02x06 - Latasha Norman

[bunniefuu]

Latasha, her dream was
to go to Jackson State.

To be able to go
to a HBCU,

it's empowering.


Latasha Norman was last seen

leaving a class
at Jackson State University.

- Sometimes I feel like
if I had answered my phone,

I possibly could have
prevented something.

- She just disappeared.

- You're supposed to feel safe
when you're off to college.

And for that to happen,

you know,
everyone was in fear.

Because it had happened
on a Black college campus,

they draw even more attention.

That's the first time we knew
that an incident had happened.

- m*rder.
- It was m*rder!

Man, it looks so lifelike.

All the memories just--

All these are her trophies.

- And this right here is
when she was ten years old.

She was a Girl Scout.

And I kept it.

♪♪ You don't wanna know
the person I call myself ♪♪

♪♪ You don't wanna know ♪♪

♪♪ What Pandora left
inside this shell ♪♪

♪♪ 'Cause I could never
take back the show and tell ♪♪

♪♪ You shouldn't come
around here, baby ♪♪

Latasha Norman is
my stepdaughter,

but I consider her
as my daughter

because I raised her
from a child.

She was
the only daughter I had.

And I was very proud of her.

Every picture we have,

she always have that smile
on her face.

You never seen her angry.

That's the type of person
Latasha Norman was.

Latasha was born
April 21, 1987,

here in Greenville,
Mississippi.

We have a huge family,
a very close-knit family.

I am ten years older than her,

so she was more like
my little sister.

When we were younger,

she started out
wanting to be a teacher

because we played teachers
a lot.

But as Tasha got older,
she switched to accounting.

And I think that had
a lot to do with following

behind Kesha's footsteps.

I tell her,

whatever you do,
don't ever give up.

Do your best
in everything you do

because you can always go
up higher.

And as she grew up, she did.

She did her best.

She didn't settle for less.

In high school,
at first, she was kind of shy.

Latasha always
followed in my footsteps.

I played the flute.
Tasha played the flute.

I was a majorette.
Tasha was a majorette.

I was on the dance line.
Tasha was on the dance line.

After she became a majorette,

she really came out
of her shell.

She was that beacon of light

that when she smiled,
you smiled.

She had that caring heart.

There was nothing
you couldn't ask Latasha

to do for you
that she wouldn't do.

- Latasha, her dream was
to go to Jackson State.

And their name was known
at Jackson State, the Normans.

My father played
football at Jackson State.

My uncles played football
at Jackson State.

One of my uncles even went pro
playing professional football.

I knew that she wouldn't
break the family tradition.

I would tease her.

I would call her
Ms. Jackson State.

She had no problem
being admitted there.

Jackson State is an HBCU,

which is
a historically Black college

or university, founded in 1877.

So very long time ago,
about 150 years.

♪♪ They say the world's
art came from Europe, right? ♪♪

♪♪ Well, if that is true,
they ain't doing it right ♪♪

♪♪ Watch class get busy
on this classical ♪♪

♪♪ Just put me in the book,
that turn magical ♪♪

I'm Alivia Welch.

I was the managing editor
for The Blue and White Flash,

the student-led publication
for the university.

It's very humbling to be able
to go to a HBCU,

considering that
many, many years ago,

the people who fought for us
to have an HBCU

weren't allowed
to go to college.

This being something that was
made for us, it's exciting.

It's empowering.

I think
that's one of the reasons

that a lot of students
come here

generation after generation.

- A big part of J-Setting
is stepping,

part of the culture
here at JSU.

♪♪ Hold it,
spinning 'round ♪♪

♪♪ Going up and down
for them hunnits ♪♪

♪♪ For them hunnits ♪♪

♪♪ Busting, working hard ♪♪

♪♪ Going extra hard
for that money ♪♪

- Jackson State, it's a place
where you can feel home.

You're like family there.

We call each other
the Tiger family,

and we're alumni.

We're just proud of our
dear old college home.

- A lot of prominent people
in the community

went to Jackson State
and graduated.

- Jackson is approximately
an hour and a half

from Greenville.

- Greenville, Mississippi,
is in what's called

the Mississippi Delta.

And it's a very impoverished
region of the country.

It may be
the most impoverished

region of the country.

There's not a lot of economic
opportunities there.

A lot of people from the Delta
come to Jackson

to build their careers

because you have to get
out of the Delta

to really rise up
and do something.

On Orientation Day,
after we had moved her in,

I know she was
ready for us to go,

but my wife wasn't ready to go.

She wanted to mop.

She wanted to wipe
everything down.

She wanted to make the bed.

That was her excuse
to linger around, you know?

My wife had had a child

before she graduated
from high school.

She had to work.

Latasha was living her dream,

and it was almost like

my wife was living her dream
through Latasha.

Latasha was getting
the opportunity

to do a lot of things
that my wife

never had the opportunity
to do.

So we encouraged Tasha
to excel.

In her senior year
in high school,

she dated a guy
older than Latasha.

Stanley was finished
with high school,

and he wasn't, you know,
in college or anything.

He bought
a life-size teddy bear

and gave it to her,

and I think he stole her heart
that way.

When Latasha decided
to go to Jackson State,

she encouraged Stanley to go.

I think she wanted
to make something out of him.

And so she helped him
get into school down there.

And she was taking up
accounting,

and he was taking up
criminal justice.

I think
Tasha just really pushed him

to, like, his full potential

in a lot of areas, including
family, including school,

just different things
in his life.

♪♪ Don't misconstrue
a skirt for a flirt ♪♪

♪♪ 'Cause I still hit him
where it hurts ♪♪

♪♪ Dressed like a nurse,
all white ♪♪

♪♪ I almost died twice ♪♪

Latasha was extremely
excited to be in college.

She was excited to be
on Jackson State campus.

She was enjoying
the campus life.

She didn't go out much
as far as she would tell me.

You know?

Latasha had plans
for her and Kesha

to open up
an accounting firm back home

once she finished college.

She kept her grades up.

She kept on being
on the dean's list

at Jackson State University.

She kept on working.

She kept on,
you know, doing her.

- She was thriving
like a peacock.

In the fall of 2007,

her and Stanley had went
their separate ways.

Stanley had moved down,

and he was dating
someone else.

Latasha started dating
another guy.

His name was Marquis.

They seem to be
getting along pretty well.

He looked out for her.

There was times when she was
having problems with her car,

and he was there.

- At this point in life,
I would say that she was happy.

She wanted us to meet Marquis.

And so he brought her home
to watch her baby brother

play in the ball game
the 10th of November,

which seemed to be all right.

But they went back that night.

And that was the last time
we saw her alive.

The day after

we had gotten a chance
to meet Marquis,

Latasha called me.

I can tell by the tone
of her voice

that something wasn't right.

But when she called,
I was busy at the time.

And so I told her I would
give her a call back

once I leave my meeting.

I called her the next day,
and I didn't get an answer.

- Every night, my wife would
talk Latasha back to her dorm.

This particular night,
she couldn't get Latasha.

When we woke up
November 14, 2007,

the phone rang.

It was her new boyfriend
on the phone

because my wife had
called him and asked him,

had he seen Tasha?

And he said he hadn't seen her
since the night before.

And she handed me the phone,
and I talked to him.

And he told me
that her car was on campus

and she was missing.

He didn't know where she was.

Immediately, I told my wife,
"Get dressed.

"Let's go.

Something ain't right."

♪♪ Blood in the water ♪♪

♪♪ Love in the cut ♪♪

♪♪ Blood in the water ♪♪

On the 13th
of November 2007...


Latasha Norman was last seen--

Latasha Norman was
a junior business major

at Jackson State University.

The campus
and city police say

they have no suspects
in her disappearance.

♪♪ Blood in the water ♪♪

♪♪ Love in the cut ♪♪

My mom called,

and she was like,
"Have you talked to Tasha?"

She told me that my aunt and
uncle were headed to Jackson

because Latasha hadn't
reported to class...

And they were worried.

At that point, my heart dropped

because I knew, you know,
something was going on with her

because of the tone
of her voice

a couple of days before that.

I get to Grandma's house.

And Kesha was saying
Tasha's missing.

- Mm-mm.

We can skip that.

I don't want to talk about it.

By the time we got
to Yazoo, Mississippi,

I get another call
from Marquis.

And he says that he's
with the campus police

and he's filed
a missing person report.

They did search the school
at that time,

the dorms and stuff.

When we got there, nobody knew.

Nobody seen anything.

She just disappeared.

- Auto burglaries, house
burglaries, armed robberies,

and several murders
in that neighborhood.

Jackson State is
a pretty accessible campus.

You can drive in and out
of the campus pretty easily.

Latasha's vehicle
was still on campus.

And so we knew that she didn't
leave in her vehicle.

They didn't have
a whole lot of evidence

as to the whereabouts
of where Latasha was.

Some campus police departments
have very limited resources.

And at Jackson State,
police chief decided

to reach out to the Jackson
Police Department

for assistance.

Investigators with
the Jackson Police Department

spoke to Latasha's boyfriend.

They spoke to her roommate.

A month or so prior
to her coming up missing,

Latasha's tires had been
slashed on campus.

- I told her to go
to the campus police

and report it
to have it documented.

The timing was awfully strange

because particular crimes

such as tire slashing,
breaking out windows,

those are usually more
intimate-type crimes.

It's somebody that you know.

Usually, if it's a stranger,
they may break into your car

and try to take something,
but most of the time,

they're not going to slash
your tires

or break your windows out
or anything like that.

We had been there
all that day on the 14th.

And we hadn't gotten
no answers.


Latasha Norman was last seen

leaving a class
at Jackson State University.

I thought I was in a nightmare

because you see things
like this on TV all the time.

But never in a million years
would I have thought that,

hey, this is actually happening
to someone in my family--

like, missing.

The next day, the cousins
and the rest of the family

decided, hey, we're going
to go to Jackson on our own,

and we're going
to look for Tasha.

We started formulating
search teams.

We put up flyers.

We walked door-to-door,
mainly in the area

of where Jackson State was.

- It was a big, big ordeal

in the city of Jackson
to find her,

and everybody locally knew
about the case.

When I first appealed for help

on the Jackson State campus,

they set up
where I could speak.

The sheriff there did,

and there was media there
from everywhere.

Tasha, if you can hear us,

we want to let you know
that we love you

and that we're not
going to stop

until we know something.

Because it had happened
on a Black college campus,

so it drew even more attention.

But I'm not shy of the mic.

Even before that happened,
I had took a media class.

It was almost like
God had prepared me for this.

I went on every talk show,
radio show, TV show, news show,

anybody that would
listen to me.

Tasha had a class at 1:00,

and she got out of class
at 2:20.

And she just disappeared
into thin air.

She never made it
back to her dorm.

She never made it to her car.

I wanted to be a man

and stand up
and fight for them,

protect them.

That's my job.

I raised Latasha.

And I told them
when I first came here

that I was not going
to leave Jackson

until I found my child.

I miss Tasha,
my wife miss Tasha,

and we hope to hear something
from her real soon.

We hadn't got no answers.

The police, well, they really
weren't accomplishing much.

Investigators decided
to reach out to the FBI.

The FBI is joining the search

for a missing Mississippi
college student.

Latasha Norman disappeared
last Tuesday.

I was the case agent
for the Latasha Norman case.

When I first got
assigned the case,

the Jackson State Police
Department and Jackson PD

gave me the rundown of what

they had already obtained

and just where they were

at that particular point,

which was basically

they didn't have
a whole lot of evidence

as to the whereabouts
of where Latasha was.

And so we have to go
back over the case

because we may have
missed something.

We decided to pull

Latasha Norman's
cell phone information.

The initial cell phone data
that I got from her phone

showed that it was
at Marquis's location

where he lived.

And then it was traveling
towards the direction

of Jackson State University.

And somewhere
within that time frame,

all activity ceased.

She could have
cut the phone off.

It could have died.

It could have been on purpose.

But as far as I'm concerned,
a college student her age

would not leave her phone dead
for over 30 minutes, you know,

so--let alone three days.

And looking at Latasha's life,

there was nothing that would
lead us to believe

she would end up walking away
from everything.

- They interviewed me,
the investigators.

And they wanted to know
who we thought

might have had
some involvement in it.

I told them, check out

her new boyfriend.

After she became missing,

I became
very suspicious of him.

I didn't trust him.

He jumped the g*n and filed
a missing person report

before we can even get to town.

I had told him
I was on the way,

and I was like, why you didn't
give us the opportunity

to get there and do this?

It seemed like
he was hiding something.

He seemed like he was nervous.

When he brought her home,

my baby son had
a game that night.

And so she come home

to watch her baby brother
play in the ball game,

then introduce her
to her new boyfriend.

And there was a little
disagreement between him

and Latasha's cousin.

After the game,
he wanted to go back.

So I thought maybe him and her
got to arguing or something

on the way back home,
and he might have tried

to retaliate against her
or whatever.

We didn't know much about him.

Of course, our minds wondered,
had he done something to her?

When Tasha went missing.

It was a very dark spot
for everyone.

I had a few friends
and classmates

who attended Jackson State
during that time.

You're supposed to feel safe
when you're off to college.

And for that to happen,
you know, everyone was in fear.

I can recall one of my friends

calling and texting me
every day.

She would always say like,
"Nikki, this can't be real.

"We're all on this
college campus.

That could have been
one of us."

We decided to interview
Latasha's current boyfriend,

Marquis Smith,
because usually,

when you're dealing
with a missing person,

oftentimes, it's that person
in an intimate relationship

with that individual
that has something to do

with the whereabouts
of that individual.

Marquis was a little older.

He had a job.
He had a car.

He had his own place.

We also wanted to check his
cell phone ping information.

Back then, it was fairly new.

Most people didn't know
that we could use that to help

corroborate certain stories
they told us.

Time, dates, and things of
that nature that he gave us,

they seemed to match up
just fine.

He mentioned that the night
prior to her missing,

Latasha spent the night
at his house,

and he probably was one
of the last people to see her.

Marquis was telling me

that the FBI was
questioning him.

And I told him I knew.

And me and him had
some choice words.

And I told him
if I found out that he had

something to do with it,
it wasn't going to be nice.

Our relationship really
kind of ended right then.

Stanley Cole came
across my radar

from Marquis Smith.

So the first 2 1/2 years

of Tasha being
at Jackson State,

she dated Stanley.

They dated on and off.

By the time
Latasha Norman went missing,

Stanley and her were
not dating at that time.

Latasha was dating
Marquis Smith.

We went to Jackson State.

We checked out his records,
and we found out

that he withdrew from school

a week or two before us
checking into him,

which I thought was strange.

Talking to Latasha's friends,
we learned

that Latasha's friend
kind of suspected him

of slashing her tires.

We also found out
that their relationship

had gotten physical at times.

- They started learning
evidence about the incident

that happened
in Pearl, Mississippi,

which is just a suburb
of Jackson.

On October 9th,
which is about a month

before Latasha went missing,

she takes Stanley Cole
to get his paycheck.

Latasha sometimes helped
Stanley out with stuff

like giving him a ride.

She was on the phone
with Marquis Smith,

who was her boyfriend
at the time.

Stanley got mad
and lunged at her

and actually broke her phone.

- She also reported that
to the campus police as well.

That's the first time we knew

that an incident had happened,

that she had filed
this report against Mr. Cole.

So she never did tell us.

I mean, I cried.

I was hurt.

I couldn't believe it.

When Latasha was,
you know, dating Stanley,

she told me
that he had slapped her.

I had went through
domestic violence.

So I told Latasha.

I said,
"Because what happened with me,

"I'm just going
to let you know,

"if he did it once,
he would do it again.

"It's time for you
to let him go.

You know, you move on.
Let him move on."

And I just kept it between us.

After she went missing,
that was the first time

that my family knew that he had
placed his hands on her before

because I had never
said anything to anyone

about the first incident.

The women that are
the victims of these crimes

generally do not like
to tell anybody

because they're embarrassed
about it.

At the time, we thought

she had broke
the relationship off with him

because she had found out
that he had

another young lady pregnant.

I was shocked

that Stanley had put his hands
on Latasha again.

I just couldn't believe
that Latasha didn't come to me

and tell me.

But I kind of understood
at the same time

the reason why
she didn't tell me.

After they had
called it quits,

I told Stanley if I found out

that he put his hands
on her again,

he was going to see me
in Jackson.

He promised
that he wouldn't bother her.

He would cut all ties
and communications.

He was out of her life,
to our knowledge.

I just hate that I reacted
the way I did

that I made Latasha afraid
to come to me the next time.

But I was proud of her
at the same time.

I was proud of Latasha
that she did step up

and take other actions

when Stanley placed his hands
on her again.

We learned that this was
not a normal ex-boyfriend,

ex-girlfriend relationship.

They are having
some physical altercations

that are occurring,
and that could lead

to deadly altercations.

We had hope.

We had faith.
We had belief.

We was determined to stay
in Jackson till we find her.

As time starts
to dwindle down

and we continue to hear
bits and pieces

that Latasha had been
physically abused by Stanley,

you go from being hopeful
to, like,

"Well, it's not looking good."

Latasha was
last seen leaving class

last Tuesday afternoon
around 2:00.

My aunt took it
really hard.

To see her, like,
not being able to eat

and not being able to sleep,

it was heartbreaking.

When one family member hurts,
all of us hurt.

It was Thanksgiving.

We received a call
from a car dealer.

A car salesman
in Jackson calls the police

and says that this car,
this 1998 Dodge Neon,

is really suspicious.

The carpet in the trunk
was cut out,

which is not something
normally somebody does

when you trade in a car.

The fact that a car salesman
would call the police

about something being strange
in a car

was pretty odd.

We checked the tag
and the VIN and found

that it belonged
to a young lady

that we found to be

Stanley Cole's girlfriend,
Simone.

We found out
that Simone was pregnant

and Stanley was the father

and that they lived
in an apartment building

in North Jackson.

If you were to do
a mental checklist,

you have a young lady missing.

She was possibly
in a volatile relationship

with her ex-boyfriend who just
dropped out of the same school

that she was going to.

And his current girlfriend
was selling her car.

The timing was awfully strange.

Some things
that we can't act on

as far as getting
arrest warrants,

but we were definitely able
to get search warrants

for the vehicle.

The FBI evidence recovery unit
discovered

quite a bit of blood splatter
in the trunk.

Just the thought
of them finding blood

in the trunk of the car,

my heart dropped.

It was like I was
reliving that nightmare

from the very first day
she went missing

on November 14th of 2007.

- They positively identified
the blood

in the trunk of the car
to the DNA of Latasha Norman.

So they realized that she was
in the trunk of that car.

Jackson Police Department
as well as the FBI

and Jackson State decided
to subpoena

Stanley Cole's
cell phone records.

After the investigators
recovered

Stanley's cell phone records
and realized

that he was
at Jackson State that day

and they found him at a wooded
area off of Brown Street,

they decided to go
up to Greenville

to see if they could speak
to Simone Harris.

- Simone came.

And to my surprise,
Stanley came.

I kind of ignored Stanley,

acted like I didn't really
know who he was,

shook his hand.

And I took Simone back.

We asked her
about the phone records.

She was very forthwith.

She told us that there was
one particular time

that Stanley was supposed
to go out and empty the trash.

He did, but he took


The interview lasted


and we decided that we wanted
to talk to Stanley next.

His demeanor was
very, very nonchalant,

a little too nonchalant.

He kind of slid
back in his chair

and put his arm back up
on the chair.

And he said,
"All the girls from Jackson

love all the guys
from Greenville."

And it was the way he said it.

It was almost
adversarial, right?

And you would think
that if I'm trying

to find out
where your ex-girlfriend is

that you wouldn't be
my adversary.

Basically, a test question
for me is,

what do you think should happen
to the person

that did something to Latasha?

And Stanley answered,
"I don't really know."

Most people minimize
their punishment,

so I knew then
he had done something.

We knew that Stanley most
likely knew where Latasha was.

I have daughters, and I
wouldn't want my daughter

to be laid in some field
or somewhere,

you know, whether dead
or alive, by themselves.

So I kind of--

I told Stanley that we need
to find Latasha.

"Can you help us find Latasha?"

He hesitated.

His eyes started watering.

And he just kind of stared off
for a little while.

He shook his head, and he said,

"If I tell you where she is,
will you let me see my mom?"

Stanley's mother
was in the lobby.

He said, "Let me see her

before I tell you
where Latasha is."

And my partner said OK.

She went in the room
and spoke about two minutes.

She opened the door.

And she said,
"Is my son under arrest?"

And I said, "No, ma'am."

And she said,
"Well, we'll be leaving."

The fact
that Stanley's mother,

rather than her helping
and assisting,

she started looking out
for her son,

that strung.

It became more personal
at that point.

We set out to go ahead
and get an arrest warrant

for Mr. Stanley Cole.

- Stanley Cole was arrested
on November 29, 2007.

Throughout that time
that Tasha was missing,

Stanley was looking or acting
as if he was looking for her.

People thought that he was
genuinely concerned.

I know I did.

- There's media everywhere.

They're all outside
police headquarters.

There's detectives
and the chief

in this interview room looking
through the two-way glass.

It is literally a show.

Now, as soon
as I opened the door,

I started in on Stanley.

Just technique, playing chess.

I was going to make him
angry at me,

so angry
that he would just forget

to lawyer up, so to speak.

It wasn't hard to get angry.

I said a few curse words
and threw my notepad.

He was upset. I was upset.
I stormed out.

He had liked one
of the female investigators

that had interviewed him
before I had

from Jackson
Police Department.

I ran upstairs
and got the investigator.

I said, "Hey, you're on."

I want him to maybe find
solace in this young lady,

and maybe she would be
the one to get him

to tell her where Latasha was.

I wasn't sure
if that would work.

It was a gamble.

She started out far away.

She moved in close.

He starts to tell us
they got in an argument

in Simone's car.

- And he was sitting
in the driver's seat.

And he struck her with
a back fist to her nose area.

He went and met up

with a friend of his
and his girlfriend.

And then they picked up
Simone Harris.

And they ended up eating
at Garfield's Restaurant

in Jackson.

And all the while
during this time

where they're going back
and forth

between people's houses,

where they're picking
friends up from classes

and they're eating dinner,

Latasha Norman is in the trunk
of that Dodge Neon.

- For him to drive around
with her in that trunk,

that stood out for me.

It stood out.

He starts to tell us
where she is.

- How he's explaining it,
he's got to show us.

So we decided to take him
to the scene.

We had this long caravan
of police cars

and news cars behind us.

Stanley led us to the area.

Within ten minutes,
we were able to recover

Latasha Norman's body.

She was partially clothed.

The upper torso of her body,
including her face,

was covered
with a piece of cardboard.

Unfortunately, her body had
been pretty badly decomposed.

In order to identify Latasha,

we needed to have
her dental records checked.

And they were able
to give us a positive match.

- All we could do then
was just come home,

because wasn't nothing else
in Jackson that we could do.

I would have never
in a million years

thought that Stanley would
take her life.

Like, that was
the last thought on my mind.

- If...

I'm sorry.

Sometimes I feel like

if I had answered my phone...

To see what was going on
with Tasha,

I possibly could have
prevented something

or just...

said something to her

to avoid
what Stanley had done.

I just hate that I reacted
the way I did

the first time that I had
learned that he hit her.

I felt like she didn't want
to put me in any danger.

- I hate to this day

that she got tangled up
with this young man.

My wife was so broken.

I was just bitter,
just disappointed.

I have to be honest with you,
I wasn't pleasant.

It didn't take much
to make me go off.

And that wasn't nice.

I thought that was ugly.

I had to ask God to take
this bitterness, anger from me.

- Stanley never told us
how he k*lled her.

I mean his explanation was
that he hit her.

And if you see Stanley Cole,

he's a 140-pound man.

I don't know that his blow
would have caused death

to Ms. Norman.

It just didn't seem likely
to any of us.

- Not to mention that
if she was bleeding so much

out of her nose, as he said,

we should have found
some blood in the front seat.

Once Latasha Norman's body
is at the medical examiner,

we discover
a slight jagged nick

to the inside of her rib cage.

A portion of that rib
was missing.

Due to the jaggedness of it,
it looked like

it could have been
a metal device or even a knife.

But, unfortunately,
we weren't able to tell

if she received any damage
internally from her organs

because she was
so badly decomposed.

So we did send that bone

to a forensics expert as well,

and they were able
to tell us that it appeared

to be possibly a stab wound.

The body
of a missing college student

from Mississippi
has been found,

and her ex-boyfriend
is charged with m*rder.

- Mr. Cole was still trying
to say it was an accident.

I kind of felt, you know,

he was a bit strange
or whatever,

but I didn't actually expect
anything like that to happen.

So you hear about things
like that everywhere else,

but no one ever
actually expects, you know,

trouble to be
at their doorstep.

- We had a community that was
really aching from this crime

because it happened
at Jackson State,

which is just a beloved
university in the city.

And then her family--

and if you meet her dad
or stepfather, Danny Bolden,

you can see how much
this man loved his daughter.

And they were there
every day rooting us on.

That made us really,
really want to go in there

and win this case.

Did you know
that defendant Cole

had been violent
towards Latasha?

- No, because I warned
Mr. Cole from the beginning

that I was
the type of gentleman

that I did not tolerate
that type of stuff.

Latasha, she never
exposed that to us.

She kept it hid.
I think she was ashamed of it.

It was hard
to keep your composure,

so there were times that,
you know, I had to step out.

- And then even listening
to his attorney,

right, try to clear him
of that,

it's really surreal.

- Putting her in the trunk
doesn't make it m*rder.

The evidence only shows
this is manslaughter.

We the jury find
the defendant guilty of m*rder.

You have caused her parents,
other family members,

and friends enormous grief.

As punishment for this m*rder,

you're hereby automatically
sentenced to life in prison.

That's the only time
I've seen him show emotion.

Then them big crocodile tears
come down.

He apologized to us,
but the damage had been done.

- Stanley will be held
accountable for it.

It was just a sense of relief.

- In 2012, the court of appeals
overturned the case.

It was a one-punch homicide.

Cole's attorney claims

extensive media attention
prevented him

from receiving a fair trial.

Now he suggests a lesser
charge to be considered.

Well, we went before
the state supreme court.

God has granted us
this victory two years ago.

And we have faith,
and we believe

that he won't reverse it.

And they ruled in his favor,
saying that it was a mistrial

because the judge didn't
put consideration

for manslaughter on the table

for the jury to choose from.

It was not manslaughter.

- It was m*rder.
- It was m*rder!

Stanley Cole was
offered a retrial,

so me and my wife had to go
back to Jackson

and meet the DA.

Well, we just wanted justice,
but we didn't want

to go back through the trial.

She didn't want
to go back through it,

and I didn't either.

And on the way down there,
we had this conversation.

We're going to offer him
a 40-year plea.

No parole.

No provision.

And he accepted it

because it was better
than the deal he had at first.

And I realized
I had to forgive him.

I had to release him
in order to release myself.

You forgive, and you move on.

You don't forget it,
but you move on.

Don't a day pass

that I don't think
about Tasha,

but I know God.

Through Him, He give me grace.

It ain't all been bad.

A lot of good has
come out of this, man,

but you got to take
the bitter with the sweet.

I wouldn't want
another parent to have to live

and go through
what we went through.

Nobody.

God want to use
Latasha's light

to shine a light
on teen domestic violence.

Domestic violence
is nothing new.

See, for so long, this is like
a taboo in our community.

People don't like
to talk about it,

but we have to talk about it.

Don't stay silent.

Just speak out
and tell someone

because there is help
out there.

At Jackson State,

in honor of our daughter,
Latasha Norman,

they have
this domestic violence center

in the honor of her.

For Jackson State
University to step up and name

the Latasha Norman
Counseling Center,

that was amazing.

Her picture is
on the wall there,

and her story is
written there too

so students actually get
a chance to learn who she was,

why she's so important,

and why domestic violence
is not OK

and it never will be OK.

It lets people know
the signs to look for

and giving them the proper
materials and tools

to actually have someone
to talk to

that is a professional.

Well, after her death,

they wanted to do a walk
in her name.

And we've done it
for the last 15 years.

All the proceeds goes

back into
the Latasha Norman Center.

- It keeps her name alive
on campus.

I talk to my kids about her.

My daughter,

I tell her, you have
an open line of communi--

there's nothing
you can't come to me

or be afraid to say to me.

After losing her,
I went back to school

to get my master's
in counseling

just to bring, like, awareness
and be that safe person

for people to talk to.

She just inspired me
to want to be their voice

and help others
so we can save some people.

♪♪ Angel fall ♪♪

♪♪ There's no going back
to the beginning ♪♪

Life has a great impact.

Her legacy live on, man.

She was an angel of God.

She was one of his angels.

♪♪ Angel fall ♪♪

♪♪ There's no going back
to the beginning ♪♪