WEBVTT - 5. So Close 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:15.476 Pushkin. 0:00:22.796 --> 0:00:25.916 During the time my Terse was missing, a search party 0:00:26.156 --> 0:00:30.076 organized by doctor Ronda Hampton discovered a mural in a 0:00:30.116 --> 0:00:35.636 culvert high above Montanito on the cement around two large tunnels. 0:00:36.076 --> 0:00:39.596 Someone had painted a series of naked black women in 0:00:39.716 --> 0:00:44.996 various degrading and bizarre poses. This is doctor Hampton describing 0:00:44.996 --> 0:00:49.276 the scene in a video made by documentarian Chip Croft. 0:00:49.556 --> 0:00:55.396 This culvert area here is where there was the images 0:00:55.476 --> 0:01:01.516 that were taken by the searchers of approximately thirteen African 0:01:01.556 --> 0:01:09.436 American women with afros who were nude in very thick, 0:01:11.236 --> 0:01:15.116 sexually provocative positions. 0:01:15.796 --> 0:01:19.556 One was hula hooping, one was spread eagle, one was 0:01:19.596 --> 0:01:22.876 doing a handspring, one was climbing out of a vagina. 0:01:23.516 --> 0:01:27.476 Another was in a wheelchair giving a thumbs up. At 0:01:27.476 --> 0:01:30.956 the center, there was a man's face with crazed eyes 0:01:30.996 --> 0:01:32.676 and a mop of curly red hair. 0:01:33.596 --> 0:01:39.756 Along the concrete here were wordings indicating entering afro Land 0:01:39.876 --> 0:01:42.796 or something similar to that. Over the side here it 0:01:42.916 --> 0:01:46.196 said afro hose h o e s so afro hose. 0:01:46.716 --> 0:01:48.476 There were some other writings on. 0:01:48.116 --> 0:01:51.156 One of the figures really caught doctor Hampton's eye. 0:01:52.036 --> 0:01:56.156 One of the images was of a woman who was 0:01:56.196 --> 0:02:00.156 painted blue, kneeling on all fours on our Botox area. 0:02:00.236 --> 0:02:04.796 She had a simple the letters L A, and she 0:02:04.836 --> 0:02:07.436 had a marijuana joint out of her mouth. That's what 0:02:07.476 --> 0:02:09.996 makes us think that it's possibly that the person's trying 0:02:09.996 --> 0:02:13.076 to talk about my trees in terms of the fact 0:02:13.116 --> 0:02:15.196 that she was from LA, that she was accused of 0:02:15.236 --> 0:02:16.116 having marijuana. 0:02:17.156 --> 0:02:20.476 To my Teresa's friends and family, this mural was tantamount 0:02:20.516 --> 0:02:24.636 to a confession, a narrative depiction of her abduction, rape, 0:02:24.796 --> 0:02:29.636 torture and murder. According to my Teresa's mother, Latiste Sutton. 0:02:29.956 --> 0:02:32.796 There was even a forensic psychologist who wrote up a 0:02:32.836 --> 0:02:37.196 report about it unsolicited, saying it was a quote unquote 0:02:37.396 --> 0:02:43.076 sick trophy, the killer's calling card. But the day after 0:02:43.156 --> 0:02:45.636 it was discovered, when doctor Hampton went to see it 0:02:45.676 --> 0:02:51.196 for herself, it was already gone. She found that suspicious. 0:02:52.196 --> 0:02:55.396 Here she is again at the scene this immage. 0:02:55.436 --> 0:02:59.076 Yesterday was painted with the mural, which is what we're 0:02:59.116 --> 0:03:03.716 calling it, and here today the city has quickly come 0:03:03.756 --> 0:03:06.036 by and painted it over. 0:03:06.916 --> 0:03:09.636 There was nothing to see but a swath of babs paint, 0:03:10.116 --> 0:03:14.436 the kind used by the Graffiti Task Force. Law enforcement 0:03:14.596 --> 0:03:17.796 questioned the artist. It turned out he didn't know anything 0:03:17.796 --> 0:03:21.636 about my trees. This was just his thing, painting naked 0:03:21.676 --> 0:03:26.116 black women with afros in sexually explicit positions. He sent 0:03:26.236 --> 0:03:29.156 doctor Hampton an email telling her he was sorry for 0:03:29.236 --> 0:03:34.836 her loss. I knew the mural didn't have a direct 0:03:34.836 --> 0:03:39.156 connection to my trees, but still it was so unbelievably 0:03:39.276 --> 0:03:44.156 eerie and compelling, like a real of found footage explaining 0:03:44.276 --> 0:03:46.876 the total mystery of what had happened to my trees. 0:03:48.516 --> 0:03:50.676 So Haley and I figured we should see the spot 0:03:50.996 --> 0:03:54.436 and understand its proximity to the neighborhood and to Dark Canyon, 0:03:54.596 --> 0:03:58.636 where my Teres's remains were found. We met in Montanito 0:03:58.756 --> 0:04:02.276 and drove way up into the mountains. We parked on 0:04:02.316 --> 0:04:06.116 a narrow shoulder and got out. The covert ran underneath 0:04:06.116 --> 0:04:08.636 the road, so it wasn't visible till you went down 0:04:08.676 --> 0:04:12.276 below start level. I think we were expecting to see 0:04:12.316 --> 0:04:16.356 the beige government paint. We were seriously surprised. 0:04:18.396 --> 0:04:23.196 Oh, there's some weird graffiti here right now. 0:04:24.436 --> 0:04:27.316 Does not look like a it's like a similar style. 0:04:27.476 --> 0:04:28.956 Oh my god, I just got all the hairs on 0:04:29.036 --> 0:04:29.436 my arms. 0:04:29.436 --> 0:04:33.436 Set up on the main panel above the culverts tunnels. 0:04:33.636 --> 0:04:37.196 Someone had painted a new mural. It was nowhere near 0:04:37.236 --> 0:04:39.916 as elaborate as the original, but it did seem to 0:04:39.956 --> 0:04:45.716 share some basic DNA, Like that caricature over on the 0:04:45.796 --> 0:04:48.716 left looks similar to the and the yellow one too. 0:04:48.796 --> 0:04:52.236 The green one, well, that's creepy as fuck. 0:04:53.276 --> 0:04:55.796 I poked my head into one of the tunnels. 0:04:57.476 --> 0:04:59.236 How much do I not want to go in there? 0:05:03.876 --> 0:05:10.236 Well, then over on the right, I noticed something really weird. 0:05:11.236 --> 0:05:12.196 Look at this help. 0:05:14.516 --> 0:05:17.916 It's the same like creepy orange chair. It was a 0:05:17.956 --> 0:05:22.196 face outlined in orange with curly orange chair and crazy 0:05:22.236 --> 0:05:27.316 eyes next to the word help. Then there's another face, 0:05:27.596 --> 0:05:29.276 and it looks like there might be like a marijuana 0:05:29.316 --> 0:05:30.276 leaf in the middle of it. 0:05:32.196 --> 0:05:33.756 What the fuck? 0:05:36.516 --> 0:05:37.316 I want to go home? 0:05:39.396 --> 0:05:41.796 The original mural turned out to be a red herring, 0:05:42.316 --> 0:05:45.516 and this was just a copycat. So why did I 0:05:45.556 --> 0:05:49.956 feel a mounting sense of dread? I think it's because 0:05:50.036 --> 0:05:52.076 I was starting to see how easy it is to 0:05:52.116 --> 0:05:55.996 get turned around in these mountains, to be misled by 0:05:56.076 --> 0:06:01.356 seeming clues that don't solve anything. And I'm guessing that's 0:06:01.436 --> 0:06:04.676 pretty much what my Teresa's friends and family were feeling 0:06:04.956 --> 0:06:09.796 when the first mural was discovered and debunked. They still 0:06:09.796 --> 0:06:12.716 didn't know what had happened to my Trees. They were 0:06:12.796 --> 0:06:16.756 desperate to find her or find out, but they couldn't 0:06:16.796 --> 0:06:20.636 distinguish what might be crucial information that could lead them 0:06:20.636 --> 0:06:26.156 to an answer from what was spinning them blindfolded in circles. 0:06:29.796 --> 0:07:00.756 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills, episode five, 0:07:01.716 --> 0:07:08.756 So close. Throughout the fall of two thousand and nine, 0:07:09.156 --> 0:07:12.316 Teresa's case was all over the news, and the pressure 0:07:12.356 --> 0:07:15.076 on the Sheriff's department to explain their decision to release 0:07:15.116 --> 0:07:18.956 her without a safe ride home was intense. Here's a 0:07:19.036 --> 0:07:20.996 report from NBCLA. 0:07:22.356 --> 0:07:25.276 Among all the swirling questions in this case, one thing 0:07:25.396 --> 0:07:29.356 is certain. My Terce Richardson was lasting leaving this substation 0:07:29.556 --> 0:07:30.196 a week ago. 0:07:30.596 --> 0:07:33.676 She was not intoxicated, she was not disoriented. The La 0:07:33.716 --> 0:07:37.836 County Sheriff's Department did not only everything procedurally correct, but 0:07:38.076 --> 0:07:39.276 was morally right. 0:07:39.676 --> 0:07:43.516 The Sheriff's department says they'll launched another expansive search, a 0:07:43.636 --> 0:07:46.356 hunt for clues as authorities try to figure out how 0:07:46.356 --> 0:07:49.276 a beautiful young woman could simply vanish into the night 0:07:49.756 --> 0:07:51.116 outside a sheriff's station. 0:07:52.516 --> 0:07:55.596 The Sheriff's Department had arrested and released my Terse on 0:07:55.636 --> 0:07:58.796 the assumption that she was not gravely disabled or a 0:07:58.916 --> 0:08:02.316 danger to herself or others. Now that she was missing, 0:08:02.596 --> 0:08:05.276 they were at pains to explain why, if she was 0:08:05.316 --> 0:08:09.516 perfectly fine, she had not returned to her family. This 0:08:09.556 --> 0:08:12.676 is a recording that documentarian Chip Croft made of a 0:08:12.676 --> 0:08:16.396 press conference outside Lost Hills station three weeks after my 0:08:16.476 --> 0:08:17.596 Teresa's disappearance. 0:08:18.516 --> 0:08:23.116 Steve Whitmore, Sheriff's department spokesman. Now, the important thing that 0:08:23.196 --> 0:08:25.156 I want to say, and I've said since the beginning, 0:08:25.596 --> 0:08:29.756 is we want to find my Terce Richardson. That's all 0:08:29.796 --> 0:08:31.756 we want to do. We want to find her. 0:08:32.716 --> 0:08:35.996 At the station, he said, my Teres gave no indication 0:08:36.276 --> 0:08:37.756 of needing psychiatric help. 0:08:38.596 --> 0:08:42.796 She exhibited no signs of incapacitation whatsoever, no mental challenges, 0:08:43.076 --> 0:08:45.756 not she was not under the influence. We gave her 0:08:45.756 --> 0:08:49.276 an extensive field sobriety test, where the eyes are checked, 0:08:49.476 --> 0:08:52.876 where the pulse is checked, where this language is checked, 0:08:52.996 --> 0:08:55.556 where a person's physical abilities are checked. 0:08:56.556 --> 0:08:59.356 The jailer, he said, had offered my Teresa bed in 0:08:59.396 --> 0:09:02.716 an unlocked cell and also told her she was free 0:09:02.756 --> 0:09:04.756 to wait in the lobby for a ride. 0:09:05.556 --> 0:09:08.196 And when she came here, the jailer was an African 0:09:08.196 --> 0:09:10.556 American jailer, by the way, a woman who had been 0:09:10.556 --> 0:09:13.196 a jailer for fourteen years with the La County Sheriff's Department. 0:09:13.476 --> 0:09:16.916 Talked to a great length visited where they talked about music. Jazz, 0:09:16.996 --> 0:09:20.476 she liked, gospel, she didn't. There was a lucid conversation 0:09:20.876 --> 0:09:22.556 that jailer said, why don't you stay? 0:09:23.236 --> 0:09:27.396 A quick aside, A very senior member of the Detective Division, 0:09:27.676 --> 0:09:30.676 now retired, told me that one of the Sheriff's Department's 0:09:30.796 --> 0:09:34.556 biggest mistakes in the whole my Terce Richardson episode, was 0:09:34.596 --> 0:09:38.236 that they didn't ask the Lost Hills jailer, Sharon Cummings, 0:09:38.436 --> 0:09:41.636 a black woman, to explain to the public why she'd 0:09:41.636 --> 0:09:46.236 been released. I wondered what Cummings would have said. She's 0:09:46.356 --> 0:09:49.916 also retired now, so I called her. The minute I 0:09:49.956 --> 0:09:55.516 said my Terce Richardson, she hung up the phone. At 0:09:55.516 --> 0:10:00.316 the press conference, Steve Whitmore, the Sheriff's department spokesman, continued 0:10:00.356 --> 0:10:02.916 to defend the decision to let my teres leave. 0:10:03.916 --> 0:10:06.276 This is a twenty four year old adult who is 0:10:06.356 --> 0:10:11.076 fully coggon, sent of her surroundings, and coherent to said extent. 0:10:11.956 --> 0:10:15.956 If we hold them against their will, it's called overt detention. 0:10:16.676 --> 0:10:18.036 You can't do that in America. 0:10:19.476 --> 0:10:23.836 But reporters pressed, didn't the lost Hill's deputies have some 0:10:24.076 --> 0:10:27.916 responsibility to help her? Shouldn't she have been driven back 0:10:27.916 --> 0:10:28.356 to her. 0:10:28.236 --> 0:10:30.156 Car if she had asked? 0:10:30.156 --> 0:10:30.436 Sure? 0:10:30.596 --> 0:10:33.636 But let me that's an interesting question. We did that before. 0:10:33.716 --> 0:10:35.716 We've been asked to do that, and we've done it, 0:10:36.116 --> 0:10:41.196 and then we've been disciplined for doing it back exactly. Oh, yes, 0:10:41.636 --> 0:10:44.236 we've been people. If if it's late at night, if 0:10:44.236 --> 0:10:47.076 the situation warns it, not only a malleable, but any station, 0:10:47.756 --> 0:10:50.476 there's some especially in some stations where like Century, where 0:10:50.596 --> 0:10:53.436 there may be some danger. And I mean real danger. 0:10:53.516 --> 0:10:56.956 I mean you know, real danger. Now that doesn't say 0:10:56.956 --> 0:10:57.956 there's no danger here. 0:10:59.436 --> 0:11:02.436 It makes sense the Sheriff's department didn't want to dwell 0:11:02.476 --> 0:11:07.396 on my Teresa's mental state. It might expose them to liability. 0:11:07.436 --> 0:11:07.716 Soon. 0:11:08.036 --> 0:11:12.356 My Teresa's family sue the county for negligence, intentional infliction 0:11:12.476 --> 0:11:16.876 of emotional distress, and wrongful death. That claim ended in 0:11:16.916 --> 0:11:20.676 a nine hundred thousand dollars settlement for the family, but 0:11:20.756 --> 0:11:24.196 for the LAPD, the lead agency tasked with finding her. 0:11:24.636 --> 0:11:28.556 My Teresa's mental health was becoming an important investigative angle. 0:11:29.956 --> 0:11:33.516 Not long after my Teresa's disappearance, detectives reached out to 0:11:33.556 --> 0:11:36.516 Hannah Parks, the woman she'd fallen for in the summer 0:11:36.556 --> 0:11:39.316 of two thousand and nine. She knew my Terse was 0:11:39.396 --> 0:11:42.236 missing and was waiting anxiously for her to get in touch. 0:11:43.036 --> 0:11:45.916 In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, maybe 0:11:45.956 --> 0:11:48.916 she'll pop up, Like I thought, maybe she would just 0:11:48.996 --> 0:11:51.036 come to my house. I was waiting for her to 0:11:51.116 --> 0:11:54.556 kind of like reach out. I thought it was weird 0:11:54.596 --> 0:11:56.516 that she wasn't texting or calling, but then of course 0:11:56.516 --> 0:11:58.956 she didn't have her phone. But for me, in the 0:11:58.996 --> 0:12:02.916 back of my mind, of course, I was concerned because 0:12:02.916 --> 0:12:06.716 I knew the mental states she was in. But I 0:12:06.876 --> 0:12:10.756 was like, she'll come over, Like she'll she'll pop up. 0:12:11.956 --> 0:12:16.556 She was startled to get a call from LAPD Robbery Homicide. 0:12:16.916 --> 0:12:19.716 They said, hey, we need to meet with you about 0:12:20.156 --> 0:12:24.516 the disappearance of my Terce Richardson, and we're on our 0:12:24.556 --> 0:12:27.556 way right now, and I'm like, I'm at work, and 0:12:27.596 --> 0:12:28.836 they're like, we don't care. 0:12:30.036 --> 0:12:32.676 Hannah called her mom and together they went to meet 0:12:32.676 --> 0:12:34.796 the detectives at a Starbucks. 0:12:35.476 --> 0:12:39.196 They just asked me a bunch of questions about how 0:12:39.236 --> 0:12:45.476 I knew her, our relationship, things like that, and I 0:12:45.596 --> 0:12:52.796 asked them why why la homicide? Like why homicide? Because 0:12:53.076 --> 0:12:57.676 she's just missing, right, so shouldn't this be like missing persons? 0:12:58.916 --> 0:13:02.316 At first, Hannah felt like she might be a suspect. 0:13:02.756 --> 0:13:08.156 Then once they started talking to me more, I think 0:13:08.196 --> 0:13:13.036 they very quickly reed like I wasn't I didn't have 0:13:13.076 --> 0:13:17.796 anything to do with it. Then they started trying to 0:13:17.876 --> 0:13:21.796 just get more information out of me regarding my trees. 0:13:21.916 --> 0:13:26.156 Really, the detectives asked Hannah if they could look around 0:13:26.156 --> 0:13:26.556 her home. 0:13:27.596 --> 0:13:31.116 They ended up following me back to my apartment, and 0:13:32.956 --> 0:13:35.476 I gave them like everything I had of my terces. 0:13:35.516 --> 0:13:41.796 So there was a couple journals, some clothes, and just 0:13:41.836 --> 0:13:43.756 a few little things like I didn't have that much, 0:13:43.796 --> 0:13:46.316 but I gave them everything of hers that was at 0:13:46.316 --> 0:13:46.716 the house. 0:13:47.836 --> 0:13:51.156 Detectives also searched my Teresa's car at the tow yard 0:13:51.196 --> 0:13:55.996 in Malibu and recovered a black purse containing several more journals. 0:13:56.476 --> 0:13:59.876 According to her father, They also found her wallet underneath 0:13:59.876 --> 0:14:03.116 the seat. It contained a bank card connected to an 0:14:03.116 --> 0:14:06.996 account with plenty of money in it. The journals were 0:14:06.996 --> 0:14:10.476 handed over to Detective Chuck Knowles, one of the LAPD 0:14:10.676 --> 0:14:13.756 robbery homicide detectives who'd been assigned to take over what 0:14:13.956 --> 0:14:19.236 was still officially a missing person's case. Knowles had the 0:14:19.316 --> 0:14:23.836 journals analyzed by an LAPD psychologist who saw indications of 0:14:23.916 --> 0:14:28.596 severe bipolar disorder from my Teresa's phone records. They determined 0:14:28.596 --> 0:14:30.996 that she had not slept for five days by the 0:14:30.996 --> 0:14:36.276 time she arrived at Jeoffrey's. Knowles now understood how acute 0:14:36.316 --> 0:14:39.476 my Teresa's mental illness was at the time of her disappearance. 0:14:40.356 --> 0:14:43.396 It was the very recognition her friends and family had 0:14:43.436 --> 0:14:47.876 hoped for to add urgency to the search, but it 0:14:47.956 --> 0:14:53.236 had an unintended effect, because now the LAPD appeared to 0:14:53.356 --> 0:14:57.516 view her illness and erratic behavior as a likely explanation 0:14:57.636 --> 0:15:01.036 for the fact that she couldn't be found. My Teres 0:15:01.156 --> 0:15:05.276 might have committed suicide or succumbed to the elements, or, 0:15:05.596 --> 0:15:08.956 as Detective Knowles told the La Times, she could have 0:15:09.236 --> 0:15:13.236 quote gotten herself into a comfortable relationship outside of her 0:15:13.236 --> 0:15:18.236 immediate friends and family. In other words. The cops were 0:15:18.236 --> 0:15:33.476 implying my Teres had made herself disappear. One of the 0:15:33.516 --> 0:15:36.516 central mysteries of my Teresa's case is how she got 0:15:36.556 --> 0:15:40.996 from Lost Hill Station to Montanito, six miles in the dark. 0:15:42.796 --> 0:15:46.516 Law enforcement checked with local taxi companies. There was no 0:15:46.556 --> 0:15:50.676 record of her leaving Lost Hill Station. She would have, 0:15:50.876 --> 0:15:54.876 in all likelihood walked east on a Gurra road. In 0:15:54.956 --> 0:15:57.436 about a mile. She would have hit Las Virgines Road 0:15:57.996 --> 0:16:00.236 to the left, past the McDonald's and a couple of 0:16:00.276 --> 0:16:02.676 gas stations. Is the one O one freeway. 0:16:03.796 --> 0:16:04.316 To the right. 0:16:04.516 --> 0:16:08.436 The road takes you through Malibu Canyon to Montanito. If 0:16:08.436 --> 0:16:11.756 you keep going you hit Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean. 0:16:13.316 --> 0:16:15.636 Was she trying to get back to her car? And 0:16:15.676 --> 0:16:21.316 had she really gone all that way on foot? As 0:16:21.316 --> 0:16:24.156 soon as my Trees went missing, her inner circle began 0:16:24.276 --> 0:16:28.836 demanding documentation of her arrest and detention. More than anything, 0:16:29.036 --> 0:16:31.556 they wanted to see the video footage of my Trees 0:16:31.676 --> 0:16:35.076 leaving Lost Hill Station. They wanted to see which way 0:16:35.116 --> 0:16:37.436 she walked, or if someone who had yet to come 0:16:37.476 --> 0:16:41.996 forward had picked her up. They were hoping for a clue, 0:16:42.436 --> 0:16:45.676 but they were told there was no videotape, at least 0:16:45.796 --> 0:16:47.316 that's what they were told at first. 0:16:48.196 --> 0:16:51.876 That story changes. So originally okay, So originally we were 0:16:51.916 --> 0:16:52.996 told there were no front. 0:16:52.796 --> 0:16:54.836 Cameras, Doctor ron Dehampton. 0:16:54.876 --> 0:16:58.756 Again, every weekend, we were doing a search somewhere in 0:16:58.796 --> 0:17:02.796 some way, right, and so we kept coming back to 0:17:02.916 --> 0:17:05.076 how do we know that we're going in the right directions? 0:17:05.396 --> 0:17:07.636 So we were asking about the video so that we 0:17:07.636 --> 0:17:09.476 can see which way she walked when she out the 0:17:09.476 --> 0:17:12.516 front door. And then they just denied that there was 0:17:12.556 --> 0:17:14.076 ever the existence of a video. 0:17:15.116 --> 0:17:17.596 When they presented the Sheriff's Department with a picture of 0:17:17.636 --> 0:17:20.836 the camera at the front of Lost Hill Station, the 0:17:20.876 --> 0:17:21.756 story shifted. 0:17:22.316 --> 0:17:24.876 We were told, oh, there are cameras, but it's recorded over. 0:17:25.836 --> 0:17:28.076 And then the story shifted again. 0:17:28.956 --> 0:17:30.916 And then the next one was it's live and so 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:32.556 we don't record that. 0:17:33.996 --> 0:17:38.876 All three of those, the evolving answer did nothing to 0:17:38.916 --> 0:17:42.876 satisfy my Teresa's friends and family and did everything to 0:17:42.916 --> 0:17:46.676 convince them that the Sheriff's Department was hiding information to 0:17:46.796 --> 0:17:52.596 throw them off on purpose. Eventually, doctor Hampton says she 0:17:52.756 --> 0:17:55.476 asked about the video in a meeting with Tom Martin, 0:17:55.836 --> 0:17:58.396 who was the captain at Lost Hills Station when my 0:17:58.476 --> 0:17:59.716 Terse went missing. 0:18:00.556 --> 0:18:05.076 And then Tom Martin admitted at that point that he 0:18:05.156 --> 0:18:10.396 had the video, that he had had it, and that 0:18:10.476 --> 0:18:11.356 it was in his desk. 0:18:12.916 --> 0:18:15.916 So there was a video, and this whole time it 0:18:15.996 --> 0:18:18.996 was at the station, in the captain's desk. 0:18:19.276 --> 0:18:21.316 I mean, we were. It was pretty heated because it 0:18:21.356 --> 0:18:23.156 was like, wait, you lied all this time and said 0:18:23.196 --> 0:18:25.236 that there wasn't a video, you know, like, why would 0:18:25.236 --> 0:18:27.516 you hide it? He never answered that question. 0:18:28.556 --> 0:18:31.876 The impression that the Sheriff's Department was lying only deepened 0:18:31.916 --> 0:18:34.596 when my Teresa's friends and family actually got to see 0:18:34.596 --> 0:18:38.196 the video. It was screened for them with a homicide 0:18:38.196 --> 0:18:42.196 detective named Lieutenant Mike Rawson who was assisting on the case. 0:18:43.276 --> 0:18:47.196 It showed my Teres inside Lost Hill Station, and, contrary 0:18:47.236 --> 0:18:50.236 to what the Sheriff's spokesman had claimed, she did seem 0:18:50.276 --> 0:18:51.316 to be acting erratic. 0:18:52.476 --> 0:18:57.956 From what I recall seeing on the video. She's placed 0:18:57.956 --> 0:19:05.116 in the cell with another woman, and she interacts with 0:19:05.116 --> 0:19:08.876 that woman a bit, and she's pacing back and forth, 0:19:09.196 --> 0:19:15.436 and eventually the woman leaves, and so she's there by herself, 0:19:16.276 --> 0:19:19.036 and she goes up to the phone. She picks up 0:19:19.076 --> 0:19:21.596 the phone several times. She picks up the phone, puts 0:19:21.596 --> 0:19:27.076 it down, picks it up, puts it down. She starts 0:19:27.476 --> 0:19:30.716 swinging on the side of so like the door and 0:19:30.756 --> 0:19:32.716 the jail has like a bar on it kind of, 0:19:32.756 --> 0:19:35.396 and so she starts swinging. You know how kids you'll 0:19:35.436 --> 0:19:37.396 see them kind of doing it in like when they're 0:19:37.436 --> 0:19:41.036 in a crib. It's kind of doing that. And then 0:19:41.116 --> 0:19:44.156 my teres is kind of sitting or laying like in 0:19:44.276 --> 0:19:47.996 fetal position on this like concrete bench. 0:19:49.236 --> 0:19:50.956 When it got to the part of the video where 0:19:50.956 --> 0:19:55.516 My Rise was about to be released, doctor Hampton watched attentively. 0:19:55.636 --> 0:19:58.716 This was the moment she'd been most focused on where 0:19:58.756 --> 0:20:00.956 she might get to see which way my terse went 0:20:01.436 --> 0:20:02.716 or if someone had picked her up. 0:20:03.756 --> 0:20:06.116 They're collecting her and say they gave her this, like 0:20:06.956 --> 0:20:09.756 it's like a clear baggie, right, and it has like 0:20:09.796 --> 0:20:11.436 her belt in and her hat's in it. There's some 0:20:11.476 --> 0:20:15.076 other paperwork in there, and then she's putting on her 0:20:15.996 --> 0:20:18.636 putting on her items, and then they walk her out. 0:20:18.796 --> 0:20:22.276 Sharon comings, the jailer walks her out of the side door, 0:20:23.396 --> 0:20:27.116 and so when she opens that door, it's pitch dark, 0:20:27.156 --> 0:20:29.556 so that when they both exit together. After that, all 0:20:29.556 --> 0:20:32.756 you see is darkness and then the screen goes black. 0:20:32.876 --> 0:20:35.916 Right at that point when the screen went black, we 0:20:36.036 --> 0:20:37.716 kind of thought the video was over. 0:20:38.276 --> 0:20:42.036 But the tape was still rolling showing the darkened exterior 0:20:42.156 --> 0:20:42.716 of the station. 0:20:44.356 --> 0:20:49.596 So the guy who was showing us the film, I 0:20:49.756 --> 0:20:52.996 was sitting to his right, and so even though the 0:20:53.036 --> 0:20:55.596 screen was black, he looks over at me and he 0:20:55.716 --> 0:20:57.636 like nods his head like he's trying to get me 0:20:57.676 --> 0:20:59.716 to look at something, so I, you know, I just 0:20:59.796 --> 0:21:03.556 kind of look up. And then Jonathan also looked up 0:21:03.596 --> 0:21:07.316 my Teresa's cousin and he says, who's that because even 0:21:07.356 --> 0:21:11.836 though the screen was black at some point, So two 0:21:11.876 --> 0:21:15.676 minutes pass, but Sharon Cummins comes back and opens her door, 0:21:16.236 --> 0:21:20.156 and then at the same time, the deputy a deputy leaves. 0:21:20.196 --> 0:21:23.156 Like as soon as that door shut, the deputy leaves. 0:21:23.836 --> 0:21:26.316 They hadn't known that a deputy had left the station 0:21:26.556 --> 0:21:30.276 shortly after my trees. It seemed like the answer they'd 0:21:30.316 --> 0:21:31.196 been looking for. 0:21:31.756 --> 0:21:33.756 So they were like, wait a minute, who was that? 0:21:33.836 --> 0:21:37.916 Who was leaving? I can tell that Lieutenant Rawson was 0:21:38.116 --> 0:21:41.636 very surprised that that there was more footage on that video. 0:21:41.876 --> 0:21:45.116 Because his face turned absolutely beat red. 0:21:47.636 --> 0:21:50.596 The Sheriff's Department claims that all the deputies working that 0:21:50.716 --> 0:21:53.996 night were accounted for, and a report from the Office 0:21:53.996 --> 0:21:58.756 of Independent Review, a civilian oversight group, concluded that deputies 0:21:58.756 --> 0:22:03.996 had acted lawfully in my Trees's arrest and release. Still, 0:22:04.276 --> 0:22:08.156 over the years, many people have speculated that a deputy 0:22:08.196 --> 0:22:12.356 from Lost Hills might have picked up my Teres, assaulted her, 0:22:12.676 --> 0:22:16.436 killed her, and dumped her body, or that a deputy 0:22:16.476 --> 0:22:19.276 may have picked her up and assaulted her, causing her 0:22:19.316 --> 0:22:23.756 to flee into Montanito, where she died. There is no 0:22:23.876 --> 0:22:27.836 evidence to support either scenario, but it doesn't seem to matter. 0:22:28.636 --> 0:22:32.836 The Sheriff's Department's consistent impulse to shield themselves from blame 0:22:33.236 --> 0:22:38.436 made everything they did look like a cover up. Here's Michael, 0:22:38.556 --> 0:22:41.196 my Teresa's dad. This is from the first time I 0:22:41.236 --> 0:22:44.196 met him almost five years ago, at an event being 0:22:44.276 --> 0:22:47.356 held on the ten year anniversary of my Teresa's disappearance. 0:22:48.356 --> 0:22:51.116 He was firm in his belief that my Teresa's death 0:22:51.476 --> 0:22:52.796 was an inside. 0:22:52.396 --> 0:22:55.116 Job, so it was a cover up. 0:22:55.156 --> 0:22:58.036 From the time my Terce was released all the way 0:22:58.116 --> 0:23:00.396 up and still to now to this day, is still 0:23:00.396 --> 0:23:03.916 a cover up, and even though you know, let's say, 0:23:04.316 --> 0:23:07.876 how can you one hundred percent surely say it was 0:23:07.916 --> 0:23:10.676 a sheriff that did so to my trees? Well, it's 0:23:10.796 --> 0:23:14.756 very easy at this point in time. I'm not gonna 0:23:14.796 --> 0:23:18.756 lie about something that I didn't do. If I didn't 0:23:18.796 --> 0:23:23.676 do it, here's all the information. And ironically, the same 0:23:23.756 --> 0:23:27.156 thing that the shares expect for you to do as 0:23:27.196 --> 0:23:30.596 a witness. If you don't do it, you get arrested 0:23:30.636 --> 0:23:34.636 for it. So like saying, withholding evidence such as the 0:23:34.676 --> 0:23:37.716 tape of a crime, guess who's going to jail the 0:23:37.796 --> 0:23:40.436 person withholding And none of them went at jail. 0:23:41.916 --> 0:23:45.676 With the help of doctor Hampton, Mitteresa's family asked then 0:23:45.836 --> 0:23:50.396 California Attorney General Kamala Harris to open a criminal investigation 0:23:50.596 --> 0:23:54.756 into the conduct of sheriff's deputies, including Captain Tom Martin, 0:23:54.996 --> 0:24:00.036 for his possession of the videotape. In a twenty sixteen report, 0:24:00.316 --> 0:24:05.236 Harris's office found, quote, it is entirely doubtful that Martin 0:24:05.356 --> 0:24:09.756 can be successfully prosecuted for concealment of evidence. The tape 0:24:09.956 --> 0:24:17.436 was preserved and its contents eventually produced. In the course 0:24:17.436 --> 0:24:20.956 of our reporting, we heard of two more irregularities from 0:24:21.116 --> 0:24:24.276 very different ends of the spectrum regarding deputies and my 0:24:24.356 --> 0:24:27.716 Trees at the time of her release. The first was 0:24:27.756 --> 0:24:32.276 from Chermaine Henderson, my Terce's cellmate at Lost Hills. She 0:24:32.396 --> 0:24:35.196 said she was uncomfortable with the way my Trese was released, 0:24:35.876 --> 0:24:37.836 even though they were no longer in the same cell. 0:24:37.996 --> 0:24:40.156 She could tell that my Teres was leaving the station 0:24:40.316 --> 0:24:44.396 without a ride after midnight. That seemed wrong to her. 0:24:45.076 --> 0:24:46.356 I guess they sighted her out. 0:24:46.516 --> 0:24:48.316 But when you cite someone out, you still don't let 0:24:48.356 --> 0:24:50.916 them leave, and so they have a way to get somewhere. 0:24:51.476 --> 0:24:53.316 I mean, they can call a calf on their own, 0:24:53.476 --> 0:24:55.956 you know, something like that, you know, because it's in 0:24:55.996 --> 0:24:56.836 the middle of nowhere. 0:24:58.276 --> 0:25:01.316 But what she heard next actually gave her the creeps. 0:25:01.796 --> 0:25:04.396 What I was hearing like they were saying they would 0:25:04.476 --> 0:25:05.676 drop her off. 0:25:07.396 --> 0:25:10.556 One of the deputies, she said, offered to give my 0:25:10.716 --> 0:25:12.556 Terse a ride. 0:25:12.756 --> 0:25:15.676