WEBVTT - 8. East of Eden 0:00:14.996 --> 0:00:40.316 Pushkin, you know, rolling to the call, I didn't know 0:00:40.356 --> 0:00:43.036 what the circumstances were. Your train is a cop to 0:00:43.116 --> 0:00:44.916 kind of envision what you're going to deal with when 0:00:44.916 --> 0:00:48.596 you get there. This is Phil Reeves. He's a retired 0:00:48.636 --> 0:00:51.916 deputy who serves as a chaplain for Lost Hills Sheriff Station. 0:00:52.596 --> 0:00:54.276 So I figured on the way over there, this is 0:00:54.316 --> 0:00:58.796 probably like a domestic violence thing or something that happened 0:00:58.796 --> 0:01:00.396 in a big house, you know, in one of these 0:01:00.396 --> 0:01:02.516 mansions or whatever. And it turned out to be in 0:01:02.516 --> 0:01:05.916 the park, and that the folks there are not from here, 0:01:06.076 --> 0:01:09.596 so they had no place, you know, they were local. 0:01:10.996 --> 0:01:13.916 We're at his house in a nice suburban neighborhood not 0:01:13.996 --> 0:01:18.676 far from the station. We're talking about that day June 0:01:18.676 --> 0:01:23.076 twenty second, twenty eighteen, when he responded to a shooting 0:01:23.196 --> 0:01:27.116 at Malibu Creek State Park. One of our deput female 0:01:27.116 --> 0:01:29.636 deputy was close by and was there. No. I don't 0:01:29.636 --> 0:01:32.916 know whether there was a ranger there prior or not, 0:01:33.916 --> 0:01:38.916 but it was still dark and crazy in there. When 0:01:38.956 --> 0:01:42.196 Pastor Phil got to the station, he found Tristan Boudette's 0:01:42.236 --> 0:01:47.156 family totally distraught. You know, you can imagine what state 0:01:47.156 --> 0:01:49.956 of mind that they were in. He started talking to 0:01:49.996 --> 0:01:53.356 Scott McCurdy, Tristan's brother in law, who'd been sleeping in 0:01:53.356 --> 0:01:56.156 the next tent over. He was actually the one who 0:01:56.156 --> 0:02:02.116 discovered Tristan's body. Erica Wu, Tristan's wife, had been at 0:02:02.116 --> 0:02:04.716 home in Orange County getting ready to take a medical 0:02:04.756 --> 0:02:07.196 board exam when she got the news that her husband 0:02:07.196 --> 0:02:11.916 had been killed. Now she was inside the station, Erica 0:02:12.076 --> 0:02:17.636 was still being interviewed by the homicide guys. Eventually Erica 0:02:17.716 --> 0:02:22.116 came out. She was focused on one thing only. Erica 0:02:22.236 --> 0:02:25.956 was adamant about it, and she wanted to see the body. 0:02:26.076 --> 0:02:30.276 She wanted to see Tristan's body. And I knew it 0:02:30.316 --> 0:02:35.036 was probably going to be like hours and hours and hours. 0:02:36.076 --> 0:02:40.316 Pastor Phil brought everyone back here to his house to wait. 0:02:41.596 --> 0:02:43.796 Erica is you know? She went up and just kind 0:02:43.796 --> 0:02:47.356 of curled up in the fetal position on the bad upstairs. 0:02:48.356 --> 0:02:51.436 On some level, he says, she didn't believe that Tristan 0:02:51.516 --> 0:02:55.876 had died. She needed to make it real. Five or 0:02:55.916 --> 0:02:58.116 six o'clock, I forget when it was. We got a call. 0:02:58.236 --> 0:03:00.956 I got a call from the homicide guys. Hey, the 0:03:00.996 --> 0:03:04.836 corner's done. You gotta get over here right away. Everyone 0:03:04.876 --> 0:03:08.156 piled into his car, and the press was there. They 0:03:08.156 --> 0:03:11.716 were all gathered around the gate. And then I got 0:03:11.716 --> 0:03:15.476 a call saying the corner doesn't want them to see 0:03:15.516 --> 0:03:19.116 the body. I got that call just as a corner's 0:03:19.196 --> 0:03:22.596 van was coming out of the park and Erica said, 0:03:22.836 --> 0:03:26.076 is that him? Is he in there? They jumped out 0:03:26.076 --> 0:03:28.516 of the car and they ran over and to intercept 0:03:28.556 --> 0:03:31.116 the van as it was leaving, and I'm like, oh 0:03:31.236 --> 0:03:33.596 my gosh, and it was getting to be a cluster, 0:03:33.676 --> 0:03:37.236 I mean, you know, and they were really upset obviously, 0:03:37.396 --> 0:03:40.836 you know, wailing and sobbing, and they stopped the van. 0:03:41.436 --> 0:03:45.476 And the Corners assistant was this young lady and she 0:03:45.716 --> 0:03:47.916 had already she was already affected by this whole thing. 0:03:47.996 --> 0:03:52.876 She was just in tears driving the Corners van, you know, 0:03:53.156 --> 0:03:56.036 and there the family saying open the game van. You 0:03:56.076 --> 0:03:57.956 got to open the van and let us look at him. 0:03:57.956 --> 0:03:59.876 And she said, I can't do that, you know. I was, 0:04:00.156 --> 0:04:02.636 you know, the corner said I can't. They've got to go. 0:04:03.396 --> 0:04:06.116 I was able to kind of say, hey, look we can't, 0:04:07.196 --> 0:04:10.196 we can't see him now, let's get back in the car. 0:04:10.676 --> 0:04:12.956 And the corner and the homicide guys came out and 0:04:13.036 --> 0:04:15.956 they did something unusual, which they said, come on, let's 0:04:15.956 --> 0:04:19.516 go in the park so that the family could ask 0:04:19.556 --> 0:04:22.636 the corner and the homicide people. You know what was 0:04:23.036 --> 0:04:26.156 questions about what they knew at that point. So I 0:04:26.236 --> 0:04:28.356 felt there was at least some closure there for them. 0:04:28.396 --> 0:04:35.076 I sense that maybe they have a different opinion. When 0:04:35.116 --> 0:04:41.156 I started investigating this murder, everything about it seemed completely random. 0:04:41.236 --> 0:04:44.276 But then I found out about Anthony Rowda and his 0:04:44.396 --> 0:04:48.036 long history with law enforcement, with the Lost Hills cops, 0:04:49.036 --> 0:04:51.756 and the violence he says they did to him, which 0:04:51.836 --> 0:04:55.476 might have set him on his path, you know. And 0:04:55.556 --> 0:04:59.796 these things, these things are these affect lifetimes, these are generational. 0:05:01.436 --> 0:05:04.196 Pastor Phil is a pastor, so he's been going to 0:05:04.236 --> 0:05:08.836 the Bible, to the first murder to try to understand 0:05:08.836 --> 0:05:13.356 how violence reverberates, like what seems to have happened to Routa, 0:05:14.476 --> 0:05:19.076 like what happened to Tristan Boudette. I just read about 0:05:19.836 --> 0:05:24.676 Cane and Abel, and after Cane slew Abel, God says, 0:05:24.716 --> 0:05:29.276 I can hear your brother's blood from the ground, but 0:05:29.356 --> 0:05:32.796 the Hebrew for blood is plural bloods. I can hear 0:05:32.836 --> 0:05:39.836 your brother's bloods from the ground and why is that? Why? 0:05:40.316 --> 0:05:46.276 Why plural? And the implication is that when you take 0:05:46.316 --> 0:05:52.636 somebody's life, you affect all their potentiality, all the things 0:05:52.636 --> 0:05:58.356 that they could be, you know, you affect the children 0:05:58.356 --> 0:06:01.436 that they might have had, the grandchildren that they might 0:06:01.476 --> 0:06:06.956 have had. I mean, it's just you just can't even 0:06:07.036 --> 0:06:11.276 begin to measure. He's saying that Tristan Bodette's murder will 0:06:11.276 --> 0:06:16.716 affect his children, and his children's children and their children too. 0:06:18.076 --> 0:06:20.716 I know that Erica, in her own way, has arrived 0:06:20.716 --> 0:06:23.836 at this same idea. When I call her to check 0:06:23.876 --> 0:06:28.796 in and ask about the girls, she says, they're amazing, happy, 0:06:29.116 --> 0:06:32.876 resilient little people, but they're not the people they would 0:06:32.876 --> 0:06:40.516 have been. Then she adds, I guess neither am I anymore. 0:06:47.476 --> 0:06:50.676 Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam 0:06:50.716 --> 0:06:55.156 and Eve. In the Caine Enabel story, Caine is jealous 0:06:55.196 --> 0:07:00.676 of Able and murders him, so God exiles Caine, sending 0:07:00.756 --> 0:07:04.276 him east to the land of Nod, a place of wandering, 0:07:05.316 --> 0:07:10.796 a place for fugitives. How could I not think about Rauda, 0:07:11.276 --> 0:07:16.196 his restless wandering, and also his camp in the desolate 0:07:16.276 --> 0:07:20.636 hills at the edge of Malibu and how this story, 0:07:21.356 --> 0:07:25.556 which is about violence and its echoes, is also about knowledge, 0:07:27.796 --> 0:07:32.556 How just a little bit of knowledge could have changed everything. 0:07:36.876 --> 0:08:09.276 I'm Dana Goodyear and this is Lost Hills, EPI, so 0:08:09.396 --> 0:08:16.836 to eight east of Eden. Several months before Tristan Bodatt 0:08:16.916 --> 0:08:20.356 was killed, a couple of hikers found route as camp. 0:08:21.596 --> 0:08:26.356 My name is Hunter Smith, my name's Kara Hartley. They'd 0:08:26.396 --> 0:08:29.276 followed a deer trail up into the hills north of 0:08:29.276 --> 0:08:33.556 the Hairpin turn on Mulholland Highway. When they realized they'd 0:08:33.556 --> 0:08:38.956 stumbled into someone's home, it didn't look very habitable or 0:08:39.076 --> 0:08:43.676 like it had been habitable for a while. It seemed abandoned, 0:08:43.996 --> 0:08:47.916 with trash spilling down the steep slopes. They looked around 0:08:47.916 --> 0:08:51.676 for stuff to scavenge. They liked bringing souvenirs home from 0:08:51.716 --> 0:08:58.756 their hikes. I found this hot pink machete and it 0:08:58.836 --> 0:09:02.676 did have a carving on the side like somebody had 0:09:02.716 --> 0:09:07.516 scratched into the blade, and it said queues machette on it, 0:09:07.636 --> 0:09:12.996 see you apostrophea. It became a part of you know, 0:09:13.156 --> 0:09:16.476 just my camping box that we would take camping and 0:09:17.276 --> 0:09:20.756 we used to make funny stories up about this mythological 0:09:20.836 --> 0:09:25.236 character that owned this machete. They were there for ten 0:09:25.276 --> 0:09:30.036 minutes at the most. I did start feeling a little 0:09:30.156 --> 0:09:35.636 creeped out, like, hey, this definitely was like where somebody 0:09:35.796 --> 0:09:39.276 was living or whatever, And we both kind of felt 0:09:39.316 --> 0:09:41.596 the same way at the same time and felt an 0:09:41.716 --> 0:09:47.516 urgency to leave. Before they left, Kara grabbed one more souvenir. 0:09:48.876 --> 0:09:51.836 The other thing that caught our eye was this like 0:09:51.916 --> 0:09:58.876 a small box of what we're unfired twelve gage shotgun shells. 0:10:00.476 --> 0:10:03.356 The box was caked in mud with only a few 0:10:03.476 --> 0:10:07.116 shells left. We just stuffed that in her backpack. Too 0:10:10.956 --> 0:10:16.276 months passed, the Tesla got shot, Tristan Bodett was killed, 0:10:17.476 --> 0:10:20.236 and Malibu went crazy trying to figure out who had 0:10:20.276 --> 0:10:24.396 done it. Kara and Hunter broke up, and they forgot 0:10:24.396 --> 0:10:27.516 all about the hike to the abandoned camp. In fact, 0:10:27.516 --> 0:10:30.556 I don't think we really thought about it until I 0:10:30.716 --> 0:10:34.756 drove by one day on Mahornd and saw a bunch 0:10:34.796 --> 0:10:38.076 of cop cars on that turn. When he saw that, 0:10:38.436 --> 0:10:44.036 Hunter immediately called Kara and he was like, Kara, do 0:10:44.116 --> 0:10:48.556 you think that possibly that camp that we found back 0:10:48.596 --> 0:10:54.476 in January February, like could be the same guy. They 0:10:54.476 --> 0:10:57.516 couldn't find the box of shotgun shells, but they decided 0:10:57.556 --> 0:11:01.676 to turn qu'es machete in at Lost Hill station. They 0:11:01.716 --> 0:11:04.996 brought it in in a paper trader Joe's bag, and 0:11:05.076 --> 0:11:09.516 the detectives flipped out. I mean it was intimidating because 0:11:09.556 --> 0:11:12.316 we were just immediately kind of surrounded by a bunch 0:11:12.316 --> 0:11:17.116 of cops wanting to get like us, repeat the facts 0:11:17.156 --> 0:11:20.396 over and over. They even wanted us to hike them 0:11:20.436 --> 0:11:24.156 to the camp immediately, even though it was like dark outside. 0:11:24.356 --> 0:11:29.196 And they even asked us if we were homeless and 0:11:29.276 --> 0:11:33.316 living in our car in the canyon, and maybe I 0:11:33.356 --> 0:11:36.836 just shouldn't warn my birken Stocks in that day or something. 0:11:36.996 --> 0:11:40.476 But the deputies were intent on finding the shotgun shells. 0:11:41.436 --> 0:11:44.076 They asked over and over what type of shells they were, 0:11:44.556 --> 0:11:49.676 how big, what collar were they? Solid slugs, bird shop what? 0:11:50.596 --> 0:11:54.556 They probably called me like every other day for that 0:11:54.596 --> 0:11:58.796 whole two weeks, and I just kind of was at 0:11:58.796 --> 0:12:01.596 a loss of what to do. So I did a 0:12:01.636 --> 0:12:03.676 really good clean out of my truck and I had 0:12:03.716 --> 0:12:07.316 found one of the twelve gage shotgun shells rolling around 0:12:07.796 --> 0:12:11.556 in my car, you know, So I had immediately went 0:12:11.596 --> 0:12:14.916 down to the station at that point, and I had 0:12:14.956 --> 0:12:18.196 it in a little pouch and came in like, hey, 0:12:18.276 --> 0:12:20.516 I just so you know, I did find one of 0:12:20.516 --> 0:12:24.956 those shells in my car. Like Kara's evidence turned out 0:12:24.956 --> 0:12:27.756 to be so important that the prosecutor asked her to 0:12:27.756 --> 0:12:33.596 testify before the grand jury. Still she's not entirely comfortable 0:12:33.636 --> 0:12:37.756 with the CoP's narrative or her role in it. I mean, 0:12:37.836 --> 0:12:41.836 that's kind of like been the problem the whole time, 0:12:42.116 --> 0:12:44.996 is just like there just has been such a lack 0:12:45.196 --> 0:12:50.516 of transparency and information being released to the public or 0:12:50.596 --> 0:12:54.076 alerting to the public about any of these things happening. 0:12:56.236 --> 0:12:59.276 Had Karen Hunter known that there were unsolved shootings when 0:12:59.276 --> 0:13:02.556 they came across an abandoned camp and found a box 0:13:02.596 --> 0:13:05.996 of shotgun shells, it's easy to imagine that they would 0:13:06.036 --> 0:13:08.996 have turned those in, you know. And I think that's 0:13:09.196 --> 0:13:14.876 where PEP the communities, like distrust in that system is 0:13:14.916 --> 0:13:20.036 spawning too, because it wasn't like widely known information that 0:13:20.116 --> 0:13:23.476 there was a so called sniper in the hills. And 0:13:23.636 --> 0:13:28.956 had Hunter and I know that we might have been 0:13:29.156 --> 0:13:33.596 more apt to alert the authorities about the camp back 0:13:33.596 --> 0:13:38.916 in February, and if they turned in the shotgun shells 0:13:38.956 --> 0:13:42.476 back then, it's easy to imagine that the Sheriff's department 0:13:42.756 --> 0:13:46.596 might have searched the camp and found something, or maybe 0:13:46.596 --> 0:13:50.476 they would have put up some cameras, and then when 0:13:50.556 --> 0:13:55.036 Router returned with a carbing they could have arrested him. 0:13:55.076 --> 0:13:59.316 All before Tristan Boudette even planned his camping trip to 0:13:59.396 --> 0:14:08.316 Malibu Creek State Park. Had they known, they think they 0:14:08.316 --> 0:14:33.596 could have saved Death's life. For a long time, I 0:14:33.636 --> 0:14:37.796 couldn't figure out what happened at Lost Hills Station. No 0:14:37.836 --> 0:14:40.436 one would tell me what Sergeant Right and Lieutenant Royal 0:14:40.476 --> 0:14:44.396 had done wrong in the route investigation, why they've been disciplined. 0:14:45.596 --> 0:14:48.876 I still haven't seen the confidential internal affairs reports into 0:14:48.916 --> 0:14:53.036 their police work on the Routa case. There's only one 0:14:53.076 --> 0:14:56.076 person I can think of who definitely knows what happened 0:14:56.796 --> 0:15:00.516 and can talk about it. In fact, she has to. 0:15:01.716 --> 0:15:06.396 It's the prosecutor seeking to convict Routa. She's obligated to 0:15:06.396 --> 0:15:09.996 tell the grand jury anything that could potentially be exculpatory 0:15:10.556 --> 0:15:13.836 help to the defense. So she had to tell the 0:15:13.876 --> 0:15:17.156 grand jury about the two dirty cops, the homicide detective 0:15:17.236 --> 0:15:21.836 Daniel Morris and the Major Crimes Detective ty Berry. She 0:15:21.916 --> 0:15:25.516 didn't call them to testify, citing their histories of misconduct. 0:15:26.716 --> 0:15:29.996 She also talked to the grand jury at length about 0:15:30.076 --> 0:15:34.716 Sergeant Wright and Lieutenant Royal. The reason the Sheriff's Department 0:15:34.756 --> 0:15:39.196 disciplined them, she said, is that they conducted unauthorized investigations 0:15:39.396 --> 0:15:44.156 and reenactments. When Sergeant Wright used a dowel to estimate 0:15:44.196 --> 0:15:47.196 the trajectory of the bullet that hit Ian Kincaid's tesla, 0:15:48.476 --> 0:15:51.076 and that time he went to the campground and pointed 0:15:51.076 --> 0:15:53.796 a laser at Bodet's campsite to figure out where the 0:15:53.796 --> 0:15:56.716 other bullet had gone. So what if he found a 0:15:56.796 --> 0:16:00.276 nine millimeter bullet? It wasn't his job, she said, and 0:16:00.356 --> 0:16:04.636 he didn't do it right. And Royal, she sums up 0:16:04.716 --> 0:16:08.756 his work as a quote personal investigation into the Charged 0:16:09.116 --> 0:16:17.596 Times ouch, it seems like Captain Bassah was right. Tweedledee 0:16:17.596 --> 0:16:23.476 and Tweedledum gave the defense a defense. But what if 0:16:23.516 --> 0:16:27.156 going rogue isn't the real reason Sergeant Right and Lieutenant 0:16:27.196 --> 0:16:30.716 Royal were disciplined. A few weeks ago, I had a 0:16:30.716 --> 0:16:34.916 conversation that changed my view of the whole story. My 0:16:34.996 --> 0:16:39.116 name is Jeremy Lippmann. I am a reserve Sheriff's deputy 0:16:39.396 --> 0:16:43.236 and a member of the Malibu Search and Rescue Team. 0:16:43.436 --> 0:16:46.796 Lippmann is part of Sergeant Wright's old team. He's been 0:16:46.836 --> 0:16:48.916 disturbed to see what his old boss has been going 0:16:48.956 --> 0:16:52.796 through and he wants to set the record straight. He says, 0:16:52.836 --> 0:16:56.076 what happened to Sergeant Right and Lieutenant Royal is about jealousy, 0:16:56.516 --> 0:17:00.756 ego and wounded pride. It has nothing to do with 0:17:02.316 --> 0:17:04.716 right and wrong or facts. Just has to do with 0:17:04.756 --> 0:17:11.556 politics and my perception. And I've said this before, is 0:17:12.116 --> 0:17:16.436 no good deed goes unpunished, so he says. The detectives 0:17:16.476 --> 0:17:19.996 from Homicide and Major Crimes elite free ranging units that 0:17:20.076 --> 0:17:23.876 tackle the most serious crimes, were upstaged by the local 0:17:24.076 --> 0:17:27.956 Lost Hills detectives and the volunteers from Sergeant Right Search 0:17:27.996 --> 0:17:31.796 and Rescue Team. It started with the nine millimeters shell 0:17:31.876 --> 0:17:36.956 casings at the murder scene. After Bodette was killed. Homicide 0:17:36.996 --> 0:17:40.956 searched the campground and didn't come up with anything. Homicide, 0:17:41.036 --> 0:17:45.116 having not located any shell casings in their search, Malbou 0:17:45.156 --> 0:17:49.276 Fish and Rescue was tasked and the team was tasked 0:17:49.796 --> 0:17:53.476 to go and conduct a secondary search, which we did. 0:17:54.396 --> 0:17:56.836 Sergeant Wright, he says, told the team to look in 0:17:56.876 --> 0:17:59.876 the grass to the east of Bodette's tent. He had 0:17:59.876 --> 0:18:03.116 a hunch that that's where the shooter had fired from. 0:18:03.236 --> 0:18:07.116 Very quickly, Search and Rescue found five nine millimeter shell casings. 0:18:08.036 --> 0:18:11.956 Sergeant Wright called Hamis side. Do you remember what Homicide's 0:18:11.956 --> 0:18:14.996 reaction was when they arrived. I think they were a 0:18:15.036 --> 0:18:19.316 little surprised that we found the shell casings. It was awkward, 0:18:20.276 --> 0:18:24.316 But the next thing that happened was worse. It involved 0:18:24.436 --> 0:18:28.036 the Major Crimes Bureau. In the fall of twenty eighteen, 0:18:28.356 --> 0:18:31.876 they took over the investigation into the armed burglaries. The 0:18:31.996 --> 0:18:36.636 lead investigator was ty Berry, mister ship Kickers himself. The 0:18:36.756 --> 0:18:42.556 attitude towards Lost Hills station was very, very negative and 0:18:42.636 --> 0:18:48.476 in fact derogatory, that deputies were leaking information, that deputies 0:18:48.476 --> 0:18:51.236 didn't know what they were doing. Then what I mean 0:18:51.316 --> 0:18:54.556 by that was this is all your guy's fault and 0:18:54.676 --> 0:18:59.396 now we have to clean up your mess. Whitman says. 0:18:59.396 --> 0:19:00.996 It all came to a head on the day of 0:19:01.076 --> 0:19:05.076 Routis capture. Sergeant Wright had followed that trail of bootprints 0:19:05.116 --> 0:19:07.196 from the site of the last break in into the 0:19:07.276 --> 0:19:11.076 hills behind the Sheriff's station. He argued with ty Berry, 0:19:11.396 --> 0:19:13.676 now one of the official leads on the case, to 0:19:13.756 --> 0:19:17.276 go back and search the hills again, and that's what 0:19:17.596 --> 0:19:22.596 precipitated what became a pretty heated conversation between Sergeant Wright 0:19:23.236 --> 0:19:26.356 and ty Berry, as well as Lieutenant Royal and another 0:19:26.476 --> 0:19:30.436 Major Crimes detective who I don't know. So Barry didn't 0:19:30.476 --> 0:19:32.796 want to go look there. He didn't want to go 0:19:32.836 --> 0:19:35.316 look there. He had to be convinced. Royal was trying 0:19:35.316 --> 0:19:38.276 to make the argument. Chargeant Wright was trying to make 0:19:38.316 --> 0:19:42.876 the argument. They did have a pretty heated exchange about 0:19:42.916 --> 0:19:45.716 whether there was any reason to go back there, and 0:19:45.956 --> 0:19:49.716 ultimately ty Berry capitulated and said, fine, let's just go. 0:19:51.956 --> 0:19:55.596 It turned out that Sergeant Wright and Lieutenant Royal were right. 0:19:56.516 --> 0:19:58.956 The team arrested Router with a car being a nine 0:19:58.956 --> 0:20:02.556 millimeter ammunition, exactly where Sergeant Wright thought he would be 0:20:03.596 --> 0:20:06.476 and the Lost Hills. Captain bought everyone Denno to celebrate. 0:20:07.636 --> 0:20:10.756 My impression of Tye Berry and the other detectives from 0:20:10.756 --> 0:20:14.676 Major Crimes who were eating dinner with us downstairs, was 0:20:14.796 --> 0:20:18.316 they weren't very happy about things that had gone down 0:20:18.356 --> 0:20:23.916 that day. I think it was unset that they were 0:20:24.436 --> 0:20:28.636 embarrassed that Lieutenant Royal and Sergeant Wright had been correct 0:20:29.276 --> 0:20:32.796 about the area of where the suspect might be found, 0:20:32.916 --> 0:20:36.876 and that the suspect was found. Sergeant Right's position was, 0:20:37.156 --> 0:20:39.636 We're just going to keep our head down. We're going 0:20:39.676 --> 0:20:41.996 to do everything that we're supposed to do, and we're 0:20:41.996 --> 0:20:43.196 going to do it by the book, and we're not 0:20:43.196 --> 0:20:46.236 going to play any games, and just whatever happens happens. 0:20:49.516 --> 0:20:52.836 After the capture, he says, the tensions between Sergeant Right 0:20:52.876 --> 0:20:58.276 and Detective Barry intensified, and suddenly Sergeant Wright's work on 0:20:58.316 --> 0:21:02.236 the router A case was falling under suspicion. This is 0:21:02.316 --> 0:21:06.196 where I believe, and I don't know how quickly, that 0:21:06.396 --> 0:21:10.636 they attempted to create a narrative that he was acting rogue, 0:21:12.396 --> 0:21:18.396 which in my opinion would be a falsehood. I asked 0:21:18.436 --> 0:21:21.196 Littman what he thought when Sergeant Wright and Lieutenant Royal 0:21:21.236 --> 0:21:24.676 were transferred out of Lastel station and ultimately disciplined for 0:21:24.716 --> 0:21:29.316 their work on the case. This is payback to me. 0:21:29.396 --> 0:21:35.236 It was just just sheerly punitive to punish them for succeeding. Yes, 0:21:36.116 --> 0:21:40.916 and by extension. I'll make the extension, in my personal opinion, 0:21:42.196 --> 0:21:49.996 by making major crimes look bad. This is more than 0:21:50.036 --> 0:21:55.156 just office politics, and it's more than straightforward retaliation. There's 0:21:55.196 --> 0:21:59.076 another layer to it. It could serve a larger purpose 0:21:59.196 --> 0:22:11.076 for the Sheriff's department. Sergeant Wright tells me to meet 0:22:11.116 --> 0:22:13.436 him at an old stucco house with a drained swimming 0:22:13.476 --> 0:22:17.756 pool across from some box stores in the valley. It's 0:22:17.756 --> 0:22:22.996 his lawyer's office. Do you want to get you guys 0:22:23.356 --> 0:22:27.396 to get the real reason the department punished him and 0:22:27.396 --> 0:22:30.316 Lieutenant Royal, he says, is that they saw a pattern 0:22:30.356 --> 0:22:33.396 in the shootings and they tried to do something about it. 0:22:33.996 --> 0:22:37.556 They begged their bosses to warn the public before Tristan 0:22:37.596 --> 0:22:43.156 Bodatt was killed, and the department said no. It was 0:22:43.276 --> 0:22:47.356 my opinion and Lieutenant Royal's opinion, that there was a 0:22:47.356 --> 0:22:52.596 clear pattern and a clear m to indicate that we 0:22:52.676 --> 0:22:55.076 had a serial shooter and that the public should be warned. 0:22:55.116 --> 0:22:58.276 There was no reason not to warn the public. We 0:22:58.356 --> 0:23:01.756 could shall investigate the crime, but by warning the public, 0:23:03.196 --> 0:23:07.436 people could choose to stay away. Sergeant Wright says he 0:23:07.636 --> 0:23:10.636 and Lieutenant Royal first asked the then captain of Lost 0:23:10.676 --> 0:23:13.916 Hill Station to issue a public warning, but he turned 0:23:13.916 --> 0:23:19.596 them down. So Lieutenant Royal took his concerns downtown. That 0:23:19.756 --> 0:23:22.836 was in the summer of twenty seventeen, after the fifth 0:23:22.956 --> 0:23:26.916 near miss the teenagers in the BMW, he met with 0:23:26.956 --> 0:23:30.596 his division chief and his commander. That's as high up 0:23:30.596 --> 0:23:33.236 in the command structure as you can go without meeting 0:23:33.276 --> 0:23:37.316 the actual sheriff or his cabinet. Lieutenant Royal asked for 0:23:37.396 --> 0:23:40.596 help and again requested that the department issue a warning, 0:23:41.636 --> 0:23:46.716 but Sergeant Wright says Royal was turned down again. Sergeant 0:23:46.716 --> 0:23:49.676 Wright was baffled. The bosses said they didn't have enough 0:23:49.716 --> 0:23:53.956 to go on. What were they not seeing? It just 0:23:53.996 --> 0:23:57.396 seemed like the most obvious common sense thing to me. 0:23:57.556 --> 0:23:59.476 I mean, you hear about law enforcement all the time 0:23:59.796 --> 0:24:02.036 warning the public when there's a Syro rapist in a 0:24:02.036 --> 0:24:05.436 particular neighborhood. It comes out on the news, they put 0:24:05.436 --> 0:24:09.516 out flyers, they have sometimes town hall meetings about it. 0:24:10.676 --> 0:24:13.596 The bottom line is people that were driving through Malibu 0:24:13.636 --> 0:24:17.036 Canyon in our eyes, were at risk being shot at 0:24:17.236 --> 0:24:21.036 or camping in the campground. And it's quite simple. If 0:24:21.076 --> 0:24:23.676 we had done a public safety message telling people what 0:24:23.756 --> 0:24:26.396 was going on. People could have chosen not to drive 0:24:26.436 --> 0:24:31.756 by there or not to go camping there, and basically 0:24:31.756 --> 0:24:33.676 saw I was a taking time bomb. Someone was going 0:24:33.716 --> 0:24:38.596 to get killed. Absolutely wasn't worn Royland I both agreed 0:24:38.636 --> 0:24:41.676 to that this was a very bad call. That the 0:24:41.716 --> 0:24:47.396 Sheriff's department chose to ignore our request to provide a 0:24:47.396 --> 0:24:51.356 public safety message because Tristan Boudette didn't know about the 0:24:51.436 --> 0:24:53.956 history of shootings in the park, he decided to go 0:24:54.036 --> 0:24:58.716 camping there and he got killed. Can you talk about 0:24:58.716 --> 0:25:01.676 how you felt when you got that call and I 0:25:01.756 --> 0:25:06.636 know you responded to the scene. Yes, Lieutenant Roll called 0:25:06.636 --> 0:25:12.836 me in and we both felt second because we talked 0:25:12.876 --> 0:25:16.716 about this happening. We'd talked about that, we thought, we 0:25:16.836 --> 0:25:18.996 both agreed that at some point, if you shoot it 0:25:19.196 --> 0:25:26.036 enough tents or cars or campsite's chances are somebody, some 0:25:26.156 --> 0:25:28.796 person inside of a car or a tent, it's going 0:25:28.836 --> 0:25:31.716 to be had. And when he called me and told me, 0:25:32.436 --> 0:25:36.196 it was surreal because again we wanted to warn the 0:25:36.236 --> 0:25:40.356 public to prevent this, that was shut down and now 0:25:40.356 --> 0:25:45.436 it was happening. He says that if the Sheriff's department 0:25:45.476 --> 0:25:47.956 had listened to him and Lieutenant Royal and made a 0:25:47.996 --> 0:25:53.196 public safety announcement. Tristan Boudette would still be alive. So 0:25:53.236 --> 0:25:56.596 whatever the prosecutor or the Sheriff's Department says about Sergeant 0:25:56.636 --> 0:25:59.796 Right and Lieutenant Royal's police work, it doesn't really matter. 0:26:01.116 --> 0:26:04.636 It seems like they're the heroes here, or at least 0:26:04.676 --> 0:26:07.916 they tried to be. We worked for a great law 0:26:07.996 --> 0:26:12.716 enforcement agency and I never experienced anything like this before, 0:26:12.836 --> 0:26:17.356 where it seemed things seemed to be out of control 0:26:17.516 --> 0:26:30.916 at higher levels as far as common sense. None of 0:26:30.916 --> 0:26:34.836 this stuff happened under Alex Vieneueva's leadership of the Sheriff's Department, 0:26:35.436 --> 0:26:37.596 but it also didn't go away when he was elected. 0:26:38.436 --> 0:26:42.836 Far from it. Six weeks after Vienneueva, one Erica WU 0:26:42.996 --> 0:26:46.916 filed her ninety million dollar claim citing law enforcements failure 0:26:46.916 --> 0:26:49.756 to warn about a series of shootings in the park, 0:26:50.316 --> 0:26:54.716 and the whole thing became vien Aueva's problem. Then Sergeant 0:26:54.716 --> 0:26:59.676 Wright and Lieutenant Royal sued the department as whistleblowers. In 0:26:59.756 --> 0:27:02.876 his suit, Sergeant Wright says the department smeared him and 0:27:02.916 --> 0:27:07.276 Lieutenant Royal, placing them under investigation and working up false 0:27:07.356 --> 0:27:13.156 internal affairs reports. Why to discredit them before they can 0:27:13.196 --> 0:27:16.996 take the stand for Erica Wu and the alleged source 0:27:17.036 --> 0:27:21.636 of those reports, Ty Berry, the detective with the history 0:27:21.636 --> 0:27:24.596 of lying and a grudge against Sergeant Wright and Lieutenant 0:27:24.676 --> 0:27:29.956 Royal for solving the case. Sergeant Wright settled his suit 0:27:30.636 --> 0:27:34.596 so he can't talk to me anymore. Lieutenant Royals may 0:27:34.596 --> 0:27:39.596 be heading to trial, but it doesn't stop there. There 0:27:39.636 --> 0:27:43.156 may be one other potential victim of all this maneuvering 0:27:44.556 --> 0:27:50.876 the criminal case against Anthony Rowda by making Sergeant Right 0:27:50.916 --> 0:27:54.716 and Lieutenant Royal look bad, two figures so deeply entwined 0:27:54.716 --> 0:27:58.956 in the case, the Sheriff's department risks damaging the prosecution. 0:28:00.636 --> 0:28:04.956 Rowda's lawyers have already seized on this, So maybe it's 0:28:04.996 --> 0:28:11.596 not Tweedledee and Tweedledum but the Sheriff's depart that's given 0:28:11.636 --> 0:28:31.676 the defense a defense. Finally, I make a plan to 0:28:31.796 --> 0:28:35.996 hike to route his camp with Lou Johnson. He's the 0:28:36.036 --> 0:28:38.796 guy I met with his landlady's son on the Planet 0:28:38.796 --> 0:28:42.556 of the Ape's tour at Malibu Creek State Park. He 0:28:42.676 --> 0:28:45.676 sent me those pictures of Route his camp right before 0:28:45.716 --> 0:28:49.316 it burned, and that suspicious piece of wood I think 0:28:49.356 --> 0:28:53.156 could be part of a zip gun. He promised to 0:28:53.196 --> 0:28:56.516 show me the way. It's in a forgotten wild patch 0:28:56.556 --> 0:28:59.156 of the park. I've seen it from the air on 0:28:59.276 --> 0:29:03.716 that helicopter ride with Sergeant Wright, but didn't be impossible 0:29:03.756 --> 0:29:09.076 to find it on foot without a guide, Lue said, 0:29:09.196 --> 0:29:11.236 is to meet him and Hudson at the hairpin turn, 0:29:11.636 --> 0:29:15.876 the sharp bend in Mulholland Highway. See that point right there. 0:29:16.396 --> 0:29:19.276 It's that hill right over there and round the side. 0:29:20.396 --> 0:29:24.196 The sky is overcast and moody, but the hills are lush, 0:29:24.636 --> 0:29:29.476 a supersaturated storybook spring green, and they're covered with patches 0:29:29.476 --> 0:29:33.236 of orange poppies and purple wildflowers. You've probably seen some 0:29:33.276 --> 0:29:40.276 of the orange California poppies up there. They're popping out 0:29:40.316 --> 0:29:42.756 where we've never seen them before. I don't remember. We 0:29:42.796 --> 0:29:45.716