♪
[mobile keyboard clacking]
NARRATOR: Sarah Butler,
she's on fire!
- She's the first member of her family to go to college.
NARRATOR: An inspiration to anyone lucky enough to meet her.
- Dancing and performing herself, became her community.
NARRATOR: But when she turns up dead...
REPORTER: The young woman disappeared right before Thanksgiving.
Her body discovered on Thursday night in the Eagle Rock Reservation
in West Orange, New Jersey.
NARRATOR: ...a trail of digital breadcrumbs left by multiple women
suggests this case is much bigger
than just Sarah Butler.
WOMAN: One of our friends had his telephone number.
This is his telephone number.
[phone vibrating]
NARRATOR: This is the story of a hero...
- A fourth woman, we're told, managed to escape
after allegedly being attacked by that suspect as well.
NARRATOR: ...who uncovers a horrific threat stalking the streets of North Jersey.
- I know he just raped me.
I know he has handcuffs. I know he had duct tape.
Now, what's the next thing?
This guy wanna kill me.
♪ eerie music playing ♪
MAN 1: She solved her own murder from beyond the grave.
MAN 2: The fitness app on the phone, it was overwhelming evidence.
♪ I've been haunted by the visions that I've seen with my own eyes ♪
♪ And the only way to find you ♪
♪ Is to open up the lies ♪
MAN 3: She did help catch this killer.
NARRATOR: In the shadow of the Manhattan skyline
is Newark, New Jersey.
♪
It's here, on November 22nd, 2016,
that the disappearance of 19-year-old Sarah Butler
sparks the fear that something isn't right in northern New Jersey.
MAN: Maag interview, take one.
CHRISTOPHER MAAG: I'm Christopher Maag.
I'm a columnist for The Record newspaper in New Jersey and USA TODAY.
Sarah Butler is a 19-year-old college student.
She grew up in Montclair, New Jersey.
But she went away to college,
not very far, at New Jersey City University.
It was only... 10 miles.
NARRATOR: Like most kids her age, Sarah does everything online.
So she joins a dating app called Tagged.
♪
On November 22nd,
while back home for Thanksgiving break, she makes a connection.
Excited, she takes her mom's minivan to go on a date.
- She's expected home with the van
at 08:00 p.m. that evening.
By 08:05 p.m. that night, on November 22nd,
Sarah's mother is worried.
Sarah's very punctual.
This is not like her to not show up.
[clock ticking]
Especially since Sarah is driving her mother's car.
NARRATOR: Sarah's sisters and parents text and call...
[line ringing]
...but they get nothing back.
♪ uneasy music playing ♪
CHRISTOPHER: That next morning,
uh, Sarah's mother goes to Montclair Police
and reports her daughter missing.
NARRATOR: The police hear Sarah's mother out,
but in their eyes, there isn't a lot to be done.
CHRISTOPHER: Montclair police don't have any evidence of a crime.
Sarah Butler is barely an adult,
but she is 19,
and all they know is that she's missing.
NARRATOR: But that's not good enough for the Butler family.
Sarah doesn't disappear,
it's not who she is or how she was raised.
♪
- Sarah Butler grew up not poor, exactly,
but not as affluent as most people think of as Montclair.
She was really into dance.
There was a dance school around the corner from her home.
Dancing and performing herself became her community.
She's the first member of her family to go to college
and she struggles.
She doesn't meet a whole lot of friends in college.
She's also having some money trouble.
And just paying for college is a struggle for her and her family.
NARRATOR: But Sarah sticks it out.
College is important to the Butlers.
Even if school's a struggle, the future is bright.
So there's no good reason for Sarah Butler to go missing.
[indistinct radio chatter]
Sarah's friends and family start investigating on their own,
and they find nothing...
until three days after her disappearance.
CHRISTOPHER: November 25th, a friend of Sarah's sister spots the family's minivan.
[siren wailing] [indistinct radio chatter]
Sarah' sister and some friends arrive
after the police are already there.
And police are searching the van.
Sarah's sister and friends notice the same red hair that Sarah was wearing
the night that she went out.
That's a very important piece of evidence.
So the parking lot where the van was found is searched by police and a cadaver dog.
They don't find anything.
NARRATOR: The abandoned van and hair proved to police
that something likely did happen to Sarah.
As law enforcement dust the car for fingerprints
and scours what they now believe is a crime scene,
one of Sarah's sisters has an idea.
CHRISTOPHER: Sarah's sister and friends know all of her passwords
to all of her accounts.
So they get into her Facebook, they get into Tagged
and begin to look for clues.
NARRATOR: It doesn't take long for them to find a suspect of their own:
a man Sarah went to meet on the day she went missing.
CHRISTOPHER: A man reaches out to her there,
his username is LilYachtRock.
After a very short preliminary hello,
LilYachtRock writes,
"Sex for money?"
And Sarah Butler is taken aback. She says, "Wow."
Then she says, "How much money?"
And they negotiate a little,
and a price is agreed upon. $500.
And she says, "You're not a serial killer, right? lmao."
NARRATOR: Sarah is cautious,
but college is expensive
and she needs the cash.
So she gives LilYachtRock her number
and agrees to meet up.
♪
CHRISTOPHER: Three days later, on November 23rd,
♪
LilYachtRock instructs her to pick him up at a gigantic house in Orange, New Jersey.
NARRATOR: And that's it.
After that, all of Sarah's communication stops.
This guy must know something.
So Sarah's sister and friends make a plan.
They're gonna catfish LilYachtRock.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
CHRISTOPHER: They decide to make a fake profile on Tagged for a woman.
They know that LilYachtRock is offering a fair deal of money to meet,
so they're trying to create this character
that fits the type of person he's looking for.
NARRATOR: The trap is set.
So the women go to law enforcement to share what they found
and what they've done.
CHRISTOPHER: The women are inside Montclair Police headquarters...
[phone chimes] ...when they first get his response.
They freak out.
This is crazy.
This is the guy that Sarah Butler went on a date with
the last time she was seen.
And he's right there.
He says, "Sex for money?
Wanna meet?"
NARRATOR: The detectives love the hustle.
Now everyone works together on a response.
- He is using the same aggressive approach
that he used with Sarah Butler.
"Let's meet quickly. Let's meet now."
They agree to meet him at a local Panera Bread...
[indistinct radio chatter]
...but two Montclair police officers go instead...
[indistinct radio chatter]
...and they do, in fact, meet LilYachtRock.
[indistinct radio chatter]
NARRATOR: LilYachtRock is a 19-year-old New Jersey native.
Good looking.
Charming.
Smooth.
- Montclair Police ask, "Can we look inside your car?
Can we look inside your trunk?"
He says, "Sure."
♪ tense music playing ♪
And they don't see anything suspicious.
The police officers ask him to go to the police headquarters with them.
[indistinct radio chatter]
♪
And the officers ask some questions.
♪ suspenseful music playing ♪
NARRATOR: He admits to meeting Sarah on the night in question,
but says she dropped him off and he never saw her again.
CHRISTOPHER: They've got a person who seems eager to help.
He's not acting suspicious.
He doesn't seem defensive in any way.
So they let him go.
NARRATOR: It's back to square one.
A 19-year-old woman is missing,
and the Montclair police are out of suspects.
But one week earlier, in Elizabeth, New Jersey...
♪
[siren wailing]
OFFICER:
NARRATOR: Without even knowing it,
police have already met a victim
of the man responsible for Sarah's disappearance
while investigating a brutal attack that happened just 13 miles away.
MAN: Taylor interview, take one.
TIFFANY TAYLOR: My name is Tiffany Taylor.
♪ unsettling music playing ♪
November 15, 2016, all I remember is waking up,
in the back seat of a car,
to him raping me.
NARRATOR: What Tiffany experiences is so horrifying and so brutal,
it will not only change her life forever,
it will also shine a light on the case of Sarah Butler.
♪
♪ Sea of fire ♪
NARRATOR: Seven days before Sarah Butler disappeared,
33-year-old Tiffany Taylor's connection to this story begins.
And the similarities to Sarah's disappearance are chilling.
- So on November 15th, 2016,
Tiffany Taylor is staying at the Ritz Motel
in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
♪ Burning still ♪
TIFFANY: I had got pregnant with my second child.
I had got kicked out of my apartment.
I really didn't have anybody to turn to.
So I needed money bad around that time
because I had to pay for this room I had to keep up with
to keep a roof over my head.
I was meeting people and taking their money
and doing whatever came to mind.
Whatever came to my-- my mind.
AUTOMATED VOICE: 500 feet slight right toward New Jersey for 39 West.
- This area is just like--
It just bring a lot of memories back.
I'm having flashbacks in my head.
[sirens wailing]
My friend, she was telling me that one of her friends had needed a ride.
If I would give him a ride, he would give me some gas money.
She gave me his phone number.
I started texting him.
I text him the address to where I was.
He came.
I remember, um...
he was standing right there.
I got in the car and he followed and got in the passenger side.
And that's when I pulled off.
He was a tall guy, kinda slim,
and he had on like a ski mask
that fully covered his face.
And... he had on gloves.
I didn't think it was strange
because everybody in Newark and Jersey City area,
all the guys, they wear ski masks and gloves
when it starts getting cold.
What I did was I turned down this way
'cause he said he had to use the bathroom.
And I pulled over right here.
I remember him asking me for a cigarette.
He was really quiet.
I parked the car.
I gave him a cigarette.
♪ tense music playing ♪
And everything just went kinda black at that point.
All I remember is waking up in the backseat of the car
to him raping me
and choking me out at the same time.
I remember turning around and trying to scratch him in the face.
And he then handcuffed me,
my arms behind my back.
Then I saw him reach and grab again.
And this time, he was grabbing duct tape.
That's when I said to myself,
"Wow, this is not just stopping at rape.
This guy wanna kill me."
NARRATOR: Raped.
Strangled.
But alive.
And Tiffany has a lot to live for.
- At that point, it was like prey trying to get away
from an animal trying to eat them.
I had to get outta that situation.
I was pregnant, and I really wanted my baby.
♪
I was gonna put up a fight
to the end.
If he was gonna kill me, he had to die too.
I was not-- I wasn't beat.
Nope.
With me crying and all that, the duct tape started lifting
so I was able to speak more clearly.
And I told him, "You know, I left my phone in a room
"with all the texts going back and forth.
Everything is on that phone."
I said, "When the police find my phone,
they're gonna pick up on it quick and they're gonna find you."
So he started panicking,
like, "Oh, no. Oh, no. I really need you to get that phone.
I really need you to get that phone."
The ride from where the rape happened
and going back to the Ritz,
it seemed like it took an hour.
And it's, literally, right there.
He got me out of the car and pulled my pants and stuff back up.
I went up the stairs and he followed behind me.
And I opened the door really fast.
I darted in the room,
and I slammed the door on him.
I just remember him screaming, "Come back out, come back out. You lied!"
And then I opened up the curtain,
and I showed him that I was out of one cuff.
I'm really flexible.
So, like, it's really easy for me to get out of cuffs.
And I kinda gave him that look,
like, "Do you really think I'm coming back out. Look."
And he ran off.
♪
- Officers with the Elizabeth Police show up.
[sirens wailing]
NARRATOR: Tiffany tells the officers that she knows this guy.
She met him through a friend.
She gives police his name, address, email, Facebook.
She knows practically everything about him.
But they're only focused on one thing.
CHRISTOPHER: They accuse her of prostitution.
They threaten her with arrest.
And because they're hostile, she knows that they don't believe her.
- I made it so easy for them.
They let this guy just walk away.
They let him just walk away, literally.
Nobody believes me.
CHRISTOPHER: As far as we could find,
no evidence was introduced to suggest
that the Elizabeth Police Department attempted to investigate
the assault against Tiffany Taylor.
NARRATOR: And without filing a report of any kind,
her attacker walks free.
- Seven days after Tiffany Taylor was raped and attacked
and very nearly killed,
Sarah Butler goes missing.
NARRATOR: Sarah is missing.
Tiffany is savagely attacked.
But investigators would eventually find
that they're not the only women trapped in this story.
No.
Far from it.
♪ I'm standing helpless by my window tonight ♪
♪ Stars are shining but I can't feel the light... ♪
NARRATOR: Near the end of 2016,
a chilling pattern emerges in northeast Jersey.
But no one sees it yet.
Sarah Butler goes missing on November 22nd.
November 15th,
Tiffany Taylor survives an unspeakable attack.
♪ But you all know the truth... ♪
NARRATOR: But the further you look back,
the worse it gets.
♪ I'm gone ♪
♪
NARRATOR: October 22nd, South Newark, New Jersey.
- On October 22nd, 2016,
33-year-old Joanne Brown, known as London,
was outside a Popeyes restaurant in Newark...
WOMAN: Welcome to Popeyes. May I take your order?
- ...when a man arrived at about 01:00 p.m.
NARRATOR: And Joanne Brown caught that man's eye.
A memory that still haunts her friends to this day.
MAN: A, B common mark.
ASHLEY BATTLE: How you doing? My name is Ashley Battle.
Me and Joanne,
we will forever be family.
She always just had a heart of gold.
And she had us, Nesha and me.
FARNESHA HILL: My first name is Farnesha.
I met Joanne Brown
in maybe, um, 2010, 2011.
She also went by London.
She was very pretty, pretty hair, very humble,
bubbly personality.
ASHLEY: This is my favorite photo of her,
'cause she's just so vibrant, so happy.
You see the beautiful smile on her.
You see the character on her face.
Living with her foster family, she got molested a lot
by her foster brothers, foster cousins, foster uncles, aunts.
She was literally hurt her whole, entire life.
♪
FARNESHA: She just wanted love and family,
that was all she was looking for, I believe, for a long time.
♪ Damn, this is a good life ♪
♪ I wish I could've froze it then... ♪
ASHLEY: Her biggest dream was to be a model and a mother.
Any time you see her,
you'd have thought she was walking down a runway.
She's just trying to make money to survive.
Some people don't have other options.
NARRATOR: So on Saturday afternoon, October 22nd,
when a good-looking, smooth guy in a BMW rolls up looking for a date,
Joanne is game.
♪
But when she gets into this guy's car,
one of the women in the group asks to use Joanne's phone
to make an urgent call.
- So Joanne handed off her phone
and didn't have it as they drove.
NARRATOR: Joanne departs with the client.
But just a few minutes later,
probably realizing she doesn't have her cell,
Joanne borrows his phone.
She calls her friend Amina,
and tells her she's safe.
Two and a half hours later, Amina gets another call...
[phone ringing]
...from the same number Joanne called from earlier that afternoon.
- Amina picks up
and says...
AMINA: Hello?
- And there's silence on the other end of the line.
AMINA: Hello?
- And then the call ends.
NARRATOR: Amina doesn't get it.
Is Joanne calling her? Is she okay?
If she's safe, why doesn't she say something?
Anything?
- Amina called several times after that, and no one picked up.
NARRATOR: When Joanne doesn't reappear later that evening,
Amina recognizes the importance of having this guy's cell phone number.
- The next day, Amina went to Newark Police to report Joanne missing.
NARRATOR: But law enforcement doesn't take immediate action.
Coincidentally...
[siren wailing]
...it's the same number
that Tiffany Taylor tries to give police 24 days later.
OFFICER: And he just ran away?
TIFFANY: He ran away.
FARNESHA: We went to the precinct,
I'm like, um, "I wanna report a missing person."
The first thing they said, "Well, was she a streetwalker?"
So.
ASHLEY: Everybody deserves help.
And they did not help that girl.
Police don't care about women like that.
They feel like women like that put their self in a predicament.
NARRATOR: Joanne's friends feel ignored by police,
so they do their own sleuthing.
ASHLEY: We called every hospital
to see if she even checked herself in a psych ward.
Then called every jail that she can possibly go to.
Nothing.
♪ Are you afraid ♪
♪ Or are you taking a leap of faith? ♪
NARRATOR: Weeks go by.
- I was scared and worried.
NARRATOR: Joanne is gone without a trace.
Her friends fear the worst.
♪ I'm not one to judge ♪
♪ But I'm not one to sit and wait... ♪
But there's no concrete evidence of a crime
unless you look back two months earlier.
♪
Just two miles from where Joanne went missing,
when another woman gets into the same silver BMW...
FIREFIGHTER: [over radio] All right, we have a possible body.
NARRATOR: ...and is never seen alive again.
♪
NARRATOR: August 31st, 2016, northeast New Jersey.
The first woman in a string of disappearances
goes missing.
♪
A beautiful 19-year-old named Robin West.
♪
MAN: West interview, take one.
REV. LEROY WEST: Reverend Leroy West.
I am associate pastor for Bible Fellowship Church of God,
uh, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Robin was born September 5th of 1996.
Very energetic, full of life.
The biggest thing that we had in common was music.
That's what brought us together.
She was a free spirit.
If she decided to do something,
that's what she was going do, you know?
And you couldn't sway her either way.
NARRATOR: By the time Robin is 19,
that independent spirit finds itself wanting more.
So Robin and her best friend, Breneisha, have a risky side hustle in Philadelphia
where they've grown up.
- Breneisha and Robin began working as sex workers,
and they would pair up to keep each other safe.
They would meet clients online through websites
and then meet the clients at hotel rooms around the Philadelphia area.
- Our children do things that we may not like all the time.
They go astray. It doesn't mean we don't love you.
♪
NARRATOR: In the fall of 2016,
with Robin's 20th birthday on the horizon,
she and Breneisha decide to head up the turnpike to North Jersey
to celebrate.
♪
- She and Breneisha stayed at a motel
in Union Township in New Jersey for a few nights,
but they ran out of money.
NARRATOR: Out of cash to party and hang out,
they have an idea.
CHRISTOPHER: On August 31st,
Robin West arrived on Nye Avenue in Newark
for her first night as a sex worker on the street.
And so, at about 11:00 p.m.,
one of the first cars to arrive was a silver BMW,
driven by a man whom Breneisha described as young, good looking, and charming.
Robin got into the car.
NARRATOR: Robin and Breneisha have known each other since they were 14 years old.
They've always been there for each other.
And so, Breneisha does what any good friend would do,
just in case.
- Breneisha says, "Take care of my sister. I love her."
And as part of this interaction...
[phone camera clicks]
...Breneisha takes a picture of the BMW's license plate with her phone.
And the man and Robin drive off.
♪
NARRATOR: Three hours later...
[siren wailing]
...at 02:00 in the morning,
seven miles from where Breneisha sees Robin off,
there's a house on fire.
CHRISTOPHER: It was a large fire.
DISPATCHER: [over radio]
- It became a five-alarm fire with all the appearances of arson.
[sirens wailing]
Firefighters from five different cities showed up to put it out.
FIREFIGHTER: [over radio]
NARRATOR: The body is burned beyond recognition.
And with arson declared as the cause of the fire,
the crime is now a homicide investigation.
♪
By 06:00 a.m., Breneisha hasn't heard from Robin.
No texts. No calls.
CHRISTOPHER: When Breneisha didn't hear from Robin,
she went to the Newark Police 16th precinct
to report Robin missing.
She gave a description of the man who was last seen with Robin,
and she gave the police his license plate.
NARRATOR: Law enforcement in Newark listens to Breneisha's story
and her concerns.
But, technically, Robin is just missing.
So investigators choose not to run the plate
and give Robin time to show up.
♪
LEROY: We were texting her because it was close to her birthday,
and we weren't getting any response.
Her and I were close enough, to where, if I text her or call her,
she would get back to me.
Still not hearing from her or knowing where she was at,
you know, it-- it became a real issue.
♪
NARRATOR: Then on September 13th, a father's worst nightmare.
Two weeks after that five-alarm house fire,
the body found in the flames is finally identified.
It's Robin West.
LEROY: I screamed
and then, like, slid to the floor.
She was strangled.
Someone dumped her body in an abandoned house
and then lit her on fire.
She didn't deserve to die like this.
NARRATOR: Police don't know who's responsible,
but there's an answer.
It's with the woman that started this story.
♪
Sarah Butler,
the college kid from Montclair who loved to dance.
She went missing on November 22nd
after meeting a handsome young guy from the internet.
After 12 long days of searching,
the Butler family is desperate for news of Sarah's whereabouts.
Finally, the police secure Sarah's cell phone records.
The detectives race to the last location Sarah Butler's phone pinged,
a local park
called Eagle Rock Reservation.
CHRISTOPHER: They walked across the property there
and hidden partially behind a trailer,
beside a gravel parking lot,
there's a body.
NARRATOR: It's the body of Sarah Butler.
She's been strangled like Robin West.
Strangled with her own sweat pants tied around her neck.
♪
- Maurice and Christine, there has been a steady stream of friends and family
here at the home of Sarah Butler.
The young woman disappeared right before Thanksgiving.
Her body discovered on Thursday night in the Eagle Rock Reservation
in West Orange, New Jersey.
NARRATOR: The coroner finds DNA lodged under her fingernails.
It's clear that Sarah struggled with her killer.
But whose DNA is it?
Could it be the last guy she met with the night she went missing, LilYachtRock?
The guy police talked to... and let go.
- LilYachtRock, who turns out to be Khalil Wheeler-Weaver.
NARRATOR: Khalil Wheeler-Weaver,
the 19-year-old New Jersey native,
doesn't look like the kind of guy who could hurt anyone,
but he was the last person to see Sarah Butler alive,
and he drives a silver BMW,
just like the BMW Robin West and Joanne Brown got into.
♪ tense music playing ♪
CHRISTOPHER: December 4th,
police execute a search warrant on Wheeler-Weaver's house.
They find two cell phones in his bedroom.
NARRATOR: They also ask for his DNA.
CHRISTOPHER: Evidence was found
that she had skin that matched, uh, Wheeler-Weaver's DNA
under her fingernails.
♪
MAN: I couldn't help her. It's the most hardest part.
I loved her, she knew that.
And I would do anything for my baby.
- Rest in peace, Sarah, and you will truly be missed.
ALL: Sarah.
♪
NARRATOR: On December 4th, 2016,
Wheeler-Weaver is arrested for the murder of Sarah Butler.
The next day, in an abandoned house in East Orange,
contractors discover the body of Joanne Brown.
It's the same abandoned house
where Sarah Butler met Khalil Wheeler-Weaver
the day she was murdered.
And just like Sarah,
Joanne has been strangled and wrapped in duct tape.
♪ somber music playing ♪
Joanne's friends, Farnesha and Ashley,
finally get the call they've been dreading.
♪
FARNESHA: We went to the detective's office
and I just heard Ashley screaming.
- I had to identify her body through a picture,
and it made me sick to my stomach.
♪
That guy strangled her with her own jacket.
He burnt her up with cigarettes.
He just tortured her for hours.
NARRATOR: Investigators don't know who tortured and killed Joanne,
but they will.
The night Wheeler-Weaver is arrested for Sarah Butler's murder,
a man watching the local news starts putting the puzzle together.
REPORTER: [on TV] Authorities are waiting for autopsy results
before they pursue a lead that they already have.
[phone vibrating]
TIFFANY: And I get this call from my brother, saying,
"Tiffany, they got him. They got him, Tiffany."
REPORTER: Some new information tonight now,
in the death of a college student from Montclair.
Police say they have arrested a suspect in the murder of Sarah Butler.
- He forwarded me the-- the link.
I saw it and I looked and I said, "Yeah, that's him.
"They got him.
They got him."
REPORTER: Police believe 20-year-old Khalil Wheeler-Weaver of East Orange
strangled Sarah Butler.
- I feel as though her life could have been saved
if only the police would have believed me.
♪
OFFICER: And he just ran away?
TIFFANY: He ran away.
I knew I had to do something because I didn't get away for nothing.
So I started to open my mouth.
REPORTER: Victor Butler holds his wife as she wipes away tears,
watching 20-year-old Khalil Wheeler-Weaver face charges in their daughter's murder.
NARRATOR: Across 84 days, in 2016,
Sarah Butler, Robin West, and Joanne Brown are murdered.
Tiffany Taylor barely escapes with her life.
♪ Might not see the light again ♪
♪ But I won't stop trying... ♪
- I knew I had to do something.
So I started going to that court and letting them know who I am.
NARRATOR: Tiffany tells the prosecutor,
"Khalil Wheeler-Weaver did this to me too."
- Tiffany Taylor was able to establish the common modus operandi
through each of these cases.
He wraps their mouth in duct tape,
he rapes them,
he strangles them.
It's a very specific way of attacking someone.
And so, police realize that Joanne Brown and Robin West fit the model.
NARRATOR: After Tiffany establishes a pattern,
investigators dig into recent unsolved murders in the area
and find the evidence collected by the women in this story,
evidence that was largely ignored at the time.
- One of our friends had his telephone number.
This is his telephone number.
CHRISTOPHER: Robin's friend took a picture of Khalil's license plate.
- They already knew his name.
I gave them everything,
but...
he walked away.
- I never, in a million years, think
that I would be... involved with a serial killer.
That's scary.
CHRISTOPHER: Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, born and raised in New Jersey,
he was viewed as an outsider,
bit of a nerd.
He came from a good family.
NARRATOR: But no one could've imagined the darkness lurking within.
TIFFANY: I feel like there was a monster inside of him
because I saw that other personality too.
The-- The quiet guy.
The kid.
What happened
to that kid?
NARRATOR: But justice takes time.
There's a lot of evidence to sort through.
Three murders,
one attempted murder.
It's three years till the trial.
Finally, in September 2019, it happens.
CHRISTOPHER: He was facing three counts of murder, one of attempted murder,
rape, arson, and desecration of human remains.
The evidence going into the trial is very damning.
TIFFANY: I had to testify against him.
The first time that I saw him
in court,
I remember I jumped out of my skin
and I-- I felt like I couldn't breathe.
♪
But that scaredness went
to madness.
I wasn't gonna let him get away
with what he did to me.
He had to go.
NARRATOR: Investigators have plenty of evidence on the women's phones,
but they've got Khalil Wheeler-Weaver's phone too,
and it connects every dot.
♪
CHRISTOPHER: He tracked and found women using his phone.
He plotted ways to kill them using his phone.
Everything was with his phone.
And what's interesting about this case
is how these women used his tools against him.
NARRATOR: It's like he turned his own phone on himself
and pulled the trigger.
- The murders that he committed,
his cell phone put him at every location.
He never cracked.
No facial expression, no remorse,
no nothing.
But when you have a mountain of evidence
that's pointing in your direction, you know, you can't deny that.
I mean, when they brought the cartons of evidence,
there was-- It was so high. [laughs]
You know, there were so many boxes of stuff against him.
You know,
how can you sit there and say it-- it wasn't you?
NARRATOR: That mountain of evidence takes three months to present at trial.
But it only takes the jury two hours to determine Wheeler-Weaver's guilt.
WOMAN: As to count one, what is your verdict?
JURY MEMBER: Guilty.
WOMAN: Count two? JURY MEMBER: Guilty.
WOMAN: Count three?
NARRATOR: Guilty... on all 11 counts.
♪ somber music playing ♪
- I didn't feel like I had the power until sentencing day.
♪
I tried everything I could do to make sure that the people heard me
and that he was gonna be locked up.
Him saying that he still didn't do it
makes me feel like he has no type of remorse about it at all.
On sentencing day
is when I felt the power.
Yeah.
That's when I felt it.
♪
- 25-year-old Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, now sentenced to 160 years in prison.
- The purpose of this sentence, again,
is that... this defendant never walk among society again.
♪
REPORTER: Khalil Wheeler-Weaver accused of strangling this teenager to death.
Mawa Doumbia vanished in 2016 after she left her home in Newark.
Police say digital evidence connected her death to Mr. Wheeler-Weaver.
♪ uneasy music playing ♪
ASHLEY: There's a lot of Black girls that have been missing.
There's a lot of sex workers that have been going missing.
Have he been doing this?
Because don't nobody just wake up today and just wanna just kidnap four people.
He could've done this to many other girls,
and this is all y'all know about.
NARRATOR: The possibility that there are even more women who lost their lives
is haunting.
But the actions of these four young women
and their friends
caught a killer.
CHRISTOPHER: It's absolutely true
that the women who were victims of Wheeler-Weaver
and women who put themselves in the path of becoming his next victim
stopped him.
Without their intervention,
it seems likely that he would've murdered many more women.
♪ somber music playing ♪
- This is all I have right here.
Her ashes are inside this cross.
She died in 2016. I have not taken this off yet.
I want people to know how much she was loved.
♪ You know I miss you already ♪
♪ I don't know where my head is lately ♪
♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪
♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪
♪ And it's only mine ♪
♪ And the only way to find me ♪
♪ Is to open up the lies ♪