectives re-interview sharon,

She recalls a disturbing phone conversation

She had with missy the night before the murders.

(sharon) I called missy.

She was like, "I stopped by the gas station.

And it's odd because the attendant there,

He was kind of hitting on me.

That just made me feel strange."

I go, "that's pretty creepy.

You're nine months pregnant. And what did you say?"

And she's like, "well, I told him I didn't like it

And that I wish he wouldn't do that again.

In fact, he knows my husband."

After hearing sharon's story,

The crime scene investigator recalls a piece of evidence

That stuck out to him as odd.

(mark) inside the bedroom were a handful of receipts

From plantation key, the gas station.

(narrator) a creature of habit,

Missy would stop at the local gas station

Every morning before school to get her coffee.

(mark) we found out that missy apparently

Had expressed concern about going there

Because she felt like there was a guy there

That creeped her out.

You know, my immediate thought when I heard this was,

"well, that's thomas overton."

Although 36-year-old thomas overton

Works as an attendant at the gas station

That missy frequented,

He is known to local law enforcement

As a cat burglar.

We knew about thomas overton.

He had been on our radar as a burglar for a while,

And we were watching him pretty close.

(dayle) overton matched all the characteristics.

He had been in prison for armed robbery.

He was a burglar in the area.

And he would be a likely suspect.

(sharon) that conversation that I had with missy

About the gasoline attendant

Became a very important piece of information

That none of us had paid any attention to.

(mark) we knew that thomas overton was a criminal,

That he was a burglar,

But we didn't know whether he was the killer.

If she were the target, she was an unwitting target.

Nothing in her lifestyle, in her background

Indicates that she would have attracted the attention

Of anyone capable of performing this kind of a crime.

(dayle) nobody really surfaced as a strong suspect to me

Except for overton.

(narrator) although thomas overton

Had never been convicted of homicide or rape,

Detectives are suspicious of him.

I believe that thomas overton had killed one girl

In the florida keys,

We just never were able to pin that on him.

(narrator) a year before the macivor murders,

Thomas was a suspect in another unsolved homicide

In the keys involving a woman

Who he also creeped out.

(reporter) overton is a prime suspect in the unsolved murder

Of rachelle surrett of key largo,

Found strangled in 1990 off card sound road.

(narrator) in may 1990,

20-year-old rachelle surrett's father

Dropped her off at the movie theater

In tavernier key.

(scott) she was called in as a missing person

By her father in the upper keys.

And two weeks later,

Someone hiking through the woods up there

Had found her body wrapped up in a tarp.

She had mentioned to her father

That there was a guy working at the movies,

And thomas overton also worked

At the movie theater in the evening,

That made her feel creepy

And was kind of coming on to her.

And when we found her body in the tarp,

The tarp actually had some popcorn kernels in it.

(mark) the detectives working the case

Had gone and interviewed thomas,

And they came back and shared

Their perceptions of him with us,

And, you know, they weren't good perceptions.

(larry) we had interviewed him.

And he was cocky.

He said, "well, yeah, I was probably

The last one to see her alive."

And then kind of smiled.

(narrator) there was no dna evidence

To link thomas overton to the murder

Of rachelle surrett.

(dayle) sadly, rachelle surrett was decomposed,

So there was nothing that was provable in that case

Because there wasn't any biological evidence to collect.

(narrator) although they didn't have dna

Tying overton to the murders at either crime scene,

Detectives notice a striking similarity

Between rachelle and missy.

Is it possible that thomas focused on

A specific kind of woman?

(scott) rachelle surrett actually looked a bit

Like missy macivor.

Same age range.

Long, black, thick hair.

I think he had a particular type of woman

And a certain age range with long hair.

That seemed to be the connection

Between her and rachelle surrett.

(narrator) if thomas overton had latent homicidal tendencies,

Is it possible that it was triggered

By the romantic rejection from rachelle

And then missy one year later?

(scott) I believe thomas overton became obsessed with missy.

(narrator) detectives theorize that thomas was stalking missy.

The gas station was only one mile

From the macivor house.

(larry) thomas had been hitting on missy

As she was getting gas on more than one occasion,

And she kept shutting him down.

And last time, we understand that she was a little bit rude

In saying, "no, I wouldn't go," you know,

"I'm pregnant, I wouldn't go with you.

No way, no how."

(dayle) I think that he absolutely knew

That she was in that house that night.

And that he went there focused on the idea

Of getting to her.

And that he either knew or didn't know

That mike was there,

But mike was gonna be eliminated

So that he could commit this crime with her.

(narrator) in April 1993,

Police interview thomas overton

And they ask him about missy macivor.

(scott) thomas didn't have much to say to the police officers.

Wasn't rude, but he also wasn't friendly.

(narrator) thomas denies any involvement in the macivor case,

And when asked to give a dna sample,

He refuses.

We had no way to get thomas overton's dna.

He would not give it up.

We searched military records, prison records, jail records.

There was no record anywhere.

(narrator) florida law states that police can obtain

A court order to request a dna sample

If someone is arrested on felony charges,

And investigators turn all their attention

To thomas overton, waiting for him to slip up.

(scott) mark andrews focused on thomas,

And it became an obsession

To try to connect him to the case.

(mark) he was my primary focus.

I just made it a point to keep tabs on him

Whenever I could.

So if, for instance, thomas had a warrant

For failing to appear on a traffic citation,

I would be the one to go and pick thomas up.

I wanted him to know that I was watching him.

♪

(sharon) I said, "why can't you arrest him?"

"we don't have any evidence."

(narrator) six months after thomas overton

Becomes the main suspect in the macivor murders,

He has a run-in with police.

They share the information with the macivor family.

(sharon) that was the first time

I actually had a glimmer of hope.

(james) an officer was driving patrol at night,

It was about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning,

And he saw this guy riding a bicycle.

He asked him what he was doing,

He said he was coming from a party.

And asked him for his id, ran his id.

It was thomas overton, you know, ex-felon.

Didn't have any reason to keep him,

So he let him go.

And about 15 minutes later,

There was a distress call from a lady

That was in the house.

She was scared stiff that somebody was still in the house,

And she was afraid if she moved that she would get killed.

Written on her bathroom mirror with her lipstick was,

"get a dog, get an alarm.

Next time you won't be so lucky."

And she had a stuffed parrot that was in her living room.

He ripped the head off of that

And laid it next to her in bed.

15 minutes prior to that,

The same sheriff had pulled over thomas overton,

But they had no leads that it was him

That was in the house.

(scott) we were definitely playing a cat and mouse game with him.

(bill) detectives had no way to link him.

(dayle) he bonded out and then he left town.

(sharon) this case is really going cold fast.

(reporter) the fdle says overton has denied his involvement in this crime.

He reportedly worked at a gas station

Less than a mile from the macivors' home in 1991.

(bill) it became, obviously, after a while,

That thomas overton was the primary suspect in this,

But detectives had no way to link him to it.

We were definitely playing a cat and mouse game with him,

Trying to get anything we could to get him off the street.

(narrator) in may 1993,

Thomas overton pops up on the fdle radar.

This time in naples, florida,

Three hours north of tavernier key.

(dayle) my analyst ran into my office and she says,

"aren't you looking at overton

As a suspect in a case in the keys?"

And I said, "yes, I am."

She said, "well, he was arrested for trespass

On the west coast of florida."

(narrator) just six months after dayle profiles thomas

As the killer in the macivor homicide,

A police officer spots him in an unlikely place.

(dayle) a uniformed patrol officer saw the car

And then he looked into the cemetery

And there was a man dressed in fatigues

Running towards the car

That was parked outside of the cemetery.

And the cemetery is clearly marked

That there's no trespassing.

He was acting really suspicious.

So the officer called for a backup,

And they found a gym bag filled with burglary tools.

Pry bars, wire cutters, screwdrivers.

Things that a person could use to pry into someone's house.

They found a mask and multiple flashlights and gloves.

And they also found a spiral bound notebook

Filled with surveillance logs

Where overton had the description of the house

So he could go back and keep looking

To find out how many people lived there.

It was an affluent area in florida,

So he had been conducting surveillance there

To find burglary victims.

His driver's license has the name of the city

That he was from,

So they spoke with the monroe county sheriff's office

And they told them that he had been arrested.

(scott) we wanted thomas overton's dna.

(narrator) thomas refuses once again to give a dna sample.

And florida law states that the only way

Police can secure a sample that is admissible in court

Is if thomas is charged with a felony,

And trespassing is not a felony.

After he was arrested and the car was returned to him,

He bonded out and then he left town immediately.

(narrator) a few days later,

Thomas overton is spotted back in the keys.

(dayle) tavernier in the florida keys

Was like a home base for overton.

He would commit a crime and then he would

Go back there and lay low.

He knew people there and that was a comfort zone for him.

(martiele) tavernier is a quiet, laid back island town.

(david) there are a lot of people who move to the keys

Just to get away from civilization

And live off the grid.

(tense music)

(sharon) they had him under surveillance.

They circled back around to him a couple of times,

But nothing concrete there,

Nothing that kind of stood out

That would make a case against him.

We were all becoming very frustrated.

And now we're like, "hey, you know,

This case is really going cold fast."

(scott) we didn't really have enough

To bring him in and question him.

We kept contact with him pretty regularly.

But we couldn't just say, "hey, did you kill missy macivor?"

We had to wait to get him in

On some other sort of crime or pretext

So we could really hit him with the evidence.

(bill) that really gave people a sense of foreboding,

A sense of, "this is just not the way this community is."

And for a criminal like that

To still be walking the streets for years,

That was hard for people to fathom.

(scott) we knew where he was working

During the day and during the evening,

So we knew where he was pretty much all the time.

We were able to keep pretty close tabs on him.

The macivor case was something

That haunted all of us for years and years.

We wanted to bring some closure for the family

And try to nail somebody for doing this.

This became an obsession with me to find the killer,

Not only for justice, but for my parents.

I was watching through my own two eyes

The deterioration that occurs with parents

That cannot come to grips with the death of a child,

When you don't have closure,

When you don't know what happened.

(narrator) the macivor family does not give up hope

That police will be able to solve the case,

And they stay in close contact with the detectives.

(scott) the case kind of languished for a while, unfortunately.

The family was a little frustrated

Because things weren't happening quicker.

(soft music)

(narrator) then in 1996, five years after the macivor murders,

The monroe county sheriff's department

Get the break they have been waiting for.

(scott) we got a call from a friend of thomas overton's

Who said that he was planning a burglary.

(narrator) police pass along the information

To the macivor family,

Who is eagerly waiting for news.

(james) thomas made a statement to the informant,

"I do this kind of stuff, I like to do it

When it's thundering and lightning out

Because the cops don't come out."

That's exactly how the weather was

When mike and missy were murdered.

(narrator) on October 6th, 1996, after a storm rolls in,

The informant rats out overton,

And the monroe county sheriff's department

-Makes their move. -We decided to try

-To set up a sting. -He was planning

To break into this certain house,

So we set up on the house and caught him in the act.

He was cutting the phone lines when we arrested him.

(mark) he was also armed, which enhanced the charges

Because he was a convicted felon

In possession of a firearm

During the commission of a burglary.

(narrator) in the state of florida,

It is a third degree felony for an ex-con

To be in possession of a gun during a burglary.

(larry) so they charged him with burglary,

Attempted burglary,

And put him in jail.

(narrator) since thomas has been charged with a felony,

Detectives can finally request a court order

To obtain his dna.

This process can take up to eight weeks,

But it's the only way that detectives can prove

Thomas is responsible for the macivor homicides.

(james) they showed me the video

When they were asking him questions, interrogating him,

And showing him the scenes where he's stolen stuff

Or whatever and they knew it was him.

And he's going on, "yeah, I did this one.

I did that one. I did this one."

Or, "no, I didn't have anything to do with this one."

And then they got to mike and missy's scene,

And he clammed up, "I know where you're going with this."

And they told him, "we know it was you.

If you don't cooperate, you're gonna go down for murder."

Then they threw him in this little solitary confinement

Square box, you know, where they had a hidden camera,

And he started to cry.

That's when one of the investigators told me,

"look, he's crying," because he knew he'd been caught.

They still didn't have anything on him

And they wanted a dna sample, he wouldn't give it.

(narrator) during the interrogation,

Detectives press overton about the macivors.

(larry) he was asked did he remember this house,

Did he remember these people?

And he kept saying, "no, no, no, no, no, no."

And he denied ever being anywhere close

To that residence, or there'd be no reason

For his dna to be in that residence.

While he was in jail in key west,

He got a hold of a razor.

(scott) he broke the razor open

And used the blade to cut his neck.

(narrator) on October 6th, 1996,

After thomas overton is arrested on burglary charges,

He frantically attempts to escape jail

And unwittingly leaves behind a trail of evidence.

(mark) he didn't try to kill himself,

But he had cut himself because he planned on

Getting transported over to the hospital

And then overpowering the deputy.

That's why we didn't take him to the hospital.

We brought the emts there.

And once the scene was cleaned up,

They collected the bloody gauze and everything.

(scott) he had left blood all over the floor of his cell,

And, luckily, someone at the jail

Was pretty sharp that night, called fdle,

And says, "hey, we got thomas overton's blood

If you need it."

The fdle guys jumped on it immediately

And had it sent off to match up

With the semen left on missy macivor's body.

Our lab and subsequent labs have determined

That that's his dna on the victim's bed sheets.

♪

(narrator) after five long years, on November 16th, 1996,

Thomas overton is finally arrested

And charged with the murders of missy, mike, and baby kyle.

(sharon) our family was relieved when thomas overton

Was arrested.

It gave it a little closure.

(mark) I felt vindicated because there were some people

In the sheriff's office

That just thought that I was too focused

On thomas for no apparent reason.

(narrator) on October 17th, 1998,

Two years after his arrest,

Thomas overton's trial begins.

(reporter) thomas overton is brought to court in key west today,

Guarded by as many as six bailiffs.

Considered a high security risk,

Overton is wearing a padded belt under his gray sweater

That can electrically shock him

If he tries to escape.

It's a courtroom in stunned silence

As the monroe county sheriff's department videotape

Of the crime scene is played,

A tape prosecutors say shows the rampage

That this man, thomas overton,

Went on in August 21st of 1991.

(sharon) he had a look like I've never seen.

A dark vacancy behind his eyes.

He looked like hannibal lecter.

(reporter) among those in court, james and celeste macivor,

Who told me, quote, "there's nothing to say."

(sharon) the criminal trial was very stressful on all of us.

(soft music)

(james) I was at a loss.

The whole thing kept coming back.

Who? Why? What was the reason? What for?

How somebody could do that, you know?

(sharon) we learned more that we didn't know.

It was planned out to the t.

He watched and waited for them to get back

From a lamaze class.

He knew what time they got back.

He waited for the storm.

The storm was an opportunity and it was a perfect cover.

(james) it was pretty disgusting watching his attorneys

Trying to show that he was innocent.

It was horrible.

(tense music)

(narrator) on March 18th, 1999,

Eight years after the macivor homicides,

41-year-old thomas overton is found guilty

Of the murders of missy, mike, and baby kyle.

(judge) thomas mitchell overton,

You have not only forfeited your right to live among us,

But under the laws of the state of florida,

You have forfeited your right to live at all.

Therefore, it is hereby ordered and adjudged

That for the first degree murder of michael macivor,

You, thomas mitchell overton, be sentenced to death.

And for the first degree murder

Of susan michelle macivor,

You, thomas mitchell overton,

Be sentenced to death.

And for the crime of killing an unborn child,

You, thomas mitchell overton,

Be sentenced to the maximum sentence

Allowed by law, 15 years imprisonment.

♪

(bill) overton, I'll always remember this,

He turned around, looked at the crowd,

And he smiled.

He did this stare-down with the families

Of the people that he had killed.

(sharon) thomas overton turned around and gave me a little wave.

A wave?

You're waving at me?

It took everything I had to not leap out of my chair

And attack this-- this animal

That--that did this to my family.

(bill) it was just one of the most outlandish things

I've ever seen, a killer who is smiling

At the families of the people he killed.

It just sent chills down my spine.

(sharon) after the trial,

My parents both died early from broken hearts.

It took a terrible toll, and I miss my brother every day.

I often wonder, you know,

What life would have been like

If this guy didn't destroy mike's life

And missy's life.

(soft music)

(sharon) missy was a third grade school teacher.

She was beloved by her school.

There's a tree planted at the school now,

And there's a whole memorial to missy.

I don't think we're ever gonna have an answer

To the question why,

Because if we knew why,

We could have prevented this.

We can't prevent evil from making us victims.

♪

(scott) I think if we hadn't caught him,

He could very well have struck again.

(mark) I firmly believe in thomas's mind

He thought that he got away with it.

(scott) thomas overton made a big mistake

After all these years of not getting caught

For however many crimes he may have committed,

But this time he made a major mistake

When he cut his throat and left all that blood evidence

On the floor of his cell.

He left the evidence right there for us,

And that was the mistake that cost him.

It turned out to be a dumb move on his part.

Thomas wasn't going anywhere now.