WEBVTT - Episode 3: The Yearning 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:28.316 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. 0:00:31.516 --> 0:00:33.436 So he starts telling us how it went down. That 0:00:33.556 --> 0:00:38.156 basically that he and Tommy decided one night to go 0:00:38.356 --> 0:00:42.756 and find a black man, to kill that black man 0:00:43.276 --> 0:00:47.076 so that they could get their spider web tattoos as skinheads. 0:00:47.996 --> 0:00:50.436 How optimistic were you that you were going to be 0:00:50.476 --> 0:00:53.396 able to get them what they needed to solve this. 0:00:56.236 --> 0:00:58.836 I was actually very. 0:00:58.676 --> 0:01:02.356 Optimistic, because we keep pretty good records on our dead bodies. 0:01:03.316 --> 0:01:12.156 We have a name, we have a victim. 0:01:15.756 --> 0:01:19.076 Last November, I traveled to Philadelphia to meet some of 0:01:19.116 --> 0:01:20.676 Iron Wood's relatives. 0:01:21.116 --> 0:01:24.036 Hello, my name is Michelle Wood, and Ron Wood is 0:01:24.076 --> 0:01:24.556 my uncle. 0:01:25.596 --> 0:01:28.316 It struck me right away that Michelle used the present 0:01:28.436 --> 0:01:32.956 tense iroan is her uncle, as if on some level 0:01:33.236 --> 0:01:35.956 he's still alive for her, and he kind of is. 0:01:36.596 --> 0:01:39.756 He still looms in her memories, even though Michelle was 0:01:39.796 --> 0:01:42.836 just three years old back in nineteen eighty nine when 0:01:42.876 --> 0:01:43.556 he was murdered. 0:01:44.676 --> 0:01:47.116 I always get this vision, but I don't know if 0:01:47.156 --> 0:01:51.716 it was like me just thinking about what happened, or 0:01:51.796 --> 0:01:55.196 if I actually remembered, but I always have this vision 0:01:55.236 --> 0:01:59.996 of on my grandmom's living room and everybody like in 0:02:00.036 --> 0:02:02.716 a circle. Hugging each other and crying. 0:02:04.116 --> 0:02:08.076 For Michelle, this vision, this memory is from the time 0:02:08.116 --> 0:02:10.636 that her uncle died, when they all gathered at her 0:02:10.636 --> 0:02:15.356 grandmother's house in North Philadelphia to mourn. And you heard 0:02:15.356 --> 0:02:17.996 her say, she can't even be sure if it's a 0:02:18.036 --> 0:02:21.276 real memory or something that she's just been told about 0:02:21.436 --> 0:02:24.316 so many times that it has slowly leached into her 0:02:24.316 --> 0:02:30.316 consciousness and become a memory. That vision of her family 0:02:30.716 --> 0:02:33.756 was something that she recalled and felt every time she 0:02:33.796 --> 0:02:38.276 walked into her grandmother's living room. Growing up, Michelle says 0:02:38.436 --> 0:02:42.516 she was very close with her grandmother, Dorothy Wood, Iran's mother. 0:02:43.356 --> 0:02:46.196 Michelle often wanted to ask her grandmother to talk about 0:02:46.236 --> 0:02:49.396 the past, to share some stories about her uncle Aran, 0:02:50.276 --> 0:02:54.676 but Michelle didn't ask because she'd been warned not to. 0:02:56.316 --> 0:02:58.556 My dad will always say like, if you have any 0:02:58.636 --> 0:03:02.036 questions about your uncle, asks me. You know, don't really 0:03:02.076 --> 0:03:05.116 try to talk to your grandma aboudy. So I would 0:03:05.156 --> 0:03:08.116 just listen when someone says something, but I didn't ask 0:03:08.156 --> 0:03:11.476 because I just felt like it was like a short topic. 0:03:13.036 --> 0:03:18.436 Occasionally Dorothy would talk about Iran. Michelle says back then, 0:03:18.636 --> 0:03:21.756 even as a child, she could sense her grandmother's pain, 0:03:22.676 --> 0:03:25.076 and she also sensed that her grandmother was trying to 0:03:25.076 --> 0:03:28.196 make sense of what had happened, of why Iran had 0:03:28.196 --> 0:03:30.956 been killed, because no one had ever been able to 0:03:30.996 --> 0:03:35.556 offer the family any explanation, not the police, or the neighbors, 0:03:35.916 --> 0:03:40.396 or even Iran's friends, and then not knowing seemed to 0:03:40.396 --> 0:03:41.636 eat away at Dorothy. 0:03:43.276 --> 0:03:46.396 I think that when it comes to certain particular deaths, 0:03:46.796 --> 0:03:49.876 I think that sometimes we put on a front with 0:03:49.916 --> 0:03:54.116 the world like we've gotten over it, because maybe people 0:03:54.316 --> 0:03:56.876 feel like they might be taught to hearing about it, 0:03:56.996 --> 0:03:58.996 or it's been so long you should be over it. 0:04:00.116 --> 0:04:03.836 Michelle remembers that her grandmother often recalled things that Iran 0:04:03.996 --> 0:04:08.396 said before he died. Apparently there were certain Bible verses 0:04:09.316 --> 0:04:13.636 to paraphrase, like when Jesus said, put your sword back 0:04:13.636 --> 0:04:16.996 into its place, for all who take the sword will 0:04:17.036 --> 0:04:21.796 perish by the sword. Dorothy wondered aloud, Why had Iron 0:04:21.916 --> 0:04:25.716 quoted this particular verse? What was he trying to tell us? 0:04:26.676 --> 0:04:29.956 Dorothy puzzled over this and other things that Iran said, 0:04:30.756 --> 0:04:34.596 as if these memories or these cryptic bits somehow held 0:04:34.596 --> 0:04:36.316 the secret to her son's fate. 0:04:37.716 --> 0:04:39.916 I think she was trying to get answers. I feel 0:04:39.996 --> 0:04:42.436 like she was still heartbroken a body. 0:04:43.956 --> 0:04:47.476 In some ways, Michelle was also looking for answers. She 0:04:47.596 --> 0:04:50.996 too wanted to know more about her uncle Iran, But 0:04:51.116 --> 0:04:55.076 there was perhaps quite understandably, a sense among some family 0:04:55.156 --> 0:04:59.116 members that the past was the past. It was painful, 0:04:59.436 --> 0:05:02.436 so best to let it be, best to move on. 0:05:04.316 --> 0:05:10.156 For Dorothy, this brokenheartedness, this yearning for an answer, It 0:05:10.196 --> 0:05:13.716 continued for a very long time, but there was no movement, 0:05:14.196 --> 0:05:19.236 no news, nothing. It seemed possible she'd never know who 0:05:19.316 --> 0:05:24.956 murdered her son or why. But then, seventeen years later, 0:05:25.196 --> 0:05:28.436 in two thousand and six, the Phillip d showed up 0:05:28.476 --> 0:05:33.076 at her house and knocked on her door. These cops 0:05:33.116 --> 0:05:37.476 were acting on intel from Scott and Terry's investigation. This 0:05:37.596 --> 0:05:40.356 door knock, it would set off a chain of events 0:05:40.636 --> 0:05:44.236 that would upend the Wood family and its understanding of 0:05:44.276 --> 0:05:49.436 the past, and it would instill in the family another yearning, 0:05:49.676 --> 0:06:09.876 entirely a yearning for justice. I'm Jay Calburn and this 0:06:09.956 --> 0:06:28.516 is Deep Cover, Season four, The Nameless Man, Episode three, 0:06:28.996 --> 0:06:39.116 The Yearning. When I started working on this story, one 0:06:39.156 --> 0:06:41.516 of the first things I did was reach out to 0:06:41.556 --> 0:06:45.676 the Wood family. I wrote letters, emails, sent a few texts. 0:06:46.396 --> 0:06:50.596 Initially I got no response, and then finally I heard 0:06:50.596 --> 0:06:54.356 back from Michelle right away. She became my ambassador to 0:06:54.396 --> 0:06:57.236 the Wood family. She told me that I really needed 0:06:57.236 --> 0:07:00.876 to speak with her father and her uncle, Iran's brothers. 0:07:01.356 --> 0:07:05.036 They were in their twenties when Iron died. Michelle suggested 0:07:05.116 --> 0:07:07.716 that I come down to Philadelphia and that we all 0:07:07.756 --> 0:07:12.956 get together. The Wood family had never really spoken publicly 0:07:12.996 --> 0:07:16.716 about Iran's death, not in any depth or detail anyhow, 0:07:17.516 --> 0:07:20.596 so I was surprised by this invitation, but I can't 0:07:20.636 --> 0:07:23.796 take any credit for it. It was all Michelle. She 0:07:23.956 --> 0:07:27.116 made it happen, and I got the sense it wasn't 0:07:27.156 --> 0:07:30.396 even that she wanted to speak so much as she 0:07:30.476 --> 0:07:33.276 wanted to listen to hear what her dad and her 0:07:33.356 --> 0:07:38.516 uncle had to say. All these years later, Michelle still 0:07:38.596 --> 0:07:41.916 yearned to know more about her own family and her 0:07:41.996 --> 0:07:46.596 uncle Aran, the man who'd been murdered under mysterious circumstances 0:07:47.156 --> 0:07:52.396 when she was just three years old. We all met 0:07:52.476 --> 0:07:55.316 up in an apartment that I rented in the Fairmount 0:07:55.356 --> 0:07:59.276 neighborhood of Philly. It was me, a producer, Amy, and 0:07:59.356 --> 0:08:03.156 three members of the Wood family. Michelle, her dad Michael, 0:08:03.516 --> 0:08:07.476 and her uncle Tyrone. The five of us crammed into 0:08:07.476 --> 0:08:09.796 a tiny shoe box of a living room. I mean 0:08:09.836 --> 0:08:12.516 the chairs were jammed in so tight our feet were 0:08:12.556 --> 0:08:16.676 practically touching. Dorothy passed away a few years ago, so 0:08:17.036 --> 0:08:20.196 sadly she wasn't there are we rolling on both? 0:08:20.956 --> 0:08:22.396 Okay, so let's talk about names. 0:08:22.436 --> 0:08:25.516 We're gonna pause for a second. That's my names, names, 0:08:25.876 --> 0:08:27.916 because the first thing you got to know about the 0:08:27.956 --> 0:08:32.396 Wood family is everyone has a nickname. Tyrone he's the 0:08:32.436 --> 0:08:35.676 youngest child, the baby. He was almost eight years younger 0:08:35.716 --> 0:08:40.076 than Iran. His nickname is the Golden Child because as 0:08:40.116 --> 0:08:43.716 a kid he got away with everything. But was that 0:08:43.996 --> 0:08:47.036 uh was that like a name that you embraced or 0:08:47.076 --> 0:08:48.316 were you like, Oh. 0:08:48.196 --> 0:08:50.316 I embraced it. I embraced it because I knew it 0:08:50.316 --> 0:08:50.996 was true. 0:08:54.356 --> 0:08:58.316 And then there's Michael, the middle child. He's Michelle's dad. 0:08:58.796 --> 0:09:02.156 He was six years younger than Iran, and he has 0:09:02.156 --> 0:09:03.156 a nickname too. 0:09:03.156 --> 0:09:06.116 Just go erin from the seventies like that, because when 0:09:06.116 --> 0:09:08.756 I started DJing in eighty two, that was still to 0:09:08.836 --> 0:09:11.796 discover the air was still coming. So that's why a 0:09:11.796 --> 0:09:13.836 lot of people, some people I grew up with. They 0:09:13.876 --> 0:09:16.156 know me as they'll call me DJ Mike, They'll call 0:09:16.196 --> 0:09:17.436 me Disco Mike. 0:09:19.996 --> 0:09:21.676 Disco. Yeah. 0:09:22.196 --> 0:09:25.396 It was clear to me from the start, just a 0:09:25.436 --> 0:09:28.436 few minutes into our conversation that this is a family 0:09:28.636 --> 0:09:31.916 that likes to laugh. They told me they've always enjoyed 0:09:31.916 --> 0:09:36.876 each other's company. Tyrone the Golden Child remembers Thanksgivings when 0:09:36.876 --> 0:09:38.876 he would cook dinner and then cuddle up with his 0:09:38.956 --> 0:09:42.036 knees on the couch where he'd fall asleep instantly. 0:09:43.916 --> 0:09:47.236 Yes, we had a you know, football game one because 0:09:47.236 --> 0:09:52.756 I cooked and not all the time, not all the time. 0:09:52.796 --> 0:09:53.716 But are you gonna talk about that? 0:09:53.876 --> 0:09:57.396 Okay, okay, that's how I was at my grandma host 0:09:57.476 --> 0:10:00.876 to a couch, always fell asleep on couch. 0:10:01.196 --> 0:10:04.036 Oh yeah, that was a sleeping film. 0:10:04.236 --> 0:10:04.436 Yeah. 0:10:05.036 --> 0:10:06.316 Well, you guys said something. 0:10:06.396 --> 0:10:07.636 You guys have a close family. 0:10:07.956 --> 0:10:12.156 Yeah. Yeah. 0:10:12.636 --> 0:10:15.396 At this point, there was a pause in our conversation. 0:10:16.116 --> 0:10:19.316 No one spoke for a moment. You could almost feel 0:10:19.316 --> 0:10:23.196 a muted sadness creep into the room like cold air 0:10:23.356 --> 0:10:27.996 through a crack in the wall. And then, totally unprompted, 0:10:28.596 --> 0:10:30.436 Michelle said, uh. 0:10:30.316 --> 0:10:31.876 You know, I often wonder how it would have been 0:10:31.876 --> 0:10:35.676 if my uncle was still up, you know, getting to 0:10:35.716 --> 0:10:36.436 know him more. 0:10:37.036 --> 0:10:38.996 Where does that thought leave you when you go down 0:10:39.076 --> 0:10:39.476 that road? 0:10:40.356 --> 0:10:43.756 Oh I guess now, I feel like this would be 0:10:43.796 --> 0:10:46.956 a good time to start, you know, bridging the gifts 0:10:47.116 --> 0:10:48.116 and stuff with our. 0:10:47.996 --> 0:10:52.956 Family, bridging the gaps. Michelle was referring to other relatives 0:10:52.956 --> 0:10:56.276 in the family who knew Iran that they'd lost touch with. 0:10:57.276 --> 0:11:00.356 But as I saw it, there seemed to be other 0:11:00.476 --> 0:11:05.036 gaps too, gaps in memory, things that Michelle couldn't remember 0:11:05.436 --> 0:11:09.516 or never knew about her uncle Iran. And that's really 0:11:09.556 --> 0:11:12.236 while we were here to talk about the one brother 0:11:12.596 --> 0:11:19.916 who was absent. Iran, of course, had a nickname of 0:11:19.956 --> 0:11:24.196 his own, Cat. Apparently it came from the animated cartoon 0:11:24.556 --> 0:11:27.236 Top Cat. It was popular back in the sixties. 0:11:27.716 --> 0:11:28.356 The top Cat. 0:11:29.276 --> 0:11:31.316 Top Cat was the leader of a gang of alley 0:11:31.396 --> 0:11:34.716 cats from Manhattan who were always hustling with get rich 0:11:34.796 --> 0:11:39.996 quick schemes. Their plans usually backfired comically. So Iran was 0:11:40.036 --> 0:11:42.876 a big fan of the show, and apparently he was 0:11:42.916 --> 0:11:44.156 also a smooth operator. 0:11:45.196 --> 0:11:48.036 Oh yeah, he was. He's a smooth, smooth dude. I mean, 0:11:48.956 --> 0:11:51.796 you know, he, like I said, he wasn't the biggest guy. 0:11:52.356 --> 0:11:55.596 But everybody respected him. I mean they just and they 0:11:55.676 --> 0:11:58.436 listened to him. You know, old cat said, this cat 0:11:58.476 --> 0:12:01.756 said that he loved he loved cats. Soon he loved cads. 0:12:01.756 --> 0:12:05.516 I remember I was funny, right because I remember he 0:12:05.556 --> 0:12:07.396 would when he would kiss the cats, he would kiss 0:12:07.476 --> 0:12:10.156 him in the name off and my mom was, I'll tell 0:12:10.156 --> 0:12:10.996 his girlfriend, I don't know. 0:12:10.956 --> 0:12:11.476 Why you kiss. 0:12:11.516 --> 0:12:13.116 On the line, he'd be kissing them cats in the. 0:12:17.396 --> 0:12:20.836 In the neighborhood. Iran seemed to embrace the role of topcat, 0:12:21.236 --> 0:12:23.676 a little guy with a lot of bluster. He was 0:12:23.716 --> 0:12:27.116 a good basketball player and a ladies man too, a 0:12:27.156 --> 0:12:30.516 real sharp dresser. In fact, as he got older and 0:12:30.516 --> 0:12:33.716 could afford it, Iran had his clothing custom made by 0:12:33.756 --> 0:12:38.596 a local tailor. Iran very much played the role of 0:12:38.636 --> 0:12:42.316 the big brother, looking out for his siblings, keeping them safe. 0:12:42.716 --> 0:12:46.076 When Michael or Tyrone played basketball or hung out at 0:12:46.076 --> 0:12:48.756 the park, they never had to worry about people messing 0:12:48.796 --> 0:12:52.916 with them. Everyone knew they were cats, younger brothers, and 0:12:52.996 --> 0:12:57.276 according to Tyrone, this allowed them to remain just kids 0:12:57.716 --> 0:13:02.796 much longer than they otherwise would have, even though there 0:13:02.916 --> 0:13:06.756 was crime in their neighborhood. The Woods House never got burglarized. 0:13:07.476 --> 0:13:10.476 This was Aron's doing. The brother told me, this was 0:13:10.596 --> 0:13:15.156 his reputation, keeping them safe like a shield, or so 0:13:15.276 --> 0:13:23.356 it seemed. In the late seventies and early eighties, when 0:13:23.356 --> 0:13:27.076 the Wood brothers were coming of age, Philadelphia was grappling 0:13:27.076 --> 0:13:30.796 with an uptick in homicides, and at times the threat 0:13:30.796 --> 0:13:34.116 of danger felt very real to the Wood family. There 0:13:34.156 --> 0:13:37.516 was one occasion when Iran was in his twenties, Aram 0:13:37.596 --> 0:13:39.876 was at the park. Someone shot off a gun and 0:13:39.956 --> 0:13:42.916 the bullet grazed at Iran's body. He had to go 0:13:42.916 --> 0:13:45.436 to the hospital to get patched up. What was a 0:13:45.476 --> 0:13:51.916 close call and reminder that no one was entirely safe. 0:13:51.996 --> 0:13:54.196 The brothers say that Iran was the type of young 0:13:54.276 --> 0:13:57.836 man who was always testing boundaries, pushing it a little bit, 0:13:58.276 --> 0:14:02.516 which sometimes caused tension with their mom, Dorothy. Even so 0:14:03.036 --> 0:14:06.836 Iran helped out. Whatever money he made, he always shared 0:14:06.876 --> 0:14:09.516 it with their mom. Here's Michael, I. 0:14:09.476 --> 0:14:10.636 Do not even give him money. 0:14:10.916 --> 0:14:13.876 You know, whatever various jobs or whatever he did out 0:14:13.876 --> 0:14:14.956 on the STREETL like that. 0:14:15.036 --> 0:14:16.676 He wasn't no choir boy, you. 0:14:16.636 --> 0:14:19.516 Know, because he was evolving different things. You know, he was, 0:14:19.716 --> 0:14:21.356 I mean, I know he was in this you know, 0:14:21.436 --> 0:14:22.996 selling drugs and stuff like that. 0:14:24.356 --> 0:14:27.676 Michael and Tyrone didn't know all the details, but they 0:14:27.756 --> 0:14:32.556 understood their older brother was quote no choir boy. By 0:14:32.596 --> 0:14:34.956 the time that he was in his late twenties, Iran 0:14:35.036 --> 0:14:39.356 ran a local speakeasy and he also sold drugs. But 0:14:39.476 --> 0:14:43.596 to his brothers he was top cat, the lovable rascal 0:14:43.636 --> 0:14:46.676 who was always there for them. When it came time 0:14:46.716 --> 0:14:49.156 for Disco Mike to go to the prom, it was 0:14:49.236 --> 0:14:52.316 Iran who took him to get a snazzy suit at 0:14:52.356 --> 0:14:56.236 a men's shop called Today's Man. Later, when Michael wanted 0:14:56.276 --> 0:14:59.076 to find work as a DJ, Iran had him spin 0:14:59.156 --> 0:15:03.836 records at his speakeasy. Tyrone, the youngest the Golden Child, 0:15:04.356 --> 0:15:07.596 remembers fondly being in his twenties and going to Cats 0:15:07.596 --> 0:15:11.156 speakeasy when Disco Mike would spend his records. 0:15:11.676 --> 0:15:14.476 He would DJ and my brother would you know, run 0:15:14.516 --> 0:15:17.236 the place, and you know, at the at the end 0:15:17.276 --> 0:15:19.356 of the night we would go up there. He'd count 0:15:19.396 --> 0:15:23.916 the money or whatever, give Michael whatever, And that was 0:15:23.956 --> 0:15:27.396 like a really fun time for me because it was 0:15:27.756 --> 0:15:29.676 a time I got to spend time with both my 0:15:29.716 --> 0:15:34.716 brothers at the same time with no no, no drama 0:15:35.036 --> 0:15:38.556 or no nothing wrong, if just a happy time. 0:15:43.756 --> 0:15:47.076 Tyrone smiled when he told this story. You could see 0:15:47.156 --> 0:15:50.476 him doing that thing where for a moment, you kind 0:15:50.476 --> 0:15:53.276 of step away from yourself and go back in time. 0:15:54.116 --> 0:15:58.996 It was sweet to watch, but also painful because I 0:15:59.036 --> 0:16:05.476 knew what came next. We're gonna take a quick break. 0:16:19.796 --> 0:16:23.036 There are single moments in time when fate takes a 0:16:23.116 --> 0:16:26.876 jagged turn, like a dog like intersection that dumps you 0:16:26.916 --> 0:16:30.756 into a dead end. For the Wood family, this moment 0:16:30.796 --> 0:16:36.676 occurred in April of nineteen eighty nine. The Wood brothers 0:16:36.716 --> 0:16:40.556 were adults. They had families of their own. Iran was 0:16:40.596 --> 0:16:44.436 thirty three, Michael was twenty eight, and Tyrone, the baby, 0:16:44.676 --> 0:16:49.996 the Golden Child, was twenty six. It was Tyrone who 0:16:49.996 --> 0:16:52.836 got the call from their mother telling him that something 0:16:52.956 --> 0:16:56.316 terrible had happened. Their oldest brother had been shot in 0:16:56.356 --> 0:17:00.436 the head and left for dead. The police didn't have 0:17:00.476 --> 0:17:05.596 a shooter. They didn't even have any leads either. Tyrone 0:17:05.636 --> 0:17:09.556 and Michael were at a loss. Sure, maybe Ron was 0:17:09.636 --> 0:17:12.236 no choir boy, but as far as they knew, he 0:17:12.236 --> 0:17:16.076 didn't have any enemies either. As Tyrone recalled. 0:17:16.156 --> 0:17:17.436 Everybody liked him. 0:17:17.556 --> 0:17:21.556 That's why We was baffled, like, oh, somebody shot a 0:17:21.596 --> 0:17:26.996 Ron shot Aron. You can't nah, no way, And I 0:17:26.996 --> 0:17:29.356 guess that's what Pussimos beginning. 0:17:30.876 --> 0:17:31.756 Couldn't figure that out. 0:17:34.316 --> 0:17:37.356 Still in a state of shock, the brothers rushed over 0:17:37.436 --> 0:17:40.316 to be with their mom. How did your mom? What 0:17:40.596 --> 0:17:41.316 state was your mom? 0:17:41.396 --> 0:17:46.476 And at that point, I know she was really out 0:17:46.476 --> 0:17:52.276 of it. She was really destroyed. She was really destroyed. 0:17:52.276 --> 0:17:54.236 She was in kind of a bad way. So we 0:17:54.876 --> 0:17:57.436 tried to just be there for her. I don't know 0:17:58.156 --> 0:18:03.196 what can we say. You know, that's her oldest son. 0:18:03.516 --> 0:18:06.636 You know, I didn't know how to react, especially to 0:18:06.676 --> 0:18:11.396 a violent crime like that. I was kind of mad 0:18:11.436 --> 0:18:14.396 at God. I was like, how can you do this 0:18:14.436 --> 0:18:16.516 to me? I was thinking, well, what do we wanna 0:18:16.556 --> 0:18:19.516 do now? You know that sort of thing, you know, 0:18:19.596 --> 0:18:22.796 how do we how do we go on? And then 0:18:22.876 --> 0:18:25.676 cause you know, that was the first real violence in 0:18:25.676 --> 0:18:29.916 my life, and that at that time, it took me. 0:18:30.676 --> 0:18:35.036 I went to a tailspind. I wasn't myself, you know, 0:18:35.116 --> 0:18:39.436 cause I was just in self destruct mode. I guess 0:18:40.356 --> 0:18:47.316 day before his funeral, I disappeared. I was drinking and 0:18:47.316 --> 0:18:49.756 and you know, as a matter of fact, I came 0:18:49.796 --> 0:18:52.796 to my mother's house the day before the funeral, uh 0:18:52.956 --> 0:18:54.636 in the middle of the night, and they made me 0:18:54.636 --> 0:18:55.796 go upstairs and go to bed. 0:18:57.076 --> 0:18:59.916 They took away his keys. They didn't want him driving. 0:19:00.476 --> 0:19:03.916 They just wanted to keep him safe. A few days later, 0:19:04.636 --> 0:19:07.156 Tyrone went to the spot where his brother was killed 0:19:07.636 --> 0:19:10.036 on the thirteen hundred block of Stillman Street. 0:19:12.276 --> 0:19:17.356 I actually want to see, oh, where it happened. When 0:19:17.396 --> 0:19:22.916 was the last place he was at? Yeah, I also 0:19:22.956 --> 0:19:24.356 want to see the last place he was at. 0:19:24.756 --> 0:19:29.516 Basically, did he give you any peace or anything? 0:19:29.676 --> 0:19:29.716 No. 0:19:31.356 --> 0:19:36.596 I wept a lot. I don't even I don't even 0:19:36.636 --> 0:19:38.756 know who was with me. I don't know if I 0:19:38.796 --> 0:19:41.476 was by myself. I don't know. I just know I 0:19:41.596 --> 0:19:47.876 drove there and I just cried and cried and just 0:19:49.196 --> 0:19:50.796 you know, but I had to see. I had to 0:19:50.796 --> 0:19:54.036 see the last place my brother was here was on earth. 0:19:56.556 --> 0:20:00.996 Meanwhile, Michael, the middle brother, he was also struggling. The 0:20:01.116 --> 0:20:03.796 night before the service, he went to the funeral home 0:20:03.836 --> 0:20:06.956 to see his brother in a coffin, and in this 0:20:07.076 --> 0:20:18.556 quiet moment, he kissed around on the forehead. What Michael 0:20:18.556 --> 0:20:22.556 remembers next is the wake. Everyone gathered at their mom's 0:20:22.556 --> 0:20:26.476 house to grieve and pay their respects. Michael was still 0:20:26.516 --> 0:20:30.156 grasping for answers. There was still no new information on 0:20:30.196 --> 0:20:34.716 who murdered Iran, just rumors speculation about who might have 0:20:34.796 --> 0:20:38.716 a motive, but it was all chatter. At some point, 0:20:38.956 --> 0:20:42.716 Michael recalls, one of his aunts sat him down because 0:20:43.116 --> 0:20:45.676 there was something important that you wanted to tell him. 0:20:46.436 --> 0:20:49.876 She said, you have to forgive the person they killed 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:52.196 your brother. And I don't even know this person is. 0:20:52.596 --> 0:20:54.996 I know he's somewhere around, I don't know. It could 0:20:54.996 --> 0:20:58.156 be somebody that came in in Allowance where I worked 0:20:58.156 --> 0:21:00.116 at DJ and stuff like that. I don't even know 0:21:00.156 --> 0:21:02.476 who this person is. Because it was like all kinds 0:21:02.516 --> 0:21:04.556 of rumors or I think so and so did it 0:21:04.716 --> 0:21:06.676 was he had an incident with this person. He had 0:21:06.676 --> 0:21:09.036 an incidant with that person, you know, so we don't 0:21:09.196 --> 0:21:10.356 even know who the enemy is. 0:21:11.796 --> 0:21:15.236 Michael had no idea who'd killed his brother, not at all, 0:21:15.956 --> 0:21:18.876 but his aunt was insistent that he needed to embrace 0:21:18.916 --> 0:21:22.356 the Lord's Prayer one verse especially. 0:21:22.716 --> 0:21:25.196 Which it says, particularly in the Lord's Prayer that in 0:21:25.276 --> 0:21:27.116 order for God to forgive you for your sin, you 0:21:27.116 --> 0:21:28.836 have to forgive your enemies like that. 0:21:29.396 --> 0:21:32.116 But this raises his question of like, how do you 0:21:32.196 --> 0:21:35.156 forgive someone that you don't even know who that person is? 0:21:35.196 --> 0:21:38.076 You don't know because you don't. I mean, it's hard, 0:21:38.236 --> 0:21:44.276 it's hard. I'm told this, and technically did I forgive 0:21:44.276 --> 0:21:46.756 that person at the time? My aunt is telling me this, 0:21:46.876 --> 0:21:49.636 and it's in my mind, but I don't think, be 0:21:49.716 --> 0:21:51.356 honest with you, I don't think right then, and I'm 0:21:51.356 --> 0:21:52.516 not forgiving that person. 0:21:54.076 --> 0:21:56.916 And how could he? How can you forgive a person 0:21:56.956 --> 0:22:00.756 you don't know, someone you can't picture, someone who has 0:22:00.796 --> 0:22:05.036 no face and no name. And this underscores a central 0:22:05.196 --> 0:22:10.516 irony and tragedy of this entire story. For the investigators 0:22:10.516 --> 0:22:13.316 who were trying to solve this case, the federal agents, 0:22:14.116 --> 0:22:17.676 their nameless man was the victim. Until they found him, 0:22:18.276 --> 0:22:22.516 they had nothing, no case, and no closure. But for 0:22:22.556 --> 0:22:26.876 the Woods, their nameless man was the perpetrator, the murderer, 0:22:27.596 --> 0:22:30.676 and until they found out who he was, there could 0:22:30.676 --> 0:22:38.156 be no forgiveness nor any peace either. In the aftermath 0:22:38.196 --> 0:22:41.396 of Iran's death, everyone in the Wood family struggled in 0:22:41.436 --> 0:22:46.196 their own way. Tyrone, the youngest, the golden child, struggled 0:22:46.196 --> 0:22:50.236 with alcoholism. 0:22:48.316 --> 0:22:55.396 Basically lost I lost a lot my first marriage. I 0:22:55.476 --> 0:22:59.356 lost that, so I had to basically just built myself 0:22:59.396 --> 0:23:00.356 back up again. 0:23:01.596 --> 0:23:05.956 Tyrone went to rehab, got sober, and leaned into his faith. 0:23:06.756 --> 0:23:11.356 I started reading the book again and that's basically what 0:23:11.396 --> 0:23:15.156 got me back on track. I've realized that what am 0:23:15.156 --> 0:23:17.756 I gaining by being mad at God? It I mean, 0:23:17.916 --> 0:23:19.476 it wasn't God that pulled the trigger. 0:23:20.596 --> 0:23:23.196 Tyrone says, it's not like he found all the answers. 0:23:23.636 --> 0:23:25.996 He still struggled with the how and why of his 0:23:25.996 --> 0:23:31.316 brother's death. Both brothers, Tyrone and Michael, did everything they 0:23:31.356 --> 0:23:32.956 could to be there for their mom. 0:23:33.916 --> 0:23:35.756 We all just made sure that she. 0:23:37.516 --> 0:23:39.956 Didn't feel like she was alone, you know, so we 0:23:40.076 --> 0:23:42.676 never let her be, and I think in time she 0:23:43.476 --> 0:23:45.396 I can't say she completely. 0:23:44.956 --> 0:23:49.676 Got over it, but she kind of being sided. She 0:23:49.716 --> 0:23:51.116 was a Christian, she kind of. 0:23:53.876 --> 0:23:57.556 Accepted it and for what it was, and she just 0:23:57.556 --> 0:23:59.156 gravitated towards us. 0:23:59.876 --> 0:24:03.836 She kind of accepted it. Tyrone said, I was reminded 0:24:03.876 --> 0:24:07.116 of what Michelle had said from the beginning about her grandmother, 0:24:07.716 --> 0:24:10.636 how sometimes it seemed she put up a front to 0:24:10.716 --> 0:24:13.996 the whole world like she'd moved on, because that's what 0:24:14.036 --> 0:24:17.916 people wanted her to do. But within the immediate family, 0:24:18.676 --> 0:24:22.196 they all kind of knew that Dorothy still agonized over 0:24:22.236 --> 0:24:25.916 her son's death, in part because she blamed herself for 0:24:25.996 --> 0:24:29.556 not doing more to keep her on safe. Here's Michael, 0:24:29.836 --> 0:24:30.876 the middle brother again. 0:24:31.956 --> 0:24:36.276 I remember she was always saying that I wish I 0:24:36.316 --> 0:24:40.036 could have really talked to him, or try to spend 0:24:40.036 --> 0:24:42.436 more time with him, or try to reach him. She 0:24:42.596 --> 0:24:45.556 kind of felt that she failed as a mother. 0:24:45.716 --> 0:24:50.676 As far as Tyrone, the youngest, remembers this too, how 0:24:50.716 --> 0:24:52.436 their mom kept blaming herself. 0:24:52.876 --> 0:24:55.756 She wished she could have did things a little different. 0:24:56.836 --> 0:24:57.476 But you can't. 0:24:57.996 --> 0:25:00.276 You can't. And I told it all. I said, you can't. 0:25:00.956 --> 0:25:04.036 You can't say that because you did the best you 0:25:04.076 --> 0:25:06.156 could what you have. I got told her to say, 0:25:06.156 --> 0:25:08.316 you didn't slack on him, you did the best you 0:25:08.356 --> 0:25:15.316 could understand circumstances. And then you raised three boys three men. 0:25:15.476 --> 0:25:19.436 You've made three boys into men. That's not easy. So 0:25:19.596 --> 0:25:23.436 I'd say you the best, mom. 0:25:23.476 --> 0:25:27.556 Even so, the question remained who was responsible for her 0:25:27.596 --> 0:25:31.876