All language subtitles for Cold Case Detective S01 E06_track3_[eng]

- [Narrator] Andrew Sadek,
known to his family and friends

simply as a smooth and
shy young man, was quiet,

introspective, and connected
with the natural world.

His deep rooted passion with the outdoors,

like farming and fishing,
as well as his inclination

to build relationships, was cut short

by an unexplainable, unsolved death

in an unknown time period
soon after 2:00 a.m.

on May 1st, 2014, leaving all who knew him

across his hometown of
Valley City, North Dakota

grasping for answers in a sea of evidence

that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more
substantial reasoning

built upon observable evidence
and situational analysis,

this is an examination of
the death of Andrew Sadek,

and the rain cloud of
questions left at Red River

in Breckenridge, Minnesota.

This is Cold Case Detective.

(suspenseful music)

Andrew Sadek was born
on November 22nd, 1993

to parents John and Tammy in
Valley City, North Dakota.

Growing up in a rural part

of the United States' northern Midwest,

Andrew was surrounded by the natural world

and the farming lifestyle
from an early age.

His extended family owned
and operated a cattle ranch

near Rogers, North Dakota, and
thus Andrew learned the ropes

of agriculture right from the beginning.

He especially loved fishing and hunting,

as well as spending summer afternoons

cooped up in an old garage
working on hobby cars.

It was an idyllic, serene,
Norman Rockwell-styled image

of life in Simpleville, USA.

Andrew was also a younger sibling

and grew up with an
older brother, Nicholas.

The two spent many days
together throughout their youth

and reaped the benefits
of a beautiful home life

and close-knitted family.

However, tragedy actually
struck the Sadek bloodline

almost a decade prior to Andrew's death.

In 2005, Nicholas was unexpectedly killed

at a railroad crossing in
North Dakota, struck by a train

whilst in the car with
his then-girlfriend.

The train tracks were unmarked
and the crash was accidental,

but the tragedy pained all of
those involved nonetheless.

The Sadek family was broken,

but pushed on through
life as the years wore on.

From being a toddler,
through elementary school

to his years as a teenager,
Andrew was always considered

a shy and introverted boy.

He rarely broke from his inner
circle of friends and peers,

and steered clear of trouble in school.

After the sudden loss of his brother,

Andrew struggled to fully heal
from such a piercing wound,

but persevered through keeping to himself

and sticking to his virtues.

Andrew graduated Valley City High School

and sought out higher education

to continue his academic career and study

to become an electrical technician.

Thus, Andrew enrolled in 2012

at North Dakota State College
of Science in Wahpeton.

The program offered a
chance at a two-year-degree,

and an opportunity for Andrew
to chase a passion of his

and set up a fruitful future.

In his first year, Andrew
lived just as he had done

all throughout high school.

He was a vigorous studier,
stayed away from parties,

and focused on the educational
aspects of college.

However, as his time there went by,

Andrew slowly evolved
from his shy personality,

making new friends and taking advantage

of the freedom college afforded him.

He soon started spending
more nights out and about,

continuing to create new relationships.

In 2013, his social blossoming peaked,

as rumors allegedly claim
this was the time period

in which Andrew began selling
marijuana across campus,

a very small operation
that would sadly lead

to humongous consequences

and spawn an endless pitfall of mystery.

In April of 2013, Andrew
makes his first confirmed sale

of marijuana to other college peers,

using the parking lot at
North Dakota State CS.

Sometime between April and
October of the same year,

he ends up making sales to
confidential informants,

Andrew's fellow students who were working

for the Southeast Multi-County
Agency, also known as SEMCA.

SEMCA is a task force
comprised of police officers

from drug enforcement agencies

around Southeastern North Dakota counties

of Ransom, Richland, and Sargent Counties,

in addition to the neighboring
Minnesota county of Wilkin.

The first sale was for 3.5 grams for $60,

the second being just one gram for $20.

As a result of the sale to CI,

SEMCA performs a search of
Andrew's college dorm room

in November of 2013, with
consent from Andrew himself.

The agents discover marijuana residue

on an orange plastic grinder,
and Andrew admits ownership

of the tainted item,
but is neither arrested

or charged with a crime.

However, the day after SEMCA
searched his dorm room,

Andrew is summoned by
Jason Weber, SEMCA officer

and Richland County sheriff deputy.

Jason informs Andrew that
under North Dakota law

selling marijuana on a college
campus is a Class A felony.

To avoid a possible 40-year sentencing

based on consecutive
charges, Andrew agrees

to become a confidential
informant for SEMCA

on that fateful November day.

Before November comes to a close,

Andrew makes his first two buys as a CI,

a pair of controlled purchases
in the amount of $60 each

for 3.5 grams, just
like his original sale.

A couple months later in January of 2014,

Andrew orchestrates a
different controlled purchase,

of similar size to the
November operations,

but still under the oversight of SEMCA.

After the January buys,
Andrew decides he's had enough

of the confidential informant life

and stops all controlled
dealing with SEMCA.

SEMCA announces they only need him

to make two more official
purchases, one from a known dealer

whom Andrew used to buy from himself,

as well as one from a
new unidentified dealer.

Completing these buys would release Andrew

from his CI obligations and
allegedly from SEMCA in general,

but Andrew dismisses the project.

However, Andrew does keep
in contact with Jason Weber

on a monthly basis until April of 2014.

In between, Andrew prepares for his future

by traveling to places like Bismarck

and Grand Forks, North Dakota to interview

for job positions as an electrician.

He also begins dating a new girlfriend

and setting himself up well
for life after college.

On the final weekend of the
month, April 25th and 26th,

Andrew returns home to
Rogers, North Dakota

to visit with family and help
out with the cattle ranch.

In the evening of the 26th,
Andrew returns to his dormitory

and talks to his mother over the phone.

The pair discuss their cell phone plan

and its data limit reaching the max.

It would be the last contact
Andrew makes with his family.

A few days pass by and on April 30th

Andrew goes out with his
roommate, Drew Kugel,

and a few other friends
for a nightlife adventure.

The band of friends
return to Nordgaard Hall,

the name of the men's living quarters,

and watch a movie together.

The movie finishes and Drew
and Andrew head to bed.

A couple of hours later,
at around 2:00 a.m.

on May 1st, 2014, security
cameras around Nordgaard Hall

capture Andrew walking
out of the building.

He wears a Tampa Bay Buccaneers
sweatshirt with a hood,

carries a black book bag on his back,

and possesses his phone,

though that is turned off at the moment.

This would be the last confirmed sighting

of Andrew whilst alive.

When Drew wakes up later
that morning on May 1st,

he notices Andrew is missing
but doesn't feel much concern,

assuming Andrew went to
visit his girlfriend.

That afternoon, however,
Drew and friends realize

Andrew never returned for his classes,

and quickly report him missing
to the NDSCS campus police.

Not long after the report is filed,

police discover the CCTV footage of Andrew

and report it to fellow
law enforcement agencies.

SEMCA gets wind of Andrew's disappearance

and immediately speculate that he ran away

to avoid the confidential informant work

he still owed to authorities.

In an attempt to persuade
Andrew back home,

SEMCA charges Andrew with the two felonies

they originally threatened
him a year earlier in 2013.

A few days after the disappearance,

with no sign or trace
of Andrew discovered,

the Sadek family pleaded
for him to return,

asking he return and assist
with the Spring calving

on their ranch, but to no avail.

From early May to late June of 2014,

investigators comb the surrounding areas

around North Dakota
State College of Science.

They interview family members,

friends, peers, and associates.

They trudge through woods and scale any

and all suspicious terrain.

Their 50-day search
appears all for nothing

until a breakthrough strikes
after spring turns to summer.

On June 27th, 2014, a police
dive team discovers a body

in the waters of Red River
near Breckenridge, Minnesota,

across the way from Wahpeton,
during a training exercise

and not an intentional search for Andrew.

They confirm his identity

after a dental records
hit matches DNA profiles.

Even after a thorough autopsy

by both the medical
examiner and state police,

the cause of death is announced

as a gunshot wound to the
head, but cannot be confirmed

as either a suicide or homicide.

These findings split law
enforcement from the Sadek family,

who were certain Andrew
wouldn't end his own life

while SEMCA and North Dakota authorities

said Andrew committed suicide

to permanently escape the CI work.

Regardless, the inconsistent casework

and unspecified results have
cast Andrew Sadek's death

in a whirlwind of inconclusivity.

On his birthday, November 22nd, 2013,

Andrew Sadek was brought

into the Richland County Sheriff's Office

by Jason Weber of SEMCA,
after he and other authorities

discovered weed residue
in Andrew's dorm room,

and the information that Andrew

was selling marijuana on campus.

What ensued was a cool, calm,

and collected police interrogation

that may hold more clues in context

than the casual viewer will pick up on.

Take a look.

- It's your birthday today.
- Yeah.

- [Jason] Probably not
what you wanna be doing

on your birthday, huh?

All right.

Did you tell your roommate
what you have going on?

All right, that's probably a good thing.

All right, well you expressed interest

that you probably wanna help yourself out.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Like I said you're facing two felonies,

and then of course the
misdemeanor charge from yesterday.

Two felonies of deliveries,
since they took place on campus,

both of them, so they're Class A felonies,

20 years of prison, $20,000
fine and/or both, okay?

So, potentially, the max
is 40 years of prison,

$40,000 fine, you understand that?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Obviously, you're probably
not gonna get 40 years,

but is it a good possibility
that you're gonna get

some prison time, if you
don't help yourself out?

Yeah, there is, okay?

That's probably not a way

to start off your young
adult life and career, right?

So,

what I'm gonna ask for you to do

is to do some buys for me though, okay,

where you have to wear a wire,
you have to go buy marijuana

from individuals, and then, you know,

depend upon how you do
and so forth, you know,

a lot of this could go away.

You know, is it all gonna
go away, probably not.

Are you gonna probably
have to plead guilty,

to like, maybe a misdemeanor
possession of marijuana?

Probably, you know.

But at least you're not
pleading guilty to felonies.

Okay, is that fair enough?

- Very fair.
- Okay.

Is there individuals
that you know on campus

or around town or whatever
that you can buy from?

- There's

one chick that sells out
of the campus apartment

that I know of.
- Who's that?

- I'm not sure the name,
but I have a few buddies

that buy from her.
- Okay.

Would it be uncommon for
you to buy that much though?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

I mean, if you went and bought that much,

would he be like "What the hell"?

- Probably, maybe, I don't know.

- [Jason] If you went and bought an ounce?

- That would be more reasonable.

- That would be more reasonable
to say you're trying slow,

make some money on campus?
- Okay.

- [Jason] We could probably,

we could try and entertain that idea,

you know, setting up with Fargo,

that's the different task force,

but you're willing to help
them out, then, you know,

I'll give you credit down here.

You can't buy from anybody else?

- No, I have a lot of
people that I talk to,

and I know buyers, but no.

- [Narrator] The first
portion of the interview

contains some pretty common
passive aggressive tactics

used by law enforcement,
especially considering the youth

and inexperience Andrew has in
terms of dealing with police.

They make an unnecessary comment

about Andrew spending his
birthday with authorities,

immediately followed by the
fact that Andrew's offense

is technically a Class A felony

in the state of North Dakota.

The officer continues
with barrage of negatives,

hinting that the smart
move would be for Andrew

to help a CI.

The later half of the video
is a bit hard to dissect,

but does provide some
interesting information

that might have led to
Andrew's deteriorating outlook

on his situation.

The deputy asks what's the biggest amount

Andrew thinks he could purchase is,

and when Andrew says a number
higher than he's used to,

the officer hints he
still might need Andrew

to make an outlier buy,
which could raise the stakes

for Andrew's credibility.

The officer also makes a
comment that he thinks SEMCA

could arrange for Andrew to go into Fargo,

North Dakota, as well, to
make controlled purchases

as a CI and gather intel in a bigger city

with a different seller.

Fargo is of course a
much trickier prospect,

in terms of Andrew's experience.

Andrew just slung minimal
amounts of marijuana

around his college campus.

Venturing into Fargo, North Dakota

would elevate beyond
small time drug dealing.

While it's not a major threat

or even intended to scare Andrew,

just the fact that Jason Weber

spewed the idea into
Andrew's subconscious,

could've planted the
seed of a bigger issue.

Andrew growing miserable
with having the expectations

of helping police, going
behind his friends back,

and most importantly, jumping
into the shadowy situation

of crossing paths of bigger players

who could entertain harsh consequences,

if he's spotlighted as a narc.

(gentle piano music)

A vast majority of law
enforcement personnel

and some followers of the case
do not budge from the idea

that Andrew Sadek committed suicide.

The SEMCA officers involved
with the confidential informants

claimed many of their
CIs were hard pressed

to get out of their situations,

many of them abandoning
their responsibilities

to purposefully be arrested,
rather going to jail

than continue making
controlled drug exchanges.

While Andrew certainly didn't enjoy

having to work for SEMCA,
he never outright said

he wasn't going to do it anymore,

or showed explicit signs that
it was stressing him out.

In addition, Andrew never
displayed suicidal tendencies,

nor had any known struggles
with mental illnesses.

While that doesn't rule out suicide,

having zero history of ideation

combined with an improved
social and personal life

at the time of his disappearance

creates more than a reasonable doubt

in the majority's theory.

One key piece of evidence

that does support this theory, however,

is the fact that the .22 caliber pistol

belonging to the Sadek family went missing

shortly before Andrew did himself.

It would be sensible to
assume Andrew took the firearm

with him at some point,
maybe for protection,

maybe for taking his own life.

What hurts this supposed clue, though,

is that the gun has never been found.

It was never pulled from Red River

despite numerous dive teams
combing through the riverbed.

It was never recovered by another member

of the Sadek family.

And because of such misfortune,

it was never confirmed nor denied

to be the actual weapon
that took Andrew's life.

Was it unlikely to be the bullet

of another .22 caliber
gun that killed Andrew?

Probably not.

But without the firearm being present

at Andrew's body recovery
point, it makes little sense

for Andrew to have killed himself

without leaving the gun nearby,

or for him to have taken
his own life elsewhere,

but to end up at the bottom of the river.

It wasn't just the missing weapon

that foiled this suicide
theory, but other missing items

hinted at foul play, too, or
at least dissuaded conspiracies

surrounding self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Andrew's Tampa Bay sweatshirt
wasn't on his person

or in his car, and the
jacket he was wearing

wasn't familiar to any of his friends,

his girlfriend, or his mother.

In addition, Andrew's
wallet was not on his body

when it was found, nor was it discovered

in Red River after the submerged searches.

The lack of a wallet
would suggest robbery,

and the lack of Andrew's
clothes would suggest

he engaged in some sort
of physical activity

between the CCTV footage captured
him leaving the dormitory

and ending up in Red River.

What the quarrel could
be is nearly infinite,

but definitely could be
a major piece in a puzzle

leading towards a different
type of hypothesis,

one revolving around untraceable,
unconnecting homicide.

Our first step with
investigating a possible homicide

is checking in on the
status of serial killers

or potentially serialized
murders in the general vicinity

of Richland County, North Dakota in 2014.

Sadly, the research is
fruitless, probably a byproduct

of the recency in Andrew's death.

There was no known homicide victims

that fit Andrew's description

around the time of his disappearance,

nor are there any
documented serial killers

in the northern Midwest region

dating to those surrounding months.

However, these statistics can sometimes

stay hidden for years after the fact,

patterns not realized
until a decade later,

or a serial killer remains
unidentified until capture.

It's not likely, but
wondering if Andrew ran

into a shadowy figure at the peak

of their invisible reign of
torment isn't a complete mirage.

Stemming from the branches
of murderous theories,

is a conspiracy, highlighting
a covered up internal scheme

orchestrated by SEMCA officers themselves.

This theory quickly points
out that it was the police

who first suggested
Andrew committed suicide

rather than be a victim of homicide,

deciding his distaste
towards his role as a CI

turned him towards darkness.

These agents claimed that
other confidential informants

with similar personal histories as Andrew

either committed suicide
to escape responsibility,

or deliberately defiled orders,

deciding incarceration was better

than risking their lives
for undercover drug dealing.

The theorists themselves
string together wild hypotheses

believing that Andrew
might have threatened

to help his fellow buyers around campus

and blow up SEMCA's operation,

leaving law enforcement to decide

whether or not to let
him go or make him pay.

It's a ridiculous assumption
to believe authorities

would go to such a stretch
and kill Andrew themselves,

and then immediately
point blame elsewhere.

Whereas they could've just
charged Andrew with a felony

and sent him to prison for a long time

like originally intended.

It would be a lazy inside job if true,

and while the police are wrong

to just assume suicide
was the correct label,

it doesn't automatically signal guilt.

Rather, it shows their lack
of interest in Andrew's case,

blowing it by for the sake of upholding

their own priorities.

(suspenseful music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis

of Andrew's unsolved demise,
we want to make known

our conclusions presented
in Cold Case Detective

are purely logical speculation

based on evidence, circumstance,
and factual subtext.

We're only privy to the same information

presented in each video,
and we do not attempt

to promise certainty
or an expert guarantee

on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research, and report.

While the proposed theories
regarding Andrew Sadek's death

intrigue us and make one think

about the suspiciousness of the situation,

one hypothesis in particular
sticks out from the rest

as the most plausible.

Andrew was killed by a
known associate only to him,

as a result of his
confidential informant work

getting exposed, or a vague
drug incident turning sour.

The biggest point to this argument

is the fact that the item used
to kill Andrew, a handgun,

was not found with the body in Red River,

in the vicinity of the crime scene,

or at any point since the
discovery of his body.

It's physically impossible for
Andrew to have killed himself

and moved his own body after the fact,

leaving zero trace or bread crumb trail

leading back to the weapon.

While it's peculiar that
the Sadek family's gun

that went missing is more likely than not

the gun used in Andrew's death,

there are logical explanations

outside the topic of
self-inflicted wounds.

For example, if Andrew was
aware his CI work was exposed

to other drug dealers around the area

or fellow buyers around North Dakota,

Andrew might have taken
the gun as protection,

in case he was confronted
by disgruntled associates.

Or, Andrew wanted the gun
to intimidate someone,

and it was stolen from
him during a scuffle.

There's even a possibility
that Andrew did intend

to use the weapon, and
engaged in a firefight

that left him dead and the gun
in the hands of the killer,

taken away to never be found again.

The presence of rocks in Andrew's backpack

also throw a wrench in the
non-homicidal related theories

pinned to the case files.

Forcing his corpse to the
bottom of the Red River,

so that it wouldn't be found,

is a common symptom of murder
incidents all over the world.

Had Andrew simply wanted
to take his own life,

the rocks and the river in general

seems like unnecessary steps to take.

The rocks feel like a
ploy to hide something,

not as an additional
tool in taking a life.

In addition, Andrew was
wearing different clothing

than the garments that appear
in the final CCTV footage

from the university's campus.

It's certainly plausible
that he just changed clothes

between leaving school
and his disappearance,

but with no leads pointing investigators

towards the Tampa Bay sweatshirt,

it makes you wonder if someone
had taken the sweatshirt off

of Andrew's body in order
to get rid of evidence

or make his weight lighter.

This makes sense when
considering the theory

that Andrew was actually
killed somewhere else

and then transported to Red River.

The Sadek family had
Andrew's car analyzed,

and it was concluded
that the sitting water

in the bottom of the vehicle

indicated a wet mass
was sitting in the car

at some point shortly
before its discovery,

strongly hinting that
Andrew was put in the back

of his own car prior to
being dumped into Red River.

There's a chance the theorized killer

dumped Andrew's body into
a separate body of water,

maybe a pond or shallow lake,

and realized it was too obvious

or too close to his murder scene.

Thus, they retrieved the
body, moved him in the car,

and put him in Red River.

On a similar note, the killer or killers

could have gotten drenched
themselves in the Red River

and soaked the car when they hopped back

in Andrew's vehicle and drove away.

Regardless, there was more
than likely a second party

that involved Andrew's vehicle

which resulted in its wet condition

when found by investigators,

but will never be known for
sure, as the security cameras

at the University's student parking lot

were malfunctioning the
night of Andrew's death.

Biggest argument of all is
Andrew's utter lack of history

in battling mental illnesses,

displaying signs of suicidal tendencies

or creating a single cause of concern

in his family and friends

regarding the idea he
could take his own life.

While Andrew had many difficulties

in both his personal and his social life,

nothing steered him into self-destruction.

In fact, at the time of his disappearance,

besides having to complete
his CI work for drug dealing,

Andrew was on the up-and-up.

He had a great relationship
with his girlfriend

and made excellent grades
across his classes in school.

Dealing drugs could
definitely have created

an invisible emotion and
psychological stressors

around the end of Andrew's life,

but the true darkness
probably came in the people

that Andrew encountered both
intentionally and by chance.

The unexpected nature of crime
and the criminal underworld

can bring forth destruction
in the blink of an eye,

and all it takes is one wrong
move or an unlucky mishap

for someone innocent to trip up

in front of someone malicious.

Thus, the risk in selling drugs,

combined with working with the police

at the knowledge of
hardly anyone in his life,

left Andrew vulnerable
to the unjust nature

of the CI side effects,
and someone took away

his chance at escape and prosperity.

Nevertheless, we'll always remember Andrew

for the person he was prior
to the negative labels

he received during the run-ins with SEMCA

and low-level college drug peddling.

Instead, we will see him as a quiet,

yet bright and burning young man

with endless potential and an honest hope

for not only himself, but
his friends and family, too.

We will attribute his troubles
to the positive outcome

of Andrew's Law, a law giving protections

to other confidential informants

and their rights to an
attorney, and most of all,

their rights to speak up
and share their thoughts.

We all deserve a chance
to create our own futures,

and sadly, Andrew was
stripped of the opportunity.

His soft-spoken, yet stone-hard diligence

will help retain his
legacy as nothing more

than an American dreamer,
striving for a life worth living.

This has been Cold Case Detective.