[somber music]
* *
- We grew up in Orange County
in Huntington Harbour.
We were living in paradise completely.
- We have great coastlines,
the affluent mansions in the foothills.
We have it all here.
- Orange County also has some of the more working-class,
normal cities.
For people in that working class,
it's always visible, this wealth,
this over-the-top Southern California lifestyle.
Especially in 2008, when the recession hit,
when people hit rock bottom
and their back is up against the wall,
they can do strange things.
[dramatic music]
- The two bodies were on Beach Boulevard
at Golden Sun Homes.
- It was an execution-style murder.
- In a working-class enclave of Orange County,
locals are left in dismay
after a successful family business
is ripped apart by a mysterious gunman.
- Did somebody come off the street thinking
Golden Sun was a good target?
But we didn't know,
was it a revenge on one of those two?
- I was shocked, and I was mad.
[somber music]
* *
- Who could have committed this vicious crime
in the heart of Orange County?
- He would see this white Lexus.
It's a shining example of what everyone aspires
to have in Orange County.
- We set up around-the-clock, 24-hour-a-day surveillance.
Our key to solving the crime was,
we needed to find that car.
[dramatic music]
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
[tense music]
- My name is Joe Gaul.
I was a homicide investigator in 2009
with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
* *
February 2nd, we were there early, as usual,
5:00, 6:00 in the morning.
And around 11:00,
we get a call about a possible homicide in Stanton.
* *
- My name is Dan Salcedo.
In 2009, I was a homicide detective
for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
It was actually my day off.
I got called, and I was told there was two bodies
on Beach Boulevard at Golden Sun Homes,
a mobile home sales office.
* *
Upon my arrival, we had a lot of deputies
that had already arrived to the scene.
And I was told the person that actually
called the police was, in fact, the father
of one of the deceased.
His name is Don Scott.
- In a state of utter disbelief,
Don tells police that the bloodied bodies belong
to his 42-year-old son, Matthew Scott,
and his beloved long-time employee and friend,
49-year-old Elizabeth Palmer.
* *
- Don was distraught when we spoke to him.
He said he had no idea who would have done this.
We were trying to get preliminary information
to get the idea of what he saw when he came into the office.
* *
- I'm Don Scott.
Matt Scott is my son,
and I am the owner and business manager
of our mobile home dealership.
February 2nd was the day after the Super Bowl,
so I was late in getting to the office.
* *
When I arrived, I looked around.
There was a plant that was knocked over.
I didn't see anybody.
But as I got closer,
I noticed that behind the desk,
laying flat on their face, was Matt and Beth.
* *
I only went and touched both of them
and felt that they were gone.
They were dead.
* *
It's hard to explain the feeling that I had.
I was shocked, and I was mad.
* *
- You can only imagine the trauma that
having to see and discover his son
and his business manager deceased.
- We asked him if he had anything to do
with the murders,
and he said he had nothing to do with it.
Don was definitely in shock,
but he was very cooperative with us.
We never got the feeling that he was hiding anything
or had any motive to do this.
[dramatic music]
- At that point, we started just by looking
through the crime scene.
We went into the back office.
That's when we discovered
Elizabeth and Matt behind her desk.
And they had been shot in the back of the head.
* *
- The two bodies were side by side on the floor,
blood from the head areas of each of them.
There was no crime scene as far as blood spatter
higher up on the walls, which indicated to us
they were both probably on their knees,
probably forced to get in that position
by somebody holding a gun to them.
It was an execution-style murder.
- Two innocent people brazenly assassinated
in broad daylight.
Was this a personal vendetta carried out in cold blood,
or had the business been targeted for a robbery?
- This certainly led us to believe
that the person that did this didn't want to have
any witnesses left behind.
But we didn't know,
was it a revenge on one of those two?
- One of the other things we noticed right away,
there were two 9-millimeter shell casings on the floor
next to Elizabeth's desk,
and her purse had been gone through.
There was no money missing, no credit cards,
nothing like that.
- It just didn't add up to a robbery,
as far as there was still
valuable office equipment in place.
The big, huge problem we had is,
why were these people killed?
But then we asked Mr. Scott,
is there anything out of place,
anything missing that you could tell us offhand?
- I told them I noticed that Beth's
white Lexus was not there.
* *
Very unusual.
* *
- And that's when we realized
her car keys do not seem to be anywhere in Ms. Palmer's purse.
* *
So you're thinking,
did somebody come off the street
thinking Golden Sun was a good target
because they saw Elizabeth's newer Lexus?
* *
And that's when we decided it was time to put this vehicle
out to other agencies to be on the lookout
for this stolen car.
[dramatic music]
* *
- My name is Piper Scott,
and Matthew Scott was my little brother.
I was on my way up north,
and Patty, my stepmother, called me.
And she starts screaming that Dad went to the office.
He found Matt.
* *
I was saying, "Is he in the hospital?
I'll turn around."
She said, "No, he passed."
Gosh.
[crying]
[tense music]
- Piper rushes to her father's side,
and together, they provide detectives
with as much background on Matt as they can.
- We grew up in Orange County in Huntington Harbour.
We spent a lot of time on the water and on the beach.
* *
Dad had a boat there,
and we were always on and off the boat.
We were living in paradise completely.
There were four kids:
myself, my stepsister Pam, my stepbrother Tracy,
and my little brother Matt.
* *
Matt and I were very close.
He was a very funny person.
We played tricks on each other all the time.
But as we got older, it became--
we were more like friends.
- He was a good guy, very personable.
He worked in our sales department for 15 years.
- The Scott family owns and operates Golden Sun Homes,
a manufactured home sales company
that allows families to live the OC lifestyle
at just a fraction of the cost.
- Golden Sun was a very successful
new home dealership.
- We thrived during the recession
because you could buy a nice home
and have low monthly payments and live in Orange County.
My father and my Uncle Phil were the owners.
Beth Palmer did the finance and ran the office.
Beth was a very happy person.
She was a very focused person.
We were friends, you know,
because she did such a great job for the family.
It was a family business.
I was the general manager and a salesperson.
My stepbrother Tracy did a lot of the contracting
and working on the homes.
Matthew was a salesperson.
- Matt was very busy.
He was working, like, six days a week and long hours.
- Matt had a great job and was very
kind of settled in his life.
[dramatic music]
- Matt and Beth had no known conflicts with anyone.
So who could have wanted them dead?
As detectives continue to question Piper and Don,
they're interrupted by an urgent radio call.
- One of the deputies said somebody just drove up
kind of crazy to the scene.
He told us that it was Richard Palmer
and that he was Elizabeth's husband.
We wanted to speak to Richard because at this point,
we don't know who the suspect is.
- In most murders, you always have to look at spouses.
Was there some type of love triangle and jealousy
behind the killings?
There's always sex, money, relationship issues
that seem to be a majority part
of any murder investigation.
So we had to rule that out.
[dramatic music]
- We found out that he had a 9-millimeter
handgun registered to him.
- It was so scary, you know?
- He told us that he knew about the car.
* *
- We had to be very careful.
Most likely, he's armed and dangerous.
[dramatic music]
* *
[tense music]
* *
- While investigating the brutal double homicide
of Matt Scott and Elizabeth Palmer,
Orange County detectives are interrupted
when Elizabeth's husband, Richard,
frantically rushes the scene.
- Even though from the onset, you have a loved one--
in this case, Mr. Palmer's wife was killed--
you have to look at the spouses,
friends, co-workers.
So we interviewed him at length.
* *
- Well, we asked him
if he had anything to do with the murders,
and he said, "I was a long way aways
working at an RV repair shop that he worked at.
And he got a call from someone that something had
possibly happened to his wife.
So he rushed to the scene.
We needed to check his alibi.
He said he had no idea who would have done this.
* *
- While detectives look into Richard's alibi,
news of the murders spreads like wildfire
across the quaint Orange County community of Stanton.
[dramatic music]
- My name is Tricia Takasugi.
In 2009, I was a reporter
covering news in LA and Orange County.
Stanton is a very quiet, sleepy little town.
It's pretty surprising that in broad daylight,
the car was stolen and two people
are shot to death mid-morning.
So investigators try and saturate the news media
so people have that on their minds to be on the lookout
for this white Lexus.
But at this point, the investigators
don't have a suspect.
And nothing is standing out as to why
they may have been targeted.
- As news crews gather around Golden Sun Homes,
investigators at the scene finally
reach Richard Palmer's boss, who confirms
that he was at work all morning.
- There's nothing to indicate that Mr. Palmer was involved.
But we still have to do your background on,
was Elizabeth Palmer the target of this murder?
- At this point, Richard was very upset
about what happened to his wife.
I felt bad for him because he told us
that this was the love of his life,
and suddenly she's gone.
- I'm Richard Palmer.
I'm Elizabeth Palmer's husband.
We were married for almost 30 years.
[somber music]
When I found out that she had passed away,
that was pretty hard.
* *
Mm.
* *
Just everything's running through your head.
Like, you know, what happened?
Did she suffer any?
* *
It hurt.
- We were trying to get a timeline from him.
When did she leave for work?
What time do you think she got here?
- That day started out perfectly normal.
I got up and made our lunches
and then hugged her and kissed her,
and then I went to work.
A little bit after 10:00 in the morning,
I called her just to check in, say hi,
and see how she's doing.
I just couldn't stand being away from her.
That was the last time I talked to her.
First time I met Beth was in 1976.
She was applying for a job as secretary.
And I came in, and I could see her in the boss's office.
She had beautiful blue eyes, a beautiful smile.
And I just instantly fell in love with her.
Beth was the person that people would go to, to--
if they had a little problem,
and she'd give a straight answer.
People just loved Beth.
Detectives asked if there was any problems
going between me and Beth,
if we had any marriage problems.
And I told them, no, there was no problems at all.
* *
And to have her taken away, it just--
it's a feeling of pain that hurts so bad,
you just want to end it.
* *
- With no enemies in either Beth or Matt's worlds,
who would have wanted them dead?
Detectives ask Richard about Beth's white Lexus
that's missing from the parking lot,
and he confirms that Beth drove it to work that day.
- The day of her death, she'd just mailed in
the very last payment on that car.
And we were gonna go out that night
and celebrate for dinner that she paid off her car.
- We knew at least Elizabeth Palmer's car was missing.
So was that the reason for the robbery,
or was that just a way for the person to leave the scene?
* *
- Detectives are beginning to suspect that the murderer
may have known that the white Lexus would be parked
at Golden Sun Homes that morning.
And as they continue to question whether or not
the killer had close ties to Matt or Beth,
Don Scott reveals some information
about another potential witness.
- Mr. Scott advised us that his stepson, Tracy Porterfield,
lived on the property.
And Tracy was not seen that morning by Mr. Scott.
And he didn't know what his whereabouts were
at that particular time.
- Investigators want to talk to Tracy because he could be
a great source of information.
But also, the fact that he lives there,
works there, knows the comings and goings--
he could also be a person of interest.
* *
- We needed to know, did he see or hear anything unusual?
We needed to find out where he was.
[dramatic music]
* *
- Just hours after the double murder
of Matt Scott and Elizabeth Palmer,
detectives are on the hunt for Elizabeth's white Lexus,
which is mysteriously missing
from the Golden Sun Homes parking lot.
They're also looking for a potential eyewitness,
Matt Scott's stepbrother, Tracy Porterfield.
* *
- He actually lived onsite at Golden Sun Homes.
But the morning of October 24th,
the very day of the murder when we rolled to the scene,
Tracy was not seen that morning.
He was not there.
So we asked him to come in
and conducted a formal interview of him.
- We first spoke to Tracy at headquarters.
He told us that at the time of the murder,
early in the morning, he was out surfing.
- We had to verify, what time did he leave?
When he left, was Elizabeth and Matt there,
or was he gone before that?
He told us he was by himself, didn't really know what time
he had left, where he was.
He was somewhat evasive.
- Tracy was upset about Matt being murdered,
along with Elizabeth, but he wasn't responsive.
Tracy would sit there, and we would ask him questions.
You know, we would start with, what do you know about this--
these murders?
And if we got even past the part where he would say,
"I don't know anything about it," it was short-lived.
He just didn't want to talk.
It was a little bit puzzling
why Tracy wasn't as cooperative
when it was his brother who was murdered.
- To detectives, Tracy appears cagey.
But the Scott family takes a very different view.
- Tracy is so introverted,
and I think that this was overwhelming.
Matt and Tracy were very close.
Tracy felt a little bit of guilt,
only because he thought he could
have helped if he were there.
It was overwhelming for all of us.
It was so scary, you know?
It was so--it just brings you into a shell.
- We weren't detaining Tracy.
He was a family member.
And we found no evidence
that he was involved with the murders.
[dramatic music]
* *
[somber music]
- One week after the murders, while detectives scour
the streets for the white Lexus and any evidence
that could lead them to the killer,
Elizabeth Palmer's loved ones lay her to rest.
* *
- My name is Kerensa Gardiner.
And I am Beth Palmer's niece.
I was devastated because I was very close
with my Auntie Beth.
* *
She was incredibly fun.
She just was kind of a ray of sunshine.
She was so loving and kind.
And--and she would hug you and just--
she loved us.
Going to the service, I couldn't wrap my head around
that she is no longer with us.
* *
My Uncle Richard was so lost that just--
"I need to take care of him" kind of kicked in.
- During the services, I was a total wreck.
They wanted me to get up and say something,
but I was just too much of a wreck to talk.
- The love between my Uncle Richard and my Aunt Beth
was ridiculous.
[laughs]
It was so rare, so rare to have what they had,
you know?
They just loved each other so much.
My uncle didn't look the same.
It's like he aged 10 years.
It was visible he wasn't okay, you know?
* *
- I bawled like a baby, didn't hardly sleep at all,
because my mind was just going like crazy
trying to figure out why it had happened and what reason.
* *
- Across town, Matt Scott's loved ones
gather to pay their respects to their beloved son,
brother, and friend.
- I was numb through the whole funeral,
just looking at the crowd of people
that came to show him respect.
* *
- I felt helpless.
There was nothing I could do.
It's hard to talk about it.
- There are some days that I can relive through this,
but I can't relive that day.
- With no solid leads about who was responsible
for the murders, Matt's family takes matters
into their own hands.
[dramatic music]
- After their service, we went out
and drove around, seeing if we could
see the white Lexus anywhere.
- We needed to look ourselves because
you can't just sit home and wait for something to happen.
You can't.
It became very important.
Where is that car?
* *
- Richard is here and his family are here
to offer a $25,000 reward.
- Right now, I don't know any more than the day it happened.
And I would like some answers to why this happened.
- Richard's desperate plea to the public
brings in a bevy of tips.
- So calls start coming in,
people who think they know someone who knows somebody
who might have information.
And then we go and talk to them,
and they really don't know anything.
So it was very frustrating.
- But then, two weeks after the murders,
a call comes in to detectives that
may give them the lead they've been desperately waiting for.
- One of the people that calls in
is a woman who says she just happened
to be driving past Golden Sun Homes
on the morning of the murder.
This person happens to notice a white Lexus
coming out of the driveway on the day
Matt and Elizabeth were killed.
- I'm thinking, if we find the car,
we can solve this case.
[dramatic music]
* *
[tense music]
* *
- Stanton detectives are now more than two weeks
into their investigation of the execution-style
murders of Matthew Scott and Elizabeth Palmer.
But they're banking on a new eyewitness to help them
catch an elusive killer.
* *
- This person actually saw the Lexus
on the morning of the murder.
* *
- She said she was also in a white Lexus
by the mobile home sales office,
and her daughter pointed out this car leaving
and told her mother, "This looks like your car, Mom."
The time was about 10:30.
- Unfortunately, the eyewitness tells investigators
that she was not able to get a clear visual of the driver.
Undaunted, detectives hatch a plan to get a better look.
- We noticed that there was a OCTA
bus stop right outside the mobile home sales office.
- There are cameras on the local buses in Orange County.
So the camera that is on the bus
can further help narrow down this timeline
for investigators as to when the crime may have occurred
and who was driving the car.
- I called the company that services all the buses,
and they told me that as soon as the bus is in service,
the cameras go on, and they update
the time every 30 seconds.
- Investigators are hopeful
they'll catch a glimpse of the killer.
- We were able to download video
from a particular bus that stopped at that location
in front of Golden Sun Homes.
At about 10:22, we were able to see the car
in the parking lot very clearly.
* *
But the car was there unoccupied at the time.
- We know Don came to work just short of 11:00
and Elizabeth Palmer's white four-door Lexus
was missing from the location.
- Investigators know that Elizabeth was alive at 10:15
because she had just spoken to her husband.
So investigators sort of pinpoint the fact
that somewhere between 10:22 and 11:00,
that must have been the time when they were both killed
and the car was stolen.
- So the murders could have been happening
when the bus arrived, for all we know.
- So it helps them tighten up that timeline,
but they still don't have a suspect
and have not found the car.
* *
- Our key to solving the crime was,
we needed to find that car.
We hit salvage yards, tow yards,
chop shops, anybody who had information that
a white Lexus had come in--
certainly after the murders-- to be chopped up,
sold for parts, salvaged.
We also notified the border,
thinking possibly that car went into Mexico
to be sold or parted out.
But nothing came back to that Lexus.
So it certainly looked like this case may never be solved.
* *
- I was starting to get pretty frustrated.
But I had the pictures of Elizabeth and Matt on my desk
as a constant reminder that
I have to keep going on this case.
- The detective's not giving out much information,
but I just felt I had to call every day.
* *
- Uncle Richard was really good about keeping up on it,
probably driving them crazy, but always wanting
to know if they've got any leads
or anything like that.
But at the same time, I saw his health
starting to fail quickly.
My Aunt Beth and Uncle Richard were two peas in a pod.
[somber music]
They were soul mates.
He had a broken heart.
* *
- Dad was in touch with the police a lot,
just trying to find an answer.
Do we know anything?
And a very long period of time went by.
- I had those feelings that we would never find the person.
But it was always hope.
I had to be strong.
* *
- This became a cold case for eight months.
* *
- Here we are nearly eight months after the murder.
Investigators are desperate to keep this alive.
- So on October 20th, I went to our team,
and I asked them, let's put this out again
because I feel like people might have forgotten about it.
- A white four-door Lexus, license 5YF--
- They're reminding people, please keep your eyes open
for this white Lexus.
[dramatic music]
And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
there comes a lucky break.
* *
- I get a call from our dispatch center,
calling me to tell me that we found the car parked
in the back of an extended-stay motel,
the El Dorado Inn on Lincoln Boulevard.
- We needed to know, is somebody seen
coming in or out of that car?
If we find out who was driving that car
and who had left it in that parking lot,
we're most likely gonna find out who was
responsible for the murders.
[dramatic music]
* *
- As the sun comes up over the lush hills
of Orange County, detectives from the sheriff's department
are burning midnight oil to solve
the double murders of Matt Scott and Elizabeth Palmer.
After eight long months of dead-end leads,
they finally get a call that could help them break
the case once and for all.
- It was really early in the morning
on the 24th of October, and that's
when we got a call that the Anaheim
Police Department had spotted a white Lexus
at the El Dorado Inn.
It didn't have its original license plate,
but he was able to confirm the VIN for us.
After I hung up, I just told my wife, "I gotta go.
We found the car."
- Now we had our break that we needed.
So me and Joe conferred on what next to do.
We don't go right to the car.
And that's when we decide that we need to back off that car
and do a surveillance.
- You don't want the suspect to know what you're doing.
So I called our undercover people for our department.
And I said, can you get on this car, like, right now?
- We set up around-the-clock, 24-hour-a-day
surveillance seeing, does somebody
come back to that car?
- It was four days that they watched this vehicle.
- But there didn't seem to be any movement on that car.
The car apparently seemed to be abandoned.
- Once we realized that we weren't getting anything
from the surveillance of the car,
we started to come up with a plan.
* *
We decided to saturate the hotel
where the car was found with as many investigators
as I could get.
The goal was to get somebody to tell us
they saw someone driving that car, at minimum.
- Knowing the hotel is not equipped with security cameras
and suspecting that the person who stole the Lexus
could also be the killer, investigators swarm the area.
- October 28th, we block the exits to the hotel
to keep people from leaving, and we start going
door-to-door to every hotel room
with the flyers of the car.
And the media was capturing all of this,
including the car itself.
- We made contact with everybody
coming and going that day.
- We were hopeful that someone would come forward
and just say anything.
However, each door that we knocked on,
nobody was telling us they had information about that car
until we knocked on one particular door
and we made contact with a subject
named Melvin Everett.
- Melvin Everett lived there with his girlfriend,
and he had been there a long time.
He told us that he knew about the car,
and he knew who the driver was.
- Melvin Everett gave us the name Hilbert Thomas.
* *
Melvin said he, in fact, had been in that car
on numerous occasions driving with our potential suspect.
Melvin Everett gave us the background information
about Hilbert Thomas.
He said Hilbert did not live at the El Dorado Inn.
He said Hilbert worked in real estate.
So he only assumed he was doing somewhat well
to afford a car like that.
As far as Melvin is concerned,
Hilbert had possession of that car for quite some time.
Hilbert had car keys.
He had personal property in that car.
Hilbert was driving his friends,
his family, his kids around.
He didn't know why Hilbert had abandoned
the car several months prior to that,
but he never came back for it.
Melvin never in his wildest dreams
thought that car was connected to our double murder.
* *
- Investigators are convinced Hilbert stole the white Lexus.
But did he kill Matt and Beth?
And if so, why?
- Investigators start to look for any possible connection
between Hilbert Thomas and the two victims
to try to key in on a possible motive.
- We learned Hilbert Thomas was living
with his mom and his sister,
and it was literally blocks away from our crime scene
on Beach Boulevard.
That was the big break we needed.
- Hilbert had walked his niece to school
and had passed the Golden Sun Homes' parking lot many times
before the murders occurred.
It was obvious that he saw the car and he wanted it.
And he wasn't gonna leave anybody around
that could say he took it.
- As investigators dig a little deeper
into Hilbert Thomas's background,
they find that, yes, at one time,
he was a very successful real estate agent
and was married and lived in a beautiful home.
But recently, as the recession had sunk in to Orange County,
they discovered that Hilbert Thomas lost everything.
He lost his home.
He lost his car.
He lost his family.
- Detectives do a quick search of existing police records,
and even more damning information comes to light.
- In doing our background check
of who Hilbert Thomas was,
we found out he had a current and valid protection order
against him from his ex-wife that had just been served
about two weeks before that because he was
physically and verbally abusive towards her.
- We found out that he had a 9-millimeter
handgun registered to him.
- It turns out detectives don't have far to go
to track down the gun.
But is it the murder weapon?
- The recipient of a protective order
has to comply with certain rules.
And one of those is you have to turn over
any weapons you may have.
- We knew that he was a subject of a restraining order
and had to turn in that firearm.
- We found out that Hilbert had surrendered
a weapon into the Lakewood Sheriff's station.
- And so we retrieved the gun, and right away,
took it to our forensic lab to have it tested
to see if it was the gun.
- When the firearm was forensically tested,
it matched the two cartridges that were located
at the crime scene next to the bodies.
* *
- We went from pretty much having nothing
to having everything.
I was thrilled to know we had the right weapon,
that we were on track to arrest a suspect in this case.
- Just hours after canvassing the motel, and eight months
after the murders of Matt Scott and Elizabeth Palmer,
police finally have enough evidence to arrest
suspect Hilbert Thomas.
- Hilbert Thomas was staying with his sister
just down the street from Golden Sun Homes.
Investigators didn't know if he was armed or not.
- So our SWAT team got involved,
and we had our undercover people at the apartment complex
where Hilbert lived.
- We knew he lived there with his niece,
his mom, and his sisters.
So we had to be very careful of other people's safety.
Hilbert Thomas was responsible for a double murder.
It's most likely he's armed and dangerous.
[dramatic music]
* *
- On October 28, 2009, more than eight months
after the brutal double homicide of Elizabeth Palmer
and Matthew Scott, Orange County investigators
believe they finally have the killer in their crosshairs.
- We considered Hilbert Thomas armed and dangerous.
So we had our SWAT team come out,
do a surveillance on his apartment complex.
* *
While the SWAT team was there,
Hilbert suddenly walked out with some laundry.
An investigator saw him, took him into custody.
Hilbert didn't show any emotion.
He didn't seem surprised that the police were arresting him.
I was relieved.
It meant a lot to me because I feel like
I fulfilled a promise that we would find him.
[somber music]
- It was a relief knowing that,
here this guy that actually killed Beth
has finally been arrested.
- When he was arrested, I was just so outraged.
I would do everything to avoid looking at his picture.
I didn't want the last face my brother sees--
I didn't want to see that face.
* *
I'm sorry.
* *
- Hilbert Thomas is taken to police headquarters,
where Detective Joe Gaul finally has his chance
to look the suspected killer in the face.
- I said, you know, "We're here to talk to you
"about the stolen car and the murders
of Elizabeth Palmer and Matthew Scott."
Hilbert said, "I don't know anything about a car,
and I don't want to talk anymore."
So that's the only statement we got out of Hilbert.
- He would not answer any questions,
nor would he further cooperate.
So he was then transported to Orange County Jail
and was charged with two counts of murder.
* *
- On January 29th of 2014, five years
after the senseless murders of Matt Scott
and Elizabeth Palmer,
the trial begins in Orange County.
- Dad and I were at the trial every day.
- I got very angry 'cause he was staring me down.
- Seeing him, I'm thinking, boy,
I want to get my hands on this guy.
- Prosecutors present a compelling motive
for the senseless double murder.
- Hilbert Thomas was a guy who was looking
for this aspirational Orange County lifestyle,
and he was working towards it.
- We knew Hilbert Thomas sold high-end realty,
and he was successful.
- And then the recession hits,
and that sort of pulls the rug out
from underneath Hilbert Thomas.
All of a sudden, he's not making sales.
He ends up losing his car.
So as a real estate agent, you need a nice car
to show clients around in these Orange County neighborhoods.
* *
- I believe Hilbert thought the only way that he was gonna
succeed in the high-end real estate business
was to have a nice car.
- Hilbert Thomas was living down the street
from Golden Sun Homes, and he would see
Elizabeth Palmer's Lexus just sitting there.
It's a shining example of what everyone aspires
to have in Orange County.
And then he hatches this crazy scheme.
He's gonna take this car because it's gonna be
the answer to all his problems.
* *
- And according to our forensic firearm experts,
the two cartridges that were located at the crime scene
next to the bodies match Hilbert Thomas' 9-millimeter
Smith and Wesson handgun.
- Well, we wanted the jury to know
Hilbert's 9-millimeter handgun was the gun
that was used in the case.
But it's hard for me to comprehend how someone
could do this over a car.
Hilbert Thomas must have no empathy for human beings.
He must not care about life and death.
- On February 11, 2014, more than five years
after Matt Scott and Elizabeth Palmer were murdered,
a verdict is reached.
- On two counts of murder,
the jury handed down a guilty verdict.
* *
- Hilbert Thomas received a life sentence
without the possibility of parole.
* *
- I was a little teary-eyed.
It's such a long case, and there was so much
work that went into it that when the verdict was read,
I was elated.
- I don't remember any sort of celebration at all.
It was just--it was relief that this is gonna come
to a close and come to an end.
* *
- We try to remember the good things.
Matt was a good guy, and he had a lot of friends.
And he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
And life has to go on.
* *
[somber music]
* *
- I don't know if you've ever heard where people
that have passed away, loved ones
will come visit you in dreams.
* *
The last dream I had of her,
I'm walking down this dirt road.
And way down, I see this silhouette of somebody
walking towards me.
And when it gets close, I realize it's Beth.
And she just stands right in front of me
and smiles with her big blue eyes.
And she showed me, you know, where she was gonna be.
And that put me more at rest,
knowing that everything was okay.
* *