[narrator] a body is discovered in an unusual location...
You're at a cemetery. It's full of dead bodies.
But this one is not in a grave.
He has no id on him at all.
He was sorta just dumped there.
[narrator] the investigation reveals a love triangle
That might have turned violent.
I went to him and asked him, "have you lost your mind?"
[narrator] detectives uncover a killer
With a single-minded need for more...
She wanted to see if she could get his last paycheck
And insurance policy.
It was all part of her cold, callous personality.
She is a master manipulator,
Manipulating people to do her dirty work.
[theme music]
[narrator] on Sunday, January 17, 2010,
Detectives in san antonio, texa receive an unusual phone call
From a patrolman making rounds in the city.
[lisa] about a quarter to five, the phone rang,
And a patrolman said, "I'm out at the cemetery,
And there's a dead body."
And I'm like, "right.
You're at a cemetery. It's full of dead bodies."
And she says, "yes, ma'am, but this one is not in a grave."
So, I said, "okay."
So, I drove over to the cemetery.
[narrator] when detective miller arrives at the cemetery,
She is briefed on the discover.
[lisa] a tourist went out for a walk,
And he said when he walked past the cemetery,
He noticed someone he thought was sleeping.
When he turned around to go back to his hotel,
He looked again,
And noticed that the body had not moved.
[narrator] at first glance,
Detective miller doesn't see an obvious cause of death.
You could actually see that there was blood
In the chest area and in the head area.
[lisa] so, we called the medical examiner,
And as soon as they rolled him over,
It was obvious that he had been shot multiple times.
At that time, I'm not gonna try to count bullet holes,
Because you don't know what's entrance,
You don't know what's exit.
It's always better to just wait for the autopsy.
[narrator] given the condition of the body
And lack of blood at the scene,
Investigators surmise that the victim was shot
Several days earlier.
I would say the body was in lividity.
He was very rigid.
It was very clear that he was just sorta just dumped there.
[narrator] where the victim was killed isn't the only mystery.
[lisa] he has no id on him at all.
It's gonna be a john doe.
So, we had to find out who he was.
We started working to see if anybody had made a,
A recent report of...
You know, of a missing, young, apparently healthy black male.
Missing persons found a recent report
That matched his general description,
And his name was samuel johnson.
[narrator] 26-year-old samuel johnson, jr.
Had been reported missing by his parents
After failing to come home from work
On January 13th.
He was supposed to go to work, and then he would be back.
His mom was unable to get in touch with him,
He's not answering his phone.
[jennifer] samuel was not the kinda person
That just fell off the map.
You know, he wouldn't just walk away and,
And not tell you or tell somebody.
Nobody's been able to contact him.
He was missing.
[samuel] that was a sign that somethin' was up.
He is too responsible a young man for that.
The desk sergeant asked for the description.
We filed a missin' person report.
[narrator] it's been five days since samuel went missing,
And his family is still holding out hope they will find him.
Meanwhile, 40 miles away,
A medical examiner is attemptin to id the john doe.
[samuel] we went lookin' for him.
At this point, my mind is all over the place.
You know, I just wanted to know where, where my son is.
[narrator] samuel johnson, jr. Was born in san antonio
On December 8th, 1983
To his mother, stephanie, and his father, sam, sr.
The oldest of three siblings, sam was smart and determined.
When he was in junior high school,
I think they took a field trip to the courthouse.
And he came home and he told, he says, "mom, mom,
I wanna be a lawyer."
I said, "okay, you, you know,
That's gonna take some time in school."
And he says, "yeah, I know, I know,
But that's what I wanna do."
[narrator] after sam graduated high school,
A chance encounter at his day job
Led him to erica bridgeforth.
I met sam January 1st of 2004.
He was 19, I was 20.
He was a, a check casher, and that's where I met him.
I remember specifically, because I cashed my check.
I said, "well you know, you can go ahead
And write your phone number down on the receipt."
Which I, I still have that receipt to this day.
[stephanie] I absolutely loved erica.
She would come over, we would sit, we would talk.
It was, it was so much fun bein' with erica.
[samuel] samuel, he knew how to treat a lady
When he was with her.
Erica was like another daughter to me.
[narrator] sadly, after four years together,
23-year-old sam worried he wasn't ready
For something so serious.
I went to him and asked him, "what's goin' on with you?
Have you lost your mind?"
And he's like, "mom, mom,
I just need to know if she's the right one."
So, he was trying to make sure.
[narrator] sam took the time to focus on his dreams.
He was doing law school for a little while.
And then he left to pick up a job to start making more money
To pay for college.
[narrator] in 2007,
Sam's day job once again brough love into his life
When he met 26-year-old vanessa cameron.
[adrienne] vanessa met sam at her gym.
He was the guy behind the counter.
She was outgoing, she was fun.
God, lots of guys liked her. She was beautiful.
[narrator] born in December 1980 and raised in san antonio,
Vanessa grew up with her older sister, susan.
[adrienne] her mother was a police officer,
And she was a serious woman who maintained a beautiful home.
And her father, he enjoyed having a good time.
[narrator] friends say vanessa took after her mom
While susan was more like her dad.
Sue was more a free spirit.
Vanessa always made a's and b's.
She went to school.
She ended up working for
The san antonio housing authority.
She was helping children.
She worked in an,
In a like, an impoverished apartment complex.
[narrator] when vanessa met 23-year-old sam
In February 2007,
He was everything she was looking for in a partner.
[adrienne] he carried his self in a way that she liked.
He became an instant boyfriend.
She purchased a home and he lived with her.
And they were, you know, basically playing house.
[narrator] in 2008, they welcomed a son.
[samuel] that child became
His reason for getting up in the morning,
His reason for breathing.
I saw my son grow into a man.
And I've never been more proud of him.
[narrator] in April of 2009, with their son still a toddler,
The family suffered a major trauma.
Samuel told us that there had been a fire.
We lost the house. We lost the stuff.
But, you know, everybody's fine.
[narrator] the fire was ruled as an accident,
And fortunately, it wasn't a total loss for the family.
[adrienne] when vanessa purchased the house,
She insured the house for its value.
She got almost $300,000 for the damage to her house.
[narrator] as they figured out next steps,
Vanessa, sam, and their son moved in with
Vanessa's sister susan and her boyfriend,
Bj brown.
Sue and vanessa weren't close when they were younger.
Their closeness came in once they were adults.
And vanessa needed help.
[narrator] the stress of losing their home
Took its toll on vanessa and sam.
I think that vanessa was trying to work out their relationship
And sam was trying to separate.
[jennifer] when she got the payout,
She didn't give samuel any of the money.
His stuff that was there was burned up and destroyed.
And samuel got nothing.
[narrator] after two years together,
They made the difficult decisio to part ways.
Vanessa remained with their child
At her sister's home.
We found out that sam had left her,
And he was stayin' with his brother.
[narrator] it wasn't long before sam reconnected with
His high school sweetheart, erica bridgeforth.
[samuel] I realized erica was still in the picture.
Which brought me joy and satisfaction
Like you wouldn't believe.
[erica] I feel like we both grew up.
He was takin' classes,
Like night classes for bus driving.
He was just so optimistic
And happy about the life that we were building movin' forward.
We ended up becoming engaged,
And I found out we were pregnant
At the end of November of 2009.
He was excited about it.
[narrator] but the happiness is short-lived
When sam goes missing on Wednesday, January 13.
Five days later,
A medical examiner confirms the family's worst fears.
[lisa] when we got confirmation
From the medical examiner's office on their fingerprints,
And it was samuel johnson.
[narrator] with confirmation it is sam,
The official investigation into his murder gets underway.
But detectives quickly realize they are limited on evidence.
There was not a lot of evidence at that scene.
There was no blood at the scene,
There were no shell casings at the scene.
[narrator] detectives reach sam's father by phone
To break the news.
It was the worst day of my life.
[stephanie] I dropped to my knees.
You don't understand it...
But you are trying to process it and nothing's making sense.
[narrator] coming up.
Sam's car unlocks chilling theories...
There was a substance. It turned out to be human blood.
[narrator] but new questions arise
As detectives trace back to his final hours.
He was headed to pick up some money.
The biggest question was did sam show up to pick up the money?
[music]
[narrator] January 18, 2010.
After five days missing,
26-year-old samuel johnson, jr.
Has just been identified as the body
Found in a downtown cemetery.
[kimberly] sam's father, sam's mother,
They had been notified that their son had been murdered.
[narrator] investigators speak with sam's father,
Who informs them that
Sam's 2006 dodge stratus is also missing.
We put the bolo out on the vehicle,
And it was discovered the next day
On the south side of san antonio.
Samuel's body was found on the east side.
The car was discovered about 40 miles away from the body.
We and take it over to what we call 9th street pound,
And there it can be processed properly.
Csi didn't find any prints in the car.
Now, there should've been prints.
Obviously, somebody purposefully wiped off all the prints.
[narrator] the trunk, however, is a different story.
There was a substance that appeared to be blood,
So they went ahead and swabbed it.
And it turned out to be. Yes, it was blood.
Yes, it was human blood.
We had a feeling that it was sam's blood
That was in the trunk of the car.
[narrator] it appears sam was transported in his own vehicle
After he was shot.
[lisa] there's no bullet holes in the car.
So, he wasn't shot in the vehicle.
We're still looking for our murder scene.
But we have a theory about sam's murder.
This looks like a carjacking.
That's just what it looked like to us.
People carjack for all different reasons.
They murdered him, they dumped his body,
They used his car,
And when they were through usin' the car,
They ditched it on the south side of town.
[narrator] if sam was the victim of a random carjacking,
Detectives have their work cut out for them.
[lisa] so, the next day,
The bexar county medical examiner's office
Performed the autopsy.
He had had a gunshot wound to his head,
Two gunshots to forearms and hands,
And he had three in his torso;
Most likely a .22 caliber.
So, if you have, you know,
A gunshot wound in your hand and your forearm,
Then his hand is up somehow,
Knowing that, you know, he is going to be shot.
So, it's a defensive wound.
He had a contusion on his head.
The wound was made while he was alive,
Because it was swollen and it was bleeding.
That told us that he was hit by something,
But we didn't know what.
[narrator] given the violent nature of the crime,
Investigators abandon the carjacking theory,
Believing sam had a personal connection
To his killer.
They reach out to sam's family for help piecing together
Sam's final days.
Sam, sr., sam's mother, and sam's fiancée, erica,
Came in for statements.
[lisa] what we were looking for is
Who is the last person who saw sam?
[narrator] sam's father explains that he and his wife
Last heard from their son
As sam was preparing to take his ex, vanessa,
And their son to the airport.
He's tellin' me she's goin' out of town
To meridian, mississippi.
Her and the baby.
She's goin' to visit some, some friends.
[narrator] when they didn't hear from him for a few days,
They assumed he was busy training for his new job
As a bus driver.
[samuel] we called him, couldn't get ahold of him.
So, my wife and I assume, "well, he's working."
[narrator] samuel, sr. Tells investigators
His wife reached out to vanessa
Who said she hadn't heard from sam
Since he dropped them off.
She asked vanessa, "hey, do you know where sam is?"
And while she was in mississippi, you know, she said,
"no, I have no idea where he's at."
I did go to sam's employment to verify
That sam did not show up for work on Wednesday.
He didn't show up for work, and he didn't call in.
[narrator] it appears that vanessa may have been
The last person to see sam, jr.
But when investigators speak to erica,
They learn that might not be the case.
Erica reveals that she was with sam
After he dropped off vanessa and his son.
He had dropped her off at the airport,
And he came over to the house.
[narrator] erica says vanessa had finally agreed
To leave sam's cut of
The insurance money from the fire
At the home that she shared with her sister, susan.
He's like, "she left the money with sue,
So now I'm gonna go pick up the money from sue."
He was trying to, like, rebuild his life.
But they needed that support and the money,
Because everything he lost in that house fire.
He literally had nothing.
[kimberly] and then after that he was headed to work.
She would see him the next day.
[narrator] but erica says she didn't see sam
The next day...
Or ever again.
[erica] when I woke up that morning,
I grabbed my phone and I looked down at it
And I didn't have nothing.
Like, nothin'.
I then asked erica, "who do you think would've done this?"
She told me, "if anybody murdered sam,
It would've been vanessa."
[lisa] when you look at your suspects,
You're looking at motives, means, and opportunities.
Well, vanessa didn't have an opportunity.
She had an alibi in mississippi.
[narrator] erica pointing a finger at sam's ex
Raises another possibility for investigators.
You try to get into the heads of these characters
In your homicide investigation.
Would erica be jealous of vanessa
Because vanessa has a son with sam?
[narrator] they question erica on her whereabouts
The night sam went missing.
Erica had an alibi for the night that he was last seen.
She was at church choir practice with the entire choir.
[narrator] erica's choir practice alibi
Only covers a short period of time that evening.
The last he had been seen was at 6:45 on Wednesday at erica's.
She was the last one to see him at that point.
So, we have a kind of a definitive parameter of time
That he could have disappeared.
I'm not saying she wasn't still in play,
But at that point,
There just wasn't anything there to give credence that
Erica was involved.
Her emotions were appropriate. She was crying.
I didn't get any feelings or vibes
Or the hair standing up on the back of my neck.
[narrator] as investigators wrap up erica's interview,
They seize on a detail from her statement.
Erica claims sam left her house the night he went missing
To pick up money from susan sutton
At the home she shared with vanessa.
The biggest question was
Did sam show up to pick up the money?
That was the question that needed to be asked.
[narrator] coming up.
Vanessa shares her theories...
[narrator] but a tip leaves detectives
With more questions.
[adrienne] she tells me that
They were supposed to meet at a gas station.
He ended up hitting his head on a curb.
[music]
[narrator] three days after discovering the body
Of shooting victim sam johnson, jr.,
Detectives are eager to questio sam's ex vanessa
And her sister, susan.
But before they can,
A tip comes in from a woman
Claiming to have information they need.
She said, "look, I got a really weird phone call
From my daughter, adrienne, who's living in mississippi.
Adrienne said vanessa came for a visit,
And some pretty odd things happened
While vanessa was there."
[adrienne] my mom talked to this detective
In san antonio police department,
And she said, "they wanna ask you some questions."
[lisa] that's when detective bower
Interviewed adrienne over the phone.
[narrator] adrienne says she is the friend
Vanessa was visiting in mississippi
When sam went missing.
[adrienne] vanessa and I were best friends.
She showed up at my house to surprise me.
My birthday was on the 16th of January,
And she wanted to do something nice for me.
[narrator] during their visit,
Vanessa took a phone call that left her visibly shaken.
[adrienne] when she got off the phone with sam,
She said that they had been working on their relationship.
But his attitude and the way that he was acting
Now that she was in mississippi,
She just wasn't thrilled about it.
She told me that sam was harassing her for money,
And she was just tired of it.
[narrator] a short time later,
Adrienne says vanessa received another phone call.
This one from her sister's boyfriend, bj brown.
She called me back into the bathroom and she said,
"girl, I think that they, they accidentally killed sam."
And I said, "they?"
And she said, "yeah, bj and sue."
[lisa] vanessa told adrienne susan and her boyfriend,
And her boyfriend's cousin, lakisha,
Had gotten into it with sam.
[adrienne] she tells me that they were supposed to meet
At a gas station.
He ended up hitting his head on a curb.
And they left, so they thought that he was dead.
I told her that she was being overly dramatic.
Because if they just beat him up and left him,
Then there's no way that they could confirm
That he was dead.
I was just like, "girl, come on. There's no way."
[narrator] adrienne says she tried to blow it off,
But vanessa kept returning to the topic.
[adrienne] the next day,
She kept bringing up the sam situation.
And I would look at her like, you know, "girl, stop.
You're being overdramatic again."
That Friday, vanessa and I ended up having a falling out,
And she left a few days early.
After speaking with detective bower,
It very clear that this murder wasn't an accident.
I just felt betrayed by her.
[kimberly] adrienne's information is first-hand,
Straight from vanessa,
And we realized that
This is probably the way that it went down.
[lisa] I called vanessa the next day.
I said, "hey, I need background investigation on sam.
Can you come in and talk to us?
And by the way, will you just go ahead
And bring susan with ya?"
[kimberly] vanessa and susan
Came into the office to talk to us.
So, we split them up.
I interviewed vanessa in one interview room,
And lisa took susan in another interview room.
[narrator] vanessa confirms she was in mississippi
When sam went missing,
And returned the day his body was found.
[narrator] when asked about her relationship with sam,
Vanessa is eager to tell them
That he was not getting back together with erica.
[narrator] vanessa says she was
The only real love in sam's life.
[narrator] in a separate room,
Detective miller presses vanessa's sister susan
For information.
Susan was very calm.
Very talkative.
Seemed to be very, very helpful.
[narrator] when asked about the night sam disappeared,
Susan admits he came by the house to pick up money,
But she says she knows nothing about his death.
[lisa] "sam came, he knocked on the door.
I gave him his money,
He said he was gonna go to work, he left.
That's all I know about that night."
[narrator] investigators turn up the heat,
Hoping that a bluff will lead to a confession.
[karl] texas detectives are allowed to lie.
They can go in and say,
"well, you know, your, your friend over there
Has already given you up.
They've already told us everything."
[lisa] she wanted to get the heck out of that interview room.
And she did.
[narrator] detectives return to vanessa.
[kimberly] we decide that's when I'm gonna to tell her,
"I've talked to adrienne.
You don't know what she's told me,
So, I need you to tell me what happened."
When they confronted her, vanessa's face fell.
[narrator] vanessa shifts the blame from erica to susan.
Vanessa is telling us, "I lied. It was my sister."
So now, we have her shifting gears and blaming susan.
Alright, well, we have to prove or disprove
All of those stories.
[narrator] during vanessa's interview,
Susan returns to the police station
With something to get off her chest.
[lisa] it was about ten minutes later.
The lady who works in the lobby called me and said,
"hey, there's a, there's a woman here.
She says she needs to talk to you."
I went back out in the lobby, and it was susan.
She said, "vanessa's trying to blame this all on me.
I need to tell you what really happened."
[music]
[narrator] san antonio detectives
Sit back down with susan sutton
After she abruptly ended her own interview.
[narrator] susan reveals that the fire in vanessa's home
Was no accident.
Vanessa had received almost $300,000 for that.
[narrator] the fire was ruled an accident,
And vanessa and sam moved in
With susan and her boyfriend, bj.
She used that insurance money from the fire to control them.
She doled that money out based on getting them to do
What she wanted them to do.
[narrator] within eight months,
Vanessa had blown through most of the cash.
Susan says that's when she formed a plan
To replenish her funds.
[lisa] there was a life insurance policy on sam
In the amount of three quarters of a million dollars.
[jay] he wanted to do something to take care of his child.
So, he took out this large $750,000 life insurance policy
And made the mistake of telling vanessa,
Because she was the baby's mother.
Susan had some mental health issues
That vanessa was willing to kinda play up.
[kimberly] vanessa had taken away her medication.
That way if susan went to trial for sam's murder,
That she could claim that she wasn't on her meds
And that that led to the murder.
[narrator] susan says she had doubts about the plan,
But also felt she had no choice
[lisa] susan and her boyfriend were not working at this point.
They were dependent on vanessa.
Susan says, "I, I couldn't, I couldn't do it.
My boyfriend agreed to step up and do it for me."
[narrator] she claims her boyfriend, bj brown,
Recruited additional help from his cousin,
27-year-old lakisha brown.
Lakisha agreed to cooperate and commit this murder.
And she said that she needed money
Because she was unemployed.
Vanessa offered to buy them all cars
When she got the insurance money.
[narrator] susan tells investigators
Vanessa bought a last-minute plane ticket
To visit adrienne.
[lisa] vanessa was adamant that he had to be murdered
While she had an alibi in mississippi.
[jay] after samuel had taken vanessa cameron to the airport,
He got a call from susan saying she had some money for him.
[lisa] susan said, "sam came, he knocked on the door.
I didn't want any part of it. So, I ran back upstairs."
[narrator] later, she claims bj and lakisha
Filled her in on what happened.
[lisa] she said they beat him up.
They drove him out to a ranch...
And it was there that they actually killed him.
[narrator] susan points the finger at bj and lakisha,
But detectives aren't taking her word for it.
[lisa] I said, "well, I'm gonna need to talk to them.
Well, call 'em and tell 'em we need 'em to come in."
And they did.
[narrator] investigators need to confirm
If susan's allegations have any merit.
And when they sit down with susan's boyfriend, bj,
He has a different story to tell.
The boyfriend sat in an interrogation room,
Crying like a little baby.
[narrator] lakisha is another story.
[kimberly] we confronted her and said, you know,
"susan's already told us everything."
At that point, lakisha was willing to give the story.
[narrator] the 27-year-old says she met sam at the door
When he arrived at susan's to pick up his money.
She said that susan's boyfriend handcuffed sam,
Tied rope around his feet.
He was duct-taped over the mouth.
[narrator] given the variation in lakisha and bj's statements,
Investigators don't know what to believe,
And continue pressing for details.
She said they drove him out to the country.
They got him out of the car.
[karl] sam, he had begged for his life.
And actually, he asked, "why?"
The response was,
"because this is what vanessa wanted."
[lisa] then they put his body back in the trunk of the car.
And parked that vehicle with the key still in it,
Abandoned on the east side of san antonio.
Lakisha said that on the way back to san antonio,
That she had dismantled the gun
And thrown pieces out on the way back.
I said, "lakisha, take us out to that ranch that
You said sam was killed at."
And she did.
[kimberly] lakisha led us to the shell casings.
There was nine shell casings there.
There was a barbeque grill that had some burnt clothing in it.
There were a pair of handcuffs and some rope.
[narrator] with the puzzle coming together,
There is still one lingering question.
[kimberly] we asked lakisha,
"why is the vehicle on the south side?"
She goes, "well, we don't know. We didn't do that."
[lisa] we have a theory somebody came by,
Saw the keys in the car,
Started it up, and they took it for a ride.
When they found sam in the trunk,
It was they who took him to the cemetery
And dropped him off there.
And then abandoned the car later.
[narrator] on January 21st,
Investigators confront vanessa with the evidence.
She changed her story and said, yes, she did have him killed,
But she did it because he wanted to be killed.
He had taken out a large life insurance policy
And he wanted her and the baby to have that.
And he didn't have the nerve to kill himself.
[karl] she said it was really sam's idea.
That this was essentially a very complicated assisted suicide.
[narrator] investigators aren't buying it.
All four are arrested and charged with murder.
[kimberly] vanessa didn't really seem
That upset about being arrested.
There were no tears.
She didn't really show a lot of emotion about it.
She really didn't.
[narrator] coming up.
Vanessa throws one last curveball.
[jay] after the murder,
She wanted to see if she could get his last paycheck.
[narrator] and the verdict hangs in the balance.
[jay] the jury was not out long at all.
That was worrisome for those of us on the prosecution team.
[music]
[narrator] san antonio authorities
Have four people in custody for the shooting death
Of sam johnson, jr.,
Including his child's mother, vanessa cameron.
Investigators work with prosecutors to build the case.
When they speak to sam's employer,
They learn that vanessa tried t cash in on sam's death
Less than 24 hours after he was found.
[jay] after the murder, she went to the bus headquarters,
And she wanted to know how she could collect
The insurance policy.
She wanted to see if she could get his last paycheck.
She claimed to be his common law wife.
I just think it was all part of a cold, callous personality.
[narrator] seven months after the arrests,
Sam's family celebrates a bittersweet milestone
When erica gives birth to a healthy baby boy.
His second son has never met his dad.
He's been nothing but other people's memories.
[narrator] prosecutors focus their efforts on
Holding vanessa accountable.
In 2012, they add two names to their witness list.
[jay] the two co-defendants,
Her sister susan and lakisha brown,
Both plead guilty and made deals with the state.
Which included their testifying against vanessa.
[narrator] in February 2012, vanessa's trial begins.
Prosecutors present vanessa as a greedy mastermind.
[lisa] the three things that you're looking at:
Motives, means, and opportunities.
Well, vanessa didn't have an opportunity.
How convenient.
She was in mississippi that weekend.
Did she have a motive?
I would say three quarters of a million dollars
Is a whole lot of motive.
And did she have the means?
She did not,
But her sister
And sister's boyfriend and cousin certainly did.
[karl] she very much is a master manipulator.
From manipulating people around her
To actually manipulating people
To help her carry out this murder
And do her dirty work for her.
[narrator] for her defense,
Vanessa recants her previous statements
And tosses blame to her co-conspirators.
[jay] her defense was this alibi she had set up
That she was in mississippi when it happened.
It was all a shock to her.
[narrator] after a lengthy trial,
It is left for the jury to decide.
[jay] the jury was not out long at all.
It was a complicated case, and...
That was worrisome for those of us on the prosecution team.
Vanessa's still confident that
We have not tied her to this murder.
[erica] she's sitting there lookin' in the mirror,
Puttin' on her makeup.
Because she knew that she was gonna walk outta there.
But that never happened.
[karl] they convicted her.
The judge who actually oversaw the case
Gave her 75 years.
[narrator] in October 2013, bj brown,
The alleged triggerman, goes to trial.
[jay] there's a rule of law in texas,
If the primary evidence against you
Is accomplice witness testimony,
There has to be some evidence other than that testimony.
There was no evidence. Nobody ever found the gun again.
[narrator] without corroborating evidence,
The case against him flounders.
[karl] the individual who
I think actually pulled the trigger was acquitted.
That is by far somethin' that
I still can't totally wrap my brain around.
[narrator] but even complete justice
Wouldn't have filled the hole sam left behind in his family.
He was there when you needed him,
He was always there.
It was, "mom, what do you need?"
I miss my baby. Miss him so much.
[erica] the love is there.
I feel sam, like, through my son.
Through reminders of who I am
And what I've grown from because of him.
And I'm, I'm grateful for that.
[music]