03x01 - Whitney Gray and Kira Steger

[bunniefuu]

[THEME MUSIC]

NARRATOR: This time on "K*llers
Caught on Camera," in Missouri,

a young mom's early evening
shopping trip with her children

ends in lethal road rage.

[g*nshots]

- She's not breathing.

- We have a guy that's
already k*lled once.

Is he going to k*ll again?

We need to get
this guy stopped.

NARRATOR: And in St.
Paul, Minnesota,

date night ends in a fight.

- That's the last time he
saw her or talked to her.

NARRATOR: And a woman
goes missing for months

in the depths of winter.

- There was so much
blood in there.

I actually thought I was going
to find her head in that bag.

MAN: It just sounds
like something

bad is happening to her.

WOMAN: We know what
happened because the video

tells us what happened.

WITNESS: I heard some g*nshots.

OFFICER: Drop it!

Whatever it is, drop it.

SUSPECT: That does not
prove that I k*lled my wife.

MAN: The camera doesn't lie.

[THEME MUSIC]

NARRATOR: In the heart
of the United States,

Missouri, just East of Kansas
City, is Independence.

- Independence is
sort of almost--

you might call it
the All-American suburb.

It feels like
small town America.

It's quiet.

It's peaceful.

NARRATOR: It was home
to 22-year-old, Whitney Gray.

- Whitney Gray was
a young mother of two.

She was thoughtful.

All her friends said
she was the kind

of person you could count on.

She was somebody you
wanted next to you

when there was trouble.

She didn't lose her temper,
but she also would fight

for people who needed help.

By the time she was 22,
she had two small children

and was a busy, caring,
and active mother.

NARRATOR: One night
in October 2016, Whitney

went out to the grocery store
with her six-month-old baby,

three-year-old child, and her
young niece in the car.

Shortly after,
a 911 call came in.

- About 7:38 I believe is
when the incident happened.

The officers responded
to a sh**ting.

[RADIO CHATTER]

NARRATOR: Police arrived on
scene surrounded by witnesses.

[RADIO CHATTER]

[CHATTER]

- They discovered
a female had been shot.

[CHATTER]

TODD WINBORN: The female
was shot in the chest,

and the chest wound is very
difficult to recover from.

The car had traveled
a short distance

and crashed into a front
yard of a residence.

Also in the car with
the victim were a teenage niece

and two very small children.

The very small
children that were

in their car seats
in the car had to be consoled

by responding police officers.

It was a chaotic scene.

- Her driver's license
and identification

were in the car with her.

TODD WINBORN: The victim was
identified as Whitney Gray.

Obviously, the first step is
to do lifesaving measures,

but it it was to no avail.

She-- she had perished.

[SIRENS WAILING]

TODD WINBORN: Whitney Gray
lived really close to the area

where she was found.

[RADIO CHATTER]

The scene is very tragic.

A, you have a dead young
female laying on the road now.

And we have her child
who was an infant.

And then we have another
juvenile female with her.

That's hysterical.

It was-- it was very traumatic
for everybody on scene.

NARRATOR: The oldest
child in the car was

Whitney's 16-year-old niece.

- We tend to think
that road rage or

confrontational
driving, as it's called,

is a response to something
outside of ourselves.

So somebody cuts us
off, somebody we feel

tries to run us off the road,
somebody is too slow.

We think that it's
this external factor

that's causing this feeling.

But really, road rage is
an intrinsic thing, which means

it's happening inside of us.

And it is how we're reacting
to a situation,

often unreasonably.

So we blame the world,
but really it's inside of us.

TODD WINBORN: The g*nsh*t
went through the windshield

of the van that Whitney
Gray was driving.

[g*nshots]

A white SUV had
pulled up next to them

and was screaming and yelling
at them in the car.

The niece said that
she had a cup of water,

and that she had just tossed
it at the car that was

yelling and screaming at them.

STEVE BRESHEARS: A cup
of water thrown by her,

and the next thing happening
is he's sh**ting out of his car

into their car.

TODD WINBORN: Whitney
told her that she was shot

and that she veered off.

- Over the last two decades,
researchers have found that

there is a 400%
increase in g*n-related

deaths due to road rage.

And one of the reasons that's
often cited for this increase

is the easier access to g*ns.

And so the more people who
have g*ns in their cars,

obviously you're more
able to reach for a weapon

when you experience road rage.

When we're looking
at Missouri as a state,

it's actually the second
most confrontational state

for drivers
in the United States,

and that together is
a problematic combination.

- Any information that we can
get about the suspect in terms

of vehicle that they're in, the
direction that they traveled

is vitally important.

- Where is the suspect?

Where is the sh**ter?

We had no idea whether or not
this was isolated or not?

We knew we needed to find this
guy before he did this again.

NARRATOR: Several
hundred feet South,

they found a b*llet casing.

But what they really
needed was cameras

that recorded what happened.

STEVE BRESHEARS: Starting
at the place where

Whitney Gray was
shot in her car,

we started working
backwards from there.

- One of the patrol officers
observed cameras on a house,

literally on the west
side of Sterling Avenue,

and it was pointed
directly at our scene.

- We're looking
at surveillance from a house

at Sterling Avenue.

There is an intersection
on the other side

of the railroad track.

We believe that's when
the drink was thrown out

of Whitney Gray's
car, hit his car,

and then he made the decision
to then sh**t out of his car

through the middle
of the windshield of her car,

right into her chest.

So we're looking
for a large white SUV.

We're not getting a lot
of detail, but all of this

is helpful.

NARRATOR: But on close
inspection, a breakthrough.

- We see this white SUV here.

It's driving away
at a high rate of speed--

raises a lot
of suspicion to us.

NARRATOR: They now knew which
direction the sh**ter escaped.

The question remained,
why was Whitney shot?

- Was she involved
in a disturbance prior

to this incident happening?

NARRATOR: The clue was
in the car, a bag of groceries

from a store called
Price Chopper.

- That was going to be
the next place on our list

to look for surveillance.

NARRATOR: They found
Whitney and the children

walking into the store.

STEVE BRESHEARS: This is
Whitney walking in on the phone

with her niece and her kids.

In this footage, we're
just looking for somebody

that she gets into it
with in this store

that causes the other events.

And by all accounts,
she's just shopping.

AVA GLASS: She was
just a normal mom.

She has no way
of knowing that this

will be the last few
moments of her life.

STEVE BRESHEARS: This
is Whitney's car.

Here she is, passing
the groceries in to her niece.

She's going to go around
to the driver's side.

But again, nothing out
of the ordinary has happened.

She hasn't had
an altercation, an argument.

Nothing so far from
the grocery store in her

has indicated that anything
is wrong this evening.

She pulls out
of this parking lot.

Witnesses have told
us that it started

at the intersection that's
at the top of the screen there.

So this will be really
important to see

what we can see as she
leaves the parking

lot of the grocery store.

She's waiting to turn out.

She pulls out.

And as she does, from
left to right there,

you see the big
white SUV that comes

in at a high rate
of speed behind her,

had to hit his brakes.

He has his brakes anyway.

It's a red light.

But I think that
that is the moment

that he decided that Whitney
Gray became his problem.

NARRATOR: Detectives
needed to check the cameras

on the other side of the road.

- This is Taco Bell
across the street.

It's going to give us
a different vantage,

a clearer view.

You can see the minivan
that Whitney was driving

that she just got into.

You can see the white SUV right
behind already tailgating her.

It gives us the clearest
view yet of the suspect car.

We still can't see
the license plate.

I still can't see
the driver's face.

TODD WINBORN: We still
had no idea what the make

and model of this vehicle was.

In fact, at this point
in the investigation,

it's a true whodunit.

STEVE BRESHEARS:
And investigators

started moving South
along Sterling Avenue

to check any
and all places that

could have additional
surveillance

so we could find more
images of the suspect

car and the suspect.

NARRATOR: Tracking
back down South,

a gas station looked
like a promising spot

for additional cameras.

STEVE BRESHEARS: That
particular gas station

was scheduled
to be demolished 24

hours from the time
the officers went

in to look at their cameras.

NARRATOR: They rolled
the footage back five minutes

before Whitney pulled
out of the parking lot

at Price Chopper.

STEVE BRESHEARS: As they're
looking at the quick trip

surveillance, they see
a white Toyota Sequoia

pull into the parking
lot and pull

in and park directly under
one of their exterior cameras.

Crystal clear view
of the license plate,

looks like there's one person
in the car at this point.

It's like a white male.

This is what witnesses have
told us leading up to this.

We're very excited at this
point to see this footage.

You can see the suspect
getting out of the car.

You can tell how he's dressed.

You can see the type
of hat that he's wearing,

good profile view of him.

So right here, as he
enters the store,

is the first picture
we get of his face.

Perfect.

Got him.

This is the guy that likely
shot and k*lled Whitney Gray.

[THEME MUSIC]

At this point, we're
kind of looking

for reasons why he might be
so agitated that he's getting

ready to m*rder somebody.

This QuikTrip was
getting ready to close.

So it was also short
on some merchandise.

He's shaking his head.

He looked agitated to me.

It was a great
picture of his face.

But he leaves without
buying anything.

Presumably, they didn't
have what he wanted.

So he's agitated by that.

And to me, it appears to speed
out of the parking lot.

He's pulling out
in front of traffic.

I think he's already agitated.

- When it comes
to the kind of person who

is most likely
to engage in road rage,

there's a personality
that's emerged,

which is people who have what's
called high trait anxiety.

High trait anxiety is basically
when somebody is in the world

and they perceive more
things as hostile.

And normal things
to other people,

to you are massively
frustrating.

And they trigger this
anxious response.

The other thing that happens
is that you get into this anger

rumination spiral.

And if you're unable
to analyze the fact

that these thoughts
are irrational,

then you might start
to look for reasons.

And you might get more angry.

And so it doesn't matter that
it's trivial what started it.

What matters is that
that cycle begins.

[THEME MUSIC]

TODD WINBORN: We have a face.

We have a license plate.

We have a guy that's
already k*lled once.

Is he going to k*ll again?

We need to get
this guy stopped.

STEVE BRESHEARS:
We find out it's

registered to somebody
named James Taylor.

- It's not the same person.

It's a much older male.

NARRATOR: They tracked
down James Taylor.

He was brought
in for an interview the day

after the sh**ting.

It turned out he was
the suspect's father.

- He told us right away that
we were probably looking

for his son, Christopher.

And we asked him
why that was so.

And he said, well, because
the Toyota Sequoia belongs

to my son, Christopher.

NARRATOR: Michael
Hunt was the district

attorney assigned to the case.

MICHAEL HUNT: I
think he's frightened

for what could happen.

His cooperation is based
upon he wants to try and help

his son so he will get
captured and without danger

to himself or others.

NARRATOR: What emerged
was an isolated

man who only found
a sense of purpose

while doing military training.

- He's trained in firearms.

He's trained in escape.

He's trained in all
different kinds

of things that is going to make
things difficult for law

enforcement to capture him.

NARRATOR: Christopher
Taylor was on the run,

but his car was on a payment
plan installed with a tracker.

STEVE BRESHEARS:
That was a big break,

because they were able to tell
us that that car and their GPS

was at a hotel on I-90
in Box Elder, South Dakota.

- This is moving very quickly.

So we need to get him
into custody before he

makes it further North.

STEVE BRESHEARS:
The Rapid City Police sent

units, officers to this motel.

And sure enough, there's
the White Toyota Sequoia

with the Missouri license
plate parked in the hotel.

[RADIO CHATTER]

NARRATOR: Rapid
City Police moved

in to arrest Chris Taylor.

STEVE BRESHEARS: They
did search the car,

and inside were hundreds,
if not thousands of rounds

of ammunition,
camping equipment,

tents, meals ready to eat,
like you have in the military.

[CLINKING]

TODD WINBORN: I think he
just wanted to go hide.

He was going to hide forever.

- Your training is not to pull
a g*n and fire immediately.

I'm around police
officers every day.

Their training is
never to pull a g*n and

fire as your first reaction.

So I know I don't
believe that one bit.

I think what
happened, he got mad.

[CHAIR CREAKING]

- I don't buy it.

I don't buy it one bit.

He was pissed off, made him
more upset, and he acted out.

- He pulled a weapon
because a cup of water

got thrown at his car.

He was never in combat.

He was never
in a situation where

people were sh**ting at him.

So that just never made sense.

- The kind of person who
has their hand on a g*n

while they're driving at all
times, that is someone

who is high in trait anxiety.

So they are worried about what
the world might do to them.

And that person is more
likely to overreact and

to interpret something
like a bang as an attack.

With a g*n in the car, we know
that people are three times

more likely to be aggressive.

They're more likely to engage
in road rage behaviors.

So just the presence
of a g*n emboldens people.

And in this moment,
maybe what's

going through his
mind is finally,

I'm using my g*n
to defend myself.

[THEME MUSIC]

NARRATOR: Christopher
Taylor was

charged with
second-degree m*rder

and armed criminal action.

MICHAEL HUNT: m*rder
in the second degree

is intentionally
k*lling another person.

My argument to the jury was
that pulling a handgun that

was loaded, c*ck, ready
to go, firing at a windshield,

hitting this woman dead
center in the chest

was an intentional act
that caused her death.

And that was m*rder.

NARRATOR: Christopher
Taylor was

found guilty
of the lesser charge

of involuntary manslaughter
and of armed criminal action.

TODD WINBORN: They
gave him 17 years.

I think it wasn't enough.

He robbed a 20-something
year old of her life.

Her children aren't
going to know her mother.

I think he should
be there for life.

[THEME MUSIC]

MICHAEL HUNT: It's
one of those things

that never leaves you that road
rage is out there all the time.

But you cannot get involved
with it because you never know

if that person is
going to have a g*n,

if they've had a bad day.

If they didn't get
the water that they wanted,

is it something that's going to
come back at you with a b*llet?

AVA GLASS: It's
just so pointless.

That's the sad thing.

She was a 22-year-old
mother, and

he didn't give her a chance.

[THEME MUSIC]

NARRATOR: Whitney Gray's death
was the result of a failure

to control dark thoughts.

- In some cases,
our metacognition fails.

In other words,
we're unable to think

critically about the thoughts
and feelings we're having.

And that failure is instant.

It's in a flash of anger that
we don't get under control.

In other cases, that emotion
and that metacognition

is a failure that lasts
a lot longer and resentments

and emotions fester.

NARRATOR: And in our next
case, long-term festering anger

spilled over into m*rder.

[THEME MUSIC]

Minnesota, the state
capital, St. Paul.

It was home to 30-year-old
Kira Steger.

- She was my oldest daughter.

NARRATOR: Kira was
one of four children.

She had two sisters
and a brother.

MARCIE STEGER: Kira
loved spending time

with her siblings.

She was very close
with each of them.

She loved to read.

She loved to color,
just always a very

happy, easygoing little girl.

She loved animals.

She loved her baby, which
was her dog, Carmen.

NARRATOR: In 2003, a new love.

Kira met Jeff Trevino.

He was 27, and she was 20.

Kira got a job at the Mall
of America as a store manager.

- She loved her job.

When they would
close the store,

Kira would turn up the music.

They would dance
or sing while they

were finishing up for the day.

It wasn't work.

They loved it.

NARRATOR: Kira and Jeff
had been together

for seven years when
they decided to take

things to the next level.

- One day, Kira turned around.

And she's like, mom, I
have something to show you.

She showed me her hand
with the engagement ring.

NARRATOR: Jeff and Kira
got married in Costa Rica.

- I said, Kira, as long
as he makes you happy.

NARRATOR: But after 10
years, the relationship

became strained.

Kira was seeing more
of a man at work.

At home, she'd sleep
in the spare room

or stay with friends.

By February 2013, Kira and Jeff
decided to meet up to work

on their marital issues.

The next day, Kira
missed an appointment

with her personal trainer and
stopped replying to messages.

Two days later, on Saturday,
Kira didn't make it to work.

Andy Johnson is an Assistant
Attorney in Ramsey County.

- When Kira didn't
show up for work,

the co-workers started calling
her husband and saying, hey,

she didn't show up for work.

Do you what happened to her?

At this point, Jeff didn't
seem terribly concerned

because he said
that Kira had been

kind of disappearing
for a couple of days at a time,

staying with friends.

NARRATOR: Kira failed to turn
up for work again on Sunday,

February 24.

Three days after
his last contact,

Jeff reported Kira missing.

NARRATOR: Dr. Larissa Johnson
is a forensic psychologist.

- His response was
that he wouldn't

do anything until three
days after the fact.

If your partner goes
missing, you would--

well, the expectation is that
you would be quite frantic.

You would be worried,
concerned for their well-being

and where they might be.

NARRATOR: After Jeff
reported Kira missing,

he called her mother, Marcie.

- He hadn't seen Kira.

She was missing.

We knew that she would
never just leave.

NARRATOR: Sheila Lambie was
an investigator assigned

to the missing persons case.

- Once a police report comes in
that there's a missing person,

we start an investigation,
whether it is talking

to family members or friends.

When was this person last
seen, last talked to?

NARRATOR: Kira's
phone records revealed

that she'd actually been
texting during her date night

with Jeff.

[BEEP]

ANDREW R. K. JOHNSON: The text
messages were

playful, flirtatious.

It's hard to imagine that Jeff
would not notice her texting

throughout date night.

NARRATOR: Investigators went
to Jeff and Kira's house

to speak with Jeff.

[KNOCKING]

He told them about the last
time he'd seen Kira.

- We learned that Jeff and Kira
having date night on Thursday,

they decided to go bowling.

They had dinner.

NARRATOR: Detectives
reviewed surveillance

footage from
the Mall of America

to look for Kira and Jeff.

Their night out was
analyzed by Kelly Ficner,

a digital forensics expert.

KELLY FICNER: When we see Kira
and Jeff enter the frame here,

we can see that
Jeff is upright.

He's swinging the bag casually.

His shoulders aren't slumped.

They're engaged
in conversation.

He doesn't appear
to be upset in any way.

NARRATOR: At 9:24 PM,
Kira's car was captured

on camera leaving the mall.

- We know Kira and Jeff
came in separate vehicles.

She was working, and he
met her at the mall.

So seeing her vehicle
leave at specific time

corroborated Jeff's story
of when they left the mall.

NARRATOR: The police still had
no idea where Kira could be.

- The timeline corroborates
Jeff's story of what they did

that evening-- dinner,
bowling, and then

heading home from the mall.

It doesn't appear that there's
any kind of argument happening.

Neither of them is gesturing
or being quite violent

with their hand motions.

NARRATOR: But the police
still needed

to corroborate Jeff's
version of what happened

when they returned home.

- They came home
and watched the movie.

And then Kira said that
she needed gas in her car.

So Kira went to bed,
and Jeff took her car

and got gas in the car.

The next morning, she
left to go to the gym.

And Jeff said,
that's the last time

he saw her or talked to her.

NARRATOR: Investigators
checked his timeline

of events against local
surveillance footage.

They found one camera, which
gave a direct view of Kira

and Jeff's house.

It was moving fast, and the
footage was hard to work with.

- Watching this frame
by frame took a long time.

NARRATOR: A few hours after
Kira and Jeff got back, a car

was spotted at the house.

- The neighbor's
surveillance camera actually

shows the vehicle backing up.

It doesn't show it
driving out, but

it does show it backing up
towards the garage very late

at night.

This is strange behavior.

Why would somebody do that?

NARRATOR: A few minutes
later, the car leaves.

- Appeared to be
an odd time for someone

to be leaving their home.

NARRATOR: Jeff's trip
to get gas in Kira's car

was confirmed
by surveillance footage.

But he didn't
appear to head home.

- When the car leaves
the gas station,

the car should be
heading east to go

back to Kira and Jeff's house.

The car did not go East.

NARRATOR: The next time
Kira's car was seen

was the morning
after date night.

According to Jeff, it was
Kira going to the gym.

- The pixel values inside the
window area here are different,

and they form the outline
of the driver of the vehicle.

But without any further
pixel information,

we can't tell who's driving.

SHEILA LAMBIE: We
start to wonder,

is Jeff telling us everything?

Is Jeff not sharing
everything with the status

of their marriage?

Was Kira down with
this relationship?

NARRATOR: Kira's mom
Marcie had her own view.

- It was not any kind
of 50/50 relationship.

If he liked something,
she would like it.

It was all about control.

After they got back from
Costa Rica after the wedding,

the controlling
behavior started to turn

into possessive behavior.

And this was
something that could

be seen throughout
the relationship,

like she couldn't
be too far from him.

- In general, all of us
engage in some kind

of controlling behavior
in an attempt to manage

what's happening around us.

So in an attempt
to maintain control,

we start trying
to mold things into how

we think they should be.

It gets ramped up now when
we start putting limits.

We are putting actual limits
on other human beings,

and so they no longer really
have their own identity.

So that's a different
level of control.

NARRATOR: Three days
after Kira went missing,

police got their first
breakthrough.

- Kira's vehicle has been
located at the Mall of America

in a parking ramp.

NARRATOR: The car had two
time-specific parking citations

and was due to be towed.

SHEILA LAMBIE: What's
more disturbing,

the tow truck driver
noticed that there

was what he suspected to be
dried blood on this vehicle.

You could see there
was a trunk liner.

It almost looked
like it had been

thrown from where Kira's
vehicle is out into the snow.

And it did look
like it had possibly

blood on that trunk liner.

NARRATOR: Inside the car, the
police also found Kira's purse.

- It is not likely
that she left her purse

behind in a car willingly.

- Any piece
of information you get

is, like, almost like
a lifeline at that point.

Because the not knowing--

the not knowing
is the worst part.

LARISSA JOHNSON: It's
like an early grieving

when you've lost someone, you
don't know what's happened.

You don't know if this is
a choice that they have made,

or if someone has done
something to harm a loved one.

So it's really scary,
and the uncertainty

can leave you feeling a bit
lost and helpless and hopeless.

- One parking citation is for 3
o'clock in the morning

Saturday morning.

So we know we need
to work backwards.

NARRATOR: Traffic
cameras picked up

Kira's white Chevrolet, driving
back to the Mall of America

the morning after Jeff
and Kira went on the date.

KELLY FICNER: It went
into a specific parking area

where the car was found.

And it was from
that parking area

we watched for any either other
vehicles leaving or anyone

on foot.

NARRATOR: When they looked
through the footage,

they discovered a lone figure.

- This individual appears
to be male based on body type

and build and gait, dark top,
dark pants, and white shoes.

We are able to keep an eye
on those white shoes

as the individual walks across
the street to the taxi stand.

NARRATOR: Police needed to know
if this was the person who left

Kira's car in the parking lot.

They tracked the taxi.

[THEME MUSIC]

The destination was just
a block away from Kira's home.

Moments later, a figure
emerges into frame.

- We see a dark colored
top, dark pants.

We see the logo
on the front of the shirt.

It was a light colored
or white shoes.

This person is now
heading towards the home

that Kira and Jeff share.

NARRATOR: It was enough
to warrant, a search of Jeff

and Kira's house.

- They started looking
in the bedroom.

They noticed
a number of things.

It looked like the furniture
had been moved because there

were indentations
in the carpet,

suggesting that at least
sometime recently,

the furniture had been
in a somewhat different order.

Then they started
looking at the walls,

and they noticed a spot on the
wall that appeared to be blood.

And then they started
looking around again,

and they found more spots
and more spots and more spots.

- There was some clothing
that had been freshly washed,

and it was hanging up to dry.

NARRATOR: It was
the same hoodie

Jeff was wearing
at the mall the last time

Kira was seen alive.

- We found receipts for
cleaning supplies that had been

purchased over the weekend.

NARRATOR: Forensic
investigators used luminol,

a chemical that will
fluoresce and glow when blood

is detected under UV light.

- It became very
obvious to us that there

was a fight and a struggle that
happened in the Trevino home.

And it looks like it happened
in that master bedroom.

We could see a line
of the luminol coming

out of the bedroom,
into the living room,

through the kitchen.

And it looked like the carpet
cleaner had been used.

- 15 days prior
to Kira going missing,

Jeff stopped at my house
to borrow my carpet shampooer.

My carpet shampooer was used
to clean up all the blood, even

to the point
of the human tissue

from her being stuck
in the bristles.

NARRATOR: And a selfie
revealed a cover up.

ANDREW R. K. JOHNSON: We
knew that the furniture had

been rearranged clearly
in attempt to cover

up the blood splatter.

- When we saw the amount
of blood in that house,

we believed we were
looking for a body.

NARRATOR: As the video
evidence stacked up,

Jeff's red car was
spotted at the gas station

the morning after
Kira and Jeff's date.

KELLY FICNER: When I saw this
video, I knew it was Jeff.

He's getting cash
from the ATM, the cash

he uses to pay the taxi home
from the Mall of America.

- When I saw that video
and I saw that sweatshirt,

that exact sweatshirt is
in the kitchen of Jeff

and Kira's house.

NARRATOR: The logo
on the sweatshirt

seemed to match
the hoodie worn by the man

getting out of the taxi.

- Inside of Kira's
vehicle, they also

found some divorce
papers, the kind

that you fill out yourself.

They suggested that her
marriage wasn't going well.

SHEILA LAMBIE:
Jeff Trevino is no

longer our person of interest.

He is our number one
suspect in this case.

NARRATOR: Jeff was arrested.

NARRATOR: Kira
was still missing,

but her husband didn't seem
to be helping to find her.

NARRATOR: Despite his silence
on where Kira might be,

Jeff was charged with
second-degree m*rder.

Kira's friends and family did
all they could to find her.

- The search for Kira
was extraordinary.

Her family was very involved.

Her friends were very involved.

Everyone was looking
everywhere possible.

NARRATOR: Even
Kira's 70-year-old

grandfather turned detective.

- My dad decided to walk up
along the side of the road.

And he-- he just by chance, I
mean, he looked into the woods,

and he saw something
up against a tree.

And it was a bag.

There was so much
blood in there.

He goes, "I actually
thought I was going

to find her head in that bag."

- We recovered this
evidence, and it turned

out to be Kira's is blood.

MARCIE STEGER: I didn't
have to get my hopes up.

I knew that Kira was dead.

NARRATOR: The search continued.

Then on May 8, almost three
months after Kira went missing,

a barge worker
on the Mississippi River

made a discovery.

- Now that the river was free
flowing with water and not

frozen, the body was found.

We found out through
dental records and DNA,

this person was indeed Kira.

NARRATOR: The autopsy
report revealed

that Kira had suffered
a broken finger and

multiple blunt
force injuries that

ultimately caused her death.

MARCIE STEGER: I can
only imagine the level

of pain she went through.

To not know if--

did she call for me, that
still haunts me, what

she must have gone through.

NARRATOR: In court,
the prosecution

had to present a solid timeline
to prove that Jeff Trevino

was Kira's k*ller.

The video evidence was
crucial for revealing

Jeff's movements the night
that Kira was k*lled.

- Jeff is very obviously
trying to hide what happened.

And without that video
of those actions,

it would have been
very difficult to prove

the wrongdoings.

NARRATOR: The footage
also shed light

on what really happened
in the early hours of Friday,

February 22.

SHEILA LAMBIE: When Jeff
leaves the gas station

and he is heading West,
not towards his house,

I believe Kira is in that
vehicle in the trunk.

And Jeff is going
to dispose of her body.

NARRATOR:
But the question remained,

why did Jeff k*ll Kira?

- She had just turned 30.

She's rethinking her life.

And I believe that when she
got home from date night,

she realized there's
nothing more for me here.

She had made up her mind.

She had decided, no, I'm
going to go on my own.

And then that's when she told
him, and he couldn't handle it.

NARRATOR: Jeff
Trevino was found

guilty on one count
of second-degree

unintentional m*rder.

He was acquitted on an
additional count that alleged

he intended to k*ll his wife.

The jury concluded
that after a fight,

Jeff Trevino used a pillow
to try to silence Kira,

not to k*ll her.

- I think maybe he
felt he lost control.

And so you regain
control, in this case

unfortunately, by taking--

taking their life.

[THEME MUSIC]

- So this is a Mother's
Day card from Kira.

She always knew what to say.

She always chose
the perfect card.

I love you, Kira.

I love you, baby.

I think about you
every, every day.

What I hope that happens when
anyone that hears Kira's story

is believe it can
happen to anyone.

Anything that does
not feel right,

trust yourself and get
out of that situation.

It's better to be
extra careful or upset

your significant other.

Take that chance.

Don't take the chance to--

to stay.

[THEME MUSIC]