WEBVTT - 1. The Killing Zone 0:00:14.996 --> 0:00:57.356 Pushkin. Mountain lions do their hunting in the dark after 0:00:57.476 --> 0:01:00.716 dusk and in the early morning hours, right before the 0:01:00.756 --> 0:01:05.276 sun comes up. The hills above Malibu, California, are full 0:01:05.316 --> 0:01:09.316 of them. They're vicious predators, but they're so shy that 0:01:09.356 --> 0:01:13.596 the wildlife biologists who study them call them ghost cats. 0:01:14.756 --> 0:01:17.516 If you hike in the hills surrounding Malibu, you probably 0:01:17.516 --> 0:01:21.276 haven't seen a mountain lion, but one has almost certainly 0:01:21.316 --> 0:01:26.916 seen you. Hemmed in by freeways and in ever expanding suburbia, 0:01:26.996 --> 0:01:32.276 the mountain lions are stressed half crazy. A few years ago, 0:01:32.356 --> 0:01:34.276 I wrote a story about them for The New Yorker, 0:01:34.516 --> 0:01:38.076 where I work. The people in Malibu were really upset, 0:01:38.756 --> 0:01:41.836 especially about a rogue lion known as P forty five, 0:01:42.276 --> 0:01:46.476 which was slaughtering pet alpacas and mini horses seemingly for sport. 0:01:47.796 --> 0:01:49.796 There was a huge debate over who was to blame 0:01:49.836 --> 0:01:53.356 for these deaths, a murderous lion or the people who 0:01:53.356 --> 0:02:02.996 had left their pets unprotected in lion country. One morning, 0:02:03.076 --> 0:02:05.476 I went out searching for evidence of lions in the 0:02:05.516 --> 0:02:08.756 mountains near Malibu Creek State Park. I was with one 0:02:08.756 --> 0:02:11.396 of the wildlife biologists, and we were in a tangle 0:02:11.436 --> 0:02:14.596 of branches and bushes, looking at a dried out deer carcass, 0:02:15.036 --> 0:02:19.916 a month old lion kill. This question just popped into 0:02:19.956 --> 0:02:24.756 my head, so I asked him, Hey, do you ever 0:02:24.796 --> 0:02:28.436 find a dead body out here? He turned and looked 0:02:28.436 --> 0:02:32.276 at me so strangely he was going to stick to 0:02:32.316 --> 0:02:36.916 talking about lions, no comment on what humans might do 0:02:36.996 --> 0:02:48.756 in these hills. In my fifteen years living in Los Angeles, 0:02:48.996 --> 0:02:53.636 I've logged a decent amount of time in Malibu, sometimes reporting, 0:02:53.916 --> 0:02:56.556 but mostly just taking my kids for afternoons at the beach. 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:02.716 You know, Malibu, It's paradise, the ocean, the mountains, the 0:03:02.796 --> 0:03:07.316 honeycolored light, celebrities and surf bums, and laid back billionaires, 0:03:08.356 --> 0:03:12.716 people with prayer beads and private security. It's like a 0:03:12.756 --> 0:03:17.436 postcard of itself. The real gidget is a hostess at 0:03:17.436 --> 0:03:20.636 a local restaurant, and you could easily run into Kim 0:03:20.716 --> 0:03:26.916 Kardashian at the sushi bar. But often in Malibu I 0:03:26.996 --> 0:03:31.996 get this unsettling sensation that there's something else there underneath 0:03:31.996 --> 0:03:38.516 that pretty surface, something elusive and slightly menacing, a riptide 0:03:39.356 --> 0:03:43.716 an undertow, and I can never quite shake the feeling. 0:03:44.396 --> 0:03:53.156 That the place is warning me to go away. Here's 0:03:53.156 --> 0:03:55.636 what I know when I start all this. It's not 0:03:55.756 --> 0:04:05.036 a lot. It was before sunrise June twenty second, eighteen, 0:04:05.796 --> 0:04:08.916 and the campground at Malibu Creek State Park was packed. 0:04:10.076 --> 0:04:13.796 It's an idyllic spot. Campsites are arranged in a ring 0:04:13.876 --> 0:04:17.476 around a large meadow dotted with oak trees. Jagged peaks 0:04:17.756 --> 0:04:21.996 zigzag across the open sky. It was four in the morning, 0:04:22.476 --> 0:04:27.276 still dark. Everyone was inside their nylon tents and RVs, 0:04:28.316 --> 0:04:30.756 cozy in their sleeping bags for a couple more hours. 0:04:32.436 --> 0:04:42.196 But someone was awake, watching, silent, undetected, slipping shadow like 0:04:42.916 --> 0:04:48.516 around the sleeping campground. He had a gun and he 0:04:48.676 --> 0:04:57.756 fired it directly into one family's tent. Inside the tent 0:04:57.916 --> 0:05:01.796 was a man named Tristan Bodette, a brilliant young research 0:05:01.876 --> 0:05:05.676 scientist thirty five years old. He was sleeping beside his 0:05:05.716 --> 0:05:12.276 two little girls. The bullet struck his forehead, killing him, 0:05:12.276 --> 0:05:19.916 and whoever did it slipped away into the darkness. It's 0:05:19.956 --> 0:05:23.316 like a story that's meant to terrify you, playing on 0:05:23.396 --> 0:05:27.036 your deepest fears. A story you'd tell around a campfire 0:05:27.556 --> 0:05:31.916 with ghosts and murderers and things you can't explain except 0:05:31.916 --> 0:05:35.676 that this story is true. And once I heard it, 0:05:35.876 --> 0:05:39.516 I couldn't stop thinking about it. How did this happen? 0:05:40.436 --> 0:05:44.996 How does anything like this happen in Malibu, of all places? 0:05:46.276 --> 0:05:49.636 But it did happen in Malibu, And as I'd come 0:05:49.676 --> 0:05:54.956 to find out, inexplicable, nightmarish things happen in Malibu all 0:05:55.036 --> 0:05:58.756 the time. Tonight, a mystery in Malibu. The driver found 0:05:58.756 --> 0:06:01.836 a man dead in a ditch along Lost Versus Canyon Road. 0:06:01.956 --> 0:06:05.356 There have also been nine additional calls for shots fire. 0:06:09.636 --> 0:06:13.956 I just don't feel safe anymore. Breaking now a homicide investigation. 0:06:14.436 --> 0:06:16.676 We do have a nude body and it's still unclear 0:06:16.676 --> 0:06:20.956 exactly how it got here. It is a suspicious death. 0:06:21.036 --> 0:06:23.756 The human bones were just a half mile from the trailhead. 0:06:24.076 --> 0:06:28.116 We possibly said somebody screaming for help. Detectives and I 0:06:28.196 --> 0:06:30.756 trying to figure out who he is and who killed him. 0:06:30.796 --> 0:06:33.876 I'll tell you what. They'll be standing with pitchforks outside 0:06:34.036 --> 0:06:36.796 Lost til Sheriff's department. I said to holler down, are 0:06:36.836 --> 0:06:38.956 you all right? She said, I'm just resting or something 0:06:38.996 --> 0:06:46.076 like that. Once she left, she just disappeared. I'm doing 0:06:46.076 --> 0:07:18.196 a goodyear and This is Lost Hells episode one, the 0:07:18.276 --> 0:07:26.596 Killing Zone. Would you guys start by just saying your 0:07:26.676 --> 0:07:30.876 names and what your relationship is to Tristan. My name 0:07:30.956 --> 0:07:34.756 is Scott McCurdy. I'm Tristan's brother in law, and this 0:07:34.916 --> 0:07:38.356 is my wife. My name's Pamela wo I'm at Tristan's 0:07:38.356 --> 0:07:42.876 sister in law and married to Scott McCurdy. I want 0:07:42.916 --> 0:07:45.116 to talk to Scott because he was with Tristan on 0:07:45.156 --> 0:07:47.756 the camping trip. He was in the next tent over 0:07:47.996 --> 0:07:51.676 with his own young boys. He's the closest person to 0:07:51.756 --> 0:07:55.436 the story. Tristan's little girls were two and four. The 0:07:55.516 --> 0:07:59.236 younger one could barely talk. Scott is the closest thing 0:07:59.276 --> 0:08:02.436 to a witness. Tristan always has this bucket list of 0:08:02.476 --> 0:08:06.556 things that he wants to do, and camping in Malibu 0:08:07.116 --> 0:08:10.196 State Park was on the bucket list. Years ago, before 0:08:10.236 --> 0:08:12.756 we had kids, he and I went up to Malibu 0:08:12.956 --> 0:08:16.596 Creek State Park and he and I always wanted to 0:08:16.596 --> 0:08:20.076 go back and camp there. Scott tells me that Tristan, 0:08:20.356 --> 0:08:22.996 his wife, Erica, and their kids were about to move 0:08:23.076 --> 0:08:25.996 from Orange County up to the Bay Area. I feel 0:08:25.996 --> 0:08:27.316 like he knew that I was a little bit sad 0:08:27.356 --> 0:08:30.756 that he was going to be leaving Southern California. Erica 0:08:30.916 --> 0:08:33.836 is an obgyn and had a medical exam to study for. 0:08:34.596 --> 0:08:37.636 So Tristan proposed a trip something he and Scott had 0:08:37.676 --> 0:08:41.156 been wanting to do for a long time, camping just 0:08:41.276 --> 0:08:44.476 the dads with the kids in Malibu Creek State Park, 0:08:44.956 --> 0:08:48.196 and he wanted to have kind of one last camping 0:08:48.196 --> 0:08:51.036 trip while he was down here and we were all together, 0:08:51.196 --> 0:08:58.116 and so it was meant to be this bonding, really 0:08:58.156 --> 0:09:04.676 fun experience. The caravan up to Malibu, we're driving up 0:09:04.716 --> 0:09:08.716 and we pull in and Tristan was first, and we 0:09:08.796 --> 0:09:12.356 passed the ranger booth where you get your site, and 0:09:12.436 --> 0:09:15.996 I follow Tristan in and we'd go down the long 0:09:16.036 --> 0:09:20.596 winding road and he makes a wrong turn and off 0:09:20.596 --> 0:09:25.196 the asphalt road onto this gravel dirt road, which later 0:09:25.276 --> 0:09:27.236 he commented he was so excited that he got to 0:09:27.236 --> 0:09:30.516 take his forest or off roading. It was such a funny, dude. 0:09:31.556 --> 0:09:34.716 The campground is basically a large oak meadow. There's a 0:09:34.756 --> 0:09:37.796 one way asphalt road that goes around it with campsites 0:09:37.876 --> 0:09:41.636 offset on either side. You know, we found our campsite, 0:09:41.636 --> 0:09:44.116 we got the kids out, and we all walked around 0:09:44.236 --> 0:09:49.556 and the campsite was was a little bit angled, and 0:09:49.716 --> 0:09:53.836 so Tristan really didn't like it because, you know, there 0:09:53.876 --> 0:09:56.236 wasn't a good spot to pitch the tent where you 0:09:56.276 --> 0:09:59.436 wouldn't be leaning one way or the other, and so 0:09:59.476 --> 0:10:02.476 it just wasn't wasn't the ideal camp site. So we decided, 0:10:02.516 --> 0:10:04.676 and we were early enough not all the sites were full, 0:10:04.996 --> 0:10:06.876 that we decided we'd, you know, one of us would 0:10:06.916 --> 0:10:10.116 go back and bargain with the rain to get another site. 0:10:11.036 --> 0:10:13.876 They moved to a different spot, Site forty nine, in 0:10:13.956 --> 0:10:16.516 a nice flat area on the northern end of the meadow, 0:10:17.236 --> 0:10:18.756 and then they noticed that the guy in the next 0:10:18.796 --> 0:10:21.436 site over was leaving. They asked him if they could 0:10:21.516 --> 0:10:25.156 use his site too spread out a little. He said, sure, 0:10:25.356 --> 0:10:28.876 no problem. Tristan set up his tent there in Site 0:10:28.916 --> 0:10:31.876 fifty one. Then he and Scott and all the kids 0:10:31.876 --> 0:10:35.156 spent the day at Surfrider Beach, that famous stretch along 0:10:35.196 --> 0:10:38.996 Pacific Coast Highway right by the Malibu Pier. At the 0:10:39.076 --> 0:10:40.596 end of the day, they headed back to the park 0:10:40.636 --> 0:10:43.676 and got ready for a night around the campfire. Scott 0:10:43.716 --> 0:10:46.116 says that Tristan could be counted on to bring delicious 0:10:46.156 --> 0:10:48.996 food and pre mixed cocktails when they camped. He was 0:10:49.036 --> 0:10:53.396 the kind of person who optimized everything. And so did you. 0:10:53.436 --> 0:10:57.796 And Tristan get to stay up drinking Manhattan's or something 0:10:57.796 --> 0:11:00.076 out of a flask after the kids finally went to bed. 0:11:00.636 --> 0:11:08.236 Tristan had pre mixed Manhattan's for that trip, that last 0:11:08.276 --> 0:11:11.836 conversation we had. We you know, we stayed up and 0:11:11.876 --> 0:11:14.836 we were just talking about families for hours and hours 0:11:15.836 --> 0:11:19.996 and um and I told him how much I was 0:11:20.036 --> 0:11:22.956 gonna miss him. I'm like, I kind of guilted him 0:11:22.956 --> 0:11:25.836 a little bit, like, you know, well we had a 0:11:25.836 --> 0:11:28.396 good run, buddy, you know, we had a good run. 0:11:28.436 --> 0:11:31.676 I'm gonna I'll miss you. You know. I remember at 0:11:31.716 --> 0:11:33.156 the end of the night, we decided, you know, okay, 0:11:33.196 --> 0:11:34.676 well it's it's late, let's go to bed. It was 0:11:34.876 --> 0:11:36.636 probably I don't know, I don't know what time it was. 0:11:36.916 --> 0:11:38.716 Maybe it was one o'clock or something. I'm not sure. 0:11:39.316 --> 0:11:42.436 And you know, we put out the camp fire, and 0:11:43.036 --> 0:11:46.676 you know, we I gave him a big hug, and 0:11:47.796 --> 0:11:50.556 you know, I told him I loved him, and I 0:11:50.596 --> 0:11:52.236 told him I did I told him again that I 0:11:52.236 --> 0:11:59.196 was gonna miss him, and It makes me sad but 0:11:59.356 --> 0:12:04.076 so happy at the same time, because at least I 0:12:04.076 --> 0:12:18.156 got that. A few hours later, Scott says he was 0:12:18.156 --> 0:12:22.276 awakened by a loud noise like fireworks and the sound 0:12:22.276 --> 0:12:26.116 of one of his nieces crying. He couldn't figure out 0:12:26.156 --> 0:12:29.596 why Tristan wasn't helping her. He knew that something must 0:12:29.596 --> 0:12:32.996 be wrong. He got up, leaving his own young children, 0:12:33.196 --> 0:12:36.916 and hurried over to Tristen's tent. He opened the flap. 0:12:37.676 --> 0:12:40.156 In the dark, he could see the girls kneeling beside 0:12:40.196 --> 0:12:45.196 their dad. One of them kept saying, wet, wet. He 0:12:45.316 --> 0:12:47.476 dug around for a phone, and when he found it, 0:12:47.796 --> 0:12:51.276 used it as a flashlight. He rolled Tristan over and 0:12:51.396 --> 0:12:55.276 saw that his face was drenched in blood. The girls 0:12:55.276 --> 0:12:58.396 were kneeling in a pool of it. That's what was wet. 0:12:59.556 --> 0:13:01.796 He pulled the girls out of the tent into the 0:13:01.876 --> 0:13:05.556 chilly early morning air and began to scream for help. 0:13:15.236 --> 0:13:18.476 I've never investigated a murder before, but I'm assuming the 0:13:18.556 --> 0:13:22.156 autopsy will be filled with information. You know, leads I 0:13:22.196 --> 0:13:24.636 can follow that will get me started in the right direction. 0:13:25.796 --> 0:13:28.756 When the coroner releases it, I scour it for details. 0:13:32.116 --> 0:13:34.876 At the time of his death, It says Tristan Bodatt 0:13:34.956 --> 0:13:37.916 was wearing a gray tshirt, blue shorts, and white socks. 0:13:38.676 --> 0:13:41.876 His face was unshaven. He had a little alcohol in 0:13:41.916 --> 0:13:46.636 his system, probably the Manhattan's, and a little THHC. Above 0:13:46.676 --> 0:13:49.396 his right eye, just below the hairline, but pretty close 0:13:49.436 --> 0:13:52.356 to dead center was an oval hole where a full 0:13:52.436 --> 0:13:56.956 copper jacketed lead bullet had entered, piercing his brain. That 0:13:57.076 --> 0:14:01.076 bullet was excavated from his right shoulder blade. Included with 0:14:01.116 --> 0:14:04.956 the autopsy is something called a GSR data sheet. It 0:14:05.076 --> 0:14:08.636 stands for Gunshot Residue. I had to look that up. 0:14:10.236 --> 0:14:13.996 The box for homicide is checked, but everything else about 0:14:14.036 --> 0:14:17.476 Tristan Bodat's case and how he died can only be 0:14:17.596 --> 0:14:21.356 learned from the omissions gaps in the narrative of facts. 0:14:22.356 --> 0:14:28.636 The weapon is described as outstanding make a model, unknown, ammunition, 0:14:28.676 --> 0:14:34.156 brand and caliber. Unknown. Number of shots fired is left blank. 0:14:35.196 --> 0:14:40.276 How did the injury occur? The autopsy simply bopaquely says 0:14:42.396 --> 0:14:49.316 shot by another. When Tristan Bodett was killed, rumors started 0:14:49.396 --> 0:14:53.676 flying around Malibu. Bodette worked at a pharmaceutical company and 0:14:53.796 --> 0:14:58.836 had published research on vaccines, probably he'd been targeted, assassinated 0:14:58.876 --> 0:15:02.676 by Big pharma or the government, or the perpetrator was 0:15:02.716 --> 0:15:07.716 a disgruntled park worker, possibly ex military, or maybe it 0:15:07.796 --> 0:15:10.196 had something to do with the elite go marijuana grows 0:15:10.276 --> 0:15:13.236 that everyone knows, or a problem in Malibu Creek State Park. 0:15:14.396 --> 0:15:17.356 But what Scott says that they moved spots twice and 0:15:17.476 --> 0:15:20.476 ended up in a third spot given by a nameless stranger, 0:15:21.316 --> 0:15:24.236 it just makes me think about how random the killing was. 0:15:25.436 --> 0:15:28.516 Scott was there, he was with Tristan the whole time, 0:15:28.996 --> 0:15:32.276 right up until they zipped into their separate tents, and 0:15:32.476 --> 0:15:36.516 he's baffled. For me, and I think for Tristan, campgrounds 0:15:36.676 --> 0:15:40.436 or a sanctuary, there were a place that you could 0:15:40.476 --> 0:15:44.356 go and you could let your guard down a little bit, 0:15:44.756 --> 0:15:48.556 the kids could play, you'd have fun setting up your 0:15:48.556 --> 0:15:52.316 camp and making dinner and just hanging out with the 0:15:52.356 --> 0:15:58.756 people you love. Do you think about Malibu differently now? Yeah, 0:15:58.796 --> 0:16:03.916 you know, I definitely do. I mean, I think you've 0:16:03.956 --> 0:16:06.956 got just this really great spot in the world where 0:16:07.036 --> 0:16:09.316 you should be able to go and enjoy nature, And 0:16:10.636 --> 0:16:13.236 you just don't think that in a place so beautiful 0:16:13.276 --> 0:16:20.116 that you're going to experience something so evil. When I 0:16:20.156 --> 0:16:23.396 think about what happened to Tristan Boudet, I always think 0:16:23.396 --> 0:16:26.996 about the thin wall of his tent. He probably felt 0:16:27.036 --> 0:16:31.596 so safe nestled in beside his girls. He trusted nature, 0:16:32.076 --> 0:16:35.836 He wasn't scared. He had no idea what was out 0:16:35.876 --> 0:16:42.116 there or how vulnerable he was going camping anywhere. Um, 0:16:43.076 --> 0:16:45.436 something could happen. You know, there could be there could 0:16:45.476 --> 0:16:48.516 be a bear, there could be a mountain lion. Those 0:16:48.516 --> 0:16:52.116 are kind of inherent risks in nature that you know 0:16:52.156 --> 0:16:55.436 they could be present, and you know if it happens, 0:16:55.676 --> 0:16:58.476 you know, if if there's if there's a bear, you know, 0:16:58.476 --> 0:17:00.916 it's the idea of that is really scary, right. But 0:17:01.516 --> 0:17:03.876 usually when there's something like that, I mean, it's posted, 0:17:03.996 --> 0:17:07.996 you know, you know what, you know that there's there 0:17:07.996 --> 0:17:13.116 are predators out there lurking, and so maybe you keep 0:17:13.116 --> 0:17:14.996 your kids a little bit closer and you keep your 0:17:15.076 --> 0:17:17.596 kids a little bit safer that day. But you would 0:17:17.756 --> 0:17:20.196 never go to a campground where there was a known 0:17:20.276 --> 0:17:27.596 human predator. No, no one whatever did that. We did 0:17:27.636 --> 0:17:33.636 not know that there was this danger at this park, 0:17:34.316 --> 0:17:39.076 and had we known, we would never have put our 0:17:39.156 --> 0:17:49.396 children in danger. Never. It was only after Tristan's death 0:17:49.436 --> 0:17:52.676 that he and everyone in Malibu found out there was 0:17:52.716 --> 0:17:56.716 a real danger. People were being targeted in Malibu Creek 0:17:56.756 --> 0:18:02.716 State Park. Law enforcement knew and Tristan Boudette was not 0:18:02.876 --> 0:18:16.236 the first victim. From twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen, there 0:18:16.276 --> 0:18:18.876 was a series of shootings in and around Malibu Creek 0:18:18.876 --> 0:18:22.276 State Park. One person was injured, but no one died. 0:18:23.156 --> 0:18:30.036 These were near misses, six of them. I'm a thousand 0:18:30.076 --> 0:18:34.276 feet above Malibu in a helicopter with the Twoey Write, 0:18:35.716 --> 0:18:39.956 a retired sergeant detective from Lost Hills Station. That's a 0:18:39.996 --> 0:18:43.196 small outpost of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, and it 0:18:43.236 --> 0:18:47.076 covers law enforcement for this whole area from coastal Malibu 0:18:47.156 --> 0:18:51.556 to Calabasas and the miles and miles of wilderness in between. 0:18:51.916 --> 0:18:54.476 It's a beautiful areas, are a wild area with some 0:18:54.596 --> 0:18:58.436 rugged terrain. The sun such a beautiful out There's pointdo 0:18:59.516 --> 0:19:01.156 over by the beach. I can see a line of 0:19:01.156 --> 0:19:05.196 houses shoulder to shoulder on the sand. They look like toys. 0:19:05.236 --> 0:19:07.916 From here. It's some of the most expensive real estate 0:19:08.356 --> 0:19:11.396 in the world. You can see down there. That's Malibu Colony. 0:19:11.876 --> 0:19:16.436 That little Peninsula of Holmes. There quite a few rich 0:19:16.436 --> 0:19:20.516 and famous folks live there. We head inland over the mountains, 0:19:20.556 --> 0:19:25.036 following Malibu Canyon Road. This should Malibu Canyon going in Here, 0:19:24.716 --> 0:19:28.116 the highway goes along the canyon. It's a major road 0:19:28.476 --> 0:19:31.956 connecting the beach and the valley. Something like twenty thousand 0:19:31.956 --> 0:19:34.956 cars travel on it every day. Over and here is 0:19:35.916 --> 0:19:38.316 some of the areas where like the Kardashians live and 0:19:38.396 --> 0:19:42.796 all of that kind of And there's Malibu Creek State Park. 0:19:43.356 --> 0:19:49.356 It's wild and pristine, volcanic rocks, oak savannah's undulating grasslands. 0:19:49.996 --> 0:19:52.876 If you remember the opening sequence to the nineteen seventies 0:19:52.956 --> 0:19:57.476 TV show Mash where the helicopter flies past craggy green peaks, 0:19:58.436 --> 0:20:02.796 that's Malibu Creek State Park. But Sergeant Twey Wright see 0:20:02.916 --> 0:20:10.996 something different. He sees the killing zone. Hey, I'm thinking 0:20:12.396 --> 0:20:14.716 you might just to keep it simple. We might start 0:20:14.796 --> 0:20:18.996 with the shootings and then moved to the burglaries and 0:20:19.036 --> 0:20:21.436 then moved to the capture since it happened that way 0:20:21.556 --> 0:20:25.676 and the capture route in the camp. That sounds like 0:20:25.756 --> 0:20:29.396 a great sequence. Sergeant Wright was in charge of search 0:20:29.436 --> 0:20:33.676 and rescue, finding hikers lost in the mountains below. His 0:20:33.836 --> 0:20:36.116 knowledge of this terrain put him right in the center 0:20:36.116 --> 0:20:39.916 of the investigation into Tristan Bodat's death and everything that 0:20:39.996 --> 0:20:45.516 happened before and after it. Sergeant Wright asks the pilot 0:20:45.596 --> 0:20:48.756 Pete to take a lap over the park. Pete, maybe 0:20:49.116 --> 0:20:52.796 a left bank there, and we'll go back over towards Tapia. 0:20:55.436 --> 0:20:58.676 Below us is a picnic spot, Tapia Park, at the 0:20:58.796 --> 0:21:02.276 edge of Malibu Creek State Park. That's where in November 0:21:02.316 --> 0:21:07.396 twenty sixteen, a backpacker named Jimmy Rogers was shot hurt 0:21:07.516 --> 0:21:10.156 but not killed. We'll see being in a hammock slung 0:21:10.236 --> 0:21:16.876 between two trees near Miss number one. Over here in 0:21:16.956 --> 0:21:22.396 the park. Down in the campground there is where the 0:21:22.516 --> 0:21:27.356 next two incidents occurred. Less than a week later, and 0:21:27.396 --> 0:21:30.396 about a mile away, in the campground where Bodat was 0:21:30.476 --> 0:21:33.476 later killed, a man was shot at while inside his 0:21:33.516 --> 0:21:41.916 camper near Miss number two. Two months later, in January 0:21:41.956 --> 0:21:45.316 twenty seventeen, there was another shooting in the same campground, 0:21:45.796 --> 0:21:49.836 this time at a couple sleeping in their car near 0:21:49.836 --> 0:21:54.916 Miss number Three's talking about the highway shootings. Then, in 0:21:54.956 --> 0:21:58.396 the summer of twenty seventeen, the targets seemed to change 0:21:58.836 --> 0:22:02.876 to moving cars driving along the canyon Road. In the 0:22:02.916 --> 0:22:05.436 span of a few weeks, first a white Porsche and 0:22:05.436 --> 0:22:11.356 then a white BMW were hit with gunfire near misses 0:22:11.436 --> 0:22:16.876 four and five. Below us on the park side of 0:22:16.876 --> 0:22:20.596 the canyon Road, there's a hill well concealed by bushes 0:22:20.636 --> 0:22:24.396 and trees. You can see the hill and the brush 0:22:24.436 --> 0:22:26.996 and the canopy trees come right up to the edge 0:22:26.996 --> 0:22:30.796 of the highway YEP. Sergeant Rights theory is that a 0:22:30.836 --> 0:22:34.956 shooter lay in wait, firing on approaching cars. It's a 0:22:34.956 --> 0:22:39.476 good elevated position where you have immediate cover and an 0:22:39.476 --> 0:22:43.916 immediate escape direction. The shootings in the park and on 0:22:43.956 --> 0:22:48.316 the canyon Road were totally bizarre events rhymes with no reason. 0:22:48.916 --> 0:22:52.636 They all happened at the same time around three four am. 0:22:52.756 --> 0:22:57.436 Each one involved a single shot, but after near miss 0:22:57.556 --> 0:23:02.236 number five things went quiet. Eleven months passed without another 0:23:02.236 --> 0:23:09.716 shooting until June eighteenth, twenty eighteen. Early that morning, around 0:23:09.796 --> 0:23:13.436 four am, in the same area, a Tesla, a white one, 0:23:13.796 --> 0:23:21.596 was hit in the hood near miss number six. Even then, 0:23:21.796 --> 0:23:25.876 after twenty months of unsolved shootings, law enforcement didn't alert 0:23:25.916 --> 0:23:30.156 the public. The Sheriff's department stayed silent. And so did 0:23:30.236 --> 0:23:34.836 California State Parks. There was no press conference, nothing was 0:23:34.916 --> 0:23:39.276 posted at the park, no information wanted flier, not even 0:23:39.276 --> 0:23:44.556 a suggestion to remain vigilant. And four days after the 0:23:44.596 --> 0:23:48.396 Tesla was shot, Tristan Boudette was killed in the campground. 0:23:50.716 --> 0:23:54.596 When you got the call that there had been a 0:23:54.716 --> 0:23:58.156 shooting at the campground, it wasn't out of the blue 0:23:58.196 --> 0:24:01.116 for you. I'm just putting myself in your shoes and 0:24:01.236 --> 0:24:04.796 thinking you must have had a sinking feeling because there 0:24:04.836 --> 0:24:09.716 had been a series of incidents leading up to that moment. Yeah, 0:24:08.876 --> 0:24:13.596 that is true, and this was our greatest fear that 0:24:14.636 --> 0:24:18.876 this was a serial shooter and that eventually he would 0:24:18.916 --> 0:24:21.596 hit somebody and or kill them. He'd already hit somebody 0:24:21.596 --> 0:24:29.636 in the beginning. So he's saying that privately, law enforcement 0:24:29.716 --> 0:24:34.036 worried there was a potential serial killer at large. They 0:24:34.076 --> 0:24:37.116 thought he was looking for victims and that Malibu Creek 0:24:37.156 --> 0:24:40.236 State Park and the Canyon Road were his hunting ground. 0:24:42.236 --> 0:24:45.876 While millions of people, oblivious of the danger, continued to 0:24:45.996 --> 0:24:48.676 visit the trails, spend the night in the campground, and 0:24:48.756 --> 0:24:54.196 travel on the Canyon Road. Even me, I took my 0:24:54.276 --> 0:24:57.356 kids to Malibu Creek State Park in early twenty eighteen, 0:24:58.276 --> 0:25:00.236 we walked the three mile loop to the rock pool. 0:25:00.876 --> 0:25:03.396 It's a famous swimming spot, and we checked out the 0:25:03.436 --> 0:25:06.836 teenagers jumping from the ledges. We talked about camping in 0:25:06.836 --> 0:25:10.436 the campground when it got warm enough. It's hard not 0:25:10.516 --> 0:25:16.516 to look back and wonder what if we had. After 0:25:16.556 --> 0:25:19.956 the Bodat murder, the earlier victims the near misses went 0:25:19.996 --> 0:25:22.876 to the media. There was an outcry in Malibu as 0:25:22.916 --> 0:25:27.476 people began to panic about the canyon shooter. The campground 0:25:27.516 --> 0:25:31.316 was temporarily closed, but though no one was in custody, 0:25:31.396 --> 0:25:34.196 the rest of the park remained open, and there was 0:25:34.276 --> 0:25:39.916 still no sign posted about anything that had transpired there. Then, 0:25:40.036 --> 0:25:42.556 about a month after the murder, there was a rash 0:25:42.556 --> 0:25:46.036 of mysterious burglaries from commercial buildings near the periphery of 0:25:46.036 --> 0:25:53.036 the park. You wanna talk about the burgerschure, okay, scroungey 0:25:53.156 --> 0:25:57.556 desperate stuff, Not laptops or cell phones, but sandwiches from 0:25:57.556 --> 0:26:01.676 the fridge, seize candy, cinnamon rolls, junk food from the 0:26:01.676 --> 0:26:04.076 front of a vending machine, smashed out with a rock. 0:26:05.276 --> 0:26:07.836 A couple of these places had video surveillance and a 0:26:07.876 --> 0:26:12.036 guy was caught on camera masked and wearing a headlamp 0:26:12.196 --> 0:26:15.316 with a backpack what appeared to be a rifle sticking 0:26:15.316 --> 0:26:18.636 out of it. The next place we're going to go 0:26:18.676 --> 0:26:22.476 to is called the Calabasas Recreation Center, just so happens 0:26:22.516 --> 0:26:26.716 to be directly next door to Malboy last tools sheriff station. 0:26:27.916 --> 0:26:31.356 The area where all these crimes took place is essentially 0:26:31.396 --> 0:26:35.636 the backyard of the sheriff station and one burglary. The 0:26:35.756 --> 0:26:39.956 last one was literally next door, so he came within 0:26:40.276 --> 0:26:44.116 what would you say, a hundred yards of the sheriff station. 0:26:44.916 --> 0:26:47.716 I would say maybe even closer to the parking lot. 0:26:48.796 --> 0:26:51.556 Sergeant Wright says he followed bootprints from the rec center's 0:26:51.596 --> 0:26:54.636 parking lot up into the dusty, desolate hills behind the 0:26:54.636 --> 0:26:58.156 Sheriff's station. Do you see that big oak tree down 0:26:58.156 --> 0:27:00.836 at the bottom. Yep, we're looking at a fold in 0:27:00.876 --> 0:27:03.356 the hills where a gnarled oak clings to the side 0:27:03.356 --> 0:27:06.756 of a steep slope. The one furthest back towards the hill, 0:27:06.796 --> 0:27:15.036 the big one. YEA. I figured there was a up here. Following, 0:27:15.036 --> 0:27:18.436 Sergeant writes hunch half a dozen Sheriff's deputies returned to 0:27:18.476 --> 0:27:21.836 the site of the last bootprint. As they trudged up 0:27:21.836 --> 0:27:24.556 and down hills in the bright sun, the only sound 0:27:24.596 --> 0:27:28.516 was a Sheriff's Department helicopter chuffing in the distance. But 0:27:28.676 --> 0:27:34.356 then a deputy heard a strange, clanging noise echoing through 0:27:34.356 --> 0:27:39.196 the canyon. It seemed to be coming from a ridge 0:27:39.236 --> 0:27:44.756 to the west. Already steeped in shadow, the deputy dropped 0:27:44.756 --> 0:27:47.356 to his knee and looked through the optic on his rifle. 0:27:48.556 --> 0:27:54.116 Zooming in, he saw a man saw the whites of 0:27:54.116 --> 0:27:59.996 his eyes, as he would later testify, clean cut, early forties, 0:28:00.076 --> 0:28:03.796 wearing all black and a backpack with a rifle sticking 0:28:03.796 --> 0:28:08.836 out the top. The deputies jumped him right outside his camp. 0:28:13.556 --> 0:28:16.996 Of course, he tried to flee, but deputies were on 0:28:17.076 --> 0:28:20.796 him real quick search and rescue and lost Hill's patrol 0:28:21.636 --> 0:28:26.076 immediately got their guns on him, and at some point 0:28:26.076 --> 0:28:28.876 he tossed the pack and you could see the rifle 0:28:28.956 --> 0:28:38.516 sticking out of the pack. The man with the gun 0:28:38.716 --> 0:28:42.236 was Anthony Routa, a loaner who'd been living in the 0:28:42.316 --> 0:28:47.356 hills on and off for years. The cops celebrated was 0:28:47.356 --> 0:28:52.076 the mystery of the canyon shooter. All wrapped up. Sergeant Wright, 0:28:52.156 --> 0:28:55.236 who helped track Routa to his camp, admits that it 0:28:55.276 --> 0:29:00.156 all seems a little neat the drifter living behind the station, 0:29:00.596 --> 0:29:04.356 hiding in plain view. That guy's responsible for what may 0:29:04.356 --> 0:29:09.396 be the most violent crime wave in Malibu history. I 0:29:09.436 --> 0:29:11.436 would think it would take some nerve to commit a 0:29:11.476 --> 0:29:15.276 burglary direct next door to the station. I mean, why 0:29:15.316 --> 0:29:18.956 would somebody commit a murder and then hold on to 0:29:19.036 --> 0:29:22.316 the same weapon and then do burglaries on videotape and 0:29:22.476 --> 0:29:26.076 making no very little effort to hide other than putting 0:29:26.076 --> 0:29:29.436 a mask on part of your face. There's an assumption 0:29:29.516 --> 0:29:33.836 that most criminals would think, if their picture was captured 0:29:33.836 --> 0:29:37.156 on camera with a weapon, that there's going to be 0:29:37.196 --> 0:29:44.556 a heightened law enforcement effort to engage them. And that's 0:29:44.596 --> 0:30:22.036 exactly what happened. Okay number four and number five one calendar, Anthony, 0:30:22.556 --> 0:30:24.956 It's been a long morning. In a cold court room 0:30:24.996 --> 0:30:29.356