-He had many relationships.
He had a thing for helping damsels in distress.
-I wouldn't say he was a playboy.
♪♪
Well, maybe a little bit.
-After ed bozarth decides
To trade in bachelor life for family life...
-She started taking care of him. He liked it.
-They were living on this boat in key largo.
Living the good life.
-...The honeymoon is cut short
When a body is found on the family's boat...
-The body had been there for roughly a week.
-He knew what death smelled like.
When he smelled that smell, he knew what it was.
...And a lifetime of secrets is unearthed...
-Everybody in the marina [chuckles]
Were aware that they were having an affair.
...To finally reveal...
-We needed a confession, basically.
...A killer relationship.
-People think you come here and you just disappear.
♪♪
-The life of ed bozarth reads like a thrilling novel.
He's got the edge of james dean,
With the swagger of steve mcqueen,
But the only things he's fully committed to
Are flying and sailing.
That, is until ed meets denise morrison black,
A young woman who shares his sense of adventure.
Together, they raise a family
On a cabin cruiser in sunny key largo, florida.
But the permanent vacation comes to an end
When dark secrets rise to the surface
In the summer of 2007.
♪♪
-Monroe county sheriff's office received a call
From gilbert's marina,
About a suspicious foul odor coming from a boat.
Gilbert's is a well-known marina in key largo.
The motel is there, there's the tiki bar,
And then there's the boats.
Many people who have boats at gilbert's
Actually live on those boats.
The man who reported the smell was a key largo firefighter.
He knew what death smelled like,
And when he smelled that smell, he knew what it was.
[ police radio chatter, siren wailing ]
♪♪
-The deputy noted that the smell got stronger
As he approached the rear of the vessel.
There was a bed,
And he lifted up the mattress of that bed
And the board over that engine compartment,
Lifted it up.
Inside the engine compartment
Was a red sail bag.
And they discovered human remains inside that bag.
♪♪
-And the head was wrapped in a towel
That was extremely bloody.
It would be a major story.
-It would be a major story
Because of how unique and how gruesome it was.
There was flies, maggots everywhere.
♪♪
Anytime in south florida, after may,
If you stored a body anywhere but a walk-in freezer,
Like you see in a restaurant, it's gonna decompose quickly.
-The medical examiner on board was estimating
The body had been there for roughly a week.
Patrol deputies
Ran the registration numbers on the boat,
And it was registered to a ed bozarth.
Once we established that,
We strongly suspected
That the remains were those of ed bozarth.
♪♪
-Edward ralph bozarth iii
Is born on August 2, 1944, in central florida.
His parents, a nurse and a musician,
Split up when ed is just a child.
-My grandmother raised my dad
As a single parent, and they were very close.
-My grandmother met a doctor and married him.
And so there was money, and they had a nice house.
They were doing better than average.
They were doing fine.
-As ed grows up, women find his good looks
And strong, silent-type personality irresistible.
-I remember seeing a picture when he was younger,
Standing next to his blue corvette stingray,
And it was definitely a striking statement that he made.
-I wouldn't say he was a playboy.
Well, maybe a little bit.
-He had many relationships.
Some women, he actually married.
Two divorces. We were all from different moms.
So, true bachelor life. [ chuckles ]
-My father couldn't stay in one place
For any length of time.
He just liked to see the world,
And he didn't want to be tied down.
He was a restless soul.
-My dad aspired to be a pilot because it gave him freedom.
It was a passion of his, for sure.
He was in his early 30s when he got his pilot's license.
My father would also transport various goods
From other countries --
Countries that you weren't really supposed to go to
At that time -- cuba, colombia, venezuela.
-He would tell me stories, snippets of missions
That he would do, to fight drugs.
He never really elaborated.
[ seagulls crying ]
-In his 50s, ed finds a new passion.
He trades his love of flying for life on the open seas.
-He started spending a lot of time
Hanging out at a marina in homestead,
And he had a couple of friends that were shrimp-boat captains.
And so he got this crazy idea one day
That that was what he was gonna do.
Who does that?
[ chuckles ]
-Ed goes all-in, even choosing to live on a boat.
But 12 years later, with a body on board,
Did ed bozarth wade into troubled waters?
♪♪
-There was no real indication of a -- of a struggle.
But they noticed that carpet had been taken out.
They used luminol, and they sprayed the area,
And it was determined that there was blood there.
And it had also been determined
That a strong chemical or cleaning fluid
Was used to clean up that area.
-We figured that that's where the actual homicide occurred.
♪♪
We did not find any type of weapon
That we suspected would have been used in this homicide.
[ camera shutter clicks ]
And the investigators on board did notice family photographs.
-They saw wedding photos of ed,
Along with family photographs with two children on the boat.
♪♪
-Until they learn otherwise,
The detectives operate under the assumption
That the body belongs to ed bozarth.
And based on the wedding photos and children's bedding,
It's clear he didn't live alone.
So, where are the others?
Is it possible they're in danger and need help?
Or, worse, is it too late?
♪♪
-I was working on the boat with my dad,
And there was a girl that was hanging around the marina,
That was lookin' for somewhere to be
And somethin' to do.
Her first name was denise.
-Denise was a very hard worker,
And that was one of the things that he liked about her.
-She told me she was fresh from a divorce,
Had two children. She had no custody.
And she told me at the time
That she was interested in getting her life back on track.
-Denise is actually the same age as I am.
So when my father met denise,
She was all of 21 years old and he was near 50.
Then, one night, my dad just said, "I'm dating her now.
That's -- now she's my girlfriend."
And I said, "okay."
I thought he was going through a midlife crisis.
-He had a thing for helping damsels in distress.
I don't think he realized that he needed to be taken care of.
But when she started taking care of him,
He liked it.
They loved each other.
♪♪
-When I heard my father was going to be having a baby,
I was...Stunned.
Surprisingly, he ran off and eloped with denise
And did stay with her, and then cody was born.
Eventually, my father purchased himself a sailboat --
A rather large one --
And he was livin' aboard the boat,
Down in key largo, with denise and with cody.
And then, when their baby ariel came along,
With ariel, as well.
They were in love with each other.
They were living on this boat, living the good life.
He was happy with that.
-In 2005, ed finds himself landlocked
When his beloved mother falls ill.
He takes his entire family to live with her,
Six hours north of the keys.
When ed's mother dies in December,
Ed longs to return with his family to life on the sea.
He uses his inheritance to buy an even larger live-aboard
And heads back to key largo.
Home is a slip at gilbert's marina.
And now ed's home is a crime scene.
♪♪
-A body -- most likely, the body of ed bozarth --
Stuffed in a sail bag, is not just an accidental death.
You have to assume
The rest of the family could be in danger, as well.
-Would the offender, the killer, have a reason
To come after her or their two small children?
The immediate task was to track down family members.
-They needed to make sure that they're safe.
♪♪
-He and denise were having an affair.
-My father told me that he was picking up drugs
And flying them back here.
-Could have been someone sending a message --
A cartel member came back to kill a dea snitch.
-The polygrapher comes out of the room
And says, [laughs] "everything's a lie."
♪♪
♪
-Seven hours after a body believed to be ed bozarth
Is found on his boat in key largo,
Investigators from the monroe county's sheriff's office
Are trying to locate ed's family.
Did something happen to them, as well?
♪♪
-People at marinas like gilbert's do get close.
When you're living in that close proximity,
People are gonna know what you're up to.
-Law enforcement talked to the manager of the marina,
Trying to find them. -He told us
That no one had seen ed bozarth in the last few days, for sure.
-He said denise had left a few days before
And went to her parents' house.
Her two young children had been picked up by her parents
Approximately a week or two before.
-We wanted to confirm this.
-Ed's closest neighbor would have been david campbell.
David campbell's boat was moored directly behind their boat.
-Initially, our approach was that, "yeah,
There's a dead body on the boat,"
But we did not disclose that it was a homicide.
He didn't seem to be too fazed by the presence
Of crime-scene tape and police vehicles and
Cops walking all over the place.
-We didn't mention ed bozarth.
-He'd already determined the body on the boat was ed's.
You might say that's odd.
Dave campbell indicated
That he knew both ed and denise quite well,
That he talked to 'em almost every day.
He said that denise planned on leaving ed,
And she didn't want her kids to be there.
So denise reached out to her parents,
Who lived in defuniak springs, in the panhandle of florida.
The kids were picked up about a week earlier
By the grandparents.
He last saw denise on the Saturday, June 23rd,
When she left the marina.
-Denise had told him
That she was having problems with ed.
That could be a big factor in our investigation.
But then mr. Campbell told us
That ed had a firearm that he kept on the boat.
-When he offers up this information,
We just don't take it for face value.
But we couldn't find a gun.
-We picked up on david campbell's relationship
With ed bozarth as being, uh, nonfriendly.
You could tell he obviously did not like ed.
They did not get along.
-The investigators now have two important leads to follow.
One, there was clearly no love lost
Between ed bozarth and his neighbor david campbell.
And two, it appears that ed and denise were having trouble.
The detectives keep david talking.
-He said that denise complained to him that ed had hit her.
And she showed him a black eye one time.
He seemed to be very close to denise.
So, was he hiding something about his relationship with her?
-Hoping to gain a deeper understanding
Of denise and ed's relationship,
Detectives mark coleman and terry smith
Head north to florida's panhandle.
During the 10-hour drive,
One important question is put to rest.
♪♪
-The medical examiner determined the identity of the body.
He had actually removed the fingers from the body.
And then they inflate them with saline solution.
And from that, they're able to roll the prints.
The fingerprints were that of ed bozarth,
The owner of the boat.
-Obviously, a full autopsy was scheduled.
We wanted to get the cause of death.
♪♪
-When the detectives arrive at denise's parents' home
The next morning, ed's young children
Are just learning the heartbreaking news
Of their father's passing.
-I remember my grandparents -- they just -- you know,
They were just kind of looking at the table.
But my mom was crying.
I sat down, and they told me --
They were like "your father passed away."
I wanted something, you know, to, you know, prove
That he was gone, 'cause as a kid, you know,
You just -- you kind of feel like you still feel them there.
[ clears throat ]
So, I was -- I was really holding on to that.
[ sighs ]
-When we met the family,
The mood of the situation was, uh, really quiet.
We interviewed denise first. She didn't seem nervous.
But she didn't seem overly inquisitive
About what was going on.
I expected a lot more emotion out of her,
And more questions, and we weren't met with that.
It was strange, you know?
-We all grieve differently,
And denise's lack of emotion could be
From the shock of learning about her husband's grisly murder.
And while no marriage is perfect,
Denise and ed were together for 10 years
And share two children.
Surely there were good times.
So, when did things start to go sour?
♪♪
-They were living on a 38-foot sailboat.
Then, my grandmother was sick.
My dad was a very devoted son.
He actually moved his whole family
Into the house with her, to help take care of her.
-Denise had a taste of the good life.
-My grandma had a pool,
She had a nice house, nice neighborhood.
Yeah, denise wanted to live there.
-And then my grandmother passed away December 5, 2005.
-My father was given the option
To continue living in her home for as long as he'd like,
But he wanted to return to living at the sailboat
Down in key largo.
Denise wasn't any too happy about that,
But that was my father's decision.
For someone who's used to living on land,
To be a live-aboard,
They have to make some lifestyle changes.
You don't have a lot of room.
-Living on a boat is a very tough life.
Even basic things like plumbing and electricity,
That's difficult.
-The detectives then change direction
And tread lightly on the subject
Of denise's relationship with ed.
-"david" as in david campbell.
The investigators already sensed
That david and ed had a hostile relationship.
But they want to know if denise thinks there's more to it.
-Learning that david has access to a weapon
Grabs their interest.
But until the full autopsy results come in,
The detectives don't actually know what killed ed.
For now, they'll need to bring david in
For more formal questioning.
And as denise's interview comes to a close,
She catches the investigators off guard.
-There are known cases out there,
Of an informant working for the federal government
Ending up being killed.
It's something that we couldn't deny in this case, or ignore.
-Denise claims to know nothing more
About ed's alleged clandestine flights,
But denise's father, wayne morrison,
Who served 30 years as a florida state trooper,
Just might.
-If that was the story,
It could have been someone sending a message.
Could have been a cartel member
That came back 20 years later to kill a dea snitch.
-The cartel never forgets.
♪♪
♪
-Two days into the investigation of ed bozarth's murder,
The detectives grapple with a mysterious question:
Was ed a former dea informant?
And, if so, did his past come back to haunt him?
The theory might sound far-fetched
In any other place except the florida keys.
-When a lot of people think of south florida,
Miami, the florida keys, they think of
The "cocaine cowboys" days, "miami vice."
But forget about the '70s and '80s.
I mean, the keys have been a haven for smuggling
Since the pirate days. It still does attract people
Who are running away from their past.
People think you come here and you just disappear.
♪♪
-My father told me
That he was subcontracting for the dea,
That he was picking up drugs and flying them back here.
-If he really was an informant for dea,
Maybe that's why he chose to live on a boat
And live off the grid, so to speak.
Maybe he was trying to live a lifestyle
Where he couldn't be tracked.
I have worked other investigations
Where a drug informant is discovered,
And the cartel have killed him,
And have killed him many years later.
-Did ed bozarth meet the same fate?
-One of our narcotics detectives,
He had some connections to the miami office of dea,
So he was reaching out to them on information about ed bozarth.
-The results of the autopsy came in on July 3rd.
Ed had died of blunt trauma to his head.
So he just wasn't hit once.
There were seven blows to his head.
-There were circular marks on the head,
And that led to the conclusion
That it was the end of a hammer
That was used as the murder weapon.
♪♪
-The detectives know what they're looking for.
Now it's a question of where to find it.
The murder weapon could be anywhere,
Including underwater.
-I had my dive-team leader bring the team up
To scour the bottom of that marina,
Around the boat.
-It was 6- to 8-foot deep. It wasn't real deep.
But you have silt,
And anything could have sunken down into the mud.
-No hammer was found, no suspicious object was found
That could be considered a weapon.
-So far, detectives have zero physical evidence
And one possible cartel connection.
But they also need to learn more
About ed's relationship with denise,
And ed's relationship with his neighbor david campbell.
So they head back to the marina.
-We learned that ed bozarth was sort of considered
A cantankerous old man, stayed to himself.
But at one time, he and david campbell
Were pretty close...
Until the rumors started up.
♪♪
-Everybody in the marina [chuckles]
Were aware that denise and david were quite close.
-Our investigation established
That david campbell and denise bozarth
Were having a sexual relationship.
This started after dave campbell's wife died
In December of 2006.
-David campbell failed to mention any of this
To the detectives.
So, did this contentious love triangle turn deadly?
Now the investigators want to know:
What else did david leave out?
♪♪
-On July 5th, we went back and reinterviewed david campbell.
-We were trying to see if he'd slip up
And give an admission
That he and denise were having an affair.
-David campbell denied and said, "no, no."
It's obvious he's not telling the truth.
And so, yes, david campbell was looked at as a suspect.
♪♪
♪
-So far, david campbell is tight-lipped
About his affair with denise bozarth.
But he's not shy about sharing his dislike for ed.
Still, even though david has motive,
Was docked behind ed's boat,
And knew that ed was alone on the night he was murdered,
There's no physical evidence to tie david to the crime.
♪♪
-I didn't find mr campbell credible.
I had suspicions about him from the first moment I met him.
-Investigators wanted to go up
And talk to denise again.
Maybe she would be more willing to tell the truth,
That they were having an affair.
-While detectives gear up for another trip to the panhandle,
Ed's adult children are just now learning the news
Of their father's death,
Five days after his body was found.
-I had gotten an e-mail notification from denise.
Charles was c.C.'d in the same e-mail.
And the subject line simply stated "your dad."
And I click on it,
And it says, "your father is no longer alive.
Sorry about that. Love, denise."
♪♪
And I was stunned. [ sighs ]
-It was very shocking. It was very cold and distant.
-The very first thing that I did
Was to call the monroe county sheriff's department.
"did he have an accident?"
And the detective, he said, "oh, no, this is a homicide."
As ed's family struggles to come to terms
With the news of his passing,
The monroe county sheriff's office
Hears back from their dea contacts
About ed's possible past as a drug informant.
-The dea representatives that we reached out to
Would not confirm that ed had worked
As an informant for the agency.
But they would not deny it either.
We didn't ignore the possibility.
But, say it was a cartel hit.
You would expect a gunshot
When there's something like that.
-When law enforcement sees multiple blows to the head
As cause of death, that does indicate, usually,
It's someone close to the victim,
And it does indicate rage, anger.
So now we're really
Focused in on denise bozarth and david campbell.
-Without proof, however,
The investigators need to find a way forward.
But a critical witness finds them first.
-There was a good friend of denise and ed -- bonnie.
And bonnie lived, for a short period of time,
On the boat, two weeks before his death.
-Bonnie colon came forward.
She saw something online.
It said "ed bozarth dead," and she thought
How terrible that was, and then she said
That, you know, denise had, like,
Kind of talked about horrible things.
-Bonnie specifically revealed
That denise was having an affair with dave campbell
And that she would act as a lookout.
-My grandmother had a rather large trust fund
That was to be inherited upon my father's death.
And certainly, everyone in the family knew it.
-There was this motive that we learned
Why denise might want her husband dead.
-But bonnie doesn't stop there.
-But what about denise and david's claims
That ed was abusive towards denise?
-Talking to this bonnie, we were quite shocked.
And now it's, like,
The investigation gets really focused.
-That tells us that if she were to go on the boat,
She would have discovered a dead body,
And that denise knew that there was a dead body,
Because she was the one that killed ed.
♪♪
-Denise was the only person
Who would have committed this murder.
But the case is circumstantial.
-This case went cold for years.
-Then, new information was revealed.
-This is what we needed.
♪
-10 days after ed bozarth is found beaten to death
On his live-aboard boat, a witness named bonnie
Comes forward with some damning information.
Not only does bonnie provide the investigators
With a potential motive, but she also confirms
Denise's affair with david campbell
And claims that denise talked openly
About wanting to kill ed. With this new lead,
The detectives plan to take another crack at denise,
But this time, with a polygraph.
-Even though the results aren't admissible in court
In a criminal case it's an effective tool.
Oftentimes, we can have a suspect break down
And confess to a crime.
-Denise complies,
But has plenty to say to the examiners
Before the test is even administered.
-She still denied having any relationship --
Any type of sexual relationship --
With david campbell, which is totally inconsistent
With the information that we already had.
-When denise sat down for the polygraph,
I -- I've never seen someone shake so much.
She was very fidgety.
She couldn't sit still at the table,
She had -- her leg was just going.
After she completed the test,
The polygrapher comes out of the room
And says, "I -- everything here indicates she's lying."
We go, "about what? What question?"
"all of them." [ laughs ]
"everything's a lie. Everything she say is a lie."
♪♪
-The results of the polygraph point to denise.
Denise points to david.
So, is it one, the other, or both?
The investigators again turn to the polygraph,
Hoping to get to the truth.
♪♪
-During the polygraph of david campbell,
He's asked four or five different ways,
Was he involved in ed bozarth's murder,
And his answer was, "no, no, no."
And the polygrapher said he's telling the truth.
-The results weren't showing deception
During the actual polygraph, but, then during a break,
He kind of, off the side there, told a female detective
That he was having a sexual relationship
With denise bozarth,
And it had been going on since his wife had died.
-After the polygraph of david campbell,
We really focused in on denise.
-Denise, by all process of elimination,
Was the only person who would have committed this murder.
-I believe denise's motive to kill her husband was the money,
And I think she no longer wanted to be with ed.
-She was just tired of being on that boat.
-But the case is circumstantial.
Police did not recover a murder weapon.
-You can get dna evidence, sure, you know,
But what's that gonna prove, because she lived there.
-Without solid forensic evidence or witnesses
Who can place denise on the boat at the time of the murder,
There's nothing that directly ties her to the crime.
-We got to be able to prove a case
Beyond a reasonable doubt.
Could we do that?
-That's the big question.
Any prosecutor knows,
You only get one shot at a conviction.
And in this case,
The d.A.'s office isn't ready to shoot that shot.
At this point,
They have no choice but to play the long game.
-This case went cold for years without anything happening.
-The family was getting very frustrated.
They felt, in their minds they knew denise had done it.
And they wanted denise prosecuted.
-We just wanted to make sure, you know,
That there wasn't something that could be done
To get these wheels of justice spinning again.
♪♪
-About four years later we had a change in leadership,
And there was just renewed interest among that leadership
To pursue this case again.
-A different detective was assigned to the case,
And new information was revealed
During his follow-up investigation.
-Sometimes time can help you.
Relationships change. And they did go back
And reinterview several of the original witnesses.
Bonnie was reinterviewed.
And in 2011, david campbell was reinterviewed.
He admitted he lied.
He admitted that he didn't tell the truth,
That he was trying to protect denise at that time.
This is much different than original interviews with him.
He's now telling us that denise wanted ed killed;
She's offered him $10,000 to kill ed.
This is what we needed.
♪♪
♪
-Five years after the murder of ed bozarth,
His widow's former lover, david campbell, admits
That denise offered him money to kill ed,
But he refused.
And with that,
The detectives arrest denise on March 15, 2012,
And charge her with first-degree murder.
But will she finally tell the truth?
-We needed a confession, basically, from denise,
Because we still have more questions.
-Only david campbell ever said he saw a black eye.
Nobody else in the marina ever saw
Any signs of physical abuse.
-If denise was abused, it would be hard for me to think
That people wouldn't see it in the marina.
It's such a confined community,
People would see physical markings on her,
People would hear the fights,
And no one reported to law enforcement
Hearing that or seeing anything.
-She did say that she woke up
And saw ed standing over her with a gun.
She felt fear for her life,
And grabbed a hammer that was nearby,
Ready to defend herself.
-Her story didn't fit the autopsy.
All the blows were to the back of the head.
We believed that he was in bed and was sound asleep
At the time of the attack.
And no gun was ever found on the boat.
-She told police that she had taken the gun
To a pawnshop in defuniak springs.
And police were never able to find any evidence
That that gun was pawned by denise at any pawnshop.
And there was never a gun registered to ed.
-I believe this was a premeditated murder.
Everything showed she was lying.
♪♪
-Heading into trial, ed's family
Hopes for two things: A confession and closure.
But that's not what they get.
-Two months away from the trial,
There was a major development in the case.
The defense filed a motion to suppress her confession,
Based on her representing to the police
That she wanted to speak to an attorney.
-The defense's position was that all questioning
Should cease at that point, stating that it was in violation
Of her fifth amendment right to seek counsel.
-She asked for an attorney, and they kept interviewing her.
-The judge ruled that the confession was inadmissible.
-The d.A. Came to me and explained,
The chances of winning a trial were slim.
And I told him,
"if you need to do a plea deal, do a plea deal."
-The state and defense reached an agreement
By which denise would plead
To the crime of second-degree murder
And be imprisoned for 14 years.
♪♪
-With her taking a plea deal,
I didn't get to give a victim-impact statement.
I didn't think it would affect me,
But it did.
-In 2014, denise bozarth
Is sentenced to 14 years in prison,
But she only serves 10.
On February 6, 2024, she goes free.
The investigators believe denise acted alone,
And david campbell is never charged
In ed bozarth's death.
-I don't know where denise is right now.
I hope that she's changing her ways, if you will.
-Denise came up with some pretty wild stories.
Like, she'd put makeup on her eye
And then try to say that, you know,
My dad, like, beat her.
We just started believing those stories,
And [sighs] that's --
I-I have quite a bit of guilt for that.
There was no abuse going on.
♪♪
-My father was a maverick.
He was a complex man,
Complicated, secretive, charismatic.
But he was an honest man.
-I'm always on the water,
Because that's just where I can feel close to him
And where I feel like, you know, I'm --
[sighing]
[voice breaking] where I'm making him proud.
♪♪
-Ed bozarth lived large and on his own terms.
He hoped he'd found someone
To share his dream of living on the water,
But denise didn't have the same aspirations.
She thought she found a way out, but in the end,
It was ed who paid the price in this killer relationship.