04x16 - Seeking Out Maple

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: a young student and model...

[ g*nshots ]

...is brutally attacked...

There was a lot of blood around her.

We had a homicide investigation on our hands.

Narrator: ...a family is ripped apart.

That was the worst day of my life.

Rosy: if I could speak to her now,

I would tell her how much I love her.

Narrator: with a university full of potential suspects...

We may have this whole thing on tape here.

It's a lot of footage.

Narrator: ...only cctv...

Any minute now.

...can reveal...

You're not always sure what you're gonna see.

Narrator: ...who pulled the trigger.

We deserve to know what actually happened

And who did this.

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: september 28, 2011.

Surrey in the canadian province of british columbia.

[ Phone ringing ]

At 1:04 a.m.,

The police switchboard suddenly lights up

With dozens of calls.

The g*nshots were reported as coming from the parkade area

Behind the simon fraser university.

♪♪

[ Radio beeps ]

Man: officer responding.

It's a shots fired call.

The officers would have a lot of adrenaline

Pumping through you as a first responder.

[ Siren wails ]

Not knowing if any suspect or suspects

Are at the location still.

♪♪

Narrator: sergeant kevin jeffrey

Arrives on the third floor of the university parking lot.

[ Police radio chatter ]

We quickly located a female who was between two vehicles.

[ Sirens wailing, radio chatter ]

There was a lot of blood around her,

Had been shot three times,

And she also sustained multiple stab wounds

To the back of her head.

There was hundreds of media.

♪♪

I knew right away the magnitude of this.

She was in need of medical attention immediately.

♪♪

[ Siren chirps ]

Narrator: paramedics rush the young woman

To the nearest hospital...

[ Police radio chatter ]

...as investigators begin combing the crime scene.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

One of the major things we were asking ourselves was,

What's missing?

And clearly, the g*n was missing.

♪♪

Narrator: but the k*ller has left something behind.

Jeffrey: when I first saw that knife,

It really brought it home

That you could see the anger someone would have

To be able to use something like that

On another human being.

♪♪

Narrator: they also find the victim's wallet.

♪♪

She is 19-year-old science student maple batalia.

We need to get another forensics team out here.

The hope is that she'll pull through

And identify the sh**ter.

[ Phone rings ]

Yeah.

But not long into the night,

There's heartbreaking news.

♪♪

Maple batalia is dead.

♪♪

Montgomery: at that moment in time,

We had a homicide investigation on our hands.

♪♪

Narrator: as the m*rder unit processed the scene,

Sergeant jeffrey heads to the batalia family home

Where maple still lived.

There's nothing harder as a police officer is to --

To face the family of a victim of homicide.

-Mr. Batalia? -Yes.

I'm kevin jeffrey, rcmp.

Please come in.

♪♪

[ Exhales deeply ]

♪♪

I'm very sorry to tell you this.

We found maple's body this morning.

Oh, my god.

Narrator: maple had left home the previous evening

For a late-night study session.

[ All crying ]

The news that she has been found m*rder*d on campus

Comes as a total shock.

Poonam: that was the worst day of my life.

I couldn't take it.

I'm sorry.

[ Sniffles ]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[ All crying ]

We felt as if we have lost everything,

And I've lost the most precious jewel of my life.

♪♪

Narrator: maple was a straight "a" student dedicated to her studies.

She first started off doing sciences,

And she wanted to become a doctor.

♪♪

Narrator: but that wasn't her only passion.

♪♪

Poonam: she loved acting.

She wanted to give all she had for sciences,

But then her end goal was to become an actor.

♪♪

Narrator: a dream that will never be realized.

♪♪

Now it's up to sergeant jeffrey to find out why.

♪♪

♪♪

Jeffrey: I remember seeing a security camera outside.

Wherever you walked, you would see another camera.

♪♪

I'm thinking,

We may have this whole thing on tape here.

♪♪

Narrator: sergeant jeffrey arranges for the footage

To be downloaded to the university security office.

-What do you guys got? -It's a lot of footage.

Narrator: he's joined by audio/visual expert

Sergeant adam macintosh.

Surveillance footage can absolutely have

An incredible impact on an investigation.

And ideally in a perfect world,

The crime is committed on video.

♪♪

Narrator: macintosh and jeffrey

Need to establish when maple first arrived,

Starting with footage

From the camera covering the library entrance.

They cue it to 9:30 p.m.,

The time investigators believe maple arrived,

And hit play.

♪♪

Maple was wearing a dark top and distinctive white sandals.

She should be easy to spot.

♪♪

But even at this late hour,

The university is a hive of activity...

Macintosh: considering the hour,

There was more people than I expected at that area.

Narrator: ...which poses a challenge.

So, of course, the more people in a video,

The more you have to look

To try and identify who they are.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

But after poring over hours of footage,

There is no sign of maple.

She must have used a different entrance.

Montgomery: not having captured maple's movements

Was very frustrating for those that were standing there.

But, like many investigations, we bear down, and we carry on.

Narrator: investigators will have to widen the net.

Can we look at those elevators?

Sure thing.

♪♪

Narrator: they switch to a camera covering the route

From the parking lot to the library.

♪♪

They watch as a student

Makes his way towards the elevator.

♪♪

At 10:22, they spot two dark-haired females

Approaching the elevators.

♪♪

The woman on the left,

Wearing a dark jacket and white sandals

Seems to match maple's description.

♪♪

Investigators may have caught sight of maple

Just hours before her brutal m*rder.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: in surrey, british columbia,



Has been shot dead

In a parking lot at simon fraser university.

Investigators kevin jeffrey and adam macintosh

Are retracing her final steps using cctv footage.

♪♪

They have seen a woman matching maple's description

Heading towards the library.

Is that her?

♪♪

But they are unable to make a positive i.d.

♪♪

This video, it yields zero evidence for us.

And so we have to look for it elsewhere.

Narrator: investigators need to establish

Where the girl is gone,

But there is no camera covering the elevator exit.

♪♪

They switch to the library's interior camera

To try and pick her back up.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

That's her for sure. That's definitely her.

Macintosh: yeah.

♪♪

Narrator: the investigators have found maple batalia on video.

Jeffrey: anybody can see from watching that,

It appears that she's very happy.

♪♪

She's laughing with her friend,

And they're -- they're just having a good time.

♪♪

Just in several hours,

She's gonna have her life taken from her.

And, so, when you're reviewing that,

It's hard not to -- to wish you could go back

And do something to help.

♪♪

Narrator: with maple in their sights,

Police can now start to search for clues

That may identify her k*ller.

♪♪

But without warning...

What happened?

...the camera cuts away from maple and her friend.

Turns out,

The library cameras are manually controlled,

And the operator panned away,

Leaving investigators blind.

With this angle now useless,

They switch to the library exit camera,

Hoping to pick up maple's trail.

♪♪

♪♪

At 1:01 a.m.,

A small, slim brunette appears,

Surrounded by guys.

That's maple there.

Jeffrey: we can see maple coming out.

There's three other people with her at that time.

♪♪

Narrator: she heads down the walkway,

And the young men follow close behind.

Jeffrey: at that point, I'm thinking,

Are these people involved in this?

♪♪

Narrator: as maple and the men disappear from view...

♪♪

...investigators pull up the camera

Covering the route leading to the parking lot.

♪♪

In two minutes' time, maple will be brutally m*rder*d.

♪♪

Investigators hope

There's something in this footage

That will explain why.

♪♪

The group continues walking towards the parking lot.

♪♪

From this angle,

Jeffrey and macintosh get their first look

At the men's faces.

♪♪

[ Phone ringing ]

[ Phone line beeps ] man: rcmp.

I'm gonna need you to run some student ids for me.

Yeah, okay.

Just give me one second.

♪♪

Okay, go ahead.

Narrator: they discover that

One of the young men, in particular,

Is a good friend of maple's from high school.

His name is diltaj dhillon.

Okay, great. Thank you.

The victim of a homicide normally would

Have some type of connection to a suspect.

♪♪

Narrator: as someone from maple's past,

And one of the last people to see her alive,

Dhillon is someone sergeant jeffrey

Needs to talk to as soon as possible.

♪♪

To piece together what happened next,

The investigation still has a long way to go.

There are almost 100 cameras on campus,

Including 32 in the parking lot alone.

There was 660 hours worth of video surveillance.

Narrator: sergeant macintosh stays behind to review the footage.

♪♪

Across town,

Sergeant jeffrey pays a visit to diltaj dhillon.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Pounding ]

Dhillon is one of the last people that we know

That saw maple alive.

♪♪

-Diltaj dhillon? -Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: as grief spreads through the community,

A vigil is held in maple's honor.

♪♪

Harkirat: there were surprisingly a lot of people showed up.

People from all religions, all castes, all creeds,

They were present there.

♪♪

Rosy: you could just see how devastated

Not only us, but the community was

With such a tragic thing happening.

♪♪

I felt that we deserved to know what actually happened

And who did this

And who should be held responsible.

♪♪

Narrator: at the police department,

Diltaj dhillon arrives to give a voluntary statement.

He told us that

He was studying with maple earlier on,

And he had left shortly after 1:00.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators need him to

Explain exactly what happened

After the group walked down the stairwell

Towards the parking lot.

Dhillon says that when they got to the parking lot,

They split up.

He claims that, as far as he knows,

Maple then headed straight for her car.

♪♪

Dhillon also alerts police

To something else that might be important.

Jeffrey: dhillon also told us that

He was involved in an incident

A few days beforehand

With another person that knew maple.

Narrator: dhillon didn't recognize the man,

But sergeant jeffrey

Needs to look into this alleged confrontation.

He will have to contact the coffee shop

And download their surveillance footage

As soon as possible.

It's hard to know yet

If dhillon is a witness or a potential suspect.

♪♪

[ Cellphone ringing ]

Back on campus,

Macintosh has found something

That could shed light on just that.

Okay, yeah. I'll be right there.

It's footage of the library exit

And the parking lot

Close to where maple was found m*rder*d.

♪♪

Okay. What do you got for me?

Macintosh cues the footage to 1:02 a.m...

Bring that up.

...and hits play

♪♪

♪♪

There they are.

♪♪

Narrator: maple, dhillon, and the other two men appear.

♪♪

♪♪

But once they walk through the doors,

It's impossible to see where maple goes.

♪♪

Investigators need a better view.

So, we're gonna go to the outside cameras now

To see if we can track

From when they leave those doors.

Narrator: they cue the footage

To seconds before the group pass through the doors.

[ Keyboard keys clacking ]

♪♪

They're about to see if dhillon is telling the truth.

♪♪

Any minute now.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: police investigating the m*rder of student maple batalia

Have found cctv footage

That will show what happened

Two minutes before she was k*lled.

♪♪

Just at the moment maple should appear,

The camera unexpectedly zooms out

And pans to the left.

♪♪

Macintosh: to see that camera turn away at the moment

It most needed to be there

Was one of the most frustrating things

To watch in this investigation.

♪♪

Narrator: turns out,

It follows an automatic pattern around the lot.

♪♪

By the time the camera returns to the doors,

It's 1:04 a.m.

♪♪

Just off-screen, maple lies dying.

♪♪

Sergeant jeffrey has no way of tracking

Maple's final steps to her car

With this camera.

♪♪

To crack the case,

He needs to expand the investigation.

♪♪

♪♪

Additional officers are drafted in

To identify maple's k*ller.

♪♪

But they quickly discover a shocking truth.

♪♪

We found that no camera was looking at that area.

♪♪

Narrator: police realize that the last camera

To capture maple alive is this one --

Covering the doors to the parking lot,

Footage they have already seen.

Jeffrey: this is probably the hardest clip to see

Because you know 30 seconds from now,

Her life's gonna be taken from her.

♪♪

Any hope of seeing what happened

After maple left the building is gone.

♪♪

The team must now change

The focus of their investigation.

♪♪

They start viewing cameras outside the campus

To hunt for any clue that might identify the k*ller.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Finally, the increased manpower pays off.

♪♪

Man: hey, boss, I got something over here!

An eagle-eyed officer spots something suspicious.

♪♪

Macintosh: one particular video that we obtained

Observed a white sports car leaving that area

At what I would describe as a relatively high rate of speed.

Narrator: the car appears on screen at 1:04 a.m.,

The exact time police receive the first 911 call.

♪♪

Investigators need to identify

The driver of the mystery vehicle.

♪♪

An expert is brought in to analyze the footage.

♪♪

Jeffrey: when you stop it,

You can see that that is consistent

With a dodge charger.

♪♪

But unfortunately, going so fast,

There's no way of locating a license plate.

♪♪

We started looking for that vehicle.

Where else is that vehicle seen?

♪♪

Narrator: jeffrey pulls up the parking lot camera footage

From earlier in the evening.

♪♪

♪♪

At 8:07 p.m...

♪♪

...five hours before maple is shot,

He spots a familiar shape.

♪♪

It's the white dodge charger.

♪♪

Jeffrey: seeing that vehicle moving around,

That coupled with it speeding away,

Is very suspicious activity.

♪♪

The investigation swings into overdrive

As the team hunt

For further sightings of the white dodge

On campus that day.

♪♪

♪♪

Finally, they hit the jackpot.

♪♪

At 10:08 p.m.,

The camera covering the route

From the parking lot to the library

Captures the same white dodge sliding into view.

♪♪



Maple and her friend approach the elevator.

♪♪

Now, investigators have a theory.

Jeffrey: whosever in that white dodge charger

Is clearly hunting maple

Without her having any idea of what's happening.

♪♪

We were thinking, the k*ller's inside that car.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

What do you got?

Narrator: police investigating the m*rder of maple batalia

Have identified a white dodge charger

Stalking her in the hours before her death.

♪♪

The race is on to find out who's inside.

♪♪

Officers start tracking down

Every white dodge charger in the area.

♪♪

Montgomery: we quickly learned

There was very few of those vehicles

Registered in the province of british columbia.

♪♪

Jeffrey: the bulk of the dodge chargers at that time

Were rental vehicles.

We then reached out to those rental agencies

To find out which ones were rented

At the time this offense took place.

Narrator: police cross-reference that information

With a list of maple's friends and fellow students.

♪♪

No name registers a hit.

♪♪

Until...

Man: sir!

We came across the name gursimar bedi.

♪♪

Narrator: bedi is also a student at simon fraser university.

That is a match,

And it looks like it was returned two days ago.

Guys.

Police now have a new lead.

♪♪

But they need to be certain

That bedi was the one renting the car.

We're rcmp.

We're looking for a man that rented a car from you.

Do you recognize this guy?

Not off the top of my head, no.

♪♪

Jeffrey: fortunately for us, avis had surveillance video

Not only inside, but outside, as well.

♪♪

Narrator: according to their records,

The charger was rented at 10:30 a.m. On september 25th,

A day and a half before the m*rder.

They cue the footage to 10:19 that day

And press play.

♪♪

♪♪



Two men enter.

♪♪

The man standing at the counter

Matches the description of gursimar bedi.

♪♪

And he isn't alone.

The other male with him is a south asian male,

Approximately 20 years old.

Narrator: investigators pull up footage

From the exterior camera covering the parking lot.

♪♪

♪♪

They watch bedi's companion walk out of frame.

♪♪

Moments later,

Bedi drives the car out of the lot.

♪♪

Perfect.

We'll need a copy of that downloaded.

Narrator: macintosh downloads the avis footage,

As jeffrey sends the car to forensics for analysis.

♪♪

Bedi is confirmed

As the renter of the white dodge.

Now, investigators need to identify the second man.

♪♪

Back at the police department,

Investigators catch a break.

An officer recognizes bedi's companion

From a previous arrest.

Thanks.

We were able to identify that second person

As gurjinder dhaliwal.

♪♪

Narrator: and they soon learn that gurjinder dhaliwal

Was known to the victim.

Jeffrey: dhaliwal was maple's ex-boyfriend.

♪♪

Yeah.

♪♪

The fact that they were in a relationship is important.

We needed to find out more.

♪♪

Jeffrey: so, I have a screen grab

From the security footage of the rental car company.

Narrator: sergeant jeffrey pays another visit to maple's family.

♪♪

Poonam: when I first met him,

I felt like he was good for maple.

But then he cheated on maple,

So maple had a reason to break up with him,

And he just couldn't get that in his head.

Was he jealous?

Yeah, he was really jealous and possessive.

Narrator: if what the family say about dhaliwal is true,

Then it could provide him with a motive for m*rder.

♪♪

Sergeant jeffrey needs to follow up this new lead,

But another development has come to light.

♪♪

The footage of the scuffle in a coffee shop

Involving maple, dhillon, and another man

Is now ready to view.

♪♪

Sergeant jeffrey selects the camera facing the entrance

And hits play.

♪♪

At 3:53 a.m.,

A young man and woman enter.

♪♪

Officers switch to the camera covering the counter.

♪♪

The couple is obscured by other customers,

So it's impossible to confirm their i.d.

♪♪

But then...

♪♪

...investigators get a clear shot.

It's maple and diltaj dhillon.

♪♪

They then make their way towards a table

At the front of the coffee shop.

♪♪

♪♪

A man enters and approaches maple and dhillon.

♪♪

Investigators identify the man

As gurjinder dhaliwal, maple's ex-boyfriend.

♪♪

Dhaliwal lashes out in the direction of dhillon.

♪♪

Investigators track maple and dhaliwal

Into the parking lot.

♪♪

Dhaliwal appears to order maple into his car.

♪♪

Then drives away.

♪♪

Jeffrey: that footage actually shows us an insight

To what's going on in that relationship.

I'm seeing a jealous ex-boyfriend

Days before maple's life is taken from her.

♪♪

Narrator: this violent outburst

Leaves investigators with a new theory,

That gurjinder dhaliwal

Is responsible for maple's m*rder.

Now they need to prove it.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: police now believe gurjinder dhaliwal

Shot and stabbed his ex-girlfriend, maple batalia.

He is known to be violent and jealous,

And security footage links him

To a dodge charger seen fleeing the crime scene.

But it isn't enough for police to bring charges.

♪♪

His suspected accomplice, gursimar bedi,

Is brought in for questioning.

Investigators hope to get bedi to flip on his friend.

♪♪

He chose to remain silent,

And he did not want to tell his story,

His side of his story.

Narrator: just when it seems dhaliwal and bedi

May get away with m*rder...

♪♪

...the forensic exam of the dodge charger

Yields a critical clue...

A spent shell casing lodged behind the hood.

♪♪

Immediately examining that shell casing,

You could see it was the same caliber that was used.

♪♪

Whoever k*lled maple was the driver of that vehicle.

♪♪

At that point, there's no time to waste.

Gurjinder dhaliwal and gursimar bedi

Are both arrested

In connection to the m*rder of maple batalia.

On the first day of trial,

Dhaliwal dramatically changes his plea to guilty.

In the end, he admitted that he had k*lled her,

And he sort of went into why.

Narrator: investigators are eventually able to piece together

The chain of events that led to m*rder.

♪♪

When dhaliwal's relationship with maple ended,

He struggled to come to terms with the break-up.

♪♪

Suspecting maple had moved on,

He descended into a jealous rage,

Bought a g*n and knife,

And asked gursimar bedi to rent a car for him.

Dhaliwal used the car to track maple

While gursimar bedi acted as his lookout.

♪♪

Dhaliwal looked at her as his possession

And not as a person.

If he didn't have her, no one could.

♪♪

That evening, they seal maple's fate.

Dhaliwal drops bedi off at sfu.

Narrator: bedi reported that maple

Was heading into the university library.

Dhaliwal spent the next four hours waiting for them.

♪♪

Narrator: finally, at 1:02 a.m.,

Maple exited the building,

Accompanied by her friends.

♪♪

The fact that one of them was diltaj dhillon,

The man he fought a few days before,

Only amplified dhaliwal's rage.

Jeffrey: maple had no idea when she left sfu that night

That her life would be taken from her.

♪♪

Narrator: dhaliwal waited until maple was alone

In the one parking lot not covered by cameras.

♪♪

It's there that he struck.

♪♪

[ g*nshots ]

♪♪

He shot maple,

And slashed her head with a knife.

♪♪

At trial, gursimar bedi is found guilty

Of accessory after the fact.

He is sentenced to 22 months.

Macintosh: we don't believe bedi knew in advance

That dhaliwal was going to k*ll her.

Bedi was simply his eyes and ears,

An accomplice to the stalking.

♪♪

Narrator: for the m*rder of maple batalia,

Gurjinder dhaliwal is sentenced to life in prison.

We're pleased to see

That what we believe is a guilty person

To have been convicted.

♪♪

Jeffrey: the surveillance video played a huge part

In this investigation.

♪♪

Every little part kind of fit together like a puzzle.

♪♪

Narrator: for those left behind, life will never be the same.

Harkirat: maple's death has shook up the whole family.

I miss everything about maple.

This isn't an easy day for us.

It's very bittersweet.

Rosy: we were just so proud of her.

If I could speak to her now,

I would tell her how much I love her.

[ Sniffles ]

Rosy: although we can't bring maple back,

We're happy to see that

The people that are responsible for this

Are now gonna suffer the consequences.

♪♪

Poonam: the pain never goes, you know?

People say justice brings peace,

But it doesn't,

'Cause maple's still not here.

♪♪