05x02 - Run from the Scene

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a brutal m*rder the day after thanksgiving...

Call 911!

A calculated, cold-blooded execution.

Narrator: ...leaves a family torn apart.

Then I just started screaming.

It just became real.

Hicks: you just don't destroy one person.

You destroy a whole family.

Narrator: with no witnesses...

I didn't know who could be responsible.

Narrator: ...and no obvious leads...

Kind of rules out robbery as a motive.

...surveillance cameras will unravel

A tangled web of love.

This footage will finally help them identify

The perpetrators of the crime.

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: november 21st, 2012 -- easton, pennsylvania.

[ Club music plays ]

The night before thanksgiving, champ's corner bar is hopping...

...thanks to local deejay ervin holton,

Also known as "dj e."

Everybody loved dj e in easton.

He was cool. He was popular.

Females wanted to date him.

Guys wanted to hang out with him.

Most of his deejaying gigs were like an event.

[ Laughs ]

When he deejayed, he had a large crowd.

Narrator: ervin loves easton.

It's his home, and he gives back

As much as he gets from his community.

Edwards: and he was very generous.

There would be times where he might deejay for a party

Or someone's wedding

And gift it to them to where they wouldn't have to pay.

♪♪

He trusted and loved easton so much

He would never lock his doors.

That's how safe he felt there.

♪♪

Narrator: it's november 22nd -- thanksgiving.

Not only does ervin deejay five nights a week,

He also has a factory job,

But today is all about family.

A little turkey?

Just a little.

Thanksgiving was a big thing for ervin.

His family would always get together on major holidays.

Narrator: ervin's sister, tiffany,

Has driven up from washington, d.c.

I just want you to try and eat a little something.

This year, it's a bittersweet celebration.

Ervin's mother has terminal cancer,

And the family is having their dinner at the nursing home.

Don't everything look wonderful?

-It sure does. -Yes.

We were aware that my mom wouldn't be around much longer.

It was a very important day for us, especially --

You know, we did it to make my mom happy.

Narrator: ervin is thankful for his family,

But his community is close to his heart.

And ervin said, "I love it here."

And when I'm done,

Bury me in pennsylvania... In easton.

That's where I want to be.

♪♪

Narrator: it's the day after thanksgiving,

And an easton tradition,

The peace candle lighting, is in full swing.

It's an enormous kickoff to the holiday season.

You've got people getting together with family.

You have people out shopping,

Trying to get the best deals that they can get,

And you really have the start of that christmas-season feeling

In the air throughout the city.

Narrator: at 5:41 p.m., Easton pd gets a call.

[ Telephone rings ]

Responding to 147 st. Joseph's street...

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: responding officers are on the scene within minutes.

[ Police radio chatter ]

At the front door of the house, a grim scene --

A distraught woman is cradling the body of a man.

It's ervin holton.

[ Cries ]

Homicide detectives darren snyder and matthew rush

Take the case.

[ Police radio chatter ]

The woman is janine edwards, one of ervin's closest friends.

The story she tells is as heart-wrenching

As it is puzzling.

He called me at 5:40.

[ Cellphone rings ]

Hey.

Yeah, janine, I'm down here.

Narrator: ervin was coming over to borrow janine's car.

Edwards: so I roll out of bed,

And I walk down towards the stairs,

And as I get to the landing of the stairs,

I hear g*nshots.

[ g*nshots ]

I run down the stairs, and I open the front door.

And when I look down, I see ervin.

Call 911!

We tried to do first aid or whatever we could at that time,

But there was nothing could be done.

He just -- he was gone.

[ Cries ]

There's no words to express

Exactly how you feel in that moment,

Just to see someone that you know

Pass away right before you,

And there's nothing you could do,

Like a bad dream.

Narrator: with a k*ller loose in the neighborhood,

Investigators press for possible leads.

Edwards: the police ask me,

Did I know anyone that wanted to hurt ervin?

I had no theories.

I didn't know who could be responsible.

Narrator: detectives return to the secured scene

And search for clues and quickly realize

This isn't your average street crime.

Blake: ervin was shot multiple times in the legs.

However, there was one shot

Which quite clearly was the shot that had k*lled him.

Narrator: detectives deduce that the fatal shot

Was a single b*llet to the chest.

This was not a heat-of-the-moment homicide,

But, in fact, appeared to be

A calculated, cold-blooded execution.

Narrator: in ervin's pockets, they find $167 in cash.

Kind of rules out robbery as a motive.

It appears so.

At this stage, as far as the police are concerned,

Everybody is a suspect.

Narrator: as a crowd gathers, two men approach the detectives.

Excuse me.

Steven and anthony showed up at the crime scene

To see what was going on.

Come on in. Come on.

Steven presley and anthony knoll are friends of ervin.

Narrator: they were with ervin just before he was shot.

They relate to the police

That they were inside the king's mart,

Which is located across the street from the homicide scene.

Ervin left the store to go get the keys to janine's car.

While they were in the store, they heard several g*nshots

And saw two individuals running from the scene.

I'm gonna need to see you both

Down at the station tomorrow,

Get a full statement, okay?

Steven and anthony are persons of interest,

Certainly, because of their information,

And therefore that makes them suspects

Until they can be ruled out.

Narrator: detective snyder now has a starting point

For his investigation.

As he approaches the store, he notices a surveillance camera

Pointing directly at the crime scene.

Could be they just found a witness to m*rder.

Narrator: 43-year-old ervin holton has been shot dead

Outside his friend's home in easton, pennsylvania.

No one saw the incident,

But there is one potential witness --

A surveillance camera outside the convenience store

Across the street,

And it's pointing straight at the crime scene.

This footage could solve the whole case.

Narrator: then detective snyder spots a second camera

Also covering the m*rder site.

That camera points into the parking lot

But is skewed a little bit off of the street.

Narrator: he heads inside to view the footage.

According to janine, she heard the shots around 5:40 p.m.,

So they cue the footage to just before that time and press play.

Blake: up comes a view of the parking lot

In front of the king's mart.

The camera faces in the direction

Where ervin was shot and k*lled.

You can see in the bottom-left corner there's a vehicle

That pulls in and parks with its headlights still on.

♪♪

Narrator: suddenly, the picture changes.

The screen is blotted out by a white blur.

Narrator: detective snyder watches the clock tick down

To the time of the m*rder,

But the glitch on the camera doesn't go away.

There are what appear to be

Streaks of light coming across the camera.

It's extremely frustrating at this point

Because you know you have video, but video that's not that great.

♪♪

Narrator: then, at 5:40 p.m., The time ervin is shot,

The blur suddenly changes shape.

All of a sudden, you see it move,

And you're able to figure out

That what you're actually looking at

Is a spider sitting right in the frame

Right at the time of the homicide.

The one thing that could solve this case right now, tonight,

Is impeded by something so small and so ridiculous.

You've got to be kidding me.

Narrator: snyder hopes there's no spider

Blocking the other camera.

He's got a second chance to see what happened to ervin.

♪♪

♪♪

Blake: the second external camera is difficult to watch.

The camera is cued into a stop-motion system,

So when the action slows, the camera stops.

♪♪

Casola: you see a vehicle pull up.

♪♪

Individuals get out and go into the king's mart.

It's hard see in the video what the individuals look like.

You can tell that they're tall, black males,

But it's hard to make out any identifying information

About them.

Narrator: snyder wonders if this is ervin

Being dropped off at the store.

He continues to watch, counting down to the m*rder.

♪♪

♪♪

At 5:39, we see an individual walking out of the store,

Across the parking lot.

There.

Narrator: they zoom in to try and get a closer look.

He's alone.

The image is not clear enough for them to identify the man,

But with the figure walking in the direction of janine's house

Just moments before the m*rder, it has to be ervin.

Unfortunately, the camera cuts short due to the stop-motion.

Narrator: it's a chilling moment for detectives.

It quickly became evident that officers were looking at

The last moments of ervin holton's life

Before he was tragically ex*cuted.

♪♪

Narrator: the next thing to trigger the camera

Are the flashing lights of the first responders.

Despite both cameras facing the crime scene,

Neither has captured what happened

At the time of the m*rder.

♪♪

News of ervin's m*rder reaches the family.

I just pulled over, and I called my husband.

I say, "andrew, they saying ervin dead."

[ Cries ]

Then I just started screaming.

It just became real.

I just started screaming.

[ Voice breaking ] he was my best friend.

♪♪

Narrator: tiffany has to give the news

To her dying mother.

Tiffany: [ normal voice ] all I could do is just hold her.

It was the hardest thing I ever had to do,

Was to tell her that.

Narrator: investigators hit a dead end

With the king mart cameras.

They turn their attention to the last people to see him alive,

Friends steven presley and anthony knoll.

Normal police procedure -- anybody who was with the victim

Before an incident will be interviewed.

Narrator: steven is interviewed first.

Blake: steven is a very close friend with ervin.

They work together.

They socialize together.

They've known each other for a very long time.

Narrator: steven claims that he and anthony

Were in the king's mart store at the time ervin was shot.

He then adds a crucial lead.

He saw the shooters.

Anthony's account matches steven's.

Both of them say they were inside the store

When the sh**ting happened.

Before they can rule out steven and anthony,

The police need to view

The surveillance footage from the king mart.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives cue up the first camera,

Which overlooks the store's entrance...

Let's start it around 5:38.

...two minutes before the m*rder.

♪♪

Snyder sees a familiar face come in.

This is steven presley,

And he's wearing the exact same clothes he's wearing

While being interviewed by the police.

Narrator: next to enter is ervin holton.

He's wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt,

A black leather jacket, and a dark-colored hat.

Narrator: just like at the crime scene.

Ervin greets the man in the blue hat when he walks in.

Immediately behind him is anthony knoll.

Let's take a look at the second in-store camera.

♪♪

Narrator: the camera captures ervin

Walking around the deli counter.

Right behind him is anthony knoll.

This appears to be a normal shopping trip.

Narrator: detective snyder turns to the third in-store camera

Overlooking the exit door and a second cash register.

Ervin is furthest from the camera,

Exiting the store.

Blake: we see anthony knoll and steven presley

Walking away from the camera towards the front of the store.

Narrator: suddenly, the shopkeeper reacts

To a noise outside.

It's the same time as ervin is shot.

Steven and anthony's alibi stacks up.

They are on camera at the exact time of the homicide.

They could not have been involved.

Narrator: having cleared steven,

Detective rush asks him if ervin had any enemies.

This is the first lead police have on a potential suspect.

It's a sudden break in the case.

Cliff ransom is known to police

And allegedly has a history with ervin.

Casola: when that tip came in, cliff was absolutely a suspect.

They called the probation officer

Because they knew cliff was just released from prison.

Narrator: snyder finds out that cliff skipped parole

On the very day of ervin's m*rder.

Police quickly put out a bolo for cliff and wait.

Detectives then find another lead.

A second 911 call was made

Moments after janine's niece called in ervin's m*rder.

This 911 call is the most frustrating

Piece of evidence in this case.



Female was driving northbound on st. John street right here.

Narrator: the missed opportunity is frustrating,

But the woman's call does back up

Steven and anthony's account of two gunmen.

The sole mio restaurant is two blocks north of the m*rder,

And if it has surveillance cameras,

They could finally answer the question,

Who k*lled ervin holton?

Narrator: investigators now believe that ervin holton was gunned down

By two african american men

Who ran from the crime scene towards the sole mio restaurant,

Jumped into a honda odyssey, and made their getaway.

As detective rush arrives at the sole mio,

The manager points out three security cameras.

Tell me something.

Are these cameras being recorded 24 hours of the day?

Yes.

Surveillance footage is often more reliable than an eyewitness

Because surveillance footage

Shows you exactly what happened that day.

Eyewitnesses can be unreliable.

If, in fact, those were the perpetrators

That shot ervin holton,

Then those cameras at the sole mio restaurant

Would be an absolutely critical piece of information

In terms of solving ervin's homicide.

Narrator: unfortunately, the hard drive has to be sent away

To download the files,

So it's going to take a couple days

Until detectives can view the footage.

At the other end of town, ervin's family gather together.

The initial shock of the m*rder has given way to profound grief,

Bewilderment, and anger.

I felt very distraught because I just wanted

To see who had done this,

And I wanted to know why.

What could possibly have been going through your mind

To want to destroy somebody,

The whole family?

Because, see, you just don't destroy one person.

You destroy a whole family.

I couldn't wait until I finally found out the reason

My brother was m*rder*d and who was responsible.

I was anxious.

Narrator: all they can do is pray

That they'll have answers soon.

Five days after the m*rder,

With the surveillance footage still pending,

There's a new development.

[ Siren wails ]

The prime suspect, cliff ransom, is spotted.

Patrol officers initiate a traffic stop

Of his truck that he's driving.

Police cannot rule out the possibility that he's armed.

Narrator: but cliff doesn't resist.

Cliff doesn't tell officers

Why he failed to check in with parole,

But he does provide an alibi for his whereabouts that day.

Casola: cliff told police that on the day of the homicide,

He was in a separate part of the town

Playing football with his girlfriend's kids.

Narrator: he then went to buy beer with his friends

At around 8:30 p.m. A mile south of the crime scene.

While police track down the people he was with

To check his alibi...

They go to the beer store in order to determine

Whether or not there is surveillance footage

That they can view, which hopefully captures cliff.

Narrator: there's a camera overlooking the shop counter.

The manager pulls up the footage

From the time cliff says he went there

And presses play.

♪♪

♪♪

At 8:27 p.m., Cliff is captured buying beer,

Just like he said he did.

Police also speak to cliff's friends.

Blake: through interviews,

Police are able to determine that, in fact,

Cliff was telling the truth.

Narrator: their prime suspect is off the hook.

Despite the rumors,

There's no evidence he pulled a g*n on ervin.

Just as the case is stalling,

An envelope lands on detective rush's desk.

It's the surveillance from the sole mio restaurant.

Police are really holding out hope

That this footage will finally help them

Identify the perpetrators of the crime.

Narrator: detective rush inserts the disc

And eagerly presses play.

What detectives see next

Will change the entire course of the investigation.

Narrator: in the aftermath of ervin holton's m*rder,

With the only suspect now ruled out,

Police get the surveillance footage

From the sole mio restaurant

Two blocks north of the crime scene.

There's a hope that,

Given the proximity of that camera to the crime scene,

That perhaps the perpetrators will be captured on film.

Narrator: detective rush cues it to just before 5:40 p.m.

When the 911 call came in.

The first clip

From the restaurant's surveillance cameras

Is marked "north side facing west."

This is the porch on madison.

That's right here.

♪♪

Narrator: at 5:39 p.m., One minute before the m*rder,

A dark vehicle pulls in just beyond the restaurant.

It looks like a honda odyssey.

♪♪

Casola: you see one dark figure

Sort of walking up behind the store.

You see another dark figure lock the vehicle,

And then you see them exit off of the screen.

It's really dark.

Narrator: from this angle, it's impossible to identify them

Or the vehicle's license plate.

Rush moves on to the next clip.

This one is marked "west side facing south."

This right here is the alley behind the restaurant,

And that would be right here.

♪♪

♪♪

Blake: you can see that, as they get towards

The upper portion of the screen,

They begin jogging and moving like they're on a mission.

♪♪

Narrator: the next clip is "south side facing south."

It's a view of the restaurant's parking lot

Just a block away from the crime scene.

♪♪

Casola: we're seeing one of them running

And the other one walking very callously

Towards where this crime was committed.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

The way they're running,

Looks like they're running towards st. Joseph street.

At this moment, they could not look more suspicious.

Narrator: detectives keep watching to see if they return.

♪♪

Just over a minute later, there's action on-screen.

At 5:41, you see the two individuals

In a complete and utter dead sprint

Coming from st. Joseph's.

Narrator: rush and snyder turn to the side-alley camera,

Tracking them.

♪♪

♪♪

Detectives pay close attention

To the placement of the men's hands.

♪♪

♪♪

Police believe they're seeing the two individuals

Holding the weapons they used to k*ll ervin holton

In place in their waistband.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: just as the 911 caller described it,

The men run to their car, get in, and race away.

Blake: police believe they are looking at the two individuals

That k*lled ervin holton.

♪♪

Narrator: with no i.d. Or license plate,

Detectives appeal to the public for information.

Two days later, a response blows the case wide open.

Homicide. Rush speaking.

A friend of ervin's contacted the police

And let them know that ervin had been in a relationship

With a woman named nicole green.

Narrator: the tipster also says that nicole dated ervin

While her previous boyfriend, patrick hughes, was in prison.

Patrick has a very, very extensive criminal record.

He's been in and out of prison.

Narrator: patrick hughes was released

Just three weeks before the m*rder.

According to the tipster, he was still furious with ervin

For dating his ex-girlfriend.

Patrick hughes is a controlling, manipulative,

Jealous individual who wants his way or no way.

Narrator: the tipster then reveals something else.

Nicole's best friend was a woman named lisa doorley

Who owned a honda odyssey.

Narrator: detectives dispatch a team of officers

To track down patrick hughes

While they follow up with a visit to lisa doorley.

They were very anxious to get a look at that honda odyssey.

Hi. Lisa doorley?

-Yeah. -I'm detective rush.

This is detective snyder.

Lisa initially tells the police

That she had been with her mother that day

Utilizing the honda odyssey van.

Narrator: at home with lisa is her boyfriend, omar robinson.

I may have used it later in the evening.

Omar quickly corrects her and says,

"No. I had the van right around sundown,

Probably between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m."

There are some alarm bells ringing at this point

Because lisa and omar's stories don't match up.

You guys mind if we talk outside for a second?

Narrator: lisa was unaware

Omar had taken the honda odyssey that day.

He said that he had used it to run errands

To go to a gas station up on route 248.

While they're outside, officers tell omar

That they have surveillance footage of a honda odyssey van

Leaving the scene of a crime.

Saying it isn't lisa's car?

Omar's eyes begin to tear up, and he just drops his head.

It was apparent that omar was suffering from guilt,

That he knew what he had done.

Narrator: but when detectives check out his story,

There's no surveillance at the gas station.

They request a search warrant for the honda odyssey.



The other suspect, patrick hughes,

Is located and interviewed.

He's back behind bars for drug dealing.

Detectives push him about his relationship with nicole.

Patrick swears he had nothing to do with ervin's m*rder,

So police ask him what he was doing that day.

♪♪

Patrick is being deliberately vague,

So detectives bring omar robinson into the mix.

Omar robinson never states that he was with patrick hughes.

Patrick and omar's stories do not align.

Narrator: police request patrick and omar's phone records.

What they uncover is a dark conspiracy

That ends in m*rder.

Narrator: 12 days after ervin holton was brutally gunned down,

Detectives' two main suspects,

Patrick hughes and omar robinson,

Are telling very different stories about their whereabouts

On the night of the m*rder.

Months go by,

And still investigators are no nearer to closing the case.

Then detective snyder gets an unexpected visit

From patrick hughes' ex-girlfriend, nicole green.

She tells him that patrick's been contacting her from prison.

Detectives hope nicole has some information

To help their case.

Nicole kept all those letters

And turned them over to the police to review.

Narrator: the letters paint a vivid picture

Of a toxic relationship.

Casola: these letters show that patrick hughes

Was obsessed with nicole green.

He learned from the letters that,

If patrick wasn't gonna have her,

That nobody else was going to.

Narrator: amongst all the anger and promises,

Snyder hones in on one passage.

Come and check this out.

Blake: he wrote to nicole

And stated that he was done selling drugs,

Done sh**ting people,

And wanted to start living a new life.

Narrator: to snyder, this is as close to a confession as he'll ever get.

Police deduced that patrick was making reference

To having shot ervin holton.

Narrator: detectives hope the phone records

Will place patrick and omar together that night.

But patrick had given detectives the wrong cell number.

Police then obtain a second phone number for patrick hughes.

Narrator: these records show the two men

Were in separate locations before the homicide,

In constant contact.

Casola: patrick and omar were in separate vehicles.

Phone record shows them coming from two separate locations

In the city to the same spot at the time of the m*rder,

And at the time of the m*rder, they're not talking to anybody.

Narrator: then, immediately after the m*rder,

There's a large volume of phone calls between the two men.

Casola: they were planning to k*ll ervin.

They're driving to the location.

They're k*lling ervin in the silence

Of their cellphone records,

And then omar is telling patrick it's done.

Narrator: it also tells police that the second man

Seen on the restaurant's surveillance wasn't patrick.

Somewhere out there, there's a second sh**ter.

♪♪

Along with this evidence,

The honda odyssey tested positive for g*nsh*t residue.

Police now place patrick hughes and omar robinson under arrest

For the sh**ting death of ervin holton.

Narrator: at trial, prosecutors present the events

Leading up to ervin's death.

Patrick hughes was directing the shooters

On the night of the m*rder.

As ervin and his friends arrive at the king mart,

Patrick calls omar.

They're going inside the king mart, man.

Hurry up.

Narrator: omar and the other g*nman

Pull up the sole mio restaurant in the honda odyssey,

A block from the king mart.

At 5:39:44 p.m., Ervin is caught on cctv

Leaving the store on his own.

Patrick alerts omar, and the two men break into a run

As they cross the sole mio parking lot.

As ervin makes his way to janine's,

Omar and the second g*nman reach him

Just as he arrives at her front porch.

Hey, yo! [ g*nshots ]

Narrator: the two K*llers sh**t him in the legs

And then move in for the fatal shot.

♪♪

They're caught on camera running from the scene...

...holding their weapons...

...as they make their getaway in the honda odyssey.

Blake: the surveillance footage

That we were able to obtain in this case was critical

As far as solving ervin's homicide.

Narrator: omar robinson and patrick hughes

Are convicted of first-degree m*rder and conspiracy

And sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Patrick was motivated by the fact

That ervin had been involved

In a relationship with nicole green.

He was jealous, and he didn't like the fact

That anybody else was capable of being with her.

What the streets say is that omar owed patrick.

Narrator: but patrick and omar won't reveal

Who the second g*nman is.

Without clear surveillance footage,

Police don't have enough evidence to identify him.

I feel like justice was served as to patrick and omar,

But there's a second sh**ter that's still out there.

Narrator: ervin's mother passes away

Before the K*llers are sentenced,

But the rest of ervin's family takes some comfort in knowing

That two of the perpetrators are behind bars.

I feel justice was served for my family,

But we still have a way to go.

I miss my brother.

I do.

I miss planning for our birthdays,

Having events together,

Supporting him and his deejay gigs.

Hicks: I miss everything about him.

I really do. I miss everything.

I miss his smile.

I miss his laugh.

I miss talking to him.

I miss his hugs.