Deadly Revenge in Kaufman County

[Music] hey you and welcome my name is Mike and in this whole video we're heading on down to Texas now Texas has a reputation for a lot of things one of them being Cowboys yeehaw am i right and when I think a Cowboys one story that keeps coming up again and again is a story of revenge you know someone wronged and seeking payback well in this story we don't have Cowboys instead of horses we have a Segway but what we do have is a story of revenge and a justice of the peace gone rogue in the town of Kaufman Texas let's giddyup [Music] Kaufmann is a small place in North East Texas about 30 miles ish from Dallas population of about seven and a half thousand people it's a rural enough place blink and you'll miss a kinda deal it's the seat of Kaufman County which has over 100,000 people in it and in 2013 like something out of a trailer right prosecutors started dying mark Hasse was a very experienced prosecutor having spent years going after organized gangs in the Dallas district attorney's office bit of a Harvey Dent style he moved to Kauffman to essentially get out of the credit city life he started working at the Kauffman County District Attorney's Office as assistant district attorney working under newly elected district attorney Mike McLelland and he seemed to be a great prosecutor and generally well-liked by everyone in the office mark Hasse got along great with his boss Mike McLelland everything was hunky-dory until it wasn't see then the 31st of January just before 9 a.m. gunshots rang out from near the courthouse in Kaufman five shots pause three shots authorities arrived quickly enough on the scene and lying on the pavement was 57 year old Mark Hasse [Music] no one knew why mark had been gunned down in broad daylight while on his way to work on his way to the office you know there is no weapon found there's no casings found even it was seem to have any oh the brazen work of well a killer the balls on them do not rush air although then again I said coffin yeah probably not much happening Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was shot multiple times in the parking lot a block from the courthouse police are looking for one or possibly two suspects witnesses say were dressed in black police say there was a very short confrontation between gunman and Hasse just before the attack county judge Bruce wood just an outstanding person individually but he was also just very well known and very well respected prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office this is just a horrible situation horrible tragedy the 57 year old Hasse had been a prosecutor in the County DA's office for three years he was earlier a prosecutor in Dallas where he worked on mob cases investigators do not have a motive but they described the shooting as a targeted attack people of the town though were on edge especially you know people from the district attorney's office you know high-profile enough assistant district attorney gunned down in broad daylight you know the district attorney Mike McLelland actually made it easier for everybody to get a concealed handgun license people were just worried about what the [ __ ] had happened witnesses had seen the shooting and said a man covered up couldn't make out his face had escaped him to passenger seat of a silver four-door getaway car so it seems like there was two people involved in the death of Mark Hasse and another thing was a different witness who didn't see it but was in a garage nearby heard what happened shortly before the shots rang out they said they heard mark talking with this person and Mark apparently was saying no no I'm sorry and then gunshots district attorney Mike McLelland and marks good friend he wasn't have an uneven I hope that the people that did this are watching because we're very confident that we're gonna find you we're gonna pull you out of whatever hole you're in we're gonna bring you back and let the people of Kaufman County prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law Kaufman County the state of Texas and especially my office has suffered a devastating loss today what's the part about this that hurts the most the fact that I can't reach out and grab somebody and do something about it right now because I want them really bad [Music] other law enforcement officials Texas Rangers ATF FBI descended on Kaufman they weren't gonna let you know someone murder one of their own and get away with it this became a major case so it didn't take long you know to put two and two together and figure out why a prosecutor may be you know on someone's bad list authorities started going through every one he had prosecuted in Kaufman in the tree years he had been a felony prosecutor there however though there were numerous cases a metric shit-ton nothing seemed to fit no violent crimes nothing that would warrant murder or was related to gangs but back in Dallas 30 miles away back in the day he had put away murderers violent offenders and some had been released by 2013 but a week into the investigation promising leads were non-existent four weeks later right a tip came in a person left an anonymous tip on their website saying that they were in a bar in Kaufman and had heard two lads yappin away about the death of Mark Hasse and they seemed to be yeah pretty knowledgeable about it hint hint however there wasn't enough heard the police to follow up on him because you know the entire system was anonymous they couldn't contact the tipster and he more or less said yeah there's two people talking about it maybe should know about it I was like oh well great thanks that's helpful so you know looking through some of the cases mark had prosecuted and specifically the way he had been killed like execution-style gangs became like their number one lead or number one thing they're investigating specifically Mexican cartels dios mio or even [ __ ] Nazis the Aryan Brotherhood I hate these guys see tree months before a shitload of them had been arrested and they even had made a tret that they wanted to quote get even the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office had played a role in that investigation now more breaking news in the shocking overnight murder of the head of Colorado's prison system Tom Clements was gunned down as he answered the front door of his monument home last night seven weeks after marks death the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections was murdered on his front door by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood even evil so everyone was becoming nervous but they were next especially as this Aven evil was still on the run and when he was pulled over in Texas he shot the [ __ ] out of a sheriff's deputy the deputy by the way survived can't say the same for Evan after a police chase on a shoot y'all 7:23 we haven't not had that discussion as of yet so things were looking bad but as the week's went on fewer and fewer tips were coming in and the investigators working on the Americas case he had the number of them just start to dwindle as things start to peter out [Music] [Music] and then it happened again on March 30th 2013 friends and family were supposed to pop over to the mclellands for an Easter dinner and when Mike and his wife Cynthia weren't answering any texts or calls that morning a friend came over to check if they were okay and everything was ready for the dinner inside shell casings were found right at the front door Cynthia was found lying in the living room and District Attorney Mike McLelland was found also both had been gunned down Mike was found with shell cases right by him again like his friend and assistant Mark Hasse execution-style so obviously connected you know someone was going after the Kaufmann district attorney's office starting with Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse and then going after head honcho himself district attorney Mike McLelland but things are really dark his wife also who you know whatever they were after it was obviously somewhat a grudge against the system they were going after family members now the hunt for the killer had started to die down but now it just ramped up again with even more vigor as things got even darker but you know the whole everybody was questioning who's next and we begin on this Saturday night with breaking news Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife have been found shot to death inside their home and sources are telling News eight tonight this does not appear to be a murder-suicide the stunning news comes just two months after the murder of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse no one was ever arrested in that case so headed someone gained access to the McClelland home there was no sign of forced entry front door unlocked and Mike had guns by the front door ones he obviously never got a chance to use the cases were from an ar-15 so a big ol gun home security showed that this intruder had entered the home shortly before 7 a.m. left 2 minutes later and in that short span of time 20 shots were fired I bet a day later on that same anonymous tipline I mentioned earlier a message came in saying do we hold no four times you know the authorities replied what yeah you have her attention now and no [ __ ] this anonymous person responded with the exact ammunition Mark Hasse had been killed with something that wasn't publicly available they then said you octave good fruth usually no one who talks this week they then said they wanted one of the judges in Kaufman to step down by the end of the week or else do not unreasonably and not distort so obviously someone local ruling out cartels or Nazis and so everyone in law enforcement basically slept with a gun under their pillow and a reward for $200,000 for information was was Raveena offered scaring CCTV near the McClelland home they got something a white four-door car driving the morning Mike and Cynthia were shot dead similar to the car a witness had seen the morning mark was killed to all the families that have been affected by this tragedy and especially do the the people that work at the courthouse I worked there for several years while I was going to law school and so I know that it's a tight-knit family this is devastating what's it make you feel like knowing that you've been somehow wrapped up in us it actually it actually makes me feel that the police are doing the thorough job they need to doing the roads for local reporters at this time was a man named Eric Williams on his little Segway god I hate those things cooperated with law enforcement I certainly wish them the best in bringing justice for this just incredibly egregious act however he hadn't been properly interviewed by the investigators at this stage because he was all lawyered up see over a year before all of this started happening back in 2011 Eric Williams had been prosecuted by both Mark Hasse and Mike McLelland he had been prosecuted by both of them both victims / theft and Eric Williams wasn't just some you know Jo soap off the street Eric Williams immense a member Wow big brain time was a lawyer on an elected Justice of the Peace in Kaufman until six months after he was elected he was charged with stealing tree computer monitors [Music] computer monitors not money weapons you know something really valuable computer monitors he was arrested I don't think that you actually believe I mean you're educated person I see your class ring on your finger that you can just walk into a department and say I need a bond here I'm taking that one I mean there's places that do them places being here in Kaufman County here unmarked and Mike prosecuted him for this a felony which seemed to drive Erick nuts Sierra could also supported Mike McClellan's opponent in the election for District Attorney so some thought the prosecution of Erick you know something that was not too serious to be fair was a [ __ ] show he was offered a deal plead guilty to a misdemeanor and avoid jail he refused as he didn't want a misdemeanor on his record Erick ended up not going to jail but he lost his licenses his ability to be elected everything mark Hasse said in the closing arguments of this trial again a trial for stealing three monitors said that guy over there sitting at the end of the table Eric Williams is an elected official but is nothing more than a thief and a burglar Mike McLelland by the way during the trial called Eric Williams is a his Texas National Guard base where he where he was stationed to inform them that you know Eric Williams he's he's a chronal LEM just thought you guys should know that so you can see how Eric might not be a big fan of Marc and Mike so when Eric Williams is lawyers stopped representing him Texas Rangers went by to uh hey mo little visit I've been in the house I know you got to go yeah for two years you don't have any more than one no I'm trying to sell and it's just hard as hell to sell and that they had a little luck around his place and found gun parts ones that match the weapons used in both murder scenes he'd also been doing a good bit of googling of both mark and Mike before the killings something he would lie about he was like I don't know what you're talking about well the Texas Rangers were like your your internet drug stuff right just should probably know that getting a warrant they also found out he owned the car he owned it under a false name the car seen by witnesses near Mark Hasse and by CCTV near the McCoy Island home they also found on his computer that Eric just so happened to be googling the names of the attorneys currently involved in the murder investigations so he was adding more names to his list they also found this hundred in his home that is the user ID from the anonymous tip system the one that claimed responsibility for the attacks and also the earlier tip when someone said they overheard people talking about the Mark Hasse death in a bar Eric Williams was arrested for making a terrorist threat not for murder yet not enough evidence but the next day a friend called the authorities investigating telling them that they had rented a storage unit to Eric her he's been arrested maybe should pop by it how the GU in it they found the car that they had been looking for and not only that police uniforms vests badges a shitload of ammo and a shitload of guns they also found in jars homemade napalm well they also at CCTV footage of him going into the storage unit the morning of the McClellan deaths right before he went to their house and then returning right after however the lab would reveal that none of the weapons found in the storage unit were the murder weapons but they had enough to charge Eric Williams with tree counts of capital murder the motive was simply revenge in December 2013 Eric Williams went on trial first off for the murder of Cynthia the prosecutors wanted to be sure they had their ducks in a row hence why he was tried separately for each the defense went wit well you know they'd never found a murder weapon so what you on about come on there is no known murder weapon in this case there's no one who can place Eric Williams in that scene at the McClellan home no one after 90 minutes the jury found him guilty we the jury unanimously find the defendant Eric Lyle Williams guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment you see what happened to be actually quite a strange series of events was that shortly after mark Hasse's death district attorney Mike McLelland actually suspected Eric Williams of being responsible for it and he didn't keep that suspicion to himself he would mention to everybody but I mean they didn't have enough to go on shortly after America's he was killed yeah investigators did go to his house and his arm was in a sling from an injury that apparently just didn't exist he's like yeah like of course I'm not responsible for killing somebody my arms booked they tested his hands for gunshot residue no dice but Mike McLelland had his suspicions about him right until the moment he showed up on his own door showing up wearing you know police uniforms Swat uniform getting them to open the door to him pretending to be a cop and then as soon as Cynthia or Mike open the door well remember a witness had seen the perpetrator of the Mark Hasse a death escape in the passenger seat of a car that drove away so they had the car they had Eric but who would the driver be well it would happen to be star witness for the prosecution Eric's wife Kim they had been married for 15 years she had been brought in shortly after Eric's arrest and after a brief resistance told the investigators she not only knew about the murders she helped him as getaway driver and lookout in both she also told the court how Eric true a black bag with the murder weapons off a bridge one night she was brought into court during the penalty phase to ensure Eric got the maximum sentence she also told how Eric had another person on his list a judge he was gonna kill with a crossbow [Music] Eric Williams was sentenced to death by lethal injection [Music] due to this prosecutors declined to try him with the Mike McLelland or Mark Hasse murders Kim Williams was sentenced to 40 years in prison and that's the story of that one a twist the tale of revenge you know Eric Williams with all of the weapons he had napalm for God's sake you know he was planning on going to war with Kaufman all for that stealing tree monitors you know getting prosecuted and losing everything for that ah maybe a bit overblown but I guess um his idea of revenge maybe was also a bit overblown he was gonna burn the whole place down you know and had another murder if he hadn't been caught how many other people would he have killed he wanted everybody involved gone he was that vengeful you know well bet he wish he hadn't stolen those monitors now huh thank you so much for watching I really appreciate it I will see you as always real soon in the next video take care of yourselves Mike [Music]

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,547,151

Keywords: that chapter, Kaufman County murders, eric lyle williams, mark hasse, mike mclelland, prosecutors murdered

Id: VRYSQfT9ZOA

Length: 24min 14sec (1454 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/everythingiswrong_]

Well that escalated quickly

[u/narrow_octopus]

Watching it right now!

[u/keep_running]

Love when Mike visits my home state lol

[u/TaylorAle]

Twists and turns!