02x06 - Kelsey Smith

[bunniefuu]

WEBVTT

[tense music]

- There's a lot of wealth
in the Bay Area.

But on the other
end of the spectrum,

there's a lot of crime as well.

- It could be very unsafe
if you don't know Oakland.

- It is generally understood
that there is

a higher level of crime
on BART.

- Nia, she did not
like BART at all.

- I can remember telling them
"Be very careful."

- All you hear is--
[claps]

- I see Nia,
it was like she tripped.

- You can see the blood
splash across the platform.

- I was in shock.

I didn't know what to do
at that moment.

- I've described this video

as the worst video
I've ever seen.

- When I got there, I see a
bunch of ambulance and police.

I was shocked.

- Letifah was in the hospital.

I just felt, like, rage.

Everybody was looking for him.

- The anonymous caller said,

the person you're looking for
is on the train.

- It's a night
I'll never forget.

- It's something I will carry
with me until the day I die.

♪ ♪

- A young woman
is missing tonight

after leaving a bar
with a stranger,

then texting help to a friend.

♪ ♪

- You are watching
her terrifying abduction.

♪ ♪

- A missing woman's nude body
was discovered in this ravine.

- Miraculously,
the young woman survived.

♪ ♪

[camera shutter clicking]

- There is an alarming crisis
of violence,

kidnapping, and m*rder
against innocent women.

- The senseless m*rder
has struck a chord

with thousands of women.

♪ ♪

- This has sparked
a global movement online

of women sharing
their own fears.

They're united
under a hashtag,

#textmewhenyougethome,

a phrase that women
are all too familiar with.

♪ ♪

[soft piano melody]

- When I think of Nia,
I think of sunshine--

big, bright, beautiful smile.

Me and her grandmother used
to play tug of w*r with her.

She liked to keep her a lot.

And I liked to keep her a lot.

She had a beautiful
upbringing.

♪ ♪

- In July 2018,
Nia Wilson is 18 years old

living with her dad
in Oakland, California.

The youngest of nine siblings
in a blended family,

Nia is adored by all
and welcomes the attention.

- I have four children,
including Nia.

She's my youngest.

Nia was very
sheltered growing up.

She was very articulate.

She learned how to read
at a very young age.

- Nia is my sister.

And we're two years apart.

♪ ♪

When we got into high school,
she became more popular.

Like, she had friends.

She was like the it girl.

- ♪ You don't really want
no problems with ♪

- When it came to
her wanting to rap,

I'm like, OK, I'll bust
a move on a beat with you.

And then it turned into us
having our own little group.

It shocked a lot of people.

- ♪ You don't really want
no problems ♪

♪ With girls in the hood ♪

♪ With girls in the hood ♪

- She thrived.
She thrived.

- Nia loved social media.

Nia had like
beaucoup followers.

So many pictures
on her Instagram,

different hairstyles,
different shoes.

- She liked to dress up and do
hair and makeup and things.

- Any picture that you see
with her makeup on,

she did it herself.

- One thing I know that
she loved was her crop tops.

We used to get in trouble
for wearing crops.

My dad swears
he wasn't overprotective.

And he was so overprotective,
especially towards me and Nia.

It was just like...
[sighs]

Maybe because we the youngest,
but it was like,

we gotta grow up
someday, Dad, like...

- Daddy's girl,
could you take me here?

Could you take me there?

Could you pick me up
from work?

Constantly.

- Though her parents
are no longer together,

they're friendly
and keep the family close.

Nia connects with
loved ones constantly

in person and by phone.

- We text a lot,
you know, to check in.

And I make sure.

Because, you know,
she's still my baby.

You warm?
Ain't nobody messing with you?

Oh, so we text all the time.

- We didn't text much.

I like hearing her voice, you
know, instead of texting her.

If they were out there,
call me

and let me know where
they were and what time

they were going to be home.

And I appreciated that.

If Nia was out too late,

Letifah would be on the phone
looking for her.

- Letifah,

keeps tabs on her
younger sisters.

- Letifah was more
of a mom figure

than a sister figure to me.

Where are you at?

And where is you and Nia at?

And is y'all OK?

If we don't answer
the phone,

it's like 20 missed calls,
text messages.

And we'll tell her,
like, we are OK.

We good.

- Graduating high school
in the coming December,

Nia enjoys her
final free summer

socializing in Oakland
in the Bay Area,

often with Tashiya.

- I feel like there's
nothing like Oakland,

the music, the dancing.

It's like one big
family out here.

- There's a large gap between
the haves and have-nots,

if you will.

It's close to Silicon Valley.

There's a lot of wealth
in the Bay Area.

But on the other
end of the spectrum,

there's a lot of poverty.

And as a result,
there's a lot of crime as well.

- Oakland is safe.

But it could be very unsafe
if you don't know Oakland.

If you don't know your
children's whereabouts,

it could be detrimental.

- All you have to do is go to
East Oakland or West Oakland

and speak to the residents
of those areas.

And they would
almost all certainly

describe hearing g*nshots
in the evening

on a regular basis.

- Nia is undeterred
by the potential risk,

despite firsthand
experience with loss

and senseless violence.

Two years earlier,
her boyfriend and a friend

tragically drowned
in a nearby reservoir.

While attending a memorial
service for the two young men,

Nia was standing next
to a girl who had just

performed a dance solo
when someone

fired a g*n into the crowd.

The girl was hit in the neck
and fell to the ground.

Nia comforted her until
the paramedics arrived.

The young dancer died
a few hours later.

- She was being Nia.
She was being selfless.

- The sh**ter was
never identified,

enraging the community and
leaving Nia forever changed.

♪ ♪

- It was like
any other normal day.

I got up and got
ready for work.

And the girls were getting
ready to go to an event

at their cousin's house.

- Nia, Tashiya, and their
older sister Letifah

are preparing to go to
their Aunt Teresa's house

in Concord.

Teresa is their
father's sister.

- That aunt had been diagnosed
with a terminal illness.

But unlike many
celebrations of life,

the family decided they were
going to celebrate this person

while they were still alive.

- Nia and her sisters
traveled to Concord on BART,

or Bay Area Rapid Transit,
a public rail system

serving the Oakland
and San Francisco region.

- Millions of people
take BART every year.

But it is generally
understood that there

is a higher level
of crime on BART,

given the mobile aspect of it.

- I've been riding it
for years.

I never had no problems,
no altercations, no anything.

Nia, she did not
like BART at all.

So she tried to avoid it
as much as possible.

She would ride the bus
before she'd ride BART.

- I can remember telling them,
"Be very careful."

- The festivities last
longer than expected.

But Nia, Tashiya,
and Letifah's plans

for catching a ride home
are altered

when the person who
was going to drive them

has to leave early.

- They just shifted gears and
decided they would take BART.

So a family member
dropped them off

at the Concord BART station
at about 9:00 p.m.

The three sisters
entered the BART area

and took the escalator
up to the platform.

♪ ♪

- After waiting
about 15 minutes,

the Wilson sisters get on the
train heading back to Oakland.

♪ ♪

- BART train continues
past four other stops.

♪ ♪

- Around this time, Letifah
calls the girls' father,

Ansar, to let him know
they're close

to the MacArthur BART station,

one of Oakland's
central hubs for BART,

where they'll transfer
to another train.

- The BART arrives
at about 9:35 p.m.

And the three sisters
immediately

get off of the train.

- We was about to enter
the MacArthur train.

I had got on the train
before Nia and Letifah

because I was cold.

And that's when they
was waiting for the lady

with the stroller to back out.

So when I sat down, I seen Nia.

It was like she tripped.

- But it quickly becomes
clear Nia wasn't tripped.

Bleeding from her neck,

she has just been
viciously attacked.

- I was like, what the [bleep]
just happened?

Like, I was in shock.

I didn't know what to do
at that moment.

♪ ♪

[tense music]

- After a family celebration,
Nia Wilson and her sisters

Tashiya and Letifah
are returning

to their home
in Oakland, California,

on BART,
Bay Area rapid transit.

Transferring at
MacArthur station,

Tashiya enters the car first,
becoming horror struck

as Nia stumbles
into the train car.

- It looked like she tripped.

Yeah, it was blood coming
down from her neck.

- Dumbfounded how
a large wound has

appeared on her
sister's neck,

Tashiya is terrified
for Nia's life.

- I believe the doors
had closed,

and then they had reopened.

And then I start screaming,
trying to go find help.

- Letifah grabs Nia's neck and
is trying to hold Nia's neck.

And as she turns,
you can see the blood

splash across the platform.

And you know that she
is hurt very seriously.

At the same time, Tashiya,
the middle sister,

immediately does something
that many daughters would do.

- I end up calling my dad.

- I went over a friend
of mine's house for dinner.

My phone rung.

And I picked it up.

It was Tashiya.

And she was screaming.

- And told him, like,
Nia got stabbed.

We at BART.
I was screaming on the phone.

He just kept saying like, what?
What?

I'm like, Nia got stabbed
and we're at MacArthur BART.

- I couldn't understand
what she was saying.

All I could recognize
her saying was BART.

I figured, you know,
maybe they got in

a little skirmish with
somebody on BART, you know?

And so I jumped in my car.

And I got there
as soon as I could.

♪ ♪

- Officers discover Letifah
is also gravely wounded.

- There was significant blood
all over the platform.

There was significant blood
all over the officer

who was providing first aid.

In addition, we have Letifah.

She also suffers
a stab wound to the neck.

Blood is essentially
oozing out.

She was bleeding,
holding her neck

while trying to essentially
save her sister,

who was her baby sister.

♪ ♪

- When I got there, I see a
bunch of ambulance and police.

I jumped out of my car.

And as I'm running
across the street,

I see them loading
Letifah in the ambulance.

I seen blood dripping
down her arm.

And I ask her what happened.

She just said,
go check on Nia.

- Tashiya remains in shock.

- It was people, like,
hugging me, giving me water

because I started
hyperventilating.

I couldn't breathe because
I was screaming and hollering,

like screaming for help.

I believe an officer
came and talked to me.

I was just like,
go help my sister.

Like, just make sure she's OK.

- Heeding Letifah's plea
to check on Nia,

Ansar comes upon
the most inconceivable

reality imaginable.

- I turn around.
I run up the stairs at BART.

[sniffles]

♪ ♪

And I see my daughter's body
laying there under a tarp.

[exhales]

[sobs]

It's the hardest thing I ever
experienced in my life,

seeing my baby dead.

♪ ♪

- Unfathomably, Nia has
succumbed to her injuries.

- Tashiya was off somewhere
screaming and hollering.

I could hear her,
but I couldn't see her.

But I was numb.

I was in a state of shock.

- Nia, as a result
of being stabbed,

suffered a tear
to her carotid artery

and a tear to her jugular vein.

As a result of both
of those injuries,

she bled out in less than

And there was nothing
anybody could have done,

short of her going
onto a surgeon's table

for emergency surgery.

- I still feel guilty,
to this day,

for not being able
to physically help her.

But...I'm sorry.

♪ ♪

- I ran back down the stairs.

The news met me,
the news media.

- I was sitting on the bench
behind my dad.

I was just screaming.

- Man, I work at
Highland Hospital.

I see this every single day.

I never imagined myself going
through nothing like this.

That's my baby girl
laying up there.

You know?

I want justice for my
daughter, you know?

- I haven't heard
anything from anybody.

The hardest thing for me
was to get on the phone

and call Lisa and tell her
our daughter--

[crying]

Tell her our daughter was dead.

♪ ♪

She just lost it.

Her phone dropped, screaming.

- He was like...

[sighs]
Nia got stabbed.

And I could just hear--

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

So I just hung up.

- Alicia takes a car service
from her home

in Sacramento to the
hospital in Oakland,

about a two-hour ride.

- It was, like, the longest,
quietest, eeriest.

Because, you know, I kept on
waiting on them to call back

and say she OK.

♪ ♪

- Reeling from the sudden
and brutal loss

of their youngest child,
Alicia and Ansar are stricken

with grief
while simultaneously

hoping that Letifah
will pull through.

- We didn't really know
what we had,

other than
Nia had been m*rder*d.

And we didn't know whether
or not Letifah would make it

because the nature
of her injuries

were unknown,
particularly given

the vital organs and
vital arteries and veins

that were in her neck.

- About an hour
after the attack,

the family waits
at the hospital

for news of Letifah's status.

[somber music]

- Almost an hour
since the Wilson sisters

are brutally attacked while
riding public transportation

in Oakland, California,

their family struggles through
the immediate fallout.

Nia, the youngest sister and
baby of the family, lay dead,

her throat slashed.

And Letifah,
the oldest of the three,

was rushed to the hospital
with knife wounds to her neck.

♪ ♪

- It's a night
I'll never forget...

- Letifah was in the hospital.

My mind was just,
like, in a fog.

- When I got up
to the hospital,

they told me she had
got stabbed in the neck.

I didn't know that I was--

I was shocked, you know?

This guy k*lled my baby.

And he could have
k*lled Letifah.

♪ ♪

- My name is Letifah Wilson.

I am a survivor
of one of the most

horrific times in my life.

I remember pulling up
to Highland

and they taking me out.

And from then on,
it was kind of a blur.

- They told me she was in
stable condition, you know?

And that made me
feel a lot better.

- I knew she was
gonna be all right.

But she didn't know
Nia was gone, at that point.

♪ ♪

- All I just heard is
a lot of people, doctors.

And then I seen my brother,

then my dad come in.

And I'm like, where is Nia?

And he hesitated.

And my dad ended up
telling me.

And that's when I tried
to get out the bed.

And my brother was like,
don't get up.

Don't get up.

I don't care what
y'all are saying.

I just want to get up.

- Before leaving for
Letifah's bedside,

Tashiya is reeling
from the attack,

experiencing acute physical
and emotional trauma.

- I just remember
I kept fainting.

I had called this guy Zane
at the time.

And he carried me over his
shoulder, put me in the car.

And I remember a lot of
people calling my phone.

And I was just sitting
in the passenger seat,

just staring up
at the ceiling.

I couldn't speak.

It's like I was zoned out.

♪ ♪

I was numb.

- Tashiya finds her family
at the hospital.

And Letifah gives her account

of what happened
earlier that night.

♪ ♪

- Beginning with the train

pulling into
MacArthur station,

the sisters transfer
to their train

heading towards their stop,
Warm Springs.

- Warm Springs train
just pulled up.

Tashiya walk in.

As we approach to go in,

a lady and her baby
backing out.

She don't see us
because she's backing up

with her back towards us,
but the baby like this at Nia.

Nia, "Hi, baby, hi, hi, hi."

And me and Nia proceeded
to walk onto the BART train.

But all you hear is...
[claps]

And Nia flung forward.

And before I know
I could turn back...

[claps]
To me.

And I jerked to the left.

And that's when Nia
screamed my name.

And she just said, Letifah!

She was trying to
walk over to Tashiya.

And I'm like hysterical now.

Like, what just happened?

- Nia and Letifah
exit the train.

And Letifah is holding her.

- The lady with the baby,

she threw the baby blanket
over her.

And all I can think of is,
like, apply pressure.

I'm not knowing
if I'm hurting her.

♪ ♪

So I live with that
on my mind constantly.

Did I hurt her?

Did I make it worse?

And then I turned around,
and the security guard

just grabbed me and was like,
you've been stabbed, too.

He took me and put me
on the ground.

♪ ♪

- With Letifah recovering,
police continue

to gather evidence,
hoping to identify

and locate
the person responsible.

- Immediately upon
the m*rder happening,

BART police department began
collecting surveillance.

Our BART system at the time
had been upgraded,

as far as all of their
surveillance footage.

- BART surveillance
footage captures

the entirety of the attack.

The suspect captured
on the footage

is a 20- to 30-year-old

white male wearing
a white T-shirt.

[tense music]

It begins when
the suspect first

encounters Nia and her sisters
as they arrive at BART.

♪ ♪

- You can see that
the suspect's attention

is immediately directed
towards the sisters.

He becomes focused on them.

As soon as the sisters
make it clear

that they're about to get on
one of the BART trains

headed towards Oakland,

he then puts his hoodie over
his head, grabs his backpack,

and hustles over
and gets on the actual car

that the sisters have.

As the sisters are standing
and seated on the BART train,

the suspect is roughly
about 10 feet away from Nia.

The BART train continues
past four other stops,

ultimately arriving at
the MacArthur BART station,

which is one
of the central hubs

in the city of Oakland.

♪ ♪

The three sisters immediately
get off of the train.

As they make their way
towards the exit,

the suspect stands up
and begins to follow them.

As the sisters are making
their way across the platform,

this Caucasian male is seen
on surveillance footage,

essentially, bending down
and removing the knife

and then secreted it
under his shirt.

♪ ♪

The sisters are waiting now
for the train doors to open.

As the train doors
begin to open,

the suspect approaches them
from behind,

looking up and down
the platform

as if looking for
an escape route.

He then takes the knife
from underneath his shirt

and immediately stabs
Nia Wilson in the neck twice

and then stabs
the older sister Letifah

in the neck once and tries to
stab her again a second time.

But his momentum has
carried him past her.

When the sisters are stabbed,
Nia immediately

jumps onto the train, followed
immediately by Letifah,

who actually glances
over her left shoulder

and sees the suspect.

He then jogs
for a short distance,

turns the corner
to go down the stairs

to exit the BART platform.

And as he turns the stairs,

other people start
running and screaming.

He begins to run and tries
to blend in with them.

He makes his way down
the bottom of the platform

and illegally exits
the BART station.

At about that time, Nia
comes off of the BART train.

And as she turns,
you can't see the blood

coming out of her neck,
but you can see the blood

splash across the platform.

And you know that she
is hurt very seriously.

Letifah grabs Nia's neck
and is trying

to hold Nia's neck
while she herself

is bleeding from the neck.

♪ ♪

While all this is happening,

the suspect goes past
the police officers

and directs them behind him
telling them

somebody is hurt
on the platform.

You need to go to the platform.

This is also caught
on the police officer's

body-worn camera.

The two officers make
their way up to the platform

and find Nia essentially
bleeding out.

The suspect has basically
jogged about a block

and entered a BART
parking structure.

You can see, by this time,
that the suspect has already

changed his hooded sweatshirt
to a different color

hooded sweatshirt, which he
then tucks into a backpack

containing his own
personal belongings.

And he tucks them behind,
essentially, a wall.

He turns, jogs, to the middle
of the parking structure,

removes his shoes
with his feet,

and then pulls
his sweatpants down

and he has shorts
on underneath.

He then picks up his shoes,
his sweatpants,

and then runs out of
the BART parking structure

and discards the sweatpants
that he had.

By this point, Nia Wilson
has already expired.

She's dead at this time.

♪ ♪

An hour later, we pick up
more surveillance footage

from one of our
local bus routes

where the suspect essentially
tricks his way onto the bus

by claiming he has an injury.

- In the Bay Area,
it's pretty well known

that if you have an injury
and it's late at night,

the bus drivers will give you
a ride free of charge.

So he tricks his way
onto the bus

and then asks the bus driver
to take him

to a separate BART station.

[indistinct chatter]

- Nia's k*ller finds a seat,
then disappears into the night

with her family
and a city on edge.

- I just wanted justice
for my baby.

[somber piano melody]

- The day after 18-year-old
Nia Wilson is m*rder*d

while riding
Bay Area Rapid Transit

with her two sisters
in Oakland, California,

her k*ller remains at large.

- I've described this video
as the worst video

I've ever seen of a m*rder.

And I've seen more videos
than I can count.

To see a young lady
who's full of life

and minding her own business

be stabbed in such
a brutal way,

you literally watch
her die on the camera

while her sisters
are standing there.

And there's nothing
they can do.

It's something that
I will never forget.

It's something that
I carry around with me.

- Authorities pore over
the surveillance footage

and make a breakthrough
in the case.

- The suspect had
left a backpack

in the BART parking structure.

So that was recovered
within hours.

The backpack had personal
identifying information.

They matched his ID

to the high definition
surveillance footage.

♪ ♪

- BART PD publicly announced

the identity of the person
they're searching for,

a 27-year-old Caucasian male.

- John Lee Cowell,
he is a violent felon.

And we currently have
an active arrest warrant

for his arrest
for the m*rder of Nia.

- So Mr. Cowell had
a conviction for as*ault

with a deadly weapon
from 2012.

And then he had a conviction
for an armed robbery

from 2016.

And he had actually been
in prison for the robbery.

He was released maybe a couple
of months before this as*ault.

♪ ♪

- Authorities release
images of Cowell.

And the people of Oakland,
incensed by Nia's m*rder,

share it across social media.

- You know, I'm just
trying to figure out, like,

do I know him from somewhere?

Like, did we have an
interaction with him

in any way, shape, or form,
because who is this?

And why did he target us?

I just felt like, rage.

♪ ♪

[crowd chanting]

- The community takes
to the streets,

demanding justice for Nia.

Nia's senseless k*lling
becomes a cause,

with everyday people
and celebrities uniting

around the hashtag
#sayhername.

- I say, to this day,
it was a hate crime.

It just didn't
make sense to me.

Growing up in Oakland,
it's very diverse.

Everybody was one.

For this random person
to just come up behind us

and attack,
but for what reason?

- That created an uproar
in the community.

And they wanted more attention
brought to the fact

that a young African American
girl had been m*rder*d

in such a terrible,
horrendous way

and the fact that he was
a Caucasian male.

- It affected
a lot of little kids,

from the young to the old,
to the rich and the famous,

you know, like,
all walks of life.

- The public outpouring
of support is heartening

for Nia's family,
but they remain shattered,

left wondering
who John Lee Cowell is

and why he caused
so much pain.

- Why my daughter? Why?
Why'd you pick her?

I still ask why.

- Meanwhile,
authorities along with scores

of Oakland citizens
keep searching for Cowell.

- I don't know if you heard
about Oakland, Oaktown,

but when I tell you all
my brothers, sisters, cousins,

everybody was looking for him.

- And rallies continue
throughout the day.

- ♪ Paint it all black,
paint it all black ♪

♪ Paint it all ♪

- I remember marching.

And from then on,
it was a blur.

♪ ♪

- Nia's father and her
sisters Letifah and Tashiya,

along with other members
of Nia's family,

honor her memory with
a crowd of over 1,000

at the MacArthur BART station.

- I feel very jubilated
in them coming out to help me

pursue justice
for my daughters.

♪ ♪

- As the vigil continues,
authorities receive a tip.

- They got an
anonymous phone call

from somebody who was
actually on a train

headed towards Oakland.

And the anonymous caller
said the person

you're looking for from
the stabbing is on the train.

- The writer relays
Cowell has been

riding in the same BART car
as the caller

since Coliseum station.

Just leaving

Cowell is headed back
to the scene of the crime,

MacArthur station,
where Letifah and Tashiya

are currently attending
the vigil.

BART PD dispatch orders
a train intercept

at MacArthur station.

♪ ♪

With police in position
to capture Cowell,

the train pulls into
MacArthur station.

But when the doors open...

♪ ♪

Cowell is nowhere to be seen.

He has evaded police
a second time.

With Letifah and Tashiya
only steps away,

could Cowell be coming back
to finish the job?

[tense music]

- Less than 24 hours since
wanted man John Lee Cowell is

accused of savagely murdering

on Bay Area Rapid Transit,
a.k.a. BART,

BART PD received
a mind-blowing tip.

Cowell is spotted
on BART traveling

towards MacArthur station,
the scene of the crime.

At the same time,
Nia's family is there

at MacArthur
attending a vigil.

With a team in place
to capture him

when the train arrives,

officers are baffled
when Cowell doesn't appear.

With Nia's k*ller
so close to her family,

anything is possible.

- Suspect is not on the train.

Possibly transferred at 19th
to the Antioch line.

Reset and prep for intercept
at Pleasant Hill.

[radio blips]

♪ ♪

- Police believe
Cowell switched trains

either at 19th Street or
even possibly at MacArthur,

right under their noses.

Dispatch orders another
police stop at Pleasant Hill,

where officers are
already on duty

four stations away
on the Antioch line.

Four stops with an unhinged,
murderous felon on a train

loaded with unsuspecting
passengers at rush hour.

The train passes
through Orinda,

then Lafayette
and Walnut Creek,

the last station
before Pleasant Hill.

♪ ♪

This time,
Cowell doesn't disappear.

Police body cam footage shows
the moment he is apprehended.

♪ ♪

- How you doing today?
- Good.

♪ ♪

- BART police
officers essentially

walked down the line,
saw Mr. Cowell on the train,

asked him to exit,
and ultimately identified him

and took him into custody.

- A new mugshot released of
suspected k*ller John Cowell

in custody after
a deadly stabbing

at an Oakland BART station.

- News of Cowell's capture
conjures mixed emotions

for her mother, Alicia.

- I seen it on the news
when he was arrested.

Out of all places,
he was arrested on BART.

It's probably good that the
police came across him first.

He walked in without a scratch.

But if that was one of my
brown brothers or sisters,

they would have been beat up
when they ain't had no g*n.

They ain't even did
half of what he did.

I shouldn't have
to bury my child.

My child should bury me.

- With Nia's k*ller held in
jail, Oaklanders don't let up.

- We have to keep
the pressure on.

This is beautiful.

But this energy
cannot dissipate

until there is justice
for our baby.

- I'm trying my hardest
to stay sane.

That's very hard.

And my little sister
is not here.

She can't look you
dead in the eyes

and tell you how she feel.

I'm trying.

But my anxiety is
so, so, so bad.

- Nia's entire extended family
is bent on ensuring

Cowell is convicted.

- They were really,
really focused

on making sure that Nia would
not be just another statistic.

And that sort of spawned
into the #sayhername.

And that never lost momentum.

- Preparing for the trial,
District Attorney Ford

weighs whether or not
to charge Cowell

with not only m*rder,
but a hate crime.

- It was a hate crime,
racially motivated,

however you want
to look at it.

You k*lled her
because of her skin.

You didn't k*ll her
for anything else.

- So I absolutely believe that
the attack on Nia, Letifah,

and ultimately the emotional
trauma done to Tashiya

was racially motivated.

A couple of reasons for that--

there were many women
and people who entered

into the BART platform.

He did not focus
on any of them.

As soon as he saw three young
African American women

get on to the platform,
he fixated on them.

And every indication,
every angle

of the surveillance
makes that very clear.

While he was in custody,
he went out of his way

to engage an African American
deputy who was a woman

and proceeded to call her
lots of racial slurs as well.

So there's no doubt
in my mind

that the as*ault
was racially motivated.

That's different
than whether or not

I can prove
it's racially motivated.

- DA Ford advises Nia's family
that his best chance

to put Cowell away for good
is to charge Cowell

with premeditated m*rder
and lying in wait.

- Once I made that clear
to them,

I was lucky enough
to gain their trust,

that they believed
in me that I would get them

the justice they wanted.

- But Cowell has
a plan to thwart

the DA's case against him.

With a history
of mental illness,

Cowell is claiming insanity.

[tense music]

- 19 months after 18-year-old
Nia Wilson is m*rder*d,

John Cowell stands trial
for k*lling her

and stabbing
Nia's sister Letifah.

Cowell claims innocence
by reason of insanity.

- He just made a mockery
out of it, like,

the things he was
talking about up there.

Because he wanted
to play crazy.

So that was draining,
just his shenanigans.

- Under cross-examination,
Cowell is combative.

- He was happy to answer
questions about

what had occurred
before the stabbing.

But as soon as we got
to the actual stabbing,

he refused to answer
any questions.

At one point,
I intended to play the video

of the stabbing for him
to demonstrate

that he knew
what he was doing.

He started screaming,
yelling, cussing at me,

telling me that I knew
he was innocent,

and simply disrupting
the courtroom.

- Ford has firsthand knowledge
of Cowell's mental state.

- Mr. Cowell's focus was
trying to demonstrate

to the jury and to the judge
that he was

essentially insane
and incompetent.

There is no doubt that
there's a mental health crisis

in our community
and in our country.

But that's distinct
and separate

from people who are out
to commit crimes

who have mental health
history.

He was just
a very, very bad person

who was out to commit crimes.

Part of trial prep is,
I'm responsible

for listening
to every jail call.

And sometimes there are
hundreds and hundreds

of jail calls leading up
to a trial.

But Mr. Cowell was happy
to discuss his trial strategy

on the phones with an aunt who
he spoke to almost every day.

And he also was happy to speak

to his mental health
caregivers.

Because Mr. Cowell had
mental health issues.

There's no disputing that.

But he also was forthcoming
that he needed to stop

taking his medication
so that he could appear

more crazy when
the trial started.

I think it was an
absolute show by him.

- Nia's family is on
the edge of their seats

awaiting the verdict.

- I was waiting for it,
but not waiting for it,

just the dread of having
to go sit through this.

- I want to get him, you know.
[sniffles]

- He was ultimately convicted
of premeditated m*rder

and lying-in-wait m*rder
of Nia Wilson

and attempted premeditated
m*rder of Letifah Wilson,

both using a knife,
and was sentenced to life

without the possibility
of parole.

- Yes, I really think
justice was served.

Spend the rest of
his life in prison.

- He's in jail for the rest
of his life, but...

I don't get my sister back.

I gotta live with that
every day.

[somber piano melody]

It's hard.

- The public's show
of love and support

continues at Nia's
memorial service.

- There was about 400 people.

It was beautiful.

- A lot of people came
that I didn't expect to come,

like the mayor.

And that was on the news,

having this celebration
of life for her.

- She was dressed in gold
and white, had a white casket.

They gave her a carriage ride
after the funeral

and released doves.

[cheers and applause]

- The effects of Nia's sudden
and unthinkable end

extend to every family member.

- It was just something that
I couldn't believe, you know?

I couldn't sleep, you know?
I couldn't eat.

And that's when
I had a stroke.

Some people say
it's from grieving.

I have limited use of my
right side, my leg, my arm.

I don't speak too clear.

My dogs keep me up.

We have a husky.
And she's very spoiled.

And she make me take her out
for walks.

She keep me going.
She's my therapy.

- I thank the most high
that I'm still here.

But, you know, I told my
therapist I wish it was me.

Because I still feel
that guilt of,

damn, I couldn't save her.

That was my baby.

Like, a sister's love

can never be defined.

- I just take it day by day,

meditate,

try to go on walks and stuff
by myself.

♪ ♪

Trying to figure out
who I am all over again.

Because I lost myself.

- Yeah, I always say, Nia,
you make me a better person.

They say you only
got your name.

I carry my daughter's name
with a heavy weight.

So whatever I do,
I think about her

because I can't fail her
in no type of way.

- Nia's death was deeply felt,
not only by her loved ones,

but by an entire city,
and her legacy lives on.

- I think Nia wants
to be remembered

how she loved people,
how she cared for people,

how her passion for people
and rights for everybody.

- Me and my daughters
and the rest of us

will see this through.

We will make it,
even though it's very hard.

And it's something
that we'll think about

for the rest of our lives.

But we're gonna make it.

We're gonna make it.

- I don't think my baby
got m*rder*d in vain.

I hate that she had
to be the poster girl.

But I'm just glad I was able
to share her with the world.