01x06 - Pablo Escobar

[bunniefuu]

Fitzharris: Pablo Escobar was

the most famous of
all drug lords.

In his heyday, he was believed
to be the seventh richest man

in the world.

In 1993, Escobar died
in a hail of b*ll*ts

on a rooftop in Medellin,
Colombia's second city.

Plenty of people claim to
have pulled the trigger.

(Hugo speaks in
foreign language)

Others fervently
deny any implication.

Murphy: This was a
Colombian national police

solo operation.

Fitzharris: I'm going to
explore the curious life

of this powerful drug lord

and look for answers in his
extremely curious death.

(bewitching music continues)

I'm Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris.

I'm a medical historian
and bestselling author

with a PhD in the history
of science and medicine

from Oxford University.

I've written about the
pioneering days of surgery,

about syphilis,
plagues and pandemics,

and even books
made of human skin.

Some might say I'm obsessed
with the macabre and with
death,

but I think the way people
die tells us a whole lot

about how they lived.

I'm going to explore some of
history's most famous lives

by looking at them through
their extremely curious deaths.

This is my investigation room,
and here is my science lab

where Dr. Raychelle
Burks will be

doing tests and
experiments for me.

And here is where my
crime solving partner,

former Scotland Yard
detective Brian Hook,

helps me piece together
my investigations.

Call it biography with a twist,

a biography from the morgue.

(spooky music)

(skull laughs menacingly)

(hushed music)

In the '80s and '90s
across America and Europe,

one drug defines the party
scene

more than any other, cocaine.

It becomes the drug of choice
for the rich and famous.

Rock stars, Wall Street
tycoons, Hollywood actors,

they're all rolling
up the dollar bills

and snorting this highly
addictive white powder

like there's no tomorrow.

And there's one man in
particular responsible

for supplying the
cocaine blizzard

on American streets,

multibillion-dollar Colombian
drug lord Pablo Escobar.

(Pablo in foreign language)

By the time he's
shot down in 1993,

he's made a host
of powerful enemies

at home and abroad.

Finding out who fired
the k*ll shot matters.

If he was shot by
the Colombian police,

it could be seen as
some kind of justice,

if by a rival g*ng, it's
a straightforward m*rder,

and if it was a foreign power,

it's a breach of
international law.

I'm going to unravel
who was present that day

and through the lens of his
last moments explore the life

of the most influential
drug lord in history.

The young Pablo Escobar grew
up in what is best described

as a w*r zone.

We met up with a former
policeman Carlos Palau,

who lived through the
Escobar years in Medellin.

Fitzharris: Journalist
Rodrigo Martinez reported

on Escobar's reign of terror.

(Rodrigo speaks in
foreign language)

Fitzharris: Escobar chooses
bad.

After his teenage
years as a petty crook,

he graduates to drug running,

and he's good at it.

By the time he's 40,

he's said to be the seventh
richest man in the world,

and cocaine is his business.

(threatening music)

Cocaine paid for
Escobar's vast empire.

It comes from the leaves of
the South American coca plant.

For thousands of years, the
original inhabitants of the
area

chewed the coca leaf to
feel it's energetic high.

Cocaine was first used as an
anesthetic in the 19th Century.

With the introduction of
it into Western medicine

came rising rates of
addiction and overdoses.

Even the renowned
neurologist Sigmund Freud

became an addict,

once treating a patient for
stomach pains and depression

by filling her nose with grams
of cocaine to cauterize it.

(enchanting music continues)

Unsurprisingly, the
results were catastrophic,

but what we all wanna know is

did Coca-Cola once
contain cocaine?

Despite vigorous
company denials,

historical evidence
suggests otherwise.

In 1886, the Atlanta
pharmacist's John Pemberton

had a bright idea of mixing
his coca leaf extract

with sugar syrup,

adding kola-nut extract for
an extra hit of caffeine.

Voila, Coca-Cola was born.

But by 1903, public opinion
on the drug had changed,

prompting Coca-Cola to
remove nearly all the cocaine

from the beverage.

However, it wasn't until 1929,

when scientists were able

to completely remove the
psychoactive elements

from the coca leaf extract,

that it became
completely cocaine free.

The rest, as they
say, is history.

(menacing music)

The cocaine trade might have
formed Escobar's income,

but he went on to use
his extreme wealth

to create political influence.

(imperious music continues)

(Rodrigo speaks in
foreign language)

He's a hero,

not just to the poor and
the dispossessed in Colombia

but also to his family.

We secured this
revealing interview

with his son, Juan
Pablo Escobar,

who was 16 years old when
his father was shot dead.

Now known as
Sebastian Marroquin,

he agreed to talk
to us about Pablo.

Marroquin: The first time I
realize who my father was,

it was because he told me.

I remembered I had like
a seven, eight years old.

He just sent somebody to
k*ll the Minister of Justice.

So the next day he told me,
"Hey, son, I am a bandit,

and this is what I
do for a living".

Since that day I
realize and I understood

what my father used to do.

Fitzharris: In 1991,
he agrees to a truce

to avoid extradition
to the U.S.,

and he's given his
own luxurious prison,

but after just 13
months of incarceration,

Escobar pulls off an audacious
escape and goes on the run.

Reporter: The manhunt for
Pablo Escobar intensifies.

Crack police units are
raiding suspected safe houses

where the billionaire drug
lord could be hiding out.

Fitzharris: A special
police team, Search Bloc,

was formed to hunt him down.

News archive: Pablo Escobar
is without a doubt

the most powerful and ruthless
of all the drug bosses.

Fitzharris: But on
December 2nd, 1993,

police descended on a
suburban street in Medellin.

There's a shootout, and the
manhunt for Pablo Escobar

is finally over.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency arrived within minutes.

Steve Murphy, who became
famous as the model

for the DEA agent in the
hit TV series "Narcos,"

was quickly at the scene.

I managed to get a
phone call with him.

Fitzharris: When drug lord
Pablo Escobar is shot dead

in a raid on his hideout,

everyone wants to be the hero
who fired the k*ller b*llet.

Former m*rder detective Brian
Hook worked for Scotland Yard

in London for 30 years.

It's a world away from
Colombia,

but Brian does
know a thing or two

about catching extremely
dangerous individuals.

(haunting music)

Let's get some visual
references of who was at the
shootout,

starting with the
Steve Murphy photos.

Wow, these photos
are quite gruesome,

but they have become iconic
images of Pablo Escobar's
death.

Hook: Well, they're the guys
from the Search Bloc

who've raided Pablo's house.

Then, we have Hugo Aguilar,
their leader that morning.

Fitzharris: Carlos Palau
takes us back

to the scene of the crime

to help us piece
together what happened

during the sh**t-out.

(Rodrigo speaks in
foreign language)

Reporter: Pablo Escobar,

probably the world's
most wanted man,

is gunned down
Thursday in Medellin.

Residents: Pablo, Pablo!

Reporter: Local
residents chanted his name

as Escobar's body was
lowered from the rooftop

where he had been k*lled.

(Rodrigo speaks in
foreign language)

Residents: Pablo, Pablo, Pablo!

Pablo, Pablo, Pablo!

Fitzharris: Pedro Morales has
performed thousands of
autopsies

and has almost 30
years experience

working as a
pathologist in Colombia.

He took us to the morgue

where Pablo Escobar's
autopsy was performed.

(gloomy music)

(Pedro speaks in
foreign language)

(bitter music)

That's really helpful.

There were three shots:

One to the leg, one to the
back, and one to the head,

three wounds, but who
fired the three weapons

and which was the fatal b*llet.

(bewitching music continues)

I think it's time to meet
Pablo.

(menacing music)

I have some tests I
wanna do on his body,

so I have my Pablo replica
here.

(creepy music)

Under that familiar image

of an indestructible drug lord

is a body which reacts
just like the rest of us.

He's made out of ballistic gel,

which performs in the same way
as the human body when shot.

If we're going to find out
who k*lled Pablo Escobar,

we need to find out which
of the three g*nshots

was the one that k*lled him

and who had their
hand on the trigger.

Francs: Fire!

Fitzharris: We know
that 3 b*ll*ts

took down drug lord
Pablo Escobar,

but we don't know what weapons
were used to fire the shots.

For every g*n there is a b*llet
and putting the two together

might help us solve
the sh**ting.

(threatening music)

Fitzharris: Escobar's legacy
was a river that ran with the
blood

of more than 5,000 victims,

who are shot between
1989 and 1993.

He died as he lived,

by the b*llet,

but how can we determine
which g*n took the k*ll shot?

It's one for a sub-specialism,
forensic ballistics.

This is the process of
matching a specific firearm

to a b*llet by test
firing the presumed weapon

with a new slug and
comparing both b*ll*ts

under a microscope.

And this specialty
has a longer history

than you might think.

It began in England in 1835

when Scotland Yard
detective Henry Goddard

connected a b*llet
to a m*rder weapon

for the first time in history.

But forensic ballistics was
limited in those earlier
periods

because of the lack
of equipment to enable

side by side
comparisons of b*ll*ts.

As it stood

an investigator would
have to examine one b*llet

under a microscope while
retaining a mental image

of the second b*llet.

This led to obvious blunders
and wrongful convictions,

but a breakthrough
occurred in the 1920s.

When a group of scientists
built an instrument consisting

of two microscopes connected
by an optical bridge.

Surprisingly, it
was another Goddard,

American Army Colonel
Calvin Hooker Goddard,

who used the
comparison microscope

to solve one of the
most infamous crimes

of the 20th Century.

He examined b*llet
casings to prove

that the g*ns used to
m*rder seven people

in the 1929 Saint
Valentine's Day m*ssacre

was not police-issued weapons,

concluding it must've
been a mob hit.

Colonel Goddard's victory
earned him the title

the father of
forensic ballistics.

(menacing music)

We have a lotta
ballistics detail

from the Escobar autopsy report

to help us out in
this g*nsh*t k*lling.

Hook: g*nsh*t wounds
are interesting.

They can actually give
us lots of information.

This first wound to
the back of the leg,

the interesting thing about
this is the exit wound:

3.2 by 2 centimeters.

What that indicates is a

high-velocity as*ault
r*fle round.

(monstrous music)

Fitzharris: My chief
investigator, Brian Hook,

is a specialist in ballistics.

Hook: Yeah. Yeah,
yeah, that's perfect.

Fitzharris: So I've asked
him to take our dummy

made from specialist
ballistics gel

to a firing range.

He's testing the weapons
he believes were used

in the raid on Escobar's
hideout

with expert marksman
Noel Francs.

Hook: The shot we're after is
the back of the left thigh.

Let's give it a go.

Fitzharris: Brian has asked
Noel to use the Galil,

an Israeli automatic r*fle

that fires a 7.62
millimeter round,

the same weapon used by
the Colombian police.

Francs: Three, two, one, fire!

Hook: We've got an
entry wound here,

and it's gone straight through.

That's consistent with
the postmortem reports.

So I think it's safe
to say that it's

highly likely that
that was the galil.

Fitzharris: This tells us that
the b*llet through Escobar's
leg

could well have been
shot from a distance

with the Galil as*ault r*fle.

Let's look at the second wound.

Hook: The entry wound
to the shoulder

is 1 by 0.8 centimeters.

We know that the round was
found

at the bottom of the left jaw.

That's probably a handgun.

If that was the galil,

that would go straight
the way through.

Fitzharris: For
the second wound,

Brian is testing a p*stol

that fires a nine
millimeter round.

The gel dummy has to be laid
at an angle for this shot

because of the
trajectory of the b*llet

through Escobar's body.

Francs: I can get the
trajectory towards

more or less the jaw, so
we have the right angle.

Whether it will
lodge or won't lodge,

we won't really know till

after we test.

Hook: Post sh**ting.

Fitzharris: The g*n must
have been sh**ting upwards

towards Escobar's back.

Francs: g*n hot!

Ready to fire!

(aggravated music)

Hook: Somewhere in the
skull is the round.

It hasn't actually exited.

Could just as easily have wound
up underneath the left jaw

as it did with Pablo.

We know that the SIG SAUER
nine millimeter was being used.

Fitzharris: That's the kinda
g*n that Hugo Aguilar had.

Hook: Exactly right.

The interesting thing here

is that that's also the handgun

that Pablo Escobar had.

Fitzharris: We just have
the third wound now to test,

the one that went through
Escobar's right ear.

Hook: If you look at
the third wound,

the entry is 0.8
by 0.8 centimeters.

That is a classic

nine-millimeter-round
entry wound.

Fitzharris: That's interesting.

Hook: The exit wound's
slightly bigger,

two centimeters
by one centimeter.

Fitzharris: To
create this wound,

the most likely
weapon would have been

the nine millimeter
SIG SAUER again.

Brian is testing the
theory with noel.

Francs: Fire!

Hook: Another good shot,
in the ear,

exactly the same place
as happened with Pablo.

Yeah, if we look at the entry
wound here and the exit wound,

they're roughly the
same size as reported

on the post-mortem.

So think it's safe to say that
that's the nine millimeter.

Fitzharris: With this new
evidence from the firing range,

we can now plot what
happened on that roof

when Escobar was gunned down.

(bewitching music continues)

We know that none of the gunmen

were on the roof with
Escobar when he was shot.

So this b*llet must
have either been fired

from the window behind Escobar

or from the street
below using the Galil.

(g*nsh*t bangs)

Escobar is hit in the leg.

Carrying a leg wound,
Escobar crawls along the roof

with his back to the wall

and is shot for a second time,

(g*nsh*t bangs)

Either from the
window or the street.

(g*nsh*t bangs)

The b*llet hits him in his
back, through his right
shoulder.

We now know this is a
nine millimeter p*stol,

probably a SIG SAUER

(g*nsh*t bangs)

One b*llet hits Escobar's head

also from a nine
millimeter p*stol

directly into his right ear.

Every b*llet tells a story,

perhaps in Escobar's
case, a different story.

What I'd like to know

is whether the shot
to his right ear

was fired when Escobar
was already dead

from the b*llet in his back.

I've asked Dr. Judy
Melinek to have a look

at the autopsy report.

She's a forensic pathologist

who certainly knows a thing
or two about autopsies.

(haunting music)

She has pronounced
on over 2,500 cases

including many fatal shootings.

She's using the skull
from inside our gel dummy

to show the passage of the
b*llet through Escobar's head.

(rugged music continues)

Dr. Melinek, in reviewing
the autopsy report,

which shot k*lled him.

Melinek: There were three
shots to the body,

but the one that k*lled him

was the one that
went into his head.

It came in at the right
side of the temple,

over the ear.

This would be an
inwardly beveled,

meaning that the bone
is forced into the brain

right here at the right temple.

Then it would've come out on
the other side of the head.

You could see that the
bone is pushed out,

or what's called
outwardly beveled.

Then the disruption to the
brain

caused fractures to the back

that damaged the cerebellum
and the brainstem.

The brainstem controls
the heart and lungs,

so when that's damaged,

it's an instantaneous death.

(g*nsh*t bangs)

Fitzharris: The shot through
the ear finally immobilizes
Escobar.

Now we need to know
who was actually

on the scene at the shootout.

It's not as clear-cut
as you might think.

At the time, the
Colombian authorities were

under intense pressure

from the mayhem caused
by the narco-economy.

(siren wails)

Pablo Escobar is
ruthless and brutal.

(despairing music continues)

In his 17-year reign of terror,

he doesn't only k*ll
rival drug dealers,

he assassinates a
presidential candidate,

downs an airplane carrying
107 innocent civilians,

and even takes the
lives of children

when he bombs a
bookshop in Medellin.

In 1990, Escobar's
hometown suffers

over 4,500 gangland deaths

and unrivaled m*rder rates.

Former stockbroker Shaun
Attwood knows the drug world

from the inside.

In 2002, he got a
9 1/2-year sentence

in the U.S. for drug dealing,

but since his release,

he's written a number
of books on crime,

including a
bestseller on Escobar.

Attwood: Colombia was
a narco-economy.

The black market in drugs
gets bigger every single year,

and every profession

that money comes into
contact with, it corrupts.

It corrupts judges.

It corrupts police.

It corrupt politicians.

It even corrupted presidents.

(desolate music)

Fitzharris: Police officer
Carlos Palau remembers it well.

Fitzharris: With
the Colombian police

under such intense pressure,

a new shadowy g*ng forms

with their own reasons for
wanting Escobar dead, Los
Pepes.

Attwood: Los Pepes stands
for people persecuted

by Pablo Escobar.

The death squad recruited
people who'd suffered

at Pablo's hands,

people who've lost
family members,

people in the police
who'd lost colleagues,

people in the
Colombian military.

The Search Bloc was so
upset and traumatized

by all of their members
had been k*lled by Pablo,

they wanted him
dead at all costs,

so the pepes then allied
with the Search Bloc.

Fitzharris: We know that the
American Drug Enforcement
Agency

was active in the
manhunt for Escobar.

It had to navigate
a careful path,

working in a foreign
sovereign country

in what was clearly a
complicated and dangerous
world.

Agent Steve Murphy was
there every step of the way

and told me just
how deadly it was.

(murky music)

Fitzharris: It sounds like
a murky world.

The cops are criminals and
the criminals are cops.

Knowing who fired
the deadly shot

isn't just about different
g*nman within the police.

We're talking about possible
criminal elements working

with the police.

This gets to the very
heart of the problems

in 1990s Colombian society.

Hook: It's certainly
public knowledge

that Los Pepes were working
with the Search Bloc

and going on the raid

and doing everything
the police were doing.

Fitzharris: But were
Los Pepes involved

on the raid on Pablo's
hideouts?

Hook: Well, lots of people
claim to be there,

but there's certainly no
photographic evidence of them.

But from my research,
their leader, Don Berna,

certainly had access to
exactly the same weapons

as the Search Bloc,

the Galil and the SIG SAUER.

Fitzharris: So it coulda been
someone from Los Pepes

who fired the k*ller b*llet.

Now we have Los Pepes
on our suspect list

and Search Bloc.

And here's yet one more.

Attwood: The k*ll shot was so
precise it caused a lot

of speculation that sn*pers may
have been out there

firing those shots.

Fitzharris: Evidence suggests
that the chief suspects

of the shootout that k*lled
Pablo Escobar

were the police Search Bloc,

and the vigilante
group Los Pepes.

But there is one other
possibility we have to look at.

Our research has revealed

that Delta Force were an elite
U.S. Special Forces outfit

working with the Colombian
police in the hunt for Escobar.

They had highly skilled
sn*pers within their ranks.

Rumors that they were
present at the shootout

were fueled by the
politics of the time.

Attwood: George H.W. Bush made
Pablo Escobar his main bogeyman

in the w*r on drugs.

All of the resources of
the U.S. Federal Government

were thrown after Pablo,

including the CIA,
including the DEA.

They sent over Special
Forces, Delta Force, sn*pers,

and various other entities.

Fitzharris: What do we know
about the kinds of g*ns

the U.S. sn*pers were
using at this time?

Hook: Well, the Delta Force
used this r*fle there.

That's a Remington 700.

The military version
was called the M40.

That weapon fires a
7.62 caliber round,

which is smaller than the
nine-millimeter round fired

by the SIG SAUER,

but it's bigger than the
round the Galil fires.

(threatening music continues)

Fitzharris: If a U.S.
sn*per fired an M40,

what kind of damage to
Escobar's head would it have
done?

Brian and noel are
going to find out.

Hook: Okay.

Francs: Three, two, one, fire!

(aching music)

Hook: This is the result of
the sn*per r*fle shot

from about 50 meters.

As you can see from
the exit wound,

there's massive damage there.

Fitzharris: Wow, that's huge!

Hook: The exit
wound on Pablo

was one centimeter
by two centimeters.

That is far, far bigger.

Fitzharris: Yeah, and I think
because of this,

we can discount
the sn*per r*fle.

Hook: Absolutely agree.

Fitzharris: Our ballistics are
backed up by Steve Murphy.

Fitzharris: We are now
down to two sets

of suspects and one g*n.

The hunt for Escobar
reaches a peak

in the last months of 1993.

Despite the best
intelligence and equipment

that America could provide the
Colombian authorities with,

Escobar has been evading
capture for 16 months.

He was a past master
at keeping hidden.

(sneaky music continues)

Marroquin: My father
had to invent a lot

of a security measures

to maintain his safety.

I remember my father
saying to me every day

"Don't ever use a phone".

If you touch your
phone, you're dead.

Phone is death. You
have to know this, son.

Fitzharris: Throughout
his career,

Escobar used a variety
of communications

to keep his movements secret,

some of them very creative.

Marroquin: He use pigeons
to communicate.

Doesn't matter the place,

you tied the message
and you send the pigeon,

and they will come.

(threatening music)

Fitzharris: Escobar wasn't
the first to use

our feathered friends

to send vital communications.

In the First World w*r,

the carrier pigeon Cher Ami
was awarded a military medal

for delivering a vital message
at the Battle of Verdun

despite being shot
through the breast

and losing an eye and a leg.

She's honored and stuffed

in the Smithsonian National
Museum of American History.

Other animals have played
vital roles during w*r time.

The U.S. military has
even employed the help

of aquatic animals to
outsmart the enemy.

In 1959, scientists in the
Navy Marine Mammal Program

found that dolphins were
adept at delivering messages

and identifying threats.

In the Vietnam w*r,

the dolphins were used to
discourage enemy swimmers

from attacking a
key ammunition pier.

More recently, in 2003,

nine U.S. navy dolphins
identified mines

in an Iraqi port on
the Persian gulf.

That 2003 operation
was the first case

of marine animals clearing
mines in a w*r zone.

For sure, we owe a great debt

to our fishy, furry,
and feathered friends.

(menacing music)

Despite Escobar's
use of pigeon post,

eventually the net
closed in on him,

and on December 2nd,
1993, he was found.

It's time to put together
everything we now know

about the b*ll*ts
and the wounds.

The prime candidate would be
someone from the Search Bloc,

the elite team of cops
who'd been hunting Escobar

for over a year.

The leader of the Search
Bloc, Hugo Aguilar,

claimed in his book "So,
I k*lled Pablo Escobar"

that he personally
shot the drug lord.

(hateful music continues)

We discovered this
intriguing interview

he gave to a
Portuguese journalist.

(Hugo speaks in
foreign language)

Hook: What Hugo is saying
is two shots were fired,

one by him using his
p*stol, the SIG SAUER,

and that went in
the back of Pablo,

and his friend,
using an R15 r*fle,

shot him in the right ear
that exited out the left ear.

Well, we know from
the size of the wounds

that can't be true.

That is not a wound
caused by a r*fle.

That's caused by
a nine-millimeter p*stol.

So Hugo is either
wrong or lying.

Fitzharris: Our
ballistics evidence

clearly undermines
Aguilar's account

of the sh**ting,

and his credibility as a
witness is further challenged

when several years later

he's given a nine-year
jail sentence

on a separate corruption
charge.

There is little
about Aguilar's story

that can be taken at face
value.

All right, good job,
you've convinced me, Brian.

We can cross Hugo
Aguilar off our list.

With Aguilar outta the way,

we now need to investigate
the vigilante g*ng

made up of Escobar's most
sworn enemies, Los Pepes.

Fitzharris: We're narowing down
the suspects of who pulled

the trigger that k*lled
Pablo Escobar.

The next on my list is the
vigilante g*ng Los Pepes.

Hook: Their leader, Don Berna,

he actually claims
that he was on the raid

when Pablo was shot.

In actual fact, he claims his
brother Rodolfo was the man

that actually shot Pablo.

Fitzharris: Steve Murphy's
partner in Colombia,

Javier Peña, joined
our phone call.

He has an extremely
interesting theory

about Los Pepes' involvement
in Escobar's death.

Fitzharris: So according
to Javier Peña,

the k*ller b*llet could well
have been fired by Los Pepes,

but it was hushed up on the
day.

But there's no
photographic proof.

The story might well have
stopped there

but there's something that
happened in 2006.

Pablo Escobar's family
petitioned to open up his grave

to examine his remains

and they filmed it.

The Escobar family was in
the grips of a paternity suit

and wanted to
secure Pablo's DNA.

I'm not so interested
in the paternity suit,

but I am interested
to see the body,

especially the skull.

Nicholas Escobar talks us
through the family film

of the event.

(Nicholas speaks in
foreign language)

(desolate music)

Fitzharris: You can't really
see much of the skull at all,

can you?

Hook: Not really,
evidentially, there's

not a lot we can see at all.

We certainly can't see
any of the entry wound

on the right side of the skull.

It's just covered in soil.

Fitzharris: It's very
unhelpful.

I wish they had been a
little bit more thorough

with the exhumation.

Hook: Yeah, it woulda
been helpful.

Fitzharris: There isn't any new
evidence from the exhumation,

but a brand new
theory comes to light

from Escobar's own son.

We know the fatal shot isn't
from a U.S. sn*per r*fle

or a police as*ault r*fle,

but it could be

from either a Search Bloc
or Los Pepes handgun.

This is what Sebastian thinks
happened on that rooftop.

Marroquin: He told me that he
was going to do it Sunday,

that any day he felt
surrounded, he will do it.

For me, and the information we
have, it's absolutely a fact

that my father decided
to commit suicide.

Fitzharris: Suicide, this is
interesting. Could it be true?

What do the experts think?

(Pedro speaks in
foreign language)

Tattooing is what
forensic pathologists call

the marks left by a b*llet

when it is fired
near to the skin,

what's called close range.

(threatening music)

I asked Brian and Noel to
fire one more test shot

at the dummy head.

Hook: What I'd like you to do
is to sh**t this head for me,

from close range, with
a nine millimeter.

Let's have a look,
see what happens.

Francs: Okay.

Hook: Yeah, it's just
as I thought, look.

Francs: A lotta powder
burns, no?

Hook: Lotta powder
burns, tattooing

all the way around here,

inside the ear, down here,

even on top of the head.

Fitzharris: So it's
clear from our test

that the g*n could
not have been fired

from just a few feet away.

There woulda been tattooing
like on our dummy.

Our test evidence supports
the autopsy evidence.

Without the telltale
powder burns and tattooing,

it looks like suicide
can be ruled out.

Or can it?

My scientific expert,
Raychelle,

has been looking at the
results,

and she has a very
interesting theory.

Burks: What if the weapon
was incredibly close

so all of that matter
and debris and hot gases

coulda gone straight
into the ear canal?

That's an open space,

and you're not gonna
see any of this debris

embedded into the skin.

Fitzharris: So in that case,

there could be a close-range
shot into the right ear,

which is what the
autopsy report says,

but no tattooing.

Burks: It is a possibility.

Fitzharris: This could
change everything.

Was it or wasn't it suicide?

Fitzharris: In the death of
Pablo Escobar,

one suspect has been
overlooked, Escobar himself.

Could Pablo Escobar's death
have been suicide?

We know that a 9mm p*stol shot
through Escobar's right ear

k*lled him.

And now we have a theory
that could explain

the lack of tattooing.

Does this theory makes sence?

I asked Dr. Melinek to
double-check

the official accounts.

Melinek: What I found was that

at the end of the
autopsy report,

they had a press release.

Fitzharris: A press
release with autopsy?

But that seems really unusual.

Melinek: It is.

In fact, what's really unusual

is that they specifically
rule out suicide

as a manner of death.

I've never seen anything
like that before

attached to an autopsy report,

having a press
release right there.

Fitzharris: It sounds
like they're trying

to eliminate a certain
narrative here.

Melinek: They are,
and maybe it's

because that g*nsh*t-wound
trajectory,

which is going from right
to left across the head,

is consistent with something

that we typically
see in suicide.

Fitzharris: If the ballistics
are potentially consistent

with a suicide theory, is
there any supporting evidence

from the run-up to the raid?

In the week leading
up to his death,

Pablo Escobar's family tries
and fails to leave Colombia.

They're then kept under
government protection

in a hotel in Bogota,
the Colombian capital.

Pablo knows the authorities
are using his family

as leverage.

He's scared to strike back

while his wife,
daughter and son

are effectively
being held hostage.

His enemies hold all the cards.

Reporter: Kidnappings,
Colombian police continue-

Marroquin: They were using us
as a bait to catch my father.

The only thing he
cared was the family.

My father became very
desperate.

Fitzharris: The
search party used

the best satellite tracking
system available at the time

in its hunt for Escobar,

but Escobar had been
keeping his calls so short

it wasn't possible to
triangulate the signal

with his location.

But on December 2nd,
1993, it was different.

Carlos Palau was a member
of the Search Bloc team.

Fitzharris: Pablo gives
himself away

by making an unusually
long phone call,

allowing the cops
to track him down.

Why would he do that?
The call is to his son.

(despairing music continues)

Marroquin: That was truly the
beginning of the end.

He understood that there
was no more negotiations.

My father became very
desperate, and he start making
calls.

He took one of the
bravest decisions

that he could have ever taken

of letting the authorities
know where he was.

Why? Because he wanted
to free us as family.

He understood that
there was no way out

for the whole family.

Somebody had to die.

That's why he ask to speak
with my little sister,

with my mom, because

he was saying goodbye.

(enchanting music)

Fitzharris: So where does
the suicide theory

fit into the ballistics?

Hook: Well, we know that Pablo
had a SIG SAUER nine
millimeter.

We know that's the weapon
that caused the wound.

Although there was no
tattooing,

we know that from the autopsy
report, we do now know

that if it was a close-contact
wound to the head,

all of that residue would
actually go into the wound.

So consistent with
suicide, yeah.

Fitzharris: So the science
could back up the suicide
theory.

Hook: Yeah.

Fitzharris: Escobar's son has
thought about that day

for the last 27 years.

Marroquin: Place was
surrounded.

He know he can't escape.

He told me for the past, I
don't know, 10 years of his
life

that if someday he
feels surrounded,

he will put a b*llet
in his right ear.

He explained to me,

"Don't put your g*n in
your mouth or here or here

"because the b*llet can
take another direction

and won't make you any harm".

Fitzharris: And this is exactly
what k*lled Escobar,

a b*llet to the ear,

but we'll never know

if Sebastian's memory
is playing tricks

or it's an attempt to make
his father see more noble.

Does Pablo Escobar k*ll
himself?

I wouldn't rule it out.

A proud man, hated the
police and the government,

it could be his final victory
to deny them the satisfaction

of k*lling him.

But does the theory
stand up to scrutiny?

Pedro Morales must have a
view on the suicide theory.

(Pedro speaks in
foreign language)

Fitzharris: But what if the
b*llet to his ear

was fired before the
b*llet to his back

when his arm was
fully functioning.

And here's another thing.

Pedro Morales can only work

from the official
autopsy report.

We can clearly see that
the report was made

in chaotic circumstances.

DEA Agent Javier Peña has
yet one more observation.

Fitzharris: As Javier
Peña confirms,

the politics of
Colombia at the time

were not just murky,

they were open to corruption.

We put this dummy through
some grueling tests.

It's been shot up really bad.

It's helping us to get
closer to the truth,

but we've heard some very
challenging revelations.

His son claims Pablo
k*lled himself.

Yet the autopsy
rules out suicide.

Who am I to believe?

(accomplished music continues)

The death of Pablo Escobar,

it's hard to untangle a
story with so many twists,

but based on my discoveries,

this is what I now believe.

Whether Pablo took
the fatal shot

or the cops did it for him,

Escobar took his fate
into his own hands

by giving up his location

on a phone call to
his family that day.

He always said,

"Rather a tomb in Colombia
than a prison cell in America".

And in the end,
that's what he got,

a tomb in Colombia.

(tomb thuds)