01x02 - The Unraveling Truth

[bunniefuu]

It's very much like
the movie "Clue."

There were four people
in the house that night.

79 minutes later,
one person is dead

and three people
are saying "not me."

What happened to 32
year old Robert Wone,

the prominent Asian American
attorney found stabbed

inside his friend's house
late Wednesday night.

When I first walked in,
the three guys that were

in the house, Joe Price, Dylan
Ward and Victor Zaborsky,

they had white robes on.

On the nightstand was the knife
from a knife set in the kitchen.

There's just a little bit
of blood on the pullout bed.

I remember thinking there's
something wrong here.

Where's the rest of it?

All the homicide detectives
were looking through it

with h*m* lenses.

"You're in a three-way
relationship,

you're a freak, who else
would have done it but you?"

He went to school with Robert.
Joe was at his wedding.

Joe threw a surprise
party for him.

What was his motive?

We have a victim
with inexplicable

needle puncture marks,
no defensive wounds,

and three perfect, almost
surgical-like defects.

Our own theory was he had
to be alive, paralyzed.

When we were searchin'
Dylan's room,

we found hundreds and
hundreds of sexual devices.

The medical examiner
performed a r*pe kit.

She found semen around his
genitalia and inside his rectum.

An intruder doesn't incapacitate

and sexually as*ault somebody
and stabbed them three times,

all unbeknown to the
three guys who live there.

We get the DNA results back.

It turns out it's
Robert's own semen.

For the prosecution,
Glenn's job is linear.

It's vertical.

It's to build.

Four people in the
house, one person dead.

We think these guys did it.

This is the motive.

This is the m*rder weapon.

And it just builds and builds.

As the defense,

our job is nothing
but utter destruction.

We just rip it apart.

Bernie's a worthy adversary.

Bernie's job is to pick apart
one piece of evidence here,

one piece of evidence there.

And that's what
defense attorneys do.

My job as a prosecutor,
you put it together

and you see what
picture emerges.

There is no perfect crime,

but this is about as close
to a perfect cover-up

as I have ever seen.

The body of attorney Robert Wone

was found stabbed to death
inside his friend's home.

Police say someone
broke into this rowhouse

and fatally stabbed 32
year old Robert Wone.

A high-profile m*rder case that
turned a Dupont Circle townhouse

into the center of a mystery.

The m*rder has been the
talk of D.C. for years.

Detectives believe Robert
was sexually assaulted

and then m*rder*d.

Three D.C. men
accused of covering up

the m*rder of their
friend Robert Wone.

Four guys in the house,
one guy ends up dead,

the other three say,
"I didn't do it."

It's quite a mystery
we got in here.

The big question is,
who k*lled Robert Wone?

So it is now four or five
days after the m*rder.

We believe Robert
was incapacitated

when he was stabbed,

and we know he had his own semen
inside his own a**l cavity.

I remember thinking,

You've gotta be
f*ck' kiddin' me.

We have semen,
and it's Robert's.

The mystery was, how did the
semen get into his rectum?

Was it inserted there
for one reason or another

by someone who may have
sexually assaulted him?

Who does it implicate?
Who does it exonerate?

These are now the investigative
paths we have to go down

to try to figure out
what happened to Robert.

If Robert was involved
in sexual activity

or if he was forcibly r*ped,

you would see that
at the autopsy.

None of that was found.

But his semen was
found inside him.

How does that happen?

So now we begin to consider

all of the fairly
sophisticated S&M equipment

in Dylan's bedroom.

One of the things that we
found in Dylan's room was

a pulse electric TENS machine.

The ErosTek electro
stimulator device

designed to force
stimulate ejaculation.

Well, now, perhaps
that's related

to the fact that we
found Robert's semen

inside his own a**l cavity.

Then the question is, after
Robert's semen got on him,

was one of the sexual devices

used to put Robert's
semen in him?

It just sort of sends
the investigation off

into a stratosphere

where we're not all that
comfortable operating.

You can't ej*cul*te
unless you want to.

It has to be some
desire to be excited.

You can't stick some mechanical
device onto your testicles

and say, okay, now I feel good.

He could have
masturbated, I don't know.

But at the end of the day,
there is no DNA of Robert Wone

found on any of the
sex toys, period.

Another one of Glenn's
dead-end theories.

What... what's the relevance
of Robert having his own semen

in his own rectum?

I have no idea how
that even happened.

It was another one of those
missing pieces of the puzzle.

Now, we're trying
to find something

that was going to reveal a clue.

So, we got a search warrant
for all the computers.

All you had to do was
go to the basic history

and find just thousands and
thousands of images of porn.

There was a significant
amount of their own images

that Joe and Dylan created.

It was a lot of bondage and S&M.

If you asked anybody, Joe's
in charge in everyday life.

Well, Joe was not in
charge in the bedroom,

it was clearly Dylan.

We learned that Dylan was
the dom and Joe was the sub.

BDSM relationships are
not designed to be equal.

Dylan had a lot of power,
certainly in the bedroom.

To find out what specifically
this BDSM relationship

was between Joe and
Dylan is very important.

Could you take that
to the next level?

"I k*lled this person and
you will shut up about it."

Is that the next level?

The BDSM stuff is consensual.

If I'm g*y and I
have two partners

and we have all sorts of dildos

and electronic things
we attach to each other,

you're gonna think
I m*rder*d somebody?

It's preposterous.

Everybody is entitled
to do whatever they want

as consenting adults,

but when you have somebody
dead in your guest room

who apparently has been
either sexually assaulted

or involved in sexual
activity of this nature,

you have to explore all
these possibilities.

We did a lot of research
looking for something

that would tip us off.

We discovered Joe's
online profile.

Joe's profile was
on the particular

Activities enjoyed:
electro t*rture,

EMS TENS unit,

bondage, masochism,
master/sl*ve, handcuffs,

shackles, humiliation,
sensory deprivation,

power exchange,
rack/medieval devices.

The S&M relationship
between Joe and Dylan

was not dress up in
leather and harnesses.

It was inflicting pain, it
was caging in confinement.

It tended more
towards the extreme.

In Dylan's room, we found cases

and cases of different
restraints and devices

to hold another person down.

If there was a way to restrain
Robert without injuries,

I think Dylan and Joe

were probably the guys
to know how to do it.

They've got all these
t*rture devices.

Why should it stop there?
Do you go a little farther

and accidentally or
intentionally k*ll somebody?

The assumption he was tortured,

Where's the evidence
of that? None.

There would had
been ligature marks

tied around his
wrists like this,

or on his neck, legs, ankles...
They found none of those.

If Robert wasn't tortured,
the other side of the coin,

or an alternative
theory was that

Robert was a willing participant

in a bondage,
sadomasochistic relationship,

and something went wrong.

I asked Mr. Price

every conceivable
question under the sun.

Did you make passes at Robert?
Did he make passes at you?

Did he say, Hey, what is
this type of sex like?

Did he come over to your
house because he was hiding it

from Kathy?

Everything. If I haven't
asked it, tell me.

Mr. Price told me
the exact same thing,

that he told investigators.

Married men sometimes
have a fling

with somebody of the same sex.

That's not unusual.

Whether Robert Wone was agreeing

to engage in a fantasy scene

or an S&M role-playing scenario

that got out of hand and
someone lost control,

we don't know.

Do I believe that Robert
went over there for that?

Absolutely not.

There would be some
type of evidence to show

that he wanted to experiment

or he was bisexual
or g*y or whatever.

There was nothing.

He had computers.
He had a phone.

There was nobody that came out
of the woodwork after the fact.

There was another curious
piece of the puzzle:

among Dr. Goslinoski's findings

was that Robert
had his night guard

in his mouth.

His wife, Kathy, said the
last thing he did every night

after he brushed his teeth,

he would put his mouth guard
in and he would go to sleep.

So if you have people who are
theorizing that Robert was there

to partake in some kind
of sexual activity,

why would his mouth
guard be in his mouth?

Who has sex with
a mouth guard in?

As the investigation
is unfolding,

the toxicology results come in.

You had the question,
was Robert drugged

by one or others inside
the house that night?

Now, remember, we have a victim

with inexplicable
needle puncture marks,

no defensive wounds,

and three perfect, almost
surgical like defects.

All of that suggested
he was unable to move.

The chief toxicologist for
the District of Columbia

runs a battery of tests...

Opioids, cocaine,
phencyclidine...

Drugs of abuse that
can be associated with

people losing consciousness.

After the autopsy findings,

we were waiting for these
toxicology results to come back.

We were looking for substances

that would render a person
immobile or unconscious.

We have witness testimony
that says that Joe and Dylan

did use different drugs.

We found ecstasy at the scene.

Our own theory was
Joe's online screen name

was short for ketamine.

When that report came back...

The results were negative.

Clean.

Now, they didn't test for
paralytics like succinylcholine,

the most common
paralytic anesthetic

used in the medical practice.

But a tox screen
would not disclose

if Robert had been injected
with succinylcholine

because it naturally
breaks down into compounds

that occur in the human body.

Substances like succinylcholine

have this pattern of metabolism

that makes them undetectable
after a period of time.

It doesn't necessarily mean
that they were not used.

It just means that we can't
prove that they were used.

One of the theories
run up the flagpole

was that Robert
was incapacitated.

If there's a paralytic drug,
they would have found it.

Look at the autopsy report,
there's no sign of it.

It's defeated scientifically

by the government's
own pathologist.

None of it seems to make sense
because there's no evidence

that they have that
Robert was drugged

and then sexually assaulted.

But there's evidence that
something very strange and wrong

happened inside that house.

You go down all these paths,

you still come back
to the same questions.

Was sexual as*ault part of what
happened that night or not?

How did the semen
get into his rectum?

Was Roberts shot up with
some sort of paralytic agent?

And why didn't Robert
react after he was stabbed?

And then you have to try
and cram everything into

a 79-minute timeline.

That's what makes the
story so maddening.

It's so convoluted,

so confusing, so confounding.

Nothing adds up.

It's an Escher drawing.

You get to the top
of the stairway...

you actually find
out it's going down.

The funeral was a Tuesday.

The family asked me to deliver
a eulogy at the funeral.

So this is the
eulogy that I wrote.

"Robert has been a friend
of mine since college.

Robert said he
wanted to be a lawyer

because he wanted to make a
difference in public policies.

And see the effects
of his efforts

improving the situation
of people around him.

As those of us today
can all attest,

Robert achieved his goals.

Robert and Kathy have a
warm, loving marriage.

There is no doubt Robert
continues to love her today

from his place in heaven."

I have no relationship
with Joe, Victor and Dylan,

so I was suspected for
them from the beginning.

But I remember that Kathy
still really thought

that the guys were
also victims in this.

She was still at a point where

she believed their story.

I was more on board with Kathy

and wanting to believe
the best people

that had been our friends,

but by the time of the funeral,

it was clear that there
was something wrong.

Kathy Wone knew that Joe Price

was a close friend
of her husband's,

and Joe Price is a pallbearer
at Robert's funeral.

I was standing across
the casket from Joe.

I said, So how are you sleeping?

And he just buried his
head, he didn't respond.

We heard Joe was playing the
victim card at the funeral.

There was a receiving line
for Kathy and the Wone family.

And Joe had his own receiving
line to accept condolences.

I remember standing in the
lobby kind of greeting people

and saw the detectives come in.

I knew something was odd.

How many times do
detectives go to funerals?

We're about one week
into the investigation.

After we hit a dead end on
the sexual as*ault angle,

we turned our attention back to
the first piece of the puzzle.

Where is the missing blood?

No blood on his body, almost
no blood on the scene.

Everybody who set
foot in that house

other than these three guys
could tell you intuitively

this is an orchestration.

We needed to try to prove that
blood had been cleaned up.

It was a theory that Robert
wasn't stabbed inside that room.

Maybe it happened somewhere
else in the house.

Maybe Robert's body was cleaned
up and then put back in the bed.

If you rewind back to
the way the scene was,

it looked like it was staged.

He was just stabbed three
times: where's the blood?

You kind of come up with
these theories like it had

to have happened somewhere else.

So you start looking
at other places.

And we had the K-9 crew come in.

Cadaver dogs are trained
to alert on either

decaying human skin
cells or blood.

They hit on two locations.

One was the lint
trap of the dryer,

indicating that human
skin cells, blood,

may have cycled through
that part of the dryer.

The dog also alerted on
the rear stairwell drain.

Okay, did they clean something
off downstairs in the drain?

But we can't find
concrete evidence.

What happens is once that
blood goes down into the drain

and it mixes with water,

it makes it unlikely
that you'll be able

to pull enough of a DNA sample
to develop a DNA profile.

We couldn't quite get there,
but the dog did alert.

The dog gives a positive
scent in a drain...

Don't get me started on that.

One theory is,
Robert gets stabbed

and they waited to stage and
clean up the crime scene.

There's no Clorox,
there's no Mr. Clean.

There is zero evidence after
a complete investigation

that cleaning agents
were used in that home.

The bottom line is
there's no blood.

If there was evidence,
they would have found it.

The police needed to see
if they could find blood

elsewhere in the house, and
they searched extensively.

And at one point they used a
reagent called Ashley's reagent.

It's a chemical used to
search for latent blood,

blood that had been cleaned up.

So we're going to bring
in all these chemicals

and we're going to spray the
place down and figure out

where the blood is that
was hidden or cleaned up.

At first blush, we thought

that they got positive
results all over the place.

And what Glenn calls
the big ticket mistake

is that they applied it in a way

that was not on the directions,

and it was botched.

I spoke to the guy who
invented Ashley's reagent.

You do not apply it
to vertical surfaces

because it will drip and
it'll obliterate blood stains.

But they sprayed it on the
walls and you cannot get it off.

It's like the dye that
blows up on your hands

when you rob a bank.

The great Ashley's
reagent debacle,

yeah, we definitely took a hit.

There were mistakes
made by the detectives,

by the evidence
technicians, by myself.

Unfortunately, if it
was applied correctly,

they may have found blood
elsewhere in the house.

They blew it.

Glenn's theory was they moved
the body and put it in the bed.

The government
took 280 samples...

The wall, the
stairs, the carpet.

They had the house
for three weeks,

did in excess of a quarter of
a million dollars in damage.

Not a single bloodstain.

We're a couple weeks into
it now at this point.

This case is more of what we
don't know than what we do now.

After the sexual as*ault angle

failed to identify
any perpetrator,

and after the search for the
missing blood was a bust,

the information about
the knife took us down

a new investigative path.

The knife had been sent
to a lab for analysis.

Once the forensic
results are in,

we learn a few really
interesting things.

Joe's already told the
police that he touched it.

But once they
examine that knife,

they don't find a trace of DNA

or fingerprints that can point
to anybody inside the house.

And then Glenn was told
by the forensic examiners

that those wounds don't match

the size of the knife.

The blade was about five,

or five and a half
inches in length.

And yet the depth of the wounds

were about four and a
half inches, give or take.

So how do you stab a
victim three times?

But make sure you don't
insert that last inch

up to the hilt of the knife
into the victim's body?

The other suspicious thing
is there was white fibers

that were on the knife

and were consistent
with the towel

that Joe claimed to have
used to stop the bleeding.

I believe that towel, with
almost minute quantities

of blood on it, was not applied

the way they had been
instructed by the 911 operator.

There were looped
pattern impressions

consistent with the towel found
in the blood on the knife blade.

How does the fibers
from the towel

get on the m*rder weapon

that's sitting on the end table?

There was no blood on the
cutting surface of the knife.

It appeared that somebody
had taken a cotton towel,

dipped it in blood, and then
applied the blood to the knife.

There were also three cuts
to Robert's gray T-shirt

that loosely corresponded

to where the three stab
wounds were on his torso.

There was an absence
of gray fibers

from the T-shirt on the knife.

In my opinion, the only
reasonable conclusion:

that was not the knife
used to k*ll Robert.

That was the plant knife.

We discovered there was also
a knife set in Dylan's room.

There is a three-piece
cutlery set,

not in the kitchen,
but in Dylan's bedroom.

It's where I keep all my good
cutlery, is in my bedroom.

Carving knife, carving
fork, smaller knife.

And the smaller
knife is missing.

And it's a knife that
had a shorter blade,

more consistent with the
depth of those wounds

than the knife we found
on the nightstand.

Come on, now. You don't
need to be Sherlock Holmes.

Put all that together.

A knife set with
one missing knife.

Was that the knife that
was used to stab Robert?

The detectives never did
find the missing knife.

So if it was a plant knife,

did somebody inside that house
that night go down to the block

in the kitchen, grab
it, come back up,

put it inside a towel
filled with blood

and wipe the knife and
then lay it where it was?

Did somebody else take the real
knife, go out of the house,

dispose of the knife somewhere
that they couldn't find it?

Well, what happened?

That's an open question.

A few months after the m*rder,

Joe, Victor and Dylan aren't
living at Swann Street anymore.

We get a report that

Swann Street has
been burglarized.

That ends up getting reported
not by Joe, Victor and Dylan,

but by Dylan's
lawyer... Curious...

It turns out Joe's
brother Michael Price,

comes in and apparently takes
the flat screen TVs, pawns them.

You know, of course, we're
looking at each other

like this is absolutely absurd.

The charges get dropped,
but we come to learn

that Michael Price had a key
to the house on Swann Street.

When Joe Price was
interrogated by the detectives,

they asked him,
who else has a key?

I believe he withheld from
them that Michael had a key.

Why are you hiding that from
the detectives in the immediate

aftermath of your friend
being m*rder*d in your home?

Then we find that Michael Price
is attending college at night,

studying to be a phlebotomist,
somebody who draws blood.

He has access to
Holy Cross Hospital,

where I believe he can
easily get his hands

on... what? paralytics,

including succinylcholine,

the most common
paralytic anesthetic,

which you can pick
up off any crash cart

in any hospital in the country.

He was a phlebotomist. It's
a person who draws blood.

He doesn't inject
paralytic drugs.

Yes, he did have a key.

But was there anything
connecting him

to the night of the m*rder?

They had no evidence like that.

On August 2, 2006,

Michael, even though he
had perfect attendance,

didn't show up for class.

He attends every single class
until the night of the m*rder.

That's the first
class he misses.

So, where is Michael
the night of the m*rder?

Turns out Brian Wade
tracked his phone

and determined that phone was
nowhere near 1509 Swann Street.

People turn off their
phones and commit crimes

where they leave them behind
because they want an alibi.

It's just speculation.

But then you go, well,
what's the motive?

Michael had an alibi that
they could not refute.

Michael Price's partner
told investigators

that Michael was with him

on the night of
Robert Wone's death.

Again, they had no evidence,

Glenn was running
out of theories.

What's the next magical
act? I mean, who did it now?

Pretty soon they're
just going to blame me.

To say that Joe's brother
burglarized the house.

Therefore, he must have had
something to do with it.

Are you kidding?

I have no idea if Michael
Price would have had motive

to k*ll Robert or not,

but you can't ignore this angle.

We needed to
investigate that angle

like we needed to investigate
every other angle.

That's the way you
assemble a puzzle.

Not by looking at each
piece of the puzzle

and then throwing it away.

And we developed it
as best we could.

Because let's face it, an
intruder doesn't come in

and sexually as*ault somebody
and stab them three times,

all unbeknown to the
three guys who live there.

The three guys would have
absolutely no incentive

to cover up that crime.

But if it was Dylan or
Victor or Joe or Michael,

they're all family, so
regardless of which one of

those four might
have been involved,

it provides a motive
to cover it up.

The more theories Glenn put up,

the more they
dilute one another.

He was restrained,

there's a plant knife,

they stage and clean
up the crime scene.

Joe's brother did it.

They had nothing on him...

Not anyone's semen on Robert,

not any joy toys found
in Robert's room.

There's no blood,

no evidence of
struggle, nothing.

Robert Wone is m*rder*d,

and the basic crime
story hits the papers,

hits the TV
stations, then quiet.

No arrests, no advances to
the story, no information.

It got to the point
where Kathy Wone

was putting pressure
on the police.

She wanted to know
what was happening.

Up until that point, Kathy,

it almost seemed like she was
coming in and out of shock.

This whole story of an
intruder. Never made any sense.

Kathy goes to her husband's
former law partners

at Covington & Burling.

Eric Holder, who had been
the U.S. attorney in D.C.,

which is the top prosecutor,

is now head of
Covington & Burling.

And then they held
a news conference.

For those in 1509 Swann
Street when Robert was k*lled,

you need to truly
ask yourselves...

Truly, truly, ask yourselves...

Have I provided the police
with all of the information

that might be relevant to the
investigation of this crime?

That doesn't happen every
day in Washington, D.C...

To have a man of the
stature of Eric Holder,

who's about to become attorney
general of the United States,

to plead for some information.

Kathy then speaks a
heartfelt entreaty.

I have a few words
for the individual

who took Robert's life.

Having a m*rder
on your conscience

is no small load to carry

as you try to live, I imagine,

as normal a life as possible.

After the m*rder it
seemed like Kathy believed

or wanted to
believe their story.

But by the time the press
conference rolled round,

it was clear that Kathy
was no longer giving them

the benefit of the doubt.

It appeared Kathy thought

that these guys are
hiding something.

That was a pivotal point
in the story for us,

because no one had heard from
Kathy up until that point.

Kathy is a very guarded,
reserved, circumspect person.

Over the course of
the investigation,

it even seemed like she
was going more and more

inside herself.

Kathy is a very private person,

and Kathy Wone says,
"Please help us,

give me some closure."

It was so devastating to
Kathy to have three...

What you believed
were close friends...

Apparently unwilling to
even explain what happened.

If somebody is
completely innocent

of a horrible crime like this,

wouldn't they be shouting
that from the rooftops?

Why haven't they spoken out?

At the same time, Joe, Victor
and Dylan pulled up stakes,

sold the house on Swann
Street, moved to Florida,

and just went underground.

Nobody heard from them.

They stayed together.

They have no interest
in being public

in any way, shape or form.

Nothing is happening! Nothing!

I mean, there is not a drip
of information coming out!

Why is no one being
held accountable?

We didn't have solid,
concrete evidence

that you make an arrest on.

We only had some
circumstantial evidence.

A good example of
circumstantial evidence is,

I went to bed, and I woke up,

and there's snow on the ground.

Did you see it snow?

No, but you 100% know
that it did snow.

Just because we haven't
found the evidence

doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

We didn't have direct evidence.

In my opinion, the only three
people who are in a position

to provide us direct evidence

refuse to and instead chose
to cover up the crime.

The absence of evidence is
a product of the cover up.

We're now two
years down the road

and we needed to move forward.

The perceived weakness that we
can't say who k*lled Robert,

we tried to embrace
as a strength.

I never brought a m*rder charge

because I could never
prove who k*lled Robert.

I believed what I could
prove was that Joe Price,

Victor Zaborsky, and
Dylan Ward covered it up.

They were part of a conspiracy
to obstruct justice.

To seek an arrest warrant
for charges like obstruction

when you don't know who k*lled
Robert is not just unusual,

it was unprecedented.

Was it desperation? No.

The judge agreed that
we had probable cause

and authorized us
to make an arrest.

When you have three
possible coconspirators

involved in a crime,
who's the weak link?

Who do we try to break?
Who do we try to flip?

And so it was decided
we would go first

with an arrest
warrant for Dylan.

A new twist tonight
in one of D.C.'s

most high profile
unsolved m*rder.

Dylan Ward charged
with covering up

the m*rder of Robert Wone.

And they arrested Dylan, bang!

The story just took
off from there.

When Dylan gets grabbed in
Florida, they put him in a cell,

"Dylan, this is
your only chance.

You're going to jail for
the rest of your life.

We know you didn't do it.
Tell us what happened."

The strategy was to isolate
Dylan away from the other two,

get him into an
interrogation room

and get him to tell
the real story.

And he said, "What
I said that night

is what happened."

Dylan didn't break.

As soon as they get Dylan
back here to Superior Court,

the other two men are indicted.

Then we had that
conversation with Victor.

Do you want to make
a different choice

than the one you've made
thus far to hold firm

as part of this conspiracy?

Or might you want to
choose another path?

Victor never wavered.

So they were all three charged.

The three Swann
Street housemates

charged with covering up

the stabbing death
of Robert Wone.

The men were charged with
obstruction of justice,

conspiracy to obstruct justice,

and tampering with
physical evidence.

It was a bombshell.

Robert is k*lled August 2, 2006.

It's not until October 27, 2008,

the affidavit comes out,

and it just changes everything.

We punched the affidavit
up on the laptop

and start poring through it.

It was written like
a horror story.

"Police recovered implements
of sexual bondage and t*rture

from Dylan Ward's room."

There were books, quote,
relating to inflicting pain

on others for purposes
of sexual gratification.

That's not everyday reading.

Is that the best Glenn's got?

Three guys in a
three-way relationship...

"These guys must have
done it, they're freaks."

It was salacious.
It was sensational.

It was completely irrelevant.

Nothing to do with
k*lling Robert.

Glenn needed the judgment of
the court of public opinion

to get some inertia,

and that's why he
generated the affidavit,

just for sheer humiliation.

The fact that the prosecutors
and police made that public,

they wanted to stir up the pot
and see if that would elicit

any reactions,
evidence, confessions.

I really did sort of

go back and forth between
the, should I believe them

or should I not,

until the affidavit came out.

I remember thinking,

I can't believe what
I'm reading here.

The level of depravity
is still to this day

stunning to comprehend.

I tried to make sure I kept
Kathy apprised of developments,

knowing how hurtful
this might be to her.

I recall Kathy just
sitting in stunned silence.

It seemed to hit her
like a freight train.

And even though you're
not dragging the memory

of her husband through
the mud, it just...

It feels like this violation.

In my conversations
with Kathy Wone,

at this point, the
ambiguity is gone.

When the affidavit dropped,

I think that she saw it as a
horrible betrayal of trust.

Kathy Wone realizes that
Joe Price knows more

and may have been
materially involved

and may have actually
k*lled Robert Wone.

I saw red. My blood
pressure went up

and I couldn't hear anything
except the heartbeat in my ears.

Such anger at the
deceit and not having

aired this earlier.

If there was this
much information,

how come this wasn't solved?

Up until November 2008,

the intruder theory
was plausible.

Somebody broke into a house.

It was a random,
senseless m*rder.

It was believable.

The affidavit drops,

and that was a real
change in direction

for how the g*y community
approached the case.

People were conflicted and
trying to reconcile a leader

who they respected with
this heinous crime.

This happened in
our neighborhood.

And so we thought we
needed to jump on this.

Through the blog itself,

we might be able to
shake enough trees

that some more
information might drop.

We're the Scooby g*ng and we're
meddling wherever we can go.

It's frustrating. It's
frustrating for us.

I know it's more frustrating
for Robert Wone's family.

We were pretty much a
g*y family of choice,

looking at a family
that was falling apart

three blocks away.

We had a good friend
who ran in their circle.

We learned it was not a
three-way relationship,

it was two two-way
relationships,

two separate relationships
within the same family.

Those dynamics set up

what probably
exploded that night

in some way or some fashion.

This is where all theory
and speculation comes in,

because you have
to get from a house

that is a simmering
cauldron of emotions

between three people,

to your friend is m*rder*d

in your second floor bedroom.

Within a matter
of an hour or so.

79 minutes to a
methodical m*rder.

That is the leap that...

again, makes this case

really confounding.

The prosecutors have long
believed that the three men

inside that house have known
and know who k*lled Robert Wone,

but for whatever reason,
they are conspiring together

to keep that from
the government.

Joe, Victor and Dylan
hired what we called

the million dollar defense.

This is a high
priced defense team.

These guys are all
very well known.

Some of them are
former prosecutors.

And we all know Bernie Grimm.

He is one of the top notch
defense attorneys in this town.

In a codefendant case where
there's multiple people charged,

one lawyer can only
represent one person.

But we agreed beforehand we
would have a joint defense.

We all knew one
another quite well.

Bernie Grimm, a longtime

criminal defense
attorney in D.C.;

Dave Schertler, who
represented Dylan Ward;

Tommy Connolly, who
represented Victor Zaborsky.

Glenn was up against
three of the absolute best

defense attorneys
D.C. could produce.

Bernard Grimm,
representing Mr. Price,

has probably one more
not-guilties in homicides

in D.C. than anyone
else practicing today.

Now, first of all,
the BDSM stuff,

it only had relevance
because Glenn realized

he had problems with the case.

Glenn files a discovery
in a public court jacket

so everybody can see the
dildos, the joy toys.

He wants to introduce
all that stuff.

I need to go after that and
try to tear it apart if I can.

We filed motions to
have the sexual devices,

any mention of
sexual misconduct,

suppressed as evidence.

The defense argued that there
was insufficient evidence

to show that some
of the findings

had anything to do
with the m*rder.

The prosecution objected to
the motion, but they lost.

We tried to admit it and
the judge overruled us.

It clearly was a blow
to the prosecution.

It was very dramatic.

The semen and all
the S&M devices,

all of that evidence
was tossed out.

When you have a victim

who appears to have
been sexually assaulted,

and the judge doesn't seem
to make the connection,

that was troubling to
me; I was surprised.

Glenn never saw that coming.

The evidence was thrown out.

They entered this trial
with a severe handicap.

And that was part
of the strategy.

It was absolutely the
correct. decision.

Judge Leibovitz reminding
everyone that her action today

is not a verdict,

nor does it signal

how she may eventually
decide this case.

As we're preparing
to start the trial,

the defense attorneys filed
a really unusual motion,

which was to let the
judge decide their case.

In essence, that's the judge
sitting as the jury in the case.

With a jury, most m*rder
cases end up in convictions...

seven out of ten.

Because they look
in the audience,

it's the victim's mother,
father, brothers, sisters.

They hold the whole
world in their hands.

The defense argument was
that the case was publicized

so widely in the media
that they didn't believe

they could get an
impartial jury.

You have a right to a jury trial

under the Sixth Amendment;
you don't have a right

to a bench trial,
to a judge trial.

We have a right
to object to that.

We could have forced these
three men in front of a jury.

Instead of convincing
12 different people

from all different sections
of Washington, D.C.,

Glenn needed to convince
one single person

beyond a reasonable doubt.

And he certainly was
charging hard down the hill

with confidence that they
were going to get convictions.

Judge Leibovitz is a
former homicide prosecutor.

She was my former
chief of homicide

and I was her deputy
years earlier.

So, I thought she would
understand and appreciate

that the inexplicability of so
much of what happened to Robert

is a tribute to the
success of the cover up.

We ultimately settled on
not opposing their request.

Who k*lled Robert
Wone? It is a mystery

that's captivated the area
for nearly four years now.

The men who lived at that house
will go on trial tomorrow,

but not for m*rder,
obstruction of justice.

It's fascinating.
This is a m*rder case,

but it's not a m*rder trial.

This was a highly
anticipated trial.

These were prominent people
charged with an awful crime.

Now, the prosecution
doesn't have to prove

a motive in this case: Why
was Robert Wone k*lled?

All they have to do is prove

that the three men
conspired together

to cover up the crime.

That was the most high
profile case I ever covered.

The trial could last
up to five weeks.

If convicted, they can each
get up to 38 years in prison.

The courtroom was packed
from the newspapers

to the radio stations to
the television stations.

We were all in there.

There's no cameras.

So we had to have
a sketch artist.

What I remember
about that first day

is seeing all of these people

we've been talking
about for years.

Finally, there's Joe, Victor,
Dylan, all these attorneys,

Kathy Wone and a whole
group of Robert's friends.

I get butterflies
before every trial,

before every opening statement.

I knew I'd have to prove
three key things at trial.

First, there was no intruder.

That's provable bullshit.

Second, we have three
gaping wounds to his torso

but no blood... No
blood on the scene.

And that the knife that
they left on the nightstand

was a plant knife.

All of that, I believe, proved
beyond a reasonable doubt:

this was a clean up
followed by a cover up.

So this is the scale model

constructed for the m*rder
trial of Robert Wone.

These three guys
claim that an intruder

scales the security fence,

comes upon an inadvertently
left unlocked back door.

He's got to take a knife out of
the butcher block in the kitchen

and make his way
through the living room.

The intruder then walks up 16

more-than-hundred-year-old
wooden stairs

that creak like all get out;

he gets to the top
of the second floor,

has no interest in
apparently, Dylan's bedroom.

Instead. turns 180 degrees,

walks all the way
to the guest room,

opens the door,

walks around all the way to
the other side of the bed,

and he inserts a knife into
Robert's torso three times,

making three
identical stab wounds.

He leaves the knife either
lying across Robert's torso

or in Robert's chest...

Because Joe Price told
detectives both things.

Comes back through
the second floor,

presumably runs, because
you don't just leisurely

saunter away from
your own m*rder scene,

comes back down the
stairs without being seen,

without being heard,
without being detected.

Makes his way all the way out
the back door, over the fence,

without disturbing the
pollen on the top rail.

So I think the only
logical conclusion

is that the k*ller
is Spider-Man.

Glen's a good courtroom lawyer.

I would say his biggest victory
was his opening statement.

Remember, Glenn's
job is to build.

We don't build a
building next to it

that's bigger and nicer,

because then we're
assuming a burden,

saying, Judge, our
case is better.

Never assume the burden.

Our job is destruction.

You take their case and
you start taking it apart

brick by brick by brick.

Glenn's basic format:

four people in a house,
one person dead...

That is very persuasive.

It stops there.

The rest of it is
nothing short of voodoo.

The defense says it's a case

based on assumption
and innuendo.

The defense says the police
never really investigated

the theory that an intruder
broke into the house that night.

But today, they have the
evidence to prove it.

The first time we were
here with my investigator,

he realized that you
could open this mail slot,

put your hand in and open
the door from the inside.

The defense also
submitted as an exhibit

a short clip of one of
the defense attorneys

grab the top of the
fence and vaulted it.

Not complex, you didn't
need superhuman strength.

During the investigation,

we knocked on the door of
this house right next door.

The housekeeper was there
and she was home that night.

She explained that the morning
following the homicide,

she finds that there
are two foot impressions

on the sandbox,

as if someone had
jumped over the fence

and landed right on this.

She walks next door, finds
the detective and says,

"In my backyard, I
might have something

you'd be interested in seeing,"

evidence that would show

that someone jumped over
the fence at Price's house,

and the police detective
says, "Don't worry about it.

We already have the
people involved."

This is the next day.

Pretty compelling evidence
ignored by the police.

Today's testimony could make or
break the prosecution's case.

The deputy medical
examiner took the stand.

The fact that there wasn't
any blood found at the scene

was one of the biggest
mysteries in this case.

A man is stabbed
one, two, three times

in the chest.

One of the stab wounds
goes through his heart.

There are a few drops of
blood. Where's the blood?

The first day of my testimony

was all dedicated to
the autopsy findings

and the three stab wounds.

These wounds injured his
heart and major blood vessels

that would have caused
significant blood loss.

I was able to measure blood

that had accumulated
in Mr. Wone's body.

My estimation was approximately
one third of his blood volume.

As to the whereabouts
of the other two thirds,

I don't know.

The medical examiner testified

that she found a third of a
normal human being's blood

in Robert Wone, but the defense
is saying that there wasn't

the bleeding that the
police would expect to see.

The defense does not
necessarily have to provide

anything more than poking holes
or questioning the evidence

and the claims by
the prosecution.

And this is what
the defense did.

The renowned crime scene
expert, Dr. Henry Lee,

big time witness in
the O.J. Simpson case,

brought to superior court
today by the defense.

Dr. Lee takes the stand

and he is saying that Robert
was stabbed through the heart,

he bled out internally.

And so all of the blood
remained inside his body.

That's why you didn't
get any blood spatter

out around the bed
or in the room.

I disagree with
the defense theory

that there would have been
minimal external blood loss.

And they tried to say that
Mr. Wone died almost instantly

because of the
wound to his heart.

There was internal bleeding.

We know that because he
was forced to lie there

digesting his own blood
before he ultimately died.

There also would have
been external bleeding.

Jeff Baker said
his torso appeared

as if it had been
completely wiped clean.

I'm going to credit the
first one on the scene

before I'm going to credit
Bernie's take on any of this.

During the trial,
what stood out to me

was the fight over the knife.

Glenn is saying
it's a plant knife.

They dipped a towel
in Robert's blood,

and then they took the knife

and then they drew the
knife through the towel.

Dr. Lee proceeds to give
a theory on the knife.

It is opposite of
Glenn's theory.

He demonstrated it was
like taking a knife

and dipping it into
a catch a bottle.

So you're plunging it
in and out, in and out.

And that he could see that
kind of pattern on the knife

found at the scene.

I still remember Glenn Kirshner
standing in the courtroom

arguing, "that knife is too
long to inflict those wounds."

The knife that was
perfect would have been

in the knife set that was
inside Dylan Ward's bedroom.

Glenn said Dylan or someone
used that knife, k*lled Robert,

then discarded the knife so
the government couldn't find

the m*rder weapon.

And then you have the
coup de grace here, right?

The defense attorneys bring
Dylan's mother in to testify.

Dylan Ward's mother had
said the cutlery set

that Dylan Ward had,
she had mailed to him.

The one knife that was missing

that the government said
was the m*rder weapon

was a knife she removed
and kept for herself

and did not mail to Dylan.

This was a surprise.

You don't get to stop
proceedings mid-trial.

We're surprised all the time.

You don't get a recess.

This is a shootout
at the O.K. Corral.

You know, Wyatt Earp doesn't
say, "Hey, I'm out of b*ll*ts,

do you guys mind
waiting for a second?"

And it was not a surprise
that the mother of a defendant

would come in and say, "Hey,
I have a piece of evidence

that helps my son."

I don't call people
liars in court.

Parents try to help
their children.

It's human nature.

Trials are kind of like
heavyweight championship fights.

You are in there
throwing punches,

having punches thrown at you.

At the end, you're bloodied
and you're beaten up, you know.

At some point, that
final bell rings.

After sitting through
all the evidence,

how the defense had argued
so vociferously with Glenn

over the knife and hearing
Dr. Henry Lee's explanation,

there were parts of the trial
that made you really question

what kind of case the
government had here.

Today, the defense
rested its case.

They've called seven witnesses,
including four doctors,

in an effort to prove
that the three housemates

had no knowledge of the crime,
no time to cover up that m*rder.

What I tried to prove was
that these three men had lied,

engaged in misdirection,

and that they all did it
jointly in a conspiracy,

full stop.

Glenn's evidence
is just bullshit.

In order to find one,
two or three guilty,

you have to conclude
beyond a reasonable doubt

that all three of them
conspired to obstruct justice

by cleaning up the crime scene,
by delaying the phone call,

by getting rid of evidence...
And then, which person did it?

Therein lies your
problem... The math problem.

Glenn kept using the
word "they"... well, who?

Which one did it?

Which two did it?
Did all three do it?

The prosecution has rested
in the obstruction case

involving the m*rder of
D.C. lawyer Robert Wone.

A judge is now deciding the
fate of the three defendants.

I thought that Glenn
presented enough evidence

to find those guys
guilty of obstruction.

The misdirection to
the intruder theory,

the guys being
freshly showered...

To me, that alone told you
they were hiding things.

I hoped every night
when I went home

that they were going
to get convicted.

Judge Leibovitz
was deliberating.

The case was closed, she said,

"I'll be back in a
week with the verdict."

The entire time you're
on pins and needles.

Another big story, a ruling
in the trial against three men

accused of covering up
the m*rder of Robert Wone.

I remember being in the newsroom

and getting a call

that there was going
to be a verdict,

and racing to Superior Court.

We all get in there,
the place is packed.

Each of the defendants were
very solemn when they came in.

There was no levity.

There was a hush when Kathy
and Robert's family came in.

The judge takes the bench

and you could feel the
tension within the room.

There was a tremendous amount
of anticipation for this verdict

where either these three guys
were going to be convicted,

handcuffed and taken away,

or they were going to walk free.

I turned first to
the intruder theory.

I am persuaded by
the trial evidence

that the m*rder of Robert Wone

was not committed by an intruder
unknown to the defendants.

The judge pretty easily
dismissed the notion

that an intruder,
unknown, unseen, unheard,

had k*lled Robert.

It's a 38-page document.

I remember sitting there.

I had a reaction on
virtually almost every page

where I would say, "Oh,
she's going to convict."

This is not to say that there
is no possibility whatsoever

that an intruder entered, as
the defendants say one did.

And then the next page,
"oh, she's going to acquit."

The essential question remains

whether the evidence proves
beyond a reasonable doubt

as to any defendant

that he knew sufficient
information about the m*rder.

Uniformly, they said that
there was an intruder,

in separate rooms, in
separate interviews.

She could not conclude that
that was obstruction of justice

because she couldn't
conclude specific intent.

Some of the most persuasive
evidence supporting

the government's position

is each one of them
displayed a demeanor

wholly at odds with
what anyone would expect

from an innocent
person whose friend

had just been m*rder*d.

She shredded the three of
these men's characters.

This was true
during the 911 call.

And when the defendants were
on videotape talking to police,

Mr. Zaborsky was
histrionic and tearful,

but his words and
demeanor on the 911 call

are at best odd and
eyebrow raising,

and at worst, calculated.

- Bizarre behavior.
- Bizarre.

Mr. Price was
consistently arrogant,

unconcerned and dismissive.

Emotionless. It
doesn't make any sense

with the loss of a deep,
longstanding friend.

Mr. Ward was, from the
start, distant and detached,

unmoved and calm.

Like, f*ck... it sounded
like she was going to

find them all guilty.

It's almost as if you
see a tractor trailer

about to T-bone your car,

and you don't know if you can
get out of the way quick enough.

It was 47 minutes of terror,

absolute terror.

And then...
- I conclude that the knife used

to commit the
stabbing was, in fact,

the kitchen knife found
on the nightstand.

She did not believe that
that knife was a plant.

She believed, based on the
evidence that she had heard

from Dr. Henry Lee, that
that was the m*rder weapon.

But as she's going through the
evidence against Joe Price,

she believed that
he had tampered

with the knife at the scene.

It is very likely
that Mr. Price

pulled the m*rder weapon
from the victim's chest,

wiped the blade,
and even possibly

the handle of the knife.

But she couldn't come
up with the intent.

I cannot say why
he pulled the knife

or that his reasons for failing
to tell the police about it

were to obstruct justice.

This is a roller coaster
you're going through

as you're sitting there,
as she's reading this,

you're going back and forth.

I conclude that the
government's evidence

does not prove the defendant's
timelines are false.

She didn't believe that they
had delayed the call to 911

or that they had
cleaned up the blood.

The American criminal
justice system

presumes a person innocent

until the prosecution
proves him guilty.

The degree of certainty
necessary to convict a defendant

is proof beyond a
reasonable doubt.

Based on the foregoing,
I find Joseph Price,

Dylan Ward and
Victor's Zaborsky...

Not guilty.

It all just sort of went up
in a puff of smoke at the end.

There was just a
collective exhale.

The judge says "not guilty,"

and you just walk
out of there stunned.

And at that point,
I recall Kathy Wone

and the other
members of the family

quickly exiting the courtroom

before the judge
even gaveled out.

There was no justice for a
woman who lost her husband,

no justice for a mother and
father who lost their son.

There was no elation
on the defense side.

There's no winners.
Everyone loses.

Kathy lost her husband.

Joe lost his reputation,
his partnership.

They were excommunicated from
the District of Columbia.

It's a tragedy.

Even if the defendants did
not participate in the m*rder,

some or all of them knew enough
about the circumstances of it

to provide helpful
information to law enforcement

and have chosen to
withhold that information

for reasons of their own.

The judge even acknowledged

that she did not buy

the story they were telling.

So, how do you find
them not guilty?

My focus on the difference
between moral certainty

and evidentiary
certainty in this case

is probably cold comfort to
those who loved Robert Wone

and wish for some measure
of peace or justice.

Judge Leibovitz said,
"Make no mistake,

I know what happened in there,"

which was completely
gratuitous and unnecessary.

Judge Leibovitz
made an observation

that there's a difference
between moral certainty...

That these guys
covered up the crime

and we all kind of know it...

And evidentiary certainty...

More precisely, proof
beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge has
acquitted all three

on obstruction of
justice charges.

Kathy Wone left the
courthouse in tears,

her quest for justice
in a shambles.

She declined to comment.

As they have since the
night of the m*rder,

all three defendants
also had nothing to say.

We have no comment right now.

We all understand and
accept the judge's verdict.

We can only hope
that further evidence

continues to come to light

that will allow
us to move forward

in the homicide investigation.

I... "regret" is
too strong a word;

I question myself.

I think we made
the best decision

for the right
reasons at the time.

Maybe I should have seen things
that I didn't see back then,

because perhaps the result
would have been different.

I think the Court's verdict
reflects just a lot of time

that the judge spent
over the evidence,

over the testimony.

Unless there's other
evidence I'm unaware of,

you'll never shake me
that Price is innocent.

I could be fooled,
but after 33 years,

I can get a pretty
good read on people.

He was factually innocent; and
if he is, the other two are.

There's not
unanswered questions,

there's one singular question,
which is: who did it?

A bombshell dropped in the
trial of three men accused

of covering up the
m*rder of a friend.

A source familiar with the
case says his widow has agreed

to settle her $20
million wrongful death

civil suit out of court.

Kathy brought a wrongful death
suit against the three guys,

Joe, Victor and Dylan.

Kathy wanted them to speak.
She begged them to come

and testify at the civil trial.

They took the Fifth.

They are hiding behind
the Fifth Amendment

on very straightforward
questions like,

Did you k*ll Robert Wone?

Kathy Wone settled for a cash
settlement to a charitable trust

because the trio
refused to cooperate.

It's undisclosed,
the dollar amount...

We have no idea.

When you settle a civil suit,

when you've been
accused of wrongfully

causing the death of
somebody, and you decide,

I'm not going to go to
court and fight that,

rather, I'm going to pay
out to make it go away...

I don't equate
that with justice.

It's very draining.

It does require
a lot out of you,

both emotionally and physically.

You come to realize that
it's actually very sacred.

That makes a big difference,

rather than just viewing
that emotional void

as just a black hole.

The four and a half years
that I had with Robert,

it is a very sacred.

There are three people who
know who m*rder*d Robert Wan.

And they're still not talking.

It angers me that

Joe, Victor and Dylan

abdicated their responsibility

to their good friend Robert.

It's not over yet.

It may be a long time,
but it's not over.

To this day, we
don't have answers.

I'm hoping that somebody
will recall something

about that night that they never
told anybody and come forward

and give us the
keys or the clues

that help detectives
solve what happened.

When I die, first question
I'm going to ask God:

Who k*lled Robert Wone?

One of the things
I've come to learn

over my career as
a prosecutor is,

justice is a
never-ending journey.

It's a process.

Glenn has told me, even
though he's retired

from the U.S. Attorney's office,
this will always be his case.

There's no statute of
limitations on m*rder

in the District of Columbia.

If evidence surfaced
down the road

that would prove what happened
inside that house that night,

somebody could be prosecuted.

The homicide case is
still out there lurking...

All's Glenn needs is one
statement, one accident,

somebody says something
out of context,

and he's back in the ball game.

They bring them up on m*rder
charges and I'll try it.

I-I'll do it for nothin'.

I don't feel like
I've ever stopped.

We'll keep working to
find Robert's K*llers.

That final chapter
remains to be written.

Why would it be Dylan as
opposed to Joe or Victor?

This case has more questions
than it has answers.

I don't know. And it
will bug me forever.

But yeah, you're right,
if somebody said,

"Bernie, there's a g*n
to your mother's head,

what's your best guess?"

I'd say Dylan.