WEBVTT - Introducing: American Homicide 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:01.960 High Betrayal family. It's Andrea Gunning. 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:04.960 I want to introduce you to a new weekly true 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:08.320 crime show that our team at Glass podcast has just launched. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:12.040 It's called American Homicide and is hosted and produced by 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.920 my colleague Sloane Glass, who I have here today. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:17.080 Hi Sloan, Hi Andrea. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:20.840 You guys may not know this, but Sloane worked on 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.520 season two of Betrayals, so she's very close to the 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:26.760 Betrayal team. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:27.240 Yeah. 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.800 It feels very close to my heart. I mean the 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:34.640 highlight for me working on Betrayal was interviewing Aveya for 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.400 the show. I'd admired her for a long time as 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.280 a listener and then getting the opportunity to sit down 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.040 with her that felt so special. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.120 You know, I think you guys did an incredible job 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.520 and they were in great hands with you. And I'm 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.440 so curious what made you want to take on a 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.080 project like American Homicide. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.920 What I really love about a Man and Homicide is 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.400 how immersive it is. It's not just a retelling. It's 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:10.200 a re examination of infamous true crime stories through first 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.120 hand accounts. You are hearing from law enforcement, who is 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:18.880 behind the investigations. You are hearing from lawyers, you are 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.800 hearing from judges, you are hearing from victims and their 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.200 friends and family. And I think what makes it so 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.280 significant and special really plays off of when you are 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.039 covering a story. It can be the same crime in 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.520 a different location and it will have a totally different 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.160 impact depending on the community. I learned this as a 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.240 local news reporter and later as a national news reporter, 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:49.520 that you are dealing with very different circumstances wherever you 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.680 are in the country. When a crime takes place in 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.880 let's say a small town. What comes to mind for 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.360 me in my personal experience as a journalist, I think 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.480 of in Delphi, Indiana, there was a case that had 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.840 gone cold for six years, two girls had been killed, 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.680 and it was a town of thirteen hundred people. That's 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.320 different from when a crime like that happens in a city. 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.760 The first story that we have in American homicide, it 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:18.400 made me feel that same way. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.680 So on the feed, we're sharing an episode of American 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.160 homicide called The Father's Day Murders. Can you tell us 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:26.959 a little bit about what happens? 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.000 The episode is called The Father's Day Murders. Now you 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.680 just have to imagine it's Father's Day. You go to 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.480 your parents' house for dinner, You open the door and 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.080 you find your mom, dad, and brother beat in to death. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:42.080 And that's what happened to a woman in the small 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:46.000 town of l Rancho, New Mexico. The main suspect for 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.680 a substantial amount of time was the daughter who had 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.440 found her family. It just leaves you wondering what was 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.560 going on here. Someone must know something. 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.680 And they're in the community, and they're in. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.480 The community, and this is a woman who had to 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.280 fight to find answers to what exactly happened to her family, 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.119 and meanwhile everyone is looking at her like she was involved. 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.840 I'm so excited for this series, Loan. You're phenomenal. The 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.880 storytelling is fantastic. The episodes that I have heard, you 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.560 are just at every twist and turn, just on the 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.360 edge of your seat, and I don't doubt that the 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.799 betrayal audience is going to love it. So without further ado, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:34.680 here's American Homicide Father's Day Murders, Part one, benefing on ways. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:44.480 It was Father's Day twenty eleven when Charie or Tease 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.560 walked into her parents' home and found the bodies of 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:48.240 her mother and. 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.760 Father, they had been shot in the head, and it 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:55.040 occurred sometime ear you're in the day I just walked. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:03:59.840 The brutality was unspeakable. 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.360 The hunt to find the killer would tear the community 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.760 apart and devastate cherif. 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.440 I really do have hope this is going to get solved. 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.160 My name is Sloane Glass. I'm a journalist who covered 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.800 the Long Island serial killer, the Delphi, Indiana murders, and 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:20.279 many other high profile true crime cases. And now I'm 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.320 the host of American Homicide, a podcast where we take 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:29.040 you across the country to investigate some of America's deadliest crimes. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.360 We'll explore how these murders are shaped by their unique landscapes, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.479 and how these tragedies have shaped the fabric of these 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:42.640 American communities forever. Today we're in the tiny village of 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.400 al Rancho, New Mexico, for part one of the Father's 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.760 Day Murders on American Homicide. As a note, this podcast 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.280 contains subject matter which may not be suitable for all audiences. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:01.720 Discretion is advised. I had a picture for you. Santa Fe, 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.040 New Mexico, is called the city Different for its rich 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:10.240 culture and diverse community. Native American ancestries blend with Spanish 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:15.240 culture in a state with one of America's richest landscapes. 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.680 Northern New Mexico in particular, it's a very unique place. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:18.400 It's beautiful. 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.000 Alex Tomlin was a local TV news reporter who lives 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:22.599 in the area. 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.400 It has impeccable weather and the mountains are incredible. 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.560 The region is home to natural hot springs and wild rivers. 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.760 You can drive an hour north and go whitewater rafting, 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.280 or you can go down to white Sands and enjoy that. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.800 But kind of on the outskirts of Santa Fe, you 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.440 get a lot of the smaller communities. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.919 And one such place is the tiny village of El Rancho. 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.839 The predominantly Hispanic community is about twenty miles from Santa 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.640 Fe and is built around co op farming and churches. 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.040 It's a lot of people who have kind of grown there, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.080 have families there, kind of all know each other. 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.200 But it's also a desolate place. 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:01.920 Well. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.240 One of the things about New Mexico is it's so open. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:06.640 When you go to someone's home, often they have a 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.000 significant sized property. There's not neighbors very close. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.080 And even though the homes are all spread out across 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:15.120 the desert. 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.520 Everyone kind of knows each other that there is an 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.599 interesting dynamic here. As much as it's known for its beauty, 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:22.760 is also known for the crime. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.479 The tragic murders on Father's Day twenty eleven would stretch 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.320 the fabric of l Rancho to its limits. 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.200 So June eighteen, twenty eleven, seemed like any normal night. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.679 Shari or Ties had dinner plants with her parents, Lloyd 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.000 and Dixie. 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.919 Shari or Tees. She lived on the property with the Ortizes. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.880 Her parents and brother lived in a large one story house, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.159 and Schari and her husband lived in an RV next door. 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.560 Even though there's a fence around their spacious property, the 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:56.680 family had an open door policy. 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.800 Anyone could come in, have dinner at their table or 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.240 in time with them. They were just kind of a 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.920 good family in this community that was very tight knit. 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.360 Lloyd Ortiz was a man who loved to use his hands. 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.760 He owned his own ceramic tile business. His craftsmanship turned 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:16.680 up in homes and even luxury hotels all over northern 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:17.320 New Mexico. 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:20.680 He was an incredibly loving father, a hard working man 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.080 who provided for his family. His wife, Dixie. 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.480 They sound like a perfect pair. Dixie was passionate about 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.760 working with the elderly and the disabled. She was an 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.880 activities director at a local retirement home, and she fostered 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.200 children with special needs. 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.440 They took in a child who had chicken baby syndrome 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.400 and adopted him as their own raise That child. Loved 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:44.960 that child. 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.680 That child's name was Stephen. Steven had special needs from 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.920 his early life injuries. His brain never developed beyond that 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.960 of a nine year old, but he matured into a 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:59.680 young man that his family called the gentle Giant. He 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.920 loved to play drums, ride his ATV, and fish with Lloyd. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:09.000 They were just really giving, loving people, burying northern New Mexico, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.880 hard working, you know, love the land, love the culture 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:12.400 kind of thing. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.080 Since it was Father's Day, Charie or Tease, whipped up 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.840 a plate of homemade enchiladas for dinner. It was her gift. 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.720 Just before seven o'clock that evening, she took them and 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.520 walked next door to her parents. Even though it was June, 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.280 white Christmas icicle lights still hung on the gutters of 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.880 her parents' home. Inside, the walls were adorned with crucifixes 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.200 and some of Lloyd's handmade tiles. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.760 Cherie said she walks in and realizes something's very wrong. 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:49.320 She found her mother in bed. Her mother's head was 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.640 pretty damaged, thought someone maybe had shot her. She then 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.080 went into the kitchen area and found what she thought 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.480 was her father on the kitchen floor. He was just 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:06.600 so impacted by what was used against them. There's these 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.960 two bodies, there's blood everywhere. She goes screaming out of 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.480 the house and for her husband. Again, they lived on 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:14.840 the property, so it was pretty close. 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.679 Sarie's husband, Jesse, ran right over to investigate. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.120 Her husband then comes in the house and he realizes 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.520 it's not her father on the kitchen floor, it's actually 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.200 her brother, and that's when he starts searching around and 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.480 finds her father outside right outside the back door, kind 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:32.440 of in the field there. 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.640 Lloyd's Bonnie was found on a cinderblock path that connected 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:40.600 the Ortis back porch to their fence in York. He 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.000 was face down, wearing only his underwear. His eyeglasses sat 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:49.839 just inches away. Covering his head was some green shrubbery. 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:51.040 By now. 0:09:51.520 --> 0:10:13.800 Shari was on the phone then onwards, Oh. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:09.680 What Cheri frantically told the nine on one operator that 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.280 her mother, father, and brother were shot to death. 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:20.040 I just everybody shot. My god, and my mom's still. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.880 This was Scherie's second attempt at a nine on one call, 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.760 since Uri and her parents' homes were out in the 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:30.920 middle of the desert. Her soele reception was body. Imagine 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.439 the panic, the fear that your call would drop again 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.679 when you're trying to get emergency help for your family. 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.160 And she didn't know where the perpetrator was or if 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:43.640 they were still on the property. 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:49.160 Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:51.240 am freaking out. I can't even walk over there because 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:51.920 I don't service. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:56.360 And then there's another problem. Al Rancho is way off 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.720 the beaten path, which delays the response time forlaw enforcement. 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:05.600 Oh my god, you have to hurry. 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.160 With no local police force of their own, the New 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.560 Mexico State Police were dispatched to investigate. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.000 The already dead. I can't believe I didn't come checker 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:22.560 here this morning. Oh my god, Oh my god, oh 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.120 my god. Why you know, because I didn't have money 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:26.920 for a father's sacred but I didn't want to go 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.360 into I finished for him. Oh my god. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:36.839 Charise stayed on the phone for nearly twenty minutes before officers. 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.280 Arrived, so I kind of get I'm going to walk 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.200 to the gate and way to them. I'm my two 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:44.720 nervous just sitting in my yard. 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:47.480 My name is Paul Chavis. 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.240 I was a member of the full Time Crimes Unit 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.720 as an agent with the New Mexico State Police. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.200 The two hundred homicide cases Officer Chavez worked in his 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.440 career didn't prepare him for what he saw inside the 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:00.400 Ortisa house. 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:05.320 In this case, the magnitude of the violence evolved was 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:07.160 the worst that I had seen in my career. 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:09.160 The brutality was unspeakable. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.800 Chariotise had found her parents and her adopted stepbrother. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:15.440 Dead within the residence. 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.960 She reported that they had been shot in the head, 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.480 and it occurred sometime earlier in the day. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.720 It turns out that although chari said she didn't see 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:30.360 who committed these murders, she did hear something that there was. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.720 Reportedly gunshots heard the previous night in the area. 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:40.200 Now, hearing gunshots isn't entirely unusual in New Mexico, but 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.920 Cheri and her parents' homes sit on a dead end 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:48.480 street in the rural New Mexico Desert. It's a remote 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.800 area with unpaved roads and no nearby street lights. Their 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.080 nearest neighbor is about fifty yards up the road. Inside 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.720 the Orties' home, Officer Chavez and his team assess the situation. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.640 Once I enter into the residence. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.640 There is a master bedroom immediately to the left as 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.200 you walk in, and that is where the first victim, 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.560 identified is Dixie. Your teas is in her bed and 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.160 her nightgown under the blankets. 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.000 Dixie was found clutching her pillow. 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:20.240 Her upper extremities and her head is completely saturated in 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.720 blood where she had sustained a parent trauma. From that bedroom, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.760 there is a drip trail which extends to the kitchen 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.920 area where we have a second victim, a young man 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.520 identified as Stephen Ortiz. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.679 Stephen, her adopted brother, lay face down in a pool 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.520 of blood, wearing only his underwear. Police noted that he 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.200 took the brunt of the attack. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.760 This scene was absolutely brutal. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.160 Stephen was twenty one years old at the time of 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.760 his murder, and based on his injuries, police believed that 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.920 he tried to fight off the killer before ultimately losing 0:13:57.000 --> 0:13:57.559 that battle. 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.439 The blood continued from that area out the back door, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:06.120 where the third victim, Loitertise, was found outside the back porch. 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.200 There was a significant amount of bloodshed, indicating that he 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.640 did sustained some massive trauma. And there was also shrubbery 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.880 from a nearby bush that was covering his head. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:20.320 That's two bloodied bodies inside the home and one outside. 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.120 And then something else stood out to law enforcement. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.560 There was a small marijuana grow on the property. It 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.560 was fenced off and pad locked. They did have a 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:33.560 medical marijuana card for Stephen for some of the medical 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:34.240 conditions he. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.880 Had, but none of the seventeen marijuana plants appeared to 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.640 be disturbed. In fact, nothing seemed to be stolen or 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.080 even out of place. On the kitchen table and plain 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:49.520 view sat Lloyd's wallet containing hundreds of dollars. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:51.200 This did not look like a robbery. 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.360 It looked like a case of anger, a lot of 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.240 anger based on the brutality that occurred. 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.400 It was a father's stay too for get for residents 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.320 in this tiny suburb of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lloyd 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.880 and Dixie Ortiz were pillars of the tight knit l 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.080 rancho community. They were quick to lend a helping hand 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.640 to others in need. So who was angry enough to 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:33.280 harm them and why Shuri Orties lived in an RV 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.840 right next door to her parents house on the same property. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.720 Both home sat on a sprawling lot surrounded by hills 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.120 in the dusty l Rancho, New Mexico Desert. On the 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.720 evening of Father's Day twenty eleven, Shuri walked into her 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:52.960 parents house and found her mother, father, and brother savagely murdered. 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:57.120 Like many others in the community, Pastor John Trujillo was 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:57.680 in shock. 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:00.480 I get a phone call. They call me PJ. Pastor 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:07.960 John says, PJ. They found Stephen, Lloyd and Dixie dead. 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.720 And I said, what are you talking about? Was a 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.720 car accident? What happened? He says, no, they're it seems 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.640 like they were murdered in their home. You need to 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.080 get down here right away. And as I drive up, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.600 the community is already showing up. The state police are there. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.920 And about that time, Shari made her way out and 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.440 she was just in tears, in tears and tears, and 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.720 she's Pastor John, my family's dead, my family's dead. Somebody 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.320 murdered my family, somebody killed my family. How do you 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.640 handle that? What do you do? I mean, can you 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:49.480 imagine the emotional and physical and just spiritual distraught that 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.520 you would face. Nobody can't prepare for that. I don't care. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.040 Nobody's prepared to walk into a scene like that, especially 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.880 the daughter. The family was grieving and they were mourning. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.119 It's all Rancho. This isn't supposed to happen in a 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.760 community like this. People are speculating that could this happened 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.280 from the community. Did somebody come here from somewhere else? 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.919 Was it a family member, was it a friend? Was 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.479 it a robbery that went wrong? You know why? Why? 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.520 It was like, okay, we need some answers. 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.119 Since al Rancho didn't have a police force of their own, 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.919 the New Mexico State Police handled the investigation by mourning. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.080 The police still didn't know much. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.439 We're still insure as to what happened out there. The 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.679 guys are still working. Its working very. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.400 Hard to determine what exactly happened, but at this point 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.000 we still don't know. 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.320 Well, how in the world could something like this happened? 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.639 You know, one person dead, okay, but when there's three, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.520 it raises a lot a lot of questions. 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.760 Police believe that three victims were shot to death inside 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:58.280 their home, but nothing appeared to be missing. Investigators wondered, 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.720 if it was a murder, you were a murder. Suicide. 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.360 Officer Paul Chavez was one of the first responders. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.080 My role primarily is to process and document the crime 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.480 scene to try and make sense of what occurred there. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.439 But the severity of the crime scene limited what he 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:15.200 was able to do. 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.399 You can't disturb the body mutch, and with the amount 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.440 of bloodshed that was present, we weren't able to assess 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:23.000 the wounds as well as we would like to have 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:23.600 been able to. 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.240 So Originally the police believed all three victims were shot 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.640 to death, but the results of the autopsies for each 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.119 victim revealed something far more personal. 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:37.840 That these were, in fact not gunshot wounds. There were 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.720 actually lacerations that were penetrating with a blood object. 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.600 Clearly something was missing. When the police returned to the 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.280 scene of the crime, they found a five pound pick 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.760 axe lying on the ground just over the fence of 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.800 the adjacent property, and the pick axe contained bloodstains. 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.000 What the pick axe did provide us was DNA from 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.720 all three victims, so we unequivocally had our murder weapon. 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.359 However, we were unable to forensically link a suspect to 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:08.200 the pickaxe. 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.760 So what does that mean? A murder weapon with DNA 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:14.800 of the victims but nothing to indicate a suspect. 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.239 It could mean a number of things that maybe they 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.480 were wearing gloves, or they covered their handiness some way 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:24.440 or shape or form, and just sometimes the lab just 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.359 can't find it. It's not one hundred percent certainty that 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:29.960 they're going to be able to find DNA when something 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.000 is touched. There's a chance that we will, but it 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:34.320 doesn't always work out that way. 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.120 So the one thing about the Ortz murder was really 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:38.240 the pressure on the police. 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.960 Reporter Alex Tomlin covered the story for a local TV station. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.240 There was an incredible amount of pressure from that small 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.800 knit community, but also the surrounding communities, and so there 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.320 was a lot of pressure on them to get who 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.880 did it, make it a clean investigation, and let's get 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.320 this person behind bars. And I'm sure at times that 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:57.399 pressure was overwhelming. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.080 The people of l Rancho couldn't shake the fear that 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:02.080 they could be next. 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.040 Nobody wants to think that they're going to go to 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.840 sleep and somebody who's pick axed a couple and their 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.880 son to death is going to come into their home next. 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.679 They even refuse to talk to TV reporters, not because 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.000 they felt pastored, but they were fearful of their own safety. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.320 And that's the other terrifying thing. Think about the strength 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:25.480 it takes to push that pick axe back multiple times 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.560 and pick act someone to death. That is cold blooded, 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.080 that is calculated. That is incredibly scary for a community 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:37.800 because that person is dangerous. You know, when you can't 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.680 easily tie up a case like this, when you can't say, oh, it's, 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.439 you know, a scorned lover, or it's, you know, a 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.600 drug deal gone wrong, or different things like that, then 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.639 it becomes a well, in my next you want to 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.160 find who did this because you don't want the community 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:54.600 looking at you and saying, what are you doing? Why 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:56.840 aren't you protecting us? Why don't you have the answers? 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.399 With no suspects a weapon and murder seeing free of 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:04.240 any DNA, investigators started to look at the person who 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:08.919 first discovered the bodies. That person was Shuri or Tease. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.359 When something this horrific happens, the community wants answers and 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.639 they want them quickly, right, So you want to be 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:16.359 able to tie a nice bow on this thing and 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.080 be done with it and Sharien her husband seemed like 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.600 that nice bow. They lived on the property. You could 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:22.520 come up with a motive. 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.800 The police wondered if Shari and her husband, Jesse knew 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.920 more than they were saying, especially after they listened back 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.360 to Shari's original LIMO one call. 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.439 She's very frantic in that nine one one call. As 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:43.120 you can hear. She made some comments on that nine 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.760 one one call about you know, they must have been 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.040 shot because of how they looked. 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:49.800 I just talked. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:51.320 Shot. 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.399 It wasn't later until the Office of the Medical Investigator 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.080 determined that actually they had been pick axed to death. 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:04.040 And you have no idea who would have done that, 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:07.399 anybody around them. 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.840 Oh my god, they were such good people. Oh my god, 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:18.240 my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:20.639 oh my god. We have to get hurry. 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.560 Desperate and upset. Schari spent seventeen minutes on that nine 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:28.200 on one call, but as investigators listened back, they zeroed 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.359 in on a comment Chari said, now listen closely to 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:39.919 what CHERI told the operator. So Chari said her parents 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.560 had been dead since that morning. How did she know 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:46.520 that and why didn't she call nine one one till 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:47.680 seven that evening. 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:50.959 I can't believe I didn't come check earlier this morning. 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:57.480