♪♪
[Monica] Margarita was just a warm heart.
Everybody knew that she was in love with Rogelio.
[Liz] They just looked really happy together.
[Monica] Relationship seemed rushed.
She was so young.
[Monica] So it felt like he was controlling
who she could spend time with.
[Ale] There was a obsessiveness, in a way, towards her.
[Monica] The history of violence.
[phone ringing]
[police sirens]
I always thought that was
the kind of stuff of stuff you just see on the news.
[Margarita, elder] What this person did to her...
...that's the least that she deserved.
[ominous theme music plays]
[gentle music plays]
[narrator] Margarita and Rogelio Morales are having
a baby shower as they await the birth of their first child.
The day of the baby shower, we decorated,
we got the cake, it was a last-minute thing.
We were playing a guessing game.
We were just excited to be there celebrating such
a great moment for Margarita and Rogelio
and this new baby that was coming.
[shrieking and laughter]
[Ale] She was pretty much smiling
from ear to ear the entire time.
Everything was going the way she always wanted,
having her own family and having kids.
[Liz] Margarita looked stunning. She got all dolled up.
She -- she was definitely glowing, for sure.
[Monica] Rogelio was also a good sport.
I think it was just overall a really great, wonderful day.
[narrator] Margarita Sanchez was born in San Luis, California,
on June 11, 1993.
[Margarita, elder] I was 18 years old
when I got pregnant of Margarita.
As a baby, she's just full of love.
[narrator] Three years later, her family moved
to Sioux City, Nebraska.
[indistinct chattering]
[Monica] I am a year older than Margarita.
My mom would actually dress us up as twins--
same sweatpants, sweatshirts, same school pictures.
We had a younger sister and a little brother.
We grew up in such a loving home.
Looking in, you can say we were a picture-perfect family.
My dad bought a big camcorder,
and he would make home videos.
[babbling indistinctly]
My dad maybe saw, oh, they're silly, they're gonna
see this eventually when they grow up.
[Margarita, elder] As a teenager, she was into
music, dancing, like, happy all the time.
She was just so funny and just a warm heart.
She had beautiful, long, black hair
and a beautiful smile.
Myself and Margarita met when we were 13 or 14 years old.
We were always there, hanging out,
listening to music, dancing.
-[playful screeching] -[giggling]
Anything we did, we were always laughing,
and having the best time we could.
[narrator] Shortly after graduating high school,
18-year-old Margarita
meets 24-year-old Rogelio Morales on social media.
[Monica] Rogelio was born in Hubbard, Nebraska.
He grew up with five siblings, and they would split their time
between Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa.
He joined the Marines when he turned 19 in 2006.
When I first saw them together, they seemed so natural.
There wasn't any awkward silence between them.
They just connected so quickly.
That first impression, I was like, oh, OK, all right, cool.
He can be my sister's boyfriend.
Once she let out that she loved him, the whole world knew.
Everybody knew that she was in love with Rogelio.
[Ale] Margarita introduced me to Rogelio.
He wasn't very talkative at first, when I met him.
But I think as the night went,
he got a little more comfortable.
[Monica] He seemed very closed off with me.
It was just kind of weird, but I did just brush it off,
and was, hey, he's here for Margarita.
They just looked like a happy couple.
Anybody would say, oh, they're happy, they're in love.
[narrator] After three months of dating,
Margarita and Rogelio decide they want to get married.
It just didn't seem right.
It seemed rushed, and I asked her why.
She told me, "Well, he said that if we get married,
"he was going to get more income, more benefits
from the military.
"I mean, we're gonna get married eventually anyways,
"so, might as well just get married now
and let him reap the benefits."
[Margarita, elder] I ask her, "Why?
Why don't you just live with him, like, for a little bit?"
I thought that this guy
was influencing my daughter too much.
[narrator] Despite the family's concerns,
18-year-old Margarita and 24-year-old Rogelio
marry at the Woodbury County Courthouse
just three months after meeting.
She didn't even think of, oh no, I want my mom and dad
to be in my wedding.
[Monica] It was just my sister, Rogelio, myself,
and my boyfriend Juan.
I just thought that they were so young.
It caught me by surprise.
My husband and I, we were like, I don't know, something is up.
[Monica] You can't fully meet somebody in three months.
I didn't understand the push behind it.
[narrator] After the wedding, Rogelio splits his time
between Camp Pendleton and overseas deployments.
He asks Margarita to stay
with her sister, Monica, in Sioux City.
You know, if you get married,
like, don't you wanna spend time with your wife?
You know, he's not fully committed.
[narrator] A few months after their wedding,
the long-distance relationship begins to take its toll.
All of a sudden that they had an argument,
or there was a disagreement,
and it was small things.
It was like, oh, he didn't call her
for a whole day, or answer her text messages.
[Margarita, elder] She'll call me crying
and telling me, like, Rogelio doesn't love me
the way I love him.
[Monica] She took to social media to voice her opinion.
She didn't like to express her feelings in person because
she would cry, and she didn't want
the other person to take that as a sign of weakness, so,
that was her outlet.
She would tell me, oh, I have to ask Rogelio if I can,
if he can send me money, because all the expenses now
had to go through Rogelio.
I felt like maybe he wasn't giving her all the benefits
that he had promised that they would receive together.
[Margarita, elder] Rogelio just got married
for his own benefit, not Margarita's.
[Liz] He just seemed very pushy with certain things.
He always wanted his way.
And if it didn't happen like that, then he would be upset.
She wouldn't hold her ground like she would normally.
She didn't want to make him upset.
[Liz] There was something about him that I didn't like.
[Monica] I was very concerned.
She was in such a roller coaster of a relationship.
Rogelio's a very egotistical person.
He's a very selfish person.
He was not a nice person.
[indistinct chatter]
[narrator] It's December 2012,
and despite their marital problems,
Rogelio joins Margarita's family for Christmas.
[indistinct chatter]
After a year together, he's meeting Margarita's mom
for the first time.
[Monica] I think Margarita was excited about the fact
that Rogelio was going to meet my mom.
Finally, I met Rogelio.
[Monica] My sister's the one interacting, because obviously
it's her family, but Rogelio, just like annoyed,
being a party pooper
and not interacting with anybody.
Anybody else would kind of try to put an effort.
You're meeting your mother-in-law.
My sister expected maybe something more from him,
even if he was faking it.
Since she's so family-oriented, I feel that Rogelio's actions
on Christmas definitely hurt Margarita.
To act like that, you know, is not fair.
Giving my daughter, Margarita, a hard time,
you know, especially like, Christmas.
Later on in the evening of Christmas Eve,
Margarita and Rogelio end up telling us
that they are expecting their first child.
They seem excited, probably caught off guard
because they weren't expecting to have a child so soon.
[Margarita, elder] I was, like, really happy
for her to have a baby.
But just deep inside of me,
like, it was not the right moment.
They were so young,
and they were arguing with each other.
♪♪
[narrator] On New Year's Eve, 2012,
a year after meeting,
Margarita moves in with Rogelio
at Camp Pendleton, California,
as they prepare for the baby's arrival.
[Monica] A few weeks after Margarita moves,
she found texts and pictures of an ex-girlfriend
on Rogelio's phone.
[narrator] Margarita turns to social media once again
to express her feelings.
[Liz] When I found out about the text messages,
I mean, I was very mad
because I'm like, I knew that there was
something about him that I didn't like,
so it just kind of made me more upset.
[Monica] He's kind of just like, oh, stop overreacting.
It's nothing. Like, I'll delete it.
Don't worry. These were from the past.
Made her seem like she was the crazy one for overreacting.
After the confrontation, Rogelio basically tells
Margarita, "Well, I don't want to be with you,
and I don't care to be a part of the baby's life."
She was just very heartbroken, she just couldn't understand
somebody would say they didn't want to be
in their child's life.
How she could love somebody so much and they can't reciprocate
that feeling back to her.
I told her, "If he doesn't want to be
"with you, then he doesn't deserve you.
"You have mom, you have dad, you have me,
so you don't need him. You don't need him."
[Margarita, elder] I told her,
"It's nothing wrong if you separate.
You don't have to put up with this."
[narrator] Margarita moves to Texas to be with her mom.
Wow.
She got so happy,
so excited to hear the baby's heartbeat.
And of course, a big smile of her.
So, I was, like, so grateful
that she chose to share it with me.
In that moment, she forgot about everything.
[baby's heartbeat]
During the time that Margarita's staying with my mom
in Texas, Rogelio's like, oh, I lost my wife.
[scoffing] I need to win her back.
So he starts sending off messages about how much
he loves her, he misses her, um, I'm sorries.
So he got her to forgive him
and they started communicating again.
[narrator] Rogelio convinces Margarita
to move back to California before the baby arrives.
[Monica] He saw how vulnerable Margarita was,
and he took advantage,
definitely took advantage of the love that she had for him.
On July 2nd of 2013,
I get a phone call from Rogelio
asking if I have heard from my sister Margarita.
And I tell him, "No, what do you mean?
She hasn't called me today."
He told me he got home from work
and she's not at the apartment.
So I immediately call my sister, she doesn't answer me.
I was getting really worried because she knows nobody
in California, and she's pregnant.
She ends up calling me the next morning
and tells me, "Rogelio and I got into
"a huge fight, and he put his hands on me,
"and I didn't feel safe, so I had to leave,
and I got a hotel."
It just changed my perspective on him completely.
How is it possible that her husband, the person that
vowed to protect her, take care of her,
is putting his hands on her?
She's six months pregnant and it's his child.
I was in shock.
I was angry and I didn't feel that she was safe.
[Monica] After the incident, Rogelio apologized
and he seemed genuinely sorry in her eyes.
She would tell me, like, oh, no, you know,
it's his upbringing. Don't worry.
He's going to get counseling. He's going to go to therapy.
We're going to be fine.
She tells me that she is going to forgive him and continue to
work on her marriage.
[Margarita laughing]
[narrator] For Margarita and Rogelio, life appears to go back to
normal as they spend time together before
their baby arrives.
Watching this video definitely would never, um,
spark an idea of him doing what he did.
They just looked really happy together.
I think he's trying to prove to Margarita that...
...I'm gonna change.
I'm here for you, I'm here for our baby.
How can somebody go from being this perfect guy
I'm in love with, to hurting someone,
and then back to, oh, I love you.
So to me, it was odd.
[narrator] One month before their due date,
Monica throws a baby shower for Margarita and Rogelio.
I just wanted to hold her, hug her, see her in person
and see that she was OK.
I was nervous to see Rogelio because I haven't even talked
to him since he got physical with her.
My toe!
Rogelio seemed extra excited.
He was like, yeah, we're gonna play this game.
No, over here! Ah!
[laughter]
[Monica] Margarita was over the moon.
She was so happy that Rogelio was interacting.
In that moment, I was like, oh, I guess he's grateful that
we threw a baby shower.
[speaking Spanish]
[kissing sounds]
[narrator] Just 20 months after meeting, 19-year-old Margarita
and 26-year-old Rogelio welcome baby Christian
into their lives.
Margarita has a difficult labor and is separated from the baby
for several days while she recovers.
[Ale] Rogelio would go take videos and pictures so that
she was able to see him.
[Monica] Now he was taking on the role of,
let me document this for our memories and for your mom.
[Monica] It looked like he was gonna really embrace the fact that
his wife just had a baby and he has a family.
-[Christian laughing] -[Rogelio making noises]
[Monica] Rogelio was extremely happy to be a dad.
He changed diapers, he helped pick up around
the house, he would make sure to cook for Margarita.
I feel like Christian really brought them together
at this point.
It no longer crosses my mind that anything could happen.
[narrator] When Christian is a few months old,
Rogelio is deployed overseas,
leaving Margarita to care for the baby on her own.
She was just like, the perfect mom.
[Monica] She didn't ever complain about being tired.
She just wanted him to feel all the love she had for him.
[narrator] In the summer of 2014, Rogelio returns home
and leaves the Marines.
He and Margarita move into his family farm
in Hubbard, Nebraska.
It was nice having Margarita live 20 minutes away.
[Ale] We would be able to just all be back together,
like the old days.
Margarita started at the Sioux City Hard Rock Casino
as a host.
I started seeing little jealous remarks
on Rogelio's side.
He would comment on the clothes she would wear to work.
He would like nitpick everything that she would do.
She was a completely different person when he was there.
Her demeanor changed so quick.
Like if she said that she liked something and if he didn't like
it, then he would shut her down.
[Monica] So I felt like he was controlling who she could see,
who she could spend time with.
[Liz] In August, we went out on a double date with Margarita
and Rogelio, my husband and I. Rogelio starts buying drinks.
A guy that my husband knew, and Margarita also knew, came up
to our table as Rogelio was putting shots on the table,
and he pretended to take a shot and drink it.
And Rogelio got mad.
It was scary how he just snapped from being OK, partying,
to this aggressive side of him.
Margarita tried to calm him down.
I had never really seen him act that way before.
When we came outside, the guy that Rogelio had
the encounter with,
and he kind of ran up to us with a few other guys.
They moved to the middle of the street, fighting.
Margarita kept trying to go and help him,
and I kept pulling her back.
The following day, I asked her how he was doing,
because he did just get beat up.
And she's like, oh, he's OK.
But she just kind of brushed it off.
[narrator] Despite Rogelio's volatile behavior, Margarita decides
to stay with him.
On February 28, 2015,
Monica marries long-term boyfriend, Juan.
[Monica] We went out to eat.
Rogelio was there, kind of entertaining Christian.
Then we all go back to my house.
We put on music. We dance.
And...my sister is nowhere to be seen.
She's in the basement arguing with Rogelio.
She did not make an appearance the rest of the night to
celebrate the rest of my wedding.
Nobody needs to know your business, but the fact that
he made it known he had an issue with Margarita
and went downstairs to fight with her or argue with her,
it was just so inconsiderate of him.
[narrator] On April 6th, 2015, Monica receives a call
from Margarita.
[phone ringing]
She's crying. I was like, what's going on?
Wha -- What's happening?
And she said, Rogelio hit me, and he choked me,
and I need to go to the police.
I pick her up, I'm driving her to the police station,
and I was just like, what happened?
And she said that they had gotten into an argument at
the house on the farm.
He got upset and he got on top of her
and he started choking her.
She started seeing black and started seeing dots,
but fortunately for her, -[distant baby crying]
Christian woke up.
[distant baby crying]
Rogelio got off of Margarita, and she got her phone
and ran to the bathroom.
I ask her, "Is this the first time that he has laid his hands
"on you... [voice breaking]
...um, since California?" And she says,
"No, he has hit me before. He would be yelling at me,"
and she said, "I would only cover my face,
I would cover my head, but he would punch me."
At this point,
I was not gonna let my sister out of my sight.
[narrator] Law enforcement arrive at Rogelio's family farm
and arrest him.
[Monica] They file the report, and Rogelio is charged with
third-degree assault with domestic component
and taken to jail.
I think she finally understood that the marriage was probably
not gonna work.
[Monica] We find out that Rogelio gets released
on bail, but he is given a restraining order
against my sister.
[Ale] I was happy for Margarita. She had a job that she liked.
She was happy with raising Christian.
[narrator] Despite the restraining order,
Margarita allows Rogelio to see Christian.
[Monica] Her biggest thing, she would say,
was Christian deserves his dad.
[Ale] Rogelio would pick her up from work and take her home.
That's when Margarita would take Christian back.
So I was just like, OK, just make sure
he brings you straight home.
[Ale] The last time that I spoke to Margarita, I decided to stop
by the casino.
He mentioned something about not knowing
who was gonna take her home.
So I told her that I was gonna be up for a while.
Just call me and I'll take you home.
And then we just said,
[voice breaking] goodbye, and that was it.
[phone ringing]
12:40 in the morning on April 19th of 2015,
a female calls 911.
[Bill] I race over there. I was just a couple blocks away.
[indistinct radio chatter]
I saw a white Nissan Altima parked on the roadway.
A male and female pulling the victim out of
the passenger seat of the car.
Checked for a pulse, for breathing, uh,
and I did not find any.
[narrator] Emergency medical services arrive on the scene,
load the victim into the ambulance, and take her
to St. Luke's Hospital.
I looked across the street, and I see a male subject
sitting on the porch, just staring at us.
[narrator] The 911 caller identifies the man
as her brother, Rogelio Morales.
The victim is his wife, Margarita.
Backup officers arrive on the scene and approach him.
Rogelio is taken to the police department.
[speaking indistinctly]
[narrator] 21-year-old Margarita is pronounced dead on arrival
at the hospital.
Detective Nick Thompson is called to Sioux City PD to lead
the homicide investigation.
[narrator] Detectives start questioning Rogelio.
Before they begin, a decision is made not to tell
him that Margarita has passed away.
Rogelio is claiming to have blacked out.
This was a common tactic, uh, from people who commit
heinous crimes.
[crying]
So while speaking with Rogelio, we noted that he did have
a scratch on his nose.
It was very clear that Margarita was fighting
for her life.
[narrator] Rogelio is charged with second-degree murder.
He is transported to Woodbury County LEC.
In the early hours, I remember hearing a knock on my door.
There's two cops standing there.
They said, "Margarita and Rogelio had
a domestic dispute. Margarita has passed away."
I started crying.
They just said, "I'm so sorry. Is there anybody you can call?"
And I was like, "No, there's no one I can call."
She was the only person I had.
I don't have no one, no one.
[voice breaking] She's the only one.
And I remember receiving this phone call, like,
in the middle of the night.
Monica told me, like, like, "Mom, something happened.
Margarita passed away," and I just couldn't believe it.
[laughter]
[Ale] I walked into Monica's house.
That's when it actually hit me that she was gone.
I always thought that was the kind of stuff you just see
on the news, and it doesn't really happen
in a small town like this.
[narrator] Detectives press on with their investigation to see if
they can verify Rogelio's timeline of events.
Surveillance footage shows Rogelio picking up Margarita at
the Hard Rock Casino at 10:21 p.m.
and then arriving at Sonic Restaurant shortly after.
[Nick] So far, the chain of events
that he was providing were accurate.
[narrator] There was no footage of the couple at 22nd and Floyd,
where Rogelio said the altercation
with Margarita occurred.
[Nick] I was disappointed.
I was hoping, furthermore, that it would show a struggle.
[narrator] Detectives may not have the incident on camera,
but two days after the murder, the autopsy results
reveal damning evidence.
The cause of death is strangulation.
Rogelio had indicated that he remembered reaching towards
Margarita's neck,
and he didn't want to actually say in his words that
he strangled Margarita to death.
It takes a matter of minutes, not seconds, before you can
strangle someone to death.
It tells you that it's premeditated.
All you have to do to allow them to live is just let go,
and they will begin breathing again on their own.
[narrator] Rogelio's charge is upgraded from second-degree
to first-degree murder, indicating intent to kill.
On April 24th, Detective Thompson meets with
a man who has important information regarding the night
of the murder.
[Nick] He's a customer at the Hard Rock Casino,
who stated that he had just began a romantic relationship with Margarita.
He says that Margarita was planning on divorcing Rogelio.
[narrator] At 12:04 a.m. on the night of the murder, 40 minutes before
the 911 call, the man receives a call from Margarita's phone.
-It's Rogelio. -[phone ringing]
Rogelio accuses him of having a romantic relationship
with Margarita. It was confrontational.
He says he asked Rogelio about Margarita.
Rogelio says that she is sleeping.
For me, this was a big moment in the case.
Showed that Rogelio was lying to me.
He left out the fact that he called this man
on the phone.
I believe he murdered Margarita and then used her phone to try
to call this man.
If he truly blacked out and came to, if he really cared
about Margarita, he would have called 911,
he would have given her CPR,
rather than call someone to confront him about having
a relationship with his wife.
[narrator] Two years after Margarita's passing,
the trial begins.
Rogelio pleads not guilty.
[Monica] Rogelio was claiming that he blacked out.
He literally had no emotion on his face, just no remorse.
[narrator] On July 21st, 2017, the jury are unable to confirm
premeditation, and Rogelio is convicted of second-degree
murder for killing 21-year-old Margarita Morales.
He is sentenced to 50 years in prison.
[Monica] I wanted him to get first-degree murder, life in
jail, but 50 years gave me a little bit of peace of mind
knowing that he will not be able to access
or hurt Christian.
He not only took my sister's life, Christian now has to grow
up without his mom and dad.
He is the most selfish person that I know.
[Margarita, elder] Even until this moment, I don't think he feels sorry.
Him being there, breathing,
eating, sleeping, he doesn't deserve that.
[Nick] Margarita did all the things she should do
to get away.
She got her own job. She had a place to stay.
Those are all pieces of control that he's losing.
He wasn't going to be able to manipulate her again.
The tipping point was when he learned that
she was seeing someone else.
Then he knew he had lost all power and all control.
So he did what he had to do and he ended it.
He murdered her.
[narrator] Margarita's family and friends gather to celebrate her life.
We sang, we danced, we ate,
and a live band came out.
That was the best way to honor her and say goodbye
with a party.
After my sister passed away, we took in Christian,
my husband and I.
He's a wonderful boy. He has Margarita's personality.
He's just a joy, and I'm just so happy and blessed
to be his mom.
[Margarita, elder] I still feel that simply
my daughter Margarita is just away,
but eventually that she'll come and we're gonna be
able to tell him, like, [voice breaking]
look at your boy, you know, all grown
up and stuff like that, but that's when...
...it -- it hits, she's not coming back.
I miss everything about Margarita.
I would just like everybody to remember Margarita as the kind
soul that she was. She always made you feel loved.
She was such an amazing human being.
♪♪
Yeah, she was a great mother.
She just wasn't a great partner for Vince.
She would snap at the push of a button.
I felt like she could hurt him.
And I was right.
♪♪