13x43 - Family Interrupted

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a masked gunman

att*cks a suburban family.

- 911.

Someone's just
shot our neighbors.

Who shot them?

I, we don't
know, someone in a mask.

This is the most horrible

crime I've ever investigated.

The k*ller leaves several clues.

My first
thought with the black glove

was, not another OJ.

- Whoever the crooks
were made a mistake

leaving behind evidence.

But the forensic evidence

reveals something far worse
than police ever imagined.

That is a pinnacle moment for me

in my forensic career because
it doesn't happen that often.

In Sugar Land,
Texas, just outside of Houston,

everyone knew the
Whitaker family.


managed a construction business

that had been in the
family for a generation.

Business did well, I

mean, in construction
booms, they did real well.

And when construction
wasn't booming,

they still held their own.

So it was a, it was
a great business.

Kent and his wife,
Tricia, and their two sons,

Bart and Kevin, were
in a festive mood

on the night of
December 10, 2003.


to graduate from college

with a criminal justice degree.

They said let's go out and eat,

and let's celebrate.

When they
returned home from dinner,

they were ambushed.



Someone's just
shot our neighbors.

Get over here.

- Who shot them?
- I, we don't know.

Someone in a mask.
Please get here soon.

Moments later, Bart
Whitaker also called 911.

I've been shot.

Where is your wound?

In my arm, my shoulder, I think.

I can't move my arm.

I chased him.

I'm in the living room
right by the kitchen.

- I went after him.

When he left, Bart, did he
leave out your back door?

Yeah.
I chased him that way.

The dispatcher had said,

we've got a quadruple sh**ting.

I initially thought she was
joking because Sugar Land is

just not the town where a
quadruple sh**ting occurs.

Both Kevin
Whitaker and his mother,

Tricia, were k*lled by
g*nsh*t wounds to the chest.

Kent and Bart, both
conscious and alert,

had been shot in
their upper arms.

My initial reaction was shock.

Just didn't know what
to make of it all.

Investigators found the m*rder

w*apon on the kitchen floor.

A nine-millimeter
p*stol, a Glock,

we also had empty shell casings.

Investigators also found

a glove in the
front of the house.

There were no signs
of forced entry.

It looked like robbery
might have been the motive,

but there was nothing missing.

They had opened up
drawers of the master bedroom

about two or three
inches, not enough

even to pull anything out.

A couple of hours later, police

learned of another sh**ting
just a few miles away.

The suspect
went into a house, confronted

the people who live there,
tied them up, roughed them up.

This individual left the scene.

The Houston police
got in a chase

with this individual.

Officers pursued the
suspect to a nearby apartment

complex.

But as they closed in,
the gunman k*lled himself.

We thought that if somebody was

willing to k*ll themselves
running from the police,

that they must have
done something really,

really bad, like a homicide.

The man was identified
as 22-year-old Lathan Jackson.

He'd been released
from prison three

months earlier for
drug possession.

He had been
in prison for felony crimes

before... somewhat leant itself
to us believing that he might

have been involved in
this violent crime.

To find out
whether Jackson was involved

in the Whitaker
sh**t, police

used trained sniffer dogs.

Anytime there's
a high-profile crime,

or a crime where they feel
that scent would be an issue,

or evidence, they'll,
they'll call these dogs.

- God designed them
to do much more work

than we could do with our noses.

The bloodhound picked
up a scent from the glove found

at the Whitakers' home and the
nine-millimeter p*stol found

in the kitchen.

So now we know
that the sh**t had the g*n,

had the gloves, and touched
the drawers in the house.

But the dog didn't find

the same scent on
Jackson's clothing.

So the Whitaker k*ller
was still on the loose.

The Whitaker family had just
returned home from a family

dinner celebrating
Bart Whitaker's

upcoming college graduation.

Kevin Whitaker walked
towards the front door,

followed by his
mother and father.

Bart Whitaker was checking
messages on his cell phone,

and was the last one in.

Kevin and Tricia Whitaker
were k*lled by the gunman.

Kent and his son Bart were
both shot in the upper body,

but survived.

Apparently the k*ller exited
through the rear door.

Close to the back
door of the residence where

the kitchen, there was a black
Glock nine-millimeter handgun.

It had, uh, force-bent
shell casings.

There were no valuables

missing from the
Whitakers' home.

The only thing
early on in the investigation

that we knew was missing was
Bart Whitaker's cell phone.

That couldn't be accounted for.

When questioned,
Kent and Bart told police

that the sh**t was
wearing a ski mask,

was about 5 foot 11 inches
tall with a medium build.

But there were things
about the crime scene

that bothered investigators.

First, it looked
as if the sh**t

knew exactly when the
family would arrive.

The fact
there were four sh*ts and four

hits was very unusual,
just because that

was a really high hit ratio.

You don't see that
with police officers.

He's either really
lucky, or really good,

or had time to plan
out what he was doing.

And when investigators
traced the serial number

of the m*rder w*apon,
they discovered

it was registered
to Kevin Whitaker.

He kept it in a locked safe
in a second-floor bedroom.

The k*ller used some
kind of tool or crowbar

to pry the safe open.

Whatever
tool had been used to pry it

open kind of had a
crowbar-like look to it.

And there were little
flecks of blue paint

in it, suggesting that the tool
that was used had been painted.

And the location of the safe

was another sign the k*ller
was familiar with the layout

of the house.

The sh**t
knew exactly where to go.

There's only one way in and
out of that damn second floor.

As investigators
searched for the man who

att*cked the Whitaker
family, journalists

were busy conducting
their own investigation.

On the night of the
sh**ting, the Whitaker family

was at dinner celebrating
Bart's upcoming graduation

from Sam Houston
State University.

Reporter Eric Hanson
called the university

to find out what
type of degree Bart

Whitaker was going
to be awarded.

The person
who answered the phone,

the first thing he told
me was that Bart is not

a student here, and
is not graduating.

And I was really,
really surprised.

I mean, I was just
flabbergasted.

Instead of going to class,

Bart Whitaker was
using his parents'

money to have a good time.

They would
give him money for tuition.

And they just assumed that
he was going to school,

and trusted him.

And he wasn't.

- His father says he
just believed him.

They never asked him
produce any grades.

Fact is, I think that
later on the father

actually did say that Bart
Whitaker gave him a transcript

and it may have been faked.

Even more appalling,
Bart not only told his parents

he was graduating, but said
he was graduating with honors.

They think that
he's graduating magna cum

laude, I mean high up in,
high up in graduation.

And so they're going out to
celebrate him graduating.

So he comes on home, they
celebrate at the house,

they give him a
Rolex watch, okay?

Despite this information,

Kent Whitaker had a difficult
time believing this had

anything to do with the murders.

It wasn't that

they believed he
had no problems.

They believed he had problems.

They, they just didn't believe
that his problems had the depth

and the, and the,
were as destructive

as they obviously were.

Then investigators
noticed something troubling

on a photograph the
family took of Bart

sitting next to his brother
just an hour before the murders.

And on one of the pictures

we noticed Bart was
making obscene gesture

towards the camera or the
person taking the picture.

Investigators now
wondered if Bart's hostility

went further than an
inappropriate gesture.

After the m*rder of
his mother and brother,

and the attempted
m*rder of his father,

Bart Whitaker was
exposed as a fraud.

He told his family he was
graduating from college, when

in fact he hadn't
attended in years.

- I was even madder
about the fact

that he received a graduation
card from a family friend,

and in it, it had a check
for $25, $50, something,

you know... After he got
out of the hospital,

he cashed the check.

This is after he
had been exposed

as not having graduated.

He still cashed the check.

When news reports of
the Whitaker family sh**t

were broadcast throughout
Texas, one of Bart's friends,

Adam Hipp, came forward with a
startling piece of information.

Two years before the
Whitaker murders,

Adam Hipp claimed Bart tried
to hire him as the sh**t.

Adam said the motive was
financial, that Bart wanted

to cash in on his parents'
multimillion dollar estate.

Hipp knew specifics of
the crime only someone

familiar with the
planning could have known.

- The one specific plot that
matched the homicide scene,

he drew out the entryway to
the Whitakers' residence.

He drew out specifically where
he and Bart had agreed that he

would stand, in the entryway,
to sh**t Kent, Kevin, and Tricia

as they walked through
the front door.

It was an exact match.

- Adam Hipp has an
airtight alibi.

On the day of the
sh**ting, he's up in Dallas

working in the bank.

In another surprise twist,

investigators learned that
Bart's parents, Kent and Tricia

Whitaker, found out about
this plan two years earlier.

Kent and Tricia

didn't believe there was any
credibility to the report.

They were able to contact one
of the other individuals who

was actually
involved in the plot.

That individual
convinced Kent and Tricia

that it was all a joke,
and all a misunderstanding.

So his father
asked Bart Whitaker about this.

Bart Whitaker was so good
at being able to deceive

his father, his father never
double checked into anything.

His father didn't even question
his schooling after that.

And when police told
Kent Whitaker that Bart might

have arranged this sh**ting too,
he had difficulty accepting it.

Kent was very naive.

Um, he's just very naive.

So investigators
wondered, if Bart arranged

his family's m*rder, who
did he get to help him?

So it actually,
when these crimes happened,

they looked to see who Bart was
hanging around with this time.

Bart's two closest friends

were Chris Brashear
and Steven Champagne.

- Brrashear was a
roommate, and Steve

Champagne lived
a few doors down.

When questioned,
both Champagne and Brashear

denied any involvement
in the sh**t.

Both Chris and Steven

were college aged
kids who were kind

of struggling to find their way.

Uh, neither one of them had
really decided on a career

path, bouncing between
jobs and parties.

- Police asked them for
DNA and scent samples,

and they did agree
to provide those.

Investigators asked them

to use gauze pads and distilled
water to wipe their hands.

They handled the gauze pad,

they're the only who's
ever handled the gauze pad,

and we hand it to
them, have them drop it

into the plastic bag,
and seal the plastic bag.

Then investigators
used scent dogs

to see whether those
scents matched the scents

from items found
at the crime scene.

We took scent samples

from every item inside
the house that we

believed was touched
by the suspect.

Police call this a scent lineup.

Most people are

familiar with a
photographic lineup.

A scent lineup is conducted
very much in the same way.

None of the
scents from the crime scene

implicated Steve
Champagne, but the dog

did come up with something.

Guess whose scent they hit on?

Chris Brashear's.

Out of three different tests,
they hit on Chris Brashear.

Unfortunately,
this kind of evidence

is not admissible in court.

We wanted
to work this thing to the point

where it was beyond
a reasonable doubt

before we ever went
forward with charges.

Police would need more
if they wanted a conviction.

Police believed Bart Whitaker
hired his roommate, Chris

Brashear, to m*rder his mother,
father, and his brother.

They also suspected
one of Bart's friends,

Steven Champagne,
was also involved.

- We felt we knew who did it,
but you can't go out there

to the public and
just tell them,

hey, don't worry about it.
We know who did it.

It's just, you know,
we can't prove it yet.

We've got wire taps.

All we're doing is
trying to stir up the pot

to see if these guys want to
start talking to each other.

And they're telephoning, but
we're not getting anything.

Still, police never let

them forget they were
under investigation.

And a year and a half
later, their persistence

finally paid off.

It became evident very quickly

that the efforts we were taking
to talk to Steven Champagne's

circle of friends was working.

It was getting to him.

Steve Champagne
finally broke down and admitted

to police that Bart Whitaker
asked him and Chris Brashear

to k*ll Bart's family.

Champagne insisted that Chris
Brashear was the sh**t,

and that he was
merely the driver.

- Bart wanted me to, I guess,
be in Chris' shoes before.

And then I told him no way.

And, I mean, I
was already to the point

to where I was, I guess,
had knowledge of this,

and, you know, had been
threatened, things like that

and couldn't, felt like
I couldn't go anywhere.

So I was already involved, and
the way that I looked at it

was I tried to eliminate myself
as much from it as possible.

Champagne said
that, after the murders,

they had thrown
a bag of evidence

into nearby Lake Conroe.

Police frogmen searched the lake
and, miraculously, after a year

and a half on the floor of
the lake, found the bag.

Inside was a chisel, a
half-full bottle of water,

Bart Whitaker's
cell phone, and some

unused nine-millimeter b*ll*ts.

- It's the same
type of amm*nit*on

that was used
during the murders.

It's a nice little connection.

Scientists weren't sure

that the paint on the
chisel could be tested.

It was corroded.

It looked like it
had fungus on it.

I was able to find enough
of the light blue paint

that I could scrape off.

There was enough
to test with infrared light,

and its chemical
structures measured.

The findings showed that
the paint from the chisel

was the same as the
paint chips on the safe

in Kevin Whitaker's bedroom.

I was elated.

I was absolutely overjoyed.

That is a pinnacle moment
for me in my forensic career

because it doesn't
happen that often.

Analysts now
turn to the water bottle.

Amazingly, even though it had
been submerged for 18 months,

analysts found a
genetic profile.

The bottle's screw top
sealed someone's DNA

into the plastic
threads of the cap.

They sent it off,
had Chris Brashear's DNA on it.

Isn't it amazing?

It just shows that
Steve Champagne

was telling the truth.

Almost two
years after the murders,

Chris Brashear and
Steve Champagne

were arrested and charged
with capital m*rder.

Ironically, neither
Brashear nor Champagne

was ever paid a cent for their
participation in the crime.

I mean, they
weren't even good hit men.

They didn't even know what
they were going to get.

The ringleader,
Bart Whitaker, fled to Mexico

but was later apprehended.

When Marshall arrested him,

Bart Whitaker was
sitting in the backseat.

And Marshall just
leaned over and said,

you know, Bart, when all
of this is over with,

I just want to know
how you did this.

You know, how were
you able to do this?

And Bart says,
it's easy, you just

offer people what they want.

Prosecutors believe the murders

were meticulously planned.

Bart called his parents with
the bogus story he had passed

his final exams and
was set to graduate.

His parents invited
him home to celebrate.

When the family
went out to dinner,

Chris Brashear entered the home
with the key Bart gave him.

But he dropped a
glove outside, which

later tied him to
the crime scene.

Once inside, Brashear broke
into the safe in Kevin's room,

stealing the Glock
nine-millimeter handgun,

leaving the paint chips that
tied the chisel to the scene.

To make it look like a robbery,
Brashear opened some drawers

in the house, but the attempt
clearly looked staged.

Steve Champagne was
at the restaurant

and called Brashear
as the Whitakers left.

When the Whitakers came
home, Brashear was waiting.

He shot Kevin and
Tricia in the chest.

He shot Kent in the
arm as he turned

sideways, which
saved Kent's life.

Brashear then shot Bart
in the arm, as planned.

When he tried to pick up
the g*n, in his haste,

he probably picked up Bart's
cell phone by mistake.

Then he ran outside
through the back door

and met Steve Champagne,
who was waiting

for him two blocks away.

Brashear took a sip
of water, then put it

in the canvas bag,
along with the chisel

and Bart's cell phone, and
threw the bag into the lake.


the bag was recovered,

Brashear's DNA was
still on that bottle.

Steven Champagne

had provided a confession.

All of the key
pieces of evidence

that were needed to
corroborate his confession

were contained in that bag.

You had to get
the forensic evidence out

of Lake Conroe.

Or you had to have the
dog scent from that night,

just like a jigsaw puzzle.

And once all the pieces were
there, it makes your puzzle.

And that's what this did.

Chris Brashear
was convicted of two counts

of capital m*rder, and was
sentenced to life in prison.

In exchange for his
testimony, Steven Champagne

was convicted of capital
m*rder and sentenced

to 15 years in prison.

Hereby find the
defendant, Thomas Barton

Whitaker, guilty of the
offense of capital m*rder

as charged in the indictment.

Bart Whitaker
was sentenced to death.

Forensic evidence

tied all of the other key
components of this case

together and allowed us
ultimately to present

the district attorney's office
with a case that was, you know,

by the grace of God, as
airtight as it could get.

- It didn't matter whether
Bart Whitaker really

had a legitimate reason
to hate somebody.

If he just decided that
he was superior to you,

and that whatever you had,
he deserved because he's

better than you,
he's getting it.