Man: Female. 10-97. There's blood everywhere.
What made you wake up?
A gun? And where was your mommy?
It's gonna be all right.
Woman: ♪ don't run away ♪
♪ I'll keep you safe ♪
♪ safe in my arms ♪
Have you ever been to putnam county before?
I have not. I didn't realize
That there was this much open space
In north central florida.
♪ searching for the truth ♪
And I'll bet ya, when you read this case, you liked it.
Actually, when I read this case, it just made me mad.
- Okay. - You know.
You have this young mom who...
- 25. - Yeah.
She has a lot going on in her life.
Tyvon whitford was a corrections officer at gci,
Which is the gainesville correctional institute
Here in florida.
She had a five-year-old son from a previous relationship
And she was pregnant with her second child.
She was a loving mother, daughter, sister, and friend,
And everybody in the community loved her.
Abbondandolo: In 2007, tyvon whitford
Was found murdered in her own home.
She makes two calls to 911 with a bullet under her neck.
Female operator: 911. Do you have an emergency?
You were shot? What's your address? Where are you at?
Ma'am?
With her son right there in the house.
It just made me mad that that's how she died--
With that little boy there in the house with her.
Siegler: Moments after tyvon was shot,
Her son came out of the bedroom and found her bleeding to death.
As a mother, I can't even imagine
The terror that she must have felt, lying there
Knowing that her baby was watching her bleed to death.
Tyvon's boyfriend, terrance "trouble" brown,
Was the only other person in the house.
The gun was never recovered,
And even though he was a suspect,
Terrance was never arrested.
15 years later, this case is still unsolved.
Everybody in that part of putnam county knows tyvon,
Knew her son, and nothing's happened.
How about this? If everybody knows everybody,
What's the motive to kill this woman?
The biggest theory in this small town
Was that this crime was motivated by revenge.
Tyvon's boyfriend, terrance, was a married man,
And tyvon had confronted terrance's wife hope.
Told her of their affair and that she was having his baby.
And weeks later, tyvon was dead.
Is it gonna be her new baby daddy?
Is it gonna be terrance's wife hope?
I don't know.
- How are you guys? - Hi, guys?
- Hello. How are you? - Good morning.
- You must be the boss. - Well,
That's who I'm supposed to be. Thanks.
- Nice to meet you. - Klayton usina.
Hey, klayton. Nice to meet you.
- And I'm jason theed. - Hi, jason.
- Hi, jason. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
Thanks for being part of this for us.
We're excited. Where you gonna set us up at working?
This building over here. We got a war room for you.
- Y'all ready to get started? - Let's do it.
Any time any partnering agency can come in
And take that second look at something,
Look at it from a different angle, I get excited about it.
It's a lot easier to work on a case
When you have the manpower.
Wow. We got a nice little setup here.
You can never bring the family members back
That have been lost,
But to try to help relieve some of that pain
Is why we do it.
I'm gonna start off
With putting tyvon's pictures up on the board.
She was only 25.
Usina: She is a corrections officer
At a facility in gainesville.
She was about six, seven months pregnant.
Siegler: In addition to being pregnant,
Tyvon also had a five-year-old son, larry jr.,
Whose father was not in the picture.
Her boyfriend, terrance "trouble" brown,
Was the father of her unborn child.
And down here we have a picture of tyvon with her son,
Larry porter jr.
And he was five when this happened.
Usina: Yes.
- Siegler: Who raised him? - Miss dale.
Siegler: She's also been pretty persistent
On trying to get justice for her daughter, hasn't she?
Usina: Absolutely.
Okay, klayton, can you start
With telling us how this all started.
Okay, so, on June 8, 2007, 11:13 p.M.,
We get a call from tyvon whitford.
It's gargled. She can't get out much.
The phone disconnects. I try calling back several times.
I can't get ahold of her. Three to five minutes later,
They get another call from tyvon's boyfriend,
Terrance brown.
Terrance goes on to say that he shows up to the house
And he finds his girlfriend having a miscarriage.
Law enforcement responds. They found her on the ground.
The first deputy on scene identifies
That she's got two gunshot wounds.
Bullet wound here, left side of the neck,
And there's one in the back.
And she's shot standing where in her house?
Where the blood's at.
It looks like she's standing in the front door.
Two shots were fired through the screen door.
Whoa. Okay.
One shell casing was recovered right there on the porch.
There's blood all in the house. It's not a pretty scene.
When she retreats back from the door
To the kitchen, we assume it's to get the phone,
And that's when she calls 911.
What about the murder weapon? What about the gun?
- It was a nine-millimeter. - Yeah.
One of the big challenges with this case
Is that the nine-millimeter pistol
That was used to shoot tyvon was never recovered.
Tyvon calls 911 at 11:13.
So y'all think the shots were fired...
Probably 30 seconds to a minute before that.
So, out in that part of putnam county,
What's going on out there on a Friday night?
Roughly a quarter mile down from the house was a bar.
It's called the watering hole bar.
The story from the watering hole witnesses--
'cause they all know tyvon and "trouble"--
What do they all say about what happened that night?
They remember seeing his car leaving and driving by.
- Before or after the shots? - It wouldn't been after.
Okay.
It's crucial that we find witnesses
From the watering hole bar from that night.
We need to find out if anybody heard or saw anything
From before the gunshots.
And where did y'all think her five-year-old son was
During the front door shooting?
Usina: He makes his way from his mother's bedroom,
Where he'd been sleeping, to the living room,
And he sees his mom on the ground
And sees the boyfriend there at the house.
Where was "trouble"?
He left you before the ambulance got there?
Answer. Answer the question.
So, he left before the ambulance got there.
Okay.
There's much we don't know
About the circumstances of tyvon's murder,
But here's what we do know.
At some point, terrance stopped by the gas station
To buy tylenol for tyvon.
She was shot through her screen door around 11:12 p.M.
Tyvon called 911 at 11:13.
She was disconnected, and 911 tried to call her back.
At 11:18, terrance called 911
And claimed that he had just arrived
And found her on the floor.
At 11:22, the sheriff's department arrived on the scene.
And shortly after, terrance drove
To inform tyvon's parents that she had been shot,
And they all returned to the scene.
The question is, what all are we missing,
And who does that point to?
Okay. Y'all wanna start with terrance "trouble" brown?
Trouble was 30 years old when this happened.
Does trouble have a prior criminal history?
He's got a bank robbery, right?
Siegler: That's pretty big. Most people don't rob a bank.
But he served real time.
Yeah. Between three and four years is what he served.
That's not when he met tyvon, though, right?
- No. - Okay.
What do we know about the relationship
Between trouble and tyvon?
He describes it as, you know, they're happy.
Trouble is actually married to a woman named hope brown.
His wife apparently knows of the relationship with tyvon.
Now, he's clearly still having a sexual relationship with tyvon
Even though he's told hope
That he's just gonna be there to take care of the kid.
Siegler: Not many wives will be okay
With their husband having an affair,
Especially when the other woman
Is pregnant with their husband's child.
Y'all talked about the fact
That when you were interviewing trouble at some point,
He started looking at his fingernails.
What made him do that?
They say, "we wanna do a jsr test just to check on you."
And then they exit the room.
Immediately upon them exiting the room,
He frantically starts, like, cleaning under his nails.
- Camera still on him. - Yeah.
- And you got that? - Yeah. We got it.
This is the camera.
You would say he was just nervous with his nails,
But he's getting every one.
I mean, it's immediate upon...
And he's getting in there deep.
Abbondandolo: Even though many people believe
That trouble was acting suspiciously,
We can't prove that he was at the house before tyvon was shot.
And tyvon's son never saw him with a gun in his hand.
Also, you would think if you'd just shot someone,
You wouldn't let them call 911.
So, here is mrs. Hope brown.
Usina: It was a couple of months prior
When she found out about the pregnancy.
She's wanting to work this out and stay with him.
She says she's okay with that baby.
But there were some witnesses who said it's her, not him,
Because he was happy about the baby.
Some of it is terrance telling people that she did it.
Where is she at the time of the murder?
Usina: I don't know if she's more of your shooter
As she has knowledge that would help him cover it up.
Siegler: Now hope and trouble are divorced.
They've been divorced for five to seven years,
And I hope that'll change her wanting to come forward
And tell the truth.
Abbondandolo: Hope and trouble are no longer married
And may no longer feel the need to protect one another.
If one of them will talk with us,
It could be the break that this case needs.
Okay. Let's put up here two just to be thorough.
The possibility that a random intruder
Or somebody else unknown killed her.
If it's an unknown intruder, what's the motive?
You can't write off a corrections officer,
'cause that's where you have to go to start out with.
- The gci connection? - That's right.
Unknown person from jail just decided
"I'm gonna get even with you"
Because, you know, what happened in the prison.
This case has some complications,
Which is probably why it's gone cold after 15 years.
But this is exactly the kind of case
That deserves our attention.
A mother was taken away from her child,
And a baby never got to take its first breath.
Whoever did this crime needs to be taken off the streets.
We're gonna meet dale today. Tyvon's mother.
And also her son.
Larry jr., who was five back then. He's 20 now.
Ended up getting raised by his grandma.
Yeah. She's a strong lady, but that family's been through hell.
She's probably the one holding it all together, huh?
Yeah. Miss dale is not one to let her daughter go by.
- Hollering for her baby. - Yeah.
Dale has talked to investigators,
The state's attorney, local media.
She's done everything that a mother possibly can do
To keep her baby's case alive.
It's been rough. It's rough.
Some days it seems like it just happened yesterday.
Other days I can get through it. Other days it's really hard.
Like a piece of your soul has been ripped out of you.
Here. I'll let you...
- Hello. - Hello. How are you doing?
- I'm kelly. - I'm dale.
- Nice to meet you. - You, too.
My name's larry. Nice to meet you.
- Hello, sir. - How you doing?
My mom was an amazing person.
We always used to just have our movie nights and pizza nights
Where we would just chill and bond together.
She was the best in the whole wide world to me.
She was a sweetheart. She was my best friend.
Just a fun, loving girl.
Great mom.
After she became a mother,
That when me and her really bonded. Yeah.
So, what did she like about being a corrections officer?
Trying to keep people safe.
She had started out trying to be a probation officer.
And when she did pass,
Those prisoners--
It was a big ol' big sympathy card.
It just touched me that those prisoners and stuff
Care for her that much.
She had a big personality.
She was full of fun, full of life.
She was sweet.
She wouldn't hurt nobody.
I would just do anything.
Just one laugh,
One last hug, something, you know,
To feel her still.
[sobbing]
God, please, just help me.
[sniffles]
You've been fighting for 15 years.
- Yeah. - Yes, ma'am.
Every time I'm crying, he's reaching across.
I understand what she's going through.
So I'm just there to hold her and let her know
That I'm gonna still see her.
Let's go back to June of 2007.
Well, the night of the murder,
I remember I had to go to bed early.
I had got woken up by the gunshot.
I walked down the hallway,
And I just see my mom bleeding out,
And then he had his fist balled up like this at the door.
What do you mean, balled up with his fist?
He was just angry, staring at her angrily,
Like, looking down at her.
And when he seen me, he jumped up,
Like he got shocked, and then he was,
"oh, my god. My baby. My baby." then he darted down the road.
And then I didn't see him after that.
I tried to pick up the phone and call her,
But I didn't know how to.
What exactly was going on with your mom?
I told her I loved her
And she said it back with blood in her mouth.
And that was my last word to my mom after that.
Okay. So, she was still alive?
According to the 911 records,
Trouble called at 11:18.
And then he left the scene just when officers were arriving.
Why would he leave larry all by himself
When his mother was on the floor bleeding to death?
Did he have another reason for leaving the scene of the crime?
He came there to get us that night.
He said, "coco's bleeding. She's bleeding."
And just fell down like this, like he's losing his mind.
Faking a cry. That's really what he was doing.
Soon as he got that out, that cry went away.
He got up and walked on out the house,
Like, "okay, I done did my damn job."
Y'all got in the house?
Ronald: Yeah. We broke on through there.
Then the police is trying to hold me out.
You can't hold a mother from a child.
Was trouble trying to get into the house with you?
- Dale: No. - No. No, ma'am.
He walking backwards and forward on the crime scene,
Looking for his wallet.
What did you think about him looking for a wallet
- In the middle of all this? - No, ma'am.
What you be looking for a wallet for?
Siegler: Trouble was more concerned
About his missing wallet than his dying girlfriend.
What was he doing pacing back and forth in the front yard
When his girlfriend had just been shot?
- That night, that bar was full. - Oh, yeah. We know.
Somebody's seen something.
And I said, "how could y'all sit here,
Grew up with my child and won't open your mouth?"
And it's just sad that she grew up with these people
And nobody cared enough.
Siegler: It breaks your heart to listen to this family.
No family should have their world shattered like this.
Nobody should have to wait this long for justice.
- Let us do what we can, okay? - Okay.
Thanks, ma'am. Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much. - Oh, my god. You're their rock.
- You keep being their rock. - Yes, ma'am. I will.
Siegler: Okay, so how about the 911 tape?
You read the transcript like me.
Abbondandolo: Yeah, I wanna hear it.
We have access to all the 911 calls from that night.
And because the timeline is so crucial,
We need to review all those calls
To try and make sense of what happened that night.
[line ringing]
[line beeps]
The call with tyvon disconnects,
And dispatch tried multiple times
To get her back on the line, but they never got her back.
[tv playing]
- That's the tv. - The tv in the background.
So, her phone has answered.
- She just can't talk. - She can't talk.
Siegler: After tyvon's 911 call,
Terrance made a call at 11:18.
Is he upset because his girlfriend's just been shot,
Or is he rushing to try and cover up his crime?
- Notice there's no... - Tv.
Tv.
Do you wanna try cpr?
Can you do it?
[siren blaring]
- He's now on the road. - He's out of the house.
He's out of the house.
There's still a child in the house, if I'm not...
He's kind of ambiguous
About whether he'll try cpr or he'll do anything.
But they noticed that he didn't have, like, any blood on him.
The responding officer on scene was covered in blood.
Siegler: It's odd that his girlfriend is dying.
He's asked repeatedly to perform cpr,
And yet he has no blood on him,
Which suggest that he didn't attempt to save her life.
We're gonna go to the crime scene first?
- Tyvon's house. - I know where we're going.
We can point out which way the watering hole is
And all that kind of good stuff.
Yeah. Definitely put it all into perspective for sure.
Today we're going to get a look at the crime scene.
I'm interested in seeing where the watering hole bar is
In relation to tyvon's house.
Can you see it from tyvon's?
Would people there be able to see
Who's coming in and out of her driveway?
That's in bad shape.
The roof's caving in.
I imagine that all this was cleared out 15 years ago.
Well, you can get why people going up and down this road
All day long noticed her business.
I was gonna say there's a lot of opportunity
For people to see the cars coming in and out.
It's right on the damn road.
Siegler: Let's talk about the watering hole.
When you pull out of here...
Yeah. You can almost read that stop sign.
It's that close.
Right past that was where the watering hole was at.
Siegler: The watering hole parking lot on a Friday night.
And you're outside in the parking lot.
No wonder you can hear two gunshots.
And you look this way.
And then you would be able to see vehicles
Coming in and out of here.
There were a lot of people at the watering hole
The night tyvon was murdered.
And a few of them spotted trouble driving down the road
A few minutes after hearing the gunshots.
So, this would be parking lot area.
- Right here? - Yes.
Where they would've been standing outside.
- I mean, you're looking... - Yeah.
Right there should be where the house is.
- Okay. - It's a good vantage point
From the parking lot, being able to see right down this road.
You can see it down there pretty clearly.
Siegler: Tyvon's mother, dale, was right.
Anyone at this intersection the night of tyvon's murder
Would've had a clear view of her house.
They would've seen who was coming and going.
My gut tells me that someone at the bar
Knows exactly what happened at tyvon's that night.
We'll split up and do our witnesses.
You got your list, right? And we got ours.
- Yep. - Okay, let's go do that.
Siegler: We've got three suspects
In the murder of 25-year-old tyvon whitford
And her unborn child.
Her boyfriend, terrance "trouble" brown,
His wife at the time, hope, and maybe an unknown suspect.
We know that terrance was spotted by people at the bar
Soon after the gunshots were heard.
But what we're looking for is a witness
Who saw one of our suspects at tyvon's house
Before the gunshots.
I'm not just a prosecutor. I'm also a mother.
And all of us are determined
To help this community get some answers.
[knocking]
Siegler: It doesn't look like anybody's been around lately.
We've got some phone numbers we can try.
This is detective usina with the putnam county sheriff's office.
- [line beeping] - she just kicked your [beep].
Siegler: They're just really not answering back now?
No. Guess we'll just move on.
A lot of witnesses don't feel like talking.
I tell you something about these people out here,
Some of 'em probably do know,
But they ain't gonna say nothing.
Siegler: And that happens sometimes,
Because some people just don't like law enforcement,
And sometimes people are just scared to get involved.
Would you mind sitting in the car with us?
Sit right up front here.
After a rough start,
We finally found a witness that's willing to talk to us.
Patricia, thank you very much. I appreciate you making the time.
Abbondandolo: Patricia high was at the watering hole
On the night tyvon was murdered.
We wanna know what she remembers.
Hopefully, since it's been 15 years,
She's less intimidated and would be willing to talk.
See, terrance is my son's father's brother.
He told me not to say nothing,
It's none of my business, I need to stay out of it.
That was 15 years ago.
And still the same.
You were there on the night, I guess, of the shooting.
Is that right?
Yeah. We were hanging out at that bar that used to be there.
And what happened that night when you were there?
I heard the two pops,
Which I thought was, you know, a gunshot.
That's what drew my attention.
And then with the car racing down the road.
And then sweating. He's in a rush.
And I'm just like, "what the freak going on here?"
So then big gertz like, "you need to mind your business.
Stay out of people's business." I was like, "this weird."
So I didn't know it was actually a murder
Until everyone, you know, went to saying
That the young lady got shot.
Did you see the car first or the shots first?
No. I heard the shots.
Then I seen the car racing down that side road.
- In there by himself? - Oh, yeah.
Abbondandolo: Patricia confirms that trouble left tyvon's
After the gunshots, though that may have been
When he left to go and inform tyvon's parents.
She's a good witness, but we could use somebody
Who saw something before those shots.
It's helpful that she come out and told us.
I already got calls saying...
Yeah. I mean, that says a lot.
Yes.
Hi. How y'all doing today?
Usina: Good. Thank you for making time for us.
Anytime.
Abbondandolo: Ericka clemons lived next door to tyvon
15 years ago.
She wasn't at home at the time of the murder,
But arrived home not long after.
We wonder what she knows about trouble
And tyvon's relationship.
He was known for beating women.
He was known for beating women?
Yes. He beat the crap out of [bleep].
Usina: How do you know that?
'cause I used to tell her to hit him back. [laughs]
Oh, really?
So, that's who he was dating when the bank robbery.
He's got a history of violence.
Yeah, he does.
If I asked you who you thought committed this homicide,
Who are you gonna tell me?
- Hope. - Okay.
I wasn't there when the incident happened,
But hope, when she came back, was just calm.
I'm looking like, "he got caught with another woman,
The woman dead, and you still here supporting him."
Now, if that was me and my husband,
I don't think I'd have been that calm.
Abbondandolo:: Terrance told you that hope did it. Is that right?
Yeah. He said, "I ain't killed coco.
Coco was pregnant with my baby."
He was like--
When he got home, it was a mask in the truck,
And he was like, "what you doing with this?"
My gut still tell me hope.
But I know terrance beat women.
This isn't the first time that we heard trouble
Attempting to shift blame.
- Well, thank you very much. - Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
- Have a good day. - Y'all have a good day.
Based on what ericka clemons tells us,
It's possible that hope was involved.
Or maybe it's just a way for trouble
To shift the focus away from himself.
She knew a lot. She had a heck of a memory.
Yeah.
So, we're headed to go see a co-worker of tyvon's,
And she knows a lot about the relationship
Between trouble and tyvon.
In addition to needing more information
From the witnesses at the watering hole,
We need information from those who knew tyvon personally.
They were pretty close friends and worked together, right?
- And worked together. - Yeah.
This is gonna be an important piece for us to get.
Klayton and I are meeting with a former colleague of tyvon's
From the gainesville correctional institution.
You know her because you guys worked together.
Yes. We worked together on the same shift
For a little over a year.
Usina: Did she have any problems
With any prisoners or anything like that?
No.
We were at gci. That was like a gravy camp.
Like minimum security?
- Mm-hmm. - Okay.
You wouldn't know about her procedures at home,
Whether or not she would open the door for just anyone?
Oh, when it comes to that, no. She wasn't gonna--no.
No one was gonna come in her house with her son in there
And she not know who they are.
Okay. So, you don't think a stranger could have--
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Especially with the men that we work with.
And I'm not even talking about the inmates.
Our lieutenant, the sergeants and stuff,
They were always telling us, "don't do this at night,
Don't be opening the door,
Don't be inviting nobody to your house."
We work with those type of, um, supervisors
That looked out for the women.
Abbondandolo: Talking to tamar, the theory of an unknown suspect
Seems less likely.
Tyvon wouldn't have opened the door
For someone she didn't know.
I remember back then
That she was in a relationship with a married man.
She found out that she was pregnant.
She thought that he was leaving the wife.
That's what he's trying to convince her of.
"we have a family now. We're gonna be together."
I didn't know
Up until maybe about a month or so before she died
That they would be physically fighting each other.
She's my complexion,
So I would see something on her arm at work.
I'm like, "what the hell wrong with your arm?"
She was like, "girl, playing and fooling around and doing..."
I never believed that.
This is the first person
That tells us they saw bruises on tyvon,
But not the first person who suspected
She was in an abusive relationship.
Usina: Who do you think did this?
For something to happen to her in her home,
It--him.
A few of you were working the 4:00 to 12:00 shift.
She told you, "if anything happened to me, he did it."
Tamar: "it was him."
- Do you remember that? - Mm-hmm.
When something did happen to her,
That was why I said it had to be him.
That's when one plus one started equaling two,
'cause I don't think he wanted the baby.
Okay.
I think that was like a nail in the coffin for him.
I was like really telling her,
"a dude is only gonna do what you allow him to do.
You have to put your foot on his neck."
And now I'm sitting here thinking, like,
Did I tell her to do something that made him snap?
No.
Let me just see what all we have left real quick.
So far, we haven't gotten anywhere
With the theory of an unknown suspect.
And so far, all the witnesses that we've talked to
Are pointing to both trouble and hope.
Now we have cordale. He's the brother.
He won't come in. He doesn't wanna be involved.
He says he's-- I think he's just tired
And frustrated with all of it.
[line ringing]
Is this cordale whitford?
Siegler: Cordale is not just tyvon's brother.
He also was a good friend of trouble's
Who originally introduced tyvon to trouble.
She would have met him anyway, cordale.
Too small of a community. Everybody knows everybody.
You need to stop that. You really do.
You need to stop that.
I'm curious to know what cordale witnessed
Between his sister and trouble.
He was there the day that tyvon told hope
She was pregnant with trouble's baby.
What does he remember?
Okay. How did hope act when she heard this?
What did her face look like, and what did she say?
So, trouble was confronting coco
Because she had just confronted his wife
And he was angry.
Uh-huh.
Oh. You ended up having to get in the middle.
It got that heated?
Did you think he was gonna hit her?
Siegler: Okay.
It's interesting to hear about trouble's reaction to tyvon
When he knew she had told hope.
He was furious,
So furious that cordale had to get
In between tyvon and trouble.
So if coco tells trouble,
"it's all fine, I'm gonna be all right,
I'm moving on," how's he gonna take that?
Did you ever run into trouble after the night of the shooting?
[cordale sniffles]
Theed: You're okay.
Huh.
I'm sorry for the long day, man. You know how it goes.
I'm used to long days.
Abbondandolo: So far in our investigation
Of the 2007 murder of tyvon whitford,
The witnesses think that her killer
Could have been either hope or trouble.
If we could figure out why the murder happened that day,
It may be a critical clue in solving this case.
Hi, celia. Thank you for making time
To talk with us today.
Abbondandolo: Celia williams was tyvon's best friend,
And few people would have known her better.
Usina: Little larry?
Would she open the door for strangers?
How did she do things at her house?
So, you don't think a stranger had anything to do with this?
Who do you think did it?
But...
Abbondandolo: If tyvon gave trouble an ultimatum,
How would he respond?
Especially when she already confronted his wife
About her pregnancy.
Such a sad...Aw.
Would this ultimatum be enough for him to kill tyvon?
What she said hurt. She's never had another best friend since.
Yeah.
Siegler: Okay.
Okay. So it's probably...
Let's try that name. That's good.
And June the 6th might be her last day at work
Instead of the 7th.
In looking over the case file,
It seems as if tyvon had gone on maternity leave
Just the day before her murder.
That's pretty odd timing.
Each one of 'em knows a different little piece
Of the story.
'cause you know how you talk at work all day long, right?
And I think she told him a lot about her pregnancy
And her relationship with trouble.
Today we wanna focus on tyvon's colleagues at work
To see what they might remember about tyvon,
Especially her relationship with trouble.
[line ringing]
Hello. Is this scottie moore?
I'm detective theed, putnam county sheriff's office.
I've reopened the investigation into tyvon whitford.
No, it is still an open case.
Scottie moore was a corrections officer
Who worked with tyvon at gci.
More importantly, he was also her friend.
Siegler: She really thought there was a time
That he was gonna leave his wife for her.
And then eventually, what did you see
As far as tyvon's, you know, attitude or demeanor or change
When she realized it just wasn't gonna happen?
That "if I can't have you, nobody can" mentality?
Siegler: Her murder was on Friday, June the 8th.
The last conversation you had with her was on June the 6th.
So two days earlier.
'cause she turned in her maternity papers to take leave.
Do you remember that?
Theed: That would be her last day of work?
Okay.
When you heard she was shot,
What was the first thing that jumped to your mind?
People that knew tyvon the very best--
Cordale and scottie and celia--
They're telling us that she was done with trouble.
Wonderful.
And after she gave him an ultimatum,
She ends up dead.
But who wanted her dead more? Trouble or hope.
We're not ready to rule either one of them out at this point.
- Thank you, sir. - Yes, ma'am.
Ooh, I like him.
All right. So we know this.
We know this.
We wanna review the timeline
For the night of tyvon whitford's murder.
While much is still a mystery,
We do know that she called 911 at 11:13 p.M.
After being shot.
And our suspect, terrance brown, called at 11:18,
Claiming that he had just arrived
And he was unaware of what happened.
After 11:05, 11:10 is when he's at that gas station.
Gets the tylenol.
We suspect somewhere between 11:11 and 11:13
Is when she gets shot.
We know she makes the call at 11:13.
So depending on how quick she gets that door shut
And gets over to the phone, that could've taken 30 seconds
Or it could've taken two minutes.
Siegler: The big questions are: Why would he let her call 911
And possibly name him as the shooter,
And why didn't larry see him with the gun in his hand
When he came out of the bedroom?
From the time this call comes in
To the time his call comes in, it's five minutes.
However, if she's shot back at maybe two minutes before
At 11:11, that gives you a five-to-seven-minute window.
The argument happens. He's walking out the door.
He shoots her right there.
But he's, "oh, [bleep], I just shot her.
I've gotta get rid of this gun."
He whether could leave in a vehicle,
Or he could've walked on foot and thrown that gun somewhere--
Put it in a trash can, threw it under a house,
Did something.
He comes back, makes his 911 call.
He's still on scene, and we know the units pull up.
Then after the units and everybody are on scene,
Somewhere between this 11:25, 11:30,
That's when people see he's left in the car
"to get the parents."
Abbondandolo: There are two possibilities.
The first is that terrance is telling the truth.
He arrived at tyvon's house shortly after the killer fled.
The other is that he did shoot tyvon,
Left briefly to ditch the gun between 11:12 and 11:18
And returned possibly unaware that she had already called 911.
Could that have been when patricia high
Saw him speeding away from the house?
The first time a vehicle's seen leaving that yard,
It's his.
So, they're gonna do a buildout today
With the exact dimensions we need--
Front screen door to where her phone was by the pizza box
To where she collapsed by the tv.
So we can talk about all that.
No one has lived in tyvon's house since the murder,
And the house is falling apart.
So we've recreated the interior to help us walk through
What we think happened that night.
This is the size of her entire house right here?
It's not much bigger than this. This is the key setup.
So the question is, what can this space
Tell us about the killer?
So standing right here in the front yard,
What are we gonna talk about out here first?
Her car would've been, like, right here.
This is the approximation
Of where the shell casing was found--one of the two.
He could've shot from outside of the porch
Or being standing on the porch.
I think he shot from the porch.
- I think he did, too. - Just 'cause of where
The shell casing lands, right?
The shell casing's gonna come out of the gun
And go behind you.
Abbondandolo: Police recovered
One of the two spent shell casings.
And with the powder burns on her door screen,
It's safe to say
That the killer was standing extremely close to the door
When they pulled the trigger.
Klayton, do me a favor.
Be the shooter and walk up,
And then do whatever you think happens
To get her to come to the door.
Knock-knock.
Opens this door, steps up.
Potentially, the argument starts here.
He's got the gun tucked in.
They start arguing here at the door.
She's got the door cracked, and he's in. Pulls the gun out.
She sees the gun, and she knows he's not playing.
To me, she's closing that door and backing up.
Bang-bang. Shoots her twice.
- [gunshot] - tell me where it goes in.
So, it goes in right here and comes out over here.
All right, let's go inside into the living room.
Tyvon comes in.
Does she make it all the way to the couch?
- No. She's right out in front. - Right here?
She falls. She's got the phone in her hand.
When she's talking to 911, she's on the floor talking?
We know it's hard to understand her,
And she's gurgling.
She's bleeding inside her lungs. She's dying.
Siegler: I can't imagine the horror
That ran through tyvon's mind.
Shot in the neck
With her unborn baby in her belly
And her young son in the room next to her.
And while she didn't identify her killer on the 911 call,
A big clue may be what's missing from the scene.
And I think what's critical to this spot right here
Is this is what the witnesses described him
Looking for his wallet, remember?
And there's only one shell casing found there,
Right in the area that he's looking,
In the dark at night.
We've heard that terrance was strangely looking for his wallet
In the front yard.
He walking backwards and forward on the crime scene,
Like pacing, looking for his wallet.
I think it's more likely
He was trying to recover that second shell casing.
What are the chances of a stranger coming in
To fire the shots through the door
That she never would've opened the door for anyway?
If you buy that somebody else did it besides trouble,
Lookie here. I'm gonna be the other shooter.
And I'm gonna drive off.
Whether I drive this way or this way,
How's nobody gonna see my car?
Shots draw attention.
So when the shots are heard,
Everybody starts looking in that direction,
And they don't see any vehicles but trouble's.
There's no way in the world
That coincidences like that happen.
It doesn't work.
In the whole wide world,
Who had her pregnant?
Who was she dumping?
Who had the temper? Who had the gun?
Who did they all see? There's no way.
[knocking]
Theed: Miss brown?
Do you mind talking to us for a few minutes?
Siegler: We're here to talk about coco's case.
After our crime scene mock-up,
It seems unlikely that someone other than terrance
Could have shot tyvon and fled
Without him seeing them as he arrived.
But what about hope? The woman he was married to
At the time he was having an affair with tyvon?
- I can smell it. - Yeah. It smells good.
Siegler: We know that tyvon confronted hope
With the news that she was pregnant with terrance's baby.
Could hope have been capable or murder
After learning about that kind of betrayal?
That night I had talked to him,
And he was on his way home to eat dinner.
Siegler: And he stopped over there.
And then all of this.
Did he ever tell you back then
That he had been to her house that same day?
Yes. He had been there.
- To the day of the murder? - Mm-hmm.
So, how is terrance there so damn fast
After she gets shot?
That doesn't make any sense, right?
Did he tell you that they had broke it off that day
Or the day before?
He had been telling me this for the longest.
And we never had conversations really about coco
Until all of this stuff happened.
I think maybe a week or a couple of weeks before that,
That's when I found out she was pregnant. Oh, well.
That's when she came to your house and let you know?
- Yes. - Y'all confronted him on that?
Yeah, because he was seeing another girl on her.
- Okay. Yeah. - People are wondering,
You know, did you do it.
But I can't be mad with the woman.
I was married to terrance.
Terrance was supposed to be loyal to me.
Siegler: Did you know that he told a story
That he found a ski mask and gloves...
- Gloves in your car. - ...In your car.
- Had you ever heard that? - No.
- He's saying you did it. - I promise you, that's not me.
Siegler: If you were asked today
Whether you were so mad
About that woman being pregnant with his baby,
Back then, what would you say?
If that was the case,
I'd kill the [bleep] and everybody else, so no.
Hope has a point. Tyvon wasn't the first person
Terrance ever cheated on her with
And wasn't the only baby mama in the picture.
Hope never had any other violent confrontations
With any of the other women,
So why would she have started with tyvon?
- Did he ever beat on you? - Yes.
And he cut me, too.
What did he cut you with?
- Um, a straight razor. - What made him cut you?
He stayed at that [bleep] house that night.
And he came home and I told him,
"the best thing you can do..."
I had all his stuff on the bed.
I said, "take all your stuff,
Have her to come and back in the yard
And get all your stuff out my house,
'cause I don't need you."
He got mad that you were done with him.
Yeah. And he cut me. He cut me. Mm-hmm.
And I told this girl, "you see what I'm going through?
He's cheating on me, and I'm his damn wife."
I know it's bad to hate somebody, but I hate that man.
He's ruined my life.
After talking to hope, it's pretty clear
That she had a violent
And volatile relationship with trouble.
A man who blamed her for killing the woman
He cheated on her with.
But I do know
He gonna get paid back for the same thing he done.
- Man: Hello. - My name is klayton usina.
I'm a detective with the putnam county sheriff's office.
We're following up on an eyewitness report
Of a man who knew both tyvon and trouble
And was outside the watering hole
On the night that she was killed.
The evidence is pointing at trouble,
But in a case like this, you're always looking for more.
Oh, I'm the police, man. I just looked your number up.
I'm just calling to pick your brain
To see if you know anything about coco's murder
Back in 2007.
Abbondandolo: Tyvon's mom, dale,
Has talked to just about everybody
About her daughter's case.
Keenon is only talking to us out of respect for dale.
- Yeah. - Okay.
This information is crucial,
And this is exactly what we needed.
It places trouble at tyvon's before the gunshots.
You walk by the house
And you see his car out front of coco's house?
You're walking towards the watering hole bar.
And then within five or 10 minutes, you hear the shots?
And then he pulls away from the house.
Right.
All right. Well, 10-4, man. I appreciate it.
All right.
Holy cow.
That was a great interview.
Usina: Yes.
So let's hope that trouble knows you're coming
And he thinks he's so smart
He comes up with some new version of what happened.
Yeah. He knows we're coming and we ain't gonna find him.
One of 'em.
And you often strategize on your drive up there.
But just remember he knows the case.
Don't bluff with an incorrect fact,
'cause he's gonna know when you're bluffing.
He'll see right through that.
He's not worried about going to jail.
He's not afraid of talking to the cops,
'cause he thinks he's smarter.
- Mm-hmm. - Yeah.
Back him in a corner, see what he does.
- You wanna hit the road? - Yes.
Abbondandolo: We now have a witness
That places terrance at tyvon's before and after the gunshots.
This is one hell of a circumstantial case.
- You ready? - Yeah.
Hello?
Not sure which one is the front door.
Ooh. A little breezy out.
- Hey, what's up, man? Terrance. - Yes, sir.
Hey, man. My name is klayton usina.
I work with the putnam county sheriff's office.
The only thing we're missing is a confession,
But I'm not holding my breath for that.
So, we, uh, you know-- we appreciate
You talking with us.
We know that y'all were dating at the time.
We just kinda wanna run through it
And see what you can remember and what details you can give us
From that night.
So, up until what point? Where do you wanna start at?
Just start from that day. Tell us, like,
Kinda earlier in the day.
Before I got ready to go see her, I called her,
And I asked her what she was up to,
And she was saying nothing, that her head was hurting
And stuff like that, could I bring her some tylenol?
So when I left the store, as I'm pulling in the yard--
You know, she keep her light on, her front porch light on--
Look like blood on the door.
I'm seeing this all as I pull up.
Do you think you might have passed the suspect
As you pulled up?
Wasn't nobody like on--
I didn't see nobody going over the top of the hill
Or anything. Wasn't nobody passing by me at the time.
I ran to the front door. I opened the door, and I looked,
And she was laying on the floor in blood.
It was so much blood. I don't know
If she was stabbed or nothing at the time.
I'm freaking out. I never seen nobody like this.
- Mm-hmm. - So I grab her.
I start screaming for her son-- you know what I'm saying--
Little larry--at the time, her son she had.
But I ran in the room. I looked. He was sleep.
So I get on the phone. I'm calling 911.
I'm trying to talk to her. I'm freaking out.
Miss ada mae was coming in the yard at the time.
She say, "I just heard something sound like a firecracker.
I thought it was you." I said, "no.
I just pulled over here."
So I gave miss ada mae larry.
Usina: Then you said he's still sleeping?
Yes. I went and got him out the bed.
There's just a lot of inconsistency.
You go in there and waking him up.
I mean, he was in the living room, and--
Terrance: He wasn't in the living room.
Man, listen. Wasn't nobody in there but me.
And the deputies weren't there?
They weren't there yet. When I left, wasn't [bleep].
Putnam county slow as [bleep].
That's just not correct, though.
What you mean?
I can tell you the facts, all right?
You wasn't there that night.
Correct. But I have all the evidence, all right?
11:18 is when you make the call.
God!
11:22's when the first officer on scene.
And you went out in the middle of county road 21,
And you're standing in the road flagging the officer down.
[siren blaring]
You flagged the cop down.
- Okay, so what is-- - I can tell you the--
I can tell you the exact seconds. All right?
Where is the gun? Where is the gsr test?
- You had gsr. - What's going on?
You had gsr on both of your hands
And all over your clothes.
I shot a gun earlier that week out there in the woods.
I don't know, sir. So much happened that night.
I don't freaking know.
Usina: You had gsr on both of your hands
And all over your clothes.
Do you remember how they did the test on you?
Yeah. They rubbed some [bleep] on my hands.
Okay. When he walked out,
The video shows you digging all up in your nails.
What was that for?
Oh, I do that. I always clean my nails.
That's like a thing I do.
My nerves-- when I get nervous, I do that.
Did you ever find your wallet that night?
I don't remember anything about a wallet.
I mean, did I said I dropped a wallet?
Yeah. Everybody--we've talked to four or five different people
That were out there at the scene
That said you were pacing around looking for a wallet out there.
But the key to us that's important
Is you're there at scene
Within minutes of this shooting by your own call. Right?
So, what are you getting at, bro?
Why do you keep telling us so many different stories?
I'm not giving you too many different stories.
And why are you pouring sweat right now?
Because I'm [bleep] aggravated.
I got hypertension. I take [bleep] xanax and all.
I'm not no american gangster
And [bleep] tote guns and shoot people.
I don't do that.
This interview has clearly struck a nerve.
He's sweating. He's getting agitated with the questioning.
He hasn't asked us how's the case going
Or if there's any new information.
Shouldn't he wanna know who killed his girlfriend
And his unborn child?
If, for no other reason, than to clear his own name.
Were you and coco breaking up right before that day?
No, sir.
Did she tell you she wanted to end things with you?
No, sir. You barking up the wrong tree.
You need to go holler at hope.
None of y'all dumbasses never-- excuse me for saying this.
- Hope's been talked to. - Not you. Not you.
But putnam county need to go talk to her.
Because, listen, I'm gonna tell you this,
When I came outside, I look out there
By the road and stuff, and I don't see nobody.
But I see tire prints.
It look like truck prints. At that time, we had a durango.
I gotta tell you, terrance,
It sounds like you're trying to put this on hope.
Usina: None of this information was given to law enforcement
In any of your prior interviews.
Did hope tell you she did it?
No. That Wednesday I just told hope
That I didn't wanna be with her no more.
Now, I didn't know if she knew about me and hope or whatever.
Usina: She knew tyvon was pregnant.
See, I didn't know that.
You told the cops 15 years ago in 2007 that she knew.
That is what you told the cops.
- Okay. - And you stayed with her
For another two years?. Weren't you afraid
Of her putting some bullets in you?
- No. I was watching her. - You were watching her?
Yeah. I always known her to say some more extra [bleep],
So I could go to the sheriff's office
And put them people on her.
Abbondandolo: Everyone knew that tyvon was pregnant.
People in town knew that tyvon had confronted hope about it.
Cordale was there when his sister told hope
That she was pregnant.
Terrance has already told this to law enforcement.
So it's a strange lie to tell now.
Usina: Everybody points at you, right?
Why is everybody pointing at you?
Why are they focused on you?
Why are they not pointing at hope?
'cause they don't wanna see that.
Okay.
Do you think some people think you're being dishonest?
- Yeah. And I ain't, man. - Okay.
So I just wanna go over every--
Like I said, every little piece here.
What I see is a woman who's got a straight-up job,
Having an affair with a guy who's married,
Whose wife is not happy.
You would be my number-one suspect.
I mean, who has a motive to kill this woman?
I shouldn't have came and [bleep] found her there.
Then y'all would've been in somebody else face today.
Don't try to flip nothing around...
I'm not--I'm not--
...To look for a loophole to try to solve this case.
- Tell me. - Don't try to do all that.
Terrance, have you ever lied to the police in talking with them?
[sighs] no. But I'm tired of talking, bro.
- All right. - I'm ready to get my lawyer.
All right. Well, you're good then.
Thanks for talking with us.
Yeah. That's all you gonna get.
Just like I told you, y'all need to go holler at hope.
Usina: All righty. Thank you, terrance.
That was a stunning interview.
The tears. The sweating. The inconsistencies.
I didn't believe a word of it.
He lied a whole bunch on things that he didn't need to lie on.
Usina: Yeah.
Thank you, thank you.
You got the boss man here today, huh?
- Yeah, we do. - Siegler: Nice.
Today we're going over what we've discovered
After reviewing all the evidence
And contacting dozens of witnesses this week.
We can cross theories off the board
And focus on who we think is responsible for this crime.
So, on day one, we put up on the board "unknown intruder."
And now that we've talked to all these witnesses,
Is it possible that tyvon was shot by an unknown intruder?
We've come across no one that said
Any ill will or any negative things to say about her.
There's no bad blood at work.
Did she have any problems
With any of the inmates or anything like that?
No.
She might be the most favorite corrections officer
Gci's ever had.
- Right. - That's what we've heard.
Everyone that knows her says
She's not gonna open that door for a stranger.
So everybody's good with scratching that off the board.
I think we can remove that as an aspect of this case.
Siegler: Yes. All right. Hope.
Our witness that said, "oh, you know, it could be hope"
Was based off a conversation that she had with terrance
Where terrance said that she had a ski mask
And, you know, these other items in the car.
She did give the same account
That she gave previously 15 years ago.
So nothing has changed
Other than she disclosed the violent temper,
Because she didn't wanna do it at the time
Because she was married to him.
There's also five other baby mamas.
Why didn't she kill the other five?
She said that.
If that was the case, I'd killed [bleep]
And everybody else, so no.
I look at her now as a victim in this whole thing.
- Yeah. - He throws her under the bus
And then drives the bus over the top of her.
Is everybody in agreement that hope brown comes off the board?
- Absolutely. - Yeah.
Nothing in our interaction with hope
Made us think she had anything to do with this.
She let us in. She talked.
She remembered her own violent
And tumultuous relationship with trouble.
We don't buy that hope was involved.
All right. So now we got our whole board over here dedicated
To terrance "trouble" brown.
All right. Hope, she does tell you
That what really happened in her marriage with trouble.
There was one time that he got caught with another woman.
She told trouble to have one of his girls
Come over and pick his stuff up. Trouble got upset.
And he cut me, too.
What did he cut you with?
Um, a straight razor.
And how about the witnesses from the watering hole?
I heard the shots. Then I seen the car racing.
- Oh, you saw the car racing - up out the--
Down that side road.
The best piece of evidence
Is the person with the greatest motive
For killing this woman
Shows up within minutes of her being shot.
And remember the 911 dispatcher saying,
"can you give her cpr?" he doesn't answer.
He can't tell us the truth about it
When we interview him 15 years later.
Usina: And there's just a lot of inconsistencies.
I don't know, sir.
So much happened that night. I don't freaking know.
And you have law enforcement officers,
Corrections officers telling you
That the day she turned in her papers,
She said, "I'm done with him. I'm moving on with my life.
He wants his wife, he can have his wife.
I am done with him and keeping my baby
And raising my baby on my own."
And lo and behold, she ends up dead.
After our investigation, we are all in agreement
The evidence points directly at terrance brown.
The plan's to go ahead and put it before the state
And let us know how they feel about it,
And then we'll be able to get those answers
To the whitford family.
- Let's go tell her. - Okay. Let's go.
[vocalizing]
Usina: You're always wanting that little extra piece or two.
But, yeah, I absolutely think that this has been a good case.
Couldn't have turned out any better.
Yeah.
Woman: ♪ words will bring me liberation ♪
♪ voice will bring my salvation ♪
Siegler: How old are you? 33?
34.
So, let me tell you something. 'cause I'm old.
I don't work in the world of confessions and dna.
I work in the world of circumstantial evidence cases.
This is a good case, and you need to know that
So that for the rest of your career
And as you promote up in the ranks,
You gotta keep believing in these kinds of cases.
Don't start thinking like a lawyer.
You keep thinking just the way you're thinking.
Usina: Yeah.
After spending time in putnam county,
We got to let miss dale know
What all we learned from the community.
She needs to know how many people did all that they could
To help her get justice for tyvon.
- Hi, you guys. - Hello, everybody.
How y'all doing? All right, all right.
Good morning. Good morning.
This is our son, ron.
- Hey, ron. - I'm kelly. Nice to meet you.
- I'm klayton. - Nice to meet you.
So, um, it's been a good week.
We went back through this case top to bottom.
We've come to the conclusion that trouble's our suspect.
Okay?
We've got nothing that would point to anyone else.
Oh, lord.
I can breathe a little bit now. I can breathe.
We've got a meeting with the state's attorney office.
We're optimistic that everything that we've comb through
Over the last week or so
Has hopefully got us over any of those hiccups.
We're hoping finally
You're gonna get some justice for your baby.
Ain't gonna get her back,
But I know somebody's gonna pay for it.
I appreciate-- I appreciate what you saying.
- Kelly. - Yes, sir.
You and detective klayton, thank y'all.
- No problem. - You're very welcome.
We can see that...[sniffles]
I thank y'all so much. [sobbing]
Some days it's rough. Some days it's fair.
Some days, you know, it's just--
You just have to look up in the sky
And ask god to just keep giving you strength to keep going.
It's okay.
They got him now. They got him now.
[sobbing continues]
We just want justice.
That's all.
Justice and hoping before it's too late.
[sobbing continues]
Those--man, 15 years is a long time.
That's a burden you have to take day in and day out.
I'm grateful, but it's still don't justify the fact
That I had to lose my mom that night.
- I'm just angry, you know? - Siegler: I don't blame you.
You're angry that it's taken so long,
- And you're angry at terrance. - Yeah.
I'm grateful for everything, but it's just hard.
Just know that your community is behind you.
And y'all should know when we would knock on the door,
People would go, "y'all gotta get justice for miss dale."
Good.
Now I know the community was behind it the whole while.
Yeah. It's gonna be all right, son.
They got him. They got him.
The person who done it to her.
Same person you kept telling me from five years old,
And I held my breath for 15 years.
Siegler: This case is a beautiful reminder
Of why it's important for us to keep working on cold cases.
Every family deserves justice.
All communities need answers.
It's like dale said,
Just to be able to breathe a little bit easier.
- Thank you. - You're welcome, baby.
Yes, ma'am.
♪ this moment, I own it ♪
♪ this one's for me ♪
♪ it's my story ♪