♪♪♪
♪ say my last goodbye ♪
♪ silently, silently ♪
Siegler: Tell me again how long you were at milwaukee pd.
Spingola: 30 years.
Siegler: So when you were reading this file
From 1987, did you see a lot of things
That kind of jogged your memory?
Yep. They came and talked to us once
When I was a lieutenant in milwaukee about this case.
I remember this.
Siegler: I'm here with steve
In his home state of wisconsin,
And we're looking into the 1987
Very brutal abduction and murder
Of 28-year-old mom derby wagner-richardson.
Derby starts out with a troubled past,
But, uh, towards the end here, she has turned herself around.
She's got her daughters to take care of.
She's working three jobs. She was working her tail off.
Siegler: Derby was a rebellious teen.
She ran away from home at 14 years of age
And got married young to the wrong man.
But they did have two beautiful daughters together,
And she was getting a divorce and beginning
A new chapter of her life when it was all taken from her.
Spingola: The night in question,
She's working at styberg as a guard.
She's supposed to check in every hour.
At 1:00, she doesn't check in,
And adt notifies the guard service,
Who notifies racine pd.
They search, and lo and behold, close to styberg,
They find her car, dripping with blood from the trunk.
Pop the trunk, and there she is with her throat
And her wrists, I mean, slashed to the bone.
I remember reading about derby's case in the early 1990s
When the racine police department approached us
While I was in milwaukee
And asked our police department to review the case.
And while they've put together some pieces since then,
There's still a lot of questions to be answered--
For derby's family and the community.
Derby was trying to get her life straight.
So those three jobs that she had
Have a world of witnesses that hopefully are still alive
And have their memories intact today
Where they can help us with this case,
Because if her friends at the end aren't around
And able to help us, then this case is gonna be impossible.
- Hi. - Man: Hello.
- How are you, buddy? - How you doing?
- Nice. Good. You look good. - Good seeing you.
- Proud of you. - Thank you.
- Deputy chief, right? - Yes. Jessie metoyer.
- Steve spingola. - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Detective scarvers. - So you know him?
Yeah, yeah, he was my teacher back in the day.
I remember the day you were in class,
And I saw you looking at the cell phone.
I was gonna yell at you. And all of a sudden,
He turned around with that look in his face.
He says, "hey, something just happened
At the boston marathon."
And we turned the television on.
It was the bombing at the boston marathon.
That's exactly right, yeah.
Lauer: Steve was one of my instructors
At the local technical college here in racine.
Early on in that, I decide I want to take
Any class that he teaches
'cause he's obviously full of knowledge.
Closing this case is-is priority number one right now.
Getting the-the expertise from kelly and steve,
Being able to pick their brain is truly amazing.
Well, let's put all this wisconsin...
- [chuckles] - ...Love together
And see how far we can get.
Y'all got a place for us to work?
- We do. - Yes, we do.
All right, let's go. Lead the way.
- All right. - Spingola: It's nice to be
In wisconsin, to be able to come back
And now work with people that I taught in school.
It makes me feel pretty good to see that some of these people
Have advanced to the level
That they're investigating cold cases.
Hopefully, we can put something together here.
Okay, let's start off by putting our pictures
Up on the board of derby.
She was a mother of two.
She met fred when she was a teenager.
She had a rough teenage years.
She ran away at 14
And was dancing for fred at 16
At a bar that fred owned.
She married very young at 18.
There was quite a bit of abuse history,
Both physical and mental.
I think it was kind of a living nightmare
For a long time for her.
Eventually, she was able to get the courage
To separate from fred
And immediately wanted to start a new life.
This is the uniform we think she was wearing that night, huh?
That's correct, yep.
At the time of her death, she was--worked three jobs.
Security guard, third shift on the weekends,
12-hour shifts.
And then during the week, she's working
At a nursing center down in kenosha
And also as an instructor up here at the ywca.
She was just doing anything she could to--
To pay the bills for her and her daughters.
Okay, so let's start talking about y'all's case.
Where do you want to start? - So, uh,
On 3/22 of '87, derby missed her clock-in
At work as a security guard at 1:00 a.M.,
Which then alerted the security company
To know that she didn't check in.
So the supervisor came down,
Realized she wasn't there, and then called racine pd,
And they sent over an initial officer,
And he searches inside this huge building
Looking for her, but she wasn't there,
Her car wasn't there.
They found her-her jacket sleeves pulled through,
You know, like it was tugged off you.
There was an office that seemed to be disheveled.
Investigators found derby's jacket and a broken clock
In the lunch room, where she often folded
Her daughter's laundry
In between the security rounds at styberg.
And there was signs of a struggle
At a nearby office where the door
Had actually been kicked in.
It appears derby had been attacked
And abducted in her own car.
So the officer contacts other officers,
And law enforcement starts to show up in numbers.
So they're looking all over for her.
Yep. Pretty soon into it, they started finding
Pieces of evidence scattered
Throughout the town.
They find her makeup bag
And her car keys,
Shoes, shirt.
Her appointment book is found way out of town.
So someone took a lot of effort
To scatter this stuff
All the way going out to the country.
They're looking for the car, too, right,
Because derby's car is gone.
Lo and behold, at about 8:00 Sunday morning,
An officer sees it
Right across from styberg down an alley.
He approaches the car, and then he notices
There's blood dripping from the trunk.
And that's where they found derby deceased.
She was stripped down to adjust her socks on
And was bound with white duct tape around her mouth.
And her throat had been slit, as well as both wrists.
Many people in the file called it overkill
With just how gruesome it was.
This whole story is so bizarre.
And that was part-- the whole problem here.
Spingola: Investigators at the scene
Tested for fingerprints, fibers, and dna,
But found no incriminating evidence.
And while we always need to consider an unknown person
May be responsible for this murder,
Derby's homicide appears very personal.
And she only had one known enemy,
Her soon-to-be ex-husband.
Okay, so we got two pictures of fred here.
Those are mug shots from our database.
He's about 18 years derby's senior.
Siegler: Let's start with the--
Like, the personality profile of fred.
Go back to his army days.
Do we know much about what kind of person he was back then?
So he entered the military under, uh, an assumed name.
Not long into his service,
He was broke on a night where he wanted
To go out to the bar
And decided to hide in some bushes
And jump the first person that, uh, crossed his path.
So he got convicted of a robbery and sent to leavenworth.
He got five years. I don't think he does the full five,
But then is dishonorably discharged.
He ends up up here in wisconsin,
Ends up committing another robbery.
Two, actually, within a-- a short period of time.
Sentenced to 15 years, but only does
A short bid on it.
Before he's 30 years old, fred has been
To leavenworth and waupun...
- Yes. - ...Here in wisconsin.
- Correct. - Shortly after
He gets out of prison for the second time, he gets a bar.
It was a legit bar, but then he gets caught
With some nude dancers in his bar.
Fred met derby
While she was working for him in the bar.
Siegler: And at this time that fred meets derby,
She's still only 16.
And then they started their relationship.
Siegler: Fred was a career criminal,
But he was still able to own a bar
And a few low-income housing units around town.
He had a reputation for being ruthless
In his business dealings
And in his personal relationships.
She leaves frank in June of '86, right?
- Separated? - Lauer: Yep.
Spingola: And then she filed in December for a divorce.
He assaulted derby,
And he actually choked her unconscious in January
When derby was slightly late to pick up the girls from fred.
And he does that in front of the kids.
That's even special.
She had to go seek medical attention.
She's got that head injury, eyes have got
Petechial hemorrhaging and all kinds of stuff.
He breaks his hand punching her.
That's a pretty hard punch.
He tells the doctor he fell on the ice.
Spingola: January, she gets a temporary restraining order.
But the main thing is we know
What happened on Friday, March 21st.
There is a meeting at the lawyer's office.
Siegler: The meeting was all over money, right?
- Lauer: Right. - And how does the meeting go?
Not well for fred.
That's where he realizes
Just how much he's about to lose.
Spingola: The final offer from them
Was 50% of the properties
And 25% of the rent.
And what were fred's words
As he walked out the door that day?
That's when he said, "I'm hurt. I'm really hurt."
- "I don't like to be hurt." - yeah.
And how did derby and the lawyer take that?
Lauer: The color left derby's face,
Per derby's attorney, nathan.
So he called and made a report with the police.
He wanted her to have extra attention at her place of work
Because of the volatile divorce that was happening.
Siegler: I've never heard of a divorce lawyer
Feeling the need to call the police
Because he's so concerned about a client's welfare.
But that's what happened in this case.
Unfortunately, the divorce lawyer
Who made that call has passed away.
But because the police department documented that
And then took action based on that call,
It becomes admissible.
She's in the system for needing extra attention.
And how many hours later is she needing extra attention?
- 12 hours. - 12.
Spingola: The only person in the world
That benefited from derby's death,
And it's clearly fred.
But we've got to prove that.
What you've got here
Is basically a circumstantial case.
- Okay. - And most of the d.A.S
Do not want to take circumstantial cases.
Y'all look through your notes, see if there's anything
We forgot to put up here. - Of all of the cases,
Intentional homicide has the highest proof rate,
And that's the way it should be, because it's a life in prison.
And to get over that guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
Is a tough standard.
Is there anything found at styberg
That connects to him?
I don't think so.
I think if there was, we wouldn't be here today.
♪♪♪
[birds cawing]
♪♪♪
Siegler: Today we're meeting with derby's brother and aunt.
Her mom, who fought for years
To get her justice has passed away.
- Hey, how are you? - I'm doing good.
Siegler: From what we understand,
Derby and fred's two daughters were raised by fred.
And because they spent their childhood growing up
With him, his side is the side they've taken.
So if you could, just maybe just, you know,
Fill us in on, you know, who you knew her as.
She was my big sister and she was a protector.
And, uh,
She was just always putting other people first.
She was fiercely independent.
Siegler: She seemed pretty feisty.
Linder: Yeah, she was.
Derby had the most delightful giggle.
I just loved to hear her laugh.
And my dad liked to tell these really horrible,
Stupid jokes, and... [chuckles] and they would laugh together.
She was just very, very loving.
She was a really good mom.
She kind of put it all on herself and, uh,
I guess just... Wasn't enough.
Bryon, when everything happened, can you talk about
How it affected your mom or your sister, and--
Like the call she started fighting?
Well, yeah, it basically preoccupied
My mother's life,
Came first before anything else.
Schmidt: She was very, very involved
With parents of murdered children,
A group there in the madison area.
I know that she wrote letters and wrote letters
And wrote letters, and that was always present,
That she wanted to get this solved and get justice.
She would be very pleased
That you're doing this, I can tell you that.
- Yes. - Yes.
Ruth, she was a bulldog. [chuckles]
She went after something, she went after it big time,
And she was going to get justice for derby,
And that's all there was to it, and she tried so hard.
Her daughter asked ruth if she believed
That fred was responsible, and-and ruth said yes.
And she said, "then we can't--
We can't have anything to do with you anymore."
And that was very difficult for her.
You know, the truth might be something
They don't want to hear.
We wouldn't stir this all up again
If we didn't feel like we could try to get somewhere.
- Right. - And then when we get it
All done, we'll come back and tell you all what all we can.
- Okay. - Thank you.
Siegler: This case is 37 years old,
And we need something else.
We have to find a witness
That adds something else to this story, to this case,
To this evidence, to get to where we need to be.
And you just don't want to meet families
And get their hopes up and make it all for nothing.
The pressure is big,
And you don't want to disappoint anybody.
[geese honking]
How far is it across one side of racine
To the other in minutes?
- About 15 minutes. - Okay.
Yes. It's all very close.
Siegler: Derby wagner-richardson's mom
Was convinced that she was murdered
By her estranged husband, fred.
If fred did do it, we're going to need
Circumstantial evidence to convince
A prosecutor and a jury.
And that circumstantial evidence has to be enough
To convince them beyond a reasonable doubt.
How old was she back then?
She was born in '69, so she was 18.
We need to talk to everybody that we can,
People that know anything about their relationship,
People that know anything about what might have happened
That night, starting with derby's babysitter,
Who was actually watching the girls that very night.
I was her babysitter. She had two little girls.
- Okay. - And, uh,
Usually she'd come back home in the morning
'cause she worked third shift. -Mm-hmm.
She never showed up. Her little girls are asking,
"where's mommy? Where's mommy?"
I said, "well, honey, I don't know right now."
And, um, so I took them to my house.
Got a knock at the door that they had found her,
Um, in the trunk of her car.
She was going through a really nasty divorce
With her husband at the time. - Okay.
Yeah, and every time she left the house,
She always said, "please, under no circumstances..."
- Mm-hmm. - "if he comes over here,
Do not open the door for him.
I don't want him nowhere near the girls."
That was the only instruction she gave me.
That was the main thing I was supposed to do,
Not to let him see the-- see the girls if he came by
Just wanting to see them.
And-and I remember that, and I s--
Did he ever come by?
Uh, not-not to my recollection. I don't remember.
Did any strange people or anybody else come by
On his behalf?
- Uh, no. - Okay.
And the only thing she was worried about
Was losing her girls.
- Yep. - Mm-hmm.
- That's-- - mm-hmm.
It just broke my heart when that happened
Because they were so close to their mom.
Siegel: At the time of the murder,
Derby had a restraining order against fred,
So legally, he was not supposed to go anywhere near her.
The haunting thing is that restraining order was found,
Along with the contents of derby's purse,
Scattered along the road
In the hours that followed her murder,
Thrown out by her killer.
Let's start from the beginning.
How did you and derby become friends, and...
Scarvers: She said he was screwing with the kids' head.
What did that look like?
Right.
Lauer: Yeah.
Co-worker: She said that fred
Didn't want to give her anything,
And not even the children.
Okay. He wanted the kids, too?
He wanted the kids.
And to my knowledge,
She made it sound like they owned a lot of property and...
Yeah, there was a handful of properties. Yeah.
She was real high strung and nervous
Anytime you mentioned her ex-husband.
And next door, there was a bar under there.
So after work, we-- you know, some of us girls
Would all go there.
And one time he was there,
And she and I were dancing,
And she says, "oh, my god, fred's here!"
And she ran to the bathroom.
She-she just was, like, frightened.
So then, uh, we left.
And then I remember one time she came to work,
And her neck was all bruised and red.
- Okay. - And she said that fred
Came and was choking her, and she lost consciousness.
And she said at that time,
"if-if they ever find me dead, it was fred."
- Mm-hmm. Yeah. - [exhales sharply]
Siegler: Unlike most domestic violence victims,
Derby wasn't hesitant telling her coworkers and friends
About fred's abuse and threats.
I said, "derby, what's wrong?
Are you okay?" she says,
"he tried to kill me the other day."
And I said, "excuse me?" he tried to strangle her.
That's what she said.
She said if anything happened to her, fred did it,
And that they had a fight
And he pinned her down.
And while the kids were watching,
He said, "bitch, you'll never get my money."
- Everyone, this is barb smith. - Hello, barb.
- Hi. - Hi, barb.
Siegler: We've heard firsthand of our suspect
Fred wagner-richardson's physical abuse
Of his wife, derby, which prompted her to file
A battery charge
And to get a restraining order against him.
Barbara smith helped file that complaint,
And she might be able to give us some more insight.
So back in the '80s, what'd you do?
I was a victim witness specialist
With the racine county district attorney's office.
We worked with victims throughout the court process,
Everything from domestic violence
To homicide case families.
We met with them one on one, went to court with them.
And do you remember this particular victim?
I do. That was back before
Domestic violence cases were a mandatory arrest policy.
Mandatory arrest means that
It was taken out of the hands of a victim,
Making the decision that the police had to actually
Make an arrest if they felt that something had occurred.
But back in 1987, victims actually had to come in
And sign the criminal complaints themselves.
And what happens with this case?
I was advised that derby wagner-richardson
Had come in to sign her criminal complaint.
And what was the process as far as getting a tro,
A temporary restraining order back then?
That was separate from the battery complaint.
And I-I don't know if she had the tro already
Before the battery complaint was filed.
I remember thinking, they're pretty much
Just useless and they just piss them off more.
Right. You know, one of the warnings
We always gave victims is,
"this is the most dangerous time for you.
When you get the restraining order, once it's served,
Be careful."
'cause what happens when you serve
That kind of defendant with a restraining order?
They often retaliate with physical violence.
- I know. - And as she was leaving,
She said, "it doesn't really matter.
He's going to kill me anyway."
Siegler: Mm.
And she was the first victim that said that to me.
Siegler: The more we learn about derby,
The sadder this case gets.
She told everybody that a storm was coming,
And she and they were still all helpless to stop it.
It is a story that I have seen in my career way too many times.
And even though today there's a whole lot more we can do
For domestic violence victims than they could do 37 years ago,
Intimate partner violence has increased since,
With more than 20 victims every minute.
♪♪♪
This is employee parking, as the sign said.
Siegler: So it would have been on a Saturday,
So no cars, no people. - Nothing.
- Nobody working but her. - Yep.
Wow.
We're going to styberg engineering.
The people at styberg that derby worked with have
Always been super cooperative in this investigation.
We're gonna meet with the president
Of the company today, who can hopefully walk us
Through the way the procedures worked back then
And try and recreate as best we can
How we think everything went down that night.
- This is steve spingola. - Nice to meet you, sir.
- How are you? - Maybe the break we need
Can be found in figuring out
How this crime was carried out.
So she would have came all the way through here?
Man: Yes.
Certain spots of the building,
There was a little, uh, like, aluminum tray,
And chained to that was a key.
She would have to put that in her clock, turn it,
And it would register that she made
That connection at that spot.
As a night security guard, derby was required to check in
Every hour by phone and time clock
While she was on patrol.
Her last check-in was at 12:00 midnight,
And she missed her 1:00 a.M. Check-in,
Giving us a really good window where she was attacked.
And the signs of the struggle in the lunchroom
Indicated to us where the attack took place.
So this is the lunchroom area,
And this is the office that had the door broken down.
So where is our door
That she's taking her laundry out from here?
- Over there. - That one right there?
- Yep. - And we think
This was the room that she hung out in,
Doing her laundry? - Correct, yeah. Yep.
- Waiting, being-- - ironing, folding clothes.
Okay.
Derby would frequently fold her daughter's laundry here
Near the lunchroom where this happened.
It's also close to where she would back her car up
So she could carry the laundry outside.
So you're thinking that she takes
Her laundry out, the killer follows her in.
That was maybe the point of entry.
Siegler: There were no signs of forced entry
In the plant, so police believe that it's likely
That her attacker just followed her back inside.
Where's her jacket with her broken clock in it?
Right here in the cafeteria with--
- Where? Somewhere in here? - Yep.
With the arms pulled out of it.
- Which makes you think? - That's someone's pulling
On the back of your coat, and you're just running out of it.
She flees to this office.
This is where you can see that denim imprint.
- Siegler: It was that door? - Yep,
As if somebody, you know, threw their hip
Into the door to force it open.
The evidence suggests that derby's attacker
Entered the building, a struggle occurred,
And she tried to escape by locking herself
In a nearby office.
But her assailant broke it open,
Leaving what appeared to be jean prints on the door.
Baker: There's pieces of wood all over the place,
Four or five feet out.
That's where the confrontation, you know,
Ended and then got her out to her car.
Spingola: At this point, derby is likely unconscious.
The suspect taped her mouth with the white duct tape
And carried her out to the trunk of her car.
How do you think her car's pulled in?
I think it's backed in right here, 'cause she was
Unloading and loading stuff out of her trunk.
Siegler: Man, what can see you right here?
That's the north gate there.
Spingola: This is when derby's attacker drove derby
To an unknown location, stripped her out of her clothing,
Slashed both of her wrists and her throat,
And then attempted to return the car
With derby's body in the trunk.
Where does her car end up with her in the trunk?
You can almost-- probably almost see it
If you walk further. - You can see it.
Lauer: And between the buildings there
Where that old camper is,
That's the alley where the car was.
So this is the alley where derby's car was found.
And as you can see right behind us, there's styberg.
Spingola: My guess is that the attacker returned
Back to styberg, because that's where
He parked his car before derby's abduction
And had to come back and retrieve his own car.
So her car would have been found right up in here.
And you can imagine how dark this would have been
At 2:00 in the morning.
The officer saw the dealer plates on
A brand-new, shiny car.
And he walked up to it. That's where he noticed
Blood dripping from the trunk
Onto the ground ever so slightly.
But all the spots where stuff was collected around town
That for sure belonged to derby,
Is there some rationale or-or logic
To where it's all dropped or anything?
It's a pretty straight path out of town.
Spingola: Obviously trying to leave
A breadcrumb trail out of town.
I mean, why-why else would you do that?
Hours before derby's body was recovered,
Law enforcement had recovered clothing and personal belongings
That were scattered along streets in racine county,
Including her shirt, makeup,
And even the restraining order against fred.
The belief here is that the attacker
Actually threw her clothes out of the car
In an attempt to throw off investigators.
Maybe that's because they knew
They would be the obvious suspect.
♪♪♪
- Siegler: Hello. Dr. Pinneri. - Hi. Good morning.
- Morning, everybody. - Hi.
- I'm kathy pinneri.
- Detective scarvers. - Nice to meet you.
- Detective todd lauer.
Whoever killed derby could have done it so easily
After knocking her unconscious inside the plant.
But they clearly had more sinister and elaborate plans,
And they risked getting caught
By carrying out these elaborate plans.
Thank you for inviting me here to review this case.
Let's go ahead and get started here.
Spingola: Hopefully, re-examining derby's injuries
Will tell us even more about her killer.
So, she's 28 years old.
She worked as a nighttime security guard.
She is found dead in the trunk of her own vehicle.
She's almost nude.
She's just got this one right sock on her foot,
And there's two pieces of bloodstained tape
Going across her mouth.
But if you think about it, that's hard to do
Unless somebody is completely subdued,
Because you're going to be fighting them
As they're putting the tape on.
In addition to all of that, she has blunt trauma,
At least six impacts to the head.
Spingola: It makes sense that derby was rendered unconscious
During the initial attack.
And her mouth was taped shut, so she couldn't scream
If she would awake while being driven
To a different location.
The fact that the suspect brought tape to the scene
Shows premeditation.
But why drive her to a different location?
There's a big pool of blood inside the trunk
By her head and neck area.
And then there is some blood spatter
On some of the items in the trunk.
So she has a gaping-- a really big incised wound
Across the front of her neck.
There is evidence of multiple passes with the knife.
It goes about an inch deep.
It goes through the right common carotid artery
And the right jugular vein.
But we also have really, really deep
Incised wounds of both hands.
It cuts through muscles, tendons, two arteries,
And then it also cuts the nerves,
Which is going to not give her function of that hand.
Additionally, they collected the sexual assault evidence kit.
So it doesn't appear that she was sexually assaulted,
Even though she is almost completely nude.
She was undressed outside of the car.
The killer removed her from the car, stripped her naked,
Placed her back into the trunk, where he brutally stabbed her.
But with no signs of a sexual assault,
I think this was done actually to either torture her
Or humiliate her once her body was found.
Pinneri: These are never easy.
- I know. Well, thank you. - Sure.
- Thank you very much. - All right, thanks.
Derby's killer wanted her to suffer even after her death.
More questions than answers.
You guys can have a seat right here.
This is officer burney and officer hurley.
How long y'all been retired?
Six years out of law enforcement.
- Okay. How about you? - 2001.
All right.
If fred was the person
Who drove derby to a second location
To strip her and to kill her,
It sure would be nice to prove it.
Fortunately, there are a few clues
In the police report from that night.
So we've asked those two officers
To come down here today and tell us what they can remember.
So, steve, it's my understanding they had you go over,
Sit on one of fred's apartments
After you guys kind of found what you found at styberg.
Yes. Um, the attorney for derby
Called the police department to say that his client
Was in fear of her life from her husband.
So, yes, I was dispatched to go over
And sit on one of fred's apartments.
About 4:00 a.M., I arrived.
I noted there was a light on in a southeast room.
That light went out about 4:30 a.M.
And about 5:00, I was relieved from that assignment.
And that's the apartment above the bar?
- Yes. Yeah. - Yeah.
Siegler: Officer hurley saw a light
In the window of one of the buildings
That fred owns back then around 4:00 a.M.
And that is during the window of time
When we believe derby was murdered.
It may have been fred, but he was known to stay
At many of the five properties that he owned,
So there's no way of knowing.
But I'm more interested in seeing
What officer burney said she saw
In a building across town that fred also owned.
He made mention in one of your reports
About, um, a car that you had seen over on state street.
Yes, um, it was around 3:00, 3:30.
It was an apartment building.
But what struck me odd and made me watch
Is because it was like a door open,
And you could clearly see that there was light
Behind an open door.
And backed up to that door was a car
In a way that it was almost at the door,
And the trunk was open, and--
Almost like you could put something out of the building
Into the car without walking to the car.
I'm thinking someone's skipping out on rent...
- Hmm. - ...Moving out
In the middle of the night. That's what hit me.
So that's [bleep] street, which is there.
- Okay. - Right?
- Uh-huh. - Now that back door,
Is this... - Yep, this is it.
That's what you were talking about?
- Yep. - Siegler: Officer burney
Was making her rounds on patrol
When she noticed a car pull up to that building--
A building we know was another rooming house owned by fred.
And the way she describes that car being parked
Sounds a whole lot like the way you would park a car
If you were trying to transport a body.
Siegler: Officer burney, the description of this car
That you see at [bleep] street...
It was newer.
It was sm-- it was small.
The report also says you described it
As having a stubby trunk.
Lauer: Not like a big old cadillac trunk, but like a--
Burney: Not a big trunk, but like a--
I say a stubby trunk 'cause it's not huge.
Did you ever see her car when the body got found?
I've never seen a picture.
Just to see if the trunk matches.
Spingola: Have to probably find the scene
Where they found the car.
Oh, jesus.
- 'cause you never seen this. - Oh, jesus.
Yeah, this is, um... [clicks tongue]
[voice cracks] yeah, this is stubby.
- Sorry. - It's okay.
- Thank you. - [sobs softly]
- Sorry. - Okay.
[sniffs]
Siegler: Police later searched that building
And found out that that door is not commonly used by tenants.
Rather, it was an access door to the basement,
And fred had the key.
No traces of evidence or blood were found,
But it is kind of haunting to think
That officer burney might have been just a few seconds away
From being an eyewitness.
♪♪♪
Siegler: Let's give her a call.
He was dating her the day it happened.
Fred wagner-richardson has never given the police
An alibi for the night
Of his wife, derby's, murder.
Though according to one of his girlfriends at the time,
He claimed he was home sick.
But fred was dating another woman
That he was planning on seeing that night,
So we need to talk to her.
You were in a relationship
With mr. Fred wagner-richardson, correct?
Okay.
Not only did fred change his story
About where his kids were that night, he was lying,
Because his kids were with derby's babysitter.
So what was he really doing?
♪♪♪
Spingola: Just thinking how we're gonna start this
With fred, you know? - Lauer: Yeah.
If she answers, is she gonna let us in, you know, the wife?
Or if he answers, is he gonna talk to us or ask us to come in?
I mean, be interesting, though,
Now that we know that fred is incapacitated
To a wheelchair.
Spingola: Now it's time to go talk to fred.
He's 82 years of age and living with his new wife.
We already have information that fred has beaten derby,
Choked her unconscious,
And she has a restraining order against him.
Fred was very upset that he was gonna have to share
Some money along with some of his properties
With derby in the divorce settlement.
We also know that derby has been telling everybody,
After visiting the attorney earlier on Saturday,
That fred has threatened to kill her,
And he's going to kill her.
What we don't know is what he's gonna tell us today.
- [chimes jingle] - hello.
Spingola: We knock on the door.
The good news is that the wife lets us in.
However, fred is sitting in some sort of a walker
And pretends that we're not there.
He won't answer a question, won't even look at us.
And we decide that we're gonna have to leave
Without any type of conversation or communication with him.
[chimes jingling]
He, uh, puts on the act there that he's--
Has alzheimer's and doesn't understand
That you're there and turns around
And plays with the computer
And turns the sound up real loud.
It's probably what I expected from him.
Look, you weren't gonna get anything out of him.
- No. - He has never told anybody.
- He ain't budging. - No.
- This is a cold case. - Yeah.
- You know what I'm saying? - Yeah.
At least now he knows we're still looking into it.
- That's right. - And he's got to look over
His shoulder now for a while.
♪♪♪
Okay.
It's time to review all the evidence
That we've uncovered, starting with the fact
That for the last 37 years, there hasn't been any evidence
Suggesting that a stranger is the person who killed derby.
And we didn't hear one witness with any information
Suggesting that there is.
All right, so we're done with this part.
When you're gonna start running the case down
To your prosecutor,
What would you say about derby
When you start off tomorrow, tanya?
That she was a mother first.
And throughout all of this was the manipulation of fred.
I mean, from being a 15-year-old
To finally gaining her independence
And trying to raise the two girls,
Working multiple jobs, trying to separate herself
From the world that fred put her in.
There's this trail of behavior that starts to get worse
As these triggering events start to get to fred more and more.
These people are coming to work,
And everybody sees bruises.
Spingola: She gets a restraining order.
The victim witness person comes in and says,
"it's not gonna do any good. He's going to kill me."
And as she was leaving,
She said, "it doesn't really matter.
He's going to kill me anyway."
- He's escalating. - Right.
He's losing control of her.
- Saturday at 1:00... - She shows up for that meeting.
The division of property was presented to fred.
That's where it goes really bad.
She said that fred didn't want to give her anything,
And not even the children.
And how much is he about to lose?
- He's a businessman. - Estimated around $250,000.
They had a fight, and he said,
"bitch, you'll never get my money."
When fred walks out the door that day,
What's his mental state?
He's crushed. Voice cracked, and he said,
"I don't like to be hurt, and I'm hurt."
That was the turning point. That was it for him.
And how much later is it that this happens to derby?
- 12 hours. - 12 hours.
What are the odds of that happening?
We haven't even talked about the nature
Of the injuries and the overkill specific to her.
The throat is just slashed.
I mean, those wrists are slashed.
I mean, she's put in the trunk of that vehicle.
- That's personal. - The degrading of her,
Leaving her nude, that's someone
That has felt hurt by her.
Spingola: No matter where you start,
The trail ends with fred.
- I agree. - Lauer: Agree.
Siegler: I was really worried about this case
Because it's 37 years old, and derby had a rough life.
So when you have a rough life,
The world you surround yourself with
Tends to be kind of rough, too.
But, man, these witnesses that came to know her
And care about her and work with her
From her three different jobs, they're great,
And they're credible, and they're helpful.
And this case turned out to be really, really good.
So what's the plan tomorrow? Y'all have a meeting scheduled?
- Lauer: Yep. - And at the end of the meeting,
You're gonna ask your prosecutor what, to do what?
We're gonna refer charges to her.
Okay.
For first degree intentional homicide.
You gonna feel bad putting handcuffs
On an 82-year-old man?
Not in the-- in the slightest bit.
Scarvers: Not at all.
We'll be waiting to hear. Good luck.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
♪♪♪
[geese honking]
Siegel: Y'all must have really crushed it.
I can't wait for all this news to come out to them,
You know, that we're getting the--
The result that we ultimately wanted.
It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.
Siegler: Yes, it was.
Scarvers: So the meeting with our district attorney,
It went very long, but it went very well
Because we took our time in explaining to her
Everything that has happened over the years
To today's date of what we did ourselves.
The one thing that, uh, any law enforcement officer
Would tell you is that we always want justice.
And to finally get justice for derby and her daughters,
It's the best feeling ever.
Hello, miss ellie, how are you doing today?
Hello. I'm doing well, thank you.
Lauer: So thanks for meeting us again today, folks.
It's been a long week, as you can imagine.
- Yeah. - We met a lot of people
That were friends and coworkers of derby.
Gave us a real insight into what derby was all about
As a--both a mother, friend, a coworker.
Uh, it was enlightening.
And this whole process really brought this case
To getting the attention that it needed.
With that said, this morning we actually
Had been meeting with our local district attorney
Here in racine county, patricia hanson,
And fred wagner-richardson is going to be charged
With the homicide of derby.
- Oh, my god. - Yeah.
I don't believe it.
I wish your mom could hear this.
I wish that as well, that my mother
Could--could hear this.
- Could be here to hear it? - Yeah.
Well, her fingerprints were all over the file, right?
- Oh, yes. - Yeah.
You should see all the people that, when they would
Knock on the door, they were like, "derby?
You're working on derby's case?" they were so excited.
- Oh, wonderful. Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
Scarvers: A lot of people said they never forgot her.
- So... - Linder: Yes.
Wow.
There aren't enough words of... [exhales]
Of appreciation.
I think for me it's-it's probably
More closure for my sister.
It was so beautiful to hear how she's not been forgotten.
She can rest easy now.
What do you think your mom would say if she could be here today?
She'd say, "thank god."
I know she'd be thrilled.
Siegler: I think a lot of people are thrilled.
- Yes. - Oh, yeah.
- It's a good day. - That's wonderful.
It is. It's good.
It's all gonna be okay, all right?
- Thank you. - Yes.
- Yes, you hang in there, okay? - I will.
- [whispers] we did it. - You did it.
- We did it. - Thank you. [sniffles]
- Thank you. - Absolutely.
Thank you.
[speaks indistinctly] ...For all you guys.
- [exhales sharply] - all right?
Siegler: We'll be in touch.
I guess-- it's just unbelievable.
Never thought it was gonna happen.
I guess I didn't either.
- Wow. - Oh, my goodness.
Derby had a rough start to life,
And she had a horribly tragic end.
But she was loved, she is missed,
And she's never been forgotten.
We all hope that justice for derby
Is right around the corner.
We also hope that her daughters realize
How much their mom loved them.
[officers clamoring]
Lauer: Uh, first off,
Thank you, everybody, for coming.
We are going after today fred wagner-richardson.
So that's, like, what you're gonna walk into.
♪♪♪
We have a search warrant for your house.
You need to open this door right now or we're gonna break it in.
- Can you open the door, please? - He's inside on the left.
Woman: Yeah, go ahead.
Lauer: Fred, you're under arrest.
Can I ask what I'm arrested for?
Lauer: You're arrested for the homicide
Of derby wagner-richardson. - Okay.
Siegler: On March the 28th, 2024,
Fred wagner-richardson was arrested
For the murder of derby wagner-richardson.
I have to put you in handcuffs.
Okay.
[officers chattering]
[handcuffs click]