08x01 - Seeing Red

[bunniefuu]

[man] The day after the accident,
there was an autopsy done.

The expectation was that the
crash was the cause of her death.

[heart b*ating]

That wasn't just
a traditional car crash.

[phone rings]

She didn't deserve that.

[narrator] 18 year old
Bianca Roberson

is celebrating her
high school graduation.

Bianca was a social butterfly,
she loved to socialize.

[Josie] If you were
her friend...

you were a friend for life.
She was just so caring.

I can't believe we're all gonna be in
different states! I'm gonna miss y'all so much.

We had a nice graduation
party for her and all her friends

and family showed up for her
and you know, she got a lot of gifts.

Bianca was accepted to
Jacksonville University in Florida.

She was going for criminal
justice and psychology.

She wanted to be an FBI agent.

She wanted to go out here and try
to save the world from bad people.

She was extremely excited,
she couldn't wait, I mean

this girl was walking on air.
[laughs]

Watch out Florida,
here I come! [laughs]

I think at the graduation
party I could just see

the difference in her,
that she's just growing up now

she's not
Mommy's little girl any more.

[Michelle] June 28, 2017, it
was just like any other day.

We were going to the mall
to get school supplies

and we ended up in different cars
because I was at work, my mom was at work

and Bianca went and
got her hair done earlier.

We got outside and we put
all the bags in Bianca's car.

I wanted her to go straight
home because I had ordered

a college dorm box which
I was surprising her with.

- What is it?
- [hums disapprovingly]

- You have to wait until you get home.
- Okay.

- Drive safe, sweetheart.
- You too.

- [Michelle] I love you.
- Love you.

I told her I loved her.

And then she got in her car
and she left.

[sighs deeply]

[siren wails]

[Ben] When an accident
is reported serious...

officers respond out, lights
and sirens as quickly as they can

to run to anybody
in the vehicle.

The car had gone off of the
road lay down in an embankment

and then up a hill and then struck
a number of trees in that area.

The responding officers
described a fairly substantial

amount of blood in the
interior of the vehicle.

The crash victim appeared
to have a an injury to her head.

[siren wails]

[Jose] The thought
was that the driv er's head

either struck the A-frame
of the vehicle

or as she was traveling through the brush,
a branch or tree came and struck her head.

It was apparent that the driver
of the vehicle was deceased.

There were personal belongings in
the vehicle, including her driver's license

and she was identified
as Bianca Roberson.

[Josie] I left the store
and going home...

they were detouring you off the
road, there was like this major accident

and I remember saying to myself...
God, I hope that's not Bianca.

And then when
I get into the driveway...

there's a cop.

We don't have cops
in our neighborhood.

What in the world is going on?

Can I help you?

[Josie] And he says to me...

"Are you Michelle Roberson?"
I said "No, I'm her mother".

Then he says "We need
to speak to her".

[phone rings]

- Hello?
- My mom, she was crying.

And I'm like "What's wrong?"
and she says

"I don't know, the police are
here and are asking for you".

And then when
I got to the house...

The police officer comes to me and he
asks me "Did I own a green Chevy Malibu"?

And he asked me
who would be driving it.

I said, "My daughter."

And he said "Would that be
Bianca Roberson?" and I said yes.

And he said "I'm sorry
to inform you..."

I couldn't even let him say
anything else after that.

[Josie] The whole thing was like a
haze, like it was somebody else's life.

I couldn't believe we were
going through this again.

[narrator] Just four years earlier,
Michelle lost her eldest son,

22 year old Michael,
to heart disease.

How can this be happening again?

How is my daughter dead?

And I remember just sitting in
the house just crying, just crying.

[narrator] At the crash site,
investigators take witness statements.

One of the 911 callers saw
Bianca Roberson's

vehicle traveling South
on the 100 Spur

and a red pick-up truck
traveling next to her vehicle.

She believes she saw the red pick-up
truck impact Bianca Roberson's vehicle

right before the merger caused
Bianca's vehicle to travel

off the roadway into the brush.

After she saw Bianca's vehicle
go off the roadway and crash,

this red pick-up truck just
took off at an accelerated speed.

It's clear to us that the
reason this vehicle took off

is because somehow or another
they were involved.

[narrator] Detective Torres
arrives on scene.

When you arrive
at a scene like this...

tensions are high
and people are distraught.

We have to conduct
an investigation...

and sometimes it's difficult.

PennDOT which is the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation

has cameras that show roadways throughout
the entire state of Pennsylvania.

[narrator] Investigators request footage
from highway surveillance cameras.

We wanted to look at that
video to determine

if we can see
Bianca Roberson's vehicle

and this red pick-up truck
that witnesses were describing

and what, if anything, that
video would capture

with regard to their
interactions with each other.

The day after the crash there was
an autopsy done on Bianca's body.

Everybody thought
it was a car crash.

Bianca's car had swerved
off the road and hit a tree

and the expectation was that
was the cause of her death.

- But during the course of the autopsy...
- [camera shutter clicks]

There was a b*llet found
in Bianca's skull.

- [narrator] The b*llet is from a 40 caliber p*stol.
- [phone rings]

[Chad] Wasn't just a car
crash, this is a homicide.

She was sh*t?

We were stunned.

[Chad] Somebody in our community sh*t
a g*n, k*lled another driver on the road.

We didn't know if that was an individual
who was going to harm other people.

Thanks for letting me know.

We have to do
everything we can...

to find the person who
committed this m*rder.

[knocks on door]

After the autopsy...

Myself and Detective Ben Martin
went down to Bianca Roberson's home...

Hi, may we come in?

It was like, what else could be any
worse than what we're already dealing with?

You might wanna sit down.

[Michelle] They told me that
Bianca wasn't in a car accident.

She had been sh*t
in the back of the head.

From being in a car accident
to being m*rder*d...

In less than a day and a half
was way too much for me.

I lost it, I just started
screaming.

[Jose]
After we broke the news...

it was important to get information from
them to help us with our investigation.

In many homicides the offender
is known to the victim.

We need to find out if someone
had something against Bianca.

Do you know anyone who would
have wanted to hurt her?

We didn't think Bianca knew
anybody who owned a g*n,

you know and so we never thought

that it was somebody that
knew us or even knew Bianca.

[Jose] So this becomes a
really difficult investigation.

We have to look
into Bianca's life.

What she was doing
prior to the incident.

Can you take us through
Bianca's movements yesterday?

[Ben] Once we learned
that Bianca had just

come from shopping,
we went to the Walmart,

to look for video
from inside the store.

We're trying to determine if
this all initiated at the Walmart,

which was the last
place she was seen alive.

Queue up the entrance camera
for June 28th, around 4.20 PM.

[Chad] Was there somebody
following her? Was there an altercation?

Had something occurred during
that time that would give us

insight into why
she was m*rder*d?

Pause it right there.

- That's Bianca.
- [Jose] We're able to identify Bianca by her clothing.

She was wearing the clothing she
was wearing at the time of her m*rder.

And I'm also able to identify
Michelle Roberson

and Bianca's grandmother
Josie, as I see them on the video.

Switch the interior camera around


Whoa, play that again.

Are they being followed?

We noticed that as Bianca and
her family were leaving the Walmart

there was a male with a red shirt
who was walking next to them...

This is something that
we look at to determine

if this individual
was somehow involved or

had an issue with Bianca
and/or her family.

Let's see where he goes.

Rewind.

- False alarm.
- As Bianca and her family were leaving the Walmart

the man with the red shirt actually
passed them and left ahead of them

which led us to believe that he was not
involved with what was about to occur.

Sometimes the most innocent encounters
we tend to put under the microscope.

Pull up the exterior camera.

[Ben] There's no interactions
that are seen on video

that would lead us to believe that
the sh**ting had anything to do with

anything that had occurred
inside of the Walmart.

This looks like a normal day.

[Jose] When we're
watching the video...

it's sad, it's very sad.

They had no idea that their world was
going to change so drastically as it did.

[narrator] Back at the police
department,

ootage from the highway
surveillance cameras is in.

[Jose] We start to look at the
Penn DOT live feeds to see if we can

locate any video with Bianca
Roberson's vehicle.

What've we got?

[Jose] Unfortunately,
the location of the m*rder,

that part of the roadway
was not depicted on any video.

Bring up the video of the camera just
North of the scenes, before the merge.

[Jose] So what we then had to do was
look at video from just prior to the scene.

Wait, pause it there.

That's the red truck
and the green Chevy.

We were able to isolate video of the red
pick-up truck and Bianca Roberson's vehicle.

[Ben] They were both in their
respective travel lanes,

but they were both
approaching the merge

where it turns into one lane
pretty quickly.

[Jose] When we see those
vehicles driving side by side,

we have to wonder is there was some sort of
encounter between the operators of the vehicles.

We're not able to get anything specific
about the vehicle to make it identifiable.

[narrator] Detectives check the next
available camera just after the crash site.

Rewind.

Pause it there.

We were able to isolate
a red pick-up truck

now traveling Southbound
on 202. The vehicles

not even traveling
in the lane of travel.

It's on the shoulder as it's passing
cars in the right lane of travel.

We believe the vehicle's
fleeing the scene.

There is no doubt in our minds
that this red pick-up truck

is being driven by the person
who m*rder*d Bianca Roberson.

The fact of the matter is, there's
tons of red pick-up trucks in the region.

So unless we get more clear
video which helps us

to specifically identify
a particular truck,

we are looking for
a needle in a haystack.

We then went to the next camera
which would have been Westchester Pike

and we started looking
at that surveillance video.

We were able to determine that the red pick-up
truck never made it to Westchester Pike.

So it was apparent to us that the driver
of that vehicle got off of Route 202...

at Paoli Pike.

We start knocking on every
door to every house

and business along that exit.

In the hopes that we could find video that
would be more clear, which would allow us

to at least get a make or
model if not more information

relative to the
red pick-up truck.

We also handed out fliers to
the public about this red truck...

[Jose] We were hoping that this
would generate some information from

people who may know something

regarding the operator
of this vehicle.

[narrator] While officers
canvas for further leads...

Detective Torres turns
back to the 911 calls.

[Jose] One of the witnesses who called


between this pick-up truck
and Bianca Roberson's vehicle.

It's not uncommon that people
who witness crashes just don't stop.

Aqua's a public utility water
service company in this region.

So it would have been an employee of the
company who would have witnessed the crash

so it was important for us to
identify the operator of the vehicle.

We made phone calls
to the Aqua corporation.

They've determined what driver was
in the area and I reached out to him.

He was willing to come in
for a recorded interview.

We were hoping, best case
scenario, maybe he would

be able to recall a
registration plate, a tag number.

We were excited
that we had the possibility

of getting information that
would help us solve this case.

Bianca Roberson's vehicle passed
his vehicle on the right hand side

and then made a lane change
to come back into the left

He did not realize it was
as serious as it was.

We were not further along in the
investigation after speaking with him.

It was very frustrating
because without finding out

who owned this red pick-up
truck there's no way we were

gonna be able
to solve this case.

[knocks on door]

- [detective] Hi.
- Hi detectives, come on in.

Thank you.

Myself and Detective Martin
sat down with the Roberson family

I remember them saying that they
had no license plate, no anything.

And I just knew that this case
was just gonna be a cold case,

that they were never
gonna find... the m*rder*r.

[Jose] I said, I promise you
I will do everything I can

to find the person
who did this...

To Bianca.

[narrator] Detectives try to pick
up the red truck on surveillance

cameras East of Paoli Pike.

The ultimate goal in trying to get as
much surveillance videos as possible is

hoping we get lucky. Hope that we
come across a surveillance system

that is clear enough to where
you're able to get a registration.

Or you're able to see the
operator of the vehicle.

We came across a business
called Jersey Mike's

and when we found that
surveillance video, we were excited.

We actually see a red pick-up coming down
Paoli Pike towards Westchester borough.

[Jose] This red pick-up truck passes Jersey
Mike's about 5:31 PM, which is consistent

with everything else we know
because the distance between

the scene of the m*rder and
Jersey Mike's is not that far.

So we have what we think
is the suspect's truck

at the right time heading West. We
feel like we're closing in on something.

Finding that video was
important because

that established a direction
of travel for the vehicle.

We could now start tracking where
the vehicle ultimately ended up.

Trying to get clear enough
sh*ts to get a tag off of it.

What's the next business along
this stretch we have surveillance for?

Uh, Chestnutsquare Apartments.

There it is.

In reviewing the video we see

this red pick-up truck pass
Chestnutsquare Apartments.

We now know, okay, the red truck is
heading towards Westchester and so it helps

limit the area that
we have to look into.

[narrator] Having narrowed down
the red truck's potential location,

investigators study it
closely for identifying features.

Zoom in.

Was there anything unique
about the trim package,

the rims, the bumpers, the
windows... anything like that.

[Jose] We think we have
an older model, four door,

or at least extended cab
pick-up truck.

Potentially a GMC, Chevrolet
type of vehicle.

But beyond that, we couldn't
come up with anything specific.

Let's get this video enhanced.
Might be something we're not seeing.

We believe that if we take our efforts
and focus in the Westchester borough area

that we may have success
finding the operator of the vehicle.

On June 30th, two days after
the m*rder of Bianca Roberson

- A witness comes forward.
- Thank you for coming in.

And tells us that she was
traveling South on Route 202

when this red pick-up truck
passed her on the shoulder

and got off at Paoli Pike.

She then told us that the red
pick-up truck went Eastbound.

Not Westbound.

Are you sure?

[narrator] Detectives have
been following the wrong truck.

Whenever you're following a lead and it
fizzles out it could be a bit frustrating

but that's put aside by the
excitement of having

more accurate, better
information to follow up on.

- Did you happen to see license tag?
- No, I didn't.

- I did see the driver.
- You did?

Can you describe them?

She described the driver
of the red pick-up truck

as white male having
blondish, brownish hair,

some stubble, facial hair
and specifically described

his eyes as being bugged eyes.

We asked her if she'd be
willing to do a composite sketch.

Of course.

We release the images of the
composite sketch to the media

in the hopes, that again, we
get someone to come forward

to say they know who
this person may be.

We know now that the operator
of the vehicle is a white male.

We know that Bianca Roberson
is an African-American female.

It's important for us to do
everything we can to determine

if whether or not this was a
racially-motivated m*rder,

because it then leads you to believe
that this isn't an isolated incident.

This individual is capable of targeting
any person who may have a minority status

which makes him even
more dangerous.

They showed us the sketch and knowing that
it was a white man that k*lled my daughter...

The motive I believe was due to
the fact that my daughter was... black.

It's really painful because
Bianca had no hate in her heart.

Knowing that he was
still out there...

it was slowly k*lling me.

[narrator] Detectives now turn
their focus to finding surveillance

footage East of Paoli Pike.

[Jose] We start tasking investigators
with knocking on every single door.

- [knocks on door]
- For every home

and every business along Paoli
Pike heading in an Eastbound direction.

Hi there, West Goshen PD.
We're investigating a homicide.

We found a resident that was several hundred
yards from the exit that had video footage.

Can you queue it up
to June 28th, around 5:30 PM?

That was exciting for us because we were
hoping to get better images of this truck...

and confirm that in fact,
it was traveling Eastbound.

There.

That's our red truck.

At 5:31 we see the red truck
passing the residence on Paoli Pike.

This fit in with the timeline of the
truck traveling from the crime scene.

Pause it there.

Can you zoom in on the wheels?

We were able to determine that the
red pick-up truck had after market rims.

It was an extended cab.

What we are unable to see in
the video is the driver of the vehicle.

We're not able to see
the registration plate.

So we still need to continue our
search in hopes that each video...

reveals some additional
information.

I think you need to
have a look at this.

[Ben] Footage from a
residential security system

down on Middletown road in Delaware
County that was in high definition.

We're excited because the cameras
themselves are closer to the roadway.

The pick-up truck
that we're looking for

passes through the video.

Zoom in on the window.

There was a decal on the
window of the rear part

of the passenger compartment
on the extended cab.

We see damage to the hood,
where the hood

is slightly buckled, above
the front right fender...

and we see a vertical dent
on the passenger side door.

Those characteristics make this a very
specific vehicle that we are looking for.

We felt like okay, finally
we are getting a break.

[narrator] Detectives release
the new pictures to the media

with a 5000 dollar reward
for information.

We were confident that when
people see these images

from this video, someone's
going to know

who that particular vehicle
belonged to.

The community really rallied
around me and my family.

Someone threw a vigil in our backyard
and it was just filled with so many people.

Seeing all those
people were like...

letting me know how much
people really did love Bianca.

How much her friends
really did love her.

It showed how important she was.

Not only to me but
to the community.

I think it touched
so many mothers

because Bianca was so young it
could have been anybody's child.

[Jose] On July 1st...

around 11 o'clock at night...

- I ended up leaving work and...
- [phone rings]

I get a phone call
from my lieutenant

who says you need
to get back to work.

When I arrived at work I was told that
we received a phone call from an attorney

who said he had a client...

who wanted to turn himself in.

There was a sense of relief to a
certain point, and a sense of curiosity.

Who is this guy? What caused him
to do this? What is he gonna tell us?

What is he gonna be like?

There was also a part of me
that's worried... is this going to be

somebody who's making
something up or trying to get

attention because this was so
talked about in the community.

His name was David Desper.

His attorney told us that his
client was going to invoke

his right and not
provide a statement.

But told us that his client
owned a red pick-up truck,

told us where
the pick-up truck was

and gave us consent to search
David Desper's bedroom.

That information's great.

But we still have the burden of proving
that David Desper committed this m*rder.

We sent a team of
investigators to where

we were told we would find
the red pick-up truck.

When we looked
at the red pick-up truck...

we could see the stickers
on the windows.

We were able to confirm
the after-market rims.

We saw the damage
to the vehicle.

There was no doubt that
this was the vehicle

we were tracking.

When we look at the
registration plate on the vehicle,

the vehicle's registered
to David Desper.

So there's no doubt the owner of the vehicle
is the person who is turning himself in.

As our investigators searched
David Desper's room...

they found a Smith&Wesson


That's important because the b*llet
that was recovered during the autopsy

was a 40 caliber b*llet fired
from a Smith&Wesson handgun.

We found him.
We found him.

We were gonna
get justice for Bianca.

On July 2nd, 2017,

David Desper was charged
with first degree m*rder,

third degree m*rder,
possessing an instrument

of crime and reckless
endangerment to another person.

We know who the m*rder*r
of Bianca Roberson is, but

we still aren't clear about
what his motive was.

[Chad] One thing we had to explore
is that David Desper is a white male

and Bianca is an
African-American female

and so we had to look into,
is this racially motivated?

Can that be a explanation
for why he did this?

We left no stone unturned when
it came to talking to people,

and digging through
social media platforms...

[Chad] We weren't able to
find any social media activity

or individual to testify that
David Desper was a r*cist.

It meant that we were not
allowed to present it in trial.

- [line rings] - Hi, can we get a
search warrant on Desper's cellphone?

One thing we were able to determine in the
analysis of David Desper's phone records

was that within minutes
of murdering someone

he made a phone call
to his best friend.

We asked him if he'd
be willing to talk to us.

It was a conversation about
car racing and vehicle parts.

David Desper did nothing or said nothing
that would lead his best friend of many years

to believe that he just
committed a m*rder.

It was amazing that he was
able to m*rder someone

and show no remorse,
no concern and ultimately

didn't surrender himself
until he knew

we were about to knock
on his door.

[narrator] With Desper refusing to
offer an explanation why he sh*t Bianca

the prosecution can
only speculate.

[Chad] On June 28th, 2017 David
Desper was driving on Route 100

in his red pick-up truck.

Something happened
with Bianca's car.

She tried to merge...
and he got angry.

Instead of simply
letting her pass...

David Desper decided
to grab his handgun

pointed out his passenger window at
Bianca Roberson and pulled the trigger.

[car breaks squeal]

[loud crash]

He was mad about his place
and line in traffic

and that's something that
I can't imagine accepting

as the explanation for why
your daughter's dead.

[narrator] David Desper pleads
guilty to third degree m*rder

and is sentenced to a minimum
of 20 years behind bars.

It's a tragedy... and it is one of the saddest
cases I've ever had in my entire career.

I never met Bianca but I got
to know her so well through

all the people who cared
about her and loved her.

To hold Desper accountable,
it doesn't bring Bianca back.

But it feels like it was the
only thing we could do.

This has truly destroyed me.

[sighs deeply] I was already
grieving the loss of my son...

[sighs] and she was
the last thing that I had...

to keep me going.

[Josie] Michelle started
a foundation in Bianca's name.

It's called Merge With Mercy.

And every year she
gives a scholarship to a child

that is graduating from their
Boston high school.

We also help families that have
been impacted by g*n v*olence.

It was important that
I created this foundation...

for me to have
a purpose in life and

a way to keep Bianca alive.

Sometimes I feel both her
and Michael's presence with me.

That's where
my strength comes from.

I feel like they're my angels...

that keep saying
"Go Mom, keep going Mom".