03x05 - On Her Watch

[bunniefuu]

[ Sinister music climbs ]

Narrator: an early morning shift at a fast-food restaurant

[ Ring ]

Ends in a brutal m*rder.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

This happened to a mother

Who was just tryin' to earn her livin' here.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

A small town is traumatized...

There was fear over the way she was k*lled.

I think any decent person out there, that touches.

...and police are desperate for clues.

[ Shutter clicking ]

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

This is g*ng stuff.

Until they discover surveillance footage

That captures the k*ller's

Every move.

When I saw that, I thought, "my god,

She doesn't even know what awaits her."

[ Sinister music plays ]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

♪♪

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

[ Melancholy tune plays ]

Friday, march 18, 2011.

Frederick, maryland.

[ Alarm clock blares ]



She's an assistant manager at a nearby burger king

And often opens up in the mornings.

Ramirez: patty was a great employee.

You needed her to do something, she was already on it, doin' it.

She always had a smile.

She was always workin' hard.

Narrator: patty lives in her sister's house with her partner, juan;

And their two children.

Adiós. I love you.

Interpreter: my sister patty was very cheerful.

She was the most successful in the family,

The one with the most friends and the most admirers.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Dog barks in distance ]

Narrator: she leaves the house at 5:15.

It's just a 10-minute drive to work.

[ Distorted tune plays ]

At 5:50 am, patty's coworker jaidé

Arrives at the restaurant.

Most mornings, they open up together.

But, today, patty's beaten her in.

Hello-o-o.

[ Eerie music plays ]

So it's strange that none of the lights are on inside.

Hello?

There's no sign of patty.

[ Bubbling ]

But, oddly, the fryers have been turned on.

♪♪

Patty?

It's not until jaidé gets to the office

That she realizes why patty isn't answering.

Aah! [Gasp]

Pa-patty, are you okay?

What happened?

Jaidé calls her manager, luis ramirez.

[Snoring] [ring]

At that time, I looked at the phone

And it was jaidé callin' me.

Jaidé?

[Crying] can you come here quick?

Patty's on the floor.

What do you mean, patty's on the floor?

[Sobbing] I think she's hurt.

Okay. Don't move her. I'll be right there.

So, at that point, I jump outta bed.

Is anyone else there yet?

No. No. [Sniffling]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: in fact, there is.

-Morning. -Ah, g--

The bread delivery man has just pulled up.

[ Stuttering ]

-What? -Go, in.

Oh, my --

Did you call 911?

He calls the police.

[ Ring ]

Luis, the store manager, is there within minutes.

She's in the office.

When I got to burger king, the first thing I thought was

That she was unconscious, that she just fainted.

Narrator: it looks like patty has had a serious accident.

I just started administerin' cpr

Through the instructions of the 911 operator.

At that time, your adrenaline level's so high,

You're not thinkin' straight.

You're just tryin' to help someone.

Narrator: emts arrive at 6:01 am.

Paramedics. Where are we goin'?

Ramirez: after the emts arrive, I took a backseat.

That's when it sinked in.

And that's when I had to pretty much let go as well.



Narrator: at 6:05 am,

Patty ayala is declared dead.

Gonna call this. I think she's deceased.

[ Sniffling ]

[Suspenseful music plays] [radio chatter]

Narrator: detective jorge ["george"] garcia

Is immediately sent in to investigate.

I received a call at approximately 6:15

And went directly to the crime scene.

Emts confirm that patty didn't fall and crack her skull.

She was shot in the back of the head.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Garcia: I noticed a casing from a handgun.

And you could see that a safe was open.

Narrator: according to luis,

There was $2,300 in there last night.

I figured that the safe had some kind of computer system

That could be able to tell us

What was the last combination put in?

What time was it opened?

The data revealed that, at 5:33,

Patty's combination opened the safe.

Narrator: robbery seems the obvious motive.

But the details don't add up.

[ Radio chatter ]

[ Sinister music climbs ]

Garcia: one of the things that didn't make sense at the crime scene

Was how the perpetrator accessed the building.

There's a lot of glass in that building

And none of the doors were shattered.

There was a solid back door.

It hadn't been jimmied or damaged in any way.

One of the big possibilities was

Either somebody entered with a key

Or patty was ambushed coming in as she opened the door.

Narrator: police immediately check the restaurant

For security cameras.

But there aren't any,

Leaving more questions than answers.

Most robberies, uh, get in and get out quickly

And I just really couldn't fathom

Why she was m*rder*d over this robbery.

Reporter: crime-scene technicians dust for fingerprints

After a coldblooded k*lling.

The victim is a mother of two who lives in frederick county.

Narrator: without any witnesses or compelling evidence,

Investigators know they're facing an uphill battle.

Reporter: the m*rder has thrown a scare

Into this normally quiet community.

Narrator: but there is a ray of hope.

The burger king is in the middle of a busy commercial area.

Which means security cameras could have been rolling.

Somewhere.

Surveillance footage on these type of cases

Is very important.

It gives you a lead of somewhere to go.

Narrator: while police canvass every business

In a quarter-mile radius,

Officers head off to notify next of kin.

Delivering that kind of news to a family,

It's probably one of the worst things

You have to do, as a police officer.

[ Melancholy tune plays ]

Police.

Interpreter: I saw people I didn't know.

I saw that they had police badges.

You might want to sit down.

We have some bad news.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Patty's been k*lled at work.

I'm so sorry. She's dead.

Interpreter: in that moment, my mind went blank.

She said to me,

"Please, call your family.

We want to talk to them."

[ Ring ]

Juan.

María: yo llamé a juan.

Interpreter: I called juan.

I tried to be as strong as I could.

Juan, come.

Narrator: patty's partner, juan, arrives home 15 minutes later.

What's going on?

And doesn't take the news well. -María, ¿qué pasa?

-[Crying] -no, maría. That's not true!

Interpreter: I saw juan going crazy.

María, por amor de dios, ¿cómo pudo pasar esto?

Ino, maría!

Interpreter: he grabbed the key

And he wanted to leave the house and find patty at work.

Narrator: juan's outburst raises eyebrows.

María.

Detectives ask maría for more background

On the relationship.

They had problems, arguments.

But they loved each other very much.

And juan has an airtight alibi:

He was at home all morning with maría

And only left for work moments before police arrived.

There was a routine that that family did every morning,

So there was no reason to disbelieve,

Uh, his alibi, either.

[ Melancholy tune plays ]

Narrator: neither juan nor maría can think of anyone

Who would want to harm patty.

Interpreter: she got on with everyone.

Lots of the girls at work were her friends.

They used to joke around a lot.

My sister had no enemies.

No one hated her.

Narrator: as the morning wears on,

Officers on scene finally find what they're looking for.

[ Eerie music plays ]

The sheetz gas station next door has seven security cameras.

The sheetz video covers

All of the outside areas of the store.

Narrator: and one camera

Will reveal a prologue to m*rder that no one could've expected.

[Static crackles] [suspenseful music plays]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: in frederick, maryland,

Homicide detectives hope surveillance footage

Can help jumpstart

The patty ayala m*rder investigation.

Next door to the burger king, there was a sheetz store

That's open 24 hours, 7 days a week,

So, we definitely wanted the sheetz video

As fast as we could get it.

Narrator: but there's a problem.

Some of the video files are corrupted.

Backups exist, but they're stored



It's frustrating to have to wait on video.

You just have to work within the parameters

Of what's available.

Narrator: what they do have is the footage

Overlooking sheetz gas pumps.

What do we got so far?

I'm just backin' up here to...5:00 am.

Sheetz is one of the only nearby businesses

Open around the time of the m*rder.

Investigators know that patty's code was used

To open the safe at 5:33.

So they rewind the video to 5:00 am and hit play.

[ Sinister music plays ]

We have no idea who may be involved,

How many may be involved,

So we do look at everybody in the video.

We look at all of the vehicles coming and going

And anything else that may give us a clue.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Narrator: 20 minutes go by without any menacing activity.

Until, at 5:24 am,

An unexpected sighting.

What's that?

Nearly out of frame,

A familiar vehicle pulls up to a pump.

Renninger: the vehicle that the victim drove was a red ford tempo,

So we knew that was her car.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Narrator: seconds later,

Walking towards the store entrance,

It's patty.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual.

It's an eerie glimpse of patty ayala

In her last minutes of life.

Police switch to the interior camera.

Renninger: it shows the victim

Walking into the sheetz through the front door.

She gets into a line behind other people

To pay for her gas purchase.

Garcia: when I saw this footage,

The first thing that I thought was,

"My god, she doesn't even know what awaits her."

She's comin' into the sheetz.

She has no idea she's not goin' home.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Narrator: police scrutinize the video for anything suspicious.

They carefully watch everyone in the store.

Every face.

Every move.

[ Foreboding music plays ]

♪♪

♪♪

Patty doesn't interact with anyone

Except for the cashier.

And if there is something out of place in this scene,

Police can't see it.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Patty walks back to her car to gas up.

♪♪



She pulls away, down the driveway

That runs between sheetz and the burger king.

Garcia: we looked to see if anyone was followin' her.

We followed everyone out, but the only person that we saw

Going towards the burger king at the time was patty.

Narrator: with patty's body sent to the morgue for autopsy,

A csi team begins processing the crime scene.

Police also question the store manager in greater detail.

Ramirez: the detectives interview me.

They told me, if I think of any names or any leads,

To let them know.

That's when I give them the lead of antonio.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: antonio diaz is the only person

Luis would call a disgruntled employee.

Narrator: luis discovers he was allegedly

Supplying prescription drugs to a coworker.

Narrator: diaz did not take his dismissal well.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Garcia: when I found out about antonio diaz,

I looked him up in our database

And, at first, I didn't come up with anything on his name.

But, when I ran the address, [keyboarding, beep]

I came back with a male subject matchin' his description

And his same date of birth.

Narrator: it seems antonio diaz is a false name.

Police track down their prime suspect at his parents' house.

And, right from the start, alarm bells are ringing.

He confirmed that, in fact, his real name was

José mejía-varela

And, once his name was run through the system,

It showed that he had been deported.

Narrator: varela then reentered the u.s., Using an alias.

José mejía-varela and patty worked together

For a year at the burger king

And his sister was friends with patty.

Can you tell me what you were doin' march the 18th

Between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning?

I was right here.

Never left the house.

Narrator: his family backs up his alibi.

Yes. That's correct, yeah.

His sister verified this

And his mother also verified this, that he was home.

Narrator: varela is off the hook.

For the time being.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Back at the crime scene, csi finds an ominous clue

That takes the case in a very different direction.

[ Sinister music plays ]

What do you got for me?

Garcia: then he points at the board.

What's that say?

[ Shutter clicks ]

There was some writing written there

With a yellow highlighter,

Which was hard to see on the white background.

"B up."

"B up, b up.

"k*ller ck"?

[ Shutter clicking ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Shutter clicking ]

This is g*ng stuff.

It appeared that the k*ller had left us a message

And the message was g*ng-related.

Narrator: the notorious street gangs the bloods and crips

Have a rivalry in frederick, maryland, too.

And police are plenty familiar with ck.

Ck meant, to us, crip k*ller.

Narrator: his real name is denver allen crandall.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Shutter clicking ]

The suspect denver allen crandall

Was known to the police as a local g*ng member

And someone who had been involved

In some other violent crimes and things of that nature.

Narrator: and it turns out, his brother

Is an employee of the burger king

Where patty was m*rder*d,

Meaning crandall could have inside information

On the store's layout [shutter clicks]

And location of the safe.

[Suspenseful music plays] the missing cctv footage

From the sheetz gas station could hold a vital clue.

Guess what I got.

Missing sheetz video?

Detectives queue up the footage

From the camera facing the side of the burger king.

Patty would have arrived around 5:30,

So investigators watch from there.

♪♪



[ Whoosh ]

Is that what I think it is?

[Static crackles] [suspenseful music plays]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[Siren wails] reporter: on march 18th,

This burger king on frederick's east patrick street

Was a bloody crime scene.

Narrator: the search for answers in the patty ayala m*rder

Has led police to a cctv camera pointed

At the side of the building where she was k*lled.

At 5:38...

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

That's it.

Just five minutes after patty's code was used

To open the safe, a fast-moving shape blurs

Across the top of the screen.

I put it in an editing program and then zoomed it in,

'Til I finally could see that that's a person runnin'.

You could assume that this person

Has something to do with this crime.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators compare the running man

To a picture of prime suspect denver allen crandall.

But it's too dark and grainy for a positive i.d.

Renninger: so that's when we started switching

To the other side of the sheetz.

This would be the next logical place

To look for someone crossing the video stream.

Narrator: this camera from sheetz overlooks an adjacent street.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Sure enough, 30 seconds after the suspect

Streaks away from the burger king,

A shadowy figure appears again.

The video only captures the person's legs.

But it does reveal one identifying feature...

Those look like adidas.

...the suspect's distinctive adidas sneakers.

Police search through tape after tape

For another glimpse of their suspect.

But he seems to have vanished into the shadows.

Then it occurs to police:

Maybe he didn't escape on foot.

Let's see another angle here.

They check video from another sheetz camera

That overlooks the gas pumps...

And shows a roy rogers restaurant in the background.

Just seconds after the suspect walks across the street,

The camera picks up a single headlight emerging

From the roy rogers parking lot.

See there?

So we're thinking, "well, maybe this is the person

That crossed the street, comin' out in a vehicle.

That's not a car.

We saw that it was a motorcycle of some sort.

Narrator: investigators have watched the suspect

Pull away after the crime.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Now, they want to see if they can find him arriving before.

Lucky for detectives, the roy rogers

Has a cctv camera that covers the parking lot.

[ Rewinding ]

They start rewinding from 5:38.

Almost 2 hours back, there's nothing.

Then, at 3:42 am...

[ Sinister music climbs ]

A man walks out of the roy rogers parking lot

Towards the burger king.

♪♪

He breaks into a run to cross the road.

I'm just gonna freeze it.

The video is dark.

But detectives believe the suspect

Is wearing the familiar adidas sneakers.

They're convinced this is the same man

Seen running from the m*rder scene

Just 2 hours later.

The footage that was captured at 3:42

From the roy rogers became extremely significant.

It was very eerie to watch that he was there that early.

Narrator: this time, they get a much clearer image

Of a light-skinned, stocky male.

Garcia: we were able to see the clothing he was wearin'.

It appeared to be bluejeans and some kinda black jacket.

Let's see where he goes.

Narrator: they switch to one of the sheetz cameras,

Showing the road approaching burger king.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

[ Eerie music plays ]

-Look at that. -Yeah, same shoes.

-Exactly. -Both: same guy.

Narrator: at 3:44, it picks up the same figure.

Renninger: this was definitely a breakthrough.

We had a vehicle. We had a suspect.

We had a pretty good description.

Narrator: but is it their prime suspect, denver allen crandall?

[ Shutter clicking ]

The only way to make a positive i.d.

Is to send the video to the fbi for further analysis.

Meantime, police put a tail on crandall.

They surveilled him for several days

To find out his habits and routines

And they were also looking for those infamous sneakers

That we saw on the tape. [Shutter clicks]

Narrator: but if crandall owns the adidas sneakers,

He's not wearing them.

[ Shutter clicking ]

[ Dog barks ]

[Melancholy tune plays] a week after the m*rder,

Patty's family holds a mass

Before sending her body to mexico for burial.

Interpreter: it was very beautiful for me

Because I saw so many people from the family.

Patty got along with everyone.

She knew all kinds of different people.

And, in that moment, we saw what she was,

What her friendship did.

Ramirez: patty's m*rder was rough, to be honest.

Her kids are livin' without a mom.

The little one, she was barely 2 years old.

So she's gonna grow up without knowledge of who her mother is.

Narrator: knowing the k*ller is still out there

Only adds to the family's distress.

And there's more disappointing news.

The fbi has finished analyzing the surveillance footage

And can't make an i.d. [Distorted tune plays]

It was really frustrating

Because we never got a full frontal shot

And it's hard to get facial recognition

With anything grainy.

Narrator: but, looking at the video, police realize

A vital clue is right under their noses.

[ Distorted tune plays ]

The suspect is short.

[Shutter clicks] based on the height

Of the dumpster in the video,

They calculate that the suspect is only 5'4".

Crandall is nearly 6'0".

The notorious crip k*ller, denver allen crandall,

Could not be the perpetrator.

And the man on the scooter,

Wearing the adidas, remains a mystery.

But, another piece of video

Could finally give this phantom a name.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: the patty ayala m*rder investigation hits a brick wall

When cctv footage rules out their prime suspect.

[ Distorted tune plays ]

So who is the short man on the scooter, in the adidas?

Investigators cast a wider net for security footage.

And find what they're looking for,

At a self-storage facility behind the burger king.

The surveillance video for the self-storage unit

Is covering their property

And out into the streets around the burger king.

Narrator: the suspect first appeared

In the roy rogers video at 3:42 am.

So police roll the footage back and start watching.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

At 2:00 am, the area is dead quiet.

Then, at 3:07 am...

[ Eerie music plays ]

There's a quick streak of light.

What is that?

There he is.

Investigators rewind,

Hit play,

And zoom in.

I'll freeze it right there.

Scooters are uncommon in frederick, maryland.

Hard to believe there'd be more than one in this area

In the middle of the night.

Police are convinced they've just caught another glimpse

Of patty ayala's k*ller, 2.5 hours before her m*rder.

I thought to myself,

"This person is casing the location.

He's arrived early and he wants to see

How he's gonna do this, so this is planned.

It's not a spur- of-the-moment crime."

♪♪

This is from roy rogers, same time.

Narrator: at 3:08 am, the roy rogers surveillance camera

Picks up the scooter again.

[ Keyboarding, rewinding ]

Police freeze-frame

And blow up the image.

That's a white helmet.

We were able to tell that the individual

That was ridin' the scooter had a helmet on

And it was a white helmet and also the scooter

Did have some kind of trunk on the back of it.

[ Sinister music plays ]

Narrator: they can't make out the color of the scooter,

Or its license plate.

But they can see where he parked.

♪♪

Footage from a camera in sheetz actually captures the scooter

Going into the roy rogers parking lot

And disappearing way deep into the parking lot.

So he's hidin' the bike back there.

[ Radio chatter ]

Narrator: detective garcia immediately heads over to roy rogers.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

I was able to interview some of the managers

That opened up that morning

And one of them recalled parking right next to a scooter.

He told me it was a red, shiny, brand-new scooter.

Anything else you can think of?

Narrator: he saw a man return to the scooter at 5:40.

He appeared to be carrying something heavy

And he put it in the back of the trunk of the scooter.

Narrator: it could be all the cash

And change from the burger king safe.

Putting all those things together,

We were almost 100% that this person

Had something to do with this crime.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Narrator: the pieces of this haunting puzzle

Are starting to fall into place.

[ Door opens, bell rings ]

Garcia contacts the only scooter dealership in the area

To see if they've sold any similar models.

Detective garcia.

I described the type of scooter

That I thought it would be.

I was hopin' that they would keep records

And they would be able to tell me

How many of each color they had sold.

Narrator: turns out, they've only sold two red scooters

In the last few years, one to a man

And one to a woman.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

There's no way the figure on the bike was female,

So garcia looks into the male customer,

One tyrone williams.

But when he gets a look at the suspect's photo...

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

His hopes are dashed.

This individual was much larger,

Much taller, and was a different race.

Narrator: so far, every promising clue has led to a dead end.

Desperate for anything,

Detective garcia follows up on the female scooter buyer.

Do you happen to have the name of the lady

That bought that red 50cc scooter

From you back in december?

So he tells me about this, uh, nice, hispanic lady

That had bought a scooter from him

And I asked him, "well, what was her name?"

At that point, my heart kinda dropped.

You're kidding me. Are you sure?

Narrator: the second customer

Is consuela mejía-varela.

Unbelievable.

And that's a name the police have heard before.

[ Sinister music climbs ]

[Static crackles] [suspenseful music plays]

[ Static crackles ]

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: detectives working the patty ayala m*rder

Have discovered the owner of the scooter caught on video

Is the sister of disgruntled burger king employee

José mejía-varela,

The same woman who unintentionally

Gave him his alibi.

Everybody, listen up. Very important.

We need to find josé varela.

Get on it.

At 5'4",

Mejía-varela is a perfect match for the suspect

And his record is more extensive than policy previously thought,

With a history of violent crime,

Including allegedly robbing a mcdonald's.

We worked with agents from immigration

That helped us find mr. Mejía-varela

Because he was in federal custody at that time.

Narrator: mejía-varela is awaiting deportation

As an ill*gal immigrant.

So investigators have to work fast

To find the hard evidence they'll need

To build an airtight case.

The next day, there's a surprising new lead.

[ Ring ]

We get a call from a defense attorney

That says that his client

Is the cellmate of varela...

Do not let him go. I need to talk to him.

...and that he has some information for us.

Randall, let's go, bro. I need your help.

Narrator: garcia heads straight over to the baltimore prison

To interview varela's cellmate.

When I met with this individual, he was very forthcoming.

He told me he k*lled a woman.

Narrator: it turns out, varela has been boasting

About his criminal activities.

Garcia: the cellmate told me everything.

He told me how josé mejía-varela entered the burger king,

All the way to where the g*n was hidden.

He said he hid it in the garage,

Under a floorboard.

Narrator: now, garcia finally has what he needs.

[ Rattling ]

And police swoop in on mejía-varela's home.

[ Shutter clicks ]

In the garage, they find the red scooter

And white helmet from the surveillance video.

We went right up to the attic

And we started pryin' open floorboards.

Hamm: we also found the striped sneakers.

Narrator: they're a perfect match to the pair seen in the video.

And, under the floorboard, the biggest find of all.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

We've got him, guys.

[ Eerie music plays ]

[ Ominous chord strikes ]

[ Eerie music plays ]

I had enough, at that point, to be able to confront varela

About the statements that he had made previously

In his alibi.

Narrator: mejía-varela denies any involvement in patty's m*rder.

That's when garcia lets him know about the cctv footage.

It's very powerful to go into an interview room

And to say to a suspect, "we have you on film."

[ Eerie music plays ]

This is your time, josé, to man up

And tell me what you did that day.

It scares people that have actually done these crimes

To know, "uh-oh, they have me."

Narrator: mejía-varela changes his tune,

Pleading guilty to first-degree m*rder.

Garcia can now piece together

What really happened on the morning of march 18th.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

At 3:07 in the morning, he's casing the location.

He's arrived early

And he wants to see how he's gonna do this.

Narrator: after being fired,

Mejía-varela held a grudge against his former boss luis

And planned to rob the burger king

And k*ll anyone who got in his way.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Hamm: there was dumpsters

And he had climbed up on those dumpsters

And jumped up on the roof.

He knew that the little trap door up there was broken.

He got down through, and it explains

Why none of the doors were forced open.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: at 5:25 am,

While patty's at the gas station,

Mejía-varela tries to open the safe

With the code he had when he was assistant manager.

[ Beeping ]

[Alert beeps] but it no longer works.

He'll have to change his plan.

Garcia: when patty arrived that morning,

She walked through the dining hall.

She entered the kitchen area.

She went behind the counter...

[ Clicking ]

...turning on the fryer...

[ Beep ]

[ Click ]

And then walking into the office

And turning the lights on.

Narrator: unaware what danger awaits.

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

[ Ominous chords strike ]

-Get up. -[Crying] what are you doing?

Narrator: he forces patty to open the safe.

Hurry up.

Using her code.

[ Beeping ]

[ Sustained beep ]

[ Suspenseful music climbs ]

Then she's k*lled, execution-style, in the office.

[ Sobbing ]

[ g*nsh*t, casing clatters ]

[ Eerie music plays ]

[ Shutter clicks ]

Narrator: varela takes the money from the safe

And writes a message on the board

To throw police off his trail before making his escape,

Unaware that video captured it all.

[ Melancholy tune plays ]

In april 2013,

Mejía-varela is sentenced to life behind bars.

We know this person's never gonna hurt anybody again,

But this family will never be the same.

[ Melancholy tune intensifies ]

[ Melancholy lullaby plays ]

Interpreter: it's very difficult.

It is still painful

Because I see my sister patty's children,

Who are still living with me,

And I see them growing up

And they ask me,

"Where's my mom?" Or "when is my mom coming back?"

That's very difficult.

I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

♪♪

That's all.