All language subtitles for Murder.Chose.Me.S03E08.Too.Close.to.Home.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[ police radio chatter,
Tires screech ]

Narrator:
Two murder investigations

From the case files
Of detective rod demery.

-oh, my god!
-okay, step back.

[ flies buzzing ]

A gruesome discovery
Propels demery

Into one of the most
Bizarre cases of his career.

Demery: it's the kind of thing
That you associate

With a mafia or cartel-type hit,

Not with a happily married
Father from the suburbs.

Narrator: then, a showdown
With police ends in bloodshed.

Demery:
In moments like this,

The police officer's instinct
And training takes over.

Everything is muscle memory.

Everything is reactionary.

Narrator:
And when the smoke clears,

Demery faces
A painful realization.

Demery: there's probably nothing
Worse than showing up

At a crime scene
And a person who's been shot

Is somebody that you know
And love.

My gut told me
That he was trouble,

But I didn't know I was looking
Into the eyes of a killer.

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.

--captions by vitac--
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

It is a wednesday morning,
A little after 8:00 a.M.,

And george mcwaters

Is opening his roofing business
For the day.

Hey, boys,

We got to take everything
In this one truck today.

There's issues
With parking at the location.

-yes, sir.
-sure thing.

On this particular morning,
We were loading trucks

Out front
Of the office building.

Woman: help!

And heard a loud screaming.

[ crying ]
Please help me.

What the hell?

Help me.

And we looked up and saw
A girl running down the road.

Help me.

What's wrong?

[ engine revving ]

What?[ tires screech ]

Please.What's the problem?

Back up.

Seeing that gun come out
Was shocking, and we froze.

We stopped in our tracks.

-get back!
-please, please.

Back up, back up, back up.Take it easy, man.

Take it easy.

Do not move.
Sidney, get in the car.

It looked as if
They were coming

From a wedding or a funeral.

We don't see that very much --

People dressed up like that
Running down the street

At 8:00 in the morning.

Stay back.Please.

Get back right now.
Get in the car.

Mcwaters:
It looked like the woman
Was in fear of her life...

No, no, no.Get in the car.

Get in the car right now.No, no. Ow!

No, please.

...And grabbed her by the hair

And was dragging her back
To his car.

No!Get in the car!

Now! Get in the car.

Do not move.

Mcwaters: we could not do
Anything towards protecting her

Or stopping anything
From happening.

We felt helpless.

Sorry, please.

Shut up![ engine revs ]

Please.[ tires screech ]

I'll call 911.

I've seen a lot of things
Happen, but this was more crazy

Than some other things
I've witnessed.

I'll always remember
What I saw that day.

♪♪

Demery:
On this particular morning,

I was on my way into the office
To begin day shift...

And the radio goes off.

It's a shots fired call.

Dispatch, this is demery.
I'm en route now.

[ car engine starts ]3049 is a highway marker.

And it's a little odd
To be given a highway marker

Instead of an address,
So at this point,

I'm not sure what's going on.

But I turned on the lights that
Are inside my unmarked car

And speed to the scene.

[ engine revs ]

[ siren wailing ]

[ police radio chatter ]

♪♪

When I pull up to the scene,
I see two police cruisers

Parked behind a black sedan.

Between the police cruisers
And the black sedan

Is a body laying in the street.

As I get closer,

I see that the patrol officers
Look really shaky.

The detective with them
Is craig ivey,

Who I know very well.

Everybody okay?

Yeah. Let me fill you in.All right.

Demery:
Ivey pulls me to the side.

He told me
That there was a car chase

And at the end of the car chase
There was a gun battle

And the officers
Had to shoot the suspect.

Shooting and killing someone
Is not an easy thing to do.

Afterwards,
You're second-guessing yourself,

Whether or not
You should have done it,

Whether or not
There was another way to do it.

It's a pretty trying incident.

We should probably
Give 'em a minute.

Okay, well,
I'm gonna go take a look.

Okay.

♪♪

The suspect is lying
About 20, 25 yards

In front of
The police officer's car.

♪♪

There's not a lot of blood,

But there's an obvious gunshot
Wound to the suspect's head.

As I look at the suspect
Laying on the ground,

I feel like I know him.

I'm not sure how,
But I got an eerie feeling

That I know this guy.

♪♪

Ah, damn.

As I walk up to the vehicle,

I notice there's another body
Inside the vehicle.

♪♪

It's a black female, deceased,

In the passenger seat
Of the vehicle.

♪♪

She's received
An obvious gunshot wound

To her clavicle
And gunshot wounds to the head,

As there was a raccooning
Beneath her eyes.

Raccooning is when
There is a lot of pressure

That enters the head.

All that pressure creates blood
In sort of a vacuum,

And it's evident by dark rings
Or circles beneath the eyes.

♪♪

Looking at the victim,
I'm wondering who the victim is,

How is she connected
To the suspect,

And who shot her.

So, how you guys doing?

Definitely not the way
We want to spend our day,

But we're okay.

Yeah. Why don't you take me
Through what happened?

Sure. Uh, we got a call
From dispatch about a man

Possibly holding a female
At gunpoint.

Mm-hmm.We saw that sedan, gave chase.

Demery:
The officers explained

That they pursued him
For a couple of miles.

While they were pursuing
The suspect, they hear gunshots

And actually see the muzzle
Flash of a gun being fired

Inside the vehicle.

At which point he pulled over
And got out of the car,

Started firing at us.

We shot back at him,
Struck him, and killed him.

In moments like this,

The police officer's instinct
And training takes over.

They don't have time to think.

Everything is muscle memory.
Everything is reactionary,

And when they see bullets
Are being fired at them,

Their natural reaction
Is to fire.

And after we determined the
Subject was no longer a threat,

We approached the vehicle

And located the deceased female
Inside the vehicle.

Have we identified
The suspect or the victim?

Not yet, sir.

I'll take care of that.Thanks, man.

[ siren wailing ]

Look, guys, sounds like you
Didn't have much choice, right?

♪♪

As I speak to them,

A caddo parish
Sheriff's deputy's vehicle

Arrived on the scene.

Excuse me.

When the detective
Gets out of the vehicle,

I realize it's donnie laney.

Donnie laney is a caddo parish
Sheriff's deputy

Who's a homicide investigator.

He's also my neighbor.

What's happening, man?

Hey, buddy.What you doing out here?

What do you mean,
What am I doing out here?

What are you doing out here?

Me and demery
Have been friends for 10 years

And neighbors for 10 years.

We pass each other
In the profession.

We shared information on cases
That could help each other out.

This is my jurisdiction,
Neighbor.

Yeah.
I suppose you're right.

Demery: the city of shreveport
Is patrolled by city police.

As you start to go outside
The city and the city limits,

That's patrolled
By the sheriff's department.

I realized that we have traveled
Into his jurisdiction.

Laney: 'cause it was outside
The city limits,

We take over
The lead investigation.

I was told I would be the lead
Investigator on this homicide.

Well, listen, you want me
To bring you up to speed

Before I get out of here?That'd be great.

Demery:
As I'm briefing laney,

Detective ivey
Starts to walk towards us.

And as he approaches,

He has the I.D. Cards
Of the victim and the suspect.

Hey, man, what'd you find?

Yeah, so, uh, the suspect
Is donnie ray plater,

42 years old.

Okay.
And the female victim?

♪♪

What is it, man?

Ivey's very reluctant

When I ask
For her identification card.

♪♪

Sidney jackson?

When ivey gave me the I.D. Card,
It just went out of me.

I realized that I know
Who the victim is

And I know her very well.

But for some reason,
When I looked at her body,

I just didn't recognize her.

Sidney jackson
Was a very special person to me.

We had a brief relationship
In the past,

And we remained
Very close friends.

I couldn't begin to process
That she had been murdered.

There's probably nothing worse
Than showing up at a crime scene

And the person who's been shot,
Killed,

Or mutilated in some form

Is somebody
That you know and love.

It's really every homicide
Detective's worst nightmare.

♪♪

[ police radio chatter ]

♪♪

Demery: I'm investigating
A bizarre shooting

That resulted in the death of
Both the victim and the suspect.

♪♪

After killing the woman
He was holding hostage,

42-year-old donnie plater
Was gunned down

In a gun battle with the police.

While inspecting
The crime scene,

I realized I have a history
With the victim,

Sidney jackson.

Did you know her, rod?

♪♪

Yeah.

We used to date.
She and I were tight.

I met sidney jackson
Several years before.

I was working
As a burglary detective,

And I got a call to a burglary
In the city sunset acreage area.

We had a rash of burglaries
In that area.

And we went to the home
Of ms. Jackson,

And she had been burglarized.

They went through the dresser
In my bedroom.

They took my laptop,
My -- my jewelry.

They even took
My grandmother's ring.

I understand.
Well, look.

We're gonna do everything we can
To try and get your stuff back.

Look, I know how this goes.

Sidney was real concerned
About the burglary,

And it was clear
That she was shaken.

I know that my stuff
Is outside,

Being sold
For drugs or something.

Well, look,
We don't know that yet, okay?

And my plan is to check
All the local pawnshops

And try and stop this guy
Before he gets that far, okay?

Okay, yeah.

Look, I'm sorry.
I shouldn't have snapped at you.

Look, if I was you,
I might do the same thing.

All right?

I promise you, I'm gonna
Take care of this for you, okay?

Yeah. Thank you.

Yeah.

Have a good one.

You too.

When I met her, there was
An immediate connection.

We just hit it off.

She was
An incredibly beautiful woman.

She was obviously burglarized
And frustrated,

But she was polite and gracious
In spite of all that.

Wow!
What was that?

What?

That look.
You know what I'm talking about.

Was it that obvious?

Man, look,
You better find her stuff.

That's all I'm saying.

Yeah, I plan to, man.Bet you do.

Definitely planning to.

There had been a rash of
Burglaries in that neighborhood,

And I had a pretty good idea who
Had committed the burglaries,

And I was already on the trail
So I could solve the case

And return the things
To ms. Jackson.

Hi.
Hey.

What?

How did you even do this?

Hey, I'm police, man.

I don't know
How to thank you.

Yeah, no worries.

Come in.
Thank you.

After that, I didn't know
If I was gonna see her again,

But I hoped at some point
That I would.

♪♪

You guys have a good night,
Get home safely.

I.D., please.

Oh, my god.

Hey. What's up?[ chuckles ] Hello, rod.

How are you?

I'm good.
How are you doing?

Good.
It's so good to see you.

It had been a couple years
Since I'd seen sidney,

And I was working off-duty
At a festival downtown.

Good. Just working.

Sidney had this big,
Huge smile.

All the things
That were really bad

With work and violence
Just kind of went away.

Well, it's good to see you.

Thank you.

Hey, uh...

Think you might want to grab
A bite to eat?

♪♪

Yeah, yeah.
Yeah?

Yeah, that sounds good.

Cool. Why don't you see me
On the way out?

Okay. Don't forget.All right?

And I won't forget, I promise.Okay. [ chuckles ]

♪♪

Rod, I'm really sorry man.

Yeah. Me too, man.

You know,
She had a couple of kids,

Worked hard at the hospital.

When I found out it was sidney,
I was just shocked.

None of it made sense
At that particular moment.

I had actually been in
The vehicle.

I was two inches away
From her face,

And I didn't recognize her.

You're not expecting to see
Somebody that you love

As that victim in that car,

But, also, the disfigurement
Is generally substantial

When there's a gunshot wound
To the head.

This is your jurisdiction,
Right?

Yeah, but if you want to --

Please,
Just take care of this.

I-I can't --
I can't deal with this.

Demery: when I found out
It was sidney in that car dead,

I just didn't want to be there.

[ siren wails,
Police radio chatter ]

I knew that I wouldn't
Be able to function

As a police officer,
Detective, or person.

I don't remember
Even saying goodbye.

I left the scene and went home
For the rest of the day.

♪♪

When I got home,

I was trying to remember
The last time I talked to her,

And I had odd memories of her.

I think the biggest
Was the cake that I baked.

I made it as a surprise,

And it was something
That I never did.

I just never did
That kind of thing.

Wait.
So you made this yourself?

Yeah.
I really did.

[ gasps ]
It's beautiful.

Uh, I don't know
About that.

I think something went wrong
With the recipe.

Listen, it's thoughtful,
And I love it.

Do you?
Yeah.

♪♪

Let's cut it.

Demery:
It was lopsided.

It was probably
The ugliest thing

You ever seen in your life.

But she looked at it
And ate it

Like it was just some elaborate,
Beautiful creation.

[ tv plays indistinctly ]

When sidney and I
Would hang out,

It would be such a great time.

[ cellphone vibrating ]

But it was always interrupted.

[ sighs ]

[ cellphone vibrating ]

This is demery.

It would be abruptly interrupted
By somebody got shot,

Somebody got robbed.

All right, I'm on my way.

[ cellphone beeps ]

Hey, I'm gonna try and be back
As quick as I can, okay?

Seriously.My job always had me out,

And I certainly wasn't gonna
Put her in a position

Where she had to play
Second fiddle to police work,

So we remained friends.

I hadn't seen her
In probably a year.

I talked to her quite often,
But I hadn't seen her.

That night,
I had a range of emotions.

♪♪

At one point,
I got really angry,

And I couldn't understand

How somebody could do that
To sidney.

It's not my case to work,
But I know I won't rest

Until I find out
Why plater murdered sidney.

So instead of just stewing
About what happened to sidney,

I decided
To look into what happened.

At the crime scene,

I learned the killer's name
Was donnie plater,

But that's pretty much
All I knew about him.

I want to make sense of it,

So I go back
To the police station,

And I start
To look into plater's background

And see who he is.

♪♪

I found out that sidney and
Plater were actually married.

As I researched plater further,
I find out that he's an abuser.

This is not the first woman
He's beat or hurt.

That bothered me a great deal.

Wait a second.

When I pull up plater's photo,
I recognize him.

I realized
That I met him before.

♪♪

It was a few years earlier.

I was working off-duty
At a restaurant,

And sidney and donnie walked in.

Hi, rod.Sidney girl, how you doing?

I'm good.
How are you?

I'm good.

Always working.

Yeah. You got me.

What's going on, brother?

Let's go.
Our table's ready.

Uh, I'll look forward
To seeing you again?

Yeah, for sure.

When I saw plater,
I just didn't like him.

I didn't like
Anything about him.

I usually get that
About evil people.

I can feel it.

It's just a police thing,
I guess.

♪♪

[ sighs ]

♪♪

My gut told me
That he was trouble.

♪♪

But I didn't know I was looking
Into the eyes of a killer.

♪♪

Demery:
The murder of a good friend

Has me struggling
To control my emotions.

♪♪

After discovering the suspect
Was sidney's husband,

I realized that I had met
Donnie plater before.

Now I'm left with more questions
Than answers.

♪♪

Listen,
I've got some questions

That I just can't seem
To find the answers to.

Can I come over
And talk to you?

I wondered
What would make plater

Want to kill such an innocent
And sweet person.

Yeah, thanks.
I'll see you in a bit.

♪♪

The next day, I went to visit
With sidney's mother and sister.

Guys, I'm really sorry.

I know this has got
To be eating you up inside.

So what was going on
With their relationship?

I mean,
Were they having trouble?

[ sighs ] It's been going bad
For a while, rod.

According to sidney's family,

She and plater
Have been separated

For the past six months.

They said that plater didn't
Actually lay hands on her,

But he was very mentally abusive
And would berate her.

She couldn't take it anymore.

One day,
She just packed up her stuff

And got the hell out of there.

But donnie --
He wasn't down with her.

We learned from the family

That he had been calling,
Harassing her,

Been trying to get
The relationship back together,

And she refused.

Donnie didn't want
To let go of the relationship.

He would follow her around,

Show up at her church bible
Study unannounced, unwanted.

[ bell tolling ]

Man: "The same
Was in the beginning with god.

All things
Were made by him

And without him
Was not anything that made --"

♪♪

Donnie,
What are you doing here?

I told you
I don't want to talk to you.

Look, sidney,
I've been thinking, all right?

And I can change,

And I think
We can be a family again.

No, donnie, I'm done.

Sidney.

Sidney, wait.

Sidney, come back here!

I told you,
Leave me alone, okay?

Leave me alone.

Holmes:
She was moving on with her life.

She was in the process
Of getting a divorce.

She had already
Moved out of the house,

So she started
Seeing somebody else.

And when she started seeing

That old boyfriend
From high school

[sighs] Things just went
From bad to worse.

Laney: we learned
During the investigation

That donnie found out
About her new boyfriend,

And I believe that set him off.

Thank you so much, guys.

Thank you.

Demery:
Later that week, I received word

The sheriff's investigation
Has been completed.

♪♪

What's happening, man?

What's going on rod?

I want to find out
Exactly what happened,

So I go find detective laney.

I want to get all the answers.

Well, after talking
With all the witnesses

And viewing
All the surveillance cameras,

We have a pretty good idea
Of what happened.

♪♪

Laney said that sidney spent
The night with her boyfriend

At a bossier city casino hotel.

That explains
Why she was dressed up.

♪♪

Sidney left the casino
At 6:00 a.M. That morning

To take her girls to school,

And she called her boyfriend
To let him know

That she would be back soon.

♪♪

Investigators learned
That donnie plater

Had actually followed sidney
To the casino

And that he had dressed up

In this three-piece suit
To blend in,

Which shows donnie's level
Of premeditation.

♪♪

Security-cam footage
At the casino

Revealed that plater showed up
And forced her into the vehicle.

♪♪

[ tires screech ]

♪♪

Donnie, let me out
Of this car right now.

Let me out
Of the car right now.

No, sidney,
You're staying right here.

This isn't the way
To go about it.

Why do you even have a gun?

As plater and sidney
Drove through downtown,

She attempted to escape
At stoplights

Or any time she thought
There was an opportunity

To get out of the car.

♪♪

[ sighs ]

Sidney...

Hey where are you going?!

♪♪

[ crying ] Help! Please.

Please help.

I learned
On grimmett and airport road,

She jumped out and was banging
On the van for help.

Help me!

Please, please, help me!

Miss, miss, hold up.

Please, please help me.My god, what's wrong?

Call 911, please.No.

Hey, man,
You mind your business.

You mind your business.Please, no!

Let's go!

Sidney,
Get in the car...Now!

Stop! You're hurting me!

Get in the car now!Stop it!

Plater got out,
Grabbed her by the hair,

And pulled her back to the car.

We found out she jumped out

Five to six more times
Asking for help, and each time,

He would put her back in the car
And then drive off.

She was a fighter, rod.

Yeah.

She did everything she could
To escape,

But plater kept dragging her
Right back into the car.

Demery: when I hear all these
Details, I'm filled with rage.

I just wish there was something
Or some way

I would have known
What was going on.

After all the 911 calls
Came out, we gave chase.

[ siren wailing ]

Watching the dashcam video
From the pursuing officers

Show exactly
How things went down.

[ police radio chatter ]

[ tires screeching ]

♪♪

Plater's driving,

And he won't stop
For the police.

The car is drifting
In between lanes,

And I think
As the car was traveling,

Sidney was trying to escape.

Plater was trying
To maintain control

Of the vehicle and sidney.

The spd officers
Heard several shots...

[ sirens wailing, gunshots ]

After that, they didn't see
Sidney move again.

Right after she was shot,
He started speeding up again.

They went out the george road.

He pulls over, and he gets out.

[ sirens wailing ]

♪♪

[ gun cocks ]

When plater
Pulled the vehicle over,

He had nothing else to lose.

♪♪

He pulled his firearm

And started firing
At the police officers.

♪♪

The officers took cover
Behind the vehicles

And began firing at plater.

♪♪

They returned fire,

But neither one of them
Hit each other.

He walked
To the rear of the car,

Then took off in a jog
Towards them, shooting.

♪♪

Aah!

They ended up striking plater
Two times,

And once he went down,
They went to the car

To see if sidney
Needed any medical attention.

♪♪

[ sirens wailing,
Police radio chatter ]

As they walk to the vehicle
To rescue sidney,

They realize she had been shot
And killed.

Laney: they found
10 shell casings in the car,

And she was shot
Several times in the upper body.

♪♪

Demery:
I think the last few moments
For sidney were terrifying.

Here's a beautiful,
Incredibly pure person

That's murdered by somebody
Who's just savage.

And the reocurring question
In my mind

Is how could I not have been
In between the two of them.

Whether you give your life
Or you take their life,

It doesn't matter.

You preserved the life
Of a person who was innocent.

It's just who you are
As a police officer.

It's who you are as a person.

Plater was shot
And killed by police,

But I think it's too good.

I think he should have suffered
In a prison

For the rest of his [bleep] Life
But he got the easy way out.

♪♪

When I found out
About sidney's services,

I drove to the church,
But I didn't get out of the car.

I just couldn't do it.

[ bell tolling ]

♪♪

I didn't want to be around
All those people.

I didn't want to have to see
All the emotion.

I didn't know how to process
What I was feeling.

I didn't know if I was gonna be
In control of my emotions.

♪♪

So I waited until everyone left.

♪♪

Since I was 3
And my mother was murdered,

This is the only other person

That I loved dearly
That was murdered.

One situation, I was 3 years
Old, and I couldn't hold a gun.

And the other time,

I was an adult,
But I was somewhere else.

So not being able to interject

Is the difficult part
To deal with.

♪♪

[ sniffles ]

[ sighs ]

♪♪

I just pray
That sidney's children are okay

And, unfortunate for me,

I know what they are feeling,
And they're not okay.

♪♪

I think you've got
A future in baking.

I definitely
Wouldn't say that.

Sidney was a very unique person.

Her spirit and her happiness,
Her blissfulness,

It was just contagious.

I can see her smile,
Hear her voice giggle,

All that as if though
She was still here.

But the takeaway
From this case

Is that people are always in
Danger of being violated by evil

And I think that we should
Recognize the beauty

And the love that people have
And cherish it,

'cause you never know

When somebody like plater
Is gonna surface.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up...

When a body turns up
In an unlikely location,

Demery is propelled

Into one of the most bizarre
Cases of his career.

Demery: it's the kind of thing
That you associate

With a mafia
Or a cartel-type hit,

Not with a happily married
Father from the suburbs.

♪♪

Hey, how's it going?All right. You call?

Yeah.
It's the, uh, bmw over here.

Okay, let's go take a look.

Mayfield:
On this particular day,
An officer was dispatched

To a local tow yard
In reference to a vehicle

That had been towed
From an apartment complex

For basically parking illegally.

So, uh, you think
You can run the plates for me

So I can notify the owners?

Yeah, I can run it.
Let me take a look at it first.

Why don't you check inside
For a registration slip?Sure.

Tow yards do not have the
Ability to run license plates

Or to actually search a vehicle,

So that's why they need
Police officers' help.

♪♪

Oh! My god.

What the hell is that?Oh. [ groans ]

Mayfield: the officer detected
A strong, foul odor

That kind of took him aback.

Okay,
Let's pop the trunk.

Okay.

♪♪

So he made his way
To the back of the car.

♪♪

Oh!Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

Okay, step back.[ flies buzzing ]

31 to dispatch.

Mayfield:
Just shocked both of them.

There was a body sitting
Right there in the trunk.

Yeah, we've got
A situation here.

We're gonna need major crime.
Send them out, please.

[ coughing ]

It's not at all what they
Were expecting to find,

And a body was the last thing
On their mind.

[ flies buzzing ]

[ thunder rumbles ]

Demery: when I get the call,
I go to miracles towing.

This is your typical
Car graveyard.

There are some cars
That will never be repaired

And gonna be salvaged for parts.

♪♪

[ beeping ]

Hey, demery.What's up, mayfield?

We got a weird one
Out here, man.

All right.

Detective mayfield tells me
That they have found a body

In one of the vehicles
Parked there.

All right.

All right.
Let's see what we've got.

Mayfield found an I.D.
In the car

Of a 50-year-old male,
Charles thompson.

And when officers
Ran the plates,

We learned the car
Belonged to him.

♪♪

When a body's found, the coroner
Is called immediately.

The coroner has authority
And jurisdiction

Over all dead bodies.

We can visually inspect the
Body, but we can't move the body

Or touch the body until
We've contacted the coroner.

Oh! They weren't
Lying about the smell.

The closest comparison
To the smell

Is one of rotting meat,

If you've ever had meat
That is spoiled

And produces that horrid odor.

Definitely looks like he's
Been here for a couple of days.

There are five stages
Of decomposition,

And the second stage
Is bloating.

That stage,
The body fills up with gases,

And as the gases
Build up in the body,

The gases force the fluids
To leak

From the natural orifices --
The eyes, the nose, et cetera.

This body, the eyes were open,

And you can see as the fluids
Are starting to come out.

All right,
Let me get a look here.

♪♪

[ police radio chatter ]

As the coroner arrives
And we examine the body,

We are looking for
Signs of foul play.

Well, that's interesting.

What do you see?

Actually,
It's what I don't see.

Coroner tells us
There are no stab wounds,

There are no cuts,
There's no gunshot,

There's no trauma
To the body at all.

So how are you saying
He died?

I won't know for sure till
We get him back to the morgue.

Okay.

Guys, get him out of there.

[ police radio chatter ]

I'll, uh,
Call you with the results.

All right. Thanks doc.

At this point,
The only way to find out

The exact cause of death
Is to get an autopsy done.

All right. Let's take a look
In the car.

The question now
Is who had killed this man,

And why would they put him
In the trunk?

♪♪

Looks like I got $500 here.

Pills?

You think this guy was dealing?

The fact that there is
A large sum of money

And a ziplock bag full of pills,

It's possible
That thompson may be involved

In the drug trade.

I mean,
He was dressed pretty well

To be a low-level street pusher.

Well, one thing's for sure --

Whoever did this
Wasn't looking for money.

Mayfield: the fact that
There was still $500 in the car,

As well as the drugs,

Lets you know that there was
A purpose behind this killing

And it wasn't robbery.

Demery:
In the vehicle's glove box,

I find charles thompson's
Cellphone,

Which offers another clue
About a possible motive.

I just found this.

It looks like somebody
Took the battery out.

When you remove the battery
From the phone,

You can no longer track it.

Whoever killed mr. Thompson

Obviously didn't want
His body to be found.

Find anything?

Yeah. I got a computer
With some drives.

Throughout the cabin
Of the vehicle,

We find removable drives,
Computer parts.

The question is
Is any of this evidence

Related to his death
Or his murder?

All right, I think
We've got everything.

Let's go see what we can
Find out about our vic.

Sounds good.
All right.

At this point,
I'm done at the crime scene.

I head back
To the police station,

And we start to research
Charles thompson.

We find out that there has been
A missing persons report

Filed for charles thompson.

Who filed the report?

Uh...It looks like his wife
Filed it a couple of days ago.

You know, we really should
Get out there

And make this
Death notification,

See if she knows anything.

All right. Sounds good.

Hopefully, his wife
Can give us a lead

On who may have wanted
To kill him

Or if he had any enemies.

♪♪

Ma'am, we're with
The shreveport police.

Are you married
To charles thompson?

[ voice breaking ]
Yes, sir, I am.

Mind if we come in?

Yeah.Thank you.

♪♪

When a person files
A missing persons report

And homicide detectives
Show up at the home,

They kind of have a feeling
Of what's coming next.

I knew something awful happened
When he didn't come home.

[ sobbing ]

Sennet: lisa tells investigators
That her and her husband,

They live a great life.

He has a great job.

He has two kids
From a previous relationship.

So she thought all was well,

And that's why this news
Was pretty shocking for her.

Demery:
Charles thompson is unlike
Any of the murder victims

That we typically come across.

He's married.
He seems to be stable.

He has a wife who's obviously
Concerned and loves him.

He has a great career,
And he's fairly wealthy.

The fact that he would be
Found in the trunk of a vehicle

At a tow yard is just not
Something we were prepared for.

Ma'am, can you think of anyone

Who might've wanted
To do some harm to your husband?

♪♪

Not charles.

God no.

He didn't have any enemies.

He was a good man.

He had a few brushes
With the law a few years back,

But that was all behind him.

If you think of anything,
Please give us a call, okay?

Thank you.
[ sobbing ]

So what was that all about

With her husband's brushes
With the law?

Yeah, I didn't want
To push it on her,

Considering what we
Just laid on her.

Yeah, me either,
But we got to look into this.

[ car engine starts ]

♪♪

[ telephone rings ]

Demery: I wanted to look
At mr. Thompson's

Criminal record,
His background.

Maybe it was something

That could have caused him
To be murdered.

Wow. Look at this.

Yeah, so we've got fraud,
Forgery, and theft.

Now, maybe he ripped off
The wrong person, right?

Somebody just wasn't
Gonna put up with it.

Mayfield:
Messing with someone's money

Is definitely a reason
That somebody may want to hurt

Or take the life
Of mr. Thompson.

It's clear that whatever
Mr. Thompson was doing,

He has created some enemies,

And it may have brought somebody
To his doorstep to kill him.

♪♪

Demery: I'm investigating
The death of charles thompson,

Who was found dead
In the trunk of his own car.

Now we learn that thompson

Had a history
Of white-collar crimes.

And I'm thinking that may have
Played into him being murdered.

But in doing our background
Check on mr. Thompson,

We learned his past crimes
May not be so far in the past.

Demery:
And it looks like

There's an active warrant out
For charles thompson.

So one of our guys
Was looking to bust him?

Yep.

Who's working the case?

Let me check.

As I'm looking through
Thompson's record,

I find the detective
Who obtained the warrant

Is detective bobby herring.

Herrings's a pretty
Thorough detective,

And I'm betting that this time

He knows a lot more
About my victim than I do.

Herring: yeah, I heard you found
Thompson's body, right?

Yeah.

[ sighs ]
Now, did you read his record?

This guy had his hand
In a few different cookie jars.

Herring tells me
That thompson

Has schemed a lot of people
Throughout the country --

Chicago, new york, l.A. --

And he owes a lot of money
To a lot of people.

You think somebody was
Trying to settle a score

By murdering him?

I don't know,
But the strange thing is,

I talked to him the other day,

And he was gonna
Turn himself in to me.

Nonviolent warrants are usually
Negotiated over the phone.

You can simply call up
A suspect

And tell him that
You need to see him,

And they'll come in willingly.

He was being pretty cooperative,

So I was pretty
Confident he'd show up.

Hmm. Maybe somebody got wind
Of it, got nervous,

And decided
To take him out early.

My thought is that maybe
Thompson had a partner in crime,

And when that partner found out

That thompson
Was going in to the police

That he could've game
Him up or her up

And they took him out.

Excuse me, detective demery.

Yeah?The coroner's office called.

They wanted to let you know
That they just finished

The initial autopsy
On charles thompson.

Okay, thank you.
You want to take a ride?

-sounds good.
-cool.

-catch up with you later,
Brother. Thank you.

I'm hoping the coroner's gonna
Give me some information

That's gonna help
Put this puzzle together.

♪♪

Hey, doc,
What's going on?

What's up, guys?

So, what have you got for us
On mr. Thompson?

Well, the findings
Are a little surprising.

It does explain why

We didn't find any injuries
On his body, though.

What is it.
What happened to him?

He died
Of a drug overdose.

♪♪

A drug overdose.
Are you sure?

I'm pretty confident.

Now, we don't have the full
Toxicology report back yet,

But all of the preliminary
Findings indicate that.

The fact that thompson
Died of an overdose

Obscures everything.

How likely is it
For someone to ingest thompson

With enough drugs to kill him?

There's something missing.

I just can't figure it out yet.

♪♪

You know, something
Doesn't feel right.

Yeah.

There's just
Got to be more to this.

What do you say
We go by the forensic lab,

See if they've got any info

About the drives
We found in thompson's car.

All right.

Our electronic forensics unit

Had been examining
The drives,

And their job is to locate
Any forensic evidence

Of crimes or information

That could give us direction
Into this investigation.

♪♪

What's happenin', jason?

How are you, detective?

Good, man.

So, what've you got
For us from the stuff

From the thompson car?

Well, mr. Thompson
Was a busy man.

♪♪

The computer tech tells me

That he's found all sorts of
Evidence of financial crimes.

Thompson had account numbers,
Access numbers, pin numbers,

Personal identification-type
Information

On different people.

This is just a fraction
Of the bank accounts

He had access to.

There's a huge black market
For this type of information.

Thieves all over the world
Will pay good money for it.

Hmm.

Not only that,
But I found something

A little more personal
Regarding charles thompson.

What the hell?

Are you kidding?
It's a suicide note. [ scoffs ]

Demery: now I realize
That this wasn't a homicide.

It wasn't
An accidental overdose.

Mr. Thompson intentionally
Took his own life.

He must've known

That detective herring
Had the goods on him.

Yeah. Knew he was getting close
To getting caught.

This wasn't about drugs.

It wasn't about drug-dealing

Or even someone
Wanting to kill him

For stealing their information.

It was about the fact

That the walls were starting
To close in on thompson,

And he decided
He was gonna get out.

♪♪

Mayfield:
Mr. Thompson had decided
That he couldn't overcome

The mistakes that he had made
In his life,

The embarrassment that he was
Gonna be to his family,

And he drove his vehicle
To an apartment complex

And just parked it.

He took the battery
Out of his phone.

He didn't want anybody
To try to talk him out of it.

He was smart enough to know

That there would be
No possible way

That his phone could be pinged

If it didn't have
Any power supply.

♪♪

So I think thompson
Thought this out thoroughly

Before he ended his life.

♪♪

♪♪

He then ingested
A large amount of pills,

Crawled into
The fetal position...

♪♪

...And died.

Mayfield: once mr. Thompson's
Life ended that night,

Apartment managers found his car
Parked in somebody else's spot

And towed his car
To the tow yard.

Demery: that tow truck driver
Was not just towing a car.

He was towing a dead body.

The case was ruled a suicide
And closed.

Mayfield: when someone decides
To take their life,

You know, to them,
That was the final option.

But unfortunately,
The pain that they don't see

Is that mom, that dad,
That wife

Who feels like had I said
One more thing,

Told them I loved them
One last time,

You know, maybe they
Wouldn't have done this.

Demery: this is a case
Not like any I've seen.

Finding a body
In the trunk of a vehicle,

One automatically
Assumes it is a homicide.

But that's homicide
Investigation.

Nothing is ever
As it appears to be.