WEBVTT - The Murder Years: Ep. 7 - Lester 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.520 This series is inspired by true events. The stories you're 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:07.480 about to hear are fictional, and so are the characters 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.520 who are played by actors. 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:14.400 Ay swimmers. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.000 It's top of the hour, which means it's mandatory rest time. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.880 Everyone out of the pool until ten after three. 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:22.200 Thank you. 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.639 It's the summer of nineteen eighty seven. We graduated a 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.200 couple of months before, and we're excited for the next 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.120 chapter of our lives to begin. But honestly, losing mister 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:38.400 Billingsley made all the pomp and circumstance feel kind of trivial, 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:43.280 you know. But yeah, we graduated. I'm hoping the summer 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.960 will be better, and I have high hopes, mainly because 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.360 I am now a lifeguard at Pineside Pool. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.920 Oh my god, you were so strict, you'd constantly be yelling. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:02.480 Walk walk walk true. But you know what, I don't care. 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.080 No one is going to get hurt on my watch, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:13.440 no one. But what happened outside of the pool that 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:36.080 I wish I could have controlled. I'm Nancy Clark. This 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:44.639 is The Murder Years, Episode seven, Leicester. It's Thursday, August 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.880 twenty seventh, the last weekend of summer, and my friends 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.600 and I will soon be leaving for college. We're all 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:53.400 excited because on Saturday there's a big keg party at 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:57.040 the show Walter's farm, and we are all going. Tatiana 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.240 and I are counting down the hours for my lifeguard 0:01:59.280 --> 0:01:59.920 shift to be over. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:04.800 I laid out at the pool all day. 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:06.640 I wanted to be supertan. 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.760 After the pool closed, all of us went to Melanie's 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:10.320 to get ready. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.400 We are so excited about the party at Shelley's. She's 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.400 in our grade, but we're not super close. She grew 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.720 up out in the country on a fifty acre farm 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.400 with her parents and two older brothers. Her brother's parties 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.680 are legendary. Melanie and I had attended several over the years. 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.960 I remember Shelley's brother had some of the biggest parties 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:34.320 in the history of Mount Pine. This one would no 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:35.360 doubt be epic. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.720 Shelley's parents are away for the weekend and her brothers 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.400 are the quote unquote chaperones. 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.000 I did my first keg stand and Tatiana did her 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:52.200 first beer bomb that night, but of course we had 0:02:52.240 --> 0:03:04.519 no idea what was going down. Just like three farms away. 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.000 Nine one one, what's your emergency? 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:03.080 Oh my god. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:11.480 Yeah, So we'll just broke into my house. City. Oh god, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.720 someone's in your house. Hang up the phone. Where are you? 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:16.680 Hang up the phone now? Or out. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:23.959 Back? 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:26.760 In nineteen eighty seven, when someone would call into nine 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.400 one one, their location was unknown because this is before 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:35.040 GPS and caller ID, so unless the caller gives their address, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:37.360 first responders don't know where to find them. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.680 I was at the station when the call came in. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.360 It was around midnight. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.960 Officer Pat Shepherd has been working for the Mount Pine 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.440 p D for about three years in nineteen eighty seven, 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.320 and in those days he preferred the night shift. That's 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:53.960 why he was first on the scene at Lisa Anderson's 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.880 murder in episode one, and why he will be again tonight. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.280 Center was just down the hall and I actually heard 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.800 the call come in. I took notice because it sounded 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:06.000 like the woman was in danger. 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.000 Today, Shepherd is a sergeant and looking forward to his retirement, 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.280 he agrees to share what he remembers from that day. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.279 So, yeah, since the woman wasn't able to give her location, 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.760 there was almost nothing we could do. We just had 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.159 to hope she would survive whatever was happening out there 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.080 and then be able to call. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:26.680 Us back. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:40.440 Nine one one. What's your emergency? He's gone, He's gone. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:47.200 This is Joel and McBride. I called before, Where are you? 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:53.960 I'm eighty seventh County Road fourteen. 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.680 So we're at the party, pretty wasted when we hear 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.320 and see several police cars and ambulances whiz by, and 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.440 we get a little freaked out because most of us 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.880 are underage, everyone pretty much scatters and gets the hell 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:14.360 out of there. 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:17.600 I remember there were lots of units sent out there 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.880 that night. When we arrived, there was a woman on 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:25.000 a huge wrap around porch standing there crying with blood 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:26.000 dripping down her face. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.719 It was awful. I was so relieved to see the police. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.039 Back in August of nineteen eighty seven, joe Ellen McBride 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.960 is twenty three years old and taking care of her grandparents' 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:43.880 farm while they're out of town visiting family. Today, she's 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.800 fifty eight in a vet living in Boise, Idaho. She 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.400 was surprised to get my call, but said she'd share 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:50.159 her story with me. 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.920 So I remember this night like it was yesterday. I 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.400 told the officer it was maybe around eleven thirty when 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.840 I heard the noise downstairs with my grandparents out of town. 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.320 I was alone in the house, and I was scared. 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.240 At first, I thought it was just the wind or 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.799 the old house which was so creaky. So I laid 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.239 in bed and waited. I mean, I tried really hard 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.040 to talk myself into falling back to sleep because it 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.160 was nothing. I heard nothing. I kept telling myself it 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:23.479 was nothing. But then I heard another noise that one 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:28.200 sounded like footsteps. I was really scared. I could feel 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:32.480 my heart beating in my throat. You know, I decided 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.560 I couldn't just lie there. I needed to go check 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:35.960 it out or I would never be able to fall 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.159 back to sleep. Was that a smart move or a 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.040 dumb one? Well, I was about to find out. So 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.280 I quietly and slowly went down the stairs, but with 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.360 every step I took, they creaked. When I got down 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.279 to the first floor, standing there in the living room 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.560 was this kid. He was a teenager, a flipping teenager. 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:01.120 Joellen says. The kid standing in front of her is white, 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.040 around sixteen or seventeen, dirty and shirtless. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.480 I screamed and he told me to shut up. Then 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.000 he rushed me and punched me twice in the face. 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.400 I fell down and I could feel the blood streaming 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.560 down my face. When I started to cry, he told 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:18.280 me to shut up. 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.520 While Joellen was telling me all this, she started to 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:24.800 get very emotional. 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:25.840 She said. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.440 The guy started threatening her life unless she gave him money. 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.680 Said she didn't have any money, no more than a 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.520 couple of dollars, which he took from her purse. He 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.120 was mad, and he hit her again. This time he 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.160 punched her right in the eye. Then he said he 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:41.600 wanted her to cook him some food. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.880 Joellen says, she makes him a sandwich, and then while 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.840 he's eating it, he asks for a clean shirt. This 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:49.559 is her chance to call for help. 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.000 She went upstairs to her grandparents bedroom and called nine 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.680 one one. Moments later, she turned around and the kid 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.920 was standing in the doorway with a knife in his hand. 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.160 Hang up the phone. Punched her a few more times, 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.360 opened a drawer and pulled out a shirt, made him 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:07.440 go back down to the kitchen. 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.000 I couldn't believe he didn't stab me right there. And then, 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:13.760 I mean, why did he bring a knife from the 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.840 kitchen upstairs if he didn't intend to use it anyway? 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:19.960 He just sat down at the kitchen table for what 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.640 seemed like forever. I watched the clock behind him, and 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.800 twenty two minutes went by before he said or did 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.840 a thing. That's when he asked me for my car keys. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:35.720 I was afraid he was going to take me somewhere 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.800 with him, so I lied and said my car didn't work. 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.120 It broke down yesterday, and I told him my boyfriend 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:43.640 was on his way over to spend the night so 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.439 he could take me to work in the morning. A 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.480 car worked, of course, and I didn't have a boyfriend. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.640 I was shocked because it seemed to work. Seconds later, 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.680 he got up with a knife from our kitchen drawer 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.360 still in hand. He opened the back door and ran off. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.960 Joellen watches the guy as he disappears into the night. 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.520 She takes a deep breath, then calls nine to one 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:09.160 to one again. 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.240 I tried to get a good description of the guy, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.440 Joel and said. When he arrived, he was shirtless and 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.800 he was wearing gray pants and white tennis shoes. But 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.880 he left wearing her grandfather's shirt, an old John Dear 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:22.880 Green T shirt. 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:24.440 It was Hugh John. 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:26.840 Officer. 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.439 Shepherd calls the station with all the details and be 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.120 on the lookout. Bulletin is put out. Officers alert nearby 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.560 residents while others patrol Mount Pine, but it seems like 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:42.560 the guy has vanished into thin air. About seven hours later. 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:47.719 Nine one one, what's your emergency? 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:48.440 This? 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:50.600 Yeah, this is Mary Charles. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.199 My husband is bleeding, is bleeding a lot. What happened? Please? 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:55.960 Is that help? 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:57.760 He's lost so much blood. 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.720 We're at two zero the country road four fifteen. 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:03.320 Please hurry. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.120 Police arrive at Mary and Lester Charles farm to a 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:13.800 blood soaked scene. Forty seven year old Lester Charles is 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.600 lying in the barn bleeding from his neck. Paramedics try 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:19.920 to stabilize him, but he's lost a lot of blood. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:26.440 They quickly get him loaded into the ambulance and speed off. Sadly, 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.040 he dies on the way to the hospital. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.600 So we had another homicide. 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.360 Detective Wallace will be the lead on this case. He 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.479 just solved the murder of the loved teacher Mark Billingsley 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:41.560 nine months before. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:46.000 When I arrived at the Charles farm, I remember Missus 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.400 Charles was in consolable, but I knew as hard as 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.440 it was for her to talk, I needed to know 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.400 if her husband said anything about what happened to him 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.720 before paramedics took him away. Anything that could help us 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:05.480 catch his attacker, shit his killer. The only thing her 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.080 husband said was that he caught a guy sleeping in 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.600 their barn and the guy attacked. 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.400 Him with a knife. I asked if it seemed her 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:17.440 husband knew the guy. She said no, she didn't think so. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:24.319 I asked if she saw him. She said no. It 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.160 was a trail of blood that led out of the 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.600 back of the barn, small droplets, maybe from the knife, 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.680 or maybe the assailant was cut too, But just yards 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.199 away from the barn, the trail of blood seemed to stop. 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.199 Detective Wallace says, they call in the county's canine unit. 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.480 The dog does pick up a scent, but then loses 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.440 it about a mile away. Maybe the guy got into 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:50.440 a car and the dog lost the scent. With very 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.360 few leads, Detective Wallace says, he goes back to the station, 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.720 leaving officers and technicians to process the scene. But back 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.600 at the station, he learned something that may possibly changed 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.000 the course of his investigation. 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.840 When I heard what I heard, my jaw dropped to 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:06.400 the floor. 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.880 Detective Tom Wallace is working the homicide of Lester Charles. 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.400 He was killed in his own barn by some unknown assailant. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.000 Although he's at the very beginning of investigating the case, 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.320 Detective Wallace is stumped until some information comes into the 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.160 station that points him in a certain direction. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.600 It came across the wire that Stephen Hartford was on 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:40.080 the run. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.120 You might remember Stephen Hartford from episode five. He was 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.520 fifteen years old when he abducted and brutally killed thirteen 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:51.679 year old Victoria Brown. At this point, he's seventeen and 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:53.880 serving life without parole for that murder. 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.439 So, yeah, I learned that Punk escaped prison the day before, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.800 Thinking was he the guy who broke into Joe Ellens 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.079 and later was sleeping in Lester Charles's barn, I called 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:12.280 the reporting authorities, needing to learn more. Okay, now I'm 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.680 just going to read from my notes here. While Stephen 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.800 Hartford was being transferred to another prison, he and another 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:25.560 inmate overpowered the driver and then fled. Now, the authorities 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.120 told me they didn't contact our jurisdiction because they were 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.160 two hundred miles away. They caught the other escaped inmate, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.360 and they felt confident they would find Hartford before he 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.040 got very far. But when they learned he carjacked someone, 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.840 they contacted us, thinking he could be headed back to 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.960 the area. I knew I had to let Detective Thompson 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:49.080 know right away for many reasons, one of which she 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:50.000 could be in danger. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.679 Marcia Thompson is the detective who worked the Victoria Brown 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:58.000 murder and helped put Stephen Hartford behind bars. Talking about 0:13:58.040 --> 0:13:59.880 this particular case is hard for her. 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:05.000 I almost fell over when I heard the news. How 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:10.560 in the world was this kid able to escape? So 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.480 there was no way I wasn't going to work the 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:19.040 case with Wallace. I wanted that psychopath Hertford back in prison, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.320 and I was going to put him there a second time. 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.640 I just hoped he didn't hurt or kill anyone else 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.120 before we could find him. 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.280 The first thing the detectives do is take Stephen Hartford's 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.200 mugshot to Joellen McBride. They want to see if he's 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.240 the kid who broke into her grandparents' house. 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.640 Joellen had just gotten back from the hospital and was 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.920 pretty tired, if I remember correctly, but we showed her 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:49.240 a six a lineup of six photos. It didn't take 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.040 her but a second to point out Hartford. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.920 Yeah, it was number four, without a doubt, I remember clearly. 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.080 He was number four. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.800 Well, that was all we needed. Stephen Hartford was back 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:10.040 in town. We didn't have confirmation he killed Lester Charles 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.960 just yet, but my gut was telling me it was him. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.080 We called in the counties helicopters, the K nine units, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:24.000 and state police to assist. Officers also went door to 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.600 door and asked if they could search the barns and 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:31.920 sheds on people's properties. There was always a chance that 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.840 Hartford stole a car and was no longer in the area, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.720 but so far no one else reported any missing cars 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:40.240 or carjackings. 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:42.920 We had to find him. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.000 An official manhunt was underway. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.800 God having to tell Dorothy Brown and her son Donnie 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:55.080 that her little girl, Victoria's killer was on the loose, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.960 that was awful. We assured them they would have twenty 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:07.840 four hour surveillance and protection on them. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.800 Later that afternoon, police call a press conference. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.480 We've received word that seventeen year old Stephen Hartford escaped 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.120 while being transported to court and he's made his way 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:26.480 back to Mount Pine. Let me say this loud and clear, 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:37.640 Stephen Hartford is armed and dangerous. 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.760 My parents, my friends, and I are terrified. My dad 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.800 puts a weapon in every room like baseball, bats and knives, 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.880 preparing himself in case that maniac comes to our house. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.720 And my parents won't even let me go out. I 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.239 have to stay home where they can make sure I'm safe. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:57.360 Tatiana and I talk about it on the phone for hours. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.480 We were trying to imagine where he was hiding, who 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:03.160 he wanted to hurt, was he trying to go home? 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.760 Was his dad helping him or hiding him? 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.920 Can you believe we're now in a lockdown situation because 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.119 of a madman? A known murderer is on the loose 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.920 in Mount Pine. 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.480 I opened my old files on Stephen Hartford and it's 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:26.159 more digging. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.159 Detective Wallace learns Frank Hartford, Stephen's dad, left Mount Pine 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.360 shortly after his son went to prison. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.879 So looks like Frank Hartford closer to the prison so 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.080 he could visit Stephen more often. I asked some of 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:43.159 the guys to go to his house and interview him. 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.600 Frank was home, but not helpful. He said he hadn't 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.840 seen or heard from his son, and he probably wouldn't 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:51.480 help law enforcement even if he did. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:57.200 Chereming So by the end of the day I started 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:02.360 thinking maybe Hartford left Mount Pine. Why would he hang 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.840 around here when he had to know that everyone was 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:10.280 looking for The search team was coming up with nothing. 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.520 As the hours kicked by, we were all on edge 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.280 and going crazy waiting. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.480 Early Sunday morning, a tipster calls nine one one from 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.840 a payphone at the gas station on the corner of 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.359 Monroe and Sherman. He claims he saw that kid who 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.159 escaped from the prison. Several police cars arrive at the 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.280 gas station moments later and locate the nine one one caller. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.359 He points to the guy sitting on a bench outside 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:40.159 the cafe next to the gas station, The guy he 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.960 believes is Stephen Hartford, but his officers approached the guy 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.800 they immediately see he looks nothing like Hartford. 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.840 We got maybe twenty eight calls like this since the 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.840 press conference. The nine one one call center was flooded 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:57.000 with tips, but none of them, not one of them 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.080 panned out normally where I'm not trying to figure out 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:05.080 who committed a crime. This time, we knew exactly who 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.280 we were looking for. We just couldn't find him. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.879 Yeah, we needed him to mess up sooner rather than later, 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:17.000 because the town was beyond on edge, and rightfully so 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.960 He was a violent predator with no regard or remorse 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.640 for it anything he did or anyone he hurt. 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:28.920 Nine. What's your emergency. 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.600 He's here, he won't let me. 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:35.240 He's holding me. 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:47.320 A nine to one one call has just come in 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.679 from a woman sounding like she's being held hostage. 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.240 I felt in my gut it was Stephen Hartford the 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.320 woman was calling about. So we got ourselves poised and 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.879 ready to respond, but it. 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.800 Shit scenario again. We didn't get an address before the 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.840 call got cut off. We had to hope and pray 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:12.119 she called back. Not that officers weren't out trying to 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.800 find her or him, because they were, but we had 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.199 nothing to go on to find this caller. 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.320 Fifteen long hours later, around eleven pm. 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.520 It was honestly the craziest thing in all my ears 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:28.040 then or since. 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.920 Officer Charles Dixon has five years on the job back 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.960 in nineteen eighty seven. He works with the canine unit 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.640 and still has his best canine, Copper by his side. 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.760 That's the German shepherd that helped find Victoria Brown's body 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:45.439 back in February of nineteen eighty six. Today, Officer Dixon 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.920 is retired and lives in San Antonio where he fosters dogs. 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.600 I will never forget this. I'm at the gas station 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.159 on the edge of town, fueling up my cruiser and 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.239 getting coffee. Copper was with me, probably open. I'd give 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.719 him a tree or seven, and all of a sudden, 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:07.640 I see this woman running towards me. She's barefoot, bleeding, hysterical, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:09.720 and she was pointing behind her. 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.080 The woman was Chris Newman, back in nineteen eighty seven. 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:17.320 She was fifty two years old. She has since passed away, 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.760 but her bravery that day is the stuff of legends. 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:22.880 She was freaking out, said the. 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:24.080 Guy who escaped from prison. 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:25.679 He's in my house. 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:29.800 I immediately called in medical help for gave dispatcher address 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:30.640 on County. 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:32.560 Road to twelve detectives. 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:34.920 Thompson and Wallace get the call in high tail it 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:36.000 too Chris Newman's house. 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:39.240 While paramedics retreating Miss Newman, I got some more information 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.040 fro him. I did refresh my memory on some of 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:43.680 the details, so here they are. 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.919 I'd fallen asleep watching TV in the living room, and 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:49.560 the next thing I knew, I heard the sound of 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.119 glass breaking. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.560 but before I knew it. This kid was in my house. 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.240 He rushed me and punched me and the face and chest, 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.040 and I fell to the ground, dropping the knife. He 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.119 picked it up and said he would stab me if 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:09.960 I tried anything. 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:12.600 Now, what happened next was absolutely bizarre. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.400 He said he was hungry and told me to make 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.720 him some food. So I made him a grilled cheese sandwich, 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.840 which she scarfed down. He sat quiet for a while, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:24.680 then he paced. 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:26.360 He sat, he paced. 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:29.320 He told me to make him some more food, so 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:32.400 I made him a pork chop. 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:36.040 Hours and hours went by, him sitting and pacing and 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.960 barely speaking, all the while grasping her knife tightly in 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:41.800 his hand. Hiss Newman said she tried to talk to him, 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.560 you know, try and keep him coming, but he didn't 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:45.120 want to talk. 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:46.120 She said. 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.280 They watched some TV twenty one Jump Street and then 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:54.000 married with children. Then, in a moment of brilliance, Ms. 0:22:54.119 --> 0:22:57.040 Newman suggested he'd take a shower. She said he might 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:02.240 feel better, and unbelievably agreed. She got him a towel 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.919 and a washcloth. She said, you waited for him to 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:05.439 get in. 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.000 And then I ran out the door and ran until 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:09.399 I found someone at the gas station. 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:12.080 She ran out the door and ran until she found 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.159 me at the gas station. She was one tough and 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:18.840 smart lady. For fifteen hours, she outsmart at him and 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:19.919 kept herself alive. 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:21.440 I'm incredible. 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:27.040 Mount Pine police surround the small white farmhouse. County and 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:28.800 State police arrived moments later. 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:33.760 I had this one moment looking around at all the 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:38.000