01x07 - Mail Order m*rder

[bunniefuu]

- Male narrator: In this
peaceful texas cemetery

Lies the body of
a young mother.

- Female narrator: Could her
death be the key

To unlocking a mystery?

There's only one way
to know for sure.

A marriage of convenience
gone sour.

- They met through
a mail-order bride publication

Called "cherry blossoms."

- He believed she was
having a l*sbian relationship.

- Narrator: Could it
have led to m*rder?

- Tommy: The fact that
his wife died of anything

Other than natural causes?

I would be remiss
as an investigator

Not to look into it.

- Jeffrey: Things didn't
really add up.

I thought that
it was a homicide.

- Tommy: The only way we're
gonna get that answer

Is to exhume the body.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: It's
October 13, 1994,

In arlington, texas,

A placid city nestled between
dallas and fort worth.

- ♪

- Narrator: Violent crime
isn't common here,

So a call to the local
police department

Shatters the calm of
the afternoon.

- Tommy: A woman named
monalisa pate

Contacted the arlington
police department.

She was concerned with

The welfare of her friend,
emelita reeves.

- Patricia: Emelita
didn't answer pages,

She didn't return calls.

- Tommy: She said it was
just not of her character

Not to answer her cell phone
or her pager.

- Patricia: So monalisa
asked the police to go to

The home of emelita
and check on her.

- Narrator: Police officers
ride out to the woman's house

To perform a routine
welfare check,

And encounter something strange.

- Tommy: When the officers
arrived at the residence,

They believed that
somebody was home.

They heard the dogs barking
inside the residence.

There was a vehicle
in the driveway.

And so the officers were walking
the perimeters of the home

Looking in the windows.

They looked inside, uh,
the garage through the window

And observed a man actually

Kneeling down in the dark
garage.

The officer identified himself
and then instructed the man

To come to the front door,
which he did.

That's when they learned that

He was the homeowner,
uh, jack reeves.

- Narrator: He tells police
that emelita reeves is his wife,

And she's probably fine.

- Tommy: Mr. Reeves informed
the police officer

He did not know where
she was at,

And that she was very likely
out with friends.

- Patricia: He told the police
that this was normal for her,

That she would go away for
two or three days at a time

And he wouldn't hear from her

And then she would
come back home.

- ♪

- Tommy: I was with
the arlington police department.

I was a detective assigned to
the homicide unit.

At that time, there was nothing

Really devastatingly
concernable.

It was the fact that
a woman had not shown up.

It happens all the time.

- ♪

- Narrator: A few days pass,

And emelita still doesn't
appear.

- Tommy: She still had not
returned to the residence.

That starts escalating
my concerns and my suspicions.

I'm obligated to follow up
on her at that point in time.

I wanted to.

When you're looking for somebody
who's unaccounted for,

You get as much information
as you can about the person.

You share that with
law enforcement entities.

You get it out to the public,
this is who you're looking for.

- Narrator: Detective lenoir
contacts emelita's husband,

Jack reeves, to ask about
her habits, friends,

Anything that might give a clue
about where she might have gone.

- Tommy: Jack reeves said
emelita was from the philippines

And he met emelita through
a mail-order bride publication

Called "cherry blossoms."

- ♪

- Tommy: Emelita was
living in poverty,

And jack was
her escape from poverty.

- Patricia: Emelita's parents
encouraged emelita

To marry jack.

They lived in a tin shack,
all the family together.

They had no indoor plumbing,

So an american
that they considered rich

Wanting to marry their daughter
was very significant to them.

- Tommy: I don't believe

It was true love
and true romance.

I think they both
had a necessity

And they both had desires
that they wanted to fulfill.

- ♪

- Narrator: Four months
after meeting,

Emelita and jack get married.

Two years later,
they have a son named kendall.

The arrangement seems
to be working for everyone.

- You know, it's not
ozzie and harriet,

But it would be a mistake
on my part to cast

Any type of aspersions
or try to judge.

- Narrator: Investigators
ask her husband

If he can think of anywhere
emelita might have gone.

And then jack reeves
gives detectives

A possible lead.

- He believed she was having
a l*sbian liaison.

- Narrator: In fact,
jack says his wife

May have run off with
the woman he believed

Was her lover, monalisa,

The woman who first called
police

Reporting her friend missing.

- Patricia: There are instances
where the person

Who reports the crime
is actually the one

Who is responsible
for their disappearance.

- When someone starts engaging
in multiple relationships,

There's always that propensity
for something to go wrong.

- ♪

- Narrator: Investigators
contact monalisa

And bring her in for
questioning.

- ♪

- Narrator: Monalisa
tells detectives

That jack reeves is mistaken.

While she and emelita
were involved,

She has no clue where she's
gone.

She does tell police that
they are part of

A tightly knit circle of friends
living in arlington.

- Patricia: Monalisa and emelita

Were part of the asian
community,

Specifically from
the philippines,

That hung out together,
and they had become very close

And were in constant contact
with one another.

- Narrator: Monalisa also said
that she saw emelita

Just before she disappeared.

- Tommy: Monalisa tells me
that she was with emelita

On the night of October the 11th
at approximately 7:30 p.M.

Emelita actually gave, uh,
monalisa a ride to her employer

At the jack in the box.

- Narrator: Monalisa says
the friends hugged,

She went to work,
and emelita drove home,

And that's the last
she ever heard of emelita.

- ♪

- Tommy: Emelita was described
to me by monalisa

As just a wonderful person.

She was a good individual,
she was a good mother.

She was a loving mother.

- Narrator: Monalisa says
that she and the rest of

The filipino community
are worried sick about emelita.

- Patricia: Her friends were
very intent in finding emelita.

They put up posters,
they rallied other people

In the community to help them
look for emelita.

- Tommy: Emelita's friends
utilized the media.

- Woman: What's his name?

- ♪

- They really put
a lot of energy and time

Into trying to locate emelita.

- Patricia: Emelita's friends
were so concerned

And were certain that something
had happened to emelita

Because of her son.

She loved her son
and they were convinced

That she would never
leave him behind.

- ♪

- Narrator: Monalisa
also tells police

Some crucial information about
emelita's husband, jack reeves.

- Patricia: Jack was not
a nice man to her.

He was brutal to her,

Both emotionally
and physically at times.

- Tommy: She said that emelita
had planned on leaving jack

And had planned on taking
her son with her.

Emelita actually told monalisa
and her friends that,

"hey, listen, if I don't ever
answer my cell phone

"or my pager,
you need to call the police

'cause jack has done
something to me."

- ♪

- Narrator: Coming up,

Could the key
to emelita's disappearance

Be found in the grave
of another woman?

- Patricia: She had
a g*nsh*t wound

Through the heart.

- Sybil: There is no way she
would have committed suicide.

It just didn't
make sense whatsoever.

- Chin: Only an exhumation
will reveal the truth.

- Tommy: I had a feeling of
optimism that maybe

We're gonna get some answers
now.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Detective
tommy lenoir is investigating

The disappearance of
emelita reeves.

Her husband jack says
she's likely run off

With her alleged lover,
monalisa.

But monalisa says
that she believes

Jack may have harmed emelita.

- ♪

- Tommy: It's very likely
someone is lying to us

And trying to mislead the
police.

- Narrator: Now,
investigators face a quandary.

Who is telling the truth,
jack or monalisa?

- Tommy: As an investigator,
I do follow facts,

But I also have to go on
my life experiences.

I mean, that's part of
being a human

When you conduct
these criminal investigations,

And quite frankly,

I really didn't believe
jack reeves.

- Narrator: Investigators
confirm monalisa was at work

The night of the disappearance.

Now, lenoir takes
a long, hard look

At emelita's husband,
jack reeves.

- Patricia: Jack reeves
had been a career military man.

He had served his country
in the army,

And he had a business
as a painter.

- Tommy: Jack reeves and I met,
and we started our conversation.

This man's military.

He's confident,

And he doesn't
appear intimidated.

Jack reeves, on the surface,
was a law-abiding citizen.

- Narrator: But then
jack reeves divulges

Something curious about
his personal life.

- Tommy: He revealed to me that
he had been married in the past.

So I asked him
what happened to her.

He told me that she was--
that she was dead.

- ♪

- Tommy: He then explained to me
that in 1978,

His wife sharon
had committed suicide.

- ♪

- Tommy: At this point in time,

I'm getting really, really
negative vibes from her husband.

- Narrator: Alarm bells
instantly go off

In detective lenoir's head.

Jack reeves' current wife
is missing,

And now he's hearing that
he had a previous wife

Who had died.

- Tommy: And so I'm thinking,
well, I need to know about her.

- Narrator: Could
emelita's disappearance

And the death of
jack's first wife be related?

- The fact that he has
a wife died of anything

Other than natural causes?

I would be remiss
as an investigator

Not to look into it.

You need to see what
the history was

Behind that particular death.

- Narrator: Detective lenoir

Contacts the small
police department

In the town of
copperas cove, texas,

Where jack reeves lived
with his first wife, sharon.

- My goal was to
simply get the report.

- Narrator: But there is
no police report

On sharon reeves' death.

- Tommy: They had simply
an index card that noted that

There was a suicide.

- ♪

- Tommy: There was no documents.

Nothing was left.

Crime scene photographs,
nothing.

- Narrator: However,
when detective lenoir explains

He's on the case of
a missing woman

Who was also married
to jack reeves,

The copperas cove detective
is intrigued.

- ♪

- Tommy: The detective asked
that I come and meet with them

At their police department
at copperas cove.

- Narrator: To detective
lenoir's surprise,

The copperas cove
police department

Has assembled a room
full of retired officers

Who investigated
sharon reeves' suicide.

Eager to help find emelita,
they tell detective lenoir

Exactly what happened
that day in 1978,



When they found jack reeves'
first wife dead.

- ♪

- [cows mooing]

- Copperas cove police
got a phone call from someone,

Saying that his wife
had shot herself.

- Narrator: Police
sped out to the house

And found a woman lying dead
in her bedroom.

- Tommy: The copperas cove
police observed a woman

Laying on the bed
with a shotgun between her legs.

- ♪

- Patricia: And she had

A g*nsh*t wound
through the heart.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detectives
quickly learned that

The woman's name
was sharon reeves,

Jack reeves' wife.

- Patricia: At the time
that sharon died,

The only people there
were jack and their young son,

Who had been playing
in the front yard at the time.

- Tommy: Jack reeves
told the officers

That he heard the g*nsh*t,

Came into the bedroom
and observed his wife

Laying on the bed
with the shotgun

Between her legs.

Jack believed that

She had set on
the edge of the bed,

Put the shotgun to her chest

And pulled the trigger
with her toe.

In fact, jack reeves pointed out
the cut on her toe

That he believed was caused
by triggering the r*fle.

- Narrator: Officers
called for an ambulance

To take sharon's body
to the morgue, but suddenly,

They realized sharon
was still alive.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detective tommy
lenoir is working

The case of missing woman
emelita reeves,

And he's made
a shocking discovery.



Her husband jack reeves'
first wife

Was found in their bedroom
with a g*nsh*t wound

To the heart,

But somehow it didn't
k*ll her instantly.

The responding officer
back in 1978

Will never forget
prying sharon's fingers

Off of his wrist,

Especially because he had
taken sharon for dead.

- [sirens wailing]

- Narrator: Meanwhile,

Jack reeves was apparently
beside himself.

- Patricia: Jack just kept
saying over and over again,

"what am I going to do?
What am I going to do?"

He appeared very distraught.

- Narrator: Sharon
was rushed to the hospital,

Where after fighting
for her life,

She was pronounced dead.

- ♪

- Narrator: Detective lenoir
is now wondering

Whether jack reeves just has
bad luck when it comes to wives,

Or if emelita's disappearance
and sharon's suicide

Hint at a darker truth.

- I'm thinking, well, I have
the wife who is missing,

Emelita,

And his wife sharon,
allegedly a suicide.

It was something that certainly
attracted my interest.

- Narrator: The copperas cove
detectives say that in 1978

Sharon's death
rocked the community.

- When I came to work,
her car wasn't there.

And when I walked in,
it was like, "where's sharon?"

And then I was pulled aside
and they said,

"sharon committed suicide."

And I don't remember after that.

I think I was just in shock.

- Narrator: Since it was
standard police procedure

To look into any death,

The copperas cove police

Started making routine
inquiries.

They learned that
sharon and jack

Had been married
for almost 18 years

And the couple had two sons.

- She was just always
happy-go-lucky

And just a fun, fun person.

Everybody loved her.

She was a sweetheart.

- Patricia: Jack got
deployed to korea.

It was decided that sharon
would stay in copperas cove.

Sharon was a dynamic person,

And she really thrived
when jack was gone.

- Sybil: She told me about

Another officer
that she was seeing,

And he made her so happy.

She was in love.

- Narrator: Sharon had decided
to leave jack

And be with the man
she was seeing.

- Sybil: They were looking
forward to a beautiful future

And they were
gonna get married

As soon as she was able
to file divorce from jack.

But jack wanted
to save his marriage,

So he came home.

- Narrator: Jack returned
from korea just days

Before she died.

- Sybil: But I knew
she still wanted that divorce.

There is no way sharon
would have committed suicide.

She had too much
to look forward to,

And it just didn't
make sense whatsoever.

- Narrator: Back in 1978,

The copperas cove
police force agreed.

- Tommy: These officers

Had suspicions about
an alleged suicide

Under what may be
suspicious circumstances.

- Narrator: But there is
one piece of evidence

That complicated matters.

- Patricia: There was
a suicide note that was found

Close to the body.

- ♪

- Tommy: It said that
she was torn between two lovers.

She was in love with jack

And she was in love
with another man,

And that this turmoil
was more than she could take,

So she ended her life.

- ♪

- Narrator: The note appeared
to be in sharon's handwriting.

Police concluded that
there was no evidence

To suggest this was anything
but the desperate final act

Of a love-crossed woman.

- They just determined that

The cause of death
was a g*nsh*t blast

And that they were not
going to do an autopsy.

- That g*nsh*t wound
was not forensically examined.

That's critical in making
a decision on whether or not

You have a suicide, a homicide,
an accidental sh**ting.

- ♪

- Narrator: Sharon reeves was
laid to rest in July of 1978.

But does her body
hold answers to questions

That have yet to be asked?

- ♪

- Narrator: Now, in 1994,

Tommy lenoir faces the fact that
missing woman emelita reeves

May be jack reeves'
second dead wife.

- We have so many unanswered
questions right now

That it would be
a very critical error

To ignore the death of
sharon reeves

Just because of the parallel
and the common denominators

Even though we don't know
what has happened to emelita.

- Narrator: Meanwhile,
the investigation into

Emelita's missing persons case
is still in high gear.

- Tommy: You have to look at
every possibility,

And that involves being in jail.

That involves
being in a hospital.

That involves
leaving the country.

Did she take a flight
back to the philippines?

You know, you have to
look at everything.

- Narrator: And then lenoir
gets a call from a detective

Who worked sharon's suicide.

- This particular
crime scene investigator, uh,

For whatever reason,

Had a photograph
of sharon reeves

At the crime scene.

It's a single photograph
of sharon reeves

Lying on her back on her bed.

- ♪

- Tommy: She was nude.

There was a barrel of a shotgun

That was positioned
between her legs

With her legs over the bed.

- Narrator: Detective lenoir

Believes this lone piece
of evidence will save

The investigations into both
emelita and sharon's cases.

- Just at first observation
of this photograph,

There were just so many
initial inconsistencies

That just stuck out
that were remarkable.

There were just several things,
the blood patterns

And the positioning
of the barrel.

From my experience,
I look at it,

And I automatically
think staging.

This is a staged crime scene.

- Narrator: Coming up,

A picture may speak
a thousand words,

But it's not enough
to make a m*rder charge stick.

- Tommy: The only way
we're gonna get that answer

Is to exhume the body.

- Patricia: Her dad said,
"thank goodness someone

"is finally going
to look into this

Because he k*lled my daughter."

- When I opened that casket,

It's like nothing I have
ever seen before in my career.

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: Detectives believe
jack reeves may be responsible

For the disappearance
of his wife emelita

And the alleged suicide
of his first wife sharon.

A crime scene photo
has just confirmed

His shocking hunch.

- Tommy: This photograph
contradicted a suicide

In the manner in which
it was described by jack reeves.

- ♪

- Tommy: It's either a suicide,

Or the only person
near that room k*lled her,

And that was jack reeves.

That is critically important
in trying to establish

Whether or not
he is a legitimate suspect

In the disappearance of emelita.

The only way we're gonna
get that answer

Is to have an autopsy performed.

The only way we're gonna
have an autopsy performed

Is to exhume the body.

- Narrator: The only problem is
exhuming sharon's body

Means asking the permission
of the next of kin, jack reeves.

- Tommy: Common sense dictates
that if jack reeves finds out

I'm challenging the death
of his wife in 1978,

You actually think
he's gonna talk to me?

You actually think
he's gonna cooperate with me?

I didn't want him
to know about it.

That would not be a wise move.

Right now, jack reeves
is cooperating with me, alright,

Whether it's sincere or not
he's cooperating with me

On the disappearance of emelita.

So I didn't want him to know
what we were doing.

- Narrator: Instead,

Taking great pains
to keep jack in the dark,

Investigators meet with
sharon's 84-year-old father.

- ♪

- Patricia: The detectives
ask mr. Vaughn

If they could
exhume sharon's body.

Her dad said, "thank goodness
someone is finally going to

Look into this because
he k*lled my daughter."

Mr. Vaughn gladly
gave that permission.

He wanted them to find the
truth.

- ♪

- Narrator: The day of
the exhumation.

A small, somber crowd
gathers at sharon's graveside.

- Patricia: Along with
the vaughns,

There were two police officers
from copperas cove.

- Narrator:
Detective lenoir knows

That the fate of two cases,

Sharon reeves
and emelita reeves,

Depends on what they find
inside the casket

About to be raised
from the ground.

The chief medical examiner,
dr. Jeffery barnard,

Has warned the investigators
it could be all for naught.

- In texas,
the heat is of a magnitude

That during the summer
a body can get into

Significant decomposition
within 24 hours.

It's really hard to guess
what a body might look like



It could be that you really
can't get any results.

- ♪

- Narrator: The first ground
is broken

While everyone waits
with anticipation

To see if the answers

To sharon's death
lie underground.

- Patricia: It took
about two hours

For them to exhume the casket.

- It was awful.

And it was just very, very sad.

- Patricia: They noticed
immediately that the casket

That sharon was in
was a very elaborate casket.

One of the best money could buy.

- The casket was
made out of metal.

- Patricia: It was
tightly sealed.

- Tommy: That means the body
might have been preserved.

- Narrator: Jack reeves' choice
of a top-of-the-line casket

For sharon might have
preserved her body

And could ironically
be his undoing.

- ♪

- Narrator: After 16 years,
will sharon reeves' body

Tell them if the suicide story
was a sham?

- When I opened that casket
for sharon reeves,

It's like nothing I had
ever seen before in my career.

The body was so well-preserved,
it was unbelievable.

It was rather haunting
to see this

Because we're actually
walking back into 1978.

I had a feeling of optimism

That maybe we're gonna
get some answers now.

- ♪

- Jeffrey: Ms. Reeves' body
was in a better state

Than many cases I've seen
that are relatively fresh

Who were in further states
of decomposition.

- Patricia: Dr. Barnard
was very excited because

Jack had bought
the airtight casket

So that there was no air
that seeped in.

The body was totally mummified.

- Narrator: The casket

Seems to be part of
jack's elaborate display,

But investigators wonder
to what end.

- Tommy: He's gone
overboard with this.

- Patricia: She had on
very good jewelry, uh,

Something that a lot of people
don't leave in a casket

When it's buried.

- Narrator: Could the immaculate
presentation of sharon

Also be another part of
jack's staging?

Dr. Barnard immediately sees
that something else seems off.

- There were a lot of things
that were not in accordance with

What would be
a straightforward suicide.

- Narrator: First of all,

He'd expect to see
gunpowder residue

On sharon's skin.

There is none.

And the position of the body
also doesn't seem right.

- Jeffrey: I don't believe
that you would end up on the bed

Laid out like ms. Reeves was.

Likelihood is
you would fall forward

Or collapse straight down.

Then you add this wound
on the toe,

Which I've never seen
in over 30 years of practice.

I didn't believe that
it was really possible

To create a wound
looking like that

From discharging a shotgun
with a toe.

Things didn't really add up.

I thought that it was a
homicide.

- Tommy: In fact,
it was not a suicide,

And so we had a m*rder.

- ♪

- Narrator: The exhumation
has reversed the course

Of a 16-year-old suicide case,
but will it be enough

To catch a k*ller?

- ♪

- ♪

- Narrator: The exhumation
of sharon reeves

Has made it clear her suicide
was actually a m*rder.

Detective tommy lenoir believes
her husband, jack reeves,

k*lled both sharon
and his second wife, emelita,

But he needs physical proof
to make an arrest.

- The ruling by dr. Barnard

That the death
was in fact a homicide,

It was a game-changer.

- Narrator: Detective lenoir
asks renowned criminologist

Captain tom bevel to take a look
at sharon's death.

- Tom: What I was
looking for specifically

Was, uh, bloodstain patterns
and any flow patterns.

- Patricia: He looked at the way

Her blood was seeping
down her legs.

- Narrator: Bevel reasons that

If sharon had been sitting
to pull the trigger,

Then the body should have
circular bloodstains

Instead of blood flowing
down her legs.

- Tom: That tells me
she could not be sitting

On the edge of the bed.

She had to be in
a different position.

- ♪

- We do experiments,

And typically that is done
with mannequins

That are approximate size
that the deceased is.

- Narrator: He uses a mannequin
and a shotgun,

And figures out
the precise location

The shotgun would've
been fired from.

- Tom: That's placing
the shotgun at a 90-degree angle

To the torso itself.

- Narrator: To him,

There's no way that
sharon was tall enough

To reach the trigger
with her toe

While sitting down
to make that 90-degree angle.

- It simply meant that
she was standing

When she was shot.

- Narrator: And the only person

In the house who could have
shot her was her husband.

- Tommy: I believe in 1978,

Jack reeves shot and k*lled
sharon reeves in that bedroom,

And after he shot
and k*lled sharon reeves

In that bedroom,
he staged that crime scene

To look like a suicide.

He positioned the body.

He positioned the shotgun,

Placing the barrel
between her legs.

He even went as far
as to cutting her toe

In order to imply that
pulling the trigger with her toe

Created that laceration.

- They determined that
they did have enough evidence

At that point to ask for
an arrest warrant

For jack reeves.

- Narrator: 17 years
after sharon reeves' death,

An exhumation has given police
all they need

To arrest jack reeves
for her cold-blooded m*rder.

- Tommy: We arrange
an arrest team

Who established surveillance
on the reeves residence.

They waited for reeves
to come out of the residence

And followed him
to a post office.

- Narrator: The team swarms out
and takes down jack reeves

And finds out that he is up to
his old tricks once again.

- He was actually in
the process of mailing a letter

To the philippines,
had already made arrangements

To bring another woman over
as his wife.

- Narrator: Jack reeves
is transported to

The arlington police department,
and he isn't happy about it.

- Jack reeves was shouting
through the window at myself

Wanting to know why
he was arrested.

We informed him that
he was under arrest

For the m*rder of his wife,

And I always thought
the response was incredible.

Jack reeves' response was,
"which one?"

- ♪

- Narrator: Detective lenoir
sits jack reeves down

In the interview room.

He'd like to know if
he'll confess to

The m*rder of sharon
or if he'll tell them

What he's done
with his wife emelita.

- Tommy: Jack reeves
can be pretty intimidating.

He's not a small man.

He has a very
intense personality.

He's domineering.

Jack reeves does not
simply answer questions.

- ♪

- Narrator: Jack reeves
refuses to say anything

In the interview room.

Now, sharon's friends
and family are relieved,

Believing they might see
justice.

- Sybil: It was like, oh my god,
thank god, thank god,

He deserves this, he did it.

I'm glad they found out.

Good for sharon.

He did it, he did it.

- Narrator: On March 30, 1995,

Jack reeves is indicted
by a grand jury

For the m*rder of sharon reeves.

Detective lenoir now turns
his full attention

Back to the disappearance
that started it all,

That of emelita reeves.

Her friends haven't given up
looking for her,

And lenoir has no intention
of letting them down.

- I still don't know
what happened to emelita.

I have suspicions.

But we still don't have a body.

We conducted a search warrant
in jack's residence,

And there were several things
I was looking for.

- Narrator: If detective lenoir

Can find emelita's
cell phone and pager,

Two items that friends noted

Emelita would never leave
behind,

He knows he'll have
a second m*rder charge

To add to jack's rap sheet.

- We searched jack's home.

If we didn't find
emelita's cell phone,

We did the best we could
to find any evidence whatsoever.

But it seemed like there was
no needle in the haystack.

Nothing.

- Narrator: Detectives
are at the end of their rope.

Then, a couple days later,

Randall reeves,
jack's 26-year-old son

From his marriage to sharon,
comes forward.

He says he thinks
he may have evidence

In the emelita case.

- Patricia: Randall
just didn't believe anything

That his father had told him

About emelita
and her disappearance,

And he was very concerned.

Also, his own mother
had been k*lled.

I mean, his father was in jail
awaiting that trial.

- Tommy: Randall reeves
came to me,

And he told me that his dad
had actually asked him

To conceal that cell phone.

Randall reeves told me
where it was at.

We went back into the residence
and recovered that cell phone.

- Narrator: Emelita was never
without her cell phone.

Detective lenoir believes
that if she had left home alive,

She'd have taken
the phone with her.

- Tommy: So jack reeves
actually incorporated his son

Into destroying or trying
to conceal evidence

In the death of emelita.

- Narrator: Then,
randall also tells police

That on the night
they first conducted

A welfare check on emelita,

His father had done something
strange with his sleeper sofa.

- Patricia: Jack had
mysteriously cut this sofa up.

- Tommy: It was still a new
sofa,

And even randall asked himself,

"why would my father gut
a perfectly good sofa,

Take the sleeper out?"

And now the sofa's missing.

- Narrator: Randall adds
that his father had washed

The truck he had used
to transport the old sofa.

- Tommy: Why did he do
all of this?

Jack reeves is not stupid.

He's a smart man.

He gutted that sofa
and put emelita's body

In that sofa
and transported that sofa,

And I'm very confident
that's what happened,

Not just based on my intuitions,
but based on the evidence.

The circumstantial evidence
behind her disappearance

Supports that she was dead,
but we just don't have a body.

Now, in the state of texas,

You can file a m*rder case
without a body,

But it is very, very difficult.

We had to find the body.

- ♪

- Narrator: It's been almost
a year since detective lenoir

First dedicated himself
to making sure justice is served

In the case of missing woman
emelita reeves.

He is sure her husband,
jack reeves, has k*lled her,

But there's one big problem.

Emelita's body has
never been found.

- From history,

People who commit murders,
when they dispose of bodies,

They go to areas
that they're comfortable with.

- Narrator: Lenoir speaks
to jack reeves' son, randall,

Who offers up
another game-changing clue.

- Tommy: Randall reeves tells us

Jack went camping
at lake whitney.

He had been camping there
for years and years,

And so he knew the area
at lake whitney very, very well.

- Narrator: It's also
the perfect spot to dump a body.

- Tommy: We actually contacted
park rangers at lake whitney,

And through records,
we confirmed that jack reeves

Did in fact go and camp
at lake whitney

The day after the disappearance
of emelita.

We truly believed that

Emelita was somewhere
in lake whitney.

It is so dense and wooded,

And it's an ideal place
to hide a body.

- Narrator: Arlington police
fan out and search

The huge camping area
around the lake.

They come up empty.

- Tommy: He knew the area so
well

That he could've camped
anywhere in that huge park.

- Narrator: Then,
a few months later,

Police catch a lucky break.

- Patricia: A hunter
and his young son

Were out in that area
of lake whitney,

And they discovered a skull,

And they immediately
called authorities.

- Tommy: I'll make
a very bold statement.

I knew that was emelita.

I mean, I made that comment
right off the bat

To my supervisors,
to everybody else.

I knew that's emelita.

- Tommy: It was a feeling of
I think we can prove

What we feared
and what we were suspicious of.

- Narrator: Through forensics,

The remains are positively
identified as emelita reeves,

And that's all
detective lenoir needs.

On October 30, 1995,

Jack reeves is indicted
for the m*rder of emelita.

- Patricia: He was sitting
in jail not for one m*rder,

For sharon,

But for a second m*rder,
for emelita.

- Narrator: 3 1/2 months after

Emelita's remains are
discovered,

Jack reeves goes on trial
for the first charge,

The m*rder of sharon.

- Jeffrey: It did have
a lot of attention

From the fact that
you've exhumed a body



That itself is unusual.

- Narrator: The prosecution
presents a compelling case,

And a reenactment proving that
sharon could never have pulled

The trigger with her toe
as jack claimed.

- Obviously very tense because
it was a circumstantial case.

- Narrator: The jury quickly
finds jack reeves guilty

Of the m*rder of sharon reeves.

- Patricia: The thing
that cinched this trial

And the conviction of jack
reeves for the m*rder of sharon

Was absolutely forensics.

- Narrator: But his
prison sentence

Is surprisingly short,
just 35 years.

- Patricia: In texas law,
back when this occurred,

The maximum sentence
for m*rder was 35 years.

- Narrator: The prosecution
and detective lenoir know

They need to put jack reeves
away for the rest of his life.

Their only shot
is the trial eight months later

For the m*rder of emelita.

The national media
descends upon arlington

With an alleged
double wife k*ller on trial.

- Jeffrey: There were
lots of media people outside

Because I couldn't find
a door to get out that

There wasn't a cameraman.

- Tommy: Every day
in court was tense.

Every moment
I was on the stand,

Every moment
anybody was on the stand,

One--one error,
one--one mistake,

Could have been devastating.

- Narrator: Just seven days
after the trial begins

And 70 minutes of deliberation,
the jury returns its verdict.

- Tommy: The jury was out
barely over an hour,

And they came back with guilty,

And gave him 99 years in prison.

And that speaks volumes.

- Patricia: Jack just lowered
his head like he was defeated.

Exhuming sharon's body,
that became the catalyst

For everything
that happened after that.

All the blocks fell after that,
and it all came together.

- Narrator: But the convictions

Will never bring
two beloved mothers home.

- There is no telling

What emelita reeves
would have been

Had she gotten away from jack.

- Sybil: Sharon had everything
to look forward to,

And she was just
a really wonderful person.

She would've had grandkids,

And I feel very sad
that, um, she was not able to.

- Tommy: If I could rewrite
this entire scenario,

Sharon and emelita
would be alive today,

But I have absolutely no doubt
that convicting jack reeves

And putting jack reeves in
prison

Saved the lives of several
women,

And that in itself
is a good feeling,

Knowing that you saved lives

And prevented this man
from k*lling other women.

- ♪