Mysterious Disappearances | "48 Hours" Full Episodes

Serial killers can be very difficult to predict, they are constantly thinking about hunting humans and police reported another grandmother hurt and killed. Her car was later found abandoned on I45. Roads make particularly good hunting grounds once you commit the murder. You're ready to hit the road again. The 12-year-old girl disappeared on April 3 while jogging near her home. She is a beautiful girl. When did you really know something terrible had happened when we first went out searching and didn't? find her when there was absolutely no sign of her, then we knew something terrible had happened Kelly Cox locked her keys in her car after taking a college field trip to the Denton Police Department, she was last seen making a call from a pay phone without knowing it.

Where was her daughter, how do you describe that? There's really no way to describe it. I had nightmares for years about her being hurt or hurt every day. The pain doesn't go away. Tiffany Johnston disappeared from a Bethany Car Wash. Tiffany was kidnapped and In broad daylight she just disappeared Tiffany was my little daughter my shadow wherever I was Tiffany was with me it's been a week since Jessica Kane disappeared her car was found abandoned on I45 she wasn't going anywhere without knocking and that's why we know something is wrong and she had to find her childhood friends they gathered together to hold a vigil praying that they would find her until they found her and someone would prove that she is not alive she is alive for us and we're still looking could it happen again if it was going to happen again William Reese was at the top of the list from the beginning Reese is the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Laura Smither.

I think most investigators felt that he was responsible for several girls, but he couldn't be involved, no, the case continued. for several years and no one forgot the pain of '97, you had to cooperate or those girls are gone forever today, March 1, 2016, if you are comfortable with it, I would like to go over these four different incidents, sir, do you agree ? Mind you, these criminals love to brag about themselves and I took this quilt I had and put it on top of it so it becomes something fun for them, a bit like a game of cat and mouse, are you saying no No I remember they are pathological liars and then you immediately buried her after that, yes sir, they lie about things they don't even have to lie about, you can't necessarily trust what he says, you have to verify this is the area in which that he brought them, but I mean that they were looking and couldn't find her well.

Some people thought that perhaps the information was not accurate. I have no reason to lie to them and that he was playing with us. We certainly hoped it would be that way. be a little faster than it was but you can see that really confirms a needle in a haystack there was a very scary killer going up and down I45, that's right, killing young women, that's right , Interstate 45 runs through the swamps. and the Derel oil fields between Galveston and Houston, the highway marks a trail of unsolved murders that goes back decades, and friends of Texas Deputy Police Chief Josh Roger say 1997 was a particularly deadly year in which we lived with such a false sense of security that It was a huge shock to the system when we were educated and you were educated the hard way, the worst way, the absolute worst way April 3, 199, Laura, the daughter Gay Smi's 12-year-old, an aspiring dancer, went for a run and never returned.

As the days pass, thousands of volunteers on foot and horseback scour the swamps and fields around her home in Friendswood, keep your eyes open. This is what we are looking for. US Marines even flew in to help. We just wanted to thank you all. Let's find her, what does this say? your shirt this says pray for laa I was also there in 1997 with the gay family Bob and Laura's younger brother David, are you surprised by the great concern? Sympathy rises for that, it's just the The only thing that's gripping us from one day to the next the beginning of the dancer exactly yes, she was carrying her backyard to the other the house there's no doubt that she'll come home.

I went into denial immediately. I wouldn't accept any other scenario than the one someone had had. I took her to the end of it, if she prayed enough, they would let her go home with us. That's how I coped, then came the devastating news 17 days later, when a father and mother found Laura's decomposing body in a retention pond 12m from her house. son walking his dogs we thought it was you know like a dead animal in the water something like that true Jason says he didn't say that animals don't have socks I yelled into the phone that's not Laura that's not Laura that one I couldn't accept it I can still hear my screams in my nightmares and then of course we had to tell David for something, there are no words, how old was David when he was nine?

Not only did he lose his sister the same way he lost his parents, we were physically there, but we were emotionally absent. A part of us was missing. A part of us was torn away after weeks in the water. The exact cause of Laura's death could not be determined. Investigators also couldn't be sure if she had been sexually assaulted. Despite the unknowns, a suspect emerged. pretty quickly a man named William ree was the third day Laura was missing that he was on the police radar that quickly yes the third day and why because he was a sex offender Rees was released 6 months before Laura's murder after After spending 10 years in prison for two rapes in his native Oklahoma, he was now working in Friendswood, Texas, building a residential subdivision and was an excavator operator, and the day Laura disappeared due to rain, the police learned that Ree They let him leave work at 9:00 a.m. m., which would have put him right in the direct path of Laura Smither.

Investigators searched Reese's truck and found fibers from replacement floor mats that matched trace fibers found in Laura's socks. These were not factory mats. They were not common fibers as police continued to investigate the case of Laura Reese remained free and traveled back and forth between Houston, where she worked, and Oklahoma, where her mother lived. Then, in July 1997, in Denton, Texas, a college town along the stretch of interstate that linked them, 20-year-old Kelly Cox disappeared. describe it it's like the martians picked her up she just disappeared kelly's mother, jan bam, says kelly had been locked out of her car after a field trip to the denton police station, she had gone to the parking lot of a nearby gas station to use pay phone very busy area with police officers everywhere Jan knew something was wrong when Kelly didn't pick up her then little Alexis from daycare that afternoon she would never have dropped her daughter off she was only 19 when Alexis was born she took on such responsibility and accepted being a mother my God, she accepted it and I know she absolutely adored this here, in addition to raising Alexis, who is now 27 years old.

Kelly was taking a large number of courses at UNT, the University of North Texas in Denton, and was maintaining an A in college. she all in her fin a week after having had, yes, a week after having had Alexis, she took her final exams and attracted all eyes. I mean, she was very, very motivated. Alexa says she remembers little about her mother, except the anguish of her departure. remember looking for her, look under the bed mhm, I remember looking all over the house, searching in the closets, she looked under the bed and said mommy, mommy, the days of searching turned into weeks and then into months, can we get this face there.

Jan was on local television asking for help finding her daughter. I don't want it in the background. I want her face out there, but unlike Laura Smither, Kelly was a young woman, not a child, and as the case dragged on, Jan says she didn't feel anything. that finding Kelly was still a priority for the police Jan still remembers a conversation she had with a member of the department 3 months after Kelly disappeared and he told her that he should consider himself lucky that we were working on this case, most of the police departments would have simply done it.

I gave the photo of her to the Missing Persons Clearinghouse and I was done with it, that was heartbreaking. Jim was sure someone had kidnapped Kelly, but he was lost. The police had no body or solid leads and the case soon went cold. I don't think so. Did I ever completely not think, when the phone rang, that maybe it was something Kelly related, just 11 days after Kelly disappeared in Oklahoma and not far from William Reese's hometown, another young woman was about to disappear? She will always be my baby. She will always be a granddaughter and a wife.

Kathy Do's daughter, Tiffany Johnson, 19 years old and newly married, was just beginning to build her life. On July 26, 1997, she disappeared from this Bethany Oklahoma car wash, leaving her car behind. mats of her. They were hanging on the rack at the car wash Her money Her paycheck Everything was in her car The next day Tiffany's partially clothed body was found in the tall grass here just off the interstate 15 miles west of that car wash Cars had strangled her and sexually assaulted her, she had a rope Burns around her wrist, she had black and blue spots on her face.

No one at the car wash reported seeing anything out of the ordinary, so whoever took her had to be pretty calculating and think about their surroundings, oh yeah, and Tiffany would fight a few days later. Murder of Tiffany Kathy says she received a phone call from a man she knew from her town of Anad Darko William Ree. He called to tell me that he was sorry for hearing that Tiffany had been murdered and how sincere she sounded when he called her. He said: I'm sorry to hear about her daughter. How did you meet William Reese? I met him at the restaurant Kathy was a waitress in town and she knew Reese's mother and when Reese was released in 1996 and returned home Kathy had given him a ride to get a new driver's license, did you know what had happened time in prison?

No, they acted like it was no big deal and would you have even guessed that he had been convicted of violent crimes against women? Oh, heavens, no, he never thought of it. Kathy, that guy could have something to do with Tiffany's murder. I couldn't see anyone I knew would kill Tiff because they knew how much she meant to me. Investigators found the killer's DNA on Tiffany's body, but they couldn't. to develop a profile at some point Kathy, did you give up thinking they would never find the person who killed my daughter? I never gave up because I made a promise to Tiffany when I buried her that she wouldn't give up on me until I found who did it, why was it so important to find who killed her?

Because I didn't want him to kill someone else's son. If you have my daughter, I pray that you return her. We want her back home just 3 weeks after Tiffany's murder. Lamar Texas happened again we're not letting her go Jessica Kain was about to graduate high school. The 17-year-old was last seen leaving the Clear Lake Area restaurant on August 17, 1997 when she did not return home due to curfew. Father CH Kane went out to look for her. She had been everywhere I thought she could be and she was on her way home. In reality, he is about 3 or 4 miles from the house on the side of the road where he saw her truck.

On the shoulder of I45, but Jessica was gone and there were no signs of a struggle, search crews once again comb the area for another missing girl. More than 100 volunteers searched on foot along the swamps and through the undergrowth, sniffer dogs were called in to help us. They were the most broken people at the time, gay, and Bob Smither was still recovering from the loss of his daughter Laura. Only 4 months before we felt obliged to join the wave, we did not hesitate and went immediately. The search for Jessica C expanded today through Salt Grass. and the bushes surrounding the swamps in the search continued for weeks but there was no sign of Jessica and no clue who had taken her.

We wondered if she could be the same person who took Laura from us. You know, we just didn't know. gay questioned about William Reese and his involvement, a story emerged about another case in which the victim survived. It all happened so quickly in May 1997, 3 months before Jessica C, a 19-year-old mother, disappeared. Sandra Saoot stopped at a convenience store near I45. In Webster, Texas, she noticed a man staring at her from the parking lot. Her truck was parked there, but I wasn't paying attention when Sandra left and she headed to a waffle house across the street. She saw the man again.

Ihe continued to the waffle house and I parked and he asked me if I needed help and I went to get help for what and he said your tires are going to go flat but moments later the stranger was forcing her into his white van at knifepoint , she was just telling me to keep your mouth shut, I mean I was terrified, she says he sexually assaulted her in the van and then they started speeding down the interstate and all I thought was that he was going to kill me, I'd rather jump and kill myself before him doing that.

Me and that's just what Sandra did as the truck sped down I45, she opened the door, jumped out and hit the pavement and then I got up and started running. Seriously injured, Sandra managed to get help and reported the incident 5 months later, in October 1997, during a meeting with Friendswood police, Webster investigators noted that Sandra's description of her kidnapper's truck sounded similar to the truck that police friends had searched for in the Laura Smi case, belonging to William Ree. Okay, if they would stand shoulder to shoulder with the guy in it. the red circle on October 16, 1997 Reese was stopped for a number four lineup step to the red circle I want you to make a quarter turn to the left when he came out and I knew it was him, there is no doubt that it was him, can you allow Bo between the truck catch the truck William Reese was immediately arrested and charged with kidnapping he pleaded not guilty he was finally behind bars but not for any of the murdered girls you attacked Laura SM glass face I want you to repeat after me loud and clear no scream don't scream get in the truck be the truck William Reese was defiant and denied kidnapping Sandra SAA and slashing her tire, but after his arrest investigators decided to tell him that Lords of Smi's murder also thinks he is being treated unfairly, Mr.

Reese, yes, I did. He was not friends with Assistant Principal Josh Rogers. he says they thought they found another link when they searched Reese's apartment. He had a horse blanket that was multicolored. Most of those colors were also found in one of Loris Smi's socks, so the evidence was very strong and they already had those other fibers in Laura's socks. that match Reese's mats, still the father at that time did not feel that it was enough evidence to accuse Ree of Laura's murder and it was very frustrating. I got very angry. I felt like the system had failed us and failed Laura, but the Friendswood detectives were gone.

Not giving up, they pulled out records to track Reese's movements over the previous summer and discovered that Reese could be connected to other unsolved cases. There was a fuel charge from Denton on July 15, the same location and date of Kelly Cox's disappearance. It was the first one. When Kelly's mother, Jan Bham, heard William Ree's name, he was now also on Denton police's radar, which, as you know, made them want to compare Kelly's fingerprints to anything on his truck or car. They found something, fingerprints, something related to Kelly, right? The detectives did not make friends and also found records showing that Reese had used a pay phone in the city where Tiffany Johnson's body was found less than an hour after her disappearance and the owner of the car wash, after seeing her photo, says he was a frequent customer of that one.

Reese joined a list of possible suspects, anyone along that route during that time period. They watched him. Investigators were now also watching him in the disappearance of Jessica Kain and used bulldozers to look for evidence at the horse ranch where he had worked, but found nothing. -hand and in April 1998 while suspicions swirled around William Reese in several jurisdictions he went to trial for the kidnapping of Sandra Sea you went to trial because for Laura I had to be there for Laura I got very angry with what I learned in that trial because of course it puts everything in your head for what he had done to Laura gay Smither says he was especially upset when he heard the testimony of Reese's two rape victims in the 1980s and remembers that he had been released from prison for those attacks just 6 years ago.

Months before Laura was murdered, they came and testified and I was mortified to hear what he had done to those two young women. It didn't take long for the jury to come out and minutes later there was a guilty verdict. William Ree was convicted and sentenced to 60 years for kidnapping Sandra Sea. I think a lot of people felt that was probably the best we were going to be able to do. It's just keeping William Reese off the streets again, but Laura's case officially remained unsolved and the Smithers wanted to see Rees charged in Oklahoma. Kathy Doyle continued to pressure investigators to solve Tiffany's murder.

The first time I called every week it was always the same. They had nothing. It would be more than a decade before Kathy called her. They were finally answered, all he knew was that he had a victim whose car was in the car wash in 2012. Retired Police Chief Lynn Williams had recently started working cold cases at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation or OSB I and was assigned to In Tiffany's case, the car was abandoned, the keys were in the ignition, the doors were open, there were no witnesses, there was DNA evidence from Tiffany's body, so really the DNA was going to be their only hope, that was my state of mind, but the DNA had already been tested twice without success, we are usually worried that there will be nothing left to test Wendy Duke is the supervising criminologist in the OSBI cold case unit.

She found two samples of Tiffany's body that had not been completely consumed in previous tests and was able to develop a partial male profile from them. It's exciting even if it's a partial profile because it was a partial profile. Duke could only compare it to a profile of a known person and the team slowly eliminated the suspects from the file until they reached William Reese and what the result was and he could not be eliminated from that partial profile in Tiffany's swab, the prosecutor in Oklahoma thought it was enough to charge Reese with the murder of Tiffany Johnson and after all those years of waiting, Kathy finally got some news and I was like, oh my God, why was that Tiffany my?

The main thing is why Tiffany Oklahoma authorities also shared the news with Texas investigators, including the Texas Rangers, who wondered if William Reese might be willing to talk to them about his case. They went to visit Ree in prison and to their surprise she agreed to discuss further if they could take the death penalty off the table, the Smithers agreed and so did Jan Bham as long as Reese helps the police find Kelly, That's a big decision to make before you know it. Oh I know and I basically said I wanted answers. I wanted to know what. if my daughter was alive or dead what would you do about the difficult decision faced by the BAM and Smither fames chat now on Facebook and X heh what are you doing what are you doing what are you doing look look when they would find a body anywhere and then they would confirm who it was and it wasn't Kelly and I would say oh it's not Kelly and then I would go but it was someone's daughter almost 19 years after Kelly Cox disappeared her mother Jam was finally close to knowing what had happened in February 2016 William Reese was transferred from prison to Friendswood Jail after agreeing to provide investigators with information about his three cases in Texas.

He hoped his cooperation could help him in Oklahoma as well. He told us that he wasn't going to play if we weren't going to play. Investigators took Reese to this remote field south of Friendswood, where he said Kelly Cox's remains were located. Reese had not yet told them if he was responsible for her death. He doesn't give any confession, no, but it is. It is clear that he has some involvement, the right police spent long days and nights with Reese in jail and in the field searching for Kelly's remains and during that time Ree began telling investigators about his encounter with Kelly Cox and Denton, he claimed that they fought. in the gas station parking lot after he bumped into her and she spilled her soda on him.

I started to heal her, I think I pushed her, that's when she hit me with the coke. I slapped her and then it was over, she was struggling. Yeah, okay, what's up? Then and then I grabbed her by the neck, I show her that Reese had just confessed to murdering Kelly Cox, but the investigators weren't sure if her story was true, they hadn't found any sign of Kelly in that field, but as they continued searching , this was not the only important revelation that emerged. I remember going to work on a construction site. It's a rainy morning.

Soon Reys was telling investigators what he said he happened to Laura Smither that rainy morning in Friendswood. I heard something hit my mirror and it scared me. so I stopped, I got out and that's when I looked in the ditch and I saw L Smithers lying in the ditch and uh, she wasn't breathing. Reese claimed that Laura had died instantly after he accidentally ran her over with her truck, but he later changed that story by claiming that Laura had survived, but when he tried to stop her from crying, she accidentally broke his neck. Psychopaths are incredibly callous people, they have no guilt or remorse.

Marelen Ool is a retired FBI profiler. We asked him to review the case records. and Reese's videotaped statements to try to understand her psychology. I have not evaluated him, I have not met him and I am only basing this on my own experience, but by observing her cases and observing her behavior, I would say in my opinion that she manifests traits of psychopathy. you wanted the truth so I tell you the TR and once the police made him talk he had a raptor and a married Raptor. Bree didn't seem to want to stop SE. I jumped the bend, I was there, old tulle says Reese was probably enjoying the attention and breaking her routine, this is the worst thing you can do for someone who tends to love exciting, challenging and stimulating things.

You put them in a prison-like environment where they get bored, so when you offer them the opportunity. to come out and help the authorities, they are going to do so After a week of fruitless searching for Kelly Cox, Reys offered to help them find another victim, Jessica Kaine, whom he said he had buried in a different field closer to Friendswood and While Rees did not have an agreement with the father in that case he said he was against drinking, he also began to tell that story claiming that he had had an argument with Jessica outside the restaurant where she was last seen and that she followed him on I45 for 30 miles.

I don't know why I just stopped she stopped behind me and started screaming and I attacked her again okay then you end up choking her so yeah sir on I 45 on I 45 but even when Reese admitted having murdered Jessica, he would not admit to raping her or Kelly or Laura. Do you think it is most likely that each of his victims was raped? Yes. I think they were because I think that was really the intention of the crime. If that is its sexual motivation, why not? Don't you admit that that is typical in some cases? I would say it's typical because in their eyes that makes them look pretty pathetic, that you have to attack someone, strangle someone, hit someone for sexual gratification, move on to the next one.

That's the war in Oklahoma City finally may, even though he could face the death penalty again, investigators were able to talk about the last case they thought he was linked to in 1997, Tiffany Johnston, who said she was I had found at that car wash. in Oklahoma I was spraying cleaning under my truck that's when that girl yelled hey I'm sorry I thought I said something I said I started to heal the issue she she and I got into it he knew the police had his DNA and admitted to having sexual contact. with Tiffany after forcing her into his horse trailer she was fighting with Snapp her monkey I don't know why once again Reyes set out to blame his victim for the violence that followed she hit me in the back of the head with her horseshoe it made me angry I started to I tightened it around my throat and grabbed the rope around it and squeezed it tight.

Four victims and four confessions, but with no sign of Kelly Cox or Jessica Kaine, not everyone believes Rees was telling the truth. Some people thought that maybe the information was not accurate and that we were being misled, jump into the case and see more evidence at 48

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.com as we dig and continue without locating anything, there certainly weren't as many investigators helping at the end as there were at the beginning In March 2016, after 25 days of digging and with the guidance of William Reese, there was finally news that they found the remains of Jessica K. What was that day?

Very emotional, we were sad but we were also happy to have Located in the remains, Jessica's parents asked for privacy while they processed the news andThey buried their daughter. Four investigators who found Jessica corroborated William Reese's stories and revitalized the search for Kelly Cox and after another two weeks of hard work they found her. I had nightmares about The first time she had to wake me up screaming, I never had nightmares like that before the nightmares of her sinking into a hole, it was right after they found Kelly and Jessica. Oklahoma County Prosecutors Jimmy Harmon and Ryan Stevenson transported William Reese back to his state.

To face a capital murder trial for Tiffany Johnston we typically only seek the death penalty for the worst of the worst murderers and Mr. Ree certainly met that requirement. Reese pleaded not guilty even though prosecutors had the DNA evidence and his chilling words from his recorded confession. when I grabbed her by the neck I strangled her when the trial began in May 2021. Reese's defense fought to keep that video out, but the judge decided that the jury would see it and hear all of his statements where he admitted to killing Laura Smither, Kelly Cox and Jessica. Kaine is all relevant, says Stevenson for showing that Reese had a pattern, all of this in such a short period of time we wanted to be able to show the jury that this guy was not stopping, he was arrested Sandra SAA and two women who say re sexually.

He assaulted them in 1997. They all testified at trial. Prosecutors say this testimony was crucial to correcting the self-serving stories Ree told on those tapes. You can never get the

full

story out of William Ree. He always tells it the way he makes it seem. Better prosecutors believe the real story is that Reese set up his victims. He sometimes created the situation in the Sandra Sea case by cutting her off. Tire introduced himself as the Good Samaritan and then attacked them after 9 days in that Oklahoma courtroom. courtroom the case came to the jury it took them less than 2

hours

to decide to find William Reese guilty of murdering Tiffany Johnson Reese was sentenced to death I will never forgive him for killing Tiffany he should die but instead of being immediately sent to death Row reys did for first time a final trip back down the interstate to Texas, where he agreed to plead guilty to the murders of Laura Smither, Kelly Cox and Jessica Kaine.

It took him almost 25 years, but he finally got justice for Laura, right? Yes, and for Jessica and Kelly. and that was very important to Bob and me, in exchange for his guilty pleas, Reese received three life sentences in the Texas cases. Gay Smither made a statement at one of those hearings. I talked about Laura and how we had an empty seat at our table for the rest of our lives and then I told him that I forgave him for what he did, you forgave him for ruining your lives. , you lost Laura, who had her whole life ahead of her.

Forgiveness does not mean that I approve of what he did nor does it mean that I will ever forget what he did. Forgiveness was for me not to live in a cage of anger. That's what forgiveness is with Laura's case now resolved. Gay and Bob could spend more time. With his son David, who is now 34, and his sons who are gay, they also travel the country training law enforcement in handling missing persons cases. I'm here to tell you what happened with prayer so that you can be inspired by Laura's story to never give up on the barns she wanted. way to share their memories of Kelly and created this statue in her honor on the UN campus where Kelly had been a student in hopes of reminding people to be aware of her surroundings.

You have to live, but you can do it in a smart way. way and be safe Jan says that, like all the families touched by William Reee, she has to learn to live with the pain. I cry every day. She used to tell people that if you don't want to see me cry, you can leave because I am. I'm going to cry. What are you doing? How do you want people to remember your mother as she was? It was very funny. She was a beautiful young woman who had a lot going for her. She was motivated and was doing it for me.

Two gruesome unsolved murders Same area Same MMO ambushed Stabbed multiple times Can a man known as the Zombie Hunter help the police find a killer and then he's defending the world against zombies? It was like he was hiding in plain sight 48 hours ahead on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus Andre McDonald had a very, very strict regimen, he followed it daily. It is good to tell you that a girl would be at the gym at 5:30 in the morning in the office at 8:00 on March 1, they had no indication that she would be late, she did not show up for work, this was very meaningful to her employees, they called the gym and found out she never showed up, which is like a religion to her.

Colin Andy repeatedly, he's going to send a voicemail, you know, the anxiety sets in. I stood still as if I was starting to panic because it is not possible to feel that it was missing. The biggest problem for me was the fact that her phone was missing. Her purse was still there. His keys were on the counter and his vehicle was still there. If his vehicle is there, his bag. Are his keys there? If she is missing. Is there concern that a kidnapping has occurred? The agents obviously didn't know what to think at this point. They were just beginning the investigation.

What we did discover is that they brought in Andrea McDonald, a beautiful Jamaican woman. United States by uh Andre, her husband as a major in the Air Force and had top secret security clearance, they started an assisted living business where in a short time they became millionaires the image of the American dream, she is not boastful or anything for the style, she is simply that. Andreen, a humble person, had a great reputation not only in the assisted living community here in San Antonio and we are on the side of the street this morning and we are handing out food for the less fortunate and she was very, very generous with the wealth of she. and your time God bless you as a rising star from San Antonio absolutely a rising star they always laughed together they always joked around the house it didn't seem to be in a terrible mess no furniture was knocked over or anything was broken I found there was blood on the wall In one area that was a little strange there was blood and hair on a light switch we assumed something happened there, it was a crime scene of some kind.

I was on social media and I saw that initial poster that came out with his face on it and then it says that Andrea is missing upstairs is not the person to take off somewhere no one knows where he is Andre McDonald's supporters renewed their search efforts when the days passed. months and days passed and they haven't found anything in my mind that isn't that bad because if they can't find something that solidifies her being dead, I mean she's alive and she's somewhere on the afternoon of March 1, 2019 after on the 29th. Andreen McDonald, 20, was reported missing by her mother Moren.

A Bear County sheriff's deputy arrived at McDonald's home in an upscale gated community in San Antonio within minutes. Sheriff Javar Salazar says his deputy made a disturbing discovery. One of my assistants had seen what they thought was blood on the wall and possibly hair and in the normally beautiful backyard another disturbing clue a pile of random burns right here I saw the pile of burns we found a zipper from Andre's blouse It was Andre's blouse mhm Andre's husband said Andre Andy McDonald the deputy who when he woke up took his daughter Elena to school before reporting to Lackan Air Force Base, where he served as a cyber warfare analyst, once he found out that Andreen was missing.

Andre rushed back home, but quickly headed out the door again to perform. A hunch that Andreen, who suffered from migraines, might have gone to a nearby hospital for treatment. Andre's arrival at the hospital was captured on surveillance cameras. Lead investigator Frank, fragments of that tape where he goes in, can see him asking about McDonald and they tell him there's someone. in room three named McDonald, he returns to the house, what does he tell you? He tells them that she is in the hospital, but when the agent called the hospital he discovered that the McDonald she had checked in was not Andreen McDonald.

Andre told officers that he rushed home before seeing her wife because he had left her cell phone at home and wanted to let Moren know that she had found Andrew. There was some indication that she was there and hurt to some extent. Unfortunately, the major's hunch turned out to be wrong. when I heard that she was oh God, she was so upset that I was just thinking that she is somewhere we can find her and for Andre's mother-in-law, Jackie, who lived in Florida, there was uncertainty. She had already called Andrene's phone about a thousand times. saying andreen, whatever it is, please call me.

What worried everyone was the fact that Andre would never disappear. She was known for her sense of responsibility and dedication to her family and her business. How would you describe Andreen? She knows what she wants and she will do it. Never stop until she gets it. I came in before he did the right thing. Andrew defeated me and is very excited. Andrew created an assisted living business in San Antonio called Starlight Homes when he was just 22 years old and, according to Andre's close friend Andrew Russell, to make it happen. To start the business, Andre liquidated his 401k.

Andre financed his dreams and sold the BMW he had. He was doing so well that they were doing everything that would make any mother proud. Starlight houses prospered and under Andre's supervision, the small home business transformed into a multi-million dollar doll company in just 7 years when I started with my assistant Li. I only started with three residents today. Starlite homes live. We have two locations in the San Antón area. Mandy, a childhood friend, says Andre's success was born from his humble beginnings when he was growing up in Portland. In Jamaica we didn't have much, so we thought if we wanted to get anywhere in life it would be in the United States, that's where the dream was.

Andre's dream of coming to America came true at age 19 when he met Andre, he was also a native of Jamaica, who at the time was a captain in the US Air Force, Andre had returned to his home to Port Antonio in May 2009 to attend a funeral where she met Andreen, who was 10 years younger. Was it an attraction there from the beginning? He was excited when I met him excited about the Air Force captain they both decided to have her come to the United States they got married in July he was happy to know that he had met someone he could have a life with that life would soon include a baby girl Elena Elena was in the center of Andre's World that made her disappearance so puzzling says Jackie I don't think Andrene just got up and walked away and left Elena and no one heard from her that night a forensic crimes unit looked at those stains in the bathroom and confirmed the initial belief that it was blood as you walked through the house Andre was there yes he was did you see any signs of bruises on his body any signs of any injuries that maybe he had been in a fight nothing that we could determine that investigators expected Andre had some answers, but he said the last time he had seen his wife was the night before and they said what Andre described raised more questions than answers.

He had told them that they had come home from the tax preparer's office and that they had discussed the business and he got on the road, got some gas and just calmed down. We were able to get video evidence of him going to the Shell station. Andre said that when he returned home, he and Andreen went to separate rooms, but according to investigators what Andre did not mention was the text exchange that occurred at the gas station. For investigators, text messages found on Andre's phone revealed a marriage. in crisis including accusations of betrayal accusations of infidelity in these text messages right, that's right, we have a printed copy, would you mind reading this from your phone? andreen responds if you mention aubit again, i will divorce you myself auin Hall, a businessman living in Port Antonio, Jamaica, who investigators say was Andrene's ex-boyfriend and potentially her current lover in response to the threat of Andre. of divorce Text from Andre I don't care if you get divorced, you brought auin into our life auin dated andreen when she was a teenager, investigators say, Andre's close friend Mandy says the two rekindled their romance in 2017 during one of his philanthropic trips to the Island Auin has always been that first love, it wasn't something and he overcame it emotionally.

Mandy says they continued the fair from her in secret until the summer of 2018, when Andreen got two new tattoos, an initial tattooed on her hand and a date tattooed on her hand. doll Andy was definitely suspicious of what it meant with a suspicious mind Mandy says Andre got to work solving this tattoo mystery. She went and investigated on her own. It was on social media that Andre discovered an interesting photograph of Auin marked with exactly the same name. tattoo that was alsoon Andre's hand and those numbers 14376 are ain's birthday, month and year, he told me that he impulsively got the tattoo, he knew it was something stupid, Mandy enraged says that Andre threatened to divorce unless Andring cut off the contact with auin.

She covered up her tattoos and promised to never travel to Jamaica without him. She covered up her tattoos and didn't want to lose half of everything so she worked hard at Andre's 40th birthday party. Mandy says, from all appearances, McDonald's seemed to be getting along just fine, but just 13 days later, on March 1, 2019, was when Andreen disappeared. The once-festive home had been transformed into a crime scene as investigators worked with McDonald residents until 2 the next morning, when they were unable to locate Andre's cell phone. Investigators checked to see if her credit cards or his passport had been used in all the dead ends in all of these investigations, at this point all we had was a missing person.

Within hours of his wife's disappearance, Andre McDonald was a person of interest, he stopped answering questions, and I was up as a lawyer at 2: p.m. The next day, an undercover investigator assigned to stake out McDonald's house noticed that the garage had been damaged and Andre was backing out of the driveway. The investigator followed him to a nearby gun store where additional investigators who were called to the scene observed Andre purchasing a 9mm handgun. gun and ammunition, we assumed he was buying a gun to probably hurt himself when Andre returned to his car. Investigators confronted him.

The violent takedown of him may be disturbing to viewers. Investigators moved to arrest the Air Force major and turned him over to the military. authorities for a mental evaluation meanwhile the investigators returned to the house with a search warrant and searched Andrene's car while there some objects caught their attention there was a shovel there was an ax an ax uh there was some kind of ax like a shopping center there were trash bags there were gloves and a couple of gas cans and there was more inside the trash can of the house there was a receipt from Lowe's that had been torn up detectives were able to obtain surveillance footage of the hardware items that were purchased that day after andreen left missing this is Andre McDonald entering Lowe's going to buy several items you can see him with a basket here you can see there is a shovel in the basket now he comes here there are two cans of gasoline there is a mul or an ax here is that one ax what is at stake here it seemed to us that now that his wife is missing um he aimed at the disposal of her body look at that car

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of ill will right yes and in the corner of the garage the investigators would discover what they say was the most evidence damning of everything we found a hammer and clothes in the trash the clothes we found seemed to be Andre's clothes the researchers say they found traces of blood in the pocket of these genes what is in the hammer that is of interest the laboratory determined that there was the presence of blood on the hammer and the DNA they obtained from that blood sample was from the entry, we concluded that that hammer was probably used as a murder weapon.

This is significant, very significant, 48 hours into the investigation, the detective's heels believed that he had discovered the key. The evidence that implicated Major Andre McDonald in the disappearance of his wife. Investigators located those items stained with Andre Green's blood inside the family's trash can. This missing person's case had become much more sinister and pointed towards what the evidence pointed towards a murder, but there was a problem. None of the evidence collected proved that a murder had actually occurred. Turning a missing person case into a homicide case is very difficult. On March 3, 2019, the Air Force concluded its evaluation of Andre and released him.

Civil authorities quickly intervened and placed him under arrest, my daughter. Family, what do you have to say about this whole investigation, but it wasn't for murder? Major Andre McDonald was arrested for tampering with evidence based on that torn receipt found in the house that listed items he had purchased at the hardware store. Andre's arrest left his mother Jackie in shock and disbelief. I watched Andre get arrested and I just collapsed. I know he loved Andre. Why would he hurt her? He was saying, but what else added to everyone's sense of shock, confusion, and suspicion was Andre's decision to stop cooperating with the detectives.

Andre's face told us there was no way in hell we were going to break him and force him to tell us what had happened. Sheriff Salazar went. on local television after calling for help, we asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to call us at 210 335 shortly after the San Antonio community along with family and friends came out en masse to search and dream, including a search voluntary. Party formed by former Air Force aviator Bobby Green Bobby took us to one of the areas where he searched and dreamed right now we are behind a hospital we thought maybe he would have taken her here to a wooded area while you walk around here what are you searching?

You would look at the tree branches that had been pushed away. Something that was cut. Fresh tire tracks. How many miles did you travel? It was hundreds of miles as search efforts continued. Andre McDonald was released from jail where and with his wife. Absent Andre took over the management of the Starlight houses. Search efforts continued, although investigators say Andre did not participate. Days would eventually turn into months of dead ends as the search for Andreen progressed. Investigators delved into the couple's relationship and discovered that they had business as well as romantic problems in WhatsApp messages shared with friends there are discussions about who was really the mastermind behind their successful business in one Andreen tells Andre Starlight Holmes is my idea my dream and it wouldn't have happened without my push back then friends like Andrew Russell got worried about the potential for violence and I got a text from Andre saying someone is going to blow up.

Andrew told investigators the couple's war of words turned physical the night before a Christmas party at his house in 2018, where McDonald's got into a physical conflict. altercation so when I walked into the kitchen Andy and Andrene were fighting on the floor the next morning they were laughing about it. I felt uncomfortable after that I thought the situation had become toxic a little over 2 months later, Andrene's blood was spilled in his house. and she finally disappeared on the night of july 11, 2019 133 days after andren went missing, there was a break in the case around 7:30 this afternoon. County Sheriff's Office patrol officers were dispatched to this location for a report of a human being.

The remains found The skeletal remains were located in a farmer's field just 6 miles from McDonald's home. This man, Clifton Cundi, made the discovery. Clifton had taken his tractor out to retrieve a cow skull that had been spotted just along the property's tree line. I saw what appeared to be a human skull in front of the cow skull, which must have been a shock, a shock, yes, officials determined that the human skeletal remains belong to Andreen McDonald, his sister Cindy Johnson. She was in a church praying for andr. I didn't do anything, I broke it, it hit us like a storm because we weren't thinking like that yet.

I never saw this coming less than 48 hours later, Andre McDonald would be arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. See more evidence of the case on 48 hours.com Andre's family had waited for justice for 4 years. It hurts every night before I go to bed. I think of his bar. Assistant county prosecutors Steven Spear, Lauren Scott and Ryan Groomer would prosecute McDonald for the murder of his wife and his dream. But the prosecution would face an uphill battle despite the evidence found in McDonald's house, the hammer and the blood, the prosecution could not say for sure how Andreen died because Andre's body was exposed to the elements in that field for All those days the coroner's office could not specify what exactly caused Andre's death and Stephen complicates its preparation.

No, we absolutely say that he caused his death. However, we don't know how, if Andre murdered his wife, what do you think his motive was? I think it was to a large extent. because he felt emasculated she was a rising star she had control of these businesses and I think he was jealous that McDonald who pleaded not guilty was represented by some of the best defense attorneys in San Antonio John Convery Zoe Russell and John Hunter how did you do it? would you do? I respond to the idea that what caused all this was his envy of his wife's success.

I don't see any evidence that Andre is a major in the Air Force. I mean, he's incredibly successful in his own right. Major Andre McDonald had been under house arrest. since April 2021, but days before his trial began on January 17, 2023, McDonald, who had remained silent about the death of his wife, began telling an extraordinary story that began with his mother herself of the. Jackie says her son told her that Andrene's death was an accident. He looked at me. and he said mom, I'm going to tell you the truth and he started crying McDonald then called Andre's mother and sister Cindy who put the call on loudspeaker he gave the family for the first time details of what happened according to him according to him, Yes, it was a phone call that surprised his defense team.

Were you surprised that he had done this? Shocking is a good word to describe it. Yes, the entire context of the case changed. The best thought of him would be to tell a story in court. McDonald. could tell his story, but not before the prosecution made its case by opening the statistics, ladies and gentlemen, inside trash B in the garage, a hammer, that hammer has flooded, it is the victim's blood, the defense maintained that Andrene's death was an accident. This is not a murder case, it is a case about the degree and level of responsibility with evidence of an accident, a mutual fight, all of which happens in the blink of an eye.

The prosecution also called forensic pathologist Dr. James Fig, who testified that Andrein's skeletal remains had serious injuries consistent with being hit with a blunt object, he had a fractured spinal cord, a broken rib and a broken jaw, but the pathologist did not was able to determine what exactly had caused Andre's death, so the way I have expressed the cause of his death is homicidal violence including blood force trauma after 6 days of testimony and 33 witnesses the prosecution rested the defense only had a witness calls defense Major Andre McDonald McDonald described the night of February 28, 2019 while at the tax preparers office with his wife he discovered that Andreen had started a new business a year earlier without his knowledge, what did it mean? that for you?

Basically, that meant to me more or less that she was stealing from me after a heated argument that night. McDonald says he left the house to cool off at that gas station. McDonald says they continued his business. We argued over text and when he returned home he brought up the possibility of divorce and splitting his business in half, she became very angry at the idea of ​​splitting business expenses in the room to confront me, so when she walks into the room room, you know, I turn around. and she came close to my face, so at that time she spit in my face, so at that time I grabbed her because she was right in front of me, so I grabbed her head.

I think we had like a butt of heads and I think. opened like a cut somewhere on her face mcdonald said andreen ran to the bathroom and turned on the lights when andren saw her bloody face in the mirror mcdonald claims she attacked him her testimony may be disturbing to some viewers when she comes, it's like throwing like some punches so I'm trying to duck and avoid getting my head and face hit by the punches. I remember how to grab her, make her trip and then she likes falls and that's when I give her life two kicks, but the second kick.

I think I heard some kind of weing and then also in the background I could hear some footsteps, the footsteps of his little daughter Elena Donald said he left to put Elena to bed again and when he returned about 30 minutes later his wife was dead. I got pretty frantic at that point because you know she's dead on the floor you never thought I needed to question the prosecutor Spear asked me if McDonald had thought about calling 911 I never thought about calling anyone to revive a dead person my purpose at that point It was simply getting her out of the house so that my 7-year-old daughter wouldn't see her dead mother lying on the floor after putting Elena back to bed.

McDonald said he dumped Andre's body in this field, stripped her naked and returned home to burn herclothes, which left that burned area in the backyard, but what about Andre's blood on the yellow hammer on his face? The evidence does not match McDonald's account of an accident. McDonald had an explanation for that and testified that when investigators finished searching his house he returned to the field before dawn angry and armed with the Yellow Hammer a can of gasoline and a plan my plan was to hit the person who caused this whole circumstance. and you felt like it was her fault right, it's absolutely your fault what you did with the gasoline I spilled it on her and then I used it and set it on fire McDonald said when the flame went out that's when he attacked his wife's body with the yellow hammer I hit her in the face. the face the neck and I just liked hitting her again as I walked away.

Why that last hit as I walked away? Yeah, I guess I was still angry when I walked away. After that gruesome testimony, the defense changed the subject and tried to refocus the jury on their theory of the crime and for the first time the defense raised why McDonald acted the way he did that night. Did you always believe you acted in self-defense? Yes, I have always believed that from the beginning the defense played videos showing Andreen. carrying her husband on her back and exercising, would you describe andreen as a very strong and powerful woman? Yes, she would do it directly according to McDonald.

His wife could lift up to 300 pounds. Yes, ma'am, when he attacked her, she was afraid. Yes, she was. for fear that you know they will hurt you during that whole situation, they want you to forget and ignore all their actions, closing arguments, the Defense Council said this is self-defense, friends, this is not self-defense, it's time to hold this one accountable man for what he did and it's time to find him guilty of murder Andre McDonald did not intentionally murder or dream McDon, he acted in self defense and his duty and obligation is to say not guilty, thank you after 6 days of testimony the jury got the case.

All the jury, about 11 hours into their deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge that says we are irretrievably dead. What do you think of Andre McDonald's self-defense claim? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and ex after almost 11 hours. After hours of deliberation, the jury was deadlocked and could not decide whether Andre McDonald was guilty of murder, manslaughter or not guilty by reason of self-defense. Everything was said in the courtroom. All the evidence was there. Where was he? He confessed on the stand what he did. They saw his behavior. I don't know what the problem was for the jurors Brandon Meden I voted for murder and I saw that there were six of us and Rudy Ruiz at no time did any jury think that he was innocent or that the problem was self-defense.

It was the wording because people really separated the definitions of murder and recklessness, the jury of Six Women and Six Men spent hours arguing over whether McDonald had intentionally killed Andreen or whether he had killed her recklessly, making it manslaughter. Murder carries a life sentence for manslaughter of up to 20 years. and I think most of us could agree that whatever happened, it was Reckless, he put her down and didn't hand over Aid. The trick now was to try to convince the other jurors that it was murder, but as deliberations continued, some of the jurors had been swayed with nine now for involuntary manslaughter.

Yo says the most important factor in influencing the vote was Andre McDonald's testimony. There was so little evidence and so many people believed because we don't know anything other than what he told us that we have to accept what he told us and he was actually able to convince many of the jurors that we had. That juror said, "Well, I kicked someone. I never intended to kill him." Medine Ruiz and a third juror were the ones who strongly opposed murder (no one was going to change anyone's mind), the judge then invoked what is called an Allen charge urging the reluctant jurors to reconsider the evidence. and reach a unanimous decision after another hour of deliberations a verdict and Mr.

McDonald, please support your lawyer on the charge of murder charging the indictment the jury declares that the defendant is not guilty of the crime of murder has charged in the indictment and guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter Andre McDonald was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter Andre's sister, Cindy, was in disbelief a homicide after he spoke with no remorse, no love, nothing at all and he wore Hammer stripper clothes, he poured gasoline on her, he burned her and they gave her murder, that's crazy. I will fight with this thought until the day I die, the prosecution had a mixed reaction.

At the verdict I was disappointed, however, the jury rejected his self-defense argument and held him at least partially responsible for the defense. Andre McDonald may not have walked free, but this is a victory even though I believe this is a case of self-defense. I respect the outcome and Dre's best friend Mandy Hall, he's there to tell his story, he's there to make up whatever he wants, she's not, she's not, she can't do that because he took it away from her. Cindy now sees that phone call from McDonald before the trial in a whole new light as a calculated ploy to deflect blame. to think that he has been responsible, he did not want to say anything, he is lying, everything is a lie, everything is a lie after the verdict.

Sher Sheriff Salazar approached Andrene's father, a retired member of the Jamaican military, with an unusual offering. I presented a gift to Mr. Anderson, uh, I asked him. My deputy took off Andre's handcuffs while he was being returned to the cell and I gave those handcuffs to Mr. Anderson. I wanted them to feel some kind of connection to at least sending him to prison. I want to tell you that we really appreciate it thank you very much God bless you for Andrene's mother none of this tragedy makes sense her daughter and the beautiful life she had created are gone andreen McDonald who came to the United States became a successful businesswoman and found her purpose in serving others, unfortunately, the business she created is now closed.

I miss her so much most of the time when I think about her, it's just like I feel like giving up and in those moments, Marine and Cindy lean on each other, we are lucky to have each other. another to take us through this sad journey um when I'm weak my mom is strong when my mom is weak I'm strong we have to be strong for Alena Elena is now 12 years old she is the glue that holds this fractured family together a family that still includes to Jackie, Andre's mother, though she is left mostly with the memories and pain of what once was.

I think I heard more from Alena than I heard from everyone. No child should have to go through what she went through. Moren and Cindy are now raising Elena. It's bittersweet because we have Elena. Elena reminds us a lot of Andre. Can mom get a kiss? I love you. A young wife and mother found with a strange mix of drugs in her system. Hey, there's a needle right here that makes you stop breathing if you have it too. How much did murder investigators turn to their diaries for answers? She is a young woman who is trying to discover herself.

You see this beautiful bright-eyed smiling girl who really seemed to have a lot of life and vitality. We spent quite a bit of time together in the yoga room. It was strange not to see her. she and I assumed she was on some kind of affair on October 12, 2013 she didn't show up to work her coworkers were absolutely the first to respond Kelly was very tied to her cell phone, always posting on social media, always He was texting when Kelly's cell phone was called and it went straight to voicemail. Kelly Dwire is missing. Suddenly flyers started going out in the community.

It was Boom. Everyone knew she was missing. There is a sense of urgency here. Sense of absolute urgency for some authorities and volunteers today. I looked for clues about her disappearance I think people saw those pictures and realized this could be my daughter, this could be my best friend, Kelly DWI was an acquaintance of mine, we would meet at Aliam, a local bar, and we would touch each other. the face frequently. Throughout the week we learned that she was on several websites where one could meet men. She was bright, sweet, kind-hearted and a good person. She was on websites that could expose you very quickly to people who are strangers.

Some of her friends made comments that she could be with one of those people right now M DWI was meeting people that could have put her in danger it's like her social media disappears her debit card turns off her phone turns off she's dead like him Rest of Milwaukee Assistant District Attorney Sarah Hill found Kelly Dwi's sudden disappearance in 2013 disconcerting in an era of electronic footprint, so to speak, she's not there, it's like she's gone. The night of October 10 started out like any other for Kelly that she had been on a date with. a man named Chris Sako Kelly came to Chris's apartment building, they went to have some drinks and spend a nice night at a place called Aliia, a nice little bar that was across the street from the apartment building.

I remember her and I'm having a little conversation about what you have to do tomorrow and she says: Actually I'm free Chanel Royston was at the bar that night Kelly told her what she planned to do the next day I want to wake up in the morning I want to do yoga I want do laundry and have a lazy day they bought a pizza from Ian's, a little pizza place about a block away, they brought it to the bar we were all sitting outside on this long community picnic bench nibbling on the pizza you know they're going to share it with us Kelly and Chris decide to call it a night a little after 2 a.m. and return to Mr.

Zaco's apartment building across the street Kelly and Chris had been dating for about a year after being introduced to Through a mutual friend, Kelly moved to Milwaukee in 2008 and went to college when we were in our early 20s, that's definitely a time of exploration where you're trying to find your own balance as an adult, that's the biceps behind . ears lower chin she always greeted me with a huge Kelly's journey of self-discovery had taken her to a yoga class an instructor who hated Ryan she was always excited to see me and excited to get her ass kicked in my class keep your upper back strong and her energy was simply contagious Kelly worked part time as a clerk and as a salesperson at a sports clothing store where her close-knit coworkers were the first to sound the alarm when she missed a shift, they worked together and they played together, it's how she found her tribe when was the last time you saw Kelly dwire it was right before her birthday she was like something big was going to happen I can feel it this feels very important to me Kelly had just turned 27 and her relationship with 38-year-old Chris Sako seemed to be taking on more meaning to her based on what her friends said.

It certainly seemed to me that she was extremely interested in him, perhaps even in love with him. Chris's mother, Joyce Fry, he was always interested in sports. He had many friends, he was a very good golfer, my father took him to the driving ranges. I think she put a golf club in Chris's hand when he was about three years old. Chris graduated from Boston University with a degree in international business but his love of sports led him to his dream job, he was a huge Yankees fan and they hired him on their IT staff and he just thought he would never There couldn't be anything better and where his office was, it was at the Ballpark, that's where at Yankee Stadium, mhm. that's where his office was, so he was in heaven, yes he really was, but Joyce says Chris left New York in search of new opportunities and finally landed in Milwaukee in 2009 and ended up at the relocation management company where She worked, he was the CIO, the chief information officer. officer I got involved in Kelly's missing person investigation dwi Katherine Spano then a Milwaukee Police Department detective would find out about Kelly and Chris' relationship, she says Kelly's reasons for dating Chris were obvious, he had education, she was bright, she was smart, she had a job that paid well, she had a nice car, a nice condo on the east side, while some friends thought Kelly might have been in love with Chris, it seems Zako might not have been. in the same page.

Chris Zako described his relationship with Kelly Dwire as friends with benefits, but it seemed like Kelly was keeping her options open. Mr. Zigo made no promises that he was going to be exclusive with her and she also dated other people. Royston remembers another time, not long before Kelly disappeared, it was very easy.night here at the bar Chanel was at the Aliam bar when Chris and Kelly invited her back to Chris's apartment at closing time. I crossed the street with him for a drink and went out to the balcony to smoke a cigarette. Chris then joined me. she was smoking marijuana Kelly was inside I don't know exactly what she was doing Kelly Chanel says she had a bad feeling I just felt the need to leave even though she had just arrived she told Chris and Kelly suddenly realized how late it was and that she had I have to work in the morning I looked at Kelly I told her I had to go and she looked up and said are you sure?

I told her yes, it's okay, it's later than she thought, I had to go home and I left what I was What were your six senses telling you? I don't know, you just weren't supposed to be there. Bad space. Bad juju. You don't need to be here. Chanel wasn't the only one to have the feeling that maybe not everything. I've been in Kelly Kelly's world, like a lot of women, her AG had been active on several dating websites even though she was dating Chris and I'm thinking that was the main person she was dating, she was dating other people, there were other people, other men. involved and her friends were concerned, she made some statements, usually they were prompted by friends who noticed bruises on her wrists or her neck and wondered why she has those bruises, she told a friend, uh, she kind of laughed at these bruises on his neck and wrists. and she laughed like it was a crazy night, right, and changed the subject, yeah, as the police face the daunting task of finding Kelly.

Would her love life provide them with their first clue? There are some evil people out there. 9129 I'm 23 years old, so Monday, October 14th. I started my shift at 400 p.m. I learned that Kelly DWI, a young woman, had been reported missing and had not been seen or heard from since the previous Friday as Kelly DWI's family and friends continued to search for her. Milwaukee Detective Tammy TRL mlan arrived at the scene of Kelly's last known whereabouts. Days before, at Chris Sako's apartment building, they entered through this door and he actually holds the door open for her.

You can see that in the video. Yes, you see two people who are chatting pass by that camera and then there is another camera that captures them turning the corner. towards the elevator and you can see Kelly in her typical extroverted style, I think she's gesturing a little with her hands, they turn the corner and then that's the last time anyone sees her alive, now it was time to talk to the other . The person in that video, Treml Millan, sat with Zako in his 18th floor apartment. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. She said she would go out with him a few times a week. he refrains from telling the police exactly what he meant by party as he describes how he and Kelly had ended their evening, return and do L of cocaine, have a couple more drinks, says there was sex and they both passed out on opposite ends Zako said Kelly left around 9:00 the next morning, adding that she heard the front door close behind her.

There was just one problem with that. While I'm talking to him I get a text from one of the other investigators who had been watching a video downstairs with the manager and he just says in the text that she doesn't come out while she was shaking. He focused on how Kelly could have escaped from this high-security building undetected. Zako seemed more interested in taking the focus off of himself. You know she's playing with a lot of other guys, there's another guy you know who's trying to divert attention from himself, which may have been Zaku's intention, but that's not what happened in your bones, in your gut, according to your instinct and your training and experience you felt like you were looking at a suspect yes the police needed a way to search sako's apartment for evidence because he had told TRL mlan that he had done drugs there they were able to get a warrant registration, what did you find? cocaine on top of a magazine uh some pots of marijuana in the refrigerator painkillers uh pills and marijuana pipes pipes should tell you how cold it is in this place before Zako was arrested for drug possession during his interview he seemed freaked out even when asked routine questions about your medical history anxiety none of that I had anxiety they brought me okay but no uh I'm not going to take anything in return okay no but no bipolar schizophrenia I guess that's all open to someone's interpretation Zaco's interrogation ends abruptly let's call my lawyer, but while they had Zako in custody, the police obtained a warrant to search his cell phone in hopes of finding clues about Kelly's disappearance, they were shocked to find a video of Zako and Kelly DWI involved in a sexual act where Kelly seems distraught.

She can't breathe, she is struggling to breathe, when was this video taken? That video was taken approximately 3 weeks before she disappeared and there was more incriminating evidence. Disturbing images of Kelly on Zak's phone. Still photographs that are also very disturbing because she appears to be unconscious in her bed, but the police were unable to link those images to Kelly's disappearance and even though Zako was a person of interest, they could only charge him with drug possession, but that search of his apartment led police to a strange discovery in his bathroom during that first search warrant. The police look at the shower curtain hooks with the broken shower curtain fragments, not knowing what a broken shower curtain could mean and worried that Kelly will never be seen leaving the building, then they bring in a canine to sniff out the order of decomposing human remains and police dog Molly would deliver some surprising results.

There is a sign on the outside of the apartment door in the parking lot on the level she parked her car at the dumpster door on the 18th Floor Molly Alert alerted in the hallway guest bedroom guest bathroom went to master bedroom climbed onto Chris's bed zaco appeared to be vigorously sniffing above his bed and gave his last formal trained alert to the police at that moment changed this case forever they now believed that Kelly was dead and her last moments had been in Chris's apartment Chris Sako and if Kelly died in that bed, where did the body go?

That's what we needed to find out and Chris Zaco had those answers and at that point he was turning into a homicide investigation without having enough to charge Zako and without knowing where Kelly's body could be. The police look for more clues in the electronic devices in Zaco's house. They examined an external hard drive and some disks found in a guest room. What's on that hard drive? That hard drive has. A series of very, extremely, extremely disturbing child pornography hardcore videos, Zako disavowed any knowledge of the child pornography that the police found. If you're a computer scientist, you collect things, so, you collect old hard drives, you collect disks, you collect, you know, you just collect them, equipment, and that particular hard drive was from his old workplace in Boston.

You didn't know he was there and you believe him. I do believe him. Yes, it had been two weeks since Kelly disappeared. Zako was arrested again, this time for possession of child pornography. In early November 2013 he was out on bail and awaiting trial on drug and child pornography charges, girlfriend. Uh, no, I mean, I date several people, but before Zako showed up as a lawyer at that first interrogation, it would turn out that he had said something that was coming. I'm coming back to chase him, okay, so no one considers you your girlfriend right now. No, there are a couple of girls I would like to be my girlfriend, but it hasn't moved that seriously yet.

I guess he started dating a young woman in 2009. He was living two different years. lives towards the end there was more physical contact more mutual smiles there was more affection there than at the beginning according to Chanel Royon before Kelly DWI disappeared it seemed like her relationship with Chris Zako was evolving Did Kelly ever tell you that? she was falling in love with Chris, she never told me, but you could tell, you know how she would look at it, that she was looking for something more and I think she did love him at the time, turns out Zako may have been in love.

Also, with another person, he was in a very serious relationship with a woman he was dating at the time he was dating Kelly and this young woman didn't know anything about the relationship with Kelly and did Kelly have any idea about this other one? women? and neither did investigators until this other woman's brother, after seeing Zako arrested on the news, reported to the police that his sister Megan had been dating Zako for over 3 years when I went to interview the girlfriend. of a long time, Megan, and had many photographs. of the search warrants with me and I was able to have her identify different items inside the apartment, they learned that several things were missing, she described that the guest bathroom should have had a shower curtain, there should have been a small rug and something game. decorative towels, all those things were gone and he was surprised to see that he identified the hooks of the shower curtains that were bent and broken, he identified the fact that they were not like that the last time he was there and it is in that same bathroom where The sniffer dog had alerted by detecting human remains exactly.

Megan also identified one more missing element. There was a large travel golf bag lying in front of the TV that had been there for weeks and weeks and that they would literally have to pass through to get into it. bathroom and was missing a travel golf bag, possibly like this one, it is commonly used by golfers to protect their clubs, everything is padded, it's very big, very big, it was padded, it was silver and she thought maybe it was about the size 2 2 and 1/2 feet. Detectives wondered if Zako had a more sinister use for the bag. Could Kelly's body have fit inside that travel bag?

Yes, absolutely, but how did Zako get that bag out of his apartment? There is no video of Zako leaving on any of the 28 surveillance cameras. cameras in the building there are no cameras in the elevator, so you could carry your body in the travel golf bag out of your apartment to the elevator to the first floor and through that door to the garage without being captured by any cameras, but there are Cameras inside the garage and still there is no image of Zako with that bag. The garage is the only area where the cameras would be activated by motion.

Some of the researchers think that he simply got lucky. It took Milwaukee Police Department investigators months of painstaking work to piece it together. Together, Chris Sako's movements in the days following his date with Kelly Dwire. Lt. Eric Goldbranson worked the case as a homicide and cold case detective at 10:06 a.m. m. We have Chris Zako standing by the driver's side door as he leaves that building at 10:00:08 a.m. Kelly Dwi's phone goes off. What do you think happened to her phone at that time? It broke, went out, was thrown into the water. The river is very close.

Zako is next seen in his garage, 16 minutes later, standing next to the trunk of his car. If you look closely at that image, there is a gray or silver object in the vehicle above the trunk level. I think that's consistent with the Golf Bay trip, so you think Kelly DWI is in the trunk of her vehicle. The investigators believe that because the kadav dog Molly told them that the cadaver dog not only hits all those things in the apartment, but also hits the car, also the trunk, the door handle and the interior of the vehicle. Over the next 8 hours, the video shows Zako coming and going several times. more times loading items into his car before finally leaving for the day at 6:16 p.m.

He said he decided to take his summer sports equipment to his mother's house on a Friday night around 6:30. Surely yes, he came to drop off some golf clubs and his baseball equipment, so he can't think of anything unusual when he showed up with this sports equipment at your house there is absolutely no golf bag that, according to investigators, disappeared one bag that they claim was Kelly's body dwi have you ever seen this golf bag? Never 7:30 p.m. and Zako is now due to go to his girlfriend's house for dinner on Friday night, but investigators find out that he didn't arrive until 8:45, there is unaccounted for time and we believe he was possibly looking for areas to dispose of the body during that time, unfortunately.

Detectives were unable to trace Sako's movements from his phone records. Whether his cell phone was on or off. He was turned off. When Zako finally arrived for dinner, his girlfriend told investigators that he wasn't quite himself, that he arrived quite often. late and seemed a little fussy a little nervous he is fiddling with his phone saying it doesn't work when they went to bed she described them as restless she described them sweating profusely to the point she had to change the sheets she found it very unusual and It's Zako may haveI had a very good reason to sweat that night.

His car is parked near his girlfriend's house overnight. We believe that body is absolutely in that trunk locked inside that golf bag. She couldn't have left that body in his apartment because that's the first place. everyone went to look for Kelly the next morning, investigators say Zako woke up with the sun still facing a nightmare, he was desperate on Saturday, he had to remove that body from that vehicle a day after Kelly disappeared in a state of drunk Chris Sako left his girlfriend's apartment and hit The path he went that morning would be the first in a series of clues about what may have happened to Kelly Dwire.

Chris Zako had gone to a place called The Mouse House. What is the mouse house? It's a cheese place. This is The Mouse House 80. about a mile from Milwaukee, near Madison, Wisconsin, a cheese shop in a state full of cheese shops, why would you drive to Madison to buy cheese? It's a very good question, a very good question. Zako says he drove 160 million round trip to buy half a wedge of PB. He cheesed it for his girlfriend's parents, but investigators say he did it to eventually dispose of Kelly's body somewhere in rural Wisconsin Farmland between Madison and Milwaukee in case it was discovered.

Do you think Zako really went to The Mouse House to create some kind of purchase? Certainly, police believe that after disposing of Kelly's body, Zako headed to this shopping center on his return trip to Milwaukee. Investigators say he walked into a Sports Authority and used his credit card to buy a new pair of sneakers. Because? He bought new sneakers, it's possible that he bought those sneakers to replace the ones he wore when disposing of the body, as if he was worried that there was evidence in those sneakers, so he had to have new ones to wear.

Here's the slip. I don't. I don't know if maybe he just had a momentary lapse in judgment, but that created a paper trail for him. Well, that paper trail was a single credit card receipt that gave detectives a critical part of the timeline we know through the investigation in which he purchased the cheese at 9:55 a.m. m. and we know that he bought the shoes at 12:11 p.m. m. The distance between the mouse house and Sports Authority is 54 miles and it should take 47 minutes to get there, but we still have 90 minutes accounted for at that time. 90 minutes, no doubt, enough time detectives believed for Zako to locate a secluded spot off the road. but for them to find that place would be like finding a needle in a pile of hay and without Kelly's body there was no physical evidence of a crime to accuse Zako with only circumstances and suspicions.

You wanted to take him to trial so it was difficult what? What was missing was his body. Finally Chris Sako went to trial in November 2014 not for murder but for possession of child pornography discovered with the search warrants from the initial investigation. What is the outcome of that trial? He is found guilty on all but one charge a month later, Zako pleaded guilty to additional drug charges and was sentenced to a total of 19 years. So are you done with Chris Zako yet? Is it that or is the possible murder investigation still hanging over his head? He's still there, well we still wanted to be able to find him.

Find out what really happened to Kelly. Authorities have just identified the remains of Detective Kelly Dwire, 27. Where we are? We are on a dead end rural road and are about 45k west of Milwaukee. And it's pretty overgrown here, but this is the specific area where Kelly DW's body was found for a year and a half Kelly dwire had been here hiding under these trees just 6 miles off busy I 94 before a man local discovered his remains while walking and caught a flash of light. of something that is whitish in color and when he looks closer he sees what appears to be a human skull. 6 days later, using dental records, those remains were confirmed to be Kelly DWI when what could not be confirmed was how he died there.

There was nothing in that skeleton that would tell us what the cause of death was. No physical evidence was found at the scene (no shower curtain, no cloth, no towel, no clothing, no travel golf bag), but detectives say there was one clue left behind: the position of Kelly's skeleton, her feet and legs were more in this area, um, with one of her legs completely twisted, very contorted, same with her left arm, it was behind her back, like she had been stuffed into some kind of container like a golf travel bag. like a golf travel bag exactly exactly it would seem that the police now had enough evidence to take Chris Sako back to court for the death of Kelly Dwire.

It's too much of a coincidence that his body was found near where he was shopping on the street. a day after he disappeared, but Assistant District Attorney Hill wanted more than a coincidence to build an airtight case. We wanted to make sure we uncovered all the evidence that we could uncover when you have a case that is going to be largely circumstantial. It is absolutely essential that you do that and with Sako already in prison there was no rush. It took another two years of investigative work before the state of Wisconsin charged Chris Zako for Kelly Dwire's death and another year and a half to bring the case to trial.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this case is about a young woman named Kelly Dwire, almost 5 years after Kelly DWI disappeared Chris Sako is going on trial for her death, but surprisingly to some, not for murder Chris Zacho was charged with manslaughter first-degree reckless endangerment for concealing a corpse and strangulation Asphyxiation with restricted means behind courtroom safety glass Prosecutor Sarah Hill presents the state's theory of how they believe Kelly died. She will hear evidence that the accused Mr. Zako was basically having sex with Kelly DWI and ends up killing her. I think Chris Zako enjoyed it. bringing women to the brink of death for their own sexual gratification, in fact, investigators interviewed several women who said Zako engaged in this type of behavior since high school and that it was this reckless behavior that ended up killing Kelly.

DWI and then Mr. Zaco had to do something about it on a shower curtain or on a golf course. travel bag Chris Sako's defense attorneys, Craig Mastantuno and Rebecca Coffee, say the state got it wrong. Someone killed Kelly DWI, but it wasn't Chris Zacho. This case is more about the state wanting Mr. Zacho to be guilty than having evidence to prove it. Are there any witnesses to this alleged crime? There were no witnesses. No. Is there a CSI moment? any definitive piece of DNA, there was no DNA evidence, the prosecution maintains that while the security camera video clearly shows Kelly entering the Zaco building, she is never seen leaving, He could very well have left the building in a manner that was not reviewed by the defense. argues that there are videos from several cameras that they never had the opportunity to examine because they were not preserved as evidence when the defense went to review all the videos.

The evidence that the video was missing and what about that travel golf bag the police insist is in the back? of Zak's car we have looked at that photo there is no silver bag in his trunk there is no video of him carrying a bag that would have been too big for a woman who is 5' 7 there was no video of that Because that did not happen , the cadaver dog evidence seems significant. K9 Molly alert on the bed in the master bedroom and also alert in the garage. There is no way to verify what the officer says.

This dog alerted. It wasn't even filmed. So she is completely reliant on a police officer to describe what she believes her dog was alerting and the defense also has an explanation for that video on Zaco's phone where Kelly appears to be in danger. The government found a video that Kelly dwire and Chris zacho made together. They call it strangulation or asphyxiation, a consensual sexual act is what it represents. That kind of sex is depicted in mainstream movies like 50 Shades of Gray as a relationship with two consensual adults. If Chris Zako didn't kill Kelly Dwire, who did?

I don't know, I don't think we know, I think we know it could have been other people, the defense says that's because Kelly dated men she had met online and it's the suggestion that she met one of these individuals and that could be the cause of her disappearance yes yes yes to support that theory the defense presented a witness who says he saw Kelly after she was reported missing someone who credibly said he saw her that weekend in another individual's car his observation of this individual was very brief at a traffic light he was sure it was her she looked exactly like her he went to the district station and said I saw the woman they are looking for that is on the posters that are on the television anyone I have ever followed up with you on that information.

No, you think he's just wrong. I think you are wrong. I don't think he was trying to fool anyone. I just think he's wrong. After N9 days of arguments and testimony, the case seemed to rest on one thing. the quality of the evidence, ladies and gentlemen, the accused killed Kelly DWI, every piece of circumstantial evidence supports that despite the tragedy of M dwi's death, it is not justice to find Chris Sako guilty based on conjecture , it is justice to declare him innocent of all the factors indicated. For him there is no other person who could have done it it took the jury only 3 and 1 half hours to reach the same conclusion we the jury finds the defendant Chris Zaco guilty of reckless homicide in the first degree he is charged and C one of the information finally after 5 years of waiting and wondering if there is justice for Kelly DWI as for Chris Sako he looked at me when they were taking him out, what did you see?

He was devastated and what was Chris' sentence. 31 years old, in addition to 19 years old, yes, chisako. is a person who has proven to be a danger to society, particularly to women, and someone is dead as a result of that someone was a vibrant, confident young woman who was just beginning to find her way in the world, she was a loving person who He really cared about people. and he loved so much that he didn't really find many faults in anyone. There is a deep sense of loss. Loss for his family. His friends. The loss of a light is seen due to a person's selfishness.

And that is a tragedy. Tragedy is the best word to refer to. this for