WEBVTT - Don't Know Diddly 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:13.120 M last time on ear witness. 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:18.720 My mind, sir, for cross to you. 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.840 I have a pit what appears to be a jumped. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.160 The county police officer shot in the back of our building. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.720 That movie he hasked been shot looks it looks too bad. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:37.400 And then I just heard one say that's it. That's all. 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.640 We can't do anymore. It's so we can't save it. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:42.159 He's gone. 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:46.440 Tavaris Johnson. 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.600 I remember he was pushing a Drinka's forward in a wheelchair. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:50.400 They came together. 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:52.400 I had saw too far. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.080 I was pushing a Drinka's in the club. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.320 I just thwo signs up and I left. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:00:59.840 And and he was still there. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:00.800 Yeah, he'll stay there. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:09.560 When I left, a deputy Shaer working another deputy shares murder. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:10.759 Do you think that was emotional? 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:17.200 Yes, it was very and had it been my decision 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.600 the day we caught the people that did it, let's 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:22.640 put them on death throat. 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.480 The murder of Deputy Bill Hardy behind the Crown Sterling 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.039 Sweets Hotel was the top news story in Birmingham on 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.360 July nineteenth, nineteen ninety five. 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.000 And plays are looking for a cop killer. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.880 Someone shot forty nine year old William Hardy several times. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.560 In the slow start, but investigators are throwing everything they 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.120 have behind the case. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.880 The TV news footage shows deputies wearing the traditional black 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.440 band over their badges, a gesture that r us is 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.080 grief for a fellow officer. 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.760 We're somber, we'll say it, but we know we have 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.239 a job to do, and we're determined to do that job. 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.360 This is a very difficult night for William Hardy's family. 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.880 The Hardy home is full of sorrow and. 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.640 Pain as they search for asss to a cesseless crime. 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.639 A week after the murder, hundreds of people turn out 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:25.160 for Deputy Hardy's funeral. 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:27.920 Thank you, my brothers, Thank you, my brothers. 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:33.640 Video footage of the funeral shows women in dresses fanning themselves. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:39.519 It's summer in Alabama, a swampy ninety seven degrees. Someone 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:41.120 actually faints in the heat. 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:42.919 We are still for that. 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.440 We all have to do what Bill has already done. 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.000 The church is packed, but at least one longtime colleague 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:54.760 of Hardy's isn't at the service. 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:57.160 I didn't make the family. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.000 We weren't this case so hard and we were so 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.120 determined to get a resolution. 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.640 I was working, I didn't make his feel. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.880 Tony Richardson is the lead detective on the case. A 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.280 prosecutor who used to work with Richardson tells me he's 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.119 a thorough investigator, a man who gets the job done. 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.520 But this case is different from any other he's worked before. 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:32.080 He's investigating the murder of someone he knows, someone he likes, 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.000 someone he worked with for almost two decades. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.640 When you got a different shriff killed over here, it's 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:47.720 high profile and people are expecting things out here, not 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:48.400 only you. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.920 You know, you emotional. You want to find the people 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.200 who did this. You want somebody in custom. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.640 In the immediate hours after Deputy Hardy's murder, Detective Tony 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:07.520 Richardson and his investigators interviewed Marshal Kelly Cummings, the Keebler 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.400 cookie guy who heard the shots and saw someone drive away. 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.400 They also interview the front desk clerk at the hotel, 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.760 Barry Rushikov, and other people staying at the Crown Sterling 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.800 Suites who heard voices in the parking lot followed by gunshots. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.120 No one they talked to says they actually saw the murder. 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.760 Just a few witnesses heard the gunshots and then saw 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.480 a car pull away. The lead evidence technician, who's actually 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:42.159 Tony Richardson's brother, Deputy Charlie Richardson, finds two nine millimeters 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.000 shell casings at the scene. A ballistics expert will later 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.480 say that both casings came from the same gun, and 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.960 that's pretty much all they have to go on. Police 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.920 sweep the surrounding area and pull over any vehicle's loosely 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.600 matching descriptions from hotel guest guests, but it doesn't get 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:02.279 them very far. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.680 Not only do you want somebody in custody. The lieutenant 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.320 is telling me, we need to get this done. The 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.720 captain is telling the lieutenant, we need to get this done. 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:15.920 The sheriff, you're telling the captain, we need to get 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:23.480 this done. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.440 Nine hours after Hardy is killed, the Sheriff's department announces 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.600 a reward for information. The reward amount would eventually grow 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:36.200 to twenty thousand dollars adjusted for inflation, that's about forty 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:40.640 grand today. And once a tip line is announced, the 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.240 phone start ringing. One caller says a guy known as 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.200 Big Man told him his cousin was involved. Another says 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.960 a member of the Disciples gang carried out the murder. 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:55.919 Officers sift through this information, trying to decipher what's worth 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.520 pursuing and which callers might be pranks or people just 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.680 interest did in the reward money. Days go by and 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:08.360 they still don't have a suspect. And then Detective Richardson 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:11.880 speaks to a woman named Rosa Hardy, and what she 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.880 tells him eclipses every other lead he has. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:24.560 And she told me, she says, my daughter knows who 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:25.200 killed Bill? 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.080 Do you he? 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.000 My man? 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.320 Love hads my be. 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:12.120 Sorrowst rely in this bad. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.160 Tears. 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:25.080 I want to see remblation. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:36.920 I want to know who you are. I'm reation. 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:50.440 In this inspiration to the who's holding studs, to the. 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.880 Who's holding the start? 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.880 I'm Beth Shelburne. This is ear witness, Chapter two. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:15.560 Don't know Diddley, anybody that was not there when I 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:22.640 was there, anybody that was not there when Harry was shot. 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:26.440 Don't know deadly. 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:28.720 About this case. 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.640 When I first got the enormous trove of records in 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:38.120 the investigative file, I spent hours and hours just staring 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.520 at my computer, overwhelmed by thousands of pages of documents. 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.679 Right away, I knew I wanted to talk to Tony Richardson, 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.600 the lead investigator in Hardy's murder. His name is on 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.880 most of the police reports, and it's his voice we 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.240 hear on a lot of the interrogation tapes. 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.920 Short of tolevision, Jeff, we got a shurance service today. 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.600 When I first call him for an interview, he says 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.079 it would be best not to talk with me, but 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.959 Richardson keeps talking for twenty five minutes. It seems like 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:15.320 he's got a lot on his mind. Two weeks later, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.200 he agrees to go on the record. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:23.560 Listen, I've decided I'm going to speak with you concerning 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.679 your podcast. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.560 Great, I'm really glad to hear that. My producer Mara, 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.000 and I meet him in a conference room of a 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:38.360 local library. Hey, how are you. I'm Beth Tony MAA 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:44.400 nice to be a too. He's dressed casually, jeans, a 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.680 black sweatshirt, a US Marines ball cap, and a toothpick 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.000 he keeps in his mouth the entire interview. 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.280 Somebody when they hear this, they're gonna be questioning. 0:09:58.520 --> 0:09:59.280 My integrity. 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.719 You know, is this guy telling the truth for his 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:06.240 He just telling her story. So I'll talk to the day. 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:07.599 Let'sty started. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.840 When Detective Tony Richardson first gets that tip from Rosa Hardy. 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.840 He goes over to the Ford dealership where she works 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:21.960 as a receptionist. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:24.880 I was always pretty thorough. 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:30.880 I wrote everything down, He writes in a report that 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.760 Rosa Hardy told an officer that her daughter had information 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:40.040 concerning the crime. The police report reads, miss Hardy told 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.080 us that after she arrived for work at twelve noon 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.720 of seven nineteen, she heard a police officer had been killed. 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.360 She bought a newspaper and learned the victim was someone 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:55.840 she and her family knew personally. Rosa knew Deputy Hardy 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.000 and his wife. They have the same last name, but 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:03.400 they're not related. They were good friends. The report goes 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.280 on to say that Rosa's daughter, Yolanda Chambers, called her 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.679 at work. Rosa told her that the officer that had 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:15.520 been killed was Bill Hardy. According to Rosa, her daughter 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.440 Yolanda responded, Mama, I didn't know it was him, and 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:33.800 then Yolanda went on to say she knew who killed him. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:38.760 She says, my daughter knows who killed Bill. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.240 Well, great will. She talked to me. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:43.200 I don't know. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:44.359 She kind of reluctant. 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:45.440 She don't want to do it. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.320 I'm trying to get her to do it, and I 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.080 was just begging her, you know, let's figure out a 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:51.760 way to get her in. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:52.520 We need her. 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.600 But Rosa isn't sure where Yolanda is. 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.640 I think at the time Yolanda was a semi runaway 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.360 or whatever, but she wasn't there, okay, So we worked 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.480 very hard with Mom to get Yolanda in. 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.600 Later that evening, Rosa calls the Sheriff's office and says, 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.560 Yolanda is at her apartment, and that's where Richardson picks 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.199 her up. He brings Yolanda to Sheriff's headquarters for questioning. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.559 Charlotan, Tony rich and Jeffer Kind of Shriff's office. Today's 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.040 date is July twenty fourth, nineteen ninety five. The time 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.840 it's eleven twenty pm. I'm at the Sheriff's Office headquarters 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.720 along with Officer James Branton at the Birmingham Police Department 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:46.280 and Yolanda Michelle Chambers. Yolanda is a black female, she's 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:47.640 fifteen years of age. 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.439 Again, what I want to talk to you about. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:55.560 Is Yolanda is by herself in a room with detectives 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:56.960 and a tape recorder. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.840 So I guess the best way for us to forceed 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:01.840 is for you to tell me, first of all, when 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.040 you learned that w Hardy had been killed? 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.600 All right, if I'm not mistaken, it was a Friday. 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.240 Me and one of my girlfriends fan named Latanya. Me 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.440 and her and two guys are supposed to hook cup 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.120 that night. Yeah, you know they're older than us. One 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:23.000 is twenty one. 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.400 They called him Dre. He's in a wheelchair. 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.160 Dre is ar Dregas Ford's nickname, and for some reason 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.280 in this interview, Yolanda refers to to Forrest as Carlos. 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.959 He has a brother named Carlos, so we you know, 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:40.720 we was supposed to hook up, you know, after they 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:41.280 left Teeve. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.960 To Forest and Ardregas are not related, and to Forest's 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:51.320 nickname has never been Carlos. It's unclear why Yolanda refers 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.679 to him this way, but she tells police that ar 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:58.199 Dregas called her around two am. He and to Forrest 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.560 had left Tea's place and we're on their way to 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:01.080 pick her up. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:02.440 You know i'd be on time. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.920 They call it around about two or three, you know, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:07.720 be like, come. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.920 On, Ardregas asks Yolanda to bring along a friend for 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.640 to Forest, So after they pick up Yolanda, they all 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.920 drive to pick up her friend, Latanya Henderson, who lives 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.400 a few minutes away. I want to take a moment 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:26.360 to address the age gap between to Forest, Ardregas and 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.240 the girls they're picking up. To Forest is twenty two, 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:35.600 Ardregas is twenty one, Latania is sixteen, and Yolanda is fifteen. 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.120 To Forest and Ardregas met Yolanda and Latania at a 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.920 night club two nights prior to picking them up after teas. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.480 It's likely that the girls lied about their age to 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.800 get into the club where they met. But I don't 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.720 know if to Forest and Ardregas knew how old they were. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.960 I don't even know if it came up. The age 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.680 of consent in Alabama is sixteen. But regardless, guys in 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:06.080 their early twenties picking up teenage girls, it's just problematic. 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.040 Him and Carlos came down me and we went all 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:12.480 hand to waste in Deer Park. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:13.200 People tell you. 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.320 Yolanda says that once they get to Latanya's house, it 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.560 takes a while for Latanya to get ready. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:21.960 Oh yeah, going out and try about it. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.000 Forty minutes to get ready take our bathroostuf because she 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:26.120 didn't have on no clothes. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.840 Latanya finally sneaks out of her bedroom window to meet them. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.400 Once the girls are in the car, Yolanda says that 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.640 something is off and our Dregas seems nervous. 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.040 You know, and all like what's wronging around? Why we 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.040 either got to get for the wrong we either, you know, 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:49.400 it goes on in chill out, so you know we're 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.040 runing around. You know, we'll tell me hill I mean, 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:54.560 and it is molded cough. 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.440 According to Yolanda or Dragas says, the other guy in 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.840 the car with them, to Forrest had smoked a cop. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.560 For me, a fan a lot of hut you know 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.040 bos We got their light playing, y'all, got. 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.440 Us in the cart out y'all and did so did 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:16.680 a crime somehow. This revelation that to Forest and Ardregis 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.760 were supposedly just involved in the murder of a police 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:23.560 officer doesn't deter their plans. She says. The four of 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.800 them drive off to look for a hotel room. 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.440 We rode around in Hollywood rus we went to the fact. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:34.080 In hand, but she says, the Fairfield End was booked 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.920 solid and so they head across the street to the 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:38.160 Super eight motel. 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.280 So when we went light across to the Suma eighth, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.600 a whole lot of cops came from knowing sheriffs and 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:50.320 everything just came and I'll you know, and hated everybody 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:51.160 can at the cop. 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.720 It's there and the Super eight parking lot. That officers 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.640 tell the group they're investigating the murder of a deputy 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.640 who was shot and killed earlier that night a few 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:06.639 miles away at the Crown Sterling Sweets Hotel. Remember, officers 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.159 were on the lookout for cars in the vicinity of 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.960 the crime scene, and this is why they pull in 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.960 behind the Monte Carlo in the Super eight parking lot. 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.560 One of the officers later testifies that he tried to 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:26.040 extract ar Dregis from the car before learning that he's paralyzed. 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.800 The officer makes to Forest get out of the car, 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.040 put his hands on the trunk while he pats him down, 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.720 then looks inside the Monte Carlo with his flashlight. He 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:42.199 finds nothing suspicious and decides to let everyone go except 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.199 to Forest because he has a misdemeanor warrant for driving 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.760 without a license. So police take to Forest to the 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:55.120 Birmingham City Jail and he bonds out later that afternoon. Meanwhile, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.680 Ardregas's license is expired, so police won't let him drive home, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:02.720 and he leaves the Monte Carlo in the Super eight 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.960 parking lot. He and the girls get a cab to 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.879 go home, and Yolanda crashes at a friend's house. She 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.280 says she calls her mom later that morning. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.120 Ho, god, my mom is next morning, she say, guess 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.200 class not as being as big. 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.840 That click, it's the sound of an officer turning the 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.760 tape recorder off. We don't know what's being said between 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.760 Yolanda and investigators when the tape is stopped, but Yolanda's 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.600 first interview isn't over. The tape starts rolling again. 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.399 Okay, go ahead, Yeah, I'll tell my mom about it 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.199 and she can see Yolanda, you know how the police 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:47.760 house that got killed last night. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:49.200 I'm right here. 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.159 Okay, let me stop you again, Okay, because I want 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:52.679 to make sure that we get it on the record. 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:53.440 Now. 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.200 You have already mentioned in your statement that this was 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:56.760 a Friday. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.719 Yep, it was a Tuesday, because that's when they had 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:05.560 had the hour it was going on with her Wednesday morning, 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:06.360 around bout. 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:11.040 Two, Yolanda says that Carlos, remember, that's what she's calling 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.720 to Forrest told her the time that he shot Deputy Hardy. 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:22.720 But if they had worn bout twelve around now twelve thirty, Carlos. 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.960 And then Yolanda suggests a potential motive. She says, Deputy 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.440 Hardy had arrested to Forrest before, and that's why he 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:32.680 supposedly shot him. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.119 No, because I mean bare arrested him a found before. 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.199 Carlos, M, h, you go, where are you arresting him 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:40.600 at m. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.760 I think it has him the way he went to parison. 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.480 An officer turns the tape recorder off for a second time. 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.480 When the tape resumes, Yolanda offers a different motive for 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:02.520 Hardy's murder now. She says they killed him after an 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:08.280 attempted robbery, and since Hardy had seen their faces, it 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:09.800 just made sense to kill him. 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.560 Cut them all things former do with kill him. 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.480 In the last minutes of the interview, detectives ask Yolanda 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.360 why Ardregis and Carlos had gone to the Crown Sterling Suites, 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.000 and she says they wanted to get a room because 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.840 they sell drugs. They ask her if she knows anybody 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:34.560 else these guys run with. Yolanda points to the photos 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.080 of two other men in a stack that police show her. 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.800 You hear Richardson say she has identified Omar Berry and 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:45.080 Quintez Wilson. 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.879 Quintez Wilson, this guy you look at you know him 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.439 as what? Okay, that's the photograph of Omar Berry. 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.919 These two other young black men are added to their 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:04.480 list of suspects. This first recorded interview lasts about thirty 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.720 five minutes, and right at the end, an officer Asksyolanda 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.000 if anyone has made promises to her. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.560 The promises to you by the stags, you're just made no. 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:28.480 Caving it, She answers no. Then we hear her say 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:34.080 the only thing y'all gonna and then there's seven long 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:35.720 seconds of silence. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:43.000 It's Charlie Richardson and this is going to conclude this 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:44.440 interview at this time. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.119 E PM. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:54.720 I listened to this interview over and over again, and 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:58.320 what stands out is that each time officers stop and 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:02.480 then restart the tape, there's a shift in Yolanda's story. 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:08.920 At first, she says it was a Friday that she 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:14.520 heard about Hardy's murder. Then, after the tape stops and restarts, 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.840 Richardson prompts her for the date, and she corrects herself 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.240 and says it was a Tuesday night going into Wednesday. 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:27.320 With every restart of the tape, Richardson gets a story 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.720 that lines up more and more with the facts surrounding 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:35.160 Hardy's murder, that he was shot on Wednesday morning behind 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:40.240 the Crown Sterling at twelve fifty am. And then there's 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:44.920 the motives. Yolanda provides first that to Forest killed Hardy 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:50.000 because Hardy had arrested him previously, but we know Hardy 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:53.480 had not arrested to Forrest at the time of his death. 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:58.119 Hardy worked in court services. His duties involved serving subpoenas 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:03.800 and directing traffic outside the courthouse. I've seen zero evidence 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:07.720 that Deputy Hardy ever came into contact with to Forrest Johnson. 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:13.080 After the tape stops and restarts, Yolanda gives a second 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.520 motive that the crime started as an attempted robbery that 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.879 ends in Hardy's murder. I asked Tony Richardson about his 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:23.400 approach with Yolanda. 0:23:24.600 --> 0:23:27.479 Yolanda was reluctant. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want. 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:29.639 We had to keep at her and we had to 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.800 pull like polenty you know, Yolanda, we need this. And 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.080 sometimes we'd have to be stern, you know, infirm, trying 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.679 to shake her. You know, sometime we'd have to be solved, 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:45.040 whatever work to get this information out of her. 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.040 There are a lot of stops and starts, and I 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:53.840 wonder what is going on then, like the tape stops 0:23:54.400 --> 0:24:00.200 and then it restarts. I could doll you when you 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:02.560 go off the record with people. I mean, what what 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:03.840 is best practices? 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:06.720 For best practice? If not is not to go off 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.040 the record, that's the best practice. 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:10.840 I mean, once you cut the tape on, unless the 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.200 tape runs out and you changing the tape, you don't 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.840 cut it off until you're done. There's no way I 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:21.600 can tell you why the tape stopped, but I will 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:28.480 tell you this. It didn't stop so something sinister could happen. 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:31.320 I can tell you that. 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:36.880 What would do you do off the record though? 0:24:37.440 --> 0:24:41.040 I mean somebody could have wanted to go to the bathroom, 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:46.560 or could have just motioned for a break, or or. 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.040 Could have even motioned to say, cut that thing off, 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:52.399 you know. 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:55.600 It. 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:58.320 There's no way I can tell you why it was 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:02.399 cut off. I I can tell you there's nothing sinister here. 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:07.720 There's I mean, there's no smoking gun here. As far as. 0:25:10.080 --> 0:25:18.600 Doing anything that was not above board. Never o never occurred, 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:20.639 never happened, never happened. 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:38.800 It was early in the morning and I was just 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.520 lounging around in my apartment, you know, and I had 0:25:42.560 --> 0:25:44.600 my front door was open, and where I was sitting, 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:46.560 I could see out the door, and here I see 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:47.320 just cars. 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:48.280 One mark. 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:51.600 In July of nineteen ninety five, to Forrest and his 0:25:51.760 --> 0:25:55.359 cousin Antonio Green were living together. But on the morning 0:25:55.400 --> 0:25:58.920 of the twenty fifth, Antonio is alone in their apartment 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:01.040 when police cars over there. 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:03.960 So I see him pulling up in the front lot 0:26:04.119 --> 0:26:05.960 in the back and I'm like, oh, what's going on 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:06.520 over here? 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:07.040 You know. 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:09.719 Next thing I know, they're in my door and they 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:12.399 acts was to far As Johnson there. I said no, 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:14.639 I said, no, he's been staying here. But while he 0:26:14.800 --> 0:26:18.080 asking me this, they've already came in bought both doors, 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:21.280 so they're already in my house. They're going down the hallway. 0:26:21.440 --> 0:26:23.760 So I'm thinking, Nah, this must be something serious, you know, 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:24.440 whatever it is. 0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:28.160 So this guy's telling me what officers say they're looking 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:31.119