[warning]
[narrator] In Florida, officers find a shocking crime scene...
[dog barking]
[camera clicking]
[Det. Zachary Williams] Tha was my first glance into wha evil really looks like.
Hey! Pull over!
[narrator] ...in Wallingford Connecticut, officers confront an armed man...
[Szeligowski] He was carryin a backpack on his back, and a large rifle case.
[Szeligowski]
[narrator] ...and in Nevada a woman hangs on a bridge 30 feet over a freeway.
[Rafael Rodriguez]
[Rodriguez] I never really considered the risk to myself,
but I was just so focused on her.
[Rodriguez]
That's when she whispered, "I'm sorry,"
and that's when I thought, this is it, she's gonna let go.
[indistinct police dispatchers]
[officer shouting] Derrick Crawford come outside!
[narrator] In Northern Florida, 40 miles north of Orlando
is the city of Deland.
[Det. Zachary Williams] It's a lot of woods, it's a heavily wooded area.
It's very generational in that area, so families are typically from there.
There's a few calls throughout everybody's career that you just... You never forget,
and this was one a those calls.
[dial tone]
[phone ringing]
[Nick]
[caller]
[Nick]
[caller]
[Nick]
[caller]
[Nick]
[busy signal]
[Nick]
[Det. Joshua Mercer] The caller had given,
uh, a name that I was familiar with, which is Ronal Wells, Jr.
He... He identified himself as... As Ronal Wells, Jr.
And in the call notes, it viewed that he had, uh, killed his father,
so everything in the call
was indicative of Ronal Wells, Jr. killing Ronal Wells, Sr.
I was aware of who the people were,
I had a incident that occurr a couple weeks prior
to that event regarding the whole family.
There was a domestic issue where there were some threat made that were conditional,
not really warranting an arrest.
Jr. was the aggressor. There were some threats made
But this call now, it kind of, like,
well, he's been aggressive in the past verbally,
so maybe this has manifeste into somethin' physical.
[dog barking]
[Mercer] As I'm walking up, I'm kinda lookin' for Ronal Wells, Jr.,
and as I approach, I see Kolby Parker.
Ronal Wells, Sr. was Kolby Parker's grandfather.
[Mercer] I had met Kolby Parker previously,
I... I did have some minor interaction with him a couple weeks prio
-[dog barking] -Hi.
[Mercer] As I open the door
I can clearly see Ronal Wells, uh,, Sr. laying on the ground.
[Parker]
[Mercer] I saw several stab wounds,
I mean, there was seven or eight stab wounds
that were clearly visible, um, neck and chest.
It was almost to the point that he was unrecognizable.
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker] Yeah.
[Mercer] He had received significant blows from the baseball bat.
I checked various places for a pulse,
it was very evident that he was no longer alive.
[Mercer]
Come out to me, come here.
[Parker]
[Mercer]
His hands did have blood on them,
but, uh, I couldn't figure out if it was
because, uh, he just attacked this individual, or he was attempting to save his life.
I was lookin' for Ronal Wells, Jr.,
but he's not there in the house.
I was there alone with Kolby Parker.
His grandfather, Ronal Wells Sr. was laying there deceased.
I'm tryin' to establish a perimeter for a crime scene perimeter
and wait for more units, and then we'll kinda reorganize,
and figure out what a we need to do.
Yeah.
I stop EMS from coming in there,
because I knew at that point this individual is deceased.
There's nothing that they can do except for trample the crime scene
[Sgt. Jason Dunlap] When I got there, I... I spoke with Deputy Mercer.
[Mercer] Yeah, let's go take a look.
[Dunlap] Things definitely appeared under control,
Deputy Mercer had already assessed the situation.
And he was calm, the... Kolby was walking around,
and, uh, and staying obviously away from the scene.
[Mercer] He was the only person there that I was able to observe,
so he's the only person that has the whole story.
[Parker]
He claimed this was a self-defense, uh, situation,
where... Where the decedent had attacked him,
and he defended himself by stabbing this guy.
[Mercer]
Yeah, yeah.
Keep goin', keep goin', keep goin'.
He began to exhibit some kind of anxiety, and some uncommon behavior.
Concern is shifting.
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Dunlap]
...If we're gonna have some issues.
[Mercer]
Where I was patting him down, I definitely felt something
I knew it wasn't drugs, I knew it wasn't contraband I knew it wasn't a weapon.
[Dunlap]
[Mercer]
I say, "Well, he doesn't have any weapons on 'em.'"
I'm making a statement because I'm tryin' a...
In my mind, I'm tryin' to figure out what is this?
[buzzing]
[Mercer]
[Dunlap]
[Mercer]
So...
[Parker]
[Mercer] Yeah, where's Jr. at?
[Parker]
[Mercer] Ronnie...
[Dunlap]
[buzzing]
He reached into his pockets, and pulls out a set of ears.
[Mercer] It was very eviden that they were ears.
That... They retained their shape.
[Mercer] Obviously, it... It doesn't look like a... A toy ear,
but you could tell with the cartilage that it was an ear.
It was implied by Kolby Park that these did belong to Jr
[Dunlap] I went to my vehicl which was just a, you know,
short distance away, in the front yard there.
To... To get bags for the ears,
and... And collect them, uh, for later evidence.
[Parker]
[Mercer]
Hey! Get down!
I heard that they were having a struggle back at the truck,
so I attempted to utilize my Taser.
[Parker] Agh! No! No! No Taser.
[Dunlap] Get off! I can't see what's going on.
[Mercer] He's was tryin' to get at my [bleep] gun.
He definitely was exhibiting signs of strength
uh, that were beyond what we would have expected out of him.
[Dunlap] 33 traffic, Lake, we're fightin' 'em!
[Williams] So when I arrived on scene, I'll...I'll never forget it
I just see a... A pile of... Of deputies tryin' to get control of this guy.
[Mercer] He's tryin' to get up. Get him down!
[Williams]
[Dunlap]
[Parker] I'll give it back to him when I'm done.
[Dunlap] You're not having it.
[Williams]
[Dunlap] Slow down! It's back here.
[Williams] It can be what we refer to as excited delirium.
To this state where it's almost like this super human strength.
Tasers have no effect.
And that can come off of drug use,
but it could just be somethi within their own head.
It's just a matter of tryin to contain that person.
[Mercer] Well, as soon as the fight occurred,
I just tossed the ears into the back of... My... The bed of my truck.
[Dunlap] What's that?
-[Williams] I wanna make sure. -[Dunlap] Oh, yeah, yeah. No, we're live.
[Dunlap]
Those are ears.
[Mercer]
We have to go in, and we're gonna have
to do a search of the house to make sure there's nobody else in there.
[Dunlap]
[dog barking]
[Dunlap]
-[Mercer] Lethal. -[Dunlap] I got lethal.
[Williams] The mutilation that was done to the victim
that's not something that's done in self-defense, that's a pre-meditated act.
[Mercer] As we walked insid there was a table, and it ha a... A blood-stained knife.
There was the baseball bat.
On the wall in Kolby Parker's bedroom was a apron,
and it said the family butcher on it.
And it had various body part I think there was ears, nose and it had fake blood on it
[narrator] Officers search the house,
but there is no sign of Ronal Wells, Jr.
Police learn that Ronal Jr. the victim's son, was out to when his father was killed.
He had no knowledge of, or involvement in the attack
Kolby Parker made that strange call to 911.
[buzzing]
[Williams] I rode with Kolb in the ambulance on the way to the hospital,
so he can get medically cleared.
And I just remember looking into his eyes...
and there was nothing there
That was my first glance into what evil really looks like,
and you... You just can't shake that once you see it.
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
I don't think the dog took the skin off the arm. The... The wound is too clean.
It seems to be done with an edge weapon,
like the knife that was used to stab him several times.
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[Parker]
[Mercer]
[narrator] Kolby Parker plead no contest to murder in the second degree,
and was sentenced to 50 years behind bars.
[Mercer] I think this is a once in a lifetime career event.
This is something that does not happen on a regular basis.
And as... As a homicide detective,
I'm... I'm kind of exposed to some, uh, more heinous crimes now,
and I haven't seen anything quite like it since.
[narrator] In the heart of Connecticut, lies the rural town of Wallingfor
[Kelly Boyle] In 2021,
the state of Connecticut had over 20 intimate partner violent homicides.
And that's a lot. One is too many.
Around 3:00 p.m. a woman walked into the police department,
and then stated that her husband had assaulted her.
And that he might be armed with a rifle at their house.
She said his name was Christopher Poach.
He told her he was going to slaughter her.
And at that point, the priority was to apprehen Christopher safely.
Officer Peckham and I, we're more of a specialized unit.
So we sued the undercover car, and we're generally dressed in everyday clothes.
[Szeligowski] Our initial jo
was just to get surveillanc on the house,
and just make sure that no one came outta the house,
and no one went into the house.
[Nicholas Peckham] We parked about a house and a half distance away.
We were stationed there for quite a while just watchin' the house.
Eventually several other officers arrive on scene,
and start creating a perimeter.
And then a red car pulls into the driveway,
and a older woman and kids get out,
and they start walking towards the front of the house.
[Szeligowski]
[Peckham] They get back in the car,
and they're instructed to go down the road.
We solved one issue, getting the children out of harm's way,
but we created another, that we escalated the scene
from, uh, loose perimeter and surveillance to now he knows we're there.
[Peckham] So we decide to constrict the perimeter,
and take up positions of cover around the house.
[Szeligowski]
[Peckham] So the woman in the red vehicle was the suspect's mother,
and she's giving more information to us.
[Peckham]
[Szeligowski]
[Peckham] So at that point, it became more real.
And we wanna take that situation a little more seriously.
[dispatcher]
[Szeligowski] This is now at the worst case scenario.
He did have firearms, he wasn't going to comply
with any orders or commands we were giving him,
and he became a barricaded subject.
That's a potential shoot-out
The lieutenant on shift, was informing us that the SWAT team was coming out.
waiting for them to arrive.
[Peckham speaking]
[Vincent Szeligowski speaking]
[shouting]
Agh! Agh!
[panting]
When the rifle sticks out of the window,
I'm the only officer in the backyard.
I don't know what his plan is at that point.
About 15-20 seconds goes by
and he comes out the rear a the house, and onto the deck.
He then jumps off the deck,
and he's carrying a... A backpack on his back, and a large rifle case.
I jump out from behind my cover with my gun drawn,
yelling at him, "Drop the gu Get on the ground! Drop the gun!"
He looks at me, he clearly hears my commands
but he disregards them and he just takes off runnin
He actually starts to unzip the rifle case while running
and he draws the rifle from the case.
I drop my radio to have a steadier shot,
because at any moment, I may need to take that shot.
He had already assaulted and threatened to kill his wife.
As we're approaching the road, he drops his bag.
I... I don't know if I had tripped on his bag,
or I had just stumbled in general, but at that point I fell.
I did a... A roll and jumped back up,
and I get another burst of energy and I start catching up to him again.
He starts running towards the little wooden fence.
As he jumped over the fence, he fell.
Then I was able to clear the fence and get right on top of him
And he didn't fight at that point.
You know, we held him down, we got him his handcuffs.
And it almost just seemed that he was exhausted,
and he just couldn't do it anymore.
And then at that point, we put him in the cruiser,
and he was brought to the station, where he was then booked and processed
for the crimes that he had committed.
[narrator] Christopher Poac is found guilty of carrying a pistol without a permit,
assault in the third degree and threatening in the second degree.
He's sentenced to five years in jail.
[Kelly Boyle] He served about a year.
The victim is aware that he is out,
and it's from my understanding that she's nervous.
The last time I saw her was in December.
She said that she was doing well, and her kids were doing well,
and she expressed gratitude to the police department,
in helping her to get out of that cycle, and that situation.
[narrator] In Nevada,
U.S. 95 is one of the main arteries running northwest out of Las Vegas.
The highway is part of state trooper Rafael Rodriguez's patrol territory
[Rodriguez] We have three major freeways here in Las Vegas,
and we have a population about almost three million people.
The traffic...
...it's pretty bad.
The most common incidents that I respond to are motor vehicle collisions
I take pride in helping others.
It's always been a part of me. That's how I was raised.
During the evening, I received a call that there's a woman
hanging on the a... Other side of the overpass fence
on the westbound side of Russell and U.S. 95,
attempting to take her life and jump onto northbound traffic.
I was the closest unit at that time.
It could take maybe five minutes, lights and sirens,
to get there in a safe and timely manner.
Suicide attempts have become more frequent here in Las Vegas
on the overpass bridges and on our freeways.
When that call came out, a lot of things go through your mind,
but you just wanna get there
When I arrived on scene, I believe it was like a beig four-door sedan,
which was just parked on the shoulder.
I was gonna go speak to the... The driver,
but then I looked and I was like, "Oh, no."
I noticed a female that was hanging on the opposite side
of the safety fence, on the westbound overpass, by her fingertips.
And it shocked me a little bit.
From the safety fence all the way to the bottom of the freeway,
it was... It was about 30 feet.
It is a very substantial height.
If you fall, you could die.
[Rodriguez] I let dispatch know because we have to stop traffic.
That sets up fire and medical, so if they need a stage on the bottom of the overpass,
they have a clean area to... To work with.
I'm the first one there, I need to go back to my training,
and I need to let her know that I'm here to help.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[woman sobbing]
[Rodriguez speaking]
I was scared. I was worried
She was holding on by her fingertips,
and she was shaking and crying hysterically.
I have to try to steer her away
from whatever thoughts she might be having at that moment.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
I just didn't want to put pressure on her.
I don't want to see her take her life.
There wasn't that much space for her to move.
There's maybe an inch between the bottom of the safety fence
and the concrete slab that holds it together.
There's nowhere for me to grab her,
so, I mean, if she just decides to let go, it's a done deal.
[Erickson speaking]
I had my backup, and then I can focus on the female
that's on the other, uh, side of the fence.
I actually zoned out a little bit.
It was just almost like me and her at that moment.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
She's telling me that she's sorry for her kids,
and that hurts because I hav a son, I have a five year ol
and I have a family, and I know she has a family
[woman bawling]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[woman blubbering]
[Rodriguez] You wanna do everything you can to let her know
that she has things that are worth living for.
And that's why I'm so grateful that I had my team there with me.
Now, it's not just me thinking. I can get their input, as well.
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking] The female officer, she definitely helped.
She was able to speak to the female, keeping her occupied.
[Erickson speaking]
[Rodriguez] I was like, what tools out here can we use to break her fall, at least?
[Erickson speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[Erickson speaking]
[Rodriguez] For a moment, I was tryin' to think, like
maybe I could wrap her leg around it.
We couldn't find anything in our vehicles that... That were gonna help us.
I was scared, I was worried, and I was anxious.
You keep thinking, this is playing out right no
you're... You're thinking what else can I do?
Words are not enough at moments like these. Now, it's time for action.
[Erickson speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
It was a struggle, 'cause when you're wearing a duty belt,
that's like 30 pounds on your waist.
And then you're just in an awkward position, it's hard to lift yourself u
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
I just wanna to let her know I'm here.
This is me, this is the one who's been talking to you the entire time.
-[woman speaking] -[Rodriguez speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
These moments are crucial,
and the time's not on our side, so I grabbed her hand.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[woman blubbering]
[Rodriguez speaking]
I was gettin' scared that I had provoked this.
It shoots more adrenaline through my body.
It gets me more worried, because I don't know if she's just gonna let go.
[woman blubbering]
-[Rodriguez speaking] -[woman blubbering]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[Erickson speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
You try to build that trust that confidence, that rapport with her.
I just wanted to let her kno that I'd gone up there
because I'm willing to put my life on the line,
and that if we're gonna go down, we're gonna go down together.
[Erickson speaking]
[Melody] Are you able to get on this side?
[Rodriguez speaking]
She started shimmying her way onto the westbound side,
[Melody] Yeah, stop movin' over, stop movin' over.
[Rodriguez speaking]
The altitude of the height of the bridge is 30 feet high,
so it almost guarantees certainty of death.
After the crying hystericall she stopped.
That frightened me, 'cause, I was, like, she's gonna let go.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
I was frightened that I wasn't gonna be able to save her life.
[Melody] How many kids do you have? I have--
[Rodriguez speaking]
I had stopped grabbing her hand,
and I started shimmying my way to the other side of the fence...
...so I could prevent her from going further west.
[Rodriguez breathing heavily]
[Rodriguez] I'd never really considered the risk to myself.
I am conscience of my movements,
and, like, hey, if I go more on this side I'm gonna tip over.
[bleep]
[Melody] Do you have a boy or a girl?
But I was just so focused on her.
[woman speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez] I thought we had a breakthrough
when the Henderson police officer said that she was gonna be able to call her mom.
[woman blubbering]
[Melody speaking]
[Woman speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez] And I was, like okay, so maybe she'll let m guide her to the other side
I was just tryin' to figure out how we were gonna get on the other side,
and I'm seein' her get more physically upset.
Maybe, she thought in her head, I don't wanna be helped anymore.
[woman blubbering]
[Melody speaking]
[Erickson speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[woman speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
While we're thinking, okay, what can we do right now,
so we can bring this to an end,
the Henderson Fire Department had arrived.
[Rodriguez] The firefighter actually gave me the idea.
He said, "If you handcuff her to the fence, if she attempts to fall,
she's just gonna break her arms at the most, but she's gonna survive."
And I was still holding onto the fence for a second
and I could see when he had said that, it had bothered her.
After the crying hystericall she stopped.
That frightened me, 'cause, I was, like, she's gonna let go.
[woman speaking]
[Melody speaking]
[Rodriguez speaking]
Her "sorry" turned into something different.
Like, looking at me saying, "I'm really sorry for what I'm gonna do in this moment.
In my heart I believed that that was the moment she was gonna let go.
You could just see it in her eyes, and her face
I'd never saw that before.
Somebody going from a... An extreme of crying hysterically
to almost, like a moment of bliss, of calmness.
It's almost like she froze, and then she just looked at me.
That's when she whispered, "I'm sorry,"
and that's when I thought, this is it, she's gonna let go.
My adrenaline, my hands were shaking a little bit.
So I took my handcuffs out, I had 'em in the back of my right hand.
[woman speaking]
[Rodriguez breathing heavily]
[Rodriguez] I let go of the fence, I grabbed onto her wrist,
I put on the sets of handcuffs,
and then I used the other se and secured it onto the fenc
And I grabbed onto her other wrist, and I did the same.
[woman sobbing]
[Rodriguez speaking]
[woman speaking]
-[Rodriguez speaking] -[fireman] Perfect!
[Rodriguez] But when I said "Hey, I got the second one on,"
I just knew, I was, like, it's... It's over.
After that, a sense of relief came through me,
[exhaling] because I knew that she wasn't gonna go anywhere.
I could breathe again.
The Henderson Fire Departmen had already had the ladder truck on the bottom,
and they already set up everything perfectly.
[Rodriguez speaking]
[Rodriguez] She's in great hands, and that was it.
[Rodriguez speaking]
I knew that the magnitude of what I had did, it was extreme.
It's almost like something spiritual,
something that you don't know that's inside a you.
A lotta things ran through my mind... My family.
I was going back home to my... My son.
[exhaling repeatedly]
I remember crouching down, and... And just... I wanted to cry.
It's just such a relief.
-It's over here? -[Simmons] Yeah.
[narrator] The family of the woman was grateful
to the officers for their help.
The woman, herself, approve this footage being shown.
[Rodriguez] I do think about the lady on the bridge a lot, actually.
I felt a connection with he at that moment.
We have just went through this traumatic event together.
I think about her, that she's able to reunite with her kids.
I was just happy.
It came to an end, and it came to a successful end,
and it was the best possible outcome.
That moment had such an impact. I'll never forget it.