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Speaker 1: My name is Danny Smith.

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Speaker 2: I'm a detective with Miramar Police Department. I am conducting

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Speaker 2: an investigation going back almost forty years in the murder

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Speaker 2: of Billy Hopper.

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Speaker 3: Back in the nineteen eighties, I was starting a career

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Speaker 3: in law enforcement in Browie County, Florida, a native New

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Speaker 3: Yorker transplanted to the home of vacation meccas like Fort Lauderdale, Pompino,

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Speaker 3: and Hollywood Beach. What the South Florida I remember was

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Speaker 3: a place of stark contrasts. The beaches, palm trees, the

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Speaker 3: frozen drinks. They all seem to mask a darker side

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Speaker 3: of the Sunshine State, one of crime, greed, and a

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Speaker 3: creeping sense of desperation. There was just something about Florida

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Speaker 3: that could make good people get themselves into bad situations.

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Speaker 3: After years in law enforcement, I ended up swapping my

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Speaker 3: badging gun for a journalist's pen and pad and headed

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Speaker 3: back to New York to report on crimes, not solve them.

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Speaker 3: But in twenty twenty two, a unique opportunity brought me

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Speaker 3: back to the streets of South Florida to join cold

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Speaker 3: case detective Danny Smith as he began an incredible journey

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Speaker 3: to solve a forty year old murder, actually as many

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Speaker 3: as five of them together. We were looking for new evidence,

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Speaker 3: new suspects, and the truth behind the murder of a

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Speaker 3: twenty eight year old firefighter named Billy Halpern, all of

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Speaker 3: it documented in real time. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist

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Speaker 3: and former deputy sheriff, and this is cold blooded the

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Speaker 3: Apollo Jim murders. Shortly after six point thirty on October

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Speaker 3: twenty first, nineteen eighty six, police in Miramar, Florida responded

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Speaker 3: to the sixty nine hundred block of fortieth Street, a

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Speaker 3: residential neighborhood of condos and town homes in the center

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Speaker 3: of Miramar and about a twenty minute drive to the beach.

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Speaker 3: That flood of emergency vehicles prompted by a nine to

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Speaker 3: one one call by twenty four year old Jones Socio

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Speaker 3: moments after walking in to a horrifying scene finding her boyfriend,

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Speaker 3: twenty eight year old Billy Halpern, half dressed, lying face

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Speaker 3: up in the bedroom in a pool of his own blood.

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Speaker 3: So is this his community right here?

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Speaker 1: This is it?

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Speaker 2: This is woodscape and it's essentially a big circle that

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Speaker 2: kind of Meander's back off the main circle. They're like

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Speaker 2: town homes, but they're really right on top of one another.

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Speaker 3: In November of twenty twenty two, nearly forty years after

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Speaker 3: the murder, I returned to the same location with Miramar

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Speaker 3: Police homicide Detective Danny Smith.

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Speaker 2: You look at the limited crime scene photos that I

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Speaker 2: was actually able to get from the file. They always

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Speaker 2: look you know, photos from the outside always make the

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Speaker 2: place look so much bigger, and then I'm always surprised

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Speaker 2: at how small some of these homes are when I

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Speaker 2: actually get there.

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Speaker 3: Aside from a few potted plants and a threadbare welcome

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Speaker 3: mat in front of the front door, it looked just

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Speaker 3: like it did from the photographs in the decades old

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Speaker 3: police file Danny had dug out of storage. Was this

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Speaker 3: her house or did he live here?

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Speaker 2: This was his house and she had been living here,

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Speaker 2: I remember correctly, three years with him, And I remember

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Speaker 2: reading that she was screaming when she found his body

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Speaker 2: and the neighbors came over, and in my mind I

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Speaker 2: was thinking they must have just been like outside already

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Speaker 2: and they heard it. But now seeing how close these

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Speaker 2: homes are together, that makes sense.

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Speaker 3: I lived in a complex like this in pember Pines.

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Speaker 3: It was very similar to this, and yeah, you hear

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Speaker 3: the neighbors, you hear it, you can hear through the walls.

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Speaker 3: I had seen the crime scene photos, so I could

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Speaker 3: imagine what the uniformed officers must have observed when they

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Speaker 3: stepped through the door. The blood pooling from around the

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Speaker 3: victim's head, a blood stained towel pressed to his neck,

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Speaker 3: and the black electrical tape still wrapped around each of

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Speaker 3: his wrists. Another thing they would have quickly noticed. The

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Speaker 3: man on the floor was big, six foot two with

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Speaker 3: the bodybuilders for zeke is enormous muscles on full display

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Speaker 3: even hours after his death. Another thought when I saw

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Speaker 3: the crime scene photos was that was a lot of blood.

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Speaker 3: My next thought, there is no way one person could

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Speaker 3: have overpowered this guy. He was huge. Now do you

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Speaker 3: think it's a little unusual when you hear about the

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Speaker 3: fact that he was covered by a blanket? I know

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Speaker 3: in cases that I've covered sometimes when the victim and

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Speaker 3: a homicide, especially their face is covered, there's a psychological

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Speaker 3: reason around that. Sometimes the killer it makes us as

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Speaker 3: the investigator think maybe there was some connection between the killer,

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Speaker 3: the suspect, and the victim and they don't want to

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Speaker 3: see the results of what their.

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Speaker 2: Actions, right, Yeah, that's common. I would say that if

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Speaker 2: his neck being covered by the actual suspect or suspects,

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Speaker 2: that tells me a lot in terms of psychology. But

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Speaker 2: I believe he was covered by his girlfriend.

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Speaker 3: Because of the tremendous amount of blood that comes.

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Speaker 2: Because of the blood and the injury itself was one

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Speaker 2: of the more gruesome throat injuries that I've ever seen.

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Speaker 3: To first responders of the scene, the cause of Billy's

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Speaker 3: death appeared to be obvious the severe wound on Billy's

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Speaker 3: throat that was deep and jaggered and ran nearly from

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Speaker 3: ear to ear. It seemed that Billy died from a

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Speaker 3: sudden and dramatic loss of blood caused by an unknown

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Speaker 3: sharp object.

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Speaker 2: There were multiple cuts, so it seemed like they were

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Speaker 2: maybe trying to cut his head off. They were trying

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Speaker 2: to decapitate him.

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Speaker 3: Detectives from the Briar County Sheriff's Office Crime scene Unit

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Speaker 3: were quickly dispatched to the address and began processing the scene,

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Speaker 3: and notes from the original incident report detailed what investigators

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Speaker 3: did and did not find at the crime scene. Most Importantly,

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Speaker 3: they recovered no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no signs of

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Speaker 3: forced entry, and, according to neighbors, no witnesses, all of

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Speaker 3: which posed serious challenges to figure out the motive behind

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Speaker 3: the attack. Was it a robbery, a dispute with a neighbor,

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Speaker 3: or something more sinister.

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Speaker 2: There was mentioned in the lead detective Belrose's report about

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Speaker 2: home invasion crews that were hitting people. There's also mention

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Speaker 2: that he had a safe in the house.

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Speaker 3: According to his girlfriend Joan, Billy made his living buying

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Speaker 3: and selling art and rare coins, which he kept in

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Speaker 3: a safe inside the town home. But that's safe was

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Speaker 3: now empty. So initially, robbery was suspected to be the

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Speaker 3: motive for the break in, a robbery that must have

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Speaker 3: quickly gone south and ended in murder. It was a

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Speaker 3: theory that seemed to be supported by a tip that

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Speaker 3: came into the Sheriff's office back in nineteen eighty six

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Speaker 3: from a local confidential informant.

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Speaker 2: And that was the tip that I actually read was

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Speaker 2: someone he called in and said that whoever they mentioned

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Speaker 2: was bragging that they had the safe. They tried to

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Speaker 2: torch it open and they ended up ruining all the contents.

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Speaker 3: But there was also evidence that this broad daylight break

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Speaker 3: in may not be the work of total strangers.

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Speaker 2: The front door was unlocked. When Halpern's living girlfriend showed

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Speaker 2: up and actually discovered his body, she made note that

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Speaker 2: that front door was unlocked, and she said that never happens.

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Speaker 2: He was steadfast and always making sure that front door

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Speaker 2: was locked and secured. So the fact that the front

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Speaker 2: door was unlocked, no signs of a struggle. All of

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Speaker 2: those facts right there tell me more than one person.

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Speaker 2: Probably they knew him, guy let him in, and they

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Speaker 2: brought gloves, and they brought tape.

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Speaker 3: So maybe Billy Halpern knew the men robbing him, and

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Speaker 3: maybe his killer's motive was to get their hands on

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Speaker 3: the car in tents of that safe. But the matter

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Speaker 3: in which Billy was killed, even to investigators back in

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Speaker 3: nineteen eighty six, seemed to deliberate, too professional for a

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Speaker 3: boxed home invasion. For one thing, there was very little

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Speaker 3: evidence of a big struggle, and just looking at Billy,

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Speaker 3: you just know he wouldn't have gone down without a fight.

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Speaker 2: Even more interesting that I found when I read through

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Speaker 2: the autopsy report was that actually the cause of death

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Speaker 2: was not the massive cut. It was strangulation or some

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Speaker 2: kind of suffocation or something something along those lines. And

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Speaker 2: they had actually were noted in their report that they

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Speaker 2: likened the marks on his neck to be something like

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Speaker 2: a thick nylon strap or a dog collar or something

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Speaker 2: in that regard. So the massive injury that is really

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Speaker 2: shocking to anyone that first sees it, especially his girlfriend

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Speaker 2: finding him, was all post mortem.

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Speaker 3: Billy's face had showed evidence of a brutal beating, yet

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Speaker 3: his hands and arms showed no defensive wounds. Taken together,

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Speaker 3: it didn't look like a typical botched home invasion. It

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Speaker 3: looked a lot more like torture. In fact, it looked

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Speaker 3: like an execution.

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Speaker 2: They're trying to decapitate him, post wartim, postmartum.

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Speaker 3: Everything was postmatch, which is a whole different psychology, a.

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Speaker 2: Whole different thing. I don't know if that was a

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Speaker 2: trophy for someone, or somebody watched Scarface too many times

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Speaker 2: and said, bring me his head.

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: These days. Billy's sister, Laurie, lives in Fort Lauderdale, but

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Speaker 3: in October of nineteen eighty six, she lived with her

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Speaker 3: parents in Pembroke Pines, just a couple of blocks away

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Speaker 3: from her big brother. She can still remember the moment

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Speaker 3: she got the news of Billy's murder.

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Speaker 4: It's been such a long time again, I can still

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Speaker 4: hear that phone ring, you know, like my mom's screaming Billy,

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Speaker 4: Billy's dead, and I'm like.

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Speaker 5: What do you mean. She jumped up and ran out

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Speaker 5: the door. Come out, we gotta go.

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Speaker 4: I'm pulling up to that driveway and all the rescue

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Speaker 4: and everybody there. It was real for that one moment,

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Speaker 4: you say, no, can't be true, and then my whole

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Speaker 4: world crumbled.

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Speaker 3: When Danny and I visited Laurie in twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 3: she showed us pictures of Billy. In a lot of them,

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Speaker 3: Billy is shirtless or in swim trunks at the beach.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes he's holding a surfboard or barbells. There's one of

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Speaker 3: him in his firefighter's uniform and another of him hoisting

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Speaker 3: a bodybuilder's trophy. In nearly every picture, he's got the

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Speaker 3: smile of a guy in on the joke, well aware

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Speaker 3: that he was uncommonly blessed with the body and good

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Speaker 3: looks of a Greek god. Laurie is petite with long

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Speaker 3: blonde hair, but I could still see the resemblance between

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Speaker 3: brother and sister, the kindness in their eyes, and maybe

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Speaker 3: just a bit of mischief.

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Speaker 4: He was good looking, he was funny. Everyone liked him.

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Speaker 4: She's a shame, you know that they took him from mcphurmath.

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Speaker 3: Dave Aasano, who also grew up in Hollywood Beach, was

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Speaker 3: one of Billy's old bodybuilding buddies.

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Speaker 6: He was one of the nicest people ever. I mean,

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Speaker 6: he'd give you the shirt off his back. And he

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Speaker 6: was handsome, and he had charisma. He was good looking,

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Speaker 6: he was built. He was just a nice, humble guy.

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Speaker 3: According to Dave, Billy was idolized by the younger guys

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Speaker 3: at the gym.

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Speaker 6: I want to know, how do you get big arms

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Speaker 6: like that? And he tell us what to eat and

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Speaker 6: how to work out. And he had beautiful green eyes

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Speaker 6: with dark hair. Just imagine tan green eyes, dark hair

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Speaker 6: and bill, you know, like a Greek guy.

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Speaker 3: Billy's popularity just added to the shock of his brutal murder.

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Speaker 3: I mean, who kills a god? But Laurie still has

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Speaker 3: an idea of who she thinks killed a brother. In fact,

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Speaker 3: a lot of people do.

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Speaker 5: I don't think it was one person. Involved.

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Speaker 4: Billy was too strong for one person to take him down.

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Speaker 3: But thirty eight years after he was killed, no one

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Speaker 3: has ever been charged with his murder, and to this day,

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Speaker 3: no one really knows the whole truth behind why he

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Speaker 3: was killed.

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Speaker 4: I think at the beginning with my parents' life, like

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Speaker 4: they can have the closure, but there's really no closure

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Speaker 4: no matter who did it. Now, I mean, Billy's been

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Speaker 4: dead for so long. How are they gonna be punished?

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Speaker 4: If they're out on the street, what are they gonna

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Speaker 4: I mean, they're they're old already orre this's gonna happen

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Speaker 4: to them. But I would like he's you know, I'd

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Speaker 4: like somebody to pay for what they did. Do they

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Speaker 4: really hurt him and he didn't They didn't be survey.

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Speaker 2: My number one rule went opening up a cold case,

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Speaker 2: you need to get your own opinion.

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Speaker 3: Detective Danny Smith was only twelve years old when Billy

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Speaker 3: was killed. As for me, I was in the early

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Speaker 3: process of transitioning into law enforcement in the Sunshine State.

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Speaker 3: But in twenty twenty two, after twenty seven years with

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Speaker 3: the City of Miramar Police, Danny was assigned to the

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Speaker 3: newly formed cold Case Squad Billy's case was the first

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Speaker 3: one he pulled off the shelf. It's filled with nearly

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Speaker 3: forty years of tips, leads, witness statements, and dead ends,

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Speaker 3: which is why Danny is convinced that if he's going

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Speaker 3: to solve this case, it would have to go back

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Speaker 3: to the very beginning.

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Speaker 2: You need to look at it through your own eyes

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Speaker 2: and not be swayed by previous investigators. I refuse to

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Speaker 2: read the notes from the previous cold case detective that

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Speaker 2: had this. I'm reading the stock basic original incident reports

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Speaker 2: from the detectives and the officers, and I think from

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Speaker 2: there I can move on to Okay, now, where would

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Speaker 2: I go from here if I had it.

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Speaker 3: As you see here today on day one of your investigation?

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Speaker 3: What are some of your concerns about the complexity.

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Speaker 2: Of this One of the top level concerns that I

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Speaker 2: have are being unable to actually track down some of

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Speaker 2: these people they've moved, if they've passed on, or if

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Speaker 2: they just don't want to get involved and they don't

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Speaker 2: want to speak to us.

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Speaker 3: On top of the challengers that force the case to

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Speaker 3: go cold in the first place, there's also the obstacles

255
00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:20,280
Speaker 3: that accumulate in any cold case, lost or degraded evidence,

256
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:25,880
Speaker 3: faded memories, missing witnesses, and perhaps the most daunting legacy

257
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Speaker 3: of pre digital policing paperwork.

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Speaker 2: A cold case, especially going back to eighty six. I

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00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,200
Speaker 2: want to first off, see if there's anything to work with,

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00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,520
Speaker 2: so going back and pulling the files and making sure

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00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:44,120
Speaker 2: that there are still reports to look at. And when

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Speaker 2: I pulled this case in particular, it was immaculate. The

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00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 2: detectives did a phenomenal job in documenting and cataloging and

264
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Speaker 2: keeping everything, so that was a plus right there.

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Speaker 3: Also on Danny's side is science.

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Speaker 2: My focus from the beginning was absolutely trying to locate

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00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,520
Speaker 2: as much physical evidence that we had and see what

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Speaker 2: was done with it and see what could be done

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Speaker 2: with it. Now, just like any other cold case you have,

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Speaker 2: you have a homicide, and you have evidence that was

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Speaker 2: collected and then there over the years, sometimes evidence is lost,

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00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,600
Speaker 2: sometimes it's destroyed, sometimes it's tested and consumed and you

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Speaker 2: no longer have access to it.

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Speaker 1: So in this case, I.

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Speaker 2: Wanted to find all the evidence that was collected, get

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00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,520
Speaker 2: it into my custody, and then figure out how I

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Speaker 2: can go about having that tested.

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Speaker 3: With the advancements in DNA technology, Every unsolved case with

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Speaker 3: even a sentilla of biological forensic evidence can stake a

280
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,639
Speaker 3: claim for a second look. But Danny also knows that

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Speaker 3: solving a cold case is rarely as easy as getting

282
00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:04,119
Speaker 3: a match on notice. Timelines, witness statements, motives, and alibis

283
00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 3: all have to be checked and rechecked, and Billy Halpern's

284
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,800
Speaker 3: case in particular seems to have a lot of loose ends.

285
00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,760
Speaker 3: Loose ends that suggest that maybe there was a reason

286
00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,879
Speaker 3: that his murder went unsolved for so long.

287
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Speaker 2: Someone persuaded Billy to open that door, whether it was

288
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:29,639
Speaker 2: friendly hello, or somebody that knows Billy would not have

289
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,280
Speaker 2: opened that door for someone that he doesn't like or

290
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:32,920
Speaker 2: doesn't know.

291
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Speaker 3: Which begs the question, as it always does, why was

292
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,440
Speaker 3: Billy Halpern mixed up with anyone capable of this kind

293
00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:47,560
Speaker 3: of violence. To answer that question, it was a time

294
00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 3: for a trip back to South Florida to the mid eighties,

295
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:57,280
Speaker 3: a seductive world of sun, sex, money, and wait for it, weightlifting.

296
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,760
Speaker 3: Our mission to solve Billy Halpern's murder, to convince a

297
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Speaker 3: prosecutor to bring charges against his killer or killers, and

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Speaker 3: maybe to bring a bit of peace and closure to

299
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Speaker 3: his family and friends that have lived with the pain

300
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Speaker 3: of his murder for decades.

301
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Speaker 4: I would love for everyone to know the truth why

302
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:23,720
Speaker 4: Billy died. People have said horrible things, you know, like

303
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 4: why would they hurt him that way?

304
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Speaker 5: He had it all.

305
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,080
Speaker 4: He had it all, He was twenty eight, his whole

306
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:32,800
Speaker 4: life to live.

307
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Speaker 3: But Danny and I didn't expect was that reopening this

308
00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:39,840
Speaker 3: cold case would shine a light on a string of

309
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:45,399
Speaker 3: unsolved murders involving some of South Florida's most dangerous criminals.

310
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Speaker 4: I was really young, but I knew what was going on.

311
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,840
Speaker 4: Oh my god, the money was sick. And then the

312
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:58,320
Speaker 4: Columbians got involved, and it got dark and dirty and evil.

313
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,680
Speaker 4: People were getting murdered left and right.

314
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Speaker 3: Was Billy just a random victim of a cold blooded

315
00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,159
Speaker 3: crime spree? Or was his murder part of a larger

316
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:16,240
Speaker 3: conspiracy involving the hustlers, dealers, crooked cops, and wise guys

317
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,760
Speaker 3: that were running wild in South Florida during its most

318
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Speaker 3: dangerous decade.

319
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Speaker 4: I really think there had to be a rat, a

320
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:25,960
Speaker 4: dirty rat in a police department.

321
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Speaker 2: Lurid. Let me tell you a little bit about me

322
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,480
Speaker 2: and how this all came about. I had never heard

323
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,679
Speaker 2: of the case, but the case was brought over to me.

324
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 2: I took a look at it, and I just read

325
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,439
Speaker 2: it and heard all these names, and I heard some

326
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Speaker 2: of the other homicides that happened sometime.

327
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Speaker 1: In the area.

328
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Speaker 2: Went by Billie's old house, took a look around just

329
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 2: to kind of get a feel for it, and then

330
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Speaker 2: started my process of going through this as a cold case.

331
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,639
Speaker 2: In a long time, but I felt, we felt that

332
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:04,919
Speaker 2: it would be important to at least meet with you

333
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 2: as the investigation started going out.

334
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Speaker 5: And I'm grateful.

335
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 4: I hope you can find out there truth.

336
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,440
Speaker 3: Laurie and her brother Billy, grew up in Hollywood, Florida,

337
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 3: a beach town that lies about halfway between Fort Lauderdale

338
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 3: to the north and Miami twenty miles to the south.

339
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,880
Speaker 3: By the time Billy was born, the Halpurans had already

340
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,199
Speaker 3: been in South Florida for two generations. These were not

341
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 3: snowbirds or two year tourists at Halpurns were Florida born

342
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,840
Speaker 3: and bred. Laurie was just two years younger than Billy,

343
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 3: and together they enjoyed a sun soaked, carefree youth and

344
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 3: cruising the quiet streets of what was then a small

345
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 3: town with an off season population of just a few thousand.

346
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Speaker 4: We all hung out at Garfield Beach in Allywood. Brother

347
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:01,840
Speaker 4: kind of hung out with everybody.

348
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Speaker 2: You know.

349
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Speaker 4: He surfed all the time, and it was extream.

350
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Speaker 5: You know, make.

351
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 4: Money, be surfer, lived my life. Good guy and he

352
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 4: really loved me. He's a really good brother. He's a

353
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 4: very protective, very annoying, a typical big brother.

354
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Speaker 5: But he loved me and he only wanted the best

355
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Speaker 5: for me.

356
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Speaker 3: And he was popular, the king of the beach, with

357
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 3: long dark hair, a Tom Sellick mustache, and a chiseled

358
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 3: physique sculpted by hours in the gym. But Billy's friends

359
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,280
Speaker 3: painted a picture of a gentle giant with a thousand

360
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 3: watts smile, someone with charm and charisma who seemed destined

361
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 3: for big things.

362
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 4: I mean, like they y'all knew that he could do anything.

363
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 4: He was good looking, he was funny. Everyone liked him.

364
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:04,800
Speaker 4: Quick kills me. It could have been anything.

365
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty, Billy took a job with the Hollandale

366
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 3: Fire Department as a paramedic. His friends were cops and

367
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:17,719
Speaker 3: fellow firefighters, hard charging guys that shared Billy's interest in

368
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:25,120
Speaker 3: the finer things like blondes, beer and pumping iron. As

369
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 3: Danny and I learned, when Billy wasn't on the job

370
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 3: or on the beach, he was in the gym along

371
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,479
Speaker 3: with the deep Tans and Neon. South Florida was a

372
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 3: bodybuilding mecca back then, and Billy and his friends were

373
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:40,920
Speaker 3: committed musclehoods.

374
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 2: He was a workout fiend, so he belonged to three

375
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 2: or maybe even four gyms, and he would rotate throughout

376
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,000
Speaker 2: those gyms, and I think he had a circle of

377
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:54,360
Speaker 2: friends through each gym.

378
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,200
Speaker 3: Nights were spent in a string of bars that line

379
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:04,640
Speaker 3: the boardwalk along Hollywood Beach. There was lots of alcohol, marijuana,

380
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,720
Speaker 3: and this being the early nineteen eighties, plenty of harder

381
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 3: drugs were available too. But the aphrodisiac of choice youth

382
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:19,199
Speaker 3: is boundless optimism and the conviction that nothing could ever

383
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 3: hurt you.

384
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:28,280
Speaker 4: But believe me, we partied. I'm definitely no angel. He

385
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 4: didn't think of it. You know, every night yet Nickel Knight,

386
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:34,919
Speaker 4: dime Knight, ladies night drink till you think night like

387
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 4: gave a drinking promotion down here. Everyone drank and then

388
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 4: you do a little bump to wake up and boom,

389
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 4: you're done. Then it got dirty.

390
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 3: But despite the partying Billy's faund, me and friends never

391
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,280
Speaker 3: suspected that Billy was into anything criminal or hanging around

392
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 3: with the kind of people that could put his life

393
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 3: in danger.

394
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 6: I always thought Billy was selling art. He showed me

395
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,159
Speaker 6: art at his house that he bought stuff, and I

396
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 6: honestly believe that's.

397
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 4: What he was.

398
00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,440
Speaker 3: But the truth might have been a little darker than

399
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:14,239
Speaker 3: anyone ever knew. Time can be both a friend and

400
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,760
Speaker 3: foe to a cold case. Detective memories of a decade's

401
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 3: old crime are usually spotty and unreliable at best, but

402
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 3: sometimes the passing years will encourage a potential witness to

403
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 3: come forward with information that, for whatever reason, they weren't

404
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 3: willing to share. In the original investigation, Billy's case file

405
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,679
Speaker 3: had the names of dozens of people that we thought

406
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 3: might still possess crucial bits of information about his life,

407
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 3: his associations, and the murder itself. Now finding them forty

408
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 3: years later was another story.

409
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: Let's be back there.

410
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,120
Speaker 3: I do not see who's share the truth.

411
00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 2: No, I don't need, but we're going to knock anyway

412
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 2: because I think it was like a nineteen seventy nine truck.

413
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 1: This one.

414
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 2: Hello, how you doing. Hi, I'm Danny Smith. I'm with

415
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 2: Milmore Police. To this is Scott Weinberger. So we are

416
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 2: reopening the case of the murder of Billy Halbern.

417
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:38,680
Speaker 1: Is that ring a bell?

418
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,879
Speaker 3: Not everyone felt comfortable talking about Billy's murder to a

419
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 3: reporter or a mirror mar detective. Even fewer were willing

420
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 3: to go on the record.

421
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 2: So the reason that I'm reaching out to actually a

422
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,159
Speaker 2: bunch of people. I'll probably give you a bunch of

423
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 2: names that are gonna kind of come back to you.

424
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 2: Back in the eighties, they didn't really statements from everybody,

425
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,360
Speaker 2: So I kind of happening to go back and read

426
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 2: you the way, So tell me what you remember.

427
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 3: Sometimes it was hard to know what we heard was true,

428
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:12,920
Speaker 3: what was rumor, and what some of these people may

429
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 3: have learned from a handful of newspaper articles covering the

430
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 3: case over the years. But one thing kept coming up.

431
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 3: Billy was not unfamiliar with some of the less savory

432
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 3: elements of the Hollywood beach party scene, and the one

433
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,240
Speaker 3: thing we heard repeatedly by several friends of the people

434
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 3: listed in the case file as friends or acquaintances of

435
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,400
Speaker 3: Billy was that, along with art, Billy was also rumored

436
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 3: to be selling drugs.

437
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 6: So there was always rumors around the jam.

438
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 3: I believe that he was an art deally, and.

439
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 6: I didn't know until after the fact that one of

440
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 6: Billy's biggest concerns was me finding out that he was

441
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 6: a coke dealer. He wanted to make sure that I

442
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 6: didn't know that, and he made sure from other people

443
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 6: that I didn't know anything about this, and it was true.

444
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 6: I didn't know anything about it. I thought he was

445
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 6: an art dealer.

446
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,919
Speaker 3: It's important to note here that when Billy Halpin was killed,

447
00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,679
Speaker 3: he had no criminal record. Police recovered no drugs or

448
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 3: cash from his town home where he was killed. In fact,

449
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 3: his girlfriend said it was more likely to be short

450
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:31,439
Speaker 3: of cash than flush. I mean, the guy drove a

451
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 3: ten year old Mercury Montego, so a South Florida kingpin

452
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 3: it was not, but if Billy was sealing drugs, it

453
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 3: could have put him in contact with potentially dangerous people.

454
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 3: And of course, just being in possession of drugs or

455
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 3: cash used to buy it can make anyone a target

456
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 3: for violence. And for the record, When we asked Laurie

457
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 3: about whether Billy might have been dealing drugs, she admitted

458
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 3: it was possible.

459
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 4: You wanted to make money, you know, he was firefighter

460
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 4: for a short time, but he didn't want to work.

461
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 4: And I didn't really know anything. I knew what Billy

462
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 4: was doing, but I'm not kidding that. He was a

463
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 4: very protective older brother, and he would if anything was

464
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 4: going to happen, he'd go go in your room, get

465
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 4: in your room.

466
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 5: Okay.

467
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:28,800
Speaker 4: But I knew what was going on, you know, if

468
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 4: we were a partying back then, and I was just like,

469
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:34,200
Speaker 4: I couldn't believe it.

470
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 2: You know, there are drugs involver.

471
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:37,760
Speaker 1: We don't care.

472
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 2: We're looking to solve the home side of your brother,

473
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,480
Speaker 2: and that's the bottom line.

474
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,960
Speaker 3: Now, I'll be the first to admit, as an investigator

475
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 3: and a true crime storyteller, a murder victim's background is

476
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 3: sometimes the beneficiary of some degree of dancing around the

477
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 3: truth is that a victim's history of questionable or even

478
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 3: criminal behavior is not always relevant to a homicide investigation,

479
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 3: but whether we're part of a jury or a listening audience,

480
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 3: it can sway our sympathies. So prosecutors and podcasters have

481
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 3: a tendency to leave out the unsavory bits, But in

482
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 3: reopening this case, it was clear to me and Danny

483
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 3: that the level of Billy's involvement in the local drug

484
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 3: trade was critical to understanding why he was killed, who

485
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 3: killed him, and most importantly, why no one was ever

486
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 3: arrested for his murder.

487
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 2: Right now, the theories that I'm reading all focus around

488
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 2: his potential drug dealing and the drug underworld, So everything

489
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 2: that I've read up to this point kind of works

490
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 2: towards that angle. I haven't gotten any name suspects yet

491
00:30:58,120 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: in any of these case files.

492
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 3: Obviously, piecing together all of the players and whatever plot

493
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 3: was in play in nineteen eighty six that got Billy killed,

494
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 3: it was going to take some time and some good

495
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:20,880
Speaker 3: old gumshoe detective work. But there was even more immediate

496
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 3: promise in the physical evidence that was recovered from the

497
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 3: original crime scene, evidence that would not just help us

498
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 3: recreate the crime, but potentially help us identify Billy's killer.

499
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 2: That was the second big check mark for us is

500
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,360
Speaker 2: that we do have evidence, and it looks like that

501
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 2: it's been preserved since I think eighty seven we've got,

502
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 2: at least with Broward Sheriff's office. We've got electrical tape

503
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 2: from both wrists, hair that was in Halpern's left hand,

504
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:58,360
Speaker 2: which presumably would be our killer, and then we've got

505
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,480
Speaker 2: looks like a towel, which I believe that towel was

506
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 2: placed on him when he was found by his living

507
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 2: girlfriend at the time. That's all. That's all the evidence.

508
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 3: Electrical tape, a bloody towel, and several strands of human

509
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 3: hair recovered from the clutches of the victim's left hand.

510
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 2: And let's not forget that which I find very interesting.

511
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 2: On one of the pieces of tape that were taken

512
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 2: from Helper's wrists, there was like a small piece of

513
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 2: latex glove that appeared to have been ripped off on

514
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 2: the tape, which tells me that the guy or guys

515
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: or people that were in there were wearing gloves. And

516
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 2: I have very very high hopes that there's going to

517
00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,080
Speaker 2: be some kind of a DNA profile that comes out

518
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 2: of that.

519
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 3: Detectives in nineteen eighty six were never able to match

520
00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 3: any of it to a potential suspect, but by today's

521
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 3: forensic standards, it feels promising.

522
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 2: I feel pretty good about the evidence that we still

523
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 2: have and the fact that to my knowledge, at least

524
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 2: according to the property receipts, nothing has been tested. The idea,

525
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 2: I think is maybe next week sit down with the

526
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:26,000
Speaker 2: DNA supervisor over at bar Shriffs and run it by

527
00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 2: and say this is what I want to do.

528
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 1: Here's your transmittal.

529
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 2: Let's get the ball rolling.

530
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 3: If we could recover viable DNA from any of this

531
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 3: physical evidence, it would go a long way to identifying

532
00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 3: the killer.

533
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,560
Speaker 2: The thing that's going to take the longest period of

534
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 2: time is going to be DNA testing and potential hair fibers,

535
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,400
Speaker 2: whatever it is that we can pull out of property

536
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 2: and evidence. So that's going to be number one on

537
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 2: my list to do now. So as I'm doing additional

538
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 2: work interviews and trying to track down people, that testing

539
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,120
Speaker 2: is already going to be in process.

540
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,320
Speaker 3: Hopefully a DNA profile could be matched to one already

541
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 3: in CODIS, the National DNA Database of known offenders and

542
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 3: unidentified DNA from other crime scenes, or it could be

543
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 3: matched one to one to a known suspect whose DNA

544
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 3: we would have to obtain, either with permission or without.

545
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 3: But this was technology unavailable to detectives in the nineteen eighties,

546
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,160
Speaker 3: which is one reason why six months after Billy's murder,

547
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 3: the original investigation had started to stall. None off Billy's

548
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 3: friends and family could offer police any leads into who

549
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 3: might have had a reason to hurt him. There were

550
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 3: no witnesses, no recent crimes with similar mo and no

551
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,840
Speaker 3: shortage of alibis from just about anyone that had ever

552
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,239
Speaker 3: been in cuffs in Brawrie County.

553
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 2: Someone persuaded Billy to open that door, whether it was

554
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 2: friendly hello, or somebody that he knows. Billy would not

555
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 2: have opened that door for someone that he doesn't like

556
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 2: or doesn't know. The scenario that I have in my

557
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 2: mind is that maybe a friend of Billy's was there

558
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 2: front of the door, knocked on the door, Billy allows

559
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,120
Speaker 2: him in, and then at that point it's a bum

560
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,279
Speaker 2: rush into the house where they're forced in.

561
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:30,320
Speaker 3: Billy's murderer went from the front page to the back.

562
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 3: And that's until May sixth, nineteen eighty seven, homicide detectives

563
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 3: were again called to an apartment in the nearby town

564
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 3: of Tamarack, just a twenty minute try from where Billy

565
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 3: Halpburn was killed. It was the home of Billy's friend,

566
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,319
Speaker 3: twenty six year old Mitch Hall, and Mitch's twenty three

567
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 3: year old girlfriend, char Linda Drout. A couple had been bound,

568
00:35:56,040 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 3: beaten and their throats slash in a crime scene eerily

569
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 3: similar to that of Billy Halpern's.

570
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 5: Him and his girlfriend were found in the bedroom.

571
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 4: I think so they were completely caught up guard.

572
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 3: Just like in Billy's murder. There were very few clues

573
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 3: and no immediate suspects, but the similarities were obviously too

574
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 3: great to be ignored. Investigators were immediately convinced that the

575
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 3: three murders were somehow connected. Laurie's first thought was that

576
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 3: Mitch Hall knew something about her brother's murder and that

577
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,760
Speaker 3: information might have gotten him killed.

578
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:40,560
Speaker 4: When Mitch died, they thought that he was going to

579
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 4: rowur and sheriffs to talk to them, that he knew something,

580
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 4: and that's why they came and killed him.

581
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 3: It's a sentiment that is shared by Mitch Hall's sister, Kim.

582
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:57,760
Speaker 7: My brother came to visit me, I would say eighty

583
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 7: six December of eighty six. He came to me and

584
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 7: he said, Billy Helpern died and I'm going to find

585
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 7: out who killed him, and I said, Mitch, don't can

586
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 7: involved with those type of people, and he went to

587
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:11,800
Speaker 7: the police station.

588
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 3: But if that was true, it had some shocking implications

589
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 3: because how would the killers know Mitch Hall was talking

590
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,840
Speaker 3: to police?

591
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 5: How would anybody know that?

592
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,479
Speaker 4: Like, you were going to tell what you knew about

593
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:30,240
Speaker 4: Billy and none then you get killed.

594
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 5: Who in the police department is a bad guy? I

595
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:36,280
Speaker 5: really felt that it had to be a dirty cop.

596
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 3: Mitch Hall and Charlenda Drought had been sharing a home

597
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 3: together in Tamarack, which is just outside of Fort Lauderdale,

598
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 3: for a little less than a year. Bob Daughtry was

599
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,320
Speaker 3: a friend of Mitch's working on a job site nearby.

600
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 3: On the morning of May sixth, nineteen eighty seven, he

601
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 3: stopped by Mitch's town home.

602
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 8: I just remember pulling up, went up and knocked on

603
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,840
Speaker 8: the door. He didn't come to the door, turned the

604
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 8: doorknob and the house was opened.

605
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 3: Walked in there.

606
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:19,120
Speaker 8: And Mitch was in his bedroom. Outside the bathroom, I

607
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 8: mean it was blood. All his throat had been slipped.

608
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 8: It was a gruesome sign.

609
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:28,960
Speaker 3: It really was. From their injuries and manner of death,

610
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 3: there was little doubt that it was somehow connected to

611
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 3: the execution style murder of Billy Hauburn just six months before.

612
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:44,240
Speaker 8: His hands were tied behind his back and something stuffed

613
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 8: out of his mouth. And I also saw some marks

614
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,279
Speaker 8: on his upper body. I don't know if they were

615
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 8: just from what they were from a fight, the cuts

616
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,719
Speaker 8: from something, I don't know, but I remember seeing some

617
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 8: wounds on the upper part of his body.

618
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,879
Speaker 3: Not only were the crimes similar, but Mitch Hall and

619
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:06,080
Speaker 3: Billy had been friends since high school. According to Mitch's sister,

620
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 3: it hung out in the same group of friends, on

621
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 3: the same beach and at the same gym.

622
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 7: We knew all those people from back a long time

623
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 7: ago when we were growing up at Garfield Beach. We

624
00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 7: used to hang out at the beach, and we've known

625
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:25,239
Speaker 7: Billy Helpern forever. I know it's sister Lorie Helpern. I

626
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:29,680
Speaker 7: mean I know their family. God, I knew Billy for years.

627
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 3: But there was one important difference between the two crime scenes.

628
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,120
Speaker 3: It appeared that nothing had been stolen from Mitch Hall's home.

629
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 3: Here again, Brad Doughtry, who discovered the bodies.

630
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:47,719
Speaker 8: Didn't look anymore to disarrayed than it never did. It

631
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 8: I mean I never would have thoughthen I wllt in

632
00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:51,120
Speaker 8: the front door because I got to the bedroom that

633
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:53,759
Speaker 8: I was going to find him in there the way

634
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 8: I did.

635
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:58,640
Speaker 3: From the way the bodies were positioned, it appeared that

636
00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 3: both Mitch and Charlotne had been forced to their knees,

637
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:06,359
Speaker 3: bound with tape and then killed in cold blood.

638
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 7: And there was no evidence of somebody breaking into his house.

639
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 7: So either his roommate gave the people the key, because

640
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 7: they pulled Charlnda and they cut her throat and they

641
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,280
Speaker 7: set my brother's throat and it just bullshit.

642
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:29,279
Speaker 3: Again, no signs of forced entry meant that Mitch and

643
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 3: Charlenda may have known their killers and invited them inside.

644
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 3: In May of nineteen eighty seven, the double murder and

645
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,640
Speaker 3: its possible connection to Billy's murder six months before, had

646
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 3: caused a stir in the local media, and detectives at

647
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,680
Speaker 3: the time hoped that the increased attention may stir up

648
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,360
Speaker 3: some promising leads, but that wasn't the case. In fact,

649
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,760
Speaker 3: investigators had a hard time convincing friends and co workers

650
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 3: of Billy and Mitch to talk at all. The word

651
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:04,879
Speaker 3: on the street was that talking was exactly what might

652
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 3: have gotten Mitch killed in the first place.

653
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:11,839
Speaker 7: He was killed the next day after he went to

654
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 7: the police station to tell them who killed Billy, and

655
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:20,359
Speaker 7: he was killed the next day. So I'm assuming there

656
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:22,959
Speaker 7: was a leak in the police station and somebody said

657
00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 7: Mitch Hall knows who killed Billy.

658
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 3: It was a claim that maybe true, but one we

659
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:35,160
Speaker 3: have so far have not seen any evidence of no

660
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 3: record that Mitch contacted any member of the department. And

661
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:43,400
Speaker 3: even if Mitch Hall was telling people he was planning

662
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 3: on talking to police, that could be dangerous enough.

663
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 7: Is there any evidence that my brother came to the

664
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:58,359
Speaker 7: police station and talked to a detective and let them

665
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 7: know who killed Billy Helpborne. There's no evidence of that

666
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 7: him coming into the.

667
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 4: Police station, not that I've seen, and I'm not saying

668
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:07,840
Speaker 4: that it's not there.

669
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:15,880
Speaker 2: But we're talking years and years ago.

670
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,120
Speaker 3: But even in nineteen eighty seven, there was a strong

671
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 3: suspicion that not only were the murders connected, they were

672
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 3: likely committed by the same person. That suspicion would only

673
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 3: grow when just eight days later, two more bodies were

674
00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 3: discovered in a house in Pembroke Pines, a twenty minute

675
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:41,880
Speaker 3: drive inland from Hollywood Beach. The victims were identified as

676
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,799
Speaker 3: thirty one year old Jimmy high Note and twenty eight

677
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:49,440
Speaker 3: year old Harry Collier. Both men had been bound and

678
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:51,959
Speaker 3: then shot at close range in the back of the head.

679
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 3: So it's a slightly different mo but with the same

680
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:57,320
Speaker 3: deadly result.

681
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,920
Speaker 2: When the names high Note and Callier came up, high

682
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:09,359
Speaker 2: Note rang a bell because we know that Jimmy high

683
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,120
Speaker 2: Note and Billy went to school together, they knew each other,

684
00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:16,040
Speaker 2: they grew up with each other. The fact that they

685
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:20,480
Speaker 2: were then killed, that's not a coincidence. We have to

686
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 2: look into that.

687
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,880
Speaker 3: That's right. Both men were known acquaintances of both Billy

688
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:29,600
Speaker 3: Halburn and Mitch Hall.

689
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:33,960
Speaker 4: I mean, we all grew up together. We'd go to

690
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,000
Speaker 4: Big Daddy together, hanging out together.

691
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,080
Speaker 7: Mitch he knew Jimmy h Notes. We used to go

692
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,239
Speaker 7: to as Halloween parties. Billy was always there. We all

693
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,760
Speaker 7: used to hang out together when we were teenagers. It's crazy.

694
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,760
Speaker 7: I mean when all this happened, it was just crazy.

695
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 3: So what was going on here? Was someone targeting one

696
00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 3: particular group of lifelong friends or where they all involved

697
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 3: in a conspiracy that ultimately got them all killed.

698
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,800
Speaker 2: I don't like to speculate, but I mean a normal

699
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 2: prudent person would look at all the facts and say

700
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:13,320
Speaker 2: that's got to be connected.

701
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: No matter what.

702
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,440
Speaker 2: Forget about them, forget about locations or the way that

703
00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:20,200
Speaker 2: the murders happen. You have to think he was connected,

704
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:23,520
Speaker 2: and especially that he was in such close time proximity

705
00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 2: to the Helper murder.

706
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:30,600
Speaker 3: So what was the connection. The further we dug, the

707
00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:35,040
Speaker 3: more we kept coming back to one place, the Apollo, Jim.

708
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:39,280
Speaker 9: It wasn't just a gym, It was a criminal enterprise.

709
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,040
Speaker 3: The Apollo was a no frills prison yard style facility

710
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 3: dedicated to pain and gain, owned by a hulking ex cop.

711
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 3: His name is Gil Fernandez and his partner a former

712
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 3: mister Florida named Bert CHRISTI.

713
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,480
Speaker 9: That guy is a fucking gangster. Those two were together.

714
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:08,080
Speaker 9: They were like John Gottie and Sammy the Bull.

715
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,120
Speaker 3: Four of the five murder victims, Billy Halpern, Mitch Hall,

716
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 3: Harry Collier, and Jimmy high Note were all members of

717
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,360
Speaker 3: the Apollo Gym. That was the connection.

718
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 4: I think there was a steroid thing going on in

719
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:30,439
Speaker 4: Apollo Gym, and Billy came to my bedroom door like, Hey, Laura,

720
00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,759
Speaker 4: ba I love you. If I don't come home, just

721
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 4: want you to know that I love you, and then

722
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:38,560
Speaker 4: boom to get the phone call.

723
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,040
Speaker 3: The more Danny and I learned about the place, the

724
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 3: more I was convinced that whatever conspiracy existed that led

725
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:54,799
Speaker 3: to the murders, it was hatched right here. I just

726
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 3: never expected what we would find along the way.

727
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 9: They were doing shake that, so it was well known,

728
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,200
Speaker 9: you're gonna pay us or we're going to kill you.

729
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:07,320
Speaker 6: And I thought they were going to kill me there,

730
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 6: so I kept my mouth shut and I didn't say anything.

731
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,279
Speaker 6: All these years, I didn't say anything, but I knew that.

732
00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 3: They killed Billy or how deep the corruption would go.

733
00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:20,359
Speaker 9: People were afraid to go to the law because they

734
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 9: knew that he was a former cop and still had

735
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,879
Speaker 9: lots of friends on the forest, a.

736
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 6: Lot of unsolved murders that I think are all tied

737
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 6: to the same people.

738
00:46:31,160 --> 00:46:34,240
Speaker 2: And it's almost incestuous that everyone knew each other, everyone

739
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,160
Speaker 2: worked together, and then ultimately almost everyone was killed.

740
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:41,560
Speaker 3: Coming up in the next episode of Cold Blooded, the

741
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 3: Apollo Gym Murders, how Royd's Ripoffs and Revenge of the

742
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 3: Trail of Murder on the streets and swamps of South Florida,

743
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 3: and how one killer might still be walking free.

744
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,239
Speaker 9: Well, I was always taught, if you start poking your

745
00:46:57,280 --> 00:46:59,359
Speaker 9: nose around, you're gonna get yourself.

746
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:09,240
Speaker 3: Killed, cold blooded. The Apollo Jim Murders is a production

747
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:15,719
Speaker 3: of iHeart Podcasts and Authentic Wave Media. Scott Weinberger, Kevin Bennett,

748
00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:21,279
Speaker 3: and Walker Lemon are executive producers. Sabrina Siree is our

749
00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 3: line producer, scoring sound design and mixing by Mark lamorj

750
00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:33,160
Speaker 3: Z for iHeart Podcasts, Christina Everett is executive producer, and

751
00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:37,600
Speaker 3: David Wasserman is brand marketing manager. And with special thanks

752
00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 3: to the Miramar Police Department, Chief Delrich Moss, Pio Tanya Ardaz,

753
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:45,880
Speaker 3: and Detective Susie Smith,