Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[tense music] [radio chatter]

- wow. - Looks like our guy.

♪ ♪

- tonight, on "the first 48: Critical minutes..."

- I wanted to be a police officer

since I was a little kid.

- Just trying to piece all of it together.

There's so many different components.

- I'm not gonna give up on this case

until it's over.

- [sobbing]

- rookie detectives are put to the test.

- Yeah, that's how I roll. - Damn.

- Psht. - Let's roll.

- And need to prove themselves.

- Come off the bull[bleep].

Just tell me exactly what happened.

- As they work their first cases.

- I still got a lot to learn about this job.

[sirens wailing]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[smooth music]

♪ ♪

- remember your first case, bro?

- Yeah, I do remember.

A little bit over five years ago.

It was on shalimar st., new orleans east.

Over a bottle of cough syrup.

Yeah. - Jeez.

Cleared it? - Not till recently.

- Oh, really? Wow.

Hope it doesn't take me five years to clear this one.

- New orleans detective rayell johnson

was with the police department for six years

before he joined homicide.

In March 2014, the young father got called to his first case

as lead detective.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- what's up, buddy? What's up?

- All right, so preliminary information we've got right now.

We've got two victims.

One's at the hospital, and they're working on him now.

- Mm-hmm. - One's deceased.

- You have a name on him? - Just charles meyers.

[somber music]

male narrator: Thirty-two-year-old

charles meyers was born and raised in new orleans.

He was the father of a six-year-old daughter

and a two-year-old son.

♪ ♪

- um, trash cans, where'd they--

- trash cans were brought out here by the people

in the neighborhood...

Narrator: Charles was shot ten times at close range.

♪ ♪

- we got this black truck that's pulled over.

Multiple gunshots inside of that.

Got multiple shell casings around the victim.

- Looks like .40 caliber casings.

- Mm-hmm.

Narrator: Half a block from the body...

- That's 9 mm casings down there.

- Back over there where that unit is?

Narrator: A second set of casings.

- You got two different calibers.

Probably two different shooters.

- I don't understand why the casings are over there.

- Yeah, that's... - That car parked right there.

- It's a little confusing.

So far it's really scattered

as to what could've possibly happened.

Now, we have two sets of casings a block apart.

I'm going to see what they're looking at.

♪ ♪

what the hell?

Look like some type of cable box.

- Yeah. - It's just a cable box.

- I know. - [chuckles]

mm.

- This is related to the whole thing, I think.

Finding the truth is gonna be...

♪ ♪

[sighs]

- this is rayell's first case, and it's a complicated case,

but, uh, I have all the confidence in the world

that rayell will solve this case.

- [sighs]

well, gonna head up to see if we get surviving victim

to give us some information about what happened out here.

Just trying to piece all of this together.

There's so many different components.

[crows caw]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

as of right now,

we think that he's just a victim,

that he didn't, you know, do anything wrong,

so, uh, we're just gonna get him in there

and see if he's willing to talk.

All right.

Just start from the beginning.

What happened?

- They were jumping into your--

- ok.

- You don't know who these dudes are?

- All right, and then what happened after that?

Narrator: The surviving victim

says he couldn't warn charles to stay away.

- And what happened?

Narrator: He says three men tied them up at gunpoint.

- Ok.

Narrator: Charles tried to run for his life,

but the heavyset man gunned him down.

Narrator: He says the driver shot at him

and jumped out of the car.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- see that video, bruh.

Here they come.

- Ok, that's them right there.

So it looks like they jumped the fence.

- Whoa. Puts on the brakes. - Yeah.

So it kind of looked like they was just waiting on him

to get home.

Pretty much how he described it.

- That's a robbery in progress. - Mm-hmm.

- Jesus, so he's telling the truth.

They abducted him. - Yeah. Yeah.

- He wasn't lying.

- Wow.

- So is that our deceased? - That's the deceased, yeah.

That's them walking him to the backyard, like they said.

Narrator: The team searches every angle

for the suspects' faces.

♪ ♪

- one spot, one spot, one spot, one spot, one spot.

♪ ♪

- here comes anoth-- - there you go.

Pause it, pause it right now.

Narrator: Detectives see a fourth suspect.

- Another perp.

- We have a video of the perpetrators,

so about to send a bulletin to all the district units.

Hopefully we'd be able to get them identified.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: The next day...

♪ ♪

- how you doing?

I came here to show this video.

Narrator: Detective rayell johnson and the team

show the surviving victim video of the suspects

and get a break.

- That's something.

[engine starts]

[sighs]

after seeing the video, he says that the big guy is the shooter.

Narrator: He pointed out the heavyset man

in the white t-shirt as the man who killed charles.

- Disappointed he couldn't id him.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[telephone rings]

♪ ♪

wow.

All right, appreciate you. Thank you.

A man named jonathan holmes had been bragging

about being responsible for the murder.

♪ ♪

I believe him to be the guy who actually shot

and murdered charles meyers.

I mean, to do something like this, broad daylight,

he's a real dangerous guy.

That's somebody we don't need on the streets.

Narrator: An hour later,

the surviving victim arrives at headquarters.

- Let's see if he picks this guy out, so...

We'll see.

[suspenseful music]

- review each photograph carefully.

If you recognize anyone, tell me why you recognize them.

♪ ♪

- that's big boy?

- Ok, and how do you know big boy?

- He's the one that shot your cousin?

- [exhales] all right.

Nice, we picked him out.

Real brave of him to come in and, you know, id this guy.

Him and his cousin, they were real close.

They pretty much grew up together.

They've been tight their whole life, so...

Get this warrant signed for his arrest,

send it out and...

See if I can get this guy picked up.

Narrator: Johnson sends out the violent offender warrant squad

to track down the alleged killer, jonathan holmes.

[sirens wailing]

♪ ♪

narrator: The alleged killer,

jonathan holmes,

is taken into custody.

- Do you wish to waive your rights

and speak with the police or do you wish to remain silent?

Narrator: Holmes is taken to jail.

[suspenseful music]

an hour later...

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- But then he told sod when he got there

he wants to talk.

- Pfft.

- Yeah, so...

We'll go over there and try to talk to him,

then we'll bring good old detective tim bender,

we'll bring the wise, old, savvy veteran.

Sometimes got old wise-guy-ass tricks

up his sleeve, you never know, so...

- We'll see. If this cat wants to talk,

he's gonna talk.

♪ ♪

- ok.

[dramatic musical flourish]

♪ ♪

- [groans]

the fact is he put himself there,

we have proof that he was there,

and we have somebody who id'd him as the shooter, so...

That's a wrap.

First case. Pretty excited.

- That's good. Congratulations.

- Thank you. - First case?

- Let's knock it out of the park.

Boom-psht.

- Wonderful job. I'm so proud of you.

Your first case too, huh? - Yeah, that's how I roll.

- Damn. - That's how I roll.

Psht. [laughs]

- you can train these guys, but you know...

- But there's plenty more to do, so, you know...

- Still, outstanding job.

- Appreciate that, bro. Appreciate that.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

you know, it's a tragic case.

Charles lost his life

just trying to fight for his own life.

With me, it's just gonna be one of those cases

that's gonna stick with me forever,

not just because it's my first one.

Just because I can kind of relate to it, being that I have

a young daughter, and him having young kids,

but I did my part

in trying to get justice for him.

It's just sad.

♪ ♪

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

- I'm not gonna give up on this case

until it's over.

- Phoenix detective, jason schechterle,

had overcome a lot of adversity

before joining the homicide unit.

His first case's lead had just one clue,

but he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

♪ ♪

- I've been in phoenix police homicide unit

for about 18 months now,

and in the world of homicide,

that's about 20 minutes.

Narrator: Jason schechterle is homicide's newest rookie.

- 'cause I still got a lot to learn about this job.

Narrator: Four years ago, he was just starting out

as a patrol officer, when he barely survived

a car accident.

- My patrol car caught on fire,

and I suffered severe burns to about 43% of my body.

I was off work for about 18 months.

I went through quite the recovery process.

So far, I've had 47 surgeries

to rebuild and try to make my appearance, you know,

a little bit better.

I didn't really know what I was gonna do with my career

or didn't really feel like I had a place in the world anymore.

The homicide unit took me in and gave me a home,

and things have been great ever since.

This will actually be my first case

as a lead investigator.

[electronic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: The crime scene is in the parking lot

of an auto body shop.

The response team finds the victim's shirt...

And truck.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- the victim is eduardo beltran.

Hispanic male, uh, about 28 years old.

The victim had gone into the office with the manager,

telling him that he needed an estimate

on the damage for his truck,

that he was in an accident the night before.

Narrator: The victim told the auto body shop manager

that he was meeting the man who crashed into his car.

Together, they were gonna get an estimate for damages.

- Manager went back inside and heard the shot.

They all came out and found him lying on the pavement

out here in this parking lot, and that's all we have.

Narrator: Detectives find their first clue.

- Ah, excellent. - Uh, what that is

is a money receipt in the victim's name.

What we're concerned with is the receipt,

has some writing on the back we think is the person

he had the accident with last night,

his phone number.

- It's leading us in one direction at this point.

Hopefully it's in the right direction.

This is our best lead right now.

[energetic music]

♪ ♪

- eduardo beltran,

the last phone number he dialed and received

in his phone is the same number,

and it's also written on a piece of paper in his truck.

He was in a car accident less than 24 hours ago,

so it really looks like his murder is related

to that accident and this phone number.

Narrator: Schechterle tries to track down a name or address

for the suspect's cell phone number.

- It is a long shot that this phone is connected,

but, first of all, it's my only lead.

[dramatic musical flourish]

the registered subscriber to that cell phone number?

No such address, no such name. Nothing.

- Eduardo beltran is dead.

- The only thing-- - that's as far as we've gotten

in five hours. - That's all we have.

- Nothing.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- so, I think it's a great lead.

I'll get a subpoena and see if I can get it figured out.

- Ok.

[speaking in spanish]

♪ ♪

- hi, maria. I'm jason schechterle.

I work for the phoenix police department.

How are you? - Good. Fine.

Ve jason schecterle worked

the one clue he had in his first case,

a phone number,

and the records eventually led him

to the girlfriend of a man named arturo.

- Oswaldo told us that the phone belonged to a man

named arturo, and that the reason arturo calls

all the time is because he's in love with you, basically,

and he calls oswaldo,

so oswaldo can give you messages,

and that he wants you back and that he loves you.

- It's not the real name for that guy.

- Ok, well, that's what I'm looking for.

- The guy that's supposed to be named arturo,

it's not his real name.

- Well, the man I'm asking about, arturo,

what do you know him as?

- Rodolfo. - Rodolfo?

- Mm-hmm. - He shooting my new boyfriend.

- He shot your boyfriend? - Yeah.

- Is he still alive? - Yeah.

Male narrator: Maria says that rodolfo broke into her house,

shot her boyfriend,

and then disappeared.

- You saw him do it? - Yeah.

- So did you talk to police that night?

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. - Did they ever arrest him

or talk to him? - No, they never arrested.

- They never found him? - No, they never--

- I think we have positively id'd the guy

with the phone number that I've been looking for.

Plus, we might have--

- he's going around shooting people [laughs].

- Plus, we know--yeah, we know that he's capable

of shooting somebody. Yeah, I never expected

to find out, when I identified this guy

that he's wanted for shooting somebody.

That's just-- that's huge.

♪ ♪

I am going to try and find a picture of him

in our crime catcher system.

And there he is.

Narrator: Schechterle gets a look

at his suspect,

rodolfo gutierrez.

[suspenseful music]

- recognize this guy?

- It's him. - That's who?

- Rodo. - That's--

- rodolfo gutierrez. - That's rodolfo gutierrez?

♪ ♪

I used to work patrol for this beat, right here.

Ok, that building right there

is where she says it was.

449 would be on the bottom floor.

It's gonna be the door

just on the south side of that stairwell.

I will go back,

get his photo turned over to one of our swat team squads

and, uh, see what they can do.

This apartment is very close to the intersection

where I had my accident several years ago.

See where that white truck is?

I was there.

My car was hit, and I ended up right here

in front of this green pole.

My car travelled that far, burst into flames,

but thankfully, there was a fire truck

just sitting right there, as fate would have it.

They were able to help me out.

I try in my mind to equate that to the challenges

of this investigation here.

Just as I didn't give up on myself,

my family didn't give up on me or anything.

I'm not gonna give up on this case

until it's over.

Narrator: That evening, the swat team serves a warrant

at rodolfo's apartment.

Rodolfo is arrested for shooting maria's boyfriend.

- We'll bring him upstairs, see what kind of an interview

we can get out of him.

- Our goal is going to be to gradually go from the interview

of the aggravated assault into the homicide.

It's a solid connection that jason has uncovered.

That's what it's all about, man. - Oh, this has been--

- this is all up. - This has been so much fun,

I can't tell you. - Right now,

you just have to slow down.

Younger detectives, they get excited about these things,

and that's ok, but we-- right now,

we wanna slow everything down.

[suspenseful music]

narrator: Spanish-speaking detective, john shalhoub,

will conduct the interview.

Narrator: Rodolfo admits that he broke into maria's house

and shot her boyfriend.

- I think you're getting somewhere.

They're talking about the shooting.

He was involved in the agg assault.

Hey, he's crying.

He's admitting to his involvement in the agg assault.

Narrator: Shalhoub then turns the interview

to the homicide.

Narrator: Rodolfo says he and his friend, moreno,

are part of a gang that robs illegal immigrant traffickers.

[dramatic musical flourish]

they were setting up a robbery nearby

when the victim kept calling about repairing his truck.

Rodolfo went with moreno to the auto body shop.

- Jason. - Yeah.

- They're talking about being at the body shop.

- He admits being there?

- He admits to being there.

- That's good. It's going really good.

♪ ♪

- a little bit more.

Narrator: Rodolfo says that the victim's calls annoyed moreno.

- You got it, brother. - Yeah, man.

- What did he have to say? - That was awesome.

- He did it. - He said he shot him?

- He shot him.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- you know, a good person, a family man,

a guy who works, loses his life

because he called somebody's cell phone

at the wrong time, on the wrong day.

It's crazy that life is that meaningless to so many people.

♪ ♪

only about the investigation.

Detectives must work closely

with the victim's family as well.

Atlanta detective scott berhalter

needed to crack a suspect's alibi

in order to bring closure to the victim's family.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

- victim was shot

multiple times with, uh,

what they call on the streets is a chopper,

an ak-47-style weapon.

The, uh, shooter fled on foot,

so that's all we know right now.

Male narrator: Rookie homicide detective,

scott berhalter, will lead the investigation.

- I wanted to be a police officer, uh,

since I was a little kid.

After a stint in the gang unit,

I got to go to the homicide unit.

They're the best. It is an honor and a privilege

to, uh--to work with these guys

and to learn from their experience.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

he didn't make it past this threshold most likely.

Do we have a name?

- Deontavious wright.

Narrator: 29-year-old deontavious wright,

known as deon,

grew up in atlanta with his two siblings.

He leaves behind a young daughter and an infant son.

♪ ♪

after hearing about the shooting,

deon's family and friends gather at the scene.

[solemn music]

- [sobbing]

- we do have a couple of witnesses.

The brother of the victim. Another one is the, uh--

a friend of the victim.

They were inside of the apartment

when the incident happened.

Narrator: The team will take the witnesses to headquarters

to be interviewed.

♪ ♪

detective tracy casey interviews deon's friend,

who was in the apartment when he was murdered.

- Just tell me the story, how it all went down.

Narrator: She says the gunmen forced deon into her bedroom.

- Who was he?

- Did you see a second person?

Narrator: She says she did not recognize the second intruder.

[disturbing music]

- did you see anybody with a gun shooting?

♪ ♪

- tell me everything from when they first came up.

Narrator: Down the hall, detective summer benton

speaks to the victim's brother.

He says the three intruders stole money and cell phones,

then one of the men grabbed the ak-47

and pointed it at deon.

- Ok, the one male that said, "shoot," who was that male?

- Ok.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- I can't arrest little larry at this time

without more evidence.

Witnesses are pretty adamant that little larry's involved,

but they are also saying that larry was wearing a ski mask.

You know, he did give us tony rucker,

and I need the witnesses to be able to tell me

that this person is the person that they saw.

[dialing]

[line trilling]

- this is detective berhalter at atlanta police department.

Narrator: Berhalter asks deon's friend to come back

and look at a lineup for the suspected shooter,

little tony.

- It will be a huge help, definitely.

Narrator: She's heard that they've questioned larry

and released him.

- Before I can take warrants out and place anybody under arrest,

there are certain things that I have to do

so that we can--

you know, the goal isn't to just get an arrest.

The goal is for us to get

a conviction and get you guys justice.

- Look, ma'am, the goal for tonight,

the reason why I wanted to speak with you...

- ...Is to show you a photographic lineup.

- What can I--what can I do for you to give you

a better feeling about all this?

Atlanta detective, scott berhalter,

was in a tough spot,

but berhalter had to follow proper procedures

before he could make an arrest.

[suspenseful music]

- we're not trying to say that what you said

isn't important or isn't true.

I believe all of you, ok? I do.

But in order for me to put someone under arrest, ok?

I have certain things that I have to go through,

and I am doing everything that I can.

- Ok. - Ok.

- All right.

- Your goal for her is you need to get her

to look at the lineup, right?

- Mm-hmm. - We need to get to her asap.

Narrator: Detectives scott berhalter

and mike young hope they can get the witness

on their side.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- it went well.

♪ ♪

have a seat, please.

Narrator: The next day, the victim's brother comes in

to id the shooter.

- We have a photographic lineup to show you, m'kay?

One of these three suspects may or may not be

in this photographic lineup, right?

♪ ♪

and who is that?

- And what did he do?

[disturbing music]

♪ ♪

- I think that getting an arrest warrant for little tony

and getting him off the street will really help

the other witnesses in the family.

It'll kind of help put them at ease.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- tony, what's up, bud?

♪ ♪

- on the couches?

Anybody in the back bedroom?

Narrator: He claims he left before the shooting went down.

- M'kay, who'd you come in there with?

- And that doesn't make sense.

We got witnesses that put the three of you together

at the time of the shooting.

The three of you run out together.

- People aren't gonna buy that story.

Now, people might believe

that you were there for the robbery,

but you weren't expecting it to go bad.

You figured the ak-47 was enough

to scare the [bleep] out of anybody.

- Okay.

All right.

- Right, but you were there.

- Okay, all right.

All right, that's what I'm going with.

[door closes]

[radio chatter]

narrator: Tony rucker is placed under arrest for murder.

- Through the open the door. Hook a left.

♪ ♪

- this way.

♪ ♪

[telephone rings]

- atlanta police, homicide, detective berhalter speaking.

Narrator: Berhalter gets a break.

- How do you know him?

Narrator: A ci has information on the third suspect.

- And who is that?

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

male narrator: The caller gives detective berhalter

the name of the third suspect.

- All right, thank you very much.

Buh-bye.

Searching.

Black male by the name of aaron simmons,

also known as little pea.

♪ ♪

narrator: 19-year-old aaron simmons

has previous convictions for forgery

and giving a false name.

- According to the witnesses,

this is the individual that had brought the ak-47

into the apartment and said, "shoot him."

♪ ♪

narrator: While the fugitive squad

searches for little pea...

- All right, all right, all right.

- Detective berhalter continues to look for holes

in larry's alibi.

- Uh, we got larry's phone records back in

on the day of the homicide.

10:02, he made an outgoing call.

♪ ♪

tsk. And then, yeah.

10:02 a.M. Is right before the homicide occurs,

and when larry made that phone call

it was pinging on the side of the tower

that would place him at the scene of the homicide.

I'm confident he was there already,

because witnesses say he may have been wearing a mask,

but that is him.

So if we combine that with the phone records,

we'll definitely get an arrest warrant for him.

♪ ♪

narrator: Five months after deon's murder...

♪ ♪

- I received a call from, uh,

gwinnett county police department,

and they, uh, told me that they had, uh,

apprehended aaron simmons, our third suspect.

♪ ♪

now, here's the thing.

I don't think you're a killer. - Huh?

- It doesn't matter what I think, ok?

Because right now I got folks talking

and saying you are a killer.

So I wanted to give you this opportunity.

That's why I'm here.

So, come off the bull[bleep], all right?

Just tell me exactly what happened.

♪ ♪

- okay.

Who killed him then?

- I don't know, I just say that I wasn't in the house

when the man got killed. I was around the area.

Narrator: Aaron claims he was in a different apartment

in the complex at the time of the shooting.

- Suspect interviews can be challenging

for the most experienced detectives,

let alone a rookie new to the process.

When detective scott berhalter finally identified and arrested

the third suspect in this shooting,

he hit a dead end in the interview.

♪ ♪

- I've been doing this for 30 years.

- You have a grandmother or a mother?

- Yeah, see, the only benefit

is that they know you told the truth

about what happened.

- Why were you in the apartment?

- What kind of business were you doing in the apartment?

- Okay.

So, while you're in the apartment, what happens?

Narrator: Little pea claims two men burst in

to rob the apartment.

- Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

Narrator: He says he immediately ran out the door.

Boom-boom-boom-boom boom-boom-boom.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

- Dig it, dig it.

- All right.

At no point did you ever participate in that robbery,

is what you're saying?

You're just there when it happened.

- All right.

I appreciate your truth, man.

I appreciate that today. All right?

- Yes, sir. - All right?

- I'm just saying. - All right.

♪ ♪

- the goal by going outside was to get him in the apartment

where the murder actually happened,

and we accomplished that out in the courtyard,

out in the sally port, so that's a good look.

It's good, man. Great job on it, man.

- I appreciate it, man. - Good luck.

- It's nice to have the veteran detectives

to help you and mentor you,

and it feels great that I was able to solve this one.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- getting your first case as a lead detective

is nerve-wracking, right?

It's stressful. Am I good enough to do this?

Am I gonna get this done?

You wanna be a good detective.

As you go, and you get your experience,

you're gonna eventually become that great homicide detective.

- [laughs] - congrats, boy.

♪ ♪