08x03 - He's Dead, That's How I Feel

[bunniefuu]

[eerie music playing]

[phone ringing]

[woman speaking]

[woman 2 speaking]

[man] When we first
watched the footage,

we could see
a figure running away.

Several seconds later,
you can actually see, uh,

another car appeared to follow

where the suspect had ran.

[woman] So we start to wonder,

are these people
working in consort?

Is this a plan?

Was this something
that was premeditated,

a conspiracy to commit m*rder?

[theme music playing]

[upbeat music playing]

[Ross] It's the day
before Thanksgiving,

and Armando Dominguez
and his 18-year old brother,

Cristian, are working on
their passion project together.

[Armando in Spanish]

[Jessica] Cristian's Honda
was Armando and his project.

[man] All right.

[Jessica] Because every time
he got something new

for that car,
it was always an excitement.

It came in, let's fix it today.

[Ross] Cristian lives
in California,

having emigrated
from Mexico 18 months ago.

[woman] Woo! Cristian!

[Armando in Spanish]

[Jessica] He knew
that the United States

gave him the opportunity

to do anything he wanted.

He wanted to take advantage
of it.

[Ross]
After finishing high school,

Cristian secures a job
at a nearby warehouse.

[Jessica] He wanted to work,
you know,

for him to feel like he was able

to do something in life here.

He had that mentality

that if you wanna do
something in life,

you got to work for it.

It's not gonna be
hand-given to you.

[dramatic music playing]

[Armando in Spanish]

[eerie music playing]

[Armando in Spanish]

[suspenseful music playing]

[Armando in Spanish]

[dramatic music playing]

[phone dings]

- [speaking Spanish]
- [speaking Spanish]

[in Spanish]

It got to, like, uh, 8:00
and Armando started worrying.

[Armando in Spanish]

[Ross] The concerned couple
drive over

to Cristian's workplace
to look for him.

Let me go check inside, okay?

[Jessica]
The parking lot was empty.

It was pitch black and there was

a security guard outside.

And we're like, "Is there
anybody else in there?"

And then he was like,
"No, everybody left."

[Armando] Give us a call
if you hear anything at all.

[in Spanish]

[eerie music playing]

[phone rings]

[woman speaking]

[woman 2 speaking]

- [woman speaking]
- [woman 2 speaking]

[woman speaking]

[woman 2 speaking]

- [woman speaking]
- [woman 2] Yes. Yes.

[police sirens wailing]

What do we got?

[Ross] Officer Buddy Porch

is among the first to arrive.

[Officer Porch] As I got
to the intersection,

I looked towards the 7-Eleven

and there was a group of people

screaming and yelling.

[indistinct chatter]

It was a chaotic scene.

[man] This guy,
the guy in the truck...

[Officer Porch] I saw
a single cab Chevy truck

white in color,

had front end damage.

You could see that the truck

had hit the brick building
in such force

that there was major damage.

This wasn't like
a little small hit.

Okay. I'm gonna need
some paramedics here.

I got a situation down here.

[Ross] In front of the truck
lies a young man

with severe injuries.

[Officer Porch] I'm telling,
you know, "Hey, breathe,

I got ambulance on the way."

The ambulance
is on the way, okay?

I was truly concerned
about his injuries

and what was going on with him.

[police sirens wailing]

[Officer Porch] Once
the paramedics got there,

they removed his clothing

and which time they found out
wallet with a ID.

We were able to identify
the victim

as Cristian Dominguez.

I looked at the date of birth

and I quickly realized
he had just...

He'd just turned 18.

He was just a kid.

And this horrific accident
that happened to him

in our city
and we didn't know why.

[ambulance sirens wailing]

[Ross] Cristian
is rushed to the hospital.

[Det. Coillot] On this night,
I was an on-call detective

and I got a call
of a hit-and-run.

[Ross]
Detective Coillot is joined

by Sergeant David Janusz.

[Det. Janusz] When I arrived
on scene, I began to look, uh,

over the truck
that had been crashed

into the side of the 7-Eleven.

When I observed that
there wasn't any ignition keys

in the ignition

and then it led me to believe
that the driver had fled

from the vehicle, uh,
taking his keys with him,

uh, either out of habit
or out of panic.

So I, uh, ran the license plate

on the Chevy Silverado,

the vehicle was registered
to a Hispanic male

by the name of John Nieto.

[Det. Coillot] The registered
owner is usually

the first place we'll start,

but we never assumed

that the registered owner
is the driver.

The vehicle could have been
stolen or carjacked

or it could have been sold

and they didn't do
a transfer of title.

So we were trying to figure out

who the driver
of the vehicle was

and why this actually happened.

[Det. Janusz]
Immediately started to look

for as many surveillance cameras

as we could in the area.

Janusz.

[Officer Porch]
I know the 7-Eleven.

I know they have surveillance.

I've been to that 7-Eleven
hundreds of times.

[Det. Janusz] Mind if I look
at your surveillance footage?

All right, then.

Cue it up to about 7:15.

[suspenseful music playing]

So I started to review
the outside footage.

I began with the camera
that faced

where the truck had crashed

hoping to get more information

exactly what had happened
over there.

We were really hoping
that we would be able

to see something that would
piece this together

and move us forward in
with the investigation.

[intense music playing]

Whoa.

I observed Cristian running
towards the store

and the white truck
chasing down Cristian

at a high rate of speed.

It's heading straight for him.

[Officer Porch]
That truck hit that curb

and continued just going
towards our victim.

Go back, play that again.

[Nicole] The truck
wasn't trying to brake

and I think that's significant
for the investigation

because it shows that
this wasn't an accident.

So someone did this on purpose.

[Det. Janusz] We tried
a different angle,

so we can see more
of what was occurring.

[Ross] The camera angle
at the back of the 7-Eleven

captures the moment of impact.

[Nicole] The truck
had crashed to something

and bounced off to the side,

ricocheting off of the side
of the 7-Eleven building.

It is unimaginable
that someone was capable

of doing something so violent

and horrible
to another human being.

For a young man
running for his life,

knowing that this car,

this m*ssile of 4,000 pounds,

5,000 pounds is coming at him

at 50 to 70 miles an hour,

it's heartbreaking.

[Det. Janusz] All right. Let's
take a look at the interior.

So I began to review the footage

from inside of the store.

I wanted to see if anything
happened inside

that might have carried

to the outside parking lot area

such as a fight
or some sort of argument.

[intense music playing]

[Det. Janusz]
Do you have another angle

inside the store?

It appeared to be
business is normal.

None of the cameras
inside of the store

show Cristian.

[Det. Janusz] We're gonna need
all the footage

from the surveillance cameras
from tonight.

I realized that we're gonna
need more video

to find out where this incident

started from,

so I requested other detectives

to start checking
surrounding businesses

and residences.

[Ross] Outside the 7-Eleven,

Sergeant Janusz
looks for eyewitnesses.

[man]
Camera recording started.

[Det. Janusz] One witness
was actually in the street

in her vehicle and observed
this entire incident happened.

- [woman speaking]
- [Det. Janusz] Uh-huh.

[woman speaking]

- [Det. Janusz speaking] Okay.
- [woman speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

- [woman speaking]
- [Det. Janusz speaking]

And she saw Cristian
start to cross the street

through the crosswalk.
She heard screeching tires.

- [woman speaking]
- [Det. Janusz speaking]

- [woman speaking]
- [Det. Janusz speaking]

- [woman speaking]
- [Det. Janusz speaking]

[woman speaking]

- [Det. Janusz speaking]
- [woman speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

The witness observed the truck
complete a U-turn,

backed out towards Foothill
in the area where Cristian

was hiding behind
two electrical boxes.

[woman speaking]

[intense music playing]

[Ross] The investigators
looked for information

on the registered owner
of the white truck.

[Det. Janusz]
Once we started to look

into John Nieto's background

to see if he had any
g*ng affiliations

or any criminal history.

We didn't find that he had
any prior convictions

of any other crimes.

Anything yet?

No.

[Ross] Detectives
visit Cristian's family

to inform them
about the incident.

[Det. Coillot] Thanks so much
for having me in, guys.

- No problem.
- No problem.

And they're, like,
"Oh, are you guys related

to Cristian Dominguez?"

[Armando in Spanish]

[Det. Coillot] There's been
an accident with Cristian.

[Armando in Spanish]

And I'm gonna need you
to come down

the station with me
and answer few questions.

So it was important for us
to talk to his family

to determine if he'd been
in any fights

or ex-girlfriend drama,

like, who would possibly
do this to him and why.

[Jessica]
So we got in the police car.

And he took us down
to the Fontana Station.

[man]
Camera recording started.

[Ross] Detective Coillot
turns on his body camera

and records the conversation.

[Det. Coillot speaking]

[Det. Coillot speaking]

[Jessica speaking]

[Det. Coillot speaking]

- [Jessica speaking]
- [Det. Coillot speaking]

[Jessica speaking]

[Det. Coillot]
They didn't know if Cristian

might've got in a fight
with someone

or someone had a problem
with him.

- [Det. Coillot speaking]
- [Jessica speaking]

[Det. Coillot speaking]

They told us that he was
in critical condition

and that they were still
trying to fight for his life.

[Det. Coillot speaking]

- [Jessica speaking]
- [Det. Coillot speaking]

- [Jessica speaking]
- [Det. Coillot speaking]

-[Jessica speaking] -[Det.
Coillot] Cristian's family

didn't know if he was
in a relationship

with anybody but they did know
that he bought

a birthday present for someone,

for a girl
who had just turned 21.

[Det. Coillot speaking]

[Jessica speaking]

[Jessica speaking]

[Jessica speaking]

Cristian had said
that he was gonna get

a ride home from someone.

They didn't know her name.

So we were trying to find out

who actually
dropped Cristian off

at the 7-Eleven.

[Jessica] I remember
we sat there, they left.

I was like,
"Can we see Cristian?

Can we go with Cristian?"

It felt like
they were taking forever

for a response
that we just wanted to hear,

like, is he okay?

And then they came in.

Uh, detectives,
they had that face

that they...
that they show on TV

and, um,

they were, like, um,

that Cristian hadn't made it.

That he hadn't made it.

[Armando in Spanish]

[suspenseful music playing]

The 7-Eleven footage
is ready to go.

Perfect.

[Det. Coillot]
We needed to find out

who drove Cristian
to the 7-Eleven

because that was the last person

to see him alive.

[Det. Janusz] Uh, we started
to backtrack on the footage

and started to check
other camera angles.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Janusz] As I was
reviewing the footage

of the front portion
of 7-Eleven,

I observed a gray car
parked in the parking lot.

[suspenseful music playing]

Keep playing it.

[Det. Janusz] Wait,
is that Cristian?

Rewind.

Yeah, that's him.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Janusz] He didn't appear
to be in any distress,

didn't seem like any issues
were going on.

The vehicle that dropped him off

started to leave.

Because the time of night,

we weren't able to see
who was driving

on that vehicle immediately.

Zoom in on that.

[Det. Janusz] And, uh,
the cameras were too far away

to get the license plate
of that vehicle.

[Det. Coillot] So we dug
deeper into the video

and analyzed it frame by frame,

trying to figure out
where the truck came from.

The suspect vehicle
was a Chevy single cab 1500.

In our area
of Southern California,

there's a lot of them.

What is that?

[suspenseful music playing]

So after Cristian
had walked out of view,

you can see the white Chevy
come into view.

Rewind. Let's track
the white truck.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Nicole] That truck actually
has no headlights on

which is strange
because this is 7:30 at night,

it is completely dark

and then it goes out
of the frame

going east in the same direction

that Cristian is going.

[Det. Coillot] Based
on the witness' statements,

we knew the suspect
actually tried to hit him

the first time
as he crossed the crosswalk.

[suspenseful music playing]

There it is.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Coillot]
Several seconds later,

it comes back into view,

closer up and does a U-turn.

Turns on its lights

and goes again
at a high rate of speed.

It goes out of the frame

and we know that Cristian
is going in the same direction

but we can't see
either the truck or Cristian

at this point in time.

One of the witnesses said
the suspect takes

another pass at him,
misses him again.

Then Cristian decides to run
back towards the 7-Eleven.

So at that point,

he drove his truck
as fast as he could

and ends up striking Cristian
as he's running away.

[Det. Coillot]
It wasn't a hit-and-run.

Whoever drove
that truck intentionally

ran over Cristian.

[Ross] It's now clear
that the truck

was lying in wait for Cristian.

So detectives backtracked
through the footage

to determine when it arrived.

They focused their attention
on the main street.

[suspenseful music playing]

[detective] There it is.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Janusz] You can see
the gray car pull up.

And then several seconds later,

you can see the white Chevy
come into view.

[suspenseful music playing]

Made a U-turn,
parked with its lights off,

facing the 7-Eleven
as if it was...

watching Cristian
or knew Cristian was there.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Janusz] He watches him.

We then observed the white
Chevy Silverado pull out.

So we wanted to piece together

exactly what was causing
the driver of this truck

to intentionally
try to run over Cristian.

[Ross]
The truck's registered owner,

John Nieto is linked
to several addresses.

The investigators
want to make sure

they have the right one.

We didn't wanna tip him off

to the fact that we were
currently investigating him

or his residence.

We wanted to make sure
that we had

all of our information
gathered correctly

before we made contact.

[Armando in Spanish]

And I can hear him
screaming, "No."

That, "No, no, it wasn't true.
No, no, no, no."

That's all I heard.

It was heartbreaking to hear.

Armando felt guilt.

He felt like
it was his fault in a way

'cause his job was to protect
his brother and he didn't.

[phone ringing]

Detectives notified me, uh,
that they had located a house

directly west to the 7-Eleven

that had a video
surveillance footage.

All right. Let's see if this
gives us something new.

[suspenseful music playing]

I could see Cristian running.

I could see
the truck chasing him.

Play it again
and punch it in on Cristian.

He's just in complete panic

trying to get away
from this vehicle.

Keep playing.

I could see that the subject
that exited the vehicle

appeared to be a male
and we watched him run,

uh, north from the vehicle
out of sight.

Rewind. Let's see that again.

[suspenseful music playing]

Hold on.

[Nicole]
It also showed the driver

going back into the truck.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Nicole] And then running up
Alder one last time.

I didn't believe
that the driver of this truck

had any concern about

what injuries
he caused Cristian.

And noting that the keys
in ignition were missing,

it led me to believe
that the individual

grabbed the keys
out of the ignition.

Can you keep playing?

[suspenseful music playing]

Hang on, what's that car doing?

[Det. Janusz]
Few seconds later, I observed

a vehicle driving slowly

through
the 7-Eleven parking lot,

it ultimately
pulled out onto Alder

and drove in the same
direction as the suspect.

[Det. Coillot] We weren't
what this other car was.

We didn't know
if it was a witness

or a good Samaritan
chasing the suspect down.

We just knew it was important.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Det. Coillot]
So when we were watching

the 7-Eleven video again,

you can barely see
the movement of the driver

appeared to come back
to the truck.

But then you see
a female come into frame.

[suspenseful music playing]

She starts to run
in the direction

of where the suspect had ran.

She starts to come back

and looks at Cristian.

She just casually
walked out of the frame.

Kinda confusing
as to why, uh, they either

wouldn't try to help Cristian

or wouldn't stay on scene

and call 911 for help.

Switch back to that, um,
that residential camera.

Rewind. See that again.

[Det. Coillot]
You see the female motion

in the direction
of where the suspect was.

I've never seen
anything like this before,

but my instinct would be
to run to the victim.

My impression
was they knew each other.

And then you can see her

walking back
towards the direction

of the front of the 7-Eleven.

[Ross] Moments later,

the gray car pulls out
of the 7-Eleven

and drives north in the same
direction as the suspect.

Okay. Change angles.

Let's see
if we can piece this together.

We're able to determine

that the female
got into a gray car.

And then she drove
northbound on Alder.

Is that the gray car
that dropped off Cristian?

You can definitely tell
it's the same car.

So we start to wonder,

are these two people
working in consort

to make sure that Cristian
gets k*lled that day?

I went down to the warehouse
to try to find out

who possibly
could've taken Cristian home

because the family had said
that he gets rides

from other coworkers.

The family said
that he had bought

a birthday present for someone.

The manager had said
that one of the employees

that he hung out with
had just had a birthday.

We started looking
into who that was.

[Ross]
Meantime at the station,

investigators dig for more
information on John Nieto.

[Det. Janusz]
We started to pull up

his driver's license photo
just to get a picture.

Uh, we started to dive
into social media,

we found some accounts
that related to John Nieto,

uh, that further
matched the photo

from his driver's license.

We identified a female
that he appeared

to be in a relationship with
by the name

of, uh, Elisabeth Mancilla.

As I started
to look into her further, uh,

Detective Coillot called me.

Janusz.

And informed me
that Cristian hangs out

with three females at work

and one of them had just had
a 21st birthday.

Her name's Elisabeth Mancilla.

Thanks.

[Det. Janusz] I started
to look into other vehicles

that were registered
to John Nieto.

I found a Infiniti G35

that was also registered
to John Nieto.

I checked to see the color
of John Nieto's G35,

which matched the same vehicle

that I observed
dropped Cristian off

at the 7-Eleven.

So we kinda connected the dots
between Elisabeth

being the girlfriend
of John Nieto.

Elisabeth being
the coworker of Cristian.

Elisabeth being the one
who drives the gray Infiniti.

We were able to compare
her driver's license photo

to the video of the female

who walked towards Cristian.

We were able to confirm
it was her.

[dramatic music playing]

Once we found out
the plate of the Infiniti,

we found out
that that license plate

had been scanned
overnight numerous times

at a apartment complex
in the city of Rialto.

So we put a surveillance team
at that apartment complex.

They see Elisabeth Mancilla's
car parked out in front.

That's the same
four-door gray sedan

who dropped off
the victim Cristian

right before he was k*lled.

[dramatic music playing]

[Ross]
But as the hours tick by,

there's no sign of John Nieto
or Elisabeth Mancilla.

[Det. Coillot]
So we were really hoping

that the suspect
hadn't fled on foot.

[Det. Janusz] And then finally
they observed a female

and a male exit an apartment.

Uh, the female appeared
to be Elisabeth Mancilla

and the male matched
the driver's license photo

for John Nieto.

John Nieto
got in the gray Infiniti

and left the location.

The Fontana Police Department,

uh, conducted
a traffic stop on John Nieto

and took him into custody.

Other detectives and officers
were able to detain Elisabeth.

But at this point
in the investigation,

Elisabeth was still
just a witness.

Once John Nieto was detained,

I conducted an interview
with him.

[Det. Janusz] He had a very
calm demeanor about himself.

He even kinda had a smirk.

He said after, uh,
a warning that he gave her

to stop texting with other men,

Elisabeth had texted another man

which ended up being Cristian.

[Det. Janusz speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

So John had even called Cristian

at one point
and basically threatened,

um, Cristian, um,

to stop any type of relationship

he had with Elisabeth.

He lays out

that this was willful

premeditated,

deliberated,

and that that had been
building over time.

[Det. Janusz] Uh-huh.

[Det. Janusz]
He let his anger get to him.

And at this point,
his rage was so high.

[Det. Janusz speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

[Det. Janusz speaking]

He knows that he just
m*rder*d somebody

and, uh, really didn't care.

[Ross] Detectives
turn their attention

to Elisabeth Mancilla.

[Det. Coillot] There was part
of us that thought

that Elisabeth set him up.

Where she actually
took Cristian to the 7-Eleven

at a certain time
and coordinated

with John Nieto
to have Cristian m*rder*d.

[intense music playing]

I conducted the interview
with Elisabeth Mancilla.

She showed, like,
zero to little emotion.

Real calm.

[Det. Coillot speaking]

[Det. Coillot speaking]

Turns out she wasn't
even cheating on him.

They weren't even together.

[Det. Coillot speaking]

She decided to look at Cristian

lying there helpless,
get in her car,

go find John

and then help him
escape the scene.

[Ross] Detectives find
no evidence that Elisabeth

was involved in the planning
of Cristian's m*rder.

Elisabeth has acted

as an accessory after the fact.

And what that means
for her legally is that

she at the very least has been

harboring a known criminal.

[Det. Coillot] She went out
of her way to help hide John

and get him out of the area.

In harboring him
in her apartment

while police were obviously

trying to investigate the crime

and track down the person
responsible for it,

made her a criminal.

[Ross] Investigators
can now piece together

the events leading
to Cristian's m*rder.

Cristian and Elisabeth
worked together

and Elisabeth had told John

that she was gonna be
working overtime.

And this is kinda
what triggered John

to do something about...

the relationship
that he thought was going on.

So he started to develop
this plan in his mind.

He drove his truck
to another convenience store,

um, located across the street
from the 7-Eleven,

so he could a clear view
of who's coming and going

from the parking lot.

He was lying in wait,
waiting for that moment,

waiting for that opportunity.

So when Elisabeth
drove up in her Infiniti

and she pulled
into the parking lot

at the 7-Eleven,

he waited for Cristian
to get out of the car,

and he watched him
get out of the car,

and walked to the corner.

When John saw Cristian

get out of his car

that he provided for Elisabeth

to go to work,

this is what was like
the last straw for him.

At that point,
he needed to k*ll him.

He tried hitting Cristian
one time and missed.

And that is when John
is able to do the U-turn

in the 7-Eleven parking lot,
come back around,

and run Cristian down

and smash his body
against the wall.

And that's how he d*ed.

[Ross] Elisabeth Mancilla
is offered a plea deal

and is convicted
of accessory to a felony.

For testifying
against John Nieto,

she is given a lesser sentence

of 150 days in county jail

with weekend work release.

John Nieto is convicted
of first degree m*rder

and sentenced to 25 years
to life in prison.

[in Spanish]

The video helped us out
a tremendous amount

by showing us a premeditation,

by showing a stalking,

and unfortunately
ultimately it showed,

uh, John striking Cristian
with his truck

and k*lling him.

[Armando in Spanish]

I've thought about, like,
if I had him here with me

one-one day
to be able to tell him,

um, how I feel about him
not being here,

I would tell him that I miss him

and he's always in my heart,
in my prayers and...

like, to keep taking care of us.

And especially
his brother Armando.

Because Armando's heart
aches about it.

I'm pregnant now, I'm...

I feel like a perfect name

for my child would be Cristian.