05x11 - Gentle Giant

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a gentle giant m*rder*d in his own home.

Who could possibly do this? And why would they do this?

Narrator: a trail of evidence puzzles detectives.

This very well may be somebody who he knew or trusted.

Narrator: detectives scour the city for a k*ller.

This was the right car, right beside me right now.

Narrator: with multiple suspects, surveillance reveals all.

Just jumped on top of the car.

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: it's summer in san antonio's east side.



With his closest friend, etoy, and her son, his godson, kim.

Our favorite show was "true blood."

My kids got into it. Torrance was into it.

Torrance would cook the meal, and you just brought whatever,

And we would sit there and eat good food

And watch that show.

Cheeves: uh, remind me again what happened last week

With bill and that cop.

Oh, you and this show.

You don't remember that sookie thought

Bill was gonna k*ll him?

[ Hisses ] [ laughs ]

He was always making people laugh.

Anything he would say, it would be funny.

Ooh! Something smells good.

Oh, let me see.

Ah! You better get out of my kitchen.

Narrator: torrance and etoy have a very close relationship.

Torrance would just call you out of the blue

Or send the funny pictures,

Just to let you know that he was thinking about you.

He would always tell me, "blood doesn't make you family.

The love you have makes you a family."

And I live by that.

So he will always be family.

Narrator: torrance works the 7:30 to 4:30 shift

At the local assisted living center.

Skinner: we were called the active treatment coordinators.

Me, larry, and torrance were always together.

You saw one of us, you saw all of us.

Torrance would always, you know, make me laugh.

We just did fun things all the time.

Throughout our shift, you'd be laughing every day,

Having a good time.

Narrator: but on wednesday, august 26, 2015...

Hey. Good morning.

...torrance doesn't show.

Have you seen torrance?

I arrived to work at about 7:15,

And torrance would usually be there.

After 8:00, we started texting and calling torrance

Throughout the morning.

He never doesn't just show up for work.

He'll always text or call.

Narrator: finally, around lunchtime,

Amanda and larry decide to take action.

Hey, man, if you don't call back in the next few minutes,

We're coming over, and I want you to know that

If we do, you'll have wasted our entire lunch hour.

♪♪

It's a 10-minute drive to torrance's house.

♪♪

Gilmore: and we saw his car in the driveway,

So we knew he was home.

♪♪

[ Knocking on door ]

You home?

Maybe try to call him.

We call his phone, and we can hear his phone ringing.

[ Cellphone beeping ]

[ Cellphone ringing ]

And we started to get even more worried,

Like, "why is he not answering his phone?"

It's ringing. That's ringing.

Then the next thing that we noticed

Is that the window from the front of his house was broken.

Skinner: we walked to the back of the house

'Cause the keys were on the door.

There was his laptop on the ground,

And so that's when I knew something was wrong.

[ Siren wailing ]

Narrator: an officer responds within minutes.

He was calling out for torrance.

He was like, "sir, are you in here?"

Officer: is anyone home?

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

♪♪

♪♪

And then we could just hear him say, "sir, are you okay?"

Narrator: but torrance is not okay.

San antonio police department have a homicide to solve.

[ Siren wailing ]

And leading the investigation is detective timm angell.

When I arrive, the crime scene tape is already up.

The street is secured.

We record the crime scenes,

Both with photographs and with video,

'Cause whenever you arrive at a crime scene,

You're getting a lot of information

Dumped on you visually.

You're not gonna remember everything you see.

The video is extremely useful.

♪♪

Narrator: timm angell is accompanied by detective tom mcnelly.

Once we arrive to the living room,

That's where I see torrance cheeves.

He's laying on the floor.

Angell: I could see a stab wound.

It looked like the lower portion of his neck.

He looked to be well over 6'5",

Probably 350, 400 pounds.

If he felt danger, he probably could have defended himself

And pushed his attacker away.

So, for somebody to get that close to him

And be able to inflict one stab wound,

To me, led me to believe this very well might be

Somebody who he knew or trusted.

Narrator: the coffee table is overturned

On top of torrance,

And there's obvious signs of a struggle.

Angell: we found a serrated kitchen knife in the sink.

It looked like it possibly had

A couple small, very small, minute specks of blood on it.

Narrator: detectives believe this could be the m*rder weapon.

Angell: whoever committed this crime

Had the time to put the knife in the sink

Versus running out the door with it.

Narrator: and it looks like someone tried to clean it.

Which would indicate somebody that may have been comfortable

Inside that house and knew the victim.

Narrator: torrance's home is in a subdivision with close plots.

Ma'am, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?

They visit house after house without a single lead.

The only information they gather

Is that torrance was g*y and lived alone.

There was a neighbor who had mentioned

That another neighbor possibly saw some activity

The previous night.

[ Knocking on door ]

The initial attempts to contact this person were unsuccessful.

Nobody would answer the door.

Doesn't look like anyone's home.

Best we could do was leave a business card,

Asking for a call back.

Narrator: meantime, news of torrance's death

Quickly spreads to his closest friends.

[ Cellphone ringing ]

Hello?

A mutual friend of ours called. He said, "he's gone."

Those were the exact words -- "he's gone."

And I'm like, "what do you mean, torrance is gone?

What do you mean, he's gone?"

He was like, "he passed away. He's been k*lled."

I don't believe it.

I lost it. I couldn't believe it.

And it made it worse because I had to tell my kids

That their uncle, godfather is no longer with us.

♪♪

We both were just crying, like, 'cause it was so unexpected,

And we couldn't believe that he was taken so soon.

♪♪

Narrator: back at the crime scene, detectives angell and mcnelly

Scour torrance's house for clues.

Angell: you can look at a crime scene for hours and miss something,

So I've learned to take a really slow walk around it,

Without anybody talking to me or giving me details,

Just walk around it and look myself.

Mcnelly: when we get into his bedroom, there were drawers open.

There was boxes turned over.

There was boxes that were emptied.

We could tell from the faint dust marks

On the countertop that something was missing.

It was in a position where a tv would be.

Narrator: the scene contradicts their theory

That it was someone close to torrance.

Mcnelly: it appeared like

Either torrance cheeves walked in on a burglary

Or maybe somebody hurt torrance

In the process of committing a burglary.

Narrator: detectives spot something in the clutter.

We were able to find a galaxy 3 cellphone.

A lot of times, a cellphone can give you

A wealth of information.

Narrator: they also find a key piece of evidence,

Which could determine torrance's movements

On the day of the m*rder.

We found a receipt.

The receipt was from a half-eaten box of chicken

From a popeyes restaurant.

Narrator: the bill is time-stamped 4:08 p.m.

Angell: his friends had said he left work at 3:45.

That was a promising lead.

It can lead us in building a timeline.

Narrator: detective mcnelly follows up on the receipt

With a trip to popeyes,

In search of a different kind of witness.

Surveillance video is more reliable than an eyewitness

Because they have no biases.

They have no emotions.

Narrator: if the footage still exists

And torrance was with someone,

It could give detectives their first glimpse of his k*ller.

Narrator: 51-year-old torrance cheeves has been stabbed to death.

Detectives hope that surveillance footage

From his recent visit to a popeyes drive-through

Will provide a lead in solving his m*rder.

Detectives are in luck.

Not only are the cameras working,

But the footage from the time of the receipt still exists.

We're hoping that we can find torrance

To see if he was with anybody.

Narrator: the manager cues up the video.

Detectives know torrance drove a maroon ford sedan.

♪♪

At 4:08:35, a car pulls up to the order point.

The color of the car was consistent with torrance's car.

♪♪

Narrator: after ordering food, the vehicle drives on,

And the manager switches to the collection point camera.

♪♪

The same maroon car enters frame,

And the driver is clearly visible.

Just go back a little. [ Keyboard clacking ]

♪♪

Mcnelly: the car pulls up, and you could see

A very large person in the driver's seat.

And by a large person, I mean somebody who's very tall.

That is torrance, he's in his car,

And he's picking up his popeye, maybe his dinner for the day.

Is it possible to zoom in on the passenger seat?

[ Keyboard clacking ]

I'm trying to see if there's anybody else with torrance.

Narrator: detective mcnelly studies the video carefully.

♪♪

Mcnelly: we could tell that there was nobody in the front seat

By the way he moved the food that he purchased.

He put it in the passenger seat.

That kind of told us that, you know, nobody's there.

Narrator: as the vehicle moves through frame,

The back seat is also clearly empty.

Angell: learning he was alone in the car

Is a bit of a letdown.

It still reinforces the timeline,

But it doesn't direct you to an individual

Who may have caused this crime.

Narrator: as one door closes,

Another opens. [ Cellphone rings ]

Angell: hey, tom. What you got?

The church half a block away from torrance's house

Is rigged with surveillance cameras.

♪♪

I saw that one of the cameras actually filmed the entire block

Of torrance's backyard.

Narrator: the cameras record 24/7,

And right now, it's capturing a very important arrival.

That's the neighbor.

Um, excuse me for just one minute.

♪♪

Excuse me, sir?

Sir. San antonio p.d.

I'd like to talk to the lady who lives here.

The driver informs detective angell

His sister, the resident,

Is very timid and easily scared.

She was inside the residence, had been probably in there

The whole afternoon while we were knocking,

But didn't feel comfortable talking to the police.

Would you be able to talk to her for me?

She may be a witness to a m*rder.

What she has to tell delivers a key beat

In the timeline of torrance's m*rder.

She observed two individuals going back and forth

Between the back door of torrance's residence

And through her backyard.

She said one of the males was wearing dark-colored clothing

And one was wearing lighter-colored clothing.

One of the males was carrying something big and bulky

From torrance's back door, across her backyard.

Narrator: armed with a description of the suspects,

Detective angell pushes for a time frame.

And this witness was very adamant

That the time was between 11:00 and 11:15 p.m.

The night before the body was discovered.

With that exact time,

I was able to go back to the security guard.

He was able to cue up the cameras

From just after 11:00 that night.

Narrator: he starts with the camera facing hudson street.

Torrance's house is just one block back

From the intersection.

Angell: the street is deserted.

There's no vehicle or pedestrian traffic...

Keep watching.

Torrance's house is just past the junction, on the left.

♪♪

♪♪

...until about 23:11,

When a vehicle travels north on hudson street

And stops at nolan street.

♪♪

Narrator: at 11:13, the vehicle crosses the intersection.

Angell: I continued watching the video.

A male wearing dark clothing can be seen

Walking east on nolan street.

To me, it looked like he had a walk

Where he leaned slightly backward as he walked.

It was a gait that was somewhat noticeable.

Narrator: the quiet residential area

Is suddenly busy.

♪♪

You can see a second individual come into camera view,

Walking the same direction, and as he gets closer,

You can tell he's wearing lighter-colored clothing.

♪♪

Seeing these individuals approach the scene

At the same time that the witness described

The activity behind torrance's house

Is encouraging.

And it leads me to believe that this is two individuals

That are at least involved in this crime somehow.

Narrator: could investigators be staring at torrance's K*llers?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: detectives are viewing surveillance footage of two men

Half a block from torrance cheeves' house

On the night of his m*rder.

The men walk out of the camera's range.

But do you have another angle?

They switch to an angle with a wider view of the intersection

And rewind to the moment the vehicle pulls away.

Angell: this camera is actually a clearer view of hudson street,

Which includes torrance's backyard.

♪♪

Narrator: the vehicle crosses the intersection,

And detectives wait for the individuals to appear on camera.

♪♪

Angell: you can see the two individuals approaching an area

That is directly next to torrance's backyard.

Narrator: detectives want to know

If they turn into the alleyway behind torrance's house.

Did they go down the alley?

Can't see. The time stamp blocks it.

Yeah.

They switch cameras.

This time, there's a clear view

Of the alley leading to torrance's backyard.

♪♪

Angell: the individual dressed in black makes a hard left turn

And disappears off-camera, in the victim's backyard.

♪♪

Narrator: a car approaches and slows down.

Angell: it looked like the same vehicle

That I had seen earlier, in earlier footage.

♪♪

As the footage continues,

You can see the subject wearing black.

He's carrying something big and bulky.

He actually sets it down on the ground.

Narrator: the vehicle parks at the end of the alleyway,

And the lights go off.

Angell: it was obvious this vehicle was involved.

The male wearing the lighter-colored clothing

Appears to stay near or at the vehicle.

Narrator: the other figure appears to be moving items

From torrance's house to the car.

The male dressed in black was carrying

What appeared to me to be a television set.

I believed it was possibly the one that was missing

From torrance's bedroom.

Narrator: detectives are certain that they're watching

The burglary of torrance cheeves' home.

♪♪

Angell: finding this footage is obviously encouraging

Because it identifies three individuals

That I'm gonna have to try to find.

Narrator: the perpetrators are relaxed and unhurried.

Suddenly, a neighbor's security light comes on.

Angell: this seems to cause the individuals to spook,

And you can see the vehicle drive off,

And you see the male wearing the dark clothing

Begin to walk from the scene, south on hudson.

Narrator: the car picks up speed and switches its lights on.

Then something extraordinary happens.

Just jumped on top of the car.

Unable to believe what they just saw,

They switch back to the first camera

To get a better view.

Angell: as the vehicle turns right on hudson,

You can see the male dressed in black begin to run,

And he actually jumps on the roof of the car...

...and appears to grab hold of the luggage rack

And stays there as the vehicle goes off-camera.

Narrator: investigators have a mountain to climb

To i.d. The vehicle and the three suspects.

♪♪

Next day, torrance's cell records are in.

They offer a new lead.

The last text was at about 8:11 p.m.,

And the text message was sent

To torrance from an unidentified number.

It said, "hey, I'm outside."

Narrator: it's three hours before the men were filmed robbing his home.

Could this be torrance's k*ller?

Could I get a name for an unidentified number, please?

The cell phone provider that had the service for this phone

Listed a female's name.

Thank you.

Narrator: angell puts the name and the number

Through the police database, but there's no match.

Angell: what that tends to indicate

Is that this phone is what we call a throwaway phone.

It's not used by the person who has the contract.

Narrator: but all is not lost.

Angell requests the mystery number's call records.

Two weeks after torrance's m*rder,

Friends and family gather to pay their respects.

The funeral...

[ Sighs ]

That was hard.

Because we had to say goodbye,

And none of us wanted to do that, ever.

Skinner: I just kept thinking, "who could possibly do this?

And why would they do this?"

Like, how could this happen

To somebody that is good to so many people?

We're here today to remember our wonderful friend

Torrance cheeves.

Torrance was a man who gave his life in service of others.

Duckworth: I don't know that I could stop crying

Throughout the whole thing.

I tried to do the stiff-upper-lip thing,

But I know that tears just rolled down my face

Throughout the whole funeral. [ Sighs ]

I'm still heartbroken over it.

It will never be okay in my heart,

What happened to him.

Narrator: in the hope of finding more footage

Of the vehicle and three suspects,

Detectives trawl through every frame

Of the church's cameras.

Camera five faces the street at the rear of the church.

Four minutes before the robbery, there's movement on-screen.

♪♪

Stop and go back.

♪♪

Angell: it was obviously the same vehicle

That was involved, that I had seen earlier.

I'd say that's... Light blue?

Or gray.

We were able to tell the make and model of the car --

A ford taurus station wagon.

Narrator: but they are unable to read the license plate.

Go back and zoom in.

There's a very distinctive dent

In the right-side rear passenger door.

Narrator: detective angell requests details

On matching cars in the san antonio area.

I honestly believed if I could locate this vehicle

With that damage,

It would lead me to the people involved in this m*rder.

Narrator: detective angell gets a list

Of eight ford tauruses in his precinct

And hits the road.

It's a simple process of elimination.

One of the cars on the list

Is located 4 miles from the m*rder scene.

It was the proper year, make, model, color.

Tom! Tom!

I think we found what we're looking for.

The dent was in the proper place.

Angell: it was definitely a feeling of,

"I'm on the right track, and it won't be long,

And I'll figure out who's involved in this case."

Narrator: but just as investigators are closing in on the truth,

The case will twist again.

♪♪

Narrator: detective angell has located a car

That matches the suspects' vehicle,

Right down to the passenger door damage,

At a home 4 miles from the crime scene.

The car's owner, ricardo galaviz,

Is brought in for questioning.

We're gonna climb up inside this guy's butt

And figure out where he's been, because this is the car.

Mcnelly: we showed him pictures of torrance,

And he didn't recognize him. He didn't know who he was.

Narrator: police run forensics on ricardo's car.

Duffy: the first thing we do -- that vehicle is photographed

From the exterior to the interior,

Before anything is moved or disturbed.

We're looking for ballistics, for blood evidence,

For any kind of weapons in the vehicle.

Narrator: but the search for evidence doesn't go as planned.

We were unable to obtain any forensics

From the exterior or interior of that vehicle.

Narrator: and when ricardo's cellphone records confirm

He went straight home after work on the night of the m*rder,

He, his family, and his car are officially ruled out.

Incredibly, there are two ford tauruses of similar color

With matching dents in the san antonio area.

Angell: I'm basically back at square one,

Searching for the right vehicle.

That's a blow.

It's basically starting over.

Narrator: it's now more than three weeks

Since torrance died, and his friends at the center

Are still coming to terms with their loss.

For a long time, I just would cry,

And it was very hard for me

To go to work and he not be there.

Gilmore: the office felt empty.

Nobody really wanted to talk.

We were all very upset and depressed

'Cause one of our best friends is gone.

[ Crying ]

Hey.

[ Sighs ]

We're gonna catch whoever did this.

Narrator: but detective angell is badly in need of some luck,

And he's about to get it.

[ Police radio chatter ]

I was on my way home, not thinking about too much,

Just the fact that we were going to have to start over.

And I didn't even realize for a short time

That I was behind a ford taurus station wagon.

I could only see for sure that there was a driver

And a passenger.

I was able to get beside the vehicle,

And as I looked at the left side, the passenger side,

The damage on the door was identical.

♪♪

This was the right car, right beside me right now.

Narrator: angell calls for backup

As the car parks outside an apartment complex.

As it parked, I observed a female driver

Get out of the vehicle and enter an apartment.

The passenger stayed inside the vehicle.

I was able to see that the passenger was, in fact, a male.

[ Vehicle approaches ]

Detective angell.

That is the car right there, straight ahead.

Right over there?

Narrator: the owner of the vehicle comes out of the apartment.

She would refuse to cooperate, refuse to give any information.

Narrator: with the tension ratchetting up,

The man in the passenger seat agrees to talk to police.

The male identified himself as john henderson-houston,

And he advised me that the owner of the vehicle

Was his girlfriend.

I remember seeing him walk and thinking,

"Well, he looks a lot like the male with the dark shirt

On the security video."

He has the same gait as that male, to me.

♪♪

Narrator: not only has detective angell found the suspect car,

He may have just found torrance cheeves' k*ller.

Narrator: detectives have found a vehicle

Identical to the one on the surveillance footage.

And the owner's boyfriend, john henderson-houston,

Is now their prime suspect.

John henderson-houston denied any involvement in this crime,

Denied any involvement by his girlfriend's vehicle.

At some point, he decides he's done being talked to,

And I have no legal reason to hold him.

I don't have enough to arrest him,

So I'm forced to release him.

Narrator: with their prime suspect walking free,

A potential new lead arrives.

The records of the burner phone

Used to text torrance on the night of the m*rder

Have come in.

There were only three or four voicemail messages

On that cellphone.

All of them were unremarkable except one.

This seems to indicate that john henderson-houston

Has been less than honest

When he says he doesn't know the victim,

Because he's obviously linked to this cellphone number,

Which has left repeated messages on the victim's cellphone.

I decided that I need to call this probation officer

And see if he had information on john that I needed to know.

[ Phone ringing ]

Hi. This is detective angell

Of the san antonio police department.

At one point, he refers to him as johnathan,

And I correct him that it's john.

No, john.

And at that point, he tells me,

"You know, there are two brothers with the same name."

One was johnathan, and one was john.

Narrator: the cell is johnathan's.

Police bring johnathan in for questioning.

Johnathan wouldn't admit that he knew torrance cheeves

In any manner.

Narrator: angell knows he's lying and turns up the heat.

I broached the subject with him that if it wasn't him,

It was his brother that was involved in this case.

I said, "one of you is the m*rder*r."

That seemed to get johnathan thinking a little bit.

Narrator: johnathan claims torrance was paying him for sexual favors.

He reveals that there was a verbal altercation,

Which, at some point, according to johnathan,

Torrance came at him,

And johnathan picked up the knife and stabbed him one time.

Torrance was 6'10", over 400 pounds.

If he had attacked johnathan,

We would have probably had a different victim in this case.

Narrator: police charge johnathan with torrance's m*rder.

They piece together a timeline of what they believe happened

On the night of the m*rder.

I believe that johnathan set up a meeting with torrance cheeves.

He sent that last text message shortly after 8:00 p.m.,

Saying he was outside.

I believe that there was a sexual relationship

Between torrance cheeves and johnathan henderson-houston.

Yeah, yeah, but I need more money.

Johnathan henderson-houston wanted money from torrance.

More money? For what?

Torrance declined to give him any money.

Get out.

And johnathan picked up the knife and stabbed him one time.

Narrator: the knife struck an artery, causing massive blood loss.

Johnathan then takes the keys

And returns later with two accomplices

To rob torrance as he lays dead in his home,

Until the security light spooks them.

Angell: it was obvious that there was three people involved

In at least the theft of property.

There's the two individuals that I can see on camera,

And there's a third person

That's gonna be driving that car.

I was disappointed that I couldn't identify the driver

Or the other individual.

Narrator: but they can prove the identity of torrance cheeves' k*ller.

Johnathan henderson-houston

Pleads guilty to first-degree m*rder

And is sentenced to 15 years.

Angell: it's hard for me to believe

That without this surveillance video,

The person who k*lled torrance cheeves

Would have been identified and arrested.

♪♪

Narrator: three years later, torrance's family and friends

Are still trying to cope with the loss of their gentle giant.

Mostly I miss, you know, just his smile

And the way that he would joke around with everybody.

Duckworth: life goes on.

But it will never be as fun and as wonderful

As it was when he was there.

Brundige: I miss the daily talks.

I miss the surprise phone calls to just make you laugh.

♪♪

I just miss torrance.