14x12 - Social Circle

[bunniefuu]

Up next.

It was an ambush.

- Got a call for
four people dead.

- Oh, my god.

But the scene yields few clues,

and the motive's unclear.

- This case was tough.

Nothing was jumping out
at us in the beginning.

Until a neighbor comes
forward with a possible lead.

They see a
young man and a young woman

just walking down the
sidewalk, dressed in all black.

Would it be enough?

The families wanted answers.

They deserved answers.

- What amazed me is it stayed
a secret as long as it did.

Clear Lake, Texas,
is a mecca for aerospace

professionals from
all over the world.

It includes many affluent,
upscale neighborhoods.

- It's an area that there's
probably nobody in America that

wouldn't mind living in
these neighborhoods that

are out there.

But on a July afternoon in 2003,

that suburban calm was
shattered when a teenager went

to her girlfriend's house
and found a bloodbath.

- What's your emergency?

- Got a call for
four people dead.

Possibly four victims
have been sh*t.

In the living
room, police and paramedics

found four young adults
dead from g*nsh*t wounds.

They'd been dead
for several hours.

- Well, when you first walked
in, to your immediate left,

was a female victim
laying on her stomach.

You had a male victim and
a female victim on a sofa.

Then behind them, between
the sofa and the far wall,

was a fourth male victim.

- It literally looks
like a slaughterhouse.

You have blood on the walls,
b*llet strikes near the beams,

you have shell
casings on the ground.

All the furniture
is soaked in blood.

The victims were


lived in the home, her
boyfriend, Marcus Precella,


Sanchez, and 18-year-old

Rachael Koloroutis.

It looked as if the
victims were watching TV

and were caught off
guard by the att*ck.

- They were leaned back
in the couch, feet

up as if in a recliner,
like anyone would if they

were watching a
show or relaxing.

They did not seem to
be alarmed at all.

- These people had no idea
they were about to be sh*t.

It appeared as if Rachael

was k*lled while trying
to call for help.

- She had just dialed the
nine and the one key.

The assailant came back to
her and b*at her to death.

Rachael was sh*t
six times, and p*stol-whipped.

Shell casings found at the scene
indicated two g*ns were used.

One was a 9 millimeter,
the other a .38 caliber.

- We were looking for at
least two perpetrators.

You don't see people
going in and carrying

a 9 millimeter in one
hand .38 in the other.

And there was no forced entry.

- We allow scenes to talk to us.

It confirms to us as
detectives that they

know their assailants.

Rachael's father
heard the news on television.

- I pulled up on the scene,
saw my wife standing out

there and a lot of
people in the street,

and crime tape around the house.

I tried to run in to the house.

I was stopped by
a police officer.

- My daughter is in there.

- Sir, you step behind
that while line

or you're going
to jail right now.

- Please, listen... Please, man.

- I know.

I know.
- Please.

- Let us do our job.

- I just could not even
imagine in my mind

who would do that
to her and why.

Rachael had no enemies.

- Right now, we're
all left in the dark.

All I know is that
a phantom came

in and took my sister away.

The question nagging
investigators was motive.

Who wanted these four
young people dead?

And why?

- Jesus loves
the little children...

The day after four
young people were k*lled

in Clear Lake, Texas, dozens
of their former classmates

gathered at the m*rder site.

- What you have to
do is, you have

to deal with what happened.

You also have to arrange
this giant family

event called a funeral.

The other thing on my mind
was finding out who did this

and cooperating and setting up
an environment where the police

were as enabled as they
could be to do their job.

The police realized
that the two boys k*lled

in the att*ck had been
involved in dr*gs, which

may have been part
of the motive.

- Marcus was leading
a high-risk lifestyle

of dealing dr*gs and
ultimately bringing

his cousin, Adelbert,
to help him with that.

It exposed Rachael and Tiffany
to the effects of that.

At the crime
scene, investigators

discovered that there
were 21 sh*ts fired.



- It appeared to be, right off
the bat, a calculated sh**ting

with very few mistakes
and very, very few misses.

- There were no weapons
recovered at the scene,

no firearms at the scene.

Three of the victims
d*ed from g*nsh*t wounds.

Although Rachael Koloroutis
had been sh*t six times,

the cause of her death was
blunt force trauma to her head.

Police also learned that


lived in the home alone
after her father remarried

and moved in with his new wife.

- I thought Tiffany's father
lived there with her.

I didn't find out
until after the murders

that Tiffany lived there alone.

- This house was known
as a party house,

that there were
regularly parties there.

Talked to different people that
dr*gs were being used there.

When investigators
spoke with the neighbors,

they learned that no
one heard g*nshots.

It was the middle of summer.

The air conditioning was on,
and the windows and doors

were closed.

But close questioning
revealed some important clues.

- When you're doing a
neighborhood canvas, don't ask,

"Did you see anything
unusual this day?"

The right question to ask,
"Did you see anything this day

that you don't ordinarily
see day-to-day?"

That's when
the next-door neighbors

gave police some information.

- They see a young
man and a young woman

just walking down the
sidewalk dressed in all black.

Renowned
forensic artist Lois Gibson

was brought in to create
a composite sketch based

on the neighbors' descriptions.

- All I had was two people who
were really disinterested, who

looked out a window briefly
and saw a male and female.

That is all I had.

Her first task was to deal

with the obvious... race and age.

The couple was white, and
looked to be older teenagers.

- They just look like sleek,
young, attractive, normal

people.

The only thing unusual was that
the girl had really large eyes.

The neighbors also
said she was wearing a bandana.

- The bandana bothered me.

I didn't get hair.

I love it when I have
hair on a female,

because hair on a female
practically defines her.

Using visual aids,
hundreds of photographs

of different facial
features, Gibson

tried to nail down
some specifics

of the faces of the suspects.

- I'm going to show
you some features,

and you're going to
give me the features

that look most like the person.

I'm going to compose
them, and then

when I have a rough sketch,
I'm going to show it to you,

and I'll change
anything you want.

After two hours,
Gibson produced these drawings.

- All I ended up with was a
really plain but pretty young

girl with impossibly large
eyes and a really good-looking,

plain, normal,
everyday-looking looking

white guy with blond hair.

They didn't look
like the type of people who

could commit this
kind of v*olence.

The question now,
would anyone be

able or willing
to identify them?

Once armed with composite
drawings of the suspected

K*llers, investigators visited
the Clear Lake High School,

hoping some of the
victims' former classmates

could shed some light
on possible enemies.

- Three out of four
of the victims

were Clear Lake High
School students,

so I think police probably
focused on Clear Lake High

School and what sort of
connections and social groups

they ran around in.

But this was a dead end.

- The police, I know, because of
my regular contact with them,

that they were turning
over every rock.

Investigators had
to consider the possibility

the murders were done
by professionals.

- Somebody came in
there with a purpose.

Because obviously, whoever did
this was going to make sure

there was no living witnesses
to report it to the police.

Both male victims in this case

were known drug dealers, and
one of them, Adelbert Sanchez,

had family members tied
to the Mexican Mafia.

- Adelbert had some family
members that were incarcerated,

they were in federal prison
in Texas and in Florida,

involved with the sale and
transport of large amounts

of marijuana from
Mexico, South Texas.

But detectives
could find no connection

between the Mexican
Mafia and the murders.

And despite investigators'
best efforts,

the trail of the K*llers
eventually turned cold.

- A lot of interviews
were conducted.

A lot of homicide investigators
were called in from other cases

or to assist on overtime.

- There was a lot of frustration
in this case, wondering,

are we going to
catch this person?

Or, it's got to be this
person right in front of us.

- The families wanted answers.

They deserved answers.

After three years, the families

started to believe the
case would never be solved.

- My daughter wasn't
k*lled by lightning

or, you know, horrible
cancer or something.

Someone caused this pain.

Took her from us.

So I just wanted to
find out who did it.

I wanted them captured.

I mean, you know,
your raw instinct

is, you want to find them
yourself and pulverize them.

The only real
evidence investigators

had were the composite drawings.

- It was clear that the people
who made this sketch, that gave

our sketch artist the
information... these

were going to be
great witnesses.

So Rachael's father
turned his grief into action.

He helped raise $100,000 reward
for anyone who could provide

information leading
to the arrest

and conviction of the K*llers.

Some of that money was used
to put the composite drawings

of the suspects on
billboards around the area.

- I had all the billboards put
out around, just circling all

the entries and
exits to Clear Lake,

so you couldn't drive in or out
without seeing those pictures.

- We had a lot of attention and
we got a lot of phone calls.

- But the most important call
came from an anonymous source

to the Crime Stoppers hotline.

- Crime Stoppers,
how can I help you?

The caller said he recognized

the girl in the
composite drawing.

He'd met her in drug rehab.

He said she bragged
about participating

in a quadruple m*rder.

- This woman admitted that
she had k*lled four people.

And was telling
them, in detail, what

it was like to k*ll four people.

And she also told
the informant something else,

something only the
k*ller would know.

That one of the
victims was k*lled

while trying to call 911.

- Only somebody truly on the
inside would have known that.

I was like, this is it.

This is the tip.

My heart was pounding,
and I was like, wow.

The caller identified the woman

as 20-year-old
Christine Paolilla.

Amazingly, Christine's
driver's license photo

was virtually identical
to the composite drawing.

- I yelled.
I yelled.

I sat in my office
and went, "Yee-haw."

Couldn't believe it.

Christine Paolilla
attended high school

with three of the four victims.

Ironically, Christine had
been bullied in school,

but Rachael
Koloroutis and Tiffany

Rowell had befriended her.

- Instead of making fun of
her, Rachael and Tiffany

took her in and
made her a friend.

And when I called my wife and
told her that it was Christine

Paolilla, she said,
George, that's

one of the photos
in Rachael's wallet.

But why would Christine

k*ll the two girls who
had befriended her?

And even more troublesome,
where was Christine now?

The prime suspect in
the quadruple murders

in Clear Lake, Texas,
was Christine Paolilla.

She'd been identified by
an anonymous tipster who'd

seen her composite
sketch on a billboard.

A background check revealed
Christine was a heroin addict,

and after high school spent her
entire inheritance on dr*gs.

- She was spending a large
amount of cash on dr*gs,

specifically on heroin.

She estimated $1,000 a day
was being spent on heroin.

Using ATM records, police

found Christine and her
husband in a cheap hotel

in San Antonio.

- Officers described
it as the most

disgusting place
they've ever seen.

Unbelievable.

You wouldn't believe
it if you saw it.

Investigators found
hundreds of syringes and dozens

of boxes of drug paraphernalia
scattered all over the room.

- It was horrible.

There was a mist of blood that
was on most items in the room.

After they'd finish injecting,
they would expel the remaining

bits of fluid in the
syringe into the air,

and it would turn into a mist.

It had a bit of blood in it.

It was just horrible.

- They were probably a couple
of weeks away from death.

She was surviving on
Ritz crackers and cheese

and a whole bunch of heroin.

When questioned
by police, Christine,

suffering from severe heroin
withdrawal in this police

video, admitted
participating in the murders.

But said her ex-boyfriend, Chris
Snyder, was the real k*ller.

As with Christine, the
composite drawing of Snyder

was remarkably accurate.

- The forensic art did
the job on that one.

It was a hole in one
for the forensic artist.

- I was not in that house.

At all.

- Were you in the driveway?

- I'll put anything on it.

I was not in that house.

- Were you in the driveway?

- Just... I... I wasn't
in the driveway.

I... The only time
I was... the closest

I was to the house was
when... when I drove up.

Christine
said she waited outside

while Snyder k*lled her friends.

- He told me he did it.

- He did it?

Did what?

What did he say, Christine?

- That he sh*t them.

- That he sh*t them?

A database
search revealed the address

for Chris Snyder's
parents, and they

told police Chris was
living in South Carolina.

When Snyder's parents told Chris
the police were on their way

to question him,
Chris disappeared.

- He left his car.

He left his wallet.

He left all of his
belongings behind.

Police found his
body in some nearby woods.

Toxicology tests
showed he'd ingested

a lethal dose of painkillers.

He took the
ultimate coward's way out.

- Just a loser,
scumbag coward that

knew what he was going to face.

When police searched
Chris Snyder's belongings,

they found .38 caliber
handgun and a 9

millimeter semiautomatic.

- Ballistically, the
g*ns were tested,

and they were determined
to be the weapons

used in these murders.

Chris Snyder's DNA
was found on the .38 caliber,

and despite the
passage of three years,

traces of Rachael Koloroutis's
blood was on the 9 millimeter.

- In the mixture of DNA
we recovered from the 9

millimeter, we
found alleles that

matched all of
Rachael's alleles.

- Snyder's own skin DNA was found
inside the barrel of a g*n that

had been used
three years earlier

to slaughter four
defenseless kids.

Amazing.

Christine's husband
told police she once admitted

she was actively involved
in the quadruple murders.

- She told me that
when they left there,

Christine went back to make
sure that one of them was dead.

One of the girls was hit
repeatedly over the head,

I believe, with a g*n.

Faced with the
evidence against her,

Christine later admitted one
of the weapons was in her hand.

- It went off a
bunch in your hand?

- It felt like a million times.

Like, even like the first time,
it felt like a million times.

According to the evidence,

prosecutors believe Christine
Paolilla and Chris Snyder

both needed money
or dr*gs, and went

to the only place
they knew to get it.

Tiffany Rowell's house.

The next-door neighbors
saw enough of their faces

to help create the near-perfect
composite drawings.

Since the victims knew
Christine, they opened the door

and invited both of them inside.

Then they started sh**ting.



After they took what
they were looking for,

Christine told witnesses she
noticed Rachael was still alive

and had her cellphone
in her hand.

Christine b*at Rachael to
death as she tried to dial 911.

- The last thing
Rachael Koloroutis ever

said to Christine,
while she was crying,

why are you doing this to me?

And, according to what
Christine told her husband,

she just kept hitting
and hitting that girl

until she was dead.

Christine Paolilla was charged

and convicted of capital m*rder.

Since she was 17 at the
time of the murders,

she was spared
the death penalty.

But was sentenced
to life in prison.

- If you're a parent,
when you lose a child,

there's never closure.

There's a big hole
in your forever.

And it never gets better.

I can argue that it gets worse.

This was an excellent
example of how family members,

police, and
scientists all worked

together to solve
a difficult case.

- The clearest piece
of evidence we had

was finding Chris Snyder's
DNA on one of the weapons.

- I will take physical evidence
over eyewitness any day

of the week.

And so, forensics, the
physical evidence at the scene,

it tells a story just as good as
an eyewitness up on the stand.

- Their desire to get
high again trumped

the lives and
futures of four kids.

Unbelievable.

She got everything she deserved.

And I was glad to
be a part of it.