02x04 - Forever Young

[bunniefuu]

On a crisp fall morning,

a young mother is found dead
just days before her wedding.

She had leaves in her hair.

Her left leg was bent
with the left knee elevated.

Officers thought maybe
she went out drinking,

passed out, fell on the ground.
Her head hit a rock.

What happened to her?
What did my child go through?

But when investigators

take a closer look,

nothing is as it seems.

There was grass in the airway,
deep in the airway.

How did that happen?

I can't call this a homicide

because the cause of death
is undetermined.

It's simply an open case, we
don't have all the answers yet.

There were a number
of motives present.

She was obsessed with the baby.

That was a red flag.

It turns out
that he had a girlfriend.

We started developing more
and more of a picture

that wasn't jiving
with the information we had

from that morning.

Someone wanted her dead.

If we could perform
a second autopsy,

that autopsy would help us
move forward with the case.

To exhume her body
was the only way

to figure out what happened to
her; There was no other choice.

This could very well
be a homicide.

Union Township is a
comfortable bedroom suburb

located in Clermont County,

just outside
of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Union Township is a good mix
of-of suburb.

A little bit of rural.

We've got a nice mix of
commercial and residential.

I would call it a busy,
but peaceful township.

But on October 13, 1994,

just after 9:00 AM.

Union Township police
receive a 911 call

from a frantic young man.

He called to report that his
fiancée was lying in the yard

and not moving.

He thought that it appeared
she was dead.

EMTs in Union Township,
they're going to be

dispatched to the scene
along with law enforcement.

A man flags officers
and EMTs down

and identifies himself
as the caller,

20-year-old Don Mills.

There on the ground is
a woman that he identifies

as 19-year-old Kristy Harris,

his fiancée and the mother
of his young child.

Officers see
Kristy laying there.

The T-shirt she had on was a
heavy metal band T-shirt.

She had dirty clothes.

They see rigor mortis
already set in.

And so it was obvious to them
that she was dead.

Somebody as young as her,

unfortunately it's the
worst thing in law enforcement

they have to witness or to see.

There's going to be a thorough
investigation done

both on the coroner's part and
the police department's part.

Darrell Hawkins, the
chief coroner's investigator,

arrives at the Mills residence

and begins to inspect
the tragic scene.

She had leaves in her hair.

Her left leg was bent
with the left knee elevated,

and the left hand was up like
this with the hand closed around

a empty bottle of Bacardi rum.

Officers on the scene thought
maybe Kristy drank

so much alcohol that she became
intoxicated that night before.

Perhaps was unstable and fell
and hit the ground,

and her head hit a rock
that was in the area.

While Investigator Hawkins

continues to examine the scene,

an officer pulls the victim's
fiancé, Don Mills, aside

and learns that he
and Kristy have been together

for several years.

Don and Kristy
dated in high school,

and when Kristy became pregnant,
they decided to have the child.

Don says that in the two years

since their little girl,
Destiny, was born,

they've been living primarily
with Don's mother, Millie,

who was the owner of the house
where Kristy was found.

Donald was her fiancé
at this point.

Choking back tears,

Don explains that the day
started like any other.

Don said
he woke up maybe 8:30

in the morning, after Kristy
had gone off to work.

Don told our officers
that his responsibility

was to get the child off to
daycare that morning.

He got her ready to go,
went outside,

he saw that Kristy's car
was still in the driveway.

And that made him wonder,
where could she possibly be?

Why is her car here?

And that's when he saw Kristy
in the backyard,

and he called 911 at that point.

Don explains the night before,

he and Kristy
went to a bar in the city.

Donald Mills told them
they came home.

She went to the bathroom.
He went to bed.

Don says when he
went to bed at 3:00 AM,

he remembers seeing a bottle
half-filled with rum

on their nightstand.

He said she continued the
party when she got home.

As Don talks to the
officer, his mother, Millie,

is by his side.

The police officer
said Millie was tearful

and showing signs of distress
as a result of the death.

Don's mother indicated that it
was roughly 3:00 in the morning

when they came home.
She saw Don go to the bedroom,

and she saw Kristy
go into the bathroom

to do her nightly routine,

washing off makeup,
things of that nature.

She tells the
officer she finally

went to bed herself and wasn't
aware anything was wrong

until her son called 911.

Officers determined this is
just an accidental death

or a natural death.

But the
coroner's chief investigator

feels something is off.

There was some dried vomit on
her face right around her mouth.

There was a bruise
on her forehead,

and there were some marks
on her arms.

And, of course, you could see
that she had the one fingernail

that was broken.

Inspector Hawkins
wonders were these wounds,

in fact, sustained
after a night of drinking,

or did something far more
sinister happen to Kristy?

Hawkins' lingering doubts

leads the coroner's office
to request an autopsy.

It has potentially a crime of
violence or at least

a violent act
having had occurred,

whether the violent act be

her falling and hitting her head
or whatever.

We would do an autopsy
in those cases.

While Kristy's body
is removed from the scene,

the chief of police
has the heart-wrenching task

of informing Kristy's family
of her death.

On October 13th,
I was working at Walmart

and a gentleman came in,

and they called me up
to the service desk.

He was the chief of police,
and he said that

Kristy had an accident
and that she had passed.

You're, like, in shock.

It's all running
through your head.

There's something when
you lose a child,

a piece of you.
It's a part of you.

There's no explaining.

Kristy, the second
eldest of Patty's four children,

had just graduated
from high school one year ago.

But she made the most
of her young years,

living every day to the fullest.

She was a cheerleader,
and she kept her grades up

and everything.

She liked going shopping a lot

and be with her friends.

And like most teenage girls,

Kristy soon fell in love.

Kristy and Don met when she
was about 16, 17 years old,

and they were in high school.

He was very nice looking,
very charming.

And you couldn't get them apart.

And it was just going fast.

I would say Don and Kristy
were together

about eight or nine months
before she got pregnant.

She said,
I'm going to have the baby.

And she said, I promise
I will to go to college too.

After her daughter,
Destiny, was born,

Kristy worked part-time
at a local water plant

while saving for college.

But she always
put her family first.

She was a good mom,
excellent mom,

took good care of her,
loved her,

laughed at her all the time.

They were so connected.

And of course, she wanted
that family unit going.

And so Kristy and Don,
they were engaged.

So she was very excited she was
going to have a wedding.

Still reeling from the shock,

Patty wants to see her daughter
one last time and say goodbye.

So I said, I want to know
where my daughter is.

And then they gave me
a number to call.

Police direct
Kristy's devastated mother

to Clermont County Hospital,

where her daughter's body
is being held.

Just the way she looked
was unbelievable.

Because my beautiful daughter

did not look like
my beautiful daughter.

Her hair was dark, and branches
and leaves were in her hair.

There was marks on her.

Somebody needs to explain to me
what happened to her,

because she wasn't in
the backyard drinking rum

and this caused this,

because what I saw
was so horrible.

We've got to figure out
what's going on here.

Coming up.

The forensic pathologist who
found that big, long blade

of grass down in the throat.

That could only happen if
someone held her face down

in the grass and she was
gasping for air.

Things were not adding up.

The neighbor saw this person
moving about the house,

and then bringing stuff
from the house to the car.

That's abnormal activity,
especially if it's a stranger.

At 9 AM,
just days before his wedding,

Don Mills finds his fiancée,
Kristy Harris,

deceased in their backyard

after what appears
to be a tragic accident.

Her body is transported to the
Clermont County ME's Office,

where a pathologist
looks for clues.

I was not coroner at the time,
but I have been coroner

for Clermont County
for the last 20 years.

And from reading the autopsy
report, on initial examination

of the body, the pathologist
noted the leaves

in the decedent's hair, as well
as matter that appeared

to be vomit us.

A pathologist also found
petechial hemorrhages

in the eyes and in the lungs.

And they're commonly found in
suffocation types of deaths.

The next step
is to examine Kristy's airway,

looking for a possible
cause of suffocation.

There was grass in the airway,
deep in the airway.

That's a bit unusual.

Certainly people can inhale a
blade of grass and get it deep

into their lung and not die.

So how did that happen?

But there was also evidence of
vomit us found in the airway.

So without any other readily
identifiable cause of death,

a pathologist ruled the cause of
death as asphyxia.

Asphyxia basically means oxygen
is not getting to the body.

They assume that the alcohol
and the drinking had contributed

to her death.

To be certain, the
pathologist collects samples

of Kristy's blood
for alcohol testing,

but the toxicology results
could take weeks.

The pathologist thought she
was unstable and fell,

and hit the ground,
and her head hit a rock,

which caused the bruising.
And she's dirty,

so she must have been crawling
around the yard

before she passed out, vomited,
choked on her own vomit.

Certainly this did not appear
to be a natural death.

We can rule that out right away.

Accidental? That's certainly a
possibility, but the pathologist

couldn't make a full
determination one way

or the other, so the final
manner of death was ruled

as undetermined.

Kristy's mom, Patty,
is shocked by the ruling.

I was just like, oh, my God,
I can't believe this.

First of all, Kristy didn't
hardly drink at all.

And if she was gonna drink,
it would be like one nice drink

with maybe a little umbrella,
you know.

That's the way she drank.

So a rum bottle
didn't make sense.

I have a death certificate
that says undetermined.

And what am I supposed
to do with this?

Undetermined?

The ruling by the county
coroner at the time meant

it's simply an open case.

We don't have all the answers
yet, but that doesn't mean

we're gonna keep the body
and not allow the family

to have their closure
and inter their body.

That just means we've done
what we have to do

with the body itself, at least
in our opinion, at that point.

Then it's the scene and the
investigation that's going

to determine the rest.

Despite her torment,
Patty lays her daughter to rest

just five days after her death.

On the day of her funeral,
there was so many people.

Don and his family

were all there with Destiny.

My husband and I, you know,
we were both a wreck.

I have three other kids,
so I didn't want to break down

so bad in front of them.

I didn't want them to remember
that, you know?

But then I just did
what I had to do.

It was just...

...a very sad day.

After saying their
final goodbye to Kristy,

Don and his daughter, Destiny,
adapt to life without her.

Don lived around the corner
from where we lived,

him and his mother.

Millie had loved Kristy like
she was her daughter, you know?

And she, she just loved Destiny.

So Destiny was living with him.

But I went every Tuesday,
Thursday, and every other

weekend to pick her up, so she
can still have fun, you know,

and do things because she,
she needed that.

As she continues
to deal with her own grief,

Patty never stops searching
for answers.

When they did the autopsy,
they didn't seem to find

very much of anything.

And I couldn't believe that
Kristy had consumed

so much alcohol,
she was choking and died.

One week after Kristy's death,

the family reaches out
to the local news station.

I was the crime reporter at
Channel 12,

which was CBS at the time.

The family said things
were not adding up

to what the coroner had said.

Kristy doesn't drink that much.

She did not die in a drunken
stupor in a backyard

with a booze bottle in her hand.

The family really touched me
with their passion.

So I called an organization
formed in Cincinnati,

and they called a forensic
pathologist out west.

Harry Bonnell was willing to
review the coroner's report.

While Patty waits on the opinion

of the independent pathologist,
she also puts pressure

on the Clermont County prosecutors

to take a second look
at Kristy's case.

I would hear from her
on the phone a lot.

She was convinced that
this was not a natural death.

For investigators.

Patty's doubts are a
motivating factor.

The detectives,
they were pretty gung h*

from that point forward
to find more.

Dig deeper.

Even though
Kristy Harris's death

wasn't ruled a homicide,

detectives decide to take
a second look at her case.

So two weeks after
her body was found,

officers canvassed
Kristy's neighborhood,

something they didn't do
the first time around,

since no foul play was
originally suspected.

90% of the time, you know,
nobody saw or heard anything.

But it's that one person that
might have saw something

or gave you a lead
that you were able to develop

that can flip a case.

Their efforts
pay off when a neighbor tells

investigators they saw a
mysterious man

at Kristy's house
the morning of her death.

The neighbor saw this person
moving about the house,

then bringing stuff
from the house to the car,

and then ultimately leaving
with a child, who was believed

to be Destiny,
Kristy's daughter.

The story piques the
interest of investigators.

Did this mystery man have
something to do with her death?

Somebody tells me,
hey, a person is going through

her car in the morning.
That's abnormal activity.

That's definitely something
that we're taking a look at.

Investigators visit
Kristy's fiancée, Don Mills,

to find out what he knows
about this mystery man.

Donald says the person was
Brian Sebastian.

He was a coworker of Mr. Mills.

Mr. Mills worked
at a speedometer shop.

Donald Mills had told them the
morning of the death,

at the scene investigation,
he called Brian

and had him come over
and pick up Destiny

and take Destiny to her daycare.

Investigators
follow up with Brian.

He confirms the story.

Brian Sebastian said
he had gotten Destiny

and taken her to the daycare.

And we focused on him
for a while.

And, you know, had the police
try to talk to him

and really never
got much from him.

With both men
corroborating the reason

for Brian's visit that morning,
investigators hit a wall.

We hit those roadblocks
every now and then.

The only thing you can really do
is look for other leads.

They turn back to
the family and discover that

Kristy's mother believes that
Kristy's fiancée, Don,

may know more than he's telling.

Patty, she talked about
the ongoing relationship

that Kristy had with Don.

Patty said that their
relationship was pretty

up and down,
pretty rollercoasterish.

It just seemed like he tried
to manipulate her a lot.

He wanted things done his way.

And they'd get in an argument.

She'd be at my house
with Destiny.

And then one time he went
in the backyard

and took the baby from her.
I said, nope,

you're not just gonna take
the baby away from her

because you feel like it.

Just three months
before she died,

Kristy almost left Don for good.

She was working, trying to
support Destiny,

and he wasn't doing anything.

They went to court,

and, uh, she got the baby
plus child support.

And he was very mad
because he was used

to getting what he wanted.

But one month
after the bitter breakup,

the couple reunited.

They were gonna be engaged.

And they went
and got a marriage license.

They wanted to work things out
for the baby.

And, of course,
Kristy for sure wanted that

because he was her father.

Kristy, she was very excited
she was going to have a wedding.

It seemed like
the relationship was now

going smoothly.

But Patty suspects
that behind the scenes,

Don may have held
a bitter grudge.

It's all an act.
There's something going on here.

Patty had told us that there
was some tension, you know,

at different times, but there
was not proof of anything.

And it's not just
Don Patty is suspicious of.

It's also his mother, Millie.

After the baby was born,
it just seemed that his mother

was obsessed with the baby.

So it was like him
and his mom had a baby.

It was like Kristy
wasn't involved in it.

Investigators talk
to some of Millie's friends

at work and uncover something
even more suspicious.

We learned that morning
Kristy died, Millie Mills called

a children's services person.

Took steps to k*ll the child
support and get custody

of the child for Don.

She went with him that morning
that Kristy was found dead

to the courthouse to file
for, um, custody of Destiny.

Now investigators
have one question for Millie.

Was it just a matter
of bad timing,

or was it part
of a malicious plan?

It just seems like maybe there
are a few things you have to do,

like plan a funeral.

But that's what they did.
They were focused on him

and his life and what he wanted.

It was just very suspicious.

If there's foul play involved
and it's a homicide,

there's a reason that somebody
wanted Kristy Harris dead

and committed that m*rder.

Something triggered him or her
to commit something like this.

And a custodial issue
and would be a big thing.r.

That gives us motive.

Detectives
investigating the death

of 19-year-old Kristy Harris
have just learned that her

future mother-in-law,
Millie Mills,

has an unnerving attachment
to Kristy's daughter, Destiny.

After Kristy passed,
Millie went to the court

to get emergency custody
of Destiny

so no one can take the baby.

It just seemed that Millie
was obsessed with the baby.

So that right there
was a red flag.

Then Kristy's aunt
recalls a detail Kristy shared

with her weeks before she died.

She never thought it was
important until now.

Kristy had told her aunt

that Don and his mom

were getting a life insurance
policy on Kristy.

It was for $15,000.

The life insurance policy would
have went to Don

and his mother, Millie.

They were wanting Kristy to
sign it, but she didn't sign it.

And she told her aunt,
if anything happens to me,

they have a life insurance
policy on me.

That was strange.

Detectives also find
it strange and suspicious.

They quickly call
the insurance adjuster.

I learned that Don and Millie,
in the first day or so,

tried to collect on an
insurance policy that she

thought she had set up.

But it turned out Kristy hadn't
signed the right paperwork.

She was too busy planning
the wedding to meet

with the insurance adjuster
and sign off on it.

Investigators wonder
if Kristy's grieving

mother-in-law may have
something to hide.

There were a number
of motives present here.

Obviously, one,
the custody of the child.

Then, of course,
there's that insurance policy

that was kind of strange.

But I can't call this a homicide

because the cause
of death is undetermined.

Then, one month
after the initial autopsy,

the toxicology results
come back.

And the investigation takes an
even more startling turn.

We get the toxicology back.

Kristy had a very low level
of alcohol in her system.

It would not have impaired her
to the point that she would not

have been unable to walk
or walk steadily and normally,

and she would not be vomiting
from intoxication.

When Patty shares
the results with the independent

forensic pathologist she hired
to review the initial autopsy,

he comes back with
an alarming conclusion.

The forensic pathologist had
consideration that there were

other factors at play
in the asphyxiation

of Kristina Harris's death.

He brought up
a possible homicide.

So if she wasn't drunk, why
didn't she protect her airway?

Something traumatic must have
been going on at the time.

He was recommending
that the body be exhumed

and do a second autopsy,
so the forensic pathologist

could physically look
at the condition of the body

and what caused
the asphyxiation suffocation.

That was a big deal.
Exhumation is extremely rare.

There has to be a good cause
to bring a body back up out

of the ground, but the belief
was that if we remove that body

from the ground, it would still
be in a condition that we could

perform a second autopsy.

And that hopefully we were going
to get additional evidence

from that autopsy.

It would help us move forward
with the case.

Investigators need
to move quickly,

but to exhume Kristy's body,
they'll have to get buy-in

from her family.
It's not an easy ask.

As you know, the desecration
of, you know, her burial place

versus, you know,
if we don't do this,

we're probably not going to go
forward with a criminal case.

Woody Bryer came in
with the papers.

We were talking about it
and everything.

It's like Kristy's not at peace.

She wouldn't want me not to
figure out what happened.

It's not about how I feel
or anything.

It's the right thing for her.

To exhume her body was the
only way to figure out what

happened to her.
There was no other choice.

So we filed a motion with the
court to exhume the body

and send it to Dayton, Ohio
Forensic Laboratory...

They're board-certified
forensic pathologists...

To re-autopsy the body.

If this second autopsy confirms

Kristy's death as a homicide,

investigators may find clues
to lead them to her k*ller.

If someone takes
someone else's life,

there's obviously a sense
of responsibility.

You've got to get
to the bottom of it.

In April of 1995,

the motion to exhume
Kristy Harris's body

is approved.

Once the decision had been
made to exhume the body,

we'd want to get it
done right away.

The quicker we act,
the more apt we are

to actually find physical
evidence that would lead us

to the conclusion of the case.

Six months after
19-year-old Kristy Harris's

mysterious death,

a forensics team
at Olive Branch Cemetery

prepares to exhume her body.

When Kristy was exhumed,
my way of dealing with that

is to work a double shift.

My husband, on the other hand,
he-he was not going to let them

exhume her body
unless he was there.

So he went up there
and paced back and forth

while they exhumed her body.

Typically at the exhumation,

the burial vault
had a cement covering.

That covering is removed
to reveal the casket underneath.

That is often a time
of anticipation.

The casket was transported
to the coroner's office

in Dayton, Ohio,
where an autopsy

was performed the next day.

The pathologist
opens the casket with caution.

Time is your worst enemy
in determining how much

decomposition there's
going to be.

But fortunately, the condition
of Kristina Harris's body

appeared to be relatively
well preserved.

The first autopsy
offered detectives more

questions than answers,

but will the second confirm
their worst suspicions?

They did find evidence
of head trauma.

She had bruising of her scalp.

And they also showed evidence
of a torn frenulum,

which is the membrane
in your mouth.

How did that happen?

Well, a lot of times that
happens because your face

is being pressed
against something.

All the physical evidence was
much closer to being consistent

with a suffocation,
forcefully placing her head

against the ground
and shoving it down

until she couldn't breathe.

The horrifying
scenario would explain the

baffling blade of grass that was
found deep in Kristy's airway.

The blade of grass could only
happen if someone held her face

down in the grass
and she was gasping for air.

Those are elements that say
someone k*lled her.

What did my child go through?

Was she yelling for me?
That's the thing.

That's the thing I think about.

I want my mom.

With this
new knowledge, the pathologist

begins to reexamine the original
crime scene photos

with a fresh perspective.

In the pictures, her knee was
up in the air unsupported.

And he said that
if she had died there,

very shortly, the muscles in the
body would have relaxed,

and the knee would have either
fallen or her foot would have

slid down and the leg
would have laid flat.

It's not what the body would
have done if she collapsed

in a drunken stupor.

He said clearly rigor mortis
had set in somewhere

from where that body had been
confined in an area that forced

that knee up in that position.

And then afterwards,
it was moved.

In other words,
that crime scene is staged.

Investigators
are left with one question...

Why had these details
been overlooked

during the first autopsy?

The first pathologist
was making rulings based

upon information that was
available at the time.

That this individual,
Kristy Harris, was intoxicated.

Now detectives know differently.

Kristy's death was a homicide.

That was a huge, huge break
in the case.

Investigators now
take another look

at Kristy's fiancé, Don,
and her mother-in-law, Millie.

Who else wanted her dead

other than Don and his mother?