04x09 - Loretta's Last Valentine

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: a pregnant student vanishes without trace.

She'd only do that to where she'd at least check in.

Narrator: her family prays for news.

She's the strongest person I know.

That was tortuous.

Narrator: a trail of mysterious cctv

Leads police on a 2,000-mile hunt.

My main goal is to find the truth.

Narrator: surveillance footage uncovers an unspeakable crime.

It angers me to think that somebody did that

To somebody's child. [ Sobbing ]

Narrator: a race against time to answer one burning question.

Where's loretta saunders?

We needed to get loretta. We needed to find her.

♪♪

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: february 12th, 2014, halifax, nova scotia.

Twenty-six-year-old college student loretta saunders

Is thousand of miles away from her family,

Working hard to complete her pre-law studies.

Clayton: she was a hardworking little girl,

And she only had a couple months left before she graduated.

Once she set her mind to something,

It was going to happen.

Loretta was very caring, and she cared for everybody.

Narrator: loretta is in constant contact with her parents and sister,

Who live at opposite ends of the country.

She'd call me or her dad every day.

We facebooked. We texted.

We called each other.

We were incessantly communicating.

[ Phone ringing ] we were each other's

Number-one fans.

Narrator: tonight, loretta and delilah have big news to discuss.

She was pregnant.

So excited for her.

And how big is my little niece or nephew today?

The size of a lime, apparently.

I told her if there's anything you need, let me know,

I'm on a plane.

You know, I'll be there.

Kind of have to go.

Speak in a few days?

Okay. See you later.

Love ya.

Loretta rents a room in her apartment to another couple

And spends most nights at her boyfriend's place,

A short drive away.

♪♪

Yalcin surkultay is an international student

In halifax.

I thought maybe we could frame it?

Sure. Yeah?

Come on in.

They had been together for over 2 years.

Though the pregnancy wasn't planned,

The couple is looking forward to parenthood.

She wanted a family.

She wanted to build that with somebody.

Narrator: on valentine's day, two days later...

[ Cellphone vibrates ]

...delilah wakes to a message from loretta.

I was expecting this huge message

About what she had gotten for valentine's day,

Or her plans that evening.

But after I had said happy valentine's day,

I didn't get any messages back.

Narrator: delilah figures loretta is busy with yalcin

And puts it out of her mind

Until she gets a message from him.

Yalcin asked me if I had heard from loretta.

He said that he hadn't seen her since the day before.

Narrator: delilah tries to reach loretta herself...

It's loretta.

Leave a message. Hey.

Narrator: ...but just gets her voicemail.

Call me back.

Bye.

Increasingly concerned, delilah calls her mom, miriam.

Hello? Hey, mom.

Have you heard from loretta?

Narrator: but miriam hasn't heard from loretta in three days.

I knew my girl would not let me go that long

Without even hearing from her.

Narrator: countless phone calls to more of loretta's friends and family

Brings no joy.

So I called the police.

Narrator: halifax regional police officer kristine fraser

Follows up on the call.

Fraser: on february 17th, 2014,

A dispatch message popped up on our computer.

Loretta's mother, miriam, was calling and wished us

To speak with loretta's boyfriend, yalcin surkultay.

Narrator: miriam tells police

That yalcin is the last known person

To see her daughter.

Officer fraser heads straight to his apartment.

Because I'm thinking, "if she's missing,

This was the last place that she was possibly seen."

At the end of the day, we just wanted to make contact

With loretta,

Make sure she was okay.

Yalcin surkultay?

Uh, yes. We're here about loretta.

May we take a look around?

Yeah. Of course.

Come on in.

When did you last see loretta?

On thursday.

She left here to go back to her apartment.

Fraser: the last time that yalcin had seen loretta

Was on february 13th,

Around 10:00 in the morning.

Narrator: that's four days ago.

Do you have a...

He claims loretta was headed back to her place

Just 3 miles away.

Yalcin tells officers he hasn't seen her since,

But they've texted each other.

There was a couple text messages from loretta to yalcin

That said, "I was out with a friend.

We'll talk when I get back," and that was it.

Do you know what time that was?

Narrator: this mystery friend could be the key to finding loretta saunders,

But yalcin has no idea who it could be.

Do you have a recent photograph

Of loretta? Uh, yeah.

Narrator: police get a description of loretta's car --

A blue toyota celica -- as well as a picture.

Fraser: it's a pretty distinct vehicle.

It had a spoiler on the back.

Narrator: officers also take a look around the apartment.

We're keeping an open mind that maybe yalcin is a guilty party.

I'm smelling for cleaning supplies.

I'm looking if there's any blood anywhere.

We can't close any doors at this point.

Narrator: but nothing seems amiss.

If you hear from loretta, please give me a call.

Fraser: when my partner and I left yalcin's apartment,

I recalled looking right at him and saying,

"Something is not right here."

Narrator: the missing persons unit is called in to investigate.

Corporal jason hurley and detective scott bowers

Head straight to loretta's apartment building,

Where yalcin said she was last headed.

You're trying to determine whether they're missing

'Cause they don't want to be found or they're missing

Because some foul play has befallen them.

Halifax police.

Open up.

Narrator: with no answer at loretta's door,

The super lets them in.

Halifax police.

Anyone home?

Bowers: didn't look like there was a disturbance

Or anything of that nature.

Here, you check there. Yeah.

Narrator: but there's no sign of the missing student.

The apartment was lived in. There was groceries.

There was food in the fridge.

♪♪

Narrator: with no other clues, officers widen their search.

Every apartment was knocked on, and questions were asked as to

If they were aware of who loretta saunders was,

Had they seen her recently.

I'm just wondering if you could tell us...

Narrator: one neighbor did see loretta's roommates

Leaving for valentine's weekend,

But no one remembers seeing loretta.

So police look for another witness...

Are there any cameras up and down the hall on any side?

Cctv has the ability to really turn an investigation.

We do have --

Narrator: ...and find two security cameras covering the main lobby.

Yalcin told police that loretta should have arrived

At her apartment four days ago.

And this camera is about to tell police if that's true.

My goal is to find loretta saunders.

Narrator: pregnant student loretta saunders

Has been missing for four days.

Her boyfriend, yalcin,

Told police she left his place at 10:00 a.m.

On february 13th, headed for her apartment 15 minutes away.

Now cctv footage will determine if his story is true.

The building superintendent queues up the first camera angle

To 10:15 a.m. --

When loretta should have arrived --

And hits play.

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People come and go.

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...but there's no sign of loretta.

♪♪

Then, at 10:57, a young woman enters.

Superintendent: wait.

That's her.

That's loretta saunders.

The super recognizes loretta's slim frame and long hair.

♪♪

Loretta gets into the elevator...

...and disappears.

Watching that video, you're kind of hopeful,

Like, well, there she is, and she's okay,

And she's going in the building.

Narrator: so far, the footage confirms yalcin's story

That loretta returned to her apartment that morning.

Police now need to find out when loretta left.

They continue watching...

♪♪

And fast-forward through the next few hours.

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But there's no sign of her,

So they pull up the second camera angle

Covering the emergency exit in case loretta left that way.

♪♪

Investigators realize that looking for loretta

Is going to take time.

Can we get a dvd copy

Of this footage? Yeah.

Narrator: four days have passed

Since she arrived at her apartment...

Thank you.

Narrator: ...and she could have left at any point since then.

Every minute of that footage that we had, had to be viewed.

♪♪

Narrator: back at the police station,

Officers begin crawling through the apartment footage

While detectives speak with loretta's roommates,

Blake and victoria, hopeful they can help locate her.

She told me that she was in prince edward island

Visiting an uncle.

Victoria confirms that she and blake

Are 200 miles away with family

And haven't seen or heard from loretta in days.

With the mystery deepening, corporal hurley

Subpoenas loretta's bank records.

If loretta has made any purchases in the last few days,

Police will be able to retrace her steps.

♪♪

The next morning, loretta's sister, delilah,

Flies across the country

And heads straight to the police station

To speak to detectives.

And delilah has some new information

About loretta's boyfriend, yalcin...

Delilah told us that there was some indication that loretta

May be terminating the relationship with yalcin.

Narrator: ...and that the couple had been arguing recently.

That made me extremely suspicious of him.

Narrator: and delilah is not the only one.

I really believed that yalcin had something to do with it.

Narrator: but before detectives can follow up with yalcin,

Loretta's bank records come in.

They reveal that loretta used her debit card

At a tim hortons coffee shop drive-through



Now detectives know she left her apartment.

They can pick up her trail at the drive-through.

When you have those transactions, those records,

They provide us with somewhere to go,

Somewhere to start.

Narrator: the tim hortons is 10 miles from loretta's apartment,

Which means she must have driven here

On the afternoon she disappeared.

Near the drive-through window,

They find what they'd hoped for --

A security camera.

We're looking for your footage from february 13th.

I'm hoping that we're going to see loretta

On the cctv footage at the tim hortons.

They queue the video to 5 p.m. On february 13th,

Just before the transaction, and hit play.

♪♪

♪♪

At 5:01 p.m., A car pulls up.

It's loretta's blue toyota.

Hurley: the car is turned off while it's at the window...

♪♪

...and then you can see there's a purchase being made.

Narrator: but then, they notice something.

Rewind it slightly.

Bowers: there's movement from both passenger and driver's side.

There are two occupants of the vehicle.

Narrator: loretta has company.

Narrator: pregnant student loretta saunders

Has now been missing for five days.

I was waiting for her to come home.

A thousand miles away, in labrador,

Her mother is struggling to remain positive.

Your whole body aches.

So many people was praying,

And I knew then that lot-- prayers are strong,

Strong...

♪♪

Narrator: investigators have found surveillance footage

Of loretta's car at a drive-through

From the afternoon she disappeared.

♪♪

And loretta is not alone.

Investigators need a clear shot into the car.

They bring up more footage from an interior camera...

...but there's a problem.

The clerk unknowingly is blocking

The driver's side window.

♪♪

♪♪

Finally, the clerk moves away from the window.

That's definitely not loretta

Or her boyfriend, yalcin.

It's a white male that police do not recognize.

The driver had very short, looked like blond hair,

Or even maybe bald.

Narrator: is this the mystery friend

Yalcin told police loretta texted him about?

Loretta mentioned during one of the text conversations

That she was going to be staying with a friend,

And there was never any identification

Of who that person was from loretta.

Narrator: loretta must be in the passenger seat.

Finding where they went next

Is now detectives' best chance of id'ing the driver.

Detectives bring up footage from a third camera.

The tim hortons had some exterior cameras as well,

That showed the parking lot as well as the exit.

♪♪

Narrator: loretta's toyota drives past the camera

Before disappearing out of view.

But there's no way of knowing which way it headed.

Hurley: it's frustrating because, to me right now,

That car is the most important aspect of this investigation.

Narrator: detectives follow a hunch.

Let's go up and down the street and knock on some doors,

See what we can find out.

Narrator: perhaps loretta stopped off at another store in the area.

It's a shot in the dark, sometimes.

We're looking for surveillance cameras. I wonder if you...

More often than not, we come up empty.

Okay, thank you for your time.

Narrator: meantime, desperate for news of her sister,

Delilah organizes a search of her own.

If I were to go missing, my sister, loretta, would be...

She would be the first there.

The sister in me was convinced

That I would find her alive and okay.

Narrator: the police investigation gets a new lifeline

When an officer finds a camera at sobeys grocery store.

Just 100 yards from where loretta's car was last seen,

The investigation hinges on loretta's car

Showing up on this footage.

The store manager queues it up to just before 5:00 p.m.

♪♪

Detectives scour the parking lot

Looking for loretta's distinctive toyota.

♪♪

Rows of parked vehicles line the lot.

Bowers: you can see other shoppers

Coming and going from the store...

♪♪

...vehicles moving in the parking lot.

♪♪

Narrator: headlights alert officers to a vehicle

Parked next to the building.

It's a blue sports car.

It looks like loretta's,

But they can't be sure.

♪♪

♪♪

At 4:59 p.m., The car pulls away.

♪♪

Detectives spot a light-blue jacket,

The same one loretta was wearing in the tim hortons video.

They need to know what loretta was doing there,

So rewind the video to the moment the car first arrived.

♪♪

♪♪

At 4:48 p.m., 11 Minutes earlier,

There's movement.

Loretta exits the vehicle alone and disappears from view.

Her toyota pulls forward, and loretta reappears.

Pause it.

But something is not right.

They switch to an interior camera to get a clearer shot.

♪♪

♪♪

Hurley: there she is coming in.

♪♪

Bowers: the video does not show loretta saunders.

Doesn't physically match the description at all.

Loretta was a small, thin woman with light-colored hair --

Probably not much more than 110 or 115 pounds.

Do you have a camera by the exit?

Narrator: detectives track the unknown female

As she leaves the store...

♪♪

...and gets back into the passenger seat

Of loretta's car.

Police have now caught two people on camera

Using loretta's bank card and driving her vehicle,

Which begs an urgent question.

Where is loretta saunders?

Narrator: police searching for 26-year-old loretta saunders

Have uncovered cctv footage

Of a white male driving her car...

...and an unknown female in the passenger seat...

Can we get a printout of that screen?

... But there's no sign of loretta.

In a desperate bid for help, loretta's sister, delilah,

Appears on national television.

I'd like to make a national plea

To see if anyone has seen her car

Or has any information.

Someone had to have seen her car.

I was hoping that her or someone who had known something

Would see that she's missed

And that she needs to come home.

She's the strongest person I know -- that we know.

She is so strong,

And that's what's keeping me going through this.

Narrator: the following day,

A new development... [ Phone ringing ]

...blasts the case wide open.

Corporal hurley.

Okay, you're not going to believe this.

Can you run a plate for me? [ Police radio chatter ]

Narrator: loretta saunders' car has been spotted



The light bulb went on, on this investigation.

Narrator: and loretta's not in it.

Can you turn around and face your vehicle, please?

Ontario police arrest the driver and passenger

And take them back to the station for questioning.

♪♪

The male identified himself as blake leggette.

The female identified herself as victoria henneberry.

They are loretta's roommates

And are a match for the suspects seen on cctv.

♪♪

Detectives push blake leggette

To explain why he has loretta's car.

Blake tells them that loretta was selling her car.

They told the ontario provincial police

That they had purchased the car from loretta saunders

On thursday, which would have been the 13th.

Narrator: that's the last time anyone saw loretta.

He says they stopped to get food and coffee

On their way out of town.

Blake's story tallies with the cctv.

Next, police question victoria henneberry.

Her story matches blake's,

But when loretta first went missing,

Victoria told police

That they were in a different part of the country.

She's been caught in a lie.

That kind of set off an alarm for me.

Narrator: and when police search the couple's belongings,

They find more evidence.

Loretta's phone was found on victoria henneberry,

And loretta's bank card was found on blake leggette.

Narrator: the pair are transported 2,000 miles back to halifax

For further interrogation.

Detectives now know it was blake and victoria

Using loretta's bank card on the day she disappeared,

Which means they can't prove

She left her apartment when they thought she did.

Investigators go back to the apartment cctv

From february 13th to search for loretta again

And to find out if her roommates are with her.

They review the footage from the moment

Loretta arrived that morning.

♪♪

♪♪

They scrub through the footage.

♪♪

At 2:28 p.m.,

A male with a shaved head steps out of the elevator.

It looks like blake leggette...

...and he's carrying a large hockey bag.

♪♪

He exits the building and disappears.

It seems that blake and victoria

Have packed up for their vacation.

♪♪

♪♪

Seven minutes later, blake walks back inside.

He has a plastic bag in his hand.

Blake disappears from the camera's view.

♪♪

When he reappears, the bag's gone.

♪♪

♪♪

Instinct tells investigators to keep watching.

♪♪

At 2:59 p.m., Blake emerges from the elevator again,

Carrying even more luggage.

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♪♪

But there's still no sign of loretta.

♪♪

♪♪

Three minutes later, blake comes back into the lobby.

♪♪

♪♪

At 3:27 p.m., Blake steps off the elevator for a third time,

And now, victoria henneberry is with him,

Carrying even more bags.

It looks like blake's moving out --

Moving his belongings from this apartment.

Narrator: detectives review the rest of the footage.

♪♪

They don't see blake and victoria again.

And they don't see loretta.

We don't know where she is.

We can't find her leaving.

Narrator: detectives go back over their timeline.

When loretta arrives at 10:57 a.m.,

Blake and victoria are still at home.

♪♪

♪♪

Three and a half hours later,

Blake appears with the hockey bag.

Detectives zero in on the bag.

Hurley: the bag sort of buckles in the center as he lifts it.

Bowers: it didn't make sense the way he was moving this bag.

Hurley: what could possibly be in that hockey bag

That would be that heavy?

Narrator: police now believe that this bag holds an awful secret.

Narrator: missing student loretta saunders was last seen on camera

Walking into her apartment elevator

On the morning of february 13th,

But police can't find footage of her leaving.

Now cctv of her roommates has led police to a chilling theory.

♪♪

Bowers: I knew when I looked at that video

That loretta was in that hockey bag.

♪♪

I thought she had been k*lled and placed in that hockey bag,

And they were carrying her out to dispose of her remains.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: but there's no way to prove this horrible theory

Without finding loretta's body.

♪♪

With blake leggette refusing to talk,

Police search his phone

And find a shocking recording he made of victoria

During a drunken argument

A few days before loretta disappeared.

The video leaves no room for doubt.

Mcneil: these two are K*llers.

These two are people that are capable

Of taking someone's life.

Narrator: lead interrogator sergeant anthony mcneil is brought in

To press victoria henneberry for a confession.

Mcneil: my main goal is to find the truth.

♪♪

Police discover what loretta was k*lled for --

Money.

Victoria explains that she and blake owed loretta

$600 In rent that they didn't have.

♪♪

Mcneil: when loretta came into the apartment...

You two owe me your rent money still.

...she went and sat on the couch.

And next thing you know, vicky hears a struggle.

And blake has put something over loretta's head.

She stops struggling...

♪♪

And loretta's dead.

Narrator: blake maneuvers loretta's body into the hockey bag.

Hurley: that hockey bag was then put in the trunk of loretta's vehicle.

Victoria covers their tracks by sending messages to delilah

And yalcin from loretta's phone.

♪♪

When loretta's vehicle is captured on camera

At the tim hortons...

...and at the sobeys,

She is in the trunk of that vehicle

In that hockey bag at that time.

Narrator: victoria cracks and agrees to take police

To a spot 300 miles away where she and blake dumped the bag.

Mcneil: we wanted to be able to bring loretta home --

To her parents, to her family, to her friends --

Who had been searching frantically for her.

The sister in me wanted so badly to bring her home

That I held onto that hope until I couldn't anymore.

Narrator: 13 days after loretta went missing,

In a wooden area just off the highway,

Detectives find a black-and-white bag.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Sobbing ]

♪♪

Miriam: they found her in a bag.

All I could think -- I cracked up.

[ Sobbing ] I thought they had her car...

They got my baby.

Narrator: an autopsy confirms that loretta was strangled.

I knew she was gone.

I just -- I knew...

...from day one, to be honest.

I just didn't want to hear it.

You know it when your babies are gone.

Narrator: in 2016, blake leggette and victoria henneberry

Plead guilty to first-degree m*rder

And second-degree m*rder, respectively.

Both are sentenced to life in prison.

It angers me to think that somebody did that

To somebody's child, for what, 600 bucks?

To me, they're just cowardly, cold--

Just cowardly, cold-blooded murderers.

I believe that the cctv footage was key in this investigation.

Loretta is somebody that I'm never going to forget about

As long as I live.

And miriam and delilah

And loretta's father,

They're going to think about her every day.

Losing my sister in this way...

...it's affected a deep part of my soul and my heart.

I often wonder what her little baby'd be like.

♪♪

Delilah has since set up a scholarship in loretta's name

To help other indigenous women go to university.

Delilah: she has taught me how to turn that darkness

Into something positive and something beautiful

And to not let that crush you,

Or to crush your spirit.