Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[sirens wail]

- even for the most experienced detectives,

a homicide investigation could take a turn

they didn't see coming.

Tonight, on "the first 48: Critical minutes"...

- This is the boat that rusinque was on.

- A marina that's involved in two different murders.

- This could all be interrelated.

- Then...

- I'll take it, just in case.

- An unlikely clue provides detectives with answers.

- Who's number four?

- You got to be kidding me!

♪ ♪

- and a double homicide leads to a shocking turn.

♪ ♪

- there's definitely something wrong here.

Good lord.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- they're in the back?

- Sometimes homicide cases become more complicated

as you dig deeper into the evidence.

When kansas city detectives responded

to the murder of two women found in an abandoned garage,

they had no idea how big of a case

this would turn out to be.

- Take a look over here.

- I don't have my flashlight on me.

Do you? - I got one.

- Do we know if that's a male or a female?

- Don't know. - Shoot.

Somebody's stacking them up like cords of wood.

- Yeah. Y.

- No homicide is normal, but for us,

you know, you have the typical homicide scene,

and then you have some that things are different.

And this is different.

Damn. Dang it.

Narrator: They discover the body on top

is of an african-american female.

- Good lord.

Narrator: So is the body underneath.

- Hold on, the bottom's been there for--

- we can call that advanced stage of decomposition,

I think, safely.

- I say the one on the bottom's

been there for three weeks.

- Mm-hmm. - Ooh.

When you see two bodies,

one on the bottom is more decomposed

than the one on the top, you have to tell yourself

there's definitely something wrong here.

Narrator: The victims have no obvious signs of trauma,

nothing that could explain how they died.

- They don't have any wounds. We have nothing.

We collected several samples from the bodies.

Dna is such a huge part of any investigation.

You look for hair, you look for a fiber,

you look for a skin cell.

That's better than a fingerprint, if you have dna.

♪ ♪

- this is a match.

And it responds back to the person

by the name of sheliah mckinzie.

Narrator: 38-year-old sheliah mckinzie,

whose name was in the system

for drug possession and prostitution,

lived in the prospect avenue area.

♪ ♪

the second victim is 53-year-old patricia wilson,

also from the prospect avenue area.

♪ ♪

- kmbc-tv kansas city.

- Two bodies found yesterday.

- Police urge you to call the tips hotline.

♪ ♪

narrator: 911 gets a call from a man

who reports a woman's body.

- [distorted voice] I don't know her name.

- [distorted voice]

- [distorted voice]

narrator: The man makes another admission.

He's the one who hid the two bodies

the police found in the garage the night before.

- [distorted voice] I killed them all.

I killed them.

[dial tone]

narrator: 29th and park

is just four blocks away from the first crime scene.

♪ ♪

- [sighs] [dog barking]

and there's that fence right there,

right back here in this very corner,

but you can't see it.

Around here.

♪ ♪

- there's a leg right there.

- Yeah, ok. Yeah.

- That's been there a while. - Oh, it's been a while, yeah.

Narrator: It's too dark to properly process

the overgrown crime scene.

- All right, luke. Come on.

There ain't nothing we can do looking back here.

Let's figure out what we're gonna do.

I'm furious. I'm absolutely furious.

I mean, especially when the guy's mocking you,

saying, "hey, you missed one."

♪ ♪

narrator: 20 minutes after the 6:00 news...

Narrator: The killer calls again.

Narrator: He directs police to another two bodies

in alleys just off prospect avenue.

Narrator: The caller says both bodies are covered

and hidden under brush.

Narrator: He says he'll give his name

when he calls the next day with more bodies.

- [distorted voice] there's six more already have.

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: As the first 48 runs out,

niemeier's investigation is just beginning.

- This is unbelievable. This is unbelievable.

We have a serial killer.

♪ ♪

narrator: The next day,

detectives buck williams and joe marinella

have found the woman who was recently attacked

off prospect avenue.

- Hopefully, she can shed some light

on a possible suspect for us.

Narrator: Aleah tells detectives

she was sitting in an alleyway when she was attacked.

Narrator: After she passed out,

he left her for dead in an abandoned garage.

- What did he look like? White, black?

- What was he wearing the night you saw him?

- What color was that?

♪ ♪

narrator: Just blocks away, patrol officer verne hoof

is out canvassing the neighborhood

when he gets an unexpected tip about a potential suspect.

- Yeah, he just got out of prison.

He sliced his wife's throat 22 years ago.

- I don't know.

- He's tall and slim.

But you know, he made a statement to me

and a few other girls out here,

he was gonna kill us one by one.

- Nope, but I know what he wears.

He wears a black jacket with white stripes

all the time, and a black hat.

His mother lived up there in that apartment.

- I don't know. It's black.

Narrator: At headquarters,

detective rick hart searches the police database

for a terry with an address on 24th and prospect.

♪ ♪

- terry blair.

- Ok, great.

- Homicide. Niemeier.

- He's been released from prison on murder,

and right now, he's on the run since February.

And his name is terry blair.

Narrator: Blair has been on the run

from his parole violation for seven months.

♪ ♪

in the sub-basement of headquarters,

detective jeff downing searches for the file

on terry blair's murder case from 22 years ago.

- It would be this file right here.

♪ ♪

there's a lot of consistencies.

He says that him and his wife, they have kids together,

and he finds out that she's a prostitute,

sees her prostituting, and gets pissed off.

He picks up a stick

and whacks her in the head and walks off.

Narrator: The most striking similarity-

blair called police himself to report his wife's murder.

- They get a call from a party that has information

on this homicide.

It's him. [laughs in disbelief]

he confesses.

- This is the break we've been looking for.

♪ ♪

- his mother just recently got evicted out of a house

right here in this block.

♪ ♪

narrator: Two hours after the 10:00 p.M. News,

niemeier is unexpectedly called back to headquarters.

- Dave, I wanted to call

and let you know he's in custody.

[dramatic musical sting]

♪ ♪

s

look like they're very common, but they're not.

Most homicide investigators go their entire career

not catching a serial killer case.

But, when you get one,

it could be either something that makes your career,

or it could be something that breaks your career.

♪ ♪

narrator: A woman called police in a panic

after she and blair watched the news together

at her house.

- She tell me, "when we were looking at the news,

"his picture flashes up, and I play it off

because I know that's him."

and he doesn't say anything.

And immediately after the news went off,

he got up and left the house.

Then, she tell me she's afraid, and that she's scare,

and that he might be out there.

- [indistinct]

- so we go out there.

We go back and check in the back of the garage,

up under the back of the cars.

All of the sudden, I hear dennis say,

"show me your hands!" I'm like, "oh, wow!"

he was back in the garage,

hiding under the back of the car.

♪ ♪

- what I'm going to do now is show him

some pictures of the victims

and see what he thinks about these.

♪ ♪

when we get the pictures out

and lay out the dead girls...

Nothing. No emotion.

No nothing. Just nothing.

♪ ♪

it was at that point,

you could see the wheels turning.

"how do they know about that"

"how do they know about that one?"

'cause I think that he had thought

he had scared them enough that they would never tell u.

♪ ♪

that line, it'll probably stick with me

for the rest of my life.

We know there are more bodies out there.

♪ ♪

- when investigating a homicide,

you have to follow the evidence

wherever it takes you.

In dallas, detective rick duggan

encountered a surprising clue

when a man was shot on a service road.

- All I know right now is,

there's two victims shot.

One died, one survived.

And the shooting, I guess, took place down here.

♪ ♪

who was the first officer out here?

- We spoke to the driver

of the victims' vehicle.

- Was he shot?

- No, no. - Ok.

Do you know the victim's name?

♪ ♪

narrator: The deceased victim

is 19-year-old mikael hudson.

He was the youngest son of 10 children.

♪ ♪

a few months ago, one of his brothers was murdered.

♪ ♪

- have all the witnesses been transported to the office,

or are they still at the hospital?

- Yeah, they transported. - Ok.

♪ ♪

we'll know a lot more once we start talking

to these witnesses.

♪ ♪

all right. Let's go.

♪ ♪

- how are you doing, man? - Good.

- Tell me what happened, jason.

- Uh-huh.

♪ ♪

narrator: Off-duty police officers

broke up the confrontation.

Narrator: A few minutes later,

the other car pulled in behind them.

One of the men got out.

Narrator: The suspects fired at them.

Then, jason swerved into the other car

and ran them off the road.

♪ ♪

- the guy with the gun,

do you know who the guy is?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- ok.

♪ ♪

- jason said that he ran

the suspect's vehicle off the road,

but we didn't find any evidence of that last night.

But it was really dark,

so hopefully, we'll find something

now that it's daytime.

♪ ♪

- is that where a car went through?

Right in through here?

Narrator: They examine the spot

where they think the suspect's car went off the road.

- Look at this.

- Hey, mike!

♪ ♪

you don't think this came out of the car, do you?

Oh, it's just a bunch of mail.

- It could have fallen out. - How would it have fallen out?

- I'll take it, just in case.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: A few hours later, mendez looks through the mail

duggan found at the crash site.

- [sighs]

there's a cederick peterson right there.

And there's a po box.

Um, it's a real long shot,

but it's about the only thing we got right now.

♪ ♪

narrator: 22-year-old cederick peterson

has one prior misdemeanor.

- I'm gonna show a six-photo lineup

to the off-duty officers who were at the club that night.

Cederick's number four.

If they identify cederick,

then I'll show the lineup to leonard,

one of the eyewitnesses.

♪ ♪

- number four.

- Who's number four? - That's the driver.

♪ ♪

narrator: The officer picks out cederick peterson

as the driver of the suspect's car.

- You got to be kidding me! [laughs]

a crime scene to pay attention to every single detail.

Have things been moved?

Does where the bodies lay make sense?

You're literally trying to put together a puzzle,

and one small piece of evidence

might be the key thing to break the whole case open.

♪ ♪

- [laughs] what?

What are the odds?

- Rick saw that mail out there.

Of course I said, "no, there's no way

the suspect dropped his mail out here."

rick was right.

It was a long shot, and it panned out,

so that's--that's a good thing.

♪ ♪

- number four? - Mm-hmm.

- Who's number four?

Narrator: The surviving victim, leonard bisor,

also ids cederick peterson

as the driver of the suspect's car.

Narrator: Leonard didn't get a good look at the shooter.

♪ ♪

- that right there is enough to get a warrant.

Cederick may not be the shooter,

but he should be able to tell us who is.

♪ ♪

narrator: The next day, the gang unit

brings cederick's wife to headquarters.

♪ ♪

detectives hope she will lead them to cederick.

- Who does?

♪ ♪

- where are you at, cederick?

- Well, how far away from dallas are you?

- Uh, about three hours.

- We need to talk to you, cederick.

♪ ♪

narrator: A few hours later,

the alleged driver, cederick peterson,

arrives at headquarters.

♪ ♪

- I appreciate you coming up her.

- Got to. Got to do what's right.

- Well, I'd like to hear your story about what happened.

Narrator: He claims that some people in the parking lt

told him the victims had a gun.

Narrator: He suddenly found himself

following the victims' car down the service road.

- Are you the one that shot? [dramatic musical sting]

- who's the one that shot?

Who's the that shot at those people and killed that boy?

- Him. - Who?

♪ ♪

narrator: Cederick gives up his friend, eric,

as the shooter.

- We know that you are the one

that actually chased that green car.

- Yeah, out of the parking lot, onto the service road.

You're what we call an accomplice.

- Right now, it's murder.

- Yeah.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[sighs] oh, god.

So... Mm-mm-mm.

- Well, um,

a kid named mikael hudson is dead.

That's who's dead.

♪ ♪

- eric edwards.

Narrator: The alleged shooter is 18-year-old eric edwards.

He has no prior record.

- Well, right now, we're gonna take cederick to jail.

He may not have done the shooting,

but according to witnesses,

he's the one who started the confrontation.

Now our top priority is gonna be finding eric.

♪ ♪

well, eric,

the best thing you can do for yourself

is to be truthful with me.

Tell me the truth. Tell me exactly what happened.

♪ ♪

narrator: Eric says he and cederick

were at the gas station when cederick spotted

the car he collided with at the nightclub.

- Ok.

Narrator: Instead, eric clais he got back in the car

and told cederick to take him home.

- So you're saying ced actually sh?

[dramatic musical sting]

- the physical evidence on the street

disproves what you just said.

The evidence does not match up

with the driver of your car shoot.

So that's where we're at here.

- Hmm?

♪ ♪

- so you're telling me you were driving?

- And what, cederick was shooting

from the passenger side?

- Yes. [dramatic musical sting]

- no.

Now that's not true either.

♪ ♪

I need you to be honest, totally honest.

Do you hear me?

♪ ♪

two people were shot.

One died.

♪ ♪

left behind several brothers and sisters--

- sure did.

[dramatic musical sting] - the one you shot?

- Ok, listen to me, you just said,

"the one I shot," all right?

- No, you already said it.

♪ ♪

- ok.

To me, I don't think there's any doubt he's the shooter

'cause he's doing everything he can to switch--

change his story up.

He even put himself as the driver, you know,

and cederick as the passenger.

Then he slipped up and said, "when I shot mikael."

♪ ♪

- hey, for real, for all y'all out there,

live your life, go to school, you know what I'm saying?

Don't get caught up in these streets.

It ain't no place to be, man. For real.

You end up looking like me.

♪ ♪

- in miami, detectives found a man bound by rope

and floating near a fishing pier.

Their investigation led them to a marina

and a shocking discovery.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- he's naked.

It looked like he was fold in the fetal position.

♪ ♪

narrator: The victim is tied up with rope,

his neck bound to his ankles.

♪ ♪

- yeah.

♪ ♪

- wow.

That's nasty.

- Until we get him identified,

we don't have a whole lot to go on.

And unless we know who he is,

it's gonna be like

pissing in the wind trying to find a crime scene.

♪ ♪

narrator: The security at the local marina

keeps a record of the homeless that live nearby.

♪ ♪

- have you ever seen him around?

Narrator: But security officers say

that another man named jorge

has allegedly threatened people in the area.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

this here is-- we call this waterworld.

♪ ♪

- hey, which boat jorge stays at?

- Jorge, what boat does he stay on?

♪ ♪

[dramatic musical sting]

narrator: The men say jorge packed up

and drove away from the dock in a u-haul.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- it's very unusual for somebody

to just pick up like that and leave.

♪ ♪

ok.

♪ ♪

[dramatic musical sting]

our focus now is to identify jorge,

get a last name,

and see if we can talk to him.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[dramatic musical sting]

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna have rusinque come in.

This could all be interrelated.

- Damn.

♪ ♪

♪

narrator: Detectives turn their attention to the victim.

- We have what appears to be a white male facedown.

♪ ♪

[sighs] - [grunts]

narrator: Detective frankie sanchez

examines jorge's houseboat.

♪ ♪

- oh, look at that.

Those are spatter?

Narrator: Unlike the day before,

this time, there are bloodstains

throughout the cabin.

♪ ♪

- there's definitely obvious signs of a struggle.

It looks like the victim was trying to, like,

claw his way.

♪ ♪

narrator: Back on shore, detectives catch a break.

[walkie-talkie beeps] - we have the witness here.

♪ ♪

narrator: Andrew beard, the 911 caller,

comes forward with more information.

Andrew claims the alleged killer

is hiding out on a boat in waterworld.

♪ ♪

- that's the guy.

- We need to get people over there now, man.

This guy's gonna disappear.

- Tell him to intercept him. Just stop him.

♪ ♪

narrator: Detective anthony reyes has identified

the man pinpointed as the potential suspect.

Arthur johnson.

♪ ♪

- I think we should take a statement

from our witness first.

- All right, ready? - Got it?

♪ ♪

narrator: Detectives head in to speak with the 911 caller,

andrew beard.

♪ ♪

- ok, who was in that group?

♪ ♪

narrator: Andrew says later that night,

he saw arthur on jorge's houseboat.

[dramatic musical sting]

♪ ♪

- why'd you call us?

♪ ♪

- I believe him.

- It appears that he's telling the truth.

♪ ♪

- ok.

Narrator: Then, the case takes a turn.

- Hey john, yeah, we've got a little curveball here.

Narrator: Patrol has located a second witness

and brought him back to homicide.

- Ok.

♪ ♪

narrator: Meanwhile, detective john rusinque

and team 5 return to the station.

♪ ♪

- what's your name, buddy?

[dramatic musical sting]

♪ ♪

- I spent all freaking day looking for this guy.

♪ ♪

narrator: The second witness is jorge.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- two men found floating.

Seems both of them were murdered.

♪ ♪

- ok, could we interview jorge?

- Yeah, you're definitely gonna wanna question him.

♪ ♪

narrator: In the case of ernesto puentes,

the team's person of interest,

jorge, is brought in for questioning.

♪ ♪

jorge says he's never seen the victim before

and tells detectives he had nothing to do with his death.

[dramatic musical sting]

he says that he did not suddenly leave waterworld,

but that he had saved up his money

to get a permanent home off the water.

♪ ♪

- the information that he gave us is very credible.

And I think we're back to ground zero on this.

- You can't force a narrative to fit a particular person.

You may develop a suspect

at the beginning of a homicide investigation,

but that person that you had as a suspect

might very well be a witness.

In this case, you have two victims that are killed

in two completely different manners.

You have to make sure that the facts add up

before drawing any particular conclusions.

- With jorge eliminated as a suspect,

it's definitely looking like the two cases are unrelated.

It just so happened to be so ironic

that a body comes floating up in the same place

that we're looking for this guy.

♪ ♪

narrator: Jorge was a false lead in team 5's cas.

But now, in the murder of cleo register,

team one is hoping he can

verify andrew beard's story.

- How is it that you become involved in this investigation?

- Well...

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: Jorge says that the 911 caller,

andrew beard, was present during the murder.

- Ok. All right.

♪ ♪

did he say what went on?

♪ ♪

- all right. Just give us a few.

♪ ♪

- a little different story this time, huh?

♪ ♪

- all right.

♪ ♪

we need to verify some things. - Ok.

- Did you ever convey to jorge

that you were there on the boat when the murder occurred?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- listen, I'm not a new cop.

I've been doing this, you feel me?

- Yeah.

- If you were there and you saw I,

let me know this now.

It's cool!

You're scared, and I understand that.

This [bleep] ain't supposed to happen to people.

It does.

♪ ♪

and it's pent up inside of you, and I see it.

I see it.

♪ ♪

- andrew, look at me.

♪ ♪

what really happened?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- well, just hold tight.

♪ ♪

- we are investigating a homicide.

♪ ♪

- we're investigating a homicide--

- ok.

- All right, sir. Ok.

- Well, that was quick.

♪ ♪

narrator: Andrew beard's eyewitness account

gives detectives enough to charge arthur johnson

with first-degree murder.

♪ ♪

- as far as beard is concerned,

he's a witness, and I believe him,

but if we find that he did lie

and that he had more involvement,

he's gonna have to answer for those actions.

Most definitely.

♪ ♪

narrator: Six months after the death of cleo register,

several witnesses from waterworld have come forward

implicating andrew beard in the robbery/murder.

[dramatic musical sting]

andrew is brought back to homicide

for further questioning.

- How much was your cut?

- A hundred.

♪ ♪

- for a human life?

That's--that's sad.

♪ ♪

- no matter how long you work homicide,

there's always gonna be a piece of evidence,

there's always gonna be a witness to surface

that kind of shocks you and just take you

in a completely different direction.

What's important as an investigator,

that you have to be impartial.

I got to go where the evidence takes me.

♪ ♪