[line ringing]
[dispatcher speaking]
[Brandon] The caller hadn't heard from her daughter in some time.
When we discovered the handprints in blood,
my stomach dropped.
I don't think I screamed loud enough.
[Joel] The video surveillance played
an integral part in the investigation.
The trooper saw a shovel and pickax in the car.
The suspect had extensive burns on his face
and all over his hands.
I was very shocked.
[Arlie] I want him
to pay for what he did.
[officer speaking]
[man speaking]
[theme music playing]
Come here. I wanna show you something.
[narrator] Budding fashion designer, Cristina Prodan,
lives with her boyfriend, Joseph Porter.
[Arlie] Joseph and Cristina met online, 2017.
Whilst Joseph lived with me in Arkansas,
I think he had only been talking to her one or two days,
when he brought me a little laptop
and said, "Mom, what do you think?"
I went, "She's gorgeous!"
[chuckles]
"She's out of your league." [laughs]
Joseph ended up leaving Arkansas,
and he moved himself
up to Edina.
What do you think?
It's gorgeous, babe.
[Arlie] Cristina had a desire to go to fashion school.
She wanted her own label, and she was on her way.
I'm glad you like it.
It's my favorite.
She was bubbly,
and sweet.
Her eyes would shine when she was happy.
And I loved that about her.
Do you wanna go to dinner tonight?
Definitely.
[Arlie] And they'd go out to dinner,
and she'd be excited to call me afterwards
and say, "This is why I love him.
He's so kind.
He's so thoughtful.
He's so caring."
[line ringing]
[dispatcher speaking]
[Brandon] January 5th, 2018...
Edina Police Department received a 911 call.
The caller was a Livia Prodan,
the mother of Cristina Prodan.
She hasn't heard or spoken with her in a few days,
which is uncommon for their relationship.
And she had not spoken with her since January 2nd.
An Edina police officer responded
to Cristina Prodan's condominium,
and met with Livia Prodan.
The officer does not find Cristina, and does not find
her boyfriend, Joseph.
[Brandon] There is a suitcase in the living room,
a refrigerator full of food.
Nothing really seemed out of order,
with the exception of the master bedroom.
There is clothes on the floor in neat Ziploc bags.
And so, it appeared as though maybe they were in the midst
of packing to go somewhere,
and just hadn't finished that process yet.
[Joel] The officer attempted to make contact
with Joseph Porter to locate his whereabouts,
by calling, like, a phone number
he located in police records.
But it went straight to voicemail.
[Brandon] There was no clear indication,
one way or another, what may have happened.
That's why the officer listed Cristina as missing,
so we could try to get some of those answers.
[Arlie] Her texts stopped coming in.
I couldn't sense anything about her,
except for...
she's gone.
[narrator] Police also list Cristina's boyfriend, Joseph Porter,
as a missing person.
[ringing]
Detective Moore.
[Joel] So, I was contacted by the duty sergeant,
and was asked to start working the case to see
if we can locate Cristina and Joseph Porter.
When was Cristina's cell last used?
[Joel] According to the cell carrier,
the last time that Cristina's phone
was active, was on January 4th,
at approximately 4:13 in the morning.
The day before Livia Prodan reported her missing,
that ping was in the area of Cristina's condo.
Since that time, there was no other activity on that device.
What about Joseph's cell?
[Joel] The information we received
regarding Joseph's cell phone,
was that it was disconnected,
on or about January 3rd, 2018.
[Brandon] When it was learned that both cell phones had been off for that long,
it definitely raised some red flags,
and we grew concerned for the safety of Cristina.
Thank you.
[narrator] Investigators interview Cristina's mom, Livia,
at the police department,
to learn more about the missing couple.
[Joel speaking]
[Livia speaking]
Livia Prodan disclosed that Cristina met Joseph online
in the summer or early fall of 2017.
And shortly thereafter,
Joseph traveled
from Arkansas up to Minnesota
to live with Cristina.
[Livia speaking]
Livia tells law enforcement that Cristina had told her
that she and Joseph were talking about plans to move to Arkansas.
But she didn't know where they would move to in Arkansas.
So, there was a possibility Cristina and Joseph were now in Arkansas.
So, we wanted to speak with Livia Prodan
to develop as much information about Cristina as possible,
any friends she may have, to look at anybody else
that may be a potential suspect
in Cristina's disappearance.
[Brandon] In our conversation with Livia,
she indicated that Cristina had been potentially seeing another person.
[Joel speaking]
[Joel] Cristina had communicated with Jacob
on another cell phone,
so that Joseph didn't find out.
That was a red flag for us.
[Joel] We had to determine whether or not Jacob
was involved with the disappearance of Cristina.
[narrator] Investigators send the phone
to digital forensic specialists for analysis.
Detectives secure a warrant to search Cristina's condo.
[door creaking]
[Joel] You're looking for items of evidence,
or stuff that may provide leads.
Were there any details about a trip?
Any other details, uh, any other locations we may need to look for.
What is it?
[Joel] A Walmart receipt was located,
that was dated January 2nd, 2018,
and time stamped 4:16 hours.
This was the same day that Cristina last spoke to her mom.
We may be able to recover video surveillance
that may show people Cristina was associating with.
So, we contacted Walmart
to get that video surveillance as soon as possible.
I'll call them.
[narrator] Investigators review the surveillance footage
at the police department.
There's quite a bit of anticipation built up
to try and see where this investigation might go from there.
The time stamp on the receipt is 4:16 p.m.
Could you start us half an hour before then?
Stop.
Rewind.
[keyboard clacks]
Punch in.
That's her.
[Joel] Cristina can be seen wearing a dark winter jacket,
uh, a scarf and a dark hat.
Uh, it appears she's got some dark-rimmed glasses on.
Play that again.
Who's that?
Cristina appears to be with another person.
Cristina's with a male.
He's wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt
with some type of logo on the chest,
a dark hat, tan pants, and some boots.
Pause it.
-Zoom in. -[keyboard clacking]
[Brandon] So, based on the physical characteristics
of the other person that she was with,
we determined that the other person was Joseph Porter.
Have you got a camera over the kiosk?
[keys clacks twice]
Go a few minutes
-before the time of the receipt. -[keyboard clacks]
[Brandon] What we see is,
a couple doing their normal grocery shopping.
Looking at some of the perishable food items that they had selected,
it didn't appear as though they had any plans to go anywhere.
Show me the exterior camera.
[keyboard clacks]
Punch in.
That's them.
[narrator] The surveillance footage offers no explanation
why Cristina and Joseph disappeared.
-Nothing suspicious. -No.
Thank you.
[narrator] Investigators return to Cristina's condo
to search for more clues.
During the search warrant,
uh, one of the suitcases that was left behind was locked.
We located a key for that.
When we unlocked it, we found approximately $1,100 in cash inside.
And we also found her identification card,
her TCF debit card,
and her state benefit card.
[Brandon] All of this was a red flag for us,
as normally, when people travel,
those are all things that they're going to need.
Cash, their ID, et cetera.
[Joel] If you look at the totality
of what we found in the condo,
it wasn't indicative of somebody
that had left the condo willingly.
We have to look for any signs
for something that might have happened to Cristina
inside that condominium.
[narrator] Investigators spray the condo with luminol.
[Joel] What we're looking for, is any signs of blood or other bodily material
that can't be seen with the naked eye.
We found a handprint on the carpet in the bedroom.
[Brandon] When we discovered the handprints in blood,
my stomach dropped.
That was the first major indication
of foul play.
It is a "a-ha" moment
that we believe something happened in that apartment.
But we don't know who left that, and when it was left.
[Brandon] So, the crime scene technicians took a sample swab
from that blood.
[narrator] While the forensics team analyzes the blood...
investigators trace Cristina's friend, Jacob Patton,
and invite him to the police department for an interview.
[Joel] Since Jacob had a relationship with Cristina,
we felt that it was very important for him to be interviewed,
and rule him out as a possible suspect in her disappearance.
[Joel speaking]
[Jacob speaking]
[Joel] Jacob disclosed that he and Cristina met on a dating app.
He was aware of the sexual relationship
between Cristina and Joseph.
It was important to directly ask him
whether or not he was involved
in the disappearance of Cristina,
and see what type of reaction we would get.
[Joel] He willingly provided consent
for law enforcement to search his phone.
A review of Jacob Patton's cell phone didn't reveal any evidence
that would lead us to believe he had any involvement
in Cristina Prodan's disappearance.
Jacob seemed very truthful.
He seemed honest. Uh...
He wanted to provide information.
We didn't believe he was involved.
[narrator] Investigators rule out Jacob as a suspect,
and refocus on Cristina's boyfriend, Joseph.
[Joel] Early on in the investigation,
Joseph Porter was entered as a missing person.
into NCIC,
which is a National Crime Information Center,
so that if other law enforcement agencies
have had contact with him,
uh, we could be immediately notified.
[phone ringing]
Detective Moore.
We learned that he was involved in a traffic stop
in Greene County, Missouri, on January 4th,
at about 8:30
in the evening.
[narrator] Joseph is 600 miles away from Edina, Minnesota,
when Missouri Highway Patrol pulls him over.
The stop happens 16 hours
after Cristina's last communication with her mother.
[Joel] It's very important
to obtain any video of that traffic stop.
Can you send it over to us?
Okay, thank you.
Could you show us the dashcam?
[Brandon] We watched the trooper make an approach around the vehicle.
Show that again.
Freeze.
-Zoom in. -[keyboard clacking]
[Brandon] During a small portion of that time,
his flashlight illuminated the backseat.
And we could see two pieces of luggage in the back.
-Interesting. -Hmm.
Play on.
The trooper speaks to Joseph Porter
through the passenger window.
[trooper speaking]
[Joseph speaking]
[Joel] The trooper saw a shovel and pickax in the car.
That's when I figured out this was gonna turn bad.
-[Joseph] Yeah. -[trooper speaking]
[Joel] Joseph was asked to exit the vehicle,
and walks to the rear of his Honda Accord.
[Brandon] It was immediately apparent
Joseph Porter was the only occupant of the vehicle.
[Joel] What happened to Cristina?
After determining that Joseph was the only occupant of the vehicle,
we had a lot more questions than answers.
The trooper was able to get a good look at the trunk.
He didn't see anything suspicious.
The trooper invited Joseph back to his squad car
to conduct an interview
for his traffic stop.
[trooper speaking]
He seems very relaxed.
[Brandon] The interaction was very conversational.
There were no red flags to indicate that anything bad had just happened.
[trooper speaking]
[Brandon] He never once mentioned Cristina's name.
It seemed as though he didn't want to speak her name,
because he had maybe a guilty conscience.
[Arlie] So, they tell me
that he was stopped in Missouri.
I said, "Okay, great."
But Cristina wasn't there.
I had Joseph Porter removed from NCIC as a missing person.
And we began to focus on Joseph Porter
as a person of interest
in the disappearance of Cristina Prodan.
Thank you.
Part of the investigation is Cristina's cell phone.
We had a continuous ping set up,
whereby should that device turn on,
we would be notified.
[device beeps]
We've got a ping.
[Joel] On January 9th,
we received information that her device turned back on.
That was a pivotal moment in this investigation.
I was very shocked.
I didn't think that that phone would ever get turned back on.
Of course, we were hoping that Cristina was still alive.
Have we got a location?
[Joel] It led to the area of a Walmart
in Cabot, Arkansas.
We had no additional leads on her whereabouts.
And the fact that it was pinging in the area
of a Walmart where we could get video surveillance,
that was crucial to this investigation.
[narrator] Investigators in Edina secure
the store surveillance footage from the Walmart
800 miles away.
Cue up half an hour before the ping.
[tense music playing]
Is that glitch on the original footage?
Okay, we can still ID from it.
Play on.
We're very hopeful that we can see Cristina.
Hold it.
Go back.
Who's that?
[Joel] The individual is wearing a dark top,
a hat and sunglasses, which seems unusual
since he's inside of a business.
Punch in.
That's Joseph.
Any sign of Cristina?
Unfortunately, she doesn't show up anywhere.
Okay, where is Joseph going?
Is there another camera?
[Joel] Joseph Porter can be seen walking up
to the returns desk and returning an item.
Where does he go next?
Check the other cameras.
[suspenseful music playing]
[music intensifies]
That's him.
Play that again.
Who's that with him?
Joseph was observed exiting Walmart
with another male.
So now we don't know if this is a co-conspirator,
somebody that is aiding
the offender after the fact,
or a second suspect altogether.
Follow them outside.
That's not Joseph's car.
Joseph, and the second male can be seen
in a silver sedan.
This is not the black Honda Accord
that Joseph drove down to Arkansas in.
Any other cameras?
Freeze it.
It's a Pontiac.
No plate.
[Joel] Unfortunately, due to the distance
from the exterior surveillance camera to the vehicle,
law enforcement was unable to get a license plate.
What's the other male doing in the store?
Show the entrance camera before Joseph entered.
Stop.
That's him.
Can you follow him inside?
Where's he going?
Have we got any cameras pointing that way?
What's he up to?
We need to find what's down that corridor.
[narrator] Detectives reach out to police in Cabot, Arkansas
to go visit the store.
The local jurisdiction followed up there
and determined
that inside was an ecoATM.
[narrator] And ecoATM is an automated pawn shop for electronic devices.
The customer deposits their item into the kiosk
and receives money in return.
Part of the process for pawning the cell phone
at one of these stations
is to turn it on to ensure that it's working properly.
And that's when we received the ping.
[Joel] Law enforcement discovered that the man with
Joseph Porter, sold three cell phones.
They followed up with ecoATM,
and obtained those devices.
[Brandon] They called Cristina's cell phone,
[cell phone ringing]
and one of those three phones
that was pawned began to ring.
[narrator] Investigators in Edina
focus on identifying the man seen with Joseph
in the Walmart surveillance footage.
[Joel] There's an urgency to find him
and interview him to...
see what he knows about
the whereabouts of Cristina.
[Brandon] We comb through Joseph's social media accounts.
Come see this.
[Brandon] There are lots of photos on Joseph's social media
that appear to match the suspect
that we saw with him in Walmart.
That's a match.
[Joel] We were able to identify
the male with Joseph Porter
as Richard Crawford.
Look at this.
[Joel] Joseph Porter is married to Richard Crawford.
It was a shock.
But it was important to try to locate him,
and hopefully find Joseph Porter.
[Brandon] The last known address of Richard Crawford
is a trailer park in Jacksonville, Arkansas.
[Joel] When the FBI executed the search warrant at the trailer,
the silver Pontiac G6
was sitting out in front,
partially covered with a tarp.
[narrator] The vehicle matches the car in the Walmart security footage.
[Joel] We learn that that Pontiac was stolen.
Now you have local charges to also arrest him on.
Law enforcement knocked on the door
and made contact with Richard Crawford...
and discovered Joseph Porter
was also in the same trailer.
[Brandon] Both were taken into custody.
Porter had extensive burns on his face.
His head was shaved.
And also had burns all over his hands.
[Joel] How did this happen?
Why did this happen?
[Joel] Law enforcement didn't find Cristina Prodan
inside that trailer.
But they found a jewelry box
with miscellaneous jewelry,
pickax,
and multiple gas cans.
During the search of the silver Pontiac G6,
law enforcement discovered keys.
Those keys were subsequently determined
to belong to Cristina Prodan.
[narrator] FBI agents in Arkansas interview Joseph Porter
at the police department.
[FBI agent speaking]
[Joseph speaking]
[Joel] Joseph Porter maintained
burns on his face and his hands
was the result of
rolling into the campfire he was sleeping next to.
[FBI agent speaking]
It was clear from that interview that Joseph Porter
did not care about Cristina Prodan.
[narrator] Agents question Richard Crawford
in a neighboring interview room.
[Brandon] We haven't ruled out the possibility
at that point that Cristina was alive,
however, there were lots of indicators
that would suggest that she was not.
So, agents turn up the pressure on Crawford.
[FBI agent 1 speaking]
[Crawford speaking]
[FBI agent 1 speaking]
This was enough to get Richard Crawford
to change his story and tell the truth about what
Joseph Porter had told him.
[FBI agent 2 speaking]
-[FBI agent 2 speaking] -Yeah. That's it.
[FBI agent 1 speaking]
Agents were able to convince him
to come clean on the information that he had,
indicating that Porter had confessed to him
that he killed Cristina and burned her body in Louisiana.
That information from Crawford was critical
to the investigation.
[narrator] Agents confront Porter with Crawford's statement.
[FBI agent speaking]
[Joel] He still maintained that he had nothing to do
with Cristina's disappearance...
but we believed she was dead
and started a homicide investigation.
It's very important in a homicide to find the body.
If you don't have a body, it's very difficult to prove a murder.
[phone ringing]
Detective Moore.
The FBI informed me that there was a fire in New Orleans,
that seemed to match
the description provided by Richard Crawford.
[Joel] The New Orleans Police Department
responded to a suspicious fire on January 6th,
at approximately 9:30 p.m. in a shipping container.
[Brandon] Not far from the shipping container
Joseph's black Honda Accord
was later located,
stripped of its license plates.
A short distance from the burn site
was the business where the Pontiac G6 was stolen from.
Everything seemed to be connected.
[Joel] During a search on Joseph Porter's 1995 Honda,
two receipts were located.
One for Home Depot
and a second for AutoZone.
Law enforcement obtained video surveillance
from a Home Depot in Belton, Missouri.
Joseph Porter is observed on video
buying a pickax and a shovel.
[ominous music playing]
The other video was from AutoZone in Baton Rouge,
where Joseph Porter was observed getting gas
and putting it in a red gas can.
At that time, he was in the Silver Pontiac Grand Prix.
In the back of the shipping container,
the New Orleans Police Department discovered a burned-up body.
[female officer speaking]
I requested a DNA sample from the body
that was recovered from the shipping container.
[Brandon] And we retrieved dental records
from Cristina's dental office, locally.
Both confirmed that the body was indeed Cristina Prodan.
DNA from the handprints and blood that was recovered
from Cristina's master bedroom in her apartment.
was also confirmed to belong to Cristina.
Detective Moore and I went to the apartment of Livia
to tell her in person...
what we believe happened to her daughter.
Throughout a career in law enforcement,
you tend to give many death notifications,
each of them tragic.
This one stood out to me
as one of the hardest that I've had to do.
[cell phone ringing]
[narrator] Investigators call Joseph's mom, Arlie...
[Arlie] Hello?
...to tell her that her son
is suspected of murdering Cristina.
I don't think I screamed loud enough.
I don't think I cried hard enough.
[sobbing]
I want my son...
to pay for what he did.
[narrator] Eleven weeks after his arrest,
officers interrogate Joseph Porter again
about Cristina's death.
[Joel] I think he came to the realization that he wasn't going
to be able to just talk his way out of this.
He claimed that he returned to the condo
and an argument between he and Cristina started.
[crying]
[Joel] Porter admitted to killing Cristina.
He claimed that he tried to do CPR
and realized that she was dead.
[Brandon] But it didn't explain
the handprints in blood on the carpet.
Instead of trying to call 911
to get her any assistance,
Joseph decides to put her in a suitcase
and ends up in Louisiana.
[Brandon] Porter described looking at Cristina's face,
after she had been killed, as looking peaceful.
This is absolutely disgusting to me.
[Joel] Following the interview of Joseph Porter in Arkansas,
the Hennepin County attorney's office in Minnesota
charged Joseph Porter with second-degree murder.
[narrator] Richard Crawford had no knowledge of the murder
until Joseph told him.
He was uninvolved in the theft of the Pontiac,
and he did not knowingly sell stolen phones.
Crawford is charged with no crimes.
On January 15th, 2019, Joseph Porter pled guilty
to second-degree unintentional homicide
and was sentenced to 20 years.
It feels good knowing that Joseph Porter
can't hurt anyone else.
[Arlie] I mean, that's not my son.
No.
I am...
I'm done.
Though I have absolutely no words for him.
My opinion of this case is that
he had come back to the condo
in the early morning hours of January 4th,
and at some point,
an argument ensued.
Cristina likely told him that, "I'm gonna call the police."
He was already on probation.
He wanted Cristina to not call the police.
[Brandon] Things escalated, to the point that he killed her.
After Joseph killed Cristina,
he places her body in the suitcase
and flees the state.
In the video footage from Missouri,
the state trooper had illuminated the interior of the vehicle,
and you can see both pieces of luggage
sitting upright in the backseat.
We believe that's where Cristina's body was.
Joseph Porter drove to New Orleans, Louisiana.
He tried to bury her,
but the ground was so hard,
and he was so tired that he was unable to bury her.
So, he put her in the shipping container
and lit her on fire.
[Brandon] He then stole the vehicle from a nearby business,
and retreated to Arkansas,
to the trailer park where his husband lives.
[Joel] The video surveillance played
an integral part in the investigation.
[Brandon] It shows Joseph leaving the state
and being pulled over in Missouri
without Cristina.
It shows him later with Crawford,
when he was disposing of some evidence
by getting rid of her cell phone.
[Joel] It proved that he was in Louisiana
where she was found.
It also proved that he purchased the pickax
and shovel that were found.
[Arlie] Cristina died...
and my son killed her.
When they sentenced him to the 20 years,
I really threw a fit.
I finally got a hold of the prosecutor.
He goes, "What were you expecting?"
I said, "Life without parole."
Twenty years is not enough.
When I need a fix from Cristina,
I just look over the photos that she sent me.
And it's not very often you meet somebody
that can be this elegant.
She touched my life
and changed my life,
This was an outstanding young lady.