01x03 - Written In Blood

[bunniefuu]

- Female narrator: In this
peaceful utah cemetery,

A young mother has been at rest
for nearly half a century.

Her gruesome m*rder
rocked a small town,

And now her body will tell
the rest of her story.

- She found her mom...Dead.

- A lot of rage went in
on this one.

- Narrator: Investigators
pursue leads

Over the next four decades.

- David: We just don't
have enough evidence.

- Narrator: But the key to their
case had been buried

With the victim.

- David: I told her we were
gonna exhume the body.

She wanted her mom's
case solved,

And I owed it to her to do it.

- Narrator: Will any evidence
be left after 46 years?

- Chad:
It was a 1970 cold case

We might be able
to help solve.

- Narrator: And will this woman
be able to name her k*ller

From the grave?

- Wally:
If there's just a 1% chance,

It would be worth the effort.

- Narrator: Will she
finally get justice?

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: It's the morning
of July 31, 1970,

In the small town
of price, utah,

When 4-year-old heidi jones

Wakes up
to an eerily quiet house.

- When I got up,
I looked through the keyhole

Into the front room.

And when I opened the door,
there was blood everywhere.

It was my mom's
lifeless body.

It was terrifying.

- Narrator: Heidi runs
out to her front porch

And sees a boy from
her neighborhood

Playing in his yard.

- Heidi: He said,
"heidi, come here,

I have to show you something."

And I said, "I can't,
I think my mommy's dead."

- Narrator: The boy's mother
immediately calls the police,

Who race to the modest home
off of east fourth street.

- [indistinct police radio
chatter]

- The first thing
the 1970 investigators notice

Is a young mother
laying in a pool of blood.

That's, uh,
pretty alarming.

It was one or two of
the officers' first

Homicide victim,
which would have, you know,

Set them back a little bit.

- That's just horrific.

- Narrator: Investigators are
stunned by the gruesome scene.

Blood is everywhere: Under
the victim's hands and torso,

And splattered on a nearby sofa.

- The back door
was still bolted

And the front door was unlocked
and didn't have any indication

That somebody had forced
entry into the home.

- Narrator: Police suspect
the worst.

This victim
may have known her attacker.

- David: Then, they notice
that some of her clothing

Had been pulled down.

They quickly assessed
that, more than likely,

It was a sexual as*ault as well.

Law enforcement officers
compare their own life

With what they're seeing here,

"what if it was my family?"
type thing.

You can't take it all--
can't take it all in

Or none of us would do this job.

- Narrator: Investigators
continue to comb the scene

For crucial evidence.

- David: They collected carpet
fibers and rug fibers

And cut off pieces of the couch
and sent all that stuff

To the lab up in dc.

- Narrator: As investigators
finish processing

The horrific scene,

The neighbor
who had called police

Gives a name to the victim:
23-year-old loretta jones.

- Andrew:
Loretta was a single mom

Just trying to make her way
in price.

- Greg: Loretta had a very good
relationship with her family,

But heidi's father
was not in the picture.

- She was pregnant with me
when she was 19 years old,

And it was just my mom and I.

My mom was the best mom.

She did her absolute best
to take care of me and herself.

Most of her time
was spent with me.

We would, you know,

Go downtown
to get ice cream cones.

She loved her music.

She had quite a variety of books
that she would read.

Some of them were about ufos,

Some were about
interpreting dreams.

- Andrew: She was kind-hearted,
loving,

By all accounts
an incredible woman.

This crime took
everyone by surprise.

- Narrator: Loretta's remains
are taken

To the medical examiner.

Police are hoping for any clues

To jumpstart
their investigation.

- Loretta had 17 stab wounds.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- There was several on her
back, several on her torso,

One on her neck.

- A lot of rage went in
on this one.

- Narrator: It's another clue

That loretta could have
known her k*ller.

- Greg: Stab wounds might
point them to somebody who

Was really emotionally
attached to loretta jones.

- Narrator: The medical examiner
thinks that the m*rder weapon

Was probably a small,
narrow-bladed knife.

But no small knives had been
found at the scene.

Then, he finds evidence
that confirms

What investigators
had suspected.

- There was semen
in the vaginal cavity.

- There was some
kind of sexual as*ault.

- Narrator:
Though semen was found,

It doesn't mean identifying
a suspect will be easy,

Whether he was someone
loretta knew,

Or just a deranged k*ller.

- Chad: It's 1970.

Dna testing really didn't come
around until the '80s.

But they collected
her fingernail clippings,

And then
a sample from her hair

To use as a reference sample
for future testing.

- Narrator: As he notes
loretta's many wounds,

The medical examiner comes
to a startling conclusion:

Loretta didn't fight back.

- Someone being stabbed
multiple times would definitely

Show defensive wounds
in the typical case.

The medical examiner
found only one

Defensive wound on her wrist.

- Narrator:
Investigators are stumped.

Why wouldn't loretta
have fought for her life?

They hope the only other
person in the house that night

Might be able to provide
some answers.

- Police talk to heidi
because, of course,

That's a great witness
to start with.

- Andrew: Heidi
was a four-year-old girl,

Can't even contemplate
how awful and horrific that is.

- The police would come over
to the house and question me.

They would ask me, "who was
in your house that night?"

I remember getting upset a lot,
crying a lot.

- They did ask her
if she saw or heard anything.

- Heidi: I knew that
something had terrified me.

However, I don't believe my mom

Screamed or cried out
that night.

- Narrator:
Because heidi insists

She never heard
her mother scream,

Police devise a chilling theory.

- David: Knowing that heidi
slept through it

Made me wonder why.

I believe loretta stayed quiet
to protect her own child,

'cause she was afraid that
her daughter would run out

And get hurt as well.

- I don't know what allowed her
to have the strength

To not scream.
It really is quite amazing

That she put her child
before herself.

- My mom was my hero
that night, she saved me.

- David: That's sad.

As an investigator,
you have to get numb to it,

Or it's gonna drive you--
drive you crazy.

- Narrator: As investigators
piece together a timeline

Of the events surrounding
loretta's m*rder,

They get a surprising lead.

Another attack
on the same night,

Just three short blocks
from loretta's house.

- On July 30, 1970,
I was outside playing.

I noticed a guy
walking towards me.

I had not seen him before.

He grabbed me from behind.

He had one hand
over my mouth.

I could smell
grease on his hands,

Like a cheeseburger.

He moved his hand just
a little bit,

And I was able
to scream really loud.

And so he took off running.

The police came down and was
taking a statement from me.

I was still crying.

- Narrator: Loretta and lori
were attacked in the same

Quiet neighborhood
on the same night.

Investigators immediately
believe it could be the work

Of the same man.

And maybe it's not someone
who only had it in for loretta.

- David: Price was
small-town america.

We talk about 1970
where this type of crime

Didn't occur very frequently.

We felt that's too
coincidental--

To happen two blocks
from each other--

Not to be connected in some way.

- Narrator: As police quickly
fan out

Looking for their suspect,
they get a lucky break.

- David: Police picked up
a hitchhiker in provo,

About 80 miles from
the house

Where loretta was m*rder*d.

He had a knife on him,
and that knife had blood.

- Narrator: Could this
be a coincidence?

Or could this suspicious
hitchhiker be connected

To loretta's m*rder
and lori's attack in price?

- David: They brought him back
into price for questioning

- Narrator: Investigators
ask lori to identify him.

- I was nervous.

When we got
to the police station,

They had me kind of peek around
the corner and look at him.

- ♪

- But wasn't him.

- Narrator:
Despite the bloody knife,

The hitchhiker can't be tied
to lori or loretta,

So police have to let him go.

As price city detectives
are pushed back to square one,

Loretta's family prepares
to lay her to rest.

- Heidi: I don't think
I understood at the funeral

Exactly what it meant.

I remember telling
family members,

"oh, she looks just
like sleeping beauty."

When they close
my mom's casket...

I remember crying
because she was gone.

- Narrator:
Loretta may be gone,

But little do
her loved ones know,

This won't be the last time
they'll stand at her open grave.

Coming up...

- I call heidi jones up

And I told her we were
gonna exhume the body.

- The potential for real
physical evidence was there.

- I hoped that we're gonna
get some answers.

- Wally: We struggled
and got the lid off.

And then we see the coffin.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: In the days
following the brutal m*rder

Of loretta jones
on July 30, 1970,

Police are struggling
to find solid leads.

- There were a lot
of unanswered questions

With what happened
in price in 1970.

- Narrator: Then, heidi's
grandmother recounts

What four-year-old heidi
told her

About the night
of loretta's m*rder.

- "heidi said,
'I heard footsteps,'

"and he said,
'I'm going to k*ll you.

"when I get through with you,
your daughter too.'

"I heard a thud, noise,
mommy fell, she was dead.

"I seen him through
the hole in my door.

It was tom that k*lled my mom.
It sounds like tom."

- Narrator: Heidi tells her
grandmother that tom

Is her mother's friend, who
had been to the house before.

- I recognized tom's footsteps
because he had work boots on.

- My daughter would not
know my friends' last names,

You know,
when she was four years old,

So it all made sense.

- Narrator: Investigators
eagerly re-examine evidence

That was collected
from loretta's home,

Looking for any indication
of the name tom.

- She kept
a very thorough diary,

In fact she never
missed a date--

365 days a year,
she was writing in her book.

And we circled every tom
in that diary.

We did find a man
named tom egley.

Tom egley
and loretta jones dated.

It was about a two-month
relationship but it didn't last,

So they just went
their separate ways.

- Narrator: Detectives bring
tom egley in for questioning.

- David: Tom was asked
about loretta.

Tom told police that he

Hitchhiked into price
on July 30.

- On the way to price,
they stopped

At the highway rendezvous,
had a beer,

And then they
dropped him off in price.

He went window shopping
for a couple hours

And he had a hamburger
at the arctic circle.

- He noticed there was nothing
going on in town.

- He then walked back
to the highway rendezvous,

Ordered a beer, and he was able
to get a ride back home.

- He denied having anything
to do with the m*rder.

- Greg: He acknowledged
knowing loretta jones,

But not having been in her
neighborhood or vicinity

The night of the m*rder.

- Narrator:
Still suspicious of egley,

Investigators interview
the owner

Of the highway rendezvous
to corroborate his story.

- David: The bar owner,
margaret,

Remembered seeing tom there.

- Greg: She did indicate that
thomas egley came into the bar

On their way to price,
had a quick beer and then left.

She also corroborated
that around 11:30,

12 o'clock at night,

Thomas egley had
returned to the bar.

She did notice that his shirt
had spots.

And he indicated
that it was red paint.

- ♪

- David: The red spots
on his shirt,

Of course would probably
intrigue any investigator.

- The detectives did ask
if they could have the clothes

That he wore
when he went to price.

Thomas egley
provided pressed pants

And a pressed shirt.

He indicated that the paint
that had been on them

Had been cleaned off.

- Narrator: Egley also
allows detectives

To search his home.

- Greg: They noticed
a pocket knife--

One that might match
the description

Of the wounds
to loretta jones.

- Narrator: For the cops,
finding the knife could mean

They found their k*ller.

- They asked if they
could take the knife

And thomas egley said, "sure."

In fact, he had multiple knives,
and he turned all the knives

Over to the detectives.

- It's good to have cooperation,
I love that.

- Greg: They had a cooperative
person who was providing them

His story, his clothing,
anything that they asked for.

He had been forthright
about where he'd been,

What he had done.

- All of our evidence went
to the fbi in washington, d.C.

- Narrator:
As they await the results,

They call on ten-year-old
lori kulow again

To see if she recognizes
tom egley as the man

Who grabbed her on
the night of loretta's m*rder.

- They asked me to come up
and see if tom egley

Was the guy that had
grabbed me earlier.

- ♪

- Lori: And they asked,
"is that the guy?"

I felt like
I was going to throw up.

- ♪

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Police have asked
lori kulow

To identify her attacker,

Who may be the same man
that k*lled loretta jones.

- Lori: They asked,
"is that the guy?"

And I said yes.

- That had to be terrifying
for lori to go through.

Tom egley was arrested
for the attempted abduction

Of lori kulow.

- Narrator: Lori's
positive id of egley

Helps investigators' hunch
that he's their k*ller.

But they still need physical
evidence to get him

On loretta's m*rder.

After several weeks,
the lab results come back

On egley's clothes
and knives.

- They found fibers on egley's
clothes that was consistent

With loretta's home,

But there was no blood
found at all on the knives

Or the clothing he gave police.

- They did not have thomas egley
in the home of loretta jones

That evening.

- It's frustrating.
You put a lot of work

Into these things and then
sometimes it's not enough.

- Narrator: Investigators are
sure tom egley is their guy.

But with no hard physical
evidence that he k*lled

Loretta jones,
the case is crushed.

Lori was disappointed
that, according to her,

Tom egley only spent 90 days
in jail for the attack.

Despite investigators' efforts

To find anything else on egley,
leads dry up

And the case goes
cold after a year.

- Cases run cold probably
more frequently

Than most people think.

But it's frustrating to put
a lot of work into a case

Just to have it sit.

- I didn't know if her case
would ever be solved.

But if I could keep the
conversation alive about my mom,

Then maybe I could help
get her case solved.

- Narrator: If only
investigators knew at the time

That the key to their case
had been buried with loretta.

- ♪

- On 4th of July 2009,
my car was stolen.

I had posted it on facebook

And my friend david brewer
replied, and he says,

"I work for carbon county
sheriff's office."

And in the back of my head,
I was going, "ding, ding, ding."

I said to myself,
"let's go talk to david brewer

About my mom's m*rder case."

- Narrator: Heidi sees on social
media that sergeant brewer

Will be attending
a local arts festival.

She goes too,
hoping to bump into him.

- Heidi: I walked around
the arts festival,

And then I spotted him.

We chitchatted for a minute,
and then I told him,

"my mom was m*rder*d in 1970
and it's a cold case,

I'm wondering if it's something
you can help me out with."

- I was kind of taken back,
'cause knowing her

In high school,
I never knew that story.

I was a fairly fresh
detective at the time.

I had never worked
a cold case

And had never actually
done a homicide yet.

Heidi came in, and she told me
the details

That she was aware of
on the case.

Heidi, her passion behind it
and still crying after 39 years.

She wanted
her mom's case solved,

And I owed it to her to do it.

- Narrator: There's one
major roadblock:

The case file, including all
the crime scene photos

And evidence,
has been lost.

All sergeant brewer has is
a photo heidi had given him.

- Heidi produced a photo
that her grandma had given her.

- Heidi: It was from
when my mom was m*rder*d.

It was me standing by
the doorway

Over the outline
of my mom's body.

- That picture kind of set me
back a little bit because,

Why are they taking a picture
of her right there

Where her mom died like that?

The bloodstain
was still there.

Every time I look
at this photo,

I get cold chills.

But this picture's the only
crime scene photo we have.

- Narrator: Sergeant brewer
scrutinizes the photo

For evidence the previous
investigators may have missed.

- David: Heidi was standing
in front of 1970s beads.

I thought, when the suspect
is stabbing someone,

Maybe he will bleed and then
cast off some blood of his own.

- David said, "well, too bad
those beads don't still exist."

And I said, "oh, they do."

My grandmother kept
all my mom's belongings

In her garage.

We found a box
full of those beads.

- Narrator: Sergeant brewer
sends the beads

To the utah state crime lab
for analysis,

Hoping they find evidence
that will point

To loretta's k*ller.

- It was probably about
a few weeks' time,

Looking through
all of those beads.

- Narrator: Since he
doesn't have a case file,

Sergeant brewer looks at the one
thing he does have:

Newspaper coverage
of the case from 1970,

And the original investigation's
number-one suspect: Tom egley.

- David: The local newspaper was
key to finding new witnesses.

One of my witnesses I found
through the newspaper told me,

"well, you really need to talk
to tom egley's then-girlfriend,"

I says, "what's her name?"
she says, "marsha something."

- Narrator: Sergeant brewer
tracks marsha down

And pays her a visit.

- She said, "I do remember that
when tom came home that night,

It was really, really late,
probably about 3, 4 a.M."

- That was a bombshell
she had told me.

He took his clothes the next day
to the laundromat.

He said he was gonna wash them.

- David: My jaw dropped.

I could only think of one reason
why he would do that.

He was trying to
get rid of evidence.

It turned the game for me
right there.

Tom egley was my bad guy.

- Narrator: Coming up...

- David: She says, "well...

"did you ever know
that loretta wrote

The k*ller's name in blood?"

- Wally: I get chills
right now thinking about that,

Because
that was a powerful thing.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Sergeant brewer
knows in his gut

Tom egley
k*lled loretta jones.

He tracks 70-year-old
egley down

In rocky ford, colorado,
to speak with him in person

And on the record.

- I asked him if he remembers
what he did that night,

And he says he remembers
going to town, hitchhiking.

- David: He didn't remember
loretta's name,

But he could remember what he
ate for lunch July 30, 1970.

That's what
convinced me right there,

That, "we're on the right track,

Let's just keep
forward on this guy."

- Narrator: But how
was he going to prove it?

Sergeant brewer was facing
the same dilemma

Investigators had in 1970:
No hard evidence

Putting tom egley
at the scene of the crime.

He hopes the beads
from loretta's house

Will be his ace in the hole.

- We had one of our analysts...
Went methodically

Through those beads
one by one to see

If there was anything
left behind.

Unfortunately, there wasn't.

- Narrator: It's another blow
to brewer's investigation,

But he isn't about
to let it stop him.

- I don't like to be told no,

So I'm gonna find another way
to get what I want.

- This was something that
had gone unsolved

For an incredible
amount of time,

But david looks into cases

With an incredible
amount of dedication.

- Narrator: Then, sergeant
brewer gets a golden idea:

Exhume loretta's body.

With 46 years

Of new developments
in forensic science,

The evidence buried with loretta
could be the key

To catching egley.

- David: I call heidi jones up,

And I told her we were gonna
exhume the body,

And I got exactly
the answer I expected.

- I said, "get me a shovel,
I'll help dig."

I was willing to do
whatever needed to be done

To get my mom's case solved.

- David: I felt really terrible

That we were
disturbing loretta.

But I quickly had to realize,
I'm doing it for her daughter.

- Heidi: I told david brewer,
"I want to be there."

I didn't wanna miss out
on anything.

- Narrator: For investigators,
the biggest question

Is exactly what to look for.

- Andrew: It makes you wonder
when you're thinking,

"what are they actually gonna
get when they exhume a body

That's been underground
for 45 years?" is anything left?

- I had consulted
on a few cases before.

We tried to think:
What kind of evidence

Would've been left
on the victims body

That would've stayed
in a nice pristine state

Inside the vault of the grave?

- David: Being a rookie
in the forensic field,

I asked, "what are the odds of
anything lodged still

Under her fingernails?"

- Chad: Fingernails stay around
for a long time.

Not knowing what to expect,
our hope was maybe

There still was some
fingernails we could swab.

- Narrator: Investigators learn
one detail that gives them hope:

Loretta's casket was sealed
in a cement vault,

Which may have helped
preserve evidence.

- If it had stayed
cool, dark, and dry,

Then conditions are pretty good.

That would be my hope.

But if it's wet,
then dna can be destroyed.

- Wally: The potential
for real physical evidence

Was there.

If there's just a 1% chance

That we find physical evidence,
it would be worth the effort.

- Narrator:
As an ace interviewer

With a knack for getting
a confession,

Detective hendricks
joins the investigation

To start observing tom egley,

Especially his reaction
to the exhumation.

- If there was
some media attention

That we were gonna
exhume the body,

The thought of finding dna would
only affect the guilty person.

We wanna elicit a response,

And be in a position to gauge
our suspect's response.

I was excited
and ready to get on with that.

- Narrator:
In early summer of 2016,

Sergeant brewer ignites
a media blitz

About the impending exhumation.

- I see the information
about an unsolved case

From the 1970s,
and they're exhuming remains.

I was thinking,
"I wanna cover that."

It wasn't a hard sell for me.

- David: The media,
they were very excited

To come over it because
this is probably

The first exhumation that
the sheriff's office ever did.

- Narrator: Because he is
certain tom egley is the k*ller,

Brewer also ensures the news
makes it

To rocky ford, colorado,
where egley lives.

- Wally:
Rocky ford was small,

It's rural, and if three people
were aware of that news,

Then it's gonna multiply
like rabbits.

- Which would
hopefully get to egley.

- ♪

- Wally:
The day of the exhumation,

It was very serious,
very matter-of-fact.

- Chad: Knowing
that it was a 1970 cold case

And that we might be able
to help solve the case,

It was exciting.

- Wally: I remember
looking at everybody's else's

Faces and we were all frozen.

And you could tell that
everybody was like,

"this is going to happen."

- ♪

- I was standing as close
as I possibly could.

I remember getting
a little emotional.

It was my mom.

I'd missed out
so much on her life.

I know that I'm not
gonna see her,

But I hope that we're gonna
get some evidence,

Hope that we're
gonna get some answers.

- Narrator:
Everyone holds their breath

As the vault rises
out of the ground,

Knowing the case hinges
on whether loretta's remains

Were properly preserved.

- David: They started
pulling the vault out,

It started leaning
one direction...

And then it was a waterfall.

There was water inside
that vault,

All the way to the top.

I thought I was sunk.

But, we still go for it.
You never know.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: When the body
of loretta jones is exhumed,

All hope for finding dna
evidence rests on whether

The remains
are in good condition.

- Wally: I was hopeful
we might find

Some forensic evidence.

In my mind,
it was the potentials.

How do I respond
if we get results?

How am I going to control
this thing down the road?

- Narrator: The vault
is placed on a trailer

To be hauled to a secure
warehouse

For further examination.

- Heidi: My husband and I
were following the procession.

I started feeling,
"mommy, mommy, mommy."

It was just--
"there she goes."

- Narrator: At the warehouse,

Investigators crack
open the vault.

- I had not been part
of an exhumation before.

From the crime lab perspective,
we don't always see victims

And the people that are involved
with these cases.

That was impactful for me.

- Wally: We worked and
struggled and got the lid off.

And then we first
see the coffin.

- David: It had collapsed.

And it was just
in pieces now.

Unfortunately
on poor loretta as well.

- Chad: Just sitting
with that much water,

There was really no
opportunities to collect or swab

Or do anything like that.

That was heart-wrenching
because now we knew

We didn't have anything.

- It was not time to go home
or call it quits.

It was ok, now I know what
we're working with. Plan b.

The game is on now.

- Narrator: Investigators are
sure tom egley is the k*ller.

They know that if they
play it cool in the media,

The disappointing exhumation can
still be their secret weapon

Without egley ever
knowing it was a bust.

- It was time to up the bluff.

I remember being asked,

"can you tell us
about the results?"

And I said, "well,
I can't say specifically,

But we are extremely
excited about the results."

And then we just go ahead
and allow people

To fill in those blanks.

- Narrator: Loretta's remains
stay at the warehouse

Until a new casket
arrives for reinterment.

- David: The casket is gonna
be delivered in the morning.

I felt so bad that
I was responsible

For bringing loretta up,
that I felt that

I had to stay the night there
with her inside the building.

I gave heidi call and told her
what we didn't find.

She saw the water pour out so it
really wasn't a surprise to her.

But she was looking forward
to plan b anyway.

- I felt like
we were on a mission

And I knew what the goal was.

- [phone ringing]

- David: The day after
the reinterment,

I get a call from
a gal named linda.

- Narrator: Linda had seen
the coverage of the exhumation.

- She says, "hey,
I've got some info for you,

That might--you might
just find interesting."

- Narrator: Linda says
that as a college student,

She lived with
loretta's parents.

After loretta's m*rder,
linda went to the house

To collect some
of heidi's things.

While there, she peeked
at the crime scene.

- David: She says,
"well, did you ever know

That loretta wrote
the k*ller's name in blood?"

And I said, "well, that's
a little too hollywood for me."

She says, "no,
it's not hollywood, it's true."

We got one
crime scene picture.

We look, and with
a little bit of color

Manipulation on this photo,
it is there plain as day.

You could see that she used
that blood

That was under her hand
to write the name.

She writes this
t and this o.

I don't think she finished.

- Wally: I get chills
right now thinking about that,

Because
that was a powerful thing.

- Narrator: It's still not
enough to arrest tom egley

For loretta's m*rder.

Without physical evidence,
investigators need a confession.

Then, sergeant brewer
gets a call

From someone nearly
500 miles away.

The exhumation news
had traveled far,

Just as detectives
had hoped it would.

- She says,
"my name is lisa carter.

I live just down the road
from tom egley."

- We knew tom fairly well.

He was just a lonely person.

- She offered to help us
in any way we possibly could.

- Wally:
I was just ecstatic.

I was telling myself,
"alright, hot rod,

You got one shot,
don't mess it up."

- Narrator: Lisa agrees
to help investigators

Get a confession
from tom egley.

- I says, "you sure you
can get in that house

And talk to him?"

And she said he trusted her,
so he'll talk to her.

- Narrator: Lisa meets tom
on his front porch

A few times a week
and records their conversations.

- David: We came up with
a list of things

That we wanted lisa to ask him

Just to kind of
feel him out a little bit.

- Narrator: Investigators
listen to lisa's recordings,

And use them to plan
her next moves.

- Wally: We start
feeding him information

That only the k*ller
would respond to.

- Then he started,
"what's touch dna mean?

How did they get dna?"

- Narrator:
Three weeks pass.

Egley doesn't say enough

For investigators
to make an arrest.

- Some people will not talk.
That's just the way it is.

- Brewer said,
"don't be surprised

If you don't get a confession."

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: After weeks
with little progress,

Lisa carter is able to elicit
and record a confession

From tom egley.

- I about fell over.

- Wally: Where I come from,
that's a confession.

So, I was pretty tickled.

- David: This was
seven years of waiting.

I couldn't find enough
jump drives, cellphones,

Hard drives to save
that thing on.

- Narrator: Investigators
still have to clear

One more hurdle before
they can make an arrest.

- A confession alone
is not enough

To get a conviction.

There were more details
about the crime itself

We wanted the k*ller to tell us.

We wanted to get into
the mind of the k*ller.

- Narrator: Lisa asks egley
if he would be willing

To speak directly to the police

Just to provide closure
for the family.

- Narrator:
Egley agrees.

- We arrive at tom egley's house
in rocky ford, colorado.

So lisa and him are talking.

And in mid-sentence,
he just started talking

About murdering loretta jones,

And we just sat there
in silence.

- David: I says, "tom,
is there anything that you

Would like me to tell
loretta's daughter?"

He says, "yeah,
please tell her that

I'm sorry I k*lled her mother."

- When they said,
"egley's sorry

For k*lling
your mother, heidi"--

Um...

It really hit home.

He did it,
he really did it.

After all these years,
he finally confessed.

He finally confessed.

And it was tom.

I knew it all along,
I knew it was tom.

- Narrator: Carbon county
investigators have

Everything they need to charge
tom egley

For the m*rder of loretta jones.

- I can hang that on my wall

For my grandkids
to be proud of that.

- [camera shutter clicks]

- Narrator: Egley is arrested
in August of 2016

At his colorado home.

- It was 46 years
since the crime.

And here is finally
a cathartic moment.

- There was a r*pe charge
and then a m*rder charge.

And he agreed to plead to m*rder
if they would drop the r*pe.

I think he was more comfortable
with admitting

To k*lling somebody
than raping them.

- Narrator: In October 2016,

Egley pleads guilty
to criminal homicide,

And is sentenced to 10 years
to life in prison.

- Heidi:
In my impact statement,

I told egley how he...
Took my mom away from me.

She missed me dating.

She missed me getting
my driver's license.

She missed me getting married.

She missed out
on everything in my life.

I always wanted for tom's
children and grandchildren

To know what kind
of a monster he is,

And for what he did 46 years ago
to a single mom

When she was 23 years old.

- Tom's lived every day
of his life a free man,

While heidi has lived every day
of her life

Trying to find a way to survive.

It's not right, it's not fair,
and it is disgusting.

- Narrator: After 46 years,

Heidi is finally able to find
justice for her mother

And put an ending to her story.

- People say it's closure,
but for me it wasn't closure.

I already had closure.
It was justice.

I had the perfect detective

That wouldn't give up,
and that's important.

- David: There was a charm
that heidi gave me

In the beginning of this case

That I hung on every patrol
vehicle I had since I started.

It'd just swing in front
of my face all the time

And it reminded me to keep
possibility in front of me.

- I didn't have a whole lot
of hope there

In getting her case solved.

But I never gave up.

The exhumation was crucial

Because without
the possibility

That we were going
to get dna,

I don't believe egley
would have confessed.

- Even if you don't get dna,
always have a plan b,

And make him think you got dna.
It worked.

- Heidi: There was
always a little hope.

As long as you have hope,
you have a chance.

- ♪