(tense music)
- [Narrator] Every suspect accused of a crime
has the right to remain silent.
Many agree to be interrogated anyway,
but they can stop the interview at any moment,
making it a race against time.
Justice hangs in the balance.
(tense music)
- I got a phone call from my sergeant at the time
and he told us we had a missing priest.
And when he told me who it was,
it kinda set me back on my heels a little bit.
(haunting music)
- We made contact with the person
who cleaned his apartment, and patrol deputies went inside
the apartment with her and he was not there.
I noticed there were some couple drawers
that were pulled out.
There was mail everywhere.
There was food on the kitchen counter,
which appeared that somebody may have taken a bite or two
and kinda just left it there.
- There was no obvious signs of a struggle.
There was no blood.
So, it looked like he could have just up and left.
(soft haunting music)
- Father Rene was very prominent in St. Augustine,
which is a town with a very large Catholic population.
He had retired from the full-time priesthood,
but still did services and different functions
for the church.
- It'd been several days that no one,
even very close individuals, had not heard from him.
- The Catholic church told us about Father Rene missing
several appointments, which was very out of character.
- It's like he fell off the face of the Earth.
- My brother was a saint.
He always said he was gonna be a priest someday.
He loved helping people.
I remember when he came home and said to my mother
and father, "I wanna teach the deaf."
And then he eventually wanted to teach the blind too.
My brother saw the potential in so many people,
and they were your family, no matter who they were.
Sometimes I used to think he carried the world
on his shoulders,
because he just wanted so much to make people happy.
- [Reporter] Amy Law says her family expected Father Rene
to do the prayer service for her 88-year-old grandfather
Monday night.
- [Amy] Very sad, and we'd like answers.
- [Reporter] The next morning, the priest didn't make it
to the funeral home either,
and a military chaplain had to step in.
- Definitely had a sinking feeling.
- [Reporter] Since then, fears about what happened
to Father Rene have grown.
(soft tense music)
- She told the detectives that Father Rene
had become involved with individuals that were trouble,
per se, that had been in jail.
He always tried to actually help 'em recover,
get on the right path.
And Father Rene was trying to help Steven
with drug addiction and drug use.
(soft haunting music)
(siren blares)
- We're talking, he's doing 115, 120 miles an hour on I-95.
It's a high-stress situation.
(siren wails)
- We knew that it was not Father Rene driving.
He would never flee from a traffic stop.
(siren wails)
- We got close enough to see there was a white male
individual in the driver's seat,
but we could not identify him.
- We suspected the driver may be Steven Murray,
but we were not sure a hundred percent.
- It was a little bit frustrating and upsetting.
Whoever was driving the car
was a critical piece of the puzzle
for us to be able to get to where Father Rene was.
(soft tense music)
Bobby was there by himself.
We told him, "Listen, we need to figure out where Steven is.
We need to talk to him."
Bobby said, "I can't help you in finding him."
While we were at his father's residence,
Steven contacted Bobby Murray on the phone
and told him that he was running from the police.
Steven said, "Well, I just outran multiple deputies."
The officer spoke with him and told him
he needed to turn himself in.
Now, we just have to find him.
(deep suspenseful music)
- As an investigator, you're a little conflicted
on trying to expedite and get as much information as you can
as quickly as possible.
There were some things that I would've liked
to have confront Bobby Murray on,
but we wanted to make sure that we kept him talking
and that we didn't give him a reason to be offended
or terminate the interview.
(tense music) (clock ticking)
We were working against the clock
as far as Father Rene's wellbeing goes.
There was still a hope that we would be able
to bring Father Rene home alive.
We really felt like that Bobby was gonna be the key
to unlocking this investigation.
(soft dramatic music)
(tense music)
- I got a call from detective and he said,
"Father Rene, he's missing, and people are very worried."
(tense music)
I was so scared for him, I don't, I had this feeling,
I was just so scared for him.
(slow haunting music)
(tense music)
- After talking to Bobby Murray for a period of time,
it seemed futile, and he was just eating away at the clock.
If he had information,
it was pretty clear he wasn't gonna share it with us.
Blood is thicker than water.
It seemed like he would do everything he could
to protect his son.
(deep suspenseful music)
- [Reporter] This is exclusive video of Father Rene's family
leaving the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office,
after getting an update on the search
for the missing priest.
They told me they didn't wanna go into detail,
but they appeared disappointed and frustrated.
(mysterious music)
(tense music)
(dogs bark)
- They had tracked the phone to a sparsely-populated,
heavily-wooded area.
SWAT starts working down this fire break in the woods,
searching for Steven,
and they come upon Father Rene's vehicle.
As they're approaching,
they find Steven Murray behind the wheel.
Steven apparently sees some motion or light
in his rear view mirror, starts the car up and takes off.
- However, he ended up crashing and running away
from the vehicle.
(suspenseful music)
- So he has fled into, basically the jungle.
(deep tense music)
- We thought maybe Father Rene is in the trunk
of that vehicle.
When they approached and looked,
Father Rene was not in there.
(suspenseful music)
At that point, we suspected that something bad had happened
to Father Rene, but we did not know.
We wanna bring him back home, either alive or deceased.
Finding Steven and capturing him alive was a priority.
(tense suspenseful music)
- Just to know that he could kinda be lurking above,
kinda in the tree canopy is a pretty scary scenario.
After several hours of kinda keeping constant pressure
and perimeter on this area, working it with teams,
dogs, and helicopters,
we kinda catch a break, and finally Steven comes down.
(dramatic music)
I think it was very tiring on Steven,
and I think he just ran outta wind.
Fortunately, he didn't have a weapon with him at the time,
and he was forced to concede and surrender.
(haunting music)
- Steven Murray was originally from Aiken County,
South Carolina.
We have a history with this guy.
My experience in dealing with Steven, anytime,
especially an overbearing male figure
moved in aggressively towards him,
Steven would automatically put that wall up
and he would shut down, and eventually he's gonna lawyer up.
- My first and major concern, as everybody's,
was for the safety of Father Rene.
That's priority. Where is he? Is he safe?
But time starts to become our enemy.
And Steven was the only person above ground
who knew where Father Rene was.
He was the only person.
(dramatic music)
(tense music)
- It's easy to have conversation while you're eating food,
takes some of the pressure off.
Also, that releases some chemicals in their body,
especially if they haven't had any of that in a while.
Sometimes makes 'em a little bit more talkative.
- At that point after eating, we knew he was settled.
He was ready to go.
He knows that now, we're going to start
getting into some questioning,
in more of a confrontational way.
- We had been talking to him for such a long time
and we were going in circles.
- He's giving non-specific answers. His defenses are up.
I don't think we're getting anywhere.
So, I felt like we need to push it a little bit harder.
It's kind of a make it or break it part of that interview
'cause all Steven's gotta do is say, "I want my lawyer."
(dramatic music)
(soft tense music)
You wanna get a cigarette?
(mysterious music)
- You can see by his attitude he was going to shut down
and not talk to us anymore.
But you cannot give up.
(deep tense music)
- Our job during this interview, get him talking,
keep him talking.
I was not there to get the confession,
it was to make sure that I left the door open
for a another investigator at another time.
- You can watch his body language.
He's uncrossed his arms.
He's sitting back in the chair again. He's not slumped over.
He's looking up again.
- It was best for people that he had encountered in the past
to walk in that room.
Just put him a little bit more at ease.
Steven Murray had had a very, very difficult
and abusive childhood.
We knew if you touched on that emotion
that Steven carries inside of him and then back off of it,
that would open a door, a floodgate.
Steven came back to life.
He was initiating, he was engaging.
And when that happens, that opens the door
for the potential for something else to follow up.
I walked out being a hundred percent satisfied
with what we got,
because I knew there's an opportunity for tomorrow.
(slow somber music)
- [Reporter] The search for Father Rene is not over.
Numerous sites have already been looked at
and more are to follow.
Father Rene is still missing,
but his presence is still felt
at the San Sebastian Catholic Church.
- We are gonna find him, and we're gonna bring him home.
(tense music)
- We thought that that was gonna soften him up
and get him to talk.
- It was obvious that they had a very close relationship,
but there was a calculated risk in putting Bobbie Jean
in this position.
Steven was being so unpredictable at that point.
Everybody's fear was that he was gonna shut down completely.
(tense music)
(deep tense music)
(tense music)
- There was a moment you can see his face expression change,
his body posture change,
and he kinda just slumped to the side,
and all of us were convinced
that he was going to break down.
And we thought that was the moment for us to actually
go at him hard.
- I felt like he punched me in the mouth when he said that.
- He pulled the trigger and did his Miranda warnings
and that was that, we're done.
I tell you it was, it was soul crushing to be that close.
- The reality was that we may never be able to locate him.
(suspenseful music)
We had to come up with a new strategy on how to move forward
and get our heads back in the game.
(tense music)
(dates clicking)
(mysterious music)
(deep tense music)
- My cell phone rings and I learn Steven Murray
has asked to speak to detectives.
We didn't know about what, but he wanted to talk to us.
(deep mysterious music)
- He had made a phone call to Bobbie Jean,
and I do believe that conversation with Bobbie Jean
could have been a very pivotal moment for Steven.
I was hoping that Steven was ready to talk.
He was getting ready to get it off his chest and tell us.
- Just listening to Steven talk about
the way he murdered Father Rene in such a cold and callous way,
it's one of the times in my career
that I've actually felt the presence of evil
in an interview room.
(tense music)
- Steven finally confessed Father Rene was no longer alive.
He's dead somewhere,
but he still needed to come clean
and tell us where the body was.
Finding the priest and bringing him back home
and making sure that the family got a proper burial for him
was critical.
- So we were all thinking, he's playing games again.
- I think that gave Steven a certain sense of power
and authority, and that he was in charge in that situation.
But the decision was made to put Steven in a car.
(dramatic music)
And almost immediately when we pulled up,
we saw a flock of buzzards kinda take off,
which kinda drew our attention over.
And, you could see Father Rene's body
laying at the edge of the wood line.
(dramatic music)
It's a emotional roller coaster, obviously.
Tugs on your heart.
It eats away at your being sometimes.
But it's about getting to the truth.
- Ultimately, it's very important that we find closure
for loved ones of the deceased.
(deep somber music)
- It was a special ceremony for a man
who meant so much to so many here in our community.
People came from all over to say goodbye
to the beloved priest.
He touched the hearts of so many.
- [Funeral Speaker] He was a gift and a blessing to us.
- [Reporter] And with that, it was time
to send off Father Rene.
(slow somber music)
(haunting music)
- Without the interviews,
I don't think that this case would've came to the conclusion
that it did.
And I do believe that justice was served in this case.
But I don't think there's any amount of resolution
for this case that would ever satisfy anybody.
People saw the killing of a Catholic priest
as kind of an attack on our very fiber
and I really think that stirred emotion in a lot of people.
(slow somber music)
Father Rene had actually talked about possibly dying
at someone's hands in the future.
And that if that had ever happened,
his wishes would be that that person
not be subjected to the death penalty.
So, it was agreed upon that Steven would plead guilty
to life in prison for malice murder
and he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
(gentle melancholic music)
- I believe it was a gift for my brother, Father Rene,
to love and not hate, no matter what.
So, I, in my heart, have forgiven Steven
for taking my brother's life.
I know my brother's with God,
and we'll be all together someday.
But, you gotta let it go.
You gotta let anger go and the hatred go and, and just love.
(slow somber music)