05x16 - The Man in the Red Jacket

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

[ Siren wails ]

Narrator: a m*rder outside a busy train station...

No, no, no.

...a loving family desperate for justice.

Barbara: I could tell by the expression in their eyes

That james was probably dead.

Narrator: but with no reliable witnesses...

People have been out partying. They've been out drinking.

All we want is the truth.

Narrator: ...and no motive...

There was really no reason that he would've been targeted.

Narrator: ...police are baffled...

Gelderman: are having a hard time

Figuring out exactly who did the stabbing.

Narrator: ...until they find the one witness who saw it all.

Whoa, okay. Stop there.

We knew right away we needed to watch that video.

♪♪

It's going to help us solve this crime.

[ Woman screams ]

Oh, my god!

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: saturday, february 14, 2015, burnaby, canada,

Just outside vancouver,



Pays his favorite valentine a surprise visit.

[ Indistinct conversation ]

-Mom... -Yeah?

...are you ready for a big surprise?

And I pull the curtain back, and here was james.

-Hello. -Oh, my gosh!

James, so good to see... [ Laughs ]

She was just ecstatic. She even started to cry.

She's missed him so much.

Some flowers for my favorite valentine.

Oh.

He always made my mom laugh,

And she just enjoyed having him around.

How are you?

He was very affectionate.

Haven't seen you in so long.

We laughed a lot.

He had a great sense of humor, and he was just a delight.

Narrator: james doesn't see his family as often as he'd like

Since he traded city life

For the lakes and forests of vancouver island.

Mark: james is most happy being outdoors.

He loved to fish. He loved to hunt.

♪♪

That's what he lived for, to get out in the wilderness.

Barbara: and he understood it very well.

We've always said, "if we ever got lost in the mountains

With a plane crash, everyone should follow james

Because he would get you out safely."

Narrator: still, james regularly returns to the mainland

To catch up with family and friends.

So what plans have you got for tonight?

Just seeing an old friend.

You remember tori. Mm-hmm.

Oh, you're going to see tori tonight?

No, not like that.

Ah. Not like that.

Like that. [ Laughs ]

Oh.

Barbara: he said, "I'll probably spend the evening,

And I'll be over in the morning,"

And so I was expecting him home the next morning for breakfast.

♪♪

Narrator: james heads to his friend victoria's house,

A short drive away in new westminster.

♪♪

[ Knocking ]

James. How's it going?

Hey. Come on in.

James and victoria have been best friends

Since they were kids.

Barbara: if and when james came into town,

Tori was one of the people that he would always phone.

Happy non-valentine's day.

And they would spend a lot of time together,

And they were very, very fond of each other

Just like brothers and sisters.

So what are we having for dinner?

I was thinking, you know, snacks.

Okay. [ Laughter ]

I have some cheese.

So same as the old days. Yeah.

James had a lot of friends that, you know,

When he would come back into town,

It was like nothing had ever changed.

Narrator: tonight, james and victoria

Are planning an anti-valentine's night with another buddy.

We're going to see brandon tonight.

Yeah, we're picking him up at the train station, yeah?

Yeah. So it'll be like old times.

Yeah. Well...

Cheers. ...cheers.

Here is to old friends.

♪♪

That night, the vancouver emergency center

Gets a desperate call for help.

[ Siren wails ]

Within minutes, the royal canadian mounted police

Arrive on scene.

Emergency services are already working to save the man.

The victim is a white male in his mid-20s.

He was wearing a hoodie and laying on the ground

With a stab wound to his chest.

Narrator: the man is rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

[ Siren wails ]

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

Narrator: investigator jason gelderman needs

To find out who the man is.

Excuse me.

Did you call 911?

Yeah, that was me.

Do you know the victim?

Yeah. James, james enright.

James enright, okay.

We'd come to drop off brandon at the station.

Okay. That's my car over there.

Black sedan.

Victoria was the driver of the car,

And she had actually been assaulted as well.

All right. And did you see what happened?

♪♪

We want to have them come back to the police station

To provide a full detailed statement

So we can know exactly what they know.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

Narrator: while victoria and brandon are escorted to the station,

News from the hospital comes in.

[ Sighs ]

It's not good.

We just heard from the hospital.

When he's transported to royal columbian hospital,

The victim is pronounced deceased.

Victim died.

The doctor advised his cause of death

Is a single stab wound to the heart.

♪♪

Narrator: with a k*ller loose on the streets,

Burnaby rcmp must act fast.

Investigator jason gelderman surveys

The challenging crime scene.

Gelderman: we have multiple witnesses around.

There's a police canine that's out tracking,

Trying to locate the suspects that have fled on foot,

And all of this is going on as they're trying to control

This area and preserve any evidence.

It's very dark outside, so our primary objective

Is to secure a larger outer perimeter to locate a weapon.

Narrator: but there's nothing in the way of hard evidence.

♪♪

Gelderman's team of detectives

Widen their search for witnesses.

We're trying to find out who saw what

And who's going to provide that best evidence.

You saw them approach the car? Okay.

Narrator: at this time of night, it's a tall order.

People have been out partying.

They've been out drinking, and that is also going to skew

People's perceptions of what took place.

Guy, he went down pretty hard, right?

Derusha: although there are a lot of people there

Who observed the event take place,

Not a lot of people observed the actual stabbing.

Narrator: detectives need a more reliable witness,

And the crime's location could now be to their advantage.

This offense took place at the skytrain station.

We know that there's cameras there,

But we don't know where they're pointing.

Narrator: they're in luck.

Gelderman.

One camera in particular was facing

The actual event's location.

That's huge because that's going to allow me

To get that best evidence, that key pieces of information

That's going to help us solve this crime.

Narrator: they immediately request the camera's footage.

Hi there. I'm detective gelderman.

This is sergeant derusha. We're with the rcmp.

Derusha: we're going to need to see copies

Of your surveillance footage, please.

Narrator: the manager is happy to assist,

But it will take several hours for the footage to download.

[ Bird cawing ]

As dawn breaks, investigators return to headquarters eager

To see what the station cameras have captured.

All right.

Let's get that drive plugged in, see what it gives us.

We're hopeful that it will actually capture

The incident itself.

Whoa, okay. Stop there.

Can we zoom in? Derusha: yeah.

Narrator: but this extraordinary footage will only raise more questions

About what really happened to james enright.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: hours after the valentine's night m*rder of james enright

Outside a train station near vancouver, canada,

Investigators hope surveillance footage

Will give them their first break.

Okay.

Can you cue the tape to 12:30 a.m.?

We cued the video surveillance to approximately 10 minutes

Before the homicide taking place.

Narrator: it's just before the 911 call,

But there's no sign of james

Or his friend victoria's black sedan,

But one group in the footage

Draws the investigators' attention.

Derusha: at approximately 00:36, we identify three individuals

That arrive at the skytrain platform,

And they look to be having a jovial conversation

With some other people.

One of the males in particular stands out,

And that's the male wearing the red jacket.

He appeared to be kind of the most boisterous of the group.

Narrator: outside, three african-american males

Lean against the railings, chatting with one another.

A minute later, the group of five heads outside

And appear to join them.

Think they're together?

I don't know.

Whoa.

Gelderman: the individual in the red jacket

Is becoming a little bit more combative and aggressive.

♪♪

The three african-american individuals figure

That they're going to move out of that location

Towards a bus loop.

♪♪

And moments after that, the male in the red jacket follows them.

Narrator: his friends try to hold him back.

Then suddenly take off after him.

The confrontation piques detectives' interest,

But it's unclear whether it's connected to james' homicide

Or just a late-night brawl.

Then something else catches gelderman's eye.

See that again?

At 12:43, a black vehicle drives from left of frame

And parks in front of the station.

This vehicle in the background was the vehicle we knew

James had been traveling with his friends.

Whether by plan or by chance,

The victims are now at the scene.

They play on, eyes glued to the screen,

Unable to stop the horror about to unfold.

We keep watching the footage,

And we notice that a person is getting out of the car.

We're not sure what they're looking at,

But they appear to be focusing their attention off-screen.

Zoom in, please.

Narrator: a few moments later, two figures appear from the right of screen.

Derusha: we noted two individuals walking towards the vehicle.

One of the males approaches the driver's-side window.

After a few seconds...

It appears that he begins striking the driver.

♪♪

It looks like he's punching into the car itself.

Whoa, hold it. Hold it.

Go back.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators zoom in for a closer view of the attacker.

They notice something odd.

Gelderman: the main aggressor appears as though he's not wearing a shirt.

Narrator: behind him, the other male puts on a red jacket.

It could be the same males involved in the fight

Just minutes earlier.

Whoa.

Detectives watch in horror as the shirtless man

Repeatedly punches the driver of the car.

Then, at 12:46, the passenger door flies open.

The passenger of the car jumps out

And is running around to the back,

And other people are all running over towards where the car is,

And it looks like a fight is taking place.

Okay. Go back. Go back.

Derusha: yeah.

All right. Freeze there.

Narrator: the passenger's clothing matches victim james enright.

We believe that the male getting out of the car is james.

Derusha: the victim exited the vehicle quite quickly

To confront the shirtless male,

And his friend quickly approached him.

As the event continued, all three males appear

To move off-screen.

Ugh, can't see nothing.

Gelderman: it was drawing a lot of attention,

So people were stopping to watch.

Unfortunately, that meant that some of those people

Were blocking the view of what took place.

Narrator: to detectives' frustration,

It's unclear from the video who k*lled james.

The attack appears to happen just off-camera.

All right. Get this sent off, okay?

Yeah.

Narrator: but they're not giving up on the footage yet.

Derusha: within the rcmp, we have a forensic-video-analysis unit,

And we sent our video off to them hopefully to see something.

Narrator: across town, barbara stevenson is waiting for her son, james,

To come home for breakfast.

Oh, james should visit more often.

Barbara: oh, I just want everything perfect.

I was very excited that james and I

Were getting to spend some time together.

When james was there, I was very happy.

He made me a very happy person.

[ Telephone ringing ]

The phone rang, and mark answered it.

[ Telephone beeps ]

Hello.

Oh, hey, brian. What's up?

It was my brother-in-law, brian,

And he had noticed on social media,

"Rest in peace, james."

An accident?

It wasn't clear to him what was going on,

And he was very upset.

Yeah. All right.

Thanks for calling.

James has been hurt.

[ Gasps ]

Narrator: mark immediately calls the police,

Desperate for information.

Barbara: and that's when they said that there had been an accident.

-Got to go. -Is he hurt?

Barbara: and they wanted to speak with us directly,

And could we come over to the burnaby detachment?

♪♪

[ Barbara sighs ]

We're emotional, upset, and knew

This was probably not going to be good.

My first question was, "is james under arrest?"

Because I couldn't quite remember why I was there,

And they said, "no, he is not."

Please come inside, ma'am.

And I could tell by the expression in their eyes

That james was probably dead.

So sorry to have to tell you this news.

No, no, no.

Mark: she couldn't say anything.

She just started crying and didn't want anybody

To touch her aside from me.

She was just inconsolable.

She was a mess.

Gelderman: in talking to them, I learned a bit about james.

Knowing who your victim is might help you understand

Why they were targeted if they were targeted

Or why they were k*lled.

In this instance, james, by all accounts,

Was a normal person.

He was in town visiting his family,

And there was really no reason

That he would've been targeted like this.

♪♪

Narrator: that same morning, having been treated for her injuries,

Victoria is questioned by detective gelderman.

Maybe we could start by telling me

About what happened last night.

Gelderman: the key witness in this was victoria.

Her version of events could hopefully provide some context

Or some motive to try and understand what happened.

He was just lying on the ground.

Victoria was understandably emotional.

She had just witnessed her friend being m*rder*d,

And we're trying to ask her questions about what happened.

She tells us she'd arrived at the skytrain station with james,

And as they're there, they see a shirtless male

That was trying to apparently fight

With another group of males.

The male then came up to their car

And started punching her through her car window.

She told us then that james came to her defense,

Had jumped out of the car.

Narrator: shocked, she remained in the driver's seat.

I couldn't see what was happening.

But when she got out of the car,

James was on the ground, covered in blood.

She might not have witnessed the stabbing itself,

But she does have some crucial evidence.

As we were talking to victoria about what happened,

She told us that she had been videotaping it

With her cell phone.

Can I take a look at it?

Yeah, it's on my phone. [ Clears throat ]

Narrator: it turns out victoria did something in that moment

That would fundamentally change the investigation.

She took out her cell phone and began filming.

Gelderman: we knew right away we needed to watch that video.

I was excited that this might actually capture the incident

And might help us solve the crime

And identify who was responsible.

♪♪

Narrator: police investigating the m*rder of james enright

Have discovered his best friend

Was filming the prelude to his m*rder.

Gelderman: when we watch the video from victoria's phone,

Not only do we have good-quality color video,

But we have sound as well,

So we get to hear what's being said.

Can you zoom in?

A little, yeah.

Narrator: concerned by the fight taking place

In front of edmonds station, victoria filmed it,

Hoping the recording could be used as evidence.

Gelderman: and we recognized them as being the same males

That were from the skytrain footage.

Narrator: no one knows yet what the fight was about

Or how it involved victoria and james.

The aggressive man in the red jacket is now shirtless.

His friend in the white hoodie holds the jacket.

[ Indistinct yelling ]

Gelderman: the shirtless male was being incredibly aggressive,

Yelling and swearing at the other group

As he's being pushed back by his friend.

Derusha: the male with no shirt on was observed

To be very combative.

He is also using racial slurs.

Two of them begin walking towards victoria's vehicle

Where the male with no t-shirt notices

That victoria is actually recording them.

Narrator: this appears to be a turning point where the aggressor

Turns his wrath on the stranger filming him.

Gelderman: and then we see as they get closer to victoria's car,

She ducks back inside.

As the screen goes black,

The phone continues to record sound.

Whoa!

We hear what sounds like a fight taking place.

We hear a male yelling, "go, go, go."

[ Screaming ]

That recording captured the moment

Where she first saw james had been stabbed.

[ Screams ] oh, my god!

Gelderman: the scream is one that tells us that something horrible,

Something horrific has happened.

It's chilling to listen to.

[ Screams ]

Narrator: gelderman issues a bulletin

With a photo of victoria's attacker

In the hopes of an easy id.

Gelderman: he's a person of interest.

Let's get this out to all of our officers.

We'll send it out to all the police officers working

In hopes of them being on the lookout

To try and track him down.

Narrator: later that day, investigator gelderman is approached

By a duty officer.

There was an officer from the neighboring jurisdiction

Who had dealt with a male matching this description

Shortly before the homicide.

So what happened?

I received a dispatch to head to a drunk and disorderly.

I intercepted a group of males.

He tells us that one of them wasn't wearing a shirt

And was intoxicated.

Narrator: the officer says a sober friend

Seemed to be handling the situation,

So he let them off with a warning.

He didn't seem too intoxicated.

He tells us that the friend that offered

To help take care of his buddy took off his red jacket

And gave it to him to put on as they headed towards the station.

Narrator: the red-jacket detail sticks out.

It sounds like his suspects, but gelderman needs to be sure.

Can you just check out this video?

♪♪

I took victoria's cell-phone video,

And I showed it to the officer.

That's him?

Yeah, that's the same guy.

Narrator: the officer confirms that the shirtless man

Is the same drunk male who he street checked.

So did you get a name? I did, taitusi vikilani.

Gelderman: the hardest part of a random as*ault like this one

Is finding out who your suspects are,

So to have names, to have a starting point

Gave us something to work with.

Narrator: gelderman runs vikilani's name through the police database

But doesn't get a hit, so he searches the name online.

He is surprised by what he finds.

Taitusi vikilani is an 18-year-old high-school student

From tonga and a star rugby player,

Hardly the murderous type, and the investigation is about

To take an even more bizarre turn.

Gelderman, you're never going to believe who's in reception.

Taitusi vikilani walks in with his father.

Gelderman: I'm in disbelief.

Our suspect actually just walked in to

The front of the police station?

That never happens.

Derusha: taitusi tells me that he goes to a house party.

He gets into a slight altercation.

He ends up getting street checked by uniformed officers.

Narrator: just as the duty officer told them.

After the warning, vikilani and his friends

Took the skytrain to edmonds station to meet some friends.

He admits to fighting with the passenger in the car

But that he got knocked down himself,

And then he heard other people yelling at him to run,

And so that's what he did.

He thought he was being chased by somebody with a weapon.

Narrator: investigators ask him who he was with.

Gelderman: taitusi tells us that these are people

He just met at the party,

That the main one that was with him was john.

Derusha: I asked taitusi who john was

And what his involvement in the homicide was.

However, due to his level of impairment,

He says he has no recollection.

Narrator: detectives aren't convinced, but there's nothing on the cctv

To disprove taitusi's story.

Derusha: at that point in time,

We didn't have any charge approval against taitusi,

And he was free to leave.

Narrator: police are worried their prime suspect

Is slipping through their fingers,

But new footage from the skytrain station

Recording their ride to the m*rder scene

Is about to come in and complete the picture

Of what really happened that night.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: taitusi vikilani,

The prime suspect in james enright's m*rder,

Is released without charge...

♪♪

But not without company.

An undercover team is surveying his every move

In case he attempts to flee.

♪♪

Hoping to identify vikilani's companion, john,

And find out his version of events,

Investigators return to the skytrain surveillance footage.

Gelderman: ...to review some more of that footage.

Okay, so we need to work backwards

From when the group got off the train at 12:36.

Do you have footage from inside the train?

Learning that there was cameras on the train,

Now I'm hopeful that we're actually going to

Get better images of them.

Narrator: the detectives search through footage from the train.

♪♪

Whoa, whoa, wait. Pause it there.

Is that them in the distance?

Could be.

Can we see when they first boarded the train?

[ Keyboard clacking ]

Narrator: at 12:34 a.m., Taitusi and two companions step on board...

Derusha: there they are.

Narrator: ...their clearest view of the group yet.

Detectives watch them closely.

Gelderman: as we watch the footage,

I see that taitusi is clearly intoxicated.

♪♪

In contrast, the individual in the white sweater,

Who taitusi says is called john, appears completely sober.

Gelderman: john, he's just sitting very calmly

And having conversation compared to taitusi,

Who is up and moving about and waving his arms

And stumbling as he's walking.

Narrator: john may be able to tell investigators

What really happened at edmonds station last night,

But in order to find him, they need his full name.

♪♪

Can you spell that for me?

Back at headquarters, gelderman contacts

The officer who street checked taitusi,

Hoping to identify john.

Gelderman: he tells us that the sober friend, john,

His real name is, in fact, jesse sellam.

Jesse sellam.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators now have the names of two suspects.

Gelderman: although we have all this amazing video surveillance

And our witness accounts, we still are having a hard time

Figuring out exactly who did the stabbing.

Gelderman carefully studies jesse's behavior

On the night of james' m*rder.

There's nothing to suggest he's a k*ller.

Gelderman: when watching the video, it doesn't look like jesse

Would be the one that would do it.

He's the one caring for his friend,

Doesn't add up to him being the stabber.

Narrator: keen to hear jesse's side of the story,

Gelderman sends an officer to his address and discovers

Jesse is gone.

Gelderman: jesse's mom tells us about

How he had returned home on sunday,

Packed some belongings, and then left,

But she didn't know where he was staying.

Narrator: suggesting jesse could be on the run.

♪♪



Family and friends gather for his funeral.

♪♪

Man: we're going to miss you, james.

♪♪

There was hundreds and hundreds of people there.

Powers: I remember being very glad that my grandma was able to come,

But I don't think any grandma

Should ever have to go through that.

♪♪

I remember tori could barely stand.

She was just so traumatized.

It was a cremation, and in these lockets here are james' ashes,

So he's always with us.

We include him in all our experiences.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: back at rcmp, investigators need fresh leads

If they are to ever get justice for james' grieving family.

Derusha: still don't know who the k*ller is.

They appeal to the public for help,

Holding back their suspects' names.

Gelderman: we focus on james and who he was as a person

And his act of protecting his friend when he was k*lled,

Hoping that that would compel more people to come forward.

[ Cellphone ringing ]

Narrator: but within hours, detectives are hit with a new problem.

Gelderman.

Gelderman: we received a tip that one of our suspects

Might be leaving the country.

Knowing that taitusi was a part of a rugby team

That did travel around the world to play,

We suspected it might be him.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I'm on my way.

Narrator: if vikilani leaves canada, he may evade justice for good.

We need to move in. Let's go.

We decide we need to arrest him right away.

Narrator: they surprise him at his house

And charge him with manslaughter.

♪♪

That same day, a tipster responding to the media appeal

Turns up at the police station.

Jesse sellam's name has been held back from the media appeal,

So they are immediately intrigued

By the tipster's information.

[ Scoffs ]

Gelderman: he tells us that he was at an apartment in burnaby with jesse

And that jesse had been describing to him

How he had stabbed the male at the edmonds skytrain station.

Narrator: if true, it's a stunning revelation

And means james' true k*ller is still at large.

♪♪

The tipster shows them to a high-rise

Where he claims sellam is hiding.

We needed to be able to get the approval from a judge

To go inside and get him.

Narrator: investigators need surveillance cameras to confirm

He's in the building,

But the building manager tells them

The only working camera is inside the elevator.

They cue surveillance footage

To the early hours of february 16

When jesse's mom said she last saw him.

They scrub through the footage,

Nothing.

♪♪

At 2:36 a.m., A couple enters the elevator,

Followed by a man in a black jacket carrying two duffel bags.

Whoa, pause it there.

♪♪

That's him.

Looks like he's there to stay.

Looking at those two bags he carried on,

I believe that he's staying for the long-term.

Narrator: jesse appears calm and relaxed,

Chatting with the couple on the ride up.

Wonder if he knows those two.

♪♪

It's hard to believe he's a cold-blooded k*ller.

♪♪

Oh, let's see which floor he gets off at.

♪♪

You can see the numbers on the top left-hand corner

Stopping at the 20th floor where they get off.

Narrator: the couple also exits but head in a different direction.

♪♪

Okay.

Well, let's see if jesse leaves again.

Detectives keep watching.

There's no sign of jesse leaving,

But they still need to know exactly which apartment he's in

To get a search warrant.

Gelderman: we wouldn't want to violate the people's rights

By going into their suites,

So we need to get information to show exactly where he is.

Narrator: gelderman deploys a separate unit to watch the building.

Yeah, we're going to need a surveillance unit on the ground.

Gelderman: all of this is happening, and the excitement is building.

We just need that last piece of evidence,

That last piece of information that's going to confirm

Jesse is actually still inside.

Narrator: with the net closing in on jesse sellam,

Detectives must watch and wait.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: acting on a tip-off, police believe

James enright's k*ller is hiding out

On the 20th floor of a high-rise.

We have officers covering all the exits of the building,

So we know if he leaves, we'll see him.

Shortly after we set up the surveillance,

One of the investigators tells me

That he had actually just seen jesse step out

Onto the balcony of the 20th floor.

Narrator: they finally have the evidence they need for an arrest warrant.

♪♪

[ Doorbell buzzing ]

♪♪

Gelderman: jesse turns himself over without issue,

And it felt so good to have the two people

Responsible in custody.

♪♪

Derusha: for quite some time,

Jesse didn't want to discuss details of the homicide.

Narrator: confronted with the cell-phone evidence

Placing him at the scene,

Jesse finally cracks.

Eventually, he does admit that he had been in the fight

And that he was the one that had stabbed james.

Jesse explains that the knife he used

Was a folding pocket knife

That he had received as a gift from his girlfriend.

Narrator: but jesse is quick to shift the blame.

When taitusi begins assaulting victoria,

Jesse tells me that the passenger exits

The vehicle very rapidly and approaches him.

He's telling me that he pulled out the knife

From his jacket in self-defense,

And when james continued to approach him,

He had poked him once with the knife.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives return to the skytrain video,

Now successfully slowed down and enhanced

By the rcmp forensic unit, and jesse's story falls apart.

Derusha: if you analyze the video footage frame by frame,

You can actually see jesse's arm extended out,

Which makes contact with james enright,

Which we believe to be the stabbing that took place.

♪♪

♪♪

It's a huge piece of evidence.

♪♪

It showed that jesse went after james when he stabbed him,

Not the other way around.

♪♪

Narrator: jesse sellam is charged with second-degree m*rder.

Taitusi vikilani is charged with manslaughter

And as*ault on victoria.

No other individuals seen on cctv that night are charged.

At vikilani's trial, the prosecution lays out

The events of that fateful valentine's night.

In the early hours, james enright and victoria heard

Were dropping off their friend at edmonds skytrain station

At the same time as taitusi vikilani,

Intent on violence, fights with a group of black males.

We watch taitusi get into fights with other people

At the skytrain station,

Being held back by jesse and his friends.

♪♪

Narrator: but the rage is still simmering,

And when he sees victoria recording him,

It's about to boil over.

Gelderman: it appears this action of her videotaping taitusi is what

Aggravated him to the point that he came over...

♪♪

Yo, yo, yo, tori, get back in the car.

Gelderman: ...started assaulting her.

Get in. Get in.

Tori, get in the car. Get in...

Vikilani: put that camera down!

Whoa!

Gelderman: unable to protect victoria from inside the car,

James gets out in order to get taitusi away from her.

[ Screams ]

As he's trying to get taitusi away,

Jesse comes and stabs him in the chest.

[ Screams ]

Victoria: oh, my god!

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: in november 2017, taitusi vikilani is found guilty

And sentenced to 3 months for the as*ault on victoria

And 6 months for james' manslaughter.

Derusha: although he didn't directly stab james,

Taitusi was a party to the offense

In which jesse had stabbed james.

Narrator: jesse sellam takes a plea deal, admitting to manslaughter,

And is sentenced to just 4 1/2 years.

Barbara: I felt really disrespected.

I felt james was disrespected.

I felt that we've all grown up pretty well knowing

That if you take a man's life,

That's the worst crime you could commit,

And you should go to jail for life.

That's what we always grew up believing.

You take a life. You give your life,

And it was nothing like that.

♪♪

There's no doubt in my mind that jesse

Knew what he was doing and knew that stabbing

James in the chest was likely to result in his death.

Narrator: all backed up by cctv.

I think if we were to try this case 20 years ago

Without video surveillance, we'd be very hard-pressed

To charge the two individuals.

♪♪

Powers: I miss james' laugh.

I miss his hugs.

Yeah, he was just... He was kind of the glue

In the family that, you know, made everybody happy.

Think I would like james to be remembered as a hero.

He was a true hero in my heart, and he always will be.

♪♪

Barbara: he saved someone that could not fend for themselves.

That was truly my james.

That was truly the man he was, and I'm very proud of him.

♪♪