14x05 - A Squire's Riches

[bunniefuu]

Up next, is it a
m*rder, su1c1de, or fraud?

- Some red flags
were going off, I

think, for our detective bureau.

Investigators follow
the money trail for clues.

- There was a $5 million
policy that, ultimately, we

found later.

- There was a lot of items that
weren't matching up at all.

But in the end,
only science has the answers.

- I had never seen a case
that took so many turns

and so many
different directions.

And really, it was...
It was bizarre.

Diesel truck pulling is

an obscure sport in
the United States.

But it enjoys a loyal
and growing fan base.

- It actually
involves pulling way

more weight than these
trucks are designed to pull.

Here we go.

Can he get him?

And so you have
to be a really good mechanic

to be into it.

For 39-year-old
building contractor,

Ari Squire, preparing diesel
trucks for these competitions

was more than a hobby.

It was his obsession.

To accommodate this pastime,
Ari built a 2,300 square foot

garage on his property
in the Chicago suburbs.

- Ari was a bit of a
gearhead, so he had his truck

that he was apparently
always working on.

It wasn't
considered a dangerous hobby

until one February
morning in 2008

- when Ari's wife called 911.
- 911.

Lake County Sheriff.

When the smoke cleared,

firefighters found
Ari's lifeless

body underneath a truck.

- It appeared the truck had
slipped off the front jack

and, uh, it had
crushed the victim.

He'd suffered severe
burns over most of his body.

It looked like the truck fell
off the Jack while Ari was

underneath working
on the fuel filter.

Fuel spilled from the
filter onto Ari's clothes.

The truck broke a
fluorescent lamp

and a spark ignited the fuel.

- This was likely an
accidental death.

We've certainly seen
deaths of people working

under their vehicles that
have slid off of jacks,

fallen on them, and
crushed them to death.

Although the
body was unrecognizable,

Ari's driver's license was
recovered from his back pocket.

We rarely, actually,

compare these things
to a driver's license.

People lie on their
driver's license,

and so sometimes that
information isn't correct.

The medical examiner wanted

to make a positive
identification

using scientific methods.

This proved to be harder
than anyone expected.

Based on the extent

of the burns on the face
and the hands and the arms,

we couldn't do fingerprints.

We couldn't do
facial recognition.

So our only choice
was DNA and dental.

Well, as it turns out,

Ari Squire hadn't been to the
dentist in almost a decade.

At the fire scene, investigators

saw something suspicious on
the garage circuit panel.

Checking out all
the circuits on those,

I noticed that they were
all in the Off position.

If the circuit
breakers were off,

there would have been no
electricity to power the light

which, theoretically,
had started the fire.

I inquired whether
the fire department

had, indeed, turned those off.

They said, no, they didn't
touched the circuit box at all.

Ari had been working
on a diesel truck fuel filter,

but tests showed there was an
accelerant on Ari's clothing

more flammable than diesel fuel.

- Some red flags
were going off, I

think, for our detective
bureau, certainly.

- It was consistent with, like a
gasoline type, which would have

been more of a lighter
petroleum product.

When investigators looked

into Ari's personal
life, friends

said there was no love
lost in the Squire's

childless 14-year marriage.

They did
not sleep in the same bed.

When I did get to the house,
I did see that it was obvious

that both beds had been
slept in that night.

- It wasn't really a
close-knit marriage,

that was coming
out very clearly.

Even more
suspicious, Ari had $5 million

worth of life insurance,
and Ari's wife

Denise was the sole beneficiary.

But when questioned
by police, Denise

claimed she knew
nothing about it.

So we began to try to find out

why the wife would not know
these details concerning Ari.

Ari's wife moved quickly

to cremate his body before
being stopped by police.

- The fire was on Saturday.

And she wanted to have
that body released.

Uh, I think she was making
phone calls by Monday or Tuesday

that she needed the
body for cremation.

It became more and more obvious

that, indeed, this
was a homicide

that had been covered up.

Ari Squire was
working on a diesel truck fuel

filter at the time of his death.

When investigators
recreated the incident,

they discovered it would've
been easy for someone

to release the jack
holding up the truck

and k*ll the person
working beneath it.

- A lot of people showed
surprise that Ari would not

have used safety equipment when
working underneath his vehicle.

As investigators tried
to figure out what was going

on, Detective Morrison was
home watching television

and saw an episode of "Forensic
Files" that was eerily similar.

Madison Rutherford case.

It happened in New England.

I'm watching and I'm
seeing he took a dead body.

There was a truck fire.

He faked his death
and then came back

and assumed another identity.

And when I was
watching this show,

I noticed there were
so many similarities

between the two cases.

The life insurance
amounts in both cases

were virtually identical.

Madison Rutherford,

he had two insurance
policies, one for $5 million,

one for $2 million.

That was very
similar to Ari, where

Ari had one for $5 and
one for $1 million.

The Madison Rutherford case

unraveled when forensic
odontology proved it wasn't

Rutherford who d*ed in the fire.

And that's precisely what
happened to Ari Squire

when investigators
found Squire's

dentist from 10 years earlier.

- We were able to track down
that dentist in California

after some phone calls.

The file was so
old, there were no x-rays.

He did get
a hold of a dental note

about a certain tooth
and a certain filling.

The dentist had seen him

for a large cavity on
a lower right molar.

And the dentist had
placed a very large

silver-type filling
in the tooth.

When investigators checked
the victim's teeth,

there was no such filling.

The body that they had,

the b*rned body, was
not Ari Squire's.

If it's
not Ari Squire, who is it?

And why are they
underneath there?

One clue came to police

through a missing
person notification.

A woman called police to
report her 20-year-old son,

Justin Newman, was missing.

He worked at the
local Home Depot store

and hadn't been
seen since the fire.

He told me he had met a man that

comes into Home
Depot quite often.

And he had pulled Justin
aside and asked Justin

if he'd like to make more money.

So Justin said, yeah,
that sounds good.

Justin told his
mother the man was Ari Squire,

and that he was going to do
some work at Ari's house.

- He was supposed to be meeting
with Ari Squire on February 23,

the day that Ari Squire
was believed to have d*ed.

- And he says, mom, he
offered me $15 an hour.

He says, you know,
right now, I could...

We could really use that money.

Then, the day
after Justin went missing,

his mother got a text
message from his cellphone.

It said, "Mom,
gone to Missouri to work.

Call you next week."

Justin's mother
was very skeptical.

Justin doesn't text.

You know?

Because that wasn't Justin.

He would pick up the
phone and call me.

There was no way
he would text me.

He could just call me.

As police tried to
trace the origin of that text

message, they reexamined
the b*rned body.

Justin was 5'6", 140
pounds, virtually the same

height and weight as Ari Squire.

Scientists compared DNA
from Justin's toothbrush

to DNA from the victim.

They also took a DNA sample
from Justin's mother.

When they
came to me for the swab,

I looked at her and I go, my
son in that morgue, isn't it?

She goes, no, no, no.

We're just doing this
because this is what we do.

And I go, yeah.
And you're full of bologna.

And I knew it when
she came and did that.

I just had that feeling.

- When we finally got
the DNA results back,

we were able to
positively identify

the body that we had
as Justin Newman.

Police put out
an all points bulletin

for Justin Newman's
car, which was missing.

They assumed if they
found Newman's car,

they'd also find Ari Squire.

Just one day after the arson
fire that k*lled Justin Newman,

Denise Squire received an
email from her husband Ari.

"My will and
letters are in my file drawer

to my left in my office.

They are located
in a priority mail

envelope addressed to you."

Three days after the fire,

she received another email
from Ari's email account.

"When will
my ashes be returned to you?

Where are you planning
on dispersing them?

Is there anything you need?

Thank you Denise.

With my love, Ari."

And it appeared to me

that he was trying to
find out where we're

at in the investigation
without coming

out and saying, hey, you know?

How are they... how
they doing today?

Did they buy us?

Denise denied any
involvement in Justin Newman's

m*rder and claimed she
had no idea where Ari was.

But now, another
Home Depot employee

told police a story that turned
the investigation upside down.

One of Justin's
coworkers comes up to the cops

and he says, I know Ari Squire.

He was in here all the time.

And this is the part
that's really weird,

he was asking me to
do work for him, too.

Justin
was not the primary target.

Ari had singled out another
Home Depot employee who better

matched for age and
physical description.

That person was Sandy Lively,

a remarkable physical
match to Ari Squire.

- It's a creepy picture.

He's the hunter
and I'm the prey?

That's not exactly how
I thought about it.

He was stalking.

I mean, that's how I felt.

He didn't know
that he was a possible victim.

He had no idea until we
brought those pictures in.

I mean, it was scary.
That was really scary.

Strangely, Ari, who
normally didn't wear a beard,

through grew one in the
weeks before the m*rder.

Ari starts to make himself

look even more
like Sandy Lively.

And by growing a beard, the
two almost looked like twins.

When Sandy agreed
to do some work for Ari,

Ari gave him this
extraordinarily detailed job

application.

I've never seen
an application that asked where

a tattoo was at, and what they
were of, and the piercings.

If I had any piercings anywhere.

I don't see how that would
make a difference if I have

a piercing if I want
to be a carpenter.

Finally, Sandy agreed
to meet Ari at his house.

But fortunately for Sandy,
the meeting never took place.

- I was supposed to go to Ari's
on that Saturday morning.

And, uh, the night
before, my daughter

had a, a slumber party for
her 10th birthday party.

And, uh, kept me up all
night, so I overslept.

Just a few hours
later, that same day,

prosecutors believe
Ari grew impatient

and called his fallback
target, Justin Newman.

- Hey.

How you doing?

Justin thought he
was there to do

some freelance
construction work.

- What I had in mind
today was putting

some shelving up along
this far wall here.

Prosecutors think Ari
used chloroform, since there

was no evidence of
blunt force trauma.

Ari stripped Justin
down to his underwear

and redressed him in
his clothes and shoes.

He placed Justin
under the truck,

pumped up the hydraulic
jack, and then let it

fall, k*lling Justin instantly.

In order to hide the
identity of the body,

Ari doused it with
more diesel fuel

than the fuel filter
would have held, then

used a more flammable
accelerant to propel the fire.

He wanted to make it
look like the truck broke

the fluorescent light creating
the spark that ignited

the fire, but that's not
what caused the fire.

The circuit breakers
were off, so there

was no power going to the light.

He most likely used a match.

And the amount of fuel on the
body was inconsistent in amount

and make up from the fuel
held by a truck's fuel filter.

Ari clearly didn't
realize that fire

doesn't destroy everything.

Justin's teeth didn't
resemble Ari's,

clearly proving Ari
wasn't the victim.

I think
that he had plans for me,

and, you know, I blew
his plan that day.

I think about it every day.

Every day and all
day, sometimes.

That comes and goes, the whole...
The whole thing with Justin,

you know?

I don't know.

Would it have been different
if I'd a showed up?

But the case was far from over.

Ari Squire, who tried
to fake his own death

and defraud the insurance
company of $5 million,

was still on the loose.

Investigators think that Ari
Squire's motive for setting

the arson fire and faking
his own death was money.

He was about to
turn 40 years old,

and he could no longer afford
to pay his monthly premiums

for his $5 million
life insurance policy.

And those premiums
were about to go up.

- The insurance premiums
were $2,000 a year,

but he came to a point
where they were going

to be jumping up
to $13,000 a year.

And he was broke.

He didn't have the money.

Investigators also
found evidence Ari Squire's

construction company
was virtually bankrupt.

- Well, at the time
of this incident,

the housing boom
had now crashed.

People were starting to retract.

There wasn't any work.

His project down in Florida, his
condo... 33-unit condo project

was failing into bankruptcy.

And, um, he was having a lot
of financial difficulties.

To fake his
own death, Ari Squire

needed someone who looked
like him in height,

weight, and physical appearance.

- He gave me his number
and took my number,

and called me every day,
and stopped in every day,

and pretty much, uh...
Was pretty persistent.

When Sandy
Lively failed to show up

for his appointment with
Ari, in frustration Ari

turned to his second
choice, Justin Newman.

And DNA positively
identified that it

was Justin who perished
in the arson fire.

It is the worst feeling

I've ever had in my entire life.

He was my best friend.

I just... and now, still
nowadays, I just look and I go,

I just can't believe
he's not here.

He was, uh, happy all the time.

Nothing ever bothered him.

He was a hard worker.

Liked to... he liked
to have his fun, too.

You know, he w a nice guy.

Police assumed Ari
fled to Missouri because that's

where he said he was
in the phony text

message he sent to
Justin's mother.

Police in Missouri had
been on the lookout

for Justin Newman's
red sports car.

And nine days after the
fire, an alert police officer

found it in a motel parking lot.

- The motel's not your
typical family motel.

It was more of a run...
Rundown-type motel.

The clerk at
the motel identified

Ari Squire as the man
who rented the room.

- And is he here today?
Is he checked in?

But the room

was registered in the
name of Justin Newman.

The policeman
decided to approach

the room without backup.

And he knew most likely Ari
would be armed and ready.

- Police officer.

Before he
can get through the door...

A loud g*nsh*t.

He walks in and
there's a body there.

And there's the
g*n laying there.

The victim had
Justin Newman's identification,

the same color hair and eyes.

But despite the
attempt at disguise,

DNA confirmed the dead
man was Ari Squire.

- He knew he was in some
deep, deep, you know?

He took the easy
way out because he

knew he was going to go to jail.

He was going to jail for
the rest of his life.

- The thought of being behind
bars for the rest of his life,

forget it.
It wasn't going to happen.

Ari Squire and his self-consumed
mindset and his narcissism

was too cowardly to come
back, face the music,

and, uh, be forced to
own up to what he did.

Donna Fiorito filed
a wrongful death civil lawsuit

against Denise Squire for
the death of her son, Justin,

and the jury awarded
her $6 million.

I just can't
believe he's not here.

That man and his wife,
Ari Squire and his wife,

always had money.

But it wasn't enough for them.

They had to go... they had
to go k*ll a young kid that

had his whole life
going for him.

A criminal investigation

into Denise Squire's possible
involvement continues.

This isn't the end of the case.

We still have ongoing
issues that we're

investigating at this time.

Denise's attorney
denies she was involved.

However, the
emails exchanged between Ari

and Denise Squire after
the fire leave little doubt

in the minds of investigators.

He needed Denise
involved because they weren't

going to give the
$5 million to him.

Who were they going
to give it to?

Denise.

So in order for him to
get anything out of that,

she would have had to
have been involved.

Ari Squire spent
months planning the m*rder,

but science inevitably
had the upper hand

in finding the truth.

A worthless
piece of nothing in the world.

A coward that took the
easy way out after he

took the life of a


had... had a whole
life ahead of him.

- In this case, forensic
science worked.

Forensic dentistry,
forensic odontology worked.

- I have never seen a case
that took so many turns

in so many different,
um, directions.

And really, it was...
It was bizarre.

- You can't fool science.

You can't.

By definition, it's science.

And it works.

And it's repeatable.

And it's verifiable.

And, uh, it's accepted.