[engines humming]
We would go to the sideshows,
we definitely turned heads.
We were "The Takeovers."
[Keyerra] We would walk around
like our sh*t doesn't stink.
[Kayla]
But people are just intimidated.
When they see us,
when they see how we dress,
how we come and how we talk,
they're intimidated
by who we are.
We would get the dirty looks
from girls a lot of the time.
[Keyerra]
She was just sitting in the car,
and this girl opened up the door
and was screaming, going off.
[Sarah] And that's when it,
like really, really hit me
that something is wrong.
They see blood in the hallway,
as well as a hole in the wall.
I was in utter shock,
just in disbelief.
I remember
I couldn't feel my body.
How crazy
and delusional are you?
I think she's just
one bitter, evil b*tch.
-[glass shatters]
-[theme music playing]
[narrator]
If you were a young woman
in Oakland, California,
looking for fun on a Friday
night during the pandemic,
chances are
you might find yourself
at a "Fast and Furious"
underground phenomenon
known as a sideshow.
[tires squealing]
I can't really tell you
about the origin
because it's been going on
for so, so long.
Sideshows have been embedded
into the car scene
since the beginning
of car scene.
That's why "Fast and Furious"
has so many sideshows
and takeovers references
in the movie,
because it's been around
for so long.
[Aimi]
I would describe sideshows as
a place where you can
show your car off.
The sound of it,
the speed of it,
and your driving skills.
[tires squealing]
We'd call them, "shutdowns."
[crowd cheering]
[tires squealing]
They'd shut down intersections,
bridges, even freeways.
There was, like, a huge circle
of people around,
and then in the middle of,
like, the intersection,
it's just the cars
doing doughnuts,
and everybody's just
standing around
watching, recording.
It was in different areas,
so Sacramento, Oakland,
San Francisco, like,
the entire Sac and the Bay Area.
It was a huge thing.
Impeding traffic,
driving recklessly,
putting everyone at risk,
and then speeding off
when the cops show up.
It's kind of a recipe
for disaster, if you ask me.
What was fun was just having
something to do
during that time
of the pandemic,
and everything was shut down.
All, like, clubs, bars,
all those were closed.
It was like an outlet
for people to go do something.
For the young, mostly
male drivers in the scene,
it's a chance to chase clout
by showing off
their souped-up,
modified rides,
and for most of
the young women...
There's car girls that are
into it for the cars,
and then there's car girls
that are more into it
for the scene itself.
The women are hoes, OK?
They're hoes out there
looking for their fish,
what they can --
"Whose car am I gonna be in?"
I can't say they're all hoes,
but at least 60%
of them are hoes.
You feel me? [laughs]
♪ Trendsetter
Wanna go get her ♪
♪ Anyway, anyway ♪
It was a sideshow community,
so everybody had
their own little cliques.
The cliques had
their own little names
and stuff, like,
we were "The Takeovers."
And as in every clique,
each girl in The Takeovers
has a role to play.
Keyerra is the proud
and playful party girl.
I mean, beer pong,
drinking games, drunk twister,
like, eff it, let's do it.
Then there's Aimi,
the bona-fide car expert
with a need for speed.
I drove a McLaren yesterday,
$200,000 car,
and it was the best feeling
in the world.
Sarah doesn't care
much about cars,
but is always happy
to come along for the ride.
[Sarah]
It was always just like,
"Oh, you'll have fun,
just come, whatever."
And they were really fun
in the beginning,
'cause Sacramento
is kinda boring,
and there's not a lot going on.
And the glue holding
The Takeovers together
is 19-year-old college student
and influencer in the making,
Leilani Beauchamp.
-She's so chill.
-[Leilani giggles]
[Kayla]
She's just hella tight.
She's just that girl,
like, period.
She's pretty, she got a body,
you feel me?
And she don't play no games,
like, you know, like
she's just that girl.
Her personality is super big.
I really wasn't into cars
that much until I met her.
She kinda brought me
into the world.
-[shutters clicking]
-[tense music playing]
I'm Leilani's best friend,
like, soulmate, period.
[soft music playing]
We met in, like, first grade
at elementary school,
and it was just literally,
like, Thing One, Thing Two.
When we were little,
she wanted to be a little model
for the chorus or whatever.
I said, "OK, girl!
You can do it.
You better -- you --"
We -- we finna be models, OK?
But she has an attitude.
She got a mouth just like me,
you know, like...don't play.
♪ Get in like a drum
Don't need a reason ♪
She'd be very blunt, for sure.
But that's why we get along,
because we're the same.
I remember me FaceTiming her,
like, one time.
She answered the phone,
and she was like,
"What [bleep] do you want?"
and I was like,
"Try again." [laughs]
We loved to instigate
each other a little bit,
but, like, as a joke.
[girls laughing]
With Leilani leading the pack,
The Takeovers are
impossible to ignore.
[Aimi] When we would show up
at the car meets,
we definitely turned heads.
[Keyerra] Oh, my gosh.
We were very out there.
Spunky, spontaneous.
We all looked good,
all dressed very good.
We'd walk in and always
head held high.
Not that anyone wants
to sound conceited.
Honestly, no, we were.
We were most
definitely conceited.
[club music playing]
We walked around like our sh*t
doesn't stink, most definitely.
♪ If it's so fast
They won't see me coming ♪
-[shutters clicking]
-[music stops]
The guys would definitely
try to show out as well.
They'd wash their cars,
polish them up,
get a fresh oil change
so they could rev
the crap out of it.
[engine revving]
Revving your car was one way
to get attention
and also give it.
So, if you were
a cute girl walking by,
it was a great way
to maybe get their attention.
Leilani definitely got
a lot of revs,
even just out
in public in general.
They would rev it and just blow
everyone's ears out.
[engine revving]
I mean, it's crazy.
[Kayla]
But people are just intimidated.
When they see us,
when they see how we dress,
how we come
and how we talk,
they're intimidated
by who we are.
[Keyerra]
It's like there's ranks to it.
It was very competitive,
very, very competitive.
And very sexist, too.
At the top of the ladder are
the girls who drive.
[Annie] You'll see, some of
the best drivers are women.
Those girls get
the most respect.
That's, like, one side.
And then there's the car models,
who are not car enthusiasts.
They will have
their lashes done.
They'll have their hair done.
Those girls will get asked
a lot of the times,
"Hey, can you take a picture
in front of my car?"
I mean, I've even seen girls
half naked posing on cars
in front of everyone.
I don't think
the car scene necessarily
respects those girls.
Then there's also
being passenger princess.
Those girls sit in the car
and just sit in passenger.
They don't wanna get out.
As passenger princess,
you get to sit and be pretty,
be cute, take the pictures,
get driven around.
It's kind of a flex
to have a pretty girl
in your passenger seat.
[tense music playing]
I would say that Leilani was
a passenger princess
who wanted to be
in the driver's seat.
She was a girly girl.
She liked makeup.
She liked nails, jewelry,
hair, clothes.
She likes to sit
in a passenger seat
and look pretty and be cute.
But if someone offered her,
"Hey, you want to drive my car?"
She's saying yes.
She's in it for both.
And then there are the girls
who have been around the block
more than a few times.
[Keyerra]
There's the older people,
and those are probably the OGs.
You'd see them around,
and you know of them,
but I never really
affiliated myself or, like,
went out my way to be like,
"Oh, my god, hi."
Or, "Can I?" You know,
I was never really like that.
The OGs are led by 24-year-old
Jessica Quintanilla,
who has been organizing
these events
since before the pandemic.
[Aimi]
We would get the dirty looks
from girls like Jessica
a lot of the time.
I don't know if
it's 'cause they're insecure
or they think
we're there for their man
because we're not, so
the people like Jessica,
I definitely would keep going.
[tense music playing]
[Det. Chapman] Jessica works
in an assisted-care home
where she's giving back
and helping out the elderly,
but she also is
this popular party girl
who goes to these parties,
passes word around
for these sideshows,
isn't afraid to fight people,
kind of gets what she wants.
She felt that she was
in a place to tell people
what to do at these sideshows.
Not necessarily like
demanding respect,
but I guess bossy
would be a loose term I can use
where she felt like
she can boss people into,
"Hey, this is how
my sideshow is gonna be."
[Sarah]
The car show community,
it brings whole different types
of groups that are coming,
like people that are in gangs.
People are bringing g*ns,
people are getting ran over.
People are getting arrested.
And it was, like,
a normal thing.
If you're at a sideshow
and it's attracting
the wrong type of crowd,
it can definitely turn into
a dangerous situation
where your life could be
on the line.
Anytime I'm going to,
like, a party
or a car meet, a sideshow,
I'm definitely cautious
of who I interact with
and who I piss off.
[tense music playing]
[Keyerra]
I remember one night,
Leilani was at a sideshow party,
and a couple of our other
friends were there, too.
[tense music intensifies]
This girl got into a fight
with somebody
and had a handle liquor bottle
in her hand...
...and smashed it
over somebody else's head.
[glass shattering]
Leilani told me
about it happening.
I was like, "Oh, snap."
This world is scary.
But, you know, I don't think
you realize certain things
until, you know,
it happens to you.
[tense music stops]
-[engine loudly revs]
-[dramatic music playing]
When we would go
to the car meets,
we would definitely dress
a certain type of way.
We don't know
who we're gonna meet.
Sometimes celebrities would
attend these events,
like car influencers.
It was definitely like a setting
where you would go to see
and be seen, I would say.
And it's also a great place
to meet a significant other.
And in early 2021,
that's exactly what happens
to 19-year-old leader
of The Takeovers,
Leilani Beauchamp
[Kayla] We always talk about
our dating scene, our love life,
you know, our sneaky links,
whatever and whatnot.
It's what we do.
We're girls.
There was, like, this one guy
she was messing with,
you know, like Juan.
I met him, he seemed cool,
you know,
so I was like, period.
Go, girl, get it.
Juan is 20-year-old
Juan Parra Peralta,
an airman with
the U.S. Air Force.
And when he's not busy
with Uncle Sam,
he's a major player
in the local,
underground car scene.
Juan is very popular
and very well-known
in the sideshow community.
His Instagram had,
you know, a lot of traction.
He was coordinating
some sideshows.
He was passing work.
A lot of people that were going
to these, knew who Juan was.
I remember she had told us about
an interest that she had in him.
She knew him for about a year.
She was proud of the fact
that Juan was an airman,
that he was in the Air Force.
My father's a colonel
in the Air Force.
[Sarah] Being around Juan
in the car show community
kind of just levels you up
and you have more status
being around him or, you know,
if he messes with you,
then you're good.
And maybe that's kind of
what drawn Leilani to him.
[Aimi]
The first time we hung out,
he seemed cool,
but I will say, like,
he definitely thought
he was the sh*t.
I definitely got
the womanizer impression.
It just rubbed me
wrong, you know,
the c*ck, it's like,
"Calm down," you know?
Like, "You're not all that."
[club music playing]
But I respected that Leilani
was in control of the situation.
She knew what she wanted.
She knew what she didn't want.
And what Leilani appears
to want with Juan
in May of 2021 is to be
his passenger princess,
while at the same time,
keeping things casual.
It was more because of her last
relationship she was in,
was about two and a half years.
And she finally decided
she was done.
She's in college.
She's not ready to jump
into a serious relationship
right away.
She just wasn't ready
to commit just yet.
That's kind of what she told me.
She said, "You know,
I like him, but I'm still young.
"I'm still doing
my thing in college.
"I don't think I'm ready
to be in a committed
relationship with him, yet."
And I said,
"OK, just take your time."
We all kind of knew they were,
you know, together.
But it's not like I've seen
him as a future husband.
And that's a good thing,
because after a few months
of casual dating,
Leilani snoops
on Juan's socials
and makes
a startling discovery.
Leilani found out that Juan,
he has a whole wife in Texas.
No.
Like, bye.
[tense music playing]
[Det. Chapman]
To my understanding, uh,
Juan was not fully divorced,
but in the process of getting
a divorce with a woman
that lived in Texas.
So he, although not
with this woman anymore,
was maybe legally
still with her.
[Keyerra] I do know that
he did move back from Texas
or come from Texas
prior to them getting together.
But we didn't know,
you know, what's going on
with most of these guys' lives.
If they have another side chick
on the side,
or five side chicks on the side,
like, we didn't know that.
It was never really anything,
like, that we took seriously.
[Sarah] She had talked to him
a couple times about it,
and Juan said
it's not a big deal.
But Leilani did, you know,
vent to me multiple times
about how she doesn't
really trust him,
but she wasn't looking
for a serious relationship.
The whole situation with the ex
is messy in itself.
I mean, he is messy.
[Kayla]
I just told Leilani,
"I love you,
and I care about you,
"but I don't think
this is the right way,
"but who am I
to tell you what to do.
You're a grown woman."
For now, Leilani is fine
just going with the flow.
But in October of 2021,
roughly six months
into their situationship,
she finds out that
not all Juan's exes
live in Texas.
[tense music playing]
It was kind of, just like
any other time, you know,
she was just going to sideshow
with her friends,
and Juan was there.
She got in the car with Juan,
and another one of our friends
was in the driver's seat.
[Keyerra] She was sitting
in the car with Juan,
and some girl
opened up the door...
[tense music playing]
...and was screaming, going off.
She had told her
to get the [bleep] out,
pulling on the door handle
and saying to get out the car.
Leilani is not
a physical fighter.
She's never been that way.
But she absolutely did not like
screaming and yelling.
I think it was, like,
happening so fast,
this girl was right in her face.
You can't really predict,
you know?
Anyone can do anything.
[engines humming]
Leilani was like, "Who
the [bleep] is you talking to?"
We can really make this happen.
We can squabble up.
but you're not finna
play with me
in front of my friend.
[Det. Chapman]
During that incident,
it's to my understanding
that Juan doesn't get involved.
So it didn't seem like
he had any input
in that argument, at all.
[tense music playing]
The only reason
no fight broke out
or anything like that
is because the guy
that was driving was like,
"No, this is my car."
Like, "She can be in here.
She's my friend, too."
Like, "It's my car."
It wasn't even Juan's car.
So that was the only reason
why nothing escalated
was because it kinda got
shut down at that point.
But that's also when it clicked
in Leilani's mind.
"Oh, this is the same girl that
I saw at a party hit some girl
in the head with the bottle."
[heavy thud]
She didn't know
her name at the time,
but now we know it was Jessica.
As in Jessica Quintanilla,
that 24-year-old sideshow OG
who's been casting shady eyes
at Leilani and her crew
since they stepped
on the scene.
I learned that
there was a...relationship
between Jessica and Juan.
And from my understanding,
she was dating him
before Leilani
for less than a month,
off and on.
They were not
very serious at all.
And every time her and Juan
had a breakup,
he's talking to other females,
whether it's Leilani
or anybody else.
I just know that
Leilani was kind of like,
"That was really,
like, weird."
And why would she care?
They're exes.
And, like, you move on,
you go on with life after that.
Maybe Juan was Jessica's escape
because he had the nice car
and a status in the community.
[Keyerra] Juan had made
a name for himself.
He was a very
well-known car guy.
So I don't know if Jessica
really did like him
out of all the 30 million guys
she was talking to at the time.
I don't know,
but jealousy thing,
I guess I see where
it could be come in at,
especially from older people.
[scoffs]
[Kayla]
Girls like Jessica, it's like,
how crazy
and delusional are you?
You feel me?
Like, "Girl, please."
There are 7 billion men
in this world,
and you worried about
this little old fish?
Why? No.
That's when Leilani decides
that the juice
from Juan's status
isn't worth the squeeze.
[Sarah] After that situation,
Leilani definitely wanted
to keep her distance
a little bit.
But Juan isn't exactly
used to being ignored.
[Sarah] He definitely was
contacting Leilani
more than he usually would,
asking how she's doing.
Like, maybe he could see
that she's kind of pulling away
from him, and that made
him want to pull more,
realizing that
she's not as interested
as maybe she once was.
[tense music playing]
[Violeta] I remember Leilani
messaged me saying,
"Oh, I'm going to go
to my friend Sarah's house
for Halloween this weekend."
And she was asking for a little
bit of extra money
to support her
with her costumes.
Leilani was definitely
excited about Halloween.
[indistinct chatter]
[Sarah] I wore this dress
that had a skeleton on it.
And then, the night
that we went out,
she was like a SWAT
or something like that.
She had a SWAT outfit on.
[girls giggling]
We had like a list of like 10
parties we wanted to go to
in, like, one night.
Don't even know what the heck
we were thinking.
[indistinct chatter]
[Keyerra]
We met at this first party.
Sarah and Leilani were
with each other.
And we were there
at the second house,
when Juan had showed up.
He wasn't by himself.
He showed up with somebody.
I don't know who he was with,
it was a taller guy.
[Det. Chapman]
Damien Ponders is
Juan Parra Peralta's friend.
They're inseparable.
They're both active duty
enlisted service members
at Travis Air Force Base.
And they consider each other
best friends,
so much so where Juan has
Damien's name tattooed on him.
I have a lot of close friends.
Not one of their names
is tattooed on me.
So that's how close they are.
Juan and Damien
do everything together.
So Juan and his friend
showed up,
and me, Leilani, Sarah,
we were already in our own
little group together.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[ominous music playing]
We were drinking that night.
When you're 19, you know,
your hormones are
also everywhere.
[club music playing]
After a while, she was like,
"OK, I'm gonna go
leave with Juan.
I'm gonna
go get some [bleep]."
And I'm like, "Period, b*tch."
Like, you know?
Like, "OK."
Women are like men,
men are like women.
Hate to say it, but, like,
her intentions weren't going
on boyfriend-girlfriend or,
like, you know, it was
just supposed to be, like,
just a one night thing again.
I just told her,
"Have fun, love you, be safe."
Um, "Let me know
when you get there."
And then, um,
that was pretty much it.
[Sarah] It was, like,
I was a little worried
because Juan lives in Fairfield,
and that's about 45 minutes
from my house.
But I had her location,
so, you know,
I wasn't too worried
when she had left in their car.
She texted me...
when she got there
that everything was good.
[notification tone]
She texted me again,
towards the morning,
just saying that
she can't sleep.
She was kind of over it,
being with him at that point.
[shutter clicks]
She had Snapchatted me
a picture of him next to her.
And she's like,
"OK, I just wanna leave.
Like, I kinda wanna wake him up
and have him take me home."
I was like,
"Well, then wake him up
so that you can come over,
and he can drop you off."
And at that point, she told me,
"OK, well, I'm gonna try
to go to sleep."
[tense music playing]
-[cellphone buzzing]
-[suspenseful music playing]
[Sarah]
it was like an hour
or and a half or something
since we last talked.
I was asleep
at this point.
She had FaceTimed me.
I just heard arguing
on the phone.
[indistinct discussion]
And she was, like,
whispering on the phone with me,
saying that some girl was there.
And I was like, "What?
What are you talking about?"
Like, "Who?"
I kept trying
to ask her questions
and ask her things.
And she wasn't saying anything.
And it sounded like she was,
like, hiding or something.
I remember she said,
"I'll call you back."
And it just hung up fast.
[unsettling music playing]
Something is not right.
[ominous music playing]
[Violeta] I messaged Leilani
in the morning,
and she hadn't messaged me yet.
And I figured, "Oh, she must've
gotten really tired
or had a lot of fun that night."
And I wanna say I started
to kinda wonder a little bit
maybe around 11, 12 o'clock.
Normally, by then,
it doesn't matter
how late she was up
the night before.
She would still find a way
to get up.
Around 1 o'clock, 1:30,
I messaged her finally,
thinking,
"OK, it's late enough."
Didn't hear from her.
This isn't like her.
Leilani was always
super communicative.
I was able to get
all the numbers
within the last 24,
that she was
in communication with.
[Keyerra] On Halloween,
I woke up to Violeta,
Leilani's mom, like,
"Have you heard from Leilani?
I see you're
in her last text messages."
That's when I got that
sick feeling in my stomach.
Something was off.
And then I texted her back,
and I was like, "I haven't."
[Kayla]
Her mom also sent me a text.
She's like, "Leilani's missing,
this and that."
I'm like, "What the heck?"
Like, "Why would
my best friend be missing?"
Her mom's saying that
she's not responding,
her location is off.
No one's texts are
going through.
And so we're all freaking out.
Everything was running
through my head.
Did her phone die?
Did she run away?
Did she get arrested?
Like, I don't know.
I messaged every single
one of them with,
"Do you know where Leilani is?
You're the last person
she talked to."
Everybody messaged me back,
except for one number.
And it turned out to be
the number of the person
that she was spending
the night with.
[Violeta] I don't remember
who I heard it from exactly,
but there were
several people
that were trying
to get a hold of Juan,
and they couldn't.
So he was missing, too.
When Leilani's mom
reaches Sarah,
she tells her all
about their FaceTime
earlier that morning.
I felt responsible
that I saw her last.
Her car is still at my house.
Like, her bags are still
at my house.
Everything that she brought
for the weekend
that we were supposed to spend
together is still at my house.
And then coming, like, 4 PM,
the sun's going down now.
Now, I'm just, like,
for sure something's wrong.
And after speaking
with Leilani's mom,
Sarah realizes
it's time to take action.
And that's
when I call the police
to do a missing persons
report on her.
[Det. Chapman]
I got called out to investigate
on October 31st,
on Halloween, in the afternoon.
I was told that there was
a missing persons case
that had, um, some level
of suspicion to it.
I begin by contacting
the last known people
that the person was with.
Sarah knows that Leilani
ended up at Juan's house.
That's -- there's no question
about that.
I got his address.
I called back the police
to give him the address
of his house.
[Det. Chapman]
Juan lives off-base.
He lives in a house that's not
affiliated to the military.
So I have detectives
at the house.
No one answers.
But from outside, police get
a big whiff of probable cause.
[Det. Chapman] The detectives,
they smell bleach.
It was overpowering.
When they enter Juan's house,
they see what they believe
to be as -- as blood
in the hallway,
leading up to the bedroom,
as well as the stairs
leading to the garage.
They see a hole in the wall
in -- in the bedroom
that belongs to Juan.
So, based off the evidence
that was seen,
even to the naked eye
by detectives,
it was the assumption
that Juan's bedroom was
a crime scene.
During that time, I was calling
Juan and Leilani
and leaving voicemails.
We were flagging license plates.
We're trying to backtrack
video cameras in the city,
um, making countless phone calls
to anybody
and everybody we could.
As detectives work frantically
to track down Juan and Leilani,
her friends and family get more
desperate by the minute.
I'm making posts, pictures,
videos that I had from us
the night before,
and what she was last seen
and wearing in.
I just kept posting,
posting, posting.
That's really all
I can remember doing.
And then, just constantly
checking in with Violeta
if we heard anything yet
from anybody.
I was on and off the phone
with the police,
literally, all night
calling them
with anything
I could find.
I was obviously very nervous
and scared trying to find her.
I couldn't get any sleep.
[Det. Chapman] Leilani left
that party with Juan and Damien,
active-duty airmen
at the Travis Air Force Base.
Damien lives on-base,
so that's where I went first
because I knew the first
human-to-human interaction
I could have was
with Damien Ponders.
I speak to Damien, and as part
of most missing persons cases,
we ask,
"What were you guys doing?"
"Do you know Leilani
and Juan's location?"
Just your general questions.
And...
...you could tell he was more
than just nervous.
He had something to say.
And I even threw out there,
"Even if they're dead, just
let me know where they are."
It's a question that I ask
just to kind of see a reaction.
And it was almost unbelievable
what his reaction was.
I've worked many missing
persons cases,
both on patrol
and as a detective.
Asking that question,
I've never got that response.
And it made my heart sink.
[ominous music playing]
So, I'm sitting,
speaking with Damien.
He did a big gulp.
His hands were
just dripping sweat.
I've never seen that.
But I wasn't thinking
he was going to say
what ended up coming out
in the case.
The way Damien describes it,
is that morning Juan called him
and asked him to go to Walmart
and pick up various
cleaning supplies
and an air mattress,
because his mattress
is gonna be disposed of.
And Damien isn't one to ever
question Juan's orders.
[Det. Chapman] I don't know
what Damien was thinking,
but his allegiance
with Juan is that
when Juan needs something,
I just do it.
Damien goes to Walmart and buys
the items that were requested.
He eventually shows up
back at the house.
And that's where Damien learns
the terrible truth
of what happened that morning.
Juan tells Damien
Leilani Beauchamp is dead,
that she was k*lled,
and that her body was removed
from the house.
It's now all hands on deck
to track down Juan
and find Leilani's body.
'Cause Juan is a service member,
I knew that his command
can order him to come to base.
So we worked with his command,
and I was calling Juan
and just trying to get him
to come in.
And through my voicemails
and his command
reaching out to him,
they ordered him
to come back to base.
That's where Juan drives
to the Travis Air Force Base
from wherever he was at.
When I walked in the room,
I don't know if maybe he...
saw my demeanor.
Maybe there was
a sense of confidence,
but Juan knew that Damien
told us what happened.
And he essentially goes,
"I know you know everything,
so I might as well
tell the truth now."
Juan states that that morning,
Juan and Leilani are in bed.
And it's at that time
when Juan's ex-girlfriend
shows up at the house.
Juan then tells investigators
that girl is the same one
who confronted Leilani
just a few weeks before.
Sideshow OG,
Jessica Quintanilla.
[Det. Chapman]
Jessica enters the house,
she lets herself in unannounced,
goes up to Juan's room.
[footsteps tapping]
Juan jumps out of the bed.
This is when Leilani is
in that FaceTime call
with Sarah.
There's a verbal argument
that kind of goes on
between Jessica and Juan,
and that's when Leilani is
discovered in the bed.
Juan then says
that Jessica leaves the room,
and then Jessica returns
with a firearm...
and shoots
Leilani Beauchamp
in the head.
[g*nsh*t blasts]
Following that, Jessica looks
at Juan and says something
to the effect of,
"You made me do this,
and you're gonna help me."
Juan states that he was in fear,
that she just k*lled somebody,
and she can do it to him.
According to Juan, this is when
an armed and dangerous Jessica
contacts her older brother,
Marco Quintanilla,
to help get rid
of Leilani's body.
[Det. Chapman]
They end up bringing
Leilani's body downstairs
through the garage into his car.
After that, Leilani's body is
driven to Monterrey County.
It's a few hours away
and disposed of
by Juan and Jessica.
So we put Juan in a patrol car,
and he led us
to where Leilani was at.
The area was remote.
And she was wrapped in a blanket
that was on the bed.
And that's how we found her,
was wrapped in that blanket.
[tense music playing]
[Violeta] By this time,
we had about 100 people
ready to start
searching for her.
I was ready to start
printing out flyers.
We were putting together
a reward,
whatever they needed.
And then, that's
when the detective
that was on the case
updated us that
Leilani was gone.
And...
I think I was in utter shock,
just in disbelief.
I remember
I couldn't feel my body.
I was just utterly
shattered and hurt.
I was in so much pain.
I lost all the love
I had in me.
I didn't know
how I was able to breathe.
[somber music playing]
Her mom sent me a text.
She told me, "She's gone."
I'm sorry.
[sniffs]
It was just crazy...you know?
It was crazy.
I don't really know
what else to say.
I just kind of was like,
numb, I think.
[Keyerra] I didn't wanna believe
she was dead.
It does something to the soul.
[Violeta]
After that, they told us
that Juan was in custody,
that Damien was in custody.
And I remember
asking the detective,
"Well, where is Jessica?"
And he said,
"Well, that's the problem.
We don't know where she is.
We know what kind of car
she's possibly in,
because Juan told us
she's driving a Cadillac CTS-V.
[engine buzzing]
The car has a very unique sound,
muscle-car sound.
One of the other detectives
is a car guy,
so he knows
what that vehicle is.
Well, through a series of
surveillance and driving around
looking for her, that detective
heard the vehicle.
[engine buzzing]
And he heard it,
and it drew his attention,
and that vehicle
passed him twice,
so it was worth checking out.
[sirens wailing]
And that kinda led
to finding Jessica.
She is stopped, detained,
and brought back
to our investigations division.
When I initially speak
with Jessica
in the interview rooms
at the Fairfield PD,
she doesn't really give off
too much emotion at all.
She just seemed very, very calm,
alarmingly calm, I guess.
When I confronted her
with the follow-up statements
that Juan and Damien provided.
She stops talking, but
I have probable cause to believe
that she was involved
in the k*lling
of Leilani Beauchamp.
Jessica is charged
with first-degree m*rder
that same day.
Her brother Marco is also
arrested and charged
as an accessory after the fact.
I think the obvious motive is
jealousy and anger.
[Aimi] Given that Leilani had
a lot more to offer,
maybe it made Jessica
feel worthless.
She felt like she had
to retaliate in some way
because she wasn't about to be
better than her.
If anything, I feel like
Jessica was scared
that Leilani was gonna, like,
take her place or something,
you know, like,
in their little hierarchy
of weak-a*s sh*t.
But Leilani is just a genuine,
beautiful soul.
She's just that girl,
and Jessica wanted
to be that girl.
Like, be for real, girl.
Like, bye.
I think she's just one bitter,
evil b*tch.
In November of 2024,
Jessica and Marco Quintanilla
stand trial
for Leilani's m*rder,
where Jessica is found guilty
and sentenced
to 25 years to life.
Her brother Marco is
sentenced to four years.
I think there's always gonna be
that sense of
there's no such thing
as true justice.
And what was interesting was
I was prepared to be angry
at Jessica and Marco.
I was prepared to hate them,
but I felt nothing for Jessica,
it was almost as if
I just was looking
straight through her.
It didn't feel like
she was an actual person.
It was impossible to have
any kind of direct anger
towards her.
Juan and Damien are both given
immunity and released
in exchange
for their statements.
[Det. Chapman]
Really, the immunity part,
that was a tactic
that we had to use
to get his statement in
to the trial
to get the conviction
of Jessica Quintanilla
and otherwise find justice
for Leilani Beauchamp.
Although Juan has been
discharged from the Air Force
under, quote,
"less than favorable
conditions,"
he faces no charges
for anything
related to the crime.
So it's just a disgusting
feeling all the way around.
I think Juan is
a low life piece of crap,
and my friend is gone
because...of him.
[solemn music playing]
This is the worst pain I think
anybody can actually endure.
But it's amazing
what you can live through.
Leilani talked about wanting
to get into real estate.
And after Leilani's passing,
my husband decided he was going
to get his broker's license
and fulfill Leilani's dream
to own her own
real estate company.
It was only like
three or four months
after her passing.
He studied so hard,
and he passed it for her.
She was just more
than just my daughter.
She probably encouraged me
as much as I encouraged her.
For Leilani, we have
to live our lives twice as much.
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