♪ I'm starting over ♪
♪ been asleep through my shadow ♪
♪♪♪
- Welcome to south carolina. - Thank you.
Have you ever been here before?
- It's my first time. - Well, you know what?
I'm excited that you're here, 'cause to be lapd,
Your experience, your world,
Where you're from, you got it going on.
So I'm happy we have you on this case.
I'm happy to be here.
I'm thrilled to welcome the newest member of our team,
Bertha durazo, or as we call her, "b".
She just recently retired from the l.A. Police department
After spending decades there,
And her last stint was with the cold-case unit.
Of all the people that I've worked with on "cold justice,"
"b" is the only person who comes to us
Straight from work in cold cases.
And now she's available to bring her extensive experience
And meticulous process to our investigations.
Siegler: What made you go into cold cases?
Durazo: I felt that cold cases needed detectives
Who were willing to dig and just be persistent.
Cold cases also benefit from people that are nerdy.
I admit I'm a nerd. How about you?
- Appreciating the details. - I'm a detail gal.
I need to look at everything,
Because sometimes it's those fine little details
That are hidden on the fifth page of someone's statement
That really make the difference.
I've always felt that "cold justice" and her mission
Was trying to help families find justice.
This is really important to me
Because I worked cold cases for a long time.
I'm hoping to help bring a successful resolution
To the brutal, unsolved murder
Of 56-year-old devoted father william michael mccuen.
The victim, william michael mccuen, was retired.
Lost his wife not that much earlier.
It's the day of his son's college graduation.
Durazo: Of all days to come have breakfast with his dad,
And he found dad deceased on the side of the house.
Looked like he was asleep in his bed.
And that's where he was attacked and stabbed multiple times.
And it seemed like he tried to come to
Because he clearly left his bedroom down the hall,
Out the door.
You think he started stabbing him,
Whoever did it, when mike was asleep?
- I think so. - So never knew it was coming.
Yeah.
Thinking back on samantha and kelsey's graduation days,
Those are some of the happiest memories
That a parent could ever have.
So I can imagine the excitement
That mike mccuen felt that day
'cause he had been dreaming about it
And looking forward to it for so long,
And instead, it turned into a nightmare.
After 24 years, mike and his family deserve justice.
I was trying to look at mike's life
And all the people in it and who he may have had
Any conflicts with.
- It didn't seem like... - He had any enemies.
I'm excited to figure this out.
[geese honking]
- You hear those geese? - I hear them.
- Hello, hello. - How you doing, sheriff?
- Good. - Andy tribble.
- Nice to meet you. - Michael branyon.
Michael, nice to meet you.
Kendall cash. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
We're definitely excited to get y'all's perspective
And assistance on this next case.
This is one that rocked the community.
A lot of people would like to get justice for mr. Mccuen.
Yeah? You wanna go get started?
Absolutely.
In anderson county, just very country.
I would describe it as that. Very wholesome.
You have a case like this
With somebody that would be a low-risk victim like--
Michael mccuen was taken from his family.
It's just extremely important for us that the person
Who is responsible for this is brought to justice.
Okay, let's start off by putting some pictures up of mike.
But his real name is...
- William michael. - William michael?
Siegler: Talk about mike? What was his life like?
Branyon: He was a community man.
He was a member of the west pelzer baptist church.
He was the deacon. He was the Sunday school director.
He had one son, matthew.
In this picture right here. So we have mike.
- And then this is... - His wife, bobbie.
- Bobbie. And this is matt? - Matthew. Yeah. Matt.
Mike's wife, bobbie, had died due to breast cancer
A year and a half or so prior to his death.
Mike was recently retired.
He was a successful man. He worked for the state.
He was a furman graduate and a football player,
And he was well regarded in the community.
Tell us about how all this case started.
On may 27th of 2000, his son matthew
Was to graduate from furman university.
So about 6:30 a.M., law enforcement got a call.
Matthew mccuen had come home from furman.
He stated that he was going to surprise his dad
For breakfast that morning
And found his father outside, who had been stabbed.
He was found in a seated position
But slumped against the backside of the house.
He had bled to death. Between his feet,
There were a phone and a handgun that was found.
The telephone had not been used to dial 911.
The firearm had not been fired.
The glass was knocked out of a window
That was close to the door.
Initially appeared to be the point of entry.
It was determined
That he was most likely stabbed in his bed.
Was stabbed 17 times, once in the heart,
Which was probably the fatal wound.
There's a blood trail from the bedroom, from the bed,
Down the hallway into the exterior door
That he walked out of.
The scene revealed that nothing was taken from the house.
Whoever killed mr. Mccuen left behind the murder weapon.
The knife was found by the bed. It was a large kitchen knife
That was taken from the kitchen of the home.
Siegler: And y'all tested it for dna back then, right,
- And got nothing? - That's right. No.
Durazo: Based on the level of rigor mortis on mike's body,
The medical examiner estimated the likely time of death
Was between 3 a.M. And 6 a.M.
Since nothing was stolen,
Is it possible that this was a burglary gone wrong
Or a vengeful act of an unknown enemy of mike's?
Okay, so if we have "unknown suspect" up here,
What would you start with?
The broken window.
So this would suggest that it was
A random break-in, resulting in a murder.
Mike had just recently moved into this house.
He had some contractors in there because he was remodeling.
House being remodeled. That's a good one.
He was actually dating two women at the time.
In any homicide investigation,
You have to always consider the person
Who's closest to your victim and the one who found the body.
The two women he was dating at the time
As well as one of their estranged husbands
Were clearly suspects back then.
But mike's son, matthew, checks both of those boxes.
- Matt's full name is... - William matthew mccuen.
As far as prior criminal history,
He's got nothing, right?
- He had nothing. - Hadn't been arrested before.
Hasn't been arrested for anything at all since.
Nothing.
What kind of personality are we talking about?
He was described a highly intelligent.
He was valedictorian of his high school.
Valedictorian of his high school class.
He was described as a nice guy by many of the people
That investigators had talked to.
And I think his dad had very high expectations of him.
By most accounts, matt had a good relationship
With his father, and he had a key to the house,
So he wouldn't need to break the window to get in.
But not everything about his story made sense.
He told investigators varying accounts.
He told a service member that he'd given mouth-to-mouth.
He told investigators one time
That he had cradled his dad by one account.
Later on, he said he's staunching the wounds,
As he put it, yet there was no blood on his arms.
There's no blood on his shirt.
You would expect there to be a lot more blood
Because his father was covered in blood.
Matt initially said that he was going to surprise his dad
For breakfast before graduation on that day.
But later in interviews,
He admitted that he wasn't going to graduate.
Matt's t-shirt was recovered from the scene,
And the lack of blood transfer was inconsistent with his story.
Plus, he lied about graduating that day.
This makes me wonder, what else has matt lied about?
Siegler: Okay, let's talk about the motives.
Branyon: His dad owned two houses at the time.
In addition to that, he had around $42,000
Across two bank accounts.
Had recently retired, and I think got
A lump sum in retirement
That would have been pretty substantial for the time.
If his dad would have gotten married, though,
Tell me how south carolina law works.
But in texas, that new wife would have been entitled
To a life estate in the house even if it wasn't in the will.
They could have lived there until they died.
Matt inherited his share of all the financial assets,
Including the house, which he still lives in today.
So the financial motive is there,
But the question remains, would that have been enough
For matt to brutally kill his own biological father?
♪ when I get home ♪
♪ I'm tired and tethered ♪
♪ caught in circles ♪
♪ where I have been before ♪
Siegler: We're going to meet mike's sister barbara.
- Hey, miss durham. - Hey.
For 24 years, she's had
To deal with the pain of losing her brother.
She's also been dealing with the uncertainty of whether
Or not her own nephew had anything to do with this.
How are you, miss barbara? I'm kelly.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
We wanna bring her the answers
She's been desperately waiting for.
Can you just tell us about mike
And kind of how mike was closer to the time of his death?
He worked at that unemployment bureau in anderson.
Not too soon before he ended up being murdered,
He retired, right?
He hadn't been retired that long, had he?
No. No.
Mike, he was real easy to get along with.
He was a real kind person, but he had no sense of balance.
I tried to teach him how to ride the pony,
And he'd just go off to the side.
So I had a hard time with that.
And finally we just gave that up. [chuckles]
He was a good dad. He tried to be good to matthew.
And if matthew wanted to play football
Or whatever he wanted to do, then mike, he would go and try
To help him along or do whatever he had to do.
He wanted him to be a good athlete. Matthew couldn't do it.
I know when he was trying to learn how to ride a bicycle,
Mike was trying to hold him on the bicycle.
Both of 'em run into a tree.
- He just wasn't coordinated. - Yeah.
Was mike demanding of matt?
No, but he was having trouble with matthew.
What do you mean by that?
Well, one time when I went up to their house,
I asked mike what was that bruise on his face.
And he said he was mowing the lawn.
And matthew came out there
And jumped on mike while mike was mowing.
And I said, "why?" and he said
Because he had already got him a girlfriend
And he was gonna move her in the house.
Well, matthew wasn't gonna have that.
He didn't want her in the house.
Why didn't matt want his daddy to be happy?
I do not know.
So their relationship at that time
- Prior to mike's death... - Was bad.
Did he act like he was sad that his dad had been killed
And they hadn't found who killed him?
No. He--I never seen him cry.
I think matthew is-- something ain't right there.
Siegler: Barbara is definitely a no-nonsense kind of lady.
She's a very strong lady who loved mike,
Who cared about mike,
And she wants justice for what happened to him,
But who also may or may not be wondering
If matt had anything to do with it.
When you have a suspect also being a family member,
Especially as close as this is to the victim,
It doesn't get any more complicated
And difficult to maneuver than this situation.
Have you ever confronted matthew and said anything to him about,
"we think you did it" or "we know you did it" or anything?
No. But if he didn't do it, who did it?
Okay, so now we have a whole bunch of phone calls to make.
We'll just start going down the list,
And then hopefully everybody's home and have good luck.
We've got two possible suspects
In the fatal stabbing of 56-year-old mike mccuen,
An unknown assailant, and his son matt.
While we have financial motive in play here,
We wanna see if there's anything else going on
In the history of the family dynamic
Between matt and mike and matt's mom, bobbie,
Who passed away just 18 months before this murder happened,
Or if mike was having issues with anyone else.
What kind of person was mike?
Did he ever have problems with anybody they worked with?
Do you know anybody that would want to do this to mike?
Durazo: So far, we haven't identified anyone
Who had a motive to kill mike. But what about his son?
What did you know about matthew? How was he in high school?
What exactly did he do?
Yeah.
It sounds like matt's intense behavior comes because
He has been told to be the best, and he wants to be the best.
Ambition's not a bad thing,
But sometimes too much pressure can be destructive.
Yeah.
Durazo: Initially, it appeared
That the mccuen family was pretty tight-knit,
And through our interviews,
We discovered that actually wasn't the case.
There was a lot of stress and a lot of pressure
Placed on matt academically and even athletically.
And it appears that there was a lot more to this story.
It didn't seem like he had any idea
That he wasn't graduating either.
If he had known,
What do you think his reaction would have been?
What about bobbie? Well, if she had been alive,
What do you think she would have thought?
Siegler: We're hearing about all this pressure
That matt's parents put on him since he was a little boy.
And I think about my daughters
And the realization that as a parent,
You wanna push your children,
But you don't wanna push 'em too much.
It sounds like all the pressure that matt was undergoing might
Have contributed to that being a potential motive in this case.
Durazo: It's possible that this was an unknown enemy of mike's,
But we've learned that there was a possible
Emotional motive for his son.
So now we're hoping to dig a little deeper
Into the financial motive.
Looks like we're here.
Mike's girlfriend at the time, patsy underwood,
Was added as a co-beneficiary on his retirement account
Shortly before the murder.
We wanna see what information she can provide.
You know, this is really surprising.
But I was thinking about this the other day.
I was just lying there on my bed.
And I said, "somebody got away with that."
Well, if there's anything we can do
To prevent that, that's what we're here for.
Can you just tell me about mike?
He's a great guy.
We work together.
I just--I thought a lot of him.
Okay. You were really close to mike at the time
Of his death, but you were named
As a co-beneficiary on his retirement account.
You remember that?
I got--I think it was $20,000.
- Okay. - I don't know how or where,
When, how that $20,000...
Do you remember if it was an insurance?
No, I didn't have it. He--
- He had all that went to matt. - Matt. Okay.
I got the check for $20,000,
And I don't know how much he got,
But I'm assuming that he got everything.
- Okay. - 'cause he was an only child.
Mike worshiped that boy. He really did.
I thought he was really--
I thought he was gonna make something of himself.
Do you ever remember mike and matt arguing with each other?
I know that mike would get real aggravated with him,
But I don't know that they ever had
Any knockout, drag-out fights, you know.
From what we know,
Mike had no intention of cutting matt out of his inheritance.
But if matt feared he was losing it to his dad's new girlfriend,
Imagine his anxiety, knowing the impending disappointment
About his not graduating was about to be out in the open.
See, mike had big plans for that boy.
That was the only child he had.
He had big plans for that child.
So, we can't go to the house
Because that's where matt mccuen and his family live even today.
The guys did a build-out in a warehouse
Where we can go in there and talk about everything
And talk through the blood trail.
It would be interesting to see in the bedroom itself
An example of what may have been going on in there.
I've worked hundreds of investigations
And dozens of cold cases.
In my experience, it's crucial in an investigation
To reexamine the crime scene, especially since it's possible
That this was a burglary gone wrong.
You got it nice and set up already.
- Yeah. - We tried.
Durazo: The little details you read in the report,
When recreated, can reveal important clues
As to who may have committed the crime.
Okay, michael, orient us. What you thinking?
Obviously, this is the parking area,
The main driveway that they use.
This will be the back door
That we believe they used most frequently.
As we get to the back door,
The planters here, obviously, where he was found.
So we're in the back door now. There's a hallway here.
This middle room here would have been the kitchen.
- Okay. - Two drawers that were open.
I believe the knife was kept in the second drawer on the right.
The farthest drawer that was open is the knife drawer.
Right. It tells us the killer didn't bring a weapon with him.
He armed himself while he was in the house.
And the fact that nothing else is disturbed,
It suggests that he was familiar with the house.
- Okay. - This is the cordless phone.
This would be the cradle for the phone
That was found between his feet.
Would have been on his way out to where he ended up collapsing.
So now we're in mike's bedroom, where he was attacked.
Someone said that mike kept a gun in the top drawer
Of the nightstand, which is where we found
The holster for the gun.
The knife was laying in this position
In front of the privacy screen, and we believe it was dropped
By the attacker after he stabbed mr. Mccuen.
There was a significant amount of blood in this area,
Which probably would have been the side
That he got out of the bed on.
And is anything stolen in the whole house?
- No. - We know he slept in the nude.
So the fact he's got no clothes on,
Nobody thinks that's important, right?
- Right. - So if he's still laying down,
This attacker is catching mike completely by surprise.
I think he was asleep when he was first attacked.
Everybody thinks he's dead asleep.
- Yeah. - The blood drops
In the bedroom floor were undisturbed,
Suggesting that mike's killer ambushed him
At his most vulnerable,
But didn't stick around to make sure he was dead.
They stabbed him, and then they fled quickly.
All right, cash, if you don't mind,
Could you play mike in the bed?
Michael, you play the attacker and come creeping in here.
Branyon: So it's very early in the morning.
The window was knocked out.
We've got the glass broken out here.
The killer makes his way into the back door.
Walks down the hallway,
Goes into the kitchen and opens the drawer.
Finds a knife. Comes down the hallway.
Makes his way into the victim's bedroom.
Walks over to the right side of the bed.
Takes a well-aimed shot. Stabs him in the heart.
There's one. Okay, so he's gonna come alive.
Stab him several times in the upper chest, the arms,
As he's in the defensive posture.
Right leg, right knee.
Drops the knife. Runs out of the house.
Siegler: How long did all that take?
I'd say about a minute and a half.
- Wow. - Yeah.
Okay, now you think, how does he get up?
So he's got the gun.
We follow the blood trail.
He's probably grabbing the phone. It's still dark.
I think he's starting to look for his attacker.
Opens the door with his right hand.
Arterial spurt on the side of the door
And then he comes outside.
Durazo: The stab wound to mike's right hand
Disabled his thumb and his index finger, hindering his ability
To turn the doorknob and fire his handgun.
I think he sits down like this.
Drops both the things.
- Siegler: And dies right there. - Dies right there.
For mike to have been stabbed 17 times
Indicates that it was personal and the killer was full of rage.
And when you consider that they knew
Where to find the knife and didn't steal anything,
It suggests that this was not a random break-in.
Plus, if mike was sleeping before the attack,
Why didn't he wake up to the sound of shattering glass?
So here's the door that the attacker came in.
There's a big window with smaller panes in it,
And it's the bottom right glass was knocked out.
If someone were to knock the glass out and reach around
And open the door, which is what it looks like the intent was,
They would have to reach around a column as well.
And there's jagged glass still here
'cause the whole window did not break out.
Which suggests that if that's not the way they got in,
Then they got in with the key.
But in addition to that, glass is on top of the blood.
So it suggests that the window is knocked out
After he's coming through, bleeding.
So if that's the case, you gotta ask yourself why.
Who would stage a crime scene?
If matt is the prime suspect here,
He could have entered the residence with a key
And then obviously staged the burglary afterwards.
Obviously, he would have known where the knife was.
In addition to that, he's able to accurately describe the knife
As a black handle knife with three rivets,
Or he first called it three circles
Or three dots on the handle.
What struck me was in this area, there was a lot of blood pooled.
And yet when matt says he came through the room
And got close enough to where the knife was,
There wasn't a lot of footprints there.
So I'm trying to figure out
How he would have been able to describe it the way that he did.
Siegler: According to the reports,
A witness at matt's college saw him around 6 a.M.
So if he was the killer, he had to have done that
In the early morning hours
And driven 30 minutes back to campus
To be seen by that witness
And then gone back to his dad's house,
Where he made the call to 911 at 6:30 in the morning.
This would have given him time to clean up
And possibly stage the scene,
All while seemingly having an alibi.
The goal wasn't to steal money or jewelry or anything else.
The goal was to kill mr. Mccuen.
Siegler: Now, this is how I did the frat brothers.
I just kind of went through the offense report vaguely
From knowing a little more to knowing the least.
They're all easily phone calls. Let's just start with these
And start at the bottom and work our way up.
Okay, let's do it.
On may 27, 2000, hours before he was set
To see his son graduate from college,
Mike mccuen was senselessly murdered.
Our examination of the crime scene suggested it was likely
Someone that mike knew and who had access to the house.
Matt mccuen had a financial motive,
But if we can find a witness he confided in
About not graduating or problems with his dad,
That could strengthen any potential emotional motive.
Man: Hello?
Hey, I'm sergeant kendall cash. I work for
The anderson county sheriff's office up in south carolina.
Siegler: Matt was very close
With his fraternity brothers back then,
So if he opened up to anybody,
It probably would have been one of them.
You said matt was pretty intense. What made you say that?
What did you think about matthew mccuen back then?
Talking about the graduation,
Did you know that matthew would not graduate?
Would it surprise you if I told you he didn't graduate at all?
So y'all didn't have any idea
That he wasn't ready to graduate or wasn't on track?
He cut himself?
On purpose? Wow.
Yeah. Yeah, that's odd.
Siegler: Matt's fraternity brothers
Recall his extreme personality.
But just like everybody else, they were very much
In the dark about him not graduating.
According to the police reports,
Matt stopped by one of those fraternity brother's apartments
That morning around 2:00, shortly before the time
We believe that his dad was murdered.
So this witness may have crucial information to matt's mindset.
You knew matt for four years,
And you're in the same fraternity.
You gave a statement to law enforcement
Back when this happened.
You had said on the 27th of may 2000
Matt came to your room around 2 a.M. And you were asleep.
Matt yelled at you, but you didn't get up.
But you knew that it was matt.
And then you don't know when matt left.
Would there have been any reason
For him to be at your apartment at that time, for any reason?
Was it a normal occurrence for him to be drinking at 2 a.M.
And come by your apartment?
Was it normal, like-- take 2 a.M. Out of it.
Was he somebody
That would frequently come to your apartment?
Did you ever ask him why he did that night or that morning?
Did he ever-- did he ever tell you why?
Well, listen, man, I really appreciate you taking
The time to talk to me.
- All right. Take care. - All right. You, too.
- Okay. Bye. - Bye-bye.
So why did he go over there?
According to the person
Who rents this apartment, he doesn't know
And there would be no reason for him to be there.
He has not established a pattern of doing this.
Siegler: Maybe matt had something
To get off of his chest and needed advice.
Maybe he was establishing an alibi.
Or maybe it was just simply the actions
Of a partying college student that night.
But the odd timing and the unusual behavior
Make this a beautiful piece of circumstantial evidence.
Never did that before. Never did it since.
If there is a witness that matt opened up to,
We still need to find him.
- That's a good call. - Yeah.
Somebody's holding lights on in the house.
On may 27, 2000,
56-year-old mike mccuen was brutally murdered on the day
Of his son matt's supposed graduation from college.
According to the report, the afternoon before
Matt's graduation, he stopped by a friend's house.
So our hope is that if he had something
To get off of his chest, hopefully he told her that.
Cash: So, we were reading through our statements
When we ran across your name
That he might have possibly come and seen you
The day before, maybe mid-afternoon.
Siegler: What kind of mood was he in? What was he--
Did he say he was having troubles with his dad?
Had troubles.
It didn't come up, huh?
Nothing about, "I'm not doing so great
In college, and I'm worried." nothing.
Cash: Yeah.
Siegler: How do you think that affected matt?
Well, thank you very much. We appreciate your help.
This is yet another witness that matt did not open up to.
But in this case, what wasn't said speaks volumes.
Knowing that his world's about to come crumbling down,
And mr. Perfect,
Now everybody's gonna know he's busted.
Not just his daddy, everybody.
Matt was lying to everybody for months
And going to great lengths to hide his secret.
But time was running out.
In that last 24 hours before mike was fatally stabbed,
It seemed like matt was desperate
For somebody to talk to.
He was angry, worried about his dad's disapproval,
Worried about losing his inheritance,
Worried about his image being tarnished.
His whole world was crashing down on him.
And it's sad to think
That a day that was supposed to be
Such a big celebration for matt and for mike
Ended in such a horrible tragedy.
He's described as a nice guy by a lot of people
That don't know him, you know, maybe from that incident,
But even a couple deputies that have had interactions with him
Say he's a nice guy.
Now that we feel like we have our full picture,
It's time to confront our suspect, matt mccuen.
So I think as long as we establish
That early on and we treat him with that kind of respect,
I think there's a chance that he'll talk to us.
Build that rapport. That can go a long way.
I think that because he's so smart,
He's gonna wanna know what you know,
And I think that's just part of what his personality is.
Matt still lives in the same house
That his father was murdered in 24 years ago.
So the plan is to catch him off guard and to play it friendly.
If we can get him to talk, any more inconsistencies
That he gives us will make our case stronger.
[knocking]
- He's not home. - [dog barking]
Not looking too promising.
Automated voice: Please leave your message for...
Man's voice: Matt mccuen.
Hey, matt, this is sergeant branyon
With anderson county sheriff's office.
I'd like to talk to you if you have a minute.
If you would, just give me a call back. Thank you.
- [phone ringing] - he's calling me.
Hello. Is this matt?
Okay. So, I take it you're at work today.
Okay. So, the reason for my call
Is we're looking into some older cold cases,
And your father's case is one that came up,
So we're gonna be looking into that.
And I just wanted to maybe sit down
And talk with you and get an idea of, you know,
About your dad and about his life and that kind of stuff,
Because, number one,
You're the closest living relative to him,
And I'm sure you want some justice.
Okay. Okay.
Thank you. Y'all have a good day.
- Okay, you, too. Bye. - Bye.
[line ringing]
- Hey, michael. - Hey.
I just wanna call and give you a quick update.
Matt called me back.
Pretty much replied that, "okay, yeah, that sounds good.
Let me talk to my lawyer and I'll get back with you."
That makes me think he's not gonna call you back.
You think he might?
No, I don't think he's gonna call me back.
Okay. So do you think we've checked the box with him?
There's nothing more we're gonna get from him?
Yeah, I don't think there's anything
We're gonna get out of him.
- All right, thank you. - Thanks.
- Bye. - Bye.
Siegler: I think we're all pretty surprised
At the fact that matt mccuen is not curious.
He had no questions. He didn't seem excited
To hear about the investigation moving forward.
And no one can read into that automatically
That it means you're guilty
But I think that the commonsense appreciation
By someone would be.
I'm not sure that's how I would act
If you were gonna finally open up again
My loved one's murder from 24 years ago.
This is one of those cases where you got what you have.
- I agree. - And we need to move forward
- On what we have. - Okay.
- Good morning, guys. - Good morning.
Last day.
While we weren't able to do a thorough interview
Of our primary suspect, matt mccuen,
We did have success compiling circumstantial evidence.
And it's time to determine whether or not
We believe mike's own son or an unknown suspect
Is responsible for murdering mike mccuen.
How do you feel about could this be a random, unknown intruder?
I think based on what we've seen,
All the people we've talked to,
I really don't think it would be an unknown suspect.
Nothing was taken. Nothing was in disarray.
The person who went in had familiarity with the location
Because one drawer that was open was the kitchen drawer
That contained the knife.
And the crime scene itself?
We see a broken-out window, which is, at least initially,
Supposed to be the point of entry.
There was glass that was found on top of the blood,
Which indicates that it was obviously broken
After the homicide occurred.
So it was obviously a staged burglary.
And if you were a real burglar with that broken glass,
How you getting in?
I'm gonna stick my hand through the door and unlock it,
Which we went through in our crime-scene reconstruction.
It would be extremely hard if not impossible.
They would have to reach around a column as well.
And there's jagged glass still here
'cause the whole window did not break out.
The motive for this crime was not burglary.
The motive for this crime was murder,
And he was specifically targeted.
So with all that being said, are you good with crossing
"unknown suspect" off the board?
I am, kelly.
- How about you, cash? "b"? - Yes.
All right, so this is gone.
The real question is,
How do you feel about the case 24 years later
That you have put together against matt mccuen?
"b", set the framework for the dynamics in this family.
The appearance they gave everyone
Was that everything was fine, but the reality of it
Was there was a lot more friction
Going on in the house that not everyone knew about.
When matt was younger, his mother, who was a teacher,
Was very strict with him.
The stress caused by their expectations
Was definitely visible.
When talking to barbara, she kind of shed some light
On altercations that took place
That they hid from everybody else.
I asked mike what was that bruise on his face.
And he said he was mowing the lawn.
And matthew came out there and jumped on mike
While mike was mowing.
What about temper and volatility?
A situation at school where matt was so intense
That he would end up putting blood on his face
Before going out to play football.
He had an incident with his birthday at the lake,
Where somebody pushed him into the lake, and he actually
Took out some type of knife and cut himself.
He cut himself?
Let's back up now to the odd movements on Friday.
He went to ... Apartment. They said he never did that.
Was it a normal occurrence for him to be drinking at 2 a.M.
And come by your apartment?
Of all the times to have done that,
The one time you do is the day your dad's found murdered.
Talking about motive, financial and personal.
Remember, for financial,
Matt was not pleased daddy was dating.
- Right. - Matt wasn't pleased
That there was a new co-beneficiary
On the insurance policy that recently happened
Because he's supposed to be the sole heir.
I got--I think it was $20,000.
All right, so for those people that wanna say,
"oh, matt mccuen would never do that,"
The matt mccuen that we know is the same matt mccuen
That started lying about his life
And his grades and his education.
He would have known in the fall of '99
That he wasn't graduating.
His father didn't know. His friends didn't know.
His fraternity brothers didn't know.
His roommates didn't know.
So he hid that fact from everyone.
In this perfect mccuen family facade
That everybody in pelzer thinks exist,
Who's about to blow it up?
Why may 27, 2000? You can make that very clear.
'cause graduation was like the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,
And the world falls apart, and he knew it.
So with all that in the pot,
What's your plan right now, michael?
To present it to a prosecutor
And talk about filing possible charges
For murder for matt mccuen.
This is a good case,
And y'all deserve to get the answer you want,
And I can't wait to hear back from you.
This family's been wanting justice for a long time.
Hopefully, she takes this as good news
And knows that we're doing everything we can
To try to move forward with this case.
Siegler: Yeah.
We believe that we have compiled
A circumstantial evidence case against matt mccuen
For the murder of his father, mike mccuen.
- Good to see you again. - Good to see you.
- Miss barbara. - How you doing?
Good. How are you?
And now it's time to update mike's sister barbara
On our progress.
We've talked to a lot of people,
And I'm happy with the way the investigation is going.
I'm just here to tell you that at this point,
We're going to go forward and talk to the solicitor's office,
And I've got a meeting with them tomorrow
To talk to them about the case
And the possibility of bringing charges against matt mccuen
For the death of mike mccuen.
I'm glad.
The evidence and the facts of this case
Points to nobody else but matthew mccuen.
It was very unnecessary.
That could have been settled another way.
That didn't have to happen.
That's right. Yeah.
I'm sad.
But in the long run, I think it's the best thing
For everybody to find out.
I'm glad there's still people out there that care
And wanna do the right thing by everybody.
That's really something to be thankful for.
Cash: We wanna bring it to a resolution
And put somebody in jail
And put 'em eventually in prison for what they did.
These two guys are invested in your case.
You should see how committed they are,
Talking to all the witnesses, and they were all very helpful.
Everybody was cooperative. Okay?
So that should make you feel good that people care that much
24 years later.
Everybody believes that mike deserves justice.
But let's just hope a little bit longer, okay?
Okay. [chuckles]
Barbara has waited 24 years to hear someone tell her
What law enforcement believes happened to her brother.
And our hope
Is that the 10th judicial circuit solicitor's office
Would move forward with this case.
Until then, our hope
Is that we brought her some kind of peace.
[woman vocalizing]