WEBVTT - The Murder Years: Ep. 4 - Charlotte 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.960 This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:06.960 about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:08.320 who are played by actors. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.840 Student Body of Mount Pine Principal Palumbo. Here, remember tonight 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.520 is the homecoming game and tomorrow night is the homecoming dance. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.800 Please conduct yourselves like the young ladies and gentlemen that 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:34.839 you are. Let's represent ourselves and our community. Well, okay, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.960 that's it. Have fun and let's go Mountaeers. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.040 It's October nineteen eighty five and we're juniors at Mount 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.320 Pine High School. I cannot wait for the homecoming game 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.720 and dance. I'm going with Lance Simpson. We've been going 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.160 out for a few months. When he asked me, eh, 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:55.680 it was whatever about the dance. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.280 It was the game I couldn't wait for today. 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.800 Lance is fifty two years old, married kids, and has 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.280 a lawn cunning business. Back in nineteen eighty five, he's 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.959 fifteen about to turn sixteen like me. 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:14.880 Like I said, the homecoming game was what I was 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:15.720 excited about. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.240 But man, after that game, nothing was the same ever. 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:42.280 I'm Nancy Clark. This is The Murder Years, Episode four, Charlotte. 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.920 It's Friday, October fourth, nineteen eighty five and our homecoming 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.920 game is against our number one rival Northgate. They've beaten 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:53.600 us the last three times we've played each other, which 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:57.880 is going to make this homecoming game extra crazy. My 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.360 boyfriend Lance sits with me for a little while, then 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:02.920 he goes and sits with his JV football buddies. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:04.760 I wanted to talk football. 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:09.440 You know, at halftime we're losing. The second half of 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.760 the game is good but close, too close for comfort. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.520 And then for you. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.840 One by one field goal, but we ate one man. 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.080 That felt great. We finally beat Northgate. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.360 So after the game, I headed over to the to 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.040 the concessions, then to meet everyone. 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.440 My good friend Carla is on the dance team with 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.600 the marching band, and we decide to meet after the game. 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.880 As I was walking over there, I could see some 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.480 guys wearing Northgate jackets were yelling at some of our guys. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.880 Then all of a sudden, it's a full blown fight. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.399 It's total chaos. Teachers and parents rush over to try 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:53.080 and break it up. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.200 That macho shit was so immature. I was ready to 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:01.040 leave anyway. I told my mom i'd after the game. 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:04.320 I told my mom we won and I would be 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.120 heading home. We lived close to the school. It was 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.519 like a five minute walk. She asked if I could 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:14.000 stop and get her some asprin, which, of course I 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:14.680 said I would do. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.400 Carla says goodbye to all of us and heads to Buddies, 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.160 the convenience store and ice cream shop on Miller Road. 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.360 That's the same place where Lisa Anderson used to work. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:29.160 You may remember her tragic murder from episode one. I 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.880 still can't believe she's gone at Buddies. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.440 I think I bought some gum and ice cream in 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:39.880 addition to my mom's as friend. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:45.840 Minutes later, nine one one, what's your emergency? 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:46.560 Oh my god? 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.280 Sit, help, what is happening? 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:49.840 Where are Buddies? 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:51.760 There's so much blood? 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:53.600 Shut her? 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.040 Oh my god, she's pleading. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.960 She's pleading a lot. Who's bleeding? 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:03.800 My co worker? 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.520 Hi friend, Heygod. 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.960 Becoming Charlotte pign. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:24.520 It's around ten pm when Mount Pine police and paramedics 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.320 arrive at Buddies. The victim, lying in a pool of blood, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:33.880 is rushed to the hospital. Detective Tom Wallace, who today 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.080 is retired from the force, was the lead investigator on 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.479 the Lisa Anderson murder. He agrees to speak with me 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.960 again It's not lost on him that he worked Lisa's 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:46.039 murder only sixteen months before. 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:52.239 Yeah, man, that murder haunts me, and I couldn't believe. 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.159 I was at Buddies where she used to work, responding 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.360 to another brutal attack on a young person. 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.479 When Detective Wallace arrives on the scene, he sees a 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.719 woman talking to officers. She's sobbing. She's the woman who 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:06.920 called nine one one. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.440 I told them the guy was masked. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.000 You know, he had a mask. 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.400 Over his face back in nineteen eighty five. Thirty two 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:18.560 year old Angie Foster works nights Monday through Friday. She's 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.239 been employed at Buddies for the last seven years. Today, 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:24.479 she's a sixty nine year old grandmother of two. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.520 Yeah, it was a regular, normal kind of night. I 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.400 was at the register and I was scooping ice cream also, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.080 and Charlotte was in the storeroom getting the chips we 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:37.040 needed to stalk. 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.840 At that time. Eighteen year old Charlotte Murphy is a 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.760 senior at Mount Pine High School. Smart, super nice, and 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.479 very pretty, with thick, naturally blonde hair and cheekbones like 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:54.240 Fara Faucet. She wears sort of short skirts, so some 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.640 of the mothers would gossip that the way she dressed 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.840 got her pregnant and kicked off the school dance team. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.080 It was kind of big news at school and around town. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.799 Charlotte bless her Heart was four and a half months pregnant, 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.520 and she worked Friday and Saturday nights, you know, to 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.120 try to save some money for the baby. I remember 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.120 she was in the back getting the chips, and everything 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.560 just seemed like a normal night. And then this guy 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.320 came in. He had a mask on and he pulled 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:28.960 a gun out of his coat. It was a shotgun, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.560 and he said, give me all the money. So I 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.560 went to the register. I was fumbling. I just I 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.320 couldn't think. I was so scared. I think I said 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.599 something like it, please don't hurt us, but I don't 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:45.479 even remember. I remember I got the cash register open, 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:48.159 I put all the money on the counter, and the 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:53.200 guy grabbed the money and that and that's when Charlotte 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:57.640 came out with the chips and she dropped the box 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.440 and he looked at her, and I don't know, then 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.440 he shot her twice real quick. It looked like in 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.720 the neck, in the torso or something. There was so 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.160 much blood. I just I didn't know what to do, 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.320 and then the guy he pointed the gun at me. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.760 I stopped breathing. I swear to you, I was preparing 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:26.000 myself to die. But he didn't shoot. He just ran out. 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.560 Angie tells police the guy was wearing a black sweatshirt, 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.000 in jeans and a black jacket. He was kind of tall, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.360 but because he had on a mask, she couldn't say 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:40.160 much more. 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:42.600 So. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.880 As Angie was giving me her statement, an officer came 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.880 up to me with a horrible message. Charlotte and her 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:56.880 unborn baby had both been pronounced dead. The last thing 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.320 I wanted is a go tell Charlotte's parents and her 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:01.200 baby were dead. 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.400 God damn, I hated that part of the job. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.320 Just then I turned around and saw this young man 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.200 and woman trying to cross the police tape. 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.280 It turned out to be Charlotte's parents. 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:18.080 Mary and Samuel Murphy had Charlotte when they were in 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.440 high school. They're only around thirty four thirty five years old. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.800 They heard there's been a shooting at Buddies. Now they're 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.280 at the scene demanding answers. 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.640 This was the last way I wanted to do it, 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.120 but there was no getting around it. I asked them 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.559 to go sit in my car and I told them 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.880 what had happened. I will never ever forget the sound 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.120 of their cries, their pain. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.800 I asked them if they'd come to the station with me. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.240 At Mount Pine Police Station, the Murphy's followed Detective Wallace 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:03.280 into interview room Wine. Today, the murphys are retired and 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.679 have since left Mount Pine. They agree to share their 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.920 story with me in the hope it can help others. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.319 You know, when you fall on your back and you 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.440 can't catch your breath, you know, you get the wind 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:23.760 knocked out of you. Well, that's how I felt. Maybe 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:29.400 that's how I still feel. I remember I was just begging, 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:34.880 begging the detective to tell me what happened. I wanted 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.120 to understand what happened to our daughter. 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.880 Charlotte's mother Mary does most of the talking to Detective Wallace. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.640 Her husband Samuel is just too distraught. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.320 I told them it looked like a robbery, but I 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.040 had to look at all possibilities. So I wanted to 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.720 know more about Charlotte and her pregnancy. 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.319 I told the detective we were not happy when Charlotte 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:04.200 got pregnant. Her life was pretty perfect before that. She 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.480 was on the dance team. She'd been hoping to get 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.719 a dance scholarship to college. Her dream was to move 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:15.480 to New York and dance on Broadway. And then she 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.040 started dating this guy at the end of the last 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:18.680 school year. 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.000 And once she got pregnant, it was very hard for 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:30.000 her and us. She knew she had to give up 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:31.320 her dream in order to have. 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.440 The baby, but she decided the baby was what she 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:40.240 wanted more than anything. And the father of her baby, well, 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:46.000 let's just say he did not want her to have it. Nope, 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:49.959 that was the last thing he wanted. 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.760 Mary and Samuel Murphy are at Mount Pine Police talking 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.000 with Detective Tom Wallace about their daughter, Charlotte, who has 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.839 just been murdered during a suspected robbery at Buddy's convenience store. 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.560 But the Murphys didn't just lose their eighteen year old daughter, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:18.480 they also lost their unborn grandchild. Here's Charlotte's mother Mary. 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.440 The father, well, he didn't want her to have the 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:23.199 baby at all. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:24.560 It was. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.640 Okay, it was a real problem. But then he eventually 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.880 came around and said he would help. At least he 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:46.080 would help financially. She had baby names already picked out Brittany, 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:51.800 Brittany if it was a girl, and Nicholas if it 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:57.400 was a boy. I knew if Alex had anything to 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.520 do with Charlotte's murder, my husband was going to kill him. 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.400 The father of Charlotte's baby is eighteen year old Alex Nielsen, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:10.360 a foreign exchange student from Denmark. Although Detective Wallace believes 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.120 it's simply a robbery gone wrong, he'll need to talk 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.160 to everyone close to Charlotte. But first, the owner of 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.960 Buddy's Convenience Store is at the police station. Back in 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.280 nineteen eighty five. Buddy Wilcox, a widower, is a pillar 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.160 of the community. He helped sponsor many of the high 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.440 school and junior high school sports teams. He volunteers at 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.599 the animal shelter, and he's kind of like the unofficial 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.680 mayor of Mount Pine today. He's seventy nine. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.760 Okay, So first we lost Lisa, then Charlotte, who was 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:47.440 shot at my store. I mean, I couldn't understand what 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:48.760 was happening to our town. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.079 But he was very upset when I interviewed him, understandably, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.480 so I asked him if he'd been having any troubles 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:58.160 at the store. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.000 You know, we would get choplift or something once in 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:03.840 a while, you know, and they'd take a little lighter 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.440 or maybe some slim gems, but nothing like an armed robbery. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:10.360 Got nothing ever like that. 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.160 We didn't even have security cameras. 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:18.240 Mountain Pine was safe, well, it was. At one time. 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.559 I just kept. 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:28.720 Thinking about Charlotte's poor parents. He was all just so 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:30.720 incredibly tragic. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:37.320 My wife's since passed away. We didn't have any kids 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.480 of our own. Charlotte had always been like a daughter 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.319 to me. I'm sorry. 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.360 I told Buddy if he thought of anything that could 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.320 help the investigation the police call, he. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.200 Said he would, then he left. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.400 I remember it was late at that point, like go 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.880 two am, and we needed to talk to Charlotte's friends. 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.599 But first we needed to start with the father of 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:08.520 Charlotte's baby. 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.719 Detective Wallace gets the name and number of Alex Nielsen's 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:17.040 host family, Thomas and Karen Potts. They have four kids 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.440 of their own. Alex is a third exchange student they've 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.800 hosted over the years. Alex and the Potts arrive at 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.480 the police station around two am. Detective Wallace will talk 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:32.240 to Thomas and Karen Potts first. Today, Karen agrees to 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.640 speak with me by phone from their eldest son's house 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.920 in Florida. 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.000 Well, it was just the most awful thing to happen. 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.960 I couldn't process that Charlotte and the baby were dead, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.560 and there had been a lot of death around us. 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.720 My husband's uncle died the week before in a freak 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:56.680 hunting accident. Look, I was an am on, god fearing woman, 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.640 and it made me wonder what had we in Mount 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:06.280 Pine done to deserve all these tragedies. My husband doesn't 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.360 believe this, but in that moment, I could believe that 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:12.360 town was cursed. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.600 Maybe I still do after all these years, after all 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.040 these deaths. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.320 I asked the Pots about Alex, and they both said 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.200 he was a very good student. He was polite, helped 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.720 with the chores around the house. They couldn't have asked 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.040 for a better exchange student. 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:36.520 But we were very upset when Charlotte got pregnant. And 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.600 don't even get me started on how upset Alex's parents 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.400 back in Denmark were when he told them the news. 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.520 Detective Wallace tells the Pots he'll need their phone number. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.200 I wanted to know why was Alex to suspect there 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.120 was no way he could have done anything to Charlotte. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.000 They were in a good place, all things can. He 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.800 had been working at my husband's shoe store and would 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.800 give Charlotte half of his pay for the baby. It 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.320 wasn't a lot, but he was trying to help as 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:12.400 much as he could. 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:14.720 Oh, and he. 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:19.400 Had an alibi. We were all at the homecoming game 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.840 then went straight all right after together. 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.600 Detective Wallace then brings in eighteen year old Alex. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.080 Alex was upset, but seemed to be cooperative. There was 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.720 a little bit of a language barrier, but he answered 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.200 all my questions. He said he wasn't thrilled about the 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.800 baby at first. He said although he didn't want to 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.800 be a father or raise the kid, he and Charlotte 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.520 agreed that he would help with it financially, and he 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.520 said he couldn't think of anyone who would want to 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.120 hurt Charlotte. I told Alex and the Pots at that point, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.840 I may have more questions, but they were free to go. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.040 Just twelve hours later, it's Saturday night, and word has 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:05.560 spread around town about what happened to Charlotte Murphy. Everyone 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.080 is in shock. There's talk of canceling the homecoming dance. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.159 I didn't even want to go to the dance, and 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.439 I mean I didn't want to make it about me, 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.280 but from what I heard, it happened right after I 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.280 left Buddies. I could have been killed that night too. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.320 I honestly felt like it was all too much. 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:33.119 To everyone's surprise, school officials decide not to cancel the dance, 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.679 my friends and I ditch our dates and hang out together. 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.720 Everyone was dressed up, but no one was dancing. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:44.680 We wanted it to be a fun night. We wanted 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.480 to be talking about winning the game, our corsages, or 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.440 where we went to dinner. But all we could talk 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.560 about was what happened to Charlotte. They should have canceled 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.080 the dance, I mean, or at least postponed it. 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:03.400 Yeah, the dance is really weird. Then it gets even weirder. 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.560 Alex walks into the gymnasium. He's at the dance, and 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.240 he's not alone. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:16.960 I was thinking, holy shit, Alex came to the dance 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:21.800 with a date. I mean, I think everyone thought the 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:24.240 last place he should be is at the dance, like 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.360 he should be home crying or devastated or something. 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:33.800 And dude, he was with Ellen, eighteen year old Ellen Grover. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.399 Everyone is looking around at each other, like, what the hell? 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.840 The girl is striking the type that gets discovered by 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.359 a model scout. She's every high school boy's dream. You know, 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.800 he was dating Ellen? How could he? 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:52.320 She was one of Charlotte's friends. 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.919 Okay, so I'm thinking maybe Alex and Ellen are at 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:01.320 the dance's friends. Maybe they're consoling each other. We don't know, 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.359 so how can we say, right? I mean, they aren't 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.800 holding hands or anything. It's just weird Alex is there 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:13.600 at all. I think everyone feels the same, and we're 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:17.439 all completely fixated on them and whispering about them. And 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.879 after a few songs, Alex and Ellen end up leaving. 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:23.280 We all leave soon after. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.119 So Saturday night I was going over interviews and trying 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:35.480 to retrace Charlotte's steps that day leading up to the shooting. 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.239 Sunday morning, I heard from the coroner the cause of 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.399 death was blood loss due to a severed carotid artery, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.280 and the shot to her torso killed her unborn baby, 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:52.879 a girl. Almost immediately it was determined the weapon used 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:57.159 was a twenty gait shotgun. Our team dusted for fingerprints, 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.200 a buddy's and gout at least thirty five. I mean 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:01.960 it was a store and people come. 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:03.040 In and out of there all day long. 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:06.240 There was a partial print on the counter where Angie 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:07.439 said she put down the money. 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.639 In the days that follow detectives talked to Charlotte's friends 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:18.879 and family, including her boyfriend before Alex. They investigate all 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.280 the tips that come in, but none of them seemed 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:22.040 to go anywhere. 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.480 It was two weeks after the murder. We got a 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.160 call from the owner of High Stakes pawn Shop over 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:32.440 in Summerland. It's about twelve miles down the road. He said, 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.359 someone just came in who pawned a shotgun. 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:36.800 Then someone just came in who pawned a shotgun. 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:39.760 And because I heard about the shooting and buddies, I 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:40.680 thought I'd call in. 0:20:41.840 --> 0:20:45.000 About thirty minutes later, Detective Wallace gets to High Stakes. 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:46.600 He's greeted by the owner. 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.040 He told me a guy came in wanting to pawn 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.920 a shotgun. I asked him to show me the gun, 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.320 but not to touch it. He showed me by the 0:20:55.359 --> 0:21:00.000 counter where it was emph It was a twenty gage shotgun. 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:06.520 I asked what the guy looked like for his personal information, ID, 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.600 address and phone number are required when you pawn something. 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:12.479 The owner said he was a white guy, but couldn't 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.320 remember much what he looked like. He handed me the 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:20.119 record book. It said Jesse, but the last name was 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:22.400 hard to read. I thought it looked like the last 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.840 name started with a G, or maybe it was a C. 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:29.840 I asked him about the surveillance video. It was a 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.439 pawn shop, right, So we went in the back and 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:38.040 he queued it up there he was at the counter. 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.719 This guy might just be our killer. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.400 Detective Tom Wallace is at high stakes pawn shop reviewing 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:57.000 security footage of the guy who may have pawned the 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.920 murder weapon used to kill eighteen year old Charlotte and 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:01.040 her unborn daughter. 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:04.520 So I was watching this fuzzy, grainy, black and white 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.200 video of the guy, and from what I could tell, 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.600 he had on jeans and a plaid shirt. Thankfully, the 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.480 pawnshop also had a camera outside, and in that footage 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.119 I could see he arrived and left in a white 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:19.840 Toyota and looked like a at tercell. 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.919 Detective Wallace takes the video, the contact information, and the 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:26.520 gun back to the station and runs what he has 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:30.200 through the system. He's looking for a Jesse, last name 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:34.119 starting with a C or G who drives a white Toyota. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.800 We got a hit. Jesse Grover, twenty. 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.800 Year old Jesse Grover. He dropped out of Mount Pine 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.720 High School three years before. I heard he was a 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:47.399 burnout when he was in school. I think he also 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.560 went to rehab at one point, but I'm not sure. 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:55.679 So a few officers went down to his house. 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:58.119 He was living with his parents at the time, and 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.120 they asked him to come down to the stae talk 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:02.440 about the gun he pawned. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:08.119 Jesse arrives at the station. He's about five to nine, dark, 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:11.280 greasy hair. His clothes looked like he'd slept in them 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:16.000 for weeks, and he reeks of pot. A policeman brings 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:20.120 Jesse to interview Room three. Detective Kurt Peters helps Detective 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.920 Wallace with his interview. Looking back over his notes, Detective 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:25.840 Peters takes me back to that day. 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:32.160 Jesse Grover looked nervous and a little out of it. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:37.000 I asked him where he worked. He said he didn't 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:39.520 have a job. I don't have a job. We asked 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:41.159 him how he spends his days. 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:42.840 Mostly hang out. 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.440 I look for work here and there. Then we told 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:47.840 him we wanted to know more about the shotgun he 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.240 pawned at high stakes. It wasn't registered in his name, 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:53.960 where to get it, and why did he pawn it. 0:23:55.000 --> 0:23:58.040 That's when he asked, do I need an attorney? We 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:00.800 said that was up to him. We just wanted to 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:03.840 ask him a few more questions. He thought about it 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:07.959 and agreed to continue. Okay, the gun was my dad's, 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:09.200 had pondered, without him knowing. 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.040 Jesse said the gun was his dad's, and he pondered 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:16.520 without him knowing. I asked him why he needed the money. 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:19.719 He got weird. I told him we didn't care if 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:23.359 it was for drugs or anything like that, so he said, yes. 0:24:23.440 --> 0:24:25.119 Yes, I needed the money for weed. 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:27.240 I spoked a lot of weed and wanted beer. 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:31.080 I then asked him where he was that Friday night, 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:34.080 and he abruptly ends the interview. 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:35.679 I want my parents and a lawyer. 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.919 Well, he was twenty years old, so he didn't have 0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:43.920 a right to have his parents there, but I thought, okay, 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:48.840 maybe maybe they would talk him into talking to us. 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:54.840