(suspenseful music)
- [narrator] a young father found brutally beaten.
(police siren wailing)
- He was on the side of the road hog tied and left for dead.
- [narrator] a mother leads investigators
To four potential suspects.
- [narrator] investigators searching for answers.
- She's definitely hiding something
- [narrator] in the interrogation room.
(suspenseful 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.
(suspenseful tones)
(phone ringing)
(suspenseful tones)
- Two patrol units, they come up onto the scene
And right away they realize this is a person
That's been bound up
And is obviously bloody.
(indistinct police scanner chatter)
- His arms were tied and bound behind his back
And his feet were also bound and tied.
He was unconscious and his breathing was very labored.
The officers noticed several bruises
And contusions to his face.
It was about 15 degrees.
It was freezing.
He had a jacket, his jeans or pants,
And he didn't have shoes on.
Officers called for an ambulance
And he was immediately rushed to the hospital.
(ambulance sirens blaring)
- We knew his name was michael partridge.
We knew that he was a resident of chester.
He's got a family, he's got a grandfather,
He's got a mother, he's got got a child.
- He was left on the side of the road
In the middle of winter,
Essentially hog tied and just left for dead.
(police sirens wailing)
(mellow music)
- Michael gregory partridge was my son.
We had a very special relationship.
We were more best friends than father and son.
We were just there for each other.
- I remember when he was born, he was so sweet and so cute.
Michael was very outgoing, always making people laugh,
Very loyal and devoted to his family.
- Growing up, he was always very protective
Of his sister and mother.
We were all very close.
- Michael had a three year old son, michael jr.
Baby mikey was the love of his life.
- I love you!
- Him and and michael jr. Were attached at the hip,
Like you couldn't get them apart.
- [rachel] that was the one thing I think he was most
Proud of in his life is being a dad.
- I see you!
- He became a great father,
A great father, and it brought us all closer.
- Sometimes we wanted to pull our hair out with him.
Michael didn't always make the right choices.
You know, it was very frustrating for all of us.
- My son had drug problems
But he was fighting it, fighting it hard.
He couldn't get that demon off his back right away.
- He wasn't perfect but we loved him unconditionally.
No matter what.
- We get to the hospital and they told me,
"I'm sorry, there's nothing we could do."
It was shocking.
(suspenseful music)
- The family members mentioned courtney clemenza
As being michael's girlfriend.
Courtney lives with her mother, regina clemenza.
- We went to the residence
And we'd made contact with regina
And courtney clemenza is not at home.
We advised her that michael partridge was found assaulted.
Regina said that she had a text conversation
With courtney earlier that night about michael partridge.
- This text exchange is the first real lead
On how this happened.
Courtney says "he got his ass kicked."
Regina responds "did he? By who?"
Courtney responds "bobby, he def broke his ankle ribs.
I saw his blood squirting while he cried 'bobby stop!'"
- Based on the text messages,
Courtney has witnessed a brutal assault of michael partridge
At the hands of a specific person she referred to as bobby.
- Where that scene is, we still have yet to determine.
We really need to find courtney clemenza.
(suspenseful tones)
- Okay, have a seat right there, gina.
I'm gonna sit here.
- From regina clemenza, we get the name seth pelsang
And robert haskell.
Courtney is hanging out with them that night.
(suspenseful music)
- It was decided that having regina call courtney
Would be our best shot at courtney responding.
You'll always pick up for your mom.
(suspenseful music)
- We gathered up a couple teams
And we went over to the gas station.
- We're set up.
A car pulls in.
Courtney gets out of it and she goes into the quickchek.
I go to the car.
I could see there's someone else in the passenger seat.
I get him out.
I noticed there's a person not moving
Sitting real quiet in the back.
I get him out.
- We were greeted by not only courtney clemenza,
But she brought bobby, which is robert haskell,
And seth as well.
- They were already folks that we knew
That we needed to speak to
And they just fall right into our lap.
Definitely a huge break.
(suspenseful tones)
- Have a seat right there.
- Have a, have a seat, courtney
- I'm gonna take that chair if you wouldn't mind.
Sorry, gotta get in my desk here.
- Do you want to put this on?
Mm hmm.
- Seth resides in the same house as robert haskell
But we didn't know if he was involved in the assault or not.
- Seth was tough.
Right outta the gate, he's closed off.
He had almost no eye contact.
He was very fidgety.
Couldn't sit still in his chair.
You can see him look up at the camera a number of times.
Everything was screaming dishonesty.
(indistinct background noise)
- That's actually a 20 second delay
Before he says anything,
And when that happens,
It's important to let them break the silence.
Please.
- Um.
I figured he's gonna have his cigarette
And we're gonna come in
And we're gonna start seeing results.
(indistinct background noise)
(suspenseful music)
(indistinct background noise)
- Um.
(suspenseful music)
- All right.
Coming back in after that cigarette break,
I didn't see it coming.
I was quite surprised that he would ask for a lawyer.
- When somebody requests an attorney,
The interview ends at that point.
It was definitely frustrating.
- All right.
Seth was just on standby
Until we completed the other interviews.
(suspenseful tones)
- I think the more he thought about it,
He went into self-preservation mode.
He relayed to one of the troopers
That he had changed his mind
And that he wanted to speak to us now.
- Alright seth.
- Okay. - Before...
Seth had lawyered up,
So this is a very delicate situation.
We're able to listen to what he has to say
But we can't continue with questioning,
Because it'll get thrown out.
- He's willing to tell us
That he saw rob strike michael with a baseball bat,
And that's a big piece of the puzzle.
Now we have seth's version of events
To compare to the other interviews.
- At that point, investigators had an address for bobby
And we were able to get warrants for the house.
(suspenseful music)
- [officer jordan] through processing the scene,
We knew a door was damaged,
Knew there was a struggle inside the house.
(suspenseful music)
- Our major crimes unit advised me that a fourth person,
Tim smith, who was one of the residents of that house
Had just arrived back at home.
So we needed to get him interviewed
To see what information, if any, he had.
(suspenseful music)
- The information I offer, the question is how much,
How much information does everybody offer?
I mentioned earlier
- He was just denying, denying, denying any knowledge
Of the situation,
So I'm gonna just hit him with what we know
To try to gauge his response and see if that's enough
To crack him.
(suspenseful tones)
- Courtney clemenza's interview becomes important,
Because we know that she's seen what happened.
She texted her mother and those text messages can't go away.
It's too late. We already have them.
- Puts her at the crime scene and puts her seeing a murder.
You can't run from that.
- It's all or nothing at this point.
Was she a witness, a victim,
Or a participant in the death of michael partridge?
- [raquel] I miss michael's laugh.
I miss watching him interact with his son.
I'll never forget what a proud dad he was.
Michael's passing devastated his family.
Their lives will never be the same without him.
(suspenseful music)
- We knew via the text messages
That courtney saw a beating occur
And she leaves that window of time out,
So she's definitely hiding something
And not only hiding something,
She's trying to keep us away from somewhere else.
- Yeah.
- [courtney] yeah.
- She's saying, "hey listen, this is what I saw.
I had nothing to do with it.
I didn't help them at all."
- Now we're trying to figure out how much did
She take part in it, if at all.
(suspenseful tones)
(suspenseful music)
(indistinct background chatter)
- She admits that there was a pre-planned robbery
That was supposed to take place.
- We're wondering how she knew about this plan.
Maybe courtney's involvement isn't
As innocent as she says it is.
- She's making a shift
From being a witness to being an active participant.
(dramatic music)
(timer ticking)
- Robert is known to be a drug dealer.
Michael was struggling with an addiction.
He had no money.
(courtney indistinct)
- ...Could that car be so far away...
- She admits she drew a map
That was ultimately located on michael himself.
He had that map,
So she's a participant at this point.
(dramatic music)
- He was sweating profusely.
It was freezing outside and he was just
Sweating on the top of his head.
It's a biological response and it, it is telling,
It means that there's somebody under stress
Or someone has something to hide.
- He glossed over the day
Like nothing remarkable had happened,
So 100% I knew that he was withholding information.
This is the time we have to give a little bit,
Let's see where it goes, but we're not gonna tell
Robert haskell that michael was dead.
- If we were to start right off the bat
That michael had died, that would put up a wall
That we just wouldn't be able to overcome.
- You could kind of see the wheels moving in robert's head,
You know, like, "wait a second,
Maybe I didn't beat him up that bad.
I may be able to spin this story
So that I am walking out the door".
- Yeah, alright.
- At that point, robert sits up, says, you know,
"okay, all right, let me tell you exactly what happened".
That right there was just, that was the turning point.
(dramatic music)
[investigator myers] mm hmm.
- It was huge, because prior to that,
We really didn't have a solid link
To him and michael interacting that evening.
- We know that that's not the case.
Clearly, michael did not leave on his own accord.
I believe that he was
Trying to convince himself
That all he did was beat somebody up.
To robert, he's sort of justified in those actions.
- Michael's entering the house.
If he's entering it with this deadly weapon,
People in that house have a right to defend themselves.
But once michael is disarmed,
They're no longer justified in what they do.
- You can see it, his body language slumps back down,
Hand over top of the head, he just completely shuts down.
[investigator myers] yeah.
- He's starting to realize,
Courtney must have told michael that robert had drugs,
Had money at his residence.
- You could see him, in his mind, thinking
"wait a second, maybe I was set up".
- Maybe the whole purpose of this was
For someone to come over and rob me of my drugs or my money.
The more he thinks about it, the more robert gets upset.
(dramatic music)
- He was extremely angry, extremely frustrated.
He knows what took place,
And he knows that we know the truth.
[investigator myers] right.
- I can say without a doubt, at that point,
He's not walking out the door.
- We'll make it as quick as possible, okay?
- Search warrant for robert haskell, black male.
Good. All right, face that wall.
(indistinct talking)
(clock ticking)
- Face the wall, there.
- There's no remorse, he don't give a...
- Do you, let me ask you this...
(courtney sobbing)
- Looking at that interview and watching her,
Those tears are for courtney, that's it.
Those aren't for michael, those are for courtney.
(courtney sobbing)
- Through all of that,
Not once did she asked me how michael partridge was doing.
Is he okay? Is he alive?
Is he being treated for his injuries?
None of that.
- It's solidifies the fact that she has real
Lack of remorse for what happened to michael.
(dramatic music)
(gear clicking)
(dramatic music)
(gear clicking)
Beating michael 30 times with a baseball bat,
Bobby is the most culpable.
(dramatic music)
Of the four of them, seth was the most remorseful.
He was willing to plead guilty to the manslaughter
In the first degree with a sentence of nine years
In state prison.
Timothy smith pled guilty to manslaughter
In the second degree, and he was sentenced
To one and 1/3 to four years in state prison.
(dramatic music)
The brutal beating that was inflicted upon michael
Was so, just, tragic,
Because he didn't have to die that night.
- If the police were called,
Michael would've gotten arrested.
He would've received drug abuse assistance,
Possibly help set him on the right path.
- Looking at michael and at his son,
Who will now grow up without his father,
It's heartbreaking.
(somber music)
- I would give my last breath
Just to rub my son's head, you know?
It's hard.
(somber music)
- I love you. - I love you.
- My grandson, he's doing good in school,
And, I mean, he is such a good kid.
I could see so much of his father in him.
- If michael was still here,
I feel that he would have gotten his life on track
And he would've lived a long happy life,
All with his family by his side.
Our memories with him, we'll hold them
In our heart's forever.
(somber music)