01x08 - Clash of the Coeds

[bunniefuu]

Debbie was born with
a passion to be a performer.

This girl had fire.

[Candra McLaughlin] It wasn't
about publicity or being seen.

It was about her passion.
It was about dancing.

Did she upset people?
Did she step on toes? Sure.

[Candra] I said, "Don't be
out there getting in arguments
with other girls.

You don't have your girls
there to back you up."

Watch out for that girl.

[Celeste Flores Narvaez]
Are they jealous?

Were they trying to grab
her spot in the limelight?

Everybody was a suspect
in my eyes.

[rock music playing]

[soft piano music playing]

[Celeste] Debbie, from
the moment she was little,

she was always intrigued about
being in the spotlight.

She loved to perform.
She loved to dance.

She always loved
being front and center.

[Candra] That was all
she wanted to do.

She didn't care
about drinking.

"I don't care about boys.
I just wanna dance.
Can we go?"

So, she just wanted to dance.
That was it.

[Celeste] And I remember
just one day she called me
up and said,

"Hey. What do you think about
me moving to Vegas?"

And I said, "Okay." I just...

I didn't feel
that that was right.

And, honestly, I didn't
like the thought of that.

[Candra] None of our friends
were gonna be able
to talk her out of it.

That's one thing about Debbie.

When she got her mind set
on something, that's it.

[pop music playing]

[Samantha Bregman] Vegas is
as flashy as you would think.

It's just lights and flash
and sex everywhere.

[Melanie Kramer]
It's the entertainment
capital of the world

because we are the originators
of the showgirl.

The showgirl represents
all of this glitz and glamor
of Las Vegas.

[narrator]
That glitz and glamor

is what 30-year-old
Debbie Flores Narvaez
is after.

[Julia Lukas] Most people
don't know this about Debbie,

but before she chose
to pursue her dreams

of becoming a showgirl,
she was in finance.

[Celeste] She got her MBA
in business science.

She was working as a big
executive at a corporation.

She was making
six figures a year.

But she loved to dance.

That was just her drive,
and people loved her.

[narrator] And when she brings
that passion to Vegas in 2008,
she gets noticed.

This girl had fire.

And when she danced,
she just knew
she had that thing.

She had that confidence.

And, for me,
that's key to being a star.

[narrator] But Vegas showgirls
don't exactly embrace
new talent.

[Melanie] New people
come in and we say,

"Who are you, and what
are you doing here?"

Any new face is a threat.

[Deon] Everyone wants
to be the lead in a show.

Everyone wants to be
front and center.

We've all seen, like,
movies like Showgirls

and, you know,
how the girl knocked the girl
down the stairs

to get a part in the show.

I wouldn't necessarily say
that that's not something

that doesn't happen
in Las Vegas.

You have to be willing
to constantly be rejected
and just keep going.

Because that is
definitely part of it.

You have to know
how to come back.

Only the strongest survive.

[Celeste]
She dove straight into it.

"Let me introduce myself.
Let me show them what I got."

Classes every single day
to practice.

Auditions all the time.

She would not take no
for an answer.

She was like,
"I'm a rock star.

You're gonna accept it,
and you're gonna love me
or hate me, and I don't care."

[dance music playing]

[instructor] Five, six,
seven, work.

[Deon] Debbie auditioned
for a project

that we were gonna do
for Michael Jackson.
This Is It.

I was working
as the choreographer,

and she was amongst
the dancers who were chosen.

[narrator] Some dancers
would just be grateful
for the opportunity,

but Debbie
has bigger ambitions.

She wanted to direct
and choreograph herself.

And I understood it
as being driven
and having that passion.

I also saw it, personally,
as a little bit insubordinate.

She spoke her mind,
very much, no matter
what the setting was.

And there was no stopping her
or telling her otherwise.

She was a bad b*tch.

That scares people.
It really does.

When people feel threatened,
and that's, like,
an animal instinct

to kind of protect yourself
and get rid of that issue.

[narrator] Starring roles
aren't the only thing
Vegas showgirls fight over.

They get just as competitive
over men.

[Deon] When you're surrounded
by extremely attractive
sexual people all the time,

it can end up not so good.

Like, I've been in
a lot of just different
artistic productions

where it's just , like,
someone'll break up
with their partner

and start dating
their, like, costar.

[Melanie] This is a very
close-knit community.

And you're gonna
see each other at gigs,

and you're gonna
see each other at events.

You're gonna see that person
everywhere you go.

It can be a recipe
for disaster.

It's like having
fire and fire together.

[narrator] When Debbie
arrives in Vegas
in the summer of 2008,

she's already got
a man on her arm:
dancer, Jamile McGee.

[Carolina Sarassa]
They met in Baltimore,

and he already had a taste
of success as a finalist

on the show,
So You Think You Can Dance.

Jamile was hungry
to break into the Las Vegas
dancing world,

just as Debbie was.

[Celeste] Debbie was all about
[sighs] her career first
and love second.

But when she was
in a relationship,
she went all in.

She wanted it to be perfect.

Debbie and Jamile had
a very turbulent relationship.

They were on and off
for about two years.

[narrator] Even their breakup
is full of drama.

[Deon] She didn't share
a lot of details

about what was going on
between her and Jamile.

All I knew was that
she felt threatened

because of him following her
and being obsessed with her.

Apparently,
he had been stalking her

and kept calling
her cellphone.

And she was real scared.

She would call me
and ask me to come around
and hang out with her.

For me, that was concerning.

[narrator]
A newly-single Debbie

enters the complicated
dating pool
of the Vegas dance world.

[Carolina] People always
hear this phrase,

"What happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas."

But within
the dancing community,
everybody knows each other.

[Samantha] It's really hard
when your partner spends
a 12-hour rehearsal day

surrounded by
scantily clad dancers.

And it's hard to trust
that there are gonna
be boundaries there.

And sometimes,
those boundaries are pushed.

And sometimes,
they're overstepped.
And sometimes, they're erased.

[Melanie] You know,
we're actors, and we're
constantly playing parts.

And what you see is,
half the time,
not really what it is.

[narrator] But Debbie
isn't interested in games.

[Julia] She was very much,
"If I'm with you,
I'm with you.

Like, this is a real thing.
We're not gonna
be seeing other people."

And, you know,
if that was ever crossed,
that would be an issue.

[narrator] In 2009,
Debbie meets Jason Griffith,

an established performer
in Las Vegas.

They knew each other's friends
from, of course,
the dancing community

and the performing community,
and they met at an event.

And there was
some type of attraction,

and it kind of blossomed
from there.

He had the background
from Juilliard in New York.
He performed at the LOVE show,

which was the Beatles'
huge show out there.

[narrator] LOVE is part of
the Cirque du Soleil world,

which sits at the top
of the Vegas dance hierarchy.

There's a certain
type of prestige

that goes along with
being a Cirque dancer.

You're almost, like,
a local celebrity.

You kind of have
that royalty to you.

[Celeste] I think Debbie
was attracted to the fact
that he had a background.

He had an education.

"Maybe he can
teach me new things."

And one thing led to another,
and they were in
a full-fledged relationship.

[Candra] She called me
and told me. She's like,

"He's doing a video,
and I'm gonna be in it."

And I'm like,
"Are you dancing?"

And she's like, "Well,
kind of more so playing, like,

a girlfriend role
in the video."

That's how she was.

And, like I said, once she
fell in love with you,

you were in. She loved you.
You were not getting out.

[narrator] Debbie may have
laid down her rules,

but that doesn't mean
others are playing by them.

[Ashley] I didn't wanna
do this interview.

And then I did,
and then I didn't.

Because I'm afraid people
are gonna continue to judge me

like they did initially,
before they knew
my side of it.

[Ashley] I met Jason
on an online dating site.

He had a lot of depth to him.
He knew he was a big deal.

And I think that's definitely
attractive to women.

Vegas is a beautiful place
with beautiful people.

So non-monogamy
is a big thing in Las Vegas.

If you get involved
with the wrong crowd,
it can become very dangerous.

I wasn't really made aware
of his situation with Debbie
until I actually saw them

out shopping together
around Valentine's Day.

He had this very beautiful
woman attached to his arm,

and it turned out
to be Debbie.

The next time I spoke to him,
I just mentioned to him,

"Hey, I saw you out shopping
with a really cute girl."

And he kind of didn't know,
like, "Oh, uh..."

You know, stumbled through
kind of explaining it to me.

I didn't really care
because we weren't exclusive
or anything like that,

but I think that he
was not comfortable

being open about dating
multiple woman at one time.

[phone buzzes]

[Ashley]
Jason and I went to lunch,

and he had this phone
sitting upright on the table.

-[phone buzzes]
-And the phone was lit up
the entire time

with either text messages
or phone calls from Debbie.

And I could see
her name across the phone

and just continuously,
continuously.

He didn't answer it
when we were together.

It started as an attraction
but over time,

it just developed
into us being friends.

We both found
other romantic interests.

I don't think Jason had any
shortage of women in his life.

[Celeste] He was cheating
on her with other women.

Debbie had her suspicions.

[Deon] If Jason was
cheating on her, yes,

that would be the formula for,
"We're gonna talk about this."

[narrator] But before Debbie
can confront Jason,

in May of 2010,
he meets dancer, Agnes Roux.

Agnes Roux was a beautiful
red-headed woman,
very talented.

And she was a dancer
for the Cirque du Soleil show
called Zumanity.

[narrator] Petite, French,

and from the same esteemed
Cirque du Soleil dance
company as Jason,

Agnes easily beats out Debbie
for Jason's attention.

[Ashley] Jason decided
he didn't want to date
Debbie anymore

because he fell in love
with Agnes.

He was willing
to cut off all other woman
to be with Agnes.

[Celeste]
Jason broke up with her.

She was just somebody
that he was playing with.

She didn't want him to be
with another woman.
She was over it.

She was over the lies
and the deceit.

[narrator] But three months
after the breakup,

Debbie gets a special surprise
on her 31st birthday.

They hadn't seen each other
or spoken,

and then Jason bought her
some shoes as a gift.

And that reintroduced her
into his life again.

From what Jason told me,
Debbie was willing
to accept Agnes

as a part of Jason's life.

She just wanted Jason, too.

[narrator] Debbie may be okay
with sharing Jason,
but what about Agnes?

Agnes had no idea that Jason
kept on calling Debbie.

He kept on being
intimate with her.

[narrator] To Agnes,
Debbie was just
his crazy ex-girlfriend.

[automated female
voice speaking]

[Ashley] Debbie
distracted Jason as much
as she possibly could

from giving his full attention
to Agnes.

Agnes was in love
with him, too.

She was tired of always
having to deal with stuff

that had to do with Debbie.

[narrator]
Even with all the chaos
in her personal life,

Debbie is still hell-bent
on making it big
as a Vegas dancer.

And then suddenly,
[chuckles] she's in Fantasy.

When she got it, I was like,
"Oh, my God."

You know,
everyone knows Fantasy.

It's, like, one of the biggest
burlesque shows in Las Vegas.

Debbie happened
to know the manager of
Dru Hill at the time,

and they somehow
hatched up this idea

to bring in Sisqo
to do a show in Vegas

with the Fantasy cast
for the Thong Song.

And Debbie wanted to be the
girl that danced with Sisqo.

She would practice
and practice and practice
until it was perfect.

And she got the part.

[Deon] There was definitely
jealousy involved.

Like, "Wait a minute, you got
that show just like that?"

I'm sure a lot of other
dancers were upset.

[Samantha] A lot of times
the bigger names here

will kind of just, like,
suppress new talent

because they don't want
their limelight
to be taken away.

She didn't care.
She definitely loved
the limelight.

[Julia] Her star was going up.
She was doing the work.

She was about to be
in her starring show.

[ominous music playing]

December 12th, Debbie
and her crew,

they rehearsed
with the singer Sisqo
for their show.

And then they took a break
for that day.

They had a final
rehearsal at midnight.

That was the day
before the big show.

Everybody shows up but Debbie.

The main person that day
didn't show up.

And one of
the production assistants
is trying to call Debbie,

but it goes
straight to voicemail.

The show, as always,
unfortunately, has to go on.

So another dancer
takes Debbie's spot.

[Deon] This meant
so much to her.
She would never do that.

In our industry,
if you don't show up,

[laughs] working with a star,
like, you're done.
Like, you're done.

[narrator] Two days later,

the Las Vegas
police department
gets an anxious call.

[Dan Long]
On the 14th of December,

Debbie Flores' roommate,
Sonya, called in

and said that she had
missed rehearsals
and had not come home.

The last time that she
had seen her was on the 12th

at about seven o'clock
at night

and that she was gonna go
to Jason Griffith's house.

[Dean Raetz] And it was
decided that a welfare check
needed to be made.

So the missing persons
detective went to pay a visit
to Jason Griffith.

Jason said Debbie just
pulled up in her Geo Prizm
and never got out of the car.

That she just
had the window rolled down.
They had a short discussion,

and she said she didn't
wanna be late for rehearsal.

[Dan] She doesn't
show up for work.

We don't know where
she goes from that point.

[Celeste]
I got a call from my mom,

and she told me
she hadn't heard from Debbie,

for a few days,
and she was worried.

My mom was her best friend.

They talked on the phone
almost every single day.

I didn't sleep at all.

I started working towards
getting her face out there.

I knew that she had
a big following on Facebook.

I made a missing poster,
and I posed it, and I asked
everybody to share it.

And then I got a call
from my mom,

and she told me, "My church
is willing to pay for you
to go to Las Vegas."

And my mom said,
"I'll take care of the kids."

And I said, "Okay. Let's go."
I was gonna make sure
I found her.

This is what she does,
is dancing,

and she left her career
to follow her dream.

I remember seeing
Celeste on the screen

and thinking,
"What the [bleep]?
This is not happening."

I know most of y'all know her
through rehearsal and dancing.

You're surrounded by
people that know her,

but you have no idea
about their relationship.
Are they jealous?

Were they trying to grab
her spot in the limelight?
I didn't trust anybody.

Everybody was
a suspect in my eyes.

[Julia]
Maybe she's driving home.

Maybe she took a trip
to Puerto Rico.

She's gotta
be somewhere, right?

Like, she's gotta
be somewhere.

And then they found her car.

[Dean Raetz] Her vehicle
was found in the backyard
of an abandoned house,

hidden or secured in a way
to make it difficult
for anybody passing by

to see it in plain view.

[Dean O'Kelley]
It was recovered
about 16 miles away

from where Debbie lived,
and the license plate
wasn't on the vehicle.

[Dean Raetz]
And that would lead
investigators to believe

that some foul play
might be involved
in her disappearance.

It was impounded
and transported

to the crime lab
for processing.

[Dan]
There are things in there
that you could have stolen.

Nothing's stolen.

They're looking at
all her electronics.
Her computer. Her cellphone.

What activities
there could be,

but that all stopped
on the 12th,

which was another clue
that she probably
didn't just leave.

We're obviously
looking for blood.

We want to know if Debbie's
been k*lled in the car.

We're looking
for fingerprints.
We're looking for DNA.

They searched everything.

But it didn't produce
any evidence.

[Dean Raetz] Part of
any investigation,
you develop a victim profile.

You're taking everything that
you're learning from family,
friends, co-workers.

[narrator] They need to
find out where Debbie ranks

in the Vegas showgirl world
of queen bees
versus wannabees.

[Dan] They did interview
people at the Fantasy show.

There were some people
that were jealous

that she was rising up
and becoming
what she was becoming so fast.

Did she step on toes? Sure.

Are you gonna
k*ll a woman for this?
I've seen worse.

Each step in the investigation
opened up
more possible suspects.

But first, we have to look
at the last person
to see Debbie alive:

Jason Griffith.

We pull all police records
and find out that
Debbie and Jason

have had three
domestic violence incidents.

They're calling
the police on each other.

[Dan] So we go back out
to Jason's house.

Jason's not home,
but we interview
Louis Colombo, his roommate.

And we corroborate that Jason
has quite a few girlfriends,

but he's actually
fallen in love with his
current girlfriend, Agnes.

So, we're gonna
want to talk to Agnes, also.

We need to determine
if she might be involved
in her disappearance.

[narrator] But before
they speak with her,

they want to speak
with Jason again.

Jason told us that
he was ending the relationship
with Debbie,

and they were
fighting about it.

He did a lot of talking about
how volatile Debbie was.

[narrator] And when Debbie
finds out that Jason
is leaving her for Agnes,

heartbreak unleashes her rage.

Yeah.

Jason set Debbie up
with a video camera
to get her to confess.

She wanted him to be honest
because that's the type
of person she was.

She was just, like, she didn't
sugarcoat anything.

[Jason] No, no, no. [stutters]

[Jason] Well, yeah, but you...

[Jason] Right, right.

[narrator] Debbie's combative
relationship with Jason

makes him a clear
person of interest.

But he lets
the detectives know

he isn't the only
former boyfriend they
should be talking to.

[Dan] Jason brought up
the former boyfriend,
Jamile McGee,

and said that they
had had a relationship
that was volatile, also.

And that, according to Jason,

Jamile had beaten Debbie
almost to death.

[narrator] Police not only
confirm Jason's story
about Jamile,

they discover Debbie
had fought back in court.

[Carolina] In August of 2009,
after she moved to Las Vegas,

Debbie filed the lawsuit
against Jamile for $250,000.

She was alleging that she was
a victim of domestic violence.

And she had some scarring
that she lost opportunities
and modeling jobs.

The court ruled in her favor.

[narrator] And, just a couple
months before she disappeared,
Debbie tried to collect.

[Celeste]
$250,000 is a quarter
of a million dollars.

That's a lot of money.

And people do crazy things
for way less than that.

As soon as I found that out,
Jamile was prime suspect
in my book.

Every day that goes past,
Debbie becomes more
and more in danger.

We have to find out
what happened to her.

Jason told us Jamile McGee
had supposedly
beaten Debbie severely.

We're talking about
a volatile relationship.

So we track him down.

There was an interview
done with Jamile.

[narrator]
$250,000 is a strong motive,
but Jamile has something else.

[Dan]
He had a very good alibi.

He wasn't even in the state.

He left and moved
back to Baltimore
the time of the disappearance.

Now, could he
have hired somebody?
That's possible.

So at this point,
the more investigating we do,
the more suspects we get.

[narrator] From dance rivals
to love rivals,
it's a long list.

But two names
are right at the top.

We know the history
that Debbie and Jason had.

It was kind of on and off
type of relationship.

We were able to determine
that Debbie had made
at least one enemy

of a current girlfriend
that Jason was involved with.

She's targeted by Debbie
because she's involved
in a relationship with Jason.

[narrator] Agnes Roux,
the star dancer
from Cirque du Soleil,

had no clue
Jason had restarted
a relationship with Debbie.

[Deon] She was having drama
with that relationship.

And so that made me
concerned, too.

[narrator] Until, two months
before she disappears,

Debbie follows
the couple in her car
and decides to confront them.

[Ashley] He got out of the car
very frustrated,
and it escalated.

Debbie tells Agnes that Jason
and Debbie are having sex.

[police sirens blaring]

[Dean O'Kelley]
The police arrive.

Debbie said that
he had kicked her.

He had pulled her hair
and chucked her phone

out into the middle
of the street.

[Dean Raetz]
Jason gets arrested.

In his opinion, he was falsely
charged by the police,

purely on Debbie's word.

[Ashley]
Agnes gave Jason an ultimatum.

It was either Debbie or Agnes,
and he chose Agnes.

Debbie wasn't at a point
of letting him go.

Do I believe that Agnes
has a motive for m*rder
of Debbie Flores? Yes.

Everybody has to be dug into,
and she was a suspect.
Absolutely.

[narrator] But in speaking
to Agnes,

it's soon clear
she was more victim
then villain.

She was just sucked
into this whirlwind
of personality

that involves
Jason and Debbie.

[narrator] As the detectives
search for evidence,
they face a major challenge.

We don't have a body.
We don't have a m*rder scene.

It wasn't a homicide case,
yet.

I just wanted some answers.

I needed to find her.

We get a report
of a partially burned body

just across the border
into Arizona.

[Dan] She has the long,
dark hair, a body of a dancer.

The body was wearing
the stretchy pants.
Like, PINK pants.

And everybody kept telling us
that Debbie liked the brand
name, PINK.

[Dean Raetz]
It's just over the state line,
which is telling investigators

that most likely,
the body came from Nevada.

This is Debbie.

She's been found.

Thursday night.
I'll never forget this.

I got a call saying
that they found a missing body
in Arizona.

My heart dropped.

Mind you, this was the day
before Christmas...

Holidays,
especially Christmas,
were huge in my family.

And Debbie, she always
made sure that it was
a big celebration.

As an aunt,
she was incredible.

She was very close
to my oldest.

And she would always go
buy these gifts,

and then she would
get them wrapped up
professionally

and put up
the Christmas tree,
and it had to be perfect.

I felt scared there would
never be another holiday
in my family like that...

[inhales deeply and sighs]
...again. Not with her in it.

The body was taken
the following morning
for an autopsy.

The doctor does
some examinations.

And he goes, "You're looking
at this being Debbie Flores?"
And I'm like, "Yep."

He goes, "It's not.
This is an Asian female."

[Celeste] Came to find out,
thank God, it was not her.

And I got myself together
because I gotta keep going
'cause that's not her.

[Dean O'Kelley] We were called
to the office for a briefing
with Missing Persons

because someone who wanted
to remain anonymous
came forward

with information
about where Debbie was.

[Ashley] I gave the tip
to my friend to report for me.

I was terrified.

I was haunted
by what I had seen.

The calls and text messages
started while I was at work.

Jason had been reaching out
and asking if he could
store something at my house.

I went home, and I saw Jason
was standing at the end
of the U-Haul.

And I thought, "What in the...
How much stuff
is he bringing, my goodness,

for a whole U-Haul?"

And I could see Louis,
his roommate,
and this big tub container.

And I asked Jason,
"What is that?"

And he kind of looked away,
and, "Do you really want me
to tell you?"

"Well, if you think
you're gonna store that
at my house, yes,

you're gonna tell me
what that is."

And he kind of hesitated.

He said, "It's Debbie."

[narrator] Ashley immediately
slams the door
in Jason's face.

And soon after,
he and his roommate
drive off in the truck.

[Ashley] I don't remember
locking my door.

I don't remember if I slept.
I don't know how I got to work
the next day.

I was in shock.

They could have easily done
whatever they did to her
to me,

and I was terrified.

The next coming days,
I tried to distance myself
from his phone calls.

[narrator] But unable to live
with what Jason told her,

Ashley sent an anonymous tip
to the police,

which they receive
on January 5th.

[Dean O'Kelley]
We had this statement
identifying who was involved.

Jason Griffith
and Louis Colombo, for sure.

And that Debbie was driven
away in this U-Haul.

[Dean Raetz] So they now
started looking
at U-Haul rental agencies

close by Jason's residence.

They found one
that showed Jason and Louis
renting a U-Haul.

We had enough information
that Jason and Louis
were involved

in the death of Debbie.

We tracked down Jason
at his place of employment.

We got in the car,
and he goes,
"How bad is it, Dan?"

He's using my first name.
I was like, "It's bad, Jason."

Jason always thought
he was in control

and that he could use
his charm to manipulate
the situation.

At that point, we needed
to talk to Louis Colombo,
his roommate.

It was a two-hour interview.
Easy.

We pushed him very hard.

It was destroying him
in the interview

'cause Jason was very, very
good to him for many years.

[Dean O'Kelley] He wasn't
gonna tell us anything.

So we struck a deal with him
right there

that if he wasn't involved
in the m*rder,

that he wasn't
gonna be charged

with everything that we knew
he was involved in afterwards.

Once Louis takes the immunity,
he tells us everything.

Debbie was there to watch,
ironically, the show, Dexter.

It was kind of amazing
that, you know, even after
everything that had happened,

they ended up
getting back together.

And during the evening,
there was an argument
that ensued.

That argument escalated
to Jason choking her.

And Louis Colombo steps in
and separates the two of them.

He gets the two of them
settled down, but he's gotta
go pick up his daughter.

Louis leaves. While he's gone,
Jason calls him and asks him
to come back.

He returns home. He sees
the body of Debbie
laying on the floor.

[Celeste] Debbie and Jason
had started arguing.

And one thing led to another,
where he took her life,

and he strangled her.

And it starts a whole chain
of events on how they're gonna
dispose of the body.

They put her in a tub
and filled it up
with concrete.

[narrator] After Ashley
refuses to store Debbie's body
a her house,

the two men find another place
to hide it.

Louis told us they had taken
Debbie's body to the house
that belonged to some friends

that had been deported,
and so the house was empty.

Louis gave us everything
that we needed to ultimately
recover the body

and to arrest Jason.

Four years was how long
I had to wait

for me to begin the process
of Judgement Day.

Jason cried a lot,
except there were no tears.

I've seen him cry.
That wasn't real.

You could tell
he was putting on a show
for the jury.

She said, "I'm gonna k*ll you
and k*ll myself."

Jason said
that he k*lled Debbie
in self-defense,

that she had a g*n in her bag.

He wanted to present her
as the one that was at fault,

that he felt that he had
to defend himself
because of it.

The victim-shaming
and the demonizing
that he did on purpose

was over the top.

[Carolina] The defense played
the audio of the 9-1-1 calls,

where Jason said that he
apparently felt threatened
by Debbie.

[narrator] But the calls
speak for themselves.

[Jason on recording]

I feel like he was
very entertained or flattered

by some of the attention
that Debbie provided him.

[Celeste]
After he would call 9-1-1
on her, he would call her

and text message her
and reel her back in.

"I'm sorry. Please,
forgive me. I love you."

He manipulated her.
He would gaslight her
into staying.

[Carolina] He knew
he was playing her,
and he kept on dragging on

because Jason liked
that attention.
It fed his ego.

[Dean O'Kelley]
Jason's not telling us
exactly what happened.

But we know
from Louis' statement

that Debbie was complaining
about her throat.

He'd already been arrested
for domestic violence.

He already knows
that if the police come,

he's gonna go for felony
domestic violence.

At some point, Jason decided
that he was gonna silence her.
He was gonna keep her quiet.

He wasn't gonna go to prison.

We've never moved on from it.

Her birthday's
still celebrated.

I still talk to her.

I still talk to her
about her nephews.

She is missed
on every holiday.

There's an empty hole
from now on.
We still cry for her.

My mother still wishes
for her.

I miss dancing with Debbie.

I miss just, like,
those moments
of just laughing

and just being in the room
and, like, voguing with her.

Like, just doing all this
stuff. Like, like, "Go, Deon,"
like, all that stuff. Like...

And that's what I miss
the most. I miss
those connections we had.

I miss her.

[Celeste]
She loved a challenge.

She loved somebody
telling her, "No, you can't
do it,"

and she's gonna
prove you wrong.

"Oh, yes, I can,
and I'm gonna show you."

[Candra]
Her legacy is dancing.

I know she's giving them
hell in heaven
with her dance moves.

I think about her
all the time.

She was a huge ball of energy
that people wanted
to be around.

She would do anything for you.