1 00:00:06,841 --> 00:00:08,843 [ambient street noise] 2 00:00:31,282 --> 00:00:33,284 [pensive guitar music playing] 3 00:00:39,707 --> 00:00:42,168 [Wagner] In the '90s, East Harlem, 4 00:00:43,377 --> 00:00:46,756 a series of murders and rapes were taking place in the neighborhood. 5 00:00:46,839 --> 00:00:48,424 [foreboding music playing] 6 00:00:48,508 --> 00:00:51,844 All of the victims were innocent young girls 7 00:00:51,928 --> 00:00:53,846 found strangled and stabbed. 8 00:00:54,597 --> 00:00:59,310 [Plansky] "Serial killers." That phrase gets thrown around a lot. 9 00:01:00,353 --> 00:01:01,479 He was one of them. 10 00:01:01,562 --> 00:01:04,023 [foreboding music swells] 11 00:01:05,024 --> 00:01:06,818 We created a task force 12 00:01:06,901 --> 00:01:10,196 with some of the very best detectives I've ever worked with. 13 00:01:11,364 --> 00:01:15,118 We had a very bad person in East Harlem that needed to go. 14 00:01:15,201 --> 00:01:20,039 [Plansky] I don't think I've ever wanted something more in my entire life 15 00:01:20,123 --> 00:01:22,792 than to get justice for those people. 16 00:01:23,292 --> 00:01:25,586 [foreboding music trails off] 17 00:01:26,712 --> 00:01:29,507 [Mooney] Every single case takes a little piece out of your soul. 18 00:01:29,590 --> 00:01:32,093 [suspenseful music playing] 19 00:01:32,176 --> 00:01:36,097 [Butcher] You cannot do this job unless you really care. 20 00:01:38,182 --> 00:01:40,309 [McNeely] You want to find out the truth. 21 00:01:41,561 --> 00:01:43,104 That's what detectives do. 22 00:01:43,688 --> 00:01:46,065 [man] I've always liked the peek behind the curtain. 23 00:01:46,149 --> 00:01:47,900 What really happened? 24 00:01:48,401 --> 00:01:52,071 [Rivera] It's so important for a family to know who murdered their relative. 25 00:01:52,155 --> 00:01:53,197 That's my job. 26 00:01:53,781 --> 00:01:58,077 [Titus] In New York City, the NYPD… 27 00:02:01,038 --> 00:02:02,248 This is it. 28 00:02:02,999 --> 00:02:05,001 [suspenseful music trails off] 29 00:02:07,879 --> 00:02:09,881 [vibrant, energetic salsa music playing] 30 00:02:15,219 --> 00:02:17,138 [Rivera] I worked in Spanish Harlem. 31 00:02:17,221 --> 00:02:21,809 I was assigned there in '83 as a rookie cop on patrol. 32 00:02:23,102 --> 00:02:26,022 East Harlem was a very big Hispanic community, 33 00:02:26,105 --> 00:02:28,983 and I was the only female Hispanic in my precinct when I got there. 34 00:02:31,110 --> 00:02:33,613 [Wagner] I spent a lot of my career in East Harlem. 35 00:02:33,696 --> 00:02:35,531 The vibe is incredible. 36 00:02:35,615 --> 00:02:38,284 There's always music in the background, 24/7. 37 00:02:38,367 --> 00:02:40,786 [vibrant salsa music continuing] 38 00:02:41,871 --> 00:02:46,417 I worked in that neighborhood in uniform, then six years in plain clothes, 39 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:49,128 before I got into the detective bureau. 40 00:02:49,212 --> 00:02:51,339 I loved working in that neighborhood. 41 00:02:51,422 --> 00:02:53,174 When I was a rookie cop in uniform, 42 00:02:53,257 --> 00:02:55,718 I was working on a foot post in Spanish Harlem. 43 00:02:55,801 --> 00:03:00,056 It was a completely vibrant place. There's always people doing something. 44 00:03:00,139 --> 00:03:01,974 Good things, for the most part. 45 00:03:02,058 --> 00:03:04,060 [train rumbling] 46 00:03:07,104 --> 00:03:08,606 [warped audio distorting] 47 00:03:13,110 --> 00:03:16,530 [Wagner] On June 2nd, my phone rang at about 6:30. 48 00:03:16,614 --> 00:03:19,158 We had a homicide. 49 00:03:19,242 --> 00:03:21,577 Project building in East Harlem. 50 00:03:23,204 --> 00:03:26,123 [tense, erratic music playing] 51 00:03:29,835 --> 00:03:33,297 When I got to the crime scene, the victim was in the stairwell. 52 00:03:33,381 --> 00:03:37,843 She looked to be 19 to 20, a light-skinned Black female. 53 00:03:37,927 --> 00:03:39,428 It was a hub of activity. 54 00:03:40,763 --> 00:03:43,808 You have the uniformed members that are securing the scene. 55 00:03:43,891 --> 00:03:47,270 You have the Crime Scene Unit, which gather physical evidence. 56 00:03:47,812 --> 00:03:52,275 There was no signs of blunt force trauma, no stab wounds, no gunshot wounds. 57 00:03:53,109 --> 00:03:57,905 We surmised that she had to be asphyxiated. 58 00:03:58,990 --> 00:04:01,200 [Plansky] There was no identification. 59 00:04:01,284 --> 00:04:04,870 No school ID card, driver's license, or anything like that. 60 00:04:05,955 --> 00:04:08,791 So the detectives canvassed the building. 61 00:04:09,542 --> 00:04:12,378 [Wagner] We took Polaroid pictures of her face 62 00:04:12,461 --> 00:04:15,798 so we could show everyone in the building that we knocked on their door. 63 00:04:15,881 --> 00:04:18,009 "Do you recognize this young lady?" 64 00:04:18,092 --> 00:04:22,054 We had gotten in contact with a person in every apartment. 65 00:04:22,138 --> 00:04:25,266 It's a 20-story building, maybe ten apartments on a floor. 66 00:04:25,349 --> 00:04:26,809 We had no luck. 67 00:04:27,518 --> 00:04:30,896 She obviously didn't live there. She wasn't seeing anyone that lived there. 68 00:04:30,980 --> 00:04:32,982 [tense music pulsing] 69 00:04:39,405 --> 00:04:42,575 When we checked to see if the precinct had any missing person reports filed 70 00:04:42,658 --> 00:04:44,452 in the prior 36 hours, 71 00:04:45,036 --> 00:04:49,915 we came upon this one that fit the general description of our victim. 72 00:04:51,042 --> 00:04:54,462 The young woman who'd been reported missing the night before by her family 73 00:04:54,545 --> 00:04:56,297 was Rasheda Washington. 74 00:04:59,925 --> 00:05:02,803 I remember a team of detectives went to her family 75 00:05:02,887 --> 00:05:04,138 with the Polaroid photo. 76 00:05:04,221 --> 00:05:06,140 [somber music playing] 77 00:05:06,223 --> 00:05:07,266 It's not easy. 78 00:05:07,975 --> 00:05:09,393 It's never easy. 79 00:05:10,061 --> 00:05:11,729 How could this even happen? 80 00:05:12,229 --> 00:05:13,230 [stifles sob] 81 00:05:15,691 --> 00:05:17,443 She was just stolen from us. 82 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,784 It's hard to function 'cause you just don't even remember. 83 00:05:24,867 --> 00:05:28,788 'Cause it's like you're just walking around like you're in a dream. 84 00:05:30,247 --> 00:05:33,292 [woman] I just kept screaming and crying. 85 00:05:33,376 --> 00:05:36,295 "They killed my baby. They killed my baby." 86 00:05:37,380 --> 00:05:39,507 [man] Rasheda was my twin sister. 87 00:05:40,007 --> 00:05:43,177 Being a twin is like y'all got a special bond 88 00:05:43,260 --> 00:05:45,513 the minute y'all come in this world. 89 00:05:46,138 --> 00:05:49,225 Being that we was born together, I thought we would die together. 90 00:05:52,686 --> 00:05:56,857 Family was able to provide us with a complete background on their daughter. 91 00:05:58,818 --> 00:06:03,322 Rasheda and her brother were born and raised in New York. 92 00:06:05,116 --> 00:06:07,576 [Racquel] When Rasheda graduated from high school, 93 00:06:07,660 --> 00:06:10,704 she was accepted to Fashion Institute of Technology, 94 00:06:10,788 --> 00:06:13,541 one of the top schools for fashion. 95 00:06:13,624 --> 00:06:17,002 We graduated June 15th, 1997. 96 00:06:17,086 --> 00:06:18,337 She was just excited. 97 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:26,178 She was a typical 18-year-old going through college and had a job. 98 00:06:27,555 --> 00:06:30,141 [woman] She had a plan for herself, she had a plan for her life, 99 00:06:30,224 --> 00:06:32,017 and she was going after it. 100 00:06:34,145 --> 00:06:36,605 [voice breaking] At 18 years old, you don't… 101 00:06:36,689 --> 00:06:41,360 you don't think you're gonna lose somebody so close to you, and so tragically. 102 00:06:42,445 --> 00:06:46,031 She was this vibrant and amazing person. 103 00:06:47,408 --> 00:06:49,410 And she was just gone. 104 00:06:49,493 --> 00:06:52,413 [Wagner] What we learned was she was a good student, 105 00:06:52,496 --> 00:06:55,624 good daughter, good sister. They were a tight family. 106 00:06:55,708 --> 00:06:58,043 [pensive, somber music playing] 107 00:07:02,590 --> 00:07:04,091 [Butcher] This was a homicide. 108 00:07:04,592 --> 00:07:09,597 Autopsy revealed that she died by asphyxiation. 109 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,142 Chest compression as well as neck compression. 110 00:07:15,352 --> 00:07:18,314 We learned at autopsy that she was sexually assaulted. 111 00:07:18,397 --> 00:07:22,985 Biological fluids and DNA were found on the victim. 112 00:07:23,068 --> 00:07:27,156 The DNA profile developed was compared to databases, 113 00:07:27,656 --> 00:07:31,785 but they didn't match to anyone in the national database 114 00:07:31,869 --> 00:07:34,079 or any suspects at the time. 115 00:07:35,789 --> 00:07:37,666 [Rivera] When I worked for Special Victims Unit, 116 00:07:37,750 --> 00:07:41,795 I saw cases where the rape is not for sexual gratification. 117 00:07:41,879 --> 00:07:45,007 A lot has to do with hate, anger towards the women, 118 00:07:45,090 --> 00:07:46,926 or men, or children, whoever they rape. 119 00:07:47,510 --> 00:07:53,390 Sexual assault and strangulation are about power and control. 120 00:07:55,142 --> 00:07:57,228 It says a lot about the killer. 121 00:07:58,020 --> 00:08:02,274 They're weak, and this is a way for them to feel strong. 122 00:08:04,276 --> 00:08:06,278 [tense music playing] 123 00:08:07,780 --> 00:08:10,991 [Plansky] In 1998, I was coming off of the Central Park homicide. 124 00:08:12,326 --> 00:08:15,871 Pretty early on, there was a high degree of collaboration 125 00:08:15,955 --> 00:08:18,874 between the police and the assistant DAs 126 00:08:18,958 --> 00:08:22,127 because we recognized that we both needed each other. 127 00:08:22,836 --> 00:08:24,547 [Butcher] The DA is in everything. 128 00:08:24,630 --> 00:08:29,885 They hear every single aspect of the case in all its horror. 129 00:08:30,594 --> 00:08:33,430 [Planksy] I was assigned to that Rasheda Washington case. 130 00:08:33,514 --> 00:08:36,475 Everybody wanted to solve this as quickly as possible. 131 00:08:37,059 --> 00:08:38,227 [steady ticking] 132 00:08:38,310 --> 00:08:42,231 [Wagner] Rasheda Washington lived on 1st Avenue with her family 133 00:08:42,314 --> 00:08:45,359 in a development called 1199 Plaza. 134 00:08:45,442 --> 00:08:48,904 She was found eight blocks away from home. 135 00:08:49,488 --> 00:08:54,076 So we're trying to develop a timeline to narrow things down. 136 00:08:54,159 --> 00:08:59,123 The last time that anybody saw Rasheda alive was at around 9:30. 137 00:09:00,165 --> 00:09:03,294 -[Racquel] She was working at Express. -[Helen] On 34th Street. 138 00:09:03,377 --> 00:09:04,670 -[Racquel] On 34th Street. -Yes. 139 00:09:04,753 --> 00:09:08,882 -She used to be home at about ten o'clock. -Yeah, ten o'clock at night. 140 00:09:09,925 --> 00:09:13,762 [Plansky] She'd finished for the day, said her goodbyes to her coworkers, 141 00:09:13,846 --> 00:09:17,766 and headed, they believed, to the subway, which is what she did every night. 142 00:09:18,392 --> 00:09:21,103 [Wagner] She would normally get off the subway 143 00:09:21,687 --> 00:09:23,939 at East 110th Street and Lexington Avenue, 144 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:29,028 and then walk from Lexington to 1st, to her apartment building. 145 00:09:29,111 --> 00:09:33,282 We knew she lived on 1st Avenue, about 109th Street. 146 00:09:33,365 --> 00:09:36,493 The security guard was found that worked that shift. 147 00:09:36,577 --> 00:09:39,038 They recalled seeing her every night, but not this night. 148 00:09:39,121 --> 00:09:44,001 We knew her body was found 5:00, 6:00 in the morning the next day, 149 00:09:44,084 --> 00:09:46,045 eight blocks away from home. 150 00:09:46,545 --> 00:09:52,468 How did she get to the stairwell on the 15th floor at 1345 5th Avenue? 151 00:09:53,761 --> 00:09:55,179 Nobody really knew. 152 00:09:55,262 --> 00:09:57,556 [unsettling music playing] 153 00:09:57,640 --> 00:09:59,558 She was pretty much a homebody. 154 00:09:59,642 --> 00:10:04,271 She went to school, went to work. She had never stayed out all night. Never. 155 00:10:05,731 --> 00:10:07,441 We couldn't understand 156 00:10:08,025 --> 00:10:11,403 how she ended up in the location she was found in. 157 00:10:11,904 --> 00:10:15,282 I remember, um, specifically being asked, 158 00:10:15,366 --> 00:10:17,201 "Was there anyone maybe 159 00:10:17,284 --> 00:10:21,538 when we were hanging out in the neighborhood that caught your eye?" 160 00:10:21,622 --> 00:10:23,374 And I couldn't think of anything. 161 00:10:23,874 --> 00:10:25,501 [suspenseful music playing] 162 00:10:25,584 --> 00:10:27,711 [Racquel] Rasheda did have a boyfriend. 163 00:10:28,879 --> 00:10:31,882 When she didn't come home that night, I'm like, 164 00:10:31,965 --> 00:10:36,929 "Did she decide to spend the night out or do something out of the norm?" 165 00:10:37,012 --> 00:10:39,932 Detectives asked me if I knew of her boyfriend, and I said, 166 00:10:40,015 --> 00:10:43,560 "Yes, I knew him. I saw them together. I spent time with them." 167 00:10:43,644 --> 00:10:47,398 So I had zero inkling that he would do anything like that, 168 00:10:47,481 --> 00:10:48,857 or harm Rasheda at all. 169 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:52,194 I said, "What's his name? Where does he live?" 170 00:10:52,861 --> 00:10:54,279 We talked to him. 171 00:10:54,947 --> 00:10:59,243 There was nothing that came out of that interview with her boyfriend 172 00:10:59,326 --> 00:11:03,163 that led us to believe that he was in any way responsible. 173 00:11:03,247 --> 00:11:04,832 He was pretty distraught. 174 00:11:07,167 --> 00:11:09,586 [Wagner] We talked to everyone she knew. 175 00:11:10,087 --> 00:11:15,509 Did she have acquaintances, schoolmates, or coworkers that were shady, 176 00:11:15,592 --> 00:11:19,805 that could have gotten her involved in something that resulted in her death? 177 00:11:19,888 --> 00:11:23,767 But these kids she associated with, they had a goal in life, 178 00:11:23,851 --> 00:11:25,936 and they were going for it as she was. 179 00:11:26,019 --> 00:11:29,148 And it was nice to hear, but it was also frustrating, 180 00:11:29,231 --> 00:11:31,859 the fact that it didn't provide us any leads. 181 00:11:32,484 --> 00:11:34,987 All the businesses in the neighborhood 182 00:11:35,070 --> 00:11:39,283 had flyers in the window to see if we could generate any tips calls. 183 00:11:39,366 --> 00:11:41,410 [unsettling music playing] 184 00:11:41,493 --> 00:11:46,623 We didn't know if she was kidnapped at some point in time 185 00:11:47,124 --> 00:11:49,418 or she went willingly with someone. 186 00:11:49,501 --> 00:11:51,879 You're looking for these idiosyncrasies. 187 00:11:51,962 --> 00:11:56,550 You're looking for something that jumps out off the page at you, 188 00:11:56,633 --> 00:11:57,760 to help you. 189 00:11:58,844 --> 00:11:59,887 We had nothing. 190 00:12:00,471 --> 00:12:02,473 We were basically stuck in the mud. 191 00:12:02,556 --> 00:12:03,891 We had no leads. 192 00:12:03,974 --> 00:12:05,976 [foreboding music playing] 193 00:12:13,442 --> 00:12:16,153 [Plansky] Months after the Rasheda Washington homicide, 194 00:12:16,236 --> 00:12:19,448 a 15-year-old girl was coming home to her family 195 00:12:20,574 --> 00:12:22,284 at the Paladino houses. 196 00:12:23,243 --> 00:12:26,622 She goes to the elevator, presses the button for the elevator. 197 00:12:26,705 --> 00:12:28,332 A man comes up behind her. 198 00:12:28,415 --> 00:12:30,375 He threatens her with a knife. 199 00:12:30,459 --> 00:12:32,169 He forces her into a stairwell. 200 00:12:32,753 --> 00:12:33,921 He rapes her. 201 00:12:34,004 --> 00:12:37,132 He steals her jewelry. And then he leaves her. 202 00:12:37,216 --> 00:12:39,009 [sirens wailing] 203 00:12:39,092 --> 00:12:40,385 Police respond. 204 00:12:41,011 --> 00:12:44,306 In that stairwell, the police find two things. 205 00:12:44,389 --> 00:12:47,392 A FUBU sweatshirt and a baseball cap. 206 00:12:48,101 --> 00:12:51,396 And this 15-year-old girl immediately tells them, 207 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,942 "That guy was wearing those articles of clothing." 208 00:12:55,526 --> 00:12:58,195 "He had on that sweatshirt. He had on that ball cap." 209 00:12:58,278 --> 00:13:02,115 They sent that FUBU sweatshirt, baseball cap, and the rape kit 210 00:13:02,199 --> 00:13:05,410 to the medical examiner's office for forensic analysis. 211 00:13:06,703 --> 00:13:08,705 [tense, curious music playing] 212 00:13:13,585 --> 00:13:15,921 On January 6th, 1999, 213 00:13:16,004 --> 00:13:20,342 we got a notification from the medical examiner's office, 214 00:13:20,425 --> 00:13:21,718 and that changed everything. 215 00:13:22,302 --> 00:13:25,430 There was no physical evidence on the sweatshirt or the ball cap. 216 00:13:25,514 --> 00:13:30,269 But DNA from the semen found in Rasheda Washington's body 217 00:13:30,352 --> 00:13:34,273 matched the semen that was recovered from the Paladino rape victim. 218 00:13:34,356 --> 00:13:37,234 It was the same person responsible for both crimes. 219 00:13:37,317 --> 00:13:39,319 [focused, inquisitive music playing] 220 00:13:42,281 --> 00:13:44,116 [Wagner] It was an uplifting moment, 221 00:13:44,658 --> 00:13:47,911 because now we can connect the cases together, 222 00:13:47,995 --> 00:13:50,706 but it was frustrating in the fact that 223 00:13:50,789 --> 00:13:52,958 we still don't know who this individual is. 224 00:13:53,041 --> 00:13:56,628 [Plansky] Two weeks later, we got a call from the medical examiner's office that 225 00:13:56,712 --> 00:14:00,674 another young woman in the same area was raped. 226 00:14:01,425 --> 00:14:03,302 She was 13 years old. 227 00:14:04,386 --> 00:14:06,722 Terrified, threatened with a knife, 228 00:14:06,805 --> 00:14:09,516 blindfolded with an article of her own clothing. 229 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,520 Sexually assaulted and robbed in a very dark stairwell. 230 00:14:13,604 --> 00:14:17,399 A rape kit was taken, and the evidence in that rape kit 231 00:14:17,482 --> 00:14:20,694 matched the Paladino rape case and the Rasheda Washington murder. 232 00:14:20,777 --> 00:14:25,032 The victims were all similar in stature, similar in age. 233 00:14:26,033 --> 00:14:30,746 They were petite, young, Hispanic or light-skinned Black. 234 00:14:31,246 --> 00:14:34,917 And also they were all in pretty close proximity. 235 00:14:35,667 --> 00:14:37,127 [Plansky] So now we have pattern. 236 00:14:37,628 --> 00:14:41,465 This is a serial rapist and murderer who's out on the street. 237 00:14:41,548 --> 00:14:44,718 The investigation really took on a lot of momentum. 238 00:14:44,801 --> 00:14:46,595 We kicked into overdrive. 239 00:14:47,471 --> 00:14:50,724 The 15-year-old girl that was raped in the Paladino houses, 240 00:14:50,807 --> 00:14:52,768 that became the name of the task force. 241 00:14:53,352 --> 00:14:58,607 The Paladino task force was sort of an Island of Misfit Toys. 242 00:14:58,690 --> 00:15:02,027 We had some folks from the DA's office, 243 00:15:02,110 --> 00:15:03,528 John Irwin and myself, 244 00:15:03,612 --> 00:15:08,450 and a real array of characters who happen to be amazing detectives. 245 00:15:08,533 --> 00:15:10,452 There was Scott Wagner, 246 00:15:10,535 --> 00:15:14,331 one of the most passionate detectives I've ever worked with. 247 00:15:14,414 --> 00:15:17,459 We had Rob Mooney. He can be very empathetic. 248 00:15:17,542 --> 00:15:19,503 He's excellent with victims. 249 00:15:19,586 --> 00:15:21,463 I met Bob Mooney in a bar. 250 00:15:21,546 --> 00:15:24,383 I used to hang out in a bar called Phebe's on the Bowery. 251 00:15:24,925 --> 00:15:27,636 [Mooney] She was talking to somebody else on the other side of her, 252 00:15:27,719 --> 00:15:29,846 and the conversation was in Spanish. 253 00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:32,891 After a while, she realized, 'cause Irma's extremely perceptive, 254 00:15:32,975 --> 00:15:35,310 that I looked like I was listening. 255 00:15:35,394 --> 00:15:37,646 I could see it coming. I looked at her, and said… 256 00:15:37,729 --> 00:15:39,272 [in Spanish] "Take it easy, sweetheart." 257 00:15:39,356 --> 00:15:42,693 "It's very dangerous when you don't know who you're talking to." 258 00:15:42,776 --> 00:15:45,320 [in English] And she's like, "What the fuck?" 259 00:15:45,404 --> 00:15:47,656 I was like, "Wow, you speak Spanish?" 260 00:15:47,739 --> 00:15:50,283 You look at Bob Mooney, you'd never think he speaks Spanish, 261 00:15:50,367 --> 00:15:53,036 'cause he's 6'3", male, white, Irish. 262 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,914 He worked in a predominantly Hispanic, Dominican neighborhood. 263 00:15:55,998 --> 00:15:58,125 He'd have two perps in the back seat of the car. 264 00:15:58,208 --> 00:16:00,002 They'd be talking amongst each other, 265 00:16:00,085 --> 00:16:03,338 saying where they hid the gun, where they hid the drugs. 266 00:16:03,422 --> 00:16:06,008 Bob would be understanding everything they said. 267 00:16:09,761 --> 00:16:13,640 [Wagner] I was a precinct detective, but when the task force was formed, 268 00:16:13,724 --> 00:16:18,270 we were all taken away from our regular duties on the precinct level, 269 00:16:18,353 --> 00:16:22,524 and we were only working on these sets of cases. 270 00:16:23,942 --> 00:16:28,905 The surviving rape victims sat down with the NYPD sketch artist, 271 00:16:28,989 --> 00:16:31,783 and a composite sketch from their description 272 00:16:32,492 --> 00:16:35,370 was drawn and made into a flyer. 273 00:16:38,081 --> 00:16:41,334 [Mooney] It was on every store window, telephone poles. 274 00:16:41,418 --> 00:16:44,087 We plastered East Harlem with copies. 275 00:16:44,171 --> 00:16:46,298 There was a tip line attached to it. 276 00:16:52,012 --> 00:16:55,390 It's unfortunate that the media didn't get involved in this. 277 00:16:55,474 --> 00:16:57,851 They only got involved in it when we called them 278 00:16:58,477 --> 00:17:01,021 to try to generate some coverage 279 00:17:01,104 --> 00:17:05,817 that maybe someone somewhere would read a paper with our picture in it. 280 00:17:05,901 --> 00:17:08,653 [Plansky] I feel like if the victims 281 00:17:09,237 --> 00:17:13,241 weren't young Black and Hispanic girls, 282 00:17:13,325 --> 00:17:15,452 the media would've been more interested. 283 00:17:15,952 --> 00:17:17,120 It is upsetting. 284 00:17:17,746 --> 00:17:20,791 We don't care whether the victim is Black or brown, 285 00:17:20,874 --> 00:17:24,002 or whether the perp is Black or brown, or whether they're white. 286 00:17:24,086 --> 00:17:28,090 We had a very bad person in East Harlem that needed to go. 287 00:17:28,173 --> 00:17:32,302 I'm gonna do the best I can to make sure this person is going to pay for it. 288 00:17:34,304 --> 00:17:36,723 [Plansky] Eight months after the murder of Rasheda Washington, 289 00:17:36,807 --> 00:17:38,558 a call comes into the tip line. 290 00:17:39,976 --> 00:17:41,478 [Wagner] It was from a female, 291 00:17:41,561 --> 00:17:45,398 an anonymous tipster who said that the word on the street 292 00:17:45,482 --> 00:17:50,320 is that Ace was responsible for the murders and rapes 293 00:17:50,403 --> 00:17:52,322 that were taking place in the neighborhood. 294 00:17:52,405 --> 00:17:55,117 The nickname "Ace" sounded very familiar to me. 295 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,702 [Mooney] Scott remembered a cold case that he had in the 2-3, 296 00:17:57,786 --> 00:18:00,038 shot back to the precinct, grabbed the folder, 297 00:18:00,122 --> 00:18:03,542 came back to the homicide squad, and was like, "I think this is the guy." 298 00:18:12,717 --> 00:18:14,719 [bleak, mysterious music playing] 299 00:18:16,805 --> 00:18:19,933 September 10th of '97, I had caught a homicide. 300 00:18:20,016 --> 00:18:21,101 Hispanic girl. 301 00:18:21,184 --> 00:18:26,314 She was about 19, found on the roof of 218 East 104th Street. 302 00:18:27,524 --> 00:18:29,693 She was burned over 90% of her body. 303 00:18:31,278 --> 00:18:33,280 I interviewed Arohn Malik Kee. 304 00:18:33,363 --> 00:18:36,741 A lot of people know him as "Ace." You know, that's his nickname. 305 00:18:37,325 --> 00:18:40,287 His phone number comes up on her telephone records. 306 00:18:40,370 --> 00:18:41,621 I wanted to interview him. 307 00:18:43,832 --> 00:18:47,752 He told me that he and his girlfriend were friends of the victim. 308 00:18:47,836 --> 00:18:49,671 They were supposed to get a bite to eat. 309 00:18:50,172 --> 00:18:52,716 He said that, uh, she never showed up. 310 00:18:53,884 --> 00:18:56,469 He called her, they were supposed to meet, she never came. 311 00:18:56,553 --> 00:18:58,597 He answered every question I put to him. 312 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:03,685 He showed no outward signs of the things we learn about body language, 313 00:19:03,768 --> 00:19:10,108 the things we pick up in doing interviews on a daily basis over a number of years, 314 00:19:10,192 --> 00:19:12,861 the tells that people have when they're lying. 315 00:19:13,486 --> 00:19:15,614 There was nothing I could put my finger on. 316 00:19:15,697 --> 00:19:20,285 But when the interview concluded, I asked him, 317 00:19:20,368 --> 00:19:22,913 "Do you mind if I take a Polaroid picture of you?" 318 00:19:23,830 --> 00:19:25,498 He says, "Fine. No problem." 319 00:19:38,011 --> 00:19:39,387 [jarring, tense music playing] 320 00:19:39,471 --> 00:19:43,558 I went back into my paperwork, and in the photo, 321 00:19:44,100 --> 00:19:48,730 he was wearing a gray sweatshirt with the FUBU logo on it. 322 00:19:48,813 --> 00:19:51,942 The same sweatshirt left at the scene of one of the rapes. 323 00:19:52,442 --> 00:19:55,695 It looked like the composite was drawn from my Polaroid. 324 00:19:56,321 --> 00:19:57,906 The sketch that was prepared, 325 00:19:57,989 --> 00:20:01,701 it was an absolutely uncanny resemblance to Arohn Kee. 326 00:20:02,202 --> 00:20:06,915 While that doesn't qualify as identification or probable cause, 327 00:20:06,998 --> 00:20:09,793 it certainly gives us a direction to move in. 328 00:20:09,876 --> 00:20:12,629 Arohn Kee is the only suspect at that point. 329 00:20:12,712 --> 00:20:14,589 [tense music continuing] 330 00:20:14,673 --> 00:20:17,550 [Plansky] They run a rap sheet on the name Arohn Kee, 331 00:20:17,634 --> 00:20:21,096 and they see he's got a history of robbery and burglary. 332 00:20:21,179 --> 00:20:23,181 One of the detectives from the 23rd Precinct 333 00:20:23,265 --> 00:20:25,433 saw the way that the first name was spelled. 334 00:20:25,517 --> 00:20:29,271 A-R-O-H-N, sort of an uncommon spelling. 335 00:20:29,354 --> 00:20:32,232 He was like, "Well, what about this case?" 336 00:20:32,315 --> 00:20:34,943 And he ran, and he got the Paola Illera case. 337 00:20:36,903 --> 00:20:39,447 [Plansky] He said, "I think this is part of the pattern." 338 00:20:39,531 --> 00:20:41,199 And he walked us through it. 339 00:20:56,131 --> 00:20:58,383 [Butcher] January of 1991. 340 00:21:01,177 --> 00:21:05,056 A little 13-year-old girl named Paola Illera 341 00:21:05,140 --> 00:21:08,101 was walking home from school in the late afternoon. 342 00:21:09,311 --> 00:21:11,646 [Plansky] Her family lived at 420 East 111th Street, 343 00:21:11,730 --> 00:21:13,148 on the 30th floor. 344 00:21:14,065 --> 00:21:17,444 She buzzed in the lobby to be let in. 345 00:21:18,903 --> 00:21:21,614 Then after a few minutes, they realized, "Where's Paola?" 346 00:21:22,657 --> 00:21:26,369 Somewhere between the lobby and the 30th floor, she's gone. 347 00:21:27,370 --> 00:21:30,749 [woman in Spanish] Around 4:30, my mom calls me and says, 348 00:21:30,832 --> 00:21:32,751 "Paola hasn't shown up." 349 00:21:33,335 --> 00:21:36,629 My brother-in-law thought it was odd, so he called the police. 350 00:21:36,713 --> 00:21:42,427 When I arrived, there was this confusion. I would go all over looking for her. 351 00:21:42,510 --> 00:21:45,764 [in English] While Paola's mother was frantically searching 352 00:21:45,847 --> 00:21:48,016 and wondering where her child was, 353 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:53,396 a man walking his dog along the East River near the pedestrian bridge 354 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,941 found the body of a small girl stabbed, 355 00:21:57,567 --> 00:22:02,030 strangled, assaulted, raped. 356 00:22:02,113 --> 00:22:05,158 That little girl was Paola Illera, 357 00:22:05,241 --> 00:22:07,827 found just ten blocks from her home. 358 00:22:10,997 --> 00:22:14,793 [in Spanish] I had hope that she was still alive. 359 00:22:15,794 --> 00:22:20,256 Then my brother-in-law says, "Olga, Paola is dead." 360 00:22:22,050 --> 00:22:25,303 And I screamed and said, "That's a lie." 361 00:22:25,387 --> 00:22:29,057 "Why are you lying to me? Why are you doing this to me?" 362 00:22:30,058 --> 00:22:33,144 That's when my brother came in and said, "It's true." 363 00:22:34,270 --> 00:22:35,772 "She's dead." 364 00:22:36,272 --> 00:22:37,273 [shudders] 365 00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,361 [mournful music playing] 366 00:22:43,947 --> 00:22:46,199 [in English] Right after Paola's body was discovered, 367 00:22:46,282 --> 00:22:50,370 detectives had canvassed the entire building of 420 East 111th Street, 368 00:22:50,453 --> 00:22:54,999 which is where Paola lived, and literally knocked on every door. 369 00:22:55,083 --> 00:22:57,710 One of the doors they knocked on was apartment 1910, 370 00:22:58,545 --> 00:23:01,881 and the person that they spoke to was a guy named Arohn Warford. 371 00:23:01,965 --> 00:23:04,342 When they showed him the picture of Paola, 372 00:23:04,426 --> 00:23:08,263 he said, "Yeah, I saw her. I got on the elevator with her." 373 00:23:08,346 --> 00:23:10,014 [Wagner] He got off on his floor. 374 00:23:10,849 --> 00:23:14,477 And she continued up in the elevator. That's what his statement was. 375 00:23:15,270 --> 00:23:18,231 [Plansky] At the time, he's got a record for robbery and burglary, 376 00:23:18,314 --> 00:23:19,983 but not violent crime. 377 00:23:20,066 --> 00:23:24,529 They found him to be open, and believed he was honest, 378 00:23:24,612 --> 00:23:27,115 very forthcoming, charming. 379 00:23:27,198 --> 00:23:31,870 Did not think that somebody like that could've been responsible for that murder. 380 00:23:33,037 --> 00:23:35,707 [Mooney] She lived in the same building as Arohn, 381 00:23:35,790 --> 00:23:38,418 but there was no evidence connecting them past that. 382 00:23:38,501 --> 00:23:40,879 [low, suspenseful music playing] 383 00:23:42,964 --> 00:23:45,925 [Plansky] The detectives tried to collect forensic evidence. 384 00:23:46,426 --> 00:23:51,973 They did find a variety of hairs on her tights under her jeans. 385 00:23:52,557 --> 00:23:57,604 [Wagner] The unknown hair that was found was sent to the forensics lab. 386 00:23:57,687 --> 00:23:59,272 At the time, 387 00:23:59,355 --> 00:24:04,527 they were able to just type the hair 388 00:24:04,611 --> 00:24:09,073 by saying it was from a male Black. 389 00:24:09,657 --> 00:24:11,367 That's all they were able to say. 390 00:24:12,076 --> 00:24:14,329 [Plansky] The detectives, at least at that time, 391 00:24:14,412 --> 00:24:18,166 didn't have a lot to work with, and there were no leads. 392 00:24:18,666 --> 00:24:20,126 That case was unsolved. 393 00:24:30,428 --> 00:24:32,347 After we went through Paola's case, 394 00:24:32,430 --> 00:24:37,602 we realized that the last person to see Paola Illera alive, 395 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,480 way back in 1991 during a canvass, 396 00:24:40,563 --> 00:24:42,941 was this fellow named Arohn Warford. 397 00:24:44,025 --> 00:24:47,153 Another detective in the task force, he goes, 398 00:24:47,237 --> 00:24:52,450 "Scotty, what apartment does Arohn Kee live in?" I told him. 399 00:24:53,201 --> 00:24:57,288 He goes, "Well, that's the same apartment for Arohn Warford." 400 00:24:57,914 --> 00:25:01,876 We ran Arohn Warford through the NYPD database. 401 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,296 We were able to get a connection to Kee. 402 00:25:05,922 --> 00:25:08,299 [Plansky] Cynthia Kee was Arohn Kee's mother. 403 00:25:08,383 --> 00:25:12,053 Warford turns out to be Arohn Kee's father's surname. 404 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:14,764 Those revelations… 405 00:25:14,847 --> 00:25:17,225 "Oh my God. Arohn Warford, 406 00:25:17,809 --> 00:25:23,439 who's Arohn Kee, was the last person to see Paola alive." 407 00:25:23,523 --> 00:25:27,277 "Oh my God, Arohn Kee was the last person 408 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:33,157 to speak to the victim in the 1997 case before she disappeared." 409 00:25:33,241 --> 00:25:34,617 It made your head spin. 410 00:25:38,413 --> 00:25:42,292 We knew this was bad, but after those two murders became part of the pattern, 411 00:25:42,375 --> 00:25:44,711 this may be even worse than we thought. 412 00:25:44,794 --> 00:25:49,173 I can tell you with confidence, as someone who was prosecuting crimes in Manhattan, 413 00:25:49,257 --> 00:25:51,467 that there were plenty of sex crimes. 414 00:25:51,551 --> 00:25:54,095 Not just in East Harlem. All over the city. 415 00:25:54,596 --> 00:25:57,974 But serial killers, fortunately, they are really rare. 416 00:25:58,057 --> 00:26:02,770 And in that moment, it was clear that he was one of them. 417 00:26:05,064 --> 00:26:08,776 Everybody's blood pressure goes up. Everybody starts wanting to do a dance. 418 00:26:08,860 --> 00:26:10,278 "Let's go get this guy." 419 00:26:11,195 --> 00:26:15,742 But we had to exercise restraint because there were loopholes. 420 00:26:15,825 --> 00:26:18,870 We had to close them all before we were gonna put him in handcuffs. 421 00:26:20,246 --> 00:26:23,458 We really, really needed a DNA sample from him 422 00:26:23,541 --> 00:26:25,001 that we knew was his 423 00:26:25,084 --> 00:26:28,630 that we could compare to the crime scene samples. 424 00:26:28,713 --> 00:26:31,549 So the question is, "How do you get it?" 425 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:40,850 One way to get DNA legally is abandoned property, and we thought, 426 00:26:40,933 --> 00:26:44,771 "What if we put Kee under surveillance, and followed him around, 427 00:26:44,854 --> 00:26:47,899 and waited for him to spit on the sidewalk?" 428 00:26:48,483 --> 00:26:52,654 "Waited for him to get a cup of coffee and toss it in the garbage?" 429 00:26:53,780 --> 00:26:58,534 We could connect some article that had touched his body 430 00:26:58,618 --> 00:27:01,913 to, hopefully, a DNA sample from that article, 431 00:27:01,996 --> 00:27:04,290 and then compare that to the crime scene samples. 432 00:27:04,999 --> 00:27:09,128 We even had a specialized unit from the NYPD 433 00:27:09,671 --> 00:27:13,716 put a pinhole camera outside his door so we could see him coming and going. 434 00:27:15,718 --> 00:27:17,970 We'll never know this for sure, 435 00:27:18,471 --> 00:27:22,266 but our suspicion was that he understood that he was being followed. 436 00:27:23,059 --> 00:27:25,603 For a period of about a week, 437 00:27:25,687 --> 00:27:28,523 Arohn Kee didn't throw anything on the sidewalk. 438 00:27:28,606 --> 00:27:32,902 But on February 8th, he did go and commit another crime 439 00:27:32,985 --> 00:27:34,696 that was completely different 440 00:27:34,779 --> 00:27:37,323 from the crimes that we were investigating him for. 441 00:27:38,324 --> 00:27:41,202 Arohn's also a serial larcenist. 442 00:27:41,285 --> 00:27:44,205 He was into electronics and he was into computers. 443 00:27:45,206 --> 00:27:49,377 He went to a big-box type electronics store. 444 00:27:49,460 --> 00:27:51,170 He bought a new computer. 445 00:27:52,088 --> 00:27:56,092 He put an old computer in the packaging for the new computer, 446 00:27:56,592 --> 00:28:00,096 and then he tried to return it as the new computer. 447 00:28:00,638 --> 00:28:03,641 He would say, "You sold me, this broke, and I want my money back." 448 00:28:03,725 --> 00:28:06,018 And it fooled precisely nobody. 449 00:28:08,020 --> 00:28:10,314 They called the police from Midtown North Precinct. 450 00:28:10,398 --> 00:28:12,859 They came and picked him up, put him under arrest. 451 00:28:13,901 --> 00:28:17,280 After we got over the surprise that this has actually happened, 452 00:28:17,363 --> 00:28:22,160 we realized this was a really good opportunity to get a DNA sample from Kee. 453 00:28:23,703 --> 00:28:28,458 [Mooney] Joel Potter and I drive to Midtown North, where he was. 454 00:28:28,541 --> 00:28:31,002 Unfortunately, he had already been cut loose. 455 00:28:31,085 --> 00:28:34,297 He had been arraigned and sent on his way. They couldn't hold him. 456 00:28:35,465 --> 00:28:39,135 Potter talks to the cop assigned to cell duty that night, and he goes, 457 00:28:39,218 --> 00:28:42,472 "Did you feed these prisoners tonight?" He goes, "Yeah." 458 00:28:42,555 --> 00:28:44,682 "Did they get coffee cups?" He goes, "Yep." 459 00:28:44,766 --> 00:28:46,142 So he went and collected 460 00:28:46,225 --> 00:28:48,895 every single coffee cup that was in the cells 461 00:28:48,978 --> 00:28:49,979 and took them. 462 00:28:50,730 --> 00:28:55,151 [Plansky] We rushed to get that evidence to the medical examiner's office. 463 00:28:55,651 --> 00:28:58,279 They dropped everything and started testing. 464 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,824 Today, it takes a matter of minutes. 465 00:29:01,908 --> 00:29:03,701 Seventy-two hours back then. 466 00:29:03,785 --> 00:29:05,411 But we had some comfort 'cause we thought, 467 00:29:05,495 --> 00:29:08,664 "We have the pinhole camera and we have him under surveillance." 468 00:29:12,877 --> 00:29:15,505 [suspenseful music playing] 469 00:29:16,756 --> 00:29:19,592 On February 12th, the results come back in. 470 00:29:20,510 --> 00:29:22,845 The good news is that there is a match. 471 00:29:23,638 --> 00:29:26,599 One of those cups was the source of the DNA profile 472 00:29:26,682 --> 00:29:28,434 that matched the crime scene samples. 473 00:29:28,518 --> 00:29:32,939 The bad news is that the cell that Arohn Kee was in by himself, 474 00:29:33,022 --> 00:29:36,692 that cup did not match the crime scene samples. 475 00:29:36,776 --> 00:29:38,778 And we were absolutely perplexed. 476 00:29:38,861 --> 00:29:40,571 We could not figure out why. 477 00:29:41,697 --> 00:29:45,409 We found the person in the cell next to Kee. 478 00:29:45,493 --> 00:29:46,661 We interviewed him. 479 00:29:46,744 --> 00:29:49,914 We asked him about the guy in the cell next to him. 480 00:29:49,997 --> 00:29:53,626 And he said, "That guy was a pain in the ass." 481 00:29:53,709 --> 00:29:57,713 "He kept banging on my cell, and finally I said, 482 00:29:57,797 --> 00:30:01,509 'Well, what do you want?' And he said, 'Switch cups with me.'" 483 00:30:02,552 --> 00:30:03,553 And he did. 484 00:30:04,053 --> 00:30:08,140 That gentleman consented to give us a sample of his DNA, an oral swab. 485 00:30:08,224 --> 00:30:12,186 That DNA matched the cup in Arohn Kee's cell. 486 00:30:12,270 --> 00:30:14,647 So, he was 100% telling the truth. 487 00:30:16,357 --> 00:30:18,609 [Mooney] It was elation for everybody, 'cause, like, 488 00:30:18,693 --> 00:30:21,529 "Okay, the last little piece of mystery here 489 00:30:21,612 --> 00:30:24,115 is now not a mystery any longer." 490 00:30:24,198 --> 00:30:28,411 [Plansky] We made a judgement combined with the other pieces of evidence 491 00:30:28,494 --> 00:30:33,082 that we had linking Kee to those crimes. It's time to go and arrest him. 492 00:30:34,667 --> 00:30:35,835 But we were too late. 493 00:30:36,335 --> 00:30:38,588 [cryptic music playing] 494 00:30:38,671 --> 00:30:39,922 He was very clever. 495 00:30:40,006 --> 00:30:43,384 He knew about the pinhole camera, tore it out, destroyed it, 496 00:30:43,467 --> 00:30:45,928 shook surveillance, disappeared. 497 00:30:47,430 --> 00:30:49,181 [Wagner] We're dealing with someone dangerous. 498 00:30:49,265 --> 00:30:52,727 Could possibly have a gun, a weapon. We don't know. 499 00:30:52,810 --> 00:30:57,440 We had worked all through that night into the next day trying to locate him. 500 00:30:59,942 --> 00:31:02,862 We learned that he had a girlfriend from Brooklyn. 501 00:31:03,613 --> 00:31:05,489 Her name was Angelique. 502 00:31:06,616 --> 00:31:08,159 She was 16. 503 00:31:09,285 --> 00:31:12,455 So we end up getting in touch with Angelique's mother. 504 00:31:13,331 --> 00:31:17,543 Arohn Kee picked up her daughter, and she went with him willingly. 505 00:31:18,544 --> 00:31:21,047 The mother had no idea where they were going. 506 00:31:22,256 --> 00:31:28,554 Arohn Kee was 28, 29 at the time, but he looked much younger. 507 00:31:28,638 --> 00:31:32,934 You could see how he could make a parent comfortable. 508 00:31:33,017 --> 00:31:38,189 He's got a great smile. He's polite. He's taking your daughter out for a date. 509 00:31:38,272 --> 00:31:41,067 They would have had really no reason whatsoever 510 00:31:41,567 --> 00:31:44,737 to be suspicious that anything was gonna happen. 511 00:31:46,113 --> 00:31:49,367 But he was a serial murderer and rapist. 512 00:31:52,078 --> 00:31:56,123 That 16-year-old girl with Arohn Kee, she was absolutely his type. 513 00:31:56,874 --> 00:32:01,587 And we were very, very worried that she was gonna be his next victim. 514 00:32:01,671 --> 00:32:03,673 [dark, overwhelming music playing] 515 00:32:08,344 --> 00:32:13,432 [Mooney] The level of intensity to get Arohn Kee was enormous. 516 00:32:14,350 --> 00:32:18,104 And now this was all over the news media. 517 00:32:18,688 --> 00:32:20,564 [reporter] Police say DNA tests connect him 518 00:32:20,648 --> 00:32:24,694 to the murder of 17-year-old Rasheda Washington and two rapes. 519 00:32:24,777 --> 00:32:26,821 He's also suspected of two other murders 520 00:32:26,904 --> 00:32:31,117 and feared to have kidnapped 16-year-old Angelique Stallings of Brooklyn. 521 00:32:32,743 --> 00:32:36,539 [Plansky] We learned that Kee had a lot of girlfriends. 522 00:32:38,165 --> 00:32:43,129 The next day, the mother of one of Kee's girlfriends, 523 00:32:43,212 --> 00:32:45,631 who lived in the same building as Kee, 524 00:32:47,591 --> 00:32:50,845 she saw news reports, and stepped up, 525 00:32:50,928 --> 00:32:53,097 and reached out to help us. 526 00:32:54,098 --> 00:32:58,144 She told us that he viewed her as a motherly sort of figure. 527 00:32:58,227 --> 00:33:00,396 In fact, he… he called her "Mom." 528 00:33:00,479 --> 00:33:03,482 -[phone ringing] -She was in communication with Kee. 529 00:33:03,566 --> 00:33:04,900 He was calling her. 530 00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:08,571 [Mooney] I went to her house. 531 00:33:08,654 --> 00:33:11,824 She gives me the telephone number that came up on her caller ID. 532 00:33:11,907 --> 00:33:16,370 So I immediately get the tech guys to trace that call, 533 00:33:16,454 --> 00:33:19,290 and it went back to a payphone 534 00:33:19,373 --> 00:33:24,003 that was in front of a place called the Miami Sun Hotel in downtown Miami. 535 00:33:25,046 --> 00:33:28,507 The first flight out next morning, we're on a plane going to Miami. 536 00:33:29,050 --> 00:33:30,843 [tense, frantic music playing] 537 00:33:30,926 --> 00:33:35,473 We had the Miami Police Department already alerted to the location. 538 00:33:36,265 --> 00:33:38,517 [Mooney] We go to the Miami Sun Hotel, 539 00:33:38,601 --> 00:33:41,145 and we set up to watch the front of the building 540 00:33:41,228 --> 00:33:42,855 in hope that he comes out. 541 00:33:47,276 --> 00:33:50,821 Not five minutes later, here he comes waltzing down the street. 542 00:33:50,905 --> 00:33:52,823 And, thank God, he had Angelique with him. 543 00:33:52,907 --> 00:33:55,493 So we go charging into the lobby of the hotel, 544 00:33:55,576 --> 00:33:57,411 but he's already gone upstairs. 545 00:33:57,495 --> 00:33:58,788 I start to go up the stairs. 546 00:33:58,871 --> 00:34:02,500 The sergeant from Miami homicide squad looks at me and goes, "Where you going?" 547 00:34:02,583 --> 00:34:05,336 I said, "We're gonna go get him." He goes, "Oh, no." 548 00:34:05,419 --> 00:34:07,421 "We're gonna call the SWAT team in." 549 00:34:07,505 --> 00:34:09,090 [siren wailing] 550 00:34:09,173 --> 00:34:10,758 In a matter of minutes, 551 00:34:10,841 --> 00:34:14,178 there were snipers on the roofs of two adjoining buildings 552 00:34:14,261 --> 00:34:16,722 and a helicopter flying over the top of the place. 553 00:34:16,806 --> 00:34:20,684 And here comes this Miami SWAT team, carrying long rifles. 554 00:34:21,477 --> 00:34:23,604 On the radio, I can hear them going, 555 00:34:23,687 --> 00:34:27,983 "All right, nothing on the second floor. All right, nothing on the third floor." 556 00:34:28,943 --> 00:34:32,238 Minutes later, this lieutenant is coming down the stairs, 557 00:34:32,321 --> 00:34:34,240 and he's got Arohn in handcuffs. 558 00:34:34,949 --> 00:34:35,783 Good evening. 559 00:34:35,866 --> 00:34:40,955 A seedy Miami hotel is the end of the road for a murder and rape suspect on the run. 560 00:34:41,038 --> 00:34:44,500 Police tell us they have linked him to at least one murder and two rapes… 561 00:34:44,583 --> 00:34:47,878 [Mooney] And I look at Arohn Kee. He literally starts to cry. 562 00:34:47,962 --> 00:34:50,422 And he goes, "I'm sorry, man." 563 00:34:52,258 --> 00:34:57,388 I did want to be the one to physically take him into custody, 564 00:34:57,471 --> 00:35:02,518 especially since he had basically gotten over on me 565 00:35:03,185 --> 00:35:08,023 September of '97 in my homicide of the girl burned on the roof. 566 00:35:08,107 --> 00:35:11,360 But not everyone can be the actual arresting officer. 567 00:35:11,443 --> 00:35:13,571 That doesn't mean you're not part of a team. 568 00:35:13,654 --> 00:35:18,117 We were. And I was very relieved. Very relieved. 569 00:35:20,035 --> 00:35:23,622 We were thrilled that he was in custody. 570 00:35:24,331 --> 00:35:27,042 Even happier that his girlfriend was alive. 571 00:35:32,256 --> 00:35:37,178 Within half an hour, John and I were making reservations 572 00:35:37,261 --> 00:35:40,806 to go down and join Rob Mooney in Miami. 573 00:35:42,474 --> 00:35:45,144 Now it's time to try to interrogate Arohn. 574 00:35:49,815 --> 00:35:51,400 [somber, inscrutable music playing] 575 00:35:51,483 --> 00:35:53,402 Another detective and I go into the room. 576 00:35:53,485 --> 00:35:58,824 We start to talk to him, and he's thoroughly unresponsive. 577 00:35:58,908 --> 00:36:02,328 Like, will not make a sound, no matter what I say to him. 578 00:36:02,411 --> 00:36:03,704 He's just silent. 579 00:36:05,539 --> 00:36:09,418 I was pushing him on Rasheda, and on the other case that Scott had, 580 00:36:09,501 --> 00:36:11,754 and I was pushing him on the rape cases, 581 00:36:11,837 --> 00:36:14,882 and he's like, "I don't know what you're talking about. Wasn't me." 582 00:36:14,965 --> 00:36:18,219 And I said, "Look, we got your DNA." 583 00:36:18,302 --> 00:36:20,804 "Here's how we got it. Here's where it was." 584 00:36:21,305 --> 00:36:24,725 "This… This isn't a guess. This isn't an accident." 585 00:36:27,061 --> 00:36:30,314 He asked for a lawyer and he put his head down on the table. 586 00:36:30,397 --> 00:36:33,859 That was the end. Never said another word for the rest of the night. 587 00:36:33,943 --> 00:36:35,945 [intense, focused music playing] 588 00:36:38,322 --> 00:36:40,824 It's late. It's probably 11:00 or midnight. 589 00:36:41,659 --> 00:36:46,538 Angelique Stallings, the girlfriend that he took with him to Miami, 590 00:36:46,622 --> 00:36:48,415 is in the station house with us. 591 00:36:48,499 --> 00:36:51,043 My partner comes to me, and he says, "Listen." 592 00:36:51,126 --> 00:36:54,880 "Angelique wants to go in there and say goodbye to him." 593 00:36:54,964 --> 00:36:58,592 I go, "She's a 16-year-old kid. He's a murdering rapist." 594 00:36:58,676 --> 00:37:01,595 I'm… I'm thinking that this is not a good idea. 595 00:37:01,679 --> 00:37:03,806 I… I'm gonna vote no on this one. 596 00:37:03,889 --> 00:37:06,558 But John and Rich were part of the conversation, 597 00:37:06,642 --> 00:37:09,853 and they were like, "Nah, let her go." 598 00:37:11,563 --> 00:37:14,566 And so Angelique went into the room with him. 599 00:37:15,985 --> 00:37:18,570 As soon as he saw her, she says to him, 600 00:37:19,905 --> 00:37:22,032 "Boo, wh… what did you do?" 601 00:37:22,825 --> 00:37:25,160 And he spews everything. 602 00:37:25,744 --> 00:37:28,706 He confesses to every single crime to her. 603 00:37:28,789 --> 00:37:31,917 [Plansky] He told his girlfriend that he was sorry. 604 00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:36,255 That he had urges. 605 00:37:36,338 --> 00:37:39,550 That he couldn't control these urges, and it would make him do things. 606 00:37:40,509 --> 00:37:43,512 She was understandably confused by that 607 00:37:43,595 --> 00:37:46,432 and deeply, deeply traumatized 608 00:37:47,850 --> 00:37:49,893 by what had happened with Kee. 609 00:37:50,769 --> 00:37:52,813 But this was a really smart kid. 610 00:37:53,731 --> 00:37:57,067 Very composed for a kid her age 611 00:37:57,151 --> 00:38:00,654 who had found herself in this situation 612 00:38:00,738 --> 00:38:04,199 that, thankfully, very few humans ever find themselves in. 613 00:38:05,743 --> 00:38:09,079 [Mooney] Thank God that he spewed every single thing out to her. 614 00:38:09,747 --> 00:38:12,082 Everybody was extremely elated. 615 00:38:12,166 --> 00:38:15,127 [Plansky] The significance of what he said was pretty clear. 616 00:38:15,210 --> 00:38:18,630 I think it's one of the few times in which he told the truth. 617 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,094 We knew Angelique Stallings was gonna be extremely important at trial. 618 00:38:28,474 --> 00:38:33,729 The case kind of began all over again once he was apprehended, 619 00:38:34,229 --> 00:38:37,649 because now there's extradition back to New York. 620 00:38:39,109 --> 00:38:41,487 We have to prepare now for a court case. 621 00:38:41,570 --> 00:38:43,864 And this is a huge case. 622 00:38:44,615 --> 00:38:48,160 [Plansky] As we're moving ahead with the case and preparing for trial, 623 00:38:48,660 --> 00:38:52,414 the girl whose mom had helped us 624 00:38:52,498 --> 00:38:55,125 track and trace Kee on his way down to Miami 625 00:38:55,209 --> 00:39:00,047 told us that he had mentioned raping a girl in 1998 626 00:39:00,130 --> 00:39:03,008 and another young woman back in 1994 627 00:39:03,092 --> 00:39:06,929 in a housing project in the same general area as the others. 628 00:39:07,471 --> 00:39:10,724 They matched DNA that was found in those cases to Arohn. 629 00:39:13,102 --> 00:39:16,772 [Planksy] While Arohn Kee's DNA matched the Rasheda Washington murder 630 00:39:16,855 --> 00:39:18,565 and the four rape cases, 631 00:39:19,066 --> 00:39:24,321 there was no physical evidence that connected him to Paola's case. 632 00:39:26,115 --> 00:39:28,409 We went and got an order 633 00:39:28,992 --> 00:39:33,872 to compel Kee to provide us with hair samples. 634 00:39:34,915 --> 00:39:38,085 [Butcher] Mr. Kee was brought to me at the medical examiner's office. 635 00:39:38,168 --> 00:39:40,838 And I explained to him what I was going to do. 636 00:39:42,548 --> 00:39:45,592 And he looked up at me… 637 00:39:46,844 --> 00:39:49,179 like that, like Princess Diana. 638 00:39:50,597 --> 00:39:54,435 And he said, "That's okay, ma'am. Do what you have to do." 639 00:39:55,769 --> 00:39:59,815 Arohn Kee was relatively handsome. 640 00:40:00,941 --> 00:40:02,484 Arohn Kee was charming. 641 00:40:02,568 --> 00:40:04,778 Arohn Kee was intelligent. 642 00:40:06,572 --> 00:40:10,868 They were his weapons to seduce young girls 643 00:40:12,161 --> 00:40:13,537 and kill young girls. 644 00:40:14,997 --> 00:40:17,166 He was a very dangerous man. 645 00:40:17,791 --> 00:40:19,793 [suspenseful music playing] 646 00:40:23,297 --> 00:40:25,799 [Plansky] We did DNA analysis of Kee's hairs 647 00:40:25,883 --> 00:40:30,637 against the hairs that were recovered from Paola's body. 648 00:40:32,723 --> 00:40:34,808 And they were an exact match. 649 00:40:35,976 --> 00:40:41,815 Now we have an indictment with three murders and four rapes. 650 00:40:43,901 --> 00:40:47,154 [Wagner] Mooney and I were gonna return him to Rikers Island. 651 00:40:48,363 --> 00:40:53,911 I hadn't seen him since I interviewed him in person back in '97. 652 00:40:54,495 --> 00:40:57,498 He recognized me right away. He was very cordial to me. 653 00:40:57,581 --> 00:41:01,251 Had the pleasure of putting my handcuffs on him. 654 00:41:02,961 --> 00:41:05,297 We put him in the car. I rode in the back with him. 655 00:41:05,797 --> 00:41:07,216 Rob Mooney drove. 656 00:41:07,299 --> 00:41:08,717 And I said, "You know, Ace, 657 00:41:09,968 --> 00:41:13,472 20 years from now, I'll be long retired." 658 00:41:14,181 --> 00:41:16,266 "You'll be serving life in Attica." 659 00:41:17,309 --> 00:41:19,686 "And I'm gonna come visit you one day, 660 00:41:20,437 --> 00:41:22,689 and you're gonna tell me what really happened." 661 00:41:23,524 --> 00:41:25,234 And then he started laughing. 662 00:41:25,317 --> 00:41:28,195 He said, "You know, Wagner, they're not gonna convict me." 663 00:41:28,987 --> 00:41:31,698 "We'll see each other." He says, "I'll buy you dinner." 664 00:41:35,244 --> 00:41:37,788 [Plansky] At the point in time that Kee was arrested in Miami, 665 00:41:37,871 --> 00:41:39,081 it had been ten years 666 00:41:39,164 --> 00:41:43,126 that Olga had been wondering what happened to her daughter. 667 00:41:45,587 --> 00:41:49,132 [Illera in Spanish] Every year, I would put up posters that said, 668 00:41:49,716 --> 00:41:53,595 "If anyone has information, please say something." 669 00:41:54,221 --> 00:41:58,141 When I found out, I just thanked God 670 00:41:58,225 --> 00:42:01,562 for allowing me to know who had done this. 671 00:42:03,730 --> 00:42:05,482 Arohn Kee is a monster. 672 00:42:07,401 --> 00:42:09,278 [in English] That was an answered prayer. 673 00:42:10,279 --> 00:42:13,824 If they didn't stop him, there would've been another one, 674 00:42:13,907 --> 00:42:17,536 and no other daughter's life needs to be taken. 675 00:42:19,621 --> 00:42:21,456 [Mooney] In the process of trial preparation, 676 00:42:21,540 --> 00:42:25,335 it's an intensely difficult time for the prosecutors. 677 00:42:26,587 --> 00:42:29,715 In this case, you're talking about millions of documents. 678 00:42:29,798 --> 00:42:33,176 You're talking about 140-plus witnesses. 679 00:42:33,260 --> 00:42:34,970 It's a daunting task. 680 00:42:35,053 --> 00:42:39,725 Rich would go for a whole day and not eat a single thing all day long. 681 00:42:39,808 --> 00:42:41,143 I lost 20 pounds. 682 00:42:42,102 --> 00:42:46,440 How do you not do everything you possibly can 683 00:42:46,523 --> 00:42:50,569 to get those families what they deserve? 684 00:42:52,237 --> 00:42:54,239 [harsh, ominous music playing] 685 00:43:09,671 --> 00:43:12,257 We called close to 140 witnesses. 686 00:43:12,341 --> 00:43:14,885 Those four surviving victims were 687 00:43:16,053 --> 00:43:19,264 the absolute picture of courage. 688 00:43:21,516 --> 00:43:24,353 They were still teenagers. 689 00:43:26,146 --> 00:43:29,358 Certainly, this was not an easy experience for any of them. 690 00:43:30,442 --> 00:43:32,694 They all did incredibly well. 691 00:43:33,195 --> 00:43:36,239 And it was really important for the jury to see 692 00:43:36,865 --> 00:43:41,411 the… the human cost of what this guy had done. 693 00:43:41,995 --> 00:43:44,539 [in Spanish] The first time that I saw Arohn Kee at the trial, 694 00:43:44,623 --> 00:43:49,211 I wanted to jump on top of him. I wanted to end him. 695 00:43:50,295 --> 00:43:54,466 I always sat here in the same spot, and they had him over there. 696 00:43:55,634 --> 00:43:59,763 I was always where I could see him well. 697 00:43:59,846 --> 00:44:02,432 When there was a recess and they would take him away, 698 00:44:02,516 --> 00:44:04,851 he would stop in the doorway, 699 00:44:04,935 --> 00:44:07,604 and he would turn around and look at me. 700 00:44:08,146 --> 00:44:10,440 And it was like he was telling me, 701 00:44:10,524 --> 00:44:14,486 "You are not going to be able to prove that I killed your daughter." 702 00:44:16,738 --> 00:44:20,117 [Planksy in English] Against the advice of his lawyers, Kee decided to testify. 703 00:44:21,618 --> 00:44:23,704 He was on the stand for three days. 704 00:44:24,705 --> 00:44:30,460 The gist of Kee's testimony was this amazing sci-fi tale 705 00:44:30,544 --> 00:44:36,341 of how he had stumbled onto an illegal organ harvesting scheme 706 00:44:36,425 --> 00:44:39,094 run by the Medical Examiner's Office of New York City, 707 00:44:40,387 --> 00:44:44,015 which is why we were all framing him for these murders and rapes, 708 00:44:44,099 --> 00:44:46,059 to get him out of the way. 709 00:44:48,562 --> 00:44:50,856 I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it. 710 00:44:52,315 --> 00:44:54,151 He's looking right at the jury. 711 00:44:55,444 --> 00:44:59,030 And he sits out there and calmly starts to say, 712 00:45:00,282 --> 00:45:02,451 "I didn't kill Paola." 713 00:45:03,118 --> 00:45:06,538 "I didn't kill the victim from '97." 714 00:45:07,038 --> 00:45:08,749 "I didn't kill Rasheda." 715 00:45:08,832 --> 00:45:10,667 "I didn't rape those girls." 716 00:45:12,043 --> 00:45:13,587 You can see all of the tools 717 00:45:13,670 --> 00:45:17,716 that he had used so effectively all of these years to con people. 718 00:45:17,799 --> 00:45:20,093 He was exhibiting them. 719 00:45:20,177 --> 00:45:22,888 He… He creates a great first impression. 720 00:45:28,101 --> 00:45:31,104 The jury was out for three days. 721 00:45:31,188 --> 00:45:35,108 When deliberations take three days, it makes you worry. 722 00:45:36,651 --> 00:45:41,615 And you could hear raised voices, 723 00:45:41,698 --> 00:45:45,577 and you could sort of see on the faces of the court officers 724 00:45:46,578 --> 00:45:49,831 that the deliberations were contentious at times. 725 00:45:51,333 --> 00:45:56,087 And your mind immediately goes to the 25 things that you wish you did. 726 00:45:56,838 --> 00:45:59,758 It's a really… It's a really helpless feeling. 727 00:46:00,926 --> 00:46:03,720 You don't bullshit families of homicide victims. 728 00:46:04,638 --> 00:46:07,349 So we wanted to be straight with them, 729 00:46:07,432 --> 00:46:09,267 like we always had tried to be. 730 00:46:09,351 --> 00:46:13,021 But we also didn't want to cause unnecessary alarm, 731 00:46:13,104 --> 00:46:15,732 even though I think we were pretty alarmed. 732 00:46:20,529 --> 00:46:23,490 A court officer came out, and he made this sign, 733 00:46:24,199 --> 00:46:27,202 which in that world means, "We have a verdict." 734 00:46:28,161 --> 00:46:30,163 And I just remember… [sighs] 735 00:46:30,914 --> 00:46:35,752 Like, "Oh my God, it's here." Like, "This is… It's about to be over." 736 00:46:38,338 --> 00:46:41,591 The court clerk begins going through the charges. 737 00:46:42,175 --> 00:46:46,596 "As to count one for the murder of Rasheda Washington." 738 00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:48,431 "Murder in the first degree." 739 00:46:48,932 --> 00:46:50,517 "How do you find?" 740 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,478 [intense music swelling, trailing off] 741 00:46:54,145 --> 00:46:56,189 And the first one was guilty. 742 00:46:56,773 --> 00:46:58,525 [somber, emotional piano music playing] 743 00:46:58,608 --> 00:47:00,068 [Taylor] I was ecstatic. 744 00:47:00,151 --> 00:47:04,823 I'm so, so happy that he's been taken off of the streets. 745 00:47:06,825 --> 00:47:08,994 Rasheda really had an impact 746 00:47:09,077 --> 00:47:13,248 on those friends and the people who have come in her path. 747 00:47:13,832 --> 00:47:18,169 I can only just imagine what she would have been today. 748 00:47:18,253 --> 00:47:20,255 [emotional music continuing] 749 00:47:21,298 --> 00:47:24,634 I could hear Rasheda's family. 750 00:47:24,718 --> 00:47:26,386 And I could hear this… 751 00:47:26,928 --> 00:47:27,846 [exhales heavily] 752 00:47:27,929 --> 00:47:28,847 "Thank God." 753 00:47:29,347 --> 00:47:30,974 This is finally… 754 00:47:31,850 --> 00:47:33,643 -It was finally the end. -Yeah. 755 00:47:33,727 --> 00:47:36,646 They caught him. He was captured and found guilty. 756 00:47:36,730 --> 00:47:38,523 Like, you got a sense of relief. 757 00:47:38,607 --> 00:47:40,317 -Like, "Thank God." -Yeah. 758 00:47:42,736 --> 00:47:45,071 [tense, inquisitive music playing] 759 00:47:45,155 --> 00:47:47,824 [Plansky] They went through the victims one at a time. 760 00:47:47,908 --> 00:47:50,327 That young girl from 1997, 761 00:47:51,411 --> 00:47:55,498 whose body was desecrated by Arohn Kee, set on fire. 762 00:47:56,249 --> 00:47:57,417 They said guilty. 763 00:47:57,500 --> 00:48:04,215 And then when they got to the charges relating to Paola, I… 764 00:48:04,925 --> 00:48:06,760 my heart was in my throat. 765 00:48:06,843 --> 00:48:10,805 And when they said guilty for that murder, and I heard… 766 00:48:10,889 --> 00:48:17,520 I could hear Olga and her family, and I was so grateful. 767 00:48:17,604 --> 00:48:22,817 Just grateful that, like, she had that moment. 768 00:48:28,198 --> 00:48:30,408 [in Spanish] When they had given the verdict, 769 00:48:30,492 --> 00:48:32,911 that day I had brought a photo of Paola. 770 00:48:33,411 --> 00:48:36,039 So I said to him, 771 00:48:36,122 --> 00:48:39,125 "Arohn Kee, look at me. I am Paola's mother." 772 00:48:39,751 --> 00:48:44,130 I said, "Why did you cause me this pain? Why did you do it?" 773 00:48:45,924 --> 00:48:49,260 It seemed he did not show any… 774 00:48:50,804 --> 00:48:54,516 pain or remorse. You couldn't see any of that in him. 775 00:48:58,603 --> 00:49:02,357 [in English] Arohn Kee got sentenced to 409 years to life in state prison. 776 00:49:02,857 --> 00:49:05,527 Seven girls in nine years. 777 00:49:06,861 --> 00:49:08,279 Three girls dead. 778 00:49:09,072 --> 00:49:10,740 And I think there were more. 779 00:49:12,158 --> 00:49:14,160 [somber, melancholy music playing] 780 00:49:18,123 --> 00:49:21,084 [Wagner] I have this horrible, horrible feeling 781 00:49:21,751 --> 00:49:25,422 that had I not missed something, 782 00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:28,758 these other women wouldn't have been raped, 783 00:49:28,842 --> 00:49:31,678 and Rasheda would not have been killed. 784 00:49:34,222 --> 00:49:35,306 What did I miss? 785 00:49:36,099 --> 00:49:38,601 Could I have paid more attention to something? 786 00:49:38,685 --> 00:49:40,437 I don't know. I… You know, I… 787 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:43,857 That question still bothers me today, all these years later. 788 00:49:47,944 --> 00:49:52,323 [Mooney] The magnitude of his crimes, and the breadth of his crimes 789 00:49:53,324 --> 00:49:56,202 really kind of punched everybody in the head. 790 00:49:58,788 --> 00:50:01,708 Every single case takes a little piece out of your soul. 791 00:50:01,791 --> 00:50:05,754 And in this particular instance, we're talking about seven cases. 792 00:50:05,837 --> 00:50:07,213 So, that's a bigger piece. 793 00:50:19,809 --> 00:50:23,688 [Plansky] About four months after the sentencing in the Kee case, 794 00:50:25,398 --> 00:50:28,902 I get a call from one of the detectives from the task force, 795 00:50:29,652 --> 00:50:35,283 and he tells me that he is at a crime scene. 796 00:50:35,867 --> 00:50:37,327 It's a triple homicide. 797 00:50:38,244 --> 00:50:40,538 Three people shot to death. 798 00:50:40,622 --> 00:50:43,249 Two people who are likely to die. 799 00:50:43,333 --> 00:50:45,710 So it could even have been a quintuple homicide. 800 00:50:45,794 --> 00:50:48,463 [reporter 1] The massacre that happened right above Carnegie Deli. 801 00:50:48,546 --> 00:50:50,173 [reporter 2] …above the Carnegie Deli. 802 00:50:50,256 --> 00:50:52,133 And he says to me, 803 00:50:53,259 --> 00:50:54,803 "Do you want the case?" 804 00:50:58,389 --> 00:51:03,520 In the Kee case, I had been working very long hours. 805 00:51:04,104 --> 00:51:05,605 Lot of stress. 806 00:51:07,273 --> 00:51:12,362 And I thought about the fact that I had just gotten engaged, 807 00:51:13,488 --> 00:51:18,618 and had this vision in my head for being a husband 808 00:51:18,701 --> 00:51:20,787 and hopefully a dad someday. 809 00:51:21,287 --> 00:51:23,665 Maybe coaching a Little League team. 810 00:51:24,165 --> 00:51:29,212 And then I thought of the way that my life would look if I said yes. 811 00:51:29,295 --> 00:51:30,463 [chaotic overlapping chatter] 812 00:51:30,547 --> 00:51:32,006 [sounds halt abruptly] 813 00:51:32,090 --> 00:51:33,842 And I said no. 814 00:51:35,426 --> 00:51:37,428 [restrained, pensive music playing] 815 00:51:39,264 --> 00:51:41,266 [Mooney] Rich Plansky has a huge heart, 816 00:51:42,183 --> 00:51:47,355 and he cares enormously about what he's doing. 817 00:51:47,438 --> 00:51:52,110 Some of us, we've done this so many different times on much smaller scales. 818 00:51:52,861 --> 00:51:55,071 We developed calluses, so to speak. 819 00:51:55,989 --> 00:51:57,574 Richie never had that opportunity. 820 00:51:58,241 --> 00:52:01,411 He got put into the game way before he was ready to play. 821 00:52:02,203 --> 00:52:04,205 Intellectually, he could handle every bit of it, 822 00:52:04,289 --> 00:52:06,207 but emotionally, it's a drain. 823 00:52:06,708 --> 00:52:09,878 And that, I think, took a big toll. 824 00:52:12,297 --> 00:52:18,178 I knew that I didn't have that fire anymore 825 00:52:18,887 --> 00:52:23,183 to… to do this job at the level that I wanted to do it. 826 00:52:25,185 --> 00:52:26,311 That was May. 827 00:52:27,395 --> 00:52:29,647 By the end of June, I was gone. 828 00:52:30,773 --> 00:52:32,609 [tide rolling gently] 829 00:52:36,988 --> 00:52:39,574 [Mooney] People say to me… I live on the beach in North Carolina, 830 00:52:39,657 --> 00:52:42,452 and they say, "Well, don't you miss New York City?" 831 00:52:43,786 --> 00:52:46,247 And I go out on that beach, or out on this deck, 832 00:52:46,331 --> 00:52:48,333 and I look at the ocean, and I go, 833 00:52:48,833 --> 00:52:52,921 "No, I don't miss any of that. I don't miss any of it at all." 834 00:52:53,004 --> 00:52:54,881 [keening, thoughtful music playing] 835 00:52:54,964 --> 00:52:57,759 I've probably worked on 1,500 murder cases. 836 00:52:57,842 --> 00:53:00,803 I probably witnessed 700 autopsies. 837 00:53:00,887 --> 00:53:02,805 Every one of those things… 838 00:53:04,724 --> 00:53:07,185 you get injured from that somehow. 839 00:53:08,728 --> 00:53:10,063 It doesn't go away. 840 00:53:12,065 --> 00:53:13,816 You're not unscathed, ever. 841 00:53:13,900 --> 00:53:15,360 [emotional piano music playing] 842 00:53:23,159 --> 00:53:25,203 [indistinct chatter] 843 00:53:26,204 --> 00:53:29,999 [Rivera] And you gotta shut it off. It's too much, right? Brian knows it. 844 00:53:30,083 --> 00:53:33,419 We're very sensitive to things, and a lot of stuff happens around us. 845 00:53:33,503 --> 00:53:37,131 So, you know, I think some of us are much more sensitive. 846 00:53:37,215 --> 00:53:39,300 It just affects us a bit more. 847 00:53:39,384 --> 00:53:41,594 It lodges in your heart, and you ignore it. 848 00:53:41,678 --> 00:53:44,639 You cover it up and it stays there like a splinter. 849 00:53:44,722 --> 00:53:48,226 That's what really makes you a professional, 850 00:53:48,309 --> 00:53:52,605 when you can do your job, go home, and not bring it home with you. 851 00:53:52,689 --> 00:53:55,191 But you do bring it home. You might not be aware of it. 852 00:53:55,275 --> 00:53:57,277 [McNeely] Coping mechanism, like Barbara was saying. 853 00:53:57,360 --> 00:53:59,696 The dark humor we had with each other. 854 00:53:59,779 --> 00:54:02,490 And we were able to separate the two. 855 00:54:02,573 --> 00:54:05,660 We had an emotional attachment to the victims, and their families, 856 00:54:05,743 --> 00:54:07,662 'cause we knew there was a void left, 857 00:54:07,745 --> 00:54:10,206 but amongst each other, we were doing stuff like this. 858 00:54:10,290 --> 00:54:13,126 -You have to let it out. -[McNeely] Helps you cope. 859 00:54:13,209 --> 00:54:15,795 -Talk to people. Listen to people. -[man] Right. 860 00:54:16,296 --> 00:54:17,171 Be friendly. 861 00:54:18,172 --> 00:54:19,924 [Butcher] The people I worked with, 862 00:54:20,008 --> 00:54:25,388 all good, caring people with a sense of fairness and justice 863 00:54:25,471 --> 00:54:30,393 who devoted their lives and their hearts to doing this kind of work. 864 00:54:30,935 --> 00:54:32,645 It was an enormous privilege. 865 00:54:32,729 --> 00:54:35,773 No matter how tough or how confident you are, 866 00:54:35,857 --> 00:54:39,319 there's a bit of fear there. "Oh, this is the big league." 867 00:54:39,402 --> 00:54:40,236 [Rivera] Yeah. 868 00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,824 Police work, detective work in particular, it's not just a job. 869 00:54:44,907 --> 00:54:49,078 I was so mean to you. And I love him, he's my little brother. 870 00:54:49,162 --> 00:54:53,374 It's an assignation that you choose to accept. 871 00:54:53,458 --> 00:54:55,376 It's almost like you were called to do it. 872 00:54:56,336 --> 00:54:58,087 There's one common thread. 873 00:54:58,171 --> 00:55:01,049 Everybody in that group, they cared. 874 00:55:02,091 --> 00:55:06,054 I like to think I'm part of that club, that fraternity, if you will. 875 00:55:06,554 --> 00:55:07,638 I'm proud to be. 876 00:55:07,722 --> 00:55:09,349 [bright, hopeful music playing] 877 00:55:18,316 --> 00:55:20,318 [dramatic outro music pulsing]