- FEMALE NARRATOR: When a young socialite goes missing,
her family vows to bring her home.
- DAVID HASKINS: Somebody who's from an affluent,
well-known, well-respected family, doesn't just disappear.
- JOANN GOODHOPE: Well, she had the so-called perfect life.
When she went missing, that was unusual.
- NARRATOR: The search for answers will lead
investigators to uncover a disturbing scam
by a master manipulator...
- NARRATOR: And turn the case of a missing person...
into a hunt for a killer.
- DAVID H.: She had no moral compass.
There was no such thing as true or false to her.
- JAMES RANDOLPH: He was gonna do whatever he could do
to help protect her.
- HOWARD GATCH: The coldness is beyond my understanding.
- This is one of the rare cases I've ever seen.
You've got the state using their two key witnesses,
one of them is honestly one of the craziest people
I've ever seen in my life.
- JOANNE: Why would you murder your best friend for love?
- Some people in the world are evil.
- *
- [muffled scream, gasp]
- **
- NARRATOR: Charleston, South Carolina
is a prominent port city known for its charm
and southern hospitality.
- JOANN: Charleston life is very laid back, very welcoming.
Sit on your front porch with your neighbor,
or a stranger, and have a glass of iced tea.
- JAMES: Life in Charleston is one of a slow pace.
There's a rich culture and heritage here uh in Charleston,
uh lot of history.
- NARRATOR: And Katherine Waring, known as Kate
to friends and family, was a true daughter of Charleston.
- HOWARD: Kate and her family,
they were multi-generational Charlestonians.
She was like eighth or ninth generation here in Charleston.
Kate had a very good family. Her dad is uh, an attorney.
She grew up downtown Charleston.
She and her family, her father and her grandfather
and great grandfathe,r has been champions for the underdogs.
Even though she lived in the high society,
along the Battery, you know, they were very humbled
and down-to-earth people.
Kate was extremely smart, caring, compassionate.
She was college-educated.
She was a phenomenal writer, you know?
She had things published in the papers and so forth.
She loved to travel. She spoke multiple languages.
Went to Alaska with her father on a trip that she really loved.
- SHAWNTEZ COMMODORE: If she didn't want to be in one place,
she would leave, and she would take trips all the time.
- NARRATOR: In 2009, Kate returned to school,
and her parents supported her,
as she made plans for her future.
- HOWARD: Kate re-enrolled in college to study Russian.
She loved Russia, she just came back from a trip from Russia.
- NARRATOR: But life for the 28-year-old jetsetter
would take a strange and unsettling turn
in the summer of 2009.
On June 15th, police in Charleston receive
a concerning phone call from Kate Waring's parents.
- JAMES: In the summer, the Waring family would live
in their summer home or their beach home
over on the Isle of Palms. And Kate would occupy
the house there on the Battery.
She would be independent, could take care of herself.
But, she would contact her family and her parents
on an everyday basis to let them know she's doing well.
- NARRATOR: The Waring's tell police that the last time
they'd spoken to Kate was the afternoon of Friday, June 12th,
when she called to check in.
- ASHLEI STEVENS: It was a normal conversation
with her parents.
They said there was nothing out of the ordinary.
She'd planned to go to the gym,
as she pretty much does every day.
Stop by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription,
and she mentioned she had dinner plans
with her friend Ethan Mack.
- DAVID AYLOR: Kate and Ethan were extremely close friends.
This was no different than any other uh, night
that they would have together, in that they would
a lot of times go out for dinner and drinks uh, socialize.
- NARRATOR: According to Kate's parents,
nothing seemed amiss when they spoke to their daughter.
When she hadn't called in two days, however,
her parents began to worry.
- BILL SHARPE: Her father drove into Charleston,
where Kate was staying.
Kate wasn't in the house, but the lights were on.
And he thought maybe that meant she was coming back home.
- The Warings knew Kate didn't go out of town,
because there was just too many things that were still
at the house of her personal belongings.
There was medication that was still in her room, unused.
Her credit cards were not being used.
And she relied on her parents for monetary needs,
so once all the communication and lines of communication
had been cut and stopped, then the Waring's knew
that Kate had to have been missing.
- NARRATOR: After taking the missing persons report,
Charleston police begin reaching out to Kate's friends,
hoping to track her down.
They start with her best friend, Ethan Mack.
- Police confirmed that Ethan lived on Johns Island
with his mother, so they sent a detective out to talk to him.
- SHAWNTEZ: Ethan was Kate's friend.
He would always talk about her.
They were always really close.
- JOANN: They pretty much were two amigos
that hung out together.
They shared everything in their lives,
on a friendship level.
- NARRATOR: Police learn like Kate, 30-year-old Ethan
was a Charleston native,
but he grew up far from "The Battery."
- SHAWNTEZ: We grew up on Johns Island,
back then it was quiet. It was nice and peaceful
and country, if that, that describes it.
It wasn't, it wasn't no city life.
- NARRATOR: Despite their different upbringings,
when Kate met Ethan as a young adult,
she was drawn to his strong values and caring nature.
- HOWARD: Kate really loved Ethan, and Ethan loved Kate.
They were like brothers and sisters.
- Kate was the godparent of Ethan's nephew.
She loved the Mack family.
She would do anything for them.
It's like they adopted her and she adopted them.
- NARRATOR: Ethan tells detectives
that he had last seen Kate on the evening of June 12th...
when he and his fiance Heather Angelica Kamp
had met Kate for dinner.
- BILL S.: Heather was a pediatric surgeon up at MUSC,
the Medical University of South Carolina.
- ASHLEI: On June 12th, they were all celebrating
because Heather had just found out she was pregnant.
- JAMES: Ethan Mack picked up Kate from her house,
along with, uh, Heather Kamp and then they drove
over to The Wasabi's Restaurant.
Said that he had dropped Kate Waring back home
after 11 pm.
- NARRATOR: Upon learning that Kate is missing,
Ethan tells police he's worried for his friend.
- JAMES: Where's Kate from there?
Was it a situation where she decided to leave her home
and fall off the grid?
Or was it a situation where something nefarious
happened to her?
- NARRATOR: Coming up,
police track down their first lead
when they uncover skeletons in Kate's closet.
- BILL CAPPS: There had been
some previous romantic relationship.
His wife had recently found out.
She was very unhappy and she had what a lot of people
described as a fiery temperament.
- NARRATOR: And a disturbing revelation will shine
a spotlight on someone close to the missing woman.
- She was essentially a con artist.
- NARRATOR: Police in Charleston, South Carolina
are searching for 28-year-old Kate Waring,
after her parents reported her missing in June 2009.
After learning from Kate's friend, Ethan Mack,
that she was last seen sometime before midnight
on June 12th, police begin reconstructing her movements
earlier in the day.
- That particular, uh, day of Kate's disappearance,
Kate had took the Black Cat Cab Company to the gym.
And at some point in time, the taxi cab brought Kate
to the CVS pharmacy, where she picked up her prescription.
- We saw her on video at the CVS pharmacy downtown.
- She gets the prescription, she comes out of the pharmacy.
She has no contact with anybody else.
- NARRATOR: When police reach out to Kate's gym,
the manager confirms that Kate had been there,
but he informs detectives that Kate had been involved
in a troubling altercation.
- BILL S.: Witnesses told them on the day that Kate disappeared
they said she was on the stairmaster
when a woman approaches her and starts yelling.
- JAMES: There was a confrontation in regards to her
believing that Kate was having an affair with her husband.
- NARRATOR: Detectives learn the woman is married
to a gym employee and MMA instructor named Howard Gatch.
- BILL C.: There had been
some previous romantic relationship.
His wife had recently found out.
Needless to say, she was very unhappy and she had
what people describe as a fiery temperament.
She had some words for Kate,
"Stay away from Howard, I'm his wife," and she left.
- NARRATOR: Police quickly track down Howard Gatch's wife
and ask her to come to the station for an interview.
- ASHLEI: She came in freely to talk to police,
she was questioned at length.
She did admit that she was in the middle of
a contentious divorce.
And she saw Kate as a distraction to that process.
She did admit that they had a confrontation at the gym,
but by all means, she had absolutely nothing to do
with her disappearance.
- She said, "I had nothing to do with any of this.
Don't bother me."
- JAMES: She provided information about
who she was with, her friend she was with, where she was,
and those all panned out.
So, Ms. Gatch was eliminated as a suspect
in doing anything to have harmed Kate.
- NARRATOR: When police ask Mrs. Gatch about her husband,
they're surprised to learn
that he'd recently left the country,
the day before Kate was reported missing.
- He ended up going on a, uh, on a cruise to the Bahamas.
- NARRATOR: Detectives' attempts to contact Howard
go straight to voicemail... which only adds fuel
to their growing suspicions.
A week later, detectives finally get a call back...
- HOWARD: When I returned, I had a message
from the police department.
They asked me if I'd be willing to come in and talk to them.
I said, "Yep, I'll be there immediately."
From the police perspective, it doesn't take
a rocket scientist to figure out this does not look good
for you Howard, but my trip had been planned for six months.
- NARRATOR: When police sit down with Howard
for a formal interview,
they press him about his relationship with Kate.
He doesn't deny the affair, but he claims he and his wife
were already separated when he began dating Kate
a month earlier.
- Kate and I first met at a gym when I worked out
and she came in, and we just sort of hit it off
and started training, and we just became best friends
from there on out.
I cared deeply for Kate. I loved Kate.
- NARRATOR: Howard tells police he spoke to Kate
several times on June 12th.
- HOWARD: Kate and I were together that afternoon.
We saw each other at the gym,
and we talked at 10pm.
She was like, "Yeah, I'm riding around with Heather and Ethan."
- NARRATOR: According to Howard,
he received one last message from Kate's phone
late that same night.
- HOWARD: I got a weird text around midnight.
She sent me a text and said,
"I'm going to Greenville to pick up some lovely."
I'm like, "What is lovely?
And why are you going to Greenville?"
That next morning, I woke up and I looked at my phone
and she hadn't texted me back.
I was busy 'cause I was getting ready to leave
to go out of the country.
And then the following morning,
I got a call from Mr. Waring, you know, Kate's dad.
And he asked me, he said, "Have you seen or talked to Kate?"
And I said, "No, Mr. Waring."
When I got that call from him,
I knew something was wrong,
because I knew for a fact that Kate admired and adored her dad
and she spoke with him daily.
One of the things that really struck me is like,
my God, not knowing what happened to someone.
And I'm only her boyfriend.
What is her father and her mother
and her brothers g--going through?
Unimaginable.
- NARRATOR: Investigators find it suspicious that Howard
would leave town knowing his girlfriend was missing.
But Howard is adamant that he does not know where Kate is now.
- They asked me if I'd be willing to take a polygraph
and I said absolutely.
- BILL S.: He passed the polygraph test,
and his alibi checked out for the most part by police,
and Howard seemed genuinely concerned
about where Kate was.
- JAMES: He had, uh, an alibi about where he was,
so he was eliminated as a suspect.
- NARRATOR: As police continue talking to Kate's friends,
they learn others had received a similar text
from her around midnight on June 13th.
- SHAWNTEZ: I received a text message from Kate's phone,
saying that she was going out of town for a while.
Some business she had to handle.
And I thought it was strange, because she never contacted me
letting me know when she was going out of town
or why like that.
It just didn't seem like her words.
I texted her back and I got no response.
- Kate's friends knew that she would just not up and leave
without any explanation.
Her family also knew she would not just up and leave.
The more days that went by,
police were certainly concerned
that the more difficult it might be
to bring her home safely.
- NARRATOR: It's been a week since the family
of Kate Waring reported her missing
in Charleston, South Carolina,
and local police are no closer to finding
the 28-year-old socialite.
Without any solid evidence that Kate's been harmed,
police must consider that she may have left town
without telling anyone.
- There was no indication that she was in danger.
There was no indication she was gonna harm herself.
With adult missing persons,
if there's no indication of foul play
or they're in danger, nothing really happens.
- NARRATOR: Weeks pass with no word from Kate Waring,
and the case to find her grows cold.
Her parents become increasingly afraid-- and frustrated.
- Once the family members were frustrated
with the police's mode of operation,
Andy Savage was put on notice.
- BILL C.: Andy Savage is one of, if not the best,
criminal defense attorney in the Charleston area.
- JAMES: I was a very good investigator
and hard-nosed police officer
on the City of Charleston Police Department.
And once we met, I started working for Andy.
We formed a pretty good team.
- BILL S.: They had worked on other important cases
in the past, and they were considered so good
they were called, unofficially, The A-Team.
- NARRATOR: When Kate's family reaches out to the team,
Andy Savage is quick to offer his assistance.
- JAMES: Andy made contact with me and said,
"Let's put our heads together and figure out how
"we can help this family resolve the issue
of their child being missing."
- NARRATOR: Private investigators Bill Capps
and James Randolph begin building their own case
outside the police investigation.
They quickly come to the same conclusion as Kate's family.
- JAMES: Kate would not have left town
and leave all of her medications,
cut off communication with her cell phones,
not use her credit card,
not contact her parents.
That in itself was very troubling.
- NARRATOR: When private investigators
obtain Kate's cell phone records, however,
they're able to track her movements out of Charleston
on the night of June 12th.
- BILL C.: She had been downtown all evening,
because all the activity using her phone had been
using towers downtown.
She went out to dinner, down in the market area.
About the time that they left the restaurant,
shortly thereafter her signal changed.
- JAMES: She used her cell phone
sometime after 11 pm, and the records from the towers
of the cell phone showed her phone transmitting
from the James Island area.
- NARRATOR: The investigative team begins
canvassing the island, hoping that someone
may have seen Kate Waring.
Within days, they get a promising tip
from a local landlord.
- BILL C.: The owner of the property said,
"Hey this guy told the police that he's living
"at his mama's house on John's Island.
"He's not, he's renting the little house
right behind my house here on James Island."
- JAMES: One of our investigative team members
was able to come up with the information
that Ethan Mack was living on James Island.
- NARRATOR: Private investigators Bill Capps
and James Randolph begin building their own case
outside the police investigation.
- They knew that Kate's phone had last pinged on James Island.
And now they're learning that Ethan lived on James Island
with his fiancé, Heather Kamp.
So, why would Ethan hide this information
in the wake of Kate's disappearance?
- NARRATOR: While investigators begin
surveilling Ethan and Heather, they dig deeper
into the couple's life.
They learn Kate Waring had introduced them
after Kate befriended Heather in May 2009.
- JOANN: Heather Kamp had claimed that she had
some sort of medical degree, that she was a doctor,
and she could take care of sick people.
Kate Waring offered to get her a job here.
She offered her her home, she offered her friendship.
- BILL C.: Ethan was the best friend that Kate had
in the world um and now she meets this new person
uh Heather.
And so Kate's thinking, "Well listen you know
"I've got my two best friends,
"let me introduce them to each other, because,
"maybe they'll hit it off, maybe they'll be good for each other,
you know, Ethan needs somebody, Heather needs somebody."
Ethan and Heather hit it off immediately
once Kate introduced the two of them.
They were inseparable. It was love at first sight.
- NARRATOR: But the private investigators
quickly discover that Heather isn't the person
she had claimed to be.
- BILL S.: Police began digging into Heather Kamp's life.
They found out she had a pretty lengthy rap sheet,
including being charged with three counts
of armed robbery in 2000.
- DAVID: By 2006, she was arrested
for forging her grandmother's name on a check.
Forgery was a... a running theme with pretty much everybody
that she came into contact with.
- Heather was essentially a con artist.
- NARRATOR: The private investigators know that
Ethan had told police that he lived on Johns Island,
more than 10 miles away.
- Heather would portray herself as either a doctor or a nurse.
That was a ruse she had used several times.
- Heather could convince most people
of pretty much anything she wanted to.
- NARRATOR: Investigators decide to focus
on Kate Waring's financial records.
That's when Kate's father tells them about
a suspicious transaction that had occurred
three days after Kate went missing.
- On June 15, someone tried to cash a check
for $4,500, signed by Kate Waring,
and dated June 12.
They only failed because Kate had less than $200
in her bank account.
- JAMES: You have some very smart and observant tellers
who know the Waring family.
Know that the transaction that was--ah being made--
ah was out of character for Kate's checkbook.
So, you have the teller who observed that
that particular check was not written by Kate Waring.
- BILL C.: Once we became aware of this,
I contacted an acquaintance of mine, uh,
who was in charge of security
for the South Carolina Federal Credit Union,
and I said, "Listen, can you check your James Island branch
"off Foley Road, and see if you have any video
of anybody trying to cash this forged check?"
And I gave him the time and date, and he--
he sat in his office looking at his system and he says,
"Hey, I can send you a couple of screenshots right now."
And there was Ethan Mack on camera,
standing there, trying to cash that $4,500 forged check.
- When you see someone on a camera
cashing a check, a forged check,
of a woman who just went missing,
he looks very obviously fully guilty.
- NARRATOR: Coming up:
as investigators zero in on their suspects,
an unexpected affair comes into focus.
- She is straightening up her clothes
there's only the two of them in there.
- She goes from town to town destroying things.
She creates this fantasy world.
- HOWARD: He got caught up, he got manipulated,
and it destroyed his life.
- *
- NARRATOR: Two months after Kate Waring went missing
from her Charleston home, a team of private investigators
have found evidence that Kate's best friend,
Ethan Mack, and his fiance, Heather Kamp,
had attempted to cash a forged check
three days after her disappearance.
- JAMES: In order for the handwriting expert
to determine that the check was not written
by Kate Waring, we needed exemplar writings
from Ethan Mack, Heather Kamp to figure out whether or not
they were actually the ones that had signed the check
that Mack was trying to cash.
- NARRATOR: In order to keep their suspects in the dark,
the private investigators decide to contact
Ethan and Heather's landlord to see if he can obtain
a handwriting sample...
They learn that the couple is several months behind
on their rent.
- Their rent was in serious arrears,
so their landlord was in the process of evicting them.
We would lose sight of them if they were evicted.
We wouldn't have a way of knowing where they was
and then they could scatter.
- We concocted a plan for the, uh, landlord to have them
handwrite out a document, using both their handwritings
and agreeing, you know, to give them some more time
to pay on the rent.
- The plan worked. Ethan and Heather both signed
individual promissory notes that had their signatures
on them and gave those to their landlord.
- BILL C.: And he turned that over to us,
which we asked him to do.
So, we had all the exemplars we needed for, uh,
for the handwriting expert.
- NARRATOR: When the note is forensically examined,
the expert confirms a match.
- He looked at it and immediately said,
"Yeah, no question."
- JAMES: That handwriting was done by Heather Kamp.
- NARRATOR: As investigators continue to surveil
Ethan and Heather, they catch a surprise break.
- There were two houses in total
behind the landlord's house on James Island
where they were living.
A gentleman by the name of "Terry Williams"
was living there.
He was an a, I guess an old friend,
an acquaintance perhaps of, uh, of Ethan's.
- While Ethan is at work one day, they spot
Heather sneaking over into their neighbor's apartment.
So, investigators decide to focus their attention on Terry.
- BILL C.: The next day, we knocked on Terry's door
uh Terry came to the door.
- JAMES: We started talkin' to, Terry and said,
"Hey, listen man, you live close to these folks.
"They come and go in your spot all the time,
we know you have a good idea of what happened."
While we're talkin' to Terry Williams,
the door to the bedroom open up,
and come flying out is Heather Kamp,
yelling and screaming.
- BILL C.: She's straightening up her clothes,
there's only the two of them in there.
Apparently, Heather was also romantically involved
with Terry Williams.
- NARRATOR: That's when Heather makes a telling admission.
- JAMES: She makes a call to Ethan Mack, said,
"Hey, Andy Savage's investigators are here
tryin' to get Terry to roll on us."
When she said, "roll on us," in our mind
that was a confession of guilt.
We knew for Terry to roll on you,
you had to have done something for Terry to roll.
- NARRATOR: Sensing the private investigators
are closing in, Heather Kamp makes an unexpected move.
- She actually called the Charleston Police Department
soon after, and told the detective in charge of the case
she wanted to talk to him.
- NARRATOR: On August 17th,
10 weeks after Kate Waring vanished,
Heather Kamp meets with Charleston police.
She begins her statement by admitting that she and Ethan
had been stealing from Kate for several weeks.
- BILL C.: Kate was aware that her and Ethan
had been stealing checks out of her checkbook.
- She and Ethan knew that Kate had found out
about all the forged checks they were attempting to cash
from her account.
And that Heather had taken out a credit card in Kate's name.
Kate told them she would not press charges,
but that they must return the money.
- Mack felt pressured because Kate was putting her parents
on notice that there's some moneys here being taken
without my permission. That infuriated Mack.
- NARRATOR: According to Heather,
on the night of June 12th, Ethan had invited Kate
to dinner so he could confront her.
- DAVID A.: Once they completed their meal
and left the downtown area, they returned uh, to the home
that uh, Ethan was sharing with Heather.
Uh, this, again, was something
that would be pretty normal, uh, to occur.
- DAVID H.: She claimed that once in Ethan's apartment,
they were drinking.
There was an argument and Ethan attacked Kate
and hit her in the head with a wine bottle.
He then filled up the bathtub, took Kate to the bathtub,
and drowned her.
- BILL C.: Heather said that she didn't try and stop it
because she was afraid that the same thing
would happen to her if she did not cooperate
with Ethan while he was killing Kate.
- NARRATOR: Police press Heather about the location
of Kate's body, but she claims she doesn't know
where Ethan left the body.
Still, police place Heather under arrest for forgery
and obstruction of justice,
and take Ethan Mack into custody.
- BILL S.: He wouldn't talk without an attorney.
He only admitted to forging a check,
but he claimed he never knew what happened to Kate Waring.
- NARRATOR: Without a body, prosecutors are unable
to charge Heather and Ethan with murder.
Looking for a break, the private investigation team
pay Heather a jailhouse visit and get a surprise opportunity
that convinces Heather to talk.
- It was an open bay area, they happened to bring Ethan
out at the same time to be interviewed by law enforcement.
- JAMES: We immediately tell Heather Kamp,
"Hey those investigators from the police department,
"and Mack's rollin' on you.
He's telling the cops all about you over there."
- BILL C.: "Ethan's giving you up,"
I think was our term. Telling them that you did it all
and it was all on you.
She could see Ethan over there, and she's trying
to get his attention, so I'm standing in between
the two of them, so he can't see her.
- JAMES: We've planted a seed that,
"Hey, Mack's rollin' on you now.
"He's got the cops in there and he's tellin'
everything he know." So, at that point in time,
Heather said, "Hey, I know where Kate body is,
I was there when Ethan dumped her body."
- DAVID A.: Heather Kamp stated that
Ethan and Heather together took Kate's body,
and went out to an island neighboring James Island
called Wadmalaw Island.
- BILL C.: We went back again to interview her,
and this time I had used Google earth.
I blew the map up of that area.
In much better detail, she was able to indicate
to us where we could find Kate.
We went out the next morning, uh after notifying
one of the detectives at the police department.
- JAMES: Wadmalaw's a pretty remote island,
lot of property, with, uh, not as many homes on it.
Heather Kamp had vividly recalled when Kate's body
was placed, it was close to the water.
As they were scouring the area,
the team saw some skeletal remains.
Immediately, we put
the Charleston County Police Department on notice.
We immediately backed out of the area.
This is an actual crime scene that doesn't belong
to us any longer.
We were positive that those remains was that of Kate Waring.
- NARRATOR: On October 10th, 2009,
nearly four months after Kate Waring went missing
in Charleston, South Carolina,
authorities believe they have just found her remains
on neighboring Wadmalaw Island.
- Charleston police took control of the crime scene.
Other than the skeletal remains, there wasn't much evidence
to be found, and the state of decay was so extreme
the coroner couldn't determine the cause of death.
- NARRATOR: Once the coroner officially confirms
the remains belong to Kate Waring,
both Ethan Mack and Heather Kamp
are charged with her murder...
prompting Heather to cut a deal.
- BILL C.: She had accepted a reduced sentence,
as long as she fully and honestly cooperated.
- DAVID H.: Heather changed her story so many times.
She had different scenarios on why, ah,
somebody was after Kate.
She claimed that she had family in Puerto Rico
that was gonna get Kate.
She claimed that there was some drug dealer
that was after Kate for something.
She had no barometer for truth.
There was no such thing as true or false to her.
It was just whatever she is going to say
to take her to the next step.
- NARRATOR: On October 5th, 2010,
nearly a year and a half after Kate's murder,
Ethan Mack goes on trial.
Ethan's defense team doesn't deny Ethan was present
when Kate died.
Instead, they claim Heather was the killer.
- JAMES: The perspective that Ethan Mack,
laid out at trial was one that--
he was a facilitator, but he didn't actually do
what Heather Kamp alleged that he did.
Uh, he played a role in getting Kate there to the house,
but then said it was Heather Kamp that had
did the bludgeoning with the bottle,
and that he went in another room and covered his ears.
- Let's look at motive. Who's got motive in this case?
Heather's a person that creates her own worlds.
She creates places where she's important.
She goes from town to town.
She's like a cancer, to be honest.
She goes from town to town, destroying things.
But what she does originally, she creates this fantasy world.
- NARRATOR: Ethan's attorney claims that like Kate,
Ethan was victimized by Heather Kamp.
- JAMES: Ethan Mack never had a girlfriend.
He never had a one-on-one relationship with someone
that he loved or loved him.
Heather Kamp had him smitten.
- He fell for Heather Kamp hook, line, and sinker.
- DAVID H.: Heather convinced Ethan that
she was carrying his baby.
And so, he believed that, you know, his child was coming.
She told him that she eventually lost the baby in jail,
but there was never any medical evidence
that she was pregnant with his child.
- ASHLEI: It's mind blowing that Ethan,
who was described by friends as very reliable,
dependable, a good mannered guy,
would betray his best friend, Kate,
and it really goes to show just how powerful
Heather's manipulation over Ethan was.
- NARRATOR: When Heather Kamp takes the stand
for the prosecution, Ethan's defense team
uses her testimony to their benefit.
- David Aylor crossed Heather Kamp on the stand
for a day and a half in court,
and it was basically a clown show.
- I caught her lying on the stand, um
more times than I can count.
A lot of witnesses are flawed
but she was probably one of the worst I've ever seen.
- Again, Ms. Kamp, I'm gonna ask you about some statements,
and I would like you to tell me if,
whether or not you made those statements.
- I don't recall saying any, but I mean,
it's possible I said any, but I don't recall.
- LAWYER: Could it be that you told so many lies
you couldn't remember what they all were?
- No.
- LAWYER: Well then why couldn't you recall what you'd said?
- Because it's been a while to...
- LAWYER: It'd been a while? Since October to January
was a while?
- Yeah, for me it is.
- The only part that had any credibility whatsoever
was that she knew the location of Kate's body.
- NARRATOR: In their closing statements,
the defense's message to the jury is clear.
- Heather must have been involved,
but you cannot trust what she's saying about Ethan.
- NARRATOR: After three days of testimony,
the case goes to the jury.
After nearly 14 hours of deliberation,
the jury announces their verdict.
- MALE FOREMAN: We the jury, by unanimous consent,
find the defendant guilty of obstruction of justice.
We the jury, by unanimous consent,
find the defendant guilty of forgery.
- BILL S.: Ethan was found guilty
of forgery and obstruction of justice,
but the jury deadlocked on the murder charge.
- DAVID A.: The trial was hung, so essentially,
it's considered a mistrial,
because the jury has to be unanimous.
- The two jurors who voted not guilty told us
that they voted that way because they saw Heather Kamp,
they saw how deceptive she was.
- NARRATOR: Prosecutors announce plans to try Ethan again,
but they never get the chance.
- BILL C: His mother went to talk to him,
and she told him, basically as I understand it,
"I didn't raise you like this.
You need to do the right thing."
And he did.
- NARRATOR: On April 1st, 2011, nearly two years
after the death of his best friend Kate Waring,
Ethan Mack accepts a plea bargain.
- DAVID: He plead under an Alford plea,
which essentially means that he's not admitting guilt,
but he is saying that he believes
he would be found guilty.
Ethan did express remorse and apologize
directly to the family of the victim
at the time of his plea.
He was sentenced to 25 years.
- NARRATOR: Heather Kamp, however, is denied any bargain.
She is sentenced to 39 years in prison.
- She had made a deal for leniency
for her cooperation, and then she continued
to lie to them about pretty much everything.
So she lost her plea deal.
In my opinion, had Kate not met Heather Kamp,
she might still be with us today.
Six weeks from the time they met,
Kate was deceased.
Six weeks. And she'd known Ethan for years.
- SHAWNTEZ: Ethan was Kate's friend.
Ethan was supposed to be the one to protect her,
not, not hurt her.
It is greed.
Greed makes, uh, people change, and it made Ethan change.
He killed his friend for it.
- JOANNE: If I could talk to Ethan and say one thing,
why?
Why would you murder your best friend for love?
- HOWARD: Kate really cared for him,
and he got caught up and he got manipulated,
and it destroyed his life, Kate's life,
Kate's family's life, and his family's life.
- *