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Demery: murder isn't welcome In civilized society.

It's exiled to the margins,

To the darkest of corners.

But there are places on earth Where murder thrives,

Where it feels comfortable, Acceptable,

Nowhere more so than a war zone.

And murder isn't always content

To remain on the battlefield.

Sometimes, it follows you home.

Murder and me, we go way back.

When I was a child, Murder took my mother.

Years later, It came for my brother.

That's when I found My mission in life.

Every case I worked, I solved.

Every case I solved, I got a confession.

I'm detective rod demery.

I didn't choose murder.

Murder chose me.

♪♪

The first day When I noticed the car,

I didn't think anything of it.

I thought maybe Somebody's car broke down

And they just left it there and Would be coming back to get it.

But on the following day,

When I went back to the office,

The car was still there.

-good morning, tasha. -hey, good morning.

Listen, there's a white car In the parking lot.

It's been out there A day or so.

And it's, uh, parked A little crazy.

Do you know Whose car that is?

No. I don't have any idea.

But I can call and try To find out for you.

Uh, let me go back out To the parking lot

And see if there's A license plate or something.

And I'll come back And let you know.

Okay. Okay.

So I went back out.

And I looked around The outside of the car.

And I saw a dealership's name On the car.

And when I looked into the car,

That's when I saw

What appeared to be blood.

Oh, my god.

I became very alarmed At that point.

I immediately felt That something terrible

Had taken place in that car.

I never in my life

Expected to ever see A scene like that.

It was extremely disturbing.

Tasha, there's blood.

There's blood all over the seat. Call the police now.

Demery: as a kid, I was afraid of the future.

I didn't know Where my life was headed,

Or what was waiting for me When I got there.

I craved order,

Structure,

A sense of purpose.

But it wasn't long Before I found it.

Man: hey.

Rod.

Rod!

Sir. Yes, sir. Sorry.I was in my office.

And my sergeant calls me And says,

"Hey, um, We, uh, have a situation

That, uh, I'm going To send you out on."

Just got a call, Reported abandoned car

Behind the medical Clinic on gill.

My sergeant didn't have any Sense of urgency in his voice.

So my thought was,

"It's probably Going to be nothing."

Getting dispatched To an abandoned car --

It's a very common, Everyday call.

Yes, sir. I'm on my way.

Very good.

-hey. What's up, guys? -hey, detective.

-what's happenin'? -so, the car's locked.

You should really Take a look inside.

Okay.

Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

When I look in the vehicle, I see a large amount of blood.

There's spatters on the Passengers side of the vehicle.

It's visible on the armrest.

It's visible on The passenger's seat,

The door, and the floor.

In my experience, You don't lose this much blood

And live to talk about it.

We got a cadaver dog On the way?

337 to dispatch, Send a canine to my location.

Bringing in a cadaver dog, What they search is

For the scent left behind From a decomposing body,

Which starts Immediately after death.

Using that cadaver dog is going To get us a stronger indication

Whether the person that was shot Or injured in that car

Had died as a result Of those injuries.

Demery: typically, when a dog Alerts to a scent,

They have different ways Of letting their handler know

That they've found something.

[ dog whines ]

Very early on, The cadaver dog alerted

On the trunk area Of the vehicle.

So we're thinking At that point,

There's possibly a body In the vehicle.

So we needed To open it immediately.

We get a slim-jim And open this door, please?

Pop the trunk.

There's always a part of you

Praying that you'll find Anything other than a corpse.

When we looked inside the trunk, We don't see a body.

But we find a duffel bag.

Inside, we see some trousers

That are very distinct.

They have 13 buttons Across the front of 'em.

And there's a flap.

Those military pants?

Yeah, navy.

I served in the navy From 1990 to 1994.

So I know these Are crackerjack trousers.

Looks like we got Some more blood here.

There's some traces of blood,

Which would indicate that Somebody had been in the trunk.

And whoever was in the trunk Was probably dead,

Being that the dog alerted On the scent of death.

At that point, there's nothing Routine about this.

There are no naval Installations in shreveport.

But the person who was injured

Or murdered in this vehicle

Had to have some affiliation With the united states navy.

Question is, is who, when, And how it happened.

Let's get this plate run, see if We can find out from the dealer

Any more about the person Who bought this car.

You got it.

While my partner Runs the plates,

I focus my attention On the bloody clothes.

When I get a closer look At the blood,

I realize that this blood Is aspirated blood.

Aspirated blood is when Blood pools in the sinus cavity,

Or there's injury To the head or throat.

Also in the blood Is a grayish material --

Brain matter.

So my early estimation is that Somebody was shot in the head

With a very large-caliber gun.

Okay. Thanks.

All right. I got some info On your car owner.

-okay. -20-year-old male,

Nicholas cox.

His parents apparently Filed a missing on him

Just a couple days ago.

Hmm.

When nicholas graduated From high school,

He decided to join the navy.

He was stationed In norfolk, virginia.

And he was on The u.S.S. Enterprise.

When I saw nick in his uniform, It made me proud.

Nick had a 2-week leave For thanksgiving.

And he was going To have to leave out

The saturday after thanksgiving.

Nicholas was supposed to be back In norfolk

The following monday, Two days later.

So when he wasn't back,

And his parents Hadn't heard from him,

They reported him missing. They were concerned.

I'm calling to find out If my son...

Cox: called norfolk.

I said, "Has nicholas cox Got there yet?"

He said, "No, sir, He hadn't arrived."

Actually, he's awol."Thank you.

I knew something Was wrong with nick.

I felt it.

When I learned that Nicholas was in the navy,

I realized his life Took the same path as mine.

He joined the navy. He went to a conflict.

He came back, just as I did.

He was in norfolk. I was in norfolk.

So it felt like I actually knew this boy.

It felt a lot more personal.

Let's get this car towed To the impound, please.

-sure. -thanks, guys.

Now that we've I.D.'d our victim,

The next step is to haul the car Over to forensics

For a closer look.

-hey. -hey, rod.

So, what do you think?

Definitely some Aspirated blood

Along with Some brain matter,

Probably from A gunshot wound.

No chance anybody could have Survived something like that?

No chance at all.

My thought is is that nicholas Cox, for whatever reason,

Was a passenger In his own vehicle

When he was shot In the head with a revolver.

What I still don't know Is what happened to the body.

Detective demery, Come look at this.

I just pulled it From a front bumper.

-what is that? Weeds? -weeds, grass, we're not sure.

But we'll have it tested.

There's also scratches Along the front bumper.

Rudell: it appeared to us That the vehicle was driven

To a remote location That was wooded, heavy brush.

And that may be Where the body was dumped.

♪♪

Demery: In a place like shreveport, Looking for a body in the woods

Is like looking For a needle in a haystack.

In shreveport, You can transition easily

From right in the middle Of a city,

Where there's no wooded areas,

To, minutes away from, An extensive array of woods.

Call me if anything Significant comes up.

I'm going to go make This death notification.

My approach has always Been the same.

I'm going to tell the victim's Family what I believe.

I'm going to tell them Everything that I know.

Mr. Cox?

Hey, it's detective demery.

Mind if I stop by And talk with you?

Yeah.

I'll see you guys shortly.

So here I go again, The messenger of death,

The last person you want Knockin' at your door.

Some investigators Just don't have the balls

To go with their instincts,

And they don't have enough Confidence in their abilities

To say what's really On their mind.

At this point, I believe Nicholas cox was shot to death

And dumped In the woods somewhere.

My job now is to find his body And who killed him.

Demery: we found a vehicle That has been abandoned.

Upon closer inspection, It looks like someone was shot

And killed in that vehicle.

♪♪

The victim is 20-year-old sailor Nicholas cox.

And my next step Is to talk to his parents,

Explain that their son is dead.

♪♪

Detective, come on in.

Mr. Cox, how are you?

Nicholas' parents Feared the worst.

And now they're About to hear it.

There's no easy way To say this.

But we have reason to believe That nicholas has been murdered.

-I'm sorry. -no.

Oh, no.

I told them about nicholas' car,

No....The blood inside.

When was the last time You saw nicholas?

He was here saturday After thanksgiving.

Stanley: nicholas, he didn't Have to be to norfolk, virginia,

Until first thing Monday morning.

I said, "Call me When you get there."

The trip from The shreveport-bossier area

Back to norfolk Is about 17 hours.

So to leave on a saturday,

It's not unreasonable to expect

That he should be back In norfolk by monday.

I told nick to just make sure That he gets there safely.

"Don't hitchhike. Don't pick up anybody.

Stop and get you some rest."

The last thing I heard nick tell Me was, "I love you, too, dad."

And he left.

Did he mention anything About stopping along the way?

I heard secondhand that

He actually had gone To party on that saturday.

You said, "Secondhand." From who?

A lady that I work with.

She said that he was in a fight At a party or something.

Soon as she told me that, This feeling came over me.

I started crying.

I felt that something Was wrong with nick.

And I felt he was In some serious trouble.

Demery: nicholas' dad Gives me the name tameka james,

The alleged host of the party.

Nicholas have any enemies, Anybody that wanted to do him --

No. Nicholas had Tons of friends.

Everything that I learned About nicholas cox

Was that he was responsible.

And the thought That he was just,

"I'm on my way back to norfolk, But I'm going to go

To a party first," Just didn't make sense to me.

Do you know where I can get a hold of her?

Nicholas' dad tells me Where I can find tameka.

Right now, She's my strongest lead,

Maybe my only one.

♪♪

The thing I can't shake

Is how much the victim and I Had in common.

[ distorted conversations ]

[ whistle blowing ]

Nothing brings you face-to-face With death like war.

You feel isolated, Vulnerable, terrified.

But at the same time, You feel more alive there

Than any place else.

And the guys that are with you,

They become your family.

Nicholas cox joined the navy As a teenager,

Just like me.

Did a wartime tour In the persian gulf,

Just like me.

♪♪

[ truck, car horns honking ]

When I'm investigating This murder,

It felt like a point That I was investigating my own.

And I'm hoping That this tameka james

Can give me some indication On what happened.

Okay. So how do you know nicholas?

Right from the drop, I can tell Tameka would rather be anywhere

But here talking to me.

I know him through my -- Through my brother, alan.

Talking to her Was like pulling teeth.

She was very reluctant To say anything else.

He was at your party On saturday?

Nicholas was there on saturday, But I didn't have a party.

Where you -- where you gettin' This information from?

Don't worry about that. Just keep talking.

According to tameka, There was no party.

Nicholas was on his way back To norfolk

And come to say goodbye to alan.

If you want me to talk to you, I need you to do a favor for me.

What?

As I pressed her In the interview,

Um, she became really odd.

She started making These strange requests.

This light right here, can you Turn this freakin' light off?

-what, these lights here? -yeah.

Would you mind?

Just please.

-please? -cut the lights, greg.

I didn't know why she was Behaving the way she did.

But I knew that To close the case,

I got to accommodate her For whatever.

If she wanted the lights off And three candles, okay.

Whatever.

What -- what were you Saying to me?

So you were saying that nicholas Came by to see your brother.

Now, what was That all about?

I don't know. I-I think he was Just coming by to say goodbye

Before he headed back To virginia to get on the ship.

He didn't stay that long, And him and my brother left.

Where'd they go?

I don't know Where they went.

I mean, Maybe they went on a drive.

You know, They like to sit around

And swap old navy stories And stuff.

Wait. Your brother Was in the navy?

Yeah, he was.

But then he got kicked out For smokin' some weed.

Hey, where's Your brother at now?

'cause I want To talk to him.

I don't know Where my brother is.

-you don't know? -no. I don't know where he is.

My thought at that point was,

"She knows exactly Where her brother is."

You don't have a phone number, Cell number, something --

Some way for me To get in contact with him?

I don't have any of that. I mean --

Her brother Was staying with her.

So I'm certain of at this point

That tameka james knows a whole Lot more than she's saying.

He stays with me sometimes. But he's a grown man.

I don't know Where he is all the time.

I'm kind of accustomed To some lying.

I mean, that's what they do, You know?

They're afraid. They want to protect somebody.

But I don't have time To bull[bleep] With tameka.

I need to find out What happened to nicholas.

Tameka, you are hiding Something from me.

I'm not hiding nothin'.

I just don't know Where alan is, okay?

Tameka, you picked the wrong Detective to play games with.

Nicholas cox isn't Just any dead guy.

He's a fellow navy man. He's my brother.

Tameka's going to tell me What I want to know.

She might not know that yet.

But in this case, There's absolutely no way

I'm not going to get What I need from anybody.

At this point,

There are a couple things That I'm certain of.

I believe nicholas cox Was shot to death.

And tameka james is Telling me part of the story

But not the whole truth.

But if tameka thinks She can just stonewall me,

And this will all Magically go away,

She's got another thing coming.

Tell you what, tameka. Don't you wander off.

I'll be back In contact with you.

We've got nothing To hold tameka on.

So we let her walk, At least long enough

For us to get a warrant To search her house.

Rudell: based on the information That tameka gave us,

Her brother was Staying at her house.

We felt that there may be Some evidence left behind

By her brother, alan. And we wanted to get inside

To look and see If there was anything there.

♪♪

What do you want?

Told you I'd be seeing you again.

Got a warrant To search your place.

I'm looking for firearms, Shell cases, bloody clothes,

Or anything that may have Belonged to nicholas.

Step aside, please.

All right, guys. Let's go.

Make sure we look thoroughly.

Tear this place apart If we have to.

Can you -- Can you not, please?

Oh, my gosh.

What -- What are you doin'?

I'm looking around Tameka's home.

I don't see a whole lot That's significant.

Either I'm barkin' up The wrong tree,

Or alan james is doing A bang-up job

Covering his tracks.

And that's when it hits me.

Hey. Let me see That phone.

Let me see the phone.

I go through her caller I.D.

And there's a recurring Phone number that comes up.

It's with the san diego Area code exchange.

The reason that stuck out to us

Is because there's two Major naval stations --

Norfolk, virginia, San diego, california.

And alan and nick were both In the navy at one point.

So tell me. Who you know in san diego?

-I have a friend out there. -your friend got a name?

♪♪

Oh, I know tameka Is lying to me.

I know absolutely She's lying to me.

-let's go. -what?

I grab tameka up And bring her down

To the station To interview her once again.

So, tameka, now that we --

Wait. Okay, wait.

Before we even start, Would you mind?

What? The lights?

Yeah.

Here we go again...

Would you cut The lights off, please?

...Take two Of the tameka james sideshow.

♪♪

So now, you said All those missed calls

Was from a friend of yours In san diego?

Oh, yeah. That was --

That was Alan's girlfriend.

We talk all the time.

How long Have you known her?

A year, maybe two?

Tameka's saying That the brother's girlfriend

Has called her a couple times.

But I'm not really buying it. So I press her.

What's her name?

And what does She look like?

I mean, Is she short or tall?

-is she light or dark? -wh--

-is she fat or skinny? -okay. Okay.

-is she white or black? -okay.

It -- it wasn't Alan's girlfriend, okay?

Who was it?

It was my brother, alan.

♪♪

[ sighs ]

He went to san diego To go visit his girlfriend.

He took the bus Just for a few days.

The fact that he left

Right after nicholas' vehicle Was discovered

Is pretty significant.

It's clear That tameka is definitely

Trying to protect her brother.

At that point, I let her know

That she has no way Out of her story.

Tameka, there's something You're not telling me.

Okay? Something happened To nicholas.

And you're holding It back.

Now, what happened after Alan got back to your house?

When alan came home,

He was alone.

He was in nicholas' car, But nick wasn't with him.

Did he say What happened to nicholas?

Yeah. He said something About nick getting hurt.

And then I asked him to tell me Exactly what happened.

And he wouldn't. That's all he said.

Tameka claims she doesn't have Any clue of what happened.

But I think she knows That her brother's involved.

Jeremy. Jeremy probably knows.

Who the hell is jeremy?

Jeremy gray. He was there on saturday.

And he's friends With nick and alan.

Okay. You know where I can find this jeremy?

Yeah.

Jeremy is the next Logical step.

I was interested To find out what he knew,

Or if he knew anything.

So I had another detective Bring him back to the office.

Have a seat, mr. Gray.

♪♪

Yo, what's up? How long this gonna take?

From the moment Jeremy walked in my office,

I didn't really Like him too much.

He had a -- an air of bravado.

Were you at tameka james' house The saturday after thanksgiving?

I'm not sure, homey. I might have been.

Did you see Nicholas cox there?

Jeremy acted tough. He talked tough.

Man, you know what? This is bull[bleep]

I'm out of here, man.

Hey, yo.

Sit your ass down!

When somebody's lying to you, They completely shut down,

Or they don't shut up, Or they become belligerent.

Jeremy's belligerent.

Let's try this again.

Did you see nicholas cox Or alan james

The saturday After thanksgiving?

Yes, sir. Nicholas stopped by,

Said that he was on the way back To a ship in virginia.

And he didn't stay long.

He explained that he saw Alan james in nicholas' car.

But he never went any further.

Alan called me. He asked me To take him to a bus station.

He say where They was going?

No, sir.

See, you was doing okay For a minute.

But now I know you're Holding something back.

No, sir. I promise.

Do me a favor. Take and book His ass on obstruction.

Yes, sir.

Come on, mr. Gray. Let's go.

Man: okay, I need you To put everything

In your pockets Inside this basket.

Demery: But as the sheriff's boys Are booking my buddy jeremy,

The situation Takes a crazy turn.

Go ahead and turn Around face the wall.

Put your hands out, Spread eagle.

Put your chest against the wall. Take two steps back.

Okay. Do you have anything On you -- knives, needles,

Razor blades, anything That's going to cut or stick?

-no. -okay. Just relax.

♪♪

-what the hell's this? -I don't know.

We have a gun In the booking room.

We need some Extra officers.

The whole time He was in my office,

He could have drawn that weapon At any point and shot me.

Yeah. I could have been shot.

But that's not What I'm concerned about.

Now I've got another question

I'm hoping jeremy Can help me answer.

Is jeremy the murderer?

Is this the murder weapon?

I don't know. But I'm gonna find out.

I'm investigating The murder of nicholas cox.

♪♪

I learned that he was With two of his friends

Prior to his disappearance,

Jeremy gray and alan james.

Alan james is In san diego, california.

We have just booked jeremy gray

On obstruction Of justice charges.

After jeremy Is booked in to jail,

We find out That jeremy has a pistol

In his jacket pocket.

Guys, what the hell happened?

He is supposed to get frisked Before he comes in here.

Someone did not check him.

If jeremy is bold enough

To bring a loaded gun In my office,

Maybe he's got the brass To kill nicholas cox, as well.

This gun he's packing Could be the murder weapon.

Let's see this gun.

This is a .22.

When I find out It's a .22-caliber pistol,

I'm skeptical.

Given the evidence that was left By blood and brain matter,

I'm not sure If a weapon that small

Would produce That type of injury.

Can we get this checked For ballistics, please?

Man: you got it.

Though I doubt this .22 Is the murder weapon,

I know I can use it To press jeremy gray

For more intel about the crime.

-let's go see your buddy. -he's back where you want him.

Roll door five.

♪♪

Okay.

So, I understand We found you with a gun.

Unless you want to take the full Weight for nicholas' murder,

I suggest You start cooperating.

Do you understand?

Yes, sir.

You told me alan Called you on the phone,

And told you to take him To the bus station.

But I get the impression you Are not telling me everything.

Yeah, okay.

Alan didn't call, man.

He came by my apartment.

♪♪

Jeremy: I'm not sure what was going on.

Yo. What's up, man?

Bro, you got To help me, man.

But it seems like He had blood on him.

-nick's been shot. -what? Shot?

Look, I got to Get out of here, man.

I need you to take me To the bus station.

♪♪

Jeremy didn't know The whole story.

And I could tell that he didn't.

What did he say About nicholas?

He said he was lying Through the weeds somewhere.

He didn't say where.

I was believing What jeremy had to say.

So my thought at this point

Is contact tameka james,

Have her talk to alan james,

Find out where the body Is located,

And go from there.

Driving over To the d.A.'s office,

I get a sinking feeling In the pit of my stomach.

If tameka can't get alan To tell me where the body is,

Our whole case is shot.

Very few cases Has a homicide case

Ever been prosecuted Without a body.

So if you don't have a body, You don't have a homicide.

Demery: so we went to The district attorney's office.

They had the recording Equipment for the telephone.

And as I presented questions

On a legal pad,

She spoke with her brother, Alan james.

Tameka: come on, alan.

I need to know what happened To you and nicholas that night.

Alan: Tameka, it was bad.

Okay. Me and nick were sitting In his car at the bus station.

And these guys -- These guys started firing at us.

James explained that there was Some sort of a shoot-out.

Well, what happened To nicholas?

Where's his body, alan?

Look, it's out In greenwood somewhere,

Out back near the woods Near a truck station.

Alan's been a little Too vague for my tastes.

And I think This whole shoot-out story

Is nothing but hot air.

But I need to find that body.

So I push tameka To dig for more detail.

Alan, I need you to tell me

Exactly where his body is.

She told him that the family Needed to know where nick was,

That they didn't deserve that.

So he gave a very Detailed description

For us to go and look.

Okay. If you're driving Down shirley francis,

You'll see a small opening Between these two bushes.

And he made a statement that,

"If you drive your car Through there,

The sides are going To get scratched up,"

Which was consistent

With the scratches On nicholas' vehicle.

And that's where he is.

I promise.

All right. I g-- I got to go.

♪♪

Good job.

Let's get a cadaver dog And head out that way.

Yes, sir.

♪♪

When we go to the location,

It's exactly As alan james described.

Hey, guys. How are you?

Good, good.

Let's go.

Rudell: we start to walk Back down the road.

About 500 or 600 feet Back in it...

We start to notice items

Of what appear To be navy-issue clothing.

Hey, rod. I think we got something.

There's a navy seabag...

-yeah, definitely. -what's that, a uniform shirt?

That's exactly What it looks like.

...A white hat, A navy jumper top.

♪♪

The cadaver dog starts To search through the area.

He goes down To where the clothes are.

There's a big pile Of brush there.

Hey, she's got Something.

And he starts to alert On top of that pile of brush.

Hey. I think that's a hand.

All right. Let's Get this area cordoned off.

And let's get csi Out here asap.

After we rope off the area,

Crime scenes begins to go Through the shallow grave.

As more is uncovered,

There's no question That this is nicholas cox.

It's his clothing,

His body size, his type.

But it's what we find In the dead man's wallet

That seals the deal.

Thanks.

Seaman nicholas cox, age 20,

Stationed in norfolk, virginia,

Just like I had been.

This could have been me.

We were the same people.

How did somebody go to war, Come home,

And get shot In a shreveport neighborhood?

I couldn't understand

Why somebody Would have done that to him.

[ flies buzzing ]

Thankfully, with the discovery Of nick's body,

I've got enough probable cause

To haul alan james' sorry butt Back home from san diego

And question him face-to-face.

Man: be sure to tell The, uh, plain clothes

That, uh, do not Enter that building

Until that warrant Has been issued.

There's no change on that.

So, all right. Get back to me.

Okay, gentlemen. What's up?

-uh, we need to go to san diego. -san diego?

Demery: I went to my sergeant And told him

That I wanted to go to san diego And find alan james.

Chief would have my head

If we spent that much money Sending you out there.

Get the police there To find him.

And then we'll have him Extradited back here to us.

Sir, with all due respect, I don't feel comfortable

With someone else Handling my case.

We -- we can't do that. No circumstances we will.

Nicholas is my shipmate. He's a comrade.

And my responsibility Is to bring this killer.

I knew that I had to go Outside my chain of command.

And I had to go All the way to the top.

And I was prepared to do it.

What else Can I do for you?

Nothing.

Just so happened The following day,

I went to go have lunch.

-hey. -hey. How's it going, rod?

Good, man. How are you?

I bumped into The parish district attorney.

The parish district attorney Knows me

'cause we had a couple cases That we worked together.

Congratulations on, uh, Finding the navy boy's body.

I appreciate that, man. Thank you.

If there's ever anything That I can do for you,

Just, uh, let me know.

Cool. You know, actually, Funny you should mention that.

And that was My opportunity to say

That I needed To go to san diego.

And I explained to him That my police department

Didn't believe that we had The funds to do so.

And, uh, I didn't really care

For someone else Closing out my case.

Sir, you wanted To see us?

You both are going To san diego.

San diego?

I don't know Who you talked to.

But you got What you wanted.

Of course, I denied any involvement.

Mack: you can't go against

What your superior officer Is telling you.

And demery wasn't The kind of person who would,

Unless he had to.

Just get your ass Out to san diego

Before I change my mind.

Yes, sir.

-and, demery? -sir?

You better get This son of a bitch.

San diego's a big city, But we're gonna find him.

There's no option of not Succeeding in that mission.

Uh, it's gonna happen.

One way or the other, It's gonna happen.

Demery: I found the body of nicholas cox

Under a pile of dirt

In some woods On the outskirts of town.

♪♪

Nicholas was a navy man, Born in shreveport,

Stationed in norfolk,

Served in the gulf.

It was like staring at the 20-year-old version of myself.

♪♪

Man: sir. Sir.

Your boarding pass.

Sorry.

Now I'm on the hunt For alan james.

And when I find him,

I'm going to arrest him

And bring him back To shreveport,

Make him pay For what he did to my shipmate.

I contacted San diego police homicide.

And they had a way Of triangulating cell calls

That alan made to a couple Different apartment complexes.

Rudell: we figure we'll go out And recon the area,

Look around at what we see.

Demery: As we sat in the car,

We talked a little bit About what was gonna happen.

Half-jokingly, I told rod,

"It'd be funny if he walked out Here right about now."

A few minutes later, A black male walked out

Of the apartment complex And crossed the street.

Get out of here.

We realized that that was Alan james coming at us.

Alan james?

Shreveport p.D.

You're under arrest For the murder of nicholas cox.

Rudell: He was in total shock, disbelief

That there were two detectives From shreveport there.

He dropped his head.

And we took him to the san diego Police department.

I had envisioned, in my mind,

Some mean, tough, Street-gangster kind of kid.

But he was very respectful, Very quiet, really submissive.

That's the thing.

Part of me still wonders, Is this my guy?

At this point, there's only One way to find out.

And at that point, He dropped his head.

And he cried, and he told me It was an accident

And explained that he shot him.

Alan explained to me That he and nicholas

Were out riding somewhere.

And alan's driving his car. And he's playing with a gun.

As alan explained to me

That he shot nicholas,

The thought of an accident

Was quite possible,

Until he told me What he did after.

The thought of an accident

Was not as plausible At that point.

Just didn't sit well.

There's also the fact that Nicholas is a straight arrow,

A good sailor,

Not the type to go Shooting up stop signs.

I'm thinking there's more To this story

Than alan is letting on.

From what I gather,

I believe that nicholas Had been home for his leave.

He spent some time With his family.

And he was on his way out. I think he wanted to say goodbye

To a couple of his friends Before he left.

How's the life On that ship, man?

-I miss it, man. -I don't miss it, not one bit.

[ both laugh ]

But let's go grab a bite to eat Before you hit the road.

Nah, man. I got to get back to the ship.

Man, that ship ain't Going nowhere.

Man, come on. Check out that new car,

See those new wheels.

♪♪

Alan at some point Conveniences him,

"Hey, you know, We won't be long."

So he decides He's gonna go with alan.

And for whatever reason, Alan's driving his car,

And he's riding passenger.

So what's going on With you, man?

What the hell Are you talking about?

I mean, come on. You -- You got kicked out of the navy,

Ain't it time for you To grow up a little bit?

Man, I don't have to sit here And listen to your bull[bleep]

Nah, man. I ain't -- I ain't sayin'

You some loser Or somethin'.

I'm just sayin' You can do better.

The [bleep] You say to me?

I figure nick says something To piss him off,

To make him snap.

Like, "Man, you need To get your stuff together."

[ chuckling ] Whoa, whoa, man. What -- what the hell?

Yeah, who's the loser now [bleep]

Alan, alan. Hey, hey, hey.

-brother. -man, [bleep] That.

We ain't brothers no more.

[ gunshot ]

♪♪

Demery: I think the motive of the crime,

Um, was his inability

To achieve the things That nicholas did.

But to this day, It's still a mystery.

The only thing That I was certain of

Is that he was the one Who shot him.

Alan decided That he was gonna stick him

In the trunk of the car.

He was not gonna call 911 And get him any help.

He was gonna go dump his body.

My job wasn't to judge him At that point.

It was to simply arrest him.

You know what? I need you to stand up.

My mission was completed.

You're under arrest For the murder of nicholas cox.

I cuff alan james And call the sergeant,

Let him know we're gonna need One more plane ticket

For the trip home.

♪♪

We brought alan james Back to shreveport.

He goes to trial. And he's convicted --

Second-degree murder.

And he receives A mandatory life sentence.

Jeremy gray was released

On obstruction Of justice charges.

Ballistics confirmed That gray's .22

Was not the handgun We were looking for.

We suspect that after Killing nicholas cox,

Alan buried his body On the outskirts of town

And threw the gun In the red river,

Which runs through Shreveport and beyond.

Stanley: I think about Nicholas every day.

I carry him in my heart Every day.

He loved life.

He lived life to the fullest.

I often wonder What he would be like today.

You know, would he be married? Would he have a kid?

He didn't get none of that

Because one man

Did not think

About the consequences Of his actions.

I would have to say That this is a case

That defined my career early on

And on a personal level.

♪♪

Probably 4 Or 5 years afterwards,

My son was born. And it was automatic, you know?

I named him nicholas Before he was born.

It meant that much to me.

♪♪

Nicholas cox was A united states sailor.

I took the same oath That nicholas took.

That kinship, that brotherhood, That sense of camaraderie,

It never leaves.

It made me want To honor my commitment

As an investigator More than ever.

And it's exactly What I was supposed to do.