Killer Cases - BACK-TO-BACK FULL Episode Marathon | A&E

and a tragic update out of Escambia County Florida tonight the body of a private investigator missing for more than a month has been found saying that that body they found around noon today is believed to be that of Taylor Wright deputies have charged Wright's friend Ashley MacArthur with second-degree murder hey Zach you're your wife is uh she's being arrested this evening and charged with murder MacArthur she murdering Pensacola private investigator Taylor Wright [Music] Taylor Wright it was murdered there was no question about that she was shot in the back of the head and buried do you know where Taylor Wright is do you know if Taylor writes dead did you kill Taylor Wright [Music] and what else did she say about finding her uh that she told me they'll never find that she's gone there will be no physical evidence showing you that Ashley MacArthur had anything to do with the death Taylor Wright [Music] as to the charge in count one we the jury find the defendant Ashley MacArthur [Music] County United States [Music] this is what he's going to tell you how to get out of that situation and I grabbed the gun trying to find the first place to put a body no sir the only thing they could do was kill him not to say anything we the jury to find the defense it's a beautiful place we're a place where people vacation so we have the Pensacola Naval Air Station love our Blue Angels world famous for those it's a great town a great place to raise your family like all cities we do have murders but you know anytime a murder comes up of this nature it certainly draws attention uh first name is Taylor last name is Wright w-r-i-g-h-t Taylor Wright was 33 years old when her body was found more than a month after she had been first reported missing Taylor should have called me Taylor would have called me and she didn't she was a former police officer from South Carolina turned a private investigator the mother of an eight-year-old son Taylor moved to Pensacola after a contentious divorce and fell in love with a woman we met um on a on an online dating app we were in a relationship for a short period of time but enough time to have sincere feelings and to say that I love this person and she's told me she loved me back Cassandra Waller is a public school administrator who soon invited Taylor to move in with her she was kind she was outgoing she would give you the shirt off of her back she was full of life she was full of energy she had all kinds of Hope had great big giant ideas but there were issues in Taylor Wright's life her new girlfriend suspected she was using drugs and had caught Taylor cheating on her with another woman and Taylor and her ex-husband Jeff Wright were still fighting over their son and their money I just know that Taylor didn't feel like it was equal in violation of the court orders Taylor had withdrawn one hundred thousand dollars from a joint account with her ex-husband and asked another of her new Florida friends Ashley MacArthur to help her hide the money by putting it in Ashley's bank account but now the divorce judge had ordered Taylor to show up with the money or face jail so the night before Taylor went missing we went out to eat and Taylor was just really stressed out she was talking about how Ashley was holding on to this money that Taylor needed to get it back and she she felt awkward about it she felt like something wasn't right the next day Taylor and Ashley were set to go to a bank in Pensacola to pick up the money Ashley had been holding for her and we gave each other a hug and a kiss and at that time I'm walking out of my driveway Ashley pulls up I say hey Ash and she's like hey Cassandra and I said you guys have a good day I got in my car and I drove away that was the last time I ever saw Taylor a few hours later Ashley called Cassandra to say that instead of going to the bank she and Taylor had driven out of town to go horseback riding on a farm in East Milton owned by Ashley's family I was like weren't you guys supposed to go back she goes yeah you know Taylor's really stressed out with the divorce stuff and she's just been really emotional today these are the things that she's telling me tell her everything's fine like there's we'll get through this later that night she got this text message from Taylor's phone saying I'm sorry like I'm not doing anything wrong I started getting angry and upset because here we were in a relationship I'm thinking Taylor's telling me that she needs time to herself and she's not including her partner and I hurt my feelings and as the days and nights went by Cassandra Waller was both worried something had happened and then angry Taylor might have left her for someone else I sent her texts I tried calling her nothing no responses nothing [Music] but after more than a week what had begun as a missing person's case for police soon took on an ominous cast everyone is initially a suspect so certainly Taylor's ex-husband was certainly on everyone's radar and Cassandra Taylor's girlfriend at the time but very early on we treated it as if it were a homicide being handled by two detectives Chad wilheit and Richard gigliotti who had just been promoted to Detective the first thing we did with this case was contacted Cassandra Waller there was a time they came to my house and at one point the detective gigliotti crawled under my house so I'm sitting on the front porch with Detective Wilhite bawling my eyes out because this is embarrassing why am I being looked at work and here I am in this room that they would use to interrogate people and it's it's padded walls it's a place you don't want to be she's in her Inner Circle he's her girlfriend so she needs to be pressured as well during the interview to gauge a reaction see how honest she's being with us those questions do got to be asked she was dead right now I don't know did you open it they asked me if I killed Taylor and I lost it when Ashley MacArthur was brought in for questioning as the last person known to have seen Taylor Wright alive so let's start that day from the beginning she said she doubted any harm had come to Taylor Wright offering suggestions about her whereabouts she wanted to appear as she as though she was cooperative right and she wanted she didn't want to deny anything that we asked she wanted to seem Cooperative telling the detectives Taylor might just be off on a drug bid the only thing I worry about is with the drug situation like I wouldn't even but then not lifestyle because a different group of people sure which is what I worry about with her and we don't know that she ever had intentions on leaving maybe she wanted to have fun and then someone found her with a bag full of cash and that's that's why we we have to follow it on every single Avenue and ask all these Cassandra's understanding was that this money was in a safety deposit box of Ashley MacArthur's at Wells Fargo so when Ashley was asked about a safety deposit box at Wells Fargo she said that there was nothing have you ever had a safe deposit box there yeah there's no safety deposit box there was no account at Wells Fargo with money that that was that didn't happen but text messages on Taylor's phone made it clear Taylor thought her money was at the Wells Fargo talking about meeting at the WF likely being the Wells Fargo needing to get there needing to get the money clearly that was a problem we spent time driving the route that Ashley MacArthur gave us that they took looking for surveillance footage they found this surveillance tape at a gas station nowhere near the bank where Ashley says they stopped to buy Taylor a beer around 10 in the morning have you ever seen a drink in Texoma day before so all his behavior and in fact I said something to her I was like here at this time in the morning she was like oh It's Five O'Clock Somewhere I'm like it's a perfect response then Ashley told the detectives they headed out to the horse farm in East Milton drove around there and she was just I don't know we were just hanging out she's a strange girl Ashley claims she then drove Taylor back from East Milton to Ashley's home and the tailor called an Uber and left she was fine she just said detectives would soon discover was another claim from Ashley MacArthur that would not check out when we contacted Uber Taylor's account hadn't been used in months something was wrong something was definitely wrong now more than a month since Taylor Wright went missing Cassandra Waller was increasingly desperate to find out what happened to her pleading for help on Facebook nobody's reached back out to me I still haven't heard from her nobody's heard from her so I'm I'm calling hospitals in Louisiana in Mississippi and Alabama and Ashley MacArthur was busy calling the detectives to suggest where Taylor Wright might be hiding um well are you unaware that she had become the prime suspect she got back on he's definitely curious on what we're doing and where we're at I should definitely fish in for information but we didn't want to tip her off um anything going on there and so on a regular basis she would call me and I had to of course be friendly with her and I hate father he's in a side check all right thanks Ashley I couldn't answer the phone surely and say yeah so you know we'll be arresting you here shortly you just wait the turning point of the case came from the records of cell phone towers which keep track of which cell phones are nearby your cell phone's always communicating with a cell tower and the cell phone companies know exactly which Tower is communicating with and the data showed that Ashley's timeline her Alibi did not check out and when we got that information that's when we really found out okay Ashley and Taylor never went out to this East Milton Farm Family Farm that Ashley was saying they went out to where they were supposedly riding horses we knew right away very big deal the Tower Records instead showed her on that day about 30 miles away in the Northwest part of the county and what is she doing up there detective Alverson and I um had to she had a great idea of let's check the Property Appraiser's website and we typed in Ashley's maiden name which is Brit and it popped up the first property record search found 2201 Britt Road and lo and behold it was uh in the cell phone tower information that we were receiving it was right in the middle of all that data it was a good moment we're like okay we're getting somewhere and at that point were you pretty sure she was the one oh certainly yes certainly we had cell towers of her line we had the bank records her depositing the money and we have uh surveillance footage from Banks showing her depositing Taylor rights checks checks that are signed Taylor Wright but it's not Taylor Wright's signatures they're not her handwriting but the detectives had to keep a tight lid on their suspicions because Ashley's husband Zach was also close to people in law enforcement a former County Sheriff's deputy in fact we didn't tell many people here that Ashley was a suspect in the case because we didn't know who what ties she had with people now it was time to bring Ashley back in for what would be a showdown round of questioning what you've been doing you know we've turned up some things that we don't we don't really know what to think at this point we knew this was aren't going to be our last interview because at that point we knew all the three simultaneous search warrants were going on at her house at the farm and at her family business so before we ask you any questions you must understand your rights you're the right to remain silent anything you say against you can use against your court detective gigliadi played the role of the good cop Wilhite the bad cop I don't have a problem confronting people with what I know is a lie someone has to play that role I was fine with it at that time starting with the cell tower data he has the ability to plot all your phone calls for that day but when we started applying all the phone calls and you and Taylor were making that day um there are some discrepancies I want you to hold us okay okay um we know that you didn't go to Milton when you said you wanted not when you say you went that easy next Taylor writes checks do you have a signature that is Taylor's name but it doesn't really look like her signature who you maybe wrote her name on there by chance and then finally what happened at that farm on Brit Road what we're all doing out there this far so we know y'all were there we picked up food Taylor has there that supposedly a chance or um why would you not tell us about the original name I guess here for I got you she seemed to get really closed off I would say um kind of Turning Away I think she crosses her arms or legs remember correctly I don't think I actually reach over and try to break that defense down for a second so you could tell she was definitely uncomfortable at that point [Music] what were you thinking about well [Applause] this is [Music] so regular what would that tell us about this even if she didn't want you to tell us about we're working a missing person in case where you're friends for over a year is missing of hearing important to this at all the detective was having none of it so you're the only one that was with her on this day at this farm that you did not disclose to us I didn't do anything here at that farm we're going to find her because we're executing a search warrant out there right now where's her body at I don't know where she is thank you she had two options either tell us what took place out there or ask to speak to an attorney and terminate the interview tell us what happened I think at this point I needed an attorney the detectives had no choice but to let Ashley MacArthur leave the police station the search at the Brit Road Farm had still not turned up anything about an hour or two after she walked out of this apartment we I was on the phone with one of the supervisors out on the Brit Road property and someone yelled in the background that they had a skull I had no question and I think either of our minds that this was most certainly going to be Taylor rights remains and a tragic update out of Escambia County Florida tonight the body of a private investigator missing for more than a month has been found the body found in a shallow grave at the Brit Road Family Farm covered with concrete and potting soil hey Zach your wife is uh she's being arrested this evening and charged with murder what but Ashley McArthur had not broken under the questioning had not confessed to anything would there be enough evidence for a jury to convict for the record we're here on the State of Florida versus Ashley MacArthur defending his present with Council assistant State Attorney is present and once again the law and crime network has picked a phenomenal trial Florida versus Ashley McArthur there's cameras here there's camera over there there's microphone this has nothing to do with you if anyone has to sit up straight it's me if anyone has to put on lipstick it's me this is a criminal case the defendant is charged with first degree premeditated murder I think I've covered everything and think of Miss Jensen I'm going to turn it over to you thank you please support what you will see at the end Bridget Jensen is the chief of the homicide unit in the Escambia County District Attorney's office honestly herself she was this very small very pretty kind of Meek quiet-spoken female who'd never been in trouble so from the outside looking in no one would think that she would do something like this and really what you will see in the end is that Ashley MacArthur had the motive to kill Taylor Wright money she had the opportunity to kill Taylor Wright she did in fact kill Taylor Wright and then she tried to cover it up but to get to that ending we have to start at the beginning Taylor Wright withdrew one hundred thousand dollars from the bank when she wasn't supposed to and then she was trying to hide that money from her ex-husband and she also asked her friend this defendant Ashley MacArthur to help hide the money you will see the pressure that Taylor Wright was putting on Ashley MacArthur to get this money and the reason that matters is because the money was gone Ashley MacArthur had spent it Friday September 8th 2017 is the last day that Taylor Wright is known to be alive [Music] it's with this defendant Ashley McArthur and they were supposed to be going to the bank Taylor Wright was never seen alive again Ashley MacArthur was represented by a father and son team of lawyers Barry and John barossat ladies and gentlemen jury as you sit through this case you will see the evidence isn't there there's Reasonable Doubt in this case and that's what I was trying to convey to them in the opening statement there will be no physical evidence introduced in this trial showing you that Ashley MacArthur anything to do with the death table right there will be no eyewitness testimony introducing the evidence showing you that Ashley MacArthur had anything to do with the death of Taylor Wright there will be no murder weapon introduced into evidence that has any connection to Ashley MacArthur the first witness called by the prosecution was Taylor Wright's ex-husband Jeff Wright who had briefly been considered a possible suspect were you and Taylor legally divorced yes essentially had to clear him and I think if the jury didn't hear from him it would be probably a weakness for the state's case Mr Wright did you sir who asked her if she maybe knew where Taylor was and what was what responses did she give you she said that she had last seen Taylor with two backpacks a significant amount of money that Taylor was nervous about the upcoming trial the defense used Wright's testimony as an opportunity to raise a question of whether he had a motive to harm Taylor Wright she had antagonized a lot of people and especially over the divorce and the money issues with her husband fair to say that Taylor Wright was making it very very difficult for you to get this money back that's correct but MacArthur's lawyers knew that police had established Jeff Wright's whereabouts hundreds of miles away in North Carolina and they knew better than to outright accused Jeff Wright of the murder yeah we can't lose credibility with the jury we can't make it so incredible that they don't believe us on the second day of the trial the prosecution called Taylor Wright's girlfriend Cassandra Waller she was nervous about making eye contact with Ashley now do you see Ashley MacArthur in the courtroom today I do can you please point to her and identify what she's wearing she's right here she's wearing a black outfit and then I looked at Ashley Ashley never looked at me Ashley was always looking down at her scribble Pad but the record reflect this witness has identified the defendant during the course of your relationship with Taylor Wright did you ever have an opportunity to see her handwriting yes did she write you letters yes did she give you cards yes were you familiar with her handwriting and her signature yes I'm showing you Stacy's unit number 26. does that look like Taylor Wright's handwriting that is not Taylor's handwriting or signature or her signature but on cross-examination Cassandra Waller testified she'd never saw any evidence of threats by Ashley MacArthur against Taylor Wright in all the times that you Saul Ashley MacArthur and Taylor Wright together you never heard saw anything to indicate to you that Ashley MacArthur was threatening to harm Taylor Wright causing her you know gonna cause her any physical harm anything like that and no indication that the Taylor Wright was scared of or anything like that no the defense then raised questions about Cassandra's own at times challenge relationship with Taylor Wright citing the text she had sent to Taylor on the first day she was missing as those text messages show you called her a liar you called her a drug user what I was trying to point out is that Taylor had a somewhat volatile life going back to Late July 2017 you indicated to us that you received information that Taylor was having some sort of relationship with another woman over in Mississippi correct yes she had the secret girlfriend in Mississippi she was known to use drugs just because you don't hear from her on September 8th or 9th doesn't mean she was murdered at that point that was the point I was trying to make with Cassandra it's it's got to be clear as day that I have nothing to do with this and the fact that they still played the it that I could have possibly been somebody for the jury that could have ruined my reputation my professional career they'll throw anything and everything out there that's not okay testimony would show that Ashley came from a solid middle class family but could often be found in strip clubs and sketchy bars or her girlfriends and a bartender testified she talked the night before Taylor disappeared about killing her with an overdose of cocaine she had just purchased did Ashley tell you either before during or after you went to babes what she was going to do with the cocaine she said that she was going to put it in Taylor's beard what did you hear Ashley say um that this world would be better if Taylor wasn't here and that she wasn't a good person one time she said that she's too small to hurt anybody she'd just shoot them and then this the night Taylor went missing did you ask ask Ashley what she did with the cocaine that she put in her beer and Taylor spit it out because she said it tasted sour the prosecution's case depended heavily on Ashley's motive that she could not give back Taylor Wright's money because she had already spent it on a man with whom she was having an extramarital affair a bar owner named Brandon Beatty at some point did you and Miss MacArthur start a sexual relationship so I was able to trace thirty thousand dollars in cash that Ashley had used to buy her boyfriend a boat power bill at Styx she did a couple times was she buying supplies at Sam's Club for your business yes you did in approximately August of 2017 did she buy your motorcycle I'm not sure that yes she did purchase motorcycles okay a purchase made a few weeks before Taylor Wright went bissing how much and how often was Ashley McArthur spending money on you time I'm sorry um I I don't know how to answer that to be honest with you okay pretty regular and um what did she say about her friend being missing the police had took her phone or she's told me that uh her the girl would ran off with her husband's money or something and just like just gone and what else did she say about finding her uh that she told me they'll never find that she's gone [Music] but the defense would have its own cars to play including a video of Ashley MacArthur that would give her lawyers a surprise opening to undercut the prosecution case hurricane Dorian now a category two storm strengthening this morning threatening to hit Florida as a major category 4 hurricane in the middle of the Ashley MacArthur murder trial Pensacola came under a hurricane watch and in the courthouse judge Jan sackelford urged the lawyers to speed things up so what I read in the most recent update was alarming durian on the move you see it right there making its way through the Atlantic as you can see this storm is just getting bigger and bigger but prosecutor Bridget Jensen was intent I'm playing the full six hours of the two police interrogations of Ashley MacArthur that was important because the jury gets to see Ashley MacArthur I wouldn't think so like I don't I don't believe Taylor's been here I just I think Taylor's doing what Taylor does if you looked at the first interview Ashley was almost kind of flirty maybe a little playful with law enforcement has she ever come onto you or a threesome with her and some guy and I'm like thank you and the second interview her demeanor was was so different I think she knew at that point you know she was probably caught so you're the only one that was with her on this day at this form that you did not disclose this I didn't do anything she's at that farm we're gonna find her because we're executing a search warrant out there right now so it was good I think for the jury to see um that she had lied and she got caught up in her lies and couldn't come up with excuses fast enough [Music] you know this is a perfect example of when you talk to law enforcement too much whether you're guilty of Innocence it's going to come back and hurt you and the Father and Son team of defense lawyers could do little to challenge much of the other prosecutions evidence too the gruesome photos of Taylor Wright's body wrapped in a hammock in a shallow grave a bullet hole in the back of her head the testimony about the cell phone towers that put Ashley MacArthur at the crime scene you have in the cell phone records the maps that were put into evidence cell tower near the Brit Road farm at 12 10 pm the Ford signature on Taylor's cashier's check deposited in Ashley MacArthur's bank account Taylor is missing and she is still depositing Taylor's money and the suspicious text messages from Taylor's phone after she was likely dead but then a video that the prosecution hoped would help clinch the case gave the defense a surprise opening surveillance video from a Home Depot of Ashley MacArthur buying concrete and potting soil the day after Taylor went missing a store clerk Devonte Sims helped her make the purchase I was walking through the store and asked tradition you hope what was she looking for a type of concrete what type of concrete she just said she was I'm sorry I like a fascinating concrete a fascinating concrete but then looking at the crime scene photos Sims testified the textured Rocky concrete on Taylor Wright's body appeared to be different than what Ashley MacArthur bought this Rocky the defense was jubilant I'd leaned back and made a comment to my dad kukana was just boom like I was happy you know and I'm sure you can get the photographs he said the concrete that Miss MacArthur bought was very fine like dust the concrete on top of Taylor Wright's body was very pebbly right you could see rocks in it it was not fine like dust and then the defense set out to prove in its case that Ashley MacArthur would not have been able to lift a 50-pound bag of concrete or even Taylor Wright's body because of a back injury she suffered eight years earlier her mother Rhonda Britt did you see her ever lift any heavy objects no she tried not to because um it hurt her back have you ever seen her lift anything like a 50 pound concrete bag or anything that heavy no and is that to this day yes definitely was hard to picture how this little girl could move a dead body but at the same time Taylor was not a big girl either I think where there's a will there's a way in the end the defense case rested mostly on the fact there was only circumstantial evidence no fingerprints no DNA tying Ashley MacArthur to the crime scene when you were here you were the lead investigator for the Escambia County Sheriff's Department on this investigation is that correct yes as far as physical evidence or forensic evidence you never found any physical or forensic or trace evidence that linked Ashley MacArthur to the homicide I did did not know sir it is the state's job to give you everything the good the bad the ugly and you heard some very unflattering information about Taylor Wright and you may not like some of what you heard about Taylor Wright but in this trial she is the victim so let's not forget that she was the 33 year old mother of a child and she was a human being and our laws in the great state of Florida do not classify human beings so her life means no less than anyone else's and this woman sat there hour after hour in those interviews you saw calm cool collected not one ounce of sadness or concern or worry for her friend that was missing she was so forthcoming about all the bad things that Taylor did but you know what she wasn't forthcoming about those deposits of Taylor's money that she made and that property on Brit Road and why because as she sat there giggling and laughing and joking with law enforcement on September 18th she knew that Taylor was out there on Brit Road because that's where she murdered her and that's where she tried to cover up her body ladies and gentlemen Ashley MacArthur had the motive Ashley MacArthur had the opportunity Ashley MacArthur murdered Taylor Wright and then she tried to cover it up with lies concrete and potting soil okay all right ladies and gentlemen I'm going to turn it over Mr Barry Barossa [Music] we're here about a murder case the most serious crime you can be charged with she is not charged with stealing any money she's not charged with lying she's not charged with being unfaithful but she's not on trial for anything other than first degree murder they've got to prove that the crime occurred and they don't have any physical evidence they have none there's no DNA linking Miss MacArthur to Taylor Wright's death there's no trace of scientific evidence linking her you've seen enough on television you see what happens when somebody's traumatized if they've done something if they killed somebody or if they've seen somebody kill somebody you just don't turn that on and off there's nothing to indicate anything in her demeanor through these videos that they've got that they put in or her clothing or her disheveled that indicates that she was killing somebody dragging somebody's body around there's nothing there and that's strong evidence physical evidence that you can see not something the state is suggesting here's the kicker now the concrete you have photographs she put one of them up on the screen a big one and you saw the concrete that concrete was rough concrete it is not the concrete that she purchased when you consider the evidence and the burden that the state has I ask you to do your duty in this case because there is a reasonable doubt and I ask you to return the verdict of not guilty of Miss MacArthur all right we're back on the record State of Florida versus Ashley MacArthur my understanding is we have a verdict foreign they were out I think four hours and you never know you never know that seems like an eternity while you're waiting 12 people it takes one person to to find a hole that you know that they don't think she's guilty let me talk to everybody in the audience somebody out there is going to be unhappy I don't know what the verdict is I know there are some family members and friends for Ms MacArthur and presume that there are family members and friends for Taylor Wright I was in the courtroom I am like two pews right behind Ashley so the jury came in and there was a lot of unknown what's going to happen what's going to be said and this judge she talked about making sure that everybody was going to control their emotions when the verdict was read and and I was afraid I I had no clue what was going to happen at all Mr Faust were y'all able to reach a verdict okay all I want you to do is to hand it to court security okay I'm going to hand it to the clerk to publish circuit court and in for Escambia County Florida State of Florida versus Ashley Britt MacArthur case number 1717cf005844a verdict as to the charge in count one we've we the jury fund the defendant Ashley MacArthur thank you guilty of first-degree free meditative murder with a farm as charged in the indictment so say we all David a Faust four-person dated August 30th 2019. so I was trying to fight back all all the tears and all the emotions and everything that I had been through so we knew that if she's convicted the judge we're going to sentence her right away which judge did [Music] stand and Ms MacArthur I'm going to ask you one question raise your right hand do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be the truth if so say I do okay Miss MacArthur I want to make sure that I ask you personally do you want to say anything to the court all right then Ashley MacArthur have been having been found guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt by a jury of your peers a first degree premeditated murder with a firearm I am going to adjudicate you guilty I'm going to sentence you to life with a mandatory minimum 25 years State Prison in the end Justice was done she was when the rest of her life she will spend the rest of her life in prison it's gone it's really fun this is done it had been two years [Music] and it was finally a book closed it was we're done she did it [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] together and they were kind of looking forward to a night out [Music] surveillance video of her inside the bar as well as outside and it's at that point where she gets up and exits the patio in his last scene leaving towards the West County number one what is the address for emergency we just found a human body [Music] we have an explosive new trial for you out of Wisconsin it's the most brutal murder that has ever been committed by one person in the history of Brown County Doug murdered Nicole in a fit of jealousy and anger fueled by insecurity alcohol and numerous other drugs you knew all along what happened to Mickey a ride home a tournament okay your wife is understand this this is what he's going to tell you how to get out of that situation and I grabbed the gun trying to find the first place to put a body no sir the only thing they could do was kill him you want to say anything we the jury to find the defendant [Music] all right Friday Saturday nights a good nighttime party life here in downtown Green Bay [Music] and on this warm spring night the action is at a place called The Watering Hole the friendly atmosphere somewhere among the hundreds of people dancing and rocking out with a band from California the steel path did not live to see the dawn of the next day her name was Nicole vanderheiden Nikki at the concert with her live-in boyfriend Doug they had a young son together and they were kind of looking forward to a night out and it started off really well from what we know but both of them were drinking heavily police would later say especially Nikki plus she was breastfeeding she had a young son so her tolerance probably wasn't what it used to be with the concert ends Nikki and Friends head to another bar the Sardine Can with Doug saying he will catch up shortly other surveillance video of her inside the bar as well as outside she can be seen on the video dancing having a good time but still no duck and I know that there were text messages between her and Doug accusing him of staying behind talking to other women Nicole was starting to get irritated and upset with Doug because here she is with all Doug's friends and she doesn't know them very well hmm and her boyfriend who she wanted to spend the night with is not there nope eventually they move outside to an outside patio area and it's at that point where she gets up and exits the patio in his last scene leaving towards the West friend tried to stop her and confront her but just couldn't get her to stop or listen and she just kind of kept walking down the road by herself what happened next would not soon be forgotten in this small City in the American Midwest for our company number one what is the address for emergency we just found a human body okay person beyond help or do I need to give instructions for CPR no it's downhill is it a male or a female it's got long hair but I didn't go near it you couldn't even tell who it was her face was completely black and blue she had more than 240 injuries from what had happened the only articles of clothing that were left on her body was a sock on each foot and then there was like a pink pinkish colored bracelet that you'd get from like an event on one of her wrists from County public safeties this is Therese it was three hours later when another call came in to 9-1-1 yes um how do I go about I guess the missing persons it was Nikki's boyfriend Doug okay and who oh it's my girlfriend and she does live with me and she's never done this before what's her name Nicole Vander Heiden no detective Brian Slinger had a name for the victim and a name for a likely suspect and what's your name Doug Dietrich they had already found the body and and someone calling saying that they can't find their girlfriend obviously there were some things that were concerning to us um you know why did you wait so long to make this phone call especially when you have a newborn baby at the house that needs mother's attention so it kind of painted a picture that maybe Doug had done this an officer was dispatched to Doug dietrich's home I'm here for a missing persons report we used a audio video recording device to record it so that we could get a look at him you know we focused on his hands we focused on the general condition of his body focused on the condition of his house his behaviors dietary was not told about the discovery of a body just three miles away do you suspect any follow play if so why just I don't know I I don't suspect it but this the area she walked in I don't know if I don't like okay his story was he went to bed I woke up once or twice through the night to use the bathroom and to take care of the baby and I woke up the next morning you know 10 11 o'clock somewhere in there and she still wasn't home decree had not called in the missing person report until four in the afternoon I'd be lying if I said we weren't alarmed with his level of concern the level of concern did not seem to match what it should be I guess so that night detectives got a warrant to search the home Doug and Nikki shared it's probably the first person you look to the boyfriend the fact that there was a falling out that night Mr Dietrich obviously was a person of interest right away and Dietrich was brought to the Sheriff's Office for what would be a grueling three-hour late night interrogation oh the detectives Brian Singer and Lee Kingston wanted to know why Doug had waited so long to call in the missing persons report I wasn't feeling good all day as an hour and still like and then not wondering how to help with another guy whatever I was just going through my mind after about two hours the detectives finally tell deitrie about the body found in the nearby farm field I don't think it's been 100 identified as it is what do you mean a lot of similarities there's some physical description I blonde belly button ring they are watching him closely to see his reaction before asking him essentially if he killed her or she is or what happens did you do anything that caused her to go missing no uh not at all [Music] besides being an I mean no the detectives raised the stakes telling Doug Dietrich they want the clothes he was wearing that night when he was out with Nikki and that they are already searching his house for evidence of a murder is there anything in your when they go search your houses they're going to find anything anything in their house they're going to find that's gonna It's Gonna Save you at anything absolutely nothing whatsoever I have nothing to do with it I mean it's just for the next half hour as the detectives watch Doug T3 sobs almost uncontrollable at one point saying he is scared yes sir sweater bag [Music] were they the tears of a grieving boyfriend with the tears of someone who was scared he has been caught I will find him I love you I love you [Music] Green Bay Wisconsin is all about its football team the Green Bay Packers um yeah pretty much anywhere you go around here it's Green Bay Packers yeah if you don't love the Packers you might get booted out it's green and gold here for days and days and days but the stadium was empty the football season had not yet started on the spring weekend Nikki vanderheiden was killed and so her brutal murder was all anyone talked about many people said how can such a brutal crime take place in Green Bay Wisconsin how can somebody commit such a random act in our community not in my backyard like it was very scary I mean can't think of anything worse a random attack like that um on a young lady at bar close you know in a small 100 000 person community and the shock of Nicole Vander Heinen's death was felt throughout this family-friendly City by all accounts she was a very good teacher and she was an excellent mother a Smiler somebody who they said would light up a room Nikki was the mother of three two from a previous marriage and the third six-month-old Dylan with her live-in boyfriend Doug Dietrich she really cared about her kids and would never have done anything to put them In Harm's Way or in Jeopardy or to leave them alone the first big break in the case came with a call from two joggers out for a morning run coincidentally caught on a student driver's dashboard camera we were out jogging that morning at about 5 5 30 and we had to jump over a pool of blood in the road and if you look close on the right hand side you could see where the blood and stuff is and then a neighbor found more of the grizzly evidence on his lawn including a wire cord he had run over with his lawnmower that's absolutely where that murder took place the the blood that was collected there the hair samples and then that cord that was found which we believe is like a phone charging cord came back all positive with Nicole vanderheiden's blood DNA and then detectives begin to hear from Nikki's friends and relatives that Doug had been abusive to Nikki [Music] dark our sister Heather said Doug drank heavily and used cocaine [Music] her that he has been beating her she asked has he ever hit you and she said yeah [Music] and she did and one of Doug's former girlfriends Rebecca Mott came forward to tell detectives how Doug could be jealous and often violent faculty and I broke my ankle he would um you know throw stuff like stuff and I mean I would too he wasn't the most stand-up citizen or the best boyfriend by any means and now the search warrant at Doug's home began to produce results Nicole had some significant prints on her back that appeared to be a shoe which is like a herringbone pattern that's common on the bottom of Air Jordan or Nike Jordan shoes we located a pair of shoes and Mr dietrich's garage that had that similar pattern on them that also had some red staining red drops on the bottom of them that we figured was consistent with blood and inside of Nikki's car parked in the garage was what appeared to be blood splatter blood drops in the back seat we were pretty confident at that time that um that Doug was responsible our Theory at the time was that somehow Nicole got home there was a disturbance or some sort of disagreement out in the street or in the driveway and then the theory was that Doug used her vehicle which was in the garage to transport the body at 703 PM attempting contact with Doug Dietrich what's the address less than 72 hours after Nikki's body had been discovered detective Brian Slinger was on his way to Doug deitrie's house to arrest him for murder we'll talk down there and I'll kind of explain to you what's going on he was pretty I mean he was emotional he had had the chance to speak to a family attorney prior to his arrest so there was no interview after his arrest he was just transported to the to the jail Doug diedre's arrest for the murder of his girlfriend sent another shockwave through Green Bay he comes from a pretty well-off family here in the area he had a pretty good life and so people just thought he was kind of you know a rich kid kind of getting away with what he wanted Dietrich had no alibi for his whereabouts that fateful night when Nikki walked off into the darkness and the friend who was with him that night Greg Mathew appeared to the detectives to be evasive about Doug's movements I'm going to tell you that there's no doubt in anybody's mind that the evidence shows that your friend Doug had involvement in her murder there's no doubt about it okay and the friend became upset when detectives asked him about Doug's whereabouts in the hour before the babysitter Dallas said Doug had returned home who can vouch for you for the 60 minutes before you showed up and made contact what is it 60 Minutes one hour I'm asking for a one hour period of time who can vouch for where you were if your phone is dead so nobody that's your alibi nobody that's your Alibi your Alibi is the guy it's a glossy for murder the evidence against Doug dietry was building but the case was about to take another dramatic turn all because of something a detective saw on this body cam video of Doug Dietrich when he first reported Nikki missing breaking news on the case of the Brown County woman whose body was found in a farm field 16 days after he had been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Nikki Doug Dietrich was released from jail Doug how do you feel have any comments people were really shocked and were like what are police doing how can they let a murderer go when we know where we thought we knew that he was the one that did it but behind the scenes the case against him had completely Fallen apart a lot of what changed was we were getting evidence back from the crime lab there's a lack of physical evidence tying Doug to her body to her clothing the blood found on his Air Jordan shoes was not that of Nikki vanderheiden but that of a turkey who wouldn't know any would have went turkey hunting a week or two prior and there'd be turkey blood in the garage the blood found in Nikki's car wasn't hers but that of her daughter and the vehicle couldn't have been used to move the body as police first theorized we're able to find out that that car did not move the entire weekend and then the Clincher we went back and looked at the videos and we had noticed that Mr Dietrich was wearing his Fitbit the day that we interviewed him at the house when he called in the missing person we started thinking about can we get the data off that Fitbit to show was he moving around that night the device was turned over the crime technician Tyler Bailey Fitbit is an activity tracker that you wear on your wrist similar to a watch or bracelet there was a short amount of steps recorded in the middle of the night consistent with you know someone getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and then after that there was another period where there was no movement recorded from the Fitbit Doug d3's Fitbit confirmed his Alibi and there was no way he would have gotten up in the middle of the night went out into the front yard committed a brutal murder drove a couple miles away and then came back home detective Brian Slinger had worked hard to destroy his own case and clear Doug Dietrich of the crime but still felt bad about first arresting an innocent man for murder we missed the funeral he missed certain things he was he was painted as this and I think you know anyone would be lying or they said they didn't feel slightly bad about it okay well then who do they think did this is this person still out there are they in the community I think it was pretty scary for people living in that area too to realize that okay if Doug didn't do it who did and where is this person and the key was to find whoever met up with Nikki vanderheiden sometime after she walked away from this Downtown Bar and then killed her police didn't have a clue we reenacted it numerous times we walked the path and she kind of walked off into darkness and and that's kind of where we were at it would be two full months before a breakthrough gotta call it from the crime lab telling me that they were able to get enough DNA off of one of the socks of all things from her body to enter it into the CODIS system the coda system is a nationwide registry of DNA collected by the FBI anyone who has ever been arrested will be in there and they got a hit from the state of Virginia for George Stephen Birch George Stephen Birch had been arrested in Norfolk Virginia in 2001 for murder but was acquitted at trial he had five other criminal convictions and was on probation for one of them requiring him to stay in Virginia you know I'm thinking is this a transient is this a truck driver that may have been in the area for the weekend um how is someone from Virginia's DNA showing up in in Green Bay what the investigators did not know was that George Burch had been living in Green Bay for some three months in this house the home of Linda and Edward Jackson I'm Adam long time ago back in Upstate New York him and his wife were separating and he knew I was doing very well out here so he asked me if he could come out and get a fresh start he was extremely flights he called me Miss Linda and I kind of like that just very personable very very personable Birch was a regular at a bar three blocks away from the Jackson Hole a place called Richard craniums so fun loving you know everybody at Richard cranium s called him big country and he was six foot eight tall guy but very friendly he was always I guess you'd say very Charming towards the girls he had no problem with walking up to any girl and just talking with him and striking up the conversation The Jacksons say they had no idea the man staying in their home was being sought in the Nikki vanderheiden murder investigation in fact Ed Jackson and George Burch had gone fishing the very day her body was discovered oh he was real happy he had a big smile on his face and holding it up and that picture actually played a big part in it also because uh when you focus in on it and you look at his right hand you can see the cuts on his knuckles but detectives only learned that Birch was in Green Bay after he seemingly outsmarted himself we had no contact with him with the sheriff's department however Green Bay Police Department did have one contact with him from right around that time frame it was from a minor hit and run traffic accident involving a Chevy Blazer that belonged to the Jacksons when the vehicle was found the front seat had been set on fire it was the same vehicle Birch drove the night of the murder and at that point The Jacksons called in for a stolen vehicle and the last person to use that vehicle was George Burge and he said that oh I must have left the keys in the car somebody must have stolen it but now George burch's name was in the police department database along with his address so I jumped in my car and ran out to that house and there he is standing on the porch smoking a cigarette and even better he had given his cell phone to the police to clear his name in the earlier investigation it basically mapped out his night and gave us a lot of the answers that we needed to have the GPS app from the phone showed Bert spent most of the night at his favorite haunt Richard craniums where detectives believe he met Nikki vanderheit she was just looking for a ride home and then he ended up bringing her home and sexually assaulting her in front of her residence she's inside of a vehicle fell out the the passenger side onto the ground which is where he proceeded to curb stomper or stomp her head into the ground stop her back into the ground which is how the footprints would have got shoe prints would have gotten on her back and then the phone moved and went directly from Nicole's residence to the scene where the body was located so his phone showed him at every single crime scene location and basically mapped out that night for us now authorities were sure they finally had the right person who had taken Nikki off the quiet streets of Green Bay and killed her foreign Bay Today 38-year-old George Burch was arrested this morning for the murder of Nicole vanderheiden investigators say Burch has been tied to the scene of the crime with forensic evidence but George Burch was a cool customer showing little emotion once he was in custody six foot eight 270 pounds towering over detective Brian Slinger as his handcuffs were removed I told him that he was under the arrest for the murder of Nicole vanderheiden and I wanted to speak to him about that his face didn't change one bit okay so this is something that you want to talk to me about sir what's that you don't mind talking about that so if I read you the Miranda Rights you don't you don't want to talk to me so I prefer a lawyer okay but once at trial George Burch would have plenty to say offering a version of the night that would turn the trial into a real whodunit George did you murder Nicole vanderheide no sir definitely not you know who did Doug Dietrich now both men would be on trial we have an explosive new trial for you out of Wisconsin to take in the nation and all media Outlets by storm thank you for your patience ladies and gentlemen it was 40 year old George Burch was on trial for the murder that had shocked the city of Green Bay Wisconsin at a violent ruthless killer to do what we believe the evidence will show Mr Burge did vanderheiden but the lawyers for George Burch sought to turn the tables on the prosecution case the Came Out Swinging we're going to show you how horrible Douglas tea tree is telling the jury it was Nikki's boyfriend Doug dietry not George Burch who had the motive to kill her just as investigators had first believed Doug murdered Nicole in a fit of jealousy and anger fueled by insecurity alcohol and numerous other drugs the evidence is going to show you Doug did this at the very least it's going to give you significant doubt about whether or not George students [Music] and so for two full days Doug Dietrich was on the witness stand once again having to defend himself swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth will help you then I do prosecutor David lesay took him through what happened the night of the concert the couple drinking and dancing and happy leading up to a dramatic moment now Gwen was the last time that you personally saw Nikki alive I was going to the bathroom and see you in 10 minutes whatever you know and last time I saw her the prosecutor paused to let Doug dietrich's emotion play out From the Bench Judge John Sakowski a former district attorney himself appreciated what the prosecution was trying to do to overcome a major challenge it would be the fact that deitrie was originally arrested he would have had more of a motive he would have been a likely suspect you have absolutely any involvement in Nikki's disappearance or death no I did not thank you for further questions at this time but the cross-examination of Doug gitri would be aggressive and brutal starting with text messages he had sent to his mother just before the night that he felt trapped by Nikki I don't recall that that conversation how about when you told her I'm very seriously thinking about telling Nikki and the kids they have to move I'm not cut out for this life one bit do you remember that um I remember you know I think I sent something on the lines of that and I was having a you know a little dollar day or whatever and um I just said that to my mom with not truly meaning it I guess did you often say things you didn't mean to your mom I mean yeah it's sometimes I would yeah I mean it is my mom I'm very close to her and so since you're close to your mom that means you lie to your mom no I don't say a lie I mean maybe sometimes but and then to the text messages Nikki sent to him that night when he had not shown up all right did you hurt Nikki that night uh do you mean physically or what I know I mean did you physically beat her in the past no I never physically beat Nikki so you just have no idea why she would say these things exactly this Doug Petrie back on the stand for day three the cross-examination turned to why he had waited so long to call friends or family or police when he woke up early the next morning and Nikki wasn't there suggesting he already knew she was dead because he'd killed her did you search for Nikki on foot or by vehicle uh no I did not still didn't call the police I did not at that time no because you knew you didn't have to and now boring in on his actions when police did arrive and then you made sure that before police arrived you took a shower yeah yep I mean I wasn't I was feeling grubby and you know you had to wake up and you wanted to hide any proof that you are involved in her murder so you took a shower before the police came and then a final step to make sure the jury knew that police too had at first believed Doug Dietrich killed Nikki they knew she was murdered 118 feet from your house I don't know what they knew what they knew at that point I knew all along what happened to Nikki no I did not that's when the Brown County Sheriff's Office arrested you and told you you were under arrest for the murder of Nicole vanderheiden ah that is correct I have no further questions had planted its seeds of Doubt look it's a classic jilted lover gets Vengeance story yeah it's classic it's his oldest time itself but the defense still had to find a way to deal with the overwhelming forensic evidence against George Burch including his DNA on Nikki suck and the GPS data pings on his phone showing his travels to and from the crime scene the evidence that the state clearly presented was difficult to overcome that and so it was no surprise when his lawyers called George Burks to testify yes ma'am given the situation here the especially given the scientific evidence Bert's almost had to testify and I think what he had to try to do was fashion a story that would somehow explain away the physical and scientific evidence he wore a tie and tried to come across as a gentle giant George Burch on the stand sometimes he seemed likeable sheriff's deputies were concerned that Birch was no likable gentle giant Birch is wearing a stun belt underneath his clothes so that it's controlled by remote control they can electric they can provide an electric shock to him in case he acts out in the courtroom hey George how you doing good you've been sitting here for a long time yes sir probably have a lot you want to explain to the jury yes sir Birch described meeting Nikki at his regular hangout Richard craniums oh slurry and how was she acting towards you same somewhat the same pretty much um starting back and forth with each other Bert said they left together and ended up outside her house where he says they had sex in the back of the Chevy Blazer before someone attacked both him and Nikki then the next thing I remember um was the person behind me had been saying the first thing I was coherent to me that I could hear them say was look what you made me do did you know if she was alive or dead at that point I didn't know if she was alive um there was a lot of blood um on her face come out of her mouth on her back and again at that point did you know who that individual was never seen him before in my life [Music] do you know who that individual is now now I do who was it was that Beatrice and he said deeply then ordered him at gunpoint to put Nikki's lifeless body in his Blazer and drop it in a nearby farm field what was Dietrich doing at this point he was standing behind me with the he still had firearm in his hands um pretty much directed me what to do purchase testimony if the jury believed it would explain perfectly what his DNA was on Nikki's sock why his phone GPS data showed him at the crime scene and at the farm field George did you murder Nicole vanderheide no sir definitely not do you know who did Doug [Music] the final day of the trial was being televised live locally and nationally we're going to be covering the George Burch case today there's a lot at stake with this story so many twists and turns people were so intrigued by it because they didn't think that this could happen in Green Bay Wisconsin at Nicole's family and Doug Dietrich and his family were in the courtroom for what would be the dramatic High Point press examination the cross-examination of George Birch by prosecutor David lesay really happened you drove Nicole home 20 miles away from where you lived fully expecting that you were going to have sex right that was your expectation you were gonna have sex that's why you're driving her home right um I was hoping that we would um it was leading from what had happened before and where we had spoke it seemed like that's what was going to happen when you get there and it becomes clear that Nikki isn't going to have sex with you when she attempts to go into her house and leave your vehicle that's when your mood changes right no sir that's when things get aggressive don't they not at all that's when you grab that cord and strangle her don't you no sir not at all that's when Nikki gets slammed on the ground repeatedly when she's trying to run toward her house when those blood stains lead into Direction back to her home none of that is true well how do you know you were out cold when Nikki was assaulted because you said I did it and the next day you're going fishing with your buddy with a smile on your face and not a care in the world it was a pre-planned event sir and I wouldn't say not a care in the world that would definitely would not be something I would say no further questions it had been almost two years since that spring night when Nicole vanderheiden and her boyfriend Doug were at the Steel Panthers concert since she sent the angry text to Doug since she walked off into the night since Doug was arrested for murder and then released when his Fitbit gave him an alibi and since authorities Tracked Down George Stephen Birch after finding his DNA on Nikki sock and on a wire cord use the straggler the case was about to go to a jury that would have to decide whose story to believe that of Doug Dietrich you have absolutely any involvement in Nikki's disappearance or death uh no I did not or that of George Birch did you murder Nicole vanderheiden no sir definitely not prosecutor Mary Kerrigan Maris presented the state's closing argument this is clearly a whodunit case ridiculously the defense's case their explanation is ridiculous it is insulting to your intelligence he tries to make you believe this encounter was consensual as far as sexual activity killer is not enough he speaks to the Famer the life's gone so let's go after a reputation she's not here to counter these outrageous claims that's very convenient for him Nikki did not give up easily she showed her spirit through the end Nikki did not go gently into the night [Music] we ask you to return over to get guilty the first degree intentional homicide thank you in his closing argument George Burgess lawyer Lee chuchart did not back down from pointing the finger at Doug Dietrich Justice for Nicole is not going to be delivered by a wrongful conviction of George Burch just because of a story sounds ridiculous or sounds unbelievable doesn't mean it is and I ask that you focus on all the evidence in this case that you don't continuously ignore that the state arrested Doug Dietrich and there's a full-scale investigation into ducky tree we've seen the evidence we've seen him testify he had the motive the opportunity and the connection to this crime the first piece of evidence I ask that you focus on is when Doug dietrichi called the police yes um how do I go about I guess with the missing person he didn't call the police until after Nikki's body was found he knew why he didn't want the police to come he was trying to cover up what he did as we sit here right now you are literally surrounded by doubt you are surrounded by Reasonable Doubt that's why you must return a verdict of not guilty both sides expected the jury would need several days to review all the evidence and conflicting testimony they got the case this afternoon after a closing arguments from both sides and we're waiting to see exactly how long they're going to deliberate today very unusual dynamic in the sense that it's not just did this one do it it's which of the two did it jury was back after only three hours ladies and gentlemen of the jury we've been advised that you've reached a verdict is that correct the verdict reads as follows we the jury find the defendant George Stephen Birch guilty of first-degree intentional homicide is charged in the information he just hung his head a little bit but I don't remember him crying or showing much emotion and jurors told reporters it had all come down to exhibit number 23 that piece of wire cord almost thrown away after being run over by a neighbor's lawnmower said that is what sealed the deal for them because Doug's DNA was not found on that wire but Nicole vanderheidens was and so was George Burgess for an emotional two hours Judge John Sakowski heard from Nikki's friends and family and from Doug dietrich's mother Diane I have a hard time matter she did matter we loved her and we miss her all Nikki wanted from him was a ride home a ride home back to Doug back to her baby in closing please go home today hug your loved ones tell them you love them show them you love them nobody came to court to speak for George Burch and now wearing his orange prison jumpsuit he declined to speak for himself I'll show you honor you know I just just a thought Mr Birch she said yes sir and also been manly thing would have been to say I did it I flipped out I did whatever cop a plea do something step up to the plate we chose not to do that still haven't done that and then just before passing sentence the judge had one final comment about George burch's Behavior drop the body off in a field and then 12 hours later go on a boat and be smiling like nothing happened like you didn't have a care in the world how can we explain that that isn't human that is not normal Wisconsin we have life without parole and that was the maximum sense it could be imposed and that's what happened this is the most brutal murder that has ever been committed by one person in the history of browncon that's how severe this case is this is a crime that would I believe Merit the death penalty and for that you have to die in prison [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: A&E

Views: 2,877,917

Keywords: a&e, aetv, a&e tv, ae, a&e television, a&e shows, a and e, a+e, killer cases, killer cases marathon, killer cases full episodes, killer cases a&e, killer cases law&crime network, killer cases the gruesome betrayal, killer cases full episode a&e, killer cases law&crime, BACK-TO-BACK FULL Episode Marathon, back to back marathon, full episodes, a&e full episode, a&e full episodes, full marathons, murder, murder case, trial, sentencing, murder trial, Killer Cases full eps

Id: MoZ-ld-deXo

Length: 86min 15sec (5175 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 14 2023