09x01 - The Tragedy on Tennessee 14

[bunniefuu]

[Dep. Chief Turner]
When I arrived at the scene

there was a silence
that you just can't describe

We found a body
lying on the roadway.

They had been sh*t in the head.

The other law enforcement
officers knew this is bad.

This is really, really bad.

[Neal] In a rural community
like this, we knew Calvin Jenks.

He would be on
the state highways,

looking for traffic infractions.

Calvin was the perfect example of a
Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper.

He was always such a gentleman.

He had a smile that would absolutely
make you smile, it was infectious.

[narrator] State trooper Calvin
Jenks is getting read to go on late shift.

Calvin was 22 when he graduated
from the Highway Patrol Academy.

He was very meticulous
about his presentation.

When Calvin would leave
to go out on highway patrol,

his boots were polished,
his pants were creased.

He says, "You gotta be
prepared for everything"

and he said, "and you're
supposed to represent yourself

and the Tennessee Highway
Patrol, which you work for."

He loved doing what he did.
It wasn't just a job, he loved it.

[narrator] Calvin has been
married to Sarah for just four months.

- Don't work too hard, okay?
- Okay.

- And don't forget to eat!
- I won't. Love you.

Love you too!

Calvin wanted to go
into law enforcement.

He had a very
strong sense of duty.

He was very respectful
and a very caring young man

He was out there protecting
and serving everybody.

I mean, that's something he
was always passionate about.

He loved to help others.

He was a good role
model. I mean he...

One of the best brothers
you could really ask for.

[chatter on police radio]

Hey, honey. Yeah, I'm just
finishing up some paperwork

and then I'll be right over.

[Norman] He spoke to Sarah
just before winding down his day

and said he had some paperwork
to take care of from a DUI.

I will do. See you very soon.

[phone ringing]

Just a little after 9:40 p.m., our
dispatch received a 911 phone call

from a racoon hunter
that was in the area.

He called saying that he was on
Highway 14 near Cotton Lake Road...

and that he had discovered
a trooper's patrol car.

And had seen the trooper...

lying on the roadway.

[sirens wailing]

When the deputies arrived,

they both recognized him.

It was Calvin Jenks
and he had been k*lled.

When I arrived at the scene

there was a silence that
you just can't describe

The other law enforcement officers,
they knew this was really, really bad.

They had just been the
first ones to find a comrade

that had been k*lled
in the line of duty.

I was their supervisor and I was
very sympathetic to them emotionally,

but also, there was a crime
that had been committed

and right then, my only focus was
to get the answers on who did this.

You have to just start
methodically going through,

preserving what you
can at a crime scene...

because you only
get one chance to do it.

And I knew that if we messed it
up, that there was no coming back.

I could see that he had been
sh*t in the head above his eyes...

and that, obviously, he had
succumbed instantly from his injuries.

His hat was not
visible around him.

His w*apon, it
was in his holster,

so there was not
a g*nf*re exchange.

There was some type of mark as
if something had run ove his leg.

When we approached
the patrol car,

you don't see his flashlight
you don't see his hat.

It was found a little
way's from his body...

and that confirmed that he
probably was in a traffic stop.

The troopers do not get out of
their cars without their hats on.

We had no indications
of who had done this.

Who in the world
would sh**t a trooper

in the middle of nowhere?

[siren wailing]

We weren't going to wait
till we had a description.

It is a comrade that
we all worked with.

Everybody was wanting to help,
everybody was wanting to do something.

There was a trooper
sitting at every exit ramp,

checking for any
type of vehicles

and just waiting
for us to give a tip.

Every minute law enforcement
went without a description,

the vehicle or people
involved was another minute

where these people were abl to get
further away from where this happened

and they could've been
travelling in any direction

[Dep. Chief Turner] There we law
enforcement agencies everywhere.

They were going to
convenience stores,

"Has anybody been in
here got blood on them?

Anybody come in
here that acting funny?"

We started dispatching peopl to
really look for a needle in a haystack.

Troopers have dashcam

and so we knew that there
should be a video recording.

That became our
most important focus.

The footage could
give us a timeframe.

And also give us a clearer picture of who
we were looking for and what happened.

- Detective?
- [Dep. Chief Turner] Yeah?

I found the drive.

That is a time that you just
kind of take a deep breath

'cause you know what
you're fixing to see.

We knew that there was a chance
and a likelihood the footage would show

him being m*rder*d.

But we also knew
that by viewing,

that was the only way for
us to truly find what happened

in the last few moments
of Trooper Jenks' life.

[Calvin speaking]

[man speaking]

[Calvin speaking]

[man speaking]

[Calvin speaking]

[man speaking]

[Calvin speaking]

[man speaking]

[Dep. Chief Turner] Trooper
Jenks was doing a normal stop

of a light-colored sedan and had
the driver out at the back of the car.

He was patting him down,
but also, at the same time,

asking him where he's
from, where he's going.

[Calvin speaking]

[man speaking]

[Calvin speaking]

[Calvin speaking]

Trooper Jenks leaves the
driver with this hands on the trunk.

He walked up to the
driver's side of the vehicle.

[Calvin speaking]

He takes his hat off and
lays it on top of the car.

Then he can lean
down into the car...

and began speaking
with the passenger.

You could hear mumbling
from the passenger,

but you couldn't really make out
what the passenger was saying.

[g*nshots]

One thing that you did hear were
the two sh*ts that were very clear.

[g*nshots on video]

[man speaking]

The passenger steps out
of the passenger's door,

looks back at the driver and
says, "Get him out. Get him out."

There was no sense
of "Oh, my gosh."

There was no sense of surprise.

As soon as it
happened, he just...

He didn't run, he just
walked up to the ca

and began pulling him out
and throwing him out of the car

and onto the ground
and never looked back,

and shut the door and drove off.

When he drove off,

the car ran over
Trooper Jenks' legs.

You can see his hat
fly off the top of the car.

We then knew why his
g*n was in his holster.

He never had a chance.

He was completely ambushed.

And those of us that were
standing there, it was just...

Tears were shed.
It was emotional.

It was the last time that any of
us heard Trooper Jenks' voice,

which is very...

final.

Because it was kind of grainy, it
appeared that the driver was a male.

It appeared to be a white
male, it could be a Hispanic male.

Some of the information that he did
glean from the driver was very importan

Texas, 19 year old.

Going through to Brownsville

We knew a clothing
description of the driver.

We could tell a height in
comparison to the trooper's height.

The passenger, you could
tel that he was short in statute

You could tell that he had an oversized,
white-colored shirt, possibly a hoodie.

His face was dark, you couldn't
tell if it was Black, white, Hispanic,

but you at least had a
description of a second person.

We could only get the general
shape and description of the car,

not a tag number,
because the tag was bent up

so you could not
read the tag number.

That is indicative of somebo not wanting
the tag read by license-plate readers.

Once we gleaned as much information
as we could about the suspects,

we then sent out
a statewide bulletin

with all the information that we
had at that particular moment.

[police car siren wails]

It would take the
suspects about 20 minutes

to get to Brownsville
from the crime scene,

so the concentration especially
was in the Brownsville area.

[police radio chatter]

We had seen their v*olence.

It was unprovoked,

so there was a true
sense of urgency.

We were gonna catch 'em.

[phone ringing]

[Norman Jenks] I received a phone
call from Calvin's little brother Ryan

He said, "Mom just called me
and told me I gotta get home.

Daddy, what's going on?

So I called Calvin's mother

and she proceeded to tell me
that Calvin's life had been taken.

It was the hardest moment that
I ever had to deal with in my life.

The first thing that goes
through your mind is "Why?

Why did we have to...

Why did I have to lose my son?

Why did someone
have to take his life?"

It's probably one of
the worst days ever,

so far in my life.

The...

to relive...

I wouldn't want
anybody to relive it.

[narrator] The Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation

are brought on board
to help gather evidence.

[police car siren wails]

[Dep. Chief Turner] We wante to
secure any footage of any open businesses

that would be along the route that we knew
that most likely that they had traveled,

which was Highway 14.

We want to capture that
before it's taped over.

The nearest location from the m*rder
scene would be the Midway Market.

The suspects could've gone i

They could've needed gas.

The detectives and
agents went there

and confirmed that there were both
cameras outside in the pumps area,

as well as inside,
sh**ting out into the store

[police radio chatter]

We were wanting to capture
anyone that would've gone i

during the time frame just previous
of the body being discovered.

[narrator] Detectives request
to view footage from 9:15 p.m.,

just before the
m*rder took place.

[Dep. Chief Turner] We needed
to be able to identify the suspects,

because they were desperate

and we knew they
were willing to k*ll.

It was late at night,

so there was not a lot of
activity out at the gas pumps

to see cars coming in and out.

Stop there.

[Dep. Chief Turner] They
saw one car. It came in.

It was nowhere near the
description of the vehicle.

And in the distance,

you could see just white
headlights on the roadway.

That could be the car.

[Dep. Chief Turner] Approximately
five minutes before the time

when Trooper Jenks was kille

a vehicle pulled
up to the pumps.

Looks like a sedan.

Zoom in.

[mouse clicks]

Okay, keep going.

Pause there.

Looks like the guy.

[Dep. Chief Turner] The
driver that got out of the car,

he had the same physical
appearance and clothing

of the person that Trooper Jenks
was talking t at the back of the car,

and that Trooper Jenks was then
pulled from that car after the sh**ting.

They matched, to a tee.

Can you switch to
the interior cameras?

[Dep. Chief Turner] The camera
was above the cash register.

[sighs] It's hopeless.

It's too obscured.

It was so frustrating that
you could not see his face.

When the detectives and the
agents interviewed the clerk,

he described him as
being a Hispanic male.

He was asking the clerk's help.

"Can you tell me how
to get to Brownsville?"

We knew from the dashcam
they were going to Brownsville.

There was a tremendous focus

with law enforcement in
the Brownsville area already.

Let's look at the
exterior camera again.

When the driver came
out of Midway Market

and got back into the car,

you see he pulls off and
heads down Highway 14,

which was ultimately where
he encountered Trooper Jenks.

We were able to hone in a little
bit more on what type of vehicle.

We knew it was a Toyota product.

We also knew it was
more silver in color

but still had no tag number

It was the same vehicle,

and it was the same person.

[narrator] Details
about the sh**ting

and descriptions of the
suspects and their vehicle

are shared with local media

We knew that if
someone saw this vehicle,

knowing what they
were involved in,

that they would call us.

At that particular
time at the scene,

we wanted to lay to prayer,

for Trooper Jenks,
for his family,

as well as other
law enforcement.

[police radio chatter]

And I will never
forget it, um...

that while we are
saying this prayer...

[radio bleeping and chatter]

our radio started crackling.

[radio crackles]

We've got a tip in Brownsville.

[woman on police
radio] 7-40-90, roger.

[Dep. Chief Turner] We were contacted
from the Brownsvil Police Department that,

at the Exxon station, the
clerk had called in and said,

"Hey, I think these
guys stopped in here."

The timing matched, from
when they left the scene

to the time that they
went straight to the Exxon.

[police radio chatter]

[narrator] Local detectives are
dispatched to follow up on the tip.

You never know if they're
gonna have video footage,

if it's gonna be blocked,

if we're gonna be able
to see anybody in it.

All right, let's see
what we've got.

Stop there.

[Dep. Chief Turner] The
oversized white hoodie,

shorter in stature.

It matched the description
on the dashcam.

We were thinking that we
were looking at the sh**t.

Even though there was not
something blocking, this tim

he was far enough
away from the camera

that you really couldn't
get a good look.

He had his hoodie up
so it obscured his face.

Stop there.

Zoom in.

[Dep. Chief Turner] You coul tell there
was some writing on the back of the hoodie,

and it was some initials
that were on there,

some letters, ATX.

That led us to think that
that was Austin, Texas.

We knew there was a connection
with Texas from the dash footage,

so that also was just
confirming these were the guys,

these were the right
ones that we needed.

Okay, play on.

[Dep. Chief Turner] The clerk
said he was asking for some wipes

like car wipes you would
clean the inside of your car with

We know what they had just done.

We knew there would be blood,

or some type of matter that's in
that car that needed to be cleaned up.

They didn't have any,

so she gave him
directions to Walmart,

which was just down the street.

Walmart has tremendous
camera systems,

and we knew that was
gonna be the gold mine

if we could get good
pictures of their faces.

That sense of urgency
was just overwhelming.

We were excited.

We were on their heels.

Walmart had in
excess of 200 cameras.

The staff at Walmart
were very helpful.

They reviewed some of that
footage through those cameras.

They made some screenshots where
the suspects went into different areas.

At 9:55, there was a man in a white
hoodie that walked into Walmart.

They followed him
through the store,

back to the automotive section.

What's he buying?

Do you have a receipt?

A still sh*t was able to be connected
with the purchase system at Walmart,

which shows that he was
purchasing Armor All wipes.

[Dep. Chief Turner]
This was important,

as this is what he was asking
the clerk for at the Exxon station.

We knew then
that it was the guy.

It was him, it was
the passenger.

When the suspect wearing
the white hoodie exits Walmart,

he goes out and meets up with
another subject on the parking lot

that is wearing the same color
shirt that the driver was wearing

We thought for sure,

a well-lit parking lot,

that maybe we could
get a tag number,

but they were parked outside
the extension of the cameras.

[Special Agent Craig]
Can you zoom in on that?

[Dep. Chief Turner] The pers that the
suspect in the whit hoodie had met up with

then walks into Walmart,

goes to the clothing
section and gets a T-shirt.

[Special Agent Craig] There is a
camera that is over the bathroom,

and the driver comes out,
and he is in new clothing.

It's a black T-shirt with
a silver Superman lo

It's significant,

because it shows that he is
trying to dispose of evidence,

that he is trying to
change his appearance.

[Dep. Chief Turner] Then the passenger
that was wearing the white hoodie

does the same thing.

He enters Walmart, picks
him out a different hoodie

and changes his hoodie out.

Now they have wipes to
clean up the blood in the car.

They have two clean shirts now.

So they're doing exactly what
we thought they were gonna do

is start cleaning
up the crime scene.

[Neal] Investigators
were fortunate

that they had a very
cooperative staff at Walmart

who led them to
the trash compactor

where they were able to
recover a mustard-colored T-shirt.

[Dep. Chief Turner] Also in that
trash, there we some 25 caliber casings,

and also some
bloody Armor All wipes.

And one of the janitors
mentioned to one of the agents

that they thought they threw
something away in the garbage can.

In fact, it was Trooper
Jenks' flashlight.

He had it in his hand
when he was sh*t.

And when he fell in the
car it fell into the car.

[narrator] The items are sent
to the TBI lab for further analysis.

[Dep. Chief Turner] We knew they
were gonna continue to try to flee

because they had
changed their appearance.

They'd cleaned up the car.

But not only that, what
were they gonna do next

Officers were not leaving a stone
unturned on trying to locate 'em.

[Neal] In the early
morning hours,

a highway patrolman
pulls over a vehicle

that is going from East
Tennessee back towards the West.

There are two
males in the vehicle.

This was an average
traffic infraction stop.

Two men were
arrested with marijuana

and taken to the local
law enforcement facility.

On the way, they told
the highway patrolman

that they had an interaction
with two drug dealers from Texas.

[narrator] TBI Special Agen Joe Craig
is brought in to interview the two men.

I began to separate and
interview them individually.

I want you to tell me
any detailed information

that you can give me
about these two men.

[Special Agent Craig] They had
met two Hispanic males from Texa

and they had purchased some
dr*gs from them. Marijuana.

And that they received a phone call
at some point in the late-night hours

asking for a ride to
the Nashville area.

And they met them and
gave them a ride to Nashville

to a hotel that they were
unfamiliar with at the time

When they had 'em in the vehicle

they seemed very
nervous and, er, stressed.

They were in a hurry
to get to Nashville.

They didn't wanna
stay in West Tennessee.

Once they were at that hotel he
stated that they went up to the room

to receive the money for
the gas and some other things

and they observed a handgun

that was placed on top of the
TV console in the hotel room.

They realized at that point
that the two that they transported

were more than drug dealers.

And I felt pretty comfortable at
that point that they were not involved.

I asked for a
physical description,

the best that they
could give me,

and they did say that one of
them was wearing a dark sweatshirt

and the other one was
also wearing a dark T-shirt

that had a Superman
logo on the front of it.

Our only option at this point was to
physically take them to the Nashville area

where the two individuals
were dropped off.

[narrator] Agent Joe
Craig heads to the hotel

where they believe the
two suspects are hiding

[Special Agent Craig] I took
one of them into the hotel with me

and he even was able to provide
a room number that they were at.

Can you tell me who
checked in to 226?

Speaking to the desk clerk, he stated
they had just walked into the hotel

ten minutes prior to us
walking into the lobby.

The decision was made to utilize
SWAT teams to make entry into that room

This could escalate into
a violent confrontation.

There was a large
amount of adrenaline

You realize that everything
that occurred prior to this event

had led you to this event

and we were not
going to squander this.

[officer] Metro Police,
don't move! Don't move!

[officer 1] Don't move!

[officer 2] Don't look at
him, look at me. Stay still!

As I walked into the room, I observed
both parties secured and cuffed.

[narrator] The two suspects
are arrested on scene.

They are identified as


and 19-year-old Orlando Garcia.

[Special Agent Craig] In the
hotel room we found some dr*gs,

some marijuana, some cocaine

And we found some clothes
in the trash receptacle,

a white hoodie,
with ATX, was found

as well as a receipt from the
Brownsville Walmar as well.

Our next focus was trying to
recover the m*rder w*apon

because we were unable
to locate it in the hotel room.

Garcia told me that
they took those weapons

and placed them in the dumpster

at the back of the
Wendy's restaurant

about five miles
from their hotel.

I decided to go to that Wendy's,
and I remember pulling up

and seeing the captain with
the Tennessee Highway Patrol

down in that dumpster and
he pulled out the w*apon

They were wrapped
in a white towel.

Being able to recover
the m*rder w*apon

is something that we
knew was essential

and was something what had to
be done. And we did, we found it.

[narrator] Gauna and Garcia are
both charged with first-degree m*rder.

At their trial in 2008, details
from that night finally emerge.

The pair had come to
Tennessee to sell marijuana.

They were trying to go
a back way to the interstat

through Tipton County which
would have led on up to Brownsville.

[narrator] Garcia and Gauna
stopped at Midway Market

to ask for directions
to Brownsville.

[Special Agent Craig] Being
unfamiliar with that part of Tennessee

were again still trying to find
their way back to the interstate.

[narrator] At this point, Trooper
Jenks pulls them over for speeding

Why are we in such a
hurry tonight, gentlemen?

Trooper Jenks relayed to Garcia

that he did, in fact, smell
the marijuana in the car

and that he knew that
there were dr*gs in the car.

[Special Agent Craig] Garcia
does tell him that there is marijuana

in the center
console of the car.

At this point, Garcia says
that the trooper left him

and walked back to
the car, the driver's side,

and entered the car in an
attempt to locate the marijuana.

And at that point,
he hears the g*nsh*t.

Gauna and Garcia made
the calculated decisio

that they were not gonna go to
jail because they possessed dr*gs

and they took the
life of a young trooper.

Basically, Mr. Garcia
led him to the slaughter

and Mr. Gauna slaughtered
him. But they're both responsible.

[narrator] The pair next
stopped at the Exxon station

to try and purchase
upholstery wipes.

[Neal] Only moments
after k*lling someone,

Gauna had the
presence of mind enough

to start to try to destroy the
evidence of what he had done.

[Special Agent Craig] At the
Walmart, they purchas their new clothes

and placed certain pieces of
evidence in trash receptacles.

[Walter] The T-shirt which
was dumped at the Walmart

had traces of Trooper
Jenks' DNA, blood on it.

[Neal] After they go to Walmart
and they got rid of their ca

they left it in an apartment
complex close to the Walmart.

The blood that was
found in the vehicle

was forensically
linked to Trooper Jenks.

[narrator] Ballistic testing
confirms that the 25 caliber handgun

dumped at Wendy's, fired the
b*ll*ts that k*lled Calvin Jenks.

[Walter] Alejandro Gauna was
convicted of first-degree m*rder

and sentenced to life.

Mr. Garcia, a jury
found him guilty

of facilitation of first-degree
m*rder, which is a lesser offense.

But both were federally
charged out of the same event

and both received a life
sentence in federal court.

[Dep. Chief Turner]
It was senseless,

not only that they
threw their lives away,

but they took a life of a
law enforcement officer.

And so, it's just another
example of just a senseless k*lling.

The video footage solved
this case, in my opinion.

Truly just shows that, er,

you can piece them
together with a little hard work

and boots on the ground to solve these
heinous case that were just whodunits.

It told us exactly what happened
if we would follow the clues

There's a memorial that still
goes on each yea on January 6th,

and law enforcement officers
from across West Tennessee,

and Middle Tennessee
where he is from,

still go there
every January 6th.

[Ryan] Sea of blue. It's, er, up
to 300 officers law enforcement,

fire department, the
community itself paying respects

and it's... It's
amazing. It's...

It's amazing to know after as
many years it's been since the death

that there's people that still pay
tribute to i and haven't forgotten.

One of the most tragic things that can
ever happen to a parent is losing a child.

Our children are
supposed to outlive us.