Up next,
these robbery teams appear
to be skilled professionals.
They got more bold and brazen
with how they were committing
the acts.
So bold and brazen
that a young store clerk
is sh*t to death.
The robber fires one round
from a semi-a*t*matic
The K*llers
apparently don't care
that security video
will catch them in the act
and they make
a crucial mistake
that's caught on camera.
There's no perfect crime.
And sure enough,
that's when we got
the lead
that would end up
solving the case.
Shortly
before midnight
on May 20th, 2015,
20-year-old Sean Smith
arrived at a smoke shop
called Smoke 911
in Woodstock, Georgia
in the Atlanta suburb.
He was there
to see his friend,
Enrique Delos-Reyes,
whose shift at the store
was just about to end.
21-year-old Enrique
was known to everyone as E.J.
Being an only child
his parents doted on him.
E.J. had taken a job
at the Smoke 911 in Woodstock.
Um, pretty much,
his first adult job.
Sean often helped
E.J. close up the store.
But this time
something seemed different.
They were gonna
hang out after work.
When his friend, Sean Smith
came to the store,
he, he saw a silver BMW.
And in the driver's seat
of the BMW was a black male
wearing a red beanie
and had a grey sweatshirt on.
Sean made
eye contact with the driver
and was a little unnerved
just about the eye contact.
Sean mentioned
the car to E.J.,
who had also seen it.
Sean asked him,
you know, "Why haven't you
called the police?"
And E.J.'s response was,
"They haven't done
anything wrong.
Why am I gonna
call the police?"
E.
J and Sean proceeded to close up the store.
Within a few minutes,
two men burst inside.
They entered
in to the front door
of the business.
Both brandishing fire arms.
Uh, placed both
E.J. and Mr. Smith
on the ground.
Mr. Smith was searched
and subsequently,
moved to the bathroom area.
While the other suspect
when to the cash register.
Started taking, uh,
money and merchandise.
While Sean
was in the bathroom he heard
a single g*nsh*t.
After hearing a car
drive away, he rushed out
to find E.J. covered in blood.
First responders
arrived minutes later to find
E.J. fighting for his life.
He suffered
a single g*nsh*t wound
to the chest.
As he arrived to the hospital,
he became unresponsive
and they were unable
to revive him.
Law enforcement
got on the phone
with E.J.'s mom,
broke the news to her,
and she was
completely devastated.
Um, fell to the ground
and sobbed
along with E.J.'s dad.
A single
9mm shell casing
was on the store counter.
The silver BMW that had been
in the parking lot was gone.
A visibly shaken Sean Smith
was exonerated by
the surveillance video
and was now turned
to as an eye witness
to the crime.
He described the attackers
as black males
in their early 20s.
Both of the suspects
had their faces covered.
One had a skull cap
pulled over his face,
had slits in where his eyes
would be so he could see.
The other individual had,
um, you know,
his shirt kind of pulled up
and his hand covering his face
to disguise it.
There's a struggle
between E.J. and the suspect.
And you see the suspect
pull the g*n out
and sh**t E.J.
one time in the chest.
The smoke shop
had no cameras
outside the store,
so there were no usable images
of the BMW Sean saw
earlier that night.
Investigators were in
a tough spot.
Their evidence was thin,
and their suspects
gave every indication
of being seasoned professionals.
It was very apparent that
these guys had committed
robberies before.
This wasn't
an amateur job at all.
E-cigarettes,
and in some states,
legalized marijuana
have made smoke shops
into lucrative
business opportunities.
They are largely
cash businesses
and that makes them
an inviting target
for criminals.
A fact known to E.J. Reyes.
There had been
some other robberies
in the area
that his family knew about
and were concerned enough
to talk to him about
how to handle
any robbery or anything
that might happen
there at the smoke shop.
The problem for investigators
is that these crimes
are mostly random.
They have nothing to do
with the people
inside the store.
And everything to do
with what's in the store.
Random crimes
will always be the most
difficult to investigate
because there's
no personal relationship
between your victim
and your suspect.
When it's random in nature,
it is often times hard
because you're trying
to get suspects
in millions of people.
Even with a surveillance
camera, which we had here,
that captured the entire crime,
it's difficult.
It's often like trying
to catch that one fish
in a giant ocean.
Investigators
poured over every second
of surveillance video
from the Reyes m*rder
and noticed a mistake made by
one of the suspects.
As suspect number two
was moving merchandise around
he picked up a tote
that he was sticking
merchandise in.
But before doing that
he had to remove the top,
and the top
was left behind on scene.
What made
this important was that
suspect number two,
unlike suspect number one,
was not wearing gloves.
Analyst's seized the lid
of this plastic container
and made an unusual decision
on how to treat it as evidence.
They opted for
a possible fingerprint
instead of the touch DNA.
DNA takes time to process.
It has to go to the crime lab.
The surveillance
video allowed analysts to
target the exact spot
where suspect number two
touched this item.
If a print could be lifted,
it would almost certainly
be his.
So fingerprints,
if you could get
that immediately,
and get that information now,
you'd rather have that
than wait on DNA results.
Especially
with a k*ller on the loose.
But in a setback
the prints were only partial
and not good enough to get
a hit in AFIS, the national
fingerprint database.
Which was kind of a downer.
We were hoping that
those prints
of the lain impressions
off that lid would provide
identity of a suspect.
But they did not.
Despite
both suspects having taken
considerable efforts
to hide their identities,
Sean Smith got a good look
at one of them
as he walked into the store.
With the help
of a forensic artist,
a composite sketch was created.
This and still frames
from the surveillance video
were release to the public.
Tips poured in
and one looked promising.
We got an anonymous tip
from a young lady
who stated she believed
the person responsible
for the robbery and homicide
in Woodstock
was a Mr. Varner.
She stated that
he had a history of drug use
and violent crime
and that the day after
our homicide occurred
she knew that Mr. Varner
was in Canton, Georgia
attempting to sell
a .40 caliber handgun.
Uh, and seemed to be
very nervous.
And Varner
who had two outstanding
arrest warrants
had access
to the same type of vehicle
used in the Reyes m*rder.
She claimed that
prior to the robbery-homicide
she had seen Mr. Varner
in his girlfriend's vehicle,
which she described
to be a four door BMW,
uh, that was silver or grey
in color.
On Varner's Facebook page,
detectives found photos
of several people
with known g*ng ties.
One was wearing clothing
similar to clothes worn by
one of the m*rder suspects.
Some of the people
that he was standing
with were wearing
multi-colored ballcap
that was very similar
to what the second
suspect in armed
robbery-homicide was wearing.
Varner,
when brought in
for questioning
claimed he had nothing
to do with the m*rder
and had an alibi to prove it.
Also, Mr. Varner
was actually older
than the two
that were inside the store.
So we were able to discount
Mr. Varner as a suspect.
The investigation
was back to square one.
But then another robbery
at another smoke shop
provided a possible avenue
to solve the Reyes m*rder.
We firmly believed
that the smoke shop robberies
in Cobb and Cherokee County
were related.
Four days before
the m*rder of E.J. Reyes,
two smoke shops
were also robbed
in Kennesaw,
a town just 10 miles away.
The surveillance video
from the Kennesaw smoke shop
robberies
showed similar suspects
acting in similar ways.
Forcibly taking over
the store, coming in fast,
taking items
and leaving fairly quickly.
There was another similarity.
The vehicle used
in the robberies
was a silver BMW.
A surveillance camera
outside one of the stores
captured high quality images
of the vehicle.
It was much more clear
of an image of that BMW
but still did not read
a license plate or be able
to identify the occupants.
You could
see the car really good.
In fact what you could
see about it were
the star-shaped wheels
that did not appear
to be factory wheels
to the car.
This BMW
with custom wheels
quickly became the focus
of the investigation.
Detectives surmised
the vehicle was likely stolen.
Often in commercial robberies
and other robberies
a lot of people use
stolen cars to commit
those crimes.
They can destroy those cars,
they can burn them,
they can abandon them.
I requested a list of stolen
silver BMWs from,
I believe,
in the Atlanta Metro area.
The list included 135 vehicles.
And there was no guarantee
that the BMW sought
by investigators was on it.
I always tell people,
"This is the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.
Not the Georgia Bureau
of we know
everything already."
It felt like,
we were a long way
from identifying the suspect.
In a major potential break,
detectives now learned
of a string
of video game store robberies
in the same area.
The thieves in these crimes
appeared to be the same people
hitting local smoke shops.
We discovered that
GameStop video game stores
were being robbed
in a similar manner.
With speed and v*olence,
taking over the store,
taking items
from people's pockets,
taking items from the store
and then feeing.
The suspects
bore the same
physical description
as those robbing
Reyes's smoke shop.
These crimes
were almost certainly linked.
Investigators now went
to a robbery at
a video game store
that happened two days
before the Reyes m*rder.
In this crime three suspects
were involved.
Surveillance video showed
one of them
was not wearing gloves.
You can see
one of the offenders
grabbing items.
Headphones and smaller box
items that are held
behind the cash register.
And in doing so,
one of the items was touched
and not taken.
So that item stayed
and remained on the shelf.
It was clear,
this thief had touched
the item with his bare hand.
Investigators now made
the same decision
they'd made earlier.
Since speed was important,
they went for the fingerprints
instead of the DNA.
The box was sent to the lab,
where it was processed
for fingerprints
using cyanoacrylate,
what can be bought
off the shelf as super glue.
We have
a cyanoacrylate chamber
or super glue chamber,
an airtight t*nk
that we process
the evidence in.
We place the item in that t*nk,
heat the super glue
and then seal the t*nk up.
And after, say 30 minutes,
you should start to see
if there are latent prints,
um, on the item
that you are processing.
Heat causes
the super glue to vaporize.
The microscopic particles
are attracted
to the sweat and oils
excreted by fingers
and left behind
on the surface of the item.
The particles then crystallize
leaving a white residue.
The super glue process,
basically hardens
the fingerprint.
So you're able
to take multiple lifts
of that latent print
if it develops.
Four high quality
prints were lifted and put
into the AFIS database.
One matched back
to a man named,
Nathaniel Delay.
Mr. Nathaniel Delay
had minor criminal history.
No felonies, um,
never been to prison,
um, nothing like
armed robbery before.
Delay flatly
denied involvement
in any of the robberies
or the Reyes m*rder.
I believe it.
Nathaniel Delay's
telling us
that it'd been years
since he's been in Cobb County.
That's actually a good thing
for investigators.
Because if he would have said
that he had been to GameStop
and he had been there
just a day before,
it kind of eliminates
and cuts our legs out
of finding that fingerprint
on that box.
And kind of gives him an out.
Nathaniel Delay
had no explanation
for why his prints
were at the scene
of one of the robberies.
But what investigators
were really after
was who k*lled E.J. Reyes.
That m*rder and this robbery
appeared to be
directly connected.
And Nathaniel Delay
seemed to know a lot more
about both crimes
than he was letting on.
If I had a nickel
for every time somebody
told me a lie,
I wouldn't have to be a cop.
Nathaniel?
My name's Ryan Hilton.
How are you?
-I'm with the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation.
- All right, man.
- How you doing?
From the start
detectives attempting to solve
the m*rder of E.J. Reyes
were on the lookout
for a silver BMW
with custom wheels
that was seen
outside the smoke shop
where E.J. was k*lled.
They soon learn that
nine days before the m*rder,
a BMW fitting that description
had been carjacked in Atlanta.
The victim had told
law enforcement that
there were two suspects
that had, uh, put a g*n to him
and robbed him...
carjacked him.
The carjack victim
called Jordan was shown
the composite drawing
and video images
from the Reyes m*rder.
But could not make
an identification,
then something
unexpected happened,
which led investigators
straight back
to their only suspect.
Nathaniel Delay.
Nathaniel Delay
has a unique look.
He has the word "success"
tattooed across his forehead.
I was just swiping
through my phone
and I came
to the driver's license photo
of Nathaniel Delay.
Mr. Jordan stopped
and said that is a 100%
the person who took my car.
What's you reaction to that?
Hot damn.
The problem
was that Nathaniel Delay
did not look at all
like the suspects
in the m*rder of E.J. Reyes.
And Delay was clear,
he wasn't there but knew
a lot about the m*rder.
Delay
told detectives that
a man named Justin White
called him the day after
the Reyes m*rder
and was extremely nervous.
He told Delay, specifically,
to google that incident.
To look up that incident
in the news.
Mm-hmm.
Nathaniel Delay
told the police that
the other person
in this robbery-m*rder
was a man named
Dominique Stevens.
Dominique Stevens
had previously been in prison.
But Justin White had
nothing but traffic offenses
prior to this.
Uh, so, no. No indication
that he was a violent criminal
prior to these incidences.
Multiple items
from the robberies were found
in their homes.
The evidence located
at the scene
was huge.
It was a huge factor
in proving that Justin White
and Dominique Stevens
were responsible
for the death of E.J.
Dominique Stevens
maintained his innocence,
but when faced
with the evidence
Justin White came clean
about what happened
the night E.J. Reyes
was sh*t to death.
His story was that
he never intended
to harm anyone.
He just reacted
when E.J. fought back
during the robbery.
None of the blame
for this can be placed on E.J.
None of it.
Justin White knew
what he was doing
when he got into it.
The fact that E.J.
fought back...
however tragic and noble.
Not his fault he got sh*t.
Never will be.
That rests on Justin White.
Nathaniel Delay
who was not present
at the m*rder
pleaded guilty
to armed robbery
and got five years.
Justin White
and Dominique Stevens
pleaded guilty
to a racketeering charge
that included
all the robberies
and the m*rder of E.J. Reyes.
Dominique Stevens
got life in prison
plus five years.
Justin White,
the sh**t got
consecutive life sentences.
The way I look at
armed robberies is,
it is just one second away
from being a homicide case.
Any time you
go into a place
brandishing a firearm.
You're showing that
you are willing and able
to use that firearm.
Investigators readily admit
that if not for the discovery
of a single fingerprint,
inadvertently deposited
during the well-planned
but still chaotic robbery,
the m*rder of E.J. Reyes
might never have been solved.
The fingerprint was really
the lynchpin in this case.
Without that fingerprint
we would have
never been able to identify
anybody that was involved.
In this case
it reminded me of the basics.
The best professionals,
in whatever field it is,
do the absolute best
at the basics.
Process the crime scene,
look at the evidence,
review surveillance video
and have good evidence
collection procedures.
If you can do that
you can solve cases.