05x07 - Goodnight Jessika

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a tragic discovery in a parking lot...

Jessika!

Kilpatrick: it was the worst thing I've ever been through

In my life to find her like that.

Narrator: ...leaves a family heartbroken...

I wanted to find out who did this.

Narrator: ...with a crime scene

That raises more questions than answers.

By all appearances, she had been in some form of a struggle.

Pando: the first thing we wanted to do is figure out,

How did she end up here?

What happened to...

Narrator: detectives turn to witnesses hiding in plain sight.

Pando: I was very hopeful that that one camera would assist us

In figuring out what happened.

Bond: and I started to get this feeling

That I was about to see something shocking.

♪♪

♪♪

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

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator: september 6, 2009,

And it's a scorching afternoon in cedar park, texas.



Is hanging out with her cousin melanie and friends.

Hey. Want one?

Oh, no. I'm good.

She was more of a sister to me.

She was so close.

We shared everything.

We were really just laid-back, having a good time.

You better keep your eye on the chef out there.

What, you don't like your steaks charred?

Can you grab the salad?

Jessika was a really hard worker.

She was always at work or always at school.

Narrator: to save for her master's degree,

Jessika works at the local h-e-b grocery store

And as a substitute teacher.

I was so proud of her because she had done it all on her own,

Got the student loans to be able to go through...

To university and get her bachelor's degree.

Narrator: her dad, rick, and stepmom, jogayle,

Live just down the road.

Selfie time.

Jessika was a very positive person.

She really didn't like to look at things negative.

She just stepped in and just acted

Like a daughter would act,

And it just made me feel really good,

And I loved her so much.

Narrator: it's 1:30 a.m. By the time jessika drives melanie home.

Are you sure you don't want to stay over?

She knew she had to get back home to her dogs,

And she also had work early the next morning.

Maybe next time.

Love you.

Thank you. I'll see you later, okay?

Drive safe.

It was just a normal goodbye.

It was, "I'll talk to you later."

Narrator: jessika has a 30-minute journey home.

♪♪

Late the next morning, melanie is with her boyfriend, sergey.

[ Cellphone rings ]

Hello?

Kilpatrick: it was one of jessika's work friends.

She was just asking, "hey, where is your cousin?

She didn't show up for work today."

Are you sure?

It was really alarming actually.

Jessika was a very responsible person,

And hardly ever had she missed work.

Narrator: melanie immediately calls her brother john,

Who shares an apartment with jessika.

-Hello? -John?

Was jessika home this morning?

Narrator: john, an officer at austin pd,

Was on the early shift at the station.

He believed jessika was sleeping

When he left at 5:30 a.m.

I tried calling jessika.

Nothing happened.

I texted her, nothing back.

Jessika, pick up.

It was very strange for jessika to not answer her phone calls,

Answer her texts, not show up to work.

You got everyone spooked.

Just let us know you're okay.

Narrator: john goes to check if jessika is at home.

[ Siren wails ]

Jessika?

Jessika.

Jess?

[ Dog barking ]

Hey, boy.

Hey. Where's mommy, huh?

Where's mommy?

Narrator: john immediately calls cedar park police.

This is officer john ridenour, austin pd.

Yeah. I need to report a missing person.

This is not normal for jessika.

There is something wrong,

And so I suggested to cedar park police,

"We need to put a trace on her cell phone.

We need to ping her cell phone."

Narrator: meantime, melanie and sergey

Launch a search of their own.

Could she have broken down on the side of the road?

Did she get in an accident on the way home?

Narrator: within a matter of minutes,

The police have traced jessika's phone.

They received several pings

In the 1431 and 183 highway area.

It's a common intersection in cedar park.

There's a lot of businesses and gas stations

And shopping centers right there.

Narrator: melanie spots her cousin's white kia

Parked just outside the little caesars restaurant.

And immediately we drove right up behind it,

And I saw that her gas tank was popped slightly.

Jessika? Jess.

Jess.

Jess! Jess!

I began to pound on the window and call out her name.

Jessika!

Jess.

Jess?

I don't know if it was from the sun or what,

But her whole leg was this weird color,

And I reached in, and I kind of touched the top of her head

Just to move it a little bit, but she didn't move.

[ Sobbing ]

Narrator: sergey calls 911.

[ Screaming ]

[ Siren wails ]

It was the worst thing I've ever been through in my life

To find her like that.

Narrator: the news reaches jessika's dad, rick.

Rick: I got a phone call from john, and all he told me

Was, "it's not good, uncle rick."

I didn't know what happened to jessika

Or what actually she had gone through.

All I knew is that my little girl

Was behind that closed door of that car.

♪♪

Narrator: it's clear to emergency services

That jessika is dead,

And cedar park police detectives ricky pando

And larry bond suspect foul play.

What have we got?

There appeared to be several marks on her arm

And ligature marks on the skin and on her neck.

By all appearances, she had been in some form of struggle.

Narrator: it could explain why the fuel door lever was tripped.

Detectives can't say for sure,

But all signs point to a homicide.

The seat is pulled all the way back.

Either somebody else had been driving the car,

Or at some point she had moved the seat

All the way back for some reason.

Narrator: with temperatures hitting 90 degrees,

It's vital the scene is processed

Before dna evidence degrades in the heat.

We had no idea how long that she had been in the car

Or been in that condition.

Narrator: jessika's wallet and car keys are missing,

But they find her cell phone and process it for evidence.

Pando: the answers that we were looking for was,

How did she end up here?

Where did she come from?

You know, what happened before that?

Narrator: police search the strip mall

For surveillance cameras,

But nothing comes up.

Not even over there?

It was very frustrating to hear that none of them

Had a single camera facing in the direction of jessika's car

Or towards the parking lot.

Narrator: still struggling for leads,

Detectives widen the search.

Across the road, walmart offers hope.

Well, I looked up at the rooftop of the walmart.

I was very hopeful that that one camera

Would assist us in figuring out what happened.

Narrator: the camera is pointing towards where jessika's car was parked.

♪♪

It could be their best witness yet.

♪♪

Narrator: the investigation into the death

Of 27-year-old jessika kalaher in a strip mall parking lot

Leads police to a walmart surveillance camera

Across the street.

♪♪

Detectives bond and pando start the playback

When jessika's body was found.

Bond: at 3:46 p.m., You could see jessika's car

Was in the parking spot, and you could also see

That melanie and her boyfriend arrived.

Narrator: detectives painstakingly go back

Through 13 hours of footage to find the moment

Jessika's car pulls up at the little caesars.

In watching all of those hours of video,

Her car never moves from that parking spot.

There.

Narrator: at 2:52 a.m.,



Her car arrives at the little caesars.

Bond: that is the first time that jessika's car

Is seen pulling into the strip mall parking lot

And directly driven to the parking spot and stopped.

♪♪

Narrator: the camera is so far away,

It's difficult to tell what's going on.

Look at that.

Bond: you start to see what appears to be a grainy or dark figure

Moving on the driver's side of jessika's car.

Narrator: detectives watch to see what happens next.

There.

Pando: we were able to track what appeared to be a person

Walking northbound away from jessika's car.

Narrator: at the crime scene,

Jessika was found wearing a white dress,

And whoever this is is not wearing white.

Could she have picked someone else up on the way home?

Whoever that figure was that departed

Was somebody we needed to go find.

Narrator: so detective pando pays a visit

To her cousin melanie.

He did ask if there was anyone that we knew of that

She was supposed to meet there that night,

Or anybody that may have had something against her.

Tell me about her boyfriends.

Was she seeing anyone?

No.

Nobody knew of anyone that wanted to hurt her

Or do her any harm.

Narrator: next day, the autopsy results are in.

Her body was covered in bruises which indicated

That she had been in some form of physical altercation.

There were in fact ligature marks

On and around her neck and shoulder.

Strangled.

Narrator: it's clear detectives have a homicide on their hands.

They scrutinize the crime scene photos for more clues.

There was a very large 40- or 50-pound bag of dog food

That was in the back seat of her car.

It was bothering me.

Where did that food come from, and how long had it been there?

Narrator: detective bond hopes jessika's housemate

And cousin, john, will have the answer.

Yeah, john? Detective bond.

The dog food, did she pick it up that night?

And I explained to him that, yeah,

Jessika had mentioned that we were short on dog food.

Narrator: detectives check the route between melanie and jessika's

For any stores jessika could have gone to.

Bond: in 2009, walmart was one of the few locations

That was open 24 hours.

Narrator: the same walmart where surveillance captured her car

Parking outside the little caesars.

Detectives go back to see coverage

Of the store's own parking lot.

They play the footage from 1:30 a.m.,

When jessika dropped melanie off.

♪♪

And at 1:39 a.m., I could see jessika's white kia car

Enter through the parking lot.

♪♪

Narrator: 30 seconds later, a figure in a white dress

Appears from the right of screen.

Is that her?

See that again.

♪♪

♪♪

Bond: it looked like she had a black purse over her shoulder,

And she walked into the walmart store.

Narrator: they switch cameras to see if they can pick up her trail.

♪♪

♪♪

Pando: she was wearing a red hat, a baseball hat.

She was wearing a white dress,

And we were able to determine that that was indeed jessika.

Narrator: they select the camera above the cash register.

We're wondering, "is somebody with her?

Is she still by herself?

Does something happen at this point?"

None of that is seen.

She simply makes her purchase of the large bag of dog food.

♪♪

Narrator: it appears to be a perfectly normal shopping trip...

♪♪

...but as she proceeds towards the exit,

Something stands out.

This guy, wasn't he there when she arrived?

Let's play it back.

Pando: when investigating a homicide,

We look into everybody shown in the surveillance videos

Until they are either eliminated or become a suspect.

Narrator: the man takes a sideways glance at jessika as she exits

But doesn't move to follow her.

Walmart confirms this is the store greeter,

So detectives rule him out as a suspect.

They switch to the exterior camera.

♪♪

Jessika exits the store alone.

♪♪

♪♪

Let's see that again.

♪♪

Bond: that's the first time I see somebody moving

In the same direction she is at that point.

Could we get a closer view?

Narrator: they're in luck.

There's another camera near to jessika's car.

♪♪

Bond: and the hair started to stand up on the back of my neck,

And I started to get this feeling

That I was about to see something shocking.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives have just discovered surveillance footage

That they believe shows jessika kalaher being followed

As she leaves walmart.

♪♪

Pando: we wondered whether or not

He was walking to jessika's car

Or to his own vehicle which was near her car.

We need another camera that shows jessika's car.

Narrator: jessika appears in the bottom left of the screen,

But there's a problem.

It was extremely frustrating

Because the first thing that we see is this big old tree

Blocking the entire view of jessika's car.

♪♪

Narrator: the mysterious figure enters frame

And is immediately masked by the tree.

Detectives shudder to think what is happening behind this tree.

♪♪

Bond: it starts to eat at you with this curiosity,

And then it starts to set in that you know

How jessika was found,

You know, and the horrible things that occurred to her.

Narrator: 90 seconds later,

Jessika's car emerges from behind the tree

And drives out of the parking lot.

Bond: when her car departs,

Neither of them are ever seen on this video again.

♪♪

This person is either involved

Or has information that they can share.

Now I need to figure out who this male is.

♪♪

Let's take another look for this guy.

Narrator: detectives switch to the camera

Overlooking the walmart entrance to get a better view.

♪♪

Bond: I was able to observe another male behind jessika

Walking in the same direction.

♪♪

He is wearing what looked like a brown shirt

And blue jeans and a baseball cap.

Narrator: they now have a new suspect.

Investigators try and trace his movements inside the store.

♪♪

Pando: we noticed that the individual walks

Directly to the men's bathroom.

♪♪

Narrator: they spot jessika again.

Bond: we're looking at her walking

With this large bag of dog food.

Narrator: just before jessika leaves frame,

The same man exits the restroom.

He's got her in plain sight.

He walks straight towards the exit of the store

Behind jessika.

Bond: he was walking at a faster pace

Than what jessika was.

It seemed odd that there would be that sense of urgency.

In my mind, I thought, "this is very interesting."

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: to get a better i.d. On their suspect,

Detectives will need to go

Through walmart's network of cameras.

We're going to need to get a copy of everything.

♪♪

After watching hours of footage at the station,

Detectives get the clearest view of their suspect yet.

At 1:42 a.m. He enters the store,

Just 3 minutes after jessika.

♪♪

They check if any vehicles arrive at that time.

Let's take a look at this parking lot.

♪♪

Pando: a red or maroon vehicle entered the parking lot minutes

After jessika's car parked.

Narrator: it's the only other vehicle that arrives around that time.

It was really odd.

I mean, we're talking, you know, late at night,

And the parking lot is virtually vacant,

So it really stood out to us the fact

That he would park his vehicle so far away from the entrance.

♪♪

Narrator: the driver gets out.

Knowing their suspect enters the walmart seconds later,

This has to be the same man.

What's he doing?

Pando: we kind of noticed that this individual was walking

Not only slowly, but it also appeared as though

He was trying to avoid the video cameras.

Narrator: detectives keep watching the truck to see

When this individual comes back.

♪♪

One hour and 11 minutes later,

The truck's headlights come on...

...and it's just over a minute after the figure was seen

Leaving jessika's car outside the little caesars.

Could the suspect have m*rder*d jessika in her car

And returned to walmart to recover his truck?

We need every angle of this truck.

Let's get a license.

The suspect's truck is also seen driving into the walmart

Whilst other vehicles are leaving.

Bond: I was able to see that it had a license plate,

But it was just impossible to obtain any numbers whatsoever.

Pando: and that's when we noticed that the truck

Had a large silver plate on the tailgate.

Narrator: detectives now have enough

To put out a bolo on the truck.

♪♪

Two days after jessika's m*rder,

Her family prepares for the funeral.

Kilpatrick: I remember the moment that I looked at jessika.

It just did not look like her because she was not smiling.

♪♪

Jogayle: I pulled her collar down,

And I said, "look. There's fingerprints there,"

And that's the first time we knew she was strangled.

Rick: I realized that my daughter had gone through

A brutal time,

If you will, once I saw those marks.

I wanted to find out who did this.

♪♪

Narrator: back at the police station,

Investigators are still waiting on jessika's bank records

To come through, and the family might be able to help.

[ Telephone rings ]

Detective pando.

I received a call from jogayle who wanted to tell me

That she had picked up jessika's bank transactions.

Narrator: at 3:04 a.m., Jessika's bank card

Was used at an exxon gas station.

Pando: this time was important because we already knew

That jessika's car had already been parked

At the shopping center across the street from walmart.

The biggest question was, who made these transactions?

Yeah. This is detective bond from cedar park pd.

I'm looking to get some surveillance footage.

Narrator: if there are surveillance cameras,

Detectives could be one step closer

To figuring out who k*lled jessika kalaher.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives have a lead in the jessika kalaher homicide.

While jessika was left for dead in her car

Outside little caesars,

Her card was used to buy gas at an exxon station,

And it has surveillance cameras.

At that point, we all became very hopeful

That the cameras in that store were working.

Narrator: they're in luck.

The manager accesses the footage

From the exact time of the transaction.

♪♪

Pando: at 3:04 a.m., A male individual walks in

Wearing what appears to be a longhorn t-shirt

And a longhorn baseball hat.

Pause it there.

Narrator: they have a much clearer image of their suspect.

And now we have an individual matching the male individual

Seen at walmart at the time that jessika was there,

And he's using her credit card.

Skip ahead.

Narrator: they follow the suspect out of the store

On the exterior camera,

Which records as a series of stills.

Pando: there was a red or maroon pickup truck

Matching the description of the truck seen at walmart.

Do you have another angle?

Sir, yes.

Narrator: this angle can't give them the license plate,

But the exxon footage provides a clearer profile

Of the suspect and his vehicle.

Detectives release the images to the public

In the hopes of a positive i.d.

The tip line soon lights up.

Detective bond speaking.

An anonymous caller has a lead.

They told us that they recognized that vehicle

That they were showing on the news,

And they also recognized the person in the video as well

And provided the name of crispin harmel.

♪♪

Narrator: detective pando runs a background check and gets a hit.

A search of the police database gives investigators a new lead.

Crispin harmel was pulled over for a traffic violation

Just three weeks before jessika's m*rder.

Bond: we obtained the dashcam video from their patrol vehicles.

Check this out.

You could see that that was in fact the same truck

That we had seen on the walmart and exxon video.

Narrator: the driver gets off with a warning,

And when he approaches the dashcam,

Detectives can see it's their suspect.

Let's go get him.

♪♪

When detectives arrive at crispin's house,

They see the same maroon truck from the surveillance video

But with a noticeable difference.

The silver plate across the tailgate has been removed.

♪♪

[ Knock on door ]

Come inside.

♪♪

♪♪

Bond: one of the first things that I asked is,

"Crispin, how do you know jessika?"

Narrator: he says once they met at her car,

They left walmart together.

Bond: he explained that she told him,

"Just bring it back and leave it at my car at the...

Where I work at h-e-b."

I ask him, "which h-e-b did you come to?"

And he told me, "the one right there by the exxon."

Narrator: but jessika worked at a different h-e-b store.

It just didn't make sense.

Narrator: after hearing what had happened,

He claims he got scared he'd be a suspect,

So he threw it away.

Thank you for your time, crispin.

Detectives head back to check his alibi

Against jessika's cellphone and computer records.

It could be the evidence they need to finally bring him down.

♪♪

Narrator: m*rder suspect crispin harmel claims

That he and jessika met through a dating website,

But forensic analysis on jessika's laptop

And cellphone prove otherwise.

Bond: at no point was anything found that showed a link

Between jessika kalaher and crispin harmel.

Narrator: certain that crispin's account is pure fiction,

Investigators bring him in for a second interview.

There was a lot of inconsistencies, you know,

From the first interview to the second interview.

Narrator: sensing they've got him at breaking point,

Detectives turn up the heat.

Bond: when he finally realized that he had no answers,

He eventually said that he wanted an attorney

And would speak with us no longer.

Narrator: but despite crispin's lies,

The d.a. Still doesn't have enough

To charge him with m*rder.

His dna wasn't found on jessika's body or in her car.

Pando: it was very frustrating to know

That crispin harmel was responsible for jessika's death,

But, you know, it was just something

That we weren't able to charge him with.

Narrator: to buy themselves time, they can charge him

With tampering with evidence.

In 2010, he pleads guilty to modifying his truck,

A potential crime scene,

And getting rid of jessika's bank card.

He receives 10 years in prison.

Meantime, detectives continue to build

The m*rder case against him.

There wasn't a day that I wouldn't wake up hoping,

You know, I'd find jessika's keys

Or find some sort of evidence that would just sink him.

Narrator: police work with walmart to uncover any evidence

That might have gone unnoticed.

It takes 3 years before walmart tracks down another camera

Rolling on the parking lot the whole time.

Bond: when I was told that there was a new piece of video

That had been found, one of my questions was,

"Where?"

Narrator: the camera is located inside a vending machine

At the entrance to the store.

Walmart were unaware the machine had surveillance.

♪♪

Although it's difficult to make out,

The camera offers an unimpeded view

Of jessika heading inside the store.

Look at that.

Six minutes later, jessika reappears

And heads back towards her car.

A dark figure appears shortly afterwards.

It's crispin harmel.

Pando: he walks straight out of the store,

And I'm guessing 10 steps is when he turns to the right.

That right turn definitely shows his commitment

To what he was going to do next.

Narrator: the change of direction

Can't be seen from any other camera,

And it's not the behavior of someone

Who's prearranged a hookup.

Bond: that's the moment.

That's the moment that he made his mind up to do what he did.

♪♪

Pando: it proved exactly what we suspected,

That he followed jessika to her car.

Narrator: police believe that it's during these moments

That crispin is inside jessika's car strangling her.

It removes any doubt as to what happened

In the lead-up to jessika's m*rder.

Bond: crispin harmel more than likely had

Just been out trolling around because he was out of money

And almost out of gas, ran across her...

Saw her going to the car alone,

Made that decision to then follow her.

♪♪

♪♪

Please, please, just...

♪♪

Narrator: detectives can only speculate what happened

In the 48 minutes that followed.

Bond: we believe she was assaulted and strangled.

At that point, she was no longer conscious.

He thought that he had k*lled her,

So he then drives jessika, lifeless in her car,

Back to the area of walmart...

And then goes and fills his truck up with $75 in gas.

♪♪

The same bruise.

Narrator: the attack on jessika left her clinging to life.

Bond: ultimately she simply sits in her car

Until she bakes to death.

Narrator: the searing heat also explains

Why crispin's dna wasn't found on jessika or in her car.

In 2013, the state finally agrees

To pursue a m*rder charge,

And in 2017, crispin is brought to trial.

He is sentenced to life in prison for capital m*rder

Without the possibility of parole.

Ridenour: I thought there was going to be a lot more relief,

And it didn't come. I still can't explain it.

Probably because he gets to live and jessika doesn't.

It's not fair.

We don't get jessika back.

Narrator: crispin harmel is currently appealing his conviction.

Bond: without the surveillance video,

I absolutely believe

That crispin harmel would not be held accountable

For what he did to jessika that night.

♪♪

Narrator: jessika's family are still coming to terms with her death.

Some days are not great days.

Memories will pop up.

Some days, it'll be good memories

Where I'm going through an old photo album,

And I see a photo from when we were children,

And just that light in her eyes, her long, long curly hair.

Rick: he took away my little girl.

And there's nothing that can bring her back.

He took my opportunity away to walk her down the aisle

And have grandchildren.

She would have been a great mother.

I know it.

I miss her a lot.