narrator: A promising young college student is executed
in the middle of the night...
[gunshots]
- There were 18 shots fired at this vehicle.
Somebody was out to get Darius Bottoms that night.
- One of the bullets hit the victim's forehead,
causing his death.
narrator: And detectives grow concerned
as they examine the motive behind the murder.
- Darius's grandparents are well-known
in the Atlanta area.
- Darius could have been a collateral murder
to send a political message to his aunt,
who was running for the mayor's office.
narrator: But as they piece
their investigative leads together...
- Out of the blue, we get a phone call
from our ballistics lab.
So now that we have this pistol,
we have something to run with.
It just breaks the case wide open.
narrator: Making this murder a bigger tragedy
than they could have ever imagined.
- If you wanted a poster child for Atlanta,
it would have been Darius.
- Darius Bottoms, unfortunately,
was caught in the middle.
[gunshots]
And ultimately, it cost Darius his life.
[dramatic music]
* *
[sirens wailing]
[hip-hop music]
* *
narrator: Since the 1900s, Georgia's seats in Congress
have been mostly dominated by conservatives.
But the mayor's office of Atlanta
couldn't be more different.
The city's first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson,
was elected in 1973.
And over the next 40 years, the city's top office
was held by Democratic African Americans.
- In 2014, Atlanta was continuing to just be
this political hotbed.
Everyone all across the country was
watching what was happening in Georgia
and specifically in Atlanta.
narrator: That same year, Democrat Kasim Reed
is sworn in for his second term
as Atlanta's 59th mayor.
- He came on the heels of Shirley Franklin
who came on the heels of Andy Young
who came on the heels of Maynard Jackson.
narrator: Hopeful that movement can continue,
Reed taps a close ally
to become the city's 60th mayor:
city council member and rising star
Keisha Lance Bottoms.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms comes from a history of Atlantans
that have kind of been very prominent
here in the city throughout the years.
Her popularity here in the city was tremendous.
- In 2014, she was on the Atlanta city council.
But not only politically was she very involved.
She was also very involved civically with her sorority,
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated,
the largest Black Greek sorority in the world.
Very active in her church.
So Keisha Lance Bottoms was someone
that many people from various walks of life in Atlanta,
they knew who she was.
narrator: But as Keisha ramps up her run for mayor,
her family is shaken by a devastating tragedy.
At 4:00 a.m. on June 13th, 911 receives multiple calls
reporting shots fired in front of an apartment building
on Legacy Drive,
one block from the prestigious Morehouse College.
narrator: Atlanta police and EMS race to the scene...
[sirens wailing]
And find a silver Hyundai with a Black male
in the driver's seat.
- There were 18 shots fired at this vehicle.
[gunshots]
And so that says that the manner
in which this was carried out was not accidental.
[dramatic music]
- One of the bullets went through the windshield
of the car and hit the victim's forehead,
causing his death.
narrator: The only witness is 18-year-old Jared Robinson,
who identifies the victim as 19-year-old Darius Bottoms.
- What struck everyone almost immediately
was the young guy's name, Bottoms.
[camera shutters clicking]
- It became known pretty quickly
that Darius Bottoms was related
to the potential mayoral candidate
Keisha Lance Bottoms, inasmuch as he was her nephew.
That prominence and that connection to that family
gave this case a real high-profile status.
narrator: With the pressure on,
investigators speak to Jared about the incident.
- Jared Robinson explained that he was actually
sitting in the car next to Darius Bottoms
at the time he was actually shot and killed.
narrator: Meanwhile, CSI begins processing the scene.
- With this crime scene, there were 18 spent
9-millimeter shell casings recovered.
- When you recover shell casings at a crime scene,
those ballistics that were recovered on the scene
determine what gun fired those projectiles
and then cross-reference
on if that matches a specific scene or not
that you already have.
narrator: Police impound Darius's vehicle
for further processing.
His body is also collected by the medical examiner
for autopsy.
- The ballistic evidence that's recovered on the scene
as well as the ballistic evidence
that will be recovered at autopsy of Darius Bottoms
and then the ballistic evidence that will be recovered
from the processing of the vehicles,
all of that is taken to the state crime lab.
narrator: Investigators are now tasked
with the unenviable assignment
of delivering the devastating news
to Darius's parents.
[somber music]
* *
- I got a call that Darius had been shot.
So I instantly go into, "Okay.
"Well, is he talking?
Are they taking him to the hospital?"
And he's just like, "No."
- I just jumped in my car and just rushed away,
because I'm worried.
I pull up.
I see a whole bunch of commotion,
police everywhere.
And I pretty much kind of knew at that point
when I got there that it didn't look good.
- I don't remember any of the words that were spoken,
but I'm quite sure they told me
that he had passed away on the scene.
I just remember sitting on the curb and just crying.
* *
narrator: Darius's parents are devastated
that in the city they love, their son was murdered.
- Darius was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
He attended Atlanta Metropolitan State College,
where he was majoring in business.
He was very caring and concerning
when it came to his grandparents.
They were up in age, so he felt like it was his responsibility
to check on them and run their errands
and things like that.
The Bottoms are philanthropists
and community-driven type of people,
and they're well-known.
His grandmother, she was a educator for over 40 years.
She was, like, popular in the Atlanta area.
She had a personality that everyone just loved,
and I think that Darius also got that from his grandmother.
- Darius was just cool, laid-back.
He was known for that.
He just was an all-around good kid.
- If you wanted a poster child for Atlanta,
it would have been Darius.
[indistinct radio chatter]
narrator: It doesn't take long for the chaotic scene
to catch the attention of local news media.
- The city of Atlanta mourns
with our councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Her nephew Darius was gunned down
and killed tonight in his car.
- As a journalist, we heard about the shooting
of this young kid.
Initially, it sounded as if it was
some sort of a professional hit.
[dramatic music]
No one could quite figure out what had happened to this kid
who had so much promise.
narrator: Although the investigation
has barely begun,
detectives are already under intense stress
to find the killer.
- Certainly with the family clamoring
for some kind of results--
you know, this family was hurting bad.
The city was hurting badly, and people wanted answers.
He had a reputation for being an outstanding young man,
a person who was never in any trouble,
and the circumstances surrounding his murder
were very perplexing.
So everyone associated with the case
felt a different kind of external pressure
in order to bring about a solution
to this horrible crime.
* *
- The first shot-- [glass shatters]
The glass splattering.
I'm thinking, what the hell is going on?
- There was just no place for him to go.
- With any investigation, you have to look at,
why did this event take place?
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
[gunshots]
narrator: At 4:00 a.m. on June 13, 2014,
Darius Bottoms was found dead
after his car was riddled with bullets.
Later that morning, Detective Brett Zimbrick
is ready to question the only surviving witness,
Jared Robinson.
- Jared Robinson agreed to give us
a layout of how it happened
and where they were when it happened.
Because in any investigation,
you have to look at every available possibility as to,
why did this event take place?
What was put in motion for it to take place
at this time and at this location?
So in this particular case,
you've got somebody sitting in the front seat of the car
with the individual that ends up being shot and killed.
narrator: Zimbrick asks Jared to describe what happened.
- At the time of the shooting,
Darius was leaving a friend's house.
They had been playing video games for a few hours.
And he was giving a ride to Jared Robinson.
- Darius's car is parked on the street,
so we're walking across the street to his car.
And then we pull out of the parking spot,
and we stop and we make eye contact
with this individual that's in the middle of the street.
And me and Darius were like, "Do you know who that is?"
And then Darius says, "No."
- Darius immediately placed his car in reverse
and tried to back out.
Unfortunately, there was just no place for him to go.
- And then the first shot,
it makes contact with the windshield.
[glass shatters]
And I just remember the glass splattering.
My vision is impaired, and I'm not sober.
I could just hear shots coming consistently.
So I'm thinking, what the hell is going on?
I got out of the car
and I immediately do a sprint to the fence.
[gunshots]
I just jumped over it,
and all my belongings fell out.
But I knew I had to get over that fence in order to live.
So at this point, I didn't even know
if Darius had got out the car or what happened.
narrator: Jared explains that in the chaos,
he had no idea how many people were shooting at them,
only that he ran back
to their friend Kilo's apartment.
- And then Kilo went down and confirmed Darius was dead.
I'm just thinking, like, what just happened?
- The first thought was just a random attempt
at a carjacking--based solely on the time of day,
the location-- that didn't get to be that
because Darius was, at that point, smart enough
to back up and move away.
narrator: While police suspect this may have been
an attempted carjacking,
there's still vital information
they're hoping to get from their key witness.
- Obviously, Jared's in the passenger's seat
at the time of the shooting,
so did Jared see who was in the intersection?
- I wear contacts, but that one night
that I didn't have my contacts in
was the night that I really needed them
to see the shooter.
[gunshots]
- Jared indicated that he didn't know
who that person was, hadn't seen him.
The lack of leads in this case
obviously was very frustrating.
Because you want to be able to answer the big questions,
who, what, where, when, and why?
narrator: With little more
than blurry details from Jared,
investigators speak with the individuals
he claims were at the apartment
but still come up empty.
- We don't have a motive.
We can assume that it's a possible carjacking attempt,
or we can assume that it's a possible robbery attempt,
but we had nothing as to why this happened.
narrator: Thankfully, results from the ballistics lab
quickly help sharpen the picture.
- The Atlanta Police Department's ballistics lab
told us that there were
two different Jimenez 9-millimeter pistols
involved in this incident,
12 being fired by one gun and 6 being fired by another.
- There were two different shooters
using two different guns.
And so Darius is literally caught in a crossfire.
And so it was very clear to me
that this was a very intentional murder.
Somebody was out to get Darius Bottoms that night.
narrator: With this new evidence,
detectives eliminate carjacking and robbery
as motives for the shooting.
As investigators look into what made Darius a target,
another terrifying theory begins to circulate
through the homicide office.
- Detectives looked at whether or not it was possible
that Darius could have been a collateral murder
to kind of send a political message
to his aunt, who was very prominently running
for the mayor's office.
- The name, obviously, is synonymous
with Atlanta politics.
- For Keisha Lance Bottoms, crime turned
from a bureaucratic discussion to the real thing.
- This is the first time in eight years
that there was an open seat for that mayor's position.
Keisha was primed to take over that leadership role.
narrator: Detectives investigate
a list of potential suspects
who may have been opposing Keisha in the political arena
or who might have a vendetta against the Bottoms family.
- But we were not able to find evidence
that the murder of Darius Bottoms
had had anything to do with Atlanta politics.
narrator: As investigators hit another dead end,
Darius's family mourns his death
and celebrates his life.
- I just remember he had a packed funeral
full of friends and family and his coworkers,
and my coworkers.
[somber music]
- This was, you know, a last goodbye to Darius.
It just didn't seem real.
* *
- I was in a--
a surreal type of fog.
I know what's going on and I know what we're doing,
but I had to repeatedly tell myself that that was real.
Like, that actually happened.
So yeah.
[clears throat]
- Honestly, it was just all a blur.
A tremendous loss.
* *
[dramatic music]
narrator: Even after Darius is laid to rest,
there are still no answers as to who killed him or why.
- Atlanta City Council and City Hall
are demanding justice for Darius Bottoms,
who was murdered a block away from Morehouse College.
- Darius had a lot of big dreams
when it came to what he wanted to do for his community.
I couldn't see him being nowhere else but Atlanta.
So I was just thinking, you know,
why would something so drastic happen to us?
narrator: Although Darius was a beloved son and nephew
to mayoral hopeful Keisha Lance Bottoms,
detectives must examine if Darius was involved
with dangerous friends, making him a target.
- You know, everything's on the table.
Is Darius involved in gangs?
Is he involved in drugs?
That's something that you look into.
It doesn't mean that he is guilty of anything
other than being a victim of a crime,
but that's something that every detective--
it crosses your mind.
[siren wailing]
[dramatic music]
narrator: The Atlanta homicide team is investigating
the shooting death of Darius Bottoms.
With no credible leads,
the team is looking into the possibility
that Darius was killed for hanging out with a bad crowd.
- The location where the actual shooting occurred
sits right in the heart of a part of town
that is known as having lots of gang traffic,
and there is a question of whether or not
Darius was participating in any gang activity.
narrator: Detectives speak
with Darius's family and friends
to get more details about his personal life.
- Darius was just a all-around good kid.
Like, I never really had issues with Darius
in school or his behavior or not listening to his parents
or anything like that.
- He was well-mannered.
He was compassionate and empathetic
for people that were less fortunate than himself.
And people were looking forward to seeing
how his life would ultimately turn out
when his life was tragically cut short.
- I know for sure that Darius didn't have no enemies
because he was just such a lovable person.
narrator: Despite his flawless reputation,
detectives need to make sure Darius wasn't hiding anything
from his friends and family.
So investigators tap Atlanta's gang unit
to assist with the investigation.
- From what I gathered through my investigations,
Darius Bottoms was a good kid.
I never had anything of him throwing up gang signs
or anything like that.
I didn't find any evidence that would prove
that he was associated or he was a part of a gang.
- He is a recent high school graduate.
He is currently enrolled in college.
He has a job at the Home Depot.
He has a brand-new car that he's paying for.
If everybody had a 19- or 20-year-old Darius Bottoms,
we wouldn't have the crime rate that we had at that time.
Darius was the kind of kid you wished everybody had.
This case was frustrating.
It was a decent kid that gets killed over something
that we have no idea what it is.
There is no motive for it.
So we're basically chasing everything we possibly can
and every lead we possibly can.
But sometimes they just dry up,
and you just have to wait for the next big break.
narrator: But when the victim is related
to the city's political elite,
law enforcement can't just sit around and wait.
- In Atlanta, all homicide cases
are looked at very seriously.
Certainly, in this case, that urgency
and that pressure goes up tenfold
because of not only who is involved
but the manner in which it occurred.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms wanted everyone to know
that this was family.
This was someone she loved.
This was her nephew.
And I think that she cared very much
about making sure that the crime was solved.
- I wouldn't be surprised if the mayor made a phone call
to the chief of police and said, "Hey,
you need to crack this case."
narrator: A month after Darius's death,
investigators are chasing any and all leads,
but it's slow going.
- As the investigation just kind of staggers forward,
there's nothing really for us to follow up on.
We're just continuing to talk to people
if anybody has any information.
narrator: Days turn to weeks.
And while the homicide team works
around the clock scrounging for leads,
the case stalls.
Then, three months after Darius's death,
detectives get information that changes everything.
[phone rings]
- Out of the blue in September, we get a phone call
from our ballistics lab.
And they tell us that eight days
after the Darius Bottoms homicide,
an individual is arrested
with a Jimenez 9-millimeter pistol.
- After testing, experts determine
that that in fact was one of the handguns used
to shoot at and kill Darius Bottoms.
narrator: Zimbrick learns that the suspect,
18-year-old David Wallace, is already in custody.
- So now that we have this pistol and the suspect,
now we have something to run with.
So now we can immediately focus on David Wallace.
So at that point,
we're obviously at a very high high
as to being able to put it all together.
* *
- Security footage is one of the best pieces of evidence
that you can have, as the camera is
telling you what happened.
- We start circulating photographs of this woman.
A uniformed officer reaches out and says,
"Hey, I know who that is."
[gunshots]
This is just--
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: Three months after the nephew
of mayoral candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms
is gunned down in cold blood,
Atlanta detectives finally have a promising lead.
18-year-old David Wallace has just been arrested
for possession of a stolen gun,
which happens to be one of the guns
used to kill Darius Bottoms.
- The pistol had been recovered,
and it's as they run a serial number on the computer
and the computer tells them that it was actually stolen
in an armed robbery in Clayton County
the day before Darius Bottoms was shot and killed.
narrator: The gun was reported stolen from a woman
who had just purchased it at a pawn shop
on June 12, 2014.
- The robbery in Clayton County
happens on the 12th of June at 6:00 or 7:00 at night.
And then 4:00 in the morning,
Darius Bottoms is shot with that same gun.
So within six hours, seven hours of actually getting
possession of the gun, somebody uses it
to shoot Darius Bottoms.
- Ballistics evidence is kind of like fingerprints.
It's unique and can be very specifically traced
back to the source of the gun that actually fired it.
In this case, the ballistics evidence
proved to be critical.
narrator: Zimbrick needs to question the suspect
that has been arrested for the gun theft.
- David Wallace is currently in the Fulton County Jail.
So we decide we're gonna go over
and check him out of the jail, interview him,
and take David Wallace back
to the actual scene of the Darius Bottoms homicide
and park right in the intersection
and with him in the back seat.
narrator: Detectives suspect
Wallace isn't telling the truth,
but they don't have enough evidence to prove it.
So they turn their attention to the murder weapon.
- The investigation now takes us to Clayton County,
the robbery case that they're working
of the pistol in the parking lot
of the Arrowhead Pawn Shop.
We've made contact with the victim of the gun robbery
and speak to this individual.
She indicated that she was with her friend
purchasing a firearm.
As they walk out of the pawn shop,
car pulls up, individual steps out
with a pistol pointed at the girl and says,
"Give me the gun you just bought."
So she gives up her Jimenez 9-millimeter pistol,
which eventually turns out to be one of the firearms
used hours later.
narrator: Investigators show the robbery victim
a photo lineup that includes suspect David Wallace,
but she is unable to make a positive ID.
- Now we're interested in the recovery
of the video surveillance from inside the pawn shop.
- Security footage is
one of the best pieces of evidence that you can have.
It's one thing to tell a story, but to actually see it helps.
Basically paints the picture to the T
where I don't have to say anything.
The camera is telling me what happened.
narrator: If detectives can
place Wallace at the pawn shop,
they can tie him directly to the gun robbery.
- We are able to plainly see on the video
inside the store
David Wallace with another male and a female.
She has a very bright red dye in her hair,
which makes her stand out.
narrator: Law enforcement now has concrete proof
linking David Wallace and two unknown accomplices
to the gun robbery, which means they had access
to one of Darius's murder weapons
shortly before the shooting.
- So we have David Wallace.
He's a very strong suspect in the Darius Bottoms homicide.
And we still don't have a motive,
but we're excited about where we're at in the investigation.
narrator: Thanks to the video footage,
detectives now have images of their suspects.
Since David Wallace isn't talking,
they focus on the other two individuals.
First, they zero in on the young woman.
- So we then start circulating
photographs of this woman.
Within hours of sending it out through channels
within the police department, a uniformed officer
reaches out and says, "Hey, I know who that is."
* *
[gunshot]
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: Three months after Darius Bottoms was
shot and killed,
Atlanta homicide detectives have linked one of the guns
to a robbery at a pawn shop in the area.
- Once we circulated the photograph of the female
from the robbery in Clayton County,
a uniformed officer calls us and says
the female on the video is Kareasha Washington.
And with that information, we're able to get an address.
We then proceed to the address
and speak to the aunt of Kareasha Washington.
She says that Kareasha has left town
because there was a drive-by shooting
and the house had been hit by gunfire.
Kareasha believed it was aimed at her,
and she decided that she was going
to leave town because of it.
narrator: The shooting raises red flags for detectives,
making it more urgent that they locate Kareasha.
And as weeks go by, pressure also builds
from City Hall to find answers.
- When it's a high-profile case,
it does give a time clock
in the sense of the pressure.
- Police were trying to make their case.
And the fact that the last name was Bottoms,
it got a lot of media coverage.
narrator: Despite the frantic search,
the team can't locate Kareasha.
And without her, David Wallace and the other unknown suspect
can't be charged with Darius's murder.
Then, a month later,
Zimbrick gets an unexpected call.
- Kareasha was given the contact information
for the homicide office by her grandmother.
Another detective called me and said that he received
a phone call from Kareasha Washington.
Kareasha indicated that she was in Florida.
The detective said, "Well, that's funny,
I'm in Florida on a different case."
And he invited Kareasha to lunch.
She agreed.
Later, I come out of court and turn my phone on,
and there's a message from the detective in Florida.
I immediately call him back.
- Kareasha Washington confessed
to actually participating
in the murder of Darius Bottoms.
- Kareasha doesn't know who the victim is
but is able to identify who is in the car with her
at the Darius Bottoms homicide.
She indicates it's David Wallace
and two individuals that she knows as Slug and Shooter.
- Kareasha Washington gave us the critical lead
in this case, which was the identity of people
who was actually at the scene.
- We now have what we consider to be a cooperating witness.
This is just--
I mean, it just breaks the case wide open.
narrator: With Kareasha Washington,
the getaway driver, cooperating
and David Wallace in custody,
investigators now must track down
the alleged triggermen, Slug and Shooter.
- We're able to enter those nicknames into a database
with the Atlanta Police Department,
and the database produces names
associated with those nicknames.
Slug is identified as Rashad Barber,
and Shooter is identified as Ryan Bowdery.
narrator: To confirm these young men
are Slug and Shooter,
investigators ask Kareasha to identify them.
- We were able to get pictures of both Slug and Shooter
and get her to identify them as the individuals
responsible for the death of Darius Bottoms.
narrator: While detectives now have the suspects' names,
they still have no motive for the murder.
Investigators need to find out
why they would want Darius Bottoms dead.
- Kareasha, after her lunch date,
she continues to provide information
as we request it from her.
- We call Kareasha Washington,
and she said Darius Bottoms ultimately was
a victim of mistaken identity.
- Darius and Jared weren't the targets.
Darius and Jared
were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The shooting was mistaken identity.
narrator: Kareasha explains that the night before
Darius was killed, Barber's stepfather was shot
and severely injured in front of his house.
Barber believed the shooter was driving
a light-colored Hyundai.
- And they saw that the vehicle
that Darius was driving
matched the description of that vehicle.
They immediately targeted the vehicle for that.
- This one is one of those that if you look
at the circumstances and the excuses
that were given as to why
these kids committed this crime,
it baffles me.
First off, it's a misidentification
of a car.
Darius's car resembled a car
that was involved in a shooting that resulted
in one of these individuals' stepfather being shot.
In their mind, they're allowed to shoot at it
to retaliate to what they believed was a wrong.
- So it could have been anybody.
It could have been myself, if I had that style of vehicle.
- Darius Bottoms unfortunately was caught in the middle,
literally and figuratively.
[gunshots]
And ultimately, it cost Darius his life.
- The fact that it was young kids
who were alleged to have committed this crime,
it was just--
it was really hard to even fathom.
And Atlanta police wanted to make sure
that they got these killers off the street.
[dramatic music]
* *
narrator: After a five-month-long investigation,
Atlanta detectives finally have a motive
for Darius Bottoms' murder.
[gunshots]
- Darius and Jared were in the wrong vehicle
in the wrong area, and it was determined
that it was a mistaken identity.
narrator: Now investigators have to focus
on getting the suspects off the streets
before anyone else gets hurt,
or worse, another innocent bystander is murdered.
- So this is noteworthy because, yes,
it is the nephew of the mayor-elect.
If it can happen to her family, whose can it not happen to?
- With the culmination
of all of the physical evidence,
as well as the statement of a participant,
Kareasha Washington, we were able to obtain arrest warrants
for both Bowdery and Barber
for the murder of Darius Bottoms.
Wallace was also charged, but he was already in jail.
narrator: 16-year-old Rashad Barber is in custody
at a youth detention center for an unrelated crime.
Now he's also charged with murder.
Weeks later, 20-year-old Ryan Bowdery
is also apprehended and charged with murder.
- Kareasha Washington also gets arrested,
but we believed that her testimony would be
extremely important in this investigation
and in this trial, if it came to trial.
narrator: In exchange for her cooperation at trial,
Kareasha is granted immunity for Darius's murder.
- After we spoke with Zimbrick and got clarity
on what actually happened, it enraged me
to the point where I just--
I wanted to fight.
I'm just being honest.
Like, it was emotionally traumatic.
narrator: The trial takes place in December of 2017,
over three years after Darius was killed.
By this point, Darius's aunt, Keisha Lance Bottoms,
is Atlanta's mayoral-elect and is scheduled
to get sworn in as the 60th mayor
the following year.
- Prosecutors have charged Rashad Barber, Ryan Bowdery,
and David Wallace with the murder of Bottoms,
the nephew of an Atlanta city councilwoman.
- One of the things that you have to always be mindful of
is that you are representing
the family of someone who has lost their life.
And there's no greater obligation
that I feel than to bring a sense of accountability
to the people who are responsible for the murder
of your loved one.
- During the trial, it was a packed courtroom.
As I looked around, you could see
Darius Bottoms' family was there.
Even the newly-elected mayor,
Keisha Lance Bottoms, was there.
And she was there in that courtroom every day.
Not just as a mayor.
She was really there as an auntie.
- I just remember it was torture
going to court every day,
in the same room with some people
you know who killed your child and trying
to have the strength not to do something crazy
in the courtroom.
- During the time of this trial,
I called Kareasha Washington to the witness stand.
And she absolutely froze up.
She refused to really participate
and cooperate fully.
And she was doing this deliberately
in an attempt to aid and assist her codefendants.
And so we accepted the fact
that Kareasha would be a hostile witness.
And we took a very, very different tact.
And we would actually play for the jury the interview
that Detective Quinn conducted with her.
narrator: The jurors listen to the detective's conversation
with Kareasha, where she IDs everyone
involved in Darius's murder.
And the strategy pays off.
- The jury was able to reach a unanimous decision
and convicted defendants Barber, Bowdery,
and Wallace of murder.
And each one of them received a life sentence.
- For a family that suffered such loss,
perhaps they can hold on, at least,
to the prosecution's win in court.
- After the verdict was read, there was a press conference.
And all of the family members, they were there,
and they were so relieved
that finally someone was going to be held responsible
for the loss of Darius.
And you could just see the anguish,
because they knew that the trial was over,
but really, their grieving had just started.
[somber music]
- Well, Darius was the glue in the family.
He was always the positive one.
It's affected us tremendously.
- Just miss his smile. Just miss him.
Everything.
I just miss his--his wisdom.
It's hard to just move forward after something like that,
you know, so I just try to push forward, like he--
he would want me to.
He wouldn't want me to miss a beat.
* *
- Darius would be 27 now.
Probably have a couple kids.
Definitely would be a business owner.
He would be doing great things out here,
if he was here today.
We just miss him, so I'm going to make sure
that we always remember him.
I'm just always trying to make sure
that he's not forgotten.
* *