[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: For
homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking
the moment they are called. We have blood spatter here. We have a couple of little
thugs hanging around here, robbing people right and left. He was straight
up, didn't hold back. Nothing, nothing,
nothing, nothing. Whatever happened
to the assault rifle? NARRATOR: Their chance
of solving a murder is cut in half-- All he said is,
there was a murder. It's absolutely worthless. NARRATOR: --if they
don't get a lead-- He fooled everybody. NARRATOR: --within
the first 48 hours. I don't wanna be in here. [BANGING] [THEME MUSIC] NARRATOR: Minneapolis,
Minnesota, 2:16 AM. The Cedar Riverside area,
known for its late night bars. When paramedics arrived, they
find a young man bleeding from his neck. They rush him to the
hospital, but he dies. It's kind of an
interesting area over there. A lot of bars and
busy nightlife. At this point, I don't have
a whole lot of information. NARRATOR: Sergeant
John Holthusen has been with Minneapolis
homicide for over two years. At this point, I'm just
kind of taking everything in. I just want to read the
scene, and, you know, figure out who the victim is. NARRATOR: Holthusen's partner,
Sargent Chris Granger, has been with
homicide 12 months. This guy parks his moped
right up there by that sign, and all the blood is
right around that. From the bike over to there,
that's really the crime scene that we have. NARRATOR: A blood trail leads
from where the victim was found back to a parked moped. ZIMMERMAN: I think he was
stabbed while he was sitting on it. Do we know if
they took anything? Don't know, but there's
no wallet on him. NARRATOR: The victim's
ID is missing. ZIMMERMAN: We're running the
plate, trying to get his photo. See if we can ID him that way. You can pull it up
on this, can't you? OFFICER 1: Yeah. What's the name? OFFICER 1: Joseph Sodd. He's 20 years old. 20 years old. He's just a kid. NARRATOR: Joseph Sodd the
III had recently moved from Minneapolis to
attend college in Seattle. [MUSIC PLAYING] Just up the street here,
there were some people sitting on a stoop. So I go up and talk to them. NARRATOR: Zimmerman gets a
potential lead from a woman who lives on the block. Anyway, she's saying
that about two weeks ago, a white male's walking
by with a briefcase and two Somalis approach him. And he comes running,
saying, these guys are trying to rob me. Hmm. [INAUDIBLE] We have a couple of
little thugs hanging around, robbing people right and left. Yeah. She's been hearing that
there's a little Somali crew around here. This knife is
all full of blood. They probably dumped it.
ZIMMERMAN: Yeah. It could be in one of the
trash cans or something. NARRATOR: Holthusen and
Granger enlist patrol to search the area. If you guys could just start
going through garbage cans, anywhere that a knife
could be tossed. And if you find
anything, let us know. NARRATOR: The team
makes a discovery. OFFICER 2: Is that
guy in handcuffs? Let's go down
there and meet him. We found this guy sleeping. NARRATOR: A man was found
sleeping in an abandoned van one block from the crime scene. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
How are you doing, sir? Let's walk over
here a little bit. Does he have any blood on him? OFFICER 3: A little
bit on his T-shirt. NARRATOR: Miami, Florida,
Friday night, 8:00 PM. A single gunshot rings out in
the Liberty City neighborhood. When police respond,
they find a teenage boy in the back yard, shot dead. [MUSIC PLAYING] The people inside the
house heard one shot. I just want to walk
through the scene, because I don't function well
if I don't visualize this. NARRATOR: Lead Detective Rick
Martinez has been in homicide for four years. We have blood
spatter here, which indicates that this was probably
where the attack occurred. OK. One gunshot, looks like. It appears to be in the chest,
a through and through wound. Yeah. This kid's a baby. [TSKS] NARRATOR: The victim is
16-year-old Leonard Brown, also known as Debo. He had recently attended
a church youth group whose mission was to help
troubled teens stay in school. DET. EMILIANO TAMAYO: It appears
he's got a single gunshot wound that goes here. OFFICER: Comes, goes across. DET. RODERICK PASSMORE: Comes
out the-- the right side. As far as physical
evidence, there's not much. OK. All right? She last seen him
right before the murder. I'm Sergeant Cooper,
Detective Passmore. This is Detective Martinez. Our condolences to you. Why don't you tell us
a little about Leonard and what was going on with
him, as far as you know. And what happened? Did he say who that friend was? NARRATOR: According
to the mother, the gun was an
AK-47 assault rifle. Mm-hmm. OK. [SHOUTING AND CRYING] NARRATOR: Among the
bystanders, detectives find one of Debo's friends. What happened, bro? Come over here. Man. NARRATOR: The team decides to
take the victim's friend down to homicide. There's a possibility he
might have seen something just before the victim was murdered. [SHOUTING AND CRYING] He's supposed to be
the victim's friend. They're together
just about every day. We'll see what he has to say. NARRATOR: Martinez and
Sergeant Ervens Ford conduct the interview. So tell us from the beginning
what happened tonight. NARRATOR: The friend says
that earlier that evening, he and Debo were hanging out at
a nearby convenience store. Debo received a phone call
and went to meet someone. He says that Debo had been
asked to hold the gun for a boy in his church
group named Audrey, but Debo's mother found out. Debo then brought the AK-47
to Audrey's cousin's apartment down the street. Audrey's cousin, Antonio,
claimed the AK-47 had been stolen from his apartment. Antonio and Audrey accused
Debo of stealing the gun. He was straight up,
didn't hold back nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. That's his boy since
they were little. We just have to
do some research. NARRATOR: Martinez looks up
Antonio Wells, who lives right at the crime scene. DET. RICK MARTINEZ: He is the
kid that lives at the duplex. NARRATOR: Just 16 years
old, Antonio does not have a criminal record. They're all babies. My gosh. NARRATOR: But 17-year-old
Audrey Roberts has been in and out of trouble. He's currently awaiting trial on
an unrelated weapons possession charge. Possession of a weapon by
a convicted Florida felon. This is the one that had
a problem with our victim over that gun. Look at the hard look already. NARRATOR: In Miami,
the homicide team is investigating the shooting
of Leonard Brown, also known as Debo. A friend of the
victim's led detectives to two young men, Audrey
Roberts and Antonio Wells, who had both accused the
victim of stealing an AK-47. [CLOCK TICKING] The next morning. DET. RODERICK PASSMORE:
[INAUDIBLE] the minister? That knows a lot of
the kids in the area? Uh-huh. He's at the church. I told him we'll be up
there to talk to them. DET. EMILIANO TAMAYO:
I'll go with you. DET. RODERICK
PASSMORE: All right. Well, I'm ready
to rock and roll. NARRATOR: Detectives Roderick
Passmore and Emiliano Tamayo head out to learn more
about Antonio and Audrey. We're headed to one
of the local pastors. He runs an alternative
program from his church. Our victim
attended the church. He's trying to get
his life together. We also have information that
the possible suspect attended the same church, so we want
to get some information from the pastor. DET. RODERICK PASSMORE:
How are you doing? Pleasure meeting you. Did you know this kid Audrey? I saw him yesterday,
just before I left. DET. RODERICK PASSMORE:
What about him. You know him? He's in the program, too? NARRATOR: Passmore gets a
phone number for Audrey. Audrey, this is
Detective Passmore. I need to sit down
and talk to you, man. Where you at? All right. I'm on my way to come
holler at you, man. All right, bro. Let's go team. He's agreed to talk to us. We need to get there
as fast as we can. [CAR STARTING] [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Detective Rick
Martinez and Sergeant Ervens Ford will interview Audrey. All we want to hear
from you is the truth. Tell us what happened. NARRATOR: Audrey says
the trouble started when his AK-47 went missing. He says the victim accused
Antonio of stealing the AK-47. He says Antonio and Debo
started fighting moments before the shooting. OK. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: In Minneapolis,
Sergeant John Holthusen and Chris Granger
are investigating the fatal stabbing of Joe Sodd. During a search of
the crime scene area, patrol just found a man
with blood on his T-shirt. [CLOCK TICKING] What are you doing
in the area, sir? Oh, you're homeless. You're sleeping. We're right now
investigating a crime here. Have you done anything
wrong tonight? OK, then you have
nothing to worry about. We'll have him taken down
and talk to him downtown. NARRATOR: The team collects
all of the victim's belongings to search for DNA evidence. We've got to go
make a notification. [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: Nine
hours in, detectives returned from notifying
Joe Sodd's family. I felt so bad for him. I mean, I'm a parent myself. I have two girls, and
I couldn't imagine what it'd be like to get that
kind of news from anybody. NARRATOR: Joe was home
for summer vacation from a college in Seattle
where he was studying dance. He had only been back in
Minneapolis a couple of weeks. His parents told us
he was with two friends last night, left
the house with them when they went out to the bar. So hopefully, these friends
have some information for us. I mean, it could be
a very solid lead. When you have a situation
where the victim did nothing more than just be at the
wrong place at the wrong time, how do you explain
that to parents? How do you explain
that to anybody? It's just so senseless. [PHONE RINGING] NARRATOR: Holthusen calls
one of Joe's friends. This is Sergeant John Holthusen
with the Minneapolis Police Hi, Katie. Department. How you doing? NARRATOR: The friend has already
heard news of Joe's death Yeah. from his family. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: I know
it's a really rough day. Me my partner need to come
out and talk with you. We'll be over there
in a few minutes. [MUSIC PLAYING] [CLOCK TICKING] Sergeant John Holthusen. Nice to meet you. You, too. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: We're
very sorry about your loss. We really are. We had a very long
conversation with his folks, and it was rough. He sounded like he
was a very nice kid. Yeah. [HEAVY SIGH] Who was with Joe last night? Everybody. Where at? The bar. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: Did Joe
get into it with anybody? No. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
Were you there all night? What happened after that? Where was his scooter at? Did anyone walk with him or? Did anyone see him get on
that moped and take off? We're going to do everything
we can to solve this thing. [MUSIC PLAYING] [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: Back at homicide,
Granger and Holthusen prepare to interview the
homeless man with blood on his shirt. I'm going to pull
his criminal history to see if he's been involved
in any robberies or assaults. He's got 73 entries. It looks like he's been arrested
for robbery person, narcotics, disorderly conduct,
trespassing, loitering. He's got convictions for
damage to property, burglary, terroristic threats, assault and
obstructing the legal process, so he's been quite active. It appears that the victim
may have been robbed. And here we have a person that
was found in close proximity of the murder and he has a
history of robbery and assault. How are you doing, man? All right, sir. NARRATOR: The man says the blood
is from a sore on his hand. Can you lift up your sleeve? NARRATOR: Holthusen notices
markings on the man's arm. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: OK. So hang tight. We'll be right back. Could he be involved? It's always possible, but based
on the story he just told us, it's probable that he was in
the van sleeping like he said. We're going to test
the DNA on the shirt to see if the blood
is actually his or if it matches the victim. But that's going to take time. NARRATOR: After gathering DNA
evidence from the homeless man, they let him go. We're kind of starting
over from the beginning. You know, we're
about 12 hours in, and we don't really
have anything yet. NARRATOR: Holthusen and Granger
head back to the crime scene to search for more evidence. Friends of Joe Sodd made
a memorial near the place where he was stabbed. Wow. Hmm. It's a shame. NARRATOR: A team of cadets
will assist in the search. Reason why you're out here is
because a 20-year-old kid got stabbed to death right
down there on that block. So we're gonna try to find some
evidence, either a knife, maybe some bloody clothing, who knows. [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: As they wrap up
the search and night falls-- --an officer spots an
assault in progress. [MUSIC PLAYING] In Minneapolis, Sergeant John
Holthusen and Chris Granger are investigating the
murder of Joseph Sodd. While searching the
crime scene for evidence, they've just spotted
an assault in progress. Grab that guy! [CLOCK TICKING] Get that guy! NARRATOR: Patrol detains two
Somali men, apparently involved in the assault. The assault victims
says they tried to steal his bottle of vodka. Holthusen goes to
the other assailant. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: I know you. NARRATOR: He is the
homeless man they found wearing the bloody
T-shirt the day before. I ain't do nothing wrong. Didn't do nothing wrong. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: Hmm. NARRATOR: The man
will be arrested for aggravated assault.
The other assailant will be brought down to
homicide for questioning. We're going to bring the
other guy down to our office, see what he was
up to last night. What are the odds we're
going to find this guy with our homeless guy,
attacking someone a block away from the crime scene? [CLOCK TICKING] - Have a seat.
- [INAUDIBLE] Have a seat. [INAUDIBLE] Move away from the door. OFFICER: OK, be right with you. No, we're done [INAUDIBLE] NARRATOR: Granger looks
up the man's record. He doesn't appear to have
much of a criminal history, but I do think it's
interesting that he is involved in an assault with a group
of males, which included our homeless guy, within a
block or two of where the murder occurred one day later. [BANG] [BANG] NARRATOR: In Miami,
the homicide team is investigating the shooting
death of Leonard Brown, also known as Debo. Detectives found potential
suspect, Audrey Roberts, but when they got him
downtown, he pointed the finger at his cousin, Antonio. [CLOCK TICKING] Sit tight. We'll be back shortly. Aubrey points a
finger at Antonio. I think he's trying to
get it off of himself. [PHONE RINGING] NARRATOR: Then-- What's up? NARRATOR: --the
team gets a break. OK. I appreciate that. I appreciate 100%. NARRATOR: Antonio wants to talk. [SIGHS] Well, they say the lord
works in mysterious ways. The pastor is
bringing in Antonio. OFFICER: It's coming together. [MUSIC PLAYING] [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: An hour later,
Antonio arrives at homicide. [INAUDIBLE]. [INAUDIBLE] Martinez, man. Thanks for coming. Yes, sir. NARRATOR: Antonio says he
was at his friend's house the entire night of the murder. He says Debo accused him
of stealing Audrey's AK-47. Ford calls Antonio's friend
to check on his alibi. What time did he
get to your house? Did you guys leave
the house at all? He's vouching for this kid,
being at his house all night. For now, he's eliminated. NARRATOR: The team turns the
investigation back to Audrey. He's got all the
weapons charges, a felony, the background. He is going to be
here for a minute. He's got more to say. NARRATOR: In Miami,
the homicide team is investigating the murder of
16-year-old Leonard Brown, also known as Debo. Now that Antonio's
alibi has checked out, the team is focusing on
17-year-old Audrey Roberts. [CLOCK TICKING] [CRYING] Antonio wasn't there. NARRATOR: He says they were
arguing about the missing AK-47 when Antonio pulled
a different gun. I'll be right back. Calm down. [CRYING] This kid is saying
to us, listen. He called me, told me he's
going to wash his whole body in bleach to get the
gunpowder off of him. This kid here's
starting to make sense. It look like Antonio's friend
is covering up for him. [SCREAMING AND CRYING] That's genuine,
I didn't do it. Antonio could be just
a cold-blooded murderer for all we know. So now it's a question
of whether this kid wants to confess. NARRATOR: Right away,
Antonio changes his story. He puts himself on
the crime scene. He admits they were arguing
about the missing AK-47. Antonio says he pulled
out a small caliber rifle to defend himself against Debo. All right. That's it. A confession is a confession. [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: In the first 48,
the Miami homicide team responded to the murder
of Leonard Brown a.k.a. Debo. A friend of Debo's
came forward and said two teens, Audrey and Antonio,
were after Debo for stealing a gun. When Audrey insisted
he was innocent, detectives turned to Antonio who
then confessed to the shooting. I always go back to that
movie, "The Usual Suspects." DET. RICK MARTINEZ: Yeah. You have a
thugged out guy that look like your usual
suspect, and then you have the little frail looking kid. No, sir, want to shake
everybody's hand. No, sir, I wouldn't do it. He fooled everybody. For a moment there,
you know, he had us. We thought, we're convinced
this other guy did this. But there are some things
that you just cannot fake. He's off to jail, and there's
another 16-year-old kid laying in the backyard dead. I wish there were a silver
lining, but there isn't. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: In Minneapolis,
Sargents John Holthusen and Chris Granger are
investigating the murder of Joe Sodd. A few blocks from
the crime scene, they just found two Somali
men assaulting someone. Now, they need to find out
if the assault is related to their murderer. [CLOCK TICKING] Open this [BLEEP] door, man. This guy has no
respect for authority. All right, have
a seat here, sir. Have a seat, sir. I'm not supposed
to be here, man. Well, don't be throwing
stuff at the door. You're under arrest for assault.
SUSPECT 1: Assault? SGT. CHRIS GRANGER: Yeah. OK. [CLOCK TICKING] SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
Well, he lawyered up, so we're kind of done
with him, unfortunately. But at least we'll
get him on paper. We'll have photographs and
fingerprints on the guy. He certainly could be part of
the little group that took out our guy for-- for our
murder Absolutely, he could. NARRATOR: One day into the case,
investigators have no leads. REPORTER: A senseless crime
at a big loss for the arts Joe Sodd was found stabbed at
the intersection of 19th Avenue community. and 7th Street. Those who knew Sodd say he lived
life as he danced with passion. Here he is just last week. It would be his
last performance. Minneapolis police have no
one in custody for his death. [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: With no other
leads, investigators decide to gather more info
on alleged gangs in the crime scene neighborhood. That neighborhood is
the largest community of Somalis in North America. And just like any
other population, there's going to be
a criminal element. Some of the guys that are
considered the drunks, they're Rough
Tough Somali Crips. They're definitely heavily
involved in robberies. NARRATOR: According
to Officer Brudenell, a local gang called the Rough
Tough Somali Crips hangs out near the crime scene SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: So based on
the way our victim was killed, does that match the MO that
these guys operate under? I think so. I put together a
group of people. They're all pretty active. Good group of people
to take a look at. Thank you. Hi, guys. NARRATOR: Holthusen
briefs patrol on their search for the
alleged Somali gang members. We're trying really hard
to come up with something. All right, guys. Thank you. We'll see you out there. [CLOCK TICKING] We got a group over here. Good police work. NARRATOR: A few
hours later, they find several of the
men on their list. These guys are the regulars. Are they the ones
we're looking for? Yeah.
All of them. NARRATOR: Investigators will
interview the alleged gang members individually. The reason why
we're here is we're working that murder over there. What are you hearing
on the streets? Did they say why? NARRATOR: Then a local
resident comes forward. You want to talk to me? SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
Come on over. Story about the murder? OFFICER 4: Stabbed? OK. Yeah. The guy told you that his
friend stabbed the guy? - Yeah.
- Stabbed him? Yeah. NARRATOR: In Minneapolis,
Sergeants John Holthusen and Chris Granger
are investigating the fatal stabbing
of Joseph Sodd. While talking with
alleged gang members, a man came forward
and told investigators that someone in the
group knows the killer. Stabbed him? Yeah. [CLOCK TICKING] Do you got a few minutes? Can you-- can you come
for a ride with us? MAN 1: Yeah, absolutely.
- OK. Why don't you come
for a ride with us? All right. All right. NARRATOR: With just five
hours left in the first 48, investigators have
their first solid lead. Did I hear him right? Did I hear him say that dude
told him that his buddy killed this guy? DET. CHRIS GRANGER: That's
what I'm understanding. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: If
that's true, that'll be huge. He's got something to tell us. NARRATOR: They bring in a
translator to help clarify the man's story. We're investigating a murder
that happened a couple of days ago, and you had indicated
that you had some information about that. Tell me what the
guy said to you. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
What is the story? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] MAN 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] OK. What is that information? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: Did he
say who did the stabbing? [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] MAN 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: All he told
you was someone was stabbed. Is that what he's saying? MAN 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN: You
told us a different story. OK.
All right. Thank you. What he told us is
absolutely worthless. All he said was is
there was a murder. Well, we told him
there was a murder. He was telling something
different out there. It's absolutely worthless. NARRATOR: As the
clock winds down, the investigation is
back at square one. I thought this was going
to be pretty promising, and oh, he is a bust. I mean, you know, we
didn't get anything. We wasted 3 and 1/2 hours
finding out that someone told him a story about a stabbing. [CLOCK TICKING] NARRATOR: In the
"First 48," sargents John Holthusen and Chris Granger
responded to the fatal stabbing of Joseph Sodd. They talked to a homeless man
found near the crime scene and picked up another
man during an assault, but could tie neither
to the homicide. A day later, a man came forward
saying he had information about the murders. But back in homicide, it turned
out that he knew nothing. I hate to lose. I really do, especially when
the stakes are this high. I just-- you know,
we haven't lost yet. I'm not giving up.
I mean, there's no way in hell. We got a lot more to
do, a lot more to do, but this is a frustrating case. This is the first case I've
worked where you haven't had anyone come forward
with any information. That's frustrating. Well, now we're going to be
completely relying on the DNA results. That's pretty much all we have. Let's just hope that, you
know, we can get something out of those results. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Seven months
after Joseph Sodd's murder, investigators still
have no leads. SGT. JOHN HOLTHUSEN:
I still think back when I told the parents
that their son was dead. I'll never forget the
look on the dad's face. It's a little bit haunting. It's a motivator to-- to solve this thing. I can't bring his son back, but
I can at least maybe offer them some closure. You keep wondering to yourself,
are you missing something? Is there something that you're
not looking at that you should look at? And it's not going to go away
until I find out everything. [MUSIC PLAYING]
