WEBVTT - Episode 2 | Don't Know Diddly 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.280 Last time on ear Witness, I. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:19.400 Have my mind spirit for Cross told you I have 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:19.720 a pit. 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.520 What appears to be a. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.159 Jumped the comedy police officer shot in the back of 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:24.600 our building. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:26.280 He hit that movie. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.600 He has been shot. 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:31.160 Looks it looks too bad. 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:37.040 And then I just heard one say that's it. It's old. 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:38.040 We can't do anymore. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.080 It's old. We can't save it. 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:48.200 He's gone. Tavarra Johnson. I remember he was pushing Adrika's 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:49.880 forward in a wheelchair. They came together. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:51.839 I had saw too far. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.640 I was pushing a Drinka's in the club. I just 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:57.760 sat two signs up and I left. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.360 And and he was still there. 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:01.160 Yeah, he was when I left. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.240 A defuity shareer working another deputy shares murder. Do you 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:14.760 think that was emotional? Yes, it was very and had 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:19.000 it been my decision the day we caught the people 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.080 that did it, let's put them on death throat. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.960 The murder of Deputy Bill Hardy behind the Crown Sterling 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.520 Sweets Hotel was the top news story in Birmingham on 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.800 July nineteenth, nineteen ninety five. 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.320 And plays are looking for a cop killer. Someone shot 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.480 forty nine year old William Hardy several times in the year. 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.120 Slow start, but investigators are throwing everything they have behind 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:51.600 the caves. 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.320 The TV news footage shows deputies wearing the traditional black 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.680 band over their badges, a gesture that expresses for a 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:01.960 fellow officer. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.200 We'll somber, we'll say it, but we know we have 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:07.040 a job to do, and we're determined to. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:07.640 Do that job. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.760 This is a very difficult night for William Hardy's family. 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.760 The Hardy home is full of sorrow and pain as 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.040 they search for asss to a senseless crime. 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.040 A week after the murder, hundreds of people turn out 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.560 for Deputy Hardy's funeral. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.360 Thank you, my brothers, Thank you, my brothers. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:33.000 Video footage of the funeral shows women in dresses fanning themselves. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:38.919 It's summer in Alabama, a swampy ninety seven degrees. Someone 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:40.560 actually faints in the heat. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:42.400 We are still by that. 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.679 We all have to do what Bill has already done. 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.400 The church is packed, but at least one longtime colleague 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.160 of Hardy's isn't at the service. 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.560 I didn't make the funeral. We worked this case so hard, 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:06.959 and we were so determined to get a resolution. I 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:08.760 was working. I didn't make his. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.400 Feel Tony Richardson is the lead detective on the case. 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.120 A prosecutor who used to work with Richardson tells me 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.560 he's a thorough investigator, a man who gets the job done. 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.919 But this case is different from any other he's worked before. 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:31.480 He's investigating the murder of someone he knows, someone he likes, 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.400 someone he worked with for almost two decades. 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.080 When you got a deafor shriff killed over here, it's 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:47.080 high profile and people are expecting things out here, not 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:50.040 only you. You know, you emotional. You want to find 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.640 the people who did this. You want somebody in custom. 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.080 In the immediate hours after Deputy Hardy's murder, Detective Tony 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.920 Richardson and his investigators interviewed Marshal Kelly Cummings, the Keebler 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.800 cookie guy who heard the shots and saw someone drive away. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.840 They also interview the front desk clerk at the hotel, 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:19.159 Barry Rushikov, and other people staying at the Crown Sterling 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.200 Suites who heard voices in the parking lot followed by gunshots. 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.440 No one they talked to says they actually saw the murder. 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.159 Just a few witnesses heard the gunshots and then saw 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.880 a car pull away. The lead evidence technician who's actually 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:41.599 Tony Richardson's brother, Deputy Charlie Richardson, finds two nine millimeters 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.400 shell casings at the scene. A ballistics expert will later 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.840 say that both casings came from the same gun, and 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.400 that's pretty much all they have to go on. Police 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.320 sweep the surrounding area and pull over any vehicle's loosely 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.200 matching descriptions from hotel guests, but it doesn't get them 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:01.680 very far. 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.120 Not only do you want somebody in custody. The lieutenant 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.720 is telling me, we need to get this done. The 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.200 captain is telling the lieutenant, we need to get this done. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.200 The sheriff, you're telling the captain, we need to. 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:15.840 Get this done. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.880 Nine hours after Hardy is killed, the Sheriff's department announces 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:31.040 a reward for information. The reward amount would eventually grow 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:35.599 to twenty thousand dollars adjusted for inflation, that's about forty 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.960 grand today. And once a tip line is announced, the 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.680 phone start ringing. One caller says a guy known as 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.599 Big Man told him his cousin was involved. Another says 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.280 a member of the Disciples gang carried out the murder. 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.320 Officers sift through this information trying to decipher what's worth 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.960 pursuing and which callers might be pranks, are people just 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.040 interested in the rear ward money. Days go by and 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.800 they still don't have a suspect. And then Detective Richardson 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.320 speaks to a woman named Rosa Hardy, and what she 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.279 tells him eclipses every other lead he has. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:23.960 And she told me, she says, my daughter knows who 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:24.640 killed Bill. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:33.920 I'm Beth Shelburne. This is ear witness chapter two. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:07:08.640 Don't know Diddley, anybody that was not there when I 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:14.280 was there, anybody that was not there when Harry was shot. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.760 Don't know deadily about this case. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.720 When I first got the enormous trove of records in 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:31.200 the investigative file, I spent hours and hours just staring 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:35.360 at my computer, overwhelmed by thousands of pages of documents. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.720 Right away I knew I wanted to talk to Tony Richardson, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.600 the lead investigator in Hardy's murder. His name is on 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.960 most of the police reports, and it's his voice we 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.320 hear on a lot of the interrogation tapes. 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:52.080 Sorry of Tony vision, Jeff, we got a Shuran service. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.679 Today's data is when I first call him. For an interview. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.880 He says it would be best not to talk with me, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.960 but Richardson keeps talking for twenty five minutes. It seems 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:08.320 like he's got a lot on his mind. Two weeks later, 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.240 he agrees to go on the record. 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:11.720 Listen. 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:18.240 I've decided I'm going to speak with you concerning your podcast. 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.679 Great, I'm really glad to hear that. My producer Mara, 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.080 and I meet him in a conference room of a 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:25.960 local library. 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:28.440 Okay, how are you. 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:30.640 I'm Beth Tony. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:31.440 This is Maura. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:32.760 Nice to be too. 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:39.720 He's dressed casually, jeans, a black sweatshirt, a US Marines 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.880 ball cap, and a toothpick he keeps in his mouth 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:44.040 the entire interview. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:49.320 Somebody when they hear this, they're going to be questioning. 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.679 My integrity. You know, is this guy telling the truth for? 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.920 Is he just telling the story? So I'll talk to 0:08:58.960 --> 0:08:59.760 you to the NSKY. 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.920 When Detective Tony Richardson first gets that tip from Rosa Hardy, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.880 he goes over to the Ford dealership where she works 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:15.000 as a receptionist. 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:17.840 I was always pretty thorough. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.920 I wrote everything down, He writes in a report that 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.840 Rosa Hardy told an officer that her daughter had information 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:33.120 concerning the crime. The police report reads, Miss Hardy told 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.160 us that after she arrived for work at twelve noon 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.760 of seven nineteen, she heard a police officer had been killed. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.400 She bought a newspaper and learned the victim was someone 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.920 she and her family knew personally. Rosa knew Deputy Hardy 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.040 and his wife. They have the same last name, but 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:56.480 they're not related. They were good friends. The report goes 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:00.360 on to say that Rosa's daughter, Yolanda Chambers, called her 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.760 at work. Rosa told her that the officer that had 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:08.600 been killed was Bill Hardy. According to Rosa, her daughter 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:13.480 Yolanda responded, Mama, I didn't know it was him, And 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.920 then Yolanda went on to say she knew who killed him. 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:33.600 She says, my daughter knows who killed Bill. Well great will. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.439 She talked to me, I don't know. She kind of reluctant. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:38.520 She don't want to do it. 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.319 I'm trying to get her to do it, and I 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.160 was just begging her, you know, let's figure out a 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:44.800 way to get her in. 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:45.560 We need her. 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.640 But Rosa isn't sure where Yolanda is. 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.640 I think at the time, Yolanda was a semi runaway 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.400 or whatever, but she wasn't there, okay, So we worked 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.520 very hard with Mom to get Yolanda in. 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.640 Later that evening, Rosa calls the Sheriff's office and says, 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.640 Yolanda is at her apartment, and that's where Richardson picks 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:15.240 her up. He brings Yolanda to Sheriff's headquarters for questioning. 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.679 Charlton, Tony rich and Jeffson Kuint of Shriff's Office. Today's 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.120 date is July twenty fourth, nineteen ninety five. The time 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.600 it's eleven twenty pm. I'm at the Sheriff's Office headquarters 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.760 along with Officer James Branton at the Birmingham Police Department 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:39.360 and Yolanda Michelle Chambers. Yolanda is a black female. She's 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.719 fifteen years of age. Again, what I want to talk 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:42.920 to you. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.640 About is Yolanda is by herself in a room with 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.959 detectives and a tape recorder. 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:52.920 So I guess the best way for us to proceed 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:54.880 is for you to tell me. First of all, when 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.120 you learn that w Hardy had been killed? 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.640 All right, if I'm not mistaken, it was a Friday, 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.240 Me and one of my girlfriends, say he named Latanya. 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.240 Me and her and two guys are supposed to hook 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:14.960 cup that night. Yeah, you know they're older than us. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:16.080 One is twenty one. 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:18.480 They call him Dre. He's in a wheelchair. 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.200 Dre is Ur Dregas Ford's nickname, and for some reason 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.319 in this interview, Yolanda refers to to Forest as Carlos 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:28.640 and he. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.240 Has a brother named Carlos. So we you know, we 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.400 were supposed to hook up, you know, after they left Teeves. 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.000 To Forest and Ardregas are not related, and to Forest's 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:44.400 nickname has never been Carlos. It's unclear why Yolanda refers 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.760 to him this way, but she tells police that ar 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.280 Dregas called her around two am. He and to Forrest 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:53.640 had left Tea's place and were on their way to 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:54.160 pick her up. 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:55.560 You know they'd be on time. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.000 They call it around about two or three, you know, 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:00.719 be like come on. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.679 Ardregas asks Yolanda to bring along a friend for to Forest. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.280 So after they pick up Yolanda, they all drive to 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.319 pick up her friend, Latanya Henderson, who lives a few 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:16.040 minutes away. I want to take a moment to address 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.040 the age gap between to Forest, Ardregas and the girls 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:24.360 they're picking up to Forest is twenty two, Ardregas is 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.839 twenty one, Latania is sixteen, and Yolanda is fifteen. To 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.520 Forest and Ardregas met Yolanda and Latania at a night 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:37.040 club two nights prior to picking them up after teas. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:40.520 It's likely that the girls lied about their age to 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.880 get into the club where they met. But I don't 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.760 know if to Forest and Ardregas knew how old they were. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.040 I don't even know if it came up. The age 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.719 of consent in Alabama is sixteen. But regardless, guys in 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:59.160 their early twenties picking up teenage girls. It's just problematic. 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.400 Him and Carlos came down and we went all hand 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.319 to was in dear park Pelataia. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.360 Yolanda says that once they get to Latanya's house, it 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:12.600 takes a while for Latanya to get ready. 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.160 Oh yeah, going out and tell you about it. For 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.120 forty minutes to get ready, take our bathroostuf because she 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:19.240 didn't have on no clothes. 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.200 Latanya finally sneaks out of her bedroom window to meet them. 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:27.440 Once the girls are in the car, Yolanda says that 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.280 something is off and our Dregas seems nervous. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.120 You know and all like what's wronging wrong? Why we 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:36.800 didn't got to get fill the wrong? We don't either, 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:41.880 you know, it goes o injur chill out. So you know, 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.880 we were riding around, you know, we're telling hill a 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.440 man and it is smoked a cop. 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.560 According to Yolanda or Dragas says, the other guy in 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.640 the car with them, to Forrest had smoked a cop. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.240 You know who got their life playing y'all got us 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.040 in the cortown y'all and did from did a crime. 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:10.640 Somehow. This revelation that to Forrest and Ardregis were supposedly 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.920 just involved in the murder of a police officer doesn't 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:14.960 deter their plans. 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:16.240 She says. 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.120 The four of them drive off to look for a 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:18.920 hotel room. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.200 We rode around in Hollywood usbid went to the Fat 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:24.880 fear hand, but. 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.200 She says, the Fairfield end was booked solid and so 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.240 they head across the street to the Super eight motel. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.360 So when we went light cross to the suba eighth ahole, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.320 lot of cops came from knowing sheriffs and everything that 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.640 came and I'll you know, and hated everybody to get 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:44.080 at the car. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.800 It's there and the Super eight parking lot. That officers 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.760 tell the group they're investigating the murder of a deputy 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.720 who was shot and killed earlier that night a few 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:59.720 miles away at the Crown Sterling Suitets Hotel. Remember, officers 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.280 were on the lookout for cars in the vicinity of 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.080 the crime scene, and this is why they pull in 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.080 behind the Monte Carlo in the Super eight parking lot. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.640 One of the officers later testifies that he tried to 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:19.120 extract ar Dregis from the car before learning that he's paralyzed. 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.920 The officer makes to Forest get out of the car, 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.160 put his hands on the trunk while he pats him down, 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.800 then looks inside the Monte Carlo with his flashlight. He 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.320 finds nothing suspicious and decides to let everyone go except 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:39.280 to Forest because he has a misdemeanor warrant for driving 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.840 without a license, so police take to Forest to the 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:48.200 Birmingham City Jail and he bonds out later that afternoon. Meanwhile, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.800 Ardregas's license is expired, so police won't let him drive home, 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:55.840 and he leaves the Monte Carlo in the Super eight 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.040 parking lot. He and the girls get a cab to 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.960 go home and Yolanda crashes at a friend's house. She 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:07.960 says she calls her mom later that morning, how god 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:08.600 my mom is? 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.280 Next morning, she say, guess at being as big. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.920 That click, it's the sound of an officer turning the 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.840 tape recorder off. We don't know what's being said between 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.879 Yolanda and investigators when the tape is stopped, but Yolanda's 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.680 first interview isn't over. The tape starts rolling again. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.480 Okay, go ahead, Yeah, I'll tell my mom a bide 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.320 and she can see Landa, you know her the police 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:40.840 house that got killed last night. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:42.280 I'm right here. 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.280 Okay, let me stop you again, okay, because I want 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:45.760 to make sure that we get it on the record. 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:46.560 Now. 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.280 You have already mentioned in your statement that this was 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:49.880 a Friday. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:52.879 It was a Tuesday, because that's when they had a 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:58.640 happy hour. It was going on with her Wednesday morning, 0:17:58.800 --> 0:17:59.639 round back food. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.240 Yolanda says that Carlos, remember, that's what she's calling to. 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:07.840 Forrest told her the time that he shot Deputy Hardy. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:15.880 But if they had worn bout twelve right now, twelve thirty, Carlos. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:21.040 And then Yolanda suggests a potential motive. She says, Deputy 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.560 Hardy had arrested to forrest before, and that's why he 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:25.760 supposedly shot him. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.240 No, because I think we are arrested him a found before, Carlos. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:33.399 You go where you're arrested him at? 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.880 I think it has only the way he went to parison. 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.600 An officer turns the tape recorder off for a second time. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.600 When the tape resumes, Yolanda offers a different motive for 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.639 Hardy's murder now. She says they killed him after an 0:18:55.680 --> 0:19:01.399 attempted robbery, and since Hardy had seen their faces, it 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:02.919 just made sense to kill him. 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:06.639 Got a mo things former do with kill him. 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.600 In the last minutes of the interview, detectives ask Yolanda 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.440 why Ardregis and Carlos had gone to the Crown Sterling Suites, 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.119 and she says they wanted to get a room because 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:22.920 they sell drugs. They ask her if she knows anybody 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:27.680 else these guys run with. Yolanda points to the photos 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.199 of two other men and a stack that police show her. 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.920 You hear Richardson say she has identified Omar Berry and 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:38.160 Quintez Wilson. 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:44.000 Quinte is Wilson. This guy you look at, you know him? 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.560 As what okay, that's the photograph of Omar Berry. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.040 These two other young black men are added to their 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:57.560 list of suspects. This first recorded interview lasts about thirty 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:01.240 five minutes, and right at the end, an officer asks 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.240 Yolanda if anyone has made promises to her. 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.520 They promises to you by the statements you just made. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:07.639 No. 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:11.080 Vin. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.440 She answers no. Then we hear her say the only 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:28.840 thing y'all gonna and then there's seven long seconds of silence. 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:36.720 It's Charlie Richardson. This is going to conclude this interview 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.960 at this time eleven PM. 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.800 I listened to this interview over and over again, and 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.440 what stands out is that each time officers stop and 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.600 then restart the tape, there's a shift in Yolanda's story. 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:01.879 At first, first she says it was a Friday that 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:06.520 she heard about Hardy's murder. Then, after the tape stops 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:10.840 and restarts, Richardson prompts her for the date, and she 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.520 corrects herself and says it was a Tuesday night going 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:19.920 into Wednesday. With every restart of the tape, Richardson gets 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.639 a story that lines up more and more with the 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.960 facts surrounding Hardy's murder, that he was shot on Wednesday 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:32.320 morning behind the Crown Sterling at twelve fifty am. And 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:37.320 then there's the motives. Yolanda provides first that to Forest 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:42.000 killed Hardy because Hardy had arrested him previously. But we 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:45.920 know Hardy had not arrested to Forrest at the time 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:49.760 of his death. Hardy worked in court services. His duties 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:55.320 involved serving subpoenas and directing traffic outside the courthouse. I've 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.480 seen zero evidence that Deputy Hardy ever came into contact 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:04.399 with four Worst Johnson. After the tape stops and restarts, 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:08.160 Yolanda gives a second motive that the crime started as 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:13.600 an attempted robbery that ends in Hardy's murder. I asked 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:16.480 Tony Richardson about his approach with Yolanda. 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.440 Yolanda was reluctant. She didn't want to talk, she didn't 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.000 want We had to keep. 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.080 Better and we had to pull like polenty, you know, Yolanda, 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:29.400 we need this and sometimes we'd have to be stern, 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.600 you know, infirm, trying to shake her. You know, sometime 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.120 we'd have to be soft, whatever will work to get 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:38.159 this information out of her. 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.159 There are a lot of stops and starts, and I 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.960 wonder what is going on? Then like the tape stops 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:53.200 and then it restarts. I could do you when you 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:55.639 go off the record with people, I mean, what what 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:56.959 is best practices? 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:58.280 For best practice? 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:01.320 If not is not to go off the record, that's 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:02.160 the best practice. 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:03.960 I mean, once you cut the tape on, unless the 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:07.280 tape runs out and you changing the tape, you don't 0:23:07.320 --> 0:23:10.920 cut it off until you're done. There's no way I 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.680 can tell you why the tape stopped, but I will 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:21.600 tell you this. It didn't stop so something sinister could happen. 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:24.399 I can tell you that. 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:30.560 What would do you do off the record though? I 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:34.160 mean somebody could have wanted to go to the bathroom, 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:39.639 or could have just motioned for a break, or or. 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:44.160 Could have even motioned to say, cut that thing off. 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:51.120 You know, there's no way I can tell you why 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:54.560 it was cut off. I can tell you there's nothing 0:23:54.840 --> 0:24:00.159 sinister here. I mean, there's no smoking gun here as 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:10.600 far as doing anything that was not above board. Never 0:24:11.119 --> 0:24:13.720 never occurred, never happened, never happened. 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:31.879 It was early in the morning and I was just 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:35.600 lounging around in my apartment, you know, and I had 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:37.680 my front door was open, and where I was sitting, 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:39.640 I could see out the door and here I see 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:41.480 just cars one Marco. 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:44.680 In July of nineteen ninety five, to Forrest and his 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:48.440 cousin Antonio Green were living together. But on the morning 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:52.000 of the twenty fifth, Antonio is alone in their apartment 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:53.520 when police cars pull out. 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:56.800 Oh there, So I see him pulling up in the front, 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:58.960 lock in the bag, and I'm like, oh, what's going 0:24:59.040 --> 0:25:01.160 on over here? You know, next thing I know, they're 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:04.280 in my daughter and their acts was to far As 0:25:04.400 --> 0:25:06.880 Johnson there I said, no, it's no, he's been staying here. 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:09.920 But while he asking me this, they've already came in 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.320 bought both doors, so they're already in my house. They're 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:15.720 going down the hallway. So I'm thinking, nah, this must 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:17.520 be something serious, you know, whatever it is. 0:25:17.960 --> 0:25:21.280 So this guy's telling me what officers say they're looking 0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:24.240 for to Forest because they think he might know something 0:25:24.240 --> 0:25:24.600 about a. 0:25:24.680 --> 0:25:28.200 Murder something or when they said murder, that really just 0:25:28.320 --> 0:25:30.879 threw me all the way to the left, because violent. 0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:34.600 He wasn't never violent, you know, rambunks his teenager, young 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:37.199 kid doing what all of us were doing, and far 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:40.359 As a partying and having a good time and all this, 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:43.080 but violence never. 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:44.960 He was never a violent person. 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:50.240 As officers walk through Antonio's house, his phone rings. It's 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:54.080 his grandfather and he says police are at his house too. 0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:59.880 Antonio hangs up and the phone rings again, ring again. 0:26:00.119 --> 0:26:01.280