[tense music]
♪ ♪
[line ringing]
[sirens blaring]
narrator: Police and EMS respond
to the apartment complex and find a man
lying in the parking lot, shot dead.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
narrator: For homicide detectives,
their chance of solving a murder
is cut in half
if they don't get a lead
within the first 48 hours.
♪ ♪
- Morning.
- So are you my guy? - What's up?
- Security guard discovers the body
laying in a parking space.
He didn't have a pulse.
- OK.
- All right, let's do that.
- Follow me.
♪ ♪
- Both pockets are turned out.
- Both of them? - Yeah.
And this guy's got no wallet or no phone on him,
so we don't know who he is.
- Let's see if we can get him printed out here.
narrator: The Tulsa Police forensic lab will try
to identify the victim through his fingerprints.
narrator: The team believes the victim has been dead
for several hours.
- Where's he shot?
- Right side.
- Other side here?
narrator: The victim suffered
a single gunshot wound to the torso.
- It looks like a close contact gunshot wound.
No casings?
♪ ♪
- His hands are dirty.
I mean, like, he's homeless and been scavenging.
Is the bottom of his sock dirty also?
[camera shutter clicks]
So he's been running without his shoes.
Or he's just homeless.
- Got one shoe down here,
and we have another shoe.
- Those shoes go with his attire.
narrator: CSI finds some footprints
a few feet from the victim's body...
- Right here...
narrator: And more behind some nearby bushes.
- Somebody's been standing there
and been walking back and forth from around near the body.
- Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- Through that round ball part.
- Those are fresh.
- Looks like a Air Force 1, right?
- You mean as far as shoes? - Yeah.
- I don't know, man. I'm not a shoe connoisseur.
- It doesn't match his shoe, does it?
- Man, I must be a shoe moron.
- Really?
It's like a partial palm?
- Yeah.
It looks fresh. So we'll print that.
♪ ♪
narrator: Then...
- Here, let me holler at this young lady here.
narrator: The apartment manager arrives.
- Hey, quick question.
- You came out here and looked at this guy?
- He doesn't look familiar to you whatsoever or--
- How long have you been the manager?
- Three years?
- And he is not a tenant?
- Do you have any cameras in your complex?
[tense music]
narrator: Two hours in...
- How are you, sir?
narrator: The team canvasses the complex,
hoping to find a witness.
- Did you hear anything?
♪ ♪
- Did you hear anything?
- Any issues going on here at the complex?
Homeless people, burglaries?
- Any problem apartments?
♪ ♪
- What are your thoughts?
You think he might be just peeking in some cars
and picked the wrong one?
- He's not really dressed as a burglar, though.
But he's not got a backpack.
He's not got tools.
I mean, he's a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
♪ ♪
- There's absolutely nothing other than
a dead guy in a parking lot.
That's all we absolutely have.
- We just need to figure out who he is.
Once we figure out who he is, it'll probably come together.
♪ ♪
[clock ticking]
[phone dings]
- Brandon Watkins sent a picture.
That may be our victim.
narrator: The forensic lab has found a match
for the victim's fingerprints in the police database.
- That looks good.
Anthony Charles Welch.
- 31-year-old Anthony Welch was born and raised in Tulsa
and attended Broken Arrow High School.
He was an avid soccer player
and hoped to one day coach a team of his own.
Anthony leaves behind his parents, brother,
and a three-year-old daughter.
- We've got him identified.
Our guy lives at Pheasant Run Apartments,
so we're gonna go out there, talk to management,
and see if they will let us in,
see where else this thing takes us
because right now, we don't have diddly.
narrator: While Brown heads to Anthony's apartment...
♪ ♪
[line ringing]
- Hey, Carol.
This is Detective Ryden, Tulsa Police Department.
narrator: Detectives Max Ryden and Mark Kennedy
will notify Anthony's mother.
- It's in reference to your son.
I need to talk to you face-to-face.
We can come to you.
- Thank you, ma'am.
[somber music]
- I really don't have a clue at this point what the motive is.
- Lots of possibilities have been floating around,
so we got to get Mom to tell us about him.
Maybe that'll lead us on the right path to
how to catch the guy that killed him.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Hey, Carol.
I'm Detective Kennedy. This is Detective Ryden.
We work Tulsa Police Homicide.
- Oh, no! [sobbing]
No!
[sobbing]
- We're very sorry.
- We responded to a--
a shooting at 3200 South Hudson,
the apartments there.
And he was found outside shot.
- [sobbing] No.
- No.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Thank you, ma'am.
♪ ♪
[clock ticking]
- Horrible.
The mother was very upset when she heard
that we worked Tulsa Police Homicide.
She put two and two together.
- The mom got on the phone with the baby's mama.
And she was flipping the hell out.
I can't imagine she's involved.
Call John Brown.
[line ringing]
- Hey.
- Mom says he is a drug dealer.
And she said he Ubers a lot.
narrator: According to Anthony's mother,
he sold small amounts of weed to supplement his income.
- His phone should have been on him.
And she said he works at First Watch.
So we can go to First Watch and deal with his co-workers.
- Okey-doke.
narrator: While Ryden and Kennedy head out
to the restaurant where Anthony worked as a waiter...
- Well, howdy, ma'am.
narrator: Brown and Detective Ronnie Leatherman
speak to the manager of Anthony's complex.
- Looking for a gentleman we were told that lived out here.
Do you know Mr. Welch?
- He's dead.
- Aww.
- Can we take a look in his apartment?
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- Where's his customer list at?
Various names and numbers in it,
but nothing that's just screaming at me that--
- Go meet Tommy at such and such hour.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Nothing that jumps out that says he went
to go meet somebody to sell a little dope.
[phone ringing]
Mark Kennedy, what's up?
- We're in the apartment. There's nothing that jumps out.
- We probably will be in the next 10 to 15 minutes.
Okey-doke.
- OK, bye.
narrator: Then...
narrator: A neighbor approaches detectives
and says he let Anthony borrow his car last night.
- Here, this-- this little white Ford here.
Have a seat up front.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- What do you think you know?
- All I know is he told me last night
he had to go run an errand.
Can he borrow my car?
- What time was this he needed to borrow your car?
- Probably about 10:30, 11:00 last night.
And he never came back.
♪ ♪
[clock ticking]
I called his work asking if Anthony was there,
and his manager just straight told me, I'm sorry to tell you,
but he was shot and killed last night.
- What kind of car you got?
- It is a 2006 gray Impala.
- How well do you know Anthony?
- Not very. I mean, he's mostly--
we just game or he's my neighbor.
That's about it.
- Here's a question.
I need you to be honest with me.
- OK. - You ever buy dope from him?
- No. - You know he sells dope?
- I did not.
♪ ♪
- He got a girlfriend or anything, you know?
- He's got a baby and an ex.
I don't know the full story.
But as far as I know, he's not a bad guy.
I wouldn't believe this would happen.
Honestly, I'm in shock.
He was a really nice guy to me.
♪ ♪
So in order to get my car back, how do I go about doing that?
- We gotta find it.
- All right, thank you. - Okey-doke.
[line ringing]
Michael Zenoni.
narrator: Brown calls Detective Michael Zenoni
back at the crime scene.
- Our guy was in a gray Impala last night,
but don't know if that car is out there.
narrator: Zenoni will search the crime scene
for the gray Impala.
- OK, bye.
♪ ♪
We have a car to at least look for now.
I don't know if our suspects may have taken the car
or if it's still there at the scene.
♪ ♪
[phone ringing]
Michael Zenoni.
- Really?
- Thank you, sir. Bye.
[suspenseful music]
OK, the gray Impala is right here up front.
narrator: The car is parked
40 feet from where Anthony was found dead.
- Yeah, he's here making a delivery to somebody.
- Yeah.
This could have been a drug deal gone bad.
We need to search the car.
If we can find his phone and find out
who he was over here to meet.
♪ ♪
narrator: The next day...
- Our crime scene guy searched the Impala
that Anthony was driving.
Unfortunately, he did not locate a phone in it.
♪ ♪
- Any new thoughts, John Brown?
- My only thought is,
dude, unless he ran from where his car was parked
to get away from these guys,
I mean, why didn't he park there in that 77 parking spot?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Let's talk to Anthony's ex-girlfriend.
They share a kid. They keep in touch.
Maybe she'll know why he was out there
and what he was up to.
[line ringing]
- My name is Detective Brown with Tulsa Police Department.
narrator: Brown reaches out to the mother of Anthony's child.
- Hey, can we meet with you?
Okey-doke. OK, thank you, ma'am.
♪ ♪
- Anthony's baby mama, she's at home.
We're gonna go pay her a visit.
So we'll see what she's got to throw into the mix here
and go from there.
♪ ♪
[car door closes]
- How are you guys? - How's it going?
♪ ♪
[clock ticking]
narrator: As the first 48 ticks away...
- Well, as it turns out, Jamesha is baby mama.
She doesn't know a lot.
She was kind of shocked that Anthony was murdered.
She had no idea who he may have been running with
or who may have wanted to do harm to him.
I think their relationship just revolved around
the child they had.
But nobody knows why he was there still.
So we're back to square two.
♪ ♪
[clock ticking]
narrator: 12 days go by
without a new lead on the case.
[phone ringing]
Then...
- Homicide. Brown.
narrator: Brown gets a call from Anthony's uncle.
- And you say you are an IT guy?
narrator: He says while cleaning out
Anthony's apartment, he found the password
to Anthony's email account.
- So Anthony had a Google account?
- Well, you're the man I want to see then.
Can I meet with you?
- I'll see you down here.
- Thank you, sir.
♪ ♪
narrator: An hour later,
Anthony's uncle and aunt arrive.
- OK.
This is Corporal Showman.
He is one of our IT guys.
OK, so you're in on the ground floor running
and kind of have an idea of what was going on.
- Yeah.
narrator: He says he searched through Anthony's inbox.
♪ ♪
- They're going back and forth, then it's she's pregnant.
We can't tell if it's, you know, real.
♪ ♪
narrator: Six hours before Anthony was found dead,
the messages between him and the girl suddenly stopped.
- Which is weird because they had been going
on and on and on.
And then it ended.
- What else you remember seeing when you were in there?
- Plenty of Fish.
- The one that came at 1:00-something in the morning.
narrator: Five hours before he was found dead,
Anthony got an email from the dating app Plenty of Fish.
narrator: The message was from a woman
with the username "TheBaddestLatina."
narrator: They logged into Anthony's
Plenty of Fish account.
- Everything was gone.
- From that particular date or altogether?
- And I looked through all the pictures.
narrator: She says they searched Plenty of Fish
for TheBaddestLatina,
but her profile no longer exists.
♪ ♪
- My thought-- drug deal gone bad, maybe.
- And that's a possibility.
Or, you know, or he could have been over there
and somebody robbed him.
I know it's a difficult time.
I definitely appreciate you guys coming down.
[door clicks]
The victim's uncle, he was able to hack into his Google stuff.
He found the chick.
According to them, there was a lot of
previous texting going on.
And then the day of Anthony's death,
it just flat-out stopped.
Who knows?
Maybe she didn't like him,
and maybe she had him set up to be killed.
And he was using Plenty of Fish.
Anthony was gonna go meet up with a girl,
this "TheBaddestLatina."
But everything is deleted off of Plenty of Fish.
- Hell, we've got stuff to run on now.
- I need to type that warrant for Plenty of Fish.
narrator: Brown will get a search warrant
to try to recover Anthony's Plenty of Fish account.
- And we're gonna go see if we can find her.
narrator: The team will try to track down the girl
Anthony was arguing with
hours before he was found dead.
- It's a marathon, not a sprint.
- Well, we're jogging it, Z.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
narrator: The next morning...
- She's kind of curious about what we wanted
to talk to her about.
narrator: The team finds the girl
Anthony was arguing with over email.
And she agrees to meet.
♪ ♪
- That's her.
- Hello. Hop in.
My name is Detective Brown, Tulsa Police Department.
This is Detective Ryden.
You know Anthony Welch?
- How do you know Anthony?
- You were kind of messing around with him, weren't ya?
- When was the last time you talked to Anthony?
- What's the gist of that conversation?
- And telling him you were pregnant?
- You were mad at him.
And then no more text messages after that, right?
- You know Anthony's dead?
♪ ♪
Somebody shot and killed him.
So do you know anything about that?
♪ ♪
- You guys were definitely having a domestic.
You're not getting along. Would that be a fair statement?
- Did you have any of your friends
go meet with Anthony that night?
♪ ♪
- He was gonna meet a girl?
narrator: She says on the night of the murder,
she logged into Anthony's Plenty of Fish account
and saw that he'd made plans to meet up with a girl.
- Did you remember where they were gonna go meet?
narrator: But when she tried to log in again
a few hours later,
his account had been deleted.
- You remember the name that she went by?
- On your phone?
narrator: She took a screenshot of the girl's
Plenty of Fish profile photo.
- So is that her name?
narrator: The photo shows the girl's Snapchat profile name.
[phone dings]
- Well, I definitely appreciate you
taking your time to talk to us.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- She has gone from a possible suspect
to probably the number one witness that we have.
She and Anthony were seeing each other.
And I think she was kind of spying on him
on his social media account.
The last thing she knew was
Anthony was gonna go meet up with a girl.
Gave us a picture of this girl, gave us a username.
- She's right there.
That is her Snapchat ID.
- OK.
narrator: The team searches for the girl's profile name
on Snapchat and Facebook.
- All right, right there, that one.
That's her.
John, her Snapchat is on her Facebook.
narrator: They find the same Snapchat photo
on the girl's Facebook account...
- Yeah, this same picture's right there.
narrator: Along with her real name.
- This is the girl that was the last person
that he was trying to hook up with.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- That's her Facebook.
This is the girl that he was trying to meet that night.
♪ ♪
- That's awesome.
- Good work, Z. - Z's the man.
♪ ♪
narrator: Crime analyst Margo Heyne-Bell
looks up the girl in the police database.
♪ ♪
- There it is.
- She's 15 years old.
- Lists both her parents as incarcerated, it looks like.
♪ ♪
- We believe that we have the person identified
that he was going to meet.
- He is talking to her on Plenty of Fish.
The next morning, his Plenty of Fish was deleted.
We've got the records back.
narrator: Plenty of Fish was unable to recover
the deleted data from Anthony's account.
- So the Plenty of Fish stuff is a dead end.
- Before we bring her in for an interview,
we probably need to get a warrant for her Facebook
and see if there's any messages
that might tie her to this murder.
That could take months for them to get that back to us.
♪ ♪
- Anthony, he was very outgoing,
very charismatic.
You always wish for your kids the best.
And you want everything for them.
[somber music]
And sometimes they travel a rougher road.
He was at the point where he was actually making a turn
to get things on track.
It's hard because you want to see what he would have done.
- We're at a month.
And it's just frustrating.
♪ ♪
- Not knowing, not having any answers
or, you know, just the why.
I mean, there's not gonna be an answer
that's gonna be good enough.
But I just don't understand.
♪ ♪
I get upset.
I get angry.
Last night, I was sitting in the parking lot
where he was murdered till 10:00 last night...
♪ ♪
Wanting to know who killed my son.
♪ ♪
- It's so hard with this is, you know,
with all the digging, researching,
trying to find any possible something,
at the end of it all, you know, we're just--
the end result that we want is--
is for him to--to be back, and we won't have that.
And it's just really hard.
We won't get what we want.
♪ ♪
- All we have left is Kaylan.
She reminds us of him.
- Yeah.
- She has his smile and his personality.
That's all we have left.
♪ ♪
narrator: Three months after Anthony was shot and killed...
- I just got the lab results back from a palm print
that I took off of a hood of a car.
Came back to Elijah Rowe.
narrator: Brown looks up Elijah Rowe
in the police database.
- That's him.
narrator: Elijah, who goes by the nickname "MuteMouth,"
is 16 years old.
- Wait, wait, pull up that.
- What, picture?
- That's from two weeks ago.
- What the hell? He's in custody.
narrator: Two weeks ago,
Elijah was arrested on unrelated charges
and is currently being held at the Tulsa County Jail.
- And they listed the 3200s as his address.
narrator: According to his arrest report,
Elijah lives at the apartment complex
where Anthony was murdered.
- His unit is gonna be in the building
that Anthony was found dead in front of.
- This just gets better and better.
- Yes, it does.
♪ ♪
- You've got her Facebook records.
- Just got those back yesterday.
♪ ♪
narrator: The team searches the Facebook records
of the girl Anthony was going to meet
to see if she has any connection to Elijah Rowe.
♪ ♪
- What? Where is ya?
- Here's a conversation she's having with "MuteMouth."
narrator: Schilling discovers a Facebook message
between Elijah and the girl on the night of the murder.
♪ ♪
- So 2:11, missed a call.
He's saying, answer the phone.
♪ ♪
- 2:12. - 2:12.
♪ ♪
- He's saying, "He here."
"I need you for real."
"Stop playing." "Baby, please."
"We need to hit that L."
Need to hit that lick. Boom!
- He's talking about doing a robbery.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- He's saying, "You weirded out on it."
And then, "What's up?"
- You can see him, like, almost in real time,
planning the robbery,
and then her getting cold feet and leaving.
- Her POF account is what's used to lure him there.
He lives there at those apartments.
So she sets it up.
And he finishes it.
That's her and "MuteMouth."
- Correct.
- It was a robbery that went bad.
♪ ♪
- So see if you can put out a tip sheet,
see if uniforms can find her.
- Okey-dokey. Will do.
- Boom!
- Excellent police work.
♪ ♪
- This girl is gonna be the key
because I think she ended up getting cold feet and bailing.
And then he just go ahead and pulls the lick.
So I think it's gonna get her to roll and do the right thing
and say, "OK, this is what happened.
This is what I know."
♪ ♪
narrator: The next day...
- Warrants is chasing one of our possible suspects.
♪ ♪
- She ran, but we got her arrested.
So she's gonna come on down here,
and we'll see if she wants to give a statement to John.
narrator: 20 minutes later...
♪ ♪
- I think we let her fill in the blanks as,
OK, here's your opportunity to say,
I want to help myself or
give us a big middle finger and you guys do whatever.
So we'll see what happens.
♪ ♪
- How are ya? My name is Detective Brown.
This is Detective Schilling.
Do you know why I want to talk to you?
- OK, let me start with this question.
Who's that?
- Who is it?
- Well, let's put Elijah over here to the side.
Because since I have that picture,
you're probably sitting there thinking,
what else does he know, right?
- Well, that's--there you go. OK.
- OK.
- Let's go with it, then.
- Force you to do what?
narrator: She says when she walked into Elijah's apartment
he came in behind her.
narrator: She says Elijah went outside to speak to Anthony.
- Where was this guy's car parked at?
narrator: She says Anthony parked
in front of Elijah's apartment.
- What did he say when he went out there to talk to the dude?
- Did he tell you what he was gonna say to the dude?
- Well, let me ask you this.
How did he find this dude?
- So you sent Elijah some pictures?
- What did MuteMouth do with these pictures?
♪ ♪
- There's a little bit more to it than that, OK?
I have all your Facebook records.
♪ ♪
- All your messages in your Facebook
would tell a completely different story
than what you're trying to convince us of right now.
Let me refresh your memory.
- "I'm on it. I'm hitting MFers up right now.
I'm low-key trying to hit this L real quick."
You tell Elijah
you're lining dudes up for an L.
What's an L? A lick?
But now all of a sudden, oh, he's putting a gun to my head.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- When he says he's got your Facebook records,
he's got your Facebook records.
♪ ♪
narrator: She admits that Elijah used her photo
to create a Plenty of Fish account.
♪ ♪
- Anything else you want to add?
Hang tight.
- She tried to minimize her involvement,
but ultimately, she admitted
that she set Anthony up to get robbed.
So she's responsible for his death.
She's only 15,
so she's gonna get charged as a juvenile.
♪ ♪
narrator: The team takes Elijah out of jail
and brings him in for questioning.
♪ ♪
- How are you, sir? - Good, how are you?
- I am doing well.
This young fellow here is Detective Schilling.
My name is Detective Brown.
♪ ♪
Mr. Rowe, you have an idea
of why you're down here talking to us?
- No, sir.
- OK. Here, I'll explain it to you.
City Gardens Apartments,
there's an incident that happened out there
at that apartment complex.
Does your mama still live there?
OK.
An individual shows up out there,
and he gets shot, and he dies.
Well, there's been a lot of research
and a lot of investigating going on
that leads us to you.
♪ ♪
- How does it lead you to me?
♪ ♪
- You know that gal?
- Uh-huh.
- How do you know her?
- So we talked to her also.
♪ ♪
Your friend tells us this crazy story
about you and her and a social media app
called Plenty of Fish.
♪ ♪
You got a Facebook account?
- Yeah. - Under what name?
- I think it's MuteMouth.
- Under MuteMouth?
♪ ♪
Let me ask you this.
Were you home the 28th of May?
- I don't know where you going with this,
but I don't know nothing about what you're talking about.
- I've got evidence that puts you at a murder scene.
- Well, it belongs to nobody else but you.
I either have DNA or fingerprints.
How does that stuff end up in a murder scene?
- Your Facebook message shows that this was
the two of you working in concert,
the two of you together.
That's why you're asking her,
"Where are you? He's here.
Where are you? He's leaving."
- "What are you doing? You [bleep] out on me?"
- No, somebody been hacked my Facebook page.
- Somebody hacked your Facebook?
- We did. We did ask her that.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- OK.
Well, if that's the story you want to stick to, dude,
by all means, stick to that story.
We're gonna do what we need to do.
Pack it up.
♪ ♪
I think the interview really hadn't helped us a lot.
It was just a lot of freaking white noise.
- Unfortunately, we're still left with a lot of questions
at the end of this that are probably
gonna remain unanswered.
We don't know why his shoes were off.
We don't know why the car was parked
up at the front of the complex.
It could be that they were just moving it
to make it farther away from the actual crime scene.
We never did find out why Anthony was shot.
We just don't know the full story.
- Long story short, Anthony Welch,
he got lured out there by a dating site.
And he bit, showed up.
♪ ♪
The unfortunate part is
these individuals were up to no good and killed him.
[handcuffs clicking]
This has been
an exhausting few months,
but I'm sure the family is happy
that there's been an arrest.
I'm glad to kinda put this one to bed.
♪ ♪
- This one, I took.
narrator: Five years after Anthony was killed,
his daughter and her mother
are still learning to cope with their loss.
- Sometimes I might have
a dream about him.
When I wake up the next morning,
I start really wishing that he would be here.
- The day that we found out,
she was supposed to go to her dad's house.
She was excited.
His mom called me, and then
she just broke down and told me,
um, that he was gone.
And then I broke down.
And everything else outside of that
really felt like a blur.
♪ ♪
But I think what helped her was when she went to the service,
she saw him because
she had this big fear of, like, oh, he's hurt, he's hurt,
and so whenever she was able to see him,
that gave her peace.
[laughter]
Play tag.
♪ ♪
I watch her struggle a lot.
We talk through some memories for her
because I do understand, at this point, she's--
she's, you know, been here longer
than she got to spend with him.
And that's hard for her, you know,
trying to keep that memory alive.
That way, she doesn't forget him.
[somber music]
♪ ♪