04x07 - Maurice's Last Visitor

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: a brutal small-town m*rder...

[ Siren chirps ]

A family plunged into grief...

Who would've thought of doing such a thing to maurice?

Everybody loved him.

Narrator: ...hoping investigators can uncover the truth.

Everybody, at that point, is a suspect.

Narrator: but with no eyewitnesses, cctv could hold the key.

Security cameras, they don't lie,

And what you see is what you get.

Narrator: and what it reveals is a most-unlikely k*ller.

I was in shock.

It was not at all what I expected to see.

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: december 7, 2011, guthrie, oklahoma.

♪♪

Hey, little man.



Has dedicated his life to helping others.

Things are going to get better, all right?

Trust me on that.

My father cared.

He cared about his community and his environment

And the people in it,

And one of the things he'd pride himself on

Is to help those around him.

I know you're going through some bad times right now,

But we'll get through this.

Narrator: in a community of just 11,000 people,

He's a well-known face around town.

That's what life was about for maurice,

Doing for others, and he lived by that.

Come on.

Let's go play some hoops, huh?

Yeah.

Narrator: the other big commitment in maurice's life

Is his elderly mother, wanda,

Who lives 130 miles away in wichita, kansas.

Oh, yeah. I got them this morning.

They look beautiful.

He adored his mother.

He treated her like a queen.

I got you some big cookies, too.

He would go home to wichita, kansas,

And spend some time with mother and make sure she was all right.

I love you, too. Okay.

Okay, bye, bye.

[ Phone beeps ]

Narrator: unfortunately, wanda doesn't have much time left.

My grandmother was ill, and so everyone to gather around

To pay their respects before she passed.

[ Knocking on door ]

Narrator: family start to gather.

My dad was due to arrive in wichita later that evening.

Hi, son.

Have you heard from your father?

Still nothing.

Narrator: it's completely out of character for maurice not to turn up.

He would always pick up his phone,

And if he didn't pick it up, he would call you back.

Jacobs: it was very strange that maurice didn't show up.

That was a red flag for us.

♪♪

Narrator: three days pass without word from maurice,

And finally, his desperate family

Calls guthrie police department.

[ Phone ringing ]

Williams: well, I get a call from dispatch,

And dispatch said that they wanted me to go

To an address on the east side of town

Because the sister had called and said that her --

She hadn't heard from her brother.

Narrator: office johnathan williams heads straight to maurice's home

On east villas avenue.

♪♪

Williams: we have people call all the time,

And it's usually that person either shows up

Or we find them somewhere, and it turns out to be nothing.

Mr. Byrd, are you okay?

Mr. Byrd.

I knocked on the door.

Nobody came to the door, so I turned the doorknob,

And the door came open.

I definitely need some help here.

Lieutenant loya arrived.

We opened the door, went in the house...

Mr. Byrd?

♪♪

Mr. Byrd?

...and we was like, "something don't seem right."

♪♪

We could see a chair on the floor,

Like somebody had a fight in the house.

♪♪

Lieutenant loya looked down and said, "hey.

There is a drop of blood on the floor."

Watch your step there.

And I looked into the bedroom with my flashlight.

I could see a black male laying on the floor.

Mr. Byrd.

It was clear that he was dead.

Narrator: maurice byrd has been fatally shot.

Guthrie pd requests help

From oklahoma state bureau of investigation.

Hold on, sorry. I just got to take this.

The phone call came in that they had a deceased male

On the east side of town

And asked if I would come over.

♪♪

Michael dean, osbi.

It's quite a mess in here.

Inside the scene, in the front room,

There was a large binder,

And strewn throughout the front room

There were papers.

Those led over towards the bedroom area.

It appeared there had been an altercation.

♪♪

There was blood at the door entrance going into the bedroom.

We could see what appeared to be numerous b*llet holes.

A firearm had been used and fired in the front room

Towards the deceased

As he would've been running

Or going towards his bedroom.

[ Radio chatter ]

I could see the deceased laying face down.

Narrator: dean is joined at the scene by his supervising officer

Special agent kevin garrett.

Garrett: as they rolled the body over,

You could tell that he had been shot several times.

Dean: we found a projectile under the carpet

Showing that he had been shot when he was on the ground,

Almost a execution-style shot.

Janice, open that drawer for me, will you?

Narrator: in the drawer, they discover a p*stol.

Dean: he is trying to get to his g*n,

And he obviously had been hit before he made it.

Narrator: it's yet another piece of the puzzle.

He was in fear for his life and was looking to fight back.

♪♪

Narrator: back at guthrie pd,

Agent dean starts sifting through the evidence.

Dean: the binder that was located in the front room

Was evidently being used during the time the victim was shot.

Narrator: inside is a note showing that maurice had an appointment

In the nearby town of langston at 4:00 p.m.

On december 7th, 3 days earlier.

Dean: it could be worth checking out.

See if he ever made it there.

We did not know if maybe this particular business venture

Was part of the catalyst for his getting k*lled.

Keep me posted.

Narrator: right after that meeting, maurice was supposed to travel

The 130 miles

To be with his family.

Now it's dean's job to break the terrible news to them.

Dean: making death notifications never gets easier.

When I pull up in front of a residence,

Knowing that I'm going to have to tell a family member

That their loved one is gone,

That is one of the hardest parts of the job.

♪♪

I already knew in my heart that he was gone.

♪♪

He said that he had been m*rder*d.

We were all in shock.

We just...

We couldn't believe it.

Not maurice.

♪♪

Narrator: back in guthrie, police canvas the neighborhood for information

About the afternoon and evening of december 7th.

♪♪

Just when it seems detectives are out of leads,

There's a lucky break.

I received a phone call from an officer with information

That could possibly change the course of the investigation.

Narrator: there might be a witness -- security cameras on the church

Adjacent to maurice byrd's house.

♪♪

Dean knows the church's pastor, and he has good news.

The church has three cameras, and they were all rolling.

At the police tape lab, agent dean cues up the footage

From each of the cameras.

Dean: there was one on the east side,

Which covered the street and the front doors,

And there was one on the south side

That pointed to the southwest.

There was one on the north side

Pointing at mr. Byrd's residence.

That was fantastic.

This was something that could change the course

Of the investigation

And possibly have caught the m*rder*r on camera.

Narrator: there's been a m*rder in the small town of guthrie, oklahoma.

Our top story, one man is dead,

And now authorities are looking for the person

Who k*lled 60-year-old frances maurice byrd.

We just couldn't understand why anybody

Would want to take his life.

Narrator: special agent michael dean hopes video cameras

Found at the neighboring church will help catch the k*ller.

♪♪

In the lab, dean is about to get his first look at the footage.

The church has three security cameras.

[ Static buzzes ]

[ Static buzzes ]

Dean knows maurice was due at a meeting

In nearby langston at 4 p.m. On december 7th,



He views the north-side camera,

Which covers the alley between the church and maurice's house.

Dean watches from 3:45 p.m.

Dean: one of the things I'm looking for when I'm watching this video

Is I'm actually watching for mr. Byrd.

When was the last time he was seen alive?

♪♪

At approximately 3:48 p.m., I observed a glimpse of a vehicle.

Can you show me a tighter shot of the car?

♪♪

Narrator: it pulls into maurice's driveway.

♪♪

After 2 minutes, it reverses out again and drives off.

They switch to the east-side camera

To try and i.d. The vehicle.

It appears in the top right of frame.

Whoa. Hold it right there.

It's a white minivan,

But they can't make out the license plate.

Is that a cab? Can you tell?

Agent dean calls the local cab company.

This is special agent michael dean with the osbi.

They confirmed that they did pick mr. Byrd up

And transport him to langston, oklahoma

For his meeting.

All right. Thanks.

Narrator: detectives now know maurice was alive

On the afternoon of december 7th,

But with over 200 hours of footage across 3 cameras,

Finding out who else visited maurice before his body

Was found will be a mammoth task.

They spool forward in time.

Watching the video surveillance, you have this fear that

If you blink for just a couple of moments

That you're going to miss the key piece that you need,

So your eyes are glued to the screen for hours on end

Watching for the slightest movement.

♪♪

Oh, whoa. Stop it. Stop it right there.

Narrator: the following morning,



Dean spots something.

♪♪

A red pickup truck appears on the north-side camera

And pulls into maurice's driveway.

Watching the video and seeing this red truck pull in,

I was excited.

Narrator: the truck arrives 2 days before maurice's body is found.

This could be the last person to have seen him alive.

This might be our guy.

♪♪

Dean: two minutes later, the red ford truck backs out of the driveway.

I felt at that point I was possibly looking at the suspect.

Narrator: again, they switch to the east-side camera

To get a better view of the truck's arrival,

♪♪

♪♪

But it's impossible to read the license plate.

Dean: it is very frustrating that you may have the k*ller on video,

And you can't determine who it is.

All right. Thanks.

Narrator: agent dean heads back to the crime scene

To check on the progress of forensics.

Dean: when osbi crime-scene agents were processing the scene

At mr. Byrd's house,

A red truck arrived on scene.

Narrator: just like the one in the footage,

And the driver seems eager to talk.

-Hi. -Can I help you?

He identified himself as wallace owens,

The owner of the residence that byrd was living in.

Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?

What can you tell me about maurice?

Narrator: owens reveals that maurice has debts.

He also tells dean he was overdue on his rent.

He says he came by on the 8th to collect

Just as the footage shows,

But maurice didn't answer.

With mr. Byrd owing him money, I began to look at mr. Owens

As possibly being a suspect.

Narrator: but without any evidence linking him to the m*rder,

They have to let him go for now.

Back at the station, dean needs to narrow the time period

For his video search.

He turns to maurice's phone records.

Dean: looking at this information on his phone records

Can possibly determine the time of death.

Narrator: maurice was always on the phone late into the evening,

But dean notices something strange about the day

He was last seen alive.

After 8:02 p.m., There were no outgoing or incoming calls.

Narrator: dean now has a focus for his video search.

With the crime scene investigation complete,

Maurice's devastated family pack up his belongings,

Still struggling to make sense of what's happened.

Robinson: my dad's m*rder had a huge effect on my family,

My brothers, my sisters, my aunt alice.

I was thinking, "who would have thought of doing such a thing

To maurice?"

Everybody loved him.

He didn't hurt anybody.

I mean, death is devastating period,

But for that kind of death,

♪♪

It just turned our world upside down.

♪♪

Narrator: at guthrie pd, maurice's phone records have helped

The investigation turn a corner.

Rewind a little bit.

I had narrowed it down to a very short amount of time

When mr. Byrd had died.

Narrator: he cues up the north-side camera spooling back towards 8:02 p.m.

After maurice's final phone call.

No. Stop it.

At 8:26, on the church's north-side camera,

Lights appear at the very top of frame.

It's a car.

It's headlights catch the tree as it pulls into

Maurice's drive.

Seconds later, reflected brake lights suggest

The car has parked.

Dean: this vehicle arriving at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Combined with mr. Byrd

Not answering any phone calls after 8:00 o'clock,

It was an extremely good possibility

That this was the k*ller on video.

Narrator: but what dean is about to see next will change everything.

Narrator: investigators working the maurice byrd m*rder case

Have spotted a vehicle

Arriving at the victim's house at 8:26 p.m.

On december 7th.

Phone records show that maurice stopped answering

His phone 20 minutes earlier.

Agent michael dean believes this car

Could potentially contain the k*ller.

They continue to watch the footage.

♪♪

The vehicle leaves 75 minutes later at 9:44 p.m.,

But detectives still can't make a positive i.d.

Reviewing the video prior to that became extremely important

To see who had came and went from his residence.

Narrator: they rewind to just prior to 8:02 p.m.

When maurice's calls stopped.

♪♪

Dean: at 7:48 p.m., Headlights are seen coming into view

In the alleyway.

Narrator: it's a gold sedan.

♪♪

The vehicle backs up.

It reverses a little more.

Then more still.

Dean: as I watched the vehicle pull up, I became very excited.

There didn't appear a reason for the vehicle

To be in the alleyway at this time at night.

Narrator: the car stops, and the lights turn off.

Detectives push in, but once again,

They can't make out the license plate.

Dean: they sat for several minutes not doing anything,

Which struck me as being strange.

♪♪

Narrator: but then a light appears.

The interior of the vehicle lit up.

See if you can get closer in on this.

♪♪

Dean: trying to zoom in to show anything of the occupant

Was useless.

We couldn't do it with the video footage that we had.

♪♪

Garrett: this footage is frustrating

Because we can't see anybody that's in the vehicle,

And it's just like it's teasing us.

The gold car potentially contained my k*ller,

And I just needed to see their face.

♪♪

Unfortunately, they just sat there.

Narrator: at 8:06 p.m., 15 Minutes after pulling into the alleyway,

Dashboard lights come on.

The engine starts, and the car moves off,

♪♪

Turning away from maurice's house...

Keep me posted. Yeah.

Narrator: ...but detectives are no closer to i.d.'Ing the driver,

So they continue to spool backwards in time.

At 7:18 p.m., There's movement in the top right of frame.

♪♪

Dean: an individual appeared walking from the church

Towards mr. Byrd's house.

Who's that?

Narrator: he waits to see if they will appear again.

Five minutes later, at 7:23 p.m.,

[ Heartbeat pulsing ]

♪♪

The same person emerges adjacent to maurice's property.

Dean: you can see the figure stop

And appears to look around the wooden fence

As if looking down the alley.

You can make out that the individual

Is carrying something,

Which appears to be maybe a bag,

And then proceeds across the alleyway.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: dean switches to the east-side camera.

♪♪

It's a closer view but only from the back.

♪♪

Can we look at another camera angle?

♪♪

Seconds later, the figure appears on the south-side camera

And gets into a car.

Dean: the interior lights come on.

You still can't make out who the person is.

Narrator: when the headlights come on,

The suspect disappears from view altogether,

♪♪

But as the car reverses...

Whoa, whoa. Stop it. Stop it right there.

...dean notices something.

Dean: this appeared to be the same car that was parked

In the alleyway 30 minutes later.

Narrator: with at least two visits around the time of maurice's death,

This could be the k*ller.

Rewind that.

Desperate to get a look at the driver,

Dean spools back to see when the gold sedan first arrived.

♪♪

He finds it pulling in at 7:15 p.m.

♪♪

The figure gets out and heads in the direction

Of maurice's house.

Switching back to the east-side angle,

Detectives brace for their first good look at the suspect.

♪♪

♪♪

Dean: I was in shock.

It was not at all what I expected to see.

What we had was what appeared to be a elderly female

Carrying her purse.

Narrator: detectives now have the most unlikely prime suspect.

♪♪

In wichita, kansas, it's the day of maurice's funeral.

The whole family turns out,

But it's too much for his son joseph.

Love: my nephew joe had called me on the phone,

And he cried and told me, "aunt alice, I can't come."

At the time, I didn't know how to handle or cope

With the situation, you know, seeing my family.

It was difficult to deal with.

Narrator: with maurice's k*ller still at large, it's an emotional day.

Jacobs: the loss, that was the main thing,

And then knowing I'm never going to see him again.

I'm never going to feel his arms around me again.

♪♪

I'm never going to see that smile.

♪♪

[ Voice breaking ] it was just too much.

♪♪

Narrator: in guthrie, agent dean is no closer

To identifying the mystery woman at the scene,

But he catches a break.

There's someone here to see you.

Thanks.

It was maurice byrd's cousin brad turner.

What can I do for you?

I really wanted to come in to talk to you about the funeral.

He informed me of a elderly white female

That had attended mr. Byrd's funeral.

She was, like, really odd.

She said that he owed her.

Did you happen to see what kind of car she drove?

And he stated, "a gold toyota."

♪♪

Narrator: investigators in guthrie, oklahoma,

Have tracked an unlikely suspect --

An elderly woman lurking around

Maurice byrd's house the night of his m*rder.

And according to maurice's cousin,

A woman matching that description showed up

At the funeral.

Hi.

Are you part of this family?

Yes, I am.

She said that he owed her.

The woman insisted that maurice owed her $20,000.

She was asking a lot of questions as far

As would the family be willing to pay some money to her

That she had loaned to mr. Byrd?

And I'm here to see if the family is going

To honor that debt.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Did she give you her name?

Yeah. She introduced herself.

And he stated, "beverly mccolm," and I asked him,

"Did she say where she was from?"

And he said, "yes. She's from forney, texas."

Okay. Thanks.

Well, I knew I had to follow up and find ms. Mccolm.

Narrator: dean confirms she is the owner of a gold toyota,

The very model filmed at the crime scene.

I mean, it's the same car at the house,

The same car at the funeral.

Hold on a second. Let me check something.

Dean turns back to maurice's phone records to see

If he can find her there, too.

The last call maurice got was at 8:02 p.m. On december 7th.

That number that had called belonged to beverly mccolm.

Which means this footage shows mccolm making that call.

After 8:02, maurice never answered his phone again.

This means beverly mccolm is now my number-one suspect.

Narrator: beverly is taken into custody,

And dean is in forney to interview her.

Dean: you can have a seat right there.

Thank you.

Dean: there was no criminal activity, nothing, to raise a red flag.

We couldn't even find a parking ticket.

Can you confirm your full name for me, please?

Beverly mccolm.

In my experience,

Elderly little old ladies don't commit homicides.

Narrator: mccolm tells dean she was helping maurice

With a women's shelter he was trying to open.

Dean: she told me that his business needed financial backing,

And he had asked her to invest,

So she had obtained money from credit cards and banks.

Thank you so much for the money.

And it had come to the total of approximately $20,000,

But over time,

She was asking about

Where this money was going.

And then months started to slip by,

And he didn't pay back the money that he owed me.

Narrator: beverly clearly has a motive for m*rder.

Dean turns up the heat without revealing he has her on cctv.

Dean has just caught her in a major lie.

I produced a picture of her standing outside the car.

And she then admitted that it was her.

Narrator: she says she was there at approximately 8:30 p.m.

She ultimately admitted that she was there when he was m*rder*d,

But stated she did not sh**t mr. Byrd.

Narrator: mccolm tells dean how she met max.

Dean: she stated she had met him earlier in the week

When she was driving down the road,

And she stopped and asked him if he wanted to go to the hotel

And just have sex, and he had agreed.

Narrator: dean can't quite believe what he's hearing,

So he pushes her further.

[ Knocking on door ]

Mccolm: maurice, I've come to talk about the money.

What? Who is this?

Max: where's the money?

Tell me.

[ g*nshots ]

She stated that she heard g*nshots, and she came out.

Mccolm: oh, what have you done?

Dean: and she said she left out the front door,

And max followed suit and ran off.

Narrator: dean is skeptical this mystery g*nman is a real person.

She stated she didn't know his last name,

But she had his phone number on a little slip of paper,

And I asked her where the p*stol was.

Narrator: texas rangers execute a search of beverly's apartment.

They located the p*stol where she stated it was at.

Narrator: and amazingly, a piece of paper with the name max

And a phone number on it.

Max is a real person,



I took marion maxwell into custody for the m*rder

Based on beverly mccolm's description of what happened.

Narrator: maxwell confirms one part of beverly's story is true.

He stated that he accompanied her to the hotel

For a couple of days,

And then she had brought him back to guthrie

And dropped him off.

Mr. Maxwell was reporting that he had nothing to do

With any homicide.

Narrator: maxwell claims that on the night of december 7th,

He was at homeland grocery store with his cousin.

And I asked him, "about what time was that?", And he stated,

"At approximately 8:00 o'clock or so."

Narrator: if police can find maxwell on camera

At the time of the m*rder, he'll have the perfect alibi.

Agent dean heads to the grocery store to check out his story.

He's in luck.

A camera overlooks the checkout area.

I'm going to need to take a look at some of your security cam

Footage if you can, please.

Narrator: this is the moment of truth -- either maxwell is lying,

Or the unlikeliest of suspects is a m*rder*r.

Narrator: three weeks after the m*rder of maurice byrd,

Investigators have 65-year-old beverly mccolm in their sights,

But she's pointed the finger at someone else.

Only 37-year-old marion maxwell claims he was grocery shopping

At the time of the m*rder.

Now it's up to special agent michael dean

To see who is telling the truth.

Can you pull up december 7th?

Narrator: they watch the grocery store footage from 8:00 p.m. Onwards.

Okay. Pause there.

At 8:37 p.m., A familiar-looking figure comes into the store.

In the bottom of frame, in a beige jacket

And striped tee-shirt,

It's marion maxwell.

Maxwell is telling the truth.

Seeing marion maxwell on video at the time mr. Byrd was k*lled,

Then you can only surmise that beverly mccolm is your m*rder*r.

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: beverly mccolm is arrested and extradited from texas

To oklahoma

♪♪

Where investigators confront her

With the stills from the grocery-store cctv.

Finally, she confesses...

...and detectives find out

What really happened that night.

Mccolm tells them she traveled to guthrie

To confront maurice over the money she says he owed her.

Mccolm: maurice, I've come for my money.

She was angry and felt she had

Possibly been taken advantage of.

You owe me.

Get out. Out!

Narrator: after a heated argument,

She is captured on cctv lingering outside the house.

Garrett: she was upset.

She had drove around, pulled back to the house,

♪♪

Tried to call him.

[ Phone ringing ]

Maurice, it's beverly.

Dean: she was angry.

She was hurt.

She went to the front door.

Narrator: but this time, she's carrying a g*n.

I'm sure mr. Byrd was surprised

When she was standing there at the front door.

Where is my money?

Him trying to explain where the money had went...

I spent your money on the project.

...she pulled the p*stol.

She fired a shot...

[ g*nsh*t ]

...striking mr. Byrd, and she stood over him,

And shot a final round...

[ g*nsh*t ]

...k*lling him.

♪♪

Narrator: ultimately, with only beverly's word to go on,

The true nature of any financial arrangement

Between her and maurice will never be known.

On march 27, 2013, the 65-year-old pleads guilty

To m*rder in the second degree.

She is sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Dean: I think she did it out of desperation and anger

Trying to get her money back

Instead of living the rest of her life in debt.

Narrator: but mccolm couldn't outwit the footage

That would expose her lies.

Garrett: the video played a very important role.

Without it, it could've been a lot more difficult

To have gotten a conviction.

Love: we all have a time that we have to go.

Maurice knew that well.

That doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt,

It doesn't touch us.

♪♪

Robinson: my dad's m*rder had a huge effect on my family.

Everyone was deeply saddened and hurt.

Jacobs: and now, we just have to do what maurice would want us to do,

To mend our broken hearts and come back together as one,

And that's what we're going to do.

That's what we have to do.

♪♪