All language subtitles for Last.Looks.S01E12_English

REPORTER: Vicki Morgan
was murdered this morning,

almost penniless,
about to be evicted

from her North
Hollywood apartment.

- [distorted, echoing voice]

SARA AZARI: In
the early hours

of July 7,

the police find Vicki
dead in her condo.

Her fingers were
broken, which indicates

that there was struggle.

Her face is basically
unrecognizable

when they find her.

GORDON BASICHIS: Vicki's
death was a shock to the
system.

The fact that
she was gone

was pretty tragic.

- I was the defense attorney

during the trial for the
murder of Vicki Morgan.

It's my opinion

that when the police
arrived at the scene,

their primary interest
was to investigate

whether there was
evidence that could be
problematic

for the administration
of Ronald Reagan,

rather than who

killed Vicki Morgan.

♪

REPORTER: According to
police, 33-year-old Marvin
Pancoast

turned himself in early
this morning, saying,

"I just killed someone."

AZARI: Vicki's
roommate, Marvin Pancoast,

walks into the North
Hollywood LAPD station.

LEAH CARROLL: Marvin
says, between the hours

of 2:00 and 3:00
in the morning

Vicki Morgan is sleeping.

He enters with a
baseball bat...

...and strikes
her with it.

There is a huge struggle.

[bat thuds]

AZARI: She died from blunt
force trauma to the head.

She had multiple
fractures to her skull.

- Marvin resented Vicki,
because Vicki treated him

not well at all,

and he became her
servant to a great degree.

CARROLL: He essentially
admits to the crime.

The strange detail
is that he has no blood on him

when he does it, so the
police don't necessarily beliee
him.

- The murder weapon,
the baseball bat,

was not anywhere near Vicki.

Almost like somebody staged
the crime scene.

NARRATOR: When investigators
examined the bat,

there were no
fingerprints.

- I do not think Mr.
Pancoast was responsible for his
actions

on the night of the
homicide, and I...

I am not sure myself
how competent he is

to meaningfully assist me
in the preparation of his
defense.

I was the defense attorney
for Marvin Pancoast.

There was a doubt as to
whether Marvin actually was

the perpetrator
of the homicide.

AZARI: Just two weeks after
Marvin Pancoast admitted

his responsibility
for Vicki's murder,

he recanted his confession,
furthering the public's
doubts

to his motive and story.

- This was a woman
who had a lot of dirt

on a lot of really,
really powerful men,

and who was writing
a tell-all book.

- Now, in addition
to everything else,

White House officials
are being asked questions

about so-called "sex tapes,"

tapes that allegedly involve
the late Vicki Morgan.

REPORTER: The only
person talking about the
tapes

is a Beverly Hills
criminal lawyer, Robert
Steinberg.

He says a mystery woman
handed him three
videocassettes

over the weekend.

- Vicki Morgan's lawyer appeared

at a major press
conference at his office,

claiming that he
had possession

of a rather graphic sex tape.

REPORTER: Steinberg says
his 40 minutes of color tape

show Morgan, Bloomingdale

and five other unnamed Reagan
friends and office holders

engaging in sex acts.

NARRATOR: But just as
quickly as Vicki was killed,

the alleged sex tapes
seemed to disappear.

- When he was asked
for the tapes,

he said, "Ah, my
office was burglarized,

"and I filed a police report

with the Beverly Hills
Police Department."

REPORTER:
Steinberg says

he showed the tapes
to two attorneys,

including a friend
in the Justice Department,

but he won't
identify either man.

So tonight, there's
no corroboration

of Steinberg's story,
and apparently, no tapes.

AZARI: On June 10,
1984, the trial

of Marvin Pancoast begins.

BARENS: Our defense
was lack of motivation,

lack of convicting evidence.

- All that the jury had

was a confession by
Marvin Pancoast and...

the murder weapon,
which was the baseball bat.

- It was easy for them to say,
"Well, there was nobody else

offered up that killed her."

AZARI: In July 1984,

Marvin is found guilty

of first degree murder.

He's sentenced to 26
years to life in prison.

BARENS: I think in a
lot of people's minds

there was an
issue that arose

of whether Marvin
was a fall guy.

AZARI: I do see
that the rich,

with their power
and their money,

they're able to subvert justice,

they're able to
get away with it.

NARRATOR: More than a
year after Vicki's death,

the palimony case she brought
against the Bloomingdales

was ruled in her favor,
and she was awarded

$200,000, which went
to her son, Todd.

If Vicki had had the chance
to write the book,

it could have been a lot more
than just this lurid
tell-all.

It could have been

a woman reclaiming
the narrative

and telling the story
of her own life,

and really living
on her own terms

for the first time ever.

It was what she originally came
to Los Angeles to do,

and she might have actually had
the opportunity to do it

if she'd lived.

NARRATOR: In the end,
Vicki was unapologetic

about her role
in Alfred's life.

When questioned by the
media, she simply said,

"I was the
prize, honey.

I was a symbol of
power and status."